John Ringo - Under a Graveyard Sky

“I’d wondered what the agenda was,” Chris said, arching an eyebrow.

“This is Mike Braito,” Steve said, gesturing to Mike. “He’s the only survivor we found on the Victoria . Being a professional seaman he’s been a real help with figuring out how to board without killing ourselves…”

“Here, here,” Faith said.

“And in finding our way around the tug. Which is full of diesel and packed with stores by the way…”

“That’s good to hear,” Chris said. “We could use a refuel.”

“And being a professional seaman he also pointed out that since he was alive it’s not, technically, salvage.”

“I’m not saying I won’t share ,” Mike said as heads swiveled towards him. He held up his hands in surrender. “I just wonder what I’m going to get out of it. Okay? Is that so wrong?”

“People didn’t ask what they were going to get out of it when they rescued you,” Paula said, snappishly.

“Yes, actually, we did,” Steve said.

“What?” Paula asked.

“Well, I knew there was a good chance that it would have fuel,” Steve said. “And that it might have supplies. There was an… There was an economic reason to clear it. Call it logistic if you want. But there was a thought beyond ‘might there be survivors.’ Which brings up the point. I am going to go right on clearing as long as it takes. And I’ve got some ideas about how to clear the land…”

“How?” Patrick asked. “I mean… That’s a lot of bullets. We don’t have that many, do we?”

“No,” Faith said. “We’re even getting a little short on shotgun ammo.”

“I said ideas,” Steve said. “I’m not really willing to talk about what they are right now because they change based on what we find. But the point is…I think we need to talk about the…the theory of this whole thing. I’m going to go right on clearing and saving people. But how do we make some of the decisions that need to be made? What right, really, does Mike have to that boat? I’m not saying that he doesn’t have rights. I’m saying that, face it, this is not before the plague. There are laws of the sea. But those have changed over the years. Forget the laws . For one thing, there’s nobody to enforce them. How do we organize ourselves? Example: I said that if he wanted I’d try to find him a decent yacht and he could take as many supplies as he wanted in exchange for the tug…”

“Can we use the tug?” Chris asked. “That’s a lot for a derelict. Does it run?”

“No,” Steve said. “We need to tow it to Bermuda. But we’ll need Mike’s help to do that. But the real point is, do I have the authority to make that promise? That was the thought that crossed my mind after I said it. Chris, when we found the Cooper , you were the obvious choice to take it over…”

“You giving him my boat?” Chris asked.

“No, but the point is I said ‘Chris, this is your boat.’ I said it. And I gave Isham that 45 footer. Is that my decision to make?”

“We’re sort of following your lead, Steve,” Paula said. “I don’t have a problem with that.”

“Uhm…” Patrick said, raising his hand. “I’ve sort of been thinking about that.”

“Go,” Steve said.

“You said you were a history professor,” Patrick said. “One of the groups I was thinking about is the Italian companeres.”

“Okay, not a reference I’d expected,” Steve said with a laugh.

“Companeres?” Chris said, blinking. “What?”

“Simply put, they were mercenary bands during the long wars in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance in Italy,” Steve said. “They’re where we get the word ‘bravo,’ which was what they were called individually. It just means ‘the courageous ones.’ They basically fought for shares and elected their leaders rather than having them appointed or fighting for lords directly.”

“Ronin,” Paula said.

“Ronin were radically different,” Patrick said.

“They’re better known and there are some similarities,” Steve said. “The big difference being that companeres came from multiple backgrounds whereas ronin were samurai that lost their lords and had no one to be loyal to afterwards. so you’re saying we should vote?”

“I think…” Patrick’s face worked. “I don’t explain stuff very well sometimes. But companeres were one of the bases of the Star Trek universe system.”

“We’re all over the map, here,” Paula said, sighing exasperatedly.

“The companeres were sort of share and share alike,” Patrick said. “Which is how the Federation was based…”

“You mean the stupid liberal ‘we don’t have money’ bullshit?” Faith said.

“It wasn’t stupid,” Patrick said, shaking his head. “They had so many resources that trade in terms of money was left behind. Cory Doctorow explained it better in…”

“Stop,” Steve said. “You have already done two digressions. I used to think the Star Trek thing was an example of Roddenberry’s liberal side as well. But once I got my head around the economics it made sense.”

“It does?” Faith said.

“I won’t say it wasn’t pro-communism political speech disguised,” Steve said. “But in the Federation, anything was available at the touch of a button. There weren’t any basic resource restrictions. If you didn’t want to work, you didn’t have to. On the other hand, there was no economic drive to be, say, a starship captain. You did it because you could and you wanted to. The question I’ve always had is why there was a restriction on how many starships a group like that had. Why couldn’t anybody have a starship if there were exactly no resource restrictions? But that’s besides the point. And I think Patrick’s point is that as we get better at clearance, resource restrictions aren’t going to be an issue after a while. Patrick?”

“Right,” Patrick said, pointing. “That. What you said. In Starfleet you didn’t want to get promoted for the stuff. You wanted to get promoted to run stuff. To be a Star Fleet captain. Not for the money. About all you got in terms of stuff was a bigger cabin.”

“How did they do promotions?” Sophia asked.

“Uhmmm…” Patrick said.

“Through Starfleet based on presumed merit,” Steve said. “Which doesn’t help us. And it’s more than promotions, although that’s part of it. But on that point, when we find the next boat that’s useable, assuming we don’t have the question of legitimate salvage, who gets it? And who decides?”

“You do,” Chris said.

“Really?” Steve said. “Because the next person I’d give a boat to is Sophia.”

“What?” Sophia said, her eyes wide.

“Uh…” Chris said, frowning.

“ Sophia ?” Faith said angrily.

“She has more boat handling experience than anyone else we have,” Steve said, ticking off his points on his fingers. “She’s engaged in the program. She’s not only a good helmsman, she understands the logistics side. She’s diligent and people like her. She gets things done. Oh, I’d choose the crew carefully, but those are my points.”

“Okay,” Chris said, his brow furrowing. “She’s kind of young…”

“Yeah!” Faith said. “And…and…”

“Faith, you don’t even like driving when it’s your watch,” Steve said.

“Yeah, but…” she said, frowning.

“You want to do the paperwork?” Steve asked. “Figure out the fuel use? Try to figure out which EPIRB to do next?”

“Well, no, but…” Faith said. “Damnit!”

“How ’bout me?” Paula asked, cocking her head.

“There are other potential choices,” Steve said. “But the best choice, in my opinion, is Sophia. Actually, if he wanted it and agreed to fully join the program, I’d now say Mike.”