Black Spire Outpost is a small but thriving settlement on the Outer Rim world Batuu. Although Batuu’s remote location — it’s so far off the grid that couriers have to carry interstellar messages to a planet with a Holonet beacon — has given it a reputation as a good place to lay low and avoid attention, Black Spire has witnessed skirmishes in both the Clone Wars and the more recent war between the Resistance and First Order.

The Spire is a market town where Batuuans and the occasional outlanders come to buy and sell a surprising variety of wares. The main bazaar features handcrafted toys, clothing, pets, and the pervasive, mouthwatering scent wafting from Ronto Roaster’s grill, a converted pod racer engine. Customers interested in specialty goods tend to stick to Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities or Hondo Ohnaka’s latest “highly legitimate and extremely legal import/export business venture.” The most out of place customers must be the trickle of spiritual seekers who flock to Saavi’s scrapyard to pick through rusted durasteel and droid bits in search of something special.

Although people from small Rim communities are known for a certain aloofness with outsiders, Batuuans have gleefully adapted to the increased foot traffic in the bazaar and the planet is something of a minor tourist destination for coreward travellers with a taste for the exotic. Smiles and cries of “Bright suns, traveller!” invariably lead to foreign credits lining Batuuan pockets.

Although the planet has its share of thugs, typically found in Oga’s Cantina, even a First Order garrison couldn’t shake the feeling that this is the happiest place in the galaxy.

A night of festivities made the Black Spire Outpost a center of lively celebration. Neither of Bantu's moons were in the sky, and it entered a rare orbital period that revealed the gorgeous cosmic dust of the galaxy. The Gatherers had consulted with the Ronto Roasters to set up stalls around Savi's Workshop, and cut a deal with Oga to discount drinks for the occasion. Small oil lanterns were placed from Docking Bay 9 to 7 so that synthetic lights wouldn't dampen the view of the heavens. The intent behind this party was to celebrate life, the universe, and the Force.

The Gatherers had been in contact with the Odanites in recent years as they’ve been known to be admirers and long standing supporters of the Jedi. It was their invitation that interested Elyon de Neverse, who insisted her husband join her for this time of merriment. Creon was reluctant at first, knowing full well the criminal dealings of the outpost. His fear was that the festival could perhaps be an ambush in disguise, and thus compromised with his wife by arriving in armor. Most paid him no heed, however, as they simply saw just another bounty hunter. Though, his distinct size and arsenal gained the attention of scouts from the Crimson Dawn. The scouts reported to their Lieutenant with a hologram display of Creon.

"Yesss, he'sss perfect... Have him meet with me on Sssavi's Path, just outside the outpost wallsss when I arrive," Lieutenant Draugân ordered over a comlink.

One Hour Later

"Pardon me, sir," said a simple man in light armor and a holstered pistol at the hip as he addressed Creon.

The Mandalorian slowly diverted his attention from Elyon, who was performing telekinetic tricks for the local children, to the young man, "What is it?" he asked.

"My boss would like a word with you. You see, he's in need of someone with your talents, and is willing to pay handsomely for such quality."

Creon slowly turned away and looked back towards his wife with a momentary pause of silence before asking, "What's the number?"

"I'm not entirely sure of the exact number, but it's well into six figures."

Creon nodded, "Very well, take me to him."

Once they had reached outside the walls of the outpost, the thug that escorted him gave a polite bow and took his leave. A cloaked figure in black then appeared from seemingly nowhere approximately ten meters from Creon. Immediately, Creon could feel the power of the Dark Side emanating from the stranger.

"AV0," Creon muttered to the AI in his helmet, "Signal the drone to my location." Through the Force he flipped the switch that turned on his personal energy shield generator just in case. He then folded his arms and waited for the individual to speak.

"Thank you for meeting with me. I come in peace," he said with a drawn-out hiss of the word "peace". "You have the look of a bounty hunter, am I wrong?"

"It's that kind of work that paid for my arms and armor. How much are you offering?"

"One-hundred thousssand," Draugân replied.

"Make it one-fifty and you have a deal. My wife needs a new ship."

There was a low and drawn-out growl from underneath the cloak. Creon didn't like the sound of it one bit.

"A pirate by the name of Ssskragg has reformed an old gang that once controlled the docking bay and usssed it as a front for sssmuggling. They are a thorn at my ssside, and I want her men gone from thisss world."

Creon's drone hovered above the walls of the outpost where two crimson dawn gang members watched the meeting. It was unseen by the patrols but was in clear view to their Lieutenant.

"And who would be my employer, if I may ask?”

"I represssent the crimssson dawn," Draugân replied. "Will you help me or not?"

Creon thought for a moment, “Didn’t the Crimson Dawn betray Mandalore during the Clone Wars?”

There was that growl again.

Creon reached out with the Force by outstretching his hand with a grasping gesture. Draugân was pulled off the ground and struggled to grasp for air from the pressure at the neck. “Wasn’t it not your organization that caused a civil war because of some sword? Don’t get me wrong, the Darksaber is cool but it doesn’t make one a leader. You know what? You’re coming with me, and you’re going to give me the names of your leaders and their bases of operations.

A warning of the Force then alerted Creon to the two sentries that watched from afar and he ordered their execution by the drone. The droid sniped them both from above and sent them falling off the walls with the familiar "Wilhelm scream" echoing into the night.

A lightheaded migraine soon swept over Creon and caused him to drop the Force Choke involuntarily. Creon reached out again, but there was no connection to the Force in his actions this time. The Dashade drew back its hood and drew two lightsabers at the hip. One ignited into a tainted green and the other a deep red with a flamelike glow. When Draugân rushed forward Creon shot upwards with his jetpack and fired a combination of blaster rounds from the rapid-fire barrel of his arm cannon and his right vambrace. Although Draugân was adept at deflecting the bolts, he found it difficult to redirect them at a flying target that circled around him. The Sith grew increasingly frustrated and committed his full concentration once the drone added to the barrage of bolts. It too circled around but with zigzag like patterns to avoid reflecting fire.

Draugân knew that if he tried to keep this up any longer it would eventually overwhelm him. He threw out both his arms with only his two middle fingers holding the lightsabers to his palms and drew up a barrier with the Force. Once the bolts pelted against the barrier, he waved his cloak over his body and detached it from his body. The barrier dropped and the bolts followed the cloak that flowed in the wind without the Dashade in sight. Creon and his drone stopped their assault when they could no longer see the target.

Creon then landed relatively fifteen meters away and scanned the area for movement while keeping his left arm raised to aim, “Now where did you go?” he muttered. He turned on the XAD Omnisight from the macroscope in his visor, but it revealed nothing. “Fine… I’ll flush you out.”

Draugân knelt perfectly still to keep his optical camouflage active. He gathered energy from the Force to his legs to prepare for a direct assault. His reptilian eyes widened in near shock when the Mandalorian tossed a primed thermal detonator near where he stood. Draugân used the Force to leap over the walls of the outpost in a single bound. This movement broke his armor’s camouflage system and Creon was able to pull him back down to the ground with telekinesis.

“Tell me what I want to know, snake! Or else you will die a fool and a coward!” Creon shouted.

"Fine. But let me go. "said Draugan as he was unceremoniously dragged out of his hiding place." He turned to his foe, who was still circling him high up in the air. 

Creon hesitated.

I'll be more ussseful to you alive than dead, Mandalorian. You can have all the information you need. But only if you let me go. "Show the Mandalorian honour that you take pride on..."

"All right, I will let go of you, but drop your weapons first."

With a slow glutaral snarl, the massive Dashade-Barabel did as he was told, for now. He deactivated and dropped his two lightsabres either side. 

"Happy, Mandalorian?" Draugan waved an arm slowly.

Creon kept his gun pointed at the monstrous form and snapped, "Cut out the small talk, and tell me what I want to know. The names of your leaders and bases of operations, to start with. He descended to the ground softly, dust and dry leaves flying in his wake.

"But of courssse! You see..."

Suddenly, the Mandalorian's droid screeched a wail of warning! Before he knew it, something had latched onto his back and started attacking him. He couldn't say what it was. All he could see were brightly coloured reptilian limbs twisting around him. He had to be quick. Almost immediately, he rotated his torso slightly to where he thought the creature was, and fired off his vambraces. But it was faster! Now it was on his back, now twisting on his legs, now on his arm! As Creon learned from its grip strength, it appeared to be surprisingly strong for its small size. 

The Mandalorian's droid swings into motion, ready to fire on the serpentine creature. But it had two problems. 

First, the serpent twisted around Creon was very small, and the droid knew it could easily hit his master. 

Its second problem was that the Sith had already re-ignited his lightsabres and was advancing. 

But this time, the Sith's attention was not divided. Once again, Draugan redirected its blaster bolts at it. Once more, it would fly and evade him. However, Draugan was by now somewhat familiar with its movement patterns. He had to take the chance while the Mandalorian was distracted. Even as he continued to deflect its blaster bolts away, he focused on the Force to amplify his abilities. When he was sure where the droid would move next, that's when he did it.

He broke into a run and leapt high into the air at the Ascendant droid, cocooning his body into a spin-wheel motion to give the droid minimum places to hit, his lightsabres blazing angrily in the air. Seconds later, he landed with a loud thud, with the droid sliced cleanly in two behind him. Now he could focus on the meddling Mandalorian!

At a distance, the Mandalorian was clawing away slimy poison from his visor and helmet. He kept firing randomly around him, but the creature had escaped.

It was a bad time to have one's vision clouded.

Draugan was ready to attack, and there was no droid to protect him now.

The viscous bodily fluid draped over his visor to where seeing through it was impractical no matter how much Creon tried to wipe it off. The Mandalorian removed the helmet and tossed it over his shoulder. He took on a calm demeanor but stared into the eyes of his opponent who approached him in a sprint. Creon's back leg shifted the lower body into a wide stance and the hips sank into a crouch as the hands rested on the hilt of his sith sword. It was already in that same moment, however, Draugân was already within reach and slashed with both lightsabers. The disruption of his attack by the final output of Creon's personal energy shield opened up a split second chance for a counterattack. With stern focus his hands moved swiftly with the blade in a horizontal slash aimed for the abdomen. Draugân's body jerked back in reflex and his stomach sucked in just enough to avoid the tip of Creon's blade. With a twist of his arm he whirled the saber for Creon's head but was blocked by a vambrace. The offensive momentum then shifted and Creon thrusted his sword in attempts to stab the gut. The Dashade jumped back to create a safe distance, and darted to the side with the release of Creon's whistling birds. The rockets spiraled and screamed with a few that broke formation, but none could track the heat signature of this cold-blooded creature. Draugân dashed forward with a flurry in a spinning flip. Creon parried with an upward slash and followed with a repulsor blast from his vambrace that pushed back his foe. Draugân landed with a backflip from the impact, but before he launched himself again into the fray there was a feeling in the Force of power being drawn in somewhere. He looked up to see Creon in the same wide-stanced crouch as before with his sword ready to be drawn from it's sheathe. Creon's eyes glistened a fading yellow glow around his green irises in concentration on the Force. Draugân responded by bending his knees and switching to a reverse grip. He drew in the energy within himself and instinctively assigned it to enhance his speed. There was a moment of silence and stillness in the air.

A single flower petal that floated from the branch of a and a short breeze carried it across the land between them. On cue both characters broke into a sprint towards each other, leaning far forward, hands on weapons. At first Draugân bolted with the greater speed, but just before reaching critical distance he felt his movements slowed in motion. Creon's jetpack gave a short burst in speed. His body moved almost in a blur from Draugân's perspective. Drops of dark blood spilled onto soil in a spotted trail to the edge of Creon's blade. The juggernaut landed firmly from the burst of speed in flight and glared back to his opponent from the corner of his eye.

"Come", he said in the Panathan tongue.

The gash across his torso wasn't deep, and the effects of his implant numbed the pain almost instantly. With the effects of his speed still active, Draugân rushed with growing anger and determination. He used the Force to suppress Creon's connection during the approach so as not to be slowed again or fall for some other trick up his sleeve. A cone of fire spit forth from a barrel attached to Creon's arm that forced Draugân's velocity to change direction. He curved around the following flame while still honing in towards Creon, but began to feel his body grow stiff and heavy with every breath he took. His attacks were slower and were more jagged in movement which was easy for Creon to party. Eventually Draugân found himself falling to his knees struggling to keep control over his own body.

"What did you do?!" He hissed in anger and confusion.

"It looks like the poison settled in. I'll admit it took effect quicker than I expected. Though I guess that all depends on the heart rate and blood flow." Creon approached and took out the pistol in his holster and aimed for the head, "Last chance. Names. Location."

"TuQ'uan Varick di Plagia", Draugân struggled to say, "On a ssship in deep ssspace, the Wrath."

"You're from Plagueis…"

The Plaguean simply bowed his head before the Odanite. He struggled to breathe and his spirit already accepted death.

"You will not die today, for I want you to send a message."

"Messs…sssage?" Draugân whispered while barely holding onto consciousness.

"A warning to the dread lord. She is a prize worthy of hunting. Her reign is nearing its end. I will find her, and I will kill her. And if I ever see you again, lizard, I will kill you too." Creon then smacked the side of Draugân's head with the pistol, causing him to black out into a heavy sleep. Creon then took the two lightsabers from his foe, as they would sell enough to repair the damages to his drone. He pulled his helmet back to his hand with the Force and went back to celebrate within the outpost.

Gripping his lightsabers in a tight grip, he started landing blow after blow on the Mandalorian. The bounty hunter had time enough to unsheathe his Sith Sword and to swipe off the slime off his helm. He drew no blasters now for he knew those aren't not useful at this range wouldn't be a good choice. It would be brawn against brawn, steel against steel.

Draugan smashed down his two lightsabers on Creon sinister Sith Sword, who had to take a step back to maintain balance, but gave no further ground. The two twisted and tottered for a few moments before disentangling, each pushing the other back. Yet again did the blazing emerald lightsabers meet the massive sword, and yet again. Seeing that the Mandalorian's strength matched his own, the criminal changed tactics. He started landing blows from unexpected angles, and from one blade after another, not both at the same time as he did before. By doing so, he attempted to keep the armoured warrior on his toes. If he would always be reacting to Draugan's actions, sooner or later he'd fall. That worked, for the Mandalorian had to keep his eyes on both the blades. However, it soon became evident that he was exceptionally skilled in handling a blade as well.

After a few such blows, the criminal lieutenant decided to end the fight soon, on his terms. He twisted on his left so to keep his body at and angle. His dominant side faced Creon. His blades he held up in 45 degrees in front of himself, the left one behind the right blade for defence. But that was for deception!

In such a way he charged at the Mandalorian, who thought that this time the blow will fall with Draugan's left lightsaber. But seconds before their blades met, Draugan changed sides. With the Force as his ally, the criminal acter fast: his dominant side now fell back and he landed his first blow with his left-hand lightsaber. His right-handed blade angled behind the Sith Sword and slashed at Creon's throat where the Beskar armor didn't meet.

Yet the monstrous hybrid was surprised to see no effect on the Mandalorian, who only just slightly taken aback as well. This time, it wasn't his Beskar armor that saved him, but his personal shield!

This enraged Draugan, for a lot depended on this killing blow. He had to retreat a few steps back to rethink a new strategy. Creon rightly bared his teeth under his helmet. He was inches away from dying this time. This would not happen again, even if he had to kill everyone in the vicinity. He quickly sheathed his sword and pointed the now-legendary Soulscorn blaster at Draugan.

He fired straight and true at the heart, but his right hand shook from that effort. Such is the curse of this Soulscorn pistol, for it drew power from every loiving being in the immediate area. The searing bolt sped fast, but dissipated before Draugan who had just enough time to conjure a protective shield around himself.

"Come on Mandalorian. Try again!" Draugan smirked. His Force Barrier saved him, but still didn't save him from all the effects of the Soulscorn Pistol. He too was panting now. The Dashade-Barabel hybrid knew he couldn't keep fighting like this. At range, his foe was stronger, and at close quarters he still was protected by his dammed Beskar armor. Something had to be done.

"My apologies, bounty hunter. I don't have time for this sparring anymore."

"You cowardly serpent! Stay and fight" shouted back an enraged Creon.

"To prove who is stronger? Maybe Mandalorians like you have all the time in the galaxy to care about karking things like respect and honor, but those don't bring credits for me. I have better things to do." Even as he was saying so, Draugan was taking his moment out of the skirmish to pull energy out of the Living Force to refuel his energy. "But if you insist..."

He used the Force to leap high to stand atop one of the prominent market shops. "...meet my blade with your with your own. Show your honor." This last part stung Creon, who started at a run towards his reptilian foe. Then, using the Force he leapt high, his sword raised high above his head to cleave the reptile's brains. But this was what Draugan was anticipating. In fact, he wanted it to happen. Draugan's body seethed with rage. His fangs were bared dangerously. He had to finish his enemy, for there was no way out otherwise. He had to succeed and he will!

Creon came down on him to cleave his head in two, but Draugan was ready. He swerved to the right, and the Sith Sword landed harmlessly down on the rafters. Draugan then used the same motion to decapitate the now-disbalanced bounty hunter. His body hit the ground first heavily, followed by his silver Beskar encased now-decapitated head. Draugan stood on high ground while he had not.

"Clearly Mandalorian, you don't know to make the environment your ally"