Astra Pt. 01

It created an overlying shell on the right side of the brain and connected more pathways to the left side of his brain. As tendrils snaked between the lobes and connected into the pathways on both sides. Two went to his legs and transformed them painfully but quickly. The last tentacle ran over the chest plate and then surrounded the right lung. It reformed the lung and made it smaller but more powerful. It created the home for the second heart above the lung.

That heart got connected to the main circulatory system to provide support. Though it appeared any 'blood vessels' it needed were connected to the new lung and other new tissue directly. Jack had passed out from the pain but never screamed.

The entity left him a final message to hear for when he awoke, "Your leg's long bones were deemed necessary; they provide cells for your upper body and themselves. They remain and are encased for added protection with the support structure needed. All other leg and foot bones were replaced. Including your knee caps and sections of your hips around the sockets. This made them more resilient. Your right arm was completely transformed. The expansion runs up and is connected to the right side of your brain.

The part that deals with creativity will be enhanced. The part where you could make technology that is based upon psychic powers with the right materials. Also, the ingrained data on Drakor technology from the arm's original era. The Drakor would be interested in this information. When they contact you, they will simply know this data going forward. The second heart and lung support your human parts. They will also fully care for your Drakor parts. Given time the Drakor parts can and will repair you with no intervention required.

Setting broken bones may be required depending on the location. In short, you will regenerate provided you do not die. The skin in those areas consumed by the DNA will reform and match your host in appearance over the next 24 hours. You have complete control. You always had complete control. The choice was yours. I believe that you made a wise choice, for what you, or should I say we...wish to accomplish. Now you will be even better equipped to deal with the challenges that will come."

---

A Drakor scout ship out near the outer belt was cloaked and contacted the Draok Council, "We have unusual activity in the Terran system. A second hybrid has formed and is from the future. It just initiated its silent connection to alert us. It is stranger still as this hybrid is registered as a Justice hybrid. This is why we are alerting you again so soon."

Their leader responded, "Leave it be. We will be in the system soon to observe and try to understand what is going on and to learn about this hybrid's history. A Justice hybrid is unheard of in any system. The council will want to watch this one closely. The time travel aspect is worrisome as well. We will alert the Ruling Body once we have an analysis of this to answer other questions."

The leader looked at the others as they all nodded and determined they were of one mind in this action as they moved to the outskirts of the Terran system to monitor this new hybrid anomaly.

---

Astra came in several hours later as she searched for Jack as he did not respond. She had stopped monitoring his room after that first night. Now she felt like that was a bad idea going forward. She checked his vitals on his left arm and his pulse was extremely slow at 30 beats a minute. She carried him out of the shower room and down to medical where she stripped him down, "Core, run a full scan on the Captain."

She stared at his blackened body. The Core responded, "The alien DNA now resides in 32% of his body." Astra's own eyes told her that much. "It has connected to his brain. A second heart has formed and his right lung was shrunk to accommodate that. It beats in rhythm with the human heart. Major long bones in the legs remain and are functioning but they were encased for an unparalleled level of protection. The second heart is providing support to the first and carries the weight for the new Drakor tissue. The same goes for the right lung. It is just as powerful as the left it appears."

Astra groaned out, "What did we do to him?"

Jack shifted but did not respond as his mind went over the delayed message a few times. He finally opened his eyes and looked at her, "Could not wait to get me out of my clothes again so soon?"

Astra laughed at his joke, "Your arm, it spread..."

Jack looked up, "I gave it permission."

Astra sat there open-mouthed, "You what?!"

He sat up on his elbows and looked at her, "I am a full human hybrid now. Tell me that was not what your mission planners were hoping for?"

Astra shook her head, "I have nothing in my file about this outcome!"

Jack nodded, "If the ship were hit by an asteroid do you have information on that scenario? How about a gravity well pulling us off course?"

Astra nodded, "Of course, they covered those situations!"

Jack asked, "If a Drakor boarded this ship?"

Jack asked again as she hesitated, "A Drakor boards the ship?"

Astra sighed, "Destroy the ship by overloading the power cores, fly it into a star or planet."

Jack opened his eyes wider, "The ship just got hit. They did not give you a response to it because they did not wish for you to respond to it. Here is the deal. This might be the first time they have done this, but I seriously doubt it. It is more than likely that they have done this several times if not several hundred times. The problem is that the 'test subject' must be willing to accept the change and they must avoid being willing to change completely to a Drakor.

Thus causing you to destroy the ship. The choice remained in the hands of the individual. The chance was one in three, less if the user was not given a choice in the initial graft. It did not expand a millimeter up my arm until it talked to me about it and then I gave it consent. This is hardcoded into Drakor DNA. They propagate by fragmenting and attaching to another living being. They also have sexual reproduction.

They do not force their will on the subject in the case of fragmenting and in some cases, it is only taken to a hybrid stage. You make a choice. Reject it I assume is a choice, hybrid, or full transition. Your bosses knew. They needed the choice to be mine. If I chose Drakor, the mission failed and you were set to destroy the ship."

Astra shook her head, "How can you be so certain? That arm could have poisoned your mind against them."

Jack rubbed her face with his left hand, "Think about the odds of them sending something completely never done before into this hail-marry attempt to change the future. Human or machine, they would have considered the odds of success."

Astra looked at him, "What do we do now?"

Jack smiled, "Any children I have going forward will be sexually reproduced. They will all be a partial hybrid. They will not face this choice because they will be born that way. The advantages it could give humanity would be astronomical. Hence those mission parameters that had been given to you. Destroy all of the previous samples. Collect away with gusto over the next couple of days. That way you have the proper swimmers out there doing the job."

Astra shook her head, "Against my mission parameters to destroy the samples unless they have expired. If what you say is true then it does not matter. They will still inherit those traits. The new stuff will just be stronger with it."

Jack nodded, "You just proved my point. They want this DNA in human society. Now it is stronger. If you cannot set those aside then when you sell it, sell it with two doses and one will have to be from this day going forward. Anything that prevents you from doing that? Anyone who only wants one gets a new dose."

Astra sighed and nodded, "That I could do."

Jack smiled, "Then you better get to collecting."

Astra sucked in his cock and did so 2x every 6 hours for the next 2 days. He still felt there was more to give. On the 6th day, he just fucked every hole she had as often as he could get it up. He never let her leave his side except when she went to store samples. Sometimes fucking her while she did that. He had to know what the upper limit was and he had to wait on parts from the fabricator. The first power core only gave out 84% of the expected output.

He designed and replaced some parts. He then incorporated some of the liquid metallic hydrogens that they had captured into another design as well. He had to design a portable power supply that could be recharged. It allowed the system to hold the magnetic containment of the new superconductor. One would be needed if someone wanted to do a new installation. After seeing the difference between the two of them Astra realized Jack had significantly modified the design.

The new core with a metallic hydrogen core operated at 118% above the redesigned core. While the power output for the original design was the same. His new design was more energy efficient than the one Excalibur had originally. Jack also modified some of the more damaging circuitry though he did not advertise this fact.

Astra looked at the design and the readings, "Alright you impressed me with your new designs."

Jack pulled her in and gave her a very passionate kiss, "Time to start these engines and see how we do. Power to all systems, use hard shields for now. Retract the atmospheric collection rig. I am heading to the Bridge to pilot us away. I will set a course once I spend some time flying this beast to understand how she moves. Let me know when the system is locked down."

The Excalibur had a containment sleeve that extended down and past the hard shields and it cleaned the line of any contaminants prior to the line entering the ship's interior. Any damage would be noted to affect repairs. He had left it dragging and topped off tanks as he used them. He had cycled in another 6 smaller tanks to keep some of the hydrogen and metallic hydrogen on hand and stored it in the secondary cargo bay on deck 4.

Astra finally called up, "Line retracted, we are all buttoned up, Captain."

Jack tweaked the engine up to 5% and kicked in the starboard retro thrusters. The ship broke orbit and lurched. Luckily, he was sitting.

Jack called out, "Astra, first are you alright? Second what is going on with the inertial dampeners?" Jack slowed the spinning so he could get out of his chair.

Astra groaned, "I will be fine. I have a lot of skin damage to fix. I am checking and they look like they are only running at 31% at the moment."

Jack got them out of the gravity well and then went back to Engineering and checked the resistance on the powerline and then checked the dampeners themselves. It fried the mainboard during the last jump in time it made. The dampener ran on a secondary board. It was his theory anyway.

He went to the 6th deck and scanned the boards and programmed two of the fabricators to generate two more boards with some of his modifications from the power core and others from an engine design he knew about. He took them down and installed the first and switched it over to primary. It now showed it at 100%. He pulled the secondary and it dropped to 69%. He installed the other new board and it was running at 138%.

He nodded, "Need to redesign that unit in the future."

Astra chuckled at him as he went back to the bridge. He tried a few tentative burns, followed by a wickedly fast set of maneuvers on the retro thrusters. He put the ship into a spin as they moved forward. He had it doing a spin in the angular axis as well. He got them facing forward and had stopped the spins using the retro thrusters in both directions to do a measured response. While not a fighter, it handled well enough.

Jack plotted in the course, "We should be there in 16 hours."

Astra walked over to him, "Correct that. Travel at half speed. It will take 32 hours but then you will look like you have the top-of-the-line engine for this era."

Jack groaned out and replotted the course for half speed. Jack spent all the next day on the bridge preparing patent paperwork and ship registry paperwork for the ship and the shuttle. Astra now collected 3 samples every 4 four hours. Except for one 8-hour period, Jack took a nap in his office. Astra and her 'friends' already prepared his new ID beforehand.

Jack had assumed the office would be bigger, but it was the size of a crewman's Quarters. Maybe 2 of them as he had not looked on this ship. Regardless it was not as big as he had seen on his last ship. He took some time to pound the ass out of Astra. He left her grunting and screaming for more after 90 minutes and shooting off 3 times into her perfect, soft, firm, tight bubble butt.

Every time he went soft, he pulled out. He then ran it along the crack of her ass while pushing the cheeks together. Once he was hard, he went straight back into the hilt. It was her tightest orifice and thankfully she was self-lubricating. Finally, he collapsed on his couch.

Astra got up and smiled back at him, "That was rough, but I kind of liked that."

Jack shook his head, mumbled, and thought to himself, 'It does not matter with her. Slow or fast. Passionate or spiteful. With or without excess lube. She will always be available and she always says, 'I kind of liked that.' at the end. She rarely initiates sex but is ready and willing. She is great to get relief with but I have no real hard emotional connection toward her, at least in a 'romantic sense.''

Jack heard from Meltora, "Your mating rituals confound and yet fascinate me. I will say, you do deposit into her a lot. I understand why the arm told you a hybrid would be a better choice. Even I agree with that decision for you."

Jack thought back, "Thanks for the reminder. She and her friends are the ones who insisted I cannot do self-gratification. I need a real woman or 12 of them."

Meltora chuckled, "I am not sure you can handle 12."

Jack smiled brightly, "It would sure be fun to try."

He just heard a chuckle in reply. He had practiced with his Psi sword while on the bridge. He had enough room to move around or he stood on the console after deactivating that station and used it as a practice stage for flips as well. He discovered the blade could not hurt him and he could do some of his katana-style moves with it and hold his hand over the blade; like Iaido would do if it were sheathed.

30 minutes out from the station and his ship was intercepted by a 'state-of-the-art' antiquated fighters, "You have no transponder. Identify yourself!"

He called out, "This is the Captain and owner of the Excalibur. My name is Jack Travus. This was an experimental spacecraft that just completed its final shakedown flight. We are headed to Tera-3 to update identification because of the new Global Identification System. In addition to registering this ship and conducting business. We are a multipurpose ship doing research, invention testing, trading, and passenger ferrying. We can provide what you need, for the right fee."

The man chuckled and then spoke with a note of disgust, "Identification trade over began 4 days ago. Where has this shakedown cruise gone?"

Jack replied, "We went out to Jupiter and tested our atmospheric mining rig. You let us land and we can prove that."

The guy grumbled, "You are cleared to dock on Tera-3 pylon 17. If you can fit that thing in there."

Astra nodded, "Plenty of room on that pylon."

Jack contacted him back, "Acknowledged, slowing down to port speed. No problem with pylon 17."

The 2 fighters were soon accompanied by 2 more fighters as they slowed to line up to dock. Jack lined the ship up and used the retro thrusters. He reversed the ship's facing and put it up on a 90-degree side tilt. He eased the ship in using the docking cameras. Astra commented, "I can do this via automation if you like."

Jack shook his head, "I got this. I am a crack pilot if you read my file."

He brought it down gingerly and engaged the docking clamps. The port engaged their clamps as well. That ensured Jack did not leave before settling accounts and getting permission. "Extend the sleeve from Cargo bay on deck 7 and set to zero gravity in the bay."

Astra nodded, "It is set. Firearms are not permitted but other sidearms and swords, are kind of encouraged. Not enough security."

Jack smiled at her, "I will be in my quarters getting ready. Arm yourself, dress for once, and activate internal security systems."

Jack left his pistol in his quarters and equipped his metallic swords. He had his Psi sword holstered along his right side. He took the lift down to deck 7 and admired the zero-gravity environment inside of the cargo hold.

He pushed off and got to the airlock on this deck and opened it. He righted himself with the gravity plating in the sleeve and walked down to the outer docking ring after closing the other airlock. He walked out of the airlock to a small set of guards standing there with a docking agent.

Jack extended his ID and pulled up his paperwork on the pad for the Excalibur for him to review. The man looked back, "It is 100 credits an hour to dock here. How much time will you be needing?"

Jack smiled, "Put me down for 2 days, subject to extension."

The man looked at him and shook his head, "You have those kinds of credits? Account number?"

Jack chuckled, "No active accounts. I did not want to occur those bank fees while I was off-world. As it was, I sunk about every credit I had into the Excalibur. The cargo I am bringing in will more than cover my stay here. I cannot see the commodities brokers until I get my ID switched over."

He sighed, "Your ship is marked as locked until you pay your docking fees. Failure to do so promptly can result in the forfeiture of your ship and cargo. Do you understand this?"

Jack smiled, "I read the port rules, No longer than 7 days." Jack heard in his head, "This is Astra. I am communicating with you through your cranial implant. You are doing fine. I just wanted you to know I am here if you get stuck."

The man looked at him, "2 swords, and is that a laser sword?"

Jack nodded, "It is 1 of my designs."

He looked at Jack, "How did you decide on the name for your ship?"

Jack looked back, "Angled as it is, does it not look like a sword?"

He nodded, "Alright, the identification counter is right over there. They will swap out your identification card."

The guards dispersed mostly and Jack walked up to the counter and turned in his ID. They issued him a new Tera Federal Republic Identification Card. "The 200 TCs required will be placed on your ship until you settle this account. You understand?"

Jack nodded, "Yes." She handed him his new ID card and he headed inside.

He walked over to the registration counter, "Initial Registration on a new ship of that size is 100,000 TCs. The transponder is another 10,000 TCs."

Jack nodded, "I know you will hold my ship until it is paid promptly. I also have a shuttle on the ship to register."

She nodded, "A shuttle if 15,000 TCs to register and 5,000 TCs for a shuttle transponder. Here are your registration numbers and it will cost you significantly to get it painted on the side of that ship."

Jack smiled, "I will take care of that myself."

Jack thought, "Meltora, can you place the registration number at 3 meters high on the front starboard and aft sides of the ship like you have the ship name across the bottom. Starting at the bridge and moving forward? Same script. Registrations ID number Excalibur TMU-4798. They classified it as a Multiple-purpose Utility ship."

Meltora responded, "Easy to do, and was told to expect this request."