I didn't say they were on his payroll. I said he was in a position to get them to believe him if he told them the captain had issued orders through him. That's a somewhat odd thing to occur, and normally people would question it. However, Vespin knows which officers won't question something odd happening, because the ratling is involved.

You're right, he can't get them to ignore a mutiny. He can, however, convince them everything is fine, when the captain suddenly has him issuing orders to the crew when that normally wouldn't happen.