Abumwe smiled one of her very rare smiles. “In fact, Representative Calderon, we very much want you to.”
Calderon looked uncertain for a moment and glanced around at the other representatives, who were equally confounded. “I don’t understand,” she said, finally.
“We want you to declare independence,” Abumwe said again.
“You want us to leave the Colonial Union,” Dwivedi said.
“No.”
“But you just said you want us to declare our independence.”
“Yes,” Abumwe said, and held up her hand before Dwivedi could complain further. “We do not want you to leave the Colonial Union. It is dangerous for each of us. But we ask each of you to follow through with your plan to declare independence. We need for Equilibrium to believe that your planets are going to go through with the plan you’ve already arranged.”
“And why is that?” Calderon asked.
“I can’t tell you,” Abumwe said. “Quite obviously your governments are not secure. We can’t tell you everything.”
“And what will happen when we declare independence?”
“The Colonial Union, quite predictably, will overreact and fill your sky with ships in order to intimidate you.”
“I’m failing to see the benefit to any of us in this plan,” Calderon said, wryly. She had, for whatever reason, assumed the leadership role for the assembled representatives.
“We want you to declare independence but not become independent,” Abumwe said. “We will respond with the appearance of force, not force itself.”
“You’re asking us to believe that the CDF won’t crush us flat.”
“If we wanted to do that we wouldn’t need to have this meeting,” Abumwe pointed out. “No. I’m offering you a way out of that eventuality. Make no mistake, Representatives. Any attempt to leave the Colonial Union will be met with force. We cannot afford to have your planets leave the union, and at the risk of sounding patronizing, we are absolutely certain you don’t appreciate the danger you are putting yourself into.” Abumwe motioned to Okada again. “Minister Okada here can speak to this from experience.”
“You want us to trust you. You might understand why it’s difficult for us to do that.”
“I’m not asking for your trust,” Abumwe said. “I’m making you an offer.”
“There’s not much you can offer us, Ambassador, if you’re already denying us our freedom.”
“Representative Calderon, let me suggest that it’s not freedom that you are looking for.”
“It’s not.”
“No.”
“What is it, then?”
“It’s control,” Abumwe said. “Which is what I am offering you.”
“Explain,” Calderon said, after a moment.
“You are all representatives to the Colonial Union government,” Abumwe said. “I don’t need to tell you how little that actually means in terms of how the Colonial Union is administered and its relationship to your home planets. At best you are responsible for the most minor of tasks. At worst you are ignored entirely.”
She stopped to let her comment take root. There were nods among the representatives.
“That is going to change. It has to change. The Colonial Union will need to rely on the colony worlds more than ever, including for soldiers, which it has never done before. It can no longer rule from the top down. Bluntly, it will need the consent of the governed. It will need to be ruled by the governed. It will need to be ruled by you.”
There was dead silence for a moment. Then:
“You’re joking,” Dwivedi said.
“No,” Abumwe said, looking at Calderon rather than the Huckleberry representative. “It’s been agreed to in principle. At the top. What we need now is a group of representatives willing to do the work to create a system that reflects the reality of our situation with the Conclave and others, along with a truly representative government.”
“You want us to draft a constitution,” Calderon said, only a little incredulously.
“Yes.”
“In exchange for this little act of subterfuge with our declarations of independence.”
“Yes,” Abumwe said.
“It’s that important.”
“Yes.”
“We’re going to need to consult with our governments,” Dwivedi said.
“No,” Abumwe said, and looked around. “I need to be clear about this. There is no time. We already know that you plan to announce your independence in as little as a couple of weeks. We need that timetable to continue. We need everything to run as if it’s already been decided. There can be no pause, no hint that anything has changed. You are your colony’s representative. Represent. Your decision here now will commit your planet and we will hold it to your decision. And one other thing: This decision must be unanimous. Either you are all in or none of you are.”
“You’re expecting us to create a viable system of interplanetary representative government right now,” Calderon said.
This got the faintest of smiles from Abumwe. “No. Details will wait. But you have to commit now.”