Astra Pt. 05

Francine nodded, "I want to see you before you leave."

Jack smiled, "You can and you likely will again and again." She nodded. Jack walked out and left the ladies with Francine.

His two sons followed him out to the shuttle, "Jacob you will take the first chair to our next destination, and Timothy the destination after that. With Aiko riding the second chair for both."

They nodded. He went into the shuttle and brought up the ship holovid and contacted the Flanagan Family. He realized it was late after he sent the call to them but it was a much younger woman who answered.

She started with, "Do you know..." Then stopped. "Wait you probably did not realize it being off in your own little world as it were."

Jack laughed, "No system, we have 2 worlds. With three moons. Two worlds with heavy bee populations and 2 Irish Mills Refineries going."

She smiled, "You got the bees there and they took hold!"

Jack nodded, "There are hundreds of wild colonies across Geos and half as many across Meos because of the narrower area of warmth for them."

She smiled, "My grandmother would have been pleased to hear that. She passed 3 years ago. She never took the cure like most of us did."

Jack nodded, "I understand. Life is about choice."

She laughed. "Yes. I am glad to see you and happy to hear about the bees. What about the mead?"

Jack smiled, "There was a small, less than a fraction of one percent difference in the production version but I followed our agreement. Geos or Meos refined Irish Mills Mead. We do not have a credit system. It is more of a co-op but because of the quantity, we could market it at maybe 10TCs a bottle. For the big ones."

She laughed, "You can barely get a shot here for that!"

Jack nodded, "I have two cases, one from each planet to bring to your family. I live on Geos but I like the Meos just a bit better. Something about the cooler environment affects the taste."

She nodded, "Closer to ours."

Jack nodded, "You could pour 2 shots of it and one of yours and you would be hard-pressed to tell where they were bottled. At least the Meos."

She smiled, "Something to do during our next board meeting."

Jack sighed, "I did want to say the refinements to the farm ships worked great. I am concerned where this new president-elect is going to take things and it may curtail my leading expeditions to another system as I had hoped."

She sighed, "That alien aspect crap she campaigned under?"

Jack nodded, "She called out 'my kind' in our conversation and I reminded her that she had some of that same DNA in her system. She did not like me saying that."

She laughed, "You sure? She said she never took it."

Jack shook his head, "I am not in politics. A lot of plastic surgery is possible, but not very likely while in the military. I could get Astra to find out, but I will hold Astra back from doing that just yet. Gonzales is the one the people chose to lead them here. I warned her what would happen if she went that route. We put it in the bylaws filed that we would declare Tau Ceti an independent Human society. I will protect those humans who wish for my protection.

They put a leader in office who does not want that. I will respect the will of the people. Work to find those who wish to have a well-armed Home Guard with plenty of space to grow and learn from a good thing. We have no credits and it works more like a co-operative. I have my 'day job' if you will and I have my role as the Command Admiral for the Home Guard. You saw my guys fly in."

She nodded, "Very impressive formation."

Jack smiled, "A majority of those fighter and shuttle pilots are 16 years old."

She looked at Jack, "Children soldiers?"

Jack smiled, "No, we do not train soldiers we train pilots. All 'ground troops' are like village militias. Air support is key if we are getting attacked. I was a Fighter pilot instructor at 16. Most have been flying since they were 12-13. Just under half a million people in Tau-Ceti now. When the Brisen attacked, they did not consider the age of those they killed. How can we deny; within reason, their ability to defend themselves.

I lost 2 wives and 6 children on the first shot on my ship. That is why Excalibur is not here. We were in orbit when we got attacked, we did not go flying into combat with infants on board. We were not looking for a fight. Out of a crew of 200 aboard, only 16 survived. Effectively destroyed the ship.

I salvaged what I could. Most of the wives were on the planet of Geos. The attack occurred at Meos. 20 enemy ships, 3 days over 5,000 of our dead on the planet, thousands more dead in space. We had a fleet of maybe 400 ships, most were shuttles, fighters, and scouts.

A couple of destroyers got obliterated. They had 4 battleships in the group of 20. Now Tau Ceti has over 3,500 ships including 4 more of the large bases and 80 battleships like the ones I brought with me. I got Astra back online but she has been hit just as hard as I have been by all of that. I wanted to avoid the chance of it happening here. I am not optimistic at the moment that I will get the chance."

She called out, "Oh god. Check Universal News. I will let you go."

Jack pulled it up and the president-elect was there. Gonzalas nearly screamed out, "I am beginning to think Jack Travus is a scourge. He threatened me if I did not change my opinion on what I campaigned on, fighting alien influence."

Jack called the station. The operator saw who it was and she passed him to the desk. The producer looked at him, "I was told if we put you on the air with her, she would walk out."

Jack nodded, "Astra, seize their news feed and put me up on the monitor."

The producer's eyes went wide as he appeared up there. "President-elect. I tried to go through the producer of the news to speak with you on the air. He stated you threatened to walk out and hide if he put me on with you. Just to discuss these accusations and threats in front of the citizens who elected you. I had Astra put me through instead. Do not blame them. The question is, is this something you are ready to talk about, or are you going to walk away?"

Gonzales glared at his image, "Fine what do you have to say."

Jack nodded, "Let us start with the truth, something politicians with an agenda seem to forget. Astra playback."

Gonzales had to sit there and watch the entire conversation they had.

Jack looked at her, "What part was the threat? I warned you from history. I warned the President from history. That when and if it came about. That is the course that Tera chose then Tau Ceti would look to go its own way. It resides in those colony charters filed before we left over 18 years ago.

I have asked that the new ID device which will allow your 5.5 engines to be used at Treven and the 8 by multiplexer for power cores be worked into the existing contracts. I am moving the ID to Treven because the other contractor failed to innovate and keep up with the engine technology. Now Treven will have to deal with both. No hassle, no charge, none of that. What is it I have denied you?"

Gonzales looked at Jack, "All of your research."

Jack nodded, "Because you do not wish any Alien influence. Are you officially changing that position?"

Gonzales shook her head, "No I will go to the courts to get it if needed."

Jack nodded, "They can rule on existing patents. They cannot rule on the technology you do not have in hand and that has not been made public. If I do not choose to patent it, you cannot go after it. You can pursue the other patents but you must, under eminent domain, provide fair compensation for those patents. You must prove quite a bit. Let us start with what is fair compensation?"

Gonzales looked, "Nothing if you are turning your back on us."

Jack looked perplexed. "You referred to me as 'my kind.' How much of the world population has Drakor DNA in them now? I am betting it is over 80%. I could pull up records to confirm but let us use that as a starting point for this discussion. Of those who voted for you how many do not have Drakor DNA in their system? How many of them do have it?"

Gonzales looked over, "They are human and you are not."

Jack nodded, "There's the rub. If I am not human how can a human court judge me? I contend that I am human. I was made a hybrid at the direction of the Tera government 620 years from now against my will because of the provision in a military contract that exists today. That allows you to do human experiments on your troops. Given that, I was born human to human parents and modified by our government. Are you arguing this point from all of the information and interviews we have had before?"

Gonzales sighed, "I have no information to prove directly or indirectly that claim."

Jack nodded, "If it came down to it, I do. Using people who reside on Tera today. It would potentially create life-ending paradoxes that I do not wish to temp for the sake of humanity. Would you agree that it is not worth trying to risk those issues?"

Gonzales nodded, "We will see."

The reporter jumped in, "You are saying the chance of introducing a paradox that destroys all humanity is worth considering?"

Gonzales backtracked, "No, I am not saying that either. I am waiting to see where he goes next."

Jack nodded, "I will let her go on that. You want my patents. What if they were not mine? What if they belonged to someone else on Tera who was human by your limited and narrow definition? Would you still want those patents?"

Gonzales looked at Jack, "So long as the people of Tera benefited from them and not you, I would not care."

Jack nodded, "Your issue is me benefitting from my patents. Does this hold for all other patent holders?"

Gonzales sighed, "Stop trying to put words in my mouth."

Jack nodded, "You believe if my patents were held by people on Tera for the betterment of Tera humanity. Am I still allowed to use my patents and expand upon those ideas in this concept of yours?"

Gonzales sighed, "As long as you were making nothing from it. I suppose so."

Jack nodded, "There is no currency in Tau Ceti. You'd have no authority outside of Tera to direct if I ever make anything off of my patents. I will have my lawyers draw up paperwork to transfer patents and business holdings. Not my personal or business accounts. To those people who are contracted to work on them when your presidency starts. I will send out an immediate termination to all weapon contractors to end their contracts to use those patents."

Gonzales looked at Jack, "That is not what I said!"

Jack looked at her, "It is the only way to transfer those patents out to people who will not try and exploit them forever. I will take all the weapon patents. As well as all of the ones I have for components. Those that could be used to make weapon improvements but are not in use. I will just give those away. Blocking all former and existing management at all of those defense contractors by name. As well as those companies, if the companies are renamed, or bought by another company."

Gonzales looked at Jack, "To who?!"

Jack smiled, "To every legal human citizen who is not specifically barred from making them. As a free-to-use by anyone patent on all those components. That means all people can become weapons developers. Now you are going to argue something that will sound like you do not want me to benefit from these patents.

Yet, you want the weapon makers to benefit. Including the 5 I terminated already for trying to have me declared dead. You want them to make a profit from those patents. Is this what you are going to ask now? All you have to say is I agree to this and I will, as I always have, stay out of politics. Then you will stay out of my research facility."

Gonzales looked up, "I will stop you from doing this."

Jack shook his head, "You want me to stop what you asked me to do? Miss, I am sorry I did not catch your name before hijacking your interview. I appear to be upsetting her. Maybe you can ask her questions she will answer clearly. I have put my proposal forward to her on your broadcast. I will wait until you have a question for me."

The reporter looked over, "President-elect Gonzales, what is the issue with his offer?!"

Gonzales looked over, "He is trying to undermine fair business. Create instability. The ability of legal businesses to make money."

The reporter looked at Jack, "Your thoughts on that?"

Jack looked over, "Hybrid Innovation and Investments, LLC. That is the business name my patents are held under. She just asked me to give it all away for nothing and that is a legal tax-paying business employing thousands of humans. She is asking my business to stop making a profit and stop paying taxes at the same time. Explain the difference, please? I am getting confused by the distinction."

Gonzales looked up, "You're not going to be here and plan to decide for those who are left behind."

Jack nodded, "You were a career Military officer, you retired from it a few years ago because of mandatory requirements. Not because of any mental or physical issues, correct?"

Gonzales nodded and shouted, "YES!"

Jack asked, "Before you left the military knowing you were going to leave. Did you make decisions that affected those who were left behind?"

Gonzales looked over, "That is a part of every military officer's job."

Jack asked her, "Did you go to work after you left the military?"

Gonzales looked over, "It is on the record I was on the board of several firms after I left the military."

Jack asked her, "You ran for president, knowing you would leave those board positions behind. Did you make decisions that affected those who were left behind?"

Gonzales started to get up and Jack called out, "You can walk out and admit that you do not want me to give up my patents and business, or you can defend your position and I will do exactly as I said I would. I contacted you because of your political run stating you did not want any alien influence.

You have called me an alien, but you want my patents. You want patents for things I have reversed engineered from aliens that attacked us. Things I have encountered without the support of the Tera Military or government. What aspect of 'alien influence' are you fighting and did you wish for me to take the actions I described?"

Admiral Gonzales walked out of the studio and Jack looked at the reporter, "She might be done. I am not if you wish to continue this?"

She smiled, "Of course."

Jack nodded, "I came back with a large military contingent of 8,000+ we do have children and such, and more were born in the two years in FTL travel it took to get back. I reestablished the satellite link back to Tau Citi. That can only be made by a powerful telepath. It uses a synthetic engine that had been reverse-engineered from the capabilities of the alien I introduced the world to known as Meltora. Then there are the electronic interconnections that were inspired by the Drakor who are aliens.

They told me there would be a few things I would be able to make to help humanity. Items related to the biological psychic capabilities they gave us. That satellite that allows for communication across star systems is a work of multiple alien influences. Now, while I was gone, I lost one wife which was reported when we arrived on an early rendition of one of these satellites. Danyelle, I named my shuttle after her. To always remember her.

She died in a shuttle accident that destroyed Merlin, my previous shuttle. I lost 2 others that I reported. I have not shared this video publicly but I have with the President. I will play it for you. Even though it is painful for me to watch and I want to show you 'why I came back with the force I did?' It is graphic. I will warn parents now as these are from an active war zone."

She nodded, "I got clearance. Go ahead."

Jack showed it all including the internal images of what happened to the Excalibur the people and the children. He let it run until it was done.

Jack looked up, "When I was taken by the Tera government from the future those missions launched from Tau Ceti. The exact kind of analysis that was done on their wreckage was done on parts of Excalibur. Parts of the ship that were not attacked as well as parts that were. The initial conclusion. The Brisen traveled through time to that location. Two travel locations initiated by man occurred in 2-timelines from this location. That led to my abduction out on the outer rim in Tera twice.

Both coming and going from that location. Making 4 additional events. Then twice more at or around Jupiter; arrival only. Now I spoke with the Drakor mentally known as Justice, to me. He said it was likely that our species messing with time made those locations anchors or magnets for other such events. We went from 400 ships mostly shuttles to 3,500 ships for a population of just under 500,000. This does not count the 324 ships I brought back.

I brought them here to help if this occurred again on the outer rim and Jupiter. Those large bases you saw are also factories. We could produce over 44 million bricks of the material to armor a vehicle like this one, from the same battle."

He showed the Lancelot flying in and taking down the last three alien ships solo. "That was one Hybrid flying that vessel. He lost both wives and all but one of his sons in the attack on the planet Meos. That ship was one of the first we put into that armor configuration. King Arthur, when It was demonstrated here, had the underlying armor."

He threw up the images of the Excalibur, King Arthur, and Lancelot on the screen. "You can see the Excalibur without Meltora who was injured badly and had to go and heal. The damage to Excalibur, King Arthur, and Lancelot. You can see the evolution of the armor changes we were working toward. We had not planned on having a Home Guard that large that soon. But that attack put us on alert.

The weapon that killed 2 of my wives, 6 of my children, and 8 unborn children was fired from a rail run. The ammo was the size of a golf ball and hit over 100 times harder than any railgun we have in the Tera military. Every vessel I brought back has one except the shuttles.

Except for my shuttle but it has a much smaller version. Some have more than one. It has limitations. But it is a devastating weapon. Every vessel is armored in that same metal and powder coated like Lancelot now. I told President Grendal when I created King Arthur that it was a 3.5 billion TCs in framing and armor alone to create it. That was the raw material. We have improved the process to make that happen. The cost now to do that vessel is 3.5 million TCs for that aspect on that size ship in raw material only.

Based on Tera market values as Tau Ceti has no economy currently. We brought enough material to manufacture 44 million bars on those 2 Bases with 2 factories within each base. I told President Grendal and his cabinet this earlier at the Capitol. He knows he cannot make this decision for the incoming President. Same reason she used about making decisions for those left behind. I found out what platform she ran on. That blew away my plans to help humanity in Tera.

She did not run on that in the previous timeline and I warned her before I left of the damage it would do. She is upset because I told her years ago before I left, that if she took that stance I would work to support and defend humanity. I would work on alien relations from Tau Ceti as they became an independent government; which we have been. No other colony ships, no military scouting expeditions to check on the state of the colony after contact was lost.

No attempt by any other means has been noted. We were and have been on our own. Surviving and thriving. We still cared enough to try and come back to help humanity as a whole. But we are aliens according to her. She does not wish to deal with us. That is the platform she ran on and she is moving in that direction. Damned to hell what you all just witnessed. That is her view of humanity outside of this system because not all of our people are hybrids.