Star Wars: One More Man

Chapter One

Galen Marek was in pain. Granted the fact that he was currently deflecting and simultaneously absorbing the Force Lightning of arguably the most powerful and successful Sith Lord of all time, on a weapon capable of destroying entire planets, trying to rescue the best hope that the galaxy had for freedom from said Sith Lord while they were pursued by several squads of the Empires best Stormtroopers and the other Sith Lord who happened to be only marginally weaker than the man he was currently fighting. Not to mention the woman he loved was the getaway driver, putting Juno in the most dangerous position that didn't directly involve the Force.

Galen should have been screaming in frustration, he was in an impossible no win situation. In fear, Juno and the leaders of soon to be Rebellion could die in any number of ways. In anger, the man responsible for turning his former master into what he was and basically ruining his whole life. Instead all the young man formally called Starkiller did was force himself to move closer to Emperor.

Galen took another step forward.

Somehow even while he was focusing on the star of pain forming in his chest he found himself able to reflect on his life and how things had turned out for him. He hoped Juno would find someone to make her happy, she deserved that, he hoped that PROXY would be repaired and that the Rebels would look after him. He had had an odd life, his father figure for most of it had been a two meter tall cyborg of a Sith Lord and his best friend a droid that had been programmed to routinely try to kill him.

His childhood had been full of murder and torture and Galen found himself wondering: had there been any point to it? Or was his creation of the Rebellion that purpose, a lifetime of darkness for a galaxy of light? It wasn't so bad he supposed, even if his sacrifice was forgotten he would know from inside the Force.

He swore that his heart was exploding slowly, it was now or never, Vader was near enough for the blast to cause enough damage to both of the Sith Lords that the others would be able to escape. He felt the energy reach is peak and he prepared to release it. Ideally he would like to release the energy in a directed burst against Palpatine, but after all the fighting he had done he was too exhausted.

'Juno...'

His thoughts turned towards her the image of her rare smiles, the sound of her voice and the sensation of her mouth pressed against his. He steeled himself and prepared to die.

'Boy!'

The shout from General Kota was accompanied by a surge of energy through the Force. With his strength bolstered by Kota's, Galen was able to focus the energy into a directed blast.

'HYYRAAH!'

The blast blew the Emperor and Vader across the chamber and himself backwards through most of the stormtroopers chasing the Rebel leaders. As he slowed he felt himself being seized by Kota and telekinetically dragged to the blind general. He felt his lightsaber being pulled from his belt and Senator Organa and Garm Bel Iblis grip him and start to drag him. Organa swore and patted at the small patch of flame that clung to Galen's sleeve.

As he was pulled back he caught a glimpse of Mon Mothma, who had somehow gotten her arms in front of her covering their escape even as General Kota reflected a blaster bolt with the borrowed saber in his right hand even as he pushed several stormtroopers away with his left. The broken cuffs dangling from his left wrist and the scorching on his right told the story of his freed hands.

He felt a blast of wind on his face and realised they had been taken to the rendezvous point as he saw the Rouge Shadow descend. Odd how he hadn't heard the ship. He fought against the darkness that tried to take him as he was pulled up the ramp. He felt himself slipping into unconsciousness but a rare smile reached his lips as he realised one amazing, astonishing fact.

He was still alive.

(\|/)

While Galen was taking his very much earned rest the rest of the people onboard the Rouge Shadow were preparing to escape what was perhaps the best armed and most dangerous battle station that the galaxy had ever seen. Juno was preparing herself for the worst, that Galen had sacrificed himself but she focused on the task at hand. She had to pilot all of the Rebel Senators out of the Horuz System.

She made full use of the unfinished nature of the Death Star and flew as close to it as possible, dipping into the unfinished structure as necessary. Thankfully the Emperor had decided that secrecy was the best policy in relation to the Death Star, meaning that the TIE fighters were thin in the vacuum.

Juno pulled away from the Death Star and headed out of the system. As they accelerated towards the edge of the system some TIE's were able to close the distance.

"Brace yourselves!"

The Shadow had been designed for infiltration, allowing Galen as Starkiller to get close enough to a target to allow him to carry out his mission, usually mass assassination and occasionally sabotage, as such it was incredibly fast for its size and possessed a cloaking device and jamming array that were state of the art, however the shielding was comparatively weak. All of these impressive capabilities were pointless when the enemy had a general idea of their location, all they had left was speed.

They pulled out of the asteroid belt, nearing the point where the Shadow could escape via hyperspace jump. Juno prepared the nav computer to generate a series of algorithms to randomize their coordinates. From there they would perform several more random jumps and from there they would decide their next course of action.

Accompanied by a few stray shots from the pursuing TIE fighters, she activated the hyperdrive and entered the comforting and familiar sight of hyperspace.

Juno allowed herself a moment to collect herself before heading towards the medbay, she paused and almost asked PROXY to keep an eye on the cockpit but then she remembered that the odd droid had been severely damaged on Corellia. They should retrieve and repair him, Galen would want him to be a part of the Rebellion.

All of these thoughts fled when she saw Galen prone on the examination table, General Kota was standing over him and had his hand on his chest, probably trying a Jedi healing technique in order to keep Galen alive. On the far side on the table Organa and Mon Mothma were grabbing a series of medical supplies while Iblis was cutting his way out of the cuffs as the other two senators had doubtlessly already done.

Juno moved towards the table even as Galen moved slightly and his eyes fluttered open for a second. Kota spared her a glance before refocusing on the task at hand. After she got over her initial shock she moved forward quickly hoping to help.

'What can I do to help, General?'

Kota spoke without moving, 'Help get his robes off, I need you and the senators to assess the damage.'

Juno began to remove Galen's Jedi robes while the senators began to do what they could for the young Jedi.

'Can't you assess it yourself?' Organa asked.

'I'm blind. I can't see any of the external damage.' Was the blind man's terse response.

'Can't you use the Force?'

'Senator, I'm no Healer, I'm a Jedi Knight. I can heal myself but not others. Now please let me focus!'

The others helped the General treat Galen, noting the amount of injuries he had sustained; blaster wounds, lacerations, broken bones, bruises and electrical burns. They were able to get him stabilised, all of them surprised at the fact that he was still alive. Inevitably they began to

Mon Mothma was the first to speak up, 'We need to decide where to go next, all of us are now wanted criminals and we should probably go into hiding, somewhere this young Jedi can receive treatment-'

'Let's not forget that this young Jedi was the one who got us captured. He was working for Palpatine! He's a traitor!' Garm interrupted.

'To what cause exactly? Our alliance hasn't been officially formed, the only other being who even knows of it my daughter, Leia.' Organa added, 'We all saw what he did, what he fought against. Were it not for Master Kota's intervention he would most likely died allowing us to escape.'

'Master Kota, what is your opinion?'

Kota was surprised by the question, mainly because he had exhausted himself keeping Galen alive. He paused for a second and collected his thoughts.

'When I first met him, he was trying to kill me on behalf of Vader over Nar Shadda. I'll be honest, he took me by surprise. I was expecting Vader to come, instead I got a boy who-'

'Galen.'

The other conscious occupants of the medbay eyed Juno in surprise.

'His name is Galen.'

'Galen, Thank you Captain. As i was saying; instead I got Galen. He felt odd through the Force, that was what struck me the most.'

'Odd?' Was Organa's somewhat surprised reply.

'For lack of a better term, he felt naive. I believe he was raised in darkness, the dark side was all that he had known, so the teachings never got a complete grip on him because he had no experience with the light side. I believe that that understanding of both sides is rather important in both the Sith and the Jedi.'

'This is all interesting but it doesn't tell us what we should do with him, what to think of him.' Garm said.

'Very well. When i met him again on cloud city i was able to sense a change within him, he was slowly beginning to take a step out from under Vader and a sensed light in him where there had only been a small part before. Then on the Death Star I sensed that he ha rejected the dark side completely. I sensed a Jedi. We can trust him.'

'Very well then, we should set course for Nar Shadda, I have a safe house and medical facility set up there, it should serve our needs for the time being.'

With that statement Organa brought the discussion to a close, he went to the cockpit to begin plotting the route to Nar Shadda and Mon Mothma and Iblis went to find somewhere they could rest. This left Juno and Kota alone with Galen.

'What was his full name?' Kota asked.

'Galen Marek.' Came Juno's reply.

'Marek. Huh. Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time.'

'You knew him?'

'His father, Kento. A bigger glory hound and reckless fool you ouldn't find. Well Skywalker was probably worse but the point still stands. I'm surprised that he was able to father a child so powerful, i wonder who Galen's mother was.'

'Maybe he'll tell you when he wakes up.'

'Maybe.'

'Did you know it was the same person who blinded you when he came to you on Cloud City.'

'Yes and I did sense something new in him, a single bright spot. One beautiful thing he held onto, even at the end.'

'What was it?'

'You.'

And with that the Jedi turned and walked away, leaving the two young people alone.

(\|/)

Ten Days Later: Kashyyyk

They had all assembled at the Marek family hut, where the group had been joined by Princess Leia Organa. They had previously discussed all of the finer points beforehand, however they all felt the need to do so formally and to honor Galen because he had fought two Sith Lords to save them only surviving through chance.

Both Galen and Juno were on the balcony admiring the view, Juno standing and Galen floating hoverchair, recovering from the calcification of his skeleton that the Emperor's Lightning had Caused. The mood was charged, as if even it was waiting in anticipation.

'Are we ready to finish what we started?' Bail said.

There were nods of agreement from the others around the table.

'Then at last, the Rebel Alliance is born. Here, tonight.'

The satisfaction of saying those words were indescribable. Finally they would properly fight to restore freedom and the Jedi to the Galaxy. He wasn't surprised when Leia spoke up to add her contribution.

'We need a flag to rally behind. A symbol...'

She bent slightly and brushed the dust off of the table to reveal a crest.

'A symbol of hope.'

They all agreed that it would be appropriate that the Alliance would rally under the Marek family crest, given Galen's role in bringing them all together. Bail looked over at Master Kota.

"Would you bring him over Master?'

Kota nodded and walked over to where the young couple was. He stopped and allowed tem several seconds more to admire the view. Then he cleared his throat,

'Galen.'

Galen turned at the sound of his name.

'They want to talk to you.'

'Alright.'

Galen had been dreading and waiting this moment, where they would decide what to do with him.

As his chair hovered beside the table he waited for one of them to begin speaking.

It was Mon Mothma who spoke,

'Firstly we would like to thank you. If it weren't for your actions we would be dead and the Rebel Alliance would have never been formed. After you informed us of your life we were given much to consider and we have come to various decisions.'

Now it was Iblis who continued the discussion,

'We have decided that because of your history we will not have you as the leader of the Rebellion.'

The suspicious undertone was clear to all, he was a former servant of the empire and he had betrayed them and he deserved the suspicion.

'However, that does not mean that your role in the Rebellion will go unrecognised. We have chosen to use your families crest as the symbol of the Rebellion.'

At that Galen's Eyes widened but he didn't get a chance to comment as Iblis ploughed on,

'We have also decided that you will not be mentioned in having a role in the creation of the Rebellion.'

For the second time in as many minutes Galen was struck by what was being said, he didn't mind the lack of recognition, he was used to it, but he was certain that they would use the fact that he was a Jedi as a way to gain more recruits and add legitimacy to their cause.

'The reason for this decision is because it would destroy the Rebellion if word got out that the man who formed it did so on the Emperor's orders. While it would be an embarrassment to the empire it would do far more damage to us.'

Galen accepted the explanation without comment, even as the senators left him with General Kota.

'Well boy that was quite a lot to take in and I'll let your thoughts be your own. But I have a proposition for you. You were trained as a Sith and I can sense the good in you, how would you like to be my Padawan? To formally learn the ways of the Jedi?'

Galen was silent for a moment as he considered it, but then he spoke,

'I would be... honoured to follow in my parents footsteps and become a Jedi. Can I have my lightsaber back now?'

At that Kota blinked before responding,

'Very well, your training starts soon Galen, you will have to construct your very own Jedi lightsaber. It shouldn't be too hard given your-'

'General! Where is my lightsaber?'

Kota paused and brought out the broken remains of Galen's lightsaber.

'It was a stray blaster bolt, hit the power cell and caused a chain reaction. I'm sorry but the crystal was broken in half and most of the other components are unusable as well. I know the crystal was your fathers.'

Galen silently took the remains of the weapon and extracted the crystal. It had indeed been broken in half.

'Well it looks like I get the full Jedi experience.'

Kota simply nodded and left as Galen floated over to Juno who hadn't moved but had doubtlessly been listening. He stayed beside her for a while before she spoke.

'So you're going to be a Jedi?'

'Yes.'

'And Jedi aren't allowed to have relationships.'

'Yes.'

'So is this where it ends?'

'If the Jedi were still around they would forbid it, but i would tell them where to shove their lightsabers.'

Juno looked at him in surprise.

'I spent most of my life taking orders, my decision to be with you was and is one of the few I've ever made. I want to try being with you.'

'And if Kota disapproves?'

'I'll remind him which of us is the more powerful.'

They stood there silently, enjoying each other's company until a question that had been nagging at Juno had to be voiced,

'What about the Shadow?'

'Kota wants to use it for a group of commandos, which i guess includes me. He also wants to upgrade it with better shielding, more room for troops and so on... Will you being joining?'

'Galen, all I ever wanted as a child were two things, my father's approval and to be the captain of my own large ship. And with the Rebellion I have that chance.'

'Well if that's what you want, then ask for it. After everything you've done I'm sure they would give one to you.'

'Are you sure, we won't be able to see each other often.'

'I still want to try. Do you?'

Juno considered it, this could cause their relationship, as new as it was, to break apart but they lost nothing by trying.

'O.k. Let's try.'

She reached out and lifted his hand out of the hover chair and held it as they stared over the landscape of Kashyyyk. Tomorrow they had to face the entire Empire, but tonight they had each other.