Chapter 308: Decaying Meat
Jace sucked in a breath of air as he walked down the ramp of the ship. The smell of pure air from a planet. Since his further enhancement to his senses he had been looking for a planet that smelled nice while they were scouting the planets throughout the system.
Except now that they arrived on this planet he flinched as he could pick up the rancid smell of decaying meat. It was prominent in the air despite them landing at a space port. It strongly overwhelmed anything else that could have been in the air.
They had been doing their scouting mission for about a week now. They had gone from planet to planet scouting and reporting on defensive capabilities. They just needed a few more days to complete the scouting operation. Although today they were in the Hex System.
They had gotten done with the main planet and a few of the other livable celestial bodies. The only places they had not checked out were this moon and a military station that was above Hex Prime. They could not get onto the military station for obvious reasons so they just had to do a battleship count and scan from afar as they passed by it.
"Yeah... does not smell ’ice now does it?" A voice spoke up as they walked from the edge of the hangar they had landed into. The roof of the hanger was already closing and blocking out the light from the sun. So a bunch of lights started turning on coming from the edge of the hangar. He must be this hangar maintenance officer. Since this was not a hangar run by a government it had additional things that most hangars did not. Like a maintenance officer to repair the ship and paid security. It of course costs extra money to land in hangars like this as well. But Jace was not worried about the cost.
"Like decaying meat. What is your main trade good in this area of the planet?" Jace asked as he stepped further down the ramp. He was wearing a pair of jeans, combat boots, a white shirt and an unbuttoned tropical shirt. He had his Pyre sitting in his holster on his thigh with some extra magazines and a silencer discreetly hidden. On the back of his waist he had his Spectre Knife in a sheath. He had a pair of HUD Aviators hanging from his shirt. While his communication device on his wrist was set to watch mode to hide it.
"Cows." The maintenance worker answered with a nod as he pulled out a data pad and handed it to Jace. "We raise cattle to sell. Some get bought outright to get butchered. Some get bought to get milked. Some become pets and then the rest... well that is the outrageous spell you are picking up. The spares are handed over to the government and they use them for experiments which result in the smell you are picking up. They dump the dead cattle in their trash instead of actually burning or destroying it." The worker then grumbled under his breath. "Bunch ’a morons they are."
"Yeah that must be annoying." Jace quickly filled out the information on the data pad. "You got a place that is good for eating nearby. I got some chores then I was thinking of going out for a bite with my companions."
"Sure." The worker accepted the returned data pad when Jace handed it back. "You want Jaimi’s over on L street. Just make sure you avoid G street. There is a ’peaceful’ demonstration in progress that will no doubt turn violent."
"Oh? What kind of demonstration?" Jace asked.
"Anti-slavery movement." Something then caught the workers eye and he nodded at something behind Jace. Jace looked back to see Vana walking down the ramp. "I suggest you be careful, especially your non-human companions. The local slavers have been getting out of hand and snatching up any non-human they find."
He could already see Vana frowning. While Jace was already feeling annoyed. "Noted. Rook and Charlie. Stay with the ship just in case. Vana and Ulin..." He trailed off as Vana double checked her own knife and laser pistol. While Ulin just tapped the modified laser bow that she had yet to separate from. "Never mind."
Jace turned and walked down past the worker who was now at the end of the ramp. The Victorium members of his squad were stuck on the ship while they scouted out the area. They would also complete a set of missions that MILD asked them to do and get food since they were running low on rations. But that last part they would have to do later.
As soon as they were out of the building he looked around before putting on his HUD Aviators. "Get me a rundown Uti. Where am I going?" Jace asked as he walked in a direction. He had the Victorium members operate as their handlers so they would not get bored.
"You are heading to F street. It is next to the G street that guy is talking about. There is a Whisper facility there that needs to be taken down to prevent them from seeing our battleships coming." Uti answered. "Keep heading in the direction you are going." The Whisper facility was the New Hexarian Republic’s version of listening posts. They would allow the republic to realize when a large fleet of hostile ships entered the system.
As they walked across a street he could already feel a set of eyes following them. It would seem that someone was watching the space port and had chosen them as their next targets. Jace sighed and quietly whispered. "Do not react. We are being tailed, we will lose them up here." He nodded at an alley way.
They entered the alley and Jace boosted up Vana onto an overhang before jumping up himself. While Ulin just scaled the side of the building. Once they were on the roof he looked down the alley and saw a man in a shady outfit stepping around the corner looking around in surprise. Jace grinned as he turned and walked with the others across the rooftop.
They were probably part of the slaver group the maintenance worker mentioned. It looked like they had someone watching the space port. It probably meant they would run into trouble when they left. But it was not anything they could not handle.