Chapter 79 - The Stripping of Honor
Captain Reynolds stepped forward onto the bridge wing. Behind him were six fully armed Master-at-Arms, their faces grim, their posture resolute.
"Admiral Richard Vance," Reynolds said in a clear, formal voice that carried across the deck. "By authority of the Chief of Naval Operations and under the direct provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, you are relieved of your command."
Vance spun around, wild-eyed, the pistol swinging toward his own subordinates. "Reynolds, step back! I will have you court-martialed for mutiny! You do not have the authority—"
"The Secretary of the Navy just issued the warrant, sir," Reynolds interrupted, his voice dropping into cold contempt. "Your stars are stripped. Your commission is revoked. Hand over the weapon."
Vance looked at his officers. He looked at the sailors lining the catwalks, their eyes filled with utter disdain. He looked back down at me, standing tall on the scorched steel of the *Leviathan*, the living proof of his total and absolute ruin.
For a brief, terrifying second, the barrel of the pistol drifted toward his own temple. The easiest way out for a coward who could not face the cell he had prepared for others. But the Master-at-Arms did not give him the luxury of a martyr's exit. In a blur of movement, two security officers tackled Vance to the non-skid deck, pinning his arms behind his back and wrenching the weapon from his grasp.
The four silver stars pinned to his collar snapped off in the struggle, falling to the deck and rolling across the steel plates until they dropped through the drainage scupper, plunging into the black Atlantic ocean below.
As they dragged the disgraced admiral to his feet, cuffed in heavy steel restraints, Captain Reynolds walked to the railing, looked down at me, and raised his hand in a sharp, crisp, respectful salute.
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"Captain Holloway," Reynolds called out over the water. "We are preparing boarding lines and medical teams. Request permission to render assistance to the *Leviathan*."
I returned the salute, my chest rising with a breath that finally tasted like freedom. "Permission granted, Captain. We're coming home."
