Changed: Outbreak

Chapter 11: Wild Territorial Entry

[K's pov]

Home sweet home. I'm finally back. I felt a sense of relief when I got back to the laboratory. Puro and Colin might be waiting for me inside. I entered through the double doors of the main entrance, stepping into the lobby before realizing that Puro and Colin are both standing close to the ham radio that I have set up next to the computer on the lobby desk. They both noticed my arrival, and Colin waved his paw at me.

"Doctor K, do you copy?" The radio spoke out, and the two wolves standing by the ham radio appeared to be frightened by the sounds coming from it.

"Doctor K, how do you operate this thing?" Puro asked as I approached them, standing close to them before pressing a button on the ham radio. "This is Doctor K, I hear you clear." I replied over the radio before waiting for the reply. I took a glance at Puro, and I noticed him having a confused look over the mysterious ham radio. I can't help but smile. "There you are, Doctor K. This is Lui. It seems we can't leave because there is no control manual for the ship controls. We've searched everywhere, and the previous crew of the ship didn't bring the manual with them. Over."

When I thought everything is all according to plan, I overlooked one single major detail. They can't fly a ship. "Does the ship controls contain an autopilot?" I asked over the radio, and I then felt a tug on my left shoulder. I turned to look, and it was Puro. "Lui is on the line? How do you operate that? I want to talk to him too!" Puro stated and I let out a sigh. "Later, I will teach you how to operate the ham radio."

Puro smiled at me in response. "I see an autopilot button on the control panels. Scott is attempting to... Umm... Is it called hotwire? Yeah, he's trying to hotwire a ship. I think he's also gotten the ship to start. Over." I let out a sigh of relief that they managed to start the ship. I turned to look at Puro and Colin before stepping aside from the ham radio. "Puro, Colin, now is your time to say goodbye to Scott and Lui." I stated and they both looked at me with a surprised look. "They're leaving?!"

[Lui's pov]

"Have you gotten that part sorted out? I don't understand you typing on that computer. What are even waiting for at this point?" I asked as I stood next to Scott who's typing on the computer on the control panel. All those wizardry on the computer and all that pressing of buttons on the keyboard, it's confusing me. "Don't worry. I'm almost done with this. I just have to find the system's transport log so we can pinpoint our destination for the autopilot controls to follow." Scott explains as he types aggressively on the keyboard.

"Lui! Scott! Can you hear me?" A voice spoke out on my radio, and I immediately picked it up. "I hear you loud and clear." I replied and I felt a tug on my right shoulder. I turned to look at Scott, and he has his right paw raised, giving me a thumbs up. "We're ready for take off. The autopilot should, in theory, be able to take off the ship. A couple of years into the future and technology should have advanced enough for us to be able to do this." Scott stated before pointing at the engine start button next to the autopilot button on the control panel.

"This is Puro. I wish you safe travels out there. May this journey guide you in searching for the answers in your life." The radio spoke out and I smiled before holding the walkie-talkie close to my visor. "Thank you, Puro." I replied before pressing the engine start button, and the ship roared into life. I placed the walkie-talkie into my jacket pocket before looking at Scott. Scott has his right paw raised into a fist, and I raised mine to bump his fist. "A start of a new journey. My second journey, and your first."

"Your second? What's your first?"

[K's pov]

Three hours after the last transmission with Lui and Scott, presumably them now being on their way to the planet of their race. I walked through the hallways of my testing chambers with Puro following me from behind. Testing chambers lined up to my right with the clear glass wall for observation. Testing chambers either unused and clean from debris, or used and dirtied by the mess of my previous Latex experiments. "Doctor K, there's the Protogen." I turned around to look at Puro, and Puro appears to be glaring at something.

I took a step forward and stood next to him before looking at one of the test chambers. The glass of the testing chambers are cracked, and the Protogen is sitting on the far end corner of the room. The pot holding a plant of a Blue Apple tree is knocked down on the floor. It seems the Protogen has awoken a few hours ago. The Protogen turned around and glared at us, before taking a step closer to the cracked glass wall diving us from the testing chambers. "Assuming the rest of my squad is dead, there's nothing left for me to do but to sabotage your tiny little operations."

I felt my canine ears perked up, and my eyes widened in response. The voice of the Protogen is audible enough through the walls of the testing chambers. "What do you mean?" I asked and the Protogen brought out a walkie-talkie. "You forgot to search me. I have all of my belongings on my body, including the radio. I've been listening clearly to the radio transmission, and it seems intruders have hijacked my ship and is now heading back home. I wonder what will happen if I reach out to."

I stood close to the glass wall of the testing chamber before banging on the glass wall with my right paw. Tch, I can't do anything about this. His squad has been killed by the tazer of Lui frying a component in their head. Their ship is stolen. There isn't anything to bargain with this Protogen to prevent it from sabotaging the ride. "There's nothing you can do, unfortunately." I immediately turned to look at Puro before pointing at the Protogen. "Puro, guard the Protogen for me. I have to warn the others on the ham radio." I stated and Puro nodded at me. I quickly ran for the lobby as fast as I could. This is bad.

[Lui's pov]

"Lui! Wake up!" I slowly opened my eyes, waking up to the voice of Scott. "Are we there yet?" I asked as I gently sat upright on the bed. I noticed the visor of Scott showing an expression of panic. "We're almost there, but we might have a major problem. One of the original crew of the Sierra sixer-one-one just informed Sergeant Frost, the operator behind all of our calls, that there are intruders who have hijacked the ship. We might be expecting trouble on our landi--"

All of a sudden, a loud explosion was heard. The ship was shaken to the core, and I felt the gravity inside the ship change. We're going down! The explosion at the front of the ship is enough to knock me off from the bed and on the floor. "Lui, we have to move fast!" I felt my right arm being pulled up, and I slowly stood back up, struggling to balance my footing. I noticed Scott already have a parachute bag worn on his back. "Turn around, I have to fit this on you."

[Frost's pov]

Wait, who fired a missle on the Sierra sixer-one-one? Did the lieutenant gave an order on the strike? "This is the lieutenant, who the hell unleashed a missle on the incoming ship? I repeat, who the hell unleashed a missle on the incoming Sierra sixer-one-one? Ground team, is it you who fired the missle?"

"Negative, lieutenant. The enemies must've fired the missle from hidden plain sight. Should we sweep the area for the enemies?"

"Negative. I want you to secure the crash site of the Sierra sixer-one-one once it comes into contact with the ground. Secure any intel and the intruders who hijacked the ship, dead or alive. Over."

Crap, the enemies got the Sierra sixer-one-one. I picked up my binoculars from the desk before taking a closer look on the crashing down ship. Upon closer inspection, I noticed two figures falling slow down the sky with parachutes on top of them. I pressed the button of my walkie-talkie as I hold the binoculars with my other paw. "This is Sergeant Frost, I have a visual on the two tangos parachuting--"

[??? pov]

"--down from above from the crashing down ship. The wind pattern is separating the two from each other. Different extraction zones. Estimated extraction zones will be... The forest next to the military airbase, and the suburbs just below the military airbase. We'll secure the one from the suburbs first..."

"... Operation: Black dawn."