One moment he was on the bridge of the Discovery, the next he was blinking his eyes and appearing in an extravagant room, aside from the floor which seemed to be covered in a coarse silicate. Which was just another type of sand, not that he had ever seen sand in person before.
The walls were the same golden alloy which were definitely a composite of some kind. Now that he was looking at it in person, it looked like it was all gold but it was a shade lighter than gold. Etched into the walls were images of those gold armored warriors killing several different species and races. While the images of the gold armored warriors changed with each one. It was usually the helmet that changed.
He looked at the roof and saw an etching pattern with a single glow crystal in the center. The only other interesting thing was a single planet that was colored blue instead of the gold alloy that was lining the walls and roof. It seemed to be a star chart, he made sure to record it with his helmet camera.
There was a rush of air and Jace looked over to the source to see a door had opened up. Walking into the room were a group of these gold armored individuals. But as Jace watched them he noticed something and tilted his head to the side.
He did not bother with the translator and just spoke aloud, "I do not suppose this will be a friendly exchange is it?" Jace asked as one of his hands reached up and then froze and went back down to his side.
He was reaching for his Modified Pulse Schi Rifle, unfortunately it was still on the Discovery. He had left it sitting in the chair for the ship’s weapons station. He had made a joke about his weapon sitting there. Well now the joke was on him since he was missing a weapon he definitely could use right about now.
As his hand slowly reached for his Pyre he suddenly felt a poke in his back and slightly turned around to see one of the golden armored women begin to appear after she disabled her invisibility. She was holding a spear towards him while staring him down. Her armor was smoother than the others and lacked any form of etching or design. Almost like it was the most basic version of their armor, while he could also see her hair was a bit shorter than the others.
Jace turned back around and saw a lot more of these golden armored women had entered the room. They were all lining the edge of the room at the wall with spears raised. They were moving in an orderly and organized manner like they had done this many times before. He waited and watched taking in all of the different armor designs, the helmets were what usually differed. Some had one or two horns on their helmet, but none of them had more than four horns. While it was the ones with usually more horns that had more intricately designed armor that was not always the case. There were a few with no horns but intricate armor.
Then at the end, once the wall was filled up a group of three walked into the room straight towards him. He could tell the one leading the group was the one he spoke to over the communication channel. He recognized the etchings on her helmet with no horn. She had a gold piece of clothing billowing over one arm with a symbol on it in white, the cloth was connected to her body through a gold chain that went around her neck. The cloth was only big enough to go from her neck to her elbow. She had a spear in one hand while she had a sword hanging off of her hip.
To one side of her was a woman with two horns on her helmet. She had a spear and a few knives hidden throughout her body. Her etchings were just as extravagant. But when she got closer he noticed one of her horns had an extravagant design while the other was completely smooth.
To the other side of the leading woman was a woman with a single horn on her helmet. The horn was smooth and unetched. While the rest of her armor was covered in etchings. She had a spear as well, but she also had some type of weapon hanging off of her hip. When she got closer he decided that it was probably just a crossbow or something else.
The woman at the sides stepped forward and began removing the pockets with plasma cartridges. Along with his Pyre and all of the side arm ammunition that came with it. But when they got to his hacking and interface device that was attached to the wrist of his armor they began having problems.
After a moment he felt the spear get pushed a bit more forward into his back at the signal of the woman who was clearly in charge. "Hey, be gentle." Jace joked as he kept still, waiting for them to voice their request. He was more curious to see if they would get frustrated with him or they would keep their calm.
The lead woman was the one to speak up. She spoke in whatever language the centuria spoke and then a second following it something translated for him into a Vexical common language, but not just the language but a dialect he was used to hearing growing up in the streets. "We can understand you, and you can understand us. Now please remove that device that is on your wrist. We know its purpose is not combat, so it is not necessary for this fight."
Jace frowned under his helmet and slowly brought his hand back away from the pair of women who were attempting to take it off. He spent a few seconds detaching it both externally from his armor and from the magnetic lock that his armor had with all attachments . Once it was detached he handed it to the one with a single horn.
Jace then pointed at the one piece of weaponry they left on him. His Spectre knife. "Do you want this as well?" Jace asked.
"No, you will need that for the fight." The leading centuria answered. She then nodded back, "that is all sisters. You may take up your positions. I will join you in a moment." She then looked past Jace at the woman behind him.
The woman behind him stepped back and pointed the tip of her spear at the ceiling like the rest of the centuria had been doing. But instead of moving to a different position she did a salute and bowed her head while waiting.
"Our traditions have us test all the interesting people we come across. Some within our borders, some just on the edge of them. When we scanned your ship we had noticed that you were a... unique species we had never seen before. As a new and unique species we have to test you." The woman then nodded at the woman behind him, "my niece is similarly untested. You two will fight and we will know where your species stands as a result of the fight."
Well this was a mix of good and bad, on one hand he was a great fighter. On the other he was not well versed in Xenobiology, so understanding their intentions was a toss up. He would have to figure this out on the fly though. Because he watched as the leading woman walked to the door and then stood guard at it.
Then in unison all of the gold armored women at the edge of the room slammed their spears into the ground and chanted with some type of guttural growl. Then they lowered their spears and pointed them at him, or rather at the center of the room.
Jace stepped away from the smooth armored woman and watched as she stepped forward and stabbed her spear, pointy end down, into the ground. She then pulled a sword from her waist.
At the very least this was a test through combat at least, so he pulled his knife from its sheath.