-This part borrows a little from Conquest (who am I kidding, the whole thing does, it being a Conquest AU and all), so props to the awesomeness that is Greg Keyes. He roxxorz in so many ways it's unreal.
-Don't own Star Wars, or Anakin, or Kyp, or Jaina, or anyone. I just love 'em all.

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Anakin sighed as he entered the hangar, noting immediately the distinct lack of Jaina's Force signature. So she definitely wasn't coming. So much for that; guess I'll have to go to Yavin myself.

He looked up in shock as he finally noticed Kyp Durron, leaning against the side of his own X-wing and studying Anakin closely. Anakin quickly stowed the bag of equipment he'd brought into the small hold of his X-wing, and ran across to where Kyp stood.

"The rest of the Dozen are prepping their fighters just now, almost ready to go," Kyp told him without greeting. "Where's your sister?"

Anakin glanced downwards, then looked up again. "She's not coming."

"She's not?" Kyp sounded surprised.

"She decided that being good is more important to her than saving her friends. And even flying," he added bitterly.

"Really?" Kyp frowned thoughtfully. "She said that?"

"Not in so many words… but that's the general idea."

"Uh huh…" Kyp shrugged. "Guess we'll have to manage without her."

Anakin looked up in shock. "You'll still come with me?"

Kyp grinned. "What, you think I'd bail out on you this late? I'll go, kid, and the Dozen'll come with me anywhere. The Academy's important. Hopefully we'll be able to save it, even without the almighty Jaina Solo to help."

Anakin nodded and opened his mouth to thank him, but was interrupted by the noise of someone running quickly – and loudly – towards the two of them, and a crash as said person skidded not-quite-quickly-enough to a halt in front of Kyp's fighter.

Rubbing her forehead, Jaina turned to face Anakin, ignoring Kyp's indignant complaints about an invisible dent in his ship. "Sorry I'm late, little brother. Had to sort a few things, bribe Jacen not to tell Uncle Luke, you know…"

"You- you're coming?"

Jaina grinned and reached up – mildly surprised to find how high she had to reach – to ruffle his hair. "Can't let you go alone, can I? Someone's got to look out for you, and I'm not trusting him to do that." Jaina turned at that and looked at Kyp pointedly.

Kyp gave up searching for the dent he was sure Jaina had made in his X-wing, and turned round to face the two Solos again. He studied Jaina for a moment, a blank expression on his face. He looked her up and down, tilted his head to the other side as he considered, and then grinned suddenly. "Good to have you aboard, kid. Both of you, go get your fighters prepped and ready to go. Leaving in ten." He nodded towards the other side of the hangar, then turned and climbed up into his own fighter before either sibling could reply.

Jaina glared up at Kyp for a moment, before turning to run to her own X-wing. She wasn't a kid, she was an adult now, and damned if Kyp Durron was going to get away with calling her that.

Damned if he was going to get away with that stupid grin, too. It made her sick. At least, it certainly made something feel strange in her stomach. Probably gag reflex. Ugh, I just want to throw up when I look at him. Infuriating man… Anakin, why oh why did you have to join him? Huh.

He's on our side, Jay, and he's the only one willing to go fight. Fighting for what's right is important, and no one else seems bothered with that.

And Sithspit, did she hate it Anakin read her thoughts like that. Stupid sibling bond.

You know you love me really, sis.

Don't I just… Jaina sighed as she finished the final pre-flight checks on her X-wing, and settled down into the oh-so-comfortable and familiar cockpit. Alright, she was stuck with these guys now and as much as she hated them, they were good. Might as well make the most of it.

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A loud alarm ringing in Anakin's ear brought him out of his trance. Shaking the last remains of it from his mind, he opened his eyes and studied his HUD for a moment. "What's going on, Fiver?"

FIVE MINUTES UNTIL REVERSION TO REALSPACE.

Ah, so they were nearly at Yavin now. Finally. Reaching out with the Force, Anakin felt the reassuring presence of his sister beside him, Kyp Durron on the other side, and the other eleven fighter pilots in formation around them.

For the first time since realising the Academy was in danger, Anakin was nervous. He wasn't quite sure what to expect, what kind of force would be waiting for them. Would the Yuuzhan Vong be there already? Would there be Peace Brigaders, staking out the fourth moon? Or would the system be empty besides the thirty or so attendees of the Academy, and their teachers, Kam and Tionne?

He fiercely hoped it was the last one, that the system would turn out to be empty of any threat, and that he was just over reacting. Yes, that was certainly the preferred option. Unfortunately, Anakin knew it was the least likely. His dreams had never been that wrong before.

Then maybe now would be a good time for them to start being wrong.

Anakin sighed and prepared himself for – what? Anything. Being prepared for anything was always a good idea. As the stars winked back into existence around him, he reached out with the Force to try and sense what, exactly, he had to be prepared for.

"Alright, Dozen, keep an eye out for trouble. I've got nothing on sensors so far, but there's definitely something up. We'll get closer to the fourth moon and check things out from there. If nothing turns up, we'll work it out then."

Kyp's voice was cautious, and Anakin knew he was reaching out, too. He was right; there was something wrong… Like there was something out of place. With his eyes closed and his attention fixed on what he could feel through the Force, Anakin could sense the buzz of life on the jungle moon. He felt the plant and animal life, like dust obscuring his senses, but he could make out the children at the Academy, training and relaxing. He could sense Kam and Tionne, strong as always, instructing the children with help from Master Ikrit. And most of all, he could feel his best friend, Tahiri, burning so bright in his senses that everything else was dull and almost lifeless in comparison.

Thoughts of Tahiri were shoved to the back of Anakin's mind a second later, however, when a sensor sweep – now that they were closer to the moon – revealed a ship, lying in wait a few hundred kilometres away. It was a light transport, Corellian in origin, but without a broadcasting ID. Suspicious.

Anakin heard a click and a brief burst of static as Kyp switched from squadron to general frequency. "Transport, identify yourself and your purpose in the Yavin system."

After a pause, the comm system crackled in reply. "Who do you think you are?"

Anakin sensed Kyp's amusement, but also an underlying determination. "I'm pretty sure I'm Kyp Durron, and this is my Dozen. You want to try telling us who you are now?"

"Miners. Just mining for Corusca gems."

Anakin glanced over to the other ship, frowned and switched to general frequency himself. "What, without a trawler?"

"Kid's right," Kyp agreed. "Where's your trawler?"

There was another silence, longer this time, and then the voice spoke up again, an angrier tone to it. "Fools. We can see the moon now, and the temple. Your Jedi mind tricks have failed you."

"Peace Brigade," someone murmured over the squadron frequency. "Little Brother was right."

Anakin scowled at the comm, annoyed at the call sign Jaina had given him. Even through the worry and grim determination surrounding the squadron now, at the presence of the Peace Brigade, he could sense his sister's amusement.

"Failed us?" Kyp was saying over the comm. "Nothing's failed us yet. You go back and tell your employers that if they want the Academy, they're going to have to come up with something better than you guys."

There was a short, humourless laugh from the comm, and then the snarling voice came back. "You think so? You're a fool, Durron. We'll take you and those Jedi on the surface. You don't stand a chance."

Kyp was, rather inexplicably to Anakin, still extremely amused. "I don't? Go on then. Try it."

Anakin sensed the laser shot an instant before the scarlet beam exploded from the other ship, and felt rather than heard his sister's cry of warning. He looked out of the left side of the viewport, dreading what he might see there – and sure enough, Kyp's fighter was gone.

Instead of being in formation beside him, it was drifting lazily to a halt a kilometre away.

Anakin glared at the X-wing as he felt Kyp's continuing amusement, and a brief reassuring touch through the Force, directed not at him, but Jaina. Reaching out to his other side, Anakin felt his sister, partly worried, but mostly annoyed, and almost laughed. He switched his comm to a private frequency. "You alright, Jaina?"

"If he does that again, I swear I'll kill him."

Anakin laughed as he turned back to the scene at hand. Lines of text were scrolling up his display as Fiver fed him information from sensors, mostly regarding the weapons on the other ship. It wasn't armed very heavily, but the strength of the shields made up for that. It really was a mining ship; it was just the Peace Brigade who had decided to mine something other than gems.

Anakin heard another click as Kyp switched back to squadron frequency, having given up on the other ship. "Okay, Dozen, take them out. They seem to be the only ship in system, but again, keep your guard up. There might be more on the other side of the planet, so be careful. Lead out."

Anakin had to hand it to the Dozen; they were all good pilots. Within minutes, the ship's lasers, sublight and hyperspace drives were disabled, and the cargo hold had been blasted open and was venting atmosphere and something that looked a lot like blasters. The squadron, on the other hand, had sustained no damage other than a minor nick in Seven's left S-foil.

Kyp's voice came over the comm once again. "So you guys going to tell us what you're up to now?"

"Tatooine frozen over?" came the obnoxious reply.

"You guys are…" Kyp's muttering trailed off as suddenly, twelve white blips suddenly appeared on Anakin's sensors, a few hundred kilometres off from the other transport. Scanning them, he quickly saw that they weren't Yuuzhan Vong ships, but a random collection of old fighters, light transports and corvettes. These ships, however, were much more equipped for battle.

"Alright, Dozen," Kyp said decisively, switching back to squadron frequency once again, "we can take them."

"Lead, are you crazy? There's twelve of them, and they're a lot bigger than us, with better shielding and longer range weapons!"

"I know it's a little unfair, Sticks, fourteen to twelve, but we'll play nice. Plus, we'll even up the odds by not having Little Brother."

Anakin ignored his sister's indignation through the Force, and directed a question to Kyp. "Why, where am I going to be?"

"You're going down to the surface, of course. Tell Solusar that we're up here with the Brigade, and that Karrde'll be on the way with help soon. He will be soon, right?"

"Yeah," Anakin replied absently as he brought his X-wing round, snub nose facing the jungle moon. He flicked the switch to close up his S-foils, told Fiver to keep up the sensor sweeps for any more enemy ships, and hit the throttle to speed off towards Yavin 4, the Academy, and Tahiri. "Real soon."

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