concerning this coming assault against the Highborn.
HAWTHORNE: Fear is reasonable. Before you air your fears, however, I want you to realize the nature of the war.
YEZHOV: If I might interrupt again, sir. We know the history of the war. A recap—
HAWTHORNE: Is necessary, Chief. If you would indulge me?
YEZHOV: (nods reluctantly.)
HAWTHORNE: (looks around the table.) The Highborn have unusual abilities. It is part of their genetic heritage. They gained the initiative at the commencement of the rebellion and they have never released it. Fortunately, Social Unity retains many of its spaceships, although these vessels have scattered into the deepness of space.
DANZIG: What good do these spaceships do us then? The Highborn gobble up chunks of landmass here on Earth. Soon, only Eurasia and Africa will be left to us.
HAWTHORNE: Exactly.
DANZIG: (pounds the table with his fist.) Then why are you endangering Eurasia? Your madness—
YEZHOV: No! You are wrong to slur the Supreme Commander.
DANZIG: He gave us permission to speak our mind.
HAWTHORNE: I am a man of my word.
YEZHOV: But to call your plan madness. Will you allow that, sir?
HAWTHORNE: I desire to understand the Director’s logic for use of such a word.
DANZIG: Madness was the wrong word, sir. I beg your pardon.
HAWTHORNE: Granted.
DANZIG: You know I’m an emotional man. My heart seethes with hatred against those genetic abominations. The madmen of the old Directorate— As you say, Chief Yezhov, that is old history. I fear for Eurasia. Sir, you staked your reputation and dared to expend much political prestige pushing for increased proton beam construction and a quadrupling of the merculite missile production. Because of that, we have greatly increased the depth of our defenses. Isn’t that right?
CROWFOOT (Air Marshal of Earth-Air Defense): Our coverage has increased one hundred and sixteen percent.
DANZIG: Does that include the anti-air batteries?
CROWFOOT: Our production levels there have given us a three hundred percent increase.
DANZIG: There’s my point, sir. You’ve pushed for massive increases against space-borne attacks. Now you wish to fire our merculite missiles to cover the launching of your space fleet. With the depletion of our stocks of merculites, it will make us vulnerable again. Eurasia is the heart of Inner Planets. If it goes, the war is over. We know that. The Highborn must know it too.
HAWTHORNE: My plan is a gamble. You are quite correct in pointing that out.
YEZHOV: Supreme Commander, have I heard correctly? Are you admitting that Director Danzig is right?
HAWTHORNE: Only in that Eurasia will soon be more vulnerable to attack.
DANZIG: Am I missing something, sir?
YEZHOV: I cannot fathom why you would disarm us. I hope you do not take offense, but this seems criminally negligent.
SARGON (Commander of Orbital Sector): I didn’t want to say this. In lieu of what I’ve heard here, however, I feel I must. Supreme Commander, Code Valkyrie will threaten the Earth with mass starvation. You must realize this. The open habitat policy between the Highborn and us is of a very delicate nature. Your gross violation of the understanding will doom millions, perhaps billions to a slow and painful death.
JUBA-RYDER (Director of Africa): This is unseemly. You gentlemen are openly accusing the Supreme Commander of sabotage. I protest in the strongest manner possible.
YEZHOV: If it’s any help in understanding the situation, Political Harmony Corps’ psychology profile shows the Supreme Commander to have a greater leaning toward the Highborn than to Social Unity.
CAPTAIN MUNE: (stands up.)
HAWTHORNE: (motioning Captain Mune to sit down) Would you clarify that statement, please, Chief Yezhov?
YEZHOV: I mean no disrespect, sir, but your thought patterns are nearer those of Highborn soldiers than a grounded practitioner of Social Unity.
HAWTHORNE: If a man came at you with a gun, Chief, would you fight with your bare hands?
YEZHOV: You are Social Unity’s gun, sir?
HAWTHORNE: I detest false modesty and bragging. So let me put it this way. Social Unity has hurt the Highborn twice and only twice. Each of those times, the idea that propelled the action that harmed the Highborn was mine.
JUBA-RYDER: Chief Yezhov is your enemy, sir. I suggest your captain take him outside and have him shot.
HAWTHORNE: The Chief is a deadly opponent, of that there is no doubt. He is also a master of the secret ploy. Today, as he has been doing the past few days, he has sown discord. Few can match him in that regard. Director Juba-Ryder, you are correct in pointing out that Chief Yezhov is a danger to me. The safest course is to kill him. However, it is not in my nature to throw away powerful weapons. Chief, I dearly hope you will employ your skills to kill Highborn rather than engaging in intrigue against me.
YEZHOV: I support you one hundred percent, sir. You wound me with these allegations.
HAWTHORNE: Your vote of confidence fills me with resolve, I assure you. Gentlemen, and madam, Director Danzig is correct in stating that our present plan will deplete our defenses. Commander Sargon is equally correct in stating that implementation of Code Valkyrie will cause mass hardship on Earth.
DANZIG: Then why are you sending this convoy?
HAWTHORNE: Because we’re losing the war. The Highborn have the initiative and we have not been able to wrest it from them. As long as they own space, we cannot win. Perhaps we can stave off defeat, but even that is unlikely. Because they control space, they can pin down one planet and concentrate on another. If we hope to win, we must win space control.
YEZHOV: Against five Doom Stars?
HAWTHORNE: You have hit the mark, Chief. The Doom Stars are the bedrock of Highborn power because those ships give them space-superiority. The Campaign for Mars has a single goal. We must destroy Doom Stars.
DANZIG: You told the Directorate that you hoped to gain control of the planet.
HAWTHORNE: I do.
DANZIG: But you just said—
HAWTHORNE: We must accept terrible risks in the calculated hope that we can destroy Doom Stars. I predict that the critical campaign for us is this one. We failed to destroy the operational capacity of the Sun Works Ring. Now, as has been pointed out, the Highborn are gobbling landmasses on Earth. Soon, they will control more of Earth than we do.
DANZIG: How can we win on Mars?
HAWTHORNE: The exact nature of the operational plan will remain unknown to those present. I have calculated, however, that in eight out of ten times we shall achieve victory.
YEZHOV: We must trust your military genius?
HAWTHORNE: What else do you suggest we trust?
YEZHOV: (to the others) Do I stand alone in my qualms?
DANZIG: I tremble at the depletion of our defensive stocks. But I can see the Supreme Commander’s logic. We must take the terrible risk if we are to stave off bitter defeat in two or three years.
HAWTHORNE: Well-spoken, Director Danzig.
SARGON: Is the implementation of Code Valkyrie absolutely necessary?
HAWTHORNE: I tremble when I think of initiating it, Commander. Believe me, this is a difficult decision. Yet it is not a one hundred percent certainty. I will hold Code Valkyrie in reserve.
SARGON: I strongly suggest it stay in reserve, sir, unless its implementation can guarantee total victory.
HAWTHORNE: I will repeat it: Those are my sentiments also.
