Chapter 16

Ferro and Torrin were standing in front of Dujurath's desk in the front of the suite. It was the beginning of the first shift.

"The marines docked twenty minutes ago," Xerba said. "Benni will handle the first negotiations but they will certainly come to our offices soon enough. Neither of you is to show them anything without prior consent from me or Benni."

"What if they threaten us?" Torrin asked.

"If they threaten you, then you have already won the fight," Xerba said. "You are under the protection of the Families and that is a line they will not cross, at least not in these close quarters. Dujurath or I will handle any excessive behaviors. Ferro, you have some training in combat but you've not been introduced to the delicacies that precede it. No matter how much they antagonize you, you must not draw your knife."

"I am not so stupid as to actually draw a knife on a marine," Ferro said, swallowing to hide his concern. "Do you believe they will try to provoke me?"

"They will cajole you. When that doesn't work, they will try other approaches. Eventually they will arrive at the 'bully and provoke' method. You need to understand that forewarned is forearmed," Xerba said.

"Xerba, what did you mean by 'not in these close quarters, ' because it doesn't sound good?" Torrin said.

"He means they are weaklings in a fight," Dujurath said. "They may have honor, dignity and decorum, for all that is worth, but they can't fight like Family. If you want to know the truth, these marines fight like spoilt children. They like big ships and big weapons connected to big buttons. Like teenagers, they think a big cock makes a man a superior fuck. Someone forgot to tell them how to use a dick."

"I told you that her lessons in etiquette were taking hold," Ferro said.

Xerba shook his head with dismay at the conversation and changed the subject.

"Did you test fire the fabricator yet, Torrin?"

"We did a preliminary burn at 1/10th capacity to see how the structure would change shape when extreme heat and extreme cold were applied. The seals are good. We'll do a half capacity test later this shift and then a full capacity test next shift if all conditions are green," Torrin said. "The largest fabricator is a good quality piece of equipment and it should be able to churn out product faster than our original projections."

Ferro had already lost interest at the "seals are good" part and started to walk away. The last results of the computer simulations on his necklace had been delivered while he was sleeping. He was anxious to make the final changes and send the order to build the kill vehicles. The combat ship had already received final approval. Khan had "secured" a retrieval ship earlier that specialized in harvesting gas giant planets. If Torrin's fabricator passed its tests ship building would commence momentarily.

If there was one thing to be said about the Families it was that when they were involved things happened quickly. Ferro had complained a couple of days ago about the loss of art on the walls of the apartment. When he came home last shift two new paintings hung on the wall. They weren't really to his taste but Fatn had been proud of her acquisitions.

His thoughts continued to wander far afield. Riata had pinged him yesterday, telling him that she would not be returning home during the second shift. With Xerba's announcement, he now knew why. At first Quiyo had teased him for being a worrywart, but Ferro answered her straight, pretending her needling didn't get under his skin. She stopped and Ferro was grateful.

Off shift the previous night, four of the sisterhood and Ferro had sat on the couches and watched an overly-drawn space opera. The entire Family, male and female, had been drawn like ball bearings to a magnet to these episodic dramas and they loved to discuss the details with impassioned argument over the next shifts. Ferro tolerated the serials for the sake of peace in the household.

After the show, he turned out the lights and crawled into his large lonely bed. A warm, naked body joined him under the sheets, which he identified as Quiyo with a few strategic touches of his fingertips. With a command of "shh", she grasped his cock by the root and gently stroked him to full hardness. Without prompting, she dove under the sheet and sucked his erection into her mouth. Calmly felating the head of his cock, her hand continued stroking his shaft until he found his release. He came and it felt good, but it was nothing more than that. Even so, the tension deep in his muscles dissipated.

He had started to reciprocate but she stopped him.

"A gift for you," she had whispered in his ear and then spooned him from behind.

He slept. When he awoke to the chrono alarm, she slid out of bed and went about her business, as if all were normal. In a sense, it was.

His computer beeped with a message, shaking him out of his reverie. The patriarch was pinging him. He opened the message, not knowing what to expect.

"Negotiation at stalemate; hostiles to your location in five minutes. —Benni"

If Benni was sending him a direct message, something bad must have happened, which also meant that something really bad was about to happen.

Ferro ran out to his office to Xerba's only to meet him coming out of his office, obviously having received the same or similar message.

"Warn Torrin and shut down everything electronic or digital," Xerba said as he walked over to Dujurath. "If they have remote devices for scanning files, we don't want to give them an opportunity to snatch the data."

Ferro stuck his head in Torrin's office, gave the orders and then quickly executed them in his own workroom.

Walking back out to the front room, Ferro heard a large number of boots drawing near. Callisto residents moved quietly, usually with shuffles and squeaks of rubber-like soles. Family moved almost silently. The tromping was an unnerving sound that put Ferro's teeth on edge.

They were coming for him. He retreated back to his office.

When that thought occurred to him, his first instinct was to run and hide. Looking around his austere office, he realized hiding would be an exercise of futility.

He could hear Xerba speaking to the secretary but he couldn't make out the words. Torrin was still scrambling about in his office, rushing to turn off all of the equipment stuffed into his room.

"Whip out the Geek Shield, Tyro!" he mumbled to his deactivated drawing board. He allowed himself a self-deprecating laugh. "What have I gotten myself into?" he asked aloud.

Maybe Bernhardt wasn't wrong. A marine taskforce was stationed off the outer ring and stormtroopers were clanging down the corridor. There was no where to run.