Chapter 1 – Scramble! Defender of the Earth.
"What in the Sam Hill is that?!"
"I believe it's a flying blue lion, sir."
The brass weren't going to believe it. Hell, he saw it and he could barely believe it. But the evidence observed with his eyes proved it. The machine flew off into the stars, and it wasn't from Earth. Not originally.
"This is only the beginning, isn't it?"
Turning around, the officer looked on at the man in the science officer uniform, his short graying hair and stern demeanor accenting the troubled tone of his voice.
"Professor Wade? What was that?"
"A giant mechanical lion!"
"You know what I mean!" the exasperated officer yelled.
"Ah, yes. That. It is one part of an ancient superweapon, at least that's what both the markings and the transmissions seem to indicate."
"Superweapon?" the officer asked.
"We knew since Kerberos," Professor Wade began, looking off at the long since emptied sky, "that we weren't alone." In the past few months, we've learned that whatever is out there isn't friendly. And the Galaxy Garrison is WOEFULLY unequipped to battle such a threat."
"Well how long do we have?"
"I don't know," Wade answered. "But I do know that my research will need to go double-time for us to be ready.
"Research?"
"I will have this cracked by the end of the month. Come with me back to the lab by then and hopefully this…insanity can be given some sort of context."
"For all our sakes," the officer warned, "you had better."
In deep space they stood. Not alone, as there were six ships, battleships, flanked by fighters, but isolated from anything else, stars, planets, or meteors. Inside the largest ship, a helmsman, seemingly bored, sprung to life at the finding on his monitor.
"Viceroy Throk!"
A man, humanoid in shape, but with dark purple skin and large ears protruding to the side, looked on at his subordinate.
"What is it? Another disturbance from a meteor shower!"
"Uh, no sir. It appears to be a trace signal matching Voltron!"
"Voltron?" That was not a name he had heard in quite some time, yet was the chief desire of his emperor to find. The ancient legendary weapon, the one thing that would secure the Galra's dominance over the cosmos, and apparently, it was nearby.
"Where is it located?"
"We've traced the signal to a planet around a few star cluster. It appears to be the only occupied planet in the solar system. Our men have never gone beyond the first planet however in one of said clusters, as it was deemed inconsequential."
"Was it now?" Throk asked. Besides Throk, a green skinned humanoid stood by his side, the sarcasm in his voice ever-present even as he took sips from a glass holding a reddish liquid.
"Well this is what happens when your men are too lazy to finish their work."
"You dare speak ill of the men under Emperor Zarkon's command Maahox?" Throk shot back.
"Their incompetence is our chance for glory, is it not?"
"I suppose you're right."
"I'm here because I'm right," Maahox chuckled.
"That and to drink," Throk shot back. "Then again, that's what you do. Drink and be right."
"It's worked so far," Maahox answered. "No reason to change a winning formula, now is there?"
Sitting at the chair overlooking the bridge, Throk nodded, and then turned to one of the helmsmen.
"Have all ships set a course for the origin of the signal. At worst, we add another jewel to the crown of the Garla Empire. At best, we find a way to deal with Voltron, and bring it to our side."
The massive gateway appeared in front of the ships, which quickly entered in pursuit of their goal.
"Do you want the long version or the short version Commander Hawkins?" Wade asked as the officers all looked on at him. The black haired commander looked on at the professor and responded curtly but politely. After having waited a month for an answer, the group of officers appeared restless, knowing what the signal meant.
"The short version please."
Turning to a group of monitors in the lab, Professor Wade smiled. "Several months ago, following the Kerberos incident, we began to find a signal indicating the presence of a machine not from this world. A part of a superweapon of alien origin simply known as 'Voltron'."
"What is 'Voltron'?" Commander Hawkins asked. The professor smiled, showing a group of images on the monitor.
"Voltron is a giant robot formed from five robotic lions. It was designed for one purpose, to be the greatest weapon in the universe, capable of forming weapons literally out of thin air using energy constructs."
"That's ridiculous!" a voice shouted. "It sounds…"
"Like a Japanese cartoon Captain Newley," Wade answered. "I quite enjoyed a few of them in my youth. But the designs and images from the signals are quite clear. Whatever Voltron is, it may be capable of decimating our collective armies."
"You have a solution to this?"
"In progress. You see, the designs proper have only recently been completely decoded, but I believe that I have been able to adapt that alien technology to our own ends. Follow me to the hangar."
The group walked for a short while until the lights emerged. All the officers gasped, save Commander Hawkins.
"That's your ultimate defense against a giant robot superweapon?"
Looking on, Wade smiled at the three jet fighters that stood in the hangar, much larger than your standard Galaxy Garrison fighter jet. One blue, one black, and one red, all with slight variations to their shape, stood
"These are the components of MY Voltron, gentlemen," a weapon capable of battling this "Voltron" on even footing.
"Who's going to pilot it?" asked Captain Newley. He received a groan in response from the professor.
"That's the problem," Professor Wade noted. "We need to go back to the video."
The video monitors crackled to life as the three jets began flying in formation, at speeds that seemed impossible for a standard fighter jet, or even a recon plane.
"As you all know, it doesn't matter how well a machine is built if the pilot can't handle the stress. You can build an airframe that can handle 15G but if the pilot blacks out after 7G, it doesn't matter. The plane still crashes. Now, our three units, Volt Alpha, the blue fighter, Volt Beta, the red fighter, and Volt Gamma, the black fighter, are supposed to engage in formation. Beta and Gamma are using an AI system, which is only really there for testing. Alpha is piloted by a test pilot from Galaxy Garrison. Observe."
As the jets continued to go into formation, the blue jet began to move incredibly erratically, falling out of formation and nearly careening towards the ground. At the last second, it leveled off and, with its two counterparts, reversed course.
"What happened?"
"The pilot couldn't handle the stress and blacked out," Wade bluntly answered. "The AI system kicked in and returned the jets to base." Pressing another button, the pilot appeared slumped over in his char, his face seemingly catatonic, while adding, "He made a full recovery, but was naturally disqualified from the program."
"So you've created jet fighters human pilots can't handle, am I correct?" asked Commander Hawkins. "How does this help anyone?"
"No, humans can handle the power of my Voltron."
"Your Voltron?"
"Well, it's not the Lion Voltron. This is Earth's Voltron, and with the right pilots, who I believe I may have, will be superior to the Lion version."
"Who do you have in mind?"
"Leave that to me Commander. I'm sure given enough time, I can get proper recruits to…"
A violent shake of the building interrupted the speech, nearly throwing everyone off their feet. When they recovered, alarms blared as a speech transmitted over every channel.
Attention citizens of the planet Earth. My name is Viceroy Throk of the Galra Empire. We are here to establish contact between our worlds, and liberate you from your primitive government. In one hour, we expect the total surrender of all major nations to our beloved Empire. Then we may begin the proper integration of 'Earth' into the Galra Empire. Be warned, any resistance against us will be crushed mercilessly. You have no need to fear if you willingly surrender.
"Professor," Commander Hawkins began, "you have one hour to get your fighters operational and in the hands of pilots who can handle them!"
"You couldn't resist could you?"
"He was an ass! What did you expect?"
"I dunno, you NOT to punch the instructor in the face when he called you reckless and wanted to ground you!"
"You joined in. And admit it, you had fun."
The woman, even as she looked outside the cell she was in, smiled at the thought of the ensuing brawl. She rarely got a chance to cut loose, and landing a few blows to the MP's trying to hold her down was more exhilarating than the redhead would care to admit.
Larmina?
"Ok, fine Daniel, it was fun," she answered. "What do you want, a cookie?"
The black haired teen smiled inside his cell. "I wanted to hit the instructor a few more times for threatening to expel me when I'm the best pilot in the class! Face it Larmina, so did you."
I don't see how this involves me, a third voice interrupted, which unlike the first two, was rather exasperated at the whole situation.
"Come on Vince," Daniel shot back to the occupant of the other cell, even as said occupant covered his face with a dark skinned hand. "If it wasn't for me, you'd never have any fun. That old roommate of yours, Pidge didn't do ANYTHING besides mess up and study! With me, you're passing all your tests!"
"Except this one!" Vince yelled. "You know, because you were mad at being chewed out over the rules of engagement, so you buzz a tower! Because that's a perfectly sane way to react to criticism! Then you nearly start a riot because he threatened to expel you! Now we're gonna face a court martial because of you! Give Pidge credit, he never got in trouble! Not once!"
"If I remember correctly," Larmina added, "you jumped a guard who was about to hit Dan over the head." This only earned another groan.
"So when are we dragged out for our sentence?"
Instead of a response from the guard, the building shook. Guards left the brig to head upstairs, some in panic. Daniel smiled, standing up from the bench on the cell. Wiping the dust off his cadet uniform, he cracked his knuckles.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he began, procuring a small piece of metal from his sock, "I have an idea."
ATTENTION: PRIORITY 1 ALERT. ENEMY VESSELS ARE DESCENDING OVER LOS ANGELES. SCRAMBLE ALL AVAILABLE FIGHTERS. REPEAT. ATTENTION: PRIORITY 1 ALERT.
Fighter jets took to the air to intercept the massive purple battleships even as Commander Hawkins and the rest of the officers entered a control room deep beneath the Earth.
"Every single asset within intercept range has been scrambled Commander," Captain Newley announced.
That's pointless! Nothing in Earth's arsenal is in the same league as those battlecruisers! You'll be sacrificing your men for nothing!
"We have to try Professor Wade!" Commander Hawkins answered. "If we can't defeat them, we can at least buy you time to get your Voltron operational!"
But…
"No excuses! I don't care if you're piloting it with a dog and a monkey, GET IT OPERATIONAL! Over and out!"
"Viceroy, it appears that fighters are closing in our position. Approximately 40 by my count. We have not yet entered the atmosphere."
"Their attack force seems rather primitive, does it not?" Maahox asked, amusement present in his voice. That amusement however, did not extend to Throk.
"Destroy them. All of them. The fighters and their bases of operation."
"Should I deploy the Robest, Viceroy?"
"Not necessary Maahox."
From the outside of the ship, gun batteries effortlessly shot down fighters before they could get within attack range. The Galra vessels launched fighters of their own, whose speed and maneuverability let them run circles around the Earth's spacecraft.
The battle did not last long. The Galra ships were too quick, the firepower of the battlecruisers too heavy. Throk observed it all, sipping his drink from his command chair.
"See how your feeble resistance is crushed, planet Earth!" he announced. "See how nothing you do is of any effect."
"Sir, initial enemy squadrons have been wiped out. Fighters are moving to take out enemy missile batteries and bases."
"Excellent. Continue our descent."
The Garrison is on lockdown. All non-essential personnel please return to your dorms immediately. Details are forthcoming.
"The whole base is going nuts!" Vince yelled, running past guards who were hastily trying to lock down every door in sight. No one seemed to notice the trio that should have been in the brig looking for an escape route.
"Hey, Dan?" Larmina asked. "Where are we going?"
"The labs," Daniel answered. "We can use the computers there to wipe out the charges against us. By the time this blows over and everyone calms down, it's going to look like we acted in self-defense and the counselor not recommend court martial. It's also going to look like Instructor Rudley is guilty of embezzling funds from Galaxy Garrison so his claims will be without any credit."
"You know how to hack computers?" Vince asked.
"No, but you do," Daniel answered, running to the lab.
"Wait, what?! Why me?"
"We're a team," Daniel answered. "And like it or not, we sink or swim on this together. Besides, we're almost there, unless you want to go back to your cell."
Vince offered a growl, but continued to run with the others to the lab. However, once there, they found someone waiting for them.
"W…who are you three?"
"Um," Larmina began, hastily fiddling for an excuse. None came to mind.
Wiping his head with his hand, the old man looked on at the three, then on a tablet. "Potential candidates 8, 15, and 24. Not the ideal, but whatever. You three need to come with me!" Vince immediately gulped.
"Look, the idea to break out of the…"
"What are you talking about? We need to deal with the Galra!"
"The Gal-WHAT?" Daniel asked.
"You mean you don't know?!" the old man asked. "OK, short version. My name is Professor Wade, science officer for Galaxy Garrison. There are alien battleships ready to blow all our major cities into dust unless we surrender the Earth. I've built a weapon that might be able to stop them, but I need you three to pilot it! You're among the candidates for this machine, but there's no time to give you the
"You want us to save the world?!" Larmina asked, shocked and confused at this declaration. "That makes no sense! I'm not piloting anything that I haven't seen before against the Goldrakes or Gold Cakes or whatever's out there! We're just cadets!"
"I know it sounds ridiculous," Professor Wade continued, "but you are our only hope of saving the…wait a minute."
"What?"
Wade looked on at the tablet, and smiled. Larmina and Vincent couldn't help but look worried.
"What's so funny?" Daniel asked.
"Way I see it," Professor Wade began, sumizing the situation "is that you have two choices. You pilot Voltron and save the world, our you go back to your cells, and if we're not all dead by then considering this is a military installation, and likely a primary target of the invading fleet, you face court martial and likely years behind bars for assaulting an officer AND disobeying direct orders."
"Commander Hawkins! We've lost contact with Beale, Travis, and McCord bases! Enemy is establishing orbit over Los Angeles, sir. Their main cruisers appear to be staying still for now."
"SOS from Creech and Edwards bases sir! Galra fighters are making mincemeat of our forces!"
Slamming his fist on the table, a rare display of anger from the normally stoic Commander, he growled "Get Wade on the phone NOW!"
"Well, if I'm gonna die," Daniel groaned, "at least I'll look kinda cool doing it."
Zipping up a pilot's uniform over his body, Daniel sighed. The thick suit, white with blue trim, seemed designed to protect the pilot from the natural stress of high speed flight, but thankfully was easy enough to move in. He looked on at Vince as he finished putting on a similar suit, white with green, and smiled.
"Isn't your jet bl…"
"Make that joke and I swear I'll knock you out," Vince interrupted without a trace of humor or cheer in his voice. Daniel quickly turned apologetic.
"Sorry, you I'm not like that."
"Yeah, I know," Vince answered as the pair walked out of the locker room towards the ready room, "but I'm a little stressed out, you know? Pilot some experimental uber-fighter to save the world and probably die, or face court martial and if we don't die, spend our lives in jail! MAYBE I'm a little upset, jackass!"
"You're right about one thing," answered a voice from the women's locker, emerging into the main hallway. "Daniel's a jackass."
"Hey, I said I was sorry."
"But we need him. And so does the entire world, for better or worse."
"So I guess this is my way of saying 'I'm sorry?" Daniel asked. "You know, saving the world?"
"If we survive this, that, AND dinner. For both of us. Somewhere nice. Got it?"
"I see the Voltron Force is ready!" Professor Wade interrupted from a intercom, next to three tubes. Each tube was marked with a Greek letter, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. "We have a mere 10 minutes before our surrender is due! Voltron Force, move out!"
With no other course of action, the trio yelled "ROGER!" and grabbed three helmets on a nearby table, putting them on as the trio went into the tubes, Daniel into Alpha, Vince into Beta, and Larmina into Gamma.
The tubes led to a piloted chair, which began moving down a tunnel. Into his intercom, Daniel couldn't help but let out one last joke.
"Isn't this a bit much? Whatever happened to just going into a cockpit?"
Don't take this away from me," Professor Wade answered. Most kids would only dream of something this complex!"
The three tubes and their seated pilots soon found their way into their cockpits, Daniel into the blue colored fighter, Vince into the red, and Larmina the black.
"You switched us around?" Vince asked.
Checking your files I think Larmina is better equipped to handle Gamma, Wade answered. Don't worry, the controls should be familiar to you.
"Yeah," Larmina answered. "Looks like the controls of an ASF-12. But what are the red buttons for?"
The controls for many of the weapons are too complex to duplicate without whatever mystic mumbo-jumbo the original used, so that is being used in conjunction with voice commands to operate your craft. Look, today training is on the job! Get airborne now!"
"You heard the man!" Daniel yelled. "Volt Alpha, moving out!"
"Volt Beta!" Vince began, "Moving out!"
"Volt Gamma!" finished Larmina, "Moving out!"
Slamming the accelerator, the large blue jet flew towards an opening runway, as a panel opened to allow the machine above ground. The speeds of the ships were consistent.
"Good news Commander Hawkins," Wade announced into a monitor. "Volt Alpha, Volt Beta, and Volt Gamma are airborne and moving at Mach 6. Time to engagement with the Galra fleet will be two minutes!"
Let's hope your machine is as good as you say. Earth is counting on it!
"Well everything looks good from here."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
"Daniel!" Larmina shouted. "How fast is this thing?"
"It's tough to stay focused!" Daniel answered. "But I'm OK! Even if this does make the testing ships feel like bicycles!"
"I didn't puke!" Vince shouted. "That's good right!"
"No time for small talk!" Daniel shouted. "Enemy in sight! Engage at will!"
"What are those?!" Maahox asked, seeing three fighter jets send a barrage of missiles into the battlecruiser.
"Sir, damage on decks 6 and 10! Several gun batteries are also offline!"
"Begin descent into the city proper," Throk yelled. "Launch all fighters. They only have three units!"
"This is great!" Daniel yelled, as the three jets began pulling back for another pass. "I think we might actually be O…"
"LOOK!"
Larmina's warning proved telling, as hundreds of Galra fighters began approaching the trio, a sea of locusts that they became lost in.
"I'm hit!" Vince yelled.
"Me too!" Daniel shouted. "I think I can keep her airborne!"
Those ships were designed to stand up to far more punishment than a single missile! Professor Wade interrupted. But if you're going to have any chance of winning, you're going to need to form Voltron!"
"Vol-"
Explanations later! It's all voice-commanded, so you three just need to fly in formation, press the button, and yell 'FORM VOLTRON!'
It sounded so ridiculous to the trio that they would have come up with a laundry list of objections had this been a normal situation. But this was hardly normal.
It was a matter of life and death.
Immediately, the trio pressed the red buttons in front of them.
"FORM VOLTRON!"
GAMMA, FORM FEET AND LEGS! BETA, FORM ARMS AND BODY! AND ALPHA…
"AND I'LL FORM THE HEAD!" Daniel shouted.
The perspective of the trio began to change as the machine began to twist and contort into its new form, shaking the trio.
"Guys, remember what I said about not puking?" Vince asked.
From the swarm of fighters emerged a machine, causing Throk and Maahox to gasp at the sight as it plowed through Galra fighters as if they didn't exist. The machine soon set itself down in front of a large hill on the city they were intending to descend upon, resting alongside a sign which spelt out "Hollywood" in English. Throk was in disbelief.
"Is that…Voltron?!"
"But that's impossible!" Maahox answered. "Sendak reported Voltron appearing on Arus! Unless…the humans made their own Voltron…"
"The humans? The native species which can barely travel to the edge of their own solar system?! They made their own Voltron?!"
"OK, this thing does not feel like a fighter jet anymore!" Daniel yelled. "We're vertical! Is this…what I think it is?"
Vince gasped for air while Larmina just stared, unable to process what she and her friends were now controlling.
Your instinct is correct, "Wade answered," the screen quickly switching to a view of the machine as it stood above the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles.
Voltron is a giant robot.
This giant robot, wearing the face of a human with a helmet shaped like the nosecone of a fighter, black legs, and a blue and red torso, looked above at the invading battleship.
And now it's your job to use it against the invaders!
A/N - This is essentially a take on Vehicle Voltron that could fit into Legendary Defender as a concurrent series. The idea was to bring back the tone of 80's mecha OVA's in its creation. In addition, the idea was also to eschew OC's in favor of characters from other forms of Voltron media. See if you can find all the references!
Hopefully you enjoy. And remember - Reviews and feedback are always welcome!