Space Odyssey: Spectre

Chapter 628: Hidden Damage

The Hound’s Tooth landed in the hangar quietly as the hangar door began closing and the fighter’s canopy opened. Eduta was waiting for him as he climbed out of the fighter. He helped the disorientated little girl before jumping to the hangar floor and letting her walk in a disorientated line to the door."Something wrong?" Jace asked as he slowed down so they could talk while they walked.

"There is a mental jamming covering the entire galaxy as far as I can tell." Eduta explained in a lizardy voice that sounded like a smoker’s accent. It made the little girl flinch as she gripped her bag of puke.

"Yeah... that makes sense." Jace nodded. "Can you tell what is causing it?"

"Something up in what you labeled as the Dark Elves territory." They walked together as the little girl followed them. "Should we go there?"

"No," Jace shook his head. "I have a feeling that is the least of our worries. Take her to where the others are being fed. I am going to the bridge."

Eduta bowed his head before turning to the little girl. "May I escort you to the cafeteria?"

"Mmm... what should I do with this?" She asked as she held up her puke.

"We will toss it out an airlock on our way to the cafeteria." Eduta explained as he walked with her. The little girl seemed a bit shy because of the Xenar’s appearance but glanced at Jace who waved her off.

Jace moved down a hall until arriving at an elevator. He clicked the button and the door opened up. He stepped in and then the elevator started going back up. When it stopped he walked right out and through the hall and into the bridge of the ship.

He froze when he stepped in. Glancing at Catherine Hex who was still in a chair with Victor watching over her. He pointed at her and looked toward Shilla.

"Cryo pod is fried. It is not the only thing either." Shilla nodded toward Gorund who was sitting at a console that was not in use or typically in use, unless Jace was checking something. "I filled him in."

"Umm... Gladiator..." Gorund waved him over after thinking about his ’title’ and saying it. Probably feeling a bit confused why they were not using his name. But Jace still did not want the complication.

Jace walked over and looked over Gorund’s shoulder as he waved at the screen. "What do we have here?"

"Downed systems. One of the main ones is your broadcasting communication array. Actually I took a physical look and the material is slag. There is also your material printer. A few of its computing components were fried. The only other main thing is the maneuvering engines." Gorund explained as he brought up a hologram and projected it above his console for Jace to see.

Jace could almost instantly see what Gorund had mapped out and looked down at the dwarf to see him looking excited. "I see it."

"It looks like however you got back. There was a spike of radiation that disabled systems all along this area." Gorund explained as a visual of a spike appearing in the hologram. Cutting through the ship. Noticeably going through the broadcasting array, the brig, and the hangar where the material printer was located. In a radius there were also several maneuvering thrusters that were disabled.

"Make a record of it before you start making repairs." Jace told him. "That is something we will have to look into later." Jace had a few ideas but that was for later. He turned to Shilla who was sitting in the ’captain’s’ chair. "Bring up the map!"

Shilla pressed a button and a hologram of the galaxy was projected. "What are we looking for?"

"Gorund, where is the closest location with allies?" Jace asked as he crossed his arms.

"Closer than you think." Gorund declared. "But more difficult to get to as well." He pointed at a system that was currently sending out an emergency alert. "The main defense fleet is here. I was able to get through to their communication officer right before you arrived. But I assume you know that. They managed to break through the defensive line the mortella is holding but prioritized the facility in the Yuri System."

"We have our destination. Set a course." Jace announced before looking back at Gorund. "Can you hobble together a short range transmitter so we can talk to them when we get in the system?"

Gorund nodded and he seemed to flinch for a moment before shaking his head. Almost as if he was reconsidering something. "I can do that. I am going to use your hangar with the material printer. How much time do I have?"

"An hour." Jace told him as Jace nodded at K so she knew to listen to him. "We are running a ship diagnostic and then I am going to go grab the spare parts for the material printer. I can repair it in ten minutes."

"You accounted for your equipment breaking. What about the communication broadcast system?" Gorund asked while he hobbled to the door as he chuckled.

"That is what the material printer is for." Jace answered with a shrug as he moved over to K and watched as the diagnostic began ticking up. "West, are there any other emergency signals nearby?" Jace asked as he looked at Victor and Catherine.

"Not as far as I can see. But Liz needs help down in the cafeteria." West announced.

"Victor, take Catherine down to the cafeteria." Jace ordered. "She and you can help the refugees and militia members we picked up."

Victor nodded and escorted Catherine off the bridge. He then looked at West. "Are there issues with our entire communication array or just the broadcasting system?"

"Just the broadcasting system. But it looks like there is an encryption on the rest of the systems that I have no clue how to tap into." West explained as Jace moved over and looked over her shoulder.

He looked at the information. "We need specific receiving and broadcasting equipment for that. Can you at least access the galactic net that was found earlier?"

"Yes and no." West waved her hand. "It looks like we can look at some passing information but it is weird. Almost like access to the net we found earlier is encrypted as well. But that makes no sense either."

"Ask Gorund later." Jace patted her shoulder then moved to the door. "Secure the hangar doors, all the escape pods, and the airlocks."

"You think she will try to run now that we are back in the Spectre Galaxy?" Shilla asked.

"I do." Jace nodded. "She will want to run away and find somewhere she would consider safe. She has no idea that she will spend the remainder of her life in either a lab or a concrete prison bunker." He saw West flinch out of the corner of his eye. "Don’t worry, you are a legitimate refugee. Once we get to a safe harbor you can start a new life. Even a job in government work if you want."

"Noted." West nodded in acknowledgement.

Jace waited until the ship’s diagnostic was done before going down to a storage room. At the storage room he grabbed a box of computer components and went down to the hangar where the material printer was situated.

When he got down there he started to fix the material printer as Gorund worked on the broadcast system. They would probably have to install it after they arrived at their destination. Their destination being the Yuri System where an emergency broadcast was still occurring.

Gorund did not know much. But it was where he was supposed to bring both the evacuees and the still undetermined star or sun engine once he located the resource needed to make one. Apparently the rest of the systems were hardline blockades to keep the enemies from flooding the central territories. Not that it helped.

There were frequent breaks in the territory bounds. The most problematic area being the Crystoph Federation, the Rouge Metal Legion, the Cthon Conglomerate, and the fractured Oda Empire. Apparently all three fell in a matter of days when the ’plague’ turned into an invasion by dark elves and armies of nano-zombies. Not much about either was made public so he did not know anything else about it.

Either way the Yuri System was a filtering point for this area of the galaxy. All forms of travel needed to go through it. Otherwise it was considered illegal and the space ships were destroyed. All they really needed to know, apparently they had found a way to enforce it. So it would be best to keep control of the system. It was not going to be a strike and retreat like they did earlier.

Once Jace finished repairing the material printer he returned to the bridge while Gorund worked on finishing the Broadcast System.