The Cimalian Princess: Rebellion
by AJ Marks
Part 9
Meia slowly regained consciousness, opening her eyes before quickly shutting them again due to the blinding light. Letting out a low moan she tried to remember not only where she was but how she got there. She also wondered what time was it? An irritating beeping noise caused her to look again, this time barely opening her eyes, which seemed too wide still and scanned the room looking around. Sitting up only caused her head to pound making her wish to curl up and die.
She finally spotted the annoying object in question, a small alarm clock sitting on her desk. Slamming her fist onto the object which caused it to stop, much to her satisfaction she lay back down rubbing her temples wonder what she had done for such pain. Did someone hit her over the head, it might explain why she couldn’t remember what happened.
Vaguely bits and pieces returned and she recalled going to the pilot’s club with John, having something strange to drink. After that her memory got a bit fuzzy, something about beating John at a game then something involving knives and a target on the wall. She couldn’t quite remember the details.
“Lieutenant Commander Meia, this is your appointed wake up call,” the computer voice said suddenly, causing her to groan at the sound.
She managed to squint at the computer before realizing someone was at the door. She told the computer to open the door annoyed at whoever it might be.
“Well, well, how are we feeling,” a boom voice said.
Meia to groan before taking her pillow and tossing towards the sound. The muffled thump of the pillow hitting the ground indicated she missed her target.
“Not like you at all to miss,” the voice said as she finally realized who it was, John
“Go away!” Meia groaned at him.
“Nope, got something which will make you feel better, or throw up, either case you’ll feel better,” John said in a way too cheerful voice.
“That’s what you said when we went out for that drink,” Meia stated opening her eyes enough to see John standing near the bed with a glass filled with a foul looking liquid. “You want me to drink that?”
“Yep guaranteed to get rid of hangovers,” John replied smiling at her, to which Meia glared back at him waiting for his next comment. “Think of it this way, either drink it for short term horrible tastes, or feel like shit for several hours.”
Meia looked at him, then back at the drink a couple of times before the pounding in her head made up her mind. Taking the drink she shuddered at the smell before preparing herself.
“Ah, I’d drink it quickly, gets it over with faster, unless you’re into pain and torture. If you are I’ll let Randy know,” he said to with a smile.
Meia doubted John, but went ahead, taking a breath she gulped the drink down which immediately threatened to come right back up.
“Oh goddess, what was in that?” Meia asked. “No, don’t tell me, I think I’ll throw up if you do tell me.
Her head pounded even worse for a few moments as she tried to get rid of the aftertaste which seemed to cling to her tongue. Making her way over to the sink she poured herself a glass of water, downing it quickly hoping to wash the taste away. After several seconds the pounded eased up causing her to look over at John who merely watched her.
“I’ll never trust you with another drink again,” she whispered at him, poking his chest.
“You say that now, but you made an impression on the others,” John said to her.
“Others?” Meia asked, wondering what else she had done she didn’t remember.
“Oh yeah, never seen someone so wasted and still had such good reflexes, usually drinking makes you less coordinated, well, it didn’t seem to affect you, unless we’re talking about actually walking. But I think if we put you in a fighter you’d still be one of the most dangerous pilots out there,” John said to her.
Meia filled her glass up with water and sipped it wondering about this praise coming from John despite not remembering anything.
“So, what did I do seeing how I can’t recall much?” Meia asked.
“Nothing much, like I said, drank a little, played a few games, impressed the Hades out of your fellow squadron pilots. Honestly I didn’t expect you to get that drunk,” John said and Meia noticed the normal teasing expression replaced with actual guilt. “I guess I should have explained it a bit more, and the side effects of alcohol.”
“Pilots are not allow such things in the Empire,” Meia said. “Anything which might hinder their ability to fight would be frowned upon.”
“Another reason not to like the Cimalian Empire,” John said looking down at his watch. “Skip says to meet him in thirty minutes in his office. We’re about to arrive at our destination and I thought you would want to freshen up before the meeting.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” Meia replied. “Thanks, I’ll be there on time.”
“I’ll let him know,” John said heading to the door and stopping. “Oh yeah, if the skip looks at you strangely, it’s because you put a big lip lock on him earlier.”
“Lip lock?”
“Yeah, you know, big passionate kiss,” John said leaving before Meia could say anything else.
The door slid shut leaving Meia stunned at what she had been told. Could he really mean what he said, she had kissed Randy? Slumping onto the bed she wished she could disappear as quickly as her headache had earlier. Pulling herself together she headed to the shower hoping that Randy wouldn’t say anything, or did she actually hope he might say something? Feeling confused she headed to the shower to freshen up before the meeting.
*****
Meia walked towards Randy’s office feeling better, having showered and whatever John gave her seemed to work a bit. On her way over she wondered why anyone would willingly submit themselves to such torture. She paused at the door recalling what John said she had done feeling nervous at what type of reaction Randy would give her before knocking.
“Come in,” Randy’s voice said. She walked in seeing Randy sitting at his desk. “Feeling better I assume?”
“Um, yeah,” Meia replied seeing a twinkle in Randy’s eyes when he spoke but saw nothing else. “I’m never trusting John again with my drinks.”
Randy laughed at that comment. “I forgot the drinking games we used to play,” Randy replied indicating he had done similar things. “Though, from what I hear you beat him.”
“I don’t remember much of what happened, except one time I beat him,” Meia said knowing she had little memory of what happened.
“Few people beat him and the one who does can’t remember but he does,” Randy said with another chuckle. “He has that ability, and it appears you do as well. Remember bonding with your squadron?”
“Not really, I assume that’s a good thing,” Meia replied sitting down.
“Yeah, we were a bit worried they might not accept you even after everything, but it appears you earned their respect,” Randy said turning serious. “I’ve scheduled a meeting with the other ship captains, we need to have a better plan of action. I doubt we can go in guns blazing.”
Meia paused giving that some thought knowing Randy was right, they couldn’t do that. “We need to go back, or at least someone does,” Meia said knowing they needed a contact on the surface.
“I don’t think you should go this time, we’ll need you up here,” Randy said.
“Perhaps we can get someone down there to come up here,” Meia replied expressing an idea.
“Might work, and we might have a way which that can happen,” Randy said. Meia watched him for several seconds before activating the intercom. “Have Captain Russell along with one of our guests report to my office.”
“Yes sir,” the reply came back.
Meia had yet to meet Captain Russell and waited to see who he was. A short time later the door opened revealing a tall, thin man entering the room.
“Captain Russell reporting as ordered.”
“Have a seat captain, you know Lieutenant Commander Meia?” Randy said introducing her to him. Russell looked from Randy over to Meia.
“She’s the former Cimalian pilot,” Russell said.
“Correct,” Randy said as Russell sat down. “I have a mission for you, but we’re waiting for one more person.
The door chimed before opening to allow Brad into the room, one of the group who had fled Cimalius when Meia escaped. Upon seeing her he quickly lowered his eyes.
“Forgive me, I didn’t know…”
“It’s all right,” Meia said quickly realizing what he was doing.
“Captain Russell is the captain of one of the scout ships, I hope you can go down to Cimalius’ surface and help locate a group which might be able to help us,” Randy stated. “It’s a risky plan, and you will be risking your life, but it might help prevent a large loss of life.”
Brad seemed to look at them all before looking back at Meia. “You’re still an Alpha Superior.”
Meia understood what he meant. “If things are to change, then we must start somewhere. Protocols are changing Brad, and you must not be afraid to look mm in the eyes. I’m still that same person you helped get to the shuttle docks, and who flew the shuttle and helped you in the transition to Alliance life,” Meia said to him watching as her words had the desired effect before looking back at Randy for the mission details.
“Russell, I know we have a meeting of all captains, but I think you need to start this mission now. Get Brad down to the planet’s surface and help make contact with a group of the resistance who might be able to help,” Randy said to them.
“I thought you said the resistance was under the control of the Emperor,” Brad said confused looking back at Meia.
“The leadership is, but there are some you can probably trust. Do you know Carlo and Ewa,” Meia asked watching as he nodded yes. “Good, they were friends who helped me out. They might be able to help you in who to trust and contact. If they can’t contact the Beta leader, he is the only one probably not under the Emperor’s control in the leadership. If you could get him up here that is even better.”
“Are you sure about that?” Brad asked, slightly concerned with it all. “The Enforcers probably have my face in the database.”
“Maybe, but they will probably be looking more for me, not you,” Meia replied. Brad was silent for several seconds before replying.
“All right, but what do I tell them?”
“That I’m taking my rightful place as Empress,” Meia stated. She saw his face contain a mixture of fear and hope.
“Are you?” he asked.
“It’s a complex situation,” Meia finally replied knowing to end this she probably would have to take control. “That part isn’t really a lie, but you’ll have to lie to inform them that I’m raising my own resistance group to fight my uncle. Don’t tell them they are actually Alliance military, it could undermine everything we’re working for.”
“I don’t understand, why the charade?” Brad asked confused.
“We want to change things, but if we go in and take over it won’t solve anything and would probably make the situation worse,” Randy stated. “Your reaction to Meia only demonstrates there is a long way to go. We can’t go in as the Alliance.”
Meia watched Brad think about that for several seconds before Randy continued.
“However, if we go in the Meia leading, she takes over there is a chance for change to occur, slowly, peacefully,” Randy said.
“I don’t want to destroy the Empire, but recreate it,” Meia replied. “I want the Emprie and Alliance to exist in peace. The Alliance was never behind any of the attacks, our own government was. Equality will take time, erasing the class system will take time, but we must do it, not forced to do it by the Alliance.”
Meia watched as Brad continued to think about what they said.
“You know,” he said, “before you came into my life we always talked of change. What change might be like. I think we talked about it but deep down knew it would never happen. Now I have an opportunity to make that change. I’ll go.”
“Then head over with Captain Russell, the plane and success will be between you, and it could be the hardest part of the entire mission,” Randy said. “I would advise against any combat.”
“Understood admiral,” Russell said.
“Good, now I hope to see you back here as quickly as possible. The fleet will stay here for a while, if we’re not here head to point beta,” Randy told Russell, the backup point.
The captain saluted Randy and left with Brad before they headed to their meeting with the other captains.
End part 9