Woodenly, Jarl nodded.
The Malya's eyes grew black as the void. "Then know another thing. Jarl Corvett! Know that we've plotted your course as you ranged off from Vesta."
Chill tendrils brushed Jarl's spine. But he held his face blank, without emotion. "And so—?"
"So you, too, have a choice to make, raider—the choice between coming back, or trying to cross the void in a short-flight carrier."
Jarl shrugged and forced the thin vestige of a smile. "A good threat, Malya. It might break me—if I believed it."
"But you do not?"
"No projector has the range to reach my ship from Vesta."
"More power lies in cosmic dust than you can dream of, raider." Atak's eyes were bleak, his dark face set in a mask of menace. "You've made your choice, Corvett! Now set your cross for your own ship—and live with the decision!"
The viziscreen went blank.