The Orville (the Alternate) Season Three

S3E19

BORTUS

"It's gone," Captain Mercer announced when Kelly walked onto the bridge. Talla followed in after her, looking uncharacteristically distraught.

"What's gone?" Kelly asked, heading for her seat.

"The Temple, the cloning facility, all of it," Captain Mercer said. "The workers and scientists, even the high priest!"

"Holy Galaxies!" Kelly breathed out a long breath, taking a seat. "Is it war? Did someone blow up the Temple? Civil war? Or another species—?"

"We have no idea." The Captain took a seat as well. "It's in ruins-"

"The collapse seems to have been caused by the compromise of the building's structural integrity," Isaac said. "Quite possibly from the additional space created beneath the Temple for laboratories, causing the entire Temple to collapse in on itself."

"Were there any survivors?" The Captain asked, no one in particular.

"No, Sir," Bortus offered. He'd been the one to discover the situation, after taking over for the useless ensign who had Bortus's station on the overnight shift.

"Ed!"

All heads turned to voice at the bridge entrance. It was Teleya, flanked by the Krill priests. "The Temple," she said. "It's been destroyed."

The Captain stood from his seat. "Teleya," he said. "I thought you left-"

"I came to say that we are not unaware that this attack happened upon the arrival of the Orville."

"You can't possibly think we had anything to do with this."

"The Temple collapsed on itself due to lack of structural integrity," Isaac repeated.

"The high priest was inside when this happened," Teleya said.

Bortus could tell this was a life altering occurrence to the people of Krill. He clenched his jaw. If the Krill high priest was killed, it could mean a breakdown of their faith system and the structure of their entire society. Bortus was familiar with the need for this type of structure for civilizations such as the Krill, and Moclan's, who had very strong beliefs necessary for their way of understanding themselves and the galaxy. And if the Krill believed someone had attacked their holy Temple, it would mean a holy crusade, worse than the one they normally seemed to be on against the other species of the galaxy.

"You may not leave orbit until it is clear that the Orville had nothing to do with these recent events," Teleya said.

"I assure you," Isaac said. "We did not."

"We will assure ourselves," Teleya replied. Then she stormed off, the Priests following after her.

"What'd we miss?" Gordon bounded onto the bridge, along with John. Like two children coming home from playing outside in a field.

Suddenly, Talla broke down in tears. 

Kelly threw the Captain a death glare that even sent shivers down Bortus's spine, then hurried to escort Talla off the bridge.

The Captain stood, unmoving and in complete confusion.

"So, can we leave Krill space now?" Gordon asked.

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Author's note: Thanks for reading! I wrote extra chapters today to catch up a bit and because I'll be away tomorrow until Monday. I'm heading to the big city for ComicExpo! I'm curious to see if I'll find any Orville stuff at the vendors! To the three people who are reading every chapter as I post them, thank you for sharing in this journey with me! Have a great weekend everyone!