Disclaimer: All Star Wars characters and Locations belong to George Lucas.
All SG1 characters and locations belong to MGM.
I own this story, and the characters I invented in it
ALERT~ Please be advised that if you are going to read this, then it is best
to read the first one I wrote, called Existence, because there are links
between the two, you will find it when you look up my profile. It isn't as
good as this one, but it was my first attempt at writing a story. Enjoy!!
Ascension
The sun rose gently over the English countryside, the dawn chorus started
up.
It had only been three months since they fled Tatooine for Earth. Kenla was
surprised how well Maul had settled down to life on Earth, though she did
have a feeling he was longing for space travel once more, he did not let on of
course but she knew him well enough. She lay there quietly listening to the
birds, Maul slept soundly beside her. Silence followed, but it was a strange
silence, the birds had stopped singing, in their place came a low rumbling
sound. Kenla got up and crept to the window, she looked all around but
could see nothing, but then out of the cover of the trees, came a large
procession of army vehicles. Kenla swore to herself, she ran over to Maul
and shook him awake rigorously and said,
"Wake up, we've got company."
"What is it?" he said sitting up quickly, he got out of bed and dressed.
"The British army has come for a visit, go now, take the infiltrator and go to
the moon or some where, I'll get rid of them." She said, also dressing. Maul
smiled and nodded, kissed her and left swiftly. Kenla walked down stairs
brushing her hair as she went. It wasn't long until there was a knock at the
door. Kenla went to the door and composed herself, she opened the door.
Standing there were three men, two had regulation army uniforms on and the
other had a smart pin stripe suit. Before Kenla said anything she took note
that all the other soldiers where surrounding the house, they were armed and
took their positions quickly and efficiently.
The guy in the pin stripe suit stepped forward and said in an annoying
public school voice,
"Good morning miss...ah yes Smith." He read from a file.
"May we come in? it is rather chilly out here in the wilds."
Kenla gave the man a searching look and finally said,
"Who are you? what do you want? and why are those soldiers surrounding
my house at this time in the morning?"
"All will be explained Miss Smith if we could just come in." he said
hugging his file.
"No," she said defiantly folding her arms. One of the two soldiers flanking
him stepped forward onto the front door step. Kenla shot him a sly look, she
laughed under her breath and began to close the door. The door was half shut
when the soldier stopped the door with his foot and barged in past Kenla, the
other soldier did the same. But instead of doing nothing when they got in,
they both took hold of Kenla's arms and restrained her.
"What the hell are you doing, get off me you idiots, you have no idea who
you're dealing with." She said through gritted teeth, she struggled but gave
up, it was just a futile waste of energy, and they had no idea what was going
to happen to them. The man in the suit walked in past Kenla and closed the
door behind him, he gave a little nod to the soldiers restraining Kenla, they
saw this and dragged her into the front room. They roughly sat her down on
the couch and stood either side of her making sure that she didn't try
anything. The man in the suit sat on a chair in front of Kenla, with a fleeting
glance at her, he turned to look at one of the soldiers and said,
"Give the order colonel." The soldier nodded and removed a radio from the
breast pocket on his combat jacket, and then proceeded to talk into it,
"Alpha Team, Bravo team, move in." As soon as he lowered the radio, at
least thirty soldiers ran into Kenla's house, half of them went upstairs, while
the other stayed down stairs and secured all the rooms.
Anger began to rage within Kenla,
"What are you doing to my house? I demand an explanation now." She said
focusing her deep blue eyes on him.
"Now now Miss Smith calm down, it seems as though a local has reported
some strange sightings recently, and he also has pictures to prove it." Said
the man in the suit, he opened his file and took out three photographs, he
placed them face down in front if Kenla. She picked them up slowly and
turned them over. Kenla's eyes widened, the first was a picture of her, she
was landing in a field from an early morning flight, the second was of Maul
training in the same field, the sun was setting. The third was of them both
near the house embracing each other. She put them back on the table, how
could anyone have seen them both, she thought that the field was safe
enough for training, it was surrounded by vegetation. She looked up at the
man, her face neutral, and said quietly,
"And these mean what to me?"
"I think it's quite obvious that the young woman in the photo is you, what
we want to know is who or what is that," he said pointing at Maul.
"Hello! Does it look like I've got wings? Somehow I don't think so, and as
to the other person in the photos, I have no idea what you mean." She said
looking away. The man shook his head and started to lose his composure,
"Don't play dumb with me Miss Smith, if that is your real name. This
person is clearly not human, look at the horns on his head for crying out
loud. This local is thinking of selling the negatives to the Americans, do you
know what will happen to you then?"
"I have a pretty good idea, but I still don't know what you want with me,
I'm just an ordinary girl in my late teens." Said Kenla looking as innocent as
she could. The man in the suit was about to say something when a soldier
came thundering down the stairs, he saluted the colonel,
"I found this sir, it was under the pillow on the bed." Slightly out of breath
he handed the colonel a long, grey cylindrical object. Kenla recognised it
instantly, it was Maul's replacement double-bladed light saber, she swore to
her self in silence. The colonel saluted the soldier who had brought him the
strange object he now possessed, he turned to Kenla and said,
"What is this then young lady?" he said in a pompous voice.
"Oh that, its nothing don't bother with it, its just something I've had since I
was a kid, brings me luck if I sleep with it under my pillow." Said Kenla
lying as best she could.
"Nothing? Then you won't mind if I throw it in the fire then." He said
dangling it over the open fireplace. Kenla had to admit defeat.
"Wait, don't, look give it here I'll show you how it works," she said
standing up extending her hand. A triumphant smile spread across the
colonel's face, he handed her the light sabre, utterly unaware of what it was.
A sense of superiority washed over Kenla as she handled the light saber hilt.
She looked at the colonel and raised the hilt to eye level with the colonel,
"This is an alien calming devise, all you have to do is look down this little
hole and all your troubles will go away instantly." Said Kenla smiling
warmly. 'Oh my god, he's actually falling for it, mindless scum' she thought
to herself as he looked down the small hole at the end of the light saber.
"Now hold that position," she said calmly, she pressed one of the buttons, a
crimson blade shot out of the end of the light saber and went straight through
the colonel's forehead, he fell to the ground in silence. The other soldier got
over the shock of what he had just seen and drew his gun, Kenla turned
quickly and sliced through the gun and his neck in one swoop. She turned
and looked at the man in the suit, he was clutching his file close to his chest
in terror. He was white with shock. She walked towards the man and a sly
grin spread across her face.
"Perhaps a meal before I leave," she said in a soft menacing voice. The man
scrambled out of his chair and made for the door, but Kenla caught him
around the neck and smothered his mouth before he could cry out. She sank
her extended vampiric teeth into his neck and drank swiftly. She left the
body of the man slumped on the floor as she retrieved the gun from the first
soldier, she also attached the light saber to her belt. Her best bet at escaping
was from the roof, from there she could fly over to her ship in the back field,
before she made her way upstairs, she took the pictures from the table and
threw them into the fire. Kenla stood for a moment to watch them burn. On
her way upstairs she encountered the soldier who had found the light saber.
He eyed her suspiciously as she walked towards him, she had discarded the
gun after she picked it up, she realised that it was to primitive to be an
effective weapon.
"I told the colonel that there was something they might like in the attic, and
since all you soldiers are here to keep a eye on me he let me come up alone,
you can escort me if you like and disregard his orders, I'll tell him when I
get back downstairs." She said innocently.
"If that is the colonels orders then you may go alone, but if you are not back
in three minutes then I'm coming up after you," he said stiffly.
"Ooh, I'll look forward to it," she said smiling, the soldier blushed a little.
She walked across the landing to where the cord was to pull down the attic
stairs, the stairs were reluctant to unfold, for they had not been used in a
while but they did eventually. Kenla made her way up shaking her head
laughing to herself. 'How can these soldiers be so gullible?' The window in
the attic was small but it was big enough to fit through. Kenla unfolded her
wings and squeezed through the window, she kept hold of the window ledge
as she turned to face out to the field, which harboured her ship. It wasn't far,
perhaps a hundred meters or so, none of the soldiers on the ground bothered
to look up, they clearly wanted to be some place else.
Just then a cry came from down stairs, after a lot of shouting there was the
sound of footsteps thundering up the attic stairs. This was Kenla's cue to
leave, she took off from the roof and soared over the heads of many a
confused soldier, shoots were fired from the attic window, one hit her but the
rest whistled harmlessly past her. She neared the field quickly, a few more
seconds and she was there. She landed and ran to the centre of the field, on
her wrist was a small device, on which there was a button that she pressed.
The door to her cloaked ship, the star chaser, opened and closed behind her
as she entered. The start up procedure had already been activated. Kenla
looked out of the front window, the field was filling with soldiers that had no
clue to where she had gone.
Kenla laughed to herself again as she deactivated the cloaking device, she
watched as the soldiers in the field scattered and ran for cover. She had to
admit that her ship, which was given to her by Darth Sidious, was very
intimidating to the ordinary man. Take off was gentle and smooth as always,
she was no more than fifty feet in the air when two harriers roared over
head, they broke formation to follow Kenla. When they had followed for a
mile or two, one of the harriers fired a sidewinder at her ship. Kenla dodged
it with ease. It was time to go, so Kenla rose through the clouds, after a few
seconds, the harriers had to break pursuit because they could not take the
pressure change. The blue sky gradually faded to black as she entered space,
this was something Kenla never tired of, the calmness of space. A ship
appeared on the sensors, it was the infiltrator. Mauls voice echoed over the
comm,
"Are you all right, what took you so long?" he said. Kenla took a moment
to check her wound before replying,
"I'll be fine as soon as I take this bullet out of my side, do you know why
they were there? They had some photos of us taken by some local in the next
village, but those soldiers need there IQ checking, ha it was so easy getting
past them it was unbelievable, I think they thought that they would be able to
keep us if they caught us, that is." There was a small scoffing noise through
the comm.
"They think highly of themselves don't they? Just like the Americans you
told me about," Said Maul.
"Yeah a bit, where are we going to go? I mean we can't go back to the
house anymore," Winced Kenla as she felt around for the bullet in her side,
she found it and pulled out, she bit her lip so there was no sound. Her wound
healed instantly.
"Coruscant," he said quietly.
"Why?" said Kenla, she waited but there was no reply. She guessed that he
had to do this. So reluctantly, she agreed.
They set their nav computers for Tatooine, for it was best to go there first so
they could make a quiet entrance. As the hyperdrive engaged, starlines
formed around them as they made the jump to hyperspace.
After an hour, everything was going smoothly, until a strange reading
appeared up on the sensors. Kenla told Maul to drop out of hyperspace, as
they did his voice came over the comm,
"What's the problem?"
"Take a look at your sensors, do you see that surge of energy? It came from
that large moon," said Kenla.
"I see it, that is a really big surge of energy, too big in fact. That is the forest
moon of Endor, it is devoid of any technology," he said.
"I've pinpointed the location, I'm going down to take a look, are you
coming too?" she said adjusting course. Maul agreed and began to follow
Kenla.
They landed in a clearing near to the energy surge, they left their ships
cloaked, Maul came over to Kenla to see if her wound had healed all right,
which it had. Kenla strapped on her sword as they made their way through
the trees to where the energy surge had originated. Just then they heard
voices, instantly in unison Maul and Kenla dropped into the undergrowth.
From behind the bushes there was another clearing but this was smaller. In
the clearing stood four humans in combat gear, they were standing next to a
huge metal ring with symbols on it. One of the humans looked around and
threw his hands in the air, Kenla could just make out what he was saying.
"Ok this is nice, but it's not P3X-853, last I recalled it didn't have a forest,
any ideas Carter?" said the man. The only woman of the group looked up
and said,
"We may have got thrown off course by a solar flare or a small nebular, we
could be anywhere sir, I think the best bet is to find out where we are and
dial home." She said looking around. The other humans did not say
anything, one human was dark, had a shaved head and a gold symbol on his
temple, the other human had sandy brown hair and glasses. The dark human
carried what looked like a large sceptre. They talked between themselves.
Kenla leaned over to Maul and whispered into his ear.
"They're from Earth, and they're American. But how did they get here? I'm
going over, you stay here in case I need back up." Maul nodded and stayed
low as Kenla stood up, and stepped out of the bushes. The four humans
immediately stopped talking and pointed their weapons at her.
She walked towards them slowly, they lowered their weapons, she walked
towards the man who had spoken first. The man with sandy hair stepped
forward and said,
"Ah, erm hello my name is Daniel Jackson, do you speak any English at
all?"
"Well I certainly hope so Daniel Jackson, you're Americans from Earth
aren't you? Except this guy," said Kenla pointing at the dark human.
"Why yes we are? How... how did you know that?" said Daniel, the other
man and woman looked at each other with quizzical looks on their faces.
The dark human eyed her suspiciously.
"Because I'm from earth you big silly. Well are you going to introduce
me?" she said folding her arms.
"From Earth but how? Oh sorry this is Jack O'Neill, Sam Carter, and this is
Teal'c," he said pointing them out, Jack and Sam smiled and Teal'c bowed
his head a little.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Kenla Sa'talee, may I ask what you are
doing so far from Earth?" said Kenla. Teal'c spoke up,
"We travel great distances by the star gate."
"Well I'm sorry to rain on you're parade, but what star gate?" she said
pointing behind them. All four spun around, the star gate had vanished, they
ran over to where it was and felt around with their arms outstretched, but it
had definitely gone.
"I would have told you sooner but I thought it was normal." She said
shrugging.
"Normal? Since when is it normal that a fourteen foot star gate disappears,"
said Jack waving his gun about. Out of the bushes stood a cowled figure,
they pointed their weapons at him now. Kenla turned and walked towards
him. She talked to Maul in a hushed voice,
"They are from Earth, but their transport home has vanished, do you think
that we could make a small detour and take them home?" said Kenla
hugging Maul around the waist, and staring into his fiery eyes. He sighed
and nodded. She smiled, she took hold of his arm and pulled him over but he
didn't remove his cowl.
"Okay, we've talked it over and we've decided to give you a lift back to
Earth, oh by the way this is my partner Darth Maul." She said, Maul
Removed his cowl to reveal his crimson and black tattooed face.
Jack, Sam and Daniel's mouths dropped open.
"D...Darth Maul? But you're not real. Are you?" Said Jack. Maul unclipped
his light saber and said,
"Oh I'm very real, how is it that you know me?"
"You're a star wars character from episode 1, that's how I, and the whole
world knows you, and besides you got sliced in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi,"
said Jack pointing his gun at Maul's chest. Rage was swelling inside of
Maul, the memory of that day came flooding back, it all happened so
quickly. After disposing of the Jedi master infront of the padawan learner,
the young Jedi became one with the force in his fighting skills, Obi-Wan
was not the superior fighter but he was crafty. After kicking the padawan's
light saber down the pit, Maul thought his quarry was finished, but the Jedi
used the force to pull his masters light saber to him and take Maul by
surprise. He would never let that happen again. He snapped back to attention
when he heard Kenla's voice.
"Star Wars? What's Star Wars?" said Kenla looking puzzled. Daniel spoke
up.
"When was the last time you visited Earth?"
"Ooh I'd say about an hour ago, I'm sorry but Star Wars does not exist on
my Earth," said Kenla.
"That means that some thing happened when we were travelling through the
star gate, we must be in an alternate reality, that's why the star gate
vanished, because it doesn't belong in this reality. The question is how do
we get back? To our reality I mean," said Sam Carter. A wide grin appeared
on Kenla's face.
"Well you see, alternate realities are a bit of a speciality of mine, I can get
you home." She said with pride in her recently found ability. She turned to
Maul and held him around the waist again.
"You go on to Coruscant, I'll meet you there in a few hours, hmm lets say
on that monad where I first met you. I'll contact you when when I'm nearing
the planet okay?" she said smiling warmly. Maul looked down into her deep
blue eyes, a faint smile of acknowledgement appeared on his lips, they
kissed. He left with brisk pace towards his ship, moments later the group
watched as the infiltrator took off and vanishes out of sight as it passed
through a layer of cloud.
Kenla sighed heavily. Jack started to laugh to himself.
"There's actually a Coruscant I don't believe it, oh and I bet this is Endor,
oh wait were are the Skywalkers? I just have to meet them." He said holding
his stomach, trying not to burst out in fits of laughter. Kenla looked sharply
at him and narrowed her eyes, abruptly he stopped laughing.
"What do you know of the Skywalkers Jack O'Neill," she said harshly.
"Oh only that Anakin grows up to be Darth Va, ow!" Daniel had just kicked
Jack in the Shin.
"You can't say anything Jack, it might effect the whole Star Wars
universe." Whispered Daniel.
"You don't have to worry about that, I already know, you see I can create a
vortex that can show the future to anyone who touches it, I was made to
show Darth Sidious his future, so he knows as well." She said looking at the
ground. "Come, my ship is this way." She lead the way through the trees to
the clearing on the other side, she pressed the button on the wrist and the
ship decloaked, there was a look of awe on all of their faces.
"Well that is an awesome ship, that would beat a Goa'uld death glider any
day of the week." Said Jack as he entered the ship.
"Goa'uld?" Said Kenla.
"Oh my have we got a story to tell you." Smiled jack,
"Yes, I also have a story to tell you." Kenla said back.
On the way back to Earth, they told Kenla all about the Goa'uld, a
parasitic race that use human hosts and rule by being false gods, collectively
known as the system lords. And all about the Jaffa, who serve the false gods
and carry the infant Goa'uld until they are ready to take hosts.
Then Kenla told them about her being a vampire, the chosen one. As she
expected they became less warm towards her then they had previously been.
"So Kenla, have you ever met a Jedi?" said Jack enthusiastically. Kenla
frowned and said,
"Yes, unfortunately. Everyone believes them to be all things good and great,
but they're not, to me they are self-centred dogs, especially the one called
Obi-Wan Kenobi." Jack nearly fell off his chair,
"You know Obi-Wan Kenobi!" he said. Kenla nodded. Jack took the hint
and dropped the subject.
Earth appeared on the sensors as they dropped out of hyperspace. Kenla
cloaked the ship as they made their decent towards Colorado. She landed
outside a mountain installation, it looked abandoned. Jack and Sam lead the
way to a large room with reinforced doors and a small line of windows at the
top of one wall.
"This is the place, do your stuff," said Jack. Kenla nodded and said,
"I'm coming through with you to make sure you get back to the right place,
it will guide itself to the right reality, but you know just in case. Right stand
back," she said widening her stance.
The familiar ball of green light formed between her palms, it grew larger,
and larger until it was almost the size of the star gate. The green light grew
intensely bright as it turned into a swirling vortex.
"Go! Now, I don't think I can hold it open for much longer." They did as
she said, first Sam Carter, then Daniel Jackson, then Teal'c and finally Jack
O'Neill. Kenla jumped through just as it began to destabilise. The journey
made her nauseous, but it stopped as she reached the other side.
Teal'c helped her regain her balance as she fell out of the vortex, the once
empty room was swarming with soldiers. Most of their guns were trained on
her, Teal'c and Jack noticed this and jack shouted out,
"Hey, hey guys cool it." Many of the soldiers stood to attention as a bald
man in a uniform, who was a bit over weight, entered the room.
"What is the meaning of this SG1? Oh never mind I'll expect a full
debriefing within the hour. Who is this?" he said a bit flustered.
"General Hammond, meet Kenla Sa'talee, she is the reason why we were
able to get home." Said Jack gesturing to Kenla. Kenla felt exhausted, it was
only the third time she had ever done that, she still wasn't used to all the
energy required. General Hammond walked over and extended his hand,
Kenla was about to take it when the drain became too much and she fainted.
Meanwhile...
Maul was nearing Coruscant, he entered the atmosphere cloaked, he didn't
know why he wanted to come back to this place, he had no reason to. One
thing he did know was that he would run into his old master, Darth Sidious.
He had foreseen it. He landed gently on a monad near to the galactic senate,
he left his ship and stared at the building, his robes swayed in the gentle
breeze. He let the dark side envelope him as he searched for his old master.
But before he reached out with the force, a cold shudder washed over him,
Darth Sidious had found him. He felt compelled to follow and to return to
his masters side, but he knew this was foolish, Darth Sidious would kill him
instantly, as soon as he laid eyes on him. An eerie voice entered his mind,
"Come to me, my unfaithful apprentice, to complete your training you must
face me and pass my test..." the voice faded, but it was unmistakable, it was
Darth Sidious. Maul lowered his head, he knew he had to face him and pass
this test, the test did not worry him, he could pass any test. He sighed,
thinking of Kenla he closed his eyes, he silently begged forgiveness as he
called his speeder. He mounted it and sped off towards the senate, careful
not to attract attention, he stayed within the speed limit and masked his
presence using the force, it worked to great effect. He soon reached the
senate, Maul took a side entrance and made his way silently to Palpatine's
quarters. In the corridor across from Palpatine's door, Maul paced the carpet
debating whether to go in, he had already accepted that death is a certain if
he entered, he was ready for the inevitable. He stood infront of the door, it
opened, he entered in silence the door shut behind him.
On the other side of the galaxy...
Kenla sat bolt upright, she was in a hospital bed. It took a moment to
remember where she was. A woman doctor came over to her and gave her a
warm smile.
"Please lie back down, I'm glad to see that your awake, we didn't know
what to with you, General Hammond thought you were dead, but colonel
O'Neill explained everything so we just put you here to recover." The doctor
said warmly. Kenla felt uneasy, something was wrong, she just didn't know
what. She still felt drained, she gave a weak smile to the doctor and turned
over to face away from her. A picture of Maul formed in her head, her
uneasiness came to a pinnacle, 'it's, Maul he's in some kind of trouble' she
thought to herself. Kenla sat up again and pulled back the covers, the woman
doctor was gone. She was a bit wobbly on her feet, but soon regained her
balance. At the other side of the room was a cupboard full of surgical tools,
to one side was a large refrigeration unit. Kenla sniffed the air around it, she
smelt blood but it was locked, she had only just noticed that her sword was
gone too.
"Damn!"
"Good to see you're up and about," came a voice from behind her. She spun
around, it was Jack, he was standing in the doorway.
"Where is the Key for this fridge, I need the blood inside, I have to get back
to my reality now!" she said sternly.
"Whoa, what's the rush! Anyway General Hammond wants a word with
you since he didn't get a chance before," Jack said gesturing at the door.
Kenla sighed and followed, she was so weak she only just managed to keep
pace with Jack. They soon came to General Hammond's office, the rest of
the SG1 team were inside and waiting for her. The general stood up to greet
her, after that she soon took her seat.
"I'm sorry that I did not greet you in the proper manner General Hammond,
it takes a lot of my energy to create an interdimensional vortex, there is no
doubt that you already know of me not being quite human, so I mearly
request some supplies and I will be on my way." Said Kenla.
"That can be arranged later Miss Sa'talee, for you see, I have contacted the
President and he has expressed his wish to learn more about your kind," said
Hammond.
"Again I am sorry, for I cannot stay, anyway I see why you want to study
me. I am the only one of my kind on this Earth, I sense no others. I request
that my sword be returned to me in good faith, if not then I will take it back
and nothing will stop me returning home." She said standing up from the
table. Around the table, nearly everyone, except Teal'c, wore surprised
faces. General Hammond was getting slightly flustered.
"With all due respect Miss Sa'talee, you are in no position to make idle
threats in my installation." Said the General. Kenla gave him a stern look
and left the room. She heard him dismissing the others.
Back in the hospital wing there was no one around, Kenla took a chair and
smashed it against the lock on the fridge. It took three tries, but eventually it
came off. Inside where four shelves packed with pints of blood. Kenla
grabbed a bag and tore off its tubing and began to drink from it. The blood
was cold but satisfying. She drank two before she was fully recovered. On
the bottom shelf of the surgical tool cupboard was a medical bag, Kenla
emptied it and replaced the contents with four pints of blood. As she zipped
up the bag, Daniel walked into the room.
"Erm, what are you doing?" he said quietly.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm leaving, now Daniel I know we have
just met and I kind of like you, but if you don't tell me where my sword is
then I will be forced to hurt you. I've picked up a few Sith tricks since I met
Khameir." She said standing up, she slung the bag over her shoulder and
glared at Daniel.
"Khameir? Is that his real name? Listen, since I can't be court marshalled I
got you your sword back," Daniel said pulling the sword out from behind his
back. Kenla smiled as she handled her sword, it was like an old friend to her.
"Daniel, I need a large open space to create the vortex, could you show me
to the room where the star gate is held?" said Kenla.
"Yeah sure, down the hall first on the right, when you get in hit the red
button beside the door, it locks them out." Said Daniel shrugging.
"Thank you Daniel, you are a true friend, I shall not forget this, maybe I'll
come and visit some time. Oh if they ask, just say I used the Sith chokehold
on you," she said smiling, she gave him a peck on the cheek and left, Daniel
blushed slightly.
Down the corridor, Kenla encountered four soldiers, which she easily
knocked unconscious with a telekinetic blast. The alarms sounded as she
entered the large room. Just like Daniel said the doors locked behind her
when she hit the red button. General Hammond's voice echoed over the
speaker system.
"What in God's name do you think you are doing Kenla?"
"I have to leave General, I have a feeling that Khameir's in trouble. It's
been nice meeting you SG1, perhaps we'll meet again some day." Said
Kenla, she put the bag on the ground. In no time the vortex was formed, she
threw the bag in, gave a little wave to SG1 and then she too entered the
vortex.
Back on Coruscant...
Maul turned quickly as the door closed behind him. At the end of the room
was a chair facing the window, and in the chair sat a cowled figure, it was
Darth Sidious. He raised his hand and beckoned Maul. Maul breathed in
deeply and walked over, his head held high. The cold steely gaze of his
former master fell upon him.
"Why did you see fit to turn mutinous on me Lord Maul? It seems that I
trained you too well, my unfaithful apprentice." Said Sidious.
"I did what I had to, you were killing her," Maul said, he started to pace like
a caged animal, his fiery eyes not moving from Darth Sidious.
"Ah yes, young love. A tragic thing that can happen to anyone, it ruins a
man for life. Now that you are here it is time to complete your training and
become a Sith Master." He said grinning sadistically. Maul was bewildered,
it was a miracle that he had not been killed instantly when he entered the
room, but what kind of test was he in for. Maul let the tendrils of the
darkside wander, he felt his master's presence, so much hatred, he was
almost consumed by the darkside of the force. But there was some thing else
in the back round, a presence almost drowned out by Sidious's power.
"Ah, I see you have noticed your test, Lord Maul meet your counterpart,
Lord Mauul." Said Sidious gesturing to the shadowy figure lurking in the
shadows. The figure stepped forward into the light. The light washed over
him exposing his face. Maul's mouth dropped open, the person standing
behind Darth Sidious was an exact double of him, though he had no crimson
and black tattoos covering his face.
"What is that?" said Maul eyeing the double. The double threw him a
sardonic grin. Maul saw this and glared at him.
"That, my unfaithful apprentice, is your clone. Your final test will be to
fight him, lose and I will kill you, win and I will still kill you as punishment
for deserting me and stealing my vampire," said Sidious still grinning. Maul
stopped pacing and looked at Sidious.
"And if I refuse?" said Maul quietly.
"To put it simply Lord Maul, you will not walk way from this alive." The
grin vanished from his face, "I have foreseen this."
"You will fight where no one will see you, in a place I believe you know
quite well Maul, the crimson corridor. Lord Mauul will escort you, I trust
that you will not try anything whilst in transit, if you want to complete your
training that is." Said Sidious, rising to his feet. He walked around his chair
to the clone, put his hand on the clone's shoulder and left the room. Maul
bared his teeth at the clone, which grinned back at him, not once in his years
of hard training did Sidious ever put his hand on his shoulder, this was a
trick to aggravate him further. To his disappointment it had worked.
Back on Earth...
Kenla stumbled out of the vortex and fell onto the cold concrete floor of the
alternate star gate room. Her sapped energy was catching up with her, she
opened the medical bag and drank two of the four pints of blood. Her energy
replenished she set off back to her ship. She left the installation and ran to
the gates. She pressed the button on her wrist device and the star chaser
decloaked infront of her and the door opened. The pre-flight check was clear
so she took off straight away. As soon as Kenla cleared Earth's orbit, she set
the nav computer for Coruscant, the co-ordinates appeared and Kenla made
the jump to hyperspace. Space burst into star lines around her as she settled
down for the journey, but she couldn't, uneasiness filled her again. Then she
had an idea.
Turning away from the window, Kenla placed her palms together and
formed the familiar ball of green light, the ball of light grew to one meter in
diameter, a swirling vortex formed in the centre, and radiated out.
"Show me Darth Maul," she said touching the vortex. It began to swirl
faster and faster, an image formed in the centre, it began to clear as it filled
the vortex. Two figures appeared, one was Maul, looking very pissed off.
The other she didn't recognise straight away, he looked the same species as
Maul, but he didn't have the crimson and black tattoos, then Kenla saw his
face. She didn't believe what she was seeing, the man standing infront of
Maul looked the exact double of him. The double was wearing an evil grin
as he gestured towards the door, which by now Kenla had recognised was
Palpatine's senate room. The image flickered and faded away.
Kenla was stunned by what she had just seen, she drank one of the two
remaining pints and made sure that she was travelling at top speed. Again
she tried to settle, but the effort was just futile. In the end pacing was the
answer.
The journey passed with no complications she dropped out of hyperspace
near to Coruscant, but did not bother with the cloaking device because she
didn't care who saw her, just as long as she got to Coruscant. As she passed
the many ships entering and leaving Coruscant, she couldn't help notice that
many of them raised their shields as she flew past. They were obviously
intimidated by her ship. Kenla entered the atmosphere of the galactic capital
and head towards the senate. It was now that Kenla activated her cloaking
device, it would be quicker this way. She searched out Maul's ship using a
special frequency that only she and Sidious knew about. The infiltrator was
on a monad outside the senate. Kenla landed on the next building. She
unfolded her wings and flew over to the senate, under cover of darkness, she
searched out Palpatine's room, but it was empty. The door opened behind
her, Chancellor Palpatine stood in the doorway smiling.
"Ah two in one day, how lucky can one get?" he said walking past Kenla,
the door shut behind him.
"Tell me where he is now, you know you do not stand a chance against me
Sidious," said Kenla staring at him.
"Don't be so foolish child, you have only witnessed a fraction of my true
power. Lord Maul is in the crimson corridor, but it won't make any
difference, he is completing his training you must not stand in his way." Said
Palpatine, the smile vanished from his face.
"That thing he is going to fight, is it a clone?" asked Kenla quietly. He
nodded, Kenla sighed, and said,
"Is it stronger than Maul?" Palpatine shrugged and said,
"The force will decide their fate, though I have found that the clone is quite
unstable when using the force, even a little psychotic you might say." He
saw the expression on Kenla's face and began to laugh coldly. Kenla threw
him a piercing look and ran from the room.
She pushed past people in the corridor, not caring what they thought, she
just wanted to get outside. Once outside she ran along the walkway, not
looking where she was going she ran straight into a hooded figure and
crashed to the ground. She hurried an apology as she scrambled to her feet.
The hooded figure got up and brushed himself down. Kenla began to run but
the figure caught her around the wrist. The figure removed his hood, it was
Obi-Wan Kenobi. He held her wrist tightly.
"What's the rush Kenla?" he said, his voice lowered so no one could hear
him except Kenla.
"Please let go, or else its going to be too late, I don't have the time to fight
you," said Kenla trying to free her wrist. Obi-Wan kept hold of it.
"Too late for what?" he said. He watched as Kenla struggled, he saw the
desperation in her eyes.
"Too late for what Kenla? he said again. Kenla looked at him, her eyes
brimming with tears.
"It's Darth Maul, I was late getting here, I think he went and saw his old
master and now he's going to fight a clone to complete his training. And if
this clone uses the force, it goes crazy. I don't think Maul knows what he's
up against. Now please let me go." She said. Obi-Wan let go.
"I'm coming with you, no questions asked." He said defiantly. Kenla didn't
have to contemplate the matter, she began to run and Obi-Wan followed
closely behind her. The unlikely allies came to the end of the walkway out of
sight of the people. Obi-Wan looked over the edge of the walkway into the
gloom of the cloud layer, then at Kenla, who gave him a sly smile, she
pushed him off the walkway. Kenla jumped after him, she unfolded her
wings and flew towards him. She grabbed both of his wrists and soared
beneath the cloud layer. The extra weight was a strain, but Kenla coped
easily, she had been training with Maul to carry extra weight, so without the
burden she could fly faster than before. They dropped silently through the
cloud layer, the dense cloud shrouded them from any stray eyes. It wasn't
long until they reached the ground, Kenla let Obi-Wan drop the last few feet.
As Kenla landed, she left her wings unfolded incase a quick take off was
needed. Obi-Wan stood quietly for a moment.
"I sense a disturbance in the force, down that way," said Obi-Wan pointing
down the dank alleyway. Kenla nodded and followed Obi-Wan's lead.
Along the alleyway, Kenla noticed that there seemed to be less inhabitants
than usual, and when they saw her they shrank back down in the shadows
hoping that she will pass, they obviously knew what she could do to them.
They had walked for ten minutes or so when Obi-Wan abruptly stopped
walking, Kenla nearly crashed onto him, he turned quickly and put his finger
to his lips. Kenla did as she was told and kept quiet.
Just then, a crimson flash of light appeared, it collided with a jet of another
crimson light. There was a sound of grating light sabers, the owners of the
two light sabers came running into view. The first was the clone, dodging
the blows dealt by Darth Maul, the speed of the attacks was extraordinary.
The clone was able to keep up with all that Maul threw at him, he jumped
over a low slice by Maul and the turned and aimed a force blast at his
opponents torso, Maul was caught unaware by this and was catapulted
backwards and slammed against a hard metal pipe. Maul slumped to the
ground, the wind had been knocked from him. Kenla drew her samurai
sword.
"Why that bas..." said Kenla through gritted teeth, Obi-Wan held her back,
but to no avail, she shrugged him off and ran forward after the clone, who by
now was preparing to deliver the death blow. The clone turned quickly, he
was taken by surprise by the sudden attack from this unknown female. Her
sword cut deep into his light saber hilt, so much so, that it was rendered
useless. He discarded it immediately, his eyes where open to their fullest
extent, giving him an almost insane look. A manic smile spread across his
face, exposing his teeth. He aimed a force blast at her, but when he saw that
it didn't affect her one bit he began to laugh.
"Oh isn't this fun, and look a Jedi in tow too!" he said, his voice faltering
with laughter. By now, Maul had got back onto his feet, he took note of what
he clone was saying and looked sharply at the young Jedi standing in the
shadows. It was the same Jedi that defeated him on Naboo, the same Jedi
that he vowed to take revenge on. Kenla saw the look on Maul's face and
traced his line of sight. 'Oh no,' she thought to herself.
The clone turned and ran, he melted into the shadows, Maul and Obi-Wan
took no notice they were too busy staring each other out.
"What's that Jedi doing here," Maul said in a low voice, not taking his
blazing eyes off Obi-Wan. Kenla put her arm around Maul's waist.
"Well he sort of tagged along, I ran into him after I left the senate." She
said.
"Why were you at the senate Kenla?" said Obi-Wan curiously.
"Oh nothing in particular you need to concern yourself with Jedi, do you
need a lift to the top levels?" she said, Obi-Wan nodded. Kenla looked up at
Maul, she could tell he was not happy about this.
"I won't be long promise, so don't get in to anymore trouble, okay, I'll meet
you back at your ship," she said smiling. Maul looked at her, he gave a little
nod and a faint smile, faint enough so the Jedi wouldn't see.
Kenla took off and hovered for a few seconds before gripping Obi-Wan's
wrists, as they flew further upwards, Obi-Wan caught Maul's eye, there was
a look of pure venom on his face. Maul faded into the gloom the higher they
went, soon he was gone. A wave of cold washed over Obi-Wan, never
before had he felt such darkness, not even when he faced him once before,
but that fight was a blur to him, after he saw his old master Qui-Gon cut
down, the force enveloped him and guided his actions, at that moment he
was one with the force.
"Tell me Kenla, why him?" said Obi-Wan, Kenla looked down on him.
"Why, what do you mean?" she said,
"What I mean is, why did you chose that to be with?" he said,
"For your information, that has a name. To you he is called Darth Maul,
Dark lord of the Sith. To me he is Khameir, I suppose you Jedi are far too
self centred to realise that there is a person behind the title, you think you
can judge someone just by appearances. I should really let you drop right
here for what you did to him, and to me," said Kenla, Obi-Wan remained
quiet.
Since the Jedi temple was not far, Kenla decided to drop Obi-Wan off there,
it was far enough away from Maul so he would not be able to find his way
back with a troop of Jedi Knights, it was the last thing Kenla wanted to
happen. They landed gently outside the Jedi Temple, Kenla was about to
take off again when Obi-Wan grabbed her wrist, like before outside of the
senate.
"What?" Kenla said, showing her annoyance.
"Master Yoda once said, quite a while ago, that if you returned he would
like to speak with you," said Obi-Wan, he let go of her wrist.
"You really like holding me up don't you? I'm not foolish, I know as soon
as I walk in there the guards will be on top of me, just like last time." She
said folding her arms.
"Well last time you did have your sword to my throat." He said. Kenla
contemplated the matter for a moment, until saying,
"True, now you must remember that I'm only going in because I respect
Yoda, he's been there, you know what I mean. I sense he is old, older than
me, just how old is he?"
"You are right in thinking he is old, I would say that he is about 860 years
old, if you don't mind me asking, exactly how old are you?" he said
curiously. Kenla chuckled to herself.
"You know that on my planet, it is insulting to ask a woman her age, but
since you asked nicely, I am nearing on 502 years. Now are we going in or
what, I don't have all day I promised Maul that I wouldn't be gone long."
She said. Obi-Wan smiled and led the way through the huge doors. Once
inside he asked a person at a desk where master Yoda was, he was in the
council chamber, they were having a meeting. After the long elevator ride
they were soon outside the council chamber doors. Obi-Wan announced his
presence to the council members, a moment later Kenla was asked to enter.
She walked to the centre of the circular room and bowed slightly at Yoda, he
did so back, Obi-Wan left the room.
"I was told that you had expressed wishes to speak to me Yoda," she said in
a confident voice.
"Hmm that I did Kenla, tell me how fare you?" said Yoda.
"Oh I'm fine, no thanks to one of your knights of course. Now I know you
didn't want me here to have a chat over a cup of tea. Please dispense with
the pleasantries." Said Kenla. Mace Windu spoke up,
"Believe me Kenla Sa'talee we don't want you her longer than you have to
be, now last time we saw you, you had sided with the dark side of the force."
Kenla shot Windu a piercing look.
"Please tell me why you distinguish between the light and dark side of the
force, the force is the same but it is the people who use it in different ways,
there is no light or dark." Said Kenla staring at Mace Windu.
"Ah you are indeed wise Kenla, I see we can fool you not. We wish to study
you, find just how strong you are," said Yoda. Kenla smiled and said,
"Is it me or does everyone want to study me today, first the Americans and
now the Jedi, who next? Anyway the answer is no I'm afraid and that's final,
I have too many commitments to be anyone's guinea pig."
Mace Windu looked taken aback, he didn't believe that anyone could talk to
Yoda in such a manner, he looked at her curiously and said,
"What is a guinea pig?" Kenla shook her head and sighed, she turned on her
heels and walked towards the door. Behind her one of the Jedi masters used
the force to close the door that she was walking towards.
"Open the door, I warn you that was not a request, it was an order." Kenla
waited a few moments, the door did not open. "I see that even Jedi masters
still play childish pranks," said Kenla, frustration was beginning to take hold
of her. A strange voice she had not heard before caught her attention,
"I assure you child, this is no prank." Kenla turned to see whom the owner
of the strange voice was, the face of a strange alien met her eyes. Kenla had
never given him a second thought before, he had reddish skin, piercing black
eyes and what looked like a black breathing mask. He sat to Mace Windu's
left.
"Forgive me, but I don't believe I know who you are," said Kenla raising
her eyebrows.
"That is because as until now, I have had no need to tell you child, my name
is Plo Koon. Contrary to what Mace Windu told you, we do have good
reason to keep you here, you are a danger to the people, we see your powers
as dangerous and need to be kept under control." He said placing the tips of
his fingers together. Kenla's mouth dropped open in disbelief.
"I don't believe this, I came up here on Obi-Wan's word that I would be
safe from attempts of imprisonment by you lot! Dangerous ? I'll show you
dangerous, I have powers that would make your hair curl, if you had any, I
can create portals that lead to other dimensions, you Jedi think that you will
be still here in years to come? Heed my words a dark era will befall you all
until there is only one of you left, I can show the future with more clarity
and accuracy than any force wielder can ever dream of. So release the god-
dam doors."
Plo Koon contemplated the matter, he looked up at Kenla and shook his
head.
"Fine," said Kenla, anger was flowing through her. She channelled her
anger and aimed a well-placed telekinetic blast at the door. It hit with such
ferocity that the door was reduced to small splints of wood. Kenla started to
walk out of the door when Obi-Wan peered around the doorframe, he had
sawdust in his hair. He stood aside and let Kenla walk past, which Kenla
thought was the only smart thing he had done since she ran into him out side
the senate. She turned around to face Yoda through the wrecked door.
"I'm sorry it had to come to this Yoda, I respect you and I see that you
respect me, but your friends here have a lot to learn, farewell."
Yoda sighed, the council members remained silent. Kenla made her way to
the elevator, she heard footsteps behind her, she turned to face the Jedi
walking briskly towards her, it was Obi-Wan.
"Kenla wait, look I'm really sorry about what happened in there," he said
with an apologetic tone.
"You promised me that there would be no attempts to capture me," Kenla
said in a raised voice.
"Yeah I know, I apologise for master Plo Koon..."
"Do not apologise for me young knight, I have nothing to be sorry for," said
Plo Koon as he made his way towards her over the wreckage of the door. He
was holding something in his hand, but Kenla couldn't make out what it
was.
"What do you want Jedi?" said Kenla warily. Plo Koon stood a foot and a
half away from Kenla, he didn't say anything. Just then as quick as
lightening, before Kenla could react, Plo Koon raised his hand with the
device and stuck it to Kenla's shoulder. The device delivered a powerful
electric shock that rendered Kenla unconscious.
Meanwhile...
Darth Maul had made his way back to the Sith Infiltrator, his mind was
dwelling on the fact that the Jedi he most despised was standing a few feet
away from him, he could of finished him off there and then, he didn't though
for some reason. A warning beep sounded some where on the front panel, it
took him a while to find the source because he had never heard it before. It
turned out to be an alarm from a remote signal that Kenla carried with her, it
told Maul that she was in some kind of trouble, the signal originated from
deep within the Jedi Temple.
He knew he would be out numbered at least a hundred to one, but he had to
do something, he couldn't leave her to the Jedi. He paced his ship trying to
think of some plan to infiltrate the temple with out being noticed, there was
that small window that Kenla had escaped from once before, when the Jedi
thought that she was dead and tried to cremate her. The window was
probably replaced by now but that was no problem for a light saber, from
then on he would have to take his chances whilst out of the room. He exited
his ship and called the speeder, he mounted and was soon well on his way to
the Jedi temple, he had a small locator which would guide him to Kenla that
he attached to his wrist.
It wasn't long until he reached the roof of the temple, he dismounted from
the speeder and climbed down the roof to where the small windows were,
Maul activated one edge of his light saber and cut a smooth hole through the
glass, cutting close the frame, the pane of glass fell cleanly away. The glass
around the frame was quick to solidify so that Maul could pass through in
the Knowledge that molten glass would not burn him.
Once inside he checked the door, it was locked. Maul let the force wonder
through the door, the hallway was clear. He burnt through the lock and
slipped into the hallway, the only way from there was in an elevator. Maul
checked the locator, Kenla was three floors below the main entrance level.
Inside the elevator he knew that it would be risky to stay there, so after
selecting the level he saw an access panel in the roof of the elevator, he
pushed it open and pulled himself up and closed it behind him. All too soon
it stopped prematurely, two padawan's got in, they where discussing their
masters light sabers , they got off two floors down by this time they where
talking about one day wishing to fight worthy adversaries such as the Sith.
The elevator was empty once again, it was clear all the way down to Mauls
desired floor, he dropped down back into the elevator, he readied his light
saber as the door slowly opened. To Mauls surprise the corridor that he was
faced with was empty, it looked like it was a dormitory corridor. To his right
there was a flight of stairs, silently he crept down them.
The stairs ended in a long narrow room, at the far side of the room were two
Jedi standing guard of a steel door, they were talking between them selves,
Maul held back and caught some of the conversation.
"Yeah, Master Plo Koon was ready to finish her off when master Yoda told
him that she might be useful for information about the Sith, Obi-Wan backed
him up, very eagerly infact, if you ask me I think that he has some feelings
for her," said one, the other replied,
"Really, you think so? Hey do you know what young Anakin told me, he
said that last time she was here she took four blaster shots to the back, run
through with two light sabers and her own sword, and that she managed to
make herself disappear right infront of all the council members."
"Whoa! I wonder what else she can do, what planet is she from?" said the
first, the second shrugged. Maul had heard all he needed to know.
Maul propelled him self around the corner to face the two Jedi, he held
them against the wall using the Sith choke hold and took them both out
swiftly with his light saber. Searched the two for an access card, he found it.
When Maul entered the room he saw Kenla's unconscious body lying on a
small minimal bed at the far side of the room. He hurried to her side and
kneeled down beside her, he shook her shoulder gently.
"Kenla, Kenla please wake up, the Jedi will have felt those two outside die.
Kenla wake up," he said close to her ear. To Mauls relief Kenla began to
open her eyes, he scooped her up in his arms and turned to exit the room. He
past the two dead Jedi and made it up the stairs, just a few feet away from
the elevator Maul stopped dead as the doors began to open, he could sense
the Jedi inside, behind him was empty corridor so he decided to make a run
for it with Kenla in his arms down the passage.
There where shouts behind him, he knew he could not take them all on. His
luck changed as a small boy ahead of him was leaving his room, Maul
pushed the young boy back into his room and locked the door behind him.
Keeping an eye on the young boy, he laid Kenla gently down onto the boy's
bed. There was pounding on the door.
"Keep your distance Jedi, or I will finish of this young Padawan here,"
Maul said through the door, the pounding stopped immediately, a voice
trailed through the door,
"Are you alright Anakin? Don't worry your master has been sent for." Maul
gave Anakin a look, which meant he had to answer, so he did,
"Yeah I'm fine," shouted Anakin. Kenla had lapsed into unconsciousness
again in the hall, she opened her eyes again and looked up at Maul.
"What are you doing here?" she said groggily.
"Rescuing you, what did they do to you?" he said quietly.
"Some guy called Plo Koon I think, electrocuted me, hey you're Anakin
Skywalker aren't you?" said Kenla looking over at the boy stood in the
corner of the room, Anakin looked up surprised that she knew his name, he
nodded.
"I remember you from the last time you were her, my master sent me out to
get back up for him when you entered the training room. Who are you? My
master would never tell me, he said that I wouldn't understand," said Anakin
"I am Kenla Sa'talee, I think that Obi-Wan never told you about me is
because I know your future, Anakin you are destined for great things. Do
you have a window in this place?" she said sitting up, she had a splitting
headache. Anakin didn't say anything back. Kenla understood, he didn't
want to betray the Jedi. Slowly she stood up with help from Maul,
"Thanks, I'll look around for a window, you stand guard, Anakin you go
and sit down somewhere and stay there." Said Kenla. she walked into the
next room gingerly massaging her temple. Indeed the was a window in this
room, it was just large enough to fit through. She opened it and looked
down, there was a long drop.
"I've found a window, I hope you brought your speeder because I'm really
not up to flying," she said walking back into the first room. Anakin was
staring at Darth Maul with a strange expression on his face. finally he said,
"I know you, you fought master Qui-Gon and master Obi-Wan on Naboo,
you killed Qui-Gon but I thought you were killed by master Obi-Wan?"
Anakin said quietly. Maul looked at Anakin with a smirk on his face, he
pointed a Kenla with his light saber.
"Well you see Anakin, while Obi-Wan was grieving for the late Qui-Gon I
flew down the shaft and was able to reach him in time to heal him." Said
Kenla. Anakin looked up and said,
"Couldn't you of healed Qui-Gon, before you flew down the shaft? It
wouldn't have taken long."
"I'm sorry Anakin, I had my priorities, look if it's any consolation I liked
Qui-Gon, he was kind enough to lend me his light saber when I first came to
the temple to test my skills. We have to go now, count to fifty before you let
them in after we have gone, okay?" said Kenla sympathetically. Maul left
the room and called the speeder, he climbed through the window and got on.
Kenla hugged Anakin and also climbed through the window onto the
speeder. Anakin watched them until they were out of sight, he felt the
darkness that surrounded Darth Maul, it was cold and penetrating, he liked
it. He went and let the Jedi in.
"So that's the Skywalker you once told me about?" said Maul, he swerved
to avoid a lane of traffic.
"Yeah, he's going to be Palpatine's new apprentice, a real powerful one at
that, no offence. Do you remember those Americans on Endor? Well
somehow in their world, all of this is just a film made by some guy called
George Lucas, and apparently little Anakin is going to be called Darth
Vader. Oh ooh looks like we've picked up someone, I can't tell who it is,
can you?" said Kenla looking behind them.
Darth Maul cleared his mind and let the tendrils of the force guide
themselves towards their unknown foe. Such darkness, near that of
Palpatine, and himself.
"It's my other half, I have to face him, destroy him. Listen carefully Kenla,
if I die then it's up to you to kill him, he shouldn't be allowed to live," said
Maul slowing down.
"I understand, the only thing is I haven't got my sword, the Jedi must have
hidden it somewhere inside the temple." Kenla said. Maul looked back and
smiled at her, he got something from inside his robes and handed it to Kenla.
"Here, this is for you, I made it in my spare time. The blade is in your
favourite colour purple, I used a red and a blue crystal to get it like that. It
was going to be for your birthday, but now is a good time." Said Maul.
"A light saber of my own, it's a perfect present thank you so much, I love
you," said Kenla, she hugged him tightly around his chest.
The speeder started to descend through the cloud layer, he landed it in a
deserted alleyway. They dismounted and waited in silence for the clone to
follow. Kenla gripped Mauls hand tightly. They watched as a speeder
dropped quickly through the cloud layer, the clone didn't bother to land it,
he jumped off igniting his light saber in the process twenty feet from the
ground. Maul kissed Kenla and ignited his own light saber, she had a funny
feeling that it would be the last time she ever kissed him again.
There was a sickening crack when the two light sabers met. Maul advanced
with his attacks, driving the clone back, but he seemed to match every attack
to block it, the clone struck Mauls face with the back of his gauntlet, it must
have had studs in of some kind as Maul's face began to bleed where he was
struck. Maul retaliated by giving the clone a swift kick to the chest, it sent
him reeling backwards. This time the clone stepped up his attacks and drove
Maul back. Maul jumped back enough to recover and gained enough time to
assume another battle stance. The clone was on him in an instant, with the
speed he gathered, the clone hammered into Darth Maul and was trying to
find an opening, but found none.
Kenla looked on as the two were locked in combat that seemed endless.
Then Maul parried a downstroke, whirled softly to the left, with his back to
the clone he made a blind reverse lunge, but the clone saw the attack and
dodged it effortlessly. The clone bore into him again with fresh fury.
Lunging and twisting, Maul regained the offensive and counterattacked,
using both ends of his light saber in an effort to cut the legs of the clone
from underneath him.
Driving the clone back, Maul hammered into him with such determination,
that he scorched the clone's robes, the chest, shoulder, and waist. The clone
started to use his manipulation of the force to pelt Maul with deadly missiles
to knock him off balance. This did not work of course, and soon they were
back to close-quarters fighting. Again they were matched blow for blow, but
then the clone ducked one of Maul's attacks, this caught Maul unaware as he
swung out too much, giving the clone the opening he needed, he hit Maul in
the chin and taking advantage of his opponents momentary unbalance, thrust
one end of his light saber into Maul's chest.
Pain beyond pain, Maul looked down to see the light saber being pulled out.
He remembered that this was how he finished of Qui-Gon. He stood there
swaying, he could faintly hear the cries of anguish from Kenla. he looked up
to see the triumphant grin on the clone's face, he fell to his knees. Kenla
came running over to him, tears streaming down her face, she cradled him in
her arms and tried desperately to gather the energy to heal him. She stopped
as Maul held his hand up to caress her face and wipe away her tears.
"Please don't cry, it is my destiny and it is yours to stop him, I... I love you,
always," he said in a weakened voice.
"I love you too," said Kenla, as they kissed he passed away. Kenla couldn't
fight back the tears anymore, she burst out crying as she lay the body of
Darth Maul gently on the ground, she smoothed his robes and kissed his
forehead softly. Tears ran off her chin and fell silently onto his cheek. Just
then the body of Maul slowly began to disappear until there was just his
robes left, he had ascended to a higher level of being and became one with
the force.
The clone that was lurking in the background started to scoff at this. Kenla
wiped away her tears and slowly stood up to face him. She unfolded her
wings to give her greater balance, and for the extra energy, she needed it.
"Well this has been real nice, but I have to go, my master wishes you to stay
alive, shame really I can't wait to kill you, now that skill less has been dealt
with," said the clone smirking.
"Skill less! If you were half the man he was, you will never equal him, ever.
And as for wanting to kill me, it will take a lot more than a light saber and
the force to kill me off." Said Kenla through gritted teeth.
"Yeah whatever darling," he said smiling, he mounted his speeder and
disappeared into the gloom.
"No matter where you go, I will hunt you down like the animal you are, and
take revenge." Said Kenla staring into the gloom. Kenla turned and silently
walked back to Maul's robes, she gathered them up and folded them neatly,
she picked up his light saber, which lay idly on the dank floor. She put the
robes in the storage compartment on the speeder and mounted it. She was
about to take off when she heard the sound of a speeder engine behind her,
Kenla dismounted and readied herself. To her surprise it was not the clone
returning to finish her off, it was Obi-Wan.
He landed and dismounted, he looked around, he could tell something had
happened.
"What happened here Kenla? Where's Darth Maul?" said Obi-Wan. Kenla
looked down at the light saber in her hands, the magnitude of the events that
had just happened just hit her, she couldn't hold it in any more, she sank to
the ground and burst out crying.
Obi-Wan stood there and watched her clutch the light saber close to her
chest. He understood what had happened, he walked over to her and knelt
down beside her. He put his hand on her shoulder, she recoiled, he pulled her
into a hug and comforted her while she sobbed silently into his shoulder.
This went on for ten minutes before Kenla got up, she was shaking all over.
Obi-Wan got up and looked at her condition.
"Come back to the temple with me, you're in no state to be on your own
right now, or go looking for that pathetic life form," he said sympathetically.
Kenla looked into Obi-Wan's eyes, he was right, she was in no state to do
anything let alone fight. She closed her eyes and nodded, she still had
Maul's light saber gripped in her hand so she walked over to the speeder and
placed it with his robe in the storage compartment. She mounted and waited
for Obi-Wan to do the same. He kicked off from the ground and led the way
back to the Jedi temple. Kenla followed, her body and soul were numb with
grief, 'I can't beat this clone, he's too strong I'm not trained for this,' she
thought as they drew near to the temple. They set down at the front entrance
of the temple. They dismounted and made the walk to the large doors, as
soon as they got close, the doors opened automatically. Kenla stopped dead
in her tracks and started to back off.
"What's wrong Kenla?" said Obi-Wan curiously.
"I'm sorry but I can't go in there, they hate me, especially that Plo Koon
guy he gives me the creeps. You gave your word that I would be safe last
time I went in there, and then look what happened I got electrocuted," said
Kenla shaking her head. Obi-Wan sighed and said,
"Listen, it will be okay I promise, I'll make sure that nothing happens to
you this time." Kenla looked at Obi-Wan, she saw honesty in his eyes, she
nodded and started walking again.
As they entered, Kenla saw that when some of the Jedi lay eyes on her, they
started whispering furiously between themselves. Four security guarded ran
over to the pair, weapons at the ready. One of them shouted back to a man
behind a desk,
"Inform the council members that the dark one has been recaptured by Obi-
Wan Kenobi."
"We will take her from here Obi-Wan," said another, grabbing Kenla
roughly by the arm. Obi-Wan looked shocked, he stood between Kenla and
the others advancing on her.
"No, you don't understand, I did not recapture her, she came back of her
own free will because she has just suffered a great loss. She was in no state
to be left out there all alone, or taken into custody." Said Obi-Wan.
"Do you defy the council Obi-Wan," said a voice from behind them. The
guards saw whom it was a first and bowed low, Obi-Wan and Kenla
wheeled around to find Mace Windu and Plo Koon walking down a small
flight of stairs together. Obi-Wan bowed too and then said,
"No masters, I do not defy the council, I believe that she poses no threat at
this time."
"That remains to be seen, and what of the Sith lord?" said Mace Windu.
Kenla hung her head low, her lip trembled. She looked up sharply and said
with a raised voice,
"He's dead, there, are you happy," her voice faltered.
"Oh, did you...?" said Windu gesturing at Obi-Wan. He cottoned on and
shook his head.
"No masters," he said quietly.
"It was a clone, basically sent out to kill him. Its master was taking revenge
for Maul leaving him, Darth Sidious told Maul that he would complete his
training of he defeated the clone, but it was just a trap, and I think that Maul
knew this but he still went and fought it anyway. I think he knew he was
going to die, because he gave me this," said Kenla, she pulled out the light
saber maul had given her, "He said that I should kill the clone if he didn't
make it because he said that it shouldn't be allowed to exist. And that's what
I'm going to do, now you can either help me in this quest or hinder me,
either way I will hunt that thing down and kill it, even if I have to go through
Darth Sidious himself to do it."
Yoda slowly walked around from behind Plo Koon.
"Hmm, a wise quest it is, help you we will. A light saber you have, some
training you will need, for that task, Obi-Wan I shall choose," he said
smiling, Plo Koon looked down at Yoda then at Kenla, he shook his head
and sighed, then walked off.
And so it was, for the next two weeks, Kenla trained all the hours she could
to get a fairly good mastery of her light saber, she new the basics of course
from her sword, but a light saber is light and elegant and requires special
handling.
One day Anakin entered the training room where Obi-Wan was teaching her
the basic teras kasi wide stance. He sat in the corner and watched taking
everything in. Kenla felt bad, so she said,
"Obi-Wan, I really appreciate all this but I fear you are neglecting you top
priority, your apprentice Anakin, you've barely trained him these past two
weeks." Obi-Wan looked at Kenla and smiled.
"You're right as always Kenla, you are a much wiser person than I am.
Keep practising this stance, I noticed that Darth Maul used it a lot and I
deeply regret to say, it helped him a lot. Come Anakin." He said, Anakin
jumped up and left at a quickened pace, before he left the room he glanced
back at Kenla and gave her a warm smile.
Two hours later, Kenla was sitting alone in the room meditating, the lights
were turned down, for the first time in two weeks, she felt calm. In her mind
she practised the moves that Obi-Wan had taught her, and some that she
learned by observing Maul when he was training on earth, especially the
move where by you twist your self and your weapon into the flowing form
known as rancor rising.
As Kenla sat there, a cold feeling washed over her. Her eyes snapped open.
'It is time,' she thought to herself. She picked up her light saber, which was
infront of her and left the room. She managed to reach the back exit of the
temple with out seeing anyone. As she opened the door a voice startled her,
it was Yoda,
"Good luck Kenla, may the force be with you." Kenla smiled at him and left
silently. Kenla stood out on the balcony and stared into the gloom, all her
feelings were pointing to the senate, she unfolded her wings and took flight
into the night sky.
It felt good to stretch her wings. After a five-minute flight she neared the
back entrance of the senate. She landed silently and slipped in through the
back door, there must have been a meeting because the halls were quiet,
there were only a few guards but Kenla easily subdued them. She made it to
the elevator and selected the correct floor, in the time it took the elevator to
reach the right floor, Kenla prepared herself mentally and physically for the
impending battle, she took a deep cleansing breath as the doors slowly
opened. Again there was nobody in the corridor, Kenla did not like this,
either the whole floor was set aside for the Chancellor or it was a trap.
She stood outside the door and stared at it for a while, she made for the
handle three times before she finally gripped it, to her surprise the door was
unlocked, she peered in and gave the room a quick scan, it was empty. Kenla
slipped through the door and made her way quietly to the training room. A
noise made her stop dead in her tracks, the sound of crunching metal and the
deactivation of a light saber, echoed from the training room. The door was
ajar so Kenla sneaked a quick look inside, success the clone was in there,
and he was alone.
Kenla walked quietly through the door so as not to attract attention, and
slammed it shut behind her and jammed the lock so nobody could enter
behind her.
The clone spun around to see whom it was, once he saw Kenla a manic grin
spread across his face and contorted his features.
"Ah, if it isn't the one and only Kenla, I've been wondering when you'd
show up," he said readying his light saber.
"I'm here to finish what Maul started, and just in case you're wondering,
it's going to take a lot more than a light saber to finish me off," she said also
readying her own unique light saber. The clone dismissed the comment
made by Kenla and ran to attack Kenla activating his light saber in the
process. Kenla activated her own, the blade was a beautiful deep purple.
Master Yoda said, once he saw it that it was the only one of its kind and that
the maker must have been an exceptionally skilled to make it.
Kenla blocked and ducked the next blow, this time she went on the
offensive, driving the clone back, she twisted up in to the rising rancor form
and kicked the clone in the face, he reeled back clutching his nose trying to
stem the bleeding. He wiped his nose on his sleeve and attacked, he had
smeared blood all the way across his face and flecks of blood dripped onto
his tunic. Kenla did the best she could to avoid most of the attacks, though
many grazed her. The clone jumped over her, she turned to only to be met
with the back of the clone's clenched fist, he dealt a vicious blow to the side
of Kenla's face, this knocked her off balance as she staggered back
massaging her cheek.
"Now we're even," said the clone grinning.
"We're far from even clone," said Kenla through clenched teeth. The clone
took it as a personal insult that she did not call him by name, so he went on
the offensive again. What surprised Kenla the most was that she managed to
match the clone blow for blow. She tried her best to catch him off guard
with a series of blind thrust attacks, but to no avail, she tried one more time,
but the clone knew what was coming, he managed to avoid it and swing
around to the front of Kenla and kick her in the chest which sent her
sprawling backwards onto the floor. She tried to get up in time but she was
too late, the clone stood over her and thrust one end of his light saber into
her stomach. She cried out, the pain was hot and searing. The clone mocked
her with laughter as he pulled the light saber out.
Kenla shut her eyes, she knew that the blackness of unconsciousness would
engulf her soon, but to her surprise it did not! She opened her eyes a fraction
to see where the clone was, he was walking away congratulating himself on
a good fight. Kenla opened her eyes fully and sat up, she looked down at her
wound, it was seeping with blood, the wound was taking longer than Kenla
thought to heal itself. With one hand over the wound she picked up her light
saber and slowly got to her feet. Silently she walked up behind the clone,
who was by now fiddling with the door lock. She stood behind him and
activated her light saber, the clone spun around on his heels to face Kenla,
his face was white with shock and his eyes widened. Kenla raised her light
saber and with one swoop cut through his midriff. He made a sort of gagging
sound as he fell apart and hit the floor.
"Like I said, light sabers don't kill me," said Kenla with a sneer, she shoved
the body parts away from the door with her foot, and then used her light
saber to burn through the lock on the door that she jammed.
She met no one on her way out, she walked slowly from the back of the
senate to the front. The public on the walkway avoided her if they could, she
couldn't understand why her wound had not healed yet, the loss of blood
was making her dizzy, so she sat on the edge of the walkway. She could
sense some one behind her, but she didn't have the energy to turn around.
The figure sat down beside her, it was Obi-Wan.
"Are you okay? I've been looking all over for you," he said with concern in
his voice. Kenla removed her hand from the wound and stared at the blood
dripping off her fingers, there was a gasp from Obi-Wan.
"It's not serious is it? I mean you've survived worse," he said anxiously.
"I think it's because I haven't eaten in two weeks, and that electric shock
from Plo Koon didn't help much," she said, the loss of blood was making
her tired, all she wanted to do was go to sleep.
Obi-Wan stood up and helped Kenla get to her feet, she was very weak and
could hardly walk, they made their way to a secluded area of the walkway
that the public generally avoided. He sat her down gently on the floor and sat
down beside her. He rolled up the sleeve on his tunic exposing his wrist.
"Kenla wake up," he said gently shaking her, slowly she opened her eyes,
she looked at the bare wrist infront of her, and then at Obi-Wan, she closed
her eyes and shook her head.
"I can't," she said groggily turning away.
"You have to, it's the only way you're going to survive, it's alright I trust
you," he said, he placed a hand on her shoulder, Kenla looked into his eyes
and smiled weakly, showing her thanks. She took hold of his wrist and
traced a finger over the area that she would drink from to null the pain.
Kenla sank her teeth into his wrist and began to drink, it was warm and
satisfying, it tasted like no other she had tasted before, except for that of
Qui-Gon. She could feel the wound in her stomach beginning to heal. She
stopped drinking, she had taken all that she needed. She savoured the taste as
she healed the puncture marks in his wrist. Kenla looked at Obi-Wan, he was
fine, if not a little pasty. Kenla was able to walk without assistance this time,
the walked slowly to the speeder that was situated nearby.
"I forgot to ask, did you win?" said Obi-Wan.
"Yeah I did, I want to thank you for all the help you've given me over the
past two weeks, it helped me immensely. As a thank you, I want Anakin to
have Darth Maul's ship, the Infiltrator. I'm sure that he will have great use
for it in the future, and I think it will help his training if he has his own ship
to perfect his skills on, I can't let it sit there with out an owner," said Kenla
smiling warmly.
"That would be great, I'm sure Anakin will be really grateful when you see
him," said Obi-Wan awe struck at the gift.
"I'm sure he will be, thing is I'm leaving, I can't stay here anymore too
many bad memories. I think I'll go back home and see how SG1 are doing, I
hope that they didn't get in any trouble when I left." She said looking at the
ground smiling.
"Leave, but you can't. There are so many things you haven't seen or done
yet. Anakin likes having you around, Yoda respects you, and that's not
something he bestows on just anyone, and I really like you," said Obi-Wan
looking at the ground, blushing furiously.
"Oh Obi-Wan, I like you too, but not in that way, I'm sorry. I don't think I
can anymore, not after Maul. You go back to the temple, I'll bring the ship
round and I'll say my good byes," said Kenla sympathetically. Obi-Wan
looked crest-fallen. He nodded and mounted his speeder and set off towards
the temple.
Kenla felt strong enough to fly to her ship, once onboard she was greeted
with a strange smell, the source of which was coming from the medical bag.
She opened it up to find a pint bag full of clotted blood, she threw it out
immediately. On the control panel she activated the slave circuit on Maul's
ship, within a few seconds the infiltrator was hovering outside, decloaked.
She also deactivated the cloaking device on her ship. She set activated the
thrusters and set of towards the temple with the infiltrator in tow. She landed
in the empty hanger at the temple, the infiltrator landed softly beside her.
She opened the door on her ship, no one was there yet so she sat on the ramp
and waited.
The hanger bay door opened and Obi-Wan came through his expression was
hard to read, Anakin, Yoda, Mace Windu and Plo Koon closely followed
him. Anakin's jaw dropped when he saw the infiltrator. Kenla got up and
walked towards them. She gave Anakin the remote transmitter for the
cloaking device and showed him how to work it.
"Please look after it for me, I know you will be a good owner, I just need to
take a few things off before you can try it out," said Kenla looking back at
the ship. She sighed heavily and turned towards Plo Koon.
"What are you doing here? Still think I'm a danger to the public?" she said
bitterly, Plo Koon shifted his weight and said,
"Yes I do, but I know now that you are to be trusted, I think what you did
saved a lot of lives, who knows what that clone would have done, I ask
forgiveness for my behaviour."
"Yeah I do, I know how hard it is to admit you're wrong sometimes, I hope
you gain from this experience," she said smiling, Plo Koon bowed a little
acknowledging her. She turned to Mace Windu, who bowed and shook her
hand and said,
"Safe journey Kenla."
"Thanks," she said back, she looked down to Yoda and got down on one
knee.
"Miss you I will Kenla, come visit sometime?" he said, Kenla sighed and
said,
"I don't know yet, I'll see. I'll miss you too Yoda." She pulled him into a
hug, as she stood up he said,
"May the force be with you Kenla." Kenla smiled warmly.
"Obi-Wan could you help me a minute?" she said, he nodded.
"Could you get me my speeder and stow it in my ship?" said Kenla, he
didn't reply he went to the task straight away.
On the infiltrator, Kenla removed anything that belonged to Darth Maul and
the three dark eye droids, she stowed them safely on her ship, before she
went back into the hanger she picked up a small item off the control panel.
Obi-Wan had done what she asked, she walked up to him. To her surprise he
had her sword in his hand.
"Here, I got this back for you, oh Kenla won't you stay?" he said
desperately.
"No I have to go, but I have something for you too. On earth its customary
to have likenesses to remember loved ones by, since I don't have a photo of
myself I made this up for you to remember me by, it's a holo-image of me.
Do you like it?" she said handing him the holo-image.
"Thank you, but I don't think I need this to remember you by, I don't think
I'll ever forget someone who beat me nearly every time I fought you," said
Obi-Wan, he laughed a little. A tear appeared in Kenla's eye, she kissed him
on his cheek and pulled him into a long hug.
"I'll never forget you Obi-Wan Kenobi, good bye." She said letting him go
while wiping away the tears.
She waved good bye to the rest and boarded her ship. She lifted off,
manoeuvred out of the hanger and set off towards space, as she cleared obit
of Coruscant, she bid a final farewell and set the nav computer for earth, the
co-ordinates came through, she made the jump to hyperspace. Never again
would she set foot on that planet again, she settled back for the long ride
home.
The end.
Authors notes: Well there you have it, the end of Kenla's adventures in the
Star Wars universe, I'm working on a story line right now for all you SG1
fans out there, so look out in the not too distant future for Kenla and SG1
adventures. If you want to E-Mail me, feel free and I promise I will reply.
(Sarah) sithchickuk@yahoo.co.uk
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU
All SG1 characters and locations belong to MGM.
I own this story, and the characters I invented in it
ALERT~ Please be advised that if you are going to read this, then it is best
to read the first one I wrote, called Existence, because there are links
between the two, you will find it when you look up my profile. It isn't as
good as this one, but it was my first attempt at writing a story. Enjoy!!
Ascension
The sun rose gently over the English countryside, the dawn chorus started
up.
It had only been three months since they fled Tatooine for Earth. Kenla was
surprised how well Maul had settled down to life on Earth, though she did
have a feeling he was longing for space travel once more, he did not let on of
course but she knew him well enough. She lay there quietly listening to the
birds, Maul slept soundly beside her. Silence followed, but it was a strange
silence, the birds had stopped singing, in their place came a low rumbling
sound. Kenla got up and crept to the window, she looked all around but
could see nothing, but then out of the cover of the trees, came a large
procession of army vehicles. Kenla swore to herself, she ran over to Maul
and shook him awake rigorously and said,
"Wake up, we've got company."
"What is it?" he said sitting up quickly, he got out of bed and dressed.
"The British army has come for a visit, go now, take the infiltrator and go to
the moon or some where, I'll get rid of them." She said, also dressing. Maul
smiled and nodded, kissed her and left swiftly. Kenla walked down stairs
brushing her hair as she went. It wasn't long until there was a knock at the
door. Kenla went to the door and composed herself, she opened the door.
Standing there were three men, two had regulation army uniforms on and the
other had a smart pin stripe suit. Before Kenla said anything she took note
that all the other soldiers where surrounding the house, they were armed and
took their positions quickly and efficiently.
The guy in the pin stripe suit stepped forward and said in an annoying
public school voice,
"Good morning miss...ah yes Smith." He read from a file.
"May we come in? it is rather chilly out here in the wilds."
Kenla gave the man a searching look and finally said,
"Who are you? what do you want? and why are those soldiers surrounding
my house at this time in the morning?"
"All will be explained Miss Smith if we could just come in." he said
hugging his file.
"No," she said defiantly folding her arms. One of the two soldiers flanking
him stepped forward onto the front door step. Kenla shot him a sly look, she
laughed under her breath and began to close the door. The door was half shut
when the soldier stopped the door with his foot and barged in past Kenla, the
other soldier did the same. But instead of doing nothing when they got in,
they both took hold of Kenla's arms and restrained her.
"What the hell are you doing, get off me you idiots, you have no idea who
you're dealing with." She said through gritted teeth, she struggled but gave
up, it was just a futile waste of energy, and they had no idea what was going
to happen to them. The man in the suit walked in past Kenla and closed the
door behind him, he gave a little nod to the soldiers restraining Kenla, they
saw this and dragged her into the front room. They roughly sat her down on
the couch and stood either side of her making sure that she didn't try
anything. The man in the suit sat on a chair in front of Kenla, with a fleeting
glance at her, he turned to look at one of the soldiers and said,
"Give the order colonel." The soldier nodded and removed a radio from the
breast pocket on his combat jacket, and then proceeded to talk into it,
"Alpha Team, Bravo team, move in." As soon as he lowered the radio, at
least thirty soldiers ran into Kenla's house, half of them went upstairs, while
the other stayed down stairs and secured all the rooms.
Anger began to rage within Kenla,
"What are you doing to my house? I demand an explanation now." She said
focusing her deep blue eyes on him.
"Now now Miss Smith calm down, it seems as though a local has reported
some strange sightings recently, and he also has pictures to prove it." Said
the man in the suit, he opened his file and took out three photographs, he
placed them face down in front if Kenla. She picked them up slowly and
turned them over. Kenla's eyes widened, the first was a picture of her, she
was landing in a field from an early morning flight, the second was of Maul
training in the same field, the sun was setting. The third was of them both
near the house embracing each other. She put them back on the table, how
could anyone have seen them both, she thought that the field was safe
enough for training, it was surrounded by vegetation. She looked up at the
man, her face neutral, and said quietly,
"And these mean what to me?"
"I think it's quite obvious that the young woman in the photo is you, what
we want to know is who or what is that," he said pointing at Maul.
"Hello! Does it look like I've got wings? Somehow I don't think so, and as
to the other person in the photos, I have no idea what you mean." She said
looking away. The man shook his head and started to lose his composure,
"Don't play dumb with me Miss Smith, if that is your real name. This
person is clearly not human, look at the horns on his head for crying out
loud. This local is thinking of selling the negatives to the Americans, do you
know what will happen to you then?"
"I have a pretty good idea, but I still don't know what you want with me,
I'm just an ordinary girl in my late teens." Said Kenla looking as innocent as
she could. The man in the suit was about to say something when a soldier
came thundering down the stairs, he saluted the colonel,
"I found this sir, it was under the pillow on the bed." Slightly out of breath
he handed the colonel a long, grey cylindrical object. Kenla recognised it
instantly, it was Maul's replacement double-bladed light saber, she swore to
her self in silence. The colonel saluted the soldier who had brought him the
strange object he now possessed, he turned to Kenla and said,
"What is this then young lady?" he said in a pompous voice.
"Oh that, its nothing don't bother with it, its just something I've had since I
was a kid, brings me luck if I sleep with it under my pillow." Said Kenla
lying as best she could.
"Nothing? Then you won't mind if I throw it in the fire then." He said
dangling it over the open fireplace. Kenla had to admit defeat.
"Wait, don't, look give it here I'll show you how it works," she said
standing up extending her hand. A triumphant smile spread across the
colonel's face, he handed her the light sabre, utterly unaware of what it was.
A sense of superiority washed over Kenla as she handled the light saber hilt.
She looked at the colonel and raised the hilt to eye level with the colonel,
"This is an alien calming devise, all you have to do is look down this little
hole and all your troubles will go away instantly." Said Kenla smiling
warmly. 'Oh my god, he's actually falling for it, mindless scum' she thought
to herself as he looked down the small hole at the end of the light saber.
"Now hold that position," she said calmly, she pressed one of the buttons, a
crimson blade shot out of the end of the light saber and went straight through
the colonel's forehead, he fell to the ground in silence. The other soldier got
over the shock of what he had just seen and drew his gun, Kenla turned
quickly and sliced through the gun and his neck in one swoop. She turned
and looked at the man in the suit, he was clutching his file close to his chest
in terror. He was white with shock. She walked towards the man and a sly
grin spread across her face.
"Perhaps a meal before I leave," she said in a soft menacing voice. The man
scrambled out of his chair and made for the door, but Kenla caught him
around the neck and smothered his mouth before he could cry out. She sank
her extended vampiric teeth into his neck and drank swiftly. She left the
body of the man slumped on the floor as she retrieved the gun from the first
soldier, she also attached the light saber to her belt. Her best bet at escaping
was from the roof, from there she could fly over to her ship in the back field,
before she made her way upstairs, she took the pictures from the table and
threw them into the fire. Kenla stood for a moment to watch them burn. On
her way upstairs she encountered the soldier who had found the light saber.
He eyed her suspiciously as she walked towards him, she had discarded the
gun after she picked it up, she realised that it was to primitive to be an
effective weapon.
"I told the colonel that there was something they might like in the attic, and
since all you soldiers are here to keep a eye on me he let me come up alone,
you can escort me if you like and disregard his orders, I'll tell him when I
get back downstairs." She said innocently.
"If that is the colonels orders then you may go alone, but if you are not back
in three minutes then I'm coming up after you," he said stiffly.
"Ooh, I'll look forward to it," she said smiling, the soldier blushed a little.
She walked across the landing to where the cord was to pull down the attic
stairs, the stairs were reluctant to unfold, for they had not been used in a
while but they did eventually. Kenla made her way up shaking her head
laughing to herself. 'How can these soldiers be so gullible?' The window in
the attic was small but it was big enough to fit through. Kenla unfolded her
wings and squeezed through the window, she kept hold of the window ledge
as she turned to face out to the field, which harboured her ship. It wasn't far,
perhaps a hundred meters or so, none of the soldiers on the ground bothered
to look up, they clearly wanted to be some place else.
Just then a cry came from down stairs, after a lot of shouting there was the
sound of footsteps thundering up the attic stairs. This was Kenla's cue to
leave, she took off from the roof and soared over the heads of many a
confused soldier, shoots were fired from the attic window, one hit her but the
rest whistled harmlessly past her. She neared the field quickly, a few more
seconds and she was there. She landed and ran to the centre of the field, on
her wrist was a small device, on which there was a button that she pressed.
The door to her cloaked ship, the star chaser, opened and closed behind her
as she entered. The start up procedure had already been activated. Kenla
looked out of the front window, the field was filling with soldiers that had no
clue to where she had gone.
Kenla laughed to herself again as she deactivated the cloaking device, she
watched as the soldiers in the field scattered and ran for cover. She had to
admit that her ship, which was given to her by Darth Sidious, was very
intimidating to the ordinary man. Take off was gentle and smooth as always,
she was no more than fifty feet in the air when two harriers roared over
head, they broke formation to follow Kenla. When they had followed for a
mile or two, one of the harriers fired a sidewinder at her ship. Kenla dodged
it with ease. It was time to go, so Kenla rose through the clouds, after a few
seconds, the harriers had to break pursuit because they could not take the
pressure change. The blue sky gradually faded to black as she entered space,
this was something Kenla never tired of, the calmness of space. A ship
appeared on the sensors, it was the infiltrator. Mauls voice echoed over the
comm,
"Are you all right, what took you so long?" he said. Kenla took a moment
to check her wound before replying,
"I'll be fine as soon as I take this bullet out of my side, do you know why
they were there? They had some photos of us taken by some local in the next
village, but those soldiers need there IQ checking, ha it was so easy getting
past them it was unbelievable, I think they thought that they would be able to
keep us if they caught us, that is." There was a small scoffing noise through
the comm.
"They think highly of themselves don't they? Just like the Americans you
told me about," Said Maul.
"Yeah a bit, where are we going to go? I mean we can't go back to the
house anymore," Winced Kenla as she felt around for the bullet in her side,
she found it and pulled out, she bit her lip so there was no sound. Her wound
healed instantly.
"Coruscant," he said quietly.
"Why?" said Kenla, she waited but there was no reply. She guessed that he
had to do this. So reluctantly, she agreed.
They set their nav computers for Tatooine, for it was best to go there first so
they could make a quiet entrance. As the hyperdrive engaged, starlines
formed around them as they made the jump to hyperspace.
After an hour, everything was going smoothly, until a strange reading
appeared up on the sensors. Kenla told Maul to drop out of hyperspace, as
they did his voice came over the comm,
"What's the problem?"
"Take a look at your sensors, do you see that surge of energy? It came from
that large moon," said Kenla.
"I see it, that is a really big surge of energy, too big in fact. That is the forest
moon of Endor, it is devoid of any technology," he said.
"I've pinpointed the location, I'm going down to take a look, are you
coming too?" she said adjusting course. Maul agreed and began to follow
Kenla.
They landed in a clearing near to the energy surge, they left their ships
cloaked, Maul came over to Kenla to see if her wound had healed all right,
which it had. Kenla strapped on her sword as they made their way through
the trees to where the energy surge had originated. Just then they heard
voices, instantly in unison Maul and Kenla dropped into the undergrowth.
From behind the bushes there was another clearing but this was smaller. In
the clearing stood four humans in combat gear, they were standing next to a
huge metal ring with symbols on it. One of the humans looked around and
threw his hands in the air, Kenla could just make out what he was saying.
"Ok this is nice, but it's not P3X-853, last I recalled it didn't have a forest,
any ideas Carter?" said the man. The only woman of the group looked up
and said,
"We may have got thrown off course by a solar flare or a small nebular, we
could be anywhere sir, I think the best bet is to find out where we are and
dial home." She said looking around. The other humans did not say
anything, one human was dark, had a shaved head and a gold symbol on his
temple, the other human had sandy brown hair and glasses. The dark human
carried what looked like a large sceptre. They talked between themselves.
Kenla leaned over to Maul and whispered into his ear.
"They're from Earth, and they're American. But how did they get here? I'm
going over, you stay here in case I need back up." Maul nodded and stayed
low as Kenla stood up, and stepped out of the bushes. The four humans
immediately stopped talking and pointed their weapons at her.
She walked towards them slowly, they lowered their weapons, she walked
towards the man who had spoken first. The man with sandy hair stepped
forward and said,
"Ah, erm hello my name is Daniel Jackson, do you speak any English at
all?"
"Well I certainly hope so Daniel Jackson, you're Americans from Earth
aren't you? Except this guy," said Kenla pointing at the dark human.
"Why yes we are? How... how did you know that?" said Daniel, the other
man and woman looked at each other with quizzical looks on their faces.
The dark human eyed her suspiciously.
"Because I'm from earth you big silly. Well are you going to introduce
me?" she said folding her arms.
"From Earth but how? Oh sorry this is Jack O'Neill, Sam Carter, and this is
Teal'c," he said pointing them out, Jack and Sam smiled and Teal'c bowed
his head a little.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Kenla Sa'talee, may I ask what you are
doing so far from Earth?" said Kenla. Teal'c spoke up,
"We travel great distances by the star gate."
"Well I'm sorry to rain on you're parade, but what star gate?" she said
pointing behind them. All four spun around, the star gate had vanished, they
ran over to where it was and felt around with their arms outstretched, but it
had definitely gone.
"I would have told you sooner but I thought it was normal." She said
shrugging.
"Normal? Since when is it normal that a fourteen foot star gate disappears,"
said Jack waving his gun about. Out of the bushes stood a cowled figure,
they pointed their weapons at him now. Kenla turned and walked towards
him. She talked to Maul in a hushed voice,
"They are from Earth, but their transport home has vanished, do you think
that we could make a small detour and take them home?" said Kenla
hugging Maul around the waist, and staring into his fiery eyes. He sighed
and nodded. She smiled, she took hold of his arm and pulled him over but he
didn't remove his cowl.
"Okay, we've talked it over and we've decided to give you a lift back to
Earth, oh by the way this is my partner Darth Maul." She said, Maul
Removed his cowl to reveal his crimson and black tattooed face.
Jack, Sam and Daniel's mouths dropped open.
"D...Darth Maul? But you're not real. Are you?" Said Jack. Maul unclipped
his light saber and said,
"Oh I'm very real, how is it that you know me?"
"You're a star wars character from episode 1, that's how I, and the whole
world knows you, and besides you got sliced in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi,"
said Jack pointing his gun at Maul's chest. Rage was swelling inside of
Maul, the memory of that day came flooding back, it all happened so
quickly. After disposing of the Jedi master infront of the padawan learner,
the young Jedi became one with the force in his fighting skills, Obi-Wan
was not the superior fighter but he was crafty. After kicking the padawan's
light saber down the pit, Maul thought his quarry was finished, but the Jedi
used the force to pull his masters light saber to him and take Maul by
surprise. He would never let that happen again. He snapped back to attention
when he heard Kenla's voice.
"Star Wars? What's Star Wars?" said Kenla looking puzzled. Daniel spoke
up.
"When was the last time you visited Earth?"
"Ooh I'd say about an hour ago, I'm sorry but Star Wars does not exist on
my Earth," said Kenla.
"That means that some thing happened when we were travelling through the
star gate, we must be in an alternate reality, that's why the star gate
vanished, because it doesn't belong in this reality. The question is how do
we get back? To our reality I mean," said Sam Carter. A wide grin appeared
on Kenla's face.
"Well you see, alternate realities are a bit of a speciality of mine, I can get
you home." She said with pride in her recently found ability. She turned to
Maul and held him around the waist again.
"You go on to Coruscant, I'll meet you there in a few hours, hmm lets say
on that monad where I first met you. I'll contact you when when I'm nearing
the planet okay?" she said smiling warmly. Maul looked down into her deep
blue eyes, a faint smile of acknowledgement appeared on his lips, they
kissed. He left with brisk pace towards his ship, moments later the group
watched as the infiltrator took off and vanishes out of sight as it passed
through a layer of cloud.
Kenla sighed heavily. Jack started to laugh to himself.
"There's actually a Coruscant I don't believe it, oh and I bet this is Endor,
oh wait were are the Skywalkers? I just have to meet them." He said holding
his stomach, trying not to burst out in fits of laughter. Kenla looked sharply
at him and narrowed her eyes, abruptly he stopped laughing.
"What do you know of the Skywalkers Jack O'Neill," she said harshly.
"Oh only that Anakin grows up to be Darth Va, ow!" Daniel had just kicked
Jack in the Shin.
"You can't say anything Jack, it might effect the whole Star Wars
universe." Whispered Daniel.
"You don't have to worry about that, I already know, you see I can create a
vortex that can show the future to anyone who touches it, I was made to
show Darth Sidious his future, so he knows as well." She said looking at the
ground. "Come, my ship is this way." She lead the way through the trees to
the clearing on the other side, she pressed the button on the wrist and the
ship decloaked, there was a look of awe on all of their faces.
"Well that is an awesome ship, that would beat a Goa'uld death glider any
day of the week." Said Jack as he entered the ship.
"Goa'uld?" Said Kenla.
"Oh my have we got a story to tell you." Smiled jack,
"Yes, I also have a story to tell you." Kenla said back.
On the way back to Earth, they told Kenla all about the Goa'uld, a
parasitic race that use human hosts and rule by being false gods, collectively
known as the system lords. And all about the Jaffa, who serve the false gods
and carry the infant Goa'uld until they are ready to take hosts.
Then Kenla told them about her being a vampire, the chosen one. As she
expected they became less warm towards her then they had previously been.
"So Kenla, have you ever met a Jedi?" said Jack enthusiastically. Kenla
frowned and said,
"Yes, unfortunately. Everyone believes them to be all things good and great,
but they're not, to me they are self-centred dogs, especially the one called
Obi-Wan Kenobi." Jack nearly fell off his chair,
"You know Obi-Wan Kenobi!" he said. Kenla nodded. Jack took the hint
and dropped the subject.
Earth appeared on the sensors as they dropped out of hyperspace. Kenla
cloaked the ship as they made their decent towards Colorado. She landed
outside a mountain installation, it looked abandoned. Jack and Sam lead the
way to a large room with reinforced doors and a small line of windows at the
top of one wall.
"This is the place, do your stuff," said Jack. Kenla nodded and said,
"I'm coming through with you to make sure you get back to the right place,
it will guide itself to the right reality, but you know just in case. Right stand
back," she said widening her stance.
The familiar ball of green light formed between her palms, it grew larger,
and larger until it was almost the size of the star gate. The green light grew
intensely bright as it turned into a swirling vortex.
"Go! Now, I don't think I can hold it open for much longer." They did as
she said, first Sam Carter, then Daniel Jackson, then Teal'c and finally Jack
O'Neill. Kenla jumped through just as it began to destabilise. The journey
made her nauseous, but it stopped as she reached the other side.
Teal'c helped her regain her balance as she fell out of the vortex, the once
empty room was swarming with soldiers. Most of their guns were trained on
her, Teal'c and Jack noticed this and jack shouted out,
"Hey, hey guys cool it." Many of the soldiers stood to attention as a bald
man in a uniform, who was a bit over weight, entered the room.
"What is the meaning of this SG1? Oh never mind I'll expect a full
debriefing within the hour. Who is this?" he said a bit flustered.
"General Hammond, meet Kenla Sa'talee, she is the reason why we were
able to get home." Said Jack gesturing to Kenla. Kenla felt exhausted, it was
only the third time she had ever done that, she still wasn't used to all the
energy required. General Hammond walked over and extended his hand,
Kenla was about to take it when the drain became too much and she fainted.
Meanwhile...
Maul was nearing Coruscant, he entered the atmosphere cloaked, he didn't
know why he wanted to come back to this place, he had no reason to. One
thing he did know was that he would run into his old master, Darth Sidious.
He had foreseen it. He landed gently on a monad near to the galactic senate,
he left his ship and stared at the building, his robes swayed in the gentle
breeze. He let the dark side envelope him as he searched for his old master.
But before he reached out with the force, a cold shudder washed over him,
Darth Sidious had found him. He felt compelled to follow and to return to
his masters side, but he knew this was foolish, Darth Sidious would kill him
instantly, as soon as he laid eyes on him. An eerie voice entered his mind,
"Come to me, my unfaithful apprentice, to complete your training you must
face me and pass my test..." the voice faded, but it was unmistakable, it was
Darth Sidious. Maul lowered his head, he knew he had to face him and pass
this test, the test did not worry him, he could pass any test. He sighed,
thinking of Kenla he closed his eyes, he silently begged forgiveness as he
called his speeder. He mounted it and sped off towards the senate, careful
not to attract attention, he stayed within the speed limit and masked his
presence using the force, it worked to great effect. He soon reached the
senate, Maul took a side entrance and made his way silently to Palpatine's
quarters. In the corridor across from Palpatine's door, Maul paced the carpet
debating whether to go in, he had already accepted that death is a certain if
he entered, he was ready for the inevitable. He stood infront of the door, it
opened, he entered in silence the door shut behind him.
On the other side of the galaxy...
Kenla sat bolt upright, she was in a hospital bed. It took a moment to
remember where she was. A woman doctor came over to her and gave her a
warm smile.
"Please lie back down, I'm glad to see that your awake, we didn't know
what to with you, General Hammond thought you were dead, but colonel
O'Neill explained everything so we just put you here to recover." The doctor
said warmly. Kenla felt uneasy, something was wrong, she just didn't know
what. She still felt drained, she gave a weak smile to the doctor and turned
over to face away from her. A picture of Maul formed in her head, her
uneasiness came to a pinnacle, 'it's, Maul he's in some kind of trouble' she
thought to herself. Kenla sat up again and pulled back the covers, the woman
doctor was gone. She was a bit wobbly on her feet, but soon regained her
balance. At the other side of the room was a cupboard full of surgical tools,
to one side was a large refrigeration unit. Kenla sniffed the air around it, she
smelt blood but it was locked, she had only just noticed that her sword was
gone too.
"Damn!"
"Good to see you're up and about," came a voice from behind her. She spun
around, it was Jack, he was standing in the doorway.
"Where is the Key for this fridge, I need the blood inside, I have to get back
to my reality now!" she said sternly.
"Whoa, what's the rush! Anyway General Hammond wants a word with
you since he didn't get a chance before," Jack said gesturing at the door.
Kenla sighed and followed, she was so weak she only just managed to keep
pace with Jack. They soon came to General Hammond's office, the rest of
the SG1 team were inside and waiting for her. The general stood up to greet
her, after that she soon took her seat.
"I'm sorry that I did not greet you in the proper manner General Hammond,
it takes a lot of my energy to create an interdimensional vortex, there is no
doubt that you already know of me not being quite human, so I mearly
request some supplies and I will be on my way." Said Kenla.
"That can be arranged later Miss Sa'talee, for you see, I have contacted the
President and he has expressed his wish to learn more about your kind," said
Hammond.
"Again I am sorry, for I cannot stay, anyway I see why you want to study
me. I am the only one of my kind on this Earth, I sense no others. I request
that my sword be returned to me in good faith, if not then I will take it back
and nothing will stop me returning home." She said standing up from the
table. Around the table, nearly everyone, except Teal'c, wore surprised
faces. General Hammond was getting slightly flustered.
"With all due respect Miss Sa'talee, you are in no position to make idle
threats in my installation." Said the General. Kenla gave him a stern look
and left the room. She heard him dismissing the others.
Back in the hospital wing there was no one around, Kenla took a chair and
smashed it against the lock on the fridge. It took three tries, but eventually it
came off. Inside where four shelves packed with pints of blood. Kenla
grabbed a bag and tore off its tubing and began to drink from it. The blood
was cold but satisfying. She drank two before she was fully recovered. On
the bottom shelf of the surgical tool cupboard was a medical bag, Kenla
emptied it and replaced the contents with four pints of blood. As she zipped
up the bag, Daniel walked into the room.
"Erm, what are you doing?" he said quietly.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm leaving, now Daniel I know we have
just met and I kind of like you, but if you don't tell me where my sword is
then I will be forced to hurt you. I've picked up a few Sith tricks since I met
Khameir." She said standing up, she slung the bag over her shoulder and
glared at Daniel.
"Khameir? Is that his real name? Listen, since I can't be court marshalled I
got you your sword back," Daniel said pulling the sword out from behind his
back. Kenla smiled as she handled her sword, it was like an old friend to her.
"Daniel, I need a large open space to create the vortex, could you show me
to the room where the star gate is held?" said Kenla.
"Yeah sure, down the hall first on the right, when you get in hit the red
button beside the door, it locks them out." Said Daniel shrugging.
"Thank you Daniel, you are a true friend, I shall not forget this, maybe I'll
come and visit some time. Oh if they ask, just say I used the Sith chokehold
on you," she said smiling, she gave him a peck on the cheek and left, Daniel
blushed slightly.
Down the corridor, Kenla encountered four soldiers, which she easily
knocked unconscious with a telekinetic blast. The alarms sounded as she
entered the large room. Just like Daniel said the doors locked behind her
when she hit the red button. General Hammond's voice echoed over the
speaker system.
"What in God's name do you think you are doing Kenla?"
"I have to leave General, I have a feeling that Khameir's in trouble. It's
been nice meeting you SG1, perhaps we'll meet again some day." Said
Kenla, she put the bag on the ground. In no time the vortex was formed, she
threw the bag in, gave a little wave to SG1 and then she too entered the
vortex.
Back on Coruscant...
Maul turned quickly as the door closed behind him. At the end of the room
was a chair facing the window, and in the chair sat a cowled figure, it was
Darth Sidious. He raised his hand and beckoned Maul. Maul breathed in
deeply and walked over, his head held high. The cold steely gaze of his
former master fell upon him.
"Why did you see fit to turn mutinous on me Lord Maul? It seems that I
trained you too well, my unfaithful apprentice." Said Sidious.
"I did what I had to, you were killing her," Maul said, he started to pace like
a caged animal, his fiery eyes not moving from Darth Sidious.
"Ah yes, young love. A tragic thing that can happen to anyone, it ruins a
man for life. Now that you are here it is time to complete your training and
become a Sith Master." He said grinning sadistically. Maul was bewildered,
it was a miracle that he had not been killed instantly when he entered the
room, but what kind of test was he in for. Maul let the tendrils of the
darkside wander, he felt his master's presence, so much hatred, he was
almost consumed by the darkside of the force. But there was some thing else
in the back round, a presence almost drowned out by Sidious's power.
"Ah, I see you have noticed your test, Lord Maul meet your counterpart,
Lord Mauul." Said Sidious gesturing to the shadowy figure lurking in the
shadows. The figure stepped forward into the light. The light washed over
him exposing his face. Maul's mouth dropped open, the person standing
behind Darth Sidious was an exact double of him, though he had no crimson
and black tattoos covering his face.
"What is that?" said Maul eyeing the double. The double threw him a
sardonic grin. Maul saw this and glared at him.
"That, my unfaithful apprentice, is your clone. Your final test will be to
fight him, lose and I will kill you, win and I will still kill you as punishment
for deserting me and stealing my vampire," said Sidious still grinning. Maul
stopped pacing and looked at Sidious.
"And if I refuse?" said Maul quietly.
"To put it simply Lord Maul, you will not walk way from this alive." The
grin vanished from his face, "I have foreseen this."
"You will fight where no one will see you, in a place I believe you know
quite well Maul, the crimson corridor. Lord Mauul will escort you, I trust
that you will not try anything whilst in transit, if you want to complete your
training that is." Said Sidious, rising to his feet. He walked around his chair
to the clone, put his hand on the clone's shoulder and left the room. Maul
bared his teeth at the clone, which grinned back at him, not once in his years
of hard training did Sidious ever put his hand on his shoulder, this was a
trick to aggravate him further. To his disappointment it had worked.
Back on Earth...
Kenla stumbled out of the vortex and fell onto the cold concrete floor of the
alternate star gate room. Her sapped energy was catching up with her, she
opened the medical bag and drank two of the four pints of blood. Her energy
replenished she set off back to her ship. She left the installation and ran to
the gates. She pressed the button on her wrist device and the star chaser
decloaked infront of her and the door opened. The pre-flight check was clear
so she took off straight away. As soon as Kenla cleared Earth's orbit, she set
the nav computer for Coruscant, the co-ordinates appeared and Kenla made
the jump to hyperspace. Space burst into star lines around her as she settled
down for the journey, but she couldn't, uneasiness filled her again. Then she
had an idea.
Turning away from the window, Kenla placed her palms together and
formed the familiar ball of green light, the ball of light grew to one meter in
diameter, a swirling vortex formed in the centre, and radiated out.
"Show me Darth Maul," she said touching the vortex. It began to swirl
faster and faster, an image formed in the centre, it began to clear as it filled
the vortex. Two figures appeared, one was Maul, looking very pissed off.
The other she didn't recognise straight away, he looked the same species as
Maul, but he didn't have the crimson and black tattoos, then Kenla saw his
face. She didn't believe what she was seeing, the man standing infront of
Maul looked the exact double of him. The double was wearing an evil grin
as he gestured towards the door, which by now Kenla had recognised was
Palpatine's senate room. The image flickered and faded away.
Kenla was stunned by what she had just seen, she drank one of the two
remaining pints and made sure that she was travelling at top speed. Again
she tried to settle, but the effort was just futile. In the end pacing was the
answer.
The journey passed with no complications she dropped out of hyperspace
near to Coruscant, but did not bother with the cloaking device because she
didn't care who saw her, just as long as she got to Coruscant. As she passed
the many ships entering and leaving Coruscant, she couldn't help notice that
many of them raised their shields as she flew past. They were obviously
intimidated by her ship. Kenla entered the atmosphere of the galactic capital
and head towards the senate. It was now that Kenla activated her cloaking
device, it would be quicker this way. She searched out Maul's ship using a
special frequency that only she and Sidious knew about. The infiltrator was
on a monad outside the senate. Kenla landed on the next building. She
unfolded her wings and flew over to the senate, under cover of darkness, she
searched out Palpatine's room, but it was empty. The door opened behind
her, Chancellor Palpatine stood in the doorway smiling.
"Ah two in one day, how lucky can one get?" he said walking past Kenla,
the door shut behind him.
"Tell me where he is now, you know you do not stand a chance against me
Sidious," said Kenla staring at him.
"Don't be so foolish child, you have only witnessed a fraction of my true
power. Lord Maul is in the crimson corridor, but it won't make any
difference, he is completing his training you must not stand in his way." Said
Palpatine, the smile vanished from his face.
"That thing he is going to fight, is it a clone?" asked Kenla quietly. He
nodded, Kenla sighed, and said,
"Is it stronger than Maul?" Palpatine shrugged and said,
"The force will decide their fate, though I have found that the clone is quite
unstable when using the force, even a little psychotic you might say." He
saw the expression on Kenla's face and began to laugh coldly. Kenla threw
him a piercing look and ran from the room.
She pushed past people in the corridor, not caring what they thought, she
just wanted to get outside. Once outside she ran along the walkway, not
looking where she was going she ran straight into a hooded figure and
crashed to the ground. She hurried an apology as she scrambled to her feet.
The hooded figure got up and brushed himself down. Kenla began to run but
the figure caught her around the wrist. The figure removed his hood, it was
Obi-Wan Kenobi. He held her wrist tightly.
"What's the rush Kenla?" he said, his voice lowered so no one could hear
him except Kenla.
"Please let go, or else its going to be too late, I don't have the time to fight
you," said Kenla trying to free her wrist. Obi-Wan kept hold of it.
"Too late for what?" he said. He watched as Kenla struggled, he saw the
desperation in her eyes.
"Too late for what Kenla? he said again. Kenla looked at him, her eyes
brimming with tears.
"It's Darth Maul, I was late getting here, I think he went and saw his old
master and now he's going to fight a clone to complete his training. And if
this clone uses the force, it goes crazy. I don't think Maul knows what he's
up against. Now please let me go." She said. Obi-Wan let go.
"I'm coming with you, no questions asked." He said defiantly. Kenla didn't
have to contemplate the matter, she began to run and Obi-Wan followed
closely behind her. The unlikely allies came to the end of the walkway out of
sight of the people. Obi-Wan looked over the edge of the walkway into the
gloom of the cloud layer, then at Kenla, who gave him a sly smile, she
pushed him off the walkway. Kenla jumped after him, she unfolded her
wings and flew towards him. She grabbed both of his wrists and soared
beneath the cloud layer. The extra weight was a strain, but Kenla coped
easily, she had been training with Maul to carry extra weight, so without the
burden she could fly faster than before. They dropped silently through the
cloud layer, the dense cloud shrouded them from any stray eyes. It wasn't
long until they reached the ground, Kenla let Obi-Wan drop the last few feet.
As Kenla landed, she left her wings unfolded incase a quick take off was
needed. Obi-Wan stood quietly for a moment.
"I sense a disturbance in the force, down that way," said Obi-Wan pointing
down the dank alleyway. Kenla nodded and followed Obi-Wan's lead.
Along the alleyway, Kenla noticed that there seemed to be less inhabitants
than usual, and when they saw her they shrank back down in the shadows
hoping that she will pass, they obviously knew what she could do to them.
They had walked for ten minutes or so when Obi-Wan abruptly stopped
walking, Kenla nearly crashed onto him, he turned quickly and put his finger
to his lips. Kenla did as she was told and kept quiet.
Just then, a crimson flash of light appeared, it collided with a jet of another
crimson light. There was a sound of grating light sabers, the owners of the
two light sabers came running into view. The first was the clone, dodging
the blows dealt by Darth Maul, the speed of the attacks was extraordinary.
The clone was able to keep up with all that Maul threw at him, he jumped
over a low slice by Maul and the turned and aimed a force blast at his
opponents torso, Maul was caught unaware by this and was catapulted
backwards and slammed against a hard metal pipe. Maul slumped to the
ground, the wind had been knocked from him. Kenla drew her samurai
sword.
"Why that bas..." said Kenla through gritted teeth, Obi-Wan held her back,
but to no avail, she shrugged him off and ran forward after the clone, who by
now was preparing to deliver the death blow. The clone turned quickly, he
was taken by surprise by the sudden attack from this unknown female. Her
sword cut deep into his light saber hilt, so much so, that it was rendered
useless. He discarded it immediately, his eyes where open to their fullest
extent, giving him an almost insane look. A manic smile spread across his
face, exposing his teeth. He aimed a force blast at her, but when he saw that
it didn't affect her one bit he began to laugh.
"Oh isn't this fun, and look a Jedi in tow too!" he said, his voice faltering
with laughter. By now, Maul had got back onto his feet, he took note of what
he clone was saying and looked sharply at the young Jedi standing in the
shadows. It was the same Jedi that defeated him on Naboo, the same Jedi
that he vowed to take revenge on. Kenla saw the look on Maul's face and
traced his line of sight. 'Oh no,' she thought to herself.
The clone turned and ran, he melted into the shadows, Maul and Obi-Wan
took no notice they were too busy staring each other out.
"What's that Jedi doing here," Maul said in a low voice, not taking his
blazing eyes off Obi-Wan. Kenla put her arm around Maul's waist.
"Well he sort of tagged along, I ran into him after I left the senate." She
said.
"Why were you at the senate Kenla?" said Obi-Wan curiously.
"Oh nothing in particular you need to concern yourself with Jedi, do you
need a lift to the top levels?" she said, Obi-Wan nodded. Kenla looked up at
Maul, she could tell he was not happy about this.
"I won't be long promise, so don't get in to anymore trouble, okay, I'll meet
you back at your ship," she said smiling. Maul looked at her, he gave a little
nod and a faint smile, faint enough so the Jedi wouldn't see.
Kenla took off and hovered for a few seconds before gripping Obi-Wan's
wrists, as they flew further upwards, Obi-Wan caught Maul's eye, there was
a look of pure venom on his face. Maul faded into the gloom the higher they
went, soon he was gone. A wave of cold washed over Obi-Wan, never
before had he felt such darkness, not even when he faced him once before,
but that fight was a blur to him, after he saw his old master Qui-Gon cut
down, the force enveloped him and guided his actions, at that moment he
was one with the force.
"Tell me Kenla, why him?" said Obi-Wan, Kenla looked down on him.
"Why, what do you mean?" she said,
"What I mean is, why did you chose that to be with?" he said,
"For your information, that has a name. To you he is called Darth Maul,
Dark lord of the Sith. To me he is Khameir, I suppose you Jedi are far too
self centred to realise that there is a person behind the title, you think you
can judge someone just by appearances. I should really let you drop right
here for what you did to him, and to me," said Kenla, Obi-Wan remained
quiet.
Since the Jedi temple was not far, Kenla decided to drop Obi-Wan off there,
it was far enough away from Maul so he would not be able to find his way
back with a troop of Jedi Knights, it was the last thing Kenla wanted to
happen. They landed gently outside the Jedi Temple, Kenla was about to
take off again when Obi-Wan grabbed her wrist, like before outside of the
senate.
"What?" Kenla said, showing her annoyance.
"Master Yoda once said, quite a while ago, that if you returned he would
like to speak with you," said Obi-Wan, he let go of her wrist.
"You really like holding me up don't you? I'm not foolish, I know as soon
as I walk in there the guards will be on top of me, just like last time." She
said folding her arms.
"Well last time you did have your sword to my throat." He said. Kenla
contemplated the matter for a moment, until saying,
"True, now you must remember that I'm only going in because I respect
Yoda, he's been there, you know what I mean. I sense he is old, older than
me, just how old is he?"
"You are right in thinking he is old, I would say that he is about 860 years
old, if you don't mind me asking, exactly how old are you?" he said
curiously. Kenla chuckled to herself.
"You know that on my planet, it is insulting to ask a woman her age, but
since you asked nicely, I am nearing on 502 years. Now are we going in or
what, I don't have all day I promised Maul that I wouldn't be gone long."
She said. Obi-Wan smiled and led the way through the huge doors. Once
inside he asked a person at a desk where master Yoda was, he was in the
council chamber, they were having a meeting. After the long elevator ride
they were soon outside the council chamber doors. Obi-Wan announced his
presence to the council members, a moment later Kenla was asked to enter.
She walked to the centre of the circular room and bowed slightly at Yoda, he
did so back, Obi-Wan left the room.
"I was told that you had expressed wishes to speak to me Yoda," she said in
a confident voice.
"Hmm that I did Kenla, tell me how fare you?" said Yoda.
"Oh I'm fine, no thanks to one of your knights of course. Now I know you
didn't want me here to have a chat over a cup of tea. Please dispense with
the pleasantries." Said Kenla. Mace Windu spoke up,
"Believe me Kenla Sa'talee we don't want you her longer than you have to
be, now last time we saw you, you had sided with the dark side of the force."
Kenla shot Windu a piercing look.
"Please tell me why you distinguish between the light and dark side of the
force, the force is the same but it is the people who use it in different ways,
there is no light or dark." Said Kenla staring at Mace Windu.
"Ah you are indeed wise Kenla, I see we can fool you not. We wish to study
you, find just how strong you are," said Yoda. Kenla smiled and said,
"Is it me or does everyone want to study me today, first the Americans and
now the Jedi, who next? Anyway the answer is no I'm afraid and that's final,
I have too many commitments to be anyone's guinea pig."
Mace Windu looked taken aback, he didn't believe that anyone could talk to
Yoda in such a manner, he looked at her curiously and said,
"What is a guinea pig?" Kenla shook her head and sighed, she turned on her
heels and walked towards the door. Behind her one of the Jedi masters used
the force to close the door that she was walking towards.
"Open the door, I warn you that was not a request, it was an order." Kenla
waited a few moments, the door did not open. "I see that even Jedi masters
still play childish pranks," said Kenla, frustration was beginning to take hold
of her. A strange voice she had not heard before caught her attention,
"I assure you child, this is no prank." Kenla turned to see whom the owner
of the strange voice was, the face of a strange alien met her eyes. Kenla had
never given him a second thought before, he had reddish skin, piercing black
eyes and what looked like a black breathing mask. He sat to Mace Windu's
left.
"Forgive me, but I don't believe I know who you are," said Kenla raising
her eyebrows.
"That is because as until now, I have had no need to tell you child, my name
is Plo Koon. Contrary to what Mace Windu told you, we do have good
reason to keep you here, you are a danger to the people, we see your powers
as dangerous and need to be kept under control." He said placing the tips of
his fingers together. Kenla's mouth dropped open in disbelief.
"I don't believe this, I came up here on Obi-Wan's word that I would be
safe from attempts of imprisonment by you lot! Dangerous ? I'll show you
dangerous, I have powers that would make your hair curl, if you had any, I
can create portals that lead to other dimensions, you Jedi think that you will
be still here in years to come? Heed my words a dark era will befall you all
until there is only one of you left, I can show the future with more clarity
and accuracy than any force wielder can ever dream of. So release the god-
dam doors."
Plo Koon contemplated the matter, he looked up at Kenla and shook his
head.
"Fine," said Kenla, anger was flowing through her. She channelled her
anger and aimed a well-placed telekinetic blast at the door. It hit with such
ferocity that the door was reduced to small splints of wood. Kenla started to
walk out of the door when Obi-Wan peered around the doorframe, he had
sawdust in his hair. He stood aside and let Kenla walk past, which Kenla
thought was the only smart thing he had done since she ran into him out side
the senate. She turned around to face Yoda through the wrecked door.
"I'm sorry it had to come to this Yoda, I respect you and I see that you
respect me, but your friends here have a lot to learn, farewell."
Yoda sighed, the council members remained silent. Kenla made her way to
the elevator, she heard footsteps behind her, she turned to face the Jedi
walking briskly towards her, it was Obi-Wan.
"Kenla wait, look I'm really sorry about what happened in there," he said
with an apologetic tone.
"You promised me that there would be no attempts to capture me," Kenla
said in a raised voice.
"Yeah I know, I apologise for master Plo Koon..."
"Do not apologise for me young knight, I have nothing to be sorry for," said
Plo Koon as he made his way towards her over the wreckage of the door. He
was holding something in his hand, but Kenla couldn't make out what it
was.
"What do you want Jedi?" said Kenla warily. Plo Koon stood a foot and a
half away from Kenla, he didn't say anything. Just then as quick as
lightening, before Kenla could react, Plo Koon raised his hand with the
device and stuck it to Kenla's shoulder. The device delivered a powerful
electric shock that rendered Kenla unconscious.
Meanwhile...
Darth Maul had made his way back to the Sith Infiltrator, his mind was
dwelling on the fact that the Jedi he most despised was standing a few feet
away from him, he could of finished him off there and then, he didn't though
for some reason. A warning beep sounded some where on the front panel, it
took him a while to find the source because he had never heard it before. It
turned out to be an alarm from a remote signal that Kenla carried with her, it
told Maul that she was in some kind of trouble, the signal originated from
deep within the Jedi Temple.
He knew he would be out numbered at least a hundred to one, but he had to
do something, he couldn't leave her to the Jedi. He paced his ship trying to
think of some plan to infiltrate the temple with out being noticed, there was
that small window that Kenla had escaped from once before, when the Jedi
thought that she was dead and tried to cremate her. The window was
probably replaced by now but that was no problem for a light saber, from
then on he would have to take his chances whilst out of the room. He exited
his ship and called the speeder, he mounted and was soon well on his way to
the Jedi temple, he had a small locator which would guide him to Kenla that
he attached to his wrist.
It wasn't long until he reached the roof of the temple, he dismounted from
the speeder and climbed down the roof to where the small windows were,
Maul activated one edge of his light saber and cut a smooth hole through the
glass, cutting close the frame, the pane of glass fell cleanly away. The glass
around the frame was quick to solidify so that Maul could pass through in
the Knowledge that molten glass would not burn him.
Once inside he checked the door, it was locked. Maul let the force wonder
through the door, the hallway was clear. He burnt through the lock and
slipped into the hallway, the only way from there was in an elevator. Maul
checked the locator, Kenla was three floors below the main entrance level.
Inside the elevator he knew that it would be risky to stay there, so after
selecting the level he saw an access panel in the roof of the elevator, he
pushed it open and pulled himself up and closed it behind him. All too soon
it stopped prematurely, two padawan's got in, they where discussing their
masters light sabers , they got off two floors down by this time they where
talking about one day wishing to fight worthy adversaries such as the Sith.
The elevator was empty once again, it was clear all the way down to Mauls
desired floor, he dropped down back into the elevator, he readied his light
saber as the door slowly opened. To Mauls surprise the corridor that he was
faced with was empty, it looked like it was a dormitory corridor. To his right
there was a flight of stairs, silently he crept down them.
The stairs ended in a long narrow room, at the far side of the room were two
Jedi standing guard of a steel door, they were talking between them selves,
Maul held back and caught some of the conversation.
"Yeah, Master Plo Koon was ready to finish her off when master Yoda told
him that she might be useful for information about the Sith, Obi-Wan backed
him up, very eagerly infact, if you ask me I think that he has some feelings
for her," said one, the other replied,
"Really, you think so? Hey do you know what young Anakin told me, he
said that last time she was here she took four blaster shots to the back, run
through with two light sabers and her own sword, and that she managed to
make herself disappear right infront of all the council members."
"Whoa! I wonder what else she can do, what planet is she from?" said the
first, the second shrugged. Maul had heard all he needed to know.
Maul propelled him self around the corner to face the two Jedi, he held
them against the wall using the Sith choke hold and took them both out
swiftly with his light saber. Searched the two for an access card, he found it.
When Maul entered the room he saw Kenla's unconscious body lying on a
small minimal bed at the far side of the room. He hurried to her side and
kneeled down beside her, he shook her shoulder gently.
"Kenla, Kenla please wake up, the Jedi will have felt those two outside die.
Kenla wake up," he said close to her ear. To Mauls relief Kenla began to
open her eyes, he scooped her up in his arms and turned to exit the room. He
past the two dead Jedi and made it up the stairs, just a few feet away from
the elevator Maul stopped dead as the doors began to open, he could sense
the Jedi inside, behind him was empty corridor so he decided to make a run
for it with Kenla in his arms down the passage.
There where shouts behind him, he knew he could not take them all on. His
luck changed as a small boy ahead of him was leaving his room, Maul
pushed the young boy back into his room and locked the door behind him.
Keeping an eye on the young boy, he laid Kenla gently down onto the boy's
bed. There was pounding on the door.
"Keep your distance Jedi, or I will finish of this young Padawan here,"
Maul said through the door, the pounding stopped immediately, a voice
trailed through the door,
"Are you alright Anakin? Don't worry your master has been sent for." Maul
gave Anakin a look, which meant he had to answer, so he did,
"Yeah I'm fine," shouted Anakin. Kenla had lapsed into unconsciousness
again in the hall, she opened her eyes again and looked up at Maul.
"What are you doing here?" she said groggily.
"Rescuing you, what did they do to you?" he said quietly.
"Some guy called Plo Koon I think, electrocuted me, hey you're Anakin
Skywalker aren't you?" said Kenla looking over at the boy stood in the
corner of the room, Anakin looked up surprised that she knew his name, he
nodded.
"I remember you from the last time you were her, my master sent me out to
get back up for him when you entered the training room. Who are you? My
master would never tell me, he said that I wouldn't understand," said Anakin
"I am Kenla Sa'talee, I think that Obi-Wan never told you about me is
because I know your future, Anakin you are destined for great things. Do
you have a window in this place?" she said sitting up, she had a splitting
headache. Anakin didn't say anything back. Kenla understood, he didn't
want to betray the Jedi. Slowly she stood up with help from Maul,
"Thanks, I'll look around for a window, you stand guard, Anakin you go
and sit down somewhere and stay there." Said Kenla. she walked into the
next room gingerly massaging her temple. Indeed the was a window in this
room, it was just large enough to fit through. She opened it and looked
down, there was a long drop.
"I've found a window, I hope you brought your speeder because I'm really
not up to flying," she said walking back into the first room. Anakin was
staring at Darth Maul with a strange expression on his face. finally he said,
"I know you, you fought master Qui-Gon and master Obi-Wan on Naboo,
you killed Qui-Gon but I thought you were killed by master Obi-Wan?"
Anakin said quietly. Maul looked at Anakin with a smirk on his face, he
pointed a Kenla with his light saber.
"Well you see Anakin, while Obi-Wan was grieving for the late Qui-Gon I
flew down the shaft and was able to reach him in time to heal him." Said
Kenla. Anakin looked up and said,
"Couldn't you of healed Qui-Gon, before you flew down the shaft? It
wouldn't have taken long."
"I'm sorry Anakin, I had my priorities, look if it's any consolation I liked
Qui-Gon, he was kind enough to lend me his light saber when I first came to
the temple to test my skills. We have to go now, count to fifty before you let
them in after we have gone, okay?" said Kenla sympathetically. Maul left
the room and called the speeder, he climbed through the window and got on.
Kenla hugged Anakin and also climbed through the window onto the
speeder. Anakin watched them until they were out of sight, he felt the
darkness that surrounded Darth Maul, it was cold and penetrating, he liked
it. He went and let the Jedi in.
"So that's the Skywalker you once told me about?" said Maul, he swerved
to avoid a lane of traffic.
"Yeah, he's going to be Palpatine's new apprentice, a real powerful one at
that, no offence. Do you remember those Americans on Endor? Well
somehow in their world, all of this is just a film made by some guy called
George Lucas, and apparently little Anakin is going to be called Darth
Vader. Oh ooh looks like we've picked up someone, I can't tell who it is,
can you?" said Kenla looking behind them.
Darth Maul cleared his mind and let the tendrils of the force guide
themselves towards their unknown foe. Such darkness, near that of
Palpatine, and himself.
"It's my other half, I have to face him, destroy him. Listen carefully Kenla,
if I die then it's up to you to kill him, he shouldn't be allowed to live," said
Maul slowing down.
"I understand, the only thing is I haven't got my sword, the Jedi must have
hidden it somewhere inside the temple." Kenla said. Maul looked back and
smiled at her, he got something from inside his robes and handed it to Kenla.
"Here, this is for you, I made it in my spare time. The blade is in your
favourite colour purple, I used a red and a blue crystal to get it like that. It
was going to be for your birthday, but now is a good time." Said Maul.
"A light saber of my own, it's a perfect present thank you so much, I love
you," said Kenla, she hugged him tightly around his chest.
The speeder started to descend through the cloud layer, he landed it in a
deserted alleyway. They dismounted and waited in silence for the clone to
follow. Kenla gripped Mauls hand tightly. They watched as a speeder
dropped quickly through the cloud layer, the clone didn't bother to land it,
he jumped off igniting his light saber in the process twenty feet from the
ground. Maul kissed Kenla and ignited his own light saber, she had a funny
feeling that it would be the last time she ever kissed him again.
There was a sickening crack when the two light sabers met. Maul advanced
with his attacks, driving the clone back, but he seemed to match every attack
to block it, the clone struck Mauls face with the back of his gauntlet, it must
have had studs in of some kind as Maul's face began to bleed where he was
struck. Maul retaliated by giving the clone a swift kick to the chest, it sent
him reeling backwards. This time the clone stepped up his attacks and drove
Maul back. Maul jumped back enough to recover and gained enough time to
assume another battle stance. The clone was on him in an instant, with the
speed he gathered, the clone hammered into Darth Maul and was trying to
find an opening, but found none.
Kenla looked on as the two were locked in combat that seemed endless.
Then Maul parried a downstroke, whirled softly to the left, with his back to
the clone he made a blind reverse lunge, but the clone saw the attack and
dodged it effortlessly. The clone bore into him again with fresh fury.
Lunging and twisting, Maul regained the offensive and counterattacked,
using both ends of his light saber in an effort to cut the legs of the clone
from underneath him.
Driving the clone back, Maul hammered into him with such determination,
that he scorched the clone's robes, the chest, shoulder, and waist. The clone
started to use his manipulation of the force to pelt Maul with deadly missiles
to knock him off balance. This did not work of course, and soon they were
back to close-quarters fighting. Again they were matched blow for blow, but
then the clone ducked one of Maul's attacks, this caught Maul unaware as he
swung out too much, giving the clone the opening he needed, he hit Maul in
the chin and taking advantage of his opponents momentary unbalance, thrust
one end of his light saber into Maul's chest.
Pain beyond pain, Maul looked down to see the light saber being pulled out.
He remembered that this was how he finished of Qui-Gon. He stood there
swaying, he could faintly hear the cries of anguish from Kenla. he looked up
to see the triumphant grin on the clone's face, he fell to his knees. Kenla
came running over to him, tears streaming down her face, she cradled him in
her arms and tried desperately to gather the energy to heal him. She stopped
as Maul held his hand up to caress her face and wipe away her tears.
"Please don't cry, it is my destiny and it is yours to stop him, I... I love you,
always," he said in a weakened voice.
"I love you too," said Kenla, as they kissed he passed away. Kenla couldn't
fight back the tears anymore, she burst out crying as she lay the body of
Darth Maul gently on the ground, she smoothed his robes and kissed his
forehead softly. Tears ran off her chin and fell silently onto his cheek. Just
then the body of Maul slowly began to disappear until there was just his
robes left, he had ascended to a higher level of being and became one with
the force.
The clone that was lurking in the background started to scoff at this. Kenla
wiped away her tears and slowly stood up to face him. She unfolded her
wings to give her greater balance, and for the extra energy, she needed it.
"Well this has been real nice, but I have to go, my master wishes you to stay
alive, shame really I can't wait to kill you, now that skill less has been dealt
with," said the clone smirking.
"Skill less! If you were half the man he was, you will never equal him, ever.
And as for wanting to kill me, it will take a lot more than a light saber and
the force to kill me off." Said Kenla through gritted teeth.
"Yeah whatever darling," he said smiling, he mounted his speeder and
disappeared into the gloom.
"No matter where you go, I will hunt you down like the animal you are, and
take revenge." Said Kenla staring into the gloom. Kenla turned and silently
walked back to Maul's robes, she gathered them up and folded them neatly,
she picked up his light saber, which lay idly on the dank floor. She put the
robes in the storage compartment on the speeder and mounted it. She was
about to take off when she heard the sound of a speeder engine behind her,
Kenla dismounted and readied herself. To her surprise it was not the clone
returning to finish her off, it was Obi-Wan.
He landed and dismounted, he looked around, he could tell something had
happened.
"What happened here Kenla? Where's Darth Maul?" said Obi-Wan. Kenla
looked down at the light saber in her hands, the magnitude of the events that
had just happened just hit her, she couldn't hold it in any more, she sank to
the ground and burst out crying.
Obi-Wan stood there and watched her clutch the light saber close to her
chest. He understood what had happened, he walked over to her and knelt
down beside her. He put his hand on her shoulder, she recoiled, he pulled her
into a hug and comforted her while she sobbed silently into his shoulder.
This went on for ten minutes before Kenla got up, she was shaking all over.
Obi-Wan got up and looked at her condition.
"Come back to the temple with me, you're in no state to be on your own
right now, or go looking for that pathetic life form," he said sympathetically.
Kenla looked into Obi-Wan's eyes, he was right, she was in no state to do
anything let alone fight. She closed her eyes and nodded, she still had
Maul's light saber gripped in her hand so she walked over to the speeder and
placed it with his robe in the storage compartment. She mounted and waited
for Obi-Wan to do the same. He kicked off from the ground and led the way
back to the Jedi temple. Kenla followed, her body and soul were numb with
grief, 'I can't beat this clone, he's too strong I'm not trained for this,' she
thought as they drew near to the temple. They set down at the front entrance
of the temple. They dismounted and made the walk to the large doors, as
soon as they got close, the doors opened automatically. Kenla stopped dead
in her tracks and started to back off.
"What's wrong Kenla?" said Obi-Wan curiously.
"I'm sorry but I can't go in there, they hate me, especially that Plo Koon
guy he gives me the creeps. You gave your word that I would be safe last
time I went in there, and then look what happened I got electrocuted," said
Kenla shaking her head. Obi-Wan sighed and said,
"Listen, it will be okay I promise, I'll make sure that nothing happens to
you this time." Kenla looked at Obi-Wan, she saw honesty in his eyes, she
nodded and started walking again.
As they entered, Kenla saw that when some of the Jedi lay eyes on her, they
started whispering furiously between themselves. Four security guarded ran
over to the pair, weapons at the ready. One of them shouted back to a man
behind a desk,
"Inform the council members that the dark one has been recaptured by Obi-
Wan Kenobi."
"We will take her from here Obi-Wan," said another, grabbing Kenla
roughly by the arm. Obi-Wan looked shocked, he stood between Kenla and
the others advancing on her.
"No, you don't understand, I did not recapture her, she came back of her
own free will because she has just suffered a great loss. She was in no state
to be left out there all alone, or taken into custody." Said Obi-Wan.
"Do you defy the council Obi-Wan," said a voice from behind them. The
guards saw whom it was a first and bowed low, Obi-Wan and Kenla
wheeled around to find Mace Windu and Plo Koon walking down a small
flight of stairs together. Obi-Wan bowed too and then said,
"No masters, I do not defy the council, I believe that she poses no threat at
this time."
"That remains to be seen, and what of the Sith lord?" said Mace Windu.
Kenla hung her head low, her lip trembled. She looked up sharply and said
with a raised voice,
"He's dead, there, are you happy," her voice faltered.
"Oh, did you...?" said Windu gesturing at Obi-Wan. He cottoned on and
shook his head.
"No masters," he said quietly.
"It was a clone, basically sent out to kill him. Its master was taking revenge
for Maul leaving him, Darth Sidious told Maul that he would complete his
training of he defeated the clone, but it was just a trap, and I think that Maul
knew this but he still went and fought it anyway. I think he knew he was
going to die, because he gave me this," said Kenla, she pulled out the light
saber maul had given her, "He said that I should kill the clone if he didn't
make it because he said that it shouldn't be allowed to exist. And that's what
I'm going to do, now you can either help me in this quest or hinder me,
either way I will hunt that thing down and kill it, even if I have to go through
Darth Sidious himself to do it."
Yoda slowly walked around from behind Plo Koon.
"Hmm, a wise quest it is, help you we will. A light saber you have, some
training you will need, for that task, Obi-Wan I shall choose," he said
smiling, Plo Koon looked down at Yoda then at Kenla, he shook his head
and sighed, then walked off.
And so it was, for the next two weeks, Kenla trained all the hours she could
to get a fairly good mastery of her light saber, she new the basics of course
from her sword, but a light saber is light and elegant and requires special
handling.
One day Anakin entered the training room where Obi-Wan was teaching her
the basic teras kasi wide stance. He sat in the corner and watched taking
everything in. Kenla felt bad, so she said,
"Obi-Wan, I really appreciate all this but I fear you are neglecting you top
priority, your apprentice Anakin, you've barely trained him these past two
weeks." Obi-Wan looked at Kenla and smiled.
"You're right as always Kenla, you are a much wiser person than I am.
Keep practising this stance, I noticed that Darth Maul used it a lot and I
deeply regret to say, it helped him a lot. Come Anakin." He said, Anakin
jumped up and left at a quickened pace, before he left the room he glanced
back at Kenla and gave her a warm smile.
Two hours later, Kenla was sitting alone in the room meditating, the lights
were turned down, for the first time in two weeks, she felt calm. In her mind
she practised the moves that Obi-Wan had taught her, and some that she
learned by observing Maul when he was training on earth, especially the
move where by you twist your self and your weapon into the flowing form
known as rancor rising.
As Kenla sat there, a cold feeling washed over her. Her eyes snapped open.
'It is time,' she thought to herself. She picked up her light saber, which was
infront of her and left the room. She managed to reach the back exit of the
temple with out seeing anyone. As she opened the door a voice startled her,
it was Yoda,
"Good luck Kenla, may the force be with you." Kenla smiled at him and left
silently. Kenla stood out on the balcony and stared into the gloom, all her
feelings were pointing to the senate, she unfolded her wings and took flight
into the night sky.
It felt good to stretch her wings. After a five-minute flight she neared the
back entrance of the senate. She landed silently and slipped in through the
back door, there must have been a meeting because the halls were quiet,
there were only a few guards but Kenla easily subdued them. She made it to
the elevator and selected the correct floor, in the time it took the elevator to
reach the right floor, Kenla prepared herself mentally and physically for the
impending battle, she took a deep cleansing breath as the doors slowly
opened. Again there was nobody in the corridor, Kenla did not like this,
either the whole floor was set aside for the Chancellor or it was a trap.
She stood outside the door and stared at it for a while, she made for the
handle three times before she finally gripped it, to her surprise the door was
unlocked, she peered in and gave the room a quick scan, it was empty. Kenla
slipped through the door and made her way quietly to the training room. A
noise made her stop dead in her tracks, the sound of crunching metal and the
deactivation of a light saber, echoed from the training room. The door was
ajar so Kenla sneaked a quick look inside, success the clone was in there,
and he was alone.
Kenla walked quietly through the door so as not to attract attention, and
slammed it shut behind her and jammed the lock so nobody could enter
behind her.
The clone spun around to see whom it was, once he saw Kenla a manic grin
spread across his face and contorted his features.
"Ah, if it isn't the one and only Kenla, I've been wondering when you'd
show up," he said readying his light saber.
"I'm here to finish what Maul started, and just in case you're wondering,
it's going to take a lot more than a light saber to finish me off," she said also
readying her own unique light saber. The clone dismissed the comment
made by Kenla and ran to attack Kenla activating his light saber in the
process. Kenla activated her own, the blade was a beautiful deep purple.
Master Yoda said, once he saw it that it was the only one of its kind and that
the maker must have been an exceptionally skilled to make it.
Kenla blocked and ducked the next blow, this time she went on the
offensive, driving the clone back, she twisted up in to the rising rancor form
and kicked the clone in the face, he reeled back clutching his nose trying to
stem the bleeding. He wiped his nose on his sleeve and attacked, he had
smeared blood all the way across his face and flecks of blood dripped onto
his tunic. Kenla did the best she could to avoid most of the attacks, though
many grazed her. The clone jumped over her, she turned to only to be met
with the back of the clone's clenched fist, he dealt a vicious blow to the side
of Kenla's face, this knocked her off balance as she staggered back
massaging her cheek.
"Now we're even," said the clone grinning.
"We're far from even clone," said Kenla through clenched teeth. The clone
took it as a personal insult that she did not call him by name, so he went on
the offensive again. What surprised Kenla the most was that she managed to
match the clone blow for blow. She tried her best to catch him off guard
with a series of blind thrust attacks, but to no avail, she tried one more time,
but the clone knew what was coming, he managed to avoid it and swing
around to the front of Kenla and kick her in the chest which sent her
sprawling backwards onto the floor. She tried to get up in time but she was
too late, the clone stood over her and thrust one end of his light saber into
her stomach. She cried out, the pain was hot and searing. The clone mocked
her with laughter as he pulled the light saber out.
Kenla shut her eyes, she knew that the blackness of unconsciousness would
engulf her soon, but to her surprise it did not! She opened her eyes a fraction
to see where the clone was, he was walking away congratulating himself on
a good fight. Kenla opened her eyes fully and sat up, she looked down at her
wound, it was seeping with blood, the wound was taking longer than Kenla
thought to heal itself. With one hand over the wound she picked up her light
saber and slowly got to her feet. Silently she walked up behind the clone,
who was by now fiddling with the door lock. She stood behind him and
activated her light saber, the clone spun around on his heels to face Kenla,
his face was white with shock and his eyes widened. Kenla raised her light
saber and with one swoop cut through his midriff. He made a sort of gagging
sound as he fell apart and hit the floor.
"Like I said, light sabers don't kill me," said Kenla with a sneer, she shoved
the body parts away from the door with her foot, and then used her light
saber to burn through the lock on the door that she jammed.
She met no one on her way out, she walked slowly from the back of the
senate to the front. The public on the walkway avoided her if they could, she
couldn't understand why her wound had not healed yet, the loss of blood
was making her dizzy, so she sat on the edge of the walkway. She could
sense some one behind her, but she didn't have the energy to turn around.
The figure sat down beside her, it was Obi-Wan.
"Are you okay? I've been looking all over for you," he said with concern in
his voice. Kenla removed her hand from the wound and stared at the blood
dripping off her fingers, there was a gasp from Obi-Wan.
"It's not serious is it? I mean you've survived worse," he said anxiously.
"I think it's because I haven't eaten in two weeks, and that electric shock
from Plo Koon didn't help much," she said, the loss of blood was making
her tired, all she wanted to do was go to sleep.
Obi-Wan stood up and helped Kenla get to her feet, she was very weak and
could hardly walk, they made their way to a secluded area of the walkway
that the public generally avoided. He sat her down gently on the floor and sat
down beside her. He rolled up the sleeve on his tunic exposing his wrist.
"Kenla wake up," he said gently shaking her, slowly she opened her eyes,
she looked at the bare wrist infront of her, and then at Obi-Wan, she closed
her eyes and shook her head.
"I can't," she said groggily turning away.
"You have to, it's the only way you're going to survive, it's alright I trust
you," he said, he placed a hand on her shoulder, Kenla looked into his eyes
and smiled weakly, showing her thanks. She took hold of his wrist and
traced a finger over the area that she would drink from to null the pain.
Kenla sank her teeth into his wrist and began to drink, it was warm and
satisfying, it tasted like no other she had tasted before, except for that of
Qui-Gon. She could feel the wound in her stomach beginning to heal. She
stopped drinking, she had taken all that she needed. She savoured the taste as
she healed the puncture marks in his wrist. Kenla looked at Obi-Wan, he was
fine, if not a little pasty. Kenla was able to walk without assistance this time,
the walked slowly to the speeder that was situated nearby.
"I forgot to ask, did you win?" said Obi-Wan.
"Yeah I did, I want to thank you for all the help you've given me over the
past two weeks, it helped me immensely. As a thank you, I want Anakin to
have Darth Maul's ship, the Infiltrator. I'm sure that he will have great use
for it in the future, and I think it will help his training if he has his own ship
to perfect his skills on, I can't let it sit there with out an owner," said Kenla
smiling warmly.
"That would be great, I'm sure Anakin will be really grateful when you see
him," said Obi-Wan awe struck at the gift.
"I'm sure he will be, thing is I'm leaving, I can't stay here anymore too
many bad memories. I think I'll go back home and see how SG1 are doing, I
hope that they didn't get in any trouble when I left." She said looking at the
ground smiling.
"Leave, but you can't. There are so many things you haven't seen or done
yet. Anakin likes having you around, Yoda respects you, and that's not
something he bestows on just anyone, and I really like you," said Obi-Wan
looking at the ground, blushing furiously.
"Oh Obi-Wan, I like you too, but not in that way, I'm sorry. I don't think I
can anymore, not after Maul. You go back to the temple, I'll bring the ship
round and I'll say my good byes," said Kenla sympathetically. Obi-Wan
looked crest-fallen. He nodded and mounted his speeder and set off towards
the temple.
Kenla felt strong enough to fly to her ship, once onboard she was greeted
with a strange smell, the source of which was coming from the medical bag.
She opened it up to find a pint bag full of clotted blood, she threw it out
immediately. On the control panel she activated the slave circuit on Maul's
ship, within a few seconds the infiltrator was hovering outside, decloaked.
She also deactivated the cloaking device on her ship. She set activated the
thrusters and set of towards the temple with the infiltrator in tow. She landed
in the empty hanger at the temple, the infiltrator landed softly beside her.
She opened the door on her ship, no one was there yet so she sat on the ramp
and waited.
The hanger bay door opened and Obi-Wan came through his expression was
hard to read, Anakin, Yoda, Mace Windu and Plo Koon closely followed
him. Anakin's jaw dropped when he saw the infiltrator. Kenla got up and
walked towards them. She gave Anakin the remote transmitter for the
cloaking device and showed him how to work it.
"Please look after it for me, I know you will be a good owner, I just need to
take a few things off before you can try it out," said Kenla looking back at
the ship. She sighed heavily and turned towards Plo Koon.
"What are you doing here? Still think I'm a danger to the public?" she said
bitterly, Plo Koon shifted his weight and said,
"Yes I do, but I know now that you are to be trusted, I think what you did
saved a lot of lives, who knows what that clone would have done, I ask
forgiveness for my behaviour."
"Yeah I do, I know how hard it is to admit you're wrong sometimes, I hope
you gain from this experience," she said smiling, Plo Koon bowed a little
acknowledging her. She turned to Mace Windu, who bowed and shook her
hand and said,
"Safe journey Kenla."
"Thanks," she said back, she looked down to Yoda and got down on one
knee.
"Miss you I will Kenla, come visit sometime?" he said, Kenla sighed and
said,
"I don't know yet, I'll see. I'll miss you too Yoda." She pulled him into a
hug, as she stood up he said,
"May the force be with you Kenla." Kenla smiled warmly.
"Obi-Wan could you help me a minute?" she said, he nodded.
"Could you get me my speeder and stow it in my ship?" said Kenla, he
didn't reply he went to the task straight away.
On the infiltrator, Kenla removed anything that belonged to Darth Maul and
the three dark eye droids, she stowed them safely on her ship, before she
went back into the hanger she picked up a small item off the control panel.
Obi-Wan had done what she asked, she walked up to him. To her surprise he
had her sword in his hand.
"Here, I got this back for you, oh Kenla won't you stay?" he said
desperately.
"No I have to go, but I have something for you too. On earth its customary
to have likenesses to remember loved ones by, since I don't have a photo of
myself I made this up for you to remember me by, it's a holo-image of me.
Do you like it?" she said handing him the holo-image.
"Thank you, but I don't think I need this to remember you by, I don't think
I'll ever forget someone who beat me nearly every time I fought you," said
Obi-Wan, he laughed a little. A tear appeared in Kenla's eye, she kissed him
on his cheek and pulled him into a long hug.
"I'll never forget you Obi-Wan Kenobi, good bye." She said letting him go
while wiping away the tears.
She waved good bye to the rest and boarded her ship. She lifted off,
manoeuvred out of the hanger and set off towards space, as she cleared obit
of Coruscant, she bid a final farewell and set the nav computer for earth, the
co-ordinates came through, she made the jump to hyperspace. Never again
would she set foot on that planet again, she settled back for the long ride
home.
The end.
Authors notes: Well there you have it, the end of Kenla's adventures in the
Star Wars universe, I'm working on a story line right now for all you SG1
fans out there, so look out in the not too distant future for Kenla and SG1
adventures. If you want to E-Mail me, feel free and I promise I will reply.
(Sarah) sithchickuk@yahoo.co.uk
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU