I Want to be Your Knight - Ch. 25

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I frowned at the door and wondered why conversations with that doctor were more annoying than chats with Kyp.

I turned back to the girls, but before I could say anything the door opened again. A wide-bodied CORSEC officer came into the room. He wasn't wearing a helmet, but you could tell that he was accustomed to doing so. Just a feeling from the way his eyes would dart about the room, and how he would occasionally scrub a hand at his short cropped hair. Little tells that I remembered from my days in the Guard.

Rather than the armor of the door guards, he was in a simple cloth tunic, a day uniform. Stitched in aurabesh above his heart was his name: Kilnore.

I grinned, remembering where I had read that name before. Then I looked over at the girls. "Hey, guess who's come for dinner!"

Kilnore reached out and grabbed my hospital gown, dragging me forward. He snarled at me. "That's enough lip from you, Skywalker."

I laughed.

Probably not the best of things to do, but there it was.

A quick back handed slap from Kilnore cut my laughter short. I felt both of the girls' anger spike in the Force.

Then I looked towards Jys. "Please tell me that your dad wasn't as stupid of a cop as Mr. Kilnore here is."

Her eyes narrowed for a moment, and her anger spiked in the Force again. I could feel it begin to stir; the usual patterns for a punishment from Jys.

Then it stopped and her eyes widened for a moment. She giggled.

"Nope. He definitely isn't as stupid as Mr. Kilnore here."

I focused on Kilnore again, a feral smile touching my lips. I saw the confusion on his face, and could tell that we weren't the cowed interrogation subjects he had been expecting. The confusion was quickly replaced by shock as I pushed him with the Force. He flew away from me, ripping my gown in the process and slammed against the wall. I watched him for a moment, as he stared at me.

Then the door opened again, and a guard stumbled into the room. I frowned as I watched him, until a voice from the doorway drew my attention.

"Ah, here are our wayward, eloping Jedi."

I looked over at Kyp, my eyes narrowing in anger as exactly what he said crystallized in my head. I watched him walk into the room, and then saw Kilnore stand upright, bringing his blaster to bear.

"That's far enough, murderer."

We all looked at Kilnore, wondering if he really was as stupid as he was acting. Personally, I had no doubts, but that was just me.

"Do I know you?" Kyp responded coldly.

"I doubt it, but I know you. My grandfather was on Carida. One of the billions that you killed."

A sad look flickered across Kyp's Force presence. "I'm sorry for your loss. Did you know that my brother was one of those I killed as well? He was a conscript, sent there unwillingly after our parents were arrested and then executed for treason."

I watched Kyp for a moment. He didn't often talk about Carida, and I guess we now knew why; at least a little bit of the why.

Kilnore though, was unimpressed. He raised the gun a bit higher, aiming towards Kyp's heart. Kyp sighed, and then stretched out his hand, yanking the gun from him. The Force flared and he dropped a crumpled metal ball. After a moment, Kyp turned back towards us, then in a soft voice said, "Report."

Years of training overtook Jysella and Seha as they both began to verbally vomit the winding story of how we ended up here. I sat back on my bed amused, as I listened to their narrative, some of which I had never heard before.

Finally their recital ended, and Kyp looked at me. "I didn't hear your report in there."

I shrugged my shoulders and smiled at him. "Well, the girls were doing a great job, didn't think you needed to hear my big mouth."

Kyp snickered. "Oh, if only I didn't have to listen. Why don't you fill me in on the gaps in the story."

I sighed, an quickly told things from my point of view. Luckily there wasn't a lot that was left unsaid by the girls, so I was only talking a few minutes.

Once I was done, Kyp looked over at Kilnore. "Now, Mr. Kilnore, I assume that that is enough information for your reports; if you'll excuse us, we need to return to Coruscant."

I could feel the hate oozing off of Kilnore as Kyp turned from him and left the room. I smiled at him, pushing the knife in a bit deeper as I walked past, the girls quick on my heels. The hallway beyond our room was empty, and Kyp set off down the hall, making turns seemingly at random. Finally we arrived at the front doors and went through them to find my starship, the Jade's Scion sitting on the grass in front of the medical complex.

I scowled at Kyp's back. "Couldn't find your own starship?"

He laughed. "Nope. Besides, yours was lonely."

Then he disappeared up the gangplank. Shaking my head, I followed him onto my ship.

Within a half hour we were in hyperspace, heading towards Coruscant. Kyp came back to the common room and dropped onto the couch, hanging his head slightly.

I looked over at him, somewhat amused by the air of annoyance that hung to him.

Seha was less than amused, actual worry tinged her voice as she asked, "What's wrong?"

He looked over at her, a scowl on his face. "I'm just getting old." He sighed, and leaned back on the couch, closing his eyes. "Used to be, when folks said one of their loved ones was on Carida, it was their brother or cousin, even the occasional father. But his grandfather?"

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