Talzin was on her feet, supported by one of the Nightsisters while the other was covering them. Blaster bolts whizzed past them. Talzin cried, “Maul!”
Maul didn’t know what to do. Would Sidious expect him to show sympathy? Was Talzin even one of Sidious’s agents? Either way, how would he better serve the dark side of the Force? By helping the Nightsisters, or leaving them to die?
Maul cursed through his gritted teeth. He hooked the energy bow over his right shoulder, then ran through a hail of blaster bolts to reach Talzin. He heaved her up from the deck, flung her over his left shoulder, and raced for the entrance of a cylindrical corridor that led to the safety of an adjacent bay. The two Nightsisters followed, firing arrows at the warlord and his soldiers behind them as they moved after Maul.
Maul was fifty meters shy of the connector’s entrance when a hail of blaster bolts cut him off. He carried Talzin behind a large cargo container for cover, then propped her up on the deck beside the container. The other two Nightsisters arrived, positioned their bodies to protect Talzin, and returned fire. Maul looked at Talzin.
“Our magicks don’t work in this sterile place,” Talzin said bitterly as blaster bolts ricocheted off the container. “That’s why I could not sustain the illusion.”
“The illusion that nearly got all of us killed,” Maul said.
Talzin winced as she moved her hand over the deep wound in her outer thigh. “On Dathomir, I would be able to heal myself.”
“No one asked you to come here,” Maul said, but then thought maybe she had responded to an invitation from Sidious.
“We came for your sake.”
“That’s a lie.”
Talzin’s silver eyes flared. “You fail to grasp that you belong to a great heritage, Maul. That you were spirited away from Dathomir doesn’t alter the fact that you are a Nightbrother, and that your fate is joined with ours.”
Maul snorted. “Everyone has a plan for me.”
Talzin’s brow furrowed, then she said, “I don’t understand.”
Maul ignored her as he tried to find a way out. Looking to the area between the cargo container and the soldiers, he saw a dozen automated load-lifter droids. Apparently oblivious to the firefight, the simple-minded droids were hauling similar cargo containers to different areas of the bay. The containers were drifting slowly into the bay on powerful tractor beams from a cargo ship that was too large to be berthed inside the station. Maul knew enough about starship technology to know that a computer housed in the bay’s upper-level control room was guiding the droids and tractor beams. Looking up, he found the control room’s window.
“We’ve one chance to make it through the connector and into the passenger pod,” Maul said. He looked at Talzin. “I’m going to need one of your energy swords.”
“You’ve no training in the use of that weapon,” said Talzin.
Maul shrugged the energy bow from his shoulder. “I’ll just have to improvise.”
Talzin grabbed an energy sword from one of the Nightsisters and handed it to Maul. Taking the sword, he leaped away from the cargo container, hit the deck, and then sprinted for the control room’s bulkhead.
The soldiers turned their weapons and fired at Maul. Gripping the energy sword with both hands, he sprang from the deck, launching himself up toward the control room. He plunged the sword through the control room’s window, creating a vertical hole, then flipped his body to kick the window and shatter it. As he landed inside the control room, the soldiers fired more blaster bolts after him, and the bolts ricocheted off the room’s walls. One stray bolt grazed the side of Maul’s upper right arm, drawing blood.
Ignoring the pain, Maul dropped to the control room’s floor until he reached the main control board. His education at Orsis Academy had included learning how to override computers, and he quickly reprogrammed the cargo bay’s tractor beam array.
Almost instantly, the cargo containers that had been drifting slowly into the bay were suddenly soaring in at rapid speed. Although the increased speed had no effect on the cargo ship parked outside the space station, the containers began piling up inside the bay faster than the load-lifter droids could catch them. The pile quickly accumulated into a wall of containers that separated the soldiers from the Nightsisters, but left the Nightsisters with a clear passage to the connector that led to the space station’s passenger hub.
Rising from the control room’s floor, Maul glanced down to see several soldiers trying to run to the far side of the bay before the incoming containers cut them off. The containers moved faster than the soldiers could run, and they were crushed. The remaining soldiers retreated.
Maul jumped down from the control room and returned to Talzin and the two Nightsisters. He wrapped his arm around Talzin’s waist and helped her to her feet. The Nightsisters followed Maul and Talzin into the air lock corridor.
With the Nightsisters bringing up the rear, the two of them hurried to the entrance of the cylindrical corridor. Maul saw the entrance’s sealed hatch, but because he didn’t want to lose his hold on Talzin, he used the Force to open the hatch. After they all moved through the hatch and into the corridor’s first airlock, Talzin used the Force to seal the hatch behind them, and the pair of Nightsisters launched their energy quarrels to destroy the hatch’s control panel. An alarm began blaring. Maul ignored it and kept moving.
Working as a team, they repeated their actions as they moved through several more hatches until they reached the station’s passenger hub. Maul wasn’t sure what Sidious would think of his use of the Force, but as they moved into the passenger hub, he became absolutely certain that his Master was testing him. He was so certain that he stopped in his tracks.
“Why are you waiting?” Talzin said. “Our ship isn’t that far.”
“You can stop pretending,” Maul said.
Apparently confused, Talzin shook her head. “About what?”
“About Dathomir, the Nightbrothers, and the rest. I know that you were sent by my Master. I know, because I sense him. My Master is here.”
Moving through a maintenance level to avoid more soldiers, Maul, Talzin, and the Nightsisters finally arrived in the hangar that housed Talzin’s starship. Maul had expected to find the warlord’s soldiers stationed in the hangar to prevent Talzin from reaching her ship, but he had not expected to find over a dozen Weequays lying dead on the hangar’s deck.
Although none of the Weequay bodies bore obvious wounds, Maul knew how they had died, and also the identity of their killer. Leaving Talzin standing with her Nightsisters, he moved across the hangar to face a dark alcove. He stopped, dropped to one knee, and bowed his head.
“Master.”
Sidious stepped out from the alcove. He wore his dark robe, and his face was concealed by the shadows beneath his deep hood.
Talzin and the Nightsisters fell back a step. Evidently, they could sense the man’s power in the dark side of the Force. As the Nightsisters kept their energy bows aimed at the deck, Sidious turned slightly toward them, gestured to Maul, and said, “This one does not belong to Dathomir. He is mine.”
Talzin said, “Then you didn’t merely abandon him to the Falleen.”
“On the contrary,” Sidious said.
Talzin glanced at Maul. “You have trained him well.”
Sidious motioned to Talzin’s ship. “You’ll find the body of your fallen Nightsister aboard.”
Talzin nodded her head in gratitude. Sidious folded his hands into the opposite sleeves of his robe and said, “Now, be gone from here before I have a change of mind.”
Talzin was unaccustomed to taking orders, but she gestured to the Nightsisters to board the ship. The Nightsisters walked past Maul, who was still kneeling with his head lowered. As Talzin limped past Maul, she casually allowed her dangling left hand to brush the bloody wound that had been opened in his upper right arm. She proceeded up the boarding ramp. Neither Maul nor Sidious noticed her move her left hand to one of the talismans that dangled from her neck, and pr
ess Maul’s blood upon the talisman before she entered her ship.
Talzin’s ship lifted from the deck and glided out of the hangar. Sidious moved to an observation window that overlooked Orsis. Maul followed obediently, then dropped to a kneeling posture and waited for his Master to speak.
Staring out the window, Sidious said at last, “You did well, Maul. It pleases me that you showed restraint and betrayed none of your training in the dark side of the Force.”
Maul bowed his head. “I did so in the hope of one day becoming your apprentice.”
Sidious glanced back at Maul. “Then consider yourself one step closer.”
“Thank you, Master.”
Sidious stepped away from the window. “The time has come for you to learn certain things about the nature of our undertaking. As I told you, I have been putting into motion the stages of a Grand Plan, a plan you may play a part in if you can continue to demonstrate worthiness and loyalty. You should know, though, that this plan has in fact been in the making for a millennium. It springs from the minds of many who serve a great tradition.” He paused to look at Maul. “A tradition of far greater import than the Dathomiri brotherhood Talzin surely told you about. It is the tradition of the ancient order known as the Sith.”
Surprised, Maul narrowed his eyes. “You told me of the Sith when I was young, Master.”
“What I kept from you then is that I am the Sith Lord, Darth Sidious. My Master both named and conferred the title on me, and at my discretion, you may one day be afforded the same honor by me.”
Maul swallowed hard. “I will strive to prove my worth to you, Master.”
“Yes, you will,” Sidious said. “From this point on I will begin to tutor you in the ways of the Sith. We are opponents of the Republic, and the sworn enemies of the Jedi Order. It will be our task to see the former brought down and the latter expunged from the galaxy. Where I will remain the guiding hand in this, it will fall to you to execute missions that could pose a risk to my position should the true purpose of our acts be discovered.”
For years, Maul had wondered the purpose of all his training. Now he knew. His heart pounded.
“Nothing less than perfection will be sufficient, Maul,” Sidious said. “Do you understand?”
Maul bowed his head again. “I understand, Master.”
“Then let’s put that to the test, shall we?”
Maul looked up. “Another?”
Sidious’s brow furrowed. “Another?”
“As you engineered with Mother Talzin?”
Sidious grinned faintly. “What happened on Orsis and aboard this station was not set in motion by my hand, Maul. In fact, you were betrayed by one who told Talzin where to find you, and then aided and abetted her plan to capture you.”
Maul’s eyes widened with surprise, and then he felt a wave of anger. “May I know the identity of my betrayer, Master?”
Sidious looked at the ceiling for a moment as he considered Maul’s request, then replied, “Meltch Krakko.”
Krakko?! Maul scowled, wondering how long the Mandalorian had been plotting against him. “Did Trezza know, Master?”
Sidious shook his head. “Trezza knew nothing. However, I fear that we may not be able to contain the damage that has been done. We can’t risk that word of your disappearance and all that followed may spread.” He stroked his chin thoughtfully. “I will deal with the Vollick warlord. But it will be your task to deal with Trezza and the others at the school.”
The others? Maul thought of Trezza, who had always treated him with a degree of respect that Sidious never had. He thought of Kilindi and Daleen, who had shown him kindness. And then his pounding heart turned to stone and he said, “I live to do your bidding, Master.”
Sidious nodded. “And as long as you do, you will continue to live.”
Maul rose.
“Be discreet,” Sidious said.
Leaving the space station, Maul traveled by drop ship back down to Orsis. On his way, he visualized what he had to do. He knew the layout for every building at the Academy, knew every entrance and exit. He thought of all the things he hated about the place, especially the rules that forbade him from using the Force.
Night had long fallen by the time he reached the Academy’s perimeter, and he felt very different from the cadet he had been when he left to begin the Gora. Now, his education seemed ages behind him. He felt he was one with the dark side of the Force.
He moved quickly and quietly through the courtyards and buildings. First, he killed the Academy’s sentries, and then the security guards posted outside the training rooms and barracks. He used the Force when it was most efficient, and his bare hands whenever it pleased him. Knowing that most of the cadets would already be asleep in the barracks, he went noiselessly from one darkened room to the next, leaving a trail of death.
He entered the room shared by Kilindi and Daleen. Kilindi’s bunk was empty. Daleen’s wasn’t. Daleen was snoring lightly. A moment later, her life had ended, and Maul was moving out the door. He took no comfort from Kilindi’s absence. He knew he would find her.
When he arrived upon the sleeping forms of the Rodians Hubnutz and Fretch, he woke them before he broke their necks.
Not every cadet was sleeping. Maul found a group of older cadets practicing martial arts in a training room. He locked the doors, switched off the lights, and moved through the group like a furious beast of prey.
Covered in blood, he proceeded to the building where the instructors had their own quarters.
Approaching the door to Trezza’s office, he heard voices inside. He recognized the voices. Kilindi and Trezza. Kilindi was demanding that Trezza explain why Maul had not returned from the Gora. She sounded worried and angry. But as far as Maul was concerned, she was talking about someone else, someone he didn’t know.
Maul opened the door and stepped into the office. Trezza was seated behind his massive desk. Kilindi stood before him. And Meltch Krakko stood on the far side of the room, near an open fireplace.
Kilindi gasped at the sight of Maul’s blood-soaked body. Maul fixed his gaze on Krakko and walked straight toward him. Even though Maul was not carrying any weapons, Krakko drew his blaster and fired at him. Maul jerked his body to the left, dodged the blaster bolt, and kept walking toward Krakko. Krakko fired two more shots. Maul dodged those too before he grabbed Krakko’s gun arm with one hand, and his neck with the other. Krakko sputtered angrily. What Maul did next made Trezza gasp and Kilindi cover her mouth with her hands.
Maul kept his eyes on Trezza as he hurled Krakko’s lifeless body into the fireplace. Trezza raised his hands to show he wasn’t holding any weapons and said, “Maul, please calm yourself. We can talk about this.” Keeping his hands raised, he looked anxiously at Kilindi.
Maul sensed Trezza’s anxiety and knew Trezza was just trying to stall and distract him. He was not surprised to see the flat metal knife pop out of Trezza’s sleeve.
Catching the knife between his fingers, Trezza threw it at Maul. Maul’s left hand flew in front of him to catch the knife by its handle, then whipped it back with blinding speed at Trezza’s upper chest. Trezza gasped, clutched at his chest, and collapsed upon his desk.
Maul looked at Kilindi. She was staring at him blankly, but she radiated fear like a child in the presence of an enormous monster. Maul walked toward her. He never paused to wonder how his life might have been different if he had not revealed his Force powers to Meltch Krakko. He never paused at all. His only purpose was to serve his Master.
Kilindi didn’t run. She did try to smile. She said, “I guess you’re not interested in the surprise that Daleen and I had for you.”
“Not anymore,” Maul said.
Soon after the destruction of Orsis Academy, Maul learned why Sidious had been so protective of his own identity for so many years. Evidently, Sidious had long maintained another identity as a public figure, a Senator from the planet Naboo. In his Senatorial guise on the planet Coruscant and other worlds throughout t
he Galactic Republic, Sidious was known as Palpatine. Most people who knew Palpatine regarded him as a polite, quiet man, as modest as he was harmless.
Maul moved with Sidious to Coruscant, where Sidious had long kept a secret lair in a skyscraper in an industrial area. Maul spent the next two years carrying out a series of secret missions for his Master. The missions were conceived to help Sidious gain power without others ever knowing of his existence. By the end of those two years, Maul had repeatedly proven that he was as strong as he was fast, and that he would never break. He also sensed that his control of the darkness that fueled the Force was close to perfect.
Sidious and Maul returned to Mustafar. For fourteen days, Sidious put Maul through a series of grueling physical tests. Maul defended himself against lightsaber-wielding droids in the training room. Blindfolded, he threw daggers at robotic targets, which threw the daggers back at him. He was blindfolded again before he climbed into a starship flight simulator wired with disciplinary electrodes. He wore a sensory-deprivation suit when he ran through a maze that was lined with razor-edged walls, and also when he was deposited into a previously unexplored Mustafarian cave. In locked chambers, he was exposed to extreme temperatures and deprived of food. For each test, he drew strength from the dark side of the Force.
When the fourteen days were over, Maul was exhausted. His entire body ached as he stood before Sidious in the meeting room. Not only had he passed every test, he had destroyed every test. However, his Master always expected more from him, so he was not entirely surprised when Sidious said, “Because you have survived the preliminaries, you may proceed to the actual test to become a Sith Lord.”
Lives & Adventures Page 37