Mission to Ruusan

"And a knight shall come, a battle will be fought, and the prisoners shall go free."

- A prophecy of the Poem of Ages

The Mission to Ruusan was a mission undertaken by New Republic mercenary Jan Ors and Jedi Knight Kyle Katarn, who sought to stop Dark Jedi and former Imperial Inquisitor Jerec from taking the enormous power of the Valley of the Jedi, an ancient burial ground located on Ruusan, where the spirits of hundreds of Jedi and Sith who had fallen during the Battle of Ruusan were trapped.

Ruusan
Having finally obtained the location of the Valley of the Jedi--previously known only by Kyle's father, Morgan Katarn--from the remains of the droid 8t88, the New Republic devised a plan, at Kyle Katarn's request, to infiltrate Ruusan. The plan involved impersonating the crew of a captured Imperial freighter High Hauler, with the Moldy Crow stowed aboard.

The payload of proton torpedoes helped to dupe the battle group flagship Vengeance into giving security clearances to the freighter and Moldy Crow. After offloading the dummy torpedoes, the High Hauler headed for hyperspace, and the Moldy Crow left the freighter's docking bay and headed for Ruusan's surface. Based on a coded signal the Crow picked up, Kyle directed Jan to a landing site many kilometers south of the fort. There they met a group of refugees led by Grif Grawley who had survived Jerec's attack on Fort Nowhere. After defending a group of Bouncers from a Imperial Remnant speeder patrol, Kyle, Jan, and Grif were joined by a member of the Bouncer tribe known as Floater.

The Bouncer guided the Rebels through the mountains and ravines leading to the Valley. A half kilometer from their target; however, the group alerted a probe droid. Armed with his hunting knife, Grif succeeded in disabling the machine, but was unable to escape its clutches before it collided with the valley wall and exploded. Floater led Kyle and Jan to an ancient aqueduct that went straight to the Valley. Nearing the command tower, Kyle and Jan surveyed the Imperials' strengths. Unfortunately, the Remnant forces under Jerec's command had arrived weeks earlier, and were in the process of establishing an outpost and excavating into the Valley. Katarn managed to evade or defeat patrols of Imperial stormtroopers, vicious local wildlife and even AT-STs, and sneak through the canyon where the Remnant had established their base. Eventually, Kyle reached a lift that took him to a docking platform used by a cargo ship, the Sulon Star—the same ship where Kyle had eventually caught up with 8t88, then battled Pic and Gorc.

Maw
Suddenly, the levitating form of Dark Jedi Maw came up behind Katarn and knocked him down, shouting "Finally I get to wipe your putrid taste from the Force" to goad Kyle into a duel. The two fought on the narrow walkways of the cargo depot, Maw's use of levitation making him immune from the huge drops either side, Kyle however was forced to maintain his balance, and fend off Maw's brutal attacks at the same time. Eventually, Katarn was able to drive Maw into a more open area, the landing pad directly adjacent to the cargo ship.

His freedom of movement dramatically increased, Kyle was able to gain the upper hand and defeat Maw, knocking him to the ground. Sensing the growing presence of the dark side in Katarn, Maw taunted him about his father's death, claiming Jerec had given him the "honor" of thrusting Morgan Katarn's head on a spike for the inhabitants of Baron's Hed to see. Kyle gave in to his anger and killed Maw in cold blood, bringing him perilously close to falling to the dark side.

Blinking back tears brought on by the memory of his father, Kyle tried to calm himself, but Jerec, who had been watching the duel, chose that moment to approach Katarn from behind, flanked by his underlings Boc, Sariss, and Yun, with Kyle's partner Jan in his grasp. Jerec made Kyle an offer, give in to the dark side and submit to him, by killing Jan, or die. Kyle made his choice, and shut his lightsaber down. Disappointed, but not particularly surprised, Jerec unleashed a blast of Force Destruction.

The Falling Ship
Whether by accident or design, Jerec missed Katarn, merely knocking him back into the cargo ship, which had received the full blast of Jerec's power. The supports gave way, and the ship began to fall into the deep canyon. Knowing he could never activate the engines and repulsorlifts in time to actually save the ship, Kyle searched the near-deserted ship for a means of escape, eventually coming across his ship, the Moldy Crow, which was docked in the craft's underside.

Katarn managed to board his ship and escape the Sulon Star just in time, no sooner had he exited the cargo vessel than it crashed into the canyon floor. However, Kyle was by no means safe. The shockwave from the explosion caused Kyle to lose control, and he was unable to prevent his beloved vessel from crashing itself, a scant few meters from the wreckage of the Sulon Star.

Sariss
Kyle was knocked unconscious after the crash, awaking after nightfall to find himself in the presence of Boc, Sariss and Yun. Realizing Katarn was awake, Boc went over to him and began to tease him, commenting on his lightsaber's design, before crushing it under a rock. Sariss ordered Boc to go and tell Jerec that Kyle's death was assured, then ignited her lightsaber and prepared to strike down Kyle.

Yun, however, remembering how Kyle had spared his life in Baron's Hed and unwilling to let him die in such a cold-blooded manner, drew his own lightsaber and blocked her attack, which glanced off and struck him, mortally wounding him. Surprised at Yun's actions, Sariss asked why he had prevented her from ending Kyle Katarn. With his last breath, Yun reasoned to Sariss that Kyle at least deserved a battle. As Yun, now redeemed from the dark side, passed away, Kyle got to his feet and then picked up Yun's yellow-bladed lightsaber and dueled Sariss. As powerful as she was, Sariss ultimately proved no match for Katarn's determination, and rapidly improving skill in the Force and fell to Katarn's saber. Katarn used a simple melee technique called the Flowing Water cut to defeat her, stabbing her right through the heart.

Into the Valley
The main lift destroyed in the cargo ship's crash, Kyle was forced to use the Valley Tower's internal cargo conveying system to ascend and reach the Valley's outer perimeter. Navigating the powerful airflows of the mining exhaust ports, Kyle gained access to the excavation site and the ancient chambers below, dispatching Stormtroopers and Imperial Commandos all the while.

Finally entering the heart of the Valley, Kyle located Jan Ors and had just cut her bonds when Boc the Crude, disguised as a statue, revealed himself. Kyle then dueled and defeated him, but not before slipping dangerously close to the dark side. Goaded by the sprits of long dead Sith lords, trapped in the Valley of the Jedi, Katarn intuitively used an ancient dark side technique called spear of midnight black, which consisted in materializing dark side energy into a javelin-like object and hurling it at one's opponent. The attack surprised Boc, who died almost instantly as the dark spear ran him through. With Boc dead, Kyle entered the Valley's core where Jerec had been meditating. By cutting Jerec off from the Force-stream, Kyle was able to overpower him. In a last attempt to turn Kyle to the dark side, the helpless Jerec reminded Kyle that he was Morgan Katarn's murderer. Rather than kill him in cold blood, Kyle returned Jerec's lightsaber to him. Jerec then attacked, but Kyle defended himself and struck him down, using an ancient lightsaber technique called the Falling Leaf cut. Jerec and the rest of his minions being dead and defeated, Katarn was able to free all of the Jedi and Sith spirits trapped in the Force nexus.



With Jan Ors and WeeGee beside him, Kyle carved a monument to Qu Rahn and Morgan Katarn, and thanked his father for his help.

Behind the scenes
In the game's alternate, non-canon dark side storyline, there are some slight differences in events. After defeating Maw, when goaded by Jerec, Kyle gives into the dark side and his desire to take the Valley's power for himself, and strikes Jan down. Jerec once again forces Kyle into the Sulon Star and sends it plummeting into the valley below, however when Kyle escapes he clears the shockwave and is able to set the Crow down apparently undamaged near the crash site, where it is Yun rather than Sariss he duels. This time, Kyle "corrects his earlier mistake" and strikes Yun down. He then proceeds into the Valley, where he defeats Boc and Jerec and claims the Valley's power for his own, setting the stage for his assuming of the throne of Galactic Emperor with Sariss as his apprentice.

Appearances

 * Jedi vs. Sith 6
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
 * Dark Forces: Jedi Knight
 * Dark Forces: Jedi Knight audio drama