09-23-2025, 01:02 AM
The message had come through the usual encrypted channels. Another urgent delivery. Another disruption.
Nikolai Brandon did not look up from the datapad in his hand as the words were recited to him by his aide: concise, devoid of context, just enough to aggravate. "Nox Durante has arrived." That name again. It rarely brought good news.
He tapped the screen once, dismissing the briefing on orbital logistics he’d been reviewing. "Fine, but tell him to be quick," Nikolai said coldly. He stood, adjusting the cuff of his charcoal-gray jacket with a practiced motion.
He didn’t pace. Pacing was for the uncertain. Instead, he stood behind the massive obsidian desk, gaze fixed on the closed double doors ahead. He felt the weight of another uninvited complication threading its way into his schedule.
A knock. Then the doors opened, wide and silent. Nikolai’s eyes rose at last, unreadable. “Durante,” he said, voice like iron.
Nikolai Brandon did not look up from the datapad in his hand as the words were recited to him by his aide: concise, devoid of context, just enough to aggravate. "Nox Durante has arrived." That name again. It rarely brought good news.
He tapped the screen once, dismissing the briefing on orbital logistics he’d been reviewing. "Fine, but tell him to be quick," Nikolai said coldly. He stood, adjusting the cuff of his charcoal-gray jacket with a practiced motion.
He didn’t pace. Pacing was for the uncertain. Instead, he stood behind the massive obsidian desk, gaze fixed on the closed double doors ahead. He felt the weight of another uninvited complication threading its way into his schedule.
A knock. Then the doors opened, wide and silent. Nikolai’s eyes rose at last, unreadable. “Durante,” he said, voice like iron.