Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II Read Free

intensified.
    “Respond, Blackguard. This is Blackout. Do you need help down there. Blackguard?”
    Nothing.
    Juno tried again, forcing herself to speak calmly. Nitram was watching.
    “Blackguard to Blackout. Respond immediately!”
    Nothing. The bridge was silent.
    She stood, frozen, with one question echoing in her mind: What would the man she had loved have done now?
    She knew the answer. He would do everything in his power to rescue his friend and Jedi Master. He would fight with every drop of energy in his body. He would let nothing stand in his way.
    But she wasn’t him. She didn’t have his powers and she did have responsibilities he never had to consider. Besides, be was dead, and now there was no sign of Kota, either. What was she supposed to do-rescue a ghost? If she knew how to do that, she would have done it a year ago.
    An alarm sounded. The bridge came to life around her.
    “We’ve got company, ” said Nitram, gaze dancing across the rapidly filling display screen. “Two frigates, a cruiser, and-yes, a Star Destroyer, Imperial-class. Could be the Adjudicator. It’s launching fighters. Captain?”
    Everyone on the bridge was looking at her.
    “Recall our pilots, ” she said in a clear and level voice, knowing that her hand was being forced. There was only one responsible decision open to her now. “Bring everyone aboard, then get us out of here, fast. “
    “At once, sir. “
    Juno stepped back from the display screen in order to let her officers go about their work. Tiny dots converged on the Salvation as its starfighters broke off their engagements with their enemy and raced for safe harbor. She counted eighteen, which meant six pilots wouldn’t be going home. In exchange for what?
    Again, the answer lay before her. Her crew was functioning perfectly well, and they knew through hard experience that Cato Neimoidia was better defended than they had expected. The Salvation had pricked the Empire and forced it to respond. Someone, somewhere, would be grateful for the Adjudicators unexpected absence from their skies.
    But where did that leave her?
    “Take us the long way to the rendezvous, ” she told Nitram. “We don’t want anyone on our rail. “
    “Yes, sir. “
    Nitram didn’t question her order, even though the reason she had given him was meaningless. The truth was that she needed time to think.
    Kota was gone. How was she going to explain that to the alliance leadership?
    Farewell, old friend, she thought. What kind of mess have you landed me in this time?
    “Calculations complete, ” said Nitram.
    “Ready the hyperdrive, ” she responded automatically. The shields were taking a heavy pounding, making the floor sway beneath her. Just two starfighters remained outside. When they were aboard, she gave the order.
    “Jump. “
    The Salvation rushed into hyperspace, leaving the ill-fated world, its mysteries and its ghosts, far behind.

Part 1
REVOLUTION

CHAPTER 1
    Present day…
    From the depths of meditation came a man’s voice.
    “You’re running out of executioners. Baron!”
    Starkiller opened his eyes. He knew that voice. It rugged at parts of him that had lain dormant for a long time-or never genuinely existed at all, depending on one’s viewpoint.
    He shied away from both memory and contemplation. There was no point wasting energy on either when his very survival was at stake. How many days he had been down the pit he no longer knew, but in that time he had neither eaten nor slept. His enemy wasn’t physical in the sense of a foe he could strike down or manipulate. It was himself-his fallible body, his weak mind, his faltering spirit. He would endure and emerge whole, or never emerge at all.
    Such was the life of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice.
    “He is dead. “
    “Then he is now more powerful than ever. “
    More voices. He closed his eyes and shook his head. Kneeling, he placed his manacled hands on the slick metal surface below him and concentrated on hearing the