Mission Orion: The Travel through Time

Chapter 48 | Arrival to the Photrox

"Fire the thrusters." the pilot ordered, as the fighter jet moved aimlessly in empty space. I then felt a jolt forward following which the jet moved forward. This was it, I felt it in my bones. This is where I either save my crewmates, my friends, or I die, trying to save them. Profus and Emanta were sitting right opposite to me, and I could not make eye contact with either of them. Now with absolutely nothing to do but wait, I did what every other person would do when he has nothing to work, think. There is something really fishy going on with Profus. Montwik and Reneesh know it too, but Montwik is just too scared to accept it. I was sure of that. But we were going straight to the palace of the Kenjah, and apparently, he was right there, probably waiting for us. He probably knew we were coming, all thanks to the infamous spy, who has been passing our information to him. 

"What are you thinking about?" Profus asked me, interrupting my thoughts. "Just thinking about this whole thing." I replied, looking at his face trying to read it, but all I got back was an expression which is hard to be read. "We're going to get them back, and win this war and save your world and ours. I can assure you that." He replied. "That is the millionth time I've heard it, Profus, and I am sick of hearing the same thing being told a million times." I said. Profus looked at me, most probably not knowing how to reply. "What is wrong with you, man?" Reneesh, who was sitting right next to me asked. "What?" I asked back, not clearly understanding what he meant by that. "You have been acting all weird around him since the day you hurled the false accusations at him. And by the way, I also noticed another thing. You have started acting weird all of a sudden with Emanta as well. As someone who stuck with you for a very long time, I need to know what it happening in that small brain of yours." He said. "It is hard to explain, Reneesh. All this stress, this confusion I have in me, it's been taking a toll on my mental health." I replied. "When all this is done, I'm buying you a drink. Just you and me." He said, smiling. "I'll take that offer up." I said, smiling back at him. 

I looked out of the window and found that the rest of the ships were moving along with us as well. The destroyers and the battleships could be easily differentiated. The destroyers looked a lot meaner than the battleships, stating the obvious. They had a lot more weapons and were smaller than the battleships, which is an advantage considering smaller ships need a lower amount of fuel and can maneuver around easier than bigger ships, And on the other hand, the battleships were huge and had comparatively fewer weapons. But don't get me wrong, both of these ships looked like they could cause some real damage. Meanwhile, the only prominent thing which differentiated the ships of the Vortex and the Crux Armies was the color and the symbol, which was visible on either sides of the ships. Apparently, the ships of the Crux Army, which I was told were slower than the ships of the Vortex Army, were upgraded and were now as fast as their counterparts. That meant, we had just another day before we were within visibility range of the Photrox. 

"AlphaTwelve, this is the confirmation for General Montwik that the Rescue Mission is a go. Captain Holder is in command of the mission. Beta One over and out."

We had just five days left until Earth is destroyed, once and forever. We still have one day to reach the home planet, Photrox, which leaves us with just four days to win the war. That is some thin margin of error. If we mess up, then there is no way we would have enough time to correct ourselves. 

"All Alpha, Charlie and Tango team ships have been given the go-ahead to enter enemy territory. The first line of defense has been destroyed, all thanks to the efforts of our Research team. The only resistance you will now be facing is that of the enemy ships. All the best, and may the force be with us."

"How did they manage to take out the first line of defense?" I asked Emanta, who seemed to be the only person I actually knew who could answer my question. She seemed taken aback by the fact that I asked her something but she managed to give out an answer. "The teams who managed to hack into these systems were the people who actually built them in the first place. They know all the systems on the home planet, except for the kenjah's palace, inside out. So it must have been a cakewalk for them." She replied, looking at me the whole time. "That's nice to know. The fact that the things which were built to kill us, were prepared by people from our team. That's reassuring." I said. She managed to smile and did not reply to that. I then looked at Profus to see what his reaction was. I didn't know if it just was my imagination, but he seemed a bit paler than he was a few moments ago. If he really was the spy to the kenjah, this must have come as a shocker for him. The news that the R&D department was trying to take out the first line of defense was known to none. And he probably was counting on it to reduce the number of ships which would reach the home planet. But I doubt if Kenjah wouldn't have seen it coming. From what I've heard and seen, he is quite a hard person to outsmart.