Chapter 83: Blood on the Stars
Derek let out a long stream of breath as he settled into his chair aboard Intractable’s flag bridge, the battlecruiser’s actual bridge still unavailable. No more than three days after he’d decided that grand command wasn’t for him, he found himself in command of a thousand people.
Properly in command, even if it would run out in less than twenty-four hours, not just keeping the seat warm so [Flash Forward] would be available for use. Oh, Rear Admiral Naiser was once again on board, and he’d be the one giving orders, but this had been Derek’s idea. And even without operational command, the consequences of what followed would be on him.
The door slid open, admitting Isaac along with the noise of steel-shod feet clomping across the deck plates.
After all, the one thousand individuals that Intractable had to have aboard in order to be able to effectively act as bait had been filled out with marines. Because, at the end of the day, they were more likely to be able to survive the ship getting pureed by spatial warping than magic-focused navy personnel.
Of course, that further weakened the already damaged ship’s capabilities, and the obvious lack of faith made part of Derek want to be offended, but it wasn’t like he could fault Miyazaki for being careful. Stuffing a ship full of people and dangling it as bait without added precautions would be the height of foolishness.
As such, he’d taken the ridiculous indignation out behind the woodshed and shot it. Again. The damn thing had more lives than a cat.
And, speaking of cats … the big orange kitty that was Intractable’s official “rodent exterminator” and “morale officer” had apparently decided the flag bridge was now its home and had been permanently banned from that entire section of the ship.
Apparently, from the complaints the damn thing made, one would think it were being fed into a woodchipper.
Weird, all the places the mind goes when you’re waiting for shit to hit the fan …