BESTINE, TATOOINE
Qui-Gon watched as the nabooan sloop flew in over the large settlement of Bestine and settled a mile or so outside of town. Turning, he saw Anakin saying goodbye to his old friend, Kitster. Cordé was trying to avoid Watto's putrid attempts of spending a night with her. Jar-Jar was trying out some of the local cuisine and discarded lizards and rodents as soon as they were half-eaten, clearly not to his taste. Qui-Gon walked over to Watto and saved Cordé, much to her relief and the haindmaiden hurried over to Anakin and Kitster instead.
"One swoop and all the winnings, as agreed upon" Qui-Gon said to the toydarian.
Watto nodded with a viscious grin. "I never dreamt that little runt could win the Boonta. Maybe I should keep him and let you have Kitster instead."
"We had a deal" Qui-Gon said harshly. "Perhaps we should discuss it with the hutts? Desilijic is the clan in control of this planet, is it not?"
Watto grunted. He knew that even if the hutts weren't too keen on following law and order, one thing they did hold sacred, and that was a deal. "You knew somehow he would win. You want him for your own stable, don't think I haven't figured that out, offworlder. Where will you take him? Malastare? Nar Shadaa? Sullust?"
"Coruscant" Qui-Gon replied.
Watto's eyes opened wide. "Aaaaah, the Premiership. You think he is good enough to win the grand title? Really?"
"That boy will be able to do anything" Qui-Gon said as he turned and left the toydarian behind.
Qui-Gon turned and left a suspicious Watto, the toydarian knew he had been tricked somehow. But it did little to concern the jedi, he had dealt with such petty scum most of his adult life.
"You promise to take care of him?"
Qui-Gon looked up at a freighter-captain that stood leaning up against an archway, obviously having listened in on the conversation.
"And you are?" the experienced jedi asked.
"Owen Lars" the captain said. "A friend of Anakins sister."
Qui-Gon nodded as the Force told him there was truth to this. "More than a friend, I suspect."
"Look" Owen ignored the comment, "I don't know who you are, or where you came from, but that kid deserves a chance to live his life. And don't know if you're going to keep him tied up or let him run wild. I don't know. But I do know this... That kid, he deserves an honest chance at life."
Qui-Gon smiled at the sincerity of the stranger. "Well, Owen Lars, I will certainly keep it in mind."
XXX XXX
Bestine was surrounded by moisture-farms and warehouses. Walking along the dry and dusty outskirts of Tatooines capitol, Qui-Gon listened as Anakin and Cordé discussed the race. Jar-Jar had acquired an umbrella to hide him from the scorching suns. Glancing over his shoulder, Qui-Gon could easily sense the emotional bond forming between the recently freed slave and the handmaiden. Indeed, opposites truly did atract.
If he only knew, Qui-Gon thought to himself as Anakin made fun of the girl disguised as a servant.
It had been an ongoing process, ever since they had met back at Mos Espa, and it was growing stronger and deeper by the hour it seemed, despite the girl being close to four years older. The boys past, his experiences, his way to face the world and confront obstacles seemed to attract the girl, providing her with insights into a world and reality she had been sheltered from growing up on Naboo and being groomed into a life of politics and affairs of state.
The jedi master joined in on the conversation and redirected Anakins focus. Trivial pursuits such as realtionships, love and romance, were distractions a jedi could not afford. All too easily such emotions could cloud a jedis mind and make him lose his way. Blinded by the emotional needs that eventually caused murder, theft and war throughout the galaxy.
Qui-Gon managed to keep Anakin distracted, so much so that the handmaiden eventually lost interest in being around the older jedi as he attracted Anakins focus. In the end, Jar-Jar and Cordé were a hundred yards ahead of the jedi and the young boy. Up ahead, the naboo sloop could be seen between the dunes.
"I wish I could visit mom one last time" Anakin said, adjusting his backpack as they went. "You know, to say good bye. And Beru."
"Your mother is happy knowing you won your freedom" Qui-Gon said. "As will your sister be. In time, your understanding of the Force will grow, you will grow more powerful and you will find clarity. When that happens, you will be ready to visit your mother again."
Anakin looked up at the tall and bearded jedi. "When will that be?"
"Sooner than you think, I'm sure" Qui-Gon said and offered the boy a reassuring smile.
Cordé and Jar-Jar boarded the sloop, greeted by Panaka and Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon and Anakin still had a hundred yards or so before reaching the ship and as Anakin had his first look at the sloop in its entirety, he came to a halt and studied the ship with great anticipation.
"The personal transport of the Queen of Naboo" Qui-Gon said as he stopped to wait for Anakin. "Fast, comfortable and ready to take us to Coruscant."
"Never been on a starship before" Anakin admitted. "The biggest thing I've ever flown was a skyhopper."
"As a jedi" Qui-Gon said, "you will be on hundreds of starships and visit dozens of planets."
Anakin and Qui-Gon once more headed for the sloop, Anakin nervous and excited and Qui-Gon could only smile at the boys emotional turmoil of joy and anticipation. Qui-Gon spotted soon enough a ship up in the sky, at first a small dot that slowly grew into the contures of an actual vessel. As it happened, it almost appreared as if diving down straight at the nabooan sloop.
XXX XXX
Ric Olié was charging up the ship, pushing buttons and monitoring screens, sitting as he was in the cockpit. The new hyperdrive seemed to work well with the rest of the ship, so far at least. A few more minutes and the ship would be ready to take off and head for space. Obi-Wan joined him on the bridge, seemingly troubled over something.
"What's bothering you?" Ric wondered as he flip some switches to stabilize the power-flow throughout the ship. "You look like a gundark just ate and spat out your droid."
"Something is close" Obi-Wan said and studied the scanners. "Any ships heading for us?"
"This is the largest spaceport on the planet, you know" Ric reminded the young jedi.
Obi-Wan did not seem to register the problem as he was focused on reading all ships in the vecinity that appeared on the scanners. Eventually, he discovered a ship with higher energy-readings than any other in or around Bestine.
"There" the padawan said. "That Seinar Fleet Systems transport, Fury class."
Ric wasn't all too concerned as he leaned over, but he grew concerned quickly enough. "Blastercannons are charged" he said and then turned a dial and flipped two switches, "and heading straight at us... As if on an attack-run."
Obi-Wan felt a tremor in the Force. "Shields Up!"
XXX XXX
A volley of several highly charged blasterbolts rained in over the sloop, testing its shields and ripping apart the ground surrounding the naboo vessel. Qui-Gon dragged Anakin to the ground and placed himself over the boy as a shield. The blasterbolts detonating shook the ground and created geysers of sand, leaving craters of smoking hot glas behind.
Qui-Gon got up on his knees and turned, seeing the Fury turning back for another attack-run. The jedi brought out his lightsaber and activated its bright green blade of harnessed energy. Keeping Anakin behind him, the jedi moved the boy over to some rocks and pushed Anakin into cover. The Fury opened fire with a pair of salvos, the sloops shields flashing as the blasterbolts transformed into large explosions upon impact, sending ripples across the naboo vessels shielding.
The Fury swept in over Qui-Gon and Anakin and a figure leapt from the aggressive vessels boarding-ramp. Dressed in black robes and hood, the mysterious figure touched ground with one knee in the sands of Tatooine.
Qui-Gon readied himself and took a defensive stance with his weapon. Anakin peered out from behind the rocks that shielded him. The dark figure slowly got up on its feet and revealed the mask underneath its hood; five golden bars horizontal across the face, features obscured by black mesh. Qui-Gon was amazed by their assailants connection to the Force, but even more so, he was worried over the amount of raw rage that seemed to fuel its thoughts.
Darth Maul charged three steps and then lunged into the air, spun and twisted as he retrieved his lightsaber hilt from the belt and activated its dual blades of crimson energy. Qui-Gon had not expected it, but found himself quickly enough, able to defend himself against the furious onslaught from the aggressive warrior. Qui-Gon soon enough found himself on the defensive, clearly no match for the warrior who was filled with hatred.
Obi-Wan Kenobi, Captain Panaka and Jar-Jar Binks ran down the ramp and hurried towards the lightsaber-duel.
"Get the boy!" Obi-Wan ordered and ignited his lightsaber as he continued towards Qui-Gon to help him out.
Panaka grabbed Anakin and dragged him along back to the ship. Jar-Jar readied his blaster, taken from a fallen Federation securitydroid back on Naboo. The gungan wanted to do something but could not get a clear shot at their attacker.
Obi-Wan joined in on the deadly dance of lightsabers swung to kill. Both jedi were surprised to find that their enemy was more than able in holding his own against the two of them. Obi-Wan was kicked to the side, Qui-Gons legs were swept from under him. The jedi master pushed the assassin with the Force, sending him flying six yards, but still the mysterious warrior landed on his feet. Obi-Wan tossed a small cart at their assailant, only to see it cut in half by the twinbladed lightsaber wielded by the masked attacker.
Obi-Wan parried half a dozen strikes aimed at him only to reieve a powerful kick to the chest, sending him flying through a door, ending up on his back in a shed. Qui-Gon went after the deadly warrior and performed a masterful attack that was just barely avoided by Darth Maul, the jedi lightsaber striking the Siths mask clean off, revealing Mauls face to be that of a tatooed zabrak as the split mask ended up in the dirt, glowing hot were Qui-Gons lightsaber had struck.
Darth Mauls face twisted with rage as he flipped up on his feet after having ended up on his back in the sand and readied himself to continue the battle, lightsaber activated in both ends. Maul went on the offensive in a furious whirlwind of attacks, eventually rolling in beneath Qui-Gons blade and struck out with his bright red weapon and caught the jedi knight right above the knee. Before Qui-Gon had time to fall over, the sith warrior channeled the Force through his arm and hand and into the jedi, lunging him a full eight yards through the air.
Qui-Gon Jinn landed and tumbled, stirring up a great cloud of sand as he did. He was in pain, his leg felt as if it was burning, but he forced himself to focus, forced himself to be in control. Darth Maul slowly got back on his feet, smirking arrogantly as he took note of the severed leg lying on the ground. Kicking the limb to the side, he made his way towards the fallen jedi, each step fueling his pride, his arrogance, his lust to kill the jedi knight.
"Almost, jedi" Darth Maul said, his voice boiling with confidence, arrogance and unrivaled hatred. "But now... You die."
Qui-Gon reached out and through the Force flung his lightsaber through the air towards his waiting hand. Darth Maul struck out with his lightsaber, cutting the jedi weapon in half as it connected with the red blade of the sith warrior. Qui-Gon concentrated on his breathing and closed his eyes as Maul approached him. The jedi opened his eyes and locked them with the zabraks gaze; hate and rage was burning like an inferno in the siths yellow eyes as Darth Maul raised his weapon and readied himself for the final killing blow. Qui-Gon found himself at peace and ready to face the inevitable.
Darth Mauls attention was drastically turned to his right, as out of nowhere, Jar-Jar came towards him at maximum velocity driving a rugged landspeeder. In the last moment, before being run over, Maul kicked out with his foot, catching the incoming landspeeder in its front, sending the Sith flying away in a controlled backflip through air. Darth Maul landed expertly ontop of a small shed some yards away; but before he had time to recover, the entire structure collapsed beneath his feet and Maul fell through the roof and the entire shed then collapsed ontop of him.
Jar-Jar jumped out of the speeder and grabbed Qui-Gon and dragged him towards the speeder. As he pushed Qui-Gon into the back-seat, he noticed a groggy and disorientated Obi-Wan Kenobi stepping out of a small building.
"Come on! We go!" the gungan shouted and waved at the padawan.
Obi-Wan ran over to and jumped in next to the gungan, who immediately increased throttle and took off, heading for the sloop at full speed.
Over by the collapsed shed, rubble was pushed aside as Darth Maul crawled back on his feet. Using the Force, his weapon flew through the air and ended up in his firm grip. Soon enough, he spotted the speeder racing towards the Naboo vessel, so Maul signaled his ship using a small device attached to his forearm.
Jar-Jar drove the speeder up the sloops boarding-ramp and almost crashed it into the wall. Panaka was standing by the open hatch and hit the controls that started to close and seal the ship airtight. Right after he pushed the intercom fixed to the wall.
"Take us out of here!" Panaka ordered and Ric was not late to act on it.
As the sloop was about to take off and leave the ground behind, Darth Mauls ship came in low, guns firing as the sith warrior stood and watched. The sloop lost its shields, its hull was ripped apart and the entire vessel fell to the sands of Tatooine and broke and cracked.
Maul raised his wristmounted com-unit to his mouth. "Stand by and circle." At once, the Fury-class transport did as intructed.
Maul began moving towards the wreck with determined strides, heavy steps that would take him into melee with his enemy and be able to finish this minor skirmish. One by one, the crew and passengers of the naboo sloop began climbing out of the crashed ship; Obi-Wan and Jar-Jar carrying the wounded and incapacitated Qui-Gon Jinn. Down the dented boarding ramp came R2D2, dragging the mangled body of C-3PO, a leg and arm completely in ruin, behind him with the aid of an internal tow-cable.
"This is not dignified!" the protocol-doid cried out and was treated to a series of angry whirls and beeps from the astromech-droid in response.
While Ric Olié and Panaka helped the handmaidens and the queen out of the wreckage, Obi-Wan spotted Darth Maul approaching, the Force trembling as the siths rage reached out around him.
Out of nowhere, taking everyone by surprise, came a large transport diving in almost and landed almost out of control. Maul, surprised and confused, took several steps back as the rough landing washed him complety with sand and dust.
An airlock slid open and hanging out from the ship was none other than Owen Lars.
"Hurry!" Owen shouted to be heard over the loud engines.
He did not have to tell them twice.
Maul snarled as the engines of the freighter stirred up a small sandstorm around him, took a few quick steps and then hurled himself up in the air, landing atop the transport, ran across its dorsal hull and jumped down the opposite side, twisting in midair to land on his knees facing the still open airlock. Almost instantly, the skilled sith lord tossed his weapon up into the open airlock, the twinbladed lightsaber spinning like a red vortex of destruction as it entered the cargohold; cutting down a handmaiden, a naboo soldier, a member of Owen Lars's crew and the silverplated protocol-droid before returning to its masters steady grip.
One of Amidalas handmaidens rushed up to the controls to the airlock and slammed the switch to seal the ship. Maul extended his one hand and the handmaiden was flung out through the slowly closing doorway, tumbled down the boarding-ramp and ended up with her throat lodged in Darth Mauls ironlike grip. Maul wasted little time as he stabbed the young woman through her gut, the powerful beam of energy released by his lightsaber burning through her body with ease, ending her life without effort.
Tossing the body to the side, Maul began to climb the slowly closing boardingramp, making his way towards the still open airlock; with a frown, the relentless sith warrior held out his hand and denied the airlock to seal itself shut, extending his will through the Force to halt the airlock from closing, even as the transport was slowly lifting from the surface.
Obi-Wan ran into the hangarbay and soon found himself looking into the eyes of the painted zabrak, eyes burning yellow and alight with a rage he had never experienced before. It was like standing face to face with an avalanche of hatred that was about to consume your entire essence. Obi-Wan focused and with both arms delivered a massive push through the Force that washed over their assailant, sending the mysterious and terrifying zabrak flinging through the air and off the ramp. As the airlock finally was allowed to close, Darth Maul landed on his feet down in the sands of Tatooine, lightsaber as ever in his hands.
"Pick me up, flow low" Maul said into his wristmounted com-unit and within seconds his vessel came in, flying merely dozen yards or so above the ground.
The Fury had its boardingramp lowered, allowing Maul to, with a single leap into the air, land with both feet on the ramp itself and quickly make his way to his cockpit.
XXX XXX
At safe distance, Cad Bane watched as the Fury took chase of the tatooine transport that had surprised everyone, including the experienced bounty-hunter. He considered joining in on the chase, but he did not think long.
"Why should I?" he told himself. "I already got payed."
XXX XXX
Within minutes, the Fury-class transport was chasin Owens ship through the skies of Tatooine. Darth Maul fired his weapons, weakening the slower and more cumbersome vessels shields with each hit. The two ships eventually ended up in space, the Fury in hot pursuit of the freighter.
"We've lost our shields!" Owen growled in the cockpit, joined by Olié and Panaka.
"He's closing fast" Ric said as he studied the screens.
Panaka freed his blaster from its holster. "He intends to board us."
Panaka hurried back through the ship and found Obi-Wan and Jar-Jar in the ships medbay, trying to patch up Qui-Gon. The young boy was there aswell, fear practically glowing in his eyes.
"We are about to be boarded" Panaka said and it was enough for Obi-Wan and Jar-Jar to follow him through the ship to the airlock.
Panaka was less than amused. "Why the hell is a jedi trying to kill us?"
Obi-Wan activated his lightsaber, its blue glow illuminating them. "I don't know. I have no idea."
Owen watched his console how Mauls vessel was about to link with his own. "Get ready!" he said over the comlink.
Panaka gripped his weapon with both hands. "This guy just wont give up, will he?"
In the cockpit, Ric Olié frowned. "To hell with this... Everyone, hold on tight!"
Ric turned the controls as hard as he could to starboard, slamming the large freighter into the much smaller vessel piloted by the sith warrior. The Fury-class spun out of control, its hull cracked and dented.
Owen Lars made sure to that the nav-computer was showing green lights and then pulled the lever activating the hyperdrive; sending his ship off into hyperspace. Behind them, in high orbit of Tatooine, Darth Maul sat in his cockpit, a viscious frown on his face as his prey escaped and was out of his reach.