Survivors

Posted on Mon Mar 4th, 2024 @ 7:03am by Princess Royal Giana Orsini & Princess Jessica Orsini

Mission: Historiae Terrae Et Imperii
Location: ISS Imperator
Timeline: Date 2371-09-05 at 1355
4521 words - 9 OF Standard Post Measure

ON


Things had happened very slowly, and then all at once. As soon as the battle formally began, she had known. The guards told her nothing, but they brought Antonio to her; they brought him, without Giuseppe. That had never happened before. She noticed their anxiety as they stood guard. All was quiet, as usual, but there was clearly something amiss. Then the order came in on the radio that she and Antonio were to be “brought along”. She had no idea what that meant, and responded in frightened silence as they were beamed out of the room.

When she had materialized in a cell aboard a starship, Antonio was gone. She asked a guard where he was, but as usual, was answered with cold silence. The rocking of the ship said it all. They were on the verge of salvation…or death.

She stood now in a Royal Suite aboard Imperator. The soldiers had saved her and had even been kind enough to inform her that her son was secure and safe. Then she was left alone and asked rather politely to wait. Was this it? Where was Antonio? Where was Giuseppe?

After leaving the bridge of the Imperator, Giana knew exactly where she would go.

It was not where anyone likely had expected, though.

She had learned on her way there that Antonio had been separated from his mother and after a rather scathing series of questions regarding who had given that particular order, Giana found herself making an additional stop. She walked into the room where a uniformed woman was sitting on the floor with Antonio trying to keep the boy distracted while guards watched over them. She was having moderate success, but it was clear the boy didn’t like what was happening one bit.

When she had entered, the woman immediately disengaged in haste which startled the toddler and made him cry while the guards and woman gave hasty, awkward bows. Giana gave a wave of dismissal, her blue eyes settled on the boy wailing on the floor. She approached, towering over him, and just stared at him. He had Giuseppe’s blood in him. His boy. A would be Emperor. Would he be a monster like his father? Would he be a threat?

She could have forgotten Jessica and Antonio. It would have been very easy to put all of the focus on Paolo and Sacha and likely no one would have remembered the traitorous wife. The problem was - despite her general dislike of Jessica - she saw another victim of her brother and an innocent (for now) child. Even Giana had a heart under all of her issues. Taking a deep breath, she walked over and picked Antonio up. Naturally, she sat him on her hip and turned to look at him with a smile.

“Now now, Aunt Gigi is here. We’re going to go see your mama.” She snapped at the woman who had been sitting on the floor and gestured for a nearby spit cloth that had been sitting on a table to be handed to her. Once it was, she wiped Antonio’s face off and the boy had quieted to sniffles and confused looks. He recognized Giana, but only vaguely.

“Let’s just hope your mama doesn’t make me regret this, hm?”

A few moments later, the door to the room Jessica was resting in opened and Giana walked through with Antonio. “Jessica?”

Jessica had been wearing down the red rug, one of the finest in the Empire, with her incessant pacing. She had become a very talented pacer in the past few weeks, and almost felt uneasy standing still. She was dressed commonly in a low-cut purple camisole, a pair of black leggings, and a tan shawl made of simple wool. She was humble in appearance, but still an unmistakable natural beauty with eyes like precious stones and a face which had become almost constantly frozen in worry.

When she heard a woman’s voice, with an Italian accent, no less, call her by her first name, she looked to the door in surprise. The entryway to the suite lead directly to the livingroom, so she could see her sister-in-law carrying her son into the apartment. She started forward, her hands naturally extending to take her son, but she slowed to a stop as quickly as she had started. Theirs wasn’t a normal family, and she had no reason to trust Giana. She was aware that the woman had never liked her.

“Giana.” she said, uncommonly quiet. Her sociable and calm energy was shattered, and she no doubt seemed greatly reduced in personality to the woman across from her.

“Mama!” Antonio exclaimed with childish excitement.

“See?” Giana cooed at the boy and shifted him off her hip and down to the floor, making sure he was steady on his feet and letting him go. She watched him hurry over to Jessica and practically fall into her legs.

Jessica swooped him up with impressive speed. She had worried and fretted over the boy so often that it was starting to feel like second nature. She kissed him and looked at him, checking him and asking him if he was okay. When they were done with their gentle, sweet interactions, she turned her eyes back to Giana. She was meek where, before, she would have been confident.

“Thank you.” she said, lowering her eyes then in obvious shame. She bit her full lower lip, only now realizing that it was dry and cracked. She hadn't been drinking enough water again. Her mind had been on other things. “I didn’t…I didn’t expect you to be here.”

The crystal blue eyes of the Princess Regent moved over her sister-in-law. Was that even the appropriate familial title now? She looked as common as her name, but there was more than before - she looked broken. It wasn’t like Jessica had been an angel to Giana in their interactions either, but strangely Giana didn’t feel vindicated in seeing Jessica like this. It made her expression scrunch for the briefest of seconds and then it evened back to a placid smile.

“No, I imagine not. Let’s go and sit down. Do you need anything?”

“I’m fine.” Jessica lied, moving immediately to sit down with Giana, obedient. More than anything else, she needed answers. “Giana, what’s going on? What are you doing here? They didn’t…tell me anything. They haven’t told me anything for a month. Where’s Giuseppe?”

There wasn’t a person in existence who couldn’t see through that lie, but while Giana had a heart, she didn’t have an inclination to coddle or coax the other woman, so she took the lie at face value. “Giuseppe is dead.”

Jessica was blank faced for a while, her expression still a question mark, as if the words Giana had spoken had no meaning. Then she looked confused, as if the idea was too big to fit into her mind. It was a shocking thought, especially for someone who had fantasized about killing him herself several times. She just wasn’t able to get him close enough for long enough during their stay on Axanar. Slowly, she nodded.

“Oh..” was all she said, her hand moving slowly over her child’s back. She sounded almost disappointed.

Giana wasn’t really surprised by the reaction. She crossed her legs at the ankles and placed her hands on her knees. “I’m sorry you and Antonio were separated when you beamed over. A bit of military thinking they know best, I’m afraid.”

“I’ve seen Antonio once a day on average for the past five weeks.” Jessica said, looking up at Giana with a frown. “I know all about military thinking they know best.”

She looked over at one of the guards standing in the corner of the room. She supposed she might be in a position to order uniformed men around again, instead of the other way around.

“Toys. Could you possibly find some toys for the Grand Duke?” she asked, her voice slightly shaky. She then released the boy, allowing him to wander just a bit, but keeping her eyes on him. Always watching him.

“I’m pregnant, Giana.” she said with a frown. “I’m pregnant with…that man’s baby. He told me he would let me live until I gave birth, and had them watch me to make sure I wouldn’t hurt them or myself. But, after the baby was born..”

Giana didn’t reply immediately. Truthfully, she wasn’t entirely sure what to say to that. She glanced up to the guards who were looking at her and gave a light nod for one to comply with the request to procure some toys for the boy.

“Well… that isn’t really all that surprising considering it was Giuseppe and he likely did feel you betrayed him.”

Jessica looked at Giana, taking her eyes off of Antonio for the first time.

“I helped him, Giana. I did.” she said, wondering if it might be better for her to keep her mouth closed. “I charmed, and made deals…so many of those men who took his side..but it wasn’t enough for him. He tried to kill me because I wouldn’t sleep with them.”

“Yes, because you didn’t obey him.” Giana replied, her voice having a hollow quality to it that spoke of her own past experiences. “Then he was arrested and you came to live with us.”

“Your father promised he would keep me safe.” she said, her coming as close as she had so far to crying. “Where is he? Is he here too?”

She liked the idea that the Emperor had come to rescue her, as silly as she knew that was. He had always been so kind to her. She had a theory that was one of the reasons she and Giana had never gotten along.

“No, Giuseppe sent an assassin who nearly succeeded in his task. My father was in surgery when I left Terra to come for Giuseppe and to find you.” Giana was curious to see how Jessica would react to both parts of what she had just said.

Jessica’s mouth opened wide enough that, had she been eating, her food would have fallen onto her shirt. It seemed there was no end to her late husband’s destructive potential. She was also surprised at the fact that Giana herself had come here.

“Is he stable? Is he okay, Giana?” she asked, the concerns of the former part outweighing the curiosity of the second. Her tone was nearly frantic, but she managed to contain herself a bit at the news.

“Last I heard he was stable but unconscious.” Giana replied, reaching her hands down to Antonio when the boy wandered over and letting him pull and play with them, but not giving him any attention beyond that.

“And you…sorry, but what are you doing here? Who’s commanding this fleet?” she asked with curious confusion. “Paolo’s too young, but if your father is unconscious.. Is it your mother?”

She didn’t really know how those things worked. She was a descendant of long-dead Emperors and, once, she had been the wife of a future Emperor. The possibility of her one day being the mother of an Emperor seemed increasingly unlikely. For all she knew, she was about to become a corpse. That’s what Giuseppe would have done to her and her children if she had been in the way. In fact, he may have killed all of them if he had inherited; Paolo, Giana, and even Elana.

“I am.” She kept the reply simple, Antonius’ eyes resting on her in the face of his daughter. “Princess Regent.”

Jessica hadn’t successfully kept the surprise off her face, but she at least had refrained from displaying the slightly bitchy doubt she felt, as if things must have become truly desperate while she was away. There was an awkward silence which she didn’t try to paper over with a smile or a saving comment. She was too tired; too broken.

“You won.” she said with blinking eyes, “I’m impressed.”

Giana was very good at reading people, especially other women, unfortunately for them. Her mostly indifferent expression began to fade into something harder. “Yes… and you and your husband lost.”

Jessica winced as if Giana had struck her with the look. She lowered her eyes again, in shame. Who was she to doubt Giana? What was she now except for Jessica Silva? She looked like hell, and she felt worse.

“I’m sorry.” she said, attempting to blink the tears away as they came. “Thank you for saving us..for…beating us.”

“Jessica, you understand that I could have very easily left you and your son for dead on Giuseppe’s ship? My mother and father wouldn’t have been happy, but it could have been simply explained away as an ‘oops’, or that Giuseppe had already killed you.” There was no threat in Giana’s voice at this point, she seemed to be genuinely curious if Jessica actually grasped the gravity of what Giana had chosen to do.

Jessica blinked again, her eyes still cast down. She gave two shallow nods of her head, but said nothing. Antonio laid his head on her leg and her hand went up to his back to support him, but still she didn’t say anything. She was glad Antonio was safe, but part of her, a very big part, wished Giana had done just that for her.

“I’m not a fool, and I am not my father nor mother who you can hold that child up in front of you to hide all of your wrongdoings behind. My brother was wicked and vile, but he was not intelligent enough to make all of these moves on his own. I knew that before you even confirmed it with your own lips. You are just as much a traitor to the crown as Giuseppe was, you just happen to be a woman and my father - as you can tell from me - has a weakness for women. Especially ones who have his grandchild attached to them.” She moved her hands from her knees and placed them gracefully down on the cushions of the couch on either side of her.

“Are you going to make me regret having a conscience for you and your son in the future, Jessica?”

Jessica looked up at Giana, her eyes welling with tears but still harder than before. There was no fear there now. In an instant, she had an epiphany. Giuseppe had been her nightmare; her demon. She had shared his bed and participated in his plots, but none of it had ever really been about what she wanted for herself. Her ambition was different. Perhaps it was just a survival tactic; a coping mechanism.

“We both know how hard it is…not to do what Giuseppe says.” she said, her voice shaking again, full of meaning. “I did what he said to protect my son, because, if I didn’t, he would have gotten all of us killed. Or killed us himself. Now Giuseppe is dead and you are Princess Regent. I guess that means I do what you say now in order to protect my son, doesn't it?”

She shook her head, her red eyes locked on Giana’s.

“The stupid whore nobody wants has changed owners.”

Giana sat there still and quiet for a moment, and then sat back, changing the way her legs were crossed so they were crossed at the knee instead. “Stop being melodramatic, Jessica. You could have tried to come to my father, you know how much he liked you and how much he disliked Giuseppe. I am not saying I don’t know how hard it was - you have no idea what my brother did to me - but I am not my brother. You are, however, a traitor.”

She shook her head and looked away. “I’m not going to make you do anything, Jessica, but if you choose to continue the path you and Giuseppe were both on - trying to make him Emperor for himself and you for your son after him - it is going to end poorly for you. Paolo is Crown Prince, he has two sisters, and you are the wife of a disgraced, disowned, and very dead prince.”

“Or, maybe I’m the mother of the rightful heir.” Jessica said it. There was something matter-of-fact in her tone. It wasn’t aspirational. “We both know that perspective. The entire Empire will know it. I don’t see a point in me saying some pretty words to you about loyalty if that fact remains. I could tell you I have no plans to press my child’s claim, and it would be true, but you won’t believe me. And why should you?”

Jessica took a deep breath and shook her head as well.

“Paolo is a good boy, and I believe he will be a good Emperor, but words won’t neutralize the threat we pose. Only two things can do that.” Jessica lifted her eyebrows. “A deal that makes everyone happy, or three more caskets to go alongside Giuseppe’s. It’s the truth, and we both know it.”

She shook her head, placing her hand on the cushion and mirroring Giana’s movement.

“And Giana, I know exactly what he did to you. We had the same monster. The real question is who is going to kill me. Him or you?”

“If I wanted you dead, Jessica, you’d be dead. Do you really not understand that?” Giana asked, her brows lifting again slightly.

“I understand everything.” Jessica said. “You do want me dead. That’s why we’re having this conversation. You just don’t want to kill me. Because you’re not a monster, even though someone tried to turn you into one.”

Jessica balled her fists.

“Well I’m not a monster either. I love my Emperor, and I worked to have my husband named Crown Prince again the only way I knew how. Not this.” she raised her voice then, more desperate than angry. “If you really think I’m a traitor, then I deserve to die, Giana! Your father forgave me for what I did and welcomed me back into the family, but he never signed anything. You have the power. Kill me if you think he’s too weak to do it; I don’t care. Just let my children live nice simple lives…far away from your family. Let them grow up and go to school. Let them have families that don’t fucking kill each other.”

“I do not want you dead, Jessica.” Giana repeated, annoyed but surprisingly patient. “I’m a bitch, not a monster, just like you said, but yes, you are a traitor.” She took a deep breath. “You claim you love your Emperor… tell me, supporting Giuseppe as Crown Prince and your son as second in line after him… what… what exactly did you think the end game was going to be to achieve that? Did you think you could charm your way back to the position after my father disinherited him?”

This time, it was Giana who seemed genuinely curious.

“Giuseppe said your father would only respond to force.” Jessica responded. “It wasn’t my plan. Do you think he listened to my ideas? You didn’t see the black eye he gave me when I suggested he apologize to your father and tell him he’ll do anything to prove himself worthy. I lost consciousness.”

She fumed at the memory. She hated that man.

“I did what he told me. I answered his questions about how he should talk to his potential allies. I entertained them at dinner parties. But it wasn’t my plan. And maybe that does make me guilty, but it doesn’t mean I wanted to be. What I wanted was a good husband, and I thought I had that on my wedding day. I wanted my child to be different than his father, and I couldn’t do that if I defied Giuseppe and he beat me to death.”

“Good men don’t exist, Jessica.” Giana said, giving a slight scoff. “Of course he didn’t listen to you, so why didn’t you come and seek protection from the Emperor who you claimed to love and who loves you more than his own daughters?”

Jessica furrowed her brow at that comment about men. She hoped Giana didn’t talk to her fiance that way. That had been one of the things which had always divided them. Jessica, the continual optimist, and Giana, perpetual victim. At least that’s how she had seen it.

“Do you still think that, Giana?” she asked, her tone less understanding than she had wanted. “He doesn’t love me more than his own daughters. He loves me in lieu of his own daughters. I can’t tell you how many times I heard him sigh and wish he had ‘done better’ by you.” she said, her tone and her face adopting something akin to anger, but not for the Emperor. “I bet I’m just as complicated now, though. He’ll have to find another daughter in law who is pretty and free of all resentment and hostility. I hear that Amalie is a little angel. She’ll have to do.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Giana pointed out calmly and left the rest of what Jessica had said alone for the moment.

“Because, if I went to your father, Giuseppe would have killed me.” Jessica said with a shrug. “And don’t tell me I would have been safe. Look where we are. I was taken from the protection of the Imperial Guard before I was smuggled here. For gods’ sake, he got an assassin to the Emperor.”

“That’s fair.” Giana said and seemed to actually accept the answer. “What do you think I should do with the rest of Giuseppe’s forces?”

Jessica looked at Giana with confusion at first. The answer that bubbled up from the depths of her heart was immediate and quite extreme.

“They should die.” she said, her voice seeming to resound in her head as she spoke those words. “I lived with them. None of them had to trade up. I spoke to most of the leaders; none of them liked Giuseppe or respected him. They were just opportunists. Those are the men who will try to make Antonio Emperor.”

She looked at Giana, her resolve clear.

“They have to die.”

Giana nodded slowly. “You know what I actually want for you, Jessica? Exactly what you asked for your children, but with you in the picture.”

“Then a deal.” Jessica said with a nod. “They can never be removed from the succession in a way that will stick politically. It might be safer if they remain in the succession, but comfortably behind the rest of the family.”

Jessica had obviously thought about this a great deal, and she had plenty of time to do so.

Paolo and his children, you and yours, Elana and hers, and then Antonio and his brother or sister. That way, the mystique and the sense of imbalance is gone..and they will be treated like every other grandchild of an Emperor. Respectfully, with difference, but not opportunistically. I would take them and move off world, somewhere beautiful and quiet, and visit every now and then.”

“Again, much to your disbelief, I’m actually not going to kill you, Jessica. Not unless you become a thorn in my brother’s or my own side. This isn’t a ‘deal’ and if you present it as such, it sounds rather coerced. I’d rather think of this as you seeing sense, finally.” Giana pointed out.

Jessica didn’t like that, but the day she and Giana saw things from the same perspective was likely the day Hades froze.

“Fine. Whatever you want to call it.” she said, picking up Antonio again. The allowances for their ranks would be enough to secure their comfort and protection for the rest of their lives. And, with Giuseppe out of the way, there was less to worry about than ever. “Do you think the Emperor will agree?”

“I think if you write out the agreement and present it as your genuine wish - which I truly hope it is - then yes, the Emperor will agree… and if he does not wake, I will agree. My mother will agree as well given they are her grandchildren. You’ll have a free and comfortable life as long as you accept your place and don’t try to play usurper or kingmaker again. Do you think you can manage that?” Giana had doubts, truthfully. She wouldn’t have been shocked if Jessica had been behind the whole thing.

Maybe she should have left them to die.Too late now she supposed.

Jessica nodded, her eyes finding those of her son again.

“I can do that,”she said quietly. “Thank you.”

“Ma!” Antonio exclaimed happily and spread his arms wide. He leaned his body forward and fell into her with a series of giggles.

“You’re free to move around here, Jessica. You will have a few guards stationed outside but they are for your protection and not to keep you in here. You can access the replicator, wander the ship, whatever you like.” Giana stood then, regal and beautiful. “Because we left in a hurry, a lot of the more civilian venues are open as well.”

“I’ll need to find some proper clothes before I go out.” She said, knowing that was an understatement. “Are there hairdressers aboard?”

“There are, yes. I’ll see what I can do about assigning you an aide to help you navigate the ship. As for the clothes, use the replicator. It will be passable until you can find something better.” Giana gestured to the device on the wall.

“One more thing.” Jessica said, looking at Giana more directly again. “Where is Giuseppe? His body, I mean?”

“Likely in the morgue. If you want to see him I’ll arrange it for later, but not right now.”

Jessica wanted to push, but thought better of it. She wasn’t ready to leave the apartment yet anyway.

“I understand. Thanks for bringing me my baby, Giana. And for rescuing us.”

Giana didn’t give a verbal reply, but instead gave a polite nod. The look in her eye though simply communicated once again that she sincerely hoped that Jessica didn’t make her regret this decision. If she did, the consequences would be dire. With nothing else, she left the room and headed toward sickbay.

END