The Admiral and the Assistant

Minister Aster swept down the hallway with the equipment in his arms. Minister Parsa followed, a food tray in his hands.

"It is unconscionable that our private communications were trumpeted across the galaxy," Minister Aster sneered.

"Yes, Grand Minister," Minister Parsa said meekly.

"It is nobody's business what kinds of laws we're discussing behind closed doors. That's why the doors are closed."

Minister Parsa didn't say anything, only pinched his lips shut.

"You would not believe the calls I've been getting about our new law," he continued, oblivious to Parsa's discomfort. "It's causing riots in Techterra. I want to launch a special investigation, find out how that information leaked out. That irresponsible behavior is costing lives. Heads need to roll. Maybe literally."

They arrived at the door to the Emperor's chambers.

"And now we have to deal with this." Minister Aster stood in front of the closed door with his hands on his hips. "Fussing with the Emperor's juvenile games." He paneled open the door, revealing the shielding. It buzzed, slightly distorting the view of the room within. "It's been a few days, maybe he'll be hungry enough to behave himself now."

The two Ministers of the Imperial Council peered into the vestibule. It appeared empty, but the position of the door left a few areas of the room concealed.

"Really, you all act as though the Emperor's some kind of special operative," Minister Aster scoffed. "You've been watching too many pulp movies, in my opinion. But, to address your foolish concerns, we'll make sure the Emperor boogeyman is not hiding in the vestibule." He hefted the equipment he'd been carrying. "We'll use this heartbeat monitor to make sure the room is clear."

"Yes, Grand Minister," Parsa said.

Minister Aster powered on the device. Lifting it with both hands, he pointed it at Minister Parsa. It beeped steadily, in time with Parsa's heartbeat. Minister Aster squinted at the display on the device.

"According to this, you are five feet away from me," Minister Aster said. "Does that satisfy you that the device is working?"

"Yes, Grand Minister," Minister Parsa said.

"Good. I told you all that your talk of 'complicated' military equipment is was nonsense. If a Marine can be trained to use it, it certainly can't be that complicated."

"Yes, Grand Minister."

Minister Aster pointed the device into the vestibule. The shielding caused a little static, but the display was clear enough. The device began beeping.

"Look there. According to this, there's a heartbeat twelve feet away, right... there." Minister Aster pointed at the far side of the room, at the door leading from the vestibule into the bedroom. "The Emperor is right behind that far door. Probably feeling very sorry for his foolish prank. Now do you feel comfortable switching this shielding over?

Minister Parsa peered closely at the display on the device in Minister Aster's hands. At long last he nodded.

"It seems that it's safe for us to go in," Minister Parsa said. He carefully balanced the food tray in one hand, and drew a slim remote from within his robe. He hesitated a moment, the clicked the button.

The shielding in front of the bedroom door flickered to life. Once it was fully powered, the shielding keeping them from the vestibule went out.

"Thank you, finally," Minister Aster said, sweeping into the room. Parsa timidly followed. Aster gestured around the room. "See? Nobody here. All your fretting was for nothing." He busied himself preparing the small table to hold the tray. "Now that we can get in there again, perhaps we can talk the Emperor into ratifying our new law. I'm sure that since he's had a few days without food, he'll be amenable to--"

The door to the hallway, detecting that nobody else was coming through, slid shut automatically. The panel switch next to the door blinked. The energy magazine from the Emperor's blaster was taped to the panel switch, and wired into its guts. As the door closed, the magazine detonated.

Sparks sprayed into the vestibule. Parsa screamed, flinging the food tray up in the air. Aster froze, his eyes wide with shock.

Minister Parsa darted over to the door and tried to panel it open, but the switch was gone. A blackened hole decorated the wall where it had been. He tried yanking on the door itself, but it didn't budge. He began hyperventilating.

"It's stuck!" Parsa cried. His fingers scrabbled around the edges of the door. "I can't get it open!"

Minister Aster stared stupidly at him. "What happened?" he asked, still trying to catch up with events. "What happened?"

The door to the bedroom slid open. The Emperor sat there on the other side of the shielding, looking, it must be admitted, incredibly smug.

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"Two rats in one trap," the Emperor said. "That's quite a bargain."

"What... what have you done?" Minister Aster said faintly.

"Only a little turnabout. You've imprisoned me, now I've imprisoned you." The Emperor gave them a toothy grin. "It only seemed fair."

Minister Parsa pulled out his scanner and began trying to contact someone.

"Ooh, some advice for you," the Emperor said. "That scanner won't work in here. Major kudos to whoever set up the jammer. It's very thorough. Can't get a signal out at all. Believe me, I've tried. A lot."

"What... what happened?" Minister Aster said.

"You're a bit stupid, aren't you?" the Emperor said. He leaned forward in his chair. "You are my prisoners. Now, you have control of the shielding. If one of you lets me out, well then... one of you will have a merciful execution."

"You... you trapped us in here?" Minister Aster said, slowly beginning to get a grip on current events. "You... how dare you?"

The Emperor quirked an eyebrow.

"Yes, 'how dare I' indeed." His grin grew predatory. "I didn't expect to get two of you. That makes it all the better."

"More... juvenile pranks!" Aster exploded. "What do you think you'll accomplish with this?"

"Oh, it could go a couple different ways," the Emperor said, leaning back. "One of you could lower the shielding. That's probably the best outcome for you. But if you really have the dedication of your convictions, then that's the best outcome for me. Because we'll sit here and stare at each other, trapped, unable to move."

The Emperor reached over and snagged a handful of slightly withered grapes from his stash. He popped them in his mouth, munching contemplatively.

"I don't actually need to eat very often at all," he said, "but you... after about three days without food, you'll start to experience hunger in a way you never have before. Have you ever been truly hungry? Have you ever been desperately starving?" The Emperor rubbed his hands together. "In less than a month, the desperation will be honed to a killing keenness. And with two of you in there..." he chortled. "I wonder which of you will cannibalize the other first." He turned his eyes to the ceiling in apparent thought. "It would serve as an excellent warning to anyone else considering treason."

Parsa looked absolutely sick, but Aster grew redder by the word.

"Treason?!" Aster fumed. "It's hardly treason to save the Imperium from your madness!"

"It is not your place to save the Imperium from me. It is my place to save the Imperium from the likes of you."

"You don't know what's best for the Imperium!" Aster shrieked, leaning forward until his nose was only inches from the shielding separating them.

"It takes a truly breathtaking degree of ignorance to be so confident," the Emperor said. "I have shepherded and guided the Imperium for three hundred years. You are a court flunky. Under other circumstances, you'd have been a forgotten footnote in a dusty history book somewhere. Now, you will be recorded as a villain and a fool."

"You're blinded by sentimentality and foolishness! You even kept that treasonous Chrysanthae on the council! Then you eliminated one of the great protections of the Imperium! I will fix your mistakes! I will guide this--"

The shielding that stood between them flickered and went out. Aster's rant crashed to a stop, and his face fell open in horror. He turned behind him. Minister Parsa was huddled on the floor, trembling, with the shielding remote in his hand. Aster turned back to the Emperor. "You--"

Without hesitation, the Emperor surged forward and punched Aster right in the eye. The Minister crumpled to the ground. The Emperor picked him up by his neck and flung him bodily into the bedroom. Aster sailed through the door and crashed into the far wall. He fell to the floor, unconscious.

The Emperor stood over Minister Parsa, who quivered on the floor. He wordlessly held out his hand. Minister Parsa handed up the shielding remote. Then he prostrated himself before the Emperor.

"M-mercy, your Imperial Majesty," he quavered. "I-- I released you, please... show mercy."

"You were part of this treason," the Emperor said. Minister Parse flinched at the Emperor's words.

"I... it was Minister Aster, your Imperial Majesty! It was his idea! It was his--"

"And you went along with it. All of you."

Minister Parsa put his face on the floor.

"I-- I'm not a criminal, your Imperial Majesty," he bawled into the carpet. "I'm just weak! I'm a coward!"

The Emperor sneered.

"Cowardice is a crime, when you refuse to stand against evil." He pointed to the bedroom. Minister Parsa, sniveling and weeping, crawled slowly in, following the Emperor's pointing finger. The Emperor flicked the remote, and the shielding came back to life, trapping the two Ministers in the bedroom.

"I'll be back in a day or so," the Emperor said through the shielding, "to finish dealing with you two." He fixed Minister Parsa with a steady gaze. "Since you released me, I will grant you this one mercy. In the bottom drawer of the nightstand is my blaster. I used the energy magazine for my trap, but it's still got one shot charged. I leave you to do with that what you will."

The Emperor paneled the bedroom door closed on Minister Parsa's terrified face, then turned to begin hotwiring the panel controls on the door to the hallway to complete his escape.

Herin Kasra sat in the little camp chair in front of the transmitter he'd set up on Pasoria. He had thick headphones on, blocking out the night sounds of the uninhabited planet. He focused hard on the faint voices that came through. His voice was crisp, clear, and carried across the empty nighttime plains. He hid his annoyance behind his usual grin.

"Yes, I understand," he said. He listened for a bit. "It was terrible. But you were close. So very close. If you had only stayed ten more minutes!" More listening. "It was a surprise, but I've seen the far side of the moon. They could not have fired it again. You had already broken the back of the Imperial Navy. If you had stayed, you could have feasted on Techterra. Now, they will all scatter. They're already scattering."

He listened more, and his grin threatened to turn into a snarl.

"And who could stop you now?" A pause. "I understand it will take a couple weeks to regrow, to overcome the damage to your ship, but-- yes, there are other targets. Many other targets."

Herin bit back an exasperated sigh. For being a universe-spanning super-species, the Feeders were shockingly tentative and fearful.

Then again, once he ascended to become one of them, he could teach them some boldness.

He couldn't wait to feed on the fatness of the galaxy.

"Yes, I can provide an easier target," he said, spinning through his scanner. His grin grew more genuine, colder. "But I have another proposal. You have promised to transform me after you've finished cleaning up this galaxy. If you will start the transformation now, I'll give you the full list of all inhabited star systems. Every one." He chuckled. "Together, we can choose how best to feed."

He listened for a long time, his round glasses gleaming in the dim moonlight, his grin growing wider.

Then he began laughing and laughing and laughing.