Story so far

 445,000  Alalu, The deposed king of Nibiru, stole a rocket armed with nuclear missiles, blasted to Earth and set himself up there. From Earth, he promised Nibirans--if they restored his throne--Earth's gold with which they could save Nibiru from atmospheric loss. He threatened to blast Nibiru with the nukes he'd aimed at Nibiru unless Nibiru restored his crown. The Nibirans sent Alalu's son-in-law, Ea, (son of Alalu's rival, King Anu) to Earth to verify the gold and negotiate with Alalu on Anu's behalf.
 

Narrative Resumes

King Anu endorsed Ea’s plan and sent him with Alalu's kinsman, pilot Anzu, and fifty male astronauts to Earth. Ea thus pre-empted the heroic mission to Earth. Enlil, who'd wanted the Earth mission, seethed while Ea and Anzu rocketed through space to their meeting with Alalu on Earth.

As Ea rocketed through the asteroid belt he diverted water from his ship's propulsion system to his water canon and blasted rocks from his path.  Critical Water depletion, Anzu warned; propulsion failure immanent.  Mars' waters could save them.

     So Ea and Anzu landed on Mars.  Not only did Mars have water, but it had an atmosphere too.  "The water was good for drinking but the air was insufficient for breathing," which means they needed their "Eagle's helmets to breathe." [Tellinger, M., Slave Species of god, page 432] On Mars, they drew water from a lake. [Sumerian records on clay tablets unambiguously indicate water on Mars (long before Twenty-First Century scientists documented water's presence there)].

Rocket's water replenished, Ea blasted for Earth, "its gold Nibiru's fate for salvation or doom containing."  [Sitchin, Z., The Lost Book of Enki page 71]

Alalu guided them ashore.  

Ea built a settlement, Eridu, at the head of the Persian Gulf, near modern Basara.  From Gulf waters, he extracted some gold.  He built a plane, and with his personal pilot, Abgal, flew all over the planet searching for more gold. Nibiran scientists powdered the gold into fine dust and experimented with it; they could use it, they reported, to disperse as contrails in the air and shield Nibiru's atmosphere.  Get more gold quick, they said.  Anu beamed Earth: send us Alalu's ship with all gold you gathered. So Ea and Abgal entered Alalu's spacecraft.  In it they found seven nuclear missiles. They hid the nukes in a cave in the African Great Lakes area.  Anzu, the interplanetary pilot, saw no missiles when he came to ready Alalu's rocket to return to Nibiru.

Ea/Enki

Anzu confronted Ea. Anzu confronted Ea. When to Earth we flew, only water cannon did we use to blast through the Asteroids, nearly killing our engine due to water wasted blasting rocks. To return to Nibiru, nuclear missiles you took from this ship are needed.

Ea retorted, This rocket you cannot with your attitude pilot. Foresworn is the weapons' use.  Replaced you are Anzu as interplanetary pilot. Abgal, who pilots my craft, will return Alalu’s ship to Nibiru while here on Earth  with your kinsman Alalu you, Anzu, must remain. And with water cannon only shall Abgal navigate the asteroids.  [Info in paragrphs above from Sitchin, Z., The Lost Book of Enki, page 82; Lessin invented italicized dialogue].

Ea programmed a return route through the Asteroids and Abgal flew the spacecraft to Nibiru with sample gold to test as an atmospheric shield there.