The harness clunked again as it moved sideways before he was lowered him to the ground. Maul stood on his own two feet with the help of the support. The Sith lord flexed his fingers, creating fists then relaxing. He noticed his dark red arm was free of tattoos. Maul reached up and ran a hand over his smooth scalp. His horns were in place as they had been all those years ago. He peered downward and then looked behind him. This body was aged to what it had been at the time of the invasion, yet he was unmarked by the black designs that had covered most of his person.
The conveyor belt whirred and he was sent along the metal wall into a second chamber. The harness released him, but was replaced by two thin cords attached to his wrists. Several spherical droids floated into the room from an unseen entrance. Each droid produced a multitude of jointed arms that ended in needles of different lengths. Maul spent the next thirty minutes in excruciating agony as the tattoos it took him a decade to earn and receive were applied. Throughout the process, he remained completely silent, with only a grimace on his face.
The last marking, the line interspersed with broad diamonds was applied to his spine. Maul let out a long hiss that contained all the rage he had held in during the procedure. He quickly composed himself, and set his features in an expressionless stare. He pursed his freshly tattooed lips when the mechanical arm reached out and grasped him by the waist. The wrist cords released, and Maul was moved back to the first chamber.
Waiting for him was a clothes rack projected from the center of the floor. Maul was placed on the ground. He remained in place for a few moments, then edged toward the clothing that was suspended from the metal bars. Reaching forward, he removed the pants and slipped into them. Next he stepped into the pair of black boots located at the base of the structure. Maul bounded toward the opposite wall. He ran halfway up then propelled himself outward with his heels. Rotating in the air several times, he landed with a satisfying thud as his boots met the metal deck. Pleased with his efforts, Maul finished dressing. He adjusted his right glove and a buzzing noise flickered behind him. A small podium with a holographic image display had been placed on top. He walked over cautiously, then pressed the activator button.
"Darth Maul," the familiar voice boomed in its usual low tone.
"Master," Maul went down onto one knee.
"Rise my apprentice," the hooded face beckoned. Maul reluctantly complied. He looked into the black space where his master's eyes should be visible. "I do not doubt that you are puzzled at this new life I have granted you." Maul remained silent. "You have been dead for the past five years, killed by the Jedi named Kenobi." The young Sith lord's face tightened, and he bared a few teeth at the comment. "However," Sidious continued not caring to take note of his apprentice's flare of anger. "You have been cloned, which gives reason for necessity to restore you to your former glorified state." Maul became distracted as his mind flashed back to the extremely accelerated tattoo procedure. His entire body still burned slightly.
"To what do I owe this honor, my master?" Maul's deep voice echoed off the steel walls of the room.
"I wish to test an individual's strength in the Dark Side of the Force," a panel door slide open with a quiet whoosh on the wall adjacent to him. "There she is now." Maul turned to face his newest challenge. The slender figure stepped into the light. She was clad in a red, skin-tight and sleeveless jumpsuit, calf-high brown boots, and a dark brown vest, which barely covered her ample bust. She also wore two orange wristbands, a third on her left bicep, and two holsters whose belts crossed below her waist. Her orange-brown hair was drawn back in a single, long ponytail that reached the small of her back. Intense eyes stared outward from deep-set sockets surrounded in a dark gray tone. Her skin was pale white, and her most interesting feature was a long antenna that extended from the left side of her bald skull. From her belts dangled two lightsabers. "Meet Aurra Sing."
The woman unclipped the two lightsabers and whirled them around in her hands before igniting them. Both blades were red, one slightly paler than the other. She held them out in front of her, ends touching, which caused a constant crackle sound. A circular hole opened in the ground and Maul's double-bladed lightsaber shot into the air. He caught it in his right hand. Igniting one blade, he got into a defensive position, his saber held out at an angle. She snarled and launched herself at him. The three blades crossed, pulsating with energy.
"Good…" Sidious leered from the hologram. Maul smiled menacingly and shoved forward with all his might. Aurra tumbled backward from the force of the blow. Maul spun on his heel and kicked her in the ribs. She grunted then cartwheeled on her knuckles to distance herself. Dashing forward, she met his blade with one of hers, then spun around to slash at his horned head with the other. He ducked and lunged outward with his saber. She parried the blow with both sabers and elbowed him on the back of the neck. He groaned and stepped forward to regain his balance. She dropkicked him, but he caught both her feet with a free hand. Aurra propelled herself into a back flip then landed in a crouch. She swept his feet from under him with a low roundhouse. He landed hard on his tailbone. She quickly kicked him on the side of the chin. Maul's head snapped sideways with the blow, but he turned back to look at her in pure animosity.
Darth Maul flipped up and performed a series of slashes and jabs with his lightsaber. She parried and blocked the blows. He found an opening and slammed the unlit end of his saber hilt into her jaw. He could have beheaded her easily, but he was going to enjoy making her pay. Maul may have been slightly rusty from his five-year hiatus from the realm of the living, but he was not getting back to his old self. She disengaged one saber and they went back and forth with swift and forceful attacks. Attempting to trick him, Aurra Sing ignited the second saber and got under his guard. She slashed through his tunic as he turned to avoid being impaled. The gash in the tunic revealed his red and black colored stomach. Maul growled and Force-pushed her into a wall. Flowing with Dark Side energy, he Force-pulled the sabers from her hand and sent them clattering across the room.
An immense grin spread across his face as he watched his opponent squirm to free herself from the vice-grip of the Dark Side. He roundhoused her hard in the lower abdomen, just below the reach of her ribcage. The air in her lungs rushed from her narrow frame. She bared her teeth and scrunched up her nose. Maul soared into the metal clothing hanger. A few ribs cracked upon impact, which caused his right eye to flutter for a moment. He hissed in frustration and stood up quickly when he noticed she had dropped from the wall. His eyes darted down to his lightsaber, which lay several feet away. Aurra, too, looked toward her sabers on the ground.
Aurra went first, calling her sabers to her. Maul's got to his waiting hand first and he batted the other two away. He ignited both blades and spun them in a whirlwind of red. Aurra's eyes widened in dismay. She ran toward a wall an started to go up it. Maul knew this routine and placed himself to skewer her on an end of his lightsaber when she flipped over. She pushed off the wall and began her flip. He slashed to bisect her from hip to hip, but she rotated, and he cut off a leg of her jumpsuit mid-thigh. The pale flesh of her right leg gleamed in the lighting of the room. She reached behind her to again call her sabers to her. This was Maul's chance, he raced forward to end the battle. One of Aurra's sabers ignited and she attempted to parry his strike. His blade moved up and over hers, cutting through her vest strap.
Sing raised her booted foot between his legs as her trump card. Maul caught her foot in his left hand and twisted in hard. She let out a cry when the ankle snapped. He slapped her lightsaber out of her hand. It deactivated and skittered to a halt against the far wall. He picked her up by the throat with his gloved hand.
"Ready to die?" He taunted. A sudden burning pain pierced his back and he dropped her as the red saber blade continued through his heart and out his chest. His jaw dropped in shock. His eyes widened as he fell to his knees, and the saber deactivated and clunked to the floor. They soon went out of focus, and Darth Maul dropped to the ground dead as he had been for the past five years.
"Excellent!" Sidious boomed happily. Aurra Sing had never seen her master so ecstatic. He clasped his hands together when he entered the room. Sidious laughed heartily at the sight of the deceased Maul. His hooded visage turned to her. "Through you, the order of the Sith will return to its former days of grandeur." Aurra smiled at the compliment, which was a rare occurrence concerning her master. She called Maul's blade to her hands. It was a magnificent weapon that she would cherish. "Come my apprentice," Sidious lingered on the last word. "We have business to attend to," Aurra Sing followed her master out of the room.