Would the crew who 'bailed out' of the Liberator before Our Heroes reached it have been Altas or what? The DSV/Liberator seems to be too far away from the System for there not to be autonomous crew members for handling unexpected events.

(Also could Cygnus Alpha be outside the Federation's formal area of control - the prisoners being used as 'settlement fodder') - which is why Servalan et al do not refer to 'pesky alien battles' within Federation territory)

Jacqui