Maul Vs. Vader.
Timeline: Between Empire strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
EU timeline: After the events of shadows of the empire.
***
Darth Vader was unsatisfied with the many droids he had trained to hone his skills with a sabre. The last, he had destroyed within 10 standard seconds. No matter how many times the programmers insisted their machines could learn in combat, insisted an increase in technique, they proved worthless. Vader enhanced his kill time with each of the twenty units until finally there were none left. At 255,000 Imperial credits apiece, that was no small amount, no matter how wealthy he was. The challenge was gone, the chance to gain skill, non-existent.
Vader had heard the rumors throughout his term as the Empires second in command. No one, of course, would ever confront him with it, including Palpatine, but they remained none the less. They ate away at his soul and increased his capacity to hate. While a good thing, increasing the hate would increase his power, it needed to be settled once and for all. In the back of his own mind, the part that remained in the flesh, doubt would dare creep upon him.
He had seen the Sith Lord in action, as a boy on Tatooine, and had eventually learned Qui-Gon Jinn, was murdered by his blade. Vader never witnessed that fight but heard the stories that Obi-Wan would rehash, over and over. Vader even used that story, told by his old master, to beat the doubt back into submission where it belonged.
If Obi-Wan could have destroyed him, as a mere boy, than there should be no challenge to an adult Vader, one who mastered the dark side of the force. Still the doubt persisted.
Bars and meeting places, not in the pits of Couracant, but higher up where individuals who mattered discussed things, lay the groundwork for such talk. Vader was above going to such places but his spies where everywhere and they told him everything. He had half a mind to get a list of names and destroy those that would dare speculate on such blasphemes.
But then he thought more about it.
The technology to create a perfect clone was possible. That was proven years ago and perhaps, improved upon by now. Borrowing a specimen from the Emperor’s private stock, Vader made his way to Kamino two years after being fitted with his life support suit. Even with his mastery of the force, it had taken that long to adapt to it, to make it feel as part of his natural body while in combat. The technicians kept humanizing their droid creations through the years, increasing the challenge level to Vader, but eventually, they were not enough. Now they were no longer necessary, a relief felt by all the droid engineers who escaped with their lives.
It took fifteen years to grow clones of Maul. Ten to get them up to age and five to train them properly in the ways of the force. Vader was no fool however. He used extreme caution and discretion for his side projects. He knew the danger of growing Sith, heard the stories from his master about the Sith wars long ago and made enough calculated risks with the Kaminoans to ensure everyone’s safety, most importantly, his own. They would be as attack dogs, trained in the ways of death, only on authority, when the command was spoken by one of two people. Vader, their master and Rimian, their cultivator, the Kaminoan who altered the DNA for the final batch of clones.
Once mature, Vader had sent for the galaxies best to train them in sabre fighting, acrobatics and the other arts Maul excelled in, and then he had those masters killed. There could be no leaks. Vader himself taught them in the ways of dark power, teaching them everything he knew, understanding the danger that could cause. He restored their entire memory process, using surveillance tapes and induced craotic hypnotism, up to Maul’s death on Naboo. They would be perfect replicas. Without such knowledge the entire project would be unrealistic. Throughout the entire training process, Vader only had to put down one subject, one who would not respond to the voice command. This was an untrained clone, just getting a taste of the dark side and being corrupted because of it. This left him with twenty nine clones, all trained and ready to be tested. Any larger number could have proved fatal and any less, his skill gain would be dismal. Never really considering the possibility of being killed by one, or what would happen if twenty nine trained sith broke loose on Couracant with him dead, Vader called to his trusted
“Bring in Maul number one.”
The short man with the large, shiny face bowed then disappeared for a few moments. Vader would test the first few clones in his mansion on Couracant, more specifically, in his combat room. As large as an auditorium, the room was completely white in color and constructed completely in perm-crete. The caretaker had cleared the room of its various equipment and broken battle droids earlier, in preparation for today’s contest. This was only the beginning of course. Eventually, Vader would silence his critics by unleashing his experiment in front of a Couracant audience, proving once and for all, there never was any comparison. Today however, he would settle for killing one or two and seeing if his work was up to par.
The electronic lighting in the room revved up a notch, to fighting condition, and the ceiling fixtures glowed with an intense white, filling the room’s corners with clear brilliance. Through the only door along the west wall, walked a figure dressed in black, complete with tattoos and a dual light sabre that hung from his mid-section. Creeping slowly through the door, reminding Vader of a caged animal, the clone cautiously walked a few paces forward and stopped when he noticed Darth Vader.
“What is it you will have me do, Master,” Maul asked, not yet being given the vocal command to attack. He bowed in respect to Lord Vader.
“Padme”, Vader ordered in a deep voice.
The change in the clone was immediate. His face, which was docile upon entering the room now contorted with rage. Hard lines formed in his forehead and around his mouth. Yellow teeth bared violence and the small horns on his head gently sweated down his cheeks. At the same time, Maul reached for his belt and ignited his dual Sabre. Red energy expanded in two directions from the hilt, crackling electricity, emitting ozone.
Vader smiled under his mask. Now the clone really did look like Darth Maul, the creature he watched on so many recordings, the creature so many thought more powerful than him.
“Now Maul,” Vader said raising his fight hand into a fist, “I give you the glory to die before me.”
For a moment, both men stood silent, unmoving. The only hint that neither were made of stone was the oxygen, forcefully filling Vader’s lungs.
It was a moment that lasted only a split second, but to Vader, it was fifteen years worth of work, climaxing in a battle that, for the very first time, he knew he could loose. Unlikely but altogether possible.
Vader’s fist already in the air, he called upon the force immediately and closed Maul’s throat, eliminating his air intake. Looking upon his rival’s face, for a moment, Vader was disappointed, thinking it would be all too easy.
Maul panicked, his face no longer full of rage but fear. He would not let Vader gain an advantage so easily. Calling on his own skill of the force, using his rage, Maul opened his throat and smiled.
As did Vader. There was but a small moment when he felt pride over his accomplishment, training the clone to use the force to counter his choke grip. The moment was fleeting however as Darth Maul launched into the air, across the room in a double flip and landed behind Lord Vader. As the blade of red energy landed firmly on Vader’s shoulder, cutting into his suit and exposing burned circuits, the force brought Vader’s ignited light sabre to his hand and he blocked Mauls next blow, one that would have taken off his head. Both Lord’s took a step back, readied their light saber’s and studied the other.
Vader left the room empty for a reason. He did not want his mastery of the force to be an excuse for his destruction of Maul. Yes, he would use his rage to let the force flow through him, make his older body strong and his electronic limbs as one but this was not about moving nor hurling objects through the air. It was about physically beating an opponent who was extremely skilled with a light sabre. Vader knew otherwise, Maul would not stand a chance, as Skywalker didn’t, even if his skill was not as great…yet.
There would be no excuses when this was over, Vader thought. He would fight to Maul’s supposed strengths.
And he did very well.
For several minutes, Vader used every bit of his skill to stop incoming blows including a few close calls. Maul used his dual sabre very well; it was but a blur, even to the electronic sighting in Vader’s mask. But the Dark Lord did succeed in stopping it, without taking another hit to a tender region. His strategy was simple, even at his advanced age and with Maul in his physical prime. He would outlast the Sith.
As a boy, when he was Anakin Skywalker, his greatest asset in the force, was growing stronger in battle. Other opponents would weaken, even Obi-Wan when they spared, but he would only get faster, his blows more powerful as the force flowed through him. And that was done with the weaker side of the force. Now, as a master of the dark side, it grew tenfold. His rage increased as the battle progressed past ten standard minutes; he could see Maul slowing down and could feel his own power increase.
To Vader, Maul was moving in slow motion. The duel up to this point had been an offensive showcase on Maul’s side and all defense on Vader’s. As the two men locked sabres for a final time, Maul was shocked at Vader’s strength, finally being thrown backwards and off his guard.
Vader waited.
Maul stood up and charged, spinning his weapon, trying to slide it upwards as he reached sabre distance, to remove Vader’s arm at the elbow. The Dark Lord saw the maneuver happen a second before it did, shuffled to the side and cut the duel sabre in two with a downward blow. The dead piece of perma-steel slid across the white floor, hitting the wall with a clinking sound and echoed. Maul again backed up and readied his stance to adapt a single blade style. Vader noticed the fear, sensed it and that excited him. The end was near and he knew it.
Again Maul charged. Reaching striking distance, the Sith lord jumped and spun to Vader’s rear. He was met with a red beam of energy that slid through him, starting at his groin, cutting sideways, taking one leg and a quarter of the torso with it.
Vader used the force to push Maul’s deactivated sabre away and look down on him, still conscious and still full of rage.
“As I expected,” the Dark Lord said, “no contest.”
Using his blade to end Maul’s misery, he gently pushed it through the neck, separating the head from the body.
Calling for his caretaker, Vader was just getting warmed up, “Clean this up and get me Maul number two.”
Hot! I am so totally wet right now. Could we please make this a ménage ŕ trois? I would completely get off if we introduced Sate Pestage. Oh, ...I can't hold it anymore! This fantasy is so AWESOME!!!
KMC Community Forums
Jul 28th, 2005 03:43 AM
http://darthglentract.tripod.com/index.html Go Jawa's!!
