Luke and Han crept through the forest, silently. The shield generator was in sight. The only had to deal with the ten scout troopers on guard and patrolling the perimeter, then they could get in, plant the bombs, and detonate remotely after they had secured the other two shield generators.
"I'd still feel better if we had brought Chewie along."
"Would you relax? We have to split up so we can cover more ground, and you know that Chewie will watch after Leia."
"Yeah, but who's going to watch after me?"
Luke gave Han a stern look, and focused his attention back to the bunker.
"Can't you like, throw that thing and cut all their heads off?"
"My lightsaber? Han, it doesn't work like that."
"Sure it does!"
Luke rolled his eyes. "Look, all we have to do is split up and create a diversion on each side. They won't be able to focus everybody on one side, and we can pick them off easily."
"Whatever you say, kid," replied Han. They two began to separate, Han to the left and Luke to the right.
Suddenly, all the troopers began to levitate off the ground. Han's jaw dropped, and Luke's eyes narrowed.
The blast doors to the shield bunker opened and a pair walked out. One was a blue skinned Duros with a wide brimmed hat, and the other was a Zabrak, colored red and black, his horns sharped to deadly points, holding a long handled lightsaber. His legs were artificial.
"Luke," Han whispered. "What the hell is that?"
The Duros whipped out his blaster pistols and began to pick off the scout troopers as they hovered in mid-air. The Zabrak ignited his lightsaber and hurled it at the remaining troopers, separating their heads from their bodies.
Han and Luke dropped to the ground, trying their best to conceal themselves.
"I told you it can work like that!"
"Han, this is not the time for gloating."
"If we live, just know that I told you so."
"Come out, Jedi. We know you're back there."
Luke and Han exchanged looks, and slowly stood up.
"Just saying, he's the Jedi, not me."
"Han!"
Han gave Luke an innocent look.
"I am Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight. We thank you for taking care of these storm troopers, but I'm afraid we still have a job to do."
The Duros spoke. "I'm sorry, Jedi, but I don't believe we can let you pass. We have invested a lot in this job, and we aren't going to let it go to waste."
Luke ignited his green blade. "Then we will have to destroy you."
Han groaned, and whipped out his blaster pistol, firing rapidly at the Duros and the Zabrak. The Zabrak stepped in front of the Duros and ignited a secondary blade, sending the blaster bolts flying back at Han and Luke.
Han dove for cover as Luke also deflected the blaster bolts, harmlessly into the trees.
"Luke, he has another lightsaber coming out of the end of that one!"
"It's called a saberstaff, Han. Don't worry, we can take them."
Han gave Luke an incredulous look. He pulled a thermal detonator from his coat pocket, activated it, and threw it around the tree and toward's the pair.
The Zabrak held his hand up and caught the detonator, and attempted to return it with the Force, but Luke also held his hand out, holding the detonator in place.
"What are you waiting for, Maul? Send it back to them!" cried the Duros.
"I'm trying, Bane," Maul said, menacingly, strain in his voice.
Luke stood atop a fallen log, stoic, no sign of strain as he prevented the lethal detonator from being returned.
"Hey, I've got an idea!" Han said as he pulled out his blaster once again. He fired off one quick shot, closed his eyes, and dropped to the ground, pulling Luke down as he went.
"What are you doing?!" Luke exclaimed after the detonator exploded. Han was grinning his typical smuggler grin.
They peaked over their cover, and saw the Duros pulling himself back up from the ground. The Zabrak was standing tall, unfazed.
"You fight like cowards," roared Maul.
He began to walk forward, when Luke somersaulted to meet him, lightsaber lit and at the ready.
"Not so fast," Luke said. Maul snarled, and launched a furious offense at Luke. Luke met the strikes high and low, waited until Maul pulled back to bring momentum back to his strikes, and launched a rapid counter-attack. Hard, lightning fast chops at Maul's shoulder's that sent shock waves to his bones.
Han shrugged, and began to fire at the Duros while Luke traded lightning fast blows with the Zabrak.
Cad Bane tucked and rolled, dodging Han's blaster fire, and returned fire himself.
Han ducked. "Well, at least I shot first," he mumbled, and began to spring through the forest. He didn't know where we was going, he only knew that he had to find a way to flank the hat wearing Duros.
He was sprinting past a tree when a forearm stuck out and caught him across the chest.
Han fell flat on his back, gasping for air. The Duros stood over him and lowered his weapon. "You picked the wrong fight today," he said in his gravely voice. "I'm going to enjoy this, you scruffy piece of Bantha poodoo."
Stepping over Han, he leaned down, grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him up, punching him hard in the face.
Han grunted, turned his head back, and grabbed Bane's wrist with one hand, and twisted hard. Bane gasped in pain as his wrist nearly snapped, losing his grip on Han. Han, however, maintained his grip on Bane and pulled him down onto him, then flipped over to where he was on top of Bane.
"Nobody...calls...me...scruffy...looking!" Han said between punches. He leaned back, gasping for air, already exhausted.
"How is bantha poodoo scruffy looking, anyway?" Han asked out loud. "Did the bantha eat a wampa?"
Han went to throw one more punch to Bane's face, but this time Bane caught it, and the two began to struggle, a hundred meters from Luke and Maul.
Maul spun his lightsaber rapidly in front of him, creating a red fan of light. Luke stepped back, warily, trying to figure out how to pierce this unique defense.
"Not bad," Luke said. "But you should see what I can do!" Luke thrust his lightsaber forward, right into the middle of Maul's twirling, cutting his saber staff in half.
Instead of staring at his blade in shock, he kicked at Luke with his metallic legs, sending Luke flying back a dozen meters.
Now Maul took the time to examine his ruined weapon. "Why does this keep happening?" he asked himself, frustrated.
Luke was back on his feet, holding his sore ribs with one hand. "Enough of the fancy stuff. I'm ready for a real fight."
Luke pushed out with the Force, sending a telekinetic wave toward's Maul. Grimacing, Maul crossed his forearms and readied himself, taking the full force of the blast, sliding back several meters.
"My turn," he said, and shot his own blast of Force energy at Luke. Instead of bracing himself, Luke jumped up and over the blast, landing in front of Maul and kicked him in the chest as well, although Maul stumbled backwards instead of flying back. Luke's legs were not nearly as strong as Maul's.
Maul ignited his one remaining lightsaber hilt, and went back to battling Luke, but Luke was able to dodge every attack. He was avoiding putting his blade in any position that wouldn't be perfect for a lethal strike. He just had to find his moment.
Han and Bane were no longer trading blows, and were now firing at each other through the trees. Both were beaten and bloody, but though their bodies were exhausted, this was a test of will. Which scoundrel would give up first?
As Han ran, occasionally turning to fire behind himself, he came across the most beautiful sight he could have known at that time. An Imperial speeder bike. There were several all sitting in a line. Han picked the first one, and it fired up immediately. He hit the accelerator and darted away through the trees, hoping to put some distance between himself and Bane.
Blaster bolts streaked past Han as Bane mounted a bike and rocketed after him. Adrenaline coursed through Han's body. Streaking through an asteroid field in the Falcon was one thing. One didn't necessarily feel all the gravity. But here, oh boy. The most childish grin crept across his face as he cranked the throttled, flying through the massive trees of the forest moon at half the speed of sound.
He whipped the bike around, hoping to rocket past Bane and blast him out of the trees on the flyby, but Bane wasn't there. Han slowed the bike to a coast, and glanced around. There was no sign of Bane.
Bane's speeder suddenly rose off the ground, concealed by heavy foliage.
"Oh, come on," cried Han as blaster bolts streaked toward his speeder. He jumped off, drawing his weapon as he did. His blaster bolt hit Bane in the shoulder, sending him tumbling off his speeder bike as Han's speeder bike erupted into a ball of flames.
Han landed hard, knocking his shoulder out of place.
"Can't we have just one good day?" he asked himself as he struggled to get to his feet.
He walked toward where Bane had fallen off of his speeder bike, the craft now resting on the ground after it's rider disengaged.
Bane was holding his shoulder, the wound still sizzling.
"Your shoulder too, huh?"
Bane did not make it to his feet, as Han kicked him in the face, sending him flat on his back again.
Bane spat out a mouthful of blood, and began to speak.
"You will not win today, Rebel. You will not win the battle, and you will not..."
Bane's words were silenced by Han's blaster bolt burning through his forehead. His eyes went dull and his head rolled to the side.
"Boring conversation anyway."
Han glanced back to the general direction of the shield generator. He could barely see the red and green blurs, but they were still there. Luke was still alive.
"Don't worry Luke, help is on the way," Han said as he climbed on Bane's speeder bike. Hitting the throttle, he raced toward's the bunker. Once he had a clear view, he fired the bike's blasters at Maul, hoping that powerful bolts would incinerate him, but Maul quickly turned and blocked the bolts, then grabbed Han with the Force and pulled him off the speeder bike, leaping away from a lethal strike by Luke, hoping to catch Maul across the throat. He held Han in the air, Force choking him.
"Put down your weapon, Jedi, or I will snap his neck right now."
"If I put down my weapon, you'll snap his neck and then cut me down. It's better that he dies, and then you die."
Han's eyes widened, and he gave Luke a pleading glance. Luke winked at Han.
Han rolled his eyes, though it was unclear if it was from exasperation or lack of air.
Luke closed his eyes and slowly squeezed his left hand. Maul stared at Luke in confusion, then swung his blade at him, hoping to end the fight while Luke had his eyes closed. He stopped short as the spider back rocketed toward him. Maul barely had enough time to leap over the bike and land on his feet.
Luke's plan worked. As Maul landed, he swung his lightsaber as hard as he could, following through and spinning around as Maul's upper half slid away from his lower half.
He raced over to Han, helping him to his feet.
"You should have waited just a little bit longer. I was almost there."
"What?"
"What?"
Luke gave Han a wary eye.
Han looked at Maul's body. "He's not going to get up from that, is he?"
Luke chuckled. "Han, I cut him in half. Nobody can survive that."
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