Disclaymr:

Helo. My name is Jaina Solo and I’m 5. Me and my brothr Jacen had an adventur and sumwun rote it down so you culd reed it. Pleaz undrstand that the persun hoo rote it dussint wont to mayk any munny off it, and that they just did it for fun. Also, all of the carrikters in this storey are the proppity of George Lucas.   they’re just borroed, and he can hav them bak now that we’ve finnushd. Ther are sum orriginnil carrikters, and they are the proppity of the orthur.   Pleaze dont coppy them.   We hope you lyk our storey.

Love from Jaina Solo

Five year-olds Jacen and Jaina Solo climbed nervously into the airbus that would take them to their very first day of school.

“Remember, you’re Jacen and Jaina Duo now, kids.” Leia whispered to them as she ushered them in. “We can’t have people knowing who you are. Now, be good.”

And she gave each a pat on the head as they climbed in, and watched affectionately as the bus pulled away, with her two babies’ faces pressed longingly against the windows.

Inside the bus, the five-year-olds held on to each other tightly, both afraid of all of the unknowns that lay ahead of them. But it was some small comfort, when they got off, to see hundreds of other children playing in the courtyards, swinging on the swings and making castles in the sand.

All of a sudden, a huge noise sounded from somewhere ahead of them.

“What was that?” Little Jacen asked, his eyes wide with fright.

“It was the bell, dummy.” A boy said, pushing past the younger two. “It means you have to go to your classroom and let your teacher put smart stuff into your brains, so that you won’t be dumb forever.”

“We are not dumb!” Jaina said fiercely.

“Come on, Jaya!” Jacen said to his twin. “We’ll be late and get in trouble!”

Hand in hand the twins ran towards the door, and were ushered into their classroom by the teacher.

“Class, we have two new students with us today.” The teacher said. Jacen and Jaina looked out at a sea of unfamiliar faces, all seated at their desks. “Their names are Jacen Duo and Jaina Duo. They’ve just turned five so they’re going to be in our class this year.” She turned to the twins. “You can sit there.” She said to Jaina, pointing to an empty desk. “And you, Jacen – there.”

Jaina tried not to cry – she had wanted so badly to sit next to Jacen. But it couldn’t be helped.

“Today, we’re going to learn addition.” The teacher said. “Let’s start with something simple. Who knows what one plus one equals?”

Jaina’s hand shot up. “Two, miss.”

“Very good.”

“And what about one plus seven?”

“Eight.”

The teacher raised an eyebrow. “That was a snappy response, Miss Duo, for someone who has never been to school.”

“Oh that’s nothing.” Jaina said. “Both me and Jaysa can add up lots of big numbers.”

“Yeah, our Mama taught us.” Jacen added.

“Is that so?” Said the teacher, frowning. “Well, you’d better come and show us then. Up the front, quickly, both of you!”

Jacen and Jaina got up and walked to the front of the room.

“Hold out your hands.” She said, and the twins did so. From out of nowhere a ruler appeared and began to descend upon Jacen’s outstretched palm. WHOOSH! Where his palm had been there was now only empty air.

The teacher frowned still harder, and immediately the twins decided they didn’t like her. “Children, when I ask you to hold out your hands for a punishment I expect you to do so!”

The little hands came out again, and this time the ruler found it’s mark.

SNAP! SNAP!

“That was for lying.” The teacher said icily. “And for boasting. It is very naughty to make things up, children – I will expect much better from you two in the future. Now go and sit down.”

Tears streamed down their faces, and Jacen made his way back to his seat, but he stopped when he realised that Jaina hadn’t followed him. She still stood in front of their teacher, tears of anger and humiliation, rather than shame, streaking down her cheeks.

“That – was – un – fair!” She bit out.

The teacher’s steely blue eyes hardened, and some of the other children gasped.

“We can add – we weren’t lying or boasting.” She stood up straighter, and wiped a few tears away with her sleeve. “Test me, teacher. I’ll show you.”

The teacher turned to face the rest of her class. “Class, I want to show you what happens to little children who lie – it is very sad for them when they can’t do what they said they could. So I’m going to test our new classmate Jaina, and I want you all to learn a lesson from this.”

She turned to the data board, and wrote in large, clear numbers:

    3627
+   2450
________

Then she handed Jaina the data-scribe, and gestured to the board. Jaina gazed for a moment at the huge numbers. She knew that there was no way she could answer the question. Their Mama had taught them big numbers like twenty-three plus forty – and even those were hard to figure out. But not huge numbers like the ones their teacher had written. Jaina bit her lip stubbornly. No way was she going to let the nasty old teacher win.

Carefully, she focused on the teacher’s mind. It was a weak mind – easy to read and probably pretty easy to influence – although she didn’t dare try the latter.

---Ha!--- The teacher was thinking. ---Stupid child – she’ll never get the answer to this one. Of course, a child of her age could NEVER be expected to work out that the answer is 6-0-7-7, it’s FAR to hard, but it will teach them all a lesson.---

Jaina grinned. ---Thankyou, teacher.--- She thought gleefully, and in large careful numbers she wrote under the question:

6 0 7 7

The teacher gasped.   “How did you do that?”

“I just used my head.” Jaina replied. It wasn’t really a lie.

* * *

“That was a bad thing to do, Jaya.” Jacen said at lunch time.

“She deserved it, Jaysa.” Jaina replied.

“It was still bad. Uncle Luke wouldn’t like it…”

“Oh I don’t care. Our teacher is a meanie!” Jaina said stubbornly. “I’ll use the Force on her all I like – and see how she likes it when people are mean.”

“Hey, dumb-dumbs.” Said a loud voice.

Jacen and Jaina looked up.

“You again.” Jaina said. It was the same boy who had called them dumb earlier on.

“That’s right, it’s me!” Said the boy. “Have you got anything nice for lunch today, dummies? Feel like sharing?”

“No way!” Jacen piped up innocently. “We got mema-bars today, and they’re so nice we would never want to share them!”

“Mema-bars, aye?” The older boy’s eyes lit up. “I like mema-bars. Hand them over.”

Jaina shook her head. “Nuh-uh. Come and get them.”

Jacen looked at his sister in surprise.

The bully’s face scrunched up in anger and he took a menacing step towards the twins.

“You can have mine.” Jacen said quickly, suddenly deciding that giving up his lunch would be less painful than keeping it. He held the bar out to the glowering older boy.

The bully grinned triumphantly and took the bar. But no sooner had he gotten a grip on it, when somehow it slipped from his grasp and fell to the ground.

Exasperated, the bully bent to pick it up. However, as soon as his hand came near the mema-bar, it skipped a few inches away from him.

The boy frowned and reached for the bar again. This time it jumped noticeably in the air, sailing over half a metre away from him. The bully dove on his prize in a rage, but the mema-bar was impossible to catch. It sailed high in the air and hung, suspended tantalizingly close but just outside of his reach.

The bully made one final furious growl, and reluctantly gave up. He slunk away, humiliated and angry.

Jaina giggled and let the mema-bar drift slowly down and back into Jacen’s lunch-case.

Jacen giggled too – he couldn’t help it. It had been so funny to see the big bully jumping and pouncing, trying to get the mema-bar. Then he turned serious brown eyes onto his sister, who was still giggling.

“He looked pretty mad, Jaya.”

“He sure did!” Jaina crowed.

“He might do something pretty mean to us now, Jaya.”

“Maybe.” Jaina said, when at last she had stopped laughing. “But he can’t do anything that bad to us.”

Another little girl walked over to the twins. “Are you talking about mean old Markus?” She asked, having overheard the last part of their conversation.

“I guess so.” Jaina replied. “He was bullying us – he called us dumb and then he tried to take my brother’s mema-bar.”

The girl’s eyes widened a little in fear. “You didn’t make him angry, did you? I hope you didn’t.”

“Well he did get sorta mad.” Jacen admitted.

“Uh-oh.”

“Oh, he’s not that mean.” Jaina said. “Anyhow, lets forget about him.”

“You’re those two new kids, aren’t you?” The girl asked. “The twins?”

Jaina nodded. “Uh-huh. I’m Jaya and this is Jaysa.”

“Well I’m Serene.” The girl smiled at them. “I thought you two were Jaina and Jacen?”

“That’s what I said.” Jaina replied.

“Oh, ok.” Serene looked up suddenly. “Uh-oh. Here comes Markus with his big brother. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

The twins picked up their things and followed Serene, who led them around a corner, and directly in front of the watchful eye of a duty teacher. “He won’t dare do anything to us here.” She reassured them. “Not while Miss Jemslaw is watching.”

The rest of the day was a bit boring for Jaina, who had had an exciting start. Serene took good care of them – showed them where to go and what to do, and helped them avoid Markus and his brother. Jacen was glad – he’d had quite enough excitement for one day!

As the twins boarded the airbus to go home, Jaina whispered to Jacen, “Jaysa, don’t tell Mama about Markus or the mean teacher, okay?”

“You mean don’t tell Mama that you used the Force without Uncle Luke being there!”

“That is not what I mean!”

“Is too.” He glanced up at his older (by five minutes) sister. “Don’t worry Jaya, I won’t tell Mama. But you’d better not do it again.”

* * *

The twins could tell the moment they walked in the door that something was bothering Papa. It wasn’t hard to tell, because he didn’t have any shields. Mama looked worried, but she wasn’t sensing like much at all.

“What is it?” Jacen asked. “Did something happen to Ani?”

“No, no, kids, everything’s fine.” Their Mama soothed. But they could both tell that it wasn’t.

“Come and sit down, kids.” Their Papa said. “Your Mama and I want to talk to you about something.”

Jacen and Jaina put down their school bags and sat on one of the couches in their lounge.

“Guys, the Noghri intelligence are a bit worried about you at the moment.” Their Papa said.   “They think someone might be wanting to kidnap you.”

Jaina gasped. “Cool!”

Jacen elbowed her. “Not cool, Jaya.” He whispered.

“Oh.”

“Kids, this is a very serious matter.” Their mother said. “We don’t want to keep sending you to school unless we’re sure that it’s safe.”

Their father nodded. “That’s right. So we’ve made a decision.”

Their mother got up and went over to a nearby trunk. She came back holding two lightsabers.

The twins stared at the weapons, mouths agape.

“Now you both know what we’ve told you about lightsabres.” Their mother said. “They’re extremely dangerous – that’s why you do all of your lessons with Uncle Luke with practice sabers.”

The twins nodded.

“But if there is a threat, we don’t want you to be unprepared, so we’re going to let you take these to school.”

Jacen and Jaina gasped.

“BUT!” Said their father, before they could say anything, “ You may only use them if there is a real threat. And you’re not allowed to show them to any of your friends. Do you understand?”

The twins nodded again.

“Okay.” Said their mother, and she gave them each a saber.  “I’ve brought you new bags with secret compartments in the bottom, because your teachers certainly won’t appreciate knowing that you bring these to school. They’re force-activated, so only you can turn them on. If anyone finds them, you must pretend that they’re just toys.”

Jacen fingered his saber reverently. “Are we real Jedi now, Mama?”

“No, love – you still have heaps of training left to go. But you will be one day, alright?”

“Okay.”

* * *

The twins were terribly excited about being allowed to carry real lightsabers. What a pity they couldn’t tell anyone – it almost spoiled it.

“I hope there is a kidnapper!” Jaina said, as they walked down the hall towards their class.

“Why?”

“So we can try out our new… Oof!” Jaina scowled at her brother. “Why’d you do that?” She demanded.

“We’re not supposed to say that word out loud!” Jacen hissed. “Come on, we’ll be late.”

But they weren’t. They sat down at their seats, and Jaina vowed to be as good as she possibly could. After all, real Jedi were VERY good, weren’t they…

“We’re having our class talent quest today!” The teacher said. All of the students grinned. “Remember, this will go on your reports so it has to be something fun!”

Jaina put up her hand. “Miss, Jaysa and I didn’t know about the talent quest because we’re new.”

“Well, if you’re new then you should make it your business to find out what you’ve missed, shouldn’t you?” The teacher said sternly. “Never mind. You and your brother can do your acts after morning break, so that you have some time to think about them, alright?”

Jaina didn’t really watch any of the other acts – she was too busy trying to think what she could do when it was her turn. Serene’s act was good – she showed the whole class how to fold bits of paper so that they looked like air-speeders. Jaina was glad because it meant that Serene would get a good mark.

“What are you going to do for the talent competition?” Jaina asked her brother at morning break.

“I don’t know!” Jacen wailed. “It’s not fair, she didn’t give us enough time!”

“Well, I know something you can do.” Jaina said, with a twinkle in her eye.

“What?”

“I can do it too.” Jaina hinted.

“What is it?”

“You won’t want to…”

“Just tell me, Jaya!”

Jaina leaned over and whispered in his ear.

“No, Jaya! No Force-using. It’s bad!”

“Why? The teacher was unfair again, so we can be unfair back.”

“Well I’m not going to.” Jacen set his jaw stubbornly.

“You don’t have to.” Jaina replied innocently. “Unless you can’t think of anything else.”

“I’ll think of something else!”

* * *

The bell rang and the students all filed in.

“Well, we’re going to hear from Jaina Duo, now, class.” The teacher said. Jaina thought she looked sneaky – like she was going to give Jaina a bad mark.

Jaina walked up the front. “Hello.” She said to her classmates. “I’m going to show you a fun trick that I can do. I think it’s a talent.”

The kids looked on expectantly. This was the girl who wasn’t afraid of the teacher. What would she do?

“It’s a special trick.” The little girl went on. “Very few people can do it, and I’m one of them. What I’m going to do, is I’m going to guess where this pen is.” She held up the item. “I’m going to put it down here on the floor, and I want one of you to come up and take it, and then hand it to someone else. You can do what you like with it, as long as one class member has it. After awhile, I’ll tell you exactly who has it.”

She put the pen down on the ground, and then turned to face the board. “I’m going to count to ten.” She said. And she did. “One – two – three – four – five – six – seven – eight – nine – ten.”

Slowly she turned around. “Has somebody got it?” She asked the teacher.

The teacher nodded curiously. “Yes, someone has, Jaina. Who is it?”

Jaina closed her eyes. This was the hard part! Gently she reached out towards the audience. Most of the kids felt curious – some of them disinterested. But one child in particular, a blue haired alien who’s species she couldn’t identify, had a different kind of sense. The child had that Force ‘stench’ that surrounds a person when they’re lying, or when they’re hiding something.

Jaina smiled and walked over to the girl. “You.” She said. “You have my pen.”

The girl smiled. “You’re right, I do!”

Jaina grinned and retrieved the pen.   “Does anyone want me to do it again?”

The teacher nodded. “I’d like to see you do it again, please.” She reached into her desk. “But with my pen, if you don’t mind. I can’t help thinking your one must be booby-trapped.”

“Sure.” Jaina answered. And she repeated the experiment.

“This time kids, we must be very quiet so that Jaina can’t hear us.” The teacher said as Jaina stood with her back to them all. The room grew very still.

When Jaina got to ten, she turned around. Most of the kids were grinning, and once again she reached out her sense. It wasn’t obvious who had the pen, she realised with growing alarm. In fact, it didn’t seem as though anyone had it.  ---Jaya.--- She heard in her head.

---Where is it, Jaysa?--- She thought at him frantically.

---The teacher hid it to try and trick you.--- Jacen sent. ---It’s in the white cupboard over there – on the top shelf.---

Jaina smiled thankfully and retrieved the hidden object.

“How did you do that?” The teacher asked her in bewilderment.

“It’s a trick, I can’t tell you how or that would ruin it!”

“But the point of our talent quest is for us to learn to do new things, so you have to teach us how to do your trick.” The teacher said, with a warning tone in her voice. “Just like Serene taught us to make paper air-speeders and Robbie taught us how to make shooters out of wild grass.”

“Okay.” Said Jaina, thinking fast. “It’s quite hard to teach though. Really all I do is guess, and normally it’s right.”

The teacher frowned. “If you won’t answer the question, Jaina, then I’ll have to fail you.”

Jaina sighed. “Well I guess you’ll have to fail me then, because I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Very well.” The teacher said at last. “Let’s hope your brother doesn’t do as poorly as you have done. Come up here, Jacen.”

Jacen came up the front and a panicked look flickered across his face as he passed Jaina, who was on her way back to her seat.

“Just do what I suggested!” Jaina whispered.

“Worked well for you!” Jacen shot back.

He stood in front of the class, and finally took 3 small bouncy balls out of his pocket.

“I can juggle.” He said simply, not being overly good with speeches.

He began throwing the balls, slowly at first but then with growing speed. The children in the front rows gasped, while the back ones strained to see better.

Jaina grinned – he was using the Force, but he was smarter than her because it didn’t look like he was using the Force. His trick would be much easier to explain. He could just say that he’d practiced heaps, because in reality what he was doing was possible – even though it was hard.

Jacen juggled the balls for a few moments – he made it look so easy that Jaina was proud of him. Then he caught them and smiled at the teacher.

“That was brilliant, Jacen!” The teacher praised him. “How long did it take you to learn to do that? Can you do more than just three balls?”

“I could probably do more.” He said shyly, ignoring her first question.

“Excellent!” The teacher said. “Truly spectacular! Let’s all give Jacen a big clap, class!”

And the class clapped as Jacen walked back to his seat and sat down.

Then the teacher carried on with the rest of the children’s ‘talents’. “Now we’ll hear from…”

All of a sudden there was a loud hammering at the door. Expecting an impatient office runner, the teacher flung the door open and said sternly, “No need to hit the door down!”

But it wasn’t a student on the other side. It was an alien with blue skin, blue-black hair, fiery red eyes – and a blaster!

Jacen and Jaina tensed. Was it the kidnapper that their Mama and Papa had been worried about?

But the man didn’t look at them – instead he only pointed his blaster at the teacher.

“Keep your ankle-biters quiet.” He hissed, gesturing to the frightened children.

The teacher nodded mutely, and the robber turned to the children. “Everyone sit still and shut up or I will kill your teacher.”

The children didn’t say a word – they were too frightened to talk anyway.

“Did your teacher teach you anything about politics, children?” The man asked in a low voice. “Did she teach you that the New Republic isn’t the real government – that it’s just a rebellion – a bunch of traitors trying to rule?”

None of the children answered.

“Did she tell you who should be at the center of galactic control right now?

Still no response.

“I’ll tell you who should. Grand Admiral Thrawn.”

Jaina gasped. She couldn’t help it. And every eye turned to look at her.

“You don’t like Grand Admiral Thrawn, little girl?” The alien asked, taking a step towards Jaina’s desk.

Jaina took a deep breath. She was very scared, but she wasn’t a liar or a traitor to the Republic. “My Mama says he’s a bad man who has killed lots of innocent people. He doesn’t deserve to be ruling anything.”

The man scowled. “And have you heard of the infamous Luke Skywalker, little girl?”

“Yes, I have.” She was quite proud of herself for not adding anything else to that comment.

“Did you know that he has killed billions of innocent people?”

“He has not.” Her Uncle Luke would never kill anyone unless he absolutely had to – he was much too kind.

The alien snorted. “I didn’t come here to argue with a three-year-old.”

“I’m five.”

The alien’s eyes narrowed.

“So what did you come here for?”

Suddenly the stranger smiled. “Well that’s a good question, little girl. And I’ll answer it for you: I came here, along with seventeen accomplices, to hold this entire school hostage until the New Republic agrees to hand complete control of the Coruscant system over to Grand Admiral Thrawn.”

Jaina’s heart started beating double-time. ---We’ve got to do something, Jaysa.--- She thought at her brother.

---I’ll help you, Jaya.---

Jaina smiled. Her brother was scared most of the time, but he could be brave when he needed to be.

Reaching down into her bag’s hidden compartment, Jaina pulled out her lightsaber and slipped it into her jacket pocket. The man was sitting in her teacher’s chair, and was staring off into space as he prepared for a long wait while the Republic negotiated with his boss.

Jaina stood up and immediately the blaster was trained on her. She gulped. Being brave was easier in your day-dreams, she decided.

“What are you doing?” The intruder barked gruffly.

“Well, it’s my turn at the talent competition.” She lied. “If I don’t have my turn now then my teacher will fail me.”

The man rolled his eyes. “This is a hold up, little girl. If you make a wrong move, I’ll start killing people. Isn’t that more important than a grade?”

A tear found its way down Jaina’s cheek. “But if I fail then my Mama will be so cross and I’ll get in trouble!” She wailed.

“Shut up kid!” The man barked.

But Jaina just kept crying.

“Alright, already!” The intruder declared finally, when Jaina would not stop. “Enough with the sniffling! Get up here and do your act, and then stop crying!”

Inwardly, Jaina smiled. This man obviously didn’t know the first thing about children. She got up and went to the front to do her act, for the second time that day.

She opened her mouth to speak, but then stopped.

“What’s the matter now?” The alien asked irritably.

“Sir, my teacher won’t be able to give me a proper grade, because she hasn’t got a pen and she can’t possibly remember everything with that blaster pointed at her head.”

By this stage the alien was very annoyed. “Fine!” He snapped, and he turned his attention away from the class for a moment to rummage through their teacher’s drawer, looking for a pen.

This was all the distraction Jaina needed. With the intruder’s attention momentarily diverted, she summoned the Force and grabbed the blaster out of the man’s relaxed fingers.

“What the…” The man roared, as his weapon jumped into the hands of a five-year old and miraculously changed direction.

Slowly he raised his hands as, with practiced ease, the little girl set the blaster to high power and aimed it precisely at his head.

“That was one of my talents.” She said softly. “Another of them is target shooting.”

The man’s eyes darted around, searching for a way to defend himself. Out the corner of her eye, Jaina could see her teacher’s wide open eyes and gaping mouth. It almost made the whole experience worthwhile!

“Now release my teacher.” Said Jaina, as the man still had her teacher by the neck.

With the teacher out of firing range, Jaina took a step closer to her target.

“You wouldn’t kill anyone.” The man bluffed. “You’re just a kid – you can’t even point the thing straight.”

In reality, of course, the weapon was pointed exceedingly straight. Nevertheless, Jaina glanced down at it in confusion, and in an instant the criminal had pulled another weapon out of his clothing. The two faced each other, each looking down a deadly blaster barrel.

“Drop the blaster, girl, you can’t win.”

“If I die, I’ll take you with me.”

“You’re a stupid kid – if you don’t die today you’ll get yourself killed soon enough.”

“Maybe.”

Jaina’s lightsaber inched out of her pocket, and using the Force she brought it round to her back. Taking a deep breath, she ducked down, threw the blaster aside and activated the lightsaber in its place all at once.

Searing hot energy burned through the air just above Jaina’s head as the man fired reflexively in response to her movement.

The sight of the lightsaber halted him only momentarily, until in a panic he began firing haphazardly at Jaina. The little girl deflected all of his shots – nine or ten in a row before the man realised that his efforts were in vain.

Deciding to try a different tact, the man turned around and started firing randomly into the class. The children screamed, but none of the bolts found their mark.

Jacen, true to his word, was there. He was, quite literally, ‘backup’.

His attention trained on Jacen, the man didn’t notice Jaina creep towards him – had no idea of her approach until a thick school shoe collided with his blaster-hand and sent the weapon soaring over children’s heads and into the fish-tank at the back of the room. There it sank, by all accounts useless, (except as an aquarium ornament).

But the tables were turned. A lightsaber at his back, and one at his front, the alien was cut off!

His red eyes narrowed and his hand nervously clenched his blaster. “Sith Spawn!” He cried out, whirling around and glaring angrily at Jaina.

“My Mama says that’s a naughty word!” Jaina said fiercely.

The alien gazed at the throbbing green weapon in Jaina’s little hands. “Is that…?”

“A lightsaber?” Jaina finished for him.

Jacen came to stand beside her. “Yup - slices through just about anything.”

“Sure. Like they give real lightsabers to little kids.” The alien said scornfully. “Lightsabers are Jedi weapons, kids. You should never pretend to be something you aren’t.” He started towards them. “I bet they’re just clever holograms.”

The man was getting very close, and neither of them really wanted to kill him, although it was beginning to look as though they might have to.

Jacen turned to Jaina and whispered something in her ear. “Sounds like a good plan.” She agreed softly. It was a bit risky because neither of them were strong enough to do it alone, but it just might work.

Jacen focused on the blaster. He wasn’t nervous about this trick – he’d done it only months before when they’d been kidnapped by Lord Hethrir. Using his mind, Jacen focused in and in, smaller and smaller. Soon it wasn’t a blaster anymore, or even metal. It was just millions and millions of tiny molecules. They were vibrating softly, as most molecules do in the solid phase – but Jacen knew how to make them move faster!

With Jacen’s energy focused on speeding up the molecules in the intruder’s blaster, Jaina was in charge of defense. With their lightsabers still raised, the alien seemed reluctant to come close and hung back, scowling at the children.

Suddenly he looked down at his hand – confusion spreading across his face. Stupefied, he stared in amazement as the barrel of his blaster began to droop, melting because of the energy that Jacen was feeding into its millions of tiny molecules.

The entire class stared on – more intrigued than scared, as heat slowly spread through the blaster.

The alien yelped as the searing hot metal burned his hand, and the entire class jumped. He dropped the weapon, and it fell with a soggy thud to the floor. By this stage it was no more than a silvery-gray puddle. At last, Jacen released his mental grip on it, and within seconds it was hardened – although no longer recognizable as the blaster it had once been.

“Sorry about the mess, teacher.” Jacen said softly. And the twins deactivated their lightsabers, knowing that there was no need to use them now.

But Jaina wasn’t ready for apologies yet, she was already on to stage two of their plan. She glanced at her brother, and he nodded slightly.

Stretching out their palms towards him – they both pushed with all their might. The intruder received one final shock as his entire body flew across the room and slammed into the opposite wall. The grim faces of two five-year-olds were the last things he saw before he succumbed to the blissful unconsciousness that inevitably comes when one has been repeatedly shocked, threatened with lightsabers, kicked, burned and slammed into a wall within the space of a half-hour.

The entire class burst into applause as a once dangerous threat slumped to the ground in the corner of their classroom.

Jaina walked up to their teacher, who sat trembling behind her desk. “It’s okay, Miss.” She said soothingly. “The bad guy’s gone, now. He can’t hurt you anymore.”

“Stay away from me!” The teacher shrieked. “Don’t you come any closer!” And she backed away from Jaina in a panic.

Jaina frowned. “Please, you don’t need to be scared of me!” She said. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

But the teacher wouldn’t budge, so Jaina gave up. “Listen to me!” She said to her classmates. “We’ve won this small battle, but this man said he had seventeen friends with him today. So we’ve got to help the rest of the classes get out!”

“But what can we do?” A small girl at the front piped up.

“Yeah – we don’t have magic powers like you do!” Another insisted.

“No, you don’t.” Jaina agreed thoughtfully. “What do you think, Jaysa?”

Jacen frowned, and rubbed his head in thought. Suddenly he beamed. “I know!” He said gleefully. He turned to his classmates. “I’m going to need two volunteers!”

None of the kids stood.

“Please, we can’t do this by ourselves!” Jacen insisted.

Reluctantly, two kids stood up.

“Great!” Jacen praised. “Now, you two, I need you to creep – very quietly over to the janitor’s cupboard, and turn off all the electricity. Can you do that?”

The kids nodded. “Yeah, but what if there are bad guys patrolling the halls?”

“Me and Jaya will worry about that.” He turned to his sister. “Go see if that bad guy has any more blasters.”

Jaina nodded and stalked over to their fallen opponent. “Two more.” She said as she returned. “He was certainly well prepared.”

“Good.” Jacen said. “I also need two strong helpers.”

Three boys stood immediately. “I’m the strongest!” Said one.

“No, I am.” Another interrupted.

“We don’t have time for arguing.” Jacen cut in. “We’ll take all three of you.” He turned to the rest of the class. “That’s all we need. Now your job has to be to make sure that that guy in the corner doesn’t wake up. We’ll leave you one of the blasters.” He handed the smaller blaster to a child in the front row. “Keep the door locked and don’t let anybody in. Understand?”

The child nodded the affirmative.

“Good. Now let’s go.”

The volunteers assembled at the door. “Jaina will go out first.” Jacen whispered to them. “She’ll create a distraction so that anyone who’s out in the halls will come to her. As soon as they start heading towards her, the janitor kids have to run as fast as they can in that direction. Me and the strong boys will creep up on the bad guys in the hall and stun them with this blaster. Then the strong boys will drag them into the janitor’s closet, and we’ll lock them in. Does everyone know what they have to do?”

The kids all nodded.

“Any questions?”

“Yeah, I have a question.” Jaina answered.

“What’s that?”

“How come I gotta be the distraction?”

Jacen smiled at her. “Because you’re better at being distracting, Jaya. You’ve had more practice!”

“Hey!”

Jacen grinned. “Come on, let’s go!”

Jaina went out first, and headed round the corner in the opposite direction of the janitor’s cupboard.

“Fluffy!” She started calling. Her calls grew more distant as the other six children waited.

“Fluffy, Fluffy, where are you?” She cried.

A figure hurried past the hidden children towards the sound of Jaina’s voice.

“Now’s your chance, go!” Jacen said to the janitor kids. And they ran as fast as they could down the hall and disappeared from sight. Jacen waited a second longer and then turned to the strong boys. “Our turn now.” He said softly. And they followed him up the hall towards Jaina.

“Where are you, Fluffy?” Jaina called again.

“What are you doing?” A harsh voice bellowed at her.

“I’m looking for my Wumpkat.” Jaina sniffled. “She ran away and now I can’t find her.”

“Go back to your class at once!” The man exclaimed, aiming his blaster at Jaina.

“But I can’t!” Jaina cried.

“Why not?” He growled.

“Because, because, because, because,…”

“Oof!” The man slumped to the ground as a stun bolt caught him in the back.

“Because you just got stunned, stupid!” Jaina finished, poking her tongue out at the unconscious guard.

Jacen and the strong boys appeared from around the corner. “Now we have to drag him for miles.” Jacen said. And the boys grabbed the unconscious man’s feet and pulled him down the hall. It was slow progress, mainly because the man’s head kept bumping into anything and everything in sight – school bags, door mats, permacrete corners and steps. But at last they managed it, and dragged him into the cupboard.

“Oh, good!” Said Jaina, as she confiscated three more blasters. “You won’t be needing these, sir!” And she handed one to each of the strong boys. “Set these to stun, and don’t use them unless it’s an emergency!” She said sternly. The boys just looked at her in confusion. “Oh, here!” Said Jaina in exasperation, and she did it for them.

“We need something to tie him up with.” Jacen said, looking around the room. He glanced up at a shelf. “Carbo-stick.” He said, his eye finding a roll of tape. “Perfect!”

Carbo-stick was normally used by the janitor to make emergency temporary repairs to the school’s furniture and rooms – it was extremely strong, and in no time at all the children had the man’s hands, feet, mouth and body rolled in it. By the time they’d finished he was firmly stuck to the wall, with no hope of going anywhere unless he could reach the Carbo-unsticker.

“Where are the janitor kids?” Jaina asked.

“We’re down here!” A voice called. “We can’t figure out which button to push!”

“Try the big red one.” Jaina said, coming up behind them.

One of the children reached towards a button.

“No, not that…!” Jaina cried, but it was too late.

All through the school, every fire-sprinkler turned on.

“Uh-oh.” Said Jacen.

Jaina nodded. “Not good!” She turned back to the control panel. “Move out the way!” She instructed the kids, and she fiddled with a control on her blaster. Aiming at the control panel, she shot the whole thing, and immediately the school faded into darkness. Not even the emergency lights kicked in – they were fried too.

“Okay, let’s go.” Jaina said.

The kids crept out of the darkened janitor’s closet, and Jacen locked it from the inside before shutting it behind them.

In the hall it was pitch black – Collin School was an underground school, which was not uncommon on Coruscant. Like so many others it existed in a darkness blacker than Coruscant’s night, and relied entirely on artificial lighting.

Using the Force to guide them, Jacen and Jaina led the kids who had helped them back to their classroom. “Thanks for your help.” Jacen said. “We can handle it from here.”

One of the boys reached up to the door handle and tried to tug it open. “It won’t budge.” He said.

“Oh, that’s right!” Jaina remembered. “We told them to lock it.” She reached out with the Force and unlocked the door. “Okay,” she said, opening it. “Now lock it again so no one can get in!”

“No one except you!” One of the kids corrected as they passed through. The lock slid back into place.

Jacen and Jaina could see nothing at all. “One class at a time, I guess?” Jaina said.

“What are you going to do?” A familiar voice asked.

“Serene?” Jacen inquired.

“Yeah, it’s me.” Serene replied. “I slipped out when the others came in. I want to go with you.”

“It will be dangerous, Serene. We can’t protect you and us.” Jaina reasoned.

“Please?”

Jacen sighed. “Oh, all right. But stay out of the way and do exactly as we say!” He handed Serene one of the blasters that the strong boys had used, and they all headed out into the blackness.

Jacen and Jaina had no trouble navigating the black corridors – with the Force as their guide the hidden objects and sudden corners were as clear to spot as they would have been in the brightest daylight.

But Serene did not have such an advantage. “Ow!” She yelled as she smacked straight into the first corner they had to pass.

“Shhh!” Jaina hissed. “Do you want to let them all find us?”

As if on cue, they heard gruff voices up ahead.

“What happened?” One asked.

“I don’t know – power’s down.” The other answered. “Must have been some type of electrical fire by the controls – did you see how the sprinkler system reacted?”

“Only for a moment though.” The first replied. “All the controls must be shattered.”

The voices were getting steadily closer.

“Come with me!” Jaina whispered, and the others followed her. Once again they found themselves in the janitor’s closet. “They’ll look here!” Jaina insisted.

“Then why do we want to be here?” Jacen asked in alarm.

But Jaina didn’t have time to answer. At the last moment, the children sprang to each side of the door and stood pressed up against the wall.

Slowly the doors ground open – the automatic controls were busted along with everything else in the school.

“What’s going on here?” One of the men asked as he stepped through the doorway and caught sight of his accomplice, carbo-stuck to the far wall.

A moment later he fell to the ground as a stun blast caught him from the shadows.

The second man entered the room more cautiously. “Whoever you are, you won’t get away with this!” He threatened as he stepped over the body of the first man. Poking two blasters around the sides of the door he fired two shots, one in either direction. But he was counting on there being adults hiding there in the shadows, not children, and he aimed far too high. The shots impacted harmlessly into the walls, and Jacen, Jaina and Serene huddled in the shadows. Convinced that he would find a dead teacher, janitor or Republic soldier when he stepped into the room, the man had no time to be surprised as a stun bolt caught him in the side, and he fell to the floor on top of his accomplice.

In no time at all, there were three intruders carbo-taped to the wall of the janitor’s closet.

Jacen grinned as he stuck the final piece of tape on and removed the men’s blasters.

“What in Fey’lya’s name are we going to do with all these weapons?”

Their stack had grown quite formidable by now, and was getting cumbersome to carry.

“I know!” Said Jaina, and she began filling nearby buckets with water.

“Good idea!” Jacen agreed, and he dropped some of the blasters into each one. He stopped for a moment and counted off numbers in his head. “Seventeen bad guys, minus one in our classroom, minus three taped to the cupboard walls – makes… thirteen left.”

Jaina sighed. “That’s a lot of bad guys for three kids to handle.”

Jacen nodded. “Yeah.”

“What if we found their leader?” Serene asked. “We could make him tell the others to come out of their classrooms.”

“It’s a good idea.” Jaina agreed. “But where would the leader be? In the principal’s office?”

“Could be.” Jacen said. “It’s quite comfy in there, and she has her own snack machine…”

They hadn’t walked more than three steps before they heard another sound.

“OUCH!”

Jaina spun around. “Be quiet!” She hissed. “Do you want to get us caught?”

“But I keep crashing into things!” Serene complained.

Jaina rolled her eyes, even though no-one could see in the darkness. “Fine.” She muttered. “It’ll waste some of my energy, but I’ll do it if it’ll make you feel better.”

And she concentrated on the molecules around them, rubbing them together and speeding them up until a soft glow hovered gently over Serene’s  head. Serene looked at it for a moment. “Wow.” She said. “That’s really cool!”

But the other two children were already speeding up the hallway towards the principal’s office, and Serene had to hurry to catch up with them.

A small amount of light showed through the crack between the principal’s two sliding doors – obviously whoever was inside had found a light that ran on an independent power source.

---How are we gonna get in, Jaya?--- Jacen whispered into his twin’s mind.

Serene opened her mouth to speak, having not heard Jacen’s mental message. But she stopped when she saw the boy’s fingers pressed firmly against his lips. No sounds. Right. Serene understood. No way was she going to disobey these magical children!

---Not through the door.--- Jaina replied.

---Up inside the walls?--- Jacen sent back sarcastically.

Jaina looked around, using the glow she’d made for Serene. ---That’s not such a silly idea, Jaysa.---

He looked over to where the light was shining – it was a small grate. Not big enough for an adult, but plenty big enough for three children to squeeze through.

---What is it?--- Jacen thought at Jaina cautiously, as they approached the grate.

---Air conditioning.--- Jaina replied matter-of-factly. She’d always been the technical one.

Jaina removed the panel silently, while Serene looked on in silence. Best not to say anything, Serene had decided. Best just to follow the twins. And so they all squeezed into the grate and crawled along the air conditioning shaft, with Jaina first, and then Jacen, and then Serene. The pipe went steadily up for some time, and it was hard for the children to keep from sliding back down. Their breathing seemed impossibly loud within the confined space, and every time a hand or foot made contact with the steel, the whole shaft clanged and echoed.

---They haven’t heard us yet.--- Jacen sent to Jaina.

---Yeah I know.--- Jaina replied. ---I’d been thinking about it too. Perhaps Mrs Gritske’s office is sound-proofed, to keep out the noise of children?---

---Maybe.---

A glimmer of light appeared shortly ahead of them, and the shaft at last leveled off and changed directions. They were now crawling directly across the roof of the room. And there it was – an opening in the vent that was covered by a grate – the grate that cooled the principal’s office.

Jacen crawled right over the grate and then turned around, so that he and Jaina could both look down and see inside the room. The three children huddled around and gazed down. There, sure enough, was another of the bad guys – a formidable man dressed in bright white clothes and sitting at the principal’s desk, smoking something in an old-fashioned pipe. He was another of the blue-skinned, red-eyed people, yet his presence shone with an aura of power that sent shudders down the twins’ spines. His artificial light source sat on the floor nearby, and a holo-projector with it’s own independent power source projected a hologram of Jacen and Jaina’s mother on the table.

“Kaala Suun.” The hologram said quietly. “Imperial Admiral and Second in command to the late Grand Admiral Thrawn himself. Obviously you learnt very little in the way of strategy from your former master. You must see that the Republic is not collectively senseless enough to jeopardize billions of innocent people for the sake of   a handful of children.”

“Ah, but you don’t understand.” Kaala said quietly. “The Grand Admiral is far from dead, and he described this assignment to me personally. You must understand, milady, that these aren’t just any children.”

“What do you mean by that?” The hologram demanded.

Kaala didn’t answer, he only clicked a button on his comm-link. “Five, bring me the two children identified as Jacen and Jaina Duo. See to it immediately.”

The twins’ mother gazed at Kaala in bitter acceptance. “You’re at Collin’s?”

Kaala nodded mock-sadly. “Afraid so, milady.”

The two were silent then – Leia accepting the information, and Kaala waiting for a reply from his underling.

---What do we do, Jaysa?--- Jaina thought frantically. ---Mama will be so worried. How can we tell her that we’re okay?---

---It’s too far to tell her with the Force, isn’t it?--- Jacen replied. ---How about just jumping down and finishing Kaala off? He’s a bad guy – I’m sure Mama won’t mind if we hurt a bad guy.---

---I know an easier way.--- Jaina thought suddenly. ---Let’s just scare him a bit! I remember Mama talking about Kaala once. She said that Kaala didn’t believe in Jedi, so he won’t know it’s us doing it!---

And she reached down with the Force, ready to play havoc with the mind of the formidable Imperial Admiral Kaala Suun.

Slowly, a permanent marker drifted out of the pen-box on the principal’s desk and hovered in midair before Kaala’s startled gaze. As it moved into the holo-comm’s projection field, the twins’ mother saw it too. For a moment she appeared startled, but then a glimmer of hope flicked across her face. Abruptly, the Admiral terminated the transmission, and sat alone in the half-light, gazing in fear and wonder at what was before him.

The marker drifted over to the wall opposite him, and seemed to hover there for a moment in indecision.

---You can’t write on the walls, Jaya, it’s really naughty!---

---I can too! This is an emergency!---

---What if it doesn’t come off?---

---Oh, who cares! They’ll paint over it or something. Jaysa, give me the marker!---

The marker jerked back and forth in midair, as a toy would jerk if it were being tugged one way and then the other by two children who both wanted it.

---Oh, FINE!---

And the marker pinged elastically in one direction, nearly hitting the wall.  Kaala jerked in fright.

---What shall I write, Jaysa?---

The lid of the marker popped off, and it began to scrawl on the wall.

He read softly, not pausing to consider the spelling and grammar.

The message finished, and the pen clattered to the ground.

Kaala gulped, and eyed the walls dubiously. Whoever heard of walls having eyes? An amusing concept, but somehow creepy.

“Who is it? How are you doing that?” He barked hoarsely.

The entire pen box tipped over and emptied itself onto the desk before him. Kaala jumped up and away from the items. “I’m not afraid of you!” He growled.

The situation was comical – it was fairly obvious that he was afraid.

Once again, Kaala gulped, and sped across the room for the door. But he sprang away in horror as the catch melted into a puddle of useless metal before his very eyes. That door had been his only means of escape, and now it was useless.

“Tell me who you are!” He cried again.

The marker ascended and scrawled on the wall once more.

The man drew in a sharp breath. “What do you want with me?” He whispered.

The marker hovered, each second stretching out indefinitely.

---What do we want with him, Jaya?---

---I dunno – you’re the one who insisted it was your turn with the pen!---

---What the heck is sanity, Mr Big Words?---

---I dunno, but Mama says we make her lose it, and I think it’s not a fun thing to lose.---

The man paled. “I won’t give it to you – you can never take my sanity!” His eyes were that of an only partially sane man by now.

---I’m getting tired, you can have a turn Jaya. But write something good!---

The marker clattered to the floor a final time.

---Perfect! Now we scare him.---

Jaina concentrated on the artificial light. ---Lets see how well the light works when we do this…--- She thought, experimenting with a few wires.

The light flickered out, and the children could no longer see Kaala – although they could certainly sense his fear. His heavy breathing echoed in the dark room, as he clung to the door, trying desperately to wrench it open.

Something tugged on the corner of his robe, and he screamed. “Stay away from me!” He moaned, lashing out uselessly at the source of the invisible touch.

A zigzag of light shot across his vision, and then another.

Jaina smiled. Force-light was fun to make, and they’d had plenty of practice in Lord Hethrir’s dungeons.

“I’ll do anything!” The man said at last, sobbing in defeat. He sank to the ground, staring out at his invisible foe.

Abruptly the artificial light flickered on.

---Oh good, I was wondering if I’d be able to fix that!---

The marker rose up, and found a new wall.

“Free the children.” The man whispered. “Free the children. I can do that.” He spoke out into the quiet room. “I’ll do it, I promise!” He stammered. “I’ll free the children. Just please don’t hurt me!”

When only a silent room answered him, he hurriedly fished his comm-link out of his robes.   “Five?”

“Yes sir?” Five responded.

“Abort mission, Five. Right now. Get everyone out and to their transports as fast as you can.”

“But sir – ”

“DON’T argue with me, Five.” Kaala interrupted. “Just get everyone out, and send someone to break down the door of the principal’s office – on the double!”

“Yes sir.”

The comm-link clicked off, and soon a myriad of sounds could be heard. Doors banging shut, hushed voices and excited children whispering.

A terrific crash at the door nearly caused them all to jump out of their skins, until they remembered that it was just Kaala’s men, trying to break him out.

“I nearly scared myself!” Jacen said out loud – knowing that no-one would hear him amongst all the crashing.

“You scared me!” Serene exclaimed.

Jaina laughed. “Well I wasn’t scared.”

An explosion at last finished off the door, and Kaala crawled gratefully out.

“How did you get stuck in there, Sir?” A soldier asked.

“The door handle melted.” Kaala responded as he fled the room.

Several of the men stayed behind to inspect the now empty room. “Looks like someone’s made a mess in here!” One commented, seeing pens, equipment and furniture scattered in disarray.

“Who’s been writing on the wall?” Another asked.

The men looked at the writing. “A bad speller, by the look of things.”

“Doesn’t make much sense, does it?” Another soldier said.

“Not much.” The first replied. “Looks to me like Kaala’s been having a conversation with himself, or something.”

“Argh, who cares?” Another decided. “This mission was a stupid idea anyway. Come on, let’s get out of here before the Republic gets nosy.”

Pretty soon the school was dark and quiet. Nothing moved, and the last of Kaala’s invasion force had disappeared into Coruscant’s underbelly.

Jaina slid the grate aside and jumped into the room, and Jacen followed.

“Jaya, are we really bad spellers?”

“We need to get a message out to Mama.” Jaina said, ignoring the question.

“Who’s your Mama?” Serene, asked, peering down from the roof.

“She’s the New Republic Chief of State – the one in the hologram.” Jacen answered. “Come down from there, Serene!”

“I can’t.” Serene complained. “It’s too far!”

She yelped a little as she felt her body lift and slowly descend. “That’s weird when you do that!” She yelled, as her feet finally touched the floor.

“Sorry.”

Jaina fiddled with the holo-comm that Kaala, in his haste, had left behind. “Here – it should go back to the last call it made.”

They waited in silence for a few minutes.

“Welcome to the office of Leia Organa Solo.” A mechanical voice said. “How may I be of service?”

“Threepio!” Jacen cried. “Thank the Force! We need to talk to Mama right away!”

“Master Jacen?” The droid said in confusion.

“Yes, it’s me.” Jacen replied impatiently. “I need to talk to Mama, where is she?”

“I’ll just check.” Threepio answered, and a moment later their mother appeared once again in the hologram.

“Jacen!” She cried. “Thank goodness you’re alright. Is your sister there with you?”

“Yes Mama, she’s here, we’re okay.”

Leia sighed. “Is it safe for the Republic to send a squad in?”

“Yup.” Jacen answered. “But they’ll need to bring glow rods, because Jaya fried all the power. And some cleaning chemicals because she wrote all over the wall. And some tongs, or something, ‘cause she fed a bad man’s blaster to our fish, and I think it might be bad for them, Mama.”

Leia laughed. “Well! It will certainly be hard to remember all of those things, now, won’t it sweetheart?”

“Then you’re not mad about Jaya scribbling on the wall?” Jacen asked, a little uncertainly.

“Of course not, love! I’m just glad that you’re both alright.”

“Told ya!” Jaina crowed in the background.

“Wait a moment, darlings, I just have to put a call through to Admiral Ackbar.”

The line went hazy for a moment, and then their mother came back. “There we go – there’ll be Republic soldiers in there any second, so don’t worry, okay?”

“Oh, we were never that worried.” Jaina reassured her. Her mother could hear her voice, even if the low power holo-projector wasn’t strong enough to pick out the little girl’s shape. “Those blue men weren’t all that clever.”

Leia laughed. “Well, I’m going to go now children – I’ll be there very soon.”

“Okay, bye-bye Mama.” The twins chorused.

The hologram faded, and the room was dark again.

Jacen, Jaina and Serene burst into giggles.

“Did you see his face when he…”

“…I know! What about when you…”

“Oh, that was the funniest bit!”

* * *

Long after the twins had returned home and settled into their beds, they talked about their day. When at last they ran out of things to say, and lay silently for a few minutes.

“Jaysa?” Said Jaina, the word distorted by a yawn.

“What?”

“We make really good spooks.”

“Uh huh.”

And then they were asleep, dreaming of their next attack on the adult world.

Epilogue:

Leia Organa Solo stood in the open doorway, gazing at her sleeping twins. They often held hands when they slept – it was a bond that even Leia, at times, could barely understand. But it was beautiful.

Their beds were close together – close enough to be one bed, and their little chubby fingers were closely entwined. Jacen’s curly brown hair stood out from his forehead, and Jaina’s straight, lighter hair streamed back against the pillow, away from her face. Curly black lashes rested feather-soft against both sets of cheeks, and a myriad of city lights streamed in on their faces. Some blinking, some red, and some gold.

Yet despite the cruel realities of the galaxy outside their room, the only sound to be heard was their slow, even breathing.

Leia took a few steps closer to them, and laid her hand against her son’s warm, pink cheek. “Sleep well, my little hero.” She whispered into his thick, curly hair, as she gently kissed his head.

“And always be as brave as you are, my baby girl.” She kissed Jaina’s smooth little cheek.

A shadow passed into the stream of light in the bedroom doorway, but Leia didn’t turn.

“They could well have both been killed today, you know.” She said.

The figure in the doorway did not reply.

“They have far too much of you in them.”

Han Solo grinned. “Princess, you wouldn’t want it any other way.”

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