Cowboys and Aliens Ch. 32

Mark smiled as he saw the mobile headquarters and said, "That should help with pretty much any kind of disaster. Maybe what we need now is a website to show organizations how we can help and how to contact us for help. We should probably also introduce ourselves to the Red Cross, UNICEF and the Salvation Army. I think they're the primary disaster relief organizations around the world."

Annabelle then spoke up, "While this is all fine and dandy, you know how else we can help?"

Solara and Mark both simultaneously said, "How?"

Annabelle then said, "We studied a few disasters and their relief efforts in school. The biggest challenges during a natural disaster are communications... check, although we might need radios or something for non-citizens! Temporary shelter... check! Food, water and clothing... check, check and check! Electricity... check! Security and lawlessness... check! Our world peace system will help with that, although maybe we can do more? We haven't addressed infrastructure and construction... we are in a better position than anyone on the planet to help with rebuilding infrastructure! Mainly because we don't need equipment and have demonstrated that we can build things faster than anyone else!"

Mark thought about it and nodded his head, "Yeah we can do a lot more than just the emergency camps! We could send construx and designers to rebuild bridges, roads, railways, dams, dykes and all sorts of things."

Annabelle then said, "In places that get hit by tornados, hurricanes, tidal waves and the like, many people lose their homes, especially in regions where the construction is questionable to begin with. So instead of just temporary shelters at the camp, what if we had a stockpile of construx, like the camping disks, except they're one-time use and build a house using normal building materials, maybe we have one, two, and three bedroom homes ready to go?"

Solara said, "That idea has merit, although the foundations of a building are sometimes still intact, so possibly I could make a construx disk that rebuilds a single level house on top of the current foundation, but using better construction techniques. Since we have the power outlets for sale now, maybe just leave one power bar per room? I'm not sure we should give them waste recycling and synths, and I don't think we should make them out of Mazjik material!"

Cricket then said, "Actually would giving them waste recycling, water and power be a bad thing? You are trying to help the world aren't you?"

Mark said, "Yes, we are, but if we're building them out of normal building materials, wouldn't that compromise our technology?"

Cricket said, "Not really! Just because you create a building out of common building materials, as long as the construx is never disabled, I'm still in control of it. So even if you build a house out of normal building material, if there's a future natural disaster, I can protect the house so that it will withstand the disaster and then return to it's original design once the disaster passes?"

Mark said, "Well if you're still in control, then I can't see why we can give them basic houses with power, water and recycling! Then we will just need to provide additional personnel to help with construction."

Mark told Cricket, "Construct a camp ship as a prototype, then we can actually set it up and maybe make some modifications after we see it!"

With the new emergency camp ship in development, Mark suggested he and Annabelle take a walk over to see the breakfast club and get a site started for the emergency services.

The usual quick 10 minute walk to the breakfast club's office, turned into a nice leisurely walk along the waters's edge, as they talked about all sorts of things. Annabelle was thinking she could use her newfound fame to help build up her mom and dad's trail riding business by helping out with the trail rides, just like she used to.

Mark liked that idea, as he also wouldn't mind slowing things down and helping out with a trail ride at either of the ranches, especially with Solara's camping kit!

As they conversed about the future and their hopefully forthcoming child, they soon found themselves standing outside the office as Amelia waved at them through the office windows.

Mark and Annabelle entered the office and talked to Amelia for a bit. Asking if they were fully settled in yet and how was she liking living on Atlantis?

Amelia said she liked the laid back casual lifestyle that came with the Atlantean way of life and that Henry had persuaded her to take up golf and she was actually enjoying it, as they had been golfing almost every day. Eventually they just walked into the office and went to the central desks where Beth, Cass and Zack were. When the kids saw them, they dropped what they were doing as Cass and Beth gave them both hugs. Zack just shook Mark's hand, but Annabelle gave him a hug.

Afterwards they dropped by Henry's office on the way to a boardroom, where Mark outlined the new Disaster Relief Services and what they would try to provide. Cricket, of course, showed everyone the mobile camp ships, including the animated camp setup and sent the images and animation to the girls for the website. It was going to be a very simple website, more or less here's what we can provide and here's how to ask for help.

They said they were just finishing up another site at the moment, but they could probably work on that site in the next day or two, which Mark said would be fine, since the prototype camp ship wouldn't even be ready for 3 days.

They then let them get back to the site they were working on, as Henry escorted them back to Amelia, who suggested that someday soon they book a tee time for all four of them to go golfing and maybe have a barbecue after. They agreed and Annabelle said she would make the arrangements with Amelia.

As they were walking back to the palace, Mark's received a message from Captain Kôté saying he had news and to call when it was convenient.

As ominous as that sounded, Mark decided it was probably better if he took that call at his desk.

As they got back to the palace, they immediately went up to Mark's office and called Captain Kôté. Annabelle now had her own chair near Mark's desk, so she moved next to him to get in on the call.

The call was connected almost immediately as the Captain appeared in the display.

Mark started, "Captain Kôté, you requested that I call. Has there been a new development?"

"We're still cloaked and have just been monitoring their ship to ship communications. It sounds like they have an outsider named, 'Mark', oddly enough, that has been helping them develop ships."

If 'Mark' is Sebastian that would explain how the Empire has gotten so many ships so fast, because they must be using construx."

"That would also mean they have a limited number of ships they can build! Hmmm, it sounds like the bastard has found some new friends?"

"Yes and no! I think the Empire might be going through some sort of civil war, the ships around the planet here have been talking about their traitorous brethren and how they aren't coming to help fight the Agonoids."

"Hmmm, I wonder if he was the cause of their divisiveness? We won't know until we talk to them."

"Do you want me to reveal ourselves to them?"

"Not yet, there's a Sentinel on the way, as is the Cleito. If the attackers show up before they arrive, by all means turn off your cloak so they can see that you are trying to help them. It doesn't sound like the cloak hides you from the Agonoids anyway. The Sentinel is going to remain cloaked and, like you, will reveal itself if the attackers strike before the Cleito arrives."

"Very well sir, we'll stay and monitor their communications and assist if they get attacked. Do you still want me to notify you if they strike again before help arrives?"

"It's your call, there's not much I can do from here, just stay alive and message me with your summary of the event. Hopefully the Sentinel will arrive before the next attack does, then I can do something from here."

Then after a bit of a pause, he continued, "Captain, once the Cleito arrives, I want you guys to head home for some much deserved rest and relaxation. You and your crew have performed far beyond my expectations. You will be rewarded!"

"Thank You, my King and Queen! I will let the crew know and I'll talk to you soon." The Captain said as the call was disconnected.

Annabelle then spoke up, "So I guess we know where Sebastian went!"

Mark was concerned, "Yup, it sounds like he has found some friends. I hope the Cleito gets there soon so we can get some answers. Cricket? Where are we at with the support?"

Cricket popped up on his display and said, "The Sentinel will arrive in 2 days at approximately 9:12 Atlantis time, the Cleito is still a bit more than a day behind the Sentinel."

"Do we have any plans of attack once it arrives?"

"Actually, I liked an idea you thought of as soon as I told you small slow moving objects could get through shields. The Sentinel will construct a ship that will lay down a minefield of magnetic TRDs, hopefully they will go through the minefield and the mines will pass through their shields. If that fails, I will deploy the drone fighters and attack the engine ports. 5,000 nimble fighters should be nearly impossible to defend against."

"Good! So at least we have something that resembles a plan. I take it if those don't work, we're going to fire the singularity driver?"

"Yes, that would be the escalation plan," Cricket said with a bit of worry on her face.

Mark kind of wanted to see what that weapon would do, but the fact that Cricket seemed concerned about firing it made him realize it was a weapon of last resort.

With the camp prototype under construction and a plan in place for the Agonoids, there was nothing to do but wait until the Sentinel showed up, so Mark and Annabelle decided to go visit the ranch to take their minds off things.

They went to the transit stop and called a lift and around half an hour later they were landing at the ranch, but there was only a couple of centaurs around. After talking to them, they learned that some group came in from Europe and were doing the overnight trip up to the Meteor Plateau.

Annabelle said, "Good for them, I guess we need to start calling before just heading out here! So, what do you want to do now?"

Mark said, "I heard there's a new restaurant at the top of Mount Pnyx, complete with a gondola ride from Poseidon's Garden!"

Annabelle said, "I've never been to Poseidon's Garden yet, lets go check it out."

They called a lift and were soon headed to Poseidon's Garden.

When they arrived at the transit stop, it really made them realize the difference the lift system makes versus cars. Here was a beautiful lush area with lots of people walking around on the numerous paths, but there wasn't the huge unsightly parking lot full of vehicles.

The garden itself was definitely a sight to behold. Not only was there flowers of every type and colour, but the place was alive with thousands of butterflies. Cricket said, she was able to generate the DNA of butterflies, so she created several chrysalis and let them develop on their own, kind of like artificial insemination for butterflies, she had also brought honeybees, dragonflies and had created the eggs of several types of birds to the island. There still wasn't any wild animals on the island, but at least it was starting to look more established.

As they walked around the lake in the centre of the garden park, they eventually made it back to the transit stop, where the gondola lift was. Near the lift base was a display showing the menu and hours for the restaurant at the top as well as how many tables were free from reservations and of course how to book a reservation.

The gondola system was similar to normal gondola cars, they just didn't have cables and ran on AGCs. You boarded the gondola car and took a seat, it then rose into the air and started the ascent up the side of the mountain, allowing you to see all of Poseidon's Garden from above, it even had a tinted, but see through floor.

The gondola didn't move very fast, so it took about 10 minutes to reach the top of the mountain, but it was a very scenic ride. The restaurant itself was two levels high and the gondola dropped you off right on the deck. The main floor of the building was a gift shop with various openings out onto the deck, which had benches and viewfinders scattered around.

The cashier desk was around a central pillar and they asked if you had a reservation before allowing you through to the elevator. The elevator was round and had two marks on it that lined up with the opening. As you went up to the restaurant, the elevator twisted to line up with the exit in the central area of the restaurant.

The restaurant upstairs was round with the kitchen in the middle and all the tables were on the outer perimeter. The entire restaurant slowly rotated so, as you were eating, you got to see everything.

It was a very delicious meal and the chef himself visited their table to make sure they enjoyed their meal, which they said they did.

After the meal, they returned to the palace and just relaxed, still stuffed from their meal, which everyone inquired about and vowed to check out soon. They stayed in the palace and watched a movie before eventually going to bed. The next day, was just relaxing around Acropolis and waiting, although Mark made sure to keep Annabelle's pussy filled with cum to make sure the baby was getting started.

The next morning, Mark woke up and went to his office for his coffee and morning reports. There was no news from Captain Kôté, so he hoped that no news was good news and they hadn't been attacked again.

Once everyone was up and about, they went for breakfast at the pavilion and then discussed the situation at Maaku, the home world of the Empire and the possibility that Sebastian was helping them. As 9:00 was approaching, Mark made sure he was at his desk waiting for the connection to the Sentinel when it arrived at Maaku.

Just as the ship was due to come out of FTL, Cricket appeared on a device like what Solara had, as his right computer display changed to the scanner display from the Sentinel and the left computer display was more a ship schematic of the Sentinel. Both were currently just the templates as the ship hadn't exited FTL yet.

At 9:10, Cricket darkened the windows and turned off the lights and at 9:12 the displays came alive and a view from the front of the ship was broadcast from behind and above him, giving him the 180* view similar to what was on a Battlestar, sans the crew stations. It literally looked like Mark's desk was the bridge of a crewless ship, the Sentinel had dropped out of FTL directly behind the attacking Agonoids.

Mark could see that Captain Kôté had revealed himself and was helping to attack the Agonoids, so Cricket scrambled all the drone fighters and sent them to attack the engine ports of the attackers, there was no time to create the mine laying ship.

Captain Kôté called the Sentinel and Mark answered the call, "Captain, it looks like we got here just in the knick of time."

The Captain said, "Glad to see the Sentinel, my King!" Then as he studied the view around Mark, "You aren't actually here though are you?"

Mark replied, "No Captain, I'm at my desk in the palace, but I'm very much in control of the Sentinel and can see what's going on. We came out of FTL behind them so we're going with my secondary plan of attacking their engine ports, surely they can't defend against 5,000 fighters."

The Captain saluted, "Good hunting sir!"

Mark could hear the open communications between all the Empire ships, in addition to Captain Kôté, they couldn't hear the communication between the Agonoid ships though. The Empire was in awe of the huge ship that appeared behind the attackers, but all started cheering as the Sentinel swarmed 5,000 fighters and began attacking the Agonoid ships.

Within about 10 minutes, they had pretty much destroyed the entire Agonoid attacking fleet and the last two remaining ships no longer had functional engines.

Mark then used an open communication channel to speak to the remaining Agonoid ships. The leader looked mostly human, but it appeared as though two-thirds of his face was human-like, but one eye and at least half of his skull appeared mechanical or cybernetic.

Mark simply asked, "Why are you attacking?"

The Agonoid leader just responded, "You are imperfect, we are here to help you rebuild your civilization in our image of perfection."

Mark said, "They seem perfectly fine on their own, why didn't you try asking them if they wanted your help first?"

The two Agonoid ships must have triggered a self-destruct or something as they both exploded without any further communication. No one had fired on it and there didn't appear to be any external punctures or fires on the hull, so it had to be internally triggered.

With the threat neutralized, the Empire was requesting to talk. Mark answered the call, as if he was actually there and found himself speaking to the leader of Maaku.

The leader was a fit looking rugged man, with thick eyebrows and a buzzcut hair style. He kind of reminded Mark of G.I. Joe.

He didn't even introduce himself as he started, "I suppose you're here to take over our planet. Destroying 25 ships and needlessly killing 25,000 men on a simple reconnaissance mission wasn't enough for you?"

Mark laughed, "First of all... Hello, my name is Mark Phoenix and I am the King of the Atlantean Federation, it's a pleasure to meet you also. Second, we are a peaceful people, we only help defend those that can't defend themselves, like we just helped you take care of the Agonoids. That is all we were doing when 50 of your ships tried to attack a peaceful planet called Athos.

I gave them many chances to turn around, and half your ships were smart enough to retreat, but the others didn't and they paid with their lives. It pained me to do it, but the survival of the planet was at stake."

Just as the leader was about to refute the claim, another guy joined the call, "President Zyton, I am Master Morlan of Reco 14, the Federation King speaks the truth, Reco 14 was at the Battle of Athos, I was in charge of one of the ships that heeded the King's warning about retreating, and Ragnor has labelled me and the other ships here at Maaku as traitors and have cast us out of the Empire."

The President then said, "Ahh yes, I remember them saying they called themselves the Empire to protect the identity of Maaku. Wait! So you were doing the attacking and you weren't attacked while on a reconnaissance mission?"

Morlan answered, "That is correct sir! Since me and my men have been branded as traitors by the Empire. I would like to set the record straight! I suspect there's a lot you don't know about our space program."

The President was shocked as he collected himself, "It appears that I owe you an apology, King Phoenix. My name is Zyton, please accept my apology and my invitation to sit down and talk in a cordial and respectful manner. Master Morlan, could you please attend as well as well as any other Masters that have been labelled 'traitors' by Ragnor."

Mark responded, "Your apology is accepted, however I'm afraid that I cannot sit down and meet with you at this time, I'm actually thousands of light years away on my home planet. I do have another ship on the way to you and they have an Ambassador on board. However, if you wish to have our meeting like this, it's OK with me."

They were both totally surprised, "You're controlling that big ship remotely?"

Mark just nodded the affirmative and smiled.