* * * * *
“Requesting off-duty permission to enter the Command Center, sir.”
Vaikyur looked up at the two figures standing in the doorway.
“Vaikyur-Erlenkov?” Kesney breathed, recognizing the speaker; Eiron’s attire looked the worse for wear, and his posture seemed a bit strained with fatigue, but otherwise, he hadn’t changed since his disappearance at point aico-seven. Senka Forren stood to his right, turning a level, unmeasurable gaze around Command Central, a gaze that seemed likely to find fault with everything he surveyed.
“Dear boy, you’re alive!” Vaikyur proclaimed, rising in his chair and striding towards his grandson in an excited state; after a moment, he composed himself. “Permission to enter the Command Center granted.”
As Eiron approached the Senkaya-Sukura, he surrendered himself to a quick hug. “HA HA!” Vaikyur said, roughly slapping the sides of Eiron’s arms. “But how? We were sure that your plane went down.”
“I can’t discuss that, sir.” Eiron said formally, flicking his eyes behind him. Senka Forren, who went where he pleased in the Command Center, had followed. At least not here, Eiron’s eyes seemed to say.
The looks exchanged between grandfather and grandson were not lost on Senka Forren. Vaikyur had that almost unnoticeable furtive smile Forren so admired on his face. The way the old man had understood in a moment that his grandson had something significant for his ears alone, and the innocent game they played was enough to throw anyone who believed in the purity of duty, like the young Junior Ekasi Kesney sitting there, off the track.
But not Forren.
“Senka Forren.” With a stiff salute Vaikyur acknowledged the intelligence officer now standing behind Eiron.
“It is an honor and a privilege to meet you again, sir.” Forren returned the salute, and found himself meaning his words as he studied the old man, though he wouldn’t have let anyone know that for all the world.
Now here was a leader you could admire, Forren thought secretively. Not like Ezáitur. Personality cults aside, Forren felt certain that everyone in the higher ups not on his payroll hated the Fer-innyera, those who were not terrified of his dangerous and destructive little whims. He certainly hated the Fer-innyera, even though Ezáitur was unaware of this and trusted him fully. But the Fer-innyera also thought that Forren was stupid and of no threat whatsoever.
And Forren was smart enough never to give himself away.
A single moment can change all.
—Wieland, Oberon
Chapter Seventeen
The Last Immortal : Book One of Seeds of a Fallen Empire Page 47
