Launch Day

As Kelis had asked, the team forgot about the project for a day and tried to live their old lives, forgetting about the Rebirth. However, the day of the launch of the time pillars came. Some of the team managed to sleep, while others could not fall asleep before that day.

In the morning, each member of the team said goodbye to their families before going to the research center.

Lien had no one to say goodbye to. All he could do was remember Rennie and think about making sure that this day went exactly according to plan.

And so, the entire team gathered at the research center. They began preparing for the launch of the time pillars. The entire room on the lower floors, where the pillars were stored, was completely lit. Computer equipment was transferred to it to monitor the process of launching the pillars, and the room itself was filled with scientists who controlled every nuance of the project launch.

One of his people, Teren, approached Nix.

- "Let me stay and guard the perimeter here," - Teren said confidently.

- "Teren? Aren't you on top today?" - Kelis asked.

- "On such an important day, I would like to be here!" - Teren replied.

- "Okay. Stay," - Nix replied calmly.

Kelis was standing by the phone and reporting to the sponsors how the launch was going.

- “Yes. We’ll start soon. Yes. I’ll let you know,” - Kelis replied.

At this time, a large van drove up to the checkpoint. It was noticeable that the driver was sitting behind the wheel, and another man was sitting next to the driver. The guard at the checkpoint stopped the van.

Kelis finished talking on the phone at this time and hung up.

– “If they were so impatient there, they would have come here in person,” - Kelis said.

The guard at the checkpoint approached the driver’s window. The driver opened the window.

- “This is a closed area,” - said the guard.

The driver took out a machine gun and shot the guard. Seeing this, the second guard pressed the alarm button. The man sitting next to the driver also took out a machine gun and started shooting at the checkpoint, where the guard was.

A siren sounded at the facility.

The scientists looked in surprise at the red warning light flashing in the rooms.

- "What happened?" - asked Tera.

The truck, near the checkpoint, abruptly backed up. The driver drove away from the entrance gate and sharply pressed the gas. The truck drove forward, gaining speed towards the entrance gate. The truck completely demolished the checkpoint gate and drove up to the entrance to the research center.

The back door of the truck opened and armed people began to jump out of it. Each of them was dressed in special equipment and was heavily armed. Each of them had an emblem on their uniforms, which depicted the sun, surrounded by eight planets.

They slowly approached the doors of the research center. But, before they had time to approach, all the windows and doors of the building began to be closed with metal shutters.

The shutters closed, blocking the entrance to the building from all sides.

On the second floor, one of the shutters opened. One of the soldiers sent to guard the facility began shooting from it.

On the lower floors, Kelis had just finished talking on the phone. Hanging up, he relayed everything he had heard.

- "This is the Order of the Awaiting Rebirth," - Kelis said.

- "This is the second time they have found us... It suggests that there is a traitor among us," - Axel said.

- "Maybe it is one of our sponsors?" - asked Tera.

- "There is no way to think about this right now. We need to think about how to detain them so that we can launch the pillars," - Kelis said.

- “Can’t we hold them back?” - Eric asked.

- “I have twenty-five men left. Plus eight local soldiers guarding the facility. That’s all. The decision was made to reduce the number of soldiers to such a number that no one would suspect that this place was no longer an ordinary research center,” - Kelis answered.

- “As you can see, it didn’t work,” - Eric said.

- “I hope we can hold them back for a while. Besides, I’ve already called in help from our sponsors. We’ll settle the situation soon,” - Kelis answered.

Two men with a huge grinder in their hands began to approach the door closed behind a metal curtain. They started the grinder and began to cut the door to get inside.

The curtain, which was on the second floor, rose directly above the entrance door. Two grenades flew out of it and fell right under the feet of the men with the grinder. They did not have time to orient themselves when the grenades exploded. The threat disappeared near the entrance.

Two armored trucks quickly approached the building, driving into the building with the body forward.

- "Is this help?" - asked one of the soldiers at the research center.

One of the trucks entered the territory of the research center and drove into the entrance door at full speed. It stopped from a strong impact, but was able to open it.

The second truck stopped at the entrance and ten more fighters of the Order of the Awaiting Rebirth ran out of it. They slowly began to enter the building.

- "Damn them! They got inside!" - shouted one of those who defended the facility.

Those who entered the facility were immediately shot by Nix's people, who were defending the facility from the inside.

Several smoke and stun grenades flew towards Nix's people. An explosion was heard, and after it, the Order of the Awaiting Rebirth went on the offensive against Nix's people.

A heavy firefight began. A dozen of Nix's people were immediately shot. The Order cleared the entrance to the corridors leading to the elevator.

As they approached the corridors, the Order's men were waiting for them. They shot the first, second, third, and fourth armed men approaching the Corridor with clear and effective headshots.

- "We won't let them into the elevator," - Karen said quietly into the walkie-talkie.

On the other side of the walkie-talkie was Nix.

- "I hope so," - Nix replied.

However, a dozen more Order men entered the building, each of whom had an even larger arsenal of weapons.

- "Damn…," - Karen said upon seeing this.

But, Nix's men did not retreat, they confidently rushed forward to destroy as many Order men as possible.

- "Karen! Karen!" - Nix shouted into the walkie-talkie.

But in vain. One of the Order men stepped on the walkie-talkie and crushed it as he walked down the corridor. Twelve armed Order men walked down the blood-stained corridor. They reached the elevator, and one of them pressed the button for the elevator to reach them and lower them down.

The elevator began to rise. At that moment, a large number of shots were fired, directed towards the Order men. They were carried away by a hail of bullets. All twelve Order men fell dead in the corridor.

The armed military went down into the corridor and, approaching the corpses, made sure that everyone was dead.

- "Everything is under control," - one of the military men said calmly into the radio.

On the other end were the sponsors of the time pillar project. They immediately informed Kelis.

Kelis hung up the phone when he heard this. He was not happy, since he heard that everyone who defended the upper floors had died. However, the invasion was stopped.

- “Everything is under control. However, we need to hurry. It is unlikely that they will retreat so easily,” Kelis said.

- “We have already set everything up. The pillars are warmed up and ready to launch,” - Axel said.

- “Then launch!” - Kelis said.

The pillars were turned on and they lit up. Axel began to twist and lower certain levers on the pillars, starting the process of moving in time. Axel began to scroll the time compass, moving everyone forward.

Teren, hearing Kelis’s words, bared her teeth angrily. She stepped forward, unbuttoning her jacket. She began to approach the pillars and take off her jacket. Lien, who was standing a few meters away, noticed this. Everyone else was watching the pillars and their launch intently.

Teren took off her jacket. The entire jacket was filled with explosives. She threw the explosive directly into the center of the four pillars.

- "We have no right to avoid Rebirth!" - Teren shouted.

Everyone watched in surprise as the explosive lay and poked between the pillars.

Lien reacted and ran to the pillars. First, he pressed the button on the fourth pillar with a sharp movement to move in space, and then ran to the first pillar and instead of Axel, who was distracted by the explosive, scrolled the time compass in the opposite direction.

The explosive began to explode. However, the explosion froze.

Lien, Axel and the explosive disappeared with the explosion. Only the launched pillars remained.