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, bipedal 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.

It’s nice here. The Corellian took a moment to draw in a deep breath. The smell was far different than the backwood of his homeworld, but was pleasant nonetheless. The smell of the grass carried on a warm gentle breeze. As the wind rustled his hair, Bentre felt a sense of peace wash over him that he had not felt in months.

My time in the Clan has certainly been tumultuous. Three years ago I couldn’t imagine I would be responsible for half the things I have accomplished since I first arrived at the Shadow Academy. I have encountered and overcome a grand multitude of obstacles and foes. The Shadow tilted his head up, smiling as he basked in the warm feeling of the sunlight on his face.

It was a few moments of simple bliss before Bentre returned his attention to the task at hand. Very rarely was he ever away from his Battleteam for anything purely pleasurable. Besides, the focus of his trip was also one of the greatest threats to his safety on this particular hunk of rock. Reaching into his jacket, the Journeyman’s fingers found the datapad he had been reading on the way to the planet. Saved on the device were the scant notes taken from the few scarce sources he could locate on the single scariest life form on this planet.

If I can manage to kill the Akul and bring a trophy of my kill back to the Clan, Atra and Locke will have no choice but to recognize my prowess. Pulling the device out, the smirking Shadow reviewed his notes concerning the beast. He knew the creature could be a fierce and unrelenting hunter, so he was not going to have time to stop and piece out an escape if things got too hairy.

I would be a fool to believe this task would be easy. Hell, maybe I will just take the head with me. I can only imagine Cethgus’s face when I throw this on the Consul’s desk.

The sound of grass being disturbed snapped the Journeyman back to full attention. Turning around and dropping toward the ground, Stahoes plunged his left hand into his jacket, and closed his fingers around his worn and battered SE-14. The sight that first met his eyes was not that of a fierce predator. Rather, there was a short human, dressed in simple clothing.

Bentre would have dismissed the man if not for two things. First, the man was clearly along in years. He wouldn’t be out here if he didn’t at least believe he could hold his own. The second thing that drew the Corellian’s attention were the two lightsabers clipped to the man’s side.

“Who are you?” the Sadowan spoke cautiously as he withdrew his blaster and brandished it. “You would be wise to identify yourself quickly, because I am not about to have my prey poached by some old fart.”

Andrelious peered down the SE-18’s barrel, wondering what possessed its owner to threaten him. He could sense that the man was a fellow Force user, a Sith judging by how angry his presence in the Force felt. “Very brave of you to point that weapon at me and make demands,” Andrelious hissed.

“I say again. Identify yourself,” Bentre replied coolly.

“I think not. Who I am is not of your concern. Now, go. I don’t much care what you’re doing here, but you’re done. Go back to your masters and tell them you’ve failed,” the Warlord ordered, his right hand shifting to grab his silver hilted ‘duelling’ weapon.

Seeing what Andrelious was doing, the Sadowan squeezed his blaster’s trigger. A hyphen of plasma rushed from the SE-18, but Mimosa-Inahj was already dodging the attack, the Force having screamed a warning at him. As he rolled away, the Taldryanite activated his lightsaber, reflecting away two more shots as Bentre fired his beloved weapon directly at the Warlord.

“Hostile intent. Good. That’ll be less trouble for me when I report your death,” Andrelious declared. As the Warlord advanced on him with a murderous glint in his yellowing eyes, Bentre swapped blaster for lightsaber. He did not know what to expect; Andrelious looked like he knew his stuff, but many Sith carried a lightsaber only for tradition’s sake. The Knight prayed that Andrelious was among them.

“You’ll report nothing, Mr Noname. Nothing except your failure,” Bentre said, now fully ready to engage the approaching Andrelious.

As he came into range, Andrelious went for a quick, sweeping attack, much like those he used when fighting a non-Force sensitive opponent. The blow wasn’t particularly hard for Bentre to parry, but it was enough to give the Warlord the momentum. He started to dictate the flow of the battle, forcing a focus on brute force rather than agility; the first few parries were enough to show him that Bentre was more nimble than he was.

Taking a step back, Stahoes leapt high in the air, curling his legs away from Andrelious’ lightsaber as he passed over the shorter Human’s head. Landing behind the Warlord, he quickly resumed his attack, hoping to strike before Andrelious could properly block him. Unfortunately for the Sadowan, Mimosa-Inahj turned almost immediately, easily parrying the desperate slash at where his back had been moments before.

“A good try. Perhaps I could find use for you. Tell me, who do you serve? You don’t recognise me, so you’re not another of the frakking Arconans who’ve been chasing me halfway around the galaxy,” Andrelious questioned between a series of varied attacks. His blade continually smashed into its opposite number, not once finding a way around Bentre’s speed based defence. The Knight was still trying to use his agility, attempting to turn every defensive blow into a counter-attack.

“You’re very talkative for someone without a name!” Bentre snapped, attempting to fool Andrelious with a dummy move towards the Warlord’s shoulder, before changing at the last moment and going for what he hoped would be an exposed leg. Andrelious spotted what his opponent was doing and blocked the attack with ease.

“I’ll do you a deal. Get past my blade, and I’ll tell you my name. Don’t get past my blade, and you’ll never know the identity of your killer,” Andrelious stated, smirking.

“You seriously believe that you will kill me?” The Sadowan scoffed, shifting his weight to his left foot. “I am going to make you eat those words.” Shifting his weight forward, Bentre launched forward in a charge.

The Warlord did not move to block the blade as the Knight had expected. Instead, he stepped sideways calmly, batting the intended strike away from himself. “You lack finesse,” his words were cold and dismissive. Bringing his weapon around in a tight arc, Andrelious smirked at his opponent. “Is that the best you have?”

“Listen old man, I have enough things to deal with. So I am going to save us some time and make this real quick.” With a growl, the Corellian brought his weapon around in a wide swing. Minosa-Inahj was quick, bringing his weapon around with a calculated swing, driving the blade off-target again. This prompted only a grunt from the Journeyman as he brought his blue blade around again in a fierce attack. The anger-driven strike was driven sideways with little more than a turn of the Seeker’s wrist.

This is going to take some more thought. Bentre’s shoulders bobbed up and down slightly as a trickle of sweat ran down his nose. He was driving forward and allowing himself to get winded, yet his opponent seemed only to be playing with him. I need to try to force him to act.

“Giving up already?” The Taldyranite tilted his head, his face full of mock concern and amusement in his eyes. “Don’t worry, fear is a perfectly understandable-”

“I am not afraid!” The words spilled from Bentre’s lips without a thought. “I am not a sheep or a mouse. I am not some prey that you get to toy with.” The Corellian brought his weapon around in a forceful strike. He was determined to cleave this man in two. Instead, Andrelious turned his own lightsaber around, parrying the blow and catching Stahoe’s shoulder as he did so. The Shadow let out a hiss of pain as he retreated a few steps, his free hand covering the wound for a moment as the Knight tried to regain his composure.

“You misunderstand your position,” the older man jabbed two fingers forward in emphasis. Angry white ringlets shot out, catching the younger Shadow full in the chest. “I am not some Novitate you can push around.” As he spoke the last word, the Corellian fell to one knee. The Sadowan grabbed his chest with his free hand as his face was twisted in pain. “I have been fighting for years, and you are far from the fiercest foe I have encountered.”

He thinks you are weak.

“If you are not afraid, you are a fool.” The Seeker sneered the last word, turning his lightsaber around in a sharp strike. “I will be doing you a favor if I cut you down.”

“No.” Bentre growled the word as he brought his lightsaber up in a fierce upward slash to block the attack. Anger was driving his attacks at this point. “I came here to hunt a kriffing Akul. I sought it out to challenge myself. Frankly I find that thing a lot scarier than you.“ Pushing up, he tried to force the older man back. Pain lanced along his shoulder wound, but the Sadowan drew on the Force, willing his muscles to cease their protests and keep pushing.

I just need a little longer. I just need to hit him. The thought hung for a moment. To wound him, rather. A malicious thought seemed to float to the forefront of his mind on the tail end of the last. Or better, I need to cripple him.

“See I think I have figured out why you keep moving my blade aside.” The Shadow bared his teeth, pushing with his last bit of might before the pain forced him back. His weapon slipped with a crackle as the Taldyranite pushed back. “I think you are the fearful one here. I think you are afraid to get hurt.” To emphasize his point, Bentre pulled back, dropping below Andrelious’s weapon and bringing his own around toward the Warlord’s side.

Andrelious blocked the attack, glaring directly at his opponent. “You? Hurt me? You’re a little sure of yourself,” he sneered.

The Warlord went on the offensive again, battering Bentre with a host of varied attacks. The Sadowan continually blocked each and every move, but was finding himself forced back by the sheer power of the blows. The heaviness of arms that came with an increasing feeling of fatigue was also beginning to trouble the Knight. Sensing this, Andrelious pressed on, knowing that soon tiredness and pain would get the better of Stahoes.

A loud roar from behind caused Mimosa-Inahj to almost jump out of his skin. He turned around to see a large, orange furred beast bearing down on the two Sith. In the distance, the Warlord spotted another three of the creatures. A pack of Akul was on the way in, leaving Andrelious with little doubt: it was time to go. Pacing away, the Taldryanite soon increased his frantic walking to a full on sprint. Bentre did the same, easily overtaking the more heavily footed Warlord. Soon, it became clear that Andrelious lacked the pace to successfully escape the predators in pursuit, whilst his opponent, while fast enough, did not have the stamina required.

“I think it’s time for a truce!” Andrelious shouted, loud enough for Bentre to hear. His fellow Sith stopped, allowing the Warlord to catch him up.

“Four Akul will be one hell of a challenge. Even with two of us,” Bentre warned.

Andrelious shrugged, steeling himself as the nearest Akul approached. Timing his attack carefully, the Warlord slashed at the beast, his lightsaber cutting straight through the front of its jaws. Its mouth ruined, the Akul yelped and ran away, perhaps a little faster than before. Meanwhile, the remaining trio had targeted Bentre.

The Knight, having switched to his blaster, fired a large salvo at the charging beasts. The shots were well aimed, and cut down two of the Akul. The third slowed briefly, but quickly picked up its pace with a determined growl. Firing desperately, the Sadowan smiled as the predator fell to the ground, whimpering in pain.

Walking slowly up to the wounded animal, Bentre pressed his blaster’s barrel into the Akul’s head. With no hesitation, the Knight pulled the trigger, finishing the job. He sighed with relief, but then felt a cold, metallic sensation poking into his neck. He didn’t need to turn around to know what it was.

“I thought you said it would be a challenge. The only challenge was waiting for you to let your guard down,” Andrelious remarked, his finger hovering over his E-11’s trigger.

Dropping his blaster, Bentre raised his hands in surrender, though he wasn’t sure if such a gesture would mean anything to Andrelious.

“Here’s how this is going to work. You will leave Shili, without what you came for. You will tell nobody that you found me here,” the Taldryanite demanded.

“If I leave Shili empty handed, we’ve both failed,” Bentre spat back.

“I could kill you, Sadowan, but then you’ll never have to live with your failure,” Andrelious answered coolly.

“Say I leave and tell them what happened here? How would you know? You can’t get to me on Sepros!” the Knight commented.

“What are you going to tell them? You still don’t know who I am,” the Taldryanite scoffed, re-arming his lightsaber. With a move much like the one that had wounded the Akul, Andrelious chopped through Bentre’s left wrist, severing his hand. The Sadowan screamed in agony, his right hand moving to clutch the stub where its sibling had once been.

“I told you to go. One more wisecrack and we see how far you get without your kneecaps!” Andrelious warned, moving his blaster downwards.

Bentre chose not to reply, knowing that his opponent could easily twist anything into a justification to cut him into more pieces. As he turned, he smiled lightly when he saw that Andrelious was putting his weapons away.

Next time, Mr Noname, the Knight thought as he began to take stock of what had happened.