Disclaimers:
Saint George (Lucasfilm) crated the Star Wars Universe. Lucasfilm owned
by Disney. George Lucas created the Star Wars Universe. Movies by 20th Century
Fox/Disney. I make no Republic Datari {Credits}, Peggats,
Truguts, Wupiupi, etc from my fanfic/fanart/fanfunnies. Story written
purely for enjoyment and the only profit I make is the happiness my writing
brings. The Force is With You Always :)
Summary: Reluctantly and through very odd and
dire circumstances, Darth Maul helps Qui-Gon bring peace to two worlds. AU.
Rating PG
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Master, are you sure
about this?" the young apprentice asked, his face knotted with concern.
"Yes, Obi-Wan. Absolutely. If I do not do this, all these peoples
hopes for peace will be lost."
"But Master, what if
something goes wrong?..."
"It can’t. Millions
of lives depend on it."
"But there's a
possibility."
"There's always a
possibility, Obi-Wan, but let us not dwell of the negative. I must do this."
"Master, it's
dangerous."
"I know, but my
decision is final."
"Yes, Master. You know I only raised my concerns
because I ..."
Qui-Gon smiled, as he lay down on the
bed. "I know, Obi-Wan. I would do the same in your
position."
Obi-Wan held his Master’s hand and
smiled warmly.
* * *
"The operation was
successful," the royal doctor announced.
Obi-Wan sighed inwardly with relief.
"Give your Master
plenty of rest, good food and water."
The young Padawan nodded. "I'll take good care of him."
"I'm sure you
will," the Jedi Master said, with a smile.
"Are you feeling all
right?" the doctor asked, concerned.
"A little tired, but
otherwise, fine."
"Good. Now you must away at once to Shapura
Prime. Everything depends
on this. I am sorry that we cannot afford time
for you to rest."
“I can rest on the way,” Qui-Gon said. Obi-Wan helped him
from the bed.
“Thank you, Jedi
Master. You will be hailed a hero
and a King.”
Qui-Gon smiled warmly and took the
doctor’s hand. “I wish
only to save the people of both worlds and the babe.”
The doctor took the older man’s
hand. Qui-Gon squeezed it gently,
before he left with Obi-Wan.
On the way to the shuttle, the Jedi
Master frowned slightly.
"Master?"
"It's nothing, I'm fine
..."
But Qui-Gon couldn't shake the feeling
that things weren't going to go according to plan.
And they did not. No sooner had they reached their
shuttle, Sith lord,
Darth Maul decided to make his presence
known. Both Jedi ignited their
lightsabres and clashed with him. Obi-Wan deathly worried for his Master
and his charge, though Qui-Gon held his own, despite his discomfort. The Sith bashed Padawan with a savage blow
from the hilt of his lightsabre.
Qui-Gon gave Obi-Wan a worried glance, grateful he was only knocked out
and he fought on, his main focus on what was at stake. Maul kicked him to the floor and knocked
the weapon from his hands. Qui-Gon
reached out with the Force to retrieve it and
almost lost his life in the process as
Maul swiped his sabre. The Jedi
Master fell to the floor and backed off.
Maul raised his lightstaff for the killing blow.
"NO!"
Maul stopped and smiled. "Is that fear I smell, Jedi?"
"It isn't for me,"
Qui-Gon said, allowing Maul to sense. “Please.”
The Sith looked at the Jedi, somewhat
surprised. "You are withchild?" he
asked, incredulous.
Qui-Gon nodded. "It is a long story, but I must
deliver this baby to Shapura Prime."
"What care have I for
your plight?"
"Consider it my last
request. Afterwards you can kill
me."
"I can kill you right
now. A request is just that. It can be denied."
Qui-Gon’s eyes burned into the
others. "Don't make me
beg, because I will. There's too
much at stake here to be destroyed by pride."
The Sith looked impressed. "Very well, Jedi. I shall take accompany you to
Shapura Prime, aboard my infiltrator -
to ensure you do not endeavour to escape." He disengaged his lightsabre.
"Thank you..." Qui-Gon breathed.
With an effort, Qui-Gon stood and had to
be steadied by Darth Maul.
"I do this only because
I respect you, if only a little and I have no quarrel with these worlds or the
unborn babe."
Qui-Gon chuckled softly. "I believe that's the nicest thing
you've ever said to me."
Maul grunted as he lead Qui-Gon aboard.
"Do not try anything
foolish."
"All right. I won't sing in the shower."
Maul smiled mirthlessly. "Humour is often used to mask
fear."
"That's all you think about isn't it? You really ought to get out more. Now I'm going to rest."
Maul glared at him. "You do not know where the rest
room is."
"Then would you be so
kind?"
The Sith grunted and reluctantly showed
the Jedi Master to the rest room.
"Thank you."
Qui-Gon lay on the bed.
"Is there anything else you require? A massage perhaps?" Maul asked asked,
terse and through his blackened teeth
"Just a glass of water."
At this point Maul was just about
boiling over, but forced himself to stay calm. In but a few days he would kill
the Jedi Master and hunt down his Padawan.
It was well worth the wait. He returned with a glass of cool water.
"Anything else?"
Maul asked, glaring darkly at the Jedi.
"No thank you."
Qui-Gon curled up and went to
sleep. The Sith shook his
head. The Force was indeed trying
him.
* * *
Obi-Wan tried to calm himself, but didn't
do a very good job, though he put on a brave face as he spoke to Princess
Milya. She forced herself to
remain calm as the young Jedi told her what had occurred.
"My Master is alive," he
assured, himself as much as the Princess.
"I can sense him."
"The baby?"
"In truth I can't be sure,
but I would have felt my Master's distress if anything had happened."
Milya looked somewhat relieved, though
worry etched her face..
"If our baby dies, so
will all hopes for peace," Prince Evanin said, gravely.
"I know," Obi-Wan
replied gravely. "My Master
will not let that happen."
In truth he did not know what was going
to happen. When he reached out to
the Force, all he sensed was fog.
* * *
"So ... " Maul
began to say.
"How did I become
pregnant?" Qui-Gon said, sensing the Sith's question.
"Curious, ah?"
Maul’s silence clearly said he was
… and the Jedi Master began.
"Milya, Princess of
Etharia fell pregnant almost nine months ago to Prince Evanin."
"Is he not the son of
Alabastor, ruler of Skoria, sworn enemy of Etharia?"
"Yes. They fell in love when he was captured
on Etharia. They hoped
their bonding would bring peace to their
worlds. A peace conference is
being held as we speak on neutral
Shapura Prime."
"But that does not
explain why you-"
"In the final stages of
the pregnancy, the Princess fell ill with an infectious
fever. Should fever have reached the
baby, it would have been stillborn.
They searched for a compatible host to
carry the baby to term."
"And that was you."
"Yes, strange though it
may seem."
Qui-Gon sensed Maul was still curious.
"I can sense the
child," he said, "and feel it, though it is pretty
calm." Qui-Gon touched his side where the baby
slept.
"I hate you,
Jedi."
"What else is
new?"
"You're pregnant and
you're still not fat."
Qui-Gon smiled.
* * *
"You're eating like a bantha," Maul huffed.
"I am eating for two if you don't mind," Qui-Gon replied.
"This baby
needs all the nutrients it can get ...
and I don't suppose you have Iegan
strawberry chocolate?"
"No. So sorry." Maul forced a smile.
"Damn these
cravings."
The next day passed rather
uneventfully. Qui-Gon rolled
over in his
sleep, then awoke. He did not want to sleep on his left
side should he
inadvertently harm the babe. He sat up in bed and stretched, then
vomited. Fortunately a bucket had been placed by
the bedside.
"I'd heard pregnant ...
wome ... err ... people get morning sickness, and so I took precautions. I do not want to have to clean up after
you.”
But Qui-Gon sensed a little concern when
Maul entered his quarters.
"Thank you." Qui-Gon vomited again, then composed
himself, climbed form the bed and began to walk out of the room.
"Where are you
going?" Maul demanded.
"To have a shower and
wash my clothes that is if you don't mind."
"As long as you don't
sing, Jedi - then I'll have to kill you, baby or not."
Qui-Gon smiled. "Oh, don't worry about that."
Maul showed him to the shower room.
"I need to use the water setting. I wouldn't want to use a sonic
shower
on such a fragile babe."
"I have never used the water setting," Maul said.
"You don't know what you're missing." Qui-Gon stepped into the room and
closed the door. He was pleasantly surprised and relieved
to see a small
bath receptacle beneath the shower and
ran himself a warm bath as he placed
his clothes in the cleaner.
"We're going to have a
nice warm bath," Qui-Gon said to the baby, gently stroking his side,
slowly lowering himself into the tub, sighing as he did so, he felt his body
relax, as he submerged beneath the water.
"Ohh …feels good, doesn't it?" The Jedi Master sighed again, as he
removed his hair tie, submerged himself beneath the water and began to wash his
long hair, realising this may be the last bath he ever had.
* * *
"Take us with
you," the Princess demanded.
Obi-Wan was in no mood to be badgered by
royalty, though he sensed
Milya's demand was out of desperation
and he nodded.
"Come on, we haven't any time to waste."
Relieved and grateful princess Milya and
Prince Evanin boarded the shuttle.
Obi-Wan calibrated his shuttle to follow
the ion particle train of Maul's infiltrator which he had guessed was en route
to Shapura Prime. He could only
hope his Master had convinced the Sith to take him there as a last request and
if he had anything to do with it – Obi-Wan would not let Maul have his victory.
* * *
Slowly, Qui-Gon emerged from the bathtub
and winced slightly. Although the
bath was refreshing, he was still quite tired as he retrieved his now clean
clothes
And donned them, feeling clean and
refreshed as he emerged from the room.
"You took your time," Maul
complained.
"Since it may be my
last bath, I wanted to savour the moment." Qui-Gon
began to walk back to the rest room and
had to steady himself on the wall.
"Jedi?"
"You care? I'm
touched."
Maul grunted.
"I'm fine,"
Qui-Gon said. "Nothing a
little rest won't cure."
Maul left the Jedi to it.
Qui-Gon climbed into the bed, and
centred himself, though he felt something
was not quite right. He forced himself to sleep.
Sometime during the night the Jedi
Master awoke, feeling pains in his side.
"No ..."
He took a breath and calmed himself and
called out with the Force to the only one who could help him now.
Maul. I need your help. Now.
The Sith lord came to him, annoyed and
obvious that he'd awoken from his slumber.
"Can't walk to the food unit anymore?" he jeered.
"It's time,"
Qui-Gon said softly.
Maul looked at him, blankly. "Time
for what?"
"You know precisely
what."
"What ..." Maul
pretended he had not understood.
"You heard. It's time."
The Sith shook his head. "No ... No … No! ... We're still a day and a half from
Shapura Prime…"
"It's time."
"It cannot be."
"It is."
The Sith swore.
"Watch that negative tone," Qui-Gon scalded. "Babies are very susceptible to
energy."
Maul grunted. "Can it not wait?"
"No. Whether we want it to or not, this
baby wants to come out now."
Maul shook his head. "How? It can't very well come out the
traditional way."
"No … That would be
rather ... awkward."
Qui-Gon spoke calmly. "You're going to have to do
it."
Maul stared at him. "What! Are you out of your
mind?! How in the Universe am I
supposed to-"
"Use your
lightsabre."
"You can't very well be
serious!"
"All right, use my lightsabre
- but this baby has to be removed and we're
running out of time."
"And how am I supposed
to do it?"
"I'll guide you."
"With a lightsabre in your innards?"
"The Force will nullify
the pain if I concentrate. Maul,
please … we have to hurry."
The Sith shook his head. "I cannot believe you're even asking me to do this."
"Believe me - if there was any other way ..."
Maul shook his head once more. “I…”
"It's not like you
haven't cut people open with that thing before.”
"There's a difference
between maiming people and surgery, Jedi!"
"Surgeons maim people,
they just do it with precision and sew them back
up afterwards."
"That's a big
difference!"
"I thought you'd enjoy
the sight of blood, particularly mine, and you don't even have to sew me back
up afterwards, just ensure the baby is cleaned, kept warm and taken to Shapura
Prime."
"Is that all you care
about?"
"I do not want to die,
Maul if that's what you're asking, but what choice have I? Millions of lives
are at stake, not to mention an innocent, unborn child. Now are you going to do
it or must I struggle to do it myself?"
"I'll do it." Maul
spoke quietly after a pause.
"Thank you. Now fetch some fresh linen and a
receptacle of warm water for
the baby."
Maul grumbled softly, but did as he was
asked as Qui-Gon prepared himself.
The Jedi Master closed his eyes and called on the Living Force.
Maul returned with some linen and small
metal container, filled with warm
water, big enough to bathe a babe.
"Are you ready?"
Slowly, Qui-Gon nodded and closed his
eyes.
* * *
Obi-Wan felt a ripple in the Force. He sensed his Master's life force,
though something was not right. If he could increase speed, he would,
but
he was already at maximum. He tried to contact Qui-Gon through the
force,
but he received no answer. The young Jedi forced himself to remain
calm as
his shuttle raced through space. He was grateful both Prince and
Princess
had fallen asleep. He felt deeply for them, but their
worries only worried him further.
* * *
Qui-Gon indicated where Maul was to
start. The Sith unhinged his second
blade.
"Decrease your blade
length to four inches, and decrease sabre strength to half,” he
instructed, “otherwise you'll harm the baby."
Maul did so, initially believing it was
too short. "Are you sure you
are ready for this?"
Qui-Gon took a breath and nodded, lying
back. "I have to be. Now Insert the tip of the blade
here” he indicated and cut a semi circle with a seven inch radius."
Ever so slowly, Maul began. Qui-Gon felt
the blade, and breathed slowly, thankful to the Living Force, shielding him
from pain.
"Now slowly, peel back the
skin."
The Sith did as Qui-Gon told him. For some reason, seeing the Jedi's blood
and innards did not delight him.
"Now gently part the
internal organs, the baby is behind them."
Maul began to do so. Qui-Gon began to lose consciousness, but
forced himself to remain awake.
The operation took a while before Maul
saw the baby's face. "I
see it,"
he said. "It is so small..." He
wished he hadn't said that aloud.
How the surgeons of Etharia had
performed this operation in the first place was a wonder in itself.
"Now, very carefully, remove the baby and cut
the cord. When the baby is fully
removed, slowly place the child in the warm water. Do not submerge the head."
"I wasn't planning on
drowning it after all this."
Qui-Gon smiled and he chuckled
softly. His body began to feel very
tired, but again he forced himself to remain awake.
Maul's hands began to shake. He didn't think he'd ever been so gentle
in his entire life. He still couldn't
believe he was performing this operation, as he ever so carefully removed the
babe from Qui-Gon's body and cut the cord with the shortened lightsabre blade,
then disengaged it.
The babe barely fit in his hands.
"Congratulations, Jedi,
it's ... it's ... erhh ... I do not
know what it is."
Qui-Gon smiled and spoke weakly from
fatigue. "Etharian and Skorian
babies
are born androgynous. It will be a few days before the baby's
sex is known."
Maul slowly placed the babe into the
warm water. When he heard the baby
start to wail softly, Qui-Gon smiled and
lost consciousness. Maul bathed the
babe, dried it and placed it in a cloth, one he used to clean the hilt of his
lightsabre and placed the baby. He
looked to the sleeping Jedi with mixed feelings.
At several times during the night, Maul
checked upon the baby, now sleeping, thankfully.
Qui-Gon awoke the following morning,
surprised he awoke at all. He
looked at the operation site, scarred,
but together.
"The baby is
fine," Maul said, sensing the Jedi waking.
"So am I by the looks
of it. I thought you planned to
leave me to die."
"So did I."
"So what went
wrong? Not that I'm
complaining."
"You are not like the
other Jedi,” Maul started.
"That goes without
saying."
"You cared nothing but the safety of
your Padawan, this child and peace
between these two worlds and you were
willing to risk your life for it."
"And you think Jedi
rush around the galaxy like cowboys for our egos?"
Maul said nothing.
"Thank you,"
Qui-Gon said.
"There is nothing to
thank me for."
"It would have been
rather awkward for me to do the operation myself."
"You seem to have
forgotten if I had not interfered, this need not have
happened."
"Not feeling guilty are
you?"
Maul gave Qui-Gon a look. "I was merely raising a point. I did not repair
you because I felt anything for you,
Jedi."
"Gods forbid."
Maul stifled a smile. "I did it because I respect
you."
"Thank you."
“Do you think
they’ll name the baby after you?”
Qui-Gon chuckled, sensing Maul’s
humour was masking his discomfort – these feelings did not come easy for
him.
“Actually it’s royal tradition on both Etharia and Skoria
that the baby is named in honour of the parents. If he becomes a boy, he’s named
father his mother,”
“And a girl is named after her father,” Maul understood.
“It is belived that this balances the masculine and the
feminine. Prince Evanin was named
after his mother, Queen Evalia and Princess Milya was named after her father,
King Milian.”
* * *
Obi-Wan's shuttle arrived half an hour
before Maul's. Relieved, he sensed
his Master's life force, although
somewhat weak. He was prepared to
kill
the Sith, though not in anger. He would not betray his Master's
teachings.
Qui-Gon emerged from Maul's ship,
looking a little worse for wear. He
held the tiny babe in his strong, but gentle hands. Obi-Wan lowered his lightsabre in
disbelief. Princess Milya and
Prince Evanin rushed to Qui-Gon, unable to contain their joy. The Princess did
not hold back her tears as she gently took her baby from the Jedi Master. Prince Evanin tried to, but failed.
"Ohh thank you ... you
have saved our people ... our world
… our beautiful baby …"
The Jedi Master smiled gently. "Your love saved your people. I just helped you along your
journey."
Gently the Princess embraced him. “But if it w sot for your help, we
could not have
She saw a dark figure standing in the
shadows inside the ship and approached him. "Despite your initial
intentions, Darth Maul, I sense you had a played large part in the survival of
my baby." She bowed. “I thank you. We shall build statues of you all in our
town squares as gratitude."
"That's not
necessary," Qui-Gon said.
"Why not?" Maul
asked.
The Jedi Master gave him a look, then
smiled. Reluctantly, Maul
accompanied the party to the chambers to continue the peace talks.
"Behold our
child," Milya said, holding her baby, standing next to
Evanin. "Born between the love of our
peoples. We cannot continue to hate
and kill. We will destroy each other. We almost lost our only hope for peace
– and behold, he lives today because sworn enemies, the Jedi and the Sith
set aside their differences. Can we
not do the same?”
Maul shifted uncomfortably. Qui-Gon wiped a tear form his
cheek. Obi-Wan smiled.
Prince Evanin continued. “The only way to heal the past is
with love. Should our baby become a
Prince, he will be known as Milliardo. Should she become a Princess, her name
will be Evannia."
"I helped save two
worlds," Maul said to Qui-Gon, still not quite
believing it. "If my Master finds out he will
kill me."
"So don't tell
him," Qui-Gon said.
"So what am I going to
tell him?"
"You'll think of
something."
The Sith gave a small smile. "Jedi..." he began to say.
"Next time we meet
we'll be enemies?"
Maul gave a nod. "Did you expect anything
else?"
"No. The last few days
the Jedi and Sith worked in peace.
It was nice,
if only for a moment."
Maul left without another word, though
Qui-Gon sensed his deep respect..
Obi-Wan came to his Master.
"You're so tired,
you're about to collapse."
"Tell me about
it."
The young Jedi took his Master's
hand. "When I came to and you
weren't
there... I sensed you, but I was so
worried."
"I would have felt the
same had it been you."
"So how did you ... the
baby ..."
"It's a long story,
Obi-Wan."
"I'd a feeling you were
going to say that. It's a long trip
back to Coruscant."
Qui-Gon smiled. "I'll tell you
after I've rested."
The two Jedi began to walk together.
"I feel grateful we've
saved these worlds, Master, despite the Councils
misgivings. No one deserves to live on a war torn
world."
Qui-Gon nodded.
The Jedi said their goodbyes to the
Princess and Prince.
"We will be ever
grateful for your help. Forever
will the Jedi and Sith
be known as the peacebringers to our
world."
Qui-Gon smiled somewhat sadly. Perhaps
one day the Jedi and the Sith would find that peace. "Thank you. Your planets will be in our hearts
always."
* * *
"Would you care to explain this?" Darth Sidious asked,
flashing a data
pad into Maul's face.
With a sense of dread, Maul read the
letter, thanking him profusely for saving Etharia and Skoria, by way of
assisting to save the Prince and Princess' baby, the Prince Milliardo.
"No," Maul said quickly.
Sidious folded his arms. "I demand an explanation!"
Maul swallowed. "... It was an experiment."
"An experiment."
“Yes. We spend so much of our time destroying
worlds, controlling them
... I ... I wanted to see what it felt
like to ... save one ... or two..."
Sidious glowered. "And what did it feel like?"
"It felt rather ...
strange, Master." Maul hoped
the older Sith left it at that, but alas, he did not.
"Strange? In a good or
a bad way?"
Maul did not answer. Sidious glared at him.
"What has that Jedi done
to you?"
* * *
"I can't believe this!! ... You let him operate on you? ... But what if
he had ..."
"He didn't,
Obi-Wan."
"You trusted him?"
"I trusted him enough
to keep to his word and help the babe and I trusted the Living Force."
The young Padawan let out an audible
sigh. "That's the last
time I let
you talk me into this."
"As I recall I've only
ever been pregnant once."
"And it's the first and
final time. I won't let you talk me
into anything
like this again." The young
Padawan said with a smile, shaking his head. "That is until the next time you
drag me kicking and screaming to some obscure world that needs rescuing."
Qui-Gon
chuckled, but then spoke seriously.
"Obi-Wan, we saved two worlds. Would you rather they stay at war,
perhaps for many more years, many millions of
people, including children … dying in acts of senseless violence?"
"No, of course not,
Master, but I almost lost you."
Gently Obi-Wan embraced him.
Qui-Gon placed his arms around his
Padawan. "But you didn't. Trust in the
Living Force, Obi-Wan. Even if I had perished, I would never
leave you."
Obi-Wan held Qui-Gon tightly. "I know, Master."
Qui-Gon gently kissed his Padawan's
forehead as the two parted.
"How much time have we before we must return to Coruscant?"
Obi-Wan asked.
"We've barely a moment
to lose, Master. We're long
overdue as it is and you know how Master Windu hates to be kept waiting."
"Well, as he knows full
well, hate leads to the Dark Side and I'm afraid we're going to have to keep
him waiting a little while longer."
"Master?
"We're going to be
fashionably late ... We're taking a detour to Iego."
"Iego? But
That’ll delay us over a week!
What will we tell the council?”
“We will tell them we
have to make an essential detour to the fourth moon of Iego.”
"But Master, whatever
for?"
"Strawberry
chocolate."
*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~