Chapter Three
When Morgause left, having learned how and when to call upon her aunt to help her in their revenge bid against Hyperion, Crassus turned to his other designs. The journey for Nogatan was still yet to begin because he hadn't yet calculated a destination the Sith could turn to once the ceremony was completed. It was on thinking about this that he also realized that the if he indeed went through with the ritual, he might be the only Sith left standing unless he sent a division to settle on a distant planet before Crassus consumed Nogatan. That was when he realized that he stood to gain a lot more than he originally anticipated in the duel between Morgause and Hyperion.
For as long as he had been alive, he had prided himself on satisfying a number of goals with as few moves toward them as possible. In fact, he felt that the greatest Sith owed their success to fulfilling a number of goals with one set of movements for political and Force power. It was how Lord Malgus had done, how Darth Vitiate had done it when he consumed Nathema, and how the most revered Sith had usually tended to rule through fear, power, and cunning. So it was in this case when he realized that he had something indeed to gain from the outcome of Morgause's attempt on Hyperion's life.
If Hyperion succeeded in destroying her, even with Morgana called upon to help her, he would prove he had been restored to the Sith fold. Should Hyperion lose, Morgause would prove herself worthy of aiding Crassus in the restoration of the Empire, following the ritual's performance. But if Hyperion should win, only to spare Morgause and not even think to destroy her, then he would prove himself even worse than if he had lost fairly to her in a joust. Morgause would win the task of helping him begin the restoration of the Empire, based on the plans Crassus had already concocted for the aftermath of the ceremony, by mere default. Either way, he would have the worthiest Sith up to the task of helping him rebuild the Sith upon the completion of the duel and the ritual on Nogatan.
On the one hand, Hyperion had years of experience as a Sith Warrior, had successfully trained Verrin's sons to become powerful Sith worthy of respect in the Empire. He was skilled in all seven of the traditional forms of lightsaber combat in addition to Jar'Kai and the arsenal of weapons not traditionally associated with bearers of the Force. But on the other, Morgause had guile, cunning, subtlety, was also trained in the lightsaber forms, the potential for training as a Sith enchantress, and was young enough to live to the potential that her expertise implied. More, Morgause was hungry for the power of the Dark Side and vengeful for the wrongs performed upon her mother and her family by her father and his. In contrast, Hyperion was bitter and regretful of the consequences of his actions whilst under the influence of the Dark Side.
By having them fight to destroy each other, no matter the outcome, Crassus would know whose loyalty he could count on. And, despite the Republic sure to close in on his only two worlds soon enough, he had no choice but to wait until Morgause had made her move before he could initiate the plans that would need initiation. Plans that, despite his confidence in the ceremony, had been designed so that they could be executed even in the unlikely event that he failed to complete the ritual and was obliterated by the backlash. He knew that the Sith would need centralized leadership, regardless of the outcome of the ceremony, and he realized one other thing about Morgause. If Morgause was permitted to survive by Hyperion and also permitted to help him with his plans, she had the education and credentials to be an effective politician.
Her cunning, her aunt's wealth, and the family connections meant that she could effectively govern during the early stages of recovery. Not to mention, the Sith would be too desolated by the war and violence to even think about coups whether or not Crassus succeeded in the ritual. Therefore, she could convince the survivors that her appointment of an heir was the most effective choice and that the Sith would be led on the right path if her heir's appointment came to pass. It was a pity that Lord Scourge was considered a traitor who would be destroyed if he were ever seen upon Sith property again or else Crassus would've asked him to lead the Sith back to a time of purity.
The only way that Scourge could be allowed to return to the Empire for certain was if he challenged Morgause for the position and attained it in fair combat, something that his birth as a Pureblood permitted him. That was an idea came to him, one that would ensure the Sith had the best leadership possible in addition to the assurance of an immortal watching over them in the early stages of their recovery. More, Scourge was nowhere near the power levels of Vitiate which meant that he might be immortal but he was far from invulnerable compared to the one the Zakuulans had called Valkorion. Thus, Crassus put out an anonymous comm, asking that Lord Scourge meet with Darth Imperius within three days time on the planet Korriban if he was still alive. He was told that a proposition would be made that Scourge would be interested in hearing, given that he was no lover of the Republic despite his allegiance to it.
No matter what happened, Crassus wanted to ensure that even if he were to somehow fail in the ritual, the Sith would have the strongest leader possible. It would be the only way for sure that the Sith could hope to heal to a point of prowess where the Republic would not be able to overcome them. Most important, he would come prepared with the plans with which he intended to rebuild the Sith most especially with the ritual ensuring his immortality and greater power. Unlike Vitiate, Crassus would know that there were more important enemies and obstacles to conquer during the next little while. Obstacles that would ensure that the Republic was too weak to stop the Sith upon their return from the fringes of Known Space.
He was hoping to impress Lord Scourge into accepting that the Sith needed an experienced leader to help rebuild the Empire. Most of all, he would need to convince Scourge to watch the inevitable battle at Nogatan unfold and act only in accordance with the outcome of the battle and nothing more. Like Crassus, Scourge was a patient man and was likely biding his time for the perfect chance to take back the Empire for himself now that Vitiate was dead. And despite his own desire to hold onto power, Crassus had to admit that he had to dangle that chance in front of Scourge in order to convince him to help. It was a game of chess that Crassus intended to win, even if he was destined to die in the battle at Nogatan, trying to complete the ritual.
Chapter Four
Hyperion was contemplating the visions he'd seen of Morgana stabbing him in the back amidst the carnage of Algethiius when he heard the first reports. Dathomir was being attacked by the combination of Republic and unknown paramilitary forces that conspired to destroy Sith holdings on the planet. He chuckled when he realized that his brother had followed his advice and gotten paramilitaries involved. So far as the description of the non Republic forces were concerned, Hyperion guessed that Dantius had somehow recruited the Space Hawks and the Silver Hands, especially in the images of silver-armored troops arriving to Dathomir's surface. Hyperion knew the time had come to start the departure for Nogatan but also knew that Crassus wasn't quite ready to make that move just yet.
No, he still had other plans to complete here on Balmorra before he could hope to initiate a move to Nogatan and the ceremony from there. And amongst those plans, it would seem, was to test Hyperion's loyalties by sending one of the last units of the Imperial Guard upon him. Hyperion countered them with his nets, slugthrowers, spear, whip, grenades, and shurikens before finishing the last one with ease via his ax and shield. The Imperial Guards were powerful but they had failed to defeat the likes of mercenaries such as the Devils of Mustafar and now proved disadvantaged against Hyperion even now. But Hyperion realized that they were just the warmup, especially once the lightsaber he'd stolen from the last of the Brothers Bane was levitated from his chest strap by a powerful tug from the Force.
Activated by a woman he had never seen before, he realized something about her that chilled him to the bone. She bore a striking resemblance to Morgana as she must've looked when she was younger only Hyperion knew for a fact that Morgana had no children, which left only one possibility. "Hello Daddy," she said a moment later before adding, "The name's Morgause, my aunt chose it when I was born." Hyperion didn't even bother trying to recover his ax or reach his lightsaber, instead he raised his hands in a gesture of peace.
"So, Morgana told you the truth. You have grown into a charming, lovely, and powerful woman," Hyperion said, not even trying to deny that he recognized his daughter before him.
"No thanks to you except for the rage your deed against my mother that burned within me as a child! That burns now hotter with the death of my aunt, the one woman who found my potential and trained me to avenge my mother if she failed," Morgause told him. Hyperion let a tear roll down his eye, the very embodiment of the vengeance he sowed into Patricia's family having finally blossomed into this woman before him.
"Before she died, did Morgana tell you what happened to your grandparents? Did she tell you what my brother did to me in the wake of your mother's suicide?" Hyperion inquired. Morgause let out a cruel laugh before replying as he suspected she would if he understood Morgana's personality correctly.
"Huh, I need not know those things to desire revenge against you. It was you who wronged my mother, not my grandparents! And it is you who has still to suffer yet, not your brother in his own drive for revenge against you!" Morgause explained. Hyperion unclipped his remaining lightsaber and threw it to the side, also unclipping his shield while his daughter looked on puzzled. Then Hyperion fell to his knees in front of his daughter, looking her straight in her eyes as he explained what he was doing.
"You're right, Morgause. I have not yet begun to pay penance for the sins of my youth, no apology will ever take back how you were brought into this galaxy, and no amount of explanation could ever justify the pain I caused your mother's family. So if you want to kill me, if seeing me dead will make you whole, I won't stop you. The gifts of the Dark Side come at a price most terrible to one's soul and if you believe you must be the arbiter of the price I must pay then I will gladly prostrate myself to your whim," Hyperion told her. Morgause moved in close raising the yellow blade of her new lightsaber to strike the fatal blow that would end her father's life as soon as she brought it down.
Hyperion looked up to his daughter's eyes as she prepared to strike him down, prepared to exact revenge for Morgana, Patricia, and the Brillante family. He was neither afraid nor proud of what he had done, neither haughty nor embarrassed, simply tired of running away, tired of letting his guilt wrack him without end in sight. The Sith Lord didn't speak as there was no need, not while he was baring his neck to the child he'd forcibly conceived with Patricia, many years before. But Morgause was unable to do it, lowering and deactivating her blade as she broke down into tears. Hyperion breathed a silent sigh of relief then slowly approached her, rising to a crouch as he did so.
"It isn't so easy to take a life when you have to think about it, is it? So much easier to let impulse override your senses until after the fact, isn't it? This is the failing of the Dark Side, Morgause, the reason for my failure to win Patricia's heart and gain her consent before we had you. Listen close to my story and learn why you were right to forswear your revenge in sparing my life. I was born to a Crown Prince on a distant planet called Algethiius, I made a deal with my Sith Lord grandfather that cost me my soul," Hyperion began.
"The Emperor mentioned something along those lines when he sent me to destroy you. He said he trained you as the human Crassus when you were a child, taught you the ways of the Sith," Morgause said when she was a little more coherent. Hyperion nodded and locked arms with her, embracing her as a father might embrace a child he was trying to comfort. So that she couldn't kill him in the embrace, he levitated the lightsaber she'd stolen away from either of them. When he knew she wouldn't be reaching out to him with the Force in order to kill him, he continued with his story from her comment.
"Through him, I learned how to kill many who were deserving but usually many more who were not. I helped my grandfather kill my mother and father, helped him imprison my brother in a coma for seven years, and helped him eliminate political enemies who stood in his way. You lose yourself to the Dark Side without an anchor to keep yourself centered against the thirst for blood the Dark Side will inevitably create within you," Hyperion told her. Morgause nodded, a movement Hyperion felt on his shoulder the way he sometimes felt it from Menelaus when he was a child.
"Tell me," she started, "what happened to my grandparents? What did your brother do to you when my mother died?" Hyperion knew this was a question that he was supposed to hear her ask on the onset of their meeting.
"My brother beat the poodoo out of me when I was drunk then sent me off to a correctional asylum in Teth. I was tortured by the guards, inmates attempted to rape and kill me, and I was put in solitary confinement for killing four inmates and permanently injuring seven more. As for your grandparents, Morgana had been training under the influence of a Sith Lord named Darth Inferis. As one of her last tests before she could claim the mantle of Sith Master from him, she was asked to kill your grandparents and take you under her wing as her next apprentice. When she succeeded in all of that, she betrayed and destroyed her master, arranging an accident for her parents that appeared like a landspeeder crash but was truthfully an assassination," Hyperion said stoically.
Morgause looked at him with galvanized eyes when she recoiled from his arms and he only nodded. "That all happened and I bet you anything that Morgana would be willing to confess that if you questioned her about them. But now that she is dead, the only guarantee you have that she'd have confessed is if she left recordings in her strongholds. Now, why don't we go and take the fight to our real enemy together as father and daughter," Hyperion told her.
She smiled, recovering the lightsaber that she had taken from Hyperion while Hyperion recovered the one he would've used against her if they had dueled. He also recovered his spear and his ax from the Guards he killed in addition to the shield that he had also upholstered when he decided he wanted to persuade his daughter from the Dark path. When the duo arrived at the Emperor's quarters, Hyperion dispatched the guards that stood at the door, first spearing one with a Force-imbued throw and then chopping the other to pieces with the ax. Leaving the larger blade of the ax embedded in the head of his last victim, he opened the door and together, they entered for the fight of their lives.
Crassus, in the form of the Pau'an Sith Lord Darth Imperius, turned in that moment to face the adversaries before him. "I did not expect this at all. Still, I should have realized that you would lack the stomach to eliminate your father, Morgause. You spoke greatly of wanting vengeance but seldom do those who boast that they are fighters turn out to be such themselves," Crassus told them.
"She has seen the depths of your evil for what it is, grandfather. Together, the two of us are powerful enough to destroy you and put the Empire on the right path!" Hyperion snapped at him.
"If she has truly been turned against me by your grace, Hyperion, then she will die with you as well. And her death will be on you as are the deaths of those you killed in your service to me when you were her age," Crassus declared emotionlessly. It was then that all three ignited lightsabers and the duel between them began for supremacy of the Sith Empire Remnant.
