The Force Unleashed (43 page)

not give them hope. His sacrifice will only inspire them."

"But now we know who they are, my Master. I will hunt them down and destroy them, as

you always intended-starting with the traitor Bail Organa."

The Emperor waved him silent and turned to walk away. "Patience, Lord Vader. Far

better to destroy a man's hope first. Or that of someone close to him ..."

Hope will never he destroyed, the apprentice thought. Not now. It'll survive

anything else you can throw at them . . .

Darkness pressed in. He didn't fight it. Juno was safe. That was all he cared about

now. He didn't need to be there to see what happened next. He could imagine well

enough.

With his last thought, he whispered his own name.

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Unnoticed by anyone, the Dark Lord raised a solid, black boot heel and crushed his

fallen apprentice's lightsaber to dust.

THE SKIES OF KASHYYYK WERE unusually clear of traffic, for once. Instead of winking

transports and flaring sublight drives, all Juno could see were the stars, gleaming

like diamonds against the velvety black. It calmed her to look up at them, took her

out of herself for a time. That was exactly what she needed.

The sound of voices was soft in the night. She paid them no heed. The Rebels tried

to include her, but what did it matter what she, an ex-Imperial pilot, thought of

the Rebellion? What did she know of Galen's or Darth Vader's plans? She had been

caught up in events, not always a willing participant. In her dreams, she still saw

herself talking Galen out of that final mission and fleeing with him into the

infinite starscape . . .

She sighed. Running had never been an option. The Empire would have dogged them at

every step, as would Galen's past. Deep down she suspected she had always known that

it would end here.

Even so, her grief had been overwhelming when she had collected the Rebels from the

Death Star. Immediately on learning that Galen wasn't among them, she had wanted to

turn back into the shock wave still expanding out from the shattered observation

blister to rescue him, but the look in Kota's eyes had told her that there was no

point. Galen was gone.

Gone. Dead. It amounted to the same thing. After everything they had been through,

after all the battles he had fought ... at least, in the process, he had given

everyone a chance to escape the Death Star.

Juno had kept herself together long enough to get them away from the Horuz system,

and had even laid down a course to Kashyyyk, on Kota's insistence. Once they were in

hyperspace, the general had with gruff directness told her exactly what had happened

in the observation dome. That made her feel a little calmer. Better his noble

self-sacrifice than Galen falling to the dark side forever. She understood that. If

he had killed Darth Vader, that would have been the end of him-as she knew him. A

life without hope was worse than no life at all.

When Kota had finished, she had retired to the small crew quarters to let her

feelings go and to come to terms with the truth. Knowing that Galen had stayed true

to his intentions until the very end didn't put her life back together. She had

trusted him-not just with her, but with her future. He had trusted her with his

name. What was she going to do without him?

Her immediate future was decided, at least. She could find peace with what remained

of him later. Her memories she would never lose-and the Rebellion, she told herself,

which just might stand a chance of winning . . .

They had come to Kashyyyk ostensibly to honor Galen's memory, but she suspected the

Rebels were looking for reassurance. They knew so little about him, even now. Beyond

the ultimate sacrifice he had made to ensure their safety, his history had so many

holes in it. Juno was reluctant to fill them in, and she saw the same reluctance in

Kota. Galen had died a hero. What else mattered?

"His full name was Galen Marek," Bail Organa had announced after a lengthy search of

Imperial records. "His father, Kento, was a Jedi Knight who lived for ten years

among the Wookiees. Galen was born there."

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"He found something in the forest," Juno had told the Rebels, remembering Galen

saying over the comlink, Just an old hut. A ruin, really. But it feels familiar.

And now she was standing on that very site, having tracked through the ship's

mission files for the exact coordinates Galen had broadcast from. She could imagine

him as he had been then, riven by internal conflict, looking at exactly what she

could see: the toppled hut; the blaster burns; the evidence of a very old lightsaber

duel.

There's a great darkness in the forest. And-yes, sadness. Something happened here.

Juno might never know for sure what that was, but her mind was full of dark

imaginings.

The Senators were inside the hut, talking about the future and presumably assuaging

any last qualms they had about Galen's origins. Family was important to these

people. During the tense journey away from the Horuz system, Senator Organa had

called his daughter to inform her that he had survived the trap on Corellia. Her

concern and relief had been such that she co-opted Alderaan's fastest starship and

met him in orbit over Kashyyyk. Their reunion had been joyous.

Not even the Empire's new superweapon could spoil their mood. With the Wookiees

galvanized by the destruction of the skyhook and busy driving out the invaders from

their world, anything seemed possible, no matter how unlikely.

The Emperor knew who they were and what they intended. Not only that, but he was

building the means to crush all possible resistance. The Rebellion would have to hit

him fast, and hard, if it was to have a hope of succeeding.

Something moved behind her in the crisp Kashyyyk night. She glanced over her

shoulder and saw Kota leaving the hut. He moved surely and confidently. But for the

hideous burn scar he now wore as a mark of honor, he might have been perfectly

sighted.

He sensed her presence and came to stand beside her. Juno felt that he had

specifically come looking for her.

"You always knew who he was, didn't you?" she asked him.

He nodded. "I suspected, yes."

"Then why did you help us, after all the things we had done?"

He hesitated, and in that moment she read several possibilities. Had the general

been hiding behind his facade of a beaten old man in order to strike at Vader's

secret apprentice should his ultimate loyalties fall on the wrong side? Had the

facade been as deep as it seemed and Kota's confidence fatally compromised until the

very end? Had his redemption and Galen's happened in step, without either knowing?

The old man's answer was none of those.

"When he came to me in the bar over Bespin, among all the dark thoughts in his head

I glimpsed one bright spot, one beautiful thing that gave me hope-and which he held

on to, even at the end."

"What was it?"

He put a grandfatherly arm around her shoulder. "You know the answer to that

question, Juno."

She tightened her jaw so she wouldn't cry. Kota was right. She did know. And because

she knew, the question Why me? no longer had any power over her.

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"He's at one with the Force now," Kota said, and she knew that he was trying to

comfort her, in his own, awkward way.

"Will he be remembered?" she asked.

"The Princess has a suggestion you might like to hear." He cocked his head,

indicating the hut.

She let herself be led by the blind Jedi through the gaping rent in the ruin's wall.

The Senators were gathered around a makeshift table, looking weary. They didn't look

up as Kota and Juno entered.

"So," said Bail Organa to the others, "are we ready to finish what he started?"

The others nodded.

"Then, at last, the Rebel Alliance is born. Here, tonight."

Relieved smiles greeted the announcement, but no cheers. This was a solemn moment

too. A lot of work and danger lay ahead for everyone in the room.

Leia Organa spoke up. "We need a symbol to rally behind." "Agreed," said Garm Bel

Iblis.

The Princess wiped dust from the table, revealing a family crest etched into the

wood: a sleek, stylized raptor, with wings proudly upraised. "A symbol of hope."

Leia looked from her father to Mon Mothma and Garm Bel Iblis, then glanced at Juno.

Very slightly, she nodded in acknowledgment.

Warmth blossomed in Juno's chest, and she nodded in return. Galen had done his best

to save the galaxy from the Emperor, and in the process saved himself from the dark

side of the Force. The people in the room would rally behind his family's crest and

continue the work that he had started: the first Rebel, the one who had given them

hope.

And she? Juno would never forget him, either, or the example he had set for her.

Empty of tears, she faced the future head-on.

She didn't need the Force to know that it was going to be a bumpy ride . . .

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