Chapter 303: Daddy!
He was seated in a strange spinning circle chair. It was like it was designed for lounging. But when he sat down it started spinning slowly in a circle. Now he was just trying to adjust so he could sit without the chair spinning.
After a few minutes of Nila, the High Priestess, and the Princess all watching him struggle, the desk the High Priestess is sitting at makes a beeping noise. They looked toward her and she tapped the desk and a voice was projected out.
"I apologize, High Priestess! We were not able to stop it! It just ran through the door and the guards-" It is the secretary, she sounded panicked as she spoke in a hurry.
"Calm down, and explain what ran through the door?" The High Priestess asked.
Jace immediately stood up with his weapon and Nila did the same. But a moment later they all looked at the desk as the secretary responded. "A-a-a um tiger."
The High Priestess frowned and looked at Jace, "what is a tiger-" She was cut off as a figure went through the door and bounded right toward Jace.
[DADDY!] Jace flinched as a loud but young female voice entered his mind. Which caused him to fail to react in time as the white tiger with green strips tackled him through the chair and the wall. Not into the wall, through it. Almost like he was passing through a hologram instead of a physical object. But he could feel the moment it happened as his weapons and the gear he had on him disappeared.
He fell for several feet before landing on his back. While on his chest was Cho, who he recognized as he fell. She had tackled him through a wall that had removed everything except his armor. He could even feel a breeze down below where his underwear should have been. Whatever Cho had done had stripped him of anything that was not made of the special metamorphic metal.
[Daddy, you can hear me now! Cho wanted to talk to you! Cho needs you to tell Mommy something!] She was standing on his chest looking down at him as he looked up at the Astral Beast in surprise.
But something else caught his attention as he looked up. He could see Admiral Dakota as he walked up while panting along with a group of soldiers. "Jace... ha... ha... sorry but as soon as I realized what had happened I chased after him... her... it?"
"Her. Cho." Jace sighed as Cho jumped on his chest again trying to get his attention. He just leaned forward and picked her up. Opting to hold the Astral Beast as he talked. "What is Cho doing here? I thought she was supposed to be on Echo Base."
"She was but we briefly did a stopover there before coming here. That must have been when she jumped aboard." Admiral Dakota answered. "I am surprised you are not letting such a creature assist you in combat."
"She is only one year old when her species can literally live to be more than a thousand years. So she is essentially only a pup. The only reason she looks like a full grown tiger is because she is a shapeshifting species." Jace explained as Dakota’s small amount of guards caught up with him.
[No! I am not one! I am two!] Cho argued in his mind again as she wiggled in his arm.
Jace then looked up the building and then toward the lobby where a number of guards had gathered and were looking out in confusion as they walked back toward the building. They would get back up into the meeting. The meeting that Jace assumes will have a very awkward component with Cho being around.
Jace walked into the building just as the elevator opened. Nila, the Princess and High Priestess walked out just to blink in surprise at the sight of Jace holding a tiger. "We should move this upstairs." Admiral Dakota walked past them and into the elevator. Jace followed him a moment later and then they began the awkward ride up.
[Daddy are you ignoring me?] Cho asked again, for some reason the way she was pushing her thoughts into his mind did not feel natural.
{No, I am not ignoring you. But I will talk and deal with you after we are done with this meeting.} Jace answered, pushing his thoughts forward like he would with Salem.
[Okay.] There was a moment of silence on the elevator that was interrupted when Cho slightly shifted under his arm. [I will also show Daddy how to do the mind thing right as well.]
"So, a tiger... How do you just have a tiger? I thought they were rare." The princess pointed out. "I mean I have seen some tigers before. They were obviously genetically altered and not the result of natural evolution. But why green stripes? And how did it go through a wall?"
There was silence and a slight shifting as they all looked toward Jace who sighed and wished the elevator would go faster. "Cho is not a tiger. According to any documents we found, she is something called an Astral Beast. A shapeshifting species that can travel the stars and when they are young they attach themselves to a potential parent. When they are young they can also only slightly shift after they pick a primary form. Which in Cho’s case is the form of a Tiger that is located in a classified location."
"You neglected to mention that she is a mischievous creature. I had been getting reports of food stolen and parts of my ship scratched up after we left Echo Base. Then as soon as we docked she jumped through the walls on the deck." Dakota pointed out with a grunt.
Jace shook his head. Then he remembered something. "Hey, all of my gear is upstairs in your office still, right?" At this the women looked away from him while he could hear a quiet cackle coming from Nila. "That answers that question. So I guess I really did lose my underwear."