The plan that emerged from our desperate circumstances was audacious, unprecedented, and completely contrary to conventional military strategy. Instead of focusing on defeating Purist forces, we would focus on defeating Purist ideas engaging in public intellectual combat that would expose their ideology to the kind of critical examination that their conversion techniques seemed unable to withstand.
"You want to debate them?" Captain Tidecaller asked incredulously. "While they're attacking our island?"
"I want to give everyone Federation soldiers, island civilians, even Purist troops the chance to hear competing ideas and make informed choices," I replied. "Their power seems to depend on controlling the intellectual environment. If we can disrupt that control, we might disrupt their entir
