Chapter 4

Anakin watched as his siblings crashed in to the dark trees ahead of him. "No." He said appalled. This can't be happening! He reached out with the Force to feel them, and only received a small amount of their life energy. He quickly moved his hands, panicking to find his restrain strap, and pulled off his helmet. He reached for the comm and punched in the code to reach his parents. No signal. He smashed the comm back into the console and let out a heavy sigh. Quickly he opened the hatchet and jumped down to the forest floor. He looked around him, soaking in his surroundings and ran towards the two life energies that were slipping away.

A blur of color swept past him as he ran faster and faster through the forest, animals howling and whispering at him as he ran by. It seemed like an eternity for him to see the smoke that filled the purplish sky and he ran faster, still trying to reach the twins. On his way, he looked up to see the battle was still going on up in space. Small specks of light filled the sky as one by one, fighter ships exploded.

Sweat dripped down his face, blurring his vision, stinging his eyes. The wind blew towards him, making it harder to run, but building his determination to reach Jacen and Jaina. He hurtled over roots and rotted tree logs, his pant legs being torn by the native plant, sacos. Sacos had spines and hooks sharp enough to cut through skin and draw blood. He ran harder and harder, not even noticing the cuts on his legs and the blood dripping and staining his orange flightsuit. The air was starting to smell of oil and burning and he knew he was getting close. He was beginning to get tired, but knew he had to go on. Finally, he saw the two damaged ships and gasped. Both ships were torn in numerous places, fire was beginning to start up, and they were both totaled.

"Jaina! Jacen!" Yelling while looking for any sign of them, either in the ship or in the tree. He searched the tree thoroughly and saw an arm. Jaina. Before he could start to climb the tree to try to get his sister out, he heard an engine coming closer to him. He looked up to see that his uncle had followed them down from the battle. He sent up a distress signal to him and climbed as fast as he could to Jaina.

Climbing up the tree, he held onto the deep grooves the bark made. Slipping at least 3 times, he held on tighter. He could smell the oil and see the fire starting up and hurried. He still had to get Jacen. Reaching over a branch and pulling himself up he saw his sister and held his breath. She had blood running down from her head, beneath her helmet and numerous cuts from the glass that shattered when she crashed. Her left arm seemed to be in an odd position and from her waist down, the console was crushing her. Her other arm hanged out of the ship and was covered with cuts. Her orange flightsuit was covered with blood and some dirt and leaves. He shook his head and grabbed for his lightsabre, ready to cut her out.

Igniting his sabre Anakin carefully cut the metal away from his sister. She groaned softly. The orange glow illuminated the cockpit and highlighted Jaina's injuries. Anakin winced at the sight and wondered how much pain she must be in. He only needed about a meter more to go when he heard his uncle.

"Anakin!" Luke ran from the opposite side Anakin had come from. Sweat glistens on his face as he ran towards the crashed ships. Anakin took one look at his uncle's face and saw fear and worry written all over it. "Uncle Luke! I have Jaina, but she's stuck! Jacen is still in his ship!" Anakin called out. He watched as his uncle climb the tree and came up next to him.

Luke took a glance at Anakin before looking at Jaina and wiped his forehead. He quickly turned and his eyes widen. Jaina was badly injured and needed medically assistance immediately. "Anakin, go try to get Jacen out." He said as he took out his sabre from his belt and ignited it, creating an eerie green glow. As he was cutting, Luke worried that the hot molting metal would burn his niece. He finally had enough to pull away from her and he clipped his lightsabre back to the side of his belt. He carefully lifted her out of cockpit, only to see that from her waist down, her body had been crushed. As he lifted her up, he saw something only to add to his worries. Fire. Getting out of the ship, he leaped down from the tree, using the Force to soften his landing.

He glanced up and saw Anakin had succeeded to get Jacen out of his ship, but was struggling to get him down. Luke gently laid Jaina on the forest floor, ran, and jumped up to get Jacen. He reached up for a limb to grab on to and pulled himself up. His muscles straining from the ordeal. He looked at Jacen and his heart stopped. Jacen was just as bad as Jaina, if not worse. Picking him up, he nodded towards the ships. "There's fire starting in the engine. When we get down there, I need you to pick up Jaina and run as far as you can without hurting her anymore than she is. Can you do that?" Anakin nodded almost uncertain. His uncle was depending on him to keep Jaina safe and that's exactly what he was going to do. He won't fail his family again. Not again.

Both Luke and Anakin jumped and Anakin hurried towards Jaina and picked her up as gently as he could. Running fast as he could with her, he followed his uncle. Only after a minute, the two ships exploded, knocking down Anakin and Luke. Luke laid on top of Jacen protectively and Anakin followed his example with Jaina. He felt a hot, burning sensation on his back as the explosion continued over them. Debris landed near them, flying throughout the forest, for almost 5 meters.

Luke carefully got off Jacen and turned him over. Anakin got up and rubbed his back and looked down at his two older siblings. Everything just started to slow down at that point. He watched in slow motion his uncle reach over and grab his comlink, ready to call for an emergency medic. He just stared at Jacen and Jaina, looking at what he had done. If I wouldn't had panicked, Jaina and Jacen would still be ok. They would still be fighting up there and not down here…dying. They're going to die because of me. Because of me! Everything I tried to accomplish to redeem my name, it's all over! My name, Anakin, always meant destruction and now I know who it destroys first, my family. Just like my grandfather, Anakin Skywalker. He destroyed his family in the beginning and then destroyed the Jedi after that. Despair slowing sunk into his head and he barely heard his uncle calling him for help.

"Anakin!" Luke calmly said for the fifth time. His patience never seemed to falter, not even a time like this. He saw the remorse on Anakin's face and called out his name one more time. This time Anakin shook his head and quickly knelt beside Jaina. "I'm sorry," he said almost non-audible. Luke nodded slightly as he took off part of his flight suit. Anakin watched as Luke ripped apart his shirt and used the pieces for bandages. He grabbed for his water canister that was attached to his belt and soaked a couple of the pieces of his shirt and handed them to Anakin. "Carefully wash her wounds." He pointed to her face and arms. "Start with her upper body, and take the helmet off as careful as you can. I already have a med-team on their way down here and I've ask them to inform your parents." Anakin swallowed hard imaging what his mother and fathers' faces were going to look like. They're probably going to blame me, he thought. Shaking off the thought, he carefully took off Jaina's helmet. Her hair was matted with blood and he took his wet cloth and started to wash her wounds.

******

Sitting in the cockpit stunned, Han pushed the comlink to on and turned on the frequencies for all four fighters. "Kids! Luke!" He wait for an answer and heard static from the three frequencies he wanted to hear the most. After a few seconds, Luke answered.

"Han! I'm going after them right now. I'll send up a report when I find them." Then he clicked off and Han watched as Luke disappeared into Munto Codru's atmosphere. He slammed down his fists onto the console, nearly breaking the hyperdrive button. "I know I shouldn't have let them come up here! They're just kids, and I let them come up to fight in a war!" He looked over to his wife and saw a tear come from her eye. He sighed and put his hand on her shoulder and leaned over to whisper to her. "I'm sure they'll be alright, sweetheart." When he didn't receive an answer he looked at her and realized she was shaking. "Sweetheart?" He asked as he put his hands on her shoulders and turned her around to face him. The ship rocked back and forth as bolts him them left and right.

Leia looked so small and fragile in the over-sized co-pilot seat meant for a wookie. He stared into her eyes and saw she was staring straight into space, eyes filled what looked like to him, fear and pain. "Leia! What's wrong?" More blasts hit the haul of the ship and the warning sounds for the shields went screaming. He worked the controls, switching switches off or on, trying to even out the shield generation.

"General Solo. This is Red Leader. You're needed on the surface of Munto Codru. An emergency message was sent from Commander Skywalker from the forest area. He said he needed immediate medical assistance and that he wants you down there if you can get away from this mess. Red Leader out." Han sat in his pilot seat, now knowing what was wrong with Leia. His skin felt cold and his heart almost stopped. Immediate medical assistance…Leia in shock and maybe pain…not know if his children had crashed or not was now answered.

He accelerated to as fast as the Falcon could go and headed for Munto Codru. His heart pounding so hard, he thought it would break his rib cage. Maneuvering through the cloud of vessels, he finally reached the atmosphere and headed down.

******

Luke worked feverishly to stop the externally bleeding on both Jacen and Jaina. He glanced up to see Anakin was tiring. He, himself, was tired and was wondering where the med-team was. He and Anakin had been working almost 1 standard hour, trying to save the twins. As he was wiping away blood from Jacen's eyes, he heard rustling from his left. He reached out with his senses and felt a familiar presence. Plowing through the bushes and trees, Chamberlain and his wyrwulf rushed towards the limp figures. He knelt down between the two and motioned Luke and Anakin to the side. The wyrwulf, a furry six-legged powerful canine, panted as he came up to the side of his master. He wore some sort of a backpack with medic supplies. Two more Codru-Ji came from the brush Chamberlain had entered from. They had stretchers and supplies. These two looked younger than Chamberlain. Their faces were young and smooth and their four arms muscular. Their white hair shined although it was dark. One came and sat beside Jacen and the other beside Jaina.

Chamberlain reached for the supplies his apprentice had waiting for him and working fast to stop the bleeding. Chamberlain remembered these two before. When they were about five years old, they had come here with their mother for a diplomatic mission for peace. The mission was a success, but the New Republic and Munto Codru was already on peaceful agreements. During that time these two, their younger brother, and his wyrwulf were kidnapped. Chamberlain had thought it was a coup abduction, a formalized kidnapping of children of rival political provinces, but he was wrong. Later he found out the children had been kidnapped by the evil Hethrir, leader of the Empire Reborn.

He moved his four hands quickly and told his helpers to put the two on the stretchers and carry them to the ship waiting for them only a kilometer away. "Let's go." He said to his helpers and he turned to Luke and Anakin. "They're in real bad shape. Their chances aren't too high." He said sadly. Luke nodded and followed Chamberlain and his wyrwulf to the ship. Anakin stood there for a moment in fear. It's all my fault…

TBC