ICHaFBI 21

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=I, Corvus; How a Fool became Imperator of the O'Reillys - Chapter XXI -=
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----<Character & Faction Directory of I, Corvus>----
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===The agreement of change===
Imperial Palace
City of Nova Roma, Latium District - Gaul Continent
Alphard IV, Marian Hegemony
14 January 3036
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Livia sat, eyes closed, repeating a mantra to keep the anxiety away, just as her mother had taught her as a child. It worked, as it always did. Although whether it was the mantra itself, or the memories of the warmth and love that came along with it, she was never sure. Unlike so much of her life, she chose not to think too deeply into it, lest its power disappear.
 
So deep was she in the trance that she couldn't feel the touch of Agrippina's brushes as she worked to prepare her lady for the Imperial audience. "Done." Her slave said, far sooner than she'd been prepared for.
 
Yet when she opened her eyes, it was perfect. Hair in three levels inspired by the old Romans, but with makeup that gave a hint of Algenibi warpaint. The traditionalism would appeal to Corvus, but the cleverer members would recognize the subtle hint of menace in the makeup. Or so she assumed.
 
"You are ready, mistress." Agrippina said. Most slaves would have framed it as a question. Agrippina didn't. Six months ago, she might have had her flogged for the insolence.
 
Livia took in a deep breath, stood, and stretched out her arms. "I must be, so I am." She turned to look at Agrippina. "If things go wrong, find Maximus. He will get you somewhere safe. My will has provisions for you and your family, but O'Reilly wills seen to worth less than their ink these days."
 
Agrippina chuckled as she packed away Livia's extensive make up. "If harm comes to you, Mistress, then Maximus will already be dead. But have no fear; I will flee from here if I hear so much as a breath out of place." She looked away from her task and directly into Livia's eyes. "If harm comes to you, I won't want to keep living here. Do not fail...mistress."
 
Livia nodded, slightly, then headed for the hall. Maximus fell in line as she walked through the doorway. "Mistress, I don't think I should come with you."
 
"Nonsense. I will have whoever I want beside me."
 
"The Algenibi are out of favor here—"
 
Livia stopped cold and lifted a finger towards him. "I know what you're worried about, Maximus, you don't need to explain. But your Burning Chrome aren't like the Flaming Circus, are they?"
 
He shook his head.
 
"Exactly. Let them see you stand silently, attentively, and do your job better than any Praetorian could. Let them think I tamed the same savages my brother couldn't. Their ignorance will make for a good contrast."
 
Maximus stood straighter, puffing out his chest. "As my mistress desires, so shall it be done."
 
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The two made their way deep into the bowels of the palace, past corridors that still bore scorch marks from Praetorian lasers. Finally, they reached the Scriptorium. Hundreds of shelves of old books, scrolls, discs, and data crystals filled the room, and in the middle, the Imperator stood hunched over a table, alone, one hand on his cane and another tracing along the lines of a book.
 
He smiled the dopey, affable smile he always wore as he waved her forward. But he held out a hand as they got close. "Your m-man can stay outside." It was a command, not an offer. He was taking the office already. Not a good sign, she thought. She nodded to Maximus and he obeyed.
 
"Now we wait f-f-for Lucia, then we c-c-can begin. Please, sit."
 
She took a seat and they stared around the room in silence for a moment. She could see his hands fidgeting and rubbing each other, his legs, anything they could find really. He reached for a pen and his hands focused on it for a while.
 
"H-h-how was New Venice? I t-trust old Vulcan is d-d-doing well?" He spat out between twitches as his jaw seemed determine to rip out of the right side of his head.
 
"Good." She said, struggling to think of pleasantries to watch the time with, when all she wanted to do was take substance.
 
"Uuuuuncle!" came a girl'ss cry from down the hall. Lucia, or a girl who Livia presumed was her cousin, padded through the stacks and collided with Corvus. The two stood in silence a while, hugging each other. Livia stared at Lucia. She hadn't seen her cousin in four years, save for that one moment in the throne room with Sean, and, well, Lucia was the least memorable thing in that room.
 
She looked so strange now. Livia could see the face of the child she used to know in hers, but the young woman before her was tall, poised, and elegant in the regalia of the Lothian High Mistress. Lucia had been a sweet girl and a good friend, but no one would have used "poised" or "elegant" to describe the girl Livia had once known.
 
They broke off their embrace and before Livia could register it, Lucia had glommed on to her, squeezing her tight. "I've missed you so much!"
 
"I...I've missed you too, Lucia." She managed to get out.
 
What world has she been living in, that she can trust us like this? Or has Lothario taught her how to play the game better than any of us? She would be one to watch.
 
"N-n-now that we are all here. We can begin. Before I speak, let me assure you th-that no one can hear us. No one can see us. No one has used this room aside from myself and a few scribrairians since Johann Sebastian's reign." He gave them a smirk. "I suppose none of my predecessors thought it worthwhile to bug my library."
 
Lucia giggled. Livia held her tongue, for now.
 
"What I mean to say is, we can speak freely here. No one will know. There will be no record."
 
Livia set her arms on her hips and bent backwards slightly, as if to stretch. She felt the outlines of the knife Agrippina had secreted within her belt buckle and the other she had fastened under her tunic with tape.
 
Corvus began to speak in a voice she'd never heard from his before. It wavered and stuttered, as it always did, but far less than normal. There was a hard edge, a serious edge to it she'd never heard from him. "Marius, Sertorius, Sean, they all died because they believed in themselves and n-no one else. They kept the rest in fear, whether we be senator or slave, stranger or family, they trusted no one and when the end came, they had no one. Marius killed Vibius, imprisoned Sertorius, and drove Lucius away. Sertorius should have held you, Livia, and Sean close, but instead he sent us all away. Sean…..his m-madness drove us all away. They stood alone, and those they marginalized came back and killed every one of them."
 
He allowed his cane to fall and straightened his posture "I will not make the same mistake they did. I need you, both of you to help me, to trust me, if any of us are to survive what's c-c-coming. So let there be no more lies between us, children. No more secrets."
 
"I am not the fool everyone thinks me to be. Of course, any fool will say that, so let me be clear: I have survived forty-seven years in this family only because people have thought me a bigger fool than I am. My crippled leg? It's been gone for four years, and no one notices. My stutter? My tics? They are a blight upon me, b-but I make them worse than they are around others. The obscure the mind."
 
Livia did her best to hide her surprise. But Lucia didn't. The enormous grin she was trying to hide under a hand. She knew! How?! How did Lucia see it but not her? How behind had she fallen at the game if a sixteen year old played it better?
 
If Corvus noticed, he made no sign, just continued with his speech. "The crisis of the third century saw nearly thirty Emperors reign, more if you include the breakaway empires, but none for more than five years and some for less than one. Diocletian ended it with a new compact. I re-refuse to b-be another name on a list of dead men, least wise not for a few decades at any rate. I aim to end this, before the coups and counter-coups kill all three of us, and who knows how many more besides."
 
He reached out a hand to each girl. Lucia took it and looked up at him with an enormous smile. Livia took the other, tentatively. "Diocletian established a Tetrachy to rule the Empire. We are one short, but I do not plan to rule alone. I will adopt you both as my own daughters like the Emperors of old, and you shall rule as consuls until you're old enough to rule as Imperatrixes, alongside me."
 
There were tears in Lucia's eyes. She snuggled Corvus's hand against her cheek. "Thank you, Uncle Corvus." She said.
 
Livia dropped the hand and stared in disgust at Lucia. She balled her hands into fists and stood, slowly. "Both triumvirates failed, Uncle. You're setting us up to go at each other's throats."
 
"Would you prefer I invite Lucius to be our f-fourth?"
 
She stood silently. In her head, she recited her mantra.
 
"Or perhaps you'd like to be excluded, so you c-can plot your own c-c-coup?"
 
She closed her eyes to gather her thoughts. She pushed the anger deep down inside. The different facets of her mind spared with each other. This was good., she repeated to herself, This is what I wanted. This was her way in, on a silver platter. But it has to be a trap, it always is, where is it? If it isn't, then Lucia would be the enemy instead. She is acting so strange, something is wrong!
 
She pushed all those thoughts away. No matter what she did not, it would be taking a chance. "Corvus, I will accept your rule, be the consul and daughter you want me to be. But I have one demand, and it is not negotiable: slavery has to end."
 
Corvus burst out into laughter. By instinct, she put a hand over her belt buckle, where the hidden bulge was. Corvus doubled over, using the table to steady himself. Lucia looked over in confusion, her eyes settled on Livia's hands and went wide.
 
Now or never, she thought. Corvus said no one would know. Maximus was outside. She could blame it on Lucia. She slid her thumb along the edge of the belt, drawing out the paper thin handle.
 
"Oh L-L-Livia, you c-can't understand. I th-thought...I thought it would be me, who would have to….who would have to convince you!"
 
She stopped moving and stood like a statue.
 
"Livia, sl-slavery is a blight on humanity, and the Hegemony is doomed if we continue the practice. I have a plan for it, my dear. Please, sit, join me, and we'll talk it all through. I didn't think it was possible, but Josephina showed me it was possible. Which leads me to my next topic: my predecessors either had no advisors, or ignored the advice of the ones they did have. How many times did Harcourt warn Marius, hmm? We need people, smart people, people we can trust. Josephina O'Leary, the Circinan, is my choice for the council. Without her, resolving the slavery issue is impossible. Who would you add to it?"
 
"Gurdeep." Livia said instantly. "Without question, Gurdeep Vulcan. No one cares more about this country than he." Corvus nodded along. "My bodyguard, Maximus Phallus."
 
"Any man who can control Algenib has his uses. I agree. Lucia, is there anyone in the Lothian League you trust?"
 
"No. It's a den of snakes! The smart ones are corrupt and the clean ones are morons. Grandma Serrano is the only one I trust in the whole League. But Sato, we scammed all of them with her, the clean one and the smart ones. She should be with us."
 
Corvus' face looked as if it went through a dozen different emotions. "Sato...she….no. She c-can't be trusted. I can't say why, but she can't."
 
Lucia shrunk into her chair, but said nothing.
 
Corvus found his smile again and continued. "Now, having said that, I'm not sure you'll agree with my next two choices. But the coups of the last six years have all been carried out by military groups who were excluded from power. Sertorius reformed the Morituri, and the Flaming Circus has been destroyed, but every coup has involved the Praetorians or the Ordo Vigilis. We need to bring them into the fold. Xu Xiahou, she c-could have been Imperator if she wanted to. She is no Gibson. I would have her as our military advisor, if the two of you assent." The two nodded. "I thought you would. The next is more difficult. Ambrose Kelly."
 
Lucia slammed her palms on the table. "What! No! How could we? He just stood there and laughed. Laughed! While Sean killed Siobhan! He's as much of a monster as Sean was! Why the hell not Director Svoboda? Or a Prefect, or a District Director, or someone retired?"
 
Livia cut in. "No, Corvus is right. Kelly is a Legatus, but when he rallied the Vigilis against Sertorius, he wasn't even that. His father advised my father through the best years of his reign. His name carries weight, and he has skills, I've seem them. If he's not on the inside, then he needs to die, and honestly, I think the Vigilis would choose him over us. Or at least his division would. No, we need him close."
 
Lucia calmed herself and restored her sickly sweet exterior. "Okay, fine. But I'm going to want someone of mine on this council, and when it happens, I get it. Okay?"
 
Livia nodded along, smiling back at her.
 
The battle had begun.
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===Imperator's pronouncements===
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Imperial Palace - Council Chambers
Alphard, Marian Hegemony
18 January 3036
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Livia strode into the palace's council chambers determined not to let anything throw her this time. There were bound to be surprises as the other maneuvered around her. She was prepared for Lucia to bring in some of Sean's lackeys, like the aedile sitting next to her, but not the twisted creature that followed Corvus like a well-trained dog.
 
She froze, starring at the hunched man. Memories flooded back of that day in the throne room, how the thing had laughed as her brother slid the knife into their mother.
 
Maximus put his hand on her shoulder and bent down, speaking in a quiet voice. She didn't register the words. Then suddenly, she could move again and the wave of panic struck. She forced her body with every fiber of her being to stay, but the urges were too strong.
 
Maximus read the panic in her eyes and led her into one of several secluded alcoves around the massive council room.
 
"Sit." He said. "Don't rise until you are ready."
 
She closed her eyes and repeated her mantra.
 
"I have seen this before, in some of our warriors, my father among them. Do not be ashamed, Mistress. They will wait for us."
 
Corvus didn't. But Livia mustered the strength to fake composure as he elbowed past Maximus and sat down next to her. "Under the weather?"
 
Sure, that works. She nodded.
 
"I know it always takes me a few weeks to get used to f-food and water every t-time I change planets! You should have seen me on Niops, I had to wear diapers to get through my lectures!" He chuckled and patted her knee, giving her the same old goofy smile.
 
Is it genuine? How deep does his deception go? Is this just another layer? Is that creature there to throw me off? What role could he possibly serve? The questions spun endlessly. She plucked the one that seemed least threatening. "There are a lot of new faces. I thought we were keeping the circle small?"
 
"Oh! Well, if you mean Gnasher, don't worry. He's my personal guard and assistant, the same as your Maximus. He's been a close confidant for a while now. He's like me; people look at him and see a cripple, but he's stronger than anyone on Alphard. They see a d-d-dimwit, but he's cleverer than you or I." The tics came soon after, contorting his smile into a rictus grin.
 
She inclined her head towards the Aedile, whispering into Lucia's ear on the far side of the chamber. "What about her? I thought we were all supposed to agree on Councillors."
 
"We did; and we agreed Lucia could fill one seat. She chose Aurellia."
 
"She was queastor to Sean's regime! A key part, and one of the only survivors! How rotten does she have to be to withstand that?"
 
"That is fair, but, was I not part of that same administration, even if my work took me to Circinus and Valerius? Was I not part of Sertorius'? I had Kelly vet her—"
 
"I don't trust him."
 
"Nor should you. But I had other friends do it too. Did you know she was planning a senatorial conspiracy against him? She is a sharp one, and we need her talents."
 
Livia kept her face neutral as she nodded. Is she an ally then? Or would she be a threat? Time will tell. Corvus stood and offered her a hand. She beamed a smile back and accepted it. They sat together, with Lucia on Corvus' other side, with the Imperial heirs flanked by their respective Aediles.
 
Corvus held up a hand and all were silent. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Imperial Advisory Council, it is my honor and pr-privilege to be advised by such great minds as fill this r-room. My C-c-consuls and I. We have a great many issues to discuss, but I have nowhere else to be today, so if you'll bare with me, we can address all of your concerns. First, let us discuss our positions on the council."
 
He turned to Xiahou, resplendent in a Praetorian dress uniform that evoked the ancient Praetorians. "Prefect Xiahou, the position of Augusti Pro Praetore Praetorian has been vacant for far too long. I am appointing you to the position as befits your t-t-talents. I will leave the promotion of a new Prefect of the Legio Palatine."
 
Corvus continued. "I will need a proper Praetorian escort. I leave it to you to organize it. Legatus Kelly, I will leave you to deal with the….less public aspects of my sec-c-curity. Now, Prefect Xiahou, we have the issue of our good friend Maximus Phallus here. He has proven himself to be a loyal servant of the Hegemony through his two decades serving in the Foederati of Algenib. I propose that he be inducted as a Principes in the Praetorian Guard, so that he officially protect Consul Livia."
 
The Praetorian rose to salute properly. "Your will be done, Imperator. What of your...previous bodyguard?"
 
"No need to worry, I know the Praetorians will not accept him. Gnasher Drillbiter will remain as my personal assistant."
 
Gnasher seemed to give no response to the slight, yet Livia couldn't take her eyes off of his face. There was something deeper, more menacing behind that eyes.
 
"Gurdeep Vulcan and Aurellia Ulpius will be raised to the rank of Aedile, each to serve one of our consuls. Consul Livia and Aedule Vulcan are in charge of finance and the economic security of the realm. Consul Lucia and Aedile Ulpius are in ch-charge of the social health of the realm, including also health and welfare policies within the Hegemony. I will b-be seeing to the military security of the realm. Josephina will be my Praetor, acting as the civilian counterpart to our military Prefects."
 
He took a moment to survey the room. Livia knew what it signaled. She closed her eyes to break contact with the creature and turned back to table before opening them.
 
"C-c-councillors, you will all have the chance to air the issues you see as a d-danger to the Hegemony. But first, we have an issue that impacts all of our portfolios: the military, economic, and social health of the realm are in jeopardy, from a threat than every one of predecessors has ignored. Livia, the room is yours."
 
Livia stood tall, then laid her hands on the table in the power pose she'd seen in the books she'd read at her internship. She took a deep breath. "Slavery has to end." She let the words sink in for a couple of seconds. "It is a blight upon our great nation. All the great empires abandoned slavery when it no longer served the needs of the state, and the longer it took for states of the past to discard it, the more damage it caused when this cancer is finally cut out."
 
She'd rehearsed this hundreds of times with Agrippina. Every time, it hurt to hide what she really wanted to say in an economic argument, but with monsters like Ambrose in the room, she knew that appealing to the horror of keeping humans in chains would find no fertile ground here. "It is worse than that. My great-grandfather established slavery as a way of copying Rome, but it has never been profitable to the Hegemony. Wealthy patricians say that slavery is responsible for our economic miracle, but I've run the numbers: it's not. The millions of tons of germanium are the sole reason for our economic success. Slavery has, if anything, damaged our economic potential."
 
She pressed a button and holographs of charts and graphs appeared over the table. She walked them through facts and figures, historical analogies, and examples for what felt like an eternity.
 
When she finished, she was met with silence.
 
Ambrose had put his boots up on the table and closed his eyes halfway through the presentation, yet he was the first to speak. "Fuck man, you know Securitatis Internum takes up as much of the Vigilis budget as the other four branches combined? Most of that shit goes into preventing the slaves from rising up.Think of what we could do I had that kind of money in the Observationis Externum. I'm in."
 
The Prefect nodded along with Ambrose. "We've got a ticking time bomb already. Given the chaos of the past six years, the damage to the Praetorian legions, and the stripping of the core world Limitanei for garrisons for conquered worlds, I am amazed we aren't awash in Spartacuses. And I'm sure Arcadian SIS is ready to arm them."
 
Ambrose nodded. "Eris Halas too, and Davion MIIO's backing her. Even Luvon's Loki operatives are stirring up shit in the KING's domain."
 
To her amazement, everyone around the table nodded along. Corvus clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "It appears that we are all in agreement with your proposal Livia. Now for the details—"
 
Aurellia raised her hand tentatively. Corvus halted and nodded in her direction. He rose to address the room, her tablet clutched closely to her chest. "My lords, my ladies, my Imperator. It's not that I don't agree with the Consul, but perhaps we should discuss what comes after. That's a ten percent increase in the number of workers fighting for regular employment and a lot of angry slaveholders looking to fill jobs that pay room and board. This is a radical transformation that could lead to a collapse in the labor market. We would need an intense program of social and economic reforms to smooth the transition, or they would end up free in name only, fighting for table scraps, with much of the Plebeian order joining them."
 
Corvus nodded along, but stayed silent, and cast his eyes back to Livia.
 
"Aedile Ulpius, that is precisely why we are here. The Consuls and their Aediles will begin drafting reforms tonight. The Marian state hasn't caught up with a century of social change and economic expansion. We'll need to rewrite the whole system, not just slavery. I will rely on you just as must as my own Aedile in the months to come."
 
Aurellia turned to the Prefect and Legatus "Would those same slaveholders not present just as large of a threat to the security of the Hegemony? They have enough wealth to purchase a mercenary army with a snap of their fingers."
 
Xiahou and Kelly nodded along, but their words didn't match the movements. Xiahou spoke first. "It takes time for mercenaries to arrive, more than enough time for our forces to work. I'm sure the Legatus' people have contacts with ComStar and the Mercenary Review Board?"
 
The smug asshole gave a theatrical shrug and smirk. "We even have a voice in Reynolds' new Mercenary Bonding and Contracting Board."
 
Aurellia turned back towards Livia. "And how will we pay for such reforms?"
 
"I am expecting the slaveholding class to resist, and we will use the traditional Roman means of raising funds from them."
 
"If you're expecting them to resist, then how, exactly do you plan to convince the Senate to go along with this, given that they are the largest slaveholders in the Hegemony? They may be a rubber stamp, but one of the few powers Imperator Johann Sebastian did grant them was exclusive powers of the social orders."
 
Corvus gave the same self-satisfied laugh he usually reserved for a particularly obscure history joke no one else in the room understood. He looked over to Livia and winked at her, hiding the movement in a facial twitch."Oh Aedile, have no fear there. I have just the plan."
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ICHaFBI 21