Darth Maul set the coordinates for Coruscant and pushed the Scimitar at full speed into hyperspace ... he lost too much time on Neimoidia because of his ex-master ... "Damn ..!" he thought, he growled, how he dared to speak in those terms of Anais? There were so many equally beautiful slaves, it was true, but he didn't want just any slave ... he wanted Anais! He swore to himself that sooner or later, he would kill him and claim the "rule of two" by taking his place and his power.

But he had to wait for the most opportune moment, now his mind was too distracted by the news he just learned and he should checked what really happened.

The Scimitar traveled to Coruscant, Darth Maul connected to the ship's central computer:

-Computer, show me the accident that occurred to the T4-a shuttle today on the planet Deko Neimoidia- computer waited a few seconds before replying, then showed a series of information that Darth Maul read carefully. However, the data he was reading was irrelevant, the incident recently occurred and there was still not much news about it on the net. With his two hearts beating hard in his chest, Darth Maul was forced to ask that question:

-Computer, show me the list of passengers on board the shuttle-

Computer processed the answer and then displayed the list. This was obviously the only sure thing Darth Maul been able to track down on the net, but it was also the last question he wanted to ask to the computer.

The list appeared, Darth Maul carefully read name by name and unfortunately also read that of his slave: Anais.

-Damn!-he shouted angrily, hitting the console of the spaceship with a violent fist, jumping to his feet. He walked away from the command post growling and clenching his fists.

Anais had boarded that shuttle.

Anais was dead.

Anais died in the explosion for reasons to be determined, yet, but she was dead.

She was gone.

He tried to breathe to regain his balance, his concentration and his ability to reason without being swayed by emotions.

He was a Sith.

Anais was his personal slave, the one who should satisfied his physical pleasure, who should confirmed his strength and power because her life would depended solely on him, she would been his "toy" as said Twi'lek Karis ... there would be no other kind of involvement between him and her other than possession and lust.

This was what his relationship with Anais should been like.

And in part, it was.

So why, once he reached Coruscant and arrived at his home, when he found Zelda opening the great black door and not Anais, did he feel a deep sense of desolation? Why when he met Zelda's gaze, full of pain and tears for learned the news, he feeling of bitterness as if in that moment, something was missing, as if in that moment ... his eyes sought those clear blue of Anais, with her small face with perfect but minute features, that little pink mouth and not finding all this, his soul for a moment ... felt suffering?

No ... He was probably wrong. It was probably just a matter of habit because his slave always come to open that door, rather than Zelda.

Darth Maul entered his apartment giving Zelda a long hard and stern look, full of reproach because the attitude shown by the woman, from his point of view, was a sign of weakness.

As the woman opened the door for him to pass, he followed her with his gaze, then passed her and walked towards his room.

Zelda lowered her gaze, she could not bear Lord Maul's so intense, with that bright golden yellow color, shown on a stern and inflexible face. The woman felt a deep pain thinking that he did not feel any kind of sorrow for Anais, but on the other hand, what could she expect? He was a Sith, a murderer, a ruthless and cruel creature, so why he would feel sorry for the death of his slave?

And Anais, who always tried to be kind and honest towards him, always smiling ... "Anais ... wherever you are ... if you can see ..." the Twi'lek thought crying angrily as she closed the door "Look what is the true nature of your master! "

Darth Maul walked impassively to his room which he entered without ever looking back.

Entering his room, as always in dim light, he took off his clothes and threw them on the ground with contempt and went under the shower, turning on the cold water at maximum power. With his body facing the shower wall, he stood under the strong stream of water with his eyes closed, letting the water flow first over his head and then over the rest of his body, over his skin, over his muscles, still in tension from the sense of anguish felt so far. Darth Maul leaned his forehead against the shower wall thinking of Anais, wishing at that moment that his young human slave was under his body, with him, in the shower. He wished he could feel her in his arms, caress her breasts, kiss her neck, her shoulders, letting his member penetrate slowly and deeply inside her small body, giving her all the pleasure she wanted, both her and him.

He brought the palms of his hands against the shower wall, leaning them against the wall, then began to squeeze his fingers tightly to form fists. He continued to clench his fists hard, with his eyes still closed and his forehead resting, while the water continued to flow over his warm body.

He stayed like that for a few seconds, trying to think about anything.

Then he came out of the shower not quite dry yet, wearing only his towel tied around his waist, wetting the floor with every step he took. He turned to look at the Coruscant traffic outside the window, still trying not to think of her little slave who so often surprised looking at the world beyond that window, while with his clean clothes in her hands, she patiently waited for him finished the shower. And every time he took the towel off his body, she closed her eyes and turned her head slightly to one side as not to look at him because he was naked and she was ashamed. Darth Maul smiled, Anais always been so naive, so simple ... she was able to accept him for what he was, if she smiled at him it was because she was happy to do it ... he thought back to her smile ... when she greeted him the night before to go out of his room ... he thought back to her scent, to her body ... to the color of her eyes, the way she looked at him when he was training ... in a moment in his mind, he saw his young slave in more moments beautiful and pleasant spent with her. Then suddenly, he thought about the fact that he never kissed her ... although he always come close, although he had more than one chance to do so ... his lips never met the small ones, delicate and pink of his slave. He never done it simply because he didn't know if it would be something she would like, or if she rejected it with disgust and repugnance. He was not human like her, he belonged to another species, he was a Zabrak and moreover his image, disfigured by those tattoos, partly part of his culture, partly inflicted by his master, made it even more difficult for Anais, especially considering her young age and the kind of girl she was. He did not know if Anais wished to join him ... even if he clearly felt this desire in her, but it was her body that wanted it ... in fact he always felt fear towards him too, so he never been able to understand if this attraction that Anais felt, was due to her fear or rather, from an authentic desire ... At a certain point, his attention was drawn to the door of his room, because he heard the lock click. He turned his gaze in that direction, thinking for a moment that he could see his Anais enter. He felt a painful pang in his stomach, but to his disappointment, it was only a simple domestic droid to appear in the room, who, without even saying a greeting, placed his cleaned clothes on the edge of his bed, gently and carefully and immediately after, just as it entered, it left that room. He was back as before, like when he didn't even suspect that Anais existed ... and every time he stayed in his home on Coruscant, it was his droids who took care of everything on a daily basis. So when his mind realized that he would never see Anais enter that door again, when he thought that he would never meet her face, her eyes and that he would never see her smile again, Darth Maul felt a second pang, this time behind the back that spread in front, in the chest in correspondence of his two hearts, with a strange heat. He walked over to the bed to pick up the clothes the droid had just given him. He dressed, still feeling this pain, then when he approached his closet, he remembered that inside it, carefully folded in some of his drawers, there was still his black cloak that the first time he met Anais, he lent her to protect her from the cold. He took it, touched it several times and then brought it close to his face, breathing deeply the scent of the girl still preserved in the folds of the fabric. He closed his eyes again as he fought the pain he felt in his chest and was slowly draining the air from his lungs… .what was happening to him? He never experienced anything like it ... he walked over to his bed again and sat down still holding that black cloak in his hands.

It was his fault ... it was his fault that Anais was dead, he booked that damn flight, he invited her to join him on Neimoidia, he killed her ... the pain in the back stopped, but it gave way to a terrible and inexorable feeling of emptiness, desolation and suffering.

Darth Maul no longer wanted to remember ... the memories fueled that pain in the middle of his chest, his feelings of guilt assailed him …

Why?

He never felt pity for any creature, no compassion, no regret, no pain ... now for a young human female he met by chance, for a small creature, so helpless and frail ... he was feeling something that he was not able to explain himself, something creating within him, even as he tried with all his energy to push it away. Anais was only just his sexual outlet for him, she was something he would be willing to kill without any regrets, without any remorse.

Then he remembered what he promised her, that he would always defend her, that he would always be there to protect her...but no! Anais died alone, he not been able to protect her, he not been able to defend her as he promised her.

Darth Maul looked around, as if he drowning in a thick black liquid. That was his soul... the dark soul of him ... at some point, the Dark Side of the force decisively emerged, bringing out all of his anger and his pain. Anais was HIS slave ... whoever killed her, would now pay with his life, he would find out what happened, he would recover her little body and bury it on Dathomir, his home planet, where Anais would rest forever.

He stood up.

He felt a new strength, of vengeance, of destruction, because he would destroy whatever or person was in his way and that he held responsible for the death of his slave. He headed for the hologram room to interrogate his computer again.

-Computer show me all the news relating to the incident that occurred with the T4-a shuttle near the planet Deko Neimoidia - computer processed for a few seconds Darth Maul's request and then limited to the platform on which the Sith was located, the small projectors positioned on the floor, recreated three-dimensional transparent screens. At first, he thought back when he come into that room with Anais and showed her the galaxy where she lived. She was right there… close to him, a little scared and a little amazed at what she was seeing around her. Darth Maul began to read what was written on these transparent screens, one by one, one after the other, while with his hands, moved them and changed them quickly, eliminating the information that he considered superfluous or even useless.

He realize again that there was not much information about this incident yet: however, it was entirely attributed to accidental causes, perhaps a technical failure. Darth Maul was not very convinced of this theory: on board that shuttle, apart from his slave, there were also five Neimoidian officers, so it was very likely that it was not a trivial accident ... however he continued to search other news. A piece of information that was fundamental for him was the fact that still no authority gone to the scene of the accident to recover the bodies of the victims, neither the Republic nor the Neimoidian government. Darth Maul thought that if he wanted to find his slave before the Republic or Neimoidia sent someone to check, it was time to move right away.

No one was to find out, much less his master should known that he was doing something he would never shared and that would surely make him go on a rampage.

But that was his decision, and he had the power to choose what he could or should do in complete autonomy, although his ex-master disagreed. He would to get used to this kind of thing, he was no longer the puppet in his hands that he could dispose of, in any way he wanted. Now he grown up, he become an adult and powerful Zebrak, much more than he imagined!

The remains of the shuttle crashed on the planet of Deko Neimoidia, a planet that the shuttle was flying over about to land before making a stop in Cato Neimoidia, where he would be there to wait for her.

Darth Maul stopped processing his computer soon after it gave the precise coordinates of where the remains of the shuttle were supposed to be. Then he started towards his spaceship, with the intention of arriving on Deko Neimoidia as soon as possible.

He put on his black cloak, gloves and walked out of his apartment addressing Zelda, who was waiting for him near the door, with a quick glance, but didn't answer the question he read in her mind asking where he was headed.

He didn't want to tell anyone that his intention was to retrieve Anais's body and bury it on Dathomir. He wanted this to remain between him ... and his misfortune slave.

Arrived on Deko Neimoidia, at the point where it landed, the Scimitar hid in the middle of the vegetation, while Darth Maul aboard his speeder, headed where the remains of the shuttle fallen, at the coordinates that computer indicated. He was not happy to do this, he did not like to see the body of his slave among the remains of the shuttle, perhaps horribly mutilated ... he tried to put out his mind these images, he tried to keep himself focused on what he had to do. He to be quick because the Neimoidian authorities would coming soon to search, as he was doing, for the remains of the bodies of the shuttle passengers. Aside from the five Neimoidian officers, there were also civilians aboard the shuttle who never returned home following this incident and whose families were now demanding their bodies be returned.

After passing a long stretch of forest, Darth Maul began to see in the distance trees felled and burned: this must been the precise point where the remains of the shuttle ended up on the ground, razing and burning the vegetation.

He slowed down and then got off the speeder: he would continue on foot. He dismounted stealthily and then like a shadow, he began to walk silently through the trees, paying attention to any voices from the rescue teams, but at the moment, the only thing he could hear was the crackle of the fire burning the plants and that of the shuttle plates that screeched due to the strong heat to which they were subjected.

The scenery that unfolded before Darth Maul's eyes was truly heartbreaking. But for him, it was nothing so terrible, on the contrary, he was used to this kind of images ... when he eliminated everyone present in the Derabo club on Gerik IV, he done a carnage, killing all those people. What troubled him now was the idea of finding Anais's body among those crumpled sheets.

He came out of the forest and began to look around, approaching the remains of the shuttle: he recognized the bodies of the Neimoidians by the clothes they were still wearing ... There were also some completely charred bodies, unrecognizable, but the dimensions did not seem to him that of Anais. Darth Maul continued to search, to look among the hot shuttle remains, in some cases even lifting metal parts to see if the body of his little slave was hidden underneath, but until that moment ... no trace. With great care he searched almost the entire area where the remains of the shuttle crashed, obviously nothing prevented Anais's body from being pulverized or even crashed in the middle of the forest, farther than the area where the remains parts of the shuttle, arrived. But Darth Maul counted the bodies found and they were all there, all five Neimoidian officers, the two Togruta, the two humans only missing his slave's one ... after checking more than half of the area, he began to suspect something…he began to develop the idea that this incident was not accidental. Anger began to spread like poison in his body ... if he discovered something different …the entire galaxy would know his wrath!

But unfortunately, at the moment, there was nothing that could prove otherwise. As he thought, Anais's body might been charred in the explosion and her parts scattered everywhere in the fall.

But while he was checking some sheet metal still burning, his attention was drawn to a sound ... but it wasn't really a sound, it was more ... a moan ... yes a moan of pain ... Darth Maul concentrated and try to pinpoint where it came from. His body tensed, all of his senses were concentrated in the perception of the surrounding environment. But he could not hear that sound again ... then, when he was about to interrupt his search thinking maybe he heard wrong, here it is again! Darth Maul concentrated quickly ... his mind shot out of his body like a ferocious animal that decides to attack its prey and began to search in the direction this sound was coming from ... his mind searched, searched, how a thick black smoke, moving among the remains of the shuttle and then further on, near the trees of the forest. His body was still, rigid, powerful, his eyes closed as the Dark Side of the Force spread all around him. Then finally he found him, saw him ... he was the controller of the shuttle, lying on the ground, with his back against a tree. Now he knew where he was ... Darth Maul summoned his power to him, the thick black smoke quickly returned to his body, he opened his eyes and began to run in that direction. "A survivor ..." he thought, he could told him everything that happened!

Arriving in front of the man, he saw what he already seen before: the man was in very bad condition. He would die shortly ... he knelt in front of him and looked at him: his face was stained with blood and the blood came out of his head covering his face. He was stunned, it would be useless to try to call or shake him. He had no other choice: if he wanted to find out what happened to the shuttle, he probe his mind even though his bad condition, would inevitably kill him. But Darth Maul wanted find out what happened to his slave and at this point, his suspicions began to prevail over the theory of technical failure, also hypothesized by the authorities.

He took off his gloves and placed his thumbs in the center of the man's forehead, between his eyebrows just like he done with the little slave Anais, while his other fingers touched the rest of his head. Doing this, his hands got dirty with the man's blood.

Then Darth Maul closed his eyes and took a deep breath. After a few seconds, the Dark Side of the Force began to come out of his body again, again in the form of thick black smoke, slowly entering the flight controller's body as well, through his mouth and his nose. The man involuntarily breathed that black smoke and was shaken by a shiver of pain, at which point Darth Maul was able to hook his memories: he saw the entire life of the man, from his childhood to his youth, he searched among his memories, discarding all those who did not interest him, he saw his marriage, the woman he loved, his children ... the man had a family waiting for him at home and from which he would never return, he saw the friends he frequented, he felt his joys, his pains, his fears ... but this whole part of life did not interest him, he still discarded his memories, jumping quickly from one thought to another, concentrated more, the man would not lived long enough to show him everything he was looking for, he must probe faster. The man's body was shaken by another shiver of pain, a nosebleed began to come out, then finally Darth Maul found her, among the most recent memories of the man, he saw the celestial eyes of his slave, Anais talked to him ... he let her aboard the shuttle after verifying, by reading the palm of her hand, that his slave was on the list of people who were to leave ... Darth Maul felt the man's emotions of amazement after meeting his slave's gaze for the beauty of that color, he felt anger thinking for a moment about what the man felt for Anais, but he had go on ... he moved on to the next memory ... Anais was sitting at her place, in the shuttle, the man passed by her, greeting her once more by raising his uniform cap slightly:

-Are you all right Miss? -Anais replied with a nod of the head and a shy smile. His Anais…he could see her again, albeit with her face partly hidden under that light gray hood… she was still beautiful, as always. No, he didn't lose focus, he didn't to distract himself with other thoughts otherwise he would get lost in the man's memories, instead he had force him to review the last moments of his life.

He jumped to the next memory, he began to feel feelings of fear, the man was sitting on top of the shuttle, near the doors that separated the fuselage from the cockpit. He glance at Anais mostly out of curiosity to have met a human woman with such a particular eye color and beauty. At a certain point, however, the shuttle oscillated, something must have hit them, the man got up from his seat to go and check with the captain in the cockpit, what was happening, but before being able to open the doors he saw four men enter armed ... mercenaries ... Darth Maul immediately recognized the shabby figure of Shahan Alama a criminal who, among other things, was also a bounty hunter ... he growled and concentrated deeper because the suspicion he initially had, when he could not find the body of his slave, it was now beginning to take shape.

All the passengers, already frightened because the shuttle rocked in a strange way, turned to the four armed men, panic and fear immediately spread among the travelers.

Shahan Alama aimed his rifle at the air traffic controller:

-Sit down friend and nothing will be done to you! - Darth Maul perceived the emotions of fear of the man who, in the meantime, sat back in his seat, casting a quick glance at the passengers and at the young girl who brought the most possible near the wall hiding under her gray hood. Darth Maul imagined the fear that poor Anais must have felt at that moment and he ... that at that moment he should been there to protect her ... was not there. The shuttle pilot and his co-pilot opened the cockpit door to personally verify what was happening: Shahan Alama also aimed the weapon at them, while one of his men reached him and entered the cockpit.

-You two! Sit down next to this man! - he said forcing them to settle down on the ground next to the flight controller. While one of his men fumbled in the cockpit, Shahan Alama turned to the rest of the travelers and, opening his arms with his rifle in hand, tried to reassure those present:

- Ladies and gentlemen, today is your lucky day ... we are not here to kill anyone, therefore, if you do what I tell you, nobody will get hurt ... stay in your seats please! -

Having said this, he approached Anais: the man would liked intervene, Darth Maul perceived his feelings of anger and frustration, but he was too afraid to do anything. He had a family, children ... he could not risk his life to save, certainly without success, that of a girl never seen and known before!

Shahan Alama came right in front of Anais: from under her gray hood, she looked at him fearfully and trembling.

Darth Maul felt a pang in his chest, a mixture of furious anger and anxiety for his little slave:

-Miss Anais? - asked the bounty hunter looking at the girl: Anais couldn't even answer him ... but that wasn't necessary, he exactly knew that this beautiful girl in front of him was the slave of the Sith ... there is not necessary for Shahan that the girl confirm it. Terror that he read in the eyes of the young girl when he said her name ... iwas as if she given him a confirmation.

The bounty hunter glanced at the other two men standing immediately behind Anais's place:

-Take she! -He ordered.

The taller, stouter one pulled a black hood over the girl's head and then lifted her from her seat as if Anais weighed absolutely nothing, pinning her arms behind her back as the girl tried in vain to get rid of him.

Darth Maul seeing, through the man's memories, his slave treated like this, touched by the hands of a person who was not even worthy to breathe the air around him ... he suddenly felt his two hearts accelerate their beats and anger become like fire in his veins. Involuntarily, through the connection to his mind, he transmitted the rush of anger to the flight controller, who coughed and spit blood from his mouth.

Meanwhile, Shahan Alama's henchman who lifted Anais, squeezed the girl's arms even tighter behind her back, making her moan ... sensing Anais' groan of pain, Darth Maul was further furious, but he hold back, albeit with difficulty, remembering that he had in his hands the life of the flight controller, another sudden outburst of anger like the one he had previously and he would reduced to ashes the poor man who still needed him alive ... the man who held Anais decided not to exaggerate with the force otherwise he would risked really hurting her: the young girl was extremely thin and after a first vain attempt to free herself, the girl already stopped fidgeting and was calmer, even though she begun to tremble for fear.

Shahan Alama motioned for his men to get out of the fuselage, the frightened and worried passengers followed them with their gazes, without saying a word.

Darth Maul perceived the displeasure in the air traffic controller's feelings for the situation, for that young girl that the four men taken away without even knowing why and for not being able to intervene.

When the two men plus the third, who in the meantime joined them exiting the cockpit, together with the young girl disappeared definitively from the fuselage, Shahan Alama, turned to the frightened passengers and said:

-Well gentlemen, it was a pleasure to collaborate with you! -Then an evil smile appeared on his face and in the end, he disappeared behind the door that separated the fuselage from the hold.

Silence fell between the passengers, who breathed a sigh of relief in realizing that they were still alive, although a young girl had bene kidnapped, but none of them cared about her life.

The last memory of the flight controller was the explosion of the shuttle: immediately after the disappearance of the bounty hunter, the man went, with the pilot and co-pilot, to the cockpit. They quickly realized that the shuttle's communication tools had been tampered, the shuttle was completely isolated, they could not call for help and could not even be reached from ground bases. All that remained was to arrive on Deko Neimoidia, land and report the fact to the authorities, but when the shuttle flew into the skies of Deko Neimoidia, it exploded and so, at the eyes of all, the explosion seemed a trivial accident due to a simple technical failure .

Darth Maul pulled his hands away from the head of the deceased flight controller. The man took his last breath, forever breaking the weak link with Darth Maul's mind.

Darth Maul rose to his feet.

Now the galaxy would know his anger and his wrath, which already ready to come out and destroy everything that at that moment came within range, from the remains of the shuttle to the rescue teams that just flown over the area.

But he had to control himself.

Now he had to get away from there and quickly, no one had to know that he was there.

He took one last look at the flight controller without feeling any pain and pity for the end he done. His mind was already thinking of Anais and his revenge.

Anais was alive!

He didn't know where she was, but he would find her ... as he told her once before, at the cost of taking years, but he would find her. And in this case there was no need to wait for years, because Darth Maul would go to look for Shahan Alama, torture him until he confessed, until he told him where his Anais was and above all, WHO had ordered him to kidnap her. But he already had an idea of who it might been ... and this idea went from General Seth to his master. General Seth never convinced him … apart from his slave, the man must also be involved in something much greater than he apparently let seem. His master ... well, he might wanted this kidnapping to test him and force him to come out with his feelings ... between the two hypotheses, he hoped that General Seth was involved because if was his teacher … it would be time to claim "the rule of two" ...