Kyle Katarn: The Rise & Fall
Book 1: Rise of a Hero
Part 2
Chapter 8: Jan & Mara
A/N: And now we know. All along, Blaze was a double agent, actually Mara Jade, the Emperor's Hand. And Kyle now finds himself, weaponless, with a woman that wants him dead. Is this it for our hero? Maybe, maybe not.
The New Hope
"C'mon," Jan muttered, "I know it's here."
Since Kyle's departure nearly three hours ago, Jan had ensconced herself in Tactical, reviewing every bit of information she could find on Blaze Redlopt. What she expected to find, she didn't know. But her earlier suspicions coupled with Blaze's disappearance had prompted her to start checking into the woman's past. If nothing else, she told herself; maybe she'd confirm what Kyle believed all along, that Blaze was just another Rebel agent like them.
So far, her search had turned up various records of mission Blaze had gone on. The woman was impressive; Jan had to admit. She had single-handedly infiltrated an Imperial base to plant listening devices and rescued the crew of a damaged Rebel transport by connecting using Black Gold to tow the ship back to base. Everything in her record showed a loyal Rebel agent with exceptional abilities.
According to the latest file she was reviewing, Blaze had been dispatched on a mission to Corellia to investigate rumors of an Imperial presence in the system. Right away; that struck Jan as odd. The Empire already had an established presence in the Corellian system, working with the Corporate Security to provide local law enforcement of the worlds of Corellia.
The system was unique in that, despite a high percentage of smugglers, criminals and other annoyances, the Empire had yet to impose martial law or take over the government of any of planets there. Perhaps that was what Blaze had gone to investigate. The last transmission from here indicated she had successfully arrived on Corellia. It had been well over a month since anyone had heard from her.
Wait a minute, Jan thought. If our Blaze and this Blaze are the same person, why hadn't she revealed what had happened on Corellia? The mission had to have been important in order to dispatch an agent. So where was her report of her findings on Corellia? But the biggest shock came when she was re-reviewing the woman's bio and discovered that an image of Black Gold, along with a report of how the ship had been found drifting just outside the Corellian system and what had been found aboard it.
Yanking her communicator from her belt, she spoke into it. "Communications, this is Jan Ors with a priority message for Mon Mothma."
"Stand by," the comm officer said as she switched channels.
A minute passed, then the older woman's voice sounded through the speaker, "I read you, Jan. Have you found something?"
"You could say that."
"What is it?"
"I don't want to broadcast it over an open channel. Can you meet me in Tactical?"
"I'm on my way."
Five minutes later, Mon Mothma passed through the doors, joining her at one of the stations.
"Blaze is a double agent," she announced without preamble.
"What?"
Indicating the display, Jan said, "Take a look." She showed Mon Mothma her findings, including the visual record which showed that Black Gold was in fact, not a Z-95 Headhunter, but a modified Skipray Blastboat.
After studying the information, the older woman turned to her, her face grim. "I swore I'd never let another Imperial spy get this close. And now…"
"It's not your fault, Mon Mothma. Whoever Blaze really is, she's good. She fooled everyone, you, me, Kyle."
"We've got to warn him," the older woman said.
"I know," Jan said, "but if we try to contact him directly, the Imperials will pick up the transmission. Still…" A look of shock appeared on her face.
"Mon Mothma, who provided you the report about the location of the Nav Card?"
"It was one of the Empire's Mon Calamarian slaves. But it was…" It dawned on her as well. "It was Blaze who delivered the report to me."
"Then the mission to Nar Shaddaa was a trap, orchestrated by her."
"And I just sent Kyle into the heart of the Empire. I'll bet 'Blaze' is there too."
Jan opened her mouth to speak, but Mon Mothma held up a hand.
"Go."
"I will," Jan said, "right after I stop off at the Armory for some extra firepower."
That said, she whirled and ran from the room. The halls ran with the staccato beats of her heels as she ran through the corridors of the New Hope.
Ten minutes later, the Moldy Crow leapt from the hangar bay, engines trailing blue fire as it boosted away from the New Hope. Jan fingers flew over the controls, programming the hyperspace jump.
You'd better not hurt him, Blaze, she thought, reaching for the hyperdrive lever.
Her finger began to tighten on the trigger.
Just a few moments more, Kyle thought, and this'll all be over. I just wish I could have talked to Jan one last time
BOOM!
The deck under their feet suddenly shook, causing them both to stumble.
"What the…" Jade started to say, as the sound of an ion engine became audible.
Both looked skyward, catching sight of it at the same time.
Ion engines howling, the Moldy Crow screamed down out of the sky, looking for all the world like an avenging eagle diving at it prey. Its laser cannons fired again, striking the area where Kyle and Mara stood. As permacrete shattered and a pall of smoke went up, Kyle started to dive away. But Jade saw the movement and fired, hitting him in the chest. The armor deflected some of the blast away, but the force was enough to knock him down to the ground again.
"You're not getting away this time, Kyle," Jade said as she got ready to fire again.
In the cockpit, Jan saw him get hit. "No!" she cried, her lips curving into a snarl. She was going to make that woman down there pay.
Even as Mara began to pull the trigger again, Jan brought the Crow in, engines screaming as she leveled off, heading towards the landing pad at a reckless speed. Mara saw the ship coming in hard. But she smiled as she realized it was also coming in too fast. It would overshoot the pad.
But the smile died away as Jan killed power to the engines, kicking in the repulsors to hold the Crow aloft as she spun the ship so the engines now faced the pad. She rammed the throttles to the stops, bringing the Crow to a dead stop just above the landing pad.
The engine blast also sent a wall of air towards the two figures on the pad. Kyle felt the blast of wind, and covered his face. But for Mara, standing upright, it was too late. The blast hit her full force. Her arms flew out in front of her as she was thrown back, towards the edge of the platform.
Spinning round again, Jan let the drop towards the pad, feeding in just enough repulsor power to keep the ship's weight from crushing the landing skids. It struck the landing pad, skids bouncing once, twice. She already had the canopy open and started to scramble out, pausing a moment to grab the item she had gotten from the New Hope's armory.
Able to sit up now, Kyle gazed at the ship. He heard the whine of the canopy opening, a smile coming to his face as he saw her.
"Jan!" he called.
He was sitting up, she could see. "Kyle!" she called.
Her mouth was working, but he couldn't hear the words. But Kyle decided he'd worry about that later. Just gotta get up. He rolled onto his side, groaning in pain from the chest wound, rose to one knee.
"Jan!" he called again.
She heard him call her name. He was hurt, the hole in the chest armor was evidence enough of that, but he was alive. Now, if she could just get him aboard the Crow, they'd be out of there.
She was running towards just as another figure became visible, approaching from the opposite side of the landing pad. The face was Blaze's, but the hair, the clothes. This was the double agent, the one who had fooled them all. But how? The blast from the engines should have blown her off the pad.
The woman called out. "I told you you're not leaving, Kyle. And I meant it."
Jade! He started to move, anticipating what direction she was coming from. But it was too late. One moment he was moving, the next he felt like he had slammed into a brick wall. He tried to move his legs, to keep going, but he couldn't move. He felt a tug, realizing he was being pulled backwards.
He reached out to Jan just as something struck him from behind. He fell onto his knees, semiconscious.
"Kyle!" Jan cried out, watching in helpless fury as the redhead pulled him back as if an invisible string connected him to her hand. She hit Kyle with the butt of a blaster and he fell to his knees. Skidding to a halt, she brought the KGX Model 9 sniper rifle to her shoulder, activating the laser sight.
Glancing down at Kyle, Mara smiled with satisfaction. Ors may have surprised her with the engine blast, but she hadn't counted on Mara's combat expertise. She had managed to catch the edge of the platform and keep herself from going over. Then, summoning her Force powers, she had sprinted across the landing pad to just behind Kyle. From there, it was a simple matter to pull him to her. Now, she would have the satisfaction of finally killing him.
Out of nowhere, a red light splashed across her shoulder. It reflected off the material of the jumpsuit before finally coming to rest on her chest. Looking down, she realized with surprise that the red light was a crosshairs. She looked up, following the path of the light to its origin, her face clouding in anger at what she saw.
"Ors," she snarled.
"Blaze," Jan replied, "or is that really your name? Not that I care that much."
"So you know," Mara said, "how?"
"It took some digging. But when I discovered that the real Blaze Redlopt was killed a month ago on Corellia, the pieces all fell into place."
"I'm surprised you were able to figure it out, Mara replied, "there wasn't much of her left to find."
"There was enough," Jan said, "that and the image of the real Black Gold."
Mara nodded, impressed at how the other woman had figured it out. "I was wrong about you, Ors. I should have killed you long ago."
"Probably," Jan said, "you definitely underestimated me. Now, drop the weapon and step away from Kyle, or I'll put a hole in your chest so big you'll be able to scratch your own back."
Blaze smiled evilly, kept the blaster trained on Kyle. "I don't think so. In fact, I'll bet I can kill him before you can kill me. So, you decide, Ors, which will it be?"
"Let's see," Jan said thoughtfully, winking at Mara, "How about you?" With that, she shifted the sight. The double agent let out a scream as the laser sliced into her eyes.
Jan lowered the sight back on to Blaze's chest, finger tightening on the trigger. Suddenly, something struck her with incredible force. The rifle was knocked upwards, casting the shot harmlessly skyward. Jan stumbled back, saved from falling as she fetched up against the Crow's hull, head striking hard enough to stun her.
As for Mara, even though her eyes had closed reflexively, the laser had damaged them. She fought to find her focus, willing the pain in her eyes to go away. She threw a hand out in front of her even as began to back away from Kyle. But even if she had succeeded in knocking Ors down, she had to get away. But even as she turned away to escape, Mara vowed that someday she'd find Katarn and Ors and make them both suffer.
Jan lay against the hull for a moment waiting for her vision to clear. She blinked several times, eyes finally focusing on the scene before her.
Smoke drifted lazily across the landing pad where the Crow's cannons had scored hits. Suddenly, she remembered, Jade!
Swinging the sniper rifle up, ignoring the pain in her head, she pushed off from the ship, taking a few cautious steps forward. Sweeping her gaze over the landing pad, but no Jade. I know I hit her with the laser, Jan thought, so where is she? Turning in a complete circle, she found nothing except the permacrete of the landing pad.
Somehow, somehow Jade had gotten away.
A groan reached her ears. Kyle! She turned to where he lay on the ground. He had fallen onto his back, legs twisted to the side. She was beside him a second later, kneeling by him. She started to reach for him, pausing only to pull the glove off her hand as she touched two fingers to his neck, feeling for a pulse.
A moment passed, another. There it was! She could feel the steady beat against her fingers, whispering silent thanks that he was still alive. As she pulled her hand away, the back of the palm touched his cheek. The skin was warm, roughened by a day's growth of beard.
"Kyle?"
He didn't answer, didn't stir.
"Kyle, can you hear me?"
The rise and fall of his chest told her he was breathing.
"Kyle, open your eyes."
Still no response.
She considered using a stimulant on him from the Crow's medical kit, but it could do more harm than good. Still, she had to wake him. Then, it hit her.
"Name, rank," she said.
For a moment, there was nothing. Then, with a movement of his head, Kyle stirred, mouth opening, "Katarn, Kyle, Rank: Lieutenant."
His eyelids fluttered, opened. She watched as his eyes focused, began to move around, finding her.
His throat worked for a moment, then smiling wanly, he said, "Hi."
She didn't smile back, placing her hands on her hips and gazing down at him with a stern expression. "This is getting to be a habit, Katarn."
"Sorr…" he started to say. His eyes suddenly went wide and he tried to sit up. "Jan! Blaze is really Mara Jade, the Emperor's Hand. She…"
Placing a hand firmly on his chest, she pushed him back down. "I know. Don't try to move yet. I've got to make sure you're okay to travel."
Just then, an alarm began to sound. "Attention! Attention! All stormtroopers report to your stations!"
"I don't think we have the time to wait, Jan."
She shook her head, rising to her feet just a TIE fighter screamed overhead. "Typical Imperial timing."
Kyle reached out a hand to her. Grabbing it, Jan secured the grip with her other hand and leaned back, helping Kyle to his feet.
"Can you walk?"
He started to take a step, nearly fell.
Looping his left arm across her shoulders, she placed her other arm across his back. "Guess we have our answer."
Half stumbling, the two agents made their way over to the Crow.
Reaching up, Kyle grabbed the lip of the cockpit, pulling himself. His body protested, but he gritted his teeth against the pain, pulling himself into the rear cockpit. Jan leaned in and secured his straps.
As she finished the last one, he grabbed her hand. She turned to look at him, her face a mixture of annoyance and curiosity.
"Thanks," he said simply.
"Thank me when we're back aboard the New Hope."
She could see the disappointment in his face, but now was not the time for this. Hurling herself into the forward cockpit, she closed the canopy and began activating the ship's systems.
"Jan."
"Later, Katarn."
"But Jan…"
"I said later, Katarn."
"There may not be a later. Look."
Jan turned her head to the left, eyes going wide as she spotted a squad of stormtroopers charging towards the landing pad. At least two were carrying heavy blasters, she could see.
"Oh Sithspit."
"My sentiments exactly," Kyle said.
The engine power grid was only reading 80, but she couldn't wait any longer. She began to feed power to the engines, at the same, keying the defense systems to activate the shield and begin charging the laser cannons.
The repulsors fired, lifting the skids free of the landing pad, but the engines were refusing to work. She checked the power grid again, 90
"C'mon, c'mon," she said, beginning the start sequence again.
WHANG!
The Crow lurched to one side, the shields flaring brightly as a laser blast struck them. Jan looked outside to find that the stormtroopers had set up a portable laser cannon.
WHANG!
The Crow lurched again, a yellow light appearing on the defense systems status board.
She heard a hum from behind her, followed by a cough. She started to smile, but it faded away as the engines gauges dropped back to zero.
WHANG!
The yellow light changed to red. The shields were being overloaded, the Imperials adding their blaster fire to the shots from the cannon. She began the sequence again.
Behind her, she heard Kyle yell, "Oh c'mon, you slagging ship!"
The hum started again, then the cough. This time, however, a deep-throated roar followed the cough as the engines gauges swung up. Wasting no time, Jan shoved the throttle to full.
The stormtrooper commander ordered his men to keep firing. The shields on the enemy ship were beginning to weaken, he could see. A couple more shots…
There was a loud coughing sound, followed by the deep roar of ion engine coming to life. A blue glow began to emanate from the ship's engines and as the commander watched, the enemy ship blasted away, nose pointed into the sky.
"Blast!" He grabbed his communicator. "This is unit 5. The quarry has managed to get away. Order the TIE fighters to track, pursue and destroy." There was a quick acknowledgement. He smiled under his helmet. The enemy ship wouldn't get far.
They were almost clear of the atmosphere when the first call came.
"This is Imperial Security to unidentified ship. You are charged with trespassing in Imperial space. Power down your engines and prepare to be boarded."
Neither of them said anything.
"Unidentified ship, we have TIE fighters on a pursuit course. Power down now and you will not be harmed."
"Yeah, right," Kyle muttered.
Both of them felt the ship shake as the first shot from the pursuing TIEs struck. The shield indicator, which had faded back to green, was glowing yellow once again.
From behind her, Kyle called, "Computer's showing three TIE fighters right behind us, with what looks like a squadron about six minutes away."
"We've got to keep going." Jan said, her voice showing signs of strain, "I've got the hyperspace jump already programmed. We just need to get clear of the atmosphere."
The ship shook again as another shot found it. Jan fed every bit of power she could find into the engines, urging the Crow to go faster. Two more blasts from the TIEs hit in succession. The shield indicator went red. But rather than feel worry at seeing this, Jan felt a sudden surge of anger. Anger over the argument she and Kyle had had, anger over Blaze's treachery, anger over Kyle being hurt. She began to pull the throttle back.
Feeling the ship begin to decelerate, Kyle called, "Jan! What are you doing?"
"Improvising, Katarn. Now shut up and hang on."
A moment, he felt the world around him go topsy-turvy as Jan killed the Crow's forward velocity and spun the ship to face the approaching TIE fighters. Her finger mashed down on the trigger, and the Crow's laser cannons spoke, spitting arrows of red death at the Imperials. One TIE fighter never saw it coming. The bolt pierced the cockpit, killing the pilot as his ship erupted in fireball around him. Another took two hits to the starboard solar panel. The pilot lost control and the fighter began a long fall back towards the planet. The third TIE fighter veered away, catching a glancing hit on his port solar panel. Turning away, he dived for the planet.
Spinning the Crow back around, Jan brought the engines back up to full power, feeding in power from the laser cannons. Trailing a column of blue fire, the Crow boosted away from Coruscant, clearing the atmosphere.
The comm came active with another transmission. "Unidentified ship. This is your final warning. Power down or be destroyed."
Jan smirked at the speaker, knowing it was an empty threat. So why say anything? It was a complete shock when she heard, "This is former Imperial Lieutenant Kyle Katarn to Imperial Security. Tell General Mohc his little trap didn't work."
She sat there, completely stunned What in Force's sake was Kyle doing?
"And tell him…" he began to say, when she flipped the cutoff switch. "… that I'll be coming for him," he finished.
"What are you doing, Kyle?" she called.
"Sending a message," he replied evenly.
I don't have time for this, Jan thought, refocusing her attention on the ship's systems. It took only another minute for to bring the hyperdrive online. As the stars around them became lines, the Crow darted forward into hyperspace, leaving a group of frustrated TIE fighter pilots only one option, report in that the Rebels had escaped.
The silence grew in the cockpit, Kyle either unable or unwilling to explain. Okay, Jan thought, guess I'll have to make the first move.
"What in the name of all that's holy was that about, Katarn?"
"I told you already," he replied in the same even tone, "I was sending a message."
"Yeah, I got that part. You do realize the consequences if they match the transmission to the voiceprint they have on file at the Academy?"
"General Mohc already knows about my changing sides, Jan. Using Blaze to get to me…." He trailed off.
A minute passed.
"And?" she pressed.
"And I'm sending Mohc a message."
"That doesn't answer my question. What message?"
He tried, but couldn't put the feelings into words. "You wouldn't understand," he said finally.
"Try me."
"It's personal," he said defensively.
"Uh-huh," Jan replied, "well, the next you feel like shooting off your mouth off, keep in mind that doing so on an open channel is a dumb idea."
"And why is that?" he retorted.
"Oh please, Kyle. You know as well as I do that if they identify the frequency you were using, they can track it and us."
"You had the scrambler on, didn't you?"
Jan glanced at the comm. Sure enough the scrambling system was on. It worked to distort any emission from the ship, especially communication frequencies. She said nothing, not wanting to hand him an easy victory.
"Yes, I did. But that still doesn't explain your outburst."
"I told you, you wouldn't understand."
"And what exactly wouldn't I understand, Katarn?"
His face began to warm. Why was Jan doing this? Why was she trying to make him angry?
"Fine," he said coldly, "you really wanna know? Then here it is. You wouldn't know how it feels to be betrayed like I have! I believed in Blaze. I trusted her. I cared for her. And now I discover that she's really someone else. But not just anyone, she's the Emperor's Hand!"
Jan could hear the fear and pain mixed in with the anger. "Okay," she began, "but…"
"Not buts, Jan. You wanted to hear this. I'm also tired of being a target. General Mohc is behind this, Blaze and Boba Fett!"
"Wait a minute! Did you say Boba Fett? The Boba Fett?"
It took only a few minutes for Kyle to relate his encounter with the bounty hunter.
"And there I am, wounded and in pain, just wanting to get out of there. And who should show up? The woman I thought was Blaze! Only now I find out she's been playing me for a sucker all this time. And then she nearly kills me! If you hadn't shown up when you did…"
He trailed off, shaking his head, the truth of what would have happened all too clear.
Jan didn't know what to say. Her heart hurt for him, for what he had gone through. And while she knew Jade had fooled many others besides Kyle, it hurt him more because he had believed in her so strongly and had defended her.
"I always had a bad feeling about her," she said absentmindedly.
"A bad feeling? Oh that's great, Jan! How many times did I try to get you to explain your attitude towards Blaze? And now you tell you had a bad feeling? Why didn't you say something before?"
A ripple of shock ran through her, followed by a surge of anger. "Excuse me? What are you saying, Kyle? That this was somehow my fault?"
"No! But you wouldn't talk to me, Jan, wouldn't tell why Blaze bothered you."
"Because you wouldn't listen, Katarn! You were so gung ho on making Blaze a part of our team; you didn't stop to question anything. And every time I tried to talk to you, you would just dismiss it as more of my 'bad attitude'".
"Then why didn't you talk to me before I went on this mission? I gave you a chance then."
"Oh right!" Jan exclaimed, "after you had lambasted me over not forming a sector wide search for Blaze after I told you she was missing."
"Look," Kyle said, "I was wrong about that. I admit it. But you still should've talked to me before all this happened."
Jan went cold inside. Fighting down an urge to reach back and smack him, she instead said, "And you should have listened to me when I tried to talk to you."
The cockpit fell silent, the two agents struck mute by each other's words.
She's right, Kyle thought, I should have listened. But what did she give to go on? Nothing.
I should have tried harder to talk with him, Jan thought, but he was being so blasted stubborn.
The Moldy Crow cruised on through hyperspace, no sound emanating except a few beeps from it systems.
Four Hours Later
After dropping from hyperspace twice to check for any pursuit, Jan programmed the final leg of the jump. As she pulled back on the hyperdrive levers and the Crow slid smoothly into hyperspace, she took a moment to look over her shoulder.
Kyle hadn't moved, lying there in his seat gazing out the left side window, his chin supported in one hand.
"We should be rendezvousing with the New Hope in about forty minutes," she called.
"Okay."
The two of them hadn't exchanged more than a few words since the fight. While Jan felt sorry for all Kyle had endured, she was still angry with him over what he had said. She almost wondered why she had bothered to come after him.
Looking out of the side of his eye, Kyle saw Jan turn to look at him, a mix of anger and pity on her face. He wanted to say something to her, to try and explain himself. But no matter what he said, she didn't seem to understand. So why try?
The cockpit fell silent again.
Thirty-Five Minutes LaterShe pulled the buzzing communicator free and flipped it on. "This is Mon Mothma."
"Mon Mothma, this is Glef in Tactical. We've just detected a ship emerging from hyperspace."
"Can you get a fix on it?"
She heard his smile, "That's why I was calling you. We've positively the incoming ship as the Moldy Crow."
Closing her eyes for a moment, she breathed a silent word of thanks. "Thank you, Glef, good work."
"Anytime."
Switching the channel, she rang communications. "This is Mon Mothma. Can you get a signal to the Moldy Crow?"
"Trying now."
Jan saw the light begin to flash on the comm panel.
"The New Hope is hailing us."
"Probably Mon Mothma," Kyle said.
Nodding, Jan opened the channel.
"We're receiving a signal," the comm officer, "switching to your comlink."
There was a quick burst of static, then a popping sound as the device switched to the proper frequency.
"Jan?"
"Mon Mothma, good to hear your voice."
"And yours? Is Kyle…?
"He's here with me, a bit banged up, but alive."
"And Blaze?"
"We were right."
"I see."
"I'd like to make a quick run by sickbay, then…"
"I'm fine," Kyle called from the rear cockpit.
"No you're not. Dr. Berth needs to have a look at you."
"I said I'm fine," he said angrily.
Jan started to retort, but Mon Mothma cut her off.
"Report to the briefing room as soon you land, Jan."
"But…"
"I will assess Kyle's condition when I see him. Understood."
There was a long pause, then, "Under protest, but yes."
"Noted," the older woman said, "I'll see you in a few minutes."
She clicked the comlink off. Thank the Force they were both all right. But something was wrong; she could feel it.