First Admiral 02 The Burning Sun by William J. Benning Read Free Book Online Page A

began, “fairly routine stuff, very little intelligence value, but I thought it might interest you, sir.”
    “Why should it interest me, Officer Sownus?” Lokkrien asked, even more perplexed.
    “Well, sir,” the now anxious Sownus stammered, “it’s about your eldest son, Gryeth, winning some kind of award,” he held the folio over with a slight tremble in his hand, “there’s no audio on it, I’m afraid, our lip-readers are still transcribing what they can from the images.”
    Stunned to silence, Lokkrien reached out his now shaking hand and took the folio sheet from the nervous Thexxian. Then, Lokkrien, still unable to believe what was happening, carefully set the folio on a larger plate built into his desk. A moment later, the mechanism automatically activated and a three-dimensional image sprang to life above the pink folio.
    It was a surprisingly clear image for a civilian broadcast. The image opened with several rows of brown-uniformed young adult Bardomil males standing to attention in a large open courtyard that might have been a school or a military academy. A group of adult Bardomil males in slightly darker brown uniforms approached the parade of younger males. Then the shot cut to a head and shoulders close-up of a young Bardomil male who bore a striking resemblance to Marrhus Lokkrien.
    When the young male’s face appeared, Lokkrien let out a gasp of recognition and covered his mouth to choke back a sob. The image was unmistakably that of his eldest son, Gryeth. And, for a brief moment he felt a surge of paternal pride amongst the pain, anguish and loneliness.
    Completely transfixed by the image, Lokkrien watched as one of the older Bardomil placed a medal, on a brown and blue ribbon, around his son’s neck. He immediately recognised the diamond-shaped silver medal as a Vigilance Medal. Young Bardomil males only received such awards if they had successfully completed the military training element of their education to an exceptionally high standard. The award would mean that Gryeth Lokkrien would automatically qualify for Officer Cadet Training when he completed his schooling in two years time. Lokkrien himself had won such an award almost thirty years before. And, those proud memories flooded back into his mind, as he watched his son step smartly back and raise his right fist to shoulder level to salute the adult Officer.
    The image then cut to a shot of an adult Bardomil female. Again, Lokkrien gasped. It was his wife, Senza, the proud mother watching her son receive his award. To Lokkrien she looked more beautiful than that first moment he had set eyes on her and fallen head over heels in love. The proud mother, Lokkrien wryly noticed, was wearing blue, not the traditional mourning red of the Bardomil widow. For a moment his heart sank down to his boot soles as he realised that to her he was dead. He had been listed as dead for many months now. But, life did go on, even for the widows of Imperial Fleet heroes on Bardan. As if to emphasise the point, an image of Lokkrien’s own stern face, surrounded by a red ribbon, appeared to emphasise the award-winners illustrious connections to a fallen hero of the Empire. The fallen hero image was replaced by the broad beaming smile of his son as he was mobbed and congratulated by his class mates before the image finally faded.
    For several seconds, Marrhus Lokkrien sat in a deafening silence. A swirling cocktail of emotions swept through his body as he tried to comprehend what he had just witnessed, and fought, in vain, to make some sense of it. Only the uncomfortable shuffling of Karap Sownus drew him back to his present reality. Looking at the anxious and now embarrassed Intelligence Officer, Lokkrien spoke softly. With his eyes glistening as he fought back the tears and struggled to hold his composure, he dropped back into his formal mode.
    “Thank you for this, Officer Sownus” Lokkrien said, his voice barely above a whisper in the heavily charged