Traitor

“Are we ready to begin the planning process,” Jason asked, “and do we have everybody here that we need for that planning?”

Three more people rushed into the room and the meeting was convened.

“Can someone summarize the current situation and what we are facing next? I’m quite keen to know what’s happening with this ship, our other ships, our casualties, and the situation on the planet and any plans to date,” Jason asked of the gathered group.

“Connie, might I suggest that your group takes the floor and updates us on where we are going and what we are doing as Jason has requested,” Janet instructed.

“Two of our pilots died, and we have eight who were injured severely who are going to require up to a week in the pods. Another sixteen had minor injuries. Three marines died during the first stage of boarding the first two cruisers, and one in the next two. We have twenty-four in medical pods, eight of whom are seriously injured.

“Half of our fighters have sustained severe damage that will require up to a week for repairs. Six of them must be rebuilt.

It’s faster to build new ones and use the others for spares. We have sixteen spare fighters but if we do go into action we’ll have no reserve pilots for another three days.

“Two of our gunships sustained a moderate level of damage protecting the boarding shuttles. We estimate two days to complete repairs. Our ships will require only two days to be ready for action while we repair the ships and mine the asteroids. For the level of encounters that we have had, this is surprisingly little damage. We are still assessing the enemy ships in detail but the last two cruisers were severely damaged and need a shipyard if repairs are to be completed within the next few months. The mines worked extremely well as did the cyber warfare technology. We have done a post contact analysis of our weapons fire, which is of considerable concern.

“Our AI aiming has still been severely hindered. Had we faced the worst-case level of missile fire we would have been much more severely damaged. The fighters made the critical difference. Sheer volume of fire made up the rest. All of our long-range targeting was off and we had an unexpected level of defective missiles. We recovered two and found they had been actively disabled. This indicates persisting internal sabotage. The mines saved us. We now have guards in critical areas. They managed to fool our internal surveillance. Now that we know how they did it, we won’t be fooled again.

“The engineers are correcting the sensors and the cyber warfare and engineers are going over the software controls of firing systems. We don’t detect problems with Patton or any problems with Ship AI any longer, but we found the linking and aiming software at the weapons level is again defective in the long, medium, and short-range cannon. The point defense systems were inefficient. The missile aiming software is also defective.

“We are lucky that the interference routines were not difficult to find. We are looking for other interference at a deeper level. We have located the original software, and we’ll check it. If it’s satisfactory, we’ll load it into the missiles. We are also searching for the original software for all the other systems.

“We have intensified our ship wide search for the other groups of saboteurs. We have all the Marines searching the ship looking for the characteristic patterns of the priest interfaces. We have interrogated the priests group that we found in more detail. They are aware that there are others on the ship but for security reasons no one told them where they were or how many other groups there are.

“So, we do know there are others. We don’t know if it’s one or two groups. We are guarding all vulnerable areas. Computer access to Ship’s systems is blocked in all non-critical areas. We are intensively monitoring all computer traffic and will pick up any programming activity and track it to its source. We have attacked the saboteurs electronically on two occasions. We are sure that it was two different groups. There’s no doubt that they’re alerted to us, but our concern is they’re very sophisticated operators. We were not able to find their locations, but do believe that we have done some damage to their systems, though not as much as we would like to have done. We couldn’t fully infiltrate their systems before they switched them off. We’ll catch them, I hope sooner rather than later. We are densely blocking all communications bands to and from the ship except our own which we watch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“On arrival and long before the encounter with the cruisers, we sent several groups to reconnoiter the surface. The priests did what we predicted. They have started the process of activating the clones. They first woke the most senior officers, and these officers are planning for the staging of the awakening of the clones and their final training, collection of weapons, shuttles, tanks, and gunships and their subsequent embarkation. They are all clustered with a group of senior priests in a large dormitory/conference facility. We established video and auditory surveillance in both public and private spaces.

“I have holograms of the facility including maps of the areas that we have been able to observe. We have sent in insect sized micro-drones to penetrate all areas of the facility, and in particular to try and establish if there’s an underground connection to other facilities,” she then proceeded to show pictures of the facility as well as the maps.

“There are approximately two hundred in the facility. Seventy-five of them are senior priests, of whom a third are political, one-third is responsible for the education of the clones, and the final third are senior technicians. The medical techs are responsible for the growth and education of the clones. The remainder of the group consist of general officer clones: senior military personnel both admirals and generals beginning with five-star generals and admirals along with their most senior staff. The lowest ranked people there are majors. They are the top management of a major military force. They are a very interesting group of clones. They are frighteningly intelligent, and are impressive individuals.

“The priests did a poor job on the propaganda aspects of the clone training. They borrowed all the training from the top military institutes but had to make up their own propaganda to persuade the clones to be loyal to them. It’s poor quality propaganda, and hardly convincing. Listening to the clones we can see they’re not loyal to the priests and they were not convinced by the propaganda they received. We know historically that clone loyalty is always an issue with the best of programs. This is one example of a failed loyalty program.

“The senior group of clones was activated five months ago. They have been very busy during that five months working on their own agendas while doing enough to be seen as doing the priests’ bidding.

“The more we listen to them, the more impressed we are with their abilities and how much they have learned so quickly. They don’t take anything at face value and have questioned everything they have been told.

“They have penetrated all the priests’ communications, and the connections to the information systems both to Nirvana and the Empire. They penetrated all the priests’ local systems and have been using them for their own purposes,” said Maj. Connie Ross.

“They do seem like a special group of people from what you describe, Connie. Do you’ve any ideas what they have found out about the priests?” Jason asked.

“They didn’t find anything to reassure them of the integrity of their future masters, and they dislike them personally.

“The clones researched their own backgrounds, and established from photographs exactly who they were. They are bitter and angry about the priests creating clones and automatically making them non-citizens, and second-class people with a short lifespan.

“They are replicas of some of the most outstanding soldiers and space crews of the Empire. That explains their outstanding intelligence and rapid grasp of the situation.”

“They have educated themselves on the history of the Empire and what has happened with clones previously. They pretend to be pleasant cooperative flunkies with the priests, and have maintained the pretense that they’re loyal soldiers of Papa Zora.

“Many of the clones, if not most or all of them, have strongly identified with their original selves. They were loyal and devoted citizens of the Empire. Their impression is that the priests are disloyal and immoral.

“The clones talk of planning to take over the arriving fleet. Their plans are well advanced. The priests have spun them a yarn about how terrible the Empire is and how important it’s to stick it to the Empire and they and the fleet will do it. That idea has gone over with them very badly. I’ve found it very interesting in that not only are the clones of such outstanding people, but at the same time they have accepted the values of those people who they were cloned from and identify with them and their families. From what I gather, none of the originals are alive. They have laboriously researched their histories and have tracked down family members and have read extensively about them.

“Their problem is that they don’t know what they want to do, once they have taken the fleet. They know that they want to frustrate the priests’ purposes and don’t want to be under their control, but are stuck trying to decide on a purpose for their existence, and what to do if they get away from the priests. They know that they’re non-people. They have come to regard their ancestors as their family. They are desperate to, at the very least, meet with their remaining families. They are like orphans determined to know about their origins and their history. They are angry, bitter, and resentful that they have such a short lifespan. They don’t want to be at the mercy of the priests, they don’t want to be trapped on the planet with few options. They have not linked the priests to the Mob. They also don’t know to whom this fleet belongs. They have explored possible occupational activities that they could undertake such as mercenaries or fighting pirates, but most of them feel that they want to be a part of the Empire, and they pine for a full normal life.

“If we contact them we’ll have to be careful and ideally give them a meaningful purpose beyond capturing the fleet. I can’t see that purpose yet, but I’ve some growing ideas. I’ll ask Captain George Brown to present our findings on the planetary defenses.”

Maj. Connie Ross waved Capt. George Brown to the front of the room.

Brown was a tall thin man with his hair cropped close to his head. He was very good-looking but like all the men he had seen so far, he looked pasty and frail.

“There are multiple levels of defense in the system which we can bypass with some effort. There are defensive missile stations in space above the planet. On the planet, there’s a second layer of missiles. The moon has a variety of plasma-based and missile defensive systems. There are local short-range missile and cannon defenses on the planet. We assume there are fighter defenses in hardened underground facilities.

“There’s a massive proliferation of stored vehicles, tanks, transport shuttles, artillery, and armories full of weapons in depots spread around the planet ready for use. There’s a lot of equipment needed for twenty-million mixed Army, Marine and Navy personnel. Fortunately, most of the clones have not been activated. The possible reasons for this are in two separate parts. They have ample supplies to be able to deal with the clones while their metabolic activity is low, but strangely enough they don’t have sufficient food stored to feed an army of twenty million for a period of longer than two weeks.

They would have to activate the clones in stages, give them a few days to get orientated, have them collect their equipment, give them a week to adapt and train and then ship them off. There are two visible significant garrisons with priests and their soldiers. They patrol the clone growing areas. They have twelve thousand troops. If they’re fanatical hardened troops they will be a challenge. In any attack, we’ll need to knock out as many of these troops as we can. We don’t know how many fighters and gunships they have for their own use. From an armament point of view, we have seen armored vehicles, some anti-shuttle small missiles and anti-air batteries and a few light tanks.

“From what we know historically, even though they propagandized and educated clones within their development system, they still need considerable orientation once they waken. Usually this was done over many months of intensive training and education. Many difficulties arose when this was not done properly and poor preparation produced a higher rate of rogue clones that became highly sensitive when they knew that they were created for war and had a short shelf life. Many of the rogue clones considered that they shouldn’t expend their life for their masters and ran amok killing all and sundry. I’m not sure how this operation has been managed but if one looks at what has happened with the top group it’s not looking good for the priests.

“In summary: there are many levels of defenses. It’ll take careful planning to bypass the defenses. It’s necessary to be very careful as there are likely to be hidden facilities on the surface and even cloaked facilities. We have all been mindful of the approaches taken by Jason and do consider that there’s an opportunity to take over the clones without destroying all twenty million of them and their aspirant priest controllers.

“I do believe that they need a purpose and a meaning if anyone is going to work with them. You do have an armed priest cadre in every clone generative facility. They are there to protect the scientists growing the clones. They are not the sophisticated fanatical and dangerous group of priest soldiers as are the political ones in the facility with the high ranked clones. There are three thousands of them, scattered in and around the facilities. Most of them stay in their smaller garrisons and very few of them patrol. Their garrisons are very vulnerable to space and air attack.” George Brown sat down.

Connie Ross stood to continue the discussion further.

“That ladies and gentlemen is the situation on the planet. I think we need to consider our options. I’ll hand over to Jason who has something to say.”

“From what I can see we have a number of choices. If I look at it the simplest level, there’s no impediment or direct risk to us if we simply continue with our task. I feel a sense of obligation to return to the Empire as soon as possible to try and help my great-grandfather. We have to ask the question of ourselves as to whether this is our fight. There’s no reason for us to get involved unless we choose to and we need to have very good reasons.

“We had no choice but to fight the Pirates and we would have exposed ourselves to risk, had we not taken out our opposition. Even so we have done a lot more than we were obliged to do or were compelled to do.

“Could we not simply send the information to the Emperor? I could easily try to communicate with him and discuss the issues. Similarly, Janet, you could communicate with your superiors in the Marines. With regard to this matter and the seriousness of the potential risks, and I’m sure that you could speak to whoever the supreme admiral may be. We have enough information to communicate very clearly to them what the issues may be. The military would have good reason to act and we have enough information to provide them to act against the Patriarch.

“On the other hand, we could undertake a first step which would be to capture the senior priest and officer group. If we do that we potentially expose ourselves to potentially an unwarranted level of risk.

“I’m concerned about us overextending your original brief which was to fetch me on behalf of the Empress and my great-grandfather. We have had to fight to get to this point. What are we trying to do now? Do we need to do more in this situation?”

“Connie, could you provide an intelligence perspective of the political situation with regard to the priests and any potential interventions that the Emperor and Empress might attempt to initiate?” Janet asked.

“Let me begin with what I think is likely. The Empress and Emperor are probably very concerned about the behavior of the Patriarch over time. We know that intelligence efforts to penetrate the inner circle have failed, which has not allowed action to be taken. The public would be highly sensitive to any action taken against the Patriarch as they see him and the priests as being independent from the royalty and the nobles. Most people respect the priests and the doctors. The history books are full of the great deeds that were done by the priests during wartime. Their public relations activities have been outstanding.

“The Emperor and the military would be very reserved about taking any action against a planet that’s not part of the Empire. We don’t know to whom the fleet belongs that’s en route here. We have looked at the status of reserve fleets and as far as we can tell they’re all in place, but we know from our own experience that information isn’t correct.

“We don’t have any proof about the origins of the clones. We know what we have heard.

“We are not at war with The Mob and the planet may in fact be a Mob planet. It would take some time for the Empire to establish the facts to their satisfaction and by then on balance of probabilities we would have twenty-million clones in charge of a substantial fleet. That could present a major threat. Even worse that fleet could be under the control of the priests.

“Both the military and the Emperor would have to act with extreme caution in dealing with the situation. They would have to verify what we are telling them before anything would be done. Let’s also assume that our favorite Patriarch has ensured that his intelligence services have infiltrated the military and perhaps even the palace, and can gather information with ease. As soon as we alert the Empire, whichever way we do it, the Patriarch will know and may act very much more quickly to set his plans in motion. I’m sure that the planet below us will be alerted and any opportunity that we would have for a sneaky ‘Jason special’ would disappear. What do you think, Janet and Phoebe?”

“If we contacted our superiors it would take a day or two to get through the system to speak to the first level of admiral,” said Phoebe. “By then I guarantee you that a lot of people will know what is going on. There’s a risk that the wrong intelligence service will hear about it and there’s a reasonable chance that the information will be leaked to the public.

“There’s less of a risk if you spoke to your uncle, Jason, but he has to act through others; and as soon as that happens, the advantage of surprise disappears out of the window.

“From what we know, Papa Zora has allied himself with The Mob. If they’re planning an attack on the Empire using the clones, which is the most likely scenario, informing the Empire now would have the highest chance of ensuring that the attack would occur before the Empire could react. I believe that the Empire in time will be grateful to us if we do the necessary clandestine cutting one of the heads off the snake. What do you think, Janet?”

“Phoebe, I agree with you about the most likely way the situation will evolve if we contact our superiors. Jason has very valid point. I’m sure that if I was in his position I’d be very concerned about my great grandfather. We are all responsible for the ship, we have fetched Jason, and now we are to take him to the Emperor and Empress.

“We know that the Empress deliberately provoked the Patriarch by taking away this ship, and alerting him to its mission. She set up a trap of some sort. Many of our superiors were involved in making sure that we were on board this ship.

“My thought is that the Patriarch is our target and the Patriarch has well and truly fallen into our trap. But I doubt that the Empire knows about the size and the scope of what Papa Zora was planning, nor of his alliance with The Mob.

“The Empire will come to appreciate the facts very much as we have. There’s a cost to the Empire, that’s as yet unquantified, of the delay that would occur if we would notify them. Twenty-million clones and a supporting fleet could do enormous damage to any planet that they would attack.

“It might be possible for us to act on behalf of the Empire, and save the Empire significant trouble. I think at the very least we should take a step in that direction,” Janet said as she thought about the options carefully. She then continued to speak.

“We can take the first facility with the senior military group and senior priests. We persuade the generals and the admirals to join us and give them a goal. What is the goal and what are we aiming at? We can’t take them to the Empire. What problem does it solve if we give them autonomy and is it our place or within our scope of action to give them autonomy? Does anyone have an idea?” She asked shrugging her shoulders and looking around the room. There was an uncomfortable silence. They looked at each other until finally after they all looked restless Jason spoke.

Jason stood up and said, “I do have a clear idea about what can be done. For all the reasons that I’ve expressed previously I’m reluctant to pursue it, but I’ve heard what you all have said. You all know the Empire’s systems well and I don’t doubt your word of how it would all go down. I desperately want to get to my grandfather to find out what the situation is, but I fear we have other work to do.

“We ... and when I say we, I mean that the clones and ourselves ... have a common foe: Papa Zora. We have come to learn and appreciate his innate corruption, and his crimes against the Empire. The clones don’t want to be part of his machinations. They still retain loyalty to the Empire. I’d like to tell them what I’ve discovered. I want to let them know about these priests and the extent of their dirty deeds. Then we’ll decide what we do. We have some clones with fine minds, we give them what we know and then decide if we can find an approach to deal with the Patriarch himself or if they want to go their own way.

“We can provide them with the options that we perceive in the current situation and we can offer them an opportunity to plan to do some serious damage to the Guild that has created them and the whole problem. They may decide that they don’t need us, but I suspect that they may well decide to work with us.

“I do think that we should attempt to capture the top echelon of clones and priests, and let’s bring the priests back here for interrogation and the clones for some discussions. Let’s destroy the planetary defenses including the garrisons. Let’s assume that this is a trap. Please make sure of the defenses around the central facility. Could they have detected our presence and are simply providing us the information that we’d like to hear?”

Connie stood up, “There’s no doubt that this is a critical facility, it needs to be taken and we’ll confirm in the next twelve hours the detailed defenses around this facility and will also undertake to ensure that all communications from the facility and the planet will be blocked at the time of our attack. We have sufficient assets on the ground to undertake this with efficiency and the last thing that we want to do is land everyone up in trouble.

Janet said, “We also need to discuss worst-case scenarios if the clones can’t be persuaded to join us what do we do?”

“As far as I’m concerned there’s only one satisfactory hook for the clones. I do believe that we have sufficient brainpower and intelligence between us and the clones to develop an attack on the Guild planet, and free the hostages and capture or kill Papa Zora.

“There’s also the rumor that Royal DNA can be the key to longevity in the clones. How that may work is something we have to find out. What I’m also going to say to the clones is that they need to test my DNA to see if I’ve an Imperial factor that will allow them to have a full life. We know that it’s probable that I have the DNA, as even the pod called me Lord Kargo when I first came on board. We know the answer, but we need to get them thinking about something that will give them a future.

“It’s important to give them hope. I expect the clones to be as paranoid as hell. That’s exactly how I’d be under the same circumstances and I still think that there’s a significant margin of risk. It’s for that reason that I propose that I go with the group to capture the most senior military people. “I’ll be happy to take any advice,” said Jason feeling quite exhausted after the day and this latest discussion.

“Jason, I agree with you. The Patriarch is the enemy of the Empire, and a traitor and criminal to boot. We do need to define him as the enemy to the clones to establish a common purpose. How we go about doing it I’m not sure. I also don’t like the idea of you going to the surface and putting yourself at risk. We don’t have sufficient forces to protect you for an extended period and we certainly can’t mount a planetary invasion.” Janet said.

“I’ve one of my premonitions and believe I’ll be essential to the success of the mission. I’m not keen on going to the surface, but I know I’m going to be needed to establish trust,” Jason said. “We have to try and make our little adventure to the surface as safe as is possible!”

“I do have a few suggestions about increasing our chances. We’ll destroy the moon and planetary defenses just before you head for the surface. The ship can commence a planetary bombardment on the garrisons and all known defensive positions. I want to get the numbers of the opposition down quickly. We’ll use fighters and gunships to defend your gunship and provide a powerful escort,” said Phoebe. “Janet we’ll need your Marines on the moon and to infiltrate the defensive platforms. Speed is going to be of the essence. We don’t know how many fighters they have to counter us, and we have limited numbers and too many injured pilots.”

“I’m sure that they have fighters and gunships. Set up a comprehensive air defense when you touch down. Set up anti-fighter/tank/gunship systems in depth around your position. I’ve interrogated the AI and the ships have ample short-range air and ground defensive emplacements available. Use as many as you can, we suspect you will need them. Your attack position needs to be planned in-depth,” said Winston.

Jason repeated what Winston told him telling them that the advice was from him. Malone and Harris agreed with the plan proposed by Winston. Janet dispatched forces to infiltrate the facilities on the moon, they had mines clustered around and attached to the space-based planetary defenses and would hit the surface garrisons and defenses facilities with heavy cannon and missiles.

They agreed to meet in twelve hours. Phoebe and Malone returned to their respective groups. At lunch Marie insisted on joining him in his stateroom insisting that he needed to relax and she would help him with that onerous task. She insisted while complaining that Jason had held out on her while he favored the military.

Jason went to medical to speak to one of the doctors. They were engaged on other tasks and suggested that he spoke to the AI using his pad.

He told the Medical AI that they were looking at capturing the priests and the senior clone group and wanted to know if the clones would be able to identify his royal genes using technology that they would have. The medical AI said that most units carried genetic identifiers to unequivocally identify whether they had rogue infiltrators. These were simple handheld devices but were very versatile and powerful and had prodigious reference databases. Jason was surprised the generals and admirals would have such a resource. The AI explained that it was a relatively simple and common tool, available to many officers and all military police.

Jason decided to do some exercise and test his arm. He first ran with the dogs before heading for the gym. He found he was stronger than usual. He sparred with the AI.

“Jason, you’ve done very well. You are faster than usual and once you master your crystals, you will be very hard to beat. Today I mimicked quite a lot of the style of Lucia Pablo. It would give me great pleasure to surprise her with your expertise,” said the Marine AI. Jason spent some time in the sauna to rest his weary bones. The naval officers of the ship’s crew, for the first time ever, initiated conversation and were friendly. Some apologized for their previous behavior. They were very complementary of his tactical skills.

Jason attended to his ablutions, dressed in fresh clothing, and had a long discussion with Robert and Marie in the kitchen about dinner. He wanted to ask the officers he knew for dinner and to relax prior to what he was sure was going to be a busy and frenetic next few days. They all accepted his invitation and he went up to the bridge to look at the weapons holograms and see how progress was going. He noted the positions of fighters scanning nearby systems, and followed the equipping of the asteroids. He was most interested in seeing the evolving progress of the mines. They had been constructed and developed remarkably quickly, and were now in close to the ships and were apparently undetected. They were moving relatively slowly. On sensor screens they would have been likely to be invisible, but if visible their action would have been much like one would expect from small asteroids. To active scans they would have appeared as fairly metallic asteroids.

He began to think about the clone planet and the possible challenges that they would face. He realized that first they had to gain control of the clones and he had a few ideas that he would like to pursue, regarding that. He went back to his cabin to lie down for an hour before dinner. He picked up an apple from the canteen on his way back to his stateroom. As he lay down he heard the voice of Winston.

In the gym, the Marines relaxed after their recent efforts. They were effusive, friendly, and continuously joked with each other. Jason had his leg pulled over not having a rank, and they suggested that he be promoted to a coincidental cadet-sub-private. They joked that it was below an apprentice soldier. She suggested it was a rank given to a person who was thinking about joining the military but couldn’t make up their mind, but somehow found they had signed on as they had signed the documents while allegedly asleep. Someone else suggested that the dogs could be colonels as they were as frightening as the colonel in full flight and clearly were in charge of Jason. In a mocking patronizing tone they emphasized it took sixteen years to become a full-fledged marine, but thought Jason could get there in twenty years with some coaching.

Jason let his arms hang down and said he would rather be a sub-primate in his own army of apes from Earth. He could qualify there as a private in four years and carry his own stick. They all copied him going ‘Hoo.. Hoo’ and then offered to join his army and would hold on to his stick for him. A couple of very attractive young ladies even offered to help him with his ‘stick,’ before they joined his army.

He enjoyed the camaraderie and the casual way they related to him and they all laughed together. They teased each other as much as they teased him and he detected no malice. He noticed that their personalities were pleasant with none of the abrasive and abusive people that he had met so often in the army.

Jason joined Staff Sergeant Lucia Pablo and her group doing a free weight training routine. Jason performed well and very much surprised the group of women, who were used to frail men. Most of the men were in their own group and had a lighter regime.

Sergeant Pablo suggested that they sparred in pairs. Jason was paired with Sergeant Arnold who he had met in the sauna and with whom he had an almost intimate acquaintance. He discovered that like Pablo he could readily anticipate Arnold’s moves and she couldn’t lay a hand on him.

He changed over to pair with Lucia. She said she now wanted to evaluate what he had learned from their session and then she would see what he could do with his crystals.

“Jason now you are going to see something that’s going to surprise you. Your crystals are still integrating themselves with you, but your previous skills grow fastest. You are going to have a special experience!” Winston communicated with him.

Jason found that he could anticipate Sgt. Lucia Pablo’s, every move, even when she did her time distortion, he could follow along with her and wiped the mat with her. She tried to attack him unexpectedly. He felt the urge to kill the impudent woman and he struck at her and just managed to stop when he touched her neck. He was shocked at his own actions, giving her an opportunity to throw him. He suspended her, inverted, in the air, and tickled her under her chin from below, before unceremoniously dumping her on the mat. He noticed that the entire gym was watching them apparently holding their breaths. Pablo stood in front of him hands on her hips and then grinned broadly.

“That Jason was remarkable despite that one very fast scary strike you pulled at the last millisecond. I now want to see what you can do with a panel,” she brought out a wooden board and put it in front of Jason. “Destroy it,” she said, “any way you like.” He thought he would try the pushing technique and pushed. The thick metal pole suspending the panel broke and the panel shattered in half splitting lengthwise. Jason decided on the coup de grace. He projected fire towards the panel pieces split but hanging in two parts on the pole. Fire emerged from his hand as a series of balls exploding against the panel pieces shattering them and the pole behind them and then continued across the room with people diving left and right out of their path until the balls exploded against the metal wall.

“Holy Krevil of the priests of Ong,” said Lucia.

“Holy shit,” replied Jason, “that was absolutely awesome but what a blast.”

His ears were still ringing from the detonation of the fireballs.

“It’s true, Jason! As Janet said, you do have a pair of hot balls!” The whole room laughed uproariously. Lucia stood in front of Jason and said, “That’s an amazing crystal power, I’ve never seen anything like it!” She looked at him closely and continued, “If I’m not mistaken you are looking bigger and heavier and I certainly noticed a huge increase in speed and power since our last session. Impressive, young man, we can make something of you over the next twenty or so years!” Lucia remarked and laughed. Jason stood looking ape like and winked at the group he had been chatting to. “Hoo, Hoo?” Jason remarked.

“Hoo, Hoo,” they replied, and then they all laughed uproariously to be joined by many in the gym.

“We’ll wait for everyone to finish and then see what else you can do without putting everyone else’s lives at risk,” Lucia said, giggling loudly. “Let’s do some more testing of you sparring against more than one enemy.”

They tried pairs, triplets and quadruplets fighting him simultaneously, but he was too fast, too strong, and too dangerous. He threw one person at another, dodged punches from the person behind him and showed his rapid lethal punches, pulling them at the last microsecond. He anticipated everything heading for him even behind him with the same ease.

“That’s it people. Head off for the sauna and spa for recovery and I’ll see you later. For those involved in the attack, best of luck!”

Jason remained behind with Pablo who put up a square of metal, made of armor plate, which she said should be able to withstand any amount of punishment that he could deliver. They discovered that he could crush it at a distance. All he needed to do was to imagine a huge fist crushing it. He could move like he was teleported across the room in any direction and even move through the wall into the next room. Not only could he project heat but he could project cold and could send an ice spike to shatter against the crumpled plate. After this Pablo said she was sure that there would be other things that he would discover, and that these were the most far out examples of the kinds of crystal skills that she had ever seen. She also told him that most people were exhausted after exercising two to three powers, and she was very impressed that he could continue apparently indefinitely without any sign of fatigue. He didn’t tell her that he was beginning to sense surface thoughts, and that he had an idea what people were thinking at some distance, if he’d had some prior association with them.

“Jason, you have gained a considerable number of powers from the crystals. Do not try and practice too many at the same time as it’ll only slow you down. The quick hop is hugely helpful both in attack and in escape. I’ll ensure that you get training on the other skills in time. Many people take a lifetime to acquire skills, but you’ve a magnificent gift of advanced mature skills ripe for training,” said Lucia.

Winston appeared in his mind ... again sitting in his study, with a pipe, puffing smoke circles.

“The fireball is your most lethal weapon from what I’ve seen; practice that. The tele-jump as it’s formally called is useful for all sorts of purposes. You need to learn how to use it efficiently. You can use it over long distances. Be careful that you don’t move yourself into another person, or a wall. It’s a skill that’s rare in most species except us, the Una. Later I’ll try and arrange tuition for you to master all your skills. The capacity to crush things is very uncommon, and can also be useful. Too big a repertoire can lead to indecision,” said Winston.

Sgt. Lucia suggested that they adjourn to the showers, and then relax for a few minutes before moving on to the next series of meetings. She teased him about avoiding her, then directly afterwards for getting involved with ‘the officers’. Jason laughed, kissed Lucia passionately, and promised to make up for his dereliction of responsibility later. He promised equal time to all ranks.

“I’m battling to overcome my Earth based morality and learning to adapt to the Empire. If I do something, and it feels great, then I feel guilt. I know it’s irrational, but I’m doing my best. The trouble is, there’s so much going on I hardly have any time to think.”