Rimmer: This venom — are we safe in here?
Lister: It penetrated the hull of a class D space corps seeding ship. In comparison, we’re a sardine tin.
Rimmer: It’s coming straight for us.
Lister: There’s only three alternatives: it thinks we’re either a threat, food or a mate… It’s either gonna kill us, eat us or hump us. Either we persuade him we’re not that kinda oceanic salvage vessel, or we scarper pronto.
Cat: To get diddled by a giant squid on a first date? Think how I’d feel in the morning!

You’d feel amazing, Cat. And I’d even make you breakfast.

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I actually answered a trivia question just last week about flotsam and jetsam. Hearing my answer, my wife laughed. “The bad fish from the little mermaid?”

So you’re not alone.

It wasn’t ejected, if left under its own power while under nominal command of the mcrn. The ship was not declared a loss until they… Lossed it.

The fact the mcrn commander died would mean it remained mcrn, but he made authorized the crew, so when he died it became theirs, up to his authority as a commanding officer of the mcrn.

However, he was not a flag officer, so while he could give them the watch, he could not give them permanent command (not his to give), and when a Martian officer showed up, he was authorized to relieve them and take the ship back. Gunny could have asked, but that was fuzzy since that’s technically enlisted and not normally authorized to relieve an officer (not that holden was).

If they resisted (which they did in the ring, even though it was in legal dispute at the time), that was an act of piracy.

So they’re space pirates.

I would have whipped the Scopuli.