No Second Chances

"Finally…" Ishar nodded, "The scientists here will help you in your mission. Do whatever you want, but get those astras working. If they don't, then just suggest us the best weapons to use, which have even a fraction of the astra's power."

Anjani and Gargi nodded, setting up their highly-powered computers in the lab. There had been 2 power-outages in the past 1 and a half hours, a warning sign of the large disaster about to occur. Some minutes later, Ishar got a call from Pratap.

"Please tell me you accessed the program." Ishar pleaded, hopefully. Naren and Tanik listened with rapt attention. 

For the first time in hours, Pratap was the bringer of good news. 

"To your fortune, your great friend has finally accessed the satellite program. Me, Aniket and Karan worked relentlessly to hack through the security protocols the aliens had put in, which were actually really hard, but we got there anyway. We should really learn security from these aliens."

Naren rolled his eyes. "Just share with us the camera feed."

"Sharing you live." Karan commented.

The screen lit up to show a green room, tilted at an odd angle. There was a humble darkness all around. On one side of the room, there seemed to be some control panels, with red and white lights. Ishar quickly took out the blueprint of Pralaya-1 from his pocket. 

After studying it for a moment, he said, "This seems to be the control room. The large main room, from which the aliens drive the spacecraft. Can you move the satellite, Pratap?"

"You are lucky you have such smart friends like us, Ishar. I was clever enough to make the satellite just like a drone. I can control it from here."

The screen slightly moved, signaling that the small satellite was up and going.

"The blueprints say that the power room is just behind the control room. Go over there. Maybe we can find something to shut Pralaya-1 down." Tanik said.

The satellite turned and flew slowly, so as to not alarm any alien that might be wandering around. It went down a long corridor, almost touching something green and slimy hanging from the ceiling. 

"What is that?" Gargi asked.

"Nobody knows," Naren said, looking at the screen disgusted, "But I sure don't want to find out."

After a few minutes, the screen stopped, meaning that the drone was hovering at its desired destination. Inside was the coolest sight Ishar had ever seen. Two great balls of light, that looked a little like mini-stars, were floating in the air. Beside them were four, green instruments, two on the top and two on the bottom. It seemed that they were absorbing the energy of the stars, powering Pralaya-1.

"If we hit them with a strong power source, like a missile or the astras, we can create a blast strong enough to blow the spaceship up." Anjani said, observing the stars intently.

So, it meant that there was a way to stop the spaceship, Ishar breathed out a sigh of relief.

Beneath the camera, Ishar could spot some aliens, each more horrifying than the next. However, these aliens seemed stronger and slimier than Dr. Tanvir. Maybe, it was the advantage of staying on your home planet. The other team members, who already had a good idea of how the aliens looked, stared at the screen in disgust.

'Won't they see us?" Mahendra asked.

"No, we are far too well camouflaged with the ceiling. I think." Aniket replied.

'I think'. These were two words that signified nothing but doubt. However, Ishar didn't speak a word. He himself was full of unanswered questions at the moment.

"I have an idea." Pratap said.

The satellite zoomed over, turning along corridors, until it reached a small hole, big enough for a man to fit through.

"Remember the crack I told you about Ishar? You can enter Pralaya-1 through here. And if everything goes sideways, I have a small taser attached to this satellite."

Naren snorted. "What are you going to do, give them a little shock?"

You could feel Pratap glaring through the screen.

After some time, the team decided to station the satellite on a high window, conserving its power for future use. Ishar glanced at his watch.

3 hours had passed.

4 hours to go.