Rescue of Rahm Kota

"I was expecting Lord Vader&hellip;" "The Jedi. Where is he?" "Oh, he's alive. For the moment. He's been in the Arena for seven days."

- Baron Tarko and Starkiller

In 1 BBY, a rescue mission to free the Rebellion Jedi General Rahm Kota was performed during the early stages of the Galactic Civil War. Captured during a failed raid on the planet Cato Neimoidia, Rahm Kota was taken to the city Tarko-se and placed in the Tarko-se Arena, the local gladiatorial stadium, for execution. While Kota endured an onslaught of monsters and gladiators, Starkiller, a rogue clone of the late Galen Marek, escaped from the Sith Lord Darth Vader on the ocean-world of Kamino. Unbeknownst to Kota, Vader had initiated a clandestine project to create a more powerful version of Marek, who had once been his apprentice; a perfect clone that possessed all of Marek's strengths and none of his weaknesses. However, the cloning process was imperfect and resulted in numerous failures, including Starkiller.

Following up on information inadvertently provided by Vader, Starkiller traveled to Cato Neimoidia in order to rescue the captured Jedi General Kota. However, his motives were influenced more by his desire to find Captain Juno Eclipse, the woman with whom his progenitor had fallen in love, than they were by his concern for Kota's well-being. After a brief battle with the soldiers under the command of the local Imperial Governor, Baron Merillion Tarko, Starkiller fought his way to the arena, where he found an exhausted Rahm Kota. The desperate Tarko unleashed a beast known as the Gorog on the two Force-wielders, and the creature broke free of its restraints while attempting to kill Starkiller. In the chaos, Tarko was devoured by the monster; and the arena, along with Tarko-se itself, was destroyed. Starkiller and Kota were retrieved from the falling wreckage by the starship Rogue Shadow, which was on autopilot.

Prelude
"The Force gives me all I need."

- Starkiller, during his escape from Kamino

During the early days of the Galactic Civil War, around 1 BBY, Rebellion General Rahm Kota often acted without authorization from the Rebels in his military raids against the Galactic Empire. He operated as though he was managing his own militia, rather than as a part of a larger organization. During one such raid on the planet Cato Neimoidia, his squad was killed and he was captured. The local Imperial Governor, Baron Merillion Tarko, planned to execute Kota by placing him in the Tarko-se Arena, a gladiatorial arena located in the city of Tarko-se. However, Kota managed to stay alive for several days by fighting off the monsters and gladiators sent to kill him.

Meanwhile, on the ocean-world of Kamino, the Sith Lord Darth Vader had secretly been managing a cloning project, seeking to recreate his fallen apprentice, Galen Marek&mdash;whose codename had been "Starkiller." Due to the inherent difficulty in cloning Force-sensitives, many of the clones were abject failures, either very deformed or falling prey to clone madness. During a training session, Vader informed Starkiller, one of the clones of Marek, of Kota's capture on Cato Neimodia, and ordered the clone to execute the Jedi General Kota at the conclusion of his training. However, the clone ultimately failed Vader's tests, unable to overcome the memory imprints from the original Galen Marek. Before Vader could execute him, though, Starkiller lashed out at the Sith Lord and broke out of the facility. After fighting his way through the local Imperial garrison, Starkiller hijacked Darth Vader's TIE Advanced x1 and escaped the planet. Following up on Vader's information, Starkiller traveled to Cato Neimoidia to rescue Kota. Starkiller's main motive was his hope that the General could lead him to Captain Juno Eclipse, who had been Marek's lover when he was alive.

The Rescue
"I don't know who you are, but you clearly have no idea who you are dealing with."

- Baron Tarko, chiding Starkiller

Having failed to change the transponder signal on the TIE fighter he had stolen, Starkiller was identified as Darth Vader and directed to an executive landing platform. He received a full TIE fighter escort, was presented with a stormtrooper honor guard detail, and was greeted by Tarko himself. When Starkiller disembarked the fighter and demanded Kota's location, the puzzled Tarko replied that Kota had been fighting in the Tarko-se Arena for seven days, and then quizzed Starkiller on the local Imperial security codes. When Starkiller failed to answer, Tarko pulled a blaster on him and the stormtroopers readied their weapons. Starkiller ignited his duel lightsabers, and Tarko ordered the troopers to attack before retreating himself. Starkiller made short work of the stormtroopers, but Tarko escaped. After destroying a bipedal All Terrain Missile Platform walker and killing two Imperial Sith Acolytes guarding the entrance to the landing platform turbolifts, Starkiller descended into the hanging city of Tarko-se.

Starkiller initially followed the streets, all the while chided by Baron Tarko through a loudspeaker system; but Imperial resistance&mdash;including Imperial scout troopers, Imperial riot troopers, and Imperial Jumptroopers&mdash;prompted him to ascend to the rooftop ledges to save time. The Imperials quickly wised up to this tactic, and activated fixed gun emplacements at the rooftop level he was traveling along, though Starkiller easily held off these attacks as he continued on. Starkiller gained some small help along the way by using mind trick to turn enemies to his side or making them kill themselves. However, he was soon driven down by a sudden attack from a Nemesis-class gunship, and he burst into the Infinite Nebstar Casino. Most of the patrons scattered out of his way, though Imperial forces flooded in to replace them, with even more Imperial Sith Acolytes joining the fray. Clearing several of the rooms, Starkiller then descended to the lower levels of the casino through the turbolift shafts, where he was confronted by a carbonite war droid. Starkiller destroyed the automaton before exiting the casino.

Finding a passenger tram to the western arch of Tarko-se city, Starkiller leapt onto the vehicles roof and used it for transport. However, the tram was attacked by Imperial air forces, including several TIE fighters and the Nemesis-class gunship, en route, forcing Starkiller to defend it, though it still sustained heavy damage despite his best efforts. Utilizing both of his lightsabers and the Force, Starkiller succeeded in repelling many of the Nemesis' own concussion missiles back to their source of origin, thus inflicting severe damage to the gunship which resulted in its destruction. Just short of the tram's docking station on the western arch, it finally failed and fell out of the sky, forcing Starkiller to leap the remaining distance. Starkiller fought his way through the rest of the Imperial forces, and destroyed a second Nemesis-class gunship that had attempted to destroy him after the first gunship failed.

The Gorog
"By the Force, I knew you were alive!"

- General Kota upon seeing Starkiller

Entering the arena floor, Starkiller walked over to a surprised Kota. Despite being exhausted and injured after several days of combat in the arena, Kota opted to continue fighting to settle his score with Baron Tarko. Tarko himself was desperate to defeat the resilient Starkiller, and he ordered his Neimoidian aide to release the massive arena beast known as the Gorog. The creature consumed a Bull rancor released into the arena before hauling itself out of its holding pit. Kota broke off to hunt down Tarko, leaving Starkiller to contend with the beast.

Starkiller initially harassed the beast with Force lightning and telekinetic attacks at its feet, though these had little effect. Following tactical advice from Kota, Starkiller used the restraint systems built into the arena to snare the Gorog's arms, allowing him to leap onto the creature's head. Using a combination of lightsaber slices and concentrated blasts of Force lightning, Starkiller amputated the large plate attached to the creature's massive cranium, exposing its brain. He stabbed his dual-lightsabers into the exposed grey matter, injuring the beast. In its pain, the Gorog burst free from its restraints and swiped Starkiller off its head, sending him flying into the arena supports above. The Gorog aggressively pursued, and Starkiller got the creature to destroy the beams and cables supporting the Tarko-se Arena, trying to bring the whole hanging city down. This caused the structure to break apart and fall off of the Tarko-se city arch. Expecting the Gorog to fall with the arena, Starkiller headed straight for Tarko's executive box, which had its own devoted support beam. Rendezvousing with Kota, the two Force-wielders made quick work of the Baron's guards before advancing on him.

However, before they could capture or kill Tarko, the Gorog grabbed hold of the box, hoping to avoid falling, causing it to tip and unceremoniously dump Tarko into it's mouth. The Gorog then reached in and seized Kota before losing its grip and falling. Starkiller leapt after the falling beast, using the Force to increase his velocity. Dodging falling debris, he managed to propel himself onto the Gorog's back, before firing a concentrated blast of Force lightning into it's torso, stopping its heart. The Gorog went limp and released Kota. As the two fell, Kota activated a remote transponder he had concealed on his person, which summoned the starship Rogue Shadow which was flying on autopilot. The ship swooped beneath them and they landed on top before flying away.

Aftermath
"Fine, then. Go to the forests of Kashyyyk or the caves of Dagobah, or wherever you think you'll find what you need and let the galaxy die."

- Rahm Kota

Unaware that the Rogue Shadow was flying on autopilot, Starkiller charged into the cockpit, expecting to find Juno Eclipse, Galen Marek's lover. Kota revealed that he didn't know where she was, as the Rebel fleet had been scattered, though he did agree to provide the rendezvous coordinates with the fleet in the Athega system. However, upon arrival, they were ambushed by an Imperial fleet, forcing them to flee. Kota was quick to try convincing Starkiller to join the Rebellion, desiring to use the clone's powers in a full-scale counterattack against the Empire. Kota brushed aside Starkiller's claims of being a clone with the supposed certainty that cloning Force-sensitives was impossible; he even tried to drill Starkiller for information on the Kamino cloning facilities.

However, Starkiller remained unconvinced that he could be the real Starkiller, believing that Vader found a way to successfully clone Force-wielders with the aid of Kaminoan technology. Furthermore, he remained committed to finding Eclipse and also stated that he simply needed a quiet place to meditate on his situation. With Kota proving to be of no use in Starkiller's search for Eclipse, the clone became frustrated and made it clear that the Rebellion was not his priority. Kota was enraged that Starkiller would not immediately commit to the Rebellion, believing that the clone was putting one woman and his own inner conflict above the needs of the galaxy. Realizing that he could not convince or force Starkiller to change his mind, Kota stormed out of the cockpit, but not before giving the Rogue Shadow to him, feeling that the ship had always been his, and demanding to be let out on the nearest spaceport before Starkiller got "lost in the stars" as Kota put it.

Starkiller dropped Kota off on the planet Malastare before following up on one of the hints Kota had inadvertently dropped, which led to the swampy-world of Dagobah. Making his way through the swamps of the world, Starkiller encountered Jedi Master-in-exile, Yoda, who was watching over the Dark Side Cave. Yoda steered Starkiller into entering the cave, where he experienced a vision of Juno Eclipse being attacked and wounded on the bridge of her warship, the Salvation. Determined to prevent this outcome, Starkiller retrieved Kota on Malastare and the two rendezvoused with the Rebel fleet near the Itani Nebula. However, Starkiller and Kota were too late. Juno was captured by the Bounty hunter Boba Fett, who was hired by Vader to capture Eclipse to draw Starkiller to Kamino, and a battle ensued.

Behind the scenes
The rescue of Rahm Kota first appeared in the novel version of The Force Unleashed II written by author Sean Williams, which was published on October 5, 2010. People had the opportunity to play through this mission in one of the levels of the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, which came out on October 26, 2010.

Appearances

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