when she threatened members of my own race on New Argentina.
"Word reached my attorney that because of pressure from the media, the result of the trial was predetermined, that I and two so-called accomplices were to be found guilty to avoid a public relations disaster, and officers who objected to the verdict were quietly being replaced by those who didn't. My crew broke me out of the brig, and we have spent the past three years on the Inner Frontier."
He surveyed his audience, trying to determine if they believed him. No one had any questions, so he continued.
"I had intended to remain on the Inner Frontier for the rest of my life, but the abuses of the Republic don't end at the Republic's border. They have plundered colony planets, conscripted men and women, and otherwise exercised a power and authority that was never given to them, and they've been doing it for as long as they have existed. The tipping point came last year. They captured my First Officer and tortured him to death in an attempt to learn the Theodore Roosevelt's, whereabouts from him. Then, to punish the planet where they had found him, they came back in force and obliterated it and every living thing on it.
"I declared that the Inner Frontier was now off-limits to the Navy. I formed some unlikely alliances, and the thing came to a head a little more than a month ago, when the Republic sent a force of three hundred ships after us. We emerged victorious, but then they recently sent a larger force, and I realized that we could meet each force in battle until we were finally defeated, or we could go after the source of our problems, which was not the Navy, but the people who created the Republic's policy and gave orders to the Navy—and as you know, they're all on Deluros VIII."
"How many ships have you got?" asked a woman.
"About eight hundred."
"It's suicide," said a man. "Eight hundred ships against the Republic!"
A middle-aged man stood up. Val eyed him like a predator eyes its prey as he walked up to the stage and stood next to Cole. "Last week I had a wife and three children. Today I don't." He extended his hand to Cole. "Captain Cole, you've got eight hundred and one ships."
And suddenly half of the audience was on their feet, pledging their support.
"I assume this is what you came here for?" said Lake.
"Eventually we're going to need ships, equipment, money— everything that any navy needs," Cole confirmed. "But right now we need to organize, which means we need recruits and recruiters." He waited until all the pledges and promises died down and then addressed the room again. "Man needs a government, and in a frequently hostile universe we need a Navy as well. I don't want to upset the social order. I don't want to disband the Navy. I don't want anarchy. I simply want the Republic to do what it was empowered to do, and if that means getting rid of Secretary Wilkie and Admiral Garcia, then that's what I plan to do. The Republic is like a poorly trained pet or a misbehaving child. If you ignore its faults and don't correct them, eventually it assumes they are not faults but virtues, and suddenly you've got a monster on your hands. Men have been looking the other way for too long; we're faced with a monster, and we're going to have to do something about it. And we can. There are sixty thousand worlds in the Republic. They haven't all been abused in quite the same devastating way as New Lenin, but an awful lot of them bear major grudges, not against the concept of a Republic but against the abuses of this Republic. When the time comes, I'll ask you to join us in the battle, but right now you can be of much greater value to me if you'll go to other Republic worlds and recruit a goodly number of their citizens to our side."
"I'll join," said one man, "if you'll turn Egan Wilkie over to us when you finally get him."
Cole shook his head. "I can't promise that. There are hundreds, probably thousands, of worlds with an equal claim to him."
"So you
"Word reached my attorney that because of pressure from the media, the result of the trial was predetermined, that I and two so-called accomplices were to be found guilty to avoid a public relations disaster, and officers who objected to the verdict were quietly being replaced by those who didn't. My crew broke me out of the brig, and we have spent the past three years on the Inner Frontier."
He surveyed his audience, trying to determine if they believed him. No one had any questions, so he continued.
"I had intended to remain on the Inner Frontier for the rest of my life, but the abuses of the Republic don't end at the Republic's border. They have plundered colony planets, conscripted men and women, and otherwise exercised a power and authority that was never given to them, and they've been doing it for as long as they have existed. The tipping point came last year. They captured my First Officer and tortured him to death in an attempt to learn the Theodore Roosevelt's, whereabouts from him. Then, to punish the planet where they had found him, they came back in force and obliterated it and every living thing on it.
"I declared that the Inner Frontier was now off-limits to the Navy. I formed some unlikely alliances, and the thing came to a head a little more than a month ago, when the Republic sent a force of three hundred ships after us. We emerged victorious, but then they recently sent a larger force, and I realized that we could meet each force in battle until we were finally defeated, or we could go after the source of our problems, which was not the Navy, but the people who created the Republic's policy and gave orders to the Navy—and as you know, they're all on Deluros VIII."
"How many ships have you got?" asked a woman.
"About eight hundred."
"It's suicide," said a man. "Eight hundred ships against the Republic!"
A middle-aged man stood up. Val eyed him like a predator eyes its prey as he walked up to the stage and stood next to Cole. "Last week I had a wife and three children. Today I don't." He extended his hand to Cole. "Captain Cole, you've got eight hundred and one ships."
And suddenly half of the audience was on their feet, pledging their support.
"I assume this is what you came here for?" said Lake.
"Eventually we're going to need ships, equipment, money— everything that any navy needs," Cole confirmed. "But right now we need to organize, which means we need recruits and recruiters." He waited until all the pledges and promises died down and then addressed the room again. "Man needs a government, and in a frequently hostile universe we need a Navy as well. I don't want to upset the social order. I don't want to disband the Navy. I don't want anarchy. I simply want the Republic to do what it was empowered to do, and if that means getting rid of Secretary Wilkie and Admiral Garcia, then that's what I plan to do. The Republic is like a poorly trained pet or a misbehaving child. If you ignore its faults and don't correct them, eventually it assumes they are not faults but virtues, and suddenly you've got a monster on your hands. Men have been looking the other way for too long; we're faced with a monster, and we're going to have to do something about it. And we can. There are sixty thousand worlds in the Republic. They haven't all been abused in quite the same devastating way as New Lenin, but an awful lot of them bear major grudges, not against the concept of a Republic but against the abuses of this Republic. When the time comes, I'll ask you to join us in the battle, but right now you can be of much greater value to me if you'll go to other Republic worlds and recruit a goodly number of their citizens to our side."
"I'll join," said one man, "if you'll turn Egan Wilkie over to us when you finally get him."
Cole shook his head. "I can't promise that. There are hundreds, probably thousands, of worlds with an equal claim to him."
"So you
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