Astra

Artificial Sentient Terraforming Robotic Automaton (ASTRA)

Synopsis: With the fall of humanity the fate of its survival and resurrection resides in the hands of a very attractive female Android and the man chosen to be that champion; Jack Travus.

Inspired by so many things but not endorsed by any of them. © EmotionalStorm May 2022. This story cannot be transferred to any other site besides Literotica.com without prior authorization in writing from the author and EmotionalStorm must be credited for this work.

Author's Note:

Originally released © EmotionalStorm June 2019, this is an updated version with hundreds of edits/corrections. For those who have not read my bio, please note I write as a form of therapy for a Traumatic Brain Injury. I know the English majors will probably encounter issues that annoy them. If these are your focus, instead of the story itself, then this is not the story for you. I am not and will never be a professional writer. I do it to tell the story, for those who wish to read them.

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June 20th, 2449

Command Admirals log, "We now have 155 hybrids. The last 3 were young and married to each other. They took up roles on the bridge crew of my ship on the night shift. I forbade them from making any more hybrids in this system. They know they are the next hybrid colony leaders for a new colony if they survive that long.

I am taking 15 hybrids back with Grace, Sprits, Aiko, Ash, and myself among those numbers. I have 7 of my eldest children that wish to be hybrids. Two of Ash's eldest, both of Sprit's eldest, Holly's eldest son, and one of Aiko's sons. One is one of Carol's daughters, Cheyenne. She is close to getting her boards completed at 17 to be a doctor but is remaining behind.

That will happen while we are en route. I will start evaluating the next group of my children. So far only 3 have stated they are interested but they are 11 months out and 2 of them are Grace's sons. Another one of Carol's daughters is also remaining behind in that category. They are all capable but not old enough yet. There is always a surprise 1 or 5 that shows up at the decision date and commit. I deal with them on a case-by-case basis. I have 170 of my known children on board.

To date, I have only had to execute 3 hybrids for failing their nature and breaking hybrid law, all Red Blades. The local courts ruled on them and Grace and I reviewed each case before I carried out the order myself. None of my children are old enough yet to have that happen. We raised them to understand it is a choice to take on an extreme burden. Most have expressed no interest in being hybrids. I left 43 of my children to be raised by friends of the order.

Two of whom we cleared the way to be made hybrids when they were old enough. I left them with Paul and his 4 wives. Ash's Eldest, Zander, is ready to take command of the 3rd Dreadnought, at 17, a few months shy of his 18th birthday but given his brain and command testing scores, he is ready. He will become a hybrid.

His IQ was measured at 202. No telling how much higher that will go once he is a hybrid. The other is Cheyenne, Carol's doctor-to-be daughter who is empathic like Aiko. Paul will evaluate others with his wives. Balance of sword and shield. I had many volunteers to watch over them from those who support the hybrids as guardians. That is the vast majority of the population.

We have a combined population of almost 436,000 people with another 35,000 expecting mothers in the next 3 months alone. I am confident this is Astra's doing. That number of progenies is still a bit daunting. Tau Ceti has a military to be reckoned with as I incorporated two phases of weapons upgrades before departure. With orders to bring the 3rd phase on in 2 years. Another round of shield upgrades will be deployed. The 4th phase upgrades 10 years from now unless attacked again.

I got 6x drives working and an ID system together to support it but it has no further room for expansion. I have 8,004 traveling aboard the 2 Super-Dreadnoughts. Each ship is equipped with 120 Lancer V, 24 Manta-Ray VI shuttles, 12 Stingray V, 4 Broadsword III Destroyers, and 1 Katana II class battleships atop each of the 2-Super-Dreadnought Factory Carrier Bases that they will all separate from or launch from when needed. A total of 324 ships.

They will think it is an invasion until they find out the truth of the matter. The 6x FTL drives cannot be used on the fighters; not yet anyway. They will have to remain in the bays during travel. More to do with the ID systems and pressure on the pilots. System drives are 6x on everything. The fighters are equipped with high-end EVA G-suits that helped to counter the turns at those speeds with 5x FTL drives.

If we need to deploy them to fight while at FTL speeds we would slow it down to bring them to bear. The Excalibur is gone with what is left of the Excalibur core stored inside of a mid-deck room with 6 self-contained explosive-laden 150 terawatts power cores. They power the servers and those power cores power all of the defense systems of the core. All while each base is run by 8x 8a 200 terawatts power cores That are multiplexed together. In both the Dreadnoughts and Battleships.

Not counting the 2 research labs I have set up on BS-1 and its normal Dreadnought base, it is doubled on both of those ships. All ships are armored in titanium-HO, a Titanium Metallic Hydrogen with a bonded Onyx power coated; except where the names or tail numbers of the ships were displayed. Most ships just have tail numbers. Names are reserved for the Battleships, King Arthur, and my personal shuttle Danyelle. They all have Tau Ceti ID numbers which will cause a panic in Terran space. King Arthur being an exception to help in easing the transition."

---

August 2nd, 2451

Location: Tera system outer belt. The entrance to Corridor 10 started the day before. TRD Shiloh bridge.

The XO looked over at an alert that was coming in in the middle of the night, "What do we have comms?"

He heard, "XO! Chief comm officer Patty Blade. We have multiple sensors reading dead ahead that are massive and moving at greater than 5x speed!"

He looked over, "Get us out of the corridor. Captain to the bridge!"

The ship moved quickly to get out of the corridor. The XO yelled, "Move us further out! Christ!" They punched it up to full as they felt the pull of a gravity field move the ship sideways and then it stopped. They continued to move away, "Cameras!"

The XO looked out across the cameras and saw 2 of the largest darkest ships of his life. The only thing that scared him more as a kid was the images of the Drakor destroying the Pralons and he was thankful it was not him.

These things moved side by side behind the ship, "Hard to starboard! Take us back full speed but keep us out of their path."

He watched the two massive ships just walk through the last part of the asteroid field sucking in asteroids as they hungered for more.

He heard, "XO, this is Comms. We got no Terran IDs so far but we are picking up a slew of other IDs."

The XO walked over to the screen and looked and saw transponder codes but not Terran, yet all in English. He called out, "Unidentified vessels, this is the TRD Shiloh please identify yourself."

He watched the screen and saw a list of transponder numbers and names that were all unknown except one. Captain Ahmed came on deck, "What is going on at this... What the hell are those?"

The XO pointed, "Non-Tera transponders, Except for one. It just came online. All the other codes begin with C instead of T. The one T code is the TAR-2 King Arthur."

He looked over, "This is Captain Ahmed of the TRD Shiloh. What kind of game are you playing? Two massive ships cannot have that many transponders."

He watched them open from end to end straight across the middle and top to bottom. They separated away from each other. They grew both in height and width. They then saw hundreds of fighters pour from the 2 vessels and form up in front.

Then a series of 24 scout class ships and 4 unfamiliar destroyers came from between the lower pylons on each one. Then they closed and flew in a tight formation in the direction of Tera. Captain Ahmed called out, "This is Captain Ahmed of the TRD Shiloh to TAR-2 King Arthur. Please respond."

He looked at 2 young men who were manning the ship. "Captain Ahmed, I am Lieutenant Tray Travus of the Ceti Home Guard. How can I help you?"

He looked at the twin men who were more like boys and he asked, "Is Jack Travus with you?"

Tray shook his head, "No. Command Admiral Jack Travis is aboard the Katana II class battleship Kirishima that has yet to launch from the Super-Dreadnought Factory Carrier Bases. The other Battleship is the Haruna. Also, a Katana II class battleship. The carrier bases are a little slow at expanding this close to an asteroid belt. He wanted the other combat craft out first before undocking."

The crew of the Shiloh watched as two battleships rose out of the top center of each section. "Captain Ahmed, did you wish to escort us into Tera space? It has been 2 years since we left Tau Ceti. We can run at 6x system drive speeds if needed or we can take it down a notch. My father thought you might contact this ship first."

Captain Ahmed nodded, "Let us take the point. 5x speed is fine." He ended the call. He looked over, "Get me comms to Titan or Jupiter station now!"

He went and moved his ship ahead of all the fighters and other craft. His tactical officer seemed skittish and Captain Ahmed looked at him, "Put your hands in your lap. I do not need you starting something we have no chance of finishing!"

The officer nodded and put his hands on his lap. A communication channel came open, "JS-1." Captain Ahmed tried to remain calm, "This is the TRD Shiloh in route to Tera we are escorting almost 250 spacecraft from the Tau Ceti system under the command of Command Admiral Jack Travus."

The guy asked, "Repeat that message?"

He hissed, "Look at the early warning net you fool!"

The man nodded, "Putting a call through, just a moment."

He saw a man he did not know. "Who the blazes are you?"

James looked up, "I am James Treven based on the message you are being forwarded through Jupiter Station. I am the VP in charge of its operations. What is the problem Captain?"

He looked up, "Jack Travus is here. With 250 warships."

He sat up, "Jupiter station put me through to the Excalibur." Captain Ahmed called out, "He is not on the Excalibur, in fact, it is not here. He is on a Battleship Katana II class called the Kirishima."

James nodded, "Jupiter station, conference us to that ship and Jack Travus."

---

Jack contacted them back, "Tell my children I love them, Paul. We just arrived and I got a call coming in from Jupiter Station. Probably your brother."

Paul laughed, "Tell him to contact me. Heck, I will contact the station later."

Astra put up the incoming call. He looked across, "James, good to see you."

James nodded, "I heard you are making one of your usual big entrances."

Jack nodded, "Why are we running 5x speed?"

Sprits looked up, "They stated that the lead ship can only go 5x."

Jack sighed, "Don't tell me Francine has not managed to kick up the speed while I was gone?"

He laughed, "Speed yes to 5.5 but having issues with the ID system; that company has made no progress. We cannot even get them to confirm they are even researching it."

Jack nodded, "Well, I will have to see what they do with the 36,947 patents I have for them. Including a 6x in system drive and ID system that will support it on a shuttle on up. Fighters must use an EVAG suit to compensate for some of it and cannot handle more than 5x FTL speeds.

Could not be helped without increasing the size and power of the ID device; so far...still working on ideas. The system drives they contain are all 6x speeds. I also have weapon and shield upgrades. Provided nobody has been fucking around with my patents and our law firm."

He laughed, "A couple of the weapons guys wanted to get you declared dead about 5 years ago. Then they learned you set it so your Will and Estate could not have you declared dead until 25 years with no contact. They were warned that you had contract termination papers waiting to cut those contractors out who attempted to have that done to you. The President laughed his ass off at that. He knows their days are numbered."

Jack smiled, "Astra, Boost the signal to Tera direct, cut Jupiter station out of the loop, and connect in President Grendal for me."

He got the Capitol switchboard. The operator was new, "Hello sir, do you have a connection number?"

Jack nodded, "Yes, connect me to the President."

She laughed, "I need a connection number."

Jack smiled, "How about I just give you a name and if that does not work you can ask him to contact me back aboard my ship. The name is Jack Travus."

She looked up again. "One moment sir."

He was put on hold and he saw a bleary-eyed president sitting there. He looked worse for wear, even with the cure in his system. President Grendal laughed, "Jack, good to see you. It has been a long time."

Jack nodded, "Longer than I planned. I did not expect to get hit by 20 ships from the future from the Brisen either. They just got FTL drives but the ships they hit us with punched holes through the Excalibur. We destroyed them but we lost both our destroyers and I finally gave up on trying to repair the Excalibur. I built what I could salvage into one of my Carrier Factory Bases that is with me."

President Grendal looked at him, "Carrier what?"

Jack laughed, "Picture 4 of your last model battleship. Now four of them side by side, then 3 long and 2 high. Now when it is expanded out it is 6 wide, 3 high, and 3 long.

Each one is carrying 120 Lancer V fighters, then the 1 Katana II class battleship, 4 Broadsword III destroyers, 12 Sting Ray V scouts, and 24 Mantis V shuttles that have not been launched yet. That was per carrier base. I brought 2 of those ships with me. We are following the TRD Shiloh. We went with more fighters and did not bring any Claymore Cruisers on these ships, due to the manning needed."

President Grendal looked at Jack, "For fuck sake Jack you bring your whole fleet?"

Jack shook his head, "About 10% of it but they have rebuilt what I took out with us. 324 ships."

He shook his head, "You got 10 times that back in Tau Ceti?!"

Jack smiled, "At least; I did not ask for the latest figures. Trust me, I don't build up like that without a reason. I think Paul said they were around 3,500 ships. Only 4 carrier basses and a few more shuttles, scouts, destroyers, and cruisers. An extra handful of battleships in orbit 20-30 over each colony. While space stations are being built to go with the docks. I lost Danyelle on the trip out at the asteroid belt, and another two wives in combat. Holly and your friend Carol.

The shot took out the bridge and punched a hole down the bridge and into deck 7 and the shuttle bay on deck 8 when it came in. I was in the lab at the time on deck 6 but it was sealed and isolated in the rear of the ship. I lost 6 children from my wives. 11 unborn when the 3 wives died. I have around 8,000 with me and 170 of those are my children."

Grace corrected him, "180 with another 8 on the way. 43 stayed behind Including Commander Zander Travus who oversees Battleship 3rd group and his Super-Dreadnought. The population is just under half a million people. 60% of those on Geos and the other 40% on Meos. Meos took the worst of the fighting."

Jack looked over, "James, Contact Jupiter station and have them connect you with CHGS-457. You can talk to Paul. I got a new satellite in orbit and it will hit Saturn and Jupiter if they are close enough. They could boost and hit ships about mid-way between." James dropped. "Captain, what were you doing when we interrupted you?"

He laughed, "Besides sleeping. I was just starting corridor 10 right in the middle of where you came out at."

Jack nodded, "Well you might have some minor debris to clear but that should have cleared an 8-10 km wide hole through the field."

President Grendal looked, "You displaced that much?"

Jack laughed, "Super-Dreadnought Carrier FACTORY bases. We processed all the ore through that section of the field at 6x travel speeds. I lost one wife to an asteroid. I built something to chew through them and make it so we did not have to use shuttles as much for the trip. Then put all the metal in bars that can be smelted and the rest as raw ore but down to the dust level to pack it in better.

Grace walked up, "All ships reported in, all structures sound." Jack nodded, "Good that was 2 years traveling at FTL 6x speeds without stopping. I could be in your office in 25 hours if we dropped our escort, Mr. President."

He laughed, "Do it. Captain, check that corridor. It sounds like he made your life a lot easier."

Captain Ahmed nodded, "Turning back."

Jack reached over, "All ships. 6x, five-second delay." Jack looked at President Grendal. "They will move by class in 5-second delays between them. Your stations will start going crazy in about 14 or 15 hours about the hundreds of ships coming with unusual or unknown transponder IDs."

President Grendal nodded, "Gives me time to crawl back in bed before they wake me then."

Jack laughed and disconnected. Grace went to his larger office and contacted the law firm to get them to send the termination letters to whoever tried to have him declared dead.

Jack tried to figure out who he wanted to contact and he did not know. "Astra, display the holovid and find Tera news." He saw a new news anchor on the desk, young early twenties from the looks of her. Jack contacted Tera news.

The operator looked at him, "I know you. Your Jack Travus."

Jack nodded, "You still have the same editor on the desk there?"

She shook her head, "No he died of a heart attack when his wife got him some of those little blue pills and a couple of 20-something extra wives she wanted. She is still happy and they had to break his cock to get the coffin lid to go down. That was 10 years ago."

Jack shook his head, "Can I speak with the new editor."

He knew Ron the editor did not get the cure, he feared DNA modification. His wife on the other hand did and enjoyed the ladies as well. He knew one of those 20 somethings was a certain camerawoman from his wedding. The operator nodded and he saw Randy Gonzales at the desk.

Randy smiled, "Jack Travus. Back in the system. When can we expect to see you?"

Jack smiled, "Soon. Is your news anchor capable of talking with no lead-in as to who you got for her?"

Randy laughed. Jack saw the news anchor grab her ear, "I am being told we have a breaking story."

Jack's image flashed up and her face went in shock, "Jack Travus. You have not aged a day!"

Jack nodded, "Thank you. Part of being a hybrid, we will age a lot slower."

She smiled, "When can we expect to see you?"

Jack smiled, "Technically you are seeing me right now. Stations Tera 3-5 and 8-10 in about 18.5 hours."

She asked, "How are things in Tau Ceti?"

Jack sighed, "Calming down for the moment. Still on alert. Closing in on half a million people, not counting the 8,000 I brought back with me."

She looked at Jack, "Unhappy?"

Jack shook his head, "They are all working."

She asked, "At what?"

Jack smiled, "At the moment flying in to scare the hell out of a lot of people at the Starbases."

She laughed, "Another fly-by, by Jack Travus?"

Jack nodded, "Something like that. Always have to give you news people something new."

Grace walked in and handed a pad to him. He signed the 5 contracts. He looked, "While I was gone some defense contractors tried to have me declared dead. I just signed the paperwork putting a stop-work to their ability to produce my patents. I left instructions with my patent lawyers to have it ready for any who tried to do that to get to my patents. We will be putting together 5 new contracts for those and I will be getting with others to see how they have been progressing.