Space Odyssey: Spectre

Jace stood on the bridge of the Anvil. His armor, weapons, and drop pod were all ready for when he needed them. He was waiting on the bridge because they were about to pass the Crystoph Federation blockade. But he was not worried about getting past the blockade.

For him it was guaranteed. He was just here as a formality in the event that they were detected by the enemy. As well as a way to hide from the Woltar agent, Vana, that they were absolutely confident in their stealth capabilities. Misinformation was still useful even against their allies until they were told otherwise.

At the moment, Jace was worried about something else. When he arrived at Echo Base he had a private conversation with Director Fenrir. She had returned as well, she had quickly finished her work at the Labyrinth. Apparently they were now running a joint research facility with the Woltar that would also act as a war outpost.

MILD would be in charge of it. It would technically be the first known Vexical Military Intelligence and Logistics Division facility. But it would also be a joint facility, especially after Director Fenrir had a talk with the Elected Elder Council. They came to an agreement that was remaining secret even to him.

The Elected Elder Council is the ruling body of the Woltar. They used to be a monarchy where women ruled and it was passed from woman to woman. But the monarchy in Woltar established a new form of government when the Leonair attacked and one woman from the royal bloodline was required to marry the crown prince of the Vexical Empire. The current Woltar royal family had no political power to speak of. Instead they were like pop culture groups who were constantly in the spotlight. Many of them relished in the popularity and gained fame.

Among the royals of Woltar, Director Fenrir was famous for being completely unknown. Jace had looked it up when he had time and there was next to nothing known about her. But he did know she was Woltar with a system. Which would insinuate that she was a bastard child among her siblings who were normal Woltar.

But Jace was worried about their conversation. The reason it was classified was because she was 'revealing' that there was a leak in the Military Intelligence and Logistics Division. She also revealed the five suspects of the leak. One of which was of course Salem, but the other four were all suspected spies. Which was where the Anvil came in. After this mission they were required to return for this new mission.

He was worried about following through with this. Jace could feel Salem's conviction everytime they talked about this. But for some reason he was starting to feel worried. But he had to remember to keep his cool and keep it secret even from her until the time arose.

"We are about to pass through the blockade." Hammers told him from his seat in the middle of the room. "What made you so distracted that you did not even notice me talking to you?" Hammers had to raise his voice to catch Jace's attention.

Jace shrugged, "I am thinking about dinner." He then turned to Vana, "what about you, what are you thinking about?"

Vana blushed as she was suddenly and unexpectedly addressed, "I am thinking about what we should do if we get attacked."

"No you weren't." Jace responded.

"Shut up!" Vana punched his shoulder.

There were a bunch of chuckles from the bridge. The other officers were listening to their conversation. It was not like they were being that quiet about it.

"We are past the blockade now." Hammers announced while he tried to hide his own smirk. "By the way, Director Fenrir said there was something for Agent Vana in one of the hangars. But she said it was keyed to you. So why don't you head down to show her." Hammers waved at Jace and Vana like he was trying to dismiss them.

Jace chuckled and walked out of the bridge. Followed closely behind by Vana. "What do you think it is?" She asked as they walked to the elevator. They would take a few minutes to get to the hangar. There was only a single hangar where gear and other items were moved. The rest were filled with ships and drop pods.

"I have no clue. But if Director Fenrir is the one giving it and in a genetically sealed container no less, then it has to be something she does not want the engineers getting their hands on. So it could either be something so technologically advanced it is dangerous. Or it could be something that we are not allowed to use." Jace explained as they arrived at the elevator lobby and started going down the elevator.

"Why are those your go to answers? She might just want to keep it private for me." Vana pointed out as the elevator stopped to pick up more passengers.

"No, I am sure she wants me to see it as well. She intentionally genetically coded it for me, otherwise I probably would not have bothered to come and check out whatever she sent for you." Jace explained, catching the attention of the other people on the elevator. They were just a few soldiers with datapads. Shock Troopers to be exact, Jace recognized them from the Tartarus Program.

"Hey Spectre Jace, quick question. Do you think we will need longer range weapons for our attack or will we be fine with mid to short range weaponry?" One of them asked.

"We will need a variety of both. Which is why I suggest you pick whichever ranged type of weapon you are best with. Just make certain you also have a sidearm and melee weapon as part of your kit. If I recall I was specific about putting those in the orders required equipment." Jace informed them as he looked over one of the soldier's datapads and flicked a few times, pulling up the information he was talking about.

"Thanks Spectre Jace," They nodded and then started talking amongst themselves. Seems they were on their way to get their equipment ready. It was not like they would be arriving soon. But Jace purposefully left out the time they would be arriving as well as their destination. Just in case there were any spies.

The Director thought he was just being overly cautious. But Jace would rather be cautious and seen as crazy than being reckless and dumb. Although most others did see him as reckless, he made sure to plan all of his moves to the best of his ability.

Unfortunately there are times like this where they are going in with far too little information for his preparations to matter. Which is why a lot of the Spectres have information gathering missions to begin with. They would typically have a specific route they would take to complete their objectives. But that was not the case this time. They were going in almost completely blind and while it did annoy him. It would annoy him more if Lord Hoodwink managed to slip through their fingers again.

Jace and Vana arrived at the hangar a few minutes later. It was just as busy as he thought it would be. The extra troops were using this as temporary quarters while also using them to get their equipment ready. Almost all of the rooms on the ship were in use.

"This does not look like a hangar at all." Vana pointed out with a chuckle as they walked into the room. Jace walked towards an officer that was yelling at others.

"Chief Engineer, where are we going?" Jace asked, loudly interrupting the Chief Engineer as he was yelling off the ear of another younger officer. The Chief Engineer was sporting a salt and pepper look. While all of his limbs were metal, probably cybernetically replaced.

"Eh!!??!!" The Chief Engineer screamed while looking over at Jace and Vana. Vana flinched in surprise while Jace just raised an eyebrow in surprise. The Chief Engineer glared at them for a moment before he processed who he was seeing then his expression changed to one of surprise and then one of annoyance. "Haa… give me a moment Spectre Jace. What are you here for? Let me look it up."

"Genetically sealed box for Agent Vana. Director Fenrir would have had it moved onto the ship." Jace quickly explained with a chuckle. Seems the Chief Engineer was swamped with work with the overpopulation of soldiers on the ship.

"Oh?" The Chief Engineer made a noise of surprise before he pointed at a blue box that looked just a bit bigger than a coffin. "That is this. I was actually wondering what the hell I was supposed to do with it. I will have it moved to Agent Vana's quarters. But you can take a look inside for now."

Jace stepped forward and put his hand on the interface on the surface. There was a rush of smoke as it opened up. They looked inside and Jace whistled because he was so impressed. Vana was speechless on the other hand.

The Chief Engineer could not contain his own curiosity and took a peak. "Holy Lords and Seven Hells. I have only heard about that gear in historical records. I did not think it was real."