Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 33: Worse Than Expected

Steel rode in the open roofed vehicle as it sailed down the streets. Moving like it had a great familiarity with the road. The vehicle shifted and bounced but in the cabin it was still a smooth ride in the bulky jeep. He was not as familiar with cars and non-military ground vehicles. But even he could tell this was some sort of cross between a humvee and a jeep.

They arrived in front of the dock where his ship had arrived a few minutes earlier. He hopped out and waved goodbye to the woman. Who waved back, "I am sure I will be seeing you again." She then drove off with her vehicle weaving down the road.

Steel walked on the ship waving his hand past a sensor where a couple of guards were and getting a nod in response. He walked aboard and went to the hangar where some sort of announcement was going to be made.

When he arrived the hangar had been completely cleared out of any equipment. A lot of the crew had already arrived since there was only a few minutes until the announcement. Steel spotted two things immediately.

The first was his squad in full attendance near the front. Which is where he made his way to. Everyone was already grouped up in departments, squads, and other military groupings. It was probably so natural they did not even notice.

The second thing he noticed was the stage that had been set up. It had the Captain, several of the command officers including the Sergeant. But it also had the Station Governor, who he had seen this morning and was already giving him the stink eye as well as several others in government uniforms.

He arrived by his squad getting the low down on what happened after he left. The rest of them talked and chatted with several others but the only ones to have actually left with company were himself, Private Feathertail, Cadet Anchor, and Private Hand. They all had eventually made it back to the ship. But Cadet Anchor was scarred for life, something about the woman he left with being a trap. That gave him a good laugh.

Just as they finished talking is when there was the sound of a throat clearing as Captain Mendez pulled their attention. He was ready to give whatever talk he had called them for.

"I apologize for cutting your shore leave short but... and there is no easy way to say this... the Border of Downfall was far more badly damaged then we initially expected. It is being decommissioned immediately. As for its crew we will be moved to an on-station base that we will be operating out of for the foreseeable future." There was a wave of whispers. "That is the bad news. The good news is that in two months time we will be getting a new cruiser. An experimental one that will be fresh off the production line. In addition, in a few days promotions will be handed out during the ceremony to send off the Border of Downfall. Until then go to your quarters and wait for assigned locations for our new temporary home. These are our hosts, Station Governor Romav, Planetary Governor Korvac, and System Manager Gorath. We will be under them while we are here. But for the most part we will be staying on station. Your superiors will explain more as it becomes relevant. Dismissed!"

There was a mass shuffling as the soldiers moved to their bunks and work areas to clean them out. Steel did something in a similar fashion. He first went to his bunk and packed up his personal item and all of his clothes. Then after leaving his duffel on his bed roll he went to the work area. He only had a few bits and pieces left behind, he packed them up in a box. He then carried it back to his quarters where the rest of his squad was.

He looked over and was about to join them when his wrist communicator rang and beeped. He frowned and looked at the message. There were orders to take his things and to report to the dock.

"You already got orders, Cadet Steel?" Private Hand asked.

"You did not?"

"Nope." A few others also shook their heads no or gave a negative in another way.

"Well then I guess I will see you later." Steel picked up his duffel and his box and walked out. While the others continued on with their conversation. He walked out of the ship. Waiting at the edge of the dock with a flatbed truck was Mendez and a driver. In the back were a few bags and boxes.

"Cadet Steel put yourself and your things in the back. We are heading to the base." Mendez called to him. Steel nodded and jumped in the back.

Then the vehicle was driving off. Heading towards a route that went off to the side. It appeared there was a direct route to the base from the dockyards. It was probably a series of roads that led to important government and tactical places on the station.

They drove up to a gate where there were people in black and red armor. Not like the empire's infantry armor or even its lesser armors. Not to mention instead of a natural color it was blood red. As they drove up the guards stopped them.

"Hey I don't know who you lot are but-" The first one started.

"We are the Vexical Empire military, this is our base. Did your boss not tell you we were coming?" Mendez asked with snark in his voice.

"Well you will have to wait a bit-"

"No we don't. Tell your boss to meet me at this facility if she wants to talk." He then signaled the driver who drove past them. They continued further into the station until they got to a more abandoned area where maintenance was clearly lacking.

Eventually they stopped at a place that looked like a garage. Nearby were several buildings that looked like barracks. There was even an armory and an outdoor shooting range. The only one that still looked like it was used was the shooting range.

"Okay Steel come on. Let's get in there and get it organized. I will explain while you work." Mendez nodded at the garage. While the driver climbed out and opened it.

"Understood sir." Steel answered and glanced at the inside of the garage. Walking in he could see it was still covered in dust, cobwebs, and dirt. "Sir, permission to change clothes?"

Mendez chuckled as he looked in the garage. "Granted, I should have told you to change before we left the ship."

"Probably." Steel joked as he pulled off his coat and formal shirt switching into a black t-shirt then he swapped out his pants for a pair of cargo pants. Then he walked back into the garage. He might as well start with the power to the building.

He ventured further into the building while the driver looked for something. He passed a few old vehicles that were pieces of scrap, there was even an old motorcycle. Which gave him an idea for his next project.

Eventually he found stairs leading into a basement when he went down he found a large power generator. It seems this building has its own power system. He walked up and looked over it to find out what it needed to operate. A few minutes later he had an idea of what was going on.

The machine was fully operational; it just needed a replacement starter and a jumpstart. Since this was clearly a maintenance room he looked around. There should be a few replacement parts for this machine. He found one in a locker, as for the jumpstart kit. He found one of those too, unfortunately it was nothing but scrap and battery acid.

He sighed as he replaced the starter. If only he could- then a thought occurred to him. He needs to remember to use his abilities more. He channeled bioelectricity and touched the generator. It roared to life with 'vrooms' and buzzing. A faint blue color appeared as it began working. While some lights began flicking on, others popped as they did so.

He sighed and walked up the stairs as he could hear some arguing beginning. It appears that the person that has owned this base in the military's absence and the Captain Mendez had met. He might as well go up and play interference.

He arrived upstairs and flicked on the lights, nodding in satisfaction as he walked over to where the arguing was continuing. The driver had moved things and made an area in the middle of the bay. He was now placing all of the boxes inside.

Steel ignored it and stepped outside. Mendez was standing on one side while Ellie's mother was standing on the other side. With several of her PMCs standing behind her. She looked over when Steel walked out and narrowed her eyes.

"I am well aware that this is short notice. But I had no choice in the matter. I only got my orders this morning. Unfortunately some moron had failed to detail that the base had been sold. So instead of just kicking you out I am trying to work with you to cooperate." Mendez explained as he glanced over at Steel.

Follow current novels on ƒreewebηoveℓ.com.

"That does not give you any right to barge in without any notice." The woman countered. She was steadfast in getting something more out of this. That was clear. "I feel it would only be right that the military compensates me for their failure."

"Ha.. I only have what is on my ship. Most of which is hardware. I have no means to compensate you." Mendez explained.

"She means she wants a bribe or something else to compensate for the insult. As long as she does not get something out of this arrangement others will think she is a pushover and that is bad for business. Especially if she is hired to be the bullies or intimidation to keep away threats." Steel cut in as he cleaned some grease off his hands with a towel that was nearby.

"Is that true Miss..." Mendez clearly lacked a bunch of information if he did not know the woman's identity. He walked into this probably without even knowing. Honestly it got a laugh out of Steel as he realized it was a trap quickly set up by the Romavs.

"Romav, she is the Station Governor's wife. I think you got played, captain." Steel chuckled before he tossed aside the towel then went back into the garage.

He started opening the other two garage doors. "Shit. Keep in mind armor and weapons are off limits. Same with any space capable ship we have. It would get very messy if we tried to explain one of those going missing."

She clicked her tongue then thought of something as Steel moved on to moving the large vehicles out of the garage. The guards by Miss Romav began whispering and pointing as he lifted and moved heavy machinery by himself.

"Then I want to borrow your engineers. Repair and refit of the entire base as well as constructing and repairing some other things including some of my company's mecha." She decided to ask.

"Hmm... I suppose that could work. Keep in mind they will be doing priority fixes for any armaments first should we need them. Then they will work on the base refit. After that they can work on repairing and then constructing. But they won't be much help with mecha. The empire does not have any... but there are a few among my people who may have experience with it. Otherwise..." Mendez looked over at Steel who was looking at the room that was mostly cleared out of the vehicles. "Cadet Steel, do you think you could repair mecha given enough time?"

Steel put a thumbs up, "I will go take a look after I get set up here." He then went to move some of the smaller things out. He needs to do a full cleaning of this place from bottom up. But first he had to move everything that wasn't bolted down. Actually he might just unbolt everything and move it anyway.

After Miss Romav walked away, happy with what she had acquired. Captain Mendez walked over to Steel as he moved more things out of the garage.

"They really let this place go to shit huh." Mendez stated before looking directly at Steel, "how did you know she is married to the Station Governor?"

"Ha..." Steel shyly scratched the side of his brow. "Actually the Station Governor walked in on his daughter and myself in the middle of coitus. His wife pulled him away, so he wouldn't bother us. Then I had a lovely breakfast with the woman and her daughter."

Mendez gave him a look and frowned. "Steel, I think I agree with Sergeant Cornwall. You are a curse."

"Hey!"