[h2][center][b][i]USS Victoria[/i], Somewhere below the Arctic Icecap[/b][/center][/h2]

“Captain…”

Shawn could hear a voice from beyond the darkness, beckoning him. His mind, sluggish as it was, sought to comprehend what it was supposed to do even as it came to the realization that the body it controlled couldn’t move. No. That wasn’t quite right. It COULD move the body a small amount. Even as he felt his finger twitch Shawn’s mind registered that his body was cold. And it was no normal feeling of cold. The cold extended all the way to his bones, felt as if they came from his bones.

“Captain Taylor?” There it was again. That voice. Shawn struggled to open his eyes. Fought against the cold with all his might and, after what felt like an eternity finally managed to open them. “Captain! Thank god. I thought we had lost you!” Shawn opened his mouth to speak, but found he could form no words. “Don’t worry captain,” The owner of the voice, a young petty officer, sensed Shawn’s apprehension. “You’ll be able to talk shortly. Just need to thaw out.”

“What…” Shawn’s throat felt impossibly dry. “Happened?”

“Something.... Went wrong with the automated system, Captain.” The petty officer answered as he helped Shawn rise into a sitting position. For the first time it occurred to Shawn that he and Captain Taylor were one and the same. “The system never woke us up” The petty officer continued. “And I only woke up after my pod had an error.”

“How long?” Shawn asked. With every second he could feel himself regaining his strength.

“At least a few centuries” The petty officer answered after a moment of hesitation.

“Well shit.”

After a minute of awkward silence the petty officer asked “Shall I wake up the other officers?”

“No.” Shawn answered, as he swung his legs over the side of the pod and stood. He felt a little uneasy on his feet, but seemed to regain full control after a few seconds. Something had gone horribly wrong, that much was obvious. Shawn could feel a sense of unease began to creep in and he found that he couldn’t squash his unease. Not yet. Even so it wouldn’t do for his subordinates to sense his unease. “I will handle the officers” He spoke as if it was just another normal day. “I need you to get the chief petty officers up. Have them meet me in the conference room in an hour.”

“Aye skipper!” The petty officer rendered a salute before turning and taking his leave.

Shawn watched the petty officer leave before turning to the pod next to his. The pods hadn’t been designed to keep someone under for centuries, only decades. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread as he walked over to the oval pod and peered through its clear top to gaze at its occupant. He let out a sigh as he noted that Commander Lyssa McCarthy looked identical to when he had last seen her. He had once heard another officer say she was as “hot as a plasma field” and had found the analogy to fit her perfectly. What few seemed to realize was that she had an intelligence that seemed to somehow surpass her physical appearance. It was why he had made her his XO. He pressed a button on the pod’s side, causing the pod’s top to swing upon as it began to bring its occupant out of her deep sleep.

“Commander McCarthy. Wake up.” Her eyes fluttered open after only a moment, a feat that had taken Shawn much longer. Her piercing blue eyes seemed to drift over the ceiling before locking onto Shawn.

“How… long?” She managed to ask.

“Centuries.”

“Shit.” She closed her eyes for a moment before accepting Shawn’s aid in rising to a sitting position. Shawn felt almost ashamed at how much more quickly she was recovering from their long sleep than he had. Almost. It certainly helped that she had received a fair bit more genetic treatments than he had. Surely one of the perks of being a senator’s daughter.

“Help me wake up the other officers. We have a lot to discuss.”

[center]*****     *****     *****[/center]

“We’ve been asleep for fifteen hundred years?” Commander McCarthy asked.

“Fifteen hundred and twenty years, give or take a few years” One of the chief petty officers responded. The original plan had been for the crew to be put into a cryogenic slumber at the outbreak of war. Ten years later a portion of the crew would be awakened to ascertain the conditions on the surface. Obviously that second part hadn’t occurred.

“I should also inform you” The chief petty officer continued, “that we lost one-hundred and fifteen men due to various errors.”

“The America we knew, and anything that might have survived the war, is long gone by now” Lieutenant Colonel Meier said.

“At least [i]Victoria[/i] is still seaworthy” Commander Azor offered after a moment of silence. If Shawn could gauge how his men were feeling, which he most certainly could after thirty years of command experience, he would certainly be able to tell that his men were uneasy. Understandable given their situation, though not helpful in the least. Losing their homeland was bad enough as it was, but they had at least been partially prepared for that when they boarded the [i]Victoria[/i]. Losing their mission on top of that would be too much. They needed an objective.

“This is a very different world than the one we grew up in” Shawn said, drawing the attention of all the officers and chief petty officers present. “We need to figure out how different before we can determine what to do next. We’ll travel south into the Atlantic and see what has happened to the East Coast and British Isles.

[center]*****     *****     *****[/center]

Ian performed a very thorough check of his craft. A VERY thorough check. He knew that the mechanics had also checked over the Firefly jet numerous times, but it was always the responsibility of the pilot to ensure that his own craft was service worthy. He had to admit that the automated systems had done a good job preserving the sub’s equipment. At least that automated system had worked, unlike the one that was supposed to wake the crew up after a decade.

“Yours looking good?” His wingmate Jessica, a fiery young woman, asked from across the hanger.

“Uh…” He gave the engines one more look over before answering. “Yea. I’m set to go. You?”

“Yup. Let’s get these birds into the sky!” The two of them had been tasked with performing a reconnaissance mission over the American East Coast. Another pair of fighters would be heading towards the British Isles. To make the trip the fighters’ hardpoints were occupied by spare gas tanks, save one which was reserved for the special reconnaissance pod: a fancy way of saying “expensive camera”.

Ian hopped into his jet’s cockpit and began the startup procedures as the hanger’s crew toyed his and Jessica’s jets to the elevator. From their they were raised onto the top deck and loaded onto the catapult.

“”Prefly this is Longsword One. We are ready for takeoff.” Ian said.

“Longsword One. Prefly here. You are go for launch. Activating catapult and handing you off to CIC.” Ian immediately felt himself pressed against his seat and the catapult launched his firefly into the sky. He angled his firefly’s nose up and towards the West, aware that Jessica was back and to his left slightly.

“Longsword One. CIC here. Assume course towards the United States East Coast and perform flyover. You are not to contact any unidentified craft without permission. I repeat you are NOT to contact any unidentified craft without permission.”

“Copy that CIC. We’ll make sure to bring some nice pictures back for you.”

“You do that. Take a nice long look at the new world. [i]Victoria[/i] CIC out.”

An hour later Longsword One and Two caught sight of what had once been the East Coast of the United States of America.