Ted was revolted at the idea, although he had the uneasy feeling that suggestions like that were going to become more and more common as the war raged on.  The aliens had depopulated Vera Cruz and invaded New Russia.  God alone knew what was happening on the surface ... and, by now, they could easily have found other targets.  There was no shortage of tramlines within two or three jumps from New Russia that would take them to more populated worlds.

“No,” he said, firmly.  “As long as we believe the aliens aren't committing mass slaughter, we will refrain from committing it ourselves.”

“The Admiralty might disagree,” Farley pointed out, mulishly.

Ted swallowed the urge to bite the young man’s head off.  Tired as they were, stressed as they were, that was pushing the limits for addressing one’s commanding officer.

“Yes, they might,” he said.  He kept his voice very cold.  “But we have received no specific orders to bombard alien civilian settlements and we will not act without them.”

And such an order would be illegal, he knew.  Killing enemy soldiers was one thing, butchering civilians was quite another.  If he gave such an order, his crew would be quite within their rights to refuse to carry it out.  And if they did carry it out, the Admiralty would charge them as being accomplices to genocide.  The entire crew might go on trial ...

Would it ever be legal?  The thought was terrifying.  Even the most heavily-militarised human society hadn't managed to turn everyone into a warrior.  But what if the aliens had actually succeeded in producing a completely militarised society?  Would there come a time when genocide was the only way to end the war?  He shuddered, remembering the debates and moral quandaries they'd been forced to study at the Academy.  The Bug Scenario, they'd called it, a situation where humanity waged a war with a completely alien race, one bent on exterminating humanity.  Should the bugs be exterminated to save mankind?

Angrily, he changed the subject.  “Do we know where the prisoners came from?”

“Most of them are clearly Latin American in origin,” Fitzwilliam said.  “We assume they came from Vera Cruz, although in that case several hundred more remain unaccounted for.  The remainder ... we don’t know yet.  None of the DNA samples we drew matched with any of our records.”

Ted wasn't surprised.  The Mexican Government hadn't been in the habit of sharing its files with anyone, least of all the major interstellar powers.  They would have to ask the Mexicans once they got back to Earth, maybe sharing the other DNA codes with everyone else and seeing who got a match.  Perhaps the aliens had jumped more than one colony mission before the attack on Vera Cruz.

“See to their care and feeding,” he ordered.  He looked over at Parnell.  “And the alien prisoners?”