Kyle Katarn

Kyle Katarn was a famous Force-sensitive Human male Rebel operative from Sulon and later a Jedi of the New Jedi Order. He was a former Imperial officer who defected to the Rebellion. Often paired with fellow Rebel agent and smuggler Jan Ors, he performed many covert missions for the Rebel Alliance and later the New Republic, including the sabotage of the Dark Trooper Project.
Katarn was later informed of his Force-sensitivity, and taught himself to become a Jedi while in search of the Valley of the Jedi. During this journey, he confronted the dark side within both himself and in the form of the High Inquisitor Jerec and his minions. After defeating them, Katarn went on to become a Jedi Master. Despite this, after a mission to investigate an ancient temple in Dromund Kaas Katarn was deluded by it's influence and temporarily fell to the dark side, however thanks to his padawan Mara Jade, he was redeemed and was able to return to the light.
Mentally scarred from this experience, Katarn chose to cut himself from the force, forsaking his role in the New Jedi Order and going back to his life as a mercenary. It wasn't until Jan was seemingly killed by the rogue Dark Jedi Desann, Katarn decided to use the force once again and recover his discarded lightsaber, thwarting the Empire Reborn's campaign, forming a friendship with Luke Skywalker, rescuing Ors and stopping both the new Shadow Trooper Program and the Chistori's plan to destroy the entire Academy once and for all. Katarn was able to return to his position as a Jedi Master and continued teaching at the Jedi Praxeum.
He participated in the offensives against the Yuuzhan Vong and continued to be a vital ally to The New Republic helping against the Dark Nest Crisis, the Sith Lord Darth Caedus during the Second Galactic Civil War, and beyond, becoming a part of the Jedi High Council in the New Jedi Order as well for years to come.
==Biography==
===Early life===
Kyle Katarn was the son of Morgan and Patricia Katarn, farmers from the Sullust colony moon of Sulon. Born in 23 BBY, the Human boy grew up on the farm. Ηis mother's death, caused by a malfunctioning BT-16 perimeter security droid, was devastating for the Katarns, and the two men, alone, had to struggle without her extra hands. He found a brother of sorts in his father's custom-made labor droid, WeeGee with whom they could communicate in droidspeak. He spent a lot of time with his father in their workshop where they repaired or assembled machines, an occupation that bonded them even closer. He was fascinated with his father's tools and what he could make with them; since he was twelve, he maintained WeeGee himself, and soon after he could disassemble and repair anything in the homestead.Dark Forces: Rebel Agent His father also taught him a Primitive binary code which he used to send signals to their agrirobots.
As a kid Kyle used to play hide-and-seek in a canyon and cavern; shortly before turning eighteen, the locals had begun surveying that area in order to install a G-Tap. Eventually, Katarn made his father a present of a multitool with his initials engraved on the handle.
Once he came of age, Kyle wished to alleviate some financial burden from his father, but also gain enough knowledge so that he would be able to continue the family trade as an agro-tech mechanic in the future.Dark Forces Manual: Coded Transmissions As a Rimmer, Kyle had few opportunities to obtain an education and the Imperial Academy was one of them; his father (whom Kyle knew was a bit too sympathetic to the Rebellion), reluctantly agreed. In 5 BBYThe New Essential Guide to Characters he enrolled at the Academy and left his homeworld on a Carida-bound freighter. The day before his departure, his father gifted him an antique Bryar pistol; Kyle kept with him a holo-recording of their last meeting, where Morgan expressed how proud he was for him.
During his four-year training as an engineering student in the Academy of Carida, he discovered his natural gift for cybernetics systems theory and information engineering. As all engineers, Kyle was trained in only thirty hours in TIE/LN starfighters, concentrating more to piloting several different kinds of support craft such as T-4s. Other activities included extra-curricular martial arts such as fencing from a moderate instructor who however required obedience, target-shooting classes studying battle tactics with set-pieces and tiring patrols inside an unbearable Stormtrooper armor, a burden that took a toll on their morale and readiness. His roommate was Odom Meck, and he had to cope with the annoying nobleman Nathan Donar III. He often crossed paths with Jan Strange of the Imperial Intell, who was actually a Rebel mole.
Three months before his graduation, Kyle, like many other cadets, had focused on the lethal tradition of "walking the edge" during their ceremonial parade, and made research; he found out that thirty-six cadets had found their deaths falling from the cliffside, almost half of them marching on the right flank, in which he would eventually be assigned. Nathan Donar was assigned Company Commander who would lead his column.
His Omega Exercise was a turning point for his life and career; it consisted of a raid on a Rebel asteroid base, which he led as Cadet Leader. It was there when Katarn began to suspect his Force potential, a trait passed to him by his father, when he experienced several premonitions that saved the lives of many of his strike team members. While on the mission, Katarn, showed a concern about the unnecessary deaths of surrendering Rebel agents, claiming they would be more useful as prisoners; something that annoyed Sergeant Major Hong. It was also there when he met again Jan Ors; Katarn and Ors were on opposite sides of the war, but they experienced a strange connection that led Katarn to spare her life as well as the lives of many of the station's inhabitants. After securing the base, Kyle led his surviving troops to a cafeteria waiting for reinforcements; before their arrival they were caught up by Rebel rescue force where he was injured, one of only seven wounded troopers survived behind a barricade. Eventually the Imperial group arrived and rescued the surviving stormtroopers.
Following this, Katarn was hospitalized back into the Training Base, where he also achieved a heroic status. He exited the hospital only hours before his graduation, during which he would achieve his commission and hoped to make his father proud; unbeknownst to him, Morgan was a supporter of the Rebel Alliance and had been executed by Inquisitor Jerec. Questioning his own performance and strange feelings during his last mission, he hid in the Academy's library and met Odom, who had tackled with religion, and entrusted to him his concerns. His connection to Morgan, and his own Force sensitivity, attracted the interest of Jerec, who visited the Academy for the ceremony.Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire audio drama
====Graduation====
During the graduation ceremony, Katarn paraded at the right flank under the orders of Company Commander Nathan Donar, and despite his worries, Donar drove the parade correctly without any casualties falling over the edge.
He was decorated with the Imperial Medal of Valor by General Rom Mohc, and congratulated by a figure dressed in black, whom Kyle supposed to be a government official; he introduced himself as Jerec, and expressed a puzzling invitation to seek him whenever Kyle was ready to join those with power. Katarn felt a chilling cold being near him, and as the medal touched his uniform, he had another strange experience: a power surging through his nerves, giving him views of the area, and others' minds, in great detail; his nerves discharged when the man stepped back. He didn't know that Jerec was the very man who had killed his father, not long earlier.
After the ceremony, Kyle was approached by his cheering peers who wanted to admire the Medal in close. As, like other rimmers, he had no visitors, he was invited by Meck to join his family for dinner, which he reluctantly accepted, pretending that his motivation was to check out Meck's stunning sister.
Soon after he received an official message announcing that his father had been killed in a suspected Rebel raid on his homeworld of Sulon. Katarn, recalling the lives he spared on the asteroid base, became extremely hateful towards the Rebellion, believing them to be murderers. Immediately he left for the Office of Cadet Affairs and waited for it to open at dawn.
Although the Academy refused to extend funeral leave, Katarn accepted a commission in the special operations division of the Imperial Army. Now a Second Lieutenant, he took a cruise on the Star of Empire, his last bit of freedom before officially becoming an officer in the Imperial navy. He hitched a military transport leaving Carida, and on for the orbital transfer station off Dorlon II. There he boarded a shuttle which docked to the liner's hangar.
===Change of heart===
====A fateful cruise====
It was first time after some years that Kyle was found among non-human beings and could admire females; resulting in an embarrassing moment when the mother of the twin girls frowned at him, and he tripped. To his surprise he realized that people intentionally bumped him; a businessman he met, Lando Calrissian, told him that the "real galaxy" is not like the settled environment of the Academy, and his Imperial officer's uniform would cause some sneering. Right then he was reunited with Nathan, who was also traveling with his family, and invited him to dinner, eager to introduce to his parents the heroic "cadet who won the medal"; Kyle was flattered, considering they belonged to the Empire's inner circle. Governor Dol Donar II showed genuine curiosity for Katarn's achievements, and in turn, Kyle pretended to compliment Nathan's leadership during the parade. They dined in the Nebula Room, where Kyle had green salad and candied insects. Asked about his roots he mentioned his father and his death and upon hearing this, Donar started a Rebel-hating rant, ensuring Katarn that his father will be avenged as the Emperor has something in store for the Rebels. Calrissian then approached them and invited the Governor for a game of sabacc.
After the dinner he went to the Corellia Room to reunite with the Donars playing with Calrissian; soon after he ran into a familiar face. Their eyes met and recognized it was the Rebel girl from the asteroid. She turned away and Kyle tried to follow her among the crowd; not only to arrest her, but also to seek revenge, and also some answers. Catching on a moving walkway, he started jogging, and into a lift tube. He realized that the level below was off limits to passengers and he used the emergency ladderway; once he landed, he was immobilized by Rosco Ross, an accomplice of the girl who was waiting for him and was led into a storeroom. After the brief brawl, Ors pointed out that he had spared their lives earlier; in turn Katarn also felt another connection with Ors, not the hatred he expected. After exchanging names, Ors agreed to let him live, if he promised that they would part ways and not do anything against them. Kyle felt a desperation and along his promise he asked to talk to her.
The two met again in the ship's library while she was practicing her art of dancing in a virtual reality set, causing him to genuinely applaud her talent. They continued to the ship's cafeteria where Katarn wanted to bring up the matter of war and that the people the Rebels were fighting were good men, including the Stormtroopers, and his innocent father. Ors's attention was grabbed when he dropped the name Sulon and she realized that the Imperial was the son of one of their leaders.
====Defection====
Upon her invitation, Katarn came discreetly to her cabin so that informants won't spot him with a Rebel agent. There he was startled as her droid, A-Cee began a self-destruct sequence, which was overridden in time by Ors; it was programmed to detonate in the presence of an Imperial Officer. Ors explained her role in the Alliance Intelligence and showed Katarn footage from the Battle of the G-Tap that had been obtained by the droid and the reporter Candice Ondi it was serving. Katarn started watching the holorecord in skepticism until he saw his father, leading other Sulonese known to him. Then he realized that it was in fact the Imperials who had staged the attack; Rebel insignias were painted on their ships to make it seem as if the Rebels had been the aggressors. Their use of standard Imperial tactics, which Katarn had studied extensively at the Academy, gave them away. Seeing the footage for himself, Katarn became distrustful towards the Empire and defected, symbolically tearing off his decoration representing the Medal of Valor, throwing it in a recycle bin, thanking her for showing him the truth.
Sometime later, Kyle sought Ors and found her at the ship's hangar, struggling with a heavy metallic casing, and he helped her lower it to the floor. He said that she should had used a floor jack or called for a maintenance droid, which was exactly what she was thinking, maddening her. He complimented her for her set of tools and offered to help repairing her ship, owing to his technical training at the Academy. He some diagnostics on the hyperspace motivator; an hour passed, and Jan admired his knowledge and surety. She was further impressed by the fact that Kyle finished the task so quickly; Katarn explained that whenever he was letting his mind go, the solution was always becoming clear to him. Finally Kyle confessed his desire to join the Alliance, his commitment obvious in his eyes. Ors's team was bound to leave the Star two days later, and she invited him to come with them.
The next morning, he received an anonymous e-mail, advising him to not waste his career for a Rebel woman, and to be prepared for interrogation; he immediately realized it was sent from Nathan, and his father somehow learned what was going on. Kyle didn't know that their movements were observed by the bounty hunter Slyder, who sold them to the Donars. Feeling guilty for betraying Nathan's confidence, but not forgetting the reason that made him defect, he called Jan and warned her that someone is after them. He wore his Imperial sidearm and loaded his possessions in a carryall and ran to the hangar, leaving his officer uniforms behind.
Rosco and Waller were already at the ship, waiting for Ors. As Kyle claimed to be able to fly it, and remembered the access codes from Jan, he briefly took lead and offered to initialize the ship until Ors arrived, surprising both Rebels. His first problem was that the pressure doors were closed, and Controller didn't cooperate without a previous request. Kyle nonetheless activated the repulsors and had Waller shoot at another ship to force the Controller to open the doors. As the Sorry was lurching up and down, he saw Jan entering, followed by a Rodian they met earlier, Nathan, and Imperials; he was happy that Nathan wasn't harmed when they exchanged fire. Jan collapsed because of the loss of oxygen and he moved the ship towards her, able to focus thanks to an oxygen mask. Once Rosco brought Jan on the ramp, and Kyle lifted them up. Men in space suits boarded a ship but he didn't fire; they threw a concussion grenade against the Sorry. Ignoring the controller's threats, he thrusted the ship towards the half-opened doors and exited to space. Ors sat next to him and Waller notified them that a ship was after them; Kyle regretted for not thinking to update the navcomp. The enemy ship was gaining, and Kyle was surprised to see Jan making a turn to confront it; when unexpectedly it blew up by itself. They both realized that it was an internal explosion, caused by A-Cee, having being loaded in the ship, self-destructed in the presence of Nathan.
====Defection====
The Sorry made thus a clean escape and they reached the New Hope. Kyle was impressed by the size of the stolen and refit ship, and how casually the Rebels behaved. Ors introduced him to Mon Mothma, the leader of the Alliance, where he learned that his father was an esteemed leader, was a friend (and appreciated by) of a Jedi, and explained to Mothma that his reason to become an agent was to avenge him. Mothma showed understanding pointing out that the true and more immediate evil is Palpatine; to find his father's murderers he should first aid the Rebellion. This invitation brought him skepticism, fear and pride. Mothma revealed to him the existence of the Empire's Death Star, a space station with a superlaser capable of destroying an entire planet. Kyle both admired the level of Alliance Intelligence, and also understood Donar's words mentioning the Emperor's plans against the Rebellion. Mothma proposed a mission to him; infiltrate an Imperial facility in the city of Trid on Danuta and retrieve schematics of that lethal station, in the hope that Rebel engineers will identify a weak spot. Mothma thought that his Imperial training, and a man in an all-male facility were assets for what could be a suicide mission. Kyle wondered why a commando raid was not an option, and Mothma explained that they want to avoid collateral damage to Trid, a consideration that separates the Empire from the Alliance.
She also provided him with a video of his main target: the room where the memory matrix with the plans is kept; in the video he spotted a familiar officer, and after replaying it, he realized he was Meck. Mothma inquired whether Kyle knew him, and he lied that he didn't, with sweat visible on his forehead; Mothma however knew the officer's identity and about their friendship but showed no sign of it. Kyle accepted the mission, only for the sake of his father, and the Sulonese. This started his career as a Rebel-sympathetic mercenary and spy.
Soon after his recruitment into the Alliance, it is said that Kyle spent some time in a Rebel base populated by smugglers and pirates and acquired skills of sabotage and subterfuge. Katarn was responsible for introducing the Twi'lek Rianna Saren to the organization. He first tasked her with infiltrating a Black Sun warehouse on Coruscant to discover how they were involved with the Empire. After Saren successfully completed this mission, Katarn revealed to her that he was a Rebel agent and introduced her to Leia Organa.Star Wars: Lethal Alliance
Before departing, he received a laconic e-mail from Jan wishing him good luck. Delivering his orders to the Deck Master, he was assigned some old ships to choose from, and after a lengthy inspection and comparison of their drives, systems, durability and weapons, he chose the freighter titled Moldy Crow. He then spent several days equipping the ship with several parts, tools and facilities (some of which he secretly "borrowed"). Furthermore, he was prepared to pose as the pilot Dan Drexel, with forged documentation, before taking off to Danuta.
====Mission to Danuta====
The Moldy Crow took five days to take him to his destination, and Kyle, with the decks' vibrations and sounds from the vents as his only company, passed his time doing maintenance works and sleeping; he tried to make plans and scenarios, but because of the lack of more information, he decided that he would have to improvise. As he entered the planet's orbit, he was flanked by two TIEs and identified himself to the Orbital patrol vessel X-Ray 291. He was given clearance and was sent approach vectors to the Trid spaceport, which was his first ever planetfall. Before disembarking, he preset the emergency start-up sequence, and was prepared to bribe the local Imperial customs agent. The agent pointed out that Kyle's face seemed familiar, seeing it from some debriefing earlier; Kyle claimed that, as he was pulled off hyperspace by an uncharted gravity well, and was off-schedule, he needed to pass the procedure quickly and gave some credits for his trouble.
He spent his first day on Trid in recon work, passing by a square and walking towards the Facility. He briefly considered abducting a scientist and used them to gain access but he discarded it. He had a strange premonition that he was followed; and entered a cafe to rest and scan the environment, and indeed saw a familiar figure distantly; he didn't recognize that it was Jan stalking him. Eventually he reached the security perimeter near the Research Complex and pretended to be exercising, but as he wasn't dressed for it, he took a quiet street and retraced his way back to the spaceport, buying food from a street vendor. He confirmed that it would be impossible to enter without help from inside and he remembered Meck, and his choice between friendship and duty. After some dinner in the Crow, he slept and had a nightmare: he was a Rebel on AX-456 shooting Stormtroopers who poured from the hatch, and all bodies had Meck's face under the helmet.
He went to town early in the morning; he knew that Meck was spiritual and sought for a religious place; getting directions from a street vendor, he found and entered a Danuta Temple, but not before looking around. Again, Ors was behind him but he failed to see her. He arranged for a secret meeting with Meck and rested in the Crow. Kyle spent a nervous afternoon and evening in the Blue Moon, buying drinks, avoiding stares and offers of female companionship; holding his blaster ready in his lap, he hoped that Meck would show up and would not betray him. About an hour later he was ready to give up when Meck arrived. Meck warned him that Kyle has been quite "infamous", and provided him with a wanted poster, with the holo from the Academy's yearbook, and several accusations for crimes. Kyle admitted that he defected, and he explained everything about his mission. Kyle promised to keep Meck's identity secret and that they'd work together for a believable story.
Meck gave Katarn information that assisted him in completing his mission. He also deactivated the perimeter, allowing Katarn entry into the base. Inside, he got communication from Jan that the Crow was en route. Major Horst had his men trap Kyle in the south corridor; while covering from fire, Katarn decided to use the same method as when dealing with technical repairs, empty his mind and let himself go. Then he was able to guess his adversaries' positions and where the bolts were being fired, shooting them all accurately while avoiding all fire; the feeling was the same as he had while meeting Jerec in his graduation. Right then he received another message form Jan, saying that the Crow was en route, and telling him that he was not insane, but the Force was with him. He made his way to the officer holding the keycard, who was sending a walker to anticipate the incoming Crow. Katarn surprised Horst, who wondered how he survived through his men; instead of handing him the keycard, Horst attempted to shoot him, but Kyle shot first. He called Jan to update her and warn that armed reinforcements were coming her way; he suggested to break off but Jan ignored him. Right then communication was cut; not knowing what happened to Jan, Kyle decided that his only option was to continue the mission.
He reached the secure room hoping that Meck would keep his promise and open the door for him; he did and expressed his amazement for reaching this far. He took him into the vault where the plans were kept, and Kyle for a minute felt evil emanating from it. He thanked Meck, saying that he was a hero, and the lives they will save will wash out the death of his comrades. Meck demanded that he doesn't want to see him ever again and reminded Kyle to give him a convincing bruise. Kyle thanked him and left.
The partial plans stolen by Katarn were eventually combined with those captured at Toprawa, on the Death Star itself, and by Rianna Saren and Zeeo after their battle against Imperial slave master Zarien Kheev on Danuta, to create a complete outline of the station.
====Fighting the dark troopers====
Soon after the Battle of Yavin, Mon Mothma asked Katarn to investigate the destruction of Tak Base resulting from the attack on Tak Base. Katarn accepted, and, upon request, took on Jan Ors as his mission officer. Katarn's investigation revealed the Imperial Dark Trooper project, led by Clone Wars veteran General Rom Mohc. Several clues led Katarn to Anoat, where he captured Moff Rebus, an infamous Imperial weapons engineer. After raiding a testing facility for phrik on the planet Fest, Katarn was led to the Gromas system, where the mineral was being mined and the first stage of the Dark Trooper was manufactured. After destroying the facility, Katarn had to rescue Crix Madine from an Imperial detention center on Orinackra and traveled to the Ramsees Hed docking port on Cal-Seti. There, he was able to track a smuggling ship that was making runs to the frozen planet of Anteevy, where the second stage of Dark Trooper construction was being completed. Katarn destroyed the facility on Anteevy and was led to Nar Shaddaa, where he located a nav card describing the activities of all the smugglers involved in the Dark Trooper project. Upon leaving the planet, though, Katarn and Ors were briefly captured by Jabba the Hutt.
After defeating several kell dragons barehanded, Katarn was able to regain the card, rescue Ors, and escape Jabba's space cruiser. Katarn and Ors infiltrated the ISO building on Coruscant, where he was able to decode the nav card. He also fought and defeated Boba Fett. Using the new information from the card, Katarn and Ors tracked one of the smuggler ships to the Refueling Station Ergo. Katarn hijacked this ship and used it to sneak onto the Executor, which was the only ship with the information regarding the location of the Arc Hammer which was where the third and final stage of the Dark Trooper was being manufactured. Once on board, he stowed away on a cargo transport en route to the Arc Hammer. After an intense shootout against a Phase III Dark Trooper clad General Mohc, Katarn proceeded to blow up the Arc Hammer and escape, destroying the Dark Trooper Project for good. In gratitude for his bravery, Mon Mothma awarded him the Star of Alderaan.
When Jan took an Imperial identity in an attempt to assassinate the Head of the School of Torturers, her cover was blown, and Kyle saved her.
Katarn was also a member of a SpecForce group assembled by the ex-Jedi Knight Corwin Shelvay, in which he teamed up with Force-sensitives Shira Brie and Erling Tredway to sabotage the superlaser of the second Death Star en route to D'rinba IV.
A few years before 5 ABY a smuggler ran weapons into an Imperial controlled sector and managed to run afoul of both the Rebel Alliance and another individual. The Alliance sent Katarn to handle the smuggler's operation, during which Katarn and a Gran bodyguard crossed paths, and engaged in a firefight that left the Gran with a blaster injury in his leg. Katarn disposed of the smuggler's operation soon after.
===New Republic===
Working for the Alliance, Katarn had a long list of accomplishments. However as a freelance mercenary he had the reputation of being in both sides, doing some jobs for the Empire and later the Imperial Remnant.Dark Forces: Rebel Agent audio drama Katarn also became infamous as a troublemaker on moon Nar Shaddaa.
====Trap on Nar Shaddaa====
Katarn continued to mourn the loss of his father and seeking the one responsible for his death. One year after the Battle of Endor, Katarn was contacted by 8t88, an administrative droid who worked as information broker, and appointed a meeting in Rimmer's Rest on Nar Shaddaa. Worried, Ors tried to discourage him from going but Katarn, seemingly persuaded, ignored her warnings and went on his own to the Smuggler's Moon, eager to know who killed his father.
Once there, Katarn waited for the droid in the cantina while rewatching a holorecording of his last parting from his father before leaving for Carida. The nostalgia was interrupted by the arrival of the droid; on gunpoint, 8t88 revealed his father was killed by Jerec, the very person who congratulated him during his graduation years ago, a Dark Jedi with ambitions of restoring the Empire. Right then the droid admitted that he was actually working for the Dark Jedi, and had lured Katarn there in order to help them decode a holodisc which they had salvaged from his very home back on Sulon. Upon Katarn's refusal to cooperate, 8t88 left the cantina with a Gran and another county hunter to dispose of him, not knowing that Katarn had bugged him with a tracker droid. It turned out that the Gran had past grudges against the mercenary. With his Bryar pistol briefly confiscated, Katarn was able to use telekinesis to reclaim it, and after a brief skirmish he let himself free, and ran after 8t88, following the signal of his tracker.
Dodging and fighting various adversaries, he caught up with the droid as he was about to leave on his shuttle; from distance, Katarn could only shoot the droid's arm off as he waved the holodisk around in order to taunt Katarn, and it fell down the abyss. It was then when Ors caught up with him in the Crow, having followed his tracks. Katarn refused to be "rescued" and told her to wait for him at the top. Katarn managed to climb down the bowels of the city to the base of the platform tower and reclaimed the holodisk. He fought his way back until was ambushed by bounty hunters, before being rescued again by Ors. In the process was helped by a voice that guided him. However, he suffered a blaster wound and a concussion. Ors stabilised his wound but during the three-day trip back to the Rebel fleet, Katarn vomited and lost his consciousness. Ors brought him to the medical frigate Mercy.
Because of Katarn's status as an agent, he would enjoy high-priority treatment in the special Ward 114 reserved for the Special Operations but because of his questionable past he was listed as "borderline priority". The doctor responsible also noticed that he was not on assignment when he was injured. Despite this, and the casualties swarming from Shackel, he decided against sending him to lower decks for less effective treatment but accepted him in the special Ward 114.
About twelve hours later, Ors visited him in Tank 23; curious about what was so important about the holodisk and knowing that their Rebel peers didn't trust him enough, she "borrowed" it. But not before discovering that Kyle secretly kept a 3-D snapshot of her in his wallet, and she whispered her love to him.
Indeed, as the doctor said, Katarn was soon removed from the tank and found in a medical bed. While he was unconscious, "everywhere, between wake and sleep... with the Force", he saw a vision with the spirit of the Jedi Qu Rahn, a Jedi Purge survivor that perished recently. He told him about Jerec who murdered his father, and the connection of the two with the Valley of the Jedi, a nexus of power where the spirits of many Jedi and Sith lay trapped; Force-sensitives could draw great energies of the Force from it and should not be reached by Jerec. The figure revealed that he was watching over Kyle for a long time, and he was already in apprenticeship, but should return to his homestead and use the holodisk in order to assess the ways of the Jedi, and reach the Valley. Kyle didn't show that he was awake, preferring to spy movement around the ward with carefully slit eyes; then he saw Jan entering, but instead of coming to him, she stealthily opened his locker and did something with his clothes. Curious, he stood up to find out what she did; he didn't know that she returned the disk she had taken. Not long after, Jan visited him as he was preparing his things, telling him that the Crow would stay for some repairs and would stay behind. Asked if he was going after Jerec, Kyle instead said that he would visit his old home, according to the dream he had seen. He asked Jan to meet him on Sulon once the Crow was available.
====Homecoming====
Katarn had to return home to continue the quest, and visited his homeworld, first time since he had left for the Academy. Following secret paths he knew from his childhood, he reached their estate but didn't approach, as he saw a group of people emptying some stones from his home and loading them in a shuttle. Katarn reactivated their family droid WeeGee and loaded the disk, revealing his father's message and a green-bladed lightsaber that belonged to Qu Rahn, setting him on the path to become a Jedi. He embarked on a journey to locate the Valley of the Jedi and protect it from a faction of Dark Jedi led by Jerec, who coveted the valley's energy for his own dark ends. Katarn's father, believed to have been killed in the battle of Sulon, had actually died at the hands of Jerec after refusing to reveal the location of the Valley of the Jedi. However, Morgan had etched a map to the valley into the ceiling tiles in the Katarns' house that was later discovered by Jerec. Katarn arrived after the map had been removed.
He infiltrated the Government House in the city of Barons Hed, and located the droid 8t88, who had created a digitized version of the map. Katarn was intercepted by Yun, one of Jerec's dark pupils. Katarn defeated Yun, but he could not kill a disarmed opponent and allowed him to leave; Katarn was soon attacked and had to escape without either version of the map. He tracked 8t88's shuttle to the Fuel City, a fuel station outside Baron's Hed, and he stowed away aboard Jerec's freighter, the Sulon Star. While on board, Katarn encountered and defeated two more of Jerec's pupils, the symbiotic "twins" Gorc and Pic, who had recently destroyed 8t88 to dispose of any witnesses to the Valley's location. After defeating Gorc and Pic, Katarn killed Grendel and took the droid's severed head and managed to escape the vast ship and be picked up by the Crow.
Kyle's troubled escape was followed by a pursuit by TIE fighters from the Fuel City. Kyle advised Jan to move towards the Nefra Canyons to lose the TIEs and exited to the ship's hatch. Using the Force, he managed a precise hit with his blaster on the pilot's viewport, causing him to crash.
The team returned to the now-abandoned homestead, and with WeeGee's help they recovered the digital map from 8t88's head. In celebration he started dancing with Jan, which led to hugging and kissing, and confessing their love for each other. They were joined by Luke Skywalker who sought news about their quest for the Valley. It was then when Kyle realised that Jan knew his personal quest all along, had "borrowed" the holodisc, and was there to spy on him; but Jan convinced him that she had no other choice, given his overall stance of secrecy. Luke welcomed him to the Jedi Knighthood, as his training was complete, and confirmed that he had heard the voice of Morgan. 
====The way to Ruusan====
The team departed Sulon for the New Hope, stationed over Milagro; however as they exited hyperspace in the system, it was near a damaged Imperial Star Destroyer and her escort, while she was launching TIEs against the dreadnaught. Luke suggested to engage them in order to give to the Hope some time until reinforcements would arrive, to which Jan objected, believing they would not survive more than a couple of minutes. Kyle, who was her co-pilot, encouraged her to trust the feelings of a Jedi,Dark Forces: Jedi Knight audio drama and also suggested to enter the defensive sphere around the Star Destroyer, as the craft would avoid firing and hitting each other. The strategy proved to be right, as the Imperial Captain Purdy M. Trico, in his wrath, ordered to break formation in order to be able to destroy the two ships, thus losing its defenses. 
Kyle fought in the battle in the Milagro system as Jan's co-pilot next to Skywalker, who, guided by the Force, guided them between laser fire; they were joined by three squadrons led by Han Solo in the Millennium Falcon who took advantage of the opening in the Destroyer's defenses. When the Falcon was overwhelmed by six fighters, Kyle helped Solo by hitting one. The two exchanged a few remarks, joking that the Alliance had to make do with cargo freighters participating in battles.
The outcome of the battle was victorious, and the Crow made it back to the Hope. On their way to Mon Mothma's cabin Kyle was surprised that, for the first time, he was not required to surrender his arms by the sentries before entering. Jan guessed his thoughts and they exchanged a smile. Kyle met in person Leia Organa and Han Solo, to whom, at the request of Mon Mothma, explained the background concerning Jerec and the Valley, and narrated his adventure. Mon Mothma explained to Solo that Jan and Kyle were those who stole the Death Star plans in the first place, and admitted that Jan, Luke and Leia convinced her to trust Kyle to pursue his quest; Solo related to him, as he was still not trusted by the Command. Kyle intended to go to Ruusan with Jan and stop Jerec. Luke affirmed that if he could release the Jedi spirits, Jerec would have no powers from them, countering Mothma's skepticism, that a fully equipped battle group would be necessary to confront him. Kyle affirmed that this mission was exactly what his fate was always guiding him to all along, even without her support.
Concerning the question of passing Jerec's blockade, Kyle picked on Han's thought and suggested hiding the Crow in one of the captured Imperial transports; Han and Jan added that the transport should deliver ammunitions, such as sabotaged torpedoes. Kyle and Jan descended to Milagro and Military Correction Facility 63, where they interviewed prisoner Alfonso Luiz Obota, and seeing his suitability, they offered him the job for the mission.
According to the mission plan, a Rebel task force posed as the crew of the Imperial freighter High Hauler, which, after a Rebel attack, retreated to Hoth's Brand system. Obota posed as the acting Captain while Kyle was disguised as an Imperial Warrant Officer. Kyle reported to Obota their arrival and the readings of the scanner, and later they congratulated Obota for his acting. He notified Obota when the Imperial inspection team disembarked at the docking bay. The agents acted their roles through the inspection, and when the Imperial Lieutenant started questioning the Crow on the Hauler hangar, he interrupted the discussion. For the following hours, the Moldy Crow was cleared for some routine serving missions such as supply runs, allowing Kyle and Jan to gather intelligence and familiarise with the planet.
====Race to the Valley====
Once the Hauler mission was completed, the Moldy Crow was launched above Ruusan's atmosphere. They flew towards a settlement that was attacked recently by the Imperials, in hopes of finding some lead. On their way, Kyle again heard Rahn's voice, warning him not to give in to hate; Jan realised it, but Kyle didn't mention what he heard. Kyle picked up a familiar signal using a primitive binary code used years ago by his father. which pointed to a certain location. Jan questioned this route, and Kyle ensured her that it there were no Imperials there. They flew above the ruins of the Fort, and Kyle failed to sense any sentient life there. They reached the location told by the signal, Kyle ensuring Jan that they were observed, but could not say who they were. Kyle touched the gravel and unearthed an ancient dagger blade, and Jan also found a helmet, the site of an ancient battlefield. The sound of a drone interrupted their thoughts, and Kyle prevented her from unholstering her blaster. The flyer inspected them and then beckoned them to the west. They took again the Crow and followed it, until they reached a an ancient temple; the hideout of the settlers.
There Kyle was reunited with a Sulonese, Grif Grawley, who knew him in his youth. He had followed his father to this colony in order to escape the Empire. It was he who guided them to the temple. Knowing Kyle's Imperial background, he questioned him and demanded to surrender their weapons; Kyle advised Jan to comply. They retreated to the temple and exchanged their news, about the colonization, the Imperial attack and flight in the wastelands; Kyle talked about his father's murder and how he defected to the Alliance. Luther Pardy, who was holding Kyle's weapons, was unconvinced about Kyle's honesty and mentions about the Jedi and accused him of being an Imperial spy. As a response Kyle Force pulled his lightsaber from Luther's belt and ignited it; this convinced Grif and others about his claims.
That night, Grif with a team of the colonists led Kyle outside in order to meet the native species, the Bouncers, who, as Grif learned later, they had met Morgan and acknowledged him a "knight". Kyle was amazed thinking that his father perhaps chose not to become a Jedi Knight even though he could. Right when they saw a group of Bouncers, Kyle felt another presence: an Imperial patrol came only to attack the indigenous creatures without reason. Jan wanted to warn them but it was already too late. Kyle saw Jan arming herself with a blaster rifle to save the defenseless natives; In vain he tried to dissuade her, pointing out that it was not part of their mission and their presence would be exposed to the Imperials. Kyle just told Grif it was an opportunity for retribution; but should not allow anyone to leave alive. Indeed, after Jan hit a speeder bike, the Imperials stopped to look for them; the skimmer rounded them and started firing, causing rocks to amputate and then kill a Rebel close to Kyle. Grif and Kyle and most of the group moved towards the squad of Stormtroopers, sneaked behind them and Kyle made short work of them with his lightsaber, including their leader.
They spent the rest of the night burying the dead in carefully made graves and collect all equipment and scrap from the battle that could potentially point to their involvement in the patrol's disappearance, which Kyle found very tedious to do in the dark. Weapons and equipment were loaded on the skimmer. At sunrise Kyle insisted to look for more, but Grawley believed that the area was too big and they had to leave before dawn.
One of the Bouncers, whom Grawley referred to as Floater, agreed to serve as a guide to the Valley for Katarn. Kyle thanked their leader, advised him to hide, and exchanged condolences as both groups lost one of them. The Jedi asked the Bouncer leader if he knew if they would succeed in stopping Jerec, but the Bouncer could not be reassuring and just replied by writing down a line from the same poem they had told to his father: Kyle or someone else, sooner or later, would come to fight a battle and free the spirits trapped in the Valley. The pair went out but Kyle delayed going to Valley and decided to return to the Temple. Jan did not understand why, and the only thing Kyle could explain was that the time was not right for it; they should wait in the Temple because something was about to change.
It was first after a long time the couple had time to sleep, but in the afternoon Grif warned him that a patrol was approaching. Kyle marveled at Jan's sleeping posture but had to wake her up and showed some lust as she put on her pants. Grif had prepared the captured skimmer in order to lead the patrol away from their base and have the leisure to spy on them. Kyle was refused to take Floater with them as it would be too dangerous for him. After some time, the skimmer brought them to a mesa. It took them half an hour to reach the top, and Kyle envied the older man for keeping his breath while Kyle's was out. From the top of the mesa they spied to the Imperials through electrobinoculars, as they approached the rocky area where the skirmish occurred and they buried the bodies, worrying that their presence would be discovered. Not only that, but Kyle understood that among them was a Dark Jedi. It was Yun, who had also sensed their presence, and Kyle's, from the distance, but it was when he had a change of heart and decided to repay his debt. Jan wondered why the Jedi, knowing they are there, hadn't summoned their forces to destroy them. Kyle could not explain but ensured her that they would be safe for the remainder of the night and should proceed with their mission.
That night, the team flew into a canyon, as close to Valley as possible. Kyle left WeeGee in the Crow and with the help of night goggles, they followed Floater's guidance among the mazelike canyons. They had to rappel down or ascend vertical cliffs and slopes in order to cover the five-kilometer distance without being spotted by Jerec's forces. Not far from their destination, Kyle was climbing a rope below Grif, who reached a flat shelf and was spotted by attack droid AD-43. Kyle could only watch as the older man jumped on the droid wrestling with his strength. The droid hovered around as a wounded Grif attempted to damage it with his hunting knife, until its guidance system threw them to a rocky wall, and they fell together into the canyon. Grif's death was felt by Kyle through the Force. 
Besides the sad event, the two considered that the droid might had alerted the Imperials, forcing them either to go back, or proceed before they could reinforce their perimeter. They decided to follow Floater who continued high above them, and they managed to remain unseen by shuttles and speeder bike patrols that passed nearby. Floater led them to an ancient, enclosed aqueduct which followed the land contour, and led directly to the Valley. Before entering, Kyle gave to Floater an approving pat. Equipped with glow rods, they followed Floater and emerged crawling to the other side. Near the Valley now, Kyle could feel years of waiting in pain like thousands of tortured voices. Floater reminded that the last part of the prophecy remained: a battle to be fought. The view of the Imperial garrison built by Jerec around the Valley was a sight much worse than Kyle had anticipated. With their electrobinoculars, they spotted Jerec standing on a platform of the tall central tower with a woman, Sariss. He then decided to make his way to the tower, insisting that Jan should remain behind and not leave Floater alone.
By dawn Kyle made it to the bottom by descending a three-sided chimney, and once on the ground he hid behind rocks. The area until the base of the tower was open and he had to wait for an hour until an opportunity showed up. All this time he had a sense of uneasiness, but when he tried to reach out the Force, he found no danger; he didn't know that they had been observed and Jan was Jerec's target. Then a tractor passed in front of him, followed by a train of fifteen cars. Using the raising cloud of dust, and high noise as a cover, he darted towards the tractor and hid into a coupler; at the right moment, he dashed out and sprinted towards one of the tower's footings. The agent marched to the turbolift at the inner core, while the sentries had their backs towards him. He decided to assume the role of an Imperial so as not to attract any attention, until the watch command questioned him; the Jedi, with the lightsaber in view, gave an aura of authority and mentioned Jerec's name, making the guard to apologize and leave. A brace of Commandos emerged from the lift, and Kyle understood that they mistook him for a Dark Jedi; courtesy of the lightsaber tucked under his arm. Kyle took a frowning strict expression, until they left and rode the lift up.
====Choosing sides====
Preparing to confront Jerec, his mind was full of worries, which were answered once more by Rahn; the voice ensured the Jedi that Rahn, and the Force, were still with Kyle, and that his lack of overconfidence was a sign of strength. He advised not to give in to hate, and to mention Rahn's name against the "half-man" who was waiting for Kyle. Soon the turbolift stopped. A messenger droid entered, and Kyle exited to an empty platform wondering who the "half-man" was. Then his Force sense returned after its recent absence, and on the nearby landing deck he saw the Moldy Crow, realizing that it had been captured; his thoughts were cut when he was pushed by something that sent him down. He ignited his saber and saw Maw, a Dark Jedi whom Rahn had cut in half; his torso was alive and floating thanks to the Force. Maw's eyes were full of hatred, and he became full of wrath when Kyle mentioned Rahn's name. Maw charged with great speed, and they exchanged several strikes but the Kyle fell back down, and injured Maw severely with his lightsaber as he passed above; Maw dropped his lightsaber and fell onto the walkway. Kyle approached him and Maw taunted Katarn to kill him unarmed, lying how his father whimpered on his knees when he was killed; and that it was he who had placed Morgan's head on a pike for all to see. The thought that killing a murdering brute would bring justice passed from Kyle's mind, who, without even realizing it, acquiesced to his anger and cut Maw's torso in two; he realized in shock what he did, when he felt dark energy swirling around him.
Just then he realised that everything was staged; Jerec emerged from the same turbolift, leading Sariss and Boc, with a captured and bound Jan Ors. He congratulated Katarn for his first step towards the Dark Side, and offered a place at his side if he would strike Ors down. Katarn indeed felt the temptation for ambition, to the point of hesitating, only to feel disgusted with himself moments later. He refused, staying true to his father. Disappointed but not surprised, Jerec blasted Katarn with dark energy, damaging parts of the outpost and trapping Katarn inside the Sulon Star. Katarn made his way through the tumbling vessel and attempted to reach the airlock, where his ship, the Moldy Crow, was docked. 
Activating the emergency start-up, he released the ship without the safety procedures. The Crow escaped the falling ship but was unable to gain height and one of her wings smashed against a rock spire. Upon hitting the planet's surface, Katarn, who wasn't strapped on the pilot seat, hit the console and was rendered unconscious. Once more he joined the Force and saw a vision of Rahn who showed him how "that which was" became "that which is"; in his dream, Kyle bonded with the ancient Jedi Master Tal of the Army of Light; he also experienced the actions of Dark Jedi LaTor, one of those of the Brotherhood of Darkness who created the thought bomb with Kaan, and the massacre that happened at that very place a millennium ago, killing all of them. 
Meanwhile the three remaining Dark Jedi were sent by Jerec to find and kill him. They found the unconscious pilot in the wreckage of the Crow and pulled him outside. It was night when Kyle opened his eyes, full of pain. Boc Aseca, the Twi'lek Dark Jedi sadistically teased and taunted him, holding Rahn's lightsaber hilt before him. Seeing the Dark Jedi raising a rock above it, Kyle in vain attempted to rise and stop him from destroying the lightsaber, leaving him defenseless. Sariss was ready to execute Katarn, and sent the Twi'lek to report it to Jerec. But Yun, out of sympathy for Katarn, who had previously spared his life and feeling guilty for executing so many people, blocked her blow with his yellow-bladed lightsaber. Sariss' blade was deflected mortally wounding Yun. As Katarn recovered his strength, he heard the young man's final words, possibly redeeming himself, stating that as a Jedi, Kyle deserved a battle. 
Katarn picked up Yun's lightsaber and called upon Tal's wisdom. With his help he fended off a mental attack and attacked back. The two dueled, surprising Sariss with his knowledge and skill. When Sariss started wearing him out, wounding his face, Kyle realized that it should end quick. When Sariss lunged, he parried; they were blade-to-blade Kyle used Tal's Flowing Water Cut; as Sariss withdrew he "expanded" with his mind and body, and the saber penetrated Sariss' chest.
Katarn defeated Sariss as the sun was rising, forming a shadow of a stone pinnacle to point at the Valley below; Kyle knew that this was his destination. He saluted dead Yun and rushed there. He used Mind trick to get past some sentries and a patrol and followed the stairs down. At the floor of the chamber, he was attracted to a glint, and moving closer he saw it was the multitool of his father, which Kyle had given to him years earlier with a dedication. The memory of his father, and the knowledge he had made it that far, gave him strength.
====Bringing of justice====
An arch marked the entrance to the Valley of the Jedi which Kyle explored; he saw effigies of Lord Hoth and Tal. He climbed a tall tomb, and from the elevated location he spotted Jan tied to a column.
He rescued Ors. Disguising himself as one of the statues that littered the Valley, Boc revealed himself and attacked Katarn. Boc wielded two lightsabers against which the self-taught Jedi Knight attempted to cope, both with his fencing skills and Tal's knowledge. Boc's flurrying sabers immobilized Kyle, until Rahn reminded him that his mind is also a weapon; Ors supported Kyle by throwing rocks at Boc, distracting the Twi'lek, giving to Kyle some time to concentrate. Giving way to the dark side of the Force, Katarn struck Boc with an ancient dark side technique known as spear of midnight black. Immediately, Katarn feared he was lost to the darkness, and tried to remember how many steps it took to follow the dark path forever. It was then that Katarn realized he was truly a Jedi; it doesn't matter how far down you follow the dark path once you have returned from it.
After killing Boc, Katarn had defeated all of Jerec's Dark Jedi. Katarn then descended into the Valley Core to face the Dark Master himself. The two dueled, and though the Dark Jedi Jerec had already begun drawing power from the Valley of the Jedi and used its power to heal himself, Katarn was able to defeat him with a light-side technique that disrupted Jerec's connection to the Force. Disarmed, Jerec tried to turn Katarn to the dark side by reminding him of his father's murder, urging Katarn to strike him down and claim the Valley's dark power for himself. Katarn, not wishing to feed his hatred, showed Jerec mercy and tossed the Dark Jedi his saber. Jerec would not accept Katarn's mercy and once again attacked him. Katarn's counterstrike killed Jerec, and he fulfilled the prophecy by freeing the souls of the countless Jedi trapped by Lord Skere Kaan for over a thousand years. Afterwards, Katarn carved statues of Rahn and his father, and thanked the spirit of his father.
====Fall to the dark side====
Katarn continued working with Ors for the New Republic, cooperating with Bey, Dash Rendar and Guri on an insertion mission to the Tof fortress world Saijo, and nearly razing Kwenn Space Station while apprehending the Ketton spy Derrida with the help of a pint-sized lagomorph. Katarn took a more permanent role with the New Republic and served with Lieutenant Judder Page's Katarn Commandos, executing missions on various worlds like Kashyyyk, Boudolayz and Garos IV.
Luke Skywalker offered to train Katarn further, but Katarn declined, still holding a great fear of the dark side.The New Essential Chronology
At the height of the Imperial Civil War, a clone of Palpatine arranged for the capture of the former Imperial assassin Mara Jade, who had left the service of the Empire and cut herself off from the Emperor's telepathic commands after killing a clone of Luke Skywalker in 9 ABY. After Jade was intercepted on a mission to Senex sector, Lord Cronal had her imprisoned, but she was eventually rescued by New Republic forces under the command of Kyle Katarn. Mara later sought out Katarn and persuaded him to train her in the ways of the Force, taking up the rare bond of reciprocal apprenticeship, a facet of the Concordance of Fealty little practiced since the Cleansing of the Nine Houses. During this period, the pair moved to Altyr V to support a New Republic base there. While sabotaging an Imperial assault, Katarn discovered a lead to the Sith ruins on Dromund Kaas, a long dead world. Katarn investigated the ruins but came under the influence of the dark side of the Force. His former pupil Mara Jade went to him and dueled him. Seeing that combat was futile, she lowered her guard and opened herself to Katarn's killing blow. Just as Katarn's blade was about to touch Jade's neck, he stopped in remorse for his actions, turning back to the light side, for the time.
===Training under Luke Skywalker===
Skywalker made a second offer to train Katarn when he founded the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4, and Katarn accepted, now convinced that it would help him tame his dark side. In that time he put Yun's lightsaber away and built his own blue-bladed lightsaber as part of his training.The saber that Katarn turned over to Skywalker and received back in Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, denoting that he had stopped using Yun's saber. Katarn, once again a Jedi Knight, developed a friendship with fellow Jedi trainee Corran Horn, but when two students of the Academy fell to the dark side, Katarn's fear of succumbing multiplied. Katarn gave up the Force, entrusting his lightsaber to Skywalker, and returned to his mercenary ways as Jan Ors' partner, taking on unofficial missions for the New Republic.
===Missions for the New Republic===
During the next year, Katarn was noted several times by NRI investigators for his overzealous attitude in eliminating Imperial Remnant soldiers. He was sent on a mission to Tatooine in order to roust Imperial recruiters, during which he saw that they were looking for Force sensitives. Despite being an intelligence-gathering mission, he followed his trigger-happy tactic and raided the Imperial headquarters; an Imperial, allegedly the ringleader, talked about "reborn", before being killed in the encounter. In his report to Mon Mothma, Katarn noted that the opposite forces were heavier than expected and requested a corresponding raise to his money; but he also downplayed the Imperial casualties. He also expressed the wish that it would be the last mission dealing with the Force.
He had only left one Imperial survivor for questioning who was so distressed from his ordeal that he could barely relate what little information he had while under interrogation. All that the interrogation staff could get him to say was that his orders had come from Kejim.
====The Empire Reborn====
=====Kejim=====
Katarn was sent to the world of Kejim to act on this information and en route, fragments of Remnant communication intercepted by the New Republic were relayed to Katarn and Ors, which further affirmed the Republic's suspicions that something was going on. Katarn was at first hesitant to go; the transmission had made mention of the Valley of the Jedi. There was indeed a Remnant base on the planet where, upon a detailed inspection of the base, Katarn found strange crystals which, when analyzed, were found to be very similar to ones used in a Jedi's lightsaber. Their mission would have ended there, as Katarn didn't want to get involved with anything that involved the Force, but Ors accepted the job on his behalf—having been offered twice their usual fee by Mon Mothma.
=====Artus Prime=====
It was soon revealed that the Empire Reborn movement under Admiral Galak Fyyar was using the planet to experiment with these crystals and the Force, particularly in infusing non-Force-sensitives with Force potential. Although Katarn successfully infiltrated and shut down the outpost, Ors was later captured and apparently killed by the Dark Jedi Desann and his student Tavion Axmis on the planet Artus Prime.
=====Returning to the Valley of the Jedi and reobtaining his lightsaber=====
Angered by his partner's "death," Katarn regained his Force powers by using the power of the Valley of the Jedi, once again treading dangerously close to the dark side. He went to the Jedi Academy to retrieve his blue-bladed lightsaber he had left with Skywalker, where he then learned that Desann was a fallen student of Skywalker's. Katarn was forced to work again with his old Master, and set out with Skywalker across the galaxy to bring Desann to justice. 
=====Nar Shaddaa and Bespin=====
While Skywalker secretly went to the Valley of the Jedi to look for Desann, Katarn tracked Desann's shuttle to Reelo Baruk on Nar Shaddaa; there he encountered Lando Calrissian, who helped Katarn escape Nar Shaddaa and kill Baruk in the process. Still, Katarn became haunted with the memories of hearing Desann's order to Axmis to "murder" Ors and her screams. These only served to make him desire revenge even more. He eventually got the chance to exact his revenge at Bespin, where he encountered Desann's apprentice, Tavion. She informed Katarn of his blunder in revealing the location of the Valley to herself and her master, and was defeated by Katarn in lightsaber combat. Katarn used Force grip to lift Axmis over a Cloud City platform and held her there. She confessed to everything, revealing that Ors was still alive. Katarn spared Axmis's life and tossed her aside. Axmis ran away, only to plot her revenge on Katarn for sparing her.
=====Infiltrating the Doomgiver=====
Kyle then took a hauler to the Cairn Installation, where the Doomgiver, the ship on which Ors was being held captive, was docked. Katarn ran into Skywalker again, and learned of the purpose behind the crystals he had discovered on Kejim, and of Desann's troops being in the Valley of the Jedi. Katarn infiltrated the Doomgiver as it launched into hyperspace and successfully found Ors and released her. Ors informed Katarn of Desann's fascination with the Academy on Yavin IV. Katarn realized where the Doomgiver was headed and with Ors's help, he was able to shut down the Doomgiver shield generator, allowing Rogue Squadron to destroy the vessel. At the same time, Katarn was able to prevent the mad scientist, Galak Fyyar, from assuming the throne as "Emperor Galak Fyyar the first."
As the Doomgiver exploded, Katarn and Ors escaped to Yavin IV. After separating, with a kiss, to assist the Jedi Academy, Katarn fought through the jungles of Yavin IV against the legions of new Shadowtroopers and Reborn. Katarn eventually made it into the Academy itself in time to fend off an invading force of stormtroopers. He descended further into the academy gallantly fighting off dozens of reborn and Shadowtroopers, while rescuing many Jedi in the process. Katarn continued into the bowels of the ruins, where he faced off with Desann. Both Desann and Katarn attempted to persuade the other to change sides, but Desann soon attacked Katarn out of frustration. Katarn defeated the Dark Jedi, ending his plan for domination. Skywalker thanked Katarn for his assistance and offered him a place at the Academy. Katarn declined, at least for the moment. Katarn joined the Academy later, after he and Ors spent time together on the beaches of Spira.
====Other adventures====
Shortly thereafter the Academy was attacked by a Nightsister and her band of outlaws who were seeking ancient Sith artifacts owned by the Academy. Despite the fact that the Nightsisters took advantage of the Academy's weakened state, Katarn and a group of others managed to push them back and kept them from retrieving the artifacts.
Sometime later, Katarn and Ors were sent to investigate Remnant activity on Alzoc III. Katarn infiltrated the base by hiding in a shipping crate and proceeded with his mission. Meanwhile, Ors was discovered by a squad of stormtroopers in one of the hangars, and was taken hostage at blasterpoint. Katarn managed to rescue her, but not before killing two Reborn, who had survived Desann's defeat. Together, Katarn and Ors escaped on the Raven's Claw.Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast demo
===The New Jedi Order===
====Instructor====
With the victory over Desann's Dark Jedi, Katarn renewed his confidence and returned to Skywalker and was promoted to Jedi Master and continued in the ways of the Force as an instructor at Skywalker's Academy.
Katarn took on two students, Jaden Korr and Rosh Penin to train in the ways of the Jedi. Both students were talented, progressing quickly under Katarn's tutelage. When a new threat, a Dark Jedi cult known as the Disciples of Ragnos, began threatening the galaxy, Katarn and his apprentices investigated numerous worlds on the trail of the Disciples. Their investigations spanned the galaxy, from Deep Core worlds such as Byss to Outer Rim Territory worlds such as Vjun. Katarn submitted numerous datacard reports to the Jedi on their success, including Tauntaun Feathers A1 from Hoth.
The Jedi Order discovered that the leader of the Cult was none other than Tavion Axmis, the former apprentice of Desann. Katarn's investigations revealed she had acquired the Scepter of Ragnos from Commenor and planned to use it to resurrect the ancient Sith Lord Marka Ragnos. While Katarn was away, his apprentice, Penin, was kidnapped and eventually succumbed to the dark side, joining the Disciples of Ragnos.
Katarn's other student, Jaden, joined with Katarn to investigate the planet of Vjun, the site of Darth Vader's castle. There, the two were forced to split up when Katarn's perch dropped out from beneath him and he fell down several floors. Korr, reaching the top of the building alone, faced off against the fallen Penin. Korr pleaded with his former friend to return to the light side, but was unsuccessful. Killing the Reborn Twins, Vil and Dasariah Kothos, Korr overcame Penin and closed in on him. Katarn then rejoined him at the top of the tower. Suddenly, Tavion Axmis emerged from behind a pillar and stated her role as the leader of the cult. Subduing Korr and Katarn with Force lightning, she stated that Katarn should have killed her when he had the chance. Using the Force to pull Jaden's saber from his grasp, she used it to bring down the roof, and she escaped with Penin. Korr's actions on Vjun and Katarn's recommendation saw to Skywalker promoting Jaden Kor to Jedi Knight.
Katarn later received a transmission from Penin pleading for help. Given his own experience of redemption at the hands of Mara Jade, Katarn was determined to answer the call. Requesting Korr to join him, the pair set out once more, this time to Taspir III. Once again separated, Korr went on ahead and confronted Penin. Urged on by Alora, he considered killing Penin as retribution. In the facilities below, Katarn sensed his precarious position and telepathically urged Jaden to spare Penin's life. Following his master's wishes, Jaden spared Penin's life and fought Alora, who severed Penin's left arm. Jaden killed Alora just as Katarn arrived. Katarn ordered Jaden to aid the Jedi on Korriban, as he rushed Penin off to a medical facility.
Katarn went on to become the Academy's foremost Jedi Battlemaster, educating many other Knights, and fighting in the Third Battle of Yavin where he stopped and killed a rampaging former Emperor's Hand by the name of Jeng Droga.
====Yuuzhan Vong War====
During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Katarn helped develop strategies against the invaders and freed the Human captives of the Imperial Remnant world Ord Sedra, cooperating with Lieutenant Pallin and his stormtroopers. After their victory against the Vong, Kyle trusted the imperials to hold the invaders on a small security building. Katarn also proposed marriage to Jan Ors after their mission, but she rejected his proposal on the basis of not wanting to get married because every day might be their last. The Vong eventually escaped from their captivity after being left unguarded, with both Katarn and Ors jumping into action after hearing about it. After Jan was attacked by a Yuuzhan Vong warlord, Kyle fought the Vong and killed him with a bomb while his lover saved herself with his lightsaber.
Near the end of the war, the living planet Zonama Sekot agreed to help the Galactic Alliance, and Katarn was one of several Jedi Knights bonded to seed-partners and provided with Sekotan starships in the final battle.
After the end of the invasion, Katarn heard a rumor that the Sith still existed. Due to his personal experience on Dromund Kaas, Katarn investigated, following clues from Ord Sedra in the Clacis sector first to Yaga Minor, and then halfway across the galaxy to the Cloak of the Sith, near Roon. Katarn went missing there; his fate resembled that of Daye Azur-Jamin, who had been missing since early in the Yuuzhan Vong war.
It turned out that indeed Katarn had been kidnapped by Azur-Jamin, who had meanwhile turned to the dark side, and Kyle succumbed once more. Mara Jade Skywalker, Jaden Korr and a group of Alpha Blue specialists led by Jan Ors tracked Katarn to Roon and freed him from Azur-Jamin. Azur-Jamin was eventually redeemed, revealing the presence of a Force-sensitive Yuuzhan Vong. Katarn returned safely, and took an active role in Jedi affairs, being appointed to the Masters' council.
====Jedi Council Member====
Five years after the war with the Yuuzhan Vong, Katarn had become a respected Master not afraid to voice his opinion. During the Dark Nest Crisis, along with Han, Leia, and Kyp Durron Katarn traveled to the moon of Kr where the Killik Dark Nest Gorog dwelt, coordinating the conflict. Katarn joined the fighting on the ground while the Solos helped Luke and Mara Skywalker. As the Killik crisis continued to expand, Katarn later led a Stealth-X squadron of Jedi Knights against the Dark Nest.Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen
At some point during his service to the New Jedi Order, he wrote the Spy Primer, a guide for espionage agents. Jae Juun and Tarfang were known to have read it as part of their training.Dark Nest III: The Swarm War
====Second Galactic Civil War====
Four years after the Killik crisis, Katarn remained on the council. As the tensions grew between Corellia and the Galactic Alliance, Luke Skywalker's nephew Jacen Solo, under the sway of the dark side, began interning, torturing and executing Corellians under his new role as a colonel in the Galactic Alliance Guard. Katarn voiced his concerns along with fellow Council-member Cilghal to Skywalker that Solo was a dangerous force in his new capacity.Legacy of the Force: Bloodlines As the conflict progressed, eventually developing into the Second Galactic Civil War, Katarn also suggested that Leia Organa Solo be exiled due to her actions which appeared contrary to the wishes of the government he continued to serve. However, Katarn was only acting as a voice of moderation, and came to realize that the Jedi sometimes had to act beyond the government.Legacy of the Force: Exile
Katarn's fears of Solo were justified as the wayward Jedi Knight amassed a wealth of allies and political power. Eventually, Solo modified the laws governing the Galactic Alliance and deposed Chief of State Cal Omas in a coup d'etat. Following the mysterious death of Mara Jade Skywalker, his former apprentice, Katarn attended the funeral of his close friend. When Solo, who was, unknown to Katarn, now Darth Caedus, arrived at the funeral, Katarn, along with Kyp Durron and Kenth Hamner, told the co-Chief of State that he was unwelcome to stand with the Jedi Masters, and that his place was either with the Knights, or the visiting dignitaries; however, a grieving Grand Master Skywalker overruled them. Yet Solo now moved against the Jedi and the ideals of the Galactic Alliance Katarn served; the Galactic Alliance Guard held the students hostage at the Jedi Academy on Ossus. During the Battle of Kuat, Skywalker confronted Jacen over his actions before pulling the Jedi Order out of the Galactic Alliance. In retaliation, the Galactic Alliance Guard soldiers on Ossus killed several Jedi Knights, mutilating Tionne Solusar and leaving her husband Kam for dead.
====Confrontation with a Sith Lord====
Katarn joined the other Jedi Masters on Endor, where they discussed their next actions against Jacen. Although Master Durron was in charge of the formulated mission to capture or kill, Katarn was selected by Skywalker as the team leader, and given a secondary objective to which only he was privy; a tracking device was to be placed upon Solo during their engagement with the powerful fallen Jedi and secret Dark Lord of the Sith. The team which accompanied Katarn included three Jedi Knights; Corran Horn's son Valin, the Falleen Thann Mithric and the Bothan Kolir Hu'lya, as well as the young Seha Dorvald, a former spy of Colonel Solo's. Katarn and his team infiltrated Coruscant's undercity and eventually assaulted Solo outside the Senate Building.
Solo was a formidable opponent, even for Katarn's skills, and the Jedi Master had to protect the weaker members of the team as he dueled the former Jedi Knight and now young Sith Lord. As Caedus claimed, Katarn was unaware of what he was fighting against, and the Sith's brutality during the duel saw the Jedi Master hard-pressed to win the advantage, though the mission itself was only a diversion to place the tracking device upon Solo. Forced to defend Hu'lya from Solo's attacks, Katarn sent his saber spinning at Jacen, only to have it deflected and return to his hand. When his opponent gestured towards him, Katarn prepared himself for a contest of telekinesis, though he was caught off-guard by Solo's tactic; the Sith Lord grasped a passing GAG speeder with the Force and sent it cannonading into the Jedi Master's back. Katarn was catapulted forward and impaled on Solo's blade. The Sith Lord pulled his lightsaber free and turned to finish off the rest of the team, unaware that the tracking device had been attached to his cloak by Dorvald, and that Katarn was still alive. Although a grief-consumed Mithric was slain by Solo, Horn and Dorvald dragged Katarn to safety while Hu'lya made good her escape. Unfortunately for the severely wounded Master, Solo's blade had punctured his lung, and Katarn's lowered immune system was unable to prevent the incursion of an infectious plague that the Commenori, opposed to the Galactic Alliance, had unleashed on Coruscant. However, against all odds, Kyle Katarn survived both the serious wound and the diseases he picked up in the undercity sewers. On his return to Endor he was healed by Cilghal, with yet another successful mission to his name. Katarn later regained enough of his strength to accompany the Jedi on their mission to the Corellian system, where they rescued the abducted Hapan Chume'da Allana from Caedus' clutches.
During the final battle with Darth Caedus and his forces in the Mist, Master Katarn was one of the many Jedi who took part in the assault. He, along with Sebatyne, Horn, Kyp, and Grand Master Skywalker, helped subdue the remaining Moffs after the death of Caedus.Legacy of the Force: Invincible
====Crisis with the Galactic Alliance====
In 43.5 ABY, Katarn aided Jaina Solo in her attempt to capture the rogue Valin Horn, who had been struck with a mysterious psychosis. Horn, who was also being followed by Master Skywalker, his son Ben, and Han and Leia Solo, news-crews, and bounty hunters, was eventually incapacitated by the Grand Master.
When Master Skywalker was exiled, Katarn was present for the Grand Master and his son's farewell. Later, when Valin Horn was taken into GA custody, Katarn voiced his concern to Jaina Solo and two other Jedi Knights.
During a Council meeting, Katarn appeared concerned for Jysella Horn, daughter of his friend Corran Horn, after she went mad. When it was revealed what Jaina Solo and the Darkmeld team had done, Katarn was glad that Seff Hellin was now in the hands of the Jedi Order, but voiced concern over the fact that neither he nor the High Council had been informed by Cilghal, Tekli, or Jaina Solo.Fate of the Jedi: Omen
In later events, Kyle Katarn used the term "Grand Master" when referring to Kenth Hamner. However, it was in terms of sarcasm to the recent events concerning what to do with the rash of Jedi Knights who were going insane, as noted by Han Solo. He insisted that the Jedi support Tahiri Veila during her trial, which was agreed upon by masters Sebatyne and Cilghal.Fate of the Jedi: Abyss
Katarn later went on to express his opinion about Natasi Daala threatening the Jedi with a Mandalorian siege. When the siege happened, led by Belok Rhal, Katarn pointed out that the Mandalorians were blocking every exit, secret and public, in and out of the Temple. He expressed concern for the populace of Coruscant, fearing they might get hurt if they tried to protest the siege. Hamner agreed, but didn't know how to work around this without stalling for time. Apprentice Kani Asari volunteered to go out and negotiate with Rhal. When Rhal murdered Kani in public, Katarn, Saba Sebatyne, Corran, and Durron refused to let Hamner retrieve the body, that it wasn't safe for him to be out there with a deranged Mandalorian in charge of the siege.Fate of the Jedi: Allies
Soon after these events, Master Katarn was among the Masters present when Han Solo proved to Chief of State Daala that the Jedi who were being driven mad had recovered, causing her to order the siege of the Jedi Temple lifted. However, she refused to release Valin and Jysella Horn back into the hands of the Jedi.Fate of the Jedi: Vortex
Later, during a meeting of the Council, tempers were flaring with both Daala's refusal to release the Horn Jedi and Kenth Hamner's lack of leadership during the situation. Octa Ramis insisted that they take military action and free the Horn's, by force if need be. Hamner refused. Katarn then spoke, saying that unless they wished to take this kind of abuse from Daala, they would have no choice but to take military action. During the course of the meeting both Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo interrupted the heated meeting to show the masters the revolution on Blaudu Sextus. When it showed that Mandalorians were in charge of putting down the revolt, Saba Sebatyne grew enraged and insisted that the Jedi do something. When none of the Masters know anything of the situation on Sextus, Katarn asked her several questions about the relationship of the Octusi, who were responsible for the revolt, and their owners. When things did not appear so black and white Katarn grew more interested in who was behind the revolt, rather than what the Jedi were going to do about it, and went so far as to suspect the newest member of the Council Barratk'l had something to do with it. The suspicion was soon wiped away when she not only insisted she had nothing to do with it, but Hamner backed her up. The meeting proceeded, with the Jedi asking Saba who among the Jedi should go and handle the situation of Sextus. When Katarn suggested Tesar Sebatyne and another Barabel Jedi, Saba grew angry at him that he would suggest those two, and refused to tell where they were currently, insisting that they had not gotten into anything that would cast the Jedi into bad light. The meeting ended shortly after when the masters stormed out; it was revealed that Kenth was not going to let the StealthX squadron launch.
When the Masters were gathered to welcome back the Jedi who had been transported to the Transitory Mists, the events on Sextus were sparking slave revolts all over the galaxy and most Masters, including Katarn, felt that this was the will of the Force. When Kenth refused to allow anymore Jedi to be spared to help the fledgling revolts, Han Solo insisted that Kenth tell them about the deal with Nek Bwua'tu. When Katarn pressed about the deal, Kenth revealed that Bwua'tu had promised no military action would be taken against the Jedi as long as they didn't launch their Stealth X's from the Temple. This enraged the Council and caused Saba to call for a vote of No Confidence in the temporary Grand Master. Katarn was among those who called for his resignation.
During the preparation for the launch, he was to lead a squadron of StealthXs, along with Kyp Durron, Octa Ramis, and Barratk'l to assist Luke and Ben Skywalker against the Lost Tribe of Sith's war fleet. When Kenth Hamner intercepted them and refused to let them leave, Saba Sebatyne told them to go to their launch stations. Kyle tried to implore his old friend Hamner to be reasonable and told him that he should not have tried to shoulder the weight of the entire Order on his back, which was why the Jedi had a Council. Hamner refused to listen, which resulted in a brutal duel in which Sebatyne killed Hamner and reluctantly accepted his position as Grand Master until Skywalker's return. Katarn and the others were able to leave, then took part in the rescue of the Skywalkers above Almania's moon Pydyr.
Later, Master Katarn led a StealthX squadron against the Sith Armada in an ambush set up by Grand Master Luke Skywalker during Operation Shieldfall. The end of that battle led to the Sith Forces retreating with Abeloth and Ship. Having no clue where Abeloth and her forces retreated too, Master Katarn was one of the groups charged with scouring the galaxy for any location that they may be hiding in. When these results turned up nothing, Katarn returned to Coruscant to both welcome back the returning Grand Master Skywalker and to take part in further strategies against the Lost Tribe.Fate of the Jedi: Conviction
When the Jedi left Coruscant for good, Master Katarn was one of the Jedi present on Upekzar to confront Abeloth. It turned out to be a trap however, and many Jedi were killed when the dark energy from that place exploded, also causing a Volcano to erupt. Most of the Jedi escaped.
It is unknown what role, if any, Master Katarn played during the Jedi's assault on the Lost Tribe on Coruscant. He was among those present in Senator Wuul's office during the Council meeting to discuss further military action against the Lost Tribe and their new master, Abeloth. He expressed concern about Abeloth's origins, and was the only Master present to take Wynn Dorvan seriously when he said he killed Abeloth. When Tekli and Lowbacca informed the Council about the origins of Abeloth, Katarn gave several theories about what her endgame would be, and how Ben Skywalker figured into those plans. The Council meeting ended shortly after that when it was discovered that Ben had been captured by Abeloth and was fleeing Coruscant.Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse
After Abeloth's death, Katarn was one of the masters present to welcome Luke back after the Grand Master awoke from his coma. When Luke told the masters his plan to move the Jedi off Coruscant completely, Katarn was one of the first to agree to Luke's way of thinking.
==Personality and traits==
On the one hand, Katarn appeared very self-confident and possessed an almost cynical dry sense of humor. On the other hand, he often doubted himself and always gave every choice a good deal of thought. He was an independent and free-thinking person, but at the same time his primary concern was always the safety and well-being of those he cared for. An ever-present factor appeared to be fear—fear of dying, fear of doing the wrong thing. Considering himself unlucky, he didn't enjoy playing games.
In his later life, Kyle would admit that the prospect of being a Stormtrooper, feeling powerful and inspiring a faceless fear to the citizens, was something that he enjoyed. Katarn's blend of personalities made him a promising cadet leader while at the Imperial academy. Sergeant Major Hong especially appreciated the young cadet's skills, admiring Katarn's rational approach to his assignments and his humility when asking the superior officer for advice.
During his Omega Exercise, Katarn showed that his heart was softer than most other Imperials. He could not bring himself to order the execution of the Rebels his men had captured, instead choosing to let them go. Katarn later used his cynical sense of humor, reason, and concern for others to inspire his team when the mission went south. This enabled them to pull together and complete the mission.
When Katarn learned the truth about his father Morgan's death, his personality underwent a dramatic change. He became bitter and developed a stronger hatred for the Empire. Although he disliked Mon Mothma's psychological manipulation, he joined her cause not for her ideals but because of his father's memory. He accepted missions from the Alliance that were directed at the Empire to get the opportunity to personally kill Imperial agents and thwart their plans. He was no longer afraid of dying, but his fear of doing the wrong thing remained. His sensibilities persisted when he started working for the Alliance; he questioned himself about the morality of shooting two Stormtroopers from behind, but this soon stopped when one started turning towards him, and felt compelled to shoot them before a second thought.
Already soon after his graduation he realised negativity from the crowd on board the Star of Empire, the hard looks and whispers because of his Imperial uniform, that caused him feeling alone, unwelcome and depressed. Even after his defection, Kyle had the same feelings on the New Hope, thinking himself always as an outsider, this time from the other Rebels. He felt a connection with the ship he chose there, the Moldy Crow, as he also felt like a bird away from its flock.
While throwing himself into one death-defying situation after another, Katarn was always careful not to harm innocents and cared greatly for the safety of his partner Jan Ors.
During his years as a Rebel agent, Katarn was a lone wolf, who preferred to work on his own, ignoring advice and dismissing help from Jan Ors, even while they worked together. Teamwork was, according to Ors, not one of his strengths; Katarn recklessly put himself in dangerous situations and Ors many times ran to his rescue, something which Katarn, usually found among fires, explosions and ruined buildings, considered unnecessary. Ors saw this attitude as a result of Katarn constantly wanting to impress others, despite his well known achievements. During the times when he requested Jan's help, or their brief dialogues during his extractions, he covered his anxiety and dangerous situations with light-hearted banters, like "How 'bout a ride?" 
Although Jan and Kyle owed their lives to each other (several times) Katarn was initially oblivious to her romantic feelings; It was not until the quest for the Valley of the Jedi when finally the pair declared their love, which had to pass through turbulent phases, not only through danger and death, but also coping with Kyle's dark mood swings; at some point his close bond with Mara Jade disrupted their relationship.
Sometimes Katarn showed a preference for Novanian grog.
Although a powerful warrior, and despite his reckless attitude, it seems that once Katarn discovered his Jedi powers, he started to keep a low profile; like his father before him, he was reluctant to embrace the Force itself. The core of this reluctance was his fear of the dark side and distrust of his own motivation to use powers. He repeatedly denied the ways of the Force, at one time going so far as to completely sever his own connection to it. He knew that deep inside, he was driven by a lust for revenge and hatred against those that killed his father. He knew all too well that hatred was an emotion fed by the dark side.
He did call upon the dark side of the Force twice in the scramble for the Valley of the Jedi, as he had killed Maw in anger and used a dark side technique to defeat Boc; it was not only Rahn's guidance that kept him from succumbing, but also his love for Jan, and memory of his father.
It was after the Dromund Kaas incident that he severed the bonds with the Force completely. His motivation for reconnecting with the Force was ultimately also motivated by revenge, as he sought to avenge Ors, whom he thought had been killed. But even in his darkest hours there would always be some light inside him. More often than not, he would spare the lives of even his worst enemies. When he learned that Ors was not dead, Katarn changed. His hatred was replaced with hope, and his lust for revenge was replaced with compassion.
Eventually, he came to accept his destiny as a Jedi Knight, arguing that no Force power is inherently dark or light, but that it fully depends on how and for what one uses it. Rather than being ashamed of his brushes with the dark side, he would openly share his experiences with his apprentices so that they would not make the same mistakes as he did. When Rosh Penin finally managed to reject the temptations of the dark side and returned to the ways of the Jedi and Jaden Korr managed to steer clear of the dark path altogether and emerged the hero of the crisis of the Disciples of Ragnos, Katarn finally realized that he was a worthy and powerful Jedi and a great teacher. His confidence increased—and it was clear that whatever hesitancy he may have once had was long since gone. During his time as a member of the Jedi High Council he kept a low profile still, most of the time listening and gathering facts, instead of getting caught up in the passions of his fellow Masters. However, it was noted that whenever he did speak, his comments were usually like a punch to the gut, in terms of how on point and honest they were.
Katarn never liked to wear traditional Jedi robes, instead choosing to wear the clothes he wore in his mercenary days. He still wore them even at formal gatherings, like Mara Jade's funeral. He didn't like to be referred to with titles like "Master Katarn", as titles made him uncomfortable, and preferred to be on a first name basis with his apprentices. In this way, he reflected the idea that he still felt a connection to the common people of the galaxy, and showing humility by preferring not to stand out.
==Powers and abilities==
From an early age Kyle showed big curiosity for the trade of his father, his use of tools, and displayed impressive technical and engineering talent, able to handle and troubleshoot anything in their homestead. Skills he acquired from his childhood in the farm was becoming one of the few Humans in the galaxy fluent in the electronic language of droidspeak, as well as a primitive binary code, considered obsolete by then, whose combinations of two sounds represented letters of an alphabet.
In the Academy he further discovered his talents for cybernetics systems theory and information engineering. Kyle also was trained in martial arts like fencing, shooting, and piloting several kinds of support craft. He also was trained in breathing exercises that could low his vital signs, flatten his brain activity and slow down his time perception. After his defection, Kyle spent some time in a Rebel base populated by smugglers and pirates, and acquired skills of sabotage and subterfuge.
Katarn was adept at using a variety of weapons. His training gave him great skill in using Imperial weapons. This training, along with a natural intuition, allowed him to effectively use every weapon he came across in his travels. As competent with weaponry, Katarn had great accuracy when using blasters, rarely missing his shots and using all types of blasters from different shapes and sizes, shooting several adversaries with pistols, rifles, and even an assault cannon. Once he acquired his first lightsaber, he was immediately able to wield it thanks to the fencing lessons he took in the Academy.
As many other Force-sensitives, Katarn discovered first his talent in the form of some intuition, that often helped him to solve engineering problems once he calmed his mind. This clairvoyance became more puzzling during his Omega Exercise, as it manifested itself in the form of precognitive visions that momentarily saved his team. After the Dark Trooper campaign he discovered himself something that he understood as the "gun trick", using telekinesis to fetch a weapon near him in difficult situations, something which he used on Nar Shaddaa. It was that time when the spirit of Qu Rahn, knowing that Kyle would stop Jerec from winning the Valley of the Jedi, came to him as a voice and taught him how to use the Force to save his life. The first time this happened, Kyle found himself wounded among various thugs, when he discovered how to slow the time around him.
Despite being almost completely self-trained, and with minimal lightsaber combat training, Katarn did learn many techniques from the spirits of Rahn and the ancient Jedi Tal in the Valley of the Jedi, such as the Flowing Water cut and the Falling Leaf attack. Thus, Katarn defeated seven trained Dark Jedi; Yun, Gorc, Pic, Maw, Sariss, Boc, and then Jerec himself—an amazing accomplishment for the neophyte he was at the time. Katarn was a master of the fifth form of lightsaber combat Djem So. Likewise, he held other forms such as Shii-Cho and Ataru.Jedi Academy Training Manual On the odd occasion, he would develop a reverse Shien grip. He proved to be ambidextrous, wielding a weapon in his right hand as well as his left. When he became Battlemaster, his study of lightsaber combat led him to mix elements of several forms into his own personal style.
Katarn was strong in Force powers, such as Force absorb and Force protection (which he demonstrated during his mission with Jaden Korr); but despite his fear of the dark side, Katarn utilized the dark powers of Force grip and Force lightning even as a Jedi Master.
During the Reborn crisis caused by Desann, Katarn had to revisit the Valley of the Jedi to quickly restore his connection to the Force, which increased his raw Force potential as a side-effect. It should be noted however that his motivation was once more revenge; the seeming death of Jan Ors. Katarn showed mastery of the Force by relearning powers of both the light and dark side of the Force in a relatively short amount of time. Katarn showed a strong will, resisting the many taunts and mind tricks Desann used on him in the Yavin temple.
Katarn became one of the New Jedi Order's most respected Jedi Masters. During the events of the Disciples of Ragnos Crisis, Katarn had already become one of the strongest swordsmen in the New Jedi Order and successfully trained Jaden Korr, arguably the most famous hero during those events. An extraordinary swordsman, Katarn became the New Jedi Order's foremost Battlemaster. His general mastery of the Force was incredible and surpassed all but the strongest Jedi Masters. Even Darth Caedus acknowledged Katarn's abilities, something he rarely did.
Katarn demonstrated a comfortable understanding of Shyriiwook with his old friend Chewbacca, when he and his apprentice Jaden Korr met up with the Wookiee at the Mos Eisley.
==Equipment==
===Weapons===
Kyle Katarn's preferred weapon was a Bryar pistol that had been given to him by his father. He continued to carry and use it, as a backup weapon, unlike other Jedi who normally eschewed blasters, even after becoming a Jedi and building his first lightsaber. Katarn briefly used packered mortar gun, rail detonator gun, concussion rifle, Imperial Heavy Repeater, E-11 blaster rifle, DXR-6 disruptor rifle, FC-1 flechette launcher, PLX-2M portable missile launcher, and Destructive Electromagnetic Pulse 2 ion carbine. He also used sequencer charges, thermal detonators, and laser trip mines. During his career, Katarn used a personal energy shield with a belt-mounted shield generator called the Military Mobility Shield. In his mercenary days, Katarn frequently wore body armor underneath his trademark coat. He was also one of the few non-Mandalorians to own a set Mandalorian Armor, which he recovered when he was captured by Jabba.
====Lightsabers====
Throughout his life, Kyle Katarn wielded at least three lightsabers. His first lightsaber originally belonged to Jedi Master Qu Rahn and produce a green blade. Rahn passed it on to Morgan Katarn, who in turn gave it to his son, Kyle Katarn, who used it in his duel with the Dark Jedi Yun, Gorc, Pic, and Maw. This weapon was destroyed by the Dark Jedi, Boc Aseca, while Katarn journeyed into the Valley of the Jedi; however, one of the Dark Jedi, Yun, turned from the Dark Side and blocked a death blow to Katarn from Sariss. Yun was killed, and Katarn took Yun's lightsaber for the rest of his journey through the Valley of the Jedi to duel and kill Sariss, Boc, and Jerec. This weapon had a yellow blade and may have been the same blade he later used while training Mara Jade, though at that time it appeared to have a more orange hue.
Following the events on Dromund Kaas, Katarn attended the Jedi Praxeum, where he constructed a new blue-bladed lightsaber, which had two handgrips and a longer hilt than most average lightsabers. This lightsaber was Kyle's first official lightsaber, as his previous two belonged to other individuals.
===Ships===
The Moldy Crow, an HWK-290 light freighter, was the first ship acquired by Kyle Katarn after joining the Rebel Alliance. He first used it during his Mission to Danuta. He took an immediate liking to the ship due to its name, as it reflected his feelings on his own status in the galaxy. In later missions, the Crow was piloted by Katarn's partner Jan Ors. It was eventually destroyed during his mission to the Valley of the Jedi.
After the destruction of the Moldy Crow, Kyle Katarn and his partner Jan Ors continued their career with the Raven's Claw. Ors piloted the ship for Katarn, ensuring that he could be inserted and extracted safely for his missions.
==Behind the scenes==
===Portrayal===
Kyle Katarn was voiced by Nick Jameson in Dark Forces and his appearance appears on hand-drawn stills in the cutscenes.
Actor Jason Court portrayed the character in the full-motion video sequences of Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. For the close-ups of Katarn's hands and feet, actor and VFX artist C. Andrew Nelson doubled for Court. The in-game model was based on Court's appearance. Likewise, in Mysteries of Sith, Jedi Outcast, and Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, Katarn is exclusively a polygonal model, without full motion video scenes, made to look like a slightly older Court. In these appearances, he is voiced by Rino Romano (in Mysteries of the Sith) and Jeff Bennett (in Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy). In Star Wars: Empire at War he is voiced by Brian Bascle and for the audio dramatizations of the Dark Forces novellas, he is portrayed by Randal Berger. Jeff Bennett's voice acting in Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy makes him the only person to have voiced Katarn more than once.
===Continuity===
Most recent portrayals of Katarn are based on Jason Court's appearance no matter the timeline; whereas the original Dark Forces, set around 1 ABY during Katarn's early career in the Rebellion, displays him as young, beardless, with a brown jacket, later works set in that period show him with Court's older bearded appearance. This includes the Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire novella illustrated by Dean Williams, set around the same time with Dark Forces, but Kyle is anachronistically bearded and sports the civilian attire he is seen in Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight. This is also the case with the Empire at War and Lethal Alliance video games.
====Alternative endings====
Katarn's story has alternative outcomes in some of the games in which he appears. Although the above-mentioned story is canonical, the player has the option to follow the alternative dark side path in Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II.
In this version, Katarn killed Jan Ors when prompted and became the rival of Jerec. Yun, not particularly touched as Katarn proved to be just another fallen Jedi, fought him alone after Katarn escaped the falling cargo ship. In this version Katarn is able to land the Moldy Crow safely. He corrected his previous mistake and killed Yun in a second lightsaber duel. After he defeated Jerec in the Valley of the Jedi, Katarn absorbed its power and took his position on Coruscant as Emperor of the galaxy, with Sariss at his side. He ordered her to destroy a small Rebel uprising on Danuta, which was ironically the location of his first major mission for the Rebel Alliance. Then, he took out the holo of his father saying, "I want you to remember, while you're at the academy, how very proud I am of you," the same holo he had been reflecting on when his mission against Jerec first began. He then dropped it on the floor and crushed it with his boot, removing all his connections to the past and the light.
The same option is available to Jaden Korr in Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. In this version, Korr turned to the dark side by killing Penin instead of staying in the light by forgiving him. Korr later dueled Katarn, overpowering his master with the Scepter of Ragnos he had stolen from Tavion, and escaped. Reflecting on the incident with Luke Skywalker, Katarn questioned whether or not he himself should be a Jedi, taking a leave of absence to apprehend Korr.
The alternative ending of Jedi Academy, although not canonical, also gives some insight into Katarn's psyche in a case of failure and disappointment. Failure empowers his existing disappointment; he seems guilty for having lost two apprentices (Penin is dead, and Korr becomes a Dark Jedi), and confesses to Skywalker that he is unsure if he should be a Jedi Master at all. However, as a final desperate act, he moved to personally find Korr and correct his failure.
===Popularity===
Although created only for the needs of a video game, Katarn became surprisingly popular, having the most appearances of all of the Inaugural Class Jedi Masters. One reason is that the computer games he appears in became quite successful and widely referenced. This success has been further developed by comparisons to martial artist and action star Chuck Norris, which have prompted Star Wars-themed variations of the popular Chuck Norris facts.Star Wars Insider 100, "100 Best Things About Star Wars": "There is no chin under Kyle Katarn's beard. There is only another fist." (Also online at )
===Other===
Originally, the protagonist of Star Wars: Dark Forces was to be Luke Skywalker, and the game's story was to follow the events of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. However, the developers of Dark Forces realized that this decision would add constraints to the storyline and gameplay, so the character of Kyle Katarn was created instead.
According to the Dark Forces review in PC Gamer, Katarn was intended to be a "blank" game character, more or less like other customizable game protagonists (cf. Jaden Korr or Revan); he would have a customizable name, a mysterious unmentioned past and an unseen face, in order to help players identify themselves with the protagonist. It seems that this concept was abandoned since his face, name and background history are told in the manual and the narrative of the final product. However, the games still demand to enter a player name in order to save their progress.
Kyle Katarn appears as one of the hero character units in Empire at War and is one of few Expanded Universe characters in the game. His special abilities are "thermal detonator" and "sprint." He has no Force powers since the game takes place before his discovery of his connection to the Force.
Katarn was originally slated to die in the novel The New Jedi Order: Star by Star, but the scene was removed at the last minute at the request of LucasArts, ostensibly for reasons related to Jedi Academy despite that game's earlier placement on the timeline. The removal of this scene allowed Katarn to finally make his comic book debut in "Equals & Opposites"—almost three years after the release of The New Jedi Order: Star by Star in the United States.
==Appearances==
==Sources==
==Notes and references==
==External links==
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