The mess hall was silent, save for the groans of the men on the floor. Captain Miller, the base commander, pushed through the crowd. He was a grizzled veteran with a face like granite. He looked at the bodies, then at Victoria. “Report!” he barked.
Victoria gave a crisp salute. “Lieutenant Bennett reporting, sir. A group of recruits initiated an unprovoked attack on a superior officer.” Miller’s eyebrows shot up. “Bennett? From DEVGRU?”
“Yes, sir. Here on orders from Naval Command to inspect the training program.” The Captain’s face turned a dangerous shade of red as he looked at the recruits on the floor. He realized the embarrassment this would bring to his base. “Let me get this straight,” he said in a low, terrifying voice. “You idiots tried to jump an elite Tier One operator?”
“No, sir,” Victoria clarified. “They were harassing those recruits first.” She pointed to Miller and his friends. “I intervened to stop a hazing incident, and they turned their aggression on me.” Rock and Tank were struggling to sit up. Spider was still clutching his nose. Diesel was just starting to wake up.
“Get in line, you pathetic excuses for sailors!” Miller roared. The ones who could stand scrambled to their feet. The Captain walked up to Diesel and gave him a sharp nudge with his boot. “Wake up! Your career just ended!”
“Do you have any idea,” Miller hissed, “what you’ve done?” Tank tried one last time. “Sir, we didn’t know… we thought she was just staff…”
“Open your eyes!” Miller exploded. “She’s wearing Lieutenant’s bars! Or did the protein shakes rot your brain?” Tank looked at Victoria’s shoulders and turned white.
“But she started it…” Spider wheezed. “Shut it!” Miller snapped. “You committed a group assault on a superior officer. That’s a court-martial.” He turned to the rest of the room. “Listen up! These five just signed their own discharge papers. Lieutenant Bennett has been through more combat than all of you combined. She could have killed them in ten different ways, but she showed mercy.”
“You’re headed for the brig,” Miller promised the five. Miller, the recruit with glasses, spoke up. “Permission to speak, sir?” “Go ahead.” “They’ve been doing this for weeks, sir. Extorting money, beating people up. The Lieutenant is the first one who stood up to them.” Miller sighed. “I figured as much. That’s why she was sent here.”
