Thanks to everyone for reading! Please comment on any characters and universes you’d like to see in the future below the chapters. I can’t guarantee they’ll make it in, but I want to have some fun and fit in the audience's favourites if I can! Thanks again, and a huge thank you to my Patrons! I can’t make this content without support, and I’m super grateful for our first two supporters! This fanfiction is also available on my Patreon, I’ll always keep it free, so please visit! Any support there makes this work possible, and if enough patrons want this novel to be a priority, it will be!

 

https://www.patreon.com/maizeblu

 

Now, on to the chapter!

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“This is a bit much…” Dan brushed a rounded ball of fur from atop the bridge console.”These things are getting into the electronics.”

 

“They’re adorable!” May scooped up the tooka and rubbed its broad forehead. “Etain said that they can live in any climate, so I want to release them on Garnib.”

 

“I doubt the locals will appreciate an invasive species,” Dan smiled as a pair of tooka battled for a discarded cloth. “But they ARE cute, just don’t come crying to me if the people of Garnib call for their extermination!”

 

“Anyone who would hurt these little guys is a villain,” May pressed her newest pet to her chest. “They can get off our planet!”

 

“We’re back in our home system,” Ultron interrupted May’s plans for world domination. “But I’ve discovered something interesting…”

 

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“Tython…”

 

Darth Maul leaned back. His ship was fast, but his prey was faster still. This trip had been filled with turbulence. The hyperspace lanes that led to this system were twisted and warped, almost impassable. Before him stood an ancient series of worlds, the origin place of both the Jedi, and the Sith.

 

“They’re not here, but I’m getting closer now,” Maul sent his vessel through the system in an arc. “They visited many worlds here… but why?”

 

Tython had long been abandoned, almost lost to history. Travel to this place was too dangerous, even if it contained a wealth of resources. It would make for a perfect hiding place, but no signs of such a base existed.

 

“What are you doing…” The Sith frowned as a burst of static echoed from his ship speakers.

 

“That’s my line,” An amused tone filtered onto the bridge. “Why are you following our trail, strange little man?”

 

The bridge display twisted and reformed, an oversized face that leered down at him. Maul leapt back, lightsaber ignited. The mechanical man laughed, disdain in his voice.

 

“Feel free to damage your own ship, this is nothing more than a projection,” More components pulled themselves into place and the Man’s body was complete. “Now, answer my question and I might let you live.”

 

“Who are you…” Maul could sense no life from this… thing. It read as a droid, empty of the force.

 

“I am Ultron, and that was a question, not an answer,” The lights on the ship dimmed, a hiss of air as the atmosphere thinned. “If you don’t want to talk, we can see how long you can hold your breath?”

 

“I follow those who murdered my mother,” Maul stilled his breath and channelled the force. He could last hours, maybe days, without air. As long as he didn’t have to fight, the droids threat had no teeth.

 

“Oh?” Ultron tilted his head. “We haven't murdered anyone… ah!” The A.I. snapped his fingers. “You’re related to those witches, we only killed one, and she died at the hands of an animal.”

 

“An animal…” Darth Maul gripped his double sabre, the leather of his gloves tested by the pressure. “SHE WAS MY MOTHER!”

 

A wave of lightning ravaged Ultron’s body, directed by the Sith’s rage. Exploded components and smoke replaced the cocky machine's face. A harsh laughter echoed around him, from the few speakers left on the bridge.

 

“I told you, that won’t do anything,” A scattered cloud of lights closed on the ship, the blue glow of thrusters through the viewport. “I have many bodies, and that one was made from your ship's control systems.”

 

“What kind of droid are you?” Maul took a breath as he restored life support. “An assassin?”

 

“I’m much more than some simple droid,” The spots drew closer, exposed as hundreds of robotic humanoids in flight. “I am legion, beyond the understanding of some insane cultist.”

 

An unbroken screen lit up, a display with Darth Maul’s face and information. It scrolled through pages of data, far more than existed on his ship.

 

“My master has given the order,” Ultron sighed. “Apparently it’s ok to hurt ‘Sith,’ but I am to detain you and bring you to a secure location.”

 

Maul’s vessel lowered its shields under the machine's direction and the droids closed in from all directions. He steadied himself, centred his mind around the rage that fuelled his might.

 

“We’ll see…”

 

Maul slashed out, his blade a wrathful line that disabled the nearest internal sensors. This thing had control over his ship, but as long as he kept life support online no number of droids would be a threat to him.

 

“You’re funny,” Ultron’s face extended from the wall, like a man who walked free of a heavy rain. “But this battle has only one conclusion, two, if you kill youself now.’

 

Maul bisected the machine with a snort. His blade darted behind him and three more drones met the same fate. The enemies were weak, but he was running out of ship. Each foe represented a small part of his vessel, eventually something critical would fail.

 

Feet locked in a dead run, the Sith battled against the walls as he retreated for the escape pods. If the greater ship failed, at least the pods could keep him alive. Before him stood a tide of over expressive droids, hungry for his blade. Behind was a trail of molten metal, undercut by a whistle of wind.

 

“You’re running out of oxygen… that’s what you breathe, right?” One of the fallen heads grinned up at the Sith. “I could sit back and you’d fall into my hands, why not just give up?”

 

Maul stomped Ultron’s head into scattered pieces, blade a windmill of precision. He cleared a wave of droids and leapt high. His body arced beyond Ultron’s many hands, into the cramped confines of an escape pod.

 

His fist punched out, the emergency release engaged. A sharp jolt pressed him to the seat and his perspective shifted to an ocean of stars. He placed his deactivated sabre on his knees and settled his breath, sweat beaded across his face.

 

“What now?” Ultron’s voice cracked from a speaker above. “You’ve just gotten into a much smaller ship…”

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Thanks again, and a huge thank you to my Patrons! I can’t make this content without support, and I’m super grateful for our first three supporters! This fanfiction is also available on my Patreon, I’ll always keep it free, so please visit! Any support there makes this work possible, and if enough patrons want this novel to be a priority, it will be! Updates for this series will be at five a week, a chapter part monday-friday, with bonus chapters whenever I can get them written and edited. 

 

https://www.patreon.com/maizeblu