[b][i]Windsor and his Crew - Present Day[/i][/b]

Windsor was incognito, continuing to work in Aisha's ship as a regular crewman. The duties continued to shift as the Captain grew more confident in her ability to treat the youth as her subordinate, although technically she was still his'. As for the rest of their crew, they still didn't know what to make of it, and she heard whispers of how this was some sort of 'game' for the CEO. So one day, Aisha decided to go to where Windsor was chatting with a Korta member of her crew, and bluntly say, "Will. We need to talk, now. Alone, please. And no, it isn't a date."

She looked at the Korta crewmember as she said that. Either way, she gestured for Windsor to accompany her outside, to where the ship was docked inside the Queen Elizabeth's hangar, and towards a Food Crawler which, though smaller than the ones in the Galactic Bazaar, was still large enough for them to have a meal inside in relative privacy. After paying for the food, Aisha looked at Windsor and said, "As your personal pilot and caretaker, I have to say this: Game's over. You've been 'slumming it' with us long enough without telling us why. And please don't give me that bs about wanting to know how life for us is - It's flipping condescending. So tell me, why don't you go back to your life of wealth and luxury and leave us alone?"

Windsor almost snapped, saying, "It's not all it's cut out to be. Before I inherited the Fleet, there is a designated part of the ship where no one can go in and out, a part of the ship with artificial parks and rivers and streams surrounding a luxurious suite of rooms where the person inside is provided with everything they wanted - Except the right to leave. A golden, gilded cage that you must not leave 'for your own protection. And the worst part is that one [i]did[/i] need to be protected, that there are threats outside who would use the desire of the caged bird to leave, to see the world, as an opportunity to take him away for a fate worse than death."

He breathed in and out, "I love my mother. She did what was needed. But I hate what she did, which was keep me locked up in that gilded cage, with only a few servants and my books for company, with very rare public appearances to reassure people that I am alive and fit for inheriting the Trading Fleet - But not too fit, because if I even show one moment of [i]genius[/i], I'd be taken away. Now tell me, is it even fair? To have the Ascendancy force this choice on my mother and me?"

Two bowls of soup were served by a Tayanen server, and Windsor began eating a few spoonfuls from his bowl out of courtesy. Then he looked at Aisha and said, "I hate the Ascendancy. I hate injustice. Just because you're rich doesn't mean you cannot be a victim - I learned that full well."

After a few seconds to let his words sink in, Windsor got up and said, "I'm resigning from your crew, by the way. If you don't want me, then you don't want me - I'm not going to demote you from the position of personal pilot, though. I promoted you to that fair and square. Goodbye, Pilot Ibrahim."

And with that, he walked to the door of the Food Crawler, waiting for the vehicle to stop. And once it did so, he walked out, calling his security personnel to send a small groundcar to pick him up. If they wanted him back in his cage, if he was really maladapted for life outside it... Well, flip them for refusing to let him learn.