Chapter 5.

The moon of Hale

Dressed in her gray and dark blue form-fitting long-sleeved outfit adorned with a metal claw piece on her right shoulder, Kyra stared out the window looking at the surface of the moon. Crossing her lean legs, for a split second, her thoughts took her back to her dream. Quickly dismissing the disturning images, her attention turned to the back of Maul's head. As the spaceship started to descend into the atmosphere of the moon, Maul engaged the ship-cloaking device. With ease, the Sith infiltrator glided onto the moon surface, unnoticed.

A sudden jolt signaled Kyra that the ship had stopped.

Before he got out of his seat, Maul pressed a couple of blinking buttons on the console and then he stood up gesturing for Kyra to do the same.

Clipping her lightsaber onto her belt, Kyra silently followed him to the lower level.

Wearing his usual black outfit, Maul almost disappeared into the pitch-black night as they stepped out of the ship. Then Kyra's attention turned to his lightsaber. She hasn't seen him using it yet, but that was about to change, that she knew for sure.

Outside, the air felt surprisingly pleasant in the barren, hostile terrain. Despite the darkness, Kyra's eyes started to adjust to the surroundings reminding her of the sandy beach shores of Kish. But the color of the sand was much darker and coarser compared to the one on Kish. It made a crunchy sound when she stepped on it. No one would be able to sneak up on us, she thought looking around.

Standing a couple of feet in front of her, Maul was looking through his binoculars. After adjusting the focus on the lenses, he found what he was looking for. With that, he lowered the binoculars and turn to face her.

"We have to take my speeder." He told her.

"Speeder?' What speeder?" She asked. She did not remember seeing any transporting equipment on the ship.

Walking past her, Maul reentered the ship. While she waited outside in the dark, Kyra thought about following him, when suddenly Maul appeared from behind the ship sitting on a speeder bike. As he stopped in front of her, she quickly measured up the strange device.

Kyra had never seen anything like this before. The half-moon shaped speeder, which hovered over the terrain looked interesting. Inside the half-moon shape was a one-person curved leather seat. The bike was designed for one and not two she noticed. How are we going to fit? Kyra thought with despair.

She did not want to walk all by herself to wherever they were going.

Sensing her frustration, Maul pushed himself all the way to the back of the seat and gestured for her to sit in front of him.

An instant frown appeared on Kyra's face. Is he really want me to sit on his lap? She thought with surprise. However, either this or walk on the dark terrain she did not know. Reluctantly, she chose the first option and sat on Maul's lap facing out. After positioning her lightsaber to the front, she pressed her body against his. To her surprise, he felt warm, almost in an unnatural way. Then Maul outstretched his arms on either side of her and took the steering handles. Starting up the speeder, they took off quickly causing Kyra to slide even further back against him. Barely making a sound, the speeder bike flew above the ground.

In the back of his mind, Maul knew it was not the best idea to travel like this, but he had no choice. He did not expect another person to come with him, therefore he wasn't prepared to get another speeder. He always worked alone. Then his attention turned to Kyra.

The way she looked today intrigued him. The outfit she chose for the mission was very fitting for her. Earlier, when she wasn't looking his eyes lingered on her a little longer than he wanted to be.

And now as her body was pressed against his, again he felt that uncomfortable feeling. The smell of her raven hair that was set in a tight braid at the nape of her head reminded Maul of the ocean. Then he swiftly tore his thoughts away from her and started to concentrate on the mission. He cannot be disoriented right now. He had to focus on the task. Like a ray of sunshine cutting through the dark sky, she invaded his mind and he did not like this. He revved up the bike to get there faster.

In the distance, Kyra saw lights that grew brighter and brighter as their speeder approached it. It was a town of sorts. Loud sounds and music drifted through the night from that direction. When they got close enough, to her surprise, it was not so small as she thought previously. The establishment was big and full of life. There were lots of people and creatures alike within. Just before they reached the outskirts of the town, Maul turned his speeder to the right and headed past the town leaving music and bright lights behind.

A few miles away, Maul slowed down and then stopped. Then he grabbed Kyra by the waist and lifted her out of the seat putting her on the ground. Then he dismounted himself as well. Kyra looked at the looming mountains reaching into the gray cloudy night sky and then a sigh left her mouth.

Maul lifted his left arm up and pressed a couple of buttons on his wrist device.

Kyra looked at him with curiosity. "What are you doing?" She asked.

With his back at her, Maul replied: "I was just checking our coordinates. Wanted to make sure we are in the right place."

"Are we?" Kyra inquired.

Instead of replying to her, Maul started to walk straight for the mountains.

She hated it when he did this to her. He just loved to ignore her questions, which frustrated Kyra. She wanted to strike him down, but she knew better.

Taking a deep breath in, Kyra then exhaled and started to follow him toward the mountains.