The Cimalian Princess: Rebellion
by AJ Marks
Part 26
Randy stood on the bridge as the fleet got into position and looked at the countdown for the fleet to move out, which had been coordinated with the resistance groups on the ground. That meant the fleet would leave in twenty minutes to arrive on time.
“Admiral, the fleet is in position, ready to move out,” Kim said to him.
Randy looked over at her than down at the scanner showing the fleet in position for the jump. Each ship had their orders of where to arrive and what to do once they arrived. It had taking some time to get everyone in position and ready when he noticed something else on the scanner which just appeared.
“Inform all ship, move out now,’ Randy said surprising everyone on the bridge.
“Admiral, that’s twenty minutes ahead of schedule,” Kim said to him.
“I know, but we just ran out of time,” Randy said to her, pointing to the scanner showing a Cimalian war fleet on the way. “Let’s go, inform all ship to move out, now.”
He watched as Hans relayed the order even as he heard the drive engines power up to the high pitched whine which indicate the Akagi could jump. The Cimalian fleet would arrive in a few minutes and he hoped to be gone before then.
“All ships report ready to jump,” Hans said.
“All ship, jump now,” Randy said.
The Akagi quickly accelerated breaking the light speed barrier and hurtled through space towards Cimalius.
*****
“Admiral, incoming message from Admiral Wabu.”
Jezic turned to the communications officer and brought up the admiral on his screen. “Admiral, what news?”
“We proceeded to the spot indicated, but despite our haste our scanners showed several ships but they were gone by the time we dropped out of jump,” Wambu replied back to him.
Jezic had a sinking feeling about the news. “Anything else?”
“From our data we discovered more ships than anticipated,” Wambu stated.
“How many?”
“Before we lost contact we identified three battle-cruisers, not two, and several more ships than we expected from the original report, possibly twice as big as we anticipated,” Wambu said.
The uneasiness in Jezic’s gut didn’t lessen at all with this news. The fact the fleet didn’t engage a smaller fleet meant a few things, and none of them were good in his mind. They were fleeing back to the alliance, or they were headed here.
“Turn the fleet around and get back here as quickly as possible,” Jezic said, knowing the ships needed time for the jump engines to cool down and power back up. All of that took time to do.
If the Alliance fleet was on the way here they would arrive in two hours. He sent a message down to the Emperor advising him of the situation before looking at the others.
“All ships are to go to yellow alert, we might have incoming ships in two hours,’ Jezic to the captain of the Cimal. “Spread word to the rest of the fleet.”
“By your will admiral,” he replied moved to carry out the orders.
*****
Emperor Henry glared at the aide who dared to wake him up and the time which indicated it was still close to midnight. “This had better be good, for you sake!”
The aide swallowed and turned pale before managing to say anything. “Sorry sire, but this came in from Admiral Jezic and we also got this bit of information from our spies in the resistance.”
Henry grabbed the datapad and read the report. “So, it’s finally happening is it?” he said to himself knowing the aide would be confused. He stood and went from the bed and to the closet and pulled out some clothes knowing that things would be determined rather soon, and everything he worked for would come true.
“Place the guards on alert,” Henry said pulling a shirt on.
“Sire?”
“Did I stutter or something?” Henry replied, turning on the aide giving him a glare.
“No sire, I didn’t understand, its not for me to understand, I’ll do it right now,” the aide said quickly running from the room.
Henry smirked slightly at the attitude others showed him. It was intoxicating to him to have others fearful of him. Tonight everything would be solved, one way or another and he had all the advantages in his mind. This battle would cement his position in Cimalian history.
*****
Meia walked around her fighter, checking and double checking every part for any signs of problems. Ben and Jean’s work was exceptional as always and she found nothing to be concerned over.
“Everything up to specs?” Ben asked approaching her and wiping his hands.
“Looks great,” Meia replied looking at him then back at the fighter, looking at some wiring before closing the cover again and moved on to the weapon systems. “Wanted to makes sure about everything with an atmosphere flight coming up.”
“Yeah, you do,” Ben said ending up right next to her. “Are you ready for this lass?”
“Always,” Meia replied not looking at him.
“No, the Empress thing,” Ben corrected her.
She paused in her inspection taking a moment to consider the question. If they won the battle she would be Empress of an entire Empire. She couldn’t sit in the cockpit of the fighter for this battle.
“I guess so, I mean I have to don’t I?” Meia replied back to him.
“No, you don’t,” Ben replied back to her confusing her. “Some fights no one expects. Take good care of yourself out there, I want to visit you as Empress.”
Meia smiled at the mechanic who seemed to treat her more like a daughter than anything else. She learned from others that Ben lost both daughters to deep space exploration and many thought they ran across Cimlian space and was destroyed. In a way she felt glad that Ben never held that against her when he easily could.
“I don’t plan on dying any time soon, or at least I hope not to,” Meia replied back to him.
“Good, because I think the admiral would be disappointed as well,” Ben said to her.
Meia blushed slightly at that thought wondering how many people knew about their budding relationship. It had yet to really progress beyond anything from good friends, but she knew she wanted to explore it even further.
“Don’t you do anything stupid either,” Meia replied back to him.
“Trust me, I don’t plan on doing anything stupid,” Ben replied. Meia started to reply when the ships intercom interrupted her.
“Thirty minutes until arrival.”
The voice echoed though the hangar as people paused in their duties before continuing on. She looked back over at Ben.
“I should get back to John’s fighter,” Ben said, looking over to where Jean was working on the fighter in question.
“I’ll see you later,” Meia said.
She watched him walk back over to the fighter before she continued on her inspection of her fighter. Finishing up she spotted several pilots off to the side of the hangar relaxing before battle. She spotted General Porkins in conversation with several squadron commanders going over details of the upcoming ground assault and battle plans. They all knew their job, and she knew her job, to get into the palace.
Other pilots were going over their fighters as well, some with the mechanics. In a strange way she felt a calmness in this atmosphere which was odd. It seemed everyone understood how important the battle would be, and people would die. It was the promise of what was at stake which calmed people.
“Meia, there you are, I wanted to make sure about this order?” a young man said walking up to her from her squadron. “You really want me to lead the Blue Royals?”
“Yeah, I’ll be headed to the planet’s surface so I won’t be able to help you out,” Meia answered. “I trust you to get everyone though.”
She watched as he blushed at the compliment.
“I’ll do my best.”
Meia looked over to see Brad and others from the resistance group walk into the hangar. They would make up part of the scouting group and volunteered to one of the first on the ground.
“Twenty minutes, within scanner range of the Cimlian fleet.”
Meia shook herself knowing time was counting down as people headed to their assigned shuttles. She had a feeling Jezic already knew they were headed towards Cimalius, and that her uncle knew as well. She wondered what he might think she faced off against him once more. She wouldn’t cower to him anymore.
“You ready?” Brad asked.
“Yeah, you?” Meia asked him looking at the others.
“Finished going over what was needed of us, we’re actually going to split up on different shuttle in case one is shot down,” Brad said to her, wise words when going into such a battle
“Then I’ll see you on the surface,” Meia said.
“Heard you’re flying down in a fighter, good luck,” Brad said, as some of the others said the same thing before they all headed off towards a shuttle along with ground forces. About fifty per shuttle would be crammed in, more than normal but needed for the upcoming battle. It appeared everything was in place, now all they had to do, fight the battle.
*****
Jezic walked onto the bridge as general quarters sounded throughout the ship. He made his way over to a concerned captain even though Jezic already had an idea what was happening.
“What’s the situation captain?” Jezic asked, though he did hope for better news than what the captain’s face showed. He expected to hear that the incoming Alliance fleet had been spotted on the scanners.
“We have a slight problem admiral, scanners are indicating an incoming Alliance fleet, but, well, here’s the problem, there are four battle-cruisers incoming, along with four cruiser and a dozen other wrships,” the captain replied.
Jezic paled slightly at the news. The incoming force was larger than he had expected. The last report indicated three battle-cruisers, not four. Even is Admiral Wambu’s force could arrive back quickly it would still be quite a battle as they overestimated this force. And any other fleet was too far away to be an use in this battle, the closets was about five hours away if they were able to leave now. Some would already be engaging their targets.
“Send down a communications to the surface, tell them the Alliance fleet has arrived,” Jezic ordered.
He watched as the communications officer relayed the message before JEzic turned his attention back to the incoming fleet of ships. He had about five minutes to place his ships, not enough time to really do much of anything as ships would only just begin moving to intercept.
“Launch all fighters and bombers, we must strike quickly if we are to win this battle for the glory of the Empire,” Jezic said to the crew. “Primary targets will be the battle-cruisers, tell the Frunze and Slava to close and engage the closest target with the Xeno missiles. All ships have permission to fire at will at any target they deem a threat.”
He watched as people went to work all over the bridge. This battle would start in a few minutes and would be an important battle. The Emperor might not be too concerned by this force, but he had a mission to do, protect the surface of the planet and that’s what he was going to do.
With the battles going on all over he had a feeling this battle was the most important. He also had a feeling this battle is where Meia would be, and if he could kill her things would be much better. If only the Emperor had killed her when he had the chance.
Looking at the clock he watched the time tick down to the start of the battle.
End part 26