Raven escorts diplomats to a conference among factions that united to defeat a common enemy but disagree sharply about the order that should follow. A joint exercise in an asteroid field combines military competition, reassurance, and gunboat diplomacy. The situation collapses when the supposedly universal communications system disappears and is revealed as infrastructure left by the defeated power rather than a natural capability. Ships return to the conference without the network that supported identification and negotiation, turning political tension into an immediate security crisis. The diplomatic order depends on a communications network that its members did not build.
Chapter · 1:06:05-1:08:10
A peace conference collapses with its communications system
Former allies arrive at a difficult peace conference, demonstrate their forces, and then lose the shared network that made negotiation and coordination possible.