Cowboys and Aliens Ch. 16

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Mark, Maren and Gyges had left a while ago, and the others were starting to get worried.

Angela said there was a royal shuttle here at the palace and that she could pilot it, if they wanted to go out there?

The group agreed and walked off towards the dormant shuttle, on the edge of the landing area, eager to join Mark and the others in catching the bastard. Elisha, Gerald and the three girls even asked if they could come along.

Just as they were about to lift off, Cricket contacted Solara, now that they all had the wrist devices that come with being a citizen, "There's been an incident at the crater island, come immediately and bring a construx!"

Solara took off at a run to go fetch a construx from her room. Everybody was now very worried and as soon as Solara was back on board, they lifted off.

As soon as they were airborne, Cricket informed them, "The Prince blew up the cave with Mark, Gyges, four security personnel and even three of his own people in it! Mark and Gyges are still alive, but they are buried under the rubble. Maren is also still alive, but her vitals are barely registering, she was stabbed and pushed off the edge of a cliff."

There was a collective gasp among everyone as they approached the island. The cloud of dust was still lazily floating away. There was no sign of Maren's shuttle as they landed beside the larger security shuttle. They hastily exited the shuttle and scrambled down the steep path leading to the cave, as Angela went into the security shuttle and grabbed a stabilizer disk.

Near the entrance to the cave, they found Maren unresponsive and covered in blood with her arm and leg bent at an unnatural angle. Liyana started crying as Rayven rushed to Maren's body checking for signs of life.

Rayven said, "She needs a medibed now, but we can't move her!"

Angela then reached them and handed Liyana the stabilizer disk. Liyana recognized the device immediately, as she grabbed the square device, about the size of a coaster, placed it on Maren's stomach and pushed the button in the middle. The device glowed blue and after a few seconds, Maren rose about 1 metre into the air, held motionless in a stasis field, where clothes could be cut off and removed, if necessary, and it made transporting the injured safer and easier.

Liyana and Angela guided Maren's floating body up the steep trail, cut off her clothes, and placed her in the medibed. They then paralyzed her, so they could reposition her limbs to a more natural position without causing more pain. They closed the medibed and started it up, both of them staring at the medibed with tears in their eyes waiting for a recovery time to appear on the display.

Meanwhile, Solara had just realized that she had grabbed the construx, but not her data pad and she didn't know how to program it with her wrist device yet. The girls were moving rocks, but for every rock they moved, more just caved in.

Cricket appeared as a hologram on Solara's wrist, "Stop! Dig a hole and bury the construx, so I have a base to start from. The deeper, the better, as I'm going to build a tunnel to Gyges and Mark, who both appear to be lying horizontally on the floor."

The girls started digging a hole, it was tough going and they could only go down a few centimetres before they hit solid rock, so Solara put the construx in the hole and within a few seconds, the rocks started turning black and a tube about 2 metres in diameter formed and started to slowly work its way deeper and deeper into the collapsed cave.

After a few minutes, the tunnel stopped and Solara started removing the loose rocks. Soon Gyges was able to push his way out of the rubble and into the tunnel. He and Solara then exited the tunnel so Cricket could continue. 15 minutes later, Mark walked out of the tunnel and into the arms of the women... all of them covered in dust and debris.

The girls told Mark about the Prince stabbing Maren and then throwing her off a cliff, but they reassured him that she was alive, and that Rayven had her in a medibed.

Mark asked, "Cricket, do you know where that shuttle went?"

You could almost hear the happiness in Cricket's voice, "Yes, it went to a nearby city, then left a few minutes ago and is just about to land in an orbiting cargo ship, called the Phalynx."

Mark asked, "Cricket, how do I contact the person in charge of the Phalynx?"

"You just ask!" she said with an air of smugness.

A second later, a woman's head popped up in the hologram and she looked shocked, "My King! The Prince just contacted me. He said you were dead and that he had been reinstated!"

Mark laughed, "That bastard lies! He has tried to kill me twice now. I'm still here, but this time he also tried to kill one of my friends, and that I will not allow, there is now a bounty of 1 million credits on the bastard... dead or alive and 250 thousand credits for any of his accomplices... alive!"

The captain swallowed hard then asked, "What do you want me to do, sir?"

Mark smiled, "Let him land and then detain him. I will be up there in a few minutes to deal with him."

The captain replied, "Of course, sir!" as the call was ended.

Once Mark calmed down, they went up the path to the two shuttles and checked on Maren, who still did not have a recovery time on her medibed. Mark informed everyone that the bastard had just left the planet and was approaching a ship and that he had contacted the ship and told them to detain him.

Just then everyone let out a collective sigh, as a time appeared on the medibed, estimating Maren's recovery to be just shy of 3 hours.

Mark smiled, "So we have a few hours until Maren recovers... Anyone want to fly up to a cargo ship and nab the bastard?"

"Definitely!" they all said in unison, as Angela asked, "What ship was detaining the bastard?"

Mark answered, "The Phalynx."

Angela's eyes went wide, "The Phalynx?"

Mark replied with concern, "Yeah, why?"

Angela explained, "That's the ship the Prince always goes to, it's run by his friends! Now that we know he's been selling tech to other world, I would imagine that's probably his smuggling ship. If he wasn't worried about losing billions of credits, I'd bet that ship is loaded with tech he plans to sell."

Mark was angry now, "Fuck! Is there anyway we can contact all ships in the fleet and put out an APB on that transport?"

Angela was confused, "What's an APB?"

Mark apologized, "Sorry it's an Earth term that means, tell every ship to be on the lookout for the Phalynx."

Liyana said, "Ahhh, we call those FWB's which stands for Fleet Wide Broadcast! What does APB stand for?"

Mark answered, "All-Points Bulletin, but your acronym is better! Put me in touch with General Marsbe please."

A few seconds later General Marsbe's hologram appeared, "My King, twice in one day, we really should get together some time! What may I do for you?"

Mark said, "The Prince has just made another attempt on my life, just about killed one of my friends and did succeed in killing four security personnel and even three of his own men. He has stolen our shuttle and he is headed for a ship called the Phalynx."

The General looked at a display on his desk and then with a worried look, "My King, that ship just left a few seconds ago."

Mark said, "Can you issue an FWB for that ship? He knows that I survived this latest attempt, so he knows he won't be safe on a federated planet, so I suspect he will head for a non-federated planet like Virgohn, Hytros or Earth. He is in a cargo ship, those ships you've redirected there would beat a cargo ship correct?"

The General replied, "Easily, they are more than twice the speed of a cargo ship!"

Mark looked serious,"With the exclusion of those three planets, are there any other non-federated planets that we know of?"

The General said, "Besides Rylen IV, the only other planets I know of are Cantara and Braga, and before you ask, we have no ship even close to them, but I will send Destroyers that direction after issuing the FWB. What are the orders if a ship finds the Phalynx?"

Mark explained, "That ship is loaded with technology that the bastard plans to sell. It's run by his friends, who are now accomplices to his crimes. The orders are surrender or be destroyed. I also want to offer a bounty of one million credits on the Prince, dead or alive, and 250 thousand credits on any accomplices, alive."

"It will be done! Anything else sir?"

"Please dispatch someone to the crater island to pick up the seven casualties of the cave explosion, we've recovered the bodies and have transported them up to the grassy clearing on top."

"I've already dispatched a crew, they'll be there in a couple of minutes. Is there anything else?"

"Yeah, I think you and I should sit down and talk for a bit. Let us go clean up and then we'll come for a visit. Where are you located?"

The General laughed, "My daughter is with you, she can get you here. I'll see you soon!" as the call ended.

Mark flew the securivac back to the palace, with Maren, Liyana and Rayven on board. Angela flew everyone else back on the other shuttle. Everyone hopped in the showers and got themselves cleaned up and some fresh clothes.

Sensing this meeting was really not for everyone, the only people going were Angela, Mark, Liyana, Annabelle, Rayven, Elisha and Gerald. Everyone else said they would rather stay at the palace and relax.

Angela was familiar with the route and soon had them nearing the space station, which actually looked like a small white moon about 1km in diameter, with a wide blue band around the middle, that constantly had shuttles coming and going. Mark resisted the urge to say it, but Annabelle didn't as she said, "That's not a moon, it's a space station!"

Everyone from Earth laughed, so Mark had to explain the reference to the Earth movie 'Star Wars'.

As everyone was staring out the windows at the immense station, Liyana was explaining how the system works.

Orbiting Atlanterra is four stations surrounding the planet. Each security station is manned by roughly 5,000 personnel handling medical, security and rescue emergencies. Should an emergency occur, emergency personnel are dispatched via medivac, securivac or rescuvac shuttles.

They all looked like a standard shuttle, except they were slightly larger and were different colours. The interior of each shuttle was quite different though. Medivacs were red and had two medibeds in the back. Securivacs were blue and had a medibed on one side and five jump seats down the other side. Rescuvacs were yellow and had 2 jump seats on each side and all sorts of rescue equipment in overhead compartments and storage lockers, they also had a port that could open in the floor and an overhead winch that could be used for deploying personnel and equipment or for lifting someone to safety.

By the time Liyana finished explaining how emergency response worked, they were approaching a landing bay in the blue band of the station.

General Marsbe and two other senior officials were waiting when they exited the shuttle.

Angela took the liberty to introduce everyone, "General Marsbe, General Tobias and General Asker, this is our King, Mark Phoenix and with him is Liyana, Rayven, Annabelle, Elisha and Gerald," as everyone bowed and shook hands.

Liyana recognized that the meeting should probably just be Mark and maybe Angela, so she suggested that she take everyone not required for the meeting, on a tour of the security station. Angela went with them.

General Marsbe invited Mark to one of their boardroom for the meeting. They walked down a long wide corridor towards the centre of the station, where they hopped in a hover elevator that took them up to the top floor. The top floor of the station had 4 large rooms and the central reception area where the elevator was.

Each door was a different colour, so you knew who's office was whose. Blue door was security, which was General Marsbe. Red door was medical, which was General Tobias. Yellow door was search and rescue, which was General Asker. The remaining white door led into the boardroom, which had a drink dispenser just inside the door.

Once everyone got themselves a cup of coffee, tea or water, they all sat down and Mark started off the meeting by saying, "Thank you for meeting with me, Generals."

The generals laughed as General Marsbe said, "The pleasure is ours, my King, and you don't need to refer to us by General, my name is Kaleb, this is Brad Tobias and this is Mason Asker."

Kaleb asked, "What would you like to discuss?"

Mark acknowledged, "Short of what Liyana said on the way here, I really don't know anything! So let's start with telling me what you do, what issues you deal with on a regular basis and then tell me about things you'd like to change."

The generals looked shocked, as Brad asked, "You want US to tell YOU what we'd like to change?"

Mark said, "Well yeah, you are my advisers aren't you? I don't know what you guys deal with or where your contentions are, and I'm sure you've all got ideas for improving your trouble spots... So let's hear them!"

Brad spoke first, "I oversee our various medical services and programs, staffing, training, discipline as well as research and development."

Mark nodded, "I take it you have department heads for each of those groups that then report to you?"

Brad answered, "Yes sir."

Mark said, "So tell me what your contentions are, and how you think things could be improved?"

Brad thought for a second, "I'd have to say my biggest contention is the fact that we've had our budget gradually reduced year after year, so much so, that our research and development is almost non-existent. Otherwise staffing and equipment has been growing in line with the population."

Mason then spoke, "I oversee search and rescue, fire and pretty much everything that doesn't fall in one of the other two categories. My concerns are pretty much exactly the same as what Brad just said, we have almost no research and development, but have been growing in line with population."

Mark said, "Well come up with some numbers for me and I'll see what I can do, I'm sure I have to pass things by a budget committee or the senate, but know this, research and development is what gives us an advantage over other civilizations, without that... they will eventually catch up."

Brad and Mason then excused themselves, to leave Mark and Kaleb to talk security. Kaleb suggested moving the meeting to his office, so they got up and went to Kaleb's office, where Kaleb went to his bar and offered Mark a drink. They both poured themselves some whiskey and sat down at two comfy chairs with a small table between them, looking out at the planet below.

Mark smiled at Kaleb, "Same questions to you, contentions and improvements?"

Kaleb smiled, "I like you... there's no beating around the bush. My biggest contention is similar to Brad and Mason's, our research budget has been pretty much taken away, so we've been in a holding pattern for close to a century, otherwise we've been growing to match population."

"Well," said Mark, "come up with a number and get it to me so I can talk to who I have to get it approved! Anything else?"

Kaleb was very tentative and looked like he was about to say no, but instead, "My other contention is something none of the previous monarchs have supported and some have even laughed at me, but I have a feeling you are different.

As much as I would like to believe that we are the most advanced civilization, it's impossible to know and I feel we are exposed."

Mark just nodded, "Elaborate."

"You've seen the Rylen IV video haven't you?" Mark nodded yes, so Kaleb continued, "The cyborgs are one of the space-faring species we have encountered, and so far they are the worst, but they are not the only ones we have encountered. The Federation has 11 planets and we have 6 ships!"

Mark was astonished, "That's it? Six ships! What types?"

Kaleb raised his eyebrows and laughed, "Two Battlestars and four Destroyers."

Mark was absolutely floored, "I figured we would have at least one ship per planet, so we can protect them. So what are their current assignments?"

Kaleb explained, "Both Battlestars are in orbit here. We have one Destroyer on the way to Hytros, one on the way to Virgohn, one on the way to Cantara and one on the way to Braga."

Mark said, "I know Battlestars have about 250 personnel on them, how many on Destroyers?"

Kaleb answered, "25 personnel with two shuttles, they're only about 100 metres long and a third of that is engines."

Mark then asked, "Is that all the ships? No transports? Cargos? R&D ships? Anything?"

Kaleb shook his head no and said, "Cargo and transport ships are all private enterprises, public transportation is government, but fall under infrastructure and I don't know what you mean by an R&D ship?"

Mark said, "Research and Development, don't we have any ships out there looking for other life forms and livable planets?"

Kaleb then realized what Mark was talking about, "That used to be the job of our Destroyers, their weapons are hidden beneath their hull so they look peaceful, but they haven't been used like that in more than a few centuries, certainly long before my time in this position."

Mark stated, "Well, that's going to change? Obviously, a Battlestar must have better weapons and armour?"

Kaleb said, "Not really! They're both made from the special Mazjik material and as far as ship-based weapons they both have a TRD, pulse cannons and laser turrets. The reason why a Battlestar is so big is because it has 200 fighters, that are also armed with pulse cannons and lasers. Oh and the battle stars do have a singularity driver!"

Mark then realized, "Ahhh, in Earth terms, a Battlestar is more like an aircraft carrier than a battleship, like I was thinking! What's a singularity driver?"

Kaleb answered, "We've personally never had to fire one before and we only have 1 shell in each barrel of both Battlestars, but from what I have read they are highly accelerated shells that contain some special technology, that upon impact creates a small pocket of super gravity, like a black hole, that will crush and destabilize everything around it for several hundred metres and then dissipates after a few minutes in an outward explosion."

"Kaleb," Mark said with a cringe, "by having only 6 warships, if the bad guys do find one of our planets, will we be able to detect them in time to be able reach and defend the planet?"

Kaleb shook his head no and looked solemn, "No, we wouldn't be able to defend them, all they would have for defence are the security stations as each planet should have at least one of them. The security stations are more or less orbital versions of what you call a Zeppelin on Earth."

"I've seen the Rylen IV video, can a security station take out one of their ships?"

"Possibly, they do have sub-light engines, but they aren't maneuverable like a ship is! They also have TRDs, laser turrets and pulse cannons, so I guess a lot would depend on who fires first. Unless they have made modifications, but so far they've only used basic ship based laser weapons against us, no fighters or anything."

Mark was curious, "You said they weren't the only space-faring civilizations we have encountered? What do we know about the others?"

"Almost nothing to be honest! One of our Destroyers ran into some guys that called themselves 'The Alliance' about 150 years ago, we followed them for a while until they met up with some friends. Once they had the numbers advantage, they made contact with us, we found out their name and they found out ours, but we didn't give them much information and they didn't give us much information. Their ships looked like they had weapons and we don't know where their home world is, but when talking to them, they asked if we were from 'The Empire'. We've never encountered anyone calling themselves 'The Empire', but that would tell me there's at least 3 other civilizations out there besides us."