Jace looked at his watch again hesitantly as the announcement told them the escort vessel had successfully docked at the airlock in front of them. He looked over at Nina who shook her head and shrugged. Jace then sighed and cracked the knuckles on his right hand.

    "Well it was a pleasure having you aboard esteemed Spectres." Trentwood was in his Commando armor again. Joining him was Jack as well as a number of others in full infantry armor. "But myself and my people are going to be glad to be rid of you. You two are like living bombs, we had to constantly tiptoe around you." Trentwood began laughing.

    Nina giggled behind her hand. Jace just shook his head. "You are just saying that because you never managed to win a hand of cards. You can''t live with the embarrassment of someone younger than you whipping your ass in the basics." Jace''s words caused Trentwood to frown.

    "Ha… just get the hell off my ship. I hope I do not have to see you two again." Trentwood clicked his tongue in annoyance.

    Before Jace got a chance to answer the airlock door slid open. He looked over to see Captain Arthur, a pair of guards in Infantry armor, and an Inquisitor. Captain Arthur and the guards saluted but the Inquisitor was just looking angrily at Trentwood.

    Nina walked past them and Jace began walking past them as well. "Arthur, let''s get the Judas underway. We have to catch up with the rest of my unit." Captain Arthur and the guards began to turn to leave with him when the Inquisitor acted.

    "Hold on a moment! A traitor is aboard this ship and you want me to just leave! As an Inquisitor of the mighty Vexical Empire I refuse!" The Inquisitor screamed. The members of the Union began readying their weapons.

    Then the announcement system began crackling to life. "General! We have multiple pings! Several ships are dropping out of warp without warning!"

    "Of course there are!" The Inquisitor yelled as he pulled out his sidearm aiming it at Trentwood. "I am taking all of these traitors and the stolen property into custody!"

    Jace sighed and then clicked his watch sending broadcast to all the Vexical Military ships after they all dropped out of warp. "This is Spectre Jace, I am ordering all Vexical Military vessels in the Leonair system to return to your posts prior to any orders that Inquisitor Maloy had given you. You have ten seconds to comply and acknowledge before you are considered traitors of the empire. If you are not aware of my rank, I suggest you check with your communications officers. You should already have the message."

    Jace stared at the Inquisitor who was looking at Jace in confusion. A moment later Jace''s watch began ''dinging'' as several ships acknowledged his orders and began turning around. Thankfully by the time the ten seconds passed all twelve ship''s had turned and left back into warp. He would not have to declare an entire ship as traitors today. Sёarch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "No!" The Inquisitor screamed still not accepting the situation.

    "No?" Jace asked in surprise, glancing behind him to see that Nina had already disappeared. Why didn''t she have to deal with this shit? "What do you mean no?"

    "I refuse to accept some young punk like you has the authority almost on par with that of a general you are nothing but-" Jace stopped listening as the Inquisitor kept spewing nonsense from his mouth. He was way too busy for this stupid shit. It also looked like the soldier''s on Trentwood''s side were getting jumpy.

    Jace stepped forward and pulled Captain Arthur''s pistol from its holster.

    BANG!

    A single shot and the Inquisitor was bringing a hand to his chest as he felt around the bullet hole. The bullet had gone through but it had embedded itself in a wooden piece of walling. Then the Inquisitor looked back at Jace who was holding the smoking gun in bewilderment.

    Jace glanced at Trentwood who flinched under his emotionless gaze. Then he shoved the pistol into Captain Arthur''s chest and let go of it. Returning the man''s gun to him.

    "Take his gear, uniform, and all official devices that might have anything compromising. Leave the corpse, it will just slow us down." Jace ordered as he walked back onto the ship. He might get in trouble just for shooting him later, but the idiot was delaying their chase. Which was not something they could afford to do for long.

    Rather than go to his room to relax, he went to the bridge of the ship and walked right to the young communication''s officer who was operating it. She looked like a nice young woman. She flinched in surprise when he arrived next to her.

    Jace smiled and leaned on the desk by her. "Hello, I was hoping to get your help with something." Cranking his charm and smile up as much as possible. It appeared to work as well because she blushed and shyly looked down at her fingers.

    "Umm… I uh, how can I help you Mister- or um… Spectre Jace?" The shy woman asked as Jace smiled down at her.

    "I need to borrow the ship''s communication channel, I also need someone to sort through the Inquisitor''s private communications. Can I trust you to do that?" Jace asked as he brought up the ship''s encrypted communication channel.

    They were usually unused because their method of use was complicated. First, each ship had its own encryption method. Then the person sending the message had to know the encryption method of that ship. Only a ship captain, a single designated communications officer, and the inquisitor would know the encryption method for communication aboard a ship. But all ship''s encryptions were also kept at a secure facility in case someone higher up needed to send a ship a message privately.

    That secure facility used to be the Inquisitor Headquarters on Vexical Prime. But a few years ago the codes in that room were replaced with fake ones and the real ones were brought to the Military Intelligence and Logistics Divisions system wide base in the Echo system. The fake codes went to a hidden facility in Echo that then relayed the messages if they were actually important or recorded them if they could be used as evidence for corruption.

    Because of the importance and usefulness of these codes, Jace had decided to memorize them just in case. Not just one or two of the encryption codes. But all fifty three of the encryption codes, one for each military vessel, whether they were classified or not.

    That was only the tip of the iceberg for what he had memorized. But It was relevant for the moment. As for how he knew this was the designated communication officer that had the encryption codes. That was because of a mistake in all of the designated communication officers'' personal files. They all had a mention of training at the facility in the Vexical System. It was an error in how they were set up.

    "Umm… I suppose I can. But why ask me?" She asked cautiously as she slid back from her desk in her chair.

    "Because the captain likely has better things to do. Besides I will be here for a bit sending out a few messages and waiting for responses. So I can take over for you for a few hours." Jace nodded at the door. "So go ahead and take a break before you start sorting through those messages."

    The communication officer frowned and nodded as she stood up from her seat. "Okay," she bit her lip for a moment before leaning up to whisper in his ear. "But come to my room, I will wait for you there." She then backed off smiling shyly at him. "My replacement comes in an hour! Bye!" She then practically skipped off of the bridge.

    Jace watched the closed door she walked out of for a moment before he turned back and sat in her seat. Before he even began preparing his message to the Anvil the door slid open again, but this time the captain of the Judas walked onto the bridge calling out orders.

    "Disconnect and disengage from the Union ship. Then find out-" Captain Arthur stopped mid sentence as he noticed Jace sitting at the communication station. "Better yet, where are we going Spectre Jace?"

    Jace chuckled in amusement as he sent an encrypted message to the Anvil. "For now we are going to the Vexical Empire''s territory. I will give a change of heading when I know our destination."

    Jace then began sending a message to the Director. Informing her of the Inquisitors attempt at starting a war that would have caused issues. His message would also tell her that he and Nina were trailing behind the Anvil and would attempt to catch up to them.

    After he was done sending the messages he stayed at the communication station until the placement arrived. Then he left to find that communication officer''s room, he hoped she had something for him. In more ways than one.