Space Odyssey: Spectre

A few days had passed of them collecting resources and bringing them back to the Underworld System. Crossing throughout the various Kitinol Systems as they did. Fortunately they had not come across any problems yet. Nor have they had to land on a planet again since Kager-1. All of their resources had been found in asteroids.

But now they were running out of things to grab for the list of ores and minerals. In fact only four things were left on the list. Three of them were rare minerals they might have to manually mix and create, they had the resources to do so. But it would take far longer.

The last item on the list were the Star Engines. As soon as Jace saw that they were running out of resources he had the containment units made and now five of them sat in the same hangar he was in. Along with a specially made external power armor that will work with his armor. As well as a specially designed transport craft and a massive metal woven rope.

All of these items were necessary since they had to go to the sun next. The sun in the Parthos System was yellow and unknown to the crew. Any scans of the sun that had been taken before were being classified until after they left the system. Because what he would do might very well alter the sun itself. They did not want anyone even having a vague idea of what they were doing.

Jace stood in the empty hangar. It had been cleared out when they first picked up the equipment in the Underworld System. Now he was checking all of the equipment that Taylor Hielo had prepared at his request. He needed Gorund and the facilities in the Underworld System to make the specialized equipment for him. Because it was not like they could whip up equipment that can resist the sun’s heat on the ship.

The door to the hangar and his head snapped to the side to see Shilla walk in with the Lance’s pilot hesitantly following after her. The pilot was an addition they picked up when they first dropped by the Underworld System

"Commander Jace, I am sure you have read Pilot Na’s record. I believe he would be a perfect fit for Operation Prometheus." Shilla explained. Pilot Na is an Ola with scaled skin and smaller than typical Ola.

His file indicated he started out in the Victorium as a basic pilot and then climbed up to larger ships by being a good pilot. Until he arrived at a combat pilot and went afoul of a political tied accer. He was drummed down to a trash transport pilot. MILD approached him back when Cerberus started expanding and he joined up. Then quickly climbed the rank to Specialist and specialized only in piloting. Not that he minded, he preferred piloting.

He had been approached to be a spy several times before Jace left the galaxy. Then after he left a bunch more offers came in. He had without hesitation reported each one to his higher ups. Showing loyalty more to a system that rewarded his skills than one that required connections to succeed.

"I am aware of his record, loyal and talented. Pilot Na, are you aware of what we are doing?" Jace asked as Pilot Na’s eyes looked over the various pieces of specialized equipment.

There were a few moments of silence. "Something to do with high levels of heat. That plating is not optimal in normal conditions and only when someone is going near something emitting high levels of radiation and heat. So, the sun?"

"Correct." Jace nodded and waved at the ship. "You will be carrying me and two of those containers to the sun of this system and maintaining an orbit close enough."

"I can do that but. I am guessing you will be external from start to finish and I will be in the transport. I need a space suit in case the transport ruptures. As a back up, especially since parts of the transport are going to probably melt away over time." Na pointed out as he approached the ship and began walking around it.

"You will get fitted for one as soon as you agree." Shilla explained.

"How close to the sun are we getting?" Na asked.

"I am going within a mile of the surface." Jace started explaining. "But there is a metal rope that is three miles of length. So you should be able to stay above three or four miles away from the surface of the sun."

"Normally people would not consider that even slightly safe. But I know that will be safer the the surface of a fucking sun." Na pointed out. "Yeah, I will do it. It will be a good experience but I can’t help but notice there are five of those containers, not just the two you are bringing. How many times are we going to do this?"

"Once in this system for the two attached to the transport already. Then a few more times in some other systems. Then for the other three we are going to a blue, a blue-white, and an orange star respectively." Jace explained. "This trip is for the actual resource gathering part. The other stars will be more... experimentation."

"Okay, how much time will you need?" Na asked as he finished examining the transport and walked back over to them.

"Half an hour for each one. Longer if necessary or complications arise." Jace explained.

"What could cause complications on the surface of the sun?" Na asked.

"Suneaters." Jace nodded at a data pad. "All the other pertinent information is on that data pad. From the existence of Suneaters to the scans of the sun we have before we started the scanning blackout. Is there anything else you need?"

Na seemed to think for a moment before shaking his head. "I do not. But if I do I will let you know. How much time do I have to prepare?"

"When they arrive with your piloting armor we depart." Jace answered as he moved to check the equipment for the sixth time. Na nodded and immediately got to work while Shilla walked out.

A few hours passed before Na’s armor arrived. When it did they put on their gear. Jace took just as long to put on the specialized power armor as Na did to put on his regular armor. By the time Na was taking off in the transport, an hour had passed.

They smoothly flew out of the hangar and Jace was hanging under the transport as it moved through space. "Commander Jace. The space in the system is clear. We are not seeing any kitinol just yet. I do not think they have realized we are here." Shilla admitted.

"They will soon. Reorientate yourselves in the event that we need to be picked up." Jace ordered as the power armor began making automatic scans and showing various information. Like the distance from the closest star, as well as fluctuations in heat and possible lifeforms. So it had some pretty complex calculations being run and without an AI.

"Understood." Shilla answered.

Jace hummed quietly as they moved through space. "Have you done this before?" Na asked.

"Nope." Jace answered. "This is the first time I am doing it. We already have the proof that it works. We know the theoretical process, but now we are doing the actual process." Jace explained. "Someone has to try it out."

"Can I know what we get out of it?" Na asked with a sigh.

"No." Jace answered. "For security reasons. I do not want anything about this project leaking out."

The Lance slowly disappeared in the distance as they moved quickly through the Parthos system. Passing the outer asteroid field. Then the outer planets, then the inner planets. At which point they started to see kitinol heading in their direction. But they were moving slowly and would likely veer away when they got too close to the sun.

The kitinol has evolved to withstand many things. But they never had a reason to withstand close proximity to the sun and that probably would not start anytime soon.

The visor in his armor was clear but the modified power armor began showing that the external temperatures began climbing and the radiation exposure was rising as well. "I am seeing a climb in radiation." Na explained as the angle of entrance adjusted slightly.

Jace could tell he was already adjusting to enter an orbit around the sun. "The shielding and outermost armor is stopping it. We will have to bring up the secondary shielding in a minute. It will repeatedly go offline but that is fine, it is designed to take the bursts of solar radiation coming from the sun."

Soon they were orbiting the sun and just like he thought the kitinol moved away. Now he was preparing the containment units. "Are you ready for me to lower into the sun’s upper atmosphere?"