The Court of a Thousand Suns

Set three thousand years in the future, the eight Sten novels tell the tale of a tough, street-wise orphan who escapes his fate as factory planet "delinq" to become the strong right-hand of the most powerful man in the Universe--a man hailed by his billons of subjects as "The Eternal Emperor." 

Having fought his way from slave labor on a factory world to commander of the Eternal Emperor's bodyguard, the most dangerous weapons Sten has encountered in Prime World are the lies of Court politicians. When a bomb goes off, however, he discovers the danger and corruption behind Court intrigue. 1985