Chapter Eleven
"Your noble flaw is a weakness shared by you and your Duchess. You should have chosen the Dark Side, Master Jedi," Maul said to Kenobi. And as he spoke, he used the Force to levitate and slowly strangle Duchess Satine before the eyes of the helpless Jedi. No wonder why his Order forbids attachments of this sort: just look at how he sweat and quivers with fear Maul thought happily.
"Your feelings betray you, your fear and yes, your anger. Let your anger deepen your hatred," Maul added after a little bit. "Don't listen to him, Obi!" Satine demanded weakly. Savage made to silence her but Maul stopped him to see how Kenobi would respond. "You can kill me but you will never destroy me. It takes strength to resist the Dark Side, only the weak embrace it!" Obi-Wan replied.
"It is more powerful than you know," Maul said as he turned to face his helpless victim. "And those who oppose it are more powerful than you'll ever be!" Obi-Wan snapped. Maul almost broke Satine's neck right that but what he said next set him off guard. "I know where you're from, I've been to your village.
"And I know the decision to join the Dark Side wasn't yours: the Nightsisters made it for you," Kenobi began. "Silence! You think you know me? It was I who languished for years thinking of nothing but you, nothing but this moment and now the perfect tool for my vengeance is right in front of us. I never planned on killing you but I will make you share my pain, Kenobi," Maul interrupted.
What Obi-Wan said next truly surprised Maul, setting him off guard more than the comment about his past did. Unfortunately, it also reminded him slightly of what Arden Lyn had said to him in the caverns of Irkalla. "Wait, you think you know pain? While I can honestly say that I regret having done what I did to you, it cannot be as bad as the life I have lived as a Jedi.
"Besides Satine, I have known romance with two other women: the first was a resistance fighter named Cerasi. Alongside Qui-Gon, I helped her attempt to liberate her world but she did not live to reap up the benefits of her struggle. She died before her world was free from the tyrant who ruled over it then. Satine was second and unlike Cerasi, she did live to become who she was until you and Death Watch took over Mandalore.
"The third was a fellow Jedi named Siri Tachi... she also died as I held her in my arms. Plus, Savage killed her Master on Florumm and she was the closest to a mother figure I ever had. Qui-Gon would have made for the closest thing to a father I ever had, having never known my real family. Until you know what it's like to lose someone you care about or even love once, never mind four times as I have, you will never know what pain is.
"I won't give into my hatred, though in your case it is existent, but I won't let you kill anymore people whom I love either," he said. He proved it but rapidly using the Force to steal Vizsla's darksaber off Maul and decapitate the guards that held him back with its black blade. Then he launched a Force Push at Maul powerful enough to throw him into his brother and let go of his hold on Satine. The Duchess then ran over to Kenobi who then led her away from the Throne Room and out the Palace.
Along the way, she asked about the other girls and if he truly deeply loved them as he said he loved her. "If there was anyone close to that, it would've been Siri. Cerasi and I were very young when we met and it was more like a crush. But Siri and I were friends before we were lovers which gave our relationship an edge after it became romantic. However, even she was never the deep kind of love I feel for you especially since the Order forbid us from showing such attachments or acting out on them," Obi-Wan explained.
Satine smiled, glad to know that she had been number one even if he did have diversions in his attention. Obi-Wan killed Death Watch soldiers whenever necessary and at last, after several hours of fighting, they were free. However, Obi-Wan sensed that they were being followed by Maul and Savage who would surely want to kill them both now. Luckily, the Night Owls came to the rescue just in time and their leader delivered Obi-Wan his regular lightsaber.
"Get the Duchess, out of here, I'll join you as soon as I can," Kenobi said. "Where are you going?!" Satine asked. "To rid myself of these demons, once and for all. It's what Qui-Gon would have wanted," he answered.
"Obi, no! They'll kill you!" she begged. "I don't think so, I managed to defeat them with two sabers last time we fought. I think I can do it again, miss, take Satine away before she has a chance to persuade me from doing this," he replied, speaking to the leader when he made the last comment. The Mandalorian nodded and introduced herself as Bo-Katan before saying she would do it.
"Please, Obi, please!" Satine begged as she was taken away. "Bo, patch me the coordinates to the Sundari Courtyard. Once I've finished with the brothers, I'll join you there for a dash to the shipping docks," Obi-Wan said, ignoring Satine's cries. Bo nodded in acknowledgement before taking Satine away as she beat on her to put her down.
Then Obi-Wan reactivated both lightsaber and darksaber as the brothers began catching up to him. I'm sorry Satine, I love you very much but I have to do this Obi-Wan said silently. Readying himself into an attack position, he began with a slow, deliberate walk towards his enemies. Then he slowly built up pace towards them as his walk turned into a speedwalk, then into a jog, until he was running. The Zabrak brothers almost failed to see this but ignited their own lightsabers just in time to meet his first attack.
He spun and slashed as he did so, throwing his body in very fluid and almost inhuman positions. Maul responded by jumping diagonally around him and hacking downward with Juyo. Kenobi caught this with the darksaber and intercepted a twirl from Savage's blade. But the brothers kicked him in the chest in unison and they watched as he was thrown into the air before rolling onto the ground. "We cannot be defeated the same way twice Kenobi, even if the tools have changed!" Maul snarled.
"I'm not fighting you the same I did on Florumm even if I'm still using Jar'Kai. Have you noticed the changes in my technique?" Obi-Wan replied. Maul thought about that for a moment, raising an eyebrow in confusion but then suddenly he realized that Kenobi was right. Unlike Florumm, Kenobi was using a lot more spins, twirls, and jumps than the hacks and slashes the brothers had seen before. It had made him even more powerful than before and now, the brothers would have even more trouble dealing with Obi-Wan.
The duel continued with Obi-Wan pushing the brothers further back into the Palace then kicking them each in the face at least once. But before he managed to push them all the way back into the throne room, Bo-Katan sent him the communication for arriving at the courtyard. "What is that? I thought we jammed all the frequencies, Savage!" Maul shouted.
"While the two of you were busy chasing me and the Duchess around, the Night Owls undid the jam on communications to some of the local frequencies. Now, I can communicate to the Night Owls though I would still need to leave Mandalore in order to bring messages to the Jedi," Obi-Wan explained. Somehow, I knew this would happen at some point Maul thought. But still, it was a move that he didn't expect to have happened so soon, not when his plans were still unfinished.
"We will kill you Kenobi and when we do, we will be sure to send your body back to the Council in pieces!" he shouted aloud. "I thought you never intended to kill me," Obi-Wan mocked with his usual smile. But before Maul could do anything, Obi-Wan kicked him and Savage yet again and used the jetpack Bo gave him in order to pull himself away from them. Then he took off and flew for the courtyard, having embarrassed the brother in one last duel for the avengement of Qui-Gon and Adi.
I never intended to kill Maul either but I did want to humiliate him one last time which is precisely what I've done with stalling him long enough for my plans to be set in motion he thought. And having successfully seen the initiation of those plans, he now had to focus on getting himself and Duchess Satine out of Mandalore and to Coruscant. But not before he had to fight through several Death Watch soldiers and get acquainted with using a jetpack rather quickly. When he met with Bo Katan and the Duchess again, the latter woman was quick to jump on him and hug him.
"Don't you ever scare the hell out of me like that again, understand?" she demanded. "Not to worry, my dear. If all goes well, it won't be happening again any time soon," he replied. Then he noticed that Bo was lugging around something that was obviously weighing her down. "What is that?" he asked, pointing to it.
"It's Satine's suit of armor if she were willing to take it for use," Bo said. "What choice do I have? If I'm going to survive to escape to Coruscant, I'm going to need to fight," Satine admitted. When she did put on the suit, Obi-Wan decided to do something that surprised even Bo when he first did it.
"Satine, here's the darksaber. You'll need it more than I will," he said. The Duchess activated and swiped at the air with it, the fluidity of which impressed both Kenobi and Bo. "You're still more the natural with those sorts of weapons than I ever was," Bo added.
"Hopefully, it's enough to get me through though I'll probably need a pistol or two as well," Satine replied. Kenobi gave her the pistol at his waist, knowing he wasn't going to be needing it and suggested that they get going immediately. He was first so as to secure the way for them and Bo followed after the Duchess so that she had protection at both sides.
Finally, the fight to escape Mandalore had begun with every single Night Owl still alive engaging a member of Death Watch as per Bo's orders. And as they made the escape, Satine couldn't believe what she saw or heard. The Mandalore she had created with the assistance of the Jedi had fallen apart at long last, thanks to a few rebels and their enemies. Where once there had been the law and order of peace, there was now the savagery and chaos of war.
And even though she was grateful that Obi-Wan had rescued her from Vizsla and the Sith, she began to question the deed's righteousness and nobility. As they flew by the skyscrapers of Mandalore, she found herself watching Kenobi more and more while she thought of this. Not only that but she found herself doing so in the same fashion as she had done when they first met. "We have to get out of here, Satine!" she heard him shout.
She nodded faintly and began to follow him and her sister to the shipping docks. But as she did so, she began to wonder: had facing death in the eye restore her love for him? Did this restored love explain why she held every minute with him to heart now? Or had she never lost this love she felt for him and was just realizing that now?
All these questions bother her but the most important one was yet to be asked. That question was this: would she want to spend the rest of her life with Kenobi despite knowing he was a Jedi? Or would that Code and its forbidding of attachment or marriage make that an intolerable impossibility? She did her best to keep focus on her flight path though Death Watch was soon following them, including the horned supercommando she had seen earlier.
One of the Night Owl soldiers who accompanied them had been shot down by him and she immediately retaliated by shooting back. It was enough to take her thoughts off her love for Kenobi for the moment as Bo and Kenobi used Satine's fighting to secure the last bit of passage to the docks. She even managed to get a few rounds off on the supercommando's jetpack before watching him spin out of control. Eventually, he landed right into a building wall and the jetpack exploded, killing him almost instantly.
But it wasn't long before they arrived at the tunnel leading to the shipping dock where Kenobi's ship had once stood before Maul's forces shot it down. Here, the remaining pursuers tried to shoot them down though one of them was caught off guard by a jetpack missile from the Night Owls. The rest engaged Bo and the Night Owls as Satine made her way to the datascreen where she could open the door. Punching in a code, Satine was initially surprised to see that it didn't work and tried all the codes until she found the right one.
Bo had just finished beating a soldier to death when this was figured out and the door opened for Kenobi and Satine to see a hellish sight. All of the area surrounding the docks were ablaze, Night Owl and Death Watch soldiers chased after each other across the sky, and some were on the ground. The ones that were on the ground were beating each other death if they were not shooting their missiles at the ones in the sky or using their wrist blasters for fighting.
When Bo and her men came to see the sight along with the Duchess and Kenobi, they were immediately amazed to see it had such a scale. "Maul must really want you two dead," she said when she saw the sight of the fighting. "You have no idea," Obi-Wan and Satine both said simultaneously. The lovers looked at each other in surprise but Bo gestured for them to continue on.
Ordering a ship to come down for their use, Bo ordered all her soldiers to at least hold the docks until the ship had arrived and picked up the Duchess and Kenobi. In the meantime, Bo engaged another horned supercommando in hand-to-hand combat. At that same time, Duchess Satine was getting more and more accustomed to the darksaber as she used it on more soldiers. And as Kenobi still turned to his lightsaber, she made sure he didn't notice her occasional use of her armor's arsenal.
"This is just like the old days, only I was less helpless back then," she said to him as she used her gauntlet's flamethrower on a soldier. "You and I remember those old days very differently, darling," he replied. Satine smirked and threw a couple thermal detonators before she turned back to the use of her newly acquired darksaber. Maybe that's something we'll discuss along the way back to Coruscant she thought but didn't say.
It was sometime before a ship did come that could take them away from Mandalore but unfortunately, it was filled with Night Owl troops. This wouldn't have been so unfortunate if it weren't for the fact that shortly after they left the ship, three Death Watch soldiers shot it down. Their three jetpack missiles compromised the ship's engines in such a manner that it spun out of control. Worse, when it landed, it exploded in the entry leading into the shipping docks, sealing it off permanently.
For the trio, there would be no trouble getting around in spite of this due to their jetpacks but that was riskier. By the time another ship did come, Bo made sure it had no troops beforehand then signaled it to land when there was a clear landing pad. She also ordered it to face spaceward so that Kenobi and the Duchess escaped, they would be out of the planet in a hurry. The pilot exited the ship to engage more Death Watch soldiers and even took on the second supercommando though he was dispatched with some ease.
Satine used her missile while the horned lieutenant of Maul was distracted and she watched as it his jetpack, igniting it and leaving nothing but a burning corpse remaining though this would be gone also. She didn't get to enjoy this long because Bo signaled her and Kenobi to board the ship, which she quickly obliged after another fight. So quickly, in fact, that she barely had time to thank Bo for helping her out before she was on the ship and in passenger seat. Obi-Wan, on the other hand, was a little slower in getting in but that was because Bo still had orders to give him.
"Go back to your Republic and tell them what has happened here!" she shouted. "That would likely lead to a Republic invasion of Mandalore!" Obi-Wan warned. "Yes and Maul will die but Mandalore will survive, we always survive!" she replied. "You're Satine's sister, aren't you?" he asked after a moment to think.
The way she looked at him, despite shooting the enemy troops in front of her, was enough to tell him the answer to that question. "Don't worry, I will take care of her at least until I can find her a new place to live her days in," he said. "You'd better, for I may be the baby sister but I've got a nasty temper and I'm not afraid to use it," she replied. He smiled and told her he wouldn't have it any other way before boarding the ship and taking the controls for himself.
Bo watched as the ship carrying her sister and her lover flew off as she continued to shoot down Death Watch troops. She wondered if it might have been the same with her and Pre Vizsla had Maul not joined their struggle in restoring the warrior ways of old. Funny how our ancestors worked with the Sith before and we did just that in restoring those old ways. Will the Sith always be there to stick their hand up our asses when it suits their purpose? she asked herself.
In the meantime, Satine and Kenobi watched as the war-ridden skies of Mandalore gave way to the unaffected void of outer space. At any other time, the sight of it might have been something to overlook but for Satine, it was like a dagger thrust into her heart. "Are you alright, Satine?" Obi-Wan asked, sensing her pain and perhaps even feeling it too. Initially, she didn't know how to respond to his question, having never had to realize that she might not see her homeland again.
Then she decided it was best just to tell it to him straight even if he didn't like it all that much. "It's just that every time I've traveled out of Mandalore before, I could always have the guarantee that I would be allowed to return. Now, however, there is no going back to Mandalore for as long as I live or at least for a decade or so. How can I cope with being away from the place of my birth for even one year, never mind my whole life?" she said.
"I've never had a family, I've only had the Jedi Order for as long as I can possibly remember. In a way, I guess you could say I am blessed for having never had to worry about never returning to my homeworld again," he said. "That's hardly a blessing, Master Jedi," she stated. "How so?" he asked.
"Because then you do not know what you could've had until it is forever gone. I know because when you left Mandalore with Qui-Gon all those years ago, I didn't realize what I had. That is, until you were gone and I no longer had a chance to share my revelations with you," she answered. His head fell so that he looked at breastplate of his armor and at first, had nothing to say about that or anything else.
Then he put the ship on autopilot which surprised her and he turned to walk over to the seat next to hers. Dismounting the jetpack for better spacing as she had done before him, he began to play with a strand of her blond hair. "I'm here now Satine, share those revelations with me as much as you wish," he said. And for a brief time, it actually did look like as though she just might do that especially after she gave him a prolonged, passionate kiss.
But he stopped himself from fully giving into his feelings for her and she asked what was wrong. "I forgot: we still need to make the jump for lightspeed in order to get to Coruscant," he said. She giggled when he made mention of that and she allowed him to go back to the ship's controls. "Perhaps after the formalities with the Senate are over and a place of stay is secure for me?" she asked.
"What do you mean?" he inquired. "I mean for me sharing my revelations with you," she replied. "Oh yes, of course, my darling. Assuming the Jedi Council doesn't drag me away for too damned long. Coordinates are locked, prepare for lightspeed," he said. Then he pulled down on the lightspeed lever and completed their escape from war-ridden Mandalore.