Chapter 15

"I need better information," Qi said. "I need access to a better, technically oriented database."

Benni sat in a reclining chair with his feet elevated above his waist. A cannula wound around the back of his head and ran underneath his noise. A machine behind him was burbling as it pumped a wispy mixture through the plastic tube. Benni's breathing sounded slightly wet.

"This therapy was invented by people who were enthralled with boredom," Benni said. "Sit and breathe, sit and breathe, and sit and breathe some more."

Benni was whining more than usual, Qi decided. "If we decide to seek out a database, we will see a little action around here."

"Yes," Benni said. "I feel that I'm stepping further away from the action. As if the bird's eye view, that is what you earthers call it, is being pulled back further and further. The macro view requires a fucking telescope."

Benni continued his breathing exercises and Qi sat beside him in silence. The room was small and besides the chair and the medical apparatus on the back wall, there was room for only two or three people if they were willing to crowd together.

"In the Temperdis," Benni started speaking again, "we would watch the elders sit together and discuss the pros and cons of a course of action. As they moved pieces on a game board, they would envision the consequences of this direction or that direction."

He paused to breathe again.

"Then they would call all of us together and present their plan. We would debate the plan and then vote up or down. After the vote, we would act. We don't have much of that these cycles. We have a council. We analyze and eviscerate each other until the most resilient prevails, consequences be damned."

"Small companies become larger ones," Qi said. "Governance changes to match the size, strengths and weaknesses of the growing concern."

"Our concern is the Vizz," Benni said, making a fist. "If we are killed, all of these stupid humans will die too. If we kill the normals first, we will be doing the work for the Vizz. We have new weapons, new ships and fresh ideas. All I see is greed and whoring for power. No one is content with just being alive and safe."

"Ah, the lesson of the fighting pit," Qi said.

"Yes, dammit, yes!" Benni said, pounding his fist on the armrest. The door opened and Kay walked in. She looked at the two of them and shook her head like a mother hen disapproving of her chicks.

"Kay, what news do you bring?" Benni said.

"Family Coldune was attacked without provocation in Beta sector, at Ghaddi 3," Kay said. "They easily thwarted the marine ships but failed to load all of their purchased supplies. Now the government on Ghaddi 3 is spooked."

Benni got red in the face. "Enough of these provocations," he said. "They seek to isolate us at every turn. Qi, turn your list over to Kay for a choice of targets. We will rip their throats and take what we need."

Kay put a hand on Benni's shoulder and pushed him back down. "Thank you, Benni, we will choose a target and execute a plan immediately," she said. She gave Qi a command with a nod of her head and both of them walked out of the room.

"Where are we going?" she asked, as they stepped out of the side hallway and into the surging crowd.

"The fates have proffered an opportunity at revenge," Qi said. "Tagway-Shinar Corp was one of the three main contractors for Capitol Prime, eighty years ago. TSC just happens to have a data deep storage facility within easy reach of our present position. Having been in an active TSC storage facility and experienced their security, this raid should be minimal risk."

"Are you sure that the data is there?" Kay said.

"I cannot guarantee but their corporate model is so vast that no matter how demanding the order is from the top, the vast number of middle managers and their flunkies are inured to broad threats," Qi said. "High security data from yesteryear means little to these bureau-bots."

"First we meet with the captain," Kay said. "Afterward, we will sit down with Chemung and coordinate the raid. Short nasty raids are his specialty. I expect him to take command and lead the raid."

Qi gave her a questioning look.

"My people," Kay said. "I trained them and I trust Chemung not to get them killed. In the meantime, you need training in spacing. Faytn has time on her hands; she will train you."

"Spacing?" Qi asked.

"Normals spacewalk, Volentin takes it up another notch, as Ferro says," Kay explained.

Three weeks passed and Qi found himself staring at the airlock door. He had passed his excursion test only two days earlier when two Volentin cruisers rendezvoused to offload personnel and take on crucial supplies. Qi was one of the laborers ferrying equipment from cargo hold to cargo hold without the benefit of an umbilical tube or even a guide rope. As he told Quiyo later, he lived to tell the tale.

Now he stood in the second wave of the attack. One of the drawbacks to the radical design was the lack of access to outer airlocks all the time. Since the outside and inside hulls were independent of each other. The airlocks had to be lined up in order for them to work. The airlock itself was no different than a retractable umbilical tube, only shorter.

Because of this structural peculiarity, the first wave had left twenty minutes ago, allowing time for the ship to maneuver. The first wave had entered through a maintenance shaft at the top of the structure. Their job was to clear the facility of any opposition and open the front door.

The first report was that facility was so lax that two-thirds of the security was on automatic and a good chunk of it did not function. Qi entered the facility's berthing bay at the back of the squad of ten. Harnessed across his chest was a new comp built for glooking.

After he shed his suit, he signaled his minder who had already loaded the path to the data ports that looked most promising. The facility smelled stale, as if the recycled air had not been flushed and scrubbed in a long time. In the central hub, the first wave had assembled all twenty Tagway-Shinar Corp workers, bound and sitting on the floor. They were a scraggly, surly looking lot, which confirmed one of Qi's bets that the facility was a punishment position for TSC. None of the employees appeared to be shell-shocked or panicked.

Chemung motioned Qi over. Qi approached with his minder and Chemung pointed to a man with a salt and pepper beard with a large bald spot on top of his head. "This one knows where different data is stored," Chemung said.

"Don't say a fucking word, Frank," a potbellied man nearby said.

"Is this the boss that treats you like shit?" Qi said to the man in front of him. "Does he monitor every word you say and every keystroke you make like the other TSC bosses?"

"Yes and yes," Frank said.

"We will need the fat man's passwords," Qi said to Chemung. "They will speed up the process. If he doesn't cooperate, we can cut off his hands for the biometric sensors."

Qi pulled Chemung to the side and spoke quietly. "I think the best plan is for me to take Frank to the data access panels while you take the fat man and get those security codes. His office comp should have master access. I can play the good marine and you get to play the bad marine. It's your call."