Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 447: Family

Jace frowned and then looked at the High Priestess. She just shrugged, just as confused as he was as to where this was going. But Jace decided to end this before she could take it too far. But as he raised his hand and was about to speak up he watched as Ulin picked up Cho, appearing seemingly out of nowhere.

Her ability was still giving him trouble to locate her. It always gave him the chills when she suddenly appeared out of nowhere like that. She looked Cho up and down and then looked past Jace. "No this is definitely not a Woltar."

Jace heard a click of a tongue and turned to see Vana standing behind him with her arms crossed. He raised an eyebrow while looking at her. She shrugged, "I figured you would be open to... pairing with me if you already have a Woltar daughter."

Jace sighed and shook his head. Bringing a hand up to the bridge of his nose and pinching it as he felt a headache start to appear. "Cho and Jordan, please get in the back of the truck. I will take you home while Cain stays here and finishes any repairs that the ship may need."

"Ooo! I have been wanting to see your garage for awhile now! Let’s go!" Nila exclaimed in excitement.

"Not quite." Jace stopped her with a glare and then started looking between the three of them. "Vana, Nila, Ulin, you three need to go get civilian outfits on. Make sure you only arm yourself with a basic and hideable melee weapon. I will arm you with additional gear at my garage. Cain will tell you where it is once he is sure you are all ready."

"This is for that emergency mission you just sent us?" Vana asked as she bit her lip and looked at Cho who Ulin was setting down in the back of the flatbed truck.

"It is, read the summarized version I sent you before you come as well. I can fill you in on details when you get to my garage." Jace explained as he walked toward the truck and climbed into the bed of the truck.

"How are we going home if you are not driving?" Cho asked as she looked at the driver cabin where the hollow was still located.

"I will use the hollow to drive." Jace answered as he sent a pulse of electricity to the hollow and took control of the hollow. "Now tell me a bit about school and your games. Are you still having fun and crushing it in the games?"

"I am! I am learning a lot. But all the different species are weird." Cho exclaimed. "Like those ones with slime as a body. They can do all sorts of strange things with their body. A lot quicker than Cho can as well. Cho can’t just make her arm sharp and dangerous."

"Huh... sounds like an orius. So the schools have the victorium races now. That is good. I am glad you are having fun." Jace responded as the vehicle started up and the hollow started driving the vehicle to the vehicle entrance and exit of the hangar. He then turned to Jordan, "how about you? Have you been quiet or just shy around my co-workers?"

"Shy... um... about us being wards... I could go back to the orphanage." Jordan offered, causing Cho to tilt her head in confusion and Jace to sigh. She was probably worried about her and Cho’s presence in Jace’s life.

Jace smiled and brought his hands to both of their heads. Patting their heads as the small truck moved through corridors heading to the exit that would lead to the street. "If I adopt you two officially, will you feel more at ease?" Jace asked and could feel Cho probing his mind, confused about what was going on. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

But Jordan’s reaction was more impactful. She started crying as she looked up at him and then jumped forward and hugged him while crying into his clothes. He patted her back and waited as she got it out of her system. After a few minutes the crying stopped and she pulled back, her face looking ugly now with her eyes red and swollen while there was snot coming out of her nose.

"Um, sorry about your shirt." Jordan apologized and was looking shy again.

But Jace just patted her head. "It is just a thing. I will see about getting the paper work in. Was there anything else you wanted me to do or was that it?" Jace asked the question already knowing what Jordan would ask. He had the paperwork to change their status from wards to adopted children for a while now. He had just not done anything yet, he had been intentionally procrastinating on this thing in particular. As an orphan, he knew how important it was to belong and to have a family.

"My sister... Can you adopt her as well?" Jordan asked nervously.

Jace smiled, "I will." He then sighed and straightened up as the vehicle pulled out of the base and the artificial sunlight began shining on them. His gear was looking like a mess. He had changed it but now it was all covered in snot and tears. Not that he minded. "But you have not told me about how your gaming is going? Think you are ready to pilot an actual mech?"

Jordan blushed and shook her head. "I am not ready but... I think I want to try... soon."

"Then I will have to get you ready." Jace told her.

"Cho is hungry." Cho joined in. Clearly feeling left out.

Jace sighed and ruffled her hair. "One of these days we will get you to completely kick that ’talking in third person’ habit."

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Ulin tilted her head in confusion before looking over at Captain Vana, then at Captain Nila, and then at the High Priestess. She sighed as she could already see it. Another poor soul was being lured in by Jace’s personality.

"Why did you not tell me that he had kids?" Nila asked, turning to her childhood friend and doing what Ulin could only think was pout. She could not tell exactly, she was never good at reading human expressions let alone the expressions of other races.

"Because you were training and- and he clearly needed it without you butting in. I mean do you have any idea how scared the psychological analysts were of him. He has already been labeled as unstable so I forced him into a vacation in the hopes that he could find something stable. Using the vacation and break article requirement as an excuse." The High Priestess countered back.

Even Ulin was speechless at her outburst. But looking back some things were starting to make sense. Ever since the academy, Jace has always been doing something. Like he was searching. "You probably did more than that." Ulin pointed out. "Thank you for doing that for Jace."

Vana looked between them and then shook her head. "Okay... but how long are we on this station for this time? Just the emergency mission?"

The High Priestess shrugged, "I do not know. Cerberus’ position as the mobile response unit means you will be sent on emergencies or missions when it is determined necessary. So you could be here for the week it takes the emergency mission or even a few years if it is determined your help is not necessary."

"Being stuck on base for a year does not sound too bad." Nila pointed out. But then she heard a sigh and looked in the direction of Ulin along with the High Priestess and Vana.

"I am sorry to disappoint you. But chances are we will not be staying on the station for that long." Ulin informed them. "Chances are that Jace will get bored and will actively work to find us a mission. Even back at the academy he always found something to fill the time and made sure the rest of his academy squad was busy." Ulin explained as she remembered the days filled with training. It was probably part of the reason she was so strong now. She was not angry about that but it was still something that was difficult to deal with.

"I am worried for those children though," The High Priestess sighed. "I have a feeling even he will get annoyed with his wards eventually."

"Actually..." A robotic voice interrupted them and they looked to the base overseer, Cain. "He enjoys playing and being around them. I have a theory that it is due to him being an orphan himself. But I will say he has been spoiling them a bit too much. Eventually someone will need to step in."

Ulin shook her head as she could already see Nila and Vana’s eyes light up with stars like they had just thought of something. While the High Priestess had the same look for a moment before she blinked and then looked over at Nila with a tinge of pain.

Ulin on the other hand was whether or not she should tell Jace that he had another woman pining for his attention.