THE LEGEND OF GRAND MECHAPOLIS

SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO/GALAXY EXPRESS 999

Founding of the Dual Monarchy and Galaxy Express System

By: Frederick P. Kopetz

Chapter EIGHTEEN:  …Of Thirty Pieces of Silver…

Thanks to Gail Kopetz, Bells of Nevermore, Margaret Diviney, Michelle Nutter-Lynd, Steven Diviney and Andrea Lyon for Advice and inspiration.

Bells of Nevermore’s Characters are used by permission. However, by mutual agreement, they may be written differently in the Galaxy Visions Saga than in Bells’ own works…

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PRELUDE: AND THE HEAVENS WERE LIKE BRASS…

SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 2235

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On Planet Iscandar, Starsha sighed alone in lonely prayer as she fought several inclinations in her heart.

Whose is the Voice that whispers in my head, Lord God? Starsha thought in despair.

Then, she said out loud, “I acted in anger. I acted out of wrong, misplaced convictions about Abelt and what he has done. He has sent apologies. He wants to make things right between us again…but is he sincere?”

Starsha then remembered the oath she had made on their wedding day, an oath which now mocked her.

Starsha then paused and took an object passed to her by the altar girl. “I am about to be wed to my first love, Emperor Desslar of Gamilas. We have been through much together, our worlds, and the two of us. We have both come to the edge of death. Emperor Desslar was once in the Valley of the Shadow of Death himself. But, like my dear mother and I, like our dear sister Pellian Commonwealth, which was dead and now again lives, Desslar and his people live, and his Empire is devoted to defending the peace of this Galaxy.” Starsha then paused. “As I also am!” she shouted as she raised her sword.

“In this life, I am still devoted to the ways of peace, but we have reluctantly allowed Gamilas, Terran, and Pellian vessels to be based here. After much thought and prayer, I will continue that policy. I would have loved to be a pure pacifist, but as my mother is not a pure pacifist, and as my beloved is not a pacifist, I cannot be, either, to my sorrow…but in sad but realistic acknowledgment of the danger which looms over us…the danger of the Machine People and the loss of our shared humanity!...”

“Now, what has happened?” Starsha sobbed. “We spent our first anniversary apart, when we should have been together. Did Abelt push himself away? Did I push him away? Many of my teachers condemned me for my choice to stand arm in arm with Abelt and with my parents. What about Abelt’s friend? Is she a dark lady who has bewitched him? Or have I allowed myself to be bewitched?”

Starsha picked up a comm set. “I need to call Abelt. Now. I need to…resolve this…Lord, help me to resolve it…”

Then, that voice whispered in her head again. That accursed voice. Starsha, you are trying to salvage something that is not salvageable any longer? Why not go into oblivion and sleep again?

“There is a child inside me. The child Abelt and I conceived in our love,” Starsha said.

There was no answer.

In her bedchamber, Starsha picked up and fingered a gold-plated, hand-tooled sidearm that Abelt had given her.

It was a copy of his own.

Weeping hard, she said, “God, forgive me” and she put the weapon to her own neck, ready to commit suicide.

She closed her eyes, ready to shoot.

When another voice came to her ears.

Her Counselor, Duke Freda, from the Iscandarian Academy of Sciences.

He grabbed her and took the weapon from her hand. “Starsha,” he said in a low, but mellow voice. “There will be a time when you will have to expiate the murders of innocents you committed on Gamilas and those you let die on Terra in your own blood, but now is not the time. You are needed.”

“I want you to set things right with Abelt,” Freda said as he threw her weapon aside. “But, first, he must see what universal benevolence really means. You made a rash vow when you picked up the sword. It is not our way, Your Majesty.”

“What is our way?”

“Convince Desslar back to the fold…by continuing to do what you have been doing. Some men…love a woman who plays “hard to get”. Do that. And you will also have to trap his Islander friend, that animalistic woman, and kill her. To set Desslar free…she must die.”

“She must die,” Starsha said dully as a fog came over her mind again.

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On another world, far away, a woman in a gold and black Yamato uniform and cranberry boots knelt in a confessional at Saint Dominic’s Church in Philadelphia, PA.

 “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned,” said the soft Japanese-accented voice. “It has been three months since my last formal confession.”

Father Martin Likanski, now growing old and grey at last, recognized that voice. “Yuki. Why do you come to me anonymously?”

“Because I have a hard time facing what I have done,” Yuki said. “I tried to encourage Queen Starsha to be herself again. Instead, I let the anger of my friend Atirangi fill my heart. I judged Starsha when I should have remembered “before you judge the mote in another’s eye, pull out the wooden beam in your own eye,” paraphrased from the Gospels, the Words of Our Lord. I have tried to contact Queen Starsha, my daughter, and Leader Desslar. Neither of them answers me now. In trying to save them, have I pulled them apart?”

“Yuki, you tried the best…according to your wisdom and human understanding, which is considerable,” said Father Likanski. “However, we cannot always depend upon our own wisdom. Trust in the Lord, and lean not to thy own understanding.”

“Susumu wrote a book about Starsha…about the struggles she had in granting us the Cosmo Reverse System. Should we pull that book back?”

“No, but try to apologize to Starsha, publicly, if she will not hear you otherwise. You must be a force for reconciliation, Yuki. I know that the Lord and I have given you many challenges in life. This is another one. Shepherd Starsha, just as you did with the man you married who was once a bitter young man, now a leader of men with a heart for God and a conscience like your own. Love both your husband and your daughter, Yuki. Offer support. Encouragement, kindness. And the same goes for your son-in-law. Can you do that?”

“With God’s help, Father…I shall try,” Yuki said. She prayed with her confessor, priest, and friend.

For her, she thought she saw a clink of light from the Brass Heavens.

Hope.

That was enough.

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I. INTERVIEW TIME

Terra Planet Network Studios

New York City

The set of FACE THE PLANET

February 2, 2235

(transcript of broadcast)

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[Theme Music]

[MODERATOR] Good morning, people. Today on Face the Planet, we have two very interesting guests who will discussing Lord Admiral Susumu Kodai’s new book “Starsha”. I’m Dennis Parkes, your Moderator. Our interviewers represent both sides of what you could call the political spectrum; Daisuke Yamagata from the TPN show The Ground View…

[YAMAGATA, in a three-piece Savile Row suit, waves and adjusts his glasses]

[MODERATOR] And, from the distaff side, Scott Foley from the Niccols News Network Program Nothing But the Truth…

[FOLEY, in a battered shirt, black necktie, black suit pants and shoes, suspenders, thinning hair, prominent nose, and scroungy beard, smiles at the camera and gives a thumbs-up]

[MODERATOR] And, now, our guests, Lord Admiral Susumu Kodai and Empress Yuki Kodai to discuss the book “Starsha”

[SUSUMU enters in a dark suit with white shirt and blue necktie, holding hands with YUKI, who has on a simple pink skirted suit with white scoop-necked blouse and pink open-toe boots in an unusual pattern. SUSUMU seems to be shaking slightly as he walks. YUKI is supporting him. They sit down.]

 [MODERATOR] Lord Admiral, you’re looking well, considering your injuries from the Battle of Telezart…

[SUSUMU] Well, I’m improving daily. I may be able to get my flight certification back later this Spring. I’m going to be back on active duty soon.

[YUKI] I appointed him as Special Military Envoy to the Gamilas Empire. In the light of the fighting last year, we need to further cement security arrangements with Leader Desslar Abelt Desslar and plan in the event of another attack.

[FOLEY picks his nose. YUKI makes a face]

[FOLEY] Your Majesty, is this another make-work job for your cripple husband who should be cashiered?

[SUSUMU grits his teeth]

[FOLEY] And, Your Majesty, what about this new alliance with Gatlantis which is causing us problems with Iscandar? Did you not in fact alienate your own daughter Starsha by this agreement?

[YUKI] The alliance with Gatlantis was necessary for two reasons; Promethium is attacking the Gatlanteans, so it was necessary for military and humanitarian reasons, even though I will say I had misgivings. Also, it secured the Andromeda front, for us, the Gamilas, and Iscandar.  In the bloody attack upon our forces at Telezart, the alliance held. As for Starsha, I did nothing to alienate her at that time; as a matter of fact, I tried to contact her during the battle. I heard that she and Desslar were having differences. I appealed to her for answers, both psychically and in person, especially after she refused to aid the Gamilas after that quake on Gamilas. I must admit some harsh words were said when I met her in person, and I apologize for them because I judged her in pain and haste and also because a friend who aided Desslar made me think of some issues that had burned in my mind for a while that I discussed with Starsha when she was small. As for Gamilas, I launched a relief effort. Let it be noted that Gatlantis aided us in endeavoring to save lives on Gamilas. Starsha and Iscandar did not offer us aid. If there is alienation, it is on Starsha’s side, not mine. But I listened to some wise counsel. I prayed for Starsha. I still care about her. I love her, and I am confused and very grieved, as is Susumu. In fact, I am sending a diplomatic note to Starsha and her government shortly protesting her actions and requesting an explanation and offering help. I hope and pray all this can be resolved with peace and understanding and that we all can be reconciled.

[FOLEY] Maybe it’s your fault because you don’t know how to rule?

[YUKI] I beg your pardon, Mister Foley?

[MODERATOR] Mister Foley, we were making pleasantries when you burst in with your ad hominem personal attacks. Let’s try to keep on point. Admiral Kodai, why did you write this book?

[SUSUMU] I started work on this before the battle. Some of Starsha’s policies of advocating Iscandarian neutrality have caused many of us in the Galactic Security profession to…

[YUKI]…raise our eyebrows somewhat.

[MODERATOR] And isn’t she your daughter?

[SUSUMU] In this incarnation, yes.

[MODERATOR] Since our reporters are…champing at the bit, we can start questions.

[YAMAGATA] Lord Admiral, do you or Her Majesty have any authority over Queen Starsha’s political decisions as her parents…in her current incarnation?

[YUKI] Only by weight of being allies and by moral authority. Or we did, once. [YUKI looks down at the floor]

[YAMAGATA] Starting with your book, Lord Admiral, is it true that Queen Starsha prevaricated in giving Terra the Cosmo Reverse System after the trip to Iscandar in 2199 to 2200?

[SUSUMU] Yes. First, she apologized for not telling us that Gamilas and Iscandar were twin planets. Then, she met with Captain Abraham Avatar, myself, and Yuki, who was then Lieutenant Forrester.

[FOLEY] Your MAJESTY, what was your role in these sensitive discussions?

[YUKI] I transcribed them, on audio data capsules, and a written transcript at the same time. I used a Court Reporter’s shorthand device.

[FOLEY] How did you learn Court Reporting? You are a woman of many talents, my liberal dear.

[YUKI] I interned at my father’s law firm one summer in high school. I took some Reporters’ Notes during depositions. As for Starsha’s decisions then, Susumu and I recognize it was a hard decision. She ultimately made the right one.

[YAMAGATA] That sounds valid.

[FOLEY] Where did you get that strange footwear?

[YUKI] A gift from our friend Atirangi Rapahango of Septigram.

[FOLEY] Are you a metalhead? Do you like My Little Pony? Do you still watch anime at the age of fifty-four? By the way, Happy Birthday, Madam.

[SUSUMU] I think this is going down a…strange rabbit hole. [SUSUMU Coughs]

[YUKI] Are you okay, love?

{SUSUMU nods]

[MODERATOR] Mister Foley, we don’t need these ad hominem attacks on our guests. What exactly do you have against them?

[FOLEY] Yuki dated me in college. Before she became unpleasant. She has violent tendencies and a bad temper.

[YUKI] Sir. I punched you in the nose because you ran your hands up my blouse in a public mall court in the underground city of New Denver.

[FOLEY] A very violent woman.

[SUSUMU] Who was rightly defending her honor, sir.

[YAMAGATA} Back on point. It was in these discussions that Queen Starsha said she had second thoughts about letting Terra be healed?

[SUSUMU] Yes.

[YAMAGATA] Why?

[SUSUMU] Captain Avatar explained the trap Leader Desslar placed us in on Gamilas. We had to attack the volcanic system to escape and used more power than intended. She accused us of genocide and asked if we were worthy of aid. Avatar and I again explained the situation. So did Yuki. Starsha said she needed time to think. After two days in seclusion, she began to give us the Cosmo-Reverse unit and apologized.

[FOLEY] I get the impression Starsha is a rather temperamental woman.

[YUKI] She has high-minded principles that, I am sorry to say, appear to color her judgment, and she and Leader Desslar have always had major differences and different philosophical worldviews, even though they have married…

[YAMAGATA] Are they now separated?

[SUSUMU] Yes.

[YUKI] We are hoping for a sort of reconciliation, for the sake of their pending daughter, at least. As well as diplomacy. We still have hope in a reconciliation.

[YAMAGATA] A wise decision, honestly. Mr. Foley, would you agree that Her Majesty and her Prince consider their decisions well?

[FOLEY] They do…for a pair of liberal weirdoes.

{SUSUMU snarls and recovers] I think we are more centrist.

[FOLEY] Good for a strange mystic and a cripple.

[YUKI clears her throat] Mister Foley. Susumu and I have some news to share. As of late December…Susumu became well enough to make me pregnant. The baby will be coming in late August.

[SUSUMU] Not bad for a ‘cripple’, Mister Foley?

[MODERATOR] Congratulations to you both.

[SUSUMU] Thank you. We have a good marriage. [Smiles at YUKI who smiles back]

[FOLEY] Rumor has it you two have vicious arguments about policy and throw things at each other.

[YUKI] We do have differences, like any couple. Throwing things? Is that fan fiction?

[EVERYONE LAUGHS EXCEPT FOLEY WHO STALKS OFF SET YELLING] The cornfield, Your Majesty. Wait until the rain comes and I make the corn grow on you two.

[MODERATOR] What is he going on about?

[SUSUMU] Bizarre Holonet podcasts he does.

[YAMAGATA] His journalistic ethics are questionable.

[SUSUMU] If our comments are cut up and falsified, that may precipitate legal action.

[YUKI nods]

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II. DISCUSSIONS IN THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE

PLANET EARTH

PHILADELPHIA: THE KODAI HOME ON COMLY STREET

February 5, 2235

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At the moment, a remarkably common occurrence was going on.

The Kodais’ small Philadelphia home had a finished basement.

There were some couches, and an electric Fender Rhodes piano on its metal legs, and a set of bongo drums.

Sharing some Passionfruit Juice this hour of the morning was Yuki Kodai, in black shorts and a matching black tank top, Susumu Kodai, in jeans and a polo shirt, and Atirangi Rapahango, in jeans with blown out knees and an old Juilliard t-shirt. She had shown up barefoot in her limo. Yuki was also barefoot, and Susumu had on his socks.

“Do you think I was backpedaling too much in that Press Conference on my birthday?” Yuki said. “I mean…I know we got upset at Starsha, both of us. I went to Confession, hoping I didn’t push her to the breaking point. I know you are angry…but…you should have been a little kinder.”

“Really,” said Ati. “After all she has done?”

“Yes,” Yuki said. “We don’t want to alienate Starsha forever. What good would that do? None. When she was little, she read her own histories and cried. She asked me if she had delayed too much with the Cosmo Reverse System. That’s when I took her to those hospitals on my rounds. I asked her if she would ever delay humanitarian aid again due to indecision. She told me no. I thought she learned.” Yuki wiped her eyes. “Starsha was actually a good girl. She really cared about Abelt. Things began to change when she went to that Academy of Sciences on Iscandar. I contacted her the other day after Mass. We used to play basketball…one on one. I asked her if we could play on Iscandar if she can handle it with her pregnancy and we can talk things out.”

“It was cute,” Susumu said.

“So, what did she say?” said Ati.

“I’m beyond those childish games,” Yuki said, wiping her eyes again. “What she is doing to me hurts. It really, really hurts.”

“Maybe she was like that all the time and she just damn well hid it?” said Ati.

“Maybe,” Susumu said. He was perplexed by all of this. And very hurt.

“I don’t think so,” Yuki said as she put her hand on Susumu’s. “There is still much good in our daughter Starsha.”

“To hell with it,” said Ati as she opened up her guitar case. “Let’s jam.”

Yuki took her place behind the keyboard, and while Ati strapped on her acoustic and tuned up, Susumu took his place behind the drums.

“What do you want to play?” said Susumu.

“What’d I Say, Ray Charles,” Ati said. “I’ll sing lead. Let’s go. One, two…three”

And the trio began to go at it, letting off a lot of steam, playing very fast, as Yuki banged out the electric piano riff and Ati attacked the guitar. Susumu played the bongos like a madman as Ati began singing with her mighty, mighty voice.

They did a few more songs…and then Ati’s phone rang. She answered it. “It’s Var,” she said. “He’s house-hunting here in town, trying to find a nice place for him and Teresa when they get married later this year. Gotta go. I gotta read the contracts.”

“I’ll come with you,” Yuki said.

Ati pulled her aside. “No. Stay here with Mophead. He still looks depressed as shit. Make him feel better. You’re a big girl. You can figure things out.”

Yuki winked and giggled. “Sure can…thanks.”

Both Susumu and Yuki hugged Ati before she left. She knew the way out.

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A few days passed…

It was now February 10, 2235.

Atirangi was going to start a Combined USO Tour to support wounded Terran, Gamilan, Pellian, and Gatlantean survivors of last year’s Battle of Telezart. However, the illusionist Tadeo Kodai had his own twisted purposes.

He had been remade as a horrible cyborg of Promethium’s design. Black, armored, strong, over two meters tall, and enhanced with special circuitry connected to his mental centers to boost his psionic potential and since he was already possessed by thirteen demons, he had also been given the ability to perform sorcery of the blackest sort, which included a dark necromancy that enabled him to raise the dead and enslave their spirits to him for his dark purposes. He could also kill, electrocute, enslave, or paralyze the living as he wished and he had the power to open time portals and memories and torment people with their worst memories. He could also teleport anywhere at will. He was given the title of Promethium’s Agent and Right Hand, her Great Sorcerer-King, Lord of an Order of the Undead Promethium was forming. He also had the illusion to assume a fair form; his old human form or something close to it.  

He had already done much evil in a few months in this form; murders, rapes, torture. He had captured and raped a woman known as Kanae Hoshino. He made sure she was pregnant, and then he placed her in cryofreeze so that he could release her and her child…his son… to perform great evil and chaos at a time of his choosing. It had been many months since he had met Dexter Cross and had almost had the crap beaten out of him then. He knew that Dexter had arranged for his then-girlfriend Danielle Harrison to be killed in an “accident” that barely missed him.

This, it was in his "fair" form as Tadeo, albeit in black leather, with inverted pentacle necklace, in which he confronted Atirangi in the green room of the Hotel Metropole on Pluto, livable under the artificial sun that had been the ship Eritz Gatlantis, and he yelled at her, "Heeeey, man! I heard great shit about you! Wanna work with me?"

"Who the fuck are you and why are you in my green room, motherfucker?” Atirangi stood, 6'3" of goddess-like Rapanui woman. A hand drifted to the Gamilon blaster she now carried these days.

"Me? I'm Tadeo Kodai, creative performance artist, part-time illusionist, and all that shit. I heard about you from my Dad and Mom...I know you were and as it's said, still are tight with them. I'd love for ya to work with me on an album about black magic and shit. You got the coolest voice."

“I have a voice better than cool,”

"My sister Fujiko told me, not that willingly because I ain't on the best a' terms with her these days, that you'd be here."

"... black magick." Her tone was flat. "First of all, fuckboy, I know who you are. You broke your parents' hearts by turning out like you did, you are a serial abuser of women, and you're a disrespectful piece of trash. Also, did you forget who my lead guitarist is? Dexter told me all about you. Now... take your pathetic, clout-chasing ass out of my green room, or I am going to stomp you into this ugly carpeting."

"Aww...c'mon...let me show ya some fuckin stage magick then," he said, possibly high on something worse than just plain weed. Cocaine? Meth? Who knew? Who cared? "Look at this Doubloon, Atirangi," he said as he twirled a Spanish Doubloon in his hand. "Now ya see it..." he said, making some gestures over it...."now...it's a RAT!" he said as the Doubloon disappeared and a squeaking, dirty rat appeared on the conference room table. He laughed like a total loon at this trick.

And that's when the hormonal rage hit. Atirangi picked up a large, heavy book from the table. It was a reference book on, of all things, the collected works of Aleister Crowley and belonged to Dexter. She launched the thing with the brute strength for which she was known, roaring like a demon.

Tadeo realized he could've used his ability (enhanced by Promethium) to set the book on fire mid-air, but doing that would blow his cover and reveal him as Faust the Destroyer. So, he played jackass, grinned, and let the book slam him in the head. "YOOWCH!" he yelled. "That wasn't fuckin' nice!" But, being enraged, high, and stupid, he pulled a dagger out from under the black cloak he wore and threw it at the Empress.

Ati jerked to the side as she back fisted it out of the air, taking a shallow gash across the back of her arm. And then, she came out with her kerambits. The blades were a deep green with whorls of brighter gold in a Damascus pattern. They were a trademark of hers, and it was said that they were more than mere knives. But in time, she would have weapons even greater than these.

"Oh, so we want to do knives?" she snarled. "You wanna go, boy? D'you wanna fuck around? Don't fuck with ME!!"

"Looks like you ain't gonna work for me, bitch!" he said. "Ya will hear from my lawyers about the assault with that book! The knife was self-defense. Neat metal, but I'm gettin' the fuck outta here because YOU are fucking crazy!"

He tapped a ring on his finger. The jewel glowed orange, and his pathetic form turned into a wash of colors (one of his famed magic effects) and he vanished.

Unknown to him, his "performance" had been seen elsewhere as he reappeared on a street in Northeast Philadelphia.

In a light grey stone-fronted house near Wissinoming Park, a set of powerful, hidden eyes closed and opened as their owner said, "You miserable fucking wretch," in a disgusted whisper. Then, the owner of the voice said, "Susumu...notify our Security. He's coming. You know who!"

Threat of lawyers didn't faze Atirangi in the slightest. She could buy and sell this guy and any representation he could scare up and she knew it.

Tadeo walked down Frankford Avenue in Philadelphia, chuckling to himself, desiring revenge.

It didn't take him long to pass the cemeteries in the area and walk up the hill to Comly Avenue. He smiled at the nearby park, but he walked up to a house in the 4300 block, ignoring the black cars parked nearby.

Just as brazen as shit, he knocked at the door of his parents' home: 4312, basically, his childhood home. "Dad! Mom! Are you two guys home?"

The door opened a moment later. Susumu Kodai, in a black sweater, blue jeans, and socks, walked out onto the porch showing very little unsteadiness now and said, "We're home, Tadeo. What the hell do YOU want?"

"I want to meet with you and Mom. Now!"

"What gives you that right to barge in on us? You know I have a busy schedule! I was planning for a military exercise, and your mother is very much involved!"

"Well, I fucking want to see you now!"

"You don't use that sort of language to your father!" Susumu barked as he picked Tadeo up by his black leather tunic and threw him against the stone breezeway, and gave him a backhand. "You talk to us in a civil manner, and maybe I'll let you in."

"Dad, they say home is the place they have to let you in when you show up!"

"Well, this is no longer your home, or have you forgotten what a shit you've been to us? To everyone?"

Susumu was about to throw him on the sidewalk and leave him for security, until another voice sounded behind him. "Susumu, please let him come in."

"Yuki?"

"I have some things I have to say to him that are long overdue." At that, Yuki sent a few quick thoughts into her husband's mind, and he nodded.

"Get in here, Tadeo," he said, grabbing his wayward son by the arm.

He threw him into the living room.

Where he landed at his mother's bare feet.

Yuki was simply dressed; sky-blue turtleneck sweater, black leather miniskirt, but her face was a dark storm cloud as she confronted her son.

"You have sickened me," she said. "But I just got a phone call about you. Guess where it came from?"

"Up your fucking skirt, Mom?" Tadeo said.

Yuki snarled, bent down, and slapped her son in the face. "No. From Gamilas, which is dying. From Desslar himself. You tell me what you were trying at the Alliance USO before, name-dropping our names in front of one of our oldest friends and two of our old comrades in Septigram? Spill it, you bastard!" she snapped.

Indeed, Desslar was livid. He placed no blame on either Yuki or Susumu—only Tadeo was the focus for his anger. Tadeo had threatened one of his best friends, a woman he was slowly falling in love with, given Starsha’s cold treatment of him. So yes, he had contacted Yuki about her miscreant of a son.

"There was that crazy woman you hang around with...the island freak," Tadeo said. "The big-ass musician. I wanted her to sing for me on one of my albums, but she refused, and she threw a book at me; hit me right here, and I threw a dagger at her and she got one of those crazy-ass knives or swords and said she was gonna cut me up, so I phased here to Philly."

"To end up here," Susumu hissed. "Why?"

"I want the names of your lawyers," he said.

"I won't give them," Yuki said. "And, you know I'm a lawyer myself, too. My associates in your grandfather's firm represent Septigram, and so do I, so there would be a HELL of a conflict of interest. Which reminds me. I'm glad you're here. Do you know why?"

"Why?" he said.

"You have been a blight on the family and on the Alliance, and on the entire Terran-Pellian Commonwealth," Yuki said, formally and coldly. She grabbed an envelope off the table and slowly tore it up. "I discontinued your trust fund payments as of a few minutes ago. Your ceremonial noble rank in the Commonwealth is also herewith revoked, as is the right to call us your parents."

"What the FUCK?" said Tadeo.

"You are disinherited, and you'd better change your last name, you little fuck, because you are no son of ours any longer!" Susumu roared.

"From now on, if you talk to me ever again, you will call me "YOUR MAJESTY!" Yuki said in a cold voice. "And you will refer to Susumu as "LORD ADMIRAL" which will be quite unlikely, since I also pronounce you persona non grata in the Commonwealth. You have twenty-four hours to leave our realm, or you will face death. And don't think you will find sanctuary in the Gamilas Empire, either, since Desslar told me if you ever show your face in the Empire again, your life will be forfeit."

Tadeo screamed his head off at that.

His father punched him.

Tadeo fell back, stood, and then he telekinesed a dueling saber from off the wall, and he yelled, "Your Majesty, I call you out right now for a duel! This farce has gone on for long enough, and I will now tell you that I have sworn to Promethium and that I will GUT you in her name!"

"You bastard," Susumu said as he drew his blaster. "You will have your brains blown out across this..."

"Susumu, please. He called me out? Very good. Your challenge is accepted, WRETCH!" Yuki barked as she telekinesed the other saber to her own hand. "Let's throw down right now!" she yelled.

Tadeo snarled and swung at her.

And thus, their duel began…right in their living room.

Yuki parried Tadeo's swing, and she jabbed hard at one of his hands.

The sword cut his hand, and he screamed as his mother drew first blood.

He swung back, scratching his mother's bare arm.

Yuki snarled and she knocked away his sword, jumped forward, and then she met his saber once, twice, three times at high speed, and she slashed and ripped open his black leather tunic. Tadeo's blood spilled down him.

Tadeo roared and jabbed at his mother's stomach. She parried the blow with a speed he had never seen before, and she slashed at his hand.

His ring was worn on his pinky. The finger and ring came off as his mother's blow caused him to scream.

Yuki telekinesed the ring and the finger off the floor into a pocket of her skirt.

Then, she slashed at his face. His so-called "pretty" face was pretty no more as there was a vicious scar under his cheek.

Then, Yuki gritted her teeth, swung, knocked the weapon from Tadeo's hand, and struck, cutting his side through his tunic as she drove him against the wall. "YIELD!" she demanded.

"I will yield, Majesty," he said, snarling like a beast as his form began to change. He grew much taller, and it was evident that he was a Mechanoid, ugly and threatening in black armor, but still wounded.

Susumu recognized him at once. "So, YOU are Faust? The monster that Desslar wants us to find?”

"I am," Tadeo/Faust said in a deep voice. "You now see my true form, Empress Yuki Kodai, you BITCH! I am the Right Hand of Promethium. Bow to me and kiss my boots, you who fucked her own father! Promethium showed me that, you slut!”

"You lie! Susumu knows who I lost my virginity to, and it was to HIM long ago on Iscandar! How long has it been since you sold yourself to her?" Yuki hissed as she threw aside her saber, and used her power to open a closet door and telekinese a blaster rifle to her hands.

"A long while now, since you, the Lord Admiral, and Starsha hatred me and never appreciated me!" Faust roared as he drew his own weapon.

Susumu fired at him first. The armored giant parried the blast with a gauntleted hand.

Yuki then fired herself. Her fire hit him in the midsection, and he roared.

He raised his hand and faded out in a blast of colors, phasing somewhere else beyond their ken.

Susumu and Yuki's security ran into the house. "Lord Admiral! Majesty! There was blaster fire! What happened?"

"A family quarrel," Susumu said. "Our former son sold himself to Hell. He has become Faust."

"Send word to the military and to the Gamilons and the Gatlanteans!" Yuki said. "Make sure he is found and executed!"

At, at that moment, Susumu made some phone calls.

Yamato would be launched within two days.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

III. STARSHA’S ROYAL COUNCIL

PLANET ISCANDAR

MOTHER TOWN

February 26, 2235

______________________________________________________

Princess Novalia of Iscandar was the Foreign Minister and Leader of Queen Starsha’s Royal Council on Iscandar.

Novalia, the spouse of Admiral Paul Rosstowski, now the CDF Military Liaison to Iscandar, was present at this tense meeting along with Starsha’s youngest sister Crown Princess Yurisha, who had been off in space on humanitarian missions and had only arrived on Iscandar years ago in 2200 when the Star Force had first come to Iscandar and was about to leave. Yurisha had only lately returned to Iscandar as a Minister Without Portfolio; at this point, she was married to Admiral Erich NIshizawa of Terra. Duke Janris, the Minister of Science, was at the meeting, along with Duke Freda, Minister of Philosophy. Present as observers were Admiral Erich NIshizawa of Terra and Admiral Fomt Berger of Gamilas.

Starsha, now eight months’ pregnant, sat looking at her Council with concern and a note of anger in her eyes as she said, “So? The Commonwealth and the Gamilas Empire have sent me two notes of Protest? For what reason? Given I heard the Empress and Lord Admiral Kodai slandering me on video weeks ago from New York, and that Yuki made a weak apology to me, I am interested in hearing their notes.”

Novalia nodded at Yurisha. Yurisha stood and said, “I will play the notes, but it comes down to four things. Your failure to be at Desslar’s side on his flagship during the Battle of Telezart, your tense relationship with Desslar, your spouse and allied Emperor, and your tense relationship with the Commonwealth and the Empress, and your failure to offer aid after the quake on Gamilas.”

Duke Freda stood. “Your Majesty. Perhaps your actions of entering into alliance with Terra, Pellias, and Gamilas years ago, a policy which Queen Sasha followed, was ill-considered? At the Academy of Sciences, I have been advising a policy of enlightened neutrality. Your actions in that area have been commendable. Your alliances of the past have been most ill-considered.” He smiled. He thought, Her Majesty Promethium on Larmetal will be most pleased with my words. Her Majesty; the Enlightened.

Admiral NIshizawa looked concerned as he glanced slightly at Yurisha. She raised her eyebrows.

Berger stood and said, “Starsha, I am here to make a personal appeal to you in the name of Emperor Desslar. We still have eight thousand critically injured people; Gamilas, Terrans, Pellians, and even Iscandarians on Gamilas who could use better care in your hospitals because due to the magnitude of this disaster and due to two more quakes on Gamilas, our own hospital system is under stress. May these injured people be brought to Iscandar for treatment?”

Starsha looked hard at Berger and said an answer which shocked everyone but Freda. “No.”

Novalia stood. “Your Majesty! Relations with the Coalition are very strained as it is! What are you attempting to do?”

“Enlightened neutrality,” said Starsha. “Since we are entangled with this war with Promethium…against my wishes…even though Desslar and Yuki have been contacted me repeatedly, trying to persuade me to reconsider…I will not,” Starsha said as the words came out of her mouth…almost against her will.

Far away, on Larmetal, Promethium smiled. I am persuading you, I see, she thought. I sent Freda to poison your mind. The work is almost complete…

But, also, far away, on the Yamato, which cruised through space near the Gamilstadt IV and other vessels of his fleet while Susumu slept and Shiro Okita stood watch below on the First Bridge, Yuki reached through the Matrix, prayed hard, and pleaded in her sweat-soaked nightdress as she strove in bitter thought with Promethium, Starsha. I know what this influence is. Our enemies. Remember the power in you and the Light that Lightens us all. Break free! We can help you! Adonai can and will help you!

She lies! Promethium sent back into the battlefield that was now Starsha’s mind. Starsha. The teachings of Iscandar…

Love, peace, faith in the Almighty, benevolence, Yuki sent back. Desslar loves you!

You lie, Mother, he does not, Starsha sent back. I have been advised of his true nature…I…

He is a good man! Yuki sent back. Begone, Dark One!

She has made her decision, Promethium sneered back.

No. There is always hope, Yuki retorted mentally before she broke the link…exhausted.

This time she had not won the battle.

Queen Promethium had beaten her in their deadly contest for Queen Starsha’s mind, sanity, and soul.

Yuki wept in the night…hard. She prayed that maybe Starsha would heed the diplomatic notes that she and Desslar had recorded earlier in the day on the Gamilstadt IV.

Would she heed those? Had she done enough?

Finally, exhausted from her urgent prayers and mental effort, Yuki cuddled beside Susumu and fell into a fitful sleep.

Back on Iscandar, Starsha sat shaken, but looked impassive, even sneering again as Novalia spoke.

Novalia said, “But their ships—they have attacked us!”

“Last month, Erich fought two battles with the enemy forces with our new flagship Enterprise,” said Yurisha. “Does that not concern you?”

Starsha’s head hurt. Then, she smiled a strange smile. “We would not have been in this crisis had we not been involved with the Coalition. We should have gone neutral long ago. Play the messages from the Commonwealth and from Desslar.”

Preparations were made, and the room darkened.

A holo-projector went on, and Yuki’s image, clad in a white Iscandarian-style gown, appeared on the screen, as the messages she and Desslar had recorded earlier in the day played. Starsha gritted her teeth when it was clear she was on the Gamilstadt IV, standing right beside Desslar who had his eyes closed. She also gritted her teeth at her mother’s dark eyes, evident bodily strength in her trim but toned form, and her attitude of calm and restrained power.

At that moment, Starsha almost hated the very sight of her own mother.

…in spite of the fact that she knew her mother had been touching her mind, trying to save her from Promethium’s influence like Yuki herself had once done on Aramingo Avenue in Philadelphia when Starsha had been small, trying to save Starsha from a demented speeding aircar driver who had either not seen her or tried to run her down in a hit-and-run, endemic to the big city.

Yuki had pulled Starsha back and lain in the street shielding her, ignoring the blared horn and raised middle finger of the aircar driver who had yelled at her, “You crazy, lady!” as he whipped past the mother and child, mere centimeters away from death.

“Queen Starsha of Iscandar, I send you greetings from the Commonwealth, your cousins and kin, and from myself and your father. We are very concerned for you and we ask for an explanation for your actions as of late,” Yuki said very formally. “I am on Earth with Desslar and some friends of his, Talan among them. He decided to come consult with us before leaving for the Sanzar System. Your actions concern Us, and myself in particular. We are shocked at your request to “study” our alliance. We decided upon alliance thirty-three years ago. Allying with you was difficult, and your anger with Desslar at the time made it more difficult. We are on our way to the Sanzar System shortly. We are leaving in two days, and should be there in a fortnight. We have decided to speak together because Desslar was here and is here. Susumu, although he is still in some pain, will be in command of the Yamato again for the trip there. Captain Adam Avatar will be my Executive Officer this time, since he will be bringing the Yamato home. Desslar has asked us to remain on Gamilas for a time for negotiations to strengthen the Coalition. Susumu will be my Special Envoy. It concerns us deeply that you refused to aid the survivors of the quake on Gamilas, which is beginning to deteriorate again, to our surprise. We think the planet has anywhere between three years or a decade left before it will be unable to support life.” Yuki looked very sad. “As a personal note, I apologize for my angry outburst to you back in December. I was in the wrong, speaking to you with such anger. We know Atirangi is a very passionate woman. I should have asked her to calm down. And I failed to control my own passions and I sinned, my Queen, my daughter, when I should have been trying to mediate between you and our mutual friend Atirangi, and I am sorry. Please forgive me for what I said to you then. My own words were cruel and tactless. I love you, Starsha. You are my daughter and always will be. Please consider what I said. We need you to stand with us. We all face a terrible, insidious enemy in Promethium. Please. For your own good, as well as for the good of the Coalition, for the good of your husband Desslar…and for your child. We love you and pray for you. Dear Starsha.”

That message ended, and Starsha sat, almost impassive, but she wiped away a tear. “Mother,” she whispered. “Thank you. You mean…well…” Then, pain hit her head again. Her eyes went green like fire for a moment. Rage filled her as Promethium smiled. “But I cannot allow you to visit Iscandar.”

Duke Freda smiled at that, thinking, Just as the Great Queen and I hoped. Young Starsha is very easy to manipulate. I began with my teachings at the Academy, Your Majesty Promethium. Now…we see all the doubts I planted in her mind bearing fruit.

Yurisha stood. “Sister!”

“I will deny the Yamato landing clearance. I don’t want them here, and I don’t want my parents here, either, except, maybe in the gravest of emergencies.”

The Council buzzed. “Starsha!” cried Novalia. “This will be a diplomatic slap in the face to the Commonwealth. To your mother! She is trying to make things right!”

“What is more, Admiral Rosstowski, I want the entire Commonwealth military presence OFF Iscandar in sixty days. I terminate the security treaty. Here. And. Now.”

“Queen Starsha!” said Paul Rosstowski as he stood. “Your Majesty…are you out of your mind?”

“Aren’t you going to at least listen to what Desslar has to say?” said Berger.

Freda smiled at this.

“I’ll listen,” she said. “Put him on.”

The holo-emitter ran again, and this time, Desslar stared at Starsha. “Starsha. Dear Starsha. I am very sorry that pressing military affairs kept me away from you for so long. Yuki sent me a lovely image of you, stomach beautifully enlarged with our first child. I smiled when I saw your face again. I was badly injured in the Battle of Telezart, and the Terran-Iscandarian composer and artist Atirangi Rapahango came with a huge ship, which, I understand, is like to the mysterious ship known as the Queen Emeraldas, captained by the Free Space Trader Emeraldas. Atirangi cared for me and helped heal my battle wounds. Let me assure you that we met on Pellias, and I gave her roses as a great artist and lovely woman, but our relationship is purely platonic. She is a close friend, just as your mother Yuki is a close friend. I did not think you would be so jealous and angry. I speak to many people in the course of my duties. Your…attitude hurt me, dear Starsha. I pray we can resolve this. As for Emeraldas, I have never met her, but your esteemed mother has. I make apologies for my long absence as of late, and hope to be present very soon for the birth of our child.” Desslar smiled, sadly. “Did you not say that she is a girl? I look forward to seeing her. I have also heard that you are having second thoughts about our alliance and that you are prevaricating about aiding disaster victims on Gamilas. Your attitude worries me, dear Starsha. I love you, despite the hurt you have caused me and many others,” Desslar said. He smiled. There were tears in his eyes. “Do you still love me? Do you still esteem us? Are we still brethren? I appeal to you, dear Starsha. My planet needs your aid. Please aid us.”

The transmission ended. Starsha looked at Berger with malice in her eyes as she clapped her hand and one of the serving robots came up with a laptop.

She almost wept, for Hope seemed so far away at that point.

Starsha thus did what she felt had to be done.

She typed two notes in silence and saved them. Then, she gave the device to Berger.

“Your Majesty?” said Berger.

“Your request for aid is refused, as I said before. I want your forces off Iscandar in sixty days, as well. That is in the first message.”

“I can see that, Your Majesty,” said Berger with anger in his eyes. “What is the second message?”

“A decree of mine,” Starsha snapped as a door slammed shut in her mind. There was light there. There was hope there. But, like Tadeo, she refused it. “As of today, I send Desslar a bill of divorcement. My marriage to him is over. It was against the teachings of Iscandar. I have sinned! I need to expiate what I have done in suffering in my heart, painful as it is. Duke Freda advised me. Let him go his way. Let me go my way. He is a warmonger and madman. My falling in love with him again was a mistake. My heart misgave my logic. I am done with him.” She took off her wedding band and also the ring that linked her to Yuki. “Send this back to Desslar with the bill of divorcement. I no longer love him. And send the mithril ring back to Empress Yuki Kodai. I no longer love her, nor my father. I disown them both. I claim our child Shasta unless she is an Abomination. I also do not want to see Yuki or have her attend at the birth. And tell that Atirangi Rapahango witch that she can burn in hell. My exact words! That is all I have to say! I have spoken. I am Starsha of Iscandar!” She slammed down the rings and walked out with a swish of her dress.

The Council sat in shock.

Except for Duke Freda.

The red-robed Professor strode out laughing to himself.

--------------------------------------

“We have to do something,” said a very shaken Yurisha.

“She may be ill?” said Novalia. “We should ask her to step down…temporarily. Perhaps…a Regency? A temporary one? Until she reconsiders what she has done?”

“Who do you propose as Regent?” said Erich. The look of disciplined concern was written on his face.

“Four candidates come to mind, all kin,” said Novalia. “Yurisha, her youngest and only living sister. Sasha, her daughter. Myself, a distant cousin. Or, last of all, even though her Iscandarian blood is mixed with Pellian blood, her own mother Yuki.”

“Everyone you considered would be excellent to run the Throne as her Steward,” said Yurisha. “And maybe undo some of the damage she has done.”

They all nodded.

“I wonder where Duke Freda went?” Yurisha said. “There is something I do not like about that man….”

---------------------------------------

On the Gamilstadt IV, Desslar could not sleep.

His mind was filled with anguish as he tossed and turned in his bed.

Finally, he got up, dressed, combed his hair, and threw on his cloak.

He went to his Bridge, sat down, and ignored the stares of his officers as he closed his eyes and thought hard about Starsha.

Starsha, he thought. I pray that you accept the overtures we have all made towards you and reconsider. Your actions have been so unlike you…and I am concerned. Talan and Berger and Fraken are concerned. Your parents are concerned.

Starsha, he thought. Please come back to the fold. Yuki thinks there are malign influences on you. We love you. I love you.

Unknown to Desslar, Yuki had only learned tonight that their enemy Promethium was working on her mind, and the Empress was now in an exhausted sleep from her battle with Promethium and her entreaties to Starsha to fight the dark power and aid them again, as she had always done, even though she had hesitated, prevaricated, and made errors.

Finally, a comm unit rang.

Desslar’s eyes snapped open.

“Sire,” said an anonymous officer Desslar did not know. “Two computer files have come in. From Iscandar.”

“Relay them to me,” Desslar said as he pulled over and opened his screen at his command seat.

“Yessir.”

Desslar read the first message, which of course, read:

To Emperor Desslar:

I, Queen Starsha, after due deliberation, have decided to deny your request that Iscandar send aid to Gamilas. I also have informed Admiral Berger that Iscandar withdraws from our Alliance and Security Treaties. I demand that all Gamilas forces should leave Iscandar within sixty days. Iscandar is henceforth a neutral, independent world.

Starsha of Iscandar.

Desslar’s teeth gritted at this. “How, Starsha?” he said out loud. “HOW? We are fighting for our lives and freedom. How could you do this to us?”

Then, he opened the second message.

It read:

To Emperor Desslar Abelt Desslar; Lord of the Gamilas-Galman Empire.

I, Queen Starsha, after deliberation, must state, with regret but determination, that our marriage is irretrievably broken due to your treaties and alienation of me while you travel doing…Adonai knows what! As of your receipt of this message, I annul the vows and promises of marriage we made through my authority as Queen of Iscandar. This is a formal document. In Hebraic, this message is your formal get, and with it you are divorced from me from this time henceforth, so that you are free to become the husband of any woman you desire. We shall discuss the arrangements for our daughter Shasta upon her birth.

I no longer bear any love for you but I wish you the best with whomever you choose. Otherwise, we are as dead to each other from this day forward.

I am Starsha of Iscandar.

Desslar gasped.

His heart nearly stopped at the comprehension of that document.

Starsha’s voice seemed to sound in his mind:

…I no longer bear any love for you…

Then, he raised his hands and screamed.

His bridge crew looked.

Then, he demanded, “Raise me Lord Admiral Kodai and Empress Yuki! I need to see them. IMMEDIATELY!”

The Comm officer was about to hesitate, but then he saw Desslar drawing his sidearm and aiming it at him.

“Of course, sire,” he said.

The signal was raised to the Yamato’s private frequency, Captain’s Quarters.

Susumu picked up. “…Yeah…?” he said in a sleep-slurred voice. “Yuki’s sleepin’ So was I until…”

“Susumu, this is Abelt. I have received bad news from Starsha. Rouse Yuki. I want to see you both at once!” he roared.

Susumu was shocked at the tone of Desslar’s voice. My God, was Queen Starsha killed? Susumu thought.

He said the only thing he could say as Yuki sat up. “Abelt…I don’t know…what happened to Starsha…I…”

Yuki grabbed the phone. “I’ll be over with Susumu, Abelt,” she said in a sleepy voice.

A moment later, there was a flash of light.

Yuki appeared in her rumpled pink nightdress and messed-up hair, barefoot. Susumu was bare-chested, wearing grey pajama bottoms.

“What happened?” Susumu said.

“Both of you…read this,” Desslar said.

Susumu looked first, followed by Yuki.

They both looked sick.

Yuki began to cry and she leaned on Susumu until she mastered herself.

Susumu said, “Yuki, she can’t be serious…”

“She is,” Yuki said. “Susumu, while you slept, I had a mental battle with Promethium. I just discovered her influence on Starsha tonight. She…she has been trying to corrupt our daughter’s mind. I fought hard with Promethium, and tried to persuade Starsha to…change her mind…and Promethium defeated me, and Starsha sent me away. I prayed a long time that she would heed the diplomatic notes we sent her.”

“They were our last hope,” Susumu said.

“Read the notes again,” said Desslar in anguish. “She rejected our diplomatic overtures flat.”

Yuki nodded dully, and she touched the Yamato’s computers. She then read the e-mail from Starsha. “Susumu, she also broke treaty with us, and she is expelling our ships from Iscandar. And, we are estranged from her. Starsha told us…told me…that I am no longer to consider myself her mother, and you, Susumu, are not to consider yourself her father. Just like what Tadeo did to us! My God!”

Desslar began to cry again.

Yuki whispered to Susumu and he nodded.

Yuki threw her arms around Desslar and held him and rocked him like…a child. “There is always hope,” Yuki sobbed. “Abelt, Susumu and I love you and always will. There is always hope, as long as she is alive…”

“Yuki, you will always be my mother-in-law, regardless, and I love you as well. Would that this were Starsha embracing me now. Would that this…”

“I’m so sorry, Abelt. I did all I could to set things right,” Yuki sobbed. “I’m so sorry I grew angry and judged her…I…wanted to set it right.”

“I know you did, and I am so grateful for what you did try to do…” he said as he kissed Yuki’s cheek and turned to Susumu. Both men embraced and wept together. Then, Susumu let go and he said, “Abelt…if you want…we sit with you tonight…”

Abelt shook his head. “No. Susumu, ask Yuki to take you back to your ship. You’re both shivering and you need rest. Yuki, even though you are stronger physically than Starsha…was…you really need rest. You look very fragile right now…”

“I’ll sit with you,” Yuki said. “I’ll pray with you both…I’ll…”

“Please go. Leave me,” Abelt said as he turned away.

Susumu held Yuki and he said, “Please take us back to the Yamato. Please…we did all we could….”

Yuki held Susumu, kissed him, and they vanished.

Desslar had seen their reflection in a computer screen. He was barely able to look at them.

They love each other so much, Desslar thought. What a pure love. And she told me she is carrying his child. With such joy….

Desslar then turned to his comm officer. “I need to sit there,” he said. “As the Terrons say it, I need to call in a favor…or I will go mad.”

“To whom?” said the comm officer.

“To the Black Mariah. To Atirangi Rapahango, my friend. The musician who accepted my roses. We need to speak. NOW.”

Artwork: Atirangi Angry and Concerned © 2022 by Bells of Nevermore. Used by Permission

Desslar hailed the ship. “Ati…are you there?” he said in an anguished voice.

“Yeah, babe…what’s up?” she said in a sleepy voice.

“Please get over here. Starsha refused our request for aid. She wants my forces and the Terron forces off Iscandar. She disowned Yuki and Susumu as her parents.”

“Oh, shit. What…?”

“Yuki says Promethium has been nudging her to the edge. Yuki psychically fought that evil witch and tried to pull Starsha back from the brink...out of whatever darkness Promethium led her. Yuki lost the battle with Promethium. I need you, Ati! Starsha…said in a message she no longer loves me. As of thirty-five minutes ago, when I opened her message, Starsha and I are divorced. By her damned authority.”

“Babe, I had the feeling months ago she would pull something like this. I know. You and Susumu and Yuki still believed in her. What did she do? She took a damn dump on all of you! Screw this! I’ll be over soon. Hang tight. Please go to your quarters. We have business!”

---------------------------------

Atirangi appeared a few minutes later, clad in a tight black dress. She was barefoot.

The dress was intentionally short and had a low cleavage.

Desslar was weeping.

Ati grabbed him and kissed away his tears.

The first thing she said to him was earthy and very blunt.

“How long has it been since she fucked you, Abelt?”

“Eight months ago,” he said as he threw off his black and red mantle and threw it to the deck, followed by his gloves. He grabbed her and almost threw her against the wall and kissed her hard, reaching up under her dress.

Feelings Atirangi had never had before began to awaken like a kindling fire inside her as Abelt tore away her panties and threw them aside.

“How does that feel?” Abelt said in a low, wicked voice.

“Incredible. I have never been with a man before. I…I…always thought I was asexual,” Ati said as Abelt kissed her, dancing with his tongue in her mouth, and dancing with his fingers inside her hidden island rose.

“Do you wish to go on?” Abelt said. “I must warn you. Normally, with women, I am a very dominant man. Some would say rough. But I think your strong form can bear what I truly enjoy from a woman. I enjoy the hunt. The capture. The dominance!”

“How the…fuck…could Starsha have…rejected this?” Atirangi said as Abelt penetrated her with two practiced fingers. “GOD-DAMN!” she yelled as she shivered with joy in the first orgasm she had ever had in her life.

“Starsha was, and is, an utter prude with an overly delicate body. I always had to treat her like a Ceramic Doll. She has a great deal of power, but her will is as weak as her body. I had her fence with me once. She was so weak she could barely last four minutes. When she cast me out of her bed, do you not think other women offered themselves to me?” he said in a low, dangerous voice as he tore off his grey tunic. He wore a black undershirt beneath. He was muscled like a god, powerful, perfectly formed, tall, dominant. “Some of these did this out of lust, some out of pity, one out of true friendship and respect. Many of my Blue Shadows, knowing my…predicament, offered me their bodies. Zworder’s mistress Savela offered me her body. Ambassadors offered to be fucked by me,” he said as he began to rip off Atirangi’s dress even as he bit the nape of her neck…hard. Blood was drawn.

Atirangi was on fire like a volcano on Rapa Nui. “Even a relative offered to sleep with me, with the full approval of her husband. We all discussed it together,” Abelt said as he finished benuding Atirangi. “You are strong,” he said. “Strong and beautiful. You can take my desire, my rage. I did not think this other woman could, even though she said she was strong. You know her. Well. Yuki. Yes. My mother-in-law felt my pain and said she would share my bed by way of apology for how her daughter dishonored and cuckolded me. Susumu agreed. I declined, out of honor and because I cannot and will not interfere with their relationship. I also doubt Yuki would have liked this,” Abelt said as he kissed Ati’s breasts hard, almost painfully, lightly backhanding her cheeks as he did that so they stung. “But you can. I see that!”

Then, Desslar picked up Ati, and grabbed her and threw her into his bed. He drew out manacles from the headboard; padded, but manacles nonetheless.

As Desslar laid on Ati, kicking off his boots and tearing his own clothes to shreds, he firmly but gently bound her to the bed.

Then, when he was nude and on full display, he smiled at Ati like a tiger. “You are bound…the way I like it,” he said as he manacled her ankles while driving her mad with his mouth; his tongue.

Atirangi orgasmed again, screaming in Rapa Nui in her operatic voice.

A moment later, as Atirangi trembled, he took her. He had the biggest member she had ever seen in her life.

He flicked a switch. The music of Septigram blew across the room. Dark Anthem. Abelt heard Ati’s recorded voice while he pulled her hair, bit the nape of her neck, raked his fingers down her back until she bled.

As they did the act, the following lyrics assailed their ears;

I dream a world of cinders

Stone above my head.

I cannot walk the surface

For all that lived, is dead!

Anthem: My world lies bleeding

Dark Anthem: The sky blood red

Anthem: Stone scorched and blasted

Dark Anthem: We're walking dead.

Abelt whispered, “How does it feel, having me take you, make you burn like I once burned most of the Earth?”

“How fitting. I make you burn like you made Terra burn, Abelt!”

Abelt screamed.

She responded in like kind.

They fucked to the rhythm of Dark Anthem.

At the end of the song, as Ati hit her crescendo on the record, she hit an even louder one in real life, a note that shattered a goblet in Abelt’s bedchamber. She felt his hot seed blasting into her. Ati arched her back and bellowed. She could not get Abelt’s weight off of her.

Finally, they stopped.

Abelt kissed her, and said, tenderly, “Is that enough atonement for my sins?”

“It is, my darling, it is, Abelt. I never thought I would say this…I love you so much.”

“Starsha does not want me. Be my Empress,” Abelt said.

“And I shall be,” she responded. “I shall be.”

“Do something for me,” Abelt said. “Get on your knees. I am not done…yet. Take my member. Yes. In your mouth, dearest…”

He continued to instruct her until he had another climax in her mouth.

Ati liked that. “Do most women like that?” she asked.

“Many, not all,” said Abelt. “Oh. Starsha never did. She thought it was disgusting. How amusing. When Susumu, Yuki and I were discussing…her gallant offer to aid me in me loneliness, she volunteered she LOVES that sort of thing, and that to her, Susumu tastes so sweet and salty. Susumu smiled at her. He mussed her hair. They kissed. I do not understand how Starsha’s mother can be so…earthy and honest about physical affection…and how her daughter can be…such a prude.”

She held him. “Starsha. Did she ever fake orgasms?”

“Yes. She usually did,” Abelt said. “How did you know?”

“Educated guess.”

---------------------------------------------------------------

They held each other for a while, and then Abelt flicked a switch. “You may want to cover up,” Abelt said. “I am about to call Iscandar…and taunt Starsha…”

“Let her see everything,” Ati hissed. “Let her see what she threw away.”

Abelt nodded.

Soon, Starsha was on the screen. “Dessler,” she said coldly. “Is something in the bed we once shared?”

“This is not something,” Abelt said. “You freed me in your divorce bill. So, a dear friend came to me. You have met her before. Atirangi Rapahango. Composer. Genius. My new Empress. And she gave me what YOU never could, what you never would.”

"We're going to have a conversation, Starsha," Atirangi said.

“How indecent of you, appearing before me like that,” sniffed Starsha. “Tell me, barbarian! What is there to discuss? I have seen Desslar for what he is. What he always was. I don't know why I was blinded. Of course, you only twisted the knife in...you accursed home-wrecker. Giving him aid and comfort when I wanted him to learn? When I wanted his people to learn?"

"Oh, I'm a home-wrecker, after you broke that man's heart and divorced him?" A dark smile. "Bitch, I did something you never did while you were married... I got on my knees and asked him to teach me what to do down there. He also was my first—he'll be my last. I expected losing my virginity to hurt. Guess it doesn't for everyone. he said you fake it, do you? Look at these sheets. LOOK,” said Atirangi as she moved and pointed. “My virginal blood. Do you like that? And I really orgasmed. Because he brought me there!”

"You disgust me," Starsha said. "You are crude. Vicious." She hesitated. Something in her almost wanted to apologize, and to understand what she had done to Desslar, whom she would never again call Abelt in her mortal life.  but then, her eyes hardened. "You are a barbarian. Desslar is a barbarian and bully. He has reverted to type. You and Desslar. You two deserve each other...You bitch! Is it true you ate people? You...you...curvy, disgusting, thing you! Carnal. Not spiritual. Carnal. Just like my mother, and her dance, her running, her sports...her shameless sunbathing in the nude in her yard, damn her, and her damn Jennifer Beals Flashdance body...Yes, I have faked it for Desslar! A decent woman...does not enjoy such things. Like you. Or the barely-heard sounds of my parents rutting in the night. I heard. Animals. You all are animals."

Then, Starsha looked at Desslar and shook her head. “Desslar. Look at him, Atirangi. The more he tries to redeem himself, the more he sins!”

Ati stared down Starsha and SCREAMED at her over the link as loud as she could.

Her operatic voice made Starsha shrink back in utter fear; her imperious manner gone for a moment.

Then, the ice came back in her eyes.

Starsha looked at Desslar and said, "Well, I like the pain you have chosen," Starsha said. "Desslar. Let me warn you, whore! He uses people up for his purposes and spits them out like....like...vomit. He abandoned me for his mad, warlike ambitions. I would have forborne, but...well...when he went to negotiate with ZWORDER, and so did my parents, that offended me. Desslar! You were my Prince, my white knight in armor.”

Ati showed her body. “Look at these bruises on me. My bleeding hickies. Did he ever do you like that? Did he ever make you scream? No. You’re probably, Ooooo…I don’t like that. Don’t be too rough!”

“I loved him; you bitch!" screamed Starsha. "And he turned on me! He betrayed me! Do you understand? He betrayed me! So did both of my parents! My father deserves to be crippled for his joining hands with Zordar like that. And my mother? She deserves to burn in hell. And how dare you berate me for waiting to see if Terra was worthy before...before I gave them the Cosmo Reverse System? I almost regret ever having done so. And I have heard a voice in my mind. Whispering. Queen Promethium. She wants universal peace. And what are all of you doing? Flailing around, and screaming about...how evil she was. I disciplined the Gamilas for what they did. I admit it. I was hoping a taste of suffering would make Desslok repent and come to me on his knees. He should be on his knees."

“Oh, I was on my knees,” Desslar said pleasantly. “And Atirangi enjoyed it!”

“Atirangi's laugh was low and rich, much like her speaking voice. "Oh, I am a barbarian—I live on a planet that's more a paradise than Iscandar ever was, and I'm as happy with a flint knife and a blow gun as I am on the decks of this big black ship... this light jammer that Abelt now has full permissions on. I'm a bigger bitch than you know—and Zworder can tell you what I've done to Gatlanteans that fucked around on Earth. Want the vid? I have one of sixteen-year-old little me drinking a Gatlantean officer's blood while he cried like a bitch." She leaned closer to the camera. "And Abelt loves these big tits. And I love the big fat cock that split me open not even two hours ago. You mad, auntie? I still feel a little of him inside me... "

Starsha glared at them, and shut off.

Abelt looked at Ati. Ati at Abelt.

And they both began to laugh their heads off.

“We need some weed,” Ati said.

“I believe I agree,” Abelt said with a grin.

---------------------------------------

Later on, Ati and Abelt were totally, totally baked.

“I wanna make a call,” Ati said, laughing.

“Whom, pray tell, my love, my Empress?” Abelt said.

“Yamato,” Ati said. “And I know Susumu and Yuki’s private frequency.”

They passed the pipe while Ati called.

A moment later, they got an image of the Yamato’s Captain’s Quarters. It was dimly lit, with Yuki’s new Tiffany lamp on.

What they caught was a slightly smoky compartment with Susumu and Yuki, also unclothed, passing a pipe, laughing, and singing, “Hey, Paula!” an old 1960’s song. They were laughing.

Then, they looked at the screen.

“Look!” Yuki said. “It’s Abelt and Ati! I just got a copy of Starsha’s damn message…well, Abelt, you didn’t waste any damn time!” Yuki laughed. This was their first sight, ever, of the Empress, stoned.

“Tell me Abelt, was it good for you, too?” said Susumu as he snickered.

“Fuck you guys,” said Ati. “I figured you’d be up to the same thing. Abelt and I are engaged!”

“Congratulations!” Susumu and Yuki yelled together.

“Set a date yet?” Yuki said.

“As soon as practicable, in the proper manner, of course,” Abelt said, laughing again. “Get back to what you two were doing. Good night!”

“Nitey-night, guys!” Yuki and Susumu screamed. They shut off, laughing.

“They’re wasted!” Ati said, laughing.

“So are we,” Abelt replied.

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TO BE CONTINUED.