The Cimalian Princess: Clone
by AJ Marks
Part 13
Yvette waited in her captain office for Meia to report in. She was told that only one person was on board the shuttle and now she wondered what happened to Victor. They both went down to the surface of the planet. Had they discovered something useful in their fight against the Cimalian Empire?
Before she could ponder the question anymore the door opened allowing a woman with strawberry blonde hair to enter. Yvette’s first reaction had been shock before she look a bit closer to see the blue eyes.
“You wanted to see me captain,” the woman asked, and Yvette realized she was Meia with blonde hair.
“I wanted to make sure you were all right,” Yvette said, pausing a second before asking the question on her mind. “What happened to Victor?”
“He didn’t make it,” Meia replied.
Yvette figured as much when news of only one person from the shuttle got off, but now she had conformation. “You’ll be transferring back to the Akagi when we stop. Admiral White will want to know what happened, so you might prepare your report.”
“Of course,” Meia replied. “Is that everything?”
Yvette paused for a second to think about the question. “No, did you get any rest?”
“A little,” Meia replied. “A bit hard in enemy territory.”
“Then I’ll have someone take you to a spare quarters so you can rest up,” Yvette said. “We’ll be at the meeting point in three hours, so get a bit of rest and work on your report.”
“Of course,’ Meia replied.
Yvette called for one of the privates and told him to take Meia to an empty quarter. After they left she thought about the interaction. The Meia who returned did not seem to recognize her at all. Did something happen on the planet?
“Oh well, I’ll just wait and see what the report says,” Yvette finally said to herself. She turned to her own paperwork, something Randy had not mentioned to her when taking on the duties of being a ship’s captain. She had her own reports to prepare.
*****
Meia wearily glanced around her surroundings once more feeling the despair grow stronger each time. She was capture by the one person she feared and hated and now had to try to figure out how to escape, if she could. She wondered if her training could help her out of this problem.
Her small cell had been visited by a doctor, or she assumed he was by his uniform. She had no idea what the man wanted as she had been sedated for several hours. She figured the twenty-four hours had come and gone and that Randy and the fleet had gone back to the Alliance. Did they think she was dead? Would they return to find out what might have happened to her.
She looked up at the squeak of the door and watched it open. A ray of light pierced the darkness of the cell causing her to close her eyes from the bright light.
“Awake again I see,” a voice said causing her to shiver slightly from fear. She knew who it was and wished him to leave her alone. She managed to look up seeing the figure of the Emperor standing there dressed in green and yellows. “You are pathetic.”
Meia did not bother to reply to her uncle. She did not want to engage in his war of words where he held the advantage.
“What’s the matter little one, no words for your dear, sweet uncle?” he asked her with a chuckle.
Meia glared at him but said nothing. She did not know what he wanted but that it did not include her in the future. She hated the fact he used the childhood name her mother used and wondered what he was up to. She needed to figure a way out of here and to get back to the Alliance.
“I remember the first time I ever saw you. Your mother tried to protect you, as if she could from me,” he said to her, closing the distance.
Meia felt the fear of panic beginning to overwhelm her as he closed in on her. She wished he would leave her alone. The panic she felt since he walked into the cell seemed to be caused by his mere presence. She had faced enemy fighters, life and death situations and yet his mere presence caused unreasonable panic.
“Well, I see you’re a bit chatty today, so very much like your mother in that regard,” Henry said. “Like her, I don’t think you understand what is at stake. Don’t expect your friends to come help you, see we destroyed them like that pathetic guy you were with. He’d been so sure we’d accept him, as if. Now, the only thing is to figure out what to do with you. I’m sure it will come to me, until then, ta-ta,”
Meia watched as Henry moved away towards the door. Again light filtered into the small cell, blocked by Henry’s figure before being closed again. She finally managed to relax again allowing the panic ebb from her body. She considered now what he said. He had wanted to rile her up, but her fear prevented her from answering back, a good thing.
She thought about Randy and knew he would have tried to come back once, but probably left quickly if any Cimalian warships were in the area. She was on her own to out of here.
*****
Trina opened the door to her apartment wearily making her way over to a chair and sat down. Her mind went over what she saw and tried to think what she might do next. The past twenty-four hours had been exciting, that much she understood. If the resistance did nothing then they had only one hope, the Alliance. She looked up at the ceiling and finally made up her mind and headed out to Ewa and Carl’s apartment.
She made her way past the enforcers patrolling about making sure people obeyed the laws. So far she had been stopped twice, but she still had another hour before curfew was enforced. Reaching her friend’s apartment she climbed the stairs, took a second to catch her breath and knocked on the door.
“Trina, what are you doing here?” Ewa asked surprised when the door opened.
She glanced around before replying. “I thought I’d come over and see how you were doing, and I heard Carl wasn’t feeling well.”
The statement caught Ewa off guard for a second but recovered quickly. “Ill, no, he’d doing fine, you must have heard a rumor, but come in, we don’t get to see you much after the move.”
Trina walked inside as Ewa stepped aside. Their apartment was a bit larger, being two people, but not much larger than hers. Ewa closed the door before looking over at Carl.
“Trina thought she heard you were sick,” Ewa said to him.
“Nope, feeling fine,” Carl said, sweeping his hand.
Trina felt a bit better and took a seat.
“You look ragged, what happened,” Ewa said as Trina looked over at her and paused a moment.
“What hasn’t happened is more like it,” Trina replied back to her. “Last night after you left I went for a walk to clear my mind. As I walked around the building I ran into someone I didn’t expect to see. The daughter of an old friend of mine, Meia.”
She looked over at the two noticing they both had a blank look on their faces.
“Meia is the daughter of my friend Didi,” Trina said to them. Again the name registered no reaction from them making her frustrated. “Did always said Meia was special in ways I never knew, nor could she say any more. She always had a fearful look when talking about Meia, then I assumed both were killed in a terror attack almost twenty years ago.”
“What does this have to do with anything? We all know that such attacks are only a way to keep the lower classes afraid of the Alliance, every attack is planned. Sorry Trina, but we’re not following you,” Carl said to her.
“When I inquired about Meia at Didi request, she somehow knew she’d be killed, I was told Meia was also killed. However Meia had turned five and at the military academy. It makes no sense to hide her from someone would look after a child who just lost her mother,” Trina said. “Even for the upper classes this isn’t normal.”
“It still doesn’t explain anything,” Ewa said.
“Didi and I knew each other a long time, when she was twenty-three she met someone who swept her off her feet. She never sad who it was and a few years later she became pregnant. After Meia was born I asked who the father was, she said don’t ask and never ask again…” Train trailed off at that, a long distant memory surfacing.
“What?” Carl asked after several seconds of silence.
“Boris, Prince Boris, shortly after Meia was born he was killed,” Trina said, Meia was Boris’ daughter which meant. She suddenly looked up at the others. “We need to help her now!”
“Whoa, what are you talking about?” Carl asked, confusion in his face.
“That’s why they cloned her. There is no other explanation,” Trina said.
“Cloned her?” Carl asked again leaving Trina wondering why they could keep up with the conversation.
“Yes, it’s the secret project I’ve been helping on, cloning. It wasn’t until today that I fully understood that,” Trina said. “They cloned Meia for the next heir to the throne because she is the right heir.”
Her statement hung in the air between them.
“You better get back to your apartment,” Carl finally said to her. “I’ll talk to the others about this and see what we can do.”
“We must act quickly, there is little time to dawdle,” Trina said once more trying to emphasize the important of helping Meia. She had a feeling that if they would not get another chance to change their society again in her lifetime.
She looked at her watch realizing she needed to start heading back before her curfew began. Standing she bid them both a good night before heading back to her apartment. Her head swimming with the realization she had come up with but had no idea how others might view her information.
*****
Randy waited on the bridge for the Akagi to drop out of hyperspace. Meia would rejoin the crew soon enough and once more things would be back to normal. The next part would require planning back home with the rest of intelligence.
“We’ve arrived admiral,” Kim replied. “The Valiant is already here and waiting for the Eagle, which should arrive in thirty seconds.”
Randy nodded but did not say anything. He could wait to speak with Meia knowing she had survived the mission. He paused to wonder if she would remember her promise about dinner later on. He looked down seeing the Eagle appear on the scanners as well.
“So, another successful mission,” Randy heard John’s voice say. Randy turned to see his friend walking towards him.
“So far, I’ll wait to see how successful after hearing what happened,” Randy replied.
“Hoping for some sort of magic weakness to use against them?” John asked him. “I doubt they have any and it’ll probably come down to more fighting.”
“Trying to minimize losses on both sides, civilian and military if I can,” Randy answered. “The last thing I want it to fight an unnecessary battle if we can fight that battle elsewhere and be more effective.”
“I know, just don’t see it happening with this enemy. They don’t seem to care nor do they want to reason with us,” John said.
“I think you’re right, but I also think this war will have some sort of diplomatic ending instead of the climatic battle,” Randy said putting some thought into it. “We’ll still need the military victory, but overall victory will come through other means.”
Randy noticed everyone on the bridge was looking at him, and many probably understood what he meant. He knew the battle behind the lines, like those sabotaging ships would end up being more important than the actual battle. He also felt Meia would end up an important piece when everything was finished.
End part 13