Free First Admiral 02 The Burning Sun by William J. Benning

aboard the Aquarius had an access to her senior Officer that very few Junior Grade, or JG, Technicians in other fields enjoyed. Karap Sownus actively encouraged this degree of access to his office, and greater informality, since he believed strict adherence to ranks and structures acted as a barrier to the communication that was so vital to this section.
    “You might think this is pretty stupid, sir...” Marilla began stopping at the colossal desk; the three red folios in her clammy, sweaty hand suddenly felt very heavy.
    “There’s no such thing as stupid in Intelligence, Marilla; possibly wrong, but never stupid,” Sownus began with a gentle smile, “take a seat and tell me what you think you’ve got.”
    Long experience had taught Karap Sownus never to ignore the suspicions of any of his Officers or Technicians. Even the craziest and most outlandish Intelligence Assessments could hold some vital nugget of truth or information. So, dismissing concerns out of hand was not part of Sownus’ normal response. From the side of the huge desk, a large black rectangle emerged and folded out into a high-backed chair.
    “Thank you, sir,” Marilla smiled awkwardly and set the folios on the desktop.
    At just under one metre fifty, Marilla had to activate the adjustment control lever on the side of the seat to allow her to clamber onto the comfortable chair. As a Thexxian, like Sownus himself, Marilla Thapes had pale olive skin with straight dark hair. Where Sownus kept his hair regulation short, Marilla kept her hair long, as was tradition in her family. And, where Sownus wore the two-piece tunic and trousers uniform that allowed him to conceal his bowed legs, Marilla was happier in the figure-hugging one-piece overall.
    “Well, sir,” Marilla began, “I was scanning some of the data from the Bardomil Desk, and I think there’s a possible development that you should be aware of.”
    Like most Intelligence organisations, the Universal Alliance divided its operations into what were called ‘Desks’. There were currently twelve desks under the supervision of Karap Sownus, the Bardomil Desk being the largest in terms of people and resources. The Bardomil, as a hostile species, bore closer watching than the others. Some Desks were smaller, with only one Technician to monitor activities. And, some of these one-person Desks could cover whole sectors with hundreds of planets within them. It all depended on the level of threat that each species or area presented. The Bardomil Desk currently occupied almost one fifth of the capacity of Karap Sownus’ department, with hundreds of Officers and Technicians, monitoring, sifting and analysing the data from a myriad of gathering sources. But, they all had the same objective; they were looking for patterns and clues to try to predict any possible threats and dangers from the Bardomil.
    “Okay, what have you got, Marilla?” Sownus asked sitting back in his own comfortable chair.
    “Well, it started with the report on the Bardomil Empress’ sightseeing tour of that big solar flare in the Artreaus System, sir,” Marilla opened, “quite a big flare from the yellow dwarf at the system’s heart, it scorched three planets of the system.”
    “Go on,” Sownus indicated to the nervous Technician.
    As Senior Intelligence Officer, Sownus monitored the activities of the Bardomil Empress and knew that sightseeing and celestial fireworks were not part of her normal routine.
    “Analysis was kind of stumped by that one, and put it down tentatively to one of her various vicious amusements,” Marilla continued, “but, then I thought, sir, what causes large solar flares?”
    “Magnetic anomalies within the star,” Sownus answered correctly, “go on,” he added, a strand of thought developing in his head.
    “Then, I remembered a broadcast report from the planet Xanart,” Marilla continued, an edge of excitement in her voice as she scooped out the first folio from the pile, “if you could,