Anakin Solo reflects on the past as he awaits the birth of his cousins. But danger lurks just around the corner…danger that could destroy the newborn Jedi forever.
   Disclaimer As always, all other charcters belong to their repective artists. The Skywalker triplets belong to me

Sixteen-year-old Anakin’s comlink beeped and pulled him from his thoughts. He had been studying his Jedi history, trying to keep his mind off the recent events. He glanced at the unit, torn between the need to study and the desire to know what was so important to interrupt him. The past few months had not been easy.
Life had been close to perfect until Chewie died. Anakin’s guilt and frustration over the death of the Wookie had almost destroyed his faith in the Force. He managed to pull his life together. He reconciled with his grieving father, Han Solo, helped defeat the Yuuzhan Vong, and watched as his aunt recovered from her deadly illness. He began to attend the Jedi Academy again, hoping to become an instructor.
His life would change after he met the young Lady Malanza. She had come to Courscant to be tested for Jedi potential. Although the test proved that the daughter of the former Prime Minister had no inherited Jedi potential, she and Anakin had begun the process of falling in love.
What were they now? Anakin wondered. Were they marriage material or was simply a childhood crush that would fade with time. He and Malanza had hardly begun their relationship before she had to return to Bakura for the next semester of school there. He missed her sense of humor and her soft kisses, but he had been busy himself.
Another war had started, this time with an alien race known as the Chiss. The Chiss hadn't been seen for years, not since Jacen and Jaina had been little. The New Republic had discovered that the late Grand Admiral Thrawn had been a member of Chiss and had been protecting their boarders when the Emperor discovered him, years before Anakin's parents had even met. Now his people were out for blood, and this time, they wanted newborn Jedi blood.
Anakin's aunt Mara was expecting Jedi twins. Her health had always been a concern to young Anakin. She had help save his life on several occasions. Not long ago, he had been charged with her protection, shortly after Chewie's death. At the time, Anakin had thought his uncle had wanted to make sure that Anakin was being watched so that he couldn't cause any more deaths, but later, Anakin realized that his uncle trusted Anakin more that he trusted himself. He had willingly given Anakin the responsibilities of protecting his ill wife and knew that Anakin was more than ready to accept the challenge. Now, the Chiss wanted his aunt because of the fragile new lives she carried within her.
Weeks before, Anakin and his older brother and sister and foiled a kidnapping attempt on their aunt when the Chiss had found out where they were hiding. They had stopped the intruders just before they were able to reach the expecting Mara Jade Skywalker.
Anakin shook his mind clear of his thoughts. Thinking about the past wouldn’t help him now. Aunt Mara was due to give birth any day now. He focused his mind inward, drawing strength from his Jedi powers. Not so long ago, he had been forced to face his being a Jedi and not turning to the side his namesake had joined. Anakin Skywalker, or as he had been known, Darth Vader, had joined the evil Emperor Paplatine years earlier, not long after the birth of his own twins, Luke and Leia. He managed to turn away from the Dark Side with the help and love of his son, Luke. He died in the light side of the Force, forever changing the course of history.
Anakin had been forced to bear his grandfather's name and reclaimed the name Anakin and made it his own. He felt the presence of his older brother standing just outside the door. His brother had fallen deeply in love with the young princess of Hapes, Tenel Ka, but they had both decided to hold off on any marriage plans until life settled down. Tenel Ka was fighting her own battles on her home world, trying to retain the peace that her family had fought to keep. Jacen was busy dealing with his Jedi students, teaching them the truth as he saw it.
"They're here." Jacen said, his excitement uncontrolled.
"The twins?" Anakin said, opening the door. His brother was already half way down the hall.
"Aunt Mara went into labor twenty minutes ago. Uncle Luke just got her to the med center."
The two brothers ran down the hall, ducking past the guards that were stationed everywhere. Both Jacen and Anakin had grown up in the palace. Jacen and his twin sister, Jaina, had been born in the palace, just over seventeen years ago. Anakin didn’t live on Courscant until he was about a year old. The underdeveloped minds of Jedi children under the age of two leave them in great danger. Both the twins and Anakin had been taken to the remote planet of Anoth and hidden there until they were two. While his brother and sister went home on time, little Anakin remained on Anoth until the security was breached about six months later. Growing up in the palace was hard on the Solo kids, learning politics and about their Jedi talents was never easy.
Anakin suddenly felt strange. It was as though something was wrong. Anakin stretched out with his powers, trying to sense what was suddenly bothering him. His mind searched the palace, searching for anything that didn’t belong. He could feel his aunt’s pain and felt his uncle trying to help his wife deliver their twin children. He could sense his parents, waiting for the arrival of their new nephews. With them was a strange presence. Anakin ran faster than he had ever thought possible. He was the only one of the Solo kids to actually have had a mind link with the Chiss. They were after the twins…they had to be. Only the possibility of newborn Jedi children would draw a Chiss to the New Republic Capital City of Courscant.
Behind him, Jacen, too, got the message. The brothers ran to the waiting room, pulling out their lightsabers as they did. They reached the waiting room, lightsabers blazing. Anakin followed his senses, searching out the Chiss. Jaina, his older sister, looked at him, somehow knowing something was going on. Anakin’s powers suddenly focused on her. Just as suddenly, she broke into a run from the room. Anakin and Jacen followed her, trying not to lose the Chiss posing as their older sister. They ran as fast as they could, and suddenly rounded a corner and stopped in their tracks. The Chiss was there, holding a viroblade to their sister’s unprotected throat. Jaina had obviously been drugged, judging by her Force sense. While not serious, it would hamper her Force abilities.
“Get back!” The Chiss ordered. As willing as the brothers were to risk their lives to save others, they weren’t about to risk their sister while she couldn’t defend herself. Anakin and Jacen deactivated their lightsabers and stepped back. They watched as the Chiss’ disguise melted off her body, reveling her blue skin and red eyes. The boys could hear their mother’s description of the man who had nearly stolen her newborn twins within a week of their birth. Grand Admiral Thrawn had nearly kidnapped Jacen and Jaina soon after they were born. The attack had come at night, shortly after the twins’ parents, Han and Leia, had gone to bed. Imperial agents tried to break into the Solo’s apartments in order to kidnap the untrained Leia and her newborn children. Han, Leia, and the twins’ nanny, Winter, put up a fight and managed to hold off their attackers, but it was only a matter of time before one of the stray blaster shots hit one of the twins. It was the timely intervention of Mara Jade that saved them all. Raised in the palace by the evil Emperor Palpatine and trained to be his personal Jedi assistant, Mara knew of the hidden passages and secret doorways that honeycombed the palace. She managed to reach the Solo’s apartment ahead of the rescue squad and shot the attacker from behind.
Would that work here? The boys’ mind link was strong, but not as strong as the bond Jacen had with his twin sister. There was no way for them to sneak up behind her and take her out before she had a chance to harm Jaina. What could they do? That time it had worked without much use of the Force. Could they use the Force to distract the Chiss long enough to get her away from their sister? They had to try. Quickly, the boys focused their minds, making up an image of New Republic guards racing down the hallway to the Solo kids’ aid. The Chiss turned to look and for a split second, her attention was off the Jedi Knights. In that second, Jacen and Anakin stuck. Jacen aimed for his drugged sister, pulling her to safety while Anakin dove at the Chiss. The two rolled and wrestled, and suddenly the Chiss was up and running. Anakin ran after her, leaving Jacen with Jaina. The youngest Knight pulled out his blaster as he ran. Since the kids were old enough to have lightsabers, their father had reasoned that they could handle blasters as well. Not as elegant as their lightsabers, the children had humored their father and allowed him to teach them to use them as he had taught them to fly the Falcon. Anakin set his to stun and aimed. The blast hit the Chiss square in the back, knocking her to the ground. Anakin breathed hard, staring at the alien woman.
“Anakin Solo here.” He said into his comlink.
“Yes Jedi Solo.” The answer came back.
“I have a prisoner for detention. We’re in section 329 of the palace. I will be with her until Security arrives.” Anakin ordered. He looked back to see his brother and sister coming down the hall.
“She grabbed me earlier this morning. She hid me in one of the passage ways until she needed me.” Jaina said, still a little wobbly in her feet. Jacen had obviously done his best to remove some of the drugs from his sister’s body. Now she could heal herself. A medical droid was approaching, with the security team right behind it. Jacen walked with her to the medical center so that she could be checked out. Anakin walked back up to waiting room to answer the questions of his worried parents.
The room was quiet when Anakin arrived. His mother put her arms around her youngest son, searching him with her Force abilities to assure herself that he was all right.
“You ok kid.” His father asked him, putting his arm about his wife. Anakin nodded and looked toward the closed door. “You missed it son.” His father told him. Anakin looked at him, shocked.
“Where is Uncle Luke and Aunt Mara then?”
“They have been taken to the recovery room already.” His mother said, smiling tensely.
“Then why are you two still here?” Anakin asked, searching the room with the Force. There were several people still in there; one of them was very young. He looked to his parents for an explanation.
“Your Aunt Mara didn’t have just twins like they thought. She has triplets. The last baby is still fighting for her life.” His mother said, trying to hold back some of her tears.
“Her life?” Anakin said, reaching out again with the Force. The young one he had sensed earlier was indeed a female. He stretched out with the Force, trying to find out what was wrong with her. The Force flowing through her body was strong, but it was the only thing keeping her alive at the moment. She was very ill and needed help as soon as possible.
Anakin was no healer, but he had learned the basics. Carefully, he stretched out toward her frail body, and looked for what was making her so very ill. Near the tip of her brain, near where her primitive conscious lay, was a strange fungus. Anakin held his breath and knew that it was the same fungus that had nearly killed his aunt not more than two years ago. As the doctors had feared since his aunt had become pregnant, the spores had returned to haunt the Skywalker family. The fungus hadn’t spread, but it was close enough to her brain to cause a major problem. The baby girl was too young to fight the infection off on her own and she would die if she didn’t get the help she needed.
Anakin reached into her mind, taking the spores and moving them to her lungs where she could breathe them out. As they came out, Anakin destroyed them before they could harm the doctors or attack the baby again. He had to be careful not to lose any of the spores or they could be having the same problem in the near future. It was stressful work. Anakin was drained from the battle earlier and having to do such delicate work was straining his talents to their limits. He sat down soon after he was done and closed his eyes. He needed to rest. His parents both thought that he was startled by the news of his cousins and drained from the battle earlier. They took him to his room and Anakin fell into a Jedi healing trace soon after.
The next day, Anakin walked to the nursery where the Jedi triplets were and looked into their cribs. His sister was there also, her arm bound. The Chiss had sprained her wrist when she had grabbed her. Anakin looked for the infant girl, who was now breathing on her own. She has a skull cap of reddish gold hair which Anakin was sure would be the same color as her mother’s.
“They named her LeAnne.” His sister said, looking in on the infant. Anakin smiled recalling some of his language studies. The name, LeAnne, meant “Blessed One” in the Calmarian Singing language. He smiled as he put his arm around his sister and rubbed his finger against the infant’s cheek. LeAnne was the perfect name for her.