The days that followed had only become much colder than when we left the city, and though technically the days were becoming shorter, to everypony on the ship, they felt like they were getting longer. Not a single sailor was receiving the amount of sleep they were used to on normal deployments thanks to extended shifts. Throughout the first week, not even coffee could preclude me from yawning once or twice and finding myself to be nearly passing out on the radar screens.
The second week of deployment was only just beginning, yet still, none of us knew how long it would be until we would turn around and be on our way home. With how exhausted I and everypony else were, there seemed to be absolutely no hope in sight. Even on our short breaks to eat, the mess hall wasn't nearly as loud as it normally was. At breakfast, me and Nightpath sat side-by-side without making a peep, and quite frankly, from the look on his face, Ashfall was stunned to see me and him sitting together.
"Are you two—"
"Yes," Night cut in, still focused on eating. Ashfall's eyes darted between us.
"But don't you two—"
"Yes," I cut him off, also focused on eating but much slower than Night.
"Alright," Ash shrugged and returned to eating his breakfast.
Looking up, and finally realizing my surroundings as my mind started to actually function after waking up, I glanced around. Ash glanced up and caught me peering across the room.
"What is it?" He blinked, staring at me.
"Where's Anchorage?" I asked, then turning my head to face him.
He stared at me for a full moment before replying, "About to finish his shift, why?"
I blinked a few times with confusion. I had been so tired in recent days that I had neglected to notice Anchorage hadn't been joining us to eat breakfast or dinner when it came around, and that the change in shifts moved his around completely. "Oh, er, just wondering."
Ash's brow furrowed, he kept staring at me with worry. "He hasn't since the last time we were out here, dude. Are you alright?"
I stared back, then sighed tiredly, resting my head in my hooves on the table. "No... no, I'm not alright. I don't know anyone on this damn carrier that is right now. I haven't lacked this much sleep since the nights before finals in high school. I think I'm slowly losing my mind."
"Oh, grow up, Star. You must have never been woken up at three in the morning and been thrown onto the floor by your own stepfather, then—" Night grumbled, then stopped himself, eyes moving up to see me and Ash looking at him.
"Then... what?" Ash asked curiously, wanting the brown stallion to continue.
"...It's-it's nothing. Continue," he looked down towards his food and proceeded to eat slower than before.
I eyed him suspiciously, but then I too returned to eating without saying a word. Then, it made me wonder things that I most likely should not have been putting thought into, yet it was too late.
***
"Permission to step on the bridge, Lieutenant," I stopped at the door and stood at attention.
"Permission granted, Private," Lieutenant Ping replied, raising a hoof to salute.
I returned the salute and walked to the coffee machine in the back of the room and poured a nearly full cup of scalding-hot coffee. I didn't care much for how it tasted anymore, if it could keep me awake for a substantial amount of time until the end of my shift, I was all for it. By the time I stepped onto the bridge, the sun was barely up.
Of course, with the crazy weather the ocean always had, the sun was not visible at all, and I was already very much used to the grey sky. Then again, for some very odd reason, grey skies and rainy days had always been a comfort for me. Most colts and fillies had stuffed animals for comfort, as did I, but rainy weather like I've experienced a lot of lately gave me a sense of a good feeling, a feeling I couldn't explain without the help of a psychiatrist.
"Lieutenant Ping, if I might ask, what are the whereabouts of Captain Shadow and Lieutenant Nobis?" asked Sea Watch, the main navigation officer.
"Captain Shadow is checking on a cooling circuit in the reactor chamber. He will be back in twenty, maybe thirty minutes, give or take. Lieutenant Nobis, however, Celestia knows where he's at," Lieutenant Ping answered.
Reactor? The ship had a reactor? Apparently I said that out loud as well.
"Yes, Private, the ship has a reactor. Nuclear reactor, actually. Much of the newer models run on nuclear power. The Eclipse just happened to be lucky enough to be built with one," Ping replied with a wink directed towards me. "Is there anything else I can get you up to speed on about our ship?"
The others in the room chuckled softly, while I lowered my head in chagrin. Why did I have to speak out loud? I felt stupid. Mainly because I was, and didn't know all that much about the carrier itself. "No, ma'am," was all I could reply with. I picked up my coffee cup and took a nice, long, refreshing sip of it. Out of embarrassment, I decided to keep my mouth shut to ensure I wouldn't become a mess hall discussion later on.
That was until I heard the all-too familiar beep of my tracking radar showing signs of life. I nearly spat my coffee everywhere in surprise, but to avoid further embarrassment I gulped it down quickly and gave my full attention to the screen, which showed the ship's location in dead center, and a small, unidentified light blip on the top left of the radar and approaching at a significantly high rate of speed, nearly the same speed of the Griffonian vessel from a few weeks before. It was worrying, and I had to speak up. "Lieutenant?"
The tan mare made her way from the front of the room to my station. "Yes, Private?" she pulled a chair from across the room to sit beside me and did so.
"I'm picking up an unidentified watercraft approaching from the north-northeast at approximately thirty-nine knots on a direct course for the Eclipse," I turned to her. "Should we issue a warning?"
Scanning over the screen and seeing the blip herself, Lieutenant Ping nodded shortly afterwards. "I'll try and make radio contact. If they don't reply or keep coming, we'll get the captain up here and have him put the ship on full alert," she replied, standing up and walking to the radio in the front of the room, the navigation officer eyeing her worriedly while she did. She picked up the communicator and pressed the button on the side to speak into it. "Unidentified vessel, this is the L.R.S Eclipse. Divert your course immediately or hostile action will be taken."
We all stood by without moving a muscle, those in the room including myself either staring at the lieutenant or at the radio. There was no reply, and after a full minute of silence, the lieutenant repeated herself into the radio, but with slightly more hostility in her tone. Another minute passed, and still no response. My eyes moved back to the screen, seeing the vessel had slowed its speed yet hadn't changed its heading. I glanced back up at Lieutenant Ping with concern. "It's still coming, Lieutenant."
"Right, let's get the captain up here. He'll know what to do," Lieutenant Ping said, hanging the communicator up before pressing a button on the radio, changing the frequency to the ship intercom. "Captain needed on the bridge, repeat, captain needed on the bridge."
It was no longer than two minutes later when Shadow stepped hoof into the room, and each of us rose and stood at attention. Lieutenant Ping saluted the muddled captain. "Captain, sir, we are detecting an unidentifiable vessel approaching at a speed of thirty-three knots from the northeast and is about twenty-one nautical miles from our location. I've attempted radio contact but have been unsuccessful."
Just then, another beep from my monitor, and I looked up at them. "Make that two headed our way," I added.
"Sweet Luna, they're back for us," Shadow said, trotting up to the lieutenant. "Alright, everypony, we're going into alert status one. If they keep approaching, or if we make visual contact, we will lock down the ship and engage. Private—" he pointed to me. "—keep watching their every movement. Lieutenant, I need you to help Private Star with the radar monitors. The rest of you, prepare to engage our fighters. It may or may not be necessary, but it doesn't hurt to have air support."
"Aye, sir," the others said, Lieutenant Ping trotting quickly over to my side and sitting down, while Shadow walked up to the radio and spoke over the ship intercom. "All hooves on deck, I repeat, all hooves on deck. We are going into alert status one. Keep alert and don't let your guard down, and if we go into alert status two, I'll need everypony to man their battle stations. This is not a drill," he then turned off the intercom and turned to us. "I'll try and get in radio contact with the rest of the fleet. They're quite a ways away but if it comes to it, we'll need their help."
The dire tone in Shadow's voice was mind-boggling. I knew him to be a tough stallion, yet at the moment and under the current circumstances, he didn't sound the same. It might have been fear of being under attack taking over. Then, he turned to me.
"Star, if we do go into alert status two, I need you to get geared up," he said, walking up to my station.
"But... sir, this is my position. I don't have a battle station," I shook my head while speaking. "I don't even have a helmet!"
"I'm afraid you do now. But all Marines on the ship are here for the ship's main defense. I'll have Lieutenant Ping take over for you," he then sighed. "This is the real deal, Star. We'll get to experience it for the first time together," Shadow eyed me.
From my point of view, and especially the way he stared at me, my suspicions were correct. He was nervous. I couldn't say I wasn't either. All I could do was nod, then take a large gulp of my own saliva. "Yes, sir."
Shadow nodded once, then went back up to the front of the room, picking up a pair of binoculars and holding them up to his eyes, scanning over the ocean around us, mainly in the direction the vessels were supposedly coming from. "No visual yet, they're still in the fog somewhere."
He wasn't kidding. The one day whoever decided to attack us picked the worst day—or the best for them. All of us were tense, and I could only imagine what the others on board were thinking when Shadow made his announcement in all corridors of the carrier. My heart had begun to beat faster and my muscles were noticeably tense. Whoever was coming, was coming fast, and still neither of the blips on radar had changed course. While I watched the screen, Shadow took hold of the radio and threw another warning at both of the vessels.
"Unidentified vessels, this is the L.R.S Eclipse, divert your course immediately! I will not repeat myself, we WILL engage if approached any further!" he almost practically shouted into the radio.
Then, what seemed like a miracle, the closer blip began turning sharply to the right, putting it in a course that would have it pass in front of the ship by a good distance, but yet the second, further beacon did not turn away. "Captain, the closer vessel is turning away," I said, keeping my eyes locked on the screen.
"What about the second one?" Shadow asked, turning to look back at me and the lieutenant while he held binoculars in his hoof.
"Still coming and picking up speed, now moving at about thirty-seven knots and is eleven nautical miles out," Lieutenant Ping answered.
The greenish-grey stallion let out a light sigh of relief. "Dealing with one is better, but I still have my concerns," he turned and looked back into the binoculars, outside at the foggy ocean.
"Sir, if I may take this time to speak," I then paused and glanced around the room briefly. Lieutenant Ping nodded for me to go on. "From what I've seen, you have one hell of a crew. If what you are concerned about happening does, I believe we as a team can handle it."
Lieutenant Ping smiled while Shadow kept his focus through the binoculars. "I concur with the Private. The Eclipse has the utmost well-trained crew of the Lunar fleet. They are trained for these kinds of situations."
"My sailors are, the Marines are not," Shadow lowered his binoculars and looked back at the both of us. "Marines are trained for ground attacks, not for a skirmish on board an aircraft carrier."
"With all due respect, sir," I started. "It's still fighting. It doesn't matter whether we're on land or on a massive hunk of steel floating in the middle of the ocean. It's defending ourselves. We are the ones being threatened here. And if worse comes to worst, I wouldn't mind having to put a few bullets in some griffon ass, excuse my language."
Shadow simply stared at me, then after a few moments of silence, he nodded. "The heart of a Marine sits well inside you, Star," he smiled softly. I smiled back before returning my attention to the monitors in front of me, Shadow doing the same but with his binoculars.
***
After minutes of an eerie silence in the room, Shadow spoke up, now sitting down and looking out the window of the bridge. "Private, what is their current position now?"
Checking the radar, I replied, "Eleven nautical miles and still approaching at thirty-eight knots," I glanced up to Shadow with worry.
"That's it, we're going into alert status two," Shadow said out loud, picking up the radio and switching to the intercom. All of us in the room minus him exchanged looks before watching the captain.
"Attention all on board, we are moving to alert status two. Grab your weapons and man your battle stations. There is an unidentifiable vessel approaching from the north at approximately thirty-eight knots and is eleven nautical miles from our current location. Warnings have been issued and the vessel has refused to comply. Again, we are moving to alert status two," he hung up the radio.
At that, I knew what to do. My help was needed down below preparing for an attack. I stood up seemingly out of nowhere and said to Shadow, "I'll head down, captain," before saluting to him. Shadow saluted back.
"Yes, please. And be careful. Lieutenant, I'll need for you to take the private's spot," Shadow said. Lieutenant Ping nodded and sat in my spot, while I turned and left the room. "And Private," Shadow added, stopping me. I glanced back at him. "Shut that door. I don't want anypony we don't know coming up here."
I nodded. "Yes, sir," before walking out and shutting the door behind me, as I walked down the staircase, I heard the click of the door locking above the faint wailing of the alarm down below. Upon reaching the level of the armory, I trotted quickly down the hallway while sailors and Marines scrambled to their battle stations, most with rifles in-hoof or strapped around their necks and helmets on their heads.
The ship's armory was situated towards the rear, closer to the the engine room and reactor and was by far one of the larger rooms on the Eclipse. I entered the armory, finding sailors and Marines lined up while those who worked in the room handed out rifles and ammunition left and right, and all were given bulletproof vests and helmets for extra protection. I got into line as more ponies piled up behind me, some in a rush to get their gear and get to their battle stations like Shadow ordered.
I picked up an all-black helmet, removing the cap I had on and strapped it onto my head before being given a waist pack to hold extra bullets, and for weapons, a desert eagle with an extended clip, as well as an AR-15 rifle with an advanced scope attachment, which I took a moment to quickly click on and test the sight, then left the armory and started back down the hallway where I came from. Still, I wasn't sure where I was needed most. The captain hadn't made it clear where my exact battle station was, and I could only assume it was on one of the upper decks.
As I trotted, a sailor ran up from down the way I was headed and stopped me. "Hey, listen up, there's others that are still sleeping. If their doors are closed, can you help me out and knock on them as you go? We need them all awake, and I need to get geared up."
I nodded. "Yes, sir," and kept moving down the corridor while the sailor galloped back to the armory. As I moved along, I began pounding on closed bunk room doors. "Everypony wake up, we're on alert status two! Everybody up!"
While I went along, doors I knocked on behind me opened, and confused, tired sailors and Marines stepped out wearing just their t-shirts and nothing else. I kept going, knocking on doors as I went by. Then, something hit me mentally. This felt all too familiar. I stopped and stared down the near-empty hallway as two sailors galloped my way.
Then, out of nowhere, I was thrown backwards by the force of a massive explosion, the heat of the fire sweeping down the hallway and a wave of smoke filling the air, my rifle lay on the floor a few feet from where I was. I opened my eyes gradually, vision blurred. As it slowly cleared up, the ringing of the ship's fire alarm echoed in my ears, hearing mostly shot from the blast.
I instantaneously sat up on my elbows, staring forth as the smoke cleared away. Where two sailors had been running before, was now a massive, gaping hole in the floor leading down to the level below and up to the level above, and the rooms on the side now completely gone with debris floating in the ocean beside the ship, and water was beginning to pour in to the level below.
Sparks popped from cut wiring and spots on the walls severed from the explosion had flaming spots on them. Much to my surprise, the sailors running towards me were no longer there, and one of their caps laid on the floor beside me, the bill of it set on fire and slowly curling up as it burned. I stared at it with widened eyes as a sudden surge of grief swept over me. Not only had the blast most certainly wiped the sailors out, but those still in their rooms where the blast had taken place were gone as well.
I coughed a couple of times from smoke inhalation and then turned my attention to my rifle sitting further from the hole than I was. I reached for it and grabbed it by the end, dragging it closer and hanging it by the strap around my neck while I stood to all four hooves. I hacked more, taking steps away from the gaping hole, right as the ship's intercom came on, followed by Lieutenant Ping's voice.
"They're attacking on the starboard side, the other bogey is attacking! We've been boarded!"
It was all coming down to this. The Eclipse was being bombarded by unknown enemies from seemingly everywhere, and now they were slipping on board on the same side I was on. I heard shouting from down below, and over the roaring of the ocean down below and yelling from down the hallway, it was hard to tell who was who.
In addition to the shouting, a new noise had caught my attention from directly above. The loud straining of steel as it bent and twisted made me wince, and as I looked up, I had only seconds to move out of the way of debris falling from the deck above. I gasped and jumped back as the large slab of steel and concrete slammed down where I was previously standing. My heart raced, realizing had I not moved I likely would have been crushed to death, but then a new sense of fear hit me.
I sat up on my elbows, rifle sitting to my side, and found it impossible to move my leg. I looked down to my hinds as the dust cleared, seeing it was stuck beneath the debris that had fallen. "Oh shit..." I muttered, trying to yank my hoof free, but to no avail. Despite nothing happening, I kept attempting.
Then, a shadow began to loom over me entirely, and it wasn't smoke. My pupils shrunk to pinpricks as I slowly looked up from my hoof, eyes now locking on to a much taller figure with the barrel of a shotgun pointed directly at my chest. I felt my heart sink, finally realizing just why what was happening at that moment seemed to be like deja vu. But this time, it wasn't a just a dream; it was a nightmare coming true, and the next moment, I could only prepare myself for what came next, seeing the figure's sharp-ended finger begin to pull back on the shotgun's trigger.
I shut my eyes tightly, waiting for the small pop that would most certainly put an end to my life. I jumped, hearing the first pop, then the second, and then the third. But instead of feeling the sharp pain of the weapon's ammunition be unloaded into my chest, there was nothing. I was still alive.
I opened my eyes, seeing the figure, a tall, almost fully-armored griffon covering his bloodied chest with a talon, prior to stumbling backwards and tilting back, falling off the edge of the floor and into the hole, a splash heard a second later. Then, the fast-approaching sound of hooves could be heard. I looked up, seeing two earth ponies, one grey and one military-green, taking the heavy slab of debris pinning my leg down and sliding it off and down into the water below. The grey pony reached a hoof out to me, and I took it hastily.
"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Lieutenant Arc asked, panting softly, his gaze locked onto me.
I couldn't have been more relieved to see the lieutenant, my heart slowly stopped racing and I nodded. "Yes... yes. Thank you. Thank you both."
The other stallion, Ashfall, smiled and handed my rifle to me. "Don't thank me, the lieutenant here had a feeling you'd wind yourself up in trouble when he saw you running from the armory," he winked.
I took my rifle and hung it around my neck. "Still, thank you both," I smiled to them, then looked down to the cap on the floor, the small flame burning the cap having put itself out, leaving much of it burned to a crisp. "Some others weren't as lucky. They were running... and... the whole side exploded," I felt heartache while I spoke, head and ears lowering.
"Hey, Star," Arc lifted a hoof and brought my chin up. "Even if you saw it coming, you wouldn't have been able to save them either way. I'm sorry."
I lifted my hoof and wiped a tear from my eye, then sighed. "You're right, Lieutenant... you're right."
"They're on the flight deck! All hooves are needed on the flight deck, we can't let them take control of the ship!" Shouted a slightly-panicked Shadow over the ship's intercom.
"Shit, we'd better get up there," Ashfall said to us both, then began galloping back the other way.
"Hey, wait up!" I said, running after him, the lieutenant by my side. Upon reaching the staircase, it was almost crammed with sailors and Marines running up to aid those on the flight deck.
Just getting up the staircase was chaotic enough. Ponies were shouting orders, and the further we went up, the clearer we could hear pops of gunfire erupting on the flight deck as those rushing to help scrambled out of the staircase and outside. It was at least a minute before me, Ash, and Arc reached the deck, and when we did, Arc led the two of us to some crates where we took cover. Bullets flew in all directions, but most were coming from the attackers.
I quickly loaded a magazine into the handle of my AR-15 and snapped my head to look at Arc, shouting over the sound of gunfire. "Lieutenant. Orders?"
"Stay well covered, take aim, kill as many as you can. With how many there are, there is no possible way we'll be able to capture them. On my count! Three... two... one!" Arc counted down, then stood up and crouched over the crate, me and Ash following suit and beginning to open fire on the griffon assailants as they advanced closer. But, not only were there griffons opening fire on us, there were ponies mixed in as well, and most wore either armor similar to that of a royal guard's, or Equestrian Army fatigues. It nearly made me think twice about shooting at them.
"Damn it, there's too many!" Ash shouted, ducking back into cover to reload, before sitting back up and shooting an armored griffon dead with just three bullets. "We need backup!"
"Somepony say backup?" shouted a white pegasus as he swooped in beside Lieutenant Arc from the side.
"Anchorage, thank Luna! Where the hell were you?" I asked as I too reloaded.
"Got woken up when I heard an explosion, I grabbed my gear and came as soon as I could!" He answered while Arc and Ashfall shot at more griffons and ponies approaching from the starboard side of the ship and the stern. Quickly, Anchorage stood up and took a careful aim, one of his bullets flying right through a stallion's forehead and out the other side, the pony dropping dead in a pool of blood on the spot. "Woo, buddy!"
"Atta boy, get 'em!" Ash laughed as two more griffons fell to their gunfire. I took a quick breath and leaned over the crate I sat against with my head mostly down. The advice Lieutenant Snow Storm had given me was about to pay off—I hoped.
As some more sailors and Marines gathered on the flight deck, we were almost no longer outmatched by the assailants, yet they still were not intimidated. But then, the tables had turned. While I went back into cover to reload, I briefly glanced to my left, watching a bullet fly right into a sailor's shoulder, and just before he could fall back, another went right into his head with enough force to send his cap flying off. I winced at the sight. By now, my adrenaline was really going.
"Damn it, Star, get back in the fight!" Lieutenant Arc hit me on the shoulder as he reloaded and sat back up, a bullet suddenly bouncing off of his helmet. Angered, he turned in the direction from where the bullet originated and shot the griffon right in the beak, the griffon dropping to the ground instantly after.
"Fucking pricks, go back to Griffonia where you bastards belong!" Anchorage shouted with rage, unloading yet another one of his clips on more approaching griffons. When he ran out, he reached down to his waist and unhooked a grenade, bringing the pin up to his teeth and yanking it out, tossing it forward. "Frag out!"
The grenade fell beside a missile rack on the other side of the deck, only adding to the explosive range as it completely blew a couple of griffons climbing up the side off and down into the water, and fragments of debris striking another but not killing him. When the smoke plume cleared, those left still approaching were shot dead by Arc and Ashfall, as well as the others fighting back, and things quieted down. By the moment it did, Arc stood up straight and scanned over the deck. "I believe we're clear."
At his word, a collective sigh of relief could be heard from me, Ash and Anchorage as we too stood up. As I turned around, a bullet whipped past my shoulder and struck the wall of the control tower behind me. I snapped my attention to where it came from, seeing an injured stallion in silver armor with a revolver in his hoof laying on the middle of the deck. I removed my desert eagle from its holster and shot four bullets into the stallion, his hoof dropping and a new puddle of blood forming around his head and chest area.
"Fucker..." I said aloud, slipping the gun back into the holster on my left hoof and panting softly as I looked around at all of the gore left to clean up, my every breath steaming up in the cold air. "Think that's all of them?"
"Looks like it," Ash replied, also peering around. At the sound of Anchorage letting out a groan of pain, he snapped his head to the side and saw the white pegasus lying on the ground with a wound in his lower shoulder. He gasped and ran to him, kneeling beside him. "Shit man, did one get you?"
"Y-yeah..." Anchorage winced, the wound on his shoulder lightly bleeding and staining his blue uniform. "Damn those pirates to hell..."
"Hey, look at me, Anchorage!" Ash motioned his hoof to his eyes. "Keep your eyes on me, and don't black out!"
"He's not going to die, you idiot," Lieutenant Arc said as he walked up, examining the pegasus' wound. "He'll be just fine as long as the bleeding is stopped and the bullet is removed."
"Aaand you ruined it, good job, Lieutenant," I added, standing beside Arc and looking down at Anchorage, then looked up. "We need a medic over here, pronto!"
Within minutes, Anchorage was taken downstairs by two sailors. We followed, but stopped to aid with those on board stunned by the attack. The entire carrier was still chaotic, not just from what had just occurred above deck either. The number of how many were injured was still unclear and neither of us knew how long it would be before we could find out. The medical ward had been overwhelmed, both in stallionpower and resources.
As the three of us made our way through the corridors, we passed distraught sailors and Marines, a couple of them were sitting and sobbing into their hooves or another sailor's shoulder. I was heartfelt and didn't know what my job would be to help out. I was only there for defense, I had absolutely no clue about medical procedures and therefore I was useless to the ship's medics. Instead, I figured my help was needed on the bridge.
***
I gave a gentle knock on the door of the bridge and waited for it to be unlocked. Instead, the click of it unlocking wasn't heard.
"Who is it?" Came the slightly muffled voice of Lieutenant Ping.
"Private Star Shooter, ma'am. Radarpony," I answered.
Instantly after, the door unlocked and opened. Lieutenant Ping stood there and sighed with relief. "Well, at least you're okay. With all of the chaos we saw going on, we weren't sure where you were."
I nodded. "I'm fine. A bit shaken, I'll admit, but I'm fine. What's it looking like?" I asked, entering the room.
Shadow hung up the radio communicator and turned to face me. "We've had to seal off the bottom deck. The explosion flooded much of it completely, and the engine took a small hit. Thankfully though we're still operational technically-wise. Also, we've turned around and begun our way back to port. It'll be at least six or seven days to get back, but I think we're in the clear now, and if we aren't, there is a destroyer and a sub in the area to defend us until we're back in our own waters."
"And we're certain that there aren't more coming in waves? Or perhaps those that did get on board were all killed?" I wanted to be sure.
"Radar is clear," Lieutenant Ping said. "It was down for a minute after the explosion then rebooted instantaneously, along with everything else in the room."
"That doesn't mean it couldn't have screwed up the system too," I added.
"We have a technician looking into it. So far we haven't heard anything back," Shadow said reassuringly. "There isn't much word on the casualty count, however. Right now it is looking to be in the thirties range."
I looked down slightly and sighed. "And the death count?"
Both Shadow and Kosec went silent, forcing me to repeat myself. "The death count. Do we know anything about that?"
"Two were killed on the flight deck, apart from that, we're unsure. The crew is still being accounted for. But... I'm afraid this all is only just the start. It will be tough to explain to their families when we get home," Shadow said, the look he gave me showed the overwhelming amount of distress he had on his shoulders. For a moment, I believed he was on the threshold of breaking down in front of us all. "Carry on, Marine..." he then turned and trotted back up to the front of the room, me and the lieutenant watching him.
"Yes, sir..." I replied quietly, exhaling deeply and taking a seat at my station, Lieutenant Ping walking over and resting a hoof on my shoulder.
"Private, I know this must be your first time in combat," she started, I sat perfectly still, eyes set on the empty monitors. "I am sorry you had to go through this so soon into your military career. But, of course, it is not easy for anypony to go into combat for the first time. It is hard to think of afterwards as well. And, well..." she paused for a long moment, I turned my head slightly and looked back at her as she let out a soft sigh. "If you decide you need it, I can assign you to a counselor."
I went over the thought in my mind for a few seconds, then nodded twice. "I will think about it. Thank you, Lieutenant."
She nodded back, then smiled. "You handled well," is all that she said, and seconds later she was back up at the front with Shadow.
The thought of seeing a counselor so early in my career was tough to go over. I wasn't willing to accept that I needed one just yet, but after today, it would be hard to get sleep tonight, and every night that would follow until we were back home. Instead of thinking about it more, I gently pushed it to the back of my mind and served myself a fresh cup of coffee, and went back to work.