Astra Pt. 04

Jack looked over, "By whom and when? Do you have a judge at this station? If so, that might make my activity go that much faster."

The station manager disconnected the call. "Grace continue interviewing."

The guard went to grab her and his hand bounced off. Grace looked at him "You have a problem guard Richford. Is that not the name of the station manager?"

Jack called out, "Astra get me the judge that presides over debt collection for Terra-1 please."

She smiled, "Putting you through. He saw a woman in her early 40's, "This is Judge Carters law-clerk, can I help you?"

He nodded, "Yes I need to speak with the judge as soon as possible. I am sending you a list of 1,513 names and the top 83 are listed as being in a debtor's prison section. I would like to know when and where these people's cases have been heard and who was hired by the court to do an independent evaluation of the charges these people have been forced to pay that got them placed here.

My wife Grace Travus is a lawyer speaking will all the people here in regard to these cases. This is bordering on a humanitarian crisis. Astra, send the audio and video file as well."

She smiled, "They have been sent Sprits and Holly are on their way as all of the cameras in that section just blacked out. Aiko is with them as well."

Jack nodded and thought, * Get those cameras back on. *

She responded, * Right on it.*

She was just a second and told him mentally, * They are all back on. Including the surrounding area where snipers are setting up. *

Jack thought, * Send all sniper images to Admiral Gonzales. Update her on the situation. *

The guard left his post and went down the stairs.

He ran into Sprits with Holly, "Officer, I have video evidence of you turning away a potential if not potentially the biggest employer in port right now saying that nobody cares about these people. Especially you. Any comment and are you the son of the Station Manager?"

She stuck a microphone in his face while Sprits recorded it with a camera. The guy ran and Jack looked over, "No other guards?"

He got a call back from the Judge's office, She looked at Jack, "The judge does not have any of these names for anything. Terra-1 is reported as cleared of all debtors." Jack nodded, "Please let the judge know that Jack Travus is taking the people in this section to his ship.

I have a weeks' worth of time on the dock. We should hopefully be able to get this all straightened out before then. As you have no records, I want to get these people a good meal and access to some showers. My ship does have passenger births. She nodded, "I am putting a note here for the judge as you cannot leave the station if there is an issue, I see no problem with that."

Jack looked at everyone. "Please follow us, we will get you some food. Holly and Grace will interview you all and get you to my ship which has showers."

Everyone started moving and Jack set up a walking telekinetic wall over around and in front of the group with Holly and Sprits leading the way when the shots rang out.

Jack smiled, "Everyone. No guns are allowed on this station so nobody will hit us with gunfire. Just continue. He watched as the bullets bounced away. He got everyone onto pylon 6 when a gaggle of station guards came running forward and slammed into the wall. Jack stood there as the people got on his ship. One of the guards yelled at Jack, "You cannot do this they have debts!"

Jack looked at him, "Not according to the Judge who oversees debt issues at this station. None of the 1,513 names are on file with him. We were told we could bring them aboard, feed them and get them cleaned up first. You fighting direction from the judge's office? I still asked for all of the cases and a judge's name who signed off on them.

Please send that to Grace Travus. We have a whole slew of interviews to have these people get done with the press. We spoke with Judge Carter's law-clerk who told us this station had no debtors. We will be here all week-long awaiting supplies."

Jack closed the hatch behind him and released the wall that blocked them.

Astra laughed, * They just set the charge into the docking ring to bring our power down.*

Jack thought, * Open all weapons, aim at the tower and down the dock. Play dead like our comms are out. See what they do. *

He looked at everyone, "You are all going to deck 3. He watched them all go up and Danyelle and with Aiko played guards and hosts. Took them to rooms to get cleaned up and others to the dining facility to get fed.

Jack got into his EVA suit, "Activate all internal security. Activate docking sleeve into deck 7. Cargo area and depressurize the area from end-to-end." As he sealed off himself inside cargo bay 7. "Ash called in, "I had Danyelle take me to King Arthur. I can fly and she can shoot if needed." He chuckled, "Get in, depressurize and wait. We still have hard shields up."

She sighed, "Right."

Astra laughed, "We are now being hailed by the tower."

Jack shook his head, "They just fried our comms. King Arthur. Open bay doors Relay me through King Arthur's comms."

She laughed some more, "Terra-1 this is TAR-2 King Arthur. Someone sent an electrical surge into fry the electronics on Excalibur. Did you wish to give us a message?"

He heard, "Excalibur put your weapons away."

Jack replied, "This is not the Excalibur this is TAR-2 King Arthur. Again, I say someone sent an electrical surge into the docking collar to fry Excalibur systems. Somethings have activated because of this illegal activity. It will take time to effect repairs. We might even have to do an EVA or two to see how bad the damage is."

The good news is the communication system aboard King Arthur is working like a champ and we hope to be in contact with the proper authorities shortly to address the lawless situation on Terra-1. You had snipers in the area. Guards evacuating their posts and we have the first round of interviews to go out to the media and the courts ready to transmit."

Astra spoke to him, * 30-man strike team coming up the dock. *

Jack nodded, "Opening door to the Cargo Bay on deck 7. We are depressurized from decks 7-9 at the moment because of this damage. Doing an EVA to assess the damages. I had to reroute power from the development lab. To do that much and open the shuttle bay doors."

Astra told Jack, * They are looking to plant a charge on the door, Hold on. *

He called out, "PA system." She hit it. "All attempts to access this research facility will be met with deadly force. No exceptions. The deck you are attempting to access is depressurized."

Astra called in, "They have their access door open and they have stepped back."

Jack sighed, "I repeat, Half the ship is depressurized!"

Crackle BOOM. Followed by the swooshing of air as they blew through the smuggler's ring door and it sucked 20 of them out into space inside the hard shields. The other 10 worked to crawl back to the safe line before the pressure doors closed.

Jack thought, * Release smuggler's ring. *

She looked out there, * There are now 30 dead guards and military floating around the ship. Including the 8 men from the Terra News station attack. *

He thought, * Send maintenance bots to collect the bodies. Pass me through to the Excalibur bridge. *

Jack sighed, "This is Excalibur. Someone set a charge and blew a whole bunch of people out into space. It destroyed the docking ring but appears to have taken care of the electrical issue. Tower where should we send these bodies?"

He closed the cargo bay door and checked the tunnel. He thought, "Seal bottom airlock. Pressurize bay."

He went inside and went to the bridge. "This is Terra-1 tower. Excalibur you are under arrest. Your ship is seized return to the dock immediately."

Jack called out, "Terra-1 tower, We reported an act of sabotage that destroyed our docking ring. Do you wish for us to LAND on the docking pylon? Who is running that circus up there?"

He brought up the Admiral and she looked at Jack, "Did not make it 7 days."

He chuckled, "Not even 7 hours. We have 1,513 people aboard that were in the debt collector section of the 'prison', being held by the station chief's son who I believe is now one of the 30 bodies floating around our ship after they blew a charge on the docking ring door. We contacted Judge Carter's office.

No paperwork existed for any of these people. We are talking false imprisonment with potential human trafficking charges. Our 8 special-ops guys were on the station and are floating with the station Chiefs son."

They heard, "Excalibur prepare to be boarded."

Jack pressed the com button, "Terra-1 tower could you keep it down.

I am talking with Admiral Gonzales about what kind of military action should be brought against the station chief and those who are aiding him. You will have to wait for your turn."

The Admiral shook her head, "You are having too much fun with this."

Jack shook his head, "No, I would rather there be no corruption to root out."

She sighed, "I got 5 strike teams that are 2 minutes out and 3 squadrons from Terra-4 and 5 in route."

He accessed the comms, "Please inform the station commander he can surrender now. This station is now under the control of the Terran Military."

The Admiral laughed. "Astra. Shutdown military hangar doors, shutdown station batteries, shutdown station sensors, and shutdown gravity."

He looked out the front and saw 24 fighters. All old ones, "Terra-1 fighters, stand down or we will fire upon you. All forward batteries take aim. He hooked in the Admiral, "This is Admiral Gonzales. Report to Terra-2 and surrender your fighters until cleared. Terra-1 is under military control. I have 3 squadrons of Lancers coming in hot to your position. Excalibur and King Arthur are cleared to fire."

He thought, * Astra normal shields. King Arthur move out. *

King Arthur blasted out of there and 10 ships fired on it. Excalibur sent all 10 into vapor. The other 14 ships headed for Terra-2 with King Arthur tailing them. Jack sighed, "We had 10 fire on King Arthur. There is not enough left of them to bury."

She shook her head, "The others?"

He sighed, "In route to Terra-2 with King Arthur and a squad of Lancers on their ass. I am requesting time at Terra-2 to offload these passengers. I still have 161 hours left on my account. I will turn things back on at Terra-1."

She asked, "You going to ferry that many?"

He shook his head, "No dock. They destroyed the docking ring as planned and predicted. That was why we set up a smuggler's ring on the bottom of the ship before docking. When they blew it open it did no damage to our ship. The same went for frying our communications. We let them think they had the advantage to push their luck.

As soon as they remembered that we had a scout to do that with they wanted to board as quickly as possible to try and shut us up. Astra turned all system back on and opened the docks now that they had fighter jocks worth a damn are standing by. "Terra-1 assault forces have landed, 10 fighters destroyed. 30-armed terrorists dead. Lancer squadrons have your military dock. You all have a good day explaining yourself."

---

Jack pulled out and went to Terra-2 where they release the captives and paid for them to be taken to the surface. Another 153 court-martials were performed from the squadron leader to the station manager, and tower controls. The list of officers loyal to the 'coup' effort, included 12 base commanders, wing commanders, pilots and other military personnel around the world.

The special-ops base they operated out of was blown up from the air by 30 attack runs leaving one large crater in the middle of that desert. Construction on towers 8, 10, and 12 began with station 10 being first between 4-5. Within 3 months the first docking bay section and landing pads were done and half the team moved onto Station 12 began next with between Terra-1 and Terra-6.

Jack had moved the two-beam ship out toward the dark side of the Moon and had material delivered there to work on project centipede. When it was completed after 6-month, he had the two now available beam builders move back to Terra-10. He started working reinforcements of ships coming in from the surface that he had purchases including his farming vessel, his colony transport.

He added additional features as well. He had Paul overseeing operations and he was now a red sword hybrid. Both of his wives were blue sword hybrids within days. Ash saved her hand for Carol who was done before any other wives had been added. Tim's wives, Lisa and Sarah decided the blood opinion was best for them as they were not into the sword training aspect."

Soon all of Jack's children started arriving and the reported birth boom in the male population was a good thing. Jack had started setting his sperm to be closer to 3 male 1 female numbers figuring he had generated enough males in the first batch to extend many family names to work a more balanced approach while working the gap more. Of 12,943 children born in that first batch over 11,000 were males.

The offers went out to those who wished to join the colonies, the bee-hives were delivered, and Carol became the 6^th eternal hybrid with a blue-bladed sword called "Shield of Mercy." Two attempts were made to destroy the new starbases 1 at a time once; 2 together the second time. Jack arrested the descent of 10 and 12 from orbit. Offsetting enough of the mass on the two stations with telekinesis to allow the remaining engines to get the stations to a stable higher orbit to effect repairs.

That effort knocked Jack out for 12 days as his wives were not on the Bridge and Astra had to alert them as to what was going on and what Jack managed to say before collapsing. James Treven made sure security got tightened on the stations after that. How the stations kept from crashing was not known beyond the wives.

Enough people feared what Jack could do. The number of support engines doubled in case anyone ever tried it again. Stations 10 and 12 were completed within a year, 8 was getting close, 9 and 11 were underway with the docks on station 9 coming operational. They had 31 ships in total with two distinct colony leaders. With 114,511 men, women, and children. Three to one woman to men.

All the final semen samples were left with the bank. Harrold Finning who Jack managed into coaxing into taking point on Geos; the planet name went straight to being named Geos. Had Jennifer Bree who was going to manage the colony at Meos. (The locals would jokingly call it Mentos because of the cool cold candy matching most of the planet.) Jennifer had a couple of Jack's son's unknown to him.

She was also pregnant with more of his seed. Astra ensured she got a sample along with 2,481 other women traveling with them. Astra had a portable ovulatory she put together to treat them in medical, or Carol could on the other ship. The wives knew but Jack was unaware. Each colony leader had 12 ships assigned to them including two farming vessels.

With bees on one and coffee on the other with other crops. One brewery on each of the bee transports. Each ship was outfitted with a single Lancer type III fighter dock; one of the additions. Jack drew upon past military service to ensure pilots were available on each ship if needed.

The colony ships and the Hospital ship all had a pair of Manta-2 shuttles on each one; no fighter craft. None of the new ships were registered in Terra space. All of these new fighter and shuttle ships built and support vessels modified on the centipede to accommodate them.

Then they had the support vessels. The 2 beam makers, 2 miner vessels, Centipede which was an FTL capable expandable ship dock made from Titanium-H, The Hospital ship called Lady of the Lake, and the Excalibur. Four Hybrids agreed to stay on at Tau Ceti, Tim and his wives at Meos and Paul and his wives at Geos with the centipede.

The hybrids were the expedition leaders and founders along with the colony leaders they drafted up the colony bylaws and had them filed prior to departure. They had 20-years of supplies established to take with them.

---

September 1st, 2433

Captains log.

"All ships are lined up and ready to go. The two mining ships left two days before and after topping off all the remaining ships Excalibur was headed to Jupiter again.

The rest of the ships were headed for corridor 1 which would align with the destination in 2 weeks. Enough time to do a hull check some more mining, and then the coordinated launch of the 31 FTL drives."

September 5th, 2433

"Finished gathering crafting materials to keep me crafting for the next 3 years while keeping us fueled." Jack reached over and hit the comms. The operator nodded to him, "Been expecting this call, Jack."

He nodded to her and he saw their President with a room full of reporters. He nodded to them, "We are fueled up and heading to catch up with the main fleet.

The miners are ahead of them to get started as we have a couple of weeks in the corridor to do hull checks, FTL start-up checks, and be lined up for the optimum approach for Tau Ceti. I left you a private message, Mr. President. I hope it is an easy enough request to fill and you got plenty of time to think about it."

He laughed at that, "Jack do you know when you will be back?"

Jack sighed, "From 5 to 15 years from now. Best guess. You know me, there are a few things I want to build before I head back."

There heard laughter from the crowds. He looked over, "We have less than a minute before we are out of comm range so I wanted to send out one last surprise. The 31st ship in our armada that is going. I sent you a file in which to show the people how I have been able to put some of this together so fast. Good luck everyone. Keep the peace."

The President looked over, "I believe I know which vessel he is referring to but he kept a fairly tight lid on it for the last year."

He played the file and it was an image of Astra, "Jack being who he is has delegated me the task to describe the Centipede project to you. She showed the bug with the folded legs and then expanded it out and widened out the legs all 100 of them that were 4 battleships across parked side by side and almost 10 long.

She looked at them, "The centipede is the only FTL capable space dry dock known to man. Jack wanted to ensure if there was an issue along the way we could fix it. That when they arrive, they can start building the inter-colony shuttles to travel between the twin worlds. Geos is the world closer toward the sun and a little warmer along the equator.

Less than 12 hours out at its nearest point is the system of Meos, not Mentos like some of the colonists are calling it. It is a cooler world but still within the habitable zone and more temperate along the Equator. The Centipede will build fighters, scouts, shuttles, and even destroyer class ships for Home Guard protection. It will be many years before they will have a population capable of manning larger ships than that.

After this initial colonization, when Jack returns, he will be able to let you know if they are ready for phase 2 of the expansion. If so, he would look to double the size of the next group. The colony charters have already been filed. This is not a colony for those who are xenophobic or who hate AI's like me.

They put that in the bylaws that they are an open society. They also incorporated a hybrid law foundation. Two-hybrid leaders will end up staying behind and keeping a hybrid presence in the system, four technically as one does have two hybrid wives.

Both colonies have colony leaders who are not hybrids. The population mix is 3 women to every man. Polygamy is encouraged and a hospital ship will help with insemination efforts and research efforts. Jack saved 1 from the military scrap heap and refitted it and reinforced the ship.