Voltron: V4
                              LEGEND
                                
                         part 4: Ascent
                              by Mea

     Telos had been colonized about three hundred years ago, and
in that time, it had never seen war or invasion.
     No longer.
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     A Doom fighter was batted away like a chew toy as Yellow
Lion tore past it like a golden juggernaut.  
     This is almost fun, Hunk thought.  Between their three lions
(well, two actually, since Lance had gone down to find Keith and
the Princess) and the Telosian Air Force (small as it was),
they'd managed to cut the invading force down by half in a matter
of minutes.  It was almost too easy.  
     He hated thinking that.  Usually, the moment he started
thinking that meant that something worse was going to happen.  It
wasn't that he was a pessimist exactly; he more pessimistically
cautious after one too many surprises during his time in the
Voltron Force.  He'd learned that usually, when things seemed to
be going to well, that meant that Doom had something really nasty
in mind.  
     Still, the standard Doom fighters weren't posing much of a
problem, and the huge excavator ship didn't seem to have many
weapons on it except for a few laser cannons, which he easily
avoid as he strafed across its surface, raking Yellow Lion's
claws against its hard metal hull.  The biggest threats were the
heavier warships, and between him and Pidge, they'd already taken
out one of the three, the one that happened to be transmitting
the radio jammer,  and the second one was damaged.  
     Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a wing of Doom
Fighters forming up behind Pidge's Green Lion, who didn't seem to
notice.
     "Pidge," he called into his comm, "Watch your back!"
     The Green Lion managed to sideslip out of the way of most of
the fighters laser blasts; however one salvo connected with its
back section.  Hunk let loose with a barrage of rotor missiles
that picked off all but three of the wing, who were quickly
picked off by Green Lion's pulse blaster.
     "You okay?" he asked his friend.
     "Fine, just a little singed." Pidge's voice sounded over the
comm. "Did you see what's down there?"
     He looked.
     Below, it seemed as if the ground was bleeding silver.
     The Doom excavator ship had carved out a large gouge out of
the already scarred earth, revealing an expanse of the shining
metal hull of a ship beneath.  And whatever ship it was, it was
huge.  Already there was an area exposed the size of a football
field, and there was obviously more to uncover.
     "Is that the ship they wanted to show us?"
     "They did say it was big."
     "But, that thing.. That thing must be bigger than the Castle
of Lions!"
     "And I think I'm getting a power reading from it.  It's
pretty faint..."
     A new voice cut into their conversation "Yellow Lion, Green
Lion, this is Lance. I'm coming in.  The ground troops won't bug
us anymore, thanks to Red Lion Exterminators," Lance added
smugly.
     "Where're Keith and the Princess?  I thought you were going
to get them to their lions?" Hunk asked.
     Lance's voice lost it's jovial tone.  "They're safe, but
they've got a bunch of civilians down there to look after,
including His Royal Pain.  But it looks we've got everything
under control, even without them."
     Hunk wanted to agree with him; the remaining Doom warships
were regrouping around the excavator ship which deactivated its
piercing groundcutter beam.  Maybe they were preparing to
retreat. He hoped so, the sooner they were gone, the better he'd
like it.
     "See," he heard Lance say," Told you we had nothing to worry
about." He didn't sound convinced though, and neither was Hunk.
     That was when the excavator ship launched something that
looked suspiciously like a coffin.
     "Okay," said Lance," NOW we have something to worry about."
     The coffin started to glow and pulse.
     Just what they needed, Hunk thought, a RoBeast.  I knew this
was too easy.
     He set his comm to wide broadcast.  "Telosian forces, fall
back.  Let us handle this."  He knew that the Telosian fighters
were small and may be good against other fighters and some of the
larger ships, but against whatever was coming out of the coffin,
they wouldn't stand a chance.
     "Wait," he heard Lance add, "There's a group of people down
below, mostly civilians, but also two of ours, and Lord Kyr.  See
if you can get them out of here and back to the palace." 
     "Understood Voltron Force.  Good luck."
     "Well, that's one less thing we have to worry about," he
heard Lance mutter over the comm as the coffin finished its
descent.
     "Get ready guys, " Pidge said as they positioned their lions
between the glowing casket and the Telosian ships.  With only
three lions, Hunk knew they were as ready as they were going to
be.
     There was a burst of light as the coffin opened and whatever
was inside was released, growing immediately to monstrous size
and bellowed and earthshaking roar.
     They had seen RoBeasts before, that was nothing new.  But
this time...  this time they were two lions short, which meant no
Voltron, which meant it was anyone's guess who would win.
     "That is one ugly RoBeast," Hunk said over the comm to no
one specific; it was his way to hide the fact that he was
worried.  
     The RoBeast that had just emerged looked almost simian, with
long arms that dangled past it's knees. Patches of hair stuck out
on its mottled skin, giving it a diseased appearance.  Huge metal
plates covered its arms, housing numerous weapons, as did the
huge plates on its chest and back.  A pair of metal rods were set
on its shoulders, though it was hard to tell if they were hand
weapons or the barrels of some kind of gun.  It had glowing eyes
which no doubt shot laser or some other kind of energy.  A set of
pointed metal teeth gleamed in its maw, ready to tear into the
enemy.
     In short, it was ugly.
     "Well, we're just going to have to make it uglier," Lance
replied.  "Ready?"
     "I'm ready," Hunk answered, his grip tightening on the
controls.
     "Here it comes," warned Pidge
     With an unearthly bellow, the RoBeast charged.
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     "General Norak, RoBeast A3 successfully activated."
     "Good, " the general rumbled smugly.  "Have the ships pull
out of range of the battle zone.  Lower atmosphere should be
fine.  They can come back after the RoBeast is finished."
     "Yes General."
     Norak settled back into his chair.  The operation hadn't
gone as smoothly as he had expected, but he was far from
defeated.  While part of him still wondered why there were only
three of the famous Voltron Lions in the battle, he was confidant
in his RoBeast.  It only had to destroy one Lion, and he'd have
succeeded where even his King Zarkon had failed.
     All he had to do was sit back and wait for the inevitable.
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     The four who were in the depths of the mysterious ship below
ground had little idea what was going on outside.  Aside from the
occasional low tremor that traveled through the ship, there was
little to indicate the battle above.
     Each of them handled the wait in their own way: Jared,
Defender of the Throne of Telos, was used to waiting quietly and
positioned himself within the control room where he was equally
close to the other three and still able to stoically observe the
entire room, as if enemies were going to come bursting out of the
floor at any time.  Owen, on the other hand, decided to make
himself useful.  After an animated debate with Scott about "the
disturbing of a site of major historical significance without
proper documentation", he started poking around the control
panels near the large display screens to see if he could get any
of them to work.  In the meantime, Scott sat himself by the
earthly remains of the former King Solon II with his notepad and
began scrawling notes at an almost frantic pace, only
occasionally looking up to peer closely at some element of it
without touching it and then going back to his notes, or pausing
to converse with Owen.
     Mira watched them all.
     She had come to realize that her world had become full of a
lot of impossibilities.   At his moment, she was standing on the
deck of a thousand year old ship of legend that was not only
preserved but functional (which should be impossible), in the
same room as a long dead king who'd just told them his final
message (which should have been impossible), listening to sounds
of a fierce battle going on outside (which should have been
impossible, since less than ten minutes ago, "outside" had been a
mile of rock and earth), and all this only a few hours after
waking up in a hospital after escaping a Doom slave ship (not
impossible, but highly improbably) and being found and picked up
in an empty part of space after being stranded in a damaged ship
with no life support (which  should have been impossible).
     Her brain was starting to hurt.
     "What I want to know," Owen pondered, looking up from the
myriad of dark controls, "is why our voice from the past was
talking about Voltron?  I'm no history expert, but even I know
it's not that old.  King Alfor of Arus built him, what... fifty,
sixty years ago?"
     Ah yes, she thought, one more impossibility to add to the
list.
     "Well," began Scott, taking a deep breath, "the legend is
actually a LOT older than the robot.  Hundreds of years older. 
Supposedly, King Alfor took the legends and made them real when
he built Voltron, and he used his own design since the legends
were a little vague about what he, he as in Voltron, looked like,
as the stories corrupted a bit over time, because they'd been
passed down by word of mouth for many many years during the
Second Dark Age, so sometimes Voltron was referred to as a great
warrior, sometimes as creature of some kind, like a predator, a
bird of prey, or something like that which was probably symbolic
of some aspect of the warrior character depending on the story,
you know, not totemic so much as poetic symbolism, like in one
legend, for example, Voltron appears as winged warrior, and
before that..."
     And Scott was off again.  
     Mira couldn't help but smile.  Scott loved his history with
a passion that most people reserve for lovers, gossip, and
chocolate.  It looked like he'd finally found an ear to share it
with in Owen and was making the most of it.
     Before he paused for his next breath though, the screens
around them lit up.  Some of them showed only dirt, but several
showed scenes from outside, including...
     "Oh my Lord..."
     "What...is that?" Jared managed, looking at the gigantic
simian beast.
     "I'd guess 'that' is what's been bangin' around up there."
     He tried to smile at his attempt at humor, but the smile
crumbled at the edges.
     Mira gaped at the monster on the monitor; she had heard
about Doom's RoBeasts, how they were used in the arena to fight
each other or slaughter slaves deemed "expendable" to entertain
the Doom peoples... but this one was so HUGE!
     "Are those the lions?  I mean, THE Voltron Lions?" asked
Scott, pointing at the screens.
     "Think so, kid.  Things must be pretty bad."
     "Aren't there supposed to be five?"
     No one said anything. Especially when the monster batted one
of the three lions out of the air and sent it hurtling to the
ground.
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     Pidge's body was thrown roughly against the side of the
pilot's seat as Green Lion thudded hard into the ground.  His
controls sparked in protest, trying to compensate for the damage.
     "Pidge? Come in!" his radio called, it sounded like Hunk.
"You okay?"
     "Flew too close. No weak spot yet," Pidge grumbled, which
was basically as good as a "yes".  
     He checked his systems: there was some power loss in one of
the scanner arrays in the front, probably from the hit he took,
and his eye beams were off-line, not that they'd been that
effective against the simian RoBeast.  He promptly rerouted some
power systems took off to join his friends in the air.
     They hadn't been able to draw the RoBeast away from the
scar, but they had managed to keep its attention away from the
ships getting civilians away from the dig site.  Unfortunately,
they were getting hammered in the process.  The Lions were
strong, but they weren't powerful enough to do much against this
thing.  He'd been coordinating his scanners with the other two
lions, in hopes that they might find a chink in the creature's
armor, but so far, no luck. He hoped the ships would hurry.
     As if in answer to his request, a message came over his
comm:
     "Telosian Group B to Voltron Force.  Mission accomplished,
returning to the capital."
     "Group B," Pidge answered, "Received and understood."
     A new voice. "Voltron Force, this is Keith.  Allura and I
will join you as soon as we can get to the Lions.  Just hold on."
     "Don't worry, Keith," Lance replied, "We'll try to save you
some." There was something in his voice that made the joke lose a
little of its humor.
     "Just hang in there, team.  Keith out."
     The RoBeast started to turn towards the departing ships.
     "Oh no you don't," Pidge heard Lance mutter over the comm
just before Red Lion dived towards the beast.
     "Lance! What are you doing?"  Pidge demanded.
     "Getting its attention!"
     The red robot streaked past the RoBeast's head while staying
out of range of the beast's reach, its Lion Torch breathing a
tongue of flame across the creature's body.  The beast recoiled
slightly, its eyes starting to glow yellow.  Then a beam of
golden energy lanced out and caught Red Lion in mid-flight,
causing it to lurch to a stop in mid-air.
     "Tractor beam!" Lance reported over the comm. "My systems
are locking up!"
     "I got it," Hunk called as Yellow Lion leashed a volley of
rotor missiles at the beast's eyes.
     The missiles didn't do much damage, but they did make the
creature blink, temporarily severing the tractor beam.  Red Lion
dipped in the air, recovered, and rejoined his companions.  In
the meantime, the Telosian ships had managed to slip away.
     Despite his damaged scanners, Pidge picked up something
powering up on the creature.  
     "Guys, it's got a pair of twin Proton cannons powering up on
it's back, watch out!"
     The next second, the creature leaned forward and fired two
massive streams of energy at the trio, who barely managed to
dodge out of the way.
     "That was close" radioed Hunk, "Thank Pidge."
     "It'll take a couple of seconds for them to power up again,"
he answered. "Cover me, I've got an idea.  If I can block the
barrel on even one of those cannons, it should backfire, and that
may just take that RoBeast down."
     "Okay." 
     "Go Pidge."
     Red and Yellow Lions charged at the simian beast, eye beams
blazing, as Green Lion flew into position.  Pidge's Lion didn't
have much in the way of missiles, but he did have a few small
heat seekers.  He knew he'd only get one shot.  He chewed his
lower lip as he waited for the targeting systems to align and
lock, then fired half a dozen missiles at the cannon barrel.
     "Break off!" he yelled, "it's going to fire!"
     He barely saw two of the missiles slide down one of the
Proton Cannon barrels (he'd expected only one to go in) as he and
the other Lions fell back.  Then, everything happened quickly:
the RoBeast leaned forward, there was a small explosion somewhere
within the barrel of one of the Proton Cannons, one cannon fired,
again barely missing the Lions, but the other one, instead of
firing, blew apart in the lower barrel section in a massive blast
that snapped the barrel in two and knocked the creature forward
to the ground with a humongous crash.
     "It worked!" he heard Hunk yell.  He felt like cheering
himself...
     ...until it started getting up.
     "Uh-oh," Pidge said.  Something in his stomach said that
this was not good.
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     Mira watched the battle on the monitor, a sickening sinking
feeling in her stomach as she watched the Lions fighting what
looked like a hopeless battle.  Briefly there had been hope, as
one of the things cannon's exploded and it fell, shaking the
whole ship, but now, it was getting up again, and with no other
lion ships in sight, she didn't hold out hope that they'd make 
it out.
     Where were the other lions, she wondered.  There should be
five of them, where are the other two.  She hoped Owen might be
able to get a radio or some kind of communication working so that
they could find out, but so far, no luck.
     She wanted to do something; standing here watching and not
being able to do anything ate at her.  She didn't want another
Balto, another planet to fall to the Doom Empire.  There had to
be SOMETHING...
     Something nagged at her from the back of her mind. 
Something about Solon's last message.  What was it..?
     He kept... something... what..?  She began to replay the
king's words in her head.
     ...Voltron has suffered too much damage to leave...
     ...The keys... the keys are safe with me...
     ...the auto-repair systems should have done their work...
     Voltron... keys... repairs...
     Idea.
     "Oh my God," she breathed, "What if..!" She trailed off.
     "Mira?"  Owen looked at her quizzically. "Mira, are you all
right."
     She didn't say anything at first, she was so taken with
whatever revelation that came to her.  She slowly walked over to
the pile of bones and rotted cloth.
     Four octagonal sparkling things sat amid the remains, each
was about the size of her palm, made mostly of what appeared to
be gold, with two rounded nodules on opposing sides, like
buttons.  Set in the center was a large gemstone, a different
mineral per object; one yellowish, one almost pure black, one
blood red, and the last, pale transparent crystal.  Each stone
was carefully cut and polished, and sparkled in the least light.
     "What's that thing?" she asked, pointing at one of them.
     Scott peered carefully at the sparkling object sitting amid
the king's remains, trying to examine it from every angle without
actually touching it.  After a moment he shook his head.  "I'm
not sure really.  It's too big to be jewelry from the period, but
it appears to be made out of electrum and some kind of large
crystal, might be ruby.  The others...that one might be topaz,
that one onyx, maybe, though I doubt it... Arus had been known to
use hematite, though I thought it looked more silvery.  That one
might be quartz though I can't be sure without some tests."  
     He squinted closer, bending down until his head nearly
touched the platform. "It looks like... like there's something in
the crystal, like... circuits.  They're really small, almost like
part of the stone itself...  I wish Professor Windum was here, he
might have heard of something like this. I've just... I... I
really don't know what they are."  
     Without warning, she snatched up one of them. For a split
second, it was cold, like the door, but the feeling past quickly.
     "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Scott yelped.  "YOU'RE DISTURBING THE
REMAINS!!" 
     She ignored him; instead she went over to a ship schematic
lit up on one of the monitors and studied it quickly.
     "Thought so!  Owen, see this large hanger bay on the top of
the ship? It's probably unearthed, right?  Think you can get the
doors open from here?"
     "Mira? What are you-"
     "Trust me.  They need help out there, and this" she said,
holding out her small jeweled prize for emphasis, "this is the
key!"
     "Key?" he said incredulously.
     "The professor isn't going to believe this," Scott mumbled
morosely into his notebook, shaking his head.
     "Okay, _A_ key, then.  One of the keys the messages was
talking about.  Solon said he left the keys for whoever found him
to take something back BESIDES the ship.   I think they fly
something pretty powerful, I don't know what, but I figure it's
gotta be in a hanger.  It's the biggest one on the layout."
     "Well..."
     "You said so yourself, the ship works fine. Why wouldn't
whatever this thing runs work too?  The auto-repair's only had a
few centuries to work on it.  And I'm pretty sure I can figure it
out how to fly it, and then maybe we can help them out there
rather than sit around doing nothing and wait for it to be over!"
     "You do know that that's just a little crazy?"
     "No, actually, it's a lot crazy, but do you have a better
idea?"
     "...I'll look for a switch."
     "Thanks Owen.  Wish me luck."
     She turned only to see that the Telosian soldier was
blocking her path.
     "No," he said calmly.
     "Jared.  Move."
     "No.  If there are any risks to take, I should take them. 
It is my job as Defender of the Throne and Royal Protector, and
it is what I was trained for, it is my duty."
     "We don't have time for this!  How many ships have you
flown?"
     "What does this-"
     "How many ships have you flown?" she demanded again.
     "I've been trained in the Telosian starships-"
     "Anything else?" 
     "...No, but-"
     "I have, at least several dozen classes, and between the two
of us, I've got a better chance at flying it first time out
without getting killed. Now get out of my way and let me do what
_I_ was trained for," she said coldly.
     "I can't let you."
     "Jared, if that monster out there wins, there's not a damn
thing you'll be able to do to protect us from them when they come
down here.  And they WILL come down here.  What I'm doing may not
work, but at least it stacks the odds a little more in our favor,
now let... me...  pass!"
     The two glared at each other, an almost visible aura of
tension between them.  It was a silent battle of wills, each side
refusing to give in.
     "Jared... " she said quietly, "please.  Let me help Telos."  
     After several tense seconds, Jared's shoulders sagged
slightly, and he took a step sideways.
     "Thank you," Mira whispered, then dashed out into the
hallway.
     Jared turned to Owen.  "Do you think she can?"
     "Well, I've only known her a few days, but I can promise you
this; she's not going to let them do anything without putting up
one helluva fight.  Heh, wouldn't surprise me if she could hold
off an armada with a box of toothpicks.  Well, maybe not, but who
knows?  Now, let me see if I can find that switch."
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     Mira dashed through the corridors, trying to remember
exactly how to get to the hanger. Perhaps she imagined it, but
the lights on the corridor seemed to be lighting a path for her
down to her destination.
     Finally, she reached the door to the hanger.  As she reached
for the door, it opened for her.  She stepped in, not quite
knowing what to expect...
     And stopped, her jaw dropping open as she saw the contents
of the hanger.
     Whatever she expected, this wasn't it. 
     This was so much more.
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     Floating in space, just beyond the range of Planet Telos'
sensors, a small fleet loomed.  Its commander eerily silent.
     General Zuir studied the sensor readouts from the squadron
he'd sent into low orbit over the planet in anticipation of
attack.  He had been digesting the information for several
minutes now, learning all he could on the battle going on on the
planet below.
     "Sir,"the voice of one of his bridge officers timidly asked,
"Squad Alpha's Leader wishes to know if he should get ready to
attack."
     There was a pause as Zuir weighed his options.
     "No.  Call them back, except three.  I need them to continue
scanning."
     "Yes sir... but... Sir, didn't the council want you to
retrieve the weapon?"
     "It's foolish to enter a battle against two sides at once. 
We'll get another chance soon enough to claim it.  By the time
this battle ends, both sides will be weakened, and one will be
gone."
     "Then we'll take it from the Doom fleet?"
     "No.  From Telos, or the forces from Arus, unless I'm
mistaken."
     "...Yes sir."
     Zuir looked up from his sensors. "Your commander hasn't gone
mad, Galon.  I have my reasons.  Do you see this?"
     "It's a power reading, sir.  From one of our scans of the
battle."
     "Yes, but what is the source."
     "From the Doom Excavator or the RoBeast, I assume."
     "Be careful with your assumptions, Galon.  Look again."
     The officer looked at the reading again, this time more
carefully.  His eyes widened.  "It's... it's from..."
     "Exactly."
     "But that's..."
     "I know Lieutenant, but it's there none the less.  I believe
our friend General Norak has underestimated his quarry.  And that
is why I think he will lose this battle."
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     The RoBeast didn't look happy, Lance thought as he had Red
Lion deftly avoid a laser beam the creature fired from it's
forearm.
     Good.  That meant they'd _really_ hurt it.
     Of course, it wasn't down yet, and it was making sure that
Pidge's little stunt with the missiles wasn't going to happen
again.  That meant either new plan, or improvise.
     Plans were good, but until they had one, it was improv time.
     "Pidge," he radioed, "Any luck on another weak spot?  Could
really use one."
     "Not yet," came the response, "My scanners still aren't up
to full and that thing isn't staying still for a good reading."
     "I say we keep hammering that blast mark on its back,"
Hunk's voice said.  "Maybe we'll get through."
     "Already on it, "Lance said, taking Red Lion in a low arc
that swept it past the creature's back, the Lion's leg cannon's
tearing across the already blackened surface.  The RoBeast spun,
trying to backhand the robotic lion, but Lance climbed too fast
for it and the creature's arm missed its target by several
meters.
     "Your turn guys," he called to the others,"Unless you want
me to have all the fun."
     He looped around for another pass as Green Lion made a run
with its pulse blaster, followed by Yellow Lion.
     The simian RoBeast was furious by now, roaring in rage as it
reached down to pick up the remains of the destroyed cannon and
wound up.
     Yellow Lion dodged around the creature after it's attack
run, unaware of it's next attack.
     "Hunk!" Lance yelled into the comm, "Look out!"
     It was too late, the RoBeast swung the metal barrel like a
club. He could see Hunk was too close. Hardly thinking, Lance
pulled Red Lion into a steep dive, putting himself between Yellow
Lion and the creature so the weapon caught Red Lion in the head
and forcing it to the ground hard.  Sympathetic pain from the
damaged coursed through his body as controls shorted all around
him.  He thought he saw Yellow and Green Lion try to blindside
the beast before it could do any more damage to Red Lion, but the
monster turned, its eyes glowing red with full power, and fired a
blast that sent the other two lions crashing into the canyon
walls.
     Lance tried to focus, his head still spinning from the
impact.  He tried to get his lion off the ground, but the
controls weren't responding and several power drain warnings lit
up across the board.  He looked up to see the RoBeast draw its
fist back to deliver another crushing blow.
     That was when something huge and gleaming white exploded out
of the nearby ground with a deafening avian scream.
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     "What in Shiv's name is THAT!"  Norak roared at the monitor
as he rocketed out of his command chair.
     The crew cowered on the bridge, none of them had an answer
for their commander.
     It didn't matter, he already had a good idea. 
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To be continued