Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 448: Hunting at Home
Jace looked through the gear he had grabbed. He glanced over at the girls who were currently playing their games. Jordan was playing her mech game but was doing a ’free-for-all’ match, whatever that was. Cho on the other hand was playing a different game, a puzzle game.
He was in gear that would let him blend in. That is, he was in jeans, a pair of running shoes, with a green shirt and loose jacket that had plenty of pockets. Those pockets hide a few tools for hacking and programming. Along with a few tools he could use to disarm a bomb. The only special gear he had for this mission was his aviators, a single stunning gun, and a piece of detection equipment.
The garage door shook as a fist wrapped against it. He walked to the wall next to the door and flipped a switch. The garage door started opening and then he partially flicked it so the switch was halfway and the door stopped open once there was enough room to go under the door.
One by one the others came into the garage. He looked them over and nodded his head. Nila was dressed in a pair of leather pants. With a short white tank top and short leather coat to go along with the ensemble. He looked her over again and realized she had a long knife hidden up one of her sleeves. It was in the same sleeve where her robotic hand was so it would not look unusual.
Then there was Vana. She had a pair of jeans with loose combat boots and a bulky sweatshirt hoodie. But her hair was done up and wrapped so her ears were accentuated. Although what she used to tie up her hair were a pair of needles. Not normal ones but lethal ones that were definitely used in combat.
Finally there was Ulin. She was dressed in green camouflage cargo jeans. With a brown belt that had a metal belt buckle with a Kamot Deer on it. He could tell that the belt and belt buckle could both be used as a weapon. But he kept looking as she also had a heavy green camouflage coat with a back shirt underneath. She probably had an array of weapons hidden but he could not tell where her main weapon could be. Until she smiled and reached behind her and pulled out a knife, a hunting knife. Her whole outfit showed off her origin of being growing up as a hunter from the boonies of Kamot.
"Okay, now that you three are ready for covert work." Jace waved at the table where three of the stun guns and three of the detectors he had were sitting. "We have to be careful of setting it off. Which is why we are sticking with stun guns and melee weapons."
"What are these for?" Vana asked as she raised the detector.
"Radiation detector. Your communication devices and even the colony station have their own to pick up on stuff like this. But this one will detect faint radiation and even track it like a dog with blood." Jace explained, "it is old but it still works just fine." 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶
"Oh..." Vana nodded and looked at the device again before putting it away.
"What exactly are we dealing with?" Nila asked as she started hiding both items on her person immediately. She was probably trained to adapt quickly, at least initially. But he knew first hand what type of training they would do in the Echo System. They would round a person out so there would not be a singular situation where they would struggle.
Jace glanced over at his wards- actually, in a day or two they would be his adopted daughters. They were both sufficiently distracted by their games. He just had to lock up after he left in a few minutes. They should be able to stay home alone for a few hours without oversight by then Cain would be home and could watch them.
"Suspected human made nuclear bomb. There was a delayed response because it managed to slip through but both nuclear material and explosive material were detected. Which might not equate to a nuclear bomb. But we are considering the situation as the worst case scenario, that is standard operating procedure with things like this." Jace explained.
"Where are we starting our hunt?" Ulin asked once she stashed away her own gear. Her bulky attire really left quite a bit to the imagination and let her hide a number of weapons if she so wished.
"In the Iron Boar district of the station." Jace told them and smirked as he saw their confused expression. "It is the street name for the district in question. The actual district or area does not have an official designation."
"Okay, is there anything in specific we need to know about this district?" Vana asked as she was quickly starting to catch on to why Jace was asked to deal with this. It may have only been a few months but he managed to quickly learn and understand the criminal world of the Princess’ Pride station.
Jace smirked as he walked over and closed the garage door. They would go out the back door just in case. "Where to start... How about the issues with the local gang that the police have been having? The Iron Boar district is built as a defensive district so it is difficult to approach or break in without the entire district knowing. The Iron Boars have taken this to another level. As soon as we come in force they get a call from one of their lookouts and start hiding or defending."
Ulin grunted and raised her hand. "Are we looking at possible urban warfare?"
"Depends on how they react. Which is why we will be going in separately and at different locations. Keep your device linked to the command channel. You still have your earpieces correct?" Jace asked as he led the way to the back door of the garage. There were less possible watching eyes at the back of the garage.
He received several head nods in response to his question. "What about the enemy combatants? Do we know what we are looking for or should we just be suspicious of everyone we come across?"
"We do not know who we should be looking for. But it would be a good idea to not look around too much. Try to keep to yourself. Criminals tend to not pay attention or bother someone that is keeping to themself or trying to stay out of the way." Jace explained as he opened the back door and held it open for the ladies.
"So we need to keep out of other ways and try to keep to ourselves. Meaning we should not look around but actually keep our head down." Nila began analyzing Jace’s words. "I think I can do that but then how should we find them?"
"Get to a secluded place and use the sniffer to pick up the radiation trail. I already programmed in the isotope that the dock yard detectors picked up. Try not to use the sniffer in front of others but find spots to use it and check it." Jace explained to them as he closed the door and locked it.
"Then once we find them we radio it in." Ulin agreed as she pulled out her communication device and began looking up the location of the district that Jace was talking about. "Do we have any information on the group or people that managed to smuggle the radioactive material onto the station? Or are we just going to have to work on what we have?"
"Unfortunately we are going to have to work with what we have. The criminals or group in question managed to use a blind spot in the cameras and other systems to get through. Unfortunately that makes our job more difficult. But we would not have been sent on the mission if it was an easy fix." Jace declared as he checked his aviator’s interface confirming that he had a route already picked out.
"So how should we get there?" Vana asked as Jace prepared to walk away.
"Just pick a route and take it. We will get there when we get there. But I will say I will come in on the far side which is considered the ’west’. Ulin I want you to take the north entrance. Vana will take the east entrance. Then finally, Nila will take the south entrance." Jace told them as he slowly backed up before turning and walking away. He would take the public transport to be within a mile of the district. Then he would walk into the district from there.
He could already see the other three were taking a moment to take their own routes to the district. If all went right then he would arrive first. Just like he figured might happen, despite the fact that he would be traveling to the far side of the district from their current location.
