Grandmaster Otto

Otto was the Confederacy's chess grandmaster for eleven years before the military decided it needed tactical minds more than it needed grandmasters. He was given the Gambit and told to apply the skill. He did.

The ship is built around synchronized volleys, timed like moves. He announces each one in formal notation. Rook to king-four, he will say, and four mortar batteries fire together. The openings are textbook. The middle is not. The end is brutal. His tournament timer is mounted on the bridge console. He still uses it. Opponents who think the announcements are theater learn the schedule the hard way, which is by being on it.