Robert Asprin – Tambu

He uncoiled from his perch and seated himself at his desk once more.

“My decision to travel on board your ship is to enable myself to more readily obtain specific information from you rather than to imply any distrust. That is actually the answer I should have given you in the first place. I’ll have to trust you, as I’ll have to trust all my captains. If I don’t, the force hasn’t a hope of success.”

Now it was Ramona’s turn to rise and pace as she thought.

“Just how large a fleet are you envisioning?” “I have no exact figure in mind,” Tambu admitted, “but I expect we will grow well beyond the three ships we have currently.”

“My crew isn’t big enough to man even these three ships,” she pointed out.

“I know. We’ll have to do some additional recruiting. I’ll want your advice on that, too.”

“Aren’t you risking trouble using ex-pirates for crew? I don’t mean with mutiny, I’m thinking more about your reputation.”

“My crew might object a bit, at first, but they’ll accept it. If not, they can be replaced.”

“I was more concerned with reactions from the people you’ll be dealing with outside the force. I’m not sure how the merchants will take to being protected by the very people who were stealing from them not too long ago.”

“We already have a solution to that.” Tambu smiled. “We’ll change the names of the ships and crew. That way no one outside the force has to know anything about your past. In fact, there’s no reason for anyone to know within the force, either. Your crew doesn’t know anything about my crew’s background or vice versa. There’s no reason they should be told, just as there’s no reason we should have to give any background information to the new recruits.”