Kyle Katarn: The Rise & Fall
Book 1: Rise of a Hero
Part 2
Chapter 12: New Mysteries
A/N: Writing the last chapter made me think of what Yoda said to Anakin in the Phantom Menace movie, how hate leads to suffering. Although in this case, hate also lead to major butt-kicking and Imperial ship destruction. But, as the saying goes for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. What is going to happen to Kyle? Guess you'll have to read along and find out!
Rebel Command Ship New HopeHangar Bay
The Moldy Crow.
A modified Corellian VT-1300 cruiser. A design old enough that, at any other time, it would have been scrapped and replaced. And yet, the Crow had demonstrated a determined reluctance to be scrapped or otherwise replaced.
She stared at the ship, eyes narrowing. She had read the reports, seen the gun camera footage from the X-Wings. It couldn't be any other ship, but standing here, with the ship sitting placidly on its landing skids, she still found it hard to believe.
And the reports about Kyle! They were almost too fanciful to be believed. Had it been only one person, she could have easily discounted the report. But when nearly every member of Rogue Squadron, including Luke Skywalker, reported the exact same thing, it could only be the truth.
Do I not want to believe it? Maybe. She liked Kyle, and saw him as a benefit to her and to the Rebellion. To believe he was capable of such cold-blooded killing…
No, she couldn't let her personal feelings enter into this. Kyle had done it; that much was clear. And whatever had happened to him had affected the Moldy Crow as well. How else could this old ship fly like that?
But what had happened to Kyle? According to Skywalker's reports, Kyle hadn't acted in a malevolent manner. Rather, his words had conveyed a matter-of-fact attitude, getting the job done. But the power he had demonstrated, able to take control of three X-Wings and activate their weapon systems. She hadn't seen such a display since…
Her body gave an involuntary shudder as she remembered those dark days. Chancellor Palpatine was taking on more and more executive powers, all in the name of saving the Republic and winning the war against the Separatists. Although she had been much younger then, Mon Mothma had seen the threat Palpatine posed although many of her fellow senators either didn't or chose to ignore it. A few, however, did listen to her including Senator Amidala of Naboo. And for a time, it seemed that things were going their way. With the destruction of General Grievous, it seemed that the war was finally over and Palpatine would step down as Chancellor.
But then, had come that terrible, terrible day when the clone troopers had turned against the Jedi, killing so many of them. And then had come Palpatine's grand announcement that the Jedi had turned against the Republic and had even attempted to assassinate him. Mon had seen the terrible scarring on the Chancellor's face and while a worm of doubt crept into her, it had been squashed when Palpatine explained that the Republic would now become the Empire. Her heart sank, all hopes of getting the Chancellor to step down gone. And her colleagues… so many of them had greeted the words with thunderous applause.
She knew then, for certain, the ailing Republic was finally and completely dead, and from its ashes rose Palpatine and the Empire. She remembered returning to her quarters, feeling despondent. And then had come the message from Bail Organa. She soon knew the truth of what had happened to the Jedi
She had surprised herself with her reaction. Rather than feeling even more hopeless, she felt a tiny flame of defiance spring to life inside her. Her anger over the injustice of what had happened fed that flame, making it grow brighter and stronger. She decided at that moment that she would not surrender the sovereignty of her planet to the Empire. She would fight this, wherever and however she could. As quietly as she could, Mon Mothma contacted the small circle of her supporters, letting them know of her plans. Some tried to dissuade her, saying it was too late or that now wasn't the right time. But a few agreed with her and from the small circle, the Rebellion had been born.
Her mouth curved upward slightly. True, the struggle had been tough, sometimes nearly hopeless. But the Rebellion had survived attempt after attempt by the Empire to destroy it, and thrived. With the destruction of the Death Star, many star systems began to reconsider their lives under the rule of the Empire.
But if all the old things had indeed passed away, including the Jedi, then what was happening to Kyle? Master Kenobi and Master Yoda had both disappeared into self-imposed exile, not heard from for decades. And with them, stories of their powers had become mere legend now.
Her eyes moved over the Crow. How else could what happened be explained? Could it be that Kyle Katarn was…?
Turning on her heel, Mon Mothma moved to the hangar bay doors. There was one way to get the answers she needed, go and ask him.
How do I get myself into these things? Kyle thought.
"Are you sure?"
He nodded.
Seated opposite him, Plasdan Marass pushed back in his chair, exhaling loudly. Over his shoulder, he said, "I don't see what else we can ask, Commander. We've covered this thing backwards and forwards and we haven't learned anything new."
Standing just behind Plasdan, Luke Skywalker nodded thoughtfully, arms crossed over his chest. "I suppose you're right. But just to be sure, Katarn, are you absolutely sure there's nothing else you can remember?"
Kyle dropped his eyes to the table, struggling to bite back the first thing that came to mind. He was so tired of their questions. It seemed that he had done nothing but answer them for the last hour. And the blond kid kept pushing, asking if he was sure about what he remembered. All Kyle wanted was to get out of there and check on Jan. He had woken up in sickbay (again!). Dr. Berth informed him that aside from mild dehydration and oxygen deprivation, he was fine. Jan, however, had been injured during the battle and was in surgery.
"She took a blow to the head that opened up a pretty nasty gash, but nothing that can't be repaired."
When Plasdan had shown and said he needed to talk to Kyle, the young man thought he'd only be gone a short time. Now, after seemingly endless questions, he had had enough. He looked up at Skywalker who was gazing at him with expectant eyes.
"What part of 'I can't remember' don't you understand, Skywalker?" he said angrily, glaring at the young commander, then at Plasdan, "You both keep talking about what happened like I should know. But I don't, okay?"
Skywalker's cheeks reddened and Plasdan gave a nearly imperceptible shake of his head. Oh boy, I've done it now. Here we go. Kyle mentally braced himself.
The blond kid opened his mouth to speak, but didn't say anything. He turned to look over his right shoulder like someone had called him. He stayed in that pose for nearly a minute. When he turned back around, Skywalker's face was composed.
"Look, Katarn, I'm not the enemy here. Believe it or not, I am on your side. And had you seen what I did, you'd understand why I'm asking all these questions."
"Well, maybe you could enlighten me, Skywalker. I'd like to know what happened too."
Luke nodded, pulling his communicator free of his belt and activating it. "Rogue Leader to Rogue Two."
A moment passed, then, "Two here."
"Wedge, do you still have the gun camera footage from the battle?"
"Right here, boss."
"I need you to bring it and the portable holoprojector to conference room S-1, deck 5."
"I'm on my way."
Ten minutes later, the doors to the room parted as Wedge stepped inside. He placed the holoprojector in the middle of the table, and inserted a silvery module into a receptacle on the side of the device.
The air over the table shimmered, resolving itself an image of space. Kyle could the all too familiar shape of the Star Destroyer and a plethora of TIE fighters.
"What you're seeing," Luke said, "is gun camera footage from X-Wing during the battle." The image began to move as the X-Wing began to maneuver.
Fascinated by the clarity of the images, Kyle felt as if the entire room were moving about him. When the X-Wing's lasers struck a TIE fighter, he found himself pushing away from the explosion. Wedge paused the video, giving Luke a knowing look.
"Sorry," Kyle said, feeling embarrassed.
Luke waved a hand. "I reacted the same way the first time I saw one of these. Right, Wedge?"
The tow-headed man said nothing, but his grin grew even wider.
"Now that you've had your fun, could you advance the footage to where we saw the ship?"
"Sure boss."
Manipulating the projector's controls, Wedge reset the video and set it to play again.
"At this point," Luke said, "the Crow had been disabled and the second Star Destroyer had just appeared."
The men listened to the crosstalk between the X-Wings when Wedge's voice called out.
""What the… how did…. WHOA!"
"Wedge! What's happening? Rogue Two, come in!"
They heard Wedge's shaky voice as he responded to Luke's voice, then two discussing what Wedge had seen.
"See what? Wedge, I don't…"
"It should be any second now," Luke said, gazing intently at the video. "There! Do you see it?"
Kyle stared at the image, seeing only a mishmash of X-Wings and TIE fighters engaging each other.
"Sorry, Skywalker, there's…."
His voice died away as the ship came into view. It flashed past the camera's point of view, disappearing. Wedge paused the video.
Silence reigned in the room for a long minute.
"Was that…?" Kyle asked, finding his voice.
"See for yourself. Wedge?"
At the pilot's direction, the video reversed, allowing the ship to come back into view.
"Right there," Luke said, "pause it again."
Wedge complied, and the picture went still, the ship fully in view.
Kyle's eyes went wide and his mouth dropped. It was the Crow and yet not the Crow. The hull had changed from its mismatched color scheme to ebony so deep and dark, it seemed to blot out the stars. The engine plume, normally a blue-white, was scarlet.
"That… that… that can't be my ship," he managed to say.
Luke nodded at Wedge who started the video again. Kyle watched in stunned fascination as the Crow arced towards the second Star Destroyer, dodging turbo laser bolts with seeming ease.
"You might want to brace yourself, Katarn," Luke said.
"What?"
Luke shook his head, he couldn't answer. On the tape, Luke's voice sounded, calling the Moldy Crow.
When he heard the response, Kyle fell back in his chair, face a mask of shock. It was his own voice he heard talking back to Skywalker. But there was something wrong with it. When he heard himself laugh, Kyle cringed. It wasn't his laugh; it was evil. Yes, that was it, evil.
He watched the Crow penetrate the Destroyer's hangar bay, emerging less than a minute later. He heard himself order the X-Wings to fire their torpedoes. Luke protested, to which Kyle heard himself say, "Fine. I'll do it myself."
Kyle listened to the stunned transmissions as the X-Wings pilots saw their torpedo systems activate by themselves and fire. When the Destroyer exploded, Luke had Wedge stop the video.
No one said anything for several minutes.
Kyle began to shake his head. He didn't want to believe what he had just seen. It couldn't be, that just wasn't him. But the truth of the video was undeniable. He looked up at the other men.
"I did these things? I said those words?"
Both Luke and Wedge nodded.
"No!" Kyle suddenly cried, pushing away from the table and standing up. "I couldn't have! I've never… I didn't… why can't I remember?"
Plasdan rose to his feet, crossed over to where Kyle stood. He put a hand on the younger man's shoulder, feeling the flesh beneath his tunic trembling. "We don't know why, Kyle, that's why Luke and I have been asking you all these questions. We're trying to figure out what happened."
"But I don't remember!"
"We know," Luke said, "especially consider your reaction just now. The question now is, what did happen?"
"I don't know!"
"Kyle, try and calm down. You didn't do anything wrong."
"How can you say that? You saw the video, didn't you?"
"Yes, I did," Plasdan replied, "but tell me, what did you do wrong?"
"I… I… the X-Wings…"
"Okay," the older man concerned, "somehow you did take control of the X-Wings without permission. But you did it to eliminate that Star Destroyer."
"But something's not right, Plasdan. How could all those things and not remember any of them?"
"I don't know the answer to that one, Kyle. But we will find out, okay?"
Gradually, as Plasdan's word sunk in, Kyle began to calm down. The trembling in his body ceased and the haunted look in his eyes went away. But then he remembered Jan. While he had been doing all that stuff in the video, Jan had gotten hurt. Had his actions caused it?
"What about, Jan, Plasdan? She got hurt during the battle, probably because of me. You say I did nothing wrong, but she's lying in sickbay right now because of me."
"It was a battle, Kyle. It's not like you meant for Jan to get hurt."
"But how can I be sure, Plasdan? I can't remember the stuff I did we saw on the video. How do we know that it wasn't those actions that caused her to get hurt?"
"Look, Kyle, I…."
Plasdan's communicator dinged for attention.
"Marass here," he answered.
"This is Dr. Berth. I'm looking for Kyle Katarn."
Plasdan had just started to hold the communicator out when Kyle snatched it from his hands.
"I'm here, doc," he said, almost frantic, "how's Jan."
"She's perfectly, fine Kyle." Berth replied, "I called to let you know she's out of surgery and…"
"Can I see her?"
"Yes, but…"
"I'll be right there," Kyle said, switching off the communicator and tossing it back. "Look, I know we need to find out what happened, but right now…"
"Kyle," Plasdan said, interrupting, "Go."
Berth took another look at Jan's vitals. All the readings were looking good. A little best of rest and…
A cacophony of pounding footsteps sounded in the corridor outside. Before the sickbay doors were open all the way, a panting, red faced Kyle Katarn dashed inside, skidding to a stop inches away from where Berth stood.
"Where is…" he said between breaths, then caught sight of her.
All the strength seemed to flow out of him as his eyes took her in. Jan lay in the bed, eyes closed, her long hair spread out in a wave on the pillow. Her chest rose and fell regularly. He could the beginning of a line of stitches running across the left side of her head.
"Jan," Kyle whispered, then out loud he asked, "Is she all right?"
"Yes Kyle," Berth said, still recovering from the shock of the young man's entrance, "she's fine, just as I told you. The surgery went very well."
"How long before she wakes up?"
"Well, the anesthesia won't wear off for a while yet. I'd say seven or eight hours."
"Could… could I wait here until she wakes up?"
Berth shook his head. "I can give you a few minutes, Kyle, but that's all. Right now, Jan needs her rest. And after that battle, so do you."
"C'mon, doc, I…"
"I mean it, Kyle."
He considered whether to press the matter. Sickbay was the doctor's domain and he if he called security…
"Okay, doc, I give. Five minutes?"
"No more," Berth replied, stepping away to allow Kyle some privacy.
He gazed at her for a long minute. Grabbing a nearby chair, he sat down next to her bed. Jan's arms were at her sides and Kyle reached out and tentatively took her right hand in his.
"I'm sorry, Jan. It's my fault you're here right now. If I hadn't insisted on going out there, you wouldn't be…
He trailed off, thinking about what might have been.
"Something happened to me out there today, Jan. I don't know if you saw it or not, but I… changed, became someone, something else. And I'm wondering if that something else is what hurt you."
He looked into her face, wishing that she was awake.
"What I saw in that video, Jan. It was wrong. It's like whatever happened to me affected the ship too."
He paused a moment more.
"I'm scared, Jan. Whatever it was that I became today, I don't want it to happen again. But if I can't remember what happened, then how can I keep it from happening again?"
She didn't answer.
"Kyle."
He looked up to see the doctor standing by the bed.
"It's time. We need to let her rest now."
Kyle nodded. "Okay, doc."
He started to let go of Jan's hand when it tightened around his.
"Kyle," Berth said again, "you agreed to five minutes. Now…"
"Doc, "Kyle said, urgency in his voice, "Look."
Berth leaned down and saw the joined hands. Kyle's grip on her hand was loose, but Jan's hand was clamped tightly around his.
"What happened?"
"When I moved to go, her hand tightened around mine."
The sound, when it came was low, practically a whisper
"Not your fault."
"Kyle, did you…"
"Wasn't me, doc."
"Not your fault." The voice was stronger this time.
The two men looked at Jan, the only other person in the room.
"It couldn't have been her," Berth said, "She's still asleep."
But with a sudden fluttering, her eyelids began to move. Slowly, they opened. The pupils beneath were dilated and unfocused, but for Kyle and Berth, it seemed as if she did she them.
"Not your fault," Jan said. Her voice was still low, but recognizable.
"Not your fault about what?" Berth asked.
Kyle waited a long moment before answering. He looked down at the floor, unable to meet the eyes that looked at him.
"What happened during the battle, it's my fault Jan got hurt."
"No," she whispered urgently, her grip on his hand tightening to the point that it hurt, "issss not your fault."
"But Jan…"
"No…." she said, her voice getting quieter now, "not your fault, Katarn."
Her hand suddenly went slack.
"Doc! What's happening?"
Berth stepped forward, checked the instruments monitoring Jan.
"She's alright, Kyle, just sleeping."
"But doc, how did she..?"
"The human will is a powerful thing, Kyle. Jan must have heard you, even in her sleep. And she wanted you to know that whatever happened, she doesn't blame you."
Silence descended as Kyle considered what Jan and Berth had said. How could Jan know what happened? She was unconscious during the attack on the Star Destroyer. Could she be right? He considered what Plasdan had told him, that he hadn't really done anything wrong. But something deep inside him knew. Knew that whatever had happened, no matter the results, had been wrong. I need to go and think about this.
Standing up, Kyle looked at Jan one more time.
"Thanks, partner."
He turned, moving out of the room.
"Where are you going?"
"To shower and change, get something to eat and then go see what kind of shape the Crow is in. You'll let me know when she comes to?"
"Of course, but Kyle?"
He stopped, turned back around.
"Yeah, doc?"
"Are you all right?"
He shook his head. "Physically, yes. As for the rest, I really don't know. Something happened to me today, doc, something wrong. And yet I can't remember any of it. It reminds me of a line I heard in a movie, 'There is a hole in your mind.' I need to figure out what happened out what happened, but even more importantly, why."
With that, Kyle turned on his heel and left Sickbay, leaving a perplexed Doctor Berth in his wake.
Several Hours Later
She seemed to be floating in a white fog, not visible in any direction she looked. I have to be dreaming, she thought.
"Jan."
A voice. Calling her name. It seemed to be coming from behind her. But when she turned round, there was no one there, only more of the unending field of white.
"Jan."
Now the voice came from her left. But there was nothing there when she turned to it.
"Where are you?" she called into the fog.
"Jan, can you hear me?"
The voice sounded familiar. "Kyle?" she called.
"Jan."
Suddenly, the white fog over her head parted and through, a ray of light flashed down, into her face. She threw up her hands against the blinding light, but it was no use. The light was too strong, undeniable.
Berth touched her shoulder, giving it another slight shake.
"Jan, can you hear me?"
Her eyes, which had been tightly closed, trembled, the lids fluttering.
"Easy, Jan," the doctor cautioned, "take it slow."
Her eyelids opened, then just as quickly closed as the pupils quickly contracted against the onslaught of light.
"Give it a moment," the doctor said.
Jan opened her eyes more slowly this time, eyes finally adjusting. She turned to look at him.
"Doctor Berth?"
"Yes, Jan."
"Where am I?"
"Sickbay."
"Sickbay!" she said incredulously.
"You were brought here right after the Crow was brought aboard."
"The Crow? Tractored. I…:"
She closed her eyes again, gathering herself. Okay Jan, you can handle this. Something happened during the battle. Of course, she thought, remembering the panel exploding, the blow to her head.
When she opened her eyes to look at the doctor again, he could see that she was more in control now, calmer.
"Okay, doctor. Perhaps you'd better fill me in as to what happened since I lost consciousness and woke up here."
Berth took a few minutes to relate the events of the battle, including the second Star Destroyer, Rogue Squadron and the New Hope jumping to hyperspace.
"I'm not sure exactly how, but the second Star Destroyer was destroyed and the first one retreated soon after. Rogue Squadron took care of the rest of the TIE fighters. It was shortly after that we jumped back to the battle site. The Crow was drifting and had to be tractored into the hangar bay."
"We took a hit from an ion cannon," Jan said.
"That must have been it, then. You must have been injured during the battle. When you arrived in Sickbay, I discovered a fairly large laceration across the top of your head. Fortunately, it wasn't deep."
Jan reached up to her head, feeling the even rows of stitches. Her eyes suddenly grew wide.
"What about Kyle?"
Berth smiled. "Aside from not listening to his doctor's orders to get some rest, he's fine."
Jan let out a relieved breath. "Good."
"In fact, I promised him I'd call as soon as you woke up. If you'll excuse me…?"
"Of course," she replied.
Berth began to step out of the room, then snapped his fingers, turning back round.
"I almost forgot. You have some visitors waiting to see you. Are you up to it?"
"Definitely," Jan said, smiling, "who is it?"
Berth, however, was already leaning around the edge of the privacy curtain. "You can come in now."
Raising the bed so she was able to sit up, Jan waited expectantly, thinking it would be Mon Mothma. But instead, three people stepped inside. Her mouth dropped open.
"You!"