Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 533: Bridge

"Have your identification papers ready!" A soldier yelled and then repeated it in another dialect. Or at least that is what Jace assumed was what he was doing. He was starting to figure out a few of the dialects but it was difficult without something to keep track.

As for his current situation. He was disguised as one of said soldiers holding his horse by the harness as he crossed a bridge into the city. What better way to get around all of these blockades than to put on a disguise. As for the horse, if he wanted to lose them he could ditch the horse. But he specifically wanted someone to track them as a distraction. So if they were decent they would figure out to follow the horse.

"Hey you! Did you hear me?" Jace looked over at a man as he walked by a tent. He froze and looked to the source of the voice. A man with a scratchy beard was looking at him. He is dressed in one of the soldier’s red uniforms. But his eyes looked dead. "I said get to the other end of the bridge, we are stopping all vehicles so we are having horse riders run parcels to and from command."

Jace nodded and grunted, "Yes sir." He then continued on the bridge, moving toward the city. As he neared the end of the bridge he climbed onto the horse and started riding until he reached an area where a few other horses and other mounts were gathered. They were receiving orders and parcels that were to be delivered.

"You!" He only had to ride up for a younger man to run up with a package and hand it to him. "Take this to City Hall! Quickly!" He then ran off to a table that was covered in packages to grab another and hand it off while Jace slowly guided the horse away from the tent to the arch that covered the end of the bridge and led to the city.

As he picked up speed he saw and heard a spacecraft fly overhead and as it flew over the arch before it slowly descended on the other side. He was riding under the arch and past plenty of soldiers that saluted as the ship opened up. Even other people riding mounts and carrying parcels were stopping saluting to the lowering ramp of the spacecraft.

But Jace just glanced at them out of the corner of his eye as the ramp fully lowered and four people walked down. The first two he was not familiar with. But he could tell the well maintained and dressed one in front was looking at all of the details of the area and even picked up on Jace riding away. But he seemed to decide that was normal.

But behind the man in the lead was a smaller woman who had a more dead glare. As she assessed the area. One of her hands was resting on a weapon she had clearly hidden. But Jace had been around enough clever and sneaky women to know when they were armed just by their mannerisms.

Behind that smaller woman were the two survivors from the village from the soldiers that attacked. Or at least the officers in charge of them. The leading one still had a bleeding stump that medics immediately ran in to treat while some soldiers moved up and started moving both the leading officer and the other officer away.

At that point Jace was riding into the city and onto the mostly empty streets. It seemed like the city would usually be filled with vehicles but because of the island wide lockdown. He had the streets to himself.

Now that he is here in the city. What should he do first? "I guess I should find you some food and water. Maybe some for myself as well." Jace pointed out as he patted the horse’s neck and it neighed in response. "Maybe even figure out a name for you as well." The horse neighed again, Jace could almost swear the horse understood him completely.

—-------------------

"Hmm..." Sherlock frowned as he watched the horse rider carrying a parcel ride into the city. "It would seem you took my message about everything being recorded in multiple formats seriously." He looked at the commander who bowed before leading him further up towards a door in the archway that covered this side of the bridge. It was typically only used by military personnel during an invasion or siege. But they would use it to lockdown the city, all the cities, as well.

"Indeed we have." The commander gave a slight bow as he walked into the archway tower. "Especially with the imminent arrival of a royal within proximity of this planet. It has been far too long since one of them has appeared on Prima Terra."

"It is doubtful they will actually touch down on the planet itself. But regardless you are correct. We need to be on our best behavior. Especially after Commander Ajax’s bungle. How are the other towns, villages, and cities reacting to word of what happened?" Sherlock asked as glanced out a window and saw the line of civilians that were slowly moving through the bridge going through various check points.

"Word of the slaughter of an entire village is spreading quickly throughout the islands. But it is unable to reach beyond these islands. We have locked down the digital net and all forms of communication. Even the sheriff outposts have to go through us if they want to function." The Archway commander explained as he led them past an armored door and into a room that was filled with screens and activity. It was definitely the control center for the island’s soldiers.

"How is it spreading if you are containing communication channels?" West asked with a grunt as she walked around looking at the screens.

"By way of word of mouth. Survivors are running to other neighboring towns which are in turn sending out messengers to spread word by foot, mount, or even by small boat craft." The commander explained as he pointed at a video that showed one of the bridges, specifically he pointed at the line of people traveling on it. "It is a constant battle on this island to keep them behaved, in fact most of the non-city parts of the island are considered lawless outlaw zones. It is why these islands were named Purgatory Islands."

"I suppose we should count ourselves fortunate that no protests or rebel activity has started." Sherlock sighed as he brought a hand up to rub his temple as a headache began.

"Actually... we have no way to know about the other part of the island. But the more peaceful and political minded of the city are already requesting permission to commit protests against the Imperial Military’s action. The city’s central government is holding off for the time being but it is only a matter of time." The commander explained with a groan of annoyance.

Sherlock thought about the commander’s words and internally groaned while keeping his outward expression neutral. Because he knew that such an event would grab the royal aboard the Saint Seren’s attention. This was just going to be more trouble.

"So we lost the Scaleback, we are still tracking the foreigner that crash landed here, and we are about to have civil unrest on the planet? This is unfortunate." Sherlock breathed out as he summed up their situation.

—-------------------

Victor groaned as he pushed a piece of debris off him and then he shivered as he felt the biting cold wind as it moved across his exposed head. His helmet was hanging from his hip with a large crack in the visor. He still had his axes and many other weapons. He started walking down the snowy mountain. Limping as he moved from the ship.

Fortunately today the snowstorm was blocking the sun. Yesterday when he tried coming out he was burned slightly by the sun. That limitation was really starting to become an annoyance he hoped he would no longer have to deal with soon.

But as he walked down the mountain he eventually arrived at a trail of gravel that was mostly covered by ice and snow. But he could still make it out due to the large rocks that lined either side of it.

He was not able to tell which way led down the mountain though since the snowstorm was so heavy that he could not see a few feet in front of him. While something was wrong with all of his other senses.

So he picked a random direction at random and started walking. He went up and down like he was going over hills and then stopped as he arrived at a creaky wooden bridge. He frowned as he looked at it rocking back and forth.

After a moment he stepped onto it and it creaked loudly. Loud enough that he figured it might break as he walked. But there was no other path at the moment so he just moved forward. As he walked he started to feel a ringing sensation in his ears that drowned out the creaking of the wooden boards beneath him.