Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 414: Sakana Nine Briefing

Chapter 414: Sakana Nine Briefing
Twenty Four Hours before arrival in the Sakana System.
Jace watched as the last person walked into the room and flinched as all eyes turned to him. "Now that we are all here." Jace shook his head as he waved his hand and the holographic image of Sakana Nine appeared. "I can begin the briefing for this mission. Hold your questions until the very end."
Jace circled the center of the room as the lights dimmed in the room. While the hologram in the center of the room got a bit brighter. "Meet Sakana Nine. Until roughly four months ago, it was your average frontier planet. It is the Oda Empire’s last frontier planet before it was supposed to be brought into complete control within the next few years. It had a trade station and even one of its moons was habitable. Having quite a large population was rare, especially for frontier systems. But roughly four months ago that changed."
Jace snapped his fingers and the image of a planet with two moons and a station around it suddenly changed as both the moon and station exploded. Creating a field of rock and debris encircling the entire planet.
"That is when an unknown species began inhabiting the planet. Before the Oda Empire’s military was even mobilized the inhabited moon and the station orbiting Sakana. There were not even any emergency calls. The only reason the Oda Empire realized something was wrong was because communication with the planet completely stopped and because all of the military ships stationed there were destroyed."
He waved his hand and the view changed with Sakana Nine getting smaller. Now a blockade of ships appeared far away from the planet. "Three months ago the Oda Empire blockaded the planet. Staying far out of the assumed range of a weapon they are using to destroy any ships that get too close."
"They kept trying various methods to get close to the planet for an entire month. Losing more than half of their military forces in their efforts." Jace waved his hand again and some other ships that were highlighted green joined the blockade. "Two months ago the Victorium got involved. That is to say that we started to get involved."
"We were negotiating with the Oda Empire for the last four months and two months ago all of their attention shifted to Sakana Nine. We offered to assist them in order to get them to the table as allies. So we sent in a full Victorium ship and it was annihilated. Fortunately before it was destroyed they managed to send out some information."
Jace waved his hand and the odd circular writing appeared. "The Oda Empire realized the direness of their situation. While the Victorium’s failure was a wake up call to the government branch. They handed over the information that the Victorium ship managed to send back to the military. Who in turn handed it to MILD who realized that we had seen this writing before. It is the same writing that one of the species who wiped out the Xenar used. Now to inform us more about this species I will be handing over the briefing to Captain Solisa."
Jace stepped out of the center and stood on the edge of the stairs. While in the center the hologram of the Sakana Nine and the writing disappeared and was replaced by Solisa. She was still a blue colored otter with a captain’s hat.
"Hello everyone!" She waved and swam around leaving a trail of digital water and bubbles for a moment before they dissipated. "My name is Solisa and I am the captain and primary pilot of the Wolfsbane. I am also an Artificial Intelligence that has been around since the days of old when the Xenar still inhabited this system. I was also around until the end. So I know about the enemies they were facing. Part of my deal with Jace and any group he is part of is that I will not disclose any information or technological advancements until they become relevant or pass. For instance, the Xenar developed a completely different style of hover technology than Jace did."
"But back to the focus of our topic. The race and group that you are more than likely about to come in contact with. There is no clear or complete translation of their species name. But the closest equivalent would be an ancient Earth writing that would name them as Demons. Among these demon species there are a range of subspecies and variations. All of which are ranked on hierarchy depending on their strength." Solisa began explaining as the Demon writing appeared in the center of the room.
"Unfortunately the Xenar never managed to completely grasp the demons language so I initially did not have a translation. Fortunately for us, you humans like to do things differently and Major Jace managed to provide a partial translation." Solisa explained as the translated parts of the message appeared. It looked nonsensical at the moment. "Using this partial translation I am working on translating the complete message so we will know more then."
"Next, regarding the demon’s weapons and methods of combat. They use everything from a knife or a laser gun, to some form of energy that the Xenar never managed to figure out. Their combat will rarely consist of strategy, it will just be whoever hits the other harder. In the rare event there is a strategy or a commander, it is because there are Sins or the child of a duke present."
"We have no way of identifying or knowing if a Sin or a child of a duke is present. But considering the way they took this planet I would say there is a good chance at least one of them is present. I have provided all of you with all the known subspecies of demon, peruse it after the briefing." Solisa then waved at Jace and disappeared.
Jace stepped forward and waved his hand again. This time a space ship appeared. It was floating with some debris around it. "Meet the Fuji-8. It is one of the Oda Empire’s military vessels, a destroyer specifically. Less than a month ago, the ship along with an imperial prince of the Oda who was aboard attempted to get close enough to gather information. Unlike expectations it was not destroyed, instead it went dark and all communication was lost."
"Our first objective will be to board the Fuji-8 and learn why it went silent as well as saving any survivors on board. The boarding party will consist of five squads of five and myself. Captain Tyler and his squad will be using Walker class mechs to navigate the external parts of the space ship. The rest of us will be exploring the inside of the ship." Jace waved his hand again showing a holographic simulation of the Wolfsbane docking with the Fuji-8.
He waved his hand again and the Wolfsbane detached again. Then this time it showed the Wolfsbane moving to Sakana Nine. "After we complete that we will head on route to Sakana Nine. Where we will adapt as needed and eventually find our way on to the ground and destroy whatever long range weapon they have on the planet so the Victorium and Oda Empire’s military can move in and secure the planet."
Jace clapped his hands as the hologram disappeared and the room began lighting up. "Now, any questions?"
Asana raised her hand.
Jace nodded at her, "Captain Asana."
"How are we getting close to the Fuji-8 and the Sakana Nine while also not being worried about being blown to hell? From what you described, if we get that close we are going to be destroyed unless we warp directly into the planet." Asana pointed out as she brought down her hand.
"Solisa." Jace called out and stepped to the side.
Solisa appeared again. "Hello! I am back!" Then a hologram of the Wolfsbane appeared. "The Wolfsbane is equipped with some of the latest and most advanced forms of technology available that any of your species have ever seen. One of which is the stealth shielding and gravity cloaking that we will be utilizing for the boarding and landing part of the operations." She and the hologram of Wolfsbane then disappeared.
Jace answered a few more questions that were mostly him just repeating himself before they had nothing else to ask. When he was confident no other questions would be asked he clapped his hands and nodded, "in that case..." He looked at the communication device around his wrist to check the time. "You have just a bit over twenty-two hours before we arrive. I suggest you carefully spend that time getting acquainted with your new squads and preparing all the equipment you might need."
As they shuffled out the room he sighed and looked at his communication device as Solisa discreetly sent him a message. He waited until everyone else was out before he left and went to prepare his own equipment. He was supposed to go and talk with the politicians when he arrived in the Sakana System. But he planned to skip all that and jump right into the action since it could give away their element of surprise.