Saga - OT Saga - Legends Dark Forces: Unwelcome Cargo [Kyle Katarn, Jan Ors, Moff Rebus]

Title: Dark Forces: Unwelcome Cargo
Author: whiskers
Timeframe: OT (Legends Continuity), Roughly 1 year after A New Hope, directly after Mission 3 of Dark Forces
Characters: Kyle Katarn, Jan Ors, Moff Rebus
Genre: One Shot, Comedy, Little bit of Drama
Summary: In the immediate aftermath of their capture of Moff Rebus, Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors must deal with their new captive and the problem of just where to place him on their cramped ship.

***

Anoat hadn’t always been a disgusting planet, but anyone looking at the shattered world now could hardly believe it. In the day, the sky took on a sickly brownish orange dotted with perpetually gray clouds. The ground was a permanent brown, what vegetation still existed pale and sickly.

The Moldy Crow sat on a mesa overlooking the abandoned Anoat City. The small freighter was avian-shaped and bulky, 29 meters long from its beaked bow to the winged stern. The engines, two mounted on the wings of the craft and two jutting diagonally upwards, glowed a soft blue.

Inside the door leading to the decontamination shower opened and the entirety of the cramped living quarters soon smelled of raw sewage. Kyle Katarn stepped out into the cabin, dressed in simple civilian gear of dark pants and a tan shirt. He was fair skinned and freshly shaved. His short brown hair was still wet and plastered to his head. In a single gloved hand, he held a pile of clothing that had once been a nerf leather jacket that now had several long cuts in it, a black blast vest, and other clothing. Silently, he walked out of the cabin, opened the ship’s ramp and tossed the pile outside of the ship before walking back in.

Jan Ors stood in between the two bunks on both sides of the ship. The tan-skinned woman wore an Alliance uniform with the rank insignia of captain on her right breast. Flight goggles were currently resting on the top of her head, black hair tied neatly into a tail. A blasted held in a cybernetic hand pointed to a man sitting on Kyle’s bunk. A look of utter disgust was on her face.

“It got worse,” she said. “I have no idea how, but the smell got worse.”

Kyle gave a helpless shrug. “At this point, I can’t smell anything...”

“Consider yourself lucky,” she said. A slight smirk spread on her face. “You know, if you want me to keep flying this ship, you’re gonna have to get it deep cleaned.”

He pointed to the prisoner. “Ask him to pay for it,” Kyle said. “It wasn’t my idea to build a base in the middle of a sewer with the only way in being through the muck.”

“Not the only way,” the prisoner said with a grin. Moff Rebus was portly with thinning black hair and wore a white undershirt. “And don’t forget, a completely air-filtered lab.”

“After forcing me to go through all that sewage and all what was in it, you’re damn lucky we need you alive,” Kyle said.

“My work requires a lot of security, and it does its job well.”

Kyle never saw Jan give off any hint of anger at the comment, but he could nearly sense it rolling off of her. He couldn’t blame her after all they had seen in the sacked rebel base on Talay just days previously. The durasteel and stone walls of Tof Base were charred and melted by some new Imperial weaponry. The bodies of the base’s staff lay where they had been cut down, their bodies charred to a crisp.

“Not well enough,” Kyle said. He spat on the deck, still tasting the hints of foul sewage in his mouth. He walked forward a meter and opened up a locker bolted on the nearby wall. He removed a bottle of antibiotics and swallowed a couple. The way to the base had been filled with cataracts of raw sewage filled with droids and dianogas. He had been lost in those tunnels for minutes before finding his way out, shooting at every fetid bubble that made its way to the surface. “So, now you’re here.”

Rebus’s cocky grin never left his face. “It doesn’t matter, you won’t get anything from me.”

“We’ll let Cracken see about that,” Jan said. “Or Drayson, if you’re unlucky. None of them are happy about what you’ve done.”

“Yes, the Empire was very proud.”

Kyle leaned against the locket, adrenaline beginning to wear off and exhaustion beginning to set in. He nodded to Jan. “Well, enough of the small talk, going by us getting here the trip back to the New Hope is going to take about two and half days, where did we decide to keep this guy again?”

Jan shook her head. “We didn’t, but I know I can’t hold him at blasterpoint for the rest of the trip.”

“The cargo bay’s out,” Kyle added. “Not since it has our little collection back there.”

Jan nodded. “The last thing we need is to have him get hold of a blaster.”

“Trip back will take a while, that takes out locking him in the refresher.”

The two paused for a second, the only available room in the entire ship coming to their minds simultaneously. Jan grinned first while Kyle could barely suppress a chuckle.

“That just leaves...” he began.

The smugness that had been on Rebus’s face drained as his face paled.

“N-no...” he whimpered.

“Yes,” Kyle and Jan said together.

Rebus tried to stand and flee, earning a quick backhand from Jan Ors. The Imperial weapons manufacturer moaned in fear as the two rebels grabbed him by the shoulders. A short scream escaped his lips as the pair jostled him towards the decontamination room.

“You can’t do this!” he shouted. “You can’t!”

“Payback is a murglak, isn’t it?” Kyle asked. He pushed the button and he could tell from the looks on Jan’s and Rebus’s faces that the smell of sewage was making its way out.

The two shoved Rebus inside. The scientist sprung to his feet the second he hit the ground and raced towards the door again. Kyle slammed a button on the console. The door hissed closed. The console beeped and turned red as quarantine mode activated.

“Let me out! Please! I’ll tell you everything!” The moff’s fists on the door punctuated every word.

“There’s that,” Jan said. She waved a hand in front of her in a vain attempt at driving the stench away from her. “Let’s head home.”

The walked the short distance to the cockpit of the freighter. Two stations were in front of the other, slightly offset. Kyle took his usual seat in the front station.

“So, was it as bad as it smells in there?” Jan asked him.

Kyle shook his head. “Somehow, I think it was worse.”

She pulled the flight goggles over her eyes as she shook her head. “Times like this, I’m glad I’m just the pilot and mission control on these. By the way, did any of those creatures actually get a bite in?”

Kyle shook his head. “Body armor and the coat took care of it.”

“Good,” Jan said. “I don’t want you laid up with an infected leg or something with a 40 degree fever.”

Kyle turned back. “That sounds like personal experience.”

Jan nodded. “Jungles of Oulanne. A long story.”

The freighter shuddered slightly as it raised from the ground and headed out of the planet’s rough atmosphere. Within moments, the Moldy Crow broke through the exosphere and into space.

“Looks like I may have time to tell it,” Jan said a minute later.

Kyle turned around. “What’s wrong with the Crow?”

“Our potable water supply is a little low,” she said. “Too low to reach the New Hope. There’s a resupply station a day out from here.”

“I just refilled our stores,” Kyle said. “There’s no way we used that much.”

Jan shrugged and then pressed a button in the console above her before quickly pressing it again; the one that dumped the water supply. “Whoops,” she said. “Looks like our guest is going to have to enjoy his suite a few days longer.”

Kyle laughed. “You’re evil,” he said. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“That’s why I’m in intel and you’re in special forces,” Jan said. She pulled another lever and the Moldy Crow jumped into hyperspace.

***

Author's Notes

It's been a little while, hasn't it? Unfortunately for my writing hobby, I got a job two years yesterday and that severely cut into my free time. I am, however, looking to get back, at least on a slower pace.

So why not start by rewriting something I wrote ages ago from scratch?

This story began its life a little under 5 years ago with the same question the characters face in this work: where in the hell did they put that guy after the level? After slogging through the sewer system, I'm sure many people would agree with the karma of the solution.

This new version clocks in at 1,326 words, almost 75% more than the original. I hope you enjoyed this, I hope to see you all again soon-ish.

 

love to see Kyle and Jan in a for me canon universe

 

Oh no, poor Jan and Kyle! What a yucky mission. And yeah, what to do with that guy. I guess his new digs do fit the grime -- I mean, crime...

 

They are some of my favorite characters in Star Wars, and (other than the Mandalorian) I'm a pretty strict Legends guy. I have a lot of fun writing those two: fundamentally good people under a haze gray morality, romantic tension simmering to the surface, the sheer banter between the two. Thanks for reading.

It's certainly one of the most memorable missions in the game, for a large variety of reasons. I wanted that very same karmic bit of justice of Rebus to happen that I wrote, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

 

Dark Forces! I like this—there's stuff in between the lines that really sets the hook for any who has played the game. Well done!