Darth Maul grunted angrily and pounded on his console. The ship was spiraling out of control, just moments before he would have landed it on Geonosis. The meddling idiot who had inexplicably damaged the ship would pay… soon. First, he must destroy the Jedi who had injured him so badly ten years ago.

He hadn't seen who had fired the shot. He had been too absorbed with his opponent, but he knew. He knew that only two Jedi had gone on that mission: Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi. There had been another who could have hit him, he had seen as he had fallen, but it was only a child. That child, he knew, was now a Jedi apprentice to Jinn, but he had only been a boy ten years ago, and could not possibly have been the one to have shot him.

His master wanted the child, Skywalker, alive. He would do that. But his master didn't care what happened to Jinn and Kenobi. Both would die for the pain they had inflicted on him.

A large thud announced his landing on Geonosis. Maul was thrown forwards and hit his heavily marked head, but was otherwise unharmed. He scowled at the ship and stood up, preparing to asses and fix the damage, when he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. A second ship was landing nearby. Grabbing his lightsaber and hoping to the Force it was friendly, he went to go investigate.

Out of the new ship stepped a man. He had long, gray and brown hair and beard, and intelligent eyes. Maul leaned forwards to see his face beyond the lion-like mane of hair and beard, and hissed angrily. Jinn.

A second man stepped out, with lighter hair and beard cut in the same, if shorter, style. Most likely Kenobi, he assumed. The third man was a Padawan, probably about eighteen. Maul assumed that this was Skywalker.

Quickly assessing the situation, Maul decided what to do. He could easily knock over Skywalker with a kick or a blow, which worked for his plan not to kill him. Jinn and Kenobi he could take care of, or perhaps block one out while fighting the other in his ship. It had worked many times before. He knew that if he took them one at a time, not only could he kill much easily, but he would also have an advantage over the second. A Jedi in danger whose friend has been killed will make mistakes, like a cornered animal.

But then a Gungan stepped out of the ship, nervously fidgeting. A woman followed him, and a Kamioan female, like the ones Dooku had described after his trip to their stormy planet. A young boy started to follow, but the Kamioan pushed him back in and shut the door, scowling at the Gungan as if she wanted to do the same to him.

There was a long pause as the two sides examined each other, but Jinn spoke first.

"We have you outnumbered and outgunned, Sith. Surrender now and you will not be harmed."

"Oh?" shot back Maul in his raspy voice. "And what would you do to me then?"

"Send you to pick flowers on Naboo," muttered Skywalker, and Maul suppressed a grin. No laughing at the enemies' jokes he chided himself. After we convince him to join us, he will be a pleasure to work with.

"We will put you on a fair trial…" began Kenobi, shooting Skywalker a half-amused, half-warning look.

"Fair?" barked Maul. "Since when are you Jedi ever fair? You exist solely to cheat us! To kill us! So don't try to make me believe you'll ever be fair to one of us!"

All of them looked a little surprised at this outburst, but Jinn said evenly, "No one truly believes that they're evil."

"There is a difference! I know the Jedi are evil!"

"And yet if you asked one of us, even the smallest Padawan, they would say that they knew for a fact that the Sith are evil."

Maul quieted at that, and then answered, "I suppose there's no way of knowing, then, is there?"

Jinn looked surprised at his acceptance, and for a moment, Maul wished he didn't have to kill this man. But all Jinn said was, "Come back with us, and see the other side of things."

"No!" Now Maul was no longer sorry that he had to kill Jinn. He was a stubborn, close-minded, arrogant, drone-like Jedi. Nothing more. None of them were.

"Please," whispered Jinn, so only he could hear. "I don't want to kill you…"

"Jedi never care for the lives of a Sith," retorted Maul. "We're at war. It is what happens." He paused for a moment, and then said, just as quietly as Jinn had, "I'm sorry."

And then he ignited his lightsaber and swung it in a downwards arc towards Jinn. The Jedi made no move to block it, only stood there looking defeated.

His lightsaber was blocked suddenly by Skywalker. "How many times must I save your life, Master?" the young Jedi asked out of the corner of his mouth.

Jinn started at him for a second, confused, and then a small smile lit his face. "Once or twice more, Padawan," he said, igniting his own lightsaber.

But he didn't join the fray, finding no room to attack Maul after Kenobi slid in, swinging his weapon with a ferocity that surprised the Sith. First, as a Padawan, the man had shot him, and now he attacked him with more strength and anger than he had ever seen. What grudge did this Jedi have against him, and why couldn't Maul remember it?

If he had spared a glance at the others, he would have seen Jinn searching for an opening, the female gripping her blaster, unable to shoot, and the Kamioan looking worried. He would also have seen the little boy peeking out of the ship, and the Gungan getting distracted by a fly.

But he didn't, too busy fighting Kenobi and Skywalker. His plan to get Skywalker out of the way was thwarted by Kenobi's ferocity. There was no way he could spare the time for a kick or a blow to one side while being hounded so intensely from the other.

Finally, however, a loose pebble turned the tides in the battle. Skywalker stepped on it and stumbled, distracting Kenobi. Maul had to choose between two options, getting Skywalker out of the way, or killing Kenobi, when an idea came to him. If Kenobi was distracted by Skywalker stumbling, he would certainly pause, for a split second, if he was kicked down. Maul could accomplish both goals, his master's, and his own.

Darth Maul raised his foot to boot Skywalker over, when a small stone hit him in the back of the other knee and he collapsed. Before he had a chance to get up, however, he saw Kenobi's lightsaber swinging in a deadly arc towards his neck.

Maul paused, seeing the look of anger in Kenobi's eyes, and realized what it was coupled with. Fear.

-

Obi-Wan froze, watching the body of the Sith fall. He felt himself swaying, as if he, too, might plummet to the ground like so much of a corpse himself. He was dimly aware of the others coming towards them, and Qui-Gon gripping his shoulder in a consoling manner.

Someone was speaking, as if from a great distance away. "Why did he fall?" it was Anakin.

"Little yousa," answered Jar Jar, making so much sense.

"What?"

"There," Padmé pointed at a nearby ridge. Upon it stood two small boys of about seven or eight. One did look very much like Anakin at that age, and the other could have been his brother. Obi-Wan frowned. The second boy looked very, very familiar.

Thank you, Seylin, Satra, Child-of-the-Dawn, and Ellenlome! Oh, and Ellenlome, you were right about Jar Jar, it is Gungan. I have yet to get around to fixing that and the board thing in the past chapters, but I got it right here. Anyway, another chapter will be up eventually, obviously. And don't worry, I haven't forgotten the systems bit. It'll come eventually. I like that word. Hope you liked the chappie. I like that word too. Blah.