When you are traversing the wild and untouched landscapes of the savannah, just remind yourself that you are never the apex predator. The vast and desolate area of sand, rocks, dead and ancient trees are all the same blood-orange color for a simple reason: to hide your worst nightmare from your sight, the Akul. A large, quadrupedal and orange furred mammal, the Akul are the top predators that hunt all sorts of bovine, dog, hooved and giant mammals. Using their extraordinary sense of smell, they can trace your scent from days long past and track you down without mercy.

Throughout the Savannah, tall and wispy Turu-grass stretches out into long ranging fields. Watering holes are sparse and spread thin, and the terrain offers little safety from the blazing sun that hangs overhead. When the sun retreats and gives way to moonlight, the Savannah becomes almost chill, but the night is dark and full of wild creatures. In the Savannah, it’s hunt or be hunted.

Dusk began to take hold as Dante made his way through the tall red and white grass that covered the landscape before him. His mission was to find an Iron Legion shuttle that had crash-landed and retrieve any survivors or data that had been stolen from a Lotus cell. The last transmission from the craft had been that they were experiencing malfunctions and had to put down on Shili. Luckily, Kell's ship was close so it was diverted on request from the Iron Throne to check on the missing vessel. They had located the crash fairly quickly from high altitude, but Dante wanted to be cautious so he had his crew land a few kilometers away to allow him to stalk his way into the site.

Slowly moving towards his target, Kell kept a constant search up through the Force for anything around him as he not only had to worry about Lotus operatives but the wildlife as well. About 100 meters from the ship, there was a tree that would offer some cover, and he set up his observation post. Bringing his rifle into his hands, Dante dropped to the ground and brought the rifle up to his eyes.

As Dante looked through the scope, a lithe figure in all black came out of the shuttle and looked up at the sky as if he was searching for a rescue craft to appear. At first, Kell thought it might be one of the survivors from the crew, but the man before him looked loaded for bear with multiple weapons and some sort of jet attachments on his boots. Scanning left and right of the target area, there was also a junky looking speeder of some kind parked off to the side, and it looked like an attempt had been made to try and hide it from aerial observation. Kell shifted his view back to the shuttle to track the unknown target.

Arvalis's comm device beeped again, and the operative checked the time and the message. The Umbaran had only been on target for 15 minutes, and he had already killed the survivors and hacked all of the information that had been stolen from the Lotus base. His superiors would be happy upon his return he thought to himself as the message said pickup would be there within the hour. He glanced out across the now darkened grassy fields that surrounded him. As he let his eyes roam, a howl was let out by some wretched beast. The file had said that Shili was home to many predators, but the commander had no interest in meeting any of them. He was about to turn and head back into the shuttle when he saw a glint of something by a large tree to his left. Focusing his vision, Arvalis started to make out the shape of a humanoid with a weapon.

The former spy engaged his jets and took off through the air. Seeing the man trying to draw a bead on him, he took out his slugthrower on the fly and started firing. Although he was a crack shot, the range on the pistol was simply too long to be accurate as he laid down suppressive fire against the armored figure who began returning fire from his rifle.

Rolling to his right as the slugs dug deeply into the trees bark, Kell returned fire against his opponent. “This guy is good,” the Adept muttered as he let loose a barrage of blaster fire from his rifle.

Accelerating away from the rifle blasts, Raith made a wide loop away from the fight, reloaded his slugthrower in mid-turn, and then dropped onto the ground. The large armored target was trying to use the large tree as cover, but the clearing around the tree offered him no hope of escape. As the last vestiges of light disappeared, Arvalis knew that he had his prey trapped as he stalked through the high grass.

As night took the savannah, the Umbaran’s eyesight would only improve. I need cover.
Dropping all pretence of stealth, Arvalis made a beeline for the nearby speeder.

Not content with making it easy for the Umbaran, the Adept fired a volley of bolts before launching several micro-grenades.

Arvalis felt the bolts whizzing past him, his free-running skills allowing for evasive maneuvers, and his experience with blasters helping to predict the pattern. When he heard the whistle of grenades sailing through the air, he went into a sprint, trying to avoid getting caught up in the explosions.

One. Two. Three.

Arvalis slid to a halt behind the relative safety of Shrike. Sweat had gathered on his brow, and his breathing deepened. “Dirk; stay low; scanner sweep; avoid hostiles.” While he wasn't knowledgeable in binary, the long buzz that followed notified Arvalis that the droid complied. “Focus on that predator, warn me when it arrives.” A low whirr followed. A brown, semi-solid matter not far away drew his attention.

I hope that’s mud, he thought, as he scooped it up and liberally applied it to his clothing, face and hair.Not mud!

Back under the tree, Kell was swapping out the power pack of his rifle. He still had some shots left, but he preferred being safe over sorry. Of course, he could have easily fired more micro-grenades, blowing up both the speeder and the Umbaran. He preferred prisoners over body bags however, and wanted to know what the man had found. I’ll just flush him out. Kell took aim in the speeder’s direction and fired off another grenade.

Four. Arvalis peeked up from behind the speeder. His ultraviolet sight searching, finding, and locking on. A moment later, a bolt from Unforgiven followed, exploding the grenade in mid-air. The Umbaran vaulted over the speeder before breaking into an off-angle sprint towards Kell.

“This guy . . .” Kell sighed, before firing another hail of bolts. Arvalis’ path and athletic ability made him a tricky target to hit however. The Adept launched another grenade, while the distance was still suitable.

Five. Arvalis activated his Mitrinomon thrusters, safely carrying him outside of the explosive range. Their fuel had all but been depleted as they let out a death rattle, sending the Umbaran into an ungraceful dive. His comm beeped, notifying him that their guest had arrived. Rolling through, never breaking stride as he regained footing, he returned fire with his own blaster.

Trading bolts back and forth, both men took grazing shots. Arvalis felt the impact in his left shoulder and both his legs. Kell, aided by the Force, was able to avoid the brunt of the assault but was still caught in one of his knees.

Having time to aim, the Adept let fly a single bolt, only to see it swallowed by a charged bolt streaking towards him. Surprised, the bolt struck the center of his chest. He felt the duraplast of his armor warp under heat and pressure. The impact brought him to his knees and bit at his ribs.

Opportunistically, Arvalis launched into a dropkick catching the Adept in the chest. Both men crashed to the ground. Bullets of sweat ran down Arvalis’ face as his breath came hard. His biotech implant flushed him with adrenal stims and painkillers, but it’s supply was limited. The burning sensation of scorched skin, the smell of burned meat followed.

Both men required several minutes to rise. The Adept suppressing the agony with the Force and technology. His rifle lay several feet away, but he had no need for it. Brandishing his saber, its amethyst blade splitting the air and low hum breaking the staccato rhythm of their labored breaths. Arvalis too was ready, his slugthrower pointing roughly at where the Adepts eyes would be.

A howl caught both their attention. Arvalis had an idea. “Our guest arrived. It doesn't matter to me who you are. Don’t even think of shoving me with the Force or swinging that weapon. I’m fast on the trigger. By the way, this isn’t mud I’m covered with. That predator? I reek of it. He won’t even notice me.”

“That’s . . . rather disgusting,” Kell replied, his voice muffled.

“I help you take out this thing. There’s still a grenade in your rifle.”

He counted? During all that? By the Force, what’s wrong with this guy?

“In return, you go on your merry way, and you forget that all this happened.”