Arya jumped over the wall of buildings surrounding the courtyard where Maul had landed his ship. The alien guards once again emerged from their hiding places and surrounded her with blasters trained on her position until she pulled off the faces she was wearing and revealed her identity to them. They quickly lowered their weapons and let her pass into Maul's ship.
By bounding through the city, she had given the pursuing Jedi quite the chase. After she had jumped off of the Library of the Republic, she had been spotted and tailed by several Jedi scouts. Eventually, in a market square she had been able to break their line of sight. It was then that she had removed one of her faces, threw a cloak that she had grabbed from a nearby vendor around her shoulders and hid her presence from the force. She did it all in such a singular quick and fluid motion that even if someone had been watching her, the change in appearance and wardrobe would have been so subtle they would have hardly noticed what had happened. It had been quite amusing to watch the confused Jedi wander through the market place wondering how they had lost her. Of course, to them she would be a he, because the face they had seen her wearing was a male one.
Arya had been hiding in plain sight when the indicator on her wrist began to blink green. Something had gone wrong with Maul's part of the plan. She had slipped out of the market place and returned to the ship as quickly as she could. But now that she was here, in Maul's ship with the green blinking indicator on her wrist, she realized she had a problem. Maul had not told her what to do if things when awry aside from returning to the ship. She certainly didn't know how to fly his ship.
She returned to her own quarters, showered and changed. She had been covered in debris from her fight with Sideous and if she needed to venture back out into the city, she didn't want her familiar clothes to be spotted. After she was washed and changed, she made her way to the control room of the ship.
Sitting in the main seat in the control room, Arya was contemplating what to do next when she saw a hooded and cloaked Maul enter the courtyard. She let go a sigh of relief and waited for Maul to get into the ship, so they could get out of there. She watched the alien guards surround Maul with their blasters just as they did to her. He reached up and threw his hood off to show them the he was really Maul. Only, it wasn't Maul. Nor was it the face that she had given Maul to wear. Arya could feel his presence now although it was subtle. He was a Jedi.
A loud exchange took place between the Jedi wearing Maul's clothes and Datho, when all of the sudden the man activated a green lightsaber and the alien guards opened fire. The Jedi deflected all of the blaster bolts and moved amongst the alien guards, killing as he went. It all happened so fast that Arya didn't have time to react and stop him.
The Jedi made for the ship's ramp after every guard in the courtyard was either dead or had run away. Arya quickly slipped on a couple of her faces and made for the top of the ship's ramp herself.
As the Jedi stepped onto the ramp, Arya looked down at him in anger, but pretended to be afraid. The Jedi activated his lightsaber and Arya jumped as if the sight of a lightsaber startled her.
"Not another step. You are in the ship of a captured enemy of the Jedi Counsel, and are therefore an enemy as well. I will bring you to the Jedi Temple to be questioned. Please come quietly." The Jedi beckoned Arya to come down the ramp and join him.
Arya walked towards the Jedi and had to restrain herself from simply beating this Jedi to a pulp until he told her where Maul was. She let him put restraining cuffs on her wrists and walk her to his speeder parked outside of the courtyard. The speeder took off towards the Jedi Temple. To him, she was just a follower of Maul's – perhaps a simple aid of some sort. There was no way for him to know she was an apprentice to a powerful ex-Sith Lord, who was exploding with power herself. Sure, should could have gotten the information out of this Jedi and then infiltrated the temple. But why do all that work when she could just let him take her right where she wanted to go without raising any alarms?
The speeder pulled up in front of the impressive five-spired building that was the Jedi Temple. Arya could feel so many force users inside, she began to worry that coming here was a mistake. She kept her own connection to the force hidden so that the Jedi would keep their guard down. Hopefully they would not suspect her power. Going forward, she would have to play dumb and tread lightly. He anonymity was her greatest strength here, because even if she was the most powerful force user anyone had ever seen, she was vastly outnumbered. And besides, she could feel several Jedi in the temple who would most certainly give her trouble if they found her out.
They walked up the steps to the temple and through the main corridor. As they walked, she noticed some familiar faces that had been in the room where she fought Sideous. She was wearing a different face, and her force connection was hidden, so to them she was just a new enemy.
Her Jedi guard was joined by several others and they walked on each corner of her forming a square around her with a Jedi in front leading them somewhere. As they went further into the temple, Arya began to focus less on the Jedi and more on her actual surroundings. The floors were made from polished stone and when she looked down, she could see her face, or rather the face she was wearing, in its reflective surface. There were large ivory-colored pillars holding up an expansive roof that was adorned with artwork depicting what she assumed to be important Jedi from their history. For an order of force wielding knights who, from what she had learned from Maul, claimed to have an unattachment to material things, they sure lived in opulence. These Jedi seemed like good people who generally wanted peace. But there was a tinge of hypocrisy to their ways that was evident the farther they traversed into the temple.
Eventually, they reached a lift at the far end of the temple and they all gathered inside. Arya noticed that the Jedi guarding her seemed relaxed, bored even. No one in the lift could feel her presence, that was for sure, because if they could, every single one would be on edge with their hand hovering over their lightsabers. As the lift climbed higher through the temple, Arya began to feel the presence of a group of individuals in a room above her. The individuals she could sense had a strong connection to the force and as the lift continued its journey upwards, the presence of these individuals almost overwhelmed her. It felt like the strength of Sideous, but with none of the darkness.
As the lift slowed to a stop, the door opened and all but one of her guards moved aside so she could exit. The Jedi in front motioned for her to follow him. The hallway they now traversed was dark and not nearly as ornate as the main temple below. They turned a corner and Arya was blinded by a sudden glare of sunlight. Once her eyes adjusted, she was able to see a large circular chamber with floor-to-ceiling windows that covered three-quarters of the chamber's walls. The floor was once again made out of polished stone and contained a large image of the Jedi symbol. Around the outside edge of the room was a row of seats circling the chamber. Each seat contained a Jedi with a strong connection to the force. Some, like Windu, she recognized from the library hours before while she was wearing another face. Others were unfamiliar to her, while some were merely holograms because they were not on the planet at that time.
Her Jedi guard said nothing, but merely pointed to the center of the chamber floor motioning her to stand there, and then headed back to the lift. Arya looked around at some of the most powerful Jedi known throughout the galaxy and prayed to all the gods she could think of that they could not sense her own connection with the force. A curious, and very small green creature who Arya recognized from Maul's training as Master Yoda was the first to speak.
"To this chamber, you were brought for questioning. Grave are the charges laid before you." Yoda said in a raspy voice. It was as if he had something caught in his throat as he spoke, and if Arya was not surrounded by her strongest enemies at the moment, she would have laughed out loud. One thing that helped her keep her composure was the fact that the strongest connection to the force she could feel in the entire room by a long shot emanated from the tiny green Jedi. Yoda was insanely powerful.
"What charges?" Arya asked, feigning innocence. Her time with the faceless assassins was going to pay off greatly here. The ability to adapt and mold herself to fit the narrative laid out in front of her was most likely what would save her and Maul and get them both out of there alive.
"Conspiring with a dark force user and attempting to steal highly sensitive Jedi artifacts." Windu said in a tone that told Arya he was not to be trifled with. Arya noticed out of all of the Jedi sitting on the Counsel, Windu was the only one that had wisps of the dark side emanating from his presence. They were faint, but they were there. The profile Maul had on Windu mentioned his use of the Vaapad lightsaber technique which was a variation of Form VII lightsaber combat. It required the user to connect with the darkness of their opponent, and then use that darkness to enhance their own fighting, eventually leveling the darkness back toward their opponent. It was only practiced by a select few Jedi because its aggressive nature brought the user too close to the dark side themselves and required a delicate balancing act between light and dark. It was extremely difficult to master without the user tipping over to the dark side and was therefore shunned by most of the Jedi. It was also extremely similar to Juyo, which was the other variation of Form VII that was practiced by Maul, and Arya herself. Arya knew that of all the Jedi on the Counsel, Windu would be the deadliest with a lightsaber if she had to fight.
"What is my sentence?" Arya asked calmly.
Windu raised an eyebrow in skepticism. "You do not deny these charges?"
"I do not. I helped to do these things you have charged me with." Arya said. Now was the tricky part. She needed to sound like a fanatic. A lowly follower that obeyed with blind loyalty but was not special in any way. "The one I serve has shown me the truth. He has shown me how the Jedi develop abilities with the force and then hoard this knowledge for themselves. He has shown me the hypocrisy of this Counsel. How they use their power to police the galaxy and create a vision of existence that fits their own morals and agendas. He has also told me how, if the Jedi's power was ever threatened, they would fight back with intense ferocity and compromise all that they stand for to hold onto their power. The one I serve has given me the gift of enlightenment. I can see clearly now."
"Then the one you serve is twisted and misguided." Windu said through gritted teeth. "He has clearly diluted your mind with poisonous thoughts towards the Jedi and used the force to do so. Only a Sith would do that."
Obi Wan Kenobi addressed Arya next. His voice was less aggressive, but his questions were closer to the point. "You associate infiltrated this facility and stole precious artifacts of ours. Before we managed to capture and subdue him, he had hidden the artifacts. Where did he hide them?"
Arya didn't even have to lie this time. She had no idea where Maul put the holocrons. "I don't know. I merely serve him on his ship. He discusses his grand designs with me, but rarely has he told me the particulars of his plans."
"Let us say that we believe you." Windu replied, "The fact remains that he killed two of our own. He will answer for his crimes, we will find out what he knows, and his mind will be wiped. Then both of you will be thrown into cells for the rest of your lives. Or, you can tell us what you know, and we will set you free. Your leader is too dangerous to be left loose, seeing as he is a force sensitive, but you yourself can't cause much harm away from him. I'm certain once you spend enough time away from his influence on your mind with the force, you will be fine."
Her charade was working so far it seemed. No one suspected her power. Good. Although, this new information about Maul killing two innocent Jedi bothered her. The feelings conflicting within Arya surged forward. They were feelings of uncertainty about being in league with someone like Maul. She knew he had no reservations about killing anyone or anything that got in his way, but she didn't want to operate that way. She had absolutely no qualms about killing. She just preferred that the people they killed were deserving of death. She wanted the knowledge from the holocrons that they were trying to acquire, but killing innocent people was not the way she wanted to go about obtaining it. Deep down she knew that something like this would happen, but now that news of the deaths of two innocent Jedi was made known to her, she couldn't help feeling like she was just as responsible as Maul even if he had been the one to actually swing the blade.
She paused a moment while she contemplated this new information, but eventually remembered that she needed to keep up her act. "I don't have anything to tell you." She said. "My leader will save me. He is extremely powerful. He probably let you catch him because he has something else planned. None of you Jedi understand what he is trying to do. You never will." Arya tried to sound as desperate and delirious as she could to make her act all the more convincing. It was somewhat comical to her that she had just laid out her exact situation, but none of the Jedi were the wiser.
"Very well. Throw her into solitary confinement and let her see if she'd rather spend her life in there, or outside as a free individual." Windu waved his hand indicating that they were done for now and to have her escorted to a prison cell.
As she was led away toward the Jedi prison cells, she started to form a plan in her head. Tonight, she would free Maul. They would gather the holocrons from wherever Maul had stashed them, and they would leave this planet. They would only return when they were strong enough to complete Maul's list. Then, onto her own list. She would eventually have to confront Maul about his killing of innocent people, she just hoped their differences in morality wouldn't force them to sever their relationship. If they did, things would get violent. She was well aware of that.
