Kenobi spotted his new quarry untangle himself from a garbage pile and he managed to fire off a couple of shots from his double blasters, causing Kenobi to duck behind a billboard. He gave a quick glance from his hiding place and saw the back of the man racing off.

He resumed the chase and sensed Anakin following him and gaining on him fast.

/Good,/ he thought to himself,/he'll get this guy quickly./

The man ducked down a side alley and Kenobi almost lost him in his haste to follow and capture him. He paused and reached out with his feelings and sensed the man very close and blasted the door to a warehouse next to him so he could cut through the building and cut the man off. He dashed through the warehouse, blasting the door on the opposite wall and saw the man jump on a hover bike. Kenobi leapt for the one adjacent and passed his hand over the starter mechanism, feeling the ignition and clicking it on.

The fleeing bounty hunter half turned and shot at Kenobi and the remaining bikes which crumpled on themselves from the blasts just as Anakin was approaching them. He dived out of the way and Kenobi swerved his bike clear of the ensuing explosion of vehicle parts. Anakin could only look on as the bounty hunter and Latterie raced off across the industrial district basin. He still had a good hold on Latterie's mysterious force signature and something told him the young chief was getting into some serious trouble.

The swoop bikes weaved their way through the close streets of the warehouse district, heading deeper into the industrial territory. Kenobi had never been this far across the Coruscant surface before, but his lack of knowledge of the streets was made up for by his force instincts which took over his body as it directed the bike with ease through the streets.

His pursuant's bike suddenly shot over the lip of a runway overhang above them and Kenobi quickly followed suit. As his bike came over the lip, a sudden darkness descended over his force senses with a presence he hadn't felt since…

He drew his blaster and fired at the figure in black out there in the distance. The light from the double bladed lightsabre glowed against the rusty brown backdrop behind him. He defty deflected each shot Kenobi fired, but Kenobi's hatred was rising and he positioned his bike to charge the sith lord, dodging his deflected shots as they came back at him.

Perhaps if he had remained calm he could have anticipated the shot that hit him square in the chest. As he was thrown from the bike by the impact, his anger suddenly seemed released to the force. He hit the ground hard and rolled across the runway as his momentum ran through him.

He clutched at his damaged chest, expecting the shot to have gone through him, but he was somehow still alive. The sith's blade had absorbed some of the blast energy and his armor had protected him somewhat, but he could feel the flesh of his chest burning and it was becoming difficult to breath as the pain of each breath exponentially increased with each gasp for air. He curled up on the deck, blaster still in his hand as he sensed the sith approach him.

Maul placed his foot against Kenobi's shoulder and pushed him onto his back, glaring into Kenobi's face, but once he could exam the man below him a look of surprise covered his face.

"You're supposed to be dead, I killed you myself," he said.

Kenobi could barely breath, but he raised his blaster to fire off a succession of shots at the sith lord.

Deftly, the sith deflected this last onslaught and chuckled as he raised his hand to pull the weapon from Kenobi's shaking grip.

"You didn't really think that would work, did you?" Maul asked mockingly and he lifted the former padawan off the deck and held him in a force grip that was slowly tightening around the Jedi's neck.

He had missed the opportunity to witness the life force leaving the master's eyes back then, so now he was determined to witness it from this padawan thought lost. He examined the man he held suspended just inches off the ground. He was clawing desperately, but weakly at his constricting throat and the crystal blue sparkle of his one eye was beginning to dull. The eye patch was obviously a remnant from his previous encounter with Maul, which drew a dark smile across the sith's face. Another amusing factor was the uniform, not that of a Jedi, but a mere underling for that Naboo senator. Such was the life for a failed Jedi, he supposed. It seemed odd that they would expel him for his failure to defeat the sith lord, these Jedi were insipidly forgiving. Could this man he held have decided to leave the order?

A sudden realization hit Maul as he used his abilities to probe the man's force signature. It was being suppressed to a great extent, no wonder he had not noticed the man's presence before. That was impressive, to be shielding and suppressing his force nature almost completely. So he was hiding from the Jedi. Suddenly the man in his grip had potential he had not foreseen and he ever so slightly released the force choke, just enough to allow the former padawan to gasp enough air not to expire.

His leering grin grew as the man's strength began to wane and his arms slacked to his side. Maul brought him in close to his face, the one eye of his captive half closed, his consciousness rapidly slipping from him.

"It will take more than a couple of laser blasts to stop me."

"Try this," came Anakin's clear, confident voice and Maul was hit by a wall of force he had no defense against. His grip on the former padawan was lost as he was tossed high over the runway and into Jango's shp. He picked himself up as Jango rushed to his side, blasters firing on the new arrival. The blue blade of the Jedi deflected each bolt with as much skill as Maul had employed deflecting Kenobi's.

"Get moving!" hissed Maul as he limped into the ship, Jango quickly following. Maul cursed his fallen quarry for distracting him from the other Jedi's presence. But the possibilities in this former Jedi held within him were intriguing. He would have his hands round that throat again very soon.

Anakin rushed to the fallen Latterie, who's chest was still smoking from the blaster impact. Latterie's eye shot open and he gasped at Anakin's touch. His left arm shot up and grabbed at Anakin's robes.

"Stop him, stop him. The sith…" he managed before he sank into Anakin's arms.

Anakin looked up to see the ship taking off and leave. That was strange, the ship obviously had powerful weapons, why had they failed to fire on the two men? There was nothing Anakin could do about that now, he had to tend to Latterie. He lifted the surprisingly light figure of the security chief in his arms as he thought on his last words. How could he have known that was a sith? The order had tried very hard to downplay the Naboo incident and only a few of the Queen's forces had witnessed the dark lord, how many of them would have known the word sith? The mystery could wait, Latterie needed a healer immediately.