Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 535: Barn Brawl

"Up there!" One of the operatives on the first floor pointed before raising his rifle and firing with the others following the order and lighting up the area.

Jace slid forward and off the edge, just barely avoiding the laser fire before landing on the first floor. When he landed it threw up some hay as he landed. When it did, one of the operatives closest to him looked at the area in shock before bringing his weapon down.

But Jace had already jumped forward and planted a boot on his chest and was kicking him backwards. "He is invis-" He did not get a chance to finish his sentence as he flew through the air, crashed into the door and broke it open, before smacking into the street and rolling a few times before going unconscious.

One of the other operatives had to duck out of the way to avoid being hit by the body. The others were looking around in confusion until another of them was kicked and crashed into a pillar before going to the ground, unconscious as well.

Then as another one quickly raised his weapon there was a loud cracking noise as he flew to the side and his head snapped to the side. He was not dead, but he was going to have a severe headache when he woke up. Along with a possible broken jaw.

The last one dropped his weapon and pulled out a knife. But Jace grabbed and twisted his arm before kicking him in the back of the leg and then smacking his head into a wooden post and dropping him.

Then as Jace stood there looking at them he suddenly heard a clicking and looked behind to see a person standing behind him. "So you are invisible. Too bad you are-" 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

CRACK!

Even Jace flinched in pain at that as the operative crashed through a fence and collapsed into a pile of old hay. He then looked to the side at the culprit who was slowly walking back around after kicking the operative with its back legs. The horse neighed and Jace dematerialized his armor.

Jace glanced at the operative who had collapsed to the ground and looked him over for a moment. "Thanks. How about Kickass?" The horse neighed and shook its mane in response. "Yeah... I did not like that one either." Jace agreed as he crouched over one of the bodies and grabbed a few of the devices and the weapons on them before doing the same on a few of the other bodies. "That should be enough." He decided before walking over and putting the saddle on the horse and tying a few bags to the back of it with some of the operatives weapons.

Before Jace could climb on the horse knocked over a barrel to show that it was empty. "Yeah, I will get you some more food. First I have to find the right type of people. They should be out at this time of night." Jace explained as he climbed up and then guided the horse out of the barn and onto the street.

Jace smirked as he noticed something and rode the horse down the street until he came upon a large armored truck that was slowing down as it came from the other direction. He stopped right up next to it and wrapped his knuckles against the side of it. Normally he might be wary of coming up to an armored vehicle. But he was not wary of it this time because it was clearly designed as a mobile headquarters with protection in mind, so there were not any weapons on it.

A side door on the vehicle creaked open and then swung open quickly. Then a person stepped out of the vehicle with a frown. "Umm..."

"I can speak your common tongue." Jace told him. "As for your people. They are alive, just a bit injured. It was a decent stretching exercise that you provided for me. Getting used to your planet’s high gravity is quite an experience."

"Why did you not kill them?" The man asked.

"Because my people’s protocol for first contact is not to cause harm unless absolutely necessary." Jace answered as he had a thought. "Ah! How about ’Colonel’?" Jace asked as he looked at the horse who froze for a moment before it bounced its head and neighed happily in response.

"See you around!" Jace waved as he rode off. Now it was time to do something he did not think he would be doing again.

—------------------------

"Sherlock?" West asked as she peaked her head out of the side of the armored vehicle.

"Keep tracking him. We are going to hold a ’watch and wait’ approach until the imperial ship Saint Seren arrives." Sherlock answered as he watched the man ride away. He did not speak fluently in common, in fact it sounded a bit broken but it was still enough to get by. "How long has he been on the planet again?"

"Less than 24 hours. By the way, I just checked. The Saint Seren was closer than they originally reported. They are passing by Luna now and will be in orbit within the hour." West informed him as she put away a communicator. That must have been the call she received right before he stepped out to talk to the foreigner. "How about the horse? Did you scan its ID tag?"

"Nope, it is unregistered. It would appear he took it from a rather unsavory sort." West explained with a sigh as she glanced back inside. Probably looking at a screen.

"Well... I suppose I would be hesitant to meet the local government when I was attacked upon first contact as well." Sherlock sighed as he started putting a few things together. "How about the Mars Rebel, have their remains been identified?"

"Yes, it is one of the clones. A defective one at that. It appears he died before the rebellion was even put down." West explained as Sherlock climbed back into the vehicle.

"Hmm... how intriguing. That means the scalebacks existed before we thought they did. They only came to prominence halfway through the war." Sherlock thought about it as he contemplated some information. "It means that that woman lied. How intriguing"

—-------------------------

Victor groaned as he slowly woke up. He pulled himself up on the bed he was on and looked around. The room was warm. But it was also a bit steamy. Fortunately there was no window if there had been and it was shining out he might have had a problem.

Knock! Knock!

The wooden door shook as something quickly knocked on it twice. He then heard a language he was not familiar with. "I do not speak your language!" He called back as he started looking for his gear.

At the moment he was only dressed in a white robe. They must have changed his clothes while he was unconscious.

The door slowly opened up and Victor frowned as a large figure, too large to be anything remotely human. With long arms and glossy black skin, or was that chitin like a bug?

[I am not a bug.]

Victor almost jumped out of his skin as he felt a severe headache from the mental transmission. "Ah damn, that hurts."

[I apologize but in absence of a common tongue, this is the best form of communication. It will take some time to get used to it. Your mind is not developed enough to protect against telepathic transmissions.] The being explained as it bowed slightly. [Would you like to join us for night meditations?]

Victor frowned as he slowly stood up as he realized something. If they had no common language then how was he able to respond to Victor’s words.

[I am reading your intent. I cannot tell what you are thinking but I can faintly sense your emotions and that is enough.] The creature explained as he slipped back through the door revealing his long black and jagged tail as it walked away from him.

It clicked into place and Victor understood as he followed him out. Freezing as he noticed the windows in the building were just openings leading out to the cool air. That would be a problem, he would have to stay hidden when the sun is out.

[I will inform the others that the sun is a danger to you.] The creature assured him as they walked through a corridor and past several more doors until they arrived at a set of stairs. They went down them and left out a door into a central open space he had seen while walking through the corridor up on the floor he came from.

Sitting around the open area were several people in various colored robes. Most of them were sitting in front of a statue of something that looked like a multi armed elephant. The rest were sitting near statues of other things. Some were not even sitting near a statue and were just sitting on the ground with their eyes closed. There were a number of different races with a bunch of them being ones he had never seen before.

[I will guide you on your first meditation. I will also find a way for you to communicate with the rest of us.] The creature explained as he led him over to an open area.

But as he walked he felt a shiver and glanced over to meet the red eyes of a rather large creature with fur covering its body. It was looking at him with a predatory gaze but it looked away and seemed to focus as it looked back at the moon.