Mission Orion: The Travel through Time

Chapter 13 | Mutiny on the Bridge

"RITHVIK!!" Leo shouted as he came running towards me, his face glowing with excitement. I was in my cabin with Konrad discussing why we had not received a single message from Atlanta Control since we had entered and exited the wormhole. Konrad believed that something really messed up our navigation system and in addition to that our little adventure with the wormhole could have messed up the connection between us and Earth and there was a pretty large possibility that Earth believed we were lost in space, just like every other human ship which had come here before us. "Any update on what Dave was doing in the server room?" I asked. "Was coming over to inform you on that issue." he replied, excited. "What happened? Why are you so excited?" I asked, puzzled by his behaviour. "Come over to the bridge." he said. "I've already called all the other crew members, including Dave." "C'mon then." I replied as the three of us made our way to the bridge.

The others were already there by the time the three of us made it there. "Hey there, Captain." Dave said, his voice laced with sarcasm. "So, Dave." Leo started. "What were you doing over in the server room?" "Nothing, just going over the flight logs." he replied. "That's not true, he was meddling around with the controls." blurted out Anna. "WHAT?" asked Dave. "I saw what you were trying to do in the server room, Dave. Rithvik, I find something about Dave very fishy." Anna said. Dave's control unit suddenly flashed red and he turned his legs into something like a hammer and lurched towards Anna, who had no time to react, and slammed her in the gut. "WHOAA! STOP HIM!" I shouted. Anna fell onto the ground, unconscious. Don't you dare come close to me. Else I will kill her"  warned Dave. "LEO! DID YOU MAKE SURE THERE IS NO WAY HE ALIENS CAN CONTROL HIM?" I asked Leo. "I WAS SUPPOSED TO CLEAN HIS SYSTEM TODAY" he screamed back. "What the hell are you talking about. I ordered you to carry out that task yesterday." I snarled back. "Guys! Anna needs help" Konrad interrupted. She sure needed help. Blood was trickling out from her mouth. Reneesh and Souvik were in Orion Five taking care of some problem in the ship. Dave was more or less keeping an eye on each one of us. "Dave, what the hell do you think you are you doing? I asked. "My objective" it replied. "And what is your objective?" I asked, scared of knowing what the answer would be. "To destroy this ship. Destroy this mission." he replied. "Under whose authority?" I asked. "The aliens" it replied. "My new masters." Anna's condition was becoming worse with each passing minute. The only indication that she was still alive was her chest moving up and down while she was breathing.Blood was trickling down her lips. Konrad suddenly ran towards Dave when Dave was looking at me and threw himself onto Dave. Dave, in turn, deflected the attack threw Konrad onto the main controls and he fell onto the engine steering control. Autopilot switched off and the ship started banking sidewards. We were heading dead straight towards Orion Five. Konrad managed to retract the bridge which connected both the ships before Dave slammed him again and he flew and fell next Anna. Meanwhile, Leo charged towards Dave and started hitting his body with a metal rod. I ran towards the controls and Reneesh screamed on the radio "ORION FOUR, CORRECT YOUR COURSE. WE ARE ON THE COLLISION COURSE. I REPEAT, CORRECT YOUR COURSE." Orion Five fired up their emergency thrusters but I knew the thrusters won't be at full capacity before we crashed into one another.

Before I could reach out for the controls to correct our course, Dave broke free from Leo and slammed me in the gut. Pain erupted in my body and I started feeling dizzy. I could feel the pain seeping to all parts of my body. I could see Leo charging towards Dave, adrenaline driving him. This time, Dave threw himself on Leo and they both yet again started fighting. Meanwhile, I couldn't get up from the ground. I probably broke my ribs. Couldn't say for sure but the pain was causing my mind to black out. We were minutes away from crashing into Orion Five. "Warning. Collision Course. Warning. Collision Course." warned the computer system. I dragged myself towards Dave. I picked up a wrench lying around, probably left behind by Leo while he was fixing Dave. I gathered every last ounce of strength I had. "AGGGGHHHHHH" I shouted as I brought down the wrench onto Dave's main unit, shattering it in one strike. Leo landed another fatal blow to the unit leaving Dave left with no choice but to give up. "You will never win this war." he said. "Yeah, slick? Let's see" I replied. "RITHVIK! " Leo shouted as he pointed towards Orion Five. Its emergency thrusters were probably at seventy-five capacity. We were just a few seconds away from the collision. I rushed towards the steering controls, my heart pounding hard to keep my mind from blacking out. Anna and Konrad were still unconscious. Anna's breath was a lot shallower now. I finally reached the control and could see Reneesh in the bridge of Orion Five frantically trying to avoid the collision. I finally managed to change the direction of the ship and just in time. One more second and we would have collided, leaving nothing but two flying pieces of debris. And with this, I collapsed into the ground. I could hear Leo screaming my name. I could hear Leo connecting the two ships and could hear Reneesh and Souvik rushing towards me. I didn't have any strength in my body left to speak. I simply pointed towards Anna and Konrad, clearly indicating that they needed immediate attention. 

Then, I blacked out. Somewhere deep in my mind, I prayed that Anna would be okay. I kept thinking about Dave. His behaviour. Something was fishy about the whole thing. Reneesh probably took me to the emergency room. I regained consciousness probably after a few hours. Leo stood over me, his concern showing in his eyes. He looked at me and a huge smile spread across his face. "Two broken ribs and a fractured hand. All taken care of, captain " he said, winking. "How are Anna and Konrad? " I asked. "All good. Konrad is up and back to his work. Anna, well it may take a day for her to fully recover. She was hurt pretty bad. But nothing to worry about." He replied. "What about Dave?" I asked. "I'm so sorry, Rithvik. I should have done it before. In extremely sorry. I didn't think it mattered much. He's completely destroyed now. No way of bringing him back. His whole unit is damaged beyond repair, all thanks to your deadly blow" he replied. "Ahh. Any idea of what he was doing about in the server room? " I asked. "Yeah, I'll tell you once Anna is fully recovered. Nothing to worry about. Our system is not compromised. Reneesh is controlling the ship along with Souvik. Souvik is scared out his skin, Rithvik. But he is doing a pretty good job keeping the ship going." Leo said. "That's good." I replied. "Take some rest, Rithvik. We'll take care of all the issues tomorrow." Leo said. I was already feeling a bit weak and dizzy. Leo got up to go to the bridge when I called out to him. "Take good care of Anna." I said. "I'll do that captain." he said, laughing at me.

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