Chapter 21

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?”