Notes: Eldra Kaitis learns that survival takes much more than combat and a quick wit. In the absence of immediate danger, she finds herself out of her depths - and she has to rely on her sworn enemy.
Warning: threats of self-intended harm.
Gamorr came into view from the cockpit's canopy, a curb of lime green and rust patches, mountains and forests were already visible from orbit.
Eldra scrolled through the scanner data once more.
"We are only getting rid of the ship to find another one," told Maul to her left on the pilot's seat. "No need to fret."
She eyed him cautiously. After barely three days in the vicinity of the Sith Zabrak there was no telling how truthful he was with her. At least he had showered and found a shirt to wear, making him just bearable enough to look at.
"So the plan to rebuild my lightsaber," she humoured him, "that still stands? You know, we could always return to Drazkel."
And finish off the bounty hunters, and the auctioneers. Xev Xrexus needed to face justice. Eldra pressed her mouth shut, letting the surge of anger pass.
Part of her wanted to exact her personal justice, but also to avenge the lives destroyed by the Xrexus cartel. For weeks she had been humiliated and defeated, her spirit nearly broken until she was sold off.
Her drifting gaze noticed the ship's trajectory still set to orbit. Maul was looking at her, waiting.
"Your feelings betray you, Jedi," he said, a dark smirk on his face.
"I know what I feel and I know what I need to do. Those criminals must be stopped."
"So you would be right to seek revenge. It would be fair."
The delight in his bright, corrupt eyes was sickening but she held on. She hadn't looked away from the truth so far, she wasn't going to start retreating then.
"I wasn't the only one to be sold to slavers," she told him, tentatively taking in his reaction. "There were many girls even younger than I am. Different races, and also children. They were kept out of sight, while I was the main prize."
"You did not mention this before," he coyly remarked.
Her heart sunk in her chest. "Self-preservation before service," she replied, almost painfully. "And you... You pulled me out of there. When you showed up in front of my cell, I saw that lightsaber of yours and knew that only death was waiting for me if I did nothing."
His attention was drawn away from her and he seated himself more casually against the back of the chair.
"We won't return to Drazkel, at least not before the hunt is fully abandoned. I doubt you will be forgotten by Xrexus so soon, you cost her a lot of profit."
Her nose wrinkled at the sound of the name.
"You can't seriously support her position. I heard the way she talked to you in those dark hallways. She knows what you are, Maul."
His eyes darted away, narrowed with brooding rage and something suddenly dawned on Eldra: he was young. His impulse decisions and emotions gave him away despite the elaborate language and physical attributes.
By letting Xrexus live, they were compromised and more assassins would come to get them.
"We can't leave loose ends," she insisted, almost hissing to get a response out of him.
"I know," he shot back, gloved hands balled to fists on his lap. "You must think and realize we are at a disadvantage if the place is overrun."
"I don't believe that you worry about numbers," she said and leaned back in her seat with a defying expression. "I think you're afraid that if I get my saber too soon you won't be able to overpower me with your mind tricks."
She waved her hand at him as a mockery of his manipulations. He did not flinch.
"Just as you are failing to impose your plans using your supposed morals and attributes..."
He pinched his mouth and turned away, swivelling the chair as if to deter her attention from him. Suddenly feeling exposed and shamed, she let out a scoff.
"I am not trying to seduce you."
Sighing, he adjusted the power settings on the ship's systems. "That is not what I said, Eldra."
Hearing her name coming from his mouth sent a shiver down her spine, unable to imagine this would be happening had she known about it merely hours before. She held her elbows to ease her discomfort, but was only reminded of the ghost sensation of his bare shoulder against her skin when they were fixing the comlink. They had breathed the same acrid air together in that tight space, never once suspecting what the other was thinking.
She shuddered and got up from her seat, unable to look in his direction.
"Where are you going?" he asked, still absorbed by the monitoring screens.
"To get some air," she flatly replied over her shoulder.
Down the ladder and back to the sleeping quarters she ruffled through the mercenary occupant's belongings. She had previously found a blaster with only one power cartridge left, a datapad and some spice sticks.
The previous crew lead a spartan lifestyle if she were to judge by the items left behind them, or perhaps they had bought the ship recently and hadn't had the time to really make it their own. The floors and cabinets were decently clean, and all things considered it was not a bad little freighter. Eldra almost regretted having to discard it. She laid out more clothes on the bottom bunk, folding trousers, leggings, shirts and blankets. They had all been used before were luckily laundered. Those were small comforts that she kept in mind while she prepared for the worst. Soon she would have to confront the Sith and see it to the end. No matter the outcome, she had to be ready.
The duffel bag was packed and zipped closed. She opened the cabinet beneath the cot she had elected as hers and stuffed the bag in it. If they were going planet side she would grab the things and lay low on her own. The datapad could help when connected to the HoloNet, but she still needed a comlink. All of her necessary items had been stolen by Xrexus's men. Now, she didn't even have her lightsaber.
Exploring the ship further, she thought about treading the floors barefooted to be more stealthy, but knew Maul was able to detect her whereabouts through the Force. She got to the cargo hold at the end of the corridor. There were many crates of non-descriptive make, no indication of their contents. Upon inspection, she had to figure out a way to pry open the crates or bypass their security locks. Eldra walked along the bulkheads to find more compartments, perhaps even secret caches, and time was running out. She felt his presence moving closer. Finally she found an emergency cabinet for hazards, it was not locked and there she had access to a fire extinguisher, an axe, hammer, and a small tool box. The safety tag on it still had its seal and the issue date was barely a standard year old.
When she closed the compartment her eyes fell on Maul, two paces in front of her, leaning against the wall with arms crossed against his pectorals. His brow was creased in his semi-constant angry mood.
"Did you see that this ship is brand-new?" she casually remarked.
"It is barely used," he agreed, "but sub-par and inadequate. The weapons systems are not optimized, the power management is barely of any use if we want to avoid detection. Only its shields are worth anything on the market."
"I wasn't thinking of selling it, Maul."
He sized her up and his chin protruded in puzzlement.
"It could serve as a good decoy."
"No, we could keep it, reallocate the owner ID. I'm sure you know how to do that."
"We?" he repeated with a sceptical chuckle.
Eldra took a pause in her mind, letting her senses guide her judgment.
"We both have a price on our heads. Me obviously for escaping Xrexus, and you because of your Sith problems. Correct me if I'm wrong."
"You assume too much," he grumbled, relaxing his shoulders as he looked down in thought. "I've located a shipyard on Gamorr. We can get there in two standard hours. We won't need this piece of junk unless we have to strategically crash it into something."
"Like Xev's estate."
Interrupted in his trail of thought, he widened his eyes at her before smirking again.
"Well, well, Lady Kaitis. Are you already thinking about sacrificing innocents lives for revenge?"
"What? No, it was obviously a joke. And please don't call me that."
She mentally cursed herself for letting such an open field for him to play in, and mess with her head.
"Duly noted." He straightened his posture and took a few steps around her, effectively cornering her against the bulkheads. "What are you doing then, Eldra?"
Breathing in she almost coughed because of a dry throat, and tried to swallow without making it obvious that she was affected by him. It was obviously too late.
"Trying to open these crates," she said. "There's an axe and maybe a crowbar in the emergency compartment."
He looked behind him and raised an eyebrow.
"They could be valuable," she continued, moving to grab the axe from the cache, but she needed to open it again so she kept talking. "If we're going to need supplies, weapons, or just credits it might be smart to get something out of this dead weight."
Maul was busy trying to decipher a code for the security locks, looking around the crates for more clues. Eldra gripped a long handle and carefully, silently moved away with her newly acquired weapon.
This is incredibly stupid.
She squeezed her eyes shut at her conscience speaking to her. Yet somehow she knew that none of her actions would make any difference. She was acting out, trying something - anything. She had waited so long to be freed from restraints and cages, and now she wanted away from this Sith, this man who had no idea what they were doing.
She took off and ran from the cargo hold, slapping the door panels to lock behind her as she darted towards the cockpit. She panted and grabbed the ladder, ignoring the roar of anger in the distance. All she needed to do was to open the cargo ramp and she would be truly free.
She sat herself at the controls and looked for the hatch buttons and levers. She couldn't read Trandoshan or Huttese, but she knew what primary functions looked like. Then secondary ones couldn't be far. Lights flickered, life support stuttered and finally she found the docking ring and ramp buttons that she pressed in a panic.
The cockpit doors opened at the same time and her chair spun abruptly to reveal the black shape of her enemy, and a steel grip on her wrists forced her out of the seat. The axe fell to the floor in a loud clank . She only had time to propel herself off her feet and shekneed Maul in the face, making him stumble over and meet the ground where she subdued him with her weight on his chest. But he was fast to react, threw his legs and slid away from her body, grappling her arm and leg, projected her away with his strong upper body muscles and the Force. He stomped towards her without hesitating and brought her up by the throat, to his eye level, seething and riveting her in place. The Force helped her steady her breath as she was made aware of his own control of the Force. She felt her resolve and cold acceptance. Death would be welcome if she could be one with the Force. She would never be alone again. She would never die again.
"Do it," she whispered. "I'm ready."
Silence could not have been heavier, louder as she felt his unnaturally strong fingers pressing around her jugular, larynx and spine. She shut her eyes, feeling a warm stream roll down her cheek.
Then the pain faded as the pressure released and she felt her pulse return in her ear drums.
"Why?" she rasped, clutching at his wrist, his muscled forearm. "Why won't you kill me? Isn't that what you want?"
Maul pulled his hand away but with such weakness that she kept holding him, drawn to him and her knees gave up. Her nerves wrecked from the sudden realization that she could not get her wish.
"Not like this," she heard him say above her.
"Coward," she spat, bringing herself to stand again, and she receded towards the door. "I'll just do it myself."
As she quickly made her way back to the cargo hold she heard him tailing her, never stopping for one minute to think on his next decision. She cussed at herself for making things so irrational, making him believe that he could somehow help her.
As a Sith that dealt only in absolutes, he would have dealt with her a while ago. But this was obviously just an apprentice.
Eldra froze in front of the ramp access, her hand hovering over the activation panel.
The air was knocked out of her when her body was thrown across the hold, she rolled and saw Maul at the mouth of the corridor. The expression on his face was that of confusion and anger.
Coughing, Eldra sprawled her limbs on the cold, steel floor and looked up at the ship's ceiling.
"I don't need your pity, Sith. Do what you want with me but do it quick."
She felt his steps against her back and lekku when he walked towards her and stopped inches away, looking down. Eldra shot a glance at him before closing her eyelids.
"Are you done?" he asked.
She opened her eyes again. He hadn't moved and she began to feel like a child. She sat up, slightly ashamed for attempting to space herself, and in the back of her mind she doubted she could have gone through with it. Survival was deeply ingrained in her training, in her instincts. She loved life, laughing, visiting new worlds, helping others, and bringing justice and peace where it was needed.
"You lack discipline," Maul groaned, his voice was so angry, so full of frustration that she dared not confront him. "You do not know suffering and pain. Real pain. You never agonized to the point of wanting death for it to stop for one second. Look at me."
She felt paralysed, overwhelmed by the sensation of his memories through the Force, the things he had to go through in his Sith training must have been excruciating. He screamed at her.
"On your feet!"
Shocked, she only stood to acknowledge his presence, what he was trying to show her. His breathing was ragged as he faced her, unbearably close. She couldn't turn away.
"Tell me this isn't what you are," he muttered. "Did your Jedi teachings make you weak? Don't you remember your power?"
"I do," she told him, forcing her words out. "And I'd give it up in a heartbeat if I can't be free."
His face lowered as he recalled something in his mind. Eldra allowed herself to release some tension in her shoulders upon his change of attitude. The anger, the pain, the fear that radiated from him before were starting to fade. Then his voice softened.
"Through power, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me."
Her lips twisted as the phrase resonated in her mind, hitting her with a truth she refused to integrate. She could not.
"No," she said. "I can't go down this path."
"You are burdened by the Jedi code," he argued. "It is your cage, and soon it will lead you to death."
Eldra could not believe what she was hearing. She brushed her palms over her face, dried her cheeks and let out a deep breath.
"Only you can set yourself free," Maul whispered then took a step back, studying her. "The woman I fought on Drazkel was no padawan. Your power gave you so much more."
Shaking her head, she finally found the strength to challenge him.
"You cannot turn me to the Dark Side. I will never follow the Sith code."
Her heart drummed in her breast, finally telling him what she dreaded the most. His horned head tilted and his eyes squinted at her.
"I don't have to do anything," he replied, almost courteous. "I simply granted you an opportunity."
As much as it hurt her pride, Eldra thought on the events of the past rotations, how she had overcome all of the obstacles in her path, the tests on her spirit and strength. Not once did she give in to fear. She held fast in her faith in the Force, that should she let it flow through her it would grant her the means to succeed. It would protect her if she kept attuned to her inner peace. Then Maul came and challenged her further more, made her push herself, tried to enrage her and he questioned her morals.
What if she had told him sooner about the other slaves being sold? What would he have done then?
"We have to go back," she said while he looked at the cargo crates. "Your associates could still be alive."
"The bounty hunters have fended for themselves and are seeking new means of income," he completed, crouched in front of a crate, laying his hands on it. "These contents are alive but barely."
She approached and looked over his shoulder. The indicator lights on the lock panels turned from red to green, then disengaged. Maul carefully lifted the lid. A thin layer of freezing smoke stagnated inside the storage unit.
"What is it?"
Maul waved his hand and made the smoke dissipate with the Force. It looked like biological samples inside sealed vials and boxes.
"If this is what I suspect," he wondered, "the owners of this ship are on their way to retrieve it, or destroy it."
Eldra felt an eerie feeling from her gut.
"And what do you think it is?"
Maul closed the lid and re-engaged the lock. "Illicit biotech."
"What, like diseases?" She was curious and welcomed the change of conversation topic.
"I doubt it," he stood and folded his arms, cupped his chin in his hand.
"Think they would trade that in for a slave?"
He grinned. "Well, now we have both."
"Watch your mouth," she warned him.
Distracted but still puzzled judging by his creased brow, he fell silent. She tried to listen, with her senses and through the Force. She was still too agitated to separate her restless anxiety from the whispers of the Force.
"I can't sense anything..." she said under her breath.
"We should move," he interrupted, looking at her as he turned and walked.
Eldra followed after giving one last look at the emergency cabinet where the axe was missing.
Gamorr was not what she expected. It looked like an inhabitable world of waste and war from the outside, but down at the surface there were dense forests, valleys, lakes, villages and even diverse agriculture. Jugsmuk Station was a small outpost surrounded by moderate urbanism. Maul landed the ship at the outskirts, in the authorized area for visitors. Eldra saw Gamorreans pedestrians or driving landspeeders in the adjacent street, there was some commerce.
She watched Maul disable the systems on the dashboard and getting up to leave the cockpit. As she stepped right behind him he looked around, his mouth stuck in a grimace.
"What is it?" she complained, displeased by his scrutiny.
"You should stay on the ship," he murmured, a forearm leaning on the door frame. "A female Twi'lek of your age is an easy target in this sector."
She rolled her eyes at him. "You talk to me like I never left the Jedi Temple. I'm not staying here. Besides... Aren't you a least bit worried I might take off and strand you?"
Maul straightened his back, his pressed lips smiled imperceptibly.
"Go on, then," he motioned to the controls behind her. She couldn't sense any doubt or fear from him. "Take the ship," he continued with an insisting tone. "Go to your Jedi Masters and make them arrest me if that pleases you. It would be a vacation compared to what awaits me when I return to my duties as a Sith."
Eldra felt a trap, something was off and she couldn't put her finger on it. His lower eyelids twitched when he held her gaze.
She went after him when he walked to the crew quarters, going through a wardrobe cabinet she had already visited and took out a set of jackets of dull green and grey colors. She had dismissed them because they were too large for her.
"If you're coming with me you will at least blend in," he muttered, looking into a drawer of toiletries, underwear. "Or make yourself scarce by staying on the ship."
"How did you know?" she asked, flummoxed by her docile attitude towards him. "Why didn't I..."
"Because you are out of balance, young lady," he answered, contemplative as he closed the cabinets. He pressed the olive jacket onto her arms. "You are subservient to your morals and Jedi principles. They tell you it would not be right to betray me even in these circumstances."
She shook her head. "That's basic manipulation."
The grey jacket was exactly his size with a collar that almost reached his ears, he grimaced reluctantly as he tested the sleeves for flexibility. He finally tilted his head at her, oddly enough she only then noticed the metal stud in his left ear.
"If you know you are being manipulated then why are you complying?"
Unable to roll her eyes more, she blew air out of her pressed lips and put on the item of clothing he picked out for her. It was warm, not uncomfortable, but certainly not fitted for a slender figure, or for close quarter combat. She was more preoccupied with the fact that he had an answer to everything she asked. His arrogance was even worse than she had expected when finding out he was Sith.
Without saying more she moved to the hidden stash she had made for herself under the cot and pulled out the blaster with its single cartridge. She checked his reaction, putting the weapon in the inner pocket of her coat. He simply watched her.
"Do you know anything about Gamorr?" he asked very neutrally.
"No, but I'm sure you'll give me a rundown when it will be relevant. A woman can protect herself, can she not?"
Finally he frowned and looked annoyed at her. Eldra chuckled and followed him out to set foot on the planet.
The air was breezy and rather cold, the sky of greenish, yellow clouds made everything look bland and sad. Maul walked straight from the airstrip to a couple or Gamorreans and they greeted them with deep bows of their large, neckless heads and bodies. They stated conversing to Maul with grunts, snores and growls. To her surprise, Maul acquiesced.
"I am here on an unofficial visit," he formally told them and they listened attentively. "I know the Jugsmuk clan owes me a favor but it will have to wait. I need access to your shipyard."
Hesitant, the locals looked at each other before telling Maul a slight rebuttal of throat sounds. By listening closely, Eldra managed to decipher some Huttese, thus explaining how Maul could understand them.
"I have payment, of course."
Maul turned halfway only for their hosts to make excited noises and they clapped with their chubby hands at the sight of Eldra. She rolled her eyes for what she hoped would be the last time, and maybe the occasion for her to show Maul she had a mind of her own.
"That," he groaned at the Gamorreans, "is my associate and she is not to be touched, you will not gaze upon her without my permission. Is that understood?"
They set their beady eyes on him with shock and disappointment before bowing again.
"Take us to your shipyard," Maul commanded.
Their hands were shaking as they nodded and preceded them down the street where a landspeeder was waiting. Eldra zipped the jacket higher to her neck as she moved up beside Maul.
"Do you trust these people?" she murmured.
He shot her a critical glance. "Their only allegiance is to their family clan, and credits. That is why we can make good use of them."
She noticed the two envoys' ears rotating to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"What is this favor you mentioned?"
Before Maul could respond, one of the envoys stopped in his stride and turned to her. He towered a full head above hers but his posture was slouched. What he said to her was not easy to understand, her Huttese being rusty. But in the main lines he told of a time when Maul brought wealth to their land, something about the Trade Federation, and forming an alliance with their leaders. Then something about a war ending, or a truce.
"I see," she acknowledged.
The green-skinned envoy perked up his brow at Maul and ran in front of them, slouching even lower. Eldra looked to her left at Maul whose eyes could shoot lasers if he wanted to.
"He was just telling me a story," she said.
"No more questions," he grunted.
The landspeeder was wide and of surprisingly good make and quality, an old model but Eldra recognized the effort to welcome Maul's return.
She looked through the window panes. There were markets, shops, retailers in the main street, many civilians but also guards. And not just Gamorreans, she saw Rodians, Niktos, and seven a Twi'lek setting up a stand. The speeder slowed near the outskirts; Jugsmuk was not a big town, if it could be called a town at all. She could see a long fence and a small building in front of a scrapyard.
Maul entered first in the shop and waited for her before advancing to the front desk. A red-faced Nikto greeted them politely in Huttese, Eldra did not respond but neither did Maul. She discretely nodded at the clerk while her associate used the sales terminal. Looming over his arm to see what he was browsing, she had a mind to keep an eye on the entrance in case of trouble. Her other instinct told her to find out what Maul was really doing.
There were no ship names or pictures in his search results, but lists of demanded chemicals. He swiftly scrolled down, and not finding anything satisfactory, he typed into the search form a sequence of characters and numbers that she thought she had seen before.
"The cargo?" she whispered. This was no ordinary sales terminal, it could access the black market.
The result gave another list, with proposed prices ranging from four hundred thousand to two million credits. Even Maul looked surprised in his own way. A pair of Twi'lek and Aqualish males approached the door. Eldra thanked the Force she had kept her wits in that direction. They remained in the street right outside the glass panes, casually conversing but their voices were muffled. She risked a longer study of their dark clothes that looked too clean to belong to working men. She noted a bandolier, a rifle slung around the Aqualish's back. The teal-skinned Twi'lek wore an eyepatch.
"Look for ships," she hissed.
Maul cleared the display of the auction demands and a default mosaic of used ships for sale appeared. His eyes moved towards her.
"How many?"
"Two," said just as quietly, pretending to point at something of note on the screen. "They don't look like locals."
"Don't say anything," Maul advised. "Follow my lead."
He moved to the desk and the Nikto raised his attention from his datapad. Maul asked to see one of the medium-class freighter starships they had in store while Eldra was busy focusing her Force awareness on the two henchmen outside.
Finally the Nikto motioned for them to go through a door in the back of the shop. Maul looked at her, hooked two fingers so she would move closer and wrapped an arm around her back. Eyes wide with sudden disapproval, she almost froze but he pushed her to keep walking. He leaned in and whispered, his warm breath reaching her nostrils.
"Stay with the vendor while I deal with our new friends."
He let go of her to pretend as if he was receiving a holocall. Eldra caught her breath, unable to relax her shoulders after he had touched her even through thick layers of clothing. The Nikto made her walk around the Corellian freighter, pointing at its sleek profile and wide array of thrusters on top of a large sublight engine. However, Eldra was distracted by the absence of Maul until muffled sounds of fighting could be heard from the other side of the fence. The Nikto snapped his head to find what was going on.
"It's nothing," she said, smiling widely. "Show me the interior, I'd like to see how much this baby can carry."
Upon climbing the lowered ramp, she squinted her eyes towards the commotion she had heard, feeling like she should have stayed with Maul if only to check what the mercenaries wanted with them.
The vendor strode across the ship to hurry with the tour, but Eldra kept asking questions, looking inside storage compartments, until they reached the cockpit. There the Nikto stood to look through the transparisteel canopy, worried about the Zabrak who was nowhere to be seen.
"My friend will join us soon," she reassured him, taking a seat in one of the passenger chair. "He just needs to deal with old business first."
She sprawled her legs on the armrest of the seat in front of her. He looked back at her with irritated brows and nose. He waved his arms at her and stormed out.
He was stopped at the airlock doors, almost bumping into Maul.
"Hm," Maul growled, looking perfectly calm. He looked over the shipyard tenant and asked Eldra. "Is the ship to your liking, my dear?"
She fought to smile and appear genuine when she walked to pass them both in the corridor.
"I've seen better, my darling. Besides, it's too big. I don't think I'd be able to fly this myself."
His acting was terrible, but she could see he was enjoying himself. She hooked her arm to his elbow to drag him away. They had to hurry back to the ship. Their cargo was too valuable to leave unattended. Perhaps she should have remained on their first ship.
When they were finally out of the salesman's view she quickly pulled her arm away and stepped in front of Maul.
"Who were those men?" she hissed, pointing at the fence. "Did you even ask any questions?"
"They were Hutt cartel," he simply said, standing with his hands buried in his pockets as if nothing had happened. "They were after their ship."
"You think more will come?" she breathed, frustrated of being so uncertain.
"The Jugsmuk clan will not tolerate any mercenaries coming after me specifically," Maul thoughtfully said. "However, my presence cannot be known beyond this station."
He let a silence settle after his sentence and Eldra sensed the wall of dread returning in his mind.
"Because of your master..."
A shadow of pure hatred and anger passed between them, but Eldra held his burning glare. She stepped closer even though they were in the middle of the shipyard with not a soul to listen in on them. She kept her face stern so that he would listen to her.
"You told me that I could be free if I wanted to, Maul. Please tell me it's true."
She fought against her racing heartbeat and looked down to reach for his hand, successfully breaking into his barriers. What's happening to me, she asked herself. Is this really the only way I can get to him? She held his hand in her own and looked at his face again. She saw the young man beneath the terrifying appearance, burdened with pain and darkness. Her mouth was dry and she had to swallow to talk to him.
"If I could leave then you can too," she tried to say as steadily as she could. "You can free yourself from him, you can have the life that you want. You may not see it, but I know you're a capable and powerful man who could have anything in this galaxy. You were not meant to serve."
She felt his gloved fingers squeezing her hand, and his jawline hardened as he breathed harder. His gold and crimson eyes searched her face, confused and seeking explanations.
"It would be a life of secrecy," he whispered. "I would rather die than hide like a vermin."
Eldra inhaled and let go of him. She brought her blue lekku from her back to wrap them around her shoulders.
"We're not exactly blending in, though. Are we?"
He let out a contained breath as he chuckled, and she joined him, muffling her laughter in her jacket collar. After taking in the surroundings, Maul seemed to be rid of his plaguing fears.
"We leave then, but we will have to decide what to do with the cargo."
"Hm," she thought as they walked back to the front desk. "What's in there, anyway?"
"Embryos."
The word made her stop dead in her stride. Maul turned around.
"We have to hurry, Eldra."
"I know..." She cursed in her mind at the revelation, but at the same time it did not surprise her that they would cost so much on the black market. "Maul, this is getting a lot more complicated than I imagined."
He looked back and she almost missed it, but he took her hand and held it as they walked. Her mind was in shambles, but after a minute she recovered her calm as they continued back to the main street.
They found the envoys with their landspeeder waiting not far from where they had left them. Eldra imagined they had been summoned there because she remembered them leaving before. Before getting into the vehicle she threw a look around and saw no sign of any fighting or killing recently.
"You cashed in that favor, didn't you?"
Maul lowered his face and nodded for her to move.
"Shush."
She kept quiet on the ride back to the landing pads, and no one dared speak a comment on what had transpired that day. Maul sat on his side of the backseat, brooding, only briefly checking on her before quickly looking away.
Being back on the ship and out of her coat, Eldra sighed risked a glance at the square black crates in the hold while Maul started the engines. She sunk to her knees, laying the item of clothing on her lap in a strange gesture she found comforting before closing her eyes.
Unperturbed by the vibrations of the ship on take-off, she cleared her thoughts and opened her mind to the Force.
Hundreds, thousands of voices whispered the non-language of souls, the vital energy that bound everything and everyone. It was confusing, it could drive anyone mad from the sheer amount of information being given. Eldra almost panicked when she remembered why she was there. She thought about her time as a slave, watching innocent lives being taken and exploited by monstrous beings. Focusing on the fainter voices, she tried to reach out with the Force, but she was kept back. There was a light in the vast darkness of space, right above her, and it spoke without words. She knew they were not intended for her. The quiet presences, as many as they were, felt more calm as if driven to slumber. The light shed its warmth over her, and everything.
For the first in a very long time, Eldra fell asleep.
In the darkness she knew of a presence, somewhere in her mind, but also around her as she drifted to consciousness. It was not threatening although it had been for a brief time. Eldra looked upon that presence, tried to understand it, but she could not clearly see its shape or contents. Something was covering it, a dark veil.
No longer resting, she sat up on one of the bunk beds, a thin blanket laid over her. She was fully dressed minus her boots and jacket. When placing her feet on the floor she felt the signature vibration of hyperspace travel. How long was she asleep?
She did not dwell on the idea of having been carried to bed and went to the refresher. When she came out, she picked the set of clean clothes she had put aside in the duffel, and went to explore the ship. First, in the tiny kitchen space she programmed a jug of hot caf from the processor and looked at the choices of rations. A full, consistent meal was in order. While the food heated she went on to look for Maul.
He was easy to find. She heard huffs and hisses coming from the cargo bay where he was practicing forms of Teras Kasi. He wore a new shirt, black and loose so that one couldn't predict his movements in combat.
"You're awake," he said during a pause, then kept executing his moves.
"How long?" she asked.
After the twelfth form, he took a final stance and relaxed his muscles before smirking at her. "Twelve hours."
"I guess I really needed that rest."
Half a rotation asleep, unconscious, in the company of a man she barely trusted. In her heart and soul she didn't believe that he would have killed her while she was vulnerable. That much she knew about Maul. He wanted her alive, and wanting to be alive.
His training routine was over and he walked towards the door, where she stood, but Eldra didn't move. She stood there with her arms folded, sensing no animosity towards him and his emotions were neutral in the Force. Her eyes went from his collarbone to his mouth and creased brow.
"What is it?" he asked, his chest humming with his voice.
She parted her lips to find a reply, reminiscing the warmth of his breath, and the sensation of his hand around her back.
This is a mistake.
She shook her lekku and stepped aside to let him pass, looking at her feet as she rubbed two fingers against the side of her head.
"It's nothing," she apologetically said. "Let's get something to eat, I'm starving."
She could not shake the nagging feeling of being watched, of having this dark veil looming over her. It was distracting her now that she was made aware of it through meditation.
Her meal was done heating, a packet of synthesized meat and vegetable stew that she poured into a bowl that she ate right away at the kitchen table. She felt too preoccupied to seek out flavour enhancers but at least it wasn't a bland ration bar. She wondered if Maul would join her and what he would prefer to eat, having never seen him sustain himself or if he ever got hungry. He probably valued his privacy that much, she imagined, or he never shared a meal with anyone before.
Her stomach was suddenly in a knot when she thought about his plight. Eldra forced herself to chow down the last bites and cleaned after herself. Standing over the small sink she dried her hands and sniffled, surprised that her eyes teared up so suddenly.
It's just fatigue. Snap out of it.
She wiped her face with her wrist and went to the food cabinet.
After a few minutes of cursing herself for taking these risks and irrational decisions, she strengthened her resolve: she was not thinking about herself, she was only being compassionate. That was in the Jedi code. She placed a clean towel under the hot bowl of stew and grabbed a spoon. When reaching the ladder she had to use the Force to carry the meal up to the cockpit. He was there, sitting at the controls, as always in deep thought.
Eldra froze for a moment, looking around him and decided to place the food on the nearest flat surface. Maul turned his head towards her but not completely.
"I brought you something to eat," she said.
She was about to back out when Maul rose and inspected the bowl without touching it.
"It's not poisoned," she bitterly chuckled.
He looked at her, confused. Then he gave her a single nod.
"Thank you."