The meetings didn't help.
Everyone had different ideas about Cenatus Prospecting and its notorious leader, yet all of the analysis and guesswork could not bring them closer to a solid solution.
As the starships of the expeditionary fleet came closer to completing the cycling process of their FTL drives, the time to make a decision loomed behind everyone's backs.
"I don't see why we are dilly-dallying around." Patriarch Reginald Cross crossed his arms in the virtual meeting room. "Just go ahead and attack the opposing fleet! Everything I've read about Otrus Magrin makes me believe he is a cretin. There is a 99 percent chance that this guy will instruct his fleet to follow us into the next star system and hover behind our backs until he sees a chance to stab our kidneys. Rather than let the man have his way, we should destroy his fleet before he does the same to ours!"