"What's this business about pirates?" Donovan's attention was immediately drawn to the concept of piracy, a combination of his little remaining immaturity and the problems that surfaced in the presence of maritime raiders.

"It's nothing serious, really, just an ongoing intelligence gathering operation. A group of our nationals, the Jakobi brothers, found themselves in charge of a pirate crew shortly after graduation from the Sanctum, somehow. We decided to have them patrol an area of concern under the guise of pirates, but they have proven themselves to be rather peculiar." Montaug was clearly aware of their personalities, and it looked like he was refraining from saying some choice words.

"Peculiar, how?" Diana was not at all interested in having somebody's dirty laundry dropped into their hands.

"One is a hopelessly fickle romantic, another is a proper idiot, and the last has an incurable desire for fights he can't win." The eye patched man scoffed at the mention of them, his arms firmly crossed. He very clearly did not approve of their actions.

"I am of the mind that it is those very traits that make them the ideal people for the pirate position, though I will fully admit that it makes them incredibly hard to work with." Treber gave his opinion on the matter.

The Montaug could only nod in agreement. "We won't ask you to put up with their antics indefinitely, but you could probably use the hauls from their raids to finance yourselves. All we ask is that you provide a place where we can discreetly repair and replenish their ships."

"Diana?" Donovan had no idea what to make of this situation, for every benefit there was a detriment and he couldn't weigh them confidently.

"Can we consider it?"

"You have at least a year before we start doing anything, take your time. However, I will mention that they are very competent commanders in spite of their flaws."

Montaug was really trying to sell their abilities wasn't he? He probably knew he was fighting an uphill battle in his attempt to dump one of the Theocracy's problems on them. Montaug was definitely aware that their visible displeasure with the Jakobis was unlikely to make Donovan and Diana very enthusiastic about the prospect of taking them in.

Diana took note of how uncharacteristic of Montaug this was, someone she thought to always be in control, and chalked it up to some requirement to mention them.

Donovan, on the other hand, was very intrigued with the prospect. He couldn't endorse piracy on principle, but he was aware that his principles meant jack shit in this new world. Piracy could be a vital tool in their future arsenal should things go south, reserving the ability to steal what they need until they get to a point where it becomes unnecessary. People with experience as pirates could have skills that transferred well to other fields, like espionage and wartime commerce raiding. The knowledge of profitable and well-traveled lanes of trade could give them an economic edge too!

Ideas manifested themselves rapidly inside of his head, one of which caused his expression to change quite drastically.

"An officer corps?"

How had he completely forgotten about it? Up to this point, most of his concerns with the formation of a military force were rudimentary in nature. The acquisition of men and materiel was the priority, so most of his concentration was focused on that, and the rest was focused around the development of strategies in a new paradigm of warfare.

He had completely disregarded what might be the most important part of a modern military, the officers. He had been laboring under the assumption that he would find his officers in the same place he found his rank and file, but that wouldn't be the case. He would have to train his officers, probably from scratch.

"I apologize, but I didn't quite catch that. Could you repeat what you said?"

Donovan had muttered it subconsciously, and didn't imbue his voice with Split.

"Ah, uh, I was just thinking about how we would eventually need to form some sort of organization for the cultivation and organization of commanding officers. At the moment, there's only me, so..."

The man with the eyepatch nodded slowly, clearly sympathizing with his plight. At the moment, he was the only person with any kind of experience with the military technology he would be providing to his military. Training an army to use weaponry properly would be time consuming enough, but if he had to instruct people on how to properly lead forces under the relevant doctrine he might never get anything done.

- - - - -

As the negotiations continued, switching from topics such as resources, expansion strategies, and cultural norms, Titanyana remained dead silent. A cocktail of emotions was brewing in her heart, none of them particularly fuzzy.

She did not understand anything that was being discussed, even on the more military oriented topics. It was making her question her capabilities.

Despite her smaller stature and less refined mannerisms, she was the heir to the Nekh throne. This information sounded like something a ruler should know, how should someone go about securing a trade deal? What about the organization of armed forces? She could fight on the frontlines and command soldiers to some degree, but she had no idea how to keep them fed or armed for a long period of time. Did she even understand her people's laws? What about the neighboring kingdoms?

Embarrassment, shame, envy, all manner of insecurities were being created as further facets of her insufficiency were revealed to her. Insecurities she would not permit herself to display.

She kept a straight face and rigid posture as she listened along, trying to follow while acting as if she had the slightest clue of what was going on. She was hoping that maybe, just maybe, she could wiggle her way into the good graces of either Montaug or the Arboreal Maiden.

Deep down, Titanyana understood that such an eventuality was pretty much impossible. The Sanctum was neutral, they could not assist her. The Holifanian Theocracy were isolationists, and they had no reason to help her. But Titanyana would try.

Even if she did not know how to be a proper ruler, Titanyana was being relied on to find salvation for her people. She could not falter. She had to do everything in her power.

If Titanyana had to die, she would do so willingly.