Astra Pt. 07

Mostly from other mothers in Tau Ceti. Astra does a good job of briefing them if they ask about approaching me on the subject and some listen, while others do not. I make it clear it gains them no favors. If anything, I am twice as hard on them. Just as I am with all my children in the Home Guard. I just expect more from my children. Like a lot of parents."

She looked at Jack, "You stated you did 2 FTL jumps in the system. How did your ship not fly apart?"

He sighed, "The frame of my ship and the hull are all modeled at 10x in system and FLT speeds. We will never travel that fast. We are at the edge of how fast we can travel in FTL."

She looked at Jack, "There are other ways?"

Jack nodded, "Astra play the Drakor departure from the Moon at Titan please on the screens in the back of the room at 1/10th speed." He let her watch it, "All of those stars."

Jack nodded, "They used a wormhole engine. Before you ask, I have an idea, and concept for it but I am not ready to discuss it yet because it is nowhere near ready."

She nodded, "That would make colony travel so much faster."

Jack nodded, "Yes, once we find the colonies."

She looked at me, "I thought we have maps?"

Jack nodded, "We do. But if my theory holds true. The only way to use a wormhole drive is with a telepath who has been to the colonies in question. Along with lots of power. A topic for another day."

She nodded, "You married 4 while mourning children?"

He nodded, "With so many, we take the day to mourn them and then we try to move on. We got hit again, the wedding was delayed because we lost more and spent the day mourning for those children. The one who is hit the hardest is myself, followed by Astra.

Yes, she feels and while she cannot have children, she is the means in which samples are collected to give to the people. So, all of the ones butchered are children she helped to bring into this world. She keeps track of their deaths like my wives do for all of our children and the children of fallen wives."

She nodded, "Going back you then used 3 ships as FTL weapons to disrupt the asteroid field. How did you know that would work?"

He sighed, "I have used it before in combat. I used it to help destroy the Black-ops battleship. It shutdown corridor 3. The Victus just finished corridor 12. We cleared it back out to return here at 6x speeds. We discovered a few new elements in the last 20 years including 2 from the clearing of that corridor.

Most we have names for and one we do not. As the finder of a new element, it is my job to name it. I will name it Victusium After the Victus that cleared the corridor and started me on this crazy journey.

She was the destroyer I worked on in my time that was destroyed. I now know that part of history will change. She was still being built in Baltimore when I arrived. That was why I did not give out the destroyer's name. Now I have wives and a President to go and see. You have a story to get to press. You can call me Jack."

She nodded, "Thank you, Jack."

He got up grabbed the materials and walked out. With the guard beside him. He looked over, "I never knew what to make of hybrids, but you saved my ass back there and a lot of capital guards. I trust you. You are crazy powerful, but you have honor."

Jack nodded, "Finding candidates for hybrids is not an easy task. They all must volunteer and then be evaluated. You might consider it if you ever change jobs. We avoid politics like the plague. You get a President you cannot deal with because he or she wants you to compromise your principles. That would mean resigning and often. That and they would always be wary of you."

He nodded as they got to the door but he said nothing as he opened it to the first family and his wives. Jack looked over, "I finished that interview which now has me fighting in combat against 3 assailants as a time; twice. At 1.5x speed. She asked if I could go faster and I laughed at her as I told her, 'You really expect me to answer that?'"

Aiko smiled, "At least double. You do not let yourself go beyond me."

He nodded, "You get another as good as you and I will take you both on and find out how fast I can go."

Ash smiled, "I will take that challenge."

He nodded, "Sometime in the next few days."

He looked at the President, "I got 4 squadrons of my guys supporting your people in the air right now. They are flying an outside cap. We have had attacks from space and the ground. Having space-based craft to watch over you is a good idea with your air breather craft."

He nodded, "Our fighters actually liked the Traven Engine for their fighters because it was just as fast and lighter."

Jack smiled, "Good. Two engine technologies, two paths to get there. They all had the markings of house Shimada. They were too good to be a decoy unit and the cranial implant, high-tech invisibility clothing, and these weapons. They sound and feel like a crystal blade. I bet they run a charge or something to keep it from shattering.

We will know more after we analyze it. Then we can check patents against the technology. If there are no patents, I will have a dummy corporation set up and get the patents issued through it. The 'inventors' come forward and we got something more to go on. Astra, get the samples and all of the paperwork for those new elements."

She responded, "That was a beautiful gesture to name that new element after your old ship. Now that it is destroyed in this timeline."

Brenda looked at him, "The Victus, was the ship you worked on before! Now it is destroyed."

He nodded. Velma looked at him, "Like you lost that ship twice now."

He nodded, "3 times tied to time travel events. Do not make another with that name."

The President nodded, "Good idea. I like the extra patrols; I have admiralty joining us 1 on 3 to talk business aspects." He looked at Grace and Aiko. They nodded at him.

---

They came out of the meeting and Jack threw up 3 stacks of images. "The left 3 are great candidates to lead the expedition to the penal colony. They all blamed me for the Admirals' downfall and fall from grace as well as the weapon contractor issues. Astra has it all recorded for you. The only hybrid question I asked did they have concerns with a hybrid owning these assets. Fair question.

That set those 3 Admirals off. The 3 to left were more concerned that I had a monopoly on the space docks but as I was not being outlandish, in fact, reasonable with the costs they did not have an issue with that. They did voice their concern about the weapon patents. These four seem to hate what these last 3 Admirals have done to taint the office. Two of them are reluctant to accept the position.

The two in the middle. The other two want to push on advancing weapons, shields, and ship designs. They were fascinated with my carrier bases and were talking about wanting a model or two without the factories and maybe more fighters and firepower instead. Also improving relations.

All four, when asked about the hybrid question, referred to the court ruling and the military contract that they signed. They would not want to be ruled non-human for something the military had done to them. Astra, with the regained repository, ran all ten names and concurred with our interview assessments."

The President asked, "Who would you pick?"

Jack shook his head, "I told the press I would not pick the person. That is on you. I gave you the top four I would consider, the next three, and the fuck no pile."

He laughed at that and nodded. "The fact is I have more combat experience than all of them combined. 2 of them did really well in command school as far as tactical strategies go. I did not bring up the battle but those 2 did.

They asked very good questions about the strategies deployed and astounded by the fact that a 19-year-old was directing that combat. Again, Astra recorded it all for you so you can play the spy on the proceedings. There are 10 messages in your box with the encounter with all 10 of them."

He nodded, "I will get my wives to help review them and see what they pick out for the top candidates and watch their interviews myself and make a call."

Jack nodded, "At which point I can recall my ships from here and you can deploy ships from the stations to replace them.

Getting the 'Home Guard' out of Terra protection as we move along. Have them back protecting the factories as I move them to Jupiter to begin convoy construction and awaiting word on what weapons are needed to get those out to you as well."

He nodded, "You need to go there to work the 44 million bars?"

Jack laughed, "We will be closer to 60 million except I will not put those into convoy ships. They get broken down and turned into settlement housing. They are also being set up for the bitch and her lot. Any word on the number of applicants to follow her?"

He nodded, "Around 5 million applicants."

He nodded, "Astra get him a breakdown of those he should reject because of achievements to mankind if any."

She ran the list, "Only 10 and 2 are really significant. Sending him a file on them. Is my mechanics sibling on the list?"

She looked, "Her whole family in fact."

Jack looked at the President, "Send him those names. Let the President know as a favor to my mechanic those 3 names he would like to see get the opportunity to experience colony life without hybrid influence."

The President nodded, "Not fans of yours?"

Jack shook his head, "No."

The President nodded, "Will let them know they have been preselected to go to the new colony because of their interest. Through channels of course. Not directly from me."

Jack nodded, "I am heading for my base. I have a stack of work to do between shuttles and ninjas, plus the redesign and refit of my Katana Battleship."

He looked at me, "What are you working on now?"

Jack smiled, "I need to do the rail gun test with those new shields. It would have to be a solution that works for your current projectile weapons as well. Including missiles which I do not do. To answer your question the prototype for a Wormhole drive.

I will have crews doing communication upgrades including new transponder recognition codes. Those stations will be able to hit the satellite to Tau Ceti. Then the three facilities out at Jupiter, Titan, and Saturn." He looked at me, "What about the other six stations?"

Jack smiled, "I need to know who the next Admiral is. As you have to make decisions for another 5 years you have to formally request those technology upgrades for your facilities and work through my lawyer and business manager. Grace will start filtering in the patents slowly until we hear of your decision on the admiral."

The President chuckled, "You want out of that job badly?"

Jack shook his head, "No, I want you to have credibility with the people that the Home Guard is not your new military. You must get the technology rolling to bring them up to speed. I will be talking with my other contractors to find out if the upgraded products should go to them or a competitor. I set one requirement.

Work to improve upon the given technology. If they have sat on it I will let them continue to build it but bring in a different company to take on the new line. Let them try and innovate the old line up to new line standards. Most run on different technologies."

---

He finished the shuttle examination and created designs for a camouflage function for ships that were on the surface of a planet. Also a way of detecting it to add to the sensors. He turned it over to R&D to examine fully. The ninja attack proved more challenging. The weapons did not register even under an electron microscope. For all effective purposes, the material did not exist.

Jack went another route. He took apart the wrapping and the guard in the handle to find more of this mystery metal. He took a second apart and ran them both through the paint to see if there were any lines. No tool marks.

He set them down side by side and tried using his will on them. He focused on remaking them into a katana instead. This finally yielded results as it joined together and into just such a blade. He thought, 'Active sword.' Then he did it in Japanese. He then thought of the attacker and the anger they felt and the sword resonated with a clear unseen power.

He let those thoughts go and it deactivated. He had asked Aiko to try it. It was not DNA encoded. It just responded to anger.

He thought, * Justice this material is not from here. It can be made into swords but responds to anger alone that we have found. Have you encountered this before and should our vigilance be even higher for this unknown race? *

Justice responded, * We have seen this material on many worlds including your own. It is rare in such quantity. You said this is from a family in Japan but the best source for this metal is nowhere near that location. It is below what you call the south pole and 300 meters below the ocean floor. below the surface. Yes, we have a means of detecting the material. *

He thought, * Astra the core you downloaded they do any mining below the polar ice pack? *

She responded, *Yes they pulled up 300kg of a metal they had never encountered before. They made another hybrid! Searching the world for Drakor DNA at that level. Found one."

He asked Justice, * Were you aware of this other hybrid? *

He heard back, * We do not believe he is one. He may never have had the limb move on. It never connected to his mind. It received no guidance. We make that link when we do it. You had to ask for that, you had to choose. He or she is your responsibility. *

Astra continued, * Hiroshima, Japan. *

He sighed, "Alert the ladies I want every highly trained Hybrid coming with me. I want a full shuttle."

He took two more and fused them to and put them out into three bars. He took two bars and held his hand over it *I am a Deliver of Justice. Just create a psi-blade attuned to me with this, A Kitana handle like my other. Same style as it is perfection. It merged together and had the silver woven thread on the handle but was clear on the other side.

Down to the silver threads on the handle. He activated it and got his dark purple blade.

He told Justice, * I have part of my answer. Is it unusual to have psi blades from two different materials? *

Justice responded, *Yes, for a special. No, overall. Many materials can be used that way and a Kitana seems to be your weapon of choice. The one who added 3 for his sword. You thought it had too much material. *

Jack replied, * It also explains the swords resonant to anger. The man or woman had this done to her and she is angry with no answers. The AI units put this responsibility on them. They sought a way to kill me without giving him any knowledge about choosing.

Meaning they learned from another hybrid about making it from another material They mentioned they jumped from the Feldar System. Would they have hybrids? I do not know where it is. *

Akio walked in and saw him holding the two Katanas. "You got it to work?"

He nodded, "Yes the person is not a hybrid, not yet. They resonate anger because right now that is all they know."

He heard back, * Close to true graduation in this timeline. Yet we have no proof it was them. Your theory is sound. *

He asked, * Would his DNA have been in the hand that was severed if it came from a hybrid of another species? Astra, show me everything you have on this other hybrid. Was he from this timeline and how did they get him? *

She sighed and displayed the information, "This timeline. In space. Destroyed his craft. They kept him under for months why they searched for something suitable.

His ship name was the Shimada X, he and his wives were geologists and mineralogists looking at the outer rim, the asteroid field. His name was Shimada Riku. First, give everything you have on where in the fuck they got the hand and the knowledge."

She looked through the data, "A Planet called Leron in the Feldar system. Some hybrid merchant was making weapons or cookware out of raw material in his 'mystery box' Told the story of hybrids and being selected to have this magic. This was after a catastrophic civil war; devastated the planet.

It did a lot of radiation damage. They were using neutron tactical missiles, and neutron guns, and bombs. They met other species. He was fascinated by him and his curiosity so he answered the question for a fee. The AI commander had generated food and acceptable currency on the fabricator. He told them this does not need to happen.

He said they told him they would give him a years' worth of food, and plans for a drive to let him jump back in time. He had to pass a physical first. He got back to the ship, got him up on a table, strapped him down. Confirmed he was a hybrid and killed him. Then took all 3 viable hands and 2 of four feet and shoved him out an airlock in space.

They got their fuel and jumped the next day. The other specimens went bad. They figured if you did show they could get you killed and captured and take your hands and feet to continue whatever they could think of to destroy the other hybrids.

Jack thought, * We have no knowledge of these creatures. Do those numbers of limbs make sense? *

Justice replied, * Yes, this is bad we may need to eliminate them. *

Jack thought, * Different timeline. Things might be different. Can you not just hold off their final graduation for 250 years? The simple knowledge that is likely to occur might get their leader to take action now, especially against neutron weapons. *

Justice replied again, * We will consider these aspects but the choice is a choice. *

Jack thought back, * Humans had to screw it up twice before I figured out what had to be done. *

He heard back, * Thank you for your input Dispenser of Justice. We will discuss the options. *

Jack looked at the girls, "I looked up that name. Large family estate. Swords only, no guns, and no body armor."

Everyone nodded and boarded the shuttle, He took the second chair and Aiko flew as she knew Japan. He called up the President, He got past the operator and he saw him. He had a smile on his face. Jack laughed, "The intern, the sword instructor, or a current wife. One of them put that smile on your face."

He laughed, "None of your business. What do you need Jack?"

He smiled, "I got an answer on the Ninjas. The bots took a man in space in this time, killed his wives and he was probably told some outrageous lie about them helping with something. Just to kill him when they were finished.

They stuck a Drakor hand on him, told him how to make blades but he is creating ones that respond to anger. They got it from another hybrid who they killed in the future. They put a contract out on me to force his cooperation. If he knew the ship and he saw me destroy it; it could have sent him over the edge thinking he lost whatever."

The President sighed, "What do we do?"

Jack smiled, "Paying him a visit. See if we can get him to talk. Put an end to this before anyone else gets killed."

He nodded, "Thanks for letting me know."

He ended the call. Jack looked and found the records for the main number on the estate. He called it up and a young woman answered who was surprised to see his face, to say the least. He spoke in Japanese, "I wish to speak with Shimada Riku."

She looked at a loss of words. He finally said, "We know of his hand and why he is in turmoil. We know of the flawed swords he has been building. We are en route to your estate and would like a warmer welcome than 12 ninjas we could see plain as day.

Our eyes can see in different light bands. I grew up in Japan and am trained in many styles of martial arts and sword fighting styles. I am no stranger to the blade. We only wish to help him come to terms with what was done to him. In the same manner in which it was done to me.