Here we go again! More chapters!

Last time: Anakin hunts down Maul.

Now: Maul breaks into the Jedi Temple.

Chapter 13- Taken

As soon as the Clones were diverted away from the Jedi Temple, Maul made his way into the temple through a secret entrance that would connect with the ventilation system. An entrance he recalled from his study of the Temple blueprints. He made sure to completely block himself out in the force before entering, so he was perfectly invisible to the Jedi fools inside. He made his way through with the upmost secrecy and stealth. Moving at such a slow pace that his boot steps made hardly a sound. He knew who his target was and he knew that attempting to get her out of there without the entire Jedi Temple jumping him was going to be his biggest challenge. But he had a plan.

Maul had thought over many different possibilities for this part of the plan. He thought of the potential of sneaking in and killing Kenobi within the walls of his own home. But if he did that, the Jedi would stop him and kill him before he would even leave the property. And he still had work to do. Even though killing Kenobi was a major goal for him, he still needed to return to Mandalore to keep up the work on his growing Empire. Another option was to take Kenobi and hold him hostage somewhere where he could slowly torture him, enjoying every moment of Kenobi in agony. But the Jedi would still come for him and his fun would be over too quickly.

But the plan he decided upon was the perfect one. He would capture the padawan, hold her hostage, lure Kenobi in, and use the girl as a tool to make Kenobi suffer. Maul had taken notice of how the Jedi Master reacted when Maul had shot her nearly out of the gunship just the day before. The girl was truly the key to all of this. However, he just needed to capture the girl first.

As he made this way through the ventilation shafts, he used the force to focus in on the girl's location and followed her through the temple. After a bit, he managed to catch up to her and he kept pace with her as she kept walking along. Using the vent grates, Maul followed her to wherever she was going. Soon she came to a stop and that caused Maul to stop. He looked down through the vent slits to see where they had stopped. The girl's quarters. Excellent.

Sasha adjusted the data pads in her arms as she returned to her quarters after studying the whole day away in the archives. Since they were grounded to the temple, Sasha had decided to get as much studying and prep done for those exams as possible. She tapped the control panel and entered into the darkened living area. The curtain was drawn and the lights were completely off. Her Master hadn't been officially released from the healers ward yet so she knew no one would be there to turn on the lights. He was allowed to attend Council meetings, but Bant still required him stay at least another night before allowing him to return to his quarters.

Sasha elbowed the light switch, turning the lights onto full. She walked over and set the data pads down onto the side table with a sigh. Stretching out her arms, Sasha entered into the kitchen to get dinner started for herself. As she walked over to the fridge, she felt that uneasy feeling again in the force. For the majority of the evening, that feeling had been existing in the back of her mind and she couldn't quite put a finger on what exactly was causing it. Maybe it was lingering feeling that Maul was still on the planet going after her Master. Or maybe it was something else. Something with the war? She wasn't quite sure, but she knew better than to ignore it. For now though, she just shifted her focus to making a meal.

As she started pulling out the items to make her dinner, she suddenly heard a shuffling from the living room. Sasha froze in place. She didn't hear the sound of the door sliding open, but she was sure that something was out there. Or someone. Someone was in her apartment and she wasn't able to sense who it was. They were completely masking themselves from her and the force. That meant only one thing. This intruder knew how to hide from the Jedi. She gripped her saber hilt with one hand and the handle to the frying pan tightly as she waited to see if it was just her imagination or if it was real.

"Master?" Sasha called out carefully.

No response.

Sasha turned to face the doorway that lead to the living area. Before she could finish her turn, someone wrapped their arms around her. And the arms didn't belong to anyone she knew. One arm was around her waist, pressing her arms down to her sides. The other was around her neck, pushing down on her windpipe.

"No," Maul's voice whispered into her ear. "Your Master isn't here. And he won't make it in time."

"How the hell did you get here?" Sasha asked as she struggled in his grip.

"You will never know," Maul answered. "Now you are coming with me."

"Not likely," Sasha growled as she reared back and head-butted Maul with the back of her head.

Maul groaned as he staggered slightly, his grip loosening, allowing her to shove him back before swinging back at his head with the pan from the stove. Maul barely reacted fast enough to duck and he missed the pan by inches as it flew over his head. He then lashed out with his hand and force pushed her back. Sasha flew back and hit the doorframe. She gasped as she hit it at an awkward angle, her back and ribs popping from the impact. Sasha dropped to one knee, dropping the frying pan in the process, as Maul stalked over and kicked at her. Sasha reached out and caught his leg and threw him into the living area where he impacted with the chair. His impact dented the back of the chair, most likely breaking the support beam.

Master help! She called out in her bond in the force as she stood from the floor, her lightsaber now out and activated. It's Maul!

Maul pulled himself up to his feet. He didn't bother to pull out either of his sabers that sat on his belt as she put hers between them as a line of defense. She found that strange, but didn't let that cause her to drop her guard. Maul charged forward, ducked under her blade as she brought it in with a slash, and he grappled with her until she was in a position where he easily threw her over his shoulder and into the side table where her data pads still sat. Sasha impacted with the table, breaking it in several pieces and sent the data pads and even her own saber flying across the room as it slipped from her grip. She lay on the ground in a pained heap as she was sure that something broke after that. A rib, most likely. But before she could get up, Maul came over and stomped down on her back, slamming her back into the ground. She yelped as she was now sure it was a broken rib and the added pressure from his boot was not helping with the pain from it. She, however, wasn't going to let that stop her. She tried to reach back and swat at him. Sasha even tried to roll out from under him, but he wasn't budging. It was as if he was holding her down with his boot and the force.

He then leaned over her as she tried and failed to escape his boot, holding something in his hand as she could see it in her peripheral vision. She continued to struggle as she realized what it was. However, it pricked into the side of her neck before she could get away. Her body felt numb as she felt her vision blur. And moment later, her eyes rolled back as her head fell forward and she slipped unconscious.

Maul looked down at the girl with a snarl. She had put up a hell of a fight and he was sure that she alerted the temple to his presence. So he didn't have much time. Maul removed his foot from her back and knelt down beside her. He hauled her up onto his shoulders and turned back to the open vent. He leapt in just as he heard the door to the room open. Sliding the vent closed as quietly as possible, Maul hustled through the vents as fast as he could, keeping his boot steps just as quiet.

The current Jedi Council meeting was dragging on as Master Shaak Ti was giving her report on the recent developments on Kamino. Obi-Wan was listening intently even though he was starting to feel tiredness taking over as it had been a long day of meetings and his body was still healing from the speeder crash just the day before. As he sat there, suddenly he felt a strange feeling in his bond with Sasha.

Master help! Her voice filled his head through their bond. It's Maul!

Obi-Wan straightened up, gripping the edge of his chair.

"Master Kenobi?" Yoda spoke up, pulling him from his daze.

"It's Sasha," Obi-Wan said looking at the elder master. "She's in trouble. I don't know how, but it's Maul." He stood from his chair. "Excuse me, Masters." He said as he made his way past Shaak Ti's hologram and out of the chamber.

He moved down from the chambers to the main levels as at rather quick pace despite his still healing leg that was slowing him down. He ignored the pain as he ran as fast as he physically could back towards his quarters where he could still sense Sasha. However, as he got closer, he felt her presence falter in the force as something suddenly made it fuzzy in their connection. That cause him to move faster. He rounded the corner and bounded up to his door. He used the force to open it before he was even within reach of the control panel.

Obi-Wan entered into the room and skidded to an immediate halt. The living area was a mess. A side table was destroyed, data pads scattered on the floor, and the chair had a dent in the back of it.

"Sasha?" Obi-Wan called out as he rushed into the kitchen to see if she was there. He couldn't get a lock on her in the force and that made his stomach knot with worry, but it was obvious she had been here recently.

He found a pan discarded on the ground and a scuff mark on the wall near the doorway. Food still sat out, untouched and unmade into a meal. He headed back out into the living area. Obi-Wan searched the sleep quarters next and she wasn't there.

"Sasha!" Obi-Wan called out as he started towards the door.

However, he noticed something glimmering from under the couch. Kneeling down a little ungracefully due this still healing leg, Obi-Wan spotted her lightsaber lying there. He grabbed it and stood up, panic now settling in his chest. He grabbed his commlink and rushed out of the room, heading towards the security center. He contacted the droids in the center.

"This Master Kenobi, we have an intruder in the temple," Obi-Wan relayed over the commlink as he ran. "Shut down the temple immediately! They must not escape!" As he rushed down the corridor, Mace and Plo Koon suddenly appeared as he hustled by them.

"Obi-Wan wait," Mace called out as they rushed after him. "You said Maul was here earlier? How is that possible? We got word that he was in Ziro's old district."

"I'm not sure, but Maul broke into the temple. He has Sasha. We need to stop him now!" Obi-Wan urged as he kept moving.

"Do you know which way they went?" Plo Koon asked. "Can you sense them?"

That cause Obi-Wan to slow his pace. "No. I can't sense either of them. Something is blocking my connection to Sasha and Maul isn't even registering."

"Then how do you know it's Maul?" Plo asked carefully.

"Because, Sasha said so," Obi-Wan said as he whipped around on his heel to face the two other Masters. "Because my apartment is in shambles. And because of this." He held up her saber to them. "Maul had to have been here. That tip about Ziro's district was a lie."

"Obi-Wan calm down," Mace said harshly. "You've contacted security right?"

"Yes, they are locking down the temple," Obi-Wan nodded.

"Then take a breath," Mace advised. "Maul won't be able to get out. We send every available Jedi to hunt him down. He won't leave this temple with Sasha."

Obi-Wan took an uneasy breath and nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry, Masters."

"Now let's go," Mace said leading them away to the security center to hunt down a Sith.

The temple was high alert. The girl had gotten a call out after all and that angered Maul to no end. However, he knew it was never going to be easy. How she exactly succeeded in doing that, Maul was unsure of. But what he was sure of was that his exit was still clear. The temple lockdown hadn't reached the hatch yet and that's all he need to successfully get out of there, He managed to slip out of the temple just as the security measures activated. He paused for a second as he looked back at the now locked entrance. He smirked viciously as he realized how foolish those Jedi truly were. Turning, he hustled away, through the alleys back towards his ship with the girl still laying across his shoulders. Now the new challenge was get back to his ship, without getting caught by any wandering patrols, and away from Coruscant before the Jedi ever figured out that he escaped with his prisoner.

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