Mission Orion: The Travel through Time

Chapter 28 | The Rescue Team Part Two

The guard lay still on the ground, blood oozing from the gunshot on his head. Schrotanic turned his back on me and pointed his gun at the door, where the bullet came from. "Who's out there?" Schrotanic asked. He was replied with flying bullets which killed all the guards. Schrotanic fired his gun towards the door. "Control, this is Schrotanic. I need some backup at Conference Hall one. We have a rogue soldier in the base. Put it on lockdown." Schrotanic yelled into his earpiece. "Whatever you're doing. It won't work." A voice said from outside the door. "Whoever you're calling out for help and giving orders to, they work for us." It said. I recognized the voice, and by the looks of it, so did Schrotanic. The voice belonged to Montwik.

Just then I realised that I had the perfect opportunity in hand. I had a gun and Schrotanic had his back facing me. I slowly walked up towards Schrotanic and pointed my gun at his head. "Drop the gun." I ordered. Schrotanic stopped shooting and stood still like a statue. "You can't get out of this place without being shot to death." He replied, gritting his teeth. "Just drop the freaking gun." I repeated, pressing the gun against his forehead. Schrotanic slowly loosened his grip on the gun and let it fall to the ground. I kicked the gun away from Schrotanic. "Get down on your knees with your hands on your head." I ordered. Schrotanic obeyed without uttering a word.

Montwik and Emanta entered through the door and their eyes immediately fell on the now limp body of Leo. "I'm so sorry about this, Captain. I tried to prevent this. But I was too late." Montwik said, shifting his gaze to me, referring to what happened to Leo. Reneesh ran towards Montwik and held him by the collar. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM? YOU BEASTS, WHAT THE HECK DID HE DO TO YOU? WHY?" He yelled, his sobs choking his voice. "WHAT DID WE EVER DO TO YOU?" he continued yelling. Montwik and Emanta just stood there, not making a sound. I gave my gun to Anna walked over to Reneesh and put my hand on his shoulders. "I'm sorry." Montwik said. "Sorry? SORRY? Do you think for a second I give a damn for your sorry? Does your sorry bring him back? WILL YOUR SORRY BRING BACK LEO?" He yelled. Schrotanic was still on his knees, glaring at Montwik. Montwik looked down at the ground, not making eye contact with anyone.

"Why are you doing this , Montwik? You want to side with these scumbags?" Schrotanic interrupted. Reneesh rushed over and grabbed the gun from Anna and slammed the butt of the gun onto Schrotanic 's lower jaw, breaking it with a cracking sound. Blood poured from his mouth but he still managed to glare at Montwik. Montwik lifted his head and glared back at Schrotanic. "There's something called sympathy and ... love. It's also caller humanity. That's something many people, like you, wouldn't understand." Montwik replied. He then looked at me. "We're here to help you, Captain." He continued. "HELP? HOW? PUT ANOTHER CHIP IN OUR HEADS AND KILL US ALL ONE BY ONE?" Reneesh interrupted. Montwik looked at me helplessly. "Reneesh, just let Montwik speak.." I said. "THEY KILLED LEO!" Reneesh yelled. I looked at the other crew mates who had their heads down. "I know, man. I know. But we have to win this war for him. And we may have a way out of here." I replied. He looked at me and stormed over to the rest of the crew without uttering a single word. "We don't have much time." Montwik started.

"We have to get out of this base. We can fly to Base Four, which is just a few hours from here. The whole base is against this program and is willing to offer assistance. I was able to convince them yesterday to let you guys into their base and offer you shelter until... the big day." He continued. "What Big day?" I asked him. "Long story. Will tell you once we are on the ship." Montwik replied. "You will be hanged." Schrotanic managed to say with his broken jaw. Montwik ignored him and gestured us to follow him. "What about the defences? Won't they shoot us down?" I asked him. " No one knows what's happening here. It will be long before they realise what happened. We'll be long gone by then." Montwik replied. "C'mon." I gestured the crew to follow me. For once, Reneesh followed without debate. "What about this scumbag?" Reneesh asked Montwik, pointing at Schrotanic. "Bring him along. We'll need him. " Montwik replied. "What if someone sees us dragging Schrotanic down the hallways?" Anna asked. "Bag his head. Anyone looking at him would think he's Leo." Montwik said. Suddenly realising what he said, he attempted at making an apology which resulted in Reneesh shooting him a serious glance.

We made through the security of the building and were getting ready for lift off. No one batted an eye at the bagged scumbag and with Montwik with us, we made through the base quickly. I bid my last goodbyes to Leo with a heavy heart. He took a huge chunk of my heart with him when he left us. No matter what people tell me, I killed Leo. I killed my best friend with my own hands. I will have to live with that guilt forever. We boarded the ship and it turned out Emanta was a pilot. We finally took off from the base and made our way to the other base.

I didn't know what I was doing anymore. We were trusting the very people who killed Leo in the first place. But this was the closest hope we had for getting out of this place.

"Why can't you just fly back to our ship? We could be on our way back to our universe and never return." I asked Montwik. "They'll hunt you down. And they'll kill all you humans in front of your own eyes and laugh looking at you weeping. You messed with the kenjah. We killed four guards." He started. "Not we. You. You killed four guards. " I interrupted. "We're a team now." He replied. "Team? You ought to be kidding me." I replied. "If you fall, you're going to take me down with you. WE killed four guards. And abducted the leader of a base. And coming to the big day.." Montwik continued. "What about it?" I asked, sitting beside him. I had a hunch this was going to be a long conversation. "The big day. People on this planet have been talking about it for years. And the Crux Army, longer than that. Everyone knows that the day is going to come, but they just don't know when. The kenjah has his spies and his sources for information. But it's filled with spies from the Crux army. They are all double agents. The Crux Army sends many people down here for spying on us and make preparations for the big day. I'm one of them. So is Emanta.Ninety-five percent of the soldiers on this planet support the Crux Army.." Montwik continued. "If the number is that large, where did the real soldiers go?" I asked. "Most of the supporters are real Vortex soldiers who had their ideologies changed by people like me. They would support us, but are afraid of what would happen if they failed." He said. "Yeah, we know this bit." I replied. "Jake probably told you about this. Jake is the second in command for the Crux Army Supporters Organisation on this planet." He replied. "That's a lame name." I said. "We're working on it." he replied, smiling. "The war between the Crux Army and the Vortex Army started out as a real war, with real casualties. But lately, most of the encounters and the standoffs are orchestrated to deceive the kenjah and his army back on our home planet. The people we say have lost their lives will actually go underground and help with our cause without being seen. All of us are waiting for the day all this would end." Montwik said. "And what exactly is the big day?" I asked. "Oh yes, back to the big day. It's simple. The big day is a mutiny." He said. "Mutiny against whom?" I asked. He looked at me in the eye and said:

"Mutiny against the kenjah. The day the Crux Army is going to dethrone the kenjah together with us, the Vortex Army."

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