The Dancer Prince
Chapter 21
Written by Ambassador Yrishna Wolf.
"Day One Hundred Twenty Two, I can't believe we've been working non-stop on these patients for more than 4 months and nothing's come of age. Joan tells me me not to loose hope as we proceed further and further into this mystery, as we start to unravel more strands of the bigger puzzle. Yet as I stare into each strand, some seem like dead-ends, and others lead into other strands. The pain process of marking and making sure we don't go around and around in circles has been difficult, and sometimes we've failed. I have looked over the files which Joan collected on the brain patterns of all the patients, but while it seems all the neural relays seem to be working, all the relays which lead to consciousness have been severed. But that's not medically possible, according to our medical theories at Starfleet, and then again that's exactly what she and I are seeing right now. For once, I wish I was on the Carpathia, for the medical equipement of the Carpathia would be exactly the sort of equipement that could take care of easing the burden of searching with primitive medical equipement the cause of this bizarre phenomenon," retired Starfleet Captain Jean-Marie Daniels explained in his log, "It is clear to me that the longer we attempt to figure this problem, the more likely our chances of figuring out this problem will be. The patients do not seem to be suffering from any neurological or physical damage from this extanded stage of sleep. If only I could find the reason why they are not plain waking up. Joan has been particularly helpful, I wonder why she hasn't left my side yet, gone off to search for Velvet Dancer, her friend. I am neither worth the effort or the patience, yet she stays by my side, as a faithful confident, friend, and co-worker. Together we will find the cure to this phenomenon, it's now a question of if anymore, it's a question of when. End log."
Jean-Marie Daniels sighed as he rested on his comfortable chair, his body feeling supported by the executive leather chair. Jean-Marie looked down the Sick Bay, seeing row after row of pods that are designed to keep the bodies preserved in their physical state. Jean-Marie had yet to figure out the entire neurological interaction that allowed for them to remain in this form of suspended animation. After having used every adrenaline and anti-anasthetic combination he knew, he had found that the problem lay within the brain. That while it was sending out the command to breath and sustain other life functions, anything that was beyound the duties of self-preservation was just not happening. Jean-Marie looked over the sick bay window, while the abilities of this Sick Bay facility and the 10 others in this complex of starbases and starship fleet yards were amazing and capable to house 1,200,000 patients... the Sick Bay facilities were quite basic, and it had taken the conversion of all the cargo bays to make sure all patients were housed with dignity. Jean-Marie's eyes felt all the sudden heavy with fatigue, as he rubbed his eyes with his hands instinctly. He looked over the console, his eyes giving him blotchy black spots that weren't really there.
"Dooooooctooooor," A voice whispered into his mind, "Do you reaaaliiiize what youuu aarrree dooooing?"
Jean-Marie opened his eyes wide, looking for an intruder, "Someone there?"
"I waaaas, aaaaaammm, and aaalwaaays will be here," The voice echoed deep into the mind of Jean-Marie.
"Who is this?!?!" Jean-Marie stood up and walked out of the Doctor's office looking around for Joan, "Not funny Joan!"
"Theee Ghoooost Fleeeet wiiilll deeestroyyy," The voice was more insistant but still felt distant, "Do you reaaaallliiiize what youuu arrree doing?"
"Joan! 'Nuff with the pranks!" Jean-Marie looked around, getting slightly worried, Joan wasn't anywhere to be seen and it wasn't like her to pull a prank like this.
"Staaaarrfleeet willll noooo looongeeer bee dominant if yooouuu finish," The voice sounded like a mixture of screams and blood curdling noises.
"Iffff yooouuu finnnish.... it isss the eeend offf us alll," The voice echoed as it disappeared, "Youuu willll dessstroy what you want toooo saaaaaaaaveeeee."
Jean-Marie was awoken abruptly from his chair as Joan touched his shoulder to wake him up. Jean-Marie jumped, his chair falling as he fell on his back with an audible oomph. He cursed at the chair and at his fortune and then excused himself profusively to his partner in crime. Jean-Marie looked around the room, as he lifted the chair, there was no body present, no one at all. He told Joan of wat he had heard, and asked her if she had heard the same noises, but she heard no noises of her own. Jean-Marie sighed in relief, it was only a dream. Jean-Marie looked at Joan, wondering what brought her down to Sick Bay and she informed him that there was some massive activity going on in the neighboring sector. She explained to him that a lot of heavy scanning and pinging was taking place. He nodded, thinking a search operation might be occuring, as he was led out of Sick Bay by Joan.
Within a few minutes later, the two partners in crime were in the Command Center of these secret royal fleet yard facilities. The Command Center was dimly powered as most of the power had already been transferred to the Sick Bay facilities, with one million two hundred thousand crewmen in statis, the facilities of the starbases and starship construction yards were being strained to the limit. The occassional sensor sweep gathered enough tactical data should this starbase get attacked. Joan and Jean-Marie were well aware that these crewmen were a clue to where Joan's friend Velvet was and they would do whatever they could to find her. These people had somehow met what Jean-Marie believed to be the same fate as that of Velvet. He hoped they could help them find Joan's friend quickly. Jean-Marie stared at the console.
"Hmm, those are some pretty big indications of a ship trying to ping something," Jean-Marie stared at the console, "Whatever those things are is the question."
"I'm thinkin' ships," Joan replied, impressing Jean-Marie with her knowledge of tactical scanning detections, "The pings are directed on wide-band, they're replied to.. actually."
"Replied to?" Jean-Marie looked at Joan confused, "What do you mean, replied to?"
"I mean what I mean," Joan smiled and activated a secondary console that showed a different frequency reading, "They're being replied to by vessels which are using a modified Segan ping protocol."
"Wow, how did you know to detect that?" Jean Marie looked at Joan, further surprised by her knowledge.
"My father... he was a Strategic Advisor to the designers of the Mary-Rosbourg Class," Joan smirked, "I heard him talking about the pings and how they were supposed to allow Segan vessels to contact one another, but how he felt that it gave them an equally stupid weak spot in that anyone who knew that could ping on wide-band frequencies and get a time-shifted Ghost Ship's location within minutes of the return ping."
"You think there are Segan ships out there?" Jean-Marie glanced over, hypothesizing based on the available information to him.
"Very probable. I don't know of any other species which uses ping for identification and location purposes.The modified ping, however, might suggest this is a new vessel," Joan scratched her head slightly as she thought a moment, "Hmmm."
"New vessel?" Jean-Marie looked at the screen, "Aside from the fleet King Rosbourg commanded... I don't know of any new ships the Monarchy created."
"The Monarchy's quite stealthy about what it develops, and once it does it likes to show it off," Joan looked at the tactical screen, "Though.. It may just be the Ghost Fleet, some of the patterns are familiar to what I saw on my father's padds about the Clarel Class Destroyers."
"If that's true...." Jean-Marie looked at Joan, "Could a Segan fleet be looking for the Ghost Fleet? Maybe Youri?"
"No," Joan answered flatly, "The ping frequency isn't Segan... In fact, I'd say it's a ping from a vessel from your people, Jean."
"Oh?" Jean-Marie looked at Joan in surprise.
"Yeah, it's got that Federation redundancy you like so much," Joan smirked and looked over the signal, "Can't tell if it's Starfleet or someone just using Federation equipement."
"Think we should find out?" Jean looked at Joan, thinking of the damaged shuttlecraft.
"Dunno if it's the wisest course of action," Joan glanced over, "What about the fightercrafts.. Know how to pilot one?"
"Let's go," Jean grabbed a padd with the sensor scans as he walked towards the turbolift to meet fate.
- - - - - -
His Majesty the Prince Alexander Rosbourg groaned slightly as he prepared to stretch his way up. He stopped however, after he realized he was staring right into the sleeping eyes of his lover. Alexander watched, observing the curvature of his lover's body. Alexander smiled, feeling his lover's legs intertwining with his own as he slept silently, his stomach touching Alexander as he breathed in and out. His father didn't know about what he did with his "servant' all through the night, and he had explicitly instructed the servants not to mention any of this to anyone. He wasn't ashamed of what he was doing, as he enjoyed every moment up to the climax, and every moment back to reality. He had found love, and would never let go of it. Alexander had always and would always continue that he was a man of deep passions, and deep loyalties to those he loved most.
Alexander rested for a moment longer, and decided he better get dressed for the new day ahead. University was becoming particularly burdening, as his teacher was requesting more and more work of him and this work took him away from his pleasures with lover. He slowly slipped away from Gerard whom immediately shifted his body obligingly. Alexander smiled, and looked around the room and walked towards the library. He had become particularly interested in the "other" Rosbourg family, the family members which he had little idea about aside from the propaganda which his people had been spreading. The Segan Popular Union's Monarchy had spouted for so long that the Segan Monarchy was the enemy, and in particular the Segan Monarchy's family that it had become an unquestionable reality.
He pulled a book out of the library, feeling the weight of five hundred pages of writing fall upon his hands. In the S.P.U., they had replaced every single book in the Monarchy with padds, and there existed no more books like these. Alexander, being a member of the royal family, had been taught how to use these books, but it had been so long since he was taught that he had a bit of difficultly figuring out which way the book was supposed to be read. As he opened the first few pages, the stringent smells of old paper filled his nostrils as he breathed in the aroma of the old testatements of liberty and education. He flipped to the back of the book, looking over the table of contents. The first thing he saw was the compilations of the Segan Monarchy's policy divided by centuries. He looked over, seeing Charles Rosbourg (His Majesty, the Prince), pg 129. He flipped over the pages and stopped.
The title was prominent: The Heir to the Throne of His Majesty the Prince Charles Rosbourg and his impact on Sego-Federation relations. Alexander read the opening paragraph, the opening paragraph spoke admirably of Charles' work aboard the Federation starships U.S.S. Pacifica-B and U.S.S. Pacifica-C's pointing to the success rate of Pacifica missions as one of the crowning achievements of Sego-Federation officer exchanges in the early half of the 2490s. Alexander smiled, as the book hypothesized that the Prince Charles Rosbourg would probably make a good king. Indeed, the Segan Monarchy not only survived the Styx War, it survived a civil war as well. Alexander looked further down, seeing a picture of Charles Rosbourg and his first wife Her Majesty the Princess Catherine Defont. He looked over, seeing their small child, and he paused, slightly unbelieving. The young Prince Youri Rosbourg, then third in line for the throne, he stared at Gerard. The resemblance was amazing.
Alexander walked over to the LCARS, wondering if the resemblance was more than just a mere coincidence. Gerard had given him so much, but Alexander had aways felt Gerard had been holding back a secret. It was understandable to Alexander that some secrets would exist between them as long as they were on paper on opposite sides but in practice in love with each other. He connected to the LCARS network and requested information on Youri Rosboug, especially media of him before the S.P.U. takeover of the Segan Monarchy. He glanced over, seeing one media... "Heir to the Throne wins Dance Contest with 9.673 from S.P.N.N." As he looked at the picture, it became increasingly clear to him, Gerard was Youri, and that he had had the most wild, romantic and sexual of relations with Youri.
Gerard moaned slightly as he stretched awake, much in the same way Alexander did. As his stretching didn't hit any of Alexander's body, he was taken aback, and his eyes shifted open much more rapidly. He looked around, like a lost sheep for his lover ,and found him on the other side of the room at his computer display. Gerard smiled, looking at Alexander who seemed quite in tune with his reading. Gerard, slowly and quietly stepped out of the bed, grabbing something to wear. He put on the clothes with little difficulties and walked over to Alexander. He gave Alexander a kiss on the cheek, which had in response an Alexander quickly putting the computer display down so Gerard could see. Alexander looked at Gerard, with not quite the same eyes. Alexander didn't seem angry, or hurt either, but he had questioning, perplexed eyes. He needed to understand, not why he had done it... but who he was really, to determine if he needed to protect him.
"Gerard..." Alexander stood up and gave Gerard a long and loving kiss, "Your Majesty the Crown Prince Youri Rosbourg, it's you, isn't it?"
"Yes..." Youri replied, looking into Alexander's eyes, "How did you know?"
"The books," Alexander watched him, "You can't stay here, we have got to get you out of here. Stay here, I'm going to find some way to get in touch with the Cardassian Monarchy."
