VOLTRON-X Book Seven: Revolution By: C. Schultz The interior of the lion still bore his stamp. His scent, and the imprint of his mind were comfortingly strong here. A'lara huddled in the pilot's seat, crying like a child. Her protector and friend, the man she would have loved if he had only let her, was dead. Once again, the bottom had dropped out of her universe. In her small hand she held a ring, a broad band of white gold inscribed with the Navy crest. Until a few days ago, Sven had worn it. He'd told her that it was his academy ring..... whatever that was. She'd slipped it off his hand while giving his suspended, mortally injured form a final blessing, meaning to keep the ring safe until his return. Now it, and the lion, were all she had left. Keith wanted to find someone else to fly Blue; some stranger who didn't deserve..., couldn't possibly fill, Sven's place. A'lara rocked back and forth, clutching the ring and crying. She couldn't stand to see another wear his uniform, sit in this seat. She'd kill anyone who tried, with her own hands. There was only one thing to do. Drying her tears, A'lara clasped the ring to her breast, closed her eyes, and addressed Blue. "Mighty One, great guardian of Kor...., Please, if I am worthy to fly with you, send me a sign! I would..... I would fight in his place, until you find someone better. I may never be as good, but I would never bring dishonor to you, or him. Please...., please send me a sign!" At first, nothing happened. Then she felt Blue's thoughts, ice-cold and alien, probing her own. She concentrated on seeming brave and determined, because it was no use whatever trying to seem powerful, or terribly skilled. Blue's presence withdrew slowly, ebbing like the sun at twilight. Then the ring in her hand grew warm, began to glow. Her breath caught in her throat. She was accepted. Smiling through tears of pain, and fierce, wild joy, A'lara strung the ring upon her neck chain. A light enfolded her, and suddenly she wore a uniform of lavender, white, and black. "Thank you....," she whispered. _________________________________________________________________ Locked in his quarters, Keith was doing push-ups. Hundreds of them. Exercise should have kept his body too tired, and mind too occupied, to allow much time for thought. Should have. He couldn't help blaming himself, though no one else did. Over and over again he replayed the scene in his head: Lance offering to take Sven to Ebb, himself refusing. If only....., Keith scrambled to his feet as if he could run away from his wretched memories. If only he'd agreed. If Lance had taken Sven in the Red lion, his friend might yet be alive. The possibility clawed at his heart. A long time ago, when he'd been just a boy, he'd lost both parents within a week of each other; his mother to a virulent alien plague, his father to.... whatever had caused Michael Akira to simply vanish, leaving his son to be taken in by elderly grandparents like an abandoned puppy. Too young to understand what had happened, Keith had blamed himself, deciding that if he'd been better, cried and fussed less, his parents would have stayed. It had taken him almost fifteen years to stop feeling responsible for their loss. The same cold, leaden, guilty sensation was with him now Why? Keith wondered. Why was he never good enough, smart enough, fast enough, to save the ones he loved? Striding to the wash basin, he held his head under the tap for awhile, letting the icy water wash the sweat from his throbbing brow. If only guilt and pain could be got rid of as easily. _________________________________________________________________ Lance was out looking for a fight. He'd spent almost every waking hour in his lion these last few days, praying for something to slaughter. So far he'd racked up fifteen kills, blasting the Galrans into tiny bloody bits for the sake of his lost friend. They had no idea what had hit them, and no inkling of why they were being destroyed..., but scout ships, patrols and hover tanks were being annihilated left and right, and all by him. It didn't bring Sven back, any more than it had brought Mom and Dad, or his friends and world back, but it helped soothe his raging spirit.. For awhile, anyway. Cresting a low ridge, he and Red came across a wing of fast-moving Galran fighters hugging the ground to avoid radar. Their mistake. Rolling left, Lance powered up the plasma cannon, and opened fire on the leaders.. Two of them were vaporized instantly. Two more tried to get out of the way, and instead collided with each other, producing a very satisfying explosion. The others Red finished by crushing them in her jaws like struggling prey. Lance gloried in the savage vengeance- Metal tore and crumpled, fuel spurted, igniting as Red bit down even harder, while inside, another shrieking little life was ended. Roaring her triumph to the morning skies, she flung away one shattered fighter and started for the rest. As they desperately tried to flee, Lance muttered, "Payback's a bitch, ain't it, fellas?" and fired a swarm of stingers. "See you in hell." _________________________________________________________________ Hunk spent a lot more time than usual with the orphans, especially little Anya. Taking care of the children, and the multitudes of new patients who filled the castle infirmary, helped raise his lowering spirits. These, at least, he could help. It had become very important to him to save every possible life. He went to incredible extremes, even treated a puppy that one of the village kids carried in, mending a torn paw as he wished he could have mended a fatal wound. _________________________________________________________________ Meanwhile, Pidge buried himself in work, translating the ancients' computer files, installing new power crystals in the lions, and perfecting a better alarm system. He got very little sleep, and ate almost nothing, finding a grim sort of solace in tasking himself to the point of collapse. No one was ever going to sneak into the fortress again, he vowed. No one. _________________________________________________________________ ELSEWHERE: The green light, blinking on and off with heart-beat regularity, was the first thing he noticed. It was off to his right, just visible if he turned his head in that direction. He stared at it for a very long time without curiosity, content just to have found an anchor in this black and ice-cold ocean. Gradually, other sensations reached him; the whir of machinery, the soft whisper of ventilation, a few lighter darks in the inky blackness that surrounded him, and a painful cramp in the muscles of his left leg. This last was a good thing, actually, as it proved that his brain and nervous system were still in working order. He noticed something else, as well; every time his head cleared a bit, something would prick his right bicep, sending a wash of numbing coldness along his tightly bound arm to his heart and brain. Drugged, he faded back into hazy disinterest each time. At first, this didn't trouble him overmuch. He was tired and weak; the sleep was welcome. Then he began to wonder who wanted him unconscious, and why. So, he fought, clenching his muscles whenever he felt the needle, to prevent it from delivering its enervating payload.. After he'd missed three doses, identity and will power came straggling back to the captive. He was...., a combot pilot. Ericksen, Sven- Lieutenant Commander, GA Navy. Two further blocked shots brought back his recent history. He remembered the mission, Keith and the others, Arus and its tiny, determined princess, and Voltron. He recalled the fight that had injured him unto death, remembered hearing Keith urging him to hold on...., but after that, nothing. How he'd come to be in this place was a complete mystery. His captor's purpose was not. Strapped onto an angled table top, with his psionic abilities canceled out, and a couple of life support tubes creating what felt like a campfire in his abdominal cavity, he was obviously being prepped for interrogation. Not the first time it had happened to him, though he'd managed to escape the last such situation before the serious questioning could begin. He didn't intend to stick around for this one, either. If the unknown persons who'd captured him were anything like the Drules, being skinned alive would be less painful than their "persuasion" techniques. Scraping together his returning strength, Sven attempted to break free of his restraints. TK or no TK, he meant to take a little unscheduled liberty. Clenching his teeth, he began a slow, powerful pull against the bonds. They loosened a bit, triggering a hidden sensor. The interrogation table responded with a ten second high-voltage discharge that left him with several painful electrical burns and a distinct aversion to trying that again. Now what? Although he never doubted for a moment that his friends were on their way, Sven wasn't inclined to wait around for rescue. He was going to find his own way out. ________________________________________________________________ The remainder of the team had gathered in the ready room. Keith stood before Hunk, Lance and Pidge, fists upon his hips, red-faced with exasperation. There was a desk before him, and on it a small stack of holograph disks. The men were arrayed in a loose semi-circle around their leader. Lance had reversed a chair, sitting with his legs splayed to either side of the seat back, and his chin resting on his folded arms. Despite his casual posture, he looked angry. Hunk was perched upon the edge of another desk, cleaning his fingernails with a penknife. Pidge, impatient to return to work, bounced on his toes in the middle of the room. Keith wasn't letting anyone leave until they made a decision, though. "Look, guys," he insisted, for what felt like the hundredth time that morning. "We've gotta pick someone!" Waving at the pile of 3-D picture disks, he added, "These are all good, qualified pilots, except for Xiomara and My Tien, and even they've got potential. Any one of these candidates could probably....," Lance cut him off with a sharp snort. "You're dreaming, Cap. Blue won't even let 'em in the cockpit! He remembers who is pilot is, unlike some people." Akira grew pale. "That was a cheap shot, Calvin! Look....," Searching vainly for composure, he pressed a tense hand against his forehead, ran it back and forth through his shaggy brown hair. "He's gone, but we're still here, and still trying to fight a damn war. We can't do that without a full team. Blue needs a pilot, whether he wants to admit it, or not...., and you need a wingman." "I've got a wingman!" Lance vaulted to his feet, kicked the chair away. "Jesus Christ, Keith! We don't even know for sure that he's dead! Maybe he got away from the ship before it....," "Lance, give it up! Sven isn't coming back, and if we don't find a replacement, Zarkon's forces are gonna overrun this planet while we stand here arguing!" It was then that A'lara burst through the door, eager to tell the boys her secret. "Keith, I've been....," The commander scarcely glanced at her. "Princess, we're busy, okay? We've got some important things to settle here. Why don't you go embroider, or something?!" Embroider? A'lara 's mouth fell open as she realized just how little they thought of her. Even after she'd shot down half a Galran fighter squadron in the battle of the fortress, she was just a princess. Just a girl. "But...., Keith....," The alarm sounded. Another attack. Secretly relieved to be seeing action again, the team rushed off, abandoning A'lara. She gazed forlornly after them for a bit, unconsciously clasping the ring which hung upon its chain under her bodice. It grew hot again. Stubbornly thrusting out her delicate lower lip, A'lara followed the arrogant men. They'd see. She'd make them see. ________________________________________________________________ It was a massive assault, spear-headed by Commander Yurak. Ten full squadrons of fighters, twenty-five mobile infantry units, and four giant, ape-like beast men converged upon the castle. Aware that this was his last opportunity to prove himself, Yurak was taking no chances. Watching from the bridge of his command ship, he just about vibrated with suppressed tension. "Surround the fortress!" he roared. "Begin shelling as soon as the guns and air cover are in place!" Surprisingly, he even had a bit of a strategy. "Withhold the beast men until the lions emerge, then have them attack together, one at each remaining cat. Now, in the moment of their weakness, our victory is certain!" Keith and the rest of the team didn't see it that way. When Black, Red, Green and Gold lions met high in the atmosphere, Akira issued a couple of brief, grim orders. "Looks like they think they've got something, Guys. Let's go prove 'em wrong. Pidge, Hunk, you're on infantry detail; if it crawls, walks or shoots, I want it killed. Sve...., Uh, Lance, that is...., you're on fighters, with me. Anything in the sky that isn't one of us ends up as a radioactive grease spot, got it?" Not bothering to turn down his music, Lance muttered, "Yeah, whatever. Let's start this thing." But Hunk had a problem with the plan as outlined. "Boss, what about them beast men? They ain't likely ta take this lying down." "I'm requesting fire from the castle guns to keep them busy for awhile. We can't afford to get caught up fighting uglies while Yurak storms the fortress. Anyone else?" Silence. "Good. Let's go to work." They came down upon their attackers like a pod of guided missiles. Green and Gold landed amid the terrified ground troops and began wreaking wholesale slaughter. Blasting hot sand and explosive stingers like a desert storm, Hunk demolished entire units. Even Pidge, normally the gentlest of souls, was angry enough for blood, using Green's speed and agility to cut off any retreat. Lance didn't wait for Keith. Instead he hurled himself and Red into the dodging, twisting bat fighters, lashing out with claws, teeth and weapons. Soon the sky rained fire and debris upon those below. Keith singled out Yurak's command ship, hurtling down upon it at over mach three. At those speeds he was unable to fire anything but his lasers- missiles and bullets he would have out flown. Even so, he caused a remarkable amount of damage to the big cruiser, targeting exhaust ports and sensor arrays with grim determination. In a very few minutes, the ship was on fire, and listing heavily to starboard. The lions were terribly out numbered, but bigger, stronger and better shielded than most of their prey. With the castle guns holding the monsters at bay, they cut the Galran forces to shreds. Then a well-targeted enemy missile struck inside the forecourt of the palace, hurling the gunners from the walls and igniting a terrible fire. Koren radioed for help, but was cut off in mid sentence by another explosion. In the instant that Keith was distracted by the call, Yurak ordered the deployment of a wickedly strong force net. Like woven lightning, it flashed from the burning ship, snapping open and down at the speed of light. Before he could order Black to dodge, Akira was snared in a burning, magnetically sticky web. Black struggled and clawed at the crackling strands, but couldn't free himself. Worse still, his shots were deflected directly back at their author, so anything Keith fired ravaged him instead of the enemy. It didn't look good. Grinning savagely, Yurak said, "Gorbahd, target that Grogt-skrugger with all batteries and open fire! I want it incinerated!" His XO bowed. "Yes, M'lord. It will be done." ________________________________________________________________ Seeing that the others were busy with life-or-death struggles of their own, Keith refused to call for help. Instead he redoubled his efforts, urging Black to try chewing through a few web strands. Fighting like a snared wolf, Black managed to wriggle halfway out of the net. Then the pounding began. Missile after missile hammered away at Black's shields. With no room to maneuver, and no way to fight back, Keith had to divert all power to defense, and pray for intercession. His shields withstood the concentrated barrage for about five minutes. Then an ion blast got through, reducing Black's left foreleg to a charred stump. In anguish, Keith screamed, tossing and jerking in his seat restraints as shot after shot struck home. Akira was just about finished by the time Lance noticed his plight. "Holy Mother of God! Hang on, Cap!" The gunner shouted, "we're coming!" "No can do, Lance," Hunk rumbled. "Check your six!" Lance hurriedly keyed up a rear view. "What d'you.... Oh, shit!" For, without the palace gunners to hold them off, the beast men were rushing to engage their targets, shaking the earth with their heavy tread. Lance didn't panic. "Alright, Girls, Cap's on his own for awhile. Skyrocket on my mark....., GO!" At his command the three remaining lions reversed impellers and shot straight up out of the atmosphere. Their combined sonic booms knocked all four slavering monsters flat, and sent bat fighters, troops and hover-tanks tumbling through the air like storm-tossed leaves. Safe in space..... or so they thought. Lotor, in the royal battle-cruiser, was waiting for them. "Hello....'Sunshine', " he snarled over the comm. "What a pleasant surprise!" Signaling the attack with a short chopping motion of his black-gloved hand, the prince de-cloaked the rest of his fleet and growled, "Fire!" __________________________________________________________________ After a hasty prayer and much agonizing, the princess snuck past Koren and Nanna, and hurried into the transport room. The platform spun, ending with the brightly lit blue disk directly before her. "Sven, Aniki," she prayed. "Be with me, now. Help me to fly and to fight just as you would!" Moments later, Blue took to the sky, roaring like a hurricane. With an inexperienced pilot at the helm, he was free to do pretty much as he pleased, and what pleased him was battle. Blue plowed into Yurak's damaged ship first, using momentum and sheer fire power to cut the vessel nearly in half. The net disappeared, and Black plummeted from the sky. Whispering Sven's instructions over and over to herself, A'lara yanked at the stick with her hands, and at the war-beast's will with her mind. "Keep the nose up, watch your attitude, don't panic, scan your perimeter, stay focused, keep an eye on the altimeter, and most of all fly the plane....., keep the nose up, watch your attitude, don't panic...," and so on. Blue was reluctant to leave off the attack, but the determined girl forced him back around in time to save Keith, seizing what was left of Black in a powerful tractor ray and lowering him gently to the ground before the castle walls. Then she picked up Lance's terse Mayday, and ordered Blue into space. Arriving seconds later, she found Lotor tightening the noose, blasting away at the ambushed lions from all sides. Needing no direction, Blue opened fire with all batteries, giving Lotor an immediate two-front war. One of the prince's uniformed aids came rushing up from the scanner pit with the news. "Sire, the blue lion has joined the fight on our left flank. The Tzegrid and the Gluft have been destroyed, and the Ogscrod is under attack." Lotor rose from his command seat, shocked. "What the skrug?!" he snarled. "That's not possible! The pilot of the blue lion is....!" A massive explosion threw Lotor, his aid, and everyone else not strapped down, flat to the deck. "... free and fully operational, obviously!" The crown prince finished, leaping to his feet. "Damn it! Get those ships turned hard to port, and shoot that skrugger down!" For the Voltron force, the morale-boosting effect of Blue lion's reappearance was incredible. Lance spotted the other cat on his scanners, and almost leapt from his seat. "Yeah!" he shouted. "I knew it! Welcome back, Partner!" Thinking to himself, 'God, he's gotta be hurting..,' Lance called out, "Hunk, Pidge, give Sven some cover, and let's blow this party! We got some major monster ass to kick!" "You got it, Boss!" "Absolutely!" A'lara, in the Blue lion, didn't dare say a word. They thought that she was Sven; somehow, against all logic, sense and probability, back from the dead. She decided not to confuse the issue by telling the truth. Together, the four lions blasted their way free of Lotor's trap. Blue was especially savage, reversing his tractor ray to hurl one gunship into another, and shooting out bridge windows with his claw missiles. Sucked into space by the terrible wind of explosive decompression, broken machines and flash-frozen corpses bounced like toys against Blue's hull. A'lara had great difficulty turning the blood-thirsty war beast about. Lance grinned. "Same ol' Sven," he chuckled, calling over the comm, "L.C., that balls-to-the-wall, mad-ass courage of yours is going to get you fried some day! Didn't getting the shit beat out of you teach you anything?!" A'lara thought: damn! Slapping the instrument panel with her dainty hand, she admonished her lion fiercely. "Behave, Aojishi!" the girl whispered. "There is a time and place for everything, and now is a time to haul ass! Understand?!" The lion fought her control, only giving in only when she promised him free rein on the planet's surface. With Green and Gold on either side of her, and Red blazing on ahead, A'lara returned to Arus. Healed and recharged, Black bounded up to join them, leaving the frustrated beast men far behind. Spotting Blue and making the same mistake as the others, Keith began cursing joyfully. "Sven, you sorry damn, cross-grained sonuvabitch! Welcome back!" Making her voice as deep as she could, A'lara muttered something incomprehensible in what she hoped was a Scandinavian accent. Keith thought: Christ, he's in bad shape! Aloud, he said, "Alright team, time to whistle up the big guy!" "F***ing-A, man!" "Share it, Boss!" "That's an affirmative!" And, "Um...., Ja?" Carefully keeping her identity hidden, A'lara linked their minds as the transformation began. The lions shot into the sky in a tight diamond formation, drew closer together. Throbbing with power from their new crystals, the war beasts altered and flowed, their outlines rippling like water. Great bolts of lightning arced from one lion to another, pulling them together to form Voltron. Blue and Gold formed the powerful legs, Red and Green the swift, sure-striking arms, and Black the great body and noble head. Whole again, the mighty robot gleamed in the afternoon sun like some mythical giant. Wasting no time, Keith throttled forward and adjusted his impellers, sending the battle robot into a power dive. They hurtled back to land, touching down about a quarter of a mile north of the snarling beast men. The shaggy, foul-smelling, grey creatures hung back a moment, and Lance taunted, "You were saying....?" As usual, the commander wasn't amused. "Can the funny stuff, Lance. The odds here are a little longer than usual, and I need everyone focused, got it?!" "Hey, Dude, I'm all about focus! Tell him, L.C.!" A'lara mumbled again, prompting Keith to say, "O-kay, we need to wrap this up quick, fast and in a hurry." Charging forward, he fired a swarm of super-shrikes, stingers and electro-force beams at the raging monsters, who simply absorbed the energy and used it to grow bigger. "Um....," Lance began. "That'll be a ten on the 'oh, shit' scale.. Now what, Cap?!" "Shut up, I'm thinking!" Pidge added to his serenity, saying, "Keith, I hate to tell you this, but we've got a few more guests. Check your six." Attempting another ambush, Lotor was closing in from behind with half his fleet. The other half remained in orbit, firing upon the team from above. "Sure, why not?" Keith muttered. Had he been able to reach his hair, he would have torn it out in great handfuls. "I hate fair fights." For want of a better idea, he leapt into the midst of the startled beast men. That way, the orbiting gun boats would have to place their shots very carefully, or else hit their own..... things. The monsters rushed Voltron, baring twelve-foot claws of steel and slime-coated teeth roughly the size of an air bus. Red swung around like a comet, punching the most eager ape-thing hard enough to cave in its face. Alarmingly, the beast man's hideous features swelled back into place like an inflating balloon, while it transformed the energy of Red's punch into another fifteen feet of solid muscle. "Lance- NO!" Akira snapped, ducking Voltron away from the monster's sizzling counter-punch. The other beasts were maneuvering to get behind him like a quartet of bullies at a playground. "You're just making them bigger! We need some kind of passive restraint, not brute force! Pidge....?!" "I have it!" the little fellow shouted. "Hunk, deploy that force shield of yours, only around them, instead of us. The rest of us must then divert most of our power into the shield generator. Afterward, we'll chill them a bit with Blue's freeze ray. If my hypothesis is correct, the absence of thermal energy should soon cause them to shrink to a more manageable size." "You heard the man; let's move, team!" Hunk punched up his force shield, warping it outward to envelope the slobbering ape-things. When the shield had closed tight, power surged into Gold from Blue, Green, Red and Black, giving him the strength to imprison all four of the beast men. Thinking quickly, Hunk was even able to spread the shield out so that it provided Voltron with some protection from the Galran fleet's withering fire. As a neon fire storm of laser blasts and missiles rained down around Voltron, Hunk called out, "Okay, Pidge! I got 'em!" "Excellent. Sven, hit it!" A'lara thought: Hit what? Searching the instrument panel with frantic haste, she located about a hundred different controls for weapons systems. Which one was the freeze ray? Concerned about the dangerous delay, Keith shouted over the comm, "Sven, we need that freezer, man! The monsters are starting to absorb power from Hunk's shield!" Lance shouted back, angrily, "Back off, Major! You'd be a little out of it, too, after an injury like his!" Lowering his voice, Lance sent over Blue's private audio channel, "It's the red touch pad three panels to the right of the stick, Partner. Remember? C'mon, it's right there, same place as my plasma blast.." A'lara found it. Gazing at her target, she slapped the button, sending a shrieking blast of nearly absolute zero cold into the shield. The beast men clawed, howling, at the force wall, then grew sluggish and stiff, and began to shrink. "It's working!" Lance bellowed. "Pidge, you're a genius!" "Yes, Lance," Chibi replied. "Very good! We established that quite some time ago. Nice to see that you're catching up with the rest of us.." "Shut up before I throw away all your action figures, Junior!" Within the shield, the beast men continued to wither, losing mass as the dreadful cold of Blue's freeze ray sucked away their energy. Within minutes there was nothing left of the once-mighty creatures but powdered bone and a few tattered patches of freeze-dried leather. Imitating the slow, slurred speech of a battered prize fighter, Lance quipped nastily, "I coulda fought betta, Howard." This time, Keith actually smiled a little. Not that he understood the reference; Lance tended to use a lot of late twentieth-century terminology because Ariel was so far away from Earth that their old 2-D television programs had just reached the colony. The others mostly just thought he was crazy. Funny, but crazy. A couple of missiles plowed into the earth at Voltron's feet then, raising twin geysers of shattered rock and flame. Lotor's battle group was still in the fight, and deadly dangerous. "Y'know," Lance mused, "I think some of those Galran POS's are illegally parked. What say we go over there and teach them the error of their ways, Cap?" "Sounds good to me. Let's do it, team! Form blazing sword!" Pulling the force shield closer around the robot, Keith initiated the sword sequence. Once again Red and Green smashed together in a brilliant shower of sparks, pulling apart to form an energy weapon that shone and flared like the sun. Turning to face the horde of gunships that hovered just behind them, Voltron raised the sword on high, and made ready to charge into battle. __________________________________________________________________ Leaning forward in his command seat, Lotor growled, "Full shielding, NOW. All guns and missiles are to concentrate their fire upon the head." Pausing a moment, the prince watched as the mighty robot lifted its sword and started forward. Then, when the thing was in range, he shouted, "Fire at will!" __________________________________________________________________ Forgotten, defeated and bitter, another man watched the battle. Yurak, warlord of nothing, looked on from the shattered wreckage of his ship as the ancients' war machine closed upon the prince. He had secret orders regarding Lotor, from Emperor Zarkon himself. Whoever won this battle, the monarch had commanded, Prince Lotor was not to survive it. Yurak caressed the trigger of his last remaining weapon; a neutron pulse cannon powerful enough to drill an instant hole through a hundred feet of stone. As he was taking aim, something moved in the shadows behind him. Yurak pivoted, sidearm in hand. Scanning the dark wreck with his cyborg eye, he spotted the skulker. Captain Gorbahd, similarly armed. "What do you want, you grot-skrugger?!" Yurak snarled. The captain came closer, smiling slightly. "Only to congratulate you on another stunning defeat, 'My Lord' ." Yurak's tattered ears flattened against his skull. "Yessss," he hissed. "I am defeated. But you won't live to enjoy it! No one will!" Raising his gun, he fired seven shots in rapid succession, leaving nothing of Gorbahd but a headless corpse. Then he turned back to the cannon, set it for a broad-range pulse, and further set it to fire every five seconds. That done, Zarkon's wretched warlord thrust his pistol into his own mouth, and pulled the trigger. __________________________________________________________________ Voltron was staggered backward by the sheer volume of fire power being hurled at him. Even with the force shield and sword, it was more than he could withstand. Bit by bit, he was forced to give ground. Inside his battle ship, Lotor laughed. "Not so easy to deal with as Haggar and that pathetic fool, Yurak, am I? A word to the wise, Sk'roven: I don't like to lose, and I never fight fair!" Then, just as he was exulting in almost certain victory, disaster struck. From the smoking wreckage of Yurak's command ship, a neutron disruptor burst tore through his fleet. Horrified, Lotor surged from his seat as half of his ships were vaporized on the spot. Five seconds later, another shot decimated the remainder, leaving the accursed battle robot untouched. "What the hell?!" His executive officer turned away from the scanner he'd been studying, called out. "Sire, we are under attack. The weapon appears to be a neutron cannon. We cannot survive a direct hit, nor defeat the Voltron Force alone. For your own safety, Sire, I suggest that we retreat to space." Lotor's first impulse was to kill the man, but sense and logic told him that his XO was right. They had to leave. Mastering himself, the prince snarled, "Sound the retreat, but keep firing as long as we're in range!" The XO bowed deeply. "Aye, Sire." The royal battle cruiser blasted away from the ground like a creature from hell, followed by a pitiful handful of surviving war ships. As he watched Arus shrink in his view screen, Lotor vowed, "I will be back, Sk'roven, and I will drink a toast to my victory from your emptied skulls, I swear it!" _________________________________________________________________ Voltron managed to put an end to the deadly neutron bursts by sealing the fore part of the wreck in Hunk's impenetrable force field and allowing the cannon to destroy itself. "Dude, that was close!" Lance shuddered, as explosion after violent explosion ripped the downed ship to atoms. "Yeah. Too close." Keith agreed. "Even with Voltron, we can't do this alone. We need to get these folks armed, and scrounge up some allies. Otherwise, it's just a matter of time." After they'd carried the most hazardous and radioactive of the wrecks far into the desert, the team headed home. Keith, Lance, Hunk and Pidge transported themselves back to the castle, stood waiting eagerly for Sven to join them. At first joking about his passion for dramatic entrances, they began to grow worried when long minutes dragged by and no tall, serious, Eurasian pilot appeared. At last, Keith said, "Hunk, get your gear....," "Yessir!" ".....that wound must've re-opened. We're going in after him!" But then, just as the big man headed off, there was a flash of polychrome light, and a figure materialized upon the blue disk. The men grinned with relief, until they saw who it was. Hugging herself uncertainly, dressed in a skin-tight lavender uniform, A'lara, princess of Arus, stood revealed as the pilot of the Blue lion.. The grins faded. Jaw muscles standing out like boulders, Keith turned and walked off. Lance stared a moment, trembling with rage, then stalked away, muttering curses under his breath. Hunk just shook his head sadly, mumbling something about checking on his patients. Then he, too, walked out. Tearfully, A'lara reached out to Pidge. "But, Chibi....., I was only trying to help! What did I do wrong?" The little fellow sighed miserably. "Princess, you have to understand...., for awhile there we thought..... we thought that....," Shaking his head, the young genius left off trying to explain. Instead he made his excuses, saying, "Listen, I've got to go, 'Lara. Keith will be wanting me in the ready room." And with that, he turned and left. The princess stood with bowed head, tears slipping from her big blue eyes. "Aniki, they don't want me," she sobbed. "What must I do?!" She waited a bit, then began talking to herself as she imagined Sven would, if he were there. "What do you do? You don't take no for an answer, that's what. Like it or not, they've got themselves a pilot. A woman pilot. You're going to have to be ten times as good as they are just to be called fair, but you can do it. Now, get in there and fight!" Nodding, A'lara straightened her shoulders and headed off after the men. _________________________________________________________________ Sven took several deep breaths, centered himself, and began. Working the muscles of his left hand a certain way, he deliberately dislocated his own thumb. Then, with his hand made significantly narrower, he cautiously slipped it free of the heavy cuff. He paused a second, but received no shock, heard no alarms. So far, so good. There was a second cuff, though; this one just below his elbow. In order to slide out of that one, he was going to have to dislocate his left shoulder, as well. That was bit touchier, for he had to rotate the shoulder in a way that was almost impossible while lying flat. Nevertheless, he got the job done, leaving his arm extremely limp and flexible. Next he rolled right a few degrees, ignoring the fiery pain from his life support tubes as he pulled the arm slowly free of its last restraint. A few minutes later he'd popped the joints back into place. Now for the other arm. He'd just begun the process for the right side of his body, when a door swished open, a bank of blue-white fluorescent lights came on, and Lotor strode into the room. Angry; very, very angry. The prince came forward without a word, hauled back his armored hand and struck his captive across the face with vicious strength. Sven blocked the next blow, succeeded in grabbing Lotor's wrist, but as he hadn't any leverage, ended up bound and drugged again in very short order. Very blurrily, he could hear Lotor raging at him. "Damn them! How could they find another so quickly?!" It wasn't very wise, considering the situation he was in, but Sven couldn't help smiling a little. He even managed to speak, saying, "I take it...., they kicked your royal ass again....., Your javla Highness?" That one earned him another savage blow, somewhat blunted by the fact that he was too drugged to feel much pain. Muzzily deciding that he might as well be shot for sleeping with the captain's daughter as for just kissing her, he said, "You've been working out, haven't you? I almost felt that." Lotor looked just like Keith when he was really worked up. Sven would have remarked on this, but he was finding it difficult to speak now. Furious, the prince leaned in very close, snarling, "I have lost a battle, Sk'ruvugkt, not the war! And I would not take such delight in their temporary victory, if I were you." Wanting to hurt his prisoner more than just physically, Lotor lied to Sven, using the hypnotic effect of his serpent's gaze to make the words seem true. "Why do you think you are here, idiot?! We exchanged hostages! They got Yurak, and I got you! They don't need you, they don't care about you, and they aren't coming to rescue you, if that's what you're hoping for. Your precious, noble friends have found a new pilot for your skrugging lion! As far as they are concerned, I can do as I please with you! Pleasant thought, isn't it?" He'd heard of such things happening before. The GA had been known to trade away entire squadrons in return for a particularly important political prisoner. But.... that Keith and the others would do such a thing? Impossible. Wasn't it? To hide his uncertainty, Sven replied, "About as pleas.... pleasant as the thought of your next big loss..., Highness." "Laugh while you can, Slave." Indicating the machinery that filled the room with a wave of his clawed hand, Lotor added, "This device that you find yourself attached to exists to destroy minds. Once engaged, it will strip away your thought, will and personality, layer by painful layer until...." "Getting a real...., charge out of this...., aren't you?" "SHUT UP!" Infuriated, Lotor cut on the interrogation device. Sven felt something cold, hard and hideously strong seize hold of his mind. Like a python, it was capable of exerting tremendous pressure, and it was very patient. He could keep it out as long as he concentrated, but the instant he lost his focus, it would sink another layer deeper, slowly coming closer to crushing his will. The prince smiled. "I'll be back," he said, cutting off the lights and heading for the door. "Have fun." __________________________________________________________________ A few days later, in the ready room, Lance faced down A'lara. The team had flown a brief, exploratory training mission with her, which nervousness had caused her to botch terribly. "Not just no, but hell, no! I don't care what you think you've got going on with Blue, Baby Doll, you are not flying with me!" Then, as tears filled A'lara 's eyes and she dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands, the gunner went on, "Oh, yeah, cry. Go ahead! That'll make everything better!" In a really nerve-jangling falsetto, he added, "Oh no, I broke a nail! I'm bloated! Wait until I put on my make-up!" Keith seized his shoulder and jerked him roughly away. "Calvin, that's enough! Your new wingman needs....," "NO! She's not my wingman! That post is already f***ing taken!" Exploding with too much rage to speak, Lance flung his helmet across the room and stormed out onto the balcony. Keith followed him, but before he left, he said to the princess, "Give him time, 'Lara. He'll come around." Then, in a muttered whisper, "If I don't kill him first! What did I do to deserve this?!" Outside on the balcony, Lance was leaning against the railing, staring down at the night-dark moat. There might have been tears on his face, but he angrily dashed them away before Keith could see. The commander came over to stand beside him, but didn't say anything for a very long time. Finally, when the breeze off of the lake had developed an edge, Keith said, very softly, "She didn't kill Sven." "I know." "Blue has accepted her, and he won't take anyone else." Lance lifted his amber eyes from the moat for a moment, gave the tired commander a piercing glance. "Keith, she sucks. The chick can't fly, and you know it. She's gonna get somebody killed!" "She did alright against Lotor's fleet, and those ape-things," Akira pointed out, hanging onto his patience with difficulty. "Yeah, because we were covering her ass like crazy, thinking she was Sven! She's a lying little witch, and she can't fly. Go ahead, tell me I'm wrong!" Keith shook his head. "I'm not going to argue with you, Lance. I'm going to give you a goddam order. She's flying the Blue lion, she's your wingman, and you're going to deal with it, be polite about it, and make everyone feel confident and protected. We can't afford internal disputes right now. Get it?" The sandy haired gunner looked away, his thin shoulders slumping dejectedly. "Yeah. I get it. I'll fly with her, and I'll fight by her side if you order me to, Keith. But I'm never going to like it." Akira nodded understandingly, put a hand on his new second's shoulder. "You don't have to like it. But just remember, Lance- You couldn't stand Sven at first, either. All I'm asking is that you give her a chance." Lance shrugged away the hand. "Don't have a choice, do I?" And he left, heading back to his quarters to spend the night playing his guitar, and drinking. Keith stared out at the stars for awhile, doing his level best not to think. Just then, he would have done almost anything to let someone else bear the burden of command for awhile. It was a very long time before he went to bed. _________________________________________________________________ The next day, alarms went off all over the palace when another fleet approached Arus. Keith leapt from his bed and raced to the control center, pausing just long enough to whip a robe on over his boxers. Koren and Pidge were already there, looking as if they'd been up all night again. Dyed in the wool workaholics, both of them. "What's the story?" Akira demanded, pouring himself a cup of cold coffee from the pot by the monitor board. Lord Koren responded gravely, indicating a swarm of green blips on the view screen, "There are about seventy small ships approaching the planet, Commander. They aren't responding to our queries, nor are they broadcasting any sort of identification." Keith grunted, swallowing a last mouthful of bitter coffee. "Unfriendlies?" he asked. "I'm not sure about that," Pidge put in, as Lance, Hunk and A'lara sped into the control room in various states of undress and agitation. A'lara, especially, looked upset, but then, Keith supposed that he would, too, if he had green stuff all over his face and his hair done up in curl papers. Chibi continued, "For an attack fleet, they aren't being very subtle, Keith. They de-cloaked as soon as they entered our scanner range, and have made no attempt at evasion. I'd say they seem more desperate than sneaky." Keith ran a hand through his hair. "Well...., let's go check it out. If they're hostiles, the lions can deal with them, and if not, we'll escort 'em in. Don't suppose we'll get anything good, the way our luck's been running." "That's for damn sure," Lance snorted. "Probably just a bunch of girls, or something." A'lara pulled a Sven, using the royal gift to convince Lance that he had a furious, all-consuming itch in a very delicate location. She might not have any TK, but psi worked just as well in these situations. Lance cried out in surprise and discomfort, began digging at himself with both hands. Keith grinned. Maybe, after all, things were going to work out. Pretending not to notice his second's sudden fit of scratching and cursing, he said, "Let's go see who's come a-calling, team." Five minutes later the lions were in the air and closing in on the mystery fleet. They came within visual range just inside Arus' ionosphere.. Against the nearly black background, the early morning sunlight gilded the seventy ships, making them look like something out of legend. Then their angle of descent changed, the glow faded, and Keith saw scorch marks, cracked hulls, and missile damage. The largest ship had a legible name on it. Looked like.... Helena. Switching on his comm, Akira called out, "Attention, Helena, you are entering Arusian air space. Please identify friend or foe. Repeat: Helena, identify your purpose and point of origin, please!" Just as Keith had begun to think he'd have to lob one across her bow to get an answer, the Helena responded. His right view screen flared to life, transmitting the image of a skinny, red-haired kid with freckles and a big nose. "Arus, this is Bandor Kirrisian, prince of.....," "Bandor!" A'lara shrieked joyfully, cutting in on the channel. "A'lara, dammit! Get off the air!" Keith shouted. She ignored him.. "Welcome, Cousin! You and all of your folk are granted the safety and peace of my world..., what there is of it." The young prince managed a crooked smile in answer to her formal greeting. "Thank you, Princess," he replied. "We are sorely in need of aid and shelter." "Follow us down, then, and we'll see that you get both." Keith fumed silently, turning Black about to follow A'lara and Bandor back to the surface. Then Lance appeared on his screen, grinning in a particularly nasty, 'I told you so' kind of a way. "How's that for neglecting the chain of command," he drawled. "Then again, she does outrank you, Keith." "Shut up and fly." Akira growled. "We've got visitors to welcome." "Long as I don't have to sleep on the couch," Lance continued blithely. "Or with Pidge- he wets the bed." "I DO NOT!" Keith felt another migraine coming on. "Could be worse, Boss," Hunk said sympathetically. "Yeah? How?!" "He could be twins." "I hate this job." __________________________________________________________________ Later, in the fortress conference room, Bandor and his advisors sat down to talk with A'lara and hers. The Voltron Force were admitted as a courtesy, but politely asked to refrain from butting in. First, everyone bowed and shook hands. Then a formal tea was held, accompanied by a great deal of genteel small talk about matters that sounded pointless and boring to Keith. They nattered on for hours about ancient relatives, parties they'd attended, the art of government and such, till Keith began to visualize shooting everyone in the room just for something to do. If this was what it was like to be royal, he was very glad to be just a warrior. Finally, they got around to business. Bandor set his tea cup upside-down upon its saucer, signaling the end of the pleasantries. A'lara did the same. "What has happened, Bandor?" she asked softly. It was a moment before the prince could respond. When he did, his voice was rough with emotion. "Pollux has fallen, A'lara. Father... is dead, Avok and Romelle, captured. Most of my people are dead or enslaved. Those I brought with me are all that remain free." "Then..., you are King Bandor, now." He shook his curly red head. "Not until I know for certain that Avok has been...., is....., Not until I find out about my brother and sister." A'lara bit her lip, remembering pleasanter times. She'd had a crush on Prince Avok once, with his dashing good looks, sky-green eyes and long, auburn hair. She'd hoped to be engaged to him, a lifetime ago. Bandor interrupted her wool-gathering with a blunt plea for help. "Cousin, I've heard how you won back your world with the help of some travelers and the machines of the ancients. The whole galaxy has heard.. For the first time in living memory, Zarkon's prisoners and slaves dare dream of release, because of what you've accomplished, A'lara. There is open rebellion on at least fifty imperial worlds!" Leaning over, Lance whispered, "Feel like knocking some crowned heads together, Cap?" Akira glared at him, hissing, "Shut up before you get us in trouble!" Koren heard, and scowled at him. Sighing, Keith stared at the backs of his hands and wished himself a thousand miles away. Meanwhile, Bandor continued: "I've come to you because there is nowhere else to turn, Cousin. I formally request your aid in freeing my world as you have your own. If you will lend me your Voltron warriors, I am certain that...," Lance surged to his feet then, striding across the room to stand before their startled majesties. "Alright, listen up, Junior!" he grated. "Nobody loans me out like a cup of sugar! And, just for the record, her royal f***ing highness did not free Arus! We did! Us! Lance, Sven, Keith, Hunk and Pidge! All she did was bat her eyes and give us a few kisses!" The assembled dignitaries gasped. Groaning, Keith started after his hot-headed friend, but the palace guards got there first and dragged him away. Lance ended up spending a few nights in the dungeon. ________________________________________________________________ Lotor had summoned Haggar back to Galra. She appeared before him now in a flash of orange light and sulfurous smoke. Bowing low, the witch said rather listlessly, "What is your desire, My Prince?" Lotor put down his drink, turned carelessly away. "The Polluxan prince has evaded my pursuit ships and made landfall on Arus," he said. Haggar shrugged, stroked Koba's crested head. "Predictable. What of it, Sire?" Lotor clasped his hands behind his back. "I'm certain that the poor boy is missing his litter mates." Haggar cocked her head, unsure what the sadistic prince was getting at. "And....?" she prompted. Lotor swung back to regard her, smiling just enough to show the tips of his sharp canines. "I'd like to make him a present of one of them. Suitably altered, of course." Pressing a button on the nearest wall comm, Lotor gave a terse command. Moments later, a trio of heavily armed guards entered the room, dragging a semi-conscious young Sk'rova male. He'd been much abused, obviously, for his face and body were covered with black bruises and cuts.. His matted hair was reddish, and long. Haggar rubbed her withered hands together. "You wish him transformed into a beast man?" she hazarded. "Precisely." "Very well, My Prince, but it will cost you." Lotor snorted scornfully. "Name the price, Old Witch!" She shook her head. "No. Not just yet. I will do the thing that you have asked, and when the time comes, I will exact my payment." Lotor hesitated only a moment. He felt sure that he could arrange to be rid of the old hag long before she got a chance to demand her 'payment'. "Done. You will see to the matter at once, Witch, but do not call me to see the results until tomorrow. I have another Polluxan sibling to deal with." Pivoting to face the men-at-arms, he issued another order. "Guards, bring the princess to my rooms; bound, gagged, and properly attired." "At once, Sire!" their officer responded. Saluting crisply, he bowed low before the Galran prince, then double-timed his men out the door. Lotor gave Haggar one last, lazy smile, followed them out at a more leisurely pace. Haggar waited until he was gone, then summoned her servants to carry the comatose prisoner to her work room. As they bore him away, Avok could be heard to mutter, between split and swollen lips, "Bastard....., leave her 'lone...!" ______________________________________________________________ The process took hours, because Haggar prided herself on craftsmanship. Her beast men were built to last.... though they rarely did these days, thanks to that accursed robot. This time, however, she had better material to work with. Not just some court martialed soldier, or citizen desperate to earn the blood price that would keep his family out of servitude, but a prince. His high courage and nobility could be twisted into raw, seething fury with the rage drug, creating a truly unstoppable monster, one that the Voltron force might recognize, and hesitate to fight. So she had Avok manacled to a cold, slimy wall, then summoned the spirits that would rob him of his humanity. With a muttered spell and bloody sigil, Haggar opened a portal that admitted a chittering swarm of evil ones; things wispy and formless, and dreadfully cold. When they'd gathered swirling about her, the witch gave the spirits their orders. "That one," she whispered, leveling a long, boney forefinger at the stoic prince. "Make of him such a one as will bring the mighty Voltron Force to its knees!" The spirits indicated their agreement with a gust of icy wind, then descended upon, and into, the prince. At that point, Haggar left for awhile. Somehow, the screams of torment that had long been such music to her were now rather disturbing. Odd. When she returned, after feasting upon something best left undescribed, the transformation was complete. Avok stood about twelve feet tall, and was covered with sharp-edged scales. His muscles bulged with inhuman strength, while retractable six-inch claws armed his hands and feet. His facial features hadn't changed much, beyond a reddening of the eyes, and he still possessed that long, copper-brown hair. She supposed that to his family he would still be recognizable. Perfect. Invoking a final, hideous spell, she robbed him of most of his soul, then dosed him with enough of the rage drug to guarantee that he'd slaughter his own mother, were she to come within reach. Haggar stood watching the roaring, mad-eyed thing she'd created for several long moments. "Lotor will be pleased....," she whispered to herself, "......dark ones curse his black heart!" __________________________________________________________________ It was one of those rare quiet moments. Just about everyone had gathered in the control center, not because there was an alert or a meeting, but because there they could be together and still pursue their separate interests. A'lara and Bandor were setting up an elaborate rally with Hunk's domino set. It wound in and out among the chairs, over stacked books, and across the monitor board, much to the annoyance of Keith. They were spending a great deal of time together lately, at the urging of Lord Koren and Nanna, who saw in Prince Bandor a perfect match for their precious charge. He was of good blood, after all, and indisputably royal. And, though he was younger than A'lara by several years, Bandor's recent terrible experiences had matured him considerably. He'd quite impressed her with the way he'd settled his people into the palace and arranged a volunteer fighter wing to back Voltron up. Just now he was all kid, though, arguing cheerfully with 'Lara over how far apart to set the dominos, and whether or not the last one should do a flip as it fell into a glass of water. Pidge was over in the corner with Xiomara, talking quantum physics. An orphan like himself, the pretty, mahogany-skinned girl was very nearly his intellectual equal. Right now they were earnestly discussing meson octets, or somesuch. Keith tuned that conversation out in a hurry. Lance was in a violent, neon universe of his own, playing 'Final Rupture- 3000' on half of the monitor screen. The other half was tuned to Hunk, who was out on the lake fishing, a sandwich in one hand and several bottles of ginger beer lined up at his side. Nobody seemed inclined to talk, so Keith just hovered in the center of the room, wondering whether he should call a meeting, or set out on patrol. Leisure time always made him nervous. He cracked his knuckles a few times, cleared his throat, and started to speak. "Stop.... right..... there," Lance ordered, without turning away from his animated mayhem. "I know exactly what you're going to say, Keith, and I don't want to hear it. Nobody wants to hear it. Now, sit down, shut up, and relax for once!" Injured and grumping, Keith stalked off to adjust the patrol schedule. "Sure wish something would happen," he muttered to himself. "Can't help thinking that they're holding off, preparing for something really big." As it happened, he was right. ________________________________________________________________ The creature that had been Avok materialized on Arus in a flare of coruscating light. Raising its taloned fists to the sky, it uttered a bellow of challenge that shook the heavens. In its tortured, angry mind a single order burned: kill. Spotting the fortress, the giant Avok-thing rose into the air and began to rotate; soon it had become an enormous, sky-filling tornado. Helped along by Haggar's spells, a bank of clouds rolled in, black and menacing. Violet lightning split the air. Wind howled and shrieked, lunatic-shrill. Then, gaining speed and power by the second, the tornado beast started for its prey. _______________________________________________________________ "Get everyone within!" Koren shouted, waving terrified villagers through the fortress doors. From a sparkling morning, the day had gone to sudden, screaming midnight. Lord Koren had to cling to the wall to keep from being blown away, while the folk who struggled toward him leaned into the wind as though fighting a mighty current. Debris hurtled through the air, smashing to bits mere inches from him and peppering the old nobleman with splinters. Screaming encouragement to the stragglers, he dragged a few more villagers through the portal, then had to order the doors winched shut. The monster wind next picked up Bandor's unsecured ships and flung them about like broom straws. A'lara transported herself into Blue and set out to rescue Hunk, whose boat had swamped. He'd lost an oar when the storm blew up so suddenly, and shortly thereafter lost the boat, too. Between the rain and the darkness, visibility was reduced to a handspan, so he couldn't even swim for shore. Rather than waste energy paddling, he yanked off his jeans, tied a knot at the end of each leg and inflated them with great lungs full of air. Now he had a floatation device, of sorts. Gripping the thing between his arms and body, the big man prepared to ride out the storm. Then a giant head broke the water, slick and dark as an otter, but for two great glowing eyes. The princess's thoughts touched his, warm and concerned. "Hunk, are you well?!" He spat out a mouthful of water, abandoned the inflated pants, and began stroking for the Blue lion. "Been better, Princess. Thanks for the assist!" Blue's boarding hatch swung open, revealing the trim little pilot in lavender. She extended a hand to him as he swam up alongside, and braced herself against his pull. A few minutes later he was safe inside the lion, dripping wet and pants-less. A'lara blushed. "I think I'd best..... take us back," she said. "Uh, yeah. Um..., that'd be .... Yeah." The poor medic reddened so deeply that he would have made an admirable night light. A'lara dove for the cockpit, trying to put the image of Hunk's incredibly hairy legs out of her mind. Just as she was ordering Blue back into the lake, the tornado beast swept over her position, sucking water, boat and lion high into the air. Blue was spun wildly around, helpless as a leaf in a dust devil. Lightning lashed from the storm, struck the war beast repeatedly, while five-hundred-mile-an-hour gusts flung him crazily this way and that. Sven might have been able to break free, but A'lara didn't have the experience. Fighting to correct Blue's frenzied spin, she yanked and jerked at the stick until it locked. Then Hunk appeared at her side, tee shirt tied around his thick waist in a vain attempt at modesty. Seizing the princess's arm, he hauled her out of the pilot's seat and set her aside, grunting, "Get on outta there, Girl!" Another seat appeared at his command, and A'lara dejectedly took it, strapping herself in while Hunk took over her lion. Oddly enough, Blue did not protest his intervention. Snapping on the comm, Hunk called for assistance. "Arus control, this is Blue lion. Y'all receiving?" "Hunk! Are you alright, Big Guy? Where's the princess?" It was Pidge's voice. "I'm fine, for the moment, 'n she's in here with me. We're stuck in this storm, though,.... God'lmighty!" "Hunk? What?! What is it?!" The big man could not immediately respond, for Blue had been swept far enough into the storm to reveal what seethed at its heart. Slapping the comm, Hunk shouted, "Pidge, get the lions into the air! It's another beast man!" "Got you, Big Guy! Hang on, we're on our way!" Hunk never got a chance to reply. That which had been Avok reached out for the gyrating lion and seized Blue in one massively taloned hand. Squeezing like a junkyard compactor, it began crushing the struggling war beast. Clutching at his aching ribs with one arm, Hunk fired a pod of missiles, only to have them blown away by the shrilling gale. Lasers got through, but didn't so much as scratch the creature. The freeze ray was useless, batted aside and dissipated by all the rain and junk between Blue and the beast man. As they were drawn closer, A'lara got her first good look at the monster's face. She gasped and shrank back in her seat, hands pressed to her mouth. "No...! Oh, Avok, no!" ________________________________________________________________ Black, Red and Green blasted into the air, and almost immediately ran into trouble. "Spread out!" Keith ordered, for the sudden unpredictable wind gusts threatened to slam them into one another if they flew too close together. It got worse as they neared the center of the storm. "Keith, man, I can't fly in this shit!" Lance anxiously called over.. Akira remained calm. "It's just a little headwind, Lance. Stay focused and ride it out. Things'll probably be calmer at the center." But Lance remained spooked. "Yeah, it's a headwind..., and a tailwind, a sidewind and an everything else wind! How the hell am I supposed to keep oriented in this?!" "Remember all those times you bragged that you're the best pilot on the team?" "Yeah." "Now's your chance to prove it." Pidge tried to reassure him, as well, saying, "It's all a matter of vectors, Lance. Assume that unless the force is directly behind you, your resultant motion is going to be angled along the line of...." "Okay: Pidge?" the gunner interrupted. "The physics lesson isn't going over real well right now! Just shut up and let me fly!" Nothing more was said for awhile, as they struggled to dodge flying debris, avoid the constant, searing, lightning strikes, and hold their course. With the wind shifting about as much as it did, they had to correct constantly. It was a very bumpy ride. Lance was airsick again, filling up three bags in rapid succession. Then they broke out of the wind wall, and into the center of the storm. Blue was there, in the grip of a scaley nightmare with glowing red eyes and an almost human face. The lion seemed limp and lifeless. Worried, Keith cut on his comm. "Hunk, A'lara, can you hear me?! Are you alright in there?!" There was no response. "Okay. First order of business is to separate our charming friend from his toy. Pidge, get around behind him. Lance, concentrate everything you've got on that arm. Cut it off if you have to, but get Blue freed up. I'll shoot for the head. Move out!" The three lions split up and began shooting, with no better results than Hunk had gotten. Missiles were blown off course, rays absorbed or deflected. Only Red's plasma blast seemed to perturb the beast, scorching a few scales. But the monster swung Blue into the path of the blast, and Lance had to leave off firing. Before Keith could issue new orders, the tornado monster sprouted a set of tentacles. Growing lightning fast, they rocketed out and snatched all three lions out of the air, wrapping them up in steel-hard, constrictor-like coils. Keith, Lance and Pidge said, approximately, "Urrk....!" Then another ship made it through the wind wall; Bandor's personal fighter. He thundered into the center of the storm with a handful of intrepid squad mates. Diving and swooping around the monster, they shot for the tentacles, lighting up the stormy darkness with the staccato glow of tracer rounds and exploding ordnance. One of the tornado beast's titanic hands lashed out, crushing Bandor's wingman. Furious, for the man had been a close friend and advisor, Bandor brought his fighter around and dove directly for the beast man's face, firing all the way. Then he stopped, horrified. "Avok...?" he whispered. Flipping on his comm, he called out to his squadron, "Stop! Cease fire, and withdraw to the fortress!" "But, Your Majesty, the Voltron Force....!" "GO! Get out of here, dammit!" Reluctantly, his men obeyed. Their commander might be young, but he was well respected for his skill and courage in battle. Within minutes there was no one in the storm's center but Bandor, the trapped Voltron Force, and Avok. Switching his comm over to loudspeaker, Bandor cut his air speed and approached the implacable monster very, very slowly. A tearing headwind helped. "Avok, is that you?" he began, barely audible above the shriek and roar of the wind. "It's me, Bandor! Please, Brother, if you can hear me, put the lions down! Their pilots are our friends!" A massive hand reached out for his fragile ship, but Bandor refused to budge. A feeble call reached him. It was Lance, managing to croak out a warning, though he could barely breathe. "Kid, are you crazy...?! Get out of the... way before it crushes..... you!" Bandor cut off that channel without a word, eyes never leaving his brother's face. The titanic hand closed tightly around his starfighter, hauled him closer. Putting forth his mind, the young prince encountered nothing but rage and anguish. Bravely, he went deeper, searching desperately for his brother's thoughts. There was only a spark left; the merest flicker of what had once been his hero and best friend. Their minds touched for a moment. "Avok, please....! I don't understand what's happened to you, but if you put the lions down, I swear we'll make it right!" For just an instant, a spark of intelligence flared in those blast furnace eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it shook its head, as if to say that it had lost too much to ever be made whole again. Opening its hands, the beast man released the lions and Bandor's starfighter unharmed. The young prince smiled tearfully. "That's it, Avok! I knew that you were... Wait!" The beast man shot away from him like a meteor, roaring and clutching at its head. It had orders which it could not follow; a life which had become an abhorrent, pain-wracked mockery. It wanted release. Flashing across the sky with Bandor in hot pursuit, Avok raced for the ocean. There he/it paused for a moment, thrusting up a hand to stop his young brother, the annoying ant. "Avok, come back! We can find a way to return you to normal! Avok!" Giving him a last look, the monster cast itself into the sea. And thus fell Avok Kirrisan, crown prince of Pollux. _______________________________________________________________ By the time the lions arrived, Bandor had landed his fighter. They found him sitting by the shore, expressionless and still. Disembarking, Keith and his men started for the boy, but A'lara held them back, shaking her head no. When she was certain that they would not follow, she went over to Bandor, and knelt at his side. What it was she said to him, they could not hear, but moments later she had drawn his head down upon her shoulder while he sobbed like a broken-hearted child. ________________________________________________________________ Meanwhile, the cause of all this misery was at a feast. Lotor sat upon a gilded throne, surrounded by his strongest supporters, and stuffed with meat and wine. Romelle crouched at his side, trapped by the chain that ran from her golden collar to the arm of his seat. He wasn't paying any attention to her at the moment, though. Rather, he was watching a trio of frightened dancing girls. Lovely and sleek bodied, the girls were trying to complete their number without being killed by the weapons and pieces of broken furniture his men were throwing over and around them. One of their number had already been struck, and lay upon the tiled floor in a spreading puddle of crimson. Lotor thought it all a fine jest. Every once in awhile, he'd reach down to pat his newest possession's bowed head, or call for more wine, but for the most part he was content just to look on and laugh. Then his wrist comm buzzed, signaling that another matter required attention. The Sk'rova pilot had caved in at last. Summoning his executive officer with a flick of his hand, Lotor told him, "Vraghur, duty calls. I must away to tie up a loose end. Stay and enjoy the feast, and make sure that these Gradhakts aren't so drunk that they can't fight. The slave girls you may do with as you wish, but this.....," he paused then, caressed Romelle's soft red-gold hair. "...This is mine, and not to be touched. Am I understood?" Commander Vraghur bowed. "Aye, Sire. It will be done as you say." "Very good." In a fine mood, Lotor left the feasting hall. He walked a long way, leaving the settled part of his father's palace far behind. Down he went, and deeper in, to a place where the web-draped halls were claustrophobically narrow, and the floors littered with bone. At a hidden door he paused to look around. So far, no one else knew of his prisoner's existence, and he wanted to keep it that way. When he was sure that he hadn't been followed, Lotor keyed open the door and stepped within. His prisoner lay pale and still upon the interrogation table, eyes shut, barely breathing. Moving like a cat, Lotor stalked forward and slapped the pilot awake. Sven opened his eyes, found himself staring at the prince of Galra.. Lotor's sharp-edged, bloody thoughts sawed at him, but he couldn't keep them out anymore. He looked away instead. "What, no clever insults? No threats of ghastly vengeance? I'm disappointed in you... Sven, isn't it?" Something within him evaded the machine's terrible pressure long enough to manage, "Go to hell." Lotor nodded. "Probably. But you're going first." Perhaps because his mind was wide open, Sven had the first genuine precognitive moment of his life. He saw the future, and laughed a little. Lotor scowled. "What are you laughing at, Sk'ruvugkt?!" he demanded. "You, getting shot. You, falling to your death." "What the skrug are you talking about, Slave?!" "It's over, Lotor. You've got.... you've got 'bout a year. Then everything you've scraped and killed for.... gets ripped away." A coldness swept over the prince, as he recognized the voice of true prophesy. Then, as he did not know how to deal with fear, he converted it to rage. Seizing Sven by the hair, he yanked his head up and snarled, "Enough of your daydreams! I will have what I came for." And with that he used his own royal gift to strip Sven's undefended mind of every memory, every shred of personality. When he was through, he knew everything there was to know about Voltron, Arus, the princess, and the team. He wasn't quite finished, though. Leaning in very close to his emptied prisoner, Lotor hissed, "I am going to turn off your life support when I leave, and lock the door behind me. You will die here, alone. And no one will ever know, or care, what became of you!" Laughing, the prince released his grip, cut off the table mechanisms, and left. The harsh sound of the lock turning was his final assault. ________________________________________________________________ Haggar was in her work room, dozing over a massive tome. Her candle had burned low, casting the barest orange flicker upon the page she'd been reading. Koba was curled up asleep on the other page, twitching a bit, as he dreamt of prey. Suddenly a filmy spirit entered the room, waking her with its cold grave-touch. "Eh..., what do you want?!" She murmured, adjusting her robe against the chill. For some reason, she'd begun to feel temperature extremes again. It was most unpleasant. The spirit answered her in sighs and whispers. Leaning forward intently, she demanded, "Here? You are certain of this?!" It breathed assent. Rising, Haggar said, "Lead on, then." Koba woke, jumped from the book to her shoulder as the witch turned and followed the spirit through the wall. _________________________________________________________________ Without power, the table had no more ability to punish. He'd burst free of the cuffs, and set about tearing apart everything that he could smash or throw. His head hurt, he was alone, and terribly confused. Destruction made him feel better, so he kept at it. Then there was a light on one wall, and he was no longer alone. It wasn't good, though. He knew that scent, it was dangerous. Growling low in his throat, he backed away, eyes never leaving the withered female. Haggar lifted a hand, cast a powerful spell upon the young Sk'rova. His body was healed upon the instant, and his psionic abilities returned to him at triple their original strength. She would have returned his mind too, but that was beyond her skill. There was no place for him here, she knew. Left in this room, or anywhere else in the palace, he would die. Nor could he be returned to his folk this way. He'd end up drugged, or chained. Only one possibility remained. Working another spell, Haggar opened a portal to the pit of skulls, where a hunter might survive among other predators. Standing away from the glowing doorway, the witch waited to see what he would do. He was suspicious. Although he felt well and strong, still he knew that she was not to be trusted. Then he got the scent of open air and of water. Through the flickery opening on the wall, it came to him. Escape. Carefully, watching her the entire time, he sidled around to the hole.. An instant later, he was through. Haggar made sure that he was safely across, then closed the portal, whispering futilely, "I'm sorry." ________________________________________________________________ He was cold, and the air burned his flesh, but he was free. To still the clawing inside, he ate the first thing he came upon, a cracked bowl of something grey and odd-smelling. Thus, unknowingly, Sven consumed the rage drug meant for the emperor's strongest beast men.. __________________________________________________________________ It wasn't long thereafter that the guards and slavers of Galra began to speak fearfully of a murderous shadow that haunted the pit of skulls, slaughtering anything Galran foolish enough to enter there. The silent one, they called him.