Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 114: Point of Contact
Agent Ares stepped into the police station and walked past officers and detectives who were frantically moving around. He walked into the captain's office and raised an eyebrow at the sight of the old anthro-wolf man who had a bruised eye and a cut lip. Seated in chairs across from him were two detectives. One of them had a broken nose while the other one was just plain angry from her expression.
"Captain, how can I help you?" Agent Ares asked with a smile. He had been called by his bosses out of the blue to straighten out some issues. Supposedly a falsified prisoner transfer document had been found and the police were rather angry about it since it was labeled as national security.
The old anthro-wolf man spun his monitor around and showed a match search. It had the face of an agent he had worked with before but instead of saying anything the results showed an error code instead. Agent Ares pulled out his communication device and called a number.
"Agent Ares, what the hell is going on in my town and why do I have two dead police officers because of it?" The captain growled out in anger as he glared at Agent Ares.
The call connected and he quietly whispered the error code number to the person on the other end. Then he was transferred, then told to hold, then transferred and told to hold again. Agent Ares raised an eyebrow and looked at the captain shrugging as he stepped to the corner of the office.
"Hey this is Agent Ares I am asking about-" Agent Ares stopped as he listened to the other person on the end of the phone. "I do not understand sir." There were a few minutes of silence as Agent Ares' expression changed several times. He goes from confused to bewildered to annoyed in those few minutes. Then he hung up. "Good news and bad news. The good news is that this matter is resolved."
"Resolved? Someone was taken from our custody and we have two deceased officers." The captain growled out in anger.
"The deceased officers were corrupt. They were killed because they were on a criminal's payroll and were considered expendable. The government no longer cares about looking for their killers. As for Arthur Sanders, while the document was not originally official it is now official after the fact. So stop looking into it." Agent Ares answered with a sigh.
"You can't be serious!" The angry orange haired woman yelled.
"Completely, if that's all. I suggest you drop it. Diving headlong into national espionage and the world of spies is a good way to make enemies of both your allies and just about anyone else." Agent Ares explained before he taped a few buttons on the captain's computer and all recordings were erased.
He then turned around and walked out of the room. He was not even a few steps out when he could hear screaming from the captain's office. Hopefully this completely resolved any issues. But he had a feeling it would not. He would have to give headquarters a call and warn them that they might have a crusading police officer on their hands.
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Jace packed up his things and then walked down the stairs. He glanced at Chen who was talking with Arthur Sanders. The man was completely confused. "Hey, we are heading out. Tomorrow morning, your new shell will be delivered. Then it is all up to you how you transfer your core. Was there anything else?"
"No, that is it. Keys?" Chen asked. Jace tossed him the key for the upstairs apartment. "You are always welcome here. Please come back with the lovely Vana sometime." Chen then turned his attention to Arthur Sanders.
Jace walked to the van where Patrick was waiting. "Are you sure about this?" Patrick asked as Jace climbed into the passenger seat. "I am not comfortable leaving him here." Patrick told Jace as he climbed into the driver seat.
Jace shook his head, "it was part of the deal. Chen get's the black book. The black book just happens to be Devan's boyfriend, Arthur Sanders. So Chen get's Arthur Sanders, after this it is no longer our problem. I am not going to screw up an important relationship just because you are feeling iffy about the situation." Jace pointed out as he leaned back in his seat.
Patrick grumbled and then continued the conversation. "But are you not worried about them? I mean do you not have a sense of guilt from handing a civilian over to a hardcore criminal that probably deals in all sorts of unsavory things."
"Chen does not deal in living beings." Jace sighed as he felt a headache coming on. "AIs find it not worth it to deal in slaves or sex slaves. Sometimes they do run brothels but those are usually run by madames who enjoy studying the human reproductive process."
"But I am sure he deals in some criminal things. I am just not comfortable." Patrick pointed out.
"Get over yourself." Jace told him. "Everyone has committed at least one crime. I have read your file. I know the kind of things you deal in. You may be newer but you need to get over this need to be a good person. We are not good people. We are glorified criminals that work for a nation."
"You are not bothered by it?" Patrick asked in surprise.
"Not in the least, I grew up with criminals. This stuff is second nature to me. But if it makes you feel better Chen is one of the more morally aligned criminals out there." Jace told him.
Jace tapped his communication device and put on his aviators. A moment later a chatroom opened up. [Spectre Jace: Do we have the record about the Grand Hexarian Base hidden on Nymph?] Jace waited several minutes before he received a response because of the distance.
[The Director: Yes, I have sent you the specifications and schematics through the Anvil. In addition we have a request from the Woltar government to have an agent stay with Anvil and her crew for the duration of the investigation since it might lead back into Woltar space. I wanted to leave the decision up to you.]
[Spectre Jace: Can I pick the Woltar agent?] Jace smirked under his aviator glasses while Patrick continued to grumble.
There were a few minutes before he got a response. [The Director: You already have a woman in mind? That did not take long, yeah you can have your pick of who you want. Woltar will not raise a fuss. Now do not contact me for a few days, I will be busy.]
Jace frowned as the chatroom closed. He sat for a moment before messaged the ship. [Spectre Jace: We will go to the Grand Hexarian Base and then extract from there. I understand that there was a request to have a Woltar Agent accompany us?]
This time the response was much quicker. [Anvil: Correct. We are already preparing a guest room. Do you have an Agent in mind?]
[Spectre Jace: Yes, Vana will accompany us. I will inform her when I get back to the temporary hideout. I will contact you when it is time to pick us up. Status of Chen's new body?]
[Anvil: Understood. Taylor took to the task with a little too much vigor. She only just went unconscious after working through the night. We are putting the finishing touches and then we will send it. Was there anything else?]
[Spectre Jace: Were the police handled or will they become a problem?]
[Anvil: They made an effort but they believe their efforts are for naught. The police will likely continue to pursue the issue. Do you want to directly resolve the matter before we leave?]
[Spectre Jace: Negative. I was just being considerate, we could have done far more damage to complete our objective. Any blow back from the dead diplomat?]
[Anvil: Nothing that matters, the diplomat's crimes were revealed. The ambassador was ordered to drop the issue and he has.]
[Spectre Jace: Signing off.] A moment later Jace closed the chat room as they were pulling up to the mansion. Jace jumped out and walked through the door and saw them finishing packing up everything. "Vana and Ulin, take Vana's motorcycle back to her apartment and get Vana a bag packed. She is coming with us."
"To where?" Ellis asked as he moved a box.
"To accompany my crew. She is the point of contact for the Woltar if we operate in Woltar space." Jace explained as Ulin and Vana walked out the door. "Your government requested it and I am fine with it."
"What about the rest of us?" Patrick asked as he went to help the others.
"Nothing the moment we are done here and all packed up we go our separate ways. Your part in this mission is done." Jace explained as he picked something up and began moving it to the car. "Tako, go and clear the mansion just in case we missed something."
