“Exactly.” Kolokoltsov tipped back in his chair. “I think we need to get Kingsford in here, let him take a look at any military options we may have—workable military options, I mean—where Beowulf is concerned. If there’s one that will work, I’m entirely in favor of using it, but not because they illegally seceded from the League. At this point what we need to do is to make it over the security threat to the League Beowulf represents because of its association with the League’s avowed enemies. As Omosupe said, everybody knows about Beowulf’s effective proximity to Manticore. That means everybody knows Beowulf does, indeed, represent that ‘invasion highway’ Nathan was talking about. We’d be fully justified in taking military action against any star nation that was in a position to enable a Manty invasion of the very heart of the Solarian League. I don’t think they’d be remotely stupid enough to do it, you understand, but we can make an ironclad case for taking action to deprive them of the capability to do it. But making certain that they can’t would be a simple matter of self-defense, and one we’d have no choice but to pursue. We’d be derelict in our responsibilities to the rest of the League if we didn’t!”

“Which lets us hammer Beowulf as hard as we want—assuming we can find a way to do it, that is—without ever even touching the question of secession!” Abruzzi said enthusiastically.

“Exactly,” Kolokoltsov repeated. “And, Nathan, there’s no way anyone out in the Shell who might be thinking in terms of seceding is going to miss the subtext. There won’t be a single official word about secession in anything we have to say on the subject, but everyone will hear it anyway.”

“And once the immediate furor dies down, Reid and Neng’s committee reports back that Beowulf’s actions were treasonous before it seceded,” Wodoslawski said thoughtfully.

“After which Reid produces the precedents to establish that the right of secession’s lapsed with the passage of time,” Abruzzi said, nodding energetically.

There was silence for several seconds, then MacArtney shrugged irritably.

“I don’t like it,” he grumbled. “We’re still pussyfooting around the issue, and a lot of people are going to realize it.”