Operation Medusa leaves civilian harm and responsibility disputed

Operation Medusa succeeds, but the fictional marshal and his captive opponent disagree over responsibility for its consequences. The marshal predicts that mutiny and civil disorder will kill millions even if every object attacked was a legitimate military target. His prisoner replies that Commonwealth systems must be self-sufficient in food and basic industry, so the loss of communications need not destroy the civilization. Their argument returns to an earlier planetary atrocity, for which the marshal accepts responsibility despite the attacking captain having acted without authorization. The marshal recognizes the use of speed, aggression, and shock from his own work on psychological warfare, only to learn that his opponent studied that work in a rival academy's library. He nevertheless arranges civilian custody for the prisoners because his own sailors include more people from the attacked home system. The captive admiral places responsibility for the wider catastrophe on the leaders who began the war, leaving an unresolved dispute over its human cost.