The Cimalian Princess: Clone
by AJ Marks
Part 23
Meia followed into the basement of the building and took a look around the room. It appeared to be a place which held no importance to anyone looking in, but she took notice of the people in the room. One person in particular caught her attention, he appeared to be a higher ranking citizen which didn’t surprise her at all, and in fact, expected to see someone like this here.
“So, what do we owe the honor of this visit Carl?” the higher ranking person said. She noticed he looked at Carl, then over at Meia waiting for an explanation of what was going on and she would have to speak up.
“There is more going on than you probably will ever know,” Meia finally said after a few heartbeats and Carl appeared caught off guard.
“If there is so much going on, then perhaps you’ll enlighten us to what is going on,” the man said waving his arms around indicating the rest of the group and dismissing Meia’s comment.
“If you want,” Meia replied looking around the faces of the men and women in the room. “What you know is carefully dictated by the Empire. I had been drugged for years to make sure I never started to think for myself, or remember my memories.”
“And this helps us how?” the man asked.
“Easy, I am the rightful heir to the throne, by being Boris’ daughter,” Meia stated boldly waiting for the expected murmur of voices.
“How preposterous,” one finally said, but the higher up seemed to consider her words.
“No, it makes sense now that I think about it,” the man said. To Meia he almost seemed too willing to accept it without any proof. “I’ve been hearing things, and this might be the proof we need.”
“You mean you’re actually going to listen to her?” another man asked.
“Yes I am,” the reply came back.
“To not do anything would mean to remain living as you are now. If you don’t do something differently to improve your life then you are not going to improve the situation, and handing off the problem to your children,” Meia stated.
“And what do you know of our situation?”
“I grew up living as an Epsilon class citizen, even Gammas don’t want to associate with us, so imagine the scandal if an Alpha Superior married an Epsilon,” Meia stated knowing what it might mean if her father and mother had actually wed.
She watched the group think about that for a few seconds. It seemed she had to wait for them to make up their minds.
“If we do help you, what do you require?” the upper class citizen asked.
“Just help to get me back to the Alliance. They have the best ability to help out the most,” Meia said, knowing that while the rebellion was nice, they lacked the recourses to fight the Emperor.
“You’re not asking much then,” the man replied. “I don’t know if we can do that. We don’t have the resources to leave the planet.”
“I can fly anything, I only need a ship,” Meia said. “A small transport.”
“This might take a while,” the man said.
“What about a military base, I can fly the transport, and they have the ability to jump,” Meia said. “If I can get onto one of those, I could leave the planet and head away before they could react. Anyone who helps could come with me on the transport.”
“It’s possible,” the man replied. “Let us see if we have the manpower to undertake such a mission.”
Meia, along with Carl and Ewa were lead out of the room and back upstairs as the group discussed the mission. Meia could only hope they voted in favor of her idea, otherwise she was back to being on her own again.
*****
Randy walked onto the bridge checking once more how things were going. He’d ordered the fleet to stop again an hour away from the target destination and wanted to make sure everyone’s engines were functioning normally. The last thing he needed during this was a ship sabotaged and lost due to a miscalculation or something especially consider a few ships were either new or having recently completed a refit in dock.
“Status of the fleet?” Randy asked looking at Kim.
“Everything is going as planned admiral,” Kim replied much to his relief.
Randy acknowledged the statement feeling slightly better at everything, but wasn’t about to relax yet. He still had a mission to undertake and the hardest part was still to come. He wanted everyone to come back safe and sound.
He also knew how much was resting on Meia and her abilities. He didn’t want to get into a shooting war if at all possible but wouldn’t hesitate to defend himself or any of his ships. This mission could determine if the Alliance and Cimalian Empire worked together in peace or war.
“Let me know when we arrive at the point, I’ll be in my office,” Randy said indicating the position when they were about ready to go to battlestations. Kim nodded back at him as he headed off to his office to try to relax.
*****
Meia waited with Carl and Ewa as the leaders of the rebellion debated behind closed doors at what to do. Meia hoped she had done enough to convince them to do something, anything instead of nothing. She looked over to see Carl and Ewa who both seemed concerned about the situation
“Meia, you seem awfully calm for such a situation, I’d be nervous in your shoes,” Carl finally said breaking the silence between them causing Meia to consider the situation.
“Its dire, but I’ve already faced death several times now. This waiting is more annoying than anything else, and not being in on the conversation, its troublesome,” Meia said. “You seem worried, is something wrong?”
She watched Carl look around seeing how close the guards and others were before answering in a low voice. “I fear the rebellion’s been infiltrated by the Emperor’s spies.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me at all,” Meia replied honestly, something she had already thought of. “Especially considering how much power the Emperor wields, and he’ll do anything to maintain that power.”
“Aren’t you afraid of falling into a trap?” Ewa asked.
“Yes, but if I don’t try then I’m giving him the victory for everything,” Meia answered before thinking about something. “Does the rebellion have a plan beyond taking down the emperor?”
“We don’t know,” Carl finally said after several seconds of thinking about the question which caused Meia some concern.
“The rebellion has been useful in many ways, a way for people to voice their grievances, and support for those who the empire has forgotten about,” Ewa stated defending the rebellion.
“In other words, they’ve done nothing to actually improve the situation,” Meia said crossing her arms and leaning back knowing something sound very wrong about this group.
“Lately, since Dave has become involved, we’ve started doing a bit more, even recon of Empire assets,” Carl stated.
“Dave, is he the upper-class citizen?” Meia asked recalling the man and watching Carl nod his head. “Then your traitor is porbably a long-time member, not a new one.”
“Impossible, everyone here is-“
“Lower class,” Meia finished before he could seeing Carl’s look of outrage at someone he might know as a traitor. “Doesn’t matter, the promise of a higher class status is a very attractive lure which the Emperor can use, it can turn any man or woman.”
“Then we could have brought you to your doom,” Carl said at last.
“No, my uncle has plans for me, which gives me some room to maneuver,” Meia said thinking about it. He wanted her alive.
She looked over to see that Carl and Ewa were looking back at her with a strange mix of emotion. The simple truth for her was any plan they came up with she could modify, she only had to be aware of those who might try to stop her within the rebellion. She already was coming up with plans to get off the planet, all part of her original training as a pilot, especially an elite pilot.
*****
Henry waited at his desk for any news to come concerning the capture of Meia, or from his clone, Mia in the Alliance. The last he heard the Alliance was reported gathering a fleet of ships around Pacifica, not that it surprised him and he had expected it for a while now.
Footsteps interrupted his thoughts and looking up he saw Jezic walking towards him with a data pad in his hands and what Henry hoped was news. Perhaps this was the news he had been waiting to hear.
“Sire, this was just received by intelligence,” Jezic said handing Henry the data pad.
He took it and scanned through the document rather quickly looking for the information he wanted and got something else instead. This information came from his sources inside the rebellion and what he read didn’t settle well with him at all.
“Double the guards round all transport landing bays at once,” Henry said noticing a slightly confused look on Jezic’s face at the order. “It seems that Meia is going to try to leave the planet by hijacking a transport at one of the landing docks, at least according to the rebellion which she has met up with.”
“Why don’t we just go to the rebellion’s headquarters and take her?” Jezic asked. “We’ve know the location for so long, why not use that information to end this problem once and for all.”
“My dear admiral, It serves a useful purpose for me, like finding criminals, and the leadership doesn’t do a thing without my permission,” Henry said. “No, raiding them will only cause the others to be more cautious in who they trust. Do not worry about them, they are under my control.”
“As you say sire,” Jezic replied but Henry knew the admiral was unconvinced, not that it mattered.
“Tell them to proceed,” Henry said watching as Jeizic’s eyes widened at that.
“Isn’t that dangerous?” Jezic replied with some resignation.
“Its only dangerous if it’s a threat to my rule, which Meia doesn’t pose,” Henry said smiling at the fact he had an ace up his sleeve as people liked to say, and unknown plan in case she tried. He knew Jezic didn’t understand all the little intricacies that came with ruling an empire. He was only concerned with the enemy and destroying it. Henry always planned ahead and looked ahead to what his enemy might do next.
“Should I inform the guards that the Alliance might attack?” Jezic finally asked, something for Henry to think about before he replied.
“That might not be a bad idea, yes, after all we are expecting the Alliance to show up again. Yes, do that, it will be a great cover for increasing the guards around all the transports,” Henry finally said.
“Then I have some alerts to put out,” Jezic replied, bowing to Henry and hastily leaving the room to carry out his orders leaving Henry alone once more to his thoughts.
He paused giving some thought to another potential problem, Mia. She had been programmed to be obedient during the cloning process but she could suffer from the slave flaw that Ann had. Of course that possibility could occur simply due to the impure DNA Meia had, that Epsilon heritage from his weak brother who developed a liking to a lower-class citizen.
Henry thought about the fact Mia could come out saying she was the new heir, and daughter of Boris, but he could easily prove she was a clone, made up from genetic material, and even prove she wasn’t the heir She was not much of a problem if anything happened.
No, his plan would work and Mia was under his control and had so far performed her duties flawlessly. He could not afford doubt about the program now, especially after he had given permission for it to proceed. Everything would work exactly as he had planned.
End part 23