Chrono Virus

Chapter 5

Ken engaged the communications terminal for a second time. His hands shook at a frantic pace.

"Mayday, mayday. This is Ken Mallory aboard the Raven. We have an emergency situation on board. If anyone can hear this, please respond."

The anxiety-ridden words stumbled out of Ken's mouth and he was grateful they formed a coherent sentence. The Raven gave no indication of a response from any ships, not that there were any flying close enough to receive the transmission. Ken slumped in his chair and let out a long sigh. It was no use. Their non-standard flightpath meant they were alone until they got within a few hundred kilometers of Cogan. He glanced at the captain, still unconscious on the deck floor.

He had to keep trying.

"Mayday, mayday. This is Ken Mallory aboard the Raven. We have an emergency situation on board. If anyone can hear this, please respond."

Ken repeated the sequence a forth, fifth, sixth time. The silence was deafening.

"Damnit!" he screamed and punched the console. A clang rang out and echoed down the Raven's main corridor, followed a few seconds later by the low murmurs of Ken Mallory's sobs.

A loud clang startled Bill Hubbard awake and he shot up from the floor. The rush of blood to his head dizzied him, and he placed a hand out to brace against a wall. His balance stabilized and the swimming within his mind subsided after a moment. The normal silence he'd expected to hear from the Raven was drowned by blaring alerts. Hubbard raised his head and focused on his surroundings.

Dim yellow lights colored every inch of the wide hall. A steady stream of uniformed crew jetted past, ignoring the disoriented man. They all ran with a determination he'd seen only a few times before: life-threatening emergencies. Hubbard caught a glimpse of the deep green uniforms with navy sleeves and white belts. He furrowed his brow as three years of memories surfaced at the sight of the outfits.

"I'm on the Oceania," he said automatically.

It made no sense. The Albany class ship had been decommissioned long ago, yet here he stood on the C deck of the first ship he'd served on. He tapped the metal wall plating, even getting close enough to sniff it. Stale. Musty. . It was the Oceania, the only ship he'd known to emit such a nasty smell, but not just on any day. The alerts indicated a fire in the Engineering section of the ship and the running crew had been heading in that direction. Hubbard thought back to that day and knew they'd need all the help possible.

Like visiting a childhood town, Hubbard navigated the Oceania decks with ease. He'd only taken one wrong turn on D deck, hitting a dead end steps away from where he'd made the error. The ship's rectangular layout had always confused rookies as only A and D deck wrapped around the entire ship. The remaining four decks each stopped at various spots along the way, prompting detours and forcing one to double-back.

He heard loud voices shouting and orders being given over the chaotic noise of Engineering. Hubbard stepped through the open door and watched a team work a suppressant hose as six others worked the consoles to shut down each system before the ship sustained more internal damage. The black flexible hoses shot a steady stream of nannites at the flames. Each minuscule robot was designed to engulf the flames in millions of tiny vacuum pockets, suffocating the fire. The technology was safe for humans to breathe, didn't damage any systems that got hit with the stream, and it was a dry solution.

"Team three!" a man shouted into Hubbard's ear.

An unfamiliar commanding officer pointed toward a third hose being set up. Years of instinct kicked in and complied instantly. He took up position in front of the anchor crewman and the hose sprung to life, ferociously bucking under the pressure. Hubbard held tight, then turned back to the other teams on hose detail. It took just one passing glance to spot a young William Hubbard bravely standing at the front of the line. His face was chiseled stone, determined to direct the nannites properly so the flames would go out.