It was impractical for a ship as large as the Leviathan to land on any planet due to the amount of energy needed to break free of the varying gravitational strengths from planet to planet. Due to this, smaller, more maneuverable ships were made, the Vultures.
The Vultures were small, one person ships 2 meters (6'6") wide and twice that long. They looked exactly like the military fighter jets from planet earth with only a few key differences. One of the most major ones was that the Vultures were made of titanium, did not use jet fuel and were slower. The other difference was that unlike fighter jets, the vultures also had thrusters at the bottom for vertical takeoff and landing.
Inside the Leviathan,
The paladins all wore their battle-suits, the suits were black and made of 30% Vibranium, there were almost indestructible on earth and extremely durable. The suits were make to be flexible while also hard, they followed the bodies of the paladins like a second, thicker skin. The helmet was see through from the front so the paladins would have no blind spot and so that the others could see who was who.
Tahir's suit had spikes on the shoulders and knuckles, he also wore a pair of battle axes on his waist and two plasma pistols on his thighs. Jack's suit had feathers on the forearm for some reason and a mechanical tail. The tail was made of pure Vibranium and ended in razor-sharp diamond coated spikes, he also wore gauntlets with sharp claws, coated in poison. Just like Tahir, he had two plasma pistols strapped to his thighs.
Sara wore a more blocky suit with large gauntlets and shoulder guards. On her back was a large plasma blast launcher and in her hands a long sniper rifle. Another assault weapon hung on her waist and two plasma pistols on her thighs.
"Do you really need all those guns?" Jack asked.
"Do you really need both your balls?" she retorted.
"I don't think she likes you very much", Tahir whispered to Jack.
"You think?" Hugo chimed in after overhearing the two boys.
Unlike the others, Hugo's suit was not modified, he had two laser swords hanging from his back as well as an assault rifle in his hands. Of course strapped to his thighs were the mandatory plasma pistols.
Pei's suit was the flashiest, it had strange lights running from the back of the head to the forearms. On her back was an assault rifle and in her hands she held some sort of tablet.
Misty's suit on the other hand turned the most heads, it was thinner than the rest, showing off her body. A dozen small knives surrounded her waist and a rifle was in her hands. On her thighs were the two plasma pistols, however her's were silenced.
With their gear prepped and stomachs full, the paladins made their way to the Vulture's nest. This was just a name Hugo had given to the hanger where the Vulture ships were stored.
They arrived at the nest and each of them got into a Vulture. Each paladin had spent at least 6 months being taught how to pilot the vultures either by simulation or real military jets. The controls were identical after all since Vultures were just modified fighter jets.
"Leviathan open the airlock", Jack requested and the airlock opened, depriving the Vulture's nest of all its oxygen. One by one the Vultures flew out of the Leviathan.
"Good luck Paladins", Leviathan said from inside the bridge.
"Thanks Levie", Hugo said.
"Levie?" Tahir questioned as the team flew towards X4442 at a steady pace.
"When you spend your whole life with someone you come up with nicknames okay!", Hugo retorted. The team chuckled while appreciating the beauty of space.
Planet X4442 was located in a solar system quite similar to earth. The only difference was that the system had only four planets and X4442 was the third one from the sun, which was far bigger than earth's star. The planet also had three moons, two of them were red while the other was blue.
Misty was tempted to request for the team to take a detour and pass by the moons for a little sight seeing, however she knew that they were not there to tour the place. One half of the planet was experiencing night time and the team saw it better to head to the part were it was still morning in order to make the best of the daytime.
"Pei, any idea how long the daylight of this planet is?" Tahir asked.
"Yes, either 56 or 60 hours depending on the season. Unfortunately i have no idea which season this is", Pei answered.
"Damn that's a lot of daytime", Jack commented.
It did not take long for the team to arrive just above the planet's ozone layer. "Everyone form on me, the planet may be hostile". Tahir ordered and the Vultures got into a diamond formation as they descended into the planet's atmosphere.
Suddenly the vultures were pulled downwards with so much force that the Paladins almost crashed on the roofs of the small ships.
"Fuck, the gravity here is insane!, 70% thrust, 50 vertical, 20 horizontal", Tahir said and with that, the Vultures slowed down their descent to 100 meters per second.
"50% vertical thrust on a vulture is more than enough to break free from earth's gravity but it's barely enough to slow our descent into this place", Hugo said. "Will we even be able to walk on this planet?" He asked.
"The greater an object's mass, the greater the gravitational pull. So only our Captain should have some trouble walking on the surface", Sara chuckled.
"And our suits should offset most of the strain", Pei added.
It took only a few seconds for the vultures to reach a distance of 200 meters from a clearing on the surface of X4442. "100% thrust, 100 vertical, none horizontal, let's land these birds as smoothly as possible". Tahir gave the order.
The long green grass blew in every direction as the vultures slowly landed with six resounding thuds. Before leaving the safety of their titanium Vultures, the Paladins waited for any sign of hostile X4442 inhabitants.
"Did any one of you see any sign of civilization during our descent?" Misty asked.
"Now that you mention it, this planet only had green forests as far as i could see. It's like a whole world made of the amazon rain forest", Jack said.
After nothing happened for 30 more minutes, the Paladins opened the doors and stepped out of the Vultures. As Sara predicted, Tahir fell on his knees as soon as he touched the ground. "You okay boss?" Hugo asked while pulling him up.
"Yeah, i will get used to it", for the first time in his life, Tahir's muscles annoyed him.
"The air is breathable". Pei said after checking her tablet and removing the glass shield of her suit, followed by the others. Jack took a very suspiciously deep breath.
"It rains too much here, any scent i could pick up was washed away by the last downpour", he said.
"We need to get to higher ground", He pointed at a nearby hill. Knowing that to argue with the Paladin of nature in the wild was stupid, the team locked their vultures, loaded their guns, and walked towards the hill.
Unbeknownst to the Paladins, a pair of red eyes was stalking them from the tree line.