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Chapter Three

On Planet Doom…

The prince stares out the main bay window in the throne room. On the grounds below, slaves are being dragged into the bowels of the palace. The sounds of torture and pain give him a perverse thrill; nothing else in the universe can do that but the one thing that he has not achieved…the only thing that would make this all worthwhile is that final conquest; Planet Arus and its beautiful princess...

Allura… just thinking of her name causes his body to react violently, but he refuses to take care of the condition…this time. Trying to find a proper substitute is getting to be boring and it never lives up to the fantasy anyway. He sighs and pounds his hand on the windowsill. This has to end! Lotor turns around and looks toward the other end of the room; staring at the figures now entering. Haggar and his father are deep into a discussion and Lotor snarls. This is not the time for dawdling…we have to implement this plan and now! I will not wait any longer…

"Father, Haggar…are we ready to start the operation?"

The old witch looks at him quizzically and smiles. She always knew he would eventually start to act like this, but she at least thought he could keep it under control around his father. Anxiously, she waits to hear Zarkon speak on her behalf. "The subject will be sent by the end of the week; with all that has been done up until now, what is a few more days?"

Lotor knows his father is doing this to aggravate him. The true meaning of the plan has been kept from him, knowing that he would completely disagree with it. He was shown all that he needed to see and that was enough for him. The plan was spelled out to him by Haggar and she is known for her ways of persuasion. Yes, this will work…it has to.

The only thing to be done now is to put it in motion. Patience… he tells himself; that is the only way he can succeed with his plan. That and making sure that the old witch doesn't decide to change her loyalties again.

Haggar looks at the handsome prince and sighs. She remembers what it felt like to be wanted, and it was a feeling that she reveled in…until the dark magic she worshipped began to take their toll on her beauty. The shriveled up shell of a woman she is now was the price she had to pay to be this evil; to have the ability to conjure up the dark spirits that do her bidding. Yes, Zarkon has always thought her an asset, but his moods as well as his alliances changed with the wind. The only way she could keep a hold on the royal family is to keep playing both sides of the fence; when one was triumphant, she consoled the loser. When the loser got revenge, she applauded the effort. It was a dangerous dance she played, but to gain what she really wanted she had to go along with it…

Her mind meandering halts when she listens to Zarkon try to appease his son. As of late, he doesn't hold his son in too high of a regard; he has even had him locked up for disobeying him, but he knows Lotor can be as ruthless as he ever could and has the conquests to prove it. It's the Planet Arus and that damnable princess that have been the bane of his existence for years now. The inconceivable obsession his son has for her has been his Achilles' heel since he returned from his two year campaign. Until Lotor is able to purge this distraction from his system, he won't be any good for the empire. She smirks as she hears the king tell Lotor when the plan will be started.

"I am not completely sure what exactly you are trying to do, but the general idea is a sound one. The end of the week will be good enough."

"But Father…"

Zarkon holds up a purple claw to stop him. "But Father nothing. You will do as I command…and in the meantime I will have the time to see what this agent is like."

The witch speaks up then, "Sire, there is no need. We don't want the agent to know anymore than is necessary to fulfill his mission. We don't want any distraction from his set course and meeting you may ruin what we have created." Zarkon's face hardens as he says, "What do you mean, you old hag?"

Sensing the anger welling up in him and feeling the possibility of having him completely destroy their carefully concocted plan, Haggar soothes his ego gently. "Sire, we have provided the agent with all the training and information that he needs, what use will it be to see what he can never be? This agent is special, as you well know, and we have to treat him as such. We don't know exactly what to expect, which is what makes him perfect for the given task."

Seeing him nod gives her an ounce of relief. He will leave this alone for now, but the time table must be moved up before his curiosity gets the best of him again. For once, Lotor has the right idea and she has to speak to him in private to get the operation moving.

"Prince Lotor, we have to move quickly. Your father is getting too inquisitive and he may find out things that we don't want him to know." Haggar has summoned the prince into her laboratory to have this discussion. This is the one place that Zarkon seldom visits so they can talk freely. Lotor stares into the eerie mists that rise up from a large abyss in the back of her lab. "I already know this, witch. The problem is what do we do? He will question launching the agent before the day he specified…"

"Not if I can come up with a good enough reason," she supplies as she absently strokes her devil cat, Coba. She stands; placing Coba on a chair beside some standing candelabras. She moves over to a table and lifts a small vial to present to Lotor. "One little drop of this and he'll be eating out of my hands just long enough to set the plan in motion." Placing it back on the table, Haggar looks at Lotor and the lustful expression crossing his features. "But remember, he has a tolerance to my magic and the time span that he will be under my influence will be shorter than usual." He smiles evilly as he moves over to take the vial. "How long do we have?"

"At the most, a half an hour."

He nods, "Then we must move quickly. Have everyone at standby and when I give the signal, send the agent. Once we have them off Planet Doom, my father will not have a chance to call it back." He looks at the vial again. "Then, we will control the mission."

Haggar smiles, this is the prince she was hoping for, but the obsessed young man still won't let go of his fantasy. "Arus and the princess will be mine."

"Take care, Prince, we still have a measure of uncertainty as far as the agent goes. We have to proceed slowly."

He looks back at her, "Noted. But we will not fail…"

Lotor heads down the hall to his father's living chamber. Unlike him, his father takes no pleasure in the slaves that they have in the dungeons. In his youth, he did, but something happened back then that completely changed him; made him an even harder emperor. Lotor has to smile; there is nothing wrong with the level of cruelty his father has now, he just has to learn to take some pleasure in all the pain caused. Thinking of the plan to deceive the king has him in an unusually joyous mood. He again looks at the vial and smiles, quickly placing it in the edge of his sleeve. Any chance to get one over on the great King Zarkon is definitely worth it to be able to show the leaders of the Drule Empire who should really be in command.

He turns the corner and heads in the room. The lights are low and there is a foul stench in the air; the normal atmosphere for his father. It must be the human side of him that is attracted to the finer things and can't tolerate the dreary existence which most Drules enjoy. "Father, I'm here to go over the final preparations."

Zarkon is resting on the large bed in the middle of the room. Dark shades cover the windows and sinister-looking candelabras surround them. The room looks ancient; not worthy of a king with so much technology at his command, but this is how he has always been…and what Lotor hates the most about him. He finally takes the time to answer his son. "The preparations can wait for another day. This is not something that should be hurried, and I won't be, regardless of what you may think."

Lotor bites his tongue at the sharp retort that comes to his lips. He just has to appease him for a little bit longer; just long enough for him to get the potion into his nightly ale. Swallowing his pride he returns, "Of course, you are right…Father. I just wanted to get this out of the way, so that we might turn our attentions to other matters."

"And what could they possibly be? Nothing is more important right now than the conquest of Arus." Zarkon stands and moves over to a control panel. Pressing the intercom button, he commands, "Bring me Tylusian ale." Lotor stares at him incredulously, all this time, and he has yet to look his son in his face. The thoughts of arrogance flood his conscience. How dare he just ignore him like this? Soon……soon the prince thinks.

Moving over to a high-backed chair, he sits and stares at the back of his father's head, then staring at the wicked sword that's mounted on the wall above the fireplace. How would it feel to slide that blade into his father's chest? A sly smile crosses his lips, savoring the sadistic thoughts of watching the life's blood flow from his father's body into the cracks along the throne room floor. Coldly, he imagines his ascension to the throne…with Allura at his side; willing or not. Lost in his own musings, Lotor doesn't notice his father staring at him intently. "Why are you really here, Lotor? Are you here to try to convince me to move up the timetable?"

Lotor shakes his head, returning to the present. "No."

"Then why?" He's spared an answer by the maid that brings Zarkon a large bottle of a red liquid and a glass. Seeing his chance, Lotor stands quickly and moves over to where the maid leaves the tray and pours the liquid for his father. He takes a peek over at him and sees that Zarkon has turned his attention to the beautiful slave that brought him his nightly brew. He pulls the vial from his sleeve and empties it into the glass. Shaking the glass to make sure that the potion is dissolved properly, he takes it over to where his father is trying unsuccessfully to coerce the young maid to return later. He is such a disappointment… Lotor thinks as he taps Zarkon on the shoulder to get his attention. "What is it?"

"Your drink, Father."

He grabs the glass and quickly drains the contents. This couldn't have worked out any better than if he held him down and poured the drink down his throat. It shouldn't be long now…
Suddenly, Zarkon wobbles, like he's drunk and Lotor feigns concern. "Are you okay? Do you need to lie down?"

The king can't form any words and he helplessly follows his son to the bed. Placing him down and continuing to watch the effects, Lotor smiles again; seeing his father fall over and pass out.

He pulls his communicator and alerts Haggar. "Send the agent. The king is indisposed." Laughing maniacally, he heads out the room and tell the guard at the end of the hall. "The king doesn't want to be disturbed. Make sure that no one enters."

The guards nod and turn back to their sentry duty. Lotor makes his way to the launch bay area to accompany the agent on their mission. He enters just in time to see the agent enter the cockpit of the fighter that they confiscated from a caravan from Arus. Haggar observes; not saying anything other than instructing the soldiers to make sure that the long range sensors can't pick up on where the vessel will be coming from. "Are we ready?" asks the prince as he places his helmet on and prepares to board.

"Do you think this is a good idea? You shouldn't be anywhere near there." Haggar says as she grabs her gnarled staff and enters behind him. Lotor turns to look at her and then he goes back to inspecting the interior of the ship. "There is no way I'm going to pass this up."

"My prince, I am fully capable of performing this task, alone."

He chuckles, "I believe you can, but I want to see it happen. I want to see my first step toward Arus's surrender."

"Just remember that we have to be back here in an hour, because that is how long we have before he comes to." Lotor completely ignores her and continues his pre-flight check. Haggar just shakes her head and settles in her seat behind the cockpit. Lotor makes the final checks, then he powers up the ship to take off. The loud blast fills the bay and some of the unwitting soldiers get in the way of the rockets, their bodies melting in the high temperature flames. The ship heads out the bay and towards Arus…