Space Odyssey: Spectre

"We are here" The Sergeant cut off Cadet March again causing her to frown while Steel stashed the scanner now that he had made some progress.

They walked up toward a rock formation while the sarge frowned while looking around. Steel on the other hand rolled his eyes and walked over to the large creature that was blending into its surroundings. He walked to the side and started observing it. After a moment the sarge walked over to join him, motioning for them to be quiet.

Steel frowned and pulled out the scanner to start fiddling with it. He had an idea and wanted to test it. While the others started taking notes and pictures of the creature before they moved onto more physical testing. Like the hardness of the skin.

"Steel, we are almost ready. Are you about done with whatever you are doing?" Steel heard over the comlink, almost as quiet as a whisper coming from Wise.

Steel attached the last wire before he pointed it at the creature and clicked, there was a loud noise of warbling then it was over. The creature stirred but did not wake up, it was enough for the rest of them to ready their weapons.

He nodded at the result and then showed it to the others. The creature scanned fine but the scanner could not pick up the dirt or rock that had attached itself to the creature. It was the soil itself that was an issue in the area. It was a composite of something that absorbed energy, making it a natural deterrent to things like scanners. It would be an issue if the dust got on their communication transmitters.

"Huh… okay. Time to back up to do the weapons test, it looks like it has hardened scale skin, but I hope that is not the case." The sergeant declared before looking around. Eventually he walked up to a wall and started climbing it.

Steel followed him up with the other two following quickly after. Once they were all up, the sergeant pulled out his rifle and aimed. "Get ready to run just in case." Then the Sergeant fired a burst of rounds at the titan's side.

The rounds bounced and deflected off of the creature's tough skin. In fact afterwards it looked like the skin did not even move. Instead of being aggravated by the noise and gunfire the Titan just slightly adjusted before going back to sleep, uncaring about their presence.

Private Wise whistled in admiration, "well there is the good news and bad news columns sir. Good news is these variants seem particularly lazy and not being on the hunt for its food. While the bad news is that nothing short of an orbital cannon could break that skin."

The Sergeant grunted in response before shaking his head, "well if they are not aggressive we can leave them for now. Come on, we need to see about the specialized scanner that Border of Downfall dropped."

Steel began tinkering with the scanner again, hoping to find a way to scan this dirt and rock. But chances were that it would not be possible. He could only do so much with this scanner, eventually he just decided that it was good enough and handed the scanner to the Sergeant with the setting to detect anything through the dirt but not the dirt itself. "As good as it is going to get with the equipment I have on hand sir."

"Thanks Cadet Steel, where did you learn this kind of stuff anyways?" Sergeant asked as they continued to walk. Now he was starting up a conversation to distract from the time it would take to walk.

"Actually, growing up as an orphan in the slums means you have to know something or else you get pushed into doing shitty jobs by the local gangs. So I figured out technology and programming quickly since it was in high demand." He explained with a shrug.

"What would be considered a shitty job?" Cadet March asked, causing Private Wise to flinch. It seemed she already had an idea.

"Since everyone was below thirteen it was not too bad, especially since we had monthly wellness checks by the military and many gang members were bastards and children of prostitutes. So it was mostly keeping a lookout, picking pockets, cleaning up a corpse, or helping take care of prostitutes when they were done with their work." He explained and he saw Wise visibly relax at that.

"Aside from cleaning up a corpse, none of those sound too bad." March pointed out.

"Actually cleaning up a corpse was the only one where you usually did not get shit beat out of you afterwards. Because by that point you were just as guilty in the crime." He explained as he walked.

"So you picked up programming. How about hacking?" Wise asked.

"Yes sir. Apparently, I keep causing the people in Cyber Warfare problems. I have been told to not find any holes in security systems for at least another few months." Steel actually smirked at that thought. Thinking about what a good laugh he and Commander Dakota got out of that.

"Really?" Private Wise was surprised, "you and Corporal Tani will get along great. When we are not planetside she is practically running CyberOps aboard the ship."

"Sounds fun. But-" Steel stopped mid sentence as he heard something. He pulled his rifle off his back and spun around. Looking around to see if he could see what he heard. But it was quiet now.

"Cadet Steel," Sergeant Cornwall questioned. As Cadet Steel slowly moved towards a dark pathway that was covered by an overhang of a rock formation. "What do you see Cadet?"

"It is not what I see sir." He remarked as he turned the corner and saw a figure race around a corner. "Damn, contact sir. Permission to pursue?"

"Go!" The Sergeant yelled in surprise before chasing after Steel with the other two.

Steel crouched and sprinted down the alley, maximizing his listening to help him track. Inadvertently he smelled the creature as well. It smelled musty and like one of those lizards he sometimes saw as pets.

It was fast as well but he was almost as fast and he figured his endurance was better. But that did not clearly matter as he arrived at an opening where a small ship's rear door just finished closing. It was nothing like he had never seen before.

He quickly tapped his recording device as his helmet camera began recording. He watched as the ship floated up without any visible propulsion and then soared into the air. Then he watched as it flew away and began disappearing as it camouflage. The camouflage was in a hexagonal pattern that flipped one-by-one from front to back.

A moment later the Sergeant ran up behind him, "Cadet did you lose them?"

Steel tilted his head and pulled up the recording he just made on a data pad he pulled out of a repair kit, "sort of. I will write out everything I heard and smelled while chasing it. But I think you will agree with me on one front."

He handed the Sergeant the data pad and played the video of him arriving at the ship and watching it take off. "Huh, a scout from a non-human species but for now let's head to the last destination before heading back to base."

They were all stunned as they made their way to the drop pod. Now more aware of their surroundings and the possibility that they were not alone. Steel quickly typed the odd clicking sounds and the musty lizard smell he heard and smelled during the pursuit. Then he quickly estimated the creature's height and detailed the alien being similar to humans in shape and size from the figure's shadow that he saw.

"Steel… I am starting to think you are just bad luck." The Sergeant pointed out as they walked.

"How did you know they were there?" March asked.

"He made a mistake, he rotated his foot which made a sound while sand ground into sand. If he had not done that I might not have heard him breathing over our own walking and breathing. But an extra step is distinguishable. Especially when I have trained myself to listen for that kind of extra movement." He answered as they quietly walked for ten minutes until they arrived at the drop pod.

"Steel, what are we looking at?" The Sergeant asked as he saw the open pod that was open with multiple computer pieces and what looked like malfunctioning sonic sonar.

"Hmm… a malfunctioning sonic sonar scanning system. Looks like it shot a sonic pulse and did not like what it got back. Ahh… this might take a bit. You might as well make that call while I do this." Steel sighed as he crouched down and used an info pad to start accessing the malfunctioning device.

"Sergeant Cornwall to Captain Mendez, requesting secure channel level five." Cornwall spoke quickly, realizing to silence his own comlink so his squad could not hear him. But what he did not account for was that Steel could still hear him, it seems he forgot already that Steel was a known hacker.

It was a few minutes before Cornwall got a response, "Cornwall, this is starting to become tedious. What new information do you have for me now?"

"Sorry, Captain. Unfortunately I have a feeling it will get worse before it gets better. I am sending a video and Cadet Steel's account. I suspect the ship design matches that group that we have encountered before. It seems this one was just a stealth observation vessel. If it was not for Steel's Enhanced Perception skill we might have never noticed them." The Sergeant answered.

"Ah Hell," there was a deep breath. "I will pass that on. But if they showed up here it means there is something to find that we have never seen. Find it, the last thing we want is for anyone else realizing what we found."

"Understood, Cornwall out."

Steel was halfway through fixing the device and began modifying the system to scan through the dirt instead of trying to scan the dirt itself. No point in trying to read something that absorbed vibrations no matter how micro or macro they were. He could make one that could read the dirt given enough time, but he had a feeling they should not wait.

"Steel status?"

Steel stopped himself from responding since Cornwall had forgotten to reactivate his comlink. After a moment Cornwall realized his mistake and repeated his question, "Steel status?"

"Sir, it is not like I am building a barracks. I am programming it from scratch the same way I did to your scanner. But with a completely different system, I have to make sure it gets deeper and farther into the planet." He explained as he cut a pair of wires and switched them.

"Hmm… you should find a way to streamline it. I have a feeling you will be doing this a lot." Cornwall grumbled, but understanding his point so he was making a suggestion instead.

Steel nodded in response as he focused in and got to work. A few minutes later he frowned and sent out a message to Corporal Tani, "Corporal Tani can you please check the tactical table. Is it receiving data from drop pod SS-05?"

There was a moment of quiet before an answer, "affirmative, anything else cadet?"

"Yes, send it to the ship. I am using too much power to transmit that far." Steel explained as he closed up the drop pod so it could not be bothered by bugs.

He then stood up and they made their way back to the base. The Sergeant was right he had to make preparations for the other times he would do this.