“And if they had been aware, would they have spared the ship?” Hundreds of people had died in that wreck. I could feel my anger bubbling just beneath the surface, and made an effort to hold it in check.

Admiral Menderes narrowed his eyes. “That’s hardly your concern.”

“I disagree.”

“How unfortunate for you.” He made a steeple of his sausage-like fingers, the tips touching his double chin. “Now, I will ask a third and final time: have you or your landing party found any trace of the individual known as Ona Sudak?”

I shook my head.

The admiral’s scowl intensified. “Or my son?”

“He’s down on the surface.” I knew that much, at least. “And he was alive the last time we had any contact with his party. Back before the Fenrir bombed our shuttle.” I sat forward in my chair, wanting to scream at this asshole but keeping my voice as tight and professional as possible under the circumstances.

“Now,” I said, “can I please remind you that you are illegally detaining a Reclamation Vessel, and we will be filing a report the moment you stop blocking our hypervoid transmissions?”

“Report what you like, Captain. All I’m interested in is finding my son.”

“Really?” I couldn’t hold back the sarcasm. “Because from what Preston’s told me, you’re hardly a candidate for father of the year.”

He looked at me as if I was something he’d trodden in. “I beg your pardon?”

I’d hit a tender spot and we both knew it. I should have stopped there, but I was too angry. “As soon as he failed to live up to your standards, you dumped him with us,” I said. “You washed your hands of him.”

“Really?” The man sat back, away from the camera. His eyes hardened, and his voice became low and vicious as he said, “And what would you know of it, Captain? When I realised the boy wasn’t suited to life in the Fleet, I enrolled him with the House to toughen him up. I gave him the chance to lead a good life, a useful life. And maybe one day, to captain a ship of his own.” By the time he’d finished speaking, his top lip had peeled so far back I could see the gums above his teeth.

“Now,” he growled, “I don’t care who you are or who you represent. You sit there and stay quiet until I say otherwise.” He took a long breath, reining in his rage and packing it down beneath layers of icy calm. “And if you try to manoeuvre, I’ll blow you out of the sky.”