It is too much. You are no pacifist, Rylis, but you do not torture your targets. You just take them in or make it quick. This... this is beyond gruesome...
Slowly, the hangar fades, along with Snith's gasping screams and Vader's persistent, timed breathing...
-
There is a bright light behind your eyelids... something is prodding you to awake... you feel warm, comfortable, relaxed... like you are sleeping underwater... there is something strapped to your face.
Your sight is blurry... because you are submersed in a tank of bacta. A mechanical arm is scanning your chest to analyze the breaks in your sternum and ribs. The soothing effect of bacta is preventing you from feeling the ridiculous amounts of pain that you had previously felt. Oh, what relief!
Outside of the tank, Makrus is watching. He has one arm in a sling.
"Good morning, starshine," Makrus greets.
"I had a friend of mine crack into some files that uncovered where Snith went after he was promoted," Makrus says. "An Emperor's Hand is a secretive agency working for Emperor Palpatine himself. A rare thing to come across. But Snith must have deserted his post, because the Empire was looking for him. Now we see why, right? You don't want an assassin running around with the power to control minds. Not good for your government.
"Since you were with him, I knew where he was and that he was wanted, so I pulled some strings and got into contact with someone who would be very interested in his location. Lord Vader insisted that I accompany him to Tatooine to verify, and I figured you'd probably need saving, my little damsel in distress."
"Not good for anyone...he nearly killed me with that thing, and probably would have if you hadn't turned up and distracted him. He nearly made you kill me." Rylis says, opening her eyes again.
"I didn't expect him to be able to use the Force. It's been so long since anyone's come across a Force user...and I was already in bad shape from that fight with Kyle. Snith expected me to not even survive that, you know. But...thanks."
"Not the first time, and probably not the last, right?" Rylis replies.
"I feel like I should have spent more time trying to work out who he really was and why he was there. I mean, I found the damn thing. And then when we landed back in Mos Eisley and he went to go put it in his ship, as he said...I should have insisted that he stay instead of letting him leave. But instead I was preoccupied with a bounty that managed to get away..."
She pauses for a moment, annoyed at herself.
"Anyway...how long am I going to be stuck in here? These things make me claustrophobic...and you know I'd really rather not actually go to Coruscant. And without that catch...I'm probably far behind now."
"You couldn't have known."
Makrus pauses himself, once you bring up the getaway of Kyle Ragnor.
"Well, you won't make your quota before the deadline, but... things have developed that will insure your security. I've just made a deal that will benefit you..."
The door to the medical bay hisses open and the evil presence steps heavily into the room, his boots clanking against the gunmetal floor.
breathe
Is she awake?
"Yes, m'Lord," Makrus replies, nervously. "Conscious and not dead."
Excellent.
breathe
Lord Vader turns his terrible visage toward the bacta tank, his unchanging glare burning into you through the glass and liquid.
I trust you are recovering well, bounty hunter.
breathe
There is a certain amount of poison in his deep voice as he says those last two words.