The nights on Coruscant were never all that dark. Artificial light spewed out of every building, penetrating the sky, practically illuminating the black of night.
Darth Maul’s presence had been requested by his master.
Maul allowed his mind to wander and jump to conclusions as he walked amongst the shadows towards the rendezvous with Darth Sidious.
He had long begged his master for an opportunity to attack the Jedi, could this be the time?
After thinking more clearly, he dispelled this notion. His master preached to him relentlessly that the time of the Sith is near, but not yet.
What could it be, he thought.
Darth Maul had been dispatched multiple times to handle weapons dealers, drug lords and the usual dregs of the Galaxy.
As his thoughts continued, they were suddenly splintered and thrown aside as he felt a presence. His master was near.
Augmenting his abilities through the powers of the Dark Side, Maul leapt several stories, reaching the level his master had been waiting.
Landing in complete silence, Darth Maul saw no more than 30 meters in front of him, his master with his back to him, overlooking the vast industrial fields of Coruscant.
Is he unaware of my presence? Unsure, Maul thought to approach Sidious in pure silence in hopes of impressing the Dark Lord.
With extreme care and precision, Darth Maul began his approach.
One step after another, his movements carefully planned out to make the least amount of sound possible.
When he was no more than 10 meters away, he stopped his advance though only for a moment.
Studying his master, he noted the blackness of his cloak.
It appeared even more bleak and charcoal-like than the pure darkness around him, almost as if his own presence was feeding off of the surrounding black.
Then, without warning, “Welcome Darth Maul, your ability to avoid detection is in need of some work.”
The figure turned around revealing the pasty white face crinkled with that statement as the corners of his mouth began to curl up and around to form a devious sneering smile.
“Yes, my lord,” Maul obediently replied as he descended to one knee.
“There is a group of smugglers who have revealed something of great interest to me.”
Letting his words sink in, Sidious paused for a moment.
The cool wind howled behind Maul, ruffling his own cloak.
Standing directly in front of him, his Master’s cloak remained still.
“A Sith artifact belonging to King Adas. You will track down these pirates and inflict on them the full wrath of the Dark Side of the force.”
Without even a delay, Darth Maul responded, “It will be done my Lord.”
“Go now, my apprentice. Leave none alive.” Sidious uttered as he raised his arm directly in front of Maul’s face.
***
Sand pelted the outsides of the ship. By all accounts, Ashas Ree was notorious for diabolical sandstorms responsible for creating and destroying the landscape.
Captain Anderaan Rawles, a former Corellian pilot, sat back in the lounge of his vintage customized XT class starfighter.
With enough cargo space to rob the half the vaults of the InterGalactic Banking Clan, Rawles was prepared for the day.
Along with his co-pilot Ella Tervault, a Twi’lek and the two helping hands, Xelin Bindar and Thorm Jendell, both human.
Just hours ago, Rawles and his team of pirates hit the jackpot.
The team that referred to themselves as auctioneers, sat comfortably on their ship, The Forbidden.
“How ’bout that Cap’n! Told ya we’d pull that one off!” Jendell said to Rawles.
“We did it! We actually did it! I’m still in shock,” Xelin Bindar stated.
Sitting there in the middle of The Forbidden’s crew was an ebony chest. Covered in dust and silver plated material, the chest was quite a sight.
It took all four crewmen to lug their finding up the ship’s ramp plus two separate breaks since Bindar demanded to check it over for any booby traps.
“Boys, it’s time to kick up our feet, this grab will have us owning the entire 500 Republica!” Ella Tervault yelled as the entire crew laughed in agreement.
As everyone began to settle down and quiet returned, with it came uncertainty.
As each one of The Forbidden’s crew stared down at the chest, a mood of nervousness took over.
All of them knew what they had done and all of them were just as shocked as the other.
What they had in their possession was an ancient Sith artifact.
More specifically, the ebony ax of the long deceased Sith Lord, King Adas.
It was Thorm Jendell’s idea in the fist place.
It had been seven years since he first heard the rumors about the ax and it took what seemed like an eternity to convince his Captain that they could pull it off.
Not only was it risky just to fly in to Sith space, but it was practically a zone of the Galaxy devoid of life.
Sith space was supposedly filled with evil, something the pirate were wary of.
The hard part was over and they had escaped unscathed.
Or so they thought.
***
Aboard his stealth capable ship the Scimitar, Darth Maul inputed the coordinates given to him by his master into the navigation computer.
The files on Ashas Ree his master provided him were impressive but what had Darth Maul completely mesmerized was the profile on King Adas.
Adas was a Sith Lord that was from Korriban and ruled on Ashas Ree.
One of the most powerful force users of all time, Adas’ weapon was an ancient battle-ax.
The weapon was two meters long and was close 100 kilograms.
Besides its lethality, the artifact was practically worth enough to purchase half the Galaxy.
Before Maul left for Ashas Ree, Darth Sidious told Maul something that he would never forget.
“Sith space is sacred, it is the birthplace of the Dark Side. These pathetic fools infiltrated our home and have something of ours. Go now my young apprentice, do our ancestors well and most importantly, show no mercy.”
The words “Show..no..mercy” echoed through Maul’s head.
The Scimitar received a custom hull that was made from the thickest metal designed to withstand ion blasts from oncoming starfighters let alone massive sandstorms.
Sith space was notorious for devastating storms and without the hull’s customization, Maul’s trip would be short.
As Darth Maul finished with the files given to him by his Master, he ventured off to his meditation chamber.
He was intellectually prepared for his mission, now it was time for him to get there mentally.
***
Bindar and Jendell were in the lounge playing dejarik, Tervault and Rawles were in the cockpit.
Worry within the crew was beginning to grow as the storm continued to rage.
“What’s with this planet?” Tervault said. “This damn storm has been raging for two days now.”
“It’s the evil, this whole planet is ripe with it,” Captain Rawles returned. “At this rate, it’s never going to stop.”
Captain Anderaan Rawles was a man of principle a man of honor.
Ironically, this same man skipped out on the Corellian Navy after he knew he could quadruple his money by hunting for items across the Galaxy.
It didn’t take long for Rawles to find his first mate. Ella Torvault was trying to escape her own demons.
She was a perfect the role since she’d been all over the Galaxy too.
As for Xelin Bindar and Thorm Jendell, they were a totally different story.
Bindar was part of another smuggling ring when they encountered Republic agents.
Fortunately for Bindar, Rawles took an uncharacteristic chance on him and scooped him up just before he was canned.
As for Jendell, a classic tough guy drunk. Only this drunk knew a thing or two around a map.
That was the crew of The Forbidden and Captain Rawles was proud of each of them.
Outside the ship, the storm relentlessly continued.
Rawles was beginning to wonder if they would have to fly through the mess.
A beeping sound began going off in the control panel in front of Tervault.
“Uh Captain, I think we have company,” Tervault said with reluctance. “Am I seeing this correctly?”
With tension in the air, Rawles made his way over to Tervault and began tapping the glass covering the instrumentation.
“Are you sure this is calibrated correctly Ella,” he said with concern.
The two couldn’t believe their eyes as the navigational indicator was displaying a ship approaching Ashas Ree’s atmosphere.
***
Fighting with the controls and losing, Darth maul was entering a storm more powerful than his wildest imagination.
Brownish-red sand swirled around, rocks bombarded the ship and Maul’s view was quickly becoming nonexistent.
Initially he sought to enter the planet’s system through autopilot but things changed quickly.
The Scimitar’s devices did not pick up the storm and thus blindsided them upon arrival.
He could feel the ship vigorously shaking and was indeed in danger, the winds were starting to tear at the reinforced hull.
Finally, Darth Maul fell deep into the force and honed in on winds directly surrounding the Scimitar.
At last, Maul had enough.
He reached out and used the force to barricade the outside of the Scimitar.
Fighting him, the winds did all it could but the power of the Dark Side prevailed.
Maul was through the storm and the Scimitar was on the ground.
There was hell to pay and Maul was the enforcer.
No one steals from the Sith.
***
The storm was finally settling down and just in the nick of time as far as Rawles was concerned.
“Let’s get out of here, now.” he said.
By this time, Rawles alerted the rest of the crew.
Panic was in the air.
***
Maul was a gifted assassin who had the power of the Dark Side to guide him.
What’s more, he was furious and ready to kill.
It’s only a matter of time, Maul kept thinking to himself.
Although the storm calmed down, Ashas Ree’s environment was treacherous.
Without the force, Darth Maul would be ripped apart.
Unlike the Jedi who allow the force to flow through them, the Sith felt for the force and once they had it, they seized it.
Using it for their own ambition, it only boosted Maul’s already potent tracking skill.
Maul suddenly snapped his head to his left. He sensed something familiar…fear.
He found them. He could feel them.
Maul took off on a dead sprint.
He knew he had to get to them before they took off.
***
“Why are these damn engines not turning?” Torvault frantically yelled.
“Come on come on!”
As Rawles was pacing around the cockpit thinking of what to do next, Jendell and Bindar ran in.
“Cap’n I think that sand is jammin’ up her engines! She won’t fly like this!” Jendell bursted out.
“We have no choice but to clear the engines,” said Torvault.
“We can do it, let me and Jendell go. We can get it done.” said Bindar.
Captain Rawles felt his crew’s eyes on him. He knew he had to make a decision.
He sifted through his options.
If he let two of his crew check out the engines and their pursuer approached them, their numbers would be cut in half.
But if he didn’t do anything for the engines, they would be sitting ducks.
Thinking everything through again and again, he came to a solution.
“No, everyone’s staying right here. The engines might be incapacitated for now, but The Forbidden’s weapons are still hot.” Rawles said with a bit of swagger in his voice.
With everyone on the same page, the ship’s crew took to their stations.
It was time to go to war.
***
Maul was trekking through the heavy sand as the wind continued to slash his tattooed face.
With every additional minute Maul was out in the elements, it added to his rage which only added to the smugglers inevitable punishment.
And then, he saw it. The ship was blasted with sand and looked to have sustained multiple dents through the storm.
The Sith’s intuition told him that danger was imminent.
He reached out with his senses to feel the ship’s crew.
Within the structure, he could see through the force four of them. They were all on edge with their heartbeats elevated.
The stench of fear was rampant.
Darth Maul, Dark Lord of the Sith and all his power wanted to make these smugglers squirm and feel his wrath.
He knew as long as the ship’s power was supplying the weapons systems, the operation was treacherous.
***
Each member of the crew was at their own respective stations, waiting for the slightest outside movement to let their guns rip.
Captain Rawles was manning the infrared auto-lock lasers, Ella Torvault had her hands on the electric repeater shank gun and Xelin Bindar and Thorm Jendell were controlling the rocket tanks.
All heavily armored stations for a ship of it’s size, The Forbidden was ready for anything.
***
Darth Maul was no more than 10 meters away from the front of the ship when a line of pure electric lashed out at him.
As if he knew if was going to happen before the trigger was even pulled, he dove safely out of the way.
Quickly picking himself up and retrieving his lightsaber, he realized why the ship was still grounded.
The engines were completely caked with sand from the unforgiving winds.
Maul smiled to himself and understood that his enemies were dead, they just didn’t know it yet.
***
“What is this guy? I shot him! I swear I did! He was right there!” Torvault couldn’t believe it, she was astonished at the speed of the creature dressed in black.
She could see he was just a man but he did very little to convince her that he was just that.
“Don’t worry about it Ella, stay positive. Fry him next time around.” Captain Rawles said, trying to encourage his co-pilot.
As Rawles finished speaking, his sensors blared on his panel. Apparently the defense shield was lowing power so rapidly that it would be out of commission within minutes.
Puzzled and confused, Rawles was at a loss for words on how their pursuer could possibly get under the ship’s hull without any of them being alerted.
The defense shield was an electrical net that covered the entire ship, it would fry anyone or anything that even so touched the outside metal.
But that was old news now, with it gone, Rawles knew the underbelly or more importantly, the electrical systems were exposed.
“I see ’em! I’ma burn this guy!” Jendell yelled as he and Bindar bombarded the black figure with rockets.
Through Rawles dash cam he saw it happen. The figure withdrew a red blade of sizzling energy and effortlessly deflected every single rocket thrown at him.
The last one careened off his blade straight towards Jendell and Bindar.
The last thing Rawles heard from his two shipmates was their screams.
The blast rocked the ship so hard that Ella Torvault was thrown to the deck.
Dazed by the fall, she fumbled with the controls when she returned to the module.
Her lack of precision would ultimately cost her as the energy blade flashed through the air spinning like a pinwheel.
The electric repeater shank gun was completely disabled as half of the machinery sat on the ground below the ship.
To Torvault’s dismay, the creature then sprinted straight forward her station and jumped up to the window.
His face was a piercing mix of red and black with jagged horns ascending out of it’s head.
The eyes are what Torvault would last see.
Deep pits of fire and hate burned intensely. She stared in shock as the assailant flashed his stained and dirtied teeth.
Then Torvault felt her throat start to close and her air supply run out.
Gasping for air as she clawed at her throat, her world began to fade to black. Ella Torvault was dead.
***
Darth Maul sneered at the lifeless body as his fell to the deck. He was ready to end this fight.
He ran towards to the gaping hole in the ship where the rocket gashed it open earlier.
With ease, he hurdled the broken metal and flew threw the hole. Darth Maul felt the Sith artifact within.
But before he could secure it, he had one last piece of business to attend to.
Locating the last remaining survivor on the ship, Darth Maul made his way toward the presence.
If there was ever one flaw to Darth Maul’s character, it was his overconfidence.
The chink in the armor was exposed as the last surviving crew member detonated half of the ship, sending Darth Maul into a blazing inferno.
The temperatures surrounding him were so hot that his black cloak disintegrated almost immediately.
Only through the dark powers of the Dark Side did Maul survive.
Now, he had it. Enough was enough he told himself, time to end this once and for all.
Darth Maul shot through the liquid metal that covered the melted walls and bulkhead as he quickly came upon the location of the last remaining survivor.
***
Impossible he thought, impossible.
Captain Rawles thought he was safe and secure after making a tough decision to use half of his ship as a giant weapon in order to kill the mysterious creature.
But now he stared into the face of death itself.
At a loss for words, the last thing the good captain of The Forbidden saw was blinding red light edge straight toward his eyes.
***
Maul’s lightsaber impaled the shipmates head, right through the left eye.
Disgusted with this sloppiness, Darth Maul knew he’d have to improve if he were to ever face off against a Jedi Knight.
As he walked through what was left of the ship, Maul located the case.
He stood there and stared at the case as he felt the dark power emanating through it.
“Time to go” Maul said to himself. Another mission complete.
Lightsaber Duels
sithpacify 