“Not in any pitched battle between fleets, no,” he conceded. “On the other hand, that’s not the sort of campaign Kingsford is proposing, is it? If we can do an end run around their battle fleet and start hammering their star systems and their commerce, inflict some of the hurt their blockade is inflicting on us, they may become more amenable to reason. And if we can do that and sell it to our own public as proof we’re actually accomplishing something militarily, then we could probably risk opening negotiations without sending the League’s morale and confidence even further into the crapper.”

Both women looked dubious, and he leaned forward, his expression intense.

“Right now, there’s a lot of floundering around in the Assembly and on the news channels. If Reid’s motion succeeds the way I think it will, it should refocus a lot of that blathering and posturing, though. At the very least, it will refocus it on Beowulf and off of us for at least a few T-months, and that should help a lot. If nothing else, it should drive Hadley back onto the defensive and lower the temperature of the debate about our policies and competence. And I think reminding people about beowulf’s ‘treachery’ is going to get quite a few of the other system governments started looking around fearfully at the threats outside the League. The ones that are most comfortable with the existing system are worried about the example Beowulf’s actions represent. In fact, they’re likely to see Beowulf’s decision to let the Manties in as an act of aggression, one aimed directly at them, since it threatens the integrity—and defense—of the system they’re so invested in. And even better, from our viewpoint, the uncertainty, the sense that the entire galaxy is coming unglued, should make even systems whose governments are unhappy about our policies nervous about rocking the boat at a time like this. We may have gotten hurt, and they may not like everything we’re doing, but we’re still the biggest, most powerful haven around, so there’s a herd instinct at work in our favor at the moment. But we have to accomplish something, or at least be able to sell something as an accomplishment, if we want to keep that instinct working for us instead of against us. That’s why Kingsford’s approach offers us the best chance in terms of military options.”

“And how good do you think that chance really is?” Quartermain asked softly.