Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter/Mean Streets

Aboard the Trade Federation freighter Saak'ak, Nute Gunray finds that his second-in-command Hath Monchar, the Deputy Viceroy of the Federation, has gone missing. Unfortunately, it was too late to do anything about it, because at that moment, Darth Sidious contacts Gunray. The Dark Lord of the Sith questions Gunray about the missing Neimoidian. Gunray panics and tells the Dark Lord that Monchar is sick. However, Darth Sidious sees through the lie, and when the conversation ends, he sends his apprentice Darth Maul after the missing Deputy Viceroy.

On Coruscant, Lorn Pavan and his protocol droid I-5YQ meet with Zippa, a merchant desiring to sell the two companions a Jedi holocron. When Zippa jokes that Pavan might be a Jedi, Pavan gets mad and threatens Zippa. Once the commotion is over and the deal about to be made, Zippa's guard Bilk pulls out his blaster and points it at I-5YQ. Zippa flies out of the cubicle they had been sitting in, saying that no one threatens him and gets away with it. After Zippa had left, I-5YQ uses one of his modified functions to fill the cubicle with a deafening scream. Surprised and in pain due to the sudden cacophony, Bilk drops his weapon; unfortunately for the bodyguard, I-5YQ catches the gun and kills him. Pavan rushes out of the cubicle to catch up with Zippa and get the holocron back—along with his money that Zippa had taken—but is too late and Zippa is long gone.

In the Jedi Temple, Padawan Darsha Assant, together with her master Anoon Bondara, stands before the twelve members of the Jedi Council to be instructed for her final mission before becoming a Jedi Knight. She will be sent to the Crimson Corridor in the Zi-Kree Sector of Coruscant. There, she must pick up a former Black Sun employee who is willing to trade information about the recent reorganization in the upper ranks of the criminal syndicate in exchange for protection by the Jedi Order. Before she leaves the temple, her master warns her that this mission could be very hard.

Meanwhile, Darth Maul arrives in his Sith Infiltrator, lands the camouflaged ship on top of an empty Coruscanti building, and continues on his speeder bike to the coordinates given him by his master. Darth Sidious had found that Hath Monchar was hiding in an apartment building south of the Manarai Mountains; unfortunately, the Sith do not know exactly where. On his way to the area, a police droid begins to follow Maul, but soon loses him in the traffic. He parks his speeder bike near one of the offices of the Coruscant customs authorities, where he uses one of the data terminals to track down Hath Monchar, finding a holocam image of a Neimoidian in a bar.

Back on the Saak'ak, Nute Gunray and Rune Haako discuss the situation of their missing comrade, upon which Haako proposes to hire a bounty hunter by the name of Mahwi Lihnn.

In a bar near Coruscant's Crimson Corridor, the Green Glowstone Tavern, Lorn Pavan drinks away his sorrow over the lost holocron and credits. After a small debate over I-5YQ's status—droid or business partner—with a Duros, I-5YQ takes Pavan back to their home, a small windowless apartment.

Darsha Assant has arrived in her skyhopper at the Crimson Corridor, where she decides to leave it floating twenty meters above the ground. However, before she can even exit the ship, she is swarmed by beggars. Managing to find the right house amidst the chaos, Assant's beggars are scared off with irritating gas. A security droid takes her inside and brings her to Oolth, the informant. He wants to go as quickly as possible before the Raptors, a local gang, arrive. However, it is already too late&hellip;. As they arrive at Assant's ship, a group of Raptors is waiting for them. Several members enter the ship using hooks and cables and throw all her stuff out. They also manage to shut of the autopilot, causing the ship to land. Oolth tells Assant to hide with him, but she chooses to confront the Raptors, because the skyhopper is their only way out. She asks them to leave her ship alone and go away, but the group only laughs at her. Fortunately, she can use the Force to convince them to leave, but just when they start to walk away Oolth is attacked by an armored rat, and the gang members regain their full consciousness. Assant knows it will turn into a fight, but before she can pull out her lightsaber, she is jumped by the Raptors.

While in a Coruscanti bar, Hath Monchar considers selling the information about the impending blockade of Naboo. Bounty hunter Mahwi Lihnn has arrived on Coruscant and started her hunt for the missing Neimoidian. She starts at Monchar's residence in the Kaldani Spires, but finds no trace of his current location. Realizing that Monchar has to be in the area—it is after all the place he knows best—and has to eat, Lihnn uses the HoloNet to find all the restaurants in the area serving Neimoidian food.

Darth Maul, in an air taxi, is on his way to the bar Monchar had just visited. According to the Baragwin barkeeper, the Neimoidian had been looking to sell sensitive information. He had given him a name, Lorn Pavan, who the barkeeper describes. Darth Maul goes on his way to find Pavan.

Back in the Crimson Corridor, Assant manages to draw her lightsaber and tells the Raptors to back off. They will not listen, but when she cuts of the hand of a Gotal who is attacking her from behind with a vibroknife, they flee. Oolth is still fighting with the armored rat, and Assant manages to scare off the beast with the tip of her lightsaber. They hurry toward the skyhopper but cannot take off—the vibroknife of the Gotal cut through the instruments. Assant suggests calling for help with her comlink, but it has been destroyed in the fight. Before she can tell Oolth, the Raptors return, this time with heavier firepower. She shoots her tow cable straight up, hoping it will hit something, and uses it to pull them both away from danger. While ascending, hawk-bats, whose territory they have entered, start attacking them. Oolth is bitten by one of the bats, but when he tries to get it away, he uses both arms, releasing Assant and falling to his death. Assant continues upwards, but the bats keep attacking her. She decides to cut open a of the transparisteel windows, and once inside, the animals stop following her.

Lorn Pavan wakes up with a big hangover from the night before, but luckily, I-5YQ cures it by producing a low vibrating tone. I-5YQ also has some messages for him. The first one is from Yanth the Hutt, who wants to know where the holocron is that Pavan wants him to buy. The second one was from Hath Monchar, who wants to sell him important information. He is to go to the Dewback Inn at 0900. Because of their credit shortage, they decided to meet with the Neimoidian. After having investigated four other restaurants, Mahwi Lihnn is also on her way to the Dewback Inn. Darth Maul arrives at Lorn Pavan's residence right as they leave and decides to follow them.

Droids are not allowed inside in the Dewback Inn, so I-5YQ has to wait outside while Pavan heads in to meet with Monchar. Darth Maul likewise enters the inn. When Pavan nears the Neimoidian’s table, he is grabbed by a Trandoshan named Gorth. Once Pavan's identity is confirmed, he is allowed to speak with Monchar.

Darth Maul, eager to take him out at that moment, knows that the commotion would be noticed in the inn, and that he would have to murder the rest of the group as well. In addition, he needs to interrogate Monchar to make sure that the Neimoidian has not already spread his information to others.

After climbing several stairs, Darsha Assant reaches the lower residence area, where she buys some synthflesh with the little money she can spend, as she had lost her credit card. After applying the synthflesh, she seeks out a silent corner to figure out what to do next, eventually deciding to make her way to the temple.

Back at the Dewback Inn, Hath Monchar tells Pavan about the information he wants to sell. He has stored the information in a holocron but left it in a safe place, and wants half a million credits for it. The deal is made and it is decided that they will meet one hour later at Monchar's living module. Now all Pavan has to do is get half a million credits in an hour; fortunately, I-5YQ has an idea&mdash;bank fraud. It would be hard to pull off, but with the right timing, he could convince the Neimoidian he has half a million credits on his account.

Mahwi Lihnn finally finds the Dewback Inn, but just as she arrives, Hath Monchar leaves. Not much later, a figure in a black robe follows him out and starts to follow them. Lihnn decides to follow as well, and then take their follower out along with the bodyguard, allowing her to capture Monchar. After a long detour, they arrive at his residence module. Darth Maul cuts his way in to the building with his lightsaber just as Lihnn arrives, who takes out her blaster and follows him in.

Lorn Pavan and I-5YQ near Hath Monchar’s residence and still have one hour and thirty minutes before the droid accountants will notice the missing half a million credits and report it to the police&mdash;time enough to make the deal and sell the holocron to Yanth the Hutt.

Inside the building, Darth Maul finds Hath Monchar's module, and using the Force, he blows open the door. Maul actives his lightsaber, taking out two guards by deflecting the blaster bolts shot at him, then cuts off the head of the third. Hath Monchar sits cowering in his chair, too scared to run. Lorn Pavan and I-5YQ arrive at the building and proceed to the third floor, where Monchar lives. Inside the room, Darth Maul is torturing Monchar with the Force to find out who knows about the information and where he can find them. Monchar admits that only Pavan knows and that he is on his way. Maul proceeds to kill the Neimoidian. Behind Monchar stands a durasteel safe. Maul opens it with his lightsaber, and just as he is about to take the holocron out, he senses another presence. Mahwi Lihnn stands in the door opening, pointing two blasters at him. With his lightsaber deactivated, he knows he cannot evade all of her shots, so he looks for a distraction. Using the Force, he picks up the dead Trandoshan’s blaster and hurls it towards her. She manages to evade it, but by that time, Maul is coming her way with his activated lightsaber. He deflects her shots, and she is forced to use other weapons, reaching for the rocket launcher on her wrist. Maul, realizing they both would be killed by the blast, cuts through one of the walls next to him and jumps in to the adjacent room, where he quickly cuts through the floor. Just as he clears the hole, the rocket explodes in the Neimoidian's room, killing Lihnn. Pavan, nearing the apartment, is knocked out by the explosion. He wakes up a few minutes later and enters the room. Realizing that everything was for nothing, he turns to leave. Then he notices the holocron, still in the safe and undamaged by the explosion. He takes it out and starts running out of the building.

Darsha Assant works her way up to the higher levels of Coruscant, and after going through a checkpoint that separates the lower from the higher levels, she finally stands outside again. She makes her way to an air taxi duty station, where she has just enough credits left for a trip to the Jedi Temple. Arriving there, she decides to go see her master first, then together they could go before the Council.

Darth Maul escapes the scene of the crime, avoiding the police and fire droids. He contacts his master in an empty alley, realizing during the conversation that he left the holocron in the safe. As Maul heads back to the apartment, Pavan comes storming out of the building, calling to I-5YQ to follow him. After they were a couple of blocks away from the building, Pavan suddenly realized that there was no blood on the body and head of Monchar&mdash;it could not have been done by any weapon but a lightsaber, most likely by a Sith. Pavan wants to destroy the holocron immediately, but I-5YQ manages to persuade him that if they sell the holocron, the Sith might stop looking for them.

Darsha Assant tells her master the entire story and waits for him to reply. When he does, he asks her if she is positive that Oolth had died. Since Assant had not seen him die, nor sensed his death in the Force, Assant and Bondara return to the Crimson Corridor.

By this time, Maul had reentered the building and made his way to the room of Monchar. Using the Force to read the minds of the forensic investigators inside, he finds nothing about the holocron. Additionally, when he enters the room cloaked by the Force, he sees that the holocron is missing and concludes that Monchar’s business partner, Lorn Pavan, must have taken it.

Pavan and I-5YQ arrive at Yanth the Hutt's place, and he agrees to buy it at their price of one million credits. They duo still has one hour left to reach their transport off-planet.

Darth Maul finds Lorn Pavan's residence and quickly discovers it is empty. He decides to check the messages and finds the one from Yanth asking about the holocron Pavan wants to sell him. Maul continues on his way, headed this time for Yanth.

Anoon Bondara and Darsha Assant arrive at the place of the accident. From their airspeeder, they see bloodstains on the street and a dead hawk-bat. The people living on the street below probably took the body. Master Bondara decides they will head back and report this to the council.

Lorn Pavan and I-5YQ are just about to receive their credits from Yanth when a guard falls through the door, followed by Darth Maul. Pavan, paralyzed with fear, is not able to move when Maul brings his saber down on him, but in a quick movement, I-5YQ throws the briefcase with money at him, saving Pavan’s life. I-5YQ draws him out of the room, while Yanth’s Gamorrean guards keep Darth Maul busy. They end up in the Tusken Oasis, Yanth’s bar. Maul quickly deals with the Gamorreans. In a desperate move, Yanth throws one of the weapons of his guards at Maul, who cuts it in half, and with a jump, Maul stabs him in the chest. He takes the holocron out of the dead Hutt’s hand and continues his hunt for Lorn Pavan and I-5YQ. Using the dark side of the Force, he senses and follows the path they took, but could not move fast through the large group of people. Using the Force as a battering ram, he pushes the people that were standing in his way aside, and then quintuples his speed and gains on his prey. Just when Maul is close enough to strike them down, the repulsors of an airspeeder push him down.

Sensing a disturbance in the Force, Bondara and Assant had turned their airspeeder toward it and arrive just in time to stop the dark Force-user from slaying Pavan and I-5YQ. Urging them to get in before Darth Maul gets up again, Master Bondara speedily flies the airspeeder away. Still, Maul manages to grab on and slashes at the motor with his lightsaber. When Assant notices him, she uses the Force to pull him off, but the ship is broken and can no longer fly up and down, only horizontal. Maul summons his own speeder bike and continues the chase, using the Force to track them down.

In the damaged airspeeder, I-5YQ explains why the Sith Lord is chasing them. Darth Maul appears in the distance, and Master Bondara orders Assant to take over the controls and fly to the Jedi Temple, while he climbs into the backseat. When Maul is near enough, he jumps at the speeder bike, using the Force land on the bike behind the Sith. Maul manages to deflect his blows, activates the autopilot, and turns around in the saddle. The speeder lands on the roof of a building, and the duel continues. Desperate to catch Pavan this time, Maul fights ferociously. Fortunately for Bondara, Assant, who could not leave her master alone, turns the airspeeder around. However, because the airspeeder could not fly up, she ended up ten meters below the rooftop fight. Bondara was slowly realizing that he could not defeat his opponent. Maul could see it in his eyes and knew it would be only a matter of time before he won. Then the Jedi Master does something unexpected. He uses his lightsaber to destroy Maul’s speeder bike, and the power cell explodes, taking the Jedi with it. The blast throws Assant out of the airspeeder, but Pavan catches her by the wrist and pulls her back in. I-5YQ takes over the controls to stop the airspeeder from moving around. The explosion collapses the platform the fight had occurred on, smashing it in to the airspeeder, which plummets down.

On the ground once more, I-5YQ pulls Assant and Pavan out of the wreck and takes them inside a building. The airspeeder soon explodes, the stairs they are on start to collapse, and they fall.