The Cimalian Princess: Rebellion
by AJ Marks
Part 16
Meia felt a strange satisfaction that her own father had trouble with Olin’s father. It all made sense to her as if it completed a chapter in her life she never understood. She turned back to Greg sitting next to her as he spoke up again.
“Its rather strange, but Corrus actually had a lot of talent but wasted it on trying to best others through trickery instead of actually training,” Greg finally said.
Meis understood that, Olin bullied his way to the top.
The rest of the meal went quickly as the group listened to some more of Greg’s stories, many of which included Boris in them. Meia smiled gaining an insight into her father she never had before. John excused himself and left the room to do some work even as Randy walked into the room to inform them Hans had completed the communications system and everything was ready to do.
Greg stood but placed a hand on Meias’ shoulder looking right into her eyes.
“Your father would be very proud of you, don’t doubt that. I also think he’d approve the way you will rule, if you’re anything like the way he was,” Greg told her. “He always hated the class system.”
Meia whispered her thanks to him watching as he walked out with Randy to head back to Cimulius.
“Do you have any adventures like that?” one asked after Greg left.
“No,” Meia replied, a part of her wished she had. “I grew up thinking I was an Epsilon, not an Alpha Supreme, and only he could have actually gotten away with what he pulled and not been punished.”
“Would you have?” another asked catching her off guard.
Meia considered the question seriously. Would she have done the same things her father had? She thought of Olin and realized the truth of the question.
“Yeah, I probably would’ve, if nothing else than to piss off Olin,” Meia replied.
“It also appears you inherited a lot of your father’s talent, wish my parents were that good. Mine hated sports.”
Several pilots laughed at that as Meia allowed the conversation to roll over her. Her thoughts went back to her father. He had said little about her mother to anyone. Of course she understood that going public with such a relationship would cause problems. A high class citizen involved with a low class citizen, it was probably why he kept it quiet or his family might have killed her mother.
It failed to explain why her mother raised her. In a couple of years both her great-grandmother and grandfather had been killed. She wondered if her great-grandmother had another plan for her. What would she have been like growing up under them?
Meia looked down at her finished tray and excused herself and headed back to her ‘office’.
*****
Randy walked down the corridor with Greg. They both stole glances at each other and Randy felt relieved that Meia seemed get along with him, even smiling and laughing with him. Randy would keep his guard up anyways.
“You don’t trust me much, do you?” Greg asked breaking the silence.
“No, but its also my job to make sure the people under me are safe,” Randy replied back to him.
“Spoken like a true admiral,” Greg said looking Randy over. “you don’t look that old, or even old enough to be an admiral, and you seem pretty close to Meia.”
“I can assure you, I didn’t get my rank because of my relationship with Meia, and I’ll be watching you,” Randy said to him.
“Then we have something in common,” Greg said. “Boris was my best friend. After he died I left the service, wasn’t fun anymore.”
“Sounds a bit like me and a friend when we were pilots,” Randy said thinking of him and John.
“What, were you in diapers and flying already?” Greg said with a laugh.
“No, I accepted a command position, he wanted to continue flying,” Randy said. “He dueled with Meia as the Battle of Pacifica, and was on his way out when I entered the room.”
“Yes, I seem to recall him, nice man,’ Greg said. “However, if Meia’s anything like her father her flying skills should be remarkable.”
Randy looked on as they entered the hangar.
“You’ve done a good job here with a simulated Cimalian society. I meant what I said, change will be difficult but I think many will welcome it depending on how its done,” Greg said. “You don’t have to pretend for me, but I understand why. An Alliance invasion won’t work, there is too much misinformation out there among the lower classes for it to work.”
“And this plan?” Randy asked wanting to gain his insight if it might work or not.
“Risky at best, but then again why live without the joy of risk. I haven’t felt this alive in years,” Greg said. “Take care of Meia, she is the key to this all working.”
“I will, and we’ll be in touch,” Randy said.
“Good, I’ll keep in touch, and see what I can do,” Greg said.
Randy watched the man walk onto the shuttle along with Captain Russell to head back to the Dragon. Now Randy was back to a waiting game once more. Heading back to his office he pondered if anything from HQ had come in, and how things were back home.
*****
Jack noticed two senators walking towards him with an uncomfortable feeling they were heading for him. He hoped they would walk on past but they were looking at him as if they wanted to ask him something.
“Admiral, a word if you have the time?” one senator asked politely.
“Sure gentleman, what can I do for you?” Jack replied being diplomatic. They at least started the conversation politely and he would return it. He figured if anything happened he could at least outrun them.
“We were going over the reports of recent movements in the fleet and noticed something odd,” one said.
“A couple of battle-cruisers seem to be missing, including the Akagi, Hood, Bismarck and Warspite,” the other said.
“None of them have been on the list for several days now, why is that?” the first asked.
Jack inwardly groaned at hearing the ships names. “Well, they do make up part of the Strike Fleet, our best line of defense and seeing as how I don’t know who is a spy and who isn’t saying where those ships are could violate national security,” Jack said hoping that would buy him some time.
“National security my ass, you’re covering something admiral,” one senator said. Jack finally recognized the man, Hendric Lidin from the former Constrict party but not a leader.
“You mean like the conspiracy that the military was attacking our own worlds to protect our budget,” Jack replied back at him watching as the man shrank slightly. “Better yet, why don’t you actually do something useful and allow me the room to conduct this war so we win.”
Jack didn’t wait for a reply as he pushed past the two senators. A few seconds later he looked over at his aide’s face. Sally had a wide-eyed look to her as they made their way along the corridor.
“He won’t like that sir,” she finally said to him.
“Doesn’t matter, I meant what I said. It is vital to national security,” Jack said. “As long as the Cimalians don’t know where that fleet is we stand a chance for peace and they might hesitate to attack. Be careful about what you say about that fleet to anyone other than Senator Amy Barnes.”
“I will sir, Chad has already briefed me,” Sally said.
They continued on for a bit, passing a few others before Jack said anything else. “How is the senator?”
“We, work very well together,” Sally said finally, he thought he noticed a slight blush on her cheeks.
“Just remember, we keep our private and works lives separate,” Jack informed her.
“Of course sir,” Sally said right away.
He stopped in front of the room to the meeting room taking the file from Sally before walking inside seeing several senators already seated. The President wouldn’t be at this meeting, but his appointed advisor, Amy Barnes, would be. He nodded in her direction before sitting down watching as she walked over.
“There’s already talk about the Strike Fleet,” he whispered to her.
“I know, meant to warn you, I assume it was Senator Lidin who spoke to you,” Amy said back to him.
“Yeah, in the hall, kind of brushed him off a bit, good thing I can walk fast,” Jack said with a grin.
“He won’t like it, but its his own fault,” Amy said.
“Yeah, citing national security won’t last long, at least with this group, “Jack said watching as the last senator entered the room heading to his seat. Amy moved over to his position allowing Jack to begin. “Welcome ladies and gentlemen.”
It would be an interesting briefing.
*****
Greg watched a pilot weave a path back and forth as it descended back to the ground. The plan for him to go down changed, the scout ship launched three shuttles then left just as fast. It would jump quickly, turn around and jump back before jumping one last time. Doing short jumps was what the scout ship was designed for. They decided not to leave a shuttle despite the training Greg received.
Greg knew the plan was for all three to head down and land. It had changed to also give an illusion that the Alliance had landed even more people.
“I’ll try to land as close as possible to the spot I picked you up at,” the pilot said.
“Thanks,” Greg replied knowing he might be in a familiar area instead of some strange spot he might have to work to get out of.
“Hang on, this is going to get rough, their shooting is better this time,” the pilot said.
He watched again as the pilot dodged and weaved once more before feeling a thump indicating the shuttle had been hit. He scanned the indicators seeing no warning lights even as the ground came up very fast. He held on despite knowing that the shuttle was capable of pulling out and felt sure his grip was now imprinted on the arm of the chair.
“Get ready, I’m not staying on the ground for long,” the pilot said.
Greg unblocked his seatbelt and scrambled for the door. “Good luck,” he yelled back at the pilot before opening the door and scrambling away from the shuttle. He recognized the area and headed for a small lake nearby which would give him a spot to begin his journey back home.
Upon reaching the lake he was glad there was no one else there. He spent some time looking up seeing the shuttle heading up into the clouds before looking at a clearing and seeing the expected group of enforcers heading towards him.
“You, ID, now!” one shouted.
Greg calmly presented his ID waiting for the next question.
“Why are you out here?”
“You question me? I like to stroll around this lake, relaxes me, and is close to my home. You could see that on the card if you could read,” Greg replied back, his tone harsh knowing the man was probably a Beta or Delta class citizen.
He watched the enforcer look back down at the ID and back up at him before handing him back his ID.
“Sorry sir, an Alliance shuttle landed close by, we’re looking for any Alliance terrorists,” the man replied back.
“Another group, I must say we need to step up our enforcement,” Greg said to him.
“Yes sir,” the guard replied. “I suggest you leave the area quickly, you never know if they are going to blow something up nearby.”
“Quiet right, I’ll let your HQ know if I see anything,” Greg said.
“Thank you sir, have a nice day.”
Greg smiled slightly knowing his class allowed him certain advantages as enforcers were easy to outwit. He thought about what Boris might do if he was here, probably have those enforcers looking for some invisible house or something. He continued on down the road in the direction of his house, unafraid of walking in the street.
He realized the next phase was contacting Dave once more, and perhaps the mysterious contact. He also needed to find this Carl again and the others he knew were part of the Alpha revolt group. He only hoped he could convince the others it was time to act. He had a feeling they wouldn’t get another chance at change.
End part 16