It was a risk that Julian hadn't been willing to take then. He only takes it now because he knows she'll find out sooner or later, now that it's become the scuttlebutt of the station. His father being marched off under arrest wasn't the most discreet moment.

He doesn't look at her while she reads. He doesn't look until her hand curls on his and then he looks up sharply, face stoic but eyes expressive as ever. Fear. He's scared of what he'll see.

"They're... letting me keep my commission. Because no one else wants to be stationed out here, really, but they've conceded I'm probably not a new Khan if I've gone this long without murderous rampages and delusions of Godhood."