Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. -Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
Some years ago, I collaborated with an author writing a fictional story about a village of supernatural beings hidden deep in East Europe. The beings were the result of Soviet experiments carelessly monitored. The author chose Hyperion for the Hero protagonist as a wink to me and my chosen nom de guerre.
I used my military training and background to give the author a character profile to work with. You may find this irrelevant to your day to day life with regards to weapons, tactics, and strategies for finding and ending threats to good order and discipline in a well ordered society. However, if you are beginning to think society isn’t living up to accepted standards of peace, freedom, and liberty, know there are tough men and women throughout the world that are dedicated to halting the spread of destruction.
In the story about Hyperion, he accepts a mission targeting a small-town political leader. The mission profile specifies what skills, training, and equipment are needed, as well as strategies and tactics. This assignment is for someone who is used to working in small groups or alone. He has to be self-reliant and self-confident but also guarded since there is no way to avoid compromise and capture if a concentrated effort develops by a significant force intent on capturing him. He has to know how to even the odds quickly and think fast on his feet. The mission profile is for an operator with high intellect, not a brute alone. Hyperion would be a man comfortable with high odds against him.
Skills, Training, Equipment:
Powers of observation – Hyperion has well-developed observation skills. The operator must always have well-honed situational awareness. He is methodical in assessing an area and memorizing threats and impediments to movement, objects, and persons. He memorizes distances to and between objects.
Range estimation is honed to fine art because timing marks come from range estimation. Range estimation tells him how long it takes for a threat to move a given distance, which allows him to estimate the windows of opportunity for attack and evasion. Ultimately, Hyperion memorizes his environment and understands how to move in that environment using natural and manufactured barriers for cover and concealment.
Patience—Hyperion can wait in cramped conditions for hours without moving while he observes and prepares his attacks or movements. He does not let circumstance drive him; he chooses to drive the circumstances. He never acts in haste or anger, keeping cool mentally while executing a decisive action. Hyperion chooses when to act with his mind and with his body.
He will slowly and meticulously set up his target, observe his target’s habits and patterns, then get inside his target’s decision cycle and place himself in a location to intercept his target and execute his mission. He will not compromise himself or his mission for a hasty, ill-prepared action. But, if he needs to act, he is flexible enough to act quickly, even if it takes him outside his chosen battle rhythm.
Mental and Physical Toughness – Hyperion trains his multi-faceted physical toughness. He performs sustained strenuous exercise that always increases his strength and endurance. He pushes himself to the point of physical pain and exhaustion, then trains his mind to accept it and keep going. He finds his mental and physical breaking point and then pushes beyond it to strengthen his ability to take extreme punishment and focus on continuing his mission.
To be effective, Hyperion must function even in high pain and discomfort. His training is geared as much toward endurance as strength. He will not be a colossal Hulk because that body type uses energy and tires quickly. He has to be lean, agile, and strong. It’s a compromise, but it allows him to outperform larger males over time. Outlast and outlive is his goal.
Fighting Skill – Hyperion has mastered several martial arts. He does not waste time on martial arts that are merely sports. His training is in the art of killing quickly and effectively. He uses the opponents’ momentum to move them off balance and keep them off balance so they can’t grapple with him and take him down. He doesn’t stand and fight but lets his opponent commit to an attack. Then he receives the attack, stops it, disarms and disables the attacker, and kills them all in a fluid series of moves that should never take more than three seconds; otherwise, the operator could lose the advantage.
When attacked, Hyperion assesses his enemy and uses overmatch of violence to shut down his opponent’s central nervous system, stunning the enemy and eliminating the threat. In the first microsecond of battle, Hyperion remains outwardly calm, allowing his adrenaline to skyrocket, fueling his strength. He is cold, calculating, and efficient and never acts in fury or rage.
An opponent in a rage is careless and easy to defeat. The operator knows that adrenaline or drug-induced rage makes his opponent nearly immune to pain. He can only win by skillfully destroying the opponent’s physical vital structures. He will first attack the major muscles and joints to remove the arms, legs, and hips. He then attacks the spine and critical organs with well-placed blows or knives. For example, If an opponent threw a punch at him, he would trap the arm and pull the opponent off balance using the opponent’s momentum. When a man is off balance, he can’t attack due to the limitations of the human mind. These limitations give Hyperion the advantage.
In the next instance, he will possibly break the elbow joint or slice the bicep or tricep, then drive a punch or knife into a kidney. Death occurs in about 7 seconds due to blood loss from the severed kidney. The pain is excruciating, also crippling the opponent momentarily while Hyperion finishes him. The goal is never to slug it out and demonstrate who is best and strongest but to eliminate the opponent quickly and efficiently while minimizing self-injury.
Equipment – Hyperion must fight and defend with what he can carry or use from his operating environment. He has to be a master with all kinds of weapons and tools. He will study the weapons and tactics of the area he will operate in to use things taken from his enemies. He will carry a primary gun and backup along with several blades. In real life, the American soldier in battle will carry his rifle, pistol, hand grenades, tomahawk, bayonet, and a small knife for cutting chores but also as a close-quarter weapon as a last resort.
The tomahawk made for fighting is a formidable weapon. It is superior to a knife and kills with one well-placed blow. This weapon is ideal for hand-to-hand combat. It can hook and pull the enemy and disarm and kill. But it is also used to build shelter and fighting positions.
Each weapon has strengths and weaknesses, and Hyperion knows each exceptionally well. He practices relentlessly with them. In the story, Hyperion may not be in modern times with modern weapons, but whatever he has will follow the same concept of primary, secondary, and backup weapons.
Hyperion will also carry high-calorie food and water. Still, he will try to live off of supplies in his area as much as possible, saving his rations for periods when he can’t move or seek replenishment.
For survival, the operator will carry a fire starter, but typically, he doesn’t have a fire in a mission area if it isn’t secured well because it gives away his position. He will have a small monocular for viewing things from a distance. Also, a small first aid kit capable of treating severe wounds. He will have note-taking capability and possibly maps, but he never puts a mark on the map in case it’s lost or captured. Notes on a map tell the enemy your plans. He memorizes what he needs to know on the map. He will have a way to keep his hygiene up as much as possible.
Tactics and Strategies
A military strategy is a concept that aims to achieve an objective. The tactics are the task and steps used to achieve the strategy. Hyperion’s objective is the Mayor. He must get within striking distance and evade capture once he has performed his assigned task. Getting home in time for a cold brew is his strategy. To achieve this, he must infiltrate the area of operation and observe the patterns of people and the environment. What happens when, and is it repetitive?
He needs to gather intel from sources or observations. He has a willing source in Lee and an unwilling source in the bully. Lee is interested in Hyperion. Hyperion might fall for Lee, but he doesn’t know if she has another motive. He must find a way to test her allegiance before truly trusting her.
Hyperion must overcome the bad guy, as we discussed. But, if he can mingle in the crowds unnoticed and hide in plain sight, he might overhear helpful things. Bars or places where people gather are good places to listen. Hyperion must be a chameleon to mingle with a crowd and be to them what they want him to be. If he garners suspicion, then he is in for bad luck.
Once Hyperion has sufficient information, he has to learn the area of his attack without giving himself away by telegraphing his intent; he needs to see all the avenues of approach and escape. He has to avoid structures or natural barriers that will funnel him into unwanted areas where he could be attacked and captured. His plan includes the most likely possibilities and the worst case. If he can rehearse his movements, he will. He’ll draw replicas in the dirt and play out scenarios to help him think through problems. Then, he will choose a time and place that gives him the advantage and limits the enemy’s response, giving him a clean break. He will have a plan for escape as elaborate as his plan to attack. He may preposition weapons or things to aid in his attack like booby traps or misleading information to confuse the enemy.
This is a quick non-fictional drive-by to stir your very fertile mind. It’s not meant as a comprehensive guide but the foundations of what makes Hyperion good at what he does. I hope it was useful.
Hyperion Sky 
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