Space Odyssey: Spectre

"I suppose I will not get any more information by asking?" The General suggested as he sat back down his chair. In his excitement at seeing Jace recognize the language he had stood up. "Then I suppose I will have to help my people to see the necessity to become friends at the very least."

Jace hummed and then tilted his head as he heard a high pitched noise. The noise was the message from his team notifying him that they had completed all objectives. He took a moment to pull out a device and turn off the localized jamming. Then he connected to the communication network. "This is Commander Jace, our objective has been completed. Status?"

"All non-Grail or Democracy of Canarus villages and towns have been taken or in the process of being taken. Minimum casualties and minimum prisoners. We are already seeing movement from the Grail, they are mobilizing their troops." Solisa quickly responded as Jace took another sip of his juice.

"Good, move-in on the Democracy of Canarus once our people are ready on this continent." Jace declared, "you can utilize the signal. They will surrender peacefully." Jace informed her as he watched Reginald discreetly contact security.

It only took a few seconds before the doors to the room flew open and a pair of soldiers moved into the room. "You can stand down." General Hacksaw declared immediately as the pair of guards pointed their weapons at a relaxed Jace. "Reginald, can you tell Mayor Oceania to come here. I believe she should meet her people's liberators."

Reginald nodded as he stepped away while the guards that were holding weapons on Jace moved back and lowered their weapons but did not relax. "Good idea, since this is the largest city on this continent, I assume they have the authority to decide and make decisions."

"They are-"

"Commander Jace," Jace's communicator buzzed to life. "The Grail just launched multiple warheads and missiles from the cities they occupy and toward the continent you are on and the seashores of their continent. Our anti-air weapons managed to take out the ones focused on the Grail's continent. We are going to take out most of the missiles from orbit but there is one or two that will manage to hit the city you are in."

General Hacksaw grabbed an old handheld phone off his desk and spent a second dialing a number. "Activate the anti-air defenses. We have two in-bound missiles." Jace left his communicator open so Solisa could hear what the General said. "Also prepare for the Cerberus Unit's arrival." He then hung up the phone as four more people walked into the room."

One of them was a female siren. She was well dressed and walked toward them. Looking between General Hacksaw and Jace. "May I ask what is happening?" A pair of guards and what seemed to be her own assistant.

"You must be Mayor Oceania." Jace nodded at her. "My name is Commander Jaace Wintry of the Cerberus Unit. The Cerberus Unit has been granted an expansive territory spanning several systems, including this system."

"Who decided that? We did not agree to such a thing." The Mayor pointed out with a tone of annoyance.

"The galactic government for our galaxy. Although I was the one that decided the Cerberus Units borders should include this system." Jace explained.

"Oh really? What makes you think we would be okay with this?" Mayor Oceania asked snidely. "We might just treat you as enemies as well. What would you do then?"

"Relocate anyone that does not want to stay outside of our area of control." Jace answered honestly, already seeing her face twist in anger. "Unfortunately you set up a colony in a strategic point in the galaxy, it is either we set up here or you have the 'galactic government' that I mentioned before. For the record, if I had let them have their way a faction in the galactic military would have come here and bombed all occupied territories from orbit until the threat was extinguished."

Mayor Oceania frowned in confusion while General Hacksaw began to explain to her. "More than likely a newly formed galactic government is still in its infantile stages. So every politician is trying to grab power. Retaking an occupied planet would look good, especially if they have enough pull to cover up the amount of civilian casualties they would cause and it would help boost their records."

Mayor Oceania's eyes fogged over for a moment before she leaned back in her chair and sighed. "Oh… but then why did you lie about the reason you were setting up in our system before?"

Jace blinked in confusion while General Hacksaw's gaze snapped over to Jace. Jace switched his vision for a moment and found that Mayor Oceania had a higher than average amount of electricity. "You have nanomachines running through your blood. You are a mix between a siren and a nanohuman?" Jace asked.

"I am. Are you going to explain why you are occupying my planet?" Mayor Oceania asked.

Jace hummed and looked over at General Hacksaw. "I will, but that will have to wait until later. General Hacksaw and his people are from a foreign galaxy and I do not want to disclose crucial tactical information." This time he could feel the slight electrical signal that passed between him and the mayor as the nanobots read his biology to determine if he was telling the truth. How curious.

Mayor Oceania let out a breath of air. "Very well. What exactly do you need?"

"Cerberus will be setting up a base in orbit around the planet. We will also establish bases on each of the continents for at least the next few years until your planet stabilizes and unites." Jace explained to her. "Hopefully by that time your planet sees the benefit of having autonomy under us, we will hand over the bases to the united government you form."

Mayor Oceania hummed. "What about the potential for trade? We have plenty of unique products on our planet." She nodded at his juice. "I am more than confident we could easily set up a trade station in orbit."

"Possibly." Jace hummed as his mind ran through a few thoughts and ideas. "Not in orbit of the planet but there is the potential for one at the edge of the system where it meets the void space between galaxies. But that is something we can discuss in more detail once the entire planet is liberated."

"What about the people from the Democracy of Canarus? What are you going to do to them?" The Mayor asked as they could hear a loud explosion as outside the window they could see flames engulfing the sky. But covering the entire city a blue shield blocked the attack and then blocked a second attack a moment later. Neither attack let flames reach the city.

After a few seconds the blue shimmer of the shielding covering the city disappeared again. It was still there but faint as it colored the sky bluer than the sky already appeared.

Jace hummed to draw attention back to himself before answering. "They are going to be taken to a ship, put in stasis and then sent back to their galaxy. As long as they peacefully surrender they will survive, which is more than I can say than the rest of the occupying forces. The majority of which have already died."

"Commander Jace, Vana wants you back in orbit. The landing craft are already in-bound to your position. The same with the rest of the continent. We need advice for strategic attacks on the Grail." Solisa explained to him.

"Okay," Jace answered as he held up the device. "I will come up with a prisoner. The General of the Democracy of Canarus faction."

"Understood sir. You also have a waiting request for communication from Salem." Solisa informed him.

Jace frowned. She would just try to speak to his mind if she wanted to. He closed his eyes for a second and reached out. A moment later she answered.

[Sorry, it is political shenanigans.]

He opened his eyes again as the connection quieted back down. "Okay," He answered Solisa, "But that can wait a bit." Jace declared with a sigh. "How are the fronts on the Grail occupied continent?"

"We are taking it slowly. So no overall progress just yet but we are moving slowly in position and finding the landscape has been covered with traps and located several mass burial sights." Solisa answered with a click of her tongue. "We have also uncovered that the Nano Plague ships last seen in the Oda Region were spotted on a direct course for the Underworld System."

"Send a request for intel on this Nano Plague stuff from Director Fenrir." Jace told them with a sigh as he watched the shielding for the city retract. A moment later he could see several transports beginning to land in the city with one of them landing on the roof of the building they were inside of. He turned off the speaker for the communicator. "Come along, General Hacksaw."

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