Plans Change
They woke up at the crack of dawn as per usual and went for their morning workout. Pretty much everyone participated in the workout now, so the showers were getting a bit crowded. But soon they were enjoying a nice breakfast of french toast. Again the breakfast club were all thanking Mark for taking care of them and giving them jobs where there was food.
When breakfast was done, the guys went out to do the chores, the kids got ready for school and the breakfast club retreated to their makeshift office.
As the guys were returning from the chores, the kids were just leaving for school.
Mark gave Annabelle a big kiss, as he had started doing anytime he was leaving her, because he never knew what was going to come up that might see him whisked away for an unknown length of time.
After the kids were gone, they enjoyed another cup of coffee with Joe, Kat and Maria.
Solara, T'Soona, Laruun and Marta were going to hang around the ranch today, since they already knew everything Mark had told them about Atlantis. So it was just the four of them that were going to the embassy meeting.
As they approached the shuttle, Maren pushed a button on her wrist device and the ramp started lowering. As they boarded, Mark was surprised that the interior of the shuttle wasn't cold like an Earth vehicle would be.
Cricket explained, "
A ship is always powered, so the interior of the ship should always be about the same temperature. Even when the ramp lowers, there is a force field you pass through that keeps the heat in, but in reality, it is there to protect the interior of the shuttle in the case you are fleeing an explosion, an attack or any kind of emergency.
"
Mark thanked her for the explanation and told her that anytime he has a question like that in his mind, she could cut in and explain it anytime.
Maren had them out of the atmosphere and approaching the Embassy within a few minutes. Going into space was kind of old hat for Mark now, and the transition to weightlessness didn't hold the same thrill it used to, it was just part of the ride.
After landing and going through security (it was nice not to have to stop anymore), they found that Commander Topos and a few of the senior officers from the Poseidon had come over for the meeting as well. Since pretty much all the staff was there, they decided to hold the meeting in the movie theatre, with Mark taking the stage.
When everyone got settled, Mark began the meeting, "As you all know, Earth is my home and the ancestral home of the our people, as such, I have made it my personal goal to clean up this planet. I'm not going to force them into Federation life, but I now feel we need to have a physical presence on the surface if we are to have any significant impact on the planet.
Yesterday, we were bullied out of our foothold in Canada, just as we were bullied to the point where we left Earth thousands of years ago. The circumstances are a bit different this time, we have evolved technologically and we now have population numbers that we didn't have before. To that end, my plan is to rebuild our homeland of Atlantis."
There was a few gasps in the crowd, so Mark asked, "Does anyone have any concerns or reasons as to why we should NOT rebuild Atlantis? If you do, please speak up!"
A non-human guy in the back stood up, "We don't do this with other non-federated planets, why are we going through the hassle with this one?"
"A couple of reasons actually. Firstly, I still call this planet my home and always will. Secondly, this planet is different from other non-federated planets, since this is the ancestral home of all Atlanteans. Unfortunately the idiots that have been running the planet in our absence have done a piss poor job of taking care of it, so I feel we are partly responsible for its condition. If we hadn't left thousands of years ago, the planet would probably be in a lot better condition today."
After pausing for a few seconds, "Does that answer your question?"
The man nodded and Mark again addressed the entire group, "Are there any other arguments as to why we should NOT rebuild Atlantis?"
A girl in the middle stood up this time, "They've already launched one missile at us and we were in orbit, by going down to the surface, aren't we going to just be an easier target for attacks."
Mark said, "Yes, we will be an easier target. Part of my plan is to create world peace... if some country does something stupid, they will be made an example of. I have a feeling, after the first attack, the world will view us in a different light. Also while we will be more accessible, they will think long and hard before doing anything as they run the risk of hurting others or the planet. Something tells me that Atlantis will be a popular tourist destination and if you have people visiting from all over the world, any attacks would infuriate other countries as well."
After a few seconds pause he continued, "I'm going to say right now, we are NOT going to war, but I do expect there to be some resistance. Earth has three primary superpowers and a few wannabes, none of which are really a threat to us, but I suspect they will not like losing their superpower status. So I've created a three step process...
The first step will be to announce our intentions of rebuilding Atlantis to the world, and give them time to consider their options. Hopefully they'll realize that we are, in fact, here to stay and cooler heads will prevail.
The second step will be to identify and monitor all weapons of mass destruction on the planet. They don't penetrate our shields and our shields soak up the radiation, but I wouldn't put it past them wanting to attack us, which could be very harmful to others and the environment. Part of this phase includes deploying security drones all over the planet, to help curb violence and hopefully prevent many deaths. The Cleito is on its way with a load of security ordinance and some additional fighters.
The third step is when Atlantis is ready to colonize. We will relocate the embassy to it and start bringing in residents, from across the Federation, to show Earth what Federation life is like."
At that time, Cricket displayed her rendition of Atlantis on the screen to a theatre full of gasps and wows as everyone stared in awe at the image of Atlantis. Mark noticed many of them had tears in their eyes. After all they were taught all about Atlantis in school and here they were looking at the possibility of Atlantis reborn.
Mark said, "Atlantis will be put on display through the library after the meeting. I invite you all to look at it and if you have any suggestions for it, please let us know."
"I'm hoping most of the world accepts us, we're going to continue to develop and lease our technology and hopefully we're not going disrupt their way of life too much. We're going to let them continue to drive vehicles and have guns for hunting wildlife or sport shooting and do things just as they have been, all we're going to do is make the world a safer place and clean it up as much as we can, or help them clean up their own mess. Take away all the violence and fear and maybe governments will realize they don't need to waste taxpayer dollars on military and weapons, then maybe they'll actually do good things for their citizens and those less fortunate on the planet.
You never know, the people may overthrow their own governments and ask us to take over. Although my hope is within a decade or two of having us around they'll accept our ways and may even ask us for help."
After a brief pause, Mark asked, "Are there any comments anyone wants to make at this time?"
When no one spoke up, Mark said, "Talk to your families, we'll start by rotating personnel in just like on the embassy, but we will eventually be looking for full-time residents."
As the lights came up a bit more in the theatre, everyone started filing out of the theatre and discussing about whether they wanted to move to Atlantis or not.
