Battle on Death Star I A final confrontation between the Sith Lord Darth Vader and his former apprentice , Galen Marek , occurred on the first Death Star in 2 BBY , at the dawn of the Galactic Civil War between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance . Following the capture of the Rebel founders on Corellia , the apprentice was betrayed and left for dead by his master . In retaliation , Marek re - embraced his Jedi heritage and pursued the Dark Lord of the Sith to the Empire ' s incomplete battlestation , intending to save his new - found allies and — by extension — the Rebellion itself . Breaching the inner defenses of the Death Star , the apprentice killed numerous stormtroopers and other Imperial soldiers before reaching the Imperial throne room where he confronted Darth Vader in single combat . In a contest of both skill and power , Vader was ultimately bested and found himself at the mercy of his former apprentice . Vader ' s own master , Darth Sidious — better known to the galaxy as Emperor Palpatine — not only praised Marek ' s victory , but also attempted to hypnotically compel the apprentice into killing his grievously damaged and defenseless master . In Marek , Sidious saw the opportunity to replace his hobbled enforcer with a younger and more powerful disciple . Jedi General Rahm Kota , one of the prisoners captured on Corellia , sensed the Emperor ' s intentions , however , and tried to prevent the apprentice from falling to the allure of the dark side once more . The distraction worked to break Sidious ' s hold on Marek , who then confronted the Dark Lord in defense of his friends . Refusing to allow the Jedi to claim the apprentice ' s potential for their own gain , an enraged Sidious tried to kill Kota with Sith lightning . Marek protected his mentor by absorbing the energy into his own body , but at the cost of his own life . In order to prevent a squad of stormtroopers from killing the Rebels , Marek unleashed the power of the Force from within himself , and then died as a result of the explosion . The Rebel leaders — senators - turned - fugitives Bail Prestor Organa , Garm Bel Iblis , and Mon Mothma — were evacuated from the Death Star in the apprentice ' s starship , " Rogue Shadow " , piloted by former Captain Juno Eclipse of the Imperial Navy . Together with Kota , the group rendezvoused on Galen Marek ' s home planet , the Wookiee world of Kashyyyk , where they formally declared the birth of the Rebel Alliance . In honor of their fallen leader ' s sacrifice , the new organization adopted Marek ' s family crest as their emblem ; a symbol of hope for those who yearned for the restoration of the Galactic Republic . Darth Sidious , far from pleased with the untimely demise of Darth Vader ' s apprentice , was even more irate upon the realization that the Empire would have to actually fight a civil war against an insurrection that was secretly masterminded by the Sith Order — namely Sidious and Vader through Marek as their proxy . Forced to tolerate Vader ' s existence for a while longer , the Emperor tasked Darth Vader with the complete destruction of the newly formed Alliance , fearing that the Rebellion could destroy the New Order that the Sith built after centuries of plotting the downfall of the Jedi Order and their Republic . Prelude . In 2 BBY , several disillusioned members of the Imperial Senate — most notably Bail Prestor Organa of Alderaan , Garm Bel Iblis of Corellia , and Mon Mothma of Chandrila — determined that the Galactic Empire was irreversibly corrupt and ultimately illegitimate ; a perversion of the Old Republic established by Emperor Palpatine in his desire to rule the galaxy through fear and control . Hence , they unanimously agreed to join a growing rebellion led by a mysterious Forceful being known only as " Starkiller . " Unknown to the rebellious senators , however , was that their leader was the secret Sith apprentice of Darth Vader , the Dark Lord of the Sith and the Emperor ' s chief enforcer . The apprentice , believing that he and his Sith Master would assassinate the Emperor once he was distracted by an army of insurrectionists , assembled the Rebel leaders on Corellia where they planned to declare the formation of the Alliance to Restore the Republic . Then a heavily armed Imperial force arrived . Led by Darth Vader , a group of snowtroopers apprehended the senators , including Jedi Master Rahm Kota , as the Sith Lord confronted his stunned apprentice . Shocked and embittered by the revelation that his master ' s plot against the Emperor had been a ruse , Starkiller realized that his only purpose in Vader ' s eyes was to gather the Emperor ' s enemies in one location in order for the Empire to capture them all in one fell swoop . When Vader moved to strike down the apprentice with his lightsaber , he suddenly found himself confronted by the holodroid PROXY , disguised as his former Jedi Master , Obi - Wan Kenobi . The duel was brief , however , and Vader left both PROXY and his former apprentice for dead . But Starkiller survived and was rescued by Juno Eclipse , the pilot of the " Rogue Shadow " . Burdened by guilt for manipulating the Rebels and motivated by resentment over Vader ' s treachery , the apprentice renounced his allegiance to the Sith and the dark side of the Force . As such , he reclaimed his former identity as Galen Marek , the only son of the deceased Jedi Knights Kento and Mallie Marek . In his first and last successful attempt to glimpse future events , the apprentice experienced a premonition that revealed the location of the Rebel leaders ; Darth Vader had taken them to be personally executed by the Emperor on a secret battlestation orbiting the prison planet Despayre in the Horuz system . Equivalent to the size of a small moon , the Death Star was still under construction by the time Marek and Eclipse arrived to retrieve the senators . Fearing that she would never see the apprentice another again , Eclipse kissed Marek before the latter dived into the Death Star ' s atmosphere . The battle . Shortly after landing on the surface of the Death Star , the apprentice ambushed a patrol of stormtroopers escorting a group of Wookiee slaves on the equatorial trench . With the execution of the Rebel prisoners imminent , the apprentice chose to free the slaves in exchange for the fastest route to the Emperor ' s throne room . With the Imperials distracted by a slave revolt , a small band of Wookiees guided Marek deeper into the battlestation , toward his captive allies . Along the way , Marek single - handedly destroyed an AT - AT walker while the Wookiees fired their stolen E - 11 blaster rifles on the stormtroopers who converged on the scene . As another two walkers approached , Marek ordered his allies to fall back . Three of the four Wookiees followed him ; one had been killed in the firefight . Another Wookiee was fatally shot as they fell back , although the remaining two managed to regroup with the apprentice . After retreating to a safe distance , the apprentice telekinetically triggered the downed AT - AT to explode , expending all its stored munitions in a single blast . This triggered several more explosions , destroying all of the stormtroopers in the area , along with the walkers and several TIE fighters . Afterward , the two remaining Wookiees guided Marek through an accessway and brought him close to an exhaust port that would lead the apprentice where he needed to go . After thanking them for their assistance , the apprentice proceeded alone . The apprentice soon reached the exhaust port , only to find it guarded by a full squadron of highly alert troopers , along with two laser cannons and several walkers . Using the Force to distract the soldiers , the apprentice killed both gunners before using one of the cannons to disable the nearest walker . While the guards scrambled for cover , the apprentice destroyed a second walker , and then a third one by the time reinforcements flooded the area from every direction . Before entering the exhaust port , he programmed the cannon to continue firing at random , thus covering his escape as several TIE fighters converged on its location . As the apprentice continued toward the Emperor ' s throne room , he encountered several small groups of stormtroopers , all of which were dispatched with ease . After dispatching another large Imperial force stationed inside a hangar , the apprentice entered a large laser tube , which he realized was one of several components connected to the superstructure ' s massive laser system . With the system being test - fired every few minutes , the apprentice had to take care not to get caught in the laser beam . He also had to disable four tractor - beam reactor couplings to save Juno Eclipse and the " Rogue Shadow " , as she ended up caught in the Death Star ' s tractor beams and unable to get out of range . Upon completing this , he also eliminated a squadron of TIE fighters by throwing explosive canisters at them telekinetically before narrowly evading a superlaser beam in one of the tunnels he dived into . After several treks , he eventually ended up in a massive AT - AT hangar , where he took care of several Imperial forces , including a freshly deployed AT - ST , before continuing on . By the time he reached the top of the laser tube , he had realized the battlestation ' s full power . The laser he had previously observed was just one of eight tributary lasers that converged to create a beam powerful enough to destroy an entire planet . Convinced that the Death Star ' s only purpose was to unleash mass genocide across the galaxy , the apprentice briefly considered destroying the station on his own . He dismissed the idea , however , believing that such a task ultimately fell to the Rebel Alliance . Before the apprentice could enter the observation deck that contained the throne room , he was forced to contend with another large number of Imperial soldiers , consisting of stormtroopers , scout troopers , jumptroopers , Purge trooper s , and two AT - ST walkers . Destroying all opposition in his path , the final obstacle in his path consisted of several members of the Imperial Royal Guard , led by a single Shadow Guard . After killing all of the guardsmen , the apprentice entered the hallway leading to the throne room , preparing for the final confrontation between himself and his former master . The fall of Darth Vader . Immediately prior to the apprentice ' s arrival , Palpatine informed the imprisoned Rebel Alliance leaders that he intended to execute them , although not before torturing them to glean information on any other allies and friends that the Rebel leaders possessed . When Organa claimed that the Emperor ' s killing them would only foment more resistance , Palpatine dismissed him , certain that their executions ( which he promised would be public and very painful ) would crush any form of dissent . Kota sensed Marek ' s arrival and mused that there could still be a true rebellion . The apprentice entered the throne room , surprising his captured allies and the two Sith Lords . He was not fooled by the Emperor ' s seemingly frail appearance ; in Darth Sidious , he sensed the immense power of the dark side of the Force . Regardless , it was Darth Vader alone who caught his full attention , causing the apprentice ' s bitterness to turn into a desire for revenge . Even as the Emperor ordered Vader to kill Marek , the Dark Lord moved to confront his former student , intending to finish what he failed to do on Corellia . Despite numerous sparing sessions and psychological battles in the past , Marek was caught by surprise by the sheer severity of his master ' s first attack . The apprentice was well familiar with Darth Vader ' s refined form of Djem So , but the Dark Lord ' s physical strength was powerful enough to jar his wrists and shoulders , nearly disarming him in the process . But whereas Vader was strong and relentless , the apprentice was fast and agile . Taking a mostly defensive stance against his master ' s brutal attacks , Marek occasionally taunted Vader in the hopes of breaking his concentration . At the same time , they both utilized telekinesis against one another , occasionally hurling missiles and other projectiles back and forth . For a time , neither could gain the advantage , despite their knowledge of the Force or their skills with a lightsaber . During their duel , the apprentice could not help but feel respect for his master ' s fighting skills . When not holding back , Darth Vader employed nothing less than a lethal attack . Marek also realized that he and Vader finally had the opportunity to test their full potential against one another , given that their previous duels typically ended with Vader restraining himself or the apprentice capitulating the fight . As the two continued to fight , Marek declared that his goal was to kill Vader , but only out of pity rather than hatred . From the apprentice ' s point of view , he and his master shared more in common than he initially considered . Both were made to suffer and submit to the dark side by a Sith Master . But whereas Marek embraced redemption as a Jedi , Vader could not find the will to break free of the Emperor ' s control . Refusing to be a slave of the Sith any longer , the apprentice vowed to free his former master by taking his life . Vader redoubled the intensity of his attacks , but the apprentice counterattacked with a blast of Force lightning and broke his master ' s momentum . The Sith Lord responded by trying to telekinetically choke Marek , causing the apprentice to retaliate with a powerful push to the chest , sending Vader backward across the observation dome . As the duel continued , Marek steadily gained the advantage . Vader tried to pull back , but his former apprentice intensified the frequency of his attacks to keep the Dark Lord on his back foot . It was then that the apprentice saw the opening that they had both waited for ; Vader ' s speed was hindered too much by his own armor and prosthetic replacements . He was too slow to block an attack to the torso , thus allowing the apprentice ' s blade to slash across his armored throat . The Dark Lord staggered backward with his gloved hand covering the wound , and was as surprised as the apprentice by the success of the attack . Feeling a mixture of anger and triumph , Marek went on the offensive in an attempt to capitalize on his gain . His master ' s defenses quickly weakened , allowing the apprentice to cut a deep wound across Darth Vader ' s shoulder and another into his thigh . In spite of his refusal to accept defeat , Vader was no longer capable of maintaining the fight . The apprentice telekinetically ripped the Sith ' s lightsaber away from his hand and used the Force to raise him in the air . A barrage of missiles under the apprentice ' s control attacked Vader from every corner of the room ; each hit was stronger than the last . Then the apprentice hurled an energy field generator at his master , causing an explosion that the Sith Lord just barely survived . Moments after the blast , the apprentice emerged unscathed to discover that the fight was over . Darth Vader lay gravely injured ; both his armor and vital respiratory system were heavily damaged . Much of his mask and helmet had also been ripped away by the blast , thus allowing the apprentice to see the true face of his mentor for the first time . Marek was taken aback by what he saw as a shockingly pitiful sight : that Darth Vader was actually a deformed old man whose pale skin was covered in wrinkles and old scar tissue ; an amalgamation of man and machine was what hid behind the armored suit . In Vader ' s eyes , Marek saw only agony and exhaustion . With Darth Vader defeated and held at the mercy of his apprentice , the Emperor emerged and reached out through the Force to Galen Marek . Acknowledging the fact that Marek was a far more powerful asset than Vader — broken and diminished in the Force due to his condition — Darth Sidious encouraged the apprentice to claim his revenge by striking his former master down in anger . As the Emperor ' s hypnotic suggestion flowed through the apprentice , Marek began to seriously consider Sidious ' s offer . The temptation of the dark side ' s allure not withstanding , there was a side to the apprentice that yearned to seize the title and position of a true Sith Lord . Before he could make a decision , however , Rahm Kota charged at the Emperor in an attempt to prevent the apprentice ' s return to the dark side . Using the Force to steal the Emperor ' s lightsaber , Kota killed several Imperial Guards before attempting to kill Darth Sidious with the Dark Lord ' s own weapon . In response , Sidious unleashed a barrage of Sith lightning on Kota . The General ' s interference broke the Emperor ' s hold over Marek , who ultimately realized that he no longer wanted anything to do with the dark side , especially after seeing the effects it had on Darth Vader . Having made his choice to remain with the Jedi and the Rebel Alliance , Galen Marek moved to attack the Emperor , but only to defend his friends . Sacrifice . The apprentice broke off the Emperor ' s attack on Kota by hurling pieces of broken transparisteel and debris at him . As Marek approached him , Sidious praised the apprentice and urged him to embrace the dark side once more — this time by killing him . With Kota ' s help , the apprentice restrained himself from striking the Emperor down in anger . Before they could escape to safety , Darth Sidious attacked Kota with Force lightning once more in a final attempt to prevent Marek from joining the Jedi and Rebel Alliance . Before Sidious could kill Kota , Marek moved in front of the lightning , causing him to absorb the energy and redirect it back to its source . For a moment , both the Emperor and the apprentice were locked in an exchange of Force lightning and as a result , experienced excruciating pain . As the Rebels retreated into the " Rogue Shadow " , a squadron of stormtroopers converged on the scene and attempted to prevent the prisoners ' escape . Their efforts were thwarted by Marek , who released a massive shock wave of energy from his own body . By the time the " Rogue Shadow " escaped to safety with the Rebels on board , the explosion had engulfed most of the observation deck . Although every stormtrooper within proximity of the blast was killed , Sidious and Vader both survived the explosion and began searching the wreckage until they found Marek ' s dead body . Neither of the two Sith Lords were pleased by Galen Marek ' s demise . In addition to the Emperor ' s failure to replace Darth Vader with Marek , Sidious believed that the apprentice ' s sacrifice would inspire the Rebel Alliance to wage a full - scale galactic civil war against the Empire . Crushing the Jedi lightsaber of his fallen apprentice beneath his heel , Vader vowed to exterminate his master ' s enemies before the fledgling rebellion could overthrow the Sith regime . Aftermath . In the wake of Galen Marek ' s death , the Rebel leaders reconvened on Kashyyyk , the Wookiee homeworld and also the birth place of Darth Vader ' s fallen apprentice . Within the former hut of the Marek family , the senators — Bail and Leia Organa , Garm Bel Iblis , and Mon Mothma — agreed to combine their resources in order to create the Rebel Alliance . Rahm Kota , who had acknowledged to Juno Eclipse that the apprentice became one with the Force , brought the former Imperial Captain to view the official emblem that the Alliance ' s founders had chosen for their new organization ; the Marek family crest , proposed by Leia Organa in memory of the apprentice and his sacrifice for the Rebellion . With Marek dead , Darth Vader conceived a plot to create a new version of his late apprentice — one more powerful and obedient than the original Starkiller . Utilizing the genetic material of Marek ' s preserved corpse , the Sith Lord attempted to create a clone who could take Marek ' s place as Vader ' s personal assassin . The various imperfections in the accelerated cloning process , combined with the inherent difficulty of cloning a Force - sensitive template , stalled the project for months and forced Vader to repeat the procedure numerous times until the flaws could be corrected . The result was a series of failed copies , physically deformed and mentally deranged . The more stable versions were personally trained by Vader , but ultimately failed to overcome the memory imprints that they inherited from their progenitor . One such clone escaped from Kamino in 1 BBY after his creator judged him to be another failure . Despite the loss of the renegade clone , the project ultimately produced a single test subject who succeeded in his trials to become Darth Vader ' s new apprentice . Behind the scenes . The events of the battle differ between the two game versions and the novel . Unlike the " Star Wars : The Force Unleashed " novelization , where Galen Marek lands in an equatorial trench and ignites a Wookiee slave uprising , the Xbox 360 / PS3 version of depicts the start of Marek ' s mission in one of the Death Star ' s hangars . In the PS2 / Wii version , Marek lands on a bridge before entering the battlestation . This article attempts to incorporate elements of all three interpretations of the Battle on Death Star I . Further variations are found in Marek ' s fight with Emperor Palpatine . Whereas the Emperor wields his lightsaber against Marek in the PS2 / Wii version , he only utilizes Force lightning , telekinesis , and the assistance of Imperial Senate Guards and Royal Guards in the Xbox 360 / PS3 version . Marek ' s finishing move on Palpatine also varied slightly . Unlike both game versions , there is no prolonged battle between Marek and Palpatine in the novelization . The apprentice merely ambushes the Emperor with a telekinetic attack , causing Palpatine to feign weakness and defeat soon afterward . Alternate ending . In the alternate ending , non - canon in the Legends continuity , of this battle in , Marek chooses to finish off Vader , avenging the murder of his father , and Vader ' s two betrayals on himself . After another long battle , Marek strips Vader of his lightsaber , as he did as a child , and impales him with it . Marek then returns to the main platform , where the Emperor is standing over an injured Kota . He instructs the apprentice to kill Kota , and fulfill his destiny by giving himself to the dark side . Marek ignites his lightsaber , ready to strike down the blind General Kota , but , instead , in a moment of regret , he tries to kill Palpatine . However , Palpatine immediately ignites his own saber , easily deflecting the attack , and declares that he had foreseen the attack and knew that Marek would attempt to kill him . Palpatine breaks their saber lock , lifts Marek into the air , electrocuting him for a few moments before throwing him through a window out onto the landing platform , just as the " Rogue Shadow " flies in to rescue the rebel leaders . Staggering on the ground , Marek sees that Bail Organa and the other Rebel leaders have already been killed . Palpatine takes the opportunity to take the " Shadow " in his grasp and hurl it at Marek . It is likely that Juno Eclipse was killed . Marek wakes up on an operating table — much like the one his former master Darth Vader rested on , while his suit was constructed — to find himself wearing his own suit of armor , presumably the only thing keeping him alive . The Emperor stands before him , saying he expected more from Marek , and thought he could have one day become one of the greatest Sith in the galaxy , even his successor , but , now , Marek will simply be his new servant , doing the Emperor ' s bidding , until he is eventually cast aside , just as Vader was . Marek screams in agony as his suit is completed . The events that follow are chronicled in " " .