Space Odyssey: Spectre

Chapter 598: Listening Station

Jace dropped off the alcohol and games in the hangar before leaving again. This time he was heading to the hidden signal’s origin. Although he would add Mars to his list of destinations and informed Cain as much since they needed food. They had some since Luna, but they would need more while they built the cruiser. About six more weeks worth of rations plus the travel to their own galaxy.

He would have to make a few trips to Mars.

Jace flew towards the outside of the solar system. Weaving through the asteroid belt that would take normal ship weeks, takes him only a few minutes to navigate. He could have done it faster if he could use his engines at full capacity.

Halfway through the field he activated his anti-sensor systems. He figured he was going to be in range of whatever was out there soon enough. He figured it was a spy craft from a foreign nation.

He was also searching for the source of the distress signal as he went. He knew it was somewhere in the belt but was having a difficult time locating the origin. It was so old the signal was going out in infrequent intervals. Which was part of the reason why they did not notice it in the first place.

As he was approaching the end of the belt is when he picked up the data from a stray stream of data. He opened the path it was on and headed to the side that was beyond the Kuiper belt. As he approached he slowed down as his own recently installed sensor began picking up on explosive devices planted in an array around a central asteroid.

The central asteroid was disguised. It looked like an asteroid but the scans were showing it to be a station. Or more accurately a listening post. It was not the only thing that was disguised. There were mines covering almost every area and ingress. The only one that it did not cover seemed to be near two hollowed out asteroids, likely where some guards were stationed.

Jace materialized his armor around him before he began moving his ship to a nearby large asteroid. One that his ship would be easily hidden on. Once it was close he triggered the hoverplates so they were anchored to the asteroid. Then he depressurized the fighter cockpit before he began opening the canopies.

Once it was open he pulled himself out into space. He slowly floated around the asteroid before he triggered his armor’s invisibility. Disappearing into the void as bursts of air shot out from his boots. Sending him floating toward the listening station.

The enchantments on the boots worked perfectly to help him navigate in zero gravity. Although it was pulling air from his suit at the moment, so he should use it sparingly. He floated through the void until he arrived at the listening station. Floating right past the hidden mines.

He floated until he arrived at the asteroid that was disguised as a listening post. Then he moved along the edge until he found a hidden panel. He slowly checked to make sure it was an airlock before he began the sequence.

Once it opened he slipped inside and then closed the door. Once he did the air began to cycle in. When it was done the inner airlock door opened and Jace flinched in surprise at the sight of two people in uniforms standing on the other side.

"What happened this time?" One of them asked as they moved into the airlock. Jace quietly maneuvered around him and out of the airlock. "Another malfunction?"

"What was that?" The other one asked.

"What was what?" The first one responded while he smacked the panel. "Yeah something is wrong with this thing."

"Just send for the repair crew. We just needed to make sure nothing was inside." The other one told him.

Jace slipped down the corridor away from the pair as he looked for something to navigate the station. A map or even just a console he could interact with. Actually he did not need it anymore. He connected to the ship’s network.

But the moment he did the lights on the listening station turned red. He triggered a security protocol to protect from unauthorized access. The good news was that if he did not alter anything they would likely believe it to be an error. The bad news was that it would have everyone looking for something or someone that did not belong.

As he turned down a corridor that led deeper into the asteroid he froze in surprise. Because stepping out of panels that opened in the wall were several robots. All of which were acting independently of the facility, because there was no digital port for them on the network.

He watched as a number of them turned his way and others turned to go to the other side of the hallway. He weaved through them as he made his way through the ship. Following a digital map he found.

The map did not only have the locations but it also had markers tracking movement of both people and the robots. Through motion trackers for the people and the robots just had trackers. Although looking at it now, he realized that the motion sensors were picking him up as well.

These sensors were seeing through his invisibility. That was actually pretty incredible. Even if he had not yet enhanced his armor’s invisibility. He continued moving through the ship looking for something that would explain their purpose here.

He soon arrived at a room that was labeled as the commander’s office. He figured it was where the ship’s commanding officer worked from during non-emergency situations. Fortunately for Jace, he was currently elsewhere at the moment.

He walked into the room and started looking around. It was actually fairly spacious considering the size of the base. There were a few trophies stashed on shells along a wall. Then there was one that was sitting on the desk next to a screen and a glowing blue digital keyboard.

He moved around to the other side of the desk and spotted a panel on the wall behind the desk. He pressed a button on it and the slot opened up to reveal space beyond. The window had a weave of metal between it to reinforce it along with multiple layers. Which meant it was not easy to see through.

He turned to the computer and pulled out the seat to sit down. He then tapped a button and the screen lit up. Just as he thought the commander’s computer was on an isolated network. Since he was used to it, he just accessed the computer manually while keeping the map of the listening station open in his mind. With it he could see if anyone was approaching the office.

There were terabytes of data in this computer he had to sort. Unfortunately for Jace, it appeared the commander of this station was smart enough to keep everything as just a set of codes. Numbers and letters, it would take him at least a day or two to figure it out.

But he did not have that much time. So he would either copy all of the data into his armor or search as quickly as he could. Unfortunately his armor was stock full of important data that he could not transfer out or replace. So instead he would be searching quickly.

"Let’s see the first set of files is about-"

"Jace, are you reading me?" Jace stopped midthought as he received a transmission from Cain. "I think I managed to locate the origin of the emergency transmissions."

"Cain, cut off the transmission now!" Jace ordered without a second thought. While the listening post was less technologically advanced than anything in their galaxy. They would still pick up a foreign transmission in their own base.

Cain followed his order and cut off the transmission. But it was too late. He could see it through the data of the listening station. They had picked up the transmission. Jace clicked his tongue as he wiped the data before they could trace the origin of the signal.

But in doing so he gave away his presence in the digital system of the listening post. He was now on a time limit. Because they would soon be tracking him down. He was not going to let his guard down just because he was more technologically advanced.

So he quickly started to skim through the information. He managed to get through fields of data relating to trade routes. Data and information from ’operatives’ that were in the system and sending back information. Most of that was observations of the current state or of superiors.

It took him a few minutes to find a pattern to this chaotic mess of information. Not to find any concrete information himself but just find what they were looking into.