"What the fuck is that?"

"Jesus, they'll blow our people out of the water. I'm going in!"

"Samson no."

"I'll be fine."

"Incoming, incoming! Samson watch out! NO!"

"Samson!" John Paul "Paulie" Jones practically leaped out of her berth. She landed hard, bow slamming the dock. "Fuck!" She swore as she tasted blood. Looking at her reflection confirmed she'd broken a tooth. "Arleigh's gonna kill me." She groaned.

"Why'd she do that?" said a voice.

Jones whirled around but instantly relaxed when she saw it was her best friend. "Samson." She breathed a sigh of relief not just that it wasn't someone hostile but that Samson was whole and alive. Not that shattered wreck blown to pieces like she saw in her dream.

"Who else would it be?" The 103 destroyer sniffed with her typical hardheaded attitude. "Jesus fuck Jones you're lucky you're docked on the Honolulu side of things or there'd be a lot more ships awake right now. Screaming in the middle of the night, what's gotten into you?"

Jones, aware of what time it was, ducked her head in shame. "Sorry. Just a bad dream." She said.

Samson sighed, her expression softening. "Care to talk about it."

"We were at RIMPAC. There was this thing and you were..." Jones shuddered even as the vividness of the dream receded.

"I'm still here Paulie." Samson smiled softly. "It was just a dream."

"But what if it wasn't just a dream. I know Arleigh gets them sometimes and those turn out to be true. What if this one..." Jones' distressed whining was silenced as Samson moved into the berth alongside her, gently curling around the younger 53 destroyer.

"Tell you what, I'll stay here tonight. That way I can chase off any bad dreams that come your way." She said.

"You'd do that?"

"Of course. Anything for my best friend."

Jones snuggled into her with a sleepy yawn. The adrenaline dying down, the destroyer was still tired. Samson smiled, shifting until she was settled nicely next to the fellow Arleigh Burke-class. Jones buried her face into Samson's shoulder though the elder destroyer could see she was smiling too. She rested her head on the dock as her eyes began to close.

...

Jones stood beside Samson and Nyoga as the three looked down on the scene below. They had done their fight, Jones carrying on the torch for as long as she could. Now it was someone else's turn.

As one they said "Finish it, Mo!"