Green light pierced through the darkness of space, a single pin prick of light surrounded by a million others in the vast emptiness of space. Two gas giants and a single large planetoid orbited the small young green star, their distance keeping an elliptical orbit from the star yet close enough that they appeared at risk of colliding if not for the fact that they were still millions of miles away from each other’s pull of gravity. The Echidna sector was a small neglected part of explored space, overlooked by the Earth Exploration League due to the conflicting gravitational currents from its two gas giants Scylla and Charybdis. Scylla was an almost milky white with yellow swirls that looked like a cappuccino mixed rapidly with creamer while Charybdis was a raging red and brown storm that churned tightly into a massive ball 4 times the size of Jupiter. Between the proverbial rock and hard place was the planet Circe, from long range scans the planet was roughly the same size as Earth but lacked a moon of any kind. Instead, whatever orbiting matter that would have formed a moon long ago simply crumbled from the crashing waves of conflicting gravities and the debris became a ring that orbited the planet even now.

The E.L.N. Odyssey was sent to do a proper inspection and update the records of the dangerous sub-sector and report back any new findings or details missed in the last visit to the star system. The vessel was built to crew over a hundred personnel, each an expert in stellar cartography along with botany, biology and mineralogy provided the mission would accept it. Sadly, the last reported visit to the sector painted an ugly picture of any attempts to do so. Scylla and Charybdis were in a constant tug-of-war with each other’s gravity wells leaving the small Earth-like planet alone like a single island out in a torrential sea. Billions of stellar debris ranging from the size of pebbles to island sized asteroids orbited the planet, forming a thin curving disc or ring that could easily be seen once Circe would come into view. It was always considered a wise cautionary measure for an exploration ship to avoid lower orbit of the planet for that very reason.

A precaution the exploration vessel kept until a piece of stellar rock the size of a baseball pierced through the hull at 38,000 miles per hour and shot out the other end from port to starboard as easily as a dart piercing through a balloon. Within seconds the ship lost kilter and the running lights that illuminated the exterior of its hull flickered. Inside the long spear-shaped ship, its crew scrambled to contain the damage while clarions sounded off with an almost deafening pitch. Cabin pressure had been compromised and the ship was losing power to the engines, beginning to drift towards the ring of ice and rock orbiting like a spinning blade around the planet. Realising they had no time to make repairs, the remaining crew made for the escape pods and ejected from the vessel just as it began to be shredded by smaller debris from the rings, perforating the hull and causing the ship to ignite and slowly explode, sending the escape pods plummeting to the surface of the planet. When the surface of the pods was no longer being driven to become red hot from friction heat entering the atmosphere, parachutes were deployed that rapidly decreased their descent and had the city bus-sized pods land safely when impact air-bags fired off, granting a cushion for the pods to soften the blow before slowly teetering over to lay on the burnt ground. Their impact cushions and parachutes deflating after the impromptu landing.

Several of the pods had managed to land in different climates spread around the planet; Four landed in a deep lush jungle, their landing causing several the trees to be taken down from the impact. Some others landed in the center of a vast desert, scorching the sands into molten glass before the surface cooled. Three landed with a heavy splash into a cluster of islands off the coast while another 4 impacted a mountain far north. The rest, however, did not make the re-entry. The explosion that obliterated the ship sent stellar debris to rain down and shred the remaining escape pods before they too exploded from the heat and pressure.

With a hiss of air, the front door of the pod opened, and several crewmen staggered out, collecting equipment from the pod and looking up into the night’s sky where they could see the explosion of their ship disrupt the debris ring that orbited the planet. The two gas giants were visible in the night’s sky like a pair of moons.

“Everyone OK?” Called out Captain Tasha; leader to the group just making their way out of the pod and gathering their things. Hoisting a satchel filled with supplies, the tall woman combed her fingers through her long brown hair to clear her vision while the rest of her crew made their way out of the pod.

“Some bruises and a few light burns from the heat ma’am, but for the most part we’re alright.” Called out Jacobs the medical officer, helping another crew member out of the door who wore a splint over his leg. The man squirming to stand on his good leg before hopping over to a splintered tree stump and using it as a crude chair to sit. “OK?! Our fucking ship just blew up!”

“Yeah! I thought we kept a good distance from the planet’s rings, what the fuck happened?” Cried Samantha, a cadet amongst the crew that had recently joined before the flight, sitting on the blue grass under her feet and sobbing into her hands. “One minute we finally make it past the gas giants, the next our control console explodes in front of my teammate…”

Gripping the satchel over her shoulder, the leader of the group huffed and called out to the others who by now had stepped out of the pod and noticed the other pods that had landed were exiting the craft and waving them over. “It must have been a lucky shot… A single rock just outside of the ring’s orbit that struck us.”

“How long until we can expect another ship to arrive and get us?”

“If I’m right, it should be a couple of weeks, maybe more…”

Waiting for the rest of the crew that landed in the same area to join her, the Captain waited until all were present before giving orders on what to do next.