Space Odyssey: Spectre

Jace walked off the transport ship and into the hangar as General Hacksaw followed behind with his wrists in cuffs. A pair of soldiers were waiting at the bottom of the ramp. "Make accommodations to General Hacksaw, I will debrief him more at a later date."

"Yes sir!" They saluted and then directed the General in a different direction.

Jace walked through the door and began to make his way through the Charon to the communication room. There was a dinging in his ear and he answered his communicator. "This is Commander Jace."

"Jace, it is Hielo. We hit a bit of a snag in your design." Hielo sounded winded and like she was moving. She was likely in the middle of working. "Everything theoretical would work but I ran some early simulations and we would need a massive electrical source to jumpstart the gravity device. Then there is the lack of interface."

"I know," Jace hummed as he stepped into the communication room but did not start it up. "I have an interface design ready to be installed. You already have a portion on your side that you will realize is oddly empty. Do not modify my design to attempt to install your own interface. As for the electrical jumpstart- I feel like that was fairly obvious. I plan to do that myself."

"I was afraid of that. You realize that in order for that to work you will open a miniature black hole in the center of the open central space. Which will either crush you into a tiny ball or somehow teleport you to another location." Hielo growled out in annoyance. "I am not stupid, but even I know that you are unlikely to survive with either situation."

Jace chuckled as he put the communication program on standby. "I have a plan, Hielo. You just need to build the structure."

"Fine, I sent a few engineers I could spare to the system you are currently in. With just them and you, you can likely finish the prison ship in only a few months. I already looked over and modified the plan for stasis pods. Take a look when you get a chance." Hielo informed him before ending the communication.

Jace rolled his eyes as he started the communication room and it darkened while he could feel the electricity start to bubble up in the room. There was a hum in the holographic projectors before the first one started and an annoyed Salem appeared.

"Sorry about this, Jace. Apparently you going and contacting the Kin got a few balls rolling and now the Galactic Military wants a presence in that system." Salem explained. "They are going to demand it."

A moment later other people began to appear. Including both Admiral Dakota and his daughter. Then there were a few other people marked as Admirals and Generals. Once the ten of them were there one of them started. "Commander Jace of Cerberus. The Spectre Galactic Military will send a unit to-"

"We will destroy them." Jace stated plainly. Causing heads to snap to him, including Salem. "You can repackage it all you want. I am aware that more than half of you are being paid a hefty sum by a few minor politicians to attempt this." He actually wasn't but saying so would send the ones not having ulterior motives to begin investigating their peers. "Entrance to Cerberus territory is strictly forbidden, I thought I made this abundantly clear before."

"Jace-" He looked over at the hologram of Dahlia Dakota, she flinched in response. She currently has the title of Fleet Commander. She along with the others are supposed to be securing the former Oda Empire. "We are being sent-"

"Then you should turn around your fleet. It will be treated as an invasion." Jace spat back.

"Jace, you cannot take out an entire combined fleet of foreigners and secure seven different planets where they have established a presence." Admiral Dakota declared with a growl. "You may be clever and have advanced technology but-"

"It would seem closing borders and securing communication was effective. You are horribly behind in information." Jace interrupted with a quiet chuckle. "The foreign space craft have been either destroyed or captured with minimum casualties. Most of those planets they managed to establish a presence on have been secured with the exception of one, but even then we are only taking a while because they are actively using civilians as human shields."

There was an exchange of looks between the Dakotas while Salem actively yawned. "The meeting is a complete sham and so is their reason. They actually learned about spatial anomalies and realized there is a device inside. Somehow the military political faction have learned about the Gateways without learning about the Gateways. They just want to send people to the one in your territory."

Jace scoffed. "That is what this is about. Well rest assured. I am well aware and you are about twenty years technologically. So go ahead and fuck right off." Jace told them with a smile.

"I am pulling my fleet back." Dahlia declared with a sigh. "We left areas unsecured, I will return and make sure there is no outside influencing them. Then I will start to hunt the hostile Xenar. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated."

"You can probably find a trail in former Dark Elf occupied areas. It is clear from our intel along with MILD's intel that they had a bypass for the psychic damping field that the Dark Elves set up." Jace informed her before she bowed her head and her hologram disappeared. "Now then, was that all?"

"What are these gateways?" One of the Generals asked.

"I am not telling you." Jace answered with a scoff. "Now I am hanging up." He then ended the communication and walked away with a yawn. Perhaps he should get started on the prison ship project. He opened his communicator as the communication room powered off.

"Yeah," Vana asked with a yawn. She must be on her sleep cycle at the moment. He probably just woke her up.

"Sorry Vana, did I wake you?" He asked as he began to move toward a hangar. He would catch a ride to the prison ship.

"You did, I assume you need something?" Vana pointed out through a yawn as he could hear her start to do something in the background. "If not, then I will beat the crap out of you again."

"I called to ask if the students aboard your ship are busy?" Jace chuckled as he sent a message to Solisa. Telling her to send the engineers that Hielo was sending over to the Democracy of Canarus ship. He was already pulling up the design of the modified stasis pods on his data pad.

"Umm…" Vana hummed. "They are not, at least they do not have any tests so their plans can be moved if you need them. "Where am I taking them?"

"They are going aboard the former Democracy of Canarus ship, let's see its name is…. Hand of Canarus-3?" Jace chuckled as he read the name. "What an ambiguous name." He pointed out as he found the design and realized the design just needed a few modifications. But they would all need it.

"Yeah, I noticed. I think it basically means either a hand offering peace or a hand of war. Either way, we are currently docked to the ship. So just head over here. And you can board it." She told him with a sigh. "But keep in mind, you are going to be stuck with a bunch of children for several hours. Then there are the prisoners aboard all of the ships."

"We are going to slowly start to put them in stasis as we work through the ship." Jace answered with a sigh. "Any word from our people in the Gateway?"

"Not yet, but estimates show that we have at least another five months before they start the Gateway." Vana answered with a whispered voice. "Speaking of time… how about the Grail continent?"

Jace sucked in his breath as he walked into the hanger and made his way to a transport that was being prepared for him. He had let them know ahead of time. "It is going to be at least a month before we get to the cities. It is going to be a slow burn and unfortunately there is no way to speed it up with them using civilians as human shields."

"Ha… barbaric." Vana sighed as she sounded like she started preparing herself some food. "You want some food?"

"Sure, have Cho and Jordan join us. I assume the students are in their night cycle?" He asked as the ramp of the transport closed up.

"They are. But it is almost morning so I will wake them up and we can have breakfast together." Vana decided with a hum that sounded happy. "I know just what to have made for us."

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