Space Odyssey: Spectre

Jace walked back down the ramp to find a small table and several chairs had been set up. He blinked in surprise and looked over to find Captain Neslie taking a secondary seat, leaving the primary seat on their side open. While on the other side all four of them were sitting down with Mayor Grimes and Cynthia sitting in the two primaries while the younger pair, Oliver and Jazz sat in the secondary seats.

"Commander Wintry! Is everything alright?" The mayor asked as Jace walked down the ramp and smiled. Changing his expression when he realized that he was letting his worry show on his face.

"Yes, everything is alright. It seems some debris did destroy your satellite though." Jace explained as he walked in. "We were just making certain it was not because of our arrival."

They blinked in confusion as they looked at him sitting down while Captain Neslie seemed uncomfortable. "Umm… was it?"

"Was what what?" Jace asked innocently at the data pad to see what they had worked through. He looked over and saw her frowning. "Oh! Possibly," Jace turned to the colonists. "We will compensate you of course and provide you with a new satellite. We will also investigate later at a further date." As he spoke he caught the eye of their tech whiz, Oliver who frowned for a moment before switching expressions.

"We are already welcoming an orbital station." The mayor pointed out.

"Yes, I can see that. An orbital trade station. But we are going to have to set up the station at an orbit beyond the three celestial bodies that orbit this planet. They move at such a variation that it would be impossible to set up a trade station without issue. So instead we will provide a low altitude satellite instead." Jace explained as he began to add specific information to the data pad.

"What do you think about setting up a military base and institution near this colony?" Mayor Grimes asked nervously.

"If you want we can do that. I assume you want something out of this?" Jace asked as he began to read through the contract they had made so far. "I assume it has to do with the building materials list that I just found?"

"Yes, because of the planet's nature it is almost impossible to build something too tall. So we were hoping to acquire materials to create buildings that are unaffected by the shaking of the ground." Mayor Grames explained.

"Hmm…" Jace tilted his head as an idea came to mind. After a minute of contemplation he wrote it down and he could see the confusion on their faces. "Just an idea, we will discuss it in more detail later. First we should discuss the other points and requests you put down here."

"Is there something wrong with them?" Mayor Grames asked.

"Hold up, are we not going to talk about the mobile city idea you just created a design for in under a minute?" Jazz asked suddenly in utter confusion. "I mean you even generated a basic framework. Did you already have an idea for this or did you come up with this on the spot?"

"I came up with it quickly. It helps that I have memorized a bunch of information on structural engineering and other forms of construction. You would be surprised how much those will come in handy for making space craft." Jace informed them with a shrug. He then looked directly towards Mayor Grames, "yes, there is an issue with requesting another adaptation of species. It would be best if we did not attempt it again until we learned what went wrong the first time someone attempted it."

"I see…" Mayor Grames mumbled and seemed to be lost in thought. "In that case we are going to have a food shortage soon. We are barely able to get by with what we can scavenge and rations. But we are unable to hunt the hostile creatures and nor are we able to farm because all the decent soil has massive worms wriggling in it. So now we have a new problem."

Jace hummed and nodded his head. "Indeed, food shortage. But we can give you a temporary solution. Ration deliveries. At least until you come up with a more permanent solution to your problems."

"Do you have any ideas?" Oliver asked from the side. "You seem to have a lot of them so…"

"So I might have one for this situation?" Jace continued for him in understanding and then nodded, "I do. But this problem is more something you have to solve. Having autonomy also means solving internal problems yourselves. You can ask for help with rations and other things to survive. But you need to be your own independent colony so you will not have to rely on us forever."

"Hmm… I see." Mayor Grames sighed as he seemed lost in thought. After a few minutes he nodded. "Very well, what other problems do you see?"

"I see that you also want a space port to establish a route to the trade space station we will build in orbit. But once again, you can't be overly reliant on us." Jace pointed out before continuing. "Then there is the request for more colonists. We cannot just make them appear out of thin air. We can send out a notice once you stabilize your own colony. But until then…"

"We have to find a way to make our own colony stable. How long do you think before you can determine whether or not it is safe enough to send more adaptation creatures down?" Mayor Grames asked.

"Two weeks at least. But I will stay here the entire time and do the assessment myself. While we also completely survey the planet to see what else you have to work with on this planet." Jace informed them as he looked through a few minor requests. "Everything else looks fine. But I think we also need to discuss military presence."

"You want a military presence which we would want as well." Mayor Grames nodded in agreement.

"Yes, but they are not here to police you or your people. In fact, until you have enough of a population to start sending to join the Cerberus Unit, your people and the military presence will not interact." Jace explained and saw a faint look of sadness in Mayor Grames' eyes. "Yes, that includes hunting down any of these massive creatures. The military presence is to help protect you from foreign invasion and anything of a catastrophic magnitude."

"I see." Mayor Grames hummed while the rest of them stayed quiet.

"Commander, do you want us to set up here or find a better landing spot for our survey of the planet?" Captain Neslie asked as she realized the meeting was about to conclude.

"See if you can find a better landing spot. But turn over any spare emergency rations we have aboard the ship." Jace ordered as he looked over the contract one last time before signing the contract. "I will contact some people to get the ball rolling on the rest of this stuff."

Mayor Grames signed the contract and stood up. "Then we have to get back to work. Have a good day Commander." He walked away and the older woman followed quickly after him and then the young woman. The only one that stayed was Oliver.

"Something wrong?" Jace asked.

"Yeah, we got a last minute scan that was full of tachyons before it was destroyed. Do you want me to delete the data?" Oliver asked.

"Please do." Jace nodded. "But I assume that is not all you want to ask about."

"It is not. You realize that it is not going well and Mayor Grames is about to be 'kicked' out of office in a manner of speaking." Oliver informed him. "If he goes, they might not recognize the contract."

"I am aware, Oliver…" Jace trailed off, asking for a last name.

"No last name. All of us that are considered peasants in the Imperium were stripped of our last names." Olvier explained briefly so Jace could continue.

"Well, Oliver. One, you need the fine print of the contract. He signed it not as himself but as the temporary representative of the colony. Two, we do not interfere in internal affairs of a colony unless an overwhelming majority of the population personally requests it." Jace explained as Oliver quickly scanned through the contract.

"I see." Oliver nodded and stared for a moment before turning and walking away.

Jace hummed as Captain Neslie helped him put back the temporary chairs and tables into the ship. "So what now?"

"Now, we inform the Underworld System that we will be here for at least a minimum of two weeks doing surveys and investigating the cause of the excess mutation." Jace informed her.

"I know you left time in the itinerary. But I did not expect it to take so long." Captain Neslie pointed out as they finished packing away the tables and chairs before the ramp began to close.

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