Cowboys and Aliens Ch. 36

36. Cantara

In the morning, Mark went to his office to go through his daily reports. The only item that caught his attention was that there were hundreds of unknown ships approaching Cantara, which was on the far side of the sensor network.

Mark asked, "Is that the Rifters?"

"I think so, I do recognize a few of the ships from when they were around Trayak."

"How far is Cantara from here?"

"A long way! Cantara was one of the most remote planets the Federation ever found, even with our upgraded FTL drives and star charts it would still take almost a month to reach the planet. We do have a Destroyer in orbit there though."

"Oh yeah, I forgot we still had Destroyers rotating in to Cantara, Hytros and Virgohn! Those planets are all monitored by our sensor network now aren't they?"

"Yes they are all monitored, as is Rylen IV, since it's actually the closest planet to Cantara and deeper into our monitored space."

"Good, let's stop that practice then, there's no use sending people to monitor a non-Federated planet that we're already monitoring. What are the closest Sentinels to that location?"

"There's a Sentinel at Neria, about 7 days away from Cantara. Otherwise we have two Sentinels sitting at the asteroid shipyard, one was originally destined for Kompf and the other for Trayak, they are 10 days away."

"Send the Sentinel from Neria to Cantara, then redirect one of the new Sentinels to Neria. Then can you put me in contact with the Captain of the Destroyer there?"

Seconds later, Captain Kirby answered the call, "It is a pleasure to talk to you, my King. I'm guessing you're calling because of the 150 plus ships headed toward Cantara?"

Mark smiled, "Good guess! I believe those ships are the Rifters and we believe both Brian Hawker and Sebastian are with them right now."

"So do you want us to negotiate to get them handed over to us?"

"Possibly, but my worry at this time is not the Rifters, nor Sebastian, it's what is chasing them! There were nine of these massive UFO shaped ships called Destructors that attacked Trayak and blew the planet to pieces. We rescued a couple of survivors from the attack at Trayak and, from what they've told us, these Destructors have been chasing the Rifters for years and we know Sebastian and Hawker have a plan to build some new ships using construx, then transfer everyone off the old ships and escape the Destructors via FTL. That doesn't help the people of Cantara though!"

Captain Kirby looked glum, "Cantara is a fairly simple planet with a population of about 75 million, but they don't have a space program at all, they can't evacuate. So what would you like us to do?"

"Even if I could get every transport in the Federation there, we still couldn't evacuate 75 million people. They don't know we're there, so let's keep it that way for the time being. As much as I hate to say it, the Cantarans would be better off not knowing about their impending doom, allow them to live in blissful ignorance until the attack actually starts, rather than giving them advance warning and turning their remaining days or weeks into a living nightmare of panic, lawlessness and widespread chaos!"

"So what's the plan then?"

"Let's try and stop the Destructors! Stay cloaked and go in the direction that the Rifters are coming from and drop sensor beacons until our network can detect the nebula cloud. There has to be a nebula rift just beyond our sensor network and I'm hoping it has sensors around it identifying the nebula as Rift Nebula #2... we need to find it!

Once you've found the nebula, wait there for the Destructors to show up, I've already redirected a Sentinel your way, I just don't know if it will reach you before the Destructors arrive. Cantara is just too remote!

I've heard they aren't capable of FTL travel, so maybe they won't be able to detect cloaked ships either? So stay cloaked and try to hit them with a TRD as they emerge from the nebula. If a general TRD attack doesn't work, you'll have to look for a point of weakness, like an engine, weapon port or bridge. If that doesn't work, follow them and see if you can attack them as they ready themselves to fire the primary weapon. Something tells me the central belly is their point of weakness. Maybe when they open the hatches on the bottom of the ship, you can get a shot into the belly of the beast?

Stay clear of their primary weapon when it fires though, the beam moves like lightning and can jump to nearby ships. It cut through the Star Hunter, and its shields, like a hot knife through butter. They also have fighters or drones with laser weapons, but they seem pretty weak and ineffective."

"What about the Rifters and Cantarans?"

"I will deal with them, I'll contact you if the plans change!"

"We're on it my King! Hopefully we'll have more information soon."

"Be safe, Captain Kirby!"

"Cricket, redirect the second Sentinel at the asteroid shipyard to Cantara as well! I think they'll be too late, but we can always hope!"

Mark then contacted Adam, "The Rifters just appeared out near Cantara, so we are likely not heading to Silica any longer. I need to figure some stuff out and then I'll head up to the ready room so we can contact them."

The Cleito was currently in FTL about half the distance between the Poseidon and Cantara, so Mark sent a message redirecting them towards the estimated intercept coordinates with the Rifters. They'd get the message when they did a comm-stop.

The Cleito was about 7 days from the intercept point with the Rifters, hopefully it wouldn't take too long to transfer everyone off their ships.

Mark then realized that with planet killing Destructors about, they really needed a way to mass evacuate planets, but everything he came up with just wasn't feasible. Even a ship that was capable of holding one million people, would be so massive and would still only be a drop in the bucket, even for a small planet such as Cantara. So he eventually gave up on the evacuation idea.

They would just have to figure out a way to destroy the Destructors.

With no further ideas coming to him, Mark left his office and found most of the gang hanging out in the common area, drinking their morning beverages.

Annabelle asked, "Aren't we supposed to be en route to Silica right now?"

Mark said, "We were, but that was before the Rifters appeared just beyond our sensor network out by Cantara. Right now I'm formulating a plan to deal with them and the Destructors."

Liyana said, "Cantara? We are a LONG way from Cantara, we aren't going to head that way are we?"

Ra'ki asked, "Your ships can travel faster than light can't they? If you say they are a LONG way away, how LONG would it take us to get there?"

Mark said, "Federation space is huge, even travelling faster than light, it would still take us almost a month to reach Cantara."

Most everyone there simultaneously said, "Whoa!"

"The Cleito is the closest ship to there right now, so I've redirected them that direction. It's still going to take them a week to intercept the Rifters, we also have a Destroyer that was in orbit around Cantara, I've sent them off to extend our sensor network to find the rift nebula and wait for the Destructors, and I've dispatched the Sentinel from Neria and another Sentinel that was waiting at the asteroid shipyard to assist. I just don't know if they'll get there in time!

Ra'ki, do you know how many Rifters there are?"

Ra'ki just shook her head, "We're always gaining and losing ships, so the population fluctuates too much to track. I could guess and say 2 to 3 hundred thousand, but I really have no idea!"

"Cricket, if we reconfigure the Sentinels and take out most of the landing bays, except for 1 on each side, how many quarters could we create? The ships are 5 kilometres long, so we if we can convert 3 to 4 kilometres on each side, how many quarters could we make?"

"Because we're dealing with potential families, we'll need quarters that are larger than normal personnel quarters, a 4 square metre room that's 3 metres high would easily handle a double bed and maybe an optional bunk bed for children. If we convert 3.5 kilometres on each side of the ship, that would leave one landing bay on each side. Each landing bay was at least 100 metres long, 50 metres high and 50 meters deep, so we could turn each of those bays into 15 levels of quarters, 10 rows deep. That would give us 262,500 quarters."

"People will need in some activities and outlets to keep them sane, reconfigure for 250,000 rooms and add a few amenities, we don't need to be a luxury cruise, but maybe some workout areas and a library would help pass the time. They're probably also going to need a few more cafeterias."

He then turned his attention back to the group, "I'm about to go talk to the Rifters from the ready room. Ra'ki, I want you present and Liyana, you should probably also be there as our ambassador. Annabelle, you're the Queen, it's your decision."

Mark and the attendees all grabbed their morning beverages and made their way to the ready room to contact the Rifters.

Adam joined them as they all got seated around the table, then Mark had Cricket hail the Rifters and route the call into the ready room. This was something far beyond anything normal communications technicians could do, so everyone looked on with amazement. Here they were, contacting a non-Federation ship on the complete other side of their monitored universe.

Within a couple of minutes, their hail was accepted by numerous ships, and they soon found themselves staring at ten faces on what appeared to be different ships.

Mark began the call by saying, "Hello there, my name is Mark Phoenix, the King of the Atlantean Federation. I am contacting you because you have entered Federation space and we would like to offer our assistance."

The one leader said, "Sebastian has told us all about you and your Federation. We don't need your help."

Ra'ki then said, "Captain Opperon, do you remember me?"

The man in the lower left window said, "Ra'ki? Is that you? I thought we lost you when our ship was destroyed."

Ra'ki said, "I managed to get into an escape pod and these people saved me. They've since opened my eyes to a lot of things. Brian and Sebastian aren't the saviours you think they are, these are the people you should be dealing with."

The first man then said, "Hawker and Sebastian are going to build us new ships and take us where the Destructors can't follow."

Mark then spoke, "I'm not so sure I would trust their ship building skills, the Star Hunter they built before didn't last very long in a fight and, before that, it malfunctioned and almost wiped out an entire planet!

We have already dispatched three ships to intercept and attack the Destructors when they emerge from the rift nebula. We have seen the videos of the Star Hunter's attack on the Destructors and they didn't fare very well, but our ships are faster, stronger and have better weapons, so hopefully we'll have some success. Plus we're in a much better position to help you settle on a planet, since we currently have 17 planets in the Federation you can settle on."

Sebastian then cut in to the call, "Don't listen to that imposter, he's lying to you, the Federation only has 11 planets."

Adam laughed and then spoke, "Sebastian, you were the imposter, the Federation is indeed at 17 planets these days. It's amazing what can happen when you get a true King, that actually knows what they're doing, into the position. The King has done more for the Federation in his first year, than you ever did in over 100 years! You and Hawker are just criminals that are wanted on numerous planets for a variety of crimes, none of which is bigger than the genocide of more than one billion people on Thulark!"

Everyone on the call seemed surprised at hearing the accusation for the second time, until Ra'ki spoke up, "It's true! Not only have I seen the video of the attack from the Star Hunter, but I've even visited Thulark, in fact, we're still orbiting it. Out of more than a billion people, there were less than 50,000 survivors and these people are currently helping them rebuild, so they can definitely help with the settlement."

Sebastian, not the brightest person, then admitted their own guilt by saying, "Thulark was an accident, we didn't mean to kill them.", as Hawker could be heard in the background saying, "Shut up, you imbecile!"

Mark then said, "Sirs, if you could please detain those two men, we will take them off your hands when we rendezvous with you. In exchange for handing them over to us, we will help you escape the Destructors AND get you settled on one of our planets."

One of the men nodded and then they could then see both Hawker and Sebastian being taken into custody, as the initial speaker, which they assumed must be the primary leader of the Rifters, said, "OK, we're putting our lives in your hands. How can we help you help us?"

"First off, what is your name, and are you the leader?"

"My apologies, I'm Captain Portman and we're all pretty much equals here, we're the captains of the largest ships in the fleet and govern by committee, but I am the head of the committee."

Mark said, "It is my pleasure to meet you all!"

Captain Portman then repeated, "So how can we help you help us?"

"For starters, DO NOT WARN THE CANTARANS! You guys should really do scans before you start trying to warn planets, if they aren't capable of space travel and you show up telling them they're all going to die... all you're doing is turning their remaining days or weeks into a living nightmare of panic, chaos and lawlessness. If you can't evacuate their population and there's absolutely nothing they can do about it, let them live in blissful ignorance until their demise!

Continue past Cantara and keep going in the direction you are headed. Cantara is quite remote, so the closer you can get to us, the faster we can get to you. Also do you have any idea of the population across all your ships?"

The leader said, "We estimate that there is close to 300,000 people among 153 ships."

"We have a ship headed your way right now, it should reach you in about 7 days. I'm not sure how many couples or families you have, but the ship has 250,000 temporary quarters on it, and it can get you away from the Destructors. Once they reach you, we can meet and discuss where everyone would like to settle."

The leader then said, "You have an existing ship that can accommodate our entire population? How far away are you right now?"

Mark said, "Yes, the ship itself has 250,000 quarters on it. I'm not sure how many families or couples you have, but each room can accommodate up to 4 people if needed. And we're a long way away! We're near the rift you went through a week or so ago, which is on the other side of our explored universe. Our ships are fast, but even travelling faster than light, it would still take us almost a month to reach you from here... and I'm not about to risk going through the rift in our ship. We don't know enough about them and I can't risk abandoning my people."

"We will do as you say, our survival is now in your hands. Ra'ki's endorsement of you, combined with what you have said and the infrastructure you appear to have, tells me that you are offering a more complete solution than what Hawker and Sebastian were offering. We will hold them for you until you get here!"

"The ship that will intercept you is called the Cleito, led by Commander Northrop. When he reaches you, use your shuttles to transfer everyone from your ships onto it. There will be a kiosk in the hallway outside the landing bay that will assign the rooms. Once you make contact with the Cleito, I will contact you."

They then disconnected the call and sat around the table, with everyone looking to Mark regarding what to do next and they could see he was thinking hard.

After about 30 seconds, Adam asked, "So, where to my King?"

Mark said, "I'm not sure! I think we're too far away to really do anything and if they're looking to settle somewhere, I think Thulark would be the ideal place for them. I'm almost tempted to just stay here and wait for them to arrive! Maybe even get their settlement built and ready for them to immediately occupy?"

Annabelle said, "I could handle a few more days here, this planet is incredible."

Adam said, "The crew is going to love to hear that!", as he turned to leave the ready room.

The next 7 days seemed to pass so quickly. Each morning Captain Kirby's report would say there was no sign of the Sentinels or the Destructors. It had only taken one more sensor beacon until they detected Rift Nebula #2, but only the first pair of jumpers had checked in.

On the 5^th day, Captain Kirby reported that they detected two cloaked ships, with the Federation IDs RJ3 and RJ4, that exited the nebula and then went back inside. So that meant that all four rift jumpers were still operational and jumping the same rifts, it also meant that traversing the rifts were not instant, and did take time, albeit less time than travelling the distance in FTL.

They spent each day down on the surface of the planet doing all sorts of activities, Mark and the girls had become fond of Elavon and were even getting to know some of the residents. Thulark was definitely the most melting pot type planet in the Federation now, almost every species in the Federation was represented there. They hadn't seen any hyenas or flying horses here, but pretty much everything else.

At the calculated time of when the Cleito should be about to rendezvous with the Rifters, Mark made sure everyone was in the ready room, so they could participate in the meeting with the Rifters.

Commander Northrop called Mark as soon as they reached the destination, "My King, just before we had reached our destination I had went down to the Sentinel with some crew to come up with a plan to accommodate 300,000 people. Were we ever surprised to find the entire Sentinel had been revamped while we were travelling. Wow, what a surprise!"

Mark said, "Sorry! I guess I should've told you I was making some modifications to the Sentinels. They are autonomous ships made with construx under my control, I can retrofit them to fit various roles."

Someone off display said something and the Commander laughed, "My staff want to know if their quarters can be setup like the ones in here?"

Mark laughed and said, "I'll think about it!"

The first shuttles were just about to arrive on the Sentinel, so Mark disconnected the call and told the Commander, that he would meet him and the Rifter committee in the ready room.

The Rifter leaders were indeed on the first shuttles to arrive, along with both Sebastian and Hawker in tow.

Everyone on the shuttles was looking around the landing bay of the massive ship, it was unlike anything they had every seen before. Even Sebastian and Hawker seemed to be impressed. When they entered the hallway outside the landing bay, they could see the 3 kilometre long mobile shipyard in the centre of the ship and that there now was at least 15 levels of rooms on both sides of the well lit, but currently dormant shipyard.

The Commander greeted them and then escorted the leaders and criminals through the Sentinel and then up into the Battlestar. Once on the Cleito, there was another round of ohhs and ahhhs as they realized there was a whole other ship, separate, but seamless from the one they were just on.

Hawker was heard saying, "Now this is a ship! Ingenious! It's a warship, mass transport and shipyard all in one and can even seamlessly connect with other ships! This is a warship isn't it?"

The Commander said, "Security is it's primary purpose! The shipyard can build up to three Battlestars at a time, it is also equipped with thousands of autonomous fighter drones and has a variety of every other weapon the Federation has."