Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 536: Searching

Jace slowed down as he looked around the smaller street he had been walking down for awhile. In order to find who he needed, he first had to lure them out. It seems he had finally managed to do so as in front of him were a number of people walking out with impromptu weapons. While behind him was another group of hooligans.

"Hello there, I hope you do not mind parting with any and all of your things." A man walked out onto a balcony above him. "You see, this is our territory and with the lockdown, things have been going rather slow. So I now need to look for a new way to make our money."

"Yeah no I get it. I was actually counting on it. So thank you for coming to me yourself." Jace chuckled as thought about how he should take them down. If he just started attacking, the person on the balcony would run away. So he should capture him first.

"What-" The man on the balcony with a set of crooked and broken teeth and a shimmering gold one started but suddenly stopped as Jace was pulling himself over the edge of the balcony. Before he could say anything, Jace pulled him over the side of the balcony and threw him down onto the ground below.

He then dropped back down and slammed his knee into the man’s chest as he attempted to pull himself up. "Okay, now then. Would any of you-" Jace stopped as the rest of the hooligans and criminals began running away in a panic. "It would seem your allies are quite cowardly."

"I’ll kill you, you bastard!" The gold toothed man declared as he struggled to push Jace off him.

"I doubt it. Now where can I find this city’s blackmarket?" Jace hauled the man to his feet.

"I ain’t tellin’ you- Argh!" He suddenly screamed in pain as Jace broke one of his fingers by twisting his pinking. "Christ! I will tell you! I was putting on a facade!" He pointed out. "There are a few different places. Most of them are run by the big gangs. But the central one that is run by the cooperation of all of them is located under the old church. Everyone knows about it, even the police but it is too heavily guarded."

"Perfect. Come on now." Jace released him and pointed him in front of the Colonel who neighed and shook its mane. "Lead the way, we will follow. I suggest you bring me through a large enough entrance."

"Ye-yeah sir..." The man nodded his head as he nursed his broken finger and limped in the direction of a massive cathedral that was only dwarfed by the massive skyscrapers and other towers but was still imposing despite its ancient style of architecture.

—---------------------- 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Shilla frowned as she dodged out of the way of the incoming laser gun fire. "How did you manage to get caught?"

"Sorry." K apologized with a shrug as a man ran around the corner with a hammer ready to attack her. But her karambit was slicing through his throat while the other one slammed into his skull through his eye and his body went limp as she tossed him aside. "But to be fair. I expected a security system, not actual people in place of a security system."

"It is a primitive regression of an advanced society. Of course they rely on people instead of machines!" Shilla yelled at her as she returned fire and hit one of the guards in the head before ducking back behind cover.

"Where’s Jamal?" K asked as she looked around with a frown.

"I thought he was with you?" Shilla answered as she looked at him.

Bang!

A body flew through the space in between them and they both slowly looked around the corner to see Jamal tossing down an unconscious body as he rested his shotgun on his shoulder. "What are you two doing? We are here for the armor plating. I already secured the transport. Where is the armor plating that Cain wanted?"

Shilla holstered her weapon as she hummed before patting the box of crates she was next to. "These are the boxes. We were in the middle of moving them when the guards arrived. Where are we taking them to?"

"Over here." Jamal nodded to a partially opened metal door that was slid open. It looked like it was his way into the building. "I acquired a truck from a rather unsavory sort. Help me with this, the gravity on this moon makes it easy to move goods. Perhaps that is why it is such a popular port of trade."

He lifted a box and started dragging it through the air as it floated and slowly fell to the ground. While his boots clacked against the ground. Making a loud tinging sound each time he stepped as it stuck magnetically to the ground.

"Did you notice anything weird when you were acquiring the truck?" K asked as she moved a box, following Jamal out and laying it down onto the bed of the truck before moving back inside to grab another one as Jamal started moving the boxes into an organized system so they could be securely moved.

"Yes. Security has been increasing. There are a lot more military patrols in this dome and probably the others as well. I did not hear anything specific, only bits and pieces of information. Someone important is currently passing in proximity to the moon and the local government does not want anything out of place." Jamal explained as he took another set of boxes and set them atop the other boxes before hitting a button and suddenly all four of them were secured to the bed of the truck.

K nodded her head as she crouched down and picked up a weapon. "Maybe that is why another contingent of guards arrived." She looked over at Shilla, "told you it was not my fault."

"Let’s just get these packed and get to the hangar. We should stay away from populated settlements for the time being and stay on the outskirts of the dome." Shilla told them as she helped move a few more boxes of armor plating.

—--------------------

Sherlock frowned as he stood in the communication room. "What do you mean? That is possibly the worst idea possible. He tore through our best operatives like they were nothing. We do not have anything or anyone that can combat him."

"Investigator Sherlock, despite what you may think we know how dangerous these people should be. We even know where they come from. That is not something for you to worry about. Instead you should be more concerned with locating and keeping track of them. So far you have only found one. When our scans indicate there should be well over a hundred." The shadowy figure on the other end growled out in annoyance.

"The majority of them are still in debris that is in orbit. We have not yet secured it because of Commander Ajax who decided to micromanage me instead of doing his job. Now there is not a qualified commander aboard this vessel to secure the debris. Which was why I had West reaching out to others in the first place." Sherlock explained in annoyance as he moved to the side.

"Fine. We will secure those ones. You just make sure to find the others. Have you managed to track the debris’ initial landing sight yet?" The figure asked.

"Yes, the initial investigative teams are searching the areas of each. But it appears the ones in space managed to redirect themselves and went to Luna. That trading colony is too big and has too much going on for someone of my rank to give an order for a lockdown. In fact the only reason the island is on lockdown is because we are in agreement in the need to do so." Sherlock explained to the person on the other end.

"That should have been your initial report. We could have had people on the ground looking already. What about the scaleback?" The figure asked.

"How about you tell the truth this time? I recently learned that the scalebacks were created around the start of the civil war. But I recall your reports that got you this unique position were about them being created halfway through the war. Along with the clones they were using." Sherlock countered in turn. "So how about you tell the truth Archivist?"

Suddenly the screen changed as a different silhouette appeared. "Imperial Investigator Edward Sherlock. That is enough. We are already well aware. I suggest you focus more on tracking down the rest of the foreigners. The scaleback is not a priority. Do you have any other promising leads aside from that island and Luna Trading Colony?"

Sherlock frowned as he contemplated arguing. But he knew that voice. "Fine. There is a location on the Northern continent that looks promising. But the other one on the planet that looked promising lacked any sort of debris. We are looking to see what went wrong with our calculations."