He stood at the closed gate facing the barbaric Solarian. "What do you want, Tortila?"
"You know what I want," Tortila said. "Make it easy on yourself and just come out here to meet your fate. All of you are sentenced to die."
"Under whose authority?"
"Mine!"
It was then that the captain of his army approached and stood on the side of Tortila.
"LAST CHANCE!" Tortila bellowed.
Gavson said nothing. He turned to see that his small army stood motionless, anticipating the storm that was about to occur. Then, Gavson's eyes turned to the captain standing to the side of Tortila. He raised his hand and took some steps back. Suddenly, four men with torquo machine guns aimed them at Tortila and fired off rounds. Bullets hit Tortila's back at warp speed and the barbarian had no time to turn around and react. Gavson could not help but stand by and watch the massacre, but he kept his mouth shut.
One of the Byzants took a sword and decapitated his head. He gave it to the captain and the captain grabbed the hair without looking at it. He gestured a petrified Gavson to come to him.
Through the gate, the captain presented the head of Tortila to his face and said, "Tell Aimens that the Byzants are a sect now. He leaves us alone, we leave him alone. He comes after us, his head will be next."
From there, the Unknown Byzants left the body of the fifty-eight-year-old Tortila Suntoris behind, signaling a changing of the guard. The head of Suntoris Faction was no more and the Byzants became another unofficial sect of Second Renaissance...
****
When Tortila Suntoris met his fate in the hands of his own army, the game changed. The Byzants controlled Troyuvant and they made it known through their lawless behavior.
But this brought another problem. Despite how they felt about Tortila, he was the reason they had s foothold for power at all. He funded their attacks and gave them a purpose to fight.
The main captains of the Byzants, or the ones claiming the title because no one else would, argued with one another in an apartment over the next move.
"Who's going to lead now? We need to vote!"
"What about the House of Latium?"
"Where are we going to get money?"
Enter Savil Nassar.
He was not a leader or a dashing figurehead by any stretch of the imagination. He was a mouthpiece that went to both Gavson and Zantrapa on separate occasions about what the Byzants was looking for.
He came with the most ingenious idea ever and in the sea of ruthless captains, he expressed it to all of them.
"Why not go after the highest bidder? Whoever puts up the most money to fund us becomes our leader."
When he gave them this idea, Nassar could see the captains' mouths salivating. It was an idea that was going to propel in another bloody direction...
****
Issac Arius sat at a Tier bar, drinking alone as he could find people walking in and out talking about the latest gossip from the airwaves. The latest news was the continuous destruction of Second Renaissance. The House of Latium brought it to the surface; the Suntoris Faction gave it a sort of celebrity; and the Byzants gave it an edge of youth for future generations to idolize.
Issac knew that he was on borrowed time, so he spent it wisely drinking and whoring with Tierian females. However, this particular night he was on a date.
The date arrived and sat across from him.
"I wasn't expecting you to come," Issac said.
"Neither did I! This is the last place I need to be."
In an unique blue suit, Pedro Santos called a waitress over for something to drink and he started on his spill. "Tortila Suntoris is dead. Your gang is acting wild in Troyuvant. The House of Latium is losing patience and you have a decision to make."
From there, Pedro took out a package of money and put it on the table. He slid the package slowly to him. "Here's what been promised. You can start a new life wherever you want."
"And what about my gang?" Issac asked.
"Troyuvant is a war zone. Going back there now is a deathtrap. Besides, what do you think your gang's going to do to you when they see you? Think it's going to be a loving embrace? They blasted their own leader without blinking and he was a barbarian. What do you think they're going to do to you?"
Issac stayed silent and put his hand on the package. "Troyuvant has been my home all my life. It was all I know." He wiped his black-skinned face with his hands. "Where exactly can I go? Who would accept this face?"
Pedro smirked. He stood up. "You're a survivor. I'm sure you'll get through this. Don't shed a tear for the Byzants. Not one solitary tear."
Pedro left the bar as the waitress brought his drink. Issac just took it, made a toast to himself and drank it down in one gulp...
****
"The Byzants will become your personal army if you accept our terms. We can even make you a trader of the Byzants. We need one right now to speak for us about our actions. And we think you have more momentum than Gavson has. At least that's what the others say."
Savil Nassar spoke those words to Zantrapa at Ajax Park near downtown Troy. Zantrapa paced back and forth, wondering what to do next.
"If I take this deal, can they make this possible?"
Nassar smirked. "You saw what happened to Suntoris?"
For the moment, Zantrapa ruled Troyuvant with Gavson, but he knew the real rulers of the planet were the Byzants. A part of him did not want to take the deal. After he finished pacing, he extended his hand to Savil and Savil shook it, sealing a deal that did not take long to make after the assassination of Tortila Suntoris...
****
"Mr. Lysander! Mr. Lysander!"
Dorcas Camillo entered the Lysander home upon receiving a message from him. He went to the dining room where he would usually be, but instead of Baptista being in his usual seat, it was his daughter.
"Katharina? What are you doing here? Where's your father?"
The lean Katharina Lysander stood up and approached Dorcas. "My father had to take care of some things for me before I leave. He wanted me to congratulate you."
"For what?"
Katharina smiled. "I guess you haven't heard. Tortila Suntoris is dead. The Byzants rebelled against him and claiming themselves independent. Whatever you did help us out substantially. He's proud of you. So am I."
She stretched out her hand and a maid presented him with an uniform.
"What is this?" Dorcas asked.
"Your present!" Katharina said. "Your gift is now you're Commander of the king's heroic Democrat Guard. You're coming with me to Crystal Metropolis. Congratulations!"
Dorcas stared at her, then at the Democrat Guard uniform. "You think this is what I wanted?"
"What? You want to continue to be a thug in a planet that will no longer be there? The Byzants will turn on each other just like they did Tortila. If I were you, I would take the uniform and start you new life among the Santos royalty."
"The Santos?" Dorcas whispered.
The maid presented him with the uniform and Dorcas slowly took it.
"Whatever goodbyes you have to make, you have a couple of days to do so. Then, if you interested, you come back here and we go together. Maybe we can talk about what you want to do for fun when we get there..."
Katharina kept talking while Dorcas continued to stare at her beautiful brown eyes. The more he looked into them, the more he could see his future.
Perhaps Crystal Metropolis won’t be so bad after all, he thought...
****
Crystal Metropolis was feeling the pain of the entire ATM. None felt it more than the Santos king. He saw that despite taking the Force of Arms decree, it seemed as if there was no end in sight. Many times he asked himself and his court, “How can you kill an enemy that doesn’t fear death?”
His court had no answer. No one had the answer it seemed in Crystal Metropolis. He saw that his reign could end in a split second like the former ruler Cheron if he could not find a way out of this.
The scourge of the Santos clan, gossip, began to appear and before long, he was hearing people talking about his downfall. Even worse, they started to compare him to his tyrannical father Timon.
Going into his bedroom, Ichiamo made a call to his ace in the hole in Solaria. He was left with leaving messages.
"What are you doing about this, Baptista? I have people already wanting my head and you're doing what?"
"I think you want me dead just like the rest of them."
"I know I shouldn't have trusted you."
After so many messages on the phone for days on end, finally a message comes through from Baptista Lysander.
"I'm coming to Crystal Metropolis. I have an idea."
****
Instead of having him come to the Santos Palace, he met with Baptista as his plane came down. He and his daughter Katharina Lysander stepped down from their cruiser to meet Ichiamo and only one of the members of his court, a cousin named Humber.
The minute he saw them, Ichiamo hugged Baptista, and he hugged and kissed Katharina on the lips.
"You said you have an idea?" Ichiamo asked.
"I do," Baptista answered. "I must warn you that it's risky. And a bad move could mean everything we work hard for."
Around the time of the Cyprun attack, there was several battle plans mentioned to Ichiamo by his generals with only the king’s knowledge on it. No one else knew about Baptista's involvement in learning the inner sanctums of the House of Latium and the Troyuvant drug gangs.
However, they did know about Baptista's daughter Katharina.
Since he made a deal with Baptista, Katharina Lysander arrived in Crystal Metropolis already creating buzz around her. She was one of the most beautiful women ever come out of the family or Solaria.
On top of that, she was already established in Solaria and the ATM was speaking her name. Katharina Lysander was an accomplished singer. Her voice was a burst of energy for the soldiers, especially for the famous squad Rooster Boys. As a prerequisite, pilots and soldiers had to learn Katharina’s songs and played them on a daily basis. It was a way to keep the fight in them, since Katharina lately have been writing and singing songs that were about nothing but honor and victory.
Her popularity and voice had reached Crystal Metropolis and the king's chambers. However, this was becoming an uncertainty as his popularity dwindled.
The king and Solaria's main benefactor went to the Santos Palace chambers and from there, Baptista gave him the Dreamweaver device and Ichiamo hooked it on his bald forehead, in which his shaved to show his shame in losing the war.
The minute he hooked it on, his journey took him into the design and architecture of a long, massive missile. Ichiamo became the fly on the wall once again and he saw every dimension of this impressive missile that was build. Ichiamo knew that the design of this missile was the trademark of the Second Renaissance. Its designs kept up with the essence of The Code.
When he took the device off slowly from his head, he glanced at Baptista.
"You're telling me they have possession of these weapons?" Ichiamo asked.
"They had possession," Baptista responded.
Ichiamo's mind went on high alert. "What are you saying? How dangerous is this?"
"Well, from what I've heard, it has enough firepower to destroy an entire planet. Can you imagine a bunch of terrorists having that kind of power?"
Ichiamo shrugged. "I don't want to know!"
It was here that the two leaders conversed with one another, making their own battle plans. With each sentence they spoke, Ichiamo could see his confidence rise again. Perhaps whatever this weapon was, it could mean the end of the war and a way out of the mess he was in.
Maybe he could finally get revenge for Cyprun...
****
Juliet came to see his family and she could see it in Lucius’s face as well because she had it, too. She told them that when the rest of them came back to Solaria, they got together and conversed with one another just to keep some line of communication open during a turbulent time.
They all met in Barao’s middle-class neighborhood. Everyone they passed greeted them with congratulations and was overjoyed in the fight they gave against their enemies. At this point, they were tired, but took the praises and applause anyway.
Lucius tried to say something to his friend Alonso, but all he could come up with was “sorry.”
“They have to pay,” Alonso said plenty of times with the same rage. “I want them to pay.”
Lucius could not agree more, but there was a time and place even for that.
At Juliet’s middle-class home, they had a normal dinner. Everyone lend her a helping hand in cooking and setting up the table. All were hurt, but they kept their control as they got through it the best way they knew how.
On a balcony, Lucius and Alonso spoke with one another, but mostly it was Alonso doing most of the talking while trying to fight the sadness and the tears. He backed his throat down with hard Hungaro liquor.
“She would have loved this,” he said. “All these people coming here to give their support being so proud of us. All that and I can’t even appreciate it because all I think about is…”
His worry increased. Lucius patted him on the back.
“Why did she have to die? I should have been the one.”
“It could have been anyone of us out there,” Lucius said.
“He’s telling the truth.”
Coming from out of nowhere was Iago Fenton, the son of Dr. Claudius Fenton, who took on his father’s profession in the war. He went to some of the planets of the Cyprun Valley System, giving out his support.
“It could have been any one of us," he said. "It could have been you. Then we would have been in this same situation mourning you.”
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you,” Lucius said as he gave Iago a deep hug.
“I’ve never been a people person, Lucius. You know that. I tell you one thing. I've seen so many people and felt their pain more from this war than any other time in my life. Sometimes, I wish all I could do is jump into their skin and see what they were going through.”
“I don’t feel it anymore,” Alonso said. “I thought this was something good. I mean I told my mother what I was doing and she was so proud of me. Now I feel nothing.”
“You can’t die,” Iago said. “And if you tried to do, all I’m going to do is try to save you.”
Everyone had those same feelings. All of their parents were thrilled for them when they found out that they joined the Santos king’s Force of Arms. Alonso was cool with everything Iago was saying, probably the first time he heard him make any kind of sense.
“I don’t know about you,” Lucius said, “but I’m ready for all this to end. This has gone on far enough.”
“And what are you planning to do about that?” Iago asked.
Lucius’s thoughts were to King Ichiamo. He remembered a conversation he had with him before he left for the other Cyprun Valley planets.
“I’m going to Crystal Metropolis,” he said.
“For what?” Iago asked.
“Something’s about to go down. I couldn’t believe it myself. I don’t know too much about it, but the king told me that it was going to make all our dreams come true.”
“I don’t see how that can happen,” Alonso said as he took another swig of alcohol.
“Well, the king was confident about it. Whatever it is, I’m going back into space.”
“Well, let’s make a toast,” Iago said as he shows off his beer bottle. “To the end of the war, we hope.”
>
All of the boys were in agreement. All of them were thinking about Lucius’ mission and all of them were thinking to themselves.
What was King Ichiamo planning?
****
The king decided near the end of 78 B.E. that his special plan with Lysander would be converse about. He brought his most trusted court, strators, and close partners together. All waited in the Strator Circle, whispering about what Ichiamo had up his sleeves. Lately, people were choosing sides between staying loyal to the king and appointing another family member into the position.
INIQUITOUS DOMINION: The Galactic Classic Page 24
