Trojian Horse
Chapter 46

Reeger eye’s drifted from a battle axe to a broad sword, and back again. He had spent several minutes contemplating which would be better for this occasion. Such weapons were considered archaic by many, preferring the safety afforded by shooting from afar or the damage that could be inflicted by a hail of laser fire but that was a sentiment he never shared. To him looking in the eyes of your enemy as you took their life, outwitting them, or outlasting them with sheer strength and skill was the ultimate thrill. With his physique and ability, it would be a waste to do anything but fight with his bare hands he thought. In the end he settled on the battle axe, whose bright edges glinted brightly as they caught the light. He went out of his quarters and headed to the bridge to get an update on the progress of the repairs.

Something kept bothering Reeger as he walked up to the command centre. He had brushed it from his mind earlier but it had resurfaced and it required an answer. Questions of how the Ser-ooit boy, Roue and their companion had found his ship by the lake, how they had known where to penetrate the hull to get into the ship closes to the holding cells and how they knew about the prisoners to begin with plagued him. There could be no traitors on the ship of that he was sure, especially not Maloch, and even if they had been spotted as they approached for a landing it would still not explain how they knew about the prisoners. Perhaps the most important question was why they wanted to free the prisoners in the first place. He wondered if he had missed something of great importance right in front of his eyes but he had just failed to see it. He went back and forth in his mind but he was unable to replace a satisfactory answer. Nothing he could think of could explain the recent events and that was the most troubling aspect of all. Was there another party in their war betting on the Vulpeculae?

He had no time to answer his own question as he found he was walking into the command centre. Immediately on his arrival a hush fell on the room. Almost as quickly as the silence fell on the room, Dracien began giving brief reports one after another as he made his way to his seat. From the quick reports, he gathered that the ground troops were waiting in the hangars ready to be deployed, the drones were all ready for an attack, all the fighter ships had been assigned a pilot, repairs to the ship’s hull would completed in a matter of minutes, though that would not hinder take-off and travel. All that remained was a report from all the other galactic cruisers on the state of their readiness. There was a total of six galactic cruisers and while that sounded like a small number anyone who had ever had the misfortune of being attacked by them was more than aware of the devastating destruction that any two ships together could do. Planets had been decimated by only two with time to spare. His hand drifted toward his side from habit, where he would normally have kept the sword though now there was nothing.

The sword was incredibly powerful and he had only begun to test its limits. It was unfortunate that it was now in the hands of the enemy though that did not worry him much. If he took it once from Reinon, he would do it again. Despite its utility, he knew the sword was dangerous. Though Reinon had tried to warn him it was only after he had travelled through time with it that he realised how dangerous it could be to the untrained. The power of the sword was such that it gave him a new body that allowed him to blend in with the Ndebele but after some time his Ser-ooit body began to disintegrate and his normal flesh began to merge with the Ser-ooit body. It was as if the sword had rules and though it sounded strange to say it to himself there was no ignoring the presence that seemed to exude from it. He had felt it begin to overpower him.

It was if the sword knew he was not the rightful owner and would occasionally make him suffer for it. He had proposed to Reinon that he would kill her for the sword to know that he was now its rightful owner more to read her reaction as to whether that would be a viable option but he got nothing from her. Even if he got the sword back he did not know if killing Reinon would be enough to solve his problem of the misbehaving presence. That would be discovered when he had recovered the sword and was rid of its current owner. For now, it was the business of extermination that would occupy his mind. As he sat staring out into the water he heard Maloch call for his attention.

“And what have you learned?”

“My lord,” Maloch said bowing low. “I have sssurveyed their city…I have images of the location within this drone.” He held up the drone that was in his hand.

“And you think they will attempt to flee?”

“No, my lord, they will seek vengeance. They think they know what is coming and will attempt to defend themselves.”

“Good. Sit with me. In a matter of minutes, we will begin our assault,” Reeger said motioning for Maloch to take a seat a few steps away from his own.

“Very well, my lord.” Maloch slinked over to the seat where he remained quietly observing the scenery.

“The other ships are ready for the attack my lord,” a voice said at last.

“Excellent. Take off when you are ready, set a course for the --”

His speech was interrupted by the jerking motion of the ship. It jerked forward with a force that seemed unusual. He had barely held onto the seat when the ship jerked again but did not seem to be gaining altitude as quickly as it should have.

“What is happening?” he screamed.

“We are under attack, my lord,” a trembling voice replied.

“What?! Who would dare?!” he shouted.

“It’s the Vulpeculae!” came the answer.

It dawned on him in that moment what their strategy was. They hoped to cripple him before he had the chance to land a blow. A clever strategy but it would not work, he had far too much firepower and he could easily lose a thousand fighters without the slightest concern that it would hurt his chances of a victory. They were only delaying the inevitable but he was excited the Vulpeculae were making it interesting.

“Deploy the drones immediately. All the fighter ships pilots airborne now,” Reeger commanded in a steely voice.

Moments later came the report.

“Drones are airborne, my lord…Fighter pilots are taking off by their units as we speak.”

“Good, keep us on the ground until the pilots have contained the aerial assault.”

“My lord, they have ground troops attacking on the eastern bank.”

“This is certainly bold! Deploy the ground troops to meet them. We will play their game,” he answered, a wry smile on his face. He had wondered if they would put up a fight, they had and he could not have been happier. “I will go out to meet them with the ground troops.”