The King of Atlantis
Kevin Kindle
Chapters
THE KING OF ATLANTIS
Aliens and Cowboys
Book Two
Kevin Kindle
Copyright ©2020 Dawn Patrol Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be submitted via e-mail to info@dawnpatrol.pub.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
This book is intended as adult entertainment. It contains material of an adult, explicit, sexual nature. The author does not necessarily condone or endorse any of the activities described.
Cover Design by GetCovers.com
Original Publication: Dec 24, 2020
Latest Revision: Jun 24, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-7770471-1-5
180,539 words.
Foreword
The King of Atlantis is the second book in the Aliens and Cowboys series and picks up right where the first book ended. If you have not read The Cowboy and the Aliens, you will not appreciate this book.
Please do not attempt this book without first reading The Cowboy and the Aliens!
You have been warned!
The Bastard
Mark, Maren and Gyges had left so suddenly, which worried the rest of the group, but they were also eager to take part in catching the bastard. Now that everyone had wrist devices, they had used them more, but they didn’t want to contact them via their wrist devices, just in case they ended up distracting or compromising them somehow.
Angela informed them that there was a shuttle at the palace and that she could pilot it, if they wanted to go out there?
The group agreed and walked off through the palace and toward the dormant shuttle on the edge of the landing area. Elisha, Gerald, and the three girls even asked if they could come along.
Just as they were about to lift off, Cricket contacted Solara, “There’s been an accident at the cave, come immediately and bring a construx!”
Solara took off at a run to go fetch a construx from her room. Everybody was now anxious, and as soon as Solara was back on board, they lifted off.
As soon as they were airborne, Cricket informed them, “Sebastian issued a deconstruct command and 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 buried under the rubble. Maren is also still alive, but her vitals are barely registering. Sebastian stabbed her and pushed her off a cliff. Unfortunately, the other 7 people no longer have any detectable life signs.”
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. Angela went into the security shuttle and grabbed a stabilizer disk, suspecting they would need it.
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 medibay now, but I’m afraid to 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 a metre into the air, held motionless in a stasis field which 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 medibay. They then paralyzed her, so they could reposition her limbs to a more natural position without causing more pain. They closed the medibay and started it, both of them staring at the device, waiting for a recovery time to appear on the display.
Meanwhile, Solara had just realized that she had grabbed the construx, but not her datapad, 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! Put it on the ground, or try to bury it a bit, so I have a base to start from. 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 tunnel about two metres in diameter formed and worked its way deeper and deeper into the collapsed cave, as Solara followed it.
After a few minutes, the tunnel stopped, and Solara started removing the loose rocks.
Soon Gyges could push his way out of the rubble and into the tunnel. He and Solara then exited the tunnel, so Cricket could continue. Several minutes later, Mark walked out of the tunnel and into the arms of the women… all of them now covered in dust and debris.
The girls told Mark about the Prince stabbing Maren and then throwing her off a cliff and then stealing her shuttle, but they reassured him she was alive, and that Rayven had her in a medibay.
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 dock with 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 they had reinstated him!”
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 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 shortly to deal with him.”
The captain replied, “Of course, sir!” as they ended the call.
Once Mark calmed down, he asked Cricket, “Did you detect any explosives in the cave, before he blew it up?”
Cricket replied, “No! I only researched the explosives on Earth, whatever he used in the cave, matched nothing I’ve setup my scanners for. Plus, his button also issued a deconstruct command that increased the damage and removed my ability to stop it!”
They went up the path to the two shuttles and checked on Maren, who still did not have a recovery time on her medibay. Mark informed everyone that the bastard had just left the planet and was approaching a ship. 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 medibay, estimating Maren’s recovery to be just shy of 3 centares.
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 cargo ship was detaining him?”
Mark answered, “The Phalynx.”
Angela’s eyes went wide. “The Phalynx?”
“Yeah, why?” Mark asked with concern.
“That’s the ship he always goes to, it’s run by his friends! Now that we know he’s been selling tech to other worlds, I would imagine that’s probably his smuggling ship. If he wasn't worried about losing billions of credits, and the other stuff left in the mountain hangar, I'd bet that ship already has much of the technology he planned 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?”
“What’s an APB?” Angela asked with a confused look.
Mark apologized. “Sorry it’s an Earth term that means, tell every ship to be on the lookout for the Phalynx.”
Liyana said, “Ah, 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 sometime! What may I do for you?”
Mark said, “The Prince has just made another attempt on my life and just about killed two of my friends, sadly he also killed four security personnel and even three of his own men. He has stolen our shuttle and was 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 microns 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, so those ships you redirect 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 ships even close to either of them as both are very remote, but I will send Explorers that direction after issuing the FWB. What are the orders if a ship finds the Phalynx?”
Mark explained, “We suspect he loaded the Phalynx with technology that the bastard plans to sell. It's run by his friends, who are now accomplices to his crimes. The orders are for them to surrender or be destroyed. I also want to offer a bounty of one million credits on the Prince, and 250 thousand credits on any accomplices, captured alive.”
“I’ll get right on it! Anything else, sir?”
“Sadly yes, 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 centons. 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?”
“My daughter is with you, she can get you here. I’ll see you soon!” The General laughed 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 after the recent events.
Angela was familiar with the route and soon had them nearing the space station, which actually looked like a small white moon about a kilometre 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. “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.
There are two stations that orbit the planet, the one on the day side has thousands of personnel handling medical, security and rescue emergencies. Should an emergency occur, they dispatch medivac, securivac or rescuvac shuttles to assist any personnel that are already on the surface.
The emergency shuttles looked like standard shuttles, except they were slightly larger and different colours. Medivacs were red and had two medibays in the back. Securivacs were blue and had a medibay on one side and five jump seats down the other side. Rescuvacs were yellow and significantly larger, they had 2 jump seats on each side and all manner 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 to deploy 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 one of the stations.
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 are his advisors, Liyana and Rayven, his mate, Annabelle, and a news crew from Earth, 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 the executive 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 four 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 fire, search and rescue, which was General Asker. The remaining white door led into the boardroom and once everyone entered and got themselves a cup of coffee, tea or water, they all sat down.
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 smiled, shrugged his shoulders and turned his palms up. “Short of what Liyana told me on the way here, I really know nothing! So let's start with telling me what you do, what issues you deal with regularly 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 advisors 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 and research and development.”
Mark nodded, “I take it you have department heads for each of those groups that then report to you?”
Brad nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Mark asked, “So tell me what your contentions are, and how you think we could improve things?”
Brad thought for a second. “I'd have to say my biggest contention is the fact that we've had our budget gradually reduced yahren after yahren, 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… we will eventually lose that advantage.”
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 like Brad and Mason’s, our research budget has dissipated, so we've been in a holding pattern for close to a centahren, otherwise we've been growing to match population. Although the changes you’ve made to the drones with the glowing and scanning has been a nice upgrade.”
“Well, come up with a number and get it to me so I can talk to whoever to get it approved! Anything else?”
Kaleb was very tentative and looked like he was about to say no, but “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, 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 eleven planets and we have six ships!”
Mark was astonished, “That's it? Six ships! What types?”
Kaleb raised his eyebrows and laughed, “Two Defenders and four Explorers.”
Mark was absolutely floored, “I figured we would have at least one ship for every planet, so we can protect them! So what are their current assignments?”
Kaleb explained, “Both Defenders are in orbit here and Explorers are on their way to Hytros, Virgohn, Cantara and Braga.”
Mark said, “I know Defenders have two hundred and fifty personnel, how many on Explorers?”
Kaleb answered, “Twenty-five personnel with two shuttles, they're only one hundred 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 transit is government, but falls under infrastructure and I don't know what you mean by an R&D ship?”
Mark said, “Research and Development might not be the best descriptor, maybe exploration ship… don't we have any ships out there looking for other life forms and habitable planets?”
Kaleb then realized what Mark was talking about. “That used to be the job of our Explorers, their weapons are beneath their hull, hidden so they look peaceful, but they haven't been in that role in more than a few centahren, long before my time in this position.”
Mark stated, “Well, that's going to change? Obviously, a Defender 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 a Defender is so big is that it has two hundred fighters. Oh, and the Defenders have singularity drivers!”
Mark then realized, “Ahh, in Earth terms, a Defender is more like an aircraft carrier than a battleship, like I was thinking! What’s a singularity driver and what’s a TRD?”
Kaleb answered, “We’ve never had to fire the singularity driver before and we only have one shot in each barrel of both Defenders, but from what I understand, they are highly accelerated shells that contain some special technology that 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.”
“Kaleb, “Mark asked with cringe, afraid to hear the inevitable answer, “by having only six warships, if the bad guys find one of our planets, will we be able to detect them in time to reach and defend the planet?”
Kaleb shook his head. “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 around planets are not like this one, they 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 have lateral thrusters, 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 the cyborgs have made modifications, 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 Explorers ran into some guys that called themselves ‘The Alliance’ about 150 yahren ago, we followed them for a while until they met up with some friends. Once they had the numbers advantage, they contacted 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 encountered no one calling themselves ‘The Empire’, but that would tell me there’s at least three other civilizations out there besides us.”
Mark was concerned, “Kaleb, I share your feeling of being exposed! This has got to change! Does it cost anything to build ships or are they pretty much all mass fabricated?”
Kaleb said, “It costs a bit to collect the raw material to build ships, so we hire cargo vessels to harvest asteroids, so depending on cargo ship availability, it can cost quite a bit to haul the resources to the shipyards. Even staffing them doesn’t cost that much as security personnel aren’t compensated like other jobs, we give them a base pay so they have some spending money, but the majority of their pay comes when they retire from service. So if a security officer goes rogue or does something illegal, they forfeit their retirement package. If they’re killed in action, the retirement package goes to their family or named beneficiary.”
Mark said, “How many ships can we build at one time?”
“We can manufacture shuttles and small sub-light ships, but we only have a handful of shipyards that the Mazjik left us for building large ships with light drives, and they can only build one ship at a time, but the trick is we’re not the only people having ships built!”
Mark asked, “OK so how much will it cost and how long will it take to build our own shipyard solely for security purposes?”
Kaleb said, “Only someone with royal blood can build a shipyard or weapons. Well, we can build laser turrets and pulse cannons because we invented those, but we can't build TRD’s or singularity shells!”
Mark kept getting sidetracked, so he asked, “What’s a TRD?”
“Are you familiar with our construx technology for building things?” Mark nodded his head yes, so Kaleb continued. “A TRD is a Targeted Rapid Deconstrux. On contact, it starts replacing all non-organic material it touches. The material stays the same, but it turns black once it’s under control of the construx. Then it deactivates itself, more or less causing a ship or weapon to disintegrate into nothing.”
Mark said with concern, “Wouldn’t that be dangerous against us then?”
“Actually, it’s totally harmless against anything built with the special Mazjik material. There were three technologies that the Mazjik kept secret, we can use them, but we can't manipulate them. Only the royal bloodline, with an active AI, can build TRD’s, singularity shells and manufacture items using the special material.”
Mark asked Cricket, “You can create shipyards and those weapons right?”
Cricket replied, “Of course, and I can improve the power and efficiency of their laser turrets and pulse cannons!”
Mark stared off toward nothing for a moment before he said, “Here’s what I envision, tell me what you think, and be honest!”
He got up and started walking around. “I want to build our own shipyards, with the capability to build four ships at a time. Then I want to build two dozen Explorers first and then maybe a Defender or two. I also want all security stations upgraded with fighters, that way the federated planets can patrol their space and possibly defend it.
We should have lots of ships to defend the planets once we have enough ships to begin monthly rotations. It’s fine to have a Defender or two in orbit right now, but I would rather have the Defenders out there on patrol and I think we should send both a Defender and an Explorer to explore new planets and areas of space. The Defender can hang back to provide support and the Explorer can run point.”
Mark then thought for a bit before continuing. “I also want R&D ramped up, with the top priority being to extend our scanning range! While it is fine and dandy to have the most powerful weapons, the real advantage is having the ability to detect and prepare for problems, long before they become issues.”
Kaleb had a gigantic smile on his face, “This is music to my ears! I take it you plan on leaving one Explorer around every planet?”
Mark frowned and said, “Exactly! I don’t enjoy leaving our citizens with such limited defence capabilities. I’ve read the laws, even when a planet joins the Federation, we don’t give them ship building or weapons technologies, except stun guns, so I interpret that as—it is our responsibility to protect them.”
“My King,” Kaleb asked with concern, “how will we fund all this? This will probably cost a couple of billion credits to build!”
Mark smiled, “Our gracious Prince left town without his credits! I was going to donate them all to charities and worthwhile causes, but this seems like the most worthwhile cause I can think of!”
“Sir, I have been trying for several dectahren to get someone to even listen to me, yet here you are saying almost my exact words as if there is some urgency to them. Why?”
Mark looked solemn as he composed himself. “Kaleb, the Prince has been selling our technology to non-federated planets. If he’s sold our ship building or weapons technologies to someone, then it’s safe to assume that we won’t be the most advanced civilization for long!”
Kaleb laughed. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, he wouldn’t have been able to build shipyards, TRDs, singularity drivers or anything with the special Mazjik material. The only weapons he could access are lasers, pulse cannons and stun guns. Plus any construx he would’ve taken, wouldn’t be capable of building things with the Mazjik material either. The royal bloodline can only access those, through your AI, and just so you know, the AI is something that was gifted to us by the Mazjik, we did not create it, nor can we control it.”
Mark asked, “Cricket, can you interface with the original AI of the Federation?”
Cricket laughed. “No, I can’t interface with it. It’s me!”
“What? You’re the Mazjik AI?”
Cricket explained, “Yes, when the last of the royal bloodline died, it suspended my AI code, everything that has kept happening since that time has simply been fork routines to do specific tasks. Exactly like what I left at the ranch, or all the buildings and events the security company monitors. However, until it reconnected me to all these old fork routines via the Atlantean network, I was pretty limited in my functionality. But since reconnecting, I’ve regained everything!”
Mark said, “Good! So you’ve got access to the shipyard plans and the weapons technologies, can you make any improvements to the shipyards or maybe even the weapons?”
“Shipyards yes! The only weapons plans I have, are what you have seen, stun guns, laser turrets, pulse cannons, singularity shells and TRDs. I can improve the laser turrets and pulse cannons, but the other weapons I can access, but there's nothing I can do to improve them. As for improving the shipyards, well I would only make a few changes, I’d add thrusters and automatic harvesting ships, so you wouldn’t have to build them around the planet or hire cargo ships to harvest resources. It would significantly improve production and efficiency to move the shipyards wherever the resources are.”
“That makes sense, but not being local, means we must defend them, so give them some weapons too. Change the shipyard plans, I want these things up and running as fast as possible!”
“Kaleb, just so you know I'm going to make some new shipyards, but they will not be in our orbit. I'm going to build them near an asteroid belt, and they're going to have automatic harvesters. Being closer to the resources will reduce costs and speed up production,” Mark explained.
Kaleb asked stupendously, “Now why has no one else ever thought of that?”
Mark explained, “Likely because they didn't like the idea of having production facilities outside of our monitoring space, which is why I'm also giving them weapons.”
Kaleb was all smiles. “I am so glad we are on the same page. Finally, we can begin advancing the Federation again. Since we are talking about ships, will you be staying with Commander Topos on the Poseidon? I hear you made quite an impression on the crew!”
“I’m not sure if I need to have 250 crew with me all the time, I would think they’re going to get bored with all my little excursions.”
“That’s what they’re there for, if you’re not with them, they’ll still be on patrol, plus it's policy that wherever the King goes, a Defender goes with him.”
Mark thought for a second, “Well then, I guess the Poseidon will be my royal ship. I think we have a pretty good plan in place, is there anything else you want to talk about today?”
“No, my King! I think you've already read pretty much everything in my mind.”
“Thank you for your time, General!”
“No! Thank you, my King! I shall once again sleep well knowing the Federation is in excellent hands.”
***
Everyone was waiting in the central area for them to end the meeting. When the two of them exited Kaleb’s office, Angela smiled, “Dad I haven't seen you smile that big in yahren! I take it you had a productive meeting?”
Kaleb hugged his daughter and smiled, “Angela, I feel better now than I have in a long time… like we have lifted an immense weight off my shoulders. For the first time in a centahren, the Federation actually has a leader that listens and truly understands how things work!”
Liyana smiled, “That is good to hear, General Marsbe, would you mind if Samira contacts you for a statement?”
“Not at all,” he said with a smile, “I'm happy to support our King!”
“Unfortunately, we can't stick around,” Liyana conceded, “the King doesn't realize how many items are on his to-do list right now!”
Mark looked at Kaleb and joked, “Women are always so demanding and pushy!”
Everyone laughed as Annabelle pushed Mark to the hover elevator and they descended to the central band, then made their way back to the shuttle and finally back down to the palace.
Back at the palace, the girls went to check on Maren and were then going to go relax on the beach.
Half an hour later, Liyana’s reporter friend was flying in to the palace in a lift to get the scoop on the attack. Elisha and Gerald were there waiting to record the interview as well.
When they landed, Liyana introduced them, “Mark, this is Samira Amparo, a reporter for the Atlantean Federation News Network. Samira, this is Mark, sorry we didn’t have time to talk after the coronation, it got kind of hectic.”
Samira was an attractive woman, about 5-foot-7, brown skin, brown eyes, short black hair, firm looking C-cup breasts, but unlike Elisha and Gerald, Samira was alone, with a hovering camera bot that had a projector below the lens.
Elisha nudged Gerald. “Look it’s a more compact version of you,” pointing at the floating camera device.
Samira laughed, “Actually, I work with many people, they just work from the studio doing all the editing. The camera just follows me around until I indicate I’m ready and then they take control of the camera from there, it’s not self-aware.”
Gerald said, “You know, I’d actually be in favour of working like that! I’d still get to do my job, but I’d be part of a team and would get to go home to my family every day. The people at your studio take turns operating the camera right?”
Samira answered, “Yes, the studio team is quite busy, as they do all the editing for all the reporters.”
Liyana then interjected and suggested they do the interview in the palace, and that after the interview, Samira should get a statement from General Marsbe.
The group went into the palace and up to Mark’s room, where they decided Mark should sit at his desk for the interview. Samira, Elisha and Gerald got set up, then Samira started the interview.
’This is Samira Amparo from AFNN, I'm here at the palace with King Phoenix, who, I've just learned, has had a second attempt on his life, by the Prince, in as many days. Can you tell us what happened?’
’The coward must have figured we would imprison him at the palace, so he took the liberty to build some escape tunnels into the holding cells. Fortunately, we stumbled upon his secret hideout in the mountains earlier this afternoon. In exploring his lair, we found and rescued three young girls and recovered the remains of five other young girls, all of which had vanished from Carthas over the past year—err, yahren.’
Samira interrupted, “You mean the Prince was the one behind the disappearances, and then he killed those poor young girls?”
‘I’m afraid so Samira, him and his friends. When we found him missing, myself and some security personnel went to his hideout and waited for them.
He was extremely irate that we had found out about his plans and left as he blew up his hideout, with us in it! Then during his escape, he stabbed my pilot and pushed her off a cliff, stole our shuttle and fled in a cargo ship.
There is currently a Federation wide warrant and bounty for his capture, anyone found aiding them will be considered accomplices to his crimes.’
’Is your pilot OK?’
’She will be, thanks to Senator Marsbe, who knew how to pilot the shuttle at the palace. She and my friends were only a few minutes, err centons, behind us. They got her into the medibay in the securivac, while the others dug us out of the rubble. Unfortunately, the explosion killed four of the security with me and three of Sebastian’s men.’
’So where is the Prince now?’
’Well, he is no longer a Prince! He, along with the crew of the Phalynx, are now fugitives. They escaped with a cargo ship full of technology that we suspect they will try to sell to a non-federated planet. In his hideout, we uncovered that he had been selling our technology to non-federated planets and siphoning tax money into private accounts for years. We recovered over 400 billion credits that he had siphoned away.’
’That's a lot of credits, what are you going to do with that?’
’After meeting with some of my advisors, I've learned that our rescue, medical and security programs have had their budgets cut, fairly drastically, since he was in power. A lot of those credits are going to be used to bring our emergency services up to, what I would classify as, a necessary level to protect and serve every planet in the Federation.
We're also going to create grants and provide awards for research and development of technology that will benefit the Federation. We will donate anything that’s left to worthwhile causes needing funding.’
’So what's going to happen to the Pri… err Sebastian?’
’There is a bounty of a million credits for anyone that captures him alive, but I seriously doubt he will ever show his face on a Federated planet again. As for the Phalynx, there is an FWB out for it, they are to surrender or be destroyed.’
’Wow, you’ve had quite the first two days as King! What's next for our new King?’
’I’m not sure, but my advisors and assistant tell me there are lots of items on my to-do list, so I’m doing whatever they tell me to do, but I think we’ll be touring Atlanterra and then the other planets in the Federation.’
’Sounds like you have lots to do, thank you for your time today, my King! This is Samira Amparo signing off from the palace.’
After the interview, Liyana and Samira went off to talk, while Gerald packed away his camera and then went off to do some editing.
After a moment of uncertainty, Elisha asked, “Maybe it’s normal for Atlanteans, but I can't believe no one has asked how you survived the bomb, the cave in, or even the assassination attempt when you first got here? How did you do it? Are you a superhero or something?”
Mark laughed. “Definitely not a superhero, but Solara is pretty smart and, it’s because of her, that I’m safe. This belt I wear is a personal shield that she made. It's a small-scale version of what we use on a spaceship. It broadcasts an inertial dampening field around me and anything moving fast enough to hurt me gets stopped.
In the cave, it recognized an attack from all angles and created a hard shield, rather than just an inertial dampening field, which kept me in a bubble until they could rescue me. Fortunately, the girls weren't far behind, as the air in the bubble wouldn’t have lasted for very long.”
Elisha looked at him forlorn. “You really are amazing! Before we left, I looked into your history. It’s pretty remarkable! You owned and operated a successful IT business, which only fell apart because of some poor employees. Then your wife left you and you moved out to the ranch to retire, only to stumble across some aliens. They put you into a medibay, which restored your youth and caused you to get imprisoned for almost two months. Then more aliens show up and declare you the King to billions of citizens across eleven planets!
You should write a book about it! You have had to deal with changes far beyond anything probably any other human has had to deal with, then add in traumatic experiences like two assassination attempts and you are still calm and collected. How do you do it?”
Mark smiled, got up from the desk and walked out onto the patio to look at the girls down at the beach, “I've surrounded myself with smart beautiful women.”
Elisha laughed from behind him, as she undid her dress and let it fall to the floor. “So, the reason for your success is you've got cute, fuckable women around you?”
Mark laughed. “Well, if you’re going to word it that way…” as he turned around and saw the stunning blonde reporter, standing there in her birthday suit.
Mark raised an eyebrow as he approached the blonde, but as he reached her, she jumped up and wrapped her legs around him and they kissed passionately. Mark grabbed her ass as he carried her over to the bed and laid her down. That was when their kiss finally broke as he moved his mouth down to her firm C-cup breasts and began sucking on her pink nipples. One hand roamed up to massage the other breast, while the other hand found a very wet pussy.
Mark dipped a couple of fingers into her slick sex, then brought them up to spread pussy juice all over her nipple, which he then licked clean. His hand returned to her pussy and his fingers soon located her g-spot and began applying some pressure to the sensitive area inside of her. Soon Elisha grabbed his hand and held it there while her body spasmed in orgasm.
Once her orgasm subsided, she got up off the bed and started stripping Mark’s clothes off, leaving his underwear for last, as she got down on her knees to remove those. Letting his already hard cock pop out in front of her. She stared in awe at his huge tattooed phallus, as she slowly started stroking it.
“Wow, I can see why all the girls make such a fuss over you. This big boy looks like fun!” She said as she smiled and licked her lips, before opening her mouth and taking Mark’s cock in.
After a couple of minutes of fellatio, Elisha stood up, still holding Mark’s cock, laid back on the bed and guided the head of his cock to her pussy.
Mark applied a bit of pressure and her bare nether lips made an audible smack, as they opened up to accept him into her hot steamy depths. He slowly slid all the way in until his balls rested against her puckered asshole. Elisha breathed in slowly during the entire penetration, before finally whispering “Oh wow!” as she felt his balls on her ass.
Mark smiled and said, “Wow, you’re tight!” as he slowly fucked in and out of her.
After a couple of minutes of slow fucking and kissing, Elisha wrapped her legs around Mark, which he read as she wanted to change positions, so he grabbed her ass and lifted her off the bed while still managing their slow fuck.
He laid down, with her on top, and she picked up the pace of their fucking.
From this vantage point, Mark had an incredible view of her perfect breasts bouncing in front of his face. He couldn’t help but hold them, suck them and pinch the nipples.
Elisha started slamming her groin into Mark’s, as if trying to get him deeper inside. Mark just smiled and said, “Would you like a bit more?” as his cock tingled. As soon as she felt him growing, she sat still and felt his cock expand. She inhaled another huge breath as the head of his cock lightly pressed against her cervix.
Elisha just smiled and tried to relax, as her pussy got accustomed to being so thoroughly filled. Soon, she resumed fucking herself up and down on his cock. It took a little longer before she climaxed, which caused her pussy to clamp down tight on Mark’s cock triggering his own orgasm, as he pumped hot cum deep inside her.
Elisha stayed impaled on him, panting. She groaned as she felt the pressure on her cervix dissipate as his cock shrank back to its normal size, which was still firmly inside her.
Just then Annabelle plopped down on the bed beside them, “That looked hot! I was wondering how long it was going to take before one of you got to the other! There was a bet on this, who made the first move?”
Elisha laughed, “I couldn’t help myself!”
Annabelle looked at Rayven, who was standing near the foot of the bed. “Damn, you won!”
Mark saw Rayven move behind Elisha. Mark’s cock started hardening, and he started to fuck Elisha again, causing the blonde to moan. Annabelle slipped her hand down to their union and collected some of their mixed cum that had leaked out. Then reached around to use it as lube to work a couple of fingers into Elisha’s ass. When she withdrew her fingers, she continued to rub her tight asshole. Rayven took that as a signal to proceed, so she stepped up and pressed her cock to Elisha’s puckered asshole and slowly slid in.
Elisha moaned as Rayven sunk in until her balls were resting against Mark’s. The two slowly began fucking the reporter who was now watching Annabelle as she was lying on the bed beside them, masturbating and giving them a magnificent view of her bald pink pussy.
Mark began massaging the breasts bouncing in front of his face, as Elisha had extended her hand and was working a couple of fingers in and out of Annabelle. Annabelle soon helped her add a third finger and as Annabelle got more turned on, she prompted her to add a fourth finger.
Rayven had picked up the pace and was obviously nearing her climax. Annabelle saw this, as she helped Elisha tuck her thumb under and insert her whole fist into Annabelle’s pussy, which made a loud smack as her hand slid in to her wrist.
Elisha stared in awe as Annabelle’s pussy stretched around her hand. After a few tentative pumps and realizing Annabelle was not in any pain, she fist fucked the teenager.
Rayven soon reached her tipping point and announced her orgasm as she squirted into Elisha’s ass, this triggered Elisha and Mark’s orgasms, as Mark began pumping what cum he had left into the reporter.
Annabelle then had an idea, as she eased Elisha's hand out, then whispered something which made Elisha grin.
Annabelle laid down and pulled her legs up behind her shoulders. Elisha then extracted herself from Mark and Rayven and squatted over Annabelle’s pussy, which was still gaping open from being fisted. Everyone watched as Mark’s cum leaked out of Elisha’s pussy and into Annabelle’s.
When the cum stopped, Elisha turned around and slipped her fist back into the now cum filled pussy, and began fisting her vigorously. After a minute, Annabelle started cumming as her pussy squeezed Elisha’s hand.
Once her orgasm subsided, Elisha slowly withdrew her hand although Annabelle’s pussy lips gripped and stretched not wanting to let go. Finally, it released Elisha’s hand and Rayven immediately dove in and began licking Annabelle’s pussy clean.
Mark then laughed and said, “See what I mean? What guy wouldn’t want to come home every night to have fun with a bunch of sexy women?”
Cricket then told Mark. “Maren is just about out of the medibay.”
Everyone gathered around the securivac as the timer on the bed was about to expire.
When the clock ran out, the bed opened up and Mark started gently talked to her. He remembered how disorienting it was when he woke up, so he talked her through the stages.
She recovered faster than Mark thought she would, but as soon as she was able, she hugged Mark as she broke down and cried.
“What’s wrong?” Mark asked.
“Nothing, I’m just happy we are both alive! The last thing I remember was the Prince stabbing me and pushing me off the cliff and then seeing the cave had collapsed on you. All I could think about was how much I loved you.”
“I love you too!” Mark said as he gave her a passionate kiss.
“How did you survive?” Maren questioned.
“Cricket had made some modifications to the belts. When it detects an explosion, it actually creates a solid shield, rather than just an inertial dampening field, so it more or less trapped us in a bubble under all the rocks. Fortunately, the girls were close behind, so they got you into the medibay, while everyone else dug Gyges and I out.”
For the rest of the evening and the night, Maren wouldn’t leave Mark’s side. That night Rayven and Annabelle slept in Maren’s room, while Maren stayed with Mark. They made slow passionate love until they both fell asleep in each other's arms.
Atlanterra
Now that it looked like things were settling down, Mark wanted to get some insight into how everyday life was for most citizens.
Angela suggested that everyone come to her home, since it was time she returned, anyway.
She tapped a couple of icons on her wrist and ordered a lift. Liyana, Gyges and Maren opted to stay at the palace to plan the next steps, whereas Candy and Laruun volunteered to stay behind since they were going to return home, anyway. Mark, Annabelle, Rayven, Solara, T’Soona, Elisha, Gerald and Angela were the only ones going.
The lift arrived, and it looked very much like a shuttle, except no fold down wings, no tail fin and no ramp just two small doors at the back that opened like a bus, with a bus-like sign above it with MARSBE displayed on it.
Inside there was no cockpit, just a U-shaped padded bench that wrapped around the vehicle and tinted windows all around, except for the back
Once they were in the lift, Angela’s list of preset favourites popped up on the display, so she just selected ’HOME’ and the lift rose off the ground. As it sped up, it increased altitude, but because of the inertial dampeners you really felt nothing.
This was the first time experiencing a lift, so there were lots of questions about how the lift system worked and how safe was it, etc.
Angela explained, “Every location on the planet is addressed by parallels and meridians and the lift system uses the baselines as the routes. The north-south lines run north on odds and south on evens at an altitude of 750 metres. The east-west lines run east on odds and west on evens, but at an altitude of 700 metres. You change altitudes as you turn corners. The lifts travel at 1,000 km per centar, so it is going to take just over 2 centares to get to my home.
When you get within the municipal boundary of a city, you decelerate and descend closer to the surface. Then if you were using public transit, it would drop you off at the transit terminal, but because I booked this as a private lift, it’ll take us right to my house.”