STAR WARS: THE FORCE UNLEASHED- THE TRIALS WITHIN

PROLOGUE

Clad in a shadowy cloak, a man walked silently through the halls of a derelict ship. The metal floor littered with scraps of armor and scorched helmets. Some of which still held pieces of their deceased occupants. Corpses and broken droids lay strewn throughout the vessel. Almost every hallway and room covered in blood and warrior moved menacingly toward the large metal blast doors protecting the last remaining crew of the starship. This door provided little protection as he flicked his wrist and The Force tore it open. Immediately the silence was broken by firing blasters and ignited Lightsabers. The warrior leapt into the air deflecting the fire of the stormtrooper's blaster killing two with their own blasts, and dispatching a second and third with a twirl of his crimson blades. He landed softly and severed the arms of another stormtrooper before pushing him into another, and impaling them both on his sabers. He turned to face the remaining troopers, who were too afraid to even move as this monster closed in on them. Starkiller's cruel smile lit by the red glow of his weapons.

CHAPTER 1

Galen Marek awoke with a start, covered in sweat. Images of the nightmare still flashed in his mind. The screams of the storm troopers, and the hiss of the sabers cutting through their armor echoed in his mind. He looked to Juno and found her still sleeping peacefully next to him. While looking upon her, Galen found himself wondering at how such a beautiful woman could be sleeping next to him, after the atrocities he had committed. True she had done some bad things, but not like him, she had killed for what she thought she believed in, he had killed simply to please a man who had beaten and abused him since he was a child. Unable to return to sleep he stood, and lightsabers in hand he left his and Juno's quarters on the rogue Shadow, headed for the training room, looking to meditate and calm his nerves. Galen sat directly in the center of the large training room. His light sabers rotated slowly around him, held aloft by The Force. This was one of the meditation techniques taught to him by Master Kota. By doing this he allowed the force to swirl around him and block out all that could distract him. As The Force's energy spiraled around him, Galen opened his eyes and saw that he was no longer surrounded by the durasteel walls of the training room. Instead he was seated on a floating rock, surrounded by the infinite stars, and drifting slowly through the void of space. Galen looked around confused, clearly he was having some kind of Jedi vision. Although he had never had one so vivid.

As Juno Eclipse awoke, she was confused, Galen was nowhere to be seen. She stood and stepped out the door, still putting on her flight jacket. She decided to look for Galen first in the cargo bay, but she only found the wise old Master Kota, passed out with a bottle in hand. Next she moved to the maintenance room, where Galen's training droid PROXY was shut down for the night. Then she checked the cockpit, then the training room, but Galen was nowhere to be found. Instantly panicking she awoke Master Kota and reactivated PROXY. "I've scoured the ship but Galen isn't on board," she said, worry in her eyes. "Calm down Juno" Kota tried to ease her, "Is there any way he could have been captured without us noticing?" "Excuse me Master Kota, but I am linked to all of the Rogue Shadows systems," PROXY's computerized voice chimed in. "perhaps one of the on-board surveillance systems can help us?"
Juno, Kota, and PROXY made their way to the cockpit. There proxy linked the ships surveillance to show a miniature holographic Galen Marek walking through the halls of the Shadow. The tiny Galen entered the training room. After that the transmission showed nothing entering or leaving the training room until Juno arrived to check, and PROXY cut the transmission. Juno looked nervously to Master Kota, who looked only puzzled. Galen Marek had vanished.