Starkiller is a very powerful individual in the Star Wars universe, and to say that I am not in love with such character is an utter lie. Unfortunately, his tale is a non-canon one. Since Starkiller's tale is a non-canon story, I want to expand his story a little bit further in this crossover. So without further ado, here is the tale of force and magic.
P.S: I do not own Star Wars and Familiar of Zero.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
STAR WARS
THE VOID UNLEASHED
It is the turning point of the galactic civil war. DARTH VADER, the EMPEROR's right hand and dark enforcer of his will, was wounded and captured by the ALLIANCE after a pyrrhic victory on the battle of Kamino. Even though the ALLIANCE lost its third fleet in the process, the capture and destruction of the cloning facility on Timira City have dealt a major blow to the EMPIRE. As the ocean swallowed the once mighty city, its dark secrets and depraved experiments are forever lost in the cold depth of the aquatic planet.
Losing his apprentice and one of the EMPIRE's major cloning facilities, the EMPEROR enacted galactic state of emergency. Fleets after fleets of star destroyers patrol relentlessly all over the galaxy and garrisons after garrisons of stormtroopers are stationed in major strategic planets under the EMPIRE control. The empire law is harsher than ever, with anyone suspected is directly apprehended. The ALLIANCE is forced to go into hiding in secret bases all over the galaxy.
Though hope is growing, the time is still bleak as ever. All the galaxy needs in such time is a hero to break the EMPIRE's tyranny…..
/
The hissing voice of the weapon…
The veteran's cry of pain…
The crackling of the furious lightning…
The fell of the woman…
The figure in black…
The face of the duplicated hero…..
The stabbing sound of the crimson weapon…..
The dark visage of the master, the betrayer…..
"I will always have the hold over you!"
"NO!"
Starkiller awoke exasperatedly from his bed. His chest was inflating and deflating in furious tempo, and his breathing was irregularly fast. It took a minute and half for him to stabilize himself, and to catch his breath like a normal person.
"There is passion, and there is peace." Starkiller recited the passage to calm himself.
As he regained his, Starkiller realized he was drenched in sweat, with his shirt and the bed's sheet totally soaked.
"Damn it." Starkiller cursed with his right hand palming his face. "Not that dream again."
He looked around the small bed room where he was currently situated in, and groaned. Broken vase and other decorative items were scattered on the floor; even the small night table was thrown upside down at the corner of the room.
"Not again." Starkiller sighed defeated. His room was totally thrashed because of his unaware and uncontrolled utilization of the force due to his dreaming. Now, he was going to pay the price of his unrestrained power by cleaning his room…..again.
"Good morning, master." PROXY entered the room. The holodroid was now fully repaired from the damage that it sustained during the sudden attack aboard the Salvation. Thankfully, the droid no longer possessed the directive to kill the force master on every occasion. "My audio sensor perceived a screaming from you room. Are you alright, master?"
"I am quite alright, PROXY. It's just a bad dream." Starkiller answered. "Thank you for asking."
"I am pleased to hear that, master." PROXY said happily with its strange mechanical voice while crouching down to pick up the broken pieces of things scattered across the floor. "If I may suggest, master that you keep your dreams to minimum. General Kota is not pleased with your already towering repair bills."
"Oh for kriffin' sake, PROXY! It's the hundredth times already. I'll pay them with my own credits." The force master replied indignantly.
"Correction, master; it's just the ninety-eight time." The holodroid responded neutrally, earning a slight annoyed groan from its master. "Besides, we have insufficient credit to cover the entire repair cost."
"Talk like that one more time, PROXY and I'll have you disassembled." Starkiller jokingly threatened the droid.
"I would like to see that happened, master, after I reinstalled the directive to kill you wherever and whenever I can." The droid quipped.
"Errr, that's alright PROXY. I changed my mind."
"Thank you, master."
"Cheeky rust-bucket." Starkiller commented inwardly, as he rose from the bed and got out from the room.
6 months had passed after the major victory over Kamino. With the Alliance gaining a strategic foothold over the aquatic planet, The Empire became even more relentless in extinguishing the rebellion. More and more garrison of stormtroopers and imperial agents could be seen around the planets, and more and more star destroyer fleets were seen patrolling through the great void of the space. Unreasonable apprehension became a common thing throughout the planets under the tyrannical rule of the Emperor. Even so, the sparks of hope were not completely extinguished from the eyes of the oppressed. Instead, they were growing even fiercer than ever. The rebellion incited by the Alliance was gradually getting more and more support from the general populace all over the galaxy. The reason behind such thing was the rumor circulated among the populace of the galaxy about the capture of a certain powerful dark lord by the Alliance. Through the network of the rebel cells and Alliance-sponsored smugglers, the news of Vader's defeat and capture in Kamino was spreading like wildfire. While the Empire Propaganda had done its best to stem the circulation of the rumors through the appearance of the "Lord Vader" in several relatively benign planets and capturing dissidents that spread the news, the disappearance of the said dark lord of the Sith from major campaigns to quell the rebellion did not change the fact that there was truth behind the rumors. The Alliance's ranks were bolstering day by day, and morale was all time high.
So where was the said dark lord of the Sith himself? After his defeat, the one-armed, slightly burned Darth Vader was bounded and imprisoned in the Alliance's secret holding facility, located in the vast steppes of the planet Dantooine. Escorted by his defeater himself and confined in a specially made restraint that suppressed the power of the force, the powerless Darth Vader held no longer the power to instill fear. Right now, he was waiting, alone and bounded in his cold and dark cell, the hour of his judgment by the true republic for the crimes and atrocities he had committed in the name of the Emperor. It was definite that death sentence would befall upon the said dark lord of the Sith.
As for his defeater, the hero that made the turning point for the Alliance, things had got pretty complicated with the dual lightsabers wielding force master. Even though he had done the galaxy a big favor in almost single handedly destroying legions of the Empire forces in Kamino and apprehending the infamous Darth Vader in the process, Starkiller was not given any recognition for all things that he had done. In fact, his whole assistance during the battle of Kamino was completely wiped out. In the eyes of the galaxy, the one that was instrumental in bringing down the empire forces over Kamino and in defeating the dark lord of the Sith was general Rahm Kota, the blind but battle hardy veteran Jedi. All Starkiller received were simple praises from the blind Jedi, a sizable amount of credits and a nice little house in the middle of the desert of the Tatooine. Still, those were better than nothing. In fact, he was kind of relieved being left in obscurity. For the first time in his life, Starkiller tasted freedom, and it was sweeter than anything else.
It was true he was more than pissed off when his achievement on the battle of Kamino was effectively seized by the blind Jedi. Yet, somehow Starkiller felt that it deserved for him since he charged into the city with the thought of rescuing Juno rather than fighting for the Alliance against the Empire; Starkiller had no qualms on how many men and ships of the Alliance or Empire were lost during his obsession fuelled onslaught in Timira city, and he did not care if his rage filled assault had harmed more of his allies rather than the enemy. Even His victory against Vader himself was purely driven by his fury and thirst of vengeance. If not for Kota's intervention and the soft wordless voice of the force that prevented him to deal the final blow on the crippled dark lord of the Sith, Starkiller would probably be corrupted with the dark side of the Force for the rest of his life. It was fitting perhaps for Kota to be recognized as the hero of the battle of Kamino.
Another reason why Starkiller's achievements on Kamino were not publicly recognized was for the sake to keep his existence a secret. Beside Juno, PROXY, Kota and several trusted rebel officers and commandoes, no one in the Alliance, even the princess knew about Starkiller; to galaxy, he was a dead martyr, which was actually right in technical sense. The records on Starkiller's presence on Kamino and Cato Neimoidia were effectively expunged, leaving only fleeting rumors about a twin lightsabers wielding specter that hunted the Empire troopers and agents. Such measure was done to keep the balance of the Alliance's leadership. It was noted that after the death of Starkiller on the Death Star and the birth of the Alliance, the leadership of the galaxy coalition against the Empire had grown bigger as more and more factions allied themselves to the rebellion. More and more leaders were appointed to command armies and fleets, and govern planets that were under the Alliance; such responsibility definitely gave certain power and privileges that were too dear to be relinquished. The return of Starkiller, although would certainly spur the morale of the rebellion tremendously, would certainly destabilize the cohesion among the Alliance's leaders. The return of the symbolic leader of the rebellion would break up the Alliance at worst, and be used as a tool to further the leaders' personal political agendas. In the end, thanks to Kota's stepping in as the hero of Kamino, Starkiller was freed from the shackles of politics.
How about the rescued pilot turned fleet commander, Juno? Was the romance between her and the force master rekindled once again? Surprisingly, it was not. Even though Starkiller was insanely obsessed to find the woman of his dreams, he was not entirely thrilled about her after the battle was won. As if an unseen screen of illusion was suddenly pulled from his eyes, Starkiller could not bring himself to love the woman that had haunted his mind. In the matter of fact, the two acted like there was never a romantic relationship between them in the first place at all. It was true that they shared a kiss after the climax of the battle of Kamino was concluded, particularly when he found out that she had not been killed from Darth Vader's force push. Unfortunately such kiss was a simply the manifestation of emotion of relief and accomplishment running wild. The Juno that Starkiller had struggled and bled to find was already come to terms with the death of the real Starkiller. Juno herself had been exposed to the truth behind the man that she had glanced at for a slight moment in the bridge of the Salvation, and had silently witnessed on the platform ofTimira city as he rained thunders of fury against the dark lord of the Sith. During her time of captivity by the Emperor's apprentice, she was shown the very facility that manufactured the replicas of the man she once loved.
"Your would-be savior is but merely a rouge tool of the empire." The dark lord said to the cuffed woman as they passed through the cold metallic corridors with hundreds of 'Starkillers' floating inside the giant bacta tanks on the walls. "He was thought to be the first great success. Pity. Now, with your help, he will be put down."
During the transport of the captured dark lord, Juno confessed everything to Starkiller. To her surprise, the replica of the real force master did not destroy the Rouge Shadow in shock and rage. Instead, he was showing the face of resignation after hearing the revelation. Such thing happened due to Starkiller's own realization and acceptance of the fact that he was no other than the clone of Galen Marek. It was no surprise that he himself was not even entirely certain to his previously mighty feelings toward the ex-empire pilot.
However, Kota was adamant that he himself was the Galen Marek, even if the blind veteran Jedi had seen for himself the dark fruits of the accelerated cloning process. He argued that Starkiller was somehow revived and befuddled to be the tool of the dark lord once again, while the clones that he had seen were simply Vader's failed experiment to create force sensitive, lightsabers wielding army. It was no secret that the dark lord himself was investing time and resources greatly to create such an army, be it by recruiting, training or outright cloning. Backed by Ni-Ke-Vanz's opinion on cloning a force sensitive, Rahm Kota dismissed the fact that Starkiller was a clone. The general restated the Cereanmedic's saying that cloning a force sensitive would definitely result in unstable clones that were prone to madness. He even brought the aberrant clones that he and the clone had fought as examples.
"Do you think that you are the only special one, when millions of those ... 'Monstrosities' went mad seconds after being brought out from the tanks?!" Kota yelled as he smashed his fists upon the table during the conversation with Starkiller in Tatooine Cantina. "It was a ruse, boy, that Vader used upon you to control you like his puppet!"
Starkiller's thought after listening to Kota's furious rebuke was irony for the old man; Jedis were supposed to be above ignorance, as how their code compelled them to be.
Still, Starkiller could feel doubt in the old Jedi's mind. It seemed that the old general was not ignorant to the facts that he had witnessed for himself. Rather, it seemed that Kota chose not to be concerned with Starkiller's real identity. Whether or not Starkiller was Galen Marek, the boy's connection to the force was very powerful, and Kota intended to use such power to bring down the empire.
Even though rained heavily with arguments that supported his identity as Galen Marek, and others' uncertain claim that he was a clone; Starkiller for certain knew that he is what he is: a clone, no less and no more. He came to such terms with his true identity as the unique clone of Galen Marek when he recalled and realized the meaning of his vision that he received inside Dagobah's tree of evil. Though he was not entirely unharmed from such realization, he felt light and free; as if a great burden was lifted from his shoulders after a long, long time. He felt that he finally lived as a person he wanted to be and not as a man he was made to be. He felt alive; he could sense, feel, and think as free as he could get. No longer was he be haunted by the visions of a dead man as he lived no longer as Galen Marek, but as a free clone and thus a new person.
Albeit he was a free man with a very powerful connection to the force, Starkiller was far from being idle. He still had obligation to fight the Empire wherever and whenever he could, although such obligation was not purely driven by his sense of justice and his immense hatred to the Empire. With his status as 'unknown', he protected the Alliance's interest from the shadows as a 'freelance security consultant'. Even if he fought stealthily and mostly destructively against the Empire strategic points, he never did them for the benefit of the Alliance. In fact, he utilized his power against the Empire for the sake of his friendship with Kota and Juno, and also for credits. The blind Jedi and the reinstated commander of the Alliance fleet was Starkiller's private and only clients, with them being the intermediaries for the Alliance to convey the targets for the force master to search and destroy. It was not a bad life for Starkiller, since the pay is good and he got to wreck the Emperor's lackeys into smithereens. Still, he was careful enough not to let himself be drawn into greed and bloodlust, which in turn would bring him closer to the dark side.
"Lucas!" A kindly elderly man called the force master from the distance, as he stepped out from his dome-like house to get the fleeting breeze of the sunrise. "Would you help me fixing the sand speeder today?"
"Sure, Owen." Starkiller shouted the reply with amusement in his voice. He was freshly bathed, and clothed in a simple blue sleeveless shirt and black trousers. "I'll look on your faulty air-filterer as well. You know how Luke tends to break stuffs rather than fix them!"
"Hey, it's my nephew you are talking about!"
"I'm sorry old man, but you know that's true!"
"Whatever, you cheeky brat. Come here when you are ready!"
"Sure thing, old man!" Starkiller said as he returned back to his seemingly humble abode with quite luxurious interior. His neighbors, the kind Beru and Owen Lars, were his only friends in the middle of the vast desert of Tatooine. To them, the force master was known as "Lucas Starblazer", an eccentric but rich tech savant from the bustling city of Corruscant. His wealth which he claimed to be derived from the inheritance of a millionaire of an uncle, had given 'Lucas' free reign to travel to the farthest of the outer rim. Yet after his adventures and misadventures throughout the galaxy, he finally wished to settle down in the desert planet itself as a very rich hermit. The couple was confused since he chose a most unlikely planet to settle down as a hermit; yet, 'Lucas' told them it was suitable for him since his rough upbringing.
"PROXY." The force master called out for his mechanical companion while foraging the fridge. "I am going out to the Lars' for a while. "Keep the fort for me." Starkiller's mouth was packed with several fruits.
"Very well, master." The holodroid replied. "I will hold the any call to your astro-cell like usual."
"Thanks, PROXY." Starkiller said before he left the premises.
Even though his line of the work was simultaneously dangerous and thrilling, the requests were not frequently available, thus giving Starkiller the liberty of time. To bring himself constantly out of boredom, Starkiller mostly meditated and trained his lightsaber combat with his Holodroid in the training ground located under his house. The prior was done with greater concern, since it was his way to balance both light and dark sides of the force. His socialization with his neighnbors also helped him to fill his spare time, especially with his neighbors' beloved nephew, the young Luke Skywalker.
When he first met the young boy that the Larses raised like their own child, Starkiller had felt that the boy's connection to the force was very strong and almost identical with the power of his previous cruel master. He suspected that the boy was somehow connected to the dark lord; but keeping the thought that even the fallen can be redeemed, with the exception of the Emperor's right hand, Starkiller decided to teach the boy in the way of the force. With the boy spirited and easy going nature, It did not take long for Starkiller to befriend the boy and become his master.
Still, the boy's guardians had negative view toward the force user, as how they described such sentiment to 'Lucas Starblazer' during a welcoming dinner to their lonely neighborhood. Because of that, he had to secretly teach the boy the arts of lightsaber combat and the use of the force.
"Lucas!" The young boy in simple moisture farmer garb called in a very glad tone. "You come here to fix the air filterer again?"
"Yeah, someone have to fix the mess that you had made, Luke." The force master in disguise replied smugly as he entered the moisture farmers' home.
"Hey, it's not my fault if Uncle Owen had to be tight on the budget for the spare parts."
"Heh, it's probably that you have no delicacy with the machines like I do, chump." Starkiller mocked lightly as he walked to the broken machinery. "All it needs is a little touch, and…..voila! It works!" The force master continued after tinkering slightly to the broken air filterer.
"Humph, whatever you, you eccentric bastard."
"Still much to learn, my apprentice."
Both man laughed heartedly. As the morning passed into day, both man relaxed on the bench outside of the house after cleaning and fixing the farmers' broken farming apparatuses and sand speeder.
"So, we are going to travel to the red mountain again today?"
"Well, do you want to?" Starkiller questioned the boy back.
"Of course, I want to." Luke answered readily. "You have seen for yourselves how far I have improved."
"Well, you have improved indeed." The force master smirked. "But still not enough to beat me."
"Whatever, I'll beat you someday." The boy answered with a slight irritation, earning the older man's laugh. "So, are we going or not?"
"Let's, my apprentice."
Both man rose from the bench and headed to the garage.
It's been a few months since Starkiller offered his service to be the teacher in the way of the force for the young Luke Skywalker, and he was more than impressed to know that the skill of the young force adept was improving day by day. Almost every day, when Starkiller was not fulfilling some of his certain 'requests', the boy would train diligently under the supervision of the force master with Starkiller's spare lightsaber. Under the pretense of cruise the red mountains that was not very far from their neighborhood, both men would travel into the secluded valley of the mountainous area to train. In matter of weeks, young Luke Skywalker became mightily proficient in lightsaber combat styles. Adopting the reverse grip Shien form as his own forte, Luke Skywalker became an unparalleled lightsaber wielding warrior, second only to Starkiller himself. One time, both men were travelling too far into the territory of the Tuskens, and thus getting themselves surrounded by the sand raiders in matter of minutes. Utilizing the green crystal lightsaber, Luke Skywalker, with the help of dual-wielding Starkiller, was more than a match to the hostile nomads. In the end, Starkiller was proud and confident enough to claim that the young Skywalker was more than capable to defend himself.
However talented was the young Skywalker, Starkiller still had reservation about the boy's ability in utilizing the force. Luke Skywalker had mastered the essence of the aggressiveness of the force such as the push, pull and throw; He was still far away from mastering the art of small and tutaminis. Still, the boy's absorption to Starkiller's teaching was as fast as how the desert swallowed the water, and he had a knack to improve his ability further. During the duo's previous bumping into the sand folks' raiding party, young Luke Skywalker exhibited an unrefined technique of the dark side: a lightning-reinforced punch. The punch sent an unfortunate sand raider out for good, and put fear to the rest. From that moment, Starkiller became aware that his young apprentice was walking too near to the precipice of the dark side. Even though the dark side of the force fuelled one's aggressiveness and bloodlust greater than anything else, it corrupted oneself almost absolutely; making one's self completely lost into a creature that thirst for power. Starkiller promised himself to make sure that the young Luke Skywalker would never completely corrupted to the dark side of the force; He would made sure that the boy would balance and master both aspect of the force.
A downward slash of a green lightsaber swoop fast toward Starkiller's head. Thanks to his force-enhanced reflex and sense, the force master managed to evade the attack by sidestepping from the slash, and countered it with another slash of his own lightsabers to push the aggressor away.
"Careful, 'master'." The young Skywalker jeered with playful tone while evading and deflecting Starkiller's slashes. "I do not want to graduate from your 'apprenticeship' just yet."
"Heh, apparently you mastered that cocky attitude of mine as well." Starkiller returned the teasing with the same manner. "Funny, I do not remember teaching you that." Both men gracefully attacked, deflected and countered each other's strikes in practice duel. Wielding their respective lightsabers, the master and the pupil danced a fatal war dance- while suppressing their own urge to fatally wound the others. Blows after blows were exchanged; each steps, swings, and leaps was done with precision and refinement. As the time passed on, the two continued to exhibit their mastery on various forms of lightsaber combat; from the basic of Shii-Cho, to the ferocity of Vaapad.
"Very nice use of Vaapad, Luke." Starkiller commended his apprentice while blocking a vicious downward diagonal slash with his twin black-colored lightsabers. "Still, you are leaning too close to the teaching of the Sith. Remember! There is passion…"
"And, there is peace." Luke finished his master's words while evading his master's fierce flurry of slashes. The two continued to exhibit their mastery on various forms of lightsaber combat; from the basic of Shii-Cho, to the ferocity of Vaapad.
The duel continued with no one showing the intention to relent while signs of fatigue were showing in both men's faces. Decided to end the practice duel, Starkiller employed a feint: in series of slashes and thrusts, the force master only employed one lightsaber in combat while keeping the other in reserve. In matter of seconds, Luke took the bait as he caught his master's ever decreasing aggressiveness; he quickly dominated the duel with his offensive strikes, forcing his master to adopt more defensive stances. As Luke delivered the blow that drove his master's lightsaber away, Starkiller launched his riposte; He deftly redirected the aggressive blow with his combating lightsaber, and thrusted his reserve lightsaber to Luke's neck. The Luke's head would probably be severed if Starkiller did not stop his black-colored lightsaber from grazing boy's neck.
Luke, taken aback by his master's unforeseen riposte, was dead silent and frozen stiff; his master's unmoved lightsaber was intimidatingly threatening his now-sweating neck. Still wielding his green-colored lightsaber, Luke could only gaze boldly and unflinchingly to Starkiller's eyes; unfortunately, his master responded with the same manner, only with his eerily cold and neutral expression.
"You have improved, Luke." Stakiller praised, breaking the silence between the two combatants. He lowered his lightsabers and eased his stance, making his young apprentice to mimic his actions. "Still, you need to keep your head leveled during the heat of the battle." The force master continued his counsel as he deactivated his weapons.
"Hhhh, I'll never be able to surpass you." Luke sighed as he also deactivated his own lightsaber. He was still catching his breath as the feeling of fatigue crept into his body. "Your skills are too complex." The boy lamented his loss while he slumped to the ground.
"Luke, my skills being more complex than yours have nothing to do with my winning." Starkiller consoled the sulking youth, as he sat beside the boy and placed his hand on his shoulder. He was sweating, but his breathing was much more stable than the youngster. "Do you know how I win our little practice duel?"
"By using a feint?"
"Close, but still not the right answer to my question." Starkiller said, earning a confused look on his apprentice's face. "The reason that I won was that I kept in my mind the thought to win."
"So, what's the big deal? I did the same thing."
"And what thought you specifically kept in your mind to win against me?"
"Well, to defeat you, of course." Luke confessed.
"You see, Luke. To 'win' and to 'defeat' are two different things, albeit they are somewhat similar." Starkiller explained. "With your thought solely focused on 'defeating' me, you fell into the ruse that let me 'win' against you."
"So, you are saying that 'defeating' is not necessarily 'winning', while 'winning' is surely 'defeating'."
"Very perceptive, my apprentice."Starkiller patted the youth's back. "It seems you are developing a philosophical sense rather nicely."
"I have a great teacher." Luke said, earning the rustling of his hair from Starkiller.
"Come on." Starkiller rose from the ground, dusting the dirt from his clothes. "You still need to learn how to properly use the force."
Groaning a little, Luke stood up.
"That's it, Luke. Do not let emotion overwhelm you, but redirect it instead."Starkiller shouted as he held off the crimson lightning with transparent screen of energy that he generated from his hand. "That's it; keep the flow of the energy even."
"Hngggghhhhh." Luke Skywalker gritted his teeth as he discharged red lightning from his fingers. He was struggling to maintain the flow of energy into the crimson spark out from his hand. Such difficulty was due to the violent nature of such force ability tended to corrupt its user; it required great focus to balance the rage that fuelled the spark and the serenity that held the corruption at bay. Strakiller, knowing that Luke had the unbridled gift of the force and that someday the boy would inevitably learn the knowledge of force lightning, decided to teach the youth of such art. Keeping the thought of protecting Luke from corruption, Starkiller emphasized the importance of control and focus in teaching the use of such violent force ability to Luke. Due to Starkiller's experience and expertise of such dangerous skill, Luke managed to create his unique force lightning from his hands, although not without some troubles.
"Very good, Luke."Starkiller yelled to match his voice with the crackling of the lightning. "Now, I will push the lightning toward you. You will push it back with a controlled power. Yell if you wish to stop."
"Okay!" Luke shouted in response. "But, I have no intention to give up as easily as before!"
"Good, now focus!"
The force version of push of war began between two men. Starkiller discharged powerful purple colored force lightning from his hand and drove Luke's crimson ones back gradually. Purple and red lightning clashed against one another, sending smaller sparks flying in stray direction. The focal point of the two force lightning was moving left and right, showing the exertion of willpower by both force users to withstand one another's might.
"Tired?" Starkiller called.
"Very." Luke responded.
"Giving up?"
"Heck No! I can do this all day long!"
"Good. I will raise the intensity of my lightning now." Starkiller said with the intention to punish his apprentice's arrogance. "Keep up with me!"He continued, making Luke to groan in annoyance.
The glow of each lightning began to intensify, signaling that the danger level of the practice had risen significantly. The arms of both men began to tremble, as power began to pour out unbridled from their hands.
"Ggggaahhh!" Luke shouted as he did the unpredictable- Stepping forward. While keeping the lightning out from his hands, Luke took a step forward, intending to push his master backward.
Starkiller couldn't help but to be impressed by his pupil's bravado. The audacity of such action did show some result for Starkiller himself was force to step backward- even only for a step. He could see a small grin on his apprentice's tired face.
"He does have the spirit." Starkiller thought with a small smile on his face as well. "Still, two can play this game." However talented was the young Skywalker, Starkiller wasn't going to let an upstart like his pupil to be full of himself. Steadying his arms, Starkiller followed the young Skywalker's example. The lightning did not relent even though the distance between the master and the pupil was getting shorter by minutes.
"Ghh…I'll….admit….that you're….pretty good….for an old man." Luke mocked in difficulty, struggling to keep his position steady under the constant barrage of force lightning.
"Kh…Keep..talking, brat….and I'll hand…..you…your sorry butt….like always." Starkiller returned the mockery with his own. Sweats had rolled like waterfalls from both men's faces. The limit of their discipline and power was raised higher and higher, until the distance between the two was dangerously close. The clashed sparking of the two lightning was the only thing that separated them. The air between them was thick with murderous intention.
"There…is…passion." Luke began to chant the mantra taught by Starkiller. "And there…is…peace."
"There…is strength." Starkiller continued; he felt the calming sensation of the mantra as the dark side of the force began to recede from the air. "And there…..is….serenity."
"There…is…power, and there is….knowledge."
"There…is...victory, and there is…harmony."
"There…is…freedom, and there is…unity." Determination was clear in both men's eyes, although it was not the determination of domination and bloodlust. It was the determination of resolve and trust.
Both men unisonly launched their hands to meet one another, disregarding the dangerous spark between them.
"FOR….I…..AM….THE…FORCE!" Both men yelled as they clasped their hands together, snuffing the life out from the lightning that they had discharged. The sparking focal point shone its final glint defiantly before being put out by the palms of the force users.
Both men fell to their knees as they unclasped their hands from one another; white steam was rising and blue electric sparks were jumping from their bodies.
"You…are….one…tough…bastard." Starkiller said labouringly. He felt the painful heat all across his body; his skin would probably be melted off if not for his fortitude. The same went to Luke Skywalker; His wheezing signified that he was suffering the same pain that Starkiller currently felt.
"You…are….not bad…yourselves,…old man." The boy replied wittily. The men laughed heartedly, easing the soreness and weariness of their body.
"Come." Starkiller stood up and offered his hand to Luke. "Your guardians must be worried sick."
"I never realized its getting dark." Luke said as he took his hand and rose to his feet. "Stars! I feel I could eat a whole Bantha!" He exclaimed, feeling the grip of hunger constricting his stomach.
"I feel the same thing, too." Starkiller smirked. "C'mon, I can already smell dinner from here."
Both men strode to the direction of the parked sand speeder, when suddenly…...
"Argghhh!"
Starkiller fell unto his knees; a sharp pain suddenly pierced his brain. He felt like an invisible knife was splitting his head open.
"Lucas, what's wron.." Luke's words were unheard anymore as Strakiller's mind was forcefully pulled into a violent vision.
The hissing voice of the weapon…
The veteran's cry of pain…
The crackling of the furious lightning…
The fell of the woman…
The figure in black…
The face of the duplicated hero…..
The stabbing sound of the crimson weapon…..
The dark visage of the master, the betrayer…..
"I will always have the hold over you!"
"NO!" Starkiller screamed while he unleashed a powerful force repulse, pushing Luke violently to unconsciousness. His vision turned black and nothingness claimed him into dark sleep.
"Return to the source." A mysterious voice echoed from the dark mist.
"Huh?"
"Return to source of evil." The disembodied voice repeated. "where an ancient master watches over it steadfastly."
"Wait! Who are you?"
"All will be revealed." The ominous voice continued, slightly fading away. "at the source of evil."
"Wait-
Silence claimed the voice into the mist filled darkness, leaving only eerie blackness behind.
"Ughhh." Starkiller groaned. His return to consciousness was not welcomed with pleasantries and comfort; his head felt heavy as lead and his body felt like had been ran through by a score of dune banthas.
"Ghhh, Luke?" Starkiller called while supporting his head with one of his hand. "LUKE?!"
Silence lingered for a while, until a groan for a reply was heard.
"Ugghhh, my head."
"Luke?! Are you okay?" Starkiller approached his pupil.
"I think I got a nasty bump." Luke rose to sitting position with his hand rubbing the back of his head. "Besides that, I am quite alright."
Starkiller puffed a sigh of relief. He really did not want to return the young Skywalker to the Lars in body bag.
"What was that for?" Luke queried, still rubbing his head.
"I…I am not sure, Luke." Starkiller answered. "I think I had a vision."
"A vision? What vision"
"A vision I am going to find out." Starkiller said with seriousness dawned on his face.
Few hours later, aboard the Rouge Shadow.
"So you are saying that this haunting dream-turned-vision told you to Dagobah." Rahm Kota said from his seat; the sketchy voice of the armored blind general did not hide his irritation toward the younger man.
"I've been telling you, Kota." Starkiller said with no less irritation in his tone. The warrior in gray robe was sitting across the old Jedi. "I just feel it, not know it."
"Boy, do you realize we are still at war?" Kota growled. "Do you let your little victory over Vader to go over your head?"
"Now, list-"
"NO, Now you listen to me, boy." Venom was thick in the old general's voice. "Our little victory over Kamino has caused many of our fleet being destroyed by Empire's navy. Hundreds of our bases are now ruins, and thousands of our men are either executed or hunted down by the Imperial agents. While our Alliance- your Alliance bleeds to dead, you are now off chasing some vague vision?"
"You are the one that tell me to always follow my own instincts!" Starkiller argued angrily. "That dreams and visions that I had are rarely mistaken!"
"Not now, boy!" Kota rebuked, as he rose from his seat. "Just not now. I never say that what you see in you visions and dreams are wrong- But, it is our men out there that lay dying. WE need you for the war, Starkiller. You are the only one with the power that rivals the emperor himself."
"I am not your weapon, Kota!"
"No, you are not." Kota replied impertinently while he moved toward Starkiller and jabbed a finger onto his chest. "You are just some stupid boy, bent on chasing force damned dreams!"
"PROXY, lost the signal!" Starkiller fumingly ordered. Rahm Kota's whole body appearance flashed bright, and in seconds turned into the skeletal form of the holodroid.
"Master.."
"Not now, PROXY." Starkiller scolded as he spun his chair toward the spaceship controls. He sighed exhaustedly as he pinched the bridged of his nose to defuse his raging mind. PROXY then took the pilot seat on the flight deck beside his master.
"PROXY…"
"Yes master?"
"Set the destination to Dagobah."
"Right away, master."
"And, PROXY?"
"What is it, master?"
"I'm sorry."
"No problem, master." PROXY responded with delight in his mechanical voice. The holodroid tapped several buttons on the control panel of the starship. As the droid pushed center stick, the Rouge Shadow made a jump into the hyperspace.
Dagobah.
It was still the same when Starkiller visited for the first time.
Dark, Muggy, Foul-smelling, critters-filled swamp world.
Yeah, just like the way it used to be.
Starkiller, clothed in a black and brown suit under the white hooded sleeveless coat, walked down the ramp from his starship. Accompanied by his trusted holodroid, the force master in Jedi Adventurer costume, ventured to the place that held the promised answer to his dreams and visions.
The hooting of the indigenous avian creature of Dagobah echoed through the mist filled swamp, enhancing the surreal dimension of the swamp world. The taint of the dark side of the force could be felt from its thick, reeking air.
"Master." PROXY said, while both man and machine trekked deeper into the dark jungle. "My sensor detects a heat source not far from our destination. Someone is waiting us."
"Do not worry, PROXY."Starkiller assured the holodroid with slight amusement in his tone. "That is probably the guardian of the place."
"Is it dangerous, master?"
"He, PROXY. Not it, but He" Starkiller explained, emphasizing the gender of the guardian. "I do not know for sure, but I sense great power within him-power that rivals mine."
"He must be very impressive figure, master."
"Well, I'll let you see him first then."
The duo finally arrived on a clearing. On the edge of the clearing, not far from Starkiller and PROXY, was a mouth of a dark cave. Located under the shriveled stems of a gigantic ancient tree, the roots-ridden cave emanated an ominous aura that Starkiller was familiar with: the dark side.
"Return here once again, you have." A voice croaked nearby. Both man and machine turned their sight to the source of the voice. "With a companion, you are, I see."
PROXY did not saw anything that resembled an impressive figure in his sight receiver. Instead, what he could see was a green sad-looking little creature, sitting on the small rock near the mouth of the cave. The creature itself had a long batwing-like ears; its balding head was sporting few strands of messy white hair. The creature wore an old traditional garb of a Jedi, and in its three-fingered hand was a small walking stick. The wrinkles on its face and its head signified the weight of age and hardship that the creature had borne.
"Master." PROXY said, his disbelief betrayed his usually neutral mechanical tone. "Is that the guardian?"
"Hey, master, how have you been?" Starkiller cordially spoke while he took down his hood, disregarding the holodroid's inquiry.
The creature let out a strange raspy laugh. "Master? A very long time, that title, I have not been called."
Starkiller chuckled a little, following the raspy giggle of the green creature.
"Dress like a Jedi, you are. Yet Jedi, you are not." The small creature said while pointing his stick to Starkiller. "Answers, looking for, you are."
"Do you know what answer that I am looking for?"
"Hhrrmm, difficult questions, you have." The little guardian answered while shaking his head. "Inside the cave, find anwers, you will. But go alone, you must."
"Thank you, master." Starkiller respectfully bowed his head before he turned to PROXY.
"I need you to stay here, PROXY." Starkiller instructed the holodroid. "Wait here until I return."
"I would suggest the opposite, master" PROXY protested in neutral tone.
"What? You want to go inside and I stay here instead?" Starkiller joked, earning another raspy laugh from the little green creature.
"W-what? No, I mean I should accompany you to the cave."
"Relax, PROXY. I am just joking with you." Starkiller said to his friend. "Still, I need you to stay here. This is something that I must do myself."
"Very well, master." The holodroid replied with defeated tone, as he saw his master walked into the dark shadows of the cave.
Starkiller really hated this place. It was dark, with deep roots swarming its walls and dangling from its ceiling, and constantly emitting ominous air that made his Goosebumps rose. Still, Starkiller was not the type that would just run away when danger arose. He had faced rancor-eating giant, force-wielding and lightsaber-swinging abominations, and hard-breathing dark lord; he would not let some creepy echoes of the wind and dark glooms overcame him.
"Well, at least there is no copy of me coming from the walls." Starkiller said to himself. When he entered the cave for the first time, he encountered numerous copies of himself, bound to the wall like the shriveled roots of the cave's theme.
"Help…me….." were the only things that the copies spoke, over and over again, until they all froze dead.
As he passed the curtains of dead roots and tendrils, Starkiller noticed that he still wore the Jedi adventurer garments. He wondered if it was the sign of his acceptance to his true identity. Even so, he did not let his guard down for a second; his hands were ready to pull his lightsabers on his belt at any time. The hollow cavern kept on releasing atmosphere of danger unrelentingly, making Starkiller to be always in the state of uneasiness. Something was tugging inside his head, screaming that danger was imminent.
"This feeling…..this power…felt like Vader's." Starkiller thought while instinctively pulled his lightsabers with the power of the force to his hands.
The force master finally reached the wide hollow interior of the cave, the place where he first saw the vision of future. However, this time, it was not answer that was waiting for him.
Kneeling in the center of large shadowy room of the cave was a figure clad in black robe. Estimating the person's body built, He could safely assume that the mysterious person, even though clothed in seemingly heavy robes, was a male. The person's head was covered in black hood, and his arms in smooth glistening black gauntlets. Black circular protective plate was running around his neck and his upper chest. A small mechanical panel was fixed in the chest of the mysterious figure's chest. Under the shadow of the hood, a pair of hungry eyes with orange-colored irises suddenly appeared and gazed balefully to the approaching force master. Starkiller, taken aback by the hostile gaze, quickly realized who the waiting person was, and the mysterious one was clearly not his friend.
"Sith!" Starkiller hissed as he activated his twin black coloured lightsabers, and entered his battle ready stance. His enemy quickly jumped to his feet backward and turned on his twin lightsabers; their colors were equally red, appropriate insignia of the practitioners of the dark side of the force. Starkiller was shocked, not because of the weapons that enemy wielded, but by the combat-ready form that the enemy was utilizing- Starkiller's unique reverse-handling Jarkai.
"Come at me." The Sith's dark voice resonated the dimly-lighted space of the cavern. "Jedi!" the enemy continued with added venom in his voice.
Starkiller sped to the enemy, and the mortal fight ensued.
The duel between the two force users was unlike the previous practice duel between Starkiller and Luke Skywalker; the battle between the two was deadly, with both duelists strive to end the life of the other. With every steps and turns, using every techniques and moves to either maim or disarm, Starkiller and the unknown Sith battle with evenly strength and abilities. The battle posture that the Sith was using was the very carbon copy of Starkiller's unique set of moves; every swing, every leaps and every blocks were the exact matches of the force master's. It was as if Starkiller was fighting his very mirror image.
"It can't be." Starkiller gritted his teeth, while he deflected the incoming slash. "It can't possibly be!"
"Pitiful." The Sith coldly replied as he redirected his attack with both ferocity and grace. "Your code demands knowledge, yet you cling to ignorance." The dark warrior continued to mock while he performed a somersault to avoid a spinning horizontal slash.
"I am no Jedi!" Starkiller unleashed a lightning barrage from his right palm, only to be resisted by one of the Sith's lightsabers.
"Of course, you are not." The Sith laughed under the shadows of his hood. Flying sparks illuminated the dark room. "You are too weak to be either a Jedi or a sith. You are but nothing but a pathetic worm."
"Rarrrrrrhhhhh!" Fury entered into Starkiller's mind, and as rage overwhelmed him, he spun speedily and launched a ball of transparent bluish energy toward the Sith. The hooded Sith easily slapped the force ball away backhandedly with one of his free hand, not knowing that his enemy already closed in to his position. With lightsabers on his hands, Starkiller force dashed to the enemy, catching him by surprise. The enemy quickly spun his lightsabers into blocking position, but it was too late; Starkiller's black-colored energy swords slashed in crossing movement, and the fizzling sound of the sabers slicing into flesh followed.
Starkiller was kneeling position with his lightsabers-grasping hands spread wide to back like wings of a falcon. He was panting laboriously, struggling to push back the grip of the dark side within him. A thud was heard, as the hooded Sith fell to the ground. His body lay limply on the dark floor of the cavern. The enemy was slain, but Starkiller felt no victory. Instead, he felt disdainful toward himself for taking the enemy's bait; he knew that it was the Sith's guile that entice him to rage. Although it gave him strength that enabled him to destroy the enemy, Starkiller felt that he was played into the Sith's design.
"Damn it." Starkiller shamefully cursed. He stood upright and switched off his weapons, with regret still hung on his head. "I should have never been tricked into rage."
"Why?" the cold voice of the Sith rang. "It gave you the power to defeat me, is it not?"
The voice startled Starkiller. He hastily spun around to face the vanquished enemy, with his lightsabers reactivated. To his surprise and horror, the dead Sith was already standing facing him; his posture was calmly intimidating. Starkiller pointed his lightsabers to the Sith, ready to kill the dark side user one more time.
"You can't kill me, Jedi." The Sith chuckled. "Not at such pathetic state, or….at here."
"What do you mean?" Starkiller yelled.
"Fool." The Sith continued to mock as he moved forward and thrusted his hand to one of Starkiller's lightsabers, surprising Starkiller. The Sith's hand passed through the energy blade without cutting the flesh. "Can't you see? I am not even here."
"Who are you?" Starkiller scowled at the hooded enemy, his lightsabers were unmoved even though the enemy was unreal.
"Why don't you find out for yourselves?" The Sith moved backward, and pulled his fallen lightsabers with the force. "in where it all started."
"…"
"But, it is not answer you will find, only death."
"What do you mean? TELL ME!"
"Find me, Jedi, in where it all started." The Sith sneered while walking backwards to the shadow of the cave. "Seek out for my power; I'll make it clear for you to find me. But you will never kill me. You are far too weak and too spineless to grasp the power unlimited!"
"I am not a Jedi! And I am not WEAK!" I will end you when I find you!"
"We shall see, vermin, even though it will be your death, not mine." The Sith laughed until the voice faded into the darkness.
"Master!" PROXY greeted, as Starkiller came out from the mouth of the cave. "Did you find what you are looking for inside?"
"…" Starkiller replied with silence over his haggard face.
"Master? What's wrong."
"No answer, found you, inside." The green guardian croaked, earning Starkiller's astonishment.
"How do you know?"
"Hrrrmmm, lived with the force, I have. Like a book, your mind, I can read." He continued. "In pieces, your mind is. A dangerous path, follow you must."
"Why?" Starkiller knelt, lowering his position to the guardian's level.
"Only then, peace, your mind will find."
"Thank you, master." Starkiller rose to his feet. "Do you have anything else for me?"
"Only one." Seriousness was the tone of the ancient watcher. "Always follow the force, you must."
"I will."
Meanwhile, on Dantooine.
In the vast plains of the green planet itself, was a secret holding facilty that belonged to the Alliance. Within it, was the infamous dark lord of the Sith himself, Darth Vader. Strapped to a thick metallic force-resistant board in a dark circular cell, the restrained Darth Vader was waiting alone for the hour of his execution. Although the harness that restrained him restricted his movement as well as his using of the force, the Sith lord was still able to know everything that was happening outside of his holding cell through the focusing of the force to his mind. He knew that the most leaders of the alliance had opted to execute him outright without giving him the leisure of a trial. He knew that the reason of such thing was due to their great fear of him- Good, It gave him power, and power was what he needed to be free from the pathetic prison that he was currently held. Although the dark lord was disgusted to the wretched worms that the Alliance had as leaders, he was still amused with the words and action of one of the leaders. That leader was a girl, dressed in white with her hair tied in two short swirling buns on the left and right. Although her age showed that she was probably not older than seventeen to eighteen years old, she radiated the boldness and the wisdom that was beyond her age.
"Princess, please be reasonable. We can't let that monster live after what he had done!"
"No! Killing him now will show the entire galaxy that we are nothing but common terrorists. We shall not be so! Vader will stand trial to show the Galaxy that we are not like the Empire, that we are just and benevolent!"
"Princess Organa, please. You can't possibly be seri-"
"No! I will not stand this! Vader will not be executed without a fair trial, and that's final!"
Darth Vader was chuckling mutely under his dark helmet. Something within the girl resembled the women from his previous life, when the time was pleasurable and warm. Something about her resembled strongly to the image of-
"No! She is not her!" The metallic restraint rumbled slightly. The huffing voice of the dark lord's breathing apparatus quickened. "She was already dead."
His mind quickly sank into meditative state; he calmed himself down, and soon his breathing turn to normal. The dark lord felt disgusted-toward himself. He should never let dead memories resurfaced- It was a weakness and Sith never tolerates weakness.
As he recomposed himself in meditative mind, He caught a glimpse of the future, and felt a chilly sensation in his prosthetic spine.
"Your time is at end, my apprentice." Darth Vader said in his mind, as he remembered the foreboding storm that was to come.
"Kamino?" The blind veteran asked. "What do you mean 'something was still on Kamino', boy? We have destroyed every major cloning facility on that planet."
"Vader still has a secret in there, General. A cloning facility maybe." Starkiller responded, earning the General's scoffing. "I know it, I can feel it!"
"But it's not possible, boy. You were there when we destroy those facilities, even the ones that the Emperor knows not."
"I saw it in Dagobah, Kota. He is waiting for me in Kamino."
"Who is 'he'?" Kota asked.
"A Sith, a powerful Sith that much stronger and crueler than Vader." Starkiller answered. "He-"
"He what, boy?"
"H-he said that he is waiting for me in Kamino." Starkiller stammered with his head lowered.
"You have fought him, haven't you?" The blind Jedi sighed while he sank deeper to his voice. "You are trying to say that this Sith is probably stronger than you, aren't you?"
Starkiller raised his head and look into the general's white eyes with amazement.
"I have told you. I am still connected with the force." Kota continued as he sat straighter. "This….Sith that you saw in your vision will certainly prove to be a danger to the Alliance. We certainly can't sit idly while the danger is crouching to our very doors. But, what you ask, Starkiller, is too much."
"What? Why?"
"To ask for an attack armada to Kamino requires the consent of the Alliance leaders, and those leaders can't be convinced with simply visions, Starkiller." Kota said with a sober tone. "I can convince several of them, but they still won't support this plan. This is a weak case, boy."
"Then lend me some of your men, Kota." Starkiller replied. He was incensed that his foresight was called as a weak case. Unfortunately, it was true; to most of the non-force sensitive, the gifts of the force were looked upon with scorn. And like it or not, Kota's words did have its weights. The leaders would need much more solid evidence than his force foresight to permit a fleet to attack Kamino again.
"And what would I report to those leaders, boy? That my men suddenly went on a picnic to the stormy and rainy planet?" Rahm Kota impatiently rebuked. "Do you think they will all turn blind on what are going to happen in Kamino?"
"So what do you suggest, Kota?" Starkiller wearily asked.
"Just…stay calm for a moment." The general spoke with both of his hands raised in a gesture to pacify the younger man. "Let me think of something."
Several minutes passed with the general pondering on something and rubbing his brushy chin. Suddenly,….
"Tell you what, I want you to wait for me above Korasa, one of Kamino's moons." The general said with a bright face.
"Yes, I know where that is." Starkiller replied snappily. "What are you planning to do?"
The general could only sigh at the youngster's impertinence. "Just do what I say. Trust me on this, I will get you an army." The general concluded, as his entire body phased out, leaving only the holodroid on the seat.
Few days later, above the white moon, an invisible spaceship wandered slowly around its orbit. Its stealth system started to flicker all around its body.
"PROXY." Starkiller called his navigator. "How long have the stealth generator been activated?"
"Aproximately two hours, master."
"One more hour, then we will shut it down." Starkiller said while he pointed to the moon's ring of icy chunks. "We will use Korasa's debris ring to cover our being."
"Very well, master." The ship left its prior spot to its new hiding place.
It's been few hours since the Rouge Shadow jumped out from the Hyperspace. As had been planned before, Starkiller was now waiting for the arrival of Rahm Kota. He suspected that Kota was planning to deceive the Alliance leaders in sending a fleet in the second invasion to Kamino, though it was very unlikely. Still, the old general was one of his truest friends; if he said that he could bring an army, than an army would come.
"PROXY, I'll be in the meditation chamber." Starkiller rose from the pilot's seat, having decided a way to pass the time. "Notify me on any transmissions. Until then, keep the ship under the sensors."
"Very well, master." The holodroid replied as he took the pilot's seat.
Starkiller entered the dimly-lighted circular room. The meditation chamber had enough space to perform as a training ground for him. Even though the Rouge Shadow was the possession of Galen Marek and not his, Starkiller felt a nostalgic feeling when he entered the compartment. He could see which corner that PROXY used to ambush him in the past; he could even see where he floated in the air during one of his meditation moment. He remembered the memories that did not belong to him, yet Starkiller did not feel one bit to be bothered by them. With the exception of his recurring nightmares and vision, Starkiller was no longer suffering the painful headache that accompanied the past visions and memories of Galen Marek. Memories still flooded into his mind wherever and whenever he encountered things that triggered such memories, but somewhat they felt natural and not forced. Starkiller wondered if it had any relation to his acceptance to his true self.
Keeping the thought in his mind, Starkiller moved to the center of the room and sat on the cold metallic floor with crossed legs. As he closed his eyes, his mind went closer to the force. With disciplined concentration, Starkiller utilized the force to peer deep into the rainy planet's surface and search for the disturbance of the force there. Although seemingly meaningless, the force technique to look for any disturbances on a planet had helped Starkiller in many occasions, especially when the intels on the oppositions were severely lacking. Thanks to such technique, Starkiller was able to discover the enemies' position and assess the danger before rushing to the battle. The catch for such technique though, was the amount of patience, willpower and concentration to pull and maintain such skill; not to mention the size of the planet itself and the distance between the force user and the target planet were also affected the success rate of such skill.
Remembering what the Sith had said during the conclusion of their encounter in the cave of evil, Starkiller focused hard to find the location of the enemy. Considering the planet's natural weather and the distance between Kamino and Rouge Shadow, Starkiller exerted his mental strength even harder to locate his enemy's presence. In his mind, his vision penetrated the rainy planet's atmosphere and plunged deep into its watery surface. His vision then dashed on the surface to settlements and buildings built above the water. No malice can be detected within the cap-like structures and the smooth towers, aside from some petty evils. Time seemed to span for eternity, as he let his mind traveled speedily across the planet. It seemed that the presence of the enemy was a lie, when all of the sudden…
Starkiller's mind was pulled violently to the storm, as if something or someone was hijacking his mind. He struggled his mind to be free; yet when he sensed the corruption that gripped his mind, he knew that this was his awaited His vision was led furiously fast toward the direction where waves were lashing chaotically and lightning were bombarding wrathfully. In his vision, he saw several buildings like every Kaminoan structures. The difference was those structures were arranged in a line rather than in the traditional cluster formation. As his vision penetrated to the structure on the far back of the straight formation, and into a dark room that bore the striking resemblance to the Rouge Shadow's meditation chamber, he saw a figure sitting in meditative position in the center. The figure's outfit resembled the enemy's; It was the Sith!
Starkiller quickly notice that the figure suddenly revealed his flaring eyes and gazed right to him, as if he was able to see Starkiller's directly.
"At last, Jedi, you are here." The Sith's voice echoed coldly through the room. "Come and don't let me waiting."
With his words' end, Starkiller felt his mind was freed and quickly pulled it away from the wretched den of the Sith. His consciousness finally returned to his mortal vessel, with his sweat already drenched his robes. He was still panting when PROXY called.
"Master?" The mechanical voice of the Holodroid chimed in.
"Y-Yes, PROXY?" Starkiller stammered and coughed; he was still in shock after the violent mental confrontation with the Sith.
"I have received transmission from general Kota's ship." PROXY reported. "It is inbound to our position in approximately one hour and thirty minutes. In addition, the general is waiting in the communicator."
"Thank you, PROXY." Starkiller rose to his feet. "I will be back to the flight deck momentarily. Just tell the general I will call him soon."
"Very well, master. I will inform general Kota right away."
Starkiller walked to the cabinet inside the meditation chamber, and pulled out a towel from the lower shelf. While he wiped himself clean from the sweat, his mind raced with trouble. The Sith was definitely holding something very secretive, very valuable that was somehow related to his recurring nightmares and visions. Starkiller wanted answers, and unfortunately those answers lie behind the nigh-inevitable confrontation with the Sith. The battle would eventually end with the death of either him or the Sith, and he did not want to be the one that met the energized end of the crimson lightsabers.
"No! I am not going to die!" Starkiller steeled his mind. He could not afford to be weak in the moment when he was needed to be strong.
"There is emotion, and there is peace." He chanted his own mantra, finding both peace of mind and strength in every words. With renewed mental fortitude, Starkiller walked toward to the other cabinet while he undressed himself from the soiled clothing. He pressed a button on the cabinet and the doors slid open horizontally, revealing a set of beautiful silverish armor. It was consisted of a pair of segmented pauldrons and boots, fitting body armor, a pair of plated protective gloves, and a helmet with white face plate. It was a powerful experimental armor exclusively made for him through Kaminoan technology, given as a reward for bringing down the Sith Lord Darth Vader. Thanks to its miraculously strong but lightweight material, Starkiller was not encumbered when wearing the suit of armor; he also enjoyed the protection from certain degree of damage caused by heavy blasters, explosives and force lightning when wearing it. Not only that, the sleek and flexible design of the armor enabled Starkiller to move and fight with greater liberty of movement. The armor itself was truly the pinnacle of the great Kaminoan crafts in manufacturing gears of war, rivalling the irrefutable ingeniousity of the Mandalorian craftsmanship.
"Sith or not, it's time to bring the enemy down." Starkiller said as he started to pull the armor pieces of Jedi experimental armor from the cabinet and put them on.
"Are you sure this is the right way, boy?" The general voice blared out from the intercom.
"Trust me, general." The force master replied to the mouth piece of the communication device on his head. "I have located this place through the force. It's just further to the north-east, passing this sea of storms."
The Rouge Shadow and the Avenger, an Alliance's X4 Gunship, were rocking under the storm while moving fast above the chaotic water. Despite of the speed which the two starships were travelling in, the powerful gust and the heavy downpour still shook the starships even though only a little.
"I hope that you are right, boy. I don't like getting drown after going so far out here."
"Afraid of getting a little wet, general?"Starkiller joked, earning the general's scoffs.
"Say whatever you like, cheeky boy." Kota replied with a false annoyance in his tone. "You may be a great force user, but you are still wet behind the ears in terms of piloting."
"Is that a challenge, general?"
A mighty wall of water appeared and rushed to their position, ready to swallow them whole into the cold depth of the ocean.
"Just don't get left behind and be washed up somewhere, boy." The Avenger then increased its speed toward the incoming Tsunami.
"Same goes to you, old man." The Rouge Shadow followed suit.
Starkiller had guessed that the general would not disappoint him, and it was proven true. Rahm Kota, arriving in the Majesty, a Corellian CR70 Corvette, cameto the designated rendezvous point bearing with his trusted troopers and commandoes. What Starkiller did not expect was the appearance of acertain woman from the past memories of Galen Marek: Juno Eclipse.
What greeted Starkiller at the moment he disembarked from his ship after landing on the corvette's limited landing dock, was not the grumpy old Jedi that used to scold him every time, but a woman who used to be the pilot of the ex-Imperial stealth starship. Draped in her usual short-sleeved rebels' jacket on top of her casual attire that consisted of a sleeveless grey shirt and a pair of black trousers, the blonde captain welcomed the force master aboard the Majesty with a warm smile.
"What are you doing here?" The astonished Starkiller said to Juno.
"Very nice to see you, too Starkiller." Juno replied frostily with her smile washed away. She turned her back and ambled away from the presence of the force user. "Come, general Kota is waiting."
Realizing of his tactlessness, the embarrassed force master quickly undid his helmet and caught up with Juno.
"Juno, wait up." Starkiller called as he finally caught up with the ex-imperial pilot.
"It's commander Eclipse to you, sir Starkiller." The frostiness of her tone did not drop as she kept on walking through the corridor.
"Look,I am very sorry, okay?" Starkiller dropped his helmet, and quickly intercepted her path; he grabbed her arms, stopping her from moving any further. "I just….I just.."
"Just what?"
"I just don't want to put you in a danger again." He said while trembling a little. His face fixated to the white ground, too ashamed to reveal his concern to the woman.
Unexpectedly, a gloved hand cupped Strakiller's cheek, allaying his troubled mind.
"You're a good man, Starkiller." Juno Eclipse warmly said. Deep in her thoughts, she was utterly perplexed.
She was running out of words when she listened to the force master's confession and deep concern to her safety. She never knew the clone of a man she once loved could be so protective about her well-being. Despite of having cleared the awkward relationship between the force master and the ex-pilot, that there was never a romantic feeling between the two, Juno could not help but felt ambivalent toward the man with the same face of her previous beloved. He was an enigma to her; He was seemingly unwilling to help the Alliance when contacted by Kota, but when she contactedhim, Starkiller almost readily accepted the mission. She feared that her unusual connection with the force master would be manipulated and exploited by both imperial and Alliance alike. But due to Kota's tactful interference, such things did not come to pass.
"Thanks, Juno." Starkiller puthis palm on top of Juno's caressing hand. He raised his eyes to meet with Juno's gaze, and smiled. Although he did not find a single inch to have affectionate feeling toward her, Starkiller knew she was someone that he treasured as a friend. Even though he was no longer driven by visions, if given a chance, Starkiller would not be hestitant to jump into Imperial garrisons to save Juno again. It was rather illogical for Starkiller to do such length for her, but he did not mind. A rather complicated siblings-like relationship happened between the two.
"Come, don't let Kota wait for you." She pulled down Starkiller's hand. Without breaking her grasp from his hand, Juno led Starkiller to the conference chamber. "He'll scold you again."
"Nah, it's okay. I am used to it." Starkiller said as he put a little pressure onto Juno's frostiness and the unease melted away as the two exchanges stories during their little trip to meet the blind Jedi.
Things were quite complicated between the two. However, unknown to both of them, Juno and Starkiller let their strange relationship to flow naturally, with the thought that someday they would develop such relationship, not as what it was in the past, but as what it was in the present.
"Starkiller! Pull up!" The general roared through the communicator. "You're going straight to the Tsunami! PULL UP!"
"No way, general. Our destination is just right behind this giant wave." Starkiller stubbornly replied. "Besides, I got this." The Rouge Shadow sped up toward the tidal wave, leaving the Avenger to break away from the formation and gain altitude in order to avoid being swept by the tsunami.
"You stupid son of a Bantha! Pull up, NOW!"
"No!" Starkiller swiftly activated the targeting system, and red circle appeared on the starship's monitor.
"PROXY, fire when I give the signal."Starkiller commanded while trying to find a viable target in Rouge Shadow's monitor. "We are going to make a hole through the wave."
"Master, by my calculation, the success chance of your plan is 0,000001%" PROXY declared, his mechanical voice failed to hide its fear. "It's imperative that we follow general Kota's ad-"
"PROXY."Starkiller shouted, stopping the holodroid's rambling. "Do you trust me?"
"Without a doubt, master." The holodroid replied unhesitatingly.
"Then, trust me when I say this: It's going to work."
"Very well, master, I believe you." PROXY said while he prepared the firing solution on the ship's computer panel. "I am ready when you are, master."
"Good, Let's do this." The Rouge Shadow kept on accelerating toward the unstopping tidal wave. The distance between the stealth ship and its crews to their imminent demise was shortening by seconds, when finally…..
"FIRE!"
Two proton missiles launched from Rouge Shadow's dual bow, straight to the inbound towering wall of water. As the water swallowed the ordnances, the explosion happened and cleaved a momentary pathway for the stealth ship to pass. Wasting no time, the stealth ship zoomed through the temporary corridor of water before the wall of water could collapse to the watery passageway.
"I told you!" Starkiller exclaimed jubilantly as the stealth ship that he was piloting escaped from the crumbling pathway of water. "I know we will make it!"
"You crazy son of a Bantha! Pulling off crazy stunts like that" Rahm Kota cursed loudly through the ship's intercom. It was clear that he was not very fond of Starkiller's suicidal aerobatics. "I will let you drown if you ever plunged the Rouge Shadow into the sea." The berating continued, yet Starkiller did not pay it too much of attention.
"Still, that was a impressive maneuver back there." The general sighed; he did not conceal his amazement to the youngster suicidal but skillful piloting.
"Heh, I told you I got it figured out."
"Keep that attitude, and you will lose your life anytime." The smug response was quickly rebuked.
"Alright, alright." Starkiller relented. He was going to say something when the ship's sensor lightened up, indicating the closing proximity of the ship to the destination. Despite of the terrible weather, Starkiller could see the structures that he had seen before in his meditation through the glass panel of the cockpit. "Kota, can you see it?"
"No boy, I am blind." The general sarcastic remark was transmitted to his communicator, making Starkiller to roll his eyes. "Of course I can see it through the force, boy; as clear as daylight."
"Haha, general." The force master replied in the same manner. "I see a landing pod at the front structure, Kota. I'll meet you and your men there." Starkiller told the old Jedi as he noticed a spacious platform on one of the structures.
"Alright, Starkiller." The general replied. "Just be extra careful when you arrive there first. We do not know when and where the enemies will be."
"Roger that, Kota. Starkiller's out." The Rouge Shadow accelerated to the designated meeting point.
"I have a bad feeling about this, Starkiller." Juno spoke with a blaster pistol in her hand, as the group of several rebel soldiers and commandoes, led by the female commander and two force users marched warily through the empty rooms and chambers in the seemingly abandoned building. "There was no one in here, not even a single stormtrooper."
"I say." Rahm Kota concurred. His green lightsaber swung alertly. "Either this place is abandoned, or-"
"The enemy is waiting to ambush us."Starkiller finished his sentence. He too, was unnerved by the empty presence inside the buildings. His black-colored lightsabers were already activated when he entered the structure for the first time, already getting himself ready to face the stormtroopers' blasters assault. The "hijacking" of his mind during his previous meditation had made Starkiller failed to detect the enemies' presence, with exception of the lone Sith. Not only that, the excess of the dark side energy permeated from the buildings, had rendered his force-detect skill to be useless. Unable to locate the enemies, Starkiller decided to go for the offensive first and prepared himself for the full-frontal attack. Yet to his surprise, he found no one inside; not even a maintenance droid.
"Still, we need to keep moving forward. Maybe we will find answers on what this place really is."Starkiller said to the two, who nodded in unison. In logical state of mind, Rahm Kota would have berated Starkiller for wasting resources and time in a "wild goose chase" over some dreams and vision. But, knowing that the general's formidable force sensitivity was also able to feel the amount of the dark side oozing out from the place, he knew what Starkiller had said did really hold a weight. This was no ordinary Imperial facility; this was a dark place of the Sith, which probably held sinister experiments on cloning techniques.
"Keep your guard up,boy." Rahm Kota warned. "The dark side is pretty thick, and I am sure it's not by chance."
"Already on it, old man."
The group passed through the chambers and corridors rather slowly, finding several terminals and empty tubes along the way. The information found on the terminals showed them that this facility, called Rakesh, was part of the secret project that was held on Timira city. The rather remote establishment was supposed to be a 'priming' ground to 'filter' the stable clones of Galen Marek. Equipped with the prototype geo-manipulator technology that was fixed deep under the ocean floor, Rakesh was spared from getting swallowed by the Kamino's raging ocean. Not only that, the massive machinery itself was able to manipulate the weather in order to cloak Rakesh in perpetual storms, effectively blotting the facility from the map; thus making it a perfect hiding place from both Alliance and Imperial forces. Added with its highly advanced and sophisticated life support system and security system, the super-secret facility could effectively be managed by handful personnel and could also stay independent for centuries. It's no wonder that the personnel's identities did not exist in any known databanks, since they were all secretly handpicked by Vader himself.
"It's affirmative, master." PROXY said. The holodroid opted to stay behind in the Rouge Shadow in order to provide information. "Technically, these people never exist at the first place. Vader must have effectively wiped or heavily altered their identities in order to prevent the risk of information leak."
"I see. Thank you, PROXY."
"Anytime, master."
The party resumed their quest in the abandoned cloning facility.
Few hours later, in Rakesh cloning facility...
The mood of the party was shaken as they passed through the bridge that connected the third and the fourth structure of Rakesh cloning facility. They never knew the five-building establishment could hold such grotesque cruelty that Vader and his team had called as 'science'. The first two buildings that they entered proved to be nothing but the control center and the personnel's living quarters. However, when the small company of soldiers and force masters entered the third building, they all witnessed how depraved the secrets that the dark lord of the Sith was keeping. Instead of hundred of extremely deformed replicas of Galen Marek preserved inside the bacta tanks like the ones found in Timira city, they found myriads of mutilated clones on operating tables and inside preserving tubes. Many of them had their limbs and legs removed, only to be replaced by metallic ones. Some had their faces peeled off and their ribcages cut open, only to have metallic grafts be painfully inserted into the flesh of the unfortunate clones. Even from the outside of the transparent bacta tanks, cables and wires could be seen intertwining with the clones' nerves and veins. It was a macabre sight inside the building that was known as the experimentation ground, making several soldiers and commandoes either hurled or remarked negatively toward such monstrous display of perverted science.
"Ughhh." Jonah, one of Kota's trusted commandoes, wiped his mouth. His pale face clearly showed that he was utterly sickened by such sight. "Imperial bastards!"
Despite of the facility's impressive and state-of-the-art ventilation system, making the experimentation chamber to be totally odorless from the corpses' stench, Starkiller could still felt his stomach convulsed with disgust. The same was also happening to both Kota and Juno as both of them were showing the face of repugnance.
"By the force!"
"Oh, stars! I'm gonna be sick."
"Let's move on." Starkiller instructed. His helmet had effectively stifled his teeth-gritting.
"How dare he! How dare he treat his body and soul like some kind of a lab rat!" He cursed the Sith lord in his mind. It was a fact that as a clone, Starkiller was a very different individual from Galen Marek and his other clones even though they all share the same visual appearance. However, as a clone, Starkiller still inherited the same connection to the force that Galen Marek possessed; the same went to the clones as well. And because of that, Vader's toying with any of the clones meant that he was toying with the rest of them, including Starkiller himself.
Starkiller began to regret his choice in sparing Vader, but he needed his head to be leveled for the present time. Focusing his mind to the goal, Starkiller repressed his anger and kept moving forward toward the next building.
Unlike the previous structures, the fourth building, which was dubbed the proving ground, was actually living its name as the proving ground. As the group entered into the structure, they found a long, winding corridor that led them into a spacious circular area with dome-like ceiling. Although the large room was poorly lighted, the group managed to see the entire interior of the large circular room.
Descending Rows of benches filled the majority portion of the giant chamber; they were all set circling the smaller clearing in the center of the spacious room. A half orb-like lamp that was fixed in the middle of the dome-like ceiling illuminated the circular open area. It was clear to everyone that the proving ground was no other than-
"An arena." One of Kota's commandoes remarked. "This is an arena."
Starkiller and his two friends couldn't agree more to the commando's statement. This is indeed a dueling ground, where the clones probably dueled to the death for Vader's got an uneasy presumption if the vanquished clones would ended up in the tanks and tables that they had seen before in the experimentation ground; sustained to life only to be tortured further. Still, if this was an arena, where are the fighters then?
"Welcome, rebel scums." A cold, mocking voice echoed through the arena. The clacking sound of boots treading the stairs was loud enough to be heard by everyone. Then from the shadows, a figure in black stepped to the center of the arena and stood arrogantly facing Starkiller's party with his hand spread out, making the already tensed soldiers and warriors to fix their blasters and weapons toward the mysterious man. "I see you manage to find this place after all. So, tell me, what you think…. of my home?"
"Your home is but a sick mockery to human lives!" Rahm Kota exclaimed angrily while pointing his lightsaber toward the hooded person.
"Silence, old fool! I don't give you any permission to talk!" The figure hissed with his hand swung toward the aging general. An invisible but powerful push was directed to Kota. Even though with the general's considerable fortitude, Kota was struggling to keep his feet on the ground.
"You bastard. "Starkiller yelled. He was already in his battle stance and was inches away from launching himself toward the enemy. "Who are you?"
"Can't you tell?" The hooded person shook his head in disappointment. Two lightsabers' handle on his belt quickly flew to each of his palms. As he grasped his fingers to his twin lightsabers, crimson-colored energy shot out from the two metallic rods. The hooded one swung the deadly weapons with even deadlier refinement and quickly settled his body language into the one that was ready for battle- Starkiller's battle stance. "even now?"
An extremely displeasing premonition was formed in Starkiller's mind. He turned his face to his companions and they too shared the same face of uneasy suspicion. Starkiller had feared that this moment would come to pass, and here was he, facing the unfathomable truth.
"You are a Sith!" Juno shot out. Her DL-18 blaster pistol was fixed to the face of the black-robed, lighstaber-wielding enemy. "And it is the only thing that we should know about you!"
"Ah, you brought the woman, as well." The Sith said amusedly, his posture relaxed as if he was taunting the group. "She will be the death of you, you know."
"What do you mean?"
"Still, I have to answer the woman first." The Sith continued in his mocking tone. "No, woman. I am not just a Sith."
Deactivating one of his lightsabers, the Sith brought his free hand to his hood and pulled it down imposingly. As the piece of the cloth that covered the Sith's head fell, the light rained down to his head and his face, making it clear for all to behold and be fearful.
To say that Starkiller was disturbed after beholding the Sith's true face was an understatement. His appearance was the very mirror-image of his own; the buzz cut hairstyle, the eyes, the cheek, and everything else were the same as Starkiller's. The differences between their faces were the Sith's sickly green-pale complexion and his flaming auburn eyes that gazed sinisterly to him.
"I am better." The sith ended his introduction.
Kota and Juno, as well as few commandoes that had been present during the battle of Kamino, were utterly stunned. The enemy that they were facing was the other clone of Galen Marek like Starkiller himself, only somewhat eviler and more dangerous. The Sith grinned widely as he felt the group's disbelief and fear.
"It can't be." Starkiller said. Even though he knew that the facility he was currently in used to hold stable clones of Galen Marek, Starkiller still could not believe his own eyes.
"Vader never told you about his successful clone, didn't he?" The evil clone spoke while turning on the deactivated lightsaber. "Then behold, for I am the prime clone of all Starkillers." He arrogantly stated, with his lightsabers danced menacingly through the air.
"Prime or not, surrender now!" The old general demanded with his lightsaber pointing threateningly to the evil clone. "We've got you surrounded!"
"The stupidity of the Jedi!" The evil clone laughed. "Shouldn't Jedi be above ignorance? How Ironic!" He kept on laughing.
The evil clone then pointed one of his lightsabers to Starkiller. "If Vader's army couldn't even stop him, what makes you think that your puny squad can stop me?"
"You underestimate us, Sith." This time, it was Kota's turn to smile. "Though I am blind, it is you that couldn't see clearly. There are two of us here that could-"
"I wasn't finished, Jedi." The evil clone rebuked the old general angrily. The venom in his tone showed that he was somewhat offended by the blind Jedi's insolence. "As I was saying, you can't hope to defeat me!" lightning was formed around the energy blades of his lightsabers.
"Besides, I never said that I was alone."The evil clone finished his statement dangerously.
As the Sith's words ended, unknown figures began to decloak themselves and appeared in multiple positions around the arena, waiting in the shadows. The darkness of the arena hid them pretty well even though they revealed themselves from invisibility. Still, the metallic roar and hooting that the mysterious 'soldiers' produced were unnerving.
Two figures moved closer to the center area where the evil clone was standing, and as they entered into the light, their identities were made clear.
Garbed in black body-fitting suit and armor pieces, the monstrous looking soldiers stepped to the left side and right side of the evil clone; acted as the Sith's bodyguards. They have two metallic claws from their boots, and metallic cables that ran from their arms to their fingers, producing long sinister-looking claws. The armor pieces that they wore on their shoulders, shins, arms and chests shone glossy black. Yet the most imposing part of these "soldiers" was their skull-like helmets, giving off the specter-like appearance. The red sensor fixed on the side of their helmets beeped alarmingly, and the mechanical roaring intensifies.
"TERROR TROOPERS!"
Chaos fell as the exchange of blaster flares and explosives ensued.
Back in Dantooine, deep in the Alliance prison complex.
Darth Vader lie rather peacefully on a slanting metallic slab that bound him. Even though he was rendered immobile in some heavy harness, Darth Vader felt relaxed. He was feeling rather calm even though he was still left with one hand intact. His inability to move and to use the force was rather annoying, but it did not bother him much.
"Say, doesn't he look strange today?" One of the guard said to the other while looking to the Sith lord, displayed on the monitor of the security room.
"What? He's just leaning there all the time. How can he look strange?" the other guard replied.
"I know, I know. But somehow I can feel it. I feel that he is somewhat…happy?"
"What? Man, I've told you to lay off those Nikta! Those alcoholic stuffs are going to get your brain dead.
"Oh, for the kriffing sake, Dak. I haven't touched those shits for a year. A FULL STRAIGHT YEAR, I tell you!"
"Whatever, Jarek. Everyone in here knows that you would cheat your wife over a bottle of Novanian Grog."
"Why you-I'll k-hurghh."
The banter between the two guards ended when the sound of blaster sang. Dak and Jarek were lying lifeless with little smoking holes on each of their heads. The assassin, who had successfully gained entrance to the security room unnoticeable and killed the guards, planted a piece of machinery on the computer panels. Before he left, he set his sight to one the monitors which displayed the Sith lord in restraint.
"Well, well, well; might as well charge extra for this." The figure said in a mechanical voice before storming off the security room.
Darth Vader was in tranquility when he felt the sudden disappearance of the life force of the two sentries that guarded the Sith lord's holding cell. He also felt approaching presence of another person that he knew as the cause of the guards' lost of lives. As the massive doors sled open, letting the light to flow into his cell, Darth Vader saw the incoming assassin entered into room.
"Lord Vader." said the assassin. The Sith Lord recognized such person from the black T-shaped visor of the blemished green Mandalorian helmet that the person wore. "Looks like you are in quite a fix."
"I've been expecting you, bounty hunter." The dark lord spoke in grim neutrality. "I expect everything is in order?"
"You're welcome." The Mandalorian sarcastically replied. He aimed his EE-3 carbine rifle and shot the control panel beside the leaning slab that restrained the dark lord of the Sith. The harness fell apart, and the Sith lord was freed once again.
Using the force, Darth Vader unleashed his pent-up fury to the unfortunate machineries that had restrained him before. As the result, the metallic slab that had bound the Sith Lord was now stuck deep in the wall. The cell itself was brutally disfigured with many parts of its ceiling ripped apart and its walls stabbed with random items. Broken and twisted steels lie helpless on the floor.
"Interesting workout." The bounty hunter joked. Apparently, he was spared from Darth Vader's rage. "I hate to interrupt, but I have a schedule to catch."
"Very well." Darth Vader responded as he walked toward the opened door.
"Oh, before I forget." The Mandalorian bounty hunter recalled on something and took out a small rod from his utility belt. "I believe this is yours." The bounty hunter threw the rod to Darth Vader, who caught it with the force with his still intact hand.
The Sith lord said nothing as he activated the rod and red energy shot out from it. "You were successful to retrieve my lightsaber." Darth Vader said while he tuned his grip on the lightsaber. "I assume you have a plan to leave this place."
"Just this." The Mandalorian in green blemished armor set produced a detonator from his pocket. He pressed the button, and powerful rumble could be felt. Shouts and explosions emerged, and began to become louder and louder; signifying the ever growing Chaos in the prison complex. "And that, is the cue for us to leave."
"Have you informed the Empire of this location?" Darth Vader said as he walked to the corridor.
"Yes, I have" The bounty hunter answered as he walked alongside the Sith lord. "Your 'associates' are already waiting outside, too"
"Impressive."
"I expect my pay will be doubled for this?" the bounty hunter boldly asked
"The empire will RECOMPENSE you for this service." The dark lord replied while he kept on treading forward. The crimson lightsaber in his hand was buzzing angrily.
"I'm glad we have agreement on this." The bounty hunter said as he kept his pace with the Sith lord. "So, after here, where to next?"
"To the hunt!" the cold mechanical voice of the dark lord of Sith ricocheted the walls of the corridor; intensifying his already-considerable appalling figure.
"What's the matter, Jedi? Feeling tired already?" mocked the evil clone, as he launched heavy crates to Starkiller. "Do you want to take a break?"
"I've told you, I. AM. NOT. A. JEDI!" Starkiller retorted while launching a powerful energy sphere to blow the incoming crates away.
"Pitiful, you are even not a Sith." The evil clone kept on the offensive, utilizing force lightning and saber throw hand-in-hand.
"Grrr, SHUT UP!" Starkiller countered the attack with the combination of powerful force push and saber barrier.
"Make me!" The clone yelled as he evaded Starkiller's spinning lightsaber and grabbed his returning lightsaber. "That is if you can catch me." The clone exclaimed as he landed and run further away from Starkiller.
"Come back here!" Starkiller roared as he gave chase in the connecting bridge to the final structure of Rakesh cloning facility.
Starkiller did not like with the progress of the battle. The Sith was drawing him further and further away from his companions; the evil clone did not engage Starkiller in serious combat and had been taunting him to pursue the Sith. Starkiller smelled a trap was waiting for him, ready to be sprung at any time and He didn't like it. He didn't like the idea rushing to the unknown without the help of the old general's expertise and the fleet commander's marksmanship. Still, he didn't want to harm his friends; he would rather jump blindly into the ambush than leading his friends to their doom. Recalling his nightmares and visions, Starkiller assumed that those premonitions had something to do with the current predicament. He made sure that the worse did not come to pass.
"What do you mean 'stay here'?" Kota yelled while he deftly sliced the arm of the terror trooper that suddenly appeared behind him. "Do you intend to take him on yourselves, boy?"
"Trust me, Kota." Starkiller evaded and deflected several stun blasts from skull-faced troopers. He then unleashed a mighty violet lightning storm toward the hostile crowd of terror troopers, stunning them and making them all jolting uncontrollably as violent electricity ran though their bodies. "I can handle him myself."
"But, he is very powerful, boy. I can feel it." Kota argued. He was using force push to blow away the pouncing terror trooper to the wall. "He is you, after all."
"I said I can do it!" Starkiller furiously launched a lightining-imbued energy sphere to an unfortunate terror trooper, who was taking potshot from the shadow. The energy ball was so powerful that when it detonated upon impact, the said trooper was instantly disintegrated into nothingness. "This is something that I have to do for myself."
"Very well." Rahm Kota utilized his masterful soresu to deflect the incoming attacks. "What do you want me to do then, Starkiller?"
"I need you-"The black-colored lightsaber intercepted the orange-colored energy fire from finding its mark. "and Juno-" Another swung maimed a now one-armed trooper. "-to stay here and-DUCK!"Starkiller yelled to a commando while he threw his lightsaber toward the said soldier. The commando took the cue and did as had been told, letting the weapon to pass above his head harmlessly and find its true target: the head of a skull-faced trooper. The severed head of the enemy fell unceremoniously to the ground, and the energy weapon returned to the force master's hand. "-lead your men to hold off the enemy. Can you do that for me?"
"Of course-" The old Jedi launched several benches with the force toward the troopers who evaded them rather easily, only to have their back blasted from the blaster barrage that Juno and several rebel soldiers fired. "-I can do it, boy. What do you think I am? A blind fool?"
"No, not fool. Just a drunkard."Starkiller quipped as he electrocuted a trooper with one hand, stopping him from moving any further and letting a nearby rebel soldier to finish the job.
"Heh, cheeky son of a Bantha." The blind Jedi replied as he repelled another slashing attack from the troopers with the force. "Alright then, we will cover this side."
"Thanks old man."Starkiller sidestepped an incoming slash and countered it with a brutal downward slash that left the attacking trooper to pieces. He was going to storm off the body-littered arena chamber when a feminine but strong voice called his name. He turned his head to see Juno; her concerned face was clear for Starkiller to see as she had been nearby when the conversation between him and Kota happened.
"Be careful."
"I will." And with it, Starkiller stormed off the chamber to give chase his evil clone.
Starkiller kept his pace behind the Sith while occasionally evading random debris that the evil clone threw. He recalled the fight against the nefarious terror troopers that he had previously in the arena. Although he had previously held no qualms with the death of rebel soldiers during the Alliance's invasion of Kamino, he felt a bit saddened with the Alliance casualties on the arena chamber. Even though the presence of two force masters had tipped the advantage for the rebels' favor, the losses on the rebels' side could not be prevented. Bodies began to pile up in the explosion filled feared that with his departure from the battle, the fight that the rebels had with the forces of the Sith would be even harder.
"Watch out for the big ones!" A mocking yell broke Starkiller's reverie. Underneath his helmet,Starkiller saw speeding debris that ranged from crates, computer terminals and huge tubes werehurled at him. With his force-enhanced senses, Starkiller skillfully evaded them.
"Impressive." The clone said contemptuously while he deactivated one of his lightsabers and reattached it on his belt. "But can you handle this!" He raised his open hand above his head and with the power of the force, he ripped open the roof of the bridge. Debris started to rain down on Strakiller, with giant piece of metal that used to be the roof of the bridge floated menacingly above his head. The clone smiled evilly as he swipe his hand downward, making the massive metal fell toward Starkiller.
Wasting no time, Starkiller ran to the side to avoid being crushed to death. In fluidity of movement, he jumped to the walls and kicked ithard to send himself the opposite side. His feet met the skidded metal, and with the help of the force, he propelled himself to the open gash of the bridge.
Thunderstorms were waiting for Starkiller outside. He felt the seeping cold across his body as the rain poured heavily on his experimental suit of armor, while he ran on the intact part of the bridge's roof. With the force leap, Starkiller managed to land safely on the elliptical roof of the final structure of Rakesh cloning facility. He looked around to find the evil clone, and managed to see him standing not far from the central lightning pole of the structure.
"Very wonderful. It seems you are not without skills." Starkiller's evil clone taunted. "It seems you are not as weak as you look."
"Why do you lead me to here?" Starkiller yelled. He had had enough with the evil clone's mocking and dangerous mischief. "ANSWER ME!"
"Impatient, aren't we?" The Sith laughed at the force master. He pressed some buttons on his wrist and a nearby big trap door flipped open, revealing a path to the inside of the structure. "All in due time, Jedi. But first, follow me."
Ending his sentence, the Sith jumped into the open door, leaving Starkiller to follow suit.
Starkiller hated the evil clone to the guts. He hated him not because of his nature of user of the dark side, nor was his mocking and mischief. No, he hated the evil clone mostly because his stubborn addressing Starkiller as "Jedi". Starkiller loathed such moniker on himself, even though he was a force user. The reason for his discomfort in using that title was not because he hated the ancient venerable order and its follower. The real reason was because Starkiller had a very different belief on the force. Although he accepted in certain degree several teachings of the Jedi Order, he could not agree on the Jedi limitation on the using of the force. In Starkiller's belief, the basest and probably the truest concept of the force, despite of its abstraction was that it made everything in the universe- even the dark-sided and the light-sided. The entirety and the omnipresence of the force could not be pettily limited to dark side and light side like black and white, for it was everything. Since it made the entire thing in the galaxy, the concept of limiting the use of the force was absurd to Starkiller. The force itself was the ever-changing power, that none could only hope to be beyond the force without ever realizing it. Even the ancient emperor of the Sith, the one that came before Palpatine, was made little before the force itself.
For that reason, Starkiller made his own mantra, the one that derived from the teachings of both the Jedi and the Sith. If the Jedi code represented constancy and the Sith code represented evolution, then Starkiller's mantra represented both as such was his nature and the force. For such reason as well, Starkiller did not called his apprentice, the young Luke Skywalker, as Padawan. He, too held no reservation on teaching his pupil techniques that was deemed dangerous or forbidden by the Jedi order. However, Starkiller still emphasized the importance of self-control and discipline in his teachings to keep oneself from straying too far from the path of the universality of the force.
"Remember, Luke. The force runs to everything and in everything. It does not lean to the light nor does it lean to the dark. That's why, to be truly fluent in the force, one must walk the path that accept the virtues of both light and darkness."
"I understand, master. That's why in the mantra, there is a saying that says-"
"I am the force."
Therefore, it was no surprise when Starkiller felt offended by the clone's calling him "Jedi". If Starkiller kept on the path of universality, then on what grounds could the evil follower of the eternal thirst for power claim that he was the follower of constanity?
Starkiller was fuming as he slid down the hatch and into the shaft that brought him into another dark chamber. The glimmering white outline from his black-colored lightsabers could only provide little illumination against the total darkness of the chamber. Still, as a force master, Starkiller knew better to rely on other senses rather than on sight alone. Enhanced by the force, Starkiller could sense the strong presence of the dark side within the room, although there was no sight of the crimson light from the Sith's lightsaber.
"It's no use hiding from me, Sith!" It was Starkiller's turn to taunt the evil clone. "I know you are here." His lightsabers swung ready for any surprise attack.
Then, all of the sudden…
The light appeared in the center of the dark room. Instead of illuminating the entire room, the pillar of light displayed a floating object that was suspended immobile in the bask of light. Starkiller moved closer to the light in order to gain a better sight to the object. As he ambled before the pillar of light, Starkiller was aghast to find out that the object was a dead body.
It was not just an ordinary body!
It was clothed in some sort of thick raiment, with its shins and arms covered in convolution of bandages. Heavy thick belts surrounded its waists. The corpse also had a buzz cut hairstyle with the same physical appearance of Starkiller himself. Even though the breath of life had long departed from such body, as Starkiller detected no life-force emanating from it, there was still residual trace of the force within it. The residue showed the similarity of the connection to the force that Starkiller now possessed, and it was not the same like those in the clones. The trace of the force was ancient and somewhat rougher in texture than those possessed by the clones. A revelation struck to Starkiller's mind as he knew who was the one floating in the light. It was not a simple body of a clone. It was the body of –
"Galen Marek!"
Starkiller wanted to scream, but somehow his throat refused to produce any sound and his tongue lie lame. Painful memory surged into his mind, especially the one when Galen Marek single handedly contained the Emperor's furious lightning.
"So you know who that is." A lone voice rang in the shadows. "Vader said most of us went crazy when shown to this…thing. It seems you have the mental fortitude like I do, or…Vader is lying."
Starkiller was still trying to cope with the memory surge. His own past memory of finding out his identity as a clone appeared only to worsen the situation. He was not combat ready and would surely fell if the enemy employed a surprise attack.
"WHERE ARE YOU!?" Starkiller yelled ferally while he looked left and right for the enemy.
"I'M RIGHT HERE!" Twin crimson lightsabers cleaved downward to Starkiller's head. In split seconds, Starkiller managed to recollect some of his consciousness and sound mind; and with it, he was able to create an acceptable defense with his two lightsabers to block the attack. Sparks flew as the energy blades grinded against one another in a fierce blade-lock.
"I can feel your mind seeping away to the darkness." The evil clone coldly mocked. "What's the matter, the revelation's too much for you?" He pressed even harder; the blade-lock tilted closer to Starkiller.
"GRRRR, SHUT UP!" Starkiller pushed the blade-lock with his lightsabers, but to no avail.
"Face it, you are weaker than me." The Sith said while maintaining his already advantageous position. "Just give up and die!"
"NEVER!" Starkiller furiously replied, only to be thrown away by the Sith's force push.
"Pathetic. Such weakness will cause you your death." The Sith mocked while walking intimidatingly toward his opponent. He purposely took his time in sauntering toward the downed force user. The evil clone decided to break his opponent even further before taking his life.
Starkiller felt helpless. He was in pain after being pushed violently by the Sith, but he was far from being wounded. He, too was far from being tired, yet his bodies seemed to refuse to move. He was even struggling to get up after being thrown.
"Damn it, am I this powerless?" He questioned himself while his body quivered. "Am I going to die here?"
"Don't give up!"
"Huh?"
"Don't give up! You are not weaker than him." Starkiller recognized the voice. It was the voice that he had heard during the moment of his unconsciousness in Tatooine!
"Who are you?" Starkiller asked with his mind-voice.
"There is no time! Remember: Always follow the force! Follow your code!" the voice faded away.
"Whoever you are, thank you." Starkiller whispered underneath his helmet.
"Talking to yourselves?" The Sith jeered as he caught what Starkiller said in hushed tone. "Have you finally gone mad?"
Starkiller rose to his feet. "No." He replied neutrally. "I only find the way to defeat you." His tone reflected his returning spirit. The encouraging words of the disembodied voice had helped him in regaining his senses and reason.
"Big words for a broken Jedi." The evil clone snarled. "Let's see if you can back those words with your head severed."
The Sith leaped swiftly to the armored Jedi. His lightsabers were held in a position that was ready to decapitate the immobile man. It was clear that the victory belonged to the Sith, yet unfortunately for him, it did not happen. Instead of executing the Jedi, the intended target adroitly avoided the blow and countered the attack by sending a powerful kick to the Sith's back before he landed on the ground. The strength of the kick, added with the momentum of the descent, sent the clone painfully to the wall.
"There is passion." Starkiller calmly said as he pulled his lightsabers from the ground with the force. "And there is peace."
"Khh, lucky shot." The Sith pulled himself out from the crater on the wall. "You won't be so lucky next time."
The clone unleashed a barrage of lightning-imbued force spheres to Starkiller. Explosion rocked the chamber, but Starkiller was unhurt. He dexterously evaded the impact while launching his own counter-measures in the form of force push. Through the force, Starkiller deflected the energy bombs before they could harm him.
"Impossible!"
"There is strength, and there is serenity." Starkiller reactivated his black-colored lightsabers and swung them ready for combat. He ambled slowly toward the Sith.
"EAT THIS!" It was the clone's turn to be angry, as he drove gusts after gusts of force push, which Strakiller easily sidestepped. The armored force master was closing in as he increased his pace. With crimson lightsabers in both of his hand, the evil clone dashed toward his opponent to met him in lightsabers combat. Once again, the warriors fixed in the blade-lock.
"This can't be!" The Sith yelled in disbelief. He had channeled his fury to overpower the silver-armored warrior, but he did not even budge from the pressure. "How do you find such power?!"
"There is power, and there is knowledge." Starkiller cooly replied, further aggravating the Sith.
"Oh, spare me from your meaningless lecture." The angry Sith broke away from the blade-lock and deliver a furious flurry of slashes.
Starkiller responded the attack in the same fashion, only the fashion of his assault was calmer than before. For each blow intended for him, Starkiller skillfully blocked and redirected them away, giving no chance for the Sith to deliver a mortal blow. Their mastery of combat forms were brought to play, but still the Sith gained no advantage over Starkiller.
"Rrraagh!" The evil clone channeled his dark energy to his lightsabers, extending their length and imbuing them with powerful electricity. He drove them downward, only to be rebounded by a massive burst of force push launched by Starkiller through his lightsabers. The Sith moved to attack the lower region by sweeping his lightsaber to his opponent feet.
Starkiller, knowing his enemy's trick, spun himself to the flow of the attack albeit faster; thus missing himself from getting struck by the enemy's lightsabers. Using the momentum of the spinning, Starkiller swung one of his lightsaber backhandedly toward the passing lightsabers, warding them away and staggering the Sith. Caught off guard from such parry, the evil clone was stunned and did not realize that his opponent already deliver his riposte. As the result, his opponent other black-colored lightsaber grazed the flesh above his elbow.
"Yearrggh!"The evil clone madly yelled like a wounded beast. The searing pain stung his flesh greatly that he dropped one of his lightsabers. He managed to jump backward in retreat and readied himself in shien form battle stance, before his opponent could launch any attacks.
"There is victory, and there is harmony." Starkiller's neutral tone taunted the injured Sith. Although with the injuring of the Sith raised Starkiller's winning chance exponentially, he kept his mind calm and his fury controlled.
"Let's see if you can keep on saying that nonsense after THIS!" The black-clad clone drove both hands to the front and let loose a furious violet thunderstorm. Starkiller would surely be electrocuted to death if he did not generate his own lightning barrage on the right moment. The furious tendrils of electricity battled against one another, and stray sparks randomly scorched the several places in the chamber. The flashes of the lightning battle illuminated the room, while crackles and fizzles echoed. The focal point where the two lightnings met was blazing white as it moved back and forth.
Although his facial appearance was hidden underneath his battle helmet, Starkiller was strunggling with difficulty. He was sweating profusely as his hands began to tremble. In this lightning push-of-war, both contenders' proficiency in channeling the force to generate violent lightning was tested to the limit. Not only was it the battle of force power that each of them possessed, but also a battle of willpower and mental fortitude. Loss of focus will certainly result in the loss of life.
As the battle dragged on, electrical surges from the two lightnings began to flow to the hands of the warriors. Pain stung powerfully into their hands, but none of them seemed to relent.
"Can you feel your life-force ebbed away?" The Sith grinned even though his body started to tremble. Sweats can be seen dripping from his temple. He, too was struggling to keep the offensive. "Let go, and embrace your death!"
"The force…provides me everything…that I need." Starkiller defiantly replied. He was not going to lose and die here without knowing some answers. "There is freedom,…and there is unity." He continued his mantra to keep his mental fortitude strong.
"YOU….CAN'T…WIN..THIS!" The clone laboriously yelled as he channeled even more fury to the attack, making the violet lightning to glow even brighter. The focal point began to shift to the direction of Starkiller.
"I…WILL…NOT…LOSE…FOR…I AM….THE FORCE!" Starkiller, too released his entire fury into the lightning with formidable focus. The thunderstorm that he generated from his palm shone brighter.
The intensity of the force within the clashing points of the lightning rose dangerously. It seemed it was ready to explode at any time, when suddenly the unpredictable happened.
Instead of exploding, an anomaly occurred in the form of the ever growing energy ball. The lucid, unstable energy sphere began to expand and blanket the focal point. Then it began to grow as more and more spaces between the two fighters were covered. It was clear that the energy blanket would soon envelop both Starkiller and the Sith.
"What did you do?!" The Sith accused, demanding his opponent's explanation on the strange happening. Panic and uncertainty was in his voice, but still his hands did not stop from blasting out fiery lightning.
"It wasn't me!" Starkiller exclaimed. He,too did not give the Sith any chance to gain advantage against him. Thunderstorm ran furiously from his extended hands.
As predicted, the lucid energy screen soon devoured the still-fighting warriors. All of as sudden, the white-glowing focal point changed color into bright green, and soon the energy screen followed suit.
"This must be you trick, Jedi. I won't fall for this."
"I've told you, it's not m-"
Starkiller sentence was left unfinished as the green energy screen that enveloped them suddenly flashed bright and engulfed them completely in blinding whiteness. Scream was unheard and outlines of the form disappeared.
As the light died down, a giant circular scorch mark was left on the ground. There was no shouts, no hissing sounds of the lightsabers and no clashing of thunders. All that was left was a soft humming from the machineries that suspended the floating corpse of Galen Marek. There was no presence of the two monstrous warriors that previously did battle with fire and lightning in the chamber.
Starkiller and the Sith were no longer in there.
This chapter is a tribute to George Lucas.