Gasp! Never thought i would get such a reaction from my readers. So here another chapter!

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Chapter 17:

Toying

"Kota, you better hang on to something," Juno said as she pushed the Rogue Shadow faster than it had ever gone before. The systems whined and PROXY kept warning about the approach being to steep. But Juno was not listening in the slightest. Her pulse pounded in her ears alongside her mind's replaying of Starkiller's last communication. She would be damned if those were the final words she heard from Starkiller. He would not die because she could not get there in time. They had arrived, and Juno jerked back on the controls, bringing the small ship to a roaring halt.

The pilot gave PROXY the controls and waited anxiously by the boarding ramp, pistol in hand. Damn the slow landing systems on this ship! Never before had Juno been so frightened. Even her confrontation with Vader paled in comparison. Imagine that. She feared for Starkiller's life right now more than her own. There was something about this realization that was very mind clearing. The recent emotions that had been swirling around inside of her were directly related. But what did it all mean?

Her thoughts were interrupted however, as the boarding ramp finally lowered with it's distinctive hiss. Standing there was a tan human with a goatee and black hair dressed in all grey. But more importantly, was who was draped over his shoulder. If not for the trademark lightsaber at his hip, there was no way to determine that the bloody mass was Starkiller. "Senator Organa?" queried Juno, holding out her pistol.

"Does it matter?"

The pilot shook her head and positioned herself underneath Starkiller's other shoulder. "PROXY," she said, as they were halfway up the ramp. "Prepare a medical bed in the meditation chamber."

Once on the bed, Juno let Organa sit in a corner and took a closer examination of Starkiller. She immediately regretted doing so. There was no way that all of the blood was Starkiller's, otherwise he would already be dead. The sharp inhalations of air from the warrior were proof enough that his heart was still functioning. "What happened?" Juno queried to nobody in particular.

"Bull rancor," replied Organa. "Gored him, and then practically ate him."

"Practically?" Juno asked, as she ripped off Starkiller's shirt in order to tend to the wound.

"Well he was certainly inside of the rancor's mouth, but I think he did it on purpose."

"Sure sounds like something he would do," the pilot said distractedly, as she cleaned the blood.

Finally, the wound could be seen. It was massive! She was afraid to even examine it more closely to see if any organs had been punctured. It was right around his right oblique. It looked like it was too far over to have punctured the larger intestines, but Juno could not be sure without a better look. "St-Starkiller?" she hesitated. The man's head lolled to one side in order to face her, eyebrows raised questioningly. "I have to make sure nothing was pierced. This is going to hurt." Starkiller closed his eyes and nodded slightly to give an unspoken go ahead. Sucking in a breath, Juno took her medical instruments and carefully examined the wound. Starkiller grunted in pain, but did nothing else.

Thankfully, there was little damage to the internal organs. Satisfied, Juno withdrew and grabbed the kolto injector. "Starkiller?" she asked again, and again Starkiller only looked at her. "Remember when I said what I did before would hurt?" Another nod. "Well this is going to be worse," she explained. The warrior only grabbed Juno's free hand fiercely and nodded again. As she slowing injected the healing fluid into the wound, Starkiller's grip simply got tighter.

When that was finished, Juno grabbed her stitching supplies. "I'll need my other hand for this," she said quietly.

Starkiller chuckled faintly. "I…I…thought you…were here to…help me…not hurt me…more."

Juno felt tears of relief fall down her cheeks, and swiftly wiped them away. "I'll take this as a sign you'll be okay," she replied as she swiftly stitched him up. But there was no response; Starkiller's body just simply could not do anything else. The warrior was asleep.

"That was amazing," said the Senator as Kota helped him up.

"Well, I've done this before," Juno blushed. "This wouldn't be the first time I've patched him up."

"I bet," Kota agreed. "But that was something else entirely. Perfectly in sync with each other."

"Don't be ridiculous. He was just laying there, it wasn't hard at all," Juno assured them with a wave of her hand. "When do we get off of this planet?"

"Slow down," Kota said. "Things still need to be sorted out first. For starters, what happened down there?" he asked, turning to Organa.

"Master Shaak Ti is dead. She was murdered by Vader, or one of his assassins at least," the senator said sullenly.

"Probably the same one who did this to me," Kota said, pointing one finger to his bandages. "I also tried contacting Paratus, but I've heard nothing."

"Things only seem to be getting worse," said Organa, slipping deeper into despair. "But at least Leia is safe. I'm in your debt."

"That was not my doing. He's your hero," Kota reminded the senator with a nod toward Starkiller's sleeping form before stalking off. "I'll be in storage."

"The man you travel with, what do you know about him?" Organa asked, breaking the silence. "Who is he? How has he evaded the Empire for so long?"

The look Organa was giving Juno oozed pure hope. It was clear that Starkiller's appearance gave new ideas on how to evade the threat of the Empire. Juno did not want to tell him that so far, they had been lucky, and far from innocent. The only reason Starkiller was alive to begin with was because of Vader's plot, and even then it had not lasted. "Your guess is as good as mine. I don't even know his name," she said truthfully.

"A bit unusual, but stranger arrangements have been made. But such power. He reminds me of another Jedi Knight during the Clone Wars. The dark side is especially tempting to those with such power. The end result is often deadly," Organa said as a far away look came over him.

"I think he's trying his best to do the right thing," she said cautiously.

"You trust him with your life just as much as he trusts his own with you?"

"Yes," came the pilot's answer without hesitation.

"What are your names?"

"We call him Starkiller. And I'm Captain Juno Eclipse," she said, holding out her hand.

The senator grasped her hand firmly. "Thank you Juno. Just so you know, Alderaan is always looking for pilots like yourself."

"Thank you, but my place is here," Juno said firmly.

"I'm sure."

"Open rebellion is too dangerous," the senator said to Kota, and the now awake Starkiller. "We're not ready to go to war. We need weapons and starships. Not to mention people with the courage and leadership to use them."

"Surely you know others," Starkiller said.

"We just have to show them that the Empire is vulnerable," Kota said, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"Let me meditate on that," Starkiller said. "Senator, gather your friends, we'll need all the help we can get."

That was hours ago. Now they were in an empty system, and Juno was waiting for Starkiller and PROXY to come up with a suitable target by going through Imperial files. Kota was asleep and Juno was restless. Letting out a sigh, Juno decided to check on her charge. The doors swished open to the meditation room and Juno froze.

The familiar mechanical breathing filled the meditation chamber and echoed in Juno's ears. Vader. What was more, Starkiller was down on one knee in front of the Dark Lord's imposing figure. How? How could Starkiller have led her on like this? Toying with her emotions like a child with a pet. How could she have been so stupid? Nobody escapes Vader. This was probably the reason for her survival as well. Vader had planted her on the Empirical as some sort of sick test to see if Starkiller would succeed. Juno felt sick, angry, and so empty that she was frozen to the spot.

Vader was gone, with PROXY in his place. "Master…" the prototype said, as he caught sight of the pilot.

Starkiller visibly sagged. "Juno," he breathed before turning swiftly around to face her.

"I-I wanted to find out where you wanted to go next," she swallowed. "But it looks like you've already been told where to go."

"Juno, wait, this isn't-"

"Of course it is!" she shouted, slapping away the man's hand as it tried to grasp her shoulder. How dare he try to get her sympathy! "You're still somehow in you sick twisted mind, loyal to Vader. After all he did to us. He branded me a traitor and threw you out an airlock! You're still his…his…" she was close to tears, but was determined to hold them back.

"His slave."

"Then why? Why am I still here? Why did you rescue me?"

The apprentice balked. "I needed somebody to fly the ship!"

"We both know that's not true." Starkiller turned away, but this time, it was Juno's turn to pull him back. "My being here has never been about my piloting." Juno searched his face for answers. For any sign that he regretted any of it. The warrior could not even meet her gaze. Juno left him there and was about to leave the room when she turned back one last time. "I don't even know who you really are. And maybe I'll never find out. But sometime soon, it will be you will decide the fate of the Rebellion. Not Vader, not Kota, or the Emperor, but you. When that moment comes…please just remember one thing," Juno said, the long held tears finally falling down her cheeks. "Remember that I, too, was forced to leave everything I've ever known. Don't you dare make me leave another life behind."

"I won't," he said barely above a whisper. He quickly walked up to her, and silently wiped away her tears with his thumbs.

And Juno knew in that moment, that he was not lying.

So I'm getting this out to you guys because for the next three weeks it's crunch time for me with my quarter system. I got finals and what not to round out February. Wish me luck and I'll get another chapter out porbably over my Spring Break.

Later gators!