Chapter 14

Benni declared a cycle of mourning and all non-essential personnel were ordered to stand down. Most people found a place to sit with handcomps set on streaming news. The best estimation was that whatever was not destroyed by the fusion beam would have been decimated by the blast wave or seared by the wall of radiation emanating from the implosion of the fusion reactors on Callisto. No one really knew what the final tally was.

As Qi sat next to Benni, he fed the patriarch data. Qi learned just how little Volentin knew of the situation as topics flew across the conference room. The accepted notion had been that Callisto was boxed in by half of the second fleet but a second analysis of the final attack on the station suggested that the majority of the Second Fleet had been present. If the second analysis was correct, the families had just blown a huge hole is the military defense network that led straight to the heart of the Imperium.

Human space was dependent upon the galactic geography of the Milky Way.

The back water of human space was best understood as a kidney bean. Human space did not spread out in a circle from a central point such as Earth. Instead, humanity spread in two directions mostly, following the arm of the spiral galaxy. The spread in two directions coincided with the shape of a bean at this time, as seen from above the galactic plane. On the short side of the bean, right at the fulcrum of the inner curve of the bean sat the Imperial Central Complex, Capitol Prime. Callisto had been located down the spiral arm, to the right of the Capitol Prime, almost at the end of right lobe of the bean. Since the right lobe, heading downward away from the galactic center, was less dense, there was less human habitation. Less human habitation meant the spread of the Second Fleet was much thinner but her ships were the hardiest and most advanced.

If Volentin aimed for Capitol Prime by taking a route that took them outside of human space, they would travel the narrow strip on the short side of the bean. Since it was uninhabited space, there would be no ships to oppose them. More to the point, the First Fleet was more a home guard force than an actual navy; little stood in the way if Volentin chose to knock on the front door of the Imperium Council. Even less opposition stood in their way if the Second Fleet was indeed destroyed.

Information was hard to come by and the gathered elders were agitated. Chemung was arguing that Volentin needed to take all available ships and descend upon the Imperium Council and demand retribution. Kay insisted that they needed to reach out without confrontation if they wanted to make peace with the rest of human space. The Imperium would take them seriously this time.

There was no consensus. The ships of Family Momotaku were weeks away from reaching their destinations and there was no guarantee of safe harbor once they arrived. Many families were still sailing in older generation ships and Khan was in the worst shape because of its large cargo carriers. The obligation to protect the allied Families weighed heavily upon the people in the conference room.

"We are thinking too hard on this," Benni said as his final thoughts on the subject. "We keep trying to second guess the Imperial Council with the hope that they will rise to the occasion. They tried to slaughter us this time. Even in the Temperdis, the topsiders never sunk to the level of genocide.

"We will not make the choice. They will have to make the choice for themselves. Notify all the families that we are taking our case to the Imperium Council." Benni stood up.

"All the families or just our allies?" someone asked.

"All of them," Benni said. "We are adjourned. Kay and Chemung – remain here."

Benni leaned back in his chair, looking to the world as if he was in pensive contemplation. His eyes were closed and his hands rested limply in his lap. Qi was close enough to hear the quiet rattling in the man's lungs.

Benni did not open his eyes until the room was empty.

"Chemung," Benni said, "You are too quick to strike. You reject out of hand the nine steps of negotiation as if they are too passive. You need to redirect the anger that muddles your clear thinking."

"Kay," Benni said, turning to her. "You are too quick to give these normals a benefit of a doubt. In the art of negotiation, you must have an accurate assessment of your adversary."

Benni let out a deep sigh. "Both of you still show a significant lack of understanding of our tradition of negotiation. Too hard or too soft, you act on instinct rather than on hard observation and experience. I cannot teach you this part although I've tried to show you again and again. I can only tell you of the lack."

He coughed from deep in his chest.

"Both of you still act as if the Imperium is the enemy," Benni said. "They are the obstacle. The Vizz are the enemy and these normals are our brothers and sisters. They need us whether or not they realize it. We need them, too. If we are to survive, they must live."

Benni turned to Qi. "Call for my nurse and leave us be. Find me the weaknesses in Capitol Prime, no matter how tiny they may be." Benni sagged back in his chair and let his head droop. His breathing was more ragged. "Go."

As Qi left, he saw Kay pull an inhaler out of one her pocket and place the tube between Benni's lips. The galaxy was on fire and the patriarch was falling apart before his eyes. At least Qi's face looked no different than most of the others in the corridors. The loss and devastation was still clearly imprinted on most faces. He eased into the swell of bodies with his thoughts veiled to those around him.

The ship was too small for most amenities that Qi had enjoyed on Callisto. Their room barely fit five mats and the several boxes for their kits. With such limitations Qi had no place to sit and query the databases. His stupendous deskcomp had gone to oblivion with Callisto and his handcomp was awkward for long bouts of glooking. He did not have any other options at the moment, though.

No matter how well loaded the Volentin comps onboard were with data, no one could have anticipated Benni's request. Qi knew they had to boost either a station or a planet database to get a better glut of gluons. The question of the day was a small matter of how the ship could get close enough with enough time for a data ransack. The word had to be out that the Families had destroyed the Second Fleet with one stroke. Qi could only imagine what steps the Imperial fleets were taking to hunt them down.