Author's Notes, and such are found at the bottom. (UPDATED JAN 5th. 15)
Love has its place, as does hate.
Peace has its place, as does war.
Mercy has its place,
as do cruelty and revenge.
-Meir Kahane
Days have passed since the extermination of the Jedi Order. Coruscant is lost and Utapau has been commandeered under the command of Commander Cody. Obi-Wan Kenobi could not be found after being shot down by his men. Anakin Skywalker, now known as Lord Vader, was unfortunately struck down on Mustafar by an unknown assailant. The Emperor continues to travel to Utapau as a base for his studies. With more Outer Rim Planets falling into the wrath of the newly established Empire, an old Marauder returns to his rightful place as ruler of the Underworld. Easing his way under the Emperor's rightfulness as sole ruler of the Empire, Maul has regained his power, waiting, and watching.
Though Utapau was lost just hours passing, Maul's fascination towards the Emperor's fondness of Utapau was unnoticeable. Whether or not the data that the Emperor is studying is important to Maul's cause, he desires it. And he plans on retrieving that data one way or another. Misery has Risen.
[-Utapau-Pau City Outskirts-] The Anguish disembarked on its course to Utapau. A dust bowl of a planet, filled with sinkholes and despair. A perfect place for a rebellion to partake for Maul. Anguish landed in an indigent village, just off of Pau City. The people of this village are exiles, slaves, and men who can not pay for their own clothes. On board the vessel was Lord Maul – with no crew members he was alone and treated as a scoundrel. The Empire's tight grip around Pau City meant no ships could enter the city without an identification number.
But Maul had no interest in attacking the troopers who were stationed at the ports. He required individuals to rebel against them and to find these men Maul needed to start in poverty communities. The Zabrak had only two options, and the other would result into rivalry like on Isis – A planet Maul once rebelled on- but all his Insurgents were killed, enslaved, or, some who were lucky, escaped to who knows where.
Surprisingly, the weather in the upper regions of the planet was quite freezing. Several bands of aliens huddled in the damp darkness. There were not many Pau'ans that lived above the sinkholes. Pau'ans were wealthy individuals who flourished in the sinkholes. But to Maul's surprise, there were more of them in the community then down there. Tion Medon, the administrator of Utapau, rebelled against the Empire once Order 66 was executed. He was the man Maul wanted, he held the answers that Maul desired. Plus, Tion would make a fine Insurgent in the Insurgency Cause.
Maul exited his ship, grabbing a demure Sith Cloak. He shrouded his face from being seen with his hood. Still his glowing, menacing, eyes were highly noticeable. With a click of a button, he disappeared into the shadows. His plans were to meet with an old friend, and then travel to the center of the planet, Pau City. He sped to a nearby alleyway before approaching his partner.
"Let's make this quick. There are troopers patrolling the area." Maul said sternly to what looked like a female figure. A hand, pink with acid scars, gracefully planted a chip onto Maul's hand.
Maul said nothing but instead he ran his finger around the edges of the frame. "Good… Does this activate every quarter of the study?"
The female figure stepped forward into the street light. She was a Togruta. Her white montrals curving to a pink, dagger like head tail. She was quite pretty, and Maul was pleased to see her. The Togruta's name was Saffron, Saffron Toris.
Saffron's cloak draped to her shoulders, and a large bayonet-like sniper was visible on her back. Her belt that ran across her torso had large explosive racks attached to it. The rest of her ammunition must've been in her ammo packs at her compartment in the city. It had been months since Maul had seen her, her acid scars were fading from the looks of it and she seemed... different.
"Maul, do you think I would try to make you mad by not giving you everything that you asked for? Or are you just that paranoid?" Toris chuckled. She paced back into her shadow and back to Maul.
Maul choked. He was paranoid, but for a different reason. "Not at all… Togruta. I am well aware of your skills; you must have shot down dozens of guards for this chip. But think not, you and I will be opened to many opportunities once we complete our mission."
"Are you serious? Capturing this planet will take more than just me. I am neither a bounty hunter, nor am I an Insurgent. You remember last fight on Isis; you left us for dead in Sagroto City. I had to hijack a separatist ship before I could escape those acid rains." Saffron shouted. She stomped at Maul who stood there smirking at her. Maul didn't need empathy to guide her to his side; he needed a strong reason for her to join him.
"Saffron, this chip opens the doors to many… possibilities," He over pronounced 'possibilities', to make it clear for her to understand his reasoning. "In fact, if you can call upon your sister, and her Jedi friends. Our exile can come to a closure. We could rule this planet together, as well as destroying our enslavers."
Toris bit her lip. It was a risky decision to call upon Jedi to help out an exiled Sith Warrior. They the trickery and terror Maul had caused the Republic. One wrong move and they all go up in flames. And this time the flames don't end.
Maul folded his arms to his chest, patiently waiting for her to make up her mind. He could not help but think that whatever the Togruta was thinking He could tell that she was planning. Naming possibilities of what would become of their plan, until she spoke softly to him. "You know what would happen if we bring Jedi to this planet. The Empire will be gunning us one by one to annihilate the remaining Jedi. This is why they should be away from the both of us, Maul!"
"Ah yes, the little extinction of the Jedi, Saffron don't you want to know why the extinction of all force users was carried out in the first place?" Maul concluded.
"Yes, yes I do."
"Then we need test subjects. And I can sense there are still a few more force users lurking in this very Village!"
Toris fell back onto the wall. "I don't trust you Maul. Whatever you're planning, whatever you're wanting, this better not cost my life or my sister's." The Jedi consular Shaak Ti was the only sister of Saffron. They never had a mutual relationship, but they did not hate each other. "I will find you some help, and then I will be gone, don't expect me to stay or help anymore than I already am."
Then she was gone. The shadows carried her away, evanescence into the darkness. Maul could only laugh with how childish she was. More the less, she would bring him what he wanted. He had the chip to the vaults, and what she didn't know it unlocked more than just doors. It was a data chip but in a diverse method of keeping data safe from getting into the wrong hands. Of course, Maul's hands were not for wrongness.
Outside of the alley, Maul could hear clanging of boots, more than one. Clone Troppers…
Maul unveiled his lightsaber and secured it under his robe. Florescent lights beamed down on him from a gunship, dozens of troopers barricaded his exit. These clones were yellow marked, with an orange gleam to them. One of them was heavily armored in commander gear. The clone wore a holster on his belt that carried a small blaster pistol and an antenna was on his left shoulder pad.
The commander came forward, hoisting his blaster at the Zabrak. "We've found another Jedi men, aim to kill!" Maul's eyes glinted with the word 'Jedi'. He was not a Jedi, and he was prepared to kill the commander just from saying the word.
Maul closed his eyes, breathing in the damp dusk air. Death would not get to him so soon. He outlined the button on his lightsaber; he ignited the saber in front of the clones.
But with a shot of a gun, Maul began to see Death itself. He waited for that feel of his chest to gape open. Then he opened his eyes. There were no marks on him. The clones weren't the ones to fire upon him. They were being shot down one by one from what looked like an empty alleyway.
BOOM!
The sound crackled in his ears. A whole wall collapsed on a trio of clones. Maul readied his lightsaber. He jumped up upon a nearby roof where two snipers sat. The troopers were startled. They fired two shots at Maul which hit who knows where. Before the clones could call for help Maul stifled the troopers. A dark hole, singed with burns, was left on the chest of one of the snipers. The other's head collapsed to the ground. The Zabrak threw the bodies aimlessly down below him.
Shots fired at Maul, which he easily dodged. The gunship above him contained a squad of clones who were all shooting at Maul. Maul trusted in the force, and force pushed the gunship. The pilots lost control of the ship, and the gunship crashed in the streets. Fire arose from the crash site, and a few remaining clones crawled their way out of the ship before falling to the flames.
Behind him he could see a Togruta – most likely Saffron – Sniping down at the remaining clones. The commander of the squad struggled to get out of harms way. He fired a few shots at the girl, but he collapsed from the flames. She jumped down to finish him off.
But Maul needed an Imperial soldier. He would not let his only chance slip away. "Stop!" He yelled, before jumping safely to the clone. It was Saffron; she would never leave him alone. "You cannot kill him Toris. I need him alive!"
She fastened her sniper back onto her shoulder, and pointed a blaster at Maul. Saffron had a strange look on her face, a look that meant trouble.
"I will not let anyone know I did this. I need a clean slate, and this clone will report me, and you if we let him live." Her fingers twiddled the trigger, almost like she was hesitant to kill him.
Maul guided her blaster to the side with the force, making her release the gun. "All I need is answers, and then we can kill him off like the rest." She growled and lifted the clone up. He was too heavily armored to lift, so she dragged him up onto the wall.
"If you want answers I suggest you do it now. Then I'll kill him myself." Saffron commanded. She walked away to the ruins of what looked like an apartment complex. Furniture was burnt to a crisp, and civilians laid there with missing limbs. A sad sight for some people, but to Maul they were just useless people who got in hell's way.
Maul bent over to check his ID. He did not honestly care what his name was, but he felt like he needed to use his name to get answers. He unfortunately found nothing, but scratches and kill marks. But the helmet was awfully familiar to Maul, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it.
"I've seen this clone before Saffron."
She swung her head back to answer. "Every clone looks the same Maul, that's where the name clone comes from," Saffron rolled her eyes. But there was a distinctive feature about this certain clone, the markings. "But I do remember seeing Kenobi command a squad like this before. But they all look the same so who cares."
Kenobi.
Maul gritted his teeth and stared back at Saffron then at the clone. If this was Kenobi's squad, then was he dead? Kenobi was too smart to die so quickly, especially from clones. It could have been possible for Obi-Wan to have survived the genocide, possibly still stranded on Utapau.
"Saffron, it is time to go. I'll carry the clone; you get your speeder ready."
"But-"
"If we stay here, the incoming troopers will find us. And I need this clone to be conscious before I interrogate him."
"Fine."
Maul lifted the clone up onto Toris's speeder bike that she brought in from her apartment. He placed him right onto the guns barrels, in case he woke up he could easily kill the clone. Saffron revved up the speeder, and Maul piloted it. She gripped his torso as the two sped out of the alleyway leaving no trace behind them.
And Maul was not planning to back down this time against the Emperor, he was getting stronger and more vigilant each time his blade met the heart of his soldiers.
And Misery Loves Company.
UPDATED- 1/4/15
Background-
Saffron Toris- Saffron Toris (Formerly known as Ti), born on Felucia a few years before her sister, Shaak Ti. When they were little, she was kidnapped and raised by a group of Pirates. These band of Togruta pirates bargained with the Separatists, but had a strong hatred for them for treating them poorly. She was raised to kill. Having an armory of blasters and detpacks, she is able to swiftly deploy and take out enemies. Saffron was an old friend, and ally to Maul when he began to raise an army and control the Underworld. They became distant, and grew cold to each other. She is sympathetic to slavery, and does not believe in torture when it isn't necessary.