Coffin's Coffin

Poul Anderson, Orbit Unlimited, part two.

In order to influence a vote in favor of continuing the journey to Rustum, Joshua Coffin fakes a radio message from Earth and endangers a man's life. Realizing that he is no longer fit to captain a ship, he opts to join the Rustum colony instead of returning to Earth.

When Coffin returns to his ship, he sees the receiver web growing until it seems to snare "...a distorted Milky Way." (4, p. 62) Checking the radio recording, he finds "...only cosmic noise." (4, p. 65) See earlier descriptions of this noise here.

"Now if he had just -
"Coffin grew rigid." (4, p. 63)

This is the moment of realization when it occurs to Coffin that he can fake a message. He skillfully reproduces the offensive style of the hostile Terrestrial government. While doing this, he also thinks of the "cosmic noise" as:

"...the squeals and buzzes and the crackling talk of the stars." (4, p. 66)

Stars do not literally talk but that could be a premise for a different sf story.