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  Transgressions

  The Apprentice, Volume 3

  A Twelve Systems Chronicle

  E.G. Manetti

  The Twelve Systems Chronicles

  The Cartel: The Apprentice Volume 1

  Bright Star: The Apprentice Volume 2

  Transgressions: The Apprentice Volume 3

  *** Coming in 2017 ***

  Fortuna: The Apprentice Volume 4

  Copyright

  ©2016 by Buniac Entertainment, LLC.

  With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or used in whole or in part by any means without the written permission of Buniac Entertainment.

  All Rights Reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN 978-0-9886900-6-6

  In Memory

  Renald Amedeo Manetti

  1932-2015

  He lived and died with fearless grace.

  Table of Contents

  List of Characters

  The Twelve Systems

  1. Protocol and Stricture

  2. Correction

  3. Pardon

  4. Moon Race

  5. Seek and Ye Shall Find

  6. Settlement Day

  7. A New Year

  8. Insight

  9. Socraide’s Festival

  10. Scoring

  11. Andreas Chiang

  12. Monsignor Lucius’ Will

  13. Final Draught

  14. Crimes and Concealment

  15. The Great Crevasse

  16. Dark Acts

  17. Settlements and Signets

  18. Transgressions

  19. Missteps and Misdemeanors

  20. Travel Plans

  21. Cartel Discipline

  22. Cartouche and Cartel

  23. Rank and Retribution

  24. Discovery

  25. Shrine Discipline

  26. Celebration and Survival

  27. Cartel Justice

  28. Traitors

  29. The Mongoose

  30. Snake Hunt

  31. Judgement

  32. A New Season

  Coming in 2017 – Fortuna: The Apprentice Volume 4

  The Apprentice Protocol

  Devotional Litanies

  Glossary of the Twelve Systems

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  List of Characters

  ~The Glossary of the Twelve Systems can be found at the end of the book.~

  The Serengeti Group

  Blooded Dagger Cartouche – Vistrite

  Monsignor Lucius Mercio – Preeminence of Serengeti and Blooded Dagger

  · Protégé, Nickolas Cyncad

  · Apprentice, Lilian

  · Executive Servitor, Marieth

  · Driver, Mr. George

  Seigneur Marco – Bright Star

  Seigneur Solomon – Vistrite Conservator

  · Chief Amanda, Vistrite Refinery

  · Mabel and Ned, Vistrite miners

  Seigneur Jurian – Vistrite, Metricelli Deuce

  Seigneur Rachelle – Serengeti and Blooded Dagger Research and Development

  · Protégé, Irina

  · Apprentice, Chrys

  · Senior Associate, Simon

  · Associate Magnus - Synthetics

  Seigneur Trevelyan – Security and Privilege for Blooded Dagger, Mercium, and Bright Star

  · Master Associate, Malcon

  · Associate, Tabitha

  · Apprentice, Rebecca

  · Associates, Rodolfo and Joyce, also known as the ‘Grim Twins.’

  Seigneur Nemilis – Blooded Dagger Media Management

  · Associate, Gil

  Seigneur Hadrian – Cartouche Financials

  · Senior Associate, Daphne

  · Senior Associate, Demitrov

  Grey Spear Cartouche – Logistics and Distribution

  Monsignor Sebastian Mehta – Preeminence of Grey Spear

  · Protégé, Martin Argon

  Seigneur Aristides – Serengeti and Grey Spear Media Management

  · Apprentice, Douglas

  Seigneur Damocles – Serengeti and Grey Spear Security-Privilege

  Seigneur Garwynn – Serengeti and Grey Spear Financials (kinsman to Sebastian Mehta)

  Seigneur Thorvald – Serengeti Training and Militia

  Seigneur Hercules – Grey Spear Logistics and Supply

  Associate Roger Macomber (sycophant to Martin Argon)

  Associate Ann Hunter (sycophant to Martin Argon)

  Associate Shoshanna Revetali (sycophant to Martin Argon)

  Iron Hammer Cartouche – Controller Fabrication

  Monsignor Elenora Odestil – Preeminence of Iron Hammer

  Seigneur Kemeha – Iron Hammer Engineering Seigneur

  · Protégé, Fletcher Detrenti

  Seigneur Herman – Legalistics Lead, Cartel and Cartouche

  · Apprentice, Clarice

  Cartel

  Associate Master Straus

  · Apprentice, Vicenza

  Archive Master Liger

  The Matahorn Alliance

  Broken Blade Cartouche

  Monsignor Horatio Margovian – Preeminence of Cartel and Cartouche

  · Former Protégé, Damien St. Gervais

  Seigneur William – Bright Star (Horatio’s son and heir)

  The Leonardo Society

  Monsignor Angus Blackthorn – Preeminence of Cohort and Cartouche

  Crevasse City

  Helena Faesetili, Lilian’s mother and Sinead’s Seer

  Katleen Faesetili, Lilian’s sister

  Gloribelle, a sparkly tree-wombat and Katleen’s pet

  Lady Estella, Lucius’ wife

  Raphael, Lucius and Estella’s son

  Cesare, Lucius and Estella’s son

  Elysia, Lucius and Estella’s daughter

  Sabri, Lucius’ personal servitor

  Marigold, Estella’s personal servitor

  Lord Gilead, Jonathan’s Prelate

  Virgil, Socraide’s Keeper

  Tiger Sylvester, Black Commerce Raider

  Hilda, legitimate Odds Manager

  Hidaka, Café owner and friend to the Faesetilis

  Monsignor Persia, Preeminence of the Third System Commodity Exchange

  Seigneur Conrad, Persia’ son

  Lady Tobi, Conrad’s spouse

  Master Harold, Conrad’s and Tobi’s son

  Mistress Bronwyn, Conrad’s and Tobi’s daughter

  Master Joachim, Conrad’s and Tobi’s son

  Mulan’s Temple

  Dean Joseph, Preeminence of the Mulan’s Temple and Lilian’s foster father

  Andreas, Master Scholar of Ancients Studies and Lilian’s former lover

  The Twelve Systems

  The society of the Twelve Systems is dominated by the warrior elite, the genetic descendants of the Five Warriors of Antiquity. These five warlords ended three centuries of interstellar warfare known as the Anarchy and established the modern Order and its governing protocols. In the millennium since the end of the Anarchy, the warrior elite have consolidated societal control into a handful of vast commercial interests. The most powerful and wealthy are the cartels.

  Owned by the great warrior families identified by their emblem or ‘cartouches,’ these commerce enterprises are locked in fierce competitive struggles. To command any cartel is to control immense wealth and influence. To command one of the five largest cartels is to number among the two score most powerful people in the Twelve Systems.

  Fourth among the cartels i
s the Serengeti Group, which controls Vistrite, the semi-liquid crystal essential to all advanced technology. Under the command of the devious, ruthless, and unconventional Lucius Mercio, the Serengeti Group has begun to contend for third among the cartels. To advance his ambitions, Lucius formed the Bright Star Consortium, the first significant attempt at stellar expansion in over two centuries, and abandoned a millennium of tradition to develop a synthetic form of Vistrite known as Mercium. These two endeavors will forever alter the commerce of the Twelve Systems.

  Known to only a few is that Lucius’ notorious apprentice, Lilian, is at the center of both ventures. In the aftermath of her father’s execution for terrible crimes, Lilian was convicted of Guilt by Blood. In return for her life, Lilian vowed to serve three years as Lucius’ indentured servant, yielding him total control of her body, intellect, and will. In anticipation of Bright Star, Lucius acquired Lilian for her exceptional intellect and abilities with complexity and risk analysis. Lilian proved to be a great deal more than brilliant, her loyalty and courage the catalyst for Mercium well before Bright Star was formed.

  Despised for her father’s crimes and her corrupt genetics, the disgraced young woman is continually threatened with insult, spite, and physical assault. It is proving a great deal more difficult to keep Lilian alive than Lucius had anticipated.

  1. Protocol and Stricture

  The Five Warriors of Antiquity – Era of the Three Systems

  1. Socraide Omsted – controlled three of the four planets in the First System

  2. Rimon Ben Claude – controlled both planets in the Second System

  3. Mulan Tsao – controlled Artesia in the First System

  4. Jonathan Metricelli – controlled the two Vistrite planets in the Third System and the Vistrite trade

  5. Sinead Standingbear – controlled Sinead’s World in the Third System

  In the thousand years since the Five Warriors brought Order from Anarchy, the original Three Systems has expanded into the Twelve Systems. In the modern era, the Twelve Systems’ commercial, spiritual, and civil authorities can trace their foundation to the alliances and treaties among the Five Warriors and their retainers. In the tradition of the Five Warriors, the modern cartels are self-governing fiefdoms, and the cartel preeminence is the modern version of those ancient warlords. Once, lesser war chiefs gave their oaths to the Five Warriors in return for powerful protection; now, lesser cartouches offer allegiance to the cartel preeminence and preeminent cartouche in return for increased opportunities for wealth and power. ~excerpt from The Foundation of Order, a scholarly treatise.

  Sevenday 49 Day 3

  Adelaide’s Thorn! Lilian mentally profanes, her rapid walk turning into a sprint as she races to catch the public transport slowing to a stop on the next block. She is late as it is, she dare not miss the transport. Impelled by frantic determination, Lilian springs aboard the transport, forcing the nearly closed doors open.

  Grasping the rail to brace against the surge of forward motion, Lilian is oblivious to her scowling fellow passengers as well as the occasional admiring glance. Only recently past her twenty-fifth birth festival, Lilian is not so much beautiful as arresting. Garbed in the stark black of a Blooded Dagger apprentice, Lilian presents the fierce containment of a much older woman. An impression enhanced by the warrior’s queue that tightly gathers her long, dark red hair to her head and binds it into a thick tail that appears almost black. The severe arrangement reveals Lilian’s fine bone structure, high cheekbones, deep-set gray eyes, and determined chin.

  I am the sum of my ancestors. Abandoning her earlier profanity for the familiar verses of the Warriors’ Litany, Lilian tries to quell her rioting emotions and her increasing anxiety. She should have been aboard the public transport nearly a quarter period gone. Would have been, if it were not for Katleen’s moodiness…

  The stone courtyard is bright in the early morning light as Lilian relentlessly pursues twelve-year-old Katleen around the pillars. They battle past the dry central fountain and over the low stone walls that once held exotic plants and now serve as benches. Centered in the four-storey house that is their home, the courtyard is as barren as the rest of the ancient structure.

  With a mistimed leap, Katleen’s foot catches on a stone bench, sending her tumbling and swearing, “Sinead’s Spite!”

  “Katleen, do not profane,” Lilian reproves absently as she helps Katleen into a sitting position. Reaching over, Lilian helps Katleen remove the protective face mask, revealing elfin features with pale, freckled skin, black eyes, and red-gold curls. “Are you injured?”

  Shaking her head, Katleen denies it. “I am well. Shall we try again?”

  “No, sweetling, the period advances. I must hasten,” Lilian refuses her sister. “It will not serve—”

  “—to be late to the Cartel.” Katleen’s singsong parodies Lilian’s often-spoken phrase. “Rimon devour the Serengeti Group! I wish another try.”

  “Katleen!” Lilian is less shocked at the profanity than she is at Katleen’s defamation of Serengeti and, by implication, Monsignor Lucius. “What ails you? Were it not for the monsignor and Serengeti, we would be in dire straits!”

  “More dire than abject poverty, unending insult, and regular assault?” Katleen rolls away and stalks to the weapons cabinet. Furiously, Katleen slams open one of the upper doors that she lovingly refinished the Seventh Day gone. It is one of the few items of furniture in a house that has been stripped of possessions to cover the debts of their unlamented sire, Remus Gariten.

  “Katleen! You know better.” Lilian follows her sister and attempts to grasp her shoulders. “The monsignor’s shadow shelters us. Monsignor—”

  “Monsignor, Monsignor, Monsignor! I sicken of Monsignor!” Katleen angrily pulls away.

  Katleen does not mean it. After Remus Gariten’s foul crimes resulted in his execution and his family’s ruin, all of the Twelve Systems were turned against the sisters and their mother. The only adult child of Remus Gariten, Lilian was convicted of Guilt by Blood. In contrition for her corrupt genetics, Lilian was expected to follow her father to the Final Draught, execution by poison. Only Lucius Mercio was willing to extend his shadow to preserve Lilian’s life and aid the survival of her small family. With the help of her mentor, Dean Joseph, Monsignor Lucius arranged for Lilian’s sentence to be reduced to Trial by Ordeal, a three-year indenture agreement that surrendered Lilian’s body, intellect, and will to Monsignor Lucius. Should Lilian fail, she may yet be compelled to the Final Draught.

  Katleen knows all this; what demon possesses her sister, Lilian cannot fathom. It matters not.

  “Katleen, the bell advances, and I lack the minutes to indulge your temper. Do you wish to engage in wild humors, seek out Maman. I must depart.”

  Hardening her heart against the young girl’s appalled expression and welling tears, Lilian races to dress for the Cartel.

  As the transport fills to capacity, Lilian barely notices the jostling and press of the crowd. Her exasperation with her young sister’s moodiness wars with shame over her own cruelty.

  Their mother’s derangement is an ongoing source of concern and grief for the sisters. That Helena Faesetili’s derangement coincides with her gift as a Seer of Visions does not lessen the strain. Her condition places Helena outside protocol and stricture except to protect her or, should it become necessary, others from her. Her visions shielded her from being forced to the Final Draught with her spouse, Remus Gariten. It was ill done to compare Katleen’s tantrum to their mother’s madness.

  Lilian cannot unsay the words.

  »◊«

  Demon shit! Lucius scowls at the militia report displayed on his slate.

  “Monsignor?” Mr. George asks from the front of the luxurious private transport, his eyes never veering from the congested boulevard.

  At George’s deep tones, Lucius shakes his head, annoyed he has voiced his displeasure. “It is naught, George.”

  It is Lucius’ eldest, Raphael. Rec
ently past his seventeenth year, Raphael is increasingly ready to offer his dagger in response to any perceived insult to his honor or warrior status. This recent incident involves a dispute over an Indulgence doxy. As in most such matters, accounts are conflicting, the monitor records of limited use, and the witnesses unreliable. Lucius scans the report for the fines. The vast resources of the Mercios and Blooded Dagger are well known. The nightclub owner will likely press for the greatest possible gain.

  Attempted consent violation. Attempted rape. The vile words leap from the slate and chill Lucius’ blood. Raphael is young, arrogant, and far too fond of his blade, but he is not a deviant.

  Within the Twelve Systems, passion is not confused with love, or attraction with affection. Physical desire is considered as natural as hunger or thirst. It can be indulged to the extent that one’s means and inclinations dictate, limited only by a series of complex kinship taboos and the consent of the participants, who must be past the age of sixteen. Consent violation—rape—is a serious offense and can be cause for execution.

  Beginning again, Lucius carefully scrutinizes the report and discovers a familiar name: Tiger Sylvester. The notorious black commerce raider uses his legitimate Odds Management and Indulgence interests to cloak his black commerce enterprises in assassinations and the illicit substances known as decadents. For Lucius to work his will on his Cartouche, Cartel, and the Third System, he has occasionally made use of the thug. The necessity does not please Lucius, but nor does it trouble him.

  Over the past half decade, Tiger’s recalcitrance has increased in proportion to his wealth and power. Now the cunning raider attempts to exploit Raphael’s latest idiocy. With another scowl and a few taps to his slate, Lucius sends the militia report and his instructions to Seigneur Trevelyan, Lucius’ spymaster and enforcer.

  Intent on thwarting Tiger, Lucius is oblivious as his transport careens across the crowded transitway to avoid a disabled vehicle. Neither George nor Lucius notices the heavy cargo transport that abruptly slows in deference to the Blooded Dagger Cartouche emblazoned on Lucius’ aggressively piloted transport or the subsequent sound of a collision behind them.