He corrected her in front of junior personnel over things he knew she’d already done correctly. When she finished an endurance march ahead of schedule, he called it favorable weather.

When she scored high in combat drills, he called the numbers incomplete. When her review notes turned up discrepancies in equipment logs, he told her not to “overreach her little contractor badge.”

The men laughed then, too.

Not all of them. That was important. Some looked away. Some looked at the floor. Some stared into their coffee like silence was less shameful if you aimed it at something ordinary.

But nobody stopped him. And nobody asked why an admiral cared so much about making a temporary analyst feel small.

Aria understood why. Mercer didn’t fear loud people. He feared careful ones.