I felt the atmosphere tremble.
Stopping abruptly I almost caused Han to drop Dad. He wavered slightly, than caught his balance. Ignoring their fight for balance I said quickly with my voice drenched in tenseness, "Something doesn't feel right."
"What?" Dad asked. He was looking weaker by the second. Han and I were supporting him more and more.
"I don't know. I just…" The feeling came over me again, I shivered. It was a different sensation. I could only describe it as the atmosphere trembling. It was as if the air around me was shaking, making me shiver down to my bones.
"Brin?" Luke was standing before me. "What is it?" More than likely, he knew what I was sensing and pointed it towards feelings from the Force.
"I don't know," I said again. "We're surrounded." The words left my lips before I'd even formed them in my mind.
I received confused looks from everyone.
"How many?" Dad asked.
"I'm not - wait," I closed my eyes, trying to see exactly what was going on. The air stirred again, and with it a number came. "Ten." I shivered.
Out of nowhere the ten men appeared. Blasters firing and whizzing past our ears. Han and I dropped the ground. He popped back up onto his knees, his blaster already out and firing, shooting at anything that moved. I spread myself over Dad; I wouldn't let anything happen to him.
Luke's lightsaber glowed blue, dancing back and forth, deflecting bolts. Jaina and Leia fired their blasters from the ground. Chewie roared as he spun in a circle, like Han was doing, firing at anything wearing a gray uniform.
"Brin!" Jaina yelled.
There was another tremor in the air. My teeth clenched.
Someone grabbed me off of Dad's back, the someone jerked as Han hit him in the back. Again. And then the someone fell to the ground - on top of me. The air was pushed out of my lungs. The smell of burned flesh stung my nose.
There was a groan nearby, scrambling. More blasters firing, Luke's lightsaber buzzing. Then silence. Thick silence. I didn't move a muscle, first thought coming to my mind was that everyone was dead and I was the only one alive.
I pushed the dead body off of me and warily looked around. Smoke drifted between bushes and choked my breath. Luke, Leia, Jaina, Han and Chewie were all gathered around something - or someone. Fear began to grow in the pit of my stomach. It was cold. Muscles tightened and I gripped my hand into a fist tightly. I stumbled over to the group and dropped down beside Luke.
On the ground, choking for breath, was Dad. If I had thought his skin was gray before, it was even more a sickly gray now. A blaster burn had blown and blackened his chest.
The muscles in my stomach tightened even more, curling around each other, making me put a hand on them. The other hand I placed on Dad's forehead, wet with sweat, cold with death. Someone's tears splashed on my hand. At that moment I didn't realize that they were my own. Dad's eyes searched mine hurriedly, he opened his mouth, and it flapped like a fish.
"I'm…sorry," He gasped.
His last breath left his chest; he died with his eyes still buried in mine.
I had no concept of time after that. Was it seconds later? Hours later? Leia put a soft hand on my shoulder she said something, but I wasn't sure what. They led me away from him, somehow I managed to walk to the Falcon. Even though my whole body was numb with shock. A numbness that started with my mind and ended at the tips of my toes and fingers. His gasping face would stay with me forever, haunting me. He said he was sorry. Sorry that he died? Or sorry that we wouldn't be able to do the things fathers and daughters did?
I slept a lot. People came in and talked with me. Again, I didn't know what they said. It was as if I was under water, hearing their voices, but not able to decipher the words.
"Brin? You have to eat. You haven't eaten in two days."
The voice, belonging to Jaina, came so suddenly that I jerked, my heart pounding, my hands shaking. I blinked my eyes rapidly. Jaina was sitting on my bed, a tray of food on her lap. Soup, and a steaming drink.
"Hey," She said, placing the tray on the table next to my bed. "You're back."
"Where have I been?" My words were thick and slurred. I thought that maybe Jaina hadn't understood me and was about to say it again when she replied,
"You've been in shock for two days," She paused. "I'm sorry about your Dad. I don't know what I'd do if I lost mine that way."
At the mention of my dad I bowed my head. A few tears traced a salty track down my cheeks to splash on my blankets. I heard Jaina say as if from far away, "It's okay." She pulled me close to her and cradled my head against her shoulder. A while later, after I'd stopped crying, there was a knock at the door. Luke poked his head in. When he saw me sitting up and sipping the soup, he smiled widely.
"You're back." He sat in the chair that had been placed in front of my bed.
Jaina handed me the cup of tea. I took it slowly. My limbs seemed hard to control, and so everything had to be done slowly. My hand shook a little. Jaina reached out to steady it. After sipping the tea, I asked, "What will happen to me now?"
The thought of those orphanages did not sound fun. I hated them and had absolutely no desire, what so ever, to go back. Jaina and Luke seemed surprised at my question. Realizing that was the last thing they probably wanted to think about, I said softly, "Sorry."
Jaina lurched off of the bed. "She's apologizing! Did you hear that Uncle Luke?" Totally confused, I shrunk back into my pillows. To me she said, "You just lost your dad and your mom, grew up in an orphanage," She softened. "You don't have to apologize."
Luke broke in, "We've all discussed it. You're going to live with Han and Leia. From there you can come to the academy with Jaina, Jacen and Anakin."
"Really?" I asked, unsure what to think at this point.
Luke nodded his head.
I smiled. Don't worry Dad; I'll have a good life.