KathDMD - You probably won't find anything on Soltorn this week...but it's coming. You will see a bit of Mike's backstory, and it was fun to write. But I think you'll be more impressed to see a few characters that have been sitting in the background a while...
Author's Note - I was so motivated to work on this for the sole reason of the theme music for this song. If you haven't done so already, do it. It defines JC and Roxy perfectly...perhaps even mirroring my own life in the process.
Theme Music : "Kiss" by Korn
Disclaimer - Voltron and all associated characters are the property of WEP. Space Marshall Lenora Hawkins and associated characters are the property of KathDMD. Lieutenant Lysette Fabrere and associated characters are the property of selena devargo.
Episode 81 : "Kiss"
JC and Roxy fought with the controls, and the ships each hit the ground and skidded along the surface of Quantus, coming to a halt shortly afterwards.
"Flack!" he shouted. He looked over the panels and noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head and saw a small monitor gauging repairs. "A self-repair system?" He noticed that the plans were more of a patch than a fix, and looked over the rest of his gauges before climbing out of his ship. Roxy did the same, and as soon as her feet toughed the ground, she turned, and their eyes met.
"It looks like Chip installed some sort of self-repair system," she muttered.
"Lucky us," JC replied.
"If you would have followed my lead like I told you…" she started to say.
"Truvall," JC replied, "I am the Force Leader. There's a reason I came up with that strategy."
"You just want to be oppositional," she snapped. "You men are all alike."
"Since when have I ever given you that impression?" he asked. "You're the one with the problem, not me!"
"Arguing with you is the most pointless thing in the universe!" she scowled. "You don't listen to me anyway! The only think you think with is your…."
"That's not true and you know it!" he snapped back. "In case you didn't notice, it was YOU who started getting physical in the first place!"
"Me?" she screamed. "You made me believe you were different! That I could let my guard down! And the moment I did you took advantage of it!"
"Life isn't some sort of flacking test, Truvall!" JC shouted back. "This isn't some game!"
"Good!" she shouted, "'Cause I'm not playing!" Without warning, Drule troops came from all sides and began firing on them. "Snart!" Blaster fire came at her, and JC blocked it with his swords.
"Take cover in the ship," he said.
"And let you make yourself to be some gallant and selfless hero?" she asked, forming pistols in her hands. "Get bent, Grend." She fired back, taking out several more with her deadly aim.
"Are you seriously arguing over your safety?" he asked, blocking a shot, and swiping at two more soldiers.
"Are you seriously forgetting your promise?" she snapped back, firing off several more rounds.
"I was under the impression you were making it null and void!" JC replied, fighting off more soldiers.
"Well I'm not!" she shouted back.
"In that case," JC replied, giving her a look, "try to keep up." He ran into the crowd, swinging his swords madly. She followed closely, switching her guns to charged fists. It a matter of moments, the approaching battalion was decimated. The two stood back to pack, and slowly put away their weapons.
"This doesn't change anything," Roxy said, breathing heavy.
"Good," JC replied. "Love me or hate me, you're still stuck with me. I'm not going anywhere."
"Wishful thinking," she muttered under her breath.
"Let's get back to the ships to see if the temporary repairs are finished," JC said. "I don't know how long the others will hold out against that attack fleet."
Commander Stormclaw sat at his desk and looked down at the envelope staring back at him. He beathed a sigh as he read the handwriting on the front again….
Stasia
Captain Brown walked into the office as the Commander picked up the evelope.
"Sir," he said, "we've just received word that there has been an attack on Quantus!" The words didn't seem to reach his mind as he continued to stare at the envelope, as if he were trying to read the paper inside with his mind. "Sir, did you hear me? Sir?"
"Why am I doing this?" Mike said to himself. "Isn't it enough she chose him over you? I'm probably going to make a fool of myself." He continued driving as fast as he could, coming to a stop in front of a packed church. He got out of his car and made his way through the crowd in the back.
"I can't let her do this," he said to himself. "She has to know how I still feel about her. She has to hear it, and know it. I can't…" He pushed through the crowd and made it to the back of the church, then stood on his tip toes to see over the crowd.
"By the power vested in me by the State of Louisiana," the priest said, "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride." The people clapped as Edward raised the veil over Stasia's head, looked into her eyes and leaned in to kiss her. She seemed hesitant at first, but closed her eyes and allowed it to happen. Mike watched in horror as the love of his life slipped away before his eyes….and nothing he could say would change that. He knew it.
"There's nothing I can do now," he said softly to himself. "He's won." Defeated, he turned and made his way out of the church. Placing his hands in his pockets, he slowly and solemnly made his way back to his car. Before getting in, he looked one last time at the church, the crowd, and the seemingly happy couple emerging from the wedding.
"I don't think I'll ever get over this," he said softly to himself, then got into the car, and drove away. He took one last look as he drove by…she didn't see him, but Mike could catch the look of pure evil in Edward's eyes as he passed them. The car drove off into the distance.
"This is only the beginning," the words mouthed by Edward into Stasia's ear, and the last thing Mike saw as he drove away.
"Sir?" Captain Brown asked again. "Are you alright?" Mike snapped out of his trance and looked up at the captain.
"Yes," he replied, albeit slightly bewildered. His age was beginning to show, but he had every right to feel as out of sorts as he was. "You were saying something about Quantus?"
"The mines are under attack, Commander," he replied. "The Voltron Force engaged them, but two of their ships went down."
"I want reinforcements out there immediately!" he exclaimed. "Have Stebbins put the Bogart on standby. I want you to take the Legacy out to Quantus with a fleet of robot fighters to assist the Voltron Force!"
"Yes, Sir!" Brown said with a salute, then left the office. Mike opened up the com.
"Space Marshall," he said, "there's trouble on Quantus. I'm sending the Legacy to assist the Voltron Force. I also need to talk with you about taking a short leave of absence."
"We have to do something!" Dariana shouted. She tried hard to concentrate, hoping Kovinx would have a solution to all this, but none came. She felt scared, and alone.
"Pull it together, Kovinx!" Tails shouted. "JC and Roxy are tough. We need to keep working as a team. I analyzed JC's attack strategy. There is a seventy-five percent chance of success if we continue. But we can raise that if we follow pattern delta and attack the command ship on the return trip, similar to what Roxy suggested."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Seth asked.
"Alright," Tails shouted. "Swing around after this last pass and switch to attack pattern delta. Standard weapons array. On the return, bring out the big guns and focus fire on the main engines of their command ship." The three jets swung around and formed a triangular pattern and rapidly fired, taking out a few dozen robot fighters. As they looped around to continue the attack, Green launched a set of green axes, Blue fired several Frost Bolts, and Yellow fired charged shots at the command ship, taking out one of their main engines.
"What's happening?" Kala asked angrily.
"The remaining Voltron ships have destroyed one of our main engines, Commander!" one of the officers said. "What do you want us to do?" She clenched her fists.
"I was hoping to save this for a backup," she said, "but I have no choice. Send out the Prototype. Marshall Wade will not be happy if this fails." The cargo bay doors opened, and a mechanical beast with drill arms, similar to the Wade-Bots, emerged.
"Oh, snart," Tails said.
"Incoming robeast!" Seth shouted.
"It looks like the repairs are done," JC said. "Systems are operational."
"Then let's stop talking and get back into the air!" Roxy snapped back. They activated their voltcoms, but the jets did not power on. The engines remained silent. "What the flack?"
"I can't get it to power on," JC said, frantically pushing buttons.
"Neither can I," she replied. "What the heck did you do?"
"What makes you think I had anything to do with this?" he asked.
"You're the cause of all the trouble in my life at the moment, Grend!" she snapped. JC hit the com button.
"McGovern, Derringer, Kovinx, can you hear me?" he asked.
"A little busy up here, boss," Tails replied. "We got ourselves a robeast."
"A robeast?" JC asked.
"Yeah," she replied. "Are you and Roxy alright?"
"Define alright," Roxy muttered.
"We can't get the engines to start!" JC said. "Everything looks operational, but it won't start!"
"Something is clearly broken!" Roxy snapped.
"That's the first thing I totally agree with you on, Truvall," he snapped back. "Something definitely IS broken!"
"You're broken!" Dariana shouted through the com. There was a dead silence. "You're broken! JC is broken! Roxy is broken! The team is broken! Don't you get it? You're broken!"
"The connection to the ships," Tails said softly. JC and Roxy stared at one another intently on the monitors, and through the silence, something happened. JC turned off the com and climbed out of Black. Roxy reluctantly did the same. Moments later they were face to face.
"I'm not going anywhere," he said to her. "These ships aren't going anywhere without one another, and I can't go anywhere without you."
"Why do we have to be so difficult?" she said, nearly collapsing as tears started falling down her cheeks.
"Because we are," he replied. "I love you, Aroxia Truvall. That goes deeper than any argument, any struggle, and any ghost of our past. Nothing will ever change that."
"And I love you, Jonathan Carter Grend," she replied. "I love you so damn much…" She fell into his arms, and he held on to her…because she needed to fall apart. He slowly lifted her face to meet his gaze, then kissed her. Their tears mingled together, and she kissed him back. Suddenly, they felt the ground rumble as the engines started. They broke their kiss and turned to see their ships humming in perfect harmony with one another.
"I go, you go," he said, placing his palm against hers. "We go together."
"Together," she said. They smiled, then raced to the ships. Climbing in, they took off into the air.
"There's still a lot of damage," JC said. She smiled.
"It'll get fixed," she replied. She looked down at the scanners. "There is one thing we need to do."
"What's that?" he asked.
"There," she said. "We need to destroy those caves. That's where the Drules were hiding their ground forces." They locked on their weapons.
"Together," he said. They both fired, and the cave entrances exploded, caving in, and leaving a huge cloud of dust.
"Now let's get back to the others," Roxy said. "Voltron's got a robeast to slay."
"Yes ma'am," JC replied with a smile, and the jets took off towards the battle.
"That thing's got a stange power source," Tails said.
"It's not a Dark Nexus though," Dariana replied. "I don't feel any dark energy."
"Can we stop it?" Seth asked, avoiding the beast swinging at him.
"Not without Voltron we can't," Tails replied.
"Someone call for Voltron?" JC asked.
"Hey Grend," Roxy said, "if they want Voltron, I say we give 'em Voltron."
"Ready to form Voltron!" JC shouted. "Activate Interlocks! Dynotherms connected! Infracells up! Megathrusters are go!"
"Let's go Voltron Force!" they shouted. The ships moved into wing formation, then switched to start formation as the energy field took hold.
"Form feet and legs!" JC shouted. "Form arms and torso! And I'll form the head!" Voltron ached back as the energy field dissipated, his eyes lighting up with power.
"McGovern, you take the lead," JC shouted.
"Form Blazing Axes!" she shouted. A pair of glowing green throwing axes appeared. "Setting aim….one nine five zenith twenty-five degrees…firing!" Voltron threw the axes, and they flew by the robeast, but cut through two hoses near the back of its neck.
"A little teamwork," JC said. "Dari and Seth, power up all thrusters to full. Roxy…"
"Way ahead of ya, Grend!" she replied. She connected her Voltcom to the console, and Voltron flew right at the beast, hitting it head on with a fast punch that sent it flying backwards and spinning out of control.
"He's weakening!" Tails shouted. "Our power levels made an unexpected jump!"
"Form Blazing Sword!" JC shouted. Red reached over and met green at Voltron's hip, pulling away and forming the energy beam that then formed the sword. "We go together!"
"Speed Boost!" Roxy shouted, the remaining energy from her Voltcom supercharging Voltron. He took off at the beast once again at full speed and swung violently, slicing through it at least eight times within several seconds. As Voltron came to a halt, the beast fell apart and exploded.
"We did it!" Tails shouted.
"They destroyed the robeast!" the officer said. "But our readings show their power levels are fluctuating!"
"Then open fire!" Kala ordered. "Blast them apart!" Just as the command ship powered on its weapons, they felt the ship rocked with enemy fire. "What's the meaning of this?"
"An Alliance ship is approaching with robot fighters!" the officer exclaimed. Their ship is opening fire on us!"
"We don't have the resources now to deal with Voltron and that fleet!" Kala said. "We will have to retreat…for now." The ship turned, and engaged hyperdrive, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
"Lieutenant Grend," Captain Brown said, "is your team ok?" JC and Roxy smiled.
"We're fine," JC replied.
"Feel free to dock aboard the Legacy," Brown said. "Sergeants Katz and Karateya are aboard to assist with any needed repairs." Voltron separated, and the jets made their way back to the Legacy.
The team stood together in the lounge, enjoying drinks, and looking out over Quantus.
"Everything alright with you two?" Seth asked JC and Roxy.
"We're a team," JC replied. He looked over at Roxy, who was frowning at first, then nodded with a smile. "Everything's good."
"Good," Seth replied. Dariana walked up to them.
"We're fixed," she said softly.
"Yeah, Dari," Roxy replied, "we're fixed."