"There are four of them now!"

"Yes Fifth Brother I noticed!"

"Jarrus and his padawan are no threat. But Tano and Maul? At the same time? We are not prepared for that."

"Is that fear I hear in your voice?"

"Watch yourself Seventh Sister. I am of higher rank."

"And yet you lasted mere seconds against Tano the last time we encountered her."

"She disarmed you without her sabers."

The Eighth Brother could no longer stand the pointless bickering of his siblings. It was no secret that practically every Inquisitor was in competition with one another, trying desperately to please their masters and advance through the ranks.

But the two with him currently would not shut up. It was a wonder that they had lasted as long as they had to be fair. Both were capable warriors in their own right. But their selfish ambition for success would be their downfall.

That was not to say that the Eighth Brother did not enjoy the hunt and competition. He did, truly. It was part of the reason he was willing to hunt down "The Shadow" as Maul had been nicknamed. If he could bring in one of the two biggest threats to the Sith himself, imagine the reward.

But now, both Tano and Maul were in the same place, and from the looks of it, working together. They had emerged from the Sith temple itself, clearly having found a way to navigate its halls. The only way to effectively defeat them would be to inform Lord Vader and allow him to claim the glory, a feat that the Eighth Brother did not want to.

To summon Lord Vader would be to admit defeat. And the Eighth Brother was not willing to give up. Not yet. Not when he had a plan.

However, said plan relied upon cooperation between his fellow Inquisitors. A task that was easier said than done when it came to the Seventh Sister and Fifth Brother.

"Both of you shut up!" The Eighth Brother snapped at the two, interrupting another round of insults the two were trading. His two siblings turned to look at him, fire in their eyes at being interrupted so rudely.

"Oh so the Eighth Brother speaks. Did you have fun being captured by a pair of half trained Jedi?" The Seventh Sister retorted, always the cynic of the group, trying to undermine and belittle others. The Eighth Brother decided not to tell her that it was the Jedi's droid that had incapacitated him.

"Maul and Tano are formidable alone, only together can we hope to outwit them. But not through direct conflict." The Eighth Brother began, gears in his mind turning.

"You have a plan brother?" The Fifth Brother, while a brute, was surprisingly analytical at times. A folly to the personality of the Seventh Sister.

"Before your arrival, the temple and surrounding areas came to life. My guess. Maul and Tano acquired something from within the lower levels of Malachor. If legends are to be believed, this temple is a doomsday weapon capable of wiping out everything around it." The Eighth Brother gestured to the ash statues around him.

"A holocron perhaps?" The Seventh Sister inquired, clearly intrigued by whatever her sibling was planning.

"No doubt sister. If we can acquire the holocron for ourselves, we can use the weapon against our foe, solving all of our problems at once." The Eighth Brother concluded. To him, it was a solid plan. However it lacked one final piece.

The Fifth Brother clearly saw that too. "Neither Maul nor Tano will surrender the holocron willingly. And we do not possess the skill to take it by force. Not without Lord Vader."

The Eighth Brother had planned for this. He had since he had been captured by the Jedi.

"We don't need Lord Vader. If Maul has the holocron we will never get it. But if it is Tano that possesses it, she can be coerced into giving it to us. We must appeal to her inner Jedi."

The three Inquisitors traded looks with one another. Then the Seventh Sister spoke. "Tano reeks of Jedi righteousness. How do you propose we use that my brother?"

Beneath his visor, the Eighth Brother smirked.

"We need the boy!"


"Sith Lords don't stop being Sith. It's ingrained, like being a Jedi."

Maul wanted to smack his head into one of the nearby pillars.

Why were all Jedi so closeminded? Admittedly he was not much better at the best of times. But here, stuck in a Sith temple on Malachor, he was at least open to adapting. His partnership with Lady Tano was example enough. Speaking of which...

"You may claim that, but you stand alongside Ahsoka Tano. A former Jedi that your kind betrayed!"

Kanan flinched back in surprise. The fact that Maul, a Sith, was trying to use Ahsoka's past against his argument was astonishing. Who did he think he was?

"Kanan, what does he mean? Ahsoka?" Ezra, ever wanting to know more, both about the force, and the people around could clearly not help himself.

When neither Kanan nor Ahsoka ventured an answer, Maul intervened.

"Your master believes that we should not align together because of my past. Because I was not a Jedi, but a Lord of the Sith. A natural enemy of the Jedi. Yet he forgets that those who leave the Jedi order are often considered outcasts that cannot be trusted, akin to Sith in the minds of many Jedi. Lady Tano here is a perfect example of this."

Ezra looked between Kanan and Ahsoka in despair, unsure of what to do. Sure, he knew that Ahsoka had walked from the order herself for reasons left untold, but did Kanan really not trust her because of that? And what was that Maul said about the Jedi betraying Ahsoka?

However, Ezra had no time to dabble on those thoughts, as Ahsoka stepped forward to break up the tension.

"Alright. Like it or not we need to work together to get out of here. We have the holocron. What's next Maul?"

"We must ascend the temple itself in order to call your ship for evacuation. No doubt the Inquisitors are waiting for us. We must do the unexpected and fast. Lord Vader is surely on his way." Maul responded, beginning to make his way up a series of steps at the base of the pyramid. He only narrowly caught the pained expression on Ahsoka's face at the mention of Vader.

"How can you be so sure?" Kanan still didn't want to cooperate, but swallowed his dignity and followed.

"The chance to capture all four of us at once? I wouldn't be surprised if Lord Sidious came too." Maul allowed the venom to drip from his tongue as his said his former master's name. "The higher we are the better chance of escape we have."

So the four proceed up the steps of the temple, eyes alert and scanning every dark corner, expecting an ambush at any moment. The respite wouldn't last long, Maul was sure. And with Lady Tano in possession of the Sith holocron it meant that he had to protect her at all costs. Something he never thought he'd have to do in his life. But here he was.

Maul allowed himself to consider the Togruta for a minute. He wasn't lying when he told her she'd make a good Sith lady. She had the skill and power to become great. Legendary even. But she withheld her true potential.

Yet when she had tapped into the darkside to help him in the temple, he had seen what she was capable of. If anyone had the potential to defeat Vader at this point in time, it was her.

But he also knew her. She would never allow herself to fall that far, and part of him admired that in her. She had achieved balance in the force. In herself, despite everything that had gone wrong.

He only hoped that would be enough.

Soon, they found themselves out of stairs, and their climb halted. Or so it seemed to the Jedi. Maul made his way over to the wall and placed his hand upon, reaching into the force. An elevator was summoned before the four of them. Their way up. But there was a hitch.

"Only two, no more no less. You and your padawan will take this lift. Lady Tano and I will catch the next one." Maul said, indicating towards the two Jedi. Kanan nodded in response.

"Suits me. You gonna be ok with Grandpa?" Kanan looked Ahsoka square in the eyes, concern etched on his face.

Ahsoka smiled in response. "I'll be fine Kanan."

The two Jedi climbed onto the elevator, which Maul then sent up. As it ascended, Maul risked a glimpse at Ahsoka, only to see her staring across the vast wasteland of Malachor. He knew it would sound condescending coming from him, but he couldn't help himself.

"Your companions do not stand a chance if your former master shows up."

Ahsoka replied instantaneously.

"I know."


As Kanan and Ezra reached the end of their elevator ride, they both stepped off onto the next layer of the temple to wait for their companions. The tension around them both was thick, and Ezra sought to clear the air.

"What did Maul mean by the Jedi betraying Ahsoka?"

Kanan knew this was coming. Ezra was too inquisitive for his own good at the best of times. It was an admirable quality, especially for a Jedi, and Kanan couldn't be more proud of his padawan.

"Back during the Clone Wars, Ahsoka was as much a hero to the republic as the Jedi masters, especially among the other padawans. She was my hero." Kanan recalled. "But then she accused of treason and terrorism, and the Jedi Council sold her out to the Republic Senate as a scapegoat. When she was found innocent, she was offered reinstatement at a knight level, but she refused."

"The Jedi just abandoned her?" Ezra asked, clearly horrified at the prospect of someone doing that to Ahsoka.

"It was all over the news at the time. Both officially and from rumours within the temple itself. It's why I was so surprised she was willing to listen to Master Yoda's advice to come here in the first place." Kanan continued. He remembered being horrified when he heard what was happening to padawan Tano. If he could have helped at the time he would have.

"Master Yoda abandoned her too? How did no one sense she was innocent? It's Ahsoka!" Ezra was growing uneasy at the topic he had inquired about. He wasn't losing faith in the Jedi was a whole. But maybe, just maybe he would have to rethink some things.

"The darkside clouded everything back then Ezra, even more so than today. Only Master Skywalker and Senator Amidala supported her. In the end it was one of Ahsoka's closest friends that had framed her for the attack. I don't know what I would have done in her position. I probably would have..."

Movement, out of the corner of Kanan's eye. He didn't swing round to look at it, as that would give away the fact that he saw the movement. But someone was definitely there. And it wasn't Maul or Ahsoka, and not Ezra as he stood before him. That only left...

Kanan felt something land on his shoulder, and heard Ezra call out in alarm and ignite his lightsaber. Kanan only barely caught a glimpse of the small probe droid attached to his shoulder before a sharp pain travelled through his body. An electric shock.

Kanan crashed to the floor unconscious.

Ezra stepped back in alarm, swinging his saber at the droid as it attempted to land on him. He caught the droid with a lucky swipe, slicing it in two.

However, before he could reach his master, Ezra felt his joints lock up. Everything about him just froze, and then to his surprise he was suspended in mid-air. Ezra remained there for a few seconds, before his ears managed to pick up approaching footsteps from behind.

Whoever it was was restraining him with the force. So clearly they wanted him alive.

That was not a comforting thought.

The figure walked into his field of view.

The Inquisitor. Specifically the one they had captured earlier.

"Hello again young padawan, we have not been properly introduced yet. I am the Eighth Brother, and you are going to help me get a Sith holocron."

Author's Thoughts

Oh no... Inquisitor ambush!

So now everyone is working together to achieve a similar goal. From this point onwards, the deviance from canon begins to ramp up.

I feel like Ahsoka and Maul understand each other in a weird way. Both are outcasts from their pasts, and both represent the best of their kind.

As for Kanan and Ezra, I personally like the idea of Kanan being a super fanboy of Ahsoka when he was younger.

And Ezra is just an overexcited bundle of chaos at the best of times.

As per usual, comments are most welcome.

Speaking of...

FossilQueen1984: I guess it begs te question: why is a Sith holocron calling out to Ahsoka as well as Maul. More stories are planned. This is part one of a four story AU I have planned. Currently writing part 2.