“I’m grateful for your patience with the delay.”

“You dealt with a direct threat to your command before you’d even taken it,” he said.

“That’s exactly why you’re standing here.”

Captain David Miller marched across the deck.

He moved with stiff precision, his polished shoes striking the pavement in perfect rhythm.

He halted three paces from the stand and snapped a crisp salute.

“Sir, the formation is ready,” Miller said.

“Post,” the commander ordered.