Astra Pt. 05

We have no credits and it works more like a co-operative. I have my 'day job if you will and I have my role as the commanding Admiral for the Home Guard. You saw my guys fly in."

She nodded, "Very impressive formation."

Jack smiled, "A majority of those fighter and shuttle pilots are 16 years old."

She looked at Jack, "Children soldiers?"

Jack smiled, "No, we do not train soldiers we train pilots. All 'ground troops' are like village militias. Air support is key if we are getting attacked. I was a Fighter pilot instructor at 16. Most have been flying since they were 12-13. Just under half a million people in Tau-Ceti now. When the Brisen attacked, they did not consider the age of those they killed. How can we deny; within reason, their ability to defend themselves.

I lost 2 wives and 6 children on the first shot on my ship. That is why the Excalibur is not here. We were in orbit when we got attacked, we did not go flying into combat with infants on board. We were not looking for a fight. Out of a crew of 200 on board, only 16 survived. Effectively destroyed the ship. I salvaged what I could. Most of the wives were on the planet of Geos. The attack occurred at Meos.

20 enemy ships, 3 days over 5,000 of our people dead. We had a fleet of maybe 400 ships, mostly shuttles fighters and scouts. A couple of destroyers that were obliterated. They had 4 battleships. Now they have over 3,500 ships including some like the ones I brought with me. I got Astra back online but she has been hit just as hard as I have been by all of that. I wanted to avoid the chance of it happening here. I am not optimistic at the moment."

She called out, "Oh god, Check universal news. I will let you go."

Jack pulled it up and the president-elect was there. "I am beginning to think Jack Travus is a scourge. He threatened me if I did not change my opinion."

Jack called the station. The operator saw who it was and she passed him to the desk. The producer looked at him, "I was told if we put you on the air with her, she would walk out."

Jack nodded, "Astra seize their news feed and put me up on the monitor."

The producer's eyes went wide as he appeared up there. "President-elect. I tried to go through the producer of the news to speak with you on the air but he stated you threatened to walk out if he put me on with you to discuss this in front of the citizens who elected you. I had Astra put me through instead. Do not blame them. The question is. Is this something you are ready to talk about or are you going to walk away?"

She glared at his image, "Fine what do you have to say."

Jack nodded, "Let us start with the truth. Astra playback." She had to sit there and watch the entire conversation they had.

He looked at her, "What part was the threat? I warned you from our history. I warned the president from our history. I told you that if it came about and that is the course that Terra chose then we would look to go it on our own. I have asked that the new ID device which will allow your 5.5 engines to be used at Travin and the 8 by multiplexer for power cores be worked into the contracts.

I am moving the ID to Treven because the other contractor failed to innovate and keep up with the engine technology. Now Treven will have to deal with both. No hassle, no charge, none of that. What is it I have denied you?"

She looked at me, "All of your research."

He nodded, "Because you do not wish any Alien influence. Are you officially changing that position?"

She shook her head, "No I will go to the courts to get it if needed."

Jack nodded, "They can rule on existing patents. They cannot rule on the technology you do not have in hand and that has not been made public. If I do not choose to patent it, you cannot go after it. You can pursue the other patents but you must, under eminent domain, provide fair compensation for those patents. You must prove quite a bit actually. Let us start with what is fair compensation?"

She looked, "Nothing if you are turning your back on us."

He looked perplexed. "You referred to me as 'my kind.' How much of the world population has Drakor DNA in them now? I am betting it is over 80%. I could pull up records to confirm but let us use that as a starting point to this discussion. Of those who voted for you how many do not have Drakor DNA in their system? How many do?"

She looked over, "They are human and you are not."

Jack nodded, "There is the rub. If I am not human how can a human court judge me? I contend that I am human. I was made a hybrid at the direction of the Terra government 620 years from now against my will because of the provision in a military contract that exists today.

That allows you to experiment on your own troops. Given that. I was born human to human parents and modified by our government. Are you arguing this point from all of the information and interviews we have had before?"

She sighed, "I have no information to prove directly or indirectly that claim."

Jack nodded, "If it came down to it I do. Using people who reside on Terra today. It would potentially create life-ending paradoxes that I do not wish to temp for the sake of humanity. Would you agree that it is not worth exploring that risk?"

She nodded, "We will see."

The reporter jumped in, "You are saying the chance of introducing a paradox that destroys all humanity is worth considering?"

She backtracked, "No, I am not saying that either. I am waiting to see where he goes next."

Jack nodded, "I will let her go on that. You want my patents. What if they were not mine? What if they belonged to someone else on Terra who was human by your narrow definition? Would you still want those patents?"

She looked at me, "So long as the people of Terra benefited from them and not you, I would not care."

Jack nodded, "Your issue is me benefitting from my patents. Does this hold true for all other patent holders?"

She sighed, "Stop trying to put words in my mouth."

Jack nodded, "You believe if my patents were held by people on earth for the betterment of Terran humanity. Am I still allowed to use my own patents and expand upon those ideas in this concept of yours?"

She sighed, "As long as you were making nothing from it. I suppose so."

Jack nodded, "There is no currency in Tau Ceti. You'd have no authority outside of Terra to direct if I ever make anything off of my patents. I will have my lawyers draw up paperwork to transfer patents and business holdings.

Not my personal or business accounts. To those people who are contracted to work on them when your presidency starts. I will send out an immediate termination to all weapon contractors to end their contracts to use those patents."

She looked at me, "That is not what I said."

Jack looked at her, "It is the only way to transfer those patents out to people who will not try and exploit them forever. I will take all the weapon patents. As well as all of the ones I have for components that could be used to make weapon improvements but are not in use and give them away. Blocking all former and existing management at all of those defense contractors by name."

She looked at Jack, "To who?"

He smiled, "To every legal human citizen who is not specifically barred from making them. A free to use by anyone patent on all those components. That means all people can become weapons developers. Now you are going to argue something that will sound like you do not want me to benefit from these patents but you want the weapon makers to benefit.

Including the five I terminated already for trying to have me declared dead. You want them to make a profit from them. Is this what you are going to ask now? All you have to say is I agree to this and I will, as I always have, stay out of politics. Then you will stay out of my research facility."

She looked up, "I will stop you from doing this."

Jack shook his head, "You want me to stop what you asked me to do? Miss, I am sorry I did not catch your name before hijacking your interview. I appear to be upsetting her. Maybe you can ask her questions she will answer clearly. I have put my proposal forward to her on your broadcast. I will wait until you have a question for me."

The reporter looked over, "President-elect, what is the issue with his offer?!"

She looked over, "He is trying to undermine fair business. Create instability. The ability of a legal business to make money."

The reporter looked at Jack, "Your thoughts on that?"

Jack looked over, "Hybrid Innovation and Investments, LLC. That is the business name my patents are held under. She just asked me to give it all away for nothing and that is a legal tax-paying business. She is asking my business to stop making a profit and stop paying taxes at the same time. Explain the difference, please? I am getting confused by the distinction."

Gonzales looked up, "You 're not going to be here and plan to make the decision for those who are left behind."

Jack nodded, "You are career Military, you retired from it a few years ago because of mandatory requirements. Not because of any mental or physical issues. Correct?"

She nodded and shouted, "YES!"

He asked, "Before you left the military knowing you were going to leave. Did you make decisions that affected those who were left behind?"

She looked over, "That is a part of every military officers' job."

Jack asked her, "Did you go to work after you left the military?"

She looked over, "It is on the record I was on the board of several firms after I left the military."

Jack asked her, "You ran for president, knowing you would leave those board positions behind. Did you make decisions that affected those who were left behind?"

She started to get up and Jack called out, "You can walk out and admit that you do not want me to give up my patents and business, or you can defend your position and I will do exactly as I said I would.

I contacted you because of your political run stating you did not want any alien influence. You have called me an alien, but you want my patents. You want patents for things I have reversed engineered from aliens. Things I have encountered without the support of the Terra Military or government. What aspect of 'alien influence' are you fighting and did you wish for me to take the actions I described?"

She walked out of the studio and Jack looked at the reporter, "She might be done. I am not if you wish to continue this?"

She smiled, "Of course."

Jack nodded, "I came back with a large military contingent of 8,000+ we do have children and such and more were born in the two years in FTL travel it took to get back. I reestablished the satellite link back to Tau Citi. That can only be made by a powerful telepath.

It uses a synthetic engine that is reverse engineered the capabilities of the creature I introduced the world too known as Meltora. Then there are the electronic interconnections that were inspired by the Drakor. They told me there would be a few things I would be able to make to help humanity that was all related to the biological psychic capabilities they gave us.

That satellite that allows for communication across star systems is a work of multiple alien influences. Now, while I was gone, I lost one wife which was reported about when we arrived on an early rendition of one of these satellites. Danyelle, I named my personal shuttle after her. To always remember her. She died in a shuttle accident that destroyed Merlin my previous shuttle.

I lost two others that I reported. I have not shared this video publicly but I have with the President. I will play it for you. Even though it is painful for me to watch and I want to show you 'why I came back with the force I did?' It is graphic. I will warn parents now as these are from a war zone."

She nodded, "I got clearance. Go ahead."

Jack showed it all including the internal images of what happened to the Excalibur the people and the children. He let it run until it was done. He looked up, "When I was taken by the Terran government from the future those missions launched from Tau Ceti. The exact kind of analysis that was done on their wreckage was done on parts of Excalibur.

Parts of the ship that were not attacked as well as parts that were. The initial conclusion. The Brisen traveled through time to that location. Two travel location initiated by man occurred in 2-timelines from this location. That led to my abduction out on the outer rim in Terra twice. Both coming and going from that location.

Then twice more at or around Jupiter; arrival only. Now I spoke with the Drakor mentally known as Justice to me. He said it was likely that our species messing with time made those locations anchor for other such events. We went from 400 ships mostly shuttles to 3,500 ships for a population of under 500,000. This does not count the 324 ships I brought back.

I brought them here to help if this occurred again on the outer rim and Jupiter. Those large bases you saw are also factories. We could produce over 44 million bricks of the material to armor a vehicle like this one, from the same battle." He showed the Lancelot flying in and taking down the last three alien ships solo. "That was one Hybrid flying that vessel.

He lost both wives and all but one of his sons in the attack on the planet. That ship was one of the first we put into that armor configuration. King Arthur, when It was demonstrated here, had the underlying armor. He threw up the images of the Excalibur, King Arthur, and Lancelot on the screen. "You can see the Excalibur without Meltora who was injured badly and had to go and heal.

The damage to Excalibur, to King Arthur and Lancelot. You can see the evolution of the armor changes we were working toward. We had not planned on having a Home Guard that large that soon. But that attack put us on alert. The weapon that killed two of my wives, 6 of my children and 8 unborn children was fired from a rail run.

The ammo was the size of a golf ball and hit 100 times harder than any railgun we have in the Terra military. Every vessel I brought has one except the shuttles. Except for my personal shuttle but it has a much smaller version. Some have more than one. It has limitations. But it is a devastation weapon. Every vessel is armored in that same metal and powder coated like Lancelot now.

I told the President when I created King Arthur that it was a 3.5 Billion TC's in framing and armor alone to create it. We have improved the process to make that happen and the cost now to do that vessel is 3.5million TCs now for that aspect on that size ship. We brought enough material to manufacture 44 million bars in those 2 Bases with 2 factories in each base.

I told the President and his cabinet this earlier at the Capitol. He knows he cannot make this decision for the incoming president. Same reason she used about making decisions for those left behind. I found out what platform she ran on. That totally blew away my plans to help humanity in Terra.

She is upset because I told her years ago before I left, that if she took that stance I would work to support to defend humanity. I work alien relations from Tau Ceti as they became an independent government; which we have been. No other colony ships, no military scouting expeditions to check on the state of the colony after contact was lost, and no attempt by any other means has been noted.

We were and have been on our own. Surviving and thriving. We still cared enough to try and come back to help humanity as a whole. But we are alien according to her. She does not wish to deal with us. That is the platform she ran on and she is moving in that direction.

Damned to hell what you all just witnessed. That is her view of humanity outside of this system because not all the people are hybrids. None of the council that rules the colonies are. I told everyone before I will not rule over humanity and that holds true.

I have been a diplomat for man on a couple of occasions. The hybrid population is less than 180. Less than 1/10,000 of percent of the population of Tau Ceti. Well over 3,000 times smaller than that, if you add in the humans in Terra. But she has put all of Tau Ceti into that category. You can ask me whatever you wish."

He looked at her and saw that she was visibly shaken by the images she had seen and she shook her head, "What would you have the people of Terra do?"

Jack sighed, "Stand behind the woman you put into that position. I will work to put together an expanded terraforming convoy to travel back with those who wish to relocate to Tau Ceti. There are no TC's and no stores. It is a co-op with everyone helping how they can help. There are two breweries there. For Irish Mills Mead. One on each colony as the bee populations made it and expanded.

The technology I put forth on creating new terraforming ships worked. All ships, except for Merlin, made it to the colonies. I will not be dragged into politics and I will not be in the pocket and owing defense contractors. I worked with the president to eliminate overcharges in the fleet budgets. I did it for nothing other than it was the right thing to do."

She looked, "Some would ask. Would helping humanity, regardless of what she said not be the right thing to do?"

Jack sat back and thought about her question, "I think I would be more inclined to be that magnanimous if I were viewed as being human, to begin with. That my contributions mattered. I have a hard time, especially with weapons, putting them into the hands of those who would use them against their own people.

She does not think the threat is real. She does not believe my contributions are worth anything in Terran society. She wants me to make nothing from my work. The approach I explained would cut my ties with her government.

The formula for the armor is there. The powder coating and how to treat it. I might see my way of giving that to the person I leave the ship docks I built to help humanity. 19 years and how many colonies have been undertaken outside of this solar system, besides Tau Ceti?

I would probably give the information on the other 5 systems that are out there with worlds that would be easy for humanity to adapt too. I gave it to the President. If none of them has been pursued, I cannot force people to leave. In a hundred years. Someone will be doing the forcing and it will not be pretty. The rail guns? No. Not with the outlook that we, those of us living outside of this system, are not human.

The threat that they would want to use it against those in Tau Ceti for making a choice. The Tau Ceti charters were written and filed 19 years ago before we left. They included the secession clause particularly when we were getting no support from Terra. Then this, 'you're not human!' We covered that ideological threat to our self-identity back then. When it was 7 hybrids. Not like now. Not many at all. For a race of 15 billion now."

She nodded, "Give or take. We do not know about some colony efforts that went out before you left."

Jack sighed, "They all died. True colonization did not start really taking place for another hundred years. The first mission to Tau Ceti would have launched seven years ago and arrived 5 years from now and survived but not necessarily thrived.

It would have been largely isolated for over a century. The rest, the military sent ships out to get the ships to the destinations. Then left the lot of them to die. Piracy became or becomes common. That was why I gave the list of locations to the President before I departed. Improve the odds with the improved ship designs.

The fact we got them to the colony should have set a landslide of people moving. But some are afraid to give up wealth, prestige, or an office for a farm. It just depends on people and their choices."

She asked, "What about people who would want you to take them to another colony besides Tau Ceti?"