Astra Pt. 04

Grace shook her head, "Sneaky. What is the reason?"

Jack sighed, "Half of those are components they would need to make them into ultra-powerful handguns, rifles, or light arms weapons. They can make more powerful weapons without that. They cannot ramp it up unless they innovate around the hurdles I put in place. I told them I would not manufacture handheld weapons. I took several obvious paths for them doing that out of the equation."

Astra spoke up, "Gregory Parker is calling for you."

Jack went to his desk, "Put him through."

He saw the man on his screen. He smiled, "You have had an impressive day!"

Jack smiled, "Mr. Parker, I was told you would be contacting me about my Stingray design. You have pulled up and looked at the specification, everything from power cores, power coupling, and computers. I want to know what you would be charging per unit and if you plan on gutting the design I have laid out for the ship?"

He smiled, "Straight to the point. Why don't I get to my offer for the design?"

Jack shook his head, "I am not asking for your offer. We are not there yet. What part of my design are you going to put into production? How much of it are you going to cut out?"

Gregory looked, "I would have to have my Engineers do a cost-benefit analysis on the components as listed."

Jack shook his head, "First if you are going to build it. You are going to build it to those specifications. It is designed to work with your standard titanium hull designs and not my Titanium-H which you could not produce yet. New cores, drives, software, and CPUs come online then sure. I would expect them in the contract! Cutting anything away from the design is not going to win you the right to make the craft. It has my name on it.

I would not sell my power cores if someone were going to cut all the pipe densities in half to save money. I will not support a GS mentality. I won't have them doing so with a design with my name on it. That is why I need you to tell me what your per-unit cost for this ship, as configured in the blueprints would be. Then break it down as to what each piece is costing. I believe the profit margins on these ships are way too high. I want to see where you believe they should be.

Get your people to do whatever they are going to do, but any contract I put out will establish the components listed as a minimum baseline with upgrades expected when available. For building this model. Each upgrade gets a new model number 1.0, 1.1, and so on. Upgrades that become downgrades will get you into a breach of contract lawsuit, left and right, as I will have my local law firm watching over your efforts with a technology specialist to answer the technical questions.

As I stated in my news interview. I built it with my requirements in mind. Not those of the military, which might be cheaper or different. If the military wants what they saw then they have the specs in hand. Contact Grace Winters, my business manager when you have that data."

Mr. Parker sighed and nodded as Jack ended the call.

Jack looked over, "He wanted the shell to say he had it but the internals would have been inferior."

Grace nodded, "You know these types well."

Jack got up from his desk, "Too well. I am going flying."

Grace smiled, "Alone?"

Jack nodded, tapping his head, "Yes. Astra is up here. She can contact me."

He went to the shuttle bay and looked at the craft sitting about, "Astra contact Sprits and Carol. Let them know I want to look at getting them to sell their two craft or let me break them down for components. Then build them something new. See what they think. "Open it up, Astra."

Astra sighed, "Take your shuttle instead."

Jack laughed, "Negative." He powered up the scout as she opened the doors. He shut off his transponder retro'd out and cut power immediately. Put it on a 90-degree down drop and he headed for the planet. As he approached the atmosphere, he powered up and aligned his entry vector.

He came in on the open ocean and leveled off turning his transponder back on as he headed toward San Diego. Astra called out, "You are en route toward 3 restricted military airspaces."

Jack nodded, "I have them up and I will thread the needle."

He approached the coast when he got contacted, "Unidentified aircraft you are approaching restricted North American Military Airspace."

Jack laughed, "Unidentified caller, this is an identifiable spacecraft, I will not enter military Airspace. Feel free to have your people keep up if they can."

He punched it to full and aimed for the corridor. He heard, "Unidentified aircraft, you are now headed straight into military airspace."

Jack laughed into the comms, "Unidentified voice, I am not headed into the airspace. I am flying the corridor between the 3 airspaces. To keep your air spaces from being considered one with all services traversing them you established a 100-meter border between all three of them, that is the path I am flying."

Jack heard, "Aircraft that is impossible to navigate. I am showing your craft is not even a shuttle. It is huge."

Jack headed into the corridor on his side, "In the corridor, for an air breather craft you would be correct. It would be extremely difficult to do at these speeds especially. This craft is designed for space."

He pointed the nose up, pitched into a hard right 90-degree turn with the retros firing, and kept it in the corridor. He repeated that 3 more times navigating the last of the corridor when the voice returned, "Aircraft I am pulling your transponder information."

Jack smiled, "That is why it is on and available. I stayed outside of the military air space and responded to all aircraft that interdicted me. Which was no aircraft that interdicted me as I remained out of your airspace."

He heard the guy groan, "TAR-2 King Arthur. Is that Merlin at the controls?"

Jack smiled, "Affirmative."

He heard him sigh, "It is now on record that our air space boundaries have to be revisited because an aircraft navigated the corridor. A damned scout even!"

Jack laughed, "Negative, you should be training your pilots to do that, especially when the new Lancers start arriving at the Starbases. You have the Death Valley course out there and I leave it to your guys to play at the record with that. This course is a tougher corridor in precision flying. Gets your air breather pilots accustomed to using retros to turn the craft. It is better for preparing them when they transition into space flight.

Write it up and submit the suggestion. You got a lot of pilots who are not getting enough space-time. The retros on this scout are designed to push a destroyer and are the same ones used on the Lancers. Those ships can pull off those turns. Even in the atmosphere."

He heard the guy laughing, "Taking us to school now Merlin?"

Jack sighed, "Trying to improve what you got to work with, and the way you train your pilots. It is not like I can submit the idea to your commander. He would tell you it could not be done. Now you can tell them it has been done and by whom. Also, in what! A Stingray class scout!"

Jack heard laughter from the 3 towers he left behind.

He altered course and knocked it up to full speed as he flew out over open water. Jack then took it straight up and toward the Excalibur.

Jack heard, "TAR-2, this is Tera-5 you are well beyond port speed."

Jack called back, "This is TAR-2. I am outside your AOR and landing on the Excalibur. Tower control needs to examine its procedures. Please speak with a senior flight controller if you have issues."

Jack heard Death Blossom, "Don't make me come over there and put a hurt on you, Merlin."

Jack laughed, "You got a new toy. It will do nothing to my scout. You know this. Take care Death Blossom."

He landed and Grace showed up with the numbers from Mr. Parker and Jack shook his head, "My office. Let us talk with the President."

Jack walked into his office as the call came in. He looked across, "I just got off the line with the North American Military Command about you violating military air space?"

Jack sighed, "Send flight logs from the Scout to the President, Astra. I did not violate their airspace. I demonstrated that the corridor they had between them could be navigated and suggested they use it to train new Lancer pilots."

President Grendal nodded, "Alright, I see your data here and you are technically correct. They just did not like it. The defense department is having issues with you keeping your scout."

Jack held up a finger and then typed away. He put it all in a file and then sent it across. "Mr. President, when the military looks to try and claim every prototype not built by the government in the file listed there then they can talk with me about my scout."

He looked at the file, "This is 800 years of prototypes done by defense contractors, financed by the defense contractors. Some of these are classified."

Jack nodded, "I am from the future. Some were done for counterintelligence activities for private companies before globalization took place. The courts ruled that the property was proprietary to the users and was only deemed a threat to planetary security if the weapons were more powerful than what the government could make. Now you could argue that Excalibur is in that category but as Excalibur was a military concept vessel turned over to me by the government that created it.

I could argue you could create them. It will just take you another several hundred years to get there. Any attempt to take the Excalibur would end in disaster. As the ship would destroy itself before being seized. You already know this. The formula for creating the armor on my scout. You know it. The weapon systems specs are in the patent office. They have no grounds. We both know it. While we are on the subject of crimes and abuse. Gregory Parker has zero chance of getting my scout design."

He slid him the sheet he got back with his markups. "I told him flat-out that they would have to build it to my specifications if I release the design to them. As called out in the design. It is a 300% markup over your Ravager. Over 650% of what I told you would be the appropriate cost. I listed the areas where he inflated the costs. I will find another company that will do it right but this proposal of his is ludicrous. If your advisors are still saying he is the man for this task then I would recommend new advisors!"

President Grendal had a seat as he looked over and talked to someone. It was his Attorney General. He looked over, "My Attorney General seems to disagree with you."

Grace sent him some files and Jack forwarded them, "My attorney with listed case law going back over a thousand years just sent to you and your Attorney General concerning the facts of the matter. If he has case precedence, she would like to see his list before we take this to litigation."

President Grendal looked at his Attorney General who walked out of the room. The President shook his head, "The man is scared of what you will do with the power you have."

Jack nodded, "I have shown what I will do. Stop corruption and help your military get a leap into technology. What more does he want?"

Astra contacted him in his head, "His AG is one of the Xenophobes in the next conflict in 24 years."

Jack looked across, "Astra, secure this connection. Fry listening devices. Then display the information to the President on what you just told me. Keep in mind we cannot and you cannot prosecute someone for future activity. She is giving you the data on what we know he has done today. Also, where it leads."

There were several zaps heard in his office and President Grendal shook his head. The President looked through all the data and the death toll. He shook his head, "I cannot stop this from happening, can I?"

Jack shrugged, "You can work to remove his political capital if you choose. That would likely reduce the impact. You could ask him about his ties to those groups but they are not illegal. Grace, order us 20 years' worth of supplies and another 300 chassis of those computers."

She looked at Jack, "What are you going to do?"

Jack looked at her, "Collect supplies and build what we need for a Tau Ceti departure."

President Grendal looked up, "Wait a minute. I am not suggesting you leave for Tau Ceti."

Jack nodded, "I know. I have one job left to do for humanity as a whole. Keep the Drakor from attacking. When we return, we will look to bring those colonists with us who wish to live in a society free of the xenophobic culture that is coming. Until Tera humans are ready for that eventuality. We would look to return by the time those who have yet to be born are becoming adults and before xenophobia would get too out of control. Look to offer them and their families a path to a new life.

Away from the systemic corruption, we cannot keep from bumping heads with; namely your defense contractors. We can see the path ahead; it is not smooth and will be tougher for everyone if we stay. Plan on departure in 30 days. It gives us enough time to get our supplies in check, contracts finished, and set up a law firm to oversee the trust of patents we have placed into the system."

Grace sighed and Jack walked out of the room as he shoved his chair back into the wall in the process, and left the channel open with the President. He went to his room while Astra had summoned the wives to the bridge for Grace. The news did not go over well with the wives. Grace was left at a loss as to what to say to President Grendal and she finally told him, "I will try and get him to contact you back. Get him to calm down some first, Mr. President." Before disconnecting the call.

---

The next morning Jack woke early and pulled rations from one of the many spare bedrooms and went to his lab. He locked out all entry to the room, "Astra, seal lab from everyone. No calls are to be put through until I call out. You know I can only go a week without being in excruciating pain and I am asking for that week.

Let Grace know I hope it did not interfere with her wedding scheming as she never gave me a date I could not plan accordingly. Send a message to all wives and crew. Shut down all attempts to communicate with me short of the bio-implant. If that gets to be too much, I will rip it out."

---

Jack had not slept well the night before as his mind was flooded with hundreds of ideas. He spent 7 days formulating out what it would take to travel to an unestablished colony and what they would need to build beforehand. He worked to devise a way of trying to build while en route to Tau Ceti those pieces he would need at the colony. Then a new list of ship designs and the next set of drive modifications to decrease travel time even further.

Followed by the first items with the Psionic technology. Then he did a complete set of weapons upgrades, unlike any weapon systems he had worked with or that he reverse-engineered. He had them all stored offline and then had a list of what they needed now. By the 8th day, Jack was in serious pain. He had everything in his mind in a more stable place.

He took all of his work along the way and encrypted every file on every pad. With fabricators running everything he needed immediately. He contacted Astra who he had tuned out for days, which frustrated her to no end. "Send the Doctor and Grace. Please have the others meet in medical."

He got up but was barely walking when Astra opened the door and he was swarmed by ladies before he passed out.

---

Jack woke up in the medical bay not knowing exactly how much time had passed. Grace stared down at him, "You have a lot of very worried ladies. Astra said you refused to acknowledge her even."

Jack nodded, "I did not pull the chip. I just did not answer her."

Grace looked at Jack, "She said you put command protocols on everything you worked on. You also shut off all monitoring except for that chip and biomonitoring. The doctor said you only ate through a third of the supplies you took with you for a week. That came out to 1 meal a day!"

Jack nodded, "Ask Astra, each one contains a full day of supplements. You do not need 3 meals to stay healthy."

Grace shook her head, "That is why we had to carry you out of there."

Jack shook his head, "That was Astra's doing. Or more accurately her core's doing. It performed all of the medical butchery on me."

Grace sighed, "It had been 2 weeks since you spoke with the President. He was shocked to hear what you did to us. I contacted him after we got you to medical. I told him we still do not know what all you did but all the fabricators were spitting out all kinds of parts. Carol told him you would be kept under for at least a week. She wanted you back to full strength. Your balls are healthy. I have 14 contracts for you to sign including one for your scout.

President Grendal went back to Mr. Parker and read him the riot act on the overcharges to the projections. The President called in all his ship designers. He let them know that that kind of breakdown would be expected of each of them going forward if they wished to maintain their contracts. He also released his AG after he got him to admit his issues were with you being a hybrid. Not that he had a legal basis for his issues. He wants to talk with you."

Jack sighed and looked down at his tied-down form. He looked at her, "You untying me?"

Carol shook her head, "Not yet."

Jack smiled, "You should know better."

He closed his eyes and focused as he made his body insubstantial until the straps fell through him. He sat up to a bunch of shocked faces. He looked at them, "Doing that with a blade was just a start. Doing it with your body is another step in a long journey."

---

The Drakor Jack referred to as Justice sat with his council. They had been debating his activity in the hangar, the fast pace of his growth, then his mind's ability to generate so much technology so quickly. They all froze in their deliberation as they watched Jack go ethereal. Some were concerned about him while others found him to be a marvel. It was unusual for them to not be of the same mind on an individual or a species.

Justice spoke mentally, the only way they could speak to each other or others. "We will send an ordinary dispatch to the Drakor Ruling Body through normal channels. He is progressing in months to what should have taken decades or even centuries. His joining process was not usual. His dedication to exercising as many skills as he has is interesting to watch but he has not discovered them all yet. He has not pushed the bounds on telepath, which he had figured he would need.

Yet his telekinetics has grown and now this demonstration of Telepathic power to go into the ethereal makes me wonder how much he is holding back. His being a Justice is interesting but we believe he is likely to find others including the Wise and willful one he calls Grace. He is still years out from getting to the rendezvous location. Those who would want to evaluate him further have lots of time yet.

Including those who monitor the timeline. I will say, he is extremely impressive for a Hybrid and I have never heard of one progressing this fast. I am curious to see what he will do next. But I now concur that it is time to inform the Drakor Ruling Body about him and let them decide more on the matter."

---

Jack went to stand and had ladies trying to keep him steady. Grace cursed, "Fucking leave it to you to find a way out of medical we cannot stop."

Jack reached over and kissed Grace, "What happened to your scheming? I mean 'wedding planning,' efforts."

Grace rolled her eyes, "It is on and in 2 days."

Jack nodded, "Thought you were going to keep me down for a week? Or was that just your nefarious way of keeping me out of the know until the last second instead while keeping me away from the President or my lab until after the fact?"