He fumbled out a cigar and inhaled it into lighting. His words were quick, jerky, harsh. “What has Sol to do with this? It’s a matter for the entire League Council.”

“Which won’t meet for another two years,” said Kaltro. “As our friend Hurulta well knows. It would take six months just to get a quorum together for an emergency session. Oh, they timed it well, those Ulugani.”

“Well, the high command of the Patrol can exercise broad discretion,” Meinz grimaced. “Too broad. I don’t mind saying I haven’t liked all reports of your activities which have come to me. However, in this case—”

“The high command is prepared to act,” said Kaltro. “I’ve contacted all members. Nevertheless, the situation is unprecedented. The Patrol was created to enforce peace within the League. Nothing was said about dealing with a power outside it. If we act against Ulugan, we’ll be on legally shaky ground, and there may be a day of reckoning which would do a lot of harm. Many local politicians are spoiling to take a crack at the Patrol, push through constitutional amendments limiting its scope—if they can persuade enough beings that the Patrol has become an irresponsible machine capable of starting wars on its own initiative, they may succeed.”

“I see. But what can I do?”

“Your influence can swing the Solar Parliament into authorizing the Patrol to act against Ulugan. In effect, Sol will say: ‘As far as we’re concerned, the Patrol can have emergency powers, and use them immediately.’ Thereafter, we’ll proceed.”

“But one system can’t do that. The Patrol belongs to the whole League!”

“Please.” Kaltro lifted shaggy gray brows and smiled, creasing his face as if it were a stiff brown fabric. “You’re a practical political engineer. You know as well as I do that Sol is still the leading system in the League. If it’ll back us, enough other planets will follow that lead to put us in the clear when the business is brought up at the next Council. Technically, it’ll be a post facto O.K. on what we’ll already have done, but that’ll suffice. It’ll have to!”

“Well—” Meinz rolled his cigar between bony fingers, scowling at it. “Well, all right, I see your point. But you still haven’t seen mine. Why should I help you take action against Ulugan?”

He held up a hand. “No, wait, let me finish. As I understand it, Ulugan is a one-system empire lying nearly a thousand light-years outside our territorial bounds. It wants to incorporate one other system into itself. The natives of that system object, to be sure, and ask us for help—but the hard-boiled League Patrol is, I am certain, the last organization in the universe to get interested in noble crusades. The operation of crushing Ulugan would be enormously expensive. The logistic difficulties alone would make it a project of many years—even if it could succeed, which is by no means certain. The Ulugani could, and certainly would, retaliate with raids on our territory, perhaps they could penetrate to Sol itself. After all, interstellar space is so huge that any kind of blockade or defense line is utterly impossible. And you know what horror and destruction even a raid can bring, what with the power of modern weapons.