“No, it can’t be.” Vaikyur’s voice rose as though to object against a miracle, a miracle he secretly longed for. “That’s impossible. Read it again.”
“Yes, sir.” Kesney snapped to obey. “Radar reports that we are receiving an emergency signal frequency identified as that belonging to Ekasi Vaikyur-Erlenkov. We’ve traced it from sector five, fifteen nariars northeast of point aico-seven. Do you have any orders for me to relay, sir?”
“Send out a recon plane, and warn the pilot to keep a good look out.” Vaikyur added, thinking about what happened last time. “I wouldn’t put it past the Orians to stoop to dirty tricks.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll notify Senka Kalear immediately.” Kesney nodded, then turned back to his console and tapped the receiver. “Attention, Senka Kalear, this is Ekasi Kesney calling with orders from Command Central, attention Senka Kalear. Senka Vaikyur’s orders are to send a recon to identify source of emergency frequency coming from inside Classified Zone perimeter of sector five. Investigate with caution...”
Vaikyur stood listening for a while but turned away, heading for his command chair. Three months without word had erased all doubt in his mind and taken hope with it. It was going to take a lot to restore his sense of hope.
He suddenly found himself wishing that he’d spent more time with Eiron when he’d had it; ironically enough, he had plenty of time these days to dwell on regrets.
In time, the pain was going, leaving him to get on with the remainder of his life. But guilt was far more stubborn. He had sent Eiron out alone on his last mission, he reminded himself. He had waited too long to send recon reinforcements. He had put too much on the boy. Yet who could have known that Orian had planned to attack?
He told himself he should have foreseen it, knowing that was not possible.
“Sir, Senka Kalear reports recon is on its way.”
“Good.” Vaikyur said calmly. He tried to hold on to that serenity a moment longer, to wait patiently for news. What else could he do? Still, the questions came back.
Who could be transmitting the distress code? Most likely someone had found the transmitter in the wreckage of Eiron’s plane, and that also meant that Eiron, or what was left of him, had been discovered. Or was it the enemy?
They hadn’t made a move in over two months, and the younger officers were lapsing into the kind of unhurried inefficiency you usually only saw at the Academy. However, Vaikyur couldn’t help but wonder if this lull was only the quiet before the storm, and that maybe their old adversaries had fabricated the message for a reason, maybe to set them up, or as a decoy.
Yet if Eiron had activated the device himself... Vaikyur allowed himself a momentary glimmer of optimism, but it soon faded.
No, old man, no sense getting your hopes up. He thought, shaking his head. If Eiron were alive, why hadn’t he returned and where had he been these last three months? Fool, but creator above! I’d give anything to have the boy back.
Yet if Eiron still lived, Vaikyur wouldn’t get to see him, not right away, he reminded himself. Headquarters would take him in first for debriefing, if they wanted to be nice about it. If they hauled him into interrogation, Vaikyur might never find out what happened.
Without a doubt, Eiron would have to explain himself to them first.
But Eiron couldn’t really be alive after all this time, could he?
The Last Immortal : Book One of Seeds of a Fallen Empire Page 45