Chapter III: Coruscant
He gritted his teeth. Fists tightly clenched, fingers digging into the soft flesh of his palms. The steady prick, prick, prick at the base of his jugular made him want to grab the man and choke him into oblivion. He inhaled sharply and groaned deep in his throat as the needle slipped, puncturing a little too deep.
"Master..."
He strained his yellow eyes to the corner of the room. A hooded man stood in the shadows observing the process quietly. He smiled at Zabrak's plea.
"You mustn't be weak Maul."
"Y-yes."
He closed his eyes again and tried to bury himself in mediation. If he could just harness the pain. Pain could empower him. Pain could deepen his abilities with the Force. It would make him stronger in the end. Such suffering was necessary to become a powerful Sith. Although his mind wished to conquer the agony, physically he could not.
His body was going betray him.
The Zabrak convulsed, slipped from the platform onto the floor, and emptied the contents of his stomach onto ground. Vomit clung to corners of his mouth. His fall, coupled with exertion of the heaving, triggered a stabbing pain behind his left eye.
As he lay there, naked and bloody, his eyes bled tears. These infuriated him even more than the aching stroke of the inky needle did. The way they cascaded down his cheeks, pooling with leftover blood and stinging the raw finished flesh on his face. How could he be this weak?
"Pick him up and finish." There was an edge in the hooded man's voice. An edge of displeasure and frustration.
The man nodded. Heaving the young Zabrak back onto the raised platform, he resumed the work on his throat. The needle slipped again.
His crimson body trembled with agony.
Darth Maul slid his fingers over the mattress pad in search of his robes and tabbards. His chest was bare in the darkness of the sleeping compartment. Only loose fitting trousers clung to his crimson body. Finding the familiar fabric at the end of his bed, he seized it and dressed himself with haste. Scimitar would be within the bounds of Coruscant soon.
With a pull of the release lever, the door of the sleeping compartment hissed open. It was bright inside the ship. The light stung Maul's amber eyes and intensified the headache that graced his wakeful mind.
As he entered the cockpit he observed, just as he had speculated, that Coruscant was on the horizon. Activating the cloaking device, he prepared to enter the planet's atmosphere and punched in the coordinates to his master's base in the galactic capital. Sidious had requested his apprentice meet to discuss their upcoming mission in greater detail. Maul wagered he could use the time at his residence for training and meditation, in addition to the briefing. The importance of the upcoming operation was evident and he wished to be extensively prepared.
While Maul stood brooding over the control panel, Iyleesi watched him quietly from the back of the room. She had spent the entire night on the floor of the cabin. The hard metal deck was cold and uncomfortable, but she could not bring herself to move from the spot where he had left her. She shivered silently, knees hugged tightly into her chest. Space was a far cry from the stifling tawny sands of Mos Eisley. Never before had she experienced such extreme cold.
Although she wished to ask the Zabrak for a blanket or a cloak, the embarrassment she felt from the previous night choked the words from her. How could she face him with the ghost of his gloved hand still upon her breast?
"We will be entering the atmosphere soon," he muttered suddenly. "It would be wise of you to take hold of something."
All at once, the ship began to shift and writhe violently. The convulsions tossed Iyleesi across the floor of the cockpit near Maul at the main controls. Fearfully, she took hold of his left knee and pulled herself up until she nearly sat in his lap. The tremulous movements frightened her. For her, space travel was foreign. Things that should not have frightened her did. In the midst of her fear, the possible repercussions of her actions did not occur to her.
Rather than being irritated by the woman's presence upon him, Maul was amused. Her fear of the decent through the atmosphere entertained him, thwarting his initial vexation at her unwelcomed touch.
How useless, he mused, focusing intently on the landing platform before him.
Still, a servant was always a valuable commodity, no matter the condition of the subservient. Weak and pathetic as she was, it was not often one came across a slave for free. Under the Galactic Republic, slavery had been outlawed. The legality of the trade had made the availability of slaves and servants sparse. While the demand for slaves remained constant, the supply fell and the prices, consequently, rose. It was only in the Outer Rim territories and other regions not under Republic control that the trade continued on.
As Scimitar settled onto a landing stage and the ship's movements ceased, Iyleesi became aware of her surroundings at once. Her body was curled tightly against the Zabrak's lap, face buried into the warmth of his chest. The shuddering that previously afflicted her body from the cold night on the cabin floor was gone. His body was like furnace. Heat radiated from him and filled her aching body with warmth and comfort. Raising her face from his chest, she tilted her head back to find him staring at her intensely. Then, in one fell swoop, he took hold of her arms and shoved her off his lap.
"Your pathetic cowering was so entertaining," he stood suddenly, swinging his large black cloak around his neck, "that I could not bring myself to disturb you." A sadistic grin crept across his crimson visage, touching his fierce yellow eyes. "But be warned. If ever you touch me again without my permission, I will cut off your hands."
The ferocity in his voice frightened her. Iyleesi nodded in obedience and climbed cautiously to her feet. He was like an animal, and nearly every aspect of his being intimidate her. The bold black markings, his sanguine skin, that powerful yet violent demeanor wrapped in a thin veil of composure, everything. It was almost as if he had evolved for that very purpose, to be the perfect predator. How long could she possibly last under his care?
Maul read into these feelings with pleasure. Nothing gratified him more than fear. It saturated his senses and filled him with satisfaction. Though he wished to punish her further for what he perceived as idiocy, Sidious awaited. Opening a compartment near the exit of the cockpit, the Zabrak pulled out a second black cloak and tossed it at her. She caught it, clumsily, and proceeded to put it on.
"Listen," he muttered smoothly, "follow me closely. If you stray, know I will not hesitate to cut you down." His gloved fingers suggestively caressed the hilt of the energy sword fastened to his belt.
"Yes, master."
Iyleesi followed him through the length of the ship, heart pounding fiercely in her chest. This was it. A new world, a new life. Tatooine was light years away now. As the air lock hatch opened and they descended into the night, Iyleesi gasped with surprise.
Could it be... Her slender fingers rose to her lips in awe. Coruscant?
Skyscrapers colored the skyline surrounding them. The enormous buildings glowed with bright lights in the stark darkness of the night. Above their heads grav-car traffic continuously whizzed by, completely oblivious of the two cloaked souls trudging below them in the darkness. She had never seen a city so huge and brilliant. Was it really? Could it be? Iyleesi could think of no world which so perfectly matched the description of what she saw before her eyes.
"Master?" She called ahead of her, voice tinged with vague excitement.
Tilting his tattooed profile in her direction, he gazed at her sullenly.
"Be silent," he whispered, annoyance apparent in his silky voice.
Iyleesi nodded compliantly, and continued following his hooded form with subdued excitement.
The two figures soon ascended a steep platform in the dusk, arriving at an entrance to a large building above the city. Removing the gauntlet on his right hand, the Zabrak touched a security panel beside the door. Almost immediately, it slide open to reveal a large foyer and silver plated protocol droid.
"Master Maul!" The droid exclaimed. "How good it is to see you again! I regret to inform you that Master Palpatine has gone out for business this evening, but will be back before morning, surely."
"That is fine TC-13." He answered coolly.
It was unfortunate that Sidious was away. Maul was eager to speak to his master about his mission on Tatooine, as well as discuss their upcoming plans regarding the Queen of Naboo.
"Do you require anything further, sir?" The droid asked eagerly.
"No, that will be all."
The Zabrak removed his hooded cloak, revealing the small horns that embellished the top of his head. Taking it in one hand, he draped it over the arm of the protocol droid and proceeded further into the foyer. Iyleesi quickly removed her own cloak, which hung loosely about her slight body like a large sack, and placed it over the droid's other arm before hurrying after him. As she followed her captor through a lengthy corridor, she observed her surroundings with interest. The house was large and extravagant. Whoever owned the residence, this Master Palaptine, must have been wealthy. She noticed, with reverence, that the right wall of the corridor was covered in white marble, but the left was not a wall at all. Rather a continuous window looking out into the city running the length of the hallway.
It was beautiful. Everything about it was beautiful. The house, the city, the planet – it all mesmerized her. Being naive to fine and elegant things, Iyleesi could not help but marvel at it all. She wondered absently if she was right to give herself to the man. Perhaps this new life of servitude would not be as terrible as she once thought.
Besides, she reflected solemnly, were I not already a slave back on Mos Eisley? Bound to work for the Hutts until I was worn and faded?
Maul stopped suddenly at a door at the end of the corridor. Engrossed in her own thoughts, Iyleesi nearly walked straight into him but stopped, remembering well his warning about touch. Again he placed his palm on a security panel, and the door retracted. The room was large, but as not as elegant as the rest of the house. It was simpler, plainer. She followed the Zabrak into the large space and watched as he dissipated through a door at the far end of the room, which she guessed to be the refresher.
Standing there, alone in this large unfamiliar room, she found herself consumed in a sudden sadness. On the wall opposite of the entrance there was a sliding glass door and a small balcony. Walking towards it, she placed her small hands against the glass and tilted her forehead in its direction. Gazing into the darkness of the skyline, tears began to fall from her chestnut-colored eyes. She was so far from home. So far from her family and friends. She was hungry and her abdomen, which had so brutally sustained a kick from Maul the previous day, ached considerably. What had she done?
The refresher door hissed open suddenly, and Maul entered the room. He wore only his loose fitting black trousers. The rest of his clothes sat in a pile on the refresher floor. Without searching her mind, he knew what it was the woman was feeling and thinking. Immersing himself in her fear and self-pity could only entertain him for so long before becoming irritating.
"Master," she whispered abruptly, turning to face him from the glass door. Her eyes were filled with a distant, unreadable emotion. "Master, I understand this request is out of place, but, may I touch you?"
Before he could respond, she fell softly into his arms. Folding her hands around his waist, she drew herself into an embrace against the thick muscles of his chest. The unnatural warmness of his flesh calmed her. She felt the spasmodic rippling of her mind slowly settle into steady, placid waves. She wanted this, needed this. Warmth, affection, tenderness, something. An ounce of sympathy. A fragment of kindness. She sought humanity to quell aching sadness in her heart, but had no one to seek it from. No one else, but him.