“Excuse my asking, but isn’t that a little conceited of you?”
“What’s so conceited about acknowledging the weakness of my own fleet?” Tambu asked innocently. “If I wanted to brag, I’d claim that it requires an expert tactician or an ace crew to down one of my ships. The truth is that it’s really quite easy to do-if you’re faced with a hot-headed captain who won’t follow orders.”
“I thought your captains followed your orders to the letter,” Erickson probed.
“I’ve never claimed that, Mr. Erickson,” Tambu corrected. “In fact, I’ve given you several examples to the contrary. My captains are human, and they follow popular orders much more strictly than orders they disagree with.”
“Then you’ve issued orders which were unpopular with the fleet?”
“Yes, I have. Orders that were very unpopular.”
CHAPTER NINE
Tambu glared at his console viewscreen, fingers tapping his thigh in fierce impatience.
“I would ask that the captains sit down.!” he ordered in a tone that left no room for rebuttal.
Slowly, the forest of figures on the screen sank back into their chairs-individually, as each captain lost the battle with rebellious indignation.
Tambu waited impatiently until all were seated.
“Put your hands down, too!” he growled dangerously.
Again, the captains complied with grudging hesitancy.
“Very well. I’m going to say this once and once only. This meeting is too large for any vague semblance of democracy. With nearly two hundred of you jammed into one room, I can’t even see everyone, much less recognize them to speak.”