Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 52: Fourth Ability!

Steel blinked a few times as the light hurt his eyes when he opened them. Then he grunted and flinched as he began feeling the rest of his body. Every single part of him hurt and was in pain. But his right arm and the left side of his face hurt especially badly. As his eyes adjusted he tried to say something but just mumbled it instead.

He was inside a tube that was filled with a clearish green liquid. He could feel the liquid against his skin as he floated suspended in the tube. Covering his mouth is a breathing mask, while outside was a doctor and a few nurses. When one of the nurses saw him looking at her she panicked and began yelling to the others.

He blinked as his breathing evened out. Then he pulled up his system display with a thought. Because while he was severely injured his mind was running a mile a minute and needed something to calm himself down. He had not checked it in awhile.

[Name: Jace Steel

Chronological Age: 17

Biological Age: 21

Compatibility Rating: S

Talent: Enhanced Perception

Strength: 66

Agility: 75

Speed: 78

Health: 75

Intelligence: 81

Abilities: Blueprint, Assistant Program, Bioelectrical Control, Weapon Assimilation]

His intelligence and speed broke through the barrier he was struggling with and he gained another ability. Unfortunately his strength was falling behind. He would have to deal with that later. Now he needed to check what this new ability did. He probably got an alert about it when he was fighting that Tacole or when he was unconscious and he just did not see it.

[Ability: Weapon assimilation

Option 1: Is able to assimilate an item or weapon into the body or add it to the weapon's registry.

Option 2: Can call the weapon to the hand or back into storage from any distance.

Option 3: Can materialize the weapon as either its normal form or an additional form added to its registry.]

A weapon? Then he saw a flash of the fight before and remembered the sword. It was different back then but he would have to get out of this healing pod first. If he recalled what he knew it was expensive to use and was kept for only the most critical of injuries. As he inclined his head down and felt pain flare up in his neck he felt he probably fell into that category of injured. There were bruises covering his legs and torso. The upper half of his body was probably the same.

He did not know what was going on with his neck but considering it was focused on the left side he assumed it was some type of external damage as opposed to the bruises and broken bones he had on the rest of his body.

"Can you hear me?" He heard a voice resonate through the chamber and flinched and focused on what was happening outside. Standing outside was the ship doctor and a few others. "It is Doctor Lych. We were actually debating whether or not you would wake up."

Steel tried to speak but failed to do so. Instead he nodded his head up and down.

"Good that means you don't have anything prohibiting your hearing or your train of thought. Especially after taking a nasty strike to the head." He pulled out a data pad and started reading out his injuries. "Bone fractures and muscle strains in all limbs. You have several broken ribs on your left side. The left side of your head had shrapnel from your helmet we had to remove, there won't be any permanent scars or damage but you might puke up some of the plastic that ended up in your stomach."

Well that was going to be a painful experience whenever it happened.

"Then there is your right arm. The bones were completely shattered. It will take some time but it will repair itself with your regeneration rate and regular checkups. Then there are two things that I don't even know how to classify them." The doctor took a deep breath as he shook his head. "On your left arm from the shoulder to the elbow is a black tattoo that was not registered before and the writing is definitely not human or in any language we know."

Steel looked over slightly and saw something on his left arm was a tattoo but it was not black. It was a shimmering white that looked almost electric.

"Then there is your nervous system." Doctor Lych set aside the datapad by handing it to one of the nurses. "I will be honest, it is kind of missing but we are detecting electricity running through your body that appears to be replacing it. So do us a favor and see if you can move your limbs."

Steel raised an eyebrow and slightly brought up his hand left arm. He doubted his right arm could move or he even should move it. His left arm responded just fine as he brought it up and flipped off the doctors.

Doctor Lych began laughing hysterically but it was muted as the speaker was not on. "Thank you, you will be pulled out of the healing tube in roughly a day or so. Until then you should probably get as much rest as you can."

Steel chuckled as he silently drifted to sleep. Seems he would have a break from combat for a while.

—----------------------------

Mendez walked down the steps. As he did he looked out over the shabby prison that had been quickly refurbished. They were separated into sections but he was focused on the most remote section. Where the enemy commander was located.

He walked past the guards and the prison cells. His outfit made the Victorium begin yelling, screeching, and screaming at him as he walked past. Seems they know enough to identify an enemy commander. These were some of the first Victorium they had captured alive so they were valuable to study.

But he was here because last time he talked to him they only loosely interrogated the enemy commander while he was injured. Now that they had a better understanding of the translation tool he used and a firm grasp on what they needed to know, he came to ask the commander some more questions.

He arrived at a platform with a red forcefield where a Tacole covered in bandages was sitting on a cushion and reading a book he was given to entertain him. Mendez stepped forward and pressed a button on a podium in front of the prison cell.

"Hello, I apologize for not introducing myself earlier. Things have been hectic, my name is Major Mendez I am the senior officer in charge of this base." Major Mendez introduced himself with a slight head bow. "Might I ask your name and rank?"

"I am Isaiah the Hammer. I am a General in the Victorium Imperial Army, Tacole Race Branch." Isaiah answered as he closed the book he was reading and set it aside.

"Which means…"

"I am in charge of the ground forces for the entirety of the Tacole Race Branch. It essentially means that with the separate factions within the Victorium I am in charge of the ground forces for one of those factions." Isaiah explained.

"Okay next I want to know-"

"Stop." Isaiah interrupted him. Wanting to make a deal he interrupted the Major. "I will answer a few of your questions. In exchange, I want to meet with the chosen human that managed to knock me out."

Meet with Cadet Steel? Why did he call him the chosen human? "Okay I can order him to come meet with you. But that will have to wait until he wakes up. Is that okay?" Mendez asked as he walked over and pulled over a chair to sit in.

"That is just fine. Keep in mind I won't answer a few questions you ask. From what I understand humanity as a whole did not reach the Victorium's level." Isaiah pointed out as he tapped the ground.

"Very well," Mendez sat back in his chair. "What do the Victorium get from attacking us?"

"This last time was due to the greed of the Sima and Tacole High Council chairs. They planned a rebellion around the basis they were stronger and had us attack the human group that caused us the most problems." Isaiah chuckled as he leaned back. "But the original attack was a probing one, the High Priestess wanted to see which human nation would be the most compatible with us. Actually I was located at the Kaiser Imperium Krieger, even the Sima were appalled at what we found."

Mendez flinched and narrowed his eyes, "I can imagine. The nightmare stories that come out of that nation are numerous. Only reason they have not come after the rest of us is that they are not organized enough to make an attack. So do you know which nation they found most compatible?"

"The Vexical Empire," Isaiah answered immediately and watched as Mendez's eyes widened in surprise. "And I agree, especially after seeing one of you humans become a chosen."

"A chosen? What is-" Mendez began asking when a hologram suddenly appeared.

"No-no-no, keep quiet Isaiah the Hammer and no asking about that particular topic Major." Solisa suddenly appeared, interrupting them. Causing Isaiah to blink in surprise before laughing while Mendez frowned.

"The Prophet is correct. I will not tell you about the Chosen." Isaiah leaned forward, "instead I will volunteer some information. By this time the Tacole Race Branch and Sima Race Branch have been completely crushed. While humanity has embarrassed them."

"If you know so much about what would happen after your attack then why did you participate?" Mendez leaned forward in his chair glancing at Solisa who was refereeing off to the side.

"Because I was directly ordered to. So I made certain all the non-participating positions were filled with soldiers that were loyal to the High Priestess and the Victorium. Unfortunately I was not able to keep all of us out of it. So I brought what remained of my loyal subordinates to my ship. I actually planned to surrender once the Sima were all killed but when I saw the one who had injured Nila the Imperius was among the infiltrators I decided to go after them." Isaiah explained.

If Romav or the head of Oculus Nine were here they might have not kept their cool, but Cadet Steel was the only one he had sent in of his units and he came out of it fine. "Nila the Imperius is that…" Mendez forgot the race's name.

"Accer. Bird-like species." Solisa completed for him.

"What is your grudge regarding that fight?" Mendez asked, hoping to get a good answer.

"Honestly? I was disgusted that a human had stolen her sword." Isaiah answered honestly, "but after fighting him and seeing what happened during the fight I know he is worthy of that weapon."

"That is another thing. We found your hammer but could not find the sword. We also could not pick up your hammer and instead had to transport it using equipment. How is that possible?" Mendez asked.

"I once again can't answer that question. But I am sure that Chosen of yours will be able to figure it out." Isaiah told him as he picked up his book, "I think we might be done for now."

Mendez frowned and looked at Solisa who chuckled before disappearing. He scoffed and walked away.