Battle on Death Star I

"Poor boy. The Sith always betray one another…I’m sure you’ll learn that soon enough"

- Shaak Ti to Galen

The Battle in the Death Star I was a conflict during the Great Jedi Purge and Galactic Civil War, in which Darth Vader and Galen Marek, his former apprentice, dueled against one another on board Death Star I.

The Battle
After the Rebel leaders were captured by Darth Vader for personal execution by Emperor Palpatine, Galen Marek and Juno Eclipse set out to rescue them. Juno Eclipse set down their ship, the Rogue Shadow, inside Death Star I, which was still under construction during the time. Galen incited a riot amongst the Wookiee slave workers, being held there as a distraction, rescued Rahm Kota, and then proceeded deeper into the space station seeking the Rebel prisoners. The former Sith apprentice fought his way into the Emperor's tower, where he found Palpatine and Vader interrogating the Rebel leaders.

Duel with Vader
Galen confronted the Sith, allowing the Rebels enough time to escape, and prompting Palpatine to order Vader to destroy him. Galen engaged Vader in a lightsaber duel.

The duel progressed into a carbon freezing chamber, where Galen gained the upper hand after striking Vader in the leg and causing several pieces of the ceiling to fall on Vader. Vader, temporarily distracted, lost his helmet to Galen, who then picked him up using the force and flung him through the window into Palpatine's chambers.

Watchtower explosion
After witnessing the defeat of Vader, Palpatine tried to tempt Galen into destroying his former master, and taking his position as apprentice to the Emperor. Kota attempts to put an immediate stop to this by stealing Palpatine's lightsaber, and attacks him. Palpatine struck Kota down with a furious barrage of Force lightning. Galen attacked using the Force to strike Palpatine with nearby objects in an attempt to save his friend. The Emperor foretold that it was Galen's destiny to destroy him, surrendering to his anger, and thus completing his descent into the dark side. However, Galen refused. The Emperor, in frustration, attempted to destroy Rahm Kota with another blast of Force lightning, but Galen quickly threw himself in front of the blast to save his friend. Galen grabbed hold of the Sith Lord, thus channeling the lightning back into the Emperor.

In the process of battling the Emperor, Galen sensed through the Force, that a recovered Vader and a platoon of stormtroopers, were attempting to halt the escape of the Rebel leaders still on board the Death Star. Galen, in a desperate attempt to aid their escape, opened his body to the Force, and released a mass of energy resulting in an immense explosion, that nearly destroyed the Emperor's tower.

Aftermath
Juno, Rahm, Bail, Garm, and Mon Mothma fled aboard the Rogue Shadow. Palpatine and Darth Vader managed to survive Marek's force explosion, but the completion date of the Death Star was set back to allow repair of the structural damage suffered by the blast. The Rebel leaders, along with Juno and Kota, organized on Kashyyyk, where they found the abandoned home of Galen and his father, Kento Marek. Inside, they discovered the Marek family crest. It was decided that, it was Galen Marek's heroic sacrifice that had saved their lives and allowed for their congregation, the crest would become the official symbol of the Rebel Alliance, in honor of Galen and his family.

Alternate ending
In the alternate non-canon ending of this battle in The Force Unleashed, Galen chooses to finish off Vader, avenging the murder of his father and the two betrayals on himself. After another long battle, Galen strips Vader of his lightsaber as he did as a child and runs him through with it. Galen returns to the main platform, where the Emperor is standing over an injured Kota. He instructs the Apprentice to kill Kota, giving himself to the dark side and fulfilling his destiny. Galen ignites his lightsaber, ready to strike down his new mentor. Instead, he turns and swings at Palpatine. However, Palpatine immediately ignites his own saber, easily deflecting his attack. He admits that he had forseen the attack and knew that Galen would attempt to kill him. Palpatine electrocutes him and throws him through a window out onto the landing platform just as Juno flies the Rogue Shadow in for the rescue. Staggering on the ground, Galen sees that Bail and the other Rebel leaders have already been killed. Palpatine force grips the Shadow and hurls it at Galen. Galen wakes up on an operating table much like the one Darth Vader rested on while his suit was constructed. He is now wearing his own suit of armor, presumably the only thing keeping him alive. The Emperor stands before him, saying he expected more from the Apprentice and thought he could have one day become the greatest Sith in the galaxy. Now, Galen will act as his new servant, doing the Emperor's bidding until he is eventually cast aside just as Vader was. Galen screams as his suit is completed.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game
 * The Force Unleashed novel
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed comic

Duelo en la Estrella de la Muerte I Bitwa na Gwieździe Śmierci