{"id":1226,"date":"2016-01-10T07:32:18","date_gmt":"2016-01-10T13:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ajscifistories.com\/?p=1226"},"modified":"2016-01-12T07:21:27","modified_gmt":"2016-01-12T13:21:27","slug":"the-cimalian-princess-clone-part-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ajscifistories.com\/?p=1226","title":{"rendered":"The Cimalian Princess: Clone – Part 16"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cimalian Princess: Clone<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

by AJ Marks<\/span><\/p>\n

Part 16<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Randy waited a few moments after everyone started to leave the conference room before turning to Meia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll meet you back at the shuttle,\u201d he told her waiting for her reply.<\/p>\n

\u201cSure thing,\u201d Meia answered, standing and heading out of the room with the rest. Randy turned towards his father who stood waiting for the rom to empty as he walked over to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite an interesting mission I see,\u201d he said to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, there were a few times I didn\u2019t think we\u2019d make it back, or that the mission would even be close to any success,\u201d Randy told him honestly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019ve learned not to underestimate either of you two,\u201d Jack replied back to him. \u201cSpeaking of Meia, she looks different with her blonde hair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI did a double take the first time I saw her like that,\u201d Randy said, pausing before continuing. \u201cI\u2019ll admit, I like her blue hair better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Randy looked at his father who was quiet for a few seconds wondering what he was thinking about. \u201cI\u2019m not sure, but something else seems different about her,\u201d Jack finally said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had a rough time on the planet\u2019s surface, and any contact with the Cimalian Empire is bound to affect her,\u201d Randy said a bit defensively.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know, just, well she checked out right?\u201d Jack said to him.<\/p>\n

Randy looked at his father wondering when he began questioning Meia so much before answering. \u201cYeah, Doctor Leaver pronounced her fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood, just making sure son,\u201d Jack said. \u201cYou should probably get back to your ship.\u00a0 I need to get ready for the council meeting later on today to go over your findings and recommend a course of action.\u00a0 I\u2019ll let you know what the decision is after the meeting.\u00a0 Right now I\u2019m going to recommend you lead whatever mission we decide.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be ready, I\u2019m keeping my flagship though, she had a good crew,\u201d Randy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand, and I don\u2019t think anyone is going to challenge that. I know a good crew is hard to find,\u201d Jack said to him obvious he had been there as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI should get going then, Meia\u2019s probably waiting, and we have to decide on a place to eat,\u201d Randy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, a date, is that wise?\u201d Jack asked him, looking more like his father than the commanding officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a celebration for a successful mission, that\u2019s all,\u201d Randy replied. He noticed his dad did not seem to object and merely shrugged his shoulders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, take her somewhere nice, but remember what I said, something seems off with her,\u201d he told him.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, I will dad,\u201d Randy replied. He headed towards the Akagi\u2019s shuttle where the pilot and Meia were waiting to head back to the ship.\u00a0 He entered the shuttle giving a nod to the pilot to take off before taking his seat.<\/p>\n

He looked over at Meia as the shuttle lifted off wondering if his dad was right, or was he being paranoid about something.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Henry watched Mia walk onto the small transport ship which would take her into the Alliance territory. Everything had been taken care of and another potential problem would be eliminated.\u00a0 Ann was only going to be a short term solution to the Meia problem and the Alliance.\u00a0 Mia would kill Ann and take her place within the Alliance with her superior memories.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is in place emperor,\u201d Jezic said talking about the procedure to getting Mia into the Alliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh, soon Jezic, all my pieces will be in place one more,\u201d Henry stated with pleasure. He knew Jezic did not share Henry\u2019s optimism but he also did not know everything.\u00a0 Jezic would understand soon enough about what would happen.<\/p>\n

The tall man had been an important part of his plan for years. He had helped out eliminating his brother almost twenty years ago and now he would help eliminate and replace Boris\u2019 daughter, the right heir to the throne.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce Mia has taken Ann\u2019s place prepare the 1st<\/sup> CF for combat.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be going on the offensive once more,\u201d Henry said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSire, our fleet has yet to recover from its losses in the previous invasion,\u201d Jezic replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no time anymore,\u201d Henry said, looking out as the ship lifted off. \u201cThe time for patience is almost over, and the time for action is almost upon us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis goes against my gut feeling, but the fleet will be ready admiral,\u201d Jezic finally said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fleet is the only thing which you should be concerned with admiral,\u2019 Henry said to him.<\/p>\n

He watched the transport until it was a dot in the sky. Soon everything would be in place.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Trina glanced around her work place. Ever since she noticed Meia in the work area she understood exactly what they were doing.\u00a0 She also had a feeling that any rebellious action would probably not help.\u00a0 It all means she had a problem.\u00a0 She had to maintain her duty despite not wanting to do any of it.<\/p>\n

Her rebellious side wanted to help out Meia. She figured she owed that much to her friend Didi.\u00a0 Her friend\u2019s daughter needed to be protected and she had the ability to help.\u00a0 The only problem was figuring out how she could help out.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrina, what\u2019s your number?\u201d her boss asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cPoint four, within normal sir,\u201d Trina said quickly looking at her screen and not looking up again. She wanted no one to know her thoughts of rebellion.\u00a0 Actions against the Empire has severe punishments including death.<\/p>\n

She dared to look back over at Meia once more, understanding that the young woman was more than a lowly Epislon citizen. The woman was the daughter of not only Didi, but Prince Boris Cimal.<\/p>\n

Didi always said Meia was blessed. She realized that the funding for cloning increased dramatically after henry Cimal became emperor.\u00a0 Her mind froze at that thought.\u00a0 He had planned to make a clone of her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs everything all right Trina?\u201d her boss\u2019s voice said booming across the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes sir,\u201d Trina said snapping out of her though and focusing on the screen in front of her.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood, I don\u2019t want to have to reassign you to some other task, there are not many lower jobs for you low class citizens,\u201d her boss said.<\/p>\n

Trina said nothing but felt the insult. She wondered if he really understood how smart some in the lower class were.\u00a0 She knew everyone in the room was focused intently on their screen not wishing to be yelled at either.<\/p>\n

She figured her first task, surviving the day.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

One person stood in the open area of the receiving bay, watching as the slight breeze made trees sway. Looking around as the shuttle landed he felt relieved upon seeing no one else around.\u00a0 Walking off the shuttle was a short woman, her heard covered as she approached the man.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny sign of the target?\u201d she asked as she reached him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been keeping an eye on it, we should be able to get you close shortly,\u201d the man replied back to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood, for now let\u2019s get out of this wind,\u201d the woman said, holding on to her hat.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollow me and we\u2019ll get you to a safe house,\u201d the man said as the shuttle lifted off and headed back to the ship it came from. The delivery was complete and now a new mission would start.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Randy made his way across the deck of the hangar to where his date for the evening stood. He contacted Meia a few minutes earlier to see if she was ready and stated she had finished up and adding a few last minute touches.\u00a0 He had been hoping she would wear the dress she wore before they started out on the mission but did not press it.<\/p>\n

He glanced over the hangar seeing mechanics working on several fighters. He noticed Ben working on Meia\u2019s fighter.\u00a0 He thought Ben always seemed to be working on her fighter.\u00a0 Of course he did not understand the relationship between fighter and pilot but knew it was a vital part of how a pilot operated.\u00a0 He would not mess with their superstitions.<\/p>\n

The elevator doors opened allowing Meia to exit onto the hangar. To him she looked beautiful even with the blonde hair.\u00a0 He realized she was wearing the dress, a deep blue color which was almost the same as her normal hair.<\/p>\n

She seemed to glide over to where he stood, a walk he had not quite seen from her before. He wondered what happened to have this display from her.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, you look great,\u201d Randy said to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy thank you,\u201d Meia replied stopping in front of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cShall we head out?\u2019 he asked, offering his arm.<\/p>\n

\u201cSure,\u201d Meia replied, accepting his arm. They made their way to the shuttle which would take them down to the surface of Pacifica, and then the monorail to the restaurant.<\/p>\n

\u201cKim,\u201d Randy said into his communicator<\/p>\n

\u201cYes admiral?\u201d Kim replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not to be disturbed unless its an emergency,\u201d Randy told her.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstood,\u201d Kim replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks,\u201d Randy said, as they entered the shuttle. Sitting down he nodded towards the pilot who powered up the shuttle in preparation to launch.\u00a0 He looked forward to a meal with Meia and relaxing a bit.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

A pair of eyes watched intently as the shuttle came down out of the clouds. The night sky was mostly clear and pleasant for a change with the storms staying away.\u00a0 The figure continued to watch the shuttle descend all the way down and landing on the pad.<\/p>\n

Here the figure carefully watched the occupants that walked out of the shuttle. Finally one figure caught his attention and he turned to switch on his communicator.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTarget is on the ground,\u201d he replied waiting a second.<\/p>\n

\u201cRoger, we\u2019ll take it from here,\u201d the reply came back.<\/p>\n

He put his communicator up and walked away, his part of the mission over.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Randy walked into the restaurant with Meia walking beside him before nodding to the hostess who led them over to a table off to the side. He helped Meia sit before sitting down himself and taking a menu from the hostess.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour waitress is Sandy and will be with your shortly to get your drinks,\u201d the hostess said before turning to head back to the front to seat another group of people.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a nice place,\u201d Meia said, as they both glanced round the restaurant and he had to agree with her, it was nice.<\/p>\n

\u201cYea, my mother can recommend some great places,\u201d Randy replied. Before he could say anything else the waitress came by to take their drink orders and then left to fill the order.\u00a0 Randy glanced back at Meia feeling that now he should breech the subject.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there anything that happened on the planet you\u2019re not telling us, or me, maybe something personal?\u201d Randy asked hoping he did not overstep some personal boundary with Meia.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot really,\u201d Meia replied, and Randy had the impression she was being evasive once more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m only asking because I, we, care about you and you haven\u2019t seemed like yourself since returning,\u201d Randy aid. He had to make sure Meia was all right as many plans they were forming relied on her and if something happened they needed to know about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, perhaps being down on the planet brought back a lot of bad memories that I thought I had overcome,\u201d Meia finally said. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot I have to think about.\u00a0 Its easy to be away from it and think about it, another to be back and recalling what I was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Randy gave it some thought as the waitress came back and delivered their drinks and asking if they were ready to order. He looked over at Mea who picked up the menu before telling the waitress to give them a few more minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo what do you recommend?\u201d Meia asked after the waitress walked away from them.<\/p>\n

Randy looked at the menu for a couple of seconds before giving a few examples feeling a bit better about Meia. He thought it was logical she would go through something like this after going back to the Cimalian homeworld.\u00a0 He would still keep an eye on her for the missions, or that\u2019s what he rationalized it with.<\/p>\n

He knew his father would be relieved with the news, they were pinning their hope to end the war on her and if anything happened to her that plan would fail.<\/p>\n

End part 16<\/p>\n

Continued in Chapter 17<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Cimalian Princess: Clone by AJ Marks Part 16 Randy waited a few moments after everyone started to leave the conference room before turning to Meia. \u201cI\u2019ll meet you back at the shuttle,\u201d he told her waiting for her reply. \u201cSure thing,\u201d Meia answered, standing and heading out of the room with the rest. Randy […]
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