Astra Pt. 07

He switched to voice, "Have your guards use the monitors for tracking. Astra is making modifications needed for you to see the intruders. Use your cameras!"

The guard called it in. The door opened behind the guard and the attackers hit the wall which caught the reporters' and guard's attention. The second entered the skirmish and Jack blocked blade strikes from both sides. This drew in the third as they moved him toward the T intersection and he was at the center of the T.

The third started attacking and Jack moved that much faster, he took the head off one, the one who came from the ceiling. Then he sliced through the middle of the third. That left the one who started on the ground. She started to run and struck a wall there and she turned back after slamming into it.

He called out in Japanese, "Surrender or die."

He heard the distinctly female voice in Japanese respond, "It will be you who dies."

She came in to strike and he swung up through her groin and out of her head as her strikes crashed against his shield. He looked over, "The 3 of you, move to the center of the room. Together."

They moved and he put them in a field as the three waiting at the door could now get through. He spoke in Japanese, "Just 3 again? I thought this might be a challenge."

They all went for the kill strike while he let them and took off all 3 heads in one swing. As they crashed against his shield belt.

He thought to Ash, "6 down!"

She called out, "We got 4 down."

Astra spoke aloud through his holovid, "1 more down and 1 fled. I am picking up no more targets. One guard was killed; outside the private residence. The one went down in a hail of lasers and gunfire from 4 others who could see it on the monitor. 2 other guards were wounded."

Jack put his sword away.

He went around and looked at all the dead and removed the stealth suits they wore. "No electronic signature. Someone or something made it from cloth."

He looked at the girl's eyes and she had contacts. He removed them, "Contacts so they could see each other's approach and strikes. Blades are made from an alloy I have not seen."

They had shut off when they fell away and he uncovered the handles which had that same stealth material covering the handles.

He flipped the two halves of the girl over and stripped the body down. He thought, "Marking of House Shimada on this one."

He checked the others, "All the same." He rolled the bodies over and looked for identifying ranks or anything. "She was the leader of this group. They tried to send 6 after me and 4 after the President. Left 2 to deal with guards if the alarm sounded. They wanted a quick in and out assassination strike while we were together."

" Grace, tell the President I recommend getting the Capitol airborne and keeping it there. In air refueling."

He gathered up the material, weapons, and contacts. He looked, At her head and then the others, "Intracranial communication device."

He used telekinesis to pull it out of that half of her brain. It started beeping and he threw it with telekinesis before it and every head exploded."

Jack sighed, "Probably got the one who ran as well with that. Ask if they see a large red spot anywhere."

The guard nodded, "Yes under your ship."

Astra responded, "With an explosive device attached."

Jack went outside and looked from a distance. This one was 3 times the size of the last 1. He set up his rectangular cube and slid in two straight panels along the long sides. It fell into the box and he walked up and looked at it, "Did not get a chance to arm it before his head was blown off. We got one of these bombs in a completed state for analysis. We could use the President's bomb disposal squad."

He set it down on Pad 3. "My pulling the device must have triggered it or they thought it would kill me."

He turned around to see the reporter who had pissed herself and walked her back inside to the ladies' room so they could salvage her dignity.

They came out and she had a spare skirt on. She asked nervously, "Do you think we could sit down for the rest of this interview?"

Jack nodded and walked back to the conference room where the bodies had been cleared. They tried to take the gear.

Jack called out, "There are six other bodies for the R&D department and 3 sets of their contacts they used to go with them. We will hang on to the sets I collected for analysis at my lab."

He nodded and took the contacts. Jack nodded, "Split the technology up and we find out faster how to deal with it. Like glasses for the guards to see those light frequencies. There were 4 females. One had a poison dagger on her arm; Tattoo. Astra, how many females among the rest?"

Astra called out, "Only 2 males."

He took the stack of material and set it on the table while the ladies set up the camera Jenni continued the interview, "I am still at the Capitol building, and from what I am feeling it is airborne."

Jack hit his comm device, "Capitol Tower, I am bringing in 4 squadrons of my fighters to fly cap over and under the Capitol until the President decides on a course of action and where he wishes to land next."

He heard, "Capitol fighter Squadrons are in the air."

Jack sighed, "This was not a request. The President put me in charge of his space-based surveillance and all the Space Stations. I have space-based craft and not just airbreathers. My squadrons can detect invisible craft. I want my squadrons who have nothing but respect for the President to be in the air with the Capitol fighters. Please inform them."

He switched bands, "BS-2 send four squadrons. Intercept the Capitol and fly cap around the Capitol forces and the Capitol. Give them breathing room. Watch for stealth targets. We are the shields."

He heard back, "Understood Admiral. Until the swords are needed."

Jack smiled, "Assign two as pursuit squadrons if needed. Keep that cap going until further notice. 8-12 hour shifts. You alternate times so they cannot pick a scheduled window."

He looked back at the reporter, "Continue please."

She asked, "What was that? 'We are the shields until the swords are needed.' Was that a motto?"

Jack nodded, "It started with the hybrids and colonists wanted it for the Home Guard Motto. We do not use the Home Guard forces against humans unless attacked first. In the charters. We use them to be the shields around the colony. Until the swords are needed. They practice in and out of the atmosphere. But our population is never to be the target. We have a marine force. They are used for surgical strikes if we have hostile aliens on the ground.

Else we are trying to do a board action or repel borders. We took them into a warzone and they did fire on humans but only because we were being fired at. Our air units cleared out all landmines in that area and all large military guns on the ground that were used against us."

She nodded, "I want to take you back to just over an hour ago. We had invisible ninja assassins attacking us but you saw them. Your sword passed through me and you blocked an invisible strike coming toward me."

Jack nodded, "The strike would not hit you as I had you in a telekinetic wall already, all of those in the room except myself. Some hybrids, not all as it takes skill, patience, and practice, can see in other light bands. I found by alternating with a blue and red-light band rapidly enough I could see them. I checked with Astra to see if she could scan them, and she did not. That meant Capitol Security could not. I had her do what I do with my eyes with the cameras.

She was able to give me a count of how many there were. I have a cranial implant for her but mine has been modified to let me communicate with her telepathically. I am the only one who has the device. I used that telepathy to alert the other hybrids and get the offensive and defensive ones who could and could not see them into position to protect the First Family."

She looked at Jack, "That was why you positioned the shot for the interview. You shielded us and protected me?"

Jack nodded, "Telekinetic wall in a triangle. I knew the guard had no chance of seeing them and if that door opened, which it did, he would have gotten killed from behind. As would the 2 of you."

She looked at Jack, "You were fighting 3 on 1 and you stopped blocking to eliminate the target and when they struck you it bounced off, you are wearing a suit."

Jack nodded, "Telekinesis again. One of the first things we teach new hybrids is how to create a body shield that still leaves their hands free to fight. It comes in handy for sparing practice. It works with armor as well. I got to the point of leaving it active everywhere, except for my bedroom on the ship.

After I got shot in the back is when we discovered how to make that shield; then and now it is a staple skill to all Hybrids. Like regular shields, they can be brought down. We do not have, and they did not in the 30th-century, the miniaturization knowledge to create a powered personal shield; it did not exist."

She looked at Jack, "You moved so fast. Hybrid?"

Jack nodded, "Yes changes in the muscles. Some in the mind. To see and work movement at that speed."

Jenni asked, "Can you move faster?"

Jack laughed, "You don't expect me to answer that do you?"

Jenni chuckled, "Alright you spoke to them in Japanese, how did you know they were Japanese?"

Jack sighed, "Ninjas are found in a few Asian cultures. They rarely have cross-cultural and racial boundaries. They are normally from one house. We checked the tattoos on them. It is not a 'yes they did it.' It is a clue as it might have been a rival who sent in new members to portray them. Their chosen fighting style, weapons, and movement told me enough.

I did grow up in Japan. I have a Master's degree in Ancient Japanese and Chinese cultures. Please leave the house name and any images your camera woman captured of the tattoos out of your story. They are clues in an ongoing investigation now by the Security Services."

She nodded, "I understand. You have lost several children, how do you cope?"

Jack looked at her, "As best I can. I lost 40 in the fights you saw. Only 13 are called out because they died in combat. I have had 1- and 2-year old's die with the Excalibur destruction. Others on the ground or in transports who were non-combatants. Then there are the deaths of those I sired. That is probably closer to 5,000 because I do not know all the children I sired personally.

Mostly from other mothers in Tau Ceti. Astra does a good job of briefing them if they ask about approaching me on the subject. Some listen, while others do not. I make it clear it gains them no favors. If anything, I am twice as hard on them. Just as I am with all my children in the Home Guard. I just expect more from my children. Like a lot of parents do."

She looked at Jack, "You stated you did 2 FTL jumps in the system. How did your ship not fly apart?"

Jack sighed, "The final attack was a third FTL into the asteroid field with 3 ships. The frame of my ship and the hull are all modeled at 10x in system and FLT speeds. We will never travel that fast. We are at the edge of how fast we can travel in FTL."

She looked at Jack, "There are other ways?"

Jack nodded, "Astra, play the Drakor departure from the Moon at Titan please on the screens in the back of the room at 1/10th speed."

He let her watch it as Jenni spoke, "All of those stars."

Jack nodded, "They used a wormhole engine. Before you ask, I have an idea, and concept for it but I am not ready to discuss it yet because it is nowhere near ready."

Jenni nodded, "That would make the colony travel so much faster."

Jack nodded, "Yes, once we find the colonies."

She looked at Jack, "I thought we have maps?"

Jack nodded, "We do. But if my theory holds, the only way to use a wormhole drive is with a telepath who has been to the colonies in question. Along with lots of power. A topic for another day."

She nodded, "You married 4 while mourning children?"

Jack nodded, "With so many, we take the day to mourn them and then we try to move on. We got hit again, the wedding was delayed because we lost more and spent the day mourning for those children. The one who is hit the hardest is myself, followed by Astra. Yes, she feels and while she cannot have children, she is how samples are collected to give to the people. So, all of the ones butchered by convict Gonzales and her group are children she helped to bring into this world. She keeps track of their deaths like my wives do for all of our children and the children of fallen wives."

Jenni nodded, "Going back you then used 3 ships as FTL weapons to disrupt the asteroid field. How did you know that would work?"

Jack sighed, "I have used it before in combat. I used it to help destroy the Black-ops battleship with Admiral Stiller. It shut down corridor 3. The Victus just finished corridor 12. We cleared it back out to return here at 6x speeds. We discovered a few new elements in the last 20 years including 2 from the clearing of that corridor. Most we have names for and one we do not. As the finder of a new element, it is my job to name it. I will name it Victusium.

After the Victus that cleared the corridor and started me on this crazy journey. She was the destroyer I worked on in my time that was destroyed. I now know that part of history will change. She was still being built in Baltimore when I arrived. That was why I did not give out the destroyer's name. Now I have wives and a President to go and see. You have a story to get to press. You can call me Jack."

Jenni nodded, "Thank you, Jack."

He got up, grabbed the materials, and walked out. The guard was beside him. The guard looked over, "I never knew what to make of hybrids, but you saved my ass back there and a lot of Capitol guards. I trust you. You are crazy powerful, but you have honor."

Jack nodded, "Finding candidates for hybrids is not an easy task. They all must volunteer and then be evaluated. You might consider it if you ever change jobs. We avoid politics like the plague. You get a President you cannot deal with because he or she wants you to compromise your principles. That would mean resigning and often. That and they would always be wary of you."

He nodded as they got to the door but he said nothing as he opened it to the first family and his wives. Jack looked over, "I finished that interview which now has me fighting in combat against 3 assailants at a time; twice. At 1.5x speed. She asked if I could go faster and I laughed at her as I told her, 'You expect me to answer that?'"

Aiko smiled, "At least double. You do not let yourself go beyond me."

Jack nodded, "You get another as good as you and I will take you both on and find out how fast I can go."

Ash smiled, "I will take that challenge."

Jack nodded, "Sometime in the next few days."

Jack looked at President Grendal, "I got 4 squadrons of my fighters supporting your people in the air right now. They can spot stealth ships until we get your other sensors fixed. They are flying an outside cap. We have had attacks from space and the ground. Having space-based craft to watch over you is a good idea with your air breather craft."

President Grendal nodded, "Our fighters liked the Treven Engine for their fighters because it was just as fast and lighter."

Jack smiled, "Good. That was why I used them in the designs I gave your manufacturer. Two engine technologies, two paths to get there. They all had the markings of house Shimada. They were too good to be a decoy unit and the cranial implant, high-tech invisibility clothing, and these weapons. The cloth appears to react to body heat. The blades sound and feel like crystal blades. The boots have some sort of antigravity unit built inside so they can walk on the ceiling.

I bet they run a charge or something to keep it from shattering. We will know more after we analyze it all. I left a few sets of contacts with your people to reverse engineer glasses for your Security Services. Then we can check patents against the technology. If there are no patents, I will have a dummy corporation set up.

We will get the patents issued through it. The 'inventors' could come forward and we got something more to go on. Astra, get the samples and all of the paperwork for those new elements together to be submitted to the Galactic Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (GUPAC) board."

Astra responded, "That was a beautiful gesture to name that new element after your old ship. Now that it is destroyed in this timeline. I will get that sent off to GUPAC."

Brenda looked at him, "The Victus, was the ship you worked on before?! Now it is destroyed."

Jack nodded. Velma looked at him, "Like you lost that ship twice now."

Jack nodded, "3 times tied to time travel events. Do not make another ship with that name."

President Grendal nodded, "Good idea. I like the extra patrols; I have Admiralty joining us 1 on 3 to talk business aspects."

Jack looked at Grace and Aiko. They nodded at him.

---

They came out of the meeting and Jack threw up 3 stacks of images. "The left 3 are great candidates to lead the expedition to the penal colony! They all blamed me for the Admirals' downfall and fall from grace as well as the weapon contractor issues. Astra has it all recorded for you. The only hybrid question I asked your candidates was, 'Did they have concerns with a hybrid owning these assets?' That was a fair question in this climate. That set off those 3 Admirals into tirades.

The 3 to the right were more concerned that I had a monopoly on the Commercial Space Stations with docks. As I was not being outlandish, in fact, reasonable with the costs they did not have an issue with that. I also reminded them that for 2 of them, companies had contractors to manage those docks to work their schedules. They did voice their concern about the weapon patents as well. These 4 seem to hate what these last 3 Admirals have done to taint the office. 2 of them are reluctant to accept the position.

The 2 in the middle. The other two want to push on advancing weapons, shields, and ship designs. They were fascinated with my dreadnaught carrier bases and were talking about wanting a model or 2 without the factories and maybe more fighters and firepower instead. Also improving relations with hybrids and Tau Ceti.

All 4, when asked about the hybrid question, referred to the court ruling and the military contract that they signed. They would not want to be ruled non-human for something the military had done to them. Astra, with the regained repository, ran all 10 names and concurred with our interview assessments."

President Grendal asked, "Who would you pick?"

Jack shook his head, "I told the press I would not pick the person. That is on you still. I gave you the top 4 I would consider, the next 3, and the fuck no pile."

President Grendal laughed at that and nodded. "The fact is I have more combat experience than all of them combined. 2 of them did well in command school as far as tactical strategies go. I did not bring up the battle but those 2 did. They asked very good questions about the strategies deployed and were astounded by the fact that a 19-year-old Commander was directing that combat. Again, Astra recorded it all for you so you can play the spy on the proceedings. There are 10 messages in your box with the encounter with all 10 of them."

President Grendal nodded, "I will get my wives to help review them and see what they pick out for the top candidates and watch their interviews myself and make a call."

Jack nodded, "At which point I can recall my ships from here and you can deploy ships from the stations to replace them. Getting the 'Home Guard' out of Tera protection as we move along. Have them back protecting the factories as I move them to Jupiter to begin convoy construction and awaiting word on what weapons are needed to get those out to you as well."