User:DjMack/Rogue Shadow

The Rogue Shadow was the unique starship that Darth Vader's apprentice Starkiller and his personal training droid PROXY used to travel covertly throughout the galaxy. Not officially in service under the Imperial Navy and built 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 Rogue Shadow was equipped with a cloaking device and other technology to further ensure the ship's secrecy in transporting Starkiller to his objective assigned by his master, becoming involved in the deaths of several Jedi refugees of the Great Jedi Purge.

The craft would later fall under the possession of Rahm Kota, a Jedi General in the Rebel Alliance, using the craft in missions involving his own unit, usually attacking high profile Imperial targets. After a botched assassination attempt on Baron Merillion Tarko of Cato Neimoidia, Kota was captured, and his militia wiped out. The Shadow fell under Imperial custody until the arrival of a rebirth of the original Starkiller. Once more in service under the Rebellion, the Rogue Shadow would participate in Battle of Kamino and the transport of captive Darth Vader to a hidden Rebel base for an attempted interrogation, trial, and execution.

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

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. 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 fleet. Perhaps the ship’s most impressive feature, however, was its experimental stygium crystal cloaking device. , which could keep the vessel hidden from even the most powerful scanners for short periods of time. It was piloted by Juno Eclipse, Galen Marek's eighth pilot.

History
Over the course of the Rogue Shadow service, it lost seven pilots. According to PROXY, one of them was killed by a Corellian gunrunner after assuring Starkiller that he could take care of himself. According to Starkiller's clone's memory, another was a sergeant Vader killed because of tardiness.

By the time of Marek's hunt for Rahm Kota, the ship was piloted by Juno Eclipse, with whom Marek would eventually fall in love. She flew the ship to many locations, including the TIE Fighter Construction Facility over Nar Shaddaa, Raxus Prime, and Felucia, all in the course of ferrying Marek to the Jedi Vader had ordered him to destroy.



Later, when Marek was seemingly killed by Vader, the Rogue Shadow was brought to the Empirical for his escape. Eclipse was imprisoned as a traitor, and PROXY suggested to leave her to her fate. However, Marek saved Eclipse, telling her he needed someone to fly the ship. They then began their search for Rahm Kota, who had survived the battle above Nar Shaddaa, following clues from there first to Ziost and then to Cloud City on Bespin. Kota told them that he had a contact in the Senate who had been feeding him information on Imperial targets, but that he first needed to find something on Kashyyyk. There, Galen saved Princess Leia Organa and prevented the construction of a skyhook that would have ferried millions of Wookiees into slavery. Kota then informed the crew of the Rogue Shadow that Leia's adoptive father, Senator Bail Organa, was his contact and had gone to Felucia to find Master Shaak Ti, earlier killed by Marek.

Following the rescue of Bail Organa from the clutches of the fallen Jedi Maris Brood, Rogue Shadow returned to Raxus Prime, where Marek destroyed a Star Destroyer shipyard. Unfortunately, when PROXY tried to slice into the planet-wide core network, its sentient mind took him over and locked the Rogue Shadow's launch codes, intending to later use it to spread its ideals of order across the galaxy. Marek battled PROXY in a variety of holographic forms before finally defeating the Core and restoring control of the ship.

The Rogue Shadow arrived on Corellia shortly thereafter to witness the birth of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, but it seemed short-lived, as the Empire quickly arrived. After a brief duel, which included the apparent destruction of PROXY, Vader threw Marek from the top of a cliff. Presuming his former apprentice dead, Vader left. Captain Eclipse rescued Marek from the base of the cliff, and the two followed the captives to the Death Star, where Eclipse extracted the Rebels, taking them to Kashyyyk to conclude the formation of the Alliance. Marek, after a pitched battle with Vader and later the Emperor, sacrificed himself to buy them enough time to escape.

Eclipse and Senator Organa later used the ship to return to Corellia to salvage PROXY, who was originally presumed destroyed during the attack on the Rebel leaders.

Refit and reassignment
When Eclipse became Captain of the EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate Salvation, the Rogue Shadow transferred to the possession of General Kota and his militia. Using the ship to fight the Empire without the sanction of the Rebel Alliance, he refit the vessel with a pair of symmetrical opening and closing wing panels and a number of upgraded systems.

When Kota's forces were captured on Cato Neimoidia, the Rogue Shadow was presumed lost&mdash;until a clone of Galen Marek, using his template's codename Starkiller, rescued Kota and retrieved the ship. Leaving Kota on Malastare to return to the Rebel fleet, the clone took the Rogue Shadow to Dagobah, where he sought to contemplate on his internal conflicts. He eventually found a mysterious cave seemingly guarded by a diminutive creature. Although Starkiller remained oblivious to the alien's true identity, he was in fact the exiled Grand Master of the fallen Jedi Order. Fearing for Eclipse after seeing a vision of her being attacked and injured, the clone returned in the ship to Malastare to recover Kota and his militia. Traveling to a rendezvous point with the Rebel fleet, they found the Salvation under attack by Boba Fett and Terror Troopers. Unable to prevent Fett from taking Eclipse, Starkiller took command of the Salvation and arranged for Kota to take the Rogue Shadow and to lead a Rebel strike against the cloning facility on Kamino where Vader created him and all of the other clones of Marek. Following a lengthy battle&mdash;and a duel with Darth Vader&mdash;the clone, Kota, and Eclipse captured Vader, intending to use the Rogue Shadow transport him to the Rebel base on Dantooine for interrogation, trial, and execution.

Once "reunited", Juno and the clone were pursued by Boba Fett, who&mdash;having hid the Slave I on the wreckage of a star destroyer&mdash;waited for the Rebel fleet and the Rogue Shadow to enter hyperspace before following after.

Behind the scenes
In the normal version, the boarding ramp is on the stern. In the PS2, PSP, and Wii versions, the boarding ramp is in the front. It is worth noting that the Rogue Shadow's wings had a resemblance to those of the TIE interceptor.

Alternate dark side ending
Marek chose to give into his hatred and take his revenge on Vader for the years of abuse he had experienced at the hands of the Sith Lord. After an intense battle, Vader was slain, in typical Sith fashion, by his former apprentice. Afterward, Marek returned to the Emperor's side where the Sith Master proclaimed Marek his new apprentice. When Marek refused to kill Kota, as his final test to become a true Sith apprentice, he turned on the Emperor, attempting to strike him with his lightsaber. The Emperor easily disarmed him, killed the Rebel Alliance leaders, and subsequently grasped the Rogue Shadow, which was orbiting the Death Star, with the Force. Sidious pulled it through the window of the throne room and onto Marek, severely injuring him.

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 comic