A/N: Yes, I'm finally back in the fanfiction world with an all new
chapter! :oD I hope you enjoy this one- although the rating has been upped
to R for this chapter. ;oP Please write a little something in the review
box to let me know what you think- you know I write to hear from you! :o)
"Obi-Wan." Qui-Gon did not need to hear his padawan reply to know that he was right behind him. "I think it's best we split up now." He locked his gaze with his blue-eyed apprentice. "If you encounter any droids, destroy them. The neimoidians must not be alerted to our presence prematurely."
Obi-Wan curtly nodded his understanding.
Qui-Gon smiled as he placed his hand on his padawan's shoulder. "You always make me proud, my padawan." He turned to sneak out of their hiding place.
"Master-"
Qui-Gon turned back in response.
Obi-Wan only looked at his master, unsure of what was making him fearful to leave his side. This last day he had become as he was as a helpless twelve-year-old, relying on Qui-Gon for protection and guidance. Why was he afraid to leave him now? "May the Force be with you," he finally voiced, his eyes conveying his concern.
Qui-Gon smiled back and nodded before turning and stealthily snaking through the pillars. Obi-Wan regretfully watched him go. Trying to take off his feeling of impending darkness he shifted hid focus to the metallic clanks coming toward him.
He breathed out deeply. Their plan for diversion was to take out all of the droid-controlled comm centers to distract the attention of the neimoidians. He unsheathed his lightsaber as the small droid patrol rounded the corner toward him.
In a whir of blue, two droids were down before registering what happened. Obi-Wan's lightsaber was in the control panel of another while the last two began to clumsily fire. In a mater of seconds the last two droids were a heap of sparking metal on the mosaic floor of the palace courtyard. Quickly glancing about he ran towards the wall, sneaking alongside it towards a stationed droid surveillance outpost in the shadows.
The two droids were looking through binoculars at the jungle, not paying attention to the communications console. They didn't have a chance against the surprise and tact of Obi-Wan's human mind.
"What is happening?!" Nute Gunray slammed his fist down on the table as he watched screen after screen go to static.
"It is the Jedi! It has to be!" Rune Haako looked up at his companion.
Nute looked over his shoulder nervously at the sith apprentice lurking in the background. He slowly turned back. "Send the assassin droid."
Rune Haako blinked. Nute could tell that his friend didn't want t kill a Jedi if he didn't have to.
"Set it to stun," Darth Maul stepped forward as if reading the neimoidians' thoughts. "Program it to return here with the victim."
Gunray didn't hesitate under Maul's gaze and turned to the general droid standing next to him. He bowed, giving the order.
The general marched off.
Four down, two to go. Obi-Wan pressed himself against the wall as he continued toward another droid-manned surveillance console. Leaping around the corner and casting out with the Force at the same time he was surprised to find a small swarm of droids rather than a few. Within the split second it took for the droids to react to his presence he noticed a tall droid standing ominously in the center of the swarm. It had ligaments and armor unlike any of the Trade Federation's droids surrounding it. At the shock of discovering such a droid Obi-Wan struggled to keep up with the intense blaster fire that erupted. Blocking and diving he noticed that the large droid had slowly begun to make its way towards him. Trying to keep his eye on both the droid and the attack was proving exceedingly difficult. In a desperate move Obi-Wan cast out with the Force, sending droids flying, many of them not recovering. Taking advantage of those that were temporarily stunned Obi-Wan began dismembering his closest enemies. As he slashed out at a droid he felt something cool and heavy connect viciously with the side of his head. His vision suddenly clouded and he had to leap out of the way to avoid a well-aimed blaster shot. As he caught himself pain radiated outward from his spine and he screamed in surprise and agony an electric pulse coursed through him.
The second after it subsided he helplessly sank to his knees and half- heartedly looked back to see the ominous assassin droid, its electro-jabber extended. His life force seemed to flow from his body as he fell limply to the ground while one of the Trade Federation droids began to automatically recite to him his crimes for arrest.
Barely conscious he was slightly aware of being dragged away.
Darth Maul sneered in satisfaction as he watched the young Jedi be drug into the throne room.
Obi-Wan moaned as he slowly began to regain his senses.
"What are we going to do with a Jedi?" Rune Haako exclaimed upon the arrival of the young apprentice. "The Senate will be furious!" He turned to his companion. "We are all going to prison!"
"Quiet," Maul coolly commanded, gleefully eyeing the waking Jedi as a cat would a wounded mouse.
Obi-Wan began using the Force to help his regain the use of his body more quickly. It was working. He could tell where he was and felt a great evil in the room. Something told him to get up and get out while he still could.
"He's waking up! He will kill us! What are we going to do with him?" Nute questioned Haako.
"Leave it to me," the hooded sith carefully stepped towards the disoriented Jedi as he began to sit up. Darth Maul casually placed his boot on the young Jedi's chest, carefully pushing him back down to his back as he cocked his head curiously. Obi-Wan weakly complied, staring up at his confronter.
Maul slowly lowered his hood. Elation filled him as he felt primal fear course through his prey's body.
Obi-Wan instinctually froze. The creature before him instigated such innate, primitive fear that he could not move. Adrenaline pumped through his veins. Fight or flee? Fight or flee? The primitive part of his mind was racing. Only in his dreams had he seen such a personification of evil.
With one short, sarcastic spurt of a laugh Darth Maul placed one leg on the other side of Obi-Wan's body and reached into his utility belt to pull out a whispering metal object. The light glinted off of a spiked chain. As Maul arranged the chain in his hands he couldn't help the smile that escaped him. Finally- his first Jedi. "I'm going to enjoy this." He grinned sadistically.
The two neimoidians exchanged an alarmed glance but remained quiet as the chain was wrapped around the padawan's neck.
Obi-Wan reached up to pull it away but his reflexes were significantly slowed from his encounter with the electro-jabber. He winced sharply in pain and choked as the sith yanked the chain, driving the small spikes into the Jedi's vulnerable neck.
Maul wrapped the other end of the chain around his hand and began to walk away dragging a slightly protesting Jedi behind him.
The neimoidians were left to gape at the spectacle and stare at the blood that remained on the throne room's neatly polished floors.
Obi-Wan gasped for air as he clawed at the cruel chain around his neck, squirming only slightly in protest. Maul had fashioned the chain fairly loose around his neck as to not choke his victim, but rather as an unsightly vile collar.
All the padawan could think about was the pain.
After what seemed like an unbelievably painful eternity Maul stopped and yanked the Jedi to his feet. He wrapped the excess chain around the padawan's wrists and tying it to something above. Obi-Wan whimpered slightly t the brutal treatment.
Maul paused. He looked straight into Obi-Wan's naïve, pain-filled eyes. The padawan spared no strength in his stare back. The sith waited a moment, tracing the lines of Obi-Wan's face with his yellow-orange eyes before spitting into it.
Obi-Wan looked away.
Maul unsheathed the lightsaber he had received from the droid and now held it lightly, as if pondering its construction. Obi-Wan could only watch as the sith toyed with his weapon.
In a blur of movement too quick for the sluggish padawan to react to Maul struck him hard in the face with his own lightsaber hilt. The padawan tightly clenched his teeth in immense pain. Squeezing back ears of pain and frustration Obi-Wan slowly turned his head and opened his eyes once more to meet his tormentor.
"Where is the queen?" Maul's low voice sounded strange on the relative silence of this part of the palace.
Obi-Wan's chest rose and fell challengingly as he glared at the sith before him.
Darth Maul stepped up close so that their faces were only inches apart. "Do not toy with me, Jedi," he slammed his heel into Obi-Wan's foot and dug his heel in. The padawan's pupil slightly contracted but he did not wince. He was a statue of clam. His resolve emanated from his being.
Unwilling to show his frustration, Maul slowly stepped back then circled around his victim. With a singing clap Obi-Wan felt fire explode from his back and screamed out I pain, the bit his lower lip in an attempt to quiet himself. Strained sweat trickled down his temples as his body meekly tried to regulate itself.
The Jedi's cry was music to Maul's ears. He pulled back his arm for another, more powerful slap with the short whip he held. He paused momentarily as he heard the sound of the ion tanks firing in the courtyard. "Your friends are here," he sneered. Temporarily forgetting what he was about to do, Maul circled over to the window. He gazed out. "Pitiful spawn."
Obi-Wan used the precious moments in which Maul was occupied to fight of the pain that built up to be stronger and stronger with each passing moment. "Resistance is futile. Your freedom fighters are no match for the Trade Federation." Maul paused and Obi-Wan could feel the dark tentacles of the dark side reach out. "The other is near. It's a shame he wishes to rush into his death." He turned his horned hear away from the window and back to Obi-Wan. With a sudden spurt of rage he sneered and lurched forward, tearing the young Jedi's flesh with his well-used whip. Obi-Wan couldn't stifle the scream that tore form his throat.
The neimoidians froze in disgust as the cry echoed down the hall.
Qui-Gon's keen ears picked it up as he slunk through the empty palace wing.
Padmè momentarily froze, not able to fully hear the cry but feeling something inside her shatter.
Maul waited a few minutes as if he wanted the pain from the last cut not to blend in with the next. He circled his prey, lapping up his agony. But Obi-Wan was quickly fading from his reality. His was allowing himself to submerge himself in the memories of the forests of Theed. Padmè's beautiful smiling face. Of the caress he felt from her eyes when she looked at him.
Maul threw his arm back then lashed the Jedi again.
By now Amidala was in the throne room. She and her guards were holding the neimoidians captive. This time she heard it and could hardly believe it was a living being reflecting such agony. She wanted to run toward the sound, to make it stop. Captain Panaka didn't seem to hear it. She shifted her attention to the quivering neimoidians once more.
Obi-Wan quivered, whimpering slightly as he breathed and struggled to fight the pain from overcoming him. The leather strands of the whip seemed to be coated with a small, irritating particulate, like fiberglass, that made the searing wounds even more unbearable.
Maul placed his finger in the way of a trickling stream of blood on the Jedi's back. He slowly brought it to his lips and reached out his tongue to cautiously taste it. He spit I out with butter disgust as if something repulsed him. "Disgusting," he stepped around towards Obi-Wan's face who was desperately struggling to remain conscious. "Fear… weakness…" Maul described the blood. "Failure," he curled his upper lip and cocked his head ever so slightly as he delicately wiped the remaining blood on his gloved finger across the young Jedi's cheek.
Without warning, Maul lashed out with his short whip and cut into Obi- Wan's chest. New pain blinded the senses of the abused padawan.
Now near, Qui-Gon raced down the hall towards the source of the cry, taking note as he passed a group of fallen droids that something must have happened to the control ship. The flame of parental protection of his padawan flared into a full-fledged flame as the scream died away in his memory and he burst through the door into the scene. He tried to fight back the paternal rage that screamed within him but knew he was fighting a loosing battle, especially with one look at the creature before him.
The sith quickly fumbled for his weapon, temporarily caught off guard as Qui-Gon charged. He hastily pulled out Obi-Wan's lightsaber which Qui- Gon quickly threw to the floor with a Force push. He then slammed the sith against the wall with another powerful wave of Force-fueled fury.
Qui-Gon turned to his padawan. In one quick, graceful motion he sliced the chain holding him up and caught his weak body. Obi-Wan let himself sink into his master's arms, not being able to stop himself.
"Padawan," the limpness of the form in his arms frightened him. Fear coursed through him. He should never have left his padawan alone. He should have listened more carefully to the Force.
"I love you, Master." His padawan's voice was hoarse and weak.
The older man smiled at his padawan who's chest was rising and falling sporadically as he struggled to deal with the pain. In response to both his padawan's statement and his physical state Qui-Gon focused and sent him a powerful wave of love and strength as he gently lay him down, then spun around to meet the newly recovered sith.
Lightsabers clashed and Obi-Wan struggled to focus as he heard the battle taking place. He had to help his master.
The clash of sabers and wills grew more distant, but Obi-Wan's cold hard resolve solidified as he drew on the Force and sat up with strength. Struggling to get out of the chains that still bound his wrists he twisted and squirmed his hands, the small shards welded to the chain slicing his skin. He eventually had maneuvered enough with the help of blood for lubrication to pull one hand free then carefully remove the chain from the other. Ignoring the grotesque collar of chain around his neck he cut off the excess that dangled near his chest and clambered to his feet. He pulled on the Force even more as he raced to his master's side.
"Obi-Wan." Qui-Gon did not need to hear his padawan reply to know that he was right behind him. "I think it's best we split up now." He locked his gaze with his blue-eyed apprentice. "If you encounter any droids, destroy them. The neimoidians must not be alerted to our presence prematurely."
Obi-Wan curtly nodded his understanding.
Qui-Gon smiled as he placed his hand on his padawan's shoulder. "You always make me proud, my padawan." He turned to sneak out of their hiding place.
"Master-"
Qui-Gon turned back in response.
Obi-Wan only looked at his master, unsure of what was making him fearful to leave his side. This last day he had become as he was as a helpless twelve-year-old, relying on Qui-Gon for protection and guidance. Why was he afraid to leave him now? "May the Force be with you," he finally voiced, his eyes conveying his concern.
Qui-Gon smiled back and nodded before turning and stealthily snaking through the pillars. Obi-Wan regretfully watched him go. Trying to take off his feeling of impending darkness he shifted hid focus to the metallic clanks coming toward him.
He breathed out deeply. Their plan for diversion was to take out all of the droid-controlled comm centers to distract the attention of the neimoidians. He unsheathed his lightsaber as the small droid patrol rounded the corner toward him.
In a whir of blue, two droids were down before registering what happened. Obi-Wan's lightsaber was in the control panel of another while the last two began to clumsily fire. In a mater of seconds the last two droids were a heap of sparking metal on the mosaic floor of the palace courtyard. Quickly glancing about he ran towards the wall, sneaking alongside it towards a stationed droid surveillance outpost in the shadows.
The two droids were looking through binoculars at the jungle, not paying attention to the communications console. They didn't have a chance against the surprise and tact of Obi-Wan's human mind.
"What is happening?!" Nute Gunray slammed his fist down on the table as he watched screen after screen go to static.
"It is the Jedi! It has to be!" Rune Haako looked up at his companion.
Nute looked over his shoulder nervously at the sith apprentice lurking in the background. He slowly turned back. "Send the assassin droid."
Rune Haako blinked. Nute could tell that his friend didn't want t kill a Jedi if he didn't have to.
"Set it to stun," Darth Maul stepped forward as if reading the neimoidians' thoughts. "Program it to return here with the victim."
Gunray didn't hesitate under Maul's gaze and turned to the general droid standing next to him. He bowed, giving the order.
The general marched off.
Four down, two to go. Obi-Wan pressed himself against the wall as he continued toward another droid-manned surveillance console. Leaping around the corner and casting out with the Force at the same time he was surprised to find a small swarm of droids rather than a few. Within the split second it took for the droids to react to his presence he noticed a tall droid standing ominously in the center of the swarm. It had ligaments and armor unlike any of the Trade Federation's droids surrounding it. At the shock of discovering such a droid Obi-Wan struggled to keep up with the intense blaster fire that erupted. Blocking and diving he noticed that the large droid had slowly begun to make its way towards him. Trying to keep his eye on both the droid and the attack was proving exceedingly difficult. In a desperate move Obi-Wan cast out with the Force, sending droids flying, many of them not recovering. Taking advantage of those that were temporarily stunned Obi-Wan began dismembering his closest enemies. As he slashed out at a droid he felt something cool and heavy connect viciously with the side of his head. His vision suddenly clouded and he had to leap out of the way to avoid a well-aimed blaster shot. As he caught himself pain radiated outward from his spine and he screamed in surprise and agony an electric pulse coursed through him.
The second after it subsided he helplessly sank to his knees and half- heartedly looked back to see the ominous assassin droid, its electro-jabber extended. His life force seemed to flow from his body as he fell limply to the ground while one of the Trade Federation droids began to automatically recite to him his crimes for arrest.
Barely conscious he was slightly aware of being dragged away.
Darth Maul sneered in satisfaction as he watched the young Jedi be drug into the throne room.
Obi-Wan moaned as he slowly began to regain his senses.
"What are we going to do with a Jedi?" Rune Haako exclaimed upon the arrival of the young apprentice. "The Senate will be furious!" He turned to his companion. "We are all going to prison!"
"Quiet," Maul coolly commanded, gleefully eyeing the waking Jedi as a cat would a wounded mouse.
Obi-Wan began using the Force to help his regain the use of his body more quickly. It was working. He could tell where he was and felt a great evil in the room. Something told him to get up and get out while he still could.
"He's waking up! He will kill us! What are we going to do with him?" Nute questioned Haako.
"Leave it to me," the hooded sith carefully stepped towards the disoriented Jedi as he began to sit up. Darth Maul casually placed his boot on the young Jedi's chest, carefully pushing him back down to his back as he cocked his head curiously. Obi-Wan weakly complied, staring up at his confronter.
Maul slowly lowered his hood. Elation filled him as he felt primal fear course through his prey's body.
Obi-Wan instinctually froze. The creature before him instigated such innate, primitive fear that he could not move. Adrenaline pumped through his veins. Fight or flee? Fight or flee? The primitive part of his mind was racing. Only in his dreams had he seen such a personification of evil.
With one short, sarcastic spurt of a laugh Darth Maul placed one leg on the other side of Obi-Wan's body and reached into his utility belt to pull out a whispering metal object. The light glinted off of a spiked chain. As Maul arranged the chain in his hands he couldn't help the smile that escaped him. Finally- his first Jedi. "I'm going to enjoy this." He grinned sadistically.
The two neimoidians exchanged an alarmed glance but remained quiet as the chain was wrapped around the padawan's neck.
Obi-Wan reached up to pull it away but his reflexes were significantly slowed from his encounter with the electro-jabber. He winced sharply in pain and choked as the sith yanked the chain, driving the small spikes into the Jedi's vulnerable neck.
Maul wrapped the other end of the chain around his hand and began to walk away dragging a slightly protesting Jedi behind him.
The neimoidians were left to gape at the spectacle and stare at the blood that remained on the throne room's neatly polished floors.
Obi-Wan gasped for air as he clawed at the cruel chain around his neck, squirming only slightly in protest. Maul had fashioned the chain fairly loose around his neck as to not choke his victim, but rather as an unsightly vile collar.
All the padawan could think about was the pain.
After what seemed like an unbelievably painful eternity Maul stopped and yanked the Jedi to his feet. He wrapped the excess chain around the padawan's wrists and tying it to something above. Obi-Wan whimpered slightly t the brutal treatment.
Maul paused. He looked straight into Obi-Wan's naïve, pain-filled eyes. The padawan spared no strength in his stare back. The sith waited a moment, tracing the lines of Obi-Wan's face with his yellow-orange eyes before spitting into it.
Obi-Wan looked away.
Maul unsheathed the lightsaber he had received from the droid and now held it lightly, as if pondering its construction. Obi-Wan could only watch as the sith toyed with his weapon.
In a blur of movement too quick for the sluggish padawan to react to Maul struck him hard in the face with his own lightsaber hilt. The padawan tightly clenched his teeth in immense pain. Squeezing back ears of pain and frustration Obi-Wan slowly turned his head and opened his eyes once more to meet his tormentor.
"Where is the queen?" Maul's low voice sounded strange on the relative silence of this part of the palace.
Obi-Wan's chest rose and fell challengingly as he glared at the sith before him.
Darth Maul stepped up close so that their faces were only inches apart. "Do not toy with me, Jedi," he slammed his heel into Obi-Wan's foot and dug his heel in. The padawan's pupil slightly contracted but he did not wince. He was a statue of clam. His resolve emanated from his being.
Unwilling to show his frustration, Maul slowly stepped back then circled around his victim. With a singing clap Obi-Wan felt fire explode from his back and screamed out I pain, the bit his lower lip in an attempt to quiet himself. Strained sweat trickled down his temples as his body meekly tried to regulate itself.
The Jedi's cry was music to Maul's ears. He pulled back his arm for another, more powerful slap with the short whip he held. He paused momentarily as he heard the sound of the ion tanks firing in the courtyard. "Your friends are here," he sneered. Temporarily forgetting what he was about to do, Maul circled over to the window. He gazed out. "Pitiful spawn."
Obi-Wan used the precious moments in which Maul was occupied to fight of the pain that built up to be stronger and stronger with each passing moment. "Resistance is futile. Your freedom fighters are no match for the Trade Federation." Maul paused and Obi-Wan could feel the dark tentacles of the dark side reach out. "The other is near. It's a shame he wishes to rush into his death." He turned his horned hear away from the window and back to Obi-Wan. With a sudden spurt of rage he sneered and lurched forward, tearing the young Jedi's flesh with his well-used whip. Obi-Wan couldn't stifle the scream that tore form his throat.
The neimoidians froze in disgust as the cry echoed down the hall.
Qui-Gon's keen ears picked it up as he slunk through the empty palace wing.
Padmè momentarily froze, not able to fully hear the cry but feeling something inside her shatter.
Maul waited a few minutes as if he wanted the pain from the last cut not to blend in with the next. He circled his prey, lapping up his agony. But Obi-Wan was quickly fading from his reality. His was allowing himself to submerge himself in the memories of the forests of Theed. Padmè's beautiful smiling face. Of the caress he felt from her eyes when she looked at him.
Maul threw his arm back then lashed the Jedi again.
By now Amidala was in the throne room. She and her guards were holding the neimoidians captive. This time she heard it and could hardly believe it was a living being reflecting such agony. She wanted to run toward the sound, to make it stop. Captain Panaka didn't seem to hear it. She shifted her attention to the quivering neimoidians once more.
Obi-Wan quivered, whimpering slightly as he breathed and struggled to fight the pain from overcoming him. The leather strands of the whip seemed to be coated with a small, irritating particulate, like fiberglass, that made the searing wounds even more unbearable.
Maul placed his finger in the way of a trickling stream of blood on the Jedi's back. He slowly brought it to his lips and reached out his tongue to cautiously taste it. He spit I out with butter disgust as if something repulsed him. "Disgusting," he stepped around towards Obi-Wan's face who was desperately struggling to remain conscious. "Fear… weakness…" Maul described the blood. "Failure," he curled his upper lip and cocked his head ever so slightly as he delicately wiped the remaining blood on his gloved finger across the young Jedi's cheek.
Without warning, Maul lashed out with his short whip and cut into Obi- Wan's chest. New pain blinded the senses of the abused padawan.
Now near, Qui-Gon raced down the hall towards the source of the cry, taking note as he passed a group of fallen droids that something must have happened to the control ship. The flame of parental protection of his padawan flared into a full-fledged flame as the scream died away in his memory and he burst through the door into the scene. He tried to fight back the paternal rage that screamed within him but knew he was fighting a loosing battle, especially with one look at the creature before him.
The sith quickly fumbled for his weapon, temporarily caught off guard as Qui-Gon charged. He hastily pulled out Obi-Wan's lightsaber which Qui- Gon quickly threw to the floor with a Force push. He then slammed the sith against the wall with another powerful wave of Force-fueled fury.
Qui-Gon turned to his padawan. In one quick, graceful motion he sliced the chain holding him up and caught his weak body. Obi-Wan let himself sink into his master's arms, not being able to stop himself.
"Padawan," the limpness of the form in his arms frightened him. Fear coursed through him. He should never have left his padawan alone. He should have listened more carefully to the Force.
"I love you, Master." His padawan's voice was hoarse and weak.
The older man smiled at his padawan who's chest was rising and falling sporadically as he struggled to deal with the pain. In response to both his padawan's statement and his physical state Qui-Gon focused and sent him a powerful wave of love and strength as he gently lay him down, then spun around to meet the newly recovered sith.
Lightsabers clashed and Obi-Wan struggled to focus as he heard the battle taking place. He had to help his master.
The clash of sabers and wills grew more distant, but Obi-Wan's cold hard resolve solidified as he drew on the Force and sat up with strength. Struggling to get out of the chains that still bound his wrists he twisted and squirmed his hands, the small shards welded to the chain slicing his skin. He eventually had maneuvered enough with the help of blood for lubrication to pull one hand free then carefully remove the chain from the other. Ignoring the grotesque collar of chain around his neck he cut off the excess that dangled near his chest and clambered to his feet. He pulled on the Force even more as he raced to his master's side.