Cadets: The Empress of Batoria

#9 WANTED BY THE EMPIRE

Far from the chaos, unaware of what had happened, Stevie was still back at the palace by herself, still hurt by what I said about us being just cadets and nothing more.

Standing on a balcony, getting wet, she was gazing over the Imperial city, imagining the couples living there. She imagined them being so happy and so much in love. She wished that could be us.

During this time, she met an elderly lady who was sweeping the floors. Seeing how gloomy she was, the old lady came up to offer some comfort. Stevie tried to assure the old lady she was fine, but it seemed she could see right through her.

"My dear, at my age it is not that difficult to see these things in a young lady, wherever they are Batorean or human. I suspect it has something to do with a young man."

Speaking her mind, Stevie told this old lady all us. From the day we met to the day we became more than just friends.

"I waited patiently for the day we could be together, and when that finally happened, it seemed like the only thing standing between us was the Federation.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe we are just meant to be Starfleet officer and nothing more."

The old lady gently raised her chin and smiled.

"Do you really believe that's all you are capable of?" she asked.

Stevie was silent for a moment in deep thought. Then she finally smiled because what this old lady was telling her was true.

"We are more. I know we are more and so does he even if he fears to admit it."

Stevie thanked the old lady for this talk, and just when she was about to go and find me, a huge ship passed by advertising the latest news. It was about me, arrested for the murder of Empress Asha.

Running through the hallways, Stevie desperately and contacted the Enterprise. Jennifer responded to her calls. She told them about my arrest. Jennifer did not believe it at first, but soon saw for herself when she checked the news.

She asked if anyone knew where I was, but no one did. Then after a moment of pondering, Jennifer advised all crewman to return to the ship so they could figure out what to do next.

Suddenly, my friends lost contact with one another. The Batoreans were jamming all communications between them and the Enterprise. Stevie tried to regain contact with the Enterprise, but it was no use.

She eventually gave up, especially when Imperial troopers came round the corner and spotted her. They ordered her to surrender but she ran instead, dropping her communicator. The guards chased after her and even started shooting.

The Imperial Palace was on lockdown. Imperial forces were ordered to capture and arrest my crew. Most of them were either in the palace or in the city. Luckily, Jennifer managed to get mostly everyone back to the Enterprise before any troopers could capture them.

Laser fire flew over Stevie's head as she ran through the hallways, having no idea where she was going. She managed to get far from her pursuers and eventually ran into Tom and Max. They did not get back to the ship in time and were on the run from troopers as well.

Together, they made it outside where stood a landing platform with a War-Bat on it. They could see the crew outside the ship doing maintenance work.

"You guys thinking what I'm thinking?" said Tom "I hope not." replied Max.

Tom, Max, and Stevie sneaked pass the crew and climbed aboard the War-Bat just before Imperial troopers showed up.

Tom manned the helm, while Max and Stevie manned navigation and engineering. Tom was feeling rather excited because he always wanted to fly a War-Bat.

"Do you know how to fly one of these?" asked Stevie.

Tom looked at the controls in puzzlement. All the buttons and monitors were in Batorean hieroglyphics. But he thought to himself it could not be that hard. With random guessing and beginners' luck, he managed to power up the engines. Then while figuring out how to take off, he accidently fired the rear thrusters, causing the tail to go up.

Max and Stevie were not fully secured in their seats, and so they fell out. Max landed on the flight controls with his feet Tom's face while I dangled from the arm of my seat.

Lying on the controls, Max struggled to get up while Tom struggled to stabilize the ship. Max kept yanking the controls as he tried to get up, almost causing themselves to crash into the walls.

The Imperial troopers kept their distance as they hovered uncontrollably across the platform with their tail in the air.

Then as they began to spin out of control, Tom and Max accidently fired the laser cannons, blowing up everything around them. The troopers and War-Bat crew jumped clear of the rapid fire.

"Get your fingers off the trigger!" Stevie shouted.

They did not stop spinning and shooting until Max accidently pulled a throttle that fired the main engines. They instantly took off from the platform at full speed and away from the palace. They swooped over the palace grounds and towards the city as palace canons tried to shoot them down.

Tom had trouble seeing where he was going with Max on his lap. He kept getting kicked in the face.

They were flying dangerously fast through the city at high risk of crashing. Vehicles in our path quickly veered out of our way to dodge them, and peopled ducked as we flew over their heads.

Eventually, Tom rolled Max off the controls, and pulled up just in time to slightly avoid colliding into an aerial tower. Stevie helped Max get back into his seat.

Even though they got away, Max knew Batorean forces would be dispatched to come after them. Tom remembered they could use the War-Bat's cloaking device to hide. It took a while, but they eventually figured out how to engage the cloak as they flew through the city.