The view zoomed out until other stars swam into view, and new ships appeared, all on inbound approach vectors. Unfamiliar symbols appeared beside each of them, doubtlessly counting down distance or time until arrival in whatever notation this bear’s race used to indicate numbers. I rubbed my upper arms, trying to warm up. My breath came in cloudy wisps.

“What did you expect?” I jerked my head at the rocky walls surrounding us. “This is a disputed system. At least half a dozen races claim it as part of their territory. And now a couple of ships have been destroyed? That’s going to attract attention.”

The bear reared up. The fur on its belly looked soft, but the muscles beneath its skin were as hard as iron.

We cannot tolerate violence.

“I don’t see how you can stop it.” I moved my weight from one hip to the other. “You’ve been in my head. You’ve seen what we’re like. You dangle a bauble like this system in front of us and we’re going to fight over it.”

No. The creature drew in on itself, muscles coiling like curls of steel hawser. We cannot have fighting here. Violence attracts the enemy.

I gave a snort, as if disagreeing over strategy with one of my captains. Without realising it, my stance had dropped to parade rest: feet thirty centimetres apart, hands clasped behind my back.

“It’s a bit late for that,” I said firmly. I indicated the approaching vessels. “As soon as that lot arrive, you’re going to have a full-scale shooting war on your hands.”

The great shaggy head wagged from side to side.

Unacceptable.

I smiled, and pointed to the Righteous Fury. “Then why don’t you let me talk to them?”

Sixty-Two: Sal Konstanz

SIXTY-TWO

SAL KONSTANZ

I swore under my breath. Admiral Menderes was a pigheaded shit of a man, but he had us over a barrel and we were at his mercy. There was no way we could go up against a Scimitar. If he decided to attack us, he’d be in breach of the law, but that was assuming anyone ever found out. Besides, there wouldn’t be a thing we could do to stop him. Given the state the Trouble Dog was in, a single torpedo would be enough to finish us.

The man’s face loomed out of the screen like a cliff face carved from boiled ham. “I am waiting, Captain.”

I shook my head. “I told you, I don’t know who this Ona Sudak person is.”

“She was a passenger on the Geest van Amsterdam, the ship you came here to assist.”

“And thanks to your Carnivores, I haven’t been able to get near it.”

For a second, the admiral’s bluster seemed to falter. “They were unaware she was aboard.”

“When they shot it down?”

“Yes.”