Her Prince Never Came



"Her Prince Never Came" is the eleventh episode of the current Don Trek series and is an original episode not based on any other previous Don Trek writing. It is also the first of a trilogy of stories that closes out season one of Don Trek.

Previous episode: The Petrolian Emperor

Next episode: Capt. Mike

Synopsis
When Cmdr. Mike, Lt. Jenna, and crew beam down to a planet that is seemingly frozen in time they discover a sleeping beauty whose prince never came.

The Story
“Captain’s log stardate 9505.07: We’ve just entered orbit of a planet where everything seems to be frozen in time, everything including the trees, animals, and people. It’s our intention to transport down and investigate, but only when Lt. Solok and Doctor Good Doctor have assured me that it’s safe.”

Act One
“None of our equipment shows any signs of malfunction,” reported Lt. Solok, “I do not think that it will be unreliable should we decide to transport down. Furthermore none of the probes have returned with any readings in line with any technology that could pose a danger to us.”

“So far I have to agree with Lt. Solok,” added Doctor Good Doctor, “we are sending down the last bio testing device now, once the test is complete we will send an animal down, but only if the bio test comes back like the others.”

“Good,” smiled Capt. Don, “then I’ll tell Cmdr. Mike to assemble his away team and await both of your approvals.”

Capt. Don left the main conference room of the USS Bonneville and headed to the quantum physics department. When he arrived at the lab Lt. Jenna was doing a contained experiment.

“What’re you up to Lt. Jenna?”

“Oh hi Capt. Don, I’m working on a quantum plot simulator,” she answered, “in this contained field I can run any TV show, movie, or book and see how small changes to the plot might effect a change in the overall outcome.”

“Well that’s an ambitious project,” observed Capt. Don, “what inspired you to get into that?”

“Just some data that was collected during a mission sometime around stardate 9411.28.”

“Oh yeah,” acknowledged Capt. Don, “the reason why I’m here today is to ask if you’re up to an away team mission. Some really crazy stuff happened on the planet down below and your expertise fits the landing party perfectly. Cmdr. Mike wants you on his team but he needs Doctor Good Doctor’s and my approval. I need yours?”

“Yes,” answered Lt. Jenna quite rapidly, “I’d love to get back in the field.”

“Alright then,” said Capt. Don, “Cmdr. Mike will contact you with your orders.”

Act Two
Cmdr. Mike and his away teamed beamed down the planet, now referred to as Frozen Stone, protected with belt mounted containment fields and walked about taking the first of many measurements.

“Commander,” said Lt. Solok, “my tricorder is indicating that there is a four mile per hour wind blowing right at us.”

“That’s amazing,” replied Cmdr. Mike, “because nothing is moving.”

“I’ll let you know when we can deactivate the personal shields in a few moments,” reported Dr. Good Doctor.

“Whatever is causing everything to be frozen is not showing any temporal tampering,” offered Lt. Jenna, “at least not on initial scan.”

“This is creepy,” shivered Ensign Bobby the security department member on the team.

“I agree,” said Cmdr. Mike as they stepped through some thick yet suspended growth.

“I think we’re safe to put our personal shields down once we’re out of the growth,” informed Dr. Good Doctor, “just to be on the safe side.”

“Doctor, are you getting the readings I am getting?” asked Lt. Solok as everyone put their shields down.

“Yes I’m getting them,” answered Dr. Good Doctor, “life signs, faint life signs, but life signs none-the-less!”

“Alright then let’s look into it,” ordered Cmdr. Mike.

As the away team followed the faint life signs they moved closer and closer to what looked like an ancient Earth castle. Cmdr. Mike started to get a bad feeling remembering the last castle they encountered on a previous mission.

“Ensign Bobby, be ready for anything,” warned Cmdr. Mike.

“Of course, sir, I always am,” answered the security officer.

“Right around this corner,” directed Dr. Good Doctor.

When the away team rounded the corner they found a gazebo covered in thorny vines. Cmdr. Mike and Ensign Bobby approached the gazebo and carefully cleared away enough to see through them and into the gazebo.

“Oh my God,” said Ensign Bobby.

Cmdr. Mike pulled out his communicator and said, “Mike to Bonneville, put me through to Capt. Don.”

“Capt. Don here, whatcha got Mike?”

“We’ve found a woman,” answered Cmdr. Mike, “and she’s alive!”

Act Three
“Can we wake her?” asked Cmdr. Mike.

“I’m afraid of what might happen to her if we do,” answered Doctor Good Doctor.

“The doctor is correct,” added Lt. Solok, “it could kill her.”

“Hey guys,” interrupted Lt. Jenna, “I’ve scanned this gazebo and the thorny vines around it and I’m positive this area is the source of a temporal disturbance that has caused everything to appear frozen in time on this planet.”

“Are we safe,” asked Cmdr. Mike, “do we need to get away?”

“Not as far as I can tell,” answered Lt. Jenna, “we seem to be operating outside of the event.”

“So is the event connected to her,” asked Lt. Solok, “or is she connected to the event?”

“That’s a good question,” answered Lt. Jenna, “and with some more time I might be able to give you an answer.”

Meanwhile back aboard the USS Bonneville Capt. Don and crew faced a challenge of their own.

“There is a Klingon battleship decloaking and it’s within firing range,” reported Lt. Tommy.

“Red alert, shields up,” ordered Capt. Don, “Ensign Becca let Cmdr. Mike know what’s going on and that they might get visitors!”

“Aye sir,” she answered and then added, “the Klingon ship is hailing us!”

“Put them on the screen,” ordered Capt. Don.

“Este es el Comandante Dawg del Klingon Imperial de Guerra Stampede! Usted tiene dos opciones; rendición de ser destruido!”

“What the hell?” asked Capt. Don, “this is the third time this has happened, what’s wrong with the universal translators?”

“I don’t know sir,” answered Ensign Becca, “but I do speak Klingon.”

“Ese planeta a continuación es la propiedad del Imperio Klingon! Deja órbita ahora!”

“They say that’s their planet and to leave now,” translated Ensign Becca.

“We’re nowhere near Klingon space,” responded Capt. Don, “I call bullshit!”

"El príncipe de este planeta es a bordo de mi barco y me ha pedido que haga todo lo posible para quitarle de la órbita, hasta destruirte!"

“Capt. Don, he claims the ruler of that planet is on their ship,” relayed Ensign Becca, “they’re ready to destroy us.”

“Then let me speak to her,” responded Capt. Don, “if her claim is valid we will leave.”

"Muy bien, capitán de la Flota Estelar!"

Then from just off of screen a woman dressed in a black and purple gown stepped into view. She wore a head piece that made it look like she had two horns atop her head.

“ Capt. Don, ” said the woman, “I’m Queen Maleficent of the planet Bois d'Amour. Your party is in very much danger if they should remain on the surface. I recommend you have them transport back to your ship and you depart.”

“Are you threatening them Queen Maleficent?” asked Capt. Don.

“No Capt. Don, I’m promising you that they will come to harm. Take action captain, their time is almost up!”

“The line’s closed,” reported Ensign Becca.

         “Get me the away team now!” ordered Capt. Don.



Act Four
“Cmdr. Mike, this woman is suffering from a combination of two events,” reported Lt. Solok, “a virus that causes her to be in a sleep state and a temporal event that freezes her in time.”

“Not only that, sir,” agreed Lt. Jenna, “but they seem to be connected in a way that we can’t account for.”

“Can she be cured?” asked Cmdr. Mike.

“Maybe,” answered Dr. Good Doctor, “in fact she has half of the ‘cure’ in her right now. It seems to be her DNA.”

Right then Ensign Bobby returned from a task that Cmdr. Mike had sent him on and he had very valuable information.

“I’ve check the entire region beyond the castle and everyone is frozen in time. Some of them appear to be just like her,” he said pointing to the girl in the gazebo, “but some of them are frozen with their eyes wide open, almost as if they were still aware of what was going on around them.”

“From what I’ve learned of this temporal event, that is not beyond the realm of possibility commander,” offered Lt. Jenna.

“There’s one more thing,” added Ensign Bobby, “there was a man I found down the road, and I think he’s dead.”

BEEP BEEP!

Cmdr. Mike pulled out his communicator and said, “Mike here.”

“Hey Mike, we’ve got a problem…” explained Capt. Don to his away team on the surface of Bois d'Amour. From that point on anything that they did had to be done fast as either one of two things could happen; the Bonneville could be attacked, there could be a party of Klingons beaming down to face them, or both!

“Come on Ensign Bobby,” ordered Cmdr. Mike, “let’s go get that body, it might be the key to solving this mystery!”

After they got the body and brought it back to the rest of the team the doctor, Lt. Solok, and Lt. Jenna performed a series of scans on it.

“This man is dead,” reported Doctor Good Doctor.

“Not only that but he was killed as the temporal event occurred,” added Lt. Jenna, “so he’s really dead.”

“But it gets worse,” continued the doctor, “his DNA is what needs to combine with hers in order to ‘cure’ the virus.”

“There may be another option,” offered Lt. Solok, “perhaps because of the event this man’s body is preserved enough for us to extract what we need to introduce to the ‘sleeping’ woman in order for the virus to run its course?”

“That might be a possibility,” agreed Doctor Good Doctor as she started to extract whatever fluid DNA she could get.

As twilight fell upon Bois d'Amour Cmdr. Mike noticed trouble brewing in the space above them. The Stampede and the Bonneville were engaged in a battle right over their heads.

“I can’t extract any fluids from this man’s body,” complained Doctor Good Doctor.

“Perhaps the temporal event is preventing your instrument from being able to puncture the skin” asked Lt. Solok.

“What about his mouth,” offered Ensign Bobby, “it’s open?”

“Yes!” exclaimed the doctor, “that might work. We’re going to have to inject her via the mouth too. Even though it’s not opened it will be easier to pry open than the skin will be to penetrate.”

Capt. Don called down to Cmdr. Mike, “we’re holding our own Mike but this Klingon ship is no bucket of bolts!”

“Give us a few more minutes then we can figure out our escape,” answered Cmdr. Mike.

“Alright, I’m injecting the spray into the sleeping beauty’s mouth!” called out Doctor Good Doctor to Cmdr. Mike.

“Her life signs are growing stronger,” reported Lt. Solok.

“As her life signs grow stronger the temporal event seems to be weakening,” offered Lt. Jenna.

“This is quite unprecedented Cmdr. Mike, but there are life sign readings occurring all over the area,” reported Lt. Solok.

“What’s happening, where am I,” asked the formally sleeping woman, “how long have I been out?”

“I really can’t answer any of those questions yet,” offered the Doctor.

“I can answer one of them,” replied Lt. Jenna, “you’ve been asleep for sixteen years, Cmdr. Mike, that would be one hundred Earth years!”

“What’s going on up there?” the woman asked.

“That’s our space ship fighting another spaceship,” answered Cmdr. Mike, “the other space ship has a woman on it who claims to be the queen of this planet. By the way, who are you?”

“I’m Princes Aurora and my mother and father govern this planet and its people,” she answered, “that woman is Maleficent and she is a very powerful wielder of chemistry and technology and should be feared! We must get to the planetary defenses now and assist your ship.”

On the Klingon battleship Stampede they were preparing to launch a new weapon at the USS Bonneville, a weapon devised by Queen Maleficent that would dispense with the Bonneville’s shields and leave the starship vulnerable to extreme damage from the Klingon’s phasers and photon torpedoes.

“We are ready to fire,” barked Cmdr. Dawg.

“No we must retreat!” yelled Maleficent, “we have to get out of here! They’ve done something and it has caused the planet to come out of the temporal stasis I had put it under! Leave now or their planetary defenses will rip us to shreds!”

“If we turn now that Federation vessel will have an advantage and could destroy us,” barked Cmdr. Dawg.

         “Then fire the weapon at them and leave with haste!” screamed Maleficent.

Epilogue
“First Officer’s log stardate 9505.08: After beaming down to Bois d'Amour, a world under the spell of a combination of temporal stasis and viral infection, we were able to effect a change in their situation and revive the populace. From what we’ve experienced and learned from the people of Bois d’Amour is that the one known as Maleficent is a powerful being that they fear, and reasonably so, and is working with the Klingons. Repairs to the USS Bonneville’s shields are almost completed and we should be departing in a day or so as soon as we are assured that their planetary defenses are in full and proper working order. There is one thing that has Capt. Don somewhat concerned, on one wall of the castle where we found Princess Aurora there was something written, something that looks like it was burned into the wall with fire, and something that was not down there when we made our initial survey. It reads, ‘the pale horse is coming.’ Log out.”

Background Information

 * This is the first trilogy in the current Don Trek series.


 * This episode and the two that follow all have a begining, middle, and end so that they may be enjoyed by themselves. This is different than "The Constitution of the Unknowns" and "It's a Good Day to Dalek" that need to be read together to make one story.


 * This is a Disney cross-over story with Sleeping Beauty. It puts the story not in a kingdom but a planet.


 * Maleficent is the bad guy in this story and the Klingons seem to be her pawns.


 * This story continues the "White Horse" theme.


 * The Klingon ship's name is Stampede


 * Ensign Becca speaks Klingon.


 * This story introduces Ensign Bobby who is inspired by an associate of Don's from 6th grade through junior high, before Don Trek. While this is the first time he is shown narratively in a Don Trek story he was introduced in the comic panel of "The Black Whole" at Lt. Pam's funeral.


 * Maleficent's magic is explained as a form of science.


 * The universal translators work with the people planet-side but once again fail with the Klingons, yet they work when speaking to Maleficent.


 * This is a Cmdr. Mike story.


 * This is the first story that has Lt. Jenna serving in a full capacity as a member of the USS Bonneville's crew.


 * Maleficent shares her technology with the Klingons.


 * It can be supposed from this story that the Klingons and Maleficent could have defeated the Bonneville with her shared technology if it were not for the planetary defenses of Bois d'Amour.

Inspired by
The Star Trek trademarks, logos, and related names are owned by CBS Studios Inc., and are used under "fair use" guidelines.
 * Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry.
 * Don Trek is not endorsed, sponsored, or affiliated with Paramount Pictures, CBS Studios Inc. or the "Star Trek" franchise.