Ambush on Tatooine (Darth Maul)

"These Sand People are tiring me. I must save my strength for my mission!"

- Darth Maul

In 32 BBY, a group of thirty Sand People ambushed Darth Maul in a canyon on planet Tatooine while he was searching the two Jedi he had been ordered to kill.

Prelude
"Tracking down the Jedi should be simple enough. And once I defeat them, the Queen will be back in my master's hands. I will not fail."

- Darth Maul

In his secret lair on Coruscant, the mysterious Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith, tasked his Sith apprentice Darth Maul with eliminating the Jedi who were protecting Queen Amidala. According to the trace, Maul knew the Naboo royal starship was headed for Tatooine. After being attacked by Togorian pirates upon exiting hyperspace, Maul landed on a remote and isolated zone of the sun-scorched planet.

The Ambush
After sending his probe droids to track down Qui-Gon Jinn, Maul had spent the night aboard his Sith Infiltrator. The next morning, he woke up early to practice his Sith art of battle. After beating two assassin droids similar to those he used to fight when he was younger, the Dathomirian warrior noticed bantha tracks circling his ship. As he didn't want anything to threaten his mission, he decided to investigate and followed the prints in the sand.

The tracks led him into a canyon, where he was attacked by a lone Sandperson who burst out of the shadows behind a rocky wall. Darth Maul was quick enough to slice his opponent's gaderfii in two, but when he was about to strike him down, other Sandpeople appeared. Maul was virtually circled by enemies who kept backing him up againts the canyon wall. The only way out was to avoid the fight: the Sith warrior performed an impressive backward flip, flew throgh the air and landed behind his attackers. Before the Tusken Raiders realized what had just happened, Maul was already rushing to his spacecraft.

Aftermath
Back at the Infiltrator, Maul received a report from one of his Dark eye probes. The Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and a young boy had been spotted running away from Mos Espa. The tattooed warrior got on the Bloodfin, his personal speeder bike, and raced through the sands of Tatooine. When he finally reached his Jedi pray, Maul engaged in a first duel with Jinn.

Appearances

 * Darth Maul's Revenge