Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 453: Club Hostage

Chapter 453: Club Hostage
Jace was flying through the street using the section of the road that was reserved for military vehicles during emergencies. Unfortunately at the moment it was covered in construction equipment and heavy machinery since road and residential construction was still ongoing.
There was a ringing in his ear and he answered the incoming request for communication. "This is Jace."
"Major Jace, I am ordering you to handle the issue at the club in the Blutose District as soon as possible. The media has already managed to get their hands on the fact that the group opened fire on a bunch of defenseless civilians." The High Priestess began explaining with a heated tone.
"Understood, I am on route now. Ulin is watching with a long range weapon nearby. Vana was onsite. We might not be able to easily track the buyer for the radioactive material after this. But she was already injured so the chances were slim anyways." Jace explained as his fast moving speeder bike veered around some construction work barely missing some workers who yelled at him.
"Very well. I will account for the change of plans. In addition, I am giving permission to Cerberus to operate with a unit stationed on the colony station regardless of your primary ship’s location." The High Priestess declared. Jace sucked in his breath and scowled as he knew what that was about to entail as well. "As such you will be promoted to the rank of Colonel. Myself and the Director of MILD will be sending you lists of potential personnel to add to your roster. Peruse them at your leisure."
She did not even wait for him to respond before she hung up. Predicting ahead of time that he would be angry about his promotion. She was right, Jace hated promotions and this was a jump of a promotion. The High Priestess and Director Fenrir clearly had something in mind. He felt like he was being used in some political mind game.
But it was not something he could focus on for the moment. For the moment he was more focused on rescuing Vana who had clearly been injured.
He sped up on his hover bike and the air pressure on his body increased so he materialized his armor around his body. As he did, the weapons on his person were easily magnetically locked to his armor. Whatever this technology was that he rediscovered worked a bit too well with human technology.
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Vana groaned as she was put on her side again so Liz could patch her up with the duct tape and cloth they were using to keep her wound closing. At the same time Liz was yelling at one of the masked people who were holding them at gunpoint.
"You need to let Vana and the other injured go!" Liz yelled. "Their injuries are too severe!"
Before the masked person she was yelling at could respond, someone else walked out from the double doors that led down to the triple-VIP lounge. "That is completely unnecessary Miss..."
Liz completely ignored his request for her name as she yelled at him. "They are bleeding! How is it unnecessary? Not to mention you clearly came here with no intent to take lives. With the amount of people here you can easily take us alive." She pointed out with a wave of her hand.
She had immediately put her friends to work on helping people after being saved by Vana. Then she had put other people to work on saving the others. Four people had already died all thanks to that idiot who fired recklessly into a crowd of people. Seven more people were injured but still alive thanks to Liz’s efforts.
"Yes but they chose to ally themselves with the Victorium. Those of us at the Union believe that those who ally themselves with the Victorium are a bunch of traitors. This club is owned by a former financier of the Union. Turned their back when they were satisfied with the meager changes that the Victorium made. We are here to make a statement, regardless of what capitalists like this say." He shoved forward a man who had multiple broken bones and was bleeding from both his forehead and his nose profusely.
"We will be taking our country back!" The man declared.
"Union my ass." Liz scoffed. "You are just a bunch of wannabes. The Union almost completely disappeared and even if they did not there would be no reason for them to have issue with the Victorium you dumbasses. The Union was about protecting lesser groups and standing up against unjust systems like the nobility. But the Vexical Empire has ceased to exist already and with it that system the Union stood up for. There was nothing about having the Union turn into something else like what they did in the Leonair territories." Liz explained a bit too passionately.
"She’s right..." They could hear one of the masked people mumble.
"Regardless-!" The speaker was interrupted by a loud speaker and electronic voice that came out of all pieces of communication technology nearby.
"THIS IS THE POLICE! YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES TO SPEAK TO US BEFORE WE COME IN BY FORCE!" The voice declared. The speaking masked man clicked his tongue and then walked away leaving the injured owner of the club behind.
The club owner looked at the speaking man who walked toward the entrance. Then he looked back at Liz. "Liz, how are the injured? I did not think they would open fire on unarmed civilians."
"They did not. It looks like one of the Triple-VIPs of yours managed to get a hold of a gun and tried to fight his way out. Regardless of who he killed, you did a real shitty job vetting those VIPs." Liz pointed out with a quiet grunt as she got back to finishing the emergency first aid for Vana.
"I will vet them more thoroughly next time. But it is not exactly like one of them will just have a sign that says they are a big time drug dealer." The club owner explained. "How are the injured? Is there anything I can help with?"
"No, Vana got it the worst. The rest just caught some bullets in their limbs or had a few fingers blown off. Thanks to Vana the majority of the people closest were missed because she tackled us to the ground. But she caught one in the back and another that bullet that blew off part of one of her ears." Liz explained as he nodded at a glass ice where the part of her ear was.
"Will she make it?" The club owner asked.
"Definitely," Liz nodded her head. "But I must say Vana, if that is your real name. I did not expect someone like you to be so easy going and such a party girl. I mean the amount of muscles and scars you have can only mean you either work in the military or some type of private security. Or at the very least you used to be one of those things."
"Ha..." Vana was partially delirious. The only thing keeping her alive at the moment were the nanites in her system along with her special forces training to keep her heartrate slow and low. So as out of it as she was, she only responded on instinct. "Former Woltar Special Forces then Military Intelligence. Now I do something way more fun..." She mumbled out.
"Vana, Jace is only one minute out. But we already have a team on site to break in with him when he arrives. Are you still okay or will you need an emergency evac? If you fail to respond I will assume that means you are unconscious." Ulin informed her.
"Mhmm... not in a good place. Please send medics." Vana responded, causing both the club owner and Liz to look at each other in confusion.
Then Liz’s eyes lit up and she looked at Vana’s ear. Moving some of the hair out of the way she spotted the almost invisible ear communication piece that was connected to her communication bracelet.
Liz looked up at the club owner in confusion until she saw his face turn white. "What did you do?" Liz asked quietly.
"Some areas that the Victorium took over were not getting the appropriate resources like the materials necessary to build a power plant. So I acquired some that was cheap and planned to smuggle it to them. Although... thinking about it now... it might have looked like something else." The club owner explained.
Liz shook her head. But before she could respond they could hear the speaking masked person from before. "Hey grab that one! We will shoot her to show the police that we are serious and that we want our demands met!" He then smirked and pointed at Liz and Vana. "Actually, grab these two. Shooting the injured first will get their attention and it will keep our hostages in line.
He turned back to Liz and Vana and smirked as he glanced at the club owner. "You really should have funded us you-"
He did not get a chance to finish his sentence as he went still and coughed up blood. He looked down and then fell down to reveal a large bloody hole in the back of his head just before all hell broke loose.