Sleeper - Part 1
The sun was setting beyond the hangar, the rays shone golden upon her white hair and lit her up with a silhouette of fire. Her touch was cold and hot, all at once. His hands ran over her shoulders and though this was forbidden, it only made him crave it more. Her kiss set him aflame and he had felt nothing like this in his life. He felt her against his body, so soft yet strong, holding her close, never wanting to let her go. He wanted to kiss her, to hold her, to have her until neither of them could move for exhaustion. He would make her his completely.
First he had to report to his master… then he would return to her. Though he didn't want to release her. Is this what it felt like? To be 'normal'? He had seen couples on Coruscant or gangsters with their women, the subtle touches, the gentle caresses and soft looks. The smiles shared between them. He had never thought of it before, other than irritating to witness. Now though… he wanted it. He'd never wanted anything more than this right now. As foolish as it was. When she looked at him with those eyes he could do anything, be anything, he could rule the galaxy by her side and it would feel right. The way she believed in him. The way she looked at him.
His kisses were blistering. Desperate and hungry. He needed more than this. So much more. One hand slid along the curve of her waist as her hands caressed his chest. There was a soft whimper from her as he squeezed her hip and he felt an ache in his abdomen. His master could wait… he needed her now.
Master.
Suddenly he was plunged into ice and the gentle heat of her fell away from him, he looked down as she dropped and he could hear the echo of the voice that crawled up his spine. The golden light faded into darkness.
"You have done well, my young apprentice," the cloaked figure approached from behind and Maul tensed for the pain to come. He looked down to see her, eyes wide on the ground, looking up at him. Afraid. Breathing heavy, trembling. Sith hells, she looked terrified.
"You have captured this spy for me… just as I anticipated…" Sidious was saying and suddenly it was like he was outside his own body. Watching his own face curl into a snarl.
"She was weak, and followed me willingly," Maul said. Yet he didn't. The version of himself he watched stood over Zaiya and by his master's side. Yellow eyes blazed and he looked disgusted down at her.
"No…" the true Maul whispered, though it were as if he were a spectre, some kind of ethereal being, outside his own both while someone else spoke for him, "Zaiya, it's not true!" Maul tried to speak but his voice was unheard by her.
"You have become a powerful Sith, Lord Maul," Sidious hissed, "You have no need for her anymore."
"Sire…?" Zaiya whispered looking up at the Sith that stood in Maul's skin. The Dark Side so strong there. "Sire… I only wanted to help you," she tried to tell him, looking fearful.
"And so you have, witch," the Dark Side Maul hissed, his lip curling and pulling away as the Nightsister reached for him, "Now your usefulness has come to an end."
"Zaiya! Don't listen!" Maul screamed at her. This was foolish! His oldest and only friend. His loyal follower. His- "Don't sit there! Run! Fight!" Why wasn't she moving?! Why was she looking up at this monstrous version of him like that?! Was she a fool! She knew better than to show such weaknesses!
"There is only one way I plan to die, sire…" Zaiya whispered to him, perched on her knees.
"By my hand," Dark Side Maul sneered. She just nodded. No!
"Zaiya don't do this! Do not accept this!" He tried to grab her. To fight, to strike this imposter version of himself.
"Dispose of her, apprentice." Sidious growled and Dark Side Maul ignited his saber. Maul watched in horror and rage as this version of himself stepped closer and slashed at her face. Once more he watched her scream. She reeled back, clutching her face and fell back. Her scream fading as she dropped into a void. Maul's scream matched hers this time, but it was one of rage.
"Now, apprentice… for the other…" Sidious turned his gaze to Maul then and he felt his hearts seize. No. No he wouldn't go back! He wouldn't be trapped there again!
"Maul!" he heard his name and stepped back, turning to the sound. There was a door, and a light shining from beyond, warm flickering light. In the doorway… there she was. Reaching for him, her eyes no longer matching… but it was her. "Hurry!" she cried and he could feel the heat behind him rise. That uncomfortable sweltering heat… the familiar horrific tapping of too many metal legs. His master cackled in sinister laughter as the ground began to fall away. Maul ran. It felt like he was running through loose sand that pulled him down and made it hard to move. Zaiya leaned out of the doorway and Maul reached out his hand. Suddenly his legs were gone, all he could do was crawl through shifting sands, screams, wind rushing, vicious laughter behind him. He heard footsteps running for him, he turned. There he was… the filth. The hypocrite. The Jedi… the wretch… that had stolen his legs and now rushed forward with a twisted sneer, this time to finish him off for good!
Then something grabbed his hand, and pulled hard. The next thing he knew his vision was filled with white and he was thrown forward, to land on something soft. After a moment he realised he was being held. The chaos had passed and he was… safe.
"I'm sorry," a soft whisper spoke above his head, it took a moment to realise he was half-laying across her, and where she'd pulled him in through the door, he'd landed on top of her and she had wrapped her arms around him to protect him in the fall. He pushed himself up and looked around. It was the lab. The one she'd shown him when they had arrived on Kamino. It had taken a long time for him to be able to let go and let his lower half be detached, that in and of itself had been excruciating.
"How…?" he began.
"I am sorry for my delay, sire…" Zaiya whispered, she had a harrowed expression. "I tried to reach you in the nightmare, it took longer than I thought."
"Nightmare?" he murmured, yes… that's right Zaiya and that strange long-necked creature had informed him he would not be conscious for the entire procedure. "Then, I am dreaming this too?"
"Yes sire, I had just arrived for my daily visit," she explained, she seemed, tired.
"You visit me?" he asked, a slight frown on his face.
"Of course, I am never too far from you, my Lord, I will always make sure you are protected." She nodded in affirmation and he recalled the start of this strange dream. Things had felt so real, but it was just a memory. Even this was not real. It felt so tangible, the cold duracrete against his knees, the way her hands felt so soft without her gloves, the scent of her perfume.
"I don't want to be lost to my memories," he told her with a quiet voice, "I have put most of them back in place now. Would you… show me another of yours?" he asked. He was sitting up now, his hands resting on her forearms, as though to keep her from leaving again. He wasn't ready to let go.
"Of course, sire," Zaiya replied with a smile, she moved to stand and helped him up. With a wave of her hand and spark of the green magick, another door appeared. He supposed that things would relate to reality in their minds as well. He followed her through the door.
It was years ago, one of the earlier missions with the bounty hunters. When she was still too young. There was some job they'd been hired to do. Well, Bane was hired and Adaji, Hondo and Siren were nearby. She had been keen to do something more exciting than just scavenging for a while. Apparently there was some item they needed to grab from a convoy of ships headed to Cato Neimoidia. Get it, grab the case of whatever, get out. Easy.
Or so it was meant to be.
Due to poor communication from the droid Hondo had… procured, Bane, Treshan and herself were now pinned down by the security droids, the only thing they could do was wait for Hondo to create enough of a distraction that they could make their way to the security office, then finally make their way out to the ship.
Zaiya was restless, she hated sitting, she hated waiting. She had to do something!
"You followed them quite often," Maul spoke and Zaiya looked up to see him sitting beside her behind the barricade. Her consciousness rising from the memory.
"They are my mentors, I have learned a great deal from them, years spent learning about blasters and trade and even some politics… Dathomir is so cut off that the rest of the Galaxy barely exists there. I had much to learn."
"You admire them," he reasoned.
"Yes, they have done a lot for me," she nodded in response, "they might 'only' be bounty hunters but, there is cunning and a fierceness that I wish to embody, and an honour worthy of respect."
"They have honour?" Maul raised a brow, he might have been Sith but there were codes and rules, as she recalled. No wonder he looked so offended.
"They do, though it is a different set of rules to yours or…" a Jedi's. Though she neglected speaking the last.
"Have you got the control matrix into that droid yet, Ohnaka?" Bane growled into his comm on Zaiya's other side and the memory was alive again.
[Don't rush me! These things take time!] Hondo's lilt scoffed back at him through the speaker.
"You mean you don't know what the kriff you're doing!" Zaiya snapped irritably. Bane smirked.
[You watch your mouth!] Hondo retorted. She had been talking back more during this time, both Hondo and Adaji had noticed and disliked it, though they had said little other than the occasional gripe. She could see now what she had not been able to then, that Bane's belief that he had to be alone, and to be strong was to walk a lonely path, was impacting her own attitudes and the way she treated the others.
"This is ridiculous! We can't rely on him!" Zaiya snarled in a sudden anger, "I can do it myself!" She ignored the cries of the two men beside her and stood, whirling to face the droids, using her magick she shoved her hands out before her, a spark of green sent the droids reeling back, but straight into a pipe running along the interior of the hull. One of the droids reached for it and ruptured the line, sending a stream of gas into the room. The smell was noxious and before she could realise why it seemed familiar, she was hauled up by the scruff of her neck and Adaji was screaming at her to run. The tone was so urgent that she could not help but follow, chasing after Bane and the Mandalorian as they made their way back to the ship. Why were they going back?! They needed the case! She tried to protest but she was hauled up and almost thrown into Hondo's ship in front of Adaji while Bane roared at the Pirate to detach.
Zaiya heard blaster fire and all at once she realised what that gas was. It was fuel fumes. The fireball that rushed at them through the opening singed her hair and Adaji was barely through the hatch, almost sucked into space as the ship they had attacked was being blown to pieces.
They managed to get the hatch closed and sat panting to catch their breath for a second before Bane rounded on her, grabbing her by her shirt, she was barely touching the ground. Adaji was still recovering and she heard his groan as he sat up.
"Wh- Bane! Put her down!"
"What was that?! You got some sort of death wish!?" he snarled at her. "We lost the cargo because of you! Were you trying to kill us?! You didn't listen to a damn thing, did you?"
"I… I thought I could-" she started but Bane shoved her to the ground where she went sprawling across the floor, smacking her head on the side of one of the crates. The next thing out of Adaji's mouth was a string of curses in Mando'a as he stumbled to his feet.
"This is why I work alone, especially not with weak little children!" he spat and turned away, "reckless..." heading up to the cockpit. Zaiya just sat there on the floor, in pain and feeling a pit grow in her stomach. She'd messed up. She ruined the job. She'd damaged Bane's reputation… she'd nearly gotten them all killed! And for what? Pride?
"Hey, kid…" Adaji said, shifting to sit beside her, gingerly tugging off his helmet, he seemed a little torn between chasing Bane down and staying to talk to her. "Don't listen to him, okay?" he started, "he didn't mean it."
"Yes he did." Zaiya replied dully, staring at the floor.
"Yeah okay maybe he did." The Mandalorian sighed, "but still, it's alright-"
"No it isn't," she retorted with a scowl, "I screwed up, I could have killed us all and the job is ruined. Bane is right, I don't have the skills to do this." She glared hard at the durasteel floor. "But I will."
"I mean… we all make mistakes, kid." Adaji tried, "what he did was not okay."
"I deserved it," she replied, her brows still knit in anger. Though not at Bane, "I thought I knew better but… maybe he is right about being alone… then the mistakes you make only affect yourself."
"Maybe so, but then you don't have someone to pull you out of it if things do go wrong, yeah?" he nudged her and smiled, trying to get her to cheer up. But Zaiya had learned much that day and had much to think about.
"And here I thought you would show me a pleasant memory," Maul spoke, breaking her from the scene.
"It's not overly pleasant, but it did show me the cost of my mistakes. That being foolhardy and rushing in can get myself and those I care for hurt," she looked to Maul with a sigh, he nodded, seeming to understand it. Of course he would. A Sith did not make mistakes, he knew such lessons better than anyone, "I wasn't given all the information and I did not ask for it. This day taught me to be a better strategist and planner when it came to jobs…" She stood, surveying the room as it and the memory itself began to fade. "As I said, sire, those bounty hunters taught me many things."
"Again!" Zaiya cried, standing with her head high, arms folded as she watched the troopers run through the gauntlet for the third time that session. She was pushing them, these were meant to be four enhanced clones, she wanted to see what they could do above the average clone that had nothing to do with training. This run had more specific tasks, tailored to each of their skills. From what she understood, Hunter and Wrecker's abilities were a little more obvious, while Crosshair's and Tech's were more subtle. It seemed Crosshair had improved sight and a keen sense to understand angles and trajectory in seconds in a way that only a seasoned sniper with decades of practice would have. Tech, at first she was sure it was his datapad, that it had increased capabilities, but she found that it was a completely standard datapad, though he had enhanced it himself with code and gadgets, the cheeky thing. It seemed his mind processed things faster and he was able to deduce things about people as well as remember nearly everything he read.
It was impressive, though now she had to test them, she had to come up with new variations of the run every time. These four clones had to learn them not just separately, but on their own. Tech had his datapad taken off him after he hacked into her comm after the second run. She was impressed, but punished them lightly by having them run a few laps in order to tire them out.
The session was coming to an end and Wrecker was starting to grumble about the running when she heard a chirp at her wrist.
"Go ahead," she said, still watching the enhanced cadets.
[Siren.] She raised her arm and spoke to the comm strapped to the inside of her arm.
"Jango."
[Where are you?]
"Training hall 9," she replied, looking over her "students."
[Meet me near the living quarters, need to discuss something with you.]
"On my way," she responded and whistled, a loud, ear-splitting sound, to the four as the comm cut off, "Bring it in, boys!" she called, waving a hand to beckon them closer. She glanced at her chrono and damn, it was getting quite late. They jolted at the noise and as the droids were powered down, Wrecker let out a groan of contentment.
"That was brutal…" he pouted and headed back over toward her with his brothers.
"For you?" Zaiya replied, "Oh I am sure you've got more than that, soldier," she flashed him a grin and he let out a laugh, punching her in the arm. She clenched her teeth and swayed from the impact. She wasn't about to let him know it hurt, but she still had a bruise on her opposite arm from the one a few days ago.
"Did you see the way I smashed that one droid's head?!" he boasted and she just chuckled.
"Oh I saw it, you all did very well, I am sure in thee month's time you'll all be far surpassed what you're at now." she assured them, "I have been called away so we will end things here for today. Get some rest, alright?" She tapped her comm again.
[This is maintenance,] said a familiar voice.
"Hello Ninety-Nine," she spoke into the comm with a smile, "would you kindly send a cleanup crew to training room 9?"
[Oh! Lady Siren, y-yes mistress, I will send them right away!] Ninety-Nine's voice seemed more energetic on hearing her. It was a pity she could not linger. She stepped back when a voice interrupted her thoughts.
"If I might…?" it was Tech, he gestured to her vaguely and she suddenly remembered that she still had his data pad.
"Ah, of course, here," she held it out to him and smiled, "You're clever but don't think I will let you get away with that little trick again," she laughed softly as he took back the pad, "I shall have to think of some challenging tasks for you to carry out to test that lovely mind of yours, hm?" she tilted her head and Tech seemed to light up at the idea to be tested further, to show his skills off.
"I look forward to it, ma'am," he nodded and left with a salute which she casually returned before heading out herself to meet with the other instructor.
Jango awaited her in the hallway off from the mess, leading towards the living quarters. He seemed agitated, like there was something on his mind.
"What's going on?" Zaiya asked, her eyes searching his face as they began to walk.
"I… need a favour," he admitted, he seemed to be in a hurry. She just looked at him expectantly. "I've been called out on a job, and… I know he's safe here but… I would feel better if someone could keep an eye on him."
"You… want me to babysit Boba?" she asked with a confused expression. Jango hummed slightly and nodded.
"Yes."
"Hm… alright." Jango's head slowly turned to face her and he looked surprised.
"You… don't have any problem with it?" he asked with a slight frown.
"No, why should I?"
"You nearly ripped the head off the long neck for suggesting the same," he replied.
"Maybe, but they were denying my abilities. This is your son, ba'vodu, of course I'll look out for him." She said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. To her of course it was, Jango had helped her, was her father's brother… He was family. She may not have had much of one on Dathomir, and she could not help her Mother, despite wanting to, but she could at least do this. She had promised him, should anything happen to Jango then she would take care of Boba… besides, he seemed like a cute enough kid. If she was really related to him, it wouldn't hurt to learn more about him.
Having agreed however, and as they reached the corridor where his private quarters were, she realised that she had absolutely no idea how to look after a child.
"What made you want to… you know?" she asked vaguely.
"What, you mean Boba?" Jango looked at her with a curious glance.
"Yeah."
"Well, I suppose if they are using my DNA to make an army… I should have something for my own legacy," he shrugged. Zaiya's eyes narrowed and she scoffed.
"You got clucky…" she accused him with a small grin.
"Ah shut up, might happen to you too," Jango retorted.
"Doubt it, I will settle for looking after ones I can hand back, thank you very much," she said with a laugh. "I assume he knows how to do everything himself?"
"Yes, of course," he rolled his eyes at her. "I just… he's been left alone, you know…?"
"Aw, you softie," Zaiya chuckled as they reached the door. Jango nudged her but he was smiling. "Parenthood suits you."
"Shut up," he repeated and the door whooshed open. They heard footsteps and Boba appeared, his big smile muted a little when he saw Zaiya, he was still a little unsure about her. Fair enough, she supposed. His face fell further when he noticed Jango heading for his pack.
"You're leaving?" the boy asked, looking with big dark soulful eyes at his father.
"Yes, new job," Jango nodded, "Not to worry, it's only a short one."
"Anything fun?" Zaiya asked, leaning against the wall.
"Eh, some senator needs cutting down to size, Lord Tyranus was rather insistent," Jango shook his head.
"That does sound fun, if I didn't have to stay I'd offer to join you," she grinned, Jango returned the look.
"Not that exciting, I might contact Zam as a second, she's always got a good sense for it," he mused, packing the last of his things in his rucksack.
"Good idea," Zaiya nodded.
"Are you gonna see Zam?" Boba asked as he padded over to them.
"Yeah, not to worry, I will make sure I say hello for you," Jango chuckled and petted the boy's curly hair.
"Maybe she'll give you another holobook for me?" Boba asked hopefully. Jango just rolled his eyes.
"Not this again,"
"Zam said it's good for me to read…!" Boba protested and Zaiya let out a laugh.
"And she's right, you can learn some pretty helpful things if you read."
"Like that task switching thing?" Jango drawled.
"See? Already proving my point," she preened.
"All I need to read are bounty pucks and people, can't find that in some holonovel," Jango scoffed with another roll of his eyes,
"Well Boba and I will read and you can go do that," she waved a hand at him, then looked to the younger Fett, "What do you say? I can fetch you some new stuff?"
"What kind of stuff?" Boba asked with a confused glance.
"I can teach you about things only witches know…" she waved a hand and a spark of green flame ignited between them. The kid's eyes lit up. Jango let out a laugh before kneeling down to his boy.
"I'll be back soon, Boba, not to worry. Look after Zaiya, alright?" he grinned and Boba laughed a little.
"Alright dad, I will." Jango turned to head out and paused, laying a hand upon her shoulder as he neared her.
"You're just like him," he chuckled, "I think parenthood would have suited him even better," Zaiya felt her hearts being tugged and laid her own hand over his.
"Vor entye, ba'vodu," she replied, her good eye glittering in the light. With a lingering smile, he was gone. He wasn't one for extended goodbyes, so she waited with Boba, the light in the apartment-like room dimmed for resting hours and she moved with him to the window.
Notes:
Oh look! There's some canon in there... or at least mentions of it. Yes that is indeed the mission that leads to the beginning of Attack of the Clones. The second sequel film is finally here! But what does it mean for Jango and Boba? I wonderrrrr... Poor Maul with his nightmares... I dont know if he should ever be rid of them.
Oh my friends I have been writing like mad of this story over the last week. I have really gotten into it again and the words are coming a little easier. Things are still wild in my private life but at least I have this!
Anyway, it's not much from me this week, leave any questions or suggestions, feedback or just something you want to express in the comments! Thank you thank you to those that consistently comment on my fic I read them and I love them so much. As always, I express the utmost adoration for you, my readers and I shall see you next week! Stay safe, be well! 3
