Chapter Twenty-One

As Clyde Rev had guessed, Hyperion had been forced to sacrifice his ship to destroy the power generator. But the timing of his departure into the escape pod, in combination to his methodical clearing of the missiles, allowed him to shoot toward the sensor array. He'd had the primary engines damaged during a volley of laser fire and decided to let the ship last only long enough to make a trajectory course for the generator. When he knew the escape pod would satisfy the trajectory he planned for it, he finished donning the suit that would allow him to brave the void of space.

He watched, after stepping out and finding an opening he could enter, he watched as the pod successfully landed in the sensor array. Knowing that no one would see him unless he they were in space with him, from the angle of his approach, he sent a flare that he knew Inoy would recognize for entering the space he needed to reach for the information Hyperion was to attain. Spirit, do you have a talent that's useful or was invisibility your best trick? Hyperion asked.

Get me near a battalion of soldiers and I can take possession of their minds if you but command it. I can then take possession of those who know how to reach the information center, help us reach it, and prevent Clyde from stopping our transmission. Those I possess can also be used as blaster fodder, the prisoners you released notwithstanding the specter said, ignoring the insult.

Then start gathering the power you need to do so now. On my signal, your power will pour through my spear in an outward explosion that will allow you to take possession of everyone in the vicinity. Build up until even I have to begin controlling it or helping you do that until I give the word Hyperion said, recognizing the spell as a powerful one. The specter laughed at the idea and began doing just that, a whirlpool of energy that Hyperion knew would continue to build like an unchecked reactor until it could finally take no more buildup. In the meantime, however, he used his lightsaber to find a hallway he knew led to his son and had no guards when he used Force Sight to check the way beforehand.

Landing safely inside the ship, which then initiated contingencies to prevent the void of space from sucking everything out, he put his lightsaber away. He also unfolded his shield and produced his blaster pistol, having not even had to use his thermal detonators yet. Knowing what it was like to defy high-security fortifications such as this before, he kept on the move, never spending too much time in one place. Plus if he emerged out of this, he had all his funds transferred into a single credit chip that he could use anytime anywhere. He could buy supplies at a later time and make the return trip without worry or thought of transport.

Thus he continued, shooting at any guard who thought to try him until his blaster was out of shots. Casting that aside, he occasionally threw thermal detonators at doors that stood in his way in case he wanted to save on Force powers. Then he produced his spear and kept himself in the largely impenetrable phalanx formation or more precisely, a variant that could be used for one person. It was right then that the specter's power reached her pinnacle and it was only a matter of time before Hyperion had the right opportunity to strike with her. When the opportunity comes, surge through my spear and arm then release on the bottom part of my spear Hyperion said.

Surges of green electricity began to circulate toward his arm, his suspicion that the specter's magic was rooted in flesh and blood holders being correct. As far as he reckoned, he could perceive two thousand guards with the likelihood of three thousand more right behind them being high. So when their blaster fire started pommeling his second shield, he raised the spear so that he could slam the pommel blade then jabbed to the floor. He timed it so that the jab could be done in a pause where they reloaded, the green wave that exploded forth hitting them right before they could train their fire on him once more.

The silence that past was so deafening that Hyperion could hear his own heartbeat during it. But when it was done, the specter had a total of six thousand well-chosen guards under her influence as well as the knowledge Hyperion needed. So he told her to send them forth and kill everyone else that wasn't under her influence, including the prisoners. He wasn't about to leave witnesses and odds were that Clyde had chosen mostly the hardest of criminals for his experiments.

People who wouldn't be missed until their mangled corpses turned up in a court of law or something similarly confirming of their deaths. The kind of people that, like him, would better the galaxy more in their death than in their perpetuation. Where Menelaus, Hyperion's biological daughter, and other such innocents only added beauty and kindness to this galaxy, beings like Hyperion, Clyde, and the Sith only knew the macabre practice of butchery. In a way, Hyperion hoped this would be the fight that killed him as long as Menelaus got away. Apart from freeing Inoy of obligation to him, it would also mean never having to worry about his son seeing the beast that lurked inside him and revile it.

But even so, the thousands that the specter possessed cut a swath through prisoners and freed guards alike. They even struck down some of the larger creatures that Clyde was keeping around for experimentation or some other twisted purpose of that sort. Smaller and less poisonous creatures were allowed to roam free until they started fighting the specter's guards or eating the personnel that still remained under Clyde's thumb. By the time Hyperion arrived to the inner sanctum of Clyde's floating fortress, most of his personnel were dead and the information center was left vulnerable for the taking.

So he attached the comm Inoy had given him though not before making sure it was transmitting the information Inoy needed. He was pleased to find that the Jedi Knight's T7 astromech unit had picked up on the signal and was decrypting the information. Hyperion decided it best to simply instruct the monitor to download everything then let the astromech filter it out later or something similar. He stayed by it in case it needed defending until he was sure the transmission wouldn't be interfered with. When it was completed, he detached the comlink and destroy it so that Clyde couldn't use it to intercept Inoy's transmission if he somehow came out of this alive.

Then he continued on his way to his target and his son, both of whom were awaiting him on a throne room at the center of the labyrinth of halls and tunnels. Finally finding it, he noticed there was just one more obstacle standing in his way and not the kind he could readily overcome. The elite guard that Clyde had hired to watch over him were the kinds of mercenaries that had killed Jedi and Sith alike before. They all had slugthrowers, the kinds of weapons that Hyperion couldn't deflect with his lightsaber and could barely deflect with his shield. So he knew that the first order of business was to use the last of his thermal detonators to divide their ranks.

Once he had done this, he would move in for the kill with his shurikens, his hope being to reserve his ax, whip, and spear for use against any combatants inside Clyde's room. The shurikens did their job and killed enough people to where Hyperion knew he could use his ax on the remaining individuals. Aside from the fact they were armed only with vibroblades of varying sorts, he had also covered the distance between them and himself too quickly for them to reach the pistols of their fallen comrades. He finished his assault by plunging his ax into the control panel for the door that lied beyond, still holding the wrist blade that he could shoot or duel with in reservation. The spear and whip he favored were also by his side as was a net he could shoot out that would get tighter with struggle until it sliced its victim to pieces.

Of course, he ended up having his lightsaber on reserve in case there were any enemies past that. Unfortunately, he did see two faces he had hoped he would never have to face before this expedition. Clyde was waiting for him with a blaster as was the Trandoshan hulk, Drak. "Drak? I thought you swore vengeance against Clyde, the hell are you doing working for him?" Hyperion inquired.

"A special little trade secret of mine. One of my earliest successes ate the part of his brain that controls free will and all memory except his training as Sith. So Drak, do us a favor and kill this guy, would you?" Clyde asked. Hyperion responded by throwing his spear with a bit of Force-imbued speed, quicker than Drak could unsheathe his vibroblade and get to work. The result was a severed aorta artery, dead center of the point where the neck met the chest and shoulders.

He was dead before Clyde even had time to do anything other than snap his fingers for the remaining assassin to come to his aid. But Hyperion dispatched this one with the wrist blade before they had even half a thought to see what he was doing. Had that one survived, he would've offered some ability to wield a battle ax but not enough to save him. Hyperion produced the whip in ending the same motion that had allowed him to shoot out the wrist blade and whirled it so that the hooking tip landed on the top of Clyde Rev's spine.

It took out the top part of his spine, keeping him alive but paralyzed from the shoulders down. From there, the only resistance was a nexuu that tried to ambush Hyperion from within the shadows but he was ready for it with the net that he could shoot from his left hand. As it tried to get out of the trap that Hyperion had placed it under, he could hear its cries of outrage and agony. Meanwhile, he cauterized Clyde's wounds with his lightsaber so that he could ask him some questions, specifically about what he wanted that made him place his filthy hands on Menelaus.