Following the events on Malachor, Maul embarked on a campaign to obtain the Sith holocron that Ezra Bridger had obtained on Malachor and Kanan Jarrus's holocron. Knowing that Ezra and Kanan were part of the Phoenix Cell, Maul engineered a trap. First, he attacked the crew of a Sphyrna-class Hammerhead corvette and forced them to send a distress signal to the Ghost. Hera Syndulla, captain of the Ghost and Phoenix Leader, responded to the corvette's distress signal. Using his mastery of the Force, Maul overpowered Hera, Chopper, Garazeb Orrelios, and Sabine Wren. Maul restrained his prisoners in binders and used repurposed tour guide droids to guard them.
Maul then contacted Kanan and Ezra. He demanded that the Jedi hand him both the Sith holocron and Kanan's Jedi holocron if they wanted to save their friends' lives. Kanan and Ezra reluctantly acceded to Maul's demands and returned to Atollon to recover the Sith holocron from the Bendu, who was safeguarding the device. Meanwhile, Maul forced Hera to lead him on a tour of the ship in order to find Kanan's holocron. Despite holding out, Maul managed to use the Force to extract the information from her mind. Maul found that the holocron was hidden in a drawer in Kanan's quarters. Elsewhere on Atollon, Ezra and Kanan managed to recover the Sith holocron after enduring a trial set by the Bendu. The two Jedi had to travel inside a lair inhabited by krykna in order to reclaim the holocron. Through these trials, the two repaired their strained relationship.
Back aboard the Ghost, Hera staged a rescue attempt. At her signal, Zeb kicked Chopper into two of the tour guide droids. The rebels then knocked out the droids before proceeding down the ladder into the cargo hold. When Maul followed, the four rebels attempted to trap the former Sith by activating the magnetizer. However, Maul used his lightsaber to break free and attacked the crew. Using the Force, Maul knocked Hera, Sabine, and Zeb to the ground. He also pushed Chopper into an adjacent room. Maul then warned his captives that they would only stay alive as long as they were of use to him.
Honoring their side of the agreement, Ezra and Kanan traveled in an A-wing starfighter to the Mandalorian asteroid station Vizsla Keep 09. Maul greeted the Jedi and instructed his tour guide droids to usher Ezra into the command center. He warned the Jedi that he would kill his friends if Ezra disabled his droids or made any escape attempt. Maul then led Kanan into an airlock where he attempted to kill the Jedi Knight by exposing him to space. However, Kanan survived and managed to save Hera, Chopper, Zeb, and Sabine from being executed by Maul's tour guide droids. The former Sith had promised to spare Ezra's friends, but had secretly planned to kill the Spectres with the exception of Ezra, whom he hoped to recruit as an apprentice.
After activating the holocrons, Maul informed Ezra that he wanted to combine their powers in order to find hope. The holocrons bathed the command center in a pink blaze of light. Maul saw nothing but oblivion. However, Ezra saw twin suns and told Maul. Peering deeper, Maul learned that his old adversary Obi-Wan Kenobi lived. At that point, Kanan and the other rebels arrived and convinced Ezra to end the ritual. Ezra closed his eyes and the vision ended, causing the holocrons to separate with a shockwave that briefly knocked the rebels unconscious. Maul, however, took advantage of the confusion to flee aboard his starfighter Nightbrother. Following the adventure, Ezra and Kanan vowed to find out the contents of the vision together.
Maul's capture of the Ghost crew first appeared in the Star Wars Rebels episode "The Holocrons of Fate," which first premiered on Disney XD on October 1, 2016.
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