After the murder trial, Pak would ship the conspirators to Terra, because sentencing would have to consider the death penalty. And because Luneburger's World was (1) not a war zone; and (2) had no military appeals authority. And where capital punishment was an option, a prompt, automatic appellate review was required before sentencing, except in a war zone.

The whole mess has been a distraction, Pak told himself. I should be at Maple Mountain right now. Though Frosty's undoubtedly enjoying running the show. And it's good experience for him, so it's probably for the…

His intercom chirped. "Pak here," he answered.

"Sir, the ambassador wants to speak with you. He's got a message from War House, via savant."

Pak frowned. "Switch him through."

The ambassador himself required only a minute. Then they both listened live to the embassy's savant, channeling Lefty Sarruf-Sarruf's words in a remarkable mimicry of Sarruf's voice. Altogether, the exchange took nearly thirty minutes, followed by another twenty or so with Admiral Apraxin-DaCosta of the Admiralty's Liberation Task Force.

There had been a change in the training schedule of the New Jerusalem Liberation Corps. Apraxin's space force had been engaged in battle exercises in the neighborhood of Luneburger's System for more than a week. Now War House had decided they'd all trained enough-both the admiral's force and Pak's soldiers. The invasion of New Jerusalem had been moved up two weeks. After Pak's corps had established itself on New Jerusalem, the task force was to leave, to rendezvous with Soong's provos as soon as possible after Soong's attack on the Wyzhnyny armada. Apraxin-DaCosta would leave an "adequate" force to back up the troops on the surface.

The corps' transports would land on the Sixday following the Maple Mountain maneuvers, bringing several savants. His troops would begin loading out at once.

When the conference was over, Pak half-whistled a gusty sigh. He'd still send Switzer to Terra the next day, but the courts-martial would have to wait till his corps was outbound. The trial and sentencing would be held aboard his flagship, in hyperspace; then the prisoners would be stored in stasis as long as necessary.

He'd rather sentence them to service in a punishment unit, assigned to high hazard duty. Let them experience the Wyzhnyny firsthand. It didn't seem right for them to sleep in stasis while the men they'd betrayed put their lives on the line. He decided to ask Captain Coyote about the possibility. If the provost marshal sounded encouraging, he'd run it past Lefty Sarruf, by savant. But he wasn't optimistic.

Harvesting Trouble

Captain (Lieutenant Commander) Christiaan Weygand's handling of the Survey ship Vitus Bering reflected several astrogational facts of life. Warpspace differs from hyperspace in many ways besides the number of dimensions. For Weygand's purposes, four of those differences were decisive. (1) Hyperspace drive is far "faster" than warpdrive (which in turn is far "faster" than gravdrive). (2) In hyperspace, astrogation is approximate, with vagaries whose effects accumulate over the duration of a jump, while in warpspace, astrogation is quite precise. (3) In warpspace, the F-space potentiality is far less distorted by nearby planetary masses. With sufficient skill and care, one can venture minutely near a planetary mass. In hyperspace, approaching as near as a million miles to a planet no larger than Pluto would destroy the ship. And (4), warpdrive is suitable for covert encroachment, particularly since warpspace does not produce emergence waves in the warp-space potentiality.

Thus Weygand had first brought the Bering out of hyperspace two weeks short of the Tagus System, after a forty-seven-week jump. It was time to locate himself in F-space-familiar space, "real" space-and take a new set of astrogational readings. It was common to think of it in golfing terms, as sizing up the "lie" before hitting the approach shot-the final hyperspace jump to the Tagus System.

Then he'd generated hyperspace again, to reemerge in the system's remote fringe-far enough out that the Bering's hyperspace emergence waves would be undetectable on Tagus.

Theoretically of course, the Wyzhnyny could surround the system with alarm buoys or picket boats parked twelve or fifteen billion miles out, in the cometary cloud. But given the enormous spherical surface that went with such a radius, to provide and place the necessary number of sentries would be impractical at best.

Survey ships had some drawbacks for such missions, but one decisive advantage: their superb instrumentation. Even from where she'd emerged, 29 billion miles from the primary, the Bering could plot the orbits of the system's planets and major satellites. And do it in a few hours, applying the mechanics of planetary systems to the tiny orbital segments observed. The info was necessary for the warpspace "chip shot" Weygand made next.

That chip shot-that warpspace jump-took more than a day to bring the Bering near enough to Tagus's sole moon to detect it in the F-space potentiality. But once in F-space, and so near to Tagus, the ship's electromagnetic output could quickly be detected from the planet's surface, or by ships in the vicinity. And Drago Dravec's experience had been that the Wyzhnyny left a space force at their colonies. Something one might assume without evidence.

Weygand had known all that since he'd been given his first mission briefing, a year earlier. It hadn't troubled him then, and it didn't now. He ordered key personnel wakened from stasis, and still in warpspace, maneuvered into the lee of the moon before emerging. Hidden from the planet, less than a mile from the lunar surface. Which just now was the bright side, for on Tagus, the moon was near the "new" phase.

After a brief sensor scan, he landed.

Now come the real challenges, he told himself. Find the Wyzhnyny colony at the old pirate base. Put down a team to collect hornets and bring them back to the Bering, which was to remain behind the moon. Then send marines down to take some Wyzhnyny prisoners and bring them up. After that, he'd generate warpspace, the science team could start their examinations, and they'd all fly home.

Simple but not easy. The hornets alone sounded daunting; Weygand had had a lifelong aversion to stinging insects, and Morgan had said the Tagus hornets were as big as his thumb. But with decent luck they could capture their hornets and be gone without the Wyzhnyny knowing they'd been there. Capturing Wyzhnyny, on the other hand… that would bring them into physical contact with the enemy. He carried two squads of marine commandos in stasis, under a captain, with gunnery sergeants as squad leaders. Two squads! How many fighting personnel did the Wyzhnyny have on Tagus? A division? Half a dozen divisions?

But War House wants those prisoners, he thought. And what do I know? I'm a Survey skipper, not a general.

A lot depended on how slack the Wyzhnyny had become here, after a Standard year without anything resembling a threat. Because if any of them-the Bering, the scout, the collection boat-caught the Wyzhnyny's attention, the prospect of getting away with prisoners would be nil.

"Captain, sir," said a man behind him, "the personnel you requested are being revived."

Weygand swiveled his command chair halfway around. "Thank you, Chief. And the steward?"

"The steward is preparing their meal."

"Good. Tell Captain Stoorvol I want to talk with him as soon as he's finished eating."

There was no rush, but the sooner done, the sooner gone.