Page 654 - Enders_Game_Full_Book

"Before the fleet arrives," said Valentine. She understood at once. The hive queen was preparing to emigrate. She had no intention of letting her species be trapped on a single planet when the Little Doctor came again.
"You see the problem," said Ender. "She won't tell us what she's doing, and so we have to rely on what Jane observes and what we can guess. And what I'm guessing isn't a very pretty picture."
"What's wrong with the buggers getting offplanet?" asked Valentine.
"Not just the buggers," said Miro.
Valentine made the second connection. That's why the pequeninos had given permission for the hive queen to pollute so badly. That's why there were two ships planned, right from the first. "A ship for the hive queen and a ship for the pequeninos."
"That's what they intend," said Ender. "But the way I see it is-- two ships for the descolada."
"Nossa Senhora," whispered Miro.
Valentine felt a chill go through her. It was one thing for the hive queen to seek the salvation of her species. But it was quite another thing for her to carry the deadly self-adapting virus to other worlds.
"You see my quandary," said Ender. "You see why she won't tell me directly what she's doing." "But you couldn't stop her anyway, could you?" asked Valentine.
"He could warn the Congress fleet," said Miro.
That's right. Dozens of heavily armed starships, converging on Lusitania from every direction-- if they were warned about two starships leaving Lusitania, if they were given their original trajectories, they could intercept them. Destroy them.
"You can't," said Valentine.
"I can't stop them and I can't let them go," said Ender. "To stop them would be to risk destroying the buggers and the piggies alike. To let them go would be to risk destroying all of humanity."
"You have to talk to them. You have to reach some kind of agreement."
"What would an agreement with us be worth?" asked Ender. "We don't speak for humanity in general. And if we make threats, the hive queen will simply destroy all our satellites and probably our ansible as well. She may do that anyway, just to be safe."
"Then we'd really be cut off," said Miro.