"It was... but answer it, anyway. Come on, Beeker. Talk to me."

With careful deliberation, the butler set his reader aside.

"Certainly, sir. Could you repeat the question?"

"What do you thinks taking them so long?" the lieutenant said, resuming his prowling, but more slowly now that he was verbalizing his thoughts. "I mean, I did plead guilty."

"Forgive me for belaboring the obvious," Beeker said, "but if the question of guilt has been settled, then what remains is the sentencing. It would seem the court is having some difficulty in deciding precisely what punishment is correct for your offense."

"Well, what's so hard about that? I made a mistake. Fine. I'm sure other Legionnaires have made mistakes before."

"True," the butler said. "However, I'm not sure how many others have duplicated the exact nature and magnitude of your indiscretion. I'm certain that if anyone else had strafed the ceremonial signing of a peace treaty, I would have noted it in the media releases... sir."

The lieutenant grimaced at the memory.

"I didn't know what was going on at the time. Our communications gear was on the fritz, so we never got the cease-fire order. Besides, we'd been ordered to maintain com silence. "

Beeker nodded patiently. He had heard all this before, but understood the lieutenant's need to go over it again.

"As I understand it, you were ordered to stand silent picket duty... to note and report any ship movement off-planet. Period. There was no authorization for an individual ship to make a strafing run."

"I wasn't ordered not to! Battle usually goes to the side that seizes initiative when opportunity presents itself."

Beeker raised his eyebrows expressively.