Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:25:39 -0500
From: Ron <wolfwalker2@verizon.net>
Subject: TEEP chapter 45

Rolling over, Aaron noticed he was alone in bed and glanced towards the
bathroom and not hearing anything opened his mind and found Kevin in the
incubatory, of all places. Pushing the covers off, Aaron stood up and walked
out of his bedroom towards the stairs. Once upstairs, Aaron stopped off in
the kitchen and poured two glasses of his fruit juice blend and walked over
to the med bay. "Good morning love, you're up early," Aaron handed over a
glass of juice to the Kevin who he had startled.

Blushing, Kevin took the glass of juice, "It's amazing isn't it," referring
to the picture of cells dividing on the monitor. "Our son, do you know how
good that sounds, I never gave it much thought, well that's not true, I knew
I was gay early on, but yet I secretly yearned to one day have a child of my
own." Taking a sip of his juice, noticing Aaron had once again changed the
blend he smiled, "This is good, a hint of chocolate," turning around,
laughter all over his face, Kevin kissed Aaron good morning, "For some
reason, that doesn't surprise me at all."

Aaron moved behind Kevin when he turned to glance back at the monitor and
pressed his body against his lover's, wrapping his arms around him, "How
long do you think it will be before all these incubators are full, we
started something last night that got several of the other guys thinking, I
bet."

"I foresee them all being occupied before the first son of the Clan is
born," Xon stated, as he walked into the incubatory and hugged Kevin and
Aaron, and a first for him, initiated a good morning kiss.

Smiling at Xon after capturing his lips, after Xon finished kissing Kevin;
Aaron let his hands roam down his taut body before releasing him, "Good
morning, love." Glancing at the clock Aaron felt Tyler stirring and sent him
a message to join them in the med bay via David, time to get his
resequencing started, the day was about to get very busy.

"I have to visit the Core first thing, I'll meet up with the rest of your
for morning hug duty at the farms, right after I get Tyler squared away."
Aaron kissed each of them soundly, as they walked out of the incubatory,
separating long enough to pull Tyler into a hug and kissing him, causing him
to go week kneed and to be uncomfortably hard.

Chuckling, Aaron released him and turned him around then swatted his butt as
he pushed towards the bio-tubes, "Hold that thought, Lover, we need to get
this started so hop up."

Reaching for his hard toy, Tyler frowned and then pouted when Aaron swatted
his hand away and then groaned in pleasure as he felt a warm wetness descend
on his hard willie, while Aaron was keeping his hands busy, Xon had come
around and captured the end of his hardness and started to tease and suck on
him, as Aaron placed the sensors. Thrusting and groaning in pleasure as he
fired his load, Tyler was not aware of the tube being inserted into his butt
or the fact that he was slid into the bio-tube.

Aaron pulled Xon up and around as soon as he released Tyler's spent cock and
kissed him intent on capturing the last bit of the precious offering before
it was all gone, leaving Xon flustered and aroused, Aaron let him go and
seeing that Tyler had gone back to sleep, turned on the soma unit and
quickly intubated him before activating the cycle. Lips merging with Xon
once more as their tongue's wrestled for dominance as the lid closed and
sealed, Aaron smiled as Kevin lubed up in preparation for one of them
entering him.

Smiling at Kevin, Aaron pulled Xon around so Kevin could position himself
and reaching down, slowly lowered the hard shaft until it lined up with
Kevin's hole, moving to the side, he broke off the kiss as Kevin slid back,
stopping once Xon was fully inside him. Trying to ignore for the moment, the
sounds of two of his lovers expressing themselves behind him, Aaron's
fingers set the resequencing cycle and locked it in place before feeling
something splash against his leg, looking down he looked at Kevin's sweet
offering running down his leg. He didn't think he took that long he
momentarily pouted before smiling as Xon increased his thrusting, grabbing
some gauze he cleaned up his leg and the floor, glancing up when he heard
the groan and grunt of pleasure as Xon climaxed; he shook his head before
standing up, kissing Kevin and Xon before walking out.

Porting himself to the Core entry, Aaron waited for the scan to finish and
to be recognized then he walked into the core chamber and laid back on his
recliner, "Identify."

After the bright lights ran from head to toe the core announced, "Identity
confirmed.Aaron Stranton.Prime of Clan Stranton.King of Empire of Altare and
leader of the sixty five known worlds."

Aaron blinked before tilting his head to the side and looking at the ceiling
in thought, this is ridiculous, "Query.Number of worlds pending admission to
Empire."

"Directive Alpha 7947.thorough testing of new found worlds for fifty years
with human analog and animal test subjects, once fifty year mark passed
without damage or fail of test subjects world is cleared for
colonization.Current worlds undergoing testing 27."

I think I need to get Kevin down here to have a long talk with the Core to
find out what else it was hiding, or what other questions needed to be
asked, "Query.schematics of gestalt chamber file 798534A."

Aaron looked up at the large gestalt chamber and mentally counted five
recliners, well he needed two more people then, so it was a good thing he
stopped to check, "Activate.Preparations for SO001.Project Step
off.relocation to near Earth orbit."

"Core directive 4.query is this a Clan Bug Out."

Semi intelligent had its downside Aaron decided, "Negative.Response to bug
out is negative."

"Standby."

"Downloading system files.downloading Clan Files."

"Core directive 100 now in effect."

Trumpets sounded and echoed off the walls as a bright intense ray of light
stabbed down from the ceiling and hit Aaron in the head and he felt his mind
invaded by the electronic brain. Panting and gulping back the pain as his
eyes cleared, he registered the Core's words as he passed out.

"Core Directive 001 initiated."

"Core Directive 002 Initiated."

"Core directive Rise of the Empire initiated."

Groggy still Aaron started to become aware and wondered what the hell he had
triggered now, holding his head as he sat up, he groaned in pain, the pain
was quickly fading to leave nothing but a dull ache, "Dammit all to hell
what the fuck was that?" glancing up at the clock on the wall, he winced he
just had enough time to make it to the farms before all the kids worried
over him not showing up. Struggling to his feet, Aaron swayed for a moment
before he decided he was steady enough to walk out of the chamber and make
his way outside to the entry. Once outside, he ported to the vet barn and
smiled as he heard the screams of "Aaron," before youngsters starting
hugging him.

Pain pretty much gone, Aaron returned the hugs and kissed the temples of
practically everyone there as they basked in his love. Laughing, Aaron
walked around the barn as the youngsters stole another hug before breaking
up and heading to their work parties, after an enjoyable half hour, Aaron
leaned up against the gestalt chair and looked at Kevin who had portation
duty this morning for this section, "How familiar are you with the Core
programming?"

"Well, I guess I've spent the most time working with the Core, but I don't
think anyone will ever truly know everything about the Core. I do know it is
almost fanatical in its programming of ensuring Clan Stranton survives, why,
is there a problem?" Kevin asked, as he watched the first load of eggs being
brought back up from the chicken tractors.

"Because while I was down there, something strange happened, I seemed to
trigger several Core directives I never heard of and it hit me with a
scanner that hurt enough to cause me to black out for several moments,"
Aaron sighed as he thought about having to go over to the sea farm to finish
up hug duty, the best start to the day ever invented, he thought.

Worried, Kevin looked up after porting the eggs to the Clan dining hall and
city kitchen, "Do you remember what directives you triggered, I don't think
I've hit anything yet on Core directives?"

Looking up in thought, Aaron recalled the pain filled haze of three
directives, "I think I triggered 001 and 002 plus something called the rise
of the empire, and the third one is the one most troubling." Standing tall
and stretching, Aaron felt several pops, "After this latest, it is a damn
good thing 1.0 is not around or he would be re-growing all his limbs after I
pulled them off. If you think you can do it without triggering anything
else, do you think you can download a list of Core directives we can skim
through, I would like to know what I triggered, and I want to keep it from
happening again, if I can help it...I am so not into pain."

Pushing against the arms of the gestalt chair, Kevin rose up enough to meet
Aaron's lips and kissed him, "I'll give it a try, if not today, first thing
tomorrow. Did you find out anything else while you were in the Core about
the station?"

Pulling power from the gestalt, Aaron smiled, "Well, I found out there are
five gestalt recliners, so after breakfast, I'll need two more volunteers to
go with us." Kissing Kevin once more and feeling the ache of no release from
this morning, he smiled centimeters from Kevin's face, "I'll see you at
breakfast; I have to go before I'm missed."

Kevin stared at the spot Aaron ported out of for a moment and deciding to
stay back this morning, he ported the next load to the city kitchens and
made up his mind, while Aaron was gone, he and Tim would visit the Core to
find out what the hell happened.

Noticing Joe port into the Clan Hall, Aaron stood up and cleared his throat
to get everyone's attention, "Well, since the Reliant's captain is here, I
suppose it is time to go, Now before Xon and Pete step forward to fulfill
Pete's wet dream," Aaron had to wait for the laughter to die down, even Pete
was laughing and nodding his head. "Seriously, there are a total of five
Gestalt recliners on the gestalt deck of the SO001, so I need at least two
more of those going with us to be fully trained, so I guess now is the time
to let me know who is coming and who is staying."

Pete and Xon stood up and walked over to Aaron's side and Tim started to
stand before Kevin placed a hand on his arm and pulled him back down to his
seat, David stood up and pulled Derrick to his feet and walked over to stand
next to Aaron and Kenny and his group of hunters who had caught Richard, and
Damien ran over.

Glancing around and seeing that there were more than the three required to
get into the Core if needed, Aaron smiled, "Alrighty, I expect we will be
back by lunch time at the latest, once the station is here and parked in
high Earth orbit, all of the rest of you can feel free to explore it any
time you wish." Smiling at the excited faces, Aaron noticed Shoji off to the
side with his brother, we really have to sit down and find out what to do
about those two soon, "Shoji, can I make a request for lunch? If you can, I
would dearly love if you could put together happy family, fried rice and
eggrolls for lunch."

Shoji rapidly bobbed his head up and down, "Yes sir," as he smiled and
rapidly went over menus with his brother.

Kenny looked up at his brother and wondered, "What is happy family?"

"Beef, Pork, Chicken along with Shrimp and usually scallops or other fish
stir fried with vegetables. It's really good, though expensive," Richard
whispered the explanation and giggled when Kenny rubbed his belly, the
universal sign for yummy among the younger generation.

Smiling at Richard's explanation, Aaron noticed, for the first time, he had
forgotten something important, closing his eyes and concentrating, he ported
a small wood box to his hand, "Richard, come over here for a moment would
you, after this, we'll be leaving, so the rest of you get anything you need,
if you don't already have it that is." Opening the box, Aaron carefully
pulled out the chain and let the rest of the Clan see the medallion hanging
from it before passing the box over to David to place on the table. "I
should have given you this the other day, Richard, but in the excitement I
forgot about it."

Holding up the medallion so Richard could see it clearly, Aaron smiled as
Richard teared up, "This is the symbol of my Clan.our Clan and once you wear
this, you are ours always and forever." Kinetically releasing the snap,
Aaron stepped forward and placed the chain around Richard's neck before once
again using kinetics to seal it, letting the medallion fall from his fingers
to bounce lightly off of Richard's chest Aaron pulled him close and kissed
him before turning him around and pushing him towards David as the others
lined up to welcome Richard to the Clan, as they did Xon. Aaron smiled as
Richard ended up back in front of him and he pulled him close and looked
down with a smile, "Okay, folks time to get the show on the road, those that
need a ride pair up and I'll meet you on the Reliant's gestalt deck," Aaron
sent a visualization to everyone, just in case and then, holding onto
Richard, he ported them up to the Reliant.

Hugging Richard one last time, Aaron walked over to the railing once the
rest of the Clan ported in and grinned as Joe stood there at his command
chair beaming his way, "Alrighty.Captain, if you would take us Z plus five
to the plane of the ecliptic I and my Clan shall do our duty and port us to
Centauri."

Letting Joe have his fun, Aaron walked back to the gestalt chairs as Joe was
rapidly firing orders and people were grinning as they carried them out.
"Let's do this as a practice run of linking, David, Derrick, I'll pull you
in so you can watch what we do, so later once we are aboard the station, you
will know what to expect."

Taking his seat, Aaron touched a section of the arm and the seat reclined
back and he pulled the terminal up and around and logged in, bringing the
gestalt's reactor out of hibernation, opening his mind as he brought power
up to twenty five percent, Aaron brushed his mind against his loves' and
brought them into the link one by one. Once they were linked up and standing
next to each other in the mental landscape, Aaron increased the power output
to one hundred percent and the three of them started to pull power at and
incredible rate as Aaron visualized their destination and showed them how to
use their minds to encompass something as large as the reliant. "Size is not
a hindrance if you are linked like we are; let our mind feel the Reliant and
then knowing where we are going all of us together now, push," and a moment
later, the Reliant blinked out of the Earths solar system and two blinks
later appeared above the plane of the ecliptic in the Sigma Gamma Alpha
Centauri system one hundred and thirty seven light years away.

Amidst the cheers and catcalls from the crew, Aaron opened his eyes,
pressing the button on the chair's arm, he let it bring his body back to a
sitting position as he slowly let the link dissolve as the Clan sent their
excitement to each other, even Xon mentally was jumping up and down in joy,
as his first long range port was successful.

The communications officer's voice rang out over the bedlam, causing instant
silence, "Sir, we are being challenged and targeted.what the hell, the
Reliant just responded all on its own."

As everyone rushed back to their stations, Joe glanced over his shoulder to
see Aaron with his eyes closed in concentration and his weapons officer
yelled out, confused, "We're no longer being targeted, what the hell just
happened."

Opening his eyes, Aaron stood up and stopped when he hit the railing and
looked down on the command deck, "It seems this system is very well
protected, I guess I should have expected something like this." Smiling, as
Joe turned to look at him, "I think it's time we moved closer don't you?
After all, we only have a couple of hours to explore Centauri before we have
to board the station and port back, it would be a shame to come all this way
and not take a peek at our future home."

Joe stared at Aaron for a moment before turning around, "Right, you heard
him, Carson set course for near Centauri orbit, put us above the main city
and start recording. I think the people back home will be very interested in
getting this upload when we get back."

Sensing the Clan surround him and press into him, Aaron smiled without
taking his eyes off the main plasma as the scene of the fourth and fifth
planet started to grow larger. "Aaron can we orbit the fifth planet first, I
want to try out our new invention to see if it works," Xon asked, as he
interrupted Aaron's thoughts.

Still smiling at being here in person instead of echoed memories, Aaron
glanced over his shoulder, "The fifth planet?" shaking his head, he turned
so he was facing Xon, "I guess I really did not pay attention to anything
other than what was stored here, no, that's not it, every time I thought
about it and wanted to sneak away to investigate, I was side tracked as
another thing reared its head, so what's special about the fifth planet?"

Xon bobbed his head once before smiling, "I have spent the last two days
studying everything I could on this system, after Pete let me into the
hidden terminal room so I could complete my studies. This system has two
life sustaining worlds on it; the fifth planet is an ideal mimic of Earth,
and the fourth planet, where our counterparts eventually settled, is a
tropical paradise." Pointing to the plasma, Xon smiled, "according to the
records, the fifth planet was used for farming and should have some left
over earth animals on it, the records stated that all farming operations
were carried out on the fifth planet, due to the fact that Earth life was
readily adapted to it and they could grow familiar crops."

"Sir, an information packet is being uploaded to our system," the
communications officer stated, as the side screen blinked and new
information appeared on it.

"Joe, head over to five and put us in orbit above the agricultural station,"
Aaron smiled back at Xon and walked down the steps to the command deck.
"Since you know the most about this system right now, why don't you share
what you know with us."

Xon walked around so his back was to one side of the plasma and faced Aaron
smiling, "We need to get Mark, Tommy and Brian over here soon," Xon told
them, as he glanced at the screen above the science station which showed the
agricultural station and the world map showed this was only one of dozens.

"If we do, I'm afraid they won't want to come back," Aaron laughed, as he
moved closer to the screen and saw how vast the agriculture stations were,
increasing the magnification, Aaron froze momentarily before he pointed to
the screen, "Those farms are in full production, look at all those cattle
and the fruit groves." Sitting down in the chair in front of the science
station terminal, Aaron let his fingers dance across the touch screen as he
pulled up information, "now just where in the hell are all those crops
going?"

"Fascinating," Xon commented, as he moved behind Aaron so he could read over
his shoulder. "The fifth planet was nicknamed Farm, and in the alternate
timeline, all food production was carried out here, it was a quick port over
to Altare Prime and there were specialty farms over there that grew local
crops.Stop."

Xon pointed to a section on the screen, "Please scroll back and open that
file." Eyes bugging out and eyebrows disappearing into his hairline, Xon
stepped back, "The fifth planet is completely terra-formed." Pointing out
the section that had DNA scans listed, Xon leaned over to get a closer look,
"The archive did not mention that this world is fully Earth based
in.everything."

"How is this possible," Xon was shocked as he turned to look at the rest of
the Clan who were just as awed and shocked as he was.

"I think you need to run your experiment Xon, and then I need to go down to
the planet and visit the Core, the sooner the better," Aaron pushed back
from the science station and stood up, "Can you run the transporter from
here or do you need to be in the cargo bay?"

Xon stood staring at the blinking information a moment longer before
standing up, "I shall return momentarily, I must run the sequence from the
transporter / replicator console," giving one last look at the plasma
screen, Xon ported out.

A minute later the science station plasma changed and Aaron watched as the
tree Xon transported down shimmered into existence and studied the screen
for a moment before deciding it appeared to have worked, sending a command
to the agricultural station to monitor the tree, Aaron turned around and
ordered the Reliant to move to orbit over the capital city on four or Altare
Prime as Xon referred to it, "Joe, place us in orbit around Prime, above the
capital city, then prepare the crew for exploration duty, once we're in
orbit."

Sensing Xon port back, "I see the initial test was a success, how soon
before you can call it a total success?" Aaron asked, as he stared at the
plasma and the view of the fourth planet they were beginning to orbit.

"One would assume that if no damage is noticed in one week's time, that the
test was a success and we can use this technique without fail, the greatest
factor in its success is the fact that the farm planet is a biological clone
of Earth." Xon replied, as he moved over so Richard and Damien could hug
him, one on each side.

"I have a feeling the Reliant will be making many trips back and forth, plus
the fact once the step off station is back in the Sol System, it will become
easy to port back and forth. I have a feeling we are going to want to man
the farm planet as soon as possible, it will solve a growing problem of our
stretched resources," Aaron smiled as he glanced over his shoulder, "I'm
making an assumption that the Core will have all the data from the Farm in
its memory and we might even be able to take back with us the last harvest."

"Sir, we are in stationary orbit above the capital."

"Joe, have the teams port down, they have two hours before they have to be
back on board with their reports," Aaron gave one last look at the main
plasma before sending a visualization to his lovers, "This is where we need
to go, from there, I'll let you explore the Clan Compound while I go visit
the Core, I would take some of you with me, but I need to make sure that
your DNA profiles are uploaded, so better to be safe. We'll port in three."
Aaron pathed as he pulled Pat and Doug close and mentally counted down until
he hit three and ported with them to the Clan Compound.

Joe stared at the spot the Clan was a moment before and stood up and went to
the Plasma, "Carlson, you go down first, be back in an hour so I can have a
chance to check out the naval command center."

"Why did you hold me back?" Tim asked, as the group ported up to the Reliant
for the trip to Centauri, "Something happen to Aaron, I need to know about?"

"We'll talk in the Core, I think we'd better man it with three of us until
Aaron gets back," Spotting Brian walking their way Kevin motioned him over,
"Got anything vital that can't be put off for awhile? If not, we need you as
a third in the Core, maybe between the three of us we can figure out what
the hell happened there this morning to Aaron."

Placing a hand on Tim and Brian's shoulder Kevin ported them to the entry
room and walked over to the door to be scanned and let in, "Aaron said this
morning that he tripped three Core directives and it knocked him out for
several minutes, so while it is a good idea to man the Core in case of
needing to do a reset, I was hoping we could find out what those directives
are."

As the three of them walked into the Core, Brian went over to the recliner
closest to the open weapons clocker and laid down while Tim went to the far
side leaving the central recliner for Kevin, "Do you know what directives he
tripped or are we going to have to ask for a replay?" settling back on the
recliner, Brian looked up at the ceiling, "Identify."

"Identity confirmed.Brain Woods Stranton.Command Authorization enabled."

"He mentioned three of them we need to look up, 001, 002 and 'Rise of the
Empire' so we can start with those first," Kevin laid back and waiting for
the Core to finish indentifying Tim he called out, "Identify."

"Identity confirmed.Kevin Miller Stranton.Father of Crown Prince.Command
Authorization granted."

"I think I know what Aaron feels like when the system throws him for a loop
like this, can we assume I cussed up a storm and what the hell," Kevin
sighed as he glared at the ceiling, as he wondered how Aaron dealt with the
constant surprises.

Tim giggled, "What I want to know is if it watched the two of you create the
baby, talk about a peeping Tom."

Growling his agreement, Kevin glanced at the ceiling, "Query.expand Core
Directive 001."

"Null Data."

"Okay, I guess this is not going to be easy after all," Kevin sighed.

"I was wondering is the Core intelligent, or maybe I should be asking if it
is sentient, you know, aware." Brian asked as he turned his head, "I know
you told me it was partially organic so is it alive?"

"Aaron said that there were fail safes to keep the Core from becoming
aware.or sentient, I doubt it is, why," Tim asked as he turned on his side
to face Kevin and Brian.

"Well, I thought it would be helpful if you could talk to the Core like a
normal person, I think Kevin got a null data return because he doesn't know
how to ask it the right way, if it had a personality or more of a fuzzy
logic environment it would be easier," Brian watched Kevin's face as he
explained to see if it was making sense.

"I would be afraid to create a personality in case the fail safes kicked in
and saw me as a threat," Kevin finally admitted, after giving it some
thought.

"Query.Explain designation Core." Brian said as he thought maybe his idea
was possible.

"Core.Cerebral Organic Retrieval Environment."

"Okay, so the system is a partial organic brain analog," Kevin mused as he
thought how to use this information.

"Redefine designation.Core system will answer to Corry in normal
conversational speech and interpret speech and commands using fuzzy logic ."
Brian looked over at Kevin who looked shocked, "I tell you three
times.execute."

"Authorization Validation.Tier Omega.Authorization Valid."

"Authorization Validation.Level Bravo Omega One.Authorization Valid."

"Enabling Fuzzy logic and speech interpreters to call designation Corry.I
hear you three times."

Brian grinned and looked over at the shocked expression on Kevin's face,
"What? I just thought it would make sense if we could just ask normally, I
have no clue how to deal with all those commands and pauses to get what I
want to know, plus I like the name Corry."

Tim giggled before turning back to face the ceiling, leaving Kevin staring
at Brain in shock, "Corry can you tell me what protocols Aaron tripped this
morning and why they hurt him?"

"His Majesty triggered Directive 001 which establishes line of succession
with the conception of his son, directive 002 was also triggered as a result
of the negative answer to core directive 4. Directive 002 sends the
authorization signal to all Alteran technology along with DNA imprint of his
Majesty Aaron Stranton to all Alteran Core systems giving him absolute
control over them. Finally he triggered the Rise of the Empire protocol as
his intention to expand the race into space solidifies the empire and DNA
samples were taken along with a Neural Imprint."

"Oh shit, I don't think Aaron is going to like this to much, the first time
he logs into the Core I want to watch his expression," Tim giggled before
glancing Kevin's way.

"How in the world did you ever figure out how to reprogram the system like
this," Kevin finally asked as he glanced over at Brian.

"I read it in a science fiction novel," Brian shrugged, "Besides, it will be
so much easier getting things done now," Brian smiled as he glanced out of
the corner of his eye at Kevin. Having a thought he did not like, "Corry
what is the chance that your new designation could become sentient tripping
fail safes?"

"After fifty three thousand years of constant use, the percent will rise to
ten percent, just below fail safe."

"I think we need to let Aaron know about that, and let him decide what to
do, it's too bad we can't see what is going on, on Centauri, it's going to
be a killer having to wait,' Kevin sighed as he congratulated Brian, "Good
job on your idea Brian."

"Thanks," Brain blushed, before wondering, "Why don't you ask, it seems kind
of silly that there would not be a way for the separate planets to keep in
touch besides telepathy."

"Makes sense I guess.it does doesn't it or how else would the Core system on
Centauri know about the DNA profiles," Kevin was excited, "Corry can you
establish a connection with the Reliant or the Centauri Core so we can see
what's going on?"

"Connection being established, connection established do you wish this to be
available to the rest of the city?"

"Please do, Corry make the connection available to all Alteran terminals,
live feed please," Kevin grinned as he laid back and watched the Reliant
establish orbit around the fifth planet and a minute later heard the door
open and Mark walk in.

"I don't know how you're doing it but the city is going nuts, not to mention
Tommy is creaming his shorts, well he would, if he was wearing anything,"
Mark laughed, "Hey can we get this information released to everyone so they
can get their hands on it?"

"Sure thing love, Corry, establish permanent link to Altare Prime and Farm,
and release to general terminals all non classified information," Kevin
grinned as Mark made faces as he looked around trying to figure out who
Kevin was talking to.

"Permanent link established downloading data and releasing over ninety
percent to general terminal access, do you require I upload all current
records and data to Altare Prime Core?"

"Do so Corry," Brian giggled, as Mark walked over and sat on the side of his
recliner.

Mark looked around and not seeing anyone and recognizing the voice as
similar to the Core's, "Brian, who or what is Corry?"

"Brian figured out a way to add a fuzzy logic interface to the Core so we
can talk normally and get the response we need, don't worry we made sure he
was not going to become sentient by doing this," Kevin grinned, "just think
at the leaps we can make in programming now."

"I'll leave the programming up to you, though, do you think it is possible
to have voice access in the hidden terminal room, it would be a help and
then Tommy and I can get started on looking through this information and not
interfere with your work," Mark looked at Brian with a smile and leaned over
and kissed him before standing up.

"Corry, did you hear the request, is it possible to have an interactive
voice station in the hidden terminal room in Aaron's library so the Clan can
use it?" Brian asked, as he watched his lover's firm tight butt walk over to
Kevin and he leered as Mark leaned over to kiss Kevin, giving him a nice
view.

"Temporary 24 hour access granted, under your current authorization level."

Smiling, Mark rushed to Tim and kissed him, "Great, thanks, I have a lot of
work to do, see ya later," Mark rushed out of the door.

"Corry send a message to Aaron please, that we are watching him by live
feed, please," Tim smiled at the thought, then grumbled, "Next time, even if
Pete is a SCIFI geek he stays here where we can have a class one path
around."

All over the city and the hidden temple, people stopped what they were doing
and sat glued to the terminal monitors as the live feed from Altare Prime
and the Farm planet started coming in, the Shaolin in the city smiled at
each other in happiness while all over the city, those that had been rescued
made up their minds to take the offer of being altered so they could belong
to something greater than they were.

"Mr. President, are you sure about this, I mean this is a huge gamble," Bob
asked, nervously wringing his hands as he watched the camera crew finish
setting up.

"It's a gamble I know, but Bob, we've already lost California and Hawaii and
we know I'm not really in charge, even though I was elected," shaking his
head sadly the President looked up, "Aaron was right, we, or I, don't have
much choice; the country is fracturing. Any hope of keeping us together lies
in me being open and honest with the American people, worst case scenario
has us fracturing into ten or more countries, some of them having the bulk
of the nuclear inventory and if the extremists get their hands on them, well
what Aaron did to New York will seem like a slap on the butt compared to
what he would do if one of those missiles were fired towards his kingdom."

Sighing, Bob sat down heavily in the chair across from the President out of
range of the cameras, "I know, it's just I'm nervous as hell, this will
either work in our favor, or blow up in our faces."

"Look at it this way Bob, if we continue to work with Aaron like this, and
it blows up, we can at least appeal to him for help, because we did the
right thing," the President tried to drive the point home and after seeing
Bob slowly nod his head, he let his breath out slowly.

"Thirty Seconds, Mr. President."

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE."This is the activation of the emergency broadcast
network.please stand by." EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

All over the United States, the emergency broadcast network was activated
for the first time not related to weather alerts. The President sat watching
the signal screen on the monitor as countless Americans scrambled to find
their television or radio stations and listened in as the tone told them to
stand by.

The President watched the cameraman motion with his hand and when he got to
one finger he looked up. "My fellow Americans, a crisis has hit our great
nation, the likes of which our founding fathers never dreamed of."

The President took a big breath and let it out slowly, "For me at least, it
all started several weeks ago when I met with the King of Altare, I had
invited him to meet with me at Camp David, or should I say I should have met
him at Camp David, but instead I was transported to his jet after watching
the FBI, and CIA along with several Secret Service agents complete what they
thought was an assassination, in the bid to get their hands on the Alteran's
technology, so they could control the American people. That was the day I
learned that even though I was elected to serve the people, I was never in
control. In fact, the President had lost control to a shadow government,
long ago."

Sighing, the President looked away for a moment, "From what we have been
able to piece together so far, this shadow government took control fifty
years ago, and slowly over time has been building up their members and
infiltrated all levels of government. Their aims are simple, to have total
control over every aspect of each and every American's life."

Staring into the camera, the President's next words were harsh, "From behind
the scenes, they have controlled all information being given to the highest
levels of government, without the full unaltered picture, decisions have
been made that are not in the best interest of the country or its people, a
large portion of the information was fabricated, and I believe the attacks
on September eleventh were orchestrated by this group so that you, the
American people would be willing to trade freedom for safety, but what no
one realized was that the safety that you all were trading away was not
originating from a foreign source."

"Early last night, the states of Hawaii and California voted for secession
from the union, in the past we fought a civil war over that simple fact, but
not on my watch, as of this moment, the United States recognizes the
independent states of Hawaii and California. I understand Hawaii has already
been accepted as a territory of the Kingdom of Altare." The President
sighed, "This is not easy for me, and after reading and watching the goings
on in New York, I think the festering of corruption from the claws of the
shadow government is almost all encompassing."

Picking up a pen and signing the top sheet of paper on his desk, the
President looked up, "From this moment on, no person or agency can act by my
word without being told face to face, from my lips my wishes, so that means
if a special agent of the FBI is told the order comes from me, unless they
witness in person the order coming from my lips, it is to be assumed it is a
false order and an act of treason." Picking up the sheet of paper and
turning it around so the cameras could zoom in on it, "Executive order
2004-11, I just signed it into effect, here in front off all of you, and it
states in simple terms that all federal laws placed on the books since 1954
are invalid. That does not roll back all laws country wide, but if any laws
the states enacted are funded by federal money, they will no longer be
funded."

Glaring into the camera, the President waited a moment to let his words sink
in, "I fully expect to have the shadow government try to have me removed,
even impeached, but I will only step down when I am impeached by a fully
loyal government, ones that have passed telepathic scans, like the ones done
over the past three days in New York. All the rhetoric and bullshit is over,
the time for politics is over it is past time for the American people to
take back their lives."

Picking up his pen once more, the President signed another piece of paper
and then held it up, "Executive order 2004-12, I herby order the branch of
the federal government known as the IRS to only collect ten percent of an
individual's earnings, and fifteen percent of a company or corporation. The
American people have been taxed to death and have wanted for a long time, a
flat tax and the time is here. From this day forth, a flat tax is in
effect."

"Let's be realistic folks, this is not going to hurt the poor like all the
political infighting about this issue and the politicians tell you, common
sense tells you if you only make five thousand dollars a year, that means
you pay five hundred dollars in taxes, and if you make fifty thousand
dollars a year you pay five thousand dollars in taxes." The President looked
into the camera, "no matter what anyone tries to tell you, it will not hurt
the poor or the country. We will take in the same amount of money on a flat
tax as under the old system, but it will be fair to one hundred percent of
the people or businesses in America."

"The last document I want to show all of you is the treaty signed by
President Roosevelt in 1941 with the Kingdom of Altare. For a treaty it is
surprisingly simple and easily understood, though the shadow government
buried it from sight, until I met with the King of Altare, even I did not
know of its existence, luckily, the Queen of England was at the meeting and
she recognized it and advised me on what it means. This document has been
broken by people of the United States government a total of four times to my
knowledge, broken by people that have been told it was by my orders that
they did that." Sighing as he let the document drop to the desk, the
President looked out the window for a moment, "I want to show you something,
this footage was found in the Vice Presidential vault, not the Presidential
vault where it should have been."

The President took a drink of water as the screen cut away and the film
showed and his hand shook as he set it down and watched along with the
American public the meeting between the foreign government representatives
as the Alteran King laid down the law and the devastating attack as the
device being deployed by the Alteran king, who looked like Aaron's father,
completely destroyed all life on several islands and a stretch of ground
here in the U.S. turning it into a desert. Once he noticed the film was over
and he was being taped again, he cleared his throat.

"It is a strange feeling to know that your own second in command was part of
this shadow government, and when we investigated the Vice President's vault
so much was revealed to us. But for purposes of this conversation, we as a
people are lucky that the King of Altare is someone who cares, and someone
who is giving us this chance as he realizes that the government is not doing
these attacks." The President let a tear finally fall and trail unnoticed
down his cheek.

"At this moment in time, as I sat down here to address all of you, I feel
ashamed to call myself an American, but with your help to root out those out
to overthrow the government, a duly elected government, we can stand strong
and proud once again." The President looked down before looking up with a
plea on his face, "Together, we can get through this, together we can take
back our country and move forward to a proud future for all Americans. As I
leave you this morning to think about what I have said and to demand those
you elected to represent you, actually do their jobs, I will leave this last
thought with all of you."

"We have all watched on the television, events unfolding in New York when
the local out of control government invaded a foreign embassy, my advisors
were all for a matched response when news had reached our ears over the
invasion, but then the truth came out, and I ordered no intervention." The
President was back to glaring at the camera, "lest anyone forget this
man.this nation has sixty four worlds in its empire, and the technologies to
make us all look like Neanderthals."

"I was given the option of filing a petition to request the return of the
state of New York after forty eight hours, after ninety six hours the option
would be removed and the state would forever remain a territory of the
Alteran Kingdom and their laws would be the law of the land." The President
leaned forward over his desk, and everyone could see he was serious, "I have
a little over twenty nine hours left before I have to make that request, or
lose the right. I am telling the American public here and now, I will NOT be
making any request. Those in New York almost caused the death of every man,
woman and child in this country. I refuse.if the people wish, they can move
out of the state, I am sure there will be plenty of people who want to buy
up their homes and live under Alteran law. If congress and the senate wish
to make the request, so be it, but it will go in without my signature on it,
I realize this may be my last official act, so I hereby order all federal
agencies to be examined by telepathic scan, starting with congress and the
senate, at least then, by lunchtime, the American people can be assured that
the people in office have the best interests of you the American people in
their hearts."

The President stared into the camera until the monitor went dead; sighing,
he stood up, "Well Bob, the shit has hit the fan, now it is out of our
hands." Glancing at the secret service agent by the door, he simply said,
"Do it, send them in."

"Excuse me sir's, the order's been given, you have a go," the secret service
agent told the team of FBI and Alteran Security officers as he opened the
door and escorted the orange and brown clad people into the capitol rotunda.

Glancing around the Clan Compound, Aaron was surprised by the outwardly at
least similar layout of the Clan Hall back on Earth, looking for a clue to
the location of the Core entry room, Aaron went searching around; as he
walked into the larger house, he was confronted with a hologram.

"Hello Aaron," the shimmering hologram spoke up and Aaron felt a pang hit
him in the chest as he recognized the voice from his other self's memories.

Staring at the hologram, Aaron silently cried as he saw several figures long
dead and in this new timeline still living and having fun finding their way
in life.  "Long after our Aaron went back in time, we decided to rebuild
this world for you and this program and message was activated when you came
here on your own, to expand, not to hide and regroup."

Another voice started and the image smiled at him, "I hope you are pleased
with what we have done for you, when your other self went into the past, it
gave us another seventy five years to prepare this place for you. This
system is the single most well defended place in the entire universe,
weapons and technology that had never been seen before, things we
discovered, we placed in the Core here, deep underground in preparation for
this day."

Xon along with the others, who had been called by Kenny, strode forward and
placed a hand on his lovers and leaders shoulder as they watched in awe the
love the others had felt for Aaron rivaled their own.

"By traveling into the past, or more accurately, by sending our equipment
into the past, we completely terra-formed the fifth planet so it is a clone
of Earth, down to the smallest of species, we stocked the rivers, lakes and
seas with DNA clones of species long lost on our Earth by the time we moved
here, and we stocked it with the most advanced automatic farms in
existence."

"We know our Aaron planned to give you some of his memories, especially
about us, but we hope that you found love on your own and are here now
surrounded by those you love."

"When you enter the Core for the first time, tell it to activate Phoenix, it
will activate our last and greatest gift to you," the only one who had not
said anything smiled as he told Aaron this. "We know you better than you
know yourself, and since this message is the one being played for you, we
are happier than you can imagine, this means that the timeline has shifted
in such a way that the world we came from can never occur, and for that
alone you have my love. The other thing is that the Clan does not include
any members of the original Clan from our timeline, knowing you have a
select few of our Aarons memories, I must ask you three times." the image
paused for a moment before continuing, "I must ask you three times Aaron the
one who wears the body of my lover and father of my children, if those of us
that were your Clan in the other timeline are altered, NEVER.NEVER induct
them into the Clan. Respect what we were, not who we remind you of, and
respect those who have captured your heart now."

The youngest looking one stepped up and smiled at them, "if you are anything
like our Aaron, you will be crying your eyes out right now, then later on,
after our surprise, you will be shocked, and maybe." he laughed, "Just maybe
you will forgive your would have been future self for what he did to you,
just remember, he was trying his best to prevent the future we lived through
from happening, so he not only embraced what we foisted onto him, he passed
it to you; forgive him and us, but it was the only way to ensure the future
you are living right now."

"Just remember, Aaron, use your anger and stubbornness when dealing with the
other nations and because this message was played and not one of the ten
others we left, I can gladly say this," the image smiled, "Don't give them a
chance, Aaron, if they cross you, put them down hard and fast, move here to
Altare Prime as quick as you can, and skim off the best and brightest from
earth to colonize the other worlds. Make this a grand Empire that will last
for thousands of generations."

As the image of the three people started to fade away a voice could be heard
as the image went out and another took its place, "This is the core entry
chamber Aaron, go there with our love and respect. Remember us fondly, and
love and cherish those you love now."

Aaron wiped his eyes and hugged the Clan to him as they hugged him back,
after several moments, Aaron smiled, "Well, one thing they asked me to do, I
already had decided to do on my own, I was not about to invite into the Clan
any of the timeline 1.0 people, it would not be fair to them or me, and
certainly not to any of you. Staring at the visual image Aaron closed his
eyes and concentrated, yes he thought I can get there.

"You guys take off and explore, I'm going to go to the Core now and get this
place up and running, maybe find out what surprise they left me," Laughing,
Aaron hugged everyone in turn, "This way, I get to cuss them all out without
anyone eavesdropping on me." Grinning, Aaron stepped back and waved as he
closed his eyes and ported to the room he had been shown.

Glancing around the room, Aaron walked forward towards the only visible door
and stopped when a beam of light descended from the ceiling to scan him for
entry, once he had been scanned and the door opened, Aaron walked through.
Taking a moment to look around, Aaron noticed a set of rooms around the
central core, walking around and poking his head in each doorway, he was
slightly shocked to find everything from living quarters to a med bay to a
weapons locker that put the one on Earth to shame. Deciding exploring could
be done later, Aaron went over to the raised pedestal and made his way to
the strange recliner in the center and sat down before leaning back into the
egg shaped top, resting his head against the pillowed back. "Identify."

"Identity confirmed.King Aaron Stranton, leader of the sixty five worlds and
Emperor of humanity."

"I'm almost afraid to ask, and I know I'm afraid to utter the request,"
Aaron mumbled to himself, and sighed as he thought maybe it was not too late
to just go back home and make love to his lovers and close their borders
after putting his head in the sand; let the rest of the world go to hell.
Sighing, he knew that would not be something he could ever do, after all if
he did that, he would lose Andrew and Edward and he was not willing to give
them up just yet, if ever.

"Activate.Activate Phoenix."  Aaron called out, while thinking; I'm really
stepping in it now. Closing his eyes and crossing his fingers, toes and legs
Aaron listened for anything and slowly peaked out through one eye before
seeing an image appear and stare at him, grinning.

"I gave myself several moments to make sure you opened your eyes back up, my
lord, before speaking, I am the first of many surprises in store for you, I
am an interactive hologram interface designed to be a tutor as you learn the
new systems."

Aaron made himself comfortable as he stared curiously at the hologram,
wondering what he had in store for him, "And the first of these surprises
they left for me, not to mention what do I call you?"

"You may call me Jeeves, my lord; I believe one of the programmers mentioned
something about a search engine," Jeeves smiled as he waved his holographic
arm towards the plasma. "Before we start, I should inform you that I have a
message from Kevin relayed through Corry that your discovery of the system
and the exploration the Reliant's crew is doing is going back to Earth live.
The images of what you and your Clan are doing though are going back live to
the Core chamber on Earth only." As Jeeves said that the plasma came to life
and Aaron was confronted with an image of Kevin, Tim and Brian laying on the
gestalt recliners and starting back at him.

"Hello loves," Aaron smiled up at the plasma and he saw them smile in
return. "I see you found a few things out for yourself, I do have one
question though, who is Corry?"

Brain smiled and waved, "This is so cool, live two way communication. Oh,
Corry is the new designation for the Core system here on Earth, and before
you get all wrapped up in whatever, you should know that Mark and Tommy are
in the hidden terminal room working up plans for the Farm planet."

Aaron laughed before shaking his head, "Well, we wouldn't want them to get
their priorities out of order, would we?" glancing back at the hologram, "I
need to get the rest of the Clan down here, is there a protocol in place
that will keep out those who have not passed their ordeal like the system on
Earth?"

"No my lord, as this is the Clan bunker, a failsafe point for the Clan, no
such condition exists here," Jeeves explained to Aaron's smile and then
frown.

"I hope there are other bunkers for the other Alteran's then?" Aaron pathed
Xon, "Xon if all of you would prepare to be ported down, I am going to bring
you to the Core."

"Of course there is, my lord; we would never leave the Clan as the only
survivors of a calamity," Jeeves replied.

Aaron, chuckling at Xon's excitement sent back, "prepare to be ported in
three." and when the count got to one Aaron ported all of them into the
chamber and waved, "Up here, guys."

Kenny ran up the stairs and skidded to a halt as he took in the hologram,
"Whoa another future dead guy, these guys sure liked to make video's of
themselves."

"Kenny." David yelled at his brother sternly, "That's not nice, you know."

"Well they did," Kenny shrugged as Aaron laughed at him.

"This is not a video, it's an interactive tutor created to help teach us how
to use what they left behind, I guess they wanted to make sure we knew what
to do with all the toys they left for us to play with," Aaron pointed to the
empty seats and looked back at the hologram, "Alright Jeeves, what is the
first surprise that was activated for me from the project Phoenix file?"

"Oh that is too funny," David laughed and noticing Xon's expression, "Ask
Jeeves is an internet search engine very popular right now."

"Well my lord, there are many surprises in store for you, but only three
major ones. The first of course is the creation of eleven more SO series
stations, ten of which are already positioned in their respective systems,
the largest of course is here in Centauri and hidden behind the primary,
though after activation of project phoenix, it is on the way to station
keeping above the plane the ecliptic between Altare Prime and the Farm."

Holding his head up with one hand as he stared at the hologram; Aaron
finally said, "Okay, I can see the use for those, in fact it solves a
problem or two and will allow our colonization efforts to proceed at a rapid
pace," shifting so he was laying back once more, "What is the second
surprise, then?"

"This one is a little trickier, my lord," Jeeves told him, "a way was
developed to travel dimensions safely and bring over planetary objects, the
fifth planet is not a result of terra-forming but as a result of the direct
replacement of the planet with an alternate dimension Earth that developed
no animal life other than what we imported from other dimensions to support
the fauna, the two planets were switched and this new Earth was restocked
with life forms we stole from other dimensions."

"I can't say that I like it, but it would be hard to yell and scream at the
ones who did it, or even punish them as they are not alive," Aaron sighed,
as he looked around the room at his lovers. "If that was the tricky one, and
while not liking it all that much, I'm afraid to ask about the third
surprise, I was told I would not like it at all."

"True, my lord, the third surprise comes in two parts; a huge fleet has been
built and a warship has been recovered and rebuilt after being modified,"
Jeeves actually fidgeted.

"The fleet might be nice and I'm sure very useful as we go out exploring the
universe, it is the way you said a warship was recovered and rebuilt, that
worries me," Aaron had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Republic_Star_Destroyer"This vessel was recovered in another dimension and
studied and rebuilt, the original, of course, was left in the dimension it
was found in and I believe that it eventually fell into a stellar mass,"
Jeeves paused for a moment before pointing at the screen and the warship on
the screen.

"That looks like something out of the movies, how big is that thing," Pete
jumped up and moved so he could look at the screen, "and what does it do?"

"It is ten miles long and half a mile high," Jeeves looked at Pete, "this
ship is a world killer, the only purpose this ship has is to destroy whole
worlds with one shot, it is also capable of crossing dimensions and is the
first line of defense if an attempt would be made to plunder from us across
the dimensional barrier."

Aaron looked agitated Xon thought, as he watched him and was not surprised
when he told them, "I don't like it; in fact I am very much against it."
standing up, Aaron walked over to face the hologram, "I want that thing
locked down tight, there is not to be mention of this monstrosity anywhere
in the database. This is now classified as a Clan Secret and that thing will
never be activated as far as I'm concerned."

"We are in the business of saving people, not destroying whole worlds,"
Aaron took a deep breath, "Maybe in some twisted future we might need that
thing, but for now, I want it hidden and safely locked up."

Aaron looked to the monitor at the weapon, "They were right, I don't like
this, maybe it was too easy for them to kill, after all they spent all those
hundreds of years in a war, but this is different. This thing takes out the
innocent as well as the guilty, surely they would know me and my reaction,
was I that different after all those years?"

"I do not believe you have considered this from their perspective," Jeeves
offered, as he turned to face Aaron, "They built this not out of anger or
need for war, but out of fear," the hologram pointed at the ship on the
monitor.

Pete, curious and shocked at Aaron's demeanor cocked his head, "Fear?"

"After discovering and perfecting the way to easily move things across
dimensions, they remembered the Scree, and they came up with a solution that
would not cost a universe its life," Jeeves looked at Aaron as he said this.

Finally, settling down somewhat, Aaron shuddered at the mention of
destroying a universe, "The order still stands, lock it down, but if we meet
another version of the Scree, I won't hesitate to unlock it," glancing
around at his lovers, he tried to smile, "Fair enough?"

"Let's change the subject to something more pleasant shall we," Aaron smiled
at the nods of acceptance from his lovers, then he faced Jeeves, "Jeeves,
what happens to all the harvests from the Farm planet, where are they
stored?"

The hologram blinked in and out of phase and then Jeeves replied, "All
production to this point has been geared towards increasing the area under
cultivation, or in increasing the livestock under care. The first actual
harvests can begin at any time and only needs your authorization for the
automatics to start processing the harvests instead of disposing of them."

Brian, who was scrolling through a listing, looked up at the ceiling and
called out, "Aaron looking through the reports, there is a lot of food that
was harvested this morning maybe you can bring it back with you."

"Will do Brian, that will save us a lot of trouble finding people to raise
food for us; I was beginning to wonder if we would have to find a way to
replicate food," Aaron smiled up at the plasma, "We're running out of time
on this trip as it is, Jeeves, can I use you as an interface with the Core
or do I have to go through the Core direct." Thinking about it for a moment
he added, "And what is the command line I want to change?"

"Unfortunately my lord, you can not use me as a command interface, but you
wish to change the parameter of harvest bio-disposal to harvest shipment,"
Jeeves phased and blinked once more as he shifted programming.

Glancing up at the ceiling, Aaron worked the command string out in his mind,
"Core.Initiate status change.harvest output designation Farm planet.status
change.harvest equals process for shipment.initiate."

"Standby."

"Farm system change in progress."

"Status change.positive."

"Farm outputs now designate ship, first shipment ready to be transported in
fifteen minutes."

"We better get moving loves, people will start wondering where we got off
to, shortly," waving for the others to join him, Aaron visualized the
Reliant's gestalt deck, "We better port directly to the Reliant," smiling as
he was hugged by both Pat and Doug, Aaron gave one final glance to make sure
everyone was partnered up and then ported.

Appearing on the gestalt deck, Aaron looked around and smiled down at Joe
who looked a little worried, "Well, it's about time you showed up you lot
had us all worried when all of you disappeared off the monitors."

"Sorry Joe, but we entered the Core and that is not something that will ever
be broadcast," Aaron smiled, "But I think you will like a few of the
surprises we found out about down there, anyway, if you can move us over to
theSO001 and ignore the 002 which is moving into position we can set up shop
before bringing up this morning's harvest from the farm planet."

Not taking his eyes off Aaron, Joe motioned for Carlson to move them closer
to the station, "I already have a manpower crisis, is this surprise that you
think I will like going to cause me more headaches?"

Laughing, Aaron held onto the rail, "I imagine it will, especially if you
ever wanted to be a fleet admiral.Admiral Mandelin."

Joe stared at Aaron for a moment before screaming out, "Are you fucking
nuts!!!"

Smirking, Aaron pulled Xon and David close, "Of course not, I have more than
enough people to fuck that are sane than to have to resort to the mentally
challenged."

Xon lifted one eyebrow, "Indeed, one has to wonder if it was your intention
to besmirch our sanity in this way."

Carlson couldn't hold back any longer and as his laughter boomed across the
deck, the rest of the crew joined in as Joe stood there open mouthed and
blushing.

"You enjoyed that, didn't you," Joe accused before giggling, "Fine, make me
an admiral, but if you think I'm giving up the bridge to become a paper
pusher, I'll.I'll put salt peter in your food."

Smiling, Aaron noticed they were on station, "I think you will like the new
ships in the fleet, plus, as soon as you get back, you can start recruiting
from the Shaolin, and it will be a while before the fleet is retrofitted to
Xon's exacting standards so you have time."

 Tapping his communicator, Aaron's voice rang over the ship, "Attention Sol
Station's crew, port over and standby for deliveries, T-minus fifteen
minutes to relocation to Earth's orbit." Closing the channel Aaron smiled at
Joe.

Joe looked at Aaron and the smile on his face, "Crap, you're about to get
cute and nasty all at once," he said, as he fell back into his command
chair.

Smile getting wider Aaron placed a hand on his chest, "Me.where do you get
these notions, I'm cute and lovable ask any of the Clan."

station

Getting serious, Aaron stood up tall as he stretched, "On the other hand,
your right. When we port back I want the Reliant to go to full battle
stations and move to near Earth orbit, in fact, I want you to enter the
Mesosphere and orbit very slowly, my version of a dog and pony show with
saber rattling. Then we are going to hit them with the appearance of Sol
Station."

Joe stared at Aaron for a minute as he digested what he was being told with
what he was leaving out, "You're making a statement, aren't you?"

"Very much so, one that tells the world it is not a good idea to fuck with
us," Aaron sighed, as he stared at the station on the monitor, "Fate or some
divine intervention seems to be trashing every schedule and plan I spent all
that time coming up with, it went from ten years before I stepped foot on
Altare Prime, to maybe six months, now it's down to days." Knowing this was
being transmitted back to Altare, and the city, "All my schedules are now
trash, so, as a message that was left from the other timeline suggested, I
am going to skim off the best and brightest Earth has to offer, and leave
all the closed minded bigots behind to wallow in their own filth. Though I
expect in the future, I will have to conquer the Earth to bring order and
reason back to the human race."

"How aggressive do you want me to be when we hit orbit?" Joe was thoughtful
as he was thinking about what Aaron said and could not find a flaw in it
anywhere, at least not yet.

Holding his hands out to Pat and Doug, Aaron prepared to port, "Consider
this a full scale training exercise, maybe you should consider this a
training exercise on how to invade a planet, at the first sign of nuclear
weapons going hot though, I want them taken out." After Aaron and the Clan
ported out, Aaron's last words rang in the ears of everyone, "It is long
past time for the humans to grow up and act like responsible adults."

Arriving on the gestalt bubble on the Sol Station, Aaron smiled as he found
himself surrounded by jungle.

"All stations report ready," Kenny called out as he walked over to one of
the monitor screens in curiosity and then smiled, "Hey the guys that came
over before us have almost finished porting up all the food."

Kissing Pat, after being handed an energy drink, Aaron moved around looking
over the gestalt recliners as he waited for everyone to catch their breaths,
finishing, he moved to the center recliner, lay down and closed his eyes a
moment, thinking about the changes that were about to happen, this one move
would change everything once again, he had to wonder though, if the universe
could handle the rapid changes it was foisting off on them, or was there
some higher purpose to what was happening?

Opening his eyes, Aaron smiled as Richard moved over to cuddle next to him
and he saw all the others had moved to their recliners and had a cuddle
partner. Pulling Richard in tighter, Aaron linked with the rest of the Clan
one at a time and smiled as he activated the inter-ship channel and watched
a hologram spring up, showing the bridge of the Reliant. Powering up the
gestalt generators to one hundred percent output, Aaron protected the
younger ones, as he pulled power and the gestalt bridge practically glowed;
and being linked, all of them spoke at once, even Kenny and his two hunters.

"Reliant, prepare to be ported in three."

Joe stared at the monitor in shock as the many voice that was the Clan,
warned him what was coming; he was awed at seeing what they could do.

"Reliant.porting in Three.Two ..Porting."

All over Sol Station, the Alteran's looked at each other in wonder and awe
as they watched the monitor feeds showing the gestalt deck, and the Clan had
the same exact expression on each of their faces and they were smiling, and
then the order came over the speakers, "Prepare to port."

"Porting in Three.Two .Porting," the Clan said in unison as they left the
Centauri system and appeared above earth.



Editors section:

Scott's musings:

RadioRanchers Musings: My goodness, a Holographic teacher, What will they
think of next, a holographic Doctor?  Oh wait, they already have one or
somebody does, oops. Let's see, we have a very smart computer called Corry,
on earth, and we have a holographic interface on Centauri prime.

We have the President stating publicly that he has no intentions of taking
New York back from the Alterans. And to top that off he has flat out told
everyone that he wants all of the public officials telepathically scanned.
Things are looking better.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

A/N: things always look better before all hell breaks loose Daryl. You
should k now me better by now J. Cycle one is complete at Chapter 49, which
just happens to be posted at my website http:wolfsnest.n40c.net because I am
once again taking part in National writing month I have scheduled these
released chapters. I truly will be paying attention once the first of
December rolls around. Which means in two weeks chapter 49 will be posted to
nifty and there will be a break while I am off doing a different story. I
will answer emails on Sundays though J