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Hondo Ohnaka liked to think of himself as a generous man. Credits, cards, and booze ran freely on his very new ship, even if his pockets always seemed to be the heaviest out of everyone on his crew. However, staring open-mouthed at the absolute wreckage of his cargo hold and all the beautiful, expensive, highly illegal products smashed across the floor left Hondo feeling particularly ungenerous at the moment.
“What in the nine Coriellian hells happened here?” he asked in despair, gesturing rather dramatically at the mess spilled in front of him. The unlucky Weequay standing next to him winced before flattening a pair of thin lips, and stepping forward to report.
“Well boss,” the man started, “We seemed to have picked up a, uh, stowaway, back on Telos.”
“And that is who is to blame for this disaster?”
“Uh, yes boss. He was a real feisty little thing. He knocked out three of our men and took two of Zee’s fingers when they stumbled on his hiding spot during a routine check on the product fifteen minutes ago.”
“And where is the body?” Hondo said, stroking his chin.
“The body?”
“Well, I assume that you killed the man who did this, yes? Surely you would not let him destroy half of our merchandise and then simply get away?”
“Well,” the other Weequay began, looking distinctly quesy. “He was rather— small. And fast. And like I said, he did bite off two of Zee’s fingers, so none of the boys wanted to get close.”
Hondo scoffed. “You do not need to get close to someone to kill them.”
“...He was still very small and fast.”
Hondo sighed and then stepped forward to wrap an arm around the other man’s shoulders. “I'm sure he was— say, what is your name, friend?”
The Weequay paused for a moment too long before his captain tightened his grip. “It’s Usk, boss,” he said, just barely holding back a squeak.
“Well then Usk, I’m sure he was very small and fast, but excuses do not get our credits back, no?”
Usk felt something cold and hard jam itself under his rib cage. He swallowed. “No they do not, boss.”
“So what are you going to do about this, Usk?” Hondo asked faux-casually.
Usk gulped. “I’m going to find the tiny intruder, and then bring you back his body.”
Hondo brightened instantly. His arm was the only thing that kept Usk from falling to the floor in relief when he felt his captain remove the blaster from his chest.
“What an excellent plan!” Hondo said joyfully, swinging a sweaty Usk into a hug. The other Weequay still looked like he wanted to melt into the ground.
“Yes boss,” he said, emotionally exhausted. “I’ll get right on that.”
Hondo laughed. “Always so anxious, Usk! You were looking at me like you thought I was actually going to kill you.” Hondo mimed wiping a tear from his eye. “Oh Usk, such a funny guy! This is why you make such an excellent first mate,” the pirate said with a grin.
“Boss,” Usk said, teeth worrying his lip, “I’m not your first mate. Zee is.”
“Actually, Zee retired just before I walked into the hold! Apparently they took offense to our little stowaway biting off a few fingers,” Hondo shook his head, disappointed, before snapping on another very threatening, very sunny grin. “Either way, the position is open, and you're perfect!”
“Oh,” Usk said, eyes fixated on something very far away. “Great.”
“Great indeed,” Hondo said, slapping his new first mate on the shoulder. “Now go catch me that stowaway. I don’t want to have to promote a third first mate on the same day.”
***
This was quite possibly the most confusing ship Maul had ever had the bad luck to be trapped on. Logically, he understood it was a circle, but by the Force did it not seem to be set up that way. Hallways were full of dead ends, and the vents he was crawling through were a mess of contradictions. Truly Maul did not know how this ship functioned.
Still, it was better than being trapped with Sidious. Anything was better than that. His master told him all that he did was only to make Maul stronger, to strengthen his connection to the dark side, but it was hard to use the Force when his wounds were so severe he could barely stand up. During his last “training session” with the Sith, Maul, laying barely lucid on the floor, had come to the realization that his master didn’t seem to care all that much about actually making him stronger— he just enjoyed hurting him. Sure, there was some actual training— Maul has started training with his lightstaff this year— but only just enough to keep him under Sidious’s thumb, never enough to actually challenge him.
Not that Maul had any plans to challenge Sidious anytime soon. He was only ten, after all. But Maul had been beginning to become suspicious that his master was holding crucial information back from him, things that he really ought to know if he was to become a true sith.
So that was that. One training session too far, one too many doubts, and one childishly impulsive runaway attempt had landed Maul in the vents of some pirate ship trying to get as far away from the core worlds as possible. Surely his Force bond with Sidious had a limit. Surely there was somewhere in the galaxy he could hide from him. Maul was more than willing to play hide away in some nasty ship and bite off a few pirate fingers as long as the captain was flying them away from the core. It wasn’t like he planned on being on this ship for long.
Maul growled softly as his elbow banged against another sharp turn in the vents. Kriff, he was trying to be quiet! He hated this ship. He knew he should have snuck on that other freighter. He was definitely switching ships at the next pit stop.
Maul paused his shuffling as the Forces ripples around him. Something was coming, but the warning just didn’t seem clear enough—
He let out what was very much not a yelp as something snapped open the vent opening below his lag and grabbed his ankle. Maul immediately began kicking.
“What the kriff!” yelled a rough voice. “Quit that, that’s my face!”
Maul absolutely did not quit that. If anything, he began to kick harder with the aid of his panic and the Force. Unfortunately he didn’t have much leverage due to being in such a tight space, or as much control of the Force as he would like. The hand managed to stay wrapped around his ankle, and pulled him out of the vent like a carrot from the earth. Maul was certainly dusty enough to look like he had been underground.
“There we are,” said the Weequay proudly before Maul promptly snapped the wrist of the hand that was holding him. “Aw kark,” the pirate hissed as Maul turned around to sprint away. He skidded to a stop once he saw all the blasters trained on him. What a shame. It seemed the first pirate had not come alone.
Still, Maul wasn’t one to give up. He quickly dodged out of the way from the first blast and dashed close enough to knock the shooter off her feet with a swift, sweeping kick to her ankles. He snagged her blaster as she went down, and rolled out of the way of the next few shots.
“Hold on,” someone yelled in the middle of the fire fight. “Is that a fekking kid?”
Maul paided the commenter no mind as he quickly searched for shelter.
“Kriff, set your blasters to stun!”
Well that was insulting, and a mistake on the soft hearted pirate’s end. Maul was definitely not switching his blaster to stun, and fired off a few shots as he dashed for cover behind a stray cargo box.
Busy with the pirates shooting him from the front, Maul didn’t have enough time to listen to the warning the Force gave him to guard his back. Panic and annoyance filled him as a stun bolt hit Maul right between the shoulder blades. I am going to kill whoever shot me as soon as I wake up, he thought as black filled his vision.
***
“Usk, what exactly am I looking at?” Hondo asked his first mate, squinting down at the small, rather angry looking creature stomping around his prison hold.
“That would be a child, boss,” Usk said warily, cradling his wrist.
Hondo squinted. “This is the being who bit off Zee’s fingers and broke your wrist? He’s barely as tall as my hip!”
The boy bared his teeth. Usk once again looked exhausted. “Yes boss, he did do all that.”
Hondo nodded seriously. “That must have been very embarrassing for the two of you.”
“His teeth are really sharp,” Usk sighed, “And he has the jaw and arm strength of a vornskr.”
Hondo grinned. “What a wonderful little boy!” The child hissed at him through the viewport. “How did we end up with such an esteemed guest trapped in our prison hold?”
“You ordered me to capture whoever ruined all your cargo!” Usk said, gesturing towards the boy with his good hand. “So we found him crawling in the vents and dragged him out before throwing him here in the empty part of the prison hold, just like you told me to.”
“Your men stunned me,” the child said, attempting to be haunting but stuck sounding much more petulant than threatening. “They will not get so lucky twice.”
“Hmm, yes I quite agree that they won’t.” Hondo said, stroking his chin. “You seem to be a very talented young boy! What is your name?”
“Maul,” he said, somehow tilting his chin up even higher.
“Well, you must truly be a monster to cost me so many credits,” Hondo said, shaking his head. Maul growled at him and Hondo brightened. “We must hire you immediately!”
“Boss?” Usk said, eye twitching.
Hondo turned away, already nodding to himself. “Yes, we must be dealing with a true, down on his luck professional if he was able to make such a mess of things! That is exactly the type of person I want on my crew and making problems for my marks.”
“He’s like eight, boss. I really doubt he’s a professional.”
“I am not eight!” Maul hissed. “I’m ten.”
“That literally doesn’t help your case at all,” Usk grumbled.
“Usk, you know there is such a thing as a young working professional, yes? I believe that is what our talented new friend Maul is!”
Maul blinked, confused. How odd! Hondo thought. It’s almost as if no one has ever complimented the boy before.
“Boss, that is not what a young working professional is. I think this is actually just called child labor.”
“Hmm,” Hondo said, thinking deeply. “Well! I will simply have to adopt him then. That way it’s not child labor, and simply a son learning how to take over the family business!”
“What,” Maul said.
“Please no,” said Usk, cradling his still broken wrist.
“Yes,” Hondo said, hands sitting proudly on his hips. “I am about to make an amazing single teen father.”
“I don’t need a father,” Maul spat. “All I need is a ride away from the core worlds.”
“Excellent!” Hondo said, clapping his hands. “You already sound like a properly ungrateful child.” Maul twisted his mouth, confused in the face of Hondo’s seemingly genuine parental pride.
“Boss, no, you can’t just take a random child who trashed the cargo hold and make him your son.”
“But he has such great potential! And you know how much my dear mother loves children.”
“She hates children,” Usk despaired.
“Yes, but you forget,” Hondo said with a grin. “This is my child. It’s different then!”
“I am not your child,” Maul said, still petulant. “I am your passenger and your doom. I will kill you all as soon as I escape from this prison hold.”
Hondo gave an excited little hop. “Oh yes, my mother is just going to love you!” He then sighed, placing a hand on his chest rather dramatically. “I know I am a bit young to be a father, but I really do think that I will succeed in parenthood just as much as I have succeeded as a pirate!”
“You got this ship less than a standard year ago, boss,” Usk said, leaning against the wall for some well-needed support.
Hondo nodded. “And I have stolen so much money with it in that year! And now I will steal even more with the help of my very murderous son!”
“Fantastic,” Maul grumbled. “This is just going to go fantastic.”
“As my son and high ranking crew member you will get a high share of our profits, and we will stay away from all the core worlds. You can be my second mate as soon as you grow taller than my hip.”
Maul tilted his head, thinking. The prison hold was quiet for a long time before: “Fine. I agree for now . I reserve the right to leave as soon as I get a better offer or a nice enough ship to steal and escape.”
Hondo clapped in delight. “Oh, spoken like a true pirate! Yes, I do think this will go rather fantastically.”
Usk shook his head. He needed a new job. Clearly Hondo was not cut out to be a very successful pirate.