Juno Eclipse

"Sometime soon, you will decide the fate of the rebellion, not your Master."

- Juno Eclipse

Juno Eclipse was the female Imperial pilot during the Great Jedi Purge. Following the Battle of Callos, she was tasked with piloting the Rogue Shadow, transport ship of Galen Marek, Darth Vader's secret apprentice. After being branded a traitor by the Dark Lord, Juno joined Marek on his mission to create a Rebel Alliance. It was during their adventures that Juno and Marek fell in love. However, theirs was a future not meant to be as Marek died fighting the Emperor and Juno went on to become a Rebel pilot.

Early Life
Juno Eclipse was born on Corulag, the daughter of a teacher and civil engineer. Early in her life, her mother was slain in what was said to be crossfire between Imperial loyalists and insurgents on her home planet. Her father became increasingly strict and aloof after the death of his wife, and became fiercely enamored of those who served the Empire. Juno was raised to believe the ideas passed on by her father, including a vilanous portrayal of the Jedi Order and it was largely because of her father's distance and his admiration of Imperial service that Juno became the youngest cadet to be accepted into the Corulag Academy.

Imperial Pilot
After graduating with high honors, Juno flew many successful combat missions throughout the Outer Rim; bringing the admiration of her peers and commanding officers. Through quick promotions, she eventually gained control of Black Squadron, Darth Vader's elite unit of eight TIE Fighter pilots. It was during the Battle of Callos that she proved her loyalty to Vader after, despite obvious misgivings about obeying her orders, she continued her assault on the already beaten and defenseless planet, leading to the genocide and, for all intents and purposes, destruction of the planet. In addition to her loyalty, Vader also realized that she lacked the ruthlessness he found vital to the command of Black Squadron and Juno was reassigned to pilot the Rogue Shadow, a state-of-the-art star ship and transport of Darth Vader's secret apprentice, Starkiller and his droid companion, PROXY. Although mistakenly believeing that the man she was a spy, she quickly discovered that he was, in fact, on a mission to exterminate the last of the Jedi. Juno assisted in this by flying him to Nar Shaddaa, Raxus Prime and Felucia all the while trying to get to know and understand Darth Vader's enigmatic enforcer.

It was during this time that Juno discovered the plot against Emperor Palpatine while spying on the apprentice and his Master. Although torn between her duty to her immediate superior, Lord Vader, and her duty to the Emperor, Juno continued to fly Starkiller around until he had completed his mission. After defeating Jedi Master Shaak Ti on Felucia, Starkiller returned to his Master, only to discover that the Emperor had learned of his existence. Starkiller was betrayed, and seemingly killed, by Lord Vader at the behest of the Emperor. Afterward, Vader would declare Juno a traitor and have her imprisoned inside his science vessel, the Empirical, for six standard months.

Forging an Alliance
After six months of imprisonment, Juno was freed by the newly resurrected Starkiller. Though she had no idea how he had survived, she followed him on his new mission to gather all of the enemies of the Empire in one, cohesive  Alliance, unaware that this was yet another undertaking in the service of Darth Vader. Juno, Starkiller and PROXY set about trying to find the first Jedi Starkiller had been sent to destroy, General Rahm Kota. After searching Nar Shaddaa, the site of that fateful battle, the crew of th Rogue Shadow were able to track him down to the Vapor room, a bar on Cloud City. After battling their was of Bespin with the now blind and inebriated General, they set a course for Kashyyyk where Starkiller would rescue something of value for Senator Bail Organa. That something turned out to be his daughter, Princess Leia Organa. During his time on the planet, Starkiller found a hut that resonated strongly in The Force. Though Juno did not know it at the time, it was in this hut that Starkiller began to uncover the mystery of his past and learned his true name. After saving the Princess and destroying the Skyhook being used to transport Wookiee slaves from the surface, the Rogue Shadow set a course for Felucia to rescue Bail Organa, as he was pivotal to forging Starkiller's alliance.

After being rescued from the fallen Padawan Maris Brood, Organa was willing to join the Rebel Alliance, though he was convinced that to entice other dissidents, the Empire would have to be shown to be vulnerable. Starkiller, passing as a Jedi Knight, agreed to meditate on the subject, in the apparent privacy of his ship however, he contacted Darth Vader and received instruction to attack a Star Destroyer shipyard above Raxus Prime. Juno was spying on him however and was distraught to find out that Starkiller was still Vader's slave. After confronting him she informed him that the Rebellion's fate would be his to decide, not Vader's or Palpatine's. It was at this time that they both began to realize they had feeling for one another, though they were unlikely to lead to a future together. On Raxus Prime, Starkiller was able to destroy the shipyard, pull down a Star Destroyer by simple will of the Force and save PROXY from the Core, a planet wide computer mainframe. His efforts in saving his oldest friend, even if he was just a droid, made her realize that Starkiller was conflicted on where his true loyalties lie.

The Empire had been shown to be vulnerable and hence the first meeting of the Alliance to Restore the Republic was held on Corellia. Present were Starkiller, Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, Garm Bel Iblis, PROXY, projecting the form of Princess Leia, Rahm Kota, and Juno Eclipse. Unfortunately, before the Alliance could be formalized, Darth Vader arrived revealing that the alliance had been a ruse by himself and the Emperor in an attempt to gather all the Imperial enemies in one place. After ordering the Senators under arrest, defeating his former apprentice in a duel, and seemingly destroying PROXY after the droid had attempted to save his Master, Vader left Corellia, not realizing that Juno had survived and would come back for the apprentice. Come back she did, however and discovered him at the bottom of a precipice seemingly dead. He had miraculously survived however and revealed to Juno that his name was Galen.

End Game
After discerning the location of the would-be Rebels, Juno and Galen traveled to Despayre the current build site of the Empire's new super weapon, the Death Star. Using the Rogue Shadow's advanced cloaking system, Juno was able to get just inside of the thin atmosphere around the Death Star. Galen prepared to take the leap to the surface, but Juno stopped him, asking "Will I see you again?" "Probably not, no." was the response, and with that Juno kissed him saying that she wouldn't have to live it down. After he finally made the jump, Juno took the ship to safety waiting for the extraction notice from the Rebels. When it finally came, she was dismayed to find that Galen was not among the rescued. Kota informed her that he had died fighting Vader and the Emperor and that he had chosen death over the eternal darkness of the dark side. Juno commented to herself that death was infinitely preferable to a life without hope. Shortly before formalizing the Alliance, Juno and Bail Organa traveled to Corellia to try to recover PROXY. They found him still functional, though in need of repair and were informed that upon the death of his Master, he would transfer ownership to Juno Eclipse. In an attempt to record the founding of the Rebel Alliance, and therein discover more about Galen Marek, they asked PROXY to relay all the information they knew about his past. On Kashyyyk, the Rebel Alliance was finally formalized and more of Galen's history was revealed. The Alliance chose to rally behind the Alliance Starbird, the former Marek family crest in honor of their fallen leader.

Behind the scenes
Juno Eclipse is portrayed by British actress and former model Nathalie Cox, best known for her role in the film Kingdom of Heaven as the wife of Orlando Bloom's character, Balian.

The player character in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed shares a love interest with Juno Eclipse.

A leaked Hasbro computer database was the first source to reveal Juno's name. Her name has since been confirmed by the March issue of Game Informer.

Juno Eclipse's name is a reference to the Roman Goddess Juno, who was essentially the queen of the gods in the Roman Pantheon.



"Juno Eclipse" was originally considered to be the name of Asajj Ventress, but was rejected as "not villainous enough."

Appearances

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

Notes and references
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