Assault on Kamino

The Battle of Kamino was an indirect consequence of efforts to clone Galen Marek, the deceased apprentice of Darth Vader. Through a new cloning method, the cyborg warlord managed to accelerate a clone's maturation to full adulthood in a matter of weeks, which was much faster than both the Kaminoan technique and even Spaarti technology. However, this unprecedented acceleration, combined with the inherent complexities of cloning a Force-sensitive template, resulted in numerous flaws in the early subjects. After the initial attempts yielded a series of aberrant monstrosities, the Dark Lord painstakingly worked to eliminate the emotional imprints that were driving many promising clones to complete insanity.

Over the subsequent six months, Vader and the cloning technicians successfully resolved many of the process's shortcomings and began producing clones that appeared stable on the surface. While these clones displayed no obvious physical or mental defects, they still struggled to emotionally compartmentalize the original Marek's memories. Nevertheless, during this period, Vader managed to produce a new clone of Galen Marek who displayed significant potential. He was not only more stable than his predecessors but had also survived trials that most of them had failed. Despite the clone's progress, he ultimately suffered from the same issues that plagued his clone brothers. To avoid the time and effort of retraining a new apprentice from scratch, Vader employed the accelerated cloning procedure to ensure the "new Starkiller" would biologically reach Marek's age—prior to his death—in less than a month. To train the clones in such a compressed timeframe, the cloning procedure incorporated memory flashes from the original Marek, effectively downloading his memories and behavioral patterns into the clones. This aspect of the process enabled the clones to utilize their genetically inherited command of the Force. However, as a consequence, each clone experienced an identity crisis that eventually led to their insanity. The latest clone, although more refined than those before him, ultimately proved to be affected by the same emotional imprints passed down by his genetic donor.

Once again disappointed, Lord Vader intended to eliminate his latest failed experiment but was thwarted when the clone lashed out in a desperate bid to escape his creator. After successfully fleeing his homeworld, the clone embarked on a singular quest to find Captain Juno Eclipse. Although the clone did not exhibit any of Marek's other emotional attachments, such as his loyalty to the Rebel Alliance, he did develop the same feelings for a woman he had technically never met. As a result, these artificial feelings drove him to obsessively pursue Eclipse.

Determined not to allow a rogue clone of Galen Marek to roam freely, Lord Vader hired the bounty hunter Boba Fett and tasked him with locating "Starkiller," as the clone came to be known. Vader instructed Fett to find and capture Eclipse, predicting that Starkiller would return to Kamino with Eclipse as bait. Shortly after Fett and his partner Xasha tracked the clone to Cato Neimoidia, they discovered they were too late. Starkiller was gone, leaving behind a trail of destruction and chaos that had completely ruined the city of Tarko-se. After rescuing Rahm Kota - the original Starkiller's mentor - from Imperial captivity, Starkiller failed to obtain sufficient information from the Jedi fugitive regarding Eclipse's whereabouts. His journey then led him to worlds such as Dagobah and Mon Calamari, eventually tracking Eclipse to the Itani Nebula.

Traveling with Rahm Kota aboard Marek's old starship, the Rogue Shadow, the two arrived at the secret location of the Rebel fleet, including Captain Eclipse's Nebulon-B frigate, the Salvation. Unbeknownst to them, Fett had also discovered Juno Eclipse's hiding place. Under Vader's orders to lure Starkiller back to Kamino by capturing Eclipse, Boba Fett and an Imperial strike team launched a surprise attack on the unsuspecting Rebels. Bypassing all other ships and fighters, Fett and his forces infiltrated the Salvation, stormed the bridge, and captured Juno Eclipse.

Although Starkiller annihilated most of Fett's Imperial allies, the clone failed to prevent the bounty hunter from taking Eclipse to Vader aboard Slave I. Enraged by his failure to save Eclipse, Starkiller threatened to go to Kamino with or without Kota and the Rebels. Seeing a prime opportunity to launch a major offensive against the Empire, the Jedi General complied with Starkiller's wishes, warning him that Eclipse's abduction was almost certainly a trap. Starkiller naively assumed that his creator would not expect the entire Rebel fleet to arrive at Kamino as well; Kota reluctantly agreed. However, both were mistaken, as Vader had anticipated Starkiller's moves. Far from being unprepared, he had positioned an entire fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers outside Kamino's orbit to destroy the Rebel starships.

The Battle of Kamino began immediately after the Rebel ships exited hyperspace, as they were attacked by the awaiting Imperial fleet. The Salvation itself was targeted by numerous boarding parties. Before he could return to the bridge, Starkiller had to eliminate all the Imperials who had infiltrated the Rebel flagship's hangar and engine sections. Upon reaching the bridge, Kota informed the clone that the battle was going poorly for the Alliance; Timira City's deflector shield prevented any ground assault on the facility, and the Rebel fleet was being decimated by Vader's forces in space. Faced with the Alliance's dire situation, Starkiller devised a desperate plan to destroy the shield generator by crashing the Salvation into Timira City.

As the surviving crew members abandoned ship at Kota's command, all systems were diverted to the bridge as Starkiller set a course directly through Kamino's atmosphere. As the ship hurtled towards Timira City on autopilot, Starkiller cleared debris from the battle out of its path, allowing it to smash through the shield. During its descent, the Salvation broke in half; the rear section crashed into the shield generator, while Starkiller directed the front section at the spire where Darth Vader was located. Realizing too late that Eclipse was also being held in the spire, Starkiller used the Force to destroy the entire forward section of the Salvation. Surviving the crash into the facility, Starkiller proceeded to infiltrate the city where he, along with other clones of the Marek template, had been "created."

Making his way towards an Imperial hangar bay, he killed everyone in his path and dealt with a group of snipers harassing Rahm Kota and his squad. After rendezvousing with Kota, they broke into an Imperial command center, hoping to use it to open the hangar doors, but the controls had been destroyed by an Imperial bombing run. While Kota and his men searched for a security hub to prevent further security lockdowns, 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 facility's interior to reach the base of the cloning spires, Starkiller climbed onto the hangar doors and leapt onto a passing Y-wing. The pilot, Wedge Antilles, obliged Starkiller's request for a ride, flying him across the dome. Leaping off the craft, Starkiller began his ascent to the top spire of Timira City. Inside the vast chambers containing countless developing clones, he fought Imperial Saber Guards and Sith Acolytes, discovering to his horror that most of the cloning tanks contained more clones of Galen Marek. Wondering if the original Starkiller's corpse was located somewhere in Timira City, the clone was forced to accept that Vader had not lied about the existence of Marek's other imperfect clones, as he had previously believed. As he ascended, he attempted to be stealthy and minimize bloodshed, but he was exposed by an unnoticed Terror Trooper, forcing him to kill it and the reinforcements it had alerted.

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

From the moment Starkiller separated from Kota and his Rebel forces, the Jedi General grew increasingly frustrated with the clone's obsession with Juno Eclipse. Despite the initial successes of the Rebel ground assault, the Imperial forces had regained control of the city's security centers and launched a devastating counterattack. With his troops in danger of being completely wiped out, Kota implored Starkiller to aid the Rebel forces, arguing that one life—even Eclipse's—was not worth sacrificing the entire Rebellion. However, as the clone drew closer to the woman who had become the sole focus of his existence, he made it clear that his only priority was saving Eclipse; neither the Rebel Alliance nor its war against the Empire mattered to him. Without Starkiller's help, PROXY calculated that the Rebels would suffer severe casualties from the Imperial counterattack. PROXY's calculation proved accurate, and Kota's troops barely avoided complete annihilation.

Despite Kota's warning against facing Darth Vader alone via comlink, the clone had reached the limit of his patience in his quest to find Juno Eclipse. Ignoring the Jedi General's advice, he proceeded forward, knowing that a confrontation with his former master was now inevitable. As he moved through the smoke-filled corridors, he was suddenly attacked by someone who appeared to be the Dark Lord. Starkiller managed to fend off the attack but was struck by a sudden and violent Force vision before he could retaliate, allowing his attacker to escape. Tortured by his own mind as he navigated the corridors, Starkiller was attacked twice more by "Vader" before re-entering the larger interior spaces of the spire.

Looking around, Starkiller saw Darth Vader appear on one of the tank platforms, declaring that Starkiller would either surrender or die in the very chamber where he was created. Starkiller leapt to engage Vader, but the cyborg evaded him. Defending against Starkiller's attacks while sending Sith Training Droids disguised as figures from Galen Marek's past to fight him, Vader attempted to break the clone's resolve with psychological warfare, but Starkiller easily resisted and turned on Vader. However, the Vader he had been fighting turned out to be just another holodroid, and Starkiller leapt further upwards in search of the real Dark Lord.

As he prepared to face the true Darth Vader, Starkiller found himself confronted by many more aberrant clones of Galen Marek, validating Vader's claim that he had created other clones of Marek before Starkiller. As he fought his "brothers," Starkiller sensed that all the clones were virtually identical to him—not only possessing the same skills to varying degrees but also inheriting the same Force potential and identity crisis. Although Starkiller had always claimed to know he was a clone of the original Marek, he had secretly hoped this was not the case. However, faced with what were essentially alternate versions of himself and Galen Marek, Starkiller was forced to accept that he, too, was a clone. His aggressive counters against the aberrant clones were reluctant, as he was essentially committing fratricide by killing clones with the same genetic makeup as himself. Eventually, however, Starkiller destroyed all the other clones with a Force Repulse so powerful that it reduced them to bloody mist.

His emotions in turmoil after being forced to confront the aberrant clones, Starkiller rushed at Vader in a rage. However, the Sith Lord casually defended himself with his lightsaber and then telekinetically threw his former disciple off his feet as the platform shook. Starkiller recovered and continued his attack. Even as they fought across the top level of the tower, Starkiller sensed that Vader was testing him and tried to control his emotions. When an opening appeared, Starkiller moved to take it, only to be struck by a vision of an apparently lifeless Juno Eclipse in his arms. Starkiller's momentary confusion allowed Vader to knock him down and quietly withdraw. The clone pursued the Dark Lord and reached the very top of the spire.

While Vader and Starkiller fought in the main cloning spire, all of Timira City became a battlefield between Imperial and Rebel forces. The bounty hunter Boba Fett, ordered to remain at Timira City by Lord Vader, retreated deep into the cloning facility to escape General Kota's troops. As the battle increasingly favored the Rebel invaders, the mercenary found the same cloning technician he had spoken with during his first visit to Timira City. Fett demanded that the scientist stay behind and protect the undeveloped clones, which Boba viewed as the legacies of his "father," Jango Fett.

However, the frightened scientist revealed that the clones were not created from Jango Fett—their genetic donor was Boba Fett, their fellow clone. He explained to the stunned mercenary that Vader had hired Xasha to secretly extract DNA samples from Fett and obtain a copy of his brain patterns to create the memory flashes used to train the clones. Outraged by the deception of the Dark Lord and his own partner, the bounty hunter killed the cloning technician and proceeded to burn all his clones.

Despite feeling betrayed by Vader's duplicity, Fett chose to remain on Kamino to fulfill his contract by terminating Starkiller, who was locked in a lightsaber duel with his creator. Before Fett could get a clear shot at the clone with his sniper rifle, he was intercepted by Rahm Kota, PROXY, and a squad of Rebel troopers. Although he easily killed the troopers and held the Jedi Knight at bay, the bounty hunter was caught off guard by PROXY when the holodroid used its ability to take on the appearance of the long-dead Jango Fett. The distraction worked, and Boba was defeated by the faux "Jango." As Kota and PROXY attempted to apprehend him, Fett threw a sonic detonator at their feet and used the distraction to escape to higher ground.

Starkiller successfully ascended to the highest point of the spire without further interruption, discovering Vader standing silently before a massive, oval window. When Starkiller pressed him for Eclipse's whereabouts, Vader shifted aside, revealing her presence behind him. Employing telekinesis, Vader lifted her into a chokehold, demanding Starkiller's surrender in exchange for her survival. Starkiller conceded, relinquishing his lightsabers and kneeling. With the clone now compliant, Vader ordered Starkiller to find and eliminate Rahm Kota, to fully embrace the dark side of the Force, and to relentlessly pursue and execute the Rebel leaders upon completing his training; any failure to adhere to the Dark Lord's stipulations would result in Eclipse's demise. However, amidst Vader and Starkiller's preoccupation, Eclipse seized one of the clone's lightsabers and launched an attack against the cyborg. Vader barely registered Eclipse's intent in time to evade the blow, but not without damage to his armor's chest panel. In response, the Dark Lord used a powerful Force push to hurl her through the tower's window. She impacted the roof of a distant power generator, seemingly lifeless. Starkiller retrieved his weapons and, consumed by rage, attacked Vader, only to be thrown from the tower as well. Landing on the same power generator as Eclipse, he immediately rushed to assess her condition. Before reaching her, however, the Dark Lord intercepted him, and their duel resumed.

As they battled across the rain-soaked generator roof, Starkiller came to the realization that Vader's scheme all along had been to use Juno Eclipse's death to trigger his own fall to the dark side. With this newfound understanding, the clone attempted to reason with the cyborg warrior, even as their combat intensified. He even went as far as to propose that his former master join the Alliance to destroy Emperor Palpatine, but Lord Vader simply intensified his own attacks, making it clear that he desired no association with the Rebellion. Simultaneously, Starkiller recognized the absurdity of his suggestion; he knew the Alliance would sooner execute Vader for war crimes than forgive him, let alone welcome him into their ranks. As their fight continued, Vader attempted to persuade Starkiller to disregard his artificial feelings for Eclipse, declaring her insignificant and a hindrance. Starkiller persisted in his attacks to reach Eclipse, but Vader remained between them, reminding the clone that Eclipse had loved the real Galen Marek—and therefore could never truly love Starkiller, a mere clone.

As the duel progressed, Starkiller concluded that he could not defeat his former master. Vader, having recognized the original Marek's power and, by extension, Starkiller's, was determined not to repeat the mistake of underestimating the clone as he had Marek. Consequently, Vader had adopted a more defensive, controlled approach to combat, unlike the reckless offense that had nearly cost him his life during his duel with Marek. Unable to breach Vader's defenses, Starkiller realized that, despite his memories of defeating Vader as Marek, the best he could achieve against Vader was a stalemate. Compounding the issue, Starkiller knew that Vader wanted him alive, and therefore wasn't even fighting with lethal intent. Armed with this insight, Starkiller devised a plan to feign defeat, hoping that Vader's desire to keep him alive would create a crucial opportunity.

Starkiller was eventually forced into a defensive position and disarmed, his weapons destroyed by a Force Blast from Vader. Vader then offered the clone a final chance to surrender, and Starkiller seemingly complied. As the Dark Lord lowered his guard, the clone seized the opportunity he had been anticipating and suddenly absorbed a lightning bolt from one of the rods surrounding the battlefield. Starkiller then channeled the absorbed energy into a concentrated burst of Force lightning. Vader was caught completely off guard and struck directly in the chest panel, which had already been weakened by Juno's earlier attack. The barrage compromised Vader's life support systems to the point where he could no longer defend himself, and Starkiller seized the opportunity to pull the stunned cyborg's lightsaber from his grasp.

Raising Vader's own lightsaber to his throat, Starkiller prepared to execute him, even as the seemingly unconcerned Dark Lord continued to try to sway him. However, Rahm Kota and his squad intervened at the last moment. General Kota sought to take Lord Vader prisoner, believing his position as the Imperial Fleet's Supreme Commander could yield vital information to the Rebellion through interrogation. Subsequently, the cyborg would be tried and formally executed for his war crimes. To this end, Kota reminded Starkiller that Vader was the only one who could definitively confirm whether or not he was truly a clone, making Vader the only source of answers to Starkiller's questions. Unbeknownst to Starkiller, Vader had instructed both Boba Fett and a fellow surviving clone of Galen Marek to intervene if Starkiller attempted to kill Vader. Ultimately, Starkiller chose to spare Darth Vader, heeding Kota's counsel rather than succumbing to Vader's urging to "fulfill his destiny".

With Darth Vader defeated, Starkiller hurried to Eclipse, whom PROXY was attempting to revive. Failing in his efforts, PROXY apologized, but Starkiller quickly forgave him, acknowledging his own responsibility for seeking out Eclipse in the first place. As Starkiller cradled her body in his arms, grief washed over him, but then Eclipse inexplicably awoke and kissed him. Observing this, Boba Fett, who had been poised to assassinate Starkiller with a sniper rifle, hesitated out of sympathy. The Dark Apprentice also refrained from intervening, presumably adhering to his master's directive to only interfere if the Dark Lord himself was in imminent danger.

With victory secured and the Imperial forces' Supreme Commander captured, the Rebel focus shifted to cleanup operations. Vader would be transported aboard the Rogue Shadow to maintain the secrecy of his location, with Starkiller overseeing the transport. General Kota oversaw Lord Vader's "accommodations" aboard the Rogue Shadow, informing Starkiller that Vader had remained silent throughout the process. Starkiller doubted Vader would yield to interrogation, believing that his own experiences had already pushed him past any breaking point.

As the Rebel Alliance celebrated its first significant triumph in the Galactic Civil War, morale surged among its members, despite the evident heavy losses they had sustained. Vader was heavily restrained in preparation for his transfer to a clandestine base on Dantooine. Shortly before departing Kamino, Starkiller confronted his creator in an attempt to extract information about himself, but received only Vader's silence in response.

As Starkiller turned to leave, Vader reminded him that as long as Juno Eclipse remained alive, Vader would retain control over him. Shortly thereafter, Starkiller joined Eclipse in the cockpit of the Rogue Shadow and departed Kamino with the rest of the Rebel fleet. Eclipse prepared the ship for hyperspace, unaware that Boba Fett's Slave I had emerged from the wreckage orbiting Kamino and was following them into hyperspace.

Having prevailed against Darth Vader in combat, Starkiller faces the choice of either striking down his creator in anger or sparing the Imperial commander's life and surrendering him to Rebel custody. In the non-canon dark side ending of the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II video game, Starkiller succumbs to his hatred and chooses to execute Vader in cold blood. As he raises his lightsaber to deliver the final blow, Rahm Kota and the Rebel troopers watch in shock, and the clone is suddenly stabbed in the chest by a red-bladed lightsaber. Starkiller, completely surprised, collapses to the floor in agony as Vader observes. A hooded figure, having used a cloaking device to approach the clone undetected, appears behind Starkiller's fallen body. Rahm Kota activates his own saber and attacks Starkiller's murderer, only to have his attacks easily deflected. In the brief duel, the assassin wounds Kota by slashing him across his armored torso. Using the Force to lift the Jedi fugitive, he throws Kota at PROXY and the remaining Rebel troops. Before any of them can react, he uses a powerful Force push to send them all plummeting from Timira City's highest cloning spire into Kamino's vast oceans, killing General Kota and his remaining forces.

In Starkiller's dying moments, he struggles to rise, but fails due to the fatal wound in his chest. Darth Vader recovers enough to approach Starkiller just before the clone takes his last breath. As he reveals that the cloning process was finally perfected prior to the Battle of Kamino, the dark-armored warrior walks to the Dark Lord's side and lowers his hood. To Starkiller's shock, he and his killer share the same face—the face of Galen Marek. Starkiller realizes he has been mortally wounded by his own clone brother, Darth Vader's Dark Apprentice—the only perfect clone that the cyborg warlord painstakingly created after numerous failures. With this revelation, Starkiller stares at Juno Eclipse's lifeless body, who failed to recover from her ordeal, succumbs to his fatal injury, and dies.

As a group of the Empire's Terror Troopers secure the area, the Supreme Commander congratulates his new right-hand for passing the final test in his training. The corrupted clone, having fully overcome the emotional imprints of his genetic template to prove his loyalty to the Dark Lord and his complete conversion to the dark side, kneels and awaits his next orders. Vader commands Marek's clone to commandeer the Rogue Shadow and search the far reaches of the galaxy, with the primary objective of hunting down and destroying the last remnants of the Rebel Alliance.

The Dark Apprentice obediently complies with his master's orders, rises, and turns to embark on his new mission. As he walks away, he pauses to gaze at Juno Eclipse's body. The expression on his face, altered with pale skin and yellow eyes, is filled with hatred and contempt. Raising his hood, the Dark Apprentice prepares to depart from his homeworld as the lone success of Vader's project to clone the original Starkiller.

As the Rogue Shadow, piloted by the Dark Apprentice, flies through the debris of Imperial and Rebel starships with an escort of TIE fighters, the Battle of Kamino concludes as an Imperial victory; the Rebels fail to destroy the world's cloning facilities, let alone capture Darth Vader. The alternate ending concludes with the Rogue Shadow jumping into hyperspace.

In a DLC attachment that continues the dark side ending, the Dark Apprentice participates in the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY while Lord Vader and Emperor Palpatine oversee the construction of the second Death Star. Landing the Rogue Shadow on the forest moon of Endor, near the location of the battlestation's shield generator bunker, Vader's now seasoned assassin cuts down a combined force of Rebel soldiers and Ewoks. Upon reaching the bunker's secret entrance, the dark clone is confronted by the ex-smuggler Han Solo and the Wookiee copilot Chewbacca. Chewbacca attempts to kill their opponent using a commandeered AT-ST, while Solo uses his blaster and several thermal detonators. All their attempts fail, and both are killed by the Dark Apprentice, who then enters the bunker to prevent its destruction.

After eliminating a group of Rebels, the clone fights his way through Rebels and Imperials engaged in combat. Once all who stand in his way are dealt with, he finds Leia Organa planting explosive charges. Using the Force, he detonates the explosives, throwing Leia back. To his surprise, the young woman reveals that she had been trained as a Jedi after her twin brother was killed in the Battle of Hoth. Wielding their respective lightsabers and Force powers, the dark clone and the Jedi engage in a climactic duel to the death. Despite her promising abilities, which the apprentice acknowledges, Leia is no match for her opponent and tries to retreat. The Dark Apprentice prevents her escape, forcing Leia to continue the fight. She ultimately fails to overcome the clone's fury and perishes as he stabs her in the abdomen with one of his sabers. As the Dark Apprentice watches in victory, the last living offspring of Anakin Skywalker dies.

Meanwhile, in the Emperor's throne room, Palpatine gloats over the Rebels' decisive defeat while Vader stands at his side. The Emperor then reveals that he knew all along about the Supreme Commander's plan to overthrow him using the cloned apprentice. With his treachery exposed, Vader activates his lightsaber in a final attempt to kill his master. However, Palpatine easily defeats Vader using Force lightning, forcing his hobbled disciple to his knees. Contacting Captain Sarkli, the Emperor orders his forces to eliminate the clone.

On Endor, the Dark Apprentice sits in meditation near Leia Organa's body. At that moment, a group of Star Destroyers converges on his location. Moments after the Imperials arrive, he opens his eyes—at which point the DLC version of the Battle of Endor concludes.

In the novelization of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, the dark side ending appears as a Force vision to Starkiller during the Battle near the Itani Nebula. Though confused and uncertain about how to interpret the vision of a possible future, Starkiller realizes that he and Juno Eclipse would die if he succumbed to the dark side again. As a result, the Dark Apprentice makes a canonical appearance in the novel. The novel refers to the dark clone as the reborn Starkiller—a superior and far more powerful version of Galen Marek, especially compared to his imperfect clone brother.

In the Wii version, the final battle was depicted differently. When Starkiller attempts to submit to Vader, Vader slams Juno down on the ground, instead of being knocked out of the window, causing Starkiller to feel enraged. Starkiller then fights Vader as well as several aberrant clones that Vader summons. After the battle is two-thirds of the way through, Vader hurls a Marek clone at an energy tower, causing the surface to explode and exposing a massive energy ball. Starkiller then attempts to finish off Vader, but Vader manages to trap him in a force choke, and attempts to hurl him into the energy ball, but Starkiller manages to jump back and then throws Vader into the energy ball, electrocuting and seriously injuring Vader in the process before the Sith Lord collapses.

Similarly, there were numerous differences in the battle itself. One difference was that Starkiller remained on the bridge of the Salvation and then detonated it after getting through the shield with a Force repulse. He then used a large chunk of the Salvation's remains as a makeshift "bridge" between the hangar section and the main facility itself. In addition to repelling various Imperial forces, he also had to reactivate communications equipment that were in the process of being fried by Incinerator war droids.