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And then Aivars Terekhov opened his eyes and jabbed a finger at Nagchaudhuri. The com officer pressed a button and swallowed.
"Live mike, Sir," he said hoarsely, and Terekhov nodded once, hard and choppy.
" Anhur ," he said in a voice colder than the space beyond Hexapuma 's hull, "this is Captain Aivars Terekhov, commanding Her Majesty's Starship Hexapuma . You will cut your wedge now. You will shut down all active sensors. You will stand by to receive my boarders. You will not resist them in any way, before or after they enter your vessel. And you will not purge your computers. If you deviate from these instructions in any detail whatsoever, I will destroy you. Is that clearly understood?"
More than one person on his own bridge swallowed hard as they recognized the icy, total sincerity of his promise. Anhur 's captain couldn't see his expression, but she didn't need to. She'd already seen what he could do.
"Understood! Understood, Captain Terekhov!" she said instantly, gabbling the words so quickly in her terror that they were almost incomprehensible. Almost. "We understand!"
"Good," Terekhov said very, very softly.