* * * * *
This is all happening too fast, Vaikyur thought. Could it be that Ezáitur thought he could catch the Orians by surprise?
“You have to recall the order, Ezáitur,” Vaikyur said once he had been patched into the Fer-innyera’s office. “Don’t you know that if we attack Orian we run the risk of accelerating the volcanic eruptions? Don’t you know that if that happens, the gravity that binds our planets will be disturbed and could hurtle us off into space?”
“That may be, but I’m giving the order just the same.” In the view screen, the Fer-innyera waved a hand dismissively. “If you refuse to cooperate, I’ll call up the individual squadron leaders myself if I have to.”
“Understood. I’ll give the order.” Vaikyur responded tightly, opening the comline to relay the message.
I’m sending us all to hell, he thought. Minutes later, as he watched the ship Sukur take off, Headquarters and the Command Center received a direct and sudden communication from a vessel now traveling between the planets. One of the ensigns patched the message through to the video screen.
The Orian Great Leader’s face filled the screen, his strange unblinking eyes tearing deep into their consciousness and exposing a weak vein of fear to the open air. Even Vaikyur felt the invisible hand of mind-exposing terror pulling at his soul and searching for his weaknesses; suddenly, unexplainable cries of panic sounded over the Command Center around him, as though each ekasi felt he had been singularly targeted as a victim. Several Tiasennian planes crashed inexplicably in that moment, punctuating the sudden rise of fear in the atmosphere with a flurry of grating buzzing sounds coming in from radar.
“So good to see you, Senka Vaikyur, and you, Fer-innyera Ezáitur.” The Great Leader said menacingly, finding them on the relay. “You may be wondering how I know your faces so well—but it’s quite simple. Eiron Vaikyur-Erlenkov’s mind is a soft little treasure-box.”
That was enough to animate Vaikyur. Vaikyur’s eyes flashed as he suppressed a desire to hurl insults at the Orian creature and self-proclaimed leader, knowing it would do no good, yet rage filled him, allowing no fear, spilling over into the expression on his face.
“I must say I admire you, Vaikyur.” Sargon said, despite Vaikyur’s hostility. “You seem to be the only one around Headquarters with any sense. It’s a pity you couldn’t get Alton to rectify the damage your world has done to us before it had to come to this.
“As for you, Ezáitur,” he glared at the image of the Fer-innyera, though Vaikyur could also see the Fer-innyera on the monitor, “you really are more of a fool than I thought. We never helped your precious Vaikyur-Erlenkov as you suspected—Alessia did.” Sargon paused, his eyes narrowing. “Oh, so her name rings a bell? It should. Now that I know where she has been hiding, I no longer have to consider you in any of this.” Sargon said, dismissing the Fer-innyera with a slight wave of his hand.
“Expect to be annihilated.” He said, his eyes glaring at them. Even shielded by his ire, Vaikyur felt himself immersed in ice by that gaze; several of those around him were violently shivering, ready to agree to anything that this creature had to say or offer and stunned by his words.
As the communication cut out, the image changed to a gigantic spaceship, dark navy with royal blue bands of color, a multi-tiered display of various short and long barreled laser batteries and cannons staggered over the strata of upper decks. The ensign ahkso who had taken over for Kesney meekly reported it at eight nariars long, two nariars wide, and one-third of a nariar high.
Ezáitur’s face on the other videocom stared unblinking. He was mindlessly sucking on the end of his smoke roll.
A sense of normal feeling gradually returned to the room; Vaikyur opened his personal transceiver to the left of his chair and began to transmit a message on a high frequency channel, hoping that Alessia would receive it.
“Vaikyur calling the Selesta for assistance. Eiron Vaikyur-Erlenkov made a prisoner by Orian leader. Orians preparing to assault Tiasenne...” He repeated the message over and over until his voice cracked.
The Last Immortal : Book One of Seeds of a Fallen Empire Page 80
