A Change of Plans
General Pyong Pak Singh finished reading the summary of evidence, then cleared it from the screen. The case was cut and dried, he told himself: simple, nicely tied together, and unbeatable. He'd send Switzer back to Terra tomorrow, via an embassy courier craft, for a civil trial in Kunming.
Ignorant, well-intentioned Switzer. In the "theology" of the Gopal Singh Dispensation, the evolution-genetic, social, and spiritual-of the human species grew from the interplay of individuals of every type. Remote interplay, and direct, immediate interplay. Joseph Switzer was part of it, and was not-was not faulted for that by THE ONE. Persons like Switzer were not only inevitable, but necessary to that evolution. But it was entirely valid for him to be tried and punished by social authority, also as part of that interplay.
Intellectually, Pyong Pak Singh knew and accepted all that. Emotionally, however, he felt offended by what he considered gratuitous troublemaking like Switzer's. He always had, he thought ruefully, and probably would throughout this lifetime.
The nature of the charges made Switzer subject to the court system on Terra. And when informed, the Luneburgian chief magistrate had declined to claim him. Though born on Luneburger's, Switzer held resident rights on Terra, and had come to his birth-world on a visitor's visa. He hadn't applied for more. On a world as loosely administered as Luneburger's, a visitor's visa might be overstayed forever.
On Terra, according to Coyote, Switzer would almost surely be imprisoned but not executed.
Here on Luneburger's, the courts-martial of the division's fifteen defectors would begin, and no doubt end, next Threeday, the day after the officers of the court returned from the Maple Mountain maneuvers. The trial of the five conspirators would have to wait till the day after, as three of them were among the defectors. That trial might require two, or possibly three days of argument and deliberation.
The murder trial would start the day after the conspirators' trial ended, because Wheeler was a defendant in both. Considered with other evidence, the used M-6 power slug found folded in a towel in Wheeler's footlocker would probably clinch a murder conviction, even if none of his coconspirators testified against him. Actually his mouth had killed any chance he had.
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.