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"I bring word from Centurion Primus Cordius Arpagius," the young militus said after having given the salute.
Legate Primus Tiberius Flavius Asiaticus Atticus lifted his head from the mountain of paperwork that filled his desk, "Speak," he commanded the milites.
"Sir Centurion Cordius commanded me to deliver this report to you."
"Why didn't the good centurion just use the military post system like everyone else?" the Legate asked.
"Sir I am only following my orders," the militus replied.
With a sigh the Legate waved his arm and dismissed the young militus, the young man left a red envelope on the desk before saluting once more and marching back out of the plush office. Tiberius reached across the papers strewn across the desk and lifted the envelope up. He frowned upon seeing the dark red colouring of the envelope, that meant it was 'top secret', only himself and the Consul would be permitted to open such a letter, ah well the benefits of being the head of the secret service, the Expiscor Occultus Scientia (E.0.S.).
The envelope felt thick, there must be a lot in it Tiberius thought to himself. He inserted his ornate letter opener and tore the envelope open. Pulling out several documents he began to read them. His face turned dark as he read the fateful content within.
"Consul there is a Legate Flavius Asiaticus Atticus here to see you," the secretary blared into the intercom.
"Very well, send him in," a voice replied through the machine on the desk.
Tiberius walked through the large oaken doors and into the Consul's office, a grand room gilded in gold and fine items. Trophies of past wars adorned the walls and cabinets of the room. The Consul himself, Caius Lucius Bodenius, sat behind his massive mahogany desk and welcomed the Legate in and offerred him a seat.
Sitting down the Legate launched into his story, "Consul it has come to my attention that the Persians have a large force of mens till within our borders, under the terms of the 1777 Treaty concluding the Long War they have to withdraw all forces from our territory. Over the past three years they have pulled out all of their forces except for this one."
"Where is this force and what does ir comprise?" the Consul asked him.
"It is in the Arabian desert near to where the the Arabians used to have the settlement of Mecca, but we have reports that it has moved northwards and is currently en route for our towns in the north near Ceasarea and the great canal connecting the seas. The force itself comprises a large band of calvary, they are highly mobile and well trained, that is probably the reason we have been unaware of them for so long, the vast desert in that region is a good shield and we have scant spotter plane sin that region, they would just look like another tribe of nomadic Arabian horsemen who refused to leave when the Babylonians invaded centuries ago," the Legate relayed to the Consul.
The Consul eased himself back into his leather winged back chair and sighed a deep sigh, "Do you think they are making for the canal?"
"It would certainly seem logical, it took us fifty years of protracted warfare with the Bbaylonians before we had it secured, and even then the Persians presented a threat to it. We made valuable gains in the war against the Persians and consolidated our position with the canal, it would seem reasonable that they would want to retake their lost posessions and take control of the canal," Tiberius said.
"We must do something soon, we cannot let them get too far north, but we must also play this one carefully Tiberius, we cannot let on that we know of this force yet," the Consul instructed.
"We interrupt your regular programming to bring you a special news bulletin," the radio crackled in homes all across the Roman Empire, "word is reaching us that an uprising in the occupied Persian port of Baghdad in the south of the Arabian peninsula erupted earlier this afternoon. Reports suggest that rebel forces have siezed control of the forum and several key installations in what looks like a well planned and organised attack.
Defence expert Tertius Galerius Caprarius from the military publication 'Mars' Shield' said that he thought the uprising looked as if it could have foriegn backing, he refused to say whether or not that abcking could be Persian."
The newspapers flew off the shelves the next day, the headlines were domianted by the uprising in far off Arabia. In cities across the empire, from Veii in northern Gaul to Carthage on the north African coast and even in the American colonies beyond the sea there wa spublic anger at the uprising and the general mood was that Persia had a hand behind it.
"Consul what do you propose to do about the situation?" demanded Senator Aulus Sennius Igennus, the leader of the conservative 'Eagle Party'.
"Senator," the Consul answered, "we have already dispatched a full legion of troops to the city along with an armoured legion to help contain the uprising and bring the perpetrators to justice."
"Yes that is all very well Consul, but it should never have happened in the first place, your government has consistently treated those Persian savages with kid gloves, w emust act before they destroy our wonderous civilisation!" Senator Sennius Igennus retorted. A roar of approval rose up from the opposition steps in the Senate.
the Consul rose to his feet once more, "My fellow Senators we must not fight amongst ourselves ..." but he was harshly interrupted by Servius Tertinius Augendus, a Gaullish senator, "Your government is useless! I call for a vote of no confidence!"
"The Senate erupted into angry tones with rival senators shouting back and forth, waving papers at each other and cursing their opponents. After a few minutes of this Consul Lucius Bodenius managed to restore order.
"On what grounds do you call the vote?" he asked Augendus.
"On the grounds that you are witholding vital information from the Senate and from the Roman people," the senator cried out.
"What information, there is nothing to hide and the Roman people have been presented with the facts as they stand. This is not a rebellion, it is a riot in a small provincial town and we will have it crushe dby the end of the day," the Consul angrily replied.
"Then why is it that you have failed to mention that their is an entire Persian army already within Roman territory and that it is headed for the Ceasarea Canal at this very moment?" Augendus asked triumphantly.
The Consul looked shocked, his mind raced as to how Augendus could have gotten hold of that information, no one except he and Legate Flavius Asiaticus Atticus knew about it, but then he remembered that Augendus had many contacts in that region after having served there during his army days, he must have been tipped off. The Consul rose to his feet, the colour having drained from his face, the entire Senate waited to see if this allegation was true or not.
"It is not an army, it ismerely a cavalry force of perhaps a few hundred men at mo ..." but the rest of what he said wa slost in the din that sprang up as senators jeered hima nd cried out at the 'deception' and 'lies' that he was spinning.
the vote was soon underway, the Senators one by one raised their hands to show support for the Consul or to withdraw it. By the end of the session only Lucius Bodenius' left wing Liberati party had voted in his favour, he was out of the Consul's office.
The next few days were chaos all over the empire as the Senate voted to call fresh elections under the temporary Consulship of Bodenius' replacement Consul Floridius Capito. At the same time troops were being mobilised and sent to the frontier with Persia, the airforce was also mobilised and bomber squadrons were put on high alert, fighter squadrons were scrambled ready for action in Babylon, Ashur, Thessalonica, Ceasarea, Alexandria and many other cities.
The election campaign was only a day old when it was announced that rebel forces had taken control of the Baghdad docks and had siezed the I.R.S. (Imperial Roman Ship) Xiphias and had manged to scuttle the great battleship I.R.S. Mars Prognatus. The rebels had taken the ship's commander Legate Placus Valerius Dalmatius, and had executed him and then declared the city part of the Persian Empire.
The effect was instantaneous, Legate Valerius Dalmatius was a hero of the Long War against Persian and his execution created a bloodthirst. The odd were now in favour of the Eagle Party the Aquila Optimates, who promised swift revenge.
Within two days Senator Aulus Sennius Igennus had become consul and the Aquila Optimates were in power. Within twenty four hours of that an ultimatum was issued to the Persian embassy demanding the immediate return of the city of Baghdad and the removal of all troops from Roman territory.
Legate Primus Tiberius Flavius Asiaticus Atticus lifted his head from the mountain of paperwork that filled his desk, "Speak," he commanded the milites.
"Sir Centurion Cordius commanded me to deliver this report to you."
"Why didn't the good centurion just use the military post system like everyone else?" the Legate asked.
"Sir I am only following my orders," the militus replied.
With a sigh the Legate waved his arm and dismissed the young militus, the young man left a red envelope on the desk before saluting once more and marching back out of the plush office. Tiberius reached across the papers strewn across the desk and lifted the envelope up. He frowned upon seeing the dark red colouring of the envelope, that meant it was 'top secret', only himself and the Consul would be permitted to open such a letter, ah well the benefits of being the head of the secret service, the Expiscor Occultus Scientia (E.0.S.).
The envelope felt thick, there must be a lot in it Tiberius thought to himself. He inserted his ornate letter opener and tore the envelope open. Pulling out several documents he began to read them. His face turned dark as he read the fateful content within.
"Consul there is a Legate Flavius Asiaticus Atticus here to see you," the secretary blared into the intercom.
"Very well, send him in," a voice replied through the machine on the desk.
Tiberius walked through the large oaken doors and into the Consul's office, a grand room gilded in gold and fine items. Trophies of past wars adorned the walls and cabinets of the room. The Consul himself, Caius Lucius Bodenius, sat behind his massive mahogany desk and welcomed the Legate in and offerred him a seat.
Sitting down the Legate launched into his story, "Consul it has come to my attention that the Persians have a large force of mens till within our borders, under the terms of the 1777 Treaty concluding the Long War they have to withdraw all forces from our territory. Over the past three years they have pulled out all of their forces except for this one."
"Where is this force and what does ir comprise?" the Consul asked him.
"It is in the Arabian desert near to where the the Arabians used to have the settlement of Mecca, but we have reports that it has moved northwards and is currently en route for our towns in the north near Ceasarea and the great canal connecting the seas. The force itself comprises a large band of calvary, they are highly mobile and well trained, that is probably the reason we have been unaware of them for so long, the vast desert in that region is a good shield and we have scant spotter plane sin that region, they would just look like another tribe of nomadic Arabian horsemen who refused to leave when the Babylonians invaded centuries ago," the Legate relayed to the Consul.
The Consul eased himself back into his leather winged back chair and sighed a deep sigh, "Do you think they are making for the canal?"
"It would certainly seem logical, it took us fifty years of protracted warfare with the Bbaylonians before we had it secured, and even then the Persians presented a threat to it. We made valuable gains in the war against the Persians and consolidated our position with the canal, it would seem reasonable that they would want to retake their lost posessions and take control of the canal," Tiberius said.
"We must do something soon, we cannot let them get too far north, but we must also play this one carefully Tiberius, we cannot let on that we know of this force yet," the Consul instructed.
"We interrupt your regular programming to bring you a special news bulletin," the radio crackled in homes all across the Roman Empire, "word is reaching us that an uprising in the occupied Persian port of Baghdad in the south of the Arabian peninsula erupted earlier this afternoon. Reports suggest that rebel forces have siezed control of the forum and several key installations in what looks like a well planned and organised attack.
Defence expert Tertius Galerius Caprarius from the military publication 'Mars' Shield' said that he thought the uprising looked as if it could have foriegn backing, he refused to say whether or not that abcking could be Persian."
The newspapers flew off the shelves the next day, the headlines were domianted by the uprising in far off Arabia. In cities across the empire, from Veii in northern Gaul to Carthage on the north African coast and even in the American colonies beyond the sea there wa spublic anger at the uprising and the general mood was that Persia had a hand behind it.
"Consul what do you propose to do about the situation?" demanded Senator Aulus Sennius Igennus, the leader of the conservative 'Eagle Party'.
"Senator," the Consul answered, "we have already dispatched a full legion of troops to the city along with an armoured legion to help contain the uprising and bring the perpetrators to justice."
"Yes that is all very well Consul, but it should never have happened in the first place, your government has consistently treated those Persian savages with kid gloves, w emust act before they destroy our wonderous civilisation!" Senator Sennius Igennus retorted. A roar of approval rose up from the opposition steps in the Senate.
the Consul rose to his feet once more, "My fellow Senators we must not fight amongst ourselves ..." but he was harshly interrupted by Servius Tertinius Augendus, a Gaullish senator, "Your government is useless! I call for a vote of no confidence!"
"The Senate erupted into angry tones with rival senators shouting back and forth, waving papers at each other and cursing their opponents. After a few minutes of this Consul Lucius Bodenius managed to restore order.
"On what grounds do you call the vote?" he asked Augendus.
"On the grounds that you are witholding vital information from the Senate and from the Roman people," the senator cried out.
"What information, there is nothing to hide and the Roman people have been presented with the facts as they stand. This is not a rebellion, it is a riot in a small provincial town and we will have it crushe dby the end of the day," the Consul angrily replied.
"Then why is it that you have failed to mention that their is an entire Persian army already within Roman territory and that it is headed for the Ceasarea Canal at this very moment?" Augendus asked triumphantly.
The Consul looked shocked, his mind raced as to how Augendus could have gotten hold of that information, no one except he and Legate Flavius Asiaticus Atticus knew about it, but then he remembered that Augendus had many contacts in that region after having served there during his army days, he must have been tipped off. The Consul rose to his feet, the colour having drained from his face, the entire Senate waited to see if this allegation was true or not.
"It is not an army, it ismerely a cavalry force of perhaps a few hundred men at mo ..." but the rest of what he said wa slost in the din that sprang up as senators jeered hima nd cried out at the 'deception' and 'lies' that he was spinning.
the vote was soon underway, the Senators one by one raised their hands to show support for the Consul or to withdraw it. By the end of the session only Lucius Bodenius' left wing Liberati party had voted in his favour, he was out of the Consul's office.
The next few days were chaos all over the empire as the Senate voted to call fresh elections under the temporary Consulship of Bodenius' replacement Consul Floridius Capito. At the same time troops were being mobilised and sent to the frontier with Persia, the airforce was also mobilised and bomber squadrons were put on high alert, fighter squadrons were scrambled ready for action in Babylon, Ashur, Thessalonica, Ceasarea, Alexandria and many other cities.
The election campaign was only a day old when it was announced that rebel forces had taken control of the Baghdad docks and had siezed the I.R.S. (Imperial Roman Ship) Xiphias and had manged to scuttle the great battleship I.R.S. Mars Prognatus. The rebels had taken the ship's commander Legate Placus Valerius Dalmatius, and had executed him and then declared the city part of the Persian Empire.
The effect was instantaneous, Legate Valerius Dalmatius was a hero of the Long War against Persian and his execution created a bloodthirst. The odd were now in favour of the Eagle Party the Aquila Optimates, who promised swift revenge.
Within two days Senator Aulus Sennius Igennus had become consul and the Aquila Optimates were in power. Within twenty four hours of that an ultimatum was issued to the Persian embassy demanding the immediate return of the city of Baghdad and the removal of all troops from Roman territory.