Title: Changing Course
Chapter: Chapter Two
Author: bactaqueen
Author's e-mail:
Category: New Jedi Order, Alternate Universe
Keywords: Kyp Durron, Jaina Solo, NJO
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: New Jedi Order up to Rebel Stand
Summary: Jaina Solo had a tough road back from the Dark Side after the death of her brother. In the process, according to canon, she earned Colonel Fel. But what if she hadn't? What if Kyp Durron was her redemption?
Disclaimer: "Star Wars" copyright George Lucas. Characters copyright respective owners. No profit is being made and no infringement is intended. Characters and situations inspired by the Enemy Lines duology, written by Aaron Allston, and in some cases, the situations have been modified for the purposes of this story. Again, here, no profit is being made and no infringement is intended.

Changing Course: Chapter Two

An alarm blared, announcing the Raider's Prize's impending reversion to realspace. Jaina-alone at the holotable, playing dejarik against the computer brain-leapt up and started for the cockpit. She'd set the first hyperspace exit for just inside the Expansion Region, a few parsecs from the border and not very deep into Yuuzhan Vong territory. She wanted to handle the course adjustment as quickly as possible. The next leg of the journey would be the longest: two days in hyperspace, non-stop if the Force was with them. They would cut close to Bimmisari and through the outer edge of what had been Hutt space before the invasion. Jaina hoped that neither sector would present a problem.

As she slid into the pilot's chair and began strapping herself in, Kyp appeared in the hatchway. Jaina glanced up at him. He seemed to hover there, vaguely uncertain. His clothes were rumpled and his hair was tousled. He had just woken up.

"Could you use a hand?"

Jaina nodded shortly, then gestured to the navicomp. "The next set of coordinates just needs to be confirmed. I'll bring us out, you lay them in. Five minutes in realspace, tops."

Kyp smiled faintly as he sank into the co-pilot's seat. "Yes, Captain."

"Keep your eyes open," she said, unlocking the controls. "We're coming out in enemy territory. I don't want any surprises." Her hand closed around the hyperspace disengagement lever. "Reversion in three, two, one."

The blue-white tunnel ceased to spin. Starlines turned back into individual stars. Jaina cut in the sublight engines and took the wheel.

"How do we look?" she asked.

Kyp eyed the sensor screens. "Clear," he confirmed. "No activity. It all feels okay, too."

"For all the good that does us," she muttered. "Kyp, the Vong don't exist in the Force," she reminded him sweetly.

The Jedi Master made a face. "Well, nothing feels wrong," he amended.

Jaina accelerated and brought the freighter in line with the heading they needed.

"Course?"

"Confirmed." He tapped a few buttons. "Course laid in. Ready when you are."

"Prepare to jump." Jaina flicked a few switches, got one more course confirmation from the navicomp, then pulled back on the hyperspace lever.

Pinpoints stretched into starlines and coalesced into a blue-white tunnel that closed protectively around the Raider's Prize. Kyp sat back and watched as Jaina locked down the controls and then set the alarms. Her movements were expert, efficient even in the cockpit of an ungainly cargo freighter.

When she was finished, she unbuckled her restraints and left the metallic clasps to dangle, glinting in the dancing light. Jaina turned to him.

"What?" she demanded.

Kyp shook himself and smiled. "Nothing." He shrugged out of his own restraints, then gave her a curious look. "When was the last time you practiced with your lightsaber?"

Jaina opened her mouth, and Kyp realized what she was about to say. He raised a hand, palm out, to silence her.

"That excluded," he amended.

Her smile was sardonic. "You never did beat me," she pointed out.

His smile was challenging. "I can fix that."

Jaina shook her head and rose. "Only in your dreams. You forget, I worked with the former Emperor's Hand. You didn't see half of what I can do."

"I look forward to a proper display," he said, tone mocking. Kyp stood and met her gaze evenly. "Bay two?" he suggested.

Jaina nodded. "You're on."

Cargo bay two was located on the port side of the Prize, separated from the living quarters by a thick bulkhead. It rode in front of the engines and had a wide loading ramp, now hidden. The designer of the freighter had been fond of smooth curves.

Jaina paused just inside the hatchway. This bay was only half-full, and the cargo had been pushed to the sides to open it up for sparring. Kyp knelt in the middle of the compartment, facing the interior of the ship. His eyes were closed, his features relaxed, his breathing deep and even. He held his lightsaber loosely in one hand.

"Who would have guessed? Master Durron seeks serenity before a fight." She was mocking him, and she knew it.

As Kyp raised his head to flash her a quick grin, Jaina entered the bay. He pushed himself up off the deck and flipped his lightsaber into a more stable grip.

"Not serenity," he corrected. "Focus."

"Ah."

With the familiar snap-hiss, Jaina ignited her lightsaber. The meter-long blade of blue-violet energy leapt from the handle and filled the cargo bay with the distinctive hum of the Jedi weapon. For a moment, she considered her lightsaber. It wasn't her first; she'd lost her first weapon-along with her first X-wing, her astromech, and her eyesight-at Kalarba in the shadow of the Champion. The loss of her eyesight had only been temporary. She'd been issued a new snubfighter and astromech when she'd returned to active duty with the Rogues. The time she'd spent grounded she'd used to build a new lightsaber. She'd had to start all over again, in more ways than one.

Jaina looked up and met Kyp's eyes. He flashed her another confident grin and ignited his own blade.

"Ready?" He held the weapon in a middle guard position.

Her eyes flashed. "Always." She struck first.

Kyp blocked the blow and fell back a step. He made a tsk-tsk sound. "Aggression is of the Dark Side, my young apprentice."

Jaina spun, slashing her blade down and around. It was meant to catch an opponent in the neck, slice through his torso, and come out at the opposite hip. Kyp countered, bringing his own blade up to catch hers. She leapt back.

"You're one to talk." Jaina held her weapon at the ready. She braced herself for the attack she knew was coming.

"Aren't I?" He circled, his own lightsaber held in a low guard. His eyes moved, calculating distance and possible courses of attack. His gaze caught hers briefly. "Then who better to learn from?"

She was prepared for the low slashing blow. Jaina twisted her wrists and pointed her blue-violet sword toward the deck. The clashing of energy blades reverberated through the bay, and the Force electrified the air. Jaina pressed. Kyp pulled back, swinging his lightsaber up to catch her assault. He countered by sweeping up and aiming for her head. Jaina saw the bright circle of light and felt his intent. Rather than parry...

She ducked.

Kyp had been waiting for that. He shifted direction and sliced down at an angle. Jaina rolled. She came up in a crouch and was spinning and cutting upward. Kyp brought his shining blade up and down in a deadly circle.

Jaina threw herself back out of his reach and to her feet. She raised her blade high over her head and advanced. Kyp waited until she was close enough, then lunged, using his lightsaber as a spear he meant to impale her on. Jaina managed a wry grin as she shifted her weight and leaned around his attack. She brought her weapon down in a cleaving motion, as if she meant to separate his upper torso from his lower.

Kyp used his forward momentum to throw himself into a roll. He came up behind her, already spinning. Jaina reacted. Rather than ducking or whirling to face him, she delivered a powerful roundhouse kick. Her booted instep connected with his bare hand. He dropped his lightsaber. The blade extinguished harmlessly.

Kyp's grin morphed into a sneer. "Playing dirty, are we?" He didn't give her time to reply. He jabbed a side kick into her midsection, and though Jaina tried to avoid it, swept her lightsaber away with his own roundhouse.

Both combatants sufficiently disarmed, they circled each other, keeping their centers of gravity low and their eyes locked to the other's collarbone. The Force seemed to crackle around them, between them, through them. Jaina was open. She could feel the pump and rush of her own blood, feel Kyp's existence in front of her. She was aware of the cargo around them, the ship, the tunnel of hyperspace through which they traveled, the galaxy beyond. When she shifted her gaze to his briefly, she saw in Kyp's eyes the same startling awareness.

Jaina struck first. She landed a solid blow to his shoulder with enough force to make him lose his balance. He wobbled, dropped back. She closed in. Jaina wasn't aiming to kill, or disable, or even injure. She just wanted to work out some of the extra energy building up within her. Kyp Durron seemed an ideal target.

He brought his hands up into a standard guard position, angling his body to supplement. His forward arm and hand covered everything below the belt; his lead arm and hand covered his shoulders, neck, and head. He was prepared for her next flurry of attacks.

Kyp blocked her set of double-punches. He ducked out of the way of the roundhouse she aimed at his head. He side-stepped the leg sweep. Jaina threw another open-handed blow, and he caught her wrist. Kyp used her momentum to twist her around.

The air rushed out of her lungs with a whoosh when she landed. The back of her head connected solidly with the deck. Kyp meant to let go. Jaina didn't let him. On her way down, she'd grabbed a handful of his tunic. She tugged. Between her hold on his tunic and the fingers she'd wrapped around his wrist, she had enough grip to use her leverage and send him over her. He landed with a sickening thud.

Jaina scrambled up. She called to her hand her lightsaber. She considered waiting, then lunged toward Kyp, igniting her lightsaber as she went.

He froze when the blue-violent blade hummed near his throat. In mid-kneel, he looked up.

Jaina's grin was feral. Her chest heaved as she struggled to catch her breath, but she couldn't resist one last quip. "I win."

Pleased with her victory, Jaina extinguished her blade and sank to the deck. She ran a hand through her tousled brown hair and winced when her hand found the lump forming on the back of her head. She glanced at Kyp.

"Well. That was fun." She leaned back against one of the weapons crates.

She was aware of his gaze, and she became aware of the crackle of Force energy that infused the atmosphere. Jaina closed her eyes and opened her hands, feeling the cool white rush of energy.

Then she felt it. Lurking, sliding along the edges of her awareness. Something black, dark, hot. Familiar in its own way, whispering to her.

"It's promises," she heard herself say softly. The blackness stabbed into the white, testing. She pulled the white tighter against her, shielding her from the black, but letting it come closer. The whispers grew louder, turned to murmurs. "Promises of revenge. They will pay. It promises that it'll all be right again. That no one will hurt me. That no one I love will hurt. It promises power: I will not be stopped." Jaina breathed in. "It feels hot, raw like this. But it compresses into something hard and cold, like a black hole. It takes your emotions, controls them. Controls you." She fell silent, and watched the play of darkness in her mind's eye.

"It whispers." Kyp's voice came from somewhere beyond, dark and sort of dreamy. "Whispers to you. Makes promises, shows you what could be. It teases. It feels like a woman." He sighed. "She tells you how it can be done. Quick and easy, nothing in your way. She promises to stay with you. All she wants in return is your soul. That's not such a hefty price to pay."

Jaina opened her eyes slowly and blinked. Kyp was kneeling a few meters away, head bowed, and he was still speaking. She could feel the dark energy slinking away like a wraith back under the bed, promising to come out again.

"I killed my brother because of her. Killed my brother and an entire star system. I stole a life. Alienated an entire galaxy. And for what?" His bitter laugh surprised her. "Nothing. A long, painful road back to grace. Barely that." Kyp looked up at her, and Jaina felt his eyes pierce hers. "I won't let you suffer the same."

"And you don't have to suffer alone anymore."

He shook his head slowly. "You can't stop the nightmares, Jaina. They'll never go away. If they do, what does that prove? That I'm finally so far gone it can't bother me anymore?"

If he hadn't been so far away, she would have reached out and laid a hand on his arm. "Maybe you'll finally have forgiven yourself."

"Maybe I don't deserve to be forgiven."

"Dad doesn't think so. Uncle Luke doesn't think so."

Kyp's gaze softened. "Han's an extraordinary person. So's Master Skywalker. But no one else shares their views."

"How do you know?" she demanded. "Have you given anyone else a chance to agree?" Jaina shook her head. "No. You open your mouth, and exactly the wrong thing comes out every time. People might be more inclined to give you a chance, Kyp, if you'd give them a chance."

"It's too late for me, Jaina."

"Are you sure? Because my dad doesn't think so. And neither does my uncle. And they should know, I think." Jaina shrugged listlessly. "Then again, maybe it's too late for both of us."

"Not for you," he said.

"Hmm. What if I want it to be too late?"

Kyp stared open-mouthed at her. After a minute or so, his jaw snapped shut and his eyes narrowed. "That's not funny."

Jaina shrugged. "I didn't think so, either. You said once that maybe I'm the one saving you. Did you believe that?"

He nodded once. "Yes."

"Then you give up real easy, don't you?"

Kyp shook his head. "I'm not sure if I need to credit Han or Leia for that particular line of reasoning."

Jaina's grin was quick and cocky. "Both."

"Effective." Kyp pushed himself up, then extended a hand. "But no fair using my own arguments against me."

Jaina let him pull her up. "I'm a Rogue. We don't play fair if we can help it."

Kyp smiled.