Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 64: Having the Talk

As he sat down to eat he sighed at the inability to make his own food once again. Jace had gotten used to making his own food while living with Elena. Actually one of the few things he felt was useful to learn was cooking, just even as a precaution. He looked at the overly white bread. the piece of mystery meat, and the orange then he sighed.

"What? Something wrong with your food?" Salem asked as she sat across from him. "There are only two cafeteria's on the ship, both have always served the same thing so far."

"Yeah," Jace sighed. "I got a bit too comfortable on the station and was spoiled by eating what I wanted everyday since I arrived at the station. My commanders gave me a bit too much freedom."

Salem smirked, "good." Then she transmitted her thoughts directly to his mind. {Can we talk now?}

Jace looked at her nervous face for a second. Glad he was able to delay the talk until this morning after they both had a night to think about it. Jace pushed forward his thoughts in response, [Yeah, we can talk now. But it would be better if I give my explanation, or excuse if you prefer, through telepathy rather than talking.]

{Why did you cheat on me?}

[Not accurate, but I went out with Elena for multiple reasons and chances are I will be going out with others as well because of those reasons.]

Salem frowned. {So you plan on making this a thing that happens more often?}

[Yes, because the plan was for you to be undercover as a spy for the Union. In order to not give it away that I am your contact we need to remain as separate as possible. So I plan to build up a bit of a reputation just in case someone we know is a spy or becomes a spy for the Union. Then there is the need for release, it is not like we can seek each other out everytime one of us is horny. So it would be better if we find a release where we can with whoever we can. We just need to remember to take the shots to prevent conception.]

{That… actually makes sense. But I am surprised you are encouraging me to sleep around as well.}

[Well we both have our needs. I would not deny you your satisfaction, especially since I intend to seek out my own.]

{So does that mean while we are going through special operations training I can seek you out for sex?}

Jace raised an eyebrow as he began peeling an orange. "I do not see why not."

"Then that is-"

BOOM! The entire ship shook as an explosion could be heard. The lights flickered in the cafeteria for a moment. As they looked around for a few seconds seeing everyone else that was in the cafeteria was just as confused.

Then the lights switched to a red color and were blinking repeatedly while klaxon alarms began blaring throughout the entire ship. Then a voice came over the speaker system,

"Battle stations! We are under attack! I repeat, get to your battle stations! The Crystoph Federation is here!" A young and nervous voice yelled through the speakers.

Jace and Salem only looked at each other for a moment before they both raced off.

—----------------------

Captain Cornwall marched onto the bridge still in his workout clothes. "What's our status?"

Solisa in her holographic otter form appeared above the central console. "We are operating with an inexperienced skeleton crew and the federation just appeared out of warp. It seems the early warning outposts failed to report their presence intentionally. But I will investigate that later. There are three cruisers, a cutter, and an onyx. The onyx and cutter are both heading down to the surface of the planet. The cruisers are surrounding us and the other two ships that arrived in the system. Both of which are similarly unmanned." Solisa pulled up an image of two ships going to the planet while the cruisers were blocking in the Wing of Pegasus along with the cruiser and the galleon ship that were nearby.

"What have we done?" Cornwall sat in his command chair and began pulling up the information on the enemy ships.

"I have pulled up the shields but I have no control over our guns. They need to be manned by people but we are severely lacking in manpower." Solisa told him.

"It does not look like they intend to board us. Get all squads to gunner seats as well as our guests, all hands should be busy. Get me connected to Oculus Station, specifically to Red Sanix. You have my permission to move people around to more experienced positions as needed." Cornwall told her. Then he looked over designs of the enemy ships. "Tell our allies to get behind us. We have the enhanced shields they lack."

"Understood." Solisa's image disappeared as she fully focused on her task. Throughout the ship people were getting adjustments to their orders as Solisa was putting people in positions they would be the most helpful in.

This included Salem, Jace, Freya, Taylor, and Ulin who were in their temporary barracks. Ulin was sent to a heavy gunner position where she would be shooting slower but each shot would cause more damage. Taylor was sent the main cannon to help with the engineering team that was preparing them to fire. Freya was sent to the very understaffed infirmary to help where she could. Jace was transferred to the engineering deck where all the important systems were located as the initial attack they took damaged their engines and they were floating in space without full mobility. While Salem was sent to the command deck, she would be piloting the ship. Most of the pilots were being sent to operate Hawks in preparation of a counter attack, but they needed someone without a sense of hesitation piloting the ship.

"This is Romav, How can I help you Captain Cornwall?" The call was connected to Romav, the head of the Red Sanix Mercenaries.

"This is Captain Cornwall of the Wing of Pegasus. I am hiring you to assist us. There are a number of cruisers surrounding our ships. I need them disabled or destroyed."

"What about the ones going to the planet?" Romav asked. Likely hoping to milk them for as much money as possible. freewebnøvel.coɱ

"We will let the local militia and the military on Oculus Station handle that. They have to prioritize civilian life." Cornwall explained.

"Very well, we are on our way." The call then cut off.

Then a moment later his comms lit up as he was getting two direct transmissions. He answered and the captains of the other two ships began explaining their ships are similarly undermanned. It appears both ships were scheduled to be turned into scrap after they finished transporting their people to their final destinations.

So one ship was unmanned because it was too new to have a proper crew. While the other two ships were unmanned because they were being retired. It was the worst situation they could be in. The only saving grace was that the Wing of Pegasus had a new experimental shielding system that was currently taking the brunt of the enemy's volleys. They were not in a good tactical situation.

But within five minutes Solisa's changes became apparent as experienced soldiers arrived at familiar stations.

Salem swiftly walked onto the bridge in her basic camo uniform. She quickly moved over to the control station which was close to the front. She climbed in the seat and it spun around so she was facing the console. The console had a touchscreen with several different things displayed. The right side of it was speed control and above that were a few different buttons. To the left side is a round metal ball that spins. She looked down under the console and saw the hidden alternate controls, it was a control yoke.

She pressed a button on the console and the metal ball switched out with the control yoke. Most smaller ships were fashioned to the pilot, so they already had the appropriate control style installed. But larger ships like the onyx class they were in had switchable controls. "I am ready but it looks like our engines are still down. There is no issue on my end." Salem looked over her shoulder at Captain Cornwall.

The captain nodded, "I am aware. I am sending you some maneuvers. Quickly memorize them while you wait. We have maybe ten more minutes before our shields go down. Then all of our ships will be decimated by enemy laser fire. We are fortunate all of these cruisers are only equipped with laser weaponry."

"Yeah, but I am sure their space capable mecha and any spacecraft fighters they have will become a pain once they launch." Salem pointed out, voicing her thoughts.

"Yeah but I am guessing they are keeping them locked in bays to avoid friendly fire with any of their mecha and fighters. The Red Sanix mercenaries are coming to assist us with their mecha. But before they get here we need to return fire. Weapons, are your people ready?" Captain Cornwall asked towards another person.

"We have fifty percent of operational capacity. I prioritized the weapons on the front of the ship and the weapons on the back of the ship." An older man with graying hair answered with a quick salute.

Captain Cornwall pressed a button on his console, "engineering what is the status of engine repairs?"