Underwriter Mehta

A pencil rests behind Mehta’s ear even on the bridge. He prefers to work out a figure by hand, partly because the habit forces him to examine his assumptions and partly because people speak more freely while he seems occupied with arithmetic.

Mehta spent years setting the terms under which Combine ships could be insured. He learned where each class tended to fail, what could be salvaged afterward, and how much a captain’s confidence was likely to cost someone else. Those lessons made him wealthy enough to attract resentment and useful enough to keep his position.

Premium Paid carries his ledger into dangerous territory. Mehta is willing to finance a risky voyage, but he expects the applicant to understand the risk as well as the reward. He has no contempt for a wreck; a wreck is a claim, a source of material, and sometimes the most honest valuation a ship ever receives.