Chapter Twenty-Two

"What did you want with my son, you pirate?" Hyperion snarled. He lifted Clyde by the base of his neck's back until his feet were dangling a few inches above the ground as he spoke. It was his intent that Clyde would be facing him while they spoke which was exactly what happened. Clyde was visibly afraid which Hyperion was so surprised by that he used Force Sight to make sure he was seeing correctly. He'd have wondered how Clyde hadn't fainted from the pain in the tearing of his spine or the cauterization that followed until he realized it was probably not the first time he'd been injured.

"Not your boy, you. I wanted to tie up loose ends, knowing what you cost me with the last floating fortress that I had! Remember, the one you helped Drak destroy, nearly fifteen years ago?" Clyde asked. Hyperion nodded, knowing exactly what he was talking about when he spoke of the fortress. He noticed the window in front of them both and with his lightsaber still ignited, he smashed it to pieces so that he could observe what was below.

"What's down there?" Hyperion asked. He observed several floating platforms, one of which was low enough for him to drop Clyde without killing him if need be. However, he also observed a design flaw in each platform which essentially meant that any deadweight of Clyde's size which fell on them would cause the platform to short circuit until it hit the bottom. He also observed the skins of Wookiees being extracted from the bottom, indicating something amiss. But only Clyde's answer would confirm, he knew as much, and when he spoke he did indeed confirm.

"My prized gems, parasitic worms that skin anything they touch from the inside out in return for the organs and blood of the victim. I use them mostly on Wookiees like those pelts demonstrate but I've tested them successfully on other species as well. Hell, I even had an Ewok fall down there once," Clyde explained. Hyperion didn't need him to explain to figure out that they probably got in through the mouth and then completed the skinning process within the body of their victim.

"So here's the deal, I'll spare you from being done in by your own creations if you promise that you will surrender to Republic custody. You will not come after us, you will not hire anyone to kill us, and you will answer for every last crime you have ever committed. Starting by ordering the destruction of this fortress, along with everything in it, such as the worms. Understand?" Hyperion told him.

"You severed my three most essential vertebrate from my body, making me immobile from the shoulders down. Would I really have a choice in refusing to cooperate?" Clyde asked. Hyperion chuckled, interested that Clyde would still remain so sarcastic to the end and since there was no surveillance in any part of the ship, he decided to take on a more interesting approach to dealing with this smuggler.

"That's why this is going to be much more fun," Hyperion said, heaving Clyde through the broken portion of the window. He watched as the terror mounted in Clyde, seeing this mortal at his mercy being the greatest feeling he ever had in a great while. Then he spoke, perhaps as he might have heard one of his old victims speak countless times before doing them in.

"You promised you would let me go if I turned myself in! What are you doing?" Clyde asked.

"Letting you go," Hyperion answered.

"What? Are you doing this for the Jedi, for the Republic, for freedom, for your son?" Clyde demanded. Hyperion was impressed he hadn't yet begun to beg for mercy, perhaps knowing he wouldn't be receiving it.

"No," Hyperion said. Clyde had crossed a father who could fight by snatching his child from under him. For that, Clyde Rev had to pay and there was no getting around it, even with Inoy's request. "I do this for me," he said as he released his grip on Clyde. As he suspected, the platform short-circuited and dropped to the chamber of the worms awaiting below. Clyde was then thrown out and unto the playing field of the worms with the skinnier and hungrier ones already waiting.

Fortunately for Hyperion, he might have crippled him but he didn't remove his ability to feel pain. So even as the former Sith warrior turned away to liberate his son, he could hear Clyde screaming as his own creations devoured him. When the hired physician, a man with a record longer than a Zillo Beast, tried to oppose him in saving his son Hyperion hanged him with the whip. He made sure to tie such a knot that if the man tried to free himself, the hook that had crippled his paycheck would also slice his throat deep enough to reach bone. So there the dwarven human hung to suffocate a slow death while Hyperion saved his son from the fortress.

Fortunately, he was still knocked out from sedatives he'd been given, likely to treat the trauma of watching the worms do their dirty work. Having saved Inoy's frequency on the comlink that he was given, he made a call on his own to make a pickup. Then he activated the self-destruct protocols of the fortress so that everything that remained would be destroyed. He also launched the escape pods and made the turrets shoot them so that there was no chance of escape. All except one that he himself entered with his son before anyone else had a chance to find it and use it.

The wait between Inoy's extraction and their initial departure from the self-destructing fortress seemed to last forever. In all that time, Menelaus had never come around but Hyperion knew he was alive. His mind was made up about what he was going to do next, before Inoy had a chance to even stop him, recording a transmission that he finished when Inoy arrived. Needless to say, the journey was just beginning and Menelaus' part in his tale was about to change. So long as he could get past an angered Nautolan who he had seen angry only this one time before.

Inoy had been contemplating the information that Hyperion was downloading during the time that the former Sith had been wreaking havoc in the fortress. He decided to have his T7 unit store and decrypt the most classified information in case Clyde's dirtiest deeds were there. Needless to say that the droid uncovered some crimes that even the Sith Empire would've likely gawked at if they had seen the records he was seeing. Worms that took nutrition from blood and organs before skinning their victims, beetles that lobotomized parts of the brain, the works. All that was just the tip of the iceberg by the time he found and rescued Hyperion and his son from the escape pod that had saved them from the fortress explosion.

"Good to see you again, friend. Though the circumstances are a little more melancholy than I would've liked," Inoy said. Which was true to say the least, as Hyperion reeked of the Dark Side

"I am just fortunate that you were in the proximity to save us as immediately as I think Menelaus would've appreciated if he were conscious, right now," Hyperion replied, looking over his boy. The Zabrak child groaned at that moment, the first bit of evidence that he was coming to that either of them had seen. Both Jedi and Sith guessed that he had been knocked out by some powerful, perhaps even illegal, sedatives that had kept him out through the entire battle. When the fortress exploded, Inoy scanned for life forms in the escape pods that had been jettisoned into space beforehand.

"You..." he began when the scan was done.

"They tangled with a father so I left an example the galaxy isn't apt to forget, anytime soon. None that were in there when I arrived left that place alive, not even the coward Clyde Rev who took his own life rather than face Republic justice or my wrath," Hyperion said. Inoy nodded in understanding, whether or not he disagreed with it being long beyond anyone's ability to help. He also had a gleam in his eyes which told Hyperion that he knew he wasn't telling the truth but he wasn't willing to press the matter. The Nautolan Jedi had what he needed and that was the long and short of it, where they were both concerned.

"Before you left, you said you had a favor that would count as payment for the life debt I promised you. May I hear what it is?" Inoy asked. Hyperion looked once at his still-unconscious son then back to the Jedi Knight before him. Then, with a glassy shine in his eyes, made the most terrible decision that he had ever been forced to face.

"Take him far from me, before he sees what I really am. When we part, take him to a good home deep within Republic Space where he'll be safe. Where even I couldn't find him if I tried or wanted to," Hyperion said. Inoy's eyes widened with despair at exactly what Hyperion was asking of him. In fact, the amphibian wasn't even sure if he had heard his former ally correctly in what he said about taking Menelaus with him.

"What are you saying, Hyperion? Do you want me to put your boy through the Republic's foster care system to maybe find a good family?" Inoy asked.

"No, you'll directly oversee his adoption process and make sure that he finds a good family. But first, take him to Dathomir along with his mother's ashes so that they may be disbursed where she wanted them disbursed. And give him this ring, with the specter of the mountains imprisoned: if anyone can help him out of this fog, it's her," he said. Inoy nodded, taking these items but was still in awe at exactly what Hyperion was asking him to do for him to repay the life debt he'd sworn to the Sith, all those years before when they worked together in Hutt Space.

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Are you sure you wish to do this, Hyperion? Your boy may know your true nature now but he may resent you more for doing this than if he was allowed to stay by your side," Inoy warned.

"It isn't whether or not he knows my true nature that I'm afraid of. No, I fear that the burdens of the knowledge, the burdens of being the kind of man I am that will destroy him as they threaten to destroy me even now. Please Inoy, take him, make sure he gets a good home even if you have to directly see to it that it happens and I'll consider your life debt repaid. Clyde won't be the last of my old enemies to come after me, I know this, but most of them don't even know I have a son. I will keep it that way if I can and the enemies that are in Republic Space, who know of him, will have to face a Jedi before they can get to him... please, hear the prayers of a father and deliver," Hyperion begged.

Inoy looked him long and hard before finally nodding, giving into Hyperion's cries for help in protecting his son from his enemies. "I know someone the Council trusts, someone who can foster the boy and needs a strong pair of hands around her house anyway. Your boy is stronger than most children I've seen but that may be because of the man who raised him. He will be in good hands, I'll see to that myself without the approval of the Council if I have to," Inoy assured him. The look of relief that washed over Hyperion was as though he had been handed a gift of life from the Force itself.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you Inoy!" Hyperion exclaimed.

"And how do you intend to go about getting out for yourself?" Inoy asked.

"Do you have a spare shuttle I can use to begin my return home before too long? Or something I can use to at least reach Taris before I continue my journey back home," Hyperion asked. Inoy nodded and gave him a hangar code he could use for the purposes of making his return to Ando Prime. But in thinking about it, he quickly snatched it back, scratched the code of the flimsiplast then handed him a different code, explaining himself before Hyperion could ask him what he'd done.

"Use one of the escape pods to head down to the surface of Bandomeer then find yourself a transport from there. It'll be a lot simpler than taking up a resource Menelaus and I may need if we're headed to Dathomir," Inoy stated, pointing out a strategic flaw in Hyperion's request. Hyperion nodded and immediately began making for the escape pod though Inoy did call out to him, one last time. "Hyperion, if we're even now... you know I'll have to come for you if Polydeuces and Agni die or can't somehow bring you in, yes? I cannot deal out anymore help to you than I can legally do nor ethically perform without betraying the Order," Inoy asked.

Hyperion looked over his shoulder and nodded, stating, "I wish there were more Jedi like you and my brother, regardless. If there were, maybe I'd have the respect for the Order that they demanded of me in my youth." Inoy chuckled and thought to counter with pointing out how many of the Jedi Hyperion had killed when he was a younger man but kept that bit to himself. Besides, it did no good to cover ground that was already known between the two of them and Inoy had already somewhat betrayed the Order in what he said.

In revealing that Agni was still hunting him and that Polydeuces also wanted a piece of him, Inoy could have been held liable for tipping off Hyperion to their presences. Hyperion used the escape pod launch code once he arrived and took off to never be seen again until the next battle. As he swooped down to the atmosphere of Bandomeer, Inoy contacted the Republic authorities to inform them that Hyperion was merely using the escape pod because there was no other transport. "So why was this former Sith in the floating fortress, rescuing this kid if you aren't in cahoots with him?" asked the primary investigator.

"Because I bested him in lightsaber combat and told him that if I'd get his record with the Republic pardoned in return for any dirt he dug up on Clyde. Legally speaking, the evidence we've uncovered will speak volumes to Hyperion deserving clearance from punishment. Wouldn't you agree with that?" Inoy explained. The investigator looked over the evidence that Hyperion had uncovered, gawking at the footage of the worms when he reached it as Inoy had done.

"I'll get this down to Coruscanti Police and get it processed to Clyde's file along with a note that he shot himself rather than go in. That is what happened, yeah?" the detective asked. Inoy nodded, figuring he may as well spin the same lie Hyperion had tried pulling along with the rest of his little fabrication. He knew he was doing the Sith a dangerous favor but the Republic did have bigger fish to fry than one lone warrior.

The biggest bonus for Hyperion in this case was that an agreement existed between the Jedi and the Republic. Any Force-sensitive who had wronged a Jedi and had no ties to organized crime that meddled with Republic affairs was purely a Jedi problem. This meant that as much as he wished it so, Polydeuces would no longer have legal access to the Havoc Squadron. Once Hyperion's records were expunged, Havoc Squad could legally do nothing to avenge their comrade until the next time Hyperion committed a felony offense. Now, all Hyperion would have to contend with were the other two Jedi that were already on the prowl for him unless something of consequence to them awaited on Dathomir.

"Where will you and the kid go from here? I mean, now that Hyperion's gonna be expunged and all," asked the detective.

"There's an errand we have to fulfill on Dathomir. Once we do that, we'll be returning to Republic Space to find him a new home. Hyperion wants him adopted somewhere safe from his non-Republic enemies," Inoy said. Even the seemingly simple detective that stood before him seemed to understand what would happen to those enemies in Republic Space as long as Inoy drew breath. As long as there wasn't anything in Dathomir that was of value or consequence to the Jedi Order, there was nothing more Inoy could do without committing outright treason.

But while he was saving Hyperion's record from being continuously tarnished further, Menelaus was fighting his own battles in the fog of unconsciousness. Now, armed with the Prison Ring which held the specter as well, the realm between realms where dreams and visions lied beckoned to Menelaus almost as potently as it would Hyperion or Inoy.

In the realm between reality and the dead, Menelaus wandered in a grey fog that warped his perception of all reality. But there was a figure that was in there with him, a foreign presence that the Force had brought to him. She wore robes of orange, skin as white as chalk with her eyes painted black in the shape one might see on a skull's eye pits in the blackest night. "Greetings Menelaus, do you not recognize me from the mountain cave?" she asked.

"You are the specter that my father imprisoned in the ring. The only reason I can think of that you're here is that Hyperion gave me the Ring," he answered. In recognition of his guess, the specter chuckled before answering his reply with one of her own.

"You are correct, I was the specter of the mountains and the former enemy of the Jedi in the First Great Schism. Now, your father has left me in your care along with your mother's ashes and you are in the custody of the Jedi Knight Inoy. Before you react, know that he doesn't intend to arrest: quite the contrary, he intends to find you someplace safe from the enemies of your foster father. But if I am going to be in your company, I must ask you a favor," she explained to him. When he shrugged and gestured for her to describe her favor to him, she laid on something fairly simple.

"When you disburse your mother's ashes, grant me freedom by saying that you release the specter of the ring among the ashes of your mother. In concluding, give me back my name and I will be born among any unborn child of feminine genetic makeup. I will have new life if you are but willing to complete this ritual for me," the specter told him.

"Even if I agree to it, what was your name?" Menelaus asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told it to you, a lot humbler and simpler than yours despite my origins," she said.

"Try me, I've been experiencing a lot more than my fair share of humble and simple until this whole damned journey began. Just tell me your name and I'll think about freeing you when I disburse my mother's ashes," he commanded. She chuckled and then revealed that the name she had in her first life, the name she'd been known in the First Great Schism was simply Talzin. "That's it? Talzin?" Menelaus asked.

"I didn't have a family house that could foster me the way even you do. So I was known only as the witch Talzin, who aided the Legions of Lettow against the Jedi until they bound my spirit to the cave in Ando Prime's mountain center. Simply say that you release Talzin as you disburse your mother's ashes and I will take care of the rest," the specter told him. Menelaus was still hesitant, even with such personal information being entrusted to him and drove a deal of his own.

"If I do that, I do so on one condition: I have your inviolable word that you never leave except for healing. Don't interfere with the struggles of the galaxy until they come to you or unless you're driving them off Dathomir," Menelaus said. They had a deal and he woke up with her help in the process.