Ends
Justifying The Means
Disclaimer:
I don't own the song "Send Her My Love," Journey does. Kyle and Jan
belong to LucasArts, everyone else probably belongs to me. Author's notes at
the bottom. And yes, this is a third-person omnipresent style instead of Kyle's
viewpoint. This story makes more sense that way. You'll see. Also, thank you soooo
much to LadyCallie and Rina. You know who you are.
It's been so long
Since I've seen her face
You say she's doing fine
I still recall
A sad café
How it hurt so bad to see her cry
I didn't want to say goodbye…
Send her my love Memories remain
Send her my love Roses never fade
Send her my love
The same hotel, the same old room
I'm on the road again
She needed so much more
Than I could give
We knew our love could not pretend
Broken hearts can always mend…
Send her my love Memories remain
Send her my love Roses never fade
Send her my love
Callin' out her name I'm dreamin'
Reflections of a face I'm seein'
It's her voice
That keeps on haunting me
Send her, send her my love
Roses never fade
Memories remain
Send her, send her my love…
Kyle Katarn
absently twirled his blaster on his shooting finger and wondered why all the
misery in the galaxy seemed to accumulate onto him. He'd lost a mother, a
father, a partner, a promising career in the Empire, friends on both sides of
the war, and several mentors. But Jan and his father he missed the most, if
missing someone more than anyone else was possible. He couldn't tell if Jan was
still alive or not; logic told him the latter, his emotions the former. Sitting
in the pilot's seat in the Crow, he felt traitorous. This is Jan's
seat, something told him, and what are you doing in it? He propped
his feet up on the console, just as Jan had done all the time, and holstered
his sidearm. The reasons for him to have to leave the Fleet for some little
backwater base were as clandestine as his former missions. Some bureaucrat
probably decided that a depressed Jedi Knight was too unstable to have around
and was a liability. But Jan and I served them well. Did they even give her
a proper funeral? I didn't even get to attend, they cleared me out so quickly.
They gave me the death pay and a condolence note and told me to be on my
way. Shaking his head, he pulled his feet off the consol and went to make
another pot of caf. My plan to save her couldn't and didn't work. This
is going to be a long and painful jump.
On the
Alliance hospital ship Liberation, two of the main guards were watching
a cheesy old holovid that one had received from home and having a midnight
snack. The vid was about a mutated, flesh-eating zombie and a stunning female
warrior who was bound by fate to stop it. As a medical officer checked out and
his relief checked in, one curious sentry asked why they had round-the-chrono
duty in Room 285, all the while keeping his eye on the female lead in the vid.
"Oh," the officer checking out said impassively, "we've got honor guard duty
for a dead agent. Orders straight from Mon Mothma herself. This really
important agent was killed after a firefight and brought here. Seems she and a
partner were the ones who stole the Death Star plans from Danuta." The curious
guard whistled appreciatively and lifted his drink. "Here's to her. What was
her name?"
"Uh, Senior
Staff Agent Jan Ors, or something like that. She sure doesn't look old enough
to have stolen those plans." He shrugged. "Too bad, she was kinda cute
too."
The medic
watching Jan wasn't too alert when he took duty, it being 0130 hours Galactic
Standard Time. About 0200 GST, when he had just begun to doze off, the
supposedly dead woman stirred and sat up. When the guards heard the screams and
ran in, they found a collapsed medic sentry and a very confused woman. Not
knowing what else to do, the guards backed against the wall and called the
commanding officer up at the hour. "Uh, sir? We've got a problem at 285. That
dead agent, she's alive sir."
The CO came
quickly.
Two days
later, Jan was just allowed on her feet when a medical officer came to check
her out and debrief her. "Now, Agent, what do you remember?"
"I was shot,
and my partner Kyle brought me here."
"Uh, huh.
Did you have a sum of money for your partner, should you die?"
"Of course.
That's almost standard operating procedure in our division."
"Which is
that?"
"Clandestine
and Counter-Intelligence Ops." The medic wrote all this down on a slip of
paper. "Did you ever think that your partner would kill you? For the money or
not." Jan raised her eyebrows and shook her head slowly. "What is this, a
survey? No. Not for a moment." She stopped and decided not to mention the
Valley of the Jedi, when Kyle had an ignited lightsaber hanging immediately
over her head. That would be unfair, since he was being taunted. "Kyle would
never hurt me intentionally. He saved me many times from a death." The man
snorted. "Yeah, except this time." He looked up at her face and apologized.
"So, you've know the Captain for a long time?"
"He's a
captain? This happen recently?"
"Yes, Agent.
He was recently reassigned."
"And
demoted, it seems. Kyle was a commander. Does this have anything to do with
me?" He man stopped writing and threaded his pen through his writing pad. "I'm
going to call in my CO for the rest of this debriefing."
"And this
has something to do with me too? Am I being too hostile?" The medical officer
didn't answer her. A few minutes later, an impatient looking commander walked
in. "Agent Ors, I'm going to treat you like the heroine you are until you pull
another stunt like you did with Yihhdl. Have you known Kyle Katarn for a sum of
years?"
"Yes, sir."
Jan tried not to let the disrespect seep through her voice. "Were you ever
uncomfortable in his presence?"
Would I have
wanted to marry him if I was? "No, sir."
"Good then.
He's been formally reassigned to a base and was given the pay of 1500 credits that you set aside for your
partner should you die in battle. We were concerned since this is a large sum
of money, and Katarn is not what we would call one of our more… trustworthy
agents like yourself. But if you have faith in him, then that is a different
story."
"What was
the situation sir? Were you thinking that Kyle killed me to get to the death
pay?"
"It has
happened in the past."
"Didn't you
monitor his reactions?"
"He could
have been acting." Jan shook her head. "No sir. He's been through much grief in
his life; if an ordinary person like you or I tried to handle it, we'd
collapse. He's a man of principles, and he has never shown me any reason to
doubt his honor." The commander's lemon-face softened a bit. "Then we'll revoke
the death charges."
"You've
already drawn murder charges against him?!" The commander looked Jan over as
though she was a beginner. "Agent Ors, you'll find that in life, the ends often
justify the means. One can never be too careful when dealing with mercenaries."
Yeah, with mercenaries like me and Kyle, you mean. "By the way Agent.
You were somehow alive during the entire time. Vitals were extremely low, some
kind of a healing coma you did subconsciously. No one knows how you did it.
It's an unofficial miracle in the eyes of the medics." He left Jan to find her
own way out. They wouldn't have done the same if the situation was reversed.
They'd have gladly handed me that payoff and told me their deepest sorrows.
Stumbling a bit, she exited the ward with an odd feeling that, instead of luck
to be alive, was a wish she'd just stayed good and gone.
Kyle was
unpacking in this new form of NR torture called Altyr V and pulled out the wad
of bills from his pack. He didn't even want to look at the money. True, Jan
would have wanted him to have it, but it felt wrong, like stealing from her.
Noticing the note, he picked it up and decided to rest before his watch came
on. The note, which he had taken to be a generic condolence note, was something
else. It was somehow different than anything the NR could have given him. He
unfolded the parchment and stopped breathing for what seemed an eternity. It
was a note from Jan, dated about the time before the Valley missions. He took
in the handwriting, the word choice, the overall writing style. It was
definitely Jan's.
To Kyle,
If you are reading this, I am most
likely fallen in battle. I don't and never would want you to mourn me. Know
this however: I have always loved you and the man that you are and will be. You
have stood by me for years and been my best friend and confidant. I only wish
that I could be there with you as you read this and tell you that I am well.
Take comfort in the small fact that someday we will be reunited. When you first
met me, you came at a time when my life was, I was sure, going to end. I had
lost my family and all my possessions to hired assassins, almost as we are now.
When you and I met face to face, I felt a spark. By the look in your eyes, you
felt it too. We "connected," so to speak. Since that moment, I have loved you.
When we were in greatest peril (so far), I worried for you and you simply took
it with a smile. That is one quality of yours that I wasn't sure if I wanted to
strangle you or kiss you. If you can't tell already by my unusual gushing and
girlish style, I am feeling emotions that I have never felt and that it is a
sad duty of mine to write my own condolence note. As my father would have said,
"bite the bolt and do your duty." I'm sorry I could have never told this to you
in person, but I know that you have known. I know that the money must be cold
comfort, but please accept it as a love offering. Until we meet again, I am
Your Jan.
Somehow the
words reassured him. He folded the note back up and placed it in his wallet. I'm
not going to forget you, Jan. I swear.
Jan was
given the odd job of a crew chief for a fighter squadron. She had asked to be
transferred to this "Altyr V," wherever it was. The CO denied the request,
saying that she would serve no useful purpose. Jan argued that she could be
Kyle's partner, but that request was shot down because Kyle was on a new
mission that didn't call for an officer accompaniment. "We need to see how
Captain Katarn does without your babysitting him, Ors." She had never felt
angrier in her life, either at the barb or the man's lack of respect for the
two agents who had quite possibly saved the galaxy from the Death Star
destroying more planets. Not to mention the Dark Troopers. And the Seven Dark
Jedi. And saving Crix Madine. And getting rid of Rom Mohc. She sighed heavily.
However, after many battles with a tribunal, she resigned herself to the duty
of head starshipwright for Defiance Squadron. Defiance was headed by both an
older staffer and a young XO, Will Ralter. Ralter seemed slow on the uptake to
Jan, who was used to Kyle's astute mind, but he was her CO no matter how badly
she wanted to lob her spanner at him. Jan still wished she had Kyle with her,
missed him terribly, but had an odd sense of rightness about being with
Defiance. She didn't agree with her feelings a bit. I'll find you someday,
Kyle. Even if it takes my entire life.
Finis.
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Hey,
everyone!
Yeah, that
was kinda sad. Not quite as angst-y as WA (I could probably replicate something
like that again, but man, what was I doin'??). I added a couple of pieces of
comic relief to break the emotions. (I have to brag about my writing :P) This
is supposed to tell what happened between Jedi Knight and Mysteries of the
Sith. The next sequel will be up sooner or later. I'm working on it now. It
really depends on how many hits this one gets as to whether or not there will
be a fourth. Should be up anywhere from 3rd week of March to the 4th
week or even around the beginning of April. OK, I'm slow. Next story: obstacles
revealed here will be solved or, at the least, challenged. It's comin'!!