Mission Orion: The Travel through Time

Chapter 64

It seems like everyone is running into their brothers today. The story between Naveen and I was not a good one. The last time I saw him was when I left my home to join the army. Ever since our parents died, Naveen moved further and further away from me. He became a part of this group of thugs who were responsible for all sorts of crimes happening in the city. I tried my best talking him out of it, but the last time we spoke, it ended with us exchanging blows. 

He stared at me from the other end of the corridor, not surprised at all. He would have been expecting us to meet. On the other hand, I was the one who was dumbstruck. When I left him, I never thought I would see him again. And then I thought there was no way he would make it to Prometheus. But here he was, standing in front of me. "I've been waiting for this." He said, his voice deep, and filled with pain. I could see tears forming in his eyes. "I didn't you'd make it, Naveen." I replied. "All thanks to you. They came searching for me. Just because I was your brother." He replied. "They did?" I asked, surprised. None of the people, except Reneesh, knew I had a brother. They must have pulled out my records. "I don't deserve to be here." Naveen said, tears rolling down his face. I made no attempt to console him. Whatever bond was there in between us had slowly worn out over the years and him standing in front of me did not change any of that. "Why?" I replied, my voice bare of emotion. "I killed people." He replied. "I guess we all did." I replied. "Now I've got a responsibility to fulfill." I said, walking right past him. Reneesh hesitated for a second, but followed me. 

There were blood stains all over the white floors. "We're almost near where there are scuffles happening." The soldier from the HPF told us. We could figure than one out by ourselves by the sound of occasional gunfire. "Remember people, the first thing we have to do is get ourselves armed. Grab the weapons from the fallen soldiers. Our primary goal is to make it into the weapons room. Is it clear?" I asked. The others nodded. We took a right turn as a Kenjah soldiers appeared right in front of us. Before he could register what had happened, Reneesh gave a deadly blow to the soldier, who collapsed onto the floor. "We got two weapons now." I said, as I picked up the weapon from him. I checked his pulse. He was not dead, but wasn't alive enough to fight us either. Reneesh and I had the guns with us and we proceeded. 

As soon as we climbed down one level, we got a full view of the scuffle. Both the Kenjah's men and the humans were engaged in the narrow corridors. The Kenjah's men fired indiscriminately into the crowd, but the humans just kept pushing forward. A very humans had the skills to fight back, much less than fire a gun. It was only the sheer number of people which kept the show going. Both Reneesh and I took the safeties off the weapons and fired at our first target, who collapsed into a pool of blood. We did not waste our ammo, but instead carefully shot our targets one by one. Slowly, we were able to take out the kenjah's men one by one. We took their guns and shot back at them. One of our soldiers was shot by the Kenjah's men and he had no chance of living, considering the bullet tore right through his head. It took just a few minutes for us to take out all the Kenjah's men present in that area. "Let's go to the weapons room." I said, following the HPF soldier as he lead the way. 

We dropped our old weapons and grabbed new ones and loaded ourselves with ammo. "Next stop is the prison. Once we free all the HPF soldiers, we would be on a huge advantage for sure. "Your path is clear for now." The HPF soldier, whose name badge called him Gale Castor, said after receiving information from the George. Another group of HPF soldiers, we heard, are trying to storm into the control and command centre and take back control of it. Together, we marched out of the weapons room and faced about fifty people who were on the corridors. "We need a few more people with skills to break into the prison. It is not going to be as easy as it was now. For one, they already know we are coming and preparing themselves."  said. "The path is still clear, but we have to hurry up. The Kenjah's men are getting over the shock and are trying to regroup according to the information we are getting right now from the command and control centre." Gale said. "Let's select some people first." I said, looking at the crowd. "How many of you here can fight?" I asked the crowd. Everyone put their hands up. "Let me rephrase that." I said, suppressing a smile. "How many of you can handle and fire a gun with accuracy." I asked them again. Most of the hands went down, but there were still a dozen of them risen. A few among them were that of HPF soldiers. "All the HPF soldiers, go arm yourselves. You're coming with us." I said. I also handpicked a few from the crowd who I thought can help us in this. Soon, we were hurrying down the corridors making our way towards the prison.

*** 

I heard a click of a gun to my head. The rest of the team were pointing their guns to a man behind me. "Drop your weapon." Reneesh barked. We were almost at the entrance of the prison, which was sealed shut, but we had a plan on entering it. Turns out, one of Holder's men was an expert with breaking into doors, and had gotten into a lot of trouble back at base. But his skills were going to be put into use to break into the first of a series of doors between us and the prison. We could have easily blown the door up, but we did not want to take the risk of an explosion in the spaceship. We were so engrossed in watching him break through the door that we totally did not notice a man walk up to us, with a gun. Sometimes I wonder how we could be this stupid. "I won't." Said a coarse voice from behind me. I winced at the voice. It was so familiar. And Reneesh felt it too. His grip on his weapon loosened as he realized who it was. I was trying hard, but without a face, I just could not put a name on that voice. "Martin?" Reneesh said, flabbergasted. "You boys did not forget me after all." He exclaimed as he lowered his weapon. "Trust me when I say watch your back, Rithvik. I could have blown your head off." He said. I turned around to see an old man, who was nothing like the Martin I was used to. His body was weak and the grip on his gun was pathetic. "Look at you!" I exclaimed. "Don't utter a word." He warned, but his signature smile still on his face after all these years. "You boys have some work to do, don't you?" He said. "Sure we do. We still are saving the goddamn world." I replied. We continued breaking through the door while Reneesh, Martin and I had a discussion about how things were when we were gone. Soon after we disappeared, word spread to the masses about the Orion Mission, which was kept a secret. Day by day, the frustration increased among the masses and Martin was kicked out of his job and was replaced by someone inefficient. Governments all over the world were dissolved and committee in place for Mission Orion was merged with the Commitee for the Prevention of Extinction and together they were rechristened as the World Government. They were responsible for everything which happened across the globe, or whatever was left of it. How a group of people sitting in one place could govern the whole world, I did not know. They were also in charge of the Prometheus Mission. Soon, the Global Government turned inefficient and its leader was replaced again. Even after the humans evacuated to Europa and then to Prometheus, the same leader had continued but he soon started abusing his powers. There was no court for trails, there was no parliament for representation. And then finally, just months before Prometheus flew into the wormhole, there was an uprising. The people, supported by the lower cadre- soldiers of the Human Peacekeeping Force, then called the Orion Security Force, who were also responsible for law and order back on Earth. They disobeyed orders from their higher ups and the power shifted to a new government led by George. The top leaders of the erstwhile government are still in the prison. The previous government's leader were accused of a lot of serious crimes even when the population was still on Earth. Sexual assaults, assassinations, murders, corruption, running of prostitution rackets and a lot more. "So it is for the good, isn't it?" I asked him. "It sure is." He replied.

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Thanks for reading the chapter. Sorry for the delays again, too busy with school now that it has reopened again. 

I'm sure you guys remember Martin from Chapter Two :3 , and for those who don't, Martin was the Mission Head for the Orion Mission when Orion Four and Five were launched!

VOTE IF YOU LIKE IT!

-Rithvik/LPS21