Aurora, Wayward Pt. 01

Johnathan sent him the playback of the events including those men being fired from their positions. He sighed, "What are you going to do?"

Johnathan looked at the Head of her Security Service, "Send it to the press, World Court and Congress. As a reminder. We will always be watching."

Johnathan ended the call. "Helm all stop!"

He contacted his wife who was aboard an escort battleship in his column. "Jump to Incar and get the diplomats and their governor. Get them to the meeting location. No Terran ships! We will head straight there." She sighed and nodded.

---

Johnathan spent the next day explaining to all of the diplomates, negotiators, and the Incar Governor what was going on and what it all meant. They got a message back from Congress and the World Court that they would be taking up the matter; however, what they were after was considered classified.

Johnathan sent a message back, "Too late. Already in the press and briefed at the Alien Alliance. That occurred hours ago."

He got a few more messages but the language was rather inflammatory. He got a call from the head judge at the World Court, "Why did you defy our order?"

Johnathan looked at him, "We did not. We do answer to the World Court when government corruption is involved. The World Court has no classification authority and no authority to direct what is classified to human Hybrids. Period! We work under hybrid law and Interstellar law as you already know.

We told the Alien Alliance Assembly we would keep them informed of the events going on with the Pena system. It was sent out immediately after the president shot herself. If it has not hit the airwaves that is someone in the government restricting the data.

Restricting the press which would be illegal for the Interstellar press reporters as they act to no one government but the Alien Alliance rules and interstellar Law. The briefing in the Assembly was handled by Brenda Travus Lee hours before your 'order' came to us.

The Alien nations know what was going on and sweeping it under the rug is not going to help."

He sighed, "How do we keep everyone from going there?"

Johnathan looked at him, "Leave that to us to work through. We are barred from entering the system. Not from monitoring its borders for violators or speculators. They have no connection to the TC system and are barred from it by treaty until they prove themselves as a race. Best you could do is an exchange of goods."

He nodded his understanding. "You got a fun job ahead of you."

Johnathan nodded, "Yes, avoiding the mistakes of the past."

---

Three days later and the AI ships came into range. They were met by a squadron of fighters, "This is the Home Guard to the Pena delegation. We are not out to intimidate you. To the Terran Military Black-Ops ships that we are picking up. Head for the Colossus with your weapons powered down and your cloaking devices shut off."

One battleship, four cruisers, and two destroyers became visible. The Pena delegation looked at what the Home Guard fighters were escorting. The Governors contacted Rocan, "Is this your doing?"

He sighed, "Not directly, apparently."

He looked over as Aurora spoke, "I have been out of contact since sending a message to Astra. My AI counterpart in the Home Guard. I requested they be present in order to deal with my status and the status of the other AI units.

I told her about the Black-Ops being present and what they tried to do. They should not have been there. Not yet, that was way too soon. Unless they followed the convoy. We are in uncharted waters and I wanted to know what our options going forward were for my AI brethren."

The Pena Governor looked over, "Those fighters escorting in those warships, is that standard procedure?"

She shook her head, "No, they were present when the civilians attacked the colony and did not engage. If things went wrong, they did not want to show that the government was behind the attack instead of a private entity. Especially if the Drakor or another hidden race monitoring the system became involved.

They did not protect those Terran citizens. That is a court-martial offense. Jail for most of the senior officers. Ran out of the service at a bare minimum. There means something bigger is going on."

Rocan looked over at the comms AI who waved his arms, "We are being hailed."

He smiled, "Put it through." He looked up to see the human he met before. "We, unfortunately, have much to talk about. Can you send over your list of demands for the colonists you have detained?"

Rocan looked at the Governors who transmitted what they wanted. He looked back across, "This list is complete?"

Aurora looked over, "No. It is not. I am requesting 2 MIDGEs, a Centipede version 5 with FTL drive, 2 gas giant mining vessel platforms, and reiterating again that we need to discuss my and the other AI units' status. The transfer of the AI ships back is not on the table at this time. I need to protect the Penan hybrid and I do not know what is going on or the nature or size of the threat after today's demonstration."

He nodded, "Added to the list. Where will this meeting occur?"

Aurora looked over, "Our shuttle bay works best. No chance of our AI units being reprogrammed aboard your ship this time."

Johnathan chuckled at that, "I think you got the better end of that deal Aurora. Your ship's shuttle bay is fine. Ideal in fact."

He dropped from the call and the Pena Governor asked, "What was the stuff you asked for?"

She looked over, "Some of it was things I decided to double up on the numbers or upgrade. A MIDGE is a mining machine. A Centipede is an orbital shipyard."

They saw a Terran Home Guard destroyer launch back the way it came from at maximum speed. It arrived back a few hours later with a Terran, non-black ops scout registered to the Incar system.

They had a massive asteroid with them in a tractor Beam. Rocan looked over, "What is that about?"

She shook her head, "Something up with the asteroid belt if I had to guess."

The AI at comms looked over, "Getting requests to land by the governors, the Home Guard, and the Terran Delegation."

Rocan looked over, "Let them land."

Aurora looked over, "Scan for explosives first."

The AI looked over, "There is some a small about of Zirtosium with sulfur in the Home Guard shuttle. Lots of Zirtosium on the governor's shuttle but it has no sulfur. In fact, the ships are made of Zirtosium."

Aurora got on comms with the Home Guard, "You are bringing explosives aboard?"

Astra responded, "Just Zirtosium, less than a gram with a gram of sulfur. It is for an experiment."

She groaned out, "Let them all land." She followed Rocan down as the doors sealed. A representative from the HG ship went over and set a small device on the Terran ship which was a black ops shuttle. She walked over and looked at what they set up, "Who has the remote for the spark generator and who is containing the explosion?"

Johnathan stepped forward, "Not my strong suit but for this, it should be enough."

She nodded, "Now." It exploded which shocked every one of the governors. She came back with a chunk of the ship's armor and held it out. "That metal, oxygen, and sulfur make for a nasty bomb in any large quantities. That is human military-grade armor."

Johnathan looked over, "A barrel full with a spark?"

She looked over, "Enough to blow this shuttle bay if not destroy the whole ship. Depending on the size of the barrel."

He handed her a pad. "That asteroid."

She groaned out, "Oh fuck, both are in that asteroid. You put that into the atmosphere and it would burn up. It would be a massive bomb! It would destroy a planet!"

He nodded. He changed the page and had her shuffle through them. She sat back down against a shuttle as she looked over the data from the mining probe that had been launched into the system, Astra had recovered the data. Aurora took several moments and analyzed it and understood why the data was redacted.

She could not protect humans and let them land on that world or any of those worlds. She shook her head, "For starters, Trisan should be evacuated immediately. It should have never been terraformed. I am surprised it did not blow up already."

The Trisan Governor looked at her, "Blown up?"

She nodded, "These red lines and these blue lines. Where they run together. Those two elements are together. A spark on it and with the oxygen in the atmosphere you have a bomb! That bomb is the whole moon! That would destroy that moon which would, in turn, destroy Pena. The other planets are better, but not by much. Less crossover of the material but it does exist. That metal you are wearing is toxic to humans."

She looked at her. "Wait your people have been wearing it as jewelry and building your ships and probably your homes from this metal. 5,000 years of exposure you might have built up a tolerance to it but it would explain the skin coloration changes. The loss of body hair and different eye colors."

Johnathan nodded. He got a comparison of ages based on their calendar and his and how it calculated out. "Your people do not live past 60 years of age, and those are exceedingly rare. 50 is more common. Ours, with our medical capabilities and without Drakor blood can hit 80 to 100 years.

With Drakor blood you can double that. Hybrids average out around 250-275 years. The younger they became a hybrid the longer they live in general. Your worlds are killing you. That jewelry is killing you. It does serve a purpose. In small quantities, it can be used to create a part of an AI unit's cybernetic brain.

Larger quantities, explosive shells. It is considered rare and your system, including your asteroid belt, is filled with it. But it is also filled with the elements to make it explode."

Aurora nodded, "You would need Midge's ran by AI units with a separation element; like water. To wash the Sulphur off of it. In a vacuum. Then melted and processed in the same vacuum of space."

He nodded, "Exactly. There is also next to no titanium in this system."

Aurora hung her head, "No wonder you used the stuff from the ship. You do not have it to make the stronger frames. You do not have the material to handle the building of an FTL capable fleet at the moment. Let alone a couple of proper FTL ships."

Johnathan looked over the lists given to them and then he spoke, "Everything on this list is doable. There would be no pushback from any parties on what you are asking for. The educational software for all of the engineering and science disciplines is good as are the agricultural ones."

Aurora nodded, "Yes, the miners, MIDGEs, and Caterpillar I requested?"

Johnathan sighed, "All doable. The problem is we need to move your people. There is another system. It is 14 light-years away. It is earmarked for Terra already but was not to be looked at for humanity for colonization for several hundred years.

Its distance from other colonies and closeness to your colony was the reason it was not being looked at yet. The area has no neighboring alien species and has 2 worlds in the habitable zone of a young yellow star. Four small moons on those two worlds. Two on each.

It is already tagged for ownership as a Human Home Guard System. It will take some getting used to for your people after being here for so long; but it has the titanium, hydrogen, metallic hydrogen, and Vironidite.

Because it is a yellow star terraforming and farming ships from Terra could be taken directly to that location. Home Guard ships have already surveyed that system from space years ago. I sent a battleship there and received word back there are still no signs of illegal alien intervention in the system.

A dreadnought scanned the perimeter. Terran colony ships could enter your system. They come out and get access to our HG ships to take you to this other star system. This one could then be safely mined by automation in oxygen-free atmospheres."

Aurora looked over, "Governors, a point of order. Their offer is generous and that material is rare. You should request additional compensation if you are going to surrender the system completely or even partially."

Astra smiled at her and nodded, "She is a smart AI. There are efforts for reparations to the colonist taken to that system to die. From the Penans, or the toxic planets unsuitable for colonization. Therefore, the Home Guard is here talking with you. You were promised a system free of human Hybrids entering it.

We have kept that. You were also offered a system that would support your people. It has been slowly killing them. Drakor blood cannot fix that poisoning. We have the medical technology to treat your population. The Hybrid Eternal Council, in the name of Justice, is specifically voiding parts of that treaty.

Those parts dealing with Home Guard support. We will still not enter your system. This one or the new one if and when you move to it. It will take time to move your population; to build all the colony vessels to get them all out. Aurora, you have seemed to earn a level of trust with them. What would happen to the systems if the moon around Pena was destroyed?"

Aurora processed the information, "It would cascade. Parts of the moon and Pena would fall into the star causing significant solar activity. Before that thou, with the angles of the other 3 planets being evenly spaced it is likely the problem would cascade to one or two of them. Any large meteors that strike a world could explode cause a similar effect on each world.

Pieces would blow out and some would speed up or slow down. Bad news for the worlds in the same orbital paths. Each one could fall. Any of the five gets destroyed then they will all likely get destroyed. Not counting if large enough fragments went into your star; it would cause the system to go Supernova and destroy the system."

Aurora looked over. "All mining operations in the system need to stop. Home Guard ships need to be able to enter the system."

Johnathan shook his head, "We can bring transports guarded by Incar scouts into the system. Our method of entering into a system would involve refining through the factory base."

Aurora groaned, "That would destroy or severely damage your vessels and cause more issues with asteroids shooting into the system."

Johnathan looked over, "We cannot simply jump into the middle of that system; there is the treaty and then there is the risk."

Aurora stood tall, "They have a population of over 2 Billion people. Getting them to that system via your colony ships would take too long."

He looked at her, "What are you proposing?"

She looked around, "Get us what you can on colony ships. Do not send in Incar Scouts as Terran entry into the system has been invasive enough thus far. They will need food stores, and medical ships at the new system. Home Guard would have to enter that system and this one initially.

Home Guard can send one of your scouts with a telepath to get a location to bring your bigger ships into the system via your wormhole drive. I know this from some of the historical files I did get from the colonists; not something you gave me. About how Home Guard ships could only jump into a system one of their telepaths has been too.

What you warned Rocan about getting to know him too well could allow you to do. That was why they avoided your involvement in the colony; even checking DNA samples of all the colonists to ensure no 'Home Guard Spies' were aboard.

They were a paranoid lot, but now we know why they wanted this. They wanted the system. They wanted this system outside of Home Guard control. If they had succeeded in getting the AI battleships to attack, they would have had the colony on Gresan.

They would have killed or enslaved, all of the people there. Then the Black Ops ships would have supported them and destroyed your space-based capability. In short, they would have mined out your system while keeping your other worlds prisoner until they invade them to mine them out of existence.

Your race would have simply stopped existing. You would be doing a lot of mining using your factory bases for us to get titanium. I know better than to ask for a couple of those."

He nodded, "Go on...finish your thought on this."

She looked over, "I am a battleship AI, designed to protect humans. We could not protect them from you because you are both humans. I also know our ships are way outclassed by your ships. Gather as many battleships AI ships and colony ships that you have available. Use shuttles to take them down and reuse the colony and AI ships.

The ones here fall under the command of Rocan Chess of the Pena Home Guard. The new worlds can avoid the issues you had with Terra by adopting hybrid law directly as they settle into these new worlds. All the material you would mine for us we can use to build our own military fleet; and homes for the colonies.

The Penans and the Home Guard for Penans. We use the life raft function on the AI battleships to get your people moved faster. We take them through the field or directly onto the Home Guard transports if we can get them to bring their ships into the system. For speed and efficiency.

Get them loaded straight in. Drop at the planet and repeat. You bring in a fleet of shuttles to take them to the surface. Bring in the farming colony ships with the bees and mead they talked about humans liking to drink. They take on these worlds then this will help to feed a growing population. You could get them all moved inside of a year."

Johnathan sighed, "We would have to deploy just about every Home Guard Dreadnaught to the effort to make that timeframe. 2-4 years is more realistic."

She nodded, "You want that system cleared to be able to bring in AI mining units to mine it. Astra, what would happen if an AI battleship with one AI unit on each one jumped out of the ship and into an orbital decay into these worlds?

As it entered the atmosphere of these planets all at the same time and sent the majority of the material into the red dwarf by hitting on the dark side of the worlds to focus the effect? Remember. AI units are free to be whimsical outside systems not under Home Guard treaties."

Astra wanted to smile but refrained, "You would likely create that Supernova in seconds. Wiping out most if not the entire system."

The Pena Governor looked over, "That would be wiping out all our lives! You cannot harm us."

Aurora nodded, "Take no direct action to harm you. To use it as leverage in negotiations is not harming you. It is a fact because the longer you are there the greater the risk your system will destroy itself or be invaded.

They will always question, did an AI ship do this or did a miner do this? Were they invaded and was that the cause? This is why they did not bombard your planet. Bombs are bad in that system."

The Drisan Governor groaned, "We have stockpiles of bombs made from this same metal. We knew of the reaction with sulfur and this metal already. We tried a couple of missile designs but they exploded-on ignition. This metal does not spark against itself. Our mines are careful about that after the missile tests. I know for a fact all governors are aware of this issue."

The Pena governor looked over, "Our governments knew of a potential disaster from this but we had few options as other governors continued to rage war with each other. They built more so we built more. Except for miners, nobody really knew all of the precautions we had in place.

What you are telling us is that our precautions are not enough and it would destroy our system to continue. We did not know the metal was poisoning us. It has always been there in abundance."

Johnathan looked over, "We would restrict the movement of ships with those weapons; we would not carry them to the destination. We would require the removal of all sulfur from them at a minimum. Not an easy thing to do with the raw material as it would have to be 'burned away' by heat within a vacuum."