Astra Pt. 09

Lacy smiled, "You know how it works."

He nodded, "Now I got to get us back and then have the President play politics. Before I go kicking people's asses. He took the sword and put it in The Survivor with the other one. He went to the bridge. He looked at everyone, "Collapse it down."

He waited for it to be buttoned up. "Launch one drone. He had a drone come up. He called out, "As this thing opens up fly the drone through it or into it. Launch a second but keep it in the shields. Testing a couple of theories. The XO relayed the order, "Master Chief, Give us half power." She took it to half power.

The first drone flew into it and it shattered into millions of pieces across the surface of the wormhole. "Another quarter. "He started nudging forward. "Full power." He felt the energy come to him and he kept it even and he gave the final push off to send them through. The comms went wild as shuttles swerved to miss the large ass Colossus." The second drone survived.

He looked out, "Has to be within our shields. Store the drone and examine it. Let me know if there is any abnormality with it."

He heard the banter from the ships to the towers and ignored it. He sent out the wave and had over 40 hits, most of them on the moon and earth but one in Jupiter and another in Saturn. He thought, * Astra give me a system map in my head and I will flood it with coordinates.*

She sighed, "Alright."

He sent all of the information as he scanned again. She called out, "It worked!"

He heard from Justice, * Impressive use of that technology interface with your AI. Well done. *

He though back, * Better when I get them all. *

He put that all in a pad and went and hit his comms interface for the President, "Astra secure it."

It came up and she was in a cabinet meeting. He nodded to her, "Back in the system with the Colossus, Madam President. I ran that scan. 29 items on earth, 13 on the moon, and 2 others. 1 in Jupiter and 1 in Saturn. Let us start with the 13 in the secret installation on the dark side of the moon."

The Secretary of Defense looked up, "There is no installation on the dark side of the moon."

John smiled, "Great when I take my scout down and just shoot into the moon, I won't hit anything or one of value."

He looked, "You cannot just do that."

He called out, "Launch four scouts to these coordinates and have them aim at them. Do not fire yet."

He looked at the Secretary of Defense who slumped back into his chair. "There is a Military R&D site there."

He nodded, "Madam President. Executive order for me to clean house of Drakor artifacts from it." She looked at the Secretary of Defense and then nodded, "Coming. You said 29 here?"

He nodded, "Area 13, Area 51, a facility outside of Moscow, Two in China, and one in the outback of Australia.

Then there is a large ass one in Reno Nevada at a company called Advanced Solutions, INC. Privately held company. No financials on it. Astra is working on tracing all of the shell companies."

She replied, "It comes back to a company that was once owned by Howard Hughes but is now believed to be operated by the American CIA." He pushed her the map.

She nodded, "I will get you the executive order and warrant for that place easily enough. They were warned to shut down all sites of that nature. I will work with the local governments on these others."

She ended the call. He looked at the ladies, "The Survivor. We will look at the civilian place first and then the moon. Astra why did we not pick these things up?"

She sighed, "Because we still do not know what it is that they are made from. From the sword to the ships. We cannot detect them. Unless they are powered up, and not in stealth."

They got on the ship and launched, "Terra-2 tower this is TSM-158475 en route to Reno Nevada."

He heard back, "That sounds like Merlin. Hell of an entrance you made today. Getting something that big to jump."

He called out, "Colossus, expand and lockdown. Tower when it finished that is what I jumped going out. With Goliath inside."

He heard back, "Port speed, glide path set, and mother of god that thing just got way bigger."

John nodded, "Ready to start taking colonists to Tau Ceti next week."

He heard a chuckle, "That will be a Quick ride."

John looked over, "Both colony leaders have signed off?"

Lacy nodded, "They have as have the elected councils from both colonies. They are glad to see we got the jumps back on track time-wise. First, 30 could be ready in 4 days."

He heard, "This is Reno tower to TSM-158475, What Is your destination?"

He sent the executive order over, "Tower we know where we are going. This is a scout and will not fit in your glide path. Our sensors are better than yours, monitor if you like. I am under Planetary Presidential directions."

Lacy responded, "We got the search warrant for the facility to isolate and remove all Drakor technology."

He brought them down inside the high-security fences and cameras. He landed in the parking lot which was mostly empty. They were met with armed security personnel who started shooting right away. He yanked all the guns away from them and then turned them on the men. He looked, "I am getting tired of people just firing weapons without talking first."

He dismantled and melted all the metal and then brought it together into a 3-meter-tall sword.

Had all the gunpowder from the bullets embedded into the surface and he drove it a meter into the ground. He sent one bullet flying at it and they were looking at a very large burning sword. He asked, "Which asshole over there is in charge?"

They all stared at one woman. He held up his pad, "Search warrant from the Planetary President and World Court."

She slumped her shoulders. He pulled her id from her, "Astra run her name."

Astra responded back, "CIA operative."

He looked at her, "CIA cannot operate domestically on American soil. I am here for what you have in that building."

She sighed, "I have people to call."

He walked toward the building, "Get to calling."

He went inside and was shocked to find the partially crushed remains of what looked like a Drakor destroyer. It had no engines he walked around and they had it open, "Ladies spread out and locate anything they took from here. I will scan after having a look inside. He went inside and it was partially gutted of electronics. He stuck his hand on it, * Justice? *

He heard back, * Millennia old ship. Lost before my time. Do not know the story behind it. *

He went over and opened the hanger doors on one end. He did another pulse out and found 8 items and went searching. 3 more swords. 3 shield belts, and 2 system consoles. He moved those mentally out of the room and carried the rest. He handed it off to the ladies and put it all back inside the ship.

He thought, * Astra complete computer search find any and all references to this, find out if any patents were applied for and yank them if they exist. If they got put into production I want to know where. *

She thought back, * Systems are cleared only two patents were pending and they suddenly got denied and withdrawn from the system. The name on the patents is the woman who you were talking with. *

He found her and she called out, "You cannot just take that."

He looked at her, "Your two patents have been denied and wiped from the system. Any other locations we should searching? Starting with her home computer Astra?"

She called out, "She was in talks with a small weapon manufactured for the two components, I have gone out and wiped all trace of it from their records. As well as her home computer. I left her operating system and collection of animal porn. Even I do not want to touch that."

She looked at him, "You have no authority for my home!"

He nodded, "Check all CIA records for this site and any information backed up to them. Destroy it in regards to this ship, including every backup."

Astra sighed, "Going through it. Found a few other Drakor references associated with the moon. Sending them to you."

He turned very angry, "I should stick you in there and take it back into space."

She looked, "It will not seal. It has holes."

He nodded, "Yes. Let me guess you could only get into it when you got the cure from my DNA!"

He put his hand on the ship and the doors closed with everything inside. He walked out and got in The Survivor. "Reno tower be advised you will have a squadron on this location. Colossus, dispatch 3 more scouts to this location.

Then I want Excalibur low orbit to take over pulling this beast back to the ship. Open up for them." He had a vid communication alert. He looked at it, "This is the director of the CIA. You are breaking the law."

He sighed, "I am in compliance with the law. Take me to the World Court to resolve the matter."

He disconnected the man. He tractored it out of the hanger as the other scouts came in, "Three on the sides, one on the bottom pushing up. The back is trashed."

They got it up to the Excalibur and it took it into the cargo hold of the Colossus. He got back to his ship and had the subpoena to be at the high court immediately. He grabbed a shuttle with the wives and headed to the high court will little delay. He walked in and had the usual argument about swords until he took a folding chair and turned it into one.

They let them pass after that. He did not bother fixing the chair this time. He walked into the court. He looked across at the Judge. He nodded to him, "It is my understanding that you took a derelict ship and technology from their facility, wiped out all traces of it from their computers, personal computers, and the CIA's mainframe?"

He smiled, "I can claim credit for the ship Astra for the rest."

He nodded, He sent over the search warrant and executive order he had. He sighed, "This covers the ship and technology but not the computers."

He nodded, "All of this was Drakor technology they did not gain access to until getting the cure. Hybrid blood. They then tried to create patents to sell to weapon manufacture. I would like to call up a witness, Astra, The President."

She was in a cabinet meeting. He nodded to her, "Sorry to interrupt but this is actually a good thing. Almost 3 years ago I showed you what happened with the Pralon in regards to Drakor reverse-engineering their technology?"

She sighed, "That any and all attempts to reverse engineer their technology would end in the complete destruction of humanity."

He looked at the Judge, "First time ruling on hybrid law. Did we act in the best interest of saving humanity?"

The judge chuckled and shook his head. He looked over, "Sounds like you were the only ones who could do it."

He nodded. The woman screamed, "He cannot erase what is in my head! I will refile those patents until they get through."

John walked over to her. "Is that your final answer?"

The judge called out, "I do not want any violence in my court."

She yelled. "Yes, it is!" He picked her up mentally and walked her out to the landing pad as he dropped her down. "One last chance to retract those actions."

She looked at him, "What are you going to do? Kill me. Fuck you I am doing it."

He sliced through her neck and left her body lying there. Her boss looked over, "That is murder."

John sighed, "That was protecting humanity from a zealot set on its destruction. She refused to back down. She heard what the consequences would be and all she wanted was money and power. Corrupt to the core. Are you that way? You need me looking into you like I just had to look into her?"

The man stepped back as John walked back into court to the Judge. "Threat neutralized outside of your court."

He shook his head. "These hybrid laws were going to come back to this court at some point. Given the woman's state of mind and the security cameras being displayed in here and her defiance to the end, I cannot fault your action based on hybrid law."

John looked across, "We have many facilities to deal with around the world and on the moon. Easier to cooperate and let us remove it and any trace of it. Astra can find it. I can find the items. Moving them does no good."

He nodded, "Issuing an order to all governments with these items to cooperate with the Hybrids of getting them off this world."

He looked across, "Your honor we also discovered they sent the bodies of those who fell to the moon in stasis. We will be going there next to clean house."

He nodded. His understanding.

---

John spent the next 36 hours working with Astra collecting everything from swords to three more scout ships held by different governments. He recovered 15 bodies in the process. Astray went through thousands of computers and some were wiped where they had no operating system. Those she had exploded a couple into flaming balls of circuits. They had the information and were being stubborn.

He thought up to Astra, "Set up a basic medical profile of the Drakor body and anatomy. To be accessed only by you and only to confirm remains found in the future." He heard from Justice. * A sensible precaution. Not our technology but minor biological identifiers for the future. I thank you for the safeguards. Your Astra has been most helpful. *

He nodded, * I need to rest to find the two large objects in Jupiter and Saturn. *

Justice replied * They are not in human hands. *

He though back, * They are one technological leap away from being able to grab that out of there in the future. I will remove it if I can. *

He got to rest with the wives while the ship moved toward Jupiter. He woke and went to the Excalibur. With all the telekinesis Specialists. He circled the planet until he found it and it was half as long as the planet. He shook his head and focused on it. He had it rotating around the core rapidly, then more rapidly and finally he punched it toward the surface.

He saw the Edge, "Tractor beams as it surfaces."

They had the Colossus and all the Swords there as the front third exited out and they latched on and all brought the rest up out of the atmosphere. John looked at the massive thing that was 10 times the size of the colossus and they dragged if higher and higher as more scouts came in and fighter came in to latch onto the thing to pull it free of Jupiter.

They captured images and sent them back to the Capitol he heard, "How in the hell did you get it out of the planet. He thought to her, "Used the slingshot maneuvers used by our old NASA days in order to build speed inside that liquid. It made a few hundred passes. That was the 'easy part'. Once we decided to break free it took a lot of power. I have 27 telekinetic specialists that passed out from the effort.

They released it in space and watched it power up and jump through a wormhole. He thought, * Justice, what was that? *

He replied, * An observation station we had inside the planet to watch over your people. Your resourcefulness astounded the commander of the ship. They left your system of course. *

He asked, * Saturn? *

He replied, * That one we do not know. *

The president replied, * We heard both of you on this bracelet is that normal? *

John thought, * He spoke to my mind and it was connected to your device. I would call that Normal. He can also connect to those devices crystal to speak with you. *

Astra replied, * I have heard him before but just stayed out of the conversation. Thank you for the compliment the other day Justice. I try to be competent and complete. *

He heard, * Your electronic interfaces have worked better than most do. Getting an AI to hear us in your head is an accomplishment. *

The president sighed, *Tomorrow for Saturn? *

He sighed, * 12 hours to get there. Need to figure out the size of that one. Tomorrow is likely depending on when the last 10 wake up. *

He thought to himself, 'Too fucking easy.'

Twelve hours later and he arrived at Saturn. He set the ships up in the same configuration. This one was a quarter of the size. He spun it like the last one and sent it out of the surface. It had a good head of speed and the tractor beams grabbed it almost in the middle and pulled up as the scouts and fighters worked the top end.

He got pictures of this on and had them take it into Colossuses hanger. He looked it over, "It is Drakor in shape and composition but the coloration is wrong. Instead of the long orange stripe, that we normally see, this one has a deep red stripe. The entire casing is white!"

He heard from Justice, * No ship of ours matches this configuration. *

He went to open it and got shocked. He looked at Kiru, "You try?"

She reached out and the door opened. He thought, * Keyed to only red sword wielders. *

They went aboard and found hundreds of dead Drakor in white and black armor. He came across something that looked familiar and he pressed it. He came across two sets of human remains dressed in Drakor style armor. Both blades were red and one he recognized as belonging to Kiru though they had a black appearance. The other was 'Vengeance Untold', a male. Also black in appearance.

He was drawn to a console and hit a button. He heard, "War with the blues has proven more challenging because of the justices siding with them. We are attempting to flee our pursuers but got boarded at the time as our time drive activated. It got hit. All were killed and the ship is trapped inside of a gas giant.

It will not crush the ship but it does play havoc on our bodies with systems failing. This is the last recording of Commanding Admiral Extreme Vengeance. He found that sword nearby. He rewound the recordings until he found one with images and it was definitely Kiru in the image.

It gave a date in Drakor while John relayed this. He heard, * 2,000 years from now. *

He gathered all the weapons and the ruined bodies and lined them up he looked at the swords. He called out, * Justice. Your sword is among them. Justice Incarnate. Two humans were among them including my wife. *

He heard, * I see this and we will have to examine that craft carefully. We are on our way. *

John closed the interior wall to allow the main door of Colossus to be opened. He called out to Astra, "Get samples of those last two human bodies DNA and get it to our lab now. Download the logs from that white ship."

He sent her an interface protocol; how he knew it he did not know. At that point, he no longer cared about how he knew. He wanted to know why this was happening. They waited for the shuttles to arrive to take out the two wrecks and then one came and docked. John looked at the honor guard procession. He looked at Justice *Why did that console look familiar to me? To know to play it? The interface protocols? *

Justice looked over, * We are curious about that ourselves. Just as we are about you copying the data from the ship. *

John looked at him, * I asked for the logs and as humans were aboard and involved in this we have as much right to know. We also recovered the craft. We will keep the human remains and sword of theirs for analysis. It would be only fair considering the extremes we have gone to get Drakor technology out of the system. *

He looked down, * Could we take one of them. *

He thought back, * How would you answer that question for your own If I asked that question? *

He heard a sigh, * Fair enough. I will see what you all learn in the coming days while we do our own investigations. *

He took the two swords and went to his lab, "Astra, I want all that video footage stored only on my personal server."