Mandalore

Blaster fire was raining down on the young padawan's position. Ahsoka Tano was taking cover behind a cluster of crates on the landing bay outside the Mandalorian citadel, where Darth Maul was holed up with what was left of the Deathwatch.

"Keep pushing forward!" She called out to the Mandalorian army she had mustered during her short time on the planet. Many of the Mandalorians were unhappy with tyrannical rule that Darth Maul and his death watch allies held on the planet, so she had taken a detachment of the 501st battalion, her old master Anakin's regiment, before she had left the Jedi order, to help her liberate the oppressed people. And now victory for her siege on the citadel was finally within sight. All she had to do was cross the open docking bay, with her regiment of Mandalorian warriors, each equipped with specialised jetpacks, to the back of the citadel and up onto the roof, while captain Rex and his clones kept most of the Deathwatch busy by the main entrance. Inside Darth Maul was holed up. Ahsoka was unsure what he was doing, he hadn't left the citadel in weeks. Rumour had it that he was in mourning, Ahsoka could only assume that it was over the loss of his brother Savage Opress, who had Maul had apparently been carrying the body of back to the temple which he had not emerged from since. There were only about a dozen Deathwatch warriors stationed out the back of the citadel, but their prowess in fighting, and shielded silver armour made them difficult to defeat. Ahsoka decided it was time to make her big push to the back wall of the citadel.

"Over here!" she yelled, jumping out from behind her cover to grab the attention of the Deathwatch guards. Immediately the guards turned to here and let rip with their dual wielded blasters. But Ahsoka adopted a strong stance. Legs spread wide to provide stability, she nimbly used her two lightsabres to deflect their blaster shots back at them, taking out two guards in the first second. Seeing two of their comrades fall enraged the remaining Deathwatch guards, who all focused their attention entirely on the young Togruta. This is exactly what she wanted. Turning her back, she ran across the landing pad, forcing the Deathwatch members to follow as she waved her reverse gripped blades behind her, deflecting any blaster bolts being fired on her position. The red lasers streaked across the open landing pad, chasing the yellow and green blur that was illuminating Ahsoka's path. With all the focus now on the young padawan, a path had opened for the Mandalorian freedom fighters to make their way to the citadel's base. From there, the rebels ignited their thruster packs and quickly ascended the side of the building. Once on the roof, the Mandalorian's rained down fire on the Deathwatch, who still had their backs turned to the citadel. At the same time, Ahsoka stopped running, and rushed her pursuers. Between the rear fire from the citadel, and the talented Jedi attacking from the front, the remaining Deathwatch guards were made quick work of. Ahsoka quickly made her way up onto the rooftop to meet her companions who were patiently waiting there.

"You ready?" Ahsoka quickly asked her squad. They all nodded in response, and Ahsoka drew her lightsabres, plunging one into the roof she was standing on, on either side of her body. With a quick twist, the ground she was standing on fell down and she fell through the hole she had crated, using the force to soften her landing. The rest of her team followed swiftly behind, jetpacking down into the hallway that they had come out in. The tall roof and large pillars running down the side of the hallway reminded Ahsoka of her time in the Jedi temple, chasing after her master to go on some crazy adventure. Ahsoka knew that around the corner ahead of her was the entrance way, where the majority of the Deathwatch force was positioned, holding off Captain Rex and his clones, unaware that Ahsoka and her contingent of freedom fighters had just entered from behind. Ahsoka silently instructed her followers to accompany her around the corner, and set up with their guns pointed right at the unaware guards, who were still occupied fighting off the clone advancement. From their position, they could see the ground of the entrance way was covered in fallen Deathwatch members, as was the ground outside by 501st clone troopers.

"Put your weapons down we have you surrounded" yelled Ahsoka over the commotion of the skirmish that was occurring by the citadel entrance. The shooting suddenly stopped as the guards turned around to see where the voice had come from. The Deathwatch fighters knew they were defeated, but it was not in their philosophy to surrender, or to go down without a fight. One member, who looked to be commanding the entrance guards, looked Ahsoka dead in the face, and under his helmet, his eyes narrowed with a steely determination.

"If it's a fight you want, come and get it" He yelled quickly drawing his blaster and firing three shots off in Ahsoka's direction, one hitting one of the rebels to her side, whilst the other two were swiftly deflected by Ahsoka back at the man who fired them. With this the fighting resumed. But once again, with the Deathwatch fighting a war on two fronts they were being quickly overrun. The guards' leader rolled to the side and dodged the reflected blaster shots with ease. Knowing that any attempt he made at the Jedi with a blaster would simply be deflected, he tossed his blaster aside and drew his dark bladed beskard, a weapon only used by the Mandalorian captains.

"Alright, let's make this a fair fight" Ahsoka said with a smirk, sheathing the green lightsabre she was holding in her left hand, and with her yellow blade drawn, ran at her opponent. The captain sprinted towards the Togruta weapon drawn, and as soon as she was within his range, he swung with a big wide sweeping motion. Seemingly at the last possible second Ahsoka hit the deck, sliding under the captain's blade, and sticking out her own, disabling the Mandalorian at his feet. Screaming out in pain, the captain fell to the floor, legs cut off at the ankles.

"You think that's enough to stop me?" He screamed in anger at his young opponent using his jetpack to hover just off the ground.

"I was hoping it wasn't. Otherwise I might get bored." Ahsoka replied cheekily, living up to her nickname 'snips' that Anakin had given her. The reply was enough to send the Mandalorian captain into a full-blown rage. Thrusting towards Ahsoka as fast as he could, swinging his blade with all his might. Black clashed ferociously against yellow as his beskard hit Ahsoka's lightsabre. First up by Ahsoka's face, then down low by her legs, as the Deathwatch captain tried everything he could to break her defence. But her gift of speed and prowess with a lightsabre was proving too much. With a flick of her wrist, Ahsoka used the force to push the captain off balance and used the opening in his attack to take a swing of her own. The captain managed to thrust away just in time to avoid serious harm from Ahsoka's blade, just catching a scratch along the side of his torso. He flew up as far as he could, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to defeat the Jedi with the wounds he had suffered, he spun, and nosedived towards her at full speed, blade extended out in front of him. All it took was a precise wave of her hand, for Ahsoka to send her adversary flying in a different direction, still with enough momentum to impale one of his own men, before he himself lay flat on the ground, unmoving. By now the clones had advanced up to her position and captured the citadel. All that was left now was to find Darth Maul, and force his surrender.

"Remember all that talk about Maul's brother, it's only speculation. We won't know what we're up against until we enter that throne room. For all we know both Maul and Opress are holed up in there, just waiting for us to strike". Captain Rex reminded the young Jedi he had worked with so many times throughout the clone wars.

"I know" Ahsoka replied dismissively, secretly grateful to know that the man watching her back was still on top of his game. They headed off down the hallway together, careful to check every nook and cranny in case of an ambush, followed closely by around 50 clone troopers and about half as many Mandalorians. The entrance to the throne room was just up ahead, with the door sealed shut.

"Can you crack the lock?" Rex asked one of the clone technicians following behind him.

"Easily sir" He replied, taking a knee and hooking up his decoder. After a few short seconds the lock was cracked and the door slid open, revealing a large open room with a table in the middle, a tall man with his back turned to the republic army that had just broken in, and a large figure lying on top of the table.

"You did this" Darth Maul spoke, his back still turned to the clones. His voice was barely audible, but every republic fighter in the room filled with fear.

"All of you. The Republic who serve their beloved chancellor. You're all puppets, he's playing you all" His voice was growing louder and louder until he was almost yelling.

"We didn't kill your brother, but you need to stop taking out your anger on the people of Mandalore" Ahsoka said, in the hope that perhaps, Darth Maul would change his ways, and surrender himself.

"You don't have the right to talk about my brother, all you ever wanted was to see him dead by your own blade!" And with that the Sith extended his hand behind him, sending Ahsoka's reinforcements flying back through the door that they had just entered through, and collapsed the roof behind them. Only Ahsoka and Rex managed to hold their ground inside the throne room.

"This isn't good" noted Rex as Dart Maul turned to face them.

"You will pay for the acts your chancellor has committed!" Roared Maul as he took his lightsabre from his belt, igniting both ends simultaneously.

"I think you might need this" warned Ahsoka, tossing her spare lightsabre to Rex, who although untrained in the Jedi arts, had watched General Skywalker enough times to know how to handle a Jedi's signature weapon. Both of them stood side by side, waiting for Maul to make the first move. And he did. Leaping towards them with his sabre at the ready, he closed the gap in less than second, but switch direction just before impact and got around beside Rex, using the captain to block Ahsoka out of the fight, and lashed out at him with one of his blades. Rex moved his blade just in time to block Maul's red sabre, causing sparks flying into the air of the poorly moonlit room. Although not force sensitive, Rex's senses and reflexes were finally tuned, and considered close to equal to that of a Jedi. But Maul's hatred was intense, using brute strength he was forcing Rex's own blade up against his throat. Captain Rex knew when he was bested and kicked out at the Darth Maul's stomach in order to create enough space to escape. However, the Sith merely let out a grunt, seemingly unfazed by the clone captain's attack. During this time Ahsoka had worked her way past Rex and to the rear of Maul. She stabbed forward with her lightsabre, but was easily blocked by Maul, who swivelled his lightsabre around his body to block her attack with the other end of his weapon. However, in doing so, he had freed up just enough room for Rex to duck out from the contest that he was locked in and take another swing at the Sith, this time swinging his blade around to attack Maul's unarmed hand. Maul kicked back at Ahsoka, sending her skidding back across the floor and swung his lightsabre back around into a vertical position, blocking Rex's horizontal attack. He then quickly tilted his sabre, bringing the bottom blade up towards Rex, and cutting a slice into his armour. However, in doing this, he had allowed Rex's blade to get dangerously close to his head, so he used the force to push Rex back, before he had the chance for his bottom blade to cut deep enough into Rex's leg to cause serious damage. Rex went flying back and crashed into one of the giant pillars supporting the throne rooms ceiling. Maul turned his attention to Ahsoka who had now regained her composure and was coming right for him. Jumping from side to side, Ahsoka was making it as difficult for Maul to focus on her as possible. When she was about three meters away she used her hand not holding the lightsabre to send a ripple of force towards Darth Maul, causing him to stumble. She took the opportunity to launch herself at him, but Maul was ready. Using the force, he caught the young Togruta in mid-air and sent her flying back up towards the roof. His strength with the force far greater than his Jedi counterpart's. Rex, who had worked his way back to Maul was ready for another attack. Limping over to Maul, Rex swung his lightsabre around, tuning his feel for the blade, and the gripped it with both hands and unleashed a flurry of attacks on the unsuspecting Sith, who was still concentrating on Ahsoka. Just before Rex made contact Maul noticed, and spun around to block. But for the first time since the fight began, Maul was on the back foot. Rex was gaining momentum, although each strike was being blocked, Maul was being pushed back the trooper's aggression and power. First, he struck from above, over his head and down on his opponent, followed by a sweeping left swing and the same from the right, swinging left and right, working his way up and down Maul's body, searching for a break in his defence. Maul was caught off guard. He had not expected a clone to be able to wield a lightsabre with such power, such aggression and such skill. His blows were more precise, and faster than those of some Jedi that Maul had come across before. He could see why the legendary Anakin Skywalker liked him so much. For a clone, Maul almost respected Rex. Rex was forcing Maul back towards the area that he collapsed earlier. But Maul had other ideas. With a sudden flip, Darth Maul leapt over Rex and started attacking him from the other side, forcing the clone onto the back foot. But Rex had accomplished his goal, he had bought enough time for Ahsoka to re-join the fight. Now Maul was fighting on each side, using each end of his lightsabre to block attacks from both sides. He was becoming exhausted fighting two warriors at once and needed a way to turn the advantage back his way. His focus waned for a split second as he looked for a way to turn the tide of the fight, and Ahsoka took her chance. Slicing an arc right towards Darth Maul, whose concentration returned just in time to jump out of the way, but Ahsoka's lightsabre still managed to hit his sabre, rendering it useless. Knowing that this was a fight that Maul could not win unarmed, he pulled back his arms and then thrust them forward, unleashing a massive force push sending both Ahsoka and Rex crashing along the ground to the other side of the room, and collapsing two of the 12 pillars supporting the roof, causing it to cave in, and create a large enough hole for him to escape through. With one last look at the dazed Jedi and clone captain, Darth Maul leaped out into the night.

"Well, I guess he's no longer going to be ruling this planet. Thanks for this by the way, it saved my life back there, but I think I'll be sticking with my trusty side arms for now" Rex said as he gave Ahsoka a hand up and handed her back her lightsabre.

"Thanks, but we could've taken them" Ahsoka grinned back at his good friend. And at that moment Rex's commlink blinked.

"Execute order 66" came a crackled voice from the other side.

"It will be done my lord" replied Rex, calmly into his mouthpiece.