Chapter 24: He lives
Thrawn's POV
It had been two days since Thrawn had arrived at the rebel base on Takodana and he could already tell that pretty much everyone here hated him because of his past but that was fine by him as he was here to crush his enemies not make friends with them. Late at night he had received a message from one of the Royal Guards saying that they had captured one of the Rebels that had met with him at Maz's Castle.
He had told them to kill the rebel and deliver him to the base and make it look like he had been killed by pirates so it was no surprise when Zeb Orrelios' dead body showed up at the front of one of the rebel watch towers. Almost 20 minutes after the first person had seen the body, the whole base had come up to see if it was true. Thrawn just stood from a distance and tried to act surprised although he didn't have to try hard as the attention was focused on the Lasat. A particular group of rebels seemed surprised and a few of them were in tears, he recognised them as the ghost crew who Zeb had fought alongside.
Darth Vader's POV
His eyes slowly opened but shut almost immediately due to the harsh light shinning down on him. All of a sudden he felt something shift against his back and he started to rise up and that's when he realised he was reliving that horrible moment again, the first time he got his suit after being badly burnt on Mustafar by Obi-Wan Kenobi.
"Lord Vader can you hear me?" The familiar voice is his master rang in his ear and funnily enough that was the exact same thing he said the first time he rose from this table. He was sure his master said it on purpose to trigger his memories.
"Where is Thrawn!?!" He half yelled wanting to slice the blue faced alien to pieces for shooting him.
"Patience Vader. Your will get your revenge but first we have a certain Zabrak to deal with." Sidious said as he finally emerged into the light and stood in front of Vader. "Come now, we must not waste any time."
Maul's POV
Maul stood against the wall of Palpatine's office with his hands cuffed to a hook above his head while two Royal Guards stood at the entrance keeping an eye on him until their Master returned. He stood their looking through the large window when the opening of a door caught his attention, he thought it to be Sidious but it was just a girl.
"The Emperor summoned me here" she said to one of the guards. The only response she got was a nod of the head and she went to wait over by the window. I could use you Maul thought to himself.
"I take it your an Inquisitor" Maul said almost yelling to get her attention.
"I'd rather be a rebel then an Inquisitor" she replied not taking her gaze off the view for even a second. "I'm The Emperor's assassin, Barriss Offee. I take it your Maul, the failed apprentice." She said finally turning around.
"Careful how you speak to me. You could be serving me one day very soon." He said with a grin.
"And what gives you that idea" she said, half laughing at what he had just said.
"Because he has one last chance at redemption" The Emperor said as he walked through the doors with Darth Vader behind him.
Darth Vader's POV
The four of them - Maul, Vader, Sidious and Barriss - stood in one of the many courtyards of the Jedi Temple. They had all followed The Emperor here on his command and now they looked at the Sith for their next instructions.
"Darth Maul and Darth Vader, two of the most powerful students I've ever trained. Both have had great success and both have had failures. Now we will see who is the greater. You will both battle each other in hopes of ruling the Empire and the Galaxy by my side and learning the ancient ways of the Sith. The only rule is that one of you must die, now here are your lightsabers and you will begin when I say." Sidious exclaimed.
Sidious and Barriss went around the corner to where there were steps that led up to a terrace and the two took and seat and with a simple nod of The Emperor's head, the battle between Maul and Vader begun.
Maul's POV
Maul quickly ignited his double bladed lightsaber and charged at Vader who seemed to just be staring at him. However that was not the case as just as Maul was about to strike Vader with his lightsaber, Vader force pushed him back across the courtyard. Maul stood up just in time to see Vader's own saber crashing down at him. The two locked sabers for a moment before Maul slipped away and flipped over the top of Vader and threw his lightsaber at Vader who stumbled over due to the surprise.
The two of them exchanged blows against each other for what felt like an hour but they both sensed that the other was getting tired and their fight became more and more sloppy. Finally as Maul once again charged at Vader, the dark lord just raised his hand in a fist and started to force choke Maul which caused the Zabrak to drop his weapon and swipe at his throat as he tried to do something to free himself from Vader's grasp.
He finally felt his airway loosen up as he was thrown across the courtyard and hit a tree and had him gasping for air. He looked up to see Vader's crimson red lightsaber pointed at his neck. He closed his eyes and prepared for the killing blow but it never came so he reopened his eyes to no longer see Vader's lightsaber.
"You know where he is!" Vader said
"Where who is?" Maul asked as he took large breaths.
"Kenobi. Kenobi lives and you know where he is!"