Status Updates From Hearthspace

I'm stopping here. I was enjoying the story well enough, but the cruel slavery aspect is putting me off. It's along the same lines as I don't need to read books set inside the mind of a serial killer - there's not enough hours in a day to read everything, so I'm not going to continue with a book that I'm not into.

What right had mere humans, evolved fifteen hundred light years away, to meddle so much with this remote, exotic chunk of the universe?

‘To the pit. This is a rebellion. An uprising of the slaves. Where else? So, you ready? What are you waiting for, a round of applause? Come on …’

‘Why must we be left stranded on dreary copies of the home world, the original Earth? Oh, we evolved there, it represents a point of plausibility in that regard. But what other worlds might support us, worlds out there in parameter space that might do the job of an Earth, but better?’

And Mott had concluded, as she always did, with a question. ‘So what wonders are you going to be witnessing today … ?’

Environs. A strange word. We need a better name. Hearth. Hearthspace …

‘So, Captain, if we are to take this portion of Hearthspace, we must follow its economic logic. We must take worlds like this, too, despite its lack of … glamour. We must understand the significance of all our enemy’s worlds. Their supply chains will become the supply chains of our own forces.’

And if so, it was her duty to take in as much as she could learn …
Scholars in battleships …

‘A senior officer, judging by the ornate uniform. Useful.’ Gruff male voice. He glanced around. ‘But what kind of bridge is this? Where are the naked slaves, the couches?’