From the command deck of the Fire Hawk, Captain Sidnear Delcowl studied the asteroid field. She had to admit, the Bright Jewel system lived up to its reputation as one of the most memorable sights in all the galaxy. Even so, the picturesque scene of brilliant white light carving through the gaps between the asteroid field did little to soothe her frustrations. This was a historic time for the galaxy. No more would progress be held back by the bureaucracy and red tape of the Galactic Senate. No more would destructive conflicts plague the galaxy. With the reorganisation of the Republic into the First Galactic Empire, finally there would be peace. Yet even now, as planets from the Core to the Outer Rim were celebrating this bold new step, here she was, assigned to little more than busywork.
It wasn't like there weren't better uses of the new Empire's resources. The Separatist Alliance had been fragmented, but pockets of resistance remained. Captain Delcowl would have liked nothing more than to eliminate those remnants, once and for all. But instead, she'd been assigned what her superiors had assured her was a 'very important' mission. She was almost certain that their words were a load of rubbish. All she'd been told was that she was part of a task force hunting a pair of fugitives- survivors from the Republic's recent siege on Mandalore. But while most of the force had been dispatched to Dathomir or Ord Mantell, she alone had been sent to some forgotten Mandalorian base long since abandoned. It was simple enough to deduce that the higher-ups didn't consider her part of the mission all that vital. What a waste. As the Fire Hawk drifted closer towards the asteroid base, she heard an officer call up from the command pit.
"Captain, both V-19s are down!"
Delcowl's eyes narrowed. Eager to get the mission over with, she hadn't bothered to bring the cruiser through the asteroid field. Instead, she'd dispatched her escort of fighters to survey the area. It seemed they'd been destroyed.
"I'll need you to be more specific. Down how?!"
"That's the thing, ma'am. We don't know! We didn't detect any energy signatures!"
She swore under her breath.
"The idiots! They must have collided with asteroids!"
"With all due respect ma'am, the asteroid field isn't all that dense. For a ship as agile as a V-19, it shouldn't have been hard to-"
"You give the pilots too much credit."
A moment of silence settled across the bridge, before being broken by the officer.
"But what if-"
"I'll say this once again- the loss of those fighters is due to nothing more than the incompetence of their pilots. But in the interests of being thorough… fine. Helmsmen, full power to sublight engines. Weapons Officer, prepare turbolaser batteries for point defence. All crew, battle stations! We're going in."
"Exactly as Maul predicted," Ahsoka thought as she sat in the darkened cockpit of Maul's fighter, the Nightbrother. Having landed the fighter on one of the larger asteroids and powered down to avoid detection, all that remained now was to wait. An Arquitens-Class Light Cruiser was heading towards the asteroid field, its fighter escort reduced to debris. And if all went well, they'd be in for a nasty surprise.
Maul stood in the troop compartment of the Nightbrother, clad in a suit of blood-red Mandalorian armour. The moment was approaching. He was not accustomed to fighting in such heavy, restrictive gear, much preferring the freedom of movement afforded by his light tunic. Still, the armour was protective, it was equipped with a jetpack, and most importantly, it was pressurised. Taking the horned helmet that had been resting by his side, Maul equipped it, and a yellow glow began emanating from the T-shaped visor. His view lit up with a heads-up display, feeding him a constant stream of information from the helmet's many sensors. He glanced briefly at the commlink on his wrist, before turning to look towards the cockpit where Ahsoka sat.
"Lady Tano, what's the status of the light cruiser?"
"From what I can tell with passive sensor readings… they'll be in range within seventeen seconds."
"Excellent," Maul said, grinning beneath the visor. "I trust you will keep my lightsaber safe?"
Ahsoka's eyes flicked to a compartment of the cockpit in which Maul's lightsaber had been stashed, before nodding.
"I still don't know why you insisted on using blasters over your own lightsaber," she said, gesturing at Maul's pair of holstered Westar-35s, before turning back to face the cockpit's dashboard. "But yes, I know better than to- they're in range!"
"Then the moment is upon us. Detonating seismic charges… now!"
After hearing Maul press a button on his commlink, she immediately powered up the starfighter and took off. This was going to be a rough ride.
"Captain!" called the officer as the Fire Hawk slipped through the asteroid field. "We're detecting multiple energy spikes! The readings are consistent with-"
Captain Delcowl watched through the transparasteel windows as a cascade of blue waves exploded out from various points all over the asteroid field, sending a hailstorm of debris directly in the direction of her cruiser.
"Seismic charges!" she yelled. "Damage report?!"
"No direct impacts from the charges and shields are holding!" responded someone else from the command pit.
"Weapons Officer?! Open fire on incoming asteroids!" Delcowl demanded.
"Yes, ma'am. Marking targets…"
The ship was battered by impact after impact. The shields might have weathered most of the damage, but they wouldn't hold forever. Suddenly, the blackness of space lit up with green fire as the Fire Hawk's turbolaser batteries brought their destructive power to bear against the incoming attack. With the exceptional weapons coverage afforded by the light cruiser's armament, Captain Delcowl was certain that the craft would suffer no significant damage. And it was precisely this fact that made her uneasy. This trap had been perfectly timed, yet not a single seismic charge had dealt direct damage to the ship. Whoever she was after had a different goal in mind.
The seismic charges had turned this relatively safe asteroid field into a pilot's worst nightmare- with the once large, lumbering chunks of rock shattering into deadly, fast-moving shrapnel. Still, Ahsoka's skill and instincts honed by countless combat missions, combined with the blistering speed of the Nightbrother, allowed her to deftly weave through the sea of debris on a path towards the distant Arquitens. It looked like once again, Maul's plans had come to fruition. The seismic charges he'd concealed within the asteroids had been perfectly placed to unleash a terrifying barrage of rock against the light cruiser. The asteroids were unlikely to inflict too much damage to the Arquitens' sturdy hull. But they were threatening enough to occupy all four turbolaser batteries, all the while masking the Nightbrother's approach.
The mundane calmness of Fire Hawk's command bridge had given way to panicked urgency. A chaotic cacophony of instructions, orders, and acknowledgements could be heard as the asteroids continued to close in. But no one could discern the purpose of the attack. Not until the sensors of the Fire Hawk detected an incoming fighter, heading for the cruiser with a frightening pace. At that moment, the strategy became clear to Captain Delcowl. The asteroid barrage was little more than a smokescreen.
"All batteries, forget the asteroids!" she called out in frantic desperation. "Turn every gun we have on that fighter!"
The turrets shifted to face the approaching craft, but it was too little, too late. As the fighter passed under the Fire Hawk's ventral side, it had been met with a brief volley of turbolaser fire which was effortlessly evaded. And then, as quickly as the ship appeared, it vanished.
"Where did they go?!"
"Apologies, ma'am," called a voice from the command pit. "These asteroids are interfering with our sensors. We can't get a clear reading!"
Captain Delcowl's gaze turned into a dangerous glare.
"Then destroy all the asteroids."
As the Nightbrother passed under the Arquitens' ventral side, the fighter lowered the troop deployment rack allowing Maul to jump mid-flight into the vacuum of space. As he watched the fighter speed away, Maul activated his jetpack, rocketing himself towards the Arquitens. Ahsoka had done her part. Now it was his turn.
"Captain Delcowl!" called the Weapons Officer. "Our turbolasers are overheating. They're not built to fire continuously for this long!"
The captain scowled as she looked at the tactical. It seemed that they'd weathered the vast majority of the barrage, having incurred no damage. All that remained were tiny fragments which posed no threat to the Fire Hawk, and micrometeoroid remnants left over from the turbolaser barrage.
"Alright, enough! Cease fire and divert excess power to the frontal deflector shields. Sensor Officer, keep scanning for that fighter."
Even as she spoke those words, Delcowl knew the chance of locating the fighter was slim. Perhaps this entire attack was an elaborately orchestrated escape attempt, and their assailants were long gone. But just as the thought crossed her mind, an alarm started blaring.
"What's happening?!"
"Our starboard docking clamp has been compromised!" responded a voice from the command pit. Emergency airlocks are sealed, but-"
"We're being boarded! Deploy the garrison!"
It had taken several minutes for the garrisoned forces to reach the boarder's location. But moments after engaging the mysterious enemy, the bridge of the Fire Hawk received a panicked and garbled transmission from the garrison leader.
"...compromised... intruder... losing ground!"
Then, the comm channel went quiet and an eerie silence fell over the bridge crew. It was only after several mortified seconds that Captain Delcowl spoke up.
"Seal all blast doors!" she began, her voice a mix of urgency and terror. "And get me eyes on the intruders!"
"Affirmative!" replied an officer. There were several seconds of silence before he spoke once more.
"...impossible," he murmured.
"What was that? Speak up!" Delcowl demanded.
"It's... just one man. How a single person could wipe out so many..."
"On screen-" said the Captain, her face turning pale. In response, a projector flickered to life in front of her depicting their mysterious assailant. Her eyes widened in recognition.
"A Mandalorian."
Maul had to admit, he was warming up to the idea of wearing armour. In his short-lived clash with the Arquitens' garrisoned troops, Maul's aim with the pair of blaster pistols he'd brought along was devastatingly precise. Unfortunately, his habit of attacking head-on meant he'd been hit numerous times. If not for the armour, Maul would not have been able to survive this long, and he certainly wouldn't have been able to shrug off blasterfire as if it was little more than a minor inconvenience. Perhaps the Mandalorians were onto something. In any case, with the garrison neutralised it did not take long to reach the door to the bridge. He pulled four charges from his belt, attached them to the four corners of the door, and linked them to a frequency on his commlink. Then, with the press of a button, the charges exploded, blasting a hole through the door in a spectacular fashion.
The entire crew of the bridge froze as a terrifying bang carved a jagged hole through the once seemingly impenetrable doors. From the hole emerged an imposing figure, clad in black and red armour and a helmet adorned with horns. The figure drew a blaster and trained it on Captain Delcowl's frightened face.
"You are the commanding officer of this vessel, are you not?" asked the figure, his voice cold and dispassionate.
There was no response from the captain. Seemingly infuriated, he stepped closer and held the barrel of the blaster against Delcowl's forehead. This time, his tone was much less forgiving.
"Are you or are you not the commanding officer of this vessel?!"
"Y-yes, yes I am, but please, don't-" stammered the captain.
"Silence. You have two choices. Either you and your crew can abandon this ship… or you can die."
"Okay, just- don't hurt us!"
"You have my word that you will not be harmed if you follow my instructions. But if even one member of your crew deviates from them, I will force-open the docking clamps, depressurising entire ship."
"N-no! There's no need to do anything hasty. We'll cooperate!"
"Then what are you waiting for?! Order an evacuation like your life depends on it. Because it does."
Captain Delcowl took a few tentative steps towards the Fire Hawk's control panel and with the press of a button, an alarm sounded and a prerecorded voice began speaking throughout the ship.
"Attention, all personnel! A full-scale evacuation is in effect! Please make your way to the nearest escape pod in an orderly fashion."
Seemingly satisfied, the figure holstered their blaster and gestured at the captain.
"You and your bridge crew may now leave. Oh, and you might want to bring this ship's garrisoned troops with you."
"Wh-what?! I thought you killed…"
"I stunned them. They aren't dead. It's up to you whether they're kept that way."
Surprisingly, it had only taken a matter of minutes for the entire ship's crew to evacuate. After watching the last of the escape pods disappear into space from the bridge, Maul removed his helmet and grinned. The Arquitens, along with its many onboard supplies, now belonged to him. All that remained was to relay the good news to Ahsoka. He walked over to the Communications Officer's terminal and connected to an encrypted channel.
"Nightbrother, commence docking with portside clamps. The mission was a success."
After she docked the Nightbrother with their captured Arquitens, Ahsoka felt a jolt as both ships accelerated into hyperspace. When Maul had detailed his plan for capturing the light cruiser, she thought that there would be at least some bloodshed. But aside from the singed marks on the walls indicating blasterfire, she noted no major signs of a struggle as she disembarked and made her way through the Arquitens' winding corridors. It seemed that the entire ship's crew had made it to the escape pods alive. But why? It wasn't like Maul had a problem with killing. In fact, Ahsoka suspected he relished in it.
Ducking through the hole torn through the door, she arrived at the bridge. The familiar glow of hyperspace emanating through the windows was immediately calming- and standing at the command deck, staring into the swirling clouds, was Maul. She didn't know what he was so intently focused on as he stood there, hands behind his back. But part of her was hesitant to disturb him. Eventually, she decided to speak up.
"Maul?"
As if snapping out of a daze, he turned to face Ahsoka.
"Ah, you're here. I believe in giving credit where credit is due, so… your skills as a pilot… aren't bad. You navigated that asteroid field better than I expected."
Was that another compliment? It was unclear, but from the discomfort in Maul's face, it was probably intended to be.
"Your skills as a tactician aren't so bad either," Ahsoka said with a slight smile.
"Of course they aren't," Maul scoffed. "I manipulated my way to the Mandalorian Throne and built the only power base in the galaxy capable of competing with Sidious. The capture of a single light cruiser is… child's play."
Ahsoka rolled her eyes. Despite no longer being a Sith Lord, he certainly had the pride characteristic of one. Oblivious to the gesture, Maul continued speaking.
"Still, your recognition of my abilities is… appreciated."
Despite the arrogance of the former Sith, there was no denying his tactical ability. But there were some aspects of his plan she didn't fully grasp. Now was as good a time as any to ask about them.
"So… Maul… can you tell me the whole story now?" Ahsoka said as she unclipped Maul's saber from her belt and passed it to him. "Why didn't you use your lightsaber? And… how come you allowed everyone to escape unharmed? Knowing you, I thought that…"
"Ah, you noticed. You requested that I minimise bloodshed. I thought it prudent to honour that request."
"But I thought that-"
"Let me be clear- bloodless victories are seldom feasible, let alone advantageous. This... was an anomaly."
"How so?"
"Uncertainty. If a cruiser tasked with hunting me suddenly disappeared without warning, Sidious would have no doubt who was responsible. But clad in this armour…" Maul gestured towards his chestplate, "The crew believed I was but a simple Mandalorian. Wielding a lightsaber would have shattered that illusion."
Ahsoka's eyes widened in realisation.
"And that's why you left them alive?"
"Precisely. If the entire crew was slaughtered, or witnessed me wielding my saber, I would be the sole suspect for the light cruiser's theft. But because they are alive and believe a Mandalorian loyalist seized control of their ship, they will tell that story to their superiors. That is why I chose to use blasters, and why I didn't kill anyone."
"What if Sidious sees through that story?"
"Without anything concrete to go off of, it would be foolish to further expend his already constrained resources pursuing us. From his perspective, there is a good chance that I am behind this attack, but there is an equally good chance that the attack was orchestrated by Mandalorians loyal to me but not under my direct command. Until we reveal ourselves again, I suspect he will wait and bide his time. It's what he's good at, after all."
Internally, Ahsoka was rather impressed. At first, she'd believed Maul's words about his 'vision' to be just that- empty words. But this level of forethought and planning was nothing to scoff at. Still, one thing continued to bother her.
"Your plan could have still worked if you'd killed the garrisoned soldiers, right? The rest of the crew would have still been alive to tell your story!"
"I suppose so, yes."
"Then why didn't you?!"
Maul shrugged casually.
"It is as I said earlier. You requested that I minimise bloodshed."
Ahsoka didn't understand. This was Maul. A former Sith Lord. A monster. It didn't make sense for him to show mercy just because of her request. And yet, as she studied the tattooed face and reached out with the Force, she could neither see nor sense any hint of an ulterior motive. As if picking up on her suspicion, Maul spoke.
"What? You doubt my intentions?"
"N-no, I just-" stammered Ahsoka in response. "I just wanted to say… thank you."
