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

poisoned.”
    “What!?” Billy hissed, turning himself and the Chief Medical Officer to face the wall, away from prying eyes and ears. “Did you tell them?”
    “Yes, sir, I don’t have any choice. But, it was a simple alkaloid poison, probably some plant derivative put in his food, quite easy to counteract…”
    “Thankfully, it’s not our concern, but, he will be all right? We don’t need him dropping dead just after you’ve ‘cured’ him.”
    “Oh, yes, sir, I’ve given him something to make him sleep, so, he’ll wake up tomorrow with the appetite of three men. I hope they have plenty of food around here.”
    “My Lords!” the Seneschal announced. “The King is much improved, the Council is dismissed until tomorrow morning!”
    With much grumbling and conversation, the assembly of armed men began to disperse as Joscelin climbed down from the side of the throne and strode determinedly towards Billy’s group.
    “Time to get you and your people out of here, Admiral, before too many questions get asked,” Joscelin said with urgency. “Call down your flying ships to the courtyard we were in earlier,”
    “Troopers,” Billy ordered, “double time, back to the courtyard,”
    Striding out quickly, Billy and Radkor, with the Troopers behind, followed Joscelin out of the Main Courtyard. Making rapid progress, Billy summoned down the stealthed Personnel Carriers that had been circling the City since they had taken off less than thirty minutes before.
    “So, what was all that about with the Archbishop?” Billy asked. “He’s never done a day’s work in his life.”
    “Our friend the Archbishop has been a bit of a naughty boy, sir,” Radkor smiled enigmatically.
    “Why? What was that ‘fever’ you treated him for?”
    “He had the early stages of Syphilis, sir.”
    For a moment, Billy stopped and laughed at the irony of it. Then, he followed the rapidly advancing Seneschal again, smiling broadly.

Chapter 7
     
    The Star Cruiser Aquarius
     
    Engineering Technician Lurca Sanguvin sat cross-legged in front of the open panel in the deserted Mess Deck. Surrounded by panel covers and the remains of burned out circuit bundles, Lurca leaned back on her hands and sighed heavily. The job of inspecting and repairing the micro-circuitry that allowed the main force-shielding to function was an important one. Lurca knew that she had to be absolutely precise with her repairs as everything depended on the force-shielding to allow them to escape. Without the force-shielding, there could be no repairs to the structural damage of the ship. And, without those major repairs, the Aquarius was going nowhere any time soon.
    Steeling herself for yet another round of inspection, Lurca sat forward again and lifted the Micro-Probe. She would have much preferred the Magnification Goggles for the intricate close-up work, but the Medical Officers said that using them too much would damage her optic nerve. So, adjusting the screen for the probes output image, Lurca reached up into the open panel and drew the pencil-like probe along the next line of micro-circuit bundles. In each bundle, hundreds of thousands of filament-like connections carried the power, or the information, to operate one of the millions of tiny functions that made up a force-shielding system. The Officers and Technicians in the War Room may push their buttons and hey-presto something would work, but down in the depths of the ship, it was the Engineers that made it work.
    This was the less than glamorous part of working aboard the flagship of the Alliance Fleet, Lurca considered. This was the part where someone, usually Technician Lurca Sanguvin, would be consigned to a cramped, isolated duct or crawlspace to work in the heat and danger of live circuitry. Sometimes, she considered ironically, she even had the luxury of working at a Repair Station where she could neither stand up nor sit down comfortably, but just had to crouch with an aching back and legs to fix