Aurora, Wayward Pt. 07

"I am not a hybrid and I do not envy their job of protecting the people from outside hostile aliens to finding internal corruption. Our race is nowhere near this sector and our hybrids have only a cruiser sized ship to get me back and forth when the time arises for wormhole travel. Unfortunately, that time has arisen.

I need to read a statement sent to me to give if this type of action occurred. 'The ruler of our world, while keeping the hybrids in place and in no way threatening them, has ordered us to withdraw our ambassador from this group until such time as the Drakor reign in these threats to the graduated worlds.

As that is likely to never happen, we will, after a period of one Terran year, sever all ties with the Alien Alliance and outside influences. If needed, we will resolve the matters directly when and if a conflict arises. This institution had good intentions.

But if our hybrids are no longer graduated and being treated in such a manner yet again, then we have never or will we ever truly graduate from this level of destruction being held over us. This body lacks any teeth to deal with matters in a civilized manner.

As long as the Drakor interferes at this level in our common goals. Peace among the races when the biggest bully right now on the playground is the Drakor.'"

He looked over. "This I am adding. The Terran's are right behind them in their actions in this matter. To take a position with a non-member race makes no sense in the slightest to us."

Brenda stood up and knew what she had to say but was still loathed to be holding back information and actually providing misinformation for once. Yet it was for the greater good of humanity and the Alien Alliance,

"I can understand your frustration at the situation. Humans have a history with these people. They are biologically human. This treaty that sent them into exile gets revoked and we get them to sign onto a Terran Home Guard Treaty then this problem goes away.

The issue is that they are considered a separate race based on a poorly written treaty that is 5,000 years old. Everyone, including members of our own government and one telepath who was executed this morning for his role in this matter, has all gone crazy because of this mineral.

If I had my way, I would forcefully move them to the other system and send that system Supernova to end this issue. I am not a red blade and was asked to brief you on this activity. I am a Justice. Johnathan had no idea why he was requested to go to that system until he arrived.

Then they had to comply with those awful demands to protect humanity. To prove loyalty. To confirm we still held the values of that Home Guard Treaty to heart. That included protecting our own when threatened. The only one who can answer your questions as to what the Drakor really want with their activity is the Drakor.

If it had been your race on the line, your hybrids, I know a lot of them. They would have followed that direction to save your people without hesitation. Withdrawing from this body is not tied to having hybrids and living by that code of conduct.

The only thing you accomplish by doing that is having no place to voice your future opinions on the matter. No place to find those who are just as concerned by how heavy-handed the Drakor are being in this particular matter. We need to understand why they are taking these actions."

The Drakor Ambassador looked over, * The humans know why we are being this heavy-handed in this matter but the current council may not have seen the reason behind our actions. In fact, I have been informed that this is the case. They are unaware of a piece of their own history.

If a resolution is called for us to explain our actions and passes by a simple majority then that information will be provided. We will ask the Terran Hybrid Eternal Council to make it available to all in the Alien Alliance. But the decision carries the weight of potential consequences for all races regardless of how you vote individually. *

The human Ambassador stood, "On behalf of the Terran President and the Terran people I will put forth such a question. To get the answers needed to keep this group from crumbling. To understand the purpose behind the Drakor's heavy-handed actions."

The Drakor Ambassador, * We abstain from this vote. It is up to you to decide if you wish to know the truth of the matter. If the risk is worth the potential cost. *

The Jantor Ambassador looked over, "While I am still standing here, I second the motion. All in favor raise a hand."

The Drakor Ambassador did not need to count them, almost 80% of them stuck up a hand to get an answer to this question.

The ambassador stepped forward, * We need to start at the beginning and you do not have this information. Our species is 147 millennia old. We are the only surviving species from that era in our original home galaxy.

All the others were destroyed in the war, not by one race. But by a faction of one race. The final battle of that conflict lasted 2.4 hours. You will need to contact the Hand of Justice and Astra. To get her to unlock the file of Jack Travus's detour from spouse hunting. Almost 300 years of hybrid service occurred with Jack before he saw and did this. *

---

She contacted Johnathan who spoke with Lastra who answered the question, "It can only be unlocked by 5 out 6 votes of the existing human hybrid council."

He brought them all online and included the President as well. She had gotten word that the Terran hybrids had the answer to this question. They agreed unanimously. They played the video of Jack Travis and then him jumping into the Drakor's old homeworld's system.

There were gasps from the audience as well as the Human Eternal Council who were not aware of this request coming to them. They were genuinely shocked as it was left out of the script given to them.

---

They were in the wreckage of hundreds of Drakor ships. Some were white with red stripes. They saw the planet. What was left was split in half. Like Hades had hit it. They were soon met by 4 Drakor Capital ships.

The mental communication he had was not recorded.

The four ships disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. Grace and Sprits looked at him. Aiko spoke first, "Where in the hell is this?"

Jack looked out, "We are looking at the true future humanity has avoided thus far. Forgetting to keep the sword and shield in balance. Why the Drakor do what they do is in front of you. This was a war. This battle lasted less than 3 hours. The sword got ahead of the shield.

The swords were a class system once. What I said was not their future but their past. That we would do it differently. When in fact we have been doing it the way they have been since they did this to themselves.

I had not heard from Justice Incarnate since before going into the ship to be 'Judged.' We are the first hybrids to ever come here. This is their past and our secret within the Home Guard. Not to be shared with other race hybrids.

When they are ready; they will find their own way here. Astra put all data on this location, and information on these events into the protected archives; offline. To be only accessed by the Eternal council; 5 our 6 from the council in agreement to bring this forth as a learning tool.

Get us cleared of this debris field and we will jump to our intended destination. I brought us here. I reached out to Justice Incarnate and he showed me this location. Like I do with others in the Home Guard to learn their location."

Jack sat down as Sprits climbed into his lap. She hugged him, "You now know why we must remain vigilant."

Jack nodded, "Yes, now we all know. We earned the right to know. This was the graduation."

---

Profound Justice looked at the ambassadors, * The existing Human Hybrid Eternal Council had never seen this file. Only Astra knew of its existence but she had no reason to call it to attention until today. Jack's final graduation was an intense 21-minute journey into his mind in which he was forced to start the process all over.

It lasted 7 years for him. In the end, he got a glimpse of a future, where the Drakor was at war, taking the human hybrids down with it and just about any other race he knew about. This was not done by us, but by a group of Drakor who worked to protect the timeline. His race is the only race to have ever had this test done.

It tore him up inside to the point that when he lost all of his wives in a terrorist's attack aboard his own ship. He blasted that race back over 2,000 years in existence. They are still no closer to graduating even today.

He came close to destroying them outright. He stepped back. He realized he had had enough. That while he set a strong foundation for the Human Hybrids his personal one was cracked and eroded. He judged himself and ended his own life for his actions.

He surmised from things he had been told that the swords were a status symbol. The purple blades were like royalty. The blue blades the aristocrats, and the red blades the arm of our military might.

That arm grew to outnumber the other 2 combined. They then waged war on every race in the known galaxy at that time if they were even perceived as a potential threat. The other blades tried to pull them back. To bring this to a stop.

This was an armistice site to have peace talks with our own military after they had literally destroyed all other major sentient races in a coveted run for power. That was our homeworld and the sneak attack they started ended in less than 3 hours with the world destroyed and over a trillion of our people dead.

Our outer colonies had to deal with the cleanup of this mess. Nobody won that day and one of the weapons on one of our Justice's ships ensured there would be peace, one way or the other. When the red blades came in with the addition of white ships; ships were resistant to some of our most effective weapons at that time.

He set off the device after two and a half hours of continuous bloodshed and the destruction of our Homeworld by the aggressors. It was a genocide weapon that affected everything still living in that galaxy.

The reds had already set off the bomb on the planet. Jack would have and did compare it to the Hades bomb he had designed but never wanted to build. The bomb he did build and destroyed when he took his own life. Their council of 6 was down to 1 and it recovered. That 1 never saw this file. Most races have no Justices.

We found some in other races after we saw what he did differently. We went to the Frenor system. We sought the red blades from Frenor who aided in the Samar attack; there 2 council members who still sought to seek out this system to expand their warfighting capability.

Like many of you. We are exterminating the Scrill because they have failed for over 10,000 years to become a civilized race. Their hybrids failed at their token efforts. The Drakor of today don't all have blades. Only a small fraction of them do these days.

Entrance into the Council is a highly sought-after goal for many. Less than one percent. One-thousandth of one percent, hold a blade at any given time. Purple blades make less than a tenth of our order. They are truly rare. Human justices, purple blades, are 15.8% of their hybrids.

We thought of adopting the other Drakor's test into our process but we saw the horrible after-effects it had on Jack. We could not fix those and to literally break a great leader to prove they are worthy seemed like a counterproductive goal. His situation was different because of the time travel aspects surrounding him.

We literally had no choice but to let them test him as they wished to test him. What you see as Drakor is the culmination of Drakor science; we are Drakor but we are hybrids of the Drakor. Ones designed for this galaxy. The ones genetically modified to ensure our bodies would interact, aid, and help your hybrids to form.

Not all races would accept this function or function as intended. The Caldar, for example, found the process explosively toxic. We hunt them down when we find them but they are evasive and work in small groups in areas with no Drakor presence.

They hear of our arrival and they will take action to try and stop hybrids from getting in as many of you have witnessed firsthand. They are hidden parasites. The group I am with; the Drakor as you know us. We work to keep the peace in our people and to atone for the butchery of the past.

We have spent over 100 millennia working to help other races avoid that same trap. The trap that destroyed all races in an area; except maybe one if they got lucky and did not turn on themselves. We have operated in this sector of space for just over 10 millennia. We have other sectors that have graduated as you have and learned from this mistake.

We have had systems that self-destructed as we did. Most had no survivors in them. Those that did not perish and thought they won suddenly found out the losers had set mutually assured self-destruction packages. Like our Justice did in our home Galaxy. They varied but most were effective to leave entire galaxies without life. *

He pointed at the screen, * Including that one. The outer colonies were in other galaxies. They found out what happened by looking at the computer logs from the various ships recorded by the leaders. They ensured a balance would be maintained; especially with these blades and they were all to be treated as equals.

That one test we wanted from Jack's 7 years of torture is the one you faced for just a few days. The Scrill will still be hunted. The Frenor race needs to start again. But the rest of you, and I know who had their hands up and voted to see this. Those were the brave races who would risk death even against the Drakor in order to keep chaos at bay.

You did not want to see the chaos you and the non-allied races were causing. We came in and gave you a bigger chaotic problem to try and resolve; us. Only by standing together. Only by living by the hybrid code did your races get here. This is a destination. You must understand what hybrids do is a constant journey.

As the human ambassador did now. As the Jantor ambassador did with his leader's speech. As Jack Travus did back then against the other Drakor. He stood up to the Drakor and fought them out of his mind to end his 'years' of torture. He was hell-bent and furious to ensure THAT future never occurred. *

He pointed at the image again. * To keep THAT from happening here! Hand of Justice was right, we would have destroyed his ship to kill those Scrill. We wanted him there to understand just how bad things were going. We wanted him to record what was going on with the Frenor.

We asked for the 2 rouge red leaders. They refused which was unexpected and regrettable. Then they attacked. We did not destroy them but they are essentially starting over in proving themselves to be ready to sit here again. The one human who facilitated the jump to that system; was also a red blade.

He had family in dire straits and the money they offered him would set his family up for several lifetimes. He just traded his own life for their lives. The Jantor Ambassador does not need to withdraw from this body. That was you taking the stand that Jack took all those years ago.

We are stepping away from this problem and this body as my Ambassadorship has proven its point. Not to repeat the mistakes of the past. To set an example to a weak link and they refused to back down for those that jeopardized their species' very survival.

They would still be members if they had turned over the 2 hybrids we had asked for. Instead of us having to destroy 170 of their hybrids and thousands of their non-hybrids on each of those ships when they attacked us instead. In their case, they stood up for the wrong reasons. They stood up to defend rogue hybrids. You all stood up to get the answers of 'why the threats now?

Why join the council now? What is it about this system and this race that makes it so important now?' They all had the same answer; the same answer Hand of Justice came to when Astra showed their council Jack's last message. We are not repeating the mistakes of the past if we can help it. This will not be our future.

Jack believed this was how all races would be tested. He wanted you to each find this answer on your own. Until today you never sought this answer. Now it is up to the Alien Alliance, your member nations, and your hybrids to ensure the mistakes of the past do not occur.

We will still be around and still working to get other races in this sector to the right level of civilization. Our offer to the Penans to review and translate all of those contracts still stand. Our time working with this body directly is at an end. We will still be in contact with your hybrids from time to time. Especially those with no Justices. *

He went to leave and Brenda called out, "Before you go. You kept calling Jack as Jack and not as Dispenser of Justice. Was there a reason behind that?"

He stopped and looked back, * Yes. In order to ensure that Justice Incarnate accepted his self-judgment, he made one proclamation. I quit. He stopped being Dispenser of Justice and ended his life in accordance with the hybrid code. As Jack Travus, as his last act, he Dispensed the Justice upon himself.

A selfless act after everything he gave to save humanity. One worthy of remembering the man and not just his sword name; which he set aside by his declaration. Many hybrids have died of similar circumstances. We honor our records by calling them by their name with the race and sword name if they fell in service.

For our recorded history it has both but shows he died as the Terran Jack Travus, the first hybrid Justice. As many of your eternal council have done over the years since then. The ones who go rogue usually only have their race and sword name without their birth name recorded. The majority of those who turn rogue are red Blades. That is across all species. *

The Drakor Ambassador left the council chamber with his two bodyguards. They boarded his shuttle and left Mixtios.

[NOTE: The repetitive part of Part 2 and Astra Part 9 ends here for those who skipped ahead.]

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Brenda has ensured it was set to broadcast out as Jack had requested. All on an unencrypted frequency across the entire galaxy as the script had called for. She now knew why. She now knew what would attract this enemy to the Penan system, to open warfare in this Galaxy if that trap failed.

The Drakor seemed ready and confident. Johnathan had told them the Penans had a sizable fleet of ships as well but did not know how many. They had that part of the plan and it was centuries in the making.

---

Johnathan kept to the script and dealt with the presidential fallout and reassured her that they would search those archives, having assigned Brenda to the task to find any more hidden messages that needed to be known about. He worked on those activities for just over 3 weeks.

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Aurora was left in the Pena system in a MIDGE style craft that was coated in the shell and extended. It had a 6x FTL drive if she needed to push it for an escape. She knew an escape was unlikely and the 20 other Sentinels she had with her for cyber warfare were at the terminals and awaiting action.