Masterson is not your typical, thick eye glass wearing librarian. He looks healthy and robust, knoledgeable, yet sharp and practical. He's the type of man that can hold a vision while keeping his eyes on the next step.

By saying “I thought that gun was dangerous in your hands” he reveals he has a concern for what's going on. He looks beyond Oxford.

His knowing Monte is no accident.

The 10,000 credits he pays Burrows on many occasions probably aren't university funds, but money from his own pocket. They add up to quite a sum, considering that 10k may be small change to a privateer, but probably a lot of money to a ship-less civilian.

The dismantling of the Oxford library also seems to be his own descision.

The most curious event is when he lets Burrows know that he knows what he's looking for. Makes Burrows quite nervous, forcing Masterson to reassure him: “You need not be threatened…”.

Nor did he need to reveal the fact to Burrows. Why did he?

Seems to me he wants to gain Burrows' confidence before he goes, and finds no better way of doing it than by saying “Here, I know stuff about you already, so you already trust me, if you're not killing me, –and I hope you aren't.”

Risky move. Burrows' trust must mean a lot to him. But why?

By the way, when you read the library entry for Dr. Monkhouse, it says there that he studied at two universities: one in Sol, and Oxford. That means, they know each other. Masterson probably knows that Monkhouse was kidnapped by Rondell, rather than being financially supported by them. He knows that Monkhouse has a piece of a map. He also knows that you have a piece of a map. But he knows also that what you're doing for your own benefit will result in his benefit and Monkhouse's. He sees Burrows as a long term investment; and that's good for us. It means that Masterson is a primary character to keep in Privateer sequels.

Steltekers' leader. The steltekers have many members among confed ranks, but their numbers are much smaller than the numbers of Retro and Mandarin infiltrators, and it's only with your help that they can eventually succeed. All of their work, which is just about all of the plot, happens in secret; which avoids conflicts with canon. So, Blair becomes a member of the steltekers, but few people know about it. And we could also have it that the kats were prepairing for an attack *after* the treaty of torgo, but the steltekers find out about the plan and you bring your personal fleet through secret jump points through Hari territory into the back of Kilrah, and destroy all of their secret ship manufacturing facilities, spoiling their plan. The kats decide to keep the whole fiasco under wraps, and so does Tolwyn, so the world never finds out that all this was going on.