~Lux's POV~

Lux was not pleased. Luke and Leia looked up, unsurprised yet for some reason still innocently startled when the ship rocked with the first starting explosions of the battle. Lux sighed and looked down at them. He hated just sitting here stagnant.

"I don't suppose I could bribe you two into letting me up?" when Ahsoka and Intrepid had said they were planning on bolting him down he had not taken them seriously. He recognized that for the mistake it was, now. Indeed, the twins had been tasked with making sure he remained at current unhelpful post.

"Nope. Soka already gave us candy as payment. We can't turn back on our word without dishonor," Leia told him matter of factly. Lux groaned. "Don't worry Lux, it'll be over soon," Luke assured him, mistaking his frustration for fear. Lux smiled. "Thanks, I feel so much better now," he said.

"You're welcome," Luke replied distantly. His eyes glazed over, and Lux frowned worriedly. "Are you two alright?" he asked. Luke nodded, shivering. "Yes. We feel everything through the force. War hurts," she said mournfully, with too much wisdom in her small eyes for her age. Lux sighed.

How could you? they're only children, he thought to the Sith, and added every bit of venom into the thought. "There is no emotion there is peace," Leia said automatically, having sensed what his thoughts indicated.

"Why is your name in the code?" Luke grumbled huffily. Leia smiled smugly at her brother. "Because I'm awesome," she said with the exact same cocky grin her father possessed. Lux chuckled softly. The twins brightened his day every time.

"Aren't Jedi supposed to be humble? Come here, twins," he held out a hand. Luke and Leia walked over, and he helped each into bed at his side. Luke curled into a ball under his left arm; nose snuggled against his chest.

Lux inhaled sharply as pain ricochet through him. Luke started to sit up, feeling the burst, but Lux pulled him back down.

"No, stay," stay here with me. I need to know you're real. Leia pillowed her head against his right shoulder, staring up at the ceiling. Lux held them in his arms as the war waged on.

It was times like these when it was impossible not to know what you were fighting for, and that gave Lux the strength past pain and exhaustion. He was fighting for his family, so that Luke and Leia would live in a world free of war in the next lifetime.

He settled back into his pillows and they sat there, silently. He could feel the slow rise and fall of each breath they took. Snug against his chest, heavy identical sets of contagious warmth spread through him, causing his eyelids to droop.

The ache that accompanied him at all times, everywhere, retreated under the strength of Luke and Leia's warmth. Lux exhaled slowly. It had been a long time since he felt no pain. He basked in the moment.

Heartbeats as strong as a man's pulsated against his body, soothing. His mother's voice faded into memory. "Be still, my little one, the day has yet begun," she had sung that lullaby to him as a child. His eyelids suddenly seemed to weigh ten pounds.

"Don't fear the world outside,"he muttered, seeming almost to lay in his mother's arms again as a child, hearing her voice just there, seeing her face smiling down at him, he could feel her rocking him to bed…

"In the end everything will be alright," he had never been much of a singer. The ship rocked again. Luke and Leia cringed. He tightened his grip. "I've wanted angels for a long time," he sang loud enough for them to hear it now, no more than whisper against whispy hair. "I got you instead, and angels watch us day and night," Luke inhaled deeply. Leia's gripped the front of her shirt in one fist sleepily.

"We're supposed to watch you," the obstinate child murmured, tugging lightly. Lux answered by gently swiping away a lock of hair from her face. "I'm not going anywhere," he promised, with a yawn.

Luke's head lolled against his chest, blanket pulled up to his chin and a small smile plastered to his face. "Don't fear, my little one," he smiled gently. "The rain can't stay, soon there'll be sun," sighing softly, he let his eyes wander closed.

He did not even notice the clones running outside of the door frantically or the sound of several alarms going off around the ship.

"Be still and never fear," he felt Leia's head fall heavily against his collarbone; her breathing was slow and steady. He set his chin on the top of her head, mind fuzzy. "The angels are watching all of us down here…" Goodnight Lux.

~Anakin's POV~

"Something isn't right," Anakin spoke aloud, narrowing his eyes at the vulture droids that had just turned tail and run when he started shooting at them. It wasn't as if he blamed them; he was a very fearsome presence after all, and by now the Sith knew his reputation, and yet…There were no Dark-users in space, only droids.

There were no Sith fighters flying after him, and all the droids were putting up their hardest fight, but at the same time, it seemed as if they were playing with them. Trying to keep them occupied.

Anakin pressed a hand to his head as a wave of unease washed through the scrupulous force. "I sense it too," that was Master Tinn, flying below him. The fighter came up, gracefully, and hovered on his left side. The master pilot appeared worried.

"This is too easy," he said softly. "It's as if they aren't even trying," Anakin agreed, feeling a pit at the bottom of his stomach. The force was ringing with insistent danger, yet he could sense the threat was obviously not here in the space battle.

"Obi-wan, what's the status on the battle from your end?" he asked into the comm. link. "Sidious is planning something," came the instant reply, thoughtfully. "He hasn't even deployed half of his troops. His droids are putting up a good fight but it's merely a charade. He probably has larger plans," Obi-wan contemplated.

"Like what? He didn't even know we were attacking!" Anakin snarled. "Or did he? Ackbar may have found a way to send word," Master Tinn contradicted. "The admiral is still detained in the brig, watched day and night. There is no way that he could have gotten wind of this plan himself," Obi-wan told them. Unless there's another spy on board the ship, Anakin thought. He cocked his head at the Empire ships hovering calmly away from them.

Things were just…They just seemed too quiet over there. The Empire cruisers were fighting back, of course, firing at them with ships that used to be Separatist, meaning red laser bolts and blaster cannons, but still…

It wasn't the normal fury -infested air space he usually felt when this close. He tugged experimentally at the force, diving for answers, but it availed him nothing but a fierce urgency. The Dark Side clouded everything.

"I don't sense the Sith over there," he contemplated aloud. "I cannot sense anything," Master Tinn said frustratingly. Anakin opened his mouth to reply and was, as the routine demanded, interrupted by five droid fighters ganging up on a single clone fighter. They spiraled past him, the clone's panic streaking the force after him like a tail of fire. "I'm going to go help them out," the clones were suffering poorly.

What was going on?

"No. Anakin, I need you to have a look around Sidious's ship and see if you can sense anything about his intentions," Obi-wan ordered before Anakin could do anything. "But the clones-" he started to say. Obi-wan interjected with the same tone he had used when Anakin was an apprentice.

"They're doing their job, now you do yours. Go scope," he ordered without preamble. Anakin huffed and released the tidal wave of indignance. That was his master, Always thinking, never feeling.

"Whatever," he growled, as he sped his way towards Sidious's ship, where he hoped something would be revealed.

Wow, slow on reviews! And it isn't just me, either. Where is everyone? Anyway, here's an excerpt from the next chapter, because I'm in a teasing mood today. Here it is: "Calling on the Force pumping in her veins, she extended her born control and latched unto the creatures below, the crystals in wait, calling on them as a chieftain would call upon his tribe for war. For war this was, and had become, and she was ready to die."

~Queen Yoda