Chapter Twenty-Eight
Hyperion arrived on Taris, the first stop on the journey home, with an empty belly and plenty of credits with which to buy sustenance. Since he no longer had a child to care for and he would likely not be free to hunt his own game for some time, he figured he may as well gorge himself for once. He had a taste of all the good foods that he had never tasted in nearly fifteen years from the sweetest desert to the spiciest meat. When he board his ship once more, he knew he would be full and satisfied for more than a little while. But in all that time, the stirring never left him, never left his mind and in fact haunted him more grotesquely now than it had before he had arrived.
Taris was a place of more than a few memories for him, he knew this much to be true. But even so, Patricia may have been born here but she moved to Coruscant in the years after graduating high school. Was he now sensing the presence of Morgana or perhaps even his daughter, having discovered a gift in the Force of her own? Indeed, she would have been of the age where she would be discovering her own powers and perhaps even using them.
He knew that only time would tell and time was short. Time was always short for men like him, men who killed, tortured, raped, and plundered to their delight. Men like him who debased and perverted everything of beauty or joyfulness in the galaxy because they had the power to do so. The only time they had was the time they could buy in the carnage of battle and with Hyperion's training in the ways of the Dark Side, even more so.
He only regretted now that he couldn't have told Menelaus everything about who he was. In time, he would come to know Hyperion for the monster he once was in his youth perhaps even finally come to revile him. Being safe and protected within the deepest bounds of the Republic would do that to most people who'd left the Outer Rim and enjoyed the opportunities it offered. As long as he never had to cross paths with him again, he would live with that having done his part as a father and saved the child he raised for eleven years from the evils of his past.
Menelaus was largely silent during the trip to Coruscant with Inoy breaking the silence with the occasional question. Largely to know superficial things like what Menelaus enjoyed hunting after the most on Ando Prime, what chores he did around the house, etc. He even asked about somethings Hyperion did in order to get them supplies while they were trapped in Ando Prime's greater forest. Menelaus mostly answered with laconic sentences with no more than three or four words.
It didn't take having the Force to sense that Menelaus was upset about Hyperion putting him up for adoption. Inoy knew then that there was no way Hyperion could have held him captive, not when there was no way that Menelaus couldn't have remembered his mother. "Should I tell you the story of how I met your father? It's got lots of action, lots of lightsaber clashes, and it's the reason I respect him," offered the Jedi Knight.
Menelaus lit up quite a bit more when he heard this remark and took the Nautolan on his offer. "It began after I was forced to say goodbye to Dantius at the Vornu Jedi temple, when he needed to make a journey of self-discovery. His travels took him to Voss and a couple other worlds, relating them in a fashion that persuaded the Council of the time to Knight him. I, meanwhile stayed until a being that ate Force-sensitives for nutrition came, forcing the planet under quarantine," Inoy began.
"So it ate people like you for its nutrition? Gross!" Menelaus replied, suddenly becoming as interested as any other child.
"Yes, well, I was separated from the main evacuation force and ended up in the Outer Rim. My travels took me to a world called Oba Diah, which was the capital of the Pyke Syndicate at the time. I was about to board a shuttle that would hopefully take me back to the Core Worlds after the rest of my group failed to even make it. The ship was crashed by the Pykes when they came looking for me and for the price that had been recently put on Hyperion's head. There was also a Weequay named Seth al Ugolio who was a reluctant companion to Hyperion at the time and would turn on him later on but that's a whole other story. After we were downed, we fought our way back up and I even got captured during the chaos," Inoy continued.
He loved the look on Menelaus' face as he explained the story of how he had met Hyperion and why he thought him a good man. "It should've ended right there and by the will of the Force, it would have if Hyperion had not felt a bit of remorse and decided to rescue me. He even fought an Imperial Inquisitor whilst Seth fought off his two apprentices and when it was done, I was safe. But Seth made things worse by killing the leader of the Pyke Syndicate, whose son then vowed revenge on us and placed a bounty on all our heads," he added, a moment later. Clearing his throat and drinking the kind of saltwater that nourished him on his homeworld before continuing.
"When we arrived to Nar Shaddaa, we were attacked by all manner of bounty hunters until we finally met a rival of the Inquisitor Hyperion had killed. We fought him but he made an offer before fighting us: Hyperion and Seth could join him upon killing me or they would both die. Hyperion refused and even fought the two of them single-handedly. Seth was defeated, the Sith Lord was killed, and I met my former Master Aria Tethys. Hyperion even taught me a few martial arts moves in the Echani style which reminds me, he'd probably want me to teach them to you too if he were here," Inoy offered.
If Menelaus was lit up before, he was exploding with excitement now and begged for the chance to learn the Echani martial arts he'd seen his foster father use on the Twi'lek Havoc Squad soldier. So Inoy asked him to try and punch him so that he could demonstrate one of the first moves that Hyperion ever taught him when training him in martial arts. When Menelaus was finally willing to punch him, Inoy swiped a hand across and twisted it so that he could then demonstrate the next move. He pretended to press his palm so that he slammed into the boy's chest and throat with his hand, even going as far as to say "pop" when he made the blow.
"That was one of the very first tactics your father ever showed me for a basic punch. He showed me one for knives, blaster pistols, even for dealing with guys in the kind of armor you saw that soldier wearing when he attacked your dad at your house. Pretty neat, huh?" Inoy asked. The pilot soon let him know that they were nearing Coruscant's atmosphere and that he would be entering the clearance code they were given by the Council before they left Dantooine. From there, the Nautolan thanked him and then offered to continue teaching him martial arts.
"Just tell me why you even care. Hyperion is a Sith Warrior, one of the sworn enemies of your Order. Under any other circumstances, you two would have been crossing blades with each other," Menelaus asked. Inoy took a heavy breath and thought about that carefully before speaking.
"If I tell you the answer, can you promise me one thing?" Inoy asked the young Zabrak. Menelaus nodded and asked for him to explain what it was he wanted the boy to promise him before he spoke.
"Be good to the foster mother that I'm taking you to. She's a great technician and mathematical genius but she needs a strong pair of hands for some of her tech. Think you could promise me to do that, Menelaus? I know this transition to the life of Coruscant is going to be shocking and maybe even overwhelming beyond comprehension. But just like how you lost your father and everything you've known, she's lost her husband and daughter along with almost everything she's ever known, you two have a lot of common ground you can bond over," Inoy told him.
Menelaus thought it over and decided he would finally accept the promise that Inoy was asking him to make. "Does she... does she help people like me a lot?" Menelaus asked.
"She's had about three or four other foster children since she had her sight surgically restored by Dantius. He paid for the operation in return for the work her husband had done for him as his Jedi Master on Vornu, it was truly a touching story to hear. Bottom line is, she's worked with kids like you who have known nothing, have had nothing, and raised some upstanding citizens before. I think you're going to like her as she will undoubtedly like you when you two meet," Inoy explained.
"And I did sometimes admit to Hyperion that I did wish I had a mother to call my own. My real one was dead when I was about a standard month old so I've never known what it's like to have someone to call mom. Thank you, Inoy. For everything," Menelaus said, finally letting the tears he'd been holding back flow forth.
The Nautolan Jedi took him into a warm embrace and held his head against his chest while he sobbed. This is exactly what the work of the Jedi is all about. Helping the needy and holding sobbing children close while they unburden themselves Inoy thought silently. When they arrived, Menelaus was finished and just in time because Inoy commed Asya to let her know that they had arrived to Coruscant.
They would also be landing in her private landing pad in her technological castle estate of machines, and other gadgets. When they arrived, Asya K'tani was very excited to see them both.
