Galen Marek

Galen Marek is the main protagonist in both the games The Force Unleashed, and the Force Unleashed II. He is portrayed/voiced by Samuel Witwer. He stands 6ft, 2in tall. He weighs 78kgs. He is a homosapien with caucasion skin, green eyes and buzzed light-brown hair.

He was born on the Wookiee Planet of Kashyyyk during the Dark Jedi Times as the son of Jedi Knight Kento and Emale "Mallie" Marek. Emale died after defending her family from Tradoshan slavers. Kento was murdered by Lord Vader shortly after their discovery. Galen was abducted by Vader, him hoping to harness Galen's force sensitive powers and codenamed him Starkiller. Marek's brutal Jedi-training caused him to forget about his past life with his parents Kento and Mallie, his earliest memories being said of two years into his training. Darth Vader's powerful, brutal force training regime made Galen a powerful force-sensitive, and starkiller was utilized as Darth Vader's personal spy and assassin, dispatching the dark lord's enemies and rivals. Later, when Galen became more powerful than expected, he was given a flagship known as the Rogue Shadow, along with a personal Pilot, Juno Eclipse, and a holodroid named P.R.O.X.Y. (Prototype Rogue Olodroid X-Dynasty Yubricate).

As Starkiller's training edged completion, Vader gave Galen his first test; to hunt down and kill survivor Jedi General Rahm Kota. Though Starkiller defeated Kota, he never executed him, although he concealed this from his master. Dispatched on a variety of other jedi bounty-hunts, he always finished his hunts with mere brutal effenciency, all the while growing closer to his Rogue Shadow Pilot, Juno Eclipse. Finally, Starkiller was summoned by Vader to fulfill his purpose; help Darth Vader assassinate his master and emperor of the Galactic Empire, Emperor Palpatine Sideous. However, it was in truth a ruse; Palpatine had discovered Galen, and ordered Vader to murder him. Galen was impaled and spaced, however his body was collected by Janitorial droids.

Starkiller was taken to Vader's science vessel, the Empirical, his body revived and rebuilt. During this period, Starkiller was known as Sub. Zeta or Subject 1138. Awakening from six months of unconnsciousness, he was given a new mission by Darth Vader; to create an alliance of Imperial dissidents and rebels to distract the Emperor, allowing Vader and Starkiller to catch him unawares. With PROXY's help, Starkiller escaped the Empirical, rescuing Juno Eclipse while at it, she having been branded a traitor due to her association with Starkiller. Starkiller kept Juno in the dark as to his reason for gathering the rebels, though she became a full participant in its completion. Their first action was to retieve Rahm Kota, to obtain his contacts and connnections. The now depressed KOta, having been blinded during his duel with Starkiller, didn't recognize him, and joined his entourage. As they went about created the Rebel Alliance, Starkiller became conflicted, growing close to his allies while becoming increasingly disillusioned with the Empire, and he began to consider earnestly leading the Rebels against the empire, abandoning the Sith. HOwever, before he could take any such action, Vader executed his trap.

When the rebel leaders were gathered on Corelia to officially declare rebellion against the Empire, Darth Vader arrived with the Imperial Military at his heel and captured all the major players. He revealed to Starkiller that his entire mission had been a sham; nothing more than a tactic to gather the rebels in one place so as to bring themd own quickly. Vader also revealed that he had no intention of using Starkiller to assassinate the Emperor, and moved to execute him. PROXY stepped in and attacked Vader, allowing his master to escape before being disabled. With this final betrayal, Starkiller was finished with the Sith and the Empire. Retaking his birth name, Galen Marek decided to rescue teh rebel leaders. Using the Force to track them to the incomplete Death Star I, Galen and Juno kissed for the first time before he leapt into the superstructure. Battling his way to the Emperor's observation dome where the rebels were being held, Galen engaged Darth Vader in a lightsaber duel, defeated the sith lord. Palpatine gleefully offered Marek the chance to execute Vader and replace him as Palpatine's apprentice. While Marek struggled with the decision, Kota escaped from the guards, stole Palpatine's lightsaber and attack the Emperor, though Palpatine easily fended him off. However this prompted Marek to attack Palpatine. Marek refused Palpatine's command to execute him, and give in to his own darker nature, instead sacrificing his life to save the rebels, who were extracted by Juno.

Galen Marek died in a massive explosion of force energy brought on by his battle with Palpatine. The severely injured Palpatine and Vader found his body, lamenting that his sacrifice had made him a martyr to the Rebel Alliance. In honor of his sacrifice, the Alliance took on marek's family crest as their emblem. Darth Vader, now aware of Palpatine's desire to replace him with a more able apprentice, collected Galen Marek's body and cloned him, creating numerous aberrant monstrosities and two stable clones, Starkiller and the Dark Apprentice.

Birth 19 BBY
During the events of the Clone Wars, Mallie met Kento while he was fighting Separatists on the planet Talus. They fell in love and secretly married, continuing to fight for the Republic until she found out she was pregnant-at which point she quietly left the Jedi Order with her husband, Kento. Shortly before O66, she and her husband disguised themselves as medics and escaped the outer rim territories, raising Galen far from the ensuing conflict. Moving from planet to planet in search for haven city, they finally settled on the Wookiee homeworld, Kashyyyk. They had a son and named him Marek, Galen.

Early Life
Shortly after Galen's birth, the horros of the Clone Wars crept upon the Kashyyykian atmosphere. As Tradoshan mercinaries and slavers attempted to attack the wookiee homeworld, Mallie lept forward in effort to defend the wookiees and her family but died trying. Kento and Galen then disguised themselves. Soon after a Dark Lord invaded the planet along with the imperial military, and killed Kento and abducted Galen. Galen then began brutal training, which rid his mind of his past.

Training with Darth Vader
Ensconsed onboard Vader's incomplete flagship, the Executor, and given the codename "Starkiller", the apprentice repressed all the memories of his previous life and spent the next two decades training as a Sith under Darth Vader's supervision, with the ultimate goal of standing at Vader's side against Palpatine. Darth Vader was not a kind guardian, and his brutal training methods bordered on torture. He taught Starkiller to draw on his hate and rage for power, while giving him training in only the basics before forcing the apprentice to develop his own methods through sparring matches and brutal tests. Starkiller was provided with a lightsaber-training holodroid, PROXY, who was capable of credibly imitating Jedi, and programmed to regularly attack Starkiller with lethal intent to keep him sharp; another brutal training regimen devised by Vader. Despite this, PROXY developed a close relationship with his Master, providing the Force adept with enough compassion to stay sane.

Despite Vader's cruel treatment, some of the worst horrors Starkiller endured were actually self-inflicted. On one occasion, Starkiller had PROXY chain him immobile in the dark and deprive him of nourishment until he had successfully assembled a lightsaber through telekinesis. While the exercise had been a failure, Starkiller felt it had strengthened him. In meditation, Starkiller took to staring at his ignited lightsaber blade, using the red coloration to make himself think of anger and carnage in order to draw on the Dark side of the Force. However, Starkiller remained endlessly frustrated by his inability to experience visions of the future, and as such, any break from usual routine would surprise him.

Starkiller took on the role of Vader's personal assassin and enforcer, dispatching problematic individuals throughout the Imperial military and government with vicious enthusiasm. Starkiller personally developed into a staunch Imperialist, viewing these assassinations as a form of service to the Empire. To this end, Starkiller was provided with a custom-designed ship, the Rogue Shadow, and an Imperial officer assigned to serve as his pilot, as although Starkiller was a skilled pilot in his own right, Vader preferred that his apprentice focus and meditation and other exercises while an enlisted pilot delivered him to his destination. There was evidently a high turnover for such individuals, as they were either killed in the field or executed by Vader. His first pilot was a dour old sergeant who, according to Starkiller, flew the Rogue Shadow like an oil barge. One of his missions with this pilot involved hunting down a treacherous Imperial aide on Malastare who had run up gambling debts. With PROXY's help, Starkiller infiltrated the aide's security installation in Port Pixelito, and crawled through the ventilation ducts to his target's private chambers. Starkiller then Force-choked the aide while he was working at his desk. The sergeant was later executed for tardiness. Another mission took him to Duro, where the local Imperial despot had grown overly ambitious. Starkiller developed an unending dislike for All Terrain Scout Transports during the mission.

Finishing Training
When engaging Vader in a sparring match in 3BBY, Starkiller expected it to be business as usual afterward. However at the end of it, Vader ordered Starkiller to kneel before him. Believing that his time had come to an end, Starkiller obeyed and waited for death. Instead, Darth Vader formally "knighted" Starkiller, officially recognizing him for the first time as his apprentice, something that Starkiller always believed himself to be. He declared Starkiller's training complete, and dispatched him on his first test; the surviving Jedi Master Rahm Kota was attacking an Imperial shipyard above Nar Shadda. In response, Vader ordered Starkiller to kill Kota bring the Jedi's lightsaber back as proof of Kota's death. Vader also left Starkiller with orders to leave no witnesses by killing everyone on the shipyard, including the Imperial troops, an order the Imperialist Starkiller found disturbing. But not wishing to displease his Master, Starkiller was quick to hide his reluctance and voiced his compliance, convincing himself that it was just another stepping stone to achieving his Sith destiny. On his way out to his ship, Starkiller was ambushed by PROXY, who was using his Obi Wan Kenobi combat module. Starkiller quickly defeated PROXY, though he expressed surprise at PROXY's use of such an old module, one he thought erased. As they approached the Rogue Shadow, Starkiller awkwardly met with his new pilot, Juno Eclipse. The main reason for Starkiller's surprise was that he had never had a female pilot before, and he afterwards became convinced that it was some sort of test from Vader.

Hunt for Kota
Departing the Executor for Nar Shaddaa, Starkiller was updated on Rahm Kota by PROXY. Kota was a respected Jedi General during the Clone Wars, but while he was a military genius, he considered Clone troopers unfit for battle, instead relying on his own militia. When Order 66 was issued, there were no clones in his squad to obey, and Kota was able to disappear. Starkiller quickly deduced that Kota's primary motivation for coming out of hiding and attacking the Empire was to attract attention; he wanted to be found. Upon arrival at Nar Shaddaa, Starkiller became increasingly troubled by Vader's order to "leave no witnesses", as many of his eventual victims were loyal Imperial citizens whose only error was to cross his path. Starkiller satisfied himself that this was yet another test from Vader, and steeled himself. As the Rogue Shadow, guided by Juno Eclipse's deft hand approached the TIE Fighter Construction Facility that was under attack by Kota and his men, Starkiller centered himself in the violence and conflict from within. As they approached one of the facility's hangars, Starkiller activated the Shadow's weapons systems and destroyed the hangar defenses. Leaping out of the ship right into the thick of the battle within the hangar, Starkiller destroyed the fighters within with brutal efficiency, quickly clearing the hangar. The survivors retreated through the heavy blast door at the entrance with Starkiller in pursuit.

Informed by Juno via-comlink that the command center had been stormed by Kota's militia, Starkiller made that his destination. With tactical updates from Juno, Starkiller carved his way through the facility, all the while the warring forces became progressively more alarmed by his presence. The militia forces thought he was some kind of Shadow trooper, while the Imperial's merely thought him a Jedi. The militia forces became the primary focus of his rage, due to their disloyalty to the Empire. However, he noted that many of the militia soldiers were equipped with explosives, and had been setting them throughout the facility, motivating Starkiller to hurry before the entire facility was destroyed. Just then, the facility was crippled, and began falling out of the sky. Starkiller picked up the pace, now unceremoniously attacking his foes with telekinesis, either jamming their weapons or simply sweeping them aside. Reaching the entrance to the command center, Starkiller took a moment to center himself before entering.

Within the command center, Starkiller encountered Rahm Kota. Both were surprised by what they saw; Starkiller had been taught that Jedi were soft from a life of privilege, and hadn't expected the hardened soldier that Kota was; while Kota had been expecting Darth Vader to come personally, not to send "a boy" in his stead. Starkiller opened the contest with a bolt of Force lightning, which Kota deflected, albeit with difficulty. Starkiller followed up by charging, cutting at Kota's throat. The Jedi ducked and attacking the Darksider's legs, though Starkiller evaded by tucking in and overleaping. Kicking himself off the nearest wall, Starkiller came on again, chaining a telekinetic blast into his attack. Kota deflected the push, the rebounding energy forcing both combatants apart. Readjusting his tactics, Starkiller circled more cautiously, cutting apart chairs with his lightsaber and blasting their fragments at the Jedi, attempting to provoke an attack. Kota suddenly charged, his speed and determination forcing Starkiller to rely on tight Form III defensive sequences to fend him off. Unable to penetrate this defense, Kota backed off and changed his style, fighting more slowly and deliberately, but chaining in sudden and devastatingly quick strikes, hoping to tire out Starkiller. However, this tactic backfired, and Kota's guard began to slip, allowing Starkiller to counter.

Starkiller focused entirely on the duel, ignoring all other factors as he hammered at Kota's defenses. He came to the conclusion that while Kota was wily, strong and possessed certain unique moves, his age and his rejection of the Dark Side of the Force left him inferior. Kota twice attempted to regain the offensive, but only managed to tire himself out, and the Jedi began taking hits. Seeing that he was being driven back, Kota broke off and complimented Starkiller's skills, before telekinetically wrenching the entire command center free of the shipyard and sending it plummeting into Nar Shaddaa's atmosphere. As their battle renewed, Starkiller seized the initiative, telekinetically thrashing Kota with chunks of debris before physically assaulting him and throwing him to the ground. Before Kota could regain his feet, Starkiller was on him, initiating a bladelock. As their blades ground against one another, Kota experienced a Force vision of Starkiller's future, expressing shock at seeing himself as part of it. Unconcerned, Starkiller drove Kota's own blade into his eyes, blinding him. As Kota stumbled backwards, Starkiller suddenly experienced his own vision, seeing his forgotten father in Kota's place, telling him to run. Pulling back, fearing that Kota was using a Mind trick of some sort, he gave Kota the opening he needed to escape. Kota dropped his lightsaber and unleashed a telekinetic blast that shattered the viewports of the command center. The drastic pressure change sucked out Kota, who dropped spread-eagled into the Nar Shaddaa atmosphere.

Starkiller retrieved Kota's lightsaber before he himself jumped out through the shattered viewports, landing on top of the Rogue Shadow as it passed underneath. While satisfied that the gravely-wounded and blinded Kota would no longer be a problem, Starkiller was disappointed by his failure to actually kill the Jedi. Darth Vader was pleased with Starkiller's performance, but felt that his apprentice remained unfocused and easily distracted, drawing Kota's lightsaber on him to illustrate his point.

Trial of Skill
In order to develop his skills and focus, Starkiller was ordered by Darth Vader to go to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant to continue his training. Juno Eclipse landed the Rogue Shadow just outside the front entrance of the Temple where Starkiller disembarked, only to be confronted by the local Imperial garrison, which revealed that Emperor Palpatine had placed the Jedi Temple off-limits to the general public. Starkiller had little patience for this, and attacked the troopers. Even with highly trained Imperial guardsmen reinforcing them, the garrison troopers were no match for Starkiller's unrestrained destructive capabilities and tactical know-how. Battling his way through the front entryway, he picked his way through the rubble into the main entrance hall of the Jedi Temple, clearing out some of the debris at it's rear, opening up the path into the corridors and hallways further in. Following the corridor he cleared, he eventually made his way to the Jedi Trials Chamber. While inspecting the room, Starkiller experienced a vision of sorts; hearing his father's voice warning him that he would need all of his skills to survive the upcoming test. While puzzling this out, he was suddenly blasted by a surge of red lightning; an imitation Force attack from a holographic simulacrum of Darth Desolous.

Darth Desolous was an ancient Pau'an Jedi who rebelled against the Jedi Order and assumed the mantle of a Sith Lord. Leading a violent insurrection, his army was ultimately drawn into a trap and destroyed, while he was killed by the Jedi Council of the day. Due to his powers and reputation, the Jedi Order created a holographic simulation modeled after him for the training of Jedi padawans during their final Trials. Despite the widespread destruction within the Temple during it's ransacking, the simulation remained fully functional, along with several others within the Temple.

The hologram seizes the immediate offensive, all the while gloating about the accomplishments of the original Darth Desolous. However, Starkiller fought back ably, backing the simulacrum up against a statue of Palpatine erected at the head of the hall. Starkiller then telekinetically pushes the hologram up along the front of the statue before leaping up and throwing it back down. Standing on top of the statue, Starkiller destabilized it before leaping off, thus crushing the simulacrum beneath it and completing the trial.

With the simulacrum deactivated, Starkiller received a message from Darth Vader, via PROXY's holographic capabilities. Another Jedi had been located; Kazdan Paratus, in hiding on the junkyard world of Raxus Prime. Vader admitted that he considered Paratus to be more powerful than Starkiller, and didn't expect his apprentice to survive, but made it clear that Paratus' defeat would bring Starkiller closer to his "destiny". Starkiller affirmed that he would not fail. Unknown to him, Juno Eclipse was eavesdropping on the exchange.

Kazdan Paratus
As Raxus Prime was in the Tion Hegemony in the Outer Rim, the trip took a considerable length of time, which gave Starkiller a chance to refresh and research the objectives. However, he was distracted, and frequently had to ask PROXY to repeat mission details that he had missed while deep in thought, and eventually retreated to the onboard meditation chamber to gather his energies. There was little information on Kazdan Paratus, and PROXY was unable to reproduce his image. Paratus was accredited by the files as having considerable skill at droid making, and during the Clone Wars, he was lured out of seclusion to study the CIS droid armies, all the while building his own droids to reinforce his troops. During a disastrous campaign, all his troopers had been killed, forcing Paratus to cobble together his own droid army to fight back. With no troopers in his forces, there was no one to obey Order 66 when it was issued, thus allowing Paratus to escape. Shortly afterward, Starkiller was called up to the cockpit by Juno just before arrival. Once within the atmosphere, they began searching for Paratus, eventually discovering his crude imitation of the Jedi Temple on the surface.

Setting down as close to the Temple as possible, given the treacherous junk-pile landscape, Starkiller disembarked and progressed on foot. He focused entirely on the mission at hand, ignoring all other distractions. Updated by Juno of activity at a downed corvette near his location, Starkiller assumed that Vader's orders to "leave no witnesses" still stood, and attacked the Rodian salvagers, though he ignored most of the droids controlled by the planetary intelligence known as the Core. Meanwhile, he had Juno check the local Imperial records for information on the scavengers while he continued to perform recon. The corvette they were stripping was in Starkiller's path, and would take too long to circumvent, so he attacked. After killing a Rodian sentry and entering the corvette, Starkiller made his way to engineering and activated the remaining engine with a pulse of Force lightning, clearing his path to the Temple. When asked by Juno whether he was creating a distraction or simply attracting attention, Starkiller simply told her to take her pick.

Cautiously ascending to the junk Temple's foyer, Starkiller was attacked by Kazdan Paratus' droid sentries. He made short work of them, being used to duels with a sophisticated droid such as PROXY, and thus found Paratus' patchwork droids to be child's play. He cleared the foyer by blasting the droids out of the Temple doors, before being attacked by a massive junk golem. His battle with the golem tore through the junk Temple, eventually reaching Paratus' mock Jedi Council chamber, where Starkiller disabled it. Kazdan Paratus then revealed himself, extricating himself from the golem's chassis, where he had been controlling it. Paratus was an Aleena, a small being, but compensating with a four-limbed mechanical harness on his back. With the limbs offering him extra height and mobility, Paratus was able to wield his Lightsaber Pike with deadly skill. The mannequins of the long dead Jedi Council masters activated, revealing themselves to be droids, and Starkiller was momentarily distracted by them.

Paratus lunged at Starkiller, scoring a shallow cut along his forearm before the Darksider countered. With the mobility offered by his mechanical limbs, and his own skill with the Force, Paratus simply outpaced Starkiller, blocking all of the apprentice's attacks with his pike. However, Paratus was more vulnerable to Force lightning without the protection of his droid shell, and Starkiller became concerned that the battle would end before it had truly begun, only to be attacked unawares by one of the Jedi Council masters; the Jedi mannequins were combat ready, equipped with vibroblades and utilizing crude approximations the lightsaber styles practiced by the original individuals. Disarmed by "Plo Koon", Starkiller destroyed the droid with a Force push and reclaimed his lightsaber just in time to deflect another of Paratus' attacks. Dividing his attention between Paratus and the mannequins, he fought back and destroyed them. The replicas of Mace Windu and Coleman Kcaj he dismembered; Kit Fisto he melted; Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi he threw together and blasted out the window; Ki-Adi-Mundi, Saesee Tiin, Agen Kolar and Shaak Ti he destroyed with Force lightning; and Stass Allie he beheaded. He flung the Yoda mannequin at Paratus, who was now distraught and weeping with the deaths of the "masters".

Starkiller then gained the advantage over the mad Jedi. Evading and countering against Paratus' telekinetic assault, Starkiller pursued him up onto the upper supports for the Council chambers windows, parrying a lightsaber slash and deflecting a blast of Force energy back at the Jedi. Paratus retreated to the chamber floor, casting a massive chunk of machinery at Starkiller, who in turn caught it and threw it back, crushing the Jedi underneath it.undefinedAs Paratus lay dying, he lamented on his failure before expiring in a brilliant flash of Force energy. Starkiller was actually moved to pity by the emotional display, though he quickly repressed it and departed. En route back to the Executor, Starkiller devoted some effort towards repairing Paratus' shattered lightsaber pike, so as to present it as a trophy to Vader, but was unsuccessful and abandoned the effort,undefinedinstead telekenically disassembling and reassembling his own lightsaber while in meditation. However, his repose was interrupted by Vader's communication via PROXY, who again dispatched Starkiller to the Jedi Temple for further training, despite his apprentice's performance against Paratus.

Trial of Insight and Darth Phobos
When Starkiller arrived at the Jedi Temple, he found that security had been increased after his first intrusion. This time the soldiers guarding the entrance were reinforced directly by Imperial Senate Senitals, and the garrison within had snipers incorporated into their ranks. Despite the heightened opposition, Starkiller had little trouble decimating the Imperial ranks, even with the continued reinforcements they received from other areas of the Temple. As he exited the main entrance hall, Starkiller experienced another vision; his father's voice warning him not to be blinded by anger. Entering the Jedi Archives, Starkiller cleared the chamber. At that moment, however, he saw Juno Eclipse at the head of the hall, bent over as if in pain. As Starkiller approached, "Juno" leapt into the air and transformed into Darth Phobos.

Yet another holographic simulation, Darth Phobos was a powerful Sith Lord who fed off the fears of her enemies, assuming the shape of these horrors through various Force-based illusions. Phobos' literal reign of terror made her the enemy of both the Jedi and her own Sith colleagues, prompting an unprecedented alliance between the two factions to bring her down. As with Desolous, she left such a long-standing impression on the Jedi that she was "honored" with a holographic simulacrum modeled after her, which Jedi padawans were tested against during their trials. Also like Desolous, her simulation remained intact, despite the widespread destruction within the Jedi Temple.

The hologram's aggressive fighting tactics encouraged Starkiller to adopt more passive methods, though he fought back ably, and the simulation retreated into the shadowed archive shelf-stacks. His vision clouded by the simulacrum's imitation Force abilities, Starkiller prowled the stacks in search for his opponent. Fending off the hologram's surprise assault, Starkiller sent it crashing into the bookstacks. As the hologram weakened, it began adopting more desperate tactics, teleporting around the room and projecting illusionary copies of itself to double up on Starkiller. It even attempting disguising itself as Juno Eclipse to make him hesitate, though Starkiller remained unfazed. Sending the Phobos hologram crashing through the bookstacks again, Starkiller advanced to deliver the finishing blow, ignoring the hologram's final attempt at dissuasion and running his lightsaber through it's chest.

With his victory over Darth Phobos, Starkiller had faced his fears and completed his trial of Insight. It was then that Darth Vader appeared, speaking via-PROXY once more. The Dark Lord congratulated his young apprentice for succeeding against Phobos, and then charged Starkiller with hunting down the former Jedi Council master Sha'ak Ti on Felucia. Before cutting the link to PROXY, Vader warned Starkiller that he would need the full power of the Dark Side to defeat the legendary Jedi.

Sha'ak Ti
Starkiller barely said a word during the trip to Felucia, instead looming at the back of the cockpit with his hood raised, only speaking to give orders and avoiding all of Juno's attempts to converse. Upon arrival, Starkiller questioned Juno about the emotional disturbance he felt in her. She confided in him her involvement in the Bombing of Callos, and how as a consequence of her actions, what was once a verdant jungle world had become dead and barren. Starkiller had read the reports, and assured her that she had followed her orders to the end. Eclipse landed the Rogue Shadow atop one of the massive mushroom grows on Felucia, and Starkiller ordered her to wait while he charged off into the jungle, lightsaber already lit.

Starkiller was quickly engaged by the Felucian natives; an entire race of Force-sensitives who had evidently been trained by Shaak Ti while hiding on the world. He dealt with them quickly and efficiently, saving his energy for his ultimate target. Starkiller respected Ti's prowess, and her evident intelligence and skill in surviving for so long since the end of the Clone Wars. However, he considered her activities on Felucia to be disrupting the natural rhythm of the Force; the flow between the opposite forces of Light and Darkness. The Felucian natives fought back with determination against Starkiller, looking to preserve her "regime". When confronted by a Rancor-riding native, he ascended the jungle canopy until he was level with the rider and leapt onto the Rancor. The Felucian resisted Starkiller, though he was quickly brought down, and Starkiller killed the Rancor with a blast of Force lightning. From the vantage of the Rancor's high body, Starkiller saw a landmark in the direction he was travelling; the Felucian village. Using the Force to tame one of the river-dwelling animals, Starkiller travelled by water to the village, occasionally killing Felucians guards along the bank with Force lightning attacks. Reaching the village, he braced himself against a large standing stone only to discover that it was a massive tooth; the entire village was built atop a colossal living creature. While the Felucians fled from him, Starkiller made his way towards the village center, finding it to be the maw of a Sarlacc; the entire town was built around a mega-Sarlacc dubbed the "Ancient Abyss" by the Felucians, and awaiting him there was Shaak Ti.

The Jedi Master was perched on one of the concentric gums of the Sarlacc, untouched by either the massive feeding tentacles nor the flexing of teeth, deep in meditation. Starkiller telekinetically ripped a mushroom out of the Sarlacc's skin and hurled it at Ti, who flicked it aside. She stood up, dubbing Vader a coward for sending Starkiller in his place, while Starkiller raised his lightsaber in challenge. Ti opened the duel with a spinning, downwards strike, throwing Starkiller off-balance as he backflipped and blocked. Tearing off his hood as it snagged on one of the Sarlacc teeth, Starkiller could only fend off Ti's assault until he regained his balance. He overleapt her and fell down two layers of gums towards the Sarlacc's maw, before leaping back up. Shaak Ti intercepted him, and her rapid attack prompted him to send a bolt of lightning into the Sarlacc's flesh below them. It's shaking and tremoring caused Ti to loose her footing, and she leapt back from his attack. Starkiller pursued, swinging as he went.

Their fight progressed towards the lower rings of the Sarlacc, with Starkiller slicing off teeth and hurling them at Shaak Ti, or slashing and shocking the flesh beneath to keep the beast quivering underfoot. Ti countered by taking control of the Sarlacc's distributed intelligence and sending it's feeding tentacles after him. As they neared the very center of the pit, digestive byproducts from the Sarlacc's reeking maw made breathing difficult. As they fought on, Ti also lectured Starkiller on Jedi philosophy, to the Sith apprentice's chagrin. As their battle drew to an end, Starkiller drove Ti back into the Sarlacc maw and, expecting her to be devoured, prepared to leave. However, Ti reemerged, perched on one of the Sarlacc's massive tentacle, commanding the Sarlacc to assault Starkiller. Starkiller dodged the first two massive tentacle strikes, climbing onto one of the fleshy masses as it pulled back. However, he was unable to maintain his grip, and nearly fell into the maw, becoming pinned between four tentacles. He blasted them apart with a Force repulse and launched himself back at the ground. When Ti charged off the Sarlacc at him, he deflected her strike and drove her back into the tentacles, blasting the entire mass with a wave of Force lightning.

Shaak Ti managed to regain her feet, but she was already dying. As she expired, Ti stated that Starkiller was nothing but Vader's slave, warning him that the Sith always betrayed each other when he declared his loyalty to his Master. She then fell into the Sarlacc pit and died, exploding in a massive flash of Force energy. Starkiller quietly left, satisfied that the removal of Shaak Ti's influence would allow the Dark Side to again take hold on Felucia and return life to its normal rhythms. Starkiller reported his mission's success to Vader, who declared him ready to confront the Emperor with him. Ordered to return to the Executor, Starkiller was congradulated by PROXY for the imminent completion of his "primary programming".

Betrayal and a New Mission
Starkiller had to suppress a smile as he strode into Darth Vader's chambers. Beyond the viewport, a fleet of Star Destroyers clustered around the incomplete Executor; the Emperor's fleet. When Vader informed him as much, Starkiller assumed that Vader had lured the Emperor to them, and asked when they would strike. Vader corrected him; Palpatine's presense had not been requested, his spies had followed Starkiller there. With that, Vader ignited his lightsaber through his shocked pupil's abdomen, just as the Emperor, communicating via-PROXY, entered the room. Palpatine declared that Vader had forgotten his place, and taking on Starkiller as his apprentice had been an act of treachery. The Emperor demanded Starkiller's death, and after a moment of hesitation, Vader complied, ignoring Starkiller's pleas. The apprentice was thrashed about the chamber and smashed through the viewport into the vacuum of space, much to Palpatine's sadistic delight.

While Starkiller was passed out, his body was collected from the vacuum by Vader's droids and brought to the Dark Lord's science vessel, the Empirical. While Starkiller's body was rebuilt, he remained unconscious, believing himself dead as he experienced a multitude of visions and memories. When he finally awoke, he was relieved for the end of the visions, but began raging when he realized the nature of his circumstances. He was restrained on a laboratory table, with Darth Vader standing above him. Starkiller was informed by Vader that his "execution" was Palpatine's demand, which forced the Sith Lord's hand. Starkiller was presented with the option of reentering Darth Vader's service, with the assurance that if he refused, he and all witnesses would be destroyed in the laboratory's self-destruction. With no other options, Starkiller grudgingly accepted, and Vader released his apprentice's restraints. Darth Vader elaborated that with Palpatine's spies watching his every move, he needed a distraction to divert attention away from him. While the laboratory droids provided him with a new lightsaber, Starkiller suggested an assassination, though Vader dismissed it, as no single act of that kind would gain Palpatine's notice. Instead, Vader made clear that Starkiller would have to raise an army to oppose the Emperor; an alliance of rebels and dissindents. Vader gave Starkiller free rein in how to pursue his objective, leaving only the order that he was to sever all ties to his past, save PROXY, to ensure that no one found out that he served Vader. With a final assurance that the Dark Side was always with Starkiller, Vader cut his transmission, revealing that he was communicating via-PROXY.

PROXY was overjoyed by his Master's survival, as it meant that he could still fulfill his primary programming and kill Starkiller himself. Informing Starkiller of their location; aboard the Empirical in the Dominus system; PROXY then hacked into the Empirical's navigation system and set it on a collision course for the Dominus star, forcing he and Starkiller to make their way to the Rogue Shadow before the imminent destruction of the Empirical. When Starkiller inquired about Juno, PROXY informed him that she was alive and onboard, left in a holding cell after being branded a traitor for her association with Starkiller. As they encountered Imperial forces aboard the dying ship, Starkiller drew his new lightsaber, realizing it was Rahm Kota's former weapon. Despite PROXY's cautions that doing so was contrary to Vader's orders to sever ties with his past, Starkiller made a beeline for Juno's cell and rescued her.

Assuring her that he was leaving the Empire behind, thus keeping her in the dark about his continued allegiance to Vader, Starkiller brought her along to continue working as his pilot. Explosive bolts severed the umbilical connecting the Rogue Shadow to the Empirical just as they boarded, and Starkiller ordered PROXY to fly the ship away from the science vessel. Juno took control of the ship almost immediately after, with Starkiller giving her free rein as to their destination. Once they had escaped, Starkiller shared with her his intention to create a rebel army to oppose the Empire, as ell as his desire to find a teacher to show him the aspects of the Force that Darth Vader could not—or would not. To that end, they resolved to find Rahm Kota, who had survived his duel with Starkiller.

Rescuing Rahm Kota
&uarr; For Conflicting Matter, See Section:Hunt for Kota

Starkiller's search for Rahm Kota took him across the galaxy, from the Jedi's last sighting on Nar Shaddaa to the ancient Sith world Ziost, and then discovering Kota's latest location on Bespin. Rahm Kota, after his defeat and blinding by Starkiller, had fallen into depression, and had resorted to alcoholism to drown his sorrows. Intercepting an Imperial transmission that Kota had been found, and that the Empire was sending one of its most dangerous agents to retrieve him, Starkiller was forced to rush to Bespin, approaching Kota in the Vapor Room cantina, masquerading as a Jedi. Rahm Kota was drunk and uncooperative, and before Starkiller could reason further with the unkempt Jedi, they were attacked by the local stormtrooper garrison, backed by Ugnaught contraptions. For the first time, Starkiller actively engaged the Empire as an enemy, rather than merely killing off possible witnesses. While Kota dived under the table, Starkiller drew his lightsaber and attacked, making the heavily armed and armored Uggernaughts a priority. He disabled one with telekinesis and overloaded the other's electrical systems, killing the pilot and scattering the stormtroopers. Starkiller found himself hampered by the need to avoid harming innocent bystanders, if only to keep up his Jedi masquerade, though he still intended to use his original landing site to extract Kota.

While Kota eventually got moving, Starkiller hoped that the Jedi could look after himself, be he had his work cut out for him. Cutting through the Vapor Room storeroom, Starkiller didn't hesitate to attack the Imperial forces, making short work of them. Dragging Kota along the series of corridors to the Vapor Room's supply dock, Starkiller expected to meet a heavy Imperial presense, but was unconcerned, planning to board the Rogue Shadow via Force jump. Then he saw the Imperial Shadow Guard waiting at the docks. Killing the guard's stormtrooper escort with blast-deflections, Starkiller warned Juno to stay away from the loading dock, and instead go to the shipping balloon dock. While Starkiller engaged the guardsman, Kota made himself scarse, searching out an alternate escape route, and allowing Starkiller to drop his masquerade and draw on the Dark Side. Blasting the guard back with a telekinetic surge, Starkiller attacked with Force lightning, winning the subsequent energy struggle and blowing the guardsman's corpse off the side of the dock.

Making his way to the balloon dock, and hoping Kota was still alive as well, Starkiller puzzled over the Shadow Guard's identity and affiliation, deducing him to be a servant of Palpatine rather than Vader. While he made short work of the Imperial forces in his path, he was attacked by another guardsman. This one was more able than the first, though Starkiller ultimately dismembered him with a giant fan blade. Arriving at the dock, he found it crowded with stormtroopers and Uggernaughts, led by two Shadow Guardsmen. During the fight, Starkiller's connection to the Force deepened, and he fought on pure reflex. Stormtroopers and Uggernaughts were thrown off of the dock or into each other, and Starkiller even brought heavy freight raining down from one of the shipping balloon's above. When his enemies regrouped, Starkiller seized one of the entire shipping balloons and sent it crashing down onto them. As he stood in triumph, Kota appeared.

Kota was unimpressed by Starkiller's victory, feeling that it didn't even begin to dent Palpatine's "infinite" army. However, after Starkiller appealed to his warrior sense of honor, Kota agreed to join him, revealing that he had a contact in the Imperial Senate who could use Starkiller's lightsaber, due to his eagerness to kill stormtroopers. Shortly after rescuing Kota, Starkiller began feeling drawn to the Jedi Temple, thus causing him to return to Coruscant for a third time.

Trial of the Spirit
Starkiller's final sojourn to the Jedi Temple began much the same as his previous visits, though this time the security forces attacked him immediately upon arrival, rather than calling for his surrender. Though the garrison had been further reinforced by the presense of Imperial Jumptroopers, the apprentice still had little difficulty cutting them down. Clearing out rubble at the rear of the main entrance hall, Starkiller discovered a lower level tunnel. Following it, all the while cutting down any Imperials in his path, he reached an elevator platform. The elevator ascended to one of the top towers of the Jedi Temple, bringing Starkiller into the old Jedi Council chamber. Once there, he found Darth Vader in battle with a Jedi unknown to him; a vision of Darth Vader's duel with Kento Marek, though this time Kento was victorious. Unaware of the nature of the battle, and ignorant as to the Jedi's identity, Starkiller leapt to his Master's aid.

The Jedi attempted to dissuade Starkiller from intervening, encouraging him to turn away from the Dark Side of the Force, but Starkiller countered that the Dark Side was all that he had. The Jedi fought with efficiency, but was ultimately unable to hold his own against Starkiller's raw power. Evasively leaping about the chamber, the Jedi was intercepted by Starkiller, physically assaulted, telekinetically thrashed about, and blasted with Force lightning before being thrown aside. Starkiller then charged the Jedi as he attempted to rise and stabbed him through the abdomen. As the Jedi lay dying, he apologized to Starkiller before vanishing, and only then did Starkiller realize that the mysterious Jedi was his father.

Looking for more information on his father, Starkiller had the Rogue Shadow ferry him up to one of the other Temple spires, which he entered by way of it's external landing platform. Starkiller brutally fought his way through the Imperial garrison, as well as the Temple's own derelict security systems, before finding the Holocron Vault. Approaching the main holocron, he activated a message left by his father, who stated that Starkiller's destiny was indeed in his own hands, and that he had to complete the Jedi Trials once and for all. Starkiller then fell into another Force vision, in which he was forced to navigate the labyrinth of his own mind before entering into a confrontation with a dark spectre. In a brutal lightsaber duel, Starkiller managed to knock off the spectre's helm, thus revealing the face underneath to be his own—pale and twisted through deep immersion into the Dark Side.

The sight of his own visage caused Starkiller to hesitate, and the spectre seized the opening by driving Starkiller down to a lower level within the labyrinth. The fight continued on with renewed vigor in both opponents, and Starkiller only gained the advantage when he drove the dark warrior to the brink of the round platform they fought on. However, as the warrior fell, he grabbed Starkiller's ankle, pulling him down while hauling himself back up. Having gained the high ground, the warrior telekinetically wrenched several massive columns from the labyrinth and cast them at Starkiller, who reacted by using them as stepping stones to climb back up. Once again on equal footing with the spectre, Starkiller impaled him from behind. The warrior exploded in a blast of Force energy, thus ending the vision. However, as Starkiller regained his senses within the Holocron Vault, he saw that his left hand had taken on the clawed and emaciated appearance of the warrior's arm, who intones that Starkiller would never escape him.

Upon his return to the Rogue Shadow, Starkiller sat down with Kota and attempted to discuss the events within the Temple, though Kota quickly ended the conversation by asserting that it was none of his business.

Kashyyyk
Even in his much-reduced state, Rahm Kota proved to be a valuble ally, communicating with his contact and providing them with another destination; Kashyyyk; with the assurance that if they retrieved what his contact wanted, he would provide them with further help. While Kota was busy communicating with his contact, PROXY attacked Starkiller, this time using a combat module based off of Qui-Gon Jinn. Although PROXY provided a faithful reproduction of Jinn's fighting style, he was hampered by his inability to use the Force as well as the confined space they fought in. Starkiller ultimately ended the battle by impaling PROXY. With the battle over, Starkiller joined Juno and Kota in the cockpit, seeing the Imperial skyhook being constructed above Kashyyyk.

Inserted into the ravaged Kashyyyk landscape, Starkiller made his way towards the local Imperial base, fending off a giant spider ambush along the way. To avoid further ambushes, and to save time, Starkiller ascended up into the leafy canopy of the forests, leaping from branch to branch. Once he spotted the skyhook from ground level, Starkiller was struck by how it resembled one of the visions he had experienced during his reconstruction on the Empirical. Scouting out the Imperial base from the vantage point of the trees, Starkiller dropped down and intercepted a two-man patrol. Using a Mind Trick, he compelled one trooper to fall asleep while convincing the other that he was authorized to be there. He learned of the identity of the base commander, a Captain Ozzik Sturn, and that a guest was present in the lodge at the center of the base. As his control over the trooper began to slip, he compelled him to fall asleep as well. He then began planning out his attack on the base.

Making his way towards the entrance of the base, Starkiller found his path blocked by an AT-ST and a contingent of stormtroopers, thus forcing him to attack. Dodging the walker's heavy weapons and ordnance, Starkiller closed the distance and leapt at the legs and the bottom of the cockpit, damaging both knee joints, three control junctions, and the drive engine. The walker managed half a step before it dropped nose first to the ground. As Starkiller set to work on the troopers, he saw two more AT-STs moving in to hem him in. Drawing deeply upon the Force, Starkiller deflected the walker's heavy blaster fire right back at them, and telekinetically deflected their concussion grenades into the massive gate protecting the base entrance. As the Imperials intensified their attack, Starkiller allowed the Force to completely guide his movements without any conscious thought. As the walkers advanced on what they thought was Starkiller's corpse, he telekinetically took control of their systems and directed them to collide with one another, before using a concentrated blast of Force lightning to ignite their ammunition stores.

Entering the main lodge at the center of the base, he began searching for the thing that Kota's contact wanted. His instincts guided him towards the rear of the lodge, and he entered a long, wooden corridor lined with ceramic artwork. The door at the end was guarded by two stormtroopers and an Imperial guardsman. The troopers were killed quickly by their own deflected blasterfire, and the guardsman lasted only barely as long, felled by four swift lightsaber strokes and a blast of lightning. Starkiller took care not to damage any of the ceramic artwork on the walls, calling it his "good deed for the day".

Entering the guest quarters, he found himself facing Princess Leia Organa, in a scene that precisely matched one of his visions while on the Empirical. Leia was initially under the impression that Starkiller was an assassin for Emperor Palpatine, and dismissed his assertion that he was here with Rahm Kota, believing that Kota had died above Nar Shaddaa. When she off-handedly mentioned her father, Starkiller suddenly realized that he was Kota's contact, feeding him information about Imperial targets. When he managed to convince her of Kota's survival, she charged him with destroying the Imperial skyhook before it could be used to shuttle Wookiee slaves off-planet. While Leia commandeered an Imperial shuttle and left the planet, Starkiller took a tube transport down the cliff the lodge was built on to the forest floor below.

As Starkiller made his way through the ravaged undergrowth, cleared by the Imperials, he found a dillapidated old hut, permeated by a great darkness in the Force. Despite the objections of Kota, Starkiller entered the ruin. Within, he found the evidence of a lightsaber duel in the form of burned slash marks on the walls. His search also included the discovery of a small, blue crystal on the floor. As he rose, he was suddenly caught in the throes of a violent Force vision. He witnessed the murder of his father, as well as his own abduction from his home by Darth Vader. Then his vision took on a different tone—a contest within himself rather than an image of the past. Embodying the grisly Sith Warrior he had fought in a previous vision back at the Jedi Temple, he was pitted against a Jedi version of himself. The ensuing duel was brief and brutal, both combatants thrown apart by a backfired blast of Force-lightning. Starkiller, as the Sith Warrior, ultimately triumphed by grasping the Jedi in a telekinetic stranglehold and impaling him with the plethora of trophy lightsabers hanging from his own waist. He delivered the coup de grace with the Jedi's own lightsaber, stabbing him through the heart. Starkiller then found himself was back in the hut, confronted by the ghost of his father. As he had back on Coruscant, Kento Marek again apologized to his son for all that had happened to him, refering to him by his birth name; Galen.

Starkiller exited the hut a changed man; his newfound knowledge of his origins shocked him to the core. Arriving at the groundside moorings for the skyhook, Starkiller plowed his way through the Imperials' security and fortifications. Approaching the first of six moorings, Starkiller resonated with the structure, probing its strengths and weaknesses before channelling massive amounts of Force energy into the structure. When he was done, the mooring was unrecognizable. As he moved on to the others, he saw that the Imperials were rallying, this time calling in air support from a trio of TIE fighters. He destroyed three more moorings by telekinetically nudging the fighters into them. A fifth was destroyed through sheer collateral damage. As Starkiller turned to the last mooring, the base commander, Captain Ozzik Sturn, took to the field.

Ozzik Sturn piloted a heavily modified All Terrain Kashyyyk Transport (a-TKT), which he used to hunt Wookiee slaves, though he was eager to hunt a Jedi s well. However, their contest was brief, as the rain of rubble and debris from the seriously destabilized skyhook above began coming down. Sturn and his Walker were crushed while the sixth moor was completely destroyed, thus resulting in the explosion of the skyhook mere seconds later.

Despite his success, Starkiller was furious at Kota for his vagueness and withholding of information and confronted the former Jedi General about it. Kota revealed that his contact was Imperial Senator Bail Organa, who had tried to recruit Kota to rescue his daughter. Kota had refused, so Bail went in search of Shaak Ti. As Kota revealed this, Starkiller accidentally let slip that he knew Shaak Ti had been on Felucia, almost giving himself away, though he managed to cover it up by claiming that Kota's thoughts were simply easy to read. Starkiller retreated into seclusion afterwards, and was approached by Juno. He refrained from opening up to her, but took over piloting duties for the trip to Felucia so that she could rest.

Rescuing Bail Organa
During the trip to Felucia, Starkiller researched Bail Organa, and found himself struck by how familiar he seemed, though he wasn't sure where they had crossed paths before. Upon arrival, Starkiller drew on his experience as Vader's assassin and found Bail Organa's landing site by searching for his ship's Senatorial transponder code. As they descended, Juno detected signs of a large Imperial presence groundside. When they landed alongside Organa's shuttle, Juno had Starkiller accompany her to the other ship, ostensibly to check that it didn't contain the Senator's corpse. Once alone, she made a quick inquiry as to how he would find Organa, before speaking of their need to avoid raising Rahm Kota's suspicions as to who they really were. Starkiller attempted to reassure her by saying that if Kota found out about their past allegiance to the Empire, then the old Jedi would not live long enough to tell anyone. Juno's worry was only increased, so Starkiller turned to the matter at hand; his primary concern was convincing Organa of his "sincerity", as the Senator would be much harder to convince than the blind and alcoholic Kota or the teenaged Leia.

As Starkiller trekked through the Felucian jungle, he found that the world's balance had shifted towards the Dark side in the wake of Sha'ak Ti's death, though Starkiller was surprised by how uncomfortable it made him feel. As he made his way deeper into the jungle, Starkiller was attacked by a plethora of predators, and the now unrestrained Felucians fought him every step of the way. Even the plant life attempted to kill him; on one occasion Starkiller managed to dodge a tree that had split itself from it's roots and attempted to crush him before growing an entirely new root system, evidently to feed on whatever creature it had trapped under its bulk. Faced with this chaotic scene, Starkiller reflected on the nature of the Dark Side, and how harmony in nature was practically non-existent. The resulting conflict was where the power of the Dark Side came from.

As he traveled towards the Ancient Abyss where he had last encountered Shaak Ti, he happened upon a squad of scout troopers, who had evidently seen the Rogue Shadow flying overhead. While he dealt with the troopers quickly, he drew the attention of many others in the area. He was promptly attacked by a trio of Felucian warriors hiding in a pit of quicksand, though he made quick work of them. Hurrying to the Ancient Abyss, Starkiller found the Felucian village run down and abandoned, while the mega-Sarlacc itself was restrained by an Imperial Sarlacc Stabilizer. Freeing several of the beast's tentacles to relieve some of it's pain, Starkiller descended through the stabilizer elevator into the Sarlacc's digestive system, where the Felucians had taken refuge against the Empire. Starkiller searched around before being spewed out the creature's lung when it exhaled.

Following a deepening in the Dark Side, Starkiller traveled northwards from the Ancient Abyss towards the Rancor Graveyard. En route, he was relentlessly attacked by Felucian natives, some riding Rancors, with an intervening force of Imperials only adding to the chaos. As he fought them, he reflected that he was quickly becoming accustomed to Rancor death cries, a sound that had previously disturbed him, sometimes cropping up in nightmares. After one particularly furious encounter, the Felucian ambushes ceased, and Starkiller was able to enter the graveyard unhindered. As he searched the graveyard, he suddenly realized that his familiarity with Bail Organa came from one of his Force visions. He began sensing the Senator's presence, but also the presence of the Dark Side concentration that he had been tracking.

After finally finding the Senator, Starkiller freed him and explained that he had come to Felucia with Rahm Kota as an ally. Organa informed him that Shaak Ti's former apprentice, Maris Brood, had since fallen to the Dark Side, leading the Felucians and keeping Organa in hopes of trading him to the Imperials in exchange for leniency. Before they could escape, Brood arrived with her "pet" Bull Rancor in tow. Starkiller was struck by recognition, as he had seen her in a vision as well. Demanding that she stand aside, Starkiller was instead set upon by the Bull Rancor.

Starkiller barely avoided the beast's blows, being forced to adopt evasive tactics against the creature, as its heavy armor plates provided effective protection against all of his powers and attacks. However, Brood got wise to this and intercepted him, trying to force him towards the Rancor's jaws. Unable to attack it from the outside, Starkiller attempted a desperate tactic and leapt into the creature's mouth. Using the Force to keep the Rancor's mouth shut, Starkiller cut up it's tongue with his lightsaber and shocked it's brain with a blast of Force lightning. Despite this, the Rancor continued to cling to life, forcing Starkiller to resort to telekinesis, exploding the monster's head. Starkiller luckily retained hold of his lightsaber as he fell off the creature in a mess of gore, because Brood was on him in an instant.

Starkiller initially only defended himself, using Soresu moves against Brood's raw attack, struck by how much alike she was to him. However, he quickly came to the conclusion that if she could turn to the Dark Side so easily, then she could turn back to the Light just as quickly, accepting something that Shaak Ti had explained during their duel; that the Force was fluid, and Light and Dark were just directions. By fighting against Maris Brood, he wasn't turning his back on the Dark Side; she was simply in his way. With this revelation, Starkiller changed over to the Juyo form, seizing the offensive. Starkiller began rapidly gaining ground, and an increasingly desperate Brood began to lose concentration.

As they charged one another, Brood managed to evade Starkiller's attack, hiding herself with the force while throwing her dual Guard shotos at Starkiller. Starkiller managed to dodge the blades, and turned to see Brood catch them as she leapt at him. Starkiller caught her in a telekinetic grip and slammed her against the ground. She managed to evade Starkiller's attack, again concealing herself as he rammed his lightsaber into the ground. As he looked about for her, she ran at him from behind before dropping down and sliding at his legs, throwing Starkiller off his feet and disarming him. Starkiller only barely managed to reclaim his lightsaber in time to block her scissoring strike, driving her back and acrobatically flipping onto his feet. As he searched about for her, she again attacked him from behind, though this time he was ready, striking at her leg and knocking her to the ground. Refusing Brood the time needed to recover, Starkiller telekinetically grasped her, raised her up and slammed Brood against the ground.

Beaten and exhausted, Brood surrendered, promising to turn away from the Dark Side in exchange for mercy. Starkiller was skeptical about her sincerity, seeing that her talents and skills were poisoned; inwardly focused towards survival. He considered her not worthy of the Dark Side. However, he relented, though he refused to transport her off-planet, and she fled the scene. Bail Organa disapproved of letting her go, as she reminded him too much of another fallen Jedi that he had known. Starkiller asserted that she wasn't truly free, and that she would always carry the memories of her actions with her. Starkiller then broached the subject of revolution, though Organa asked to speak with Kota directly about the matter first. Starkiller had Juno retrieve Organa and he directly from the Rancor Graveyard, barely avoiding a horde of scavengers eager to devour the Bull Rancor's corpse. Meeting with Kota, Organa asserted that open rebellion was too dangerous at the moment, and that any potential members had to be shown that the Empire was vulnerable. Starkiller agreed to "meditate" on how best to find an appropriate target.

In truth, he sent a message to Darth Vader inquiring about such a target. While he awaited the Dark Lord's response, PROXY attacked. Starkiller was impressed by PROXY's latest combat module, based off of Anakin Skywalker, but his heart wasn't in the fight since his experience in battling real Jedi left PROXY's assassination attempts far less challenging. Starkiller backed PROXY into a corner and impaled him. However, that was when Vader's response arrived, and the Anakin Skywalker hologram bizarrely morphed into Darth Vader. Vader was satisfied by Starkiller's progress, and provided him with a target—a newly constructed Star Destroyer shipyard above Raxus Prime. However, Vader also admonished Starkiller for his developing emotional attachments to his new allies. Reminding Starkiller of where his true allegiance belonged, Darth Vader terminated his link through PROXY.

PROXY commented that he hated "being" Vader, with Starkiller mentioning that Vader probably did as well. At that moment, however, PROXY noticed that Juno was in the chamber, having witnessed the entire exchange. Although Eclipse was furious that Starkiller was still loyal to Vader, she decided to remain with Starkiller, believing that the fate of the Rebellion would ultimately be in the hands of the apprentice—not his Master. After the confrontation with Juno, Starkiller replaced the crystal in his lightsaber, formerly Kota's, with the blue crystal he had found in his ruined family home on Kashyyyk, thus making the weapon truly his own.

Raxus Prime
Juno and PROXY conceived of the plan of attack for destroying the Star Destroyer shipyard. On the surface of Raxus Prime was a colossal ore cannon used to fire raw materials into low orbit for retrieval and use within the shipyard, and Starkiller would simply commandeer the cannon and fire it directly at the shipyard, destroying it in the process. As Starkiller prepared to depart, Rahm Kota inquired as to whether there has been any mention of Kazdan Paratus. Juno informed him no, and Starkiller hid his apology behind a display of sympathy, though Kota brushed it off.

While Starkiller progressed across the treacherous terrain cautiously, he did so with less vigor than usual, being distracted by various things. He was now giving serious thought to a future with Juno, rather than accepting it as a given as he had up until this point. His reverie was interrupted when Juno informed him of activity in his area; Drexyl Rushe's gang. Chiding himself for getting distracted, Starkiller began paying more attention to his surroundings. As he picked his way through the planetary junkyard, he began seeking out the old network of sewers that lay under the lower levels of trash heap. Finding a way in, he progressed much more quickly, only twice needing to find an alternate route due to cave in.

As he neared the massive ore cannon, he began looking for a way out. As he ascended, he was ambushed by Drexl Roosh and his gang. Roosh was looking for revenge against Starkiller for bringing the Empire down on Raxus Prime; Kazdan Paratus and his droids had kept the Imperials at bay for years, and his death had allowed them to move in. Now Roosh and his gang had nothing to salvage or excavate, as the Empire simply got there first. Roosh ordered his cronies to open fire on Starkiller, despite the Force adept's attempt to reason with him. Starkiller fought back, unleashing a telekinetic shove to throw all the gangmembers off their feet, and attacking them with his lightsaber before they could recover. Starkiller continued down the tunnel, suddenly coming out into the gang's base camp. Using telekinesis and blast-deflections from a salvaged quad-laser cannon, Starkiller brought down portions of the roof, spreading chaos amongst the already disorganized gangmembers. Roosh himself attempted to flee with his jetpack, but Starkiller knew that the salvager's knowledge of his involvement in Kazdan Paratus' death made him a liability. Starkiller grasped Roosh and redirected his flight towards the ceiling, completely collapsing the roof of the junk hall.

Exiting the sewers near the ore cannon, Starkiller began plotting out a plan of attack, but ultimately decided ''Don't think. Just do!'' As he carved his way through the installation, he started dwelling on the limits of his knowledge and powers. All that he could do was kill and destroy; he had no knowledge of any higher levels of mastery. Coming to understand that ruling the galaxy took more than brute force, he realized that the power of Darth Vader and the Emperor came from fear.

As he climbed higher and higher through the massive cannon's inner workings, Starkiller was suddenly ambushed by a shadow guard. Starkiller managed to fend off the guardsman, and it fell back. However, the guard's holoshroud suddenly dissolved, revealing it to be PROXY. The holodroid had judged that Starkiller was at his most vulnerable at this point, and thus he sought to fulfill his primary programming by killing the apprentice. PROXY attacked, switching between combat modules based off of Marris Brute, Shak Tea and Ram Kota, in addition to the Shadow Guard. However, Starkiller's experience against the actual individuals rendered the modules ineffective, and Starkiller demanded that PROXY back down, as he simply had no one that he hadn't already defeated.

It was then that PROXY revealed one module that he had kept secret for years; Darth Maul. Using this new module, PROXY was able to catch Starkiller off-guard, but he was ultimately outclassed. As they engaged in a flurry of bladework, PROXY retreated onto an overhead gantry, pursued by Starkiller. As their battle renewed on the platform, Starkiller managed to cut PROXY's double bladed lightsaber in half. PROXY, now holding two lightsabers, overbalanced on the platform's outer edge, almost falling off of the ore cannon superstructure, but Starkiller grabbed hold of the droid's lightsaber hilts, pulling him back. Holding PROXY by his weapons, Starkiller flung PROXY against a large pipe, disarming the droid before rushing and impaling him with the two lightsabers. With PROXY defeated and pinned against the pipe, Starkiller continued up to the ore cannon's top deck. Once there, he circled around the cannon's muzzle, overloading the rail-gun tracks to redirect it's fire. His efforts proved successful and the ore cannon fired into the shipyard above, destroying it completely.

However, there was a complication. One of the Star Destroyers survived the explosion and began plummeting towards the surface of Raxus Prime; directly at the ore cannon. Unable to get clear in time, Starkiller was advised by Kota to do something that even he judged to be insane; telekinetically pull the Star Destroyer out of the sky into a controlled crash. Initially considering this idea impossible, Starkiller ultimately opted to attempt it when reminded that compared to the Force, size and mass meant nothing. Focusing entirely on the cruiser, Starkiller began to adjust it's flightpath. He had to correct on his initial changes, as he didn't want it to tumble or break apart. As Starkiller pulled the Destroyer down, he began to panic as the scale of his action started to overwhelm him, and he tried invoking his childhood name; Galen. However, this produced no answer, so he instead did it for Juno. The Star Destroyer smashed into the surface just short of the ore cannon, spreading a literal tsunami of junk across the surrounding area. The Destroyer continued to skid across the surface towards the cannon, despite Starkiller's attempts to brake it, and Starkiller leapt off the cannon deck as the starship crashed into it.

Starkiller managed to survive the devastation, extricating himself from the rubble and answering Kota's frantic coms. As he regained his feet, he heard a disturbance behind him, drawing his lightsaber and facing it. It was PROXY; damaged during his duel with Starkiller and in the destruction caused by the Star Destroyer crash, portions of his processor had been burned out, erasing his primary programming. Bereft of his guiding directives, PROXY felt that he had been rendered useless and asked to be left behind to which Starkiller adamantly refused to do.

Return To Bespin
With the successful destruction of the Star Destroyer shipyard, word of revolution was beginning to spread. Rahm Kota managed to set up a meeting with Garm Bel Iblis of Corellia on Cloud City. Bel Iblis was a firebrand in the Senate who absolutely opposed both Emperor Palpatine and his New Order, and thus he wished to discuss an alliance with Starkiller. Upon arrival at Cloud City, they found it overrun by criminals. Starkiller made contact with Lobot, the city's chief administrator, who informed him that Garm Bel Iblis was attempting to negotiate with the leader of the criminals, the Mandalorian Chop'aa Notimo. Kota encouraged confronting Chop'aa as a way of proving his worth to Bel Iblis.

As Starkiller made his way into Cloud City, he was quickly confronted by Chop'aa underlings, though they were no match for his power. Making short work of the mercenaries, he ascended to one of the rooftop landing platforms and destroyed one of Chop'aa's dropships. While Lobot and the Cloud City guards secured the area, Starkiller moved on. As he crossed a large, circular platform, Starkiller was ambushed by a group of Mandalorian jetpackers. He manages to defeat them, though with difficulty. Cutting his way up to one of the rooftop walkways, Starkiller fought alongside Cloud City security forces against a massed force of mercenaries. With Starkiller's help, the mercs were quickly dealt with, though the security team does suffer casulties. Clearing the rest of the building, Starkiller approached Lobot and asks for Bel Iblis' specific location, only to be informed that the Senator had been captured by a bounty hunter named Kleef, one of Chop'aa's underlings. Knowing that the Senator's survival was important to his mission, Starkiller had no choice but to rescue Bel Iblis.

Fighting his way to Kleef's location, Starkiller confronted him, only to learn that he had handed Bel Iblis over to Chop'aa. Kleef himself drew his blade and activated his two Heavy Tactical Fighting Unit droids. Starkiller managed to disable the droids, going toe-to-toe with Kleef. The Gungan was a surprisingly able Vibroblade duelist, though ultimately no match for Starkiller. Starkiller cut the blade off the weapon before grasping the hapless bounty hunter in a Force grip and dropping him off the side of the building. Having dealt with Kleef, Starkiller contacted Juno and ordered her to prime the ship for launch in case he required a quick exit. Fighting his way to Chop'aa's location, Starkiller came face-to-face with the criminal ringleader and demanded for the release of Bel Iblis.

Chop'aa was glad for Starkiller's arrival, believing the Sith assassin to be a Jedi, and thus he was quite eager to confront him. Declaring that Bel Iblis' talks had failed, Chop'aa and two Mandalorian underlings attacked the apprentice. Starkiller managed to defeat the jetpackers, but Chop'aa donned his helmet and summoned his Basilisk war droid. Running circles around the behemoth to dodge its fire, Starkiller managed to leap onto its back, fighting the mounted Chop'aa while using Force lightning to block the droid's attempts to knock him off. Leaping off of the war droid, Starkiller telekinetically slammed it against a wall and disabled its internal functions. He then wrenched it to the ground as it exploded. An enraged Chop'aa charged out of the wreckage, eager for blood. While the Mandalorian was an impressive fighter with his double-pronged Electrostaff, he was ultimately no match for Starkiller's Sith combat training, and the Force adept cut him down.

As Lobot and the Cloud City security forces rushed in and secured the area, Starkiller approached Bel Iblis about joining the Rebellion. Bel Iblis agreed, leaving with Lobot with the assurance that he would contact Kota soon.