I'm not sure what to do next chapter, but I've got a few ideas. See ya then I guess.
I woke up the next morning and went into the control room to see what was going on. Ben was sitting at a console, facing away from me.
"Mornin', " I said as I passed him.
He spun around. "John! What're you doing here! We've been looking for you for the past week!"
"Oh, I was at Atlantis. Saved some survivors. "
"Well, now you get to save the peace here. " He got up and went to the holoprojector. He zoomed in on the arms depot the Omaticaya had made to keep the weapons away from the humans. "The day you went missing, Resilience crew and humans raided the arms depot. They took as much as they could carry and destroyed the rest. Not too hard to do when you're destroying incendiaries. Anyways, for the past week, they've been doing hit and run raids on the Omaticaya. They've commandeered Hope and all of our air vehicles. The six you brought back are all we have left. "
I looked at the map, now displaying the places where the Omaticaya had been attacked. "Why are they doing this?"
"They say that this is the 'new Atlantis' and that they must clear out all who oppose its creation. "
"Sounds like a terrorist group. "
"I know. They've locked up the others as well. May, Catherin, Abigail, and Gabe. They even found Paul's ARC and destroyed it. "
"Destroyed it!"
"Yep. Smashed it with a hammer and then chucked it into space. "
I sighed. I had been hoping for a few days of quiet. "Why aren't you locked up?"
"They told me to give you a message. They said 'this is our planet now, and you can leave', except not that nicely. "
"So this is what we get for saving them from eternal sleep. Show me what we got to work with. "
"Six helicopters, nineteen Atlantians, and one helicopter pilot. All up against about 75 Atlantians and a hundred humans. "
"Not great odds. What weapons do we have?"
"We've got the helicopters. That's about it. And our bows and knives. "
"Did they raid our camp?"
"Yes. It's all burned down. "
"Darnit. I had some cloaking suits there. "
"I know. "
"We'll work with what we've got. Get the others in here please. "
"Got it. "
I sat down in a chair next to him as he spoke over the PA system. I was gonna be in trouble with the Omaticaya, I knew that. They might banish me or something, but I needed to fix what I'd done wrong, even if they rejected me. The first step would be to take out the troops on Pandora. Hope was a big ship, but the landing gear had been broken when we first left Atlantis. It wouldn't be landing here any time soon. If we took out their air troops, then we could stop reinforcements to and from Hope and starve them out. Only problem was, that's where my other crew members were being held. If we did that, they might kill them. We would have to get them out first so they couldn't control us.
The others began to pour into the cafeteria outside of the control room. I waited until they had all sat down and then went out to talk to them. "Sorry for getting you up so early, but we have a problem. It seems that the week I was gone, we've had an uprising. Seventy-five Atlantians and a hundred humans have acquired weapons and or ships, Hope. They have captured four other crew members and they are being detained on board Hope. They've been attacking the natives and causing panic to the population. We need to stop them before it's too late. Our first step will be to take Hope and free the other four. After that, we need to locate their ground base and take that out. Third and final step will be to eliminate any remaining troops that weren't at either of the locations when we attacked. We don't need someone to run off with explosives and blow a hole in Hope. Who was the leader on Atlantis?" I knew that to survive a decade on a hostile planet was no easy feat. they would have to have somebody to teach them how to survive.
One person stood up. "I'm Sergeant Brand. I will help you with your mission, as well as the others. "
"Thank you for your help. How far along have your powers developed?"
"Quite a bit. We have made Programs and Proxies before. "
"Good. That should be enough.
"Glad to hear it. What do you want us to do?"
"Divide into three teams. You, Ben and I will each command a team. We'll board Hope at the main hangar and split up from there. One will take the bridge, the detention cells, and the armory. Priority is to regain control of Hope and free the others. "
"We can do that. When do you want us ready?"
"Tonight. We'll take off at midnight. "
"We can do that. "
"Thanks again for helping. "
"No problem. Just returning the favor. "
At midnight, we were all in a helicopter, waiting for takeoff. We were taking three, one with each team. In my team was Trudy and five of the survivors. I was in charge of the bridge. We took off and approached Hope in radio silence. We kept all lights off so they couldn't see us and used only pneumatic stabilizers to approach. When we got too close for the guns to do anything, we landed in the hangar quickly. The doors opened as soon as we entered the pressurized area. There were four guards, which were taken care of immediately. ARC had put the cameras into a loop before we landed, so nobody could tell we were here. We split up into our teams. I would stick with Brand's team for a short while before his team split from ours.
"Good luck, " I said to him as he turned to the detention cells.
"You too, " He replied.
I continued through the hallways. We met no one, which was unnerving. They must have most of their troops on the planet. I was most of the way to the bridge when a door behind me opened. I spun around, ready to impale whoever emerged with an icicle. Nobody stepped out, and the door closed. Suddenly, I realised what had happened. They were in a cloaked suit. I sent out a shockwave of frost, clearly outlining four figures. Two in front, and two behind.
"Ben, Brand, they have cloak suits, be careful, " I said over the comms. I froze one in ice while I drew my knife and sliced the wrist of another as he lunged. Trudy had shot one of the others, and the remaining two went down easily.
"We were just about to get attacked by some. Thanks for the early warning, " Brand said over the comms.
"Ben, are you there?"
"Yeah. Almost lost one to the cloak suits. All good now. Almost to the armory. "
"Good. " I continued to the bridge, using water sense to keep an eye out for cloaked people. I was just outside the bridge door about to open it, when a squad of guards came from down the hall towards us. They were Atlantians. They had rifles and opened fire. I blocked the hallway with a sheet of ice and sent it towards them. They paused their firing and turned it back into a puddle of water. I couldn't do much against them with water. We got up against the wall, hiding in any crevice we could find. I drew my bow and fired once around the corner. Somebody yelled in pain, and the fire lessened slightly. I closed my eyes and did something I hadn't done in a long time. I made a Program.
It formed behind the shooters and attacked them. They were taken by surprise and weren't prepared for melee attackers. They were knocked out very quickly. I turned it back into water and we stormed the bridge. There were seven people sitting at the consoles, as well as ten guards. The guards were human, but the people at the console were Atlantians. I froze the humans and the others attacked the Atlantians. They started fighting each other with swords and shields, hitting a lot of the fragile technology. I joined in with my knife, killing them one after another. Once they were all dead, I had the others lock the bridge.
"Brand, Ben, we've got the bridge. How about you?"
"Detention cells are all ours. Your friends are free. "
"Armory is being stubborn. Got four Atlantians locked inside. We would storm it but I don't want them blowing up the ship. "
"I'll take care of them in the armory. Brand, I'm sending my troops to you. Clear the ship and lock everyone up. " I sent the Atlantians to Brand, but had Trudy stay. I needed somebody to keep an eye on the hall. I accessed the circulation system and shut off air to the armory. In thirty minutes, their air would run out and they would pass out. Then I would open the doors and we would have the armory.
Once the other reached Brand, the ship was quickly cleared. The rebels were locked in the detention cells and Ben was able to take the armory without resistance. There were only thirty people on Hope, and we managed to fit them all into the largest detention cell. I put them into suspended animation from the bridge and we got ready to descend back to the planet.