NOVEL WEB Chapter 464: Vice Captain Caelum
She walked over to the desk and picked up the floating cube, pressing a button on its side. Holding it to her ear, she spoke, "Hello, who is this?"
"Hello, Janice," came Kieran's voice from the cube, sounding a bit stressed. "Hope I'm not bothering you, but we've run into a bit of trouble down on Earth."
Janice's expression shifted to one of concern, and she glanced back at her colleagues, motioning for them to listen in. "What's going on, Kieran?"
"Uhh, Janice, we have a really big problem," Kieran's voice crackled from the cube as Janice carefully carried it back to her desk. "I touched down back on the same human world as before, you know, my first planet assignment to investigate."
"Yes, I remember, Kieran, you botched it and let a vampire steal twenty souls, I'm very aware," Janice responded, her voice tinged with frustration but maintaining her professional composure.
Kieran's voice softened, reflecting his discomfort. "Yeaaaa, very complicated situation."
"But to the main point, things are much, much worse. It seems that every world has been under attack by the Vale Universe for some time now and if what I have heard is true, many of the human worlds have been just straight up wiped out."
Janice went silent for a second, processing the gravity of Kieran's words. She set the cube down gently on her desk as one of the men nearby turned towards her, curiosity piqued by the conversation.
"What's going on?" he asked, his tone urgent.
"It's Kieran," she stated, her voice steady despite the alarming news. "She reported that the human worlds are under attack, which just makes no sense."
Janice's fingers flew over the keyboard, her eyes darting between the screens that covered thousands of worlds, each represented by a slowly ascending blue orb.
"Yea, nothing out of the ordinary," she muttered under her breath, skepticism creeping into her tone. "Maybe Kieran is really just losing her mind. I just don't see... Wait a second, that's odd."
The man, sensing a shift in her tone, leaned over her shoulder. "What's odd?" he asked, his voice low.
Janice pointed to one of the screens. "This right here, Human world 870. Maybe I missed it, but shouldn't this planet have been moved to 871? 871 had the belt swing that knocked it out of orbit by that Kaiju Meteor a few years back."
The man squinted at the screen, processing the information. "That's right, but if that's the case then why is it still showing up?"
Janice tapped the side of her head, a habit when deep in thought, and commanded, "Deploy the detection drones; this just doesn't make any sense." She then began typing rapidly at her computer to execute the order.
From the other line, Kieran's voice broke the brief silence. "Uh, Janice, you still there?"
"I'm still dealing with some big problems over here," Kieran added, his tone urgent and strained.
"Sorry, Kieran," Janice responded, her voice steady yet apologetic. "We will get assistance set up quickly as soon as I verify all the info and get it routed up."
As she was coordinating the response, another call came in. Janice pressed a sequence of buttons to switch lines.
"Hello, what is it?" Janice asked, her tone brisk and focused.
"Janice, this is Vice Captain Caelum Blackwell," came the reply, clear and official. "I am on standby for guard watch this celestial period. I saw a request for drone recon on the Human universe, what is the cause?" Explore more stories with empire
Janice paused for a moment, recognizing the importance of the inquiry. "We have potentially serious threats to several human worlds," she explained. "There's an unusual pattern of disruptions that we're trying to understand. The drones are to gather more data so we can get a clearer picture of what's happening and respond accordingly."
"You understand human worlds are off limits unless extreme situations arise or for beginner assignments, right?" Vice Captain Blackwell's voice carried a tone of scrutiny over the line.
"I'm looking over the data right now, and there are no signs of this. What is your source?" he pressed.
Janice replied, her voice steady despite the growing pressure, "It's Kieran. She was sent back down to investigate the body of the guy whose soul was stolen by that vampire a little time back, if you recall."
She continued, "She stated that when she got down there, she's been dealing with 'zombies' and the Vale Universe, and they claimed many worlds have been attacked as a way to gloat. I believe whatever creature stated this to Kieran did not know who she was at the time."
The line went silent for a minute as Janice waited for a response, feeling the weight of each second.
"Very well, please send out the detection drones, and I will be on standby for departure. This is strange; things are not adding up," Blackwell finally responded, his tone indicating his resignation to the unfolding crisis.
He clicked the cube, ending the call as he stood up from his blue and white desk. He ran his hand through his black hair, trailing his fingers through the blue tips—a habitual gesture when puzzled or deep in thought.
"This is going to become a headache, I can already tell," he muttered to himself.
Stretching fully, Blackwell walked up to the door. It opened automatically and closed behind him as he trod down the long hallway with doors numbered 1-30 on either side. He continued until he came up to a door labeled 'HC – 1'.
Taking a deep breath, Caelum placed his hand on the monitor to the right. It blinked green briefly before he experienced a fleeting vision of blood splattered on the sign. Shaking his head to clear the unsettling image, he pushed the door open.
Inside, the room expanded into a massive space that featured a desk tucked away in one corner and half an acre of open area. In the center, a bulky man was engaged in an intense workout, his fists pounding into a huge punching bag. Each strike tore the bag apart, but it magically reassembled itself, ready for the next blow.
The man ceased his relentless assault on the bag as soon as he noticed Caelum walking in. He wiped sweat from his brow and straightened up. "Vice Captain, what are you doing in here? Aren't you on watch?" he asked, a hint of surprise in his voice, mingling with the respect due to Caelum's rank.