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.”
“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 fell 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 boll, 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 mot 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 the 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.
CHAPTER TWELVE
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 cove. 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,”
Maul willed his body to remain standing.
‘“I am sending you to a planet in the Outer Rim” Sidious continued. “It is made up of three kinds of terrain. Desert, swamp, and mountains. You will have at least three matches on each terrain. I have sent a fleet of assassin druids to attack you. Each is programmed with different strategies. Some will work together. Some will work alone. They are all programmed to kill.”
Maul turned to face his Master. Although Maul remained silent, the fire in his eyes betrayed his surprise. And his excitement.
Sidious noticed Maul’s reaction. “That is correct. I am prepared to lose what I most value. So must you be to become a Sith. You must be prepared to lose your own life in order to win.”
Maul nodded. “I understand, my Master.”
“You will have to survive for a month.” Sidious added. “You will have only a survival pack.”
Despite his exhaustion. Maul felt exhilarated. He was determined to prove he was the best apprentice in the history of the Sith.
Sidious did not accompany Maul in the droid-piloted cruiser that left Mustafar, nor did he inform Maul of the cruiser’s destination. But while the cruiser was traveling through hyperspace, Maul tapped at a keypad at the navigation console until he accessed and bypassed the coded coordinates that identified his destination as Hypori, a planet in the Ferra sector of the Outer Rim Territories. He had never been to Hypori before, but he had not expected his Master to send him to a familiar world.
Without looking away from the scope. Maul replied. “When Master Sidious learns that you used dated encryption codes for the destination coordinates, hell feed you through a shredder for a full week.”
“Oh,” said the droid pilot. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to erase my memory of the past minute.”
Good idea, Maul thought as the droid returned to the cockpit. But then it occurred to him that the droid pilot might actually be an assassin droid. He could only imagine how many assassin droids were already waiting for him on Hypori, and it was possible that the pilot droid would deliver him straight into a massive ambush.
The cruiser dropped out of hyperspace to arrive within view of Hypori. It was a small world, and scattered clouds were visible in upper atmosphere. Even from space, Maul could make out some wide areas of desert, small oceans, and shadowy mountain ranges, which were consistent with Sidious’s description of the varied terrain.
The cruiser descended through the planet’s atmosphere. Maul grabbed the survival pack that Sidious had given to him and strapped it to his back. He leaned into the cockpit, looked through the window, and saw they were angling down over a body of water, heading toward a rocky beach.
The droid swiveled its mechanical eyes to face Maul and said, “Please don’t ask me where we’re going to land. I’m not authorized to tell you.”
Ignoring the droid, Maul examined the ship’s readouts for flight speed and altitude, then cast a final glance through the window, noting the distance to the beach, before he pulled out of the cockpit. As he mentally calculated the cruiser’s approach to the beach, he dropped to a crouch beside the main hatch, wrapped one arm tightly around his legs so his knees were clasped against his chest, and used his free hand to hit the lever for the emergency exit.
The hatch exploded open. Maul kept his head pressed against his knees as he sailed out of the cruiser, fifty-five meters above sea level. He tumbled through the air, the cruiser’s engines whining away from him as it veered across the sky. Automatically recalculating his descent, he twisted at the waist before he straightened and extended his legs skyward. His fists braced before him, he knifed into the water.
The water was cold. Holding his breath. Maul made sure the survival pack was still secure against his back, then began swimming to shore, staying below the water s surface. He suspected the droid pilot would tell Sidious about his leap from the cruiser, but that did not concern him. His test required that he survive for a month on Hypori. Sidious had never told him to remain on the cruiser until it landed.
When Maul neared the shore, he broke the surface with his mouth and nose but kept his body underwater. He reached out with his senses. He could not detect any movement on the rocky beach, but he knew it was only a matter of time before the assassin droids found him.
And they found him.
The assassin droids were relentless. Programmed to fight to the death, they had blasters built into their chests and hands. No matter how hard Maul tried to conceal himself or his desperately improvised camps, the droids found him. They never slept, never allowed Maul to sleep for very long, never hesitated before they pounced. When Maul did manage to rest and recover, he fell asleep knowing he would be awakened by an attack.
The droid drove him into the frozen mountains and across the burning deserts. Maul’s survival pack was torn from his back and lost in one battle. And after twenty days, Maul realized he was at risk of losing something else. His mind.
Because the attacks never stopped.
Maul was beyond paranoid. He had reason to believe that every sound, every shape, and every shadow on Hypori was a potential threat.
He grew thin and his strength began to ebb. He foraged for food when he could. Life was scarce on Hypori, but he found a few small animals, killed them, and ate them raw, because he dared not risk building a fire that would attract more droids.
It was while he was trying to eat a tough-skinned lizard at the base of a cliff that two droids attacked. Maul defeated both droids but sustained a blaster wound to his thigh. Limping into a ravine, he found a large cave and hauled his body into it. Maul knew he had to recover before he could fight again. But without his survival pack, he had no healing bacta or bandages.
The wound festered. The pain was blinding. He listened for approaching droids but heard none. The days blurred, but Maul was almost certain that a full month had passed since he had arrived on Hypori. As he fell into and out of restless sleep. Maul began to wonder if his Master had forgotten him.
His wound became worse. The pain was beyond excruciating. He had no doubt that death would come soon. He thought he was hallucinating when he saw a cloaked figure appear at the mount of the cave.
It was Sidious.
Maul could not believe his eyes. He fell not only relieved to see his Master, but genuinely glad. His Master would help him.
Sidious moved into the cave. He came to a stop near Maul. Smiling as he looked down at his apprentice, he said. “Now it is time for your final battle.”
Maul wondered if he had heard correctly. He knew his Master must have been able to see plainly that he was not fit to stand. And yet he also knew his Master never tolerated weakness of any kind. Maul scrabbled at the cave’s walls and pulled himself up. His balance was off. Searing pain shot through his leg as he lurched forward.
Sidious handed Maul a lightsaber. Maul fumbled with the weapon and activated it. The cave’s walls shimmered with light.
Maul did not realize how parched his throat was until he rasped, “Where is the assassin droid, Master?”
Stepping back from Maul, Sidious drew his own lightsaber and ignited its red blade. “I will be your opponent.”
Maul stared at his Master with disbelief. And then his disbelief changed to anger. He summoned up the dark side of the Force. He felt a burning sensation flicker and grow within him, a trickle of strength. He took a step toward his Master.
Sidious sneered. “You cannot be as pathetic as you look.” He raised his lightsaber and attacked
Maul parried the blow and reversed, coming at Sidious from the opposite side. Bui Sidious had already vanished, leaving Maul to hinge at empty air. As Maul lost his balance, his body fell against the cave’s wall.
Sidious said from behind Maul. “You are that pathetic. You are weak. Not worthy of being a Sith Lord. I have misjudged you.”
Maul’s anger turned to rage. He spun fast and swung his lightsaber again, but again he failed to strike Sidious, who moved faster than he could follow. He fell against the opposite wall and gasped for breath.
Sidious howled with laughter. “I expected your failure. I saw your weaknesses long ago. Your doubts in your own abilities. Your lack of faith in my teaching. Your inability to embrace the dark side. And that is why, over these long years, I have secretly trained another apprentice.”
Maul stared hard at Sidious.
“Oh, poor Maul. All he ever wanted was a friend. Does it please you to know I have another apprentice? Does it make you feel less alone?”
Still trying to catch his breath. Maul said. “More than one apprentice... is against the rules of the Sith.”
“You are right,” Sidious said with a grin. “A spark of intelligence, at last.” He gestured to the mouth of the cave. “My second apprentice is on the other side of the planet. He conquered all the assassin droids sent after him. He only sustained a flush wound. He is healthy. He is strong. Unlike the pathetic weakling I see before me.”
Maul realized his opponents had not really been the assassin droids. He thought of all the punishment he had endured over the past month, and then of the unending punishments of his entire life. He thought of his true opponent, the unseen adversary, chosen by Sidious to become a Sith Lord. Maul felt robbed of his past and futu
re. And then a rage unlike anything he had ever felt before swelled through him. The rage was so overwhelming that he thought it might consume him.
No. I can direct it. My rage will consume my enemy. It will consume my Master. Glaring at Sidious, Maul saw the true face of his enemy.
Sidious snickered. “Can you understand? Focus. If there can be only one apprentice, then one of you must die. Who do you think I have chosen to die, Maul?”
Maul felt his rage flowing through his veins, pumping energy into every muscle. He felt so powerful that he believed he could accomplish anything. And more than anything else, he wanted his Master’s blood.
Maul sprang at Sidious. Sidious barely missed the first blow from Maul’s lightsaber, an upward swing that aimed to rip Sidious in half. Maul swung again but Sidious deflected the blow and retreated. As Maul moved across the rough cave floor, sweat stung his eyes, but he did not stumble. He somersaulted through the air, his lightsaber whirling in the darkness. Sidious raised his lightsaber to parry the next blow, which was so powerful ii made him dagger backward. As Maul struck again, he thought, I’m going to kill him.
Sidious parried every blow, but Maul could tell his Master was working hard to keep him at bay. As Sidious backed up against the wall, he said, “You want to kill me? You want to kill your Master?”
Yes,” Maul grunted.
“You hate me?”
“Yes!” Maul screamed through clenched teeth.
Sidious shifted like a liquid shadow, maneuvering around his apprentice. Maul was suddenly up against the wall, gasping for breath as his vision blurred. His strength was evaporating. He turned fast to see Sidious. Sidious lashed out with his lightsaber. Maul parried the blow, but then his lightsaber suddenly flew from his hand.
As Maul heard his lightsaber deactivate and clatter across the cave’s floor, Sidious raised his own lightsaber and advanced. Maul knew he was about to die, but he did not cringe. As Sidious swung his lightsaber. Maul leaped forward, grabbed Sidious’s wrist, and sank his teeth into his hand. Maul tasted blood and spat it back at Sidious.
Star Wars - The Wrath of Darth Maul Page 10
