[It's a very good question, and one that throws Ari off-balance somewhat, because she knows she doesn't have a good answer. It's supposed to regulate itself. Nobody should advance to become a Tradeline captain who doesn't have the right temperament for it, and if they change after attaining that position, they should fail because nobody would agree to be part of their crew. It works, to some degree, but every Tradeliner's heard stories about the odd bad captain, or groups of spacers who arrive downstation and throw their weight around too much, harass the locals, ruin whatever good reputation the organisation might have had.

Ari's view on this is that she can't do anything about it. If she has her own ship someday, she can run it how she likes, but no Tradeliner from another ship is going to listen to her now. None of that, however, is an answer to give an outsider.]

We have a code to abide by. We're never the ones to initiate aggression, and we're bound to respond when one of our insured colonies needs our help. Breaking code has serious consequences. [It does. heavy fines, expulsion from the Tradelines, even death if the crime was bad enough. Bending code beyond all recognition, however, some people occasionally seemed to get away with.] The Tradelines are decentralised, so you're never going to get one person building up too much power.