STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- The Hunter

It will have to be a projectile.

You lug the heavy tool at Makrus with what little strength you have left. It strikes him across the forehead... but he does not even react even as blood trickles down his brow and horrible bruise forms. He is steady as a rock, maintains that tapping rhythm, and keeps his arm pointed at you.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

But he does not fire the wrist-rocket.

"Fascinating, isn't it?" Snith asks, aloud, as he wanders out from behind the starfighter, one hand outstretched toward his mind-slave. "He under my complete control, and I have stripped down lower than his primal instincts. Only my commands will do. He cannot even hear you, in this state. It is fascinating, indeed..."

"Fascinating? It's horrific." Rylis says, disgusted. She'll glance around for anything else she could use as a makeshift weapon, in case Snith gets close enough.

"I can't even imagine what would have to be wrong with someone to think that something like that is fascinating..."

More hand-held tools.

"You couldn't understand, Rylis. The Sith have long sought to exert their will over the Galaxy. This artifact that is now in my possession is the perfection of that ideology. Rather than through force or through fear, I can literally exert my will. I can penetrate their minds and make them my own! With this, free will is dead and never existed! How can you not see the marvel in this?!"

Snith's complexion has become blanched and his hand is shaking ever so slightly.

"How? Maybe because it was used against me. Did you think of that?" Rylis replies sarcastically.

"Must be difficult to control...what makes you think you'd be able to get more than one person? You couldn't even fully get me while I'm in this state..."

Hand tools are easily throwable, right? Just a moment's distraction would be needed...

Yes, they are.

In response to your challenge, Snith extends his other hand, and you can feel the prickling pain of his fingers brushing across the back of your skull...

He is not struggling from the strain of this power. He's gone mad.

"Don't you dare...!" Rylis says, wincing and grabbing the nearest thing she can and flinging it at Snith, hoping to break his concentration.

Unlike Makrus, Snith can still feel pain and avoid it. The sonic screwdriver whirls through the air. His mental hand retracts from your skull as he instead uses his telekinetic power to bat the tool away from him. It is a momentary distraction, but he firmly maintains his control over Makrus and you again feel the fingers stinging like fire into your brain.

"It is useless!" Snith rasps. "My power is beyond any last-ditch effort you can produce. You only prevent the inevitable! And... and..."

Those prying mental fingers of his again slip away as Snith trails off. Something else has very quickly gathered Snith's attention. He slowly looks over his shoulder toward the docking bay entrance, and Makrus with him.

Behind him is a towering, black-robed figure, his face obscured by some kind of hideous face-mask...

breathe

Rylis leans back against the wall of the shed, gasping a bit at the pain in her head added to everything else.

"Not so fearless now are you, Snith..." she comments as she sees what caught Snith's attention, trying to ignore her own fear at Vader's sudden appearance.

The docking bay has fallen silent except for the sound of breathing; Vader's assisted and mechanical breathing, Snith's erratic and hyperventilating breathing, Makrus' shallow and quiet breathing, and your own labored and anguished breathing.

It is Snith who breaks the silence. "No... no, no... not you..."

Surrender yourself.

"NEVER!" Snith snarls, turning toward Vader. "Contraption of purest evil, I will see you shredded down to mere flesh and metal, nothing more!"

So be it.

Vader makes no movement. He simply stands and focuses his unending glare upon the frightened Snith.

Snith tries to return this glare of hatred, but after only a few seconds, he flinches and gives a cry of despair as he yanks his repeating pistol from its holster. He fires twice. The Dark Lord simply raises his palm and the bolts impact against his armored glove in a flash of blue sparks and curling smoke. Then the pistol is wrenched violently from Snith's grip and zooms through the air. Vader does not catch the pistol, simply lets it hang in the air before him. He closes his fist, and the pistol crumples and falls to the ground, useless.

Rylis simply watches the confrontation, angry that it is Vader who kept Snith from killing her, angry that it is not her that gets to kill Snith...and also mildly afraid that Vader will turn on her.

A frightened Snith retrieves his disruptor pistol from the other holster. This time, Vader does not give him the chance to fire. A forceful gesture with his right hand sees to it that this second pistol is flung against the side of Snith's starfighter, where it shatters.

Mind-linked to Snith, Makrus completely ignores you and raises his wrist-rocket toward the Dark Lord as he is posing the greatest threat to his Master. The miniature rocket fizzles and sparks toward Vader. An unperturbed Vader simply raises his other hand, palm outwards. The rocket leaves its straight path and curves around the Dark Lord, whisking through his cape before detonating against the wall behind him. Vader jerks his hand downwards and debris from the explosion hurtles past him, striking Makrus and knocking him backwards into a stack of crates, which collapse upon him and keep him pinned down.

Snith is trying to retrieve his pulse rifle from the starfighter. Vader does absolutely nothing to stop him and has not moved once since he appeared.

What is he doing...why hasn't he simply killed him yet? Rylis thinks, watching Vader not actually do anything to stop Snith. She winces a bit as the crates fall on top of Makrus, but doubts the mindlink has broken yet.

There is a groan from Makrus, but he does not stir.

Vader makes no movement to disarm Snith as the fearful man puts the dark-suited figure within the sights of the powerful rifle. Snith squeezes the trigger and lobs a series of painful purple energy flares.

Unfortunately for Snith, in his hysterical state, he has forgotten that the pulse cannon requires a fleshy target to inflict the full amount of pain that it packs. The fully armored Vader allows the energy to flicker and die against the blackness of his chestplate and helmet. Any anguish the Dark Lord feels only feeds his power and his anger. Calling upon this power, Vader crushes the barrel of Snith's rifle closed just as Snith pulls the trigger again.

The pulse cannon explodes in Snith's hands, frying him with heat and discharge from the pulse cannon's beam. He issues a blood-curdling scream as he convulses and drops to his knees in the sand. His bones are illuminated by the violet glow of electrical currents coursing through him.

Still Vader does not move.

It takes a moment for Rylis to even collect her thoughts, witnessing what just happened.

"...is he dead?" she says, inadvertently speaking out loud.

Not yet.

breathe

The electrical surge within Snith fades and he manages to climb to his feet, though still twitching with agonizing pain. The skin on his face has been badly burned and his hairline badly singed. His flight suit has been torn and is smoldering.

The Control is no longer around his neck, having fallen into the sand. Its power has suddenly vanished from Snith's mind, and the result has warped his mind beyond repair. With an animalistic yowl, Snith powers up his kinetic boosters and charges toward Vader with his fists raised.

Vader does not budge, but he may if Snith hits him with those...

Rylis closes her eyes for a moment when she sees Snith getting back to his feet. Something like that would have killed almost anyone else, yet he was still alive...

Should I warn him? she thinks, as she sees Snith power up his bracers. She despises Vader, simply because he is a part of the Empire, but she also wants to see Snith dead and soon.

"He's wearing kinetic boosters..." she finally decides to say, as Snith runs towards Vader. Just KILL him already...

Snith charges towards the Dark Lord, intending to rip through his armored suit and reveal whatever it is that the mysterious agent of the Emperor hides underneath that mask...

Vader simply raises a clenched fist in response.

The venomous charge is halted just as Snith reaches Darth Vader. His fists pulled back to deliver their kinetic barrage, Snith completely caught off guard when suddenly he is sent floating into the air and he cannot breach. The kinetic charge from his bracers subsides as he reaches up to grab at his throat.

Fool.

breathe

Did you think you could contest the will of the Emperor?

breathe

Snith only makes a weak gurgling noise in response as Vader reaches towards his own waist with his free hand and grabs a cylindrical object from his belt. With a flick of his thumb, the lightsaber activates and emits its crimson blade with an agonizingly slow snap-hiss...

"Ahh, Snith, I'm sure you didn't see this coming, did you..." Rylis murmurs to herself, as Vader uses the Force to lift him off the ground.

How far is Makrus and the pile of cartons from where Rylis is at the moment?

Snith gags and his face starts to turn purple from being unable to breath.

For the first time since entering the hangar, Vader takes a single step forward before his prey is within striking distance...

Vwum!

A horizontal slash from the blood-colored lightsaber makes a precise cut across Snith's belly, not so deep as to cauterize as the wound but to open the skin. The smell of burnt flesh fills the air as Snith emits a choked scream with Vader probing the injury with his lightsaber...

The sight and scent of what is being done to Snith is overwhelming, Rylis. Even you, a hardened bounty hunter, cannot stomach this. You feel the taste of vomit in your mouth as you start to fade from consciousness...

"Ugh..."

Rylis looks away from the gruesome scene, trying to not black out...