“I still don’t know why anyone would want that,” Hart said.
“Because it worked really well for some people,” I said. “Let’s not lie, Hart. It worked really well for us. For humans. And more specifically for the Colonial Union. A system of government, stable for centuries, predicated on killing the shit out of everyone else and taking their land. That’s practically the modus operandi of every successful human civilization to date. No wonder some of us wanted to return to it, even at the risk of destroying the Colonial Union itself. Because if we got back, we’d be meaner than ever before.”
“Unless we weren’t, and were just wiped out instead.”
“Well, there is that. You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs, but you also have to make sure that what’s inside the egg makes it to the pan.”
“I … don’t know what that means,” Hart said.
“It means destroying the Colonial Union isn’t a trivial act for the survival of the human race,” I said. “We might not have time to think up something new before we’re wiped out.”
“That’s what I said,” Hart pointed out. “More compactly.”
“Whether or not it leads to the end of all things is not my concern right now,” Balla said. “My concern is the next specific thing that Equilibrium is going to do, or wants to have happen.”
“I think it’s something to do with the planets that are planning to announce their independence,” I said.
“I agree,” Abumwe said.
“Okay, that’s great,” Balla said. “What, exactly?”
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Isn’t that why you questioned those Rraey and the prime minister? To find those things out?”
“We found out a lot,” I said. “Just not that.”
“Maybe you should try again.”
“You might be right,” I said. “Specifically, I want to try another pass at Commander Tvann.”
“You going to still try to be his friend?” Abumwe asked. “I don’t see that being a very effective tactic.”
“The point of the first session wasn’t to make him my friend. It was to make him not fear me.”
“And what do you plan to do now?” Balla asked.
“I’m going to introduce him to something he actually might fear,” I said.
* * *
“I don’t know what these are,” Commander Tvann said, when I handed him a printout. We were back in the same room. I was beginning to get tired of the room, to be entirely honest about it.
“That’s a printout of targets the Colonial Defense Forces are planning to hit sometime very soon,” I said.
Tvann handed it back. “I don’t read your language, and I’m not sure why you would want to show me confidential information in any event.”
“Because in a way you were the inspiration for the list,” I said, and handed him another printout. “Here, this one might be more readable for you.”
Tvann took the list and read it. He read it a second time. Then he set the printout on the table between us.
“I don’t understand,” he said to me.
“It’s simple enough,” I said. “You are Rraey. The Equilibrium crew who you commanded were all Rraey. The crew which you commanded, which took the Chandler and killed its crew, were Rraey. The base from which Equilibrium operated until Rafe shot it up and rendered it unusable was formerly a Rraey military base, until your species abandoned it and the system it was in. You are seeing a pattern here, I trust.”
“It’s a false pattern.”
“It could be,” I admitted. “However, the top brass of the Colonial Defense Force doesn’t think so. They’re pretty well convinced at this point that the Rraey—your government—is actively involved with Equilibrium. It’s not the only one, to be sure. We have enough evidence of that. But time and again we see Rraey participation in ways we don’t see other species participating. It is, shall we say, statistically significant.”
“You and the Conclave drove millions of us out of work and out of our homes,” Tvann said. “Of course you will see lots of us involved in Equilibrium.”
I smiled. “It might interest you to know that’s the very rationale Specialist Lau gave for joining up. And I’m not saying it’s wrong. I am saying it’s not an argument that’s going to convince the CDF that your government isn’t offering material assistance to Equilibrium.”
I pointed to the printout. “So the CDF has decided to act. Equilibrium is difficult to find—it’s designed to be that way, I know—so we’ve decided to stop looking and to go straight to the source, as it were. Those are the first-wave targets we’re going to hit on the Rraey worlds. Mostly military and industrial sites, as you can see, but also shipping and processing sites. The plan is to make it more difficult for you to equip and assist Equilibrium.”
“You’ll also destroy our infrastructure and cause millions to starve.”