Leaving the bridge, Maul ran back to the docking bay. He heard the pirates approaching and ducked into a side corridor. He watched the pirates stagger past his position, heading toward the bridge. They were already arguing about how they should divide the spoils from the strange, newly acquired starship.
After the Togorians were gone, Maul hurried across the brightly lit bay. The Scimitar rested beside the pirates’ space cruiser. He ran past the escape pod that had delivered him to the docking bay. He had already resolved that he did not have time to recover the pod.
The Scimitar’s boarding ramp was down. Maul ran up the ramp and nearly collided with the Togorian whose fur was decorated with glittering objects. Up close, Maul saw that the objects were sharp razors, and that this Togorian was bigger than the others. Much bigger.
Maul surmised the pirate had remained on the ship so he could take what he wanted before the others had their chance. The pirate was holding two fistfuls of credits that Maul kept aboard for emergencies, and was about to deposit the credits in an open satchel at his feet. Maul saw the satchel was bulging, and suspected the pirate had also found his stash of crystals, which he kept for worlds that did not accept credits.
Maul activated his lightsaber. The pirate tossed the credits aside and removed his vibro-axe from his belt. Eyes fixed on Maul, the pirate said, “There you are.” He stuck out his thick purple tongue and dragged it across his lips. “Think you can escape me? Think again. I’ll finish the job.”
Maul was irritated by the Togorians’ tendency to taunt before striking. He was also eager to leave the freighter, as he expected the other pirates would start the engines at any moment. He whirled in an arc and went for the hulking Togorian’s chest.
Incredibly, the pirate sidestepped the attack. His vibro-axe swept past Maul’s shoulder but smashed into the Scimitar’s auxiliary control console. Maul saw the damage was minimal, but seethed with rage. Hoping to prevent further damage to his ship, he leaped past the pirate and flipped down the Scimitar’s boarding ramp. The pirate followed.
Jumping to the docking bay’s deck, the pirate shook his fur, and his glittering, decorative shards reflected the lights from the bright lamps that illuminated the docking bay. The light momentarily dazzled Maul’s vision, causing him to lose focus as the pirate swung his vibro-axe. Maul jumped away, but not before the vibro-axe’s blade caught his leg. Maul felt the blade slice into his flesh. He bared his teeth as if he were biting on the pain itself.
He glared at his opponent, then leaped and twisted in midair, spinning his lightsaber at the pirate. Maul’s blade took off the pirate’s arm before landing. The pirate collapsed, and Maul struck him again, but it was not a killing blow because he did not wish for the pirate to die immediately. He wanted the pirate to die in agony.
Ignoring his own wound, Maul deactivated his lightsaber, jumped over the pirate’s body, and raced back up the Scimitar’s boarding ramp. Although he wished he were already seated behind the controls on the upper deck, he didn’t dare waste the few seconds it would take for the lift to carry him to the bridge. As the boarding ramp automatically retracted, he went straight to the auxiliary control console that the Togorian had struck earlier. He was checking the console to make sure it was fully operational when he heard a loud hum outside his ship. He knew the noise was the freighter’s preliminary ignition warming up. He tapped at the console’s controls and powered up the Scimitar’s shields and engines.
A warning light flashed. The Scimitar’s ramp had retracted but the hatch was still open. Maul heard an inhuman roar from behind and turned to see that the hulking pirate—minus one arm, and with his face covered in blood—had wedged himself into the boarding hatch, his body pinned between the hatch’s doors. Clutching to the inner hatch with his remaining hand’s bloodied claws, the Togorian wasn’t about to let go on his own.
The pirate’s legs were still dangling out of the hatch as Maul pushed the Scimitar’s engines to full power and blasted out of the freighter’s docking bay. Alarms wailed as air rushed out the open hatch. As the Scimitar soared into space, Maul was yanked off his feet and hurled toward the pirate in the hatch.
Maul’s wounded leg slammed against the bulkhead inside the hatch. Air was torn from his lungs as his fingers seized a metal rung. His face was mere centimeters from the Togorian’s, and he could see from the pirate’s frenzied expression that he had every intention of making sure Maul died with him.
Maul rammed his horned head into the pirate’s skull. The pirate’s one-handed grip loosened. Maul twisted his body and kicked the pirate’s midsection. The pirate roared and sank his claws into the inside of the hatch’s frame. The dark side surged through Maul, and he kicked the pirate in the face.
Behind the Scimitar, the bulk freighter exploded, spraying burning fuel and shredded metal in all directions. The resulting shock wave rocked the Scimitar, and the Togorian was blown away from the hatch. Maul hit the hatch’s emergency button and it sealed instantly, sending him rolling back into the Scimitar.
Emergency air flooded into the lower deck. Maul gasped as he scrambled onto the lift. Arriving on the upper deck, he did not limp as he went to his seat and settled behind the controls. He took a deep breath. He felt good to be alive after his enemies were dead.
Angling away from the wreckage of the pirate ships, he guided the Scimitar toward Tatooine. He knew he should treat his wound soon but decided to wait until after he’d landed. Meanwhile, his pain gave him something to focus on.
He was looking forward to finding more enemies.
From space, Tatooine looked like a scorched sphere with just a few small, scattered clouds. The Scimitar’s sensors directed Maul to the planet’s larger spaceports and settlements, and he was pleased to see that night had fallen over those areas. From experience, he had come to prefer night landings, because most so-called civilized beings liked to have their lights on at night. They revealed themselves. Even Sand People and Jawas were known to huddle around open fires after the twin suns set.
As the Scimitar descended to the sand planet’s dark hemisphere, Maul began to see the lights of the more populated areas as well as solitary moisture farms. Queen Amidala’s ship could be anywhere on Tatooine, but he was confident he would find it.
He landed his ship on a mesa. He did not leave the Scimitar until he was certain that no detectors were aimed in his direction and that he had arrived unnoticed. Carrying his electrobinoculars, and wearing a programmable wrist link above his left hand, he stepped down the boarding ramp and onto the hard-packed sand. The air was cool and incredibly dry, and a few stars were already visible in the evening sky.
Maul came to a stop. From where he stood, he could see the distant lights of three settlements. His electro-binoculars were equipped with radiation sensors for night vision and powerful light-gathering components for long-distance scanning. He raised the electrobinoculars to his eyes and scanned the terrain to his left. According to the data display on his electrobinocular viewscreen, he was looking at Mos Espa, one of Tatooine’s largest spaceports.
Turning almost completely around, Maul viewed the city of Mos Taike, which was located between the Northern Dune Sea and another broad area of barren desert, the Xelric Draw. Shifting to his left, he viewed another spaceport, Mos Entha.
Maul lowered the electrobinoculars, tapped a command into his wrist link to summon his probe droids, and turned to face the Scimitar. He watched three bulbous, black Dark Eye probe droids hover out of the aft hatch. Each sensor-laden probe droid had been programmed to seek out Queen Amidala, her ship, and the two Jedi who had escaped with her from Naboo.
The three probe droids glided past Maul before they separated, each veering off toward one of the three populated areas. After they were gone, Maul trudged back to the Scimitar so he could monitor the droids’ progress. The sand sucked at his boots, making every step an effort.
Sweat beaded on his tattooed forehead. His wounded leg was practically screaming for treatment. Bu
t even after he was back inside the Scimitar, he delayed reaching for a medpac. He worked with the pain, manipulating it, shaping it into desire. He craved revenge against the Jedi. They were the reason he had traveled to Tatooine. If not for their existence, his encounter with the Togorian pirates never would have happened. His desire for vengeance grew like a blanket of darkness around him. Only after he felt consumed by anger did he dress his wound.
Maul grinned. The pain was nothing compared to what he would do to the Jedi.
Maul unloaded his speeder bike from the Scimitar’s underside cargo hatch. It was the day after his arrival on Tatooine, and the twin suns were blazing in the sky. He had already received significant transmissions from his three probe droids.
The first probe droid had sighted a tall, bearded man carrying a lightsaber at Mos Espa Grand Arena after a Podracing competition. The second probe droid had been destroyed—possibly by a lightsaber—before it transmitted an image of a run-down light freighter named the Dusty Duck, which had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Fortunately, the third probe droid had discovered the location of Queen Amidala’s starship in the Xelric Draw. Now Maul was waiting for the first probe droid to return with a full report from Mos Espa. And he wanted his bike ready if he needed it.
The bike was a custom Razalon FC-20 repulsorlift speeder, equipped with a quiet but powerful rear thrust engine, ideal for covert missions and sneak attacks. The bike had no built-in weapons, sensors, or shields, as Maul believed his own skills and lightsaber were sufficient to overcome any enemy.
Thanks to the combination of his discipline and remarkable powers of recuperation, Maul did not limp as he walked, using one hand to nudge his bike through the arid air, away from his ship. He had treated his leg with bacta and wrapped it in bandages. When he was fully healed, not even a scar would exist as evidence of his fight with the Togorian.
But his leg still ached. Earlier, after discovering bantha tracks near the Scimitar, he had had a brief encounter with Sand People. He suspected they had intended to lure him away from his ship and kill him. He had refrained from slaughtering them because a pile of dead Sand People might have drawn unnecessary attention. Still, running back to the Scimitar had not been good for his leg.
I’ll rest after the Jedi are dead.
Maul left his bike hovering in the air behind him and came to a stop at the edge of the mesa. He gazed toward Mos Espa. And then he saw the probe droid zipping over the sand, approaching his position. The probe droid came to a stop less than a meter away from Maul’s face. The droid uttered a few words in its own language, but Maul understood.
A Jedi had left Mos Espa and was returning to the Queen’s ship.
Maul walked back to his bike, climbed onto its saddle, and launched off the mesa, leaving the watchful probe droid with the Scimitar. Maul’s black cloak whipped at his back as he raced over the desert floor and into the Xelric Draw.
He soon saw the Queen’s starship, still resting where his droid had sighted it earlier. Despite a layer of dust, the ship’s highly polished silver exterior gleamed under the bright desert sky. The ship’s boarding ramp was lowered.
And then Maul sighted two figures in front of him, both running toward the ship. The nearest figure appeared to be a child, a young boy. Beyond the boy was the tall Jedi.
Maul sensed something about the boy. The boy seemed to emanate ripples in the Force, but the ripples were unfocused, uncontrolled. This surprised Maul but did not distract him. He stayed focused on his target, the Jedi. If he happened also to mow down the boy in his path, so be it.
Maul accelerated. He was almost on top of the boy when the Jedi turned and shouted, and then the boy fell flat to the ground. As Maul’s bike passed over the boy’s prone body, Maul realized the Jedi must have commanded the boy to fall. He was intrigued by the fact that the boy had obeyed without hesitation, without looking back. Most boys would have stopped and turned.
Dismissing the boy as insignificant, Maul cut the bike’s engine and leaped from it, sailing over the Jedi’s head as he activated his lightsaber in midair. The Jedi activated his own green-bladed lightsaber and raised it fast to block Maul’s sweeping blade. The lightsabers met with a bright flash of energy before Maul landed on his feet in a tight crouch.
The pain in his leg was exquisite.
Up close, Maul saw the Jedi was a big man. The Jedi shouted at the boy to go. Maul swung hard with his lightsaber but the Jedi blocked the blow. The Jedi shouted, “Tell them to take off!”
As the boy ran for the Queen’s ship, Maul lashed out at the Jedi again and again, but the Jedi blocked each blow. Maul was suddenly aware that the Jedi seemed to anticipate each lunge and jab, as if he knew how Maul would move before Maul himself knew. Maul drew from the dark side of the Force and began to move faster, increasing the speed of his lunges along with his footwork. The Jedi kept up with Maul, but Maul soon sensed…
He’s getting tired.
Maul felt the pain in his leg become more intense. He became angry at himself for being wounded, used the anger to fuel the dark side, and directed his rage at the Jedi. Maul was certain he would defeat his opponent.
He will fall heavily, like a monument.
But the Jedi did not falter. As Maul spun and moved around the Jedi, he saw the Queen’s starship lift off. He also saw the boarding ramp was still extended.
Maul leaped over the Jedi, blocking his path to the rising ship, as their lightsabers continued to weave and smash into each other. The ship had just moved above their position when the Jedi leaped straight up and landed on the extended ramp, his lightsaber still blazing.
Maul watched the ship rise away from the desert, taking the Jedi with it. He deactivated his lightsaber and continued to stand where his feet were planted. Within seconds, the ascending ship vanished in the sky.
Maul tasted sand in his mouth. And blood. He continued to watch the sky as he felt almost overwhelmed by his humiliation. He had never felt such shame before. The shame was darker than any darkness he had ever known.
He found the darkness pleasing.
Maul had no reason to remain on Tatooine. He recovered his speeder bike and rode back to the Scimitar.
He transmitted a report, notifying his Master that the Jedi had escaped with Queen Amidala, and that he would be returning directly to Coruscant. He did not mention his run-in with the Togorian pirates in his report, nor his less significant encounter with the Sand People, because he knew his Master would be displeased. His Master would not be interested in explanations. His Master would only accuse him of allowing himself to be snared by the pirates and distracted by the Sand People.
As the Sith Infiltrator lifted away from Tatooine, Maul continued to contemplate how Sidious would respond if he learned about his apprentice’s mis-adventures. If Maul admitted he had sustained a leg wound, his Master would regard him as weak. But because his leg wound was already almost healed, he questioned whether it was even necessary to inform his Master about it.
Concealing details from his Master was impossible. Sidious always knew everything about Maul’s thoughts and actions. However, Maul knew his Master would not wish to be distracted by information that had nothing to do with conquering Naboo and destroying the Jedi. A wounded leg was beyond trivial. If he and his Master were to proceed, they would focus on moving forward.
The Sith Infiltrator left Tatooine’s orbit and launched into hyperspace.
Arriving at Coruscant, Maul guided the Scimitar to the dark hemisphere, where night had fallen, angling past illuminated skyscrapers to the spire that housed Sidious’s secret headquarters. He docked the Infiltrator in a landing bay, checked to make sure the landing bay was secure, and then went to meet with his Master.
He found Sidious’s hooded figure seated in the middle of the otherwise empty meditation room. The door slid closed behind Maul. Sidious said, “Report.”
“Queen Amidala and the Jedi were on Tatooine, Master. A Jedi and a young boy were running for th
e Queen’s starship when I came upon them in the desert. The Jedi and I dueled. I nearly had him. But the boy reached the ship, the ship lifted off, and the Jedi leaped to it. I failed to stop them, Master.”
Because of his Master’s cowl, Maul could not see his Master’s eyes, but he watched the lower half of Sidious’s face, staying alert for any slight twitch at the mouth or change in skin tone that would indicate his Master was angry. But his Master’s expression remained neutral as he said, “You feel you would have defeated this Jedi?”
“Yes, Master. I felt him tire. I can defeat him.”
“Was he bearded?”
Maul nodded.
“Good. That is Qui-Gon Jinn. He is the stronger of the two. His Padawan is Obi-Wan Kenobi.”
Sidious sounded satisfied, which puzzled Maul. He had imagined Sidious would be furious with him for failing to stop the Jedi and the Queen. But then it suddenly occurred to Maul…The Jedi will deliver the Queen to Coruscant, because the foolish Queen will think the Senate can help her. Maul realized he could have another opportunity to please his Master. But before he could announce his deduction, his Master said, “Queen Amidala believes the Galactic Senate will support her. She has already arrived on Coruscant. She is staying in the Senatorial quarters.”
Maul stiffened. “And the Jedi?”
“They are on Coruscant as well.”
Maul’s hand shifted to the hilt of his lightsaber. He felt a burning that began in his chest and spread outward. “Let me kill them, Master.”
“Not here,” Sidious said. “Not on Coruscant. I have another plan.”
And then Maul sensed Sidious was preoccupied by other thoughts. He seemed oblivious to Maul’s presence. Maul left the meditation room and went to his own quarters.
Lives & Adventures Page 40