Space Odyssey: Spectre

Jace walked through the lit up pathway. The ship's computer was guiding him using the lights on the ship. Apparently it was a built in technique. As he moved the others had started going around the ship, checking out the various rooms.

"Spectre Jace to Josef, remove the rope anchors and ropes. Get back to the Guardian-01. Asana, prepare to take off." Jace ordered as he moved through the ship, a plan already forming in his mind about what to do.

"Are we leaving without the rest of Cerberus Squad?" Asana asked in response.

"Yes and no, you are taking off from the asteroid but staying nearby. There should be an easy way for us to remove the surrounding material that consists of the asteroid. Then you can park the ship in the hangar at the rear of the ship." Jace explained. "There are plenty of things to investigate aboard this ship while we go to rendezvous with the Venture."

"Is the ancient ship warp capable?" Vana asked in surprise.

"And then some. Honestly as an engineer I could spend weeks studying this ship. But we should probably get it away from the border as soon as possible." Jace informed them as he arrived at the central computer data banks.

He entered and froze at what he found. "Discovery computer, can you see inside your central data bank?" Jace asked in surprise, forgetting to turn off his communicator so the rest of the squad heard him as well.

"No, Spectre Jace. I am unable to see inside the location where the ship's central data bank is stored. Nor am I allowed access to anything inside of that room. There are files that discuss the rules regarding it if you wish to see. There is a terminal just across from the doorway to where the data banks are located." The ship's computer offered.

"That is… I will take a look later." Jace hummed as he looked through the room which was supposed to be just a few blocks of high powered computers. But it has clearly changed dramatically over the last five hundred years. After a moment of contemplation he nodded, "Okay, is there a particular name or form of address that I can call you?" Jace asked with a slight tone of nervousness.

He was looking at the data banks. They were all still clearly operational. But it also looked like a terrarium with the thing that looked like a tree. It was black and dark blue. But along all of its bark and vines were the same blinking lights that were in the rest of the data banks. It was running through the data banks and the leaves were hanging from the top of the roof that was resting against the roof.

"A name? I do not suppose so." The ship's computer answered, "why do you ask?"

"Because it appears, you are at least having a response outside of the normal. Or at least what you were originally programmed with." Jace informed the computer. At this point he was starting to think that the reason the ship was so well maintained despite over five hundred years passing, was because of this tree and the ship computer.

"How is that possible?" The computer asked, with a tone of surprise that Jace was honestly thinking was unintentional.

"Good question," Jace nodded his head in agreement. He was honestly confused by what this was. He would need an expert's assistance to unravel this mystery. "I am going to leave this alone. Lead me back to the command center."

"Do you mean the ship bridge?" The ship's computer asked, "follow the lights." There was a trail of lights that lit up while the door to the central data banks closed. "Are you going to disable the long term storage method?"

"Affirmative," Jace answered. "But the minerals and unrefined metals seem to have melded together. So I am going to need to heat up the exterior plates and use a reverse of the magnetic attraction that you were using before."

"Interesting, like a chick out of an egg. Taking that premise into account could I suggest using the weapon systems instead?" The ship's computer requested as he walked back toward the ship's bridge.

"No, we need to look over those before we activate them. On the other hand, we know the magnetic plates are still operational since they are still drawing power." Jace explained, he wanted to avoid having to bring additional systems on line for as long as possible. "Does your ship have the star charts and maps from your journey?"

"It does, but it will be of no assistance in locating the human home galaxy or planet. The method of transportation from G-1 to this galaxy is unknown. We were in our galaxy exploring one moment and here the next." The Discovery explained.

Jace frowned, "I can only assume that means some type of space phenomenon. It is much rarer to run into something like that nowadays." Jace explained, "although there are a vast array of lifeforms, a large swath of space phenomenon became controllable due to one of the races that existed prior to humans arriving in this galaxy."

"Curious, what was this race called?"

"We have several different names for it. But we have not been able to find the name they call themselves." Jace informed the ship. "How are the rest of you doing?"

"Well it appears that Ulin and myself have been playing in the ship's cafeteria or galley as the ship has told us it is called. It has a few pieces of interesting technology especially for something that is five hundred years old." Jul'an informed them.

"The Guardian-01 is on standby near the asteroid." Asana answered.

"Nila and I have made our way to what appears to be the ship's main power source. Jace, this is incredible. I may not be well versed in a variety of power sources but this is definitely up there as something that none of us have seen before." Charlie answered as well. "I would love to see the history this ship has. Do I have to go to the central computer room to find that information?"

"Negative, I request you avoid that room in particular for the time being." Jace told them as he made his way to the bridge of the Discovery.