“So you will help us,” I said. “You just want us to declare ourselves independent of the Colonial Union first.”
“We neither advise you to secede nor to stay,” Hickory said. “We merely note that if you should secede, we will help defend you.”
I turned to Jane. “What do you think?”
“I doubt the people of this colony are ready for us to declare their independence,” Jane said.
“If the alternative is death?” I said.
“Some of them probably would prefer death to being a traitor,” Jane said. “Or to being permanently cut off from the rest of humanity.”
“Let’s ask them,” I said.
The attack on Wabash colony was not much of an attack at all; a few missiles to destroy the colony’s administrative offices and landmarks, and a small invading force of a few hundred Bhav soldiers to shoot up the place. But then Wabash wasn’t the target. The targets were the three CDF cruisers that skipped in to defend the colony. The skip drone that had alerted the CDF to the attack indicated one Bhav cruiser and three smaller gunboats, all of which could be easily handled by three cruisers. What the skip drone could not indicate is that shortly after it skipped away from Wabash space, six additional Bhav cruisers skipped in, destroyed the satellite that launched the skip drones, and readied themselves for an ambush.
The CDF cruisers entered Wabash space cautiously—by this time it was clear that the Colonial Union was under a general attack, and the CDF ship commanders were neither stupid nor rash. But the odds were against them from the moment they arrived in Wabash space. The CDF cruisers Augusta, Savannah and Portland took down three of the Bhav cruisers and all of the smaller gunships before they were overwhelmed and destroyed, scattering metal, air and crew into the space above the planet. It was three fewer cruisers the CDF had to defend the Colonial Union. It was also a signal that every new incident would have to be met with overwhelming force, constricting the number of colonies the CDF could defend at one time. Priorities already shifted to the new realities of war shifted once again, and not in the CU’s favor, nor in Roanoke’s.
“You’re out of your mind,” said Marie Black. “We’re under attack from this Conclave, it wants to kill us all dead, and your solution to the problem is to go it alone, with no help from the rest of the human race? That’s just insane.”
The looks up and down the Council table told me that Jane and I were all alone on this one, just like Jane suspected we would be. Even Manfred Trujillo, who knew the situation better than anyone, was taken aback by the suggestion we declare our independence. This was the original tough crowd.
“We wouldn’t be alone,” I said. “The Obin will help us if we’re independent.”
“That makes me feel safer,” Black said, mockingly. “Aliens are planning to murder us all, but don’t worry, we’ve got these pet aliens to keep us safe. That is, until they decide they’re better off siding with the other aliens.”
“That’s not a very accurate assessment of the Obin,” I said.
“But the Obin’s primary concern isn’t our colony,” said Lee Chen. “It’s your daughter. God forbid something happens to your daughter, because then where will we be? The Obin will have no more reason to help us. We’d be isolated from the rest of the Colonial Union.”
“We’re already isolated from the rest of the Colonial Union,” I said. “Planets are under attack all over the union. The CDF is already scrambling to respond. We’re not a priority. We won’t be a priority. We’ve served our purpose.”
“We have only your word for that,” Chen said. “We’re getting news reports, now that we’ve got access to our PDAs. There’s nothing in the news about anything of this.”
“You have my word for it as well,” Trujillo said. “I’m not ready to sign on to independence, either, but Perry’s not lying. The Colonial Union has its priorities right now, and we’re definitely not one of them.”
“I’m not trying to say that either of you are not as good as your word,” Chen said. “But think of what you’re asking us to do here. You’re asking us to risk everything—everything—on your word.”
“Even if we were to agree to this, what then?” asked Lol Gerber, who had replaced Hiram Yoder on the council. “We’d be isolated. If the Colonial Union survives, we’d have to settle with them for raising rebellion. If the Colonial Union were to fall, then we’d be all that is left of the human race, and reliant on the grace of another people for our survival. How long could we expect them to shelter us, if the whole host of the intelligent races want us dead? How could we in good conscience ask the Obin to put their own survival at stake for ours? The Colonial Union is humanity. We belong in it, for better or worse.”
“It’s not all of humanity,” I said. “There’s Earth.”