“A move which would fail,” Nove said.
Ocampo shook his head. “The Colonial Union will fail if it goes toe-to-toe with the Conclave, yes,” he said. “But it wouldn’t do that. It didn’t do it when it destroyed the Conclave fleet at Roanoke. It didn’t send its ships into combat with the Conclave’s. It sent assassins—Special Forces to sneak up and place antimatter bombs on each ship, and then detonate them all at the same time. It was a psychological blow as much as a physical loss. That’s how the CU did it. That’s how it would do it again. One assassin, one shot—total destruction. Which is how it will happen this time.”
“You plan to assassinate General Gau!” Nove exclaimed, following Ocampo’s implication.
“No,” Ocampo said, and pointed to Nove. “You are going to plan it.” He pointed at Ake Bae. “Or you are going to plan it. You two are both in rather better positions to make it happen. Whoever does it is not my particular concern. The point is whichever of you plans it, it will become obvious that you did it at the behest of the Colonial Union. The CU knows that humiliating Gau nearly brought the end of the Colonial Union. It knows that Gau requires loyalty to him, not the Colonial Union. Killing him destroys that loyalty. Killing him destroys the Conclave.”
“Which leaves the Colonial Union the largest power standing,” Ake Bae said.
“No,” Gaddis said. “Not without the Earth. No soldiers. No colonists.”
“Unless the Earth changes its mind,” said Ku Tlea Dhu.
“At the right time, we will motivate them otherwise,” Ocampo said. “We’ve done it before. We can be equally persuasive this time.” He motioned away from the room, toward, I guessed, the docks in which the Chandler was being worked on and equipped. “Unless you’ve got a better use for all the ships we’ve been taking.”
“A thing which is getting harder to do,” Dhu said. “We can’t trick all the ship captains as you did with the Chandler’s.”
“All the more reason to bring things to an active conclusion,” Ocampo said. “We’ve always been a small but potent unit. Small isn’t the problem. The potency of our actions is the key.”
“And all this begins by releasing the information on that,” Ake Bae said, pointing to the PDA.
“Yes,” Ocampo said.
“And where do you suggest we release it?”
“We release it everywhere,” Ocampo said. “Everywhere, all at once.”
“I think this is a good plan,” Gaddis said. “I even think we have a chance of making it work as we intend to.”
“It’s nice the two humans are in agreement,” Nove said. I noted that sarcasm was a near-universal trait of intelligent species.
“With respect, Ambassador Nove, our agreement is a good thing,” Gaddis said. “Don’t forget that through all of this, it’s my planet that is the most vulnerable. We lack spaceships. We lack military power. The governments I represent believe Equilibrium offers us the best chance to build up our defenses before everyone else turns their attention to us again. This plan can make that happen.” Nove shifted its weight, unhappy.
Gaddis turned her attention back to Ocampo. “Which isn’t to say it doesn’t have risks. Principal among them being that the Colonial Union has to believe you are dead. And died loyal. If they think you’re alive and a traitor, you know they won’t stop looking for you.”
Ocampo nodded. “The Colonial Union knows what it means when a ship is taken,” he said. “They know everyone but the pilot is killed. They won’t think it will be any different for me.”
“You are an undersecretary of the State Department,” Nove pointed out.
“On vacation,” Ocampo said. “Nothing to identify me as anything other than an unlucky civilian.”
“You don’t think they will suspect you,” Gaddis said.
“I’ve been part of this for several years now,” Ocampo said. “I’ve been funneling information to Equilibrium all this time. If they were going to catch me they would have done it before I left.”
“You had people you used,” Thu said.
“I had a small number of people who operated independently and subcontracted,” Ocampo said. “I cleaned up before I left.”
“You mean you had them killed,” Thu said.
“The ones who could bring things back to me, yes.”
“And that won’t look suspicious at all,” Gaddis said, archly.
“Give me a little credit for subtlety,” Ocampo said.
“All this talk,” Ake Bae said. “All this planning, all this strategizing, and yet we still don’t know your endgame, Secretary Ocampo.”