Chapter 5
"You treacherous piece of bantha crap!!"
Kyp nearly jumped ,and almost choked on his nerf steak when he saw a red-haired woman at the entrance door who shouted those words.
"Darling, please, it was nothing, I swear. Please believe me, please darling, put away this vibroblade..." an obviously scared young man adressed the woman, and Kyp relaxed a bit, realising this wasn't Mara. Actually she didn't even resemble Luke Skywalker's wife - except for the mane of golden red curls.
Never trust a woman with red hair Kyp thought, remembering Kith's words, and coughed trying to remove a bit of nerf from his throat How very true.
Of course he knew he shouldn't have panicked the way he did on seeing someone with red hair, but he had a reason to be afraid:
He had been looking for Ben in a couple of hours, he searched everywhere, he even checked such unpleasant places as trash expedition corridors (though Force only knew what a Sith Lord should do with a four-year-old on a scrapheap), but all in vain.
He was frustrated since he couldn't sense any traces of the boy, and he was ... hungry.
The last meal he had eaten was a light lunch between the lightsaber training with the students, and the Council meeting after which he volunteered to help Mara. And it was really long ago.
Finally he decided to take a little break and find a place to eat, although he knew Mara would be very, very displeased .(If she had found out ,of course.)
Kyp didn't socialize much, nor did he go out very often, but he knew a couple of nice places on Coruscant – or rather - he knew a couple of nice places - before the war. Now, to his irritation, he discovered that none of them existed any longer, but he managed to find a small bar called 'Meat & Beat' which he found rather appealing, especially the rich smell of corellian nerf steak.
As far as Kyp remembered they didn't eat so fat at home, but since he became friends with Han Solo he got used to corellian cuisine. Besides - it was really difficult to make an inedible nerf steak (of course Mara Jade was capable of it, and not only - Kyp believed she was capable of cooking blue milk in such a way that it would come out green...) - in contrast to f.ex. fancy alderaanian or kuati dishes.
The Jedi Master read that the local had also life music (the 'beat' part), but he decided that a bit of beat wouldn't hurt.
So now he sat there, devouring his food, fidgeting and looking around nervously to check whether Mara Jade didn't find a way to see what he was doing, and lash out on him.
He rubbed his throat and looked accusatory at the red-haired furia with the vibroblade.
Ooops She was still aiming it at the man and shouted, all while the other guests pretended not to notice anything.
Typical he sighed . Apparently it's time for a Jedi intervention. The steak will have to wait...
He threw a quick glance at the young man's plate, and felt a double amount of solidarity. Not only had he been attacked by a Mara Jade - type of woman, but also couldn't eat a nerf steak in peace. Yes - Kyp definitely had to do something.
When the vibroblade moved even closer to the man's face Kyp stood up, smoothed his Jedi robes, and said with his most official Jedi Master's voice:
"Cool down, please. I think we can find a more peaceful solution..."
xxx
After about half an hour which was anything but peaceful, and after listening to their shouting and mutual accusations from which he learned basically everything about their relationship from the very beginning - that is from the kindergarten times (Blasted kindergartens, Force save me from them!), Kyp managed to eliminate the danger of the man being killed.
For a moment he felt satisfaction at his own actions as a peacemaker, but almost instantly he remembered about little Ben and the reason why he shouldn't sit there, and lost his good mood.
Time to get back to work he thought tiredly.
He said farewells to the young man, whose pretty face he just saved, giving him one final advice:
"Remember, never trust women with red hair." (Kith is a smart little boy after all he decided)
The man nodded , but didn't look convinced. From the earlier argument the Jedi Master got the impression that he was truly in love with the red-haired woman.
Poor, foolish kid Kyp thought. "He'll end up under her shoe just like Master Skywalker – if she doesn't kill him before, that is he supplied.
His nerf steak had of course got cold by the time he returned to his table, and when the host of the local announced the group of comedians called 'The Jolly Kessel Miners' Kyp lost appetite completely.
'TheJollyKesselMiners' ? What the Sith is that supposed to be?! he muttered irritatedly, gathering his possessions, and leaving the bar. He was chased by the first tunes of a song:
'Near the blackholes,
on planet Kessel
looking for spice in the mine
lived a jolly Kessel miner
every day he drank the wine...'
'The JollyKesselMiners'?!. Are they insane ??
He jumped into the speeder and mingled with the streams of Coruscant night traffic.
xxx
He was neither concentrating on piloting, nor on finding Ben. He maneuvered the speeder instinctively, while his eyes lazily watched the play of lights in the huge metropoly, and his thoughts wandered freely.
He was probably more tired than relaxed, nevertheless he opened himself to the Force... and suddenly... he felt him!!
Still quite away, but it was him, Ben Skywalker! Kyp was sure as hell about it, since he was looking for this particular Force-signature for half a day.
He turned the speeder violently, earning a couple of curses from the other traffic participants, and gave extra power to the engine.
xxx
Ben was moving quickly, but Kyp was already on the trail and didn't intend to lose it. Slowly but surely he was closing up on him.
The Jedi Master was so concentrated on his target (and occasionally on losing the traffic police...) that he didn't notice that they were coming to the familiar regions of the city-planet. When he finally got an eye-contact with the speeder he was chasing, it was moving towards the Jedi Temple. At the same time Ben's presence in the Force began to fade out .
Jedi Temple? But why? Why is he taking him to the Temple? Is that because he's a Sith and Ben is the grandson of Darth Vader?? And what did he do to him?
The other speeder was slowing down. Apparently it's pilot didn't notice that he had a tail. Or he's so sure that he doesn't care.
Kyp, on the other hand, speeded up to cut him off.
He pulled up before the entrance, jumped out of the vehicle making a salto, and landed just in front of the Temple door with an ignited lightsaber in hand, blocking it .
The shadowy figure in the black cloak and hood stopped. Ben Skywalker was thrown over his shoulder and the man held him with the left arm. The boy didn't move, and the Jedi Master supposed he was unconscious. The dark man reached for his lightsaber.
Kyp threw his own cape off and took on a battle stance:
"You shall not pass."