At the other end of the ship, coming up from the engineering deck, came a blue eyed, brown haired human man in his mid twenties, wearing the tan robes of a Jedi. He looked at Maul, then past him to the Queen's bed chambers, before his face set in grim determination.
Without a word he drew his own lightsaber, burning blue in the hallway between them.
...
Maul smirked, raising his lightsaber. Rather than ignite both ends, he held it in front of himself with just one blade. There was no reason to give this whelp a maneuvering advantage in the tight confines of the ship.
Rushing forward, Maul used the additional length of his lightsaber hilt to stab at the padawan from a distance while keeping his own body safe. Ably parrying the attack in his Soresu form, the young Jedi took a step back, eyes focused on the Sith.
Maul almost wanted to roll his eyes, but didn't take his gaze from his foe. Another Jedi who foolishly clung to Soresu? This would be even easier than the old man had been, before he cheated.
Maul rushed forward, both hands on his lightsaber as he quickly slashed again and again at the padawan's torso, changing speed and tempo as he did to try and wear down and confuse the young jedi. Still cowering behind his defensive stance, the young Jedi moved his feet carefully, Guided by the force, he didn't need to look to avoid coming too close to the walls on either side of him. A few meters behind him there was a staircase, leading down to the ship's crew quarters.
Deciding to change up his strategy once again, Maul started to focus his attacks at the jedi's limbs, aiming for his wrists or ankles, and constantly pressuring forwards. Slowly, the Padawan was forced back, sweat dripping from his forehead and his face set in grim concentration. Maul pressed him until they were at the staircase, where Maul made one last force push with the Dark Side to get the young jedi to fall onto the stairs.
Instead the padawan called up the force of his own, dispersing the worst of Maul's push, and gently touching his foot on the top step, not quite tipping over. He wasn't bad for a learner, or a Jedi learner at least.
Maul almost felt some glimmering of bemused respect for the lad when he felt something wet running down the back of his leg. At first he was ready to dismiss it as sweat, but then he was hit by the smell of blood and rank pus. Holding onto the Dark Side as he was, and being a Zabrak that was resistant to pain, Maul hadn't realized his back was in agony. Everything from his shoulders to his legs felt as though it was on fire. His lungs were burning with the exertion, sweat was pouring off of him.
If the Jedi Master showed up while he was in this condition, Maul may just be in a lot of trouble.
Swallowing, and feeling a hint of fear mixing in with his anger and hatred, Maul rushed forward with a snarl. Neither he nor the padawan put a foot wrong as they battled down the narrow staircase. Now using his full range of moves, Maul felt the tip of his lightsaber nicking the walls and sending sprays of melted metal around as she swung, lunged, and hacked at the Jedi, who's face began to change from grim determination to one of confidence and focus.
They were almost at the bottom of the stairs, when suddenly the Padawan changed from his defensive Soresu stance, to an aggressive Ataru form. Maul almost tripped and fell backwards as suddenly he was the one blocking each attack. The young jedi rushed him with a range of blows, getting faster and faster, Maul finding himself pressed to keep up with him. Then the Padawan feinted and Maul had to leap backwards up the stairs to avoid losing his head when he nearly fell for it.
At the top of the steps now, Maul felt his vision dimming, and shook his head to fight off unconsciousness. Maul could barely breathe, the air whistling through lungs clogged with mucus. He fought the urge to cough, because to tip his head before his attacker would be lethal.
The Padawan didn't slow, didn't make the mistake of giving Maul a chance to recover. Seething with a sudden rush of helpless rage, Maul found himself slipping into a Soresu stance, struggling to defend himself as his arms shook, and his knees almost felt like they couldn't carry him at all. The Padawan struck out at Maul's ankle, and Maul dipped his lightsaber low to block it, only to realize it was a feint too late as he felt a burning at his wrist. Maul's lightsaber dropped to the floor, his knuckles still clinging to the handle.
"Get back!" Maul shouted desperately, his sick voice cracking on the high, desperate note. Fully embracing his fear, Maul put everything he had into shoving the warrior back. The Jedi leaned into the move, carving a funnel into the pressure Maul was exerting with his own powers, and instead of being flung away was only pushed backwards a few meters.
Chest heaving, Maul was in agony over his entire body. His head was spinning, his breath rattling in his lungs and turning into an uncontrollable cough. Thick flem filled his mouth as he fell to his knees, scrabbling forward on his still smoldering stump to snatch up his lightsaber and missing hand, only for both of them to be tugged away from him by a pull from the Light Side.
"No!" Maul hissed, just as men with blasters came up the stairs behind the warrior who had defeated him. "No!" He howled, turning to run, just barely avoiding a shot that would have hit him dead center if he'd even been a moment slower, but instead connected with what was left of his injured arm.
He was much lighter on his left side as he staggered back up the stairs to the bridge, using his good arm to fumble the holocom on his belt. "Pick me up!" He howled to the Scimitar's computer, leaping through the hole he'd cut in the viewscreen.
The Padawan chased him, coming out of a combat roll to swing his blade, its tip just barely kissing Maul's back with a hiss as he slid down the side of the Naboo cruiser. Maul leapt into the air, not knowing if the Dark Side would guide him as he felt the Scimitar in the force closing in. The fingers of his remaining hand just barely caught onto the open ramp of the passing ship, and Maul clung for dear life as it flew away over the Sand Sea of Tatooine.
Clenching his eyes shut at the sands borne on the howling winds, Maul pulled himself up with one last final burst of strength borne of the Dark Side and fear. He barely managed to get his knee over the edge of the loading ramp and scrabbling desperately with his wrist and his good hand he somehow made it up.
Chest heaving, Maul refused to let go of the Dark Side. The moment he did unconsciousness would claim him. Still in agony, he fumbled at the communicator on his belt, and ordered the Scimitar to send one short message to his Master.
Mission accomplished.
Then without another thought, Maul passed out.
...
The mission that Yoda had dispatched Master Qui-Gon and Padawan Obi-Wan had not seemed remarkable at the time, though Yoda should have known better than to trust any mission that involved the two of them. Any mission that particular went on seemed bound to spiral out into something strange and dangerous.
The pair was supposed to negotiate a settlement with the Trade Federation on behalf of the Senate, and had instead returned with a whole array of dire news, including confirmation that there were in fact Nightbrothers from Dathomir being trained as Sith. One of them had even tried to assassinate the ruler of Naboo.
Queen Amidala had survived, but only because the assassin had killed her body double instead of her. Padawan Obi-Wan had narrowly managed to defeat the Sith, and in his own words only because they were already injured.
Yoda could feel the honesty in the brave Padawan's words, and was relieved to see such a promising young Jedi survive such a deadly encounter unscathed. If Yoda hadn't believed him already, Kenobi even managed to bring back irrefutable evidence of his battle: footage from the ship, the hand of the Sith, and a lightsaber with a cruelly bled, red kyber crystal.
All of this on its own would have been dire news by itself, but then Qui Gon took what was already a bizarre day and added to this tangled mess a new level that stretched it to near madness.
AN :
If we hit 500 power stones in 24h, there will be an extra chapter.
...
"He is the Chosen One." Qui-Gon insisted, referring to a child that he'd brought with him from Tatooine.
The arrival of the prophesied Chosen One was the last thing Yoda, or any of the Jedi Council really wanted to deal with. They were trying to preserve peace, not ready themselves for a final war against a resurgent Sith Empire!
...
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