Chapter 42

During the walk back to the palace, Mark’s received a message from Captain Kôté saying he had news and to call when it was convenient.

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

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

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

Mark started, “Captain Kôté, you requested that I call. Has there been a recent development?”

“We’re still cloaked and have just been monitoring their ship to ship communications. It sounds like they have an Atlantean named, ‘Mark’, oddly enough, that has been helping them build ships with magical technology.

If ‘Mark’ is Sebastian, that would explain how the Empire has gotten so many ships so fast—they must be using construx.”

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

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

“Hmmm, I wonder if he caused their divisiveness? We won’t know until we talk to them.”

“Do you want me to reveal ourselves to them?”

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

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

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

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

The Captain saluted and said, “Thank You, my King and Queen! I will let the crew know and I’ll talk to you soon.”

Once the call disconnected, Annabelle then spoke up, “So I guess we know where Sebastian went!”

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

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

“Do we have any plans of attack once it arrives?”

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

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

“Yes, that would be the escalation path,” Cricket said with a bit of worry on her face.

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

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

They went to the transit stop. Called a lift and 30 centons later they were landing at the ranch, but there was only Lydia and the girls around. After talking to them, they learned that some group came in from Europe and were doing the overnight trip up to the Meteor Plateau.

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

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

Annabelle said, “I’ve never been to Poseidon’s Garden yet, lets go check it out.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After the meal, they returned to the palace and just relaxed, still stuffed from their meal, which everyone inquired about and vowed to check out soon. They stayed in the palace and watched a movie before eventually going to bed.

The next day was just relaxing around Acropolis and waiting.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Captain said, “Glad to see the Sentinel, my King!,” then as he studied the view surrounding Mark, “You aren’t actually here though, are you?”

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

The Captain saluted, “Good hunting, sir!”

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

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

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

Mark simply asked, “Why are you attacking?”

The Agonoid leader just responded, “You are imperfect, we came to make you perfect, as we cannot tolerate imperfection.”

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

The two Agonoid ships must have triggered a self-destruct or something as they both exploded with no further communication. No one had fired on it and there didn’t appear to be any external punctures or fires on the hull, so it had to be internally triggered.

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

The leader was a fit looking rugged man, with thick eyebrows and a buzz-cut hairstyle. He kind of reminded Mark of G.I. Joe.

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

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

I gave them many chances to turn around, and half your ships were smart enough to retreat, but the others didn’t and they paid with their lives. It pained me to do it, but the survival of the planet was at stake. They had already lost hundreds of millions of citizens.”

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

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

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

The President was shocked as he collected himself, “I owe you an apology, King Phoenix. My name is Zyton. Please accept my apology and my invitation to sit down and talk in a cordial and respectful manner. Master Morlan, could you please attend and any other Masters labelled as ‘traitors’ by Ragnor?”

Mark responded, “I accept your apology, however I’m afraid that I cannot sit down and meet with you, I’m actually on my home planet. I have another ship on the way to you and they have an Ambassador on board. However, if you wish to have our meeting like this, it’s OK with me.”

They were both totally surprised, “You’re controlling that big ship remotely?”

Mark just nodded the affirmative and smiled.

Zyton said, “Well, since we’re breaking new ground, I’m OK with trying to have a meeting this way. Shall I be the moderator and we raise our hands to speak?”

Mark and Morlan agreed on that format, so Zyton asked Morlan to explain the Empire.

Morlan started his explanation, “This is only what I’ve heard from others that have been with the Empire far longer than I have, I cannot confirm if it is all true.

Around 150 rotations ago, Norlgar, Ragnor’s father, encountered some Athosian ships out among the stars. He tricked them into a meeting to find their planet and then attacked them just for fun.

Athos has never been the militant aggressor planet we have made them out to be. From what I understand, Norlgar and his friends visited the planet on a fairly regular basis and traded shots with the little Athosian ships, then before they took too much damage, they would retreat and make repairs, claiming that the Athosians attacked them.

Then a few moons ago they ran into King Phoenix and the Federation at Athos. From what I heard, the King gave them plenty of opportunity to retreat, but they attacked anyway and a single shot from one of the larger Federation ships took out Norlgar’s ship.

That was around the time that Mark guy came to our planet with those construction devices. Ragnor saw Mark and his construction devices as a path to destroy Athos and avenge his father. So he made up the story about the Athosians having new weapons and that they were more a threat now than they ever were and that we needed that Mark guy and his devices to build up the fleet.”

Mark put up his hand, so Morlan suspended his explanation, and President Zyton asked Mark to speak.

Mark had Cricket display the wanted poster for Sebastian and asked, “Pardon my interruption, but is this the man you know as Mark?”

Both Zyton and Morlan nodded the affirmative, so Mark set the record straight, “This man’s name is Sebastian. He is wanted across the Federation and even on some non-federated planets for a murder, abduction, theft and a host of other crimes. He’s even tried to assassinate me ... twice!

I just wanted to set the record straight about Sebastian and confirm my suspicions about how you got so many ships so fast. Please continue Master Morlan.”

Zyton gestured for Morlan to continue, so Morlan picked up where he left off.

“So after Norlgar’s demise, Ragnor and his cronies with Mar ... err, Sebastian’s guidance and council, had built 100 ships and have taken control of the Empire. I’ve heard they recently found a planet and have enslaved the people there. Sadly, I do not know where this new planet is, I’ve just heard this from a friend of mine who is a technician on another ship.”

Zyton said, “Please hang on, I’m going to call Ragnor.”

Morlan and Mark waited silently as the president made the call and eventually Ragnor answered, “President Zyton, this is a surprise!”

Zyton simply asked, “I’ve heard from multiple parties now that the entire story about Athos was in fact a lie and that we were the aggressors all along! Then, with the recent attack by the Agonoids, why did you not defend our planet? Explain yourself!”

Ragnor seemed nervous as he frantically glanced to someone off screen is if asking what should he say. Suddenly a shot rang out and Ragnor fell down and out of the view, as Sebastian took his place.

Zyton asked, “Sebastian, what is the meaning of this?”

Sebastian smiled, “Ah, so you know my real name. I’m guessing someone from the Federation has talked to you?”

Zyton was visibly upset, “Yes they have. At least they came to our aid when we were being attacked by the Agonoids. Why weren’t the rest of our ships here to defend us?”

Sebastian smiled, “They are no longer your ships, they’re mine, in fact, the entire Empire is mine.”

Zyton shouted, “Sebastian, what do you think you are doing?”

“I built all these ships, therefore they are mine. Ragnor was a mindless fool. He was just doing what his father had told him to do. He was rather dim-witted in thinking for himself after his father died.”

“Those ships might be yours, but the men on them are citizens of Maaku, you must allow them to return to Maaku and their families. Men, siding with this known criminal will only see yourselves declared accomplices to his crimes, making you unable to see your families again, except from prison. Return home now before it’s too late.”

Sebastian then cut off the call, but it was a good thing the Empire communications system was more of a public broadcast system. After Sebastian had ended the call, 10 other Masters joined the call and said they would return home immediately.

Zyton thanked them for their loyalty and said they would see them soon.

He then returned to the conference call with Morlan and Mark, “Well it looks like Sebastian is now a wanted criminal by the Maaku also!”

Mark asked, “Morlan, do you know where they were broadcasting from?”

Morlan said, “They just built the Star Hunter near one of the asteroid belts on the outer edge of this system. The Star Hunter is a new super ship that Sebastian created with the help of some Silicans. I’ve never been aboard it, but the thing is gigantic and apparently it’s got shields, lots of different weapons and the Silicans had been building some sort of super weapon for it.”

Mark asked, “Who are the Silicans?”

Zyton interjected, “About a rotation ago, one of our reconnaissance missions found a planet called Silica. They are an amiable people, very smart! They have a basic space exploration program, but they are not aggressive. However, for being attacked a few times, they have some very effective planetary defence weapons.”