“I have not. I was off the ship when the mutiny was attempted, and my second-in-command put it down. I have yet to get back to the ship. One of the mutineers did, however, come to where I was, armed, apparently to do me and my wife harm. The guard my second-in-command had set was able to intercept her before she was able to do any harm.”
“I get the feeling there is a great deal more to this story than you are telling, Mr. Wilson.”
“It’s good to know my lawyer isn’t a moron, Sir.”
“Thanks, I think. You say you were away from the ship, and the mutineers could have, if they could have taken over the ship, sailed away without harming you, but they chose to come after you with murderous intent?”
“I did say that.”
“Your only compunction about feeding them to the sharks is the fate of the minor children?”
“It is.”
“I can’t believe I’m advising a client to do this, but I think the only thing you can do, is go ahead with the executions, and see to the care of the children as best you can.”
“I had really hoped you could give me a wiser answer, Sir.”
“I hoped I could, too, but I don’t see where you have another option.”
“Thank you for your time, Sir. Hopefully, I won’t need to bother you again.”
“That’s fine, Mr. Wilson. After that retainer, you can bother me whenever you like.”
He hung up. I said, “That was ever so helpful. At least I know I’m not missing something easy.”
Nikki said, “Maybe Grandpa is out of FTL by now.”
I replied, “Couldn’t hurt to try.” I called Dingus. “What’s up, Bob? You got another lovesick bot you need me to help out?”
“Nope. I’ve got a discipline issue I’m not sure what to do about. I was hoping for some sage advice.”
“Are you sure it would actually cause you physical pain to just call and shoot the breeze, Bob? Do you always have to hit me with a big old problem?”
“I dunno, Dingus. I just don’t want to bother you when you’re busy with other things.”
“Just messing with you, Bob. I don’t mind at all. What’s up?”
“Bill Richards and Jennie Stone attempted mutiny last night. I really don’t want to leave Bill’s niece and nephew without any family, but I don’t want to leave Bill alive to try again.”
“Have you talked to the kids yet?”
“No, they’re still aboard ship. I’m on the planet waiting for Mike and Tina. Sally has a nanny bot talking to them, but I haven’t heard what they had to say, yet.”
“I don’t see how you can leave him alive to try again, but you don’t want the kids coming after you when they grow up, either.”
“Exactly. Rock, meet hard place.”
“It’s days like today I’m glad you’re sitting in the big chair.”
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that.”
“No, Bob, I won’t take over and let you retire to Shaved Ape Key.”
“Not what I had in mind, at least not today. If we don’t go ahead and wake up the Navy, some other bright boy is going to stumble over it, and decide he needs to be Emperor. We’re going to have to go wake it up, just to keep it out of the hands of somebody like Bill. I’m going to need Captains for that. You don’t want to, and Sally seems to think that is one of the best ways to pick a good Captain.”
“Dangit, Bob! When you get logical, it sure is hard to argue with you. If it’s us or Emperor Bill, I don’t see any way to turn you down. The next time we play paintball, your behind is mine.”
“Glad to hear you agree with me. How soon will you be back?”
“We just finished buying bots. We got the one Tex sent me after, and several others that looked promising. Should be back in a couple of days.”
“See you then.”
“See you, Commodore.”
I had a funny feeling when I disconnected, but I couldn’t place it, and let it slide. Nikki asked, “What’s wrong, Caveman?”
“I just felt like I had made a mistake, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Dingus wasn’t much help either, but at least he agreed to take Captain’s training when he gets back.”
“That’s good. You’ll be able to depend on him.”
“With him, Sally, John, Diego, and Steve, we should have a good start, anyway.”
My comm rang. “Captain Wilson.”
“You’re going to have to start calling yourself Commodore, whether you want to or not, Boss.”
“Yes, Captain. I’m nearly positive that’s not what you called about.”
“I got a report back from the bots taking care of Nelly and Scott. It seems they wanted to stay with their Uncle not because they particularly liked him, but just because they knew he would be better than staying with their Grandparents. They know their Uncle did wrong, and their biggest fear at this point is that you will take them back to Earth, since their Uncle doesn’t work for you anymore.”
“That doesn’t quite match up with the reunion I saw when they saw Bill the first time. How sure are you of what they are telling you?”
“I had Mr. Mason watch the recordings of the conversations. He believes they are telling the truth.”
“That’s as good as we can do, without scaring the kids. They have been through enough already. Thanks for the update. I’ll be up to take care of things later on today.”
“You don’t want me to go ahead and do it for you?”
“We have one of the mutineers down here. They should both be sentenced together. Besides, it’s still my ship, even if you were in charge.”
“I understand, Boss. When can we expect you?”
“I’m not
