Astra Pt. 07

He nodded, "Tech of some kind we may find holes underneath radio wires are cut and power core is rigged to explode the moment we slow down. We need 6 fighters with tractor beams. Star configuration. Noses pointed in. I am going to turn us to reverse thrust.

As soon as I spin it that is there signal to use all 6 tractor beams. He used his thrusters and turned it 180 degrees. "Astra I need all wives in the docking bay and other hybrids." He felt the pull of the beams. "All right whichever fighter is by the shuttle door needs to move to the front. Stack them use the roof. Then take us into the docking bay like this use your thrusters. You will not land I need a lock breaker to remove the power core from the floor while it is still powered up."

Astra commented, "You are inside."

He lowered the gate down. He took off his EVA suit as his mechanic came in. Jack pointed, "Rigged to blow if the engine speed lowers."

He nodded, "That is fucked."

He shook his head, "I need power from the hybrids."

They came in and got behind him. He raised the core and left a dime-size hole that went into a cylinder. He reached in and found the five locations he wanted. He pulled the central circuit and shorted the other 5 locations at the same time. The power core powered down. He moved the board away and set it down. "Set it down. Clear out so the fighters can get back to work." He made it past the airlocks before hitting the ground hard.

---

He woke with Katlyn riding him and she was using her ass. He rolled her over and banged the fuck out of her, "My Irish wench needs a good buggering dontcha?" She moaned out, "Please I have been trying to get you off for an hour that way." He sped up and reached around and paddled her clit 5 times.

She wailed out and tighten down. He smacked her ass five times as he held one tit roughly. He grabbed her hip, trusted forward, and exploded into her ass. She moaned as he slid out and held his arms open for her as he laid back, "Come here my Irish Rose."

He thought, * Astra let my wives know I am awake. *

He heard over comms, "They know. It has been 3 days."

Katlyn smiled, "I win."

He laughed, "You take bets as to who would be getting me off when I woke?"

She nodded, "Yes but to be in your arms you big Ox. We saw all the shit you did."

He asked, "How am I doing in the polls?"

She sighed, "Some like you saved all those people and saved the city a lot of damage. Others are scared of what you could do with that kind of power. You gained more than you lost. Especially when Grace did the announcement for the shields and they asked about you.

She told them that doing all of that today plus what he did to keep the power cores from exploding. You were worn down. It would take a few days to recharge before you would be back."

Grace stood in the doorway, "Exactly what I said and here you are. You saved so many lives. They think they blocked out all surveillance on the thing and pried the ramp down. There were a few extra pry-like marks. They think they were still working on it when we went out that was why the distraction with 18 men.

They all made bail and we traced it through several shell companies before coming back to Ms. Helgan."

Jack nodded, "Astra send the files through 217 servers and then to every major news outlet, the GBI, and the Amsterdam Police. Disable all her conveyances, if she is home disabling her elevator, and active the security system to lock her in while you change the codes.

If it is traced back, trace it back to her own computer with the file appropriately timestamped. Gather all camera footage from news to cell phones and tell me what was going on with my shuttle."

She sighed, "You are not going to like it."

He sighed, "Go ahead show us." He looked at the image of himself and then it went behind the shuttle and went inside through a hole as it poured itself in." It came out later looking like a hot blonde. These guys tried the ramp, got it open enough to set the charges. "Alright check all sites where that blonde shows up and did anyone see the explosives get planted under the shuttle?"

She ran it back, "Just as you walked in. They rolled it out, stuck it up, set some triggers and turned it on remotely I am guessing. Part of your 18."

Jack nodded, "Check out Caldar on the ship, then the universities, and finally military R&D. Do another metallurgical scan to see if we got another ship somehow."

Astra sighed, "The universities are refusing to discuss it; as it R&D."

He sat upright and pulled up his vid. She smiled, "One moment Mr. Travus." The President looked to be in a good mood, "Awake for my wedding day. You missed it but you and your wives are welcome to attend the party."

Jack shook his head, "There were two teams working the bombing and shuttle destruction. The bombs were set by the 18 that were freed through dummy accounts to Ms. Helgan. She is a small problem. The 3 universities and your R&D people are refusing to discuss the Caldar. One got into my ship and did the work on the power core and killed my communications."

He groaned, "I am sending you an executive order to ask your hybrids to track down these menaces and eliminate them. We apparently cannot safely handle them."

Jack shook his head, "I did warn they were dangerous telepaths. I also gave them the means to block it. Grace scan for that new element. Maybe they took a device with them.

I want 3-man teams we got six on the loose. Do a biological scan and isolate them."

She sighed, "Will take time. I found one at the university it was supposed to be at."

He nodded, "Grace you take a team. Two extra marines in full armor to guard the fucking shuttle, fully automatic weapons. Leave PD weapons on and set a perimeter. Even if that means putting it down on the lawn. I have had too many godded damned bombing attempts."

The President sighed, "No PD but your guards are warranted. If you cannot find an isolated spot, then use a lawn."

He ended the call. He looked over, "Make it 8 guards! Astra set them a glide path and walk them to it. Take something to burn it. Realize it could have control of lab staff. Keep them contained and unhurt.

Any problems, call me." She nodded, "Good your delegating. Two guards will work."

She walked out with Aiko and Olivia. He shook his head, "Olivia is not ready for this yet."

Grace nodded, "I got another going but she needs flight hour and she wants to see what we do." He nodded.

Katelin looked at him, "Same."

He nodded, "Sprits, Ash, and you Katlyn. Get body armor on as well. All of you. I am getting a shower. Also, another wife!"

Sprits asked, "What kind? "

He looked over, "One who knows if I have been out for days that I am probably starving."

She rolled her eyes, "I will bring you something. Stay calm."

He went into the shower with Katlyn and they washed each other up. She could tell his mind was focused on killing at the moment. They finished and got dressed. He got his armor on two pistols and his sword.

She asked, "Why the pistols?"

He smiled, "Those have tranquilizer darts. If I have to put a bunch of people out then that is the method."

He got to his shuttle, "You have to have found more by now."

She sighed, "Yes, all six. The other five are in various locations not their own. Sending you to Amsterdam again."

He laughed, "The one who attacked me."

She sighed, "Apparently it liked the location." He went to the lab with the other three samples which had grown some since he saw them. He asked, "Cellular makeup is comprised of what?"

She looked over, "We are still working on some of it; it is very foreign to us."

He looked at her, "What can you tell me will kill them? I have orders to destroy all samples."

She sighed, "We pulled slides of their material an hour ago. Their alkalinity finds that most of the body is a base. He walked over a cabinet and found what he was looking for. He took it and sprayed it on the green sample he had. It immediately caught fire and died. He nodded, "It was still fire that killed it but this is something I need to be loaded on tranquilizer darts."

She looked at him, "Ceramic or plastic darts. This stuff is not good for metal."

He looked at her, "whatever gets us there quicker." She nodded and had plastic darts off the fabricator in seconds. He filled two magazines with them. He shot one of the samples and killed them with fire, "Wait, have you seen what happens with Drakor blood?"

She shook her head and made him up another clip. "Use my blood." She nodded. He stood across the room from it. And fired his blood into the creature and it exploded. He looked at her, "Better now."

He looked over, "Thank you. I am sorry about them."

She nodded, "We have the cell samples we took; we know hybrid blood will kill them. They must have a steady diet and they do not want Drakor DNA. Especially hybrid DNA."

He nodded, "Third world countries that have a population afraid of the cure."

She sighed, "We will analyze those and then burn them. Then put our research together."

He nodded, "I got to go."

He got to the shuttle with a telepath blocking device. He had it off, "You will turn that on after we leave. You will ask us first, "Until the swords are needed.' Passphrase Our response is 'We are the swords.' It is butchered, I know, but we are dealing with a telepathic creature that can assume my form and any others. You will do well. Two clips six rounds each tranquilizer dart.

Lethal on civilians is not authorized. Use the darts or knock them unconscious One clip if it's the creature and it needs to be shot it has a long reach so challenge it at range. You shoot it with one of those darts first. I color-coded the clips."

He loaded the red clip with his blood and the acid clip. He would move people out of harm's way if it came to it.

He took the first set, "Terra-1 this is Merlin. Headed to Amsterdam." He heard back, "Glide path set port speed if you will." He flew them to the city Amsterdam tower this is Merlin. Operating under an executive order, W98453Z We will be in your area of operation but will be on the hunt."

He heard from the tower, "I do not know this order, Merlin. You should get into glide path with everyone else."

Jack replied back, "Contact the Capitol. I am hunting an alien in your city."

He moved away from the glide and headed toward a park, "You got it here?"

She nodded, "Yes."

He looked down, "Great concert in the park."

She nodded, "Ash landed the shuttles 100 meters away in the park.

He walked out and groaned, "A group protesting hybrids."

He looked back, "Marines take the shuttle up and hover. Change of plans. He walked toward the group on the outer edge. "Somewhere in the middle of the crowd."

He walked up to the stage. Two guards tried to stop him and he picked them up and moved them out of the way. "I am here at the direction of the President. That was my giving a nice warning. I am a master in several forms of martial arts. You come at us again and I will just knock you out cold. Else she will. As he pointed to Sprits."

He held them there until they were all on stage. The lead protester looked over, "You are not wanted or welcomed here."

He grabbed the microphone from the man. "I am not here about your protest. Everyone is entitled to a choice and an opinion. I am here under a Presidential executive order because those aliens we captured escaped from the research facilities on Terra. One is in this crowd. We intend to find it before it consumes another human life.

It is telepathic and will try to control one or several of you. Everything we are doing is non-lethal to humans. Hybrids are human. Direction Sprits. You follow me."

She nodded as he put stepped across a long telekinetic wall over the center of the crowd. He nodded and tossed the man his microphone and he caught it. Jack looked around and reached out with his mind, "Sleep now."

Someone panicked as a woman passed out. Jack looked over "Sleep in your natural state It is more comfortable."

It reverted to its blue color. The people backed away. He put her in a box and walked her back to the stage with Sprits following. He looked at the man, "If you are really ready to take care of these kinds of threats. Join the penal colony trip. They believe they can handle this issue."

He thought, *Wake up! *

The creature looked around and then at Jack, "You should be dead!"

He shook his head, "I built those power cores and engines. I knew how to bypass your trap to try and destroy me. Why were the hybrids summoned into your little game? He told her mentally, * The truth. *

She turned back into a woman. "We wanted you dead. We wanted to split you up and put you on different teams. See which one of you would last longer. You were the greatest threat to our discovery and very existence."

He nodded, "The Drakor you fear don't you."

She nodded, "Very powerful. Their blood is like poison to us."

He looked at her, "So communities without the cure and third world countries where it was denied by religion are your feeding grounds. How many people have you consumed?"

She responded, "Hundreds, sometimes 3-4 a day others it is a few days looking for those who smell right to us."

He looked at the man on the microphone. "I have been ordered to destroy it. Do I make it quick with Drakor blood or do I make it slow? The order is from the President. The choice is yours?"

He asked, "How quick is quick?" Jack sighed, "Instantaneous explosion with my blood. I have phosphoric acid which is a slow-burning death. Again, the choice is yours. Here is an alien. A human without the Drakor blood, it was hunting you and your friends. How do you want it to die?"

He looked over, "Use your blood."

Jack nodded, "If we are gone that option is gone with it. I will do what you ask but remember when it came time to make a choice, you chose Drakor blood from a hybrid to resolve this problem. The very thing you are fighting against. He walked over and fired at his box telling the layer to let it pass through. It did and the explosion was contained in the box. He shrunk its size.

"I will dump this in space so it burns up on re-entry unless anyone objects?"

He squeezed the remains into a 30 cm cube. Then they walked away with this box in front of them. "Shuttle we got our target, please land." He got challenged with the passphrase and he gave them the countersign. They landed. Sprits, "Fly us out of here."

He left the box outside the shuttle and Sprits carried it up into space where he released the remains. They went into the next day afternoon when they got the last one. He repeated the question to people who felt threatened by him what method they should die by. A couple chose the acid. The screaming that came from the box.

One woman asked, "Please show it mercy and kill it." He asked her, "With my blood?"

She nodded. He fired a round into it and it exploded. "It was killing your friends', family, and neighbors. People think I use this power because I can. I was charged with it by the Teran government 620 years from now.

I solved one problem with the Drakor. But now I have a lifetime of being a guardian of humanity in order to keep the peace. You showed mercy. Even though it is not your way to deal with it; using my blood. To this species it is deadly.

I do not look at those who choose not to take the cure with any contempt. It is a choice. In this instance. The aliens we found lived off humans who had not taken it. Even though you did not want our involvement we acted in the best interest of all humanity."

He left the area in the same manner as the others and dumped them into space to burn up on reentry.

He got a call and he answered without looking, "Hello Mr. President."

He laughed, "Caught your speech for the last one. That woman was in tears at making that decision."

Jack nodded, "Yes, but people keep asking me if I am acting too heavy-handedly. Not one shot was fired. Not one person was crushed.

We found them boxed them and let the community they were hunting in choose the method of death. How is it affecting the polls? The first 3 destroyed were the 3 in our lab still contained."

He nodded, "I believe we both gained in the points in this exercise. What is next for you?"

He sighed, "Checking on my battleship refit. It should be close. The other base is still cranking out weapons. Where are the unions at?"

He sighed, "It took some time to get them inline. Grace has the paperwork for you to sign."

He sighed, "About time, over 2 months to say 'Yes, let's work instead of being pissed.'"

Sprits handled tower communication as Jack talked with the President. "I will have Astra run stealth and Metallurgical check on the world while I am testing. She can alert your people to check it out."

He laughed at that, "We will give it a try if she finds anything. We will send the new fighters and scouts for that."

Jack nodded, "What is the 3 trillion credit fund down to?"

He sighed, "Below half. That is almost two million rejections." Jack shook his head, "Not rejections. Just not this time.

Let them know I am financing another 3 Trillion over ten years for the next set that wish to go that way. Send the older first as it is a long journey. Launch a group every two years. Smaller protection detail as it will have retiring military vessels to escort them. Screw it. We do it in 4 years. Completed before you leave office."

He laughed, "You think we can get it done in that amount of time?"

Jack thought, "Do not announce the details let them know that an announcement is coming for another convoy or two to go to the penal colony We can call the main world Pena and the fact that this is not the only colony group planning to go there only the first."

He chuckled, "We should agree on a name as we are the architects and financiers of this deal. I like Pena as it is short and descriptive without a negative connotation. When will you be back to see me?"

He smiled, "Soon, but next time I want you to come and see me."

He laughed, "Alright I would like to see your latest wonder."

Jack smiled, "Good, I would like to show it to you."

---

10 days later and Jack got his Katana Battleship out of space dry dock. He took the majority of the hybrids along except for a few from the other Katana attached to his dreadnaught. Jack's Dreadnought modification for the new battleship should be ready by the time they returned.

He took it out to a spot between the Terra net and the outer alert network. Out of being monitored by anything. He called all of the hybrids together, "Most do not know why you are with me. Cameras up, deploy Master Chief. Total comms blackout. Except for me on the bridge only. You are here to back me up in testing this. There are several additional seats with belts.

You will, as Grace directs one side and Sprits the other in focus your will into me. We are testing a Wormhole drive for the first time. Near instantaneous travel between here and colonies we have visited; Tau Ceti. This first jump in just beyond the outer belt. If everyone will take a seat."

One of his newer Hybrids Justin Rivers III asked, "Is this safe?"

Jack looked over, "Every journey is a risk. You leaving behind your family roots to become one of us. Was a choice. How are we to be Guardians of humanity if we are so spread out? We need the ability to deploy ships to those colonies from just about anywhere. This is how we will do it. In the first step, we might stumble. But we are learning from the design."

He nodded and took a seat at the end Jack sat back, "Admiral Travus here. I need all the stations. Ensure you are in seats with a safety harness. You have 10 minutes to comply before the main engine start. That means all staff Xenobiology, engineering, medical, and pilots. This is a new engine test. Stand by. He waited and turned comms on, "Fire it up, Master Chief." There was a hum in the ship.