Percy flexed his hand as the pain of slamming it against steel finally registered in his mind. It was a welcome reprieve from the horror of realizing that the Federal Government of the United States was in shambles, along with the rest of the world for that matter.


    Clenching and unclenching his hand one more time to try and get rid of some of the pain, he got to work. Picking up the phone to send a shipwide message to Zhang and Underwood to fill them in on the situation.


    “Attention, this is the captain. I need XO Zhang and Master Chief Underwood to report to the communications room on the double.”


    Setting the phone back in its holder, he found himself flexing his hand once more. Ignoring the prickly feeling as his mind raced, he considered their current situation and the options available to them.


    They still had relatively full armaments, with over seventy-five missiles, a practically untouched ammo locker with the standard weapon array, several tons of ammo for their machine guns and the CIWS, along with all of their torpedos.


    He was suddenly glad that the Secretary of Defense had insisted they bring extra missiles for their training mission. Although, he supposed that was the man’s paranoid mind at work preparing for the worst-case scenario, which seems to have occurred from what he could tell.


    A loud knock at the door broke him out of his thoughts, and he unlatched the lock, pulling open the door to see an out-of-breath Frank with an alarmed Grover behind him.


    “Sir, what’s going on?”


    His executive officer’s voice was a bit alarmed, and he couldn’t blame him. He doubted he would react well if his superiors called for him via a ship-wide announcement. Motioning in his leadership team, he shut the door behind him before locking it once again.


    “Well, gentlemen. There’s no easy way to say this, but our mission out here was a cover for Dr. Chase and Dr. Castellean’s research.”


    He saw their eyes widen slightly in surprise but continued on before they could ask any questions.


    “The short of it is this. They were out here looking for an older sample of a virus that is currently infecting and destroying the world. I just had a conversation with what remained of the U.S. Government in the presidential bunker.”


    Zhang let out an audible reaction at hearing the command structure had gone underground as he continued.


    “As far as I could gather, few functioning governments are left. And the ones that are have minimal influence. To make matters worse, my conversation with the president, Regina, the Secretary of Homeland Security when we left. Was cut short as some unknown element broke into the bunker.”


    Both Grover and Frank took a seat at his words, their eyes wide as the information sunk in.


    “As of this point, I want to fill in the rest of the ship on what''s going on in the outside world and put us on Defcon 1 alertness. I also want to put a guard duty on doctors Chase and Castellan as it just became our number one priority to protect them and help them create a cure no matter the cost.”


    Both men stared at him as they tried to comprehend the situation he had just laid in front of them. After a minute, Frank finally spoke up, and Percy gave the man his attention.


    “Sir, are you sure you want to tell the men? The first question they are going to have is if their families are okay, and to be honest, sir, I am wondering the same.”


    Percy gave his fellow officer a sad smile.


    “I''m not sure, Frank. But I think we set up a rotation to give everyone a chance to reach out to their loved ones.”


    The man nodded along with Underwood, and Percy grinned.


    “Good. Now, before we inform the sailors, there is an unmanned fueling station off the coast of France. With a little bit of conservation, I think we should be able to make it. Grover, start gathering everyone into groups in the mess hall so I can start addressing them in the next three hours. Zhang, get us headed toward the refueling station.”


    The two men he could trust most nodded, and for the first time since he learned the world had gone to shit, he felt relieved.


    Master Chief Underwood went to exit, but he stopped with his hand on the latch.


    “Sir, permission to speak freely?”


    Despite the situation, he couldn’t help but chuckle. Only years in the military would have someone following formality in such crazy times. Although he supposed that was the point.


    Nevertheless, he nodded, giving Grover the go-ahead.


    “What are you going to be doing?”


    His eyes widened slightly at the question, but he knew that Grover understood he wasn’t one of the superior officers who would punish someone for questioning him. In fact, the more he thought about it, he welcomed the question.


    In such dire times, trust is everything, especially when Percy had a feeling he would be asking a lot of his men in the coming days.


    “I am going to see if I can find some more information on what''s been happening while we’ve been radio silent and get a better understanding of the world.”


    The Master Chief nodded, and Percy smiled at the man.


    “From now on, you both have permission to speak freely when we are alone like this. Tough times are ahead, and I don’t want you two to be afraid to bring something up because of formality. Understood?”


    “Aye, Aye, Sir!”


    Percy waved off their salutes as they exited, leaving him alone in the communications room. Taking a breath to center himself, Percy made his way to a terminal and got to work on figuring out what had happened while they were by the South Pole.


    <hr>


    The sound of nervous chatter could be heard from the other side of the wall, and Percy let out a shaky breath. The whole ship knew something major was happening or had happened; you could feel it in the air.


    Still, it didn’t prepare them for the news he was about to break. He was about to tell the first of three groups everything that had happened while they were on mission, and he was dreading how they’d react.


    Before he could think of worse-case scenarios, Master Chief Underwood signaled that everyone was in attendance. With a sigh, he stepped into the room, seeing the hundreds of faces that were about to have their world shaken.


    “Good Afternoon, I have news... from home.”


    There was complete silence as he spoke, everyone holding their breath as they waited for him to continue. It was so quiet that Percy could hear the next group waiting outside and the hum of the ship''s engine.


    “There is no easy way to say this, but our last mission was a cover.”


    There was a sharp intake of breath at his words, but he powered through.


    “Our real reason for being in the Arctic was so doctors Chase and Castellean could uncover the original strain of a virus that has ravaged the world we left.”


    There was murmuring in the crowd, which was silenced as he continued to speak.


    “I was unaware of our true mission, just like you. But, knowing what I know now, I am glad I was. The world as we knew it six months ago is no more. The virus has killed over half of our planet’s population, according to the latest information.


    “What remains of The United States of America is held up in the presidential bunker, which was attacked as I was being briefed on the current state of the world.”


    The Mess Hall was deathly silent as Percy took a deep breath.


    “We have to assume that central command is gone and that we will be in the dark for the foreseeable future. It is not all bad news, however. Doctor Chase found what she needed, buried in the ice.”


    “Our new mission is to assist and protect the two doctors by any means necessary so that they can develop a cure. After refueling, we will head to a bio lab off the coast of North Carolina.”


    Percy took another deep breath and took in the sailors who stared at him with wide eyes.


    “I know that you are concerned about your loved ones back home, and after I am done speaking with the last group, there will be a scheduled time for everyone to try and call back home. Does anyone have any questions?”


    Percy recognized the sailor who raised his hand as one of the few fresh recruits assigned to the Trident. At first, he wondered why he had gotten nearly a dozen sailors, not even a week out of basic training, assigned to his ship for a top-secret mission.


    But, he understood now that it was nepotism from parents who knew their true mission to try and save their kids from a deadly virus. He couldn’t blame them, and if he remembered correctly, the kid with a raised hand was the Secretary of Defense''s grandson.


    “Yes, Private?”


    The kid stood, and Percy could tell he was nervous with how he clenched and unclenched his pants.


    “How are the other governments? Was it actually Russia who attacked us the other day?”


    He widened his eyes slightly, not expecting the question, but answered it nonetheless.


    “Good question, from what I could gather. The only governments left are ours, the British, Australia, Japan, and Chile. And even then, those governments are hanging on by a thread.”


    “With that in mind, my current theory is that it was a rouge Russian agent that attacked us, and unless that changes, we are going to keep our current rules of engagement. Understood?”


    A cacophony of agreements assaulted his ears, and he smiled.


    “Alright, any more questions?”


    When no one raised their hand, Percy nodded.


    “Okay, remember, we are the United States Navy. We will get through this. Dismissed.”


    He watched as the crew started making their way out of the mess hall until a hand on his shoulder caused him to turn, locking his eyes with a pair of grey orbs that seemed to pierce into his very soul.


    “That was a good speech, Captain.”


    “Thank you, Doctor Chase. How are you feeling?”


    He could see the tiredness in her eyes as she gave him a so-so gesture.


    “I''m managing, I can’t stop picturing the people who died for me... for my research.”


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    Percy nodded, knowing all too well how draining that could be.


    “It’ll get better with time. I am glad you''re here.”


    At the blonde’s raised eyebrow, he continued.


    “I haven’t forgotten about my promise. Jason and his men are waiting in the briefing room for you to break the news to them. We will head that way once I am done speaking to the rest of the crew.”


    For what he imagined was the first time that day, Annabeth gave him what he thought to be a genuine smile before she hugged him. However, she quickly untangled herself, realizing what she had done.


    “I’m sor...”


    Before she could finish her sentence, he cut her off with a laugh.


    “Don’t worry about it. I need to break the news to the next group. Wait with the Master Chief, and we’ll head to the briefing room once I’m done.”


    The blonde nodded before walking away, and Percy took another deep breath to prepare himself to explain everything to the next group of sailors.


    <hr>


    3 days later


    The sun was just beginning to set when Captain Jackson looked up from the monitor. In his personal quarters, the familiar sound of a phone trying to establish a connection somewhere else in the world could be heard.


    Unsurprisingly, the familiar dial tone of death sounded with a robotic voice coming through the speakers.


    Due to widespread system failure, the number you are calling can not be reached. You cannot leave a voicemail at this time... Goodbye.


    Percy had to take a breath to restrain himself from breaking something before dialing his sister’s phone number once again, only to get the same results. He let out a defeated sigh, putting his head in his hands.


    He hoped Estelle was okay. He would never be able to forgive himself if something happened to her. It might’ve been selfish, but he would be willing to sink the entire ship if it meant she was okay.


    His mind filtered to his mother’s dying words as he tried to help free her from the car.


    Her hand was cold, despite the flames from the front of the car, as she caressed his cheek.


    “Percy, my little hero. Save your sister. Protect her. You are all she has left now.”


    Tears welled in his eyes as he tried to free his mother again, only for her to ‘shush’ him as she pointed to the back seat where Estelle lay. Several minor cuts along her head from where it had impacted the window once they were hit.


    He could see the bruise forming already as he turned his attention back to his mother, who was much worse off. He didn’t want to leave his mom. He couldn’t leave her.


    Sally gave him a longing look, her eyes pleading.


    “It will be okay, Percy. It will be okay, my sweet boy. Get your sister first, then come back.


    He knew it wouldn’t. It wouldn’t be long until the fire reached the gas tank, and despite his less-than-stellar grades in science, he knew what would happen. The sound of sirens was what finally convinced him.


    Climbing back into the back seat, he put his sister on his back. Crawling through the shards of glass and metal till they were out of the car before sprinting up the hill the vehicle had rolled down.


    The sound of the ship''s horn startled him out of his flashback. The noise eerily reminded him of the explosion that occurred once he had gotten to the top of the hill with his sister, and he had to take a breath to center himself.


    He picked up the phone with renewed vigor, intent on finding out where his sister was and how she was doing. But, before he could get a chance to dial a number, his phone rang. He let out a long sigh, picking up the handset as he heard the voice of his bridge officer.


    “This is the Captain.”


    “Sir, you’re needed on the bridge.”


    Another sigh escaped his lips.


    “Alright, be there shortly, Levesque.”


    Putting the phone back in its slot on the wall, he made his way up to the bridge. Once there, he looked at his bridge officer, a brown-skinned girl named Hazel, who ran the bridge in his absence.


    “Sir, we are fifty miles off the coast of Europe and still have no response from French Naval Command. Should we continue towards the refueling station?”


    Percy rubbed his chin in thought.


    “Yes, let''s keep the current course. But, let’s set up an extra watch.”


    Hazel saluted him, but he stopped her before she could get too far.


    “Were you able to reach home?”


    There was a pain in her eyes that Percy was sure most people had at this point.


    “No sir, I think only four people got through to anyone, and the news wasn’t good.”


    There was a pause before she continued.


    “Did you know I made a promise to my mother that one day we would leave New Orleans and visit Paris together? Now that she might very well be dead, all I can think about is that promise...”


    He could see the anguish in her eyes as she wrestled with the idea that she could very much be on her own now. Setting a hand on her shoulder, he forced her to look him in the eyes as he spoke.


    “That is the stuff that matters. When my mom passed, all I could think about was everything we missed out on doing together. But eventually, I learned she was always with me. Don’t give up on that promise. Because no matter where your mom may be, know that she is always with you.”


    He could visibly see some of the worry slide off her shoulders and was relieved he could finally help with something. Taking his hand off her shoulder, he let her get back to running the bridge just as his XO walked through the door.


    However, before he could even move to greet his second in command, alarms blared ship-wide, accompanied by flashing yellow lights. He felt his stomach sink as he locked eyes with Frank, knowing that the yellow lights indicated one thing and one thing only: a nuclear launch.


    For a second, no one on the bridge moved. Then, instincts and training kicked in, and it was a madhouse. A cacophony of chatter assaulted his ears as everyone focused on their job, relaying information everyone else needed.


    “Unidentified submersible bearing 9.7.2 degrees west.”


    “Wind is currently at 45 knots, blowing south-east.”


    Hazel’s voice sounded above the other’s, telling him everything he needed to know.


    “Sir, we have an unauthenticated fire order that came across all channels. It’s a rouge nuclear warhead.”


    Before he knew it, his feet were carrying him to the Combat Information Center, and he shouted at Frank while he moved.


    “Zhang, you have the bridge! I’m going to the CIC.”


    If there was an affirmative, he didn’t hear it, but he trusted that his second-in-command heard him. Within two minutes, he had made it to the Combat Information Center and was getting briefed by his lieutenant.


    “Sir, we have confir... Vampire, vampire, vampire!”


    Percy felt bile rise to his throat as his lieutenant’s focus was moved to more important things before he could finish briefing him, forcing Percy to quickly review the information from the various screens in the CIC.


    He saw a single red dot on the radar, which gave him a modicum of relief: only one WMD had been fired. Within thirty seconds, he had his headset on and relayed his orders.


    “Spin up four tomahawks and wait for an intercept course.”


    There was a cacophony of noise as they prepared the missiles and worked on tracking the nuclear warhead’s path. Piper’s voice cut through the chatter, and for the first time in a long time, Percy felt hopeless as her words registered.


    “Coordinates have been scrambled. There is no chance for an intercept course.”


    He took a second to compose himself before shifting his focus to eliminate the threat.


    “TAO, have we ID’d the culprit? What is the WMD’s target?


    “Sir, the missile was fired from 46.489 and -12.357. However, it appears to have been a submarine and has gone dark. The coordinates don’t make sense, but the missile seems to target somewhere on land.”


    Frustration built within him, but he kept his composure. He quickly shed his headset before grabbing the ship’s phone and making a ship-wide announcement.


    “Baton down the hatches, prepare for nuclear detonation. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill.”


    Percy had to stop himself from slamming the phone back into the receiver and focused back on the chatter when his lieutenant called for him.


    “Sir, missile impact in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.”


    Percy could only watch in disbelief as the red dot disappeared from the radar, and untold destruction occurred a couple hundred miles away. It took several minutes for the effects of the explosion to be felt.


    There was a slight tremble from the shockwave that barely rocked the ship and a rumble of sound a couple seconds later as the air caught up. Then, the power went out. He knew the reason before his lieutenant told him, but let the man brief him anyway as he started moving towards the engine room.


    “Sir, the bomb must’ve doubled as an EMP.”


    “I know, lieutenant, be ready to start the reboot. I’m headed to the engine room.”


    It took him a minute to reach the ship''s bowels since he was only guided by the red emergency lights. But once there, he found his lead engineer, James ‘Festus’ Cook, working on the switchboard.


    “Status report, Festus. Anyone hurt?”


    There was a bit of relief in the man’s eyes when he saw Percy, and he gave his lead engineer an encouraging smile.


    “No sir, but the Electro Magnetic Pulse of the nuke blew our circuit.”


    Before he could respond, Grover’s voice came from the stairs above.


    “Captain.”


    “Is that you, Master Chief?”


    James shined his light at the top of the stairs to reveal Grover Underwood’s face.


    “Aye, Levsque says the radios are down. Whatever was in that bomb is also messing with the radio waves. We are sitting ducks right now.”


    Percy nodded, turning his attention back to Festus as he spoke.


    “We must move this ship away from the blast zone, lieutenant. Let’s get her moving again, alright.”


    Festus nodded, and Percy gave him an encouraging nod before making himself useful. Fifteen minutes later, he had just finished getting the last fuse in place, and they were ready to try and restart the engines.


    “Fuses are in Festus.”


    His lead engineer nodded, sounding off his orders as he prepped the generator.


    “Alright, open up valves 3,4 and 5. Kill auxiliary power and emergency air.”


    Once that was done, one of the engineers sounded off, and Percy crossed his fingers, noticing James say a little prayer before flipping the switch. He heard the fuse blow, and his body flinched reactively before turning, unsurprised to find an empty socket where he had just finished putting in the last fuse.


    “Fuck.”


    The curse flew out of his mouth before he had even thought about it. He turned to Festus for guidance, but the man could only shrug his shoulders.


    “It’s an overload, sir. A restart for this caliber is a heavy load. Typically, we’d do a light restart to get the power flowing and gradually bring systems online. But...”


    His lead engineer trailed off, and Percy understood why. No one needed to be reminded of the tragedy that had just occurred in Europe, and they didn’t have the luxury of time with a rouge nuclear threat nearby.


    Another engineer came up to him, holding out another fuse.


    “It’s our last one, sir.”


    He felt a grim determination set in as he grabbed the fuse from the sailor’s hand and set it into the socket. His hand remained firmly gripped around the component as he locked eyes with his Lieutenant.


    “Rip it.”


    Realization quickly dawned on everyone what he was planning to do, and objections were immediately raised at the notion. However, none were louder than Grover’s voice as he tried to convince him to let someone else risk their life for the betterment of the ship.


    “Sir, let somebody else do this.”


    Unfortunately for the Master Chief, Percy outranked him, and he wasn’t afraid to pull rank in this scenario.


    “I said. Rip. It. That’s an order, lieutenant.”


    James shook his head, and the engineer who handed him the fuse told him to get his hand out of the socket. At the same time, Grover was pleading with him to not go through with his potentially suicidal plan.


    “Sir, get your hand out of there!”


    “Captain. Don’t.”


    For the first time on this mission, Percy raised his voice as he shouted at his lead engineer.


    “I SAID RIP IT!”


    He could feel hundreds of volts of electricity flow through his body as he kept the fuse firmly in place before an explosion of sparks knocked him on his ass. It felt like he had just been hit by a truck, and his left arm felt like it was on fire from how much it burned.


    Grover’s voice snapped him out of his daze, the Master Chief’s hand grabbing his right one to help him up as he spoke.


    “Badass, Captain.”


    It took him a second to get his bearings now that he was standing up and the world was spinning. But once he did, he was glad to see the lights were on and his idiotic plan had worked. He didn’t trust his voice at the moment, so he settled for a nod directed at his friend as he tried to lower his rapid heart rate.


    He went to take a step towards the stairs and nearly collapsed. Thankfully, Grover was there to catch him.


    “Careful now, Captain. Let’s get you to the infirmary.”


    Percy wanted to protest, but after taking another step and feeling his leg give out again, he decided it might be for the best. So, he reluctantly nodded to the Master Chief and let the man help him to the medical bay.


    People were quick to get out of the way when they noticed their Captain limping along with the help of their Master Chief, and so they made it to the infirmary in record time.


    It was just his luck, however, that Doctor Annabeth Chase would be there at the same time.


    “Oh my God, what happened?”


    Before he could even attempt to tell Grover not to tell the woman anything, Will rushed into the room at Annabeth’s exclamation. Percy realized it was a lost cause and resigned himself to his fate as the Master Chief explained what happened.


    “Our Captain decided that the best way to ensure the U.S.S Trident got back up and running was to hold the fuse in the box himself.”


    Will muttered a curse under his breath and shook his head before helping Grover sit him on a bed nearby.


    “Wait here, Captain. Master Chief, can you help me get some equipment?”


    Percy opened his mouth to protest, but Will beat him to the punch.


    “You may outrank me outside these walls, Captain. But when you’re in my infirmary, I make the rules.”


    He sighed in frustration but listened to his medic, watching him and Grover disappear into a different room, leaving him with Dr. Chase. The blonde looked at him with a questioning stare, a look he was beginning to realize she had pretty frequently.


    “You’re welcome to ask, Doctor.”


    Annabeth looked a bit sheepish at her intentions being read so easily, her cheeks a faint red as she cleared her throat to compose herself.


    “Thank you for risking your life to restore the ship’s power. I was in the process of asking Will for any cold storage bags he might have for my most critical samples when the power came back on.”


    Percy wasn’t sure what he expected the grey-eyed woman to say, but it definitely wasn’t a ‘thank you.’ It brought a genuine smile to his face as he nodded in appreciation.


    The blonde opened her mouth to say something else, but before she could, Will and Grover walked back in with several different medical devices, and he felt dread build up inside him. Annabeth gave him a reassuring smile before turning to leave.


    “Well, now that the power is back on, I need to help Luke return everything we had taken out of the freezers. Good luck, Captain.”


    With that, the grey-eyed doctor was gone, and Percy resigned himself to the, no doubt, numerous tests his medic was about to subject him to.


    Two hours later, Percy found himself back on the bridge with a cane and a dose of pills that were supposed to supplement the iron in his blood. Thankfully, none of his nerves were permanently damaged.


    The cane was a precautionary measure since his body was still recovering, and his leg could spasm at any moment and give out from underneath him. According to Will, he should be fully recovered by day’s end.


    But, even that was too long in his eyes, considering the current state of the world. Especially since they were low on fuel and the closest fueling station was now likely inaccessible due to radiation.


    Hazel Levesque’s voice broke him out of his thoughts.


    “Sir, we have 11% of our fuel left. Even at max conservation, there is no way we make it to any known refueling station.”


    Percy felt dread build in his stomach, realizing that they very well might be dead in the water. Thankfully, Frank came to his rescue.


    “What’s that in the radar shadow?”


    Percy beelined it to the screen and nearly released an audible sigh of relief once he saw the outline of a large vessel within their range.


    “That... is a ship. Set course for that boat.”


    He could feel the bridge come alive with hope and waited eagerly for the ship to appear on the horizon. Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long to see the lights of what appeared to be a cruise ship sitting dead in the water.


    There was an unease that passed through everyone on the bridge when they saw what was supposed to be a lively vessel silent. A few moments later, his communications officer’s voice came alive through to the bridge, confirming what he feared.


    “Sir, markings on the ship say it’s Italian, but I can’t raise anyone on comms. What do you want me to do?”


    Percy felt the unease build inside him as he picked up his radio.


    “Is bridge-to-bridge operational?”


    There was a pause.


    “Appears so, sir.”


    He took a breath before switching the channel so he could communicate with the cruise ship''s bridge.


    “Vessel in vicinity forty-eight degrees north, fifteen degrees west. This is US Navy warship 117 on your starboard bow. Acknowledge and identify yourself, over.”


    Static filled the line as he waited for a reply that, deep down, he knew wasn’t coming. So, after failing to raise the ship through their communication procedure, only one option was left.


    Picking up the ship phone, he made an announcement.


    “Blue Team, report to the briefing room in fifteen minutes.”


    Putting the handset back into the receiver, he looked to his XO.


    “We are going to have to board that ship. Zhang, can you go get Dr. Chase and bring her to the briefing room? I have a feeling we are going to need to know more about this virus. Oh, and let Festus know that we will be doing a ship-to-ship refueling. I am going to go gear up.”