Robert Asprin – Tambu

“I had not deliberately withheld the information from them. The plan had been half-formed in my mind for some time, and I had simply forgotten to tell them about my thinking on the subject. If I had reached a firm decision before encountering the Mongoose and its captive, I would have discussed it with them.”

“How long had you been thinking about it before you actually implemented the plan?” the reporter pressed.

“I guess it had been in the back of my mind all along,” Tambu admitted. “I was always aware of the limitations of a single ship, both in terms of firepower and of coverage.”

“Coverage?”

“One ship can be in only one place at a time. If the pirates could figure out where our one snip was, they would know where we weren’t, and therefore where it was safe for them to operate. Three ships complicated the problem for them.”

“I see,” Erickson nodded. “Once you had three ships, though, how did you deploy your original crew-the ones you could be sure of in terms of loyalty?”

“Egor and Whitey were each placed in charge of a ship. I assigned Puck under Whitey.”

“Didn’t that cause problems with Puck? Giving him a subordinate position while Ramona kept command of her own ship?” the reporter asked, eager for clues of dissention.

“Surprisingly enough, not. I expected him to be much more upset than he actually was. Egor gave me more problems than Puck did.”

“What kind of problems did Egor cause?” Erickson pressed.

“It was strange. I had expected problems with Whitey and Puck, but it never occurred to me that Egor would object. Whitey and Puck took the change in stride, but Egor put up an unholy argument. He flatly felt he wasn’t qualified for an independent command.”