1600Hrs, 15 December 2020. Taranto, Italy

Aboard the bridge of a brand-new Arleigh-Burke class destroyer, Captain Anna Kristiansen was gazing out at the serene Italian sunset with a stoic look on her face. By this point, the newly launched USS Republic had been participating in NATO war games for the past two weeks in the Mediterranean, and the whole crew was exhausted and anxious to get stateside before Christmas; well… almost everyone.

Anna isn't like any of the other sailors, at 27 years old, she's one of the youngest people in US Navy history to be promoted to captain. As a young, attractive woman in command of one of the US's most powerful and valuable military assets, she the darling of the Navy's Public Affairs office.

Anna on the other hand, hated the fanfare. The Navy portrays her as some "Courageous, Patriotic, American Hero" who overcame the odds, worked her ass off, and climbed the chain of command in order to serve her country; when in reality, the only reason she signed up for the Naval Academy was because she was lonely, depressed and had no direction in life.

Anna didn't have it easy growing up in rural Minnesota, her father had ditched them when she was 2, and while her mother did her best to provide for both of them, it was always barely enough to scrape by. Despite the hardships, Anna absolutely adored her mother, she was her constant, the only person in her life who she knew will love her unconditionally, they often spent hours telling each other stories after they went home, and spent Christmases laughing and exchanging whatever gifts they could afford. All this came to an end however, when she was just 17 years old. it was a day she'll remember for the rest of her life; it was 11 o'clock at night and Anna was wondering when her mother would come home.

"her shift ended hours ago, where the hell is she?" Thought Anna. shewas worry-sick, and just as she finished that thought, the old landline telephone rang. "RRRRING"

Picking up the phone as quickly as she could, she could hear a sad voice on the other end. "Good Evening Madam, this is Dr. Hua Mulan from the Cambridge Medical center speaking on behalf of Miss Iduna Kristiansen, may I speak to an Anna Kristiansen please?"

Full of worry and on the verge of panic, Anna nervously responded to the woman on the other end of the line. "This is Anna Kristiansen; what's wrong?! Did something happen to mama?"

"I'm so sorry Ms. Kristiansen… we tried our best, but at 8 o'clock tonight, your mother Iduna Kristiansen was admitted to the hospital with severe injuries. According to witnesses, she was run over by an out of control semi at high speeds. We tried stabilizing her when she got to the hospital, but by then she had already lost too much blood, and unfortunately passed an hour after she arrived at the hospital… "

Anna turned white at the woman's words, she very nearly dropped the phone, went weak in the knees, and passed out. It was at this moment that Anna's life changed forever.

The Funeral was short and solemn, and it was only after the service that Anna realized that she was now truly alone in the world, her good for nothing father didn't even have the balls to showup and she didn't really have any other family. In her grief, Anna promptly shut people out of her life and buried herself in schoolwork. Even though she was getting straight A's, she had absolutely no idea what she was going to do after graduation, Anna quite literally had no friends, no family, and no direction in life.

All this changed however, when Anna decided to take the ASVAB one cold Friday afternoon to get out of a boring English class. She not only managed to get a decent score, but was the top scorer in her entire county; suddenly, Anna found herself getting bombarded with recruitment offers from every branch of the military, and after much contemplation, an epiphany that she had nothing left in Minnesota, and that she had absolutely no future if she stayed. Anna seized the opportunity and moved to Virginia, enlisted in the Navy, and never looked back.

Captain Kristiansen Looked down at the latest reports from the weather service on her military issued iPad while walking up to her XO Kristoff Bjornman making final checks on a clipboard in a corner of the bridge,

"Good Afternoon commander, greeted Anna with a slight smile. I hope all is well with our ship?"

"Yes, ma'am" replied the XO while signing off a few things on his clipboard. Kristoff gave Anna a short status report on the ship "The dock crews just finished topping off our tanks an hour ago, Temperatures and Pressures in all systems are in the green, we're filled with enough good chow to get us all the way to Norfolk, and all 320 enlisted and NCOs, including you and I, are accounted for."

"Excellent" said Anna ecstatically, "if the weather holds up, we might just make it back before Christmas Eve".

Walking with a confident stride towards a nearby console, Anna grabbed a microphone attached to it, and make a final shipwide shipwide announcement

"Attention all crew of the Republic, this is the captain speaking. I understand that It has been a tiring deployment for all of us, but I'm confident that each and everyone of you were able to do your duty to the best of your abilities, especially in the past two weeks. And for that I couldn't be more proud of you all. Now, I just have one more order before we depart….

Call your families, and tell them that you'll be home in time for Christmas"

Poorly hidden smiles were stifled cheers of joy were present on the faces of nearly every person on the bridge, and shipwide audible cheers and shouts of joy could be heard from all members of the crew not on duty knowing that not only will they be able to see for the first time in months, but actually be able to spend Christmas with their families

Satisfied with her morale boosting speech, Captain Anna Kristiansen returned the microphone back in it's holder, walked towards the center of the bridge, and sat confidently in the black, leather captain's chair.

"Alright, then, if there's nothing else, let's go home" said anna

Lieutenant Olaf, disconnect from shore power"

"Aye captain" replied the young officer "disconnecting from shore power"

"Ensign Sven, have the mooring lines untethered, raise the anchor, and inform the tugs that we are go for departure"

"Aye captain"

The 9000 tonne vessel slowly started to move as men on the docks detached the mooring lines.

The large metal anchor was raised with a loud clunk and shortly after, 2 tugboats started to tow the 500 foot long vessel towards the mouth of the harbor.

Once the warship was safely out of the harbor and was facing out into the open Mediterranian sea, the tugs swiftly disconnected their tethers to the Republic and made their way back towards Taranto, while the Arleigh-Burke class destroyer slowly accelerated into the calm open seas with the sun setting in front of them.

"Lieutenant Olaf, maintain bearing 260 towards the strait of Gibraltar, speed: 23 knots"

"Aye captain, bearing 260, cruising speed at 23 knots, estimated travel time to Norfolk: 8 days, and 3 hours. Tentative ETA: 23rd December 14:00 hours, Eastern Standard Time. "

By now, the sun had fully set and had been replaced by the beautiful starry night sky uncorrupted by light pollution, after one final glance out of the window before leaving the bridge and turning in for the night, Anna looked at the still excitedly smiling faces of her bridge crew and thought of how happy they found out that they will be spending Christmas with their families. Then frowned as she remembered that she will be spending yet another one... alone.