Heavy is the Head

Posted on Mon Mar 4th, 2024 @ 7:04am by Princess Royal Giana Orsini & Crown Prince Paolo Orsini

Mission: Historiae Terrae Et Imperii
Location: ISS Imperator
Timeline: Date 2371-09-05 at 1445
3654 words - 7.3 OF Standard Post Measure

ON


The only injuries Paolo had received from his dear brother was some severe bruising on his neck and the cut to the back of his head. Getting hit in the head by such a strong man hadn’t been nothing, but the blow had been rather indirect and done mostly as a reflex. The headache was no good and he was a bit dazed, but otherwise, his only serious injuries were on the inside.

He had been helpless in that fight. With no physical skills to speak up, all of his education and intelligence had been wasted in a struggle with fists and feet. He hadn’t even succeeded in striking Giuseppe once.

The doctors had insisted he change into a hospital gown, which he did compliantly, but with substantial irritation. He was tired of being young; he was tired of being small. He was tired of being on the losing side. He placed a hand gently on his bandaged head and sighed quietly.

Giana had left Jessica and Antonio at peace and had sent word for one of the civilian aides to be sent to them as she had promised. She still wasn’t entirely certain she had made the right choice in the end. Morally, yes, but did morals serve anyone in the Empire? Had they ever? She entered sickbay and asked about her brother and Sacha. Sacha was still being treated for his injuries, so she was escorted to Paolo’s room instead.

Unlike Jessica, Giana did Paolo the courtesy of ringing the chime on his door. It was for mostly selfish reasons though given she didn’t want to risk seeing anything she couldn’t unsee.

“Come in.” Paolo said, dryly. He was lost in thought, and the interruption of the chime was most unwelcome because of it. He felt the pressure of encroaching distraction, and attempted to push it away, but when he saw who it was, he let the train of thought go.

She walked into the room and immediately her eyes found her brother’s face. Instead of speaking first, she remained quiet though with a mild tension in her body. He would set the tone of this encounter.

Paolo looked at her. Of course, he was miserable, but her presence made him feel instantly silly for allowing himself to succumb to such negative feelings. Everything had worked out, after all. They had done what they had come to do. Well, she and Sacha had, anyway.

He forced a smile, more out of a desire to be happy than any show.

“You won.” he said, his voice sounding hollow in the large suite. It also sounded weak and somewhat wheezy from the strangling.

“We won.” She replied with a rare moment of charitability. The tension she had been holding seemed to leave given he hadn’t launched into her with immediate anger when she walked in the door. She was still wary though; Paolo shared blood with Giuseppe and Antonio both after all. She drew closer to him, stopping at the foot of the bed.

“How are you feeling? You sound terrible.”

He hadn’t done anything and he knew it. He brushed off her comment about their success and went to answer her question instead.

“Thank you.” he said, his smile reflecting a more genuine feeling of amusement, if not happiness, “I feel terrible too. Giuseppe was distracted enough choking me to death that Sacha took him by surprise.”

The smile faded as he thought of the fighting look on his brother’s face as his dying effort, over protecting himself, was to kill him. His eyes went hollow as he relived the moment, the presence of Giana and the present situation fading into the background. He could still feel the man’s strong fingers around his neck.

He looked up at her, remembering her presence.

“I really wish you hadn’t left me behind. It was difficult to follow you. I called in a favor that will have to be repaid.”

For a moment, Giana had been inclined to reach out to him and comfort him. For a moment, she had simply seen him as another victim of Giuseppe and she remembered what it had all felt like. Then he had spoken again and she remembered they were very different. Paolo would have every resource in the world to help him through his difficulty.

“I really wish you had done the right thing as Crown Prince and heir to the Empire and stayed put. It was completely irresponsible, Paolo, and you risked everything our father has built and dreamed of because you didn’t think it through. I left you there to try and make you see sense. I shouldn’t have left you with Sacha.”

Paolo’s smile returned, though it had taken the form of a grin. It was a subtle, quiet, ironic pride. No one had ever accused him of any of those things before, so they felt strange to hear. Irresponsible; risk; didn’t think. These were words for other boys with other personalities and other habits. He felt a wave of relief, knowing he had options, if nothing else.

“You really shouldn't have. I wouldn’t have been able to do any of it without him without victimizing some poor military pilot.” he said, looking up at her. “You look different. You seem…experienced. Are you still mad at me for suggesting you take the job?”

“I just wanted to save him too…” She said quietly, sadly, and looked away. For an instant, she looked like she might burst into tears, but instead she drew in a long, deep breath.

“I’m tired, Paolo, that’s all. My part in this is far from done.”

“What do you mean?” He asked, his face turning to a mix of concern and curiosity.

“Most pressing, I have to decide what to do with the rest of Giuseppe’s forces. Then when we return to earth, I have to deal with mother and Ramsay and the fallout from basically going rogue on this. Then, if father wakes up, who knows what is going to actually happen to me.” She paused and added. “Oh and I’ll probably have to deal with my fiance being dead too.”

“Fiancé?” Paolo asked, “What? Giana, Sacha’s fine. I heard him arguing with his nurses a few minutes ago.”

“He’s fine for the moment, but father is going to kill him. He never liked Sacha, Paolo, you know that. He still doesn’t. Father wanted Giuseppe dead, but he wants a scapegoat so he can feel vindicated that he didn’t give the order himself, kill the scapegoat to avenge his precious misled boy. I might have maybe been able to save him, maybe, but now since he brought you here and nearly got you killed there isn’t going to be a damn thing I can do.” Giana looked away and shook her head. Perhaps she shouldn’t have hoped they would see reason; it wasn’t in either of them.

Paolo hesitated. Giana was notoriously hard to convince when she had her mind made up about something like this. Part of him didn’t have the energy to try, but he found in himself the desire to tell her his impression, be it to soothe her worry or just to insist upon the truth.

“Giana, the Senate declared a Hostias on Giuseppe. He was stripped of all ranks, titles, lands, his wealth, in theory, and even his citizenship. Legally, Sacha might as well have killed a Klingon warrior. Father couldn’t move against him without destroying the very idea of an enemy of the Senate and People.” Paolo said, wincing at the pulsing pain in his head, “in fact, I think he’s entitled to a half of Giuseppe’s wealth.”

“He did, but he also made it very clear he wanted Giuseppe to be brought back alive despite that - at least privately. His declaration of Hostias was without real teeth in the end.” She paused, noticing him wince again. “Do you want me to get the doctor? Get you something for the pain?”

Paolo was growing frustrated with their father’s political waffling. He was at the man’s side almost constantly now, under normal circumstances, and had come to notice how quick the man could be to make a bold decision and then to roll it back later, after some private thought. The man was afraid of being a monster, but Paolo had learned something significant as he watched their brother die: the Imperial Throne of the Terrans was built for monsters, and a good man would have a hard time keeping it. These thoughts overrode Giana’s question for the space of several seconds, before he remembered himself, shook his head, and frowned.

“It’s just a bit of pain. It’ll make me stronger.” he said, expressing an idea he had never expressed before. In some ways, he felt like, for all his effort, Giuseppe had successfully killed him in that cold cell. These were the thoughts of some other man.

“Alright.” It wasn’t that Giana didn’t notice Paolo’s distress, but she really was tired and she didn’t want to risk this devolving into some sort of fight. She didn’t have the patience for it.

“Oh. I saved Jessica and Antonio as well.”

Paolo nodded, but he didn’t smile.

“Good.” he said, but his words didn’t find any home in his gestures or the depth of his gaze. Perhaps that was a further complication, even though he loved his nephew and sister-in-law. “Where were they?”

“In an apartment. I didn’t get too many details. She’s pregnant.” Giana shared and reached up to rub her forehead. “I hope I don’t regret doing it, but I thought father and especially mother would… struggle if Giuseppe’s son was dead too. I spoke to her before I came here, she has agreed to make an appeal that she will more or less withdraw from public life in exchange for never moving against us and her children being last in the line of succession.”

She looked at Paolo's face then. “But, in reality she is a traitor, and father really should just remove them entirely. You and I both know he won’t.”

Paolo looked at her, seeming to search his features to see if she truly believed that’s what needed to be done. He himself didn’t know much more for sure then the fact that they were dangerous and that killing her children was wrong. He was glad it was still up to his father, and didn’t say anything about it.

“The soldiers. What are you going to do with them?” he asked, recognizing what a loaded question it was.

“What do you think I should do with them?” She asked and seemed genuinely curious as to his thoughts just as she was with Jessica.

“We are fighting a war, and we could use our trained soldiers back.” he said, making it clear that he had spent the past month thinking about this, trying to anticipate the potential decisions of his father.

“We could, but these soldiers were loyal to Giuseppe because they wanted to be, not because they had to be.” Giana noted, not being argumentative but simply providing the other side. “Even Jessica believes they would try to install Antonio as emperor.”

“They don’t respect the Emperor's authority.” he said with a nod before his brown eyes met hers. “If we don’t act decisively, this will all happen again, and people won’t fear the Crown or our family. And they certainly can’t be counted on to love us.”

He seemed to skip the conclusion then, looking at her seriously.

“This has to be a day no one can ever forget,” he said slowly. “Can you…can you do that?”

Giana sighed and looked away, focusing on a spot at the wall. “I was really hoping someone would tell me that my gut was wrong in this.”

Paolo looked at her, his expression awkward and uncertain. He had no idea what to say to her, but he supposed these were the very struggles their father had to deal with on a daily basis. But they couldn’t be bound by what he would do; that wasn’t always certain.

“It would be reasonable and totally justifiable for you to consult the other Regents. In fact,” he said, pausing and steepling his fingers, “It would be much more constitutional and legitimate. You’ve done a lot of things on your own here, and that isn’t within the spirit of the Regency. It would be much easier on you to decide with Mother and Dr. Ramsay and might keep you from potentially becoming persona-non-grata at Court over this.”

“It would be, yes. Ramsay would likely see sense, but I don’t know if mother would.” Sighing, she reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose. “I think the ship has sailed on me being persona-non-grata though… but you probably knew that already.”

“If you can’t put the cat back in the bag, as the saying goes…then wear it as a hat.” he said, and smiled, chuckling slightly before parting his lips to interpret his humor. “If you’re going to do the time, you might as well do the crime. At least, then, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing everything happened the way it should. Maybe you should deal with the situation yourself and take all the glory you can. You might find, when we get back to Terra, you’re too big to fail.” he paused, “or you might make it much much worse.”

“Akamu thinks I should host a Triumph.” She chuckled softly, though her expression was rapidly starting to fall as she considered everything now.

Paolo’s eyebrows went up.

“No one has be given a Triumph in over one-hundred years. I’ve read about them and…would love to see one.” he said, turning his head. “You’d need approval of the Senate, though, and I’m not sure Mother would let them do that. But, at this point, who knows what anyone will do?”

He reached for the glass of water on the table next to him and took several short sips, seeming to have trouble swallowing as he made a pained face.

“Do you want a Triumph, Giana?”

“No. Like I told Akamu, I can’t think of anything more ridiculous than me being paraded around in a chariot with everyone celebrating my military success.” She rolled her eyes slightly and then sighed, closing them. “Besides… I feel like to host a Triumph, one should feel triumphant. I certainly do not.”

“And it would cost you millions of crowns.” he said with a shake of his head. “The entire party is supposed to be at your expense. Well, the feasting, at least. But, if you aren’t going to do that, what are you going to do? How long can you even wait to decide?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I should just order us all to go into the gravity well and let mother and Ramsay deal with whatever back on earth, and then we can have Empress Elana. I suppose the alliteration has a nice ring to it.” Sighing, she sat back. She really did look tired and worn, probably more so than Paolo had ever seen his sister looking.

“In the end I guess I have to decide if my life is even going to be salvageable after this or not.”

“Empress Elana does not have a ring to it.” he said with a shake of his head. He leaned forward just a bit, and when the pain started, he thought better of it and sat back down again. “I have a feeling you’ll be just fine. Do…whatever it is you wish Father would do in a situation like this.”

He said, and raised an eyebrow, an idea entering his mind.

“If he were here, and the decision were his to make, what would you have him do?”

Giana smirked just slightly. That was probably the first time she had ever heard him say anything even remotely approaching negative about Elana. She didn’t point it out though, nor did she point out that what she would have him do would never factor into a decision Antonius would make.

“It’s nearly seven-hundred thousand people, Paolo. That’s… a lot of Terran blood. But it’s also nearly seven-hundred thousand enemies that would have happily seen us to our graves.”

He nodded slowly; carefully, his large eyes growing larger with expectation. He raised his hand to direct her in a circular motion.

“So..”

“Would it make me a monster?” She asked, but it wasn’t entirely clear if she was asking him, herself, someone else, or the gods.

“In the eyes of the Gods, treason against the Emperor is treason against eternity.” he said, erudite, but more passionate than someone simply relaying facts. “In the eyes of the State, a good ruler must establish justice; that means rewarding the good and punishing the bad. In the eyes of the women at Court…yes, it would make you a monster. In the eyes of your donors and customers for Bella Gia, yes, it would make you a monster. But that is the pain of being an Empress. If I were to do it, the men would admire me.”

He smiled, but was aware of the seriousness of the situation.

“We didn’t come out here for us; we came out for the Empire.” he reached out and put his hand on top of hers. “Giuseppe has killed all of us. The sooner we accept that, the sooner we can find out why.”

Giana’s hand shifted, but where once she might have pulled away, she instead simply turned her hand over and wrapped her fingers around Paolo’s gently. She was pensive, actively listening to what he had to say. “You know I really don’t want to be Empress. I never have.”

“That makes two of us.” he said quietly. There was a spark then, like a solution which came, at first, very slowly, and then all at once. “Giana, who commands the Fleet? I mean, what Admiral?”

“Leyton. Why?” She asked, still holding his hand and looking into his eyes.

“Admiral Leyton…Charles Leyton?” he asked, knowing the answer already. “Commanding Admirals have life or death authority over enemies in wartime, of course. It's conceivable that he could refuse their surrender. If he commanded the battle and ended the war, that would mean a Triumph for him.”

He turned his eyes to her.

“And, from what I’ve seen of Leyton, that would be the career-making honor that he’s been looking for.”

“He’s a snake that would stab us in the back if it suited him.” Giana noted, her face souring but not in a way that signaled she was dismissing the idea. “The only reason he is here and not with Giuseppe is because he decided we were the winning side. But I suppose even snakes have their uses.”

“Then he’s a smart snake.” Paolo said, shrugging. “The Empire has never been a place where underlings can be trusted. There are rare exceptions; Father and Ramsay, for example. The rest are almost all snakes. It isn’t in Leyton’s best interest to betray us. We can let him have all the credit and simply go home. Whatever happens is his problem, and his fault. For all the world will know, we were here as observers.”

“Yeah, I can’t say I’m in love with Ramsay as much as you and father, but I suppose that’s neither here nor there.” She sighed and then smiled slightly. “You know what I’d really like to happen? I’d like for father to show up right now, yell at me a whole bunch, and then make whatever decision he wants to make.”

“It might be happening right now. There was a communications scattering field in operation when we snuck into the system.” he said, but shook his head. “We can’t count on that, though, can we?”

“No, we can’t.” Giana gave his hand a gentle squeeze and then let him go. “I’m going to go and see Sacha now. I’ll let you know when I’ve made up my mind of what to do.”

Paolo leaned back, groaning at the pain but, otherwise, keeping it to himself.

“Thank you for visiting me.”

Giana stood and moved to the door, but stopped before she left and looked back at Paolo. It took a moment for the words to come and she looked slightly distressed saying them, but only because she thought he might not believe them. “Paolo I… I’m sorry for how I treated you. I know it doesn’t make up for it, but I am. I don’t want to fight with you anymore.”

Paolo gave a small smile, but his eyes were on hers. He was clearly very pleased with her apology, and he knew what it meant.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you. You were under a lot of pressure, and it was…unmanly, at the very least.”

Giana wasn’t sure if it was unmanly or not; plenty of men yelled - for some it was their favorite form of communication, apparently. Thankfully, yelling actually was something she didn’t have much experience with in her life. It wasn’t much, but it was something.

“Thanks… Get some rest.” She paused, thought about saying something else, but simply smiled and left.


END