If Anais not taken off the black hood, she would surely passed out. All this time, she tried to breathe as little as possible. She felt her wrists tied behind her back, her hands locked. She didn't know who are the mens who kidnapped her, what they wanted from her.
She was afraid.
She was trying to understand ... she was trying to figure out what she could done to find herself in a situation like this. But Anais was not only afraid of the situation she was in, which still terrified her to the point of making her tremble like a leaf. Anais was afraid because ... a man, who was not her master ... had touched her, because she had to be on Cato Neimoidia, as she was ordered and when her master would find out what happened, he would punish her again!.
Anais was almost on the verge of crying.
She heard the voices of the men who kidnapped her, she clearly recognized the voices of the man who ordered his thugs to take her, he called himself Shahan ... Shahan Alama something like that. At the moment they weren't talking about her, they were talking about shady deals, about money. Anais clearly understood that these men must be bounty hunters, just like her former master Ganorhe. Now she knew what his victims must felt because, even now, she was their prisoner.
But who could be the person who paid them to kidnap her? And what could he want from her? She was the humble slave of a Sith, Sith of which no one knew his identity, much less that she had a slave in his service.
But the thing that worried her was the knowledge that Lord Maul was already on her trail by now. Not seeing her get off the shuttle once it landed on Cato Neimoidia's planet, he would immediately start looking for her and she knew well that, at the cost of taking years, he would be able to find her. And who knows how he would punish her this time!
Anais could no longer hold back her tears and began to cry.
But none of those men cared, they continued their conversation without paying attention to Anais's sobs coming from under the black hood.
After being brutally lifted from her place in the shuttle, Anais had been carried on the shoulder of the man who tied her and then, had been thrown like a sack of potatoes on an uncomfortable chair of some kind of filthy spaceship. Usually, thinking of Ganorhe's, the spaceships of bounty hunters were never particularly clean ...
Then they lifted she again from that awkward place and reloaded on the man's shoulder, or so she supposed, seeing absolutely nothing because of the black hood.
Eventually, they placed her on the ground, not too softly, forcing her to kneel.
At that point, although frightened and trembling, her hood had been taken off and the first face Anais found was that of ...General Seth?
Anais couldn't believe it, but as her eyes focused on the general's figure, all her thoughts and assumptions made finally took shape.
He done it!
He really done it !
He anticipated it on Dariba Planet that he found a way to give her another chance, to set her free ... but never, Anais would believed that General Seth could go that far!
The man was on his knees in front of her and when he noticed the amazement of the girl, with the back of the fingers of his right hand, he lightly caressed her cheek. Feeling touched, Anais immediately pulled back, looking at him with a reproachful look though wet with tears:
-Anais ... you have to rest assured, it's all over now ...- the general said immediately noticing the girl's gaze and the movement of her head: -It's all over, he doesn't know you're here ... he doesn't know you're alive! -
"Alive?" but what was he talking about? Lord Maul knew she was alive ... and ... he was waiting for her on Cato Neimoidia!
General Seth's face was very close to her, Anais looked straight into his light brown eyes. She thought for a moment about his age, as she already assumed, he must been more or less the age of her master. It was a serious, mature face, but one that could smile, which Lord Maul's face could never do. On the whole, he was a really nice man! He had a particular charm, besides without his Separatist uniform, but with a more informal dress, he was even more attractive.
But it wasn't Lord Maul!
Although the appearance of General Seth was that of a normal person, as a human, Anais imprinted in her eyes, in her mind ... the figure of her master, who although of a different race from her, because belonging to the Zabrak race, he was able to exert an incredible, unique attraction on her.
Anais tried to push these thoughts out of her mind, instead focusing again on what just happened: she had been kidnapped by a group of mercenaries led by a slimy bounty hunter and the whole thing had been commissioned by General Seth!
Anais became afraid again: Lord Maul was waiting for her on Cato Neimoidia, not seeing her get off the shuttle, he might thought that she escaped and if he known that she was now with General Seth ... well, it was very simple, Lord Maul would thought she agreed with him! Therefore Anais, looking him in the eyes very worried for this observation she just made, for this reason she tried to explain her anxieties:
-You ... you don't realize ... .- her voice was really a whisper and she was trembling: -You don't realize what he's capable of ... he'll find me ... he'll find us ... and he'll kill us all! - she added as other big tears wet her red cheeks.
General Seth help her get up.
Anais glanced at the four men still at her side who, hearing her words, giggled and then returned to look at General Seth and his armed soldiers, immediately behind him.
The general pulled out a long, thin knife: Anais instinctively moved back, jerking away from the general. He looked her straight in the eye ... those beautiful blue eyes he longed for, though now flushed with tears. He showed her his hands, as if to show that he didn't want to hurt her. Then he slowly approached Anais, touching the girl's with his body and taking his arms behind her back, he cut with a decisive blow the ropes that tied her wrists. Anais found herself in General Seth's arms, but she didn't feel the feeling of warmth and protection she felt with her master every time he approached her. And he didn't even have his scent ... for a moment Anais almost felt like she missed Lord Maul, she tried to imagine what he was doing at that moment ... if he was looking for her ... the general said he didn't know that she was alive ... why? What was he referring to?
Meanwhile, General Seth moved away from Anais and the girl rubbed her sore wrists from having been tied up like that for so long.
Meanwhile, General Seth, looked past Anais, towards Shahan Alama and his men:
-You can go now- he said to them: - Your work is done, Captain Gallaan will arrange to reward you as agreed-
The bounty hunter chuckled:
-It was a pleasure to work with you, Seth ... enjoy your slave! - and said this, still laughing, he turned and started in the direction of his spaceship while the general, gestured to his men to escort them.
Anais watched General Seth's gunmen pass by and follow the bounty hunter: she was glad that squalid figure was gone!
-Come Anais, you'll be tired ... I hope those scoundrels treated you well ... - the girl gave him a slight nod, not very convinced. They walked together down a long corridor ... that must been a spaceship or something, Anais thought ... so she was moving in the space ... who knows where, away from Coruscant and his master.
This thought saddened her.
-Where are we? - she decided to ask him.
General Seth did not answer her immediately, but then explained to her:
-You are aboard my spaceship ... from the outside it looks like a banal cargo ship, no one could suspect that inside it hides all the instruments and armaments of a warship-
Anais looked around reflecting on the words of General Seth: who knows if this type of spaceship would deceived even her master ...
Seth walked beside the girl watching her as she continued to massage her wrists that, until a few minutes ago, had been tied to her.
He looked at how she was dressed ... so simply, with a pair of black leather pants and a large sweater over it, he couldn't help but think about her young age. For Anais now another life would begin, where she would finally be free, where she would share her life with him ...
Meanwhile Anais returned to reflect on her situation: although General Seth accomplished a truly incredible feat to free her from her slavery, even going so far as to challenge the wrath of a Sith ... he did not realize the serious mistake he had committed . Lord Maul would never stop looking for her and they would never be safe anywhere in the galaxy. Not even aboard a spaceship like that, albeit well camouflaged. Therefore she decided to return to the discourse she initially addressed:
-General ... take me back to Coruscant, please! - He stopped and looked into her eyes. Anais continued: - You do not realize what Lord Maul is capable of doing, of his power ... - the general smiled, gently taking both hands, noting how small they were:
-Anais I already told you to stay calm ... he will never know where you are because at this moment he does not think you are alive ... - that speech again ... but what did General Seth mean? Anais looked at him puzzled:
- Didn't Shahan and his men tell you anything? -
Anais shook her head slightly, still not understanding: what should those criminals said to her?
He gave another small smile:
-Anais the shuttle you were on, never made it to Cato Neimoidia ... it exploded in the skies of Demo ... your master, Lord Maul, at this moment knows that you are dead ... at this moment, all the galaxy knows that the shuttle exploded due to a simple technical failure! -
Hearing these words, Anais opened her eyes wide in disbelief ... amazed: so had this always been his plan? To be able to steal her from her master, he made her die so that, at the eyes of all, she no longer existed. That way, Lord Maul would never look for her ... so had his plan really worked? Had he managed to fool everyone, even a Sith like Lord Maul?
At first Anais was almost enthusiastic about this, she would liked to thank him, but then suddenly, she held back ... she was no longer the same ... she no longer felt like a prisoner of a Sith, she no longer felt inside herself the desire to escape, which perhaps characterized her in the early days she lived in her new home. She couldn't say she was happy to be with him, because happiness was a little different concept from what she felt by being next to her master, but nevertheless she "wished" to be with him ... she felt the need to be with him, to be close to him, to feel him, to see him, even to touch him. Therefore, this initiative of General Seth, Anais was experiencing it more as a kidnapping than an attempt to set her free. That wasn't how Anais wanted to be free. Besides, she was absolutely not convinced ... there was something inside her ... a feeling ... something telling her not to let her guard down, that her master ...not been deceived and that right now was looking for ... Anais therefore decided to listen to this feeling she felt and looked at General Seth with suspicion, asking him another important question that between one thought and another, began to take shape in his mind:
-General ... but the people inside the shuttle ... the people who traveled with me ... where are they now? - Anais feeling that it was a bit naive question because maybe ... maybe the answer she already imagined it, but hoped that the man could provide her with another one, which she may not thought of. But unfortunately General Seth lowered his gaze, for a moment he tried not to meet Anais's, but he knew that he had to give her an explanation and that he could not turn too much around the question:
-Anais ... there were no survivors ... after the explosion ... all the people aboard that shuttle ... died ... -
Anais stopped and looked him straight in the eye:
-What? - she exclaimed frightened: - No ... it's not possible ... you killed all those people … just so anyone could think that I was dead ... just to be able to carry out your plan? -her eyes filled with tears and blinking ... she slowly made some fall down her cheeks.
-Not to carry out my plan Anais ...- the general corrected her, perceiving the girl's pain: -But in order to free you ... I had no other solutions ... he would never leave us alone, he would give us hunting…-
-But it will! - Anais interrupted him abruptly, pushing her hands still tight in his, against his chest: - He will do the same, no one can deceive him, no one can stop him ... - Anais burst into tears: - He will find us ... he will find us wherever we are and he will kill us ... and I will die ... - she sobbed: - I will die knowing that I have on my conscience all those innocent people that you have killed for my sake! -
Anais knelt in front of him crying, still holding her hands against his chest.
General Seth was very sorry to hear the girl speak like this, but attributed her reaction to the exhaustion, the fear of the kidnapping and the mental difficulty that Anais would to face for disobeying the orders of her master.
- Please ... - Anais asked him sobbing: - Please take me back to Coruscant ... take me back to my master ... he will kill us ... - General Seth lifted her off the ground very easily, took her in his arms, felt her small body, so light and frail, her scent… He held her close to him, trying to calm her, heading for her room.
A little rest would certainly do her good!
Over time, all her fears, her anxieties ... would subside, they would become just a distant memory for her. Now, all these feelings were still too deeply rooted in her to be able to live this new situation with serenity which, on the contrary, frightened her because the young girl continued to feel the shadow of her master on her.
General Seth came up to Anais's room, the two sliding doors opened and he entered the small room still holding the girl in his arms, sobbing with tears. He laid her on the bed and, with a gesture of affection, removing the hair from her face, approached her forehead and gave her a small and delicate kiss.
Anais closed her eyes letting out even more hot tears ... she was done for ... if Lord Maul found her, he would punish her and this time he would really hurt her a lot.
Darth Maul returned to Coruscant.
He was delighted to discovered that his young slave was alive, but now, what really turned him on, what was engaging him mentally and physically, was the knowledge that he was going to hunt and kill several people! Finally he would accomplished a mission led solely by him, it didn't happen often, most of the time he follow the orders of his master, eventually he had to be able to improvise if things took an unexpected turn, but where to go and who to kill were always imposed by his master.
Now, first of all, he had to find out where Shahan Alama and his men were hiding: he seen them clearly in the face, through the memories of the flight controller, so he knew exactly what they looked like. Then once he found the bounty hunter, he would finally find out where Anais was.
Zelda opened the black door to his apartment and let him in, lowering her head in greeting as he passed her. Lord Maul was wrapped in his cloak, he looked like a ghost as he walked slightly raised the flaps both to the right and to the left. He glanced at her, then stopped after a few meters:
-Anais is still alive- he said with a firm and decisive tone. The woman looked up from the ground and looked at him. But he didn't turn around, he went on further towards his room. The Twi'lek was speechless, closed the black door behind her while leaning against it with her back.
"Anais ... alive?" She wondered without understanding how she could be after the shuttle exploded in the sky of Deko Neimoidia. She wanted to ask Lord Maul for some more information, but dared not ask him anything else for fear that he might turn around and look at her with his usual angry look.
"So what now? What would happened?" The woman wondered as she walked back to the kitchen and then to her bedroom.
What would Lord Maul do?
Darth Maul began reading everything his computer was showing in the hologram room. It was all informations relating to Shahan Alama: where he lived, what circles he frequented, for whom he worked ... the name of Cad Bane also came out ... surely Bane must been involved in some way, but since the latter had friendships between the Separatists, before eliminating he and arousing the curiosity of someone who would surely wonder why a Sith was doing this ... Darth Maul waited to have all the pieces of the puzzle in his hands, especially before making gestures that could also attract the attention of his master.
Shahan Alama was on Florrum, a planet located in the Sertar sector. This planet was known for its arid deserts, large canyons and geysers. Darth Maul would go there, right away, without wasting any more time. And in fact that was what he did: he interrupted the research activity of his computer and wearing his cloak again he headed towards the exit of his apartment. Entering the long corridor, he saw at the end Zelda, intent on opening the door for him. He slowed his pace as he waited for the woman to do her duty, then, when the door was thrown open and the Twi'lek stepped aside and lowered her head, he passed on. However, before exiting the door completely, Zelda told him:
-Take her home ... my lord ... - he remained motionless for a few seconds, Zelda understood where he was headed ... then without turning to look at her and without saying anything, he continued on his way. But Zelda knew that he received the message and the fact that he not answered her meant that her guess was correct. Lord Maul went looking for Anais and Zelda knew that he would find her one way or another.
Arriving near Florrum, the Scimitar came out of hyperspace occulted and began to descend into the planet's atmosphere.
The computer on Coruscant, pointed out exactly where Shahan Alama was. The bounty hunter was in a seedy room where he usually met with his men to celebrate the success of his missions.
Darth Maul decided to be careful and first sent two DRK-1 probes to patrol the area around the room where Shahan Alama and his men were supposed to be. The probes arrived silently and through the large central optical receptor, flying over and floating around the room, tried to catch every possible sign of life, thus identifying the bounty hunter. Darth Maul received the collected data and an acknowledgment signal on his wrist transceiver. He jumped into the saddle of his speeder reaching the place indicated by the probes which,meantime, begun to shoot the men posta on guard outside the room. These, taken by surprise, were killed, meanwhile Darth Maul quickly got out of the speeder still running and opening his double lightsaber began to hit the other men who, attracted by the noises coming from outside, come out to check what was happening . Darth Maul was aware that, to reach Shahan Alama and that to get the information he needed from him, he would first to fight against a whole host of bounty hunters, mercenaries and droids, ready to defend Shahan Alama with all their might. .
He couldn't leave any survivors.
It would been carnage, but this knowledge excited him even more. Darth Maul left the probes outside the room to make sure that no one escaped from there, then went furiously into the room where, meantime, the rumor of a sudden attack spread quickly: he fought by cutting down all the bodies he met, with his double lightsaber . He took off his cloak and threw it to the ground in anger as it was only in his way. The bounty hunters who fought against him were horrified when they saw his red face with all those black tattoos and those pointed horns around his head. His face was a mask of anger and hatred and those drawings amplified the expression making he even more frightening and terrible. Blaster shots were coming from all sides, but Darth Maul protected himself with his lightsaber by spinning it with unique speed and agility, while repelling the blows that in turn reached the droids and other bounty hunters. When Darth Maul saw at a distance, in the crowd, the figure of Shahan Alama, without stopping, he glanced at that man and emitted a sort of furious growl, so much so that to vent this surge of anger, he threw himself into battle even more violently than before. He knew that from that moment on, he would little time available: he had to finish the mission before Shahan Alama could escape. He went behind a wall of the room and quickly programmed one of the DRK-1 probes to enter the room, in this way he would waste less time reaching the man. Then he returned to fight with the same violence as before: "Shahan Alama" he thought furiously within himself as he swung the sword passing it from hand to hand "I'm coming".
Shahan Alama didn't take long to realize that this sudden attack was aimed at him. It been too easy to kidnap the Sith slave: his companions were drinking, screaming, having fun ... but he was still thoughtful, perplexed. Therefore, he was not surprised when the screams and gunshots outside the club attracted his attention and the rumors that quickly spread inside the room, reported the presence of a man with a red lightsaber who was mowing bodies to the right and to the left. A red lightsaber ... could only be of a Sith ... the Sith who obviously, NOT come to avenge the death of his slave ... because if he accepted the idea that the girl was dead, he would not be there, but how did he know that his slave was still alive? Who told him? There were no survivors following the shuttle explosion, which was also confirmed by the local authorities of Deko Neimoidia exactly a few hours ago ...
When Shahan Alama met Darth Maul's gaze, he realized that he didn't have much time to escape and that if he didn't find a way to escape, he would die.
Darth Maul almost reached Shahan Alama, the probe kept firing and sending him information about the position of the bounty hunter, but when he got the message that he was trying to escape, he felt anger rising inside him like a shattering fire. Behind him there were only corpses, the only life forms were in front: with the use of force he made space between some droids disintegrating them into various pieces and finally at the end, after eliminated the two bodyguards with his sword, pounced on Shahan Alama and grabbed the bounty hunter's neck with his hand. He brought it to his face and growled at him:
-Speak damn! You have a few minutes to give me the information I need! -
The man laughed and coughed at the same time from the force with the Sith gripped his throat, but he said nothing.
-Tell me where she is ! - shouted Darth Maul angrily making his voice echo in the room now full of corpses. In fact, the only noises were the parts of the structure that, damaged by the various blaster shots fired so far, broke and the sheared electric cables burned. No complaints, no calls for help, none of that because no one was left alive.
-You want to know where your beloved slave Anais is, right? - Shahan Alama asked him in a low voice due to the force with the Sith's hand was still gripping his throat. He tried to buy his time.
The Sith nodded inches from his face, showing him his face covered in tattoos and the black teeth that he held tight in an almost terrifying grin.
-What will I get in return if I give you this information? - the bounty hunter was wasting his time ... Darth Maul thought of Anais and his hand tightened even more around the man's neck:
-Your life! - he growled -You earn your life, I think it's enough, don't you think? -
Shahan Alama thought quickly: from the tone of voice of the Sith, there was no need to negotiate anything else. He wasn't in a position to do it with that hand wrapped around his neck.
-Okay, then listen to me carefully Sith, your slave is on board a warship called New Horizon ... it won't be easy to find her ...- the man chuckled heartily when he saw the face of the Sith contract into a grimace of anger, especially thinking about the fact that the spaceship, seen from the outside, looked like any cargo ship and therefore it would been very difficult to identify it.
Although Darth Maul obtained the information, he still needed a few more small clarifications:
-Who sent you? - he asked growling.
Shahan Alama did not answer ... he chuckled and coughed, infuriating Darth Maul even more, who, not being a creature with patience and great communication skills, preferred to go to the fastest and most immediate ways to trace the information he needed. He concentrated quickly showing the bounty hunter a wicked smile, then the Dark Side of the force, burst out like a furious animal and entered Shahan Alama's body probing his mind. Darth Maul hooked on his thoughts in a moment, making him scream in pain, usually he never sounded so loudly the mind of people, but in this case he was free to give vent to his most violent instincts considering that the life he among his hands, were very little value. So, in a few seconds he recognized Cad Bane giving him instructions on how to kidnap his slave, on how to implement the plan, they talked about money, business and in the end ... here is the name he was looking for: "... General Seth he'll give us the rest of the credits as soon as we get the Sith slave alive. " These are the words of Cad Bane, before taking leave of the man, adding that he would contact him once the mission is complete.
Darth Maul, at this point, had clear the plan.
Below him the bounty hunter groaned as blood poured from his nose and his head hurt terribly. He shouldn't gone into business with Cad Bane, especially after learning that Bane himself turned down General Seth's job because he knew there was a Sith involved ... and when a creature like this was involved ...the best thing to do is always to stay away from it. But instead, attracted by the large sum of credits, he accepted and now ... this was the consequence of the situation in which he found himself ...
-You don't know against who you're fighting Sith...- he said in a faint voice: -It's not what it seems ... what you think ... General Seth has friends among the Jedi ... - he chuckled coughing after noticed the grimace of disgust in Darth Maul's face as soon as he said that name: -You will not find him ... you will not find your slave anymore! - he continued to cough and chuckle, without being aware of the fact that, what he just said, instead of discouraging him, provided Darth Maul with important information allowing him to solve another big problem: here is the spy! The traitor ! It was General Seth ! Thus, with this mission, he would not only find his Anais, but he would also kill the man his ex-master pointed out to him as a spy!
At this point, he could leave, but still, to go away and leave that bounty hunter alive, after all he had to fight to get to him, but most of all, after all he done to his slave ... felt right. So he brought the hilt of his lightsaber to the man's chest and looked him straight in the eye with a look full of pleasure and sadism. The bounty hunter realized that something was wrong, but he didn't have time to say:
-Hey! You promised me that if I talked you would save my life ...- that the Sith brought out the blade of his sword passing he from side to side. He continued to look him straight in the eye with pleasure as he watched his life slowly fade, then let him slide to the ground, now dying.
He stood up looking around: his mission was over, no survivors.
Now he knew where to find Anais, now he would finally get his little slave to safety and kill the traitor.