Chapter 287: Lost Knives
Jace lumbered into the briefing room. It had been a long day for him. If he was a normal human or even a normal nanohuman then he would be beyond exhausted. Instead he was just feeling tired like he used to feel back in the academy after a day of heavy training.
The rest of his squad followed him into the room. He was dragging in mud and dirt with his armor. He walked up to a table that was off to the side of the room and dropped the tri-cannon onto the table. He quickly began pulling out the ammunition from the tri-cannon.
"Run me through what happened." Jace ordered as he began pulling off the rest of his equipment. He was pissed since he was already informed that the Vampires had taken his Dragon’s Fire and his Spectre Knife. This would be the third... or maybe it was the fourth knife he had lost. The point was he was not happy.
"We got back to The Elysium and we warped to the edge of the system. Where the Loyalist forces had begun gathering. Venture arrived an hour before we came back to Vexical Prime. We were transferred back to the Venture and put on standby." Nila quickly explained as she sat down in a chair.
Jace checked over all of his equipment before he walked back out of the room. Moving in the direction of his room. "Keep talking Nila, the rest of you can go about your own business. Take time to relax. I am sure we will have a new assignment soon."
Nila followed him out and to the private barracks of the Cerberus Squad. He walked into his room and pressed on his armor machine. It grew and he stepped back into position as the machine began removing his armor. It took an extra minute for it to remove his chest piece. Afterward he picked up a data pad and looked at a breakdown of the damage to his armor.
"I have been keeping apprised of the situation. All sides of the war have pushed back. The Kitinol Line agreement the humans had has been completely violated. The New Hexarian Republic is pushing into both Leonair and Woltar space. The Holy Empire of Gregory is invading both the Montez Kingdom and the Circle of Yuri, but the Circle of Yuri commenced an immediate counterattack. The Victorium has managed to completely overcome the rebellion and are assisting ships to assist in the invasion." Nila explained as Jace looked over the data on his armor.
There was the damage he had sustained from a high level of impact on the ground. All he had to do was replace the gel material that was between his body and the armor. Which was only a recommendation and not yet necessary. But his impact resistance would be lessened until he replaced it. So he just put in an order to have it replaced and then put in a notice regarding the armor’s power couplings coming loose after a high level of impact.
"Do we have an idea of where we will get sent?" Jace asked as he set aside the data pad and moved to the shower. He was only in a pair of black underwear so he was still covered in the dry sweat from his activities. "Which front will they need the Venture at the most?"
"Neither. I already got word." Nila answered as she followed him and watched him undress from the bathroom door. "The Princess reached out to the Victorium as soon as the other militaries invaded. So the High Priestess is on route to Waterswan. The Venture is going to pick her up and escort her to the meeting point. The official order has not come in yet, but I know she is asking for Cerberus Squad to be her personal guards." Nila explained as Jace began cleaning off his body.
Jace clicked his tongue in annoyance as he thought up any preparations he might need to do but he just shook his head. "Okay, go and relax with the others." Jace ordered and could see her beginning to take off her armor and clothes. "No..." Jace shook his head, "maybe later. I need to shower and then get a health checkup."
"But we have not done it since you went and boned those Centuria." Nila pointed out while making what he could only equate as pouting. He could not say for certain because he does not know what a beak looks like when a bird-like creature is pouting.
"For good reason." Jace chuckled and then thought of something. "I need to send in my reports and mention the Kin. Interacting with a new alien species is rare, but I have to give a whole new report on this new one."
"The Kin?" Nila clicked her tongue, "what are they and why do I not remember encountering them?"
"The Kin is a sentient energy species." Jace answered as he switched off the shower. "I encountered them aboard the First Prince’s ship. He had a teleporter that was using the Kin as a power source. The Kin then took over a host body and for lack of a better explanation, teleported away."
"That’s..." Nila frowned. "We are going to have to compare sentience to see if the Kin qualify as a sentient species. Victorium has a strict format when it comes to new sentient species. What happened with the Centuria only happened because they are a seemingly older and more advanced species, making us have no right to classify them."
"That and they did not recognize your species even worth talking to until I came along." Jace pointed out with a chuckle.
Nila sighed as she stepped back away from the shower. "I will tell you if I hear anything else." She walked out of his room in a huff of anger and annoyance.
He moved to bed and plopped down. After a moment he looked at his hand and the two-faced mark appeared momentarily. He mentally peaked at what Salem was doing. But all he got back was the image of a snowy mountain range.