Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 512: Goodbyes I

The Gathering continued for a few more hours. Mostly with the larger nation addressing specific grievances and issues. Only a few were directly related to the Victorium. Most of which were the tactics of the government side that were pressuring boarding colonies and nations. But the High Priestess assured them that they would never have any military to back them up as long as she was the High Priestess.

That ended the first day of the gathering. After that, Jace left to continue working and preparing while he set up an annex base where the gathering representatives for the attack could stay and train. The day of attack was now only four days away. That was how long they suspected it would take for the Mortella to make repairs to their ship at the minimum.

So that was when they would attack again. When the Mortella’s ship was not at full capacity. After getting their new armor and gear, both Victor Al-Ulman and the Valkyrie were training nonstop. They were not the only ones either. K was training in her gear as well, preparing for the mission in a rather annoyed fashion. Apparently she was pissed off that he knew about her being a spy and did nothing to her despite knowing that.

The three smaller nations that are sending representatives have already arrived. They were all simple soldiers with decent track records. Two of them were actually former soldiers of the Vexical Empire before it collapsed. The last one was a mercenary through and through before retiring and joining up with a colony to settle down.

Seven at the moment. That was how many were going to go on this mission so far. That is not including Cain who is going to join him as well. He needs Cain as a back up plan in case anything goes wrong on their mission.

Their final number for operatives on this mission should be thirteen overall. He already received a basic document on all the participants from Director Fenrir who just told him good luck. It seems like she was getting absorbed and more focused on the Imperium’s Civil War. Especially with the intel he has been passing to her from Salem.

For the Crystoph Federation, they were sending a pilot and his Knight-Class mech. Bartholomew Crystal, that was the name of the pilot they were sending and he would operate with them in the Hermes. The Hermes actually had a storied history as it was an ancient mech with unmatched speeds and capabilities. While the pilot was just a normal human with a higher than average resistance to gravitational measures. A side effect of being attached to Hermes. Unlike most mechs which allowed people to just sit inside and pilot them. The Hermes had a cybernetic attachment that connected to the brainstem. It allows for instantaneous reaction speed like the mech was an extension of his body. He heard they attempted to recreate the brainstem technology but it ended up killing people in other mechs with only ancient mechs like Hermes with the design imputed already being the ones that only worked with it.

Then there was the Leonair Union. They had K, the Union spy and he already knew that Al-han Jel’s people were not too happy with that arrangement. But considering K has been listed as a spy under the remnant Union’s control they fell under the Leonair Union as well. She was as livid as he thought about her identity being exposed. Fortunately she stopped hiding her other talents like her talent with dual curved blades. Which was actually an ancient technique she inherited from her predecessor. It turned out that K was also her title which was given to the twenty six assassins of the Hex Empire. Most of them had died out but she was one of the last ones still left.

The Montez Kingdom was sending an imperial knight. Interestingly enough it was a relative of the Romav family, more specifically it was Astella Romav’s uncle. Although he was the same age as Astella. He would be equipped in power armor that the Imperial Knights of the Montez Kingdom had been using for years. It would be an interesting experience especially since Astella said that Sol, that is the uncle’s name, and the rest of the Astro family wanted to kill Astella. Apparently there was a history there, but Jace did not care nearly enough to look into it.

The Oda Empire was sending one of their famed Shinobi. They actually did not have anything on them. As per usual the Oda Empire were experts in containing and preventing any leaks of information. They did have their own gear and the shinobi’s training method should be far more strenuous and difficult than anything the others went through. So there probably was not much they could do to help them.

The Rogue Metal Legion was sending one of their war machines with an Artificial Intelligence attached. Their war machines typically varied a bunch. But this war machine was based off of something that Jace himself had actually designed. This Artificial Intelligence is named Ignius, it was originally developed by a nation that no longer exists in order to assist in strategy and tactics. The body was a doll type android with built in weapons and armor almost on par with his original Spectre Armor that was now in pieces and was being replaced by the new stage in armor.

While they initially did not have anything on who the Centuria Clan was sending. He soon learned that it was Shilla Aphri. They freely offered that up. Probably because he had a history of fighting and in turn being ’claimed’ by her. Apparently it was a tradition for her people to claim a prospective husband eventually. In fact they would claim many until they were bested in combat. So now that he had beat her she was looking for a way to either take him back with her or stay with him.

Then there was the Valkyrie representing the fallen Holy Empire. The intel was sparse since very few had survived the onslaught of the Mortella. But the few systems and planets that did were so low in population that they were grasping at any hope of a leader and the Valkyrie was that leader for them.

Then there was Victor Al-Ulman, although he was doing his duty. The information suggested that the clans and their leaders were shunning him. While the rest of the survivors of the Circle of Yuri were praising him as a hero. One that was willing to get revenge for their fallen planet and all the lives that were lost.

Then there were the final three from the smaller nations. The first one was Gene Case, he was actually an orphan from the Vexical Empire. He was from the Vexical system. But he left the Empire shortly before the civil war leaving the military at the rank of squad commander. They already had his size and were making him armor and gear that would suit him.

The second one from the smaller nations and colonies was an eccentric inventor. He was also from the Vexical Empire and the military. But he was the son of a count who renounced his last name and pursued his inventions in earnest. He left the empire ahead of time while only being a ship engineer. His name is Colvert. That was all.

The third and last one was a mercenary who had been part of an array of groups and most recently retired to a colony beyond known human space. Jamel Kingsly was an older man with a life expectancy of a single year. It seems someone had realized the likelihood of this mission going wrong and sent someone that was already dying but was still capable. Seems he had basic combat and weapon experience but there was not much they could do for him.

Then there was Cain. His loyal and steadfast robotic dog. In the event that Jace got tied up fighting he would be able to transmit the schematics as well. He was even getting his own upgrades as well as getting used to some of the gear that he would be operating.

Jace was the last member of the team and would be its leader as well. At least until they arrived on or around the ship. Because then he knew they would break off to gather evidence and weapons technology for their respective countries.

But for now they had four days before that happened. That would give them two full days to train and finish any of the gear or weapons they might need. They had the second to last day and part of the last day to prepare for the worst and say their goodbyes. Then the Elysium would take them deep into the Holy Empire territory and deploy them before moving to a safe distance out of the Mortella’s ship’s weapon range.