Chapter Four
When Thrawn had sent Maul away for the caves of Irkalla, he had left out one important detail. He was putting Maul and his brother Savage in a trial that, if passed, completed their Test of Merit. In Chiss tradition, whenever an alliance was formed between two factions, one of them tested the other in two or three trials. If one or two of them were passed, the tested side would then pass the Test of Merit. While Maul was away doing the Trial of Skill the brothers would need to complete, he was about to test Savage in the Trial of Strength.
If both survived, they passed the Test of Merit and proved even worthier of an alliance with him. He had no intention of killing either one but he made sure this soldiers shot to kill if Savage got too out of control under their current settings. The likeliness that Maul would die fighting Arden was at least half and if he had, he didn't want an uncontrollable beast wreaking havoc in revenge. He would save what he could and withdraw whatever aspects he could if it was what it took to defeat the brothers if he had absolutely had to do that.
"Be careful of these men, the lightsabers they came with are not toys," he warned his crew. After that, he deactivated his comlink and decided to sit out what would happen. He knew that Maul and Savage were probably not to be trifled with now that their wounds healed. However, he now wanted to know just the full depth of their power or at the very least, have an idea of it.
Using his lightsaber to light the way, Maul journeyed down the depths of the Irkalla cave network. Following the path Thrawn had inserted into his databank, he initially saw naught but empty darkness beyond the glow of his blade. But then, he began to see wear the archaeological finds had picked up for the crew. He also saw the beginnings of where the team became emboldened not just to please their master but the greedy desire for greater wealth.
Yes, the Kashi Mer Talisman had been this team's objective but as they continued to dig towards it, their greed slowly consumed them. Fueled by their pride in their abilities and the pride of Thrawn, they had dug a trap from whence they would never return. Maul knew now what the team had awakened in the darkness of these connected tunnels: a shadow from the First Schism. A shadow that was now given form and substance once again and would reign untold terror if unleashed upon the galaxy.
That was when, from the depths of the treasure filled void of empty space, something lunged with a blade much like his own and attacked. He dodged due to the speed of the attack and when he regained his footing, he watched as whatever attacked him disappeared in a green mist. "You have risked much to seek out the Kashi Mer Talisman, the greatest treasure of Arden Lyn," the voice said. He heard as it echoed through the tunnels though he knew these were only echoes in the Force rather than of sound through the cave.
"I've come to obtain the Talisman and only the Talisman unless Arden Lyn is willing to form an alliance with me. Though her hatred is more ancient than mine, I hate the Jedi as much as she does," he exclaimed through the cave. "The Dark Side enslaves those who wield it and in turn, they enslave others including each other. Arden Lyn serves no one but herself and the Dark Side of the Force," the voice replied.
After that, the figure from before struck yet again with the same speed and ferocity. It also disappeared in a green mist again, becoming one with the darkness once more. "You will not serve anyone but yourself and the Dark Side if you choose to ally yourself with me. Your knowledge of Jedi ways combined with the power embedded in you and the Talisman will see our victory.
"I need allies and you need someone who can bring you up to speed in the changes in the galaxy since your time," he said. "The Talisman has already revealed those changes to me. What makes you think I am willing to step out of this cave to renew my fight against the Jedi?" she asked. "Does the motive of revenge suffice; it is one my brother and I happen to share with you," he answered.
"You know nothing of revenge! Once I was a pride and joy of the Jedi Order, a blind fool playing the part of savior and beloved sister. But when my husband Xendor and I questioned the old ways, we were betrayed by all who professed to love us except for a handful. My husband was killed while fighting against the cruelties he sought to end and I was put into a trance that was only undone a few days before.
"You know nothing of revenge, you know nothing of despair! And you most definitely know nothing of death itself!" she hissed. As her voice continued to echo through the Force, Maul decided to reminisce his own experiences with her. "I was sliced in half by a Jedi Knight named Obi-Wan Kenobi, twelve years ago.
"Until a few months before, the Dark Side had consumed my mind in exchange for my survival of such a harsh blow. I was cursed with the despair of going mad with revenge and hatred for Kenobi until my brother found me. With the aid of the witch Mother Talzin, my mind and my legs were restored and I struck back against the man who professed to destroy me. Though I know nothing of your pain, I know plenty in the way of revenge and despair," he replied.
"Then tell me, what is the name of the current order that wields the Dark Side?" she asked just before striking again in the same manner as before. "My brother and I are a branch of the order you speak of called the Sith. Their rule is simple: only two are there, no more no less. A Master to embody the power of the darkness and an Apprentice to crave it; my brother is also my apprentice," he answered. "Then you may yet make a worthy ally for the Talisman has told me of the emergence of the Sith and has told me of the birth of the Clone Wars," she stated.
"Then you must know who I am and know why I have come besides seeking out the Talisman?" he asked. "You wish to gain allies to form a new army to fight against the Jedi enemy we share as well as your former Master, the mysterious Darth Sidious," she answered. "As your artifact may have mentioned, I attempted to gather an army on the planet Florumm to no avail," he admitted. "The Talisman does not tell me what happens in the lives of individual people nor does it tell me the participants of any war and why they fought and died.
"It only tells me that these things have passed since my days fighting in the First Schism of the Jedi Order," she snarled. Then it doesn't tell you what my weapon is or what it can do to your sword he thought to himself with a smile. It was then that Maul became inspired to go on the offensive when she tried to do attack him again. He needed to see if his lightsaber could cut through her sword or if they would have a duel on their hands before the Talisman and/or her life was his.
Bracing himself, he immediately waited until she began to attack and since she had struck from behind or the side before, he was anticipating another blow from one of those again. To his delight, she tried attacking him from the left flank and he immediately swung around with his lightsaber to parry it. Though he managed to ward off her attack and make contact with her blade, he noticed that it was entrapped with dueling magic and was thus, invincible against basic lightsaber strikes. She's powerful enough to weld magic into her weapon, I like this woman the more I learn about her he thought to himself.
And before she could teleport to attack again, he went on the offensive with an aggressive onslaught of Juyo. She defended against it as best as she could but since she had no experience fighting against a lightsaber, she tried striking out with her katana. A couple of her blow caught him by surprise but not so much so that she landed a blow on him or that he couldn't defend against it he surprised her when he suddenly jumped into a wild spin that landed a kick on her face.
This was immediately followed by one to the chest, which sent her flying into the wall behind her and even through it. Her technique is outdated but not so heavily so that she couldn't outmatch a warrior with a vibroblade. If I can persuade her into an alliance, perhaps we can work on that he thought silently before keeping a vigilance for her retaliation. To his surprise, she did so not through an attack with her blade but with a punishing volley of green Force lightning.
He was quick to use his lightsaber to block due to the uncertainty of his mechanical apparatus' ability to resist electricity. However, he was also careful to make sure she wasn't using it to get his lightsaber out of his hand as Sidious sometimes did years ago. To avoid this, he slashed across the air with his lightsaber and watched as her hand was pulled in that direction and the lightning stopped. Quickly, he repositioned his blade so that he was ready for another onslaught if she decided to send another volley his way.
Savage saw the Chiss doctors and security guards reach their blasters long before they could fire. He was quick to ignite both sides of his lightsaber and start hacking down those nearest to him, including the doctor who had given him his new arm. As soon as he did that, the rest of the medical team dropped their pistols and ran the other way, hoping not to be cut down too. However, the security staff that had hung around before was not so cowardly and gave the big Zabrak a fight.
In fact, he was having to deflect fire at all sides though some bolts got through and cut into his skin. None of this was lethal, to his surprise, and he was able to continue fighting and hacking down guards where he went. Nurses screamed in fear when they weren't trying to evacuate their more sickly or seriously injured patients from out of Savage's rampant path. Unfortunately, most of these efforts amounted to nothing on their part and Savage ended up killing them all.
I knew we shouldn't have trusted these people to care for us. They would heal us only to kill us themselves and what's to stop my arm from being a conductor of deadly electricity? he asked himself. All of these thoughts blacked out his ability to be rational and allow the power of the Dark Side to surge through his body once more. More and more security officers came in as if called to his power and began shooting at him in the hopes of slowing him down.
Instead their bolts only seemed to make him angrier and faster in his attacks than he had been before. And as time went on, less of their bolts got past his lightsaber and more of them were either vaporized by the blades or deflected back at their sources. Savage Opress was no longer a mortal being who had lost his arm at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi or vulnerable to blaster bolts. He was now a entity of the Dark Side itself and a carrier of its will, bringing death to all who stood before him.
Though Maul was not here to see Savage's transformation into this angel of death, he knew his brother would have been proud of it. He might even have said that Savage didn't need as much training as he had originally suspected Savage needed. Though he would ultimately chastise him for allowing his enemy to slow him down initially, he would reward his overall success somehow. That motivation combined with his deep connection with the Dark Side kept him going and allowed him to slash down more and more officers as time went by.
"Not the most creative or safe way to test the merit of new allies, I'd dare say," Creon warned his master. Thrawn chuckled, glad to see that Creon remembered how his system of reward and punishment worked. "You're right Creon, it isn't. But it is practical and sometimes, the most practical ways of testing a being are the most effective as is the case here with Savage Opress," he replied.
"But I don't understand, under these circumstances were bound to lost at least a couple hundred security guards that are hard to replace before the end of this," Creon demanded. "Two or three hundred if my calculations of this man's skills are correct according to this footage," Thrawn admitted. "Then why risk all those lives if you already know they'll die before the end of this?" Creon asked. "Because though they will die, we will gain a knowledge and understanding of these Sith brothers as precisely that: Sith," Thrawn answered.
"You can already tell that by the color of their lightsabers when they ignite the damned things!" Creon shouted. "That isn't always true although it is for the most part. Remember that there are those who collect lightsabers from those they kill as well as Dark Jedi who either serve the Sith or left the Jedi Order to become rogue," Thrawn stated calmly. "And why would Jedi go rogue if they end up rampaging like this through our halls?" Creon inquired.
"Rogue Jedi seldom rampage like this and neither do Dark Jedi unless ordered to. But to answer your question anyhow, sometimes a Knight may come to the belief that the Order is corrupted. Either that or they may believe that the ways of the Order are far too rigid or too weak. Thus, they strike out on their own to fight against the Sith while the Order sits in its Council and debates the issue out," Thrawn explained.
"And in the seldom case that a Jedi leaves the Order to avoid contact with the Sith?" Creon insisted. "In those seldom cases, they leave the Order to become Healers or to acquire some other forgotten philosophy that they believe the Order can never achieve. The fallen Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn once did such a thing in order to pursue wisdoms that she later brought back to the Order and shared," Thrawn answered, with minor annoyance that didn't show. Creon chewed on all Thrawn had to say as they continued to watch the rampage that Savage caused despite the feeling of helplessness Creon felt.
He didn't want his men and women being killed down there but at the same time, he could not defy his master. If there was one thing that Thrawn was not lenient on, it was defiance against what he had ordered unless one found a better way of obeying them. Seeing as his strategies were near perfect more than ninety percent of the time, no one tried defying him due to the death penalty he would give. In this case, obedience was better than defiance though it meant that many would die in the end.
Savage continued with the rampage, seeing everything that moved around him and killing it when he got close. This went as far as to kill little children who had been sickened by a plaguing disease that would have killed them slowly anyway. He even hacked down the helpless parents after seeing how they grieved for their dead children. Knowing no family except his brothers Feral and Maul, the former of whom Savage had killed himself, he felt no guilt and cutting down these people.
"Have you no shame? These children needed our help and now they have been denied it forever," a nurse exclaimed. "What good is your help if it only delays the inevitable rather than stopping it?" he said just before he crushed her neck with the Force. It was after settling the score with that nurse that security guards came in by the hundreds with blasters directed straight at him.
He was prepared to fight them all even if meant only being able to take a few dozen or so with him before the rest killed him. The leader of these people betrayed us and my brother was stupid enough to trust him. I will not allow myself to suffer needlessly for his grave mistake he thought to himself. But suddenly, the soldiers rose up their blasters in surrender and saluted him before leaving him alone with the someone who appeared to be the leader.
"Congratulations Savage Opress, you have passed my Trial of Strength and thus have proven your Merit to an alliance with us. Though I must admit you've made quite a mess of the place, it is nothing that money cannot replace or help fix," the blue man said. "And who might you be?" Savage asked before deactivating his lightsaber and learning the man's name: Thrawn.
For an untold amount of time, Darth Maul had been fighting Arden Lyn alone. So far, he had managed to hold his own against her but her magic was beginning to slow him down. She had not only used lightning and teleportation but had also tried to invade his mind a few times. His willpower allowed him to resist but it had left him somewhat lethargic each time but he drew upon the Dark Side.
When he did, she could sense it and tried to absorb the strength before he could get it to almost no avail. "You are powerful young boy but don't forget that you are dealing with one of the pioneers of the Dark Side. I was one of the first after the members of the Bogan who discovered the secrets you now wield," she warned. "That may be true but I wield the secrets of the Dark Side to a greater extent and abundance than you do," he replied before giving into his Rage.
It renewed his strength and even quadrupled it before he resumed his attacks against the fallen Jedi Knight. His attacks from Juyo became so strong that the only way she could defend against them was if she teleported and attempted to attack him from behind. But even this was turned on her when he used the Force to grasp her neck and throw her into another wall. "Your petty attacks are no use against one who has been raised in the ways of the darkness that surrounds us both!" he hissed.
"And your attacks are no use against someone who bathed in the ichor of the Dark Side daily," she replied. That was before she too gave into her rage and showered Maul with an incredible volley of Force lightning. So powerful was the Storm that she sent his way that it actually melted some of the treasure that surrounded them and brightened the light of the nearby Talisman. With this power thrown out, she was surprised to see that he had shaken most of it off without much effort on his part.
How is this possible, an attack like that would have killed Xendor if I caught him off guard with it? she asked herself. Her rage gave way to her fear and she even used Force Scream in the hopes of repelling him. Unfortunately for her, he managed to shake most of this off as well with very little injury to his clothes let alone his body. "A tickle compared to the power I wield but perhaps it isn't so against the Jedi enemy we share," he said, taunting and persuading her into alliance with him.
"You will stop at nothing to gain both an alliance with me and the Talisman, will you?" she asked. "If I have to kill you I will but otherwise, you're right about how I am relentless," he answered. "You know no boundaries as far as your use of the Dark Side goes. Perhaps the Sith are not the counterpart but the accumulation of what Xendor and I discovered millennia ago," she said, thinking aloud.
"Will you stand with me, child of the darkness as you once stood with him? Or will you stand against me and hope that you live to see another day?" he asked. Finally, both he and she relented in their power and Arden answered that she would stand with him. "Whatever powers I can use to level the playing field for you, I will," she said.
But she warned him that if the Talisman was leaving these chambers, she was to carry it. "The carriage of the Talisman is of no object to me so long as you do not fight against me for it. My brother, my ally, and I need your power and the power within the artifact for our ultimate goal. That is, if you are willing to lend both of them to our little cause to become the victors of the Clone Wars," he replied.
She nodded and stated that she would be more than willing to lend both powers to him. "Then let us stay here no further and return to the headquarters of my brother and my ally," he said. And as she proceeded to follow him out of the cave, she took a last look at her surroundings. Then she marched out with him to face the greater galaxy that had transformed since her tragic first life.