Chapter 77: Interlude Fleet
“So …”
To all those watching, Rear Admiral Jayden Naiser appeared to be dragging things out, all but torturing the people who had had the supreme misfortune of having fucked up while the captain of his flagship was stuck on the comms, dealing with family issues. To them, it’d feel like he was savoring this, making them sweat, trying to make this as unpleasant as possible … in reality, he was just trying not to burst out laughing.
Oh, some part of him was furious, demanding he find an actual book to physically throw at these dunderheads, but that part was currently being thoroughly suppressed by the part of his mind that he was desperately trying to wrestle down, bind in chains of discipline and duty, doing his absolute damnedest to maintain the dignity required of a flag officer of the United Earth Navy.
Naiser leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers, and held that pose for a few more seconds, entirely focused on not even letting the corners of his mouth twitch.
Then, he sighed, having decided he was at the limits of the delays he could afford to make.
“I’ve heard a lot of stupid excuses over the course of my career. But you all take the cake. I …”
Naiser barely managed to stop the laugh bubbling up from the depths of his belly, shaking his head instead and hoping, praying, that none of the people who were actually in trouble noticed. He took as deep a breath as he felt he could afford to, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose.
“An orgy aboard a warship is already a serious enough breach of discipline as-is. Holding it in a section of engineering temporarily locked down due to ‘checking vibrational dampening,’ is …”
He cut himself off once again, shaking his head. The sheer goddamn stupidity of the situation was going to give him brain damage, if holding in the laughter didn’t cause an aneurysm first. Even knowing how this was going to end, the utter absurdity just would not let him speak with a straight face without herculean effort.