User:Cal Jedi/Workbench

"You will receive the same treatment as the others." "What others?"

- Darth Vader and Starkiller, just prior to the latters escape.

The Escape from Kamino was an event that took place during the early portions of the Galactic Civil War. After the death of his original apprentice, Darth Vader sought to recreate him, collecting his corpse and using genetic samples from it to create a series of clones intended as replacement apprentices. Most of the clones were hideously deformed and utterly insane, though progress was gradually made, and a new generation of increasingly stable clones were created. Vader would proceed to train one of the clones, though many of these subjects would eventually succumb to the madness that had claimed so many of their predecessors, prompting Vader to simply move on to the next. Starkiller was only the latest in a long line of failures, though he was one of the most promising subjects.

During a training match with a number of Sith Training Droids, Starkiller proved unable to strike down one of the Holodroids when it assumed the shape of Juno Eclipse. This inability to overcome the genetic memories of his template marked Starkiller out as a failure, and Vader prepared to execute the clone. However, Starkiller refused to submit, and lashed out at Vader with Force lightning, using the Dark Lord's momentary distraction to escape the training complex. Fighting his way through the Imperial forces garrisoned in the Timira City he was cloned in, Starkiller narrowly escaped Vader and hijacked the Sith Lord's personal fighter, escaping the planet.

Prelude


"Those who came before you went mad within months, tortured by emotional imprints I was unable to erase. Some would not kill their father, others their younger self. With you, it is this woman. Now you will suffer the same fate they did."

- Darth Vader

Darth Vader's original apprentice, Galen Marek, had been dispatched to create the Rebel Alliance as part of an elaborate scheme to distract Galactic Emperor Palpatine so Vader and Marek could catch him off-guard and assassinate him. While Marek was successful, Vader betrayed him, revealing that the plan had been Palpatine's brainchild, intended to gather all of his enemies in a single place for quick elimination, and that Marek's own apprenticeship under Vader had been a sham. The Dark Lord had no intention of rebelling against his master. Starkiller was left for dead, while the Rebel leaders were captured and taken to the Death Star for personal execution by Palpatine. However, Marek refused to accept the state of affairs, and traveled to the Death Star, intent on rescuing the Rebels. Defeating Darth Vader in a vicious lightsaber duel, Marek was given the choice of killing the Dark Lord and replacing him as Palpatine's apprentice, but refused, and attacked Palpatine. Marek died in the process, but not before the Rebel leaders escaped aboard his ship.

Darth Vader, now aware of his master's desire to replace him with a more able apprentice, sought to recreate Marek. Collecting his fallen pupil's corpse, he took it to the laboratories on Kamino and created a series of clones. The process was very hit-and-miss, with numerous setbacks and failures caused by the inherent difficulties in cloning Force-sensitives; many of the early subjects were hideously deformed, and even the later, more stable clones still fell prey to acute insanity and psychosis within months. As the subjects failed, Darth Vader would simply dispose of them and move on to training the next. This latest clone, which later identified itself as "Starkiller", Galen Marek's codename, was simply the latest in a long line.

Starkiller's Training Session
"I am strong, my Master, and I am getting stronger." "Show me."

- Starkiller and Darth Vader.



When Darth Vader arrived on Kamino to check in on the Starkiller clone, the subject had been in an isolation pit for approximately thirteen days, relying on the Force to sustain his now starved and dehydrated body. Vader was impressed with the clone's performance, releasing him from the pit and informing him that the Jedi mentor to the original Starkiller, Rahm Kota, had been captured on Cato Neimoidia. Vader stated that when the clone's training was complete, he would be sent to execute the Jedi, before inquiring about Starkiller's continuing visions and memory flashes. While Starkiller elaborated, Vader decried them as "the memories of a dead man", a mere side-effect of the cloning process that would eventually fade. However, Vader also made clear that if they didn't, then Starkiller would be of no further use to him. Vader activated a number of Sith Training Droids and provided Starkiller with a pair of lightsabers, and initiating the training session.

Starkiller fared well in the training match, cutting down the holodroids with practiced ease, until only one remained. As he moved to cut down the remaining droid, he halted when he realized it had taken the shape of Juno Eclipse. Despite Vader's urgings, Starkiller was unable to overcome his instinctual love of her, and couldn't cut down the droid. Vader cut down the droid himself, before stating that Starkiller would receive the same treatment as the other failed clones. Before Vader could follow through on this, Starkiller experienced a sudden vision of the original Starkiller's betrayal at Vader's hands. Starkiller decided to fight back before Vader executed him, turning on the Sith Lord and lashing out with a blast of Force lightning. Vader was momentarily driven to his knees as his cybernetics malfunctioned under the onslaught, and Starkiller used this opening to tear open the wall of the training room and leap out into the Kamino rainstorms.

Escape into Timira City
"The Force gives me all I need."

- Starkiller



Starkiller's training facility was situated at the peak of one of the spires of Timira City, so Starkiller had leapt into open air. As he plummeted down the side of the tower, he used his powerful telekinetic abilities to clear a path for himself, destroying exterior fixtures on the tower and blasting apart a fighter wing of TIE fighters that tried to intecept him. Crashing through a large, glass dome at the base of the spire, Starkiller unleashed a powerful Force wave as he hit the ground, killing all the Stormtroopers in the room. He fought his way out onto the exterior ramparts of the city, making short work of any troopers in his path. The Imperial riot troopers who joined the fray provided a small challenge for Starkiller, as their Electrostaffs could block his lightsaber strikes, though they were no match for his Force abilities.

Fighting his way along the ramparts, Starkiller managed to reenter the city, making his way to one of the smaller cloning facilities. Making his way through the labs, he eventually reached a corridor overlooking the Timira City parade grounds. Using a powerful mind trick, he compelled the lone trooper patrolling the corridor to commit suicide, leaping through the window and falling to his death. This sudden activity caught the notice of the gunners manning the heavy laser emplacements above the parade ground to open fire on the corridor, forcing Starkiller to retreat to the grounds. Fighting his way through the parade grounds, he reached one of the main entrances, where he was confronted by a Carbonite war droid. Starkiller used telekinesis to rip off the automatons shield before destroying it, and continuing on.

Starkiller happened upon one of the main landing platforms, where he fended off a veritable horde of stormtroopers delivered by Imperial gunships. Making his way along a series of catwalks above the landing platform, Starkiller destroyed all the troopers in his path before reentering the facility once again. As he traveled down a windowed corridor along the edge of one of the domes, he was harassed by another gunship, which destroyed the corridor behind him as he fled. Exiting the dome, he saw Darth Vader's TIE Advanced x1 docked on the adjacent landing platform. Destroying the communications tower in front of him, Starkiller used it as a bridge to reach the platform.

Once on the platform, Starkiller drew heavily on the Force as he attacked the trio of AT-STs guarding Vader's ship, falling into Force fury. He made short work of the walkers, and viciously cut loose against the stormtrooper reinforcements who arrived, killing many of them with wild lightsaber throws. The landing platform was quickly cleared, and Starkiller began jogging towards Vader's fighter. It was then that Vader himself arrived, telekinetically blasting open the double-doors into the cloning facility as he marched out into the rain. Starkiller increased his pace and quickly boarded the fighter, taking off immediately. As he attempted to fly away, Vader grasped the ship with the Force, seeking to halt Starkiller's escape. After a brief contest between Vader's power and the ship's engines, the Dark Lord either lost or voluntarily released his hold, and Starkiller fled.

Aftermath


Following the information provided by Darth Vader, Starkiller travels to Cato Neimoidia, intent on rescuing Rahm Kota instead of executing him. As he fails to change the transponder code of Darth Vader's TIE fighter, the Cato Neimoidian air contol identifies him as Vader himself, and Starkiller is directed to an executive landing platform, where he is greeted by a full Stormtrooper honor guard detail and Baron Merillion Tarko, the local Imperial Governor. Tarko immediately notices something wrong, and while he does provide Kota's location, he also quizzes Starkiller about the local Imperial security codes, ordering his stormtroopers to attack him when the Force adept fails to answer. Starkiller fights his way through Tarko's forces and successfully rescues Kota, while Tarko himself is consumed by one of his arena beasts.

Bereft of his latest apprentice, Vader simply decants the next clone and trains him. However, this latest subject proves to be the ultimate success Vader was hoping for, overcoming the memory imprints of Galen Marek and retaining his sanity. Seeking to test his new apprentice, Vader goes to work luring Starkiller back to Kamino, kidnapping Juno Eclipse, a woman the original Galen Marek was infatuated with, and bringing her to Kamino. Starkiller comes chasing after her with the entire Rebel Alliance fleet at his heel, and during the battle, confronts Darth Vader. Vader seemingly kills Juno Eclipse, and Starkiller falls on the Dark Lord in a rage, defeating him. However, Starkiller refrains from killing Darth Vader, and allows the Rebels to take him prisoner, ironically saving his own life by not spurring the Dark Apprentice into action.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
 * The Force Unleashed II novel
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II comic