The Insurrection

One of the more tieidish decisions during the past several months had been choosing the site of the conference. But then he'd remembered that one spot on Old Terra herself was neutral; the tiny country of Switzerland, which had maintained its traditional independence for eleven centuries.

Some of the Federation representatives seemed to re- gard his suggestion as a subtle compliment, but others--like Dietermreeognized the second half of the message. It was possible to be good Terrans without belonging to the Federation.

A muted bell chimed, and Ladislaus rose, offering his arm to Tatiana Illyushina. The shuttle was waiting to carry them to the city of Geneva for the meeting which might end the dying.

A crowd waited beyond the hatch. Ladislaus stared out, feeling Tatiana craning her neck beside him, and smiled despite his tension. She'd never before been off Novaya Rodina with its vast, endless plains, and the mountainous horizon must seem as strange to her as would his own Beaufort. He knew they were under close scrutiny as his vice president gawked at the peaks, and he hoped wistfully that some might mistake her youthful fascination for callow inexperience. He doubted they'd be so stupid, but...

A band struck up, but the music was neither the Repuly lie's Ad Astra nor the Federation's Suns of Splendor. It took a moment of frowning effort to place it, then he smiled and nodded. It was indeed ancient, he thought, but the venerable Battle tigrmn of the Republic was a fitting selection for both sides.

He recognized Oskar Dieter and David Haley among the waiting officials. The big, solid-looking fellow in all the braid must be Sky Marshal Witcinski, and the fox-faced man beside him looked suspicously like the briefing holos" of Kevin Sanders.

Ladislaus squeezed Tatiana's elbow.

"Tatiana, my love, I'm thinking it's best you deal with yon Sky Marshal and leave the sharp-faced fellow to me." "Yes, Lad," she agreed demurely, "and I promise not to sign away our claim to Novaya Rodina, either." "Lass, I'm only worried about your inexperience," Ladislaus teased.

The Federation dignitaries halted at the foot of the pad, and Ladislaus started down through an honor guard of the Republic's Marines. He rather wished he'd brought Li Hah or Magda Petrovna for the military discussions. Fleet Admiral Holbein was a good man, but he lacked their quick wits. Yet there could be no question of recalling either of them from Zapata until these discussions were concluded. He sighed and stepped off the last step.

"Mister Skjorning." Dieter bowed, carefully observing ISU-APeople, ECO the agreed upon'protocols and avoiding official titles. "Wel- come to Old Terra." "lhank you, Mister Dieter." Ladislaus gripped the prime minister's hand firmly and looked into the slender New Zuricher's face. "I'm glad to see you again, sir, and only sorry that it must be under such circumstances. I've said some hard things of you in the past. I would like to retract them now." "hank you." Dieter looked away for a moment. ""rhat means a great deal to me in a very personal sense." He looked as ff he meant to say more, then shook his head. "Allow me to introduce you to my colleagues, sir." "It would be an honor," Ladislaus agreed, and the long round of introductions and reintroductions began.

It remained to be seen whether he could bring them to decide for peace. his... quite impossible." Foreign Minister Roger Hadad shook his head firmly. "Even ff we were prepared to stipulate that anv planet which secededattempted to secede, rather--"" he corrected hastily, remembering that the Federation had steadfastly denied the legality of secession his-comis prima facie a member of your Terran Republic, we ca

I'll not be accepting any argument which sets the ground for denying the legitimacy of any secession." "But we can't simply tell the citizens of a system like Cimmaron that we've abandoned them!" Hadad protested sharply.

"Cimmaron's folk," Ladislaus said implacably, "welcomed us with open arms, sir. In point of fact, they'll have the pitching of three kinds of fits if we offer to be handing them back to you." "But--was "Mister Dieter," Ladislaus turned to the prime minis- ter, "this point must be settled. We'll not insist that anyone leave the Federation for the Republic--but it's to be plain we must insist that the Republic is a legitimate government. And if we're to be a government, we're after having the same responsibility to our citizens as the Federation to its." "I agree, Mister Skjorning." Dieter nodded, and Ladislaus could have sworn he saw a half-wink from the eye away from Hadad. "Roger, we must accept that the Terran Republic exists, whether we like it or not. It follows that its Congress has a responsibility to its citizens. Now, we've already accepted in principle that the worlds which seceded are part of the Republic. The question is what to do with those which were added to the originally seceding worlds by force of arms, correct?" "Well, yes," Hadad said in a tone of barely suppressed anguish. "But it's not that simple.

There are matters of precedent, of--was "There are no precedents," Dieter said, and Hadad stared at him as ff he'd tried to sell him a skimmer of questionable pedigree. "Under Federation law as presently interpreted, secession is treason, but we're plainly contemplating turning a de facto situation into a de jure one. Mister Skjorning," he turned to Ladislaus, "I would suggest plebiscites for all non-seceding planets forcibly occupied by the Republic. Any which wish to remain with the Republic, however they came to be included therein, will be free to do so, but any planet which wishes to return to the Federation must be free to do that, as well. You will appreciate, I trust, that we are not in a position to reciprocate owevry planet currently occupied by Federa-t-ion forces? With, of course, the exception of systems captured during the recent offensive?" "I do, Mister Dieter," Ladislaus agreed gravely, not mentioning that aside from the systems Trevayne had taken, the Federation did not control any world which had shown an interest in joining the Republic.

"Thank you, sir. Roger?" Dieter leaned back in his chair beside Sanders, returning the session to Hadad's control. The foreign minister didn't seem particularly grateful, but strove to conceal his disgruntlement.

"Well, Mister Skjorning, I must say you're being reasonable."" He seemed to regret the admission as soon as he made it and set his face more sternly. "But there remains the matter of repatriation and property losses." "Yes and no, Mister Hadad," Ladislaus said, and turned to Tatiana, who looked for all the world like an adolescent observer as she sat next to him. She nodded and opened a memo touchpad, bringing the small screen alive.

"Mister Hadad," she began crisply, "you must be aware that there will be considerable dispute over how much is owed or, indeed, whether anything is owed, to compensate private citizens for wartime property losses." Hadad glanced at Dieter, who returned his look expressionlessly, and then back to Tatiana.

"That goes without saying, Ms. Illyushina.