The Dancer Prince
Chapter 24
Written by Ambassador Yrishna Wolf.
Alexander felt depressed, it had been days since the rain hadn't stopped pouring down on Chinon, and Arnouville was drenched in rains that were caused by strong cold and warm fronts of air that were wrestling one another for supremacy of the air. Nature too had its wars, and it was fighting a battle of the titans whose only casualties was the saturated ground below. The constant gray skies, and the early darkness also added to the depressive mood of the young Segan sovereign whose heart was unaccustomed to nature being against him. In these depressive moods, Alexander would normally be out amongst nature relishing its warmth and refreshing his emotions with the assistance of the sun. On Chinon, nothing was preparing itself to assist Alexander, and nothing wanted to accord him of any love either. Alexander thought day and night, minute and hours on end about Youri, the occupant of the room he was in. Alexander sighed, he missed him dearly, even though he knew he had had to do what he had done, it would have been only a matter of time before Youri would have been discovered and now he knew Youri would be safe.
Alexander's heart, however, didn't think with such high headed morals and was aching for the return of its companion. Alexander needed something of Youri, if only to remember his continuous gift of love, and admiration that he had seen in Youri. Alexander felt with Youri in his arm that he had accomplished succesfully a duty to destiny. He had saved Youri, and brought him out of the terrible misery of the death camps. While he would have liked to have saved others, he was too far up the command chain not to bring attention to himself. He had come to accept that through Youri he had accomplished all he could do for Youri's subjects. But as every day dragged on, Alexander knew more and more people were dying under his father's regime and while forces outside were massing to take him down, they were being painfully long in their massing of forces.
Alexander's depression was coming to a climactic point, he wanted to find something of Youri in this palace, and the only thing he could remember was the underground layer of the palace which Youri had showed. At the time, Youri was still Gerard and and Gerard had called this King Charles and Prince Youri's shared passion. He could remember the elaborate and loving rendition of Arnouville, designed by the palace's staff in order to give the Prince something to do with his father. The model of Arnouville was set in the Internet age, the city's mass transit systems still based on iron rails. The city was plastered with tram lines that meandered their way through the Arnouville streets, while on the outskirts massive lines of track linked to outside cities. The rails were an important source of transportation and resources to the city during the Internet age, and even to this day both of these are vitally important to the Segan economy at large.
Alexander opened the door which he had kept closed since Youri had left. Even while Youri was around the door was kept closed anyway to give both of them complete privacy. Alexander looked at his two body guards, who kept watch over the door. He would just have to yell the first two letters of Help, and they would be in his room within an instant. Youri smiled to both of them, and made a left turn to head towards the center of long corridor that connected all the bedrooms to the rest of the palace. Followed by his bodyguards, Youri walked down the stairs, walking down the first flight, the second flight, and then the third flight which led to the basement of the palace. He opened the doors, to the right were the secret command bunkers which he had visited once with his father and had no interest in seeing again. On the left was the door which led to his only true remaining connection to Youri. He turned the knob, and entered slowly, calling for 50% lighting in the room.
There it stood, with the flying skyscrapers visibly overlooking the city line, and the railroads prominently layering their way through the city. The suburbs were all expertly constructed, and distance to the perfect scale. He looked over at one of the trolleys that was stopped at the train station. He remembered guiding it through the streets as Youri busied himself finishing a portion of the river on the North eastern side of the city. Youri had been happiest here and in his bedroom with him, Alexander had noted. As he walked over the controls, he sat down in the chair, remembering that Youri had mentioned nothing was ever finished on this model railroad layout. Youri added that nothing was ever finished in life either, there always was room for improvement anywhere and everywhere. He remembered thinking about those words that very night, as he tried to better his kisses to Youri. They never were perfect, always room for improvement he noted.
The engine rumbled as the trolley began circling through the city. It was the G line, the line that ran from Downtown Arnouville to the old Mid-Town, going through the nuclear power plants in the outskirt of Arnouville and circling back to the Chinon Planetary Administration building. It then re-entered Downtown Arnouville, and continued on its way to the Arnouville Airport, circling back and repeating this loop every hour and a half, the time it took to meddle its way through traffic and the sheer distance of the then one million citizen city. While the population hadn't significantly increased over the years, Arnouville's population mix had changed drastically, and so had the buildings, very few buildings dating back as far as the Internet age. Even the past wasn't perfect, even the past had work to do to better itself.
Alexander jumped and froze, turning around and taken aback by his father's hand touching his shoulder, he was taken by surprise, his body shaking for a second. His father looked different, Alexander thought, watching his body. He looked tired, almost exhausted even though he had done little physical exhertion on his body. Alexander compared his father to one of the tired S.P.U. soldiers having just returned from battle. When Alexander and his father had inspected some of the front lines on planets that were soon going to be taken by the S.P.U. from the Segan Monarchy, they all had this same posture, and the same visual expressions. He looked over at his father, realizing they hadn't exchanged a word yet, even though they had been staring at one another for over a few minutes. Alexander opened his mouth to say something, but his father raised his hand.
"Alexander," His father began, his voice sounding out of breath, "I don't have much time and the time I have I wan't to make sure I make amends with my only son."
"What are you talking about, Father?" Alexander asked him, almost angrily, "You've got plenty of time."
"No," His father shook his head, "You don't understand but you soon will. He is distracted with the war effort, it gives me time to take control of my own body. Alex, you are my son, good of heart and good of soul. I know what you did, and I respect you for it. I must repay the debt I have always owed you... You must make sure the Cardassians know, there is an attack... it's coming soon, I don't know when but it's before the end of two weeks. You must warn them, a large fleet is coming to take them down."
"What?!?" Alexander looked at his Father,"This large fleet is commanded by who?!?"
"It's going under my orders," Vladimir stared at Alexander, "They are not my orders at all... What I did, I did to make sure our people survived. I have made a grave mistake, and I will die for it. You must fix my errors, Alex, or all our people will die."
Alexander realized that he had misjudged his father as his father collapsed in front of him. The doctors proclaimed his father had died from an unusual strain of bacteria that had infected his brain, but Alexander knew that it was an outside power that had killed him. Alexander didn't know the identity of that outside power, but it was clear they had consolidated much of the power in the Segan Monarchy and that he had to find someway to work around those powers. Alexander's father had been a person driven by his love for his subjects, a love which had been tested and strained by the outside power that had lied and worked under a completely different system of ethics, and incompatible system of ethics that was twisted and deranged. Alexander, for the first time walked inside his father's bedroom, looking over some of the most intimate of objects to his father, including an inscription "The King's duty isn't to satisfy his own undeniable hunger for power but to satisfy his people's undeniable hunger for security." As Alexander tapped the text message to Joan La Chercheur, carrying the vital information that needed expedient delivery to Cardassia Prime, he knew he was doing his duty as future King to the Popular Union.
- - - - -
Ulixes breathed in hardeously as he stepped onto the bridge of his flagship with his executive officer and fleet coordinator, "Mmmmm, I smell the pungent, awesome smell of blood coming from out target. They don't even know they are going to be dead within a few days. It's a glorious smell, Adrix, a glorious smell indeed!"
"I agree, Admiral," Adrix, the hero of the Cardassia Prime invasion replied, "I smelled the same smells the first time we came here, success is close in our hands, and we will return these Cardassians to where they belong... working as servants to our Syndicate and Consortium."
"Admiral," The 2nd Officer of the Styx flagship called, as he turned around from his work station, "I'm confirming the arrival of the Segan Popular Union Fleet, they say they are awaiting our instructions, and are ready to launch the attack on Cardassia Prime."
"Right," Admiral Ulixes replied, as he sat down in his chair that was superior to all other, "Inform them to set course for Cardassia Prime and engage at warp 15."
Admiral Ulixes watched the innumerable stars that would all soon become dominions of the Styx. He smiled, thinking that would he to be in the home galaxy, all those stars around him would either be the in the process of conquest by the Styx, or already a part of the vast Styx Syndicate and Styx Consortium. Their leader was the fearless Arch-Achroid who had become an amazing leader that had ruled over the Styx for thousands of years. The wars that the Arch-Achroid had all been good wars that had brought glorious death to some of the Styx, and glorious victory to those who lived. The Admiral was apprehensive that now, he was being tested for his skills as a leader. The Arch-Achroid was looking very carefully at his first assignment as an Admiral, and he wanted to make sure he accomplished his duty. He had risen from pure devoted work to the Syndicate, and would make sure that that devoted work continued here in the Milky Way Galaxy.
The Syndicate had marked this as a moderate assignment involving unusual partners that being the Syndicate and the Segan Popular Union against the Cardassian Monarchy and the Supreme Militants' Union. Together the Cardo-S.M.U. fleet was outnumbered two to one by the incoming invading force. The Syndicate and the Popular Union had mustered approximately six thousand warships, with two hundred transports standing by to send in two million marine shock troops to consolidate authority on Cardassia. It was no small deployment in the history of this galaxy, and the Syndicate was confident it would be enough to destroy the Cardassian defense effort. Now, under the leadership of Admiral Ulixes, this six thousand ship fleet had entered war, crossing into unclaimed territory as they headed for the Badlands, the reputed border between the Federation and the Cardassian Monarchy. The Badlands would become the point of entry for the remaining Styx fleet to try and retake what they had built as their Headquarters during the Styx War.
