“I only mentioned it because, if the Thuranin somehow ever do learn that you hijacked their ship, you having killed their crew won’t make the Thuranin any more angry; they would expect you to do that in war. They’d also expect their crew to die in combat.”

“So, no downside, you’re saying?” I wondered if he picked up on the bitter sarcasm in my voice.

“Nope. It’s not a win-win, but it is a win-don’t lose any worse.”

“No downside except for my soul.”

“Can’t help you there, Colonel Joe. Although I don’t remember anything in scriptures about aliens.”

I couldn’t tell whether he was being sincere, or a jackass. It still didn’t feel right, killing sentient beings. Killing them while they are asleep.

“I sense hesitation?” Skippy asked. “Perhaps I can help. Earlier this year, this star carrier was transporting Kristang ships full of refugees from a planet the Kristang has lost to the Ruhar. Halfway to their destination, Thuranin discovered that particular Kristang clan had defaulted on a payment. This ship stopped, and when the Kristang were unable come up with payment for transit fees to cover all eighteen of their ships, the Thuranin ejected three of the ships, then jumped away. Those three ships were packed with refugees, Kristang refugees, but they were still refugees, mostly civilian castes, fleeing from war. Including females and children. So many refugees were packed aboard these ships that their life support systems were failing. The Thuranin ejected those three ships more than a lightyear from the nearest star system, a star system without habitable planets. By the time the Kristang scraped up enough money to pay the Thuranin to retrieve those three ships, ninety percent of the Kristang aboard were dead. And, by the way, while the Kristang were trying to arrange payment, four Thuranin star carriers passed through the area, and any one of them could have picked up those three ships with hardly any effort.”

“This ship? This star carrier, that we’re aboard?” Simms asked.

“This ship, this crew.” Skippy confirmed.

“Oh, then fuck them.” I breathed, relieved. It was a cheap way out of my moral dilemma, but I was grasping for it. “They can walk the plank.” I was starting to think like a pirate.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN    FLYING DUTCHMAN

When I got back to the bridge, Chang stood up, and I sat in the command chair. It would have been more useful as a command station if I understood what any of the buttons did, later I needed to have Skippy show me the basics. There were a lot of people squeezed onto the bridge, it was crowded.

Jump engines are fully recharged," Chang said, pointing to a green bar across the bottom of the main display screen.