48.      Operation

Riker confronts Vickers via video call, extracting his confession about VEHEMENT's attacks and his vendetta against replicants, then executes him with a ship-buster strike. Riker then publicly addresses the UN to announce VEHEMENT's defeat and threatens Ambassador Gerrold with airlock execution for his role in the conspiracy and Homer's death.

Riker initiates a video call with Vickers, establishing that Riker has identified him as the architect behind the attacks on Brazil and other operations. Through their exchange, Vickers reveals he is the original inventor of the replicant systems that FAITH appropriated, and that VEHEMENT serves as his tool to eliminate replicants. He admits his knowledge of Ambassador Gerrold's involvement, noting Gerrold was motivated by both financial gain and resentment over the theft of their shared work. Riker mentions Homer's suicide, which Vickers dismisses callously. Using this final statement as justification, Riker informs Vickers that a ship-buster is already en route to his hidden location—a red farmhouse fifty-five kilometers north and two kilometers east of the VEHEMENT base. Despite Vickers' confidence that he cannot be stopped, the kinetic strike vaporizes his position. A second buster simultaneously destroys the VEHEMENT headquarters in New Zealand. Riker then preempts a UN session to announce VEHEMENT's effective end. When Ambassador Gerrold protests the use of kinetic strikes on Earth, Riker responds with a furious personal attack, detailing the deaths caused by Gerrold and Vickers' conspiracy, including Homer's suicide. Riker threatens Gerrold with either allowing his own country to impeach him or personally executing him via airlock, warning that any further provocation will result in the latter.