The Cimalian Princess: Clone
by AJ Marks
Part 6
Meia watched the bridge crew go through the startup procedure for the next hyperspace jump. She had been on her way to the rec room when Randy caught back up to her, asking her to come to the bridge instead. She was unsure why, but agreed. Now the crew worked for the jump and the preparation they might enter Cimalian space.
“Engines are green admiral,” Meia heard someone say. She looked over seeing an unfamiliar face on the bridge, he had short black hair and appeared to be in his mid-thirties, slightly overweight as well. She noticed his rank as a colonel and figured he was the new XO of the Akagi.
“Prepare to jump,” Randy said from his position on the bridge.
Meia pushed back a lock of hair behind her ear only to have it fall back in front of her face again. She eyed it for a second before turning her attention back on the bridge crew.
Eagle and Valiant report ready admiral,” Hans said.
“Engage,” Randy ordered.
Meia heard the high pitched whine of the jump engines as power built up then a sudden drop in pitch as the ship jumped. She felt a slight vertigo as the dampeners struggled to keep up before everything normalized.
“Eagle and Valiant made successful jumps as well admiral,” Kim stated.
Meia looked over watching Randy acknowledge the report. She looked around the bridge, recognizing most of the faces on the bridge seeing two new faces. She had briefly met the woman on the hanger when she came aboard. She recalled the woman’s name, Toni. She was tall, about a half a foot taller than Meia, and even taller than the other new person on the bridge.
“Meia?” Randy said, breaking Meia’s thoughts. She looked over at him waiting for his question. “Tell John that we’re on our way, I’d like fighter protection red to go the moment we drop out of hyperspace.”
“I can do that,” Meia replied, heading to walk off the bridge but paused at the entrance and turned back to face Randy. “Oh, and I’d like something spicy.”
She walked off the bridge before Randy could even reply. Stopping at the elevator she thought about what she had done but the shocked looked on his face made up for it. Stepping onto the elevator she went down a couple of levels. Perhaps after this mission she might actually want to have a relationship. That meant returning safely and she hoped to put some of her past behind her with this mission.
*****
Meia walked out onto the hanger of the bridge where she was told she would find John. She saw several mechanics working on the fighters, a few looked over at her, waved and continued working. She noticed John standing with a group of pilots in the hangar and made her way over. She spotted him using his hands to demonstrate some maneuver. Getting closer she recognized it as a classic slide technique.
She kept walked over and could hear him explaining the mechanics of the technique but he stopped upon seeing her. “Ah, the pilot who can best do this maneuver, don’t let the hair fool you, she’s an elite pilot.”
Meia looked down knowing she was probably blushing at the compliment before looking back up at John then the others. She did not recognize any of them and figured they were replacement pilots for those who had been lost.
“So, what’s the skipper want now?” John asked thankfully changing the topic.
“He wants a patrol ready to launch the moment we’re drop out of hyperspace, and fighter cover,” Meia said, knowing John was talking about Randy. Early on she thought he was talking about the captain of the Akagi, but realized it was a term John used for his friend.
“I think we can manage that,” John replied looking at the others. “All right, report to the ready room thirty minutes from now ready to launch.”
Meia watched as people left with the dismissal. They probably were headed off to get a nap, or something to eat before returning to the ready room.
“So, how about a quick bite to eat, I’m starved,” John said to her.
“Sure,” Meia replied, she could always use something to eat to help calm her nerves.
“The skipper expecting trouble?” John asked as they headed to the elevator.
Meia filled in John with what she knew about what was going on, watching as his eyes got big.
“Wow, wasn’t expecting all that. It seems we’ve really found it then,” he said, pausing at the elevator thinking about it all. “I don’t know, something’s strange about all this, it doesn’t feel right.”
Meia looked over at him unsure how to reply to that comment. She noticed he was deep in thought and went over everything. It seemed like he and Randy both thought the same thing. She was uncomfortable because the Emperor was not a person who made such mistakes.
“Ah, what do I know, I’m just a fighter pilot,” John finally said with a slight laugh. Meia watched as his face changed back into his normal jovial self.
“If you’re only a fighter pilot than so am I,” Meia replied back to him.
“Ha, guess we’re both pilots then,” John finally replied as they made their way off the elevator and towards the cafeteria.
Meia looked around as they walked in seeing several pilots already there. They were eating or snacking before they might go on a long patrol or have to go into combat.
She followed John over to the serving area and noticed a new mystery meat in one of the trays which did not look appetizing. The chicken, however, looked much better and she took that along with a serving of vegetables and a glass of water and went over to sit down along with John.
“I guess we better enjoy it while we can,” John said as Meia took a bit of her chicken.
“You know, I think that mystery meat is probably better than what they serve in the empire,” Meia said to him.
“It makes no sense to me, bad food, horrible punishments and no rebellion? I would think it would be primed for such a thing,” John said.
“They did try a rebellion about a hundred and fifty years ago. Emperor Tylin crushed it and it brought about the electrowhip and increased punishments including death,” Meia said.
“A hundred and fifty years ago, huh, that was when the Third Pirate War wound down and the beginning of the Raiding Cartel,” John stated.
“Don’t know much about Alliance history,” Meia said.
Her training never went over the history of the Alliance, only how to escape using their technology. She also knew only a bit about the history of the empire, what they wanted you to know. The revolt was spoken of as a reminder of how things change for the worse among the lower classes when people revolt against the system.
“I wonder how much of the news vids we were shown were real or propaganda to keep us pacified,” Meia asked.
“Those in power do not wish to share,” John said finally.
They sat there in silence each lost in their thoughts. Meia thought about her life, how much had been a lie? Had everything been twisted to serve the Alpha superior’s whims? She realized she herself was an Alpha Superior now. No one here had any answers to her questions and the more questions she had the only source of answers was the emperor.
She shuddered slightly at the thought of confronting him. Deep down she realized one day they would meet.
*****
Trina glanced around her small apartment having arrived back after a twelve hour work day. Since the move the upper class had been working them harder than normal. Her own project had been given some importance recently. She did not see why, the medical community had made tremendous improvements in the past hundred years.
Her apartment was quiet and empty, she had lost her oldest son six months ago on board the Oi when it exploded, and her youngest had turned five two months ago and moved to the training academy. She learned he would be a fighter pilot like his two older brothers.
Trina looked at the wall to see the pictures of each of her three sons and one daughter. Her husband was a mechanic and worked on board one of the warships.
Turning around she realized she hated life. She loved her family, but never saw them. The empire use them and spit them out with no care at all to their lives, all because her parents had been Epsilons. A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts and went over pulling it aside to reveal her next door neighbors, Ewa and Carol.
“Come in,” Trina said, not expecting to have company.
“I hope you don’t’ mind us dropping by, I brought something to eat as well if you wanted it,” Ewa said, always helping people out.
“Sure, I wasn’t looking forward to fixing anything anyways,” Trina said heading over to the table and clearing a space out. “So, what brings you here?”
“Direct as always,” Carl said, as they set out the food;
“Yeah, well you usually don’t bring food,” Trina said as they sat down with the food on the table
“First off,” Carl said, putting out a device which scanned the room. “Clean as usual.”
“I should hope so, after all, I’m a good outstanding Epsilon citizen working and putting out children for the empire,” she said, the bitterness of it seeping into her voice.
“Then you should be interested in this bit of news, the latest rumors which are hard to come by,” Carl said to her.
Trina leaned closer to hear what they had to say. She had heard nothing and for them to be here and doing the scan it had to be something big.
“It’s mostly from the survivors of the 3rd CF. At first we dismissed it, but we feel that it’s something which we can’t ignore,” Carl said to her. She wondered if her oldest son knew about what she was about to hear.
“It seems that Emperor Henry isn’t the rightful ruler, Boris had a daughter and the 3CF had orders to kill the person who is the rightful ruler,” Ewa said to her.
Trina stared in shock at what she was being told. If so then someone else should be the ruler, and that person could change everything, or make it worse. “What do the leaders think?”
“You know how they are, skeptical. The last time there was a battle for the throne it was a disaster for the lower classes, especially those who supported Tylin over Wylan were punished eve thought they were for him,” Carl said. “We have to move cautiously.”
“This is news,” Trina said, thinking about her job for a second and wondering if that had anything to do with the current rumor.
“What’cha thinking about?” Ewa asked her.
“Something at work,” Trina said. “We’re getting a tremendous amount of pressure from above to finish the project. Something is going on.”
“What are you working on?” Carl asked.
“Something about cloning, that’s my best guess. They try to keep me in the dark, maintaining equipment, but I see enough and I’m not dumb like they think I am,” Trina said.
“Could be they are trying to clone the perfect soldier, we lost a lot of people in the last invasion attempt,” Carl said, thinking about it for a few seconds.
“If that’s the case then we’re the last generation to think for themselves,” Ewa said.
They sat in silence with Ewa’s comment. If that was the truth then they must act quicker than anyone anticipated. They finished the meal in silence each of them thinking about how their lives might change in the future.
End part 6