Astra Pt. 06

The President groaned, "Fuck!" He kept Jack on the line, "I am giving operation authority to all tower to Jack Travus. Engage searching for stealth craft and engage!"

Jack looked at the stations, "Astra upgrade towers 1-6 to detect stealth signatures."

She sighed, "They pulled the hardware from them as well. James kept them from messing with any hardware aboard the other stations."

Jack groaned loudly, "By the numbers people, give me confirmation you have complied and the number of stealth aircraft you have in your sights."

He listened to the numbers and there were 40 in space that was being engaged. "Check the planet." They heard, "This is terra-9. I am picking up 10 stealth aircraft heading for the Capitol." Jack focused in and used one of the fighters that went down, "Capitol tower, this is Admiral Jack Travis.

The President has given me operational control over the space stations. We have 40 stealth Terran craft in motion up here and 10 approaching the Capitol. My fighters can see those craft. If they do not shut off stealth and turn on Terra IDs they will be shot down. Alpha wings engage, stealth targets!"

He heard back, "This is Dubai tower, we cannot allow for that."

Jack called back, "The planet is under Martial law as ordered by Congress. I have been given orders. You fire on my fighters and they will return fire. You will be performing an act of sedition and treason. Do you copy Dubai tower? Turn on your sensors for stealth technology."

He heard back, "This is Dubai tower. We do not recognize your authority. You enter our airspace and we will fire on your craft."

Jack called down, "Capitol tower educate the fools. Alpha wing fighters' orders stand. Engage ALL hostile aircraft and anti-aircraft facilities if fired upon! Capitol tower, recommend moving the Capitol. Pass the word to the President. My fighters will escort."

Astra threw the news on and saw that the Admiral was in open court at the World Court. She looked across as he asked her about the charge. She called out, "I worked to eliminate the alien influence in our society and find a way of killing these Drakor if they ever returned. I found that with their blood in our people's system that we had no biological means of exterminating them. I did what was best for humanity."

The judge looked at her, "Getting yourself and your co-conspirators up to 20% DRAKOR DNA was best for humanity by killing 2,854 children."

She looked at him and with a smile, "Yes, I am just sorry we did not do them all."

The judge looked across. "I see the deal is to send you, all co-conspirators, and several others to a penal colony far from the rest of humanity. While I am loathed to accept this deal, I will follow the people's request. Your requested portion of house arrest is subject to no violence."

Jack called out, "Astra get me a screen in that room."

She nodded, "Your honor, Admiral Jack Travus. Forgive me. We have a time-critical event in regards to your proceedings. We have 40 stealth craft approaching my Dreadnoughts.

Another 10 approaching the Capitol. I have fighter wings at both locations and have been given command authority over the Starbases. The local Dubai government has threatened to engage my fighters for entering their airspace to defend the Capitol. If the former Admiral wishes to keep her home arrest she better comply with getting those ships to comply.

To stand down and surrender now before I am forced to destroy them all!"

The Judge looked over, "Ms. Gonzales. Do you have anything to add to that statement?"

She looked over, "I have no means to contact them."

Jack called out, "Your voice is being rerouted through all Starbases and my fighters in the area."

She rolled her eyes. "All stealth craft, this is Admiral Gonzales. Disengage cloaks and surrender to Terra and Home Guard forces immediately. To any country that thinks they are helping me by ignoring the Commander and Chief in these matters think again. Cease all operations.

My deal with the government allows me to take all like-minded citizens with me to this new colony location. No hybrids are allowed to go there."

Jack nodded, "Unless an attack is launched on humanity from this location. Terra or any other colonies established. At which point you would be in violation of your stated agreements."

She sighed, "Correct. All craft stand down. They would like nothing more than to destroy you for not complying."

Jack sighed, "Once again you are twisting facts. I contacted the court to get to you to save their lives. Not make martyrs out of any of them. If any craft fails to comply with that order then your home detention conditions have been violated. Do I make myself clear Admiral?"

The judge interceded, "Admiral Travus I appreciate your zeal but the courts will decide the matter on if it is a violation. In this case, Ms. Gonzalas, you better ensure your stance is known. So the court can rule on that point of your application."

She rolled her eyes, "No martyrs! All craft stand down now!"

Jack looked over, "This is Wing commander Crazy Eights. I am seeing ships coming out of stealth and powering down." He heard, "This if Alpha squad leader. All craft have disengaged stealth and landing in the desert."

He heard another, "This is Dubai tower, Senior controller. I am in direct contact with the local President. He has ordered me to take control of the tower here and to arrest the operators who did not get authorization from him to ignore a World Presidential order during a time of Martial Law. Dubai is taking no action against your craft and had no plans to take action."

Jack looked over, "Recall all drones except on the 4 ships that are still stealth. Have all drones engage." They blasted away at the craft until they were visible. "Disengage drones. There shields and stealth are offline. Terra fighter wings take charge of those ships and arrest the crews."

He heard, "This is Squadron leader Death Blossom, all fighters on me. We have four scout ships that are fighting." Next, he heard, "This is terra-3 tower, station weapons are deployed and we have shot out the engines on all 4 craft. They continue to use weapons. "Astra, disable all weapons and self-destruct functions on that four craft.

Lock all airlocks until they are docked. Fighters stand down and tractor those SoB's into a hanger and arrest them. Any that fight should be addressed in kind by terra military forces in your hangar bays." Death Blossom called out, "Leaving me with all of the work. I have the lone fighter with a tractor beam in the area."

He called out, "Bravo wing, dispatch 3 fighters to assist Death Blossom in tractor duty on the disabled ships.

Take them to just outside of the military hanger and she can offload them 1-by-1 so they do not try a group attack on the soldiers inside. Your honor. Your help in this incident was greatly appreciated. Ms. Gonzales, you helped to save these people's lives and identify which ships and crews should escort your group to your penal colony."

Jack ended his connection to the Judge. He watched the news, "That is a man of action."

Ms. Gonzales looked across, "He is an alien and not a man."

The judge looked at her, "This court rules he is, in fact, a man based upon a separate brief filed by his wife and lawyer Grace Travus. Explaining he was born human like all of us, and then modified with genetic material by our government from the future.

All current and future 'hybrids' are still human under the law. Given your actions with the research facility and your own Drakor blood percentage is 20%, I would say that it is not that far of a stretch to the military taking that action. I will approve your home detention for now. Provided all violence is kept to a minimum.

When you have your little press conference be sure to ask for peace and let them know you will be the most alien being among them. I am also entering an injunction to the military. All references in military contracts to allow you to experiment on military personnel are to be stricken. I will hear arguments for that position in 60 days, or the injunction will become permanent.

A separate brief on Tau Citi being an independent human colony with its own laws was also filed. Given the distance and lack of support from Terra proper, I am inclined to agree that all remote colonies will have some form of local government and protection force. Each one should work with the President and Congress to work support agreements when ships from one side or the other are operating in the same or overlapping areas."

He slammed his gavel down. Jack called out, "Reestablish caps. All other aircraft return to base once your Terra counterparts have seized control of the rogue military vessels."

He thought out, * Grace thank you for getting the court to rule hybrids are human. They also backed your other brief for Tau Citi. *

He heard back, * Thank you. I know as we have been listening to you in the hanger and over the airwaves. We were glad to hear it. The first lady was impressed with the restraint you showed. Then I explained it to her. She was impressed even more about us hybrids. *

Astra interrupted, "Jack you should know there was a second time event in Tau Ceti. Same group. The same amount of ships. 2 cruisers and 10 fighters were destroyed. 6 of your children in the Home Guard were killed in the attack but the threat was neutralized quickly.

Other civilian transports were destroyed; they are working the manifests A search of the alien computers, from the interface you built, showed they were the second of 20 groups.

They are trying to flee through time in order to avoid the Drakor. They got the idea to time jump from a human researcher in their time that they captured. No name, just from Terra proper. They had been working the technology because of the Drakor hybrid attempts seeming to increase and those hybrids turning violent against their own people.

He said they plan to launch 6 groups in 3 waves within the day."

He asked, "Which hybrid is reviewing this data?"

She heard back, "Tim is at the moment."

Jack sighed, "Pass message back thru Jupiter station to begin review from the beginning in 5 minutes. Inform all of the wives concerning their children."

He heard back, "One was Isabella."

He thought out, * Another of Danyelle's children is dead and she was 16. The human hybrid who is known as Tim, 'Tempered Vengeance' is going to review those files again on the Brelan. Justice, you need to see what they are reporting about the effects of your peopled biology on the Brelan. It will not stop this attack but you could prevent it for another loop.

Your people must decide. They were powerful enough to either evade you or they just did not go to the meeting location to earn your wrath. It sounded like they were currently fleeing you. *

He heard back, * We will watch the review of the data and see what it says. I am sorry about your children and the loss of life. The improvements you made seem to have helped stem the losses, but it is still a loss of your people that are weighing on you. *

Jack though to Grace, * No weddings tonight. If they are ready for the change, take them to the two new wives and have them done there. Get the First Lady a room and you bring a separate one to her and then use a dermal regenerator on her. I will help all wives with swords but with the loss of our children today It is not a day for a wedding. *

Grace responded back, * Alright. I can sense you are going to lock yourself in your lab tonight to hold back that temptation. See all of us before you do that. Take Astra with you and she can drain you for the people of Terra. Speaking of which we have a shuttle approaching with Sprits's parents and family on board. *

Jack looked over, "Terra stations, I want all maintenance crews to fix those fighters sensors to pick up stealth craft. Terra, 7-12 work to get the station's sensors upgraded again at 1-6. Use spare parts if needed. Commander Zack Travus will be issuing orders on my behalf as I leave the bridge of my ship. He can contact me anywhere with a concern.

Permission granted for that Martina shuttle to dock in the main hangar after you have swept it for explosives."

His son looked up, "The shuttle has been swept and we are working it father. Grace just sent us the latest casualties list from the Brelan attack and it is being disseminated."

He patted him on the shoulder, "Good work son. Good work to all of you. You handled yourselves like professionals."

Zack smiled, "What you did today was fucking brilliant and saved lives. If people cannot see it, we will have our work cut out for us."

Jack nodded, "The next waves are what scares me at the moment."

He walked down to meet the shuttle. Grace was there with the First Lady. Grace looked over, "She is comfortable with me protecting her on board. She wants a minimum of 'interference' if you will."

Jack nodded, "Forward that draft of the colony cooperation agreement you have to the President. First Lady I would like you to meet the Martina family. They build your fighters. I soon hope to have them building your new fighters."

She smiled and shook their hands. Jack looked over, "I was told all of you know who I am to you." They all nodded and smiled, "Well I am proud of how you turned out. I am in a bit of a somber mood at the moment because of everything that is going on.

I lost another 6 children in Tau Ceti from a second Brelan attack and there might be a larger one coming in the next few hours. Biologically you are my sons. You have great mothers and a father. I lost 2,854 children back here due to Gonzales butcher center.

I do not know if it is the only one so you should keep that fact low-key for your own protection." They all nodded to him. He smiled, "Let us all walk down to medical but first I want the First Lady to meet my personal mechanic. The man that keeps me and most of our fighters in the air."

He walked her over, "He is as human as you are and came back as a volunteer to see family and support this mission. He also did the repair work on King Arthur after my live-fire demonstration."

She nodded and walked off and talked with him for a few minutes, "I am taking the mothers to medical." He walked the two ladies down with their husband. And he smiled, "I am going to give you your boys and a couple of girls to go with it. I won't do to you what I just did to Sprits."

Her father asked, "What did you do to my daughter?"

He smiled, "After the attack on the Excalibur we lost a lot of our medical database and the 'AI' if you will that directed procedures. We also lost the drug that allowed her to conceive. She has had help every time before. She kept complaining that she was behind on children compared to the last time.

They found the drug formula buried in her encrypted medical file and are able to use it again. She is now carrying 20 children."

Her mother looked over, "She will be alright?"

He nodded, "She will get big and probably bedridden during this pregnancy.

I wanted to get her 'caught up' as it were so she would stop fussing over lost time. Let me just say she got the message because I told her I hear she is behind again and I will give her 5 times as many the next time!"

The ladies were shocked and the father laughed and shook his head, "She was always a little stubborn about some things. I could see her being hung up on being 'less' than your other wives."

Jack nodded, "She loved me because I nailed her just as fast and hard as I would the other wives. I never treated her like fragile glass. We use cautious starts but then kick it up several notched over time so she can howl at the moon for an hour or so."

Her mother looked at him, "You make love to her like that for an hour?"

Jack shook his head, "Not always that long but for both holes, it is over an hour. Sometimes I take it slower and then it is 2 hours for both holes. Remember they removed a lot of my nerve endings."

She nodded, "I saw the wedding video. It was impressive."

Jack shook his head, "I have 5 hybrid and 2 non-hybrid wives. The wedding night where I fucked them all into submission was impressive. I will soon have 8 hybrid wives. Hybrids have more stamina so they can last a lot longer."

She shook her head, "As long as she is happy and she seems happy." He walked in and Astra had the 2 samples in his hands.

He held them and thought, * Septuplets males with a set of female twins in each of these. *

He handed them to Astra, "I leave it to you ladies to do the work. He hugged both ladies for 5 minutes each. He responded, "The ovular implant. Make sure your eggs are flowing." They nodded, "Thank you again for this."

He nodded, "I will be around."

He walked down the hall to an unused room and sat down, "Astra those union rabble-rousers I mentioned did you find them?"

She laughed, "I found you 4."

He nodded, "Conference us in together; after a minute connect in the President."

She laughed, "Blindsiding him back I take it?"

Jack smiled, "He was brilliant in that meeting today. He had all of his ducks in a row. You seemed to respond to him today as well. Were you involved in this decision?"

She laughed, "He called last night and we talked some. I threw around some ideas on a distant penal colony. The fine he asked from you would seem overkill to some. The fact you are tripling the amount says a lot about your character."

Jack chuckled, "Put them through." He had the first one pop in and he looked pissed, "You cost me my fucking job."

Jack shook his head, "I am working to get you all back to work this is a conference call." 2 others joined and He looked at them. "Hold your comments for a minute we are waiting for 2 more. We could start after we get the 1 man.

Astra final got the guy. He looked bleary-eyed drunk. He looked at Jack, "You're the jackoff that cost us our jobs?"

Jack shook his head. "I am the one who wants to get you back to work doing what you have been doing. Except you will have to form your own management. 4 weapon developer shops. All-Union ran and owned. My problem was, as you 4 have called out, the asses in the big office."

The President popped in and Jack looked at him, "4 union rabble-rousers who fought the management of the company. The government seized those facilities. I want to see if we can get there 4 facilities back in operation as union ran entities. Using assets seized from the owners to pay for their startup and any upgrades to the facilities.

Each of these men will be tasked with getting with the other 6 contractors and selecting one each to turn into a separate union ran and owned weapons facility. I will put 8 out 10 back to work. Workers from the other 2 plants can apply for jobs at these 8 plants. Else they could be absorbed into the 8 individual Union ran plants.

My lawyer would work with you to establish your contracts for the production of the components you already making. The other weapons done by the other 2 will be given to the 2 of you who impress us the most with your integrity and fair play with the government; while protecting the interests of your workers.

Each of you will need to hire a law firm to work with the government to regain control over the facilities. Those could be financed from the holding seized Mr. President?"

He chuckled, "You never slow down. I like getting people back to work and getting this weapon contract issue resolved. Jack is right, this union ran and owned concept was his idea. It works and you all win. Like him, you got selected for being the biggest trouble maker at your prospective companies.

You might know another in your ranks who is right for the job and that is fine. I will have my Attorney General get with each of you, your other representative and lawyers to work out the details. We will work this in an expedited manner because we will have a lot of shipbuilding going on for the next several years."