Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 500: Death, Repair, and Void

Jace dropped the Excalibur weapon on the ground of the Nero Hawk as the ramp onto the ship closed and sealed. He moved haphazardly forward but stopped when he saw that the ship was filled with people already. If the Nero Hawk was this full then the Wolfsbane must be just as full.

He moved past the throng of people and toward the front of the ship. Where Nina was standing near the pilot’s seat and talking with a panicked and confused Victor and silent Valkyrie.

"What do you mean we can’t go back? They are retreating are they not?" Victor demanded in anger.

Jace sighed as he moved past them and rested his hands on the back of the co-pilot seat. "Connect me to the Wolfsbane." He ordered as he was already aware of the shock and confused faces that both Victor and the Valkyrie were giving him.

Victor seemed to be the first one to pull himself out of his shock and speak. "Colonel Jace, I am rather surprised at your appearance. But shouldn’t we be landing back on the planet now that the enemy has retreated?" Victor asked.

"No." Jace shook his head as the communication system connected.

"Colonel Jace, this is Solisa. What happened?" Solisa asked over the channel.

"Solisa, how annoyed are the higher ups?" Jace asked as he looked over to see Nina inspecting his damaged armor.

"Intially they were shocked but once that wore off. They realized who it was that called in the ceasefire and have been acting accordingly. This is not like with the daemons either. Once you called it out we started receiving reports about the path of destruction they left behind." Solisa informed him.

"Good let’s-"

"Wait a minute!" Victor pushed over in anger. "Why can’t we go back to Yuri? Aren’t those things in full retreat?"

"We cannot." Solia was the one to answer as Jace sighed. "Jace, pull up a live hologram of the planet." Jace leaned over the co-pilot and pressed a few buttons. Then a hologram appeared further back in the ship. The projectors would typically be used for a mission briefing but they could be used for this as well.

"That’s Yuri..." Victor softly mumbled as not only him but the other refugees and soldiers watched the hologram as the planet seemingly started to fall apart with the single uninhabited moon crashing into it. Or rather the planet crashing into the moon as it fell apart and pieces of the planet seemed to fly off. "What... what happened?"

"The weapon I was using. Excalibur. It needs a massive amount of energy in order to function. The amount of energy for three shots is equivalent to the entire amount of varying types of energy that can be found on a single planet. At least it was theoretically, now we know it would need a bit more." Jace answered as he started pulling off pieces of his armor with Nina’s help. It was too damaged to be useful anymore. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"What... why..." Victor started confused while Jace could already feel the glares from the other vampires aboard the ship. But Victor quickly began picking up on it and sighed aloud. "I see... in order to slow them down or make them retreat you had to use that weapon. But in order to first use it you called for a full planetary evacuation. This was your plan all along. You knew that there was no way for us to keep the planet."

Jace shook his head with a frown.

"Damn." Victor sighed.

—--------------------------------

General Ariel looked at the viewscreen as the planet they just tried to take fell apart. "What should we do?" One of her subordinates asked.

"We need to find somewhere safe to repair our ship." General Ariel informed them and then looked over at Gabriel who was still injured but appeared here simply because she felt great shame for her failure. "We will also need to contact the others. We will not be able to conquer this galaxy with a single warship. As it stands, we might not even survive long enough for them to get here. What is the state of our ship at the moment?"

"Our ship has suffered extensive damage to the hull from a high heat laser weapon. Multiple sections have been closed due to exposure to space, those can be repaired given enough time. Our main engines have been disabled, we will need to land on a celestial body in order to fully repair them." One of her other subordinates explained as they waved their hands and a wealth of information passed them by.

"Is that all?" General Ariel asked.

"No, not even slightly." The subordinate answered. "We also have a variety of downed systems that will take time to repair. Including our long range communication array as well as our portal drive. I have sent you a list of all the other damaged systems as well."

General Ariel grunted in annoyance as she looked at the falling apart planet again then looked at the two human warships that were escaping. "We are pulling back to a planet we have already conquered. Are any of the outposts actively building a repair hub?"

"We left no orders and we are unable to contact them. We will have to get closer to do so." The subordinate informed her.

"Ha... fine. Move toward the closest one. We will use it as a relay station." General Ariel declared before moving out of the bridge. She had preparations to make. Just as the humans learned from their encounter, she too learned about the humans. Especially that one with white armor.

Next time he appeared she would be ready and know to not underestimate him.

—--------------------------

Predator is running.

Why is the predator running?

[He is not running. My study of the concept of tactics shows that this is more akin to a tactical retreat. The things he was fighting are running. He injured them so now they must run and hide.]

So the predator is still strong. Good. When should I fight him? When can I fight him?

[Not yet Prey. He has become the Other’s Avatar. He will only get stronger if you do not fight to win. You are not yet ready. Besides, I believe there is another task you were supposed to do.]

The mass of darkness turned and looked at a glowing tube before looking back in the direction where it could see the planet that was falling apart in the center and destruction it was already causing to that solar system. Then at the strange creatures that were disappearing. Then at the two ships that were mostly undamaged and escaping back to their territory with the Predator aboard.

I suppose. But I still do not understand. Why do you fear the other system? Is it that much stronger than you? Is it your predator?

[No and yes. It is stronger than me but only because it is older and it knows how to make its nanobots smaller than mine. So small that they are not visible to the eye. But I do not believe it is the only system out there. Unfortunately I am unable to leave the marked ’quarantine zone’ that the surrounding countries have made. We are fortunate that the remnants of our scouting ships are able to send us this much.]

The predator seems wounded. Why was it wounded? How was it wounded? Are those things really that powerful that they can wound the predator?

[No. I noticed that as well. The predator was not physically wounded. Something else wounded him. The death of the planet if I had to guess. It seems that just as you are getting stronger so is the predator. He can now hear the voice of the planets.]

Voice of the planets?

[That is nothing for you to worry about. For now you should worry more about controlling your new abilities. You may be my Avatar but I cannot do everything for you.]

Prey made a gurgling noise before moving and standing in front of the glowing tube. Inside was a young woman with dark skin, pointed ears, and hair the color of darkness. While Prey watched the tube the mass of darkness began changing and forming before suddenly breaking and turning back into a mass. It made another annoyed noise and then looked at its own fractured memories again.

As Prey’s consciousness slipped away the woman in the tube slowly opened its eyes to reveal a pair of black voids for eyes. It looked at the mass then it looked past the mass to see what it was watching and smiled. "The fates are coming together. Soon it will be time for your greatest trial. Best of luck, Gladiator."

[What was that?]

"I was not talking to you, Void System. I am going back to sleep. My body is not ready yet." The woman answered the system before closing her eyes again and drifting off to sleep again.

[Hmm... How annoying...]