He grinned. "No ma'am, I have no experience with miracles. However, I do have a problem. Sire Mong is Secretary of Defense. As such, of course, he represents the Ilocano government, which issued the letters of Marque; this puts him firmly in control. He has become very excited about that Chata-class fortress. He says he wants to christen her Ilocan's Revenge. Apparently, he has assumed that he will Captain her, and he does have the necessary qualifications.
"But he is starting to make noises like a general, wanting to set up chains of command and such. I do not consider this wise. Our people are atmosphere miners. They do not have military training or discipline. Besides, these ships and boats actually belong to me, not to the government of Ilocan. The contract under which you chartered the Chata-class does not provide for Ilocan to appoint a Captain.
"What I need is for you to make clear to sire Mong that if he accepts the captaincy of Ilocan's Revenge, he will do so as Ster Mong, private citizen, not sire Mong, Minister of Defense. And that he will not have any military or government authority while he's aboard."
Jessica nodded. "That makes sense. Ster always was something of an armchair admiral. All right, Cale, I'll have a talk with him."
Apparently she did. Mong suddenly became distant and surly with Cale. He did, however, make it clear that he knew he was not in overall command.
Still, Cale expected at least one confrontation with the captains of the base ships, who also assumed they would have some sort of military authority. He planned to use the occasion to clarify their status, and to inspire the boat pilots, as well.
As he expected, the Captains demanded a meeting to discuss resources and strategy. Cale insisted that all the boat pilots, as well as the captains, attend. The captains had turned a stores room into a conference room, lacking only a large table. Instead, the chairs were arranged in a large circle, with a lunch table on one side. Zant took one look, conferred with Cale, and kept everyone outside while he rearranged the seating, with the table and two chairs along one wall, and the other chairs arranged facing them. Cale and Zant entered first, taking the two chairs behind the desk. A glowering Mong, accompanied by two other equally unhappy older Captains, took seats in the first row, whispering to each other as the boat pilots entered and took seats.
As soon as everyone was seated, Mong sprang to his feet. “ Sire Rankin,” he began, “We, the Captains, feel that we need to establish a chain of command, appoint leaders, and plan strategy and tactics… “
He paused as Cale waved a hand. “I’m sorry, Captain Mong. Are you under the impression that you are establishing some sort of military organization? If so, you are sadly mistaken.” He again waved a vague hand. “This is my ship, Captain, as is Cheetah, and the ships we will be crewing. You will be flying my ships. The situation is akin to being hired by the owner of a fleet of merchantmen. There is no need to establish a chain of command or appoint leaders. You are simply being contracted to operate merchant ships that happen to be armed.”
Mong looked scandalized. “But if there’s no military organization, you’re no better than pirates!” Mong had to know better; as Minister of Defense, he had voted to issue the Letters of Marque. Whatever his motivation, though, it provided a perfect setup for Cale.
Cale’s smile was mild. “Not at all, Captain.” He turned his attention to the rest of the room as Mong, ignored, dropped into his seat. “How many of you read history?”
Nearly all the hands, including Mong’s, went up. The long periods between scoop runs, and the long hours on the runs themselves, gave plenty of opportunity for reading and study, and history was a popular subject both for serious study and as the setting for many thriller holos.
Cale nodded. “All right, then. You captains, I suggest you stop trying to consider yourselves officers in a military force. Commanding a crew of three on a Din-class does not make you the equal of an Alliance Navy Frigate skipper. We are relatively untrained in military matters, and we would just make a hash of it.
“No,” he continued, “Instead you, all of you," he waved his arm to include the boat pilots, "should consider yourselves present-day privateers; a ‘company of gentlemen adventurers’ operating under Letters of Marque and Reprisal issued by Ilocan, and financed by me.”
Babble broke out, along with quite a few grins and nods. The idea of becoming the modern-day personification of one of the most popular historical images was appealing.
Mong, sensing he was losing support, sprang to his feet. “But we must plan! Develop strategies…”
His voice trailed off as Cale shook his head. “We do not even know for certain how many and what types of ships and boats we will have available, Captain. It is pretty difficult to plan when you have no idea what force you’ll have. When the time comes, rest assured that I will brief you sufficiently on your duties.”
He sighed theatrically. “I’m sorry, gentlemen. I know it is difficult and boring to be passengers on someone else’s ship, in jump and in recal systems. But there really is very little that can be accomplished until we reach our base.”
Mong jumped up again. “Yes. That’s another thing sire Rankin. Where the Sheol are we going? Where is our base?”
Cale frowned. “I prefer to keep the location of my base as secret as possible for reasons of my own. The ship’s jump comps will be slaved to Cheetah ’s, so you will not need to know. If you are astrogators, or an astrogator is assigned to your ship, you are ordered to make no effort to learn its location. Consider it another mystery surrounding the mysterious Privateer Force.”
He then reviewed what privateers were (and were not), what the letters were, and why they were necessary. Then, to an enthusiastic reception, he reviewed the concept of 'prizes'; that in a war, enemy merchant shipping was considered a legitimate target, and that the Letters of Marque and Reprisal made the privateers temporarily an instrument of the Ilocan government, with the authority to capture or destroy enemy shipping. Captured enemy shipping (prizes) would be inspected by a "prize court," and either taken for use by the government, or sold at auction. The last part of his briefing resulted in cheers: that if the government sold a prize at auction, the crew of the privateer capturing her received 40 % of the sale price, to be divided among them according to a set schedule. Thus, every member of a crew involved in a capture received a share of the "prize money."
Cale finished by reminding them that captured ships also meant captured crews, and that any suspected mistreatment of Santie crews would be investigated and punished as a war crime.
The meeting was an unqualified success. The crewmen and the boat pilots, especially, developed a bit of a swagger, and went out of their way to refer to each other as 'privateers'. Mong, passing Cale in a corridor shortly after the meeting, give him a smile and a wink, and said, "You're welcome," with no further explanation. But then, no further explanation was necessary.
The senior Captains did not waste their time on the long trip to Torlon. Led by the indomitable and abrasive Mong, they interviewed and discussed the prospective crewmen and boat pilots aboard, and made a number of agreed-upon choices.
This minimized the confusion when they arrived at Torlon. There was some scuffling among the boat pilots over the gigs, and the admiral's barge almost precipitated a fight. However, eventually everyone seemed reasonably satisfied; even those unfortunates assigned the workboats for mine placement.
With crews manning the three base ships, the Vishnu techs slaved their astrogation comps to Cheetah' s, and she led them back to the mine, with none of them knowing the location of Cale's scrap yard.
Cale had no real reason to conceal the location of the yard, but he persisted in thinking of the yard and Pride as a bolt hole in case of emergency. Besides, if one of the base ships was captured or destroyed, the Santies couldn't come looking for him there.