“Hey Luka?”

It was Left, closely followed by his twin. The two hulking gunner/musclemen were uncharacteristically unsure of themselves as they stepped into Luka’s office, watched closely by a clearly-disapproving doorman. They probably wouldn’t have been allowed in at all, but Luka gave explicit orders that any of his crew had access to him at any time.

They were family. They taught him, and protected him, and joked with him when times were lean. The least he could do was treat them the way they deserved.

“Come in,” he said, and stood to clap them on the backs the way he always had. The familiarity seemed to help, because they loosened up a little.

It probably helped that he was wearing a soft shirt and workout pants, in defiance of the royal norm of High Fashion All the Time.

He was used to hand-me-downs, canvas, and leather. He wasn’t about to let a host of high-mannered attendants bully him into uncomfortable scratchy clothing for the sake of the no-one who would see him doing paperwork in his office.

His father’s office.

The pain in his heart yawned open, and he might have given into it if he was alone. His eyes still burned from the tears he couldn’t afford to shed in front of anyone else.

Besides, it would alarm Left and Right, and they looked plenty alarmed already.

“Something to drink?” he offered, and was surprised when they shook their heads, identically uncomfortable as they sat on the couch across from him. “Alright. What happened?”

“Nothing,” Right said, and glanced at his twin, and then at the floor, and then at Luka. “It’s, uh…”

“We have a favor to ask,” Left picked up, and immediately wouldn’t meet Luka’s eyes. “Sort-of an Emperor-Luka kind of favor, not a you-Luka favor.”

“Anything I can grant,” Luka told them sincerely. He already had plans for his crew. Plans for giving them the things they worked so hard to get, and never quite managed. “Although if you want to marry my sister, you’re going to have to wait a while, and then convince her it’s a good idea.”

That finally broke the ice a little, and they laughed. They hadn’t met Lucia Therese Magdalene yet. They had no idea what trouble the young Princess Royal could cause when she put her mind to it. Luka couldn’t wait to unleash her on the Court.

“It’s about the mission we’re not supposed to know about,” Left said, and ducked his head when Luka stared at him. “We don’t know the details and all, but Amir, he called our little misfit family together. He said you’re off to do something dangerous, to save us all.”

“Yes,” Luka made no bones about the fact that it was, to almost everyone, a suicide mission. The more people who thought he was putting himself on the line, the better. He needed the Hoem to take the bait. “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you more about it.”

“We didn’t figure you could, but see,” Right took up the story this time. “We’ve gotten a good look around here, and we met some of your Guard.”

“They’re good guys,” Left said, his voice so similar to his twin’s that it was hard to tell them apart. “Tough. We fought with some of them a few days ago, down in the Lower Cantina. They ain’t half bad, all things considered. Not great, but not bad.”

“But they’re Core-raised,” Right agreed. “They don’t know what it’s like, fighting for your life when you’re cold, and hurting, and hungry.”

“We do,” Left told Luka. It was true. They did. Born in the slums of a backwater port, they never had anything come easy, and fought for everything they ever had. “And now you do too, because you flew with us and all.”

“That was the point of it,” Luka told them quietly. “To get to know the real people. The ones who don’t ever see the inside of a Carrier, or meet the noblility. To see where our government works, and where it doesn’t.”

“Rot is easy to spot from underneath, and hard to see from the top,” Right summed up neatly with an approving nod. “Now see, we’re not the brightest, or the best…”

“But we know you,” Left said sincerely. “We fought with you and broke the law with you. You’re our little brother.”

“That’s why we want to watch your back,” Right finished before Luka could voice any of the things that raced across his mind. “We figure you have some sort of Royal detail that looks out for you specifically. We want in.”

“The Royal Guard usually calls for years of service in the military, and more years of training after,” Luka told them carefully, touched by their desire to watch over him in this den of people they didn’t know, and didn’t trust. “Tactics, as a group and singly, learning how to protect your assigned ‘package’, maybe with your lives.”

“We know. That’s where the favor comes in,” Right said, and leaned forward. “We’ve got something. Something that no one really knows about, and we don’t mostly use ‘cause we never had to.”

“We’re telepaths,” Left added, and straightened proudly. “Limited to each other, but there’s nothing and no one that’s managed to block us yet. So if you went somewhere with one of us, and got in trouble, the other of us would know and could bring help.”

“Or you could have us both and know that you can trust the people at your back,” Right continued the argument seamlessly. “But we’re not military. Never have been. So, we need you to get us into to the training.”

Luka held up a hand to stop the flow of words so he could take a moment to consider their offer more seriously than he had at first. On the one hand, they didn’t have the training that most of the Guard had. On the other hand, he knew what they could do, had seen it personally, and could trust that they would do absolutely anything to keep him safe.

And the telepathy, especially if no one ever knew about it but the three of them, was tempting beyond words. It might be the difference between life and death.

If he personally sponsored them into training, they would get the chance they wanted.

“The trainers will be harder on you than any of the others,” he warned them, and saw them both brighten. “They will do their best to wash you out. They might try to hurt you. You will have no friends, and no help. You will probably be separated most of the time.”

“We figured,” Left said firmly. “It can’t be worse than the streets.”

“We figure the Core-boys probably think going without a meal or three is bad business,” Right grinned wolfishly. “And that fifty kliks is a long way.”

“That if you’re hurt, or cold, or hungry, or scared, you can’t fight.”

“We talked to some of the boys down in the cantina after we were done brawling,” Left continued, and had the grace to look somewhat sheepish. Luka had been in a brawl or two with them. He knew who started the fight, and who finished it. “They told us about the training. So yeah, we want in.”

“Alright,” Luka agreed quietly, and kept his hand up to stave off the bear hugs he knew were coming. “I can get you in, but only the best make it to the Emperor’s Guard. You have to do that part yourselves.”

“We can,” Left promised, and grinned. “Those Core-boys won’t know what hit ‘em.”

“I believe in you,” Luka told them honestly, and stood so they could jump on him properly, as they always had after a victory. “Have you already talked to Tusca?”

“Cap’n approves,” Right said, and lifted Luka off the ground with a hug so tight his ribs protested. “He likes the idea of some of ours watching your back. Silvie’s already talking her way into the kitchens. ‘Do is terrifying your household staff. You aren’t getting’ rid of us that easy.”

“I’m glad to have you,” Luke said, touched beyond words to know that his family, the found-family that was little and broken and still so good they made his heart hurt, were determined to stay close. “I’ll look after the others while you’re gone. I promise.”

“We’ll hold you to that,” Left said, and clapped his back one more time. “When you’re done with your papers, you come down to the ship and have dinner with us all? You can bring your Ma and sister if you want. Bet it’s been ever since they had home cooking.”

“We’ll be there,” Luka assured them, and could only laugh as they left the same way they entered, boisterous, large, and walking like they ruled the world.

He couldn’t wait to see how the poor Training Commander handled them, but he thought that maybe, just maybe, the shock would be good for the stoic old man.