Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 513: Goodbyes II

The two days of training and preparations took a lot more out of him than he initially thought. He yawned as he walked up to the opening garage door as he prepared for the chaos the children were no doubt causing inside.

He stretched and flinched in pain as tattoos that were now covering his body were fresh. Doing all of the linking at the same time was a bad idea. He could tell when Shilla, the Centuria, had laughed at what he was doing. They developed the same type of technology but their version was a bit different in that they had a limited amount of space and did not require a tattoo.

As he walked into the garage he stopped and blinked in surprise at the smiling face standing before him. He had not seen her since landing so he was rather surprised to find her here. Especially since he had not been warned ahead of time. He looked over at the table to find both Cho and Jordan eating or rather they had stopped eating to look at him. "Umm... Vana, what are you doing here?"

Vana seemed to hesitate again. "I... applied for a position here on the station. Still with Cerberus but I also applied for something else once I was sure." She told him hesitantly. Which was strange considering how unhesitant she usually was. "I will be honest, I was not expecting it. But I am not going to stop it now that it happened."

"What happened?" Jace asked with a sigh. Already feeling mentally drained from all of the training and preparations he had been doing.

"Haa... look with your own eyes?" She told him with a sigh. Jace raised an eyebrow and then looked her up and down. She sighed again. "The other type of look, Jace." She told him. Jace blinked in confusion before he understood and activated his electrical vision and froze in shock at what he saw.

"Ah..." He was going to have to contact Salem. "I..." He switched out of his electrical vision but still did not know what to say. But considering the smile she was wearing on her face. He knew she was happy with the situation. Like she had said, they never actually talked about ’trying’ but it ended up happening anyways. "I guess we can say for certain that the Contraceptive nanobots no longer work on me."

"Agreed." Vana smiled and blushed at the same time. "You actually are not staying here today." She informed him as she spun around and walked toward the table. "The ladies wanted you for one of your last nights and your adorable daughters agreed to take up your time for the last day only."

Jace watched her and chuckled. "I see." He walked up and hugged her from behind. Bringing her into a gentle embrace that she welcomed. Her wolf-like ears twitched and rubbed against his chin. "Congrats and thank you for deciding to take care of Cho and Jordan just in case." He whispered to her.

Vana grunted and wiggled in his arms before holding up a folded piece of paper. "This is the address, head on over."

Jace chuckled, "I am surprised you do not want to... participate." Jace pointed out as he started pulling away from her after taking the note and looking at the contents.

"I am more concerned about this one." Vana rubbed her abdomen. "Besides, there would not be nearly enough fun to go around if we all participated." She told him.

Jace frowned as he counted the numbers in his head. There was Nila, then maybe Silla of the Aphri, and aside from Vana there was not anyone else he was aware of being in an intimate relationship with. "Umm..."

Vana smiled at him with a mischievous grin. "I know, you have no clue who the others are." She spun around, "it is the various women who have even an inkling of desire for you and realize the same thing you do. That you may not survive this mission, especially after being so badly injured on your last one."

Jace frowned and then looked at the girls who giggled as Vana joined them. He shook his head and sighed before walking back out. He waved down a taxi and climbed inside. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

It was a simple yellow taxi that had been around since a time when their history was of only Earth. But in the front was a Mar’talic who was driving the vehicle. "Ah! If it isn’t the Spectre of Hexarian Galaxy!"

It was the latest in a long line of nicknames he had earned himself. It was assumed the galaxy was named after the Hexarian Empire which had already been earning some resentment. But it was that same resentment that was already being repelled by the more common people. Apparently they favored the last living member of the ancient and grand Hex bloodline over their own political leaders and nationalist ideals.

Jace sighed. "I am indeed. I am curious why are you and everyone so enamored with my achievements?" He then handed him the note. "This is where I am going, please do me a favor and do not pass this on to the paparazzi or anyone else."

"Are you kidding?" The man asked in astonishment. "Actually it started out- oh yeah, do not worry I won’t tell anyone." He interrupted himself as he read the note and then turned and switched off the taxis gps system. "The ride is on me."

"I will send creds directly to your account then as repayment." Jace told him as he pulled out his watch and started tapping away.

"Oh... you need the account number?" The taxi driver asked.

"Nope." Jace shook his head. "You were telling me why I was so popular?"

"Oh!?!" The taxi driver pulled out into the street. "Right! Actually it is not just you. There are a few other people that are becoming icons and talk of everyone during these times of strife. There is you, the well known soldier and warrior who took on any challenge no matter what it was. I heard in some parts of the galaxy the poems and ballads are really popular."

"No kidding..." Jace nodded, there were just some things you could not get without talking to people. Rumors like this were one of them. "What about the other popular figures?"

"There is the Witch of Kamot, Salem Wintry. She is just as popular because of her traffic backstory and dedication to justice because of it." Except that the backstory is not as tragic if he had to guess. The last time he checked on her family they were still in the Echo System, fully integrated. Her mother had even remarried. "Supposedly her signature now is a cowboy hat and other Earth Old West attire."

"Really." Jace grinned as he learned something that Salem had probably been intentionally leaving out in her reports.

"Oh yeah." The driver nodded. "Then there is the High Priestess of the Victorium. She gained popularity because of the way she handles things. I do not know if you know but immigration into the Victorium has become a popular issue but she turned around and created a private militia and security force for the races that do not have a major population. So a lot of these odd races favor her, and she is constantly unyielding to the Government Council."

"Don’t I know it. Is that all?"

"Nope. But the rest are rumors of people that may or may not exist. Like the Heterochromia Mad Scientist." That is definitely Taylor Hielo. "Then there is the Shadow of Death. A soldier in the Victorium who supposedly tortures her less savory targets before killing them." Now that he knew it was Nina, he had seen it a few times in reports about her operations. "But those ones are out matched by the rumor about you punching a ship so hard that it went to warp."

"Yeah no, that never happened." Jace laughed with the taxi driver. "Those truly are some interesting rumors." Jace leaned back in his seat and looked out the window as the colony passed them by. "How about the Mortella? What are people saying about them?"

"Some are thankful for the reprieve from the war. But a lot more are already clamoring to build up defenses in preparation for attacks from them." The taxi driver informed him. "Don’t worry, none of the civilians think you over reacted. After seeing the numbers of dead, a lot of people started to say you are looking more and more like a hero."

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Quan Lee walked up and stopped as he watched Commander Crystal finish his ritual. He was currently praying before his mech. Then afterward he would be on a long distance communication with the last remaining members of his family.

Quan Lee felt bad on one hand. But on the other hand, he was the one who volunteered. Commander Crystal had always been an odd duck. But when it came to this, he seemed almost drawn in. Almost like it was inevitable.

After watching him for a moment. Quan Lee walked away. He had work to do and did not have time to watch the rituals of a man that was likely going to be dead soon.