From: "David A. Tatum" desaix@sysnet.net
To: "David A. Tatum" desaix@sysnet.net
Subject: Volt1.txt
Date: Friday, October 12, 2001 1:10 PM
Alliance is Dead, Long Live the Alliance!
A Voltron Fanfic
by David A. Tatum
Disclaimer: Insert your favorite "I don't own it, WEP does" statement here.
Author's Notes: In this fanfic, I use characters and equipment from Vehicle
Voltron. I don't remember anything at all about Vehicle Voltron- I only
know a couple of the characters from other Voltron fanfics. If I make any
mistakes, let me know.
Don't expect this fic to be written very quickly. I've got MANY other
fanfics I'm already working on. For a complete list of my UNFINISHED
fanfics, here you go in no particular order:
1. Return of the Sisters (Ranma)
2. Three Souls, One Heart (Ranma. Some lemony parts.)
3. Patchwork (Ranma)
4. Feudal Honeymoon (Ranma\Inu Yasha, no parts yet released. NOT a lemon.)
5. Language Lessons (Oh, My Goddess\Ranma. MAY have lemony side-stories)
6. Patlabor: Personal Files (Patlabor)
7. Patlabor: Personal Files OAVs (a series of Oneshots related to Patlabor:
Personal Files. None yet released)
8. Noa the Submissive Seductress (Silly, title tentative, lemon (aka NC-17),
Patlabor. Originally an April Fools fanfic that I converted to a non-April
Fools fanfic. So far, just the first oneshot completed)
9. Tylor's Fury (Irresponsible Captain Tylor)
10. Untitled (Princess Mononoke. May have lemony parts in the future,
undecided though)
11. Untitled Side Stories (Princess Mononoke- a series of 4 oneshots, one
completed so far)
12. Titled (Slayers)
13. Discoveries (Ushio and Tora)
14. Guide in the Wilderness (Rurouni Kenshin (a.k.a. Samurai X))
15. The Rebel Esper (Kimagure Orange Road)
16. Return of the Lovely Eyepatch (Jubei-chan, no parts yet released.
Mildly lemony part planned)
17. A Thousand Years Until Revenge (DBZ, much to my shame ^_^. Release of
the prolog and first chapter to some venues should coincide with this
release to ff.net)
As you can see, well, my plate is kinda full, this being number 17 in my
ongoing fanfics list. So, even though against my better judgment I'm
starting this fic while the creative juices are still flowing, I don't think
it will be moving very quickly after I get through this first spurt. But I'
m not giving up on ANY of the fics listed above, so I won't give up on this
one, either. Just don't expect it to be finished any time in the next, oh,
5 years or so. (That's right- I'm projecting to be finished with everything
in five years. Um... that may not be enough time, but I'll try).
-------------------------
The unusual precautions taken for this Alliance meeting were stunning, to
say the least. Each council member was sequestered into a special room,
where no-one could see who they were. When someone spoke, their voices were
distorted to prevent identification. The vote was also to be in secret.
Anonymity was essential to this particular session.
"It's just not enough. The best we've been able to do is postpone defeat
with several holding actions," one councilmember was saying- likely a
female. "Face it, gentlemen. We're losing this war."
"There are always the Voltron teams!" one voice escaped from the outraged
cries of the other council members.
"Voltron has been a great help in delaying the inevitable," the female
snapped back, "But Voltron cannot win this war alone. Not even two Voltrons
can- we're fighting on WAY too many fronts against way too many opponents.
We simply can NOT win, fighting as we are."
"Then what do you suggest? That we surrender? That we submit to Drule
slavery and tyranny?"
The female hesitated. "No. That is not what I'm advocating. I'm thinking,
though... we may have to dissolve the alliance. Or should I say divide it-
allow one half of it to continue to fight in a unified manner, while the
other half would have to fend for itself."
More murmurs throughout the crowd. "Abandon half of our brother and sister
planets to destruction? Are you insane!?"
"Please! Let me finish!" she cried over the uproar. After a few moments,
the assembly settled down. "Now, portions of the alliance are indefensible,
at the moment. If we were to eliminate one of our enemies, however...."
She continued explaining her plan. When she was complete, she called for a
vote....
* * * * *
Meanwhile, on Planet Arus, Pidge relaxed into the main seat at Castle
Control. He'd just come back from the bathroom, and decided to do a quick
check to see if any messages came while he was off station.
"Hey, something from Pollux! How is Bandor? And I wonder if Sven and
Romelle are back from their latest diplomatic mission!" He opened the
recorded message, and read. As he did, his eyes widened in pleasant shock.
"Oh, wow. Oh, WOW! I've just GOT to tell the guys about this!"
Quickly printing out the message, he burst out of the room, deciding his
duty as the officer on watch was less important than letting the guys hear
what was about to happen with their off-world friends. The alarms would let
them know if any enemies were coming in, anyway.
Only seconds after the door closed behind Pidge, a light indicating a new
message arriving started flashing, unnoticed.
* * * * *
"Pidge!" Keith snapped as the young space explorer burst into the duty
lounge. Lance, Hunk, and the Princess were all seated in various places
around the room- Lance and Hunk playing some kind of card game, Keith
reading a book on Arussian law and customs, and Allura sitting at his side,
reading a book on military tactics that Keith had suggested to her.
Occasionally, she had questions for him, and he had questions for her, but
perhaps they were sitting just a touch closer than was needed to discuss
their various studies. Not that either of them noticed. "What are you
doing here? Why aren't you on station?!"
Pidge looked apologetic. "Sorry, Keith- I was just so excited I forgot what
I was supposed to be doing. But you guys have GOT to see this message we
just got from Pollux- Prince Bandor sent it, but I wouldn't be surprised if
we got another one soon from Romelle and Sven."
Keith raised a stern eyebrow to show his disapproval at Pidge's
inattentiveness to duty, but then smirked and shook his head. His crew
might not be the most disciplined of soldiers, but they were dependable in a
fight. They were entitled to get a little carried away in their fun every
now and then, as long as no-one got hurt. "All right, Pidge- let's hear
it."
Pidge smiled, relieved that his commanding officer wasn't going to press him
on the abandoning his post thing. "You won't believe this- Prince Bandor
caught Sven and Princess Romelle in... um, a compromising position," he
said, his eyes sliding to Allura, whose attention was caught by Romelle's
name.
"What kind of 'compromising position,'" Allura asked, sensing that Pidge was
trying to avoid saying something in front of her.
"Um... the kind which could result in babies later," he replied.
Allura gasped. "Oh, my! What a naughty cousin I have."
"It gets better," Pidge said. "Bandor wasn't alone- a number of the ruling
council were with him. They all started shouting, about to demand that Sven
and Romelle get wed before the scandal left their castle... when Sven told
them all that they were already married- they'd eloped, and were just
celebrating their honeymoon!"
"Way to go, Sven!" Lance cheered his absent friend.
"Way to go, Romelle, you mean," Allura corrected. "Sven is a great catch-
any girl would love to have them. And she did the right thing in eloping- I
don't look forward to all the pomp and circumstance that accompanies a royal
wedding, myself."
Pidge laughed. "Well, I don't think she quite got away with it. Her
ministers have insisted on at least a formal celebration of her 'secret'
marriage, and Romelle had no choice but to agree. We're all going to be
invited, by the way."
Keith rubbed his chin, contemplating this revelation. "Hmm... they haven't
given Sven any trouble over his not being a prince, have they?"
"I quote Romelle's words on the subject, 'the universe is scarce of worthy
princes nowadays. Men who act princely are good enough,'" Allura stated.
"We were talking about that very subject last time she was here."
Lance smirked. "And just why were you asking her about that, Princess?" he
asked.
"I was telling the story of the near disaster from the last supposed prince
who tried to court me," Allura explained, blushing slightly. That wasn't
the whole reason, but she certainly didn't want to explain that she was
actually talking about a certain dark-haired savior from that disaster.
"When I mentioned Nanny's great visions of me being married to a handsome
prince, Romelle let me know what she thought on the subject."
"Any 'men who act princely' around here, Princess?" Lance asked smugly.
Keith interrupted before she could answer. "I suspect Pidge is the most
princely of us all... but I think he's disqualified, since he left his post
without permission to spread some tabloid gossip," he chastised the young
man with a smile to take the sting off of it. "No punishment this time,
Pidge, but you'd better get back to Castle Control and stick to your shift
right now. And, if there are any other juicy tidbits from Pollux- or
anywhere else, for that matter- don't forget that we've all got com units
and call us instead of coming down here, got it?"
Pidge flushed, embarrassed, and quickly left the room, muttering, "Right,
chief. Sorry... I'd better go now."
Faking a look of intense thought, the Princess decided to get back at Keith
for the poor boy- the reprimand seemed a little harsh to her. "You know, I
suppose I'm not in the same situation as Romelle was. I mean, there is at
least ONE good prince out there... Bandor would have made an excellent
husband if he weren't her sister. But since he isn't mine, maybe I should
consider taking him as a suitor!"
Lance and Hunk both realized the joke she was playing, but Keith took her
all too seriously. His jaw dropped open, and he couldn't speak for a few
moments. "But... but..."
A twinkle in her eye, Allura glanced at him. "But?"
"But... he's... he's your cousin!"
"Yes, well... I understand it isn't unheard of in the royalty. Must keep
the bloodline true blue with nobility and all that. And it's not like he's
a CLOSE cousin or anything."
"But Allura!" Keith exclaimed. Lance's eyes widened, hearing his usually
unflappable commander call the Princess by her name for the first time he
could recall. Hunk, however, remained oblivious.
"Yes?" she said, also noticing that he was not referring to her by her
title.
"I thought you and I... I thought we... I..."
Allura shook her head to keep from laughing at how seriously he was taking
this. She decided to let him off the hook. "Keith, I'm just kid-"
"I thought you said you loved me!" he exclaimed, not paying attention. "How
can you marry someone else when-"
That brought even Hunk to full attention. "She WHAT?" both he and Lance
exclaimed.
Allura brushed brightly, turning the color of Keith's jumpsuit. "KEITH!"
she shouted. "I was joking about Bandor! And I thought we were going to
keep that a secret!"
Keith blinked, realizing what he'd just blurted out to the whole room. "I'
m... sorry. But don't SCARE me like that! You know how difficult it was
for me to deal with the whole 'you're a princess, I'm just a commoner'
thing."
"Wait a minute," Lance said, nosing in. "Back up a moment here- Princess,
when DID you tell Keith that you loved him, exactly? And how come you're
hiding it from the rest of us? For that matter, HOW are you hiding it from
the rest of us?"
Keith and Allura looked at each other briefly, trying to gauge how much the
other was willing to reveal. "Um... there's no real story behind that. We
just talked about it one day when I was recovering from some minor injuries
in the medical bay," Keith explained. "She was a little scared that if I
kept getting hurt like that, she wouldn't ever get a chance to tell me what
she felt."
"And we haven't been hiding it, exactly," Allura continued for him. "We
just decided we'd hold off on... things... until the war with planet Doom
calmed some. Yes, we were keeping it a secret, but there wasn't much TO
keep secret, except... well, we sort of came to an understanding."
Lance and Hunk both looked like they still had questions, but neither one of
them had a chance to before the beeper on Keith's com unit. "Keith here.
Go," he answered into it, cutting off everyone else.
"Keith, it's Pidge. When I got back up here I discovered there was a
message waiting for all of us from Galaxy Garrison. High priority, but it
requires a lot of clearances- I can't open it without the rest of us, the
Princess, and Coran all here for optical identification confirmation."
Keith raised an eyebrow at that. "That's odd. We'll be right up there."
He turned to the others. "You heard him, guys- let's go."
Allura stopped him from rushing out the door with a gentle hand on his
elbow. "Wait, all of you," she began. "Can we... can you two please
promise me that you won't let Nanny or Coran know what we just talked about
in here? I... I don't want to have to deal with the objections I know they'
ll have just yet."
"I promise, Princess- my lips are sealed," Hunk announced.
"I won't say anything in front of them," Lance said, a smirk forming on his
face. "But I reserve the right to tease you guys when we're alone."
"Lance," Keith said, a warning tone in his voice.
Allura, however, had no objections to that deal. "Sure thing, Lance. I
wouldn't expect otherwise."
Keith sighed. "Well, enough gabbing. Let's head to Castle Control. It
might be something important."
* * * * *
Lisa watched as Jeff left the conference room where he and several of the
other senior officers aboard the Explorer had disappeared to moments ago.
It was a strange communiqué they had received- requiring several people to
give optical identity confirmation- but the meeting to read that message had
just broken up and Jeff, apparently quite shaken, was the first to leave.
"What was that all about?" she asked, concerned. She'd never seen him so
pale, before.
"Uh, a situation report and new orders," he said, not quite comprehending
what he'd just heard. "The meeting is still going on, but the Captain
wanted me to start us towards are new destination."
"Where to?" Lisa asked, still unsure of why he seemed to be in such shock.
"Arus."
"Arus? Why there?" she asked, surprised. They hadn't been to Arus in a
while, but last she'd heard the Lion Voltron was doing a very good job of
bottling up the Doom Empire.
Jeff shook his head. "I can't tell you- orders- but trust me: you don't
want to know."
* * * * *
"Paul Drege, Pilot: Green Lion. Granted rank of Lieutenant Commander under
45021-pre:2-C. Confirmed."
Pidge cheered. "All right! A promotion!"
"Henry Firestone, Pilot: Yellow Lion. Granted rank of Lieutenant Commander
under 45021-pre:2-C. Confirmed."
"Sounds like we all got promotions, little buddy," Hunk said, ruffling the
young man's hair.
"Lancelot Aragorn, Pilot: Red Lion. Granted rank of Commander under
45021-pre:2-C. Confirmed."
"I'm catching up to ya, chief," Lance said, smirking at Keith. "There's no
WAY they promoted you to flag rank already."
"Keith Lockhart, Pilot: Black Lion. Command of Lion Voltron Forces.
Granted rank of Vice Admiral under 45021-pre:2-C. Confirmed."
Pidge whistled. "I think you were wrong, Lance- seems to me Keith is
pulling away from you."
"Not only did you get promoted to flag rank," Lance said, aghast. "You got
JUMPED to a three-star Admiral. How the hell did you DO that?"
"Allura, Princess of the Royal House of Arus, Pilot: Blue Lion. Granted
rank of Captain under 45021-pre:3-A, Special Order of Space Marshal's
Office. Confirmed," the computer said in monotone. The entire room was
startled at that statement- as far as they knew, Galaxy Garrison had never
formally recognized the Princess as the pilot of the Blue Lion, much less
given her a rank and official position.
"Keith, when-" she started to ask.
"I have no idea, Princess," he said. "Maybe that's what this is all about."
"Coran d'Orick. Prime Minister, Arus. Command and Control, Arus. Granted
rank of General, Planetary Forces, under 45021-pre:3-B, Special Order of the
Space Marshal's Office. Confirmed."
"Why did they make ME an officer?" Coran cried, startled.
The message cued up. "All identities required, confirmed. Play message
now?"
"Yes," Keith said. Coran keyed in the final code, and the message started
playing. Space Marshal Graham's stern face appeared on the screen, and his
recorded message started playing.
"Attention, Voltron force. I'm contacting you now to inform you of a number
of things. Most of them, you will not like- I doubt anyone but the Drule
will like most of them, but this is very important.
"First off, I have made Princess Allura's status in the Galaxy Garrison
official, with the rank of Captain. I'm also making you second in command
of the Lion Voltron Force, as Keith's reports seem to indicate your skills
have improved to allow you to fulfill this duty. I also gave promotions to
everyone in the Force- especially Keith. You may all think this is a good
thing, but you won't when you hear why I had to do it."
"It has to be something drastic to promote me to Vice Admiral," Keith said,
concerned. "I REALLY don't like this, guys."
"As of 1800, our time," Graham continued, "The Alliance Council has declared
Earth indefensible from Drule invasion, and half of the Alliance has
dissolved. We have loaded up a massive refugee fleet, and will be
abandoning the planet as soon as possible. All forces still under Galaxy
Garrison control will be rendezvousing here, at Earth command, within 24
hours. We will be immediately heading to your sector of the galaxy. From
there, we will move to utterly wipe out the Doom Empire, so as to allow for
us to withdraw our forces from that sector and then return to recover Earth.
"Your promotions are designed to give you official status when our forces
arrive. Keith, we're sending a complete list of our warships and their
capabilities along with this message. It will be your job to have a plan
ready when we get there- you know the situation in that sector better than
we do. Princess... this may mean you will have to leave Arus once Zarkon is
defeated. I... hope this will not be a permanent situation, but I doubt you
'll be willing to give up piloting Voltron, and that is the only other
option we know of. Further details, schematics, and additional orders
follow."
"Hell," Lance said, summing up what everyone else was thinking.
Keith looked at the frozen image of the Galaxy Garrison seal that appeared
on the screen when the message ended, thinking fast. He had a lot to plan,
and not all of it had to do with fleet tactics. "Allura... can I talk to
you privately for a moment?"
The Princess, still a little startled herself upon hearing her planet was
about to become the refuge for the capital of the Alliance, blinked. He'd
slipped and called her Allura again, but she could understand why. And she
decided she needed to talk to him, as well. "Of course, Keith."
The two of them disappeared into a nearby briefing room, closing the door
behind them. Hunk was the first to break the silence that remained. "If
Earth is gone... then we can't go home again."
Pidge shook his head. "I already lost my home, and made a new one here.
But EARTH... I mean, no-one on any planet has ever really thought Earth
would fall, even if the Alliance did. What happened?"
The com link beeped. "Coran, could you come in here for a minute? We need
you to be present for this," the Princess' voice erupted. "And see if you
can get Nanny up here, too."
"I'll be right there," Coran proclaimed, rushing into the briefing room with
as much dignity as he could muster after their shared shock. A few moments
later, Nanny came up to Castle Control and was directed to the briefing room
by Pidge.
"What do you think they're doing in there?" Pidge asked.
"Maybe they're thinking about how to feed all the refugees when they
arrive," Hunk suggested.
"Must you always think about food, Hunk?" Lance snapped, irritated.
"Hey! It's a valid concern!" the bulky pilot snapped back. "Besides, why
ELSE would they ask for Nanny to be there for discussions on these refugees
we're getting?"
A muffled feminine shout of "No way! I won't support this!" with Nanny's
distinctive trill echoed through the closed door.
"Whatever they're talking about, Nanny doesn't seem happy," Pidge commented.
"Earth has over seven billion people, Pidge," Hunk said. "Would you be
happy trying to decide on a meal for 7 billion?"
Nanny stormed back through the briefing room, causing all to stop and stare
at her. She had a look of unpleasant determination on her face, and
disappeared before they could ask her anything. A moment later, she
returned carrying a small box, and scurried back into the room with the
Princess, Coran, and Keith.
"You know, I think I've seen that box before," Hunk said, scratching his
chin in thought. "Down in the funeral shrine to the late Queen."
"Really?" Lance said, surprised. "I wonder what that means...."
Nanny returned a split second later, sighed, and motioned for the three to
come in. "We need witnesses for all of this," she said.
"All of what?" Lance asked, though he had his suspicions.
"The marriage of the Princess to... to that ruffian!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
desaix@sysnet.net
Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
anime fanfics available at
http://www.geocities.com/zednik.geo/fanfics.htm
To: "David A. Tatum" desaix@sysnet.net
Subject: Volt1.txt
Date: Friday, October 12, 2001 1:10 PM
Alliance is Dead, Long Live the Alliance!
A Voltron Fanfic
by David A. Tatum
Disclaimer: Insert your favorite "I don't own it, WEP does" statement here.
Author's Notes: In this fanfic, I use characters and equipment from Vehicle
Voltron. I don't remember anything at all about Vehicle Voltron- I only
know a couple of the characters from other Voltron fanfics. If I make any
mistakes, let me know.
Don't expect this fic to be written very quickly. I've got MANY other
fanfics I'm already working on. For a complete list of my UNFINISHED
fanfics, here you go in no particular order:
1. Return of the Sisters (Ranma)
2. Three Souls, One Heart (Ranma. Some lemony parts.)
3. Patchwork (Ranma)
4. Feudal Honeymoon (Ranma\Inu Yasha, no parts yet released. NOT a lemon.)
5. Language Lessons (Oh, My Goddess\Ranma. MAY have lemony side-stories)
6. Patlabor: Personal Files (Patlabor)
7. Patlabor: Personal Files OAVs (a series of Oneshots related to Patlabor:
Personal Files. None yet released)
8. Noa the Submissive Seductress (Silly, title tentative, lemon (aka NC-17),
Patlabor. Originally an April Fools fanfic that I converted to a non-April
Fools fanfic. So far, just the first oneshot completed)
9. Tylor's Fury (Irresponsible Captain Tylor)
10. Untitled (Princess Mononoke. May have lemony parts in the future,
undecided though)
11. Untitled Side Stories (Princess Mononoke- a series of 4 oneshots, one
completed so far)
12. Titled (Slayers)
13. Discoveries (Ushio and Tora)
14. Guide in the Wilderness (Rurouni Kenshin (a.k.a. Samurai X))
15. The Rebel Esper (Kimagure Orange Road)
16. Return of the Lovely Eyepatch (Jubei-chan, no parts yet released.
Mildly lemony part planned)
17. A Thousand Years Until Revenge (DBZ, much to my shame ^_^. Release of
the prolog and first chapter to some venues should coincide with this
release to ff.net)
As you can see, well, my plate is kinda full, this being number 17 in my
ongoing fanfics list. So, even though against my better judgment I'm
starting this fic while the creative juices are still flowing, I don't think
it will be moving very quickly after I get through this first spurt. But I'
m not giving up on ANY of the fics listed above, so I won't give up on this
one, either. Just don't expect it to be finished any time in the next, oh,
5 years or so. (That's right- I'm projecting to be finished with everything
in five years. Um... that may not be enough time, but I'll try).
-------------------------
The unusual precautions taken for this Alliance meeting were stunning, to
say the least. Each council member was sequestered into a special room,
where no-one could see who they were. When someone spoke, their voices were
distorted to prevent identification. The vote was also to be in secret.
Anonymity was essential to this particular session.
"It's just not enough. The best we've been able to do is postpone defeat
with several holding actions," one councilmember was saying- likely a
female. "Face it, gentlemen. We're losing this war."
"There are always the Voltron teams!" one voice escaped from the outraged
cries of the other council members.
"Voltron has been a great help in delaying the inevitable," the female
snapped back, "But Voltron cannot win this war alone. Not even two Voltrons
can- we're fighting on WAY too many fronts against way too many opponents.
We simply can NOT win, fighting as we are."
"Then what do you suggest? That we surrender? That we submit to Drule
slavery and tyranny?"
The female hesitated. "No. That is not what I'm advocating. I'm thinking,
though... we may have to dissolve the alliance. Or should I say divide it-
allow one half of it to continue to fight in a unified manner, while the
other half would have to fend for itself."
More murmurs throughout the crowd. "Abandon half of our brother and sister
planets to destruction? Are you insane!?"
"Please! Let me finish!" she cried over the uproar. After a few moments,
the assembly settled down. "Now, portions of the alliance are indefensible,
at the moment. If we were to eliminate one of our enemies, however...."
She continued explaining her plan. When she was complete, she called for a
vote....
* * * * *
Meanwhile, on Planet Arus, Pidge relaxed into the main seat at Castle
Control. He'd just come back from the bathroom, and decided to do a quick
check to see if any messages came while he was off station.
"Hey, something from Pollux! How is Bandor? And I wonder if Sven and
Romelle are back from their latest diplomatic mission!" He opened the
recorded message, and read. As he did, his eyes widened in pleasant shock.
"Oh, wow. Oh, WOW! I've just GOT to tell the guys about this!"
Quickly printing out the message, he burst out of the room, deciding his
duty as the officer on watch was less important than letting the guys hear
what was about to happen with their off-world friends. The alarms would let
them know if any enemies were coming in, anyway.
Only seconds after the door closed behind Pidge, a light indicating a new
message arriving started flashing, unnoticed.
* * * * *
"Pidge!" Keith snapped as the young space explorer burst into the duty
lounge. Lance, Hunk, and the Princess were all seated in various places
around the room- Lance and Hunk playing some kind of card game, Keith
reading a book on Arussian law and customs, and Allura sitting at his side,
reading a book on military tactics that Keith had suggested to her.
Occasionally, she had questions for him, and he had questions for her, but
perhaps they were sitting just a touch closer than was needed to discuss
their various studies. Not that either of them noticed. "What are you
doing here? Why aren't you on station?!"
Pidge looked apologetic. "Sorry, Keith- I was just so excited I forgot what
I was supposed to be doing. But you guys have GOT to see this message we
just got from Pollux- Prince Bandor sent it, but I wouldn't be surprised if
we got another one soon from Romelle and Sven."
Keith raised a stern eyebrow to show his disapproval at Pidge's
inattentiveness to duty, but then smirked and shook his head. His crew
might not be the most disciplined of soldiers, but they were dependable in a
fight. They were entitled to get a little carried away in their fun every
now and then, as long as no-one got hurt. "All right, Pidge- let's hear
it."
Pidge smiled, relieved that his commanding officer wasn't going to press him
on the abandoning his post thing. "You won't believe this- Prince Bandor
caught Sven and Princess Romelle in... um, a compromising position," he
said, his eyes sliding to Allura, whose attention was caught by Romelle's
name.
"What kind of 'compromising position,'" Allura asked, sensing that Pidge was
trying to avoid saying something in front of her.
"Um... the kind which could result in babies later," he replied.
Allura gasped. "Oh, my! What a naughty cousin I have."
"It gets better," Pidge said. "Bandor wasn't alone- a number of the ruling
council were with him. They all started shouting, about to demand that Sven
and Romelle get wed before the scandal left their castle... when Sven told
them all that they were already married- they'd eloped, and were just
celebrating their honeymoon!"
"Way to go, Sven!" Lance cheered his absent friend.
"Way to go, Romelle, you mean," Allura corrected. "Sven is a great catch-
any girl would love to have them. And she did the right thing in eloping- I
don't look forward to all the pomp and circumstance that accompanies a royal
wedding, myself."
Pidge laughed. "Well, I don't think she quite got away with it. Her
ministers have insisted on at least a formal celebration of her 'secret'
marriage, and Romelle had no choice but to agree. We're all going to be
invited, by the way."
Keith rubbed his chin, contemplating this revelation. "Hmm... they haven't
given Sven any trouble over his not being a prince, have they?"
"I quote Romelle's words on the subject, 'the universe is scarce of worthy
princes nowadays. Men who act princely are good enough,'" Allura stated.
"We were talking about that very subject last time she was here."
Lance smirked. "And just why were you asking her about that, Princess?" he
asked.
"I was telling the story of the near disaster from the last supposed prince
who tried to court me," Allura explained, blushing slightly. That wasn't
the whole reason, but she certainly didn't want to explain that she was
actually talking about a certain dark-haired savior from that disaster.
"When I mentioned Nanny's great visions of me being married to a handsome
prince, Romelle let me know what she thought on the subject."
"Any 'men who act princely' around here, Princess?" Lance asked smugly.
Keith interrupted before she could answer. "I suspect Pidge is the most
princely of us all... but I think he's disqualified, since he left his post
without permission to spread some tabloid gossip," he chastised the young
man with a smile to take the sting off of it. "No punishment this time,
Pidge, but you'd better get back to Castle Control and stick to your shift
right now. And, if there are any other juicy tidbits from Pollux- or
anywhere else, for that matter- don't forget that we've all got com units
and call us instead of coming down here, got it?"
Pidge flushed, embarrassed, and quickly left the room, muttering, "Right,
chief. Sorry... I'd better go now."
Faking a look of intense thought, the Princess decided to get back at Keith
for the poor boy- the reprimand seemed a little harsh to her. "You know, I
suppose I'm not in the same situation as Romelle was. I mean, there is at
least ONE good prince out there... Bandor would have made an excellent
husband if he weren't her sister. But since he isn't mine, maybe I should
consider taking him as a suitor!"
Lance and Hunk both realized the joke she was playing, but Keith took her
all too seriously. His jaw dropped open, and he couldn't speak for a few
moments. "But... but..."
A twinkle in her eye, Allura glanced at him. "But?"
"But... he's... he's your cousin!"
"Yes, well... I understand it isn't unheard of in the royalty. Must keep
the bloodline true blue with nobility and all that. And it's not like he's
a CLOSE cousin or anything."
"But Allura!" Keith exclaimed. Lance's eyes widened, hearing his usually
unflappable commander call the Princess by her name for the first time he
could recall. Hunk, however, remained oblivious.
"Yes?" she said, also noticing that he was not referring to her by her
title.
"I thought you and I... I thought we... I..."
Allura shook her head to keep from laughing at how seriously he was taking
this. She decided to let him off the hook. "Keith, I'm just kid-"
"I thought you said you loved me!" he exclaimed, not paying attention. "How
can you marry someone else when-"
That brought even Hunk to full attention. "She WHAT?" both he and Lance
exclaimed.
Allura brushed brightly, turning the color of Keith's jumpsuit. "KEITH!"
she shouted. "I was joking about Bandor! And I thought we were going to
keep that a secret!"
Keith blinked, realizing what he'd just blurted out to the whole room. "I'
m... sorry. But don't SCARE me like that! You know how difficult it was
for me to deal with the whole 'you're a princess, I'm just a commoner'
thing."
"Wait a minute," Lance said, nosing in. "Back up a moment here- Princess,
when DID you tell Keith that you loved him, exactly? And how come you're
hiding it from the rest of us? For that matter, HOW are you hiding it from
the rest of us?"
Keith and Allura looked at each other briefly, trying to gauge how much the
other was willing to reveal. "Um... there's no real story behind that. We
just talked about it one day when I was recovering from some minor injuries
in the medical bay," Keith explained. "She was a little scared that if I
kept getting hurt like that, she wouldn't ever get a chance to tell me what
she felt."
"And we haven't been hiding it, exactly," Allura continued for him. "We
just decided we'd hold off on... things... until the war with planet Doom
calmed some. Yes, we were keeping it a secret, but there wasn't much TO
keep secret, except... well, we sort of came to an understanding."
Lance and Hunk both looked like they still had questions, but neither one of
them had a chance to before the beeper on Keith's com unit. "Keith here.
Go," he answered into it, cutting off everyone else.
"Keith, it's Pidge. When I got back up here I discovered there was a
message waiting for all of us from Galaxy Garrison. High priority, but it
requires a lot of clearances- I can't open it without the rest of us, the
Princess, and Coran all here for optical identification confirmation."
Keith raised an eyebrow at that. "That's odd. We'll be right up there."
He turned to the others. "You heard him, guys- let's go."
Allura stopped him from rushing out the door with a gentle hand on his
elbow. "Wait, all of you," she began. "Can we... can you two please
promise me that you won't let Nanny or Coran know what we just talked about
in here? I... I don't want to have to deal with the objections I know they'
ll have just yet."
"I promise, Princess- my lips are sealed," Hunk announced.
"I won't say anything in front of them," Lance said, a smirk forming on his
face. "But I reserve the right to tease you guys when we're alone."
"Lance," Keith said, a warning tone in his voice.
Allura, however, had no objections to that deal. "Sure thing, Lance. I
wouldn't expect otherwise."
Keith sighed. "Well, enough gabbing. Let's head to Castle Control. It
might be something important."
* * * * *
Lisa watched as Jeff left the conference room where he and several of the
other senior officers aboard the Explorer had disappeared to moments ago.
It was a strange communiqué they had received- requiring several people to
give optical identity confirmation- but the meeting to read that message had
just broken up and Jeff, apparently quite shaken, was the first to leave.
"What was that all about?" she asked, concerned. She'd never seen him so
pale, before.
"Uh, a situation report and new orders," he said, not quite comprehending
what he'd just heard. "The meeting is still going on, but the Captain
wanted me to start us towards are new destination."
"Where to?" Lisa asked, still unsure of why he seemed to be in such shock.
"Arus."
"Arus? Why there?" she asked, surprised. They hadn't been to Arus in a
while, but last she'd heard the Lion Voltron was doing a very good job of
bottling up the Doom Empire.
Jeff shook his head. "I can't tell you- orders- but trust me: you don't
want to know."
* * * * *
"Paul Drege, Pilot: Green Lion. Granted rank of Lieutenant Commander under
45021-pre:2-C. Confirmed."
Pidge cheered. "All right! A promotion!"
"Henry Firestone, Pilot: Yellow Lion. Granted rank of Lieutenant Commander
under 45021-pre:2-C. Confirmed."
"Sounds like we all got promotions, little buddy," Hunk said, ruffling the
young man's hair.
"Lancelot Aragorn, Pilot: Red Lion. Granted rank of Commander under
45021-pre:2-C. Confirmed."
"I'm catching up to ya, chief," Lance said, smirking at Keith. "There's no
WAY they promoted you to flag rank already."
"Keith Lockhart, Pilot: Black Lion. Command of Lion Voltron Forces.
Granted rank of Vice Admiral under 45021-pre:2-C. Confirmed."
Pidge whistled. "I think you were wrong, Lance- seems to me Keith is
pulling away from you."
"Not only did you get promoted to flag rank," Lance said, aghast. "You got
JUMPED to a three-star Admiral. How the hell did you DO that?"
"Allura, Princess of the Royal House of Arus, Pilot: Blue Lion. Granted
rank of Captain under 45021-pre:3-A, Special Order of Space Marshal's
Office. Confirmed," the computer said in monotone. The entire room was
startled at that statement- as far as they knew, Galaxy Garrison had never
formally recognized the Princess as the pilot of the Blue Lion, much less
given her a rank and official position.
"Keith, when-" she started to ask.
"I have no idea, Princess," he said. "Maybe that's what this is all about."
"Coran d'Orick. Prime Minister, Arus. Command and Control, Arus. Granted
rank of General, Planetary Forces, under 45021-pre:3-B, Special Order of the
Space Marshal's Office. Confirmed."
"Why did they make ME an officer?" Coran cried, startled.
The message cued up. "All identities required, confirmed. Play message
now?"
"Yes," Keith said. Coran keyed in the final code, and the message started
playing. Space Marshal Graham's stern face appeared on the screen, and his
recorded message started playing.
"Attention, Voltron force. I'm contacting you now to inform you of a number
of things. Most of them, you will not like- I doubt anyone but the Drule
will like most of them, but this is very important.
"First off, I have made Princess Allura's status in the Galaxy Garrison
official, with the rank of Captain. I'm also making you second in command
of the Lion Voltron Force, as Keith's reports seem to indicate your skills
have improved to allow you to fulfill this duty. I also gave promotions to
everyone in the Force- especially Keith. You may all think this is a good
thing, but you won't when you hear why I had to do it."
"It has to be something drastic to promote me to Vice Admiral," Keith said,
concerned. "I REALLY don't like this, guys."
"As of 1800, our time," Graham continued, "The Alliance Council has declared
Earth indefensible from Drule invasion, and half of the Alliance has
dissolved. We have loaded up a massive refugee fleet, and will be
abandoning the planet as soon as possible. All forces still under Galaxy
Garrison control will be rendezvousing here, at Earth command, within 24
hours. We will be immediately heading to your sector of the galaxy. From
there, we will move to utterly wipe out the Doom Empire, so as to allow for
us to withdraw our forces from that sector and then return to recover Earth.
"Your promotions are designed to give you official status when our forces
arrive. Keith, we're sending a complete list of our warships and their
capabilities along with this message. It will be your job to have a plan
ready when we get there- you know the situation in that sector better than
we do. Princess... this may mean you will have to leave Arus once Zarkon is
defeated. I... hope this will not be a permanent situation, but I doubt you
'll be willing to give up piloting Voltron, and that is the only other
option we know of. Further details, schematics, and additional orders
follow."
"Hell," Lance said, summing up what everyone else was thinking.
Keith looked at the frozen image of the Galaxy Garrison seal that appeared
on the screen when the message ended, thinking fast. He had a lot to plan,
and not all of it had to do with fleet tactics. "Allura... can I talk to
you privately for a moment?"
The Princess, still a little startled herself upon hearing her planet was
about to become the refuge for the capital of the Alliance, blinked. He'd
slipped and called her Allura again, but she could understand why. And she
decided she needed to talk to him, as well. "Of course, Keith."
The two of them disappeared into a nearby briefing room, closing the door
behind them. Hunk was the first to break the silence that remained. "If
Earth is gone... then we can't go home again."
Pidge shook his head. "I already lost my home, and made a new one here.
But EARTH... I mean, no-one on any planet has ever really thought Earth
would fall, even if the Alliance did. What happened?"
The com link beeped. "Coran, could you come in here for a minute? We need
you to be present for this," the Princess' voice erupted. "And see if you
can get Nanny up here, too."
"I'll be right there," Coran proclaimed, rushing into the briefing room with
as much dignity as he could muster after their shared shock. A few moments
later, Nanny came up to Castle Control and was directed to the briefing room
by Pidge.
"What do you think they're doing in there?" Pidge asked.
"Maybe they're thinking about how to feed all the refugees when they
arrive," Hunk suggested.
"Must you always think about food, Hunk?" Lance snapped, irritated.
"Hey! It's a valid concern!" the bulky pilot snapped back. "Besides, why
ELSE would they ask for Nanny to be there for discussions on these refugees
we're getting?"
A muffled feminine shout of "No way! I won't support this!" with Nanny's
distinctive trill echoed through the closed door.
"Whatever they're talking about, Nanny doesn't seem happy," Pidge commented.
"Earth has over seven billion people, Pidge," Hunk said. "Would you be
happy trying to decide on a meal for 7 billion?"
Nanny stormed back through the briefing room, causing all to stop and stare
at her. She had a look of unpleasant determination on her face, and
disappeared before they could ask her anything. A moment later, she
returned carrying a small box, and scurried back into the room with the
Princess, Coran, and Keith.
"You know, I think I've seen that box before," Hunk said, scratching his
chin in thought. "Down in the funeral shrine to the late Queen."
"Really?" Lance said, surprised. "I wonder what that means...."
Nanny returned a split second later, sighed, and motioned for the three to
come in. "We need witnesses for all of this," she said.
"All of what?" Lance asked, though he had his suspicions.
"The marriage of the Princess to... to that ruffian!"
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Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
anime fanfics available at
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