CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“According to our patrols” Rune Haako said, “Queen Amidala contacted the Gungans, the primitives in the swamp.”
Maul had not anticipated that the Queen would join forces with the Gungans, Naboo’s amphibious natives. He turned to face Nute Gunray. “You said the primitives had all been rounded up.”
“They went into hiding!” Nute exclaimed. “They know the terrain better than we do... .” Seeing Maul’s angered glare, Nute went silent.
Rune said, “The Gungans are not a concern. They are no match for our forces. The Trade Federation droid army and weapons are invincible.”
Maul could only guess what Queen Amidala thought she might accomplish. All her starfighters had been confiscated. Her volunteer pilots and officers were being held in camps. Desperate for help, she had turned to her planet’s lesser lifeforms, amphibious humanoids. Still, she had the Jedi on her side. Unable to determine what the Queen was planning, Maul said, “I must contact my Master.”
“We should return to the throne room,” Rune Haako said, gesturing to a four-legged Neimoidian techno-holoprojector he had brought for Nute Gunray’s convenience.
“We’ll walk,” Maul said as he went to the holoprojector and activated it. Less than a minute later, Sidious’s hologram appeared, his gaze directed at Maul, Nute, and Rune, who followed the ambulatory device as it crawled through a palace corridor on its sharply tapered metal feet.
“The Queen has an army, my Master,” Maul said. “She has allied with Naboo’s Gungan population. They must be planning to strike against the Trade Federation’s superior forces.” Maul grimaced. “I feel there is more to this, my Master. The two Jedi may be using the Queen for their own purposes.”
“The Jedi cannot become involved,” Sidious said with authority, his hologram bobbing gently back and forth along with the movement of the walking holoprojector. “They can only protect the Queen. Even Qui-Gon Jinn will not break that covenant”
Maul had not considered the fact that the Jedi, by tradition and the rules of their Order, did not fight in wars. His Master never overlooked any details.
“Our young Queen surprises me,” Sidious continued, “She is more foolish than I thought.”
Nute said, “We are sending all troops to meet this army assembling near the swamp. It appears to be made up of primitives.”
“This will work to our advantage,” Sidious responded. Maul noticed that his Master actually sounded pleased.
The holoprojector came to a stop in the corridor. Maul, Nute, and Rune stopped beside it, their eyes fixed on Sidious’s hologram. Rune said eagerly, “I have your approval to proceed, then, my lord?”
“Wipe them out” Sidious replied without hesitation. “All of them.” Sidious’s hologram flickered and vanished.
Maul, Nute, and Rune proceeded to the throne room. A large viewscreen was built into one wall, and displayed a view of the palace’s outdoor plaza. Looking up at the viewscreen, the Neimoidians were startled to see the Jedi Knight and his apprentice cutting down battle droids who had been guarding the palace. The Jedi were accompanied by Naboo soldiers and pilots. Some soldiers were on foot, and others arrived in armored landspeeders and carried blaster cannons.
Rune whispered, “How did they get into the city?”
“I don’t know.” Nute said, shaking his head as he watched the Naboo soldiers fire Federation tanks. “I thought the battle was going to take place far from here.”
Eyes wide with fear, he added, “This is too close.”
“I told you there was more to this,” Maul said. “The Jedi are involved. They have come to Theed for a reason, Viceroy. They have a plan of their own for defeating us.”
Looking even more alarmed, Nute said, “A plan?”
“One that will fail, I assure you.” Maul glared at the images on the viewscreen. “I have waited a long time for this. I have trained for it endlessly. The Jedi will regret their decision to return here.” His hand flexed near his lightsaber. “Wait here until I return.” He walked past the Neimoidians, heading for a tall doorway.
“Where are you going?” Nute demanded frantically.
“Where do you think I’m going, Viceroy?” Maul answered without taking a stride. “I’m going to main hangar to rid you of the Jedi once and for all.”
The Queen’s pilots managed to liberate more than a dozen Naboo starfighters from the Theed hangar before Maul’s arrival. Maul saw die sleek, gleaming starfighters climb into the sky and suspected they were heading for the Trade Federation’s Droid Control Ship. Because the control ship carried more than one thousand droid starfighters, Maul doubled the Queen’s pilots would survive more than a few minutes. Fools.
He entered the air base and made his way to the hangar’s entrance, which was sealed by blast-proof durasteel double doors. Lowering his gaze to the floor, he reached on with his senses. Ho detected movement on the other side of the doors. He knew the Jedi were approaching, walking straight toward his position.
The double doors slid open. Maul lifted his gaze. He faced Queen Amidala, who was with a group of armed Naboo guards and two handmaidens. Seeing Maul, the group had come to a dead stop. Maul spotted the two Jedi behind the guards and locked his eyes en Qui-Gon Jinn.
“We’ll handle this,” Qui-Gon Jinn said as he and Obi-Win Kenobi moved forward, side by side, edging past the guards.
“We’ll take the long way,” Queen Amidala said as she rushed with her remaining allies toward a side passage.
Keeping his eyes on the Jedi. Maul lifted his hood back, revealing his horned head. He shrugged off his cloak and let it fall to the floor. The two Jedi did the same with their robes.
The Queen, her guards, and the handmaidens were still running for a nearby exit when three Trade Federation destroyer droids wheeled fast from around a corner and into the hangar. The droids stopped quickly, then rapidly unfurled their tripod legs and built-in blaster cannons, activated their deflector shields, and opened fire in the Queen’s direction.
While the Queen and her retinue took cover and fired their blasters at the droids. Maul drew his lightsaber and activated one red blade. Gripping the lightsaber in his left hand, he extended his arm forward and activated the second blade. The Jedi activated their lightsabers, and Maul noticed Qui-Gon Jinn’s blade flashed a fraction of second after Obi-Wan’s.
The old Jedi’s getting slow.
Maul made a jabbing motion at Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan leaped at Maul. Their lightsabers clashed as Obi-Wan flipped over Maul’s head and landed behind him. Keeping his eyes on Qui-Gon, Maul angled his lightsaber to block Obi-Wan’s blade from behind, then ducted fast to evade Qui-Gon’s sweeping blade.
Maul advanced toward Qui-Gon and spun, deflecting blows from both Jedi as the fight shifted across the hangar deck. Rapidly spinning his lightsaber, be anticipated their moves with ease. Having expected a greater challenge from Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, he felt even more disgusted by them. But if the Jedi held no surprises in combat, Maul knew he had his Master to thank for that. If not for his Master, he never would have been a match for two Jedi at the same time.
Over the crashing noise of lightsabers, the destroyer droids’ cannons, and the Naboo guards’ blasters, Maul beard a starfighter’s laser cannon firing across the hangar. He did not need the Force to be peripherally aware that the shots came from one remaining Naboo starfighter, which had just lilted off the deck and was now angling for the destroyer droids. He kept up his assault on the Jedi while the starfighter fired again and again, knocking out the destroyer droids’ shields before shattering them completely. A moment later, the Queen and her group fled through a doorway, and then the Naboo starfighter soared out of the hangar.
Maul was not worried about the Queen. He would deal with her later. But for the moment he was busy.
He kicked Qui-Gon in the chest so hard that he knocked the Jedi off his feel. He flipped away from Obi-Wan, flinging his body through the air to land before a doorway that led to Theed C
ity’s power generator. With one hand gripping his lightsaber, he reached out with the Force and seized a large piece of debris from one of the ruined destroyer droids, then launched it at the door’s opening mechanism. The mechanism exploded in sparks and the door began to slide open.
Qui-Gon was already up and he rushed toward Maul, but Obi-Wan reached him first. Maul spun his lightsaber, deflecting his opponents’ strikes as he backed through the open doorway. He launched a high kick that connected with Obi-Wan’s jaw. As Obi-Wan fell back and rolled across the floor, Maul backed up, luring Qui-Gon toward the power generator. Obi-Wan got up fast and sprinted to rejoin the fight.
That’s it. Come to me.
Qui-Gon swung. Maul parried and swung back fast, clipping Qui-Gon’s blade and then Obi-Wan’s. The double-bladed lightsaber was a blur. Maul backed onto an inspection platform that was suspended high over the generator’s deep shaft, and kicked off, backflipping to one of the many catwalks that spanned different levels in the shaft. Both Jedi leaped after him, and the fight proceeded along the catwalk.
Maul leered at the Jedi as he edged around a towering acceleration shaft that glowed brightly with plasma used to energize Theed City. With his lightsaber in constant motion, he kicked Obi-Wan straight off the catwalk. Before he could determine whether Obi-Wan had plummeted to his death, Qui-Gon struck and surprised Maul with a backhanded blow to the head that sent Maul over the catwalk’s edge.
Maul did not cry out. He knew the shaft’s central catwalk lay below him. He kept his lightsaber activated and held its pommel close to his chest as he landed hard on his back on the catwalk. The impact would have broken an ordinary man’s back, but Maul was not by any means ordinary. He did feel pain, but as ever, the pain only fueled his rage.
He was still lying on his back as he saw Qui-Gon leaping from above. The Jedi landed close to him, and Maul had to move fast to block the Jedi’s blade. Then Maul was up again, moving backward along the central catwalk. In the distance, beyond Qui-Gon’s back, Maul sighted Obi-Wan clinging to the edge of a lower catwalk. Maul realized he didn’t want Obi-Wan to fall, because that would deprive him of the pleasure of killing the young Jedi.
Maul leered again at Qui-Gon. You think you’re driving me back. You have no idea that I’m in control. You don’t know where I’m taking you.
The central catwalk terminated at the entrance of a security hallway that led to the generator’s core. The hallway was protected by six consecutive laser doors that opened and locked shut in response to potentially lethal power outputs that occurred intermittently during the generator’s plasma-activation process. As Maul lured Qui-Gon toward the hallway, he saw Obi-Wan leap up onto the central catwalk.
You’ll both be dead soon.
Maul sensed the laser doors opening behind him. Qui-Gon was unrelenting in his ongoing attack but Maul parried every blow. Qui-Gon swung at Maul’s legs, but the blade swept under his feet as Maul jumped backward. Maul continued moving back leading Qui-Gon into the hallway. They passed the first four security barriers before the doors activated and shut.
Transparent red curtains of pure energy, the door would kill any life-form on contact. Maul was suddenly sealed in the passage between the fifth and sixth doors, and Qui-Gon between the fourth and fifth. Gating past Qui-Gon, Maul saw Obi-Wan trapped between the first and second doors.
Facing Maul, Qui-Gon deactivated his lightsaber and dropped to one knee. Maul jabbed at the laser door that separated him from the Jedi and succeeded only in producing a noisy flash. Maul deactivated his own weapon and watched the Jedi warily. He watched Qui-Gon take a deep breath and close his eyes.
He's... meditating?!
Keeping his eyes on the kneeling Jedi. Maul paced back and forth within his confined area of the hallway. He was baffled by the Jedi’s mentality, the urge to meditate at such a moment, the desire to remain calm. The effort was so pointless. Glancing through the doors behind Qui-Gon, Maul saw that the worried-looking Obi-Wan had deactivated his own lightsaber. With his arms extended at his sides, Obi-Wan looked like a hopeless clod. Maul grinned.
They don’t know the power of the dark side. Bat they will... when I slay them.
Minutes passed. And then the laser doors opened.
Maul and Qui-Gon activated their lightsabers at the same time. Qui-Gon sprang forward, Maul moved backward, and the fight resumed. Behind Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan raced up through the security hallway, but he had to stop fast when the sixth laser door activated, cutting him off from Qui-Gon.
Warding off Qui-Gon’s attack with each backward step, Maul maneuvered around the circular mouth of the generator’s core, a virtually fathomless pit. Maul sensed Qui-Gon was fighting without hatred, just as he sensed Obi-Wan’s helplessness from behind the transparent laser door. He spun his lightsaber to deflect a rapid series of strikes from Qui-Gon’s blade, then brought his own lightsaber up fast and slammed the side of its pommel against Qui-Gon’s face, stunning the Jedi. And then, with a flick of his wrist, he drove one of his red blades straight through Qui-Gon’s chest.
“No!”
The echoing shout came from Obi-Wan, who was still trapped behind the sixth laser door. Maul yanked the lightsaber free from Qui-Gon’s torso and the Jedi collapsed before the core.
Turning his back to Qui-Gon, Maul fixed his gaze on Obi-Wan. He deactivated his lightsaber and began pacing before the laser door, watching Obi-Wan as he waited for the door to open. He bared his teeth hungrily.
You’re next.
When the door opened, Obi-Wan’s lightsaber was blaring and so was Maul’s. The young Jedi practically flew toward Maul. Their lightsabers smashed into each other. Maul spun and turned, flipping his lightsaber and forcing Obi-Wan to move that much faster with his inferior single-bladed weapon. Maul noticed that Obi-Wan was fighting more offensively than Qui-Gon, but it didn’t matter. The boy would suffer the same fate as-
Obi-Wan’s lightsaber came up fast and swept through the pommel of Maul’s weapon. One half of Maul’s lightsaber shattered, leaving his left hand clutching what amounted to a still-functional single blade. Before he could react, Obi-Wan kicked him in the chest and he was sent sprawling onto his back near the edge of the core.
Obi-Wan leaped over Maul and tried to drive his lightsaber through Maul’s prone body, but Maul blocked the strike and flung himself up from the floor. Obi-Wan landed behind Maul, but Maul turned and blocked another series of strikes before he kicked Obi-Wan in the jaw.
The Jedi moved with the kick, letting it carry him into a backflip. Landing on his feel, he struck back at Maul, driving them both away from the core. Maul flipped to the side and then used the power of the Force to show Obi-Wan backward. Obi-Wan lost his grip on his lightsaber as he hit the floor. The lightsaber was still bouncing across the floor as he fell into the core.
Obi-Wan’s lightsaber came to a stop. Maul grinned as he walked toward the weapon and then kicked it into the core. He leaned over the edge of the core to watch the lightsaber fall down the apparently bottomless hole. The lightsaber fell past Obi-Wan, who had managed to grab hold of a nub that jutted our from the core’s upper wall, about two meters below the floor level.
Maul glared at Obi-Wan. He wondered how long the Jedi could cling to the nub. He knew Obi-Wan’s hands and arms would get tired eventually. Growing impatient. Maul swung his pared-down lightsaber against the metal edge of the core’s upper rim, sending sparks flying out over Obi-Wan’s head. Maul noted that his blade did not damage the metal and realized it was impervious to energy weapons. He wondered if the metal could be crafted into body armor.
And then he noticed Obi-Wan was not looking up at him. The Jedi was staring at something along the cores upper wall. Or was he looking at something beyond the wall? Baffled by what the Jedi might be attempting. Maul scrunched his face angrily.
Obi-Wan flew up out of the core. Maul had forgotten about Qui-Gon Jinn’s lightsaber, which flew up from the floor near the fallen Jedi’s body and landed in the waiting hand of t
he still-airborne Obi-Wan.
Maul rapidly transferred his lightsaber from his right hand to his left. Obi-Wan activated Qui-Gon’s lightsaber as he soared overhead and landed behind Maul. Maul spun fast, but not fast enough to stop Obi-Wan from swinging Qui-Gon’s blade through his midsection.
Maul grunted involuntarily as every nerve in his body went into shock. His vision blurred and he blinked his eyes, trying to regain his focus. He wanted to fight back. He wanted to slay Obi-Wan, but his body would not obey him. Obi-Wan slid out of his range of vision, and then Maul saw the chamber’s ceiling. He realized he was falling backwards into the core.
No.
And as he fell, the upper half of his body separated from the lower.
No.
As his remains tumbled down the generator shaft, he kept his eyes open and fought to remain conscious. But then his head struck the shaft’s wall, and everything went dark.
No!
His mind screamed. Despite everything he had learned about death and duty from his Master, Maul knew he was not yet ready to die. Not after so many years of training, and with so much more to accomplish. Not so long as he still had so much hatred within him.
Obi-Wan ruined me!
He willed himself to see. A moment later, his vision returned. The shaft’s walls were a disorienting blur. Across the shaft he sighted his own black-clad legs, scissoring lifelessly at the air as they fell. He struggled to right his torso so he could see downward.
Can’t die!
He fell past an oval shadow, and then a similar shadow raced by, along with a whooshing sound.
Maul hoped that there was at least one more vent below, that it would be large enough to accommodate his diminished body. He extended his arms, and his left hand’s fingertips suddenly burned with friction as they brushed against the cylindrical wall.
Must live!
Hoping, wishing, praying for one more air vent...
Must kill Obi-Wan!
...he reached out with the Force.
Star Wars - The Wrath of Darth Maul Page 14
