Like Alonso, Lucius never cared about politics. He was surprised that Alonso was talking with a strator of all people. However, it did clear up issues for him. The many rumors were true about the infidelities of Queen Kate.
“And what can I do about this?” Lucius asked attentively.
Alonso and Benedict looked at each other.
“Are you still close with the king?” Alonso asked.
“Somewhat,” Lucius said. "I fly several advisors in his court. I hardly see him.”
“But there’s some communication,” Benedict said. "That’s enough. That’s what we need right now.”
The conversation went further, or as Lucius thought of it, more like pleading from a political official. Alonso, on the other hand, showed no sign of pleading. His eyes told him that what Katharina had been doing has gone beyond the normal and the king needed to go back to the capital to save what was left of his administration.
After the gathering and they gave their farewells, Benedict and Alonso went to the streets to hear the latest on the queen. As soon as they received the news from a messenger, they were as shock as ever.
Benedict was right. Kate was making a move to take the throne for herself without her husband present. She was declaring him dead due to the long delay in returning. Worse, in Alonso's eyes, she was using the new Democrat Guard general to do so.
They were given a newspaper from the messenger issuing the story.
The front line: QUEEN DECLARES KING ICHIAMO DEAD; MARRIES FORMER ACTOR.
“This is getting ridiculous,” Alonso said panicky. “Can she really do this?”
“Without the king being there, all she has to do is make it official and she could convince some strators to make her marriage lawful,” Benedict said. “I hope you’re right about your friend.”
Alonso hoped so as well...
****
After the gathering, Lucius went right away to the last place that Ichiamo was: on the planet Illyr. Luckily, he coached a fellow pilot into switching schedules with him so he would be flying the king's plane back to Crystal Metropolis.
Lucius flew a smaller plane to Illyr, where the king was in a diminutive villa on an island. He waited as the king, a few advisors, and some Democrat Guards entered the plane. He sat down, writing something down on a journal. Lucius was curious as to what he was writing, but before he could ask, Ichiamo saw him. He recognized him right away.
“Rooster Boy,” he said. “This is a surprise. Welcome!”
Ichiamo gave him a hug and asked his servants to give him a seat. Lucius was surprised that after all these years and with the king’s age, he still knew him.
“Nice place,” Lucius said.
“It is,” Ichiamo said, “but I missed Crystal Metropolis. Luckily, I’m going to be heading back there soon.”
“That’s good! That’s very good. Because… something tells me you’re needed back more than ever.”
Ichiamo looked at Lucius strangely. "What do you mean by that?”
Lucius took a breath. “Well, I would like to say I came here for good news. Alas, it’s not. In fact, it’s the worst news.”
“Something’s going on in Crystal Metropolis?”
“Well, in a sense.”
On the trip, Lucius had all the words he was going to tell the king in his head. Standing in front of him presently, those words were scrambled.
“Your majesty,” Lucius started. “It’s about the queen. It seems as if she hasn’t been doing a good job with Crystal Metropolis. In fact, she hasn’t been doing well as a queen period.”
This brought Ichiamo to his feet. “Do you know what you’re saying to me?”
“I do. However, I have proof. Right now, things are stirring up in Crystal Metropolis, and Queen Kate is at the center of it. It might be worse when you get down there. All I know is many of your trusted people are talking about it and you need to come back to Crystal Metropolis as soon as possible before it’s too late.”
Then, Lucius presented him the Dreamweaver headset. Ichiamo could not help but think bad thoughts. The last time he used the Dreamweaver, his ex-wife Zola Gadiaga had slept with members of the Fallen Court. Images of penises hitting Zola's face as they shot her face with semen nearly made Ichiamo vomit.
Just as the king was going to grab it, he clinched his fist midway.
"No!" The king said sadly. "Something tells me there's truth to what you're saying. I have never been lucky in love. Katharina..."
"I'm sorry, your majesty," Lucius interrupted.
Ichiamo held back his disappointment. "Lucius..."
"Yes, my king!"
"Take me home."
Lucius nodded and went back to the pilot seat. He accomplished his mission. Everyone on the Beau Lombard had one question on their minds:
How would Ichiamo handle this situation?
****
With no more fear in her, Katharina Lysander Santos' plans were coming together, with her most ambitious one yet to succeed. She had her fingers wrapped around the king for years, and she was sure with this, she would still have his fingers in him. Part confidence and part delusion, she concluded in her head that Ichiamo would accept whatever she said because in her mind, he was a softy that would just let her go and relinquished the crown.
Crystal Metropolis' "Wedding of the Century" took place in private with a few witnesses at the new villa of Hero Borom, her closest ally. A Second Renaissancer priest performed the ceremony, knowing about the apparent situation, but he knew anything was better than facing death by her orders like so many before her.
The wedding was private, but the after party was full of Katharina's favorites and anyone else that wanted to drink and have sex. Kate and the rest of her friends took the party to the floating Nero Palace. There, everything else was there.
Taking the floating palace to the middle of the Sabine River, they were going to party like it was another century.
Wine flowed. Sex was in the air. And everyone was full of energy.
Sure enough, they did.
Despite being older, Kate was feeling as confident as she had ever felt in ages. At this point, she saw her marriage to the king as a joke and because of her family, she never ever felt that there was consequences to her actions.
She was basically having fun, feeling younger and more alive like she was in the theater.
“How does everyone feel?” she shouted.
Hero came to her with a drink in his hand. He hugged and kissed her clean on the lips.
“You’re really are a queen,” he said.
“No, Hero! Soon, I will be the king of the ATM!”
****
Days later, Ichiamo came back to the Santos Palace alone with no caravan of his court around him. He went to the throne room and sat down on his throne.
Before he came back to the palace, he disguised himself as a Democrat Guard and grabbed some news on the way to his palace.
“How could she be married when she’s married to me?” Ichiamo kept asking himself over and over in his head and out loud.
Then, when his relaxed on his throne after so much time away, he could smell the stench of a tainted reign as his closest confidants Senator Benedict and Alonso Fontaine came from the shadows at the blink of the eye.
They took her away from the crowd that came around him and ended up in his bedroom.
“It’s true,” Benedict said. "Kate has married some guy named Hero Borom. They were old friends when they were in Solaria in the theater circuit.”
‘Everything that Lucius has told you is correct, my king,” Alonso said. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t be trying to bring you back here.”
Benedict interjected, "All she has to do is finish the paperwork and it’s all over. She must be stopped.”
Ichiamo could not hide from it now. He had to face the truth. Queen Katharina Lysander, his lover and queen for years, had a
chieved the ultimate betrayal and embarrassment of his reign. He asked Benedict to leave as Alonso stood. However, as Benedict left, Lucius Gaines entered and went to Alonso's shoulder. The former Rooster Boys stared at Ichiamo as the king put his head down and shook his head.
“What do you want done now?” Alonso asked.
“Do you know where they are now?" Ichiamo asked softly.
“At the Nero Palace,” Lucius answered. "They're going to dock soon."
"We can arrest them all," Alonso said. "Bring them all to trial."
"No trial!"
Alonso and Lucius turned to the king upon hearing this.
"Your majesty?" Lucius responded.
Ichiamo got up and went to Alonso, breathing hard, trying his best not to get too angry. He had not shown his anger in a long time, but he was sure he would not be able to hold it much longer.
“She betrayed me,” he told the men. Both could see in Ichiamo's eyes that the king was not himself. “Just like every woman I married. To make it bad enough, she has been doing it for a long time. How can I forgive that? There’s no telling what she may do.”
A pause.
“Kill her...kill them all! Bring me her head when you’re done.”
Ichiamo left the throne room passing by Alonso, as the Democrat Guard looked at Beau Lombard pilot with a blank face. Lucius hoped he would not go there. Alonso, pleased to get what he wanted, left the throne room
This left Lucius alone and confused as ever.
Why did I come here?
****
The party was over. The floating Nero Palace docked near the town of Pendo for a pit stop before heading back to the palace.
Before anyone could get out, Democrat Guards rushed in and raided the Nero Palace. Everyone tried to run for dear life. Some came willingly. Some would not go out without a fight, and ended up feeling the bullets from the Guards’ silencers.
Hero could see the wheels turning the other way. He went down on his knees and surrendered.
However, they just missed Queen Kate. She managed to escape thanks to Hero at another part of the planet. Together, they went to his house and stayed there until it was all over.
Alonso interrogated everyone who was at the party. No one said a word. Then, they got to Hero. He put the gun to Hero's head.
"Hero Borom! This is your only chance to do something worthy with your life."
"I don't have to tell you anything. I am your commander!"
Alonso went to his ear. "You were commander!"
Alonso gestured one of the men to shoot one of the partygoers and he obeyed with cold precision. Hero realized that his days of playing a leader was over. Alonso had always worn the title of commander without it being official and the rest of the Democrat Guard knew it as well.
"Alright!" Hero sighed. "I'll tell you where she is."
From there, Hero could not stop talking. He told them everything about the queen’s activities, his time in her bedroom, their future plans.
Everything!
“She may be hiding in our new home,” Hero finished. "I dropped her off there before we left for Pendo. She's waiting for me to finish the plan of declaring Ichiamo dead."
Alonso turned to one of the guards, who had a recorder on him. Both of them nodded and Alonso took center stage again.
"By the order of the one true king, Ichiamo Boardwalk Santos, all of you are guilty of treason and sentenced to death. These men will make sure that this order is carried out immediately."
Then, the Democrat Guards surrounded the wedding party. Alonso started out by putting the pistol to Hero Borom's head and blasting his brains on the floor. From there, the massacre began and just as Alonso ordered, no one got out of the floating Nero Palace alive. Some tried to push out of their way, but the Democrat Guards were stronger and more unified.
They would have their day of blood as Alonso started his official day of commander with a grand statement...
****
The Democrat Guards had all they needed. One half was successful and one more person had to pay for their treachery.
Alonso told a messenger that they found out where Kate was hiding. Meanwhile, Alonso and his men made their trip in black tanks to her new home he made with Hero in Maser.
When they arrived, the other guards met Alonso, they presented him a sign decree from the king giving the order. Alonso grinned from ear to ear and from there, led the charge to the Katharina Villa.
In full force in the midst of the night, Alonso and his men found Kate with some of Hero’s servants and a couple of strators in her dining room. Before any of the strators escaped, they were shot on sight. Kate tried to get away, but there was no use. Democrat Guards had surrounded the place. Kate was at her wits’ end.
“What’s the meaning of this?” she asked as she tried to think of a way out.
Alonso came to her. He showed her the paper. "The king has asked for your head.”
“What are you talking about? Ichiamo would never do that to me. Besides, you can’t do this to me. I’m the queen.”
Alonso came close to her ear. "You were the queen.”
“Let me talk to my husband about this. Let me talk with him. I can explain everything.”
“You mean Hero? Well...I wouldn't bother with him anymore. The hand of death took him to the underworld."
Another door opened. A Democrat Guard had a gun in his hand.
“What am I going to do?” she cried out.
He gave her the gun.
“Take yourself out," Alonso said. "That’s your only escape now. Save what little dignity you have left."
“I am a Lysander," Katharina said. "My father will know about this and you'll pay with your life. You're a Solarian, right? I can tell. So you know how important my father is."
Kate took the gun from the Democrat Guard. Her hand was shaking nervously. She took it as Alonso was given a sword by another one of his men. She put the gun to her mouth. Her finger was on the trigger. The seconds counted by in her head.
Suddenly, just as soon as she was going to pull the trigger, she dropped the gun. The fear became too much for her. It was a bad move nevertheless.
Alonso got impatient to the point that he brought her to her knees and with one clean swipe, he swung the sword, taking Katharina Santos’ head clean off her body.
****
Ichiamo was in his quarters when a guard brought him a marble box. When Ichiamo slid the top opened, he could hardly look at it. His objective had been achieved. Everyone involved in the conspiracy were dead and completion of that success was brought to him as promised.
The head of his former love, Katharina Lysander Santos.
"Take this into my other private chambers," he ordered the guards.
****
For days, the king stayed away from the throne room and canceled all trips to other planets. No one knew what the king was up to and he refused any visitors.
The king went into grieving as he ate more than he ever did in the past. He stopped taking care of his body and even added alcohol to the mix. He refused to let anyone see him weak. The last thing his court needed to see was a Santos crybaby.
However, one person made the effort to see him: pilot Lucius Gaines.
With a little help from Alonso Fontaine, he was allowed in after a lot of pressuring. He wanted to talk, but Lucius was sure he would become the listener.
The minute he arrived, he found the king getting through a Dreamweaver fix as he put the headset away slowly.
“Are you okay, my king” Lucius started out.
Ichiamo kept quiet for a while. “Why did I do that?” he whispered.
“What did you say?”
Ichiamo said it again in the same tone. “I could have handled it a different way. Why did I go to the extreme?”
Lucius knew what the king was referring to. After the conspirators to Katharina's charade met their demise, it became the new topic of
discussion. Was the king heading into territory his father Timon had been infamous for?
"You did what you had to do under the circumstances," Lucius replied.
“Really? What would you have done in the same situation?”
There was no answer. From that, Lucius thought about his own wife. He knew that he would go ballistic if he heard that Juliet cheated on him. However, he could not be mad with her. It has been a while since he spent a good time with his wife and son. How long could she last being alone with a child for years at a time?
INIQUITOUS DOMINION: The Galactic Classic Page 31