Leia finished putting the luggage away in the Falcon and then went into the cockpit where Han was warming the Falcon up. When she entered the cockpit, she noticed Han looking intently at a display on the console. "What's wrong?"
"The Sumnii are barricading the planet." Han shook his head and looked at Leia. "It's overkill. No major trade happens on this planet and it is barely populated. Why send so many ships and barricade the planet?"
Leia frowned and looked at the display. "You're right. Something is very wrong here." Leia sat down in the copilot's seat and closed her eyes. Stretching out to the Force, she fell into it flowed along the currents. Through the Force, Leia saw everything around her differently. She could hear the tiny thrum of the Falcon's engines, the beating of Han's heart.
She stretched her senses beyond the ship to the surrounding area and reached up into space to where the enemy ships were located. Black tendrils of malice snaked in and out the ships and a cold feeling threatened to envelope Leia. The stream of light, Leia was on shifted and warmed even more as it warded off the dark.
The darkness parted before Leia and she was able to penetrate one of the ships. For a moment she paused, listening to the Force as it spoke in a thousand voices and then urged her in the right direction.
Leia continued on, the voices in the Force growing louder and louder with every step. The stream of light she traveled on began to tremble as the dark fought against it and then she found that she couldn't move any farther, the only way she could go was back the way she had come.
Instead of backing down, Leia drew upon the light and threw it against the dark barrier, but the barrier refused to yield. Again, and again, Leia pushed against the dark with the light, but every time it proved fruitless. After trying to break past the barrier one last time, the dark slammed into her and she fell backwards.
With a loud gasp, Leia snapped out of her trance.
"Are you alright?" Han asked in concern.
Leia slowly nodded, her face pale.
Han touched her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze and Leia gave him a weak smile in return. "What did you see, Leia?"
"I didn't see that much, but whatever the reason for them being here, it's not good." Leia answered.
Anakin stopped the speeder near the Falcon and then jumped out. Walking to the other side of the speeder, he took Kyp from Mara. "I'll get the kids into the Falcon. We'll be ready to go as soon as your ship is ready. Obi-Wan will go with you."
Mara exited the speeder and nodded. "That won't take to long. I'll take the lead." Mara responded and hurried off to her ship.
Obi-Wan lifted Zeth out of the speeder and then hopped out to go follow Mara.
With his free hand, Anakin took Zeth's hand and they boarded the Falcon.
Leia was waiting for them as they came up the ramp. "The Falcon is ready to go."
"Good." Anakin answered and handed Kyp to Leia. "Get the kids strapped in, I'll be in the cockpit."
Cuddling Kyp in her arms, Leia closed the boarding ramp and then looked at Zeth. "I'm Leia, what's your name?" She asked gently.
"I'm Zeth, and that's my brother, Kyp."
"It's nice to meet you, Zeth. Let's go get you guys buckled in." She took Zeth's hand and they walked over to some takeoff seats.
Kyp began to wake up as Leia strapped him in and when Leia had fastened the last strap, Kyp began to cry.
Zeth, who wasn't strapped in yet, sat down on the seat and took his little brother's hands. "It's going to be okay, Kyp."
Leia sent soothing waves of the Force to Kyp, and he began to calm down. "Zeth, I'm going to give your brother a light sleep suggestion, okay?"
"I guess." Zeth responded, a little uncertain.
Leia smiled as she gave Kyp a sleep suggestion. "It will be alright, Zeth. Now let's get you strapped in."
Just as Leia tightened the last strap the ship shuddered as it took off. Seconds later the ship jolted to the side. Leia gave Zeth a reassuring squeeze of his hand and then ran to the cockpit.
"Shields are down 97." Anakin told Han.
Han frowned and banked the ship hard to the right as enemy fighters shot a volley of deadly energy at them. "And we're not even off the planet yet. Hold on." Han said as he sent the ship into a roll to the left as he continued to attempt to reach space.
The Flame of Jade dived back down and shot down two of the fighters before beginning its ascent again.
"You would think that your ship had a sign on it that said 'shoot me'." Mara remarked through the comm. system.
"Maybe they have something against the design." Han answered, looking behind him briefly when he heard the cockpit door open.
"Or they are trying to split us up." Leia added as she sat down in an empty seat behind Han.
The two ships flew side by side and then broke away in opposite directions as some more enemy fighters appeared.
"No kidding." Han responded and tilted the ship to the side to avoid more fire.
As suddenly as the enemy fighters had appeared they headed back into space.
Anakin frowned and contacted Obi-Wan through their bond /They're baiting us./
/So it seems. But why wait until we're in space? Wouldn't it be easier to destroy us while we're still in the atmosphere?/ Obi-Wan asked. /This didn't happen at all where we were./
/No, but if you think about it there were no Sith where we were./
/So that means the Sith still have some measure of control./ Obi-Wan said thoughtfully.
/For now, yes, I believe so./ Anakin answered.
/All right then, so what do you think they are up to?/
/I honestly have no idea./ Anakin admitted. /It can't be good whatever it is./
"Here they come again." Han announced as they exited the atmosphere and encountered three squadrons of fighters.
Anakin snapped his attention back to the situation at hand. "Han, why don't you and Leia go man the turrents. I'll take over the flying."
Han did a corkscrew dive and then turned the ship up sharply before letting Anakin take over.
Taking over the controls, Anakin flew the ship in a gigantic circle and then leveled it out. Up ahead, Anakin could see several star destroyers and at least four Sommins. "This could get interesting." Anakin said under his breath as the Sommins approached. Pressing the comm. button, Anakin issued and order. "Mara, don't let the fighters drive you toward the Sommins! Head for the destroyers instead!"
"Like we have a choice." Mara responded in irritation as she destroyed two more fighters.
A chill filled Anakin as he spied something dark, nearly invisible if only it didn't block out the stars, appear in front of them. "This is very bad."
Zanthis strode onto the bridge, his black cape flowing behind him as he walked. Up ahead Magnus was standing in front of the veiwport, his hands clasped behind his back.
Sensing Zanthis approach, Magnus spoke. "We are heading back to Coruscant. The Emperor has returned there and has commanded us to meet with him."
Zanthis nodded and stood beside Magnus. "Has there been any sighting of the Jedi yet?"
"No. They have remained elusive. Lixion has also been evasive. Apparently he had some help in his escape." Magnus turned his head to look at Zanthis when there was no reaction or response. His eyes gleaming with suspicion, Magnus asked, "I would think you would be eager to see him captured and executed?"
"The Jedi are our first priority." Zanthis answered, his face passive. "The Emperor would agree with me."
Magnus looked back out the veiwport, a frown on his face. Finding the Jedi were a high priority, yes, but he wished that Zanthis would make finding Lixion his first priority instead. The Emperor was not going to be pleased.
Zeth squeezed his eyes closed and covered his ears with his hands, but there was nothing he could do to shut out the noise of the battle going on outside the ship and to stop feeling the ship roll as it dodged missiles and the ship was pounded by laser blasts.
The ship shudder violently and Zeth hoped they were entering hyperspace, but that was not the case as he heard a screech as the ship grazed something. He heard someone curse loudly and Zeth opened his eyes to see a guy climb down the ladder where the turrents were located and run to the cockpit.
Zeth wrapped his arms tightly around himself and bit down on his lower lip. He felt sick to his stomach and he struggled not to cry. A whimper managed to escape his lips as a particularly hard jolt sent the ship careening sharply to the left.
A console, in the area he was in, exploded as it short-circuited and flames began to lick hungrily at it. He heard heavy thuds against metal and looked in time to see Leia climb out of the turret room and then grab a small fire extinguisher to put out the fire.
An explosion came from where the turrents were just as Leia put out the fire. Leia turned to look where she had just come from, her face pale. Hurriedly putting the fire extinguisher back, Leia headed for the cockpit.
Zeth looked at his baby brother, still asleep, unaware of what was happening around him. Unbuckling himself, Zeth left the safety of his seat and stumbled toward the cockpit as the ship shuddered around him.
A short distance from the cockpit door, Zeth could hear shouting coming from inside.
"We've lost weapon control!"
"Reroute power from the weapons to the shields!" A man ordered.
"They have the transports coming from the planet trapped!"
"There's nothing we can do about that, we would still have to break free of the perimeter if we were to go and help them."
"There has to be something…."
Zeth missed the rest that was said as he was slammed into the opposite wall as some kind of wave swept through the ship. Falling onto the floor, Zeth laid there, dazed and aching all over.
"What in the nine corellian hells was that!" A man's voice exclaimed.
That was the last thing Zeth heard as he fell into unconsciousness.
Xanatos swore loudly when he saw the battle taking place around the planet. Double-checking to make sure that the cloak was still in place, Xanatos attempted to come up with the plan. From his readouts, he could see that the friendly ships were heavily outnumbered.
"They need an escape route, but what can one ship do against hundreds of enemy ships?" The answer easily came to him, but he was unsure if he could accomplish it enough so that it would be significant.
Taking a deep breath, Xanatos put his trust into the Force and closed his eyes. He gathered the Force around himself and shaped it into a ball of pure light. He continued the process, making the gathered energy of the Force grow. It would be tricky doing this inside a ship, and even trickier to send it into the enemy ships. He wouldn't be able to do what he was about to do for very long and so he hoped that the friendly ships would quickly see the opportunity and get out of there.
Once he reached the limit to which he was able to hold the massive amount of pure Force energy that now engulfed his ship, Xanatos directed the energy to the enemy ships. As he was doing this, Xanatos felt another presence join him in his efforts, and then another one, and then one other, this one shone even more brightly in the Force than the other presences.
Together they caused the light to confuse and frighten the enemy while they let the friendly ships escape. One by one the transports got passed the enemy ships and entered hyperspace until only two ships were left.
When the last two ships finally jumped to hyperspace, the presences that had joined Xanatos disappeared. Xanatos quickly reoriented himself and sent his ship into hyperspace before the enemy could recover.
Xanatos relaxed once they were safely in hyperspace. That had been an interesting mission and he was curious about the Force presences he had felt aid him. Shaking his head, Xanatos smiled. Whoever they were, they were safe now and now he could go home to his wife and children.
Zeth jerked awake as he sensed something familiar, but then it disappeared as the ship jumped to hyperspace. Standing up on wobbly legs, Zeth entered the cockpit. When he saw Leia, Zeth walked over to her and she picked him up and sat him on her lap.
"You should have stayed buckled in until we told you it is okay to get unbuckled." Leia lightly scolded as Zeth laid his head on her chest and closed his eyes.
"Sorry. Was afraid." Zeth mumbled.
Leia gave him a gentle squeeze and rubbed soothing circles on his back. "We're safe now. There is nothing to be afraid of."
Tears escaped Zeth's eyes as he nodded. Feeling safe and secure in Leia's arms, Zeth let go of his bottled up emotions and began to cry.
Anakin silently watched as Leia comforted Zeth and then a few minutes later he looked back at the flashing lights on the console and then at the datascreen that was revealing the results of the ship's diagnostic.
"She's in bad shape, but we should be able to make it to base." Han pointed at the screen that listed some damaged systems. "We should get to work fixing this one first."
Anakin nodded in agreement. "I agree." Unbuckling himself, Anakin stood up and left the cockpit, followed by Han.