Not just for Jedi hunters

[Kriel Firin]

His apprentice’s competence in performing Force Lightning was a bonus for Talon Ren as he planned to teach her an ability that was both an offensive and defensive tool.

It was an ancient ability, designed to destroy the connections to life – although with practice could be used to wound or just to drain the Force from an individual, with the added bonus of being able to feed on that energy if wished. The cost of overuse was also well documented, it was addictive if carried out too often – with a need to perform it on larger and larger audiences to satisfy the craving.

On one level it could be used much the same way as Force Sight – to track Force Users, as the stronger your adversary was in the Force the you could feel their presence, and the greater the Force you could drain from them – effectively using their own power against them.

So Kriel sat in a room. It was largely nondescript and without furniture, the bare stone walls and floors cold to the touch. The only sound came from one corner, where a cage with half a dozen emaciated men in rags clung to the bars. They’d given up their bleating and moaning some while ago, realising Talon Ren was not here to help them and was not interested in their pleas. But nor had he interacted with them, so they were at least curious as to why they – and as importantly he – was here.

[member="Samka Derith"]

 

[Samka Derith]

Samka walked through the stone building, tracking her new master's signature deep within. It didn't take too long to find him, sat away on the floor in some dank, dreary little room. He had been waiting for her. She wasn't entirely sure what she had been summoned here to do, only that it involved furthering her training. But it wasn't the Ren who first grabbed her attention upon entering but the cage full of men in the corner. They looked up at her with gaunt faces, pleading for rescue but she could pay them no heed.

"Your sense of decor could do with some refinement," she told Talon Ren as she marched up to him. She was now comfortable enough around the man to display her sharp tongue without worry of punishment. Nonetheless she stood up straight and to attention before him to show she was taking this matter seriously. "What is our task for today?"

[member="Kriel Firin"]

 

[Kriel Firin]

Talon Ren had his helmet in place. His face was so disfigured and his breathing laboured without it. But it had the added benefit of hiding his mood. Impassive was a look he could carry off without even trying.

And he did not lack a sense a humour but when it came to training, he tended to be somewhat serious. So his response was curt, factual and without reference to Samka’s joke.

“Your task is simple. But unlike other abilities you have learned, it is entirely practical. The only way to learn is to practise. Which is why these men are here.”

He walked across to the cage and the men instinctively shied away from him. He opened the door and pulled one to him with the Force. The others made no attempt to help their comrade and remained huddled in the corner, against the bars.

Talon Ren guided the man to the middle of the room where a chain was attached to the stone floor. The Knight attached the other end to the man’s ankle and then stepped away.

Then he raised his right hand and red lightning arced from his fingertips and touched the man’s face. It was as if life was being drawn from the man’s essence as he literally turned into a husk in front of their eyes. The truth was that it was exactly what had happened.

“Your turn,” he said. “You need to use the Force to tap into the victim’s life force. Then drain it. It will feed you, repair you if necessary.”
With a swift movement, Talon Ren drew a knife and slashed his apprentice’s thigh with it. “I said it was a practical demonstration. Do it right and you will heal your leg.”

[member="Samka Derith"]

 

[Samka Derith]

Her master was as blunt and to the point as ever, Sam rolled her eyes and smiled as he turned his back to her but angled herself so she could get a better view of his actions. He led one of the prisoners out of the cage and into other chains in the rooms centre, the victim looked too tired and broken to resist, letting the events unfold around him.

Something unpleasant was about to befall this man but the young Ren wasn't sure exactly what. Not until the room was lit up by unstable looking red strings of energy. Samka watched with great interest as the chained man's already gaunt features hollowed even further, ageing decades in seconds until he resembled an empty corpse several weeks old. "Fascinating," she muttered beneath her breath. She was still lost in thought, gazing at the dead, when Talon Ren's knife cut her flesh. The pain caught her by surprise and she instinctively drew several steps back from the older Ren, reaching for the blade at her hip.

It took less than a second for the adrenaline rush to calm down and logic to take over once more, her hand lowering from her weapon. "Next time you can ask me first," she said with irritation as the wound began to sting.

The prisoners were still in shock when she opened the cage door to retrieve her training dummy. One of the beings in the cage had fainted, Sam figured he would offer the least resistance and, using the Force to balance out her lack of physical strength, moved him to a second chain besides Talon's victim.

"Out of curiousity," she asked as she reached out with the Force, "why were these men chosen as our resources?"

[member="Kriel Firin"]

 

[Kriel Firin]

“If I asked, you might have said no, and that was not an option.” There was neither humour nor anger in his voice, it was merely a statement of fact.

He observed her manoeuvring one of the remaining prisoners into position, observing how comfortable she was with the task at hand. Some might have been squeamish or worried about the use of live subjects. But Talon Ren, and the Knights in general, were not monsters. They did not kill for the sake of killing, it invariably served a purpose – even if that purpose was to intimidate others.

“These were prisoners of the First Order. Death row prisoners. They volunteered to be part of this programme. It extends their life. Maybe by days, maybe by months. But a man faced with death will strike many odd bargains for even an extra hour of existence.”

[member="Samka Derith"]

 

[Samka Derith]

Sam nodded in approval at the explanation, these men were no doubt degenerates in life to be sentenced to death. A waste of potential. But here in death they would finally serve a purpose in society, growing her power, and as her power grew so did that of the Supreme Leader as she was an extension of his will. So it all came around.

Samka was finding the task more difficult than it appeared though. Her first instinct had fired off a bolt of Force Lightning at the chained man, it was small and barely enough to harm him but not the technique she had meant to do. She silently scolded herself, she had to focus on taking energy from her victim, not sending it at him.

She decided on a different approach. Closing her eyes to help, Sam reached out to find the victim's Force signature. The Force followed through all living things, even the criminal in front of her. It was pure luck as to how strongly as to who was born in tune enough with it to channel the power of the Force, Sam was under no delusions of Force user supremacy. Just because the being in front of her wasn't sensitive enough to call on the Force didn't take away from the simple fact that the Force flowed through him just like anyone else. Now she could feel the Force in him, it felt much weaker than her own and her Master's but it was there nonetheless. She snatched at it, willing the man's life to leave his body and become one with her own. Feeling a burst of power, the young girl opened her eyes. The red lightning effect she'd seen coming from Talon Ren now emitted from her finger tips and she could feel the man's life leave him. Yet that was all that happened. He was a corpse but a fresh one, unlike the husk besides him and her own cut still stung, blood still oozing down her leg.

"What happened?" She turned to her master in confusion.

[member="Kriel Firin"]

 

[Kriel Firin]

Kriel was patient. Many Force Abilities had to be learned by little more than trial and error and this was one such lesson. This was the primary reason the Knight had assembled so many prisoners – there were likely to be many failed attempts before his apprentice got it right. The Knight reflected his own training had been frustrating and it had taken a while for him to come to terms with the technique. In fact, his Master had to use the technique on him before he had fully understood how to implement it himself. It may not come to that, but Kriel was prepared to do it if necessary.

So he was silent as his apprentice first tried and failed. It was an inevitable part of the learning process and he was at least buoyed by the fact that his young acolyte immediately pressed on and did not dwell on her initial lack of success.

And she made progress, there was no doubt of that – as she sucked the very life essence from the hapless convict. But the look on Sam’s face and the fact her leg was still bleeding, suggested the progress had only been partially successful.

“I’d say you were able to draw life from him successfully.” Talon Ren wandered across to the corpse and touched it with a toe of his boot. “Very successfully. In time you will learn to be able to simply wound as opposed to draw his entire life from him.”

He turned his gaze to his apprentice now. “But the energy was lost.” He waved a hand as if to indicate the air around them. “It merely joined the Force as opposed to feed you. You need to latch onto that energy, in the same way you draw from the Force. And you need to pull it into you, to make it course through your veins. Once you achieve that, it should regenerate any temporary wound.”

“But heed my health warning. This practice becomes all too easily addictive. And then the returns diminish, so you have to pull more energy to have the same effect. Which increases the addiction, and you end up with a vicious downwards spiral.”

He looked back at the cage. “Try again.”

[member="Samka Derith"]

 

[Samka Derith]

"Addictive?" Sam muttered quietly to herself as she moved her next victim into positions, this one was squirming and gibbering to himself as she restrained him. Still not putting up a fight but seemingly aware of the fate which awaited him.

"If this is a healing technique, why can it be so harmful to the user? Does the addiction matter so long as there is a bountiful supply to feed from?" She was planning of heeding her master's warning anyway, she'd be a fool not to, but Sam was always one for the details. She liked to know exactly what she was dealing with.

Reaching out once more, she could feel the man's Force aura just as last time. Now she seized it tighter than before, focused less on tearing life from the victim and more on feeding herself with it. Time would tell if this was effective.

[member="Kriel Firin"]

 

[Kriel Firin]

Kriel did not choose his words carefully. Instead he was simply frank and straightforward. “The light side of the Force is suited to healing. It is in its very nature. The Jedi use this aspect to their advantage. But the light side is not geared towards destruction – something the Jedi know to their cost. The dark side is essentially the opposite. We can wield great destructive power. To cull the weak and subjugate to ensure order and discipline. But we lack the simple ability to heal.”

“Or rather we are unable to do so without a price it seems. The more you use the ability, the more you crave it. And like any addiction, you cannot merely repeat the dosage. You become immune to it. At its most extreme it requires significant use to slake the thirst. And when I say significant, I mean whole planets. Truly.”

And he waited to see how effective his apprentice was.

[member="Samka Derith"]

 

[Samka Derith]

"I see," was her only response to [member="Kriel Firin"] as he explained about the dark and light. A worthy sacrifice perhaps but unfortunate. Nonetheless she would make do with what she had and if that was draining the life from those weaker than herself then so be it.

Focussing harder she honed in on the man's life force and seized it as if she was not merely snatching it but feeding off of it.

All of a sudden the pain in her side stopped. Opening her eyes, she could see the victim reduced to a shriveled corpse. Sam glanced at her side. There was still a scar but the blood had stopped. She looked over to her master with a smile seeking approval.

 

[Kriel Firin]

Kriel was always in two minds when teaching this subject. To some there might have been no quandary. Certainly the stereotypical Sith would have had no qualms, but then even they came in many shades and even some Knights of Ren were less collegiate than others.

Sam’s smile was broad and Kriel was definitely pleased they had learned the technique. With time and practice Sam could learn to be more refined. Draining Force and life was not in itself addictive. Channelling it into yourself was. Once she was able to simply control the flow, Kriel would be more comfortable. Right now he had potentially run the risk of creating an addict. Not something to necessarily be proud of.

“You have done well and if your ability to follow instruction extends to listening to advice, you will grow and grow. Take my warning too lightly and you will reap the dire consequences. But I cannot and will not walk that path for you. It is your own strength that will determine your future. I can provide the tools, only you can decide when and how you use them.”

“Feel free to practice more. Draining life – or siphoning off Force power is a useful combat tool. But it requires concentration. So, for example, if someone tries the technique on you, do you know the quickest and most effective counter?”

[member="Samka Derith"]

 

[Samka Derith]

Nodding at his instructions, "I'll be careful," but she was still stroking the scar on her side, it looked ready to bleed again at any moment. "Is that supposed to still be there?"

When thinking of a counter, her mind could only speculate. Perhaps there was a way to counter and or create defensive barriers with the Force to hold your own life within but it was all unfounded guessing so she shrugged, "Tell me."

[member="Kriel Firin"]

 

[Kriel Firin]

Kriel shrugged his shoulders. “It’s not always an exact science – and even if it were – would you expect a surgeon’s best work to come at the beginning of his career? Slap a bacta patch on it and it should heal fully. And practice this ability occasionally and you’ll improve but without the risk of addiction. But given the variety of uses you can put the technique to, you can keep your hand in without too great a worry of it becoming habit forming.”

Kriel smiled at her reticence to offer a solution. If his helmet were removed, she would have seen the humour on his face. Or perhaps not, given the amount of scarring his skin had undergone. Regardless, he could not hide the mirth from his voice.

“No doubt various technical and clever options have gone through your mind.”

He paused for a long moment for effect.

“BOO!” he shouted.

“OK, that might not work, but all you’re looking to do is distract. Throw something at them, ideally something they need to deflect or risk injury. Kick them wherever it hurts most. Head-butts work well – unless they’re wearing a helmet of course. But you get the idea, yes? It’s the same with any Force ability really. They rely on being able to concentrate to hold the effect. Break it and you break the spell so to speak.”

[member="Samka Derith"]