Mission Orion: The Travel through Time

| Chapter 57 |

The sight above was that of severe destruction. Two out of the four towers of the palace were in ruins and the rest of the building was not in good shape either. The exterior of the palace had taken a severe beating and the walls were scorched due to the bombs and the missiles. We saw a lot of crashed jets with smoke billowing of them, which made us assume that this had happened not long before. "We have to keep moving." Holder said, as we climbed down a huge pile of rubble. We occasionally came across the dead bodies of soldier, most of which were burnt  beyond recognition. We could still see a few planed up in the air, circling the air, and they seemed like they belonged to the Kenjah, thanks to the Orange markings on the jets. "They are Kenjah's planes flying above aren't they?" Holder asked Montwik. "Yes, they are." I looked around again to realize that most of the jets which were on the ground were that of the red and blue markings, which meant they belonged to the Vortex-Crux army. "That meant we lost the aerial war?" Reneesh asked. "I don't know. But there are supposed to be a lot more jets than the ones which crashed." Montwik replied. Suddenly, the air raid siren went off. "TAKE COVER! TAKE COVER!" Holder yelled as we made our way back to the buildings. We heard the sound of jets fast approaching us. "We have seven minutes till our ride arrives." Holder yelled over the sound of the jets zooming past us, firing their missiles on the Kenjah's planes. We saw as one of the Kenjah's plane get hit and crash right into the third tower, which went up in flames. The Vortex and the Crux fighters seemed to be more focused on to prevent the Kenjah's air force from taking taking control of their air space rather than destroying the palace. Montwik took out this satellite phone and prepared to send out a message. 

"Alpha 1012 to Base, do you copy?"

"Base to Alpha 1012, we copy. Are you at the pick up point yet?" 

"Negative, base. We are stuck between the crossfire from the air. Please inform the jets there still are friendlies in the area."

"Alpha 1012, erm.. we already did that, and there is nothing much we can do. We will instruct them to keep a lookout for you, but you have to hurry. There is another squadron of Kenjah's Air Force coming in hot. It is the Black Storm, sir." 

"Shit. We are getting out of here. How many more squadrons do we have left?" 

"We have seven more squadrons left in the Kenjah's area. The rest of them have been deployed near the major cities. We can redirect a few from the Capital City if needed."

"Roger that. We are moving out of here. Over and out." 

"Base, out." 

***

"We better get out of her before the Black Storm arrives." Montwik said to Holder. "What is the Black Storm?" Konrad asked. I knew the answer. I heard the name when we were discussing about the Kenjah's forces. The Black Storm was the deadliest air team the Kenjah's forces have and they are capable of some serious damage. We had the Flying Warriors to counter them. 

"This is Base to Alpha 1012. Flying Warriors inbound." 

"Roger that, base."

***

"Where is the tunnel?" I asked Montwik. "Should be right over there." Pointing towards the far end of the palace perimeter. "Profus probably knows we are using the tunnel." Reneesh said. "But we do not have a choice, this is our only way out of here." Holder replied. "We have to get out before the Black Storm and the Flying Warriors arrive. It is going to be hell once they clash." Montwik said, as he grabbed his gun. Suddenly, our headsets, which had gone silent suddenly when we entered the Kenjah's air space had re-established contact with base. 

"This is base to the rescue team. We have successfully been able to re-establish contact with you. We have severed contact and destroyed the headsets of our soldiers who have lost their lives so that the Kenjah's forces cannot eavesdrop on our conversations. We are going to patch you over to Captain Ledger Modm, captain of your rescue mission. Hoping to see ya'll back at base. Base over and out. ... This is Warrior Two, do you copy, Montwik?"