“Clearly not successful,” I said.
“No, not at all,” Gau said, and motioned toward his soldiers, who were attentive but kept a respectful distance. “One of my soldiers shot her before she could stab me. There’s a reason I have these meetings in the open.”
“Not just for the sunsets, then,” I said.
“Sadly, no,” Gau said. “And as you might imagine, killing the colony leader made dealing with her second-in-command a tense affair. But this was a colony we eventually evacuated. Aside from the colony leader, there was no bloodshed.”
“But you haven’t turned away from bloodshed,” I said. “If I refuse to evacuate this colony, you won’t hesitate to destroy it.”
“No,” Gau said.
“And from what I understand, none of the races whose colonies you’ve removed—violently or otherwise—have since joined the Conclave,” I said.
“That’s true,” Gau said.
“You’re not exactly winning hearts and minds,” I said.
“I’m not familiar with this term of yours,” Gau said. “But I understand it well enough. No, these races haven’t become part of the Conclave. But it’s unrealistic to assume they would. We’ve just removed their colonies, and they were unable to stop us from doing so. You don’t humiliate someone like that and expect them to come around to your way of thinking.”
“They could become a threat if they joined together,” I said.
“I’m aware your Colonial Union is trying to make that happen,” Gau said. “There’s not much that happens now that we’re not aware of, Administrator Perry, including that. But the Colonial Union has tried this before; it helped create a ‘Counter-Conclave’ while we were still forming. It didn’t work then. We’re not convinced it will work now.”
“You could be wrong,” I said.
“I could be,” Gau said. “We will see. In the meantime, however, I must come to it. Administrator Perry, I am asking you to surrender your colony to me. If you will, we will help your colonists safely return to their home worlds. Or you may choose to become part of the Conclave, independent of your government. Or you may refuse and be destroyed.”
“Let me make you a counteroffer,” I said. “Leave this colony alone. Send a drone to your fleet, which I know is at skip distance and ready to arrive. Tell it to stay where it is. Gather up your soldiers over there, return to your ship, and go. Pretend you never found us. Just let us be.”
“It’s too late for that,” General Gau said.
“I figured it would be,” I said. “But I want you to remember the offer was there.”
Gau looked at me quietly for a long moment. “I suspect I know what you are going to say to my offer, Administrator Perry,” he said. “Before you say it, let me beg you to reconsider. Remember that you have options here, true options. I know the Colonial Union has given you orders, but remember that you can be led by your own conscience. The Colonial Union is humanity’s government, but there is more to humanity than the Colonial Union. And you don’t seem to be a man who is pushed into things, by me, by the Colonial Union or by anyone else.”
“If you think I’m tough, you should meet my wife,” I said.
“I would like that,” Gau said. “I think I would like that very much.”
“I would like to say that you are right,” I said. “I would like to say that I can’t be pushed into things. But I suspect that I can be. Or perhaps I can have things pushed into me that I can’t resist. This is one of those times. Right now, General, I have no options, except one option that I shouldn’t be offering you. And that is to ask you to leave now, before you call your fleet, and let Roanoke stay lost. Please consider it.”
“I can’t,” Gau said. “I’m sorry.”
“I can’t surrender this colony,” I said. “Do what you will, General.”
Gau looked back toward one of his soldiers and gave him a signal.
“How long will this take?” I asked.
“Not long,” Gau said.
He was right. Within minutes, the first ships arrived, new stars in the sky. Less than ten minutes later, they had all arrived.
“So many,” I said. There were tears in my eyes.
General Gau noticed. “I will give you time to return to your colony, Administrator Perry,” he said. “And I promise it will be quick and painless. Be strong for your people.”
“I’m not crying for my people, General,” I said.
The General stared at me and then looked up in time to see the first of the ships in his fleet explode.