Starkiller

"Starkiller," originally designated as Subject 1138, was the codename given to a clone of the late Galen Marek, the secret apprentice of the Sith Lord Darth Vader and founder of the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

When Marek died in 2 BBY, shortly after the formation of the Alliance, Vader endeavored to recreate his disciple by utilizing the cloning technologies of the planet Kamino. The accelerated cloning process—an enhanced version of the Kaminoan method which allowed for a rapid growth rate within its subjects—was initially imperfect and many clones were too unstable to take Marek's place as the Dark Lord's new apprentice. After monthsof failure, one particular clone impressed Vader enough for him to hope that this version might become the first success. But as with the others, he inherited Marek's power and skills at the cost of receiving his emotions as well, a side effect of memory flashes used in the training process.

Like those who came before him, the clone could not free himself from the emotional imprints passed on by Marek, especially his personal attachment to Captain Juno Eclipse, a former Imperial pilot stationed on Marek's starship, the Rogue Shadow. As with Marek, the clone's dedication to the dark side of the Force was undermined by Eclipse as he steadily became obsessed with her. When Vader judged him to be another imperfect copy, the clone escaped from Kamino and embarked on a personal journey to find Eclipse.

Lacking a name of his own, and refusing to take the one that belonged to his template, he was subsequently known by Marek's callsign "Starkiller." Immediately after his escape from Kamino, Starkiller's first stop on his quest was the planet Cato Neimoidia where he rescued General Rahm Kota, Marek's informal Jedi mentor. During this process, which took place in the city of Tarko-se and its arena, the clone single-handedly incapacitated the massive Gorog beast that belonged to BaronMerillion Tarko. His desire to find an identity for himself led him to Dagobah, where a brief encounter with the revered Jedi Master Yoda and an epiphany allowed him to glimpse into the future.

This vision offered him insight as to the whereabouts of Captain Eclipse, by then a Rebel stationed on theflagship Salvation. Darth Vader used Starkiller's obsession with her to his own advantage and hired the infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett to abduct and transport Eclipse to Kamino in an attempt to lure Starkiller back to his homeworld. Starkiller rallied the Alliance Fleet to launch a massive attack on Kamino, using the Alliance's military assets to help him achieve his own personal goal. In the midst of the battle, Starkillerkamikazed the critically damaged Salvation into Timira City and confronted Darth Vader. The clone proved to be as strong as his template and incapacitated Vader with a powerful blast of Force lightning, allowing Alliance soldiers to place him under arrest. Through Starkiller's involvement, the assault on Kamino became the Rebel Alliance's first major victory against the Empire in the Galactic Civil War. Afterward, Starkiller and Eclipse were assigned to personally transport their Sith prisoner to the Alliance secret headquarters on Dantooine to await trial and execution for his crimes against the galaxy.

Early Life and Training
When the original Starkiller stormed the Death Star in a bid to rescue the captured Rebel Alliance leaders, Emperor Palpatinepresented him with the opportunity of killing Darth Vader and replacing him as Palpatine's Sith apprentice. While Starkiller refused, perishing in the ensuing battle with Palpatine to provide his friends the means to escape, Vader was at last made aware of Palpatine's long standing desire to replace him with a more able apprentice.

Now earnestly pursuing the idea of a secret apprentice to help him assassinate Palpatine, Vader preserved Starkiller's body, taking it to Kamino and extracting cells to clone the Force Adept. Due to the inherent difficulty in cloning Force-sensitives, many of the initial clones were deformed and aberrant monstrosities. As the process was refined, the clones became increasingly stable, though many still succumbed tomadness after the period of a few months, at which point Vader would simply move on to training a new test subject. The Starkiller clone designated as Subject 1138 was just the latest in a long line.

Escape from Kamino
Starkiller's training progressed rapidly, thanks in large part to the imprinted memory flashes from the original Starkiller. He was also subjected to numerous brutal tests by Darth Vader, such as having to spend thirteen days in isolation without food or water, forced to survive by relying on the Force. Upon one of Vader's visits, the clone was released from the isolation pit and was informed by Vader that Rahm Kota, the original Starkiller's Jedi mentor, had been captured on Cato Neimoidia. At the conclusion of his training, Starkiller was to travel there and execute the Jedi. When Vader inquired about Starkiller's visions, the clone elaborated, curious about their meaning. Vader explained that they were nothing more than "the memories of a dead man," a temporary side effect of the accelerated cloning process. With that, Vader initiated a training session, providing Starkiller with a pair of lightsabers. Engaging a number of Sith Training Droids imitating Rebel Alliance soldiers, Starkiller cut them down with brutal efficiency, falling into a trance-like state. However, as he turned on the last faux-Rebel, he realized that it was an imitation of Juno Eclipse.

Despite Vader's orders, Starkiller was unable to strike her down. Disappointed at Starkiller's inability, Vader struck down the false Eclipse himself, and Starkiller ran to the cut-up droid to check it, as if it were Juno herself. Vader then declared that Starkiller would suffer the "same fate as the others." Now aware that he was going to be discarded by the Sith Lord, Starkiller lost all respect for him, even doubting the fact that there were other clones of the same template; he believed that any other version of Vader's fallen apprentice would be in love with her as well and seek out Juno Eclipse just as he was. Experiencing a sudden memory flash of the original Starkiller being betrayed by Vader, Starkiller then decided to escape this outcome, and therefore turned on Vader at the last moment.

Darth Vader brandished his lightsaber to execute the clone, but was caught off-guard by a sudden barrage of Force lightning from an enraged Starkiller, dropping to one knee as his cybernetics malfunctioned. Starkiller used the opening to blast a hole in the wall of the reinforced training room, leaping out of the tower into the Kamino rainstorms.[6] Using the Force to clear his path of TIE fighters and exterior fixtures on the tower, Starkiller plummeted onto the exterior ramparts of the Timira City cloning facilities. Drawing his two lightsabers, he cut a bloody swath of destruction along the rain-slicked platforms, eventually reaching the landing platform where Vader's TIE Advanced x1 starfighter was docked.

As Starkiller paused, Darth Vader emerged from within the facility. Quickly boarding the fighter, Starkiller lifted off and escaped Kamino, despite Vader's brief attempt to telekinetically halt the fighter. Although he knew better than to believe he was free, Starkiller further gave in to his imprinted feelings by dedicating himself to finding Juno Eclipse.

Cato Neimoidia
Knowing that Rahm Kota would most likely be a valuable asset in tracking down Juno, Starkiller decided to rescue his progenitor's former Jedi ally. Thus, he followed up on Darth Vader's information and traveled to Cato Neimoidia. As he had not changed the transponder in Vader's ship, he was believed to be the Dark Lord and was directed to an executive landing pad, where he was greeted by a full retinue of stormtroopers and Baron Merillion Tarko, the Imperial governor controlling the world from Tarko-se, a city that he named after himself. When Starkiller, clad in a tattered Imperial flightsuit, emerged from the vessel, Tarko immediately noticed that something was wrong, informing Starkiller that Kota had been in the Tarko-se Arena for the past several days before questioning his knowledge of the local Imperial security codes. When Starkiller didn't answer, Tarko and the stormtroopers brandished their weapons, prompting Starkiller to ignite his lightsabers. Tarko retreated while Starkiller quickly cut down the troopers.

Carving his way through the eastern archway of Tarko-se, Starkiller eventually reached a public tramway to the western arch where the arena was situated. En route, he was forced to defend the vehicle against an assault by Imperial air forces, destroying most of the opposition. However, the tram finally malfunctioned and fell out of the sky just before reaching the western arch, forcing Starkiller to leap the distance to the tram station. Once in the western arch, he made his way to the entrance to the Tarko-se Arena.

Once within the arena, he approached an exhausted Rahm Kotain the ring. An incredulous Kota turned to him, plainly surprised, but expressing his certainty in Starkiller's survival. As one of the arena doors opening, releasing a rancor, Starkiller brandished one lightsaber. However, his relaxed attitude quickly vanished when the rancor was seized and consumed by a massiveGorog, and he ignited his second blade. While Kota fled the arena to hunt down Tarko, Starkiller remained to contend with the Gorog. With Kota's strategic assistance, Starkiller managed to use the Gorog's restraints built into the arena to pin the beast's arms, before leaping onto its head and cutting into its brain.

The Gorog managed to break loose of its restraints and fling Starkiller aside, destroying the hanging arena's supports in an enraged pursuit of the Force Adept. Starkiller allowed it to do so, hoping it would fall with the rest of the arena. Making his way to Tarko's executive box, he rendezvoused with Kota and confronted the Baron. However, the confrontation was cut short by the Gorog, who seized hold of the box in a last ditch effort to avoid falling. Tarko fell into the Gorog's open mouth while Kota was grabbed by the beast before it fell. Starkiller leapt after them, attacking the Gorog with bursts of Force lightning and lightsaber throws. Finally, Starkiller used the Force to burst through the creature's torso, causing the Gorog to release Kota from its grip. Once freed, Kota used his comlink to contact the Rogue Shadow, which swept in on autopilot and caught them before landing hard on the rocky terrain below.

Once within the ship, Starkiller charged into the cockpit, expecting to find Juno Eclipse there. Kota revealed that he didn't know where she was, as the Rebel fleet had been scattered. Starkiller convinced Kota to help him find Juno, and Kota provided the coordinates for the Rebel rendezvous in theAthega system. However, they were ambushed by an Imperial fleet upon their arrival, and forced to flee. Kota was quick to try convincing Starkiller to join the Rebellion in a counterattack against the Empire, brushing aside Starkiller's claims of being a clone with the supposed certainty that cloning Force-sensitives was impossible; he also tried to drill Starkiller for information regarding the Kaminoan cloning facilities in order for the Alliance to launch a full-scale invasion of Kamino.

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 Juno and also stated that he simply needed a quiet place to meditate on his situation. 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".

Vision on Dagobah
Dropping Kota off on Malastare, Starkiller then followed up on both his Force visions and hints Kota had inadvertently dropped. Traveling to Dac, he found the planet in turmoil from recent resistance activity. OnKashyyyk, he experienced a vision of the original Starkiller's father. From freeing Kota to visiting several worlds, he had found that all of his attempts to find Juno had proven to be counter-productive to his primary goal. Having exhausted all other options, he decided to travel to Dagobah.

Landing on the planet, he probed the swamps through the Force, discovering an odd Force signature that studied him in return. Picking his way through the swamps towards it, Starkiller was forced to fight off several predators, but prevailed. Reaching the Dark Side Cave, he was greeted byYoda. Yoda steered Starkiller into entering the cave, which the Force Adept did after a moment.

Within the cave, Starkiller experienced a vision. Now clad in the robes of a Jedi Knight and wielding blue lightsabers, he wandered the interior of the cave, only to be accosted by various versions of himself. Initially brandishing his lightsabers, Starkiller lowered them and forced his way through. Entering a final chamber shrouded in shadows, he experienced additional layers of the vision, seeing Darth Vader hiring Boba Fett to track him down, and Juno Eclipse being attacked and wounded on the bridge of her vessel, the Salvation.

Emerging from the cave, Starkiller was counciled by Yoda to follow what he had seen. Returning to his ship, Starkiller traveled to Malastare to find Kota. Finding Kota in the workshop of the Rebel contact Berkelium Shyre, Starkiller was recognized by Shyre, who was infatuated with Juno, as the man whom Juno Eclipse always spoke of. After Kota left to rendezvous with his new squad, Starkiller erased Shyre's memory of him, and of his own last meeting with Juno. Afterward, Kota introduced Starkiller to his squad's medic, theCerean Ni-Ke-Vanz. Vanz possessed extensive knowledge of cloning, having been educated in the subject by a Khommite slave during a shared sentence in the Spice Mines of Kessel. Vanz elaborated on how cloning was not the equivalent of immortality. A clone was its own distinct individual, based on the biological structure of the original subject, but ultimately a different version of its template. Vanz also elaborated on the complications of cloning Force-sensitives, particularly how the clones would lapse intoinsanity, causing them to develop psychotic and violent tendencies. Although he was unsure, Vanz speculated that the Force was in some way responsible for undermining the stability of Force-sensitive clones.

Starkiller wasn't reassured by this information, despite Kota's belief that it proved he wasn't a clone. They departed for Nordra, the current location of the Rebel fleet, soon afterward. En route, Kota presented Starkiller with a pair of blue lightsaber crystals, relics of the Clone Wars; Starkiller accepted the gifts and installed them in his dual-lightsabers.

Attack on the Salvation
Arriving at Nordra, Starkiller and Kota docked aboard theSalvation ahead of Kota's squad, which had taken an alternate vessel. While taking a rapid cargo tram towards the Salvationbridge, Kota informed Starkiller about the state of affairs within the Alliance. The Alliance leadership was deadlocked, as they didn't have the firepower to take out a meaningful Imperial target, and hit-and-run raids wasted too many lives. Juno Eclipse was part of the militarist camp, calling for an aggressive strike, even for only a symbolic victory. Kota didn't tell Juno that Starkiller was with him, feeling that it would be better for her to see for herself. Starkiller handed Kota an encrypted code cylinder that contained information about the Timira City cloning facilities; everything the Alliance needed to launch a successful attack.

The cargo tram suddenly ground to a halt as the ship was attacked. Starkiller and Kota quickly drew their lightsabers and made their way to the bridge on foot, attacked by Imperial Terror Soldiers along the way. Reaching the bridge, they found it in shambles, most of the personnel dead and Juno missing. Starkiller found PROXY, the original Starkiller's training droid, who informed them that Juno had likely been taken to the Deck 7 docking bays. While Kota remained on the bridge to take command of the ship, Starkiller continued on alone, following the destructive trail left by Vader's bounty hunter and the Imperial forces.

Making it to the hangar, Starkiller arrived just in time to see Boba Fett and a very shocked Juno Eclipse board Fett's ship. Attempting to stop Fett's ship from fleeing by grasping it telekinetically, Starkiller was forced to break off when he was attacked by a Terror Walker. Pursuing the monstrous droid into the Salvation 's reactor chamber, Starkiller destroyed it. Contacting Kota, Starkiller demanded that Kota order the attack on Kamino, so he could go rescue Juno from Darth Vader. As he felt his rage build up at the thought of Juno's capture and his Master, Starkiller experienced another vision in the Force; he stood victorious over a defeated Darth Vader and raised his blade to finally end the Sith Lord's life. Before he could deliver the final blow, however, he was impaled from behind by a lightsaber through the chest. In the last moments of his short existence, Starkiller saw that his killer's face was exactly like his own; it was another clone of Galen Marek—a "reborn Starkiller," deeply absorbed in the dark side and much more powerful. The last thing that Starkiller saw before snapping out of the vision was water as Vader telekinetically pushed the imperfect clone's body into the vast ocean of Kamino.

Battle of Kamino
Starkiller returned to the hangar just in time to see the Rebel fleet arrive at Kamino. Engaging the Imperial forces that boarded the Salvation, Starkiller systematically eliminated them before returning to the bridge. Kota and PROXY informed him that the attack was going badly; as the Imperials had been waiting for them, and the deflector shield protecting Timira City prevented them from landing any of their forces. Starkiller advised Kota to order the ship abandoned so he could crash in through the planetary shield and destroy the planetside shield generator.

Slaving all ship systems to the bridge, Starkiller plotted a course straight at the planetside shield generators and set the ship on autopilot. As the ship plummeted towards Timira City, Starkiller cleared debris from the battle out of the ship's path, allowing it to smash through the shield. As the Salvationcontinued falling, it broke in half, with the rear half plowing into the shield generator, while his flew at the spire where Darth Vader was holed up. Too late realizing that Juno was also being held in the spire, Starkiller used the Force to destroy the entire forward section of the Salvation. Managing to survive the fall onto the facility, Starkiller briefly lost consciousness.

While unconscious, Starkiller remembered Galen Marek'smother, and how she sacrificed herself to protect her family from Trandoshan slavers before Galen's abduction by Vader. When he awoke on the Kaminoan battlefield, he tried to shrug it off and focus on the task at hand. As he was on the cloning facilities interior, he needed to find an entrance to allow the Rebel forces in. Making his way towards one of the Imperial hangar bays, he fought his way through dozens of Imperial troops, as well as clearing out a group of snipers harrying Rahm Kota and his squad. Rendezvousing with Kota, they broke into one of the Imperial command centers, hoping to use it to open the hangar doors, but the controls were destroyed by an Imperial bombing run. While Kota and his men looked for a security hub to prevent any more lock downs, Starkiller made his way to an alternate command center only to find the controls locked. Instead, he used telekinesis to wrench the doors open.

Needing a shortcut across the facilities interior towards the base of the cloning spires, Starkiller climbed on top of the hangar doors and leapt onto a passing Y-wing. The pilot, Wedge Antilles, obliged to Starkiller's request for a ride, flying him across the dome. Leaping off and entering the spire, Starkiller began ascending. Within, he engaged Imperial Saber Guards and Sith Acolytes, and finding to his horror that most of the cloning tanks within the spire contained more clones of Galen Marek.[1] As he ascended higher and higher, he attempted to do so stealthily and with as little bloodshed as possible, but was given away by an unnoticed Terror Trooper, forcing him to kill them all.

Around this time in the battle,  he approached the cloning tank of Subject 1157 and hit it with a Force push, killing the other Galen Marek clone.

Confrontation with Vader
Exiting an elevator in the cloning labs near the top of the spire, Starkiller continued on, despite Kota's protests via comlink. As he wandered through the smoke-shrouded corridors, he was attacked by Vader. Starkiller managed to fend off the Sith Lord, but was struck by a sudden and violent Force vision before he could counter, allowing Vader to slip away. Tortured by his own mind as he wandered the corridors, Starkiller was attacked twice more by Vader before reentering the larger interior spaces of the spire.

Darth Vader made himself visible on one of the tank platforms, declaring that Starkiller would either surrender to him or die. Starkiller leapt up to engage Vader, but the Dark Lord relied on more evasive tactics, fending off Starkiller's attacks while sending Sith Training Droids in the guise of various figures from Galen Marek's past to fight him. Starkiller easily held them off and turned on Vader. However, the Vader he fought turned out to be just another Holodroid, and Starkiller leapt further upwards in search of the real Sith Lord.

As he prepared to face the true Darth Vader, Starkiller also found himself confronted by a veritable army of aberrant clones of Galen Marek, thus proving that Vader had not lied about creating other clones of Marek, as Starkiller had originally believed. As he fought his "brothers," Starkiller could sense that all of the clones were virtually the same as him—not only because they possessed the same skills as him, albeit in varying degrees, but also because they had inherited the same Force potential and identity crisis as Starkiller. Faced with what were essentially alternate versions of himself and his template, Starkiller was forced to truly accept his identity as a clone in the face of this overwhelming proof. His aggressive counters against the clones were reluctant, as he felt they had just as much right to live as he. He killed them all with a powerful Force repulse, then quietly questioned Darth Vader; Why me?

After a momentary dialogue, Starkiller rushed Vader in a rage. Vader casually parried the attack, and blocked the follow-up with his lightsaber and telekinesis, throwing Starkiller off his feet as the platform bucked. Starkiller regained his feet and came on swinging. Even as they fought across the top level of the tower, Starkiller sensed that Vader was still testing him, and attempted to keep a handle on his emotions. When an opening came, Starkiller moved to take it, only to be hit by a vision of a dead Juno Eclipse in his arms. Starkiller's momentary confusion allowed Vader to knock him down and quietly retreat. Starkiller pursued him, and reached the very top of the spire.

When Starkiller demanded Juno's location, Vader sidestepped and revealed her standing behind him. Vader took her up in a telekinetic chokehold, demanding that Starkiller surrender to him in exchange for her life. Starkiller agreed, casting aside his lightsabers and dropping to his knees. With the clone in submission, Vader commanded Starkiller to locate and kill Rahm Kota, embrace the Dark side of the Force, and to hunt down and execute the Rebel leaders upon the completion of his training; failure to meet any of the Sith Lord's demands would result in Juno's death. However, while Vader spoke, Juno retrieved one of Starkiller's lightsabers and attacked Vader. Vader managed to dodge, blasting her back with a powerful Force push, seemingly killing her. Starkiller fell on Darth Vader in blind rage, only to be thrown out of the spire as well. He landed on a nearby roof, situated above what appeared to be a power generator that harnessed Kamino's constant lightning strikes as an energy source. Starkiller immediately attempted to reach Juno, wanting desperately to save her, but found his path blocked by Vader.

Starkiller attacked Vader yet again. At first, he could not understand why Vader was deliberately keeping him from getting to Juno, as she was the one tool that could be used to control him. However, as they fought across the rain-slicked generator roof, Starkiller realized that his former master was using both the duel and Juno's death in an attempt to cause him to fall back into darkness. Without Juno, both Vader and Starkiller knew that he would no longer be motivated to resist the lure of the dark side. With this sudden comprehension, Starkiller attempted to reason with Vader, even as their fight increased in intensity. He even went so far as to suggest that his Master join the Alliance in order to destroy the Emperor. But Vader simply redoubled his own attack in response, making it clear that he wanted nothing to do with the Rebellion. As they continued to fight, Vader tried to encourage Starkiller to rise above his artificial feelings for Juno Eclipse, stating that she meant nothing and was only holding him back. Starkiller continued to press his attacks in order to get to Juno, but Vader stayed firmly between the two and reminded the clone that Juno had loved Marek, but as Starkiller was not truly Marek, he could never have her love.

Starkiller was eventually forced onto his back foot and disarmed. Vader then gave Starkiller one last chance to surrender, telling him that if he did not, he would die. Starkiller appeared to surrender, which caused Vader to drop his guard. Then Starkiller absorbed a lightning bolt from one of the lightning rods surrounding the platform upon which they were fighting and used the energy of the lightning in conjunction with his own powers to launch an incredibly powerful blast of Force lightning at Vader. Having dropped his guard, Vader was struck head-on by the blast, and was severely damaged by the bolt.

Starkiller prepared to execute Darth Vader, even as the Sith Lord continued to try turning him. However, he was halted at the last second by Rahm Kota and his squad. Kota called for taking Vader prisoner to interrogate and formally execute him, reasoning to Starkiller that Vader was the only one who knew for sure whether or not he was truly a clone. Unknown to Starkiller, he had both Boba Fett and the Dark Apprentice—a fellow surviving clone of Galen Marek—preparing to intervene if Starkiller attempted to kill Vader.[1][2] Ultimately, Starkiller chose to spare Darth Vader, thus heeding Kota's advice rather than succumbing to Vader's insistence that the clone fulfill his destiny.

Aftermath
Darth Vader's tenure in Rebel Alliance captivity wouldn't last long, as he would be free and active again by 0 BBY. Starkiller's reemergence would prove to be a boon to the Alliance, though both Kota and Juno encouraged him to keep a low profile, wanting to keep it under wraps for the time being, unsure about what the Alliance leadership would think of him. Though Starkiller ultimately revealed himself Princess Leia and Garm Bel-I listen, to dispel the Rumours of a Powerful Jedi Aiding the Rebel Alliance's War effort in Secret.

Returning to the Spotlight and Giving the Empire some seriously Bad Propaganda and Pre-Battle of Yavin
Starkiller Finally returned to the Galactic Spotlight after he revealed himself as the true Founder of the Rebel Alliance and ousted Palpatine and Vader as Sith Lord's, and publically Played Footage of Vader Murdering Younglings and Jedi in Cold Blood. There were Executions and Arrests in the Senate and outside of it. Starkiller rallied thousands of Oppressed People to his banner and Led a Resistance Movement on the Planet Of Onderon. He named his Forces the Alliance Wing Partisans.