Chapter Four: Duel of the Fates
Disclaimer: See Chapter One
Hello everyone, hope you enjoyed last chapter. Now, on to the main event.
Enjoy.
Under cover of nightfall, a Republic shuttle touched down on a landing pad on the outskirts of the city of Sundari. Two Mandalorian Super Commandos that had sworn loyalty to Maul, with repainted armor stood on guard duty. A lone figure, cloaked and hooded in black descended the ramp of the shuttle. The Commandos raised their weapons at the newcomer. Before a syllable crossed their lips, they started gasping for breath and clutching at their throats. The hooded figure just walked by the two as they collapsed to the deck, dead, boarding a skiff and taking off for the palace.
At the Palace
Maul sat on the throne, deep in thought. The Force was telling him something. "I sense a presence, a presence I have not felt since," Maul looked up, eyes wide in horror, "Master!" The two Super Commandos on door guard began to clutch their throats, gasping for breath. Maul stood up as the door opened, and in walked Darth Sidious. The Commando's dropping to the floor, dead. Maul descended the steps to greet his master. As they drew close, Maul dropped to a knee. "Master," he greeted.
"I am most impressed that you have survived your injuries," perhaps one of the truest statements that Maul ever heard Sidious say to him.
"I used your training, Master, and I have built all of this in hopes of returning to your side," Maul humbled himself before Sidious. It was true, he did what Sidious trained him to do, to prepare him to lead the CIS.
Sidious looked up from Maul at Savage, not buying what Maul was saying. "How unfortunate, that you are attempting to deceive me," Sidious turned around.
Maul was confused as to what Sidious was saying. "Master?"
"You have become a rival," Sidious turned back around and flung the Sith brothers up against the Palace walls. They nearly broke through before Sidious dropped them, laughing as he did so. Landing on their feet, the brothers activated their weapons. With a smile, Darth Sidious brandished two lightsabers, activating the crimson blades. Maul looked back at Savage and both nodded at each other before engaging Sidious. As they got into position Sidious let his sabers cut marks into the floor, trading a light blow with Maul before saber locking both Zabraks, a sinister laugh in his throat. He never got to have this kind of fun anymore.
The three Sith dueled their way across the throne room to a balcony. Maul seemingly having managed to guide Sidious that way, trading strikes. Maul hopped up on a ledge and Savage came up, brute force kicking Sidious in the abdomen, sending the Sith Master into the air. Sidious turned and Force Pulled both of them along with him. All three landed on their feet.
Savage tried to impale Sidious to the ground, but missed and activated the other end of his weapon in time to block a double strike from Sidious, who in turn brought his second blade up in time to block a strike from Maul. Managing to get a few meters between the two sides, the Sith were circling each other, looking for the next strike. Before any could make another move, multiple rounds of blaster shots came raining down on the three of them. All three Sith had to disengage to block the rain of fire. Three individuals in Mandalorian armor, two all silver, one painted red and helmetless, landed on the platform while other Mandalorians hovered in the air. The Sith recognized the helmetless one as Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. "Maul, your takeover and occupation of Mandalore has come to an end. Mandalore belongs to the true warriors of Mandalore," Bo-Katan confidently said as she and Satine held their blasters at the Sith.
"Obi-Wan, who is the hooded one?" Satine asked.
It took Obi-Wan a moment of realization. "Darth Sidious," Obi-Wan's eyes went wide in horror. Kenobi ignited his blue lightsaber, and the Kryze sisters activated their electrostaffs. It was a good thing the armor was pure beskar, they were going to need it. Darth Sidious laughed a cruel laugh. This was going to be fun for him.
Seeing no other option of victory, "Kenobi! You want to end the Clone Wars now? Help me kill my master." The enemy of my enemy is my friend, after all.
Kenobi turned to the others, "you heard him, Darth Sidious is the main target now." The three lightsaber wielders closed in on Sidious, who raised his hands and sent them all in different directions. He turned to the group of Mandos in the sky, jumping away from their shots. He raised a hand and let loose bolts of Force Lightning, killing a few and disrupting the Jetpacks of others, sending them all over the place. He turned his attention to the Kryze sisters, he raised a hand and Force Choked both of them. Obi-Wan went charging toward Sidious to save them, who got blasted away with lightning, temporarily blacking out. Not nearly enough to kill as he wanted to enjoy killing Kenobi after he killed the woman he loved. Sidious' concentration was disrupted by several sniper shots from different directions, meaning that he could not get a bead on the shots. Satine and Bo-Katan gasped for breath. "Thank You Ursa," Bo said into her helmet comms.
'I'll deal with the snipers later,' Sidious thought and knew that he would have to keep his senses open for which sniper was firing at him. The Kryzes barely had time to react as Sidious was on top of them. Slashing his sabers at them, playing with his food. It was only by instinct that they could get the electrostaffs up in time to block several of the strikes before he batted them away, he slashed once across the chest plates, thinking that he would cleave both of them in two. To his slight disappointment, the blades had little effect.
The pure Beskar saved the Kryzes' lives. A frown crossed his face, seems he needed to reevaluate. He began striking harder at them, the two sisters had to rely on their armor to save them in blocking the strikes. Despite protecting them, the beskar metal was heating up quickly due to the speed of Sidious' attacks, it was starting to burn their skin.
Bo managed to activate the Shield Generator in her left vambrace, Satine managing it a moment later. Sidious' strikes bouncing off them. Satine activated her other vambrace's flamethrower and Bo used the repulsor in hers to push the Dark Lord away from them, so they could get to their feet. Maul and Savage reached out with the Force and Pulled Sidious back toward them. Bo used the grapple line to pull her melee weapon to her, and in the same motion, fired the rocket mounted to her left vambrace at the Sith, not caring if Maul and Savage got caught in the blast. Sidious jumped high in the air and loosed bolts of lightning on his way down at the Mando sisters.
Kenobi, having come to, caught the bolts aimed for Satine on his blade. Despite the adrenaline rushing through him, he could tell there were some burn marks on his body from the lightning blast he took. He will definitely need some Bacta for those later.
Maul and Savage stepped in to take the bolts for Bo-Katan, only in the interest of having her live long enough to help defeat Sidious. They had to block it on their bodies as Savage never learned to deflect it from Dooku and Maul once took the Force Lightning of a Nightsister on his body during the hunt for Alexi Garyn. Thanks to his rage, Maul took the blast, but it made him drop to a knee. Savage was thrown back into Bo-Katan, knocking the staff out of her hand and her off the platform.
Bo needed to activate her jetpack to get back up to the fight. The Jedi and Sith brothers were trading blows with Sidious when she got back up and Satine was providing support fire from the air, with sniper bolts alternating directions. Sidious Force Repulsed everyone away from him. Everyone went in different directions, with the Mando armored combatants being thrown to a lower level of the Palace grounds, along with Bo-Katan's electrostaff.
Managing to isolate one of his opponents, faster than nearly anyone could move, Darth Sidious twirled both sabers in hand and impaled Savage on both of them and kicked the body away, laughing as he did so. "Brother," Maul whispered the word in shock, he ran and jumped down to his brother's body. Kenobi and the Kryzes had hit the ground hard as the Force attack had left them unable to activate their jetpacks in time.
"That hurt, something is definitely broken," Bo-Katan commented as she felt a few ribs crack, as she got to her feet. Looking over at Satine, she saw that Satine had landed better than her.
"I think my shoulder is dislocated," Satine could feel an arm going a bit numb from it. She had to brace herself on the ground to be able pop it back into place. It was not perfect, but it would allow her to continue the fight, as she could feel strength returning to the arm in question. As long as she could hold a blaster, she was good.
As they were getting to their feet, Savage's body came down next to them.
"That's not good," Satine said as Maul landed next to Savage. In a rare moment of kindness, Maul took his dying brother's hand and held it tight in both of his. Green Nightsister magic was radiating off of Savage.
"Brother, I am an unworthy apprentice. I am not like you, I never was." Savage had reverted to his pre-enhanced state and died. Maul was saddened at his loss. Kenobi never thought he would see a mournful face on the Sith Lord that had killed Master Qui-Gon. Maul's face hardened in anger at the sound of Sidious' evil laugh.
"Remember Maul, the first and only reality of the Sith is that there can only be two, and you are no longer my apprentice," Maul turned his head to look in hate at his master. "You have been replaced," Sidious jumped down from the ledge to continue his fun, activating his blades as he landed. Obi-Wan activated his blade and the Kryzes activated their electrostaffs. Now, they were at a slight disadvantage without Savage.
"Palpatine! You will die for this," Maul shouted in rage at Sidious for the death of Savage. Maul picked up his brother's weapon in his preferred hand, one similar to what he once held. Activating both ends, he now wielded three blades. His rage fueled the dark side inside him.
"Chancellor?" Obi-Wan asked the hooded Sith Master. Sidious' teeth crunched, there can be no witnesses this time.
"Help me kill him, and I'll tell you everything I know, Kenobi." Maul advanced on Sidious with the dual blade raised in one hand and his single half in the other.
Both Mandos let loose with jets of flame from their gauntlets, Sidious held the flame back with the Force. Maul charged in, Sidious brought both sabers to bear down on his former apprentice, his robes getting singed a bit from the flames. Kenobi caught one of them, and Maul caught the other on two of his activated blades. "How could you, Chancellor?"
Sidious laughed, "The Jedi are truly blind if they could not see me for all these years."
For the second time in recent memory, Satine was shocked at the revelation that someone she had once respected, even if she did not trust them, turned out to be an enemy.
Sidious stepped away from the group to recenter. He sensed something, multiple presences in the Light Side, and two of them had darkness to them. He knew all three of them by sense alone. "No, what are they doing here?" Sidious asked. Both Kenobi and Maul were confused, but also felt it too. Obi-Wan was relieved to have the backup right now, having recognized the Force signatures. Maul was a mixed bag as to these new arrivals.
A flat speeder came and sat down near them. Three Jedi hopped off of it, activating their weapons. One blue, one purple, and one short green one.
"Darth Sidious. At last, we meet," the Grand Master greeted his foe.
"Master Yoda, at last you have found me. After more than a decade of searching in vain," Sidious taunted the little green Jedi Master.
"Master Yoda, he's Chancellor Palpatine," Kenobi shouted. Maul used the Force to lower Sidious' cowl, revealing that he had been telling the truth.
"Adept at hiding, you have been," Yoda said, ashamed that he didn't see it all these years.
Palpatine turned his gaze to Anakin. "You should not be here, Anakin," Palpatine used his grandfatherly voice.
"I can't believe I trusted you. I confided in you, and thought you were a mentor and a friend. You have been playing me ever since we met," Anakin's ire was rising, as he raised his lightsaber.
"That was your mistake, Skywalker," Sidious chided.
"More than just playing you, Skywalker. He has been grooming you, to be his apprentice. Dooku is a temporary replacement, isn't he?" Maul revealed. He recently had a vision of this happening.
"The Dark Side is strong in you, Skywalker. It only needs to be let out, join me and we can bring about great change for the galaxy," Sidious offered.
"Never, I will never join the Dark Side," Anakin said, which seemed to ease Windu's concern, considering his own struggle with the Dark Side.
"What is your stake in this, Darth Maul?" Windu asked the red and black Zabrak.
"The Enemy of Your Enemy is your friend, Jedi. I have my own reasons to fight on your side, for now. Once our common foe is dead, we will be enemies once again," Maul answered.
"Palpatine just killed his brother," Bo pointed to the corpse nearby.
"One less Sith then," Windu remarked. Maul had half a mind to engage Windu in combat for that one, but decided that now was not the time. Yoda and Windu engaged the Dark Lord while Anakin checked on Obi-Wan and the Kryzes as they caught their breath.
"Are you three alright?" Anakin asked.
"Yes, Anakin. Took a few knocks during that fight. Sidious hits like a Umbaran hover tank with that lightning of his." Anakin noticed the scoring on the Beskar armor. "Duchess?"
"I am okay, Master Jedi. The armor took it standing," Satine rolled her neck, and pushed on her back. "The physical impact, well, I'll be sore later." Anakin looked over to Bo-Katan, who merely nodded that she was okay. Anakin looked over to where Maul stood regaining his energy.
"I remember you, from when I was younger," Anakin said to the Zabrak Sith Lord.
Maul's yellow eyes looked over to Skywalker. "I don't remember you," Maul tried to recall the Jedi before him.
"You nearly ran me over with your speeder on Tatooine, and I saw you from the cockpit of an N-1 during the Battle of Naboo," Anakin reminded Maul. Maul's lip curled in a half smile at both memories.
"So good to see you again, then." Not a hint of actual happiness in Maul's voice.
Meanwhile, as the lightsaber duel continued, Sidious began to realize something. He was spending more energy than he would have liked on this duel. It did not help that at his age, the Dark Side took more of a toll on him, as well as Master Windu's use of Vaapad, allowing him to feed off of Sidious' dark energy to fuel himself. Yoda was proving difficult as well, with his acrobatic moves of Form IV, Ataru. Getting a saber lock with both Jedi masters, "Come Master Yoda, let us take our rightful place in the universe, as gods," the Dark Wizard of the Force said to the Light Wizard of the Force.
"Not interested in godhood, am I. Reach it, you will not," Yoda said with finality.
Turning to the Master of the Order, "Master Windu, you are no stranger to darkness. Imagine what we could achieve together, release your anger," he tempted.
"While true that I know my darkness, I am a weapon of the Light, and a firm believer in the Jedi. I reject your offer, Sidious, now and forever." Windu broke his lock and began an offensive again, putting Sidious and the back foot.
While Sidious was distracted with the two most senior Jedi Masters, the Kryzes finally regained their strength. The Kryze sisters used their whip cords to grab both of Sidious' legs, and pulled them out on him. As he got back up, both sisters used shock and paralyzing darts to take him down. They unloaded enough paralyzing darts that it would keep the Dark Lord down long enough to get binders on him.
Maul moved to strike his master down, but Obi-Wan intercepted the attack. "He is too dangerous to be left alive," Maul tried to reason with Kenobi and the Jedi.
"He will stand trial," Kenobi said. "As will you, for the death of Master Qui-Gon."
Satine hit Maul in the neck with a paralyzing dart, dropping him to the ground. "That is for trying to kill me."
"Does anyone have Stun Cuffs for them?" Bo-Katan asked. Anakin reached for the back of his utility belt and grabbed the pair he carried as a Jedi Guardian. Also, he had brought down enough Separatist war criminals that it was wise to always have them on him. He placed them on Sidious, as he was the more important captive.
"We need a few more. I know where some are, keep watch on them," Satine activated her jetpack and went into the palace. Anakin, Yoda, and Mace kept their lightsabers activated at Sidious's limp body. Obi-wan held his saber and Bo had her electrostaff held at striking distance of Maul's head. Mace and Anakin summoned the Sith's sabers to themselves, to keep them from their owner's grasp. Obi-Wan also grabbed Maul and Savage's weapons.
Satine returned before the Sith came with multiple sets of Stun Cuffs, a pair for hands and legs for each of the Sith Lords.
"That was quick," Bo-Katan remarked.
"I knew where they were," Satine handed the binders to the Jedi who fixed most of them to Sidious to make sure he couldn't escape. Only a single pair were needed for Maul.
The Jedi loaded the Sith Lords and Savage's corpse on the flat speeder. Bo took a moment to get a headcount of her team. "Sound off team, who is still alive?" More than she thought came back to her. Switching comm frequencies to the main Death Watch one. "This is Bo-Katan Kyrze. Maul has been deposed, any followers of his that don't want to die, surrender to my forces and help bring those who refuse down." All across the capital city, as the new Mandalorian Civil War was fighting, many of Maul's Super Commandos switched to Bo-Katan's side. Mainly those of her Nite Owls that joined Maul.
The Kryzes sisters escorted the Jedi and their Sith captives to the landing pad. As the other Jedi loaded Sith Master and Apprentice on their shuttle, Satine pulled Obi-Wan aside. "Obi-Wan, are you staying?" Satine asked, as she pulled her helmet off.
"I need to return to Coruscant, but I will come back to make sure things are okay here shortly." Satine understood, this was big for the Order.
Satine made a choice, knowing that it would mean that Obi-Wan would return. "Mandalore requests the Republic's aid in dealing with the new civil war."
"That would likely lead to an invasion," Obi-Wan said, concerned.
"Yes, and the traitors will die, but Mandalore will survive. We always survive," Bo-Katan said, firmly.
"Try to get things under control here without us first. I'll be back before bringing the Clones in," Obi-Wan said as he boarded the shuttle.
As he climbed the ramp, Anakin was waiting for him. "Obi-Wan, where is the Twilight?" One of the few times Anakin didn't stand on formality in front of the other masters, not that Obi-Wan minded that much as he once said to Anakin that they were like brothers. Even Master Windu occasionally let Anakin use his first name if they were alone on a mission together, like on Vanquor with the downed Venator.
Obi-Wan had not wanted to explain that to Anakin yet, but here they were. "Maul blew it up."
"Blew it up?" Anakin's voice turned cold as he looked into the hold at the two Sith Lords.
"To be fair, Anakin, the Twilight was falling apart. It was by sheer will of the Force that the laser cannons activated and that we were able to make lift off before getting shot down, the thing needed to be scrapped." Obi-Wan walked past Anakin.
"Hey, don't take about my ship that way," Anakin followed Obi-Wan into the hold as the ramp and door closed behind them.
Both the Kryzes watched the shuttle take off and disappeared into the stars, before returning to the palace.
Hehe, hehe, hehe. This chapter was the one I worried about making it believeable and keeping Characters in character and such. Funny, it was the first chapter I finished. Fortunately, I had a beta reader look it over for me, and they said I did a great job, so that is good. First time I ever had one too.
Next time, I think we will still be on Mandalore, but then switch back to the Jedi after that. Mandalore just plays a big role in my plans, regarding Obi-Wan's role in this story.
I know I posted four chapters at once, but don't expect it to be a quick turnaround from here on out. I have alot of fics I am writing, some that I can't post here on this site for one reason or another, and most of them are big croossovers with more than two fandoms involved. So, come find me on AO3, same username.