No one said Sith was easy

Author’s note: I own nothing, and I like Comedy and Angst. Oo! Sex in next chappy, Promise!!

Dantooine. Maul snarled silently, the Sith Infiltrator floated invisibly over the planet. (Was this deliberate? No… she is too proud.) He had wasted enough time finding her trail and tracking it, she was there. Somehow, she had managed to land on one of the few planets along the outer rim that housed and trained Jedi. This was more dangerous than sitting before the Jedi temple on Coruscant. (Sith do not fear.) Still, his mind nagged, you will not be able to conceal yourself there as easily. This could endanger far more than just you; this could put years of work in jeopardy.
His fingers hovered over the control panel. (I cannot cease this hunt.) He entered the landing coordinates. (I will be swift, and depart as silently as I can.) A basic scan of the planet as he descended told him all he wished to know. There were very few masters here, and fifteen Padawans. Gently he swept his consciousness over them, then further into the plains. Kath hounds, thousands. He smiled. (A worthy distraction…)

The moon was hidden for a moment as the Infiltrator settled between two grassy hills. For a moment or two all was still, then, with a gentle hiss the door slid open. Kath hounds that had been drawn by the soft sounds of the ship leapt over the hills, their eyes caught and reflected back the red glow from the interior. One by one he bent them, forced them onto their backs in the grass. Gathering their minds like so many leashes he let them go, watched with cold yellow eyes as they ran back into the plains. He would wait; wait until they were far enough from here that it was safe to command them. The wind pressed his cloak against him, blew the hood off his head. It began to rain.

…

Within his private quarters on Coruscant, Sidious felt his apprentice shield himself from view. The thoroughness of the job surprised him, (what has my apprentice done now…) he reached out, caught the last echoes from Maul and traced them. Both eyes snapped open. “…you egotistical fool…” He rose and walked to the window, watched as sheets of rain poured from the sky to flood the streets below. “After all this time, you have learned nothing!” the glass cracked dangerously. (You are not ready for the Jedi…) He closed his eyes again, scanned Dantooine, and judged the severity of the mistake. (If you hear this, my apprentice, leave that world as quickly as you can. I have faith in your field skills, yes, but this is beyond you.)

…

Klacasa looked up from under a farms awning. She removed her helmet, ears straining in an effort to make out what she had heard over the storm. It rose again, hacking braying.

“Oh yay, more Kath hounds.” The baying grew louder, Klacasa raised an amused eyebrow. “Did I miss something? Who let the hounds out?” the smile faded as the yipping and snarling grew even louder. “Maybe they dislike thunderstorms…”

The first of the pack became visible upon the hilltops. They stood there, panting and frothing, yapping, gaining members until a virtual wall of teeth and bad breath loomed like a wave waiting to break. An alpha at the front gave a spasm; it cried out and twitched like an electric wire before falling to its side. Without warning the others swarmed; ripping and gouging the still fighting Kath hound in their jaws as they violently fed. Another dropped, and another, their cries of pain crushed below the masses roar. Klacasa watched disbelieving as the strongest animals fell below the fangs of their pack mates, the rain failing to wash away the blood that slid down the muddy slope.

“By Mandalore…”

One beast looked up from his fellow’s gut, muzzle dripping rubies. Its eyes locked with hers and it gave a deep, rabid growl. Slowly the rest followed suit. A moments terror seized her before she crushed it, (Mandalorians do not fear the beasts, for they are our first tests of strength…) the animals began advancing, breaking into a lope down the hill. (Poodoo)

She stood her ground, hair sopping wet against her face; mouth wide in a battle roar, eyes almost shut as she ran to meet them, Viroswords swinging. The lights in the building flashed on as the first of the hounds placed its paws on her.

It was madness; the hounds reached three more homes before the news reached the Jedi enclave. The ignition of the sabers as the rain fizzled on the blades was drowned by the yowls of man and beast as the field became no more than a cesspool of mud and gore. A deadly lightshow commenced as the Jedi masters mowed down the beasts, rescuing or standing beside farmers who still had shot in their blasters. Klacasa, fully alive at its heart was now using her blasters, swords hopelessly lost in the mess underfoot. She had tossed herself onto the back of a horned Kath hound and was using its frantic running pattern to shoot down the rest. An exclamation from a Jedi knight put a blush on her cheeks. (I think I shot a Jedi. Well, that’s a personal first.) The area around her sufficiently clear she put her blaster to the back of her mounts skull.

“Thanks for the lift.”

*BLAM!*

…

Alone in the rain Darth Maul fell to his knees. Eyes shut in pain he rose again. The pack was decimated, but his goal had been achieved. She would dare not remain, shooing a Jedi, even in a situation such as that had been was a dangerous move. He reached out, hoping to seal the matter. Yes…

He saw threw the feral eyes, the Jedi on the ground, leg immobile, trying not to drown in the muck. He saw the fallen knight look up into the eyes of his death. And Maul smiled at the shock on his face as the jaws came together with a flesh ripping crunch.
One Jedi dead, the hunt ready to continue. He turned his head up into the torrent, and let the wild rain wash him clean.

…

The Jedi gathered about their fallen comrade, his padawan knelt at his side. The farmers looked on in quiet awe, never having seen a dead Jedi before. The padawan made as if to reach out and shake his masters shoulder… another padawan grabbed him, pulling him against him in a shuddering hug. The hand still stretched out, blindly reaching, before the padawan began to scream. Another master stepped forward to remove the body, the padawan fought, clawing and kicking to stop him, the one holding him hugged tighter. At last the strength bled from the frantic movements, the apprentice wretched into the mud.

Klacasa watched it all with a calm that did not reach her eyes. (You did this you know)
She smiled,

(Yes, I did. It was an honorable death at least… unnecessary, but honorable)

(Will you tell yourself that forever? With each mistake, each wayward life, that it had honor?)

Her eyes closed, she let her head rest in her hand. (Yep, this time, those times, any time later… I’ll say whatever I have to, and believe it too.)

(Liar…)

(Oh shut up.)

(Murderer…)

(Heh, look who’s talking.) She looked up when something blocked the rain from hitting her. The padawan looked down at her, eyes empty, hands shaking. A lump made its presence known in her throat, and she brutally pushed it aside.

“I just wanted to tell you, that we know this was not your doing…” Stunned she opened her mouth to respond. “Please, just let me, let me do this.” Her mouth closed. “My master was a good man, and a better Jedi, and now, now he’s with the Force… But if he were here, he’d want to forgive you himself. So I do, I forgive you for him… and for me. May, may the Force…” he turned away, another Jedi came forward and placed a hand on the younger one’s shoulder.

“May the force be with you.” He finished. Then with a gentle hand and soft words lead the master-less Padawan back to the enclave. Stunned she watched them go, (what is wrong with those people...?) She wanted to say something, but there was nothing to say. Silent she walked into the storm, mouth set into a hard line. Get the Part, leave the planet. She’d seen enough.