Magellan

Mark woke up at his usual time, along with the sun, and extracted himself from between Rayven and Annabelle. Took care of his morning ablutions, then went up to his office to get his morning coffee and look through the daily reports.

As soon as he sat down, Cricket notified him that during the night, one of the new sensor beacons detected a habitable planet. It was the one that she predicted had the greatest chance of success, since it was the closest one to the area that they were found and it lined up with their direction of drift.

Not wanting to get hopes up, and end up travelling from one side of the universe to the other, he messaged the Destroyer from Earth, since they were the closest, and sent them off in the direction of the new find. They would reach it in roughly three days time.

With no other attention worthy items in the reports, he took his coffee and wandered out to the balcony to check up on the breakfast club.

As if on cue, Beth flipped the covers off, exposing her nude teen body to Mark’s eyes. She came to the window and looked to the balcony outside his office. Once she saw him, she did some wake up stretches in front of her window. It was nice to watch a nubile young teenager doing nude exercises ... it gets the blood pumping!

Once everyone had finished their showers and gotten dressed they went downstairs where Cordero, Liyana, Gyges, Laruun and Marta were sitting around and drinking their morning beverages. Once their drinks were gone and the cups put in the recycler, they left the residence in search of breakfast at the meal pavilion.

It was during breakfast that Mark informed everyone that the sensor beacons had detected a potentially habitable planet in the area that was closest to where Shanda and Cordero were found. He then said not to get their hopes up until it could be verified and that he had sent the closest ship, but it would take them a few days to reach that system.

Cordero said, “I can handle a few more days here, Atlantis is like being on vacation. True, my family is probably worried about me, but the prospect of returning home means we’ll likely be questioned and quarantined for a few days. Partially because of the accident, but also because we’ve interacted with other species.”

Shanda then smiled, “I have full faith that they will find our home and I hope when they bring us back, that our planet considers joining the Federation! If they don’t want to join the Federation, can I join the Federation?”

Mark smiled, “I hope they consider joining the Federation also, but even if they don’t, we will establish an embassy there, so that people can choose for themselves whether they want to stay on Magellan or emigrate to a federated planet.”

The first evening they went and saw a movie followed by a sports bar and the second night was a soccer match featuring Acropolis against Autokthon. Unfortunately Autokthon was one of the weaker teams, so the game wasn’t as exciting as the other one.

As the game finished, Mark reminded them that sometime tomorrow the ship should reach that system.

The next morning, as Mark had just finished going through his morning reports, he received a message from Captain Kôté and the Destroyer they sent to investigate. The message included a bunch of pictures of the planet and, since they detected no other space traffic, they had taken a cloaked shuttle down to get some closer views of some of the cities and the more unique buildings on the daytime side of the planet.

Mark thanked them, told them to keep monitoring and to stay cloaked until he could verify if this was Magellan or not.

Mark just relaxed on a lounge chair drinking his coffee and Cordero soon joined him on the balcony with his coffee. Mark showed him the images he had been sent and Cordero immediately confirmed it was Magellan. He pointed out one building, that looked like a castle, and said it was the government building in Aspona, the capital city where they lived.

As everyone else eventually made their way out to the balcony, the images were shown to all and Shanda reiterated pretty much exactly what Cordero had said moments before.

Mark notified Captain Kôté that the planet was, in fact, Magellan and he gave them the go-ahead to reveal themselves, make contact and inform them that they had rescued Cordero and Shanda, they were both in good health and that they would be delivered home in a few days.

Mark then informed Commander Topos, that they had found Magellan and that they would be coming up after breakfast to take them home.

Liyana notified Samira, who came for a quick interview with the visitors, as well as Mark, before they departed for Magellan.

Everyone ate breakfast and the only people coming with Mark on this trip was Rayven, Liyana and Athena. Liyana had felt guilty that she hadn’t been there when Athos joined, because her primary duty was as an ambassador and Gyges felt Athena didn’t really get to go on a mission since it was pretty much just a retrieval.

As they boarded the Poseidon, which was now docked to a new Sentinel, Mark got a call from Captain Kôté, “Sir, we’ve revealed ourselves and made contact like you requested. They asked if we could provide video evidence that they are OK.”

“That’s an odd request, unless they either think we’re bluffing or holding their people for ransom. Can you contact them and patch the call through to the Poseidon?”

“We’ll try! They’re pretty stirred up about something.”

Mark assembled everyone in the boardroom and a couple of minutes later there was two people on the other end of the call, one was Captain Kôté and the other was from Magellan.

Cordero and Shanda recognized the man immediately, and Cordero greeted him, “Director Rosen, nice to see you sir!”

“Cordero! Shanda! It’s good to see you both! We had been told you were killed!”

“Who told you that?”

“Right when you disappeared, another ship appeared in the same vicinity. They said your ship collided with one of theirs and that both ships were destroyed. If we didn’t find some way to compensate them for the loss of 10,000 men plus the ship, that they were just going to treat it as an act of war and attack!”

Mark then interjected, “Director Rosen, my name is Mark Phoenix, King of the Atlantean Federation. Do you have an image of the people that made that threat?”

The director pulled up a tablet with a picture of the Empire leader they had let survive the attack at Athos.

“Sir, those guys call themselves ‘The Empire’ and they’ve caused issues on many occasions, they like to bully and use intimidation tactics and if they don’t get what they want ... they won’t hesitate to attack, especially if they think they have the upper hand. They are bluffing as you can see!” Mark said as he gestured toward Shanda and Cordero.

He then continued, “Captain Kôté is in orbit around your planet now. They will remain there and be on the lookout for the Empire. We are bringing your people and your ship back to you, we should arrive in three days.”

“I look forward to meeting you and seeing the return of our people. What do we do if they show up before you get here?”

“Well, I can’t see him forgetting what happened the last time he tried to attack a Federation ship, so if he sees one of our ships, I would hope he’s smart enough to turn back!”

Mark then looked at the Captain, “Captain Kôté, you saw the report of what we did on Athos, correct?”

“Yes sir!”

“Well, if they show up, tell them that Magellan is under the protection of the Atlantean Federation. Then do something similar to what we did at Athos, using cloaked fighters. Try not to engage them in battle, unless they fire first, then it’s open season!”

“Yes sir, anything else sir?”

“That’s all for now, we’ll see you in three days. Be safe!”

The call then ended and Mark gave the Commander the OK to get underway.

Three days later the Poseidon was approaching Magellan. It was a very Earth-like looking planet with 6 distinct land masses all surrounded by oceans.

Captain Kôté contacted them immediately, “There are some ships are hiding in the asteroid belt, we’re just keeping an eye on them.”

Commander Topos redirected the Poseidon to where Captain Kôté was. Sure enough hiding amongst an asteroid belt between Magellan and the next planet was a dozen Empire ships moving slowly around in the belt without exiting.

They contacted Magellan and said they were there to be compensated for the destruction of their ship and the loss of 10,000 men. It was an open broadcast, so the Atlantean ships could link into it, so suddenly the leader was looking at the Director and Mark.

Mark smiled and waved, “Hi again, remember me?”

“What are you doing here, we found this planet, it’s ours!”

The Director said angrily, “It is not yours! Besides you lied to us! These nice people from the Atlantean Federation have returned our people and our ship completely unharmed, so if you lost a ship, that’s your problem!”

Mark thought, “Cricket, cloak and deploy all the drones and surround each ship with at least 10 and put the rest between them and the planet.“

The leader scowled when his bluff was called, “So, is this planet going to join your pathetic Federation too?”

Mark shook his head, “I have no idea, we just got here and haven’t discussed anything yet, but that is a possibility I plan to discuss.”

“So you’re going to defend this planet, when they aren’t even part of your Federation?”

“Of course! The Federation will always defend those that can’t defend themselves. I’m not sure if Magellan can defend itself or not, but since I don’t see any other ships here, I’m just assuming they can’t.”

“You pathetic dreamers, you only have two ships today, we have you outnumbered! Surrender!”

“Are you really that stupid? Don’t you remember what happened on Athos, we only had 3 ships there? By the way, how did your superiors react, when you were the only ship that returned from that epic failed attack?”

The leader was visibly angry, but was trying hard to keep control, finally another Empire guy came onto the call. “My apologies for my brother in arms. After his failure at Athos, he was offering this planet to appease our lords.”

The Director was just watching everything that was happening, but wisely staying out of the conversation, even though Mark could tell he really wanted to say something.

“I’m sorry, but just because a planet has no defence against attacks from space, that doesn’t give you the right to just come in and subjugate them by force!”

“It gives us every right! If they cannot defend their planet, then they are weak! Because we are technologically superior and strong ... we should rule them!”

Mark just shook his head in disbelief, then held up one hand, “So let me see if I understand ... you find a planet, you attack it for no reason and, if they can’t fight back or you beat them ... you declare yourselves their rulers and subjugate them. Is that the way it works?”

“Yeah that’s how we do it!”

“So how many worlds do you ‘rule’?” Mark said, miming the air quotes.

“The Empire consists of 4 planets! How big is your feeble Federation?”

Mark made the motions of pretending to count on all his fingers, and once he reached ten he shrugged his shoulders and said, “I don’t know, more than that though!”

Mark saw the look on the new leader’s face as he was trying to figure out how to find more planets, so Mark decided to crush his dream, “I have an idea! Based on your way of doing things ... why don’t you take us to your planet?”

“Why? So you can surrender and join us?”

Mark had a big grin on his face, “No! I want to attack you and, when we win, we’ll take over and rule you!”

The fact that Mark said it with a smile and not a hint of fear, told the new leader that he should proceed with caution.

Mark then stated, “Eventually we will find your planet ... in fact, all of your planets. So you could save us all some time and just take us there.”

“What do you want with our worlds?”

“Absolutely nothing! My goal is just to make sure any people living on them are able to live safe, happy and prosperous lives, free of war and oppression ... Come on guys, take us to your leaders!”

They were taking a long time to respond to that remark, so Mark then thought, “Cricket, you have full authority to destroy any ship that fires at us, but they have to fire first!”

Since they didn’t seem to know what to say or do, Mark said, “Well? What’s it going to be boys? I only see three options ... you can return home empty handed, you can take us back home with you, or you can try attacking and be destroyed. Make your choice!”

Eventually the ships moved forward out of the asteroid belt, they still hadn’t said anything. Finally the new leader said, “Let the Director talk!”

When the Director was front and centre on the call, “Your people are weak and could use strong leadership, we can provide you with that leadership.”

The Director laughed, “We’re fine just as we are, thanks, but if we had to pick a strong and powerful leader, we would have to choose the Federation, they seem to be the strongest between you two.”

“Pathetic!” was all the leader said, as nodded his head and they turned their ships and started moving away.

Mark instructed Captain Kôté to cloak and follow them as far as they could. Once they got past the asteroid belt, the Empire ships started jumping into faster than light. Captain Kôté moved under the last ship and attached his ship to the underside of the massive starship, just in front of the engines. When the ship jumped, they were taken along for the ride.

Realizing what they had done, Mark had Cricket sending beacon seeding ships in the exact direction they left, hoping they were too arrogant and stupid to do short course altering jumps, before picking their final destination.

Mark spoke to the Director, “Sir, we’ll be in orbit and have your people and ship returned soon.”

“Thank you, we’ll see you soon,” the Director said as the call ended.

They boarded one of the shuttles and used a tractor beam shuttle to carry their ship down to the surface where Cordero said they should go, which was the space centre.

It was a secured location, but they figured that they probably had nothing that the Federation hasn’t already got or seen.

As they landed, there was a number of security guards present, as well as the Director.

Mark extended his hand in greeting, “Director Rosen, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. I’m Mark Phoenix of the Atlantean Federation.”

The Director shook his hand, “I am so very grateful that you showed up when you did.”

“Captain Kôté could’ve handled them on his own without our help, but we were happy to assist, plus the first Empire guy knows me.”

“Where is Captain Kôté? I would very much like to thank him as well.”

“Now that we are here, Captain Kôté and his crew have departed on a mission. We will relay your thanks when we see him next.”

“He followed them didn’t he?”

“Yes ... he did! When they said they had 4 worlds, we owe it to those people to make sure they’re being treated properly.”

As they walked across the concrete roadway or runway towards a building that looked like an airport control tower, they could tell the Director was thinking deeply about something, but not voicing whatever he was thinking. When they were almost to the building he felt he should explain what was waiting inside.

“The Magellan Space Agency is a globally owned cooperative with no single nation having more say or power than any other. After the threat a few days ago, the heads of every nation have been here discussing things. So all of the leaders of our entire planet are inside, and though I was the only one in the video, they were all witness to what just happened.”

“That’s good to know. Thank you Director!” Mark said as they entered the building and went directly past security and to the elevators, but instead of going up, the Director pressed the B button and the elevator started moving down ... and it went down a long way!

“Cricket, you have a drone following me right?“

“Yes, two of them actually!“

When the elevator doors opened, they hopped in a cart type vehicle and it started down a long corridor. Mark thought it was probably a massive underground circle as the corridor seemed to have a constant curve to the right.

The cart stopped at a door that looked a lot like a vault.

When it opened up there was another hallway that opened into a luxurious, three level almost hotel-like residence with six sides and hallways down each corner.

There were four men and two women waiting inside and there were several other men, women and children on the second floor balcony that surrounded the area. Everyone was dark skinned, although there was some different shades, but no one looked Caucasian.

A bald man with very dark skin and yellow eyes greeted them, smiled and said, “You probably have some questions about where you are!”

Mark returned the greeting and said, “Not really!”

The man raised an eyebrow, smiled and said, “Entertain me, tell me what you see then!”

Mark explained, “This is an underground fallout shelter. The fountain in the middle is likely tied into a deep well and you’re probably using it for drinking water as well as hydronic heating and cooling. Down one or more of the hallways in each of the corners is probably a greenhouse so you can grow food, and the fans on the roof are keeping the recycled air moving so it doesn’t get stagnant.

I imagine since you are a fairly peace loving planet, no nation spent money building their own shelter, but when you came together to create the space agency, you decided, since there was the possibility of discovering other life that may not be nice, you may need a safe space. The significance of the six sides would be each nation has one side, and the people on the balconies are families that are important to your nations.”

Everyone, including Mark’s own people, were amazed that he had determined that after seeing the facility for only a few seconds.

The man eventually nodded, “Uhh yes, that’s pretty much it exactly! You are very observant!”

He introduced himself as John Baker, then went on to introduce Kurt Brand, Jerome Imlan, Russell White, Greta Harber and Katelyn Cross.

Mark introduced himself and the rest of the people with him, Liyana, Athena, Rayven and Maren.

With introductions done, the Director ushered everyone toward the boardroom on the other side of the fountain.

The boardroom table was a massive round table that could probably seat 20 people or more. The Director sat at what was probably his usual chair and the six leaders started toward what was probably their usual chairs, but after a moment of indecision, decided to sit beside the Director. Mark sat down directly across from the Director, and everybody with him spread out on either side. Shanda and Cordero remained standing near the entrance.

The Director brought the meeting to order by asking Shanda and Cordero to walk them through what happened.

Cordero took the lead and went through what happened, “The launch was perfect, we performed a few maneuvers, testing the new lateral thrusters for steering, that went perfect, then we found our direction, increased our thrusters to max and engaged the FTL drive.

We were blinded by a bright flash and suddenly Magellan was gone, our ship was out of power and we had no idea where we were. Nothing was responding and we realized that the batteries would only maintain life support for a couple of days, at most, since there was no nearby sun to recharge them.

That was when the King communicated with us and asked if we needed help. He said he was just over a day away, so we did what we could to conserve battery power. It still didn’t quite last, so when the batteries died, we had no heat and only about 6 hours of air left.

We ate our remaining food to give our bodies fuel and wrapped ourselves in blankets, but it just got so cold and we must’ve passed out from lack of oxygen, hypothermia or both.

When we woke up, we were in medical beds aboard their ship. They accessed our computer and calculated a few potential directions and said they would start looking for our home.

In the meantime, they took us to one of their planets and we got to do some sightseeing for a couple of days, while they tried to locate Magellan. Captain Kôté sent back some pictures, we confirmed what they were and then they brought us home.”

The Director asked Shanda, “Is that an accurate report or do you have anything to add?”

Shanda stood at attention and said, “The report was completely accurate! The King saved us!”

“Thank you for the reports and we’re glad you’re back and OK! You are dismissed.”

Greta spoke up, “Actually, I think they should sit in on this meeting. They’re the only ones that can compare our way of life to theirs.”

The Director waved towards a couple of chairs and asked them to stay and observe, unless asked a direct question.

The Director looked at each of the leaders, as if asking them who wants to start, but all each of them did was nod their head, so he turned to Mark, “What’s involved with joining your Federation? What do you want from us and what do we get out of it?”

Everyone was surprised that was what they wanted to open the meeting with!

Mark looked at Liyana who then started to go through one of her ambassadorial speeches, but they cut her off, “No offence Miss. I’m sure you have a very well practiced speech, but are any of the others here from other planets that have joined your Federation, we would rather hear an off-the-cuff report from them. Rayven, Athena, Maren and Mark put up their hands.

They looked at Mark with confusion, then the Director asked, “Aren’t you their King? How could you be from a planet that’s joined the Federation?”

Mark explained, “Actually Director, my planet hasn’t even fully joined the Federation yet! On my planet the only foothold the Federation has is an island nation called Atlantis, which is where we took Cordero and Shanda.”

“Please call me Trent, we’ll hear about the island and your story later, it sounds rather confusing. Miss Rayven, you had your hand up, could you please tell us about your planet?”

Rayven explained that Atria joined the Federation just over 10 years ago. She explained life on Atria, before, and then after, the Federation. Construction, food and water were the main reasons her planet joined, but they now have trade and tourism, better living conditions, education, medical and an incredible transportation system. They also have better security, although planetary security isn’t an issue, like it is on most planets, since almost their entire civilization is subterranean.

Jerome asked, “So your planet has no regrets at all about joining the Federation?”

“Of course not! Before the Federation, literally everyone on the planet just dug and built things out of rock, now we have more leisure time and thanks to the Federation we have a good tourism economy. Atria is home to a number of golf courses, casinos and we’re even starting to develop on the surface.”

Katelyn then asked, “Shanda, Cordero you spent a few days among them on their island. What are your opinions on joining their Federation?”

Shanda answered first, “We only saw a small bit of one island, but I was blown away by their society. The cities were clean, the air was not polluted, everyone flew in public transit to get around. They’re also very relaxed and have free public meals, so you get to see lots of people everyday and no one goes hungry. The most amazing thing was, despite all the different species, everyone just seems to get along.”

Russell asked, “So what’s the process if we want to join your Federation?”

Mark then added, “We have two ways of joining the Federation, the slow traditional way or the fast probationary way.

The slow way, we send specialists in transportation, construction, medical, communication, finance, legal, education and security to work alongside their counterparts on this planet. Then each department learns what you have and then comes up with a transition plan. It’s usually 3 to 6 months of watching, then they suggest changes and it’s a year or two to implement and tweak.

With Athos, a recent addition to the Federation, it was a bit different. They were desperate to join, because they had already been at war with the Empire for over 150 years, and were on the verge of losing their war. Their entire planet literally wanted to join as fast as possible. So we came up with the idea of a probationary period.”

Katelyn said, “Well after what just happened, if you hadn’t shown up, I don’t think any of us would still be here. So I think we’re inclined to go the probationary route. What’s involved with that?”

Mark then explained, “The probationary way is faster, more or less we setup a security station in space and at least one outreach centre in every town. Those outreach centres provide information, medical, food, water and clothing as well as they function as transportation hubs for the public transit system between the outreach centres.

We give you a month or two to get used to our laws and then our laws become enforced. Your own security forces are welcome to go through an abbreviated training course and then they are paired with regular Federation security. Then, at a predetermined date, we hold a planet-wide vote, where the public chooses whether to stay in the Federation or not.

If they vote to stay in the Federation ... they also get to vote who their senators are and we can begin to implement other technologies to help you live in harmony with your planet, such as power, construction, recycling, communication and education. If they choose NOT to stay in the Federation, we simply remove the outreach centres and any technology we gave you and leave you be.

On most planets, as long as the leader has been a good leader, they’re usually elected as their senator. Rayven’s father is a good example of that, he was the king of their people and he gave up his palace and staff for the good of the people and now he’s been re-elected as a senator a couple of times and lives in the community just like everyone else.”

Greta said, “So, you meant it when you said you wanted nothing from their planets?”

Mark smiled, “That is true, the goal of the Federation is to make sure that people everywhere can live happy, healthy, productive lives in harmony with their planets, free from war and oppression.

Even if Magellan chooses not to join the Federation, we welcome the opportunity to setup an embassy, where we can market whatever services you may need help with, plus you could open your planet to trade and tourism, which could help your economy.”

Kurt then asked, “So what are usually the biggest hurdles, when most planets join your Federation?”

Liyana tried to explain, “Every planet has been different, for some the biggest hurdle is our laws and security, for others it’s religion, or lack thereof, for others it’s the systems we offer that end up putting thousands of people out of work or planets that have large labor unions. Without knowing the status quo here, I can’t determine where the hurdles may lie.”

Jerome looked like he was concerned and said, “That’s what I’m worried about, we spent a lot of money designing this space agency, which employs thousands of people and here you come along and the agency really isn’t even needed anymore and there are a lot of unions on the planet. Just curious, but how come unions are an issue?”

Liyana explained, “We understand what a union is supposed to do, but over time, most unions become a cancer to business productivity and profitability ... not all, but most. They usually reduce productivity and they create a hierarchy that stifles advancement of the business, you get a lot of ‘that’s not my job’ and they wait until someone arrives, all to perform a simple task that anyone could do. As such, unions are actually illegal in the Federation ... but they’re also not needed, as most people get over the loss of their full-time job or a union quickly, when they realize their taxes are easily paid with a few hours of work per year and much of what they currently spend money on is now provided to them for free. Most people happily take up sports, hobbies and other recreational activities in exchange for not having to work as much as before ... in most of the Federation, people just work part-time.”

Jerome asked for clarification, “What do you provide for free to everyone?”

Liyana listed off, “Food, water and clothing are free, as is education, medical, power, recycling, public transportation and communications.”

Katelyn laughed, “That’s pretty much everything people spend money on. So in the Federation, why do people work, if all that is provided for free?”

Liyana answered, “People tend to not want to be like everybody else, they want fancier houses or clothes, they want to eat at restaurants every now and then, they want to travel, play sports or do other hobbies that require money. The Federation frowns upon freeloaders and promotes having an active lifestyle, not just sitting around doing nothing all the time and being an active member of your community.”