Mission Orion: The Travel through Time

Chapter 59

I watched as Jack raised his gun and took aim at Holder. "HOLDER!" I screamed, frantically looking around, searching for my gun. That's when I remembered about the gun Montwik had given me. I took it out, and aimed it at Jack. "Drop the gun." I ordered. I sensed silence sweeping over the soldiers around us. "Jack? What are you doing?" Montwik asked, his face filled with shock. Me, I wasn't so shocked. I had been expecting something like this ever since I saw the episode of Profus. Somehow, Profus managed to shoot, and probably kill Jack, and then bring him back to life, erasing all evidence of him being shot, and turned him over to his side. "I'm just following orders, Montwik. Except those orders ain't coming from you anymore." He replied, his eyes twitching. "He's been taken over, Montwik. Look at his eyes." I said. Jack still had his gun aiming at Holder, who was standing still, not making a single move. Meanwhile, I had my gun pointed right at Jack, who didn't seem to be bothered by it at all. "What did they do to you, Jack?" Montwik said with sympathy in his words. "All they did was show me the  better path. Your path leads you to absolute death. You are bound by your promise to the humans, you will do whatever you can to protect their kind. You want to save as many lives as possible, and wish for the perfect world order. The Kenjah is not bound by any of these rules. He has no strings on him." Jack replied, his voice bare of any emotions. "I don't get it, Jack. Or whoever is controlling him. We almost have you. We are close to capturing the Kenjah's palace. We already have almost every other major city. How can you still say we are losing?" Montwik replied, confused. "You've done everything. Except the one thing which matters to you a lot. You haven't secured the rest of the humans." Jack replied. "SHIT. THAT'S HIS PLAN!" Reneesh yelled.

***

"Sir, we have a message from Base. We are patching them over." said the captain from the Comms.

"This is base to Rescue team. We have disturbing news. The humans entered our system just seconds ago. We have confirmed that they were left with no choice. Before we could send out patrol units to ensure their safety, thirty squadrons of Kejah's army have taken them hostage. They have been lying in wait for their arrival. We have dispatched several squadrons of our own but we are waiting for your orders on whether to open fire or lie in wait. This is base, over and out." 

"You knew they were coming. Why couldn't you send out our jets? Secure them as soon as they entered this system?" Reneesh asked Montwik before I could even react. "We were too busy with the war. We needed each and every squadron we could get our hands on for us to secure the cities on photrox. We were keeping tabs on any jet which goes in their direction, but none of their jets did. This means, they must have set their camp there near the entrance even before we left for photrox from our base." Montwik replied. "See Rithvik, this is what happens when you trust Montwik with something. Our own kind comes first, then come humans." Jack said. "SHUT UP!" I yelled back. This was not something I wanted to happen. The Kenjah had been one step ahead of us. "I'm going and asking our forces to retreat from Kenjah's palace for now. This will buy us some time." Montwik said. "What about him?" I asked, indicating Jack. "Kill him." Montwik ordered.

Jack's eyes twitched again as he strengthened his grip on his gun and his fingers ran towards the trigger. Holder seemed to have noticed this. Before anyone could react, Jack pulled the trigger, and I pulled by trigger. Holder grabbed his gun lying right beside him and put it up as defense just as the bullet slammed into his gun. Meanwhile, my bullet dug into his forehead and he collapsed in a pool of blood around him. Everyone in the jet relaxed and Montwik rushed into cockpit so that he could make his call to the base and give the orders. Meanwhile, I sat down beside Emanta, whose wounds were given first aid but they still needed immediate medical attention. She was fast asleep and even all the chaos in the jet didn't wake her up. It's good in a way, the last thing she needs is to worry about something. 

"This is a checkmate, man." I said, as Reneesh sat down beside me. "I don't know, Rithvik. Everything seemed to be going our way finally, and suddenly this happens. I don't know how we are going to regain control of the Prometheus ships." Reneesh replied. "We're retreating from the Kenjah's palace. And if this situation continues, we would be forced to retreat form the other major cities as well." I said. "That is, if the Vortex and the Crux armies are still concerned about the human race. If they put their ambitions in front of them, then we are gone for good." Reneesh replied. "Let's just hope that does not happen." I replied. Anna and Konrad walked over and sat beside me as I looked out of the window as we zoomed past the clouds and made our way back to Beta One. 

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As I mentioned before, sorry for the delay in chapters. I was out on a holiday and well, I couldn't find time to write. I'll try publishing more chapters frequently. Thanks for waiting.

-LPS21/ Rithvik.

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