Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 198: A Quick Drop
Jace closed his eyes as he held back against the enemy Tacole’s attack. He ran his power through the elevator structure. He watched the schematic appear in his mind. It reached from the ground to the floor with the supports attached to the cliff face going at least a few feet deep. But that information was not useful.
Then he saw the design for the elevator’s emergency systems. As well as the way he could finish this fight quickly and hopefully get the elevator and its occupants down without getting attacked again. Now he just had to warn the others.
"Hey, you two! Grab hold of something." Jace told the allied Victorium soldiers over the local channel. He then pushed back in the test of strength against this Tacole. He managed to push the Tacole off balance. Afterwards while both of their weapons were back he then swung the sword an upward arc against the Tacole’s hammer that was coming down.
Red flames went against white electricity as Jace channeled some additional electricity into the attack. The ground was scorched and heated up on either side of both of them. The already damaged roof of the elevator was getting damaged further. Then the hammer went backwards into the air as the Tacole was pushed back by the attack, throwing him off balance.
At the same time, Jace was pushed back. But he went with his longsword’s motion. Using the momentum to spin toward one of the supports of the elevator. The support where the primary emergency stopping mechanism was located.
He cut through it like butter with his sword and then he crouched and magnetized his boots. Keeping him locked in place on the roof of the elevator. The Tacole had just recovered from Jace’s attack at the same time that the elevator began falling. The fall was quick as the Tacole’s feet left the elevator floating backwards off the elevator as the elevator descended faster than the Tacole’s body did.
Jace watched with a frown as the Tacole grabbed hold of the transport that had been hovering by the elevator window. The Tacole looked down at him as it pulled itself back into the transport with the hammer in hand. The transport then flew away.
Jace turned his attention to the cabin below him. He dematerialized his longsword and walked to the hole. Then he pulled himself down into the elevator cabin. Where he found the Hydragentia and Ola had both taken his advice and were holding onto a secure part of the elevator that still looked relatively undamaged. While the enemies who were left were all floating and flailing about in the air.
Jace materialized his gladius and swung the sword in an arc toward them. After he swung his sword a wave of electricity appeared and passed through the elevator cabin and all five of the remaining enemies flew out of the window with the wave of electricity.
Then almost as if on cue, a second later there was a screeching of metal followed by the elevator slowing down. The force of which would knock out any normal creature. Which is what happened as the Hydragentia and Ola that were both left were knocked unconscious onto the floor of the cabin as the elevator slowed down to a crawl.
Jace stood fully as it slowed down to a continuous but slower speed and then stopped completely. There was a ’ding’ a moment after it stopped and the elevator doors struggled to open. One of them only moved a finger’s width before stopping. While the other one opened but then fell down off whatever was securing it to the elevator.
Standing just outside were a group of Victorium soldiers with the friendly tag designation popping up on his heads up display so he knew they were allies, but they were pointing their weapons at him. Jace demagnetized his armor’s boots. "They need medical attention. What is the situation down here?" Jace asked as he walked out of the elevator. As he walked out he saw the cushioning around the elevator that was smoking and almost burning. It was the secondary emergency system for the elevator in the event that the first one failed to stop it. It was made of a semiliquid he had never seen before that reacted only to a certain frequency.
Initially he was not entirely certain his plan would work. But he was glad it did work out. He did not want to free fall from that far up. He did not feel like testing the limits of this armor’s impact resistance. He was sure the armor would be able to withstand it but he was sure it would put him out of commission for a few minutes while he recovered. Leaving him vulnerable to the possibility of enemy attack.
"We managed to keep the base of the elevator and the government building inside of the plateau secure. But if we want to keep it that way we will need to close up the doors and put up the shielding soon." A Mar’talic who pushed his way through the crowd announced as the other soldiers lowered their weapons now that they realized he was not an enemy. The Mar’talic was dressed in an armor that denoted him as some type of officer. Jace really should learn about the Victorium military and their uniforms after this planetary battle over.
"Then I will leave these guys to you. I have to go and complete the mission I was given." Jace told the Victorium officer before looking around for a moment, trying to figure out where to go. Then one of the Victorium soldiers pointed in a direction, understanding what he was looking for. Jace nodded his head as a form of thanks before he followed a path in the direction the Victorium soldier had pointed.
He soon arrived at a pair of giant metal doors which were being guarded by several soldiers in Elite armor similar to the enemies he had seen before but these ones had a friendly tag designation over them on his heads up display. They were looking over the various vehicles and soldiers which were moving inside through the gate, past the Elite armored soldiers.
Jace walked past them and walked to the outside. Leaving the structure that was built into the wall of the plateau. He could see a line of injured people and various types of vehicles making their way to this structure. Some of the vehicles looked a lot less put together than others, whether it was by design or just the way they were designed. Jace walked past them as he moved away he could eventually see several explosions in the distance and smoke rising from various buildings. Then the ships above them were slowly closing in a circle pattern towards this location.
Jace pulled up the mission objective location on his heads up display. There was a small hollow blue circle that was appearing in a specific direction no matter which direction he turned. When he moved towards it he moved the dot out of the way so it would not get in the way.
In that direction was the place that was supposed to be this city’s entertainment district. Oddly enough it was the only location not swarming with those ships in the sky above it. It also lacked the explosions and rising plumes of smoke that the rest of the areas of the city had acquired.
He walked in that direction and pulled the plasma shard sniper rifle off his back. Taking stock of the rifle and his other equipment. There were three shots left in the current cartridge for the sniper rifle. Then he would have to reload it. A single magazine was left for his Pyre, he already loaded it into his gun. His knife was cracked and damaged. Then his railgun had five more bullets left for it.
As he walked through a field of bodies and destruction he looked around. The injuries mostly consisted of plasma burns and melting flesh and other external substances or internal ones. But there were also some crushed limbs and slightly flattened bodies, some of them he recognized as ones that he personally threw off the elevator.
After a few more moments of looking through bodies he began moving toward the closest building in the direction of his objective. He began jogging toward it as he moved while he watched access points into that building and the buildings around it. Looking for any presence to indicate the presence of any enemies.
As soon as he was out of sight he used one of the attachments he had on his armor. Then he heard the distinct and quiet hum that he could only pick up because of the low level frequency. Then looked down at his hands and the sniper rifle. He was now in camouflage mode. Fortunately the camouflage went over the rest of his pouches and weapons, even the one he was holding that was from the Victorium.
It was a form of camouflage that magnetized the external components of selected items to hide them. But the more it covered the more battery it used. For the moment he could stay camouflaged for a few hours without issue. But if he tried to camouflage something as large as a transport he would only have a few minutes. He also could not fire energy-based weapons while camouflaged.
