Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (33 page)

“The Rebels want to destroy the Emperor, ” Starkiller said. “Why not work with them rather th-?”

Vader attacked before he could finish the sentence, a blistering combination of blows that left Starkiller on his back foot. Clearly he had hit a very deep nerve. For a fleeting moment, the plan had seemed almost inspired. With Darth Vader on Kota’s side, what couldn’t the Alliance accomplish?

But it was a dream. The Rebels would never trust the Emperor’s apprentice, and Vader was making it very clear that he wanted no part of it either. The vehemence of his response left no doubt about that.

Starkiller found himself backed up almost to the edge of the cloning spire’s roof. One more step, and he would fall, and to fall would give Vader the high ground. That might not result in his death, but it would certainly end the fight.

It needed to end now, or else it might never end.

Blow after blow rained on him, forcing him back. There had to be a way to free himself and avenge Juno at the same time… but a stalemate seemed unavoidable. Any move he made was sure to lead him to an indefensible position.

Then it occurred to him. An indefensible position was exactly what he needed.

He lunged. Darth Vader saw him coming and swiped with unbearable strength, sending Starkiller’s left lightsaber flying in pieces. Starkiller lunged again, and his right lightsaber joined his left. He fell back, beaten, and stared up at his former Master.

“This is your last chance, ” Vader said, standing over him with the unwavering tip of his lightsaber pointed directly at Starkiller’s chest.

Starkiller stared up at the black mask, sure of two things. Vader didn’t want to kill him, but not out of mercy or sympathy for his lot. The Dark Lord had invested far too much time and energy in recreating his former apprentice, and he wouldn’t want to throw all that away. Not when he seemed on the verge of victory.

Juno was dead or dying. Starkiller was disarmed and helpless.

Any rational being would at least consider Vader’s offer.

The second thing Starkiller knew was: The best way to beat Darth Vader is to let him think he’s won.

Thinking of Wedge Antilles, he said, “I make my own chances. “

With both hands he sent a wave of lightning into the sparking gash Juno had made in Vader’s chest plate.

The Dark Lord staggered backward, transfixed by the unexpected retaliation. Starkiller leapt to his feet and followed him, keeping up the lightning attack and using telekinesis to rip Vader’s lightsaber from his temporarily weakened fingers. Sheers of energy spread our across the wet rooftop. Smoke and steam rose up in a tortured spiral. The grating whine of Vader’s respirator rook on a desperate edge.

He went down on one knee. Starkiller stood over him. Vader’s lightsaber swept into his former apprentice’s hand. The blade came to rest at his throat.

Starkiller stared into the black mask, breathing heavily. One twitch of the blade and Vader would be dead at last.

“Wait, ” said a voice from behind him.

Starkiller froze, remembering his vision of being stabbed in the back. But the other clones were dead. And like the owner of this unexpected voice, he didn’t need to look to see what was in fact occurring.

Booted feet splashed in the water as Kota and members of his squad ran up the ramp and surrounded him, training their guns on Vader. Starkiller didn’t move. He kept the lightsaber at Vader’s neck, ready to finish what Vader himself had starred.

“Why wait?” he asked. “You want him dead as much as I do. “

“Yes, of course. ” There was no hiding the venom in the general’s voice. “But not yet. Not until he’s told us the Empire’s secrets. “

“You want to take him prisoner?”

“To a hidden Rebel base where we can interrogate him, put him on trial for crimes against the true Republic. ” Starkiller felt Kota’s hand on his shoulder. “And then we’ll execute him, to show the galaxy that we don’t need to fear him any longer. “

For several seconds the only sounds came from Vader’s wheezing respirator and the storm around them. Water ran down Starkiller’s face in rippling streams. Kota’s hand gripped him tightly, and it wasn’t entirely a gesture of reassurance. There was warning in it, too.

Kota didn’t understand. Starkiller was under no threat of the dark side. He wouldn’t turn evil just by killing Vader.

“If I let him live, ” Starkiller said, “he’ll haunt me forever. “

The general came in closer and spoke in a whisper only Starkiller could hear. “Remember this: Vader is the only one who knows if and how you survived. He can’t tell you if you are the original you if he is dead. “

Starkiller looked at Kota. The general’s face showed no sign of dissemblance. He meant everything he said, even though it pained him. Under any other circumstances, Kota would have relished killing Vader himself, but here he was arguing against it, with one hand on his lightsaber hilt to show that he meant business.

Starkiller looked at Vader, kneeling in the rain with his own lightsaber at his throat, waiting for Starkiller to complete his training and do what Vader had never been able to do himself: kill his own Master.

Either way, Starkiller thought, I’ve beaten him.

That was the only thing left that mattered.

He deactivated the lightsaber and turned away. Kota instantly took his place, holding his blade at Vader’s chest while the Rebel soldiers moved in.

“Get something to hold him, ” Kota ordered, “quickly!”

“Yes, General. “

Starkiller didn’t stay to watch. PROXY was kneeling next to Juno’s body, checking for signs of vitality. Starkiller ran to them and dropped on his knees at Juno’s side. Her eyes had closed. Wet hair lay flat across her forehead, limp and colorless. “Is she-?”

“I’m sorry. Master, ” the droid said. “I can’t revive her. “

Juno’s features flickered across PROXY’S metal face, and then vanished.

“I have failed you again. “

Barely hearing PROXY’S words, Starkiller gathered her up into his arms and held her rightly to his chest. She was still warm, despite the rain.

“It’s not your fault, PROXY. It’s mine. “

“Yours, Master? Is your primary program malfunctioning, too?”

All Starkiller could see was smoke and storm clouds and the ruination of war.

“I should never have left here, Juno, ” he said to her, although she was beyond all words. “I should never have come back… “

At the sound of an unfamiliar energy weapon activating nearby, Juno looked up from her work and reached for the blaster pistol at her side. Putting down her welder, she disengaged the safety on her pistol and inched out from under the ship.

Two men armed with lightsabers leapt and tumbled with inhuman agility across the hangar. When they gestured, metal walls buckled and engine parts flew like bullets. One of the combatants rammed his crimson lightsaber through the chest of his opponent, and things took a decidedly strange turn. The arms, legs, torso, and face of the stricken man flickered and dissolved, revealing the bipedal form of a droid, which fell forward with a clatter of metal on metal.

“Ah, Master. Another excellent duel. “

The droid struggled to stand and remain upright.

“Easy, PROXY. You’re malfunctioning. “

“It’s my fault. Master. I had hoped that using an older training module would catch you off guard and allow me to finally kill you. I’m sorry I failed you again. “

“I’m sure you’ll keep trying. “

“Of course. Master. It is my primary programming. “

Droid and Master began moving through the maze of debris across the hangar.

“PROXY, who is that?”

“Ah, yes. Your new pilot has finally arrived, Master. “

“You know why you’re here?” Starkiller asked her.

“Lord Vader gave me my orders himself, ” she said. “I am to keep your ship running and fly you wherever your missions require. “

Starkiller seemed neither pleased nor displeased. “Did Lord Vader tell you that he killed our last pilot? “

“No. But I can only assume he gave Lord Vader good cause to do so. I will not. “

“We’ll see. I’m sick of training new pilots. “

For every ending there was a beginning. And for every beginning, a middle.

In the cells of the Empirical, she stared in amazement not just at Starkiller, hut at the slaughter he had meted out to her stormtrooper guards as well.

“Juno… “

Words didn’t come easily. The last time she had seen him, he had been floating through space, to all appearances dead. “It’s-really you!”

PROXY cut across their reunion.

“Master, hurry! She is part of your past life now. Leave her behind, as Lord Vader commanded!”

“I can’t. “

Starkiller destroyed the magna locks holding her captive. Weakened by months of confinement, she fell to the ground and had to be helped to her feet.

“I saw you die, ” she said, staring at him in disbelief. A thousand confused thoughts formed a pileup in her mind. “But you’ve come back. “

“I have some unfinished business. “

” Vader?”

“Don’t worry about him, ” he told her.

Easier said than done, she thought, although the reality of her rescue was slowly sinking in.

“I’ve been branded a traitor to the Empire, ” she said. “I can’t go anywhere, do anything…”

“I don’t care about any of that. I’m leaving the Empire behind. ” He offered her an expression that might have been a smile. “And I need a pilot. “

“I hope you have a plan. “

He nodded. “There are two things I want, and I can’t get them on my own. The first is revenge. To get that we need to rally the Emperor’s enemies behind us. “

“Go on. “

“The second thing I want is to learn all the things that Vader couldn’t-or wouldn’t-teach me about the Force. “

“If we’re not careful, ” she had said, “we might end up in our old job again-hunting Jedi. ” It had been a joke.

After Empirical had come Kashyyyk, and after Kashyyyk had come Felucia.

“Juno, wait, this isn’t what…”

“Of course it is, ” she snapped, pulling away from him. “You’re still loyal to Vader. After all he did to us-branding me a traitor and trying to kill you-you’re still his… his… “

“His slave. “

“Yes. But if that’s so… why? Why did you defy your Master to rescue me?”

“My being here has never been about my piloting. ” He neither denied nor admitted the truth of her accusation.

She went to leave, but on the threshold she stopped. “I don’t know who-or what-you really are. Maybe I’ll never know. But sometime soon, you will decide the fate of the Rebellion, not your Master. That’s something he can’t take away from you. And when you’re faced with that moment, remember that I, too, was forced to leave everything I’ve ever known. “

After Felucia, Raxus Prime and Corellia.

Juno could see Starkiller’s grief visibly turning to anger as he realized exactly how far he had been played for a fool by his Master.

“Yes, you did do what he wanted. There’s no point hiding from it-and now the fate of the Alliance rests on your shoulders. The question is, what are you going to do about it?”

He wrestled with his emotions and thoughts. When he raised his head, he was resolved.

“We’re going after Vader. And the Rebels. “

“Where?”

“I don’t know, ” he admitted. “Not yet. “

“Do you know how this is going to end?”

He hesitated, and then shook his head. “No. “

But there had to be an ending. The only question was: When? “Juno- “

“Don’t say it. Don’t say a word. ” She glanced at him. “Just tell me you’re still sure. This is what we have to do, right?”

“It is. “

“All right. “

The air outside was cold but breathable. As the ramp opened, it rushed in around them, making her shiver.

The view down to the surface of the Death Star was giddying, but she was unable to look away.

“I have a really bad feeling about this. “

“Then we must be doing the right thing. ” She looked up at him. “Am I going to see you again?”

“Probably not, no. “

“Then I guess I’ll never need to live this down. “

She pulled him closer to her and kissed him hard on the lips.

That looked like an ending. It certainly felt like an ending.

“He’s at one with the Force NOW, ” Kota said.

And when things ended, they stayed ended.

“We need a symbol to rally behind, ” Leia said. “Agreed, ” said Garm Bel Iblis.

The Princess wiped dust from the table, revealing Star killer’s family crest etched into the wood. “A symbol of hope. “

They were supposed to, anyway.

Juno watched the Rogue Shadow leave Corellia with a sinking heart, although she knew it would be perfectly safe in Kota and Bail Organa’s bands. There were just so many memories attached to it. Letting it go was like losing a part of herself. Unfortunately, she wasn’t losing the part of her that still ached for him. That remained exactly where it was, in the center of her chest, pounding like a funeral drum…

“I hardly ever see you smile, ” said Shyre, tapping her dangling boot with one of his metal legs. “You wisecrack and take shots at everyone, but you don’t laugh. Is there a reason for that? “

Juno wished she hadn’t had that last eyeblaster. It was making her head ache but doing nothing at all to help her forget.

“It’s old news, ” she said, wondering if maybe the problem wasn’t having one too many, but not having had enough.

She was beginning to wonder if there would ever be enough.

“Congratulations, Captain, ” said Commodore Viedas on the bridge of her first command. “The Salvation is a fine ship. It will serve you well, and I know you will return the compliment. “

“Thank you, sir. ” She tried not to stare around the bridge in wonder. The truth was that she felt proud and daunted at the same time. She had come a long way from TIE fighter squadrons and secret missions for Darth Vader.

Her expression fell, as it always did when he came to mind.

“Don’t worry, ” said the commodore, coming closer to whisper a brisk reassurance. ” We all feel nervous the first time out. “

He had misunderstood her mood, but she didn’t correct him. Better to let him believe what he wanted to believe, and to keep her scars hidden.