What Lies Beneath

Chapter 5: Elimination Games

The tunnel from 500 Republica out to the Works stretched levels below the street, dank, cold, and dark, filled with all manner of vermin. Lord Sidious had worked to have it sealed over the years, avoiding criminal activity which could lead to someone observing his own use of it.

He found himself forced, as always, to steal time from the Senate floor to travel out to the Works and young Maul. Or at least, thus always when Sereine was home. 

She had felt repelled enough the night she encountered Sate Pestage; she and Maul must never meet. For any duration of time she was home, he gave Maul strict orders that he was not to approach 500 Republica for any reason. Sidious imagined his apprentice had probably guessed that his master slept with her, but Maul neither commented nor questioned.

The one time his two loyal servants had encountered one another, only one was aware of it. Palpatine had taken Sereine to a restaurant—difficult enough, because she wanted no one aware that she was seeing a client—and placed Maul surreptitiously close enough to observe the sensation of total absence of the Force in a being. Sidious then used the little his own master had left him about masking oneself in the Force to experiment with technique until Maul informed him he felt the same sensation from his master that he had in the restaurant. Sidious then taught the technique to his apprentice, and they practiced upon one another.

The training of a Sith apprentice presented few opportunities for humor, but this exercise had created a sort of game between them. If they, two dark side Force users intimately familiar with one another, could mask themselves well enough to startle one another, chances were either of them could stand right next to even Master Yoda without fear of detection. This had been Sidious's goal, and over the past six months, he believed they had at last perfected it.

Sidious had also perfected the art of the silent entry. Many of his priceless Sith artifacts, he had stored out here at LiMerge with Maul, so of course the place was under strict lock and key; yet Sidious had his ways of sneaking silently in. Added to the obvious benefit of practice, the opportunity to spy upon his apprentice and curtail any untoward behavior was always of value. Sidious made certain to wear soft shoes out here and tread gently.

He discovered his apprentice bent dutifully over his desk, deep in a study Sidious had assigned: the writings of Lord Momin on the preservation of consciousness after death. Sidious stood quietly, counting the minutes.

At length his apprentice stretched, got up, turned—and gasped.

Maul fell immediately to one knee and bowed his head. "My master!"

Sidious chuckled. "Rise, Lord Maul. I have work for you."

Maul rose from the floor with his customary grace. "Yes, my master."

"I am losing my patience with Sendy Veritine. It's time to eliminate him. This I leave to your discretion. I want this done as quietly and as unobtrusively as possible. I will be evaluating you on this result, Lord Maul."

Maul bowed his head. "Yes, my master. If I may ask ... a time frame?"

"As soon as possible."

***

The canisters, employed by a lesser associate of Darth Sidious, hadn't been meant to kill, only to frighten. The first step was to see if the family had stayed in the apartment. Lord Maul slipped out to discover this that evening; it was fairly easy to ascertain.

Maul crouched, in the long shadows of the evening, watching as lights came on in the structure. So ... the family was still there. The next task would be to shadow Veritine for a while and plan.

In the Force, he could feel that some small consciousness was observing him.

***

"I've got to see this creepy guy you saw watching my house," said Joven. "How'm I going to know if it's him if you're not there?"