Earth Awakens (The First Formic War 3)

"We did not steal the nuke, sir. On that point, and others, I must respectfully disagree."

"You collaborated with traitors in our military to acquire the nuke. That person or persons stole it from our arsenal and placed it in your hands. That makes you guilty of espionage, theft, handling a weapon of mass destruction with the intent to kill, and about ten other national and international laws. You have spit in the face of the UN Security Council, the People's Republic of China, and my superiors."

"We made our intentions known on the nets," said Wit. "We were never secret about our plans to take out the lander. That has been our practice from the moment we entered China--"

"Which you also did illegally," said Sima.

"We have always been transparent, sir," said Wit. "We have constantly shared our tactics in the hope that the military would adopt our tactics that work and avoid the mistakes we've made. I am proud to say that many units in your military, including some under your command, have employed our tactics to great success. They in turn have shared their tactics with us, and we have executed their tactics to equal success. This has been a collaboration from the beginning."

"An unsanctioned collaboration," snapped Sima.

Wit's voice was calm and even. "Would you rather we had not killed the Formics we have, sir? Would you rather we had not destroyed the lander, with its fighters and skimmers and soldiers inside?"

General Sima ignored the question. "Who gave you the nuke? I want names."

"I can't give you names," said Wit. "The people who helped us remained anonymous."

"How did they communicate with you?"

"Through our site. Their messages self-erased after viewing. Their delivery paths were encrypted. Their log-in names were randomly generated. There are no bread crumbs for you to track, sir. These people are invisible."

Sima gave Wit an icy stare for a moment. Then he swiped his hand through the holofield, rummaged through a few files and brought up a grainy satellite photo. They were looking down on a small camp near a lush jungle forest. A skimmer was parked nearby. People were gathered together in a group.

"Someone flew to your camp and delivered the nuke," said Sima. "We have the sat photos to prove it. Who was it?"

"I cannot say," said Wit.

"Can't or won't?" asked Sima.

"No name was given, sir."

"A description perhaps."

"There are over four million active personnel in the PLA, sir," said Wit. "I doubt I can describe one man's features so clearly that you'll find him based on that description alone."

It was a subtle bit of deception, Mazer knew. The person who had delivered the nuke was actually a woman. Wit was leading the general well off her path.

"We are allies in this war, General," said Wit. "Not enemies. You need all hands on this. The civilian casualty reports are in the tens of millions. I'm thrilled to hear there are drill-sledge teams prepped to strike the landers, but even if they succeed, this war is far from over. MOPs can help. We can offer training, tactical advice, intel on Formic behavior and combat. We know how they attack, retreat, regroup. Their movements may appear random, sir, but Captain Rackham and I have recognized patterns in how they swarm. Let us combine our resources and skills, sir. We will work under your command."

"Under my command, you say?" General Sima turned to the holofield and flicked his fingers in a preprogrammed pattern. "According to the news nets, you MOPs have been doing that all along."

Several vids began playing: news feeds from around the world. Reporters and anchors of various nationalities were speaking to camera, their voices muted. They showed aerial footage of the black crater where the Formic lander had stood. Then they cut to photos and vids of General Sima.

Mazer understood at once. "They're giving you credit for the blast."

General Sima flicked his hand and stopped the vids. "Your fellow MOPs issued a communique to every major news organization in the world claiming that MOPs have been operating under my command all along. They say I devised every detail of the mission and supplied you with the drill sledges and the nuke. They claim the whole op was my idea."

"The MOPs must have learned that Mazer and I were in your custody," said Wit. "They did what they thought was necessary to ensure our safety."

"Your safety was never threatened."

"My men didn't know that," said Wit. "All they knew was that their commanding officer and fellow soldier had been arrested. By giving you the credit and painting us as allies, they made it impossible for you to harm us."

Sima grit his teeth. "They lied to the world and made me look like a fool in front of my men, all of whom know perfectly well that I had nothing to do with the destruction of the lander."

"If you're displeased with the communique, sir," said Wit, "all you need do is deny it. Go on record with the press that it's false. Call it what it is. A lie. Tell the world you had nothing to do with the lander's destruction. In fact, were it up to you, the lander would still be standing because you would have arrested every MOP at the border who dared to stick his nose in your country's business."

Sima glared at him but said nothing.