Rating: Explicit | 2k words | NSFW
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Summary: Having made a deal with Dryden Vos, Maul barely flees Janix with his life. However, despite losing the last loyal members of his Shadow Collective, he still has his first lieutenant, Rook Kast. And he finally has what he's been after, Devon Izara, as his new apprentice.
Rook Kast burst from the fog, nearly tripping over a log in her haste to put distance between her and her unseen attacker, who had killed one of her fellow Mandalorian commandos. Her armor scuffed, and her blaster was still smoking. She sprinted straight toward Maul, who stood at the edge of the clearing with the rest of the group clustered behind him.
Maul’s yellow eyes narrowed. A low, involuntary shudder rippled through his body as the Force twisted around him like a warning.
“S-Something…” Rook panted as she fired several stray shots into the thick fog before turning to Maul. “Someone is out there.”
The survivors shifted uneasily. Brander Lawson gripped his blaster tightly, sharing a look with Two-Boots, who, in turn, looked over at Rylee, who was unsettled by the haunting screams of one of Maul’s final Mandalorian commandos. Master Daki and Devon gripped the hilts of their lightsabers tightly, the azure blades humming in the darkened forest, bathing them in the light of their blades while they maintained their Jedi composure, despite the imminent threat of the Imperial forces and Inquisitors on their trail.
Vario, who had kept his cool for the majority of the confrontation with the Imperial forces, felt himself caving into the pressure. “Who?” Vario demanded, looking in Rook’s direction, all while stepping out of the protective knot of bodies before anyone could stop him. His voice cracked with panic. “Who the kark is out there, lady? Tell me!”
Maul’s head snapped toward him. “Vario, you fool, get back—”
A sudden blur of motion erupted from the fog; it was as if a phantom was upon the Aleena crime lord as he was suddenly ripped off his feet and dragged into the thick fog in the blink of an eye. Vario released a blood-curdling scream as he was yanked off the ground. The comm device and blaster pistol in his hands splattered in the mud below as he was dragged into oblivion. The group tensed as Vario’s screams rose before the grotesque sound of organs being ripped apart, and the blood-curdling cries that followed were soon silenced when the sickening crunch of a neck snapped echoed throughout the now silent forest.
Gripping one of her WESTAR-35 blaster pistols tightly in her hand, Rook activated the thermal scanners on the internal Heads-Up Display within her helmet. She could suddenly see a tall, burly figure being registered on her thermal vision, before reporting this to Maul, the Zabrak seemed to already sense something was amiss. Not just Maul, but the two Jedi could sense a strong presence in the Force approaching; a raw power the likes of which they had never felt before.
Devon shivered as the presence grew closer, frightened, and felt fear creep into her bones as though she were standing in the center of a terrible blizzard on the icy plains of Hoth.
Unlike his Padawan, Daki was more composed, as he fell back onto the mantra of the Jedi Code.
There is no emotion, there is peace.
However, he could sense hopelessness and despair emanating from the predator that was approaching them. It was like a foul stench that made Daki sneer in disgust.
Maul’s heart pounded in his chest with each moment that sound filled the air, until finally, the fog parted like a curtain drawn by an invisible hand. Heavy footsteps thudded against the ground, each one seemed to send tremors in the Force. The Shadow Lord could feel it in the Force—the cold—and something oddly familiar, a presence he hadn’t felt since…
A towering silhouette emerged from the thick fog as though it were some unholy beast summoned from one's worst nightmare. The figure’s gleaming black armor shone through the dim light in the forest, his cape billowing in the damp wind, and then the snap hiss of a lightsaber igniting, bathing the figure in a crimson glow, making their already menacing visage of the mask they wore demonic.
Maul wanted to doubt what his senses were telling him, but in his heart, he knew exactly who this was. He had tried disposing of him by orchestrating the Siege of Mandalore, thus depriving his former master of his most coveted apprentice.
Of course, his plans back then had failed.
And now, the machinations of Darth Sidious were truly complete; standing before them was the dark warrior, Anakin Skywalker, or rather, he was a twisted version of the Jedi’s Chosen One. Whatever his Sith title was, Maul didn’t care. Sidious had succeeded in turning Skywalker to the dark side, and the visions that he had experienced back on Mandalore had come to pass.
Without a word, Maul snarled as he lunged at the fallen Jedi Knight. But the moment their blades locked, the Zabrak could feel the power radiating off of the newly appointed Sith Lord. He was then violently shoved back, causing Maul to bare his teeth and quickly determine whether this was a confrontation worth engaging. Meanwhile, Rook, Captain Lawson, and Two-Boots began firing at the Sith Lord. Crimson and amber blaster bolts were batted away casually, as though he were shooing away insects buzzing near his face. Daki and Devon lunged at the towering man before them, but he merely swatted away their respective lightsabers, sending them staggering back before reengaging with Maul. Effortlessly parrying Maul’s strikes, the Sith Lord unleashed a casual slash at Maul’s mid hip, and as the blade struck deeply into his mechanical hip, the Zabrak released a scream of raw agony.
Rook Kast stared, blasters raised, and her usually steady hands trembled at the horrific sight she had just witnessed. As a warrior, she faced strife constantly, but what had nearly taken her as it had her fellow Mandalorian moments ago was something she dared not confront head-on.
But all thoughts of self-preservation abandoned her as she witnessed her sworn lord hunch over, clutching at the lightsaber wound he had suffered.
She rushed to Maul’s side, whilst he grit his teeth as the pain coursed through him. Looking at his first lieutenant with desperate eyes, he mewled out. “Run,” using the Force to summon the communicator Vario had used to contact Dryden Vos, Maul placed it in Rook’s empty hand. “Get them out of here,” referring to the Lawsons and Two-Boots, he then murmured to Rook, “and see yourself to safety.”
Maul commanded fiercely before joining Daki and Devon as they were locked in heated combat with the Sith Lord. He moved with deliberate, unstoppable power. His single blade met Maul’s in a shower of sparks, effortlessly parrying every strike. A casual backhand of the Force sent Daki tumbling through the air. Devon’s strikes were batted aside as the Dark Lord advanced, his free hand closing into a fist that yanked Devon forward by the throat before hurling her into Maul. The impact sent both combatants to the ground. All the while, the Sith Lord was unfazed, breathing steadily through his vocoder, towering over the trio like a spectre of death.
Rook, the Lawsons, and Two-Boots raised their blasters and fired.
Crimson and amber blaster bolts streaked toward the Dark Lord in a relentless barrage. Rook’s shots were deadly, precise. The Lawsons poured suppressive fire. Two-Boots crouched low, squeezing off rounds meant to hit the Dark Lord in the legs.
The Sith Lord didn’t flinch.
His crimson blade moved in calm, economical arcs; each blaster bolt was redirected with surgical precision. Some shots screamed back towards the shooters, forcing them to duck or drop to the ground. Others simply fizzled against the fog as he absorbed or deflected them without breaking stride.
A powerful Force shockwave erupted outward, slamming into everyone. Maul, Daki, and Devon, despite raising protective barriers around themselves, were hurled backward like ragdolls, skidding across the ground. Rook Kast was ripped from her feet and smashed into a tree. The Lawsons tumbled down in a tangle of limbs and blasters. Two-Boots slammed hard into a boulder with a yelp.
“This is useless. We need to move!” Brander panted as he ran, Rylee and Two-Boots close behind. Rook gave one last look at Maul, who looked over his shoulder, silently commanding her to go with them, before running off with the trio.
Maul, Daki, and Devon, who were back on their feet, with their lightsabers raised, felt the power from their opponent growing with each passing moment. Even with their combined strength, Maul feared that it might not be enough to break the Sith Lord before them. And he needed to manipulate this conflict to his advantage so that he could claim Devon as his apprentice. With a shuddering breath, Maul turned to both Jedi and uttered one word.
The fighting was intense, and as she had to carry the dead weight of the Lawsons and their droid companion, Rook believed for the briefest of moments that she was going to die. Quickly taking cover behind a large tree, blaster bolts struck where she was regaining herself, thick splinters of wood flew by as she peeked over the tree to see dozens of Imperial troops advancing, and on top of that, they had gunships ready to flush them out of the thick canopy of the forest.
Suddenly, one of the gunships was blown out of the sky as it was sent spinning out of control towards the position of the Stormtroopers, who quickly scattered like insects who were about to be crushed. Looking up to the sky, Rook could see an unfamiliar ship approaching, and she concluded that it had to be Dryden Vos of Crimson Dawn, here to extract them off planet.
“There’s our ride,” she turned to the Lawsons and Two-Boots. “Cover me!”
Without another word, Rook dashed out of the forest, gunning down any Stormtrooper foolish enough to stand in her way. Reaching the boarding ramp of the ship, Rook caught her breath, only for Dryden, who was accompanied by one of his men, to bark out over the heat of battle. “You!” Grabbing her arm, he bared his teeth. “Where is Maul?!”
Grabbing her hand, Rook twisted hard enough until his wrist threatened to break. Dryden cried out in pain and crumpled to a knee. The goon who had accompanied the near-human looked at Rook, but she pointed one of her blaster pistols at the man’s head. Not wanting to test the patience of a Mandalorian, the goon returned suppressive fire at the Stormtroopers advancing toward them.
“Lord Maul,” she corrected Dryden with an icy tone before tightening her grip on his wrist, “will be here shortly. If you even think about leaving before he arrives, I will kill you where you stand.” Releasing her grip on Dryden’s wrist, Rook shot down several Stormtroopers who tried to flank them from the sides. “Now shut up, and fight. He’ll be here soon!” Were Rook’s final words to Dryden before they gunned down their enemies without pity or mercy.
The sudden, thunderous rumbling of a structure collapsing filled the air, and thick plumes of dust rose to the sky in response to the collapsing temple. Rook could see Maul and the girl, Devon, sprinting in their direction, casually deflecting and redirecting blaster bolts at the advancing Stormtroopers, while also evading the heavy laser fire from the Imperial dropships swooping overhead like bombers about to drop their payload. The Crimson Dawn ship was taking off once Maul and Devon boarded the ramp, and as Dryden barked out orders for his pilot to get them out of Janix, Rook holstered her pistols and helped Maul up the ramp, since he had sustained extensive damage to his cybernetic legs.
Demanding to know where the medical supplies were located, one of Dryden’s men led Rook and Maul to the medical storage room, where she could sterilize his wounds before worrying about getting him proper treatment. Ripping her helmet off her head and setting it on a nearby counter, Rook began applying bacta patches on the cuts and scrapes on Maul’s skin while applying bacta wraps around the deep gouges and cuts he sustained to his cybernetic legs.
“You are all I have left.”
Pausing her actions, Rook’s eyes met Maul’s, who looked at her with a look she had never seen before.
Gritting his teeth in pain as he sat straighter on the medical bed, Maul took her hands in his own. “You said so yourself back on Janix that you have followed me without question. Now, you are one of my last true allies in this treacherous galaxy under the rule of Darth Sidious,” his grip tightened before his gaze softened into something far more intimate. “Such loyalty is to be cherished. And I wish to express how much I value your loyalty.”
Cupping Rook’s face, Maul leaned in and captured her lips in a fierce kiss. Letting out a gasp of surprise at first, Rook quickly melted into the kiss and returned it with equal passion. Her hands cupped his tattooed face in turn, and the taste of his lips made her moan, finally tasting what she had long deemed as unattainable.
But now, her complete commitment to Maul was rewarded in ways she had dreamt of since he had claimed the throne of Mandalore.
Maul’s free arm snaked around her waist, pulling her flush against his muscular frame. The kiss deepened, turning hotter, more demanding. His tongue swept into her mouth, claiming her fully, and Rook answered with a soft, needy sound that made his grip tighten. Heat pooled low in her belly as years of suppressed longing ignited between them.
When they finally broke apart, both breathing hard, Maul rested his forehead against hers.
“I’ve lost too much already, Rook.” His voice was a rough groan. “I refuse to lose you.”
Caressing his face, the Mandalorian kissed his forehead before smiling softly at him. “You have me, my lord,” she reassured him before murmuring against his ear. “I will remain faithful to you, even until death.”
