Under a Graveyard Sky

“Ronin were radically different,” Patrick said.

“They’re better known and there are some similarities,” Steve said. “The big difference being that companeres came from multiple backgrounds whereas ronin were samurai that lost their lords and had no one to be loyal to afterwards. so you’re saying we should vote?”

“I think…” Patrick’s face worked. “I don’t explain stuff very well sometimes. But companeres were one of the bases of the Star Trek universe system.”

“We’re all over the map, here,” Paula said, sighing exasperatedly.

“The companeres were sort of share and share alike,” Patrick said. “Which is how the Federation was based…”

“You mean the stupid liberal ‘we don’t have money’ bullshit?” Faith said.

“It wasn’t stupid,” Patrick said, shaking his head. “They had so many resources that trade in terms of money was left behind. Cory Doctorow explained it better in…”

“Stop,” Steve said. “You have already done two digressions. I used to think the Star Trek thing was an example of Roddenberry’s liberal side as well. But once I got my head around the economics it made sense.”

“It does?” Faith said.

“I won’t say it wasn’t pro-communism political speech disguised,” Steve said. “But in the Federation, anything was available at the touch of a button. There weren’t any basic resource restrictions. If you didn’t want to work, you didn’t have to. On the other hand, there was no economic drive to be, say, a starship captain. You did it because you could and you wanted to. The question I’ve always had is why there was a restriction on how many starships a group like that had. Why couldn’t anybody have a starship if there were exactly no resource restrictions? But that’s besides the point. And I think Patrick’s point is that as we get better at clearance, resource restrictions aren’t going to be an issue after a while. Patrick?”

“Right,” Patrick said, pointing. “That. What you said. In Starfleet you didn’t want to get promoted for the stuff. You wanted to get promoted to run stuff. To be a Star Fleet captain. Not for the money. About all you got in terms of stuff was a bigger cabin.”

“How did they do promotions?” Sophia asked.

“Uhmmm…” Patrick said.

“Through Starfleet based on presumed merit,” Steve said. “Which doesn’t help us. And it’s more than promotions, although that’s part of it. But on that point, when we find the next boat that’s useable, assuming we don’t have the question of legitimate salvage, who gets it? And who decides?”

“You do,” Chris said.

“Really?” Steve said. “Because the next person I’d give a boat to is Sophia.”

“What?” Sophia said, her eyes wide.

“Uh…” Chris said, frowning.

“Sophia?” Faith said angrily.

“She has more boat handling experience than anyone else we have,” Steve said, ticking off his points on his fingers. “She’s engaged in the program. She’s not only a good helmsman, she understands the logistics side. She’s diligent and people like her. She gets things done. Oh, I’d choose the crew carefully, but those are my points.”

“Okay,” Chris said, his brow furrowing. “She’s kind of young…”

“Yeah!” Faith said. “And…and…”

“Faith, you don’t even like driving when it’s your watch,” Steve said.

“Yeah, but…” she said, frowning.

“You want to do the paperwork?” Steve asked. “Figure out the fuel use? Try to figure out which EPIRB to do next?”

“Well, no, but…” Faith said. “Damnit!”

“How ’bout me?” Paula asked, cocking her head.

“There are other potential choices,” Steve said. “But the best choice, in my opinion, is Sophia. Actually, if he wanted it and agreed to fully join the program, I’d now say Mike.”

“Uh, I don’t want to clear boats,” Mike said, holding up his hands.

“Sophia hasn’t cleared an actual powered boat since we started,” Steve said. “My point is, Chris, you said I get to decide. Should I? I’m not saying I shouldn’t. I think, for now, that’s the way to go. But what’s my authority? What’s it based on? Saving people?”

“That’s a pretty good basis,” Paula said. “Why don’t we put it to a vote?”

“Because if we’d put it to a vote at a certain point when Isham was onboard I might have lost?” Steve said.

“So you want to stack the deck?” Chris said.

“Not stack the deck,” Steve said. “But who we get off of boats is a crap shoot. Do we automatically give them voting rights? How often do we have elections?”

“You want a charter?” Patrick said. “Like I said, companeres. And I was serious.”

“There’s no Starfleet, Patrick,” Paula said.

“There wasn’t with the companeres,” Patrick said. “I think… Okay, pirates, then.”

“Oh, great choice,” Faith said, rolling her eyes. “We’re not pirates!”

“When pirates captured a ship, they had to decide who got it,” Patrick said. “And they were freebooters. They worked for shares. The shares were based on… Actually, I’m not sure what the shares were based on but they voted on the basis of their shares.”

“Okay, now you’re talking my language,” Mike said. He’d been looking puzzled through the whole exchange.

“Go,” Steve said.

“Lots of boats, tugs, fishing boats, are share boats,” Braito said. “When you make money off something like salvage, part of it goes to the cost. Like, the food, fuel, some for maintenance. Then the profit’s split between the owner and the crew. Sometimes it’s not a direct split but it’s pretty close. Then it’s broken up. The captain gets part of the share, then the other bosses, then the crew. Usually it’s the captain gets twenty, thirty percent, the other senior guys, deck boss and engineer usually, share another twenty and the hands share out the rest. Newbies don’t get a share, just straight rate. To get to be share hands, they have to be voted on by the crew.”

“You’re talking about Deadliest Catch?” Faith asked.

“That’s how they do their shares,” Braito said, nodding. “And when you have something that’s a question that the crew gets rights on having a say, they vote their shares.”

“Freebooters,” Chris said, rubbing his beard. “Heh. I always sort of wanted to be a pirate.”

“What about larger decisions?” Steve said. “No, back to the point. Is that the way that we should organize ourselves? Does it make sense?”

“For this level,” Paula said. “But your point about larger is valid. We’re planning on being bigger, right?”

“And what about salvage?” Chris said. “Mike, I get the point that the Victoria isn’t ‘legal salvage.’ But we need those supplies.”

“I’ll share, man,” Mike said. “I’ll even help. But I really don’t want to go around clearing boats. Not my thing. Especially after sitting in that fucking hole listening to the zombies howl for months.”

“Fifty percent,” Steve said. “When we clear a boat, any survivors get fifty percent of the materials the boat is carrying for trade. Crew or passengers. If you were on the boat, you get fifty percent of the material. The flotilla gets the other fifty percent and the boat unless it’s turned over to one of the survivors for reasons determined by…well we’ll get to that. Of that, some amount goes to the boat that cleared it, some to the boat that found it if it’s not the clearance boat. The rest goes to support the overall flotilla.”

“I can go fifty percent,” Mike said, grimacing. “Do I keep the boat?”

“Mike, we’re probably going to be using it for storage,” Steve said. “Until we get something better. You’re not going to go hungry again. You okay with that? Being the base station? And your share is fifty percent of the materials to trade if you want.”

“I can do that,” Mike said, nodding. “Not sure what I’ll trade.”