Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 425: Sakana Nine Strategy Meeting

Chapter 425: Sakana Nine Strategy Meeting
Jace walked into what he could only figure was the war room. On his way here he listened to the secure channel. He heard Sergeant K reach out to Captain Uti and Captain Tyler and check in with both of them.
Captain Tyler was taking the long way around. Taking a route that would avoid several areas he had spotted several gatherings of demons. So it would be long past nightfall before they arrived at the city. They could possibly be even arriving the next morning.
Captain Uti had been forced to redirect when there was the giant firebomb. They had been stealthily moving to the same gate. But now he had decided to redirect to another city gate entrance. Jace already ordered Sergeant K to keep an eye out.
As for the minor and major injuries from the teams she was in charge of. Most of them were fine. But one minor injury turned into an amputation. While Captain Maxim is still comatose following the more major injury he received. They had set up shop temporarily at the East gate, Sergeant K was already arguing with the Oda Militia, as they called themself, about the area they could use for their temporary base of operations.
Jace looked around and stopped. "Now then. Where should I start?"
"How about why someone from the Victorium is here?" General Ken demanded.
"Well as I am sure that Captain Miller informed you, there have been negotiations with the Victorium. I was brought in to help you take back the planet and I was also asked to search the abandoned Fuji-8. I had both a boarding party and landing party planned." Jace explained as he watched the door close.
"You... did not intend to come down to the planet. You came down with the boarding party you had on the Fuji-8." Captain Miller cursed in the local dialect. "How unmanned and armed are you?"
"We have fifteen overall infantry that are planetside. All of which have varying specialties. Along with five walker class mechs." Jace informed him. "But up on my ship, The Wolfsbane, I have enough to strike at a critical target and wipe them out. Not an invasion force but it is enough with what we are supposed to be."
"That is?" The politician asked with a scoff as he walked over and sat down in a chamber. When Jace said he was not holding an invasion force he seemed annoyed.
"Problem solvers. In this case, we need to solve the problem of the planetary weapon that the demons have. It is preventing any ship from getting close enough, I am sure that Captain Miller told you about that problem." Jace told them as he took a seat of his own.
"In that case... we need some assurance that-"
"Assurance is unnecessary." A new voice announced as someone walked out from behind a screen that was hiding him from normal sight. But Jace had noticed him when they walked in and already had an idea of who it was. "This is Jace Steel, formerly of the Vexical Military with the position of Spectre. But my information may be outdated. Especially since it appears that your appearance has changed slightly since the last time you were in service."
"It is an honor that an Imperial Prince of the Oda Empire knows someone so humble as this orphan from Vexical." Jace gave a slight head bow as he smirked at the politician’s dumbfounded expression. "Although, I dropped the last name Steel. Now it is just Jace. As for my appearance, it is a result of my evolution to a new race called a Spectre. I am sure it will not take long for your intelligence groups to catch up."
"I apologize Major Jace, now then." The imperial prince grabbed a chair and moved to sit opposite him. "We do not have much in the form of information. But what we do have is gleaned from when we managed to escape their base." The prince nodded at the Captain who moved over to the side and grabbed something. It looked like a mix of electronics and flesh. "The demons or Oni as we call them are building several structures that would open a larger and more stable version of the portals they are currently opening."
"That would allow them to bring more of their kind. Which means that they cannot open whatever they used to invade this planet in the first place again. It also means their numbers are limited. We need to cut that off quickly." Jace decided, "are they having captured citizens build it?"
"As well as slaves that they brought in from their own place. It seems that they did not come here with the knowledge of an existing population. So they brought a large amount of slaves to do their heavy lifting work." The imperial prince answered with a sigh. "But that is not all, we are not just slaves to them. We are also food, we saw a number of people being eaten alive." The imperial prince got quiet for a moment. "I saw that some of them also seemed to have some ability that allowed them to drink blood and gain a straight? But it was only when they drank the blood of someone with a stronger body."
Jace reached down and touched the tears in his own clothes where the demon had stabbed him. "That makes sense. But what they use us for is not too much of a concern. Do you know where the planetary weapon they are using to take down ships is located?"
"It is located just beyond the fog and the canyons. We can’t see it from here but they set up in the canyons. Making a maze of tunnels and paths that they use to hide. We managed to escape from there but lost most of the crew." The prince explained.
Jace nodded, "we will have to start scouting it out. But I do have a question. Why were there two Captains of the Fuji-8? Seems a bit overkill even for a ship transporting the imperial prince."
"So they told you that there were two captains and a prince but not why there were two?" The imperial prince asked in surprise and then frowned. "We were using a long range scanner on the planet. Completely experimental-"
"Prince Fukshi!" The politician yelled.
"It is fine." The prince waved him off. "I assume the Victorium has something that is better. Now then, the reason for the other Captain was to watch this equipment. Unfortunately he died during the initial attack."
Jace nodded, "I need some equipment and spare electronics. I need to jerry rig a device to communicate with Captain Solisa. Then I need to go and scout the location so we will be able to do a precision strike on their central operational location." Jace began explaining his plan.
"We can’t we need all the people we can for defence-"
"That is fine. I only planned to bring my own people." Jace told him. "Now then, I am sure you know already but something changed. Honestly it was probably because of our appearance. The demons, or Oni, seemed to have become aggravated."
"Maybe, but let us worry about defense. If you say you can solve our issue than-"
"Your highness!" The politician jumped up, "if we allow this... xeno scum to save our planet he will try to leverage this for greater favors. Not to mention we do not even know if this is another alien race. The Oni and those Victorium bastards could just be working together. When it comes down to it we should only trust our own! This... Major Jace is not one of our own."
There were a few minutes of silence as they all stared at the politician. He seemed quite heated and angry. His face was red as he looked around at them before walking out. He slammed the door closed on his way out.
"Sorry about that, Major Jace. He is... a well known promoter of anti-xeno propaganda." General Ken apologized.
Captain Miller walked up and set the flesh and electronic bundle in the ground in front of Jace. "Let’s move on. This is the type of technology that these Oni use. We have barely managed to understand it. But it is clearly some type of organic-mechanical device."
Jace tapped it with his foot and frowned. Especially as he watched it spark and start emitting smoke. "Well then..." Jace could see the rough schematic in his mind. "You are partially right. That specifically was a power source. But I accidentally just fried it. I have an idea of their technology now though. The interface system is based completely on small changes in air pressure. Although they likely have something that removes normal air pressure almost like a vacuum."
Jace stood up and thought about it for a moment. "How many of the armored ones have you encountered?"
"A few." General Ken answered.
"How about the ones wearing masks?" Jace asked.
"We only saw them at a distance." The Imperial Prince answered.
Jace nodded his head slightly. "Okay... then forget about that and let’s get to work."