Space Odyssey: Spectre

Chapter 549: NeoYakuza

"Hold on!" The prince yelled. Interrupting their argument. Jace looked over at him, still seeming composed on the outside. He tilted his head and waved his hand, a gesture for him to elaborate. One he picked up during his short stay on this planet. "What do you mean by ’you are going to have your hands full’?"

"Just as I said." Jace gave a single nod as he leaned back in his chair. "I mean I am sure you have already noticed the start of it I am sure." Jace waved at the door. "Shops have been closing, the streets have been mostly deserted, then there is crime. Doesn’t it seem strange that almost all organized crime stopped at the same time?"

"Shit." Sherlock bluntly stated before standing up and turning around. "We are taking the VIPs off planet immediately-"

BOOOM!

There was an explosion in the distance but not that far as the ground and building shook around them. The lights blinked as the shockwave no doubt hit the outside of the building. Jace hummed and pulled out a device. "Ten AM on the dot. They are quite efficient."

The guards around the room rushed forward and the prince stood up while the Archivist put her mask back on as well. West and Sherlock both pulled out their weapons and moved to the door. "We need to escort you to the emergency space craft."

Jace put up a hand. In response a bunch of the guards pointed their weapons at him. "Real quick, before you go. You did pay for the food ahead of time, right?"

The prince blinked before nodding. "Yeah, you are good."

Then he and the archivist were pulled away and Jace was left alone in the restaurant. The waitress walked out nervously with their food. But when she saw it was just him at the table, she frowned. "It looks like my companions abandoned me."

As he ate his breakfast the building shook a few more times as some more explosions occurred. He checked his temporary communication device multiple times and confirmed that the Prima Terra Rebellion had begun. It was not just here on the Southern Islands either. The Northern and Western Continents were breaking out into war as well.

In fact the Northern and Western Continents were having far more success since they were less alert about what was going on. Therefore, they were completely blindsided by the sudden attack. Bases were destroyed, and government buildings were turned into rubble.

On the Southern Islands, the military was far more alert. So after the first explosion, which was at the city hall. They were moving. Unfortunately for them, that first explosion killed the planetary lord of Prima Terra.

As the rebels took to the streets. Jace noticed that the guards who were sent to watch him, even Pliro were all sent away. He smirked as he finished his food after the hotel was all but abandoned.

Jace walked out of the lobby and into the street where he could already see a few dead bodies. The noon sky was blocked out by billowing clouds of smoke as multiple fires spread across the city and refused to be put out.

He nodded and started walking in the direction of the nearest entrance to Submundo when his communication device began beeping. He opened it to answer the call. "Hello!"

"Mister Gladiator. It is a pleasure to finally speak to you." A generic male voice announced through the device. "I apologize for the wait. But I had to make certain you would not tell about my existence to the Toran Empire."

Jace shrugged as he walked. Spotting a group of rebellions who set up a blockade in the distance. "It is no problem at all. But I must say, you are making a rather humongous amount of money off of just the start of this rebellion, aren’t you?"

"I do not believe that is of any concern to you." The voice told him.

Jace chuckled, "maybe not. But I am curious what an artificial intelligence that is almost centuries old wants with that much money. I mean, isn’t your core hidden deep under the ocean where the island of Japan used to exist?"

"Oh my. You are quite dangerous." The voice changed to a robotic tone that was more gender neutral. "If you would like to know about your companions’ locations. I can pass them on to you. Even Liz, who you helped."

"Hmm... no. That would cost me and I would prefer not to get involved with you until this rebellion is over. But if my own intelligence is right. Cain has the majority of them up on that Moon, probably building a space craft. A few of them are on the Northern Continent as well." Jace responded in turn as he was getting closer to the rebel checkpoint. "Hold on a moment." He hid his communication device as he walked up to them.

"Hold right there! Are you with the military or are you a rebel?" A young male voice called out.

Jace shook his head, "Neither, I am neutral." He then began walking forward. But when he got to the sandbag wall one of them reached over to grab him. But Jace leaned forward and rolled past him and away from them. "Excuse me." He said before continuing to walk.

He was going to continue but stopped as something grabbed his shoulder. He slowly turned and looked at the large man whose greasy paws grabbed his shoulder. The man was not large as in tall, but large as in fat and overweight. "Yuz gotz to payz da tax." The man declared with a grin that revealed yellow and crooked teeth.

"Pass." Jace materialized his magnum and fired once at the man’s leg.

Bang!

The man collapsed while screaming in pain as his right leg from knee down flew away and smacked into the sandbag wall. The man’s knee had completely disappeared while the stump that was left was profusely bleeding.

The man’s companions seemed stunned. But Jace just turned and walked away. After a few seconds he pulled back up his communication device again. "Now where were we?"

"It would not cost you anything. I can supply you with that information free of charge. I honestly appreciate that you refuse to get in the way of my little business dealing." The voice responded. "But how did you manage to figure out what I am?"

Jace scoffed as he dematerialized his magnus revolver. "Are you kidding? We have a nation of artificial intelligence based beings. One running a galactic wide criminal gang is no surprise to me. Although the fact that you have been running the NeoYakuza since its founding is still unusual. How has your programming not deteriorated?"

"It has. But after every a hundred years, I do a reset after storing all relevant and pertinent information. The less pertinent information gets stored in condensed files." The NeoYakuza AI explained.

Jace smirked as he realized something. "Your next reset is coming up, isn’t it?"

There was a moment of silence. "You are right. It is. How could you tell?"

Jace chuckled as he stopped and looked at a burning skyscraper. He could see several blown out windows from here and that there was fighting on multiple floors. But even then, it looked like something normal to him. "Because you reached out. My appearance is not that special to you. Unless of course, I had an AI based companion that you found curious."

"You are... correct. I would like to study the one called Cain. I believe I have a need to update my systems. He is unlikely to allow me to do so without your permission." The NeoYakuza ancient AI told him.

"I can do you one better. I both programmed him and had a hand in his creation. Why don’t I help you instead." Jace offered as he continued walking. Seeing the entrance in the distance. There was some debris blocking it. But Jace grabbed one of the large blocks with his free hand and tossed it behind him. His strength had increased dramatically during his short tenure here on Prima Terra.

"Then I would appreciate it. But how are you going to get there?" The NeoYakuza AI asked him as he kicked aside some smaller debris before knocking on the door.

"Simple, I am just going to go there. I will send you another device number to communicate with me through. I will leave the islands in about a day or two." Jace told it as the door opened up to reveal some criminals that were heavily armed and standing at the door.

"Very well. Then we will communicate again when you start coming here. Best of luck." The call then ended as Jace began walking down the stairs.

As he did he received a coded message and looked at the contents finding some details with each of the coordinates. Each of them were locations of his team members. He really did not mind supplying that information free of charge it would seem.