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

A rescue mission to free the Rebellion Jedi General Rahm Kota was performed in 1 BBY, during the early stages of the Galactic Civil War. Captured during a failed raid on the planet Cato Neimoidia, Kota was taken to the city Tarko-se, where he was 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 Jedi 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&mdash;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 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 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 Jedi 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 the larger organization. During one such raid on the planet Cato Neimoidia, Kota's 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 begun a cloning project, seeking to recreate his slain apprentice, Galen Marek&mdash;whose codename had been "Starkiller." Due to the inherent difficulty with 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 Kota at the conclusion of his training. However, the clone ultimately failed Vader's tests, unable to overcome the memory imprints from the original Marek. Before Vader could execute him, 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 from the planet. Following up on Vader's information, Starkiller traveled to Cato Neimoidia to rescue Kota. His main motive was his hope that the Jedi 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 that he had stolen, Starkiller was identified as Darth Vader and was directed to an executive landing platform on Cato Neimoidia. 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 dual 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 who were 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 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 realized his plan and activated fixed gun emplacements at the rooftop level along which he was traveling. Nevertheless, Starkiller held off those attacks, and he gained some small help along the way by using mind tricks to turn enemies to his side or to make them kill themselves. However, he was soon driven down by a sudden attack from a Nemesis-class gunship, and he charged into the Infinite Nebstar Casino. As most of the casino patrons scattered out of his way, Imperial forces flooded in, and several Imperial Sith Acolytes also joined the fray. Defeating the Imperial forces in 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 and left the casino.

Finding a passenger tram to the western arch of Tarko-se, Starkiller leaped onto the vehicle's roof and used it for transport. However, the tram was attacked by Imperial air forces, including several TIE fighters and the Nemesis-class gunship. Despite Starkiller's best efforts, the tram sustained heavy damage. Nevertheless, 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, inflicting severe damage to the gunship and resulting in its destruction. Just short of the tram's docking station on the western arch, it finally failed and began falling toward the ground, forcing Starkiller to leap the remaining distance to avoid injury. Starkiller then fought his way through the rest of the Imperial forces and destroyed a second Nemesis-class gunship that had joined the battle.

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

- Jedi General Kota, upon seeing Starkiller

Entering the Tarko-se 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 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 departed 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, but both 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. He succeeded, and the structure broke apart and fell 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 separate support beam. Rendezvousing with Kota, the two Force-wielders made quick work of the Baron's guards before advancing on him.

Before Starkiller and Kota could capture or kill Tarko, the Gorog grabbed hold of the box in an attempt to avoid falling, causing it to tip and unceremoniously dump Tarko into its mouth. The Gorog then reached in and seized Kota, but it suddenly lost its grip and fell. Starkiller leaped after the Gorog, using the Force to increase his velocity and dodging falling debris. He managed to propel himself onto the Gorog's back, from where he fired a concentrated blast of Force lightning into its torso that stopped one of its hearts. The Gorog went limp and released Kota. As Kota and Starkiller fell, the Jedi General activated a remote transponder that he had concealed on his person, summoning the starship Rogue Shadow, which was flying on autopilot. The ship swooped beneath Starkiller and Kota, and they landed on top of the craft 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, to Starkiller

Soon afterward, the bounty hunter Boba Fett&mdash;who had accepted a bounty put on Starkiller's head by Vader&mdash;arrived on Cato Neimoidia with his partner, Xasha. The two entered the ruins of Tarko-se, where they found the Gorog still alive. Although the creature was seriously wounded, it attacked Fett. The bounty hunter fired a back-mounted rocket at the Gorog's second heart and used his jetpack to fly through the wound in the Gorog's torso, finally killing it. The encounter with the beast discouraged Xasha from pursuing their prey any further, and she parted ways with Fett, who continued with his assignment.

Meanwhile, unaware that Marek's former ship, the Rogue Shadow, was flying on autopilot, Starkiller charged into the cockpit, expecting to find Juno Eclipse. Kota revealed that he didn't know where she was, as the Rebel Fleet had been scattered, but he did agree to provide the rendezvous coordinates with the Rebel Fleet in the Athega system. Upon their arrival, they were ambushed by an Imperial fleet and forced to flee. Kota tried to convince Starkiller to join the Rebellion, hoping to use Starkiller's powers in a full-scale counterattack against the Empire. However, Starkiller refused to go along with Kota's plan because his sole wish was to find Eclipse. Meanwhile, Kota disregarded Starkiller's claims of being a clone with the supposed certainty that cloning Force-sensitives was impossible, and he tried to drill Starkiller for information on the Kamino cloning facilities.

Despite Kota's claims, Starkiller remained unconvinced that he could be the real Starkiller, Galen Marek. However, he remained committed to finding Eclipse and stated that he simply needed a quiet place to meditate on his situation. Realizing that he could not convince or force Starkiller to change his mind, Kota stormed out of the cockpit, but he nevertheless gave the Rogue Shadow to Starkiller, as he felt that the ship was rightfully his. Kota then demanded to be let out on the nearest spaceport before Starkiller continued on his personal quest.

Starkiller dropped Kota off on the planet Malastare before following up on one of the hints that Kota had inadvertently dropped, which led to the planet Dagobah. Making his way through the swamps of the world, Starkiller encountered a Jedi Master–in–exile, Yoda, who was watching over the Dark Side Cave. Yoda convinced Starkiller to enter the cave, where he experienced a vision of Eclipse being attacked and wounded on the bridge of her warship, the Salvation. Determined to prevent that outcome, Starkiller retrieved Kota on Malastare, and the two rendezvoused with the Rebel Fleet near the Itani Nebula. The two were too late, however; Eclipse was captured by Boba Fett, who had been hired by Vader to bring her to Kamino in order to lure Starkiller there.

Behind the scenes
The rescue of Rahm Kota first appeared in author Sean Williams's novelization of the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II video game; the novel was published on October 5, 2010. An opportunity to play through the mission was presented in one of the levels of the video game, which itself came out on October 26, 2010.

Appearances

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