Chapter 30

"Two million credits? They're making you pay them two million credits just to be forgiven for trying to win a war with the information you had available?"

"No. I had enough possessions and ships at the time to bring it down to a little over a million. They automatically take everything you have up to half the initial debt value. Thankfully, I inherited this ship later, once my brother's will had gone through, or they'd have taken this too."

I sat back, too stunned for words. In some ways it made sense. It was an effective way to stop a lot of people committing a crime, but it also must have stung. He'd been trying to save his brother, and it had gone wrong. He wasn't entirely to blame, that was clear.

"I'm sorry," I said. "But thank you for telling me."

"So you understand why I need to sell you fina