The Cimalian Princess: Rebellion
by AJ Marks
Part 11
Jack watched from his seat as the president quickly walked in and sat down, looking at the assembled group.
“All right, we don’t have all day so let’s get straight to the point,” Able said to the group before looking at Jack. “Admiral White, what is the current situation of the Cimalian Empire?”
Jack stood, cleared his throat, and proceeded to outline what the scout ships had reported along with what happened during the last contact and everything a brief overview of what happened with Meia.
“You’re telling me that they cloned this Meia, yet you still trust her in such a position?” Able asked, a question Jack was prepared for.
“Yes sir,” Jack replied. “If you read the reports the clones acted differently than the original. That and Doctor Leaver has discovered a slight trace of the cloning process within the clones blood and DNA, using that marker we can test Meia and prove she’s not a clone.”
“I see,” Able said leaning back into his chair. “Now, what is the potential threat the Cimalian Empire possesses at the moment to the alliance?”
“We have reason to believe the Cimalians have recently completed a new ship, this one right here,” Jack said, as the image of the ship appeared on the screen. “Intel is labeling the ship as a carrier due to the fact it has four hangars instead of two. There is also a rumor of a bomber to go with this ship, and it can carry more than a hundred fighters and bombers. It could prove a large threat to our fleet.”
“What about the rest of their fleet?”
“Our best guess is their fleet and ours are, at the moment, roughly equal in size and strength at the moment,’ Jack replied back to the question. “We are unaware of their industrial capabilities at this time, but its felt we should have an advantage there for now due to the fact they recently moved.”
“Amazing that we have such an advantage yet allowed ourselves to be so manipulated that wee can barely defend ourselves,” Able stated.
“That lies with those who were in power at the time, and those who were working with the Cimalian Empire,” Jack answered. “We do have enough to defend the Alliance if they should try again, and the mistakes of the past are being rectified.”
“Are you sure about that?” Able asked.
“Yes sir,” Jack stated. “All fleets are on alert for any Cimalian ships, and actively looking for any transmissions. We are receiving help from space stations around the Alliance who are reporting anything unusual. So far we’ve received nothing out of the ordinary. We’ve also begun upgrades to all ships in the fleet.”
“Very well, what are your recommendations regarding the Cimalian Empire?” Able asked getting to the point of the meeting.
“Its difficult to assess. If we go in and attack, we’ll only cause more harm than good in the Cimalian Empire. However, waiting to attack will only delay them attacking us,” Jack said knowing his statement was a contradicting one.
“Well, what about this Meia girl, isn’t she supposed to be the heir to the throne or something like that,” another senator asked.
“She is, but putting her there would require an invasion and could undermine her ability to rule and lead to more bloodshed later on,” Jack said, not willing to mention they currently had a plane underway.
“I suggest we come up with a plan and make that our top priority then,” Able stated looking at his watch. “I have a luncheon to attend, if you’ll excuse me. We’ll meet again later to discuss more details.”
“I think that will work,” Jack said.
“Then, ladies and gentlemen, I shall see you tomorrow,” Able said, standing and leaving the room as did many others until only Jack and Amy were left.
“So, you’re not going to tell him?” Amy asked.
“I don’t know if we can trust him yet,” Jack honestly replied.
Neither spoke as Jack stood and they walked out of the room. He wondered if the room had been bugged for conversations and hoped it was secure. For now he headed to the small base on Corestar and see how things were going.
*****
Meia made her way into the cafeteria feeling a bit better after taking another nap. Picking up a tray she selected some food which sounded good before sitting down a bit surprised when a few others joined her and she realized they were part of her squadron.
“Mind if we join you ma’am?” one asked speaking up for the others.
“Um, no, go ahead,” Meia replied not wanting to be rude despite she felt a bit uncomfortable with people actually sitting down with her.
“So, are we really going to go through with this ranking stuff?” one asked, showing a red patch o his arm. Meia gave it some thought before replying.
“Yeah, in case we have any more prisoners. It will help later on,” Meia replied back to him.
“So, you really as, well you know, a princess as they all say,” the first one asked her.
“I am the only child of the eldest son of the ruling family,” Meia replied, not saying she was the only child of her generation of her family.
“Cool,” another one said. “A princess who can kick butt, and nail the pin on the wall while drunk.”
“You sure showed those pilots from one one six, and it felt good to finally get one over on them,” the first pilot said.
“Yeah Tim, especially considering we had fewer losses than they did during the last couple of battles,” the second one said to the first guy.
Meia now had a name to go with one of the pilots, Time, but still had yet to know their name or even really recognize any of them. The only one she really knew was Gail, the only other woman in the group.
“Any idea when we’ll be seeing combat again, or even if we will see any more combat?” Tim asked.
“No, it all depends on the recon mission,” Meia replied. “I doubt if we’ve seen the last battle though.”
“Hear that rookie, you haven’t missed it yet,’ Tim said giving the smaller guy among them a slap on the shoulder. Tim and the other guy laughed while the rookie appeared scared and excited at the same time.
“Did everyone get their citizen class?” Meia asked.
“Yeah,” Tim relied. “Gail and I are the only Alphas, mike here is a Beta and Val is a Delta.”
“Remember, if we have guests on board Deltas and Alphas don’t mix with each other outside of work,” Meia said to them already knowing it would be hard to enforce such a rule. But she now knew the names of the other two, the rookie was Val.
“Can’t believe you live under such a strict system,” she heard Gail’s voice say and looked over to see her sitting down as well.
“It’s how I grew up. When you know no other way it feels natural,” Meia replied back to them.
“The classic case of not knowing any better,” Val said. “The same is true in reverse, we can’t imagine a system which is so strict and they can’t imagine a system that’s so free. We do have some structure, but there are no rules of interaction, just fuzzy lines which we adhere to.”
Meia had to agree about that, the lines were fuzzy and were at times difficult to master. A rich person could associate with a poor person without ridicule from their peers. It was a system she actually seemed to adapt to quickly but it appeared other struggled with it. Looking at the patches on the uniforms she noticed that like Tim, Mike was a red, Val was brown and Gail wore yellow, or blonde as the hair color would be. It was actually based upon their abilities.
“Saw that Colonel Reed is a blue, knew he was good but haven’t seen him in a fight,” Tim said.
“You knew him?” Meia asked.
“We had the same flight school, upon graduation I was transferred to the Hood and he came here. I transferred here when the Hood suffered damage at Pacifica,” Tim replied back to her. “Is it true that the old battle-cruiser is on this mission?”
“Yeah, it was the ship we were waiting on before leaving,” Meia said not saying anything about that battle. At the time she had been on the other side, fighting for the Empire, still confused and drugged. She had destroyed a couple of Alliance fighters and it was entirely possible she had killed some of their friends.
“You all right?” Tim asked her.
“Just thinking,” Meia replied giving herself a mental shake but not saying anything else.
“You have any family back home?” Gail asked.
“An uncle I’d rather forget, aside from that no. My dad died shortly after I was born and my mom died when I was young and she didn’t have any family,” Meia said recalling that her parents were killed. She thought about her mother’s parents, she never knew them either. Had her uncle killed them as well?
Looking down she realized her food no longer seemed appetizing to her and silently excused herself from the group. She walked out with no destination in mind, only thinking that her uncle probably killed everyone which was in her family.
*****
Randy heard the knock on his door, looking up wondering who it might be as he wasn’t expecting anyone. He allowed whoever it was slightly surprised to see a young pilot enter the room.
“Admiral,” the man said. “Lieutenant Timothy Dresier sir.”
“At ease lieutenant,” Randy said leaning back into his seat. “Now, what’s so important that you came to see me?”
“Well, it’s um, its Lieutenant Colonel Meia sir, we were talking in the cafeteria and she suddenly stopped and left. She didn’t appear to be herself,” Timothy answered.
Randy nodded knowing that Meia could have sudden mood swings. Of course some of those were because of the clones which had come on board before he focused on the situation at hand. “Did she say anything to you?” he asked knowing it could point to what was bothering her.
“Well, we were all just talking when Gail asked her about her family. I mean we all know her uncle is alive being the Emperor, but anyone else. She mentioned her mother and father had been killed before going quiet and then just left,” Timothy stated back to him.
Randy closed his eyes giving it some thought. Meia never had a family as far as he knew. Her uncle had killed them all, from her mom and dad to her dad’s parents, all to reach the throne and rule the empire.
“Do you know where she went?” Randy asked him.
“No sir,” timothy replied. “We do know that you and Meia are, well, friends, and I, well, we thought she might need a friend sir.”
“Thank you lieutenant,” Randy said watching as the man gave a salute and walked out. He pondered his words knowing Meia could want her privacy, but at the same time her squadron mates were concerned for her.
A part of him wanted to jump up from his desk and race off to find her. Glancing at the pile of paperwork in front of him he looked it over knowing it had to be done and Meia might want time to think. She knew where he was, if he went racing all over the ship he might miss her coming to him.
“Ah hades,” he finally said a few seconds later after reading the same sentence over twice and still not understanding it.
Locking the computer he headed out of his office pausing before heading towards the hangar.
End part 11