Chapter 4 - Planning

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The flight back was quite silent and Maul seemed to be brooding and thinking about possible ways to get his revenge. Savage wondered about what exactly his brother had in mind - he wasn't planning to kill Kenobi? What else then?

"Brother I haven't slept for about ten years. I'll go and you take over."

"Sure." said Savage and nodded.

When they left the hyperspace, Maul returned and he seemed a bit more relaxed.

"I am sure Mother Talzin already awaits us." Maul said and stood up. Savage followed him and both Zabraks walked out of the ship.

Talzin was standing only a few meters away. "My night brothers. Come with me."

They followed her into the village of the night sisters into a small hut. "Here you can rest until you decide where to go and what exactly your plan is. I have the feeling this will take a while." She eyed Maul who looked back at her.

"Yes. I plan on observing him at first. How he changed over the years. He has to be a master by now and I am sure Skywalker was his padawan and now his close friend? Since he was his apprentice they have to be quite close."

Talzin nodded. "What I heard from the clone wars… they fight at the front with their own battalions. Most of the time they're on missions together. And yes, Skywalker was his student after you defeated Kenobi's former master. Their bond is very strong if that is what you want to know my son. They trust each other with their lives."

Maul nodded and turned to his brother. "Savage what do you think? Have you seen Kenobi and his partner yet?"

The other Zabrak just frowned. "Yes.. only in brief moments - not in a fight if that is what you mean. I saw them on holos, where they fought together and in public news of course. I don't think they ever saw me or know me at all."

"Mother Talzin - can we stay here on Dathomir? Otherwise we will leave and hide somewhere else. I know some hidden Sith areas that might be useful but it would be easier here." Maul added and waited for Talzin to answer his question.

She just nodded and smiled "My children - why would I have told you to come to Dathomir then, hm? Darth Maul, you need to rest after this long time, no matter what you say. Go and plan, you two. This planet is your homeworld as well. Just don't bring war to this place. I am busy with other things than war. Go and come as you like. If you need anything, come to me." Talzin said and left the hut, leaving them alone.

"So" Savage said and looked at his brother.

"So?" Maul answered him and turned.

"Well, what now brother? What is the next step or the plan - if there is one yet."

"Now" Maul bent down to him "We rest. I have a lot to think about and tomorrow morning we will speak about that matter again."

The younger Zabrak nodded, obeying his brother's orders.

Deep in the night, Maul opened his golden eyes and stared at the ceiling. All he saw was pure darkness.

Kenobi … what to do with him and his little friend.

'I need that Skywalker brat out of my way. I waited way too long for that, to let him ruin my plans… no… and I don't want to have him there when I come for his master. They have to be on seperate missions - that is for sure. And the jedi - as pathetic as they are - kidnap children and put them together with a foreign man or woman to train and live with them. So their only family are the jedi itself and even more - everyone's personal master. One can almost say it is a father and son relationship.

That means that Kenobi and Skywalker are a family. Because of that Skywalker brat I even was put into that circumstances back, all these years ago. No, it was my master, Darth Sidious…'

Maul almost laughed at the thought of his former master. That man was an excellent teacher but he despised him for personal and several other issues. In many cases, he had acted too obvious and in a completely different way, Maul would have approved. But it was not his business how his master dealt with certain issues as long as Maul was the apprentice.

'Even if I had met this brat only once - he caused me enough trouble and despite that - he is with Kenobi almost every time. Hurting Kenobi would also hurt him. Haha brilliant. Skywalker would be very angry but more than that - lost. Even if the Jedi have their useless as they claim it 'selfless thinking in terms of relationships and ownership', I am sure they can not follow it as much as they would like to. But killing Kenobi would put the whole order in chaos and grief - not to forget about their strength. I must admit, Kenobi is one of the most powerful Jedi I have met so far.'

Maul frowned in the darkness and turned to lie on his side. He tried not to think about his 'legs'. The metal was scraping and he had to train to get used to them completely. For sure they had advantages in cases of jumping or running but he still preferred his real legs - the ones Kenobi had chopped off.

He laughed and shook his head.

'Pah. Killing Kenobi? Just killing? No. No way in all hells of this galaxy. No. Killing him would be way too short for him to suffer. He should live his little, miserable life in a condition he would never approve of. I do not have to cut off any of his limbs for that - cut off limbs are not really a problem if I look at myself. No… Kenobi is that much light-sided I want to vomit. But at the moment I killed his master I felt such hate in the force I could have only been him. So he IS very much capable to use the dark side. Kenobi has a lot of anger if he wants. I felt the will to kill so much in the force at that - he simply had surprised me. I had not expected that much hate from any jedi.

So, what to do with him. The galaxy has a lot of secrets and it's ways to achieve certain wishes.

The worst thing for Kenobi would be to fall. And he sure is not falling any time soon or ever. What IF he still falls. I am not sure how yet but he will fall, knowing he cannot do something against it. He already has a certain darkness inside him but it is not enough. If I find a way to change that… like twisting his thoughts, memories or point of views… hm. I have to talk about that matter with Talzin. I am sure she knows what I have in mind, anyway.

Kenobi being a Sith - against his will but still a Sith. Haha how nice is that. Him on the dark side would be so very dangerous I am sure. And how unhappy and miserable he will feel. Oh yes and how his beloved Skywalker will suffer - I am sure of that. The worst thing is, when you have to question yourself. Kenobi will fall, but how and when is only up to me. Yes haha. I will have to ask Talzin about that. And my brother will be a big help in this issue. Kenobi has no chance. There is still much to think about, tough.' Maul ended his thinking and with a wicked smile he drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, Maul opened his eyes and stretched, with a confident smile and woke up Savage.

"Come, Savage. Last night I worked out quite a plan to bring Kenobi down. Since killing him would be way too merciful." He walked out of the hut, leaving a confused Savage behind him.

"Wait brother! What do you mean by that?! You will not kill Kenobi? That bastard deserves to die and rot in hell!" Savage raged.

Maul turned around "Savage. We. Do. As. I. Say." He waved his left arm "Come Savage. I will explain it to you - bring your lightsaber. I already have mine with me." as he walked into the direction of the forest, behind the village.

The other Sith followed Maul to a big tree with orange-red glowing leaves. Maul sat down on a tree trunk and Savage sat down opposite to his brother.

He did not really know what to think about all that but he decided to wait for the explanation.

"Before I will tell you about my intentions with Kenobi, we both have to check in on him on some holos, I believe you have access?" Maul shot his brother a questioning look.

"Of course. My holopad is on the ship still. I have access to the general galaxy news and of course the damn jedi can be found everywhere on the news. No one is save." Savage replied with a sneer.

"Good. Go, get it and show me the latest news. I missed a lot, it seems." The other Sith replied.

Darth Maul watched with interest what was being said in the most recent news and laughed at Count Dooku and his droid army. That old man was trying to be someone he could never become. He had many disputes with Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, who – as Maul had predicted, was now a master. But a general? So the Jedi played war now? He had laughed hard at that. The oh-so-nobel-peace-adoring Jedi were playing war. Difficult to defend their way of thinking with that. They cannot even act like they say they do. And that former Skywalker brat became his apprentice and even today they fought together on almost every mission. Skywalker could become a problem in what he had planned for Kenobi. They definitely had to be separated at some point. The most important part of this was to ask Mother Talzin if it was even possible what he had in mind.

The Sith also watched several documentations about the war and what exactly happened in his absence of ten years. He had actually missed a lot but he did not really care about it as long as he knew who he was and his focus for now at least was Kenobi.

When Maul turned the holopad off, he closed his eyes and said nothing for a moment.

"Savage, I thought a lot about this, yet we have to ask Talzin about the realization of this plan."

"Okay. Tell me."

"Killing Kenobi is not what I plan to do to get my revenge. No… . Brother, what I have in mind is way better than just killing him haha! We will TURN him! Yes, oh yes, we will. He will suffer through this since he is a bloody Jedi filled with the light side of the force. The worst nightmare for scum like Jedi is their own fear of the dark side which is pure power, raw and uncontrolled, yet calm. One more reason to call them miserable and pathetic. The holos tell me Kenobi is quite famous? They fancy him - tell me what happens, if their greatest war hero falls? Such a nice addition to my plan. The council will get quite a crack. My personal main focus is to turn him tough."

Savage looked at him, wondering how to even do this. "This sounds good in telling but let us hope Mother Talzin can help with this. I have never heard of this but there are fallen Jedi so it does not seem impossible - I have to admit. And how exactly do you want him to turn?" His brother asked curiously.

Maul stroked his chin and looked at the ground. "Well, you cannot turn someone with a flick of your finger - that is for sure and I am obviously aware of that fact. We need to proceed in a different way. There just has to be a small, little starting point. Talzin should be able to plant a little, dark seed in Kenobi's mind which grows through time out of its own. We do not have to do anything. And at some point I will guide him a bit, that in the end, he will come to me and he cannot do anything against it. In the end, he has to obey me and do as I say. This will make it even worse for him!"

"This is excellent! It is also an interesting experiment. Worth to see the progress of him falling from the light into the black abyss of the dark side and how it will consume him, since he did not choose it for himself. He will try to fight it but without any success if Mother Talzin is involved in this. But how will you force him to obey your orders? He has to be aware of you… will you make it obvious from the start?" The younger Zabrak asked.

"Hm … no I won't show myself to Kenobi. He will fall at first. I am sure we can find some things to support this but it should be 'real' for Kenobi. The thought should come to him by his mind only, not by us telling him about it. It would not work otherwise. Everyone has dark thoughts and especially at war - the clone wars are pure luck for us! At war, both sides do cruel things in the name of let us say 'good'. The Jedi claim to call themself protectors of peace but look at their history. It is not clean at all and some of them are corrupt - we all are at some point. I am sure at some point, when Kenobi feels very bad, he will leave. It seems he tries to solve problems by his own, without begging other people to help him. Noble, noble. This all may take some time but the outcome will be great. At some point, he tries to find out what is wrong with him and I am sure there will be something done by him, which he never thought he would do and then Kenobi will be at his lowest point. THEN I will come for him and 'help' him. But how I can force him to obey me… we shall see later. There is a way for sure - let it be murder for example. I have no problem to slaughter some villages but I bet to prevent this or even worse things, he will follow. But this may still be too easy. We will think about it later on - at first he has to fall. There is plenty of time to think about something during that process. And poor little Skywalker will watch his master fall and he cannot do a single thing about this. Such a tragedy you can almost write about it." Maul said while he stretched his muscles, ready to stand up.

"Come brother" Maul said, stood up and walked into the direction of Talzin's hut.

Savage followed him, interested to see where this would be going.

Talzin already waited for them it seemed. They both entered her hut after checking if she was even at home. She was there but left them both in the dark. Normally, Maul would not let someone treat him like that but even he was suspicious about that woman. No one ever fought her and if - he did not want to know the outcome of this. The night sisters were far too deep connected with this planet and their magic to trust them. If he had, he would fight them but not if there was another way. For the sake of his own species, he would not begin war with them, since they shared a planet.

After a while, Talzin emerged from a small, dark room with some dried herbs and alien looking plants, that seemed to move. She stepped closer and threw them into the cauldron in the middle of the room. Green steam arose when she stepped closer and stirred it.

"So my children. I believe you came to a solution for your intent? Let us see if I predicted right. Maul, tell me."

Maul stepped closer. "My intention – and I am sure you already know somehow – is, to turn General Kenobi to the dark side out of his own. We need to plant a small seed of doubt and darkness into his mind that cannot be easily removed, which grows and grows until he leaves his beloved order. Mother, what he has done to me… ." He gritted his teeth. "... What he did to me … I cannot let this go without revenge. Besides, he will be very useful. I am sure you know how powerful he is - even for a jedi. In the end he will come to me and serve me. Can you help with that? I am sure there are other ways but you are the most skilled person I know; besides, I trust the night sisters way more than any other species. You helped my brother finding me, so there had to be a reason for all of this." He looked at her.

Talzin remained calm the whole time and smiled. "Well, Maul. I do not judge about good and evil but turning another beings mind is not easy. This may affect his character and mind obviously. At some point it could drive him mad and he will turn. I can help you with that, altering one's mind is not at all difficult but changing the thoughts and the way of thinking is another thing. Yet you are lucky I am aware of this power. It will take some time to prepare since there are old texts for me to remember in order for this to work. I will go into meditation and connect with my other, former sisters of the night. Bring him to me - he has to be unconscious. He should not know what planet he is stepping on in this case. It will only make things complicated. He will arrive unconscious and I will make him leave in the same state. I need at least two to three days to prepare. Do train, plan and recover Maul. I still feel the need of your body to recover. Savage mastered the two-bladed lightsaber but you can still teach him since you were a master before him." Talzin said, nodding to Maul.

"Alright. Thank you mother - I owe you."

"I know Maul, I know. If you ever can help me, I will seek you out but do not expect it. You are one of my many children being home to this planet. At some point I care for you all. But let me tell you this – daring to change a beings mind comes to a high price. It can either be to your advantage or be your end. None is for sure."

The Sith just nodded. "Mother, I can live with that. The dark side is with me, wherever I go. Nothing can stop me." He turned to leave and Savage followed, bowing his head to Talzin.

"You do what you have to do, Darth Maul." Talzin just said.

Outside, Maul decided to follow Talzin's advice to train and rest. Planning had to be done, too but he needed to be in shape and then there was his brother, whom he needed later on as well. Savage had to be trained to his approve, otherwise the mission could fail at some point.

There was just left how to get Kenobi and that task was an easy thing to do. Maul had certain contacts through his former master's training and his own, personal ones, no one was aware of - not even Darth Sidious. It would be easy to know, where certain missions would go and whom they would send. Kenobi was about to finish a mission when he watched the latest news. He and Skywalker were far away at the outer rim fighting at the front of some battle against the droids. After such a mission, they sure would be called back to the temple to report in detail. At that certain point, Maul would interfere.

Anakin was tired. The past six days he, Obi-Wan and several clones spent on Felucia. Wiping out a separatist base did not sound as difficult as he imagined. Of course, he got scolded for "reckless behaviour" and "arrogant thinking" by Obi-Wan after Mace Windu had informed them about their task and he laughed once they were alone. Reckless behaviour… these two words… it was almost like a mantra in the way, how often Obi-Wan said it - at least once in every mission. But even when they were on different missions, his friend always managed to let that slip. He rolled his eyes at the bare thought of it.

Tomorrow morning they would head back to Coruscant, where he would see Padme. Even if it was only for a short time - she would be very busy anyway. He was not good at politics but the way she behaved lately seemed to him as very stressed and exhausted. Plus, he heard about political debates which ended with a lot of disagreements in the holo-news. At least he would be home.

The glowing plants were nice to watch but sleeping on the floor was not one of his favourite things to do if he was honest. They had to build a camp not too close to the enemy's' base so the opportunity to take a shower or use something like a bath was not possible at all. Their ship had to leave on the third day because they had to pick up clones at another part of the planet, because their ship broke. After they would bring them back to the base their ship would come back for them. Anakin and Obi-Wan's squad had to do their mission anyway. But after what seemed to have been way more than three days living like that, he wanted nothing more than a proper bed and most of all - a shower. Anakin knew of course such things were a luxury at war but the past missions did not force them to such conditions. At the other hand, he enjoyed doing a more complex mission than just protecting some politicians and walk around with them with only cutting some droids down. It bored him to no end. Only when they were alone, he - as Obi-Wan said, complained - all the time. He had just rolled his eyes at that and said he wished for at least a shower.

"I do not enjoy that but it is the way it is and we cannot do anything about it. Anakin, at least we have contact with nature again. Isn't it enjoyable?" His former master had said and he just gave him a weird look. "Sure thing. I like it as much as sand, plus if I want to see plants I go see the gardens at Coruscant. I just want to finish this mission and go home." He had answered and Obi-Wan just laughed and said he would let him "sulk" then. He knew exactly how Anakin hated missions with camping and always mocked him about it - like when he was his student. That man had some nerve - he never complained about anything. He groaned and decided to go to sleep after his night shift at the campfire. Anakin was annoyed that day since their special task on their mission was to claim some secret plans for other separatist bases, they were not aware of yet. He managed to get at least some of them but he was not able to get the other, because at some point the droids had trapped him. One second he was distracted in a fight and one stupid, weak droid had locked the door he was in and left. Obi-Wan was wiping out droids at the other part of the base, because they had to split up at some point. Such simple mistakes annoyed him to no end, because this meant he would have to go after them as soon as possible after they would have reported. Analyzing the info on the cards he stole would take one to two days anyway. Hopefully they would find something.

"Had some good sleep?" Obi-Wan greeted him at the next day and he just nodded. "Yeah it was better than the last few days. I am just glad this is over now. Finally heading back. Are we reporting directly to the council? Since some droids could flee with some of the reports we were sent to steal while destroying their base. I want to go after them."

Obi-Wan took his mood in and after all these years spending with Anakin he knew to read him with his emotions and thoughts like a book.

"Anakin it is not your fault they could flee with their plans. Do not worry your head off about it. With the info we have now we can already locate some bases I am sure. Of course, it is not optimal but still something. We will go after them shortly. You need to repair your lightsaber anyway after you have treated it that badly in that last fight. And yes, we will report shortly after we have landed - and yes we will have time to get clean before that. The ship will arrive soon anyway." Obi-Wan said and patted him on his shoulder, while he began to pack his things.

"Still. It is annoying that I made a mistake like this. In the past - okay but not now."

"Even master Yoda makes mistakes do not forget that. We learn from mistakes. You are just starting" His former master laughed.

"Hey! Stop making fun of me!" Anakin grumbled but had to smile. "Fiiine. Let that damn ship just come quickly. I have enough of glowing nature and camping for now. And there are things for me to repair at home. And I always treat my lightsaber well!"

"You say that after nearly losing it in a cave once or when some droid managed to steal it from you. Haha oh well."

"Hm what about you where you got captured and pirates stole it from you hm?"

"That was a once-done mistake Anakin!"

Anakin laughed. "Sure master, sure."

Anakin enjoyed their friendship. Over the past years they became something like brothers and best friends.

When they heard the ship, his mood lightened. When the planet grew smaller and smaller he thought about what to say to the council to not get scolded. Especially the annoying master Windu unnerved him. That man was such a pain in the butt with his complains about how Anakin planned his missions just because he was relying on his traditional planning and did not like Anakin's new ways of thinking - he was sure of that.