Star Wars – The Force Unleashed – Daughter of Fate
Chapter 4
2 BBY – On the Rogue Shadow on the next mission to Raxus Prime
Starkiller looked out of the viewport at the massive hunk of garbage that had once been a planet. Raxus Prime was the waster disposal unit of the entire galaxy with every kind from of waste and junk imaginable, some of it was even valuable enough to reuse again as many scavengers, pirates and bounty hunters scoured the service of the planet to find something of value amongst the garbage heap. Starkiller once again thought over the mission ahead and the details his master had given him about the next Jedi target.
............
Two days before
"Master Kota is dead" said the low mechanical voice of Darth Vader.
"Yes" replied Starkiller submissively.
"His lightsaber" said Vader.
Starkiller was about to unclip the blade from his own belt but his master levitated the blade toward himself and examined the blade with interest and turned back to his apprentice.
"My spies have been watching another Jedi. Kazdan Paratus is hiding on the junk world of Raxus Prime" said Vader.
"I'll deal with him as I dealt with Rahm Kota" replied Starkiller.
"Kazdan Paratus is far more powerful then you. I do not expect you to survive. But should you succeed, you will be one step closer to your destiny" said Vader.
Starkiller raised his head "The Emperor"
"Yes, only together can we defeat him" said Vader.
"I will not fail you Lord Vader" replied Starkiller.
With no response from his master Starkiller stood up and left the lower observation deck of the Executor. In the hangar bay he found Setra meditating deeply seeing that a crate and two cryo cylinders were levitating just off the floor. Sensing his presence Setra opened her eyes and the crate and cylinders landed on the ground with a steady thud. She turned around to see Starkiller looking at her.
"Papa, sorry I know I should be doing study with PROXY but I was troubled about something and I had to take a break" said Setra.
Starkiller smiled at her. For a four year old she was remarkably intelligent and mature. He approached her slowly and knelt down to be eye level with her.
"It's alright Setra. Sometimes taking a break is good for you. It allows one to concentrate and focus. You look like you've made some more progress. Whenever I've seen you meditate I've never seen you be able to levitate heavy objects before" replied Starkiller.
"I know. I only just started being able to do it a little while ago. Does this mean you'll teach me more force powers papa" said Setra.
Starkiller's eyes turned sad "Not just yet. You need to practice a little more" replied Starkiller.
Setra's face sank "But papa. It's been such a long time. I'm ready for more lessons I know I am" said Setra.
"I know Setra, you are doing really well but you aren't ready to be exposed to the Dark Side yet. You need to be able to control that first before you learn anything else or it could consume you completely if it does not think you worthy enough" replied Galen "I don't want anything to happen to you Setra. I was about your age when Vader exposed me and I barely survived the experience. It almost consumed me and though it has helped to make me become what I am now I still hate to remember that part of my life. Setra I want to make sure that you are ready when the time comes, I don't want you to go through what I did, so just be patient and the time will come. I promise you" replied Starkiller.
"Alright papa. I can wait" said Setra.
Setra embraced Starkiller and though he was reluctant at first he returned the embrace back. Juno watched on at the tender moment between the two and felt a small pang of empathy for Starkiller. Even though he was a warrior of darkness and hatred there was still some shred of humanity left in him after the years that Vader had slowly stripped it all away. It seemed that even though he knew he would eventually have to teach her of the Dark side as she was his apprentice it was as if he didn't want her to, like he was protecting her from it. Juno resumed her previous activities by the time both Starkiller and Setra had arrived upon the ship. Juno had her orders and so the Rogue Shadow took off and departed for Raxus Prime.
............
Present Time
While Starkiller meditated within his chambers Setra came up and sat next to Juno in the co-pilot's seat of the Rogue Shadow. Juno smiled at her, she had grown very fond of Setra over the past few weeks and both had developed a close bond to one another. To Juno it didn't surprise her that Setra would always seek her out seeing that she only had male company for the most part of her small life. She concentrated again on flying the ship when she saw that Setra had climbed into the chair nap and so she let her sleep. Juno herself felt lulled by drowsiness and her mind wandered elsewhere, back to a memory that she would have rather forgotten.
"They have no defences" said Juno to Lord Vader via the intercom in her modified Tie Bomber "the battle is over"
"It is far from over, Captain Eclipse. Continue your assault" replied the deep and foreboding voice that came from the other side of the intercom.
Juno sighed out in frustration. Never in her life would she disobey a direct order from Lord Vader herself but if she and the Black Eight Squadron continued their assault on the planet she knew the consequences for the inhabitants would be dire. Suddenly Juno's intercom crackled a message from her commander on the other side aware of the fact that he was a Sith Lord and probably knew exactly what he current thoughts on the situation were.
"I sense your disapproval Captain. Speak your mind if you must" said Vader.
"With respect sir, it would be genocide to maintain the bombardment – a completely unnecessary waste of life. They are already beaten" replied Juno.
"Since you feel so strongly on this matter, Captain, I will give you an alternative course of action. Strike the planetary reactor at the following co-ordinates, and strike it hard. Once that is out of action. I will consider this mission complete" said Vader.
Juno sighed out in relief "Thankyou, Lord Vader"
"Your gratitude is wasted on me. Give me success. Captain. That is all" replied Vader.
"Is that why he chose you to be with us" said Setra who snapped Juno out of her half asleep state.
"What do you mean little one?" replied Juno as she knew that Setra would also be capable of reading minds.
"Your mission on Callos. You succeeded and that's why you're with us" said Setra.
"Yes, like I said before Vader handpicked me to be your new pilot little one" replied Juno "did you look into my memories and see what happened"
Setra suddenly panicked a little "I'm sorry Juno. I didn't mean to look, really. Being someone like me when I nap or meditate I don't do it deliberately, it just happens. I can't really control the things I want to see yet"
Juno comforted the youngling "It's alright Setra. I know you by now and I know that you would do nothing like that on purpose. I guess no one can really help it if they are gifted in the way you and Starkiller are"
"Thankyou Juno. There is just one thing that troubled me though. If you succeeded in your mission, why are you so sad about it, did something bad happen?" said Setra.
Feeling that she could trust the youngling Juno thought it best to tell her what happened "Yes little one. Something bad did happen. Something that I am still ashamed of" said Juno sadly.
"What happened" replied Setra listening intently.
"We had already bombed the planet enough to know that it would take many decades to rehabilitate the planet again. Our bombing raids had been successful in every mission and I didn't know why Lord Vader wanted us to continue. Sensing my thoughts he gave me an alternate course of action, to destroy the planetary reactor. I thought that this would be a good move, that the destruction of one facility would be a lot less then having to make the rest of the planet suffer. What a fool I was, to think that Lord Vader was a merciful being" said Juno.
"So when you destroyed the reactor, something bad happened" replied Setra.
"The worst possible thing happened little one. Once the bombs struck the facility massive fumes of toxic gas belched out of the rubble and consumed the atmosphere of the planet. I felt as though someone had stabbed me in the chest and ripped out my heart for me to see. Lord Vader had used my own disapproval against me and because of it an entire planet died within hours. Because of me an entire planet was reduced to nothing but a dark shadow of its former self, just like the planet before us now" said Juno as she pointed out of the viewport to the dead planet of Raxus Prime which was now nothing more then a massive junkyard.
"But Juno, how could it be your fault, Lord Vader was the one who told you to do it, you didn't know that would happened" replied Setra.
"Yes little one, but I made the choice to obey his command, from the beginning of the bombing raids I could have refused to do it. I could have run away and never looked back but I knew if I did then I would now be as dead as the surface of Callos. I obeyed and order merely to survive another day. That choice I made wasn't heroic in anyway, it was selfish" said Juno.
"I guess. Listen Juno, many people in the galaxy do bad things but on the inside that doesn't mean that they are all bad; it doesn't mean they can't have another chance" replied Setra.
"What do you mean little one?" said Juno.
"Look at papa, he's done a lot worse, he always has to go out and kill lots of people because Lord Vader tells him to and if he doesn't then I know he would be killed himself. I know he's a dark person and I know he seems really bad but I always sensed a light inside of him, the goodness, the side that PROXY and I see. I think that people deserve to be redeemed, if they are willing to do it and who knows, usually things happen for a reason regardless of how bad or good they were" replied Setra.
Juno couldn't help but smile at Setra. The girl was an old soul, someone who had lived in a previous life and had experienced it fully and was now reborn in the physicality of a four year old girl. She was right, how was Juno supposed to know that destroying the planetary reactor would have had such dire consequences. Her request to stop the bombardment on the inhabitants had clearly shown Juno that her heart was in the right place, considering the circumstances she was under. She knew that looking back on it or even pretending that it never happened wouldn't stop the fact that it did. Setra then got of the co-pilot's chair and hugged her arms around Juno's waist. Though surprised by her actions Juno returned it by picking Setra up into her lap and just hugging her. No one had ever hugged her like that before, not since she was Setra's own age. Both of them stayed in that position for a while longer until they heard the opening of a door in the background and Starkiller emerged from his meditation chamber. Setra jumped out of Juno's lap and got out of the way so that Starkiller could sit in the co-pilot's chair. The Rogue Shadow made it descent through the cloudy and polluted atmosphere of Raxus Prime and made its way down to a secure location. All the inhabitants of the ship looked forward in awe through the viewport at the superstructure in front of them.
"Amazing" said Juno "it looks just like the Jedi Temple on Courascant"
"There's a great force presence here" added Setra "whoever built it has a great power amount of power"
"PROXY, are you picking up any communications?" said Starkiller.
"Too many to decipher master" said the droid clearly concentrating "I can hear hundreds of droids calling out to one another. This is where droids go to die"
"Or are taken" replied Juno.
"What about Kazdan Paratus?" said Starkiller.
"I can't hear any clues that would lead us to him" replied PROXY.
"Alright then. Juno. Set us down as close to that thing as you can" said Starkiller.
"I'll do my best" replied Juno "there are not many clearings, you'll need to approach the temple on foot"
Juno nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder. It seemed that Setra was right, Starkiller was wary of newcomers but wasn't so bad once you got to know him. In the end there wasn't enough room to set down the Rogue Shadow so she hovered waiting for Starkiller to tell her when to lower the ramp so he could make his own descent to the planet floor. Once Starkiller found an appropriate spot he called out to Juno to lower the ramp.
"Circle past the temple and wait for my signal" said Galen.
"Be careful" replied Juno "the sludge out there looks corrosive"
"Will do. See you soon" said Starkiller as he jumped off the ramp and descended to the junk piles below.
One thing Setra noted was the horrible and pungent smell that came into the ship once the ramp had opened. Setra scowled in disgust.
"Man, this place smells worse then a dead wampa that's been through the digestive tract of a rancor" said Setra.
"How would you know little one?" replied Juno laughingly.
"On the mission just before you came papa was sent to find an artefact in the wilds of Dathomir and he took me with him. It definitely wasn't the most pleasant experience I ever had and it would have been better had the rancor not decided to try us out as seconds and not having to run away like crazy" said Setra.
Juno laughed at the youngling. She barely remembered the last time she had been so carefree. The last time she remembered it might have been as a child before her mother died. Her mother had always taken her out to play as a youngling and they were some of the memories that she cherished the most. Suddenly compelled upon the subject she asked Setra a question.
"Do you remember your mother at all little one, before Starkiller found you on Naboo?" said Juno.
Setra thought "Not really, I remember a few things but not much"
"Tell me" replied Juno curiously.
"Well, I remember that I looked like her. She had long brown hair and big brown eyes and she used to smile a lot. I also remember a man; I think he was my real papa. When no one was around he'd practice with a lightsaber just like my papa now except it was a bright green colour. I think the Force helped me to remember these things. I was so young then. What about you Juno, what is your mama like?" said Setra.
"She was beautiful but I don't remember her that much either. I remember that she was kind and thoughtful. Everything changed after she was killed. She died during a revolt between Rebels and Imperial soldiers on Corulag when I was about your age. It changed my father for the worst. He wasn't as kind and gentle as he used to be. He was the one who encouraged me to join the Imperial Academy and even when I met his expectations it was never enough. We just became strangers to each other. Do you remember what happened to your mother little one?" replied Juno.
"Well not much. Papa told me more then I already knew. I remember scary white men marching into the house. My mama and papa hid me. I heard my papa's lightsaber start humming and he killed all of the bad men and left the house. Mama told me to stay where I was and so I waited and waited but she didn't come back. I then remember my papa now finding me and he took me back to the Rogue Shadow and I met PROXY there and he tucked me into bed. Papa told me that I was from Naboo, the planet where the Emperor was born" said Setra.
Juno smiled gently a Setra for confiding to her "Thankyou for telling me little one. It's good to know that I'm not the only one" replied Juno.
Setra beamed back and resumed her previous activities of going through the Rogue Shadow's database and learning new things. PROXY suddenly ran to Juno to tell her something.
"Captain Eclipse, I am reading multiple droid signatures that are surrounding my master's current position" said PROXY.
Immediately Juno once again opened the intercom that led to Starkiller's comlink and gave him the information.
"There is some sort of activity near a downed corvette north of your position" said Juno.
"What kind of activity?" replied Starkiller.
"I'm not certain. We are in the upper atmosphere now, and there is a lot of interference. PROXY is picking up what might be droid signature headed in that direction" said Juno.
"Do you think it could be a welcoming committee?" replied Starkiller.
"Maybe…"
"JUNO LOOK OUT, THE LANE" shouted Setra.
With a quick burst of adrenaline Juno looked forward to see that the Rogue Shadow was being pulled in by a magnetic lane. With a quick series of manoeuvres Juno got them out of the magnetic field just in time as what looked like an old fuselage exploded moments later.
"What's wrong?" came Galen's voice through the intercom.
"Nothing – now. I just got too close to one of those magnetic lanes, and an unstable derelict exploded. Everything's under control. You just worry about keeping your boots clean" replied Juno.
"Alright then, keep in touch" said Starkiller amusingly.
Juno looked back to see if everyone was okay. Setra was on the floor giggling at PROXY who was attempting to emerge from under a pile of equipment that had fallen off the shelf and on top of him while the magnetic field had been pulling in the ship. The droid got up and dusted himself off and sighed annoyingly.
"Honestly youngling, how do you find that funny, we were nearly blown to smithereens by a malfunctioning engine and all you could do was laugh ay my misfortune" said PROXY.
"Oh come on PROXY, where's your sense of fun and excitement" replied Setra as she got up off the ground.
"My sense of fun and excitement involves safe activities like looking through the databases, repairing the ship and helping when needed, not your sense of daredevil antics shared by you and the master" said PROXY.
"Safe! That's rich coming from you PROXY. You nearly get cut to pieces everyday when you spar papa" replied Setra.
"You know very well youngling that I do it to achieve my primary programming. It is a very serious matter and not one that I like to keep failing the master on" said PROXY.
"Whatever you say PROXY" replied Setra as she levitated the fallen equipment back to its place on the shelf.
Juno suddenly turned around again when she heard Starkiller's voice through the comlink.
"Captain Eclipse" said Starkiller.
"Juno here" she replied.
"Do Imperial Records have any reports of Rodian scavengers on Raxus Prime?" said Starkiller.
Juno turned to Setra.
"Setra, you're looking through the archives. Do you think you could look up and Rodians that are currently on Raxus Prime" said Juno.
"Sure thing Juno" replied Setra.
After a few minutes Setra downloaded the information into a nearby datapad, jumped into the co-pilot's seat and spoke through the intercom.
"Hi papa. Here's the information" said Setra.
"What have you got for me Setra" replied Starkiller.
"The Rodian that you found is called Drexl Roosh and his gang of thugs. He's wanted for 38 counts of fraud, selling faulty materials and illegal slave trading" said Setra.
"I think we've discovered where he getting all of his goods" replied Starkiller as he listened to the Rodians bickering amongst one another in Basic and ordering around their Jawa slaves.
"Move faster you scum. The scavenger droids will be on us soon!" shouted one of the Rodians "If you bottom feeders don't get these Jawas moving, I'm going to add another ten thousand credits to each of your heads. Do you hear me!?"
Starkiller watched in amusement as the surrounding scavenger droids began shooting electric charges towards Jawas scaring them away. He then saw a one eyed Rodian with a jetpack come into view. He landed with a soft thud and clambered slowly down a hill of rubbish and broken ship parts. Starkiller noted his rough appearance. The Rodian had deep purple skin and a sported a Mohawk and wore what looked to be bits and pieces of old mercenary armour. On his utility belt he carried what looked like a hand made vibro-sword that was relatively large even for the Rodian's height. He scolded hi workers.
"You idiots! Clean up this mess and come back with something we can sell, or don't come back at all" shouted Drexl.
He then reignited his jetpack and flew back in the direction he came from, likely back to his headquarters deeper in the junk heap wasteland. Sneakily Starkiller raced into the corvette and killed all of the opposing Rodians and aliens that might hinder his progress further toward the makeshift Jedi Temple. After his small skirmish he heard Juno's voice from the other side.
"Are you having fun down there?" said Juno,
"I'm making progress" replied Starkiller.
"Progress at what? Making things complicated" said Juno.
Ignoring her protests Starkiller levitated what was remaining of the wrecked corvette and hurled it out of the way to reveal a passage into the superstructure.
"Are you trying to create a distraction Starkiller, or trying to draw attention to yourself?" said Juno.
"Choose the answer you prefer" replied Starkiller as he made his way through the superstructure to the top.
Starkiller entered a room that was an exact recreation of the old council chamber in the Jedi Temple in Courascant complete with droid recreations of the former Jedi Council themselves but Starkiller's gaze was drawn to the smaller figure in the centre of the room.
"Kazdan Paratus, at last" said Starkiller.
The small creature turned around on his own creation of a spiderlike contraption of four mechanical legs that raised his height considerably from his biological physicality of the Aleena species. He was and old creature, small in size but bore a large skull, pale blue coloured eyes and long nimble fingers. A harness attached him to his walking contraption and in the left ligament was his lightsaber, a double-bladed pike that shone blue. His contraption raised him up to eye level with Starkiller and the old Jedi Master came towards him menacingly.
"Sith trash. Don't worry masters, I'll defend you" said Paratus, showing that his mentality had somewhat diminished during his years of exile.
The Jedi Master lunged towards Starkiller and instantly cut a deep gash into his forearm. Springing into action, unaware of the pain from his wound like many he had received before in sparring with his master Darth Vader he began to attack the Aleenian but each strike was knocked back by his swift opponent and his unique lightsaber. After trying some offensive manoeuvres Starkiller became frustrated and projected bolts of Sith lighting from his fingertips, each lick of the powerful Sith attack was absorbed into the Jedi's body which left him sprawled upon the ground, writhing in pain. Seeing this as an advantage Starkiller continued to use his sith lightning and continuously wounded the Jedi Knight until he was struck down by another attacker from behind him.
Starkiller looked up and realised that the mechanical droid remakes of the old Jedi Council obviously were not for show but were well built offensive droids. Starkiller quickly regained possession of his lightsaber after it had been knocked out of his hand by the second attacker and when he looked at the droid he saw it was the droid version of the Jedi Master Plo Koon with a viro-blade in his hands adopting his renowned lightsaber style of the Krayt Dragon. Starkiller made quick work of the droid and as well to the other droid recreations of Masters Mace Windu, Coleman Kcaj, Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Saesee Tiin, Agen Kolar, Shaak Ti, Stass Allie and finally he levitated the droid of Master Yoda and force pushed him into Paratus knocking him to the ground. Using this opportunity Starkiller picked up the small being with the Force, crushed his artificial limbs and continuously battered him against the walls, floor and ceiling of the makeshift council chamber. Finally he threw the Jedi Knight to the ground where he suddenly pinned down by a large piece of debris which fell from the roof.
The Jedi Knight uttered his final words "I'm sorry, my masters. I've failed you"
Starkiller levitated towards him the remains of the double-bladed lightsaber that had been smashed to pieces when he had destroyed Paratus's mechanical legs. Starkiller spoke into his comlink to Juno in the Rogue Shadow.
"Juno. I'm done here" said Starkiller.
"I have a lock on your location Starkiller, on my way" replied Juno.
Within a few minutes the Rogue Shadow had arrived and Starkiller was making his way back up the ramp of his ship. Setra jumped up from the ship's archive console and flung herself into Starkiller's arms who gladly accepted the welcome.
"Oh papa. I'm so glad you're okay. I sensed how powerful he was. I didn't think that you'd come back" said Setra.
Starkiller chuckled softly "Don't worry about me Setra. There's no fallen Jedi Knight in the galaxy that can outsmart me" replied Starkiller.
He placed the girl down and ruffled her dark hair and sent her back to her quarters to get some sleep and then went to talk to Juno.
"You did well today Juno. I must say you are great improvement from your predecessors" said Starkiller.
"Thankyou Starkiller. I must say I am impressed about how you handled the situations today. I apologize for doubting your abilities" replied Juno.
"It's no problem Juno. From the sound of things it sounds like we've all had a little bit too much excitement for one day" said Starkiller.
"Yes indeed. Where is our next destination" replied Juno.
"We are to head back to the Executor. I must consult Lord Vader on personal matters" said Starkiller.
"Of course. We should get there in a day or two" replied Juno.
"Juno" said Starkiller "thanks for taking care of Setra for the past few days, I know she can be a handful"
Juno chuckled "Not at all, she is great child and fantastic company"
"Yes she is" said Starkiller softly not realising he was looking dreamily at Juno when he said it.
Breaking out of his reverie he replied "I will be in my chambers. Let me know if anything comes up"
"Very well Starkiller" said Juno as she sat back down in the pilots chair and charted co-ordinates to the Executor.
Starkiller realised that he was developing a rapport with his pilot, a practice that was forbidden by the Dark Side. He viewed this as another challenge of his will to overcome the new feelings that he had developed for Juno and overcome them he would. Within a couple of days the Rogue Shadow was back in the lower hangar bay of the Executor and Starkiller was kneeling before his master with what was left of Paratus's broken lightsaber.
"Kazdan Paratus is dead master" said Starkiller.
"Then there is but one more test before you can fulfil your destiny" replied Vader.
"Master, I am ready now" said Starkiller frustrated.
"You have defeated a tired old man and an outcast. You will not be ready to face the Emperor until you have face a true Jedi Master" replied Vader angrily.
"Who?" said Starkiller.
"Master Shaak Ti – one of the last of the Jedi Council" replied Vader "she is training an army on Felucia. You will need the full power of the Dark Side to defeat her. Do not disappoint me" replied Vader.
"No Lord Vader. I will not" said Starkiller.
With that ended Starkiller made his way back to the hangar bay to inform his companions of their next mission and destination.