“I’ve stated only facts, not ‘wild allegations,’ Mr. Hauptman,” she said unflinchingly. “If you prefer not to hear them, then I suggest you leave.”

“Leave? Leave?!” Hauptman was fully on his feet now, bracing his weight on the table as his voice filled the briefing room like thunder. “I came here to give you a chance to correct your gross mishandling of the situation! If you prefer, I can take it up with the Admiralty—or the government—instead of dealing with a jumped-up, over-inflated commander who insults me to my face by accusing me of illegal activities!”

“That is, of course, your option.” Honor felt McKeon’s coiled-spring tension beside her, but her own anxiety was fading, licked away by the steadily rising lava of her own anger. “In the meantime, however, you are a guest in my ship, Mr. Hauptman, and you will keep a civil tongue in your head or I will have you ejected from it!”

Hauptman’s mouth dropped open in shock at her icy tone, and she leaned into his silence.

“I have not accused you, personally, of any illegalities. I have stated, and the record amply demonstrates, that individuals within your firm are engaged in illegal activities. Your threats to resort to higher authority do not alter that fact, nor will they alter my discharge of my responsibilities in light of it.”

Hauptman sank back into his chair, jaw muscles bunched. Hushed silence hovered in the briefing room, and then he smiled. It wasn’t a pleasant expression.

“Very well, Commander. Since you choose to see the possibility of my seeking redress through the Admiralty as a ‘threat,’ and since you seem unwilling to see the justice of extending even-handed treatment to my interests here, perhaps I can put this in terms you can understand. I am telling you, now, that you will cease harassing my ships and my shipments or that I will hold you personally—not the Navy, not the Government, you—responsible for the damage you are inflicting upon my business and personal good name.”

“Whom you choose to hold responsible and for what is your affair, not mine.” Honor’s voice was cold.

“You can’t hide behind your uniform from me, Commander,” Hauptman said unpleasantly. “I am asking only for the courtesy and respect due any law-abiding private citizen. If you choose to use your position as an officer of the Crown to pursue some sort of personal vendetta against me, I will have no option but to use my resources to respond in kind.”

“As I’ve already stated, I have not and do not intend to level any accusation against you personally until and unless clear and incontrovertible evidence that you knowingly permitted your employees to engage in illegal activities is presented. In the meantime, however, threats against me as an individual will have no more effect than threats to pressure me through my superiors.” Honor’s mind was cold and clear with the ice-hot flicker of her own anger, and her eyes were dark brown steel. “If you wish your shipments to pass with minimal delays for inspection, all you must do is see to it they contain no contraband. That,” she added with cool deliberateness, “should not be an insurmountable task for a law-abiding private citizen of your means and authority, Sir.”