The Silver Paladin

The Beginning

"My dear. Please... live happily somewhere out of his reach."

I heard someone say that to me. I couldn't tell who it was. It felt like I shouldve known who this belonged to, but I couldn't remember.

"Saoirse..." a new voice called out to me.

"Saoirse.." who was calling to me.

"Saoirse!" My eyes flew open at the sudden shout. I quickly closed them when I was blinded by the lights above me. Slowly I opened them again, letting my eyes adjust to the bright lights.

"Saorise, it's time to get up." The voice said. I turned my head and saw my commanding officer standing beside me.

His name is Commander Mitch Iverson, Senior officer of the Galaxy Garrison.

"Commander Iverson, is something the matter?" I asked, sitting up on the soft couch I was laying on.

"You told me to wake you up in about two hours ago." He said. I looked up at the clock and saw that two hours had gone by. I felt tired a while ago, so Commander Iverson gave me permission to take a break from my work and take a rest in the lounge.

"Oh, that's right." I said smiling at Commander Iverson, "Thank you, Commander. I'll get back to work right now. I'm probably behind."

I swung my legs over the side of the couch and tore the blanket I had off of my body, setting it aside as I stood up.

Commander Iverson look at me worryingly.

"Saorise, you should go home and get some rest. You seem to be exhausted." He said, grabbing my shoulder gently. I looked up at him, still smiling and hiding my exhaustion.

"I'm perfectly fine, Commander." I reassured, "I was just a little tired, that's all. That nap helped me get my energy back. If you'll excuse me, I should get back to work."

I began to walk away from Iverson, when he pulled me back by my shoulder. He turned me around quickly and looked at me straight in my eyes.

"Saoirse, you need to get some rest. I know your research is important, but you're ahead of everyone in your department by at least two years. You can afford to take a few days off, better yet, a week or more." He said.

What he said was true. I may be seventeen, but I was the same rank as my older brother. I was a Junior officer in charge of researching new types of energies at the Galaxy Garrison. In short, people were expecting great thing from me and I never wanted to let anyone down.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I can't stop my research now." I said.

Commander Iverson sighed and let me go, standing firm andooking at me with a sense of seriousness in his eyes.

"All right." He said, "I'll make you a deal: If you agree to go home and rest for the next few days, I'll let you help me evaluate the cadets in the simulators. Deal?"

I hummed in thought for a moment. I was anxious to see the cadets and their progress, but I also wanted to continue my research.

I sighed and nodded, "It's a deal." I said, holding out my hand as Commander Iverson reached out his own hand to shake mine.

"That's good. I'll be needing your brain and good eyes to see what the cadets need to work on." Iverson said happily.

I smiled back at him, the two of us walking out of the lounge and down the halls to the simulation room.

I was happy that I was here. The Galaxy Garrison members treated me kindly and pushed me to be my best. Of course, since I was so young, there were people who were jealous, such as the cadets who were about my age. They thought I got into the Garrison and moved up the ranks so quickly because of my brother. But I got into the Galaxy Garrison fairly through the same tests that took when I was twelve.