"I'm coming for you."  

"I know."  And he did know. In the same way, he knew how this identical clone of his felt at seeing him. The disgust rippled towards him through the Force. Betrayer, it whispered. Traitor. 

He knew the voice speaking to him in the same way as if he'd spoken the words out loud in front of a mirror. Resignation flowed through his mind, he felt his hands clench. There was nothing he could do to avoid the encounter. He could feel the tendrils of the Force swirling around them both. He'd had a strong connection to it even as a child. Or least the man he'd been cloned from had. The memories were there... the fateful day Vader had appeared hunting Jedi, questioning his father about his master only to discover an eight-year-old boy with a much stronger connection to the Force than many fully trained Jedi.  

He pushed the memories away. They were dark times for him, and coming to the light hadn't been an easy journey.  

He'd survived his last two encounters with Darth Vader... barely. He knew it wouldn't happen a third time. Vader and his Master Emperor Palpatine had always been one step ahead of him. 

"My Master doesn't like to leave his business unfinished." The Dark Clone reached forward again his black-gloved hand outstretched. "You are weak, crossing galaxies, for a woman, giving into your emotions. I'll prove that I'm better even if we share the same DNA."  

And the same weaknesses. The Dark Clone left that unspoken but his brown eyes radiated the hatred out towards Starkiller. He'd had the same struggles and he'd chosen differently. 

His mouth was moving, but the connection between them was severed, and he vanished into the black. Whether he was pulled away or banished, Starkiller couldn't say.

He let it go drifting in the current, following where the Force would lead. Sometimes he wished he'd been a simple farmer, in the way that his parents wanted. There were other times he'd understood that the Force had acted for a reason, reasons he did not understand. But he couldn't run... Especially not from this...

Starkiller saw a few faces, as the vision blurred, children he did not recognize in front of a home on a world that certainly wasn't this one. Their scared faces stared at him from the large branches of some kind of tree... He didn't know how they'd gotten up there. 

Only the certainty that he should find them. But why?

Another presence made itself known. 

"Go there you must." It was Yoda's voice. He turned and saw the diminutive but powerful Jedi standing there. He'd met the Jedi Master on Dagobah, and sensing how powerful he was, he had humbly asked Yoda if he was the guardian of the dark cavern he'd felt led to enter. At the time Yoda had told him the answers he sought were inside and then when he'd emerged again told him he'd have to follow those visions.  

"You never told me who you were when we met," Starkiller said to him as he turned to the diminutive Jedi standing next to him. He was a Force ghost now. Starkiller was saddened by this, although he knew he'd been old when they'd met. 

"Matter, it did not," replied Yoda shrugging. "And now as you said before...to the ends of the Galaxy if you must. And certainly, you must. But what is required is not the ends of the galaxy, but the edges of the Empire."

"I don't understand." 

"Meet him you must if the dark side is to fall. There is no chance otherwise."

"Vader?"

"No, yourself, or who you used to be. Him."  Yoda looked grim. The Dark Clone, there was no one else who could match that description. Understanding began to dawn on Starkiller. As he'd always known there would be another battle, but it would be against himself.  

"Famous you will never be," said Yoda again. His voice sounded sad, almost regretful. "No one will know the terror you will draw away, but it is the only way."

"I never wanted that," said Starkiller thinking of Juno. Juno Eclipse had given up a lot to keep him hidden and stay with him. I'll have to leave Juno." That thought terrified him more than anything. 

"No," said Yoda, "She must go as well. Her child... He will be strong, but leaving him with what's coming, you cannot. What you have done not many will know but alone you will not be." He gave Starkiller one more apologetic look and vanished.  

Starkiller lay awake staring at the wall with an arm over Juno, lying next to him. Juno was the last person he would ever want to endanger, but it seemed that the Force was requiring just that. All of his life he'd been swirled up in it, either one side or the other. When the dark side was using him as a weapon, the light had used him to start a rebellion.  

And now his existence remained hidden even as the rebellion bore the symbol of the Marek family crest over every ship they had in space. He squeezed his eyes shut as duty and the desire to be free from all the responsibility warred within him. 

And last, of all, he struggled with his own identity. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was a clone. From the moment he'd been unable to strike down the mere image of Juno for his former Master, Vader had informed him that he was a failure. That all of the other clones before him had gone mad. He had no way of knowing at the time if this was true, but then again, Vader had no reason to lie to him if he'd simply planned on killing him.  

He had all of the memories of the original, but he couldn't quite make himself take on the name "Galen Marek." They shared DNA, and memories, but he knew he'd been grown in a vat. In his own mind, he'd been born yesterday.  The imprint of his love for Juno though had been strong. He sometimes wondered if she truly understood what he was.  Kota had once told him, 'it didn't matter,' when he'd confessed the truth of it.  He'd accepted the name Starkiller, it was the one Kota used on him.  But in private Juno was the only one to call him Galen. 

He pulled her towards him in the dark, needing her close. With his initial escape, nothing had made sense and he probably would have gone mad if he hadn't found her. She moaned in her sleep and he slipped a hand around her slightly swollen stomach. Mine, he thought. 

***********************************************************************************

The two men walked the length of the hallway. One long window cascaded starlight into the dimly lit hall as they walked the length of it. One was older with his white hair done up in a topknot, the other was a young man with brown hair cut short, hands clenching at his sides as he struggled for a way to tell the elder of his decision.

"I have to leave." Starkiller faced his friend, and master although you would never say their relationship had ever been one of master and Padawan. Starkiller had long been trained in the Force before Kota had ever met him. He'd also bested and blinded him the first time they'd met, leaving him for dead.

General Rahm Kota had been preparing for a raid. He'd kept Starkiller's return a secret. Very few people knew he was alive. Even Juno had taken a reprieve for the moment after being debriefed by Princess Leia, claiming the need to recover from her injuries, but promising to be ready at the moment she was needed. Juno Eclipse effectively had taken a back seat, relinquishing her role in favor of returning to the Rogue Shadow. 

Starkiller had destroyed her previous ship, The Salvation, using it as a large missile to destroy the shields around Kamino to rescue her.  There were no ships currently ready for command at the moment and she'd made it known she was content to pilot the Rogue Shadow for the time being. Her absence was noticed and felt the most by General Ackbar whom she'd recruited. The General hadn't dug too deeply, a fact that Starkiller remained grateful for.

"You can't run boy! We have a war if you haven't noticed," Kota said, barely restraining his surprise. He'd always had the habit of referring to Starkiller as "boy" when he was angry or upset with him. He may have been a Jedi but he never truly understood the connection Starkiller had with the Force. 

Starkiller let the insult slide. He could sense Kota's unease despite his outward appearance. Kota generally liked giving surprises to the enemy, not receiving them himself. Plus he'd been counting on Starkiller's abilities in the future, a fact that Starkiller had painfully been aware of.  

Starkiller hated what he was doing but he didn't feel like he had a choice. This was the path that was laid out before him and he was going to have to walk it.

"You don't understand. The dark clone is still out there." He tried again.

This sobered Kota up quickly. "Are you sure? I thought you destroyed them all." He paused. "You really believe there is another clone out there?"

"Vader escaped..." Starkiller took a breath remembering the bodies of Alliance soldiers, the relief that Juno wasn't among the dead. "He didn't escape alone or without help."

"Yes, but he was assisted by a Bounty Hunter." Kota crossed his arms, not really wanting to believe that Vader had cloned Jedi users even as the evidence was standing in front of him begging him to reconsider.

"You know the Bounty Hunter wasn't the only one who assisted him." There it was, the other reason Juno Eclipse had stepped back from her duties.  The one who'd assisted Vader was wearing his face. A few had seen him, and she couldn't afford for him to be seen at her side. Once he'd attempted to start the rebellion and was betrayed by his Master.  They wouldn't believe that it wasn't him if he turned up alive. She doubted even Leia Organa would know what to think if he was accused a second time. 

When the General didn't respond, Starkiller continued. "I know he's out there." He paused letting the words sink in before continuing on. "Kota I've seen him. I need to draw him away. He's far more powerful...No one here stands a chance against him. Not even you. I don't even know if I do."

Kota bristled at this. "I know I told you a Force vision this strong was probably a true one before..."

"He will come for me," Starkiller said firmly. "You guys will have Vader to deal with, but the clone will come for me. I've seen it. Vader is not going to just let me walk away. He's always got a backup plan. He's always been one step ahead of us. Trust me when I say this. He is going to send the Dark clone for me." He paused again. "You know he doesn't like to leave things unfinished. He's meticulous, almost obsessively tying up loose ends, and always likes to be in control. He'll see this through until the end." He was glad at least his words were clear, but he knew that Kota could feel the fear leeching off of him. He didn't bother to hide it from Kota. 

Kota said nothing. In the past, he would have railed against Starkiller whenever the two differed on missions. He'd certainly done that on multiple occasions. While he knew the dark clone had existed he was not ready to admit it. They'd known the clone was one way of destroying the legacy that the original Galen Marek had left behind, but for some reason, the clone hadn't been seen by anyone living, except for those few who'd been lucky to get out of his way when he'd come for Vader. Starkiller struggled with the notion that this had been done on purpose.

Yet...

Kota finally nodded...his face grim. The truth of what Starkiller was saying was sinking in. "May the Force be with you, boy." The last word was said with more affection than Starkiller was used to hearing, the last time he'd heard it from Kota it had been filled with derision and sarcasm.

Starkiller started to turn away when Kota stopped him. "Juno?"

"She's coming with me."

He nodded again, grimacing. "I'm losing you both."

Starkiller nodded, turned away, and then turned around and awkwardly embraced the old General. Kota who had never been one to give hugs returned it just as awkwardly. Neither had ever been the hugging kind. They broke apart and Kota raised his eyebrows at him.

Starkiller smiled and said, "She's rubbing off on me."

"Do you know how this will end?" Kota said suddenly. In Starkiller's mind came the echoing voice of Juno when she'd asked him, not me, my template, the same question aboard the Rogue Shadow. Will I ever see you again? "Will I ever see either of you again?" 

He shook his head at Kota not trusting himself to speak one last time. Kota nodded at him. As much as he wanted to use the boy's power against the Empire he could feel the Force drawing Starkiller elsewhere. The whispers of new hope to face Vader had started as well as the rumors of other surviving Jedi coming out of the shadows. But Starkiller's path lay elsewhere and for whatever reason Kota knew he would have to let him go. He didn't have to like it. 

He also knew that when Starkiller's mind was made up there was no turning back.

He turned and walked away. A single tear slipped down the old general's cheek before he wiped it away and straightened his shoulders. They were both rubbing off on him. But he had a raid to plan. 

Starkiller and Juno had their own much more dangerous quarry to flush out.