His master had not been pleased. Maul ended a very unpleasant conversation and turned to the barred window, expecting to be intercepted on his way down. This had to be handled before the departure window, and in any case Master would not have been available much later in the day.
He started down the side of the turret, climbing as fast as a spider. He would not be able to deflect blaster shots without his lightsaber, which it would put him in even worse conflict with his master if he used.
Halfway down, he heard shouts. The Force told him four beings were racing toward him with intent to capture or kill. He glanced over his shoulder; two of them were Rictus and Troller. One was an Aqualish in a large blast helmet that didn't quite conceal his chelicerae. They drew blasters; a tingling warning in the dark side shot through him.
Maul braced his feet on the wall, pushed off with his hands and let the dark side carry him. Blaster bolts singed the stone behind him; stone chips pelted him like stinging hail. He soared in a wide arc over their heads, flipping in midair to land on his feet.
His pursuers pivoted and shot; Maul pivoted and ran. Blaster bolts singed his clothing and seared a burning stripe across his arm and shoulder. He summoned the Force and opened a chasm between himself and his pursuers in two long jumps.
Wildly inaccurate at this range; they kept on firing nonetheless. He heard a hum approaching from behind and glanced backward to see a speeder approaching, driven by Criss the Falleen. He lifted a blaster rifle to business and pointed it at Maul.
"Stop, or I'll shoot you dead!"
Maul leaped again, straight into the air, to come down into the passenger seat as the speeded passed beneath him. He wrenched the rifle away with one commanding twist. Then he grabbed the Falleen's jaw and the back of his head.
He administered another powerful twist to the satisfying feel of resisting muscle and sinew, then a crunch and a pop.
The Falleen's body shuddered and twitched. Maul tossed him from the speeder and assumed the controls.
In minutes the tall estate walls passed beneath him and he crossed some grassy farmland for a few clicks and found a stand of woods in which to conceal himself. A couple of green sentry speeders, ones he recognized as belonging to the Wabo estate, approached some distance away on the back road. They split up and flew in different directions.
Maul cut the engines and waited. When the skies were clear, he palmed his holotransmitter and signaled his master.
Senator Palpatine, comfortable in off-duty clothes, felt pressures easing off of him as he left his luxury penthouse suite in the finest hotel-casino on Ord Mantell, after supervising the butler droid's meticulous unpack-and-press. All his pressures but one.
His campaign manager and political consultant was of course coming to be here for the Galactic Peace Prize awards and formal dinner. She had spent the past three weeks doing something she called a "midterm audit" for some client in the mid-rim, but she knew where her place was this week. She wouldn't be here until later, however, and that one remaining pressure had him eyeing nearly every beautiful woman who passed. He took a seat in the bar where he could watch the main lobby and ordered a snifter of his favorite brandy to pass the time.
He and Sereine would have their reunion; but in the meantime, if he saw someone beautiful and willing, why not avail himself?
He sat for a while, enjoying various blondes, brunettes, and the occasional Twi'lek who passed, until his eyes lit on a cascading river of shiny red curls he found riveting. They ended just above a very shapely bottom encased in a trailing purple dress that hugged its owner just so, and Lord Sidious stopped shopping that instant and thought, That one. The woman stood just inside the lobby doors watching a porter droid wheel in her luggage.
He could only hope she looked as good from the front. Sheev sipped his brandy and waited for her to turn around.
When she did, he lowered his head, shook it once, and laughed to himself. It was Sereine.
She saw him instantly, broke into a huge smile, and hurried over. "Eláa, enSheev!" she said in their native Naboo. Hello, my Sheev. "Mé morallié aperati." I missed you.
He glanced about to be sure they weren't overheard before he greeted her less than professionally. "Eláa, Ederra." Hello, beautiful thing.
He kissed her quickly on the cheek and she said, "Ready for tonight?"
"Ready to get it over with."
"You will be beautiful. Just as beautiful as you've been all year," she said, beckoning the porter droid to follow her to the lifts.
They were not expecting he would actually win the Galactic Peace Prize. She was merely saying, in her usual overblown manner, that he would handle himself well and be supremely likeable for the press.
Sheev scooped up his brandy and followed her into the lift. Halfway to the top floor, they found themselves alone with only the droid. He sat his brandy on top of her luggage and wrapped his arms around her. Her kiss left no doubt they had the same thing on their minds.
As usual, she had booked them adjoining rooms with a connecting door. As the droid started Sereine's unpack-and-press, she slipped into his room and stole into his 'fresher. Sheev took his shoes off and turned down his bed and lay down, anticipating all that would come next when she came out … and then the annunciator he always wore in his upper sleeve went off.
An unanticipated communication from his apprentice.
He got up and glanced about, wondering where he could take it. He slipped into Sereine's room and used her 'fresher.
Holy Force. When he came out, fuming with anger and frustration, he realized he needed some excuse to leave the hotel. With the awards banquet starting in just a few hours, she would be frantic.
He entered his own room again just as she came out of his 'fresher, her hair tied back behind her and her dress seductively unbuttoned in the front. "Eder," she purred. Handsome. "You can lie around for a bit, but I have to be up in an hour. I have a lot to do to get ready."
She laid her palms on his chest and kissed him again, and he realized there was only one thing he could do.
He had to pick a fight with her.