Millennia: Beginning

by Thunderblast

20. Port Sweet Port

"There she is. Land, ho!" said the quartermaster, gazing out through the front windshield of the bridge with binoculars in his hooves. In his sights were the distant, foggy skyline of Manehattan rising over the horizon.

Grunting softly, Shadow glanced over to him, an eyebrow raised. "You going to say that every time home is in sight?"

"It's quite fitting, sir," he returned with a smirk. I rolled my eyes, and Shadow did as well.

Earlier that morning, we had sailed through numerous clusters of heavy rain showers that hampered operations on the flight deck, and thankfully, at the current time, we were out of it. According to the screen, however, it appeared Manehattan was in for it. Stormy weather was not anything new for this area, it seemed.

Shadow reached his hoof forward and picked up the microphone of the public address system and clicked it on. "Listen up, sea dogs, we're almost home. Give or take a few more hours and we'll be back in the port of Manehattan."

I couldn't have been more happy to be so close to home again. On the flip side, I still had a job to do, and so did everypony else. Below deck, everypony helped prepare the Eclipse for making port, meanwhile us on the bridge prepared to send most of the jets and helicopters to a joint air base shared by Air Force and naval-owned aircraft.

As we approached the coastline, one by one, we catapulted the jets off of the deck and into the air where they raced south. Afterwards, the HELOs took to the skies, and later the jets at a much slower pace. Soon, very few aircraft remained on the flight deck.

Some more time passed, and more of the distant city emerged from the fog that typically rested over it on a norm. It wasn't long before we were in range with the Port Authority dispatchers and given immediate clearance to enter the harbor via the Manehattan Bridge. It would still be a while, and other smaller, faster vessels were allowed in ahead of us. Certainly, they wouldn't halt all marine traffic for an aircraft carrier.

Coming even closer to the mouth of the North river, many sailors were allowed onto the flight deck as the Eclipse sailed past the Statue of Harmony. We weren't too close to it, but at the same time, on both sides, one could make out the ant-sized figures of ponies. Some of the sailors waved towards the tourists on the island, but quickly after, they ran back inside when it began to rain for the hundredth time.

"Final report, Shooter?"

I checked over the monitors again. "Light scattered showers across the harbor and region, waves are calm, wind speeds are at five knots, and I'm picking up those other boats moving ahead of us."

"Very good. Listen up, Shooter. We're almost home. You may head down and get your things ready if you would like," Shadow then sipped his cup of hot coffee.

I glanced up at him and blinked. "Sir?"

"You heard me, go get ready. We'll be docking in about twenty minutes."

I kept staring at him for a few moments, then nodded. "Yes, sir," and got up, leaving the radar monitors running, and walking off the bridge for the final time that deployment. It was a bit strange, but I accepted it and went downstairs to the deck my sleeping quarters were on. From there, I began packing my book and other uniforms. It was a short process and very quickly I was left without anything to do for the remainder of the journey.

CRASH

That changes everything.

I was knocked to the floor by the jolt. In an instant I was back on my hooves and ran over to the window hatch. We had hit something, and it was on my side of the ship. And since the initial impact, a loud screeching noise could be heard coming from the bow of the carrier. We definitely hit something big.

I quickly went to the door and out into the hallway, where multiple sailors were running towards the source of the noise just before it stopped, and moments later, the ear-piercing alarm went off. Out of instinct, I raced back up the stairs to the bridge and burst through the door, stopping just inside the room and peering around at everypony, who were all trying to get back up from the impact.

"Damn it, I'm off the bridge for five minutes and we hit something!" I went over to the radar monitors and stood there, staring at the screens. "What did we hit?"

"Not sure, but no one is reporting any damage to the hull or water coming in. We'll have to see when we dock," Shadow was noticeably shaken and was up on all fours.

I grumbled. "Until then, I'm not going anywhere."

"Fine with me."

***

We maintained our speed going into the harbor and reported the collision to Port Authority. It wasn't long before we reached the naval station and smaller boats were sent out to push us up to the shoreline to be docked. Meanwhile, the families of those on board waited anxiously on the edge and were gathered in a large group near where we would be disembarking from. On the flight deck stood numerous sailors and a few Marines, waving to their families.

Whatever had happened earlier must not have been that bad, especially if no one down below seemed to notice anything towards the bow. That was a relief.

Minutes later, the Eclipse was tied to the pier and the metal walkway was attached to the hatch on the side of the ship, and soon, everypony on the ship gathered by it, crowding the already narrow halls and anxiously waiting to get back with their families.

The door opened, and the first sailors walked down the walkway, right into the open hooves of marefriends, wives, mothers and or fathers. It was a heartwarming sight. I had seen videos of military homecomings, but witnessing one was even more amazing. On the contrary, I knew no one, not even my parents, would be here to say welcome back. But I had friends, and that was enough for me. Besides, I saw Solar Wave and Silver Edge waiting behind the crowd patiently.

It was a long wait, until I was finally on the walkway down to the pier, my sea bag slung over my shoulder. I wasn't sure where Ashfall and Anchorage were. For all I knew, they were probably already down and reunited with their families. Or, they were still on the ship and were still waiting.

I stepped hoof on the concrete for the first time in a month, and even stomped my hoof a couple of times to make sure I wasn't dreaming. It brought a smile to my face.

"Shooter!"

I glanced up and saw Solar and Silver trotting towards me. My smile grew a bit and I trotted towards them, and soon enough, we were face to face.

Silver extended a hoof. "Welcome back, Marine."

"Great to be back," I took his hoof, only to be pulled into a chest-bump and quick hug. I'd expected a hoof-shake, but that was okay. Solar did the same, it was a good time.

"So, how was it?" Solar grinned big.

"How was it?" I stopped to think of a proper word. "Interesting, yet boring. In fact, it was probably more interesting just in the last hour or so."

"Oh?" They both tilted their heads.

"I don't know what, but we hit something. A shoal maybe."

"A shoal?" Solar didn't catch on.

"Yeah, a shoal. You know, an area of shallow water?"

"Ooooh."

"Wait, so you ran aground?"

"Perhaps. I don't know, I was dismissed off the bridge just before it happened. What I said was, I go off the bridge for five minutes, and that happens."

The both of them laughed at that, and Silver wrapped a hoof around my neck, and the three of us began walking.

"How about we go somewhere tonight? My treat," Solar smiled.

"Noooo, you don't have to do that," I smiled back.

"Come oooon! You just got back, we have to celebrate your first deployment!"

"Yeah, come on, Shooter. You need some time to kick back! We can bring Ash and Anchor too!" Silver insisted.

"I don't know," I stopped and looked back towards the ship, seeing Ashfall and Anchorage embracing their families. "I think we should let them spend some time with family."

The two of them looked back with me, then smiled. "Well, if you say so."

***

The three of us all went to a sports bar in Bronclyn after dropping my bag off at the barracks. We were seated at a booth there and quickly we were given our drinks. Silver ordered a hard cider, Solar ordered cola, and I ordered some lemonade. The restaurant itself was decorated from wall to wall with sports novelties, such as picture frames with famed sports players' jerseys, metal posters advertising sports teams, and basically electronic product logos that a crazy collector would have in his or her basement.

The restaurant was busy at the time, and the bar was completely full, and each of the flatscreen televisions that were in the place had sports highlights or live games on, and occasionally there would be the loud cheering of stallions across the room as a team scores.

"So, Star, tell us everything! What were you doing? What was your routine?"

"My routine?" I turned to them, having paying attention to one of the televisions for a few moments. "Get up early, shower, eat, then start my sixteen hour shift. Then lunch, and back to my shift. And finally, the end of my shift, dinner, bed, repeat," I picked up my drink and took a sip. The lemonade was quite bitter and made my lips pucker a bit while sending a chill up my spine.

"Sixteen hour shift?" Silver's jaw dropped. "How much sleep do you get?"

"Eight hours. On stormy nights, four, maybe five. It's not easy trying to sleep in a ship that's bobbing back and forth. Thank Luna there's a coffee machine on the bridge."

"That's...not too bad I guess," Silver furrowed a brow, seemingly disappointed. "Is that literally what your deployment was?" before being nudged harshly by Solar's elbow.

"Be nice, he just got back!" Solar whispered.

"It is," I nodded.

Silver rubbed his arm and nodded as well. "Nothing happened?"

"Nothing at all," I took another sip, then a thought came to mind. "Actually..."

The two of them looked towards me and waited for me to continue.

I stared back, then shrugged. "Nevermind, it was nothing." I lied. I didn't know if the incident between us and the Griffonians making threats would be something I could just bring up to them. Whichever the case, I didn't want to panic them.

Author's Note:

Just gonna be a short chapter here today folks, but I hope you enjoyed it! This kicks off the beginning of another hiatus. See you next chapter!

Comments

[militarybrony43]

Damn, I wonder what the Eclipse hit. Great chapter.

[Gizmo Gear]

Again, I ask, will he see his parents again?