“The distinction escapes me, General,” orenThen said. “Particularly with a very expensive satellite blown to bits by your guns, and your soldiers on my soil.”
“How long have we known each other, Chan?” Gau said. “We’ve known each other a long time, as friends and adversaries. You’ve seen how I do things, up close. Have you ever known me to say one thing and mean another?”
OrenThen was quiet for a moment. “No,” he said, finally. “You can be an arrogant ass, Tarsem. But you’ve always said what you meant to say.”
“Then trust me once more,” Gau said. “More than anything, I want this to end peacefully. It’s why I am here, and not anyone else. Because what you and I do here matters, beyond the planet and this colony. I can’t let your colony remain here. You know that. But that doesn’t mean you or any of your people have to suffer for it.”
There was another moment of silence from orenThen. “I have to admit I was surprised that it was you on that ship,” he eventually said to Gau. “We knew there was the risk that the Conclave would come for us. You didn’t spend all that time wrestling all those races into line and declaring an end to colonization just to let us slip through the cracks. We planned for this possibility. But I assumed it would be some ship with a junior officer at the helm. Instead we get the leader of the Conclave.”
“We are friends,” Gau said. “You deserve the courtesy.”
“You are kind to say so, General,” orenThen said. “But, friend or not, it’s overkill.”
Gau smiled. “Well, possibly. Or, perhaps it’s more accurate to say it would be overkill. But your colony is more important than you think, Chan.”
“I don’t see how,” orenThen said. “I like it. There are good people here. But we’re a seed colony. There are hardly two thousand of us. We’re at subsistence level. All we do is grow food for ourselves and prepare for the next wave of settlers. And all they will do is prepare for the wave of settlers after them. There’s nothing important about that.”
“Now it’s you who is being disingenuous,” Gau said. “You know very well that it’s not what your colony grows or makes that makes it important. It’s the simple fact it exists, in violation of the Conclave Agreement. There are to be new colonies that are not administered through the Conclave. The fact your people ignored the agreement is an explicit challenge to the legitimacy of the Conclave.”
“We didn’t ignore it,” orenThen said, irritation creeping into his voice. “It simply doesn’t apply to us. We didn’t sign the Conclave Agreement, General. We didn’t, nor did a couple hundred other races. We’re free to colonize as we will. And that’s what we did. You have no right to question that, General. We are a sovereign people.”
“You’re going formal on me,” Gau said. “I remember that being a sure sign that I’ve pissed you off.”
“Don’t assume too much familiarity, General,” orenThen said. “We have been friends, yes. Perhaps we still are. But you shouldn’t doubt where my loyalties lie. Don’t think that just because you’ve ensnared the majority of races into your Conclave that you have some great moral authority. Before the Conclave, if you were to attack my colony, it would be a land grab, pure and simple. Now that you have your precious Conclave, it’s still a land grab, pure and simple.”
“I remember when you thought the Conclave was a good idea,” Gau said. “I remember you arguing for it to the other Whaid diplomats. I remember you convincing them, and them convincing your ataFuey to have the Whaid join the Conclave.”
“The ataFuey was assassinated,” orenThen said. “You know that. His son was of an entirely different mind.”
“Yes he was,” Gau said. “Oddly convenient for him that his father was assassinated when he was.”
“I can’t speak to that,” orenThen said. “And after the new ataFuey took the throne it was not my place to go against his will.”
“The ataFuey’s son was a fool, and you know that,” Gau said.
“That may be,” orenThen said. “But as I said, you should not doubt where my loyalties lie.”
“I don’t doubt where they lie,” Gau said. “I never have. They lie with the Whaidi people. That’s why you fought for the Conclave. If the Whaid had joined the Conclave, you could have colonized this planet, and more than four hundred other races backing your right to be here.”
“We do have a right to be here,” orenThen said. “And we do have the planet.”
“You’re going to lose it,” Gau said.
“And we never would have had this planet under the Conclave,” orenThen said, plowing through Gau’s words. “Because it would be Conclave territory, not Whaidi. We would merely be sharecroppers, sharing the planet with other Conclave races. That’s still part of the Conclave mind-set, isn’t it? Multiple races on single worlds? Build a planetary identity that’s not based on species but on allegiance to the Conclave, to create a lasting peace. Or so you believe.”