No-one is forcing you to do anything, I am just talking about it as a possible consequence of the Alpha situation. A centuries-old hatred of slavery and constant war with the Outcasts are fairly good reasons to take action for that deal. It's all hypothetical and has since blown over.
Even if some of your smugglers become targets, you can always jumptrade a bit more...
Actual alloys are also useful for making ships with, which Liberty/Bretonia supply us with fairly well. Sabah actually sells Scrap Metal for very cheap, although we do like Premium Scrap.