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Chapter 46 - Cavalry

"All hands to battle stations, this is a priority one alert!", said captain Maguire speaking into his hand held communicator. "We shall shortly be entering Drachalian space".

"Captain, I thought we were to return to Earth", protested captain Lucinda.

"We are just taking upan unscheduled detour", calmly replied captain Maguire looking at the giant computer monitor's big screen displaying the vacuum of space, littered with stars stretching out in every direction as far as the eye can see. It was a humbling sight, one his soul longed for and loved. A place of relative quiet away from the rat race of life and all that went with it. Here in the vast emptiness, a man could be at peace with his thoughts. 

There were no deadlines to meet, no setting sun to define the passage of time. 

Captain Maguire was enjoying the quiet of the moment, the incredible peacefulness as the Sandawana ploughed through the stars in a hail of streaking lights shooting racing at towards the starship.

"Does it have to do with the discussion you had with princess Elantra?", captain Lucinda quizzed confidentially.

"We are proceeding to Draichas on a rescue mission", intimated captain Maguire.

"Who is there to rescue on Draichas?", speculated captain Lucinda.

"The king and queen of Byda. We have new intelligence that they are being held on Draichas", said captain Maguire.

"The Drachalians might want to use them as a bargaining chip to be allowed free access to our space", suggested captain Lucinda.

"Exactly which is why it is of the uttermost importance to rescue them", said captain Maguire.

"You could have passed the information to vice-admiral Nyathi", admonished captain Lucinda.

"Arriving with a fleet would alarm the Drachalians make them defensive. It will make the rescue that much more difficult if not outright impossible", explained captain Maguire.

"And coming alone without, don't you think that places us in a vulnerable position", argued captain Lucinda.

"I 'm counting on the Drachalians arrogance and hope that is how they will read our is position", said captain Maguire confidently.

"I don't follow your reasoning captain?", challenged captain Lucinda.

"It means they will wait to put up any serious resistance until it is too late", said captain Maguire.

"You mean they will just let us fly into their atmosphere?", said captain Lucinda.

"Even better they will let us walk in and try to pull off a rescue", said captain Maguire calmly.

"That sounds reckless", said captain Lucinda.

"That's the plan", admitted captain Maguire, as the Sandawana entered atmosphere of Draichas. Allowing human eyes to behold the homeworld of one of mankind's worst enemies. Images of the planet popped up on the giant computer monitor's big screen.

It was an ugly world dominated by a grey mist above the cloud cover and as the Sandawana descended through the clouds. It emerged into an electric storm. Threatening to overload the Sandawana's systems.

"Deploy electro magnetic pulse shield", captain Maguire ordered lieutenant Alex Bara sitting at the at the weapons console.

"Where are the Drachalians?", asked captain Lucinda anxiously. I imagine they would have already seen us enter into their atmosphere".

"You are right they already detected our presence. They want to make sure that they cut us of from escape", said captain Maguire.

"How can you be so calm about it?"captain Lucinda exclaimed.

"You have seen what the Sandawana is capable of", captain Maguire calmly replied.

"Pilot take us in to land", captain Maguire ordered ordered lieutenant Tashinga at the flight control console.

"Initiating landing procedure", lieutenant Tashinga reported as the Sandawana descended gracefully to the planet's surface.

"Deploying landing pods", reporte lieutenant Tashinga. "Touch down in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 touch down.

"What''s the next step?", asked captain

Lucinda.

"We wait", said captain Maguire.

The Drachalian rain fell hard to the surface slashing against the starship with force. Lightening streaks crackled against the sky resounding with the roar of ear splitting thunder. Which was thankfully cut out by the superstructure of the Sandawana creating a peaceful atmosphere inside the starship.

"Now we wait", announced captain Maguire.

"What exactly will we be waiting for?", asked captain Lucinda.

"For the storm to end", replied captain Maguire simply.

"And then?", asked captain Lucinda.

"We wait to be contacted or captured, we'll be seeing how it plays out?"

"There is something about this mission, that just doesn't sit well with me", said captain Lucinda.

"We are on Draichas, mortal enemies of Earth. There is every reason to feel nervous. However the mission can not be over stressed. The Drachalians must be desposssesed of any bargaining chips they might want to use to invade Byda. Again the importance of Byda can not be overrated as it is the gate way to Earth. We must therefore do whatever is necessary to keep it from falling into hostile hands", said captain Maguire.

"I know you are right, but I would feel much better if you could have passed on the intelligence to Space command. They could have formulated a more appropriate and less risky response", said captain Lucinda.

"But time was not on our side, the Drachalians might have pulled out their trump card while we were waiting for Space command to formulate a response. It would have given them an upper hand".

"Plus we are in serious violation of the boundary protocol, as Drachalian space is one of the regions that our starships are forbidden to enter", said captain Lucinda.

"That is on the understanding that that they will also keep in to their own regions of space. By venturing into Bydanian space, the protocol has already been violated".

"Captain the storm is clearing up", reported lieutenant Tanaka at communications.

"Are you ready for this?", captain Maguire asked captain Lucinda.