Darth Maul: A New Dawn (A Swtcw Fanfiction)

Chapter 14: Eliminating loose ends

(The Prism)

Darth Maul was no stranger to pain.

By all accounts, he was deeply intimate with pain. From the moment he was brought into the galaxy, he had known pain: receiving the tattoos of a Dathomirian Zabrak, being trained rigorously as well as brutally by Darth Sidious, being cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi, and suffering from twelve long, excruciating years of isolation, malnourishment, and insanity.

Now, as the Sith Lord was being interrogated by the Jedi warden, Zhao Wen, Darth Maul found that the torture he was going through was laughable. As he was kept in suspense thanks to the throne he was forced to be seated in, the Sith Lord would receive an electric shock if he failed to indulge the Jedi Master's curiosity.

"You will tell me of your plans, Sith." Activating the throne's shock feature, Darth Maul snarled as electricity coursed through him. Once the surge of pain stopped, the Zabrak panted before giving the Jedi warden a murderous glare, however, Master Wen was not afraid of the monster before him. "You will tell me of your military operations, the locations of your criminal syndicate leaders, and you will tell me of this... Blood Star superweapon. And you will tell me now."

Laughing dryly, the Sith Lord looked his foe in the eyes and bore his teeth in defiance. "You will learn nothing, Jedi filth," with a sinister grin, Darth Maul continued. "The Sith have been denied what is rightfully theirs for far too long. The Sith will have their revenge, and Crimson Dawn is the fire that will cleanse the galaxy of the corrupt Republic and accursed Jedi Order."

Once more, Master Wen activated the throne's shock feature, electrifying Darth Maul at a higher setting. As azure tendrils of electricity surged through the Sith Lord, he embraced the pain as he recalled being tormented by Darth Sidious and his Force lightning whenever he had failed him in years past. Not only does he recall such traumatic torment, but he recalls all the pain and suffering in his life before drawing strength from his boiling anger and fuming hatred. Unleashing an animalistic roar, Maul bore his fangs relished in the pain, and used the Force to choke the Jedi warden.

The Jedi guards in the Sith Lord's prison chamber quickly activated their yellow double-bladed lightsabers and rushed to Master Wen's aid as Maul continued to choke the Jedi. Before any of the Jedi guards could close in, Maul released Master Wen and savored the Jedi Master's attempts to regain his breath. Were it up to him, he would've crushed the man's windpipe without pity or mercy, but the Jedi guards would've cut him down in retaliation.

"Relishing in the torture of a prisoner? That is hardly the Jedi way, isn't it?" Chuckling darkly at the Jedi Master, Maul smirked. "Of course, you know that. So why do such a thing?" Narrowing his eyes at the man, the Sith Lord used the Force to probe his mind, and although the Jedi warden stood firm, his anger towards the Zabrak got the better of him, allowing the Sith Lord to reveal why the warden was so hostile towards him. As the Force intertwined their thoughts and emotions, the Jedi warden's facade of composure began to crack, revealing the deep-seated animosity he harbored towards the Zabrak Sith Lord.

"Ah, now I see. You are the brother of General Wen, the Jedi who led a siege of Mandalore some time ago," chuckling darkly as he managed to fetch the truth from the Jedi Master's mind, Darth Maul intended to use this knowledge as a weapon and make the warden unbalanced and expose the worst of the Jedi's attributes. "I sense your familial bond was strong, something that I respect. Unfortunately, when she and her student came to dethrone me, they were unprepared for the challenge we posed, and they died far too quickly."

The air in the chamber crackled with tension as Darth Maul's dark chuckle reverberated off the stone walls. The Sith Lord's gleaming eyes bore into the Jedi Master, a predatory smirk curling on his lips as he unraveled the secrets buried within the warden's mind.