Astra Pt. 08

Admiral Grant looked at his necklace, "This is new."

Jack nodded, "Can you read it?"

Sylvia smiled, "I was raised in an old-style Catholic school, Latin. 'We are the shields until the swords are needed.' Home Guard motto?"

Jack nodded, "Started with the hybrids and the Home Guard adopted it."

The Security Service guy nodded. Jack smiled, "It contains all of my command crystals."

Sylvia looked at Jack, "What?"

He smiled, "Admiral, ask the President about the new bracelet but first look at the screen."

They were still far away but they could see the space dock was filled end-to-end and the front of the ship extended for another 100 meters as Sylvia spoke, "You are going to try and jump that thing?!"

Jack looked at it, "Like the Super Dreadnaughts, It expands to be much bigger though. Then it forms plated walls, the inside can be used as a space dock even for a Super Dreadnought.

You saw all of the hybrids behind me. They were feeding me the willpower to make that jump. Astra, show Colossus animation for full size while traveling."

Astra showed it with the pylons running up all 16 of them. Sylvia looked at him, "What happens if you fail a jump?"

Jack looked, "You jump or you do not. The state of the crew and the ship is another matter. We broke one and damaged another pylon on the first jump. Then added more cores so each pylon had 2 cores to run with. You could pass out and be out for days. This is why getting more hybrids is important.

With that, I can move a military or any good size colony. To aid in getting us to a fight if needed support or deliver a bunch of colonists and their gear to start life on a new world. I can build another caterpillar inside and they could build a space station and a local fleet."

President Grendal looked at it, "Just how massive is it full size like that?"

Jack called out, "Astra, Show this side for scale. On the left wall, show how many destroyers, our base destroyers, we could fit into it. Adding for the nose section." She called out, "120 Destroyers, 75 cruisers, or 44 of our Battleships inside this configuration." Jack nodded, "Shrink it to accommodate just 30 colony ships."

Admiral Grant shook her head, "Smaller but still massive."

Jack nodded, "Barely expanded. I could get 10 inside easily sitting in a base configuration. Just take a few days to get them all to Tera. It is not all me. It is me drawing from other telepaths that are needed to cross space this way. I might get to a point where I could do a dreadnaught on my own, might be out for a week. It is unlikely I will do it on my own. I have to pull in the energy from the others. That means recruiting more members."

Sylvia nodded, "I understand now. You are a colony protection vehicle that can service them en route and get them to a colony. You could separate and bring your battleship in from anywhere and assist in battle."

Jack looked at her, "That is what we can physically do. We also watch out for corruption in human society. It works well in Tau Ceti because it was built into the founding laws. I am still a founder of those two colonies. So are Grace, Sprits, Ash, and Aiko. They cannot change that bedrock principle unless all the founders are dead. Even then the Home Guard would address the change as needed. We can live for centuries or longer. Helping people born in these colonies know what the Home Guard does.

It also has a diplomatic component as we can talk telepathically, to those we do not know how to speak their language. We are ideal for first contact situations. We have empaths to find out if they are lying to us. We have an AI that could find any battle plans, Migratory plans, or star charts for other colonies. Areas we want to avoid. Astra has a historical reference for many other species we might or will eventually encounter."

Sylvia nodded, "The Shield."

Jack sighed and nodded, "Yes. We want free will, we want people to have a good life, and advance as a society. Think with the shield first and master the sword, for only when it is needed. In every situation, I have gone into, I went in with the shield. Telekinetic shields are always on. You should use my office and talk to your general as he is probably drooling about now. I put patents out for advanced body armor, personal shield belts, and miniaturized kinetic power cores."

She went to the office and Astra hooked her up as they finished circling Colossus.

President Grendal looked at Jack, "That could save the planet by reducing the population by half or more."

Jack shook his head, "Spreading the population around to take root elsewhere and do the job your planetary and system defense team cannot do. React to a crisis in another system. People are scared to go if they are unprotected."

President Grendal nodded, "I know."

All of this had been spoken in the open and the camerawoman went nuts changing out storage units. Jack looked at her, "I told her to have you come with a lot of storage."

She nodded, "I know I have been following you around the room pleading your case."

Jack shook his head and looked at her. He invited the reporter over. Jenni smiled, "Thank you for choosing me for this."

He waited for the camerawoman and then he nodded, "Your camerawoman was telling me I went around and pleaded my case. That is not accurate. In a way, I won my case. I have documented proof if I turned on humanity the Drakor, Justice Incarnate, will kill me. It describes how we are judged; irredeemable actions are a death sentence. I have a treaty with both colonies and Tera. The accord for the colonies is effective now. It explains how and why we are helping.

I know Congress still must go through it for Tera. It does define Astra and brings her into the Home Guard as a Non-human Sentient Entity. That means she is not subject to human laws, she is judged by the Home Guard but not as a hybrid. She is not a hybrid and she has never left her ship, not really, until today as I fixed the remaining issue that prevented her from doing so. Humans in the Home Guard, do not have the responsibility and burden of being a hybrid.

They are judged by applicable human law in the system where the action occurred. None of them have to finance it; that avoids politics in the Home Guard. It establishes and defines rules for humans who are not hybrids and humans who are hybrids. It flat out tells them what the hybrid justice system is based upon. Also, how hybrid justice works for those who go rogue."

Jenni looked at him, "So you're a mercenary unit?"

Jack shook his head, "We are the part of humanity who, for the most part, work in space. We are the reactionary force that all colonies sign up for, except the penal colony. If they attack one we have established, we will have the same core rules in regards to aliens. We build satellites to interconnect the systems. The reactionary force to get to problem areas, and the Explorers. This ship, with the wormhole generator, is now an Explorer ship.

We will work to find places and resources that humanity will need to survive and thrive. That also means we will likely be the ones making first contact with other species. Keep in mind; that all the colonies, including the penal colony, have been financed by me. With some small exceptions for some farm ships and business ships. 20 years and nobody went or financed an expedition."

He got waved back to the conference room by Aiko and closed the door. Riku sat there with his lady friend, "What does this new agreement mean to us?"

Jack looked at him, "All hybrids are members of the Home Guard. Not all are assigned to ships to travel from colony to colony. They are expected to be true to themselves as defined by your sword. You chose to be Justice Redeemed. You, more than me, will have a harder time with that. Keeping your anger in check and using your scientific mind at the same time. Avoiding greed and corruption. To help with forcing yourself into balance. It will get easier over time.

But it will take a lot of work. As a judge any others you create while we are away you are responsible for judging if they crossed their nature. Any rogues, regardless of who made them must be dealt with. We are protectors of humanity, first and foremost. We work for the best interest of humanity and NOT ourselves. We do not strike with weapons first. ESPECIALLY against humans. We are the shields until the swords are needed. We stay out of politics.

If you fail to act on one who has broken their nature; both of your lives will be lost. As I will return to do it for both of you. For the same reason. Failing your nature. You wanted to be a leader and to remain with Tera. Those are choices we accepted. Leadership is a burden. It makes no difference if it is a son or a wife. If you make them a hybrid you are responsible for ensuring they follow the code. Grace and I are the Higher Court, but we make this known to all justices.

The Drakor are shocked at how many justice types we have. Roughly 15% There's is probably closer to 1-10%. I know it is rare. Justice Incarnate stated, point blank, if hybrids fail for humanity then humanity will fail. Easier to support them than fight them. THAT is the part from that meeting that was lost in the document. But will be aired to Congress when they look at that document for ratification. Clear enough?"

He nodded, "How do we select hybrids?"

Jack shook his head, "We do not select them. They have to volunteer; be evaluated. Most likely in the Home Guard, not all, but most. Then if they are ready, they are selected by our Council. The only ones who had to make that choice upfront and quickly went through multiple layers of interviews and became my wives. If you want to make someone a hybrid, don't.

You can only make 3 and they come from your Drakor hand and both feet. They can go on any limb, hands are the best if you want to ensure the correct hand is changed. It becomes that appendage. You have the power to do it. I am asking you to get with us first to evaluate them. Home Guard Rules require our Council's approval to add another hybrid. We control the numbers to keep them from being threatening to humanity as a whole.

All while balancing our needs to be able to support humanity. As you do not want to waste the opportunities afforded by giving it to the wrong type of person and being forced to kill them. Creating them without Council approval would likely get you killed. Unless there is some just reason for violating that rule. We can detect that from orbit."

Riku nodded, "Understood."

There was a knock on the door and it was President Grendal, "We need you out here."

Jack waved him in and closed the door. "This is Riku, the one who was behind the ninja assault. He is onboard for training but I thought you should meet him."

Riku bowed to him, "I acted out of anger, not knowing all the facts of what was done to me or why. Just that they wanted him dead. He then found them and destroyed them. With it, I thought I lost my chance to be made a whole man again. To have children. I was not in my right mind and I am working every day to be 'Justice Redeemed.'"

President Grendal nodded, "I do not know how I would have reacted to being in those circumstances. I hope you succeed. I know what his job would require him to do if you falter."

Jack nodded, "He plans to stay on Tera."

President Grendal looked at Jack, "I liked your provision that all hybrids are required to carry their Psi swords with them and are not allowed to surrender them. If called into a public building that would require them to disarm, they would meet remotely or they would have their swords. Leaving it to each court's decision on the method."

Jack set his sword on the table, "Follow me."

He walked out to the main room and found Jenni, the reporter. He looked at Jenni and waved her over, "I was just asked about a provision that all hybrids are to remain armed, even in government buildings. This is why. I will do this in slow motion for you but I can make it happen much faster. My sword is in that conference room. Sprits remain still there for a moment."

She nodded. He sent his sword into the astral, pulled it through the wall, his wife Sprits, and made it solid again before it got into his hand. He pulled out the other one from the ninja weapons. "If they somehow managed to destroy it, we can make one from just about anything in the short term."

He activated it. "This was made from the metal from 2 assassin blades. It is impossible to examine using modern equipment. We know it can be found in many worlds but only in small quantities. 50kg on a world would be rare; ours had 300kg. I look at it as a Zero Element, because that is how much knowledge we have on the material. I asked Justice Incarnate about it and it did not suit their needs. Because it is so rare, most likely. Not because they could not fashion a blade from it."

He shut them both off. "It was not a threat to the court, just stating a hybrid can get around that requirement; anywhere. There is no use for us to play games about it anymore."

President Grendal nodded, "First time I have seen it go through walls."

Jack nodded, "Not many can take it to that extreme but they can have it crash through windows and doors to get the same effect."

President Grendal chuckled, "I understand. What about a safe? For those who are not as skilled?"

Jack smiled, "They all know how to do this." He took the one sword and melted it into 2 bars. "To a safe door if needed to regain their sword or to build one from a safe door. Every sword has a resonant field we can hear. If it is lost and the wielder is dead. Our hybrids can feel it and many more could do that method than you would think.

We found my wife Carol's blade that way after her body burned up in the atmosphere. The blade was found on the planet, unharmed. The sensors gave us the general area, but we all felt it. We tracked it to its resting place where we placed a Marker for Carol, Holly, and all of the children lost."

He took the bar and returned it to his sword handle. He looked at it, "I kept this as a reminder that something can be deadly and misguided. Yet, it can also be beautiful. Like the locket I wear. I encased the corresponding crystals that are displayed on your new wrist devices. This gives the leaders the ability to contact me, or me them, from anywhere.

We both have to be wearing them and they do not work leader to leader unless I call a conference call with all of them. Else they all contact me at once. Similar technology to the satellites I put in place but it is geared for personal communication. An early prototype that can only be created by a hybrid."

Admiral Grant nodded, "They need you in an emergency, you can respond and you can get to them."

Jack nodded, "Even if I am leading a convoy to a new colony, I can separate my battleship and one of the others would watch the helm for me. I would then head back. They can only travel at 5x with a convoy; I can catch up to get back to them. Returning to the spot I left from."

Sylvia nodded, "What if they needed assets?"

Jack smiled, "I could travel to any dreadnaught that has a wormhole drive, land, take command, and then work the larger ship to bring forces. Others will learn this in time. Again this is not alone as it will take more telepaths to do it."

Jenni smiled, "This is all great stuff, but can we visit the colonies?"

Jack looked at President Grendal, "I told you a day or longer. How long do you wish to visit and see what colony life is like?"

President Grendal nodded and smiled, "I figure we will be here for 3 days but I would like my time free of reporters."

Jack smiled, "We can take you to separate planets, and then you can swap."

He nodded, "What would you recommend?"

Jack smiled, "My home is on Geos and Meos has the better mead for now. Katlyn here will be staying behind to look over the breweries and local vegetation as she is a botanist. Working to set up 2 more breweries and relocate the one on Geos to operate in a more appropriate environment. The honey collection will still occur there, but it will be used for other things.

The weather is a bit warm for the honey for use in the brewery. This is why we have a big difference between them. With bee colonies and the right flora. She is finishing her studies as a brewmaster as well as being a member of the Irish Mills Family. I married into it, I loved the mead that much."

Everyone chuckled and Katlyn came up and hugged Jack. Jack smiled, "My Irish Rose. I do so love you."

She kissed him for that. Jack looked back around, "The question is do you want better coffee or better mead at the moment?"

President Grendal looked at Jack, "I could use a drink about now."

Jack nodded, "Grace, you want to take the wives to Geos to see children and take our reporter with you so she can get to talking with the local population."

She nodded. Jack grabbed the hand of the new Geos leader, "You can interview on the way or later at your convenience. She would love to know about our colonies. When we switch planets, we will continue. On the third day, we can show the president the space stations and take him to our construction facilities. My son Zander here, who oversees the 3rd can also start going through all ships and explain the changes. Find out how many stay with local defensive forces and how many go with Home Guard.

It is a choice to be in the Home Guard. Even for the hybrids who remain planetside. They fall under Home Guard in regards to being human hybrids; they may not work on a ship. It just gives the framework for hybrid justice. We can adjust crews while we are here. All transponders on HG ships should change and you should contact your brother and let him know. Understand, Admiral Zander Travus?"

Zander smiled, "Yes sir. For those that did not catch it, he just promoted me early to Admiral."

Jack nodded, "Your tactical command here with the 3rd during the Brisen attacks did not go unnoticed. I also have Admiral Paul Treven who oversees our construction facilities and acts as our liaison with local colonies while I am away. He also oversees the Starbases and I will leave it to the colonies to decide if they wish to put someone else over those as Paul is a 'fixed' HG agent with family here. Meaning he will always be here in an official capacity.

He has been doing this since after the first attack. When I went to the colony leaders and told them what we were required to do, to see it did not happen again. If it did, we killed it quickly. They agreed with us. Easier to do with no politics. Just a threat and a means to fix that threat. I stole him from being a Treven Engine Employee and brought him with me to work the other side of what his brother is doing back in Tera space. When I have not kidnapped them all for 3 days to spend time with family."

Francine and Gloria both came up and hugged him. Gloria looked at him, "You can kidnap me for a meeting with my son and his family anytime."

They all laughed at that. Jack told her, "You are young and there are two planets full of plant life to see. Spend time with Katlyn, she is the botanist I married. Explore while you are here."

She smiled and nodded, "You can always get me back to stay a few days here as well as be at home. This is wondrous."

Jack looked at James, "I told you it was monumental."

James nodded, "I never expected this. Not in my lifetime. Now I can help to explain what you are doing to those who work for us as well."

James Senior just stood back and smiled with a look of parental pride in what Jack had accomplished.

Jack smiled at him and nodded.

Jack looked over, "Astra with me. Time for you to step on a planet for a change." She smiled. He looked over, "Any of the first wives wish to fly down with us?"