Chapter 6

Dance with the Devil

They had not had a good day.

It had been roughly an hour since they had made contact with Rey and urged her to leave the planet, and since then they had been on the run. The mercenaries didn't keep their searching to the centre of the city, but branched out instead, searching through each section of the city in a very thorough sweep.

The three fugitives had been forced to vacate the abandoned factory they had been hiding in, keeping to the shadows and side alleys, avoiding armed and armoured clusters of men, as well as armed speeders. The Hutts weren't even trying to be discreet. Checkpoints were setup on every major road and junction, people who matched their description were being stopped and checked and every den of smugglers was being raided and searched.

This made something very clear to them. This planet may be an official member of the Galactic Republic, but like so many others such worlds in the Outer-rim it wasn't the judicial forces who were in charge, if they were even present at all. It was the Hutt's and their subsidiaries who ruled this place and they were making that crystal clear now.

Thankfully they didn't seem to know that Aayla was a Jedi, Finn had been described as a Mandalorian and Poe was a smuggler without a ship, recognisable by an Astromech droid of unknown make and model. The pictures they had managed to get on them were not of good quality, patchy and grainy before the explosion blown them to hell, so they didn't have a clear image of them.

How did they know all this? Well the communications were not encoded or encrypted in any way. It had been ridiculously easy for them to listen into their conversations, and as such they were able to stay a step ahead of them. A checkpoint was setup on one street they would use another, a building was being checked they would avoid. But more men were pouring into the settlement from across the planet, and they had been running out of options.

Their only option was to get out of the city, and thanks to a bit of skill and a lot of luck they managed to sprint from the last line of buildings towards the closest sand dunes of height. When Finn skidded to a halt, falling on his rear and breathing ragged breathes he looked back at the small line of structures and sighed in relief.

"Everyone here?"

"Yeah," Poe replied, just as winded by the run as his friend. "Somehow."

BB-8 whistled an affirmative.

"We were lucky." The Jedi said, none the worse for wear. "But we can only keep this up for so long. We'll need to re-enter the city eventually."

Finn eyed her with a little envy, wondering why she looked like she hadn't exerted herself at all before remembering that she was a Jedi and if Rey was any indication they didn't follow the rules of the natural world as strictly as normal people did. That and she was wearing basic desert garb, much lighter than the clothes and armour they were wearing. It reminded him a little like Rey's but showing more skin around the midriff, forearms and forelegs.

"Where's the next settlement?" Poe asked. "Maybe we can trek there."

"The only other settlement with a spaceport is Mos Eisley, and that's halfway across the planet." Aayla replied, shaking her head. "There's a Jawa refuge about a hundred kilometres that way but they won't let in outsiders. Unless we have a speeder and up to date charts of the Dune Sea we'll never reach anywhere. The sun will kill us if we're not set upon by Raiders first."

"So, no to both." Poe sighed, scratching his head.

"Without a speeder, yes." She agreed.

"So we hide out here for a few days and see if this starts to blow over." Finn piped in, taking his helmet off with a sigh of relief. "We have some food and water, if we can find shade and ration it we should be fine."

"You just killed one of the most powerful and notorious crime lords within the Hutt cartels." Aayla pointed out. "That lockdown isn't going to be lifted until they're sure we're gone or we're caught, one or the other."

"We really didn't think this through, did we?" Poe asked, speaking to no one in particular.

"It was spur of the moment." Finn interjected.

"That Imploder wasn't spur of the moment." The pilot countered.

"If I hadn't have done that then Jabba would be giving our exact descriptions down to the identification number on BB-8 here. It's bad now, but they don't know our faces and they don't know Lady Secura is a Jedi." The former Stormtrooper defended, scowling. "It's bad, but if I didn't do what I did it'd probably be a lot worse."

"Enough, both of you calm down." The Jedi placated firmly, drawing a duo of angry scowls in her direction which she allowed to wash over her like water over rock. "Look, why don't we climb that dune for now? It'll give us a good view of the surrounding area. We'll be able to see when the security loosens and re-enter the city, sound good?"

There were grunts of agreement from the three of them, or beeps in BB-8's case. Aayla nodded, centred herself in the Force and jumped high, scaling the steep dune with a series of quick enhanced jumps before landing in a crouch at the top. It was a good thing they had the dune for cover for Finn followed, a trail of dark smoke stuttering from his jetpack. Poe and BB-8 followed the usual way, by climbing.

The pilot cursed as he reached the top, even as Aayla looked on with a raised brow and a look of bemusement. "You guys alright?"

"Yes, fantastic," Poe grumbled as he sat up and shook sand from his jacket. BB-8 whittled a few choice beeps to which Finn gave him the universal gesture to go screw himself. The Jedi couldn't help the twitching of her lips into a smile at the scene, no animosity or anger was in their bickering, almost as if it were an everyday occurrence.

She turned and looked over Mos Espa, and was glad that she was right. The dune gave a good view of a portion of the city and she could see clumps of men and speeders moving in a basic search pattern. They would wait for nightfall and use the cover of darkness to re-enter the city. Finn and Poe had mentioned that they had won a lot of credits from the Podrace so they would get a hold of them and barter safe passage off the planet.

She felt it suddenly, a crackle in the Force which chilled the blood in her veins. Aayla turned her head with a frown, eyes scanning the sand and dunes. That was when she saw it. A black ship, sleek and deadly. Curled solar panel wings surrounded a ball shaped frame branching out into a long dagger shaped hull. It looked like a Star Courier, but heavily modified well passed the specifications.

Aayla narrowed her eyes and saw a figure, hooded and cloaked in black robes, standing a few meters away from the open landing ramp, watching a glimmering hologram from a floating orb shaped droid. Just by seeing this figure she felt a warning in the Force, a cry to stay away, to get as far away from him as she possibly could. To remain would mean discovery, and discovery would mean death. Dread welled up inside her, a nameless fear which she couldn't understand.

The droid was dismissed, turning and heading back into the city. The figure lingered, and for a brief moment she feared he had noticed her. Then he turned and entered the starship, coming out a few moments later on the back of a strange speeder bike she couldn't recognise from this distance. He vanished into the dunes, a cloud of sand in his wake.

"Aayla?" Poe's voice sounded distorted and far away, as if she were hearing him while underwater. It was only when he lightly grabbed her arm and gave it a shake that she came out of her trance. "Hey Aayla, are you alright?"

"Y-yes, I believe so." She lied, taking a few shallow breathes and hoping they did not notice.

"Oh hey, a ship." Finn came up beside her, looking at the same ship she was with a small smile. "And it's open too. Maybe we can barter passage off."

"Doesn't look like it." Poe shook his head, pointing. "See that dust? Looks like the pilot's long gone."

"Well damn, that's a shame." Finn grumbled, folding his arms. "Maybe we can wait until he gets back and talk to him then. The money from the Podrace should be sent direct to our datacards so just present him with a portion of that and we have a way out."

"No." She replied, shaking her head even as the dread faded with the distance the unknown being was placing between them. "You won't be able to barter passage with such a being."

"Aayla, you look pale." Poe frowned, even as Finn fished out a pair of macrobinoculars and looked through them. "Are you alright?"

"I saw the owner of that ship, and he felt... he felt wrong." She shook her head, trying to understand what she had just felt. That being was a pit of black hatred within the Force, so dark that she feared she would become lost should he ever stand before her.

"Did he feel like a void?"

Aayla blinked, looking at Finn with eyes widened in surprise. "I'm sorry?"

"Did he feel like a void?" He repeated, folding his arms and looking at her with a searching gaze. "Did he feel so dark that his very presence felt like an open wound in the Force? "

It took her a while to find her voice. How could a non-Force sensitive know of what she felt? Her throat suddenly felt dry as the desert they were in as she nodded. "Y-yes, but how did you know?"

The warrior shared a look with Poe, his own eyes narrowing as he drew his blaster pistol and checked the power cell, biting back a curse as he did so. "We've run into their like before."

"You've run into their like before?" She repeated, bewildered. Then she remembered their little squabble on the stairwell and decided to take a chance. She still didn't believe it herself, not completely. She was no expert in being able to tell if someone was lying through the Force but she was willing to take a chance. "You mean where you come from, your own timeline?"

Both turned to look at her, eyes widening marginally before narrowing. "How did you know?"

She forced herself to shrug, "When we were running down the stairwell the two of you were bickering about how you killed Jabba and changed time."

"And you didn't think we were just crazy?" Poe asked, holstering his weapon.

"The thought had crossed my mind," She admitted. "But that doesn't matter right now. I feel we only have a small window of opportunity, so back to my original question. How do you know what I felt?"

"Because in our timeline we travel with one of the last few Jedi in the galaxy," Poe answered. "We are from the future, to be precise sixty two years in the future and the reason we know this is because we have fought beside Rey against an organisation of Sith inspired Force-users called the Knights of Ren."

"Knights of Ren?" Aayla muttered to herself, frowning. "I have never heard of such a group."

"Probably because they don't exist yet." Finn replied with a shrug. "But there will be time to explain all of this later."

Poe turned to his friend, "Did Rey ever send you those history files?"

"Yeah, on my datapad, interesting stuff." Finn replied, closing his eyes in deep thought as he tried to remember. It really had been interesting, if at times incomplete material. "If I remember correctly a Sith attacks Master Jinn just before they leave the planet, and they barely escape."

"You think Rey will be okay?"

"Have a little faith in our resident Jedi," Finn snorted. "She took down Kylo-Ren, twice. I'm sure she can handle one lowly Sith apprentice that we barely know anything about."

"I suppose your right." Poe allowed, though the worry did not leave his eyes.

"So what's the plan?" Aayla asked, feeling herself bolstered somewhat by their enthusiasm. It seemed contagious.

"What should we do if that guy is the Sith Lord in question?" Poe asked them all, a wicked smile crossing his stubble covered face.

His grin was suddenly mirrored by Finn. "You still remember how to hijack a Starship?"

A snort. "I never forgot."

Finn smirked, passing the pilot his macrobinocilars and fishing through one of his satchels for his comlink. "It'll be risky but I need to contact Rey. We need to warn her that a Sith Lord is approaching."

"To be honest I think she already knows." Poe replied, shrugging as he looked through the device. "But go ahead, just to be safe. Looks like he hasn't left the thing unguarded. I see two droids. Looks like DRK-1 Dark Eyes, probe droids. Those things could be armed with anything. "

"If they're starship security I'm guessing laser cannons, rockets would be too risky if they needed to be used in the ship." Finn considered, tapping a few keys on his forearm control panel. "My wrist blasters are still good, used up my grenades and I don't want to use the rocket. That thing costs a small fortune to replace."

"I'm going with you." Aayla piped in at last, stepping into their little group.

"You may be fast with the Force backing you up but not as fast as a jetpack." Finn countered, looking her up and down for a moment before conceding. "But just for curiosities sake what did you have in mind?"

She chewed her lip. "Back in the palace, when you said I looked light. Can that jetpack take an additional ninety odd pounds?"

"What did you have in mind?"


"Sith Lords coming, you're sure?"Rey asked, frowning.

"Yeah, we saw the bugger coming out of his starship at the other side of the city, scared the Jedi girl pretty good." Poe's voice responded.

"Did he notice you?"

"Negative, took off into the Dune Sea on a personal speeder. I think he's coming to you."

She had expected this. Rey had memorised as much of the history files as she could, eating up all of the knowledge and information her father had presented to her like a sponge to water. The files on how Anakin Skywalker had been discovered were left mostly intact, including a duel between Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and an unknown assailant. If she engaged him alongside Master Jinn would they be able to defeat him. Rey had fought dark side users before, but had a feeling that there was a world of difference between the Knights of Ren and a practitioner of the Sith.

The Jedi Knight frowned, digesting this information. "Got it, I'll keep an eye out."

"Got it, be safe and don't do anything rash."

She smiled softly. "You as well, Rey out."

She placed the comlink back in its place on the utility belt and clutched the hilt of her lightsaber tightly, breathing in the warm air. She was standing at the side of the rampway, keeping an eye out for the Jedi Master to return with her grandfather. Why she was doing this she did not know. Maybe it was curiosity to see who Darth Vader had been, at least as a child. Maybe she was afraid of running into her grandmother. Maybe she was afraid of doing something stupid to the timeline, making sure her father and aunt, and by extension herself were never born.

She was still here, so by some accepted theories of time travel she hadn't messed up yet.

However she did not want the future she knew to continue. If the theories of herself and her friends were accurate they were in the past, hell the presence of Jedi outside of herself and her father all but confirmed that. Was it selfish of her to want to warn the Republic, and by extension the Jedi of the threat they faced? Would her meddling actually achieve anything, or just make it even more set in stone than before? These questions flashed through her mind, battering her skull with uncertainty and doubt.

Then she saw them approach, on foot this time and with no mounts in sight. Qui-Gon led the way. The Jedi Master jogging towards the ship as easily as one would go out for a morning stroll. The little boy, blond hair and tanned skin was lagging behind, obviously tired of the relentless pace set by the older man.

"Qui-Gon sir. Wait I'm tired!" A young boys voice whined, and Rey blinked a little in surprise. When she imagined the child which would one day become Darth Vader she had not imagined him to look so innocent.

Qui-Gon turned to face the boy, and his presence suddenly spiked in the Force, just a millisecond before Rey saw a dark object hurtle towards them at breakneck speed. "Anakin drop!"

The boy did as he was told, a speeder just missing him as it zoomed past overhead. A dark figure, hooded and cloaked jumped from the saddle, somersaulting in midair as a crimson blade snapping into existence for a downward stroke which would have taken off the Jedi Masters head had he not activated his own emerald blade to block the strike.

Rey unclipped her lightsaber from its place on her belt and activated it. A snap-hiss burst forth and the flaming warmth of the azure blade touched her skin as she broke out into a mad dash towards the duel. She saw Qui-Gon shout at the boy, but the words were lost in the howl of the passing wind and her heartbeat thundering through her ears. Anakin and she passed each other, without throwing a glance.

The black robed figure was continuing his relentless assault, pushing the older man back with each strike. She used the momentum of her run to jump over the heads of both Qui-Gon and his assailant, somersaulting in midair like he had done a few moments before. Her azure blade clashed with his crimson one as she landed behind him.

The black robed man stopped his assault and backpedalled a few steps away from both her and the Jedi Masters reach, head turning to regard her with cool serpentine yellow orbs before another blade exploded forth from the other side of his lightsabers overly long hilt.

She blinked at the sight, a double-bladed lightsaber. She had heard of such weapons but had never had the honour of seeing one in person. He fell into a stance, stepping to the side and both she and Master Jinn fell into their own stances, the blades hummed and thrummed with barely controllable power.

Then he moved. He jumped and spun in midair, immediate objective being Qui-Gon which he targeted relentlessly with quick two-fold strikes from his weapon which the old man was just able to block. Rey was closing in the moment it started, using her own blade to lock with the swinging ruby red equivalent and stop the follow up from slicing Master Jinn in two.

The Sith turned his head to her, maroon face covered in black tattoos snarling before a high kick connected with Master Jinn's chin, sending him into the air and landing painfully on his back. Rey quickly backpedalled, her blade weaving around her as she blocked and deflected near continuous swings and slashes from her opponent.

Just as her defences were being overwhelmed Jinn jumped back into the fight, beside her in time to stop a blade which was aimed for her waist. The two shared a look, and in battle all a pair of Jedi needed was a look, before bringing their attention back to their assailant, who continued his relentless assault.

A hand was reached out to her and Rey was suddenly thrown back violently by a powerful Force-push, rolling across the desert sands before allowing the momentum to roll herself to her feet, skidding to a halt and run back into the fight. Her lightsaber spun in her hands as she deflected a blade aimed at decapitating Master Jinn's head.

There was a howl of engines and a roar of thrusters. Rey saw from the corner of her eye the starship taking off and hovering past their position, the landing ramp still open for them. Qui-Gon and she shared a look, understanding once again clear between them but before they could act the Sith raised his hand and she was thrown back by a stronger Force-push than before, one which sent her into an out of control tumble even as Qui-Gon jumped onto the landing ramp, looking back on the scene with wide eyes.

Rey spat out sand, flipping back to her feet with her weapon still held firmly in her hands. The dark-user took one look at the ship passing by overhead, then back to her with a bloodthirsty smile which made her shiver. He rushed over to her, both blades of his lightsaber spinning in front of him with such speed that they seemed like an incandescent crimson blur of death.

The Jedi raised her weapon, centred herself in the Force and prepared for a battle which she was unsure she could win. He reminded her of Kylo-Ren, both garnered a similar feeling of dread from her. This one was not as strong in the Force as the fallen Solo had been, but made up for his weaker connection with superior training in lightsaber combat and martial arts.

An invisible force grabbed her, and suddenly she was soaring through the air with a surprised cry, sunlight and blue sky giving way to shade and a white tiled ceiling as she passed through the still open rampway and into the arms of Qui-Gon Jinn, who was thrown onto his back by her sudden weight colliding with him. The ramp closed with a whine of mechanical hinges and hisses of steam and suddenly they were alone.

He was breathing harshly, sweat dripping from his brow, and she could safely say she hadn't fared much better. It had been a challenge in just stopping him from delivering the deadly swing, so vicious and concentrated were his strikes. Her only comfort was that her lightsaber, now unlit, was still in her hand.

The doors opened and a young blond boy rushed into the room, blue eyes radiating worry through the Force even as the familiar forms of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Quinlan Vos were just a few steps behind the boy. Rey looked at him, feeling fatigue wash over her as she heard his young voice. "Are you alright!?"

"Who was that?" Obi-Wan interrupted, a worried frown marring his features.

"I don't know." Qui-Gon replied breathlessly, releasing Rey from his arms and allowing her to roll into a sitting position on her own power. "Whoever it was they were strong in the Force."

"What should we do?" The Jedi Knight of the pair asked.

Qui-Gon thought for a moment, eyes turning to Vos. "We must be patient."

"It was a Sith." Rey interrupted, looking at all three of them as she tried to catch her breath. "That being was a Sith Lord, sent to kidnap the Queen."

"How do you know this?" Qui-Gon asked, questioning.

She took a deep breath, "You remember our little conversation about you not believing me?"

"I do."

"I fall back on that." And exhale.

"Who is she?" The boy asked, looking at her with glimmering blue eyes.

"Oh sorry." Qui-Gon apologised, waving a hand in her direction. "Anakin Skywalker, meet Rey. Just Rey. She is a Jedi Knight we ran into on Tatooine."

"Oh wow." He exclaimed, grabbing her hands with his own and shaking them vigorously, excitement and awe as easy to read as an open book in the Force. Rey blinked, looking at a young boy with blonde hair, blue eyes, sun kissed skin and an enthusiasm which made her feel tired just feeling it. This was Anakin Skywalker? "You're a Jedi too, this is so cool!"

"Pleased to meet you, Anakin." She replied with a tense smile which she hoped he didn't notice. "I heard about your victory in the Podrace. Very impressive for one so young, let alone a human."

The boy grinned at the praise, obviously none the wiser to her discomfort.

"Anakin?" Qui-Gon interrupted, bringing the boys attention off of her and to him. "Go back into the ship and inform them that everyone is aboard and safe, even heavy an additional two Jedi. We have some business to discuss."

"Alright." The boy replied, smiling before getting to his feet and leaving the room.

The Jedi Master of the four waited for the doors to close before turning back to Rey with an interested gaze. "Now then Rey, let us retire to a private room so you can tell us exactly who you are and what is going on."

Rey just resisted the urge to gulp, nodding her head.


"You know, any other time I wouldn't mind having a pretty girl under my arm." Finn allowed, looking face to face with the Jedi and wondering how she convinced him to carry out this plan. "Just asking. Have you ever tried this before?"

"No." She replied flatly.

"Okay then, and your Master won't hunt me down and gut me if this backfires?"

"Finn, just do it."

"Alright," he sighed in defeat, allowing her to wrap her arms tightly around his neck as he wrapped his in return around her waist. "Hold on tight."

She nodded as he activated his jetpack and rocketed into the air, just able to keep her from being wrenched from him as they ascended into the cloudless sky. Poe watched them become one small black dot before looking through the macrobinoculars, letting out a breath in relief when he noticed that the two patrolling Dark Eye probes hadn't noticed the trail of black smoke.

The roar of the jetpack went straight through her as Aayla closed her eyes and centred herself, dipping into the Force and waiting for the right moment to wash over her. When it did she snapped her dark eyes opened and nodded to Finn, who released her from his grasp. Warm wind howled through her cone shaped ears as she started a rapid descent. She spread her arms and legs to try and gain some control, lightsaber telekinetically snapping from her belt and into her outstretched right hand.

She waited until she could see the probe droid and brought her free hand down to unleash a Force-push, the blast of telekinetic energy immediately both slowed her descent and changed her trajectory right on a diagonal course with her target. The droid spun as she soared into its sensor range but it was already too late. Her lightsaber snapped into existence and dispatched it with a diagonal slash. She hit the sand, rolling to a crouch as the droid sparked and exploded a millisecond later.

The second droid spun around, a blaster barrel popping out of its form under its huge round black sensory node. It managed to get off one shot which she was able to deflect before Finn had freefell into range. He reactivated his jetpack, abruptly stopping his descent and aiming his arms fired his wrist mounted blasters, twin streams of crimson light peppered the droid which sparked and hit the ground, the red light dimming from its sensory node.

Finn landed heavily on the sand, bending his knees and stumbling before surveying their work with a whistle. "Nice moves little miss Jedi."

Aayla smiled wryly. "Get into contact with Dameron and tell him to get down here fast."

He gave her a casual salute before reaching into his pouch for his comlink. Aayla's eyes widened when she heard the cough of a blaster going off, and couldn't stop the cut off cry of surprise when a crimson bolt slammed into Finn's form. The man spun from the inertia, thrown into midair for a brief moment before landing on the ground in a heap.

The Jedi spun, lightsaber snapping back into life in time to weave a protective shield around her, deflecting several more bolts of deadly energy into the air and surrounding sand. A third DRK-1 was floating down the ramp, screeching in machine language as it's built in blaster continued to fire. She called upon the Force for a quick burst of speed, vanishing in a blur from the droids sensors and closing the distance in moments. A quick stab and the droid crashed, sparking.

"Finn!" Poe's voice echoed as the pilot rushed down the steep incline of the sand dune towards his friend, tripping and rolling to the base before using the momentum to get back on his feet and continue his run. BB-8 followed behind, screeching in worry. "Are you alright!? Finn!"

Aayla got to him first, falling to her knees and skidding to a stop beside him, pushing with all her weight to get him from his side onto his back. The Mandalorian coughed behind his helmet, muttering a stream of curses as he sat up. A cerulean blue hand was placed on his chest and he looked up to see her worried orbs staring at him.

"Are you alright," She asked hurriedly, hands grasping at metal and cloth as she looked him up and down. The former Stormtrooper felt strangely touched that this girl, who he just met earlier that day, was so worried for him. "Where were you hit!?"

He lightly patted her arm, and she could feel him smirking behind his helmet. "I'm fine. The blast only grazed me."

"Finn! You alright!" Poe skidded to a halt by his friends side, eyes as wide and worried as the Jedi's had been.

"Yeah," he replied, getting on a knee then his feet, pointing to a blackened scorch mark on his left shoulder pad. "Looks like investing in that new armour really paid off. That arms dealer wasn't kidding. It can take anything below military grade."

"Never scare me like that ever again!" The pilot scowled, smacking him on the back, forcing Finn to stagger a step. "Nearly had a blasted heart attack!"

Aayla blew out a breath in relief, but placed her hands on his chest anyway, ignoring his confusion as she delved into the Force to make sure it wasn't all bluster. She nodded to herself, smiled and stepped away. "It's not bravado. You really are alright."

"Have a little faith, miss Jedi." He shot at her good-naturedly. "Don't forget we are from the future, armour obviously would have improved between now and then."

"No doubt." She allowed, wry smile still in place. "Since when did I say I believe you."

Poe shrugged, shaking his head. "Yeah, we'll convince you yet."

She chuckled, and was all serious again as she looked at the Star Courier. "If we're going to hijack this ship we should do it fast. He'll be coming back soon."

Finn and Poe nodded and followed her up the rampway and into a circular chamber. Several small closed portholes surrounded them, a corridor led further into the ship and to their right was a small turbolift. Poe and BB-8 rushed to it, the pilot activating the lifts controls and scowling. "It's encoded. B, plug in and get me those access codes."

The droid tootled an acknowledgement before going to the nearest access socket and plugging in, computer interface arm turning as the little droid worked. It took ten seconds for him to break the code and for the turbolift door to open with a squeal of triumph. It was a tiny space, and Poe could tell that he and BB-8 could barely fit. "You two wait here. Keep your comlinks on and ready."

"If he comes back?" Finn asked as the pilot stepped into the turbolift, BB-8 pushing his way in beside him.

"Fight him off." Dameron replied, doors closing with a hiss.

Finn sighed, him and Aayla exchanging a worried glance. "Yeah, leave the easy job to us."

Poe only needed to wait two second for the lift to take him up to the cockpit and was all but sprinting when the doors opened. The room was small and dome shaped, a holoprojector in the centre, to his left was a semicircle of chairs, to his right, past an open archway was the cockpit, a single chair surrounded by computer consoles and a dimmed viewport which curved along the full axis.

He sat in the high backed pilots chair, looking at the mass of controls, dials and throttles and fired up the main computer. That was where he came across a problem. Another access code flashed across the screen. He turned back to his astromech. "Sorry buddy. Jack in and get passed this!"

BB-8 beeped in agreement, rolling to the cockpit computers access port and plugging in. His arm turned as the droid worked, using every hacking and splicing program Poe had added to his memory since they partnered up together, as well as his own knowledge from two decades of service. Soon the code vanished and the main commands appeared on the screen.

That was where Poe came across another problem.

All of the commands were in a language he could not recognise. Try as he might nothing came to his memory even slightly familiar. The pilot cursed, slamming his fists onto the console before turning back to his partner. "B, I can't read this. Get a translation program running!"

The droid complied.


Aayla and Finn were waiting just on the ramp, eyes peeled for anything coming their way. The Jedi felt him approaching, a void speeding around the settlement towards their location. "We don't have much time."

"He's coming, huh?" Finn asked, checking the power cells of his weapons.

"Fast." She stated as way of agreement, gripping her lightsaber hilt tightly.

"Any chance we can take him?" The former Stormtrooper asked. Despite his own bravado, as she called it, the blast had definitely done some damage. His armour had saved him, but the force behind it had wrenched his shoulder painfully, at best there would be a nasty bruise but at worst there would be damage to nerves, making it more difficult for him to use.

"No." She replied, voice barely above a whisper as she centred herself and tried to banish her fear. It was proving a difficult challenge. "We can't."

A minute passed before they saw it. He was approaching in the distance, a black dot with sand whirling behind his speeder. Aayla's breath caught in her throat even as Finn placed a hand on her shoulder and nudged her further into the starship. The closer he got the more stifling his presence became. The more her limps felt like leaden weights.

The combined form of his speeder and him was just beginning to take shape when the engines spooled up with a whine. Then came a roar, weak at first but getting louder with each passing moment. Finn allowed a relieved laugh to wash over him. "I knew that bastard could do it. Never doubted him for a second."

Aayla could only nod as he slammed his fist on the control console, the ramp rising to block her view of the approaching figure. Even from this distance she could see so much, his maroon skin, decorated by pitch black tattoos, and fierce, hate filled, sickly yellow eyes glaring right at her with all of the ferocity of a hurricane.

He wanted her dead. He wanted them all dead. All within his path would die.

Her lekku curled as the ramp closed with a clamp and hiss of steam, and a sudden burst of inertia told her that the ship was leaving the ground before the dampeners kicked in. The ships comm system crackled to life and the pilots voice echoed through, filled with triumph and relief in equal measure. "Are we good or are we good, huh!?"

"You two are better than good man. You two are genius!" Finn grinned, laughing in relief. "Took you bloody long enough though!"

"Yeah, good." Aayla just managed, offering him a weak smile and wondering why her legs hadn't given out over the terror she felt. Whoever they had taken this ship from wasn't some Dark Jedi or mercenary, in fact if she didn't know any better she would say that what she saw in front of her was a Sith.

But that was impossible, right?


Maul knew something was wrong before the Scimitar even came within his line of sight. He felt it through the Force, a dark cackling whisper which seemed to mock him the more he closed the distance to his personal starship.

Then he turned the sand dune, giving him a direct line of sight to his vessel and understood. The ion engines were glowing, and he could just barely make out the enshrouded forms of two figures standing at the top of his ramp. The sparking wrecks of his three DRK-1 probes lay scattered across the sands.

He sneered angrily, eyes glowing a baleful yellow from within his hood as he gunned the throttle on his speeder and closed the distance with as much speed as he could muster. Whoever these hijackers were, wherever they came from or whoever they called master they were dead. He would see to it that they be tortured, mutilated, killed and hung from his ship's hull as a warning to anyone else.

Then the engines flared and he knew that he would not make it in time. A part of him doubted what he was seeing was reality. His ship had state-of-the-art security encryption. Not just his three droids. The turbolift was protected by a passcode as was his main consoles. The consoles mainframe was translated into the language of the ancient Sith, which meant that no sentient besides a Sith should have been able to understand it.

Yet here was his ship, the Scimitar, leaving him behind.

He bit back a roar of anger as he continued to gun the throttle, saw a chance and took it as he sped up the side of a colossal sand dune at such speed that once he reached the ledge the speeder took off into the sky.

He hopped onto the saddle and then jumped into the air with the aid of the Force, the speeder spinning into an out of control spin as he came up a few meters away from the hull. He had already squirmed out of his heavy, flailing black robes, not paying them any attention as they roiled away.

A tracking device was already in his tattooed hand, which he turned on with a click and threw. Maul watched with triumph as it hit the hull and stuck there, crimson light flashing.

Then he was falling, wind howling through his ears and ripping at his black tunic and pants. He spread his arms and legs to try and catch the wind, eyes closed as he waited for that one crucial moment. He found it, eyes imbued with the darkness opening to be welcomed by the sand covered land rising rapidly to meet him. He raised his hand and unleashed a Force-Push, cushioning his fall enough for him to land in a rough tumble before using the momentum to roll to his feet and skid to a halt in a crouch.

Slowly the Sith lord rose, glaring murderously at the rapidly shrinking form of his ship. Then a thought hit him. His master had built a slave circuit into its controls, to stop it from being stolen and to control it remotely. He fished through his utility belt and pulled out the small spherical shaped device, pressing down on the one button which would recall his ship.

He stood there and waited. The wind kicked up, a sandstorm would be approaching soon. Still he waited, looking up to the sky and willing his ship to return to him with the foolish thieves he would kill.

Nothing.

The Scimitar did not reappear, and he could not sense it's presence. It was long gone.

His eyes widened, razor sharp teeth grinding together as black hatred consumed him. Darth Maul threw his head back and screamed a hate filled symphony which would have chilled any other sentient being to the bone.

Those thieves.

He was going to be their end.

Once he tracked that ship down he would kill them slowly, intimately, until they were begging for death.


Wow, we have officially gotten over the hundred review mark, hundred and fifteen to be exact. I just want to throw my thanks to everyone who reviewed this story, and also thanks to those silent people who added their favourites and alerts to the list. Thank you everybody. It's times like this where I am happy to be a writer.

So onto questions. PanchoPistolas asked how I was going to portray the time paradox theories that pop up in most time travel stories. I think I'm going to go with the multiverse theory that when someone makes a different choice or some other force weighs in it creates a parallel dimension, the whole new branches from a tree idea. I always thought that idea was a lot more fun than 'everything is set in stone' idea.