Planet: Tatooine

Area: Jundland Wastes

Location: Approximately 1.5km east of the area known as The Dune Sea

Darth Avern was running as fast as he could through the barren landscape around him his breath coming in short puffs now, his robes flapping around his ankles and his hood constantly flying back off his head despite being placed back up again and again to cover the human siths face. He splayed his hands to either side of him and called the force, his speed increased for a few moments as he was propelled forwards before returning to the original sprinting and panting.

The cut on Avern's forehead, just over the top of his slave brand, where the bounty hunters had beat him, was causing a slow but constant trickle of blood to creep down his face and obscure his vision until he reached up and brushed it out of his eye but his frustration mounted each time he did it.

Avern stopped running for a moment to catch his breath and check on the status of the tracker. Avern looked down at his datapad, the tracker was still online and broadcasting a strong signal he chewed his lip he knew he would never make it on foot if the tracker continued on its current speed course and destination.

Avern paused and began listening intently; it was faint, the sound of a speeder. Avern cupped both his hands over his eyes to shield them from the sun and squinted out into the wastelands towards him.

There! A thin trail of sand spiralling towards the sky and the twinkling reflection of metal through the heat waves that absconded from the ever searing sand. The corruption in the corners of Avern's mouth twisted into a grin for the second time that day.

Rargus smiled as he tapped his speeder's accelerator and was rewarded by the loud growling noise from within his speeders engine as his speeder powered up even higher through the wastes of Tatooine, cliffs and outcrops blurring past Rargus not even bothering to register some of the homesteads this far away from any form of life. Rargus was merely grateful that at last he could at last leave this backwater planet and spend his beautiful cred's elsewhere the first few hundred on some beautiful Black ale, it may have been a drink for Mandalorian's but over time Rargus had developed a large liking to the sweet tasting drink, the second thing the cyborg would be buying was a shuttle out of Mos Ila.

Rargus' attention was drawn back to the front of his speeder as he could now make out a lone figure standing directly in front of his speeders path, a hood shadowing the persons face. The bounty hunter did not blink, he did not even slow down in fact he just simply tapped his accelerator even harder, the speeder responded immediately growling and now tearing up the remaining distance between the bounty hunter and the hooded figure.

Avern noted the speeders increase and immediately grasped his lightsaber off his belt and ignited the flame-red blade hoping that the appearance of the lightsaber and the clear revelation that a sith was standing there would be enough to halt the encroaching speeder.

Rargus' one good eye narrowed while his other robotic eye whirled as he noticed the now ignited red lightsaber. The hunter's foot hovered briefly over the brake as he fought internally with himself, then the thought of a strong cup of Dark ale entered his mind and lured his foot away from the brake and onto the accelerator again.

The hooded figure's arm whipped up and now held his hand flat open at the dangerously close speeder and then Avern pushed with the force at the speeder.

Rargus' head smashed into the front windscreen, luckily the speeders windows were custom-reinforced as the bounty hunter had specified so the only damage was done to Rargus' head with a splitting headache that would be felt for days.

The bounty hunter rocked back into his seat, his hand resting on his head and one eye closed in pain, as the speeder came to a complete stop. By the time the cyborg opened his eye he could no longer see the sith, until he heard a buzz right next to his left ear. His instinct's immediately kicked in and told him to freeze, normally he would have reached for his blaster but the blade was very dangerously close to his neck and the slightest wrong move could have him spilling his blood all over the interior of his baby.

"Don't move hunter," the voice spoke with definitive authority "I will kill you to take this speeder."

Rargus' mind churned quickly and turned to look the sith dead in the eye "If you were going kill me and take the speeder you would have done it already, sith." Rargus said in a husky calm voice. The figures shoulders slumped very slightly and the bounty hunters eye twinkled with victory before the red blade moved from his throat to his right arm where it slashed through the armour and into his skin underneath. The blade halted there, the damage done Rargus briefly huffed in pain and immediately clamped his left hand on it, stopping the blood that was threatening to burst through.

Rargus growled deep in his throat as the sith made his way to the opposite door and climbed in the speeder. Avern rolled his eyes as the hunter gingerly touched the wound and hissed in pain. "Here," Avern ripped off a portion of his cloak and threw it at Rargus "bind it with this." Rargus glared at the sith momentarily before he began removing the armour that surrounded the wound and placing it in the hold behind him.

Avern studied Rargus' wound as he removed his right arms armour, when something caught his eye. He flicked the hunter's hands away from wound, and there it was. Just above the wound resting comfortably on the hunter's shoulder was a simple tattoo of the imperial symbol and a red clenched fist within it.

"You trying to pass as one of the Emperors fist, hunter?" Avern said an underlying sneer evident.

Rargus tensed as he was dabbing his wound and looked straight into the siths eye's, the bounty hunters own blazing with fierce pride and anger "Say one more thing about the Emperors fist and I suggest you get ready to use that sabre sith." Avern's eyes shined with respect at the scarred cyborg.

Avern shifted around so now his right side was facing Rargus and rolled up his sleeve to reveal his own tattoo.

The two men who only moments ago were ready to kill or be killed now looked at each other with newfound admiration and respect. "Darth Avern, force-master, rank 7." The sith spoke as he rolled down his sleeve and looked expectantly at Rargus.

Rargus nodded "Rargus, imperial gun, rank 7." Avern nodded understanding immediately.

Upon the completion of the gruesome Emperors Fist battle training, recruits could elect to complete an advanced specialized program always involving real-life high-risk combat scenarios within hostile area with real objectives. Their assigned rank is based on their performance within training and is rated from 1 to 7, any recruit receiving the advanced program and surviving is expected to receive rank 7 and become one of the empires most valuable assets.

Both men sized each other up and looked at each other in a new light. "Rargus, I know that most non- sensitive's don't subscribe or believe in the force guiding everyone towards a purpose or anyone being able to bend it to their will, but to find a fellow fist on this barren planet is beyond even what I can believe." Rargus nodded, fists were extremely scarce with barely 15% of all original recruits actually living to carry on the empires work through out the galaxy. To meet another one after training was extremely rare. "Believe in the force or not, finding another fist is beyond a coincidence that even I could believe. But now I need your help to rescue another fellow fist, so I ask you hunter are you still good to drive?"

Rargus grinned a wolfish smile, "Strap in sith."