44 Cloak & Dagger (2/2)
Valad looked two years older than the Princess, he was around sixteen years old. Vaylin looked around the same age as the Princess as well.
As they marched to the doors, Panaka jumped slightly and most of the officers stopped seeing Darth Maul being revealed as the doors opened. His bright evil eyes clear with his red skin and black tribal tattoos. He was more intimidating to look at than in the movies, but Valad and both Vaylin stealed themselves.
”We'll take care of this,” Jin said as he noticed the Darth Maul waiting for them with his lightsaber staff at the ready. Both of the Jedi shrugged their cloaks to the ground and drew their weapons.
The Queen and her officers split like the red sea and went in two different directions, changing their plans. They had to get to Nute Gunray who was present in the Palace and end this feud.
Valad drew his lightsaber from his 'sleeve' and ignited its permafrost blade. A grin forming over his lips. He twirled the blade between his fingers casually.
Vaylin activated her own saber pike which was real, its focusing crystal and blade a fiery golden color. She held it with both hands as she expanded the hilt and held it out in front of her as if ready to poke a hive of angry bees.
”Mind if we join you?!” Vaylin asked loudly, ready to show off her moves in front of her 'savior' who had freed her from the 'prison' that her father held her in.
Jin gave them a glance, a noble nod before looking forward towards their enemy.
Darth Maul had only been expected a pair of lightsabers, not two pairs. He was outnumbered, but he believed the children were hardly a match for him. He'd take them out before they could do anything.
Opening the command line however within the companion tab with Vaylin's application. He sent a single command: 'Hold him in place with the use of the force.' As soon as he entered this command and it was acknowledged. He watched as she almost instinctively reached out her hand, the force rippling out and grasping at Darth Maul.
Feeling the force being used, he tried to move back, but was suddenly caught in a telepathic grip.
He began to growl, darkness and an aura of fear spread from him. He was being cornered? By a child!? He used his own force training to disperse the hold, but it was just enough for the Jedi pair to move in.
Jin took the high strikes and Obiwan took the low. They fought together and in great synchronization.
Vaylin was left speechless, wondering what had come over her before looking over at Valad with a brow raised. She then returned her attention to the fight before them and charged. Moving in between the Jedi, her pike was able to reach in and cut his saber staff in half. Making one of the ends defunct.
Surprised by the sudden move, Darth Maul quickly retreated, his footwork changing. He needed to prove himself to his master. All that he had was his usefulness and the girls who admired him in his hold.
However that was when he noticed, the boy from earlier was gone? His red eyes shifted about as he deflected the blows from Jin and Obiwan. He used dirty moves, often employing the use of the force and propelling them back or himself away.
Vaylin seemed to step out of the way of his strikes, and keep enough distance between her and him that Maul wasn't even able to reach her with his shorter weapon.
Valad was walking away from the fight, already having left visual sight of the others. A single quest had appeared on his interface.
[ Optional Quest: Kill Darth Maul's Crew. ]
Valad didn't remember Darth Maul ever having a crew, but it was rather obvious that he had changed a large portion of what would be the canon realm of Star Wars. With the death of Palpatine, it seemed Darth Plagueis gave the Zabrak personal connections for him to use to manipulate him.
While he wasn't happy about the quest, he knew the skills that Darth Maul had, this would serve as a way to distract him as his attachments were painfully severed.
Approaching the original scimitar, he used the force to command the airlock to open and the loading ramp to descend. He began walking up the ramp and as he came inside, the door opened.
”Welcome back Ma–” To scandalously dressed women who were once cheerful at the return of their friend, paused seeing a human man standing before them with a very cold feeling blade of molten plasma. ”S–”
They were cut off as Valad literally used the force to send his blade spiraling through the air, decapitating them both instantly, killing Kilindi Matako and Daleen without remorse.
Of course if the situation didn't call for this, he wouldn't have done it. They were skilled fighters, but he needed to make sure Maul had nothing and no one. And to cause him pain in a fight for his life.
Darth Maul almost trembled, both of the Jedi and Vaylin felt the loss of life. They also noticed his reaction and pushed on. He was quick to get back on his feet, but it was like fighting the three musketeers. He kept parrying Jins and Obiwan's attacks, but kept getting little cuts from Vaylin's movements.
He grunted, he found a blade of blue plasma plunged into his sternum, grazing his heart and disintegrating part of his vertebrae almost instantly. He wore a face of surprise on his face, furrowing his brows as he dropped off the side of the elevated walkway, smashing the top of his head against another walkway on his way down. A loud crack emanating from his neck, before he slid off feet first into the dark abyss below.
It was felt and confirmed within those moments that Darth Maul had died, fighting as a warrior he was.
Valad wasn't smiling after he had done the deed of murdering the Sith Lord's compatriots. Though if he had given them time to respond, they would have likely given a good fight.
He turned on the ships self-destruct function and exited the craft, using the force to shove it out of the hangar and into the flood plains below. Though it exploded halfway down, littering the plains with flames and burning debris.
[ Quest complete. Replica of Darth Maul's Saberstaff rewarded. ]
His eyes dully looked at the completed goal, he then looked towards the open sky above the Palace. He stood at the edge of the Hangar and used the force to feel the fight going on up above.
He could feel Anakin's panic. He had been shot.
”Oh no R2, we've been hit!” Valad visualized the scene, recalled the boy's voice. He was watching everything and Anakin could feel it. He was being watched by the unknown young man from before. He was able to navigate through the hangar of the Trade Federation ship at first, but accidently smashed one of his engines into one of the open doors.
The engine popped off and he was sent spiraling on the hangar floor. Droids were beginning to approach the wreck as the boy noticed that his ship's fuel was leaking, and all of his instruments were overheated.
”I know, I know,” Anakin shouted as R2 started to scream and chirp. He started flicking switches and repetitively trying to get the starship up and running again. He had heard about pilots flying with one engine before, so he believed he could do it.
”Got it!” He cheered as he got the ship into a partial hover and began firing at the droids. His shields were weak but online. ”Take this! And this!” He fired the proton torpedoes and immediately the autopilot turned itself on. Everything turned off as he hovered a few inches towards the exit. It then flopped onto the hangar floor.
Anakin Skywalker could not be anymore devastated. He saw the explosion from the corner of his eye after the reactor collapsed on itself as he hit it with a missile. ”What... What's going on?” He started smashing his controls, but nothing he tried to do intellectually would work.
That's when R2 spoke up, Anakin's eyes going wide. ”Sabotage...? But who would want to kill me?” It was too late to think on it, there was barely enough time to cry. ”...What about my mom...?” The hangar was quickly taken over by the explosion and cascade reaction. His fighter and himself were quickly vaporized with its astromech droid almost forthright by the eruption.
Jin froze as he felt the death of Anakin Skywalker above the planet and just stood there with a dumbfounded expression, sadness in his eyes. Two deaths caused the Sith Lord to fail in survival, and then suddenly Anakin Skywalker was lost. The boy he thought he was going to train, that he would have had his own apprentice train should he perish here, was gone.
”Was he not the chosen one?” He asked aloud as he let his arms lay lax at his sides, his saber deactivated.
Vaylin was just casually walking away, in the direction of Valad in the hangar.
Obiwan stood there, watching his master. He had been unsupportive of his master and yet, he had no reason to be. The boy was lost, the Jedi wouldn't have to deal with him. His eyes however locked on Vaylin.
Jin's eyes also locked on her, ”If you try calling me kid, brat or girl, I'll stab you.” Vaylin pointed to the ceiling of the room before exiting and entering the corridor leading to the hangar. It was time to get going.
...
”I think it's time to sign a different kind of treaty, Viceroy!”