The Cimalian Princess: Clone
AJ Marks
Part 11
Henry glanced down at his niece who passed out. He smiled at the sight before him satisfied with the fact she was still terrified of him. Her training was still intact. He turned to one of the guards. “Take her way to the lab.”
He made his way back to the throne thinking about all he wanted. He hoped the process would not take too long. The scientists said the process was complete and perfected now he would find out if that was true. He turned his attention back to Jezic who still appeared confused about the situation. The admiral probably thought Meia was a risk to the entire Empire.
“I see you still don’t approve admiral,” Henry said sitting down on the throne again. He looked at him waiting
“No sire I don’t. She’s proven to be unreliable like her mother and father. She would make a terrible heir no matter what methods you use on her,” Jezic said to Henry.
“Ah, I think the next time you see her you’ll be surprised. For now my concern is with this,” Henry said, handing Jezic a piece of paper and read if over. “I hope you can take care of this?”
“By your will sire,” Jezic said with a slight bow.
“Good, and I hear that Admiral Wambu allowed the Alliance fleet to escape,” Henry said, his voice calm but furious that the fleet managed to escape.
“Yes sir, he is to report to you for punishment,” Jezic stated.
“Hmm, perhaps it’s time to start that phase of the plan,” Henry said, musing the thoughts in his mind of his plans. “No, no I need information first, information only Meia can give us.”
“What could she have that’s important to us?” Jezic asked, again unable to grasp what Henry was planning.
“What more could she reveal to us?” Jezic asked.
“More than you realize admiral,” Henry said to him. “Remember, she’s spent the past few months with the Alliance. She could have information which is critical to our operations. We know their fleet was crippled, but she knows more about their ships than our spies and she understands how both fleets operate.”
He could tell Jezic was unimpressed with the information. But that only further indicated how much more Henry understood the workings of the universe. It mattered not in the long run if Jezic understood, only that he obeyed.
“Go wait for my next orders,’ Henry said watching as Jezic walked out of the room. Henry had a few more things to do and reached over buzzing his secretary. “Tell the scientists to inform me when the first stage of the process is done. I have a second process I want done.”
“Yes sire,” his secretary replied as the communicator shut off.
Henry settled back into his seat pleased with how things went so far. He doubted his grandmother ever could have envisioned this day. She was weak, as was his father. He, Henry, would be known as the greatest emperor to the Cimaliam Empire and exact revenge on the Alliance for what they did to his ancestor, Charles Cimal. An emperor who ruled a vast empire and was rebelled upon and exiled along with his followers.
Henry would have his revenge for what they did to his family. He would take back what was rightfully theirs.
*****
Randy waited for the scanners to report in on the nearby area. The last thing he wanted to have happen was to jump back out of hyperspace into the middle of a fleet of Cimalian warships. He heard nothing back about any ships in the area. He could only hope that Meia and Victor had found a safe spot for a few hours.
He looked over at Kim as she worked. She looked over at him and nodded no to his unspoken question. They still had not spotted any Cimalian ships. He drummed his fingers on the chair arm for a few seconds before finally coming up with a plan.
“Fleet meeting, thirty minutes in the conference room,” Randy finally said to Kim. He stood and walked off the bridge allowing Kim to relay the message to the other captains. He did not have much of a fleet, only three ships. He had no reinforcements coming from the alliance, and he had to send a report back to HQ reporting what happened. He knew his father would order him back which was something he could not do just yet.
He slowly made his way down to the conference room knowing they had several decisions to make. On paper they were easy to make but reality seemed so much different. He felt uncomfortable leaving a comrade, let alone Meia behind. He questioned himself if he was making a decision based on his feelings or something else.
He sat down in the empty conference room drumming his fingers on the table deep in thought. Kim entered and sat down beside him.
“The other captains are on their way,” she said to him.
Randy nodded knowing the time to make a decision was fast approaching.
“You’re not going to leave Victor and Meia behind are you?” Kim asked after several seconds of silence.
Randy sighed at the question which he did not want to answer. “By all rights the mission is more important than any one individual, yet…”
“Yet they are part of the crew, and we don’t abandon our crew,’ Kim stated speaking the obvious.
“Exactly,” Randy replied. He felt relieved that someone else expressed the same feelings he had for missing crewmembers. He looked over at the opening door allowing Yvette to enter the room followed by Captain Neil Yusaliv. Both walked in and took a seat and Randy studied them both. He would have the most trouble with would be Neil. He had no experience with Meia or Victor and Randy hoped he understood the concept of not leaving people behind.
“Thanks you all for coming so quickly,” Randy said beginning the meeting and leaning forward slightly in his chair. “Quick recap so we all know what happened. It appears we found the Cimalian Empire, or at least one of their planets. We have no info on how large their empire is.”
Randy took a moment to look at all three before continuing on.
“Now, after a quick patrol of the target planet I decided to send two people down to gather intelligence, pilots Victor and Meia. I gave them twenty-four hours to gather any information they could about the planet and return. Now that time has not yet expired but before it could a Cimalian fleet of a dozen ships appeared forcing us to abandon the planet and our informants.”
“Were we able to contact the two pilots?” Neil asked.
“No, only a message in the shuttle,” Randy replied. “I said we would return at the end of twenty-four hours, but that’s why we’re here. The Cimalian fleet will probably still be there.”
“This goes against all of our procedures,” Neil replied.
“But we don’t leave crewmembers behind if we can,” Yvette said to him. “There’s a valued crewmember behind who needs our help.”
“It’s a suicide mission,” Neil said.
“I can tell you that the crew of the Akagi will go back to help even if it means death,” Kim said speaking up for the first time.
“And you’re all crazy, Hades, I must be crazy for thinking about going along with this,” Neil said
Randy smiled a bit. He knew that despite what Neil said the fact he was even thinking about the mission meant it gave him a chance to undertake the mission. Now he had to work on a new line of thinking.
“I don’t think going straight in will help anyone out. Hoepfully Victor and Meia realize that the fleet isn’t there and listen to the message and try their breakout at the twenty-four hour mark. That’s when we’ll send the ship in to pick them up,” Randy said to them.
“One ship, a bit risky,” Neil said. Randy turned to him to see if he had another thought of the situation. “How about this instead. All three ships are send in, in different area allowing for the shuttle to head to the nearest ship.”
“Interesting,” Randy said thinking about the idea.
“We should also come in from different directions,” Yvette said. “That would confuse any enemy warships in the area, perhaps long enough to help us out.”
Randy sat back thinking about the idea for a few seconds as his captains continue to talk about it. He felt a bit proud of them for coming up with this. He felt it had a chance to succeed.
“There is the possibility they are unable to leave, or have been captured, we must keep that in mind,” Neil stated.
“Then we also must broadcast that we’re there the moment we arrive, give them time to reply back to us in case we have to leave quickly,” Randy said, knowing such a decision would be hard to make. “It all depends on what type of enemy resistance we encounter as well around the planet.”
“No enemy warships will allow us to stay longer,” Yvette said. Randy now turned to the mission.
“Neil, your ship will drop in first, from this direction. It might give the Cimalians the impression that a small ships is coming in, either to scout or recover the shuttle. Your ship will also be the first to leave,” Randy said to them. “The Akagi will be second taking a opposite approach from the Valiant. Yvette, take the Eagle and approach third from another direction. All three ships in a different area will maximize the chance of success. Upon completion of the mission we’ll meet back here before heading back to Alliance space.”
Randy look at them for any questions but there were none. It was a straightforward approach.
“All right, head back to your ships and make your preparations,” Randy said.
He watched them leave the room to head back to their ships. The next couple of hours would be spend getting into position for the upcoming mission. He wondered if they would be coming back with their missing pilots or something else. He put his faith in Meia being alive.
*****
Trina made her way back into work after a very interesting night. She encountered someone she never expected to see again, someone she thought was dead and is shook her. Meia, Didi’s daughter, somehow lived and been part of the failed invasion. She couldn’t wait to tell Ewa and Carl about this.
Shrugging her outer jacket off she put on the protective suit she always wore for her work. She noted things were moving very quickly this morning.
“There you are, you’re required in sector three today,” her senior advisor said turning away before she could even acknowledge him.
She finished putting on the suit and made her way down the hallway past several doors until she reached the one which was marked sector three.
She entered the room noticing that almost every machine was in operation, even ones that normally were not. She realized they were going ahead with the process. Her heart dropped a bit of the sight before her before quickly recovering.
She did not normally go over to Ewa and Carl’s, but for this, she had to. They needed to know what she knew. Her superior ordered to a spot and she went over to monitor a machine waiting for the day to be over.
*****
Henry stepped into his throne room the next morning glancing at his secretary for any messages which might have come in. He wanted to know if they completed the task. With no reaction from his secretary he asked and waited for the reply.
“No sire, I inquired before you arrived and have yet to hear back from the doctors,” she replied back to him.
“Let me know the moment there is any news,” Henry replied, heading into the throne room and sitting down. He had barely sat down when the communicator went off with the secretary stating she had gotten a return call. “Put it though then,” Henry said.
He looked down at the screen seeing the scientist’s face appear.
“What’s the news?” Henry asked.
“Success sire, we can show you as soon as you like,” he said to him.
“Excellent, I look forward to it,” Henry said. “And what about the other project?”
“That is proving, a bit more problematic, but we’re working on it and should have it completed soon,” the scientist said quickly.
“Good, the future is dependent on that project,” Henry said.
“We will not fail.”
“Good, see to it that you don’t,” Henry said to him. “When can I see her?” he asked wanting to make sure his needs were met.
“We’ll bring her to you shortly sire.”
Henry nodded ending the conversation. He then informed his secretary to have Admiral Jezic report to him. It would be interesting to see this meeting.
End part 11