Mission Orion: The Travel through Time

Chapter 17 | Direct Contact

"Keep those shields at maximum capacity. And also keep the weapons hot." I ordered. The war was on. And we had lost a ship before the war had even begun. "It was a mistake coming here. We should have looked for a home someplace else." Souvik muttered, gloomily. "Is it?" Reneesh roared. "You should have left your sissy butt back on Earth." he continued. "Shut up, Reneesh. You don't have any idea what I'm going through." Souvik said. "Shut your hole, Souvik. I'll break your neck if you talk something like that again. We're under enough pressure already. We don't need your pep talks." Reneesh replied, harshly. "How dare you talk to me like that?" Souvik roared, rising from his seat. He took one step towards Reneesh and brought his arm up, evidently meaning to crash it down on Reneesh's face. Souvik managed to land a blow on Reneesh 's jaw. Reneesh balled his fists and smacked Souvik hard in the stomach. "Cut it off! CUT IT OFF!" I yelled, coming in between them both. "Stop acting like babies and get into your freaking senses. We have enough problems on board. We don't need two lunatics fighting with each other." "Don't you dare speak like that with me. I am a captain of a ship." Reneesh shouted, turning to face me. "Cut that crap! If you're a captain, act like one. You are bloody not acting like a captain right now." I yelled back. "Use that bloody brain of yours and help us finding a way through this mess instead of squabbling with each other."

Souvik tidied his shirt and moved away from Reneesh and took a seat on the other end of the bridge. Reneesh gave me his signature death stare. I glared back as well. We had a good glaring match until he stormed back to his seat, muttering about how nobody respects him anymore.

"Rithvik, we have incoming debris from Orion Five. The explosion was strong enough to spew some debris our way." Leo said. The obstacle alarm went off. "Bring all power to the forward shields. NOW!" I ordered, rushing towards the main controls. Soon, we had a visual of the debris making its' way towards us. "Fire emergency thrusters, get us out of the path of that big chunk of debris right there." I ordered, pointing at a piece of debris which was large enough to breach the shield. Although the shield was pretty strong, it was not designed to fend off something large. It only protected us against explosions and most of the missiles. Keeping the shield on for an extended period of time would degrade the core and would prove disastrous. The shields were down on Orion Five for maintenance when the missiles struck. "Captain, the emergency thrusters are offline." Leo reported. "What do you mean they are offline?" I asked, staring at Leo. "When power was rerouted to the shields, the emergency thrusters were taken offline to reroute the power. It was done automatically by the system." Leo said. "Goddammit! They're called emergency for a reason." I snapped, with my teeth gritting. I took a look at the debris and saw it coming with all its' mighty force. The computer screen started to warn us that we were on a collision course. "Brace for impact." the computer warned. "BRACE FOR IMPACT!" I yelled. I saw as the piece of debris struck the invisible shield which sent streaks of green all around the ship. The outer parts of the debris burnt due to the effect of the shield but a chunk of it made its' way through. The ship lurched to its' side and threw Anna and Souvik to the ground. The hull breach alarm went off. "Rithvik, the pressure in the lower decks is plummeting." He said. "Where did the debris strike the ship?" I asked. "MARV, talk to me." Leo said. "I have received the report that there is rapid depressurization in storage rooms three to seven." MARV replied. "MARV, check the logs, is there anything important stored in those rooms?" I asked him. "No, captain." He replied. "Leo, seal those compartments." I ordered. Soon, the affected areas were sealed and the pressure stabilized after a while.

MARV walked over to me and gave me an analysis of the ship. The explosion on Orion Five as well as the destruction caused by the debris hadn't really affected our ship much. But it wasn't the same thing with the crew. The crew was scared and stressed out. I asked them to get down to their cabins and take rest for a while. Leo and I were the only people on the bridge. "Rithvik, we have something approaching our starboard." Leo said, rushing towards me. Activate all the weapons and put us on high alert. Sound the alarm. The crew must be assembled in the bridge" I ordered. "Rithvik, WE HAVE MISSILE LOCK!" he screamed. I rushed to the front of the bridge to get a better look. A ship was approaching us with all its weapons hot. All the crew rushed into the bridge from their cabins. "What the heck!" Reneesh muttered. "Shit." Souvik muttered, pretty much reflecting the mood of the ship. "What are your orders, Captain." Leo asked, with a trace of fear in his voice. "Put everything on standby. Don't fire anything unless fired upon first." I said, trying to maintain my calm. "MISSILE AWAY!" Leo screamed. "Deploy countermeasures" I ordered back, hoping that they could deflect the missiles. Konrad was praying. Anna was pale. As pale as a chalk. I gripped the chair. "Countermeasures successful!" Leo announced, sighing in relief. Obviously, the countermeasures were successful. It was short termed victory anyway. "Rithvik, we have another missile incoming." Leo said. "Deploy countermeasures again." I ordered. "Shit, the countermeasures missed." Leo yelled. The missile hit our shield and fortunately, our shield could absorb the explosion. "Train all weapons towards the enemy ship." I ordered. Reneesh walked over to the weapons control station. "Weapons are locked on." Reneesh reported. "Fire at will. FIRE AT WILL!" I ordered. Reneesh started launching missiles and laser guns at the enemy ship. "Whoa WHOA! Reneesh STOP!" I ordered. "LEO! Are those emergency thrusters online?" I asked him. "Yes, Captain." He replied. "GET US OUT OF THE TRAJECTORY! DEPLOY COUNTERMEASURES!" I screamed. Whatever missiles we were launching, they were deflected right back at us by their shields. "Emergency thrusters at full capacity." Leo said. The ship banked dangerously to its' right. I grabbed the nearest chair to balance myself. We dodged the missiles by a narrow margin.