The Lawless

Duchess Satine Kryze was sitting on her throne, wearing a simple hair ornament and the traditional robes of the Kryze clan. She looked unnaturally calm, doll-like almost, face neutral and limbs loose. The only light came from the chandelier above, and it wasn't until Maul stalked into the throne room did he feel the presence of -

He stopped, scanning the throne room in what might have been mounting horror. Dozens of clone troopers stood at the ready, their blasters trained on him. There were eight around the throne alone, protecting the Duchess from harm...if they could.

"You do realize I could kill everyone in here with a flick of my wrist?"

The Duchess raised her eyebrows, and then smiled when the door near the throne hissed open. She turned her head, eyes sparkling when the newcomers trooped in. "You found a friend, Obi."

"She found me, my dear."

"At least you chose your match," Bo-Katan murmured, stepping beside the throne and readying her gun. Five palace guards circled the throne, adding to the clones numbers. Six more stood in front of the side entrance, and four clone troopers moved to block the entrance Maul had just waltzed through.

"Kenobi!" Maul shouted, drawing his lightsaber. He reached out a hand, attempting to use the Force - and promptly growled in frustration when he could feel nothing but the faint glimmers of everyone in the room. "What. The. Hell?"

Obi-Wan smiled, the chandelier making his eyes glitter unnaturally while he leisurely advanced. "You know, Mandalorians developed cutting edge Force dampeners centuries ago, in the days they captured and hunted Jedi for sport. A few tweaks and well," he shrugged, moving into the Soresu opening stance almost lazily. "this whole palace is - at the moment - one giant Force suppressor."

Mail growled, lunging at Obi-Wan with a yowl of anger. Their lightsabers crashed together, sparks raining flying between the blades. It was a dance around the throne room, intricate and oh so familiar. Infuriating, too, because he relied on the Force to move fluidly, to walk without pain.

Around and around they went in the throne room. Somehow, they managed to avoid stepping into clones. Maul kept trying to push Obi-Wan towards the throne, so he could easily snatch the Duchess and end her.

But Bo-Katan had the Darksaber drawn - how she had gotten that he didn't know - and seemed adamant about not moving from her sister's side.

Obi-Wan was calmer, blocking every swipe with his lightsaber. A bit of Maul's lightsaber did graze his head, and he grimaced, ducking behind the Sith and chopping off a hand without fanfare.

Maul howled, dropping his lightsaber and clutching his wounded appendage while he crashed to the ground.

"When I cut you in half," Obi-Wan picked the other lightsaber from the floor, igniting it experimentally. "I should have aimed for the head."

"Kenobi," Maul gasped out. "I should -"

He didn't have time to finish speaking. A shot rang through the air, a blast of energy slamming into his head. Eyes wide, Maul crumbled on the spot, blood oozing from the temple and smoke rising from his scarlet skin.

Obi-Wan stared down at the glass tiles of the throne room, then slowly raised his eyes to the throne.

Satine stood there, holding a blaster in her hands, knuckles white and tears coming down her cheeks. There were members of the 212th and her palace guard on either side of her, staring at her in shock and maybe a little fear.

"Sweetheart…"

"He was - he would have killed you."

Carefully, he disengaged Maul's saber and clipped it to his belt before kneeling slowly and checking the pulse of the ex Sith Lord. "Dead...but - honey, look away."

Obi-Wan stood and stabbed the Zabrak in the chest. He felt a sick sort of satisfaction go through him when the muscles squelched around his lightsaber. "Thought I killed him once - better safe than sorry."

"Goddesses," Satine murmured, glancing at the gun in her hands and tossing it to the ground. She sank to her throne, burying her head in her hands and expelling a shaky breath. She didn't react much when Bo-Katan put a hand on her shoulder.

Everything was silent, quiet except everyone's combined breathing.

Obi-Wan walked stiffly to his wife, climbing the steps of the dais and kneeling by her side.

"General."

Pressing a button on his comlink, Obi-Wan was greeted with an exhausted clone commander. "Cody - good news?"

"Sir - we have Death Watch members in stripped of their weapons and rounded up. What should we do with them?"

"This is an internal matter, Commander." Satine raised her head, bits of hair sticking to her tear streaked face. In a different universe, she probably wouldn't be alive right now. But this wasn't that universe, and she would revel in it...later. When she had swallowed the fact she had killed a being in cold blood and the threat of assassination was next to nothing. "Bring them to the prison...and make sure all evidence against my reign is brought forth."

Author's note: hello there ;) Didn't expect that, now did you? (I kind of didn't either. I was more like: oh my God, what's happening, oh my God this is so cool)

So enjoy, and stay tuned for maybe another chapter, but definitely an epilogue!

(As usual, I'll edit this fully at a later date)

Ta, dears!

ii Digestive Reader ii