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planets, since there was rarely enough gravity to hold it in the atmosphere. Earth's supply had been depleted centuries ago. It was abundant in stars and nebulas, but nobody had perfected a method for mining it

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    from those sources. Planets like Rosen, with a vast underground source of the gas, were rare and valuable, for as long as their supply lasted.
    "Helium," he confirmed. "For all intents and purposes, it's been our only export for the last hundred and fifty years. We mined it. We traded it. We had the option of shipping it ourselves and charging a higher fee, or selling it for less to men who would ship it for us and then turn a profit for themselves in resale. We controlled the labor and the resource, and therefore we could contract for it to the extent the market allowed."
    "A monopoly," I said.
    He laughed bitterly. "Hardly. Rosen isn't the only planet to have it, you know." That was true, of course.
    Rosen was known for having an abundance of it, but so were half a dozen other planets. "It wasn't a monopoly. But it was a free market. Or something close to it. The thing is, we survived. Sure, some people had more and some had less, but overall, our economy was strong. It was healthy." I heard him pouring more wine. "Then your Empire came along. They annexed us and declared the mines were now their property, not ours. They're gracious enough to allow us to keep working them." His voice was heavy with sarcasm. "They pay us a pittance. Of course, they've done the same to most of the planets with any worthwhile

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    amount of the gas. Now they have that monopoly you were talking about. They take as much of the helium as they want and sell the rest—at a far higher profit than we ever did, I might add."
    His words may all have been true, but I wasn't sure it changed anything. "So that gives you the right to steal Cerubian wine from others?"
    "I don't know. Does it?"
    "No."
    "We try not to target small, independent shippers.
    We try to concentrate on Regency supply lines."
    "And what about the rest of your crimes?" I asked.
    "Murder? Kidnapping? Rape?"
    "We're not murderers, or rapists," he said, and for the first time, I detected real anger in his voice. "Some pirates, maybe. But our crew has never killed anyone, and our captives are never mistreated."
    "And kidnapping?" I asked. "You can't tell me you never practice that."
    "Obviously we do," he said. "Ransom tends to yield a very high profit."
    "Higher even than stealing?"
    "We actually do some legitimate shipping, you
    know."
    "And some illegitimate shipping, as well."

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    "You assume we board everybody and take
    everything by force—"
    "Don't you?"
    He sighed. "Some of it? Yes. We also have some female crew members who are rather adept at convincing unwary captains into divulging their lock codes."
    "It's still thievery."
    "Yes. And no. You might be surprised how many
    people are in on it, Captain Kelley. There are a lot of men conscripted by the Empire and her Regencies to ship goods through the blind space, and most are paid barely enough to cover their fuel costs. Those men will gladly open their airlocks to us. We pay to take the goods off of their hands, and they run home to the quadrants and cry 'pirates!' to their employers. Half the time, the people they took it from are in for a cut, too. Meanwhile, we make a tiny profit by selling the goods—not to your greedy empire, but to others who need them."
    "Such philanthropists," I said dryly. "You make it sound like such a good deed. Why don't you give it all away, if your heart is so pure?"
    He swore. It was a word in a language I didn't
    know, but it was clearly an obscenity. I heard the beep of the comm. "Pierce," he said, "Captain Kelley is ready to go back to his men."

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    He grabbed my arm roughly and pulled me to my
    feet, turning me toward the door.
    "I don't agree with your