Beyond - Legends Maelstrom - one-shot K/J AU during Rebel Dream

I really don?t know how I became such a K/Jer, but I?m officially going down with this ship. And yes, I stole the title from a Battlestar Galactica episode featuring the death of my other favorite fighter pilot, Kara Thrace.

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Too much pressure and it would bend, becoming useless. Too little and nothing would happen. He had to find the right pressure to budge it, to set it into motion and keep it going that way...

For a moment, the only things in the universe were him, Jaina, and the void. He moved the void, turned it around, moved it back the other direction.

His overconfidence had always been his weakness.

When Kyp opened his eyes and saw that nothing had happened--no, worse than nothing, the exact opposite of what he?d intended to happen, precisely the thing he was trying to prevent--he realized what a fool he was. He moved the void, sure. A degree or maybe two off-course. And then the dovin basal moved back, and Kyp was reminded that the blasted things literally had minds of their own. He felt the void shift against the pressure he had applied. He felt it reach for him. He felt it miss.

And when Jaina screamed, he felt that too. Her comm was off but her panic filled his mind, contagious. He checked his display and was relieved to see she was still his wing. It was Jag?s clawcraft the void had found, his blip on the screen sliding slowly backward.

Kyp resisted the urge to look over his shoulder; he couldn?t have seen it happen anyway. The one other friendly light on the board winked out. That, Kyp knew, was a mercy, quick and probably painless. The thought did not console him.

Through their bond, struggling against the current of her rage, Kyp seized Jaina?s hands on the stick and turned her X-wing. I?ll point. You shoot. It was a command she was more than willing to follow--the lines of laser fire that left her S-foils were nearly as solid as a lightsaber blade. As he steered them down a tortuous path, running only on adrenaline now, she tore through the coralskippers and grutchins in their way, and the heat of her fury never lessened.

He didn?t remember reaching the edge of the battle, or the jump back, or the trip down to the surface of Borleias. Suddenly his X-wing was in the hanger, and he felt old and heavy. It took ages to climb down from the cockpit, and the crews around him kept their distance. He realized Jaina had already gone, and noticed an upended cart of supplies near her fighter. She must have terrified them. The wrath of the Goddess.

There was no debriefing. Kyp moved, staggering a little, to the turbolift and took it to the fifth level. At the door to Jaina?s quarters he stopped to catch his breath. Sith, he was tired, but this day wasn?t over. He passed his hand over the entrance panel, ready to force the locking mechanism, but it wasn?t engaged. The door slid open and he stepped inside.

She was sitting in the dark at her desk, knees drawn up to her chest. Her hair was down and her flightsuit open to her waist, as if she was preparing to take a sanisteam before she got distracted. Her fingers moved on their own, worrying at something invisible, and he wondered what tangible bit of Jag she wished she was holding. An insignia, or a piece of the red piping from his uniform. He wondered if he should go back down a few levels, stop by Fel?s room, and get something she could keep in remembrance. Looting a dead man?s things, Durron? Classy. But he?d do it for her.

That thought disappeared the instant she realized he was in the room. She was closed to him, her shields up, but her eyes showed him what he?d find in her. In nearly two decades of being the galaxy?s most reviled man, he had never been on the receiving end of that much hatred. Fine, let her hate him; he could live with that. He?d earned it, many times over. And it was better for her to direct that hate toward him than to let it seethe in her until she detonated.

It was what he?d seen before that moment, the glimpse of her holding something that wasn?t there, that made him cross the space between them and put

 

*gasp* You killed Jag!

Not much of a K/J shipper buuuuutttt you're one of few writers who can pull it off.
Plus, you like Kara Thrace so kudos.

I enjoyed how you described Kyp's overconfidence. His cocky arrogance during NJO totally and completely ticked me off but I've made my peace with his stupid behavior and it's a part of the character. And you portrayed it very well. Kyp Durron can't do everything after all. A lesson I wished he'd learned much, much earlier in the books. Oh well.

Also liked the ending. Seeking comfort in each others' arms. Liked that.

And my favorite:

He felt warm, soft lips on his own, there and gone, swift and chaste. He opened his eyes and she was staring back, inches away, with no fear. ?What was that for?? he asked when he found his voice again.

?For trying,? Jaina said, and mustered a small, sad smile. I forgive you, she told him silently.

Lovely.

 

Is there room for one more on that sinking ship??

Beautiful writing and wonderful characterization. I particularly liked the area of him talking continuously about all sorts of random things to keep her company and distract her from the misery. Very well done

Thanks for sharing! There aren't many K/J fics these days...

 

Well that was depressing.

And it's not just you- there's something I just love about the Kyp/Jaina relationship. I wouldn't call myself a 'shipper' but I like a good K/J story when it turns up. I've been trying to come up with something fun to do there lately, I've spent too long writing Jaina/Jag and need something to mix things up.


Anyway, I really like this (despite the killing Jag part, lol). You capture both of their faults really well- his overconfidence, her tendency to anger WAY too quickly... and I love him trying to console her and then just sitting with her when he knows nothing will really help.

But still depressing.

 

Thank you all for reading!

D'awwwww. And oh yes, Starbuck is the best!

Climb aboard! The best part of current profic is that they still find opportunities to shamelessly flirt with each other. And while I love me some Jag (more on that later), sometimes I go back and reread bits of the NJO, back when the future was still in motion...

I would seriously love to see you do more K/J. An Informal Apprenticeship was just delicious.

I feel like I should have included a disclaimer that I still ship Jaina with Jag and persist in considering him the best thing that happened to Star Wars since Han Solo. But we all have our guilty pleasures...

 

Oh man, Informal Apprenticeship WAS delicious to write. I can't believe how long ago that was now.
I think that's the problem though- I enjoyed writing that so much that, whenever I try to get back in a K/J mindset, I can only envision shamelessly seductive and somewhat manipulative Kyp.

Are you keeping up with FotJ? Any bold predictions as to whether Jaina and Jag will hold it together through this last book?

And finally (since you are a J/J fan as well), because it is my goal to make sure that as many people as possible see this delicious picture- seen this yet?

[image=http://suvudu.com/files/2012/02/Jaina_Jag.jpg]

 

I'm just... gonna keep that tab open. Yeah.

 

Ahh.... Delicious writing, Sticks!

Nice to get in Kyp's head for a bit and see him worn out and jaded...

The tenderness at the end... *melt*

I'm still on that ship with you! I think I need to get writing again...

~Celeste