『Dark Eyes』

The Zabrak aliased as Darth Maul was stepping out of his starship, his sleek Heavily modified Star Courier known as the Scimitar, as well as the Sith Infiltrator. His eyes fell upon a number of tracks leading on by his current position. A scowl formed over his face, calling his dual bladed lightsaber staff to his hand.

He wore a black sith-styled robe with a hood, but his face was hardly hidden. He had bright red skin with black tribal tattoos cosmetically dominating his already fier appearance.

His crown of horns could be seen standing up beneath the hood at an elevated height. he reminded one of a demon, especially with all the anger, fear and hatred that emitted from him.

His evil golden hued, red ringed, eyes looked up from the sandy ground, narrowing in the general direction. It seemed a Bantha and a handful of Tuskens had gone by.

Growling under his breath he took after them, but little did he know, they were hiding their true numbers. When he arrived at their location, using the force to remain undetected as he remained behind cover.

Peering around a rock formation, he found them. However as he was only expecting about six of them, there were in reality thirty of them. A frown appeared across his lips, he wasn't going to be able to take all of them on at once headon.

He was already injured as it was and needed to preserve his energy in order to fight the Jedi that had landed on the planet surface. There were two of them and once he found them, he knew there was no choice but to fight. He wanted to fight, he needed to kill. It was a test, a trial, for himself so that he could prove his strength and dominance over the Jedi to his Master.

However just then, the comlink on his wrist beeped twice in quick succession.

The Sith narrowed its eyes and backed off from the Tuskens who looked in his general direction. He withdrew quickly to avoid a confrontation and looked at the data that had been sent to him.

Two droids destroyed at the same exact time in two different locations, one of them having identified a young man prior to its destruction and another an older Jedi Master.

From gathered information, the boy didn't seem relevant, at least for the time being. The boy didn't match the description of the Jedi which accompanied the Queen to the planet.

Qui Gon Jin had destroyed the corresponding Dark Eye Droid, or small spherical drone, back at Mos Espa's Grand Arena after the race's conclusion. Anakin Skywalker won the race, earning the Jedi and the Junk Dealer large winnings.

Though he was curious as to the human that had destroyed the droid enroute to the Western edge of the Northern Dune Sea. He couldn't quite figure out the significance, there was no time, same with the boy which seemed to have been notably catered to by the Jedi Master.

Now all he had to do was use his last droid to find out the ship's primary location. For now, he had a general idea of which direction the Jedi were going in and so made his way towards the Mos Espa Starport.

For the time being, it didn't register that the two separate incidents were related.

+ + +

Ento pulled the Swoop to the side, coming to a hovering stop in front of the Naboo Royal Starship's loading ramp. "And we're back at the ship," the teen yawned lightly before looking over his shoulder towards the girl who was clinging to him.

Her arms were squeezing his lower ribs which were flexible at best, allowing them to be pushed inward quite a bit, creating discomfort.

Padmé opened one eye as they returned to the ship. Even though he had cut down on the speed, he had only done so for about half the trip before subconsciously going back to full throttle! She glared at his face before pulling herself off of the bike, before face planting on the ramp in the cool shadow of her ship.

"Aaaaah..." Her legs were all tingly, she felt sore from just riding with him. "Ento," she uttered looking over her shoulder towards him.

Ento blinked a few times before casually stepping off the bike and walking over to the Queen. He slipped the pack off of her back and tossed it up towards the open door.

His pack could be heard smacking against some crates, but overall there was no mess.

"Are you alright?" The boy inquired as he helped her turn onto her back, before taking her hand to help her up.

Padmé raised a brow as he took her hand into his own, and began to pull her up. Pursing her lips, she pulled him right back down with her with the intent of having him land right beside her.

Instead however, Ento had a different plan. He could've easily resisted her attempt not only due to his strength alone, but also through the use of he force to enhance himself. As she pulled him, Ento came crashing down on top of her, his forearms landing on either side of her head.

Padmé was bewildered, his face so close to hers, she pressed her hands against his shoulders with a nervous laugh. "Ahaha! Get up!" It wasn't a plea, or a request, it was an order.

Ento blinked as she lightly pressed her hands up at him. "You don't like it?" He clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth when she craned her head back a bit. He then went on to push himself up from the ramp and back onto his feet, looming over her. He however offered his hand once more to help her up again.

It didn't seem as if he was going to let her just lay there.

Padmé stared up at him for a few seconds before taking his hand, allowing him to pull her up this time, letting her stand flatly on her feet. Her legs shifted though, that landing on the rooftop didn't feel too good even now. However she dared not touch the pain affected area in front of another person as she turned away from him and walked up the ramp.

"Thanks... Ento, for helping me." She said as she glanced over her shoulder when she reached the top of the Ramp, watching as he was gathering the swoop.

Ento glanced over towards her hearing her thank him and nodded, as if it wasn't anything special. Before his eyes rested on Panaka who was now standing in front of Padmé.

"Your Highness, welcome back." The Head of Security glanced towards the boy who was bringing the swoop up the ramp and raised a brow.

"He bought it in order to get us here faster... It appears that an Assassin has really been sent," Padmé defended Ento before Panaka could even get a word out. "Once the repairs are completed and the Master Jedi return, we should get going."

Panaka looked to the Queen, it seemed she was now convinced her life was in danger here. As the three of the entered the ship, the airlock to the loading ramp closed.

Locking down the swoop, Ento made his way over towards the nearby backpack he had tossed into the place and opened it.

Padmé who was about to follow Panaka to the Throne Room on board the Starship paused and looked back towards the boy. She wanted to say something, but as rare as it may be, she didn't know what she wanted to say. Facing forward once more the girl vanished as the door closed behind her and her Head of Security.

Ento sat there with his pack in the corner of the main hold, going through the things he had put in it. "Hm..." His eyes shifted to the sealed door as he pulled out a pallie and bit into it, tasting its sweet juices.

+ + +

Darth Maul had arrived in the Mos Espa Starport, he was making his way into one of the Hangars that the Jedi's last known direction put him in.

The moment he entered however, he narrowed his eyes on a freighter, he wasn't sure of this was the transport. Though it definitely made good for a bait and switch if the Jedi and the Queen wanted to avoid being caught. His eyes shifted along the surroundings, an alien pilot, droids loading crates.

He didn't see any Jedi, or sense them.

Angry, he walked towards the green alien woman who was now standing by her loading ramp.

"Hm?" The woman looked over at him and blinked several times. It was none other than Neeamesh Dym, a Pa'lowick smuggler. She was the pilot and owner of the Dusty Duck, a custom vessel built by her father.

However today wasn't her lucky day.

"Who are --" Horror filled her as the man ignited a red lightsaber staff and cut her down without anytime for her to scream. Her body crumpled to the floor.

Ento who was seated on the floor of the Main hold of the Naboo Starship, lifted his head from the datapad he had started utilizing. "Was... Did someone just get killed?"

Though there were probably plenty people dying in the area, or being killed, he felt the specific feeling of darkness behind this kill. An act of anger, a sudden inducement of fear, a spiritual scream followed by silence.

Standing from where he was seated on the ground, he walked towards the airlock and placed his hand against the interior hull. Closing his eyes as he reached out with the force, projecting his mind out towards Mos Espa where death emanated.

Hidden in the Force, Maul could feel someone looking in on his location. His eyes traced his surroundings for a moment before checking the interior of the Dusty Duck.

There was no one else inside and there would be no one else inside ever again. The pilot's partner had already been killed today by one of the other podracers who just happened to have a bounty on their head.

The Sith Lord had made his way out of the Starport, searching for the Jedi once more. Hours later though as he returned to his ship, his comlink chirped, revealing the location of the Jedi Master with the boy tagging along. He also now knew the location of the Naboo Starship, a excited grin briefly forming over his lips, filled with bloodlust.

"The Sith will be known..." He uttered under his breath, the first words he had spoken since his arrival. Making his way into his ship, he opened the airlock and stepped inside.

It only took a few seconds before he came flying out on his own speeder, a modified Razalon FC-20 speeder bike named the Bloodfin. It was a light tan repulsor craft in the shape of a hook with a bright green engine piece on the back. It's maximum speed being 650 kilometers per hour.

His destination, Xelric Draw, an area that separated the Mospic High Range at the North Western edge of the Dune Sea. In other words, the Outskirts of Mos Espa.