Another Time
(working title)
Note: Voltron and its characters are owned by World Events Productions. All OC characters are owned by me. No reproduction of this story is allowed without permission. Please do not sell or claim this story as your own.
Setting: Takes place in Lion Voltron DoTU universe, shortly after the last episode of the 2nd season.
-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#
Chapter 6: A Wrinkle
-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#
"It has to be here!" Balthos yelled as he stood before a large rock face, balling his hands into fists as he stared at it. "Haggar said it would be right here!"
"My lord, do you think that we didn't come at the right instance of time?" Mondo asked as he stepped forward.
Balthos shook his head, looking around . "No, this is the time she said we would be able to locate that source," he seethed.
"My lord, here," another Doom soldier called out.
Balthos walked over to where the soldier was standing and looked at what he was "poking" at. Slowly with the knife he held, a seam in the rock face started to reveal itself and soon, an outline of what seemed to be a door of some sort started to form.
Balthos pushed the guard away as he clapped his hands together, and uttered a small incantation. Slowly the rock and dust cleared away from the section, revealing a large metallic door for all to see.
"That sly old bastard king," Balthos stated. "He already knew about the source, but never used it?" He turned to his men. "Get this door open. That power source will soon be ours."
-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#
"There is nothing in this journal," Allura said as she turned to Coran. The Voltron Force, along with Thalaissa were seated in the small conference room, as they contemplated on what they would do next, and hope to beat Balthos to finding the power source that Thalaissa had described to them. "Though, I think Pidge and Hunk would find it useful in their future endeavors when we do get it fully translated from Arusian. There is a lot of pre-final schematics that my father illustrated before finalizing them for the build of Voltron, but they could provide useful information."
Pidge slowly nodded. "Princess, your father only kept that one journal?"
Allura and Coran slowly nodded. "King Alfor was very careful of what exactly he wanted to be know when he was having our defender built," Coran stated as he stood. "And we also have to remember, that Voltron is a combination of science and magic, which is why the Lions work as they do."
"I've gone through the journal twice, and cannot find a single mention of how he decided to power Voltron," Allura said. "It's as if he wanted to keep that information a secret; as if he knew that if that information got into the wrong hands, like King Zarkon or any of the Drule factions, they could use it against us."
"Which is what happened in my time," Thalaissa added. "Someone must have told Haggar about this power source, otherwise, how did she know about it?"
Coran slowly closed his eyes as he thought to himself. "Alfor wasn't the only one who knew," he said after a moment's time. "There were two others who did."
Allura turned to him. "Who?"
"Your mother, Allura," Coran stated then met her gaze. "and Ethian."
Allura's eyes opened wide as she looked at him. "How, could that be possible?"
The rest of the force looked to her and Coran, wondering who the second person Coran stated was. Before Keith could ask the question, Lance piped up and asked the question that they were all wanting to be asked.
"Uh, who is Ethian?"
Allura turned to the Red Lion Pilot, and they watched as her shoulders slowly slumped and she looked down at the table before her.
"Ethian was one of the many scientists who worked on the building of Voltron," she said as she looked up at Lance again. "But he was also a soldier, a Lion Knight." She then turned to Keith. "And the original pilot of Black Lion."
#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#
The lone figure watched from high up on a tree branch as the Drule Soldiers try to open the steel door hidden in the rock face. He watched as their leader stood to the side, barking orders to get that door open so he can get to that source he was looking for.
He breathed in deeply before looking to the sky. He loaded an arrow into the bow he carried as he. He had been watching this area for a while now, waiting for the Drules to appear, and as luck would have it, his trap was ready. Now to initiate the plan so that the Voltron Force could stop these Drules, before they alter the already damaged timeline. Quietly, he climbed up the tree he was in, standing above the tree line, he could see the Castle of Lions off in the distance. He looked behind him at the top of the rock face, where he had attached a long wire. The wire was then attached to the end of the arrow he was holding, as he strung his bow with it.
Breathing in deeply, he aimed this arrow toward and unseen target. He hoped that this would be enough to bring attention to what these Drules were up to.
#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#
Coran slowly brought up the Castle's archive on the computer in the Conference room, and displayed a file on the screen before them. There it displayed the picture of a young man with red hair, who looked no older than they were.
"Ethian was the only person from the original Voltron Force team, that Alfor would trust with any secrets that he had," Coran stated. He then looked to Lance and smiled. "He was a lot like you, Lance. Strong headed, stubborn, but damn he was a genius. I have to take that back. He was a lot like Lance and Pidge rolled into one person. There wasn't a thing that Alfor did, unless he got some sort of agreement from Ethian. Alfor would always state that it was because of Ethian's dual heritage. He was part Tarsian."
"He was from Tarsa?" Pidge asked as he stood. "That's the sister planet to Balto."
Coran nodded and continued "But that fateful day when Haggar split Voltron, we lost all the members of the original Voltron Force." Coran stated. "I know that we barely spoke to all of you on who they were, but ..."
Coran changed the display to show the five original members. "Ethian was the pilot of Black Lion; Freysa and Lesara were the pilots of Red and Green respectively; and Colan and Namiko were the pilots of Blue and Yellow. All were Lion Knights who served under King Alfor to their very last breath. We have always believed that when Haggar split Voltron as she did, that they lived long enough to make sure that none of the Lion ships would be damaged upon their impact.
"We never told anyone this, but soon after the Lions crashed on Arus, after Zarkon's forces decimated the Castle of Lions and most of Arus' resources, I organized a scouting party to see if we could locate them and if there were any survivors.
"We were able to find the bodies of all but one of them," Coran said. "Ethian's body was never found. Black Lion, though buried under the Castle grounds, we were still able to get to it. Ethian was not in it."
"Do you think that Haggar was able to transport him out of the lion before she split Voltron?" Pidge asked
Coran could only nod. "After hearing what Thalaissa had stated, I started to think on exactly how Haggar would come to know about the power source," he said. "It only started to make sense as a possibility when Allura read the journal."
Allura turned to Thalaissa. "Have you seen or heard of this man?" she asked. "Did Haggar, Balthos or your brother mention him at all?"
Thalaissa looked at the screen before her as she slowly stood. She walked over to it, studying the image of the young man. She placed her hand against the cold glass of the screen then her hand went to her mouth as she let out a gasp.
"Yes," she said after a moment. "In the name of Arysia, yes. He's much older now, but its his eyes. I recognize those eyes anywhere."
"Who was he to you?" Coran asked.
"He was one of the slaves that you saved from a slave ship from Doom to one of the Drule annexed planets," she said. "Aeryn often spent a lot of time with him, and I never knew why. He said his name was Farren. We always thought that he was little, out there, but we thought it was due to the time he spent as a slave on Doom." Thalaissa then thought to herself. "Though now, it doesn't seem so strange that he knew a lot about Voltron."
Thalaissa then studied the man again. "Oh my...Aeryn you son of..." she then turned to the Voltron Force. "I know what they are after!"
Before she could elaborate, a sudden explosion followed by long rumble that shook the Castle, which caused the Castle alarms to sound. Coran immediately jumped on the computer calling to Castle control
"What just happened?"
[Sir, we've detected several explosions coming from Sector 124,] – a castle guard replied. [Satellites are picking a disturbance near Mount Kastro. A part of the mountain has collapsed.]
Coran nodded and looked to the force. "We'll pick this up after we see what happened."
"Coran is it alright if I accompany the force, it could be Balthos' forces trying to locate the Power source" Thalaissa stated.
Coran looked to Keith.
Keith slowly nodded. "You will ride with Pidge," he stated then turned to their youngest pilot. "Keep at a distance and only engage if a problem presents itself. Work with Thalaissa on if you can locate whatever it is they're after."
Pidge nodded as he turned to Thalaissa "So, first time in a Lion?"
#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#
"Show yourself!" Balthos yelled as he extricated himself from the pile of rubble that now blocked the large door they were trying to open. "Why hide like a coward!?"
When there was no no answer, Balthos turned to the remaining Drule Soldiers. "Scour the forest, find that bastard and bring him to me!"
The Drule soldiers nodded and headed into the forest. Balthos turned around to the rock face, seeing that the large door was now blocked by several tons of rock, boulders and debris. He then turned to Mondo
"Bring the asset here," he said. "I'm tired of playing these games."
#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#
The lone figure bounded down the tree he was in and as he did so, saw the Drule Soldiers flood the the forest he was in. He stuck to the trees, then climbed up another one as he heard several loud mechanical objects fly above him. He smiled to himself when he saw the Voltron Lion slowly approach the area, flying safely above the forest canopy before they touched down.
He pulled up the hood on the cloak he was wearing, and reached down into the shirt he wore. He pressed a button on the small pendant he wore, before bounding down the tree, jumping to the next one. He hoped the Drule Soldiers were too confused as to what was happening and would be lost in the forest for some time, before they could return. In the mean time, he would use this opportunity to see if he could get to that door, before Balthos could.
#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#
"Anything out of the ordinary?" Keith asked as he surveyed the forest and the mountain from where he was.
[Small detection of lazon based explosives,] Pidge quickly answered. [I'm not detecting any Drules or humanoid presence however.]
Keith slowly nodded. "Lance, you and Hunk search the forest see if there is anything out of place. Allura, you and Pidge land close by, but be careful. I'll continue to monitor from here. The explosion came from the South Face, so check there."
[Roger,] they answered in unison.
"And Pidge, let Thalaissa guide you to where she thinks the source could be," Keith stated. "If this Balthos is nearby, he's going to be watching your every move. Try not to give away anything."
[Understood.]
Keith then looked at the comlink, but before cutting the link to Blue Lion, he kept her link open. "Allura, be careful."
Allura's image then appeared on the screen before him. [Will do, Captain,] she answered. [You do the same.]
#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#
TBC
-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#