Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 520: Unlucky Thirteen III

"Cain, where are you leading us?" Valkyrie asked as they moved through what appeared to be the ducts of the ship. After getting on the ship, they were unable to contact the mechs outside and Cain opted to instead of running through the ship to sneak through the unobserved ducts instead since they could all fit through them.

"We are going to the central power room." Cain answered over the communication channel. "For now we need to be as stealthy as possible. So only use the local channel." Cain informed them as he peaked around a corner before walking down it.

"I thought this attack would be far more exciting than it is." Gene grumbled in annoyance.

"We are not here for excitement. We are here to get to our primary destination. The-" Cain stopped as he picked up the start of a long range communication signal. "That is not good. Come on, we are picking up speed." Cain informed them as he began moving through the crawlspace more quickly. The humanoids were clearly struggling to keep up with him. Although the shinobi and K were used to tight spaces and were moving fairly easily.

"What happened?" The shinobi asked.

"Either they are ahead of schedule or we were lied to. Because the Mortella are making a long distance transmission." Cain explained as he rushed down a hallway. "We thought we had blocked the resources they might need. But we suspected they might still get what they need if something specific happened. Unfortunately it has happened."

—-----------------------------

They were marched into a large chamber. As they entered, Jace could already tell what the purpose of the room was. He could tell because of the several tubes of varying size with several different creatures inside of them. Each one had a different creature. Most of them he could not recognize.

This must be where they keep the unique specimens. Or the last remnants of races they have extinguished in the past. The room was at least a mile long. Considering the length and the amount of defenses in the room. It must be the most central and important room of the ship.

"You think they are going to put us in those tubes?" Shilla asked openly with a nervous chuckle, clearly to hide her annoyance.

{A Centuria. We have records of your existence. But we never managed to acquire one for ourselves. You, the Spectre, and the Vampire are all valuable specimens. So yes you would be added to my collection.} A voice answered her.

General Ariel was looking different than before. Her body was covered in armor. Far more heavily than before. While the armor itself was shining with a golden and orange hue. There was only a single pair of green glowing wings behind her.

"Seems like someone benefited from our last encounter." Jace chuckled in annoyance. It was not just her appearance that was different. He could sense that she was far more powerful than before.

{You are one to talk. Who knew overstressing your body would give you this much strength. The only thing I can equate it to is the High Generals or a massive bomb. Although... it seems your body has not quite caught up. Fortunately, it appears this galaxy has not given you enough to grow your body.} General Ariel complimented him before turning and looking through the rest of them.

Victor glances over at Jace before looking aback at the Mortella. "Why do you do this? Why does your species do this? And do not give me that culling the numbers crap." Victor growled out in annoyance as he shoved off the Mortella that was holding him.

General Ariel waved the others off. {You are right.} She told him. {That is not the reason we do it. But it is our justification. And that is all you really need at the end of the day. Justification.}

Victor growled in annoyance as he was forced back to his knees. "Whole planets of people for what? Just to-"

"He is stalling." A voice cut him off and the others looked at the source with a look of surprise. Aside from Shilla and Jace. Jace looked unbothered while Shilla was angry. To be fair, Jace had kept the actual plan a secret just in case something like this happened. Just in case one of them had turned traitor. In fact of all of the potential traitors, this one seemed most likely.

"Ignius..." Jamal mumbled in surprise.

{You can release that one.} General Ariel instructed the guards as the cuffs were released and Ignius began standing up. He moved away from the rest of them and gave a slight bow to Ariel. Jace could sense her annoyance, she really did not want to work with him. But they had pushed her into a corner. {Thanks to your information, we were able to capture you and your companions.}

"That may be so. But this is only half the group. It was a last minute alteration to the plan that I was unable to inform you about." Ignius explained as he armed himself. "The other groups are just going to be just as troublesome. I suggest you begin to make your call. I will make my way to the energy generator. I suspect that is one of their destinations." Ignius informed her before walking toward the door. But he was suddenly stopped by some of the Mortella. A lot of the ones in the room did not have a single set of wings but had multiple wings. They took over when they brought the prisoners into the room. The only odd ones out were the Mortella in power armor. "May I go and stop them?"

General Ariel waved her hand in dismissal. {Go with him and secure the portal generator room.} She then looked at Ignius. {I will send some of my soldiers with you.}

They watched them leave and after a few minutes Victor looked over at Jace. "Why did he betray us?"

"Because he is in a precarious position back home. He is actually a hardline advocate for the enslavement of sentient lifeforms. For some reason he is under the impression that he will get the Mortella’s support if he helps them here." Jace informed them. "I am guessing he has seen the walls closing in as he has been slowly forced out of official positions by Aura and her advocates."

"So it was not the Rogue Metal Legion. It is just Ignius that betrayed us." Shilla answered.

{For someone who was betrayed, you all seem incredibly calm.} General Ariel exclaimed as she turned to a console and began interacting with it. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"I expected as much." Victor answered.

"There was bound to be someone." Shilla scoffed.

"I am old." Jamal cut in.

"I am always prepared with a backup plan." Jace answered.

{Is that why you are still in a cage? Meat sack!} One of the power armored Mortella mocked him.

Jace raised an eyebrow under his helmet and slowly turned toward the Mortella before he put his hand up against the side of the cage and concentrated. He could not feel the magnetic force since it was repelling him. But he was slowly building up a magnetic force on the surface of his armor. Using the shielding as a base.

It would take a minute before he was able to break out. But he was waiting until he was confident that Ignius had left before attempting it.

{Ignius may be a fool. But he has bought us enough time to contact my superiors so I can call for a proper war fleet.} General Ariel declared as the screen before her began to power on. Then after a few moments it lit up and what seemed to be a ball of light was visible.

{General Ariel. How is the conquest of the unknown Xenar Galaxy going?} The ball of light asked. {I noticed you have been out of contact for over a week. Which is not typical. You typically contact us every few days. Your last report was that the enemy was high in number but weak in weapons and strength.}

{That... unfortunately, appeared to only be true of the first nation we encountered.} General Ariel bowed slightly. {The next nation we encountered was in the midst of a three way war. I thought it best to take advantage of the situation. But one of the nation’s space crafts turned out to be formidable. While strong opponents also appeared on the ground.}

{That sounds... troublesome. Are those some of the opposition you faced before?} The glowing ball asked.

General Ariel nodded and then pointed at Jace who was almost done building up enough repelling magnetic force. {That one is an evolved form of human we have never encountered before. Something called a Spectre. He managed to cripple our ship. We only captured him because a defective AI betrayed him and his companions who came after us.}

{Then we will send a war fleet. It will take at least two, maybe three years before they-}

BOOOM! SHICKKK!