Praetor Fox's Rally Speech
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Lavigny’s Legion - Prima Justitia
Speech by Praetor Cassius Fox CXVII. Public broadcast transcript, New Carthage, 3301
Lavigny’s Legion was forged in the fiery crucible of Achenar’s first conflict with the Federation, during the 2320s. Funded and fielded by the prestigious Lavigny family, those first Legionaries swiftly built a reputation for valor and ferocity in battle.
During those harrowing days for the Empire of Achenar, Lavigny’s Legion served as the both the vanguard and the rearguard of the early fleets. The tip of the spear, the point of the sword, first into the breach, and last out of the fray. In many ways, they were the pride of the Empire. Their devotion to the Emperor and to the Lavigny family was
absolute. This zeal, this fervour, however, would eventually be their downfall.
In the final months of that first conflict, the Lavigny family flagship - The Indomitable - and her escort were ambushed on their way to rejoin the rest of the Legion at the main fleet. Upon hearing the distress call, Legion commanders pleaded with the fleet admiral for permission to send a rescue party. Their requests fell on deaf ears, however, as the admiral refused to send aid, and ordered them to continue the mission. Unwilling to abandon the ship and their patron to their fate, the Legion disobeyed this order and rushed away to save their beleaguered brethren.
They arrived to find The Indomitable in fierce close quarters combat, her escort nowhere to be seen. She was heavily damaged, drifting to port, swarms of fighters savaging her hull and desperately attempting to limp away from the fight. Enraged at the sight, the Legion lept into the fray, intent on saving The Indomitable. But in their haste, they fell into a trap, and were themselves ambushed. Without warning, hundreds of Federal ships powered on their systems and started venting heat. The Legion was surrounded on all sides, boxed in and vulnerable. Mass locked and unable to flee, the Legion knew they were in trouble.
But they were not being fired upon; even the fighters buzzing around The Indomitable had stopped shooting. Everyone was drifting, silent, in space, until the Federal commander demanded the surrender of the Legion, stating they would be treated fairly and would not be harmed. The Legion, ever zealous, answered this with a salvo of cannon fire and an attempt to break through the line. These were the opening shots of a battle that would, for all intents and purposes, crush the Legion beyond recovery.
Though the Legion was heavily outnumbered and surrounded, they held strong. First they cleared the fighters from The Indomitable’s hull, and then fell into a protective formation around her. Again and again the Federal forces attacked the Legion, and the Legion pushed them back. Whenever a legionary ship was destroyed, the Legion reformed and closed ranks. But as the battle continued, gaps started forming in their formation; the Legion was spread too thin, and couldn’t keep adequate cover around The Indomitable. Ships started getting isolated and picked off, but the Legion refused to flee.
As ships were destroyed, their wrecks began to choke the battlefield, providing a much needed advantage to the desperate Legionaries; they would dart between the hulks, spraying cannon fire and lasers, then disappear behind another. After ten long, bloody and arduous hours, the Federation cut and ran, having sustained too many casualties to maintain the attack. While victorious, the Legion had suffered even greater losses. Eight out of every ten ships had been destroyed; among them was Indomitable and all hands, including the Legion’s patron, Alexius Lavigny. Bruised, beaten, and with only enough power to reach the nearest friendly port, what was left of the Legion limped off to lick their wounds.
In the coming months, the Legion was honored for their bravery in battle by the Lavigny family, and reprimanded by Imperial High Command for their haste and their apparent inability to follow orders. For this they were forbidden from reconstituting and officially disbanded.
The Lavigny family, however, invited the remaining Legionnaires to continue their term of service to the family, not as soldiers, but as elite private guards. Unwilling to abandon the family, or perhaps because they had nowhere else to go, all of the 511 remaining Legionaries accepted. No longer, strictly speaking, a legion, they kept the name to honor their fallen comrades as a witness that they would never be forgotten. Every year, on the anniversary of that battle, the Legion holds a ceremony to commemorate that bloody day.
In the ensuing centuries, the Legion maintained membership of no more and no less than 511. Whenever a Legionary died or retired, he or she was replaced almost immediately. They recruited mainly from the military, but outstanding individuals from local militias or police forces were not turned away. Service to the Lavigny family, a family of senators, consuls, legates, and courtiers was good. They had the benefit of the best training, the best equipment, the best food and the best accommodations. What they didn’t have, however, was the renown of the past. Their great deeds of yore were fading into distant memory, the heroism and bravery of the Legion of Old had been all but forgotten. The new generation of Legionaries had become complacent in their role as glorified bodyguards, scoffing at the “pomp and ceremony” and the hallowed traditions.
But no longer!
Brothers and sisters, our glorious Empire is beset on all sides by her enemies, requiring all who are loyal to step up and defend her. No longer can we sit in our homes, insisting that this is not our problem, convinced that someone else will take care of it. The barbarian hordes are at the gates, my friends; the Federation circles us like a carrion bird, pirates kidnap and murder our citizens, the Alliance, it’s true intentions unknown, waits in the shadows. And now we are faced with a new threat from within - Emperor’s Dawn. This vile faction of assassins, spies and saboteurs murdered our beloved Emperor on the day of his wedding to our great patron’s mother.
Proud sons and daughters of Achenar, I implore you, do not stand idly by while the Empire is dismantled from within, do not mill about like sheep while your home comes crashing down around your ears. Stand up tall and proud, ready to fight for your Empire! Fight for something with more meaning than a handful of credits! Join us, join the Legion, pledge your life to the true heir to the Throne of Achenar: Arissa Lavigny-Duval. Together with your brothers and sisters in our proud, modern Legion, you will re-write the course of history.
Even now, our numbers swell; patriotic citizens and Independent pilots flock to Senator Lavigny-Duval’s cause, their hearts filled with the righteous fury of a thousand burning suns. Soon our numbers will be in the tens of thousands, each a loyal and devoted soul ready to fight and die for our patron.
We are not blind; we know that only a united Empire is a strong Empire. Our enemies would see us divided, squabbling amongst ourselves. They seek to sow chaos and discord amongst our people, bleed us dry until there is nothing left but smoking wreckage and charred bones. They fear a united Empire, as they should. We have shown them, and will continue to show them, that our mighty Empire will not falter. We will smite the enemy from our skies, blast them from our worlds, and plant our flag, the glorious Soaring Eagle, on their still warm bodies!
For Lavigny-Duval! For the Empire!