Chapter 18: On the Way

Jason, followed by the two groups, walked into Command Central on his battleship and smiled broadly. He walked to Andrea first who he kissed passionately, picked her up and twirled her around as she laughed. He then held her tightly and after a few moments turned to Linda and did the same. He held both by the waist and turned to his grinning friends and reintroduced both groups to Adm. Andrea Phillips and Gen. Linda Andrews.

“I am delighted to see both of you, how are you doing and what have you been up to for this last month?” Jason asked them both.

“We were in charge of the assaults on two large shipyards. They were separated by nearly half a galaxy. We did the detailed planning with Celia and Felicia who led the assault on one of them while we led the assault on the other. They were the biggest shipyards I have ever seen. We aimed to take possession of every possible piece of equipment we could and seized four very large ships close to completion, and twelve others in various stages of completion. We used Porquenta AIs and drones to prepare the bases for moving and tugs to take the ships back. Rover has given us our own dogs for these operations. They performed excellently. We are towing the shipyards to Mars.

“Jason, you are going to become a father beginning in a week. The number of children will grow rapidly. Linda’s and my babies are not due for a month, but soon you’re going to need a bigger nursery. Philippa can’t be a long way from being due either, perhaps two months’ time?” Linda said raising her eyebrows and wiggling them while smiling. Jason saw both groups grinning and giggling. Linda turned to speak to the two groups. “Do you know how many children Jason will have in the next month?” Linda asked.

“A hundred?” Julia guessed knitting her brow, pushing her tongue out to the side of her mouth then rolling her eyes and looking at the ceiling. She moved her index finger as she spoke. “By my estimate the mothers will be the senior officers from the ship and that chef woman who was besotted with Jason, Marie was her name and then the senior military from Porquenta and Mars. Cassius talked about his profligate ways.” She turned her eyes back to the ceiling. Razza and Trackrof giggled.

“Dream on sweetheart he’s much more prolific than you realize. Can you believe that he got it on with nearly 30 Million women? He was a very busy person. He had a lot of time on the ships and he went through one woman after the other nearly all day.” Linda lectured then giggled. “He was so tired he barely had any time for us,” said Linda wiping her brow.

“Cassius told me the story of Jason adopting the clones as his family and impregnating millions of them. Alana was very helpful in providing the intelligence information so that I could be fully informed,” said Razza tearfully. She wiped her eyes with the back of her wrist. “She wanted to warn me about his dissipated ways.”

Julia put her hand on Razza’s shoulder and squeezed it gently.

“Razza I’m terribly sorry to hear about your terrible injury,” said Andrea compassionately.

Razza burst into tears. Jason put his arm around her and patted her cheek. Jason saw both of the groups were shuffling uncomfortably unsure of what was going on. Andrea and Linda looked at him quizzically. After a few moments Razza stopped sobbing. She wiped her cheek and then looked at Andrea.

“Unfortunately, I was pregnant at the time I was shot. The doctor said I went into shock before Jason had time to put me into stasis and the baby died. It was not recoverable from my old body, it was too late. Fortunately, I am fertile in this new body and I hope to have many children in the future!” Razza said tentatively. “You guys just need to make sure you cover our backs.”

Gen. Janet Malone entered the room, saw Jason and smiled. She ran to him, kissed him deeply and then hugged him. “I am so happy to see you, Jason. You are going to be a father soon after this operation is over; it will only be a week or two. I think I will be the first, though it could be Phoebe, the bitch! She is looking forward to seeing you,” said Janet.

“I will be looking after you on the ground; no father of my child will get hurt if I can help it. I will command one of the armies performing a ground assault. Razza, Linda has arranged with your father to hide a small army of ours amongst his supporters. They will precede your landing by a few hours,” Janet said just before Razza burst into tears again.

“I am so sorry Razza,” Janet said. “I am thankful you saved Jason but I am so sorry about the baby. I waited for thousands of years to have a baby and I am so joyful to have one at last. I am sorry for your loss and pain.”

The women clustered around Razza comforting her and then moved to congratulate Linda, Andrea and Janet.

“Where is Phoebe?” Jason asked.

“She is making sure our new fighters are all working to her satisfaction. She is similarly motivated to keep you alive. We have the new Porquenta Mark II fighter, designed by Porquenta and the best designers in the Collective and both Empires but without Dinosaur, Orc and Warrior input. Mark III is six months away and moving fast and will use a lot of the advanced ideas of the ancients,” said Janet. “It has taken Porquenta longer than he expected to learn to integrate disparate technologies. The scientists and engineers have taken time to learn to work with each other.”

“Ok! People, we are going to give you a briefing. I am going to give you some idea about the plans ahead so that you will know what is going on in space and on the surface. The intelligence people here have kept us briefed as they learn more of the evolving scenario on the ground. Settle down in your chairs and we will begin,” said Andrea.

“The Collective know that the Coven expects the Emperor to escape in a fleet of his own which they believe will appear above the planet. They know he’s aware that they are going to attack and kill the family. We have captured many Coven vessels and are going to use them as bait to draw the Coven fleet that is intending to wipe them out. The Coven will attack them with a big fleet. We wish to take no risks with Jason and we have mobilized two fleets to destroy the Coven fleet and their reserves. Our own Cockroach fleet has been updated to the latest technology. We improved the shields and added some additional weapons we know are effective against the Coven ships. The Collective have provided a fleet the size of our own which will accompany us. The Una have provided several vessels. We want to be sure that we can counter the Coven in space. The dogs and boars are ready for the space and ground battles. Aylot with several boars and Rover with a team of dogs will join Jason on the ground. Linda will explain the next phase. Linda please go ahead,” said Andrea before sitting down at the table with her hands clasped.