Trojian Horse
Chapter 20

The galactic cruiser exploded out of the darkness of space and immediately they felt the gravity of the planet pulling them towards it. It was a strange planet, with a reddish blue film of gas shrouding the entire planet, with seas that covered most of the planet’s surface and a main belt of land around its equator and several islands dotted on either side of the equatorial continent. Ice caps were evident on either side of the planetary spheroid.

“Shields up and initiate anti-detection protocols,” Reeger commanded. “We don’t want to announce ourselves too soon. Get in contact with the nearest dracien armada. I want one here as soon as possible and make sure they follow our exact approach protocols.”

Several keys were furiously tapped and instructions barked into screens and handheld communicators. The ship had dropped out of light speed almost immediately after emerging from the jump gate and was drifting slowly towards the planet powered by plasma propulsion engines which would be used for intra-planetary navigation. The planet had an incredible amount of flora judging by the green that blanketed the visible continents and islands as they approached.

“Put us over there,” he said motioning to a spot on one of the equatorial continents. It was not immediately clear to the pilots of the ship where ’there’ was but they knew better than to argue and they had realised now that Reeger had incredible vision, considerably better than their own, so they would eventually see it when they got close enough. They drifted on while setting course adjustments as they penetrated the planet’s atmosphere. Reeger thought to himself how this planet was nothing like Terios, his home planet, especially toward the end where it had turned to mostly inhospitable desert. They had been saved just in time then. No one was going to save Roue and the Vulpeculae now.

This planet was not on any star charts, which, he supposed, was the reason they had been unable to replace the Vulpeculae for so long. He could not have chosen a better retreat himself. The heat within the bridge began to rise as they plunged into the depths of the planet. Reeger held onto the arm rests on his chair as the ship rocked from side to side, though only for a few moments, then they were within the planet’s atmosphere. ‘There’ became apparent to the dracien pilots and they headed for what appeared to be a large lake that spanned the entire width of the equatorial continent effectively dividing it into a western and eastern side. Soon they had landed on the calm waters of the lake very close to the bank.

Thick green forests lined the entire bank except for large barren space where they had landed the ship. It was the perfect area to set up their ground troops and maybe set up some sort of camp. The forest spread from that point west into the horizon. They landed the ship along the western bank of the lake. The planet appeared deceptively small from afar but as they approached the surface, large landforms which had appeared close to their final resting point completely disappeared. The gravity on the planet was a little greater than they were used not just because of the lower artificial gravity they experienced on the galactic cruiser but because this planet was much larger than Terios. It was stronger but bearable, particularly for Reeger who relished any sort of challenge to prove his strength.

“This is it. This is where we will prepare for our assault,” Reeger said, more to himself rather than an attempt at any conversation. “Hail the armada if you can. I want to know how far they are.”

Reeger was advised that all communications out of the planet seemed to be failing. For some reason, it seemed once they had entered the planet’s mesosphere they were unable to send any form of signals out into space. Odd, he thought. It was inconsequential as they had already sent out their coordinates to the approaching armada and once they entered the planet the communications would be relayed to any armada in the vicinity.

He sat in his chair staring out at the abounding life on the planet through the viewing window. It was only a matter of time then he would destroy it all.