Chapter 28 - THE COMMAND SHE ALMOST LOSTThe Navy offered Mara promotion.
She refused.
Then they offered again.
She refused again.
Admiral Torres finally asked:
“What do you want?”
Mara placed a proposal on his desk.
Independent logistics oversight.
Rotating authority.
Protected whistleblowers.
No officer able to control inventory, surveillance and transportation simultaneously.
Torres read it.
“This changes the entire system.”
“That is the point.”
“You want command?”
“I want the next Garrett stopped before he becomes a Garrett.”
Torres closed the folder.
“If I approve this, you take the command.”
Mara hesitated.
For years, command had meant survival.
Then investigation.
Then war.
She thought about Chief Alvarez.
About Reyes.
About the sailors who had lowered their weapons rather than follow Keene.
About Nathan rebuilding his life.
“Yes.”
She accepted.
Not because victory had restored what Black Tide took.
It had not.
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But broken institutions did not repair themselves.
Someone had to stay.
