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strike, after the
Four Lords campaign has wreaked as much damage and disruption as it can. I
think we are no more than weeks, and perhaps only days, away from a total war
that may result in the near elimination of human or perhaps
both civilizations.
Conclusions and Recommendations:
I think they not only can beat us, but I suspect they have fought at least one
such war before. They are too supremely confident. However, we as a race would
survive. We are too numerous and located on too many worlds over too much
space to be wiped out totally. Pushed back into barbarism, the collapse of
interstellar civilization and the death of at least a third of humanity would
be the least I would expect in such a conflict, but we would survive. Our only
recourse would be that we could, obviously, destroy the Diamond with a
concerted, possibly suicidal all-out revenge attack the thing they fear most,
and so do I. Such an attack would enrage them and rob them of their next
generation; it would be our last blow, but much of their force would remain
intact.
I may be totally wrong, and they may think in so alien a manner that they will
not react in a way I can predict, but I feel I must point out how we would
react under such circumstances and urge that we act as if they're more like us
emotionally than unlike us. If the situation were reversed: if humans beat the
hell out of the Altavar but, in the process, the Altavar managed to destroy
every human being's ability to create children by any means, thereby ending
the race in slow agony, we would then seek out Altavar wherever they were, in
their ships, on then- worlds, and once they were beaten and defenseless, we
would then
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Medusa systematically wipe them out to the last one. In-other words,
destroying the Diamond might well result in total human genocide.
Obviously I'm telling you that we can not win in this situation. If you refuse
to face that fact, refuse to accept my report and its conclusions, then I
believe both races could die. The impossible, the unthinkable, will happen.
When man first went into space and colonized other worlds, a great pressure
was lifted from the collective psyche. The human race would not be totally
destroyed by itself in war, at least not easily.
And when, finally, we grew so large and so expansive and merged into the
single system that the
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Confederacy represents, we thought we had put any possibility of racial
destruction behind us. People could die, even whole suns could explode and
take their worlds and populations with them, but humanity would survive.
If this chain is now started, it will be impossible to stop. We have finally
come face to face with the horror once again, and we have only ugly choices.
The Four Lords are now meeting in Council and are waiting for my call. The
only hope we have is to do everything right, and, therefore, it is essential
that you follow all of my recommendations immediately and without fail.
(1) No matter how this sabotage campaign is going, it is essential that only
reports of complete disarray and disaster reach this picket ship, which is
totally infiltrated with the robots. At all times from this point the Four
Lords and the Altavar must be convinced that Kreegan's war is winning, that
his plan is working perfectly. If the Altavar receive the slightest hint that
it is not, they will probably launch a massive preemptive strike on us.
(2) Negotiations must be opened immediately. I will be the go-between,
because, having three surviving alter egos down there, I will be one they will
trust. However, we must be linked directly to the
Confederacy Inner Council, who must all be on call to appear on visual
transmission. It must be clear that they are dealing with someone me who
speaks for the Council and that I have the force sufficient to
:
make my agreements binding on the Confederacy.
(3) As much of the fleet as can be depended upon not to be needed for
emergency actions against the current war campaign must be rushed to the
Diamond on full alert. Only with the threat of immediate destruction of the
Diamond will we have any leverage at all. Put your best military minds in that
fleet and get it here fast, and on full war alert. You can expect ship-to-ship
attack if negotiations fail or if they decide to test us.
(4) No matter what you think of the Four Lords and their organizations, they
are not stupid and they will not be lulled into any false agreements. They
know that their own worlds are on the line, which will keep them honest, but
as agents of the Altavar they also know our real position, which isn't great.
They have also, obviously, been promised safe evacuation in the event of an
attack by us, so they are only concerned about their populations, not their
own hides. I must warn the Council that the demands the Altavar will
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