Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 484: On a Time Table

Jace ran forward and sprayed the foam at the people and they flinched away. "I thought as much!" He grinned as he ran past them and Jacquette quickly followed. "It is a hive mind but it is a hive mind with a bunch of organics mixed in. They react like a group of people would." He informed her as he sprayed another one down who he almost ran into.

"You seem pretty calm for someone who was suddenly thrown into combat." Jacquette informed him as she followed along. Her voice was a bit tense but there was another emotion mixed in.

"Eh..." Jace shrugged as he slid to a stop outside a pair of double doors. "I am used to it." He told her as he tapped the door console and the doors slid open.

They both reeled back in surprise as several heads turned in their direction. The bodies were in varying states of decay. "Well that is concerning." Jacquette swallowed out. "What do we do about them?"

Jace threw the extinguisher into the room. "Shoot it!"

Jacquette quickly fired and the extinguisher exploded into a puff of smoke and foam that covered the area. Jace quickly ran forward afterward through the haze toward the command console.

"What now?" She asked as she watched a few of the figures turn towards her.

"Cover me!" Jace called back as he kneed one of the figures that was too close. Sending it flying back with a head that was breaking apart with a burst of the black cloud of nanobots. He ignored it as a few bullets slammed into a few of the other shamblers as he reached the console.

The engines were powering down as the ship was about to jump to warp. But Jace quickly forced the engines which triggered the ship’s safety functions and disabled warp. Then he spent a moment entering a program.

Then he was pulled away from the console by one of the shamblers; he elbowed them to the side before jumping forward and slamming the enter key. The moment he did he felt a burst of electricity spread throughout the ship and hopefully the nearby area.

All of the shamblers fell to the ground while the black smoke fell to the ground and looked more like black sand. "Well this is a mess..." Jacquette sighed as she stepped over a lifeless body of one of the shamblers. But she still had her weapon at the ready. "What did you do?"

"I-" Jace frowned and looked at an open portion of air. Reading the messages as they came in.

[Avatar 00328. Dormant nanobots detected. Foreign technology is now convertible. Provide contact for System for the process to begin.]

How was he supposed to provide contact? Did that mean it needed a conduit? No, it needed a way to touch the foreign nanobots. Unlike the other nanobots the ones from the system probably could not swarm.

Jace stepped up to a particularly large pile of black sand. Then bit his hand before holding it out and bleeding onto the nanobot pile. The blood seemingly turned the pile white before it spread beyond the pile.

[New system function integrated. Thank you Avatar 00328.]

"What was that?" Jacquette asked in genuine confusion as the white sand turned into a mini tornado before spinning away.

"That was the nanosystem learning and adapting." Jace answered with a grunt before clapping and blinking his eyes as he turned his attention back to the lovely Jacquette. "Now where was I?" He asked and then tilted his head. "I remember. I overloaded the power source for the engine in order to disable the hostile nanomachines. Ones as big as that do not have defense against electrical overload."

"Soo... now the nanosystem is making them its own?" Jacquette asked in confusion.

"Seems that way." Jace nodded. "Hey, how long do you think before someone comes to check on us?" Jace asked.

"Not long."

Kar-Thunk

The metal on metal collision was loud and reverberated throughout the ship. While both of them stumbled slightly as their balance was suddenly thrown off. Jace nodded and tapped the console. Looking where the ship was compromised and finding an airlock nearby was compromised.

"Oh? They are nearby." Jace informed her before they could hear a rush of footfalls before an array of soldiers appeared. Storming into the engine room as they cleared it.

"What..." One of them, An accer walked up in clear confusion as he nudged a shambler body with his foot. "What the hell happened here? Why is the ambassador ship from the Crystoph Federation littered with dead bodies? Did you kill them?"

Jace raised an eyebrow and looked at Jacquette who looked just as confused. "Okay... Clearly you were completely unaware. That worries me about what else you are missing. Send a message to the local MILD outpost. Inform them that the Crystoph Federation has been broken. Inform the delegation from the Rogue Metal Legion as well." Jace instructed as he dusted off his simple gray coveralls. It was covered in patches of foam and stains where the foam had already disappeared.

"No!" The accer answered and then turned to Jacquette. "We will be investigating what happened here-"

Before he could finish speaking his head was snapping to the side as Jacquette punched him. Then with a sigh as the rest of the unit that was in the midst of securing the area and putting cuffs on Jace looked on with shock. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

She pulled a communication device off of him. Then after a moment she tossed it back at him. "There, done. Now can you take us to his trial? Or are you going to have a problem with that as well?" She asked and several of them shook their heads from side to side.

They moved back to the ship they boarded from in silence. With some of them grabbing and picking up their commander. By the time the airlock began disconnecting he started waking up. But before he could even yell at them his communication device began beeping and ringing. He pulled it out and started answering calls in a hushed and rushed voice.

While Jace was escorted to another part of the ship. Eventually arriving at a hangar as the door began opening. Revealing the planet they were landing on. As the ship lowered, it was probably the size of a cutter, a light bridge extended from the hangar to the platform as the ship hovered.

Then he was marched through the atmospheric barrier and toward the group. As he walked he could feel the bridge underneath him. It was an odd experience but he could just tell where everyone was on the bridge. Even sense the small pebble that found its way onto the other end of the bridge.

Another thing he could feel was how cold it was. "Damn, wish I had a coat. Why is this moon so cold?"

"Because we are in the winter cycle. For the next few days the planet is cold then the next few days it heats up as it enters the summer cycle. It frequently switches depending upon our positioning relative to the sun and Hysole." One of the other guards explained.

Jace nodded. "Makes sense." He was led right up to a small group of people. One of which was wearing the crest of the Crystoph Federation. Jace looked him over with a frown before raising an eyebrow as he took the appearance of all of these delegates in. "Okay, I have many questions. But the first is... what the hell is that?" Jace asked, nodding at the Crystoph Federation Ambassador.

"I was curious as well." The ambassador from the Rogue Metal Legion spoke up. "I know it is dead. But I figured they were aware. Although considering the rest of your expressions... I would say that assumption was completely incorrect."

"Predator... Hunter..." The Crystoph Federation Ambassador spoke out as his appearance changed. His tan face started losing color until it was white while its eyes turned black and black goo began leaking from its mouth. "The Prey has sought you out."

"Me? Specifically me?" Jace asked as he slightly shifted back. The soldiers that were guarding him turned their weapons to the Federation ambassador.

"Yes..." The other ambassadors began backing away. But the Rogue Metal Legion ambassadors signaled to his guards that were waiting nearby. "We are coming for you. The Prey has a question. Questions only you the hunter and predator can answer. We will have you..."

He stopped speaking as he suddenly turned into a puddle of black goo. Which quickly began hardening. He could tell that the nanobots in that thing’s body had self-destructed completely.

"Well that was disturbing." Jace chuckled nervously and then tried to clap his hands but could not because of the cuffs. "Umm... can we get to the courthouse now? I am sure you are as curious about that as I am. But I think we only have a few minutes before my trial starts."