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dragonlady7via http://ift.tt/2c29LLr:
I don’t want Generically Bitter For No Reason Kes Dameron. I want incandescently angry Kes, with good reason, who fights anyway for a cause he doesn’t fully support because it is the best option remaining to him.
about a year and a half after the battle of Yavin, on a Rebellion base somewhere
They were crowded together into the slightly-inadequate room that was serving as a mess hall. Leia had one shoulder shoved up against Kes’s, and the other against Galt, one of the strategy specialists. It was so crowded that Kes had put his arm around her to free up a little more space. She didn’t mind, because she knew him so well. It might start rumors, but she wasn’t worried. Kes was a married man, after all, even if his wife wasn’t currently stationed here.
There’d been some drink taken, an unusual bounty of alcohol to be shared around, and there had been a little singing. And now, someone had climbed up onto one of the tables and was yelling, “For the Republic!”
“For the Republic,” the assembled roared back, pounding on tables, stomping feet. Leia joined in the chant, and it was heady and delightful and exultant. This was what they were fighting for.
Kes’s warm arm slipped away from her suddenly; she assumed he was freeing himself so he could pound the table too. But he wriggled against her, and then she had a cold vacant space where he’d been. She turned, surprised, to see what he’d stood up to do.
He was putting his boot back on– he’d apparently lost it getting up from the table– and his expression was set, grim. She said his name, and he looked over at her, scowled like she’d personally offended him, and turned to leave the room.
She got up and ran after him, catching his arm. “Kes! What’s wrong?”
Kes spun around in her grip, looking down at her with an incredulous expression, again like she’d personally offended him. “The Republic,” he said, like the words were poison. “The Republic! I’m not fighting for your Republic.”
“Why ever not?” she said, shocked.
“Fuck your Republic,” Kes hissed viciously. “Just– fuck your Republic.” She stared up at him in astonishment, and he looked up and around, seeing that other people had heard him.
“What do you mean, Dameron?” It was one of the other Pathfinders, who climbed up out of his seat and stood behind Leia, a tall and broad man. Kes set his jaw and narrowed his eyes.
“It was the Republic that sold Xicul to the mining conglomerate,” Kes said. “It was the Republic who stood by and let them pillage our sacred homelands. It was the Republic who decreed that it was perfectly legal, and the Republic who declined to give us any options of where else to go. It was the Republic who sent troops to support the mining conglomerate when they came to take us away, it was the Republic who oversaw the capture and sale of our people– Leia, you know this– it was the Republic that stood by while they set their dogs on us, while they burned the villages–” He was shaking now, but his voice had only grown stronger.
“It was the Republic,” Kes said, his face a mask of pain and fury, “that stood by and allowed all of this, when we starved, when we died, when we had nowhere left to go, and when the Republic fell, the Empire allowed it to continue. And I know, Leia, I know that the Empire is worse, and that is why I am here, I will fight with you, I will die alongside you, I will do anything to bring down the Empire.”
He shook his head, composing himself a little, then leaned in and repeated viciously, jabbing his finger into her chest, “But fuck your Republic.”
I don’t want Generically Bitter For No Reason Kes Dameron. I want incandescently angry Kes, with good reason, who fights anyway for a cause he doesn’t fully support because it is the best option remaining to him.
about a year and a half after the battle of Yavin, on a Rebellion base somewhere
They were crowded together into the slightly-inadequate room that was serving as a mess hall. Leia had one shoulder shoved up against Kes’s, and the other against Galt, one of the strategy specialists. It was so crowded that Kes had put his arm around her to free up a little more space. She didn’t mind, because she knew him so well. It might start rumors, but she wasn’t worried. Kes was a married man, after all, even if his wife wasn’t currently stationed here.
There’d been some drink taken, an unusual bounty of alcohol to be shared around, and there had been a little singing. And now, someone had climbed up onto one of the tables and was yelling, “For the Republic!”
“For the Republic,” the assembled roared back, pounding on tables, stomping feet. Leia joined in the chant, and it was heady and delightful and exultant. This was what they were fighting for.
Kes’s warm arm slipped away from her suddenly; she assumed he was freeing himself so he could pound the table too. But he wriggled against her, and then she had a cold vacant space where he’d been. She turned, surprised, to see what he’d stood up to do.
He was putting his boot back on– he’d apparently lost it getting up from the table– and his expression was set, grim. She said his name, and he looked over at her, scowled like she’d personally offended him, and turned to leave the room.
She got up and ran after him, catching his arm. “Kes! What’s wrong?”
Kes spun around in her grip, looking down at her with an incredulous expression, again like she’d personally offended him. “The Republic,” he said, like the words were poison. “The Republic! I’m not fighting for your Republic.”
“Why ever not?” she said, shocked.
“Fuck your Republic,” Kes hissed viciously. “Just– fuck your Republic.” She stared up at him in astonishment, and he looked up and around, seeing that other people had heard him.
“What do you mean, Dameron?” It was one of the other Pathfinders, who climbed up out of his seat and stood behind Leia, a tall and broad man. Kes set his jaw and narrowed his eyes.
“It was the Republic that sold Xicul to the mining conglomerate,” Kes said. “It was the Republic who stood by and let them pillage our sacred homelands. It was the Republic who decreed that it was perfectly legal, and the Republic who declined to give us any options of where else to go. It was the Republic who sent troops to support the mining conglomerate when they came to take us away, it was the Republic who oversaw the capture and sale of our people– Leia, you know this– it was the Republic that stood by while they set their dogs on us, while they burned the villages–” He was shaking now, but his voice had only grown stronger.
“It was the Republic,” Kes said, his face a mask of pain and fury, “that stood by and allowed all of this, when we starved, when we died, when we had nowhere left to go, and when the Republic fell, the Empire allowed it to continue. And I know, Leia, I know that the Empire is worse, and that is why I am here, I will fight with you, I will die alongside you, I will do anything to bring down the Empire.”
He shook his head, composing himself a little, then leaned in and repeated viciously, jabbing his finger into her chest, “But fuck your Republic.”
