You stand on the Sith World of Krayiss II, a harsh, brutal land of deserts and mountainous terrain. During the battle for control of the planet, one of the deserts received a name from the Dark Jedi who fought there: the Desolation... and it was named with good reason. You've heard the stories about the desert. Heard about the sand traps, the pitfalls, and the quick sands that are scattered throughout the Desolation. Jagged, obsidian formations—hidden by the natural black sands—are a health hazard for those who do not mind their step.

Darkness sweeps across the desert leaving the hazards nearly invisible. The black of night causes the temperature to plummet and the bone-shattering cold sweeping over the barren sands saps you of your stamina. But the hostile environment is not your only concern. Somewhere in the middle of the darkness, in the vast emptiness of the desert, your opponent lies in wait. You begin to move slowly across the black sands, narrowly avoiding a fall into a dark abyss, and force yourself to continue. Nothing is going to stop you. And by either nature or blade, another victim is going to succumb to the Desolation.

The temperature began to drop as the sun set on the blackened desert. Smoke continued to billow from a crash site three hundred meters away that Luna had walked away from. Of the four souls on that shuttle she was the only survivor; two pilots, an Erinos warrior and an archaeologist perished in the crash. The craft had been struck from an unknown enemy, but the shot had been aimed to disable. Somebody knew about their mission and wanted the archaeologist's findings from the Sith library.

Luna had navigated the treacherous sharp rocks of a nearby hill to try to get a better signal from her communicator. It did no good, whoever had attacked the shuttle had most likely disrupted communications as well. She pulled out her sniper rifle and looked back at the crash site through the scope. No one had come to examine their handiwork yet. The Templar patted a briefcase next to her containing the object of her mission, a ruby holocron in the shape of a pyramid.

The Mandalorian knew that without communication she had to stay within visual range of the shuttle and hope friendly forces came looking for it. Even an enemy force would give her some means of escaping the hostile desert. Nearly an hour passed as she nursed the last of her wounds from the crash, sustained when she lept from the shuttle at the last second. Feeling a disturbance in the Force she pulled the rifle up again to check the crash site.

A Human female with blonde hair in field gear emerged from the wreckage, clearly looking for something. The blonde female appeared to be alone, it was worth checking out. At the very least Luna could get some answers. She hid the case in a place she’d be able to access later and crept back down the hill. The Templar moved from rock to rock with as much swiftness and silence as she could manage. As she drew closer to the shuttle she could sense the woman was still in the immediate area but couldn’t see her. The Templar didn’t have long to wonder why her quarry was.

“That’s close enough grandma, hands where I can see them.” The blonde haired woman spat ‘grandma’ with as much contempt as she could muster.

Luna set her rifle on the ground and slowly rose and turned around to face her assailant with her hands in the air. “Were you the one who brought the shuttle down?”

The blonde woman laughed. “No, but I knew what you were carrying and it seems like I got here first. Hand over the holocron and I won’t have to ventilate you.”

Luna said nothing but slowly moved her right hand down in front of her while aiming her palm at the blonde woman. “You can try.” She unleashed a blast of kinetic Force energy which struck her opponent in the chest, knocking her over and the blaster out of her hand. Luna leapt on top of the now stunned woman to try to subdue her in hand to hand combat.

Calindra had cursed once she realized that she was facing a Force user and had grossly misjudged the situation. The Force blast had sent her flying and caused her to fall ungracefully on her ass.

'Ok, so she doesn't like being called grandma,' Calindra noted mentally before her opponent leapt for her. Luckily for Calindra, her Dulon / Happan martial arts training and reflexes quickly kicked in, despite the cotton feeling she had between the ears and the shortness of breath that had resulted from the telekinetic blast.

Calindra rolled out of the way, and the woman landed where she had been a few seconds ago. Instinct rather than her surroundings guided her next few moves, taking advantage of the momentum Luna had committed in trying to reaching her, Calindra swiftly got up and extended her hands towards the mando-clad woman. The force exploded from Calindra's hands and hit Luna in the back, sending her sprawling headfirst into the wreckage.

What Calindra needed was some time to catch her breath and think, so she dived for a nearby rock and wrapped herself in the Force, bending the dying rays of the quickly setting sun and the desert's dark landscape around her. There was an abyss not a hundred meters behind the wreck, and judging by the crash site, whomever had shot it down would be coming from the south. She was pretty certain that whomever had shot it down had waited precisely for the shuttle to crash on this side of the chasm.

There was a curse in what Calindra assumed was Mando'a, and heard the woman getting up. Keeping still as the other woman searched the shadows, Calindra conjured a little illusion with some effort...

From a few meters away, a shadow springed from one of the rocks, offering the Mando something to focus on. Her opponent extended her left arm up and fired a few shots from her gauntlet. To Calindra's surprise the weapon had done very little noise, but the shots hit only dirt and stone, the shadow disappearing behind a boulder. The woman was a professional and a Force user.

Luna swore under her breath as she ejected the now empty cartridge from her dart launcher. So much for ending the fight quickly. She pulled her lightsaber from her belt and ignited it, readying herself for a possible attack. The Templar held the azure saber in front of her as she closed her eyes to delve into the currents of the Force. “You can’t hide from me.” She whispered.

Calindra’s mind raced as she hid behind a nearby rock. She had no desire to engage her opponent in a saber duel. She also knew that she couldn’t hide indefinitely, especially from one searching through the Force. The younger woman had to make a play quickly or this confrontation wouldn’t end well for her. More tense seconds ticked by as she desperately tried to come up with something, anything. She remembered a quicksand expanse she had encountered on the way up here. It was about 10 meters toward the shuttle crash. Maybe just maybe.

The Mandalorian opened her eyes and leapt toward the rock Calindra was hiding at. “Come out and finish what you started!”

Time to go! The Guardian did not wait around to get sliced in half, she dropped the cloak and took off toward the blackened quicksand as fast as she could with pistol in hand. Calindra spared a glance behind her as she ran to take a few poorly aimed pot shots at her opponent. The older woman deflected them with ease. “Frak!” she swore to herself as the hum of the Mandalorian’s saber grew ever closer. That old woman can sure move.

What Calindra didn’t know was that Luna had noticed the same quicksand hazard and unfortunately for the Guardian, noticed where the pursuit was headed. The quicksand was maybe two to three meters in diameter with a rock just big enough to stand on sticking out of the middle. That had to be the blonde woman’s objective. Luna stopped a few meters shy of the hazard and threw up her left hand.

Calindra noticed her pursuer stop behind her, but had too much momentum built up herself to stop. She was committed to make the jump across the quicksand to the rock. The Guardian launched herself and from her trajectory looked like she would make it to the safety of the rock. She didn’t quite make it. Instead of landing on the rock she collided with a translucent wall of Force energy at the rock’s edge and bounced off. She fell back first into the quicksand. It only took a second for her to realize she had been ensnared in her own trap.

Luna lowered her hand and calmly walked up to the edge of the quicksand. “Now, tell me where your transportation is and I might not leave you to a sandy grave.”

Calindra tried to move as little as possible but she was thoroughly stuck, on her back and slowly sinking. Half her torso and her elbows were already submerged. Every movement caused her to sink further. She had few options at this juncture. “Pull me out of here and I’ll take you to my speeder.”

“You aren’t in a position to negotiate.”

“Look I didn’t shoot your stupid shuttle down, but the people who did are probably on their way here. We need to work together.”

Luna cocked an eyebrow. “That wasn’t your position a few moments ago.” She deactivated her lightsaber and pulled out her blaster pistol.

A sudden panic came over Calindra. “What are you doing?”

“Last chance, where is your speeder?”

“I’m not an idiot, get me out of here first.”

The Templar shook her head in disappointment. “That’s too bad, I’m Mando'ade I would have kept my word.” She switched the blaster to stun and took aim at Calindra’s exposed head. “Enjoy the grave you picked out for yourself.” She fired and the blue ring of stun energy found it’s mark. Calindra went limp and continued to sink. Luna turned and walked back to where she had hidden the case. There was a speeder nearby, that’s all she needed to know. She was confident she could find it.

Calindra regained consciousness a minute later as her body desperately try to pull air from the black sand that engulfed her. Her final moments were filled with blackness and the crushing sensation of the desert devouring her body.

Luna was about to run towards the shadow, but decided against it. "Something's not right," she said flatly, though she couldn't place her finger on exactly what. Pacing with both hands on her hips, she considered the dying sun and the moons then concentrated on her surroundings with the Force.

A howl carried by the wind came to her ears, several others followed. There was the smell of smoke, oil and the smell of burnt flesh. There was the faint smell of a wild flower, somewhere nearby.

'Interesting... Wild flowers in this hellish place? I'd never have imagined...' she concentrated all of her attention again on the Force. Her mind twirled with questions: who shot us down? If it wasn't the Force user, then why was she there? Was she lying?' All she knew for certain is that she didn't dare fetch the holocron or give chase until she put her finger on the nagging feeling that plagued her.

The wind blew from the northwest, and her eyes narrowed. 'Wild flowers.. It's her perfume,' she realized, 'and she's nearby... Why isn't she attacking?' The Mando clutched her lightsaber and started pacing again. She was quite certain she was being watched. From experience, she knew that a moving prey was mesmerizing... It could lull the hunter into a false sense of safety, which would hopefully play against the blond girl when Luna decided to attack.

Meanwhile, Calindra held on tightly to her own lightsaber, fearing a direct attack. No one had briefed her about the presence of another but dared not ignite the weapon in her hand. The Mando didn't seem to be buying the: ’ran off into the wild routine.' It was only a matter of time before they'd have to face each other, or whatever unpleasant surprise the desert had in store for them.

The Mando was pacing and eventually stopped a mere meter away from her. Calindra heard her mumble something about 'wild flowers again.'

Suddenly the Mando gave off a cry of rage and leapt where Calindra stood.

Nearly frightened to death, Calindra raised her lightsaber and ignited the red blade just in time to block Luna's savage sweeping strike. Red blade and blue hissed and crackled, lighting up both women's surprised faces. Their eyes met briefly before Luna spun on herself and swung again, forcing Calindra to parry the blow; then the Mando twirled again, this time counter-clock wise.

To Luna's surprise, the lightsaber only shredded through the air. She had expected her lightsaber would hit something, but then it failed to encounter any resistance on the rebound. "What—", the Mando turned find that the girl was a safe distance away, her lightsaber deactivated.

"We don't have much time," the girl said, "if we want to survive the night, we'll need to work together."

"Who sent you..?"

"My name is Calindra. House Imperium sent me to retrieve the holocron. They never said anything about someone else being in the field..."

'So that was it, was it?' Luna thought incredulously. "Why?"

"Who knows why our masters decide anything..." Calindra said with a dismissive shrug. She was gambling all her credits on the off chance that the Mando was one of their allies. "I'm more concerned with why you were shot down on this side of the chasm. Whomever shot down the shuttle, purposely chose to wait for it to have crossed that chasm. My question is why. It could be that they're hoping that those creatures we heard will make their job easier."

"It would take more than a few predators to bring me down... You however, are only an amateur..."

Calindra tried bite back the retort to the amateur insult, but failed. "There are worse things out there than predat..." she had started saying, but Luna suddenly fired a volley of shots. Not knowing how to deflect any of them, Calindra ducked and twirled out of the way, only to realize that the woman had been shooting at something behind her.

"Looks like we will need to work together," the Mando said crisply.

As the young Sith Guardian turned to see what was the matter, she finally registered the dark figure in antique looking armour, with robes billowing in the wind.

"I AM RAGNOS! YOU HAVE SOMETHING OF MINE..." it snarled as it advanced towards them.

As one, the two Sith women confronted the Dark Lord's spirit, but it was clear now what had brought down that shuttle. It hadn't been another faction. There weren't any that could survive the wastes, but a dark spirit... there were plenty of those on the planet.

Dark energy burst forth from the spectre's hands, which the Mando parried and Calindra tried to block. The crackle of energy and blades echoed off the surrounding rocks, and both women strained against the attack.

The dark energy vanished as suddenly as it appeared, and there was the tell-tale sound of a lightsaber being activated.

With a cry of rage, the dark figure jumped towards them. It's lightsaber took a swing at Calindra, who barely managed to fend off the attack. There was a sudden cry of rage from the Mando and the spectre turned around and parried the incoming blow from Luna's blue blade. Suddenly, the Mando lifted her left arm, and poured everything she had into the Force.

With a howl, Ragnos was sent flying through the air.

It didn't last.

The Sith Lord's ghost was suddenly plunging back towards them, its blade slashing down viciously towards them. The blade roared towards them and to Calindra's dismay, cleaved the Mando in two. No sooner had the blade gone through the older woman, it came screaming towards her. This time there was nothing Calindra could do, the blade severed both her hands from the blade.

She screamed in pain and terror as the dark figure swung a second time. This time, it plunged the weapon into Calindra's chest and transpierced her as her dying screams echoing off the desert's volcanic rocks.

Suddenly the world shifted, and she woke up amid-scream in her chambers, sweat covered sheets clingy to her skin like a shroud. The Dark Side had blessed her with a vision, and she would have to obey. Krayiss II's harsh deserts and dark mountains awaited.