ICHaFBI 1

------
=I, Corvus; How a Fool became Imperator of the O'Reillys - Chapter I -=
----
<<Next Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
----
----<Character & Faction Directory of I, Corvus>----
----
===Demands of a Little Queen===
The Imperial Palace
Nova Roma, Gaul Continent
Alphard IV, Latium District
Marian Hegemony
29th November, 3029
----
A breeze blew through the gardens of the Imperial palace. Corvus O’Reilly Logan closed his eyes and sighed in the breeze. His brother, Vibius, called the gardens his lifeline. He used to joke that “coming up for air” in the gardens was the only thing that could get Corvus out of the Imperial Archives. Vibius wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t the breeze or the plants that drew him to the gardens so much as Vibius spending nearly as much time there as Corvus did in the archives.
 
Corvus imagined those days. Vibius wrestling with his friends, chatting up the palace girls, or just enjoying the breeze and smell of the flowers. The two would talk for hours. Deep thoughts too, about the future of the Hegemony, about Imperial Rome of old, about the meaning of life, and where their lives might go.
 
In all the galaxy, Vibius was the only man who had ever taken Corvus seriously.
 
Now, all that was left was the breeze.
 
This time, it carried with it the squeal of children. A crowd of girls careened through the gardens, chasing each other. The older ones followed more slowly, crowding in twos and threes gossiping and giggling. Corvus giggled a little himself, thinking it strange how children’s games seemed to perpetuate throughout humanity across generations regardless of time and space. There were books in the archives that described the same game of tag being played by Terran children twelve centuries earlier, yet he was certain that if he visited Oberon or Filtvelt today, he would find the same game played by the children there.
 
One of the older children called out and the others gathered around her. Within a minute, the children were lined up on one side of the garden for a game of King’s Court. The organizer, Livia O’Reilly, second born child of Imperator Marius, naturally took up the position of Queen.
 
Though the silence was broken, Corvus didn’t mind, as the noise had brought with it the other reminder of his brother: his daughter Lucia.
 
In all his life, he had never met a child as sweet as Lucia. She had inherited all of her father’s empathy, and all of her mother’s gentleness. Corvus wished that she had inherited a little more of her father’s boldness, or her mother’s skepticism. A girl like her could go far in a fair and just world, but the highest echelons of an upjumped bandit kingdom was anything but fair and just.
 
At least, he thought, she has been spared the curse.
 
It was more of a prayer than a statement of fact. He had been nine when his symptoms started and she was now eleven for, but his studies had shown the curse could emerge far later in life.
 
The prayer was a mistake. Thinking about his curse brought on the urges, and from there, the actions were inevitable. They bubbled up inside, desperate to be expressed. The words, the twitches and jerks, the screams and barks.
 
Please, not in the front of the children.
 
He fought back, as always. But as always, the harder he fought, the harder they came. They grew and grew to bursting, so he tried his second tactic, redirection. The urges said to twitch his mouth, so he yawned, they said to jerk his arms, so he stretched. It wasn’t enough.
 
“Uncle Corvus!” The little Queen and her frozen court all stared at him, “What are you doing in my court?”
 
“W-w-what?” He stammered back.
 
“You were moving after I called stop! Now you have to tell me why you’re in my court!” A few of the girls giggled, Livia marked each of them with her eyes. They would have to justify their movements next.
 
“I-I-I uh, I’m just...I’m not even play—”
 
“GET OUT OF MY COURT!” Livia shouted with a smile, pointing at a row of fruit trees that lined the wall.
 
He stood in silence for a moment. Lucia left her place, only a few steps away from the Queen, and jogged to Corvus’ side. “It’s okay uncle, I’ll stay with you. We can play together,” and led the him to the trees.
 
He calmed a little as he stood with her in the shade, “How do I play, child?”
 
“When she turns around, you sneak up and you have to touch the wall behind her. If you do, then you’re the queen! I guess you’d be a king,” Corvus nodded along, “And then she says 'WHO DARES ENTER MY COURTYARD?’ and she turns around then if she sees you move, she yells at you and then you have to come up with a reason. If she likes the reason, you can stay. If she doesn’t, you have to go back. Got it?”
 
He smiled, “I think I do.”
 
They played together a while, though his hobbling gait slowed them. She never got as close to wall as she had been before, but every time they were sent back to the trees, she still laughed. Every once in a while, it was even her fault and not his!
 
“Hah! Hey, look at Uncle Corvus! The idiot cripple is so bad at being a man he has to play with the girls!” A voice called out from behind. Sean, it would have to be Sean. Only he and his father were brazen enough to laugh in his face, and Imperator Marius had the good sense not to do it in front of an audience of outsiders.
 
The twitches returned, “I th-th-think I should go-go-go, Lucia, I can only stand for so long since acci-ci-dent.”
 
She kept hold of his hand and led him towards the gates of the garden, “Will you walk me home Uncle? I think I’m getting tired too.” He smiled down at her and together they headed down the path to the family villas. There were half dozen of them together in a cloistered community on the palace grounds. The first Imperator apparently had great hopes for the expansion of his family. Perhaps another family might have filled them all after four generations, after so many tragedies and exiles, only two were occupied. Even then, Corvus spent more time at Vibius’ villa than his own.
 
Lucia kissed his cheek and ran up the stairs to her rooms. Corvus continued to the inner garden where he found Lucia’s mother, Sinead, under the peristyle. As usual she was lying on a couch, eyes closed with a book lying next to her. A pair of nurses in palace livery tended the machines hooked up to her body.
 
She stirred as he approached “Corvus…?” She waved the nurses away. “It’s good to see you, brother.” Her smile was faint, but the only genuine one Corvus could find the palace these days outside of the children.
 
He sat at the end of the reclining couch. “You know, the other women in the palace would pay a lot of money to be pale as you are my dear.”
 
“God, only you could get away with that kind of joke, Corvus.” They sat and watched wind make waves in the garden pond for a while. “How were the gardens?”
 
“G-g-good.”
 
“How was Lucia? Did she come home with you?”
 
The memory of Sean’s taunting triggered the urges and stutter again.“She was g-g-great. She t-t-t, heh….she uh, was playing a g-g-game and she showed me how to play,” he paused a moment as his facial tics halted his speech,“it was g-g-great fun.”
 
She frowned at him. “You don’t have to hide from me like the others, you know that don’t you?”
 
“I d-d-do, you always tell me, everyt-t-time it happens. But it’s not all sh-show you know, the curse is real.”
 
She waited for him to continue.
 
“It was Sean. H-h-how do I let a child do this to me?”
 
“Because you know that child will one day rule, and where would you be if you spanked that little brat like he deserves? Odds are I won’t be here when he ascends and…. and I need someone to look after our Lucia.”
 
He took a long moment to compose himself and take control of the urges.
 
“No matter what happens, Sinead, I will make sure your child is safe.”
----
===Preparations for the Heir===
The Imperial Palace
Nova Roma, Gaul Continent
Alphard IV, Latium District
Marian Hegemony
5th January, 3039
----
Imperator Marius O’Reilly surveyed the room from his command chair and frowned. His servants had spent months transforming the palace’s conference room into a miniature version of his Imperial Command Center. They had done marvelous work, but it still seemed off.
 
His aid, Harcourt Kelly, looked up at him, “Imperator, is something the matter?”
 
Marius mulled it over before replying, “Yes and no. It all looks fine but it doesn’t feel right. I can’t put my finger on it.”
 
“Perhaps it isn’t the room, Imperator?”
 
“Maybe,” Marius sighed and rubbed his forehead, “Maybe I’m not ready to see my son as a man yet. I still see him as a sweet little boy.”
 
“If it helps, I know some of the slave girls can confirm he is, in fact, quite the man and none too innocent. He’s already building himself quite the reputation.”
 
Marius’ laugh broke the tension. This was exactly why he treasured Harcourt; not many would dare to make such a joke while also maintaining the respect he was due as Imperator.
 
“It doesn’t help that his mother wants to keep him from this for a few more years. Gods, does she coddle the boy. I know this is necessary, but is he ready?”
 
“Were you ready? You were younger, I think when you began your training in earnest.”
 
“No, and you’re right. I should have done this years ago. I should have found the time earlier. Tutors are one thing, but you only really learn by doing, eh?”
 
“So the pedagogues tell me.”
 
“Let’s get started then.” The Imperator raised a hand and within seconds the dozens of bustling slaves, scholars, and officers stood straight and silent. Marius deployed his ‘Imperial’ voice, “Your commander is on his way. I want a final test of every system.”
 
The servants sprung into action and console blinked on, one by one, around the room. Marius frowned again when the massive holo display table in the center of the room clicked on. The rimward, anti-spinward quadrant of known space.
 
He flicked a button on his throne and raised a hand. With the flick of her fingers he zoomed in and out, flipped it around, and drew lines to move fleets and armies from dot to dot. He selected a world and brought up a dozen different tables of imports, exports, military forces, demographics, and more.
 
“This is too much. How is he going to cut through all of this data?”
 
“How did you?”
 
“I didn’t have anything like this when I was young.”
 
“Would you have preferred to have the information then? Shouldn’t he learn how to filter and rely on advisors?”
 
Marius frowned again, “I don’t want him to rely on them too much, he needs to make his own decisions.”
 
Harcourt laughed, “I don’t think anyone is going to keep Sean from doing exactly what Sean wants to do, Imperator.”
 
“I can’t keep him waiting forever, line them up and summon him.”
 
Harcourt barked a few orders and the assembled court gathered in rows. Sean came a moment later flanked by a pair of Praetorian Guard. The court bowed to him and Marius rose from the throne. “My son, today is the day you learn to rule. Until now, you’ve been given theory. Now, you will actually do. This room is your command center. These are your staff. You have everything you need to make policy, forge laws, and plan military operations. You will have on staff experts in every field and if you don’t have one, ask Harcourt and he will find you who you need. Every month, I want a full report on the state of Hegemony and your plans for what action I should take,” He smirked down at his son, “Do a really good job, and I might even put some into action.”
 
Marius stepped away from the throne and gestured for his son to take a seat. Sean stood for a moment, open mouthed. Slowly, he walked to the throne and took a seat. He pressed a few buttons and watched as the holo display changed. Slowly, a huge grin came over his face and Marius smiled back, “Take some time to get used to things, learn the strengths of your people, learn your kingdom. I expect your first report in three months.”
 
He gestured to Harcourt and left the room, still smiling.
 
“He looks comfortable in the chair doesn’t he?” He said when they were away from the hall.
 
Harcourt nodded and smiled, but Marius missed the undertone of worry hidden in the smile.
 
----
===Road Map for Conquests Ahead===
----
 
Sean was doing his best to hide the nervous shakes in his legs as he greeted his father at the door. Marius knew the feeling well. Only the presence of a podium had saved him from collapsing at his own coronation address, “Thank you Sean, let’s sit down.” and gestured to seats at the head of the holo-table.
 
“I’ve looked over your report and I am impressed. It’s clear you’ve put a lot of thought into them. I think you’re really starting to grasp the operational side of things, and your ideas for grain reform are a really good start that need some refining. But I think we need to work on putting the big picture together. You’ve got the military side of things down, but you also need to keep in mind how they interact with things like diplomacy, economics, and I have to remind you again that the feelings of your citizens, including newly conquered worlds, are important. Your soldiers can’t fight forever either. There is a big reason our fleets paused after the conquest of the Illyrian District, and again after the expansion into the Huntington District.”
 
Marius typed into the holo display and brought up Sean’s invasion plans. “Let’s take a look at the Lothian campaign you’ve planned. This is really very impressive for someone your age. Hell, it’s pretty good for a graduate of the Collegium Bellorum Imperial eight years your senior. I guarantee if we followed your plan, we’d have the former Lothian League. But….strategically, it’s all wrong.”
 
“Why?”
 
“Well, let’s start with the basics: why attack the Lothian League?”
 
“To bring the Pax Marianus to a land filled with chaos.”
 
Marius laughed and rubbed his forehead, “Gods, I should have vetted your tutors better. Yes, that’s good and all, but we want to increase our tax base. There are big threats out there, ones that still see us as upstart periphery scum. The Pax Marianus is only as strong as the military behind it so if we can’t fight off those challenges, it just becomes an empty slogan. Now, your plan would conquer the Lothians, for sure, but who is out there in the deep periphery? No one. A handful of pirates, and that’s it. You would move four legions away from our
 
“Besides, do you know why the Lothian League fell apart?”
 
“Civil War?”
 
“Yes, good, and do you know why a civil war happened?”
 
“There was a succession crisis.”
 
"Good, good. And why was there a succession crisis?”
 
“The Grand Mistress and her heir died in a DropShip crash.”
 
“Yes, and do you know why two DropShips collided in what is normally a low traffic backwater system like Logan Prime?”
 
Sean didn’t answer.
 
Marius gave him a smirk, “It’s a good thing you don’t, I’d be worried if you did. That was the Ordo Vigilus, acting on my orders. I wrote a plan like this for my father when I was in my 20s, and he rejected it. He told me to think long term. The Lothians were stronger then, with seven worlds completely united under the Grand Mistress with three regiments of 'Mechs and at least as much armour. Now, even then the legions could have beaten them, but it would have taken years and it would have been bloody. And all through that time, we would have been destroying exactly what we wanted to win and leaving our spinward border weak. They would have resisted too, for years, decades maybe, leading to more death and ”
 
“When we removed the Grand Mistress, we gave support to both of her younger children, covertly of course. By the time they were done, both were dead and their regiments smashed. There was damage sure, but only six regiments, not fourteen. And all we lost were a few intelligence officers, not an entire graduating class of MechWarriors.”
 
“Now here you are with your plan, and it is a good plan, and it would work, for the short-term. The Lothians are weaker, disunited. But if we come in shooting, they’ll fight us for decades.”
 
“But I had plans for that!” Sean protested, “See? Look, Section 7—”
 
“No. Let’s be honest here. Your Section 7 doesn’t detail occupation and winning people over, it’s detailed annihilation. We do this and the people will collapse the mines that we need to make it worthwhile, and the people who we need to convert into plebs to mine it we’ll be forced to either kill or turn into slaves and ship them across the Hegemony. No, when we come we need to come as liberators.”
 
“How?”
 
“Why do you think I keep that moron Corvus around?”
 
“I dunno.”
 
“Keep in mind his name: O’Reilly-Logan. His father Bran was the brother of the last Grand Mistress. So with all of the Grand Mistress’ children dead in the civil war…”
 
It took Sean a few moments to realize he was supposed to finish the sentence, “....he’s the heir?”
 
“Yes! Well, one of them. There are enough distant claims out there, but Corvus and Lucia are as close to the throne as any of them, and none of the others are backed up by billions of C-Bills in germanium profits and over three thousand BattleMechs.”
 
“Wait, no! You’re going to put Corvus on the throne of the Lothian League?”
 
“Hah! Oh Gods no. Lucia, we’re putting Lucia on the throne. Even at eleven she’s got more sense than that idiot. She’s the perfect symbol of rebirth: young, pretty, kind, legitimate. World by world, she’ll be paraded around the Lothian League. Corvus will be there to serve as governor of the new Lothian District, but he’s symbolic, showing that the child’s hand is guided by a mature relative. All he’s going to do is stand there and look serious. I’m sure even he can handle that for shorts bursts of time. But an Imperial Magistrate will be placed on each world to do all the work and make all the decisions. We’ll give them hope, and they will beg up to take them in. Then all the Lothian worlds, with all of their rich veins of metals, with the industrial base still intact, will be ours without firing a shot and without weakening our spinward frontier.
 
“See, my son? You have to see the whole board and how all the pieces come into play together. Play the long game. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be men of action! For next month’s report, I want you to direct those legions in a different direction…”
----
<<Next Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
ICHaFBI 1