Astra Pt. 08

He shook his head, "Congress is going to hate this news."

Jack nodded, "I figure I have another 6-12 event coming here before Tau Ceti is going to get nailed hard again and am working to pull some assets forward while we work this problem. This also cuts back on your frame designers trying to steal from me.

I spent the money to buy them legally. I will even give you the upgraded designs for the Kitana on down for your fleet so you can get something modern built. Admiral when are we going to talk carriers?"

She laughed, "Your right Congress is going hate this but it makes some sense. I just got to get this through Congress."

Jack nodded, "I can turn Terra12-10 over for construction on your big guns. But hey, when has Congress ever made sense? That leaves me 9-8 to do convoy ships and support vessels. James can handle commercial ships. The Question is do I have your backing?"

The President sighed, "You have taken over the defense market."

Jack shook his head, "No, I have just taken a stand. I am not out to gouge the government. Or even to make a profit for that matter on this. We will see how it plays out. You want to tell Congress, or shall I?"

He held up a finger and made a call and held the receiver a good 8 inches from his head. He looked back. After hanging up, "He wants to pull your contracts."

Jack nodded, "I got the two top law firms in the world ready to take them on in the World Court and deep pockets to buy any publicly traded company. They sole source it, I will sue. Hell, I will sue if they talk about pulling contracts. They must show cause and not liking me is not a cause. Besides, I don't own them.

Grace is off to button up the last of that deal with Aiko and 6 marines to guard the shuttle. Two other hybrids who can see those ninjas. I will own the new one and there is not a damned thing they can do about that one."

She nodded, "You own the designs."

He smiled, "Also the Orbital construction platforms. Did the weapons guys get going finally?"

He nodded, "Yes they are cranking at 80% due to hit 100% soon."

The admiral had a call coming in. Astra alerted, "Another time event! The location is on the other side of the planet. Jack groaned, "Command Admiral to my Dreadnaught base. What is operating and what can you have operational in 5 minutes?"

He heard from the Master chief responded, "Your kidding, right? Weapons, shields and most of the forward command Deck is offline."

All you got on board are your engineers." He called out, "Red alert, form up on me, "Where are my cruisers, destroyers, and scouts?"

She replied, "With the other dreadnaught at Jupiter." Further away from the anomaly than us." He called out, "DB-2 hightail it back here and bring my fucking ships back. They have no business out there! We have an event occurring and you are out of position."

He heard, "Fuck, Sorry Admiral they were doing training drills away from Terra."

He sighed, "Get them back to Terra while we still have it."

Mr. President got one gutted dreadnaught in drydock and the other out by Jupiter on the other side. I got fighters and one battleship. What have you got?"

He sighed, "I got 8 battleships en route to that area with cruisers, destroyers, and scouts. They are well ahead of you. I have all the fighters scrambling."

He shook his head, "Master Chief, get that fat-assed bitch out of the dry dock, Is my dock still working?"

She sighed, "Yes you could dock. Working it."

He got his ship moving and went around and landed it while she was still finishing getting it out of drydock, "He took over engine controls to maximum, "Master Chief I want all personnel evacuated to here. All of them. Setting engine room shield in 30 seconds.

Astra scan all section, activate all bots." She looked over, "All of them?"

He nodded, "I need them working weapon system back online. I can use the battleship's guns but we need weapons. The Master Chief showed up, "Engineer is evacuated. We were the only ones on board."

He shook his head, "There are a bunch of bots trying to get done what you could not get done. I had Astra activate all of her backup units."

She shook her head, "All forward relays are down and out. It will take hours."

He sighed and brought up his command pad, "Shield 2 down. She heard, "Two is down. "All your droids into the repository set them on attack mode." Astra looked at Jack, "What are doing?" He looked, "Getting ready to eject your core! While I potentially have to destroy the dreadnaught for this colossal fuck up. Whose idea was it to put it into the dry dock?"

She looked back, "Grace, the XO, and I talked it over."

He groaned, "Send word to the caterpillar to build a copy of a caterpillar II starting right fucking now! We got Terra battleships in front what are they saying?" Astra sighed, "Intent hostile 3 capital ships, 8 destroy class." He asked, "What speed are they moving at? Show me the fucking screen!"

She sighed, "The destroyers are already on them, the capital ships held back.

They are lined up. He called out "Ejecting core. He grabbed it with the tractor beam and set it down along the bridge section of the long deck. He called out, "Undocking, Fighters keep a good distance away from the dreadnaught but follow it." I need my telepaths, Open comms up to Paul." Paul seemed happy, "You're awake."

He nodded, "Also in a shit load of trouble. I need to know if you got my sons battleship ready?"

He sighed, "We have not done a post check on it but it could be pulled if needed."

Jack looked back, "I need half the telepaths with me the other half with my son in the docking bay, Paul I am bringing Astra's core. Do not breach just get it into the Colossus. They are armed and set to kill droids in there."

He nodded, "Understood, get it into its new home. That part is open.

Jack called out, "Fleet we are jumping to get another battleship and take Astra's Core to Colossus. Astra, give me flight control over the dreadnaught."

She did as he pulled up from it and lined up toward the three capital ships in the distance." Master Chief half power." She nodded and opened the wormhole. "Full power!"

He started to ease it through, "Astra dreadnaught FTL 15 seconds. Now."

They passed through and were right in front of Caterpillar 3. A shuttle came forward and grabbed the core. He released it. The other shuttle departed. He turned away from 3, "Master chief, Full power. Activate shield 2."

She nodded and the shields went active. He jumped closer to the capital ships. The dreadnaught had cut through the 3 of them; cutting the engines off the tall ships. It was some distance from them, "Fighters, clean this mess up. He turned toward the destroyers and started waylaying into the nearest one." He looked at the ships, "Astra race?"

She shook her head, "Never seen yellow and red ships before."

He sighed, "Bioscan?"

She ran through it, "Comms status of the other battleships."

She looked over, "Gone. They are down to four destroyers, correction 3 destroyers and our fighters are coming in. The enemy still has 5 of their ships. Astra looked up, "Nothing in our database except one is a hybrid."

He reached out with his mind, * You took on the wrong race in your fight. Who chased you here? *

He heard back *Drakor someone got to our meeting site before I could. They took offense. Wiped out our homeworld. *

He thought, *Move your ships off. Get your ships stopped and power down weapons. All your ships. Surrender. *

"All ships hold your fire This is Admiral Jack Travus. He heard back, * We failed to save our breatharian. Three colony ships destroyed. *

He sent back, *You went back in time 250 years. You are now in a different timeline. You got a chance to save them in this timeline if you stop firing and power down! I am Dispenser of Justice, human Hybrid. Don't be the fool and actually save them. *

He heard, * Powering down. *

Jack called out, "Terra vessels I am talking with a hybrid on board from another race. We just destroyed three colony ships they were guarding. Not 'capital' ships. Learn to use your fucking sensors! Pull back to Terra, we have enough firepower to finish what is left if needed. Astra, bring my Dreadnaught Base back, what is left of it."

He said that last part with a note of disdain he did not normally use it in front of his crew.

Jack thought to the hybrid, * Your colony ships are capital ships size to us. A big threat. We have been attacked several times by races jumping through time. You came in guns blazing. I got here late and found your Drakor DNA. The only reason you are not all dead now. *

He pulled up imaged of the dreadnaught and the front third and halfway down the middle were trashed. "Astra we would have lost your core with that move." She nodded, "Yes. They were being attacked no way to stop it."

He thought, * You have a shuttle? *

He heard, * I have a pod we can use. Launching pod. *

He looked over, "Scan for explosives on that pod."

She shook her head, "Shuttle bay open drop shield 2, Hybrids with me swords in hand, Astra with us. Master chief, guide that fucking wreck home!"

She nodded sheepishly. They all got down to the bay as the pod landed, He thought to him, *Keep EVA Suit. Do not know if we share the same atmosphere. *

He opened the door. "Blade on and then off. After he saw them."

The one came out and saw the blades and that they all shut off. He called his Drakor blade and was blue.

He thought to him, * What question did you ask to get your location? *

He heard, *How do you make a sword. *

Jack nodded, *How many other hybrids did you have? *

He responded *Just me. I failed. *

Jack asked, * How long hybrid? *

He heard back *Long time no point of reference to compare. *

Jack waved him forward, * Medical so we can get your species into our database. Your ships were unrecognized to us. How far into the past were you expecting to go? *

He heard *800 of our years. *

Jack nodded, *Now we have a point of reference to us a jump in time was roughly 250 years. Been a hybrid for 20 years. * He heard back, *Been a hybrid on our calendar for 600 years *

He waved him onto follow. * Follow me. I was like you but sent against my will. I know what it is like to be thrust back in time. *

He got him to medical *Lay down your internal structure will appear up there. We can show you mine. *

"Astra show my internal structure."

She put it up for him.

He thought, * Can you communicate with your kind from here *

He heard *Yes, I am talking into my comms. *

Jack nodded, *Tell them to start looking for survivors but keep weapons offline. *

He finally got on the table His structure was too alien to describe He asked, * What do you call your species, for our records. *

He heard * Grepona. * He nodded, "Astra Enter species as Grepona Hybrid. You have scanned other biosignatures, add it to file. Now throw a star chart of the known galaxy up above us."

He asked * Where are you from and what do you breathe if you have studied the molecules just send me that data. *

He sent the information for oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide as the output. * He heard back a complex formula that he broke down, "They breathe methane with nitrous oxide."

He thought back, * Our waste puts out methane and nitrous oxide makes us laugh. *

He heard a chuckle from that in his mind.

He pointed up. *We need to know which system you are trying to get to? Have you improved your FTL drive above standard? It will let us know how long of a journey you must make. *

He looked around and pointed at one that made Jack laugh inside. * We call that system Pena a Penal colony for criminals will be sent there. How fast are your Drives? For FTL travel? Have you improved them above basic? I am trying to give you a timeline for getting there? *

He thought back, * No means to quantify. *

He brought up an image of 1x speed and then 2x. He moved on all the way to 5x. He pointed. * That is what we see. *

He nodded, * 20 of our years to get there. The penal colony will be 2 years behind you and armed to the teeth no hybrid and they will not tolerate alien species. Us hybrids must stick together. We both have duties to our people. I provide this information because I want you to succeed in saving your people in this timeline. *

He asked, * How so how many of you? *

Jack smiled, * Right question but you're asking the wrong person. *

He stood there and froze for several minutes, he finally came back around. * I was told you were a good guide. Sound advice. *

He thought, * Take your time. scavenge what you will need. When you jump, we will jump with you to pace you. To give you an idea of where your true speed is at *

Jack waved him out * Return to your pod. Save who you can and collect what supplies you need. Our people will examine your destroyed ships' weapons and shield technology. We need to know where we stand. We want to avoid conflict and this could have been avoided with a more defensive stand as opposed to an aggressive stance.

Your arrival was a shock to us. You are the intruder in this case and we must determine friend or foe. We both could learn more. We had no hybrids in that leading force to try and reach you. We could have talked and sent you away if our forces had not run straight in and attacked each other. *

He thought * Defend my people instead of charging headfirst into battle *

Jack thought, * Embrace your nature, embrace the sword, you can find success. That sword tells me you are a defender, not an aggressor. We are hybrids. *

Jack walked him back to his pod, * No tricks, find what you can and what you need. *

He left the area and they sealed and opened the shuttle bay door for him. He thought, "Master Chief put together a group for EVA. Once he is past our shield get a salvage team, find a wreck of one of their destroyers, you know what to look for. Astra, scan wrecks for survivors and highlight them on the map for me."

He thought back to the President. He heard the President, * I heard you called off the attack and they surrendered. What happened? *

He thought, * The three capital ships were not capital ships though I did destroy them. They were colony ships. Running from the Drakor in their own time. Searching for survivors. All ships came in too aggressively. Mistakes on both sides. A hybrid in front would have helped avoid this fight. They had a hybrid.

I talked with him. That is how I got them to surrender. They were distraught at the loss of their colony ships. I had one choice from a distance. I sent my Dreadnought on a collision course and rammed the 3 of them with an FTL drive. It had been in dry dock, no shields, no weapons, just engines. Now it needs a ton of work. *

"Master chief you are cleared to launch lower shield 2. He got to the bridge.

He thought, * Do not know which ship is yours can you spin it. Wish to direct you to some survivors. *

Jack looked out, * The large section behind you. *

That is the one. We pick up hundreds of life sighs. Same goes for that section on all three. "Get the second dreadnought here. These people may need a dry dock. Set a visitor floor with nitrogen oxide and methane for an atmosphere."

He thought, * if you have the facilities do you have the people to effect repairs? *

He heard back, *Yes but we do not have the facilities. *

He looked over, "Open it up."

He thought back, * What about now. They are setting a deck with nitrogen oxide and methane. You will have to talk with one of the hybrids on board. I have to go talk with leaders about this misunderstanding. *

He heard back, * You may have saved many today from the tragic event. We will go and test the atmosphere. *

He thought over to his son, * Alien hybrid. Talk to him. I am heading back. *

Jack yelled out, "Tell me just as soon as our shuttle returns. Get Paul on comms!"

He sighed, "They blew a power core and shutdown. One of the new techs did not wire it right. Did not ground it. Took out the 2 next to it. We are working the problem, how goes the battle?"

He groaned, "Now it is a rescue effort, Hybrid on board got the battle stopped but a lot of damage."

He thought to his son, * Keep security tight. Keep talking with him and let them work their own ships. They might salvage one or two from the parts my dreadnought left behind. Let them work their destroyers as well. They may bring no weapons other than his sword aboard the ship. *

He heard back, *We are working it deploying shuttles with tractor beams to speed it along. *

The master chief docked, "We got a trove of data and parts to go through. A new type of weapon."

He smiled, "Keep it secure. This one we will turn over to military R&D."

He jumped to maximum and passed his dreadnought, "Park it outside of Terra-7 for the moment. Until that second dry dock is ready this ship is not going back in. Master Chief. I need it in some operation status. Get me something working on that ship. This is not 'upgrade time' this is getting it back to operational. If you need the dry dock work one end. It better have weapons and shields functional so we can race in again, even damaged, we got to have something to fight with."

She nodded, "Sorry about it being non-operation. Following orders."

He looked at her, "I understand that but do it incrementally do not take the ship and make it a target."

She nodded, "Understood thought it would speed things up."

He nodded, "I understand efficiency. You must factor in getting called out of dry dock for an emergency. That caterpillar should have been building a second and third first. We will get a second done in a few days. Use that to do what I ask Master Chief."

She nodded and headed out. "Shield 2 down. Astra, when do they want to see me?"

She chuckled; "Congress would like to see you now. The president got you a joint session."

He sighed, "Losses on the Terra side and ours?"

She responded, "None from ours, Terra lost 12,000+ in that battle."

He sighed, "Find my XO and tell him he is due on the bridge. I need a 6-man team to guard the shuttle. Full body arm, shield belts, and assault rifles. Along with two hybrids who can see ninja assassins."

He went and got into body armor with a shield belt and his sword.

He got to the shuttle bay as Grace landed and had to wait. The bay sealed and he went out to see her, "My dreadnaught is fucked right now because of the decision you and our son made to put it in dry dock. We needed more caterpillars. Not to disable half of our major firepower in the system!"

She sighed, "Alright, I will talk with the XO."

He shook his head, "His ass is mine first. Get in the shuttle we have been called before a joint session of Congress."

He thought to the President. * Did the lights come on when it was there people dying, or am I walking into a firing squad? *

He heard back. * They are upset about how much we lost and how fast we can rebuild. They also want to know what else you could bring forward. *

He flew down after getting a glide path from the tower. He got the usual crap from them and he told them in no uncertain terms what they could do with their threats. He went to walk out with Grace and a man stepped forward, "No swords. He nodded, "Then you take it." As he walked past him. The man could not get within two meters of him. He walked through security with guards trying to block the way.