-1

At the time I originally wrote this, the story of Darth Maul's resurrection was fairly new and I had to wonder if it was Infinities or not. I'm not sure if it is to be considered such or not still, but I enjoyed the idea of the "resurrected"Maul being brought in as a wittness so I choose to leave it in here.

The Trial of Darth Vader

Chapter 5

Over the next few hours Gareth called forth several witnesses to testify to Anakin's evil nature. And over those hours, Tristain did her best to disprove the testimony the witnesses had given. While Anakin hoped that she succeeded, it began to matter little to him as to what was going on. The trial was supposed to be a means to decide where he'd spend the afterlife, but it began to feel more like it was a trial to prove how evil he'd been in his life.

He knew he'd served the dark side for so much of his life. And even then some part of him had always regretted what he did. But now that regret seemed to be who he was. He'd had a chance to hold on just a little longer when he lay dying on the second Death Star. He'd known it, even as Luke was saying that he couldn't die. And he'd known his son would have done everything he could to save his life. Maybe that wouldn't have been such a bad thing. Maybe he could have lived a few more years, trying to make amends for what he'd done.

But even when that thought had occurred to him then, he knew that anything he could have done to make amends would have barely been a drop in the bucket when compared to all the evil he'd caused. He could have spent another fifty years of his life trying to make up for what he'd done and it would never be enough. Some might actually choose to remember him as a good man for it, too. But most would always remember him as the man who had helped Palpatine nearly crush the galaxy under his thumb. Perhaps he deserved that.

"No," Anakin mumbled. "I did deserve it."

"Deserve what?" Yoda asked, giving him a knowing look. It was the same look he'd received so many times from the Jedi Master during his training at the Jedi Temple. The same look he'd received the day the council had tested him at Qui-Gon's request.

"To be hated. I could have held on to life just a little longer, so that Luke could get me to someplace where the doctors could save me. And then I could have spent the rest of my life doing what I could to make amends. But it would never have been enough.

"I'd spent so much of my life helping Palpatine to spread his darkness over the galaxy. Maybe some would choose to remember me after I died as a good man for what I would have done to make amends. But most folks would always remember the monster I had been. And they'd always hate me for it. I'd have deserved their hatred."

"They would, yes," Yoda agreed, though his face had softened. "But monster they would see, mistake would that be. Vader you were, yes, but right was Luke. In you, still good . Anakin Skywalker that was. A monster Darth Vader was."

"But Master Yoda, I was Darth Vader."

At this point Yoda poked his little cane into Anakin's chest. "The body and mind Darth Vader was. The spirit he was not. As Darth Vader, the spirit of Anakin Skywalker destroy you could not. The good in you Luke saw it wa . And defeat the evil of Darth Vader you did. Reclaim yourself in doing so."

"Yoda is right, though I failed to see it," Obi-Wan added. "Even after I became one with the Force I couldn't see it. I saw the evil of Vader, the loss of both my student and friend to the dark side. But Luke could see it, just as Padme had. He knew, and that's why he didn't want to face you as a Jedi facing a Sith Lord."

Anakin nodded, remembering how Luke had refused to fight him in their final battle. He could have easily killed his son, and he would have let him. But Luke wasn't about to let him harm his sister, or turn her to the dark side. That had been all he'd needed to get Luke to fight. It had also been all that was needed to get Luke to release his anger, to use it as a means to defeat him.

Luke had then proven to be more than a match for him. He'd become more a savage beast than a skilled warrior. Vader was forced to try and defend himself, though he just barely succeeded. Luke blindly struck fast and hard, wearing him down. And when he'd worn him down enough, Luke had cut off his hand.

Yet as he was getting ready to strike a death blow, Luke realized what he had done. He'd then let go of the anger he had embraced only moments before, banished it and refused to do what Palpatine wanted. Seeing this, Palpatine had tried to kill Luke. Vader watched, feeling mixed emotions. Part of him wanted Luke to die, not only for harming him, but for refusing to join Palpatine. But there was another part, the part that wanted Luke to live, to protect his son. And when Luke had called to him for help, he knew what he had to do. He knew that Luke had been right about there still being good left in him. Vader would have willingly let Palpatine kill his son, but Anakin could not.

"I call Darth Maul to the stand."

Anakin's head came up when he heard the name, his glance quickly moving over to Obi-Wan's face. Obi-Wan showed his shock at that choice in witnesses on the part of the prosecution. Maul had never seen Anakin turn to the dark side, he'd killed him after he dealt Qui-Gon the fatal blow. If anything, Maul could attest to Anakin's goodness, his helping his friends escape from certain death on Tatooine.

All attention in the room turned as Trugg and Dia Koban escorted Maul in, and Anakin suddenly understood why he was being called. Though Obi-Wan still did not, despite having been one with the Force for the better part of four years.

"That's not Maul. He's slightly shorter, far less muscles, horns sharper, not as dull as Maul's were, as if they haven't seen the years Maul's saw. And the eyes, their too red. Gareth has always been so honest. But why throw that away, why resort to such tactics to keep you from becoming one with the light side?" Obi-Wan wondered under his breath, just barely loud enough for Anakin to hear.
"No, it is Maul, but not the real one," Anakin told him. "Years after you defeated Maul on Naboo, after I became Vader and you hid away on Tatooine to watch over Luke, a group of Sith zealots decided that I was unfit to be Palpatine's apprentice. So they took it upon themselves to create the perfect apprentice. Somehow they used Sith magic to create a clone of Maul, but not exactly a clone. In essence, Darth Maul reborn.

"Just before the Battle of Yavin, I was sent to locate the stolen plans to the Death Star. This was before Leia got her hands on them. I had thought I tracked the plans down to this backwater planet, but in reality, I had been lured there. And I was pitted against this Maul. I barely defeated him."

"And as you were Vader at the time..."

"He can attest to my being a Sith Lord," Anakin finished.

Unlike Greedo, Trugg and Dia kept their sabers ignited, keeping them close to Maul. It became pretty obvious that neither of them trusted him enough to give him as much room as they had Greedo. Perhaps, Anakin decided, it was for the best as Maul appeared contemptuous of all in the courtroom. Even more importantly, it looked as if he were planning to escape.

The very idea of Maul getting loose and disappearing somewhere in the lands the light side frightened Anakin. He could only imagine what would happen if a Sith who had been banished to the dark side were suddenly free in the light side. Even worse was the idea of him somehow managing to get back his ability to use the Force.

"Do you swear that what you say shall be the truth and nothing but the truth?" Dia asked. Her still ignited lightsaber added a certain emphasis to her words.

"I do," Maul said with a snarl.

Gareth approached, but made sure not to get to close to the witness. "You faced off against the defendant before, correct?"

"Yes."

"Where?"

"Kalakar Six."

"And why did the two of you face off?"

"To decide who would serve as Lord Sidious' apprentice."

"Apprentice? What kind of apprentice?"

"The only kind that truely matters. A Sith apprentice."

"So he had to have turned to the dark side in order to be a Sith, correct?"

"Yes."

"That means he had to hate, correct?"

"Yes."

"Thank you, that will be all."

"Why were you and the defendant fighting on Kalakar Six?" Tristain asked as she got up. Unlike Gareth, she moved right up to the witness stand. Anakin figured it was a dumb move, but realized that doing so might help to discredit Gareth's questions of Maul. She would look braver, maybe make it look as if Gareth had told Maul what to say.

"I have already answered that question. We fought to decide who was to be Lord Sidious' Sith apprentice."

"Yes, we all know what you were fighting for. But at the time, the defendant was Palpatine's, excuse me, Lord Sidious' apprentice. So there had to be a reason for the fight. I'm just curious what that reason was."

"Those who resurrected me felt that he was tainted. He was still a Jedi, and Lord Sidious deserved one who was not tainted. The dark side deserved one who was not tainted. I was to be that one."

"The defendant was still a Jedi? How could that be? After all, he had become the Sith Lord Darth Vader."

"He did not fight like a true Sith. He fought like a Jedi. And I could feel the good in him. I could feel the light side radiate from him."

"Did he use the light side to defeat you?"

"No, he actually used the dark side. He hated himself enough to defeat me. Hate is off the dark side. Hate was what he needed to defeat me."

"Yet he knew just how dark you were. Do you think it possible, as a Jedi, that his desire to protect the innocent from the dark side is what actually made it possible for him to defeat you? And that he lied about being able to hate to hide the fact that he was still a Jedi?"

Maul thought about the question for a minute, his expression turning to shock and then to one of pure hatred. "Yes, yes it is possible. The Jedi are weak, and they foolishly wish to protect those weaker than they from the truth. I allowed myself to be distracted, the kind of distraction that would allow a Jedi a chance to defeat me."

"Thank you, no more questions."

"You said you were resurrected." Gareth said as he got up for redirection. This time he made certain to get closer to Maul, yet he still couldn't get as close as he had with previous witnesses.

"Yes."

"So you remember fighting the Jedi?"

"Objection, what is the point of the line of questioning?"

"The point, your honor, is to establish the witness's knowledge of the light and dark sides."

"The witness will answer the question."

"Yes, I remember fighting the Jedi."

"So that means that you could recognize when one is using the dark side."

"Yes."

"And when the defendant defeated you, which did you feel?

"The dark side."

"Thank you." With that, Gareth sat back.

Tristain got up immediately, smiling at Gareth who suddenly realized he'd been baited. "Who was the defendant's master?"

"Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"And who was his master?"

"Qui-Gon Jinn."

"And how often did you fight Master Jinn?"

"Once. I killed him during the only fight we ever had."

"On Tatooine?"

Maul thought about it for a minute, clearly not certain where he had killed him. "Yes."

"And Obi-Wan killed you on Coruscant?"

"Yes." Again it became clear he wasn't sure where it took place.

"Then how is it that you both died on Naboo?"

"Because it must have been on Naboo instead, I guess."

"You guess, you don't know?

"Yes."

"And didn't the two of you have another duel before the one where you both died?"

"I guess so."

"Again you guess, you don't know?

"That's right."

"Of course it is. You claim you were resurrected, but wasn't the defendant first told that there are ways to create an individual, and then told that those who did this resurrected you?"

"Objection, assumes the witness was present for this."

"If the prosecution had done his homework, he'd already know Maul was present for this," Ulic said, letting it be known that he already knew what occured on Kalakar Six. "The witness will answer the question."

"Yes."

"And do you think it possible that resurrect in this case means to recreate a certain individual without bringing them back to life?"

"I suppose. But then why would I know who his master and who his master's master were?"

"You already know the answer to that, don't you? Because those who created you told you."

This time Maul slumped in his seat. His eyes began looking about for a chance to escape, but he couldn't find one. "Yes, they told me."

"Based on the fact that you don't know where both you and Qui-Gon Jinn died, nor how many times you two fought, wouldn't this suggest that they created you to be Darth Maul and did not resurrect him? And that they told you all you needed to know?"

"I suppose."

"Which means that they also told you that the defendant was good."

"I could feel the good in him."

"No, you couldn't. Because he was the only other Force-user you ever fought. And you had been told that he was a Jedi still. But his claiming he hated himself made you think it was true. And so you couldn't tell if he was using the light side or the dark."

"The only way the Sith can fall is if they are killed by another Sith!"

"That's what you were told. But the Sith fall, just like everyone else can. And most Sith know that they can fall, which is why they take steps to keep from doing so. But you were created and taught by dark side heretics. And you were taught what they wanted you to know. The real Maul would have known better than you."

It proved to much for Maul. With a scream he leapt out of his seat, hand's reaching for Tristain's throat. But he never reached her. Ulic made a quick motion with his hand, levitating Tristain out of the way as Trugg and Dia then moved in, lightsabers flashing. They quickly subdued Maul and escorted him from the courtroom.

"The defense will be more cautious with whom she provokes during this trial," Ulic admonished once Maul was gone.