Chapter Thirty-Six

Hyperion couldn't blame Inoy for not recognizing the subtle nuances of the saberstaff and the lightsaber pike. Apart from his obvious inexperience in facing either weapon, most Jedi were never trained in its basics beyond what was already required to learn Niman. But Hyperion already knew the trick of extending the hilt to ridiculous lengths at intervals meant to trip an opponent off balance. He also already knew that where one blade landed, the other would follow in the opposite direction, making the saberstaff exceedingly predictable after a time.

In his early training, he had been taught that the precognition of both Jedi and Sith was hindered further by the options available to their blades. Those who chose to wield exotic weapons like the saberstaff or the lightwhip gave the illusion of more options in their choice of blades but were truthfully more limited than their traditionalist counterparts. Jar'Kai was similarly hampered for a similar reason as there was only so much one could do, even with a background of Makashi training included in their resume. Plus, Jar'Kai couldn't defend against power blows as Seth had been barely forced to observe.

So Hyperion already knew that he was going to make short work of Polydeuces' trickery before the younger Knight knew what had hit him. "Why... why do you even care about Inoy? You could've just walked away when you were done with Seth and saved yourself!" Polydeuces demanded. It was a fair question for someone who didn't know the kind of friend Inoy was to Hyperion and still remained even now. Hyperion didn't answer at first, preferring to answer one jab from one of Polydeuces' blades with only one of his own blades then defending with the other.

Then when he saw an opportunity to defeat his opponent, he didn't waste any time on the formal chattery of the duel. He merely looked at his opponent and told him, "The cycle of treason ends here. Dantius should've trained you better than this." Then he exploited the opportunity by first intercepting a jab made for his right eye by the young Jedi. Once he'd done this, he turned a hundred and eighty degrees so that his back face the young Jedi and shut off his yellow blade.

He knew what was going to happen next even before it could happen with the Jedi Knight trying to slice him in two with one blade only to be intercepted by Hyperion's newest weapon. As Polydeuces prepared to take off his leg by sweeping across with the other blade, Hyperion turned the blade end of his inactive hilt backwards then held it parallel to his thigh. He ignited it just in time to intercept Polydeuces' other blade with enough blade length leftover to gut him. Polydeuces' back arched over once before Hyperion deactivated his yellow blade first then pushed the boy away from him with his left arm.

The Jedi's blades went forever silent right as he hit the snow with a hard thud from his back and Hyperion's purple blade shut off at that point. Inoy rushed over, having sufficiently recovered at that point that he could attempt to soften Polydeuces' landing. "You... you did it. When I thought it was going to require the two of us, you managed to beat Seth and kill Polydeuces," Inoy said as he held the Human's head to his thigh. No amount of healing, they both knew, wouldn't save Polydeuces from such a wound as this without advanced technology.

Hyperion had seen to that himself by aiming his strike so that it also severed mobility in Polydeuces from the chest down by incinerating a vertebrate with its heat. "This is what my training has allowed me to do for most of my life, Inoy. I know you will be intimidated by it, perhaps even tempted to go back on your vow to help me in order to stop me. But know that I haven't yet used the Force Rage ability that usually gave me an edge in duels of this sort," Hyperion told him.

"I'm not intent on fighting you, Hyperion. Not unless I am again assigned to stop you as I have been this time round. But know that if I am again assigned to face you, I cannot give you anymore help than I have. I cannot let you go or find you another criminal to absolve you of your sins with... this is the end of the line for what I can legally do for you," Inoy said. Hyperion understood what his words meant for their relationship, understood that the next time they met, there had better be a damn good reason it couldn't be as enemies.

"Then know that you've already done more than your duty demanded you do. You placed my boy in the care of someone who will be kind to him, helped him deliver his mother's ashes to Dathomir. With the information I dug up for Clyde Rev's dirt, you had my record legally expunged by the Republic and persuaded the Council to pardon my crimes against the Order for the discovery of a Sith Remnant on Dathomir. You have been a truer friend and truer Jedi than I could've ever had the honor of knowing," Hyperion told him. Then Inoy surprised him with an offer that he viewed as flattering but suspected wouldn't work for him at all.

"Come with me, introduce yourself to the Council and face up to your sins in person. They might be inclined to let you live among them as a Blademaster as you already know Form VII by virtue of your training. I can endorse you and see that you are accepted among the ranks of the Order," Inoy begged. Oh how Hyperion wished he could say yes, just jump at the offer, and jump ship with Inoy to the Dantooine temple and become a Jedi. But he already knew the answer to the offer because he'd pondered what his life as a Jedi might have been like long before this chase began.

"Where there is even the slimmest chance that I can see Menelaus before he is of age again, I cannot be. I gave all I could so that he could find a good home without him being encouraged to run away in pursuit of me. Not when I'm part of a society of chaste Force users who wouldn't even allow me to see him again unless it aided a mission anyway. And I never was one for being kind and compassionate to the extent the Jedi require but I am also not one for the unbridled passions of the Sith. I am doomed to forever swing the pendulum between both Light and Dark for all the days of my life... but I thank you for the offer," Hyperion told him.

Inoy knew he was right and clipped Polydeuces' lightsaber to his own belt so that he might take everything back with him. Including the body of the Human Jedi which he carried over his shoulders like a sandbag. "Then this is the end for us, Hyperion. Dantius will have sensed his former Padawan's death across the stars. There's no telling if he will take over the mission for me or not, seeing as he is your brother," Inoy said. Hyperion nodded and Inoy set off on the journey to bring Polydeuces home and explain everything that happened.

In his brother's eyes, he was likely still the bad guy that he remembered from their final confrontation. But as long as Inoy knew better, Hyperion could rest easy at night even when Dantius inevitably returned for him. However, before the Nautolan was out of earshot, he issued a final warning that Hyperion knew to be all too true. "You can't stay here anymore. If you value your life, you must become nomadic again!" he said before he disappeared with the body.

Though he grumbled non-verbally, Hyperion knew that his old friend was right about staying on Ando Prime. If he stayed and Dantius was set after him, it wouldn't take long for the Jedi to find him and put an end to their rivalry forever. Hyperion knew Dantius could probably do it because he was technically the one who had the bigger portion of Force power. He had merely lacked the confidence to utilize it in every single duel Hyperion had ever had with him.

By and large, their rivalry had consisted of Hyperion setting some trap that was personal to his brother, luring him in, trading saber blows, then Dantius either running away or forcing Hyperion to do it. There had never been the kind of decisive victory that would forever end the rivalry between them and settle who was the best in the family. Now, he knew Dantius would not only overcome that lack of confidence but he would also be a lot stronger in the Force than he'd been even in their final confrontation. Worse, he would no longer believe his brother was beyond redemption whether or not Inoy presented evidence to the contrary.

And even if he did hold that belief, he had had enough experience with killing Sith that disposing of Hyperion would not be the same problem it once was. There was a lot to contemplate, Hyperion knew this to be true even as he watched his daughter's ship depart from Ando Prime. Odds were that he hadn't seen the last of her but that she had recognized the need to retreat and reevaluate her plan for beating her father. It was what he would've done if he were in her shoes and he knew it because he'd done it with Dantius more than once. He also saw Inoy's ship take off along his way back to the place he'd called home since promising to raise Menelaus when his mother perished.

He knew that a good meal and some sleep would mean that he could ponder better the next day. So when he got back to his cabin, he fetched some of the meat he'd had frozen and stuck a skewer into it before lighting a fire to cook it. As he rotated the meat when it needed to be and then served it to himself, he ate his fill until he had no need for it. Then he closed the door, unfolded the covers with the Force, and slipped into his bed to sleep.

It'd been a long journey and Menelaus wasn't home to take his bed as he usually did during their time together. Sleep didn't come easily, even with the food he had ingested mere moments before. But when it came, it came so hard that he would likely have never noticed any predators that were snooping around if he hadn't had the Force or an early alarm system. For more than five hours, only the void of darkness seen in sleep was all Hyperion could perceive.

All the while, the galaxy was continuing to change around him as he and the Jedi would soon discover. It was going to be a long night and probably an even longer decade, perhaps even more, ahead of him.