Chapter 21

"Incoming communication from the satellite," the comp voice said tonelessly.

"Left screen," Benni said and the senator appeared again. His hair was slightly askew.

"What do you want?" the senator said.

"We want a formal apology and reparations," Benni said. "We have acted in good faith but, time and again we meet arrogance, betrayal, and violence. Why did you order the Second Fleet to destroy us? Why do you, your interstellar corporations, and your space marines treat us like pariahs? As you can see, we will no longer tolerate being treated as such."

"No one from the Imperium Senate ordered the Second Fleet to attack you," the senator said.

"I must conclude that the Imperium Senate has little or no control over its military and her fleets," Benni said. "We travel without protection from the Imperium."

"Human space is huge," the senator said. "We give our admirals a good deal of latitude, but they have no authority to attack a space station for god's sake. We are a peaceful society with a peacetime military. Anyone who violates a central mandate of the Imperium, such as the killing of innocents, will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

"Don't sweat it," Benni said in a laconic tone. "We already took care of it."

The man visibly swallowed. "Reparations require an accounting and that takes time."

"Not an issue," Benni said. "We already have a complete tabulation of the destruction including the lists of the dead and their places of origin. I can ping you with the report right now."

"It takes time to read," the senator insisted.

"Time you don't have," Benni said. "Your remote weapons are gone. Two destroyers are gone, two more are dead in the vacuum, and the others are lowering their shields. How long do you think you can hold out?

"Please understand," Benni continued. "I sound quite reasonable but I do not speak for all the families here. They are not as patient as I."

"This is extortion," the senator said.

"If this was extortion, I would be unreasonably demanding not negotiating," Benni said. "You make me sick to my stomach. You have the entire of human space at your disposal, yet you squander it all for personal gain. We have the Tagway-Shinar archives; we know what they paid you and your fellow politicians.

"Children starve because and you refuse to feed them. Earth, the crèche of human life, still wallows in the broad abyss of Shadowlands and you never lift a finger to ease their condition. If we are extortionists, then we are mere neophytes compared to you and your rape of the Imperium."

"Lies," the man said but Benni cut him off.

"Facts that are proven and are being broadcast now, just as our conversation is now being broadcast," Benni said.

The screen cut out and went blank. Benni's head sagged. Qi jumped around the chair and whipped out an inhaler. He shoved the mouthpiece between Benni's lips and pressed the button. After the shot of nebulized serum finished, Benni swatted his hand away. "It fucking burns all the way down," Benni said.

"The alternatives are worse," Qi said as he tucked away the inhaler. "You gave away a lot of clues in that exchange. They are busy gloocking your terms at this moment."

"It won't help them," Chemung said from his station. "Their defenses are too degraded to save them now. We may not be able to approach Capitol Prime yet, but it is only a matter of time. Militarily, they are close to helpless."

"Corrupt and incompetent," Kay said. "He claims they didn't know what happened at Callisto Station. They are more than delusional if they expect us to believe that. Or, they are willfully ignorant of what the right hand is doing. Why are you preaching to them?"

"I'm not preaching, Kayetti," Benni said. "I'm teaching them the depth of their ignorance. He understands now how much he doesn't know. He is in a completely inferior bargaining position."

An alarm that Qi had never heard before sounded. "Unidentified ship has emerged in the containment space," the comp voice said.

"Who the fuck is that?" Chemung said as he furiously pounded on his keys.

Benni stood up as the image came up on the left screen. "Farendass."

Benni said nothing more. He watched the older ship maneuver in place as its navigator got his bearings. Qi watched Benni until he could not bear to miss what was happening on the screen. The main thrusters on the ship fired full throttle, creating twin spots of actinic light.

"They are aiming for Capitol Prime," Chemung said with a smug smile on his face.

"What? Why?" Kay asked.

"The ultimate act of the anarchist," Benni said. "Total annihilation of the government without possibility of recovery afterward – the nihilist's coup de grace."

The ship picked up speed. Even on the screen that captured a wide expanse of near space, Qi could see the ship was rapidly accelerating, pulling multiple G's of force on its crew. The ship looked like a thick black missile.

"We need Imperium credits," Kay said. "We need their resources to build a new ship factory. We need them to rein in the marines."

"We don't need anything from them," Chemung said. His eyes were hard and bright. "Farendass are firing their energy beams at one point. Their goal seems to be penetration. They are still firing."

"Stop that sonofabitch!" Benni barked. "Fire whatever we've got and take him out."

"We can't," Chemung said with glee in his voice. "We can't get into position and Farendass is not slowing down. They are going to ramming speed."

"Move us into position to fire," Benni said. "We are not going to kill more innocents."

Chemung was livid and his face was screwed up with anger. "They are not innocent; they deserve to die. They are murderers."

"Stop them!" Benni screamed and then fell into a terrible coughing fit.

Before Qi could move, Chemung leapt towards Benni. Chemung's hand flashed with the sheen of cerametal knife. Qi saw the knife and tried to jump to Benni's side but he was too late. Chemung's knife was buried just below Benni's sternum.

Benni spewed blood from his mouth as he fell back into his chair. Qi looked on in horror as black blood began to stain Benni's blouse.

"I failed, Shasa," Benni said in a whisper. "I..." and then he went silent. He seemed to breathe once more and then all of his limbs went limp. Qi reached up and closed both of his eyes. The body slid lifeless to the floor.

"Stay on course," Chemung said. "I am assuming command."

"No, you're not," Kay said, drawing her knives. "You struck down family without giving him a challenge. You are guilty of murder."

"You will eat those words when my blade slices your tongue out of your throat," Chemung said. He drew his second knife.

Qi scampered out of the way and pressed himself against the wall. He had seen enough of the fighting pits to know that both were among the best of Volentin. There was anger and vendetta in both their words.