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Order 66

With a deafening roar the Republic Venator Tribunal came crashing out of hyperspace into an empty patch of realspace. Smoke was pouring out all over the destroyer and its engines were sputtering. The Tribunal listed a little bit to its starboard side as it cruised slowly through the void. Luckily for those aboard, no celestial bodies were nearby to pull the crippled Venator into their orbit.

While the Tribunal continued to hang motionless in space, its dorsal hangar bay started to move. As soon as it opened a crack a bright white light erupted out of it, as a shuttle took off and quickly shot away from its mothership.

Aboard the shuttle, Maul allowed himself a quick sigh of relief. He had to hand it to his former Master. That old fool knew how to pull a scheme. A frighteningly effective one.
Maul had sensed it in his confinement. Death and betrayal all over the Galaxy. The Jedi were completely and utterly defeated.

And so was Maul. Almost, at least. Had he not gotten help from two unlikely individuals.
Maul spun his seat around towards the renegade Clone Captain and abandoned Jedi Padawan he shared the shuttle with.
Rex and Ahsoka had both taken a seat behind the pilot’s in the cockpit. Ahsoka had her head in her hands while Rex was looking at his helmet, the black visor staring back at him. Maul didn’t have to read their minds to know they were processing what had just happened to them.

“I’m not going to thank you for helping me escape, if that’s what you were expecting,” Maul spoke up.
Rex scoffed. “Likewise,” he responded while keeping his eyes on his helmet. He slowly reached one hand up to his head and touched the spot where his inhibitor chip had been removed.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be thankful, Maul,” Ahsoka spoke up. Her voice was shaky, but determined. “But I want you to know that I am thankful for you helping me bring Rex back to his senses.”

Now it was Maul’s turn to scoff. He swiveled his seat back towards the shuttle’s controls.
“I didn’t do it to help you. We needed him to get out of that scrapheap.”
“I know,” Ahsoka replied. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t be thankful.”

“Are you sure you needed my help, Maul?” Rex asked, a hint of anger to his voice.
“You didn’t seem to struggle that much with cutting up my brothers by yourself.”

“Oh shut up!” Maul shot back. “They were going to kill you! At least one of us had the guts to do it.”

“We don’t have time for this now!” Ahsoka interrupted the two men. “Right now, we need to survive. And that means sticking together.”
“Does it now? Is that why you brought me along?” Maul asked mockingly.
“Unfortunately, it does.” Ahsoka replied. “I don’t like it either Maul, but we need your help if we want to make it out of this mess.”
“You’re right,” Rex said before turning to Ahsoka. “I don’t like it.”

“Me neither, at least we can agree on that,” Maul said.
“But I can see why you need me. Who better to hide from the Republic with, than with the leader of the Shadow Collective?”
He turned his chair back around.
“The question is, though…” Maul said, with a sinister undertone. “Why should I help you?”

“Because,” Ahsoka replied as she got up from her chair, “you need our help too.”
“Do I now?” Maul responded.
“Whatever just happened, it was something big. And it happened all over the Galaxy,” Ahsoka said. “I know you felt it too, Maul.”
Maul stayed silent.
“This is a battle you can’t win on your own, and neither can we. Our best bet is to stay together.”
Maul broke his silence as he sighed. “You’re right. And I hate that you are.”
He briefly turned back to the controls and entered some coordinates in the nav computer.
“Fly the shuttle to these coordinates,” Maul said as he got out of the pilot’s chair.
“I have a hideout nearby that we can use. It should be safe, at least for a while.”
He left the cockpit. “I’m going to take a break from you two. If you want me to stay in a good mood, you’ll let me.”

Ahsoka followed him with her eyes until the door closed behind him. After that, she turned and headed for the pilot’s seat. She was stopped by Rex’s hand on her shoulder.
“Ahsoka,” he said softly. “Do you trust him?”
Ahsoka’s small smile vanished. “I don’t. But what else can we do?”
Rex sighed. “You’re right. But promise me you keep your guard up.”

Ahsoka nodded and sat down in the pilot’s seat. Rex put his helmet back on and sat down next as her co-pilot. He put a hand on the Hyperdrive thruster and looked at her.
“Punch it,” Ahsoka said.
The stars bent around them as their shuttle accelerated, and vanished into Hyperspace.

1 AO (After Order)

“Whoa! This feels different than I expected,” Rex said as he ignited the blue lightsaber Ahsoka had given him.

The two of them were standing in a forest clearing, not too far away from the giant hollow tree they had set up their camp in. Maul was watching them from the edge of the clearing, leaning against the gray trunk of one of the thick, stubby trees that populated this forest.

The past year had been restless for the trio, fleeing from place to place every time their hideout had been discovered. Smugglers, marauders, Maul’s former criminal associates, all of them seemed to be after their heads.

A few weeks ago Rex had spotted this unknown Outer Rim planet on the scanners of their shuttle, appearing to be a good place to hide out next.
His assumption had proven correct as the three of them had the most relaxing weeks they had in a long while.

After establishing that the planet they had landed on was very sparsely inhabited, they had set up camp and laid low for a while. Now that the coast seemed clear, Ahsoka had decided it was time for weapon’s training. That is, for two of the three uneasy allies.

“Of course, the CLONE gets to wield a saber, but not me…” Maul grumbled as he plucked at his empty belt loop.
“You know why we’re not giving you a weapon, Maul,” Ahsoka said as she ignited her short shoto saber. “We’ve been over this!”
“You can’t be trusted with one!” Rex agreed with her.

“Yeah yeah…” Maul responded while waving the accusation away.
“Don’t blame me when the marauders slaughter us!”

“That’s why I wanted to train Rex,” Ahsoka responded.
“They really surprised us last time and we need to be versatile in case we get caught without our own weapons on hand again.”

She focused her attention on her new pupil again.
“Alright, Rex, now that you are holding the saber, how does it feel?”
Rex was standing in the knee high tall grass of the clearing, both feet firmly planted on the ground. He gripped the hilt of the saber tightly with both hands. The blade of the saber casted the former Captain in a blue glow, as he brought it closer to his face to study it. The clearing was quiet, the only sounds being the soft humming of lightsabers.

Rex raised the saber over his head and slashed down, cutting and scorching the grass in front of him. He slashed again, horizontally this time, and repeated this several times.
Maul was amused to notice the Clone clumsily imitating the form of his old Jedi General.

Having finished his practice swings Rex switched back to a one-handed grip.
“It’s… weird,” he said as he slowly moved the saber from side to side in front of him, studying the movements of the blade and the low hum of the blade cutting air.

“holding it it feels like it weighs barely anything, but when I swing it I can feel some real resistance behind it.”
He looked back at Ahsoka. “How do you swing two of these around so gracefully?”

Ahsoka smiled. “The Force definitely helps with that!”
She switched back to her teacher's voice. “Speaking of the Force, though, we shouldn’t forget you can’t use it. I won’t be able to teach you everything. Please don’t try to block baster fire, for example!”

She grabbed her shoto saber firmly and assumed a starting position.
“I can teach you the basics though. Watch closely, try to copy my movements.”

Maul watched for a bit as the pair went through the basic positions a Youngling learns when first training with a lightsaber. Pretty quickly, though, he turned around and went back to their camp in the woods.

pathetic, he thought to himself. Weapon training from a zealot who swore an oath to only use hers in self defence!
Maul arrived back at their home tree and started work on a campfire. The suns were starting to dip, it would be night soon. And the nights on this planet were cold.
If they would just give me a lightsaber, I could show that Clone how to REALLY deal some damage!

Unfortunately these thoughts would have to stay as wishful thinking. As long as those fools wouldn’t trust him with a weapon!
Actually, no, Maul corrected himself. I shouldn’t call them fools. They’d be fools if they DID trust me with a weapon right away.

The campfire was burning brightly and Maul felt the heat of the flames wash over him. Confident that it would stay burning for a while he decided to head back to the clearing to call Rex and Ahsoka back to camp for dinner.

As Maul approached the clearing he was surprised to see the progress Rex had made in such short time.
Rex and Ahsoka were standing side by side in the middle of the clearing, still working on basic swings. But the Captain’s stance had improved greatly. He was standing perfectly balanced and was swinging his saber with confidence in clean, straight slashes. If Maul didn’t know better, he would have said Rex had been swinging that saber around for years.

“Not bad, Clone!” Maul called out as he entered the clearing.
Rex and Ahsoka stopped their practice to greet him.
“Thanks, I guess,” Rex replied. “Once I figured out the trick, it clicked for me.”
Maul raised an eyebrow. “What trick?”

“As I was swinging this saber around it felt like the saber was fighting back against me trying to keep it straight. It felt strange, but also strangely familiar.”
Rex extinguished the blade and handed Ahsoka her lightsaber back.
“Ahsoka explained to me that a lightsaber can be seen as constantly emitting a stream of energy. And that’s when it made sense to me.”

The Captain unholstered one of his twin blasters. “The force I was feeling is the same as the recoil of my blaster as it fires. If I focus on that and constantly keep the ‘recoil’ of the saber in mind, if that makes sense, it’s easy for me to keep the saber steady.”

Maul nodded. “Not bad, Clone. Glad your kind can use the brain in that bucket of yours.”
Ahsoka chuckled. “I think that’s the closest we’re gonna get to a compliment out of him, Rex!”
Rex gave a hollow smile in response. “I’ll take it, I guess.”

The three of them left the clearing and headed back to camp.
“Tomorrow I want to give blaster training,” Rex said as they were walking.
“No, not you.” He quickly followed, as Maul opened his mouth. “The only way you’re getting a hand on my blasters is by prying them from my cold, dead hands.”
Maul gave him a wry smile in response.
“ohhh… how tempting…”

2 AO (After Order)

Maul saw fire.
No, not fire.
A star.

Clear your mind, focus on your breathing

When Maul breathed in, the star shined brighter.
Breathed out, dimmer again.

Feel the world around you. Sense it, and let it sense you

The star was alone in space.
Didn’t it have planets?
Where were the other stars?
It was so dark in space.
Maul couldn’t see around him.

Maul, clear your mind. Try to calm down.

Maul breathed in deep.
The star burned brighter, but Maul saw nothing.
He breathed deeper again, more quickly.
The star burned brighter and brighter.
Flares shooting out in all directions.
Still Maul saw nothing.
He breathed quicker, stronger.

Calm down, Maul! You’re losing control!

Maul exhaled.
The star imploded, folding in on itself.
A blinding nova overtook all.
Maul felt himself being ripped apart.
Then nothing.

Maul opened his eyes and lurched forward, landing on his hands and knees. He was hyperventilating, trying to regain his composure.
He looked up at Ahsoka, sitting cross-legged in front of him.
Her face carried a look of disappointment, but also compassion.

“Clearing your mind isn’t your strong suit, is it?”
“This isn’t working!” Maul growled.
“And neither is patience,” Ahsoka continued. “But you have to keep trying. You wanted me to teach you how to manage your anger, but that’s going to take time!”

Maul scrambled back up from his knees to his feet. Ahsoka and him were sitting on top of a large, flat rock that jutted out from the landscape. Below them a grassy hill rolled down into a valley carved out by a bubbling stream.
They had been hiding out on Aldhani for a few months now. The planet was barely developed and rarely if ever received visitors from Off-World.
It was the perfect place for people who wanted to stay hidden.

Rex had left them alone a few hours ago, scouting the area for locals to trade supplies with. Ahsoka had decided this moment of quiet was the perfect time to continue their training together. And unfortunately for Maul, that meant meditation.

“How am I supposed to just clear my mind? Think of nothing? I’m always thinking of something!” Maul ranted as he paced back and forth around the rock slab.
“You could start by sitting down, and closing your eyes again,” Ahsoka said as she closed her eyes and breathed deeply.
“Let your breath carry those thoughts, those worries. Every time you exhale, let another thought slip away with it.”

Maul just stared at her with his arms folded.
“You know what you’re saying sounds like complete nonsense, right?” he said.

“I’m trying Maul, I really am,” Ahsoka said.
“But it’s tough to teach you. You’re so…”
She paused briefly as she picked her words.
“Different, from me.”

“Really now?” Maul scoffed as he sat back down on the flat rock across from Ahsoka.
“I expected better from you, of all people.”

“No, I didn’t mean it like that!” Ahsoka responded quickly as she shook her head.
“I meant your connection to the Force! It’s clear you were never trained like me.”

Maul crossed his legs again and straightened his back.
“No offense meant, and none taken,” he said.
“Anyways, that’s not what I meant either.”

Ahsoka tilted her head to one side.
“Really? Then what did you mean?”

Maul looked forward, searching for eye contact with Ahsoka.
“What I meant…” Maul said as he found it, “Is that we’re not as different as you seem to think we are.”

Ahsoka shot back a little and broke eye contact as soon as he’d said it. She shook her head again, fiercely shaking her head.
“No! You’re wrong!” she argued “Or you’re messing with me!”

It was Maul’s turn to tilt his head.
“Come on now, Ahsoka. You’re clever, you must have realized what I’m talking about?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Ahsoka responded, sounding annoyed. She was biting her lip and had her head turned to avoid his eyes.

“Fine…” Maul said, “I’ll explain myself.”
Ahsoka turned back to face him again. Maul could see the hesitation on her face, yet she remained sitting across from him.

“We are both outcasts,” Maul explained. “Students who got discarded by their masters after we failed them.”

“I didn’t-!” Ahsoka protested right away, but Maul shushed her.
“You wanted to hear my explanation. Now let me explain!”

“Let’s start with me,” Maul continued after Ahsoka settled down.
“My old master left me for dead the moment I failed him. I no longer fit in his plans, so I was nothing to him. Then, when I did manage to survive, crawl back up from the filth, he returned. Not to welcome me back, or greet me as an equal, no…”
Maul grimaced.
“To kick me back down into the dump. To show me where he thinks I belong!”

Maul paused his story briefly, recalling his humiliating defeat by Sidious, back on Mandalore. Two against one, yet he had stood no chance. His old master had let him live to show Maul how little of a threat he was. But Maul had to pay a price regardless.
Savage… Maul thought to himself, It won’t have been for nothing, Brother. I’ll show him why he shouldn’t have underestimated me!

“Tragic.” Ahsoka said, shaking Maul from his recollection. “How does this relate to me, though?”
So short with me, Maul thought. Does she really not see it?

“Well…” he responded. “Your tale is just as tragic!”
Maul leaned forward, catching Ahsoka’s eyes with his again.
“A child taken from her home at a young age, with the promise of becoming a peacekeeper. A Jedi KNIGHT.”
Maul scoffed.
“A lie, of course. Look what they turned you into instead. You got readied for war. Sent to the battlefield while you were still a child. Molded into a weapon. A weapon aimed at the Galaxy by the Republic, to keep her in line. You got trained by Masters who preach peace as they plunged planet after planet into chaos. All the while blind to the corruption rotting at the heart of the government.”

Maul saw Ahsoka was getting irritated with him again. But for now, she allowed him to continue.
“Despite this deception,” Maul continued, “You remained loyal to them. To the Jedi, to the Republic. And what did that get you?”
Maul paused, letting her ruminate on his words for a moment.
“And then, out of nowhere, a bomb goes off in the Temple, and they blame YOU!”
Ahsoka let out an involuntary gasp, surprised by the painful memories Maul had dragged up.

“Suddenly, your loyalty meant nothing anymore! All those years you dedicated yourself to serving them! Because in the eyes of your Masters, you became the one thing they never wanted you to be. A mistake!”

Maul sat back up straight, and sighed.
“You became a failure. Just like me.”

Ahsoka jumped upright while staring him down, her eyes burning with rage.
“You’re wrong, Maul! And how dare you speak like you know! Anakin never lost his faith in me! He believed in me! And he fought for me until the very end!”

“I know,” Maul replied, unfazed by her outburst.
“I would have expected nothing less. Skywalker was never good at letting go of his attachments. They never got that out of his system. His anger, and especially his love overpowered his judgements.”
Ahsoka backed off a little, understanding finally starting to set in. Maul once again made eye contact with her.
“That’s why he fell. Skywalker was a failure to the Jedi too. Just like you.”

Ahsoka seemed thrown off for a moment. Maul guessed that, while she had felt Skywalker Turning just like he had done, she had tried her very best to not think about the implications of that since.

“I’m not saying I think you and your master are failures,” Maul elaborated. “But then again, I’m no Jedi…”

“O-okay, Maul, I see your point,” Ahsoka said, sounding a little shaky. She seemed almost tired now that her outburst was over. She sat herself back down across from Maul and crossed her legs again.
“But that’s one similarity between us. That does not make us the same!”

Maul chuckled. “I know. But that’s not the only thing we have in common, Ahsoka.”
“What else?” Ahsoka asked, now slightly leaning forward herself.

“We’re both incredibly determined,” Maul said.
“We don’t give up fighting for our beliefs, and are will to risk everything for them. Your beliefs might differ from mine, but that drive we feel is the same.”
Ahsoka nodded slowly.

“But we’re not stupid!” Maul continued. “If something becomes too much, we know to back off. Or, to improvise. To think out of the box, make compromises and form unlikely alliances.”
Maul laughed as he gestured around himself. To the rock they were sitting on together, the endless Aldhani hills around, and to the Galaxy above them.
“Is that not why we’re sitting here right now?”

Maul’s laugh was joined by a chuckle from Ahsoka.
“Alright, Maul. I’m starting to see what you mean.”

“And finally…” Maul said as his laugh quieted down into a sinister whisper.
“We are both struggling with our connection to the Force. Aren’t you, Ahsoka?”

Ahsoka shot back again, but didn’t break eye contact this time.
“How did you- How long have you known?” She stuttered.
“I’ve felt it in you ever since Order 66 was given,” Maul replied.
“Betrayal… Sadness… Self-doubt…”
Maul gave her a small smile.
“Those are not the feelings of a Jedi.”

Ahsoka sighed as she lowered her head into her hands.
“I can’t hide anything from you, can I?”
She looked back at Maul.
“You’re right,” She said, solemnly. “Ever since I felt that disturbance I have been struggling to connect who I am to how I feel. And to how I’m supposed to be and how I’m supposed to feel. It’s just-”

“A lot. It is a lot, I understand,” Maul finished her thought. “Especially if you have been trained to suppress those feelings for your whole life.”
Ahsoka sniffled, but quickly recomposed herself.
“I’m sorry. It’s been a strange two years since then, hasn’t it?”

Maul reached out a hand towards Ahsoka, open palm facing the sky.
“If you want, I can help you with those feelings stirring inside of you. Teach you how to control those feelings, instead of putting them away or having them control you.”
Ahsoka slowly raised her hand and slowly brought it towards Maul’s, trembling. She looked him in the eyes, and he looked straight back.

At the last moment, Ahsoka pulled back.
“I don’t know… Isn’t this-”
“The Path to the Dark Side of the Force,” Maul said casually.
“Are you still stuck in that old Jedi Dogma, after all this time? After all they did to you?”
He relaxed himself a little and gave her a smile with as much compassion as he could muster.
He hoped it came over as compassionate, at least.

“Don’t worry. I wasn’t planning on making you fall down that path.”
He laughed. “You’d make a terrible Sith!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ahsoka said, sounding genuinely insulted.
“Besides,” Maul continued, “I think that soldier in shiny armor of yours would kill me if I even tried.”

Ahsoka joined his laugh. “Don’t hear Rex call you that. Shiny. He’d kill you just for that.”

Slowly, but confidently this time, Ahsoka brought her hand towards Maul’s again. Her hand felt small, and cold in his.
“Don’t ask me to explain it, but I feel I can trust you, Maul,” Ahsoka said.
“I’d be happy for you to teach me. On one condition.”
Maul raised an eyebrow as he shook her hand.
“In return, you’re going to continue your training with me! We need to keep working on getting your… more extreme emotions in check. Do we have a deal?”

The blood drained from Maul’s face.
“Does that mean more meditation?”
Ahsoka smirked and grabbed his wrist.

Maul looked away from her for a moment, but eventually grumbled and grabbed her wrist too.
“Ugh, FINE!” he growled.

“Great!” Ahsoka said cheerily.
“Let’s start right away! Now, close your eyes and try to listen to your heartbeat.”

Maul sighed as he closed his eyes.
The things I have to do to survive…

3 AO (After Order)

Maul and Rex were foraging for food, deep in the jungle of Felucia. Ahsoka had stayed behind to establish their new camp on the planet. Normally, Maul would help her with that while Rex searched for food.

“So, why did you want to come along with me this time?” Rex asked Maul, as they pushed their way past the tall, blue, luminous flowers that thrived in the jungles.
“Do I not bring enough food back on my own for your liking?”

“No that’s not it,” Maul responded while swatting a swarm of fireflies away from him.
“You’re always the one who goes out to get our food. I just wanted to come along, for a change.”
Rex laughed. “I appreciate the help, but that’s really not necessary. I like gathering food. Camping and survivaling have always been a bit of a hobby of mine.”

“It’s necessary to me,” Maul responded. “I don’t want to become too dependent on you, or Ahsoka for that matter.”

Maul tried to pluck a large fungal pod that Rex had pointed out as being edible earlier, but it was just out of reach. After a few jumps Maul grunted and gave up. He stretched out his arm and the air around him and Rex became thick with the rumblings of Force.
The fungus in front of Maul shook and twitched, before being pulled from the ground and snapped in half by the invisible power. The fungal pods got pulled off and brought neatly to Maul’s hand.

“Thanks, I wouldn’t have been able to get those myself,” Rex said as he took the pods from Maul.
“But I need to address the Hutt in the room. Why is it bad for you to depend on Ahsoka or me? Don’t you trust us?”

“Do you trust me?” Maul retorted.

Rex stared at him for a while, completely motionless.
“I rest my case,” Maul said.

“I think I have a good reason to distrust you,” Rex said, with a look of disdain on his face.
“I’ve seen what you do to Clones that let their guard down. Mandalore showed me what you are capable of.”

Maul shrugged. “Fair enough.”
The two of them continued their search for food in silence.

After a few minutes of wordlessly picking mushrooms, shaking down fungal pods and catching the occasional small creature, Rex decided to speak again.
“Okay, I can’t shake the thought. Why don’t you trust people?” he asked the Zabrak. “Did you ever trust anyone?”

Maul sighed. “I did, actually. Once. And it cost me dearly.”
“Do you… want to talk about it?” Rex asked.
“Not really,” Maul said. “But I’ll tell you, as a sign of goodwill.”
He marched over to Rex, looking down on the Clone Captain while poking at his chest with a finger.
“Don’t you ever share this with anyone, though!” he insisted “Not even Ahsoka!”
“I’ll take it with the grave with me,” Rex reassured him.
“Tell anyone, and I’ll make sure you will,” Maul responded.

Maul used the force to pull down and throw away several of the giant mushrooms and large blue pitcher plants growing around them in the Jungle. Soon he had created a small clearing in the foliage, where he sat down and gestured for Rex to do the same. The Captain sat himself down on the jungle floor, opposite of Maul.

“I used to have a brother,” Maul started. “His name was Savage. Savage was the one who found me, after my body was broken and my mind was shattered. I was just a ghost of myself at that time.”
Maul shuddered as he remembered his lonely existence on Lotho Minor. He noticed however that Rex was listening to him intently, patiently waiting for Maul to continue.
“Savage saved me, and helped me restore my mind. After that, I trained him in the Dark Side of the Force. He was a gifted student. Powerful, but crude and unrefined. He was loyal, however. To me and my ideals. Loyal to a fault, you could say.”

“Your streak of violence and terror chilled many Troopers to the core,” Rex said as Maul paused his story. “Though they would never admit it, of course, many feared what would happen if they encountered you without a Jedi around to protect them.”
“Ahhh! But was it not the Jedi who caused you to come into contact with us?” Maul asked, surprised and amused by the candor of the Captain in front of him.
“It was the Jedi we were hunting, after all.”

“And it was the Jedi we were serving,” Rex retorted. “Even if we didn’t stand a chance, we would never abandon our Generals.”
Rex smiled. “Loyal to fault, you could say.”

That got a chuckle out of Maul.
“Savage became my apprentice, I taught him everything I know,” Maul continued.
“And he was an eager pupil, quickly rivaling me in skill with the Saber. He brought me back from nothing, and I wanted to thank him by pulling him up with me.”
Maul was surprised at the genuine emotion that had started to creep into his voice.
He tried to hide the emotions from showing on his face, but Rex’s softening features told him he was failing.

“Ultimately, our greed became our downfall,” Maul said, sullen.
“We took control of Mandalore, at first as the allies of Deathwatch but eventually, as their oppressors. Mandalore would be the start of our new empire.”

“Our conquest of Mandalore attracted unwanted attention. My old master.”
Maul could no longer hide the sadness in his voice.
“I was sure Savage and I could beat him. The two of us were unstoppable! How quickly we were humbled.”

Maul’s voice started to crack. “I held my brother’s hand as he was dying. He apologized to me, told me he was unworthy to be at my side. He didn’t see that he was just as equal to me as I was to him.”

Maul kept quiet for a moment as he stared at the floor in front of him. Composing himself, but also thinking. Why had he just told Rex all this?
The Clone kept quiet, studying him as Maul pondered.
“I… want to apologize,” Maul finally spoke up.
“It’s alright,” Rex responded. “This was certainly unexpected, but I appreciate you opening up like this.”

“No, not for that,” Maul said.
“Telling you this story made me realize something.”
Maul stared up at Rex, making eye contact.
“I want to apologize for the Clone lives I took on Mandalore, and on board the Tribunal. Those men must have meant a lot to you. Remembering Savage made me realize how it feels to lose a brother.”

Maul could see the former Captain was taken aback by his apology.
“I- I don’t know what to say,” Rex said.
“I know it was a life or death situation,” Maul continued. “I had to fight to survive, just as you did. But still, I feel like my methods could have been a bit less… brutal.”

“I… appreciate that, Maul. Genuinely. Thank you,” Rex said, having grown a little quiet.
The two men sat in the clearing for a bit longer, in silence.
Finally, Rex got back up.
“We should head back to camp,” he said, “or Ahsoka is gonna worry something bad happened to us. We’ve been out here for a while already.”

Maul smiled softly. “She would, wouldn’t she?”
Rex reached out a hand and pulled the Sith up on his feet. Together, they headed back to their camp, where a roaring warm fire would certainly await them.

4 AO (After Order)

Maul, Rex and Ahsoka stood back to back in a snowy forest on Carlac. Ahsoka had her sabers ignited and Rex his blasters primed. Maul stood empty-handed, he was still not permitted a weapon by the other two, but ready to grab and choke anyone who got near.

Their attackers circled around them, both on the ground and in the air. Mandalorian warriors clad in grey beskar plates with blue highlights dove in and out of cover through the trees around them, their jetpacks roaring and leaving trails of smoke. Grounded troops approached slowly in a disorganized circle, weapons primed and ready.
The symbol of a Shriek-Hawk was displayed proudly on their armor.

“Death Watch!” Maul warned the others.
“Your Death Watch or our Death Watch?” Rex asked, mockingly.
“Do not confuse us with those fake spike-headed chauvinists!” One of the Mandalorians responded. His armor was ornately decorated with a large Shriek-Hawk on the chest. The armor of somebody in charge.
“They’ve merely adopted the name while standing for nothing that it represents! We are the true Death Watch!”

“Maul!” the commander addressed the group. “We’ve waited a long time for this! You will pay for what you did to Mandalore!”
“Wait!” Ahsoka called out. “We are Ahsoka Tano and Clone Captain Rex! We fought alongside you during the Siege of Mandalore! Bo-Katan Kryze personally brought us in!”

“Kryze!” the commander spat the name out like it was an insult.
“We no longer follow her lead. She promised us a free Mandalore and instead conspired with the Republic to take a throne she doesn’t deserve when it’s not taken in honest combat! When we objected to her rule, we were beaten and banished to this frozen rock!”

He crouched low, readying the rocket launcher in his jetpack while keeping his helmeted gaze fixed on Ahsoka.
“Any friend of Kryze is an enemy of the Death Watch!”

He fired. The rocket arched through the air and impacted the ground where Ahsoka had previously stood, leaving a large crater. Ahsoka had already leapt up into the air, flying over the commander to engage the Death Watch Troopers standing behind him.

Rex and Maul backed themselves into a large tree, using its large trunk as a shield for attacks from the rear. Rex lay suppressive fire around them, forcing the Mandalorians to maintain their distance, while Maul grabbed any aerial attacker that came too close and flung them away using the Force.

Ahsoka was outnumbered, but holding her own against the onslaught of armored marauders. Her sabers flashed and sparked as they collided with the beskar armor of the Mandalorians. Occasionally she would be forced on the defensive but would turn those situations against her opponents, deflecting blaster bolts away to hit her attackers or quickly dodging sprays of fire which would burn other Troopers instead.
Still, the Death Watch had the numbers advantage and Maul could see her slowly getting swarmed.

He grabbed one of the flying Mandalorians using the Force, and turned him around to expose his jetpack. Rex didn’t need a word and quickly shot the device, igniting it and causing its pilot to crash into several grounded Troopers to take them out.

“She needs help!” He called out to Rex in the brief moment of calm they had created for themselves.
“I’ll cover you!” Rex said. “Pull some attackers away to give her the space she needs!”
Maul nodded and sprinted towards Ahsoka, weaving between the blasts of cover fire Rex provided.
As he moved along he plucked Troopers from the air, smashing them straight down into the ground to immobilize them.

As he made it halfway to the circle of Mandalorians fighting Ahsoka, Maul quickly noticed two things. He couldn’t see the Death Watch commander anymore, and Rex’s firing had stopped.

He slid to a halt and spun around to see Rex and the Commander engaged in a brawl, the commander having snuck up and surprised Rex as he was focused on assisting Ahsoka.
The Mandalorian had his hands on Rex’s wrists, trying to wrest his blasters away from him. Rex was grunting with effort to regain the upper hand, but the Commander managed to overpower him. A sudden headbutt caused Rex to crash backwards towards the ground as he dropped his blasters. The Commander quickly kicked them away from the fallen Clone.

Maul moved into action.
He grabbed two flying Troopers that had positioned themselves between him and Rex and slammed them against a nearby tree. The Mandalorians crumpled down into a heap in the snow, unmoving.

Without hesitating, Maul turned back towards Ahsoka and stretched out his arm, concentrating with all his might.
The lightsaber in Ahsoka’s hand twitched, shook, and got pulled from her grip as I shot towards him, cutting down two of the attackers as it spun in the air past them.
Maul caught the spinning saber in his outstretched hand and readied himself.

Ahsoka quickly adjusted her stance, wielding her remaining saber with both hands against her armored enemies.
“Maul! What are you-!” She yelled back at him, but he didn’t let her finish.

With his arm outstretched to his side, the tip of the lightsaber hovering barely above the ground, Maul dashed towards the fallen Clone and his attacker at full speed.
The blade of the saber was cutting a steaming streak of molten snow and burned grass besides him as he ran.

The Death Watch Commander was standing over Rex, one foot on his chest to keep him from moving. Rex was fighting to get the Commander off of him with one hand, while trying to reach for his blasters with the other. He grasped at the ground, pulling clumps of snow and dirt loose, but was unable to reach his weapons.

The Mandalorian Commander laughed as he aimed his blaster at the head of the struggling Captain.
“Not so tough now huh, Clone? This is payback for what your kind did on-”

The Commander’s words got cut short as his head got separated from his body, in a buzzing slash of bright blue light. He fell to his knees before slumping sideways and landing in the snow next to Rex with a thud. His head fell down next to the body, but his helmet didn’t come along with it.

Rex looked up to see Maul standing over him, lightsaber hilt in one hand and the beskar helmet of the dead Commander in the other. He pulled Rex’s blasters back towards the Clone with the flick of a finger.
“Can you stand?” Maul asked.
“I’m alright,” Rex responded as he scrambled up. “A little bruised from the fall, but that’s it.”

Maul raised the Commander’s helmet above his head as he shouted across the battlefield.
“Alright you worms, Fighting’s over!” Maul snarled “Your Commander has been bested by me in single combat. So, as your new leader, I order you to leave this place immediately! Crawl back into the miserable hole you came from!”
His claim caught the attention of the Mandalorians, who disengaged to focus on him. Maul could see several of them approach and ready their weapons. He flung the Commander’s helmet into the crowd and reignited the lightsaber, holding the blade in front of his face.

“If any of you disagree,” He continued as he lowered his voice and smiled with a sadistic grin, “I’d be more than happy to cut down each and everyone one of you instead.”

The reality seemed to set in with the Death Watch as they watched their Commander’s helmet roll in the snow in front of them. The vizor had a crack in it where it had collided with Rex’s head.

Slowly, one by one, they holstered their blasters and backed off, before firing up their jetpacks and quickly flying away. Maul waited a few seconds for the roaring of the packs to fade into the distance before he let down his guard. He sighed, extinguished the lightsaber and made his way towards Ahsoka, Rex following close behind him.

Ahsoka did not extinguish her lightsaber as Maul approached her, keeping it lit but at her side. Maul looked over the saber he had taken from her, turning it over a few times to admire the craftsmanship. It felt perfect in his hand as he’d fought with it. Light and elegant, but powerful. Oh-so powerful. This was by far the best lightsaber Maul had ever had the pleasure to wield.

Maul sighed, and held out the saber towards Ahsoka, who gave him a surprised look. She extinguished her blade.
“This is yours,” he said. “I’m… sorry I had to take it from you. I know you are uncomfortable with the thought of me wielding a lightsaber.”

“Maul…”
Ahsoka approached Maul as he held out the saber in an open hand.
She placed her hand on the lightsaber, before closing Maul’s fingers around the hilt.
“You can hold on to it,” Ahsoka said, smiling softly at him.

Maul looked at her in shock.
“Are you sure? I know how personal a Jedi’s weapons are to them! Are you sure you want to trust me with a-”
“Maul.” Ahsoka interrupted the baffled Sith.
“You saved Rex’s life. You acted selfless and brave, and without hesitation. You deserve to wield this saber.”

Maul slowly pulled his hand back, still clutching Ahsoka’s lightsaber. He looked at it, feeling a warm glow spreading through his arm and body.
“Ahsoka, are you sure about this?” Rex asked her.
“I am,” she said. “I feel it. We can trust him.”

Maul kept looking at the saber in his hand.
“I… I don’t know what to say,” he said. “But…”
He slowly handed the saber back to Ahsoka a second time.
“I can’t, this is yours. As much as I appreciate it, I really do, this isn’t my lightsaber.”

This time, Ahsoka accepted the saber back from Maul, she hung it from its hook on her belt.
“I understand. Thanks for the honesty, Maul.”

“That being said…” Maul continued, “If you two are really comfortable with the idea of me wielding a weapon now, I might now a place where I can get a saber of my own. I hid it away, after I took control of Mandalore. We could go and retrieve it?”

“Sure,” Rex responded. “At least when you have a saber I don’t have to defend your ass anymore!”
Ahsoka smiled. “That means he approves! Alright, where are we headed?”

5 AO (After Order)

“This was a mistake, we should have never come here,” Rex said as he tried pulling his arms free from the quicksand he had gotten stuck in. Ahsoka was next to him, also struggling to free herself. The two of them had activated a hidden boobytrap shortly after entering the Nightsister Temple on Dathomir, falling down a deep pit into this pool of quicksand. They both landed upright, but were now stuck in the quicksand up to their middles. Maul had managed to jump away at the last moment and disappeared beyond the edge of the pit.

“Don’t worry!” Ahsoka said,”I’m sure Maul will be back any moment to save us. We just have to hold out until he finds a way to get to us.”
She turned to face Rex.
“He’s going to come save us, right?”

“Come on, Ahsoka,” Rex replied.
“We chose to trust Maul. We cannot start doubting him now. He’s gonna pull through.”
Rex sighed. “I hope so, at least,” he said, under his breath.

Outside the Temple, Maul sat down on a rock to admire his price. In his hand lay the angular hilt of the Darksaber, hidden inside the temple by Maul himself years ago before the siege.
He activated the saber, which sprung to life with a high pitched hum, and turned the weapon from side to side to study the glowing black blade.
This was what he had come all this way for. This blade had been the start of his criminal empire, and could now start its revival after the Clone Wars ended.
All he had to do was walk away.

Maul looked over at the Temple’s entrance, the gaping pit Rex and Ahsoka had fallen into clearly visible in the shadows.
He had warned them about the Temple’s many traps and secrets. But this one had been new to him, too. He had been lucky to not fall in as well.

“He’s not coming back, is he?” Ahsoka said, her voice sounding panicked.
“Calm down,” Rex reassured her. “We have to trust Maul. He’ll come get us. And besides, quicksand isn’t deadly. As long as you remain calm you will remain at the top and not get pulled under.”
“No, Rex. Something’s wrong!” Ahsoka responded, more panicked now.
“I can feel it. It’s this place, the energy in here. It’s like this temple wants to kill us! I can feel myself getting pulled under!”

Slowly, Ahsoka started to sink down into the quicksand. She was stuck up to her chest in the sand now and still sinking lower.
Rex could feel it now too, the evil of the temple pulling him down into the quicksand.
This place was strong with the Dark Side, very strong. No wonder Ahsoka was panicking.

“This is bad, Rex!” Ahsoka yelled. And then, at full volume.
“MAUL! PLEASE HELP US!”
Rex tried to calm himself. They would just have to wait.
But then he felt the quicksand as it reached his chin, and he joined Ahsoka as he cried for help.

Maul listened to Ahsoka’s and Rex’s pleas as he sat outside the temple, observing the glow of the Darksaber.
Do it, a voice inside him told him. Walk away. You don’t need them anymore. They gave you what you wanted. A chance of redemption.
Still, Maul sat on the rock, unmoving.
Why are you not leaving? the voice scolded him. It’s time to consider what matters most. YOU! With this weapon, you can rebuild everything you lost!

From deep inside the pit, Maul heard Ahsoka’s voice echo.
“Maul, please! Save us! We’re almost going under! Something in this pit is pulling is down. We don’t have long!”
Great! the voice told Maul. Now you don’t even have to get your hands dirty. All you have to do, is walk away.

Maul sighed deeply, as he extinguished the Darksaber and got up from the rock.

Ahsoka was struggling to stay afloat in the quicksand. Only her face was still above the surface. Next to her she saw Rex get submerged, only the tip of his helmet still poking out of the quicksand. His armor would give him a few more minutes of air. But after that…
Ahsoka tried to to keep fighting, to resist the pull of the quicksand. But it was overpowering her. She was so tired. She didn’t know how long she could keep it up anymore.

Suddenly, with a loud plop, something crashed down into the quicksand right next to her. She looked to her side to see a long, blood red vine on the sand, leading up and out of the pit. She followed the vine up with her eyes and saw Maul at the top next to it, leaning over the edge and stretching out an arm.
“Ahsoka!” Maul yelled down. “I can pull you up, but not all the way. Once your arms are free, grab onto the vine and help me pull up Rex!”

As he said this, Ahsoka could feel another force pulling on her. As Dathomir was trying to swallow her, Maul was trying to pull her back up to the surface. For a few agonizing seconds, it felt like his pull wasn’t strong enough,
He wouldn’t be able to save her.
“Ahsoka!” Maul called out. “Calm down, control yourself! Your negativity is feeding the pit!”
As she kept getting pulled on from both sides, Ahsoka closed her eyes. She breathed.
Slowly, steadily.

As Ahsoka calmed herself down she could feel herself slowly rising up from the quicksand. She could hear Maul groaning from the strain of pulling her free from the pit. Still, she kept her eyes closed and focused on her breathing.
There was no need to doubt, Maul would free her.

As soon as she could feel her arms being released from the quicksand, Ahsoka’s eyes snapped open. She grabbed onto the vine with one hand and started pulling on Rex using the Force with the other.
“I’m out!” She yelled up to Maul. “Help Rex!”
Together, the two of them slowly but surely pulled Rex back out the quicksand. He was breathing heavily, but he was alive.
Ahsoka grabbed on to his waist as Rex was too weak to hold the vine by himself, and Maul slowly dragged them out of the pit.

After a few back-breaking minutes, the three of them lay in a sweaty, muddy pile on the floor, outside of the Nightsister Temple. Everyone was breathing heavily, but was okay apart from that.

“Sorry,” Maul said in between deep gasps for air, “That it took me so long. I had to find a good vine.”
“It’s alright,” Rex responded as he laid face down on the floor, arms and legs splayed wide.
“I easily could have lasted 30 more seconds in there!”

Eventually, after everyone had recovered, Maul, Ahsoka and Rex got up and headed back to their shuttle to leave Dathomir behind them. Hopefully, for good.
As they were walking to their ship, Ahsoka tugged on Maul’s sleeve.
“There’s something I have to confess to you,” she said softly, while avoiding eye contact.
“When we were trapped in that pit, and I called out to you… I was worried you had abandoned us. Left us for dead.”
Ahsoka looked at him with concern, as if she was worried he would get mad at her.

Instead, Maul gave her a small smile.
“I understand,” he said, “and to be honest, I was almost tempted to do so. But I managed to resist that temptation. Do you know why?”
“Why?” Rex said as he walked closer to Maul and Ahsoka.

“I was thinking about all the things I lost, and all the things I could reclaim now that I have this saber.” Maul patted the hilt on the side of his belt.
“But then I realized the one thing I would never be able to reclaim if I had gotten up and walked away from you.”

Maul turned around to face Ahsoka and Rex.
“Love, friendship, a found family. A place where I belong, call it whatever you want.”
He started fidgeting with his hands, suddenly growing very self-conscious.
“I know we’ve only been traveling together out of necessity, but if you two don’t mind… I- I would like to keep traveling together. I feel a sense of belonging with you that I haven’t felt in a long time.”

Ahsoka and Rex looked at Maul, looked at each other, and back at Maul.
They both burst out laughing.
“What?” Maul asked, confused. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re so dense sometimes!” Ahsoka said, covering her mouth with her hand as she laughed.
“Traveling together out of ‘necessity’ stopped being an issue more than two years ago!” Rex added.
He slapped Maul on the back. “Now come on! Our shuttle is waiting. I’m excited to see where we end up next!”

Ahsoka and Rex walked on. Maul followed after them, feeling that strange warmth inside of him again. He didn’t know what that feeling was, but he could guess.
He was happy.