Bradley scrambled to his feet, his face burning a deep, furious red.
“Commander!” Bradley protested, pointing at me with a trembling hand.
“She broke protocol! She wasn’t supposed to counter!”
Commander Price looked at him, then looked around the room at the forty-seven stunned trainees.
“She didn’t break protocol, Cadet,” Price said coldly.
“She gave you three safety signals.”
“You ignored them.”
“In the fleet, ignoring a safety signal gets people killed.”
Price reached into his tactical folder and pulled out a fresh sheet of paper.
“Furthermore,” Price continued, his voice echoing across the training facility.
“Lieutenant Commander Hayes isn’t a temporary support transfer.”
The room collective gasped.
Wyatt swallowed hard, taking a step back into the crowd.
“She is the Senior Evaluation Officer sent from Naval Special Warfare Command to determine which of you are fit for advanced deployment.”
Bradley’s eyes darted to me in absolute terror as the realization hit him like a freight train.
The “weak transfer” he had tried to humiliate was the officer holding his entire military career in her hands.
“Your evaluation is complete, Jenkins,” I said softly, stepping forward.
“Dominance-seeking, failure to follow direct safety orders, and inability to assess a target.”
“Unfit for advanced rotation.”
I turned to Commander Price and handed him my encrypted pad.
“Process his transfer back to surface fleet administration.”
Bradley stood frozen as two instructors escorted him off the mat.
The forty-seven remaining trainees immediately snapped to attention, their posture rigid, their eyes wide with newfound, profound respect.
Wyatt looked like he wanted to disappear through the floor.
I picked up my duffel bag and looked across the room.
“Training resumes in five minutes,” I announced calmly.
“And this time, we practice restraint.”