Of Men and Spiders

Roberts was dressing down one of his new subordinate captains. It was a new feeling, as he'd never really been an admiral before, though admittedly, it wasn't much of a fleet as the battleship he was captain of outgunned the rest combined. Still, it allowed for some interesting new strategies to be implemented, albeit at the cost of greater expenses. Expenses some people didn't think were being paid well enough.

The captain-turned-quasi-admiral sighed. "Listen, I don't care what they were carrying; we don't target small independent ships unless we can confirm they're shipping for one of our targeted corporate entities. Even then, we do our best to avoid collateral damage. Your acting outside these boundaries and then limping back to us once you get a core patrol ship on your tail is unacceptable. If you do it again, I will target your thrusters myself and leave you to their mercy."

The other captain started to protest, but Roberts held up a hand. "Listen, you wanted to join my group because of the greater protection I can provide. That's fine, but that protection comes at a cost. That cost is a limitation of who and what you can target. If you can't handle that, leave and don't let me see your face in my space again, or we'll exchange more than words next time. Do we have an understanding?"

This time, Roberts remained quiet, and the captain let out a strained, "Aye, sir."

Roberts nodded and let the man go, then sat back and sighed. The influx of cash from the financial information Lady Lucy had sent them from the station had been a significant boon to his ship and all those who'd participated in the raid, as they all got a cut proportional to their involvement. However, with Lucy suddenly disappearing, he'd been left to manage the loose alliance she'd put together as the new de facto leader by virtue of his overwhelming firepower. About half the captains she'd recruited left, but the rest seemed to realize that working together and having a battleship at their back made pirating significantly less risky.

Of course, now that he'd made even more of a name for himself, Roberts had a whole new set of problems to deal with. As he walked into the hall, he saw his aide waiting. Roberts signaled the man over. "What else needs to be dealt with today?"

The aide walked beside him as he relayed the pending messages. "Well, Captain Drake would like to set up a time for a meeting with you. He said something about wanting to negotiate terms of your service in return for a pardon for such a daring raid..."

That whole fiasco had left a sinking feeling in the pit of Robert's stomach. He'd always maintained independence from Drake by skirting the edges of his territory and avoiding picking any fights with him directly. However, that same raid that had made Roberts a newfound authority in his own little region had come at the expense of some of Drake's business partners, and he knew it was just a matter of time before that developed into a new complication. Perhaps it was time to set aside his pride to form an alliance of sorts. Of course, that would mean getting involved with the very people behind the reason he and his men had mutinied, which didn't sit right with him.

However, it seemed his aide wasn't done. "And we've got a message from someone claiming to be Lucy's son, who would like a word with you. He didn't really say about what..."

Well, there were really only a few things it could be about. Robetrs had set aside Lucy's portion of the funds, and if this was really her son, Roberts supposed giving him her share was only fair. Aside from proving the kid's identity, the rest should be easy enough. If it was about something else, though... That would not be a fun call. But as the man in charge, it was his responsibility to deal with it.

Turning to his aide, he added, "Alright. Set up a meeting with the kid whenever he's available. Let's put off dealing with Drake until after that's complete. Delays are all part of the negotiation process anyway."

The aide nodded. "Aye, captain." And split off to make it happen.

-

Scott was surprised to see the man so readily willing to meet. A part of him suspected a trap, but when he brought it up with Charlotte, she didn't seem to think it was too likely. "In my limited experience with him, Roberts appeared to be a structured and principled human. It makes him very effective at whatever he does but also predictable, at least when compared with the likes of you or your mother."

Scott gave her a look of annoyance. "Hey, I'm structured and principled!"

If Charlotte felt anything approaching contrition at her choice of words, it didn't show. "You are principled, yes, but hardly structured. You are at your best when you don't know what you are doing and make it up as you go. The decreased efficiency in most situations is somewhat compensated for by your ability to adapt quickly when things don't go as planned. In that sense, you and your mother are much alike."

Scott furrowed his brow, trying to decide if he should feel complimented or insulted. In the end, he gave up. "Whatever. How's the 'delegation' shaping up?"

As always, Charlotte took the change of subject in stride. "For the most part, they seem ready, though you may want to give Goldie another quick once over."

Scott shook his head. "Maybe I should just let her be the little nightmare she seems determined to be. It might be a nice offset for Hopper anyway... What about Goliath?"

Charlotte seemed contemplative. "I do not know how you would feel about her final chosen form. She incorporated most of the advice you gave her, though she is unwilling to compromise on the body's size. She says she's not comfortable in anything smaller than that."

Scott shrugged. "Eh, I'm sure it'll be fine. You probably don't want to completely homogenize your appearance anyway. What about you? If this works out and you get to be part of the delegation, what will you choose to appear as?"

Charlotte didn't have to think long about that. "If we are able to resolve the situation to my satisfaction, I will use the form you are already familiar with. It is somewhat frightening, but once you learned I had no intention of harming you, it seemed to do the job well enough. Additionally, it will serve as a reminder to the people we speak with that we are indeed something they are not familiar with. Alien, to use your term, even though unless our meetings take place on Earth, we are no more alien than you by your own definition."

Scott rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Humans are weird with our words. That's such an alien thing for you to say!"

Charlotte seemed nonplussed. "I believe I just explained why that is not correct."