Trojian Horse
Chapter 18

A beep from a small screen on Reeger’s arm rest was followed by the thin wispy face of Maloch projecting above his seat, floating just above Reeger’s head. Reeger hoped it would be welcome news, he hated inaction. The anticipation was almost unbearable.

“Sssplendid news, my lord,” Maloch said, little excitement evident in his voice.

“Well done Maloch,” Reeger said, trying, and failing, to hide his evident delight. They had managed to salvage that was placed in jeopardy by obvious incompetence. “Where is he?”

“My lord,” Maloch said bowing slightly. “He is in an unknown system, deep in the heart of a ssstar field.”

“I wonder if this was his plan all along and we overestimated the degree of incompetence at play here,” he said, casting a glance at the dracien in the bridge, some of whom could not help wincing at the unsolicited attention. “Send us the coordinates once you have a lock on him. We will join you presently.”

“Of course, my lord,” Maloch replied. He seemed to linger instead of cutting the communication.

“Is there more?”

“Well…”

“Well then? Speak!” Reeger demanded, his voice quivering as he spoke. The whole room seemed to reverberate as he spoke. A couple of Dracien in the bridge cowered away and quietly slipped out of the room. Even Maloch was alarmed by the ferocity in Reeger’s voice.

“My Lord, the planet itself is uncharted and I have stumbled upon an interesting discovery which I believe will make you very pleased.”

Reeger did not answer instead tapping his fingers with a visible irritation. Maloch clearly had a flair for the dramatic but Reeger was in no mood for the games. Maloch cleared his throat.

“The Vulpeculae are here, my lord.” A thin sly smile returned to Maloch’s face after his announcement. Reeger jumped out of his seat.

“WHAT?! Are you certain of this Maloch?” Reeger asked.

“I am, my lord.”

“How are you certain of this?”

“The same kind of tracker we used on Roue, undetectable unless one knows what they are looking for. This particular signature is one we last used when we were fighting the Vulpeculae on Mer-oonit.”

“I see...” Reeger’s voice trailed off at the end getting lost in his imaginings. Maloch stood silently, not daring to wake Reeger from his thoughts.

“We didn’t look for them after that last encounter and I doubt it would have worked anyway sssince we didn’t know when they jumped but I got the idea that maybe Roue had planned this all along, otherwise why would he go to this perfect hiding place?”

“That is interesting. Well done Maloch,” Reeger said, definitely impressed at Maloch’s initiative. Lord Reeger could not help contorting his scaly lips into a smile. At last justice would be meted out. His old enemy had been found at last and he would dole out a deserving punishment. They had narrowly escaped him once before but this time there was to be no escape. They would not see him coming.

“Maloch, watch them,” Reeger instructed, “When we arrive I want to know everything about them. Their defences, their numbers, their stronghold. Roue must not meet them if he hasn’t yet, stop him in any way you can.”

“Yesss, my lord.”

“By any means necessary.”

“Any, my lord?”

“Any,” Reeger said. “It is imperative that their old union be not rekindled.”

“My lord,” Maloch said, then bowing before a loud beep resulted in the projection disappearing. Reeger stared out into the brown landscape of the moon base Broochi set against the darkness of the cosmos. Reeger stood transfixed to the spot for a while. The whole room seemed to be holding its breath.

At length he shook himself, as if woken from a trance and began bellowing instructions.

“Get a fix on Maloch’s location. I want movement within the stema. Prepare for an assault. Get as many of the armada fleets within range of our communications as you can to the Vulpeculae’s location. All weaponry online and manned by the time we emerge from the jump-gate.”

The room was abuzz with activity. Reeger stood with his eyes fixed on the viewing window on the bridge, seemingly oblivious of the chaos around him. A large smile, exposing his row of sharp jagged teeth was pasted on his face while his eyes had a dreamy look, looking forward to meeting his old foes again. Once, the Vulpeculae were his greatest enemy and he would bury them finally this time around. There was a new enemy on the horizon but he wouldn’t worry about that now.

The ship was soon ready for lift off.

“Set a course for Maloch’s location. Light speed as soon as the warp engines are ready.”

“Countdown initiated.”

“Activate locus engines when warp speed is achieved.”

The massive ship floated effortlessly off the moon base, gliding out into space unimpeded by the low gravity of the moon. It was gaining speed with each passing moment before it seemed to bend and twist as it contorted itself into light speed and moments after reaching light speed it was swallowed up into a ball of distorted space and disappeared with a whoosh into the jump gate.

Reeger sat on the command chair delighted with the latest turn of events. Just one thing bothered him though. How did Maloch know to search for the Vulpeculae tracking signature?