Space Odyssey: Spectre

Chapter 640: A Few Weeks Pass

The next few weeks were a flurry of activity. Mostly with Jace spending time with his adopted daughters or working on repairs and modifications to the Lance of Thanatos. The larger gravity shielding facility was still unnamed but not much work could be done on it either. Although Hielo had managed to turn it into a temporary ship building and repair facility.

Jordan did want to pilot a mech. But not to cause harm. More for the joy of piloting one. Apparently she would be satisfying fighting abominations, kitinol, and other massive creatures. Of which there were plenty of massive mech sized enemies to go around.

While Cho wanted to explore like she was coming from some kind of television show. It was actually concerning how much she was excited by the prospect. She wanted to find and explore things. It was apparently her innate desire to look and discover.

The others from his hybrid group were all getting in contact with their people. Although many could not and a few others had already made the decision to leave. It was the end of their little cooperation. Although a few of them would be sticking around.

Bartholomew Crystal was leaving. They had found a lead on his daughter and where his people had disappeared to. It was the underground slave trade. Shortly after they left, a group of pirates had taken the planet and sold all of the people into the slave trade. It was during a tumultuous time for the Crystoph Federation so they did not even notice. Now he was taking some time and accepting some modifications to his mech so he could go to the few colonies and planets with slaves to free them. Unfortunately the Cerberus Unit could not dedicate any time or manpower to the task. But Jace promised they would help him once the war was over.

Valkyrie and Shinobi were mixed on their course of action. Valkyrie wanted to rally not only her own followers that lingered throughout the galaxy but the remnants of the Oda Empire. But Shinobi was convinced they could not. Mostly because any remnants would still be loyal to their immediate superior and anyone without a leader would be vying for power themselves. So now they were stuck with a child and the idea of rallying their own faction but no way to go about it.

He had a feeling it would not be long before they would come to him for help. Or rather come looking for the Cerberus Unit’s help.

Shilla had gotten in contact with her mother and the Aphri Clan. They were successfully blockaded and protected with the other Centuria clans. But apparently there were problems with not just daemons but pirates as well. Although, despite their positioning being near the dark elves’ territory, they had never actually gone after the Centuria clans. In fact they seemed to be steering clear of them. They were not calling for help, but they were holding back from invading nearby systems for resources.

Victor Al Ul-man was staying with them. Apparently the Vampires had become rare. There are groups actively hunting them now so most of them were hiding in remote areas of the galaxy or being protected by larger groups. Fortunately for him one of said groups was actually the Cerberus Unit. So he had already applied to join and would probably be handed his own covert unit because of his experience.

Catherine Hex was handed off to Salem. But they still had her wraith which was being moved to a psychic prison cell with backup power. It would probably be moved to a more secluded area of space and studied eventually. But for now they kept it so they could learn how to combat and detect such creatures. Because Jace only realized it was a variation of a split personality, he never actually learned how to find it.

Liz and Gaz were staying with them. But both Gaz and Colonel were being handed over to a specific animal department to study while Liz was already applying to join them. At the same time she was waiting for an opportunity for a debrief. Solisa was setting up additional debrief methods after learning about Wraiths. So all people joining or having already joined were going to undergo an additional screening. It was muddling up and delaying things.

Eduta was still with them and decided to stick around. He was undergoing a study as well so the doctors and medics will know how to patch him up if he is injured. Then he is also trying to find his own place. But apparently during the time of Jace’s absence he had discussed his values and beliefs with Valkyrie. They were talking about religion and monks so he might take his ancestors roots and become an artist or religious figure. But he still needed to be cleared for citizenship so he would be handed over to MILD soon enough.

Then there was West. She was cleared for citizenship after a debrief by MILD. But unlike Liz she did not plan to stay with the Cerberus Unit. But for the time being she wanted to stick around to learn about the galaxy. So she was not given the freedom to roam around but she did not have to worry about her place here.

Colvert had applied to join the Cerberus Unit as well. His admission process was just as delayed because of Solisa revamping of the system. He was joining a mech design and creation department. He had plenty of ideas to donate and add in so Jace was actually curious what would be happening to the young man, making sure that Solisa knew to keep an eye on him.

Jamal went a completely different direction compared to everyone else. He left. Joining the galactic military instead of sticking around. He wanted to donate his time and effort to the new galactic military. Or at least the time he had left. Turns out he had more after his mutation. The doctors quickly discovered he had a good fifty years left in his lifespan. While the disease that was slowly killing him had disappeared. So he shipped out and joined the galactic military. Solisa already reported that they would be having a full debrief and will poke and prod him before he joined the active duty roster. Apparently the politicians had already managed to get a hold and were directing him to benefit them.

Then there was K. K managed to get in contact with plenty of members of the Union. Which had disbanded and then some. The politicians within the galactic government had put them on the wanted list. Like the Vampires, the known members had to go into hiding. There were a few in the Cerberus Unit, many had been forced to join MILD. The remaining ones either disappeared into less lawful areas of the galaxy or changed their identities and went to colonies on the edge of the galaxy where the government had the least amount of influence. K decided to join them since she was already there.

Jace had spent this time talking design and alterations with not just Gorund and Hielo but a few others as well. He was fortunate that the only women he had been intimate with that were in the system were either down on the planet or were Hielo. The rest were off somewhere attacking or defending someplace in the galaxy.

But he did not spend his time exclusively doing research and a bit of engineering. He was holding back on going down to the planet and seeing not only what was apparently a variety of his children. But it was mostly because he was worried about being stuck on the planet. Apparently the method to get off and on the planet was difficult. The upper atmosphere was so heavy that it could strip away shielding. So now they were coming up with a way to make a pathway through the atmosphere to make it more stable.

Why they decided to bring his children planet side he will not understand, the travel alone was immensely dangerous. But apparently it was actually the High Priestess’ plan. One that Nila insisted they follow. The Mar’talic and accer races both preferred their offspring growing up in the most difficult environments so their bodies could evolve to be strong enough to withstand the conditions of their environment.

Honestly, Jace could understand. His own muscles had benefited from Prima Terra’s increased gravity. They even increased the gravity on the Lance of Thanatos over time. According to Valkyrie it had been very beneficial to her and Shinobi’s child.

The idea had given Jace a few ideas for the future.

But Jace was more focused at the moment on organizing all of the information that was stored in his armor. Apparently the engineers took a look at it and walked away. Even Hielo said she could not make sense of the encrypted files he had.

Now he was working on organizing the wealth of information that he collected into understandable data while he was hand picking the crew he would have aboard the Lance of Thanatos. Although he would only have them for a few years before this war ended and he would ’retire’.