The Master of Muscigny (The First Admiral Series Book 5) by William J. Benning Read Free Book Online

be marooned here to help His Majesty. Either way, we must pay our respects, offer our gifts and submit our petition to stay whilst we make our repairs.”
    “Only subjects may petition the King.”
    “Then, as we are temporarily stranded on your lands, are we not subject to your laws and customs?”
    “This is so, but the King is too ill to read petitions.”
    “Then he has even greater need of our Physician than ever, after all, what do you have to lose?” Billy indicated the four open chests on the edge of the Landing Bay.
    Torn between greed for the contents of the chests and fear for what might happen to him if these strange, and powerful, newcomers should cause harm to the stricken King, Joscelin squirmed. Then, remembering the huge diamond in his pocket, his greed won the argument.
    “Very well, I will conduct you to the Palace where His Majesty’s sister will decide upon your fate, bring out your horses and your escort.”
    “No need,” Billy smiled and turned to the Landing Bay door once more, gesturing with his thumb to allow a vehicle to exit.
    From the Landing Bay door, the heavy whine of an anti-gravity generator punctured the heavy silence as a Personnel Carrier emerged from behind the force-shielding.
    Nearly five metres long, the Personnel Carrier possessed a sharp ‘V’-shaped nose behind which a pilot and commander sat. Behind them, two long bench-like seats were housed in an open-topped, high-sided compartment that terminated in a drop-ramp for easy exit.
    The mounted Knights stared in awe as the vehicle drew to a halt halfway down the Landing Ramp.
    “No need for horses, My Lord Seneschal,” Billy smiled triumphantly. “We have something that is much quicker!”
    “What in the...” Joscelin gasped, unable to believe what he was seeing.
    “Can I offer you a lift, My Lord?” Billy smiled cheekily.

Chapter 5
     
    The War Room, Star Destroyer Titan
     
    Second Admiral, and Chief of Staff, Marrhus Lokkrien stared in incredulity at the image on the two-dimensional View Screen. The great gaping maw of whatever was out there had just claimed the flagship of the Universal Alliance Fleet, and with it, the First Admiral.
    “Scanners! Report!” the tall, dark-haired Lokkrien bellowed to the Officers and Technicians who inhabited the banks of consoles in front of the War Table that fed him the updated information he needed to make decisions.
    “She’s gone, sir.”
    “I can see that! Where has she gone!?”
    “We can’t penetrate deep enough into whatever that is, sir.”
    As the one and only Bardomil in the service of the Universal Alliance Fleet, Lokkrien had defected from the Imperial Fleet when Billy Caudwell had defeated and destroyed a formation of nine Imperial Fighter Carriers and their escorts over a year before. Viewed with the deepest suspicion and mistrust by the vast majority of Alliance Fleet personnel, Lokkrien was biding his time until Billy Caudwell finally subdued the Bardomil Empire. Until that day, however, Lokkrien had to keep a low profile despite his rank as the effective second-in-command to Billy Caudwell.
    “Come on Scanners, wake up!” Lokkrien bellowed. “It’s not a wormhole and it’s not a black hole, so what is it?”
    “We don’t know sir, there’s nothing like it configured in our system! It’s an entirely new phenomenon, sir.”
    “It can’t possibly be! Search again and get me some answers!”
    “Radiation sensors picked up a huge burst of Lissian radiation just before the phenomenon appeared,” another Scanner Technician reported.
    “Lissian?” Lokkrien questioned.
    “Yes, sir,” the reading went right off the chart, then that…thing…appeared.”
    “Lissian?” Lokkrien questioned himself quietly.
    It had been over a year since the Bardomil Empress had tried to scorch planet Earth out of existence with a massive solar flare generated by a Lissian radiation weapon. With his mind still racing, Lokkrien considered that they were dozens of