The Cimalian Princess: Rebellion
by AJ Marks
Part 5
Meia stepped into the pilot briefing room and noticed that both Randy and Kim stood at the front and had the feeling she would be joining them up there as well. Something she did not quite feel comfortable with yet. She noticed John stood off to the side of the room as squadron commander, yet still no commander for squadron two oh one. Meia took her normal seat and waited for the meeting to begin.
“There’s a lot of announcements so let’s get going,” John said taking control of the situation.
Meia looked at John, who had taken a moment to look at her, then over at Randy who started to speak.
“First off, we’re welcoming a new commanding officer who will be taking over command of the two oh one,” Randy said to them. “Lieutenant Meia will be taking charge, as well as receiving a promotion to Lieutenant Colonel and now a Wing Commander of the Akagi. Captain John Reed will not be Group Captain of the fleet and still leader of the one one six.”
Meia felt stunned at that announcement even as people looked her way and waited for the inevitable outburst from someone about her being in a leadership position. She felt shocked at the fact no one seemed to even speak up as Randy continued.
“Next on the agenda will take a bit of work. The Admiralty has decided on a course of action against the Cimalian Empire. The Strike Fleet will again head into Cimalian territory, but this time we are under the guise of helping the true heir to the empire recapture the throne,” Randy told them.
This time a low murmur went through the crowd and looked in her direction. Meia felt herself blush at the amount of attention she now received as people spoke about how this meant.
“All right, they’ll be time to discuss this later, for now what this mean,” Randy said to them all, hushing them. “It means we’re going to have to start acting like Cimalian military, imitating their procedures and how they even talk. It also means that among the pilots there will be an additional change in appearance according to your level of training.”
Several grumbled at that.
“You’ll receive a new color along with your rank. It will be either black, brown, yellow, red, green or blue,” Randy said to them.
“Are we going to have to dye our hair as well?” one pilot asked standing up. “Cause I’d look ridiculous with green hair.”
Meia heard a few chuckles at that statement and she tried to imagine John with different color hair and couldn’t.
“That has yet to be decided, but you’ll want to know your level in case we start taking on prisoners or potential allies,” Randy said to them.
Meia glanced around seeing several people wince at the thought of changing their hair color. She also realized that dying the hair could only be temporary as the hair would grow back to the original color unless they were actually modified as she had been.
“Can’t we have patches or something?” another pilot asked.
“Well, I don’t know about that,” Randy said as Meia caught his attention. “Yes.”
“We can use patches, the technology to change our hair color hasn’t been around for very long. Before they used patches on the shoulder, we can do the same thing,” Meia explained.
“Might be easier, would require some time to gain the appropriate patches,” Randy said.
“What about ‘Hick’s Alterations’ on Pacifica, she might be able to design something quicker,” John said speaking up.
Meia glanced over at Randy who appeared to be thinking it over before realizing it was a good suggestion.
“All right, sounds good,” Randy finally said to everyone. “Get you’re squadrons together and we’ll see how many of each color we need. The next thing you’ll receive is your rank, it goes in order, Alpha Supreme, Alpha, Beta, Delta, gamma and Epsilon, know your role and how it works. For this we’re drawing out of a box to determine your role on the ship, and your position. Remember what class you are, and who around you is of the same class.”
She heard a few people around her chuckle at the idea of what they were about to do before she spoke up.
“I might be foolish to you, but if we’re to fool the resistance into helping us then we’ll have to appear as one of them, not the Alliance. Citizens are dependent on such rankings for everything, living quarters, family, friends, everything. If you served on board a real Cimalian warship you’d also be punished for doing anything wrong, especially if you were doing something wrong. We must give the impression that everything is under my command, not the Alliance, so be careful who you speak to,” Meia said to them.
She sat down and realized what she had done even as Randy took back over. However, she was so focused on what she had said she never heard what Randy was talking about. Somehow speaking out had felt natural to her.
Perhaps she had the leadership abilities she didn’t think she had. John and Randy had both told her that she had a knack for leadership. She still looked at herself as a Epsilon class citizen and not the Alpha Superior citizen she really was.
With a mental shake of her head she realized she would have to begin thinking that way, especially if the plan was to succeed.
*****
Jack looked across the table at Mary who was looking back at him with that strange look she would give him from time to time. He learned to wait to see what she had to say before saying anything. Taking another bit of the meal he thought back to the last time he ate here, it was with Randy and Meia before the previous encounter with the Cimalian Empire and the whole fiasco of clones.
“How’s Randy doing?” Mary finally asked him.
“Ah, doing fine. He stopped by HQ earlier today as part of a big meeting. Sorry, but I can’t tell you any more than that,” Jack said almost apologizing to her despite the fact she understood.
“And Meia?” she asked.
“She attended as well, in fact it was her plan we ended up using. Of course some question the plan but I think it will work,” Jack said giving it some thought. “She looked fine considering everything she’s gone though in the past year.”
“The poor girl, so much has been taken away from her, and she’s missed out on so much and yet is full of expectations and wonder. It’s a curious thing,” Mary stated.
Jack looked up at the comment to see his wife looking at him again with that strange look he had seen several times as she continued on.
“The first time I saw Meia, I knew she wasn’t from the Alliance, and it wasn’t the hair. I felt she had a spark of greatness in her that I’m not sure she even understands yet,” Mary said to him causing him to smile a bit.
“You know, Randy said something similar to me when we were talking in private. Something about the universe already has her destiny picked out for her, or something like that,” Jack said to her.
“He said that then perhaps there is some hope for him yet,” Mary stated, smiling as well. “I know Cassie didn’t get any so it had to go somewhere.”
“Maybe he did, or maybe he’s a good judge of character. All I know is if it helps him out on his mission then all the better,” Jack replied back to her.
“That dangerous?”
“Yeah,” Jack replied feeling his communicator go off. “Admiral White here.”
“Admiral, glad to finally get a hold of you,” Chad’s voice said making him wonder what had happened.
“What’s happened?” Jack asked, his mind racing over the possibilities and the only thing he could come up with was another invasion.
“Well, its Senator Barnes sir,” Chad replied, not realizing the panic in Jack which had dropped slightly even as Chad continued. “She’s wanting to know more about the operation.”
“Aah, well, right now she knows as much as we do,” Jack replied. “I’ll need to speak with Randy, but, hold on a sec I’ve got an idea. Put her though, I’m assuming she’s right there.”
“Yes sir,” Chad replied.
Jack looked over at Mary who merely took another bit of her food but said nothing.
“Admiral, you have something for me?” Amy Barnes said.
“It’s not much, but it might help,” Jack said. “If this plan is to succeed it’ll need some help from us to make it work.”
“I’m listening,” Amy said.
“We both know that the spies within the Alliance are still around and reporting back to the Cimalian empire,” Jack aid to her. “Well, we can use this to our advantage, and doing this would be like a conspiracy theory the press is always talking about. We could make a comment about a group of warships influenced by Meia have taken off on their own for vengeance against the Cimalian Empire.”
“So, you want me to lie to the public, the same one who put me into replace a liar?” Amy asked.
“Well, since you put it like that yeah,” Jack replied back to her.
“Hmm, controversial, sneaky and yet straight forward, I like it,” Amy said. “I have no idea what type of reaction this will generate.”
“I know, but we’ll wait until the plan is underway,” Jack said to her. “Otherwise we might tip off the enemy too soon, and I think I can cover for a while before things get heated.”
“And I can press, or defend, your actions depending on the type of reactions I get from Vernada,” Amy said thinking about it as well. “This sounds interesting. In the meantime I can tell others what so far?”
“The military has drawn up new defense plans in case of another attack by the Cimalian Empire,” Jack said to her. “I can give them position of the First and Second fleets which should be enough to distract the press from the plans.”
“All right, try and keep me informed of what is going on, otherwise I’ll wing it,” Amy said.
“You’re good enough to do that,” Jack said honestly. “We’ll try to keep you informed without endangering the mission. Put Chad back on.”
A few seconds of silence then Chad’s face appeared.
“Did you hear all that?” Jack asked him.
“Yes sir,” Chad said, sounding a bit hesitant in this plan.
“Good, you’re going to be passing information back and forth when possible,” Jack told him. “We might need an undercover liaison with Amy, get someone you trust to take the position. You’ll be talking with them a lot about sensitive data.”
“Yes sir, I think I have the perfect person,” Chad said, sounding a bit better.
“Good, of course all this happens only if the mission proceed,” Jack replied to him. “Until then we prepare for the event, including a liaison person, you could even go normal and call it a way to help streamline communications with congress.”
“And the president?” Chad asked.
“They stay out of the loop for now,” Jack replied before ending he conversation. He looked over at his wife.
“It’s a good thing there are not many people here,” she said to him. “The closest appears to be engrossed with each other than to listen to what you said. In fact,” she looked over at them again before continuing, “I think a bomb could go off and they still wouldn’t notice.”
Jack groaned realizing his wife was right. “Oh well, its done and hopefully no one heard it.”
End part 5