Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 542: Watching

"You were flirting with him." He pointed out as they walked with an armed escort through the streets of Submundo.

West raised an eyebrow and looked at Sherlock. "Was I?"

"You did not notice?"

"Nope." West shook her head then stopped and tilted it. "Although he does fill all the boxes for a reliable spouse. I wonder if he is single." She then turned her attention to the burnt and destroyed fruit stand that they had arrived at while they were talking. "Now what is going on here?"

She moved forward and took a tablet from a Submundo Street Gang member who was pushed off to the side by the guards. On the tablet was the information about the stand. Since this was outside of the neutral area, they did not stop the stand from selling drugs on the side.

"It’s a Sneeze Powder selling location. Apparently they sell on behalf of the local El Muerto group." West informed him as she read some more in depth information, learning the occupants were illegal residents of the planet which was why they were down here trying to make ends meet.

"Well then-" Sherlock stopped as they could hear a chant begin to start around them.

""Imperials are Killers! They need to leave!"" The crowd around them slowly began chanting louder and louder.

"West, we have overstayed our welcome. It is time to go back to the surface." Sherlock grumbled.

"Agreed," West tossed the tablet aside as she started walking with the group towards the exit of Submundo that the government secretly has. "But it is more likely this was orchestrated." She thought back to the other group of criminals. "Let’s get to the ship, I believe we have to be there to welcome the Archivist and the other person."

Sherlock grunted in agreement.

—-------------------------------

"K, what are you seeing?" K heard Cain’s voice in her ear as she stood in the crowd and watched the parade.

"I am watching a celebratory parade. But no one seems to know what is going on, nor even what they are celebrating. But they do know that most of them got a paid day off and that it involves that military space craft that arrived in dock above the bubble." K answered quietly as she started pushing through the crowd.

"They could have caught on to the fact that we crash landed here?" She heard Shilla point out.

"No, they did not. I have checked their observation systems and they take measurements of speed and trajectory to determine objects paths instead of tracking them in real time. So when we were redirected it would change our landing location and they would not realize." Cain answered.

K flinched as she spotted a group of soldiers that were looking around at people. She quietly moved past them.

"Hey!" She flinched and stopped as the translation filled her ear. She turned and looked at the soldier who looked to be in his mid-thirties. "Are you trying to leave the parade?"

"No, just moving to find a better spot to watch it from." K answered and the local translation device did the bulk of the translation work for her.

"Hmm... do you-"

They were interrupted when celebratory screaming erupted further down the parade line in the direction that K was heading. The soldier was distracted by it for a moment so she slipped away.

K slipped into a building and up to the second story where there was a cafe with a balcony overlooking the street. It was locked at the moment but a quick picking of the primitive lock saw it squeaking open and her moving through the empty cafe to the balcony where she watched from near the edge with a better view of the parade.

She frowned as she spotted what was making the commotion as well as the cause for the parade. "I know the reason for the parade and the ship now. Although I am surprised there is only a single ship." She then thought about it for a moment. "Actually, there are likely to be several more hidden somewhere in the nearby system." K declared as she watched the large metal armored vehicle with two people on top of it.

One of them looked more like a regal librarian, but the woman wore a hood that covered her face while her mundane dress had bits of armor hidden throughout it. She was not waving her hands around but she was looking around with her arms clasped together. Almost like she was searching for something.

The other person was most definitely of high nobility or royalty. K had been steadily learning about them from the information she could gather. But this man who was dressed in blood red robes that were accentuated and highlighted by bits of what appeared to be golden armor was smiling and waving happily.

"I believe a high level of nobility from this galaxy’s government has arrived on the planet." K explained before she noticed the woman librarian was looking in her direction so she slipped back inside. "It is that or a level of royalty of some kind. But either way-"

"There are not enough space craft in orbit. I will check for more in the nearby System. Move around to the red light district and stay there for the night. We need to be extra cautious of someone finding us." Cain ordered.

"Agreed, I felt like the person’s companion just spotted me. I am turning off my comms until morning." K declared before switching off her communication bud.

But as she arrived at the bottom of the stairs she heard a noise beyond the door and slipped into a closet on the side. A moment later she watched through a crack in the door as a number of soldiers in heavy weapons and gear ran up the stairs. She waited a moment before slipping back out and through the door where a pair of soldiers were standing.

They flinched at her arrival. But before the one on her left could react anymore she was slamming his head into the wall and he was falling to the ground unconscious. The other one went to lift his weapon but K just stomped on the barrel so it pointed at the ground before punching him in the throat. Then as he went down choking on air she kneed him in the head and was moving into another alley before he fell to the ground.

She definitely needed to get lost and quickly before they caught up again.

—--------------------------

The princeling was waving at the crowd. While the Archivist grumbled. "What happened?" The princeling asked through his flashy smile.

"I spotted a possible foreigner in the crowd. She made it past a blitz of soldiers and took down the two that were guarding the door." The Archivist explained.

"That is fine. You heard Sherlock’s recommendation. We need to hold off on any aggressive actions until we meet with this leader of theirs." The princeling explained.

"I still cannot fathom that my galaxy created yet another unique species." The woman shook her head before stopping when she remembered they were on display. "I would rather like to study him. Whether it is through dissection or some other means."

"Patience Archivist." The princeling told her. "You know as well as I do that we are only here to make first contact. Test the waters, then maybe we will capture them and let you dissect all you want. I mean, they could have technology that could completely change the battlefield. You know as well as I do that we need the edge in battle."

She scoffed in annoyance. "We could also get that edge if we managed to reach out to my galaxy. There are a number of greedy nations that will be more than willing to back your empire if it means new trade routes. Especially for resources not found in their galaxy."

"You know that my plans are far grander than conquering a single galaxy. But with those angels, demons, and the Abyssal breathing down our neck. We have limited options in terms of man power." The princeling explained.

"I know." The Archivist sighed. "But Mars was only the first step and it was still a stumbling block. Are we going to stumble here as well?"

"Ha... do not worry about that." The Princeling’s smile almost disappeared as he faltered for a moment. "There are a number of plans in motion. But for now we should focus on this formal greeting with Duke Prima Terra so we have formal permission to go to his planet." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Understood."

—-------------------------------

On the edge of the Prima Terra solar system a swirling hole in space grew out of nowhere. None of the nearby asteroids moved towards it as it grew. Then five darts of darkness and shadows shot outwards.

Cutting through space as it moved toward Prima Terra. One of them passed by a satellite that exploded as a wave of laser fire tore it to shreds. Then the hole in space slowly shrunk and then closed.