Astra Pt. 09

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John was attacked days later by stealth battleships and scouts. Coming back from a contractor meeting aboard his scout with Lacy. They attacked shortly after take-off. His communications were being jammed. He had 4 scouts trailing him and firing. He took them out near the south pole to be met by 6 stealth battleships. He cut hard and headed toward but in front of Tera-7.

John kicked it up to 6x speed as he saw some of his weapons being fired; he had not designated a weapons contractor other than himself yet. He wanted to see if they stole his engines and ID systems as well. They all accelerated to keep pace. Shortly thereafter they all became visible and his rear-projection cameras picked up the explosive decompressions and 10 ships going dark.

John called out, "Tera-7 this is TSM-158475 wishing to declare an emergency for 10 ships headed in your direction from the south pole area. They appear to have all suffered from structural damage. 6 battleships and 4 ravager scouts with stealth technology. They were all firing on me. I got a case of patent infringement going here. For every engine, Inertial dampeners, and weapon aboard each of those spacecraft. Request the assistance of the Tera Military."

John heard back, "How did you damage 10 spacecraft?"

John laughed, "I did not. They stuck technology into an airframe incapable of supporting it as is. They just fucked 10 ships trying to follow and shoot me. They took out 80% of my first shield so I switched to a secondary. They have too much damage to make an atmospheric landing. 4 of them are free-falling toward you and I will work to slow their fall but a few more ships with tractor beams would be helpful."

He looked back as he knew Astra was in orbit near Tera-8 on his cloaked battleship, "Astra shut down self-destruct, and encrypt weapons controls. Also, lock shuttle bay doors." He arrested the fall of them when 3 Tera battleships and 5 scouts showed up. "Lacy, get me an investigative team that has been looking to get the goods on GS for a while. I want all of the technology on those ships checked against my patents."

Astra called out, "Medland Investigations. They have had the best luck against them."

John nodded, "Get me two good law firms because I will be suing the hell out of GS."

He contacted the Battleship nearest him, "TBS-482 I hereby declare salvage rights on the vessels with no surviving crew. I want the names of all crew members and who they work for. They have stolen my patents and assumed their airframes could handle the stress. No great surprise that these 10 ships' airframes failed."

TBS-482 responded, "That would be a matter for the courts."

John smiled, "Medland Investigations is en route. Those ships are seized for investigation."

The military called out, "You cannot make that call."

John laughed, "I have my lawyer next to me and they attempted to murder her as well. The emergency call went into a civilian station. Not a military one. I know it is operated by GS as are the 6 military ones. Tera-8 will be operational in a few months. I will contact the Capitol and get the World Court involved if you cannot comply with the law. As it was initiated by a civilian station the matter falls into civilian jurisdiction. They are seized. Would you like my lawyer to start quoting case law?"

"Astra, bring in my research facility and decloak it here. Then keep the ships out of the atmosphere."

John contacted the Capitol, He saw the operator, She looked at him, "Routing number?"

He sighed, "I do not have one. John Travus is my name. I need to speak with the President as she has 10 ships that are about to be shoved into the atmosphere by her military craft in violation of civilian law as all 10 have had structural failures."

She sighed, "One moment."

Trudy Winthrop came on, "What happened?"

John sighed, "I got 10 ships with fake mockups of my patented engines, Inertial Dampeners, and weapons that attempted to attack me. I have a battleship commander who feels civilian law does not matter. The call for assistance was sent through the only civilian space station up here. My Kitana research base, 'Swords before Shields' has just decloaked and is working tractor beams to keep them from pushing them into the atmosphere."

She looked over, "I have gotten in touch with the Admiral. All of those ships must be recovered. He contacted the Captain and explained this is a civilian case of patent infringement and they are not authorized to destroy those craft as they are evidence. Who is doing the investigation?"

John smiled, "Medland, I just picked up two high-powered law firms as we will find out where these ships were built and seize the production equipment as well. If not the entire facility."

President Winthrop laughed and shook her head, "They could not have bought the items from a vendor?"

John shook his head, "They are still tooling up for the engines and power cores with no orders from GS. ID systems are 2 weeks out. I just came back from a contractor meeting. Weapons I have not settled on vendors yet to build them. Who else besides your military would have access to stealth craft with no transponders, no registrations..."

Astra interrupted, "Names are coming in. All GS employees including two Vice Presidents!"

President Winthrop looked over, "The GBI is on its way as well. You got global industrial espionage charges as well if you got corporate officers captured. What did you hit them with?"

John laughed, "Nothing. I let them take down my first shield to 20%. Switched to secondary and sped up. They tried and failed to keep up. No shots were fired from me. This was ALL from structural failures. Exactly what I told you would happen if they stuck that equipment in their existing airframes."

He sent her his footage of the carnage as he circled them, He heard, "This is Medland investigation TIS-231. Who is in charge here?"

John called out, "This is John Travus I contacted you. Well, my lawyer did. They were running with new engines that the patents were released a couple of months ago shortly before the fighters and scouts arrived that I delivered. As well as some even newer weapon patents and weapon vendors have not been chosen yet. They butchered the installs but got it right enough to cause catastrophic failure on all 10 craft that fired upon me.

The GBI is also on the way as we know we have two Corporate VPs of GS on these ships attempting to kill me. I was in mid-transit with 2 bodies aboard. That is 2 counts of attempted murder. My lawyer is filling out her statement as she was one of them. We cannot stay here forever."

John heard a chuckle, "I got the battleship commander on the line with me on a sub-channel. We have a shuttle going to each ship to get statements."

John forwarded them all of the communication logs from him, "You have a copy of all communication with Tera-7 and the Battleship Captain who was ready to let them burn up in the atmosphere until I contacted the Capitol. I just had a conversation with the Admiral about the need for new airframes for those engines. Those frames cannot tolerate the strain. That conversation was at the Capitol a few days ago. I sent you the recording I made of that portion of the conversation."

Lacy looked over, "Sent you both our statements. Sending them along with the footage from the internal camera. To the Capitol, The GBI, Medland, and 11 news agencies because they pissed me off!"

The guy from Medland laughed, "Wild one there."

John smiled, "Lacy Travus, Also my wife and business manager. You got what you need from us?"

He heard, "For the moment. You sent us more data than most."

John smiled, "We will be back soon."

They got aboard Shields before Swords and headed back to IO. They watched the holovid. John sat down with Lacy and got all the legal stuff done that was outstanding and found out they were doing a full-court press on GS systems. The new President of the company could not even get to work now because of the press hounding him and hovering over his home. That was when he saw the GBI knock down the door. He watched it for another 30 minutes until they brought the man's body out.

Self-inflicted was being reported. Their stock tanked by 95% right off the bat with his death, "Is there enough stock to buy and do a hostile takeover, and do my accounts support it?"

Lacy nodded, "It's Possible. Doing it."

She got it when it fell another 2% points.

She nodded, "Got it 52% It started going back up after you did that. He looked over, "File, we are taking it private." She smiled and nodded, "Get our lawyers all over his estate and the holding of the other corporate officers. Search for hidden holdings Astra."

Astra sighed out, "Fine...get to fucking."

---

John enacted subclauses in his contracts to remove exclusivity from most of his patents. He did a press conference and informed those out of work about the opportunities he had. The ability of small businesses to get a right to manufacture and improve upon the technology he laid the foundation for. 30 small businesses specializing in different companies came into being. He bought into all of them after clearing them through Astra. No more than 3 working on any one piece of technology.

He worked with colleges about innovation but also to pick up courses and degrees in agriculture if they wanted to be a part of a colony expedition. That twisted the schools into a fit as they had to add new courses of study. He got hybrids up to 140 within a year, by that point. 40 on the planet with half of those agents 'known' Including a few young judges. Congress passed the measure on a two-thirds majority for hybrid law. The first time through. John thought, 'I am getting way too lucky here.'

John had gotten his battleship to Tau Ceti and back again in one day. The next day he pushed his luck and tried to take Goliath, his first dreadnought through the gate. They arrived but lost a third of the right side of the ship, half the pylons, and 40 crew dead. The loss of 60 of his fighters. It took a week to get the base to open to release his battleship and scout The Survivor out.

As well as one of the caterpillar systems that would have to work at repairing the systems. He returned to Tera on his battleship to a shocked crowd. He showed them the level of damage from his configuration test and emphasized it would take more telepaths. He had worried about families speaking with their loved ones in the far-off system through the satellite system but none contacted John. He had requested they all be put through to him, yet none came. John went back to his recruiting efforts.

2 years out and the next base called David, for obvious reasons, was taken to the Tau Ceti system. Those who wanted to return home for a visit could swap positions as the repaired dreadnought came out of the dry dock when they arrived.

He had 280 Hybrids on deck the following day when he called for a full expansion of the drive and everyone was ordered into the center section of the ship. As expected, he pushed his luck but not as badly. He lost a tenth of the ship down the left-hand side, 20 fighters, and all four pylons on that side. He took it back to Jupiter for retrofit. He brought the Colossus in dry dock as well.

He added another two power cores per pylon to the Goliath. He redesigned the engine room on the Colossus and added another half-deck and doubled the number of power cores to the system and increased them to 750 Terawatts each. He added another 60 Hybrids from the reviews and 50 would be on the next trip. He waited for both ships to be finished.

---

Lacy and Kiru both screamed at him, "Are you fucking crazy? You are going to get yourself killed."

John looked at them, "I got to get these colony ships moving to get them to the other side. This is the next test."

They threw up their hands as the other wives did the same thing and he yelled back, "You do not want to go on this one; stay here. But it is going to happen!"

John went to his shuttle and went to his battleship. His wives followed in another shuttle. He looked over, "XO, dock us with the Colossus."

He nodded and docked the ship. He called out, "Colossus base! Full expansion. Goliath dock inside the base. All hybrids to the Colossus bridge."

His wives and the others showed up on the deck. They all thought he was pushing it too fast. He called up President Winthrop once the walls were in place, "Madam President. Proceeding with the next jump test. I am taking the Colossus fully expanded with the Goliath inside and docked.

I have doubled the number of power cores and increased their output by another 50%. That is for each pylon in the Colossus. It is probably pushing as much power in that room as we have on the planet!"

Trudy Winthrop sighed, "Your wives are alright with this test?"

John chuckled, "No, I have been called crazy and out of my fucking mind. If I am right it is not the amount of telepathic power we have onboard at the moment. We have to increase the size of the wormhole further. With that, we could move a colony through a wormhole. If this works the colony could launch next week and on schedule instead of delayed because of these crashes."

Trudy Winthrop sighed, "Godspeed to you John."

He nodded at her. He had gotten the presidential medal of freedom again for his efforts. As did Astra, a first for a non-human and an android. He explained to those in attendance, "I have gotten this now in 2 timelines. I do not know how that works."

They laughed at him for his comments at that dinner. At least he knew it was coming for that award.

He looked over at Frankie, "Master Chief! Give me 25% power on the Wormhole Engine. They watched a massive hole open from that which had the wives concerned. He called out, "Half powered. It grew by 25% and looked just shy of getting them through. He called out, "Three-quarters power." He watched it expand to the size of the ship. He nodded, "Full power!" The others started to send him power and he kept it steady and built up the power they gave him as the hole finished expanding as he did the release through the hole and found himself in front of the docks in Tau Ceti, "Open up and launch Goliath."

John looked back and nodded to them all, "Thank you for all being a part of this history."

John brought up the comms through the satellite and looked at her, "No damage; arrived on target." The president collapsed back into her chair. With her cabinet members clapping. Trudy Winthrop asked, "How did you know?"

John looked at her, "First jump test we did we damaged pylons and we added power. The other timeline. After that last test, I knew we kept it straight going through. The results of the damage on the ship confirmed that. I added two more cores per pylon to Goliath and plan to jump Colossus back in a shrunken form tomorrow.

They have two factory ships out here now to run and collect material to build the local shuttles and supplies they will need for the 90 current colony ships planned. Also any additional colony structures or equipment."

She nodded as Lacy spoke, "The next ten Terraforms are done as well and another 5 farm ships will be ready next week."

He nodded at her. John looked back, "I need some rest now."

Everyone laughed at that. He went to his room with the wives on his tail. Lacy looked at him, "Why didn't you tell us about the other crash."

John looked at her, "Astra already told you all after the first run with Goliath."

They looked at each other and did not deny she had told them. John looked at them, "Lacy, I need you to try and contact Grace."

She sighed, "I have never..."

John looked at her, "You try or I will."

She nodded as he laid down and connected to Lacy's mind and then slowly fed her energy, some he kept from the jump and she gasped from that. He heard them talking. Grace asked, "Wow you must have had a spike in power to reach me."

John thought to her, "I gave it to her."

She laughed, "I got you both!?"

John asked, "Have you ever got Colossus through?"

Grace sighed, "We have barely gotten a dreadnought through."

He thought to her, "Two more power cores per pylon on the Dreadnought. Build a half deck above the Pylons on the Colossus. Install 750-terawatt power cores. My old lab. Enter the motto in Latin and it will unlock all the files and you can search them. All except the most dangerous ones which will never be opened. The Master Chief would know how if she were still around."

Grace sighed, "Gone but I know what you are talking about because of what you did before. What about that half deck?"

He thought, "Double all power cores to each pylon to the Colossus. You got the power. I just pushed it through with 240 hybrids and not all were telepaths; fully expanded. Had our Goliath inside. The one that had to be fixed twice. That included my battleship on top. You got this. That capability is within your reach. "

Grace laughed, "Still trying to teach me."

Lacy interrupted, "We all called him crazy and fucking insane for jumping to this test. Now we all feel like shit about it."

She heard Grace sigh, "We argued before all the weddings got settled the first time. He came in and told us his safety is his concern. You can have your say but he will do what he wants to do. Supporting him is for the best."

John thought back, "Did she tell you we got 66% of congress to approve the treaty?"

Grace laughed, "No, I have not contacted her in a while. I have been busy working on keeping HG out of another civil war in Tera. It looks bad. At least two of the Starbases have been destroyed, 1 and 7. They have left 9-12 alone. It probably helped we deployed another 150 fighters at each one of them as they kicked this off.

They are protecting the bases in between them as well. It is a no-fly zone for the war. Our offers to mediate have been denied by both sides. We have HG forces in the system protecting Jupiter and Saturn which they seem fine with staying away from. Luna and Mars put a hurt-on Tera with that sneak attack."

John thought, "Pack up the Colossus, double up the cores and drop it in the middle with all of those forces, and blockade Tera from attacking and from being attacked. If asked 'What do you think you are doing?' You respond. 'What is best for humanity.'"

Grace sighed, "We have thought of doing that with three of the dreadnoughts. We did it with two and the colossus carrying the third might show them we are fucking serious about bringing this to a close."

John sighed, "Need sleep after that push. Thank you, Lacy, for helping."

Grace laughed, "Thank you for the technical updates."

It ended. John looked at Lacy, "Now you know why I just walked out. I had that argument once before."

She nodded and told all the wives what had happened.

He went to sleep and heard from Justice. "Your solution was inventive. We did not see you getting it there that soon. You have about capped out on the power a hybrid can normally have in their eternity. Some of the Drakor were shocked and even a little jealous at how easy some things have come to you. Your string of bad luck appeased some until today. We knew you had great power when you pushed your scout through solo. Only an eternal with several centuries of experience should be able to do that."

He thought back, "I was forced to start over and placed over 12 light-years away from where I needed to be to navigate an asteroid field from hell that killed one wife of mine. That made FTL travel into it impossible in just a single scout. I have been striving to catch up since getting shoved back here."