Hidden in Felucia’s jungle lies a two hundred meter expanse marking the ancient burial site of this world’s deadliest creatures and the location of innumerable remnants of hundreds, if not thousands of rancors. A circular enclosure of sun-bleached bones are arranged in the center of the cemetery—no doubt the former dwelling of a powerful practitioner of the Force. Cobwebs cling to the fallen beasts, a testament to the primordial age of some of the creatures.

Somewhat obscured by surrounding cliffs and the luminescent jungle, the dusted bones and carcasses are cast in a faint shadow, leaving just enough light to see by. The atmosphere is thick and stifling, with a strong overtone of dust and bone suspended in the still air. The taint of the Dark Side's influence has polluted the landmark over time, giving form to a dreadful aura that has scared off scavengers determined to sell off a rancor tusk or two. Unlike most of Felucia, the area is nearly devoid of life aside from ravenous predators dwelling within the hollowed-out husks of dead rancors.

Lavanth grumbled as he slid down the incline into the pit of dead. Small bones rolled down with him and cluttered at his feet. Somewhere is this god forsaken place was the info package that he was suppose to get.

“Of course, I was the only one available for Tisto to send. Sure, send the blind guy to look for something. Wonder if he knows what irony means.” Lavanth thought as he wandered aimlessly amongst the giant bones knocking on some of them occasionally. None of the bones surrounding him sounded hollow enough to house the data pad he was searching for.

“Would help to know what I’m searching for.” Lavanth thought. The grave was almost endless, The Togruta presumed or at least that is how it felt. Bones fell to the ground and clattered behind the Hunter, making his already fraying nerves give way to paranoia as the millions of dead seemed to close in on him. The Odanite could not detect someone, but he had a feeling something or someone else was there.

“Hello?” He called out turning around. The silence was almost deafening; The Togruta turned on his shield and kept his free hand on the grip of a pistol. This place was starting to make his uneasiness dreadfully apparent even in his features. He continued forward until someone was within range. It was a tall male figure, broadly built, armed and definitely a threat.

“That’s far enough, sir,” Lavanth shouted as he turned to face the stranger, “Care to explain to why you're here?”

“Just looking for something.” The figure answered. The eyeless visage of the Togruta drifted over to the man standing before him, wariness filling the Odanite’s muscles with the desire for flight. He smiled cordially to the shrouded figure and spoke as appealingly as he could manage.

“Well, that’s just great. Maybe you can help me? I’m looking for this datapad that this guy left me here and…” Lavanth started.

“What data pad?” The Umbaran asked harshly. Lavanth detected the anger in his voice.

“I don’t know, someone sent me here.” Lavanth answered taking a step back. A lightsaber erupted in the man’s hand. The day was beginning to go downhill at an alarming speed. The Togruta looked around, his senses began to work in overdrive to compensate for his lack of vision. The smells of the graveyard filled his nostrils, the sounds of shifting, decayed bones alerted him to possible pitfalls. He could make this go better, but he would have to time everything perfectly. Something he just was not sure he could pull off.

“Give it to me. Now.” The man ordered holding an arm out.

“Look, man. I don’t have it. Really.” Lavanth said slowly as he stepped further and further away. The man inexorably followed his pace.

“I don’t have time for these games.” He said starting to rush Lavanth. The Odanite reacted as fast as he could, creating a bright flash of light. The Umbaran yelled against the light that appeared from nowhere. Lavanth took this time to jump away from him and draw out his guns. This was not what the young Hunter had wanted. The Togruta fired one shot from each gun near his opponent's feet.

“We can lie to our superiors and say that we didn’t find it.” Lavanth suggested. The Umbaran shook his head clear of the dots of light that still clouded his vision.

“You shot at me. Can’t just let something like that go...” The man started.

“Lavanth.” The Jedi answered back.

“Well, at least I now know who I’ll be killing.” The opponent smirked.

“Mind telling me my killer's name?” Lavanth asked as he leveled his firearm at his opponent, a slight smirk playing on his lips. The angle of his weapon was queer, but the Umbaran could see that the Togruta clearly could not see him since the firearm was pointed slightly off center.

“Armand.” He retorted. Lavanth nodded in approval then fired a shot. The spent round surged through the air, leaving a trail of smoke coming from the barrel as it rocketed towards the rocks at Armand’s feet. The ricochet of the bullet set the round up and into the Umbaran’s arm, drawing a line of blood from a grazed wound.

“Slight miscalculation.” Lavanth observed. He watched as Armand looked down at his arm and then returned his stony gaze to Lavanth.

“Well, this is going to end well.” Lavanth thought to himself.

Armad continued to stare at the seemingly blind Togruta, who was using a pair of slugthrower pistols. This seemed odd for a Jedi, as Armad had assumed he would carry a lightsaber, but had yet to see evidence of one. The blind Jedi continued to aim his pistols in Armad’s direction, not firing, which gave him a bit of pause. The Umbaran figured that without sight, Lavanth relied heavily on the Force and the use of his montrals, which give him a sort of passive echolocation. That combined with his connection with the Force, should make him a worthy adversary. But something was still bothering him, if he relied on those instead of his eyes, then why was he just standing there with two slug throwers pointed in his direction? After a quick couple of moments, Armad got curious about his opponent’s defenses. Quickly switching his lightsaber to his left hand, Armad drew his blaster pistol with his right, firing off a burst of shots at the Togruta, two bolts raced towards his chest and one arced towards his head.

Expecting to see Lavanth flinch, attempt to move out of the way or draw and block with his lightsaber, the Battlemaster frowned when he didn’t see him attempt to move at all. As the energy bolts reached their target areas, Armad witnessed why his opponent hadn’t reacted at all. The static hiss and rippling effect of energy being displaced as a personal shield sprang to life, surrounding this young Jedi. A slight smirk crept across Lavanth’s face, as a scowl now dominated Armad’s face.

“So, you have an added layer of defense.” Armad deadpanned. “Makes no difference, a lesson you will learn here today.”

Reaching across his body, Armad clipped his lightsaber to his belt, and started firing multiple shots at the Jedi’s head. Trying to exhaust the shield, but also making enough noise that he hoped that Lavanth wouldn’t sense with his montrals, Armad quickly picked up the long bone of a rancor behind him and threw it like a spear. As the bone neared its target, Armad had a brief moment of success when he thought that the bone would hit its mark. However, the Jedi had definitely been trained well. Lavanth started to pivot backwards on his right foot, as the bone flew past where he’d just been, milliseconds before. Wanting to capitalize on his opponents very brief distraction, Armad lurched into motion, pulling on the Force to project an image of himself standing there firing his blaster pistol directly into the mind of the young Jedi. The Battlemaster figured he’d only have a couple of seconds before it was ineffective, but he wasn’t that far from his destination.

The same time as Lavanth was turning, he had his right hand extended towards Armad, firing slugs towards his decoy. Armad got about a couple more steps closer to where he wanted to be, he tried to remain calm, so that this Jedi wouldn’t be able to pick up on his intent and dodge again. As soon as Lavanth’s back was turned to him, Armad jumped, pulled out and ignited his lightsaber, bringing it up into an overhead swing.

Time seemed to slow down for the next few moments. Armad in mid-air, poised to deliver a powerful blow, Lavanth still turning to his left, though it seems that at this point his sense illusion had failed, as the Jedi was now falling with the turn. His left handed slug thrower was getting dangerously close to being lined up with his chest, and that would have concerned him if he wasn’t already bringing his lightsaber down to strike. The Battlemaster wouldn’t have time to create a Force barrier this time. Armad’s lightsaber connected with its target, and sliced clean through the slug thrower before Lavanth could get a shot off.

Armad could see, out of the corner of his eye as he went past, a look of shock sprang on the Jedi’s face when he realized that he was not the intended target of that attack but rather his pistol. The Hunter continued with his falling spin and landed hard on his back, letting out a grunt when he hit the barren ground. The Battlemaster followed through with his slash, turning it into a somersault, coming to his feet effortlessly. Turning towards his opponent, who still was laying on his back, Armad pointed his lightsaber at his foe.

With a glowering scowl, “Anymore surprises?” Armad asked.

The Hunter just laid there, angry with himself for not noticing what had happened sooner. He was now on his back, down a gun, and worst yet a lightsaber pointed at him. Lavanth scrambled for an idea. The Umbaran stood cockly above the gunner, with his blade pointed at his chest. The Togruta slowly, as not to raise any concern, raised his hands with palms facing forward, as if in surrender.

“Surprise!” He shouted as light erupted from his hands blinding Armad again. The blade drew away from his chest and seized the opportunity. He struck the Battlemaster in his knee with a wide swipe from his legs. The attack launched Lavanth up and to the right. Landing on his feet, he stayed to the outer edge of where his montrals could detect the Umbaran. He fired a shot from his only good pistol at the warrior. The round impacted the man just below the knee, staggering his opponent.

“Good, nothing critical.” Lavanth thought to himself.

“He’s toying with me.” Went through the Sadowan’s head. He knew immediately that the bullet hadn't done much to him, and that his opponent was a good shot. The shot could have been placed in a more damaging position, but the Umbaran had expected that. The simplicity of the damage gave Armad the idea that this young Jedi would not simply go down. Armad kneeled there for a moment, focusing on healing the wound to the point of where he could move without pain. He stood back up and carefully watched the Togruta. The light had started to descend further beyond the hills of the graveyard. As the light dimmed further and further, the Umbaran’s vision shifted. Various hues of purple started to coat everything. The Battlemaster contemplated what to do next. If he rushed forward, the Togruta would surely fire at him again, this time with more precision. The shield was still on so firing the blaster wouldn’t help much. Charging would be his best bet, but there had to be someway to stop the bullets.

Armad started his charge, lightsaber trailing behind him. Lavanth opened fire with a spray of bullets. Yet, none of them reach the intended targets. The bullets flew off to the sides and struck the surrounding environment. Sounds of bone shattering and rocks chipping echoed throughout. Yet the blind one heard something that no one else did. The sounds of sparks. The Umbaran though was still charging and now slid under something. The Battlemaster quickly regained his feet, spun around on the Togruta and leveled a devastating blow towards the montrals. If Armad could limit his opponent’s directional detection, the fight would be over much sooner than could be expected. Yet, the Hunter neatly rolled under the blow and ran towards one of the exposed ribs.

“Wait!” He shouted tapping one of the bones. The distinct sound of an echo resonated through the bone. Using the back of his gun, he bashed the already weakened rib and removed the data pad that was secured within. There was a single critical hole in the device.

“I believe this is what we are both looking for?” Lavanth asked as he tossed the now glorified paper weight to his opponent. Armad caught it and stared at it.

“I’ll be taking this to my superiors.” He announced with authority. The Hunter shrugged.

“I’m just going to tell mine that it wasn’t here.” The Togruta replied back. With a slight bow, Lavanth took his leave of the dreary place.

“Hopefully I never will have to come here again… knowing my luck that is not going to happen.” He thought to himself. The Umbaran returned the bow and took his own leave of the place. As far as he was concerned, his job was done.

Lying on his back, Lavanth held his destroyed pistol out in front of him so he’d be able to see it. With a vexing sigh, he rolled over, pushed himself up to one knee, looked again at his now useless weapon, and tossed it aside.

“You owe me a new pistol.” The Hunter stated.

Armad just stood there, unfazed by the comment, ignited lightsaber in hand, but held loosely at his side. Every muscle poised to react to whatever this young Jedi had planned next. The Battlemaster figured that he would try to use whatever bullets were left in his remaining pistol. Being about three meters away, Armad was confident in his ability to redirect any shots that Lavanth may be able to get off, with his lightsaber.

Armad studied his opponent as he slowly start to rise to his feet, watching to see if he could figure out the Togruta’s next move. If he hadn't have been watching for it, he would have missed Lavanth’s right arm flick up as he started firing slugs in seemingly random directions. Or at least that's what it seemed like until Armad got a sense of danger coming from behind him and realized that some of those wild shots were ricocheting off some of the skeletal remains. The danger felt like it was coming from two different directions. Armad felt a surge of anger at not seeing that coming, and knowing that he wouldn't be able to create a barrier in time, the Sith chose to spin out of the path of one of the slugs and redirect the other away with his lightsaber.

While his back was turned, the young Jedi utilized the distraction and turned, running further into the Rancor graveyard, possibly searching for the datapad that he’d been tasked with retrieving.

Picking up and throwing another large bone towards the fleeing Jedi, the Sith took off running after. As the thrown bone was reaching it’s zenith, the Hunter pointed his pistol back, firing several shots in the Battlemaster’s direction. After a few shots, Lavanth quickly pointed his pistol at the falling bone, fired off a shot, then brought it back down to continued firing at Armad. Picking off each individual slug as it neared him, the Umbaran assumed that the upwards shot was a result in his concentration faltering for a second while trying to look for the datapad, running away, and shooting at him. He realized his mistake when he felt a quick sting and pain of a slug entering one's shoulder. He also experienced the blowback of that slug as it tore into his left shoulder, causing him to stumble just enough that he lost his focus for the briefest of moments. It was during that stumble that his defenses waned just enough that one of Lavanth’s slugs made it past his defenses and hit him in the right leg. This caused him to stumble hard to the ground, sliding on his right shoulder for a couple of feet before stopping. The dust cloud that was kicked up was enough that it obscured his vision for a few moments until it dissipated.

Armad could feel the anger welling up once more, so he used that to dull the pain caused from getting shot. Getting to his feet, Armad winced at the slight pain from the bruised muscles in his shoulder and leg. He spotted Lavanth still searching, running from skeleton to skeleton, looking for that cursed datapad.

“Enough of this.” The Umbaran growled to himself. Flexing his left arm in front of him, the Battlemaster pulled on the Force, focusing it within his left hand until he could feel and see sparks of electricity start to arc between his fingers. When he felt it was time, Armad thrust his arm out releasing the lightning from his hand and sent it streaking across the distance between himself and Lavanth. The lightning struck the Togruta square in the back, arcing across his body, making him arch his back and fall to his knees.

Taking a small measure of glee in the fact that he’d caused his opponent pain, Armad started to limp towards his kneeling prey. Each step causing the dull ache to renew. Lavanth was slow to regain his feet, and when he turned around, he had his lightsaber in hand. Armad continued limping towards the Togruta, unclipping his own lightsaber from his belt. The Battlemaster witnessed the Hunter shake off the last of the Force lightning aftereffects, preparing himself for a lightsaber duel that he was clearly not ready for.

Smirking, Armad took immense pleasure in the pain that he was about to inflict on this young Jedi. When he saw him take up a firm stance, igniting and holding his lightsaber in two hands in front of his body. Armad recognised the basic form, used only by those who had not been found worthy of Knighting. “Oh, this was going to be so easy.” Armad thought to himself. With this knowledge, the Umbaran knew that he could somewhat divide his attention between the duel and searching for that datapad. Expanding his senses out to the surrounding area, Armad was able to pick up on a hand bone of one of the rancor skeletons that seemed askew more so from the others around it. Focusing more on that area, the Tech Weaver could sense that there was something electronic hidden there.

Bringing his full attention back to the young Jedi, and not wanting to drag this out any longer, and being in a bit of pain, Armad decided to just end the battle. Once he was in range, the Umbaran ignited his lightsaber and started to test the Togruta’s abilities and defenses. He started out slow, measured thrusts and strikes to gauge his opponent’s skill level, gradually increasing the speed of his attacks until he saw his opening. Lavanth over-extended himself, giving Armad the opportunity to thrust forward, stabbing him in the right shoulder, causing him to drop his lightsaber. The Battlemaster jumped to one side, slashing the Odanite along their left thigh.

As Lavanth fell to the ground in pain, Armad disengaged his lightsaber, clipped it back on his belt and walked over to where he’d sensed the datapad. Uncovering it, he picked it up, looked it over real quick, then stuffed it into a pocket of his overcoat. Looking back at the Togruta, who was struggling to get back to his feet, Armad wanted to see if this defeat would make him strong. The Sith relished the opportunity for a rematch.

“Learn from this, come find me someday, and I’ll teach you another lesson. Young Jedi.” Armad challenged, then turned and limped away, back to his waiting transport….and some bacta patches.