A/N: Only an epilogue to go after this. Thanks for reading!
Chapter 26
Lion-O made the announcement around dinner time to the entire planet that the man responsible for the death of President Kostoff had been captured and that as leader of New Thundera and Third Earth, he would see justice done. The Evil Chasers would be offloading the suspect to their trial site and the judicial system would go from there. Then President Zhukov took over the press conference and explained the situation to his fellow Russians and to all of those associated with the Martian home world. Though he never said the man's name it was inferred that the presidential candidate opposing him was no longer part of the race. Needless to say, the people seemed ok for now with Zhukov's suggestion but everyone knew that only time would tell just how ok the people were.
Two days later, the Council made up of the Martian countries and the Thunderian Council met up to discuss the coming year and how things would proceed. Mars had in fact turned out to remain stable while everyone had been off of it. No signals had been sent from the remote stations indicating that the planet had shifted in the slightest. Everyone agreed that the Asian biospheres would need to be relocated as no one had come up with a good solution to plug the holes caused by the earthquake machines. The bigger issue came down to whether or not to wait until all the housing that was required was finished before sending crews back to Mars to begin work.
"I think it best we finish the temporary housing. The winters of Third Earth and New Thundera can be harsh and construction will have to stop. During the winter months, crews could be sent over to Mars to help build new biospheres. The next elephant in the room is the fact that we will not have enough food for everyone unless we start planting crops in the spring. No matter what happens with construction it was estimated that it would take a year for the new biospheres to be finished," Lion-O pointed out.
"The best course of action would probably be to transfer the unaffected biospheres people back to Mars," one of the Council members said.
"I don't think that is a wise idea. We don't know if once construction on the new biospheres starts if Mars will turn unstable again. Let us make plans for choosing areas that can be cultivated. It will put people to work and it will allow for the extension of our food supply," Mwende suggested.
"Excellent. I'll get our Head of Agriculture onto it," Lion-O said.
"Could your manufactured food plants speed up production with an infusion of workers?" President Chang wanted to know.
"I'm sure they could. I'll call the heads of the companies and get their opinion on ramping up training and an influx of employees. Worst comes to worst, it would allow us to have rations ready," the King nodded.
"Excellent work today gentlemen and ladies. I think things are well on their way to being under control," Mwende spoke up. With that the meeting broke up and everyone went about what needed to be done.
Later, Lion-O received a call from Mandora. Seems that Rodchenko was not as tough to crack as they thought. She'd had him blubbering like a baby in no time once she confronted him with the evidence. His entire organization had crumbled and his attempts to start what undoubtedly would have been a war were gone. Looking at facing the death penalty, he agreed to life in prison on the Penal Planet. Lion-O promised to pass along the good news. Everything seemed to be fitting into place and he was glad for it.
To Be Continued…