Bird on a Wire.
Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2021 6:09 pm
55th of Ash, Year 121 Steel
White Knight Hall
White Knight Hall
It had been a good day.
Eitan had awoken early, gone to the club with Stefan to exercise before the workday began. Neither of them had been keen to lose the edge they had honed in preparation for the expedition earlier that season, and while they still didn't speak about much that had occurred, whether from the classified nature of it all or from the traumas they had picked up along the way, they were stronger for what they had been through. It was just easy for them to coordinate their schedules now that Mr. and Mrs. Dornkirk were also residents of White Knight Hall. He did still spend nights aboard the Noble Gambit or in the barracks when it was more convenient so they could have some newlywed time with their run of the house, but it was also nice to have a bit of warm family feeling to come home to. They would just have to start scheduling things with Brenner lest he should feel unintentionally left out.
Energized by exercise and a light repast, he had gone to Onneifer Airfield for the daily patrol of Zaichaeri airspace. The patrol was uneventful enough that Captain Merovech left the bridge in Eitan's capable hands, and when the pilot requested a privy break, Eitan had taken up the wheel. It felt good to have an airship responding to his touch and not just his orders; he hadn't flown since his stint keeping the Nachtherr on course for their expedition. This wasn't a stealth ship, but it was an excellent opportunity to feel how the upgrades from the Dornkirk Windworks affected the frigate's handling.
It would certainly give him something to talk to Stefan about, and Brenner as well. Of course, there would always be a bit of friendly ribbing about the various virtues and vices of the Searing Victory compared to Eitan's ship and Stefan's ship, but the thought of it made him smile in good humor.
The sunny sky was always a welcome sight after spending so long in the subterranean Warrens.
After an uneventful patrol, Eitan remained aboard the ship to catch up on paperwork and to give the airship's shields a once over. It felt strange to be back in this routine, and he could only wonder what the results of their trip into the Warrens would bring. They were back in the vein of hurry up and wait. Everything was out of their hands now and the best they could do was act the noble sons of the Brass City in the meantime.
When he returned home, Delia was out for supper and Stefan hadn't returned from the Windworks, so Eitan dressed down and ran laps around the property, wanting to work up a good sweat for his bath and a good appetite for his own supper. By the time he was clean and fed, he was also a couple of drinks in, and while he didn't feel intoxicated, it all contrived to make him quite sleepy. He glanced at the correspondences on his desk and shrugged, knowing they could wait until morning.
56th of Ash, Year 121 Steel
White Knight Hall
White Knight Hall
Morning came and it was more of the same, though, Stefan couldn't stay for breakfast after their exercises at the club. Delia clucked at Eitan for reading his mail at the table, but she didn't actually mind. They bantered a bit between bites and the things he read. Finally, he pushed back from the table to lounge a bit more informally, taking a sip of his coffee and turning over the last bit he had to open before he could report once more to the Airfield.
"Do invite Luca to supper, Eitan," she was saying. "Perhaps you could even coordinate with Stefan and Brenner. We could all go out. That would be nice and familial, don't you think?"
"Yes, of course, I do eat supper and I am certain she does as well. Excellent plan."
Delia snorted lightly as he opened the letter. There was a key, which he took out and held onto while he read the handful of words on the single slip of paper. There was no identifying information, but his bile immediately rose.
"Eitan, what is it?" Delia knew him well enough to read him, even if he was a bit of a spy these days. Her concern was well-founded.
"Fuck."
Like a bird on the wire
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free
Like a worm on a hook
Like a knight from some old-fashioned book
I have saved all my ribbons for thee
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free
Like a worm on a hook
Like a knight from some old-fashioned book
I have saved all my ribbons for thee
Later that morning
Florian Albrecht's apartment
Florian Albrecht's apartment
The key turned in the lock, but not easily. Eitan grumbled and made a mental note to bring oil to fix it before realizing that was likely a moot point now.
Walking in, looking around, he found what he expected to find: nothing. Florian Albrecht was gone without a trace or an explanation. All the same, Eitan turned the place upside down looking for clues, then carefully put everything back into place, knowing the Order and likely the Air Defense Corps would send investigators to double- and triple-check his work here. But Albrecht was his responsibility and so he was the first responder on the scene. He wanted more than the fact he was gone to deliver to his superiors.
Perhaps some of Eitan's counterintelligence savvy had worn off on the Lysanrin. There was little conclusive evidence to go on. It just looked like he had left for work per usual, but he wasn't the sort to play pranks of this nature. He was gone.
Eitan wasn't sure whether the inconclusive trail ought to make him proud or vexed. Or both. Albrecht tended to be a pain in the ass one way or another, and for now, the trail had led to here: a split. No amount of lacquer would fuse this again. An empowered Lysanrin with access to more military and Order secrets than he ought to have going rogue would have mortal consequences should Albrecht be caught. Eitan himself would likely suffer a blow for this, more than some mere reprimand.
It was his failure, after all. Things had been going well for Albrecht—a growing reputation for competence with the Air Defense Corps, for compliance with the Order of Reconciliation, for a veneer of civilization from the elite of Zaichaer. And he had thrown it all away for something. Eitan didn't know. Perhaps it was some rose-colored idea of his vagabond freedom, as if Lysanrin were welcomed anywhere in the world. Well, it was time to face the music. Eitan, at least, didn't run away from his problems.
He locked up behind him, caught a cab to the Hall of Reconciliation. Along the way, he penned a couple of quick notes to send by courier as soon as he arrived. One to Captain Merovech to inform him that Private Albrecht was away without leave and that he himself would report to the Noble Gambit as soon as he had made a report to the Order of Reconciliation; it would be up to him to decide whether to go on patrol without the airman or his executive officer, but Eitan was used to being pulled in different directions by his various responsibilities to the State. Another was sent to Brenner Dornkirk, who would have to let whomever he reported to on matters of the expedition know that one of their people had quite possibly gone rogue.
If I, if I have been unkind
I hope that you can just let it go by
If I, if I have been untrue
I hope you know it was never to you
I hope that you can just let it go by
If I, if I have been untrue
I hope you know it was never to you
Later that morning
The office of Vigilant Meike Richter
The office of Vigilant Meike Richter
"He loves you," Richter noted.
"So he wrote."
"How sweet."
Eitan was silent. Richter set the brief letter aside, resting the key upon it.
He took a breath, then went into details.
"I last saw him the evening of the 54th," he reported crisply. "I had secured some of his mother's personal effects that were no longer deemed necessary for the Order's investigation and gave those to him. He gave no indication that he was a flight risk. I did not see him yesterday; he had shore leave. The letter had arrived by the evening when I came home, but I made an early night of it and read my correspondences in the morning. I went immediately to his apartment with the key to see if he was still there, did a thorough investigation, and then came immediately here. I sent word to my superiors in the Air Defense Corps that he was AWOL, but otherwise reported directly to you."
She watched him impassively and he got the distinct impression that she didn't like him, but he told himself—not for the first time—that he didn't need her to like him; he needed her to hone him into a better tool for the will of the State, perhaps even into one of the people who held the tools. He hadn't lied, and he hadn't given any sort of tell when he reported, but he didn't know whether she had clearance to know about the expedition. If she did, then she would be pleased he followed protocols. If she did not, then it was not his place to inform her. And in regard to that special forces expedition, Brenner Dornkirk was still his commanding officer.
"It's speculation," he continued, more slowly, in the face of her silence, "but it's possible he was discontented with the lack of findings by the investigation into the death of his mother. That has been a cloud looming over him since, and there was the matter of her books the day before he left—"
Richter waved him off. He fell silent.
"The Order will investigate. You may go."
"Vigilant, I would like to—"
"No," she said faintly. "No. What you would like is irrelevant. Your part in this will be investigated as well."
"Yes, Vigilant." If he was stiff when he rose, he quickly limbered himself. "Good day."
Eitan turned to go. She kept the note; she kept the key.
Florian was gone, and he wouldn't even get to look for him.
Like a baby stillborn
Like a beast with his horn
I have torn everyone who reached out for me
But I swear by this song
And by all that I have done wrong
I will make it all up to thee.
Like a beast with his horn
I have torn everyone who reached out for me
But I swear by this song
And by all that I have done wrong
I will make it all up to thee.