Space Odyssey: Spectre

Chapter 608: Free Fall

As he fell through the cloud as both frost and water began to build up on the outside of his armor. The empty armor of a mortella that he was riding on began to go stiff as the wings closed up. Jace began to fall faster again, falling just short before arriving at Agnoso and the last guard mortella.

Jace was the first one to exit the cloud zone and enter the open sky. By the time he fell through the first pieces of space debris were visible as they fell to the planet. They were over the northern pole of the planet so it was just an empty ocean in the near area. The continents were both visible in the distance but were not anywhere near where the debris would fall.

As Jace fell he materialized his Wisp Rifle and aimed towards Agnoso and the last mortella as they exited the cloud layer. Jace could see some gold energy forming around them and recognized it. He had seen the instant ship to surface transformation and vice versa before.

He barely charged his gun before he fired a shell. It pinged off the mortella’s wing and sent them careening away. When they careened away the gold energy dispersed as Jace managed to interrupt it.

Jace tracked them and started charging up his wisp rifle. The last guard mortella flipped around and covered Agnoso with its body. When Jace fired the shell tore through the back weak point of the armor and ruptured the suit. Killing the gas based mortella inside when it was exposed to the atmosphere of Prima Terra.

It fell away from Agnoso who dove toward Jace with his trident ready to skewer Jace. Jace dematerialized his rifle since it would just get in the way as he grabbed the top of the trident and pushed it to the side. Throwing off Agnoso’s aim and closing the distance between them as Jace goes to stab him with a materialized spectre knife.

Agnoso smashes his head forward and actually discombobulates Jace with a headbutt. Jace manages to keep their limbs tangled together as they fall toward the planet. Once his head clears up a bit, Jace quickly knees upward into Agnoso’s midsection while Agnoso holds the wrist of his hand with his knife and his trident was discarded, only Jace holding it.

Agnoso growls quietly, {You have destroyed my ship and killed much of my crew. But I will not go without taking you with me.}

Jace could feel the build up of energy in Agnoso. It was not electricity but a form of radiation. Jace flipped the trident in his hand and stabbed Agnoso in the chest and sent him flying back away from him.

Even from a distance he could sense the amount of energy was immense. But then Agnoso began glowing and he looked down at himself. Screaming in what was no doubt terror or horror. Before he disappeared.

Jace raised an eyebrow as the energy build up disappeared with him. Jace turned downward and looked at the water. He sighed and changed his stance as he braced for impact with the water. He would probably hit the water hard. But that would undoubtedly be a few minutes from now. So he looked in on his fighter and communicated with his allies.

"K and Valkyrie, how are things looking up there?" Jace asked as he could see his fighter moved on from destroying the world class ship’s remains and had moved on to destroy the colony-class sized ships. The majority space in orbit was filled with laser fire and debris as the local militias and rebels fought back against the morella and were starting to win, likely thanks to the leadership ship’s benign crippled.

"They scattered and we were able to press the advantage just as you said. The small fleet around Luna has been all but decimated. All that remains are being cleaned up by the Luna Militia." Valkyrie began explaining.

"Hey, Jace, the other world class ship was starting to run with a pair of royal class ships but the midsection just exploded. Was that you?" K asked immediately after Valkyrie finished. "Because I am still reading your body on Prima Terra and your fighter strafing the colony ships that started a landing sequence toward Prima Terra."

"In a way." Jace chuckled. "The admiral of this fleet was a half breed between a carbon based life form and a mortella. It seemed they knew how to self-destruct and started the process. But they were teleported away before they completed it. I am guessing that was them blowing up."

"Why were they trying to self-destruct-" K started and then stopped, "never mind. They were clearly trying to take you down with them. Okay, will you need help to get back to orbit?" K asked.

"No, you and Valkyrie focus on taking out the colony ships and the ships that are disabled or were left behind." Jace declared. "Shinobi and Cain, how is our energy cannon looking?"

"A few more minutes but will we still need it?" Cain asked.

"Yes, the retreating fleet should be heading in your direction. Use it on them." Jace instructed. "The locals will not try to stop their retreat. They do not have nearly enough resources to take them." Jace explained.

"So we will not have to worry about friendly fire if we set up the targeting solutions correctly." Cain declared. "I will start making the calculations and projections."

Jace could see several of the local militia ships were beginning to snatch up debris and destroyed and damaged mortella ships and just about anything of interest. He was watching through the cameras of his fighter.

"Thank you, keep up the good work and keep in mind that all of the local militia and the various governments of this galaxy will know our location after you fire." Jace informed them, "so do make the shot count."

Crash!

Jace’s body slammed into the water with enough force to pull his attention away from communication and his fighter. When he slammed into the water it was uneven so was not as painful as if the water was steady. But he still felt the shock from the impact then the cold of the ocean before felt himself floating to the surface.

Once he was at the surface he moved his arms and legs to keep himself afloat. His armor was not flooded like he expected. He forgot that the under armour was compression based and would seal off the exposed areas. Killing the area if it was exposed to space but saving the rest of his body at least for a short time.

Jace looked down at his hand where there was a cut. It had already healed but the break in his armor was still visible. He could also slowly feel the minor damage from the impact was fading as well.

It was interesting in a way to think that once upon a time he would have avoided things like large drops. But now, he could jump out of a ship in orbit and land on the planet and would not worry about the damage as long as he was in a suit of armor. He was that confident in his own regenerative abilities as well as his durability.

"Jace, are you still with us?" Valkyrie suddenly asked. "Did you hear Shilla’s question?"

Jace blinked and then brought a hand to his helmet as a shadow covered him. "Umm... no, sorry I just stopped falling. What was your question Shilla?" Jace asked and explained in a single rushed breath as he looked up before quickly diving down as a large piece of debris was about to land where he was. He quickly swam underneath and away from his last position before he was pinned underneath the debris.

He knew if he got hit it would hurt, but would not kill him. But it would most certainly pin him underneath the debris which was not necessarily he wanted to deal with. It would just take up time and energy that he frankly did not want to spare at the moment. As it was he would be swimming for another few minutes as his fighter finished its strafing runs.

"I asked if we should just pull back?" Shilla asked again.

"No, we need the locals to know where we are." Jace informed them. Already an idea of why it was necessary was forming in his mind.

He came back to the surface as the massive wave washed over the surface. Jace moved to float on his back and looked at the thick layer of clouds above him. Watching as they occasionally parted for the pieces of fiery debris. When the flaming debris hit the water it would send up monstrous waves but it would also cause a wave of steam as the fires were put out by the ocean.

The steam was already starting to build up. But he was more focused on the destruction above. The seas would probably be choppy and maybe a tsunami or two will occur. But a bunch of sea water is going to get turned into steam and clouds which should lower the sea level. But it would be difficult to get off Prima Terra with these waves and the clouds.

But by the time he did, everything would probably be over.