Note: Prologue + Chapters 1 through 14 Available through Request.

The Dancer Prince
Chapter 15

Written by Ambassador Yrishna Wolf.

Vladimir Rosbourg glanced over the high ceiling windows, peering over the green landscape that was characteristic of the manicured gardens of the Palais d'Arnouville. Vladimir Rosbourg glanced over the pouring rain, refusing to flinch when he heard the sound of thunderous booms. He turned around, his crown reflecting off the chamber lights of his room. While the rest of the Segan Monarchy was firmly under his power, the Special Administration Zone in the Delta Quadrant had been particularly special in its case. The riots which had produced like wildfires within the economic centers of the zone were caused by somebody, he wasn't sure who was to blame. The United Federation of Planets could potentially be the enemy responsible, but they weren't ones to annex territories in this manner. The Cardassian Monarchy could potentially be the cause, but it was in the end, not equipped with the kind of resources needed to pull this off. Someone was responsible, he just wasn't sure who.

Vladimir felt a brisk hot wind carrying the wind over the room. He shivered, in spite of this hot wind and felt worried. The wind reminded him of the red planet from which he had launched his invasion. The homeworld of the Segan Popular Union was just as red and bitterly hot as this wind was. Vladimir turned away from the window and drew back the moment he saw the shadow that had been forming behind his back. He hadn't seen the shadow which had controlled his actions during the civil war for so long that he had almost forgotten about him and his evil, subservient servants. Vladimir walked over to his bed, feeling a need for something to support him. The shadow had never appeared when things were going well, as was clear when the shadow's presence was lacking when Vladimir secured his power base here in Chinon. But ever since the riots had begun on Delta Prime, it had taken the arrival of the Tholians and the Carnians for the balance to return in favor of the Segan government. It was a dramatic sign of the government's incapability in dealing with a massive riot.

The shadow materialized in front of Vladimir in a sort of half scream. The natural form of the Styx Arch-Achroid was now in the room of the heir to the Segan throne. The Styx Arch-Achroid was the embodiment of the Styx, both past and present. What had turned a species of such beauty, of such creativity and peaceful nature into the evil super-power that they had become was not understandable. It was beyond humanity to consider what had happened in between the past and the present, that humanity would not have comprehended it all. The Styx Arch-Achroid had been the sovereign leader of a Federation-type government, who held war as the absolute last option. Now he was the sovereign leader of a government which was willing to go to war, and kill those who didn't have the same genetic heritage. The Styx Arch-Achroid stared down at his newest servant, Vladimir... The riots were unacceptable of a satellite of the Styx Syndicate.

"First it was the civil war, Vladimir," The Styx Arch-Achroid shouted in a voice that echoed before it even had escaped his lips, "Now it is these riots, it becomes more and more clear that you are incapable of governing even the smallest of Monarchies."

"Your Eminence," Vladimir could feel the Styx Arch-Achroid's mind control as it forced him to bow in front of the Arch-Achroid, "We've called in the aid of the Tholians, we're soon getting the upper hand, I assure you the riots will be stopped within several days."

"Your detention camps serve barely as a punishment for these people who dared rise up against our authority," The Styx Arch-Achroid glanced over to Vladimir, squeezing the neck of his servant mercilessly with his eyes, "You will allow my vessels, disguised as your own to take care of finishing this riot control business. We will be sure they never rise again against you, or us."

Vladimir coughed as he was released from the Arch-Achroid's grip, "I will do as you ask, your eminence."

"It is not like you have much of a choice," The Styx Arch-Achroid stared past Vladimir as he stared into the greenery with spite, "You are all to be given a lesson in the harsh cruelties you will face in our universe. Our vessels, spread out across your territories will reach the rebellious region within 3 days, inform your allies to vacate the area."

The Arch-Achroid's half scream filled the room with dreary sounds again as a strong wind swept throughout the room. Vladimir dropped onto his bed, having passed out from the release of the mind control. It was the strongest mind control the Arch-Achroid had put him through yet, and it seemed the Arch-Achroid showed little care in the injury he was causing of his servant. As Vladimir was left to dream, he attempted to think what the Styx would be doing for their "riot-control" assignments. He was surprised by the mention of disguising, what did the Styx plan to do that could possibly make their ships look line a Segan Mary-Rosbourg class destroyer? He further ventured into the deeper, darker realms of his sub-conscious. It was a trip that changed a man to the point that when he came back, he was no longer the same man that had existed. All the good that remained, had been replaced with a dark, evil personality.

- - - - - - - - - -


The secondary shields of the fourth fightercraft lighted up in a bright blue hue as it contrasted against the green phaser discharges hitting upon it. The fightercraft made a sharp turn away from the phaser discharge, turning towards the right as another fightercraft flew behind it to confuse the phaser targeting sensors. The maneuver worked, and both fightercrafts quickly joined the other two fighters in an evasive run. Following closely behind the four fightercrafts were two vessels which were at least thirty times the size of the fightercrafts. The fightercrafts dodged further phaser fires with relative ease as they flew further into non-claimed space. In a back drop of stars, the fightercrafts were engaged in an uneven battle against much superior warships. As the two battleships fired off three torpedoes, one of the the fightercrafts' shields held off one last attack, as two of the torpedoes hit the nose and the aft engines of the fightercraft. The fighter quickly spun around on its axis and exploding, a small shockwave ringing around the explosion.

"Shields at 65%!" The engineer on board shouted, "We've lost warp engines!"

"The Athabascias is down, it just blew up behind us," The tactical officer replied, "Firing off the last of our torpedoes, we're all out of them!"

"We've barely made a dent in their shields, Jered," The navigations officer replied, as a console exploded in the back of the cockpit."

"I'll get that," Jered replied as he went to contain the fire, "Helm do we have anywhere where those damn battleships can't maneuver?!?"

"Yes, at bearing 249 mark 88... some sort of anomaly known as the Badlands, it gets awfully close to Federation space however," The navigations officer replied, as his console shook.

"We don't have much of a choice, set a course and engage at best speed, inform our fighters to follow us in," Jered smirked, "If we can enter just in time, we might just live another day for the New Revolution."

"Affirmative, setting course and engaging best speed."

The fightercrafts, in a coordinated move made a hard turn to the starboard side as the fightercrafts exchanged positions in their triangle. The less agile warships struggled to make the equal turn as they fired off starboard phasers to counteract their lack of agility. The fightercrafts spun and evaded using S-shaped evasive maneuvers that closed their distance to the badlands. Straight ahead of the fightercrafts laid the massive and dense matter combined together to make the badlands. It was the perfect place to evade, and was particularly well suited for fightercrafts. Within seconds, with phasers still hitting their weakening shields, the fightercrafts entered the badlands, followed closely by the battleships. Around them, electromagnetic tornadoes formed and died almost as soon as they were created.

"Shields are 15%, we're not going to sustain another phaser hit," The tactical officer reminded the staff," Entering the badlands, the Segan battleships are slowing down, we'll be out of their weapons range in 3 seconds."

"We won't have much time, so let's think of ways of getting ourselves out of this mess, ahead full, navigations," Jared ordered as he muttered, "We've bought ourselves some time, but not enough to survive the trip."

Ten minutes later, the fightercrafts emerged from the badlands unscaved by the tornado fields behind. The navigations officer quickly grabbed whatever power was available from their engines as they pushed the fightercrafts beyond their safety limits in an attempt to get away from the battleships that were a few minutes away. The moment they cleared the badlands, however, they would be able to overtake the fightercrafts with very little difficulty. The leaders of the New Revolution knew they were doomed. They all together had staged the biggest riots the Segan Monarchy had ever seen, and they would now have to pay with their lives. Following behind them were two destroyers of the Segan Royal Fleet. These vessels had fought other Segans before and were not afraid to do it again. To ask for mercy would mean being sent to these unknown detention camps, to the leaders of the New Revolution the time had come to become martyrs.

The Segan warships approached weapons range, they had just exited the badlands and had pushed their engines to overload to overtake the fightercrafts. As the Segan warships acquired their tri-quantum torpedo locks on the fightercrafts, time-distortions were detected all around the Segan warships. Within seconds, three massive blue wormhole-like formations formed in a tight triangle formation around the battle scene. A flash of light emitted from within the wormholes as Cardassian heavy battleships exited. They were battleships that had waited in hyper-transwarp for the New Revolution vessels to enter Cardassian territory. The Segan warships were now in their turf, and they would be pay dearly for it.

"Fire forward phasers, full spread" The Captain of the lead Cardassian warship shouted, "Ignore fightercraft targets and take out the lead Segan battleships."

"Direct hit! Enemy shields are at 89%" The tactical officer replied, firing forward phasers on the second target," Direct hit, enemy forward shields are at 75%"

"I'm reading their hyper-transwarp engines activating, they're going to make a run for it," The Combat Operations officer glanced, "Coordinates seem to be for the Delta Quadrant.

"Let 'em, go," The Captain shouted as the Segan ships turned around and entered their own wormhole, "Hail the fightercrafts and inform them the Cardassian Monarchy welcomes them into Cardassian territory, and that our leader wishes to discuss an alliance treaty with them."