Astra Pt. 04

Jack heard, "We are launching King Arthur brushing into the atmosphere and heading lower to slingshot in and out; I am doing the maneuver for Grace. We will kill power on the backside. I passed the information along. Dragon Lady is starting her attack run right above the one you are on but heading for the nest."

He powered the door and EVA'd out he started a spin with both swords in hand and started cutting a hole into the ship. The air seeped out and then the cylinder of metal popped away and the others followed.

He called out, "First ship outer hull breached. Climbing inside the hull and heading for the weapon level. Staying out of the corridor." He heard from Astra, "King Arthur reports the support ships were alerted to your presence. They shot away and shot up the Merlin. They were glad to hear you were not inside Merlin."

Jack pulled up his diagram. He sighed, "Fuck."

He went in through the passageways and headed for what should be a docking area from the scan he had. Being out in a vacuum the Pralons could not hear the heartbeat of the hybrids. He sighed and thought, 'Only if we get careless, do we have to worry about them hearing us."

He thought back, * Belts on. The area ahead is narrow. They hear us bouncing around they could start shooting through the walls just for spite. *

It seemed like forever before he got to the junction he wanted. He pointed, *Ash, Left, I got right and in front. Run sword and let's decompress this area. *

She nodded as the sword came out and they punched through the inner hull and the atmosphere started venting. They cut away and got some light arms fire that died quickly.

---

Dragon Lady called back, "Merlin is a slag heap now I just saw the power core go up. We have two support ships heavily damaged. So far."

Astra called back, "They are in the inner hull, not on the shuttle. King Arthur is approaching in silence and your two rabbits are almost ready to power up. Carol said the third one is still in a beam. They appear to be cycling which of the 3 is hitting that one."

Dragon Lady got bounced around hard and her shields were at half power. She looked, "They have fighters coming in from these ships. They are carriers apparently. Going under the nest. All fighters, stay with your wingman."

---

King Arthur coasted along Carol called out, "We are traveling at almost 5.5x speed. Glad we ran low power for the ID and life support. The EVA G-suits were a good idea, Astra. With the slingshot around the planet, we feel the effects but it is tolerable. We should be close enough to engage in under 5 minutes. Stay toward the backside of Titan Excalibur. They are taking the long way following your trail."

---

Jack cut a circular opening and then another in the next wall while the ladies covered with pistols. Blast doors had come down and the new hole vented another compartment setting off some alarms. The force of the air was massive so it was a larger room.

Jack thought, *Expand the back hole, I will do the front. Sprits hold her belt, Aiko hold onto and mine magnetize boots. *

Thirty seconds and the large area was still lit but decompressed. He looked and spotted weapon turrets turning. He pulled a rifle, "*Release boots. Turrets, Fire away. Ash started punching holes in those blast doors. He fired and Aiko fired as they both caught some return fire off the shield belts and destroyed a couple of more. He looked inside, * Hangar Bay it looks like. We need to commandeer a craft for our escape. Ash and Aiko go back down the tunnel and back up the inside. See if you can find a path to the weapon. Or the weapons power source. Use your wireframe on your vid. *

He sighed, "Astra, we found a hangar bay to find an escape craft, Aiko and Ash went looking for a path to the weapon from here."

---

Astra Called out, "Ground team still working on the same ship. They found hangar and are working toward the weapon. They may need to commandeer something to escape."

Dragon Lady was cursing, "These fucking rats are not as fast but they hit hard, Shields at 5 % switching to secondary. "This is Wildcard, "Scrapped that bastard off your ass, Dragon Lady. I got his buddy chasing me and Crazy Eights is lining up a shot. Sometime this week. Fuck they hit hard. Shields at 30%"

"This is King Arthur, "Blew away two bogies. Starting on the nest ships. You are clear Crazy Eights." They heard, "This is Death Blossom inside the pocket and engaging. The support ship looks like I hit a core. It's going to blow! Scatter!"

---

Akio and Ash made it to the top and cut through the inner hull with a hissing sound. Some turret fire came in through the hole repeatedly and they moved over to the side. Ash moved around and decided to cut a door open.

She thought, * Found some turret fire at the top. Must be close. Using the inner hull paths seems to be working. *

Ash got hit from below. Aiko pulled the rifle and started shooting down at the rats in EVA suits. * We got 10 rats geared up in EVA suits. Shield belts are holding. *

Ash stopped and switched to pistols and started firing down at those coming up until they had frozen carcasses drifting down there. * Ash here, The rat problem from below is fixed for the moment. I guess the pistols were a good idea. Going back to creating a door. *

Jack thought back, * Stop with the door, Dropdown 3 meters and punch through again maybe you will find a powerline into the weapons area. *

Sprits called out *What kind of ship is that? *

Jack went and looked and went pale. He thought * That is a Drakor scout ship. From the moon image, I was shown. That is a scout ship. How did the fucking rats end up with one? *

He heard from Justice, * We did not know they had one of our ships. This is most troubling. What do you intend to do? *

Jack thought back, * Use it to escape here and find a way to return it to you. Humanity is not ready for any technology it might have. *

Jack went to the side and the door opened for him and Sprits. They went inside to see wisps of remains floating about and at least a dozen swords. Sprits asked, *Psi Swords? *

Jack sighed, * Find the controls. Let us see what we can do here. Take nothing. We are getting this back to the Drakor. They know we found it. *

Grace heard, * Recall all your fighters strong-willed one. Tell them to clear out of the area. The Drakor are coming. *

Ash laughed and thought, * Found a duct and Aiko just shot out the power lines in it. Good job Grand Master Engineer. *

Both ladies heard Justice, *Get to the hangar. The Drakor are coming. *

---

Grace screamed out, "Dragon Lady abort your run. Get your fighters cleared now and head for home immediately. We got another inbound alien. This time it is the Drakor. They are pissed about something and want you out of the way. I would advise not pissing them off. So would the President."

Dragon Lady growled, "Fighters! Head out, we got a path?"

Grace called out, "Yes that weapon should be down on that right flank ship. Head out that way. Use it as a blocker. King Arthur is following you!"

The ladies made it into the hangar and found Sprits waving them over. They flew into the ship. The door sealed and the drive activated. There were 3 quick jerks and then they looked out into open space. Jack looked around and saw the Excalibur. * Grace we are just above you. Have the hangar door open and pull near. We did not touch anything here but we are in a Drakor scout ship. Found with the Rats. *

Grace sent a message back. * I see one of their ships above the Rats. They are terminating with extreme prejudice. The ship is fucking huge. *

Carol twisted to look back, "Dragon lady, get eyeballs but do not engage. THAT is the Drakor."

She called out, "By all that is fucking holy!"

The Drakor wasted no time launching beam weapons that were half as wide as the Capital Ships that they fired upon. It vaporized them into dust. Two shots and each Capital Ship was gone. The nest was gone in one. She called out, "Whatever they did I want to be sure we do not do it. We could not take on that kind of firepower."

Dr. Carol called up the President. She had a good line of sight. He looked at her, "Something to report."

She nodded, "Astra, Feed them our camera and your camera into this comm feed with yours starting when they arrived!"

The President asked, "Who arrived?"

Danyelle answered, "The Drakor arrived! They are not after us but you gotta see this!"

---

The President was linked in with the Joint Chiefs and Secretary of Defense had made it to the Capitol as the images started coming through. The president looked at it. "They said that is the Drakor firing on the group our team intercepted. We do not know why."

Grace was linked in, "We do know why. Jack found that the Rats had a Drakor scout ship in their Hangar. They are fucking pissed. They asked us to clear all our fighters out of the area. Else they would be gone right now.

They remotely controlled the scout to get our ground crew out, Jack and the others. Merlin was destroyed prior to all of this but they got onto the ship. We are awaiting directions from the Drakor now."

The firing stopped and the ship looked like it just vanished.

King Arthur called back, "Fighters head for Terra. I am heading for Excalibur. The rats are neutralized and pulverized."

Grace looked over, "We have our guys coming in with EVA suits and King Arthur returning. The Drakor are behind us now. The Drakor apparently want to talk with us. We will keep you posted."

Astra dropped the call. Dragon Lady called up the Capitol and was put through to her surprise. She looked at the President. "Sending you my gun camera footage from here. But I see two Drakor ships. Looks like they are, the one is tiny by comparison, about the size of one of our scout ships. Near Titan and Excalibur. King Arthur is en route and in case you did not hear Merlin was destroyed."

The President nodded, "Send your squads back. You stay put and keep an eye on this for us."

The Secretary of Defense looked over, "We cannot stop that kind of firepower!"

He nodded, "It's in Jack's hands. We will just know if it is coming soon. Get me the editor at Terra News."

He nodded and they brought the man up and he was surprised to see the President. He looked at him, "Mr. President. We have not reported a thing."

He nodded, "For your cooperation and your patients. Put me on the air."

---

They all heard, * You have all done us a great service in finding this ship. When you entered it, we were able to determine which ship it was. It has been missing for 193 years. Presumed lost in an ion storm in a distant nebula. This race of creatures never went to the rendezvous location and killed any with the gift. We watched and waited as they consumed away their homeworld and spread across the galaxy.

We thought they would die off. No home and no society. Instead, they used technology from our ship to make the weapon that you feared to destroy. Once you found the ship, we knew what they were using. It is a part of something.

Something you are not ready for and was not intended as a weapon. There were four parts to this device that are identical. One remains on the ship. The other 3 were perverted into those beasts' ships. Our council has been alerted and any signs of those creatures will be tracked and terminated.

That leaves us with a quandary with Even Hands of Justice and his ladies. We know you said your people failed this twice, but you have succeeded. The answer you gave to us was the right answer. Bring 30 bars of your stable hydrogen and meet us on the surface of the moon you call Titan. Strong-willed one, the fighter known as Dragon Lady should be instructed it is safe for her to leave. Humanity proved itself today. Thanks to the Even Hands of Justice. *

Grace opened up comms, "Dragon Lady. It is safe and requested by the Drakor that you depart the area. We are in no danger from the Drakor. Pass that message back to the President. Jack found the answer, or an answer the Drakor wanted to here. We will return soon. We have a meeting to attend too once you are gone."

Dragon Lady sighed, "Mr. President. I am being told to clear the area and that we are in no danger from the Drakor. Apparently, Jack Travus came up with an answer. Heading for home because I do not want to piss those people off."

The President nodded, "Thank you, Dragon Lady, catch up with your Squadron."

The President was sitting there with Bill the news Anchor who was waiting for him to speak. The President sighed, "Earlier today a group of ships that the Excalibur helped us to identify as belonging to an alien race known as the Pralons entered our solar system and are believed to have destroyed the station at Jupiter.

A group of rat-like carnivores that stand a few meters tall. Jack Travus and all our Lancer pilots went to engage this force against incredible odds. Something occurred during this contest that we do not know fully. We expect to know the answer when Jack Travus returns. The race Jack has been talking with us about.

The race he told me could have wiped us out of the galaxy if it had desired instead of giving us these gifts; arrived in system. They entered this battle after ensuring our fighters got clear. The following are some images of the firepower this race unleashed on the Pralons.

He let the people watch the short strip of data. "That one ship was 6 times the size of our largest battleship. Their weapons fire was simply immeasurable by any scale we have. What we do know is they are talking with Jack out near Titan.

The last message we got from them was for our fighter who was monitoring at some distance away. To clear out. That we were in no danger from the Drakor. We look forward to Jack's return so he can explain what happened here and the larger-scale implications.

Information on the Pralon arrival came as Jack had just finished marrying his last 4 wives and his 7 wives are with him. We will let you know when we know more. We are declaring a state of emergency only to keep traffic away from this meeting and ensuring they are not interrupted. We wish Jack the best as he has shown us, he has the best intentions for humanity. Thank you."

---

Ash, Sprits, Grace, Aiko, and Jack met in the hangar bay after King Arthur landed. They brought in thirty bars of his alloy and took it down to the planet in King Arthur where the shuttle was waiting for them.

One stepped forward and held out two hands and Jack called up his two swords and gave them to him. Another went to Ash and she called up hers and gave it to him. They went and sat down and motioned for the others to sit down. Thirty bards floated out of the shuttle and landed in front of them in a nice neat row.

The 1 in the middle appeared to be speaking with all of them. It was Justice from what Jack could tell, * Some are newer than others and might not have the strength to craft the initial weapon. Jack being a Justice in and of itself presents an interesting challenge in you creating swords. Our Justices don't typically do these mundane tasks but you have proven to be a hands-on leader. We want to see what you create. 2 bars are in front of you. Place your hands above them. *

Jack did as he asked. *Close your eyes. Now picture your swords. Then force your will into the bars. *

Jack thought back, *I do not see two bars as they are. I do not see two swords. I see 2 bars becoming 1 sword. *

Jack felt the bars rise and merge in-between his hands. He felt his hands coming together. * They told him, * Open your eyes and heart to us. *

Jack opened his eyes and his heart and found himself centered as Iaido training would have him be. His hands were on the hilt of a single blade handle. That flowed with a dark purple blade almost one and a half times as long as his previous Psi-blade. It even had the right curve to it. The sword blade was not round like before.

It was a lighter purple along the edge but went darker further away from the edge it got. The lines were not straight, It had the look of a sword where the light had been folded 16 times. He looked across at the one. * On Terra this sword is very much like a Katana that has been folded 16 times to increase the hardness and the edge of the blade. The sword is wielded with both hands. In our society, justice is one thing and to have the even hands of justice on one blade would make sense. If I may show you what I mean. *

He turned off the beautiful blades and set it across his leg and pulled the Katana from his belt. He freed it from its sheath and sat it across the sheath for him to look at.

He set the other one below it and did the same, * This is a matched set of Wakizashi and Katana worn by rules in ancient Japan called Samurai. This set was created in the future but the meaning is not lost. The smaller one was considered a backup to the longer sword.

In case the first one was broke or the weapon was unforgivably disarmed in a fight. Samurai carried both swords. With Psi weapons and the ability to summon the weapon, a secondary is not required. The handle has the words in Japanese.

It translates differently to 'Dispenser of Justice.' I believe this is a difference in our culture as well. The only way for me to have been even-handed with two weapons would have been for both my hands to be even in strength. Even with the change done to my left arm, it was never even.

The new description is more in line with me being a hybrid justice. We also have many styles of swords in our history and across the many cultures we have. I can create my own blade and others could as well as it reflects as much about their upbringing and beliefs.

About the cultures, they were immersed in, and the beauty of the blade. I leave the two swords before me as a gift to you to mark this day. The Silver cloth-like grip the sword has created over the handles is similar in design to the ones you see before you. I spent a lot of my early years in Japan. *

Jack heard, * You would have a hard time building a sword for another. *

Jack smiled, * I would work to focus my will into another to find the sword that laid buried within them. Let their minds, draw from my will to create the vision of the sword they seek. Each would be unique. Some red, some blue and some purple. But that might all be different styles of swords. *

He tapped the end of his sword, * We could try it my way. Passing my will, the energy to be shaped by those selecting the blade. *

Justice thought to him, * Who would you select to try this with? *

He looked and he has Ash and Sprits next to him. He thought to them both. * Place your hands over a brick of metal or two if you use both hands. * They did so. He looked at them. * Picture the sword in your mind. Do not tell me what you see. Just picture the blade and focus your will on shaping the handle of the blade and what the blade will look like. *

Jack held his hands behind each of the two of them and focused his will on each of them. When he stopped feeling the draw, he thought to them, * Open your eyes and summon your sword.*

Ash's sword had a red blade but was far different. It had a cross member that looked like a longsword with flaming bird wings under the light of the red blade and a circular egg-like pommel. Sprits had a thin blue bladed with the metal twisting guards of an elaborate Spanish rapier. He thought out as he read the inscription of Ash's and nodded, * Her blade now says the 'Fiery Flames of Vengeance.' This is in English, She is known as Ash and sometimes she is called Phoenix. An eternal mythical bird that dies and is reborn in its own ashes as it immolates when it dies. It is in the style of a Long Sword of the area of our world known as Europe. She was lost, broken, and alone when I found her. She was dying inside at her fate. She was reborn in the fire once she understood what it all meant. She is the Phoenix. The wounded Bird made whole.