The Bitten Hand

Posted on Fri Nov 3rd, 2023 @ 12:08am by Princess Royal Giana Orsini & Major Sacha Lavigne

Mission: Historiae Terrae Et Imperii
Location: The Pyramid
Timeline: Date 2371-09-02 at 1145
2738 words - 5.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Though she had put up a “strong” front in front of her mother, brother, and Ramsay, the truth was Giana was feeling quite broken. What had she done to deserve such betrayal from them all - especially Paolo? Did they all really just hate her? Was she unworthy of their time and love? She’d tried doing everything right by their standards this time and in the end it was all for nothing. She had walked through the hallways to the internal transporter pad while wiping her tears away; no one thought much of her crying this time given the fact her father was dying on the operating table. She really hadn’t even had time to sit with that yet, but it certainly wasn’t helping her at all right now.

She pushed through the doors of her apartment and immediately let out a sob she had been holding in while out in public. Covering her eyes with both hands, she called out for the one person who could at least give her some comfort.

“Sacha?” She half sobbed out.

Her cry for Sacha was answered with silence since, besides two servants, she was alone in the apartment. Once she thought about it, she would remember that Sacha was off on a second interview with the CEO of Aegis and that he would be back when it was finished. He’d already submitted his resignation and request for discharged to the Marines and had spent his last days at work preparing for civilian life.

Giana frowned at the silence that met her, broken only by her own sniffles and barely contained sobs. She remembered then why he wasn’t there and though she didn’t fault him for it (and somewhere in the mess of her mind she hoped it was going well for him) it just amplified her feelings of loneliness. She wept more intensely then, her knees shaking, and willed herself over to at least sit down on the couch so she didn’t fall to the floor. Sitting down, she slid out of her heels and pulled her legs up, tucking them under her body while folding her arms on the arm of the chair. Her head went down to her forearms, burying her face and she continued to live in her misery, sobbing helplessly until she had no more to give, but she didn’t move.

Sacha entered about forty minutes after she arrived wearing a tailored gray suit that fit perfectly in his fit frame and a dark green tie. He looked transformed and professional with his hair styled and slicked back. He walked into the foyer of her apartment, having promised to pay her a visit when he was done. Placing his bag on the floor next to the couch, he noticed signs that she was home.

“Giana?” He asked with a slightly raised voice.

Giana had after a time eventually moved from her position on the couch with some coaxing from her maid. She had washed off her face and ended up in bed, not having bothered to change out of what she had been wearing back at the office. Her eyes were still red and puffy, tears coming sporadically now and then but she had mostly settled into a numb sort of sadness. On hearing Sacha’s voice, she continued to lie there for a few beats and then finally pushed herself up to leave the room.

As she walked down the hall, she smoothed out her messed hair and took a deep breath. She plastered on her best court smile for him right before she came into view.

“Hey. How’d it go?”

“I’m hired.” He said with a satisfied tone as he turned to her. “You’re looking at the Director of Corporate Relations for Aegis Arms. I’ll be in charge of wooing new buyers and snoozing corporate fat cats for more money then I’ll know what to do with.”

He seemed practically giddy, but once he noticed her puffy eyes and plasters-on smile, his joy slackened a bit.

“What happened?” He asked, pausing where he was.

“Oh babe, that’s great!” Giana responded and this time there was a brief flash of true enthusiasm and joy for his news. Her smile became more genuine and in a rare moment of selflessness, she didn’t immediately burden him with her problems. Instead, she moved over to the bar and poured them both a small glass of Romulan ale. Returning to him, she handed him his glass while she held her own.

“Congratulations, Sacha. I’m really proud of you.”

He took the glass from her with a grin, seeming to be genuinely moved by her pride in him. He shifted it to his lips and took a quick sip.

“My skill with sweet talk pays off every now and then, hmm?” He said, moving to her and taking her free hand in his. “No, no playing around. Tell me why you’ve been crying.”

Giana gave his hand a squeeze and walked over to the couch with him to sit down. She’d had the benefit of time for everything to not be so raw and be… slightly more reasonable… but now that she was letting herself think about it again her anger was coming back.

She took a breath to start with the most important point first, her hand still in Sacha’s. “My father was attacked today. Giuseppe sent an assassin… he is extremely injured, Sacha, and he still isn’t out of surgery.”

Sacha’s eyes went wide in a moment of unrestrained shock. Despite what he’d said weeks ago about the emperor just being a man, the cult of the emperor was deeply ingrained in their society and one couldn’t help but be shaken by news like that. Adding to that, the fact that he was Giana’s father made it even more confusing.

“Gods…” he said, and fell silent. He wasn’t sure what to say, and that was quite obvious.

“Yeah.” She herself was still really at a loss and still hadn’t really even processed that part. Maybe she wasn’t even capable because it just seemed so unfathomable. Emperor, Father, Papa… three in one for the man, but she had never seen him as a god. She knew better.

“So… that means a regency council which I am sitting on with Mother and Ramsay… and in discussing responsibilities I learned my younger brother is just as much of a snake as his father and older brother. So that was fun.” She downed what was in her glass while rolling her eyes.

“The little brainiac?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. “A snake? I find that hard to imagine.”

“I did too, and honestly, I really thought I was getting somewhere with him… you know, that we were getting along better and maybe the whole brother and sister thing wasn’t so bad.” She frowned as she said the words, realizing that it was actually a larger part of her hurt than she realized.

“So with the whole regency thing cuts him out, he has literally no say in a damn thing we do. I knew he wouldn’t like that at all and I sympathized - I wouldn’t either - so I invited him to go down with Richard and myself to talk with my mother. Really dumb, my first mistake.” She stood suddenly then and went to grab the bottle of ale, bringing it back to the couch and refilling her drink.

“So we go down, have some back and forth about father, and then decide to divide responsibilities. Then I did something really fucking stupid, Sacha. I asked Paolo for his input. You know what happened?”

Sacha was following the story with guarded interest, knowing how Giana got when someone upset her. He was waiting to see how reasonable her grievance was before he committed to her side.

“What?” He asked curiously.

“You’re looking at the new overseer of the entire Terran military. Princess Gigi.” She gave a dramatic curtsey to him and then flopped back down onto the couch. “Per Paolo’s decree.”

Sacha blinked, processing what he’d just been told.

“But…I thought you said he had no say?” He said with a confused frown. “You have no military experience whatsoever. Then again, neither does your mother or Chancellor Ramsay.”

“So, he doesn’t, but that’s the thing. He said this in front of my mother and Ramsay. Mother is a people pleaser and obviously more than a little stressed, and Ramsay has his face firmly affixed between the ass cheeks of whatever man is in power. So they agreed immediately. I can see why mother wouldn’t be the pick, but Ramsay has more knowledge than I do just by the way of being involved in things. I was never invited to that kind of shit - though to be fair I’d probably never have gone because why would I? Why the fuck would I ever have anything to do with the military?”

“But, but… don’t worry Sacha. You’ll never guess who offered to help me with that immediately after that because he reads all the boxes and goes to the meetings.”

“Paolo.” He answered, licking his lips before sipping his ale again. “What arrangement would you have preferred? What part of government do you even feel comfortable leading?”

“Mother should have taken the Secretariat, Ramsay should have taken the military, and I should have taken the Lords and dealt with the Senate.” She replied with confidence though pulled her legs up under her again.

“Paolo is trying to ruin me and I don’t know why. I know I wasn’t exactly kind to him, but I thought I was making up for that… maybe it was just too late and he’s a really good liar?”

“Paolo doesn’t have it in him.” He said, shaking his head. “It sounds like you just asked him what he thought and he answered your question. He’s not much of a backstabber, and you should have said you were unhappy if you didn’t like what he suggested.”

His take was rather blunt, though his tone was neutral and devoid of any indication he might be annoyed or exasperated.

“Training to rule is his entire life. I’m sure he knows enough to have some ideas of how things should run. If you don’t want his help, just box him out. You said yourself he has no power. I can help you figure out the war if you want.”

“That’s the thing though, Sacha, I didn’t want to box him out. I wanted to involve him and be good to him and then he did this. If he didn’t do it intentionally then he’s a fool, but the result is going to be the same.”

“Well, he is fourteen. He’s smart, but how wise could he be? How much could he know?” He asked with a smirk. “Tell the Empress and Ramsay you want a rearrangement after considering things. They won’t think less if you, and if they do, who gives a flying fuck? If you don’t think you can do this, then you can just do something else.”

“I’ll just be fucked when they say no.” Giana sighed and then sat up, looking into Sacha’s eyes.

“Am I crazy? Like… you understand why I’m saying he’s trying to ruin me right? Well maybe… why it will ruin me either way.”

He reached over and placed a hand on her knee, taking a slow breath before he answered her question.

“I think you’re overestimating your brother’s malice and the contempt your mother and Ramsay have for you, and underestimating your ability to change people’s minds, and your ability to run the military. To be honest, it seems like you feel like you’re just a little girl, but you’re not.” He said, smiling tiredly. “You have been famous and influential your whole life and you run a successful company. You can handle a little political hardball, Gigi.”

Giana’s hand moved over his and she listened to what he had to say. Whether he really knew it or not, she valued what Sacha had to say above everyone else - though it was rather hard to see it when she was caught up in her emotions. Really, he was the only one in her life that ever seemed to have any amount of faith in her abilities; more than she even had herself.

She took a deep breath and looked away, though her hand remained. “My father could die…”

He nodded, clearly understanding that.

“And, if he does, people will really need to depend on you, Gigi. You won’t be able to take things personally or to get emotional with an Empire to lead. That’s the thing about command; in the end, leadership has nothing to do with the leader.”

He spoke from experience as an officer in the military, understanding he was talking to a very emotional and volatile person. Other people speculated about her being on the throne, but few of them saw the Giana he saw. She was self-conscious, easily offended, and moody when she wasn’t putting on a face. If she had been a man, he knew, she would be going the way of Giuseppe Angelo in some ways. It was the fact she was a daughter that allowed these character traits to rush under the bridge.

“No one is trying to ruin you.” He said definitively, leaving no room in his tone for her to interpret what he was saying with a grain of salt. “You are a Regent and you have the power of the Emperor. Maybe take the opportunity to try to do things right while you can.”

Giana had listened to every word Sacha had said, but she didn’t reply. It wasn’t a terribly unusual thing though nor a bad sign from her, it usually just meant she was thinking. She pulled her legs up underneath her and leaned into him.

“Why do you think he put me in charge of the military?”

“Probably to use you to get what he wants.” Sacha answered with a chuckle. “But not the kind that destroys you.”

When he chuckled, she pulled back from him and was scowling, a frown on her pretty face. “You find the fact he’s using me to get what he wants amusing, then?”

“A bit. There’s never been a good leader who didn’t know how to use people, Gigi. It’s just a surprising ability for that little squirt to possess. It isn’t necessarily bad.”

Sacha’s face changed then as something seemed to settle in his mind.

“Wait, if you’re a Regent and you’re here, who is running the government right now?”

Giana didn’t answer his question. In fact, she stood up immediately and looked down at him. Her expression was strained; angry, confused, and genuinely hurt. She was looking at him like he was a stranger. He wasn’t wrong that it was a normal trait, but to actively find it funny that she was getting used by her brother? She’d been used by a brother before.

She slumped slightly then, the anger going away just as it had earlier; her eyes filled with tears again. She didn’t say anything nor do anything except turn and walk away from him.

Sacha blinked as she responded that way and watched as she walked away. He didn’t understand what was going on with her or why she was so upset by the simple fact that her brother wasn’t a mindless puppet child. He poured himself another glass of ale and sat back on the couch. Perhaps she just needed some time to herself. In the meantime, however, he hoped her Mother and Ramsay had her best interests in mind.

“Can’t do this in front of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.” he said to himself, reflecting on her volatility for a moment before sipping his drink and letting his mind drift to other things.

END