Rogue Shadow

"Go wherever you want. You can take the ship. Its always been yours anyway."

- Rahm Kota to a clone of the original Starkiller

The Rogue Shadow was a unique starship that the Sith Lord Darth Vader provided as a personal transport to his Secret Apprentice, codenamed "Starkiller." In addition to its main occupants, the Apprentice and his training droid PROXY, the vessel was piloted by eight Imperial officers in turn, including Captain Juno Eclipse. In order to ensure that the secrecy of Starkiller's existence was not compromised, Vader had state-of-the-art stealth technology and a highly advanced hyperdrive engine incorporated into the starship's design, thus allowing the Apprentice to travel anywhere throughout the galaxy without risking detection.

After Starkiller's death, the Rogue Shadow was retained by Juno Eclipse, who switched her allegiance from the Galactic Empire to the newly-formed Rebel Alliance. The vessel was later passed on to the Jedi General Rahm Kota. When a rogue clone of the original Starkiller encountered Kota on Cato Neimoidia, the Jedi Master gave the Rogue Shadow to the clone. Shortly after the Alliance's victory at the Battle of Kamino, the Rogue Shadow was used to transport Darth Vader&mdash;captured during the battle&mdash;to the Rebel secret base on the planet Dantooine.

Characteristics
"I've taken the liberty of upgrading the Rogue Shadow's sensor array. Now you'll be able to spy on any suspect ships across an entire system."

- Juno Eclipse to Starkiller

Built by Sienar Fleet Systems, Rogue Shadow design was based on that of Scimitar, the Sith Infiltrator employed by Darth Maul. It also shared certain design elements with other Imperial craft, such as the Eta-2 interceptor and the starfighters of the TIE series. As a result of its construction in total secrecy, all of the personnel and droids involved in its construction perished in industrial "accidents" or street crimes to ensure their silence.

The vessel boasted an advanced hyperdrive, cutting-edge sensory arrays, a fully functional medical bay, crew quarters, a workshop and a meditation chamber that could double as a training room. It also had the fastest sublight engines in the Imperial Navy. In addition to these high tech features, the Rogue Shadow was outfitted with an experimental stygium crystal cloaking device, which could keep the vessel hidden from even the most powerful scanners for short periods of time.

History
When the time came for Darth Vader's Secret Apprentice to undertake covert missions, the Sith Lord knew that a stealth vessel was required so that his disciple could travel throughout the galaxy without attracting the attention of Emperor Palpatine's spies. The Apprentice, a young Sith assassin codenamed "Starkiller", was entrusted by his Master with ownership of the Rogue Shadow, a unique prototype designed for speed and stealth. Although Starkiller was a skilled pilot, Vader preferred the Apprentice to concentrate on his training and meditation. To allow Starkiller to train and meditate, Vader personally selected a series of hand-picked Imperial officers to serve as pilots of the Rogue Shadow.

Each of the starship's pilots&mdash;seven in all&mdash;did not survive their time with Starkiller. Some were killed during the Apprentice's more chaotic missions; others were executed by Darth Vader for some perceived failure. According to PROXY, one of the pilots was a killed by a Corellian gunrunner after he assured Starkiller that he could take care of himself. A renegade clone of Starkiller recalled from one of his template's memory imprints how another pilot&mdash;an Imperial Sergeant&mdash;was killed by Vader because of tardiness.

The Rogue Shadow's eighth pilot was Captain Juno Eclipse, the commander who led Imperial forces to victory at the Battle of Callos and also the first woman to occupy the vessel's pilot chair. Although Starkiller was too afraid to voice it, he suspected that Vader selected Eclipse in order to test the Apprentice in some way. Eclipse's reassignment to the Rogue Shadow coincided with Starkiller's first assassination mission against a Jedi target: General Rahm Kota of the fallen Jedi Order and a veteran of the Clone Wars.

After Kota's defeat at Nar Shaddaa, the Rogue Shadow transported the Apprentice to planets such as Raxus Prime and Felucia, where he hunted and killed Jedi Masters Kazdan Paratus and Shaak Ti respectively. The vessel also brought the Apprentice to Coruscant more than once so that he could participate in the Jedi Trials.

When Darth Vader ordered Starkiller to create a rebellion against the Galactic Empire by uniting various rebels and dissidents throughout the galaxy, the Apprentice retained the Rogue Shadow as his personal transport, including Juno Eclipse as his pilot. The starship brought its crew to worlds like Nar Shaddaa, Ziost, and finally Bespin where Starkiller recruited an intoxicated and highly depressed Rahm Kota on Cloud City. The Rogue Shadow then traveled to Kashyyyk and later returned to Felucia and Raxus Prime, all of which contributed to the growth of the Apprentice's rebellion.

While Starkiller and his allies&mdash;Imperial Senators Bail Prestor Organa, Garm Bel Iblis and Mon Mothma&mdash;were in the process of formally declaring open rebellion against the Empire, Darth Vader led an Imperial battle fleet to the planet and promptly arrested the rebels. Starkiller was betrayed and left for dead by his Master. The Apprentice was then rescued by Juno Eclipse, who had been hiding in the Rogue Shadow when the Imperials attacked. It was within the starship where Starkiller renounced his allegiance to the Sith and re-adopted his birth name, "Galen Marek."

Marek used the Rogue Shadow for the last time when he and Eclipse journeyed to the secret location of the Emperor's massive battlestation, codenamed "Death Star", where the Rebels were held captive. The former Apprentice of Darth Vader stormed the Death Star, killed scores of Imperial stormtroopers and defeated his Master in a lightsaber duel. Though Marek ultimately perished, killed during a confrontation with Emperor Palpatine, his sacrifice allowed the Rebel leaders to escape to safety on the Rogue Shadow.

In the aftermath of Galen Marek's demise, the Alliance to Restore the Republic was officially established on Kashyyyk, the Apprentice's homeworld. Juno Eclipse was latter commissioned as the captain of the Salvation, an EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate and the flagship of the Alliance Fleet. As a result, she gave the Rogue Shadow to Rahm Kota, who used the vessel for his militia and unauthorized missions.

Refit and reassignment
"I hope she can reach us in time!"

- Kota contacting the Rogue Shadow on Cato Neimoida

In the year 1 BBY, approximately six months after Galen Marek died aboard the Death Star, Rahm Kota and his militia traveled in the Rogue Shadow to Cato Neimoidia. Against the orders of the Alliance High Command, Kota plotted to assassinate Baron Merillion Tarko, the Imperial governor who ruled Cato Neimodia from Tarko-se. The plan ultimately failed, however, and Kota was apprehended by Imperial forces.

After Kota was rescued from the Tarko-se Arena by a renegade clone of Galen Marek, the Rogue Shadow rendezvoused with the two after the General contacted the vessel through a comm device. Obsessed with Juno Eclipse due to the memory and emotional imprints of his progenitor, the clone rushed into the starship's cockpit, hoping to see Eclipse. Kota refused to believe that the clone was created from Marek's corpse by Darth Vader, and thus treated the clone as though he was the real Starkiller. But the clone was adamant that Eclipse was his priority, not the Alliance or its war against the Empire. Kota was frustrated, but ultimately relented and parted ways with the clone. After being dropped off at a starport at Commenor, Kota returned to the Alliance while the clone retained possession of the Rogue Shadow at the General's insistence.

Starkiller&mdash;the codename by which the clone became known&mdash;journeyed to Dagobah aboard the Rogue Shadow in order to meditate on his priorities. He later used the starship to regroup with Rahm Kota and his troops on Malastare. Just as the Rogue Shadow rendezvoused with the Salvation in the Itani Nebula, however, the Alliance Fleet was ambushed by an Imperial squadron led by the bounty hunter Boba Fett. Captain Eclipse was captured in the process and transported to Kamino by Fett. The Alliance Fleet pursued them, intending to launch a full-scale assault on the Empire's major cloning facilities. Defending Kamino, however, was an armada of Imperial Star Destroyers. The Salvation was critically damaged during the ensuing space battle, thus forcing Kota and the remaining crew members to board the Rogue Shadow in order to evacuate the doomed flagship.

The Battle of Kamino was ultimately won by the Rebel Alliance, marking their first major victory in the Galactic Civil War. The original Starkiller's clone defeated Darth Vader and allowed the Rebels to take the Sith Lord as a prisoner. With Vader heavily restrained within the Rogue Shadow's meditation chamber, Eclipse and Starkiller used the vessel to transport the Sith Lord to the Rebel secret base on Dantooine. Unknown to the starship's occupants, the Rogue Shadow's movement was tracked and followed by Slave I, piloted by Boba Fett.

Behind the scenes
The Rogue Shadow first appears in the 2008 multimedia project Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. It also appeared in the sequel project, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, released in 2010.

In the original video game, the Rogue Shadow's boarding ramp is on the stern in the Xbox version. In the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Wii versions, the boarding ramp is located in the front of the starship.

TFU alternate ending
In the dark side ending of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Galen Marek chooses exact his vengeance on Darth Vader, killing his former Master rather than sacrificing his life to save Rahm Kota and the Rebel founders. Darth Sidious proclaims Marek as his new apprentice and tasks him with killing Kota as a final rite of passage to becoming a true Sith Lord. Marek opts to betray the Emperor, only to be quickly subdued by an Sidious' Force lightning attack. As Juno Eclipse brings the Rogue Shadow to retrieve Marek, the Emperor seizes the vessel through the Force and crashes it onto Marek.

When the Apprentice awakens, he finds his body encased in a suit of armor, similar to the suit worn by his former Master. Now serving as the Emperor's personal assassin until a new apprentice can be found, Marek becomes Lord Starkiller.

TFU II alternate ending
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II also features an alternate ending in which the player character follows the path to the dark side of the Force. Starkiller, a deranged clone of the late Galen Marek, holds a lightsaber at the throat of a defeated Darth Vader during the Battle of Kamino. Ignoring Kota's pleas to take Vader alive as a prisoner of the Rebel Alliance, the clone raises his weapon to strike down his creator in cold blood. Before he can deliver the killing blow, however, Starkiller is impaled through the chest from behind by a red lightsaber. A dark hooded figure reveals himself as Starkiller falls to the ground in agony. After swiftly dispatching Kota, PROXY and several Rebel troopers, the warrior takes his place at Vader's side and reveals himself to be the Dark Apprentice, the only successful clone of the original Starkiller.

The renegade clone succumbs to his fatal wound and dies. Darth Vader tasks the new Apprentice with the mission of hunting down and executing the last of the Rebels throughout the galaxy. In order to fulfill the task, Vader tells the dark clone to take the Rogue Shadow as his personal transport. The Apprentice complies and takes one final look at the body of Juno Eclipse before departing from Kamino in his progenitor's starship.

The Rogue Shadow is still in the Dark Apprentice's possession by 4 ABY. As he approaches the Sanctuary Moon of Endor, Darth Vader instructs the clone to stop the Rebels from destroying the shield generator bunker, thereby preventing the Alliance Fleet from causing any harm to the new Death Star. The Dark Apprentice lands the Rogue Shadow not far from the bunker's location and proceeds to carry out his Master's orders to the letter. He ultimately kills his way through various Rebel troopers, Ewoks, and even Imperial stormtroopers as well. By the end of his mission, his victims include the smuggler Han Solo, the Wookiee Chewbacca, and the Jedi Leia Organa. The Galactic Empire prevails at the Battle of Endor and Emperor Palpatine proclaims the end of the Rebellion.

Appearances

 * The Force Unleashed novel
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed comic
 * Star Wars: Visions of the Blade
 * The Force Unleashed II novel
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II comic
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II video game
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II video game