Hunted

XXXXIV. The Preparations

The room was hazy, the lighting dark and subdued. Cold seemed to emanate from everywhere -- walls, floor, ceiling. In the centre of the room, a giant holopad screen was erected, broadcasting an even larger holographic image of the planet D'Qar. The serene sphere turned itself, reflecting it's bluish light upon the metal walls ominously.

Two men in black stood before the screen, watching the orbit silently as they contemplated their next move. The man with the red hair spoke first, "We will launch our first assault tomorrow Supreme Leader, no doubt they will be prepared for our arrival, but with sheer wealth in numbers in addition to the new powers bestowed upon me by your grace, we shall not fail to retrieve the child."

"Yes," Snoke's voice rumbled in the chilly room, "The child is here already. I can feel him through the Force which binds us. He is small, but strong already, though he knows it not. There will be no need to bring the girl assuming she is still alive when you find her."

Hux's face went from mild jealousy at the implication that Snoke could already feel the presence of such a powerful infant to malicious pleasure at the Supreme Leader's permission to dispose of the mother, if not necessarily the son. "Just to be clear Supreme Leader, upon finding the girl alive--"

Snoke waved his hand dismissively, "Yes, yes, you may kill her however you wish. So long as it does not interfere with the plan we have set forth, I have no objections."

Although he hid it well, Hux was delighted. His strength had increased dramatically since he woke and after another physician had been brought in to attend to him he quickly begin to discover the full range of his new power. All of his senses were heightened: sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing. When taken to the room for medical testing on the treadmill his speed had been so fast the revolving rubber mat had been torn from the machine. His strength was unparalleled -- they had produced a series of progressively large objects, each of which he had lifted above his head with little to no effort. Even more surprising, his healing reflexes were drastically enhanced. At one point he had punched the heaviest object they had brought for him to lift, a boulder, and in the process of punching it to see the reaction he had broken every bone in his hand, leaving a large indentation behind while pebbles and large chunks of rock were sent scattering across the floor. Within moments of surveying his bloodied, battered hand, the bone had reset themselves, fingers bent back the way they had been before and the open cuts on his hand closed and sealed themselves, leaving only a few faint red smudges behind from his blood.

He had looked up that day to see Snoke watching him in admiration, something he had longed for so long to see. Always, Ren had been the special one. They were bonded through the Force and Ren was unstable, thus making him easier for Snoke to manipulate. Hux however had been bred from birth for this life. His father Brendol had married later in life to a young woman of one of the galaxy's ancient houses, the Elegins. Much like Phasma in his lineage, Hux had taken pride in his father's legacy while striving from a young age to begin building his own. His mother had been a quiet thing, demure and subdued like she'd been trained to be all her life. Her husband did not pursue marriage for love, Hux knew, but for position and power, and the opportunity to sire an heir. After she had delivered him of a son Brendol visited very infrequently until Hux's 5th birthday, at which point he took him with him the next time he came. He never saw his mother again.

When he would ask his father about what had become of his mother, Brendol would answer in the same way: "She is at home. Waiting for you to come back and see her as a man."

For years he strove to work hard, not only to impress his father and other superiors, but in order that he might prove to everyone, including himself, that he was now a man, and prepared to go home and make his mother's eyes light up with pride.