Astra Pt. 03

President Grendal looked it over, "12 million a craft according to this sheet. The new scouts were more expensive at 180 million a craft. A next-generation ravager is what they call it. We need 100 of the fighters in the next 6 months and 200 more the following year. You believe these new fighters will help?"

Jack nodded, "I think they need to be in place before you have a bunch of rich civilians ignoring your Towers orders. Then they start blowing through restricted space or you start getting MORE RAMPANT lawlessness on your space stations. Security on your stations is a joke or corrupted."

He nodded, "Vincent Martina isn't is. You used to work for Brashton Air Frames, they did our battleship designs previously, back when I flew fighters."

Vincent nodded, "They were crap designs."

Jack laughed, "I concur, I about took one down with my Merlin shuttle! I got through the shields, locked on a tractor beam, blew a hole between the engines, and shot right through with a single pulse laser into the engine room, decompression killed some engineers. The breach sent the ship dark. They do need to work frame reinforcements. Let them know all ships that are not built or are being built. You are expecting new designs that will handle everything.

Then ask them how they are getting it off the ground? I need a location in orbit to build a space dry dock. I was thinking between Tera-4 and Tera-5 with another out near luna-1. Those are just for starters. I want a third which will be one I want to take with me to Tau Ceti and will be designed to be collapsible. An ugly ship that turns into a beautiful space dock."

President Grendal took notes, "I will get our defense department to work on a new heavy fighter as you called it and we will work with Vincent. How long to do a mockup?"

Jack sighed, "I'd say an hour but give a little more time. I will have one tomorrow that way we will have time to run them through the modeling programs and the Death Valley simulator. Complete with prototype weapons from the weapons package I am looking to deliver."

President Grendal nodded, "I will give you a call tomorrow about this time. You can send us the data on the design."

Jack smiled, "This design is for my use and your military. I need to have prototypes to test weapons upon."

President Grendal nodded, "Thank you for doing the design work. I read over your scout numbers and it would devastate a fleet of our battleships. Just the one scout."

Jack nodded, "It is the ship for the big meeting. It will hold everyone that goes. Vincent, I need to ensure Sprits is up to speed on your beam presses. I will have a lot of work and she will be key to us succeeding. If I am going to do 2 shipyards together in the next 6 months, I need someone who could work that machine and is comfortable in Zero Gravity. She would not be working alone."

Vincent nodded, "She has not worked with that particular model but she has worked with others. She can handle herself just fine with that equipment."

Jack smiled, "Good. Because I am going to want you to leave the 2 behind that you are using. I will pay for them of course, but a shipyard will take a lot, and improving the designs on those things might be an interesting challenge."

He laughed at that and nodded.

Jack smiled, "Goodbye Mr. President. I saw a hole out there and I wanted to help."

President Grendal nodded, "Thank you for contacting me back. This was productive. I will see about that space between the stations. It is for a needed cause."

Jack looked at Grace, "I am thinking our departure for Tau Ceti is a year out at least. We will see."

Grace smiled, "Good. It gives the other ladies and myself time to go shopping."

Jack looked at her, "Time to tell me when this fictitious wedding is going to be."

Grace smiled, "We are finishing the details. You have a tux already in our closet along with a new wardrobe. Suits instead of uniforms for when you go out to conduct business."

Jack looked over, "I wore one of the suits today, remember. That still does not tell me where or when. Pilots, come with us. We will head to deck 3 for drinks. Astra, how are the ladies?"

Astra replied, "Two ladies so far at 9 children. One has 2 sets of twins and the other a set of triplets and a set of twins. Our Core has determined, at a 95% accuracy, that they are all male."

Jack turned to Vincent, "You got 2 wives to sit with. If they have concerns let me know sooner rather than later as there is more; more we could do for them."

Vincent nodded, "Alright."

Jack took the 2 pilots and smiled, "You are young and probably talented. When you approach a craft in space, you need to make your presence known but back off and see what they are going to do. Get in too tight, they can rotate, fire, and blow you away before you can react.

Someone needed to take the edge off you before you got yourselves killed. Lauren 'Death Blossom' Wright, and Bob 'Bug' Grimes. I see they wasted no time in getting you 'new' callsign tags."

The two pilots laughed at that and Bob spoke, "We went and got them. We learned a thing or two. We saw Crazy Eights' recording of you with Wildcard. You could have destroyed him with that shuttle on several occasions. He knew it. You were chaotic and random, yet in control. He did not know if you were going forward or backward with your ship."

Jack nodded, "Maybe after we have these drinks, I will take you flying."

They walked into the mess and he saw the makings for sandwiches and started one for himself. Linda came out. "Hi. Need something?"

Jack nodded, "Six bottles of my mead if you will. Help yourself to food."

Lauren looked at him, "I have never drunk mead."

Bob nodded, "Same."

Jack sat at the table, "If you have questions ask away."

Bob looked across as the drinks came across and asked, "How did you get so good?"

Jack put his holovid down and displayed it across the back wall. "Astra, display my redacted service record. Ensure the page outlining from ages 8 to 18 is showing."

She pulled it up.

Lauren looked at what was there, "This is your pre-military background. You passed your written flight exam at 8 years old! Child genius! Martial arts, started at age 9-18 8th dan Iaido, don't know how high that goes. At 13 junior Active ROTC Flight training.

At 14 Certified on 5 fighter flight frames, 16, Certified Fighter Pilot Instructor. You Graduated High School at 15! Completed the first year of college with a 3.8 GPA at 16. 17 completed the second year with a 3.87 GPA, 18 Completed half a year GPA went down to 3.7 and you joined the military. That was across 5 DEGREES!"

She looked at Jack, "What happened at 18?"

Jack looked at her, "I lived with my uncle and his family from the age of 6 on in Japan. Speak Japanese and Mandarin fluently from the experience. The highest dan in Iaido is 10 and Aiko is a level 10. My parents did not make it back for my 18th-year birthday party, again. They missed the last 7 birthdays. They were in an open marriage because they were on 2 ships in 2 different 'colony' areas. They both liked to fuck around. THE fastest FTL drive was 3x and few ships had that.

It was still that way 8 years later when I got grabbed to come back here. I got notified from the military not 9 weeks apart that both of them were dead. My mother died on a bridge decompression. No details as to what caused that. My father, the ship he was on was destroyed by unknown forces. I tanked a few classes in my grief. While engineering was my first passion flying was my second. I joined up piloted shuttles, the occasional fighter to keep my certification up, and the destroyer I worked on.

It was in a constant state of disrepair. The captain saw my background and wanted to know if I could help. I told him I could help to keep a band-aid on it but the best thing to do was jettison the engines, power cores, and frame because they were all crap. He laughed that I at least knew where the problems were. I went down and gave them a hand, made a name for myself, and then the Chief Engineer had heart issues. 2 of us were up for replacing him. An admiral's son and me.

I got the position that made me eligible for Special Forces. I took the form I had filled out 2 nights before and sent it off with my package to apply for Special Forces. 6 hours later I walked into engineering as the new chief. Less than an hour later the ship struck something. The bridge was destroyed, and my right hand was consumed in a GS plasma leak from one of their fucked plasma transfer relays for cooling. Nobody was found alive. I was selected because I am a wizard in a lot of things but also a sex addict.

I had 14 wives when I 'died' living in multiple colonies and stations. I guess you could say I got that from fuck crazy parents. The wives were all unaware of the others. Women to men were almost 8 to 1 in that era. According to Astra, I have over 10,000 children coming, most of them are male and all of them carry the alien DNA markers. Part of my mission was to get my DNA, the alien DNA into the population. We can put a big checkmark next to that.

What the ladies don't fuck or suck out me during the day Astra will suck or fuck out me all night long. Astra is an android who then sends those samples to the sperm bank. Mine is quite popular, as the limit was 300 when we arrived. Any woman I fuck ends up pregnant. For all children, no matter the number, the mothers carry them until they are born 40 weeks later. Exactly. The most in any one woman that I know about is Carol and it was her blood that those 21 patients received to save their lives."

Lauren was on her second bottle, "This stuff is great."

Jack nodded, "At 500 TCs a bottle it should be. That's if you're buying in bulk. Made from honey, with the shortages of honey-producing bees we are talking about a sellers' market. One of two suppliers left. It was at 2,000TC's a bottle in my day and every time I went ashore, I was sure to buy one. Reminded me of my parents. They drank it when I was young. I know why now. What about you 2?"

Bob spoke first, "We met in Space flight school, I grew up in Kansas. I wanted to strike out on my own and they had a flight assessment seminar and the next thing I know I was an officer and pilot. I had my air-breather license for a few years. I have a degree in nursing, I found it boring and tiring but being a pilot gives me such an adrenaline rush. Even when you were schooling me."

Lauren smiled, "Only been with women; except one night. Thought about men, never been with a good one. From New Zealand."

Jack shook his head, "I am sorry I know they lost more men per capita than others."

Lauren nodded, "It got the nickname Lesbian Paradise. Got 2 degrees, one in linguistics. Talented tongue. The other is in oceanography. I enjoy the company of a woman as much as the next lady but I still wanted kids, I wanted to travel. So, I joined the military. Figured if I ever got pregnant it was my out if I wanted it. Been with 2 guys who thought they were god's gift. I got semen from them one night.

I masturbated while they slept because they didn't do it for me. I had them at the same time. I figured it doubled my chances of having a child. I awoke the next morning and they were sucking each other off. So much for more than a one-night stand."

He looked at Death Blossom, "Did you send in a letter to apply?" She nodded. "Astra, where does she sit on the list?"

Astra sighed, "She has a history, she received a letter in the second round of cuts."

Jack nodded, "Sorry Death Blossom, I will not include those who are destined to have a major positive impact on the timeline."

She nodded, "Understand, does not keep a girl from dreaming."

Bug chuckled at her. Jack smiled, "I will throw you both to the wolves and see what you do. I will take you flying in 5x craft and see what you think."

They nodded and Bug called out, "Sounds like a fair trade for the cleaning bill."

Jack called out "Have Grace meet us with a release. Sprits and Carol so they can take out those 2 spacecraft."

Astra laughed, "They are moving."

Jack looked at Lauren, "I am surprised you didn't get a sample from the sperm exchange or whatever they call it."

She laughed, "Some people buy and put them up on the black market. Cutting the samples in 4 and then charging half as much. As a 100,000TC per sample."

Jack stopped, "Astra, how much are you making off my sperm and where does the money go?"

Astra sighed, "It is in another account that I have been managing. As soon as you hit the stud level your stock went up. It has gone to 350,000 TCs to get you out there. We pull in about 30% after taxes. Just over 150 million and growing. As to where it goes, nowhere yet. I made Grace aware and she did not want to track the numbers but did want to make sure all taxes have been paid. She has the books on it."

Jack chuckled, "Of course she does. Probably using it to pay for the big wedding the ladies want."

Jack got the 2 fighter jocks down to the hanger deck and met Grace. They signed the forms and the ladies showed them the controls. Jack got into Merlin, "We get out their Bug and Death Blossom and it is a game of 'follow the leader' as you do not have guns. Make sure you got an EVA suit on and plugged in."

They nodded and got into their craft. Bug took the rocket. Death Blossom got red Mouser. He called out, "You take the lead Bug."

They launched from the bay and he gave them a wide berth to see how they flew. He caught a lot of mistakes. "Bug, how much stick-time do you have and how much of it is in space?"

Bug replied, "Only 100 hours or so in space, 22,000 in the atmosphere. Why?"

Jack smiled, "Because you fly like you are in the atmosphere while in space. It will get you killed. Death Blossom you have more time in space."

She laughed, "Coming up on 2,000 hours. Flew shuttles and scouts before moving over."

Jack nodded, "Time to follow me. watch what I do, and listen to what I say."

Bug sighed, "Alright."

Jack shot past them, "Stay on my 6. Get up to speed. Kill forward thrust but do not slow down. Use retros. Invert nose up 140 degrees, jam it into full reverse."

Bug laughed, "Why am I doing this?"

Jack sighed, "To learn. You must get over your misconceptions. In space, a body stays in motion. A craft pointed in one direction does not mean that is the direction they are going. This is what I did to Wildcard. They sent him back for target practice."

Jack heard Bug chuckle, "Now what?"

Merlin laughed, "I am going to have you chasing your vapor trail. Try and stay on my 6. Just observe Death Blossom. You have this lesson already."

Merlin shot past him and kept it level, he turned 90 degrees, up angled 30, and then threw it in full reverse, and took it another 90 degrees after stopping the engines. He threw it in full forward. He flew right over the canopy of the rocket and heard Bug screaming, "Holly fuck Merlin."

Jack spun around and fired off shots ahead of him by five lengths.

Jack sighed, "Dead. You need more stick time up here and not in the atmosphere if you're going to fly with the big dogs. These things move fast, but banking is not in the vocabulary. You spin, flip, rotate, and change your vectors with altitudes as you are not dealing with gravity. Unless you are close to the planet or moon. You think you have a gravity well all the time and you are dead out here. Unless you are transitioning into an atmosphere or gravity well and you need to adjust for those times. Understand?"

He sighed, "You're saying I should give up on space combat?"

Jack sighed, "No, I am saying you need those thousands of hours of flying in space, doing it the space way. Not an air breather way. Two styles of flying. Understand? Like driving a hovercar to an air breather. You do not handle them the same. The same goes for when running in space. You learn, adapt, or die.

If you do not feel like you can adapt to space combat then that is something to take up with your wing commander. I am sure you are one hell of an air breather pilot. I was flying air breathers at 8 years old. By 13 I was flying space-based fighters. The physics is different. You take the lead and try and lose me."

Bug took off. With the wide banking turns he did. Jack could drop it to three-quarter speed and keep him in his sights. After 10 minutes he called it. "Head for the Excalibur." Jack landed as did the other pilots. He invited them to Merlin.

Jack pulled up his gun camera footage, "This is the last 10 minutes when I told you to evade me. That red reticle is my gun sights. That reading there was my engine speed. That number there is the range. I had you locked and in range for 9 out of 10 minutes. That was 8.75 minutes longer than needed to vaporize you. The minute I did not I needed to speed up because you leveled off for a while. As soon as you went into a banking turn you were dead again. I am trying to educate you. Ask your wingman to try these kinds of drills with you."

Bug nodded, "We only get 10 days in space every month."

Jack shook his head, "Not enough time to break that habit. You need 6 months living on a station flying caps, patrols, and exercises. After that, your wing commander should have a say if space is for you. That is not enough time to do an evaluation."

Bug nodded, "I will talk with my wingman when I get back."

Jack nodded, "Let us know when you are ready to depart and Astra will release you both."

Bug nodded, "Thanks for showing me this."

Jack nodded, "Take care Bug. Death Blossom."

He left the hangar deck, "Astra, make sure they get off safe. I think I just crushed his dreams."

Astra responded, "He died in a dog fight training exercise in space because he slammed into a Starbase in a wide turn. They called it 'Grimme's reminder' for many years."

Jack sighed, "Get me through to Wildcard." She contacted him and he appeared. He looked over, "How did you get access to my room system?"

Jack sighed, "Not the issue. I want to speak about your rookie. He has a lot of bad habits. He is treating his space-based fighter like an air breather. You need to work to correct that, get him out of these wide ass turns like he is trying to bank."

Wildcard laughed, "Most of our new jocks are that way. We can only do so much."

Jack nodded, "But he is yours to train. Do more or wash him out."

Wildcard sighed, "Alright I take it you went flying with him?"

Jack laughed, "If you mean kept him in my gun sights for the entire time, while he tried to evade me for 10 minutes then sure."

Wildcard nodded, "I will see what I can do." He ended the call.

Jack smiled, "Astra, I need you to look through those listed candidates and see if there are any excellent candidates who are school teachers that want to raise a large family. Also, into women and performing child care."

Astra laughed, "Surprisingly no."

Jack sighed, "Oh well."

Astra laughed, "I don't have it all in one woman."

Jack stepped out and dragged on a large bathrobe. "Ladies, with the flurry of activity I have only had 6 today. I have to get some things done in the lab tonight for the President. I have a call with him around noon time. If you want to help me, get another 6-12 today, meet me at my lab."

He saw them all groan a bit because they knew he would be up all night and if they did not help him Astra would do it without hesitation.

Jack pointed, "I have a mockup for a fighter to get done. Weapons to build for the fighters and the scout, 4 scout engines, and 9 fighter engines to build. Then there are the 10 power cores I must bundle together 4 for the scout and 2 for each of 3 fighters. Plus, the ID devices and everything else.

The wiring I will kick off in the engineering bay and let it run as we got 4 ships' worth of harnesses to put together. That is a day of that machine alone to get all the wiring. I will also have to design some computer cores and automated defense grid software, and you get the idea."