“You don’t believe me,” Damek observed patiently. “No matter. You can live in that world of yours that they have created for as long as you wish. Me? Give me reality over your idealistic fantasy world anyday of the millenium.”
Dirae sighed deeply, truly afraid that what he was saying was true. Would Maul come for her? she asked herself. Could he have withstood that horrible attack? She could only hope it were true.
* * *
Many hours after Damek and Diare’s departure, Maul finally woke up. He found himself laying on the floor of the cockpit, dazed and disoriented. He groaned in pain and held his head as he sat up slowly. He gazed about him with blurred vision and attempted to stand. Gripping the back of the copilot’s chair he suddenly recalled what had happened hours earlier. Rage replaced disorientation as he remembered Damek holding Dirae up by her throat. Strong as she was, she knew she wasn’t any match for the muscle-bound bounty hunter.
He sent out his Force, searching for Diare’s mind. He had to find her! Joined by their Force as they were, to be apart was like having their limbs torn from their bodies slowly. Faintly, a thought came to him.
“Maul..come for me,” Diare’s thoughts whispered in his mind. Maul tried to respond to her pleas but his focus was shaky from the previous attack. He sighed heavily and hobbled out of the cockpit. He had to recover before he attempted to rescue Dirae. Things like this would’ve originally been easier for a Sith Lord like himself, if it had concerned a total stranger that is. Diare had become his life along with his need to drive out the Jedi.
He limped into the medical facility and fell onto the bed there. The medical droid turned to him. “Yes, sir?” it asked in its metallic voice.
“I need to recover from these wounds quickly, Teeone-Oh. Do whatever is necessary to make me well swiftly,” Maul instructed to the droid. It nodded and began hooking him up to a variety of machines. Hang on, Dirae, Maul thought weakly. I’ll come to you.
Dirae was awaken by the sound of Damek cursing. She opened her eyes and saw him tinkering with the companel. A slow smirk curved her lips. The idiot may be the greatest bounty hunter to exist but he certainly knew next to nothing about repairing a ship.
“Problems, bounty hunter?” Diare asked dryly. Damek looked over his shoulder at her, a smirk crossing his face.
“This isn’t my pod; whoever gave this ship to you certainly didn’t know these things were defunct,” he replied tersely, poking a thin-tipped tool into the open companel. Dirae shrugged and leaned back. He continued to fuss with it, cursing the whole time.
“Guess we’ll just die here, bounty hunter,” Dirae remarked casually. Damek sighed gruffly and turned around to face her.
“If you aren’t the noisiest prize!” he snapped. “You’ll be wise to keep your smart mouth shut if you expect to live through this trip.”
“Wasn’t your order to bring me back alive?” Dirae challenged. Damek’s smile was sly.
“Dead or alive were the orders,” he replied. Dirae scowled. Had she known that girl’s family was so touchy she wouldn’t have killed their daughter. But then they should’ve taught her better than that. She turned away, her thoughts shifting from her past actions to Maul. Had he been able to hear her plea? Was he even alive? The thought of him being dead again made her lip quiver and tears formed under her eyes. Damek didn’t seem to notice as he returned to his work.