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.

Sanguine plains stretched out as far as the eye could see and the scorched grass rippled and danced with the wind.

Finally, Gui thought to himself as he felt the stirring air crawl over his skin. Yet his infectious smile was nowhere to be seen as it drooped into a frown. The disappointment would wash over his features like the dry gust which brought little to no comfort. His brow, adorned with a band of sweat that soaked his dreadlocked scalp was wiped away with his balled up poncho.

What kind of madness is this? the Jedi continued, slightly bitter that he received an assignment on that sweltering world. The hottest season of the year.

"Barry," he gestured to his DUM pit droid, "I need you to find water." His tongue had a gritty film which caused it to stick to the roof of his mouth. "Something to drink, anything." He sighed, "I need to study the coordinates. We have to be missing something."

Barry chattered in a binary code that made Gui chuckle inwardly before it started its frantic scouting mission. The Force was alive on Shili; too bad everything else appeared to be either dying, or worse, already dead.

"I'm beginning to think the Council is sending me on these wild errands for their own enjoyment, gah!"

The Savannah was a hunting ground, something with which Gui was savvy. He was used to seeing an apex predator stalk its prey. His former master and bounty hunter Xirini Kurai often taught through example and Gui didn't care much for being the hunted.

"Jon was supposed to meet us here, right at this very spot," the Kid pointed his finger at the ground on which he occupied, "but I've seen no signs of him anywhere."

At that moment, a single blaster bolt creased the veil of dry heat and seared into the only tree visible for miles.

"Don't tell me, more training," Gui grumbled, flashing his yellow blade to deflect another bolt as it sputtered to life. "Come on, Ol'Unreliable, stay with me." He spoke to his weapon as he rolled the hilt into the reversed grip he favored. He vowed to himself that he was going to fix it; his indecisiveness never affected him until, well, it affected him. So far, the Force and his shoddy craftsmanship were holding him together.

The Knight looked in the direction of the blasts and sifting through the tall grass he could see a stocky fellow with a messy beard brandishing the very blaster that took him by surprise.

"Jon, is that you?!" Gui shouted.

"Dammit, Kid. When I agreed to help train you, I didn’t know I was agreeing to this fresh hell!" he shouted, squeezing off another shot.

Gui wondered what he did to deserve this relentless training exercise. He was seemingly pushed to his limits everyday. Was it because the Council saw potential in him? Or was it a disciplinary action for the droid mishap which cost his Consul, Aura an eyebrow?

That wasn't my fault, he thought to himself with a chuckle as he processed the remainder of his thoughts but kept his focus on the shots fired. His blade swept upwards and as it did, it accidentally redirected the payload to its sender. Jon spit and stood his ground as the bolt was threaded between his legs. It left a sizzling hole in the tail of the long-coat he was shedding like a layer of skin.

"Not the jewels, boy!" Silvon shouted, stampeding forward as his expression progressed from frustration to anger. He closed the gap and switched weapons mid-stride, bringing to bear his double bladed vibro.

"Now that's interesting," Gui smiled as he slid his right foot forward and tucked his blade behind his back, still in a reversed grip. "This could be exciting."

“You want a lesson, smartass?” Jon called over the fields; the large man was grinning in a way that showed far more teeth than his usual mocking smirk, and didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Lesson one, never tick off someone with more experience than you!”

Gui took the initiative, rushing forward to meet Jon in the middle, lashing out with his saber in a wide arc, and an aggravatingly cocky grin on his face. Jon didn’t bother parrying it. Instead, he moved with the arc of the blow, pirouetting ahead of it, and coming around behind the Knight.

“Lesson two,” he huffed, ready to knock the kid off his feet. “Watch your -whoa!”

Gui, as it turned out, was fast, and spun around to block the strike before Jon could even complete it. Off his belt, he drew a metal rod, then jabbed at Jon’s midsection.

Pure instinct took over. Jon dropped off his feet, and landed on his back as the stick sailed over the ribs that no doubt would’ve been cracked.

Jon rolled away, springing to his feet.

“What’s the matter? Losing your temper?” Gui mocked, leaning his stick on one shoulder and spinning his saber around cockily. Jon raised an eyebrow. Was this how other people felt dealing with him?

He shrugged mentally. Questions for later.

Instead, he split his blade apart at the hilt. He flipped the left blade around into a reverse grip, and pointed the right one directly at Gui. In the language of swordsmen, the message was clear: Your move

Jon preferred to let his opposition come to him, and he got the feeling he wouldn’t need to wait long.

Gui knew better. While he may have been impatient, he was no fool.

"Almost gotcha," said Gui as his cheeks dropped to release his smile and his blade, like clockwork, at the worst possible time, disappeared back into its cylindrical home. "Not again!" he growled, frantically thumbing the deadened switch.

"What's the matter, Kid?" Jon laughed, "Your Jedi weapon couldn't tolerate you either?"

The Kiffar mockingly laughed back as he let the taunts roll off of his back.

The heat was becoming unbearable as the once stirring wind vanished without a trace. Gui wanted this misery to end but he knew it wouldn't be over until there was a decisive finale.

"You know, Jon. There's more to a Jedi than his weaponry." His smirk returned as he fastened his saber back to his belt and reached out with his off-hand.

Silvon growled as he planted his feet. Just from Gui's words, he was able to prepare for the possibility of what was coming next. Call it a hunch. As he dug in, the Force wrapped around the Privateer. It was typically an uncomfortable feeling, at least that's how the non-Force Sensitives of Urr described it. With little more than a thought and gesture, Gui tugged forward but was dismayed as Silvon's feet and the tip of his blade ground into the soil in an attempt to stop his forward momentum.

Jon burst out with laughter once more, "Is that all you've got, boy?" His belly bounced.

"I mean, well, uhh, n-" stammered Gui before abruptly being cut off by the high pitched squeal of a droid in distress. "Barry?!"

The brush erupted into a plume of debris as the Jedi's companion burst free from its clutches. Running as fast as it could, Sol's pit droid charged towards him, water splashing from the canteen in its hand.

Jon cocked his head to the side and then back at the Kid who's eyes widened, "Uh oh."

"What's wrong, Kid?!"

"That!" He pointed frantically at a large quadrupedal creature launching forward from the brush. Orange fur tussled as it landed in front of Silvon and shook its head in a dominant display.

"Is that an Akul?!" Jon shouted as he jumped back next to Gui.

Barry nodded as the snarling beast lowered its head and snapped its jaws, sputum dripping from its gnarly teeth. The smell of its last supper was still fresh on its breath as it huffed with aggression.

"This wasn't part of the exercise was it?" Gui chuckled. Jon just looked at him and flashed a sneer of his own before swirling his vibro-blade. It came to rest behind his back and his freehand shot straight forward, "This isn't the time for jokes," said Jon, clearly tired of Sol's nonchalant attitude.

"This coming from you, it's no match for a Jed-" Gui was cut off as the Akul spontaneously lunged forward. Gui, having the wherewithal to do a barrel roll, was able to avoid ending up in its gullet by sheer grace.

Silvon growled as he watched Gui's near death experience and spun on his heels. He rotated his vibro-blade above his head and fanned the back blade into the Akul's rear thigh with pinpoint precision.

Letting out a howl of pain it seemed that all the maneuver had accomplished was enhancing the hungry beasts rage. With a tug, Jon ripped his blade from the muscular haunch which caused a stream of blood to soak the ground at his feet.

"Come on, come on." Gui fiddled with his hilt, "This is ridiculous!" Impatience began to get the better of him and perhaps a bit of anger.

"Come on boy!" commanded the Squad Leader but his split focus created an opening for the Akul. As Jon turned back to the beast, its bleeding back leg lashed out with primal speed and raw power, striking Jon in the side. Gui growled as he watched his Clanmate tossed aside like a child's toy and his anger became rage as he saw Jon struggling to push himself up.

With all of the power he could muster, Gui went airborne, flipping through the air like a Coruscanti Gymnast, landing on the Akul's back as if it were saddled. The beast roared and bucked, snapping its ferocious jaws at anything and everything.

Gui's right hand slammed down and gripped a chunk of mane while his left shot out to the side for balance.

"WoOoOo yeah!" he shouted as the animal whipped its torso around. It was all fun and games until the beast did an about-face and locked onto Jon who was pushing himself back up to his feet. "Jon, look out!" Gui shouted as the beast once again lunged forward, however this time, Jon had enough and let his own rage take hold as he launched his vibro-blade like a spear which would connect with the Akul's throat.

A deafening shriek and gurgling caused the chirping birds to silence as it reared back, tossing Gui from its back in the process. Rolling off to the side, Gui stuck the landing as if he were a feline species and reached out with the Force, manipulating the streams of energy surrounding him. He clenched his hand as if he were gripping the vibro-blade and the hilt of the staff began to vibrate with an invisible power-source as Gui felt the hold, the weapon, and the life of the animal. In his rage, he slammed his hand to the side and the vibro-blade followed suit as if it were obeying an order. The beast shrieked louder as the vibro-blade went deeper and deeper until it popped through the skin on the opposite side of its neck and stuck into the ground.

Gui huffed with an anger he had never felt before and to be frank, it concerned him. He hated taking a life, no matter what it was; and his disappointment was written all over his face as the creature fell face first to the ground and writhed in pain.

"You had to do it, Kid," Jon tried to console him. "As far as I'm concerned. This test is over. Let's get the hell out of here."

Gui was frozen in place, seething with frustration as Jon turned and grabbed his vibro-blade.

"Kid, you coming?"

"Ye- yeah, I'll be right there," he finally responded as a single tear streaked down his face.