I Want to be Your Knight - 38

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After we disabled the remaining guards we were out of the building, and running down the street at the prodigious speeds available only to Jedi and droids.

I could feel Seha off in the distance. Her consciousness was flickering in and out of my awareness. It almost felt as if she had been drugged and stunned, but her presence was firm and alive and that gave me hope.

In the distance I could make out the three fins of a lambda class shuttle, and I pointed it out to Jysella.

We arrived just as it launched. Cursing, I snatched my saber and threw it, using the Force to guide it.

The blade ripped a long, deep furrow through the fuselage, which in turn showered Jys and I with hyperdrive coolant. A white plume of smoke flew out of the rip in the starship, as it moved off, and away.

I watched as it dwindled into a small black speck at the head of that trail of white smoke.

Jys turned to me and said, "Well at least we know it's staying in-system."

I frowned and nodded my head as indecision warred within me. I was here to save Lando's daughter, and I still wasn't sure what had been done with her after we were arrested. But now, Seha had been kidnapped.

And I didn't know why.

My comlink, which I had recovered along with my lightsaber, beeped. When I activated it, Uncle Lando's voice emerged from the speaker. "Kid, we got your notice, and we're in-system now. Do you know where Cassa is?"

"Sorry, Uncle Lando," I replied. "I'm not sure where she was placed after we were taken. She might be at the school still."

"All right, I'll meet you there then."

I stared off into the distance where the shuttle had disappeared as I turned off the comlink.

"What now?" Jysella asked, a slight hesitance entering her voice.

I shook my head. "Cassa comes first. I'll go deal with Uncle Lando, you go talk to the Planetary Flight Control and determine where that shuttle came from, where it was going, and anything else you can find out. Then come get me."

She nodded, and began to walk away. Before she did, she touched my shoulder gently. "We'll get her back. I promise."

I smiled at here, and nodded my head once. "Thanks, Jys..."

Then she really surprised me. She quickly leaned over and kissed my cheek before running off towards the spaceport's control building.

I watched her run away, my mind tumbling end over end as I tried my best to process that girl.

After all, it seemed like every time I was certain that she hated me, then she'd do something like that to just obliterate my conception of her.

I was certain that she was the most confusing and exasperating girl in the galaxy.

It's so good to have at least a little bit of certainty in ones life.

Sighing, I made my way to the front, and found a speeder rental company, and within 20 minutes was once more at Cassa's school.

My destroyed speeder had already been hauled away, and construction droids were hard at work rebuilding the gates and front steps from where I had crashed into them.

Ignoring my handiwork, I walked through the listing gates, and found Lando Calrissian speaking with an elderly Sephi wearing the school administration uniform. You could tell she thought highly of herself, as her hair was in one of those ornate, winding top-knots braided with gemstones which their ruling classes love so much.

I got a dirty look from the school administrator, and a kind of half-grin from Uncle Lando.

"Hey, Uncle Lando," I said as I neared them.

Lando responded accordingly, while the school administrator went with a rather terse, "And what can we do for you this time young man?"

I gave her one of my patented sweet smiles. The kind that I learned from Mom, that special smile she reserved for those people who earned her Personal Ire. And yes, those are capitalized on purpose.

After she started squirming for a moment, I turned back to Lando, and said, "Have we learned anything new?"

He shook his head. "Dean Ollo here was just telling me that she is uncertain where Cassa and Koo are."

I allowed my eyes to slash that way for a moment, as I stretched out with the Force. It was obvious that she was trying to hide something, and was doing her best to not think about it.

"I guess that's what she's not talking about then."

I didn't know that a Sephi could turn that white.

I was corrected of that, when Lando pulled his blaster and shoved it's muzzle into her eye socket. It's like there wasn't any blood in her head left.

Lando's voice was terse and nearly a growl. "Answer my questions. If my friend here thinks that you're not 100% truthful, I pull the trigger."

"B-b-but..." she began, her unencumbered eye rolling towards me, pleadingly looking at me. "But you're a Jedi, you're going to let him do this to me?"

I shrugged. "I took a leave of absence when he asked me to find Cassa."

Her mouth opened and closed twice, before she finally spilled her guts. "Koo took her two experiments out into the retirement sheds around back."

Lando glanced at me, and I nodded. It was obvious that she was telling the truth. As he lowered his blaster, I pushed with the Force, as I waved my hand. "You want to go tell the authorities everything that you and Koo have been doing to the students here."

The administrator blinked, and then glanced towards a parked speeder. "Now, Mr. Calrissian, Jedi Skywalker, if you'll excuse me, I need to go see the local branch of the Judicial Services."

Then we ran to the back of the school.

And to my unending surprise, found a lambda-class shuttle nestled next to a shed.

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