hammond had just been saying , `` we can not refuse this direct imperial command-at least , captain laurence can not , not and maintain any thin fiction of familial connection : and having lost that tenuous connection , they will assuredly not merely refuse our requests for alliance , but order us out of the capital forthwith , and revoke all those particular and unusual trading privileges which have so benefitted our nation , in the last five years- '' temeraire , for his part , had no objection to taking laurence away from here , where assassins lurked around every corner and he was not even to be permitted to deal with lord bayan as that treacherous coward deseved .