"What're we going to do with him?" The muffled question came from behind the ray shield. The speaker sounded young. Maul clutched his head with one hand as he sat up. He was currently in a holding cell. The Zabrak rose and strolled towards the red energy barrier.

"I don't know. We could keep him contained indefinitely," a soft female voice suggested.

"No, not on this ship. It's too dangerous," another person argued.

The youth Maul had heard first speak countered, "He DID save me from the Inquisitors... Maybe we could offer him - "

"No, absolutely not. I will NOT work with a Sith."

"Force wielder," Maul corrected, almost as if he was weary. "I am merely a Force wielder."

The trio previously engaged in a hushed discussion separated from their huddle and faced him. Maul saw a Togruta in her prime, a human adult with his right arm bearing protective plating, and a familiar child who regarded him with a mixture of curiosity and caution.

"Not a Sith. Not anymore." It was a lie. He did not embrace his old master's teachings, but he knew nothing of the ways of the Light Side, nor did he care to learn of them. Anger, hatred, and fear were what propelled Maul forward. They galvanised him to take action against the Inquisitors.

To defy Sidious.

The Torgruta Jedi - Maul saw the lightsaber hilts clipped to her belt, sensed no trace of the Dark Side in her - folded her arms and squinted at the Zabrak. "Then why do I only sense darkness in you?"

"The Dark Side is my tool, as the Light Side is yours, Jedi," he rasped in reply.

The Togruta snapped, "Not a Jedi."

"Oh? Interesting." File away that nugget of information for later. "What do you intend to do with me?"

The two humans - master and apprentice, he was sure of it - traded looks. The boy stepped forward. "Uh, do you remember me? You lent me a hand when the Inquisitors attacked and - ?"

"Yes. Yes, I remember you. Strong with the Force, aren't you, young one?"

The boy, Ezra, looked a bit uneasy. The other, older human, Kanan, interrupted, "Why'd you help Ezra? A Sith saving a Jedi - that's a first." Debatable, really. Maul's mind flashed to the peak of the Clone Wars, when Kenobi was at his mercy for the first time. Then that Nightsister witch had - unintentionally - rescued him. How much of a Sith she had been was questionable as well.

"The Sith hate the Jedi, and the Jedi oppose the Sith. It doesn't make any sense for you to intervene when Ezra was in danger." Ahsoka gave Maul a pointed look.

Rolling his shoulders back, Maul declared, "The Inquisitors are my enemies. All Inquisitors and their masters are my enemies."

"So you only did what you did because you wanted a shot at the Inquisitors," guessed Kanan. "'Scuse me for a moment." He turned away from Maul and put some distance between himself and the cell. Ahsoka and Ezra followed.

"I say we vent him out the airlock," Kanan proposed, smacking his fist into his open palm.

"Kanan!"

"What? Are you seriously - Ezra, are you seriously telling me you're okay with him here, on this ship? Have you even sensed his Force aura?"

"C'mon, he hates the Inquisitors. And he's good with a lightsaber."

"I think the term you're looking for is 'very deadly'." Subduing Maul had been a challenge.

"And he can also use the Force."

Ahsoka raised an eyemarking. "What're you suggesting, then?"

Ezra whispered, "We can use him."

Kanan and Ahsoka looked unimpressed.

"Okay, I know how that sounds. But hear me out, please. It's better to have him as a friend than a foe, right? And besides, we're fighting a war with the odds stacked against us. There are way more Inquisitors than there are us. We're only three Jedi - " Ahsoka scowled " - but having that guy on our side would definitely be a great help."

"If he cooperates," she muttered.

Ezra took a deep breath. "All I'm saying is that we should consider it before doing anything drastic." He gazed forlornly at the floor. "Well, he hasn't begun choking us behind our backs, at least."

"That's thanks to the Force restraining bracelets Ahsoka snapped on him before we brought him aboard."

Ezra turned to the former apprentice of Anakin Skywalker. "...Oh. So, have you thought about it?"

Ahsoka nodded. "I have. And I hate to admit it, but... you're right. We need all the help we can get. The Sith, he knows things. Things that can be useful for defeating Vader and his band of redblades."

Kanan acquiesced, "I guess we just have to see what our resident Sith has to say about that."

The three of them returned to where Maul was. "We've come to a decision," Ahsoka announced. "We're letting you out of the cell."

"I don't suppose you can do anything about these?" Maul held up his wrist and tapped the bangle which seized his wrist and clamped down his exposure to the Force.

"Those stay on."

"How do you know I won't simply murder you at any given moment?" Maul flashed a wolfish grin.

Ahsoka fixed him with a cold glare. "We don't. But you should know something: threaten any of my crew, hurt anyone under my protection, and you will regret it."

"Mind tricks don't work on me, Jedi," said Maul in a bored tone.

"That wasn't a mind trick. That was a guarantee."

"I am aware. I suppose you'll be wanting information too. Knowledge that only the Sith know of."

Ahsoka inclined her head pensively. "The thought has crossed my mind."

On the sidelines, Kanan said to Ezra, "So this is what we're doing now. Trusting Sith Lords to fight for the rebellion."

"Hey, I trust him about as far as I can throw him," retorted Ezra. His face was creased in a scowl.

"But you were the one who said - "

"Yeah, that's only 'cause I see an opportunity."

"An opportunity for what?"

"To turn one of their own against them."

Kanan started. For the first time, he consciously understood how dangerous his Padawan could potentially be.