“Before we begin, please take a moment to familiarise yourself with these documents,” said captain Lorrig with a business smile.

“Thank you, Captain,” I said as I opened my Digita’s transfer interface. He promptly sent the relevant documents across and allowed me a moment to sort out the documents on my side.

I opened up the folder labelled ‘Past Agreements’ and opened the first file. The document was titled ‘information agreement’ and a quick skim showed it to contain a written agreement about the sharing of the information network. I paused a moment as I wondered how I knew written language but quickly dismissed the thought and read the document properly.

Stripping away all the flowery business language, the document stated that Wolf Pack would act as a proxy and allow the military access to their underground information networks and in return Wolf Pack could request military arms proportionate to the amount of information they managed to provide. There were various speculations about what kind of information was worth what and restrictions on the kind of things Wolf Pack could request, but the core essence of the agreement was just that.

“Intel for weapons, huh?” I muttered.

“I remember Greg – your predecessor – making some quip about that…” said Captain Lorrig, “Something about knowledge being a weapon? Old human saying I believe.”

I snickered and moved on to the next file, this one was titled ‘Non-interference policy’. This document seemed to hold a pretty basic deal; The military would not interfere in Wolf Pack matters and Wolf Pack would not interfere in military matters. This was further defined with a few speculations stating that Wolf Pack was required to uphold some sort of moral in the way it ran the show, else the military was allowed to intervene for the well-being of the citizens. These speculations were rather pointless since the higher-ups didn’t care about the people living in poverty – especially since said higherups mostly bought their positions with their parent’s money. I have no idea who decided such details or why, possibly to satisfy someone’s hero-complex or for some PR stunt.

I gave Captain Lorrig a questionable look and we locked eyes for a moment. After a while of staring pointlessly into each other’s eyes he asked, “The non-interference policy I presume?”

I nodded without breaking eye contact.

“Haaah…” he sighed, “Don’t ask me, I wasn’t the one who made that deal… Ask him.” He gestured towards Major Brown.

“Oh?” I said with curiosity, “Who suggested the whole morals thing?”

Major Brown sighed and said, “The higherups did. Back then we were still new on the scene and the higherups were closely involved, everything had to go through them. They said we couldn’t make the deal unless we added those clauses… Mister Hunt wasn’t particularly against it and accepted it anyway, he had stronger morals than most so it didn’t make a difference in his eyes.”

“I see…” I murmured, “Some kind of PR stunt then?”

“Probably,” said Major Brown blankly.

I smirked and got back to reading.

The last file was labelled ‘Territory policy’. I didn’t bother skimming through it and focused on it from the start. This one was the dumbest of the lot.

“No expanding territory?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Another thing the higherups demanded,” said Major Brown with resignation on his face.

“Reclaiming lost territory was still permitted,” interjected Captain Lorrig with a shrug.

“Didn’t want them getting out of hand, hey?” I asked sarcastically, “But then again, why the need if they so readily agreed to the morality stuff?”

Major Brown sighed and said, “Once again, the higherups demanded it… Mr Hunt was less than pleased about it but was eventually forced to agree.”

“These higherups…” I began, “Are they still so nosy?”

Captain Lorrig laughed and said, “Far from it, they’ve abandoned us!”

“Why would they do that?” I asked, “Not enough results?”

“Pretty much,” said Captain Lorrig with a wry smile, “They wanted to pacify the local gangs and start retaking the slums, but we couldn’t do it as quickly as they wanted. I contacted Mr Hunt since he was the reasonable sort and very capable at the same time. The higherups ruined his potential with their demands. Those brats are as blind and impatient as they are rich.”

“Good,” I said confidently with a vicious grin, “Things are about to change around here.”

“Oh?” said Captain Lorrig curiously, “In what way?”

“First of all, lets tear up that territory agreement,” I said without changing my expression.

Captain Lorrig smiled and said, “I like the fire in your eyes, please continue.”

I grinned as I began to speak, “Fine then, here’s what I propose: You will become a division of my clan, the exact terms of service will be decided later. Wolf Pack will be recreated under the lead of Kyle Hunt as a division of Dragon’s Nest, and Dragon’s nest will move Headquarters to what is currently Viper HQ.

My forces are a little lacking so your first job will be to help subdue Viper and take over. From there, I also plan to pacify Blood Fang… Maybe you can get some information from their base of operations, that would benefit you as much as it would me. As my influence grows, so will my network.

I don’t plan to lead like they do, I only want willing and loyal soldiers, so things are going to change down here. If anyone currently in the gang disagrees then they can leave.

Once I have taken over Viper I will focus on earning the residents’ loyalty, both Viper and Wolf Pack have abused their people recently so it will be easy to win their hearts. The first couple of months will be tough, this is a long-term plan.”

“What are you scheming?” asked Captain Lorrig with narrowed eyes.

“Simple,” I said, “I plan to take over the slums, I’m not one to willingly bow to others.”

“But why are the people so important?” he asked, just as sceptical as before.

“Power comes in two forms: Strength and Authority,” I said with a cruel grin, “I will gain strength in time, but the basis of authority is people. If you control someone then you have authority over them, if they have control over others then you have authority over them too. The way I see it, the amount of authority you have directly equates to the number of people who will follow your commands, minus the number of people who will fight them. By making sure the lowest common denominator is loyal to me I can ensure my own authority over those who would try to snatch it from me.”

“I thought money was power?” said Captain Lorrig sarcastically.

“In a civil society, what is needed for survival?” I asked with a smirk.

“… Money?” said the Captain with a ponderous gaze.

“And therefore, the more money you control…” I said without dropping my smile.

“… The more crucial resources you control,” said the Captain hesitantly.

“And by controlling resources crucial to survival, only granting them to the obedient, what do you do?” I said.

“… You force people to obey you to survive?” he said in amazement, “I’m impressed, that’s quite an interesting take on economics. Do you think this would apply if there were no such thing as money?”

“Of course, ever heard of bartering? Monarchies existed long before standardised money did,” I said.

“That’s true, most species’ histories seem to have some sort of structure appear long before the implementation of money… in fact, structure is a requirement of money, not the other way around, without a structured society money would be useless,” he said while nodding in approval.

“How did you figure this out though?” asked Major Brown.

“I thought it was pretty obvious…” I muttered doubtfully, “I mean, what’s the point of knowing how to pull a trigger if you don’t have a gun? What’s the point of having a gun if you don’t have any ammunition? You always have to have something to make it work, and all the parts of that something have to be present and working or you won’t get results.”

“But how does that equate to the people being the most important part?” Major Brown asked.

“Well, a group is a group, regardless of what it does. The only difference between cops and thugs is purpose and equipment, you’ll need people regardless what you do so they are the first thing you need to take care of, the tools and training can be figured out later but the need for people doesn’t change. If I try to force people to follow then they will try to stab me in the back, so making even more people willingly support me is the best solution to betrayal; raw masses of angry people are a much scarier prospect to deal with than a few strong ones. People tend to go against the rules much less when the repercussions are guaranteed.”

“Hmmm…” murmured Captain Lorrig thoughtfully, ‘’Indeed, people tend to be less prone to crime when the law is more likely to catch them… though it’s also true that people tend towards crime when repressed – regardless of enforcement.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“That’s a valid point,” I said while nodding in acknowledgement, “So freedom is better if you want loyalty?”

“To a point,” said the Captain, “Give them too much leeway and they get greedy, start aiming for your power. This is the downfall of many a good leader, and one of the reasons why most politicians are corrupt; few noble hearted politicians survive long enough to anchor themselves in the world, usually either becoming corrupt themselves or getting taken down by their corrupt peers.”

“Well then, since I’m fairly new to this whole leadership thing, care to take a position as my direct advisor?” I ask with a simple smile.

“Why thank you for the offer,” said the Captain, “but I must regretfully decline – I still have to take care of this lot.”

“Who said you’d have to stop?” I ask with a smirk, “All I need is some advice from time to time, you’d be a mentor of sorts. Besides, isn’t Major Brown supposed to be in charge?”

Captain Lorrig chuckled and said, “Fair enough, I suppose that’ll work. You’re off to a good start if the people were the first thing you thought of, even if you had no idea beyond that.”

I let out a small chuckle and said, “I suppose that means you’re on board then?”

“Not entirely,” he said, “I’m mostly with you on this, but we’ll have to work out the details before I can agree to anything.”

“Fair enough,” I said, “I’ll concede on that, but our first priority will be to take over Viper. Their leaders are dead and it would be much easier to strike before someone else has a chance to reorganise the group.”

“I’ll agree to that, it’s much easier to finish a weakened enemy than it is to fight a ready one,” he said, “I only have one problem with attacking them so soon; we are also in a weakened state due to the battle for the tower, we’d be opening ourselves to an attack.”

“About that,” I started, “I have some information that – if used wisely – might be able to significantly diminish their will to fight.”

“Oh? What do you know?” he asked curiously.

“Viper enforced loyalty through blackmail and threats,” I said confidently, “If we can let it slip that we intend to free them of that they would reconsider their positions… One of the soldiers sent to infiltrate my HQ was very quick to change sides when I offered to free his family from Viper’s dungeon.”

The Captain stroked his chin and said, “Yes, they would certainly be less willing to fight us if we were offering better conditions… Hell, some might even turn coats on the spot.”

“I suppose this links back to your views on leadership?” asked Major Brown with an approving nod.

“The people part, yes,” I admitted plainly, “The loyalty part, not so much. That came from almost being stabbed in the back by someone I trusted.”

“I see…” murmured the Captain, “Well, like we said before, people will be less likely to do something if they expect repercussions, build your reputation in such a way that people believe they’ll gain more from playing nice with you than they will from going against you and that problem will fix itself. You’ve already started earning a rather brutal rep among my men from your… unique interrogation techniques.”

“Brutal, is it?” I muttered.

“Yes, brutal,” he said plainly, “The men fear you, in their minds you would put a bullet in them before giving them a second chance.”

“Well, if they pointed their weapons at me I’d kill them without hesitation,” I said flatly, “but so long as they remained neutral I’d have no reason to waste ammo on them.”

Major Brown shivered as I finished speaking but Captain Lorrig remained as steady as a rock.

“That’s… quite an interesting choice of words,” said The Captain, “Does the idea of human life mean nothing to you?”

“What kind of fool tries to take a life when he isn’t ready to risk his own?” I ask in a venomous retort, “How is a fight any different than a bet where two sides put their lives on the line?”

“In a duel to the death that would be the correct approach, but what of group combat?” he asked, “Does preserving the lives of your soldiers mean anything to you?”

“I suppose? Every man lost is a reduction in power, but getting the job done is more important than anything,” I speak while considering the effect of maintaining numbers, “No, that’s not quite right… You can often try again if you fail the first time, but you won’t be able to try again without forces… also, if you lose forces you’ll need to find replacements… hmm…”

My gaze wondered upwards as I pondered.

<( I’d imagine preserving forces is easier than replacing them… )> said Dawn contemplatively.

<[ There’s also the value of experience that troops will gain each time they survive, that’s hard to replace with raw talent. ]> said Nova with a strange wisdom.

Raw numbers could overcome talent and experience with ease.

<[ Imagine combining the two, in a game of quantity versus quality the hardest thing to face is large amounts of high quality opponents. There is definite value in preserving troops lives. ]>

<( But what about the mission!? Doesn’t doing the job count more than a quanlity debate!? )>

Quanlity? Oh, right, got it.

<[ Leaving behind the stupid and non-existent words, I think we can conclude that there is indeed value in preserving the lives of your soldiers. As for the loss of soldiers versus the importance of the mission… I believe the phrase ‘minimal casualties for maximum effect’ is appropriate. ]>

I nodded with closed eyes in acknowledgement and spoke to The Captain, “Yes, I do believe there is value in preserving soldier’s lives, experience has a value of its own. Having experienced and capable soldiers can be worth just as much as numbers. Better troops will lead to less losses, but that doesn’t affect the importance of the mission itself, ‘minimal casualties for maximum effect’ is a good philosophy to follow. I don’t care if I lose a few soldiers, but I would rather maximise their potential effect than simply throw them at the problem until I get results.”

“Interesting… It would not be wrong to call that the way of a ruthless tyrant, but at the same time you would not abuse your authority the way that a real tyrant would,” he said gladly, “You will go far with that attitude.”

“I doubt people would be happy with that way outside of these degraded slums,” I scoffed back.

“You’d be surprised,” said The Captain confidently, “You’ll go further than you can possibly imagine, I guarantee it.”

I raised an eyebrow, once again he spoke as if knowledgeable of my future. Unable to resist the temptation I spoke, “This is not the first time you’ve spoken as if you can predict the future, my future specifically. What makes you so sure of these things?”

He laughed and said, “We aren’t considered the wisest race for nothing! Us Olgym live almost five times longer than the next longest lived space-faring race! We have plenty of time to learn, I’ve watched humans for hundreds of years and can accurately predict their actions.”

“And yet,” I interrupted him, “they managed to catch you by surprise during the siege.”

“I was not aware of all the variables involved, they drastically changed the situation,” he huffed indignantly.

I smirked and said, “So your prediction isn’t perfect. Let me ask again, how can you be so confident about the future?”

“History helped me figure it out, you have no idea what’s in store for you,” he said sagely, “Enough about that though, let’s discuss the details of our partnership.”

“I’m quite interested in how you seem so confident about the future, let’s continue with tha-” I tried to return to the topic but stopped when I noticed the dangerous look in his eyes. Even with my social experience I could tell that continuing that line of questioning would only work against me. “Yes, let us finalise the details.”

“Seeing as the Territory Policy is obviously void and the Non-Interference Policy is going to change drastically, let’s start with the information policy,” suggested the Captain.

“Before we start, how much of this will need to go through the higher ups?” I asked as I raised my hand and gestured for him to stop.

The Captain leant back as he began speaking, “Anything that involves us bringing in resources from the outside will need to go through the higherups, material or intellectual. Intel can be sent out without approval but not material goods. Alliances and the like can be kept from the higherups under the guise of a ‘potentially short-lived’ agreement. HQ has no interest in something that might not apply a few days later. That being said, if we request a notable amount of resources we’ll have to explain what’s going on and why we need it.”

I nodded in acknowledgement, “Alright, maintain your own armoury, but send a couple of your elites over to fill the gaps… at least until I manage to rope some of the old elites back in or fill the gaps with new ones, my base of power is rather unstable right now.”

He nodded and said, “We can do that, but only a few.”

“That’s fine,” I said with a wave of the hand, “Grace and Chesnokov can act as pseudo elites while I rebuild my squad of elites.”

“I know of Grace, but who is Chesnokov?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Grace Sakura and Chesnokov Foma Grigorievich, they have been hired to mentor me,” I said plainly.

His eyes opened widely in surprise and he said, “I knew you had found teachers with strong reputations… but I never thought you’d have found two of the most infamous characters in the galaxy.”

“Are they really that famous?” I asked with mild surprise.

“Yes,” he replied nervously, “Chesnokov ranks third on the list of most deadly assassins but has never been hunted by governments dues to some of his more upstanding policies. Grace isn’t quite as famous by herself, but her team is renowned as the best mercenary group humankind has to offer, and most of her group’s upper echelons are Psions. Grace is also the most talented Psion in human history, this makes her reputable in Psionic social circles even though humans racially have rather mild psionic talent – reaching Emperor rank at her age set records for humanity.”

“I have two things I want to know,” I said slowly and meaningfully, “Firstly, when you said humans as a race have mild psionic talent, what has good Psionic talent? Secondly, what do you mean by ‘upstanding policies’?”

“I’ll answer the second question first,” said the Captain, “Chesnokov is known to reject killing those who don’t deserve it, more than a couple of times he’s actually killed his employer instead of the target. The governing bodies either fear being killed for their own corruption when trying to contact him while the less corrupt members support his existence. Now, about your first question, yes, there are a few races more psionically inclined. The Stryfun, for example, have high psionic potential. Not to mention the inherently psionic races like the Jal-Di and Revnat, their psionic power is leagues beyond other races and is a thing to be feared, even though they tend to be weak-bodied.”

“I see…” I muttered in contemplation.

“Well then, let’s get back to negotiations,” he said stoically.

I nodded and let him continue.

“Let me set out a few demands of my own,” he said with a mute expression, “First, I’d like recruitment rights… first pick of the lot.”

I glared at him and said, “If you start snatching up all the talent then how can I expect to build my own team of elites?”

He raised all four of his hands in a surrender pose and said, “Alright, alright, I get your point. I won’t take every talented individual we come across, but I still want a certain amount of talented youths to join us – I can compromise.”

I nodded in acceptance and said, “How about this, we divide the number of talented individuals we find proportionately to the number of territories I control. This means that the more my territory expands the wider the selection pool will grow. We will gather all the potential new recruits once every set amount of time – possibly a month – and test them, I will get to pick one person before anyone else with my privileges as the organiser and you will get the second pick. Any other gang leaders that are working under me will get to pick one person of their liking, the rest will be distributed as the situation dictates; being assigned to the same area as their friends and family by default.”

The Captain nodded and said, “That’s more than fair, I’ll accept those conditions.”

I smiled and said, “Good. As for how you deal with the outside… I’ll leave you to your own devices, though I have a single request.”

“What are you asking for?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Identification,” I said plainly, “At some point I plan to go on a little trip outside the slums with Tanya Smith as my guide, it won’t happen for a while, but an ID will be necessary for when it does.”

The Captain sighed and said, “That will require some serious string-pulling, but I know a few people who will be able to sort that out for you. I’ll get it done but expect it to take some time.”

I nodded and said, “That’s fine, it’s not going to happen for a good while… Well then, do you have any other concerns regarding our future partnership?”

He smiled and said, “Not for now, but some issues regarding it might arise in the future. As long as you don’t become a cruel leader I can see our partnership continuing for a good while.”

After he finished talking he stood up and extended a hand as he said, “I look forward to working with you, Miss Cusith.”

“The feeling is mutual,” I said as I stood up and shook his hand.

The Captain smiled as he said, “Now then, allow me to gather a few men for our trip to Viper territory, I’d like to get that out of the way as soon as possible.”

Before leaving the room I nodded and said, “Indeed, let’s check that off the list.”