Drummer nodded, his face gone pale.

"Transfer contingents of Scarf's troops from
the objective to your flagship, several hundred if
necessary, whatever number you need to cover the
operation. Make certain that you transfer enough
technicians to set up and operate the psychic
probes. If any Commanders or their staffs chose
to be feisty, the troops are your execution squads.

"The ships of those Commanders who refuse to swear
allegiance to me will be boarded by our troops, and
all resistance crushed. Subterfuge may be necessary;
do not hesitate: the end justifies the means.
Replace the original INOR Commanders with officers
next in command; promise them wealth and position,
use the psychic probes to verify their decisions;
at some point in the pressures that we will apply
INOR officers will switch their allegiance to Pluto.

"When your takeover is complete, the combined
INOR fleet will be under my control. I shall then use
this power to challenge the conferees and dictate
my terms to both the UIPS and INOR's rulers."

"Timing is of the utmost importance," Brad
reflected.

"Exactly," Narval said sharply. "All of your plans
and timetables must be synchronized with the
actions I take at the conference."

"Any attacks on the depot will be immediately
spunnel-flashed by Hanno to the UIPS," Drummer said.

"I've thought about that," Narval replied. "Brad,
I want your man, Zolan, to install generators and
controls for an electronic barrier sunside of the
Planet Pluto Special Zone to keep all messages from
the UIPS, conventional or spunnel, from passing
through. Can he do it?"

"Yes."

"Good. I will transmit a coded message to you from
my ship when I have the agenda for the conference.
The message will tell you when to energize
the barrier. I must control the timing on this
operation so precisely that the conferees have
minimal warning before I make my announcement.
Vitally important: the electronic barrier must
go up sufficiently in advance of launching your
operations against the target so that no messages
of the attack passes through from the depot, the
terminals site, or any UIPS ships in the area. The
comm-blackout will itself set off alarms throughout
the UIPS. By then, it will be too late for them to
interfere."

"Sounds reasonable, Mr. President," Brad said.
"Once we get the situation under control, including
lining up the Commanders of the allied warships,
we can punch a hole in the barrier just