Cowboys and Aliens Ch. 26

New Discoveries

Mark woke up early as usual, but today seemed a bit off for some reason. He extracted himself out of the bed, leaving Rayven sleeping peacefully, visited the washroom and then made his way to his office. That's when he noticed it was only 5:00... he was up earlier than normal!

Once he had his coffee in hand, Cricket said, "I may have found where Sebastian went, I've detected the sensor beacon we had sent with the Lorant, but I don't detect the Lorant or the Phalynx."

"Is it one of the space-faring races we know about?"

"The ships don't match anything in our database and they appear to have pretty simple space faring ships, so I would say it is possibly one of the species we've encountered before, but I'm not sure. I am currently monitoring their space for signs of faster than light travel as that's a big indicator as to their technological capabilities."

"Any other habitable planets in that system?"

"None that I've detected so far!"

"Keep monitoring them for a while and continue to drop beacons in their space, I'd like to know as much about them as possible before we make contact. It goes without saying that, if you locate Sebastian, notify me immediately!"

Mark then thought for a second, "Just out of curiosity, if we were to go there, how long would it take?"

"From Atlanterra it would take about 10 days, from Earth about 12 days and that's with our updated star charts and monitoring. I won't be able to detect Sebastian though, even if he was there, the sensor system wasn't designed to do that, I can detect the beacon we sent with the Lorant and I can detect items in space, and I can see the overall planet, but I can't scan the surface of the planet."

"Just curious, but which Federation planet is closest to their space?"

"It's a moon, but that would be Marnot. It's a sparsely populated jungle moon about 3 light days from that planet."

"We have a Destroyer around Marnot right?"

"Yes, just one as per your initial suggestion."

Mark looked at all the clocks on the wall to the left of his desk. He had one clock for the senate chamber time zone for every planet. Seeing it was afternoon on Atlanterra, he called General Marsbe.

Just as the General's hologram appeared, Mark started speaking, "Kaleb, how are you today my friend?"

"I'm doing well, my King, how are you today? It's awfully early to be up for you isn't it? It's only about 5:00 there isn't it?"

"It is! But there's no rest for a king."

"So, what can I do for you today?"

"I'm not sure if you are aware or not, but we've just located another habitable planet and they are space faring. Possibly one of the ones we've encountered before."

The General was surprised, "Really?" as Mark heard a notification sound on Kaleb's computer as he laughed, "You work fast, I just got the notice."

"What can I say? I am in tune with the universe!"

"That you are sir! That you are! So are you wanting to send an ambassador on a diplomatic mission?"

"Eventually yes, but we've detected the beacon we sent with the Lorant, so that may be where the bastard went. So right now, I'm thinking of sending a couple of Destroyers that way, fully cloaked, to just monitor their planet from a distance and do some scans to see if we can locate Sebastian, the Phalynx, the Lorant or any of the crew. Maybe eventually sneak in to their orbit, but let's start from a distance and see if we get any reactions."

"My report does not mention anything, other than a planet was found. Did you want to send the one from Marnot? It's fairly close."

"I thought of that too, but I really hate the idea of leaving any planet undefended. I can't see a few extra days without direct surveillance being an issue, so just send two from Atlanterra."

"I'll send them right away, that allows us to keep all of the Destroyers busy with the month on, month off schedules."

"I'm good with that! We can always redeploy them later, if we have to, and we're not using the shipyards for anything other than more seeding ships. So we can make more, or other, ships quickly if we have to."

"We are in a good position thanks to you! Was there anything else you needed sir?"

"That is all. Thanks Kaleb." Mark said as they ended the call.

Satisfied that they would soon have more information about this new planet and that they had active monitoring of that region of space, Mark went outside and walked around to an east facing balcony to watch the rising sun.

Rayven soon approached Mark with a cup of tea in her hand and gave him a good morning kiss as they leaned against the wall. Together they watched the city wake up.

Mark informed her about the new planet that was discovered and that it may be where the bastard fled to.

She asked, "Are you leaving?"

He said, "Maybe, but not for a few weeks as it's going to take 10 days of light drive for the Destroyers from Atlanterra to reach the planet. So, for the time being, they are going to monitor the planet from a distance, before we make contact."

Cricket then spoke to Mark, "I'm fairly positive that's where Sebastian went now. I still can't detect the Phalynx or the Lorant, but six of their ships just jumped into light drive and, based on exit trajectory, they could be headed toward Atlanterra!"

"Any idea on an ETA?"

"None yet, based on their technology I highly doubt they would be able to make Atlanterra in one jump without stopping."

"Keep me posted if they drop out of light drive, based on time, distance and trajectory we should be able to get a better timeline."

Mark pondered aloud, "Hmmmm, six ships!"

Rayven asked, "What is six ships?"

Mark explained, "That new planet we just discovered, we just detected six ships on a potential path toward Atlanterra. We'll have to see where their next jumps take them, but I have a hunch..."

Rayven sounded worried, "You think they might attack?"

Mark said, "Well... the bastard has a grudge... he thinks I'm illegitimate and that I don't know anything... and if he thinks we're still with only six ships, which is all we've had for centuries... the numbers add up and tell me we should play defence and be cautious."

Rayven then hugged him and gave him a kiss, "I'm so glad you are our leader, the way your mind works just makes me swoon when I think of your mental capacity. You think in so many dimensions, it just baffles me."

Mark just hugged her back, "I have to protect billions of citizens, I can't afford to think in one dimension."

Rayven just hugged him, "Exactly! You are in charge of several billion citizens and you're still a grounded practical guy. I love you so much!"

As they kissed, Rayven freed Mark's rapidly hardening cock from its confines and guided it under her night shirt as she turned around and resumed leaning on the balcony railing. Mark slid into her already wet pussy and they slowly fucked as they went back to watching the city wake up.

After a few minutes of slowly tender fucking, Marta and Laruun came out to the balcony with their morning beverages.

At first they didn't even realize Mark and Rayven were fucking, until Laruun noticed Rayven's cock was hard and sticking straight out. Laruun pointed it out to Marta, who suppressed her giggle as Laruun motioned her back with a nod of her head.

The two cat girls laid back on the lounge chairs and spread their legs wide and used their fingers to spread their pussy lips apart. Laruun then said, "Would you two like some wet pussies for your cocks to cum in?"

Rayven and Mark glanced behind them as they hadn't even noticed the girls had left. Both cat girls were lying back exposing their inner pinkness with one hand while fingering their wet slits with the other.

Rayven turned around and kissed Mark, leaving him standing there with his cock hanging out and said, "Sorry babe, you'll have to cum in a kitty this morning, because my cock definitely wants to cum in a kitty."

Rayven went to Laruun and mounted her missionary style, while Mark did the same to Marta. After a few strokes however, Mark lifted Marta up, while still staying inside her, and then lowered himself down onto the lounger with her on top. He preferred this position with Marta and Laruun as it made it easier to suckle the sweet milk from their breasts and Marta didn't mind either, as she proceeded to fuck Mark's cock as deep into her womb as she could.

After a few minutes of energetic fucking, both Rayven and Mark were erupting deep into the cat girls. After their orgasms, the couples laid back on the loungers with their now softening cocks still inside the cum filled pussies. Mark loved cuddling with the busty tigress.

It wasn't until Mark took a sip of his now cold coffee, that they got up and dressed and went inside to replace their drinks with hot ones. Soon they were back on the balcony, watching the city awaken, as the others eventually joined them.

Liyana had obviously gotten a message about the new discovery, as that was the first thing she asked about when she came out to the balcony, so Mark then brought everyone up to date with far more information than what Liyana had.

With nothing on his schedule for the day, Mark found himself sitting in his office. There was a few things that had been said recently during casual conversation that kept popping into Mark's thoughts. One thing was the month on, month off schedules, another was about leaving a planet undefended and lastly was about not using the shipyards for anything other than building seeding ships anymore.

So Mark got to thinking about all of those issues, throughout the day.

The month on/off schedules actually also referenced something that Taryn had said about moving around all the time. Now that their universe was growing and planets were getting pretty far apart, it didn't make sense to always staff them from Atlanterra, since eventually planets were going to be so spread out that so much time would be wasted in transit. So maybe they should look at different staffing options? If they staffed the security from the local population, then they ran the risk of corruption. If you know you're seldom going to be checked up on, rules eventually start to be ignored and the system goes downhill from there.

The time lost in transit would also affect the seeding ships, if they were all being built at the shipyards, it was already taking quite a while until they actually reached the edge of their explored space and could begin to seed sensor beacons.

For local staffing to work effectively, management couldn't be local, maybe make the position a termed post, like an Earth-based military posting, they could be posted at a station for a set term and then they could move on to another station, which meant their families would need to move with them.

Mark then thought, "Hmmmm... station... Maybe we need to rethink the security stations and prisons? Cricket, tell me about the security stations that are around every planet?"

Cricket explained, "They are basic, they're more or less an orbital prison with landing bays for emergency shuttles."

"Do they have weapons?"

"They have laser turrets and pulse cannons and there's usually a few fighters stationed there that have the same armaments."

"... but they have no engines?"

"Correct, orbital units don't have sub-light engines, but they do have lateral thrusters to make orbital adjustments... they have very limited mobility."

Mark thought on what she just said and suddenly a thought came to him, "What if we designed a security station that was almost city sized? Kind of like the embassy, except not really for public access. I'm thinking, what if we turned the security stations into lean mean fighting machines and separate out the prison part and leave it orbital?"

"I can see what you are thinking! The idea definitely has merit, it addresses all of your thoughts that keep coming to the forefront of your mind. Let me see if I can design something that like what you are thinking."

Knowing Cricket was on it, Mark suddenly found his mind was at rest. His only thoughts now were about Annabelle, who was arriving tonight. He really loved that girl and missed her when they were apart. Sure Rayven was his constant companion and he loved her dearly as well, but Mark was thinking maybe it was time to ask her to be his queen?

Mark called Joe and Kat to ask for their blessing and just to touch base since it had been a while since they had talked.

It looked like Jason was going to stay and run the ranch once they moved and one of Kat's friends was also a certified trainer, so she was going to take over the riding lessons and horse training. Jorge, Maria and Sofia were going to live there and help run the ranch. Then they were just going to fly back and forth if there was a large group booking for multi-day trail rides. Of course, they also gave their blessing to his proposal.

When he talked to Liyana about a ring, she informed him that rings weren't typically used in the Federation, at least in the past thousand years or so, mainly because it was considered a sign of ownership. So he asked about weddings and she filled him in on how weddings went down in the Federation.

More or less weddings in the Federation were a simple public exchange of vows. In the case of a royal wedding it, historically, involved the King presenting the Queen with her crown and the bride would then be given the King's trident by the official and she would present it to the King. They would then seal the marriage with a kiss, and they would go down the aisle, while both were holding the trident.

Then she asked if she could be the wedding planner and Mark said he'd have to talk it over with Annabelle, after he popped the question.

Maren and Annabelle arrived around 22:00, just as everyone was getting ready for bed on Friday night. Needless to say after not seeing Annabelle for a week, or much of Maren since Atlantis was born, Friday night turned into an orgy with Mark and Rayven both cumming in each pussy more than once.

Saturday was a fun day, Mark, Annabelle, Rayven, Solara, Laruun and Marta spent most of the morning at the Survival Park. They played a few games, Mark came close to winning two of them, but Solara won all three. It was very difficult to see her among the abundant green foliage. After they finished, it was a unanimous decision that the Jurassic Park and Warrior Tribes hazards were the best ones and no one liked the Giant Spiders and Snakes hazards.

After getting all worked up and sweaty, everyone went to relax in the pools and fountains in the central parks, however Mark and Annabelle opted to go visit the ranch, something Annabelle did every weekend that she came to the island, so Solara gave them a briefcase-sized toolkit to take with them. She said it was a prototype camping kit that she had been developing as a surprise for Joe and Kat, so she suggested they try one of the overnight trails so they can try out the kit and give her some feedback.

They grabbed a lift and were soon landing at the ranch, where the centaurs all greeted them as they exited the lift. They were all eager to inform Annabelle of the numerous trails they had scouted out. There were 4 quick trails that could be done with less than 2 hours ride one way. They had 3 trails that would be full day rides, with a single direction taking 3 to 4 hours. They had also scouted three multi-day trails. The overnight one was directly up to the Meteor Plateau taking 5 to 6 hours, the other was along the foothills toward the Evenor River delta, then returning via the Meteor Plateau. The big trip was a one week trip, it went up into the mountains, skirting around Mount Cleito and Mount Pynx, passing by Poseidon's Garden and ending up at a lake between Mount Hymettus and Mount Lycabettus.

Since they had time, and they wanted to try out Solara's invention, they opted to take the overnight trip up to the Meteor Plateau and the two female centaurs were glad to take them. Mark rode on Candy, while Annabelle rode Dany.

It was a long ride, but they made it up to the lake at the top of the Meteor Plateau after a little more than 5 hours of riding. Just in time to watch a gorgeous sunset as the sun started to sink into the sea. The view from the top of the Meteor Plateau was very scenic, there was a large lake with an island in the middle of it and lots of deep rooted trees, not shallow rooted palm trees.

As the daylight waned and everyone was getting hungry, they opened the case to see what was inside. They found a bunch of different coloured disks in the foam padded case. There were 18 disks in all, 1 was green, 12 were blue, 4 were red and 1 was orange.

The instructions on the inside cover read...

1. Place green cookhouse disk on ground in the centre of camp, arrow indicates door, press button to activate. (Ensure 3 metres clearance on all sides.)

2. Once step one is complete, place required number of blue cabin disks on ground inside the camp perimeter, point arrow to cookhouse, press button to activate. (Ensure 2 metres clearance on all sides.)

3. Once step two is complete, place required number of red barn disks on ground inside camp perimeter, point arrow to cookhouse, press button to activate. (Ensure 3 metres clearance on all sides.)

4. Place orange fire disk on ground inside camp perimeter, point arrow to cookhouse, press button for number of benches to activate.

They took the green disk and put it on the ground about 7 metres away from any trees and pressed the button. A voice announced 'Stand Back' and the disk began to construct a building. Within about 5 minutes there was a cookhouse 3 metres wide and 5 metres long, complete with a door, concession window and a porch that wrapped around the building. The roof extended out far enough to cover the porch.

They went inside and saw there was a food synth and prep counter with sink, complete with an empty cupboard with a touchscreen beside it. There was a fold down concession window on the opposite side of the counter and there was a cooktop and oven along the back wall.

There was a control panel off to the side of the door that showed there was now a shield, with up and down arrow icons to adjust the perimeter size. Since security wasn't really an issue, they left the shield size at the default size, which was big enough for everything in the case.

The display also showed the matter as 10 kilograms, that number would decrease as pots, pans, plates and food were made, but it would be reclaimed as people went to the washroom and anything used for the meal, including leftovers, went into the recycle bin. If you ever needed more mass you could throw sticks, rocks, dirt or whatever into the bin.

They exited the cookhouse and walked around the building, one side had the concession window and mounted in the wall beside it was a cutlery dispenser, a drink dispenser and two little doors, one with a cup and the other with a glass, and there was also a waste bin. The back of the building had two good-sized washrooms that even the centaurs could use, with the standard squat type toilets that were common across much of the Federation. As you left the washroom and closed the door, it would recycle the waste and reset the washroom.

Mark took a blue disk and placed it on the ground, pointed the arrow to the cookhouse and pushed the button. It constructed a small cabin that was 3 metres wide and 4 metres long, with a sloped roof going towards the back of the building and even it had it's own little porch, which the roof covered, plus it created a walkway to the cook shack. After about a minute the door opened and they went inside.