Space Odyssey: Spectre

As soon as they were in position the harness detached from the ship and he started descending towards the sun’s layers or explosions and radiation. With the two containment units hanging off his power armor’s back he fell rather quickly. Pulled to the sun by the high gravitational pull that Na was already constantly adjusting for.

Jace could feel the gravity even through his armor and the modified power armor. He could feel through his armor as the line spun as he dropped until he felt a sudden jostle. He grunted in annoyance as the armor’s feet dipped into the sea of flames below him. While almost periodically he was hearing a beeping noise as his external shielding went down and then regenerated.

"I am fully down." Jace announced as he reached back with his armor and pulled a containment unit from his back and lowered it into the sea of flames. He pulled off a lid to the container and heat and fire flooded into the containment device. He stayed dipped in the sea of flames as he watched his alerts, receiving a few troubling notifications about the integrity of the legs of the armor. But nothing that would cause him to call off the operation.

As soon as the first one was done he closed the containment unit and checked the container. Confirming that the miniature sun inside of the containment unit was already working on reforming and would soon be at the same standard of the one that was powering the Lance.

There was a crackle of static over the communication channel. Jace chuckled, "use the line." He told Na. "I have finished the first one. We are moving to a different location. Go along five miles in any direction parabolic to the surface." He ordered as his sensors picked up a slight and almost negligible dimming in the sun. It was unnoticeable to the naked eye but would be indicative of a star dying.

"I will." Na answered. "There are some kitinol waiting a fair distance from the sun. They might be waiting for us to move away from the sun."

"Then we will deal with them later." Jace moved the finished containment unit to his back. Grunting at the added weight. "But at the moment I am more worried about the massive ball of explosions we are on."

Jace started moving away from the spot towards another one. Hanging from the metal rope. After a few minutes the heat and radiation picked up again slightly. That difference was enough. "Is this good?" Na asked.

Jace looked around the area and one of his hands reached back to grab the empty container when his visor picked up a life sign. "Shit..." He mumbled as he spotted a dark red form moving towards him from deeper in the flaming ball. "No, there are suneaters in the area. You are going to have to go several miles in a direction that isn’t the one you were traveling in before." Jace explained.

"I am moving now." Na answered as they started moving to a different location. The suneater stopped following them after a few minutes when they gained a few miles of distance. "Is this area good?" Na asked.

Jace hummed as he checked the area for lifesigns again. "It is good." He then pulled the containment unit off his back and opened it up. Then lowered it down and the radiation and fires flowed into the container. "The second container is being filled." Jace announced.

Halfway through the process his visor picked up another lifesign then another and another. A bunch more suneaters were moving towards him from multiple directions. "Commander, I am getting a transmission from the Lance but it is not getting through the radiation."

"That is fine." Jace answered as the containment unit finished filling. He moved it to his back. "Time to go. Pull me back and move out of the orbit of the sun." Jace ordered as the suneaters arrived in spitting distance of him.

He was pulled away from the sun slowly but the suneaters grabbed onto the legs of the power armor he was wearing. The suneater began moving up the sides of the power armor and began leaching the lingering heat and radiation. Which was fine for a moment before one of them reached for one of the containment units.

Jace backhanded the suneater and its head exploded. Blue blood covered his power armor’s hand while the body of the suneater fell down toward the sun. While on the other end he could hear a creak in the armor as the gravity and force acting on him increased even more. It was getting difficult to breathe, even for him.

"We are leaving the sun’s orbit. The Lance is also moving towards us at a rapid pace. Was that the plan?" Na asked in surprise.

"No," Jace answered with a grunt as he kicked one of his legs and sent another suneater screeching away. "Okay, that is likely a problem." He smashed another one into mush between his legs and then grabbed the last one and held it away from his body as they flew towards the Lance.

After another minute the communications began clearing up and Jace was fully reeled in and hanging off the back of the transport. "Commander Jace and Pilot Na, I hope you are ready to go. We need to get back to the Underworld System. They have an enemy fleet coming toward them." Shilla informed them from the Lance’s bridge.

"A single fleet should not bother them that much. There has to be something else going on." Jace reasoned as he watched the suit sensors show that the suneater was absorbing not just the lingering radiation but the heat the suit was giving off. Even the heat that was coming from the armor’s systems were being transferred.

"That is what I was thinking as well." Shilla agreed. "You have a moment so can you..."

Jace sighed and relaxed his mind. Reaching out to the door connecting his mind to Salem’s. It only took a moment before the door opened up.

"This is rare, you reaching out to me. What’s wrong?" Salem asked as she appeared.

"Apparently an enemy fleet is moving towards the Underworld System. We do not have as much information yet. But that should not be enough to cause Hielo to panic and call us back with an emergency signal." Jace explained.

"What? No. I just talked to her. Like only a few minutes ago. There is a fleet heading her way but it is a small daemon fleet. No threat to anything really." Salem explained. "Unless..."

"Someone made a fake distress signal and is trying to draw us into a trap. Well this is interesting." Jace mumbled. "Okay, but they must have a way to take advantage. They either do not know how we are traveling or, it does not matter."

"It is a distraction. I will alert Director Fenrir to be on guard. I will also give Taylor a heads up." Salem declared as she disappeared out the door and Jace returned to his mind.

"Captain Shilla, confirm that there have been no transmissions that have left the Lance of Thanatos." Jace ordered immediately as he returned to find them arriving in the hangar of the ship. "Lockdown the entire ship and bring us to dead space between systems but nowhere else. Opposite the direction of the Underworld system."

There was a moment of silence for a moment. "Understood. The bridge is locked down." Shilla answered a moment later in a voice laced with anger. That was not the kind of response he was expecting. He muted the communication so only he and Na could talk and would not be heard. "Something is wrong on the bridge of the Lance. You have a weapon on you?"

"Yeah," Pilot Na answered. "We are landing and going to the bridge?"

"Correct." Jace began exiting the power armor. But as he did he noticed the flailing suneater that was stuck in the power armour’s grip. "Fuck..." He groaned in annoyance. He could not just leave it alone. If it got loose it would be difficult for others to kill. Not to mention the reason it was still alive was because he wanted to study it.

He would just stuff it into one of the spare containment units. He walked over through the hangar and picked up a containment unit. Then stalked over to where the containment units were located and picked one up. These ones were a lot lighter than the original ones they found because they were made of chemi-metal instead of super thick metal alloy combinations.

He opened it under the suneater as Na walked over and watched him with a laser pistol in hand. The power armor’s hand un-clinched and the suneater fell into the container. It immediately tried to run away. But Jace pushed it fully into the container and closed it.