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Okay, not the only chance.
There was me.
I was the newly minted Lord of Taw but I wasn’t up to the challenge. I was the younger Taw brother, and I was meant to support my elder brother. I was never meant to take his place.
How I missed him.
Our homeworld wasn’t even a planet, though it was as big as one. It was a moon that circled our host planet Pi’tor in the Titan solar system.
From here we reached out to the distant stars and formed a powerful empire built on mining valuable elements on distant asteroids, comets, planets, and moons. We mined more than we needed and sold the surplus to other civilizations.
We were a generous and honest species.
And some would say naive.
The problem with being successful was there was always someone who wanted to take it from you—those who did not wish to grow or buy, but steal.
Those were the Changelings, and for decades they preyed on our honest nature. They never issued a serious threat, but that was never their purpose.
They’d been testing and poking and prying at our defense systems, looking for weaknesses and chinks in our armor. Once they found enough, they attacked us without mercy.
They took our homeworld and mining colonies. They threatened reprisals against our allies and killed those that stood in their way.
Like my elder brother, Qale.
Swatted from the sky during his trip to take command of our army. With the head removed, the army fell quickly, though not easily.
Now I found myself Lord of Taw, the most powerful lord in the Empire. And without the king on his throne, I was who the rest of the empire turned to for leadership.
But I was no leader. That was obvious from my very first decision…
We joined the queue for the palace. They handed over their invitations and were allowed to enter.
“You’re going to have to give up your weapons if you want to get inside,” I whispered out the corner of my mouth.
Zes snorted and drew his hunting knife.
“If they want my weapon, they’re going to have to take it from my cold dead hand,” he said.
Zes was a formidable warrior, if not the best tactician. His plans always consisted of, “Hit ‘em so hard an’ fast that it’ll make their heads spin!” or “Punch him in the face. That’ll show him who’s right!” And the incredibly subtle: “Kick him in the balls!”
You wanted him beside you in battle, not so much in the war room beforehand.
“You’re going to have to hand it over if you want to get in the palace,” I insisted.
Zes snorted again.
“We’ll see about that,” he said.
Another two lords handed over their invitations before we were ushered forward. I extended the invitations and the Titan servant smiled warmly and motioned for me to enter. He raised a hand to Zes.
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to hand that knife over, sir,” the servant said.
“I’m not the sir,” Zes said and nodded to me. “He is.”
“I still need to take it from you, si— Uh, if you please.”
Zes lifted the blade in its scabbard.
