I was more tactful when I spoke to the crew later that day; explained the situation, listened sympathetically, said that I also had friends on Paradise. What I did not do was pull rank and state that I’m the commander and we’re doing what I think is best. Mostly, I listened, and let people talk. Everyone understood there wasn’t anything practical we could do for the humans on Paradise, and what was really bothering people was guilt. Guilt that we would, hopefully, be going home, to whatever Earthly comforts were still there. Home to friends and family, and cheeseburgers. While UNEF would be left to hope the Ruhar decided to divert enough resources from their war effort to keep them alive. Even if the Ruhar felt like feeding their former enemies, the technologically backward humans, the Kristang could harass Ruhar shipping enough to disrupt supplies getting to Paradise, and the Ruhar might not be able to provide for UNEF.

In the end, I reminded our not-so-merry band of pirates that we would be coming home to an unknown situation, that we didn’t know how many Kristang and ships were on the Earth side of the wormhole, that Earth might no longer be the blue and green haven we remembered, that we might have to fight our way through numerically superior enemy forces. And that, when the Kristang on the Earth end of the wormhole realized they had no way home because we’d shut down the wormhole, they may be tempted to forget The Rules and use banned weapons against the human population. Eyes narrowed and jaws set when people considered that. “Our mission isn’t over when we shut down the wormhole behind us. That's when it begins.”

"Colonel," Private Putri asked. The American Putri, not the Indian one. "What's the plan if there is a substantial force of Kristang ships at Earth?"

"Then we fight. It's no good shutting down the wormhole if the lizards at Earth can destroy our home. We fight, however we can, until the lizards are no longer a threat to Earth. The Dutchman isn't a battleship, but we do have weapons, and superior jumping ability. If the lizards want to fight, we pound the shit out of them. We fight until the lizards are destroyed, or until our last breath. That’s my plan.”

A couple hours later, I was taking my shoes off in my tiny sleeping quarters, when Skippy spoke through the speaker in the ceiling.

“Colonel Joe, we need to talk.”

“Oh,” I groaned, “don’t we talk enough? Can this wait?”

“Emphatically no. We are close to transiting the wormhole to Earth, I need you to understand something before I program the jump drive.”