Juno Eclipse (STP)

Captain Juno Eclipse was a female Imperial pilot during the Great Jedi Purge. Following the Bombing of Callos, an early battle in the history of the Galactic Empire, she was tasked with piloting the Rogue Shadow, transport ship of Galen Marek, Darth Vader's secret apprentice. After being branded a traitor by the Dark Lord, Juno joined Marek on his mission to create a Rebel Alliance. During their adventures, Juno and Marek fell in love, but Marek seemingly died fighting the Emperor. Juno was present at the birth of the Alliance to Restore the Republic and went on to become one of the first commanders of the Alliance and the captain of the Salvation.

Early Life
Juno Eclipse was born on Corulag, the daughter of a teacher and civil engineer. Early in her life, her mother was slain in what was said to be crossfire between Imperial loyalists and insurgents on her home planet. Her father became increasingly strict and aloof after the death of his wife, and became fiercely enamored of those who served the Empire. Juno was raised to believe the ideas passed on by her father, including a villainous portrayal of the Jedi Order. It was largely because of her father's admiration of Imperial service that Juno became the youngest cadet to be accepted into the Corulag Academy at the age of 14.

Imperial Pilot
After graduating with high honors, Juno flew many successful combat missions throughout the Outer Rim, bringing the admiration of her peers and commanding officers. Through quick promotions, she eventually gained command of Black Eight Squadron, Darth Vader's elite unit of eight TIE Fighter pilots. It was during the Bombing of Callos that she proved her loyalty to Vader after, despite obvious misgivings about obeying her orders, she continued her assault on the already beaten and defenseless planet, leading to the genocide and, for all intents and purposes, destruction of the planet. In addition to her loyalty, Vader also realized that she lacked the ruthlessness he found vital to the command of Black Squadron and Juno was reassigned to pilot the Rogue Shadow, a state-of-the-art starship and transport of Darth Vader's secret apprentice, Starkiller, and his droid companion, PROXY. Although mistakenly believing that the man was a spy, she quickly discovered that he was, in fact, on a mission to exterminate the last of the Jedi. Juno assisted in this by flying him to Nar Shaddaa, Raxus Prime, and Felucia all the while trying to get to know and understand Darth Vader's enigmatic enforcer. In addition to these missions, Vader ordered his apprentice to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant many times, in order to undergo metaphysical training. It was during one of these stops, that Starkiller fought the long-dead Darth Phobos who used the love he felt for Juno as her weapon by forcing him to deal with the idea of her death, his greatest fear. Starkiller overcame his fear and returned to the ship with Juno none the wiser about his feelings. It was during this time that Juno discovered the plot against Emperor Palpatine while spying on the apprentice and his Master. Although torn between her duty to her immediate superior, Lord Vader, and her duty to the Emperor, Juno continued to fly Starkiller around until he had completed his mission. After defeating Jedi Master Shaak Ti on Felucia, Starkiller returned to his Master, only to discover that the Emperor had learned of his existence. Starkiller was betrayed, and seemingly killed, by Lord Vader at the behest of the Emperor. Afterward, Vader would declare Juno a traitor and have her imprisoned inside his science vessel, the Empirical, for six standard months.

Forging an Alliance
After he reawakened, Juno was freed by the newly resurrected Starkiller. Though she had no idea how he had survived, she followed him on his new mission to gather all of the enemies of the Empire in one, cohesive Alliance, unaware that this was yet another undertaking in the service of Darth Vader. Juno, Starkiller and PROXY set about trying to find the first Jedi Starkiller had been sent to destroy, General Rahm Kota. After searching Nar Shaddaa, the site of that fateful battle, the crew of the Rogue Shadow were able to track him to the Vapor Room, a bar in Cloud City. After battling their way off of Bespin, with the now blind and inebriated Jedi, they set a course for Kashyyyk where Starkiller would rescue something of value for Senator Bail Prestor Organa. That something turned out to be his daughter, Princess Leia Organa. During his time on the planet, Starkiller found a hut that resonated strongly in The Force. Though Juno did not know it at the time, it was in this hut that Starkiller began to uncover the mystery of his past and learned his true name. After saving the Princess and destroying the Skyhook being used to transport Wookiee slaves from the surface, the Rogue Shadow set a course for Felucia to rescue Bail Organa, as he was pivotal to forging Starkiller's alliance. After being rescued from the fallen Padawan Maris Brood, Organa was willing to join the Rebel Alliance, though he was convinced that to entice other dissidents, the Empire would have to be shown to be vulnerable. Starkiller, passing as a Jedi Knight, agreed to meditate on the subject, in the apparent privacy of his ship however, he contacted Darth Vader and received instruction to attack a Star Destroyer shipyard above Raxus Prime. Juno was spying on him however, and was distraught to find that Starkiller was still Vader's slave. After confronting him she informed him that the Rebellion's fate would be his to decide, not Vader's nor Palpatine's. It was during this time that they both began to realize they had feelings for one another, though they were unlikely to lead to a future together. On Raxus Prime, Starkiller was able to destroy the shipyard, pull down a Star Destroyer by will of the Force and save PROXY from the Core, a planet wide computer mainframe. His efforts in saving his oldest friend, even just a droid, made her realize that Starkiller was conflicted on his true loyalties. The Empire had been shown to be vulnerable and hence the first meeting of the Alliance to Restore the Republic was held on Corellia. Present were Starkiller, Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, Garm Bel Iblis, PROXY, projecting the form of Princess Leia, Rahm Kota, and Juno Eclipse. Unfortunately, before the Alliance could be formalized, Darth Vader arrived revealing that the alliance had been a ruse by himself and the Emperor in an attempt to gather all the Imperial enemies in one place. Starkiller confronted Vader and engaged him in a duel while PROXY led Juno away stating that his Master would need her later. After defeating his former apprentice in a duel, ordering the Senators under arrest, and seemingly destroying PROXY after the droid had attempted to save his Master, Vader left Corellia, not realizing that Juno had survived and would come back for the apprentice. Come back she did, and discovered him at the bottom of a precipice seemingly dead. He had miraculously survived however, and revealed to Juno that his name was Galen Marek.

Battle on Death Star I
After discerning the location of the would-be Rebels, Juno and Marek traveled to Despayre, the current build site of the Empire's new super weapon, the Death Star. Using the Rogue Shadow's advanced cloaking system, Juno was able to get just inside of the thin atmosphere around the Death Star. Marek prepared to take the leap to the surface, but Juno stopped him, asking "Will I see you again?" "Probably not, no." was the response, and with that Juno kissed him saying that she wouldn't have to live it down. After he finally made the jump, Juno took the ship to safety waiting for the extraction notice from the Rebels. When it finally came, she was dismayed to find that Marek was not among the rescued. Kota informed her that he had died, or so he and the others thought, fighting Vader and the Emperor and that he had chosen death over the eternal darkness of the dark side. Juno commented to herself that death was infinitely preferable to a life without hope. Added by JensaaraiShortly before formalizing the Alliance, the leaders decided to keep a recording of the formation of the Alliance; remembering that PROXY was last seen there, she traveled with Bail Organa to Corellia on the Rogue Shadow. They found the damaged droid half-buried in snow and managed to repair the droid on board the ship. As PROXY was re-activated, he revealed that shortly before the treaty, Marek gave orders that Juno would be his next master. PROXY then narrated all that he had recorded about Marek's origins and missions leading to the Corellian Treaty, and after he reached the point of his deactivation, Juno filled up the rest of the story, up to the Battle on Death Star I. On Kashyyyk, the Rebel Alliance was finally formalized and more of Marek's history was revealed. The Alliance chose to rally behind the Alliance Starbird, the former Marek family crest in honor of their fallen leader. Kota told her that he knew all along about Marek's identity, for when he approached him in the bar on Cloud City, there was one bright thing in his dark thoughts that he held onto, even at the end: her.

Joining the Rebels
Inspired by Marek's sacrifice, Juno stayed with the newly formed Rebel Alliance. To keep his memory alive, Juno dedicated her life to serving the Alliance's cause, becoming an officer in its ranks.[6] Shortly afterward, she received a commission as the captain of a starship known as the Salvation.[7] During the ceremony prior to its first launching, Eclipse gave a speech to her crew, revealing her past service in the Imperial Military and highlighting the atrocities committed by the Empire. As captain of the Salvation, Eclipse retained PROXY at her side and often worked with Rahm Kota, leaving the Rogue Shadow to the aging general. While Eclipse agreed with Kota's opinion that the Rebellion would never accomplish anything significant if it didn't achieve a major or symbolic victory against the Empire, and often urged the Alliance leadership to consider attacking a valuable target, she was considerably far more patient with her superiors than Kota was.[9] Not wanting to see Kota break off from the Alliance if he ever lost his patience with its leadership, Eclipse often aided the Jedi General and his squad on certain missions that were not sanctioned by their superiors. Eclipse eventually received orders to take the Salvation to an Imperial-controlled planet called Cato Neimoidia, both to check out the planet's defenses and to test her own crew's ability in combat. Given the Alliance's limited resources, however, Eclipse was under strict orders not to endanger her ship under any circumstances.

Cato Neimoidia
Holding little regard for the Alliance leaders' slow and cautious approach in fighting the Empire, Kota used Eclipse's mission to his advantage and secretly followed the Salvation with his squad inside the Rogue Shadow. Once more, Eclipse decided to discreetly aid the general in his goal to both disrupt the planet's slave operation and to assassinate its brutal despot, Baron Merillion Tarko. After arriving at their intended destination, Eclipse began testing Cato Neimoidia's defenses by dispatching a squadron of BTL Y-wing starfighters to engage the Empire's TIE fighters. While Kota initiated his ground assault, Eclipse covered up the general's actions by dismissing them as a local insurrection to her crew, who were oblivious to the Jedi's involvements and his objectives. However, it soon became apparent that Alliance Intelligence underestimated the planet's Imperial defenses as additional TIE fighters began to swarm her squadron. Since her orders were to not risk the integrity of her ship, Eclipse was pressured into withdrawing from the battle, but not before warning Kota to break off his attack. Kota dismissed her concerns and pressed on his attack. Before Eclipse could further persuade the general to retreat, a major explosion near Tarko-se caused the Rogue Shadow to vanish from the Salvation's sensors. Believing that the Rogue Shadow had been destroyed along with Kota and his squad, Eclipse ordered her the Salvation to flee from Cato Neimoidia via hyperspace. After rendezvousing with the Alliance Fleet, she reported the details of her mission—including her belief that Kota was killed on Cato Neimoidia—to three of the Alliance's leaders: Mon Mothma, Garm Bel Iblis, and Leia Organa. During her report, she witnessed first hand how the Alliance leadership was deadlocked in division and indecision. While Senator Iblis favored Kota's direct approach, Senator Mothma argued for caution and patience; Senator Organa preferred to consult with her adoptive father before voicing her opinion.[9] Eclipse tried to convince her superiors that the Alliance needed a suitable replacement for Kota, someone who balanced the line between action and caution. Her choice fell on Ackbar, a Mon Calamarian redeemed by the Alliance from slavery in the Eriadu system. She believed that with Ackbar serving Alliance, as well as a major victory over the Empire, would galvanize the Mon Calamari's resistance and lead them into joining the Alliance to accomplish their mutual goal—the downfall of the Galactic Empire. Although the addition of Mon Calamari's resources to the Alliance was an enticing thought, Senator Mothma once again voiced her hesitation, fearing that a catastrophic defeat against the Empire would further discourage the Mon Calamari and leave the Alliance in a far worse situation than it was already in. Beginning to feel the same frustration and resentment that Kota held for the Alliance leaders, Eclipse threatened to resign her commission and break off her allegiance to the Alliance, despite the fact that it pained her to abandon Galen Marek's legacy. Before she could make any final decision, she was threatened by her superior officer, Commodore Yat-De Viedas with the possibility of a court martial for her unsanctioned assistance to General Kota. Exhausted and feeling defeated, Eclipse resigned herself to the situation and awaited their decision.

Recruiting Ackbar
After receiving a temporary demotion, Eclipse decided to follow Kota's example and ignore Mon Mothma's overly cautious position. She remained committed to her plan to recruit Ackbar and the military resources of his world into the Alliance's fold. However, she was initially unsure on how to proceed, acknowledging the fact that she was not a lone agent who operated outside of an organizational hierarchy as Starkiller did. On the contrary, she thrived on knowing her place and performing her duty to the letter, not thinking outside of the box.[9] To that end, she welcomed the discreet assistance of Bail Organa upon her arrival on Dac's moon. With PROXY and Organa at her side, she met with Ackbar and his Quarren allies, attempting to convince them to join the Alliance, and to rally both the Mon Calamari and the Quarren race to add their strength to the Rebellion. Through Ackbar's strategic brilliance, Eclipse accompanied the small group with a goal to achieve a symbolic victory that would galvanize the Dac resistance movement and motivate it to throw its weight behind the Alliance. Thus, they staged a false attack on Heurkea by planting explosions throughout the city in order to trick the Imperials into thinking that the city was under an unauthorized attack by their own TIE fighter squadron, the 181st Imperial Fighter Wing.[9] The Imperials were easily fooled and retreated from the city. Knowing that the Empire would quickly discover the deception, Eclipse knew that her mission was a success. By humiliating the Empire, the oppressed world of Dac would bolster its defiance against the Empire. After congratulating each other, Ackbar assured Eclipse and Organa that the Alliance could count on Dac's allegiance to the Alliance, as well as his own personal commitment to the Rebel cause.

Regrouping with the Alliance
Before returning to the Alliance leaders, Organa inquired into Eclipse's personal views on how the Alliance should conduct its strategy. Eclipse ultimately favored Kota's aggressive tactics as opposed to Mothma's complacency, but not to the extent of supporting Kota's recklessness. She advocated decisive and smart actions, making a difference through achieving well-planned victories on a major scale, or at the very least—symbolic ones as well. During this time, she encountered Berkelium Shyre, a mechanic from Malastare and a loyal supporter of the Rebellion. During their conversation, Shyre revealed his feelings for Eclipse and tried to convince her to stay with him. For her part, Eclipse was somewhat attracted to Shyre, and also partially felt as though it was time to move on from the memory of Starkiller. But Eclipse ultimately declined Shyre's offer, feeling that she would never truly come to terms with her grief over Starkiller's death. When Eclipse reported the events at Heurkea to the Alliance leaders, Mon Mothma responded with disapproval and suspicion that Bail and Leia Organa assisted the Rebel captain behind her back. Although Eclipse succeeded in her own endeavor to help the Alliance, Mothma continued to display her fear of risks, stating that if things at Heurkea had ended badly, the Alliance would have lost both Eclipse and Organa, as well as the chance of winning Dac's support. Fed up with Mothma's constant preaching of caution, Bel Iblis pointed out that no war was without risks. He also scolded the fugitive senator for constantly trying to force the Alliance not to fight, even when it clearly wanted to, and likened her actions to tyranny—in its own way. Realizing that the majority of the Alliance was clearly against her, Mon Mothma conceded the point and the Alliance leadership began considering Eclipse's suggestion of prioritizing a symbolic win for the Alliance. Although Eclipse was pleased that some amount of progress had finally been made, she feared that the Alliance leaders still lacked the quick and decisive quality she yearned to see in them. She believed that the leadership would take at least weeks to debate over choosing an appropriate target, thus maintaining the Alliance's appearance of looking like it's taking action when it's actually doing nothing. When Commodore Viedas commented that she was starting to sound like a cynic, Eclipse agreed with him, stating that politics naturally brought pessimism out of most people. After the briefing with the Alliance leadership was concluded, Eclipse was transferred back to the Salvation and restored to her commission as its commanding officer.

Attack on the Salvation
Not long after her return to the Salvation, the Rogue Shadow exited hyperspace and was heading towards her ship's position. Eclipse was utterly surprised to see the stealth ship, believing it had been destroyed on Cato Neimoidia. Although it became apparent that the Rogue Shadow was not a figment of her imagination, she was not convinced that Kota had survived. Instead, she believed that the Imperials had captured the vessel and were using it as a means of infiltrating the Rebel fleet. Before she could order the Salvation to open fire, however, Kota requested permission through the comm to board Eclipse's ship. Aware that Kota had survived his ordeal in Tarko-se, Eclipse began feeling guilt for giving Kota up for dead. While still waiting for the Rogue Shadow to dock with the Salvation, Kota transferred valuable information to Eclipse's datapad on a cloning operation. The intel included everything the Alliance needed to know in order to launch a successful attack, including floor plans, security systems, and troop deployments. Even more important was the fact that this cloning facility was located too far off in the Outer Rim for Imperial reinforcements to intercept an attack in time. When she inquired about the source of such invaluable data, Kota urged her to wait and see for herself once he arrived on the bridge with the "source" of the data. Around the same time, an Imperial surprise attack commenced mainly on the Salvation. The ambush was a complete success, and Imperial troops stormed the ship in a relatively short amount of time. When the bridge came under attack, Eclipse and her crew attempted to defend their position, but it was ultimately a futile effort. After seeing PROXY shot in the torso and the rest of her bridge crew fall dead, Eclipse was shot in the shoulder. Although she managed to kill the trooper who wounded her, she was unable to prevent a green-armored figure from stunning her with his blaster, thus causing her to lose consciousness. When she awoke, Eclipse realized that she was still on her ship, but restrained by a pair of stormtroopers and the armored figure who captured her, unaware of his identity as the notorious bounty hunter Boba Fett. Although she attempted to prob him for information regarding his purpose for abducting her, Fett only offered her cryptic answers. After deducing that her captor was a bounty hunter, she tried to bribe him by suggesting that the Alliance would double how ever much the Empire was paying him. Fett was slightly amused and declined, stating that he only worked for those who were likely to do business with him again.[9] While forced to accompany Fett to his ship, Eclipse caught a glimpse of a person who looked exactly like the man she never thought she would see again. In her confusion, she convinced herself that Starkiller had somehow returned from the dead, although she had no way of explaining it to herself. Despite the pain it caused her shoulder, Eclipse struggled once more against the bounty hunter, but to no avail. Fett took her aboard Slave I and departed for Kamino to complete his assignment for Darth Vader.

Held Hostage on Kamino
When Boba Fett reached Kamino, he landed Slave I in Timira City, where Vader was waiting for him and his prisoner. Upon seeing the Sith Lord for the first time since he branded her as a traitor to the Empire, Eclipse felt her body tense out of fear, fully aware of who the bounty hunter's employer had been. After handing Eclipse over to Vader, a pair of stormtroopers forced her to accompany Vader deep inside Timira City's cloning facility. Believing that Vader did not go through so much trouble just to kill her right away, she took her chances and taunted Vader—reminding him of how he was defeated by his former apprentice. She continued mocking Vader, voicing her opinion of him as nothing more than the Emperor's slave with nothing but a minuscule piece of the Empire to maintain his obedience. Eclipse accused Vader of being a coward who was acting out of desperation by kidnapping her. She also told Vader that she did not believe he was responsible for Starkiller's "return," implying her belief that Starkiller somehow managed that accomplishment on his own. Although Vader ignored her remarks the entire time, he eventually paused to signal one of the troopers to gag Eclipse with a sealant patch in order to shut her up. As they made their way towards the top of the cloning facility, Eclipse noticed multiple cloning tubes containing specimens that all possessed a distinctly familiar face. Then the realization dawned on her—each of the figures contained in a separate cloning tank had Starkiller's face. They were all clones of Galen Marek. Shocked and dumbfounded, her hope that Starkiller was truly alive again was virtually shattered by this discovery. She quickly began putting the pieces together and realized that Vader was indeed for Starkiller's miraculous return, only it wasn't technically "Starkiller" whom she saw on the Salvation—just a replica of the original who died on the Death Star. As much as Eclipse didn't want to, she was forced to admit that it was the most logical explanation, one that made far more sense than her hope that Starkiller was able to stave off death itself.

Starkiller's Clone
After dueling in the cloning facility, Vader threatened to kill Eclipse unless Starkiller returned to him and submitted to the Dark Side. While Starkiller relented, Eclipse tried to stop Vader by threatening him with one of Starkiller's lightsabers. Vader easily dispatched Eclipse by force pushing her out of a window, but incited the full and uncontrollable rage of Starkiller. After another battle, Starkiller literally disarmed Vader with a combination of his lightsaber mastery and force powers. Starkiller, on the brink of killing a defeated Vader, reluctantly spared his master's life at Kota's insistence and made his way to Eclipse's fallen form. Although seemingly dead at first, Eclipse awoke and kissed the clone. After Vader was arrested and heavily restrained by Kota's rebel troops, Eclipse and Starkiller departed from Kamino on the Rogue Shadow, unaware that they were being followed by Fett in Slave I.