I make no claims to Voltron or any WEP characters.
Chapter Three
Lance sat in the pilot's seat of the Fractal doing his pre-flight checks. "God, I hate these things. It's no Lion…"
Duvessa giggled as she dropped into the co-pilot's seat. "No, certainly not a Lion, but much nicer than what I grew up flying," she agreed, turning to face the controls before her.
"Pidge done loading back there?" he asked, glancing over at her.
"Yes. And the test kit with samples of Keith's blood is safely stowed in the cold locker," she answered. She did a quick check on her controls and nodded. "I'm all set here, Lance."
"All right," he stated and smoothly launched the Fractal, taking them up out of the atmosphere swiftly. "So, what do we know about this planet we're meeting them on?"
"Cor'dada. It's an isolated planet, no known life forms. It could support life, but for some reason the planet is nothing but forests. From what I've read the Alliance has deemed it a sanctuary, to preserve it," Duvessa answered.
"Great. Means they might try to ambush us," Lance muttered.
"I know," Duvessa murmured, her hands stilling on the console before her. "There's a lot at risk here. Our lives. Keith's life. Whether this is really a cure or not. So much could go wrong, Lance." She turned her worried blue eyes towards him.
"Well, we've got our Voltcoms and I packed a couple extra blasters because of that crappy purple shit back in the back," he stated. He glanced over at her and smiled. "We'll be all right, Vessa."
Duvessa shook her head, a slight smile on her face. "Your use of foul language doesn't add up to the image of your typical prince, Lance."
Lance laughed at that, shaking his head. "Well, I'm not your typical prince," he agreed. "All right, course laid in. Cor'dada, here we come."
Duvessa relaxed into her seat as the drive engaged, knowing that this would be the easiest part of this mission.
Cor'dada shined like a massive blue and green jewel in the star system it orbited.
Duvessa carefully ran scan after scan. "Nothing. Only one ship orbiting the planet and it's one of Lotor's smaller transports." She looked back to the main view screen. "I hate to say this, Lance, but…it looks like it will be an honest trade off."
Lance shook his head. "Something still feels fishy to me, Vessa. This is too easy. Too smooth. Too…not dangerous."
She nodded in agreement. "I know. Let's keep our eyes and ears open for anything."
He nodded and moved the Fractal in to orbit the planet, awaiting further instructions from Lotor's ship.
"My Lord, they have arrived," Maahox radioed to Lotor's command ship, as the ship's systems indicated another ship entering orbit.
"About time," Lotor muttered. "Send them the landing instructions and then get on the ground to greet them. Once they're leaving, radio me to intercept."
"As you wish, My Lord," Maahox replied, sending the Fractal a set of coordinates on the planet's surface and then setting his own ship on a course to land.
"Well, here we go," Lance muttered as the coordinates locked into the computer and he began their decent into the atmosphere.
"My stomach is in knots," Duvessa whispered.
"Mine, too. And I know it isn't because of the food Hunk packed. He knows better than to give any of us food poisoning," Lance joked. He grimaced. "Sorry, I know that was bad…"
She grinned slightly. "I know. You were just trying to ease the tension a little."
Lance nodded. "Trying, but failing."
"Well, all things considered, it was a good attempt."
He chuckled. "Let's get this over with, shall we? Get your man back and get on with our lives," he muttered.
"That sounds like an excellent idea," she agreed.
They were silent the rest of the way down to the planet's surface.
"Welcome, our honored guests," Maahox purred as Lance and Duvessa exited the Fractal. "My what a pleasure it is to see the two of you."
Duvessa squared her shoulders, her chin high as she and Lance moved closer. She switched the test kit from one hand to the other nervously.
"You did bring my armor, yes?" Maahox asked.
"It's in the ship," Lance answered, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Ah. May I see it?"
Lance pushed a button on his Voltcom and the loading hatch on the Fractal opened, revealing the crates. "It's all there."
"Undamaged?"
"Undamaged," Lance affirmed with a nod. "Can we get on with this?"
"I'm guessing you're wanting to test the cure?" Maahox purred.
Duvessa nodded.
"This way," Maahox stated, waving towards a small table he had set up. He moved towards it.
Duvessa glanced up at Lance, who nodded and they slowly followed him.
"Oh, relax, you two. Nothing is going to happen here," Maahox assured them. "That armor and this cure is far too valuable for me to allow anything to transpire here."
"That's…reassuring," Lance muttered.
"Indeed it should be," Maahox answered, stopping on the far side of the table.
Duvessa set the kit on the table, opened it and pulled out the small vial of blood and the test reader.
Maahox carefully dispensed some of the cure and held it out to Duvessa, who held open the vial. He poured it into the blood and Duvessa closed the lid, gently shaking it. "It shouldn't take very long for you to see results," Maahox assured her. "Especially in that small of an amount."
Duvessa nodded and slipped the vial into the test reader and turned it on. The reader beeped as the test ran and the results appeared quickly after that. She nodded and looked to Lance. "It's the real thing," she whispered. "It will cure him."
Lance nodded. "Then let's get the Fractal unloaded," he stated.
Duvessa put the reader back into the kit, closed it and followed Lance to the Fractal. She put the kit away and quickly moved to help Lance unload the armor on it's hovercart.
They pushed the cart over to where Maahox stood, the vial of cure in his hand. "As promised," Duvessa stated. "All 112 pieces of armor."
"Oh, very good, you counted them," Maahox laughed. He held out the vial to her, smiling as she took it and held it carefully. "I do hope you have a very safe journey back to Arus," he purred. He took the cart and pushed it over to his ship.
Duvessa looked up at Lance.
"Get to the ship, get that stowed safely, start pre-flight," Lance whispered. "I'm going to follow, but watching for an ambush. I don't have a good feeling."
"Be careful," she answered. Then she turned and headed for the Fractal.
Lance slowly backed towards the Fractal, his eyes on the forests around them.
Duvessa stowed the cure in a suspension chamber. "We'll get you back, Keith. I promise," she whispered. She then moved to the cockpit, sitting in the co-pilot's chair, quickly running through the pre-flight checks.
Lance boarded, closing the hatch and quickly getting to the cockpit. "Ok, I'm really worried. There really is nothing out there, but Maahox and his ship."
She looked at him, concern in her eyes. "An honest exchange? For the real cure? This isn't like Doom."
"No, it's not. And we're vulnerable in this Fractal," Lance answered. "Good thing Hunk doctored the engines on it. She'll get us out of here in a hurry."
Duvessa frowned. "You don't think they'll ambush us on the way back to Arus, do you?"
Lance's blood froze at her words. "Shit, Vessa, they just might. Hang on tight. We're launching and I'm going to plot a roundabout course. It will take us longer to get back, but…"
Duvessa nodded. "I trust your instincts as much as Keith's," she answered. "Just let me know if I need to do anything."
Lance nodded and sent the Fractal rocketing into the atmosphere.
Maahox smiled as he watched the Fractal leave the planet. He radioed up to the command ship. "My Lord, they have just launched from the planet. You may fire at will," he laughed.
"Very good, Maahox. We will see you back on Doom," Lotor assured him.
Maahox launched and plotted a course straight for Doom and his workshop.
"Is it me, or did that seem way too easy?" Duvessa asked softly, watching her controls.
"It was too easy," Lance agreed. "And…I see why," he murmured.
Duvessa looked up and paled. "Oh, Gods…"
"Hang on, Vessa. This is going to get ugly fast," he muttered.
Duvessa punched in a quick message to Arus, letting them know they were being attacked by Lotor's armada. "I'm sending a signal to Arus. Maybe they can save us."
"If we're lucky and that signal gets through. I hope they're not jamming us," Lance stated and began evasive maneuvers as small fighters began engaging them.
Duvessa brought what few weapon systems the Fractal had online and began to pinpoint targets.
Lance grinned as a series of red dots began to appear on the main screen. "Reading my mind, Vessa?"
"Not really. Just what I would do in your place," she answered. "Weapons are activated."
Lance nodded and fired, taking out one of the nearest fighters. "What are our shields at?"
"Eighty percent and falling. We need to get out of here if we can," she answered as the ship rocked from a heavy blast.
"Yeah. I'm working on that," Lance quipped and aimed for some open space between a couple of fighters.
Another blast rocked the ship. "Fifty!" Duvessa stated. She looked to Lance, a feeling of dread knotting her stomach.
Lance made it past the fighters and into open space and gunned the engines. "Can you see if you can boost the shields?"
"You want shields or speed, I don't think I can give you both," she stated, her fingers flying over the console.
"Try to give me as much of both as you can," Lance answered. "Damn it, more are launching. We need to get the hell out of this system."
Duvessa punched a couple more buttons. "That's everything," she stated.
They managed to put some space between them and the fighters, and were almost out of the system when Lotor's command ship loomed up before them.
"Oh, hell," Lance muttered and took evasive action, forcing the Fractal closer to the outer most inhabited planet in the system.
Duvessa was out of her seat in an instant, moving back and ripping the cover off one of the power relay access points. She started what repairs she could to the fried systems and bypassing the ones she couldn't repair.
Lance grinned as more power went into the shields and engines, but he knew it was only a matter of time.
A massive blast jolted the shuttle and Duvessa hit the bulkhead hard. "Damn it," she muttered, shoving away from the wall and back to what she was doing.
Another blast rocked the ship and Lance cursed. "Hang on back there! We're going down on this planet!" he yelled as the Fractal entered the atmosphere.
Plasma burst from a conduit, slamming Duvessa into the bulkhead again, knocking her unconscious and to the floor.
Lance looked back. "Vessa? Shit," he muttered and focused on guiding the craft into the atmosphere. "Lotor wants us dead? Let's see if he believes this," he snarled and jettisoned some plasma, letting it explode behind the Fractal. He guided the Fractal down as carefully as he could, but it was still a very hard landing and he slammed his arm into the bulkhead and felt a sickening snap there as the ship came to a stop in a dense pine forest. "Damn it, not again," he muttered, tucking his arm close to his chest. He carefully climbed out of his seat and made his way back to Duvessa, checking her pulse and her head injury. He grabbed the medkit and tended to her wound before making a makeshift sling for his own arm. He sighed and looked around the ship. "We can't stay here. If my little light show didn't fool them, we need to get out of here."
Duvessa groaned softly and Lance knelt down beside her. "Vessa?"
"Lance? What…happened?" she asked, her blue eyes slowly opening.
"We crash landed," Lance stated. "Look, I tried to fool Lotor with an explosion before we landed, but he might not believe it, so we need to get out of here. Can you get up?"
Duvessa tried to sit up. "Oh, Goddess," she moaned, rolled away from him and put her head back on the floor. "Oh, I'm going to be sick."
Lance frowned. "Oh, crap, please don't have a concussion."
"What…is a concussion?"
"Head injury. A bad one that makes you feel sick, dizzy, and your eyesight blurry."
Duvessa slowly nodded. "I've got all three."
"Shit," Lance muttered. He looked around the ship, got up, grabbed a couple of bags, stuffed one with food, the other with the medkit, the cure, and emergency shelter. He slung them over his bad arm and head, then reached down, pulling her up. "We've got to move, Vessa, so you're going to have to suck it up."
She leaned heavily on him, but she nodded. "I'll do my best, Lance," she panted.
"Good," he stated and opened the hatch, stepping out into the cold. "Good grief, winter is here." His Voltcom produced his armor.
Duvessa's armor flashed into existence. "We will need to find shelter soon," she whispered. "We don't need to overtax our Voltcoms. We may need them."
"Yeah, I still have the blaster on me. You?"
She nodded. "Yes. I think."
"Good, then we can use that, too. Let's get moving," he stated and they started off through the snowy forest.
They had walked a few hours before they found a sheltered area where they wouldn't be easily spotted from above or from the ground. Two sides of the area were rock faces, the rest thick trees. Lance helped her lean against a tree, then dropped the bags beside her. "I'm going to get the shelter set up. Can you find wood for a fire?"
"Will it draw them to us?" Duvessa asked.
"I hope not. I think we're far enough away, but either way, we need to stay warm. Find the wood," Lance answered.
She nodded carefully and moved to the thick trees, hoping to find some dry branches and wood for the fire.
Lance pulled the shelter out, set it on the ground and started setting it up. It was slow going with only one arm.
Twenty minutes later, Lance had the shelter up and Duvessa had a decent supply of wood stacked.
"Ok. I'm going to start this fire. I want you to get those bags into the shelter and keep this going. Don't fall asleep, but stay warm and out of sight," Lance instructed.
She looked up at him. "What?"
"I'm going back to the ship, grab a few more things if I can," Lance stated.
"But, it's almost dark," she argued.
"Yeah, and I have a feeling it will start snowing, which will hide our tracks, but I need to go grab some more stuff and I can move a lot faster than you can right now," he stated, piling up some wood and setting it ablaze with his Hot Hands.
"But, you can't bring back a lot because of your broken arm," she insisted.
"I know, but it's going to get cold and if I can get us a few creature comforts that will keep us alive and warm, I'll do it. Keep that cure safe, Vessa," Lance ordered, getting back to his feet.
She nodded. "Hurry back and be careful."
He grinned. "Trust me, I'll be back before you know it," he answered and disappeared into the growing dusk.
She watched him go, the sounds of the forest seemingly loud in his absence.