He has the sense the translations here might not be matching up precisely. That's the peril of talking to aliens, of course. Even with the universal nature of thought-speech it's a best-fit sort of thing, and his translation chip is twenty five years out of date. Ah, well.

Alloran muses, <Rarely. If the Electorate knows enough of a reason and a majority feels strongly, they may vote to hold a trial, but that's very rare. More often Andalite High Command strips the authority from an individual and his rank becomes something closer to a technicality.>

Maybe the votes did come in during his capture and the trial happened without him. Prince Seerow remained a prince, but he was hated more by the military than the civilian government, and then he was killed in such a way that broadly evoked pity more than scorn. The traitors on the homeworld had never said anything about it. It was probably a morale issue.

<I have not been home in a long time, but these things are slow to change, even in difficult times.>