Ender's War

Chapter 17 - Fatal Discovery

AN - Mazer Rackham quote^^^

The soft sound of finger nails tapping against the upholstery of a chair echoed in the small room. Everything else was silent, other than the occasional sigh coming from a severely frustrated middle aged man, trying to successfully operate an uncooperative ansible.

The man's company, being Ender Wiggin, sat there patiently as the tired looking Colonel continued with his attempts. A digital clock that sat on the man's holographic desk read 15:30. He'd been waiting for a half an hour.

No matter. The silence was peaceful. These days, Ender treated it as more of a gift rather than an inconvenience.

It seemed, that wherever he went he had young Launchies following close behind, and they didn't just follow. They talked, and gossiped, and would not leave him alone. Ender would reply with the blandest answers, yet they still persisted. He didn't understand why all of them wanted to get into his good graces. He wasn't annoyed that Graff told them to impress him, but stalking him all over the base wasn't the way to go. If anything, that only made Ender see them as small minded.

"Thank bloody God!" Colonel Graff rose his head up from the screen, and made eye contact with Ender for the first time since the young Admiral had arrived.

Ender rose an eyebrow. He was patient, but he would also love it if Graff got to the point, and told him whatever he needed to tell him, hence his summoning there.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news, Ender." Graff's voice became stern within the blink of an eye.

The older man's victory over the fixed ansible was already in the past, and it was back to business as usual. Ender was thankful.

"It's never good." He replied rather bored.

It was true. Every time Graff called Ender in for a talk, it didn't end on a happy note, it never did.

"I'm afraid this news has a heavy toll. Not just on the Fleet. On the entire world."

This peeked Ender's interest, and he sat up straight in the chair he was previously lounging in. "Regarding?"

"Admiral Rackham." Graff looked hurt when saying the older man's name, and Ender was confused.

"Isn't he on special assignment? I got word via ansible from the base while I was in Germany, saying he had to leave."

Graff slowly nodded. "I got the same message."

"And there are new developments?" Ender watched as Graff wiped a hand across his sunken face.

"After you left the base with your sister, our ansible connection to the security cameras was disabled. I had reason to believe that it was you who did it. Hell, maybe you wanted to create a counter revolution and the base would've been the perfect place to start."

Ender raised an eyebrow, and gave Graff an 'Are you serious?' look. This was the first he'd heard of any security camera malfunctions. "If I were going to start a revolution, you know better than anyone that my Jeesh and I are smart enough for you to be completely oblivious. That's just sloppy, and what would I gain?"

"I'm not accusing you of betraying the I.F. for gods sake!" Graff rose his voice. His old accusations weren't the point. "At the time, the way we got disconnected when you left, it could've only been you."

"But? You found out who it really was and I'm no longer being secretly stalked for information?" Ender deeply frowned. He'd felt like Graff was watching him. At first, he imagined that it was the feelings of familiarity that this place brought. But now, he knew it wasn't the unwanted nostalgia that was causing him to feel like he was under a microscope.