But rather than take any comfort from my words, frown lines deepened on his already wrinkled face.
“What’s wrong?” I said.
Garrick snapped to attention. His mind was elsewhere.
“Nothing, Sire,” he said.
The chief losing his attention for any amount of time was highly unusual. His was an iron will, his focus second to none. Something must be troubling him.
“What is it?” I said.
Garrick peered at me and his shoulders relaxed.
“Really, it’s nothing, Your Grace,” he said. “Only my instincts playing games with me again.”
“What are your instincts telling you?” I said.
He eyed me, unsure if he should share it.
“It’s nothing, Your Grace,” he said. “I probably just ate something that disagreed with me.”
But his expression said otherwise. He was troubled by something.
“You think something bad is about to happen?” I said.
He nodded.
“Do you have any idea what?” I said.
Garrick never worried about nothing. More than once, his instincts had picked up on something, and within a few hours, something terrible did happen. Some people were more sensitive to the galaxy’s stirrings, I guess.
“I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is,” he admitted. “Only that things… don’t quite feel right.”
I considered the empire and what was happening in it. It was so large there was always something happening somewhere that was unfair or unjust.
I placed a hand on Garrick’s shoulder.
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” I said.
The chief nodded but didn’t look convinced.
“You need to relax,” I said, “sit back and enjoy life for a change. Have a drink with me. Within minutes, your instincts will calm down and you’ll realize you were worrying about nothing.”
“I can’t drink,” Garrick said. “The guard will change any minute and I need to be there to oversee it.”
They changed multiple times a day. I doubted if the guards were capable of making a mistake.
When something played on my mind, I liked to sit, think, and do nothing. Garrick’s way of overcoming problems was taking action.
“Then have at it,” I said.
Garrick clicked his heels together, saluted with a fist to his chest, and reversed out of the room.
“Atten-hut!” he barked.
The guards in the room stamped their feet. They bowed at precisely the same time and stepped sideways toward the door. They bowed once more at the door before shutting it behind themselves.
I always hated the sound of the doors slamming shut each night. The thud boomed and echoed about the sparsely furnished room.
The emperor had dozens of palaces spread throughout the empire. Every time we expanded to a new solar system, another palace was built in my honor. I would go, enjoy it for a little while to show my appreciation, and then I always returned to this, my favorite palace.
It wasn’t even the biggest one. It was one of the smallest. My father used to bring me here during our breaks and holidays. It reminded me of my childhood and simpler times.
Lately, it hadn’t offered much in the way of peace. Each day, when Slak and Garrick left me alone, a deep sinking sensation burrowed deep in the pit of my stomach. I wondered if it was very different to what Garrick felt when he complained about his instincts playing havoc with his senses. The worst part about it was not knowing what it was in reference to.
I moved to a window and peered down at the palatial grounds below. There was a swimming pool, a sauna, and other sports facilities.
Beyond it, the expansive palatial walls. I could just about make out some of the distant town’s soft yellow lights. Ordinary people living ordinary lives.
My subjects.
They kept themselves busy, doing what was necessary to get through each day. My job was to make their lives as easy and as comfortable as possible.
But I had no contact with them. I had no idea if the work I did each day had much of an effect. We’d enjoyed peace for centuries, so I suppose we must be doing something right.
I heard a commotion.
Raised voices somewhere further up the ramparts.
They spread quickly, shouts rising.
In the courtyard, the guards split in half.
Half came running into the palace, the other half remained in their positions below.
The towers unfurled, opening up like flowers in bloom, revealing huge defensive turrets that locked onto something in the night sky.
What were they targeting?
Was it a drill I hadn’t been informed about?
I saw nothing where they were aiming.
Then I saw them.
Distant points of light. A dozen of them. Maybe more.
And they were growing larger.
Shouts echoed up through the palace. Boots thudded as they rushed in my direction.
Meanwhile, those lights grew bright and more defined. They drifted apart, forming a wide arc. They streaked through the sky, heading directly for me.
The sensation in the pit of my gut drew tighter, firmer, as if working to a crescendo.
Was this what Garrick’s instincts were telling him was going to happen?
The defensive turrets opened fire, shooting powerful bolts of plasma at the open sky.
The points of white light spun end over end, turning to avoid the worst of the flak.
Half the lights blinked out of existence after the first barrage.
The other half kept screaming toward the palace.
I backed away from the window. I couldn’t just stand there, an easy target.
I was halfway across the room when the doors flew open.
Garrick turned to the open window and threw out an arm. His eyes bulged.
“No!” he bellowed.
One of the lights morphed into a shuttlecraft, war class, its undercarriage glowing bright and blinding.
The defensive turrets would swat them from the sky before they reached the outer walls.
But their goal wasn’t to take me away. They weren’t there to abduct me and take me hostage. The blinding purple haze winding up to release its dangerous payload told me that much.
It was a powerful ion cannon charging up to be released.
Not much of my quarters in the west wing of the palace would be left after the shot had been fired.
There was a pure moment of calm as I peered back at Garrick, who sprinted across the open space toward me.
I didn’t know what he thought he could
