The Force Unleashed (35 page)

the cloak and..."

She stopped at the sound of metal footsteps on the deck behind her. She spun around

and raised her hands, automatically on guard after the last time she had been

confronted by the droid in the cockpit. Sudden panic made her veins pulse in her

neck.

"I'm sorry to startle you, Captain Eclipse," said PROXY with a humble bow. "Please

allow me to offer an unconditional apology for my actions on Raxus Prime. Your name

does not appear on my target list and would never have done so had the Core not

corrupted my primary programming. I am glad that I was able to merely render you

unconscious so you would not follow me or sound the alarm." The droid bowed again.

"You have every right to have me spaced or junked and I will not object should you

choose either course. I have argued with my master on this point many times, but I

am determined."

Over the droid's shoulder she saw Starkiller looking furious and worried at the same

time, as though afraid that she might actually take PROXY up on his offer.

"No, PROXY," she said, forcing herself to drop her defensive posture. "That won't be

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necessary. Let's just forget it ever happened. It's good to see you up and about

again. As good as new, by the looks of it."

"I fear not, Captain Eclipse, but thank you for your kind words."

He stared expectantly at her and she racked her brain for something to break the

moment. "Uh, that rear shield generator could use some looking at. I think I heard

it heterodyning, and I'd rather it failed now than when we really need it."

"Of course, Captain Eclipse."

PROXY shuffled cheerfully off, and she wondered what he meant by suggesting that he

was in less-than-perfect condition. Certainly it had been quieter on the Rogue

Shadow without the endless dueling between him and his Master, but she assumed that

would resume now that he was back on his feet. Maybe the symptoms of his dysfunction

would become apparent in time.

Starkiller was looking at her, too. "Thank you," he said.

Juno turned and sat back down. "You're sure his processor is clean? The Core

could've planted all sorts of viruses in there."

"His mind is his own," he assured her. "Out of all of us, he's probably the only one

who can say that."

"Speak for yourself, boy," said Kota.

Starkiller looked down at the old general. "Tell your friend Senator Organa that

we're not going to sit here on our hands forever. Rebellion thrives on action, not

words."

He stalked back to the meditation chamber, and she went back to waiting. For the

moment, that seemed to be the only action she was allowed.

* * *

Two DAYS EARLIER, SHE HAD left her seat to freshen up. Upon her return, feeling

slightly more human both in mind and breath, she had overheard Kota and Starkiller

talking in the cockpit.

"...can't identify the style," the old general was saying, "and it would help me

understand you if you'd tell me who your original teacher was."

"Who says you need to understand me?" Starkiller responded. "Garm Bel Iblis will. He

knows nothing about you, and militaristically speaking that makes you a threat."

Juno held her breath.

"The only threat anyone should worry about is from the Emperor," Starkiller

responded in a tone suggesting that the conversation was over. "I can bring him

down. That's all you need to know."

Kota was silent for a long while. "Be careful, boy. When you speak like that I hear

the long shadow of the dark side reaching out to you."

The two men lapsed into a moody silence. An instant before Juno decided the time was

right to burst in on them, Starkiller spoke again.

"There was a girl on Felucia, an apprentice who turned to the dark side. I let her

go."

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"Bail told me. What of her?"

"Was there no hope for her, once she fell?"

Kota made a clicking noise with his tongue. "Is that what happened to your teacher?"

Starkiller didn't reply.

"Gah," exclaimed Kota eventually. "Leave me alone, boy. You're exhausting me with

your silence."

Juno ducked back out of sight as Starkiller exited the cockpit. When the door to the

meditation chamber shut behind him, she retraced her footsteps and found Kota

slumped in the seat with his eyes determinedly shut, still thinking his secret

thoughts.

She had felt furious at both of them. What was it about men that led them to agonize

in silence, or to talk circles so tightly around the truth that they stifled it? She

could tell Kota things about Starkiller that would make his dead eyes pop, but he

had no more moral high ground than either of them, with his endless despair and

willingness only to complain. Surely no one really cared what Starkiller's name was

or who his teacher had been. What he did was all that mattered.

Depending, she told herself, on what he did do.

* * *

ON THE EIGHTH DAY STARKILLER called for her and PROXY to join him in the meditation

chamber.

She hesitated, wondering if she had heard correctly, then left the contemplative

Kota and made her way through the humming ship. The droid met her at the entrance of

the meditation chamber, and together they entered its dim, angular space.

Starkiller occupied the center of the room. His expression was very serious. With a

hiss, the door shut behind them.

"Stand there and don't say anything," he told her, pointing at a recessed corner

where she would be in complete shadow "PROXY, here." The droid stood between

Starkiller and her. She could barely see Starkiller for PROXY'S silhouette.

The lights flickered and dimmed almost to black. Starkiller took a deep breath and

lowered his head.

PROXY'S metal skin sparked into life and began to change.

A darker shadow fell across the room.

"My lord," said Starkiller, and Juno's heart stopped.

The dark figure that stood where PROXY had been a moment before spoke. "Your actions

on Raxus Prime left the Emperor most . . . displeased." Vader's leaden tones sent a

ripple of disgust down Juno's spine. "Who has now joined your cause?"

Starkiller raised his head to look directly at his Master.

"The Emperor's enemies are cautious. I am earning their trust and respect, but some

of them remain suspicious. If I'm ever discovered talking to you, my efforts will

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come to nothing, and we will have no army to challenge the Emperor." He straight

ened to his full height. "You can't appear to me again. I'll contact you."

Vader's gloved fingers tightened into fists. "When?" "After the alliance is

formalized and ready to strike at the heart of the Empire."

The Dark Lord said nothing for a long moment. His thoughts were utterly hidden by

the all-concealing black mask. Juno didn't know what to hope for and felt nothing

but relief that the moment was over when Vader nodded slowly at last.

"Do not wait too long to contact me." The index finger of his gloved right hand

pointed at Starkiller's chest. "The Emperor grows only more powerful."

Vader flickered out, and PROXY became himself again. Unlike previous times, however,

the droid seemed none the worse for impersonating the Dark Lord. Starkiller stared

at him, deep in thought, and then gestured for the droid to leave.

She was alone with Starkiller for the first time since Felucia. Was this the moment

she had been waiting for?

There is much conflict in you, Vader had said to him, long days ago. Your feelings

for your new allies are growing stronger. Do not forget that you still serve me.

The thought that maybe he wasn't a completely lost cause filled her with hope, but

it was hope qualified by a very real uncertainty. When she had seen him staggering

out of the misty distance on Raxus Prime, bearing the weight of his stricken droid

entirely on his own, the expression on his face had almost broken down her resolve

to mistrust him. The thought of losing his oldest companion had left him emotionally

naked-even if it was a droid who had tried to kill him all his life. She had seen

the conflict in his face that Vader had talked about. She had understood then that

his mind wasn't completely made up.

Yet when she had hurried out to meet him and tried to take some of PROXY'S weight,

he had brushed her aside and continued up the ramp on his own. It was as though he

felt his emotional vulnerability was caused by her, as if she had somehow

manipulated him into feeling this way, and her anger at him had immediately

rekindled. It wasn't her fault she had been assigned to him. She hadn't made him

rescue her on the Empirical. He could easily have dumped her and piloted the ship

himself.

The situation was no one's fault. It just was. The sooner he worked that out, and

where he stood with her and everyone around him, the better.

"We're going to Corellia," he said. "They'll all be there-Bail and his allies ..."

She couldn't tell if he was glad or terrified.

"Well, if that's the case, you'll have your rebel alliance," she said. "What are you

going to do with it?"

His eyes met hers. "Trust me, Juno. I'm doing the right thing, for both of us."

She wanted to believe him. She had no choice but to believe him. She was trapped in

a web of possibilities. Only time would tell if she could find her way out of it

again.

The sound of Kota's voice calling them from the cockpit echoed through the ship.

"It's time," he was calling. "We can finally get moving."

"Where to?" she asked Kota, dropping into her well-worn seal and flexing her fingers

"Corellia, of course."

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"I knew it." And Starkiller had, too, before the call had arrived. Juno put that

thought out of her mind. "As it happens, I have a course already laid in." She

checked the nav computer and found everything in order. The route had been updated

automatically every half hour while she slept. With a series of deft touches she

activated the sublight engines to nudge the ship out of orbit-not so fast as to

attract attention but not too slowly, either. She was keen to get under way, despite

the sudden butterflies in her stomach. As much as she had yearned for something to

happen, now she was almost dreading it. They had reached the point of no return . .

.

She looked up at the viewport and saw Starkiller's reflection there, standing at the

back of the cockpit with arms folded and eyes looking straight ahead, as though he

could already see their destination. She couldn't read his expression and found

herself distracted by his presence in a way that annoyed her.

What if Vader had chosen her solely to test Starkiller's commitment? What if he was

now failing that test?

She flicked a switch, and the strangeness of hyperspace en gulfed them. The Rogue

Shadow swayed beneath them, flying as smoothly as it had the first time she'd sat in

its cockpit.

HYPERSPACE. STARS. ATMOSPHERE.

Juno never seemed to tire of crossing the same boundaries every trip she flew. The

apprentice wondered if she ever missed her glory days as a TIE fighter pilot, when

work involved strafing and bombing runs as well as ferrying passengers backward and

forward across the galaxy. He supposed, thinking of Raxus Prime, that she had seen

some action, but it was hardly glamorous. The pay was awful, and her crew mates left

a lot to be desired.

Kota was nowhere to be found when he emerged from the meditation chamber. That

disappointed him, obscurely. He had hoped the general might rise above his usual

dull funk now that the rebellion was taking a definite step forward. But he told

himself not to be surprised. After months of depression and drunkenness, it would

take something extraordinary to put the old man back together.

Assuming the jump seat behind Juno, the apprentice examined the strange new calm

that enveloped him. Two contradictory feelings still tugged him in deeply divergent

directions: one toward the rebellion, the other toward his Master. Between the two

rested the separate foci of Juno and the Emperor. He was caught between them like an

acrobat on a tightrope maintaining a constant and difficult balance.

That balance had eluded him until recently. Leaving Raxus Prime, he had promised to

find a way to destroy the Emperor and at the same time keep Juno in his life. For a

full week he had considered the obvious alternatives over and over again, to the

point of madness. But then one new possibility had occurred to him: to create the

rebel alliance as planned, but-instead of handing it over to his Master-keep it for

his own use. Then, when the Emperor was gone . . .

What? he asked himself. Hand control of the galaxy to an inexperienced band of

insurrectionists? Rule in peace-with Juno at his side? Abdicate and disappear

forever?

The plan was riddled with uncertainties, but it was his. He had found a direction of

his own, rather than one dictated to him by his former Master. He could pursue it in

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