"This isn't gonna work, I need to redesign the thrusters again. This is too weak to handle that much thrust all by itself.", Dr. Kbom murmured to himself as he looked at the latest simulation data on his Inter-system missiles.
They weren't quite like what he had imagined. It still needed a lot more work before it was ready for some real testing. Till then he was stuck with simulations.
As Dr. Kbom planned a 2nd generation of thrusters for the Warheads, He suddenly remembered something and looked at the time.
"Oh, It's almost time, I should get going. This can wait for later.", Dr. Kbom said as he got up from his seat.
He walked out of Lab V and went to the nearest Pod station. He got in a pod and headed towards the Hanger.
He suddenly remembered something and gave Kita a Call. He didn't pick up.
"Hmm, That's weird. I hope that Kid's fine."
Dr. Kbom reached the Hanger shortly after. He looked around and one of the staff members guided him to his designated spot. As one of the foremost figure aboard the Shore, He was afforded one of the foremost seats.
He saw the captain and other officers sitting beside him.
As he sat there, he looked over the general area of the hanger,
There were many different people gathers current from many different posts aboard the shore.
This recent incident had costed them their friends, and some their family. Everyone was grieving in their own way.
Seeing this scene, He felt like he bore some responsibility.
Initially, it was him who pushed for this expedition. He was responsible for initiating it in the first place. He had initially pushed for this cause he found the planets interesting. That was the only reason he insisted on this mission. Now he very dearly wished he didn't.
Not only did it cost him precious lives of his crew, it also cost him someone he considered family.
Kita was like his own son to some degree, so to that extent, he also considered Helen to be his family. But now his decision had caused her death. And it troubled him more than anyone would think.
Speaking of Helen, Kbom looked around his general vicinity. He couldn't see Kita.
'Where is that lad? He should be here.'
Kbom decided to give him another call. No answer this time also.
Suddenly, there was a small buzz. This indicated that the ceremony was about to start.
The Captain got up from his seat. And walked towards the podium. He would be giving a speech.
'Well, I'll whoop his ass the next time I see him.', Dr. Kbom shrugged Off Kita's absence.
But, at the back of his head, he felt like something was wrong. He didn't really know what, but he felt like he was missing something.
That's when from the corner of his eyes, he noticed a few security officers walking towards the podium.
The Captain who was in the middle of his speech was interrupted. The guards spoke something to him in a hushed voice.
Dr. Kbom followed the expressions of the Captain, if it was deemed reasonable to interrupt the captain during his speech, then surely something great must have happened.
As expected, Captain's expression went grave after a few seconds. He turned to speak in the mic.
"The funeral is being postponed for a few hours. We'll continue this then.", He said as he turned and started walking off the platform.
Dr. Kbom got up from his seat and started walking behind them. He quickly asked.
"What's wrong?"
"It's Kita, He's taken control of the Bridge and killed a the officers."
"WHAT?!?!", Dr. Kbom was shocked beyond belief.
"Are you sure it's Dr. Kita", The captain turned towards one of the guards and asked.
The Guard didn't say anything. Instead, he handed him a tablet that showed the live feed of the bridge.
It showed Dr. Kita fiddling with the War Console.
"Is he Operating the War Console?", The Captain looked at Lieutenant Holland and Dr. Kbom beside him.
This was a serious issue. Besides the Captain and Holland and a few other key perosnell, no one should've been able to gain access to the War Console. Yet, Kita had somehow gained access and was now operating it.
"Is he gonna…..", Seeing Kita operating the War console made Dr. Kbom remember something York had said.
When on the Planet Kita had supposedly promised to destroy the monolith. Kbom had met with Kita and let him know that he couldn't do that. But it seemed the warning had fell into deaf ears.
The Loss of Helen had impacted Kita more than He had thought.
Dr. Kbom Began to walk faster.
"Let's go and stop this farce.", Dr. Kbom took the lead.
They all got in emergency pods and quickly came to the Bridge.
A team of commando were standing outside the doors of the bridge. They were waiting for the command before rushing in.
As soon the they got their, The captain gave the order swiftly, and the commandos rushed into the bridge, Dr. Kbom and the others followed them in.
They saw Kita just about press the launch button.
"Kita, What are you doing? Move away from the console.", Dr. Kbom said with a boom. He was angry beyond words.
It didn't seem like Kita heeded his words. Cause his very next action was to press the button. Dr. Kbom instinctively knew that the turret was firing at the Monolith.
There was a Boom noise, Everyone knew what this noise meant.
It meant one of the primary turrets of the Shore had just fired.
Before Kita could do anything however, He was already apprehended and subdued. He couldn't move anymore.
The Captain, Lieutenant Holland and Dr. Kbom approached Kita who was laying on the floor beside the War console.
Holland quickly took a look at the war console and reported.
"The turret fired a Fritzer towards B1."
"B1? Why B1?"
"He fired it at the Monolith.", Dr. Kbom answered the question.
All 3 of them looked at Kita who was being dragged to a corner.
He had an ear to ear grin on his face. That was Look of content.
"We can deal with him later, We need to stop the Fritzer first. Initiate the Self destruct sequence.", Dr. Kbom said to Holland.
"The missile isn't responding. It's likely have been tampered with.", Lieutenant Holland reported after fiddling with the console for a bit.
"How long till Impact?", The Captain asked.
"ETA 23 minutes.", Lieutenant Holland reported.
All 3 of them looked at Kita who was dragged to a corner and sat on a chair. Completely immobilized.
Dr. Kbom was the first to move. He approached Kita who was surrounded by Guards even though he was fully immobilized.
"Why did you do it?", He asked in a straightforward manner.
Kita looked up, A content smile on his face.
He stared at Dr. Kbom for a while. Not really answering the question.
"ANSWER ME!", Dr. Kbom said in a authoritative Tone.
That didn't faze Kita at all. He kept smiling just like he was before.
"Because I promised her. I Promised her I would take revenge. And I did.", Kita said in a calmed tone as he tilted his head to the left a bit. It's like a huge burden had just been cleared from his shoulders. He seemed relaxed.
This irked Dr. Kbom…
'He threw away his whole career for that?'
"Have you gotten senile? Do you know the implications of your actions? They'll put you in prison for this."
"So be it."
"Huh..", Dr. Kbom was taken aback by the swift reply. He looked at Kita. It didn't seem like he was afraid of going to prison right now.
His expression conveyed that he was fully calm right now. It's like he had given up.
"Do you think Helen would've wanted you to do this?"
That finally brought some change in his expressions. But it wasn't the Kind Kbom was hoping for.
"I… Don't know. I don't know cause she was taken from me. Taken by that thing. So forgive me for now knowing whether Helen would've wanted me to do it or not. Forgive me for not giving a fu*k right now. It took Helen from me. THAT's ALL I KNOW", Kita said in a gradually infuriating tone.
Dr. Kbom was taken aback by this sudden outburst. He didn't expect it from him.
Kbom didn't felt like there was anything further to discuss with Kita so he turned to look towards the captain.
"Let's see what happens on B1."
The Captain looked at Kbom and gave a slight nod. There was nothing further to discuss the motives of Kita. They could only witness the results of his actions.