First Admiral 02 The Burning Sun Read Free Page A

malevolently at anyone who incurred her displeasure.
    That displeasure was something that Sammut Claggit did not wish to incur. Claggit was well aware that the Bardomil Empress was completely insane and the comparison to the infamous Tarselian Ground Frog was more than apt. The males of the species, during the mating season, would indiscriminately eject small, highly venomous spines from their skin to eliminate their rivals. In the frenzy of the mating season, all reason and sanity completely vanished from the male frog with their deadly spines killing anything and everything that got in the way. The Empress could be just as unreasonable in one of her towering rages, and equally lethal.
    “If it pleases Your Radiance,” Claggit began once again, “please do not be fooled by the appearance of the weapon before you...”
    “This...rock…is a weapon, Master Claggit!?” the Empress sneered, “do we have to hit our enemies over the head with it?” she barbed.
    “No, Your Graciousness,” Claggit smiled weakly, “this is, in fact, the perfect stealth weapon...if I may be allowed to demonstrate?”
    “Proceed,” the Empress waved languidly to allow the Xanath to stand up.
    “Thank you, Your Radiant Magnificence,” Claggit began, nervously eyeing the Bodyguard; who drew back, and rose to his full height of just over one metre, “if I may approach the...rock?”
    Like most Xanath, Sammut Claggit was short in stature, but possessed a mind and intellect far greater than most in the universe. His lank greying hair hung down in long ringlets around a sharp, pale blue, angular face that was marred by a deep, livid, red scar that ran from his forehead down to his chin.
    “Yes, yes...get on with it!” the Empress sighed with an edge of irritation in her voice.
    “If you will observe, Your Serenity...” Claggit began, nervously approaching the rock, and touched its surface.
    Instantly, the rock façade melted away to reveal a silver metallic sphere the size of a soccer ball.
    “No! No! No!” Claggit cringed, his hands raised high above his head as two dozen Bardomil weapons were charged, ready to fire, at the sudden transformation of the object.
    “Well, well, Master Claggit, you might just have something of interest there for Parlour Trick Magicians,” the Empress said slowly, moving to the edge of the throne, her attention suddenly taken.
    “Thank you, Your Greatness,” Claggit replied, nervously glancing at the dozens of weapons still pointed at him, “this is a small, self-contained Lissian Pulse Emitter,” he continued.
    Nervously, Claggit stretched out his hand towards the sphere, whilst still watching the Bodyguards, and pressed the side of the object. Rapidly, the sphere broke down into four leaves on a shallow dish base, showing an array of circuit boards and mechanical moving parts.
    “A Lissian Pulse Emitter, Master Claggit?” The Empress queried, “What does that do, exactly?”
    “Well, Your Perfectness, under normal circumstances,” Claggit began, “absolutely nothing, but in close proximity to highly conductive super-heated plasma it creates what is called magnetic reconnection.”
    “Which is, Master Claggit?” the Empress began to lose the thread of the description.
    “Well, Your Fabulousness, in simple terms, if you were to put it close to, say, for example, a yellow dwarf star, it would cause a super-charged extremely powerful solar flare. May I demonstrate?” Claggit asked.
    “By all means,” the Empress conceded starting to become bored again.
    “My assistant, Bem,” Claggit motioned for the other prostrate figure to rise up, “has created a visual representation of the weapon in action, for your edification.”
    “Do get on with it Claggit,” the Empress snapped, “our Imperial patience is wearing thin,” she warned, the novelty of this new distraction beginning to wear off.
    Bem, the assistant, nervously stood up. He reached just over one metre in height. He was several