Space Odyssey: Spectre

Chapter 612: Champagne

[System Update: 87.34%. Time Left: 2 Weeks 2 Days.]

Clang! Clash!

Shinobi ducked down. Dodging Jace’s blade as it passed over him. Shinobi moved forward to disembowel Jace. But Jace used his toes to push himself back as he brought his katana around to swipe at Shinobi’s side.

Clang!

There was another burst of metal as his sword was deflected by Shinobi’s short blade. Jace had to adjust stance as Shinobi jumped up and tried to stab him in the throat with a kunai. Jace flipped himself back, using his feet to kick Shinobi on the chin.

His head snapped up as the buzzer blared and the lights in the room turned red for a moment before switching to normal. Jace fixed his position and stood as Shinobi rubbed his chin. "That should not count as a point."

"It does because if Jace was using full strength his hit would have killed you." Valkyrie explained from the observation room. "But I think that is enough testing of the combat simulation room. We need to make a few adjustments before moving forward again. Hey Jace, Cain wants to set off within the hour. Said you wanted to know?"

"Yeah, I need to go grab the other reactor." Jace told her as he moved towards the door in the room.

While not necessarily a priority and not even part of the original plan. This combat simulation room had come along nicely. After filling up with spare materials the team had decided to try out some projects of their own and Jace was not opposed. This room had hard light projectors and hologram projectors. It was basically a real world version of a VR pod. He could run endlessly in a straight line and it would work.

Except Jace had to hold back his strength so he would not injure Shinobi during the spare. Nor would he damage the training room. While it was effective, it was only effective to a certain point.

"How are you going to get that massive thing to the cruiser?" Shinobi asked as they stepped into the changing room. Swapping out of the tight fitting combat training suits that were padded and protected.

"Cain is going to bring the cruiser out of the facility and I am going to take the reactor out which will put most of the facility on emergency power and lockdown. But will open up a route from the facilities reactor room to an open airlock which I have set up to activate in such emergency situations." Jace explained as he pulled off the full-body suit. He tossed it in a bin so Valkyrie could run through her tests with them. Because in addition to the padding there were also sensors and other gear to provide her with data.

"How long have we been here?" Shinobi asked with a sigh as he removed his own gear at a sluggish pace.

"Just under three months I believe. The start of our arrival kind of blurs together with how busy we all were." Jace chuckled as he moved to the locker and opened it before pulling on his clothes. He was going to put on the clothes he wore under his armor before he rematerialized it again.

Shinobi shook his head as he began putting on his own armor. Jace was requiring most of them to wear their armor and gear during their departure from the facility and this system. Once they left this system they would disappear from any locals view so they would be fine then. But until then the best time for someone to attack them would be during their departure from the facility and when they tested their warp drive. "I suppose we really had an impact with that civil war we basically kicked off."

"Huh?" Jace raised an eyebrow and then realized what he was talking about. From his and the rest of the team’s view it might have looked like he and the rest of them kicked off a civil war with their antics. Only Shilla knew it was a plot driven by Oni, the NeoYakuza AI. Since he never gave her specific orders to share the information she might have hid it instead. "Actually we were only a slight distraction and impediment." Jace told him with a chuckle. "We did not help kick off a civil war."

"Sure..." Shinobi nodded, "Because you are the most upstanding person out there." He responded sarcastically. "Anyways, I will be in the VR room for the launch. You wanted some of us ready to jump into combat at a moment’s notice?"

"I do. Just in case. But do not enter the pod. Just standby in the room in case you have to pilot an additional drone ship." Jace answered as he finished putting on his pants. Once his last piece of clothing was on he materialized his armor over it.

"Understood. Are you going to need help dragging the- what did you call it? The sun engine? Are you going to be okay dragging it through the cruiser on your own?" Shinobi asked as he finished putting on his gear.

While Jace had the moment he did a diagnostic on his armor’s systems. "Gaz is waiting outside the airlock I am going to with a cart to drag it through the hall to the reactor room." Jace dodged his question to avoid getting into a discussion about the properties of this power source.

Shinobi started locking his armor plating on. "I bet you are ecstatic that you put your mother in cryosleep." He brought up another bit of detail that had occurred in the last few weeks. They had built the cryopod discreetly before showing it to her. They decided it was necessary because it was getting annoying to call Jace by the Tacole nickname of Gladiator. Not to mention having to walk on eggshells around the woman had become annoying.

Jace frowned and looked at the man as he seemed to be talking nonsense. "What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" Shinobi asked.

"This distracting interaction." Jace frowned as his visor verified that all suit systems were functioning. "Are you trying to keep me here?"

Shinobi shook his head, "I have no clue what you mean."

But Jace felt it was the opposite. Because he was bringing up subjects that would require replays or acknowledgement. Jace released a low pulse of electricity and found what he was hiding. Just outside of the room the others had gathered. "What is going on?"

Shinobi shrugged again. "I still have no clue what you are talking about."

Jace rolled his eyes and walked to the door. Opening the door as he did and looking out into the hallway just beyond where the rest of the group minus Cain had gathered. "SURPRISE!"

"What are you doing?" Jace asked as he eyed the champagne bottle right as K flicked off the cork.

Pop!

The cork bounced off the roof and then off the wall before Jace’s arm snapped up and caught it as it flew past his head. "We are celebrating our departure. This may just feel like another day for you. But for us this is the first step in getting home." Shilla explained before continuing. "So aside from Cain and Valky, we are all going to have some champagne to celebrate the occasion."

Jace thought about it for a moment before sighing and shaking his head. "Okay," he glanced over at Valkyrie’s hand to see a glass of water. He accepted a glass of the bubbly golden liquid as Shinobi walked out and accepted a glass right before K began pouring some for him. "One glass and then we will start the departure process." Jace dematerialized his helmet as he raised his glass.

"Also smash this against the back of the cruiser when you go out," Jamal handed him a full bottle of champagne. "Some of us do have a whole thing about breaking a bottle on a ship’s maiden voyage."

Jace shook his head as he looked at the cheap bottle. "Okay. Now who would like to do the honors?"

"Fuck that! Let’s drink and depart! We can celebrate and talk after we get home!" K declared in excitement. "Now let’s do this shit!"

"That works." Jace shrugged before clinking glasses with the others before they all brought the glasses to their lips and downed the drink. Jace downed his drink before setting the glass down on a bulkhead. A grin gracing his face. "Then if that is all, I am going to head out. Make sure you all head to your positions. This may be the first step in our journey home. But it is also the first step that this galaxy will see where they might be able to take advantage of us. So keep your heads on a swivel. There is no telling what they might throw at us."

"I thought I said no speeches?" K asked jokingly, getting a chorus of laughter from the others.

Jace shook his head as he rematerialized his helmet and walked towards the airlock he would use.