Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 446: First Successful Mission

Chapter 446: First Successful Mission
[Docking in 3...2...1... Welcome Back to Cerberus Technical and Training Facilities Wolfsbane!] A cheerful voice announced over the intercom just as the cargo door began opening up. He could already hear the confusion of the base’s name.
He was personally indifferent to the name. He had allowed the facilities overseer to name it. Speaking of the overseer he spotted him along with several other people waiting by the back wall. He could already tell that this would not be one of their typical landings.
Mostly because the High Priestess was waiting at the end of the dock behind all the base personnel that the overseer had hired in his absence. A lot of which were moving into the cargo bay quickly to remove gear and make a path that the soldiers of the unit could walk through. Jace watched from a raised catwalk for a moment.
"Uh oh... someone’s in trouble." Solisa teased, speaking directly through his communication device.
Jace rolled his eyes as began moving to a nearby ladder and started climbing down off the raised catwalk. "Today is a school day, correct?" Jace asked as he made his way down. He hopped down the last few feet to the ground. Scarring the crap out of someone who was taking count of a container of ammunition. Jace patted him on the shoulder and walked past him.
He walked forward but suddenly stopped as Sergeant K held out an item to him. He looked at it with a raised eyebrow and then accepted it dusting off his hat. It really had been torn up and mostly destroyed during this mission. "Going out of your way for revenge was out of line." Jace reminded her as they began walking across the cargo bay.
Sergeant K sighed and brought a hand up to rub the back of her short hair. "I am not used to not needing to worry about my comrade. I suppose I will have to get used to that." She apologized as she analyzed her own faults.
"I am glad you understand what you did wrong." Jace then looked over the hat again before nodding once the sand was removed and put it back on his head. "But that will not stop me from punishing you. You recklessly charged forward with a plan to push the line instead of waiting for the line to be pushed forward."
Sergeant K nodded her head in response. She clearly understood what she did wrong but she was not apologetic about it. He could tell that she understood what she did wrong but not why it was wrong. After thinking for a moment he sent a message off to Solisa.
"In a few minutes you will receive an analysis of the battle and the effect your tactic had on the battle. Look it over." Jace ordered as he sped up his pace and walked onto the dock bridge. Waved at the High Priestess and the Overseer’s guests. Sergeant K would realize that two of their casualties were her fault when she read the from Solisa. Hopefully that would have the effect he was hoping for.
He closed the distance and looked at the overseer and guests before deciding to just ignore them for now and looked at the High Priestess. "High Priestess, I did not expect for you to welcome us back from our first mission. Thank you for such an honor."
"You know that is not the reason I am not here. Because if I was I would have thrown a party and invited a number of political figures. But I figured you would frown upon that." The High Priestess responded snidely.
"You are right. I would hate that. But that is the excuse I am using in case anyone asks. Because you are clearly here in a non official capacity." Jace responded and glanced over at the overseer and guests. "Does this involve them?"
"Nope." The High Priestess shook her head as a smile crept up on her face. "I have no part in that debacle." She then pulled a data pad out of her sleeve and offered it to him. "I have an on-station emergency mission for you and your pick of people."
Jace raised an eyebrow and accepted the data pad before tapping it and quickly scrolling through the contents. His face morphing from inquisitive, to annoyed, to angry. "Yeah I will send the message now for the appropriate soldiers. I will only need three others besides myself. How did we miss this?"
The High Priestess shrugged, "we are still looking into it. But it appears there is a new way for someone to smuggle something onto the station."
No kidding, smuggling a nuclear bomb onto the station was an impressive feat. But he had to wonder where someone got one. They were not easily acquired even if they were not the worst form of weaponry they were still made intentionally rare.
"I will go with Ulin, Vana, and Nila." Jace decided as he sent the message off for them to grab gear to go covert into the urban covers. "We will be able to pick up their trail and track them down."
"Good, that was all I was initially here for. But..." She trailed off and looked to the side.
Jace sighed and looked in the same direction. "Cho and Jordan, why are you here with Cain instead of at school in class?" Jace asked while looking at the vehicle they took here. It was clearly the truck, but Cain had clearly used one of the hollows to drive it here, because it was still sitting in the driver seat.
Cho quickly looked to the side at nothing and whistled innocently causing one of Jace’s eyebrows to twitch in annoyance. He then looked over at Jordan who flinched under his gaze and then looked down at her feet which were twisting on the ground like she was trying to crush something. He sighed and then looked at Cain.
Cain made an audible sigh with his voice box before shaking his robotic head. "Cho and Jordan were suspended from school for getting in a fight. That is all that was told to myself and others. But a number of other students had injuries. Which makes me think it was more of an all-out brawl and several other students were suspended as well." Cain explained.
Jace processed his words for a few moments before nodding his head from side to side. "Neither of you are injured so you clearly won. But the question is what started the brawl in the..."
"School yard, it occurred out of sight of cameras and the teachers on watch." Cain explained.
"Oh..." Jace blinked and then burst out in laughter. "You were hosting fights?!?"
"You aren’t angry?" Jordan asked in confusion.
"Oh... well... I know I am supposed to be angry and punish you but at your age I was doing far worse. Besides, I do not really feel that is wrong. You made sure no one was too injured and that you almost got away with it." Jace could feel a pair of eyes glaring at him and looked over to see a confused High Priestess. While out of the corner of his eye he could see Cain shaking his head. "What?"
"Ohhhh!!!" Jace flinched as his enhanced hearing picked up a screeching noise followed by a swift beaked red feathered accer appearing and pulling Jordan into the air. Confusing even Cho. "What are these adorable creatures?!?" Nila demanded to know and Jace sighed.
"They are Jordan and the other one is Cho. They are wards of mine." Jace answered and could faintly pick up a strange scent on Nila. One that caused the High Priestess to make a shocked expression before it morphed into a worried expression.
The High Priestess leaned over and whispered in his ear. "Nila is in heat. You will have to deal with that for the next few days. An accer’s heat happens once every couple of years once they have decided on a mate."
"Wards? Hmmm..." Nila made a clicking noise with her beak as she tilted her head before suddenly shaking it side to side. "That will not do, nope. They have to be your adopted children. But we can discuss that later. For now I must know the reason why these adorable children are here."
"They started a fight club and got caught. They along with several other participants were suspended from school." Jace quickly explained and leaned back as Nila glared at him with a look she had never sent his way before.
"What is the punishment you are giving to them?" Nila demanded quickly. Confusing Jace as he raised an eyebrow.
Jace then began explaining. "What do you mean? They were suspended from school. I figured that was enough. Besides they were-"
"Haa..." She interrupted him with an audible sigh and then a click of her beak that he could only analyze as disappointment. That was new as well. "How irresponsible. Very well, I will have to take care of your punishment myself!" Nila decided.