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"Their aggression - which frankly, is a pretty mild choice of words here - hasn't provoked the Coalition to destroy them yet," Ilyssa said, dubious, "so I doubt one explosive would do the trick on its own. And we both know the response to your own rebellion, no matter how brutal it's been, hasn't resulted in any Coalition response either. So to pull off the kind of attack you're describing, well, you'd have to really make a miracle happen." But her head was spinning, as she realized what he was describing. It would have to be a false flag attack. Even if Langara cracked down on the Moluks even harder after an attack known to be their doing, that alone wouldn't spur foreign powers to action. They'd abstained from intervention even after genocides. Ladon's insurgency would have to make it look like someone else was responsible. Someone Langara wouldn't hesitate to destroy. Someone whose destruction would provoke interstellar action.

Ilyssa's facial expression hardened. "I'm afraid the target does matter, my friend. It matters quite a bit. And yet, what matters more right now, is exactly who you're planning to frame for this attack - who's meant to take the fall out of this false flag operation." But she was afraid she already knew what the answer was, and absolutely no one in the Bureau was going to like it.