Author's Note: Things are about to get interesting *evil villain laugh* Enjoy!

Surprisingly, the two brothers actually had some clothes that fit him. He tried not to think too hard about where they might have come from.

Emerging from the refresher, newly garbed in a long-sleeved brown shirt and pants, with a cream-coloured tunic overtop, he made straight for the vent blowing glorious heat. A stool and a steaming mug had already been placed next to it.

Just as he sat down, Maul held out a dull red poncho to him, apparently the last piece to his new ensemble.

Caleb eagerly reached out a hand for it, but froze mid-way as his eyes noticed that the poncho was almost the exact same shade of red as much of Maul's skin. For some reason, the taking of this poncho seemed to have some significance.

Maul arched an eyebrow at his hesitation. "To ward off the chill."

He wavered only a moment longer, shaking off the feeling as paranoia from being locked up for far too long. He was only trying to survive in dangerous circumstances. Nothing more.

As his head slipped through the hole in the clothing, he missed the tiny, satisfied smile that the ex-Sith let slip. It was gone before he emerged.

Caleb scooted the stool closer to the vent, picking up the steaming mug with both hands.

"Feeling better?" Maul asked.

Caleb nodded. He risked a quick sip from the mug, making a face at the bitterness that slipped down his throat. "What- " cough. " -is this?"

"Caleb Dume," Maul said in that slippery slip soft voice of his. "Do you mean to tell me that you have never had caf before?"

"That's what this is?" He made a face before reluctantly taking another sip. It was something hot after all.

Maul pulled another stool up and sat down, just on the edge of what Caleb would consider "a safe distance". "Well, then I am honoured to have given you your first taste."

There it was again. That… kindness. Acts and words that didn't match up to everything he knew and heard about Maul, that gave him almost-silent alarm bells in the back of his mind.

Maul's face grew dark as if he could read Caleb's thoughts. He let out a sigh. "Why do you still turn up your nose at every kindness I offer you? Every time I think perhaps we are making progress, you throw up your walls again, and look upon my gentle acts with suspicion. I have treated you with the kindness of a father; I saved you from a slow, painful death by suffocation. I give you good food, blankets to stay warm… I've offered companionship every day. You haven't been harmed once since your arrival. Why then did you not view me as what I am? A friend."

Caleb slowly placed his mug on the floor, before his hands went to his knees and his whole body stilled as he carefully picked over his words in his mind. "While it's true that you've been a… generous host… you're not actually a host. I'm your prisoner, and you can dress that up in whatever way you like, but the fact remains that you wouldn't let me leave if I asked. Your views on the only way of life I've ever known are twisted and mangled, and as for why I "still" don't trust you: well, I'm not just going to forget everything I learned from Master Kenobi."

Maul's body stilled, in a way that made Caleb think of a predator who's caught the scent. "Sooooo, your fear comes from Kenobi. I suppose I knew it all along. What exactly did he have to say?"

Despite the warmth of his new clothes and the heat of the vent beside him, Caleb felt a shiver run through him at the look in Maul's eye. He looked down at his boots, unable to keep his gaze. "He told us enough."

"Mmm," came the flat hum from his captor's throat. "Just remember this, Padawan. You may not think so, but you were lucky it was me who found you. Almost anyone else in the galaxy - especially this part of the galaxy - would not have been nearly so kind as I have been. There is quite a thriving market out there for enslaved Force-wielders. The younger, the better. Either that, or it may have been the Separatists, who would have tortured you for information far past your breaking point… before finally executing you as an example."

Caleb gulped, suddenly feeling nauseous.

"Yeeeesss. Your current path could have been quite different."

Silence hung between them for several long seconds as Caleb ran over everything in his mind. He actually hadn't thought of it like that before. He opened his mouth to… he wasn't sure. Tell Maul as much? To get lost, that he was done being manipulated by him? He didn't know what was going to come out of his mouth.

Once again, the Force saved him from having to make the decision.

There was the sound of a muted explosion and the ship rocked so that Caleb had to put his hand on the wall or fall over.

His eyes went wide in shock, while Maul quickly tapped his communicator. "Brother, what is going on up there?"

"An unidentified ship has fired on us, brother. They're coming around for another pa- "

The ship rocked again, far more violently than before. Maul's mechanical legs clamped onto the deck of the ship, keeping him upright, but Caleb was thrown to the floor. He cried out as his head cracked against the corrugated metal, sending a piercing pain throughout his body. He tried to raise himself up on his arms as he heard Savage's voice - "Brother, I need you up here!" - squeal through Maul's comm, but his mind saw an opportunity. He fell back to the ground with a thump. To all appearances, he was knocked out cold.

He heard Maul hesitate for a split second, certain he was weighing the risk: delay fending off their attackers long enough to haul him back to his cell? Or leave him to have free range of the ship if he woke before Maul's return? Caleb held his breath, hoping for the latter.

He got it. Maul uttered a growl before the clunk, clunk of his footsteps raced to the cockpit. Caleb waited until he'd heard the whoosh of the door shut just to be safe.

When it came, he was ready. Making his decision quickly - pausing to wobble slightly as the blood rushed to his aching head - he jumped up and raced for the escape pods. Maul had said if anyone else had found him, he would've been far worse off, but honestly… he was ready to take his chances. He knew he couldn't defeat two ex-Sith, let alone one, even if he'd had his lightsaber. And he wasn't willing to stay here any longer. Maul's words against the Jedi were slowly starting to make a scary kind of sense, his offers of friendship looking better and better. He didn't know if it was just that he'd never been away from the Temple this long, or so far away from the wisdom of a Master, or the exhaustion of being held prisoner by an insane Dark Side-Wielder… but he didn't want to find out. Best case scenario, their attackers were actually Republic forces trying to keep law in this part of the galaxy. Unlikely, but you never knew. Worst case, it was a ship with some thugs on it. Surely a Jedi Padawan, and a Commander in the Grand Army of the Republic to boot, could take on a few thugs. He'd helped take down entire Separatist platoons. How much harder could humanoids be?

He swiped a hammer and wrench on his way by though, just in case.

He was in the escape pod, setting up, and launching in under two minutes. He let out a loud breath as the pod shot away from the brother's ship. Force, it felt good to see it get smaller and smaller behind him.

Meanwhile, he angled closer to the attacking one, which had come to a stop, apparently curious about the pod. Now that he could see it, it was obvious it wasn't Republic. Buuuut, he hadn't really held out hope for that option anyway. He'd only manually docked a ship twice before, but, keeping a tight grip on the console controls, he managed it. The ships connected with a clunk.

Despite his earlier convictions, Caleb felt his breath come quicker, his heart beginning to race as he stepped up to the door. He touched the reassuring weight of the hammer and wrench on his belt and took a deep breath. You're safe now, Caleb. You made it off Maul's ship against the odds, and now everything will be totally-

The door slid open to reveal five different humanoids, all armed to the teeth. None with happy expressions on their faces.

-fine.

Author's Notes: Just a note: I know what you might be thinking: "But Tisha, why wasn't Maul able to just *sense* that Caleb was awake?" Well, I have an answer for this "plothole"!😁 Maul was too distracted by trying to sense the other ships intentions, as well as his brother's anxiety and stress that was coming through. So there you have it. Just in case you were wondering😉