Douglass Loe sat in a limousine just outside a modest flower shop in the heart of Persephone's business district. He pondered his position for a moment as he waited for the owner of the shop to finish up with her current customer. It was a role he'd played all his life and, though it was at times confining, it was a role he was contented in. He was the facilitator of action, his brother the maker of plans. This put him in positions that were often uncomfortable, but he almost preferred it that way.
His very life had been lived on the razors edge and he frankly didn't know any other way to live. Douglass did whatever his twin told him to do. Most would say that made him a lackey, but he knew better. He and Anthony were of the same mind. He was the other half of his twin.
'His twins.'
Douglass chuckled. By all rights he was not really his twin, but his clone. Closer than a twin. The same. Douglass was created by Anthony's father, to harvest spare parts from, for his son, as they grew older. The elder Loe had big plans for his son and mortality was not going to get in the way of those plans. Ironically it was his own mortality he needed to worry about and his son's strong desire for the sibling he never had.
Few living knew this story of brotherly love, only he and his older twin now that the family was dead. It was his twin brother Anthony that changed their arrangement, a deal that included the assassination of his father to cement. An assassination that the younger twin gladly performed.
The shopkeeper glanced up several times and nodded subtly to acknowledge that she knew he was there. Douglass smiled and nodded back. She would be out in a minute, no doubt, with a large bouquet, a buttoner and a contract for him to sign listing the names of those he had paid her to kill. The contract had been made the previous day, but this would define its limits and put a seal on it. It was the was of the Lotus.
Douglass continued his thoughts. He felt no strong feelings of guilt for killing his father, as he believed his brother to be his only true blood relative. He had no real father. He was a creation – a clone. His brother Anthony, on the other hand, did carry that baggage and the younger could occasionally see its weight on him. But it was a necessary evil performed for the greater good. Together they took over the reigns of the Black Lotus society and the political machine that had been their father's before them and propelled both to a new height that their father never could have managed.
Oddly it was their father's goals that they now perused, a united, peaceful Empire. This was his brother's goal now and he had done everything in his power to facilitate this goal. The Alliance had failed to control the people, just as they had failed to control themselves. What was needed now was an Emperor with discipline.
Douglas Loe had expanded the Black Lotus Society to every planet in this future empire in preparation. He had elevated himself to the highest post in the military possible, considering his young age. He sat poised at the right hand of the Vice Admiral of the sixth fleet, ready to help his brother take control when the time came. The necessary control.
A gust of wind blew off the mountains into the labyrinth of high rises buildings. By the time the structures carved up the breeze into somewhat orthogonal components, there was only enough energy left to make the flower shops sign creek in a slow swing. Douglass smiled at the simple wooden sign, a black lotus on a purple background, a symbol known on every planet. As expected, the woman approached the limousine with a huge bouquet. Douglass accepted the flowers and briefly examined the list of names before signing the contract.
"Seven? Are you sure this is all?"
"That is all of them." The woman said.
"Good." He replied, smelling the flowers. "I trust you will be quick about it."
"It has already begun."
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