He made his way to the airlock and began opening it up. There were no windows to see through so he was thoroughly surprised when the airlock did open up. He was fully armored with his weapons in all of its place. So he was in no danger, but he had the others waiting around the corner just in case.
So when the door opened to a woman in a pilot's armor with a helmet under one of her arms he was not expecting to see her. So his reaction when he saw her face was genuine. "Director Fenrir!?!" Jace stiffened in surprise.
"You called for a research team, and a piloting team. Unfortunately for you, all of our mobile forces and reserve forces are on standby." Director Fenrir explained as she walked past them and led the group of twelve she had brought with her. "My copilot went to grab the ship we brought and bring the ship around to the hangar on your new ship. Will that be a problem?"
Jace waited a moment to make sure no one else was coming in before closing and sealing the airlock. He did not want anyone else to suddenly join them on this ancient vessel. "There should be enough space depending on the size of the space ship you brought." He explained as he followed them.
"Just a Puddle-Jumper. We have two dozen of them at this point." She explained as they moved past where his squad was waiting. "Paranoid much?" She looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
Jace shrugged, "I heard the civil war was about to start. So I decided to take precautions if it already did. It was not like I planned to reach out directly to you once we were back in the empire or something."
"And the reason you didn't?" Fenrir asked teasingly as they walked in the direction of the hangar with Nila leading the way.
"Because a group of pirates distracted me." Jace explained before turning to his squad and the group of researchers, "Unless you are going to get equipment, pair up with my squad and go look around the ship. There are plenty of locations around the ship that we have not asked about. If you get lost, just ask the ship. She is always listening."
"She? Already labeling the ship with a gender are you?" One of the researchers asked jokingly.
"Not quite, she has been labeling herself. She has started using a more feminine voice and speech pattern." Nila explained on behalf of Jace as the group began dispersing following Jace's order.
Director Fenrir looked at him with a quizzical expression on her face, almost like she was wordlessly asking what they were talking about. "Computer, is the hangar door open?" Jace asked in the open air, prompting a show of what they were talking about rather than trying to explain it.
"No, would you like me to open it?" The ship's computer asked, shocking some of the researchers while Director Fenrir seemed to think she understood.
"Please do, we are expecting a ship of similar design to the one already parked in there to arrive." Jace explained to the computer before turning to the director. "The ship was created with a highly functional operating computer with sets and conditions. But it seems being awake for over five hundred years in addition to something happening to its central data banks has turned the more basic and primitive computer into a consciousness that is connected to the ship."
Director Fenrir frowned at his explanation. "So we should operate with kid gloves on, even when we start investigating the ship?"
"Affirmative, have it operate with other artificial intelligence's as well." Jace recommended as he opened the door to the single ship hangar. It was not overly large and it had just enough room to fit both Puddle-Jumpers, but it was still a tight fit. "But this was only one of a few things we got on this trip."
"Oh? Do tell." Director Fenrir and he moved off to the side as the others moved to the Puddle-Jumper that was landing in the hangar.
"We encountered a race called the Centuria. They do not move beyond their borders and even the Victorium rarely interact with them." Jace began explaining as he quieted down, "But apparently this race has longer lifespans than most and they have some… let's call it 'conditional' reproduction."
"How long exactly?" The director asked, already moving forward physically, and excited for what Jace was leading this conversation to.
"Long enough to have records of the Xenar race. A race of people with a heavy investment in the advancement of culture, technology, and being passive." Jace outlined, hoping she would catch on to what he realized. He waited a minute as he watched her expression go from confusion, to bewilderment, to excitement.
"The very same." Jace nodded, "The Centuria are just as advanced as them. I have already spent some time looking over the data packet of information we traded them for. There was only a brief mention of two races attempting to break through their borders during the time of the Xenar's disappearance. Apparently they tried for twenty years before giving up. Which was when they disappeared and the Centuria were seemingly alone until the Victorium came around."
"Incredible, for twenty years to only be a single mention…" Director Fenrir was not a history buff but even she was starting to understand the implications of this. "Will we be able to interact with them in the future?"
"Any evolved form of humans will get the chance, that goes more so for the males." Jace answered with a sigh getting a confused look from her, "I will send you the relevant data on Centuria. Anyways the point is that we have more of an 'in' than the Victorium do."
"Will us joining the Victorium impact this newfound friendship?"
Jace cringed and shook his head, "it will not, but I will point out that they make friendship dependent on race not group."
"Well that is… interesting." Director Fenrir decided as she looked over at the area where her researchers were grabbing their equipment out of the Puddle-Jumper.