Lord Ellrick Lenari, the Great Lord of House Lenari of Nthandi, the empress’ uncle, sat stewing.

  Where had that girl gone?

  He had intended to intercept her in the audience chamber where a page said she was meeting with various functionaries. However, as he turned the last corner to her throne room, his bespoke boots stomping a marshal beat onto the marbled floor, that very group almost ran him over.

  Ushered away by a harried pair of the Royal Crest, the sycophants, their own indignations overriding any sense of station or propriety, had all but ignored the Great Lord. Their boisterous complaints of being summarily dismissed by the empress echoing down the hall. Ellrick caught snippets of their protests. After distracting them with delicacies; the empress had disappeared from the throne room.

  Ellrick looked through the open doors, confirming to himself that his erstwhile niece was nowhere to be seen. He saw a slowly dissolving marble wall separating the cavernous room, Astra’s conjuration dissipating, a clear sign she was no longer there. Turing, his dark robes flaring about him, he made his way back towards his apartments, tucked deep within the east wing of the imperial palace. The few people he passed as he stalked through the halls sensed his poorly veiled anger and scrambled out of the way. His mind brooding, the Great Lord barely registered them as he flew past.

  Pulling out his personal data-pad, a heavily encrypted military model that he technically should not have, he punched in a message, instructing his staff to find the empress immediately.

  It took some time to return to his own apartments. He had only recently arrived back from exile and the empress had given him apartments as far away from hers, and the workings of the palace, as was possible. This had, of course, offended his sense of pride. No doubt a ploy of his niece’s, assessing how he would react. He knew he was walking a thin line with Astra and had no desire to be exiled again. He swallowed his pride with the empress, but employed no such restraint with anyone else unlucky enough to cross his path.

  He finally returned to his chambers, his mood growing fouler by the moment. As he entered the anti-chamber, he shrugged off his robes and unbuttoned his suit jacket before reaching for the decanter of Risonian brandy his staff knew to keep there for him. It was one way he coped with being around the throngs of pale-faced lesser nobles that constantly vied for his niece’s attention, often thinking they could entreat him to speak to her on their behalf.

  God damn rats. All of them.

  Lord Lenari settled heavily into one of the deep leather chairs that filled the room, taking a long sip of the oaken spirit. He allowed the slight burn and sweet taste to soothe his boiling emotions.

  “Kosh! Where the hell are you?”

  A thick giant of a man, with red hair and a full, braided beard, entered the room as if he had been lurking on the other side of the door.

  “Sir?”

  “Finally,” Ellrick said, his voice dripping with consternation. “Have you found where that niece of mine disappeared too? I was just in the audience chamber, but evidently, she left moments before.”

  “No, sir. The empress appears to have vanished at some point, taking advantage of a momentary distraction. I’ve been told she’d been speaking quietly with High Marshal Nadim, but no one can remember seeing either of them leaving.”

  The giant, a native from the Lord’s own planet of Nthandi, did not bother telling his employer that he’d been called only moments before and needed more time. He knew Lord Lenari was deaf to excuses and would instead berate him for not doing his job. Decades of such abuse made Kosh immune to such outbursts.

  Ellrick, despite being over a century and a half old, still had the vigor and temperament of a much younger man. Never known for his patience, his passing years had not softened his edges. He was ambitious, having come to power during the War of Powers, when his own father had died while on a hunt with Ellrick and two servants. Afterwards, one servant had presumably died of natural causes, suffering a heart attack in his sleep.

  The other was Kosh, who had been by Ellrick’s side since that fateful day.

  As the new head of a Great House, with a vast trove of resources, young Ellrick had used his force of will, and not insubstantial political prowess, to gain wealth beyond imagining. He positioned his House to become the preeminent arms dealer during those turbulent times, selling to anyone who could pay. As his wealth grew, so did his ambition. He eventually stopped selling weapons, and began arming his own growing militia, with an eye on conquering his world’s other Houses, consolidating them under his own banner.

  Notification that his niece, his sister’s daughter, had tested as Power allowed him to set his sights higher. As was the custom, she had remained at the Examination and Training Facility on Nthandi after testing as a Power. An order from the E.T.F., sent to her commanding officer in Lord Lenari’s army, detailed that she was being removed from military service, effective immediately. Ellrick bristled when he had received this news. He had far-reaching dreams of power and domination. A Power of his own, especially a Traveler, in his personal command staff, could change the course of history.

  Ellrick wasted no time in bribing the director of the facility to release Astra into his care, and falsify reports, saying she had burnt out during training. Immediately upon her release from the E.T.F., a look of confusion on her face, Ellrick took her to the Navorian Belt, where he had a covert weapons development facility.

  Once there, he had spared no expense in using his substantial wealth and connections to hire the best Power trainers available. It was illegal to do so, punishable by death under imperial decree, but as the imperial throne had sat empty for centuries, there was little actual strength left to enforce any such laws.

  This weakness, growing over the centuries, had caused the War of Power to explode onto the Solvonus landscape. Only someone wielding all nine Powers of the solar system could occupy the throne. Power’s themselves were extremely rare. However, as they had much longer lifespans, they seemed more commonplace than they really were. Normally, an individual’s ability was restricted to the single Power of their home-world, though a few showed a weak aptitude for two or three. However, rarely, a Power was born who could control the Nine.

  During Astra’s training, more intense than it ever would have been under the Training Authority’s guidance, her instructors discovered Astra could not only use Traveling, her home-world of Nthandi's Power, but had control of each of the Nine. The young woman had endured extensive, grueling testing. Growing more excited with each test, the instructors determined she possessed strength in each of the nine world’s Powers, equalling at least that of Master.

  Ellrick could still remember receiving the news as he sat in his custom Fente & Sons command chair on his personal battlecruiser as he directed the bombardment of a rival’s outpost.

  He had been stunned. Was it possible that after these centuries he may have found the new empress?

  And his own niece at that.

  With Astra, his own personal Power, and his growing military forces, he had confidence in his ability to dominate his home-world of Nthandi, emerging as the sole Great House. Now, with Astra showing strength in all Nine Powers, she was the uncontested heir to the imperial throne.

  Lord Lenari was sure he could control her, being the ultimate power in the star system, albeit from the shadows. This arrangement was fine with him. He had no desire to sit on the throne, with its restrictions and ceremony. He was most comfortable scheming and plying his influence out of the reach of peasants and sycophants, all who were sure to latch themselves to the new empress.

  To ensure her successful claim, Astra’s training had intensified. Over the next three years, she focused on mastering each of the Nine, while Lord Lenari had focused on solidifying his own personal power. He also routed out any rumor of other potential users of the Nine, assassinating any who could even remotely challenge his niece.

  When Astra emerged from the secret facility, she could wield the Nine in astounding ways. She was grateful for her uncle’s patronage and happy to be the face of his campaign as he assured her the goal was peace throughout the system. Together, they quickly brought the other Houses on Nthandi to heel. With the consolidated might of the newly formed Nthandi army, Ellrick and Astra waged war on world after world. The peace Astra desired came at a heavy cost, despite her undisputed right to the throne. Astra struggled with the unending conquest, but Ellrick always had an arm around her shoulder, or a word of encouragement, gently pushing her towards his own goals. Together the pair had ended the War of Power, culminating in Astra’s ascension to the throne, which had sat empty for over four hundred years.

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  Just when Ellrick thought he had finally achieved his wildest dreams, Astra pulled away from him. As she grew in her authority, she no longer sought his counsel. She eventually returned him to Nthandi, instructing him to manage his own House and leave the star system’s administration to her.

  He shook his head, trying to clear his head of the memories.

  Where had he gone wrong? He had been so sure of himself, of his ability to pull on Astra’s strings.

  Many years had passed since then, but Ellrick’s ambition was still strong. He used the wealth he acquired during the War, and the contacts he had made, to ensure a long life using the best health tech from Da’ashan. There was too much to do to allow life itself to slow him down. Ellrick, from time to time, even procured the talents of a Master Healer from Da’ashan to supplement his anti-aging treatments.

  Ellrick had lived a long time, almost a hundred and seventy-five years, as of his last birthday. He had slowly learned to tread carefully with Astra, his usually brutish ways the wrong tact with the young empress.

  He gave his niece a few years to settle into her reign, before carefully entreating her to allow him to regain his position as an advisor in her court. Astra had seen through his fa?ade of peace, and he had taken the time in exile to ‘rehabilitate’ his image. It had taken years, but Ellrick’s outward contrition for his past, and his newfound dedication to peace, had worn down his niece’s hesitation. He was never as close to her as he had once been, but he was at court, and he could work with that. Ellrick was once again near the center of power in the system, and he used that position to continue to gain wealth and notoriety, relying on Kosh and his organization, The Red Fist, to fulfill his darker ambitions.

  “What did you say?” Ellrick said, turning to look at Kosh, the ghosts of his past evaporating.

  “Sir. In my search for the empress, we discovered that her personal shuttle was no longer on its pad. However, no one could remember seeing her entering the craft, or being in that area of the palace at all.”

  What did that mean?

  Had she given her courtiers the slip and escape somehow?

  He knew there were rumors she did that often. Although his web of spies throughout the palace had yet to confirm this.

  “I saw a lieutenant from the Royal Crest ushering a flock of sycophants away from the audience chamber.” Ellrick said, taking a sip of the brandy. “Go track him down and see if he knows anything.”

  “Sir.”

  The giant man turned, briskly leaving the room to search out this lieutenant.

  As Kosh left the room, Ellrick finished his brandy in a long pull. He stood and went further into his apartments, entering his personal sitting quarters. Lord Lenari sank low into his pleasure couch and allowed it to relieve some of the tension in his back. He rang for a servant and demanded a bottle of whiskey from his personal stores. Upon its arrival, he instructed his staff to not disturb him, unless it was Kosh. His plans were not going the way he had thought tonight.

  The timing of her sudden disappearance could not have been worse. Kosh had informed him he had received a coded transmission. The Traveler was currently waiting to move the highly trained Da’a’shori infiltration specialists down to the surface and he needed to know where Ellrick’s niece was so he could deliver them to their target.

  Timing was of the essence, and his plan was at a crucial juncture. He had a new civil war to start, friends to appease, and a throne to overtake, after all. How did Astra always make it so difficult for him to achieve his dreams?

  ____________

  Kosh’s demeanor changed as he left his employer's apartments. With Lord Ellrick, he was the gracious servant, grateful for the life his employer provided. Once out from under Ellrick’s thumb, Kosh emanated the quiet brutality that had let him build a system spanning criminal empire.

  He didn’t bother trying to get a name or description from Lord Ellrick. Kosh knew his employer paid little attention to such things and would just yell at Kosh to do his job. He was lucky enough that the Lord had noticed his rank and company.

  As Kosh stalked the palace halls, he contemplated how he could get a lieutenant of the lauded Royal Crest to talk. He wasn’t shy in getting his hands dirty, indeed that’s how he had gained his position as Ellrick’s right-hand man all those years ago. However, the Crest were renown for their loyalty to the empress.

  Well, not really all that loyal. They just need the right encouragement.

  Kosh had honed his craft over the long years in Lord Lenari’s employ. From the moment he showed Ellrick the video of the young lordling killing his own father, and Kosh’s involvement in covering up the patricide, his fortune had been tied to the young heir’s. The Nthandian had used his employer’s power and influence to create a criminal empire, the Red Fist. As the years passed by, Lord Ellrick moved his more nefarious business dealings under the Red Fist’s umbrella, leaning on Kosh to hide his criminal actions, all the while showing the empress his new, reformed image.

  If Ellrick needed someone to disappear, an official to change a vote, a witness to change their testimony, Kosh, or, increasingly, the men he began to employ, would do the work. The giant Nthandian carefully built a formidable association of killers and thugs, wielding it like a fine scalpel to ensure his ability to fulfill his employer’s desires. If Kosh did as Ellrick desired, the Lord held no qualms as the other man grabbed a sliver of power for himself.

  Kosh was approaching the guard barracks, mentally detailing any resources he may have on hand to help the lieutenant divulge any potentially helpful information he may have, when a young, fresh faced guardsman standing post stopped him.

  “Sir. can I help you?”

  “I sure hope so, corporal.” Kosh said as he glanced at the guardsman's insignia, assuming a genial air, hoping to put the guard at ease. “I’m looking for the lieutenant that was on duty tonight in the empress’s throne room. Lord Lenari is concerned, as he cannot locate his niece, and was hoping the lieutenant could come speak with him.”

  “That would be Lieutenant Tusk, sir. But I’m afraid he won’t be able to attend Lord Lenari tonight.”

  Kosh stared at the corporal for a long moment, the younger man standing firm under the Nthandian’s gaze.

  “And why is that? Lord Lenari is uncle to the empress and doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

  “I understand that, sir. However, the Lieutenant is away from the palace on scheduled exercises and won’t be back for some time.”

  “Isn’t that odd, corporal?” Kosh asked. “Why is an exercise scheduled when there is a large celebration happening and thousands of visitors have descended onto the estates?”

  If Kosh’s demand flustered the corporal, his training allowed him to not show it.

  “No, Sir. The captain believes we should be able to adapt to any situation, often sending us on exercises at a moment’s notice, in all sorts of situations.”

  Kosh nodded and turned to leave.

  “Sir, when the lieutenant returns from the Cultivation Palace, would you like me to send him over to Lord Lenari?”

  Smiling, Kosh waved away the corporal’s question.

  “No need, corporal. I’m sure the lieutenant has had a long day. It can wait. I’ll try again later, if my Lord still wants to see him.”

  As Kosh walked away from the guard barracks, he wondered if the exercise at the Cultivation Palace, the locations for tonight’s celebration, and the surreptitious disappearance of the empress were connected. He contemplated returning and letting Ellrick know what he had found. However, it wasn’t much, and the Lord hated supposition. When he sent Kosh to do a task, he expected him to complete it before reporting back.

  The giant Nthandian decided he may as well use this as an excuse and head over to the celebration himself. Not that he was particularly interested in mingling with the elites of society while they clamored to appear important, but he was sure he could find something, or someone, to distract him if he couldn’t find the lieutenant.

  He walked along the palace corridors, heading to the landing pads set aside for top level staff and the empress’s council. He had his own shuttle there. Being the top aide to the uncle of the empress had its own perks, after all. As he walked, he tried to piece together what little information he had.

  The empress had disappeared from the audience chamber with no one noticing.

  Captain Jovani sent the lieutenant protecting the empress on an unscheduled training exercise.

  Said exercise just so happened to be taking place at the same location as tonight’s celebration.

  And, finally. The empress’s shuttle had gone missing from her personal landing pad, although no one had seen her in the vicinity.

  It was an open secret that the fully automated shuttle only responded to the empress’s codes. Rumors reported she escaped the palace often to go explore her estates, usually with the high marshal by her side.

  Did she employ her Powers to escape and have a little fun herself tonight?

  If he was the most powerful person in the solar system, and there was a celebration going on in his name, and he already had a proclivity to disappear from time to time, might he not try to see what all the fuss was about as well?

  Kosh entered the docking bay where the landing pads were located. The secure area also housed the empress’s personal star-cruiser. A large craft that had sleek lines, designed to provide maximum comfort to those on board. It was the empress’s palace whenever she visited one of the nine worlds on imperial business. While on the outside it looked more pleasure craft than battle cruiser, Kosh knew the space docks orbiting Airia had installed so much armament, both defensive and offensive, that the cruiser rivaled any of the navy’s vaunted Echelon battle cruisers. Upon its commission, it had been the largest spacecraft in the system with Paired Circuitry. That had changed as the technology developed, now being deployed on various Delta class cruisers, the Navy’s ubiquitous workhorse, used to provide security and peace throughout Solvonus.

  He approached his own shuttle, a small sleek design, made for a single passenger, but with the ability to go orbital and even make interplanetary hops if required. As he closed within a few feet of the shuttle, his data-pad sent a small encoded signal, causing the internal locking mechanism to disengage. There was no other way to access the shuttle. The design conceived by Kosh himself, and installed into his craft, was a closely guarded secret. A large bribe to the master engineer at the shipyard, followed by a few timely fatal accidents, had ensured complete secrecy.

  As he sat back in the cockpit, working the controls, he pondered his mission and the information he had. Kosh was an intuitive man. It was what allowed him to become extremely powerful in his own right. He was sure that intuition was telling him the empress was at the party and most likely in disguise. Kosh knew about Ellrick’s plans. He was the one orchestrating them, after all, and that they were on a tight schedule. The Da’a’shori ship, hiding on one of Nthandi’s desolate moons, could stay undetected for only so long, given the extreme security around the planet. Ellrick had used considerable resources to create a window of opportunity. They needed to find the empress, and find her tonight, when the confusion of so many dignitaries arriving for the celebrations would cause the required chaos to disguise their actions.

  With new resolve, Kosh worked on his personal, encrypted data-pad, communicating with his lieutenants in the Red Fist. He had his own plans for the unique opportunity the celebrations afforded, but he would have those curtailed. Kosh knew his place, and his loyalty to Ellrick was paramount. He would shift the Red Fist’s operation at the Cultivation Palace to search for the empress.