INIQUITOUS DOMINION: The Galactic Classic

by Justin Conley

  Long live the new Queen, Katharina Lysander Santos...

  STARCUTTER

  ELEVEN: SECOND RENAISSANCE REPLAY

  The Second Renaissance was a young group of science and religion fanatics with no stable organization. So far, the only reason why they had not disintegrated after turbulent changes was because of the might of the House of Latium, one of its first sects. They had a hierarchy and titles to play around with and used them whenever they wanted to keep control among the followers.

  However, they were not the only sects. Thanks to one of Solaria's wealthiest families, another sect formed known as the Suntoris Faction. They learned from the House of Latium about better organization. Led by Tortila Suntoris, they started becoming dominant by recruiting believers among Troyuvant gangsters and drug dealers.

  This became the Suntoris Faction's personal army, the Byzants.

  During the Force of Arms War, to those outside of the religion, the Children of the ATM Defense Forces had a stable enemy in the House of Latium. To those in the trenches of the Second Renaissance religion, it had become more complicated.

  It started off successful, as the Second Renaissance saturated Solaria and crossed over to other planets and moons. They created a challenge for themselves trying to convert Troyuvant. It ended up successful, but it fired back on them as Troyuvant went to war to promote Second Renaissance by force.

  This resulted in the attacks on Tier and Syra. The House of Latium became a feared terror group that had to be stopped. Ichiamo unleashed his Force of Arms decree and the House of Latium scrambled to try and clean up their act.

  Just as they came close to doing so, Tortila Suntoris began pushing his own orders. Feeling as if he had his own army and could do what he wanted, he declared the Suntoris Faction its own entity separated from the House of Latium. In essence, he declared war on both the House of Latium and the entire ATM.

  It was here that Tortila Suntoris came up with his own ingenious plan. He needed a major statement. Using the Byzants, he ordered them to go after the best target he could think of in his diabolical head.

  It would become known as the "Bloody Mark of Cyprun!" One of the most devastating attacks in the Force of Arms War as the planet Cyprun and its surrounding areas were bombarded with missiles. The Byzants showed no mercy as they attacked with fervor, leaving no stone unturned. Many lives were perished in defending the ancestral home of the Santos.

  A major victory for the Suntoris Faction, but it had an unwanted consequence. It did not stop Ichiamo Santos from wanting to bring pressure to the Second Renaissance sects. Then, the House of Latium disassociated themselves from Suntoris Faction, leaving the galactic barbarian Tortila Suntoris as the lone enemy of the entire ATM...

  ****

  In his normal routine at his palace, Baptista sipped his tea, opened his laptop, and connected with all the news from ATM Media about the Force of Arms War. It was here he found stories about the brutal attack of Cyprun, the old planet home of the Santos clan. Then, he found stories about Ichiamo's last-ditch plan to end in the war in the Nova Bomb.

  He knew this also meant that he had to finish his end of the bargain in stopping the sect. However, there were two reasons why he stalled to do this for so long.

  The first was that the task was not as easy as it seemed.

  As he was reading, his butler Damin bowed and whispered in his ear, "He's here like you asked!"

  "Bring him here," Baptista ordered. Damin left and seconds later, escorted a young man in dramatic street clothes into Baptista's dining room.

  "Welcome, Dorcas Camillo!" He brought out his hand, but Dorcas stood motionless.

  "What do you want?" Dorcas asked.

  "Straight to the point, I see? I understand perfectly." Baptista sat down and made himself comfortable. "Let me start by asking you a question. Are you happy being associated with Suntoris?"

  "Excuse me?"

  "I've done some research about your group. I have to say. It doesn't sound like much. A bunch of criminals and drug dealers. Then I went further and a couple of you stand out. You was one of them."

  "So what?"

  Baptista stood up. "So here lies the question. Why be just a mere server of the Byzants when you can be the driver or even a trader?"

  Dorcas understood the terminology. In the Second Renaissance religion, servers were the soldiers and followers of the Code. The drivers were the supervisors and protectors of the Code. If you became a trader, it meant a member was in the power seat. He could manipulate any situation the hierarchy of the Renaissance stood for.

  Dorcas was not one of those men, but Baptista could see that there was something in him that he could exploit.

  "What do you want from me?" Dorcas asked again.

  "I want to uplift the cause," Baptista said. "That's all I ever wanted. I just don't like the reputation that our religion has right now. How did you feel about the attack of Cyprun? Do you think it was justified?"

  "That has nothing to do with me," Dorcas responded.

  "But it does. It has to do with all of us. The last thing I want is to be associated with terrorists. You're not one, I'm sure. You're just a drug dealer."

  Baptista exposed him and Dorcas just put his head down. Baptista did not know how he would react. He put his hand on his shoulder.

  "We need a new generation of leaders," Baptista said. "If not a leader, at least a symbol."

  "That's what you brought me here for? Just to say that?" Dorcas asked.

  "Just give you something to think about with the next decisions you make."

  Dorcas took his word as such and just left. Baptista grinned until he left and his manservant stood to his shoulder.

  "I don't understand, sir," Damin said. "I thought the point was to make him a leader."

  Baptista chuckled. "It doesn't matter to me who leads the movement. It's all about sowing the seeds. Dorcas is one of many seeds I will plant to get my family back to the top. My daughter is close to her place. I have to make sure there are no more obstacles in our way."

  Damin nodded. He understood that Baptista Lysander was playing his game. He had seen it before and was about to see it happen again...

  ****

  "I can't believe him," Aimens said as he paced around his dining room in his home in Tier, trying not to breaks anything. "What was he thinking attacking Cyprun?"

  "It's too late now," his comrade Flaminius replied. "The damage is done."

  "After everything we did for him. Why would he tempt fate like that?"

  "I don't see it as any different from what happened with us when we kill the Priams."

  Aimens sat down in his cushion chair. It had been years since they talked about the fateful night of murder in the Santos Palace. Since then, the former cursers of the Fallen Court had established themselves as servers of the ATM's new movement. The royal court life of Crystal Metropolis had plenty of pitfalls. In the Second Renaissance, they were free to be whatever they wanted. They rose in the ranks and became drivers in the House of Latium, pushing new technology for the ATM that included the new line of brain-altering communication known as the Dreamweavers, and thanks to their connection with the Troyuvant drug gangs, they pushed new drugs into the ATM conscious.

  It was Aimens and Flaminius who bridged the gap between the House of Latium and Tortila Suntoris. However, when the brute Suntoris decided to go his own way, he broke the seal put together between the sects and caused anarchy for Second Renaissance members.

  "What do we do now?" Flaminius asked. "The House of Latium won't touch him and he won't listen to us. Maybe we can-"

  "No! Don't even say it?" Aimens interrupted. "Don't even think it. We're not going back to Crystal Metropolis to beg for mercy. We can fix it. And we will fix it."

  He took out his small cell phone and dialed a few numbers. "Gavson, it's Aimens. I need you and Zantrapa to start making plans to evacuate. We may be heading underground if Suntoris continues his rampage... For now, just prepare. Don't
do anything unless I say so."

  Putting up his phone, he turned back to Flaminius. "Hopefully, he won't do anything else to give us a little time to plan for the worst."

  "You really think Ichiamo would continue this war?" Flaminius asked.

  "I'm sure of it," Aimens answered. "Unless someone kills him first. I'm hoping the people of Crystal Metropolis take our example and do the work for us. If not...well, we cross that bridge when it comes."

  ****

  Flaminius returned to his home in Tier after talking with Aimens. When he entered, already waiting for him was his girlfriend Theodora. She ran and hugged him hesitantly.

  "What happened?" Theodora asked.

  Flaminius watched her lips shake. "Aimens wants me to do nothing but prepare for the worst. The king's army might attack us without warning. We need to hide and soon. Start packing. I'm going to take a bath right quick."

  Flaminius went to his bathroom and turned the water on. Theodora started getting clothes from the closets and putting them in suitcases. Flaminius stepped into the shower and let the water run down his body. He took some soap and washed his face roughly, trying to clean his body as fast as he could before he left.

  Suddenly, as Flaminius rinsed some of the water off his face, Theodora entered the shower with him. He grinned as she kissed him gently on the lips. Just as he was getting into the kiss, he stepped back to find himself coughing. He covered his face to try and control it.

  But he kept coughing. Blood leaked from his lips; then from his ears. The coughing became too much for him as he went on his knees. He tried to reach for Theodora, but she only moved her hand slightly. He fell out of the shower and onto the floor, holding his neck for dear life trying to find some air to breathe. Between the steam from the hot water and whatever was caught in his throat, he was trapped.

  Theodora stepped over him and went back to a closed suitcase full of her clothes. She grabbed the handle and with a confident smirk, left the room and out of the house.

  She exited to the outside, where a black Isaura cruiser waited for her. The door opened and Theodora slipped inside.

  "It's done. He's dead, baby!"

  "Good! Score one for us."

  When Theodora stared into her eyes, she smiled at seeing the face of her lover again:

  Pedro Santos, half-brother of King Ichiamo Santos.

  "What happens now?" Theodora asked as Pedro drove over in his cruiser.

  "Now we start bringing the pieces together and watch them drop each other one by one."

  ****

  Tortila Suntoris felt on top of the universe after the Cyprun attack. However, most were only fearful of what he would attack next. As it turned out, his next attack would be on his own opponents in the House of Latium.

  He heard of a revolt in Troyuvant involving a former ally, the curser Zantrapa. Zantrapa and Gavson were former gangsters turned House of Latium drivers associated with Fallen Court cursers Aimens and Flaminius. It turned worse when he found that a sect of the Byzants known as the Unknown Byzants suddenly rebelled and made their own sect in the Second Renaissance. Lately, he became paranoid of his own people to the point he started issuing assassination orders to House of Latium's key members.

  Dorcas heard about this and informed his new benefactor, Suntoris' nemesis Baptista Lysander in Solaria. Just as Dorcas was going to give him the news about Suntoris, Baptista dropped his bombshell.

  "He's going to do WHAT?" Dorcas bellowed.

  "The king declared it. As soon as he figured out everything around it, Troyuvant will be bombed in the worst way possible."

  "Does he know what kind of weapon he has on his hands?"

  "He'll know soon enough, which means your time window is dwindling. Unless you have something planned already?"

  Dorcas shook his head in disgust. "So either he dies or we all do!"

  Seeing pressed to do something, Dorcas left Lysander and called his crew together.

  ****

  "He wants all of us to go down there?" The charcoal-skinned Issac Arius asked his Byzant comrade Dorcas about the news Dorcas dropped at a cafe in Tier.

  "Your friends the Unknowns are acting up," Dorcas answered. "But I think there's more to it than that."

  "What is it?"

  Dorcas drank his hot white coffee down before he responded. "It's just me, but with the way Tortila's been acting, I mean...he has nothing to lose. If we all go down, he could just go back to his Solarian harem with his whores. He could easily say he had nothing to do with it or he was threatened to do it."

  "A big fool like Tortila? You really think he's that kind of guy?" Issac asked.

  "I think when that time comes, he's going to turn bitch and run."

  Issac shrugged. "You had time to think about this, didn't you?"

  Dorcas got closer to him. "Something bad is going to happen. And I think the closer we are to this thing, the more bodies that are going to drop."

  "The cost of war," Issac smirked.

  "Isn't that the truth?" Dorcas chuckled and stood up. Issac stood right along with him and both hugged each other tight.

  ****

  Tortila made his way down to Troyuvant's capital of Troy and wasted no time. Using the Unknown Byzants, he went to work weeding out his targets.

  However, what he ran into was another dispute in Troy. The dispute was over the men he was targeting, Gavson and Zantrapa, and their mismanagement over Second Renaissance funds.

  Suntoris was a part of Solaria's elite, but he hated any kind of nobility due to his own suspicious nature and was ruthless towards them whenever he could. He began by eliminating the close advisors. His suspicions may have been justified because two plots against him were foiled. The first happened as he was crossing a bridge packed with explosives upon a few days of arriving. However, the plot was discovered and the conspirators executed. The second plot involved servers loyal to a Byzant named Brahado, who wanted to lead the Unknown Byzants. This persuaded another lieutenant to change sides and murdered Brahado, although this was not enough to save his own life.

  Meanwhile, in another part of Troyuvant, a treasury official's extortions through false judgments in corrupt trials against some landowners ignited a full-scale revolt in the capital. These regular Troyuvant landowners armed their clients and their agricultural workers and entered Fevesham where they murdered the offending official and his bodyguards. Eventually, the revolt had not gone as planned as the Unknown Byzants once again made their presence known and ended matters. From here, the Unknowns started gaining more political power reminiscent of the nearly extinct Troyuvant drug kingpins. These soldiers had technology and the Code on their side. Some original citizens began to flock to them and those that did not became prisoners in a concentration camp in Fevesham.

  When the Fevesham revolt collapsed and Suntoris gaining speed, House of Latium found itself in great jeopardy of losing Troyuvant once and for all. Having shown clear support for the Unknown Byzants, they could expect no clemency from Tortila Suntoris when he reached Troy. In this predicament, they determined to defy Suntoris and sent a message through the Dreamweaver that Gavson and Zantrapa was elevated to traders, the most powerful seat. They were given one more order:

  Under no circumstances does Tortila Suntoris leave Troyuvant alive.

  ****

  "What are we going to do about him?" Gavson asked his trader partner Zantrapa after in the throne room of the former Ajax Santos Palace. "He can't be stopped."

  "Well, we have to do something," Zantrapa said. "He could be coming here any second now."

  Then, a guard came to Gavson. "Tortila Suntoris is at the gate with his army."

  "He didn't waste any time, did he?" Gavson said.

  Both men stood silent. Zantrapa ran to one of the windows to see what was going on. He could see over three-hundred men outside with Tortila standing front and center.

  Zantrapa went to the messenger guard. "How many men do we have at our disposal?"

  "Not
many. Fifty at least."

  Zantrapa turned to Gavson. "We have to meet him. The last thing we need for him to do is storm this palace. Let's see if we can negotiate with him!"

  Gavson shook his head, but understanding that they had just signed their death warrants. He ordered, "Get the men we have and let's go to him."

  From there, the Troy traders' fifty men met with the hundred Byzants of Tortila. Gavson led the way. He spread his arms to keep his men back as he walked forward to meet up with Tortila Suntoris. As he moved closer and closer to the gate, Gavson nearly forgot how tall and muscular Tortila was. The last time they met, they had a little sex party involving him and his Fallen Court friends.