When the shockwave hurled the adjutant away, horror and disbelief still flashed through his mind.
The bridge had been hit? Just like that? That made no sense! Our shields were already up!
This was the Mighty Hero, after all. Sure, she was a little old, but she was still a proper dreadnought! With her shields up, she was an impregnable mobile fortress. Even a direct hit from a Titan's main gun shouldn't have been enough to knock her out in one shot, should it?
What's more, the way it happened just now didn't look right at all. The viewports were intact, the ceiling hadn't collapsed, and even the bridge railings were still straight. Only the control console had blown up, as if there'd been a time bomb planted inside...
Got it! This wasn't an enemy attack! Dangerous terrorists must have infiltrated our warship and planted a bomb beneath the console!
We hadn't been ambushed by the enemy. We'd been attacked by terrorists! Yes, they had to be rebel suicide troops!
In that brief instant, the adjutant, hurled to the floor by the shockwave and in too much pain to move even a finger, still managed to think through all that.
But in that same instant, he also saw the body of his commander, a woman, swallowed by the explosion's scorching blast.
The adjutant stared in horror, but there wasn't even time to scream.
The flames surged like a crazed beast and swallowed him, then continued to rampage through the uppermost deck of the Mighty Hero's bridge. Only after destroying the upper deck's control consoles, observatory, and commander's throne were the flames finally doused by the crew and firefighting robots rushing to the scene.
The Mighty Hero's bridge had five levels, and the explosion had ravaged only half of the fifth.