Free Forging Zero by Sara King Page B

had
given him too much credit for his battle record.  Anyone who looked him in the sudah
could see he wasn’t worthy of a brigade.
    “You
said yourself Lagrah planned on killing him,” Tril continued.  “Why else take
him onto the ship?  He’s too old for our needs.  The food is designed for
younger recruits.  It will wreak havoc on his system.  Why spare him?” 
    “I
changed my mind, Small Commander Tril,” Kihgl said in that same, even,
unhurried tone.  “It is not your place to question me.”
    Hearing
that, from a vkala still bearing the scars of his shame, made Tril’s sudah
speed up in anger.  “Just as it wasn’t your place to defy Lagrah?” he demanded,
knowing that, as a yeeri , Tril’s position would be heard amongst the
other castes.
    No one,
however, raised a voice to support him.  In fact, if anything, the others in
the room seemed to be glaring at him.  Commander Linin was carefully picking at
his plate, looking like he wanted to sink out of sight.  He could feel
Battlemaster Nebil’s ancient eyes on him, filled with disdain.  His skin
prickling, Tril ignored the aging Ooreiki.  The furg had been a Prime Commander
several times, only to keep getting repeatedly demoted to battlemaster just as
soon as he gained a regiment of his own.  Incompetents and jenfurglings.  He
was surrounded by them.
    Holding
his gaze, Kihgl gave him a long, cold glance.  “I defied no one, Commander.  I
claimed a child slated for execution, as was my right.  Commander Lagrah
himself backed me.”
    Tril
switched tactics.  “He’s a troublemaker—we knew that when Lagrah took him
aboard.  Next time he creates problems for us, we should get rid of him.  It
would give us back the respect we lost when we didn’t kill him.”
    “He’s a recruit now, Commander Tril,” Battlemaster Nebil barked.  “Protected by Congressional
law .  He was entrusted to our care .”  He looked him up and down, his
pale brown eyes raking over him in pure disdain.  “You would break the founding
principles of our society to save face ?”
    A
couple Ooreiki in the hall snickered and Tril felt his sudah flutter.  “The
Human lost all fear of us when I didn’t shoot him,” he retorted.  “I saw it
this afternoon, when I confronted one of his recruits who wasn’t eating.”
    “Technically,
making his recruits eat is his responsibility, Tril,” Kihgl reminded him.  “It
is not your place to interfere.”
    Frustrated,
Tril slapped a hand to the table.  “Give me control of the modifier, sir.  He
will not respect us until—”
    “Speaking
of respect, Tril,” Kihgl interrupted calmly, “I hear you took over the class after
I specifically gave it to Nebil.  Did you not respect my decision?  Or was it
Lagrah’s personal order, commissioning me as Second Brigade’s secondary commander,
you did not respect?  Or perhaps you simply have no respect for my authority as
your commanding officer.  What is it, exactly, that you failed to respect?”
    Tril’s
eyes dropped to the seven-pointed star on Kihgl’s chest and he could feel the
heavy silence that followed suffocate the room like it had been stuffed with
sand, the only sounds the whispers of his sudah as they fluttered in his neck. 
Sputtering, he said, “Of course I respect your decisions.  Battlemaster Nebil
was rambling.  We were under a time constraint, and I decided I needed to cut
him off before another battalion arrived to train.”
    “Battlemaster
Nebil, were you rambling?”
    “Not
that I was aware of, sir,” Battlemaster Nebil replied, the ancient Ooreiki’s
sudah absolutely still.  Tril scowled at him. 
    Turning
back to face him, Kihgl said, “He says he wasn’t rambling.”
    Faced
with the cold disapproval of his secondary commander, Tril swallowed.  “Perhaps
my…perceptions…were off.  I do respect your decisions, sir.”
    “Then
you will respect my decision to keep the modifier.”
    Frustration
tightened Tril’s every