Space Odyssey: Spectre

"Did you see that woman up in the stands?" One of the soldiers asked as the Wyvern’s lower hatch closed and sealed after the rope was pulled all the way up and they started pulling away from the surface of the planet.

"Astella Romav, why do you think I told you to not engage? She is dangerous for normal people. Hell she is probably the only human mercenary to have achieved enlightened evolution without a nanosystem." Jace explained as he moved to the front where Na was pulling them to the atmosphere.

"We have pursuers." Na declared.

"Go stealth and get on the Lance. We are not to engage." Jace ordered.

"She did not have a nanosystem. Talk about badass." The tacole chuckled. "But why was she there?"

"Her ship probably spotted the Lance when it arrived before it went stealth and warned her so she went in to personally guard her husband and watch what we would do." Jace explained as the wyvern transport disappeared and moved to the spot they would meet the Lance just outside the atmosphere.

"She is married to that chubby politician?" An accer asked. "That makes no sense. In my culture it would only be possible if it was a political marriage."

"Nope, she married him for love." Jace answered with a chuckle. "Now enough, we are about to arrive. Go clean yourselves up and rest. Na that goes for you two. We will take a two day rest in the Underworld System before we continue."

Na nodded his head as the Lance appeared for a moment in haze before the Wyvern transport disappeared into its hangar.

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The doors to the chamber burst open and guards moved in as the governors and speaker only spared them a glance before continuing. "I agree. Governor Romav, you will be a part of this investigative council." Joshua flinched as he realized he had just been handed more work. "You will not head the investigative council, and it will include military officials and MILD officials. But you will be a part of it so it is impartial."

Joshua stood and bowed slightly. "I agree completely." Joshua sat down as the meeting began to end.

Maybe Joshua should thank Jace. If he played this right he could turn this investigative council into an accountability council which was something that Joshua had been trying to get started for awhile. There were far too many abusing their power.

Joshua looked up and met the speaker’s eyes which were watching him. The speaker then nodded as if giving him the okay. It would seem that the speaker had given him this opportunity because he was siding with Joshua’s faction.

He smirked as he stood up with the other governors. It would seem the tide of politics would be moving in a favorable direction. He doubted it was Jace’s intention. But it would inevitably benefit him since Jace was a beast best left alone so he was unprovoked. Which may seem strange to those ambitious for power. But for those more concerned with the safety of their citizens, they would be more than content to let Jace have his slice of the galaxy.

"You seem happy." Astella pointed out once they made their way out of the council chamber. "Are we heading home? Or can we still go to dinner?"

Joshua’s expression twisted as he looked at the love of his life. "You just saw people die and three heads roll across the ground and your reaction is ’I’m hungry’?" He asked in complete surprise.

Astella blinked and tilted her head. She then shrugged, "well hungry and horny, but I figured you would be more inclined to eat than have sex."

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"Dad, I think that was overkill." Jordan pointed out with a pout on her face.

This was an unusual situation for Jace. It was rare for him to be disciplined. Actually it had been a while since he had. In fact, the last time he was disciplined was at the academy. So was he surprised when Shilla, Salem, Vana, Hielo, and the High Priestess tricked him into a remote meeting with the High Priestess, Director Fenrir, and the Speaker of the Governors, very much so.

"No, overkill would have been destroying several planets which was my initial idea." Jace declared with a roll of his eyes. Jordan and Cho were standing on either side of his office chair. Keeping him seated so he could not run away. Which he could still do but he would assent this time to their whims.

"Indeed it would have." The speaker agreed in a flustered tone before sighing. "Fortunately we were able to play it so we could get more accountability within our new government which is something the governors have been resisting for some time. But you should be mindful of acting so... overtly in the future."

"I think I was pretty subtle." Jace chuckled. "Besides I had to make a big splash or it was likely the Xenar might just find a different outlet. Do we know how they got past the telepathic jamming yet?"

"No, but that falls into Salem’s tasks." Fenrir answered with a chuckle. "I can tell you that we found a way to detect their manipulations. We are finding reaches that are far and wide. We are sending detectors to your system now."

"Double and triple check them with alternating personnel. I am sure you read my report. But they were able to slip a fault in our technology past us. It could be the same with this." Jace informed them.

"Why is this feeling more and more like a strategy meeting? Weren’t we supposed to be punishing Commander Jace?" The High Priestess asked in surprise at how easily Jace managed to take control of the meeting where he was supposed to be read the riot act by this trio.

"Don’t bother." Fenrir grumbled and they all looked at her. She shrugged as she raised her hands in exasperation, "despite his insistence he is still as shameless as any member of a royal family. He knows what he did is wrong and does not care. He cares more about protecting his people than being a good example or a beacon of upstanding behavior."

Jace raised an eyebrow while the speaker was the first one to speak up. "You speak from experience more than anything. Is your husband really that much trouble, even after his secret retirement?"

"That man has no shame." Fenrir mumbled. "But getting back on the subject. My point is that Jace knows he did something wrong and there is not much we could do to actually punish him. I mean we had to have some of the women he is acquainted with to even get us a meeting. It would be better for his children and his women to punish him. Trust me, they are far more qualified." She then turned her eyes on Jordan and Cho who he could feel both shivered for a moment. "You hear that, girls? Punish your father for us."

Cho hopped up and down excitedly, forgetting her task of holding him down. "Will do! I know just the thing!"

Jordan tilted her head in confusion. While the High Priestess and the Speaker seemed intensely interested. "What might that be, young one?" The speaker asked.

"Video games!" Jace almost burst into laughter when he saw Fenrir’s expression change when Cho yelled it. Jordan scoffed at his side. "He is really bad at video games and does not like playing them with us! So we can torture him with that!"

"I think that will be perfect." The High Priestess agreed with a smile and turned her attention back to Jace. "How did your operation go? Or is it still ongoing?"

"Are you talking about Operation Prometheus? A dead giveaway for a name by the way." Fenrir declared and the speaker looked completely confused.

Jace sighed. "I really need to seal up the Cerberus Unit. Or did Hielo tell you about it?" Jace asked in annoyance as he partially regretted naming it that. Its name did make it obvious about the kind of activity they would be doing.

"I am not saying-" Fenrir started with a smirk.

"Vana informed us after she heard it from Hielo. Apparently Hielo wants to use one on the planet." The High Priestess cut her off and explained.

"I am sorry, what is going on?" The speaker asked.

"A new reactor type. Not the kind of thing that anyone can use though. I do not believe the Cerberus unit plans on releasing the technology yet." Director Fenrir quickly informed the speaker. "The way it is utilized it could easily destroy a planet if someone screws something up."

"I have no more questions and I do not want to know." The speaker declared.

"Anyways, Vana wants to put one on the planet-"

"Nope." Jace shook his head. "I really have to remind Hielo about the issues with that. As for the operation... it is already finished. My worst fears were confirmed, it does speed up the death of a star. In addition the other side of the equation was not possible. They all come out the same."

"Then I do not think we need to know anything else." Fenrir bowed her head. "We cannot create stars yet so there is no point in mass manufacturing the reactors." She then turned to Cho. "Have fun punishing him." She then disconnected, followed quickly by the other two.