“You mean you’re going to take the blame for Zarn?” Whitey gaped. “Why, Tambu? You weren’t responsible.”
“They’re a ship under my command,” Tambu countered. “Technically, that makes me responsible. I’ve taken a lot of indirect credit in the past for things my captains did. I can’t just wash my hands of what happened because things went sour.”
“I don’t agree. But even if I did… if I felt you were responsible, it doesn’t change anything. You’ve got to do something. You’ve got to level some kind of punishment against the ship.”
“For what?” Tambu demanded. “For being loyal to their captain? For going after a bunch of bastards who think they have the right to gun down anyone from one of my ships?”
“How about for leveling a city and everybody in it?” Whitey shot back. “Don’t you think that was a little extreme?”
“Yes, I do,” Tambu retorted. “But I’m in a bad position to judge. I haven’t set foot off a ship in over six years. I don’t know how bad things are for the crews when they go planetside. I’ve got no comprehension of what they’ve been putting up with. You tell me, Whitey. If things had worked out differently-if you had been gunned down on Elei instead of Puck getting killed on Zarn, how would your crew react?”
“I-I don’t know,” Whitey admitted. “I’d like to think they’d react with more restraint.”
“But you can’t be sure,” Tambu pointed out viciously. “Okay, let’s go a step further. If they reacted the same way Puck’s crew did… if they did that and you were in my position, what would you do to them? What kind of punishment would you level? A wrist-slap? Would you have them all hunted down and executed? What?”