Space Odyssey: Spectre

A day had passed since his spar with Vana and he found himself in the command room once again. This time they were gathering after a large operation took place. The operation was the recapture of Neo-Magis that had been taken by the Grail and the Grail had been worse than they originally thought.

According to the ground troops, the tactics the Grail deployed were repulsive. There is the concept of using people as shields against large overwhelming attacks that would lay waste to the enemies. But the Grail decided to literally use the sirens and civilians as living shields.

They were tied to walls or to the side of buildings. Jace’s people could not risk attacking because of what they were doing. So they suffered more injuries and the first of a few casualties. But they still took the city because specialists went in with hand-to-hand combat weapons and slaughtered the one hundred or so members of Grail that had been occupying the city.

But regardless, the Grail’s tactics were a wakeup call. They had to change up their own tactics if they wanted to keep the casualties to a minimum. Which was partially the reason for this meeting.

This time, Jace was not the last one to ’arrive’ at the meeting. The rest of them had already gathered when Hielo’s hologram appeared. Most of the rooms were filled with holograms. Commanders of units and the captains of other ships and other branches of the military. But the main members, like Jace, were sitting near the hologram.

"Now that we are all here. We can begin the strategy meeting for taking the next two continents. Neither of which we have yet to land on." Solisa started as two maps appeared. One of the continents was the one that the Grail had the most control over. The other map had the continent that the Democracy of Canarus had the most control over. "We are looking for strategies to combat the Grail’s inhumane tactics as well as a way to establish control over the continent as a whole."

"What about the continent that is mostly occupied by the Democracy of Canarus?" Vana asked as she read through a data pad. She looked over at Jace. "Is there a particular reason we are waiting on taking that continent?"

Jace hummed and bowed his head. "There is an agreement between the occupiers as far as we can tell. The moment we force the Democracy of Canarus to surrender the other occupying forces will know. That means the villages and towns not occupied by the Grail on the Grail Continent will be attacked and taken over. Which might mean infighting, but it would also risk civilian casualties." He took a breath before continuing, "not to mention, we are not a hundred percent certain that they will surrender."

"Then shouldn’t we worry that the Democracy of Canarus will do the same thing if we start taking the Grail continent?" One of the battlefield commanders asked from the back.

"Correct!" Solisa nodded her otter head and spun in a circle. "That is the reason we have not started on either of the continents. We need a method to take both so we can lower the risk of civilian casualties."

"There is nothing to do. This is not something in any rulebook or manual." One of the captains chuckled. "So basically you want us to come up with something impossible?"

"Actually..." Jace chuckled as he shifted slightly in his seat. "I have an idea for the Democracy of Canarus. I just need some ideas to deal with the Grail, along with all the other villages and towns that are not under either of the larger groups."

"Sea landing ships." One of the commanders spoke. "We could land swarms of them at the same time. Along the beaches and other locations along the seas. That will take care of most of the worries. Then we only have to worry about the bunkers and cities."

"We will trap them on the continent. We could do the same with the Democracy of Canarus continent. That would only leave the Grail and Democracy of Canarus left and there would be no point in attacking the others if we time the attack right." Hielo agreed. "But we have to be prepared to be attacked. I analyzed some of the data and confirmed that both groups have strategic weapons installed. The Grail has large laser cannons and missile pods for long range. While the Democracy of Canarus has shielding devices that cover entire cities."

Jace hummed, "That is interesting." He pulled up the relevant data and smiled. "Make sure we get some scans of those shielding devices. We could be looking at an alternate version of shielding technology."

"Sounds like the start of a plan. Do we want to hammer out the last part of it?" Vana asked.

"I will start by explaining my part." Jace stood up.

—------------------------

"That is all for my report General Hacksaw." Sergeant Abraham saluted.

The others that are part of his command council stood up as the General did. "Very well. You know where I will be. Keep an eye out for the signal. Hopefully the message was passed along." He walked past a window and stopped as he looked out the protests from the sirens.

The local population were protesting again, surprisingly enough most of the older generation understood their intentions. But that could not be said for all of the people who they were essentially holding at gunpoint.

It had been going on for just over a year but some of the more insightful and well educated sirens understood that compared to other areas, they had it good. Not to mention the General’s promises for limited occupation. That had held off any full on revolt or armed attack. But the more time passed the more the issue of armed rebellion arose.

"The riots and protests are still in safe and expected parameters." His assistant, Reginald explained. Reginald himself is a Siren. Part of what kept them at bay was having a bunch of sirens watching over their shoulders while they ’occupied’ the cities, villages, and towns.

"I know. I just wish it could be over with." General Hacksaw walked forward and through a pair of doors and into the room he set up as a temporary office. One that he shared with the mayor of this fine city. The mayor was currently out it seemed.

But as he stepped a few feet into the room he stopped as his head snapped to his own seat which was facing toward the window. Reginald took an extra moment to react as he dropped the clipboard he was holding and snapped out his laser pistol.

"Who are you?" Reginald demanded while pulling out a short range communication device. "Security to the General’s office. We have an intruder."

"Kzzzttt-" The device he was using was just emitting static.

General Hacksaw narrowed his eyes and walked around slowly before smiling as the person in the chair stood up and turned to them. "Should I address you by rank or just by your name?"

"Commander Jace Wintry," Jace smirked as he casually walked around the desk and reached out a hand. He discreetly sent a message to the ships in orbit.

General Hacksaw raised an eyebrow and reached out a hand and shook Jace’s hand. "I am surprised." He then shook his head, "actually, I should not be too surprised. Reginald, you can stand down. If he wanted to cause harm he would have already done so."

"Sir?" Reginald looked confused.

General Hacksaw finished the handshake and moved around the desk to sit down while Jace moved to the guest seat. "Commander Jace Wintry, the commander and leader of the Cerberus Unit. I assume my predictions were correct and considering we are speaking the local tongue, you received and understood my message. So why are you here, may I ask?"

"Actually, I came with a team to act as a distraction, hence the jamming device. But we were rather surprised to find you had partially integrated the siren people into your temporary occupation." Jace sat in the guest seat. He was currently dressed in combat gear. Not his Spectre Armor, rather a set of black combat gear with only a knife and side arm visible.

Originally Jace planned to stay aboard the ship and only come out in case of an emergency. But after learning that the Democracy of Canarus were as ’unhostile’ as they presented themselves, he decided to come and make sure the General would not interfere by personally conversing.

"Hmm..." General Hacksaw narrowed his eyes and then smiled. "I remember seeing holo images and looking at the file we were able to compose of you." He chuckled, "yet seeing you in person only reinforces what I thought when I first heard about you. You, Commander Jace Wintry, are definitely on the path to becoming a Chosen Path Seeker."

Jace raised an eye brow.