Space Odyssey: Spectre

Chapter 632: Admiral Salem Wintry

They separated after only a moment. At least that was how it appeared. In reality they had talked and caught up for over an hour. She leaned back and frowned. "Maybe destroying that psychic jammer should be your first objective."Jace tilted his head. "We will see."

"Victor, bring Catherine Hex to the MILD agents on the other end of the bridge. They will take her to the director for a proper debrief. But I will do an on station improper one." Salem explained. Catherine opened her mouth to speak but Salem continued on. "We will also discuss your desire for asylum. But chances are with the crimes we have on file and the claims by one of the other refugees Jace brought, you will be denied and detained in a facility."

Catherine’s jaw slammed shut as she suddenly looked between Salem’s neutral gaze and Jace’s lack of interest. Then she was pushed into the pathway and away from them. "Shall we?" Jace asked. Waving at the tunnel.

"Please. I am sure there will be many people that want to talk." Salem agreed and snapped her fingers at Gorund before pointing at one of the guards that came with her. "You, take Gorund to the infirmary. He has blown eardrums."

"Where are we going?" Jace asked in a chipper attitude.

"To the secure communication room aboard my station." Salem answered as she started to pull him along. Jace followed her through the space bridge as he used his hearing to listen to the variety of noises ahead of them.

"You know there were a variety of other things that happened that we did not discuss." Jace pointed out as they finally stepped through the other side of the space bridge and right onto a metal grate walkway.

He had an open view of what must be the outer rung of the space station. It looked like there were layers in the event of a breach. The outermost rung was likely for military personnel while the civilians were hidden deeper in the facility. The military personnel seemed to have space gear on hand in the event of a breach.

This rung had people running back and forth moving equipment, weapons, and other secure boxes. "I figured. But we got the more important information out of the way. You know what else." Salem hummed as she was basically vibrating with joy as said in the next part. "Like the fact that I am now older than you in a chronological sense."

Jace’s mind blanked out for a moment as he thought about her words. He came back to reality as he was dragged along a catwalk to the other side of the rung and to a pod that was hanging from the ceiling. "I do not see how that is important." Jace pointed out with a nervous chuckle.

Salem smirked as they stepped into the metal pod and she accessed the controls. Jace looked at the design quickly and realized it was basically a fast tramline system that ran throughout the station. It was probably used to avoid whatever form of traffic they had here. "It is not important now. But it will be later."

The tram shot forward and rocked slightly. The rocking would have caused most people to fall on their asses. But they just swayed slightly.

Jace and Salem both looked out the window as they went from a tunnel to an open area. The tram line ran right over the next tung in the station which seemed to consist of civilian residences and buildings. "Some people that gave up on trying to run or want to contribute but can’t fight have set up on this station. The refugees are all stuck in the cargo areas for the moment."

"How old is this station?" Jace asked as he looked at the graffiti and other signs that would indicate the station had been around for years.

"Only a year." Salem sighed as she answered. "A large number of them were built after you left. The information you provided us with showed that we needed to shore up our defenses and prepare for a massive invasion."

They entered another tunnel as they transitioned from one rung to the next rung. When they came out, they came out while slowing down as they approached the end of the tram line. "How strained are the resources?"

"Badly. But it is mostly the fault of the resource allocation division of the new galactic governing body." Salem started explaining as the pod jolted as it stopped and the door slid open. "At the moment the military has a firm grasp so political shenanigans are being tossed aside. But the moment the fighting ends, we are going to have a political nightmare on our hands."

Jace smiled as he followed her out onto the platform. "They can’t help it. It is in their genes to be greedy." Jace reminded her as he looked over the single ’building’ that took up this center rung. It was less of a building and more of a floating fortress inside of the station. The amount of weapons hanging over the side indicated they would use this place as a last stand if necessary.

"Do you think our galaxy will end up like those other nations?" Salem asked as they walked through a set of doors with a pair of guards saluting. Salem waved them off as they walked past.

"You mean the galactic nations that are letting their greed take over and are attacking us?" Jace asked with a chuckle. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because this galaxy has Cerberus to act as a symbol of independence and heroics that will keep the politicians in line. I set up several plans and one of them is to assist the galaxy in the event of a people’s rebellion." Jace explained to her openly. Causing her to flinch in surprise while some of the guards they walked past did a double take.

"You are mentioning it only because it will happen?" Salem asked.

Jace shrugged. "Not quite." He stopped as Salem did outside of a door.

It slid open to reveal a box of a room with several holoprojectors and holo recorders in the walls, floors, and roof. They walked in as Jace frowned. "Yeah... our communication methods... changed." Salem told him with a sigh of disappointment mixed with what could only be annoyance. "High command communication request?"

"Request accepted. Putting you through now Admiral." A robotic voice answered through some hidden speakers.

"Admiral?" Jace asked.

She just shrugged in response. "Just a title."

The first of the holograms to appear was one of Director Fenrir. She looked a lot more drained and tired then the last time he saw her. Even while in a gray hologram form he could see the exhaustion.

Salem flinched in surprise. Probably not expecting such a quick response. "Director?"

"Salem," Fenrir nodded at her protege. Then turned to Jace. "Welcome back Jace."

"That bad?" Jace asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Worse than you think." Fenrir sighed. "Although now that you are back. I suppose you have brought back a way to win our war?"

Before Jace could respond two more images appeared. One of them was Admiral Dakota. Although he was looking completely different with a scar that cut across his face and seemed to have claimed one of his eyes. The other was the High Priestess. She looked a lot more mature.

Admiral Dakota’s first response was to burst into laughter. While the High Priestess’ expression softened as she looked him over. "Good. You are alive."

"So should we get started?" Jace asked. But the High Priestess and the Director both shook their heads. While Dakota’s laughing lessened a considerable octave.

Salem was the one to explain to him. "Unfortunately we cannot start until the politician arrives. We are now ’required’ to have a political overseer present when discussing information."

Jace shrugged. "Okay, I am going to start anyways since I am sure you already informed them that this is happening. They can play catch up later." Jace informed them uncaringly. A politician cannot do shit to him.

"We would prefer not to have a headache." Fenrir pointed out.

"Eh..." Jace shrugged and continued. "I have a way to kick our enemies out of our galaxy."

"What?" Dakota asked and flinched as the others glared at him. But he continued forward anyway. "How? Where were you?"

"I was in the Milky Way Galaxy. Specifically on what was once called Earth. It is now called Prima Terra." Jace started explaining. "As for the method. The nanosystem provided the idea. It will take some resources and a few years to prepare though. But during that time I am confident we can take back the space occupied by both the dark elves and the other galactic nations."

"What about the daemons and mortella?" The High Priestess asked. Intrigued enough to actually ask questions now.

"They both plan to hunker down and preserve resources." Jace answered. "Both are fighting wars on multiple fronts and the cost of attempting to occupy our system is beginning to cause a strain on them."