Space Odyssey: Spectre

After Salem walked out of the room Henry felt the tension leave his body. Standing near her felt dangerous, it might be because he was not familiar with her. But it seemed like she was ready to kill them all at the flip of the coin. He felt like she could have easily done it as well.

"What did you all think of her?" Henry asked after he was sure Salem and his son were out of earshot. He already knew his son was going to be a problem when he heard he was coming back. He just hoped that Salem would not add on to that problem.

"She is certainly spirited and confident." Ajax pointed out with a chuckle. Ajax is the spymaster in charge of the government and nobility spies of the Union. At the moment he was bitter because he had to run and hide with several of his contacts when the Vexical Empire began grabbing up the Union spies.

"She has no respect for the chain of command. We asked for information, not a recommendation." Zeno pointed out, he was one of the more devoted members of the Union. Unfortunately he never served in the military, but he was gifted in political maneuvers. He was also a half-Siren hybrid.

"We asked her for information that she has no way to back up. As well as no way to quantify and explain that information. Considering the circumstances, I would have spoken up as well." Shepard points out lazily as he puts his feet up on the table and leaned back.

"I mean do you think she can be trusted?" Henry clarified, "her recommendation and assumptions were solid, I will not deny her that. But do you think she is a spy or a new ally?"

"Only time could tell," Ajax grunted out.

"If she is going away from where the fighting is, I have an idea for the ship she can use." Shepard spoke up as he wobbled in his chair.

"No, not the ship you flew in on." Their head of engineering and equipment spoke up. "We still need time to study that ship and figure out how to reverse engineer it. We have barely gotten through the engines."

"I already looked into the possibility." Shepard sighed as he let his chair rest forward. "While it might eventually be feasible. The warp and power component are made of something that we have no idea how to create. So it will eventually end up being put to the side eventually."

The head of engineering thoughtfully played with his beard and nodded, "Then I want a pair of engineers on that ship. To study the ship while they are traveling and during their downtime."

Henry nodded, "we can do that." He then turned to the head of training and recruitment. "Pick two of your trained people to go with them. I want to see what she can do with fresh off the line recruits."

"What about sending some muscle along with her? Just in case." Ajax recommended looking at another person, who seemed like he was about to speak up.

"Not this time. Just make sure one of the newbies has medical training. I have a feeling Salem has some basic training but we cannot say for certain." Henry looked toward Shepard who raised his hands in defense.

"As soon as she went to the Echo System I knew we could not trust anything her official military record showed us. So there was no point in sending an updated one." Shepard informed them. "It is usually a misinformation game at that point. But the point of this after the meeting interface is to figure out if we can trust her. Is that not the point?" Shepard asked toward Henry who nodded in agreement. "Then in that case it sounds like she needs more testing. You will not be able to shadow her on this mission. But you could do it for the next one, when we are not low on manpower and you are not just sending her away to get her out of the way." Shepard pointed out as he lowered his feet against the floor and sat normally.

Henry sucked in a breath of air and began thinking. After a few minutes of quiet contemplation and thought he nodded to himself and leaned back in his chair. "Okay, the six of them will take the space craft you stole from Alcatraz to investigate the disappearance of the xenoarcheologist. They have to make regular reports when possible. Make sure all six of them report all observations and events that occur during their mission."

"What about Vexical Prime? What is our plan for that mess that the imperial family has created?" Ajax asked as motioned in the air. It looked like nonsense to most people, but Henry knew that his mask had a built-in display that worked with his gloves so he was likely looking over various files and reports.

"We will send support and ships to evacuate civilians. But keep them mostly unarmed and make sure they have a place to go on any of the inhabited locations in the system. Make contact with our forces on the ground, we are pulling up all stakes. Any and all assets are to be evacuated. Do any of you know what is going on with the station in orbit above Vexical Prime?"

"Since it is a trade center, it is under the control of the princess. We have a few people there, but they say they have closed shop and warnings are being sent to trade vessels to redirect to other trade centers." Another of the people at the table spoke up.

"Hmm… then that is it you are dismissed." Henry then realized something, "actually I need someone to give Salem and Marcus their mission and resources."

"I can handle that." Shepard stood up, "I will get together with the others and get the details hashed out. Go oversee the Vexical Prime situation. I am sure it will not be long before that gets kicked off."

Henry sighed and rubbed his fingers at his temples. He needed a vacation or a break after all of this.