Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron or any of its characters.

All errors belong to me alone. ;-D

Sequel to "Saved from the Queen by the Princess." You don't have to read that one first, but events are referenced from the story.

Setting/Rating: Setting is DotU but none of the events took place. I just picture them as 80s DotU and none of the stuff from VF has occurred. Rating is T for kissing and mild violence in later chapters.

Chapter 6

Pulling away from Lar and standing, Allura spat at him, "You are going to trade me to Lotor? You think that will keep him from attacking? You're crazy! He'll take me and then annihilate you."

Shrugging, Horton said, "It doesn't hurt us to try. It's not like Voltron could have gotten here in time to help us." The premier looked over her shoulder. "Besides, I have more to offer than just you."

She didn't need to turn around to know he meant Keith. Her fear must have shown on his face as a toothy grin spread over Horton' s visage.
"Yes, Prince Lotor was very pleased when we told him that we would have both Princess Allura and the Voltron commander." Horton' s eyes went back over her shoulder to Keith. "I'm sorry, Commander, but I don't think the Prince of Doom has anything pleasant in store for you." Returning his eyes to the princess who had paled at that comment, he continued. "Now, on to the rest of our plan. The facility's video footage will show us all getting shocked, and the droid unfortunately malfunctioned due to the electrical current. After all who will think that I shocked myself on purpose?" Horton began to laugh. "No one will know what really happened to you."

Lar and a soldier armed with a baton type weapon she didn't recognize stood behind her. A soldier with a similar weapon stood behind Keith but the soldier behind the other Arusians held a blaster. Allura looked back to Horton as he waved his hand.

"Okay, Karn, fire."

Allura gasped as Horton gave the order to activate the battle droid and two of the Arusian soldiers fell to the ground. The droid had fired precise laser bolts at them. She knew they were dead.

"No!" Keith cried out as Esha and Kip fell to the floor. He had started to rise but the soldier behind him used the baton to deliver an electrical shock that dropped Keith to his hands and knees. Staring at the mottled gray and brown concrete floor, he waited for his muscles to stop twitching before he sat back on his knees and looked at the men lying on the floor dead. They had been his friends and now they were gone. He gave an apprehensive glance to Bart, the remaining Arusian security guard.

Walking over to stand in front of Keith, Horton placed his hands on his ample hips and said, "You're way too valuable to kill, Commander… well, unless you cause too much trouble." Turning his glance to Bart, he commanded, "Stand up!"

Bart glanced at Keith before he stood.

It wasn't Horton that spoke but Lar. "Run, soldier. Run very fast." When Bart didn't move immediately, Lar yelled, "I said run or we'll shoot you were you stand!"

After looking at Keith one last time, Bart took off toward the trees at the end of the range. The battle droid hesitated only a moment before following. Bart was able to make a few evasive moves, but with no weapons, it was only a matter of time. This time, the droid fired some type of beam that enveloped his whole body. In a matter of seconds, Bart's body fell to the ground as a fine ash.

Keith could hear Allura crying as he lowered his head to say a quick prayer for Bart's family back on Arus. When he raised his head, he saw that the princess had dropped to the floor with her hands over her eyes. She couldn't do this, he needed her to be strong if they were going to have any chance at escape. Time, she needed a little time. Turning his gaze to Horton, he asked, "You're not going to have enough bodies."

"You're right, Commander, I need to remedy that." With another wave of his hand, the door they had entered opened and a man and a woman came in. They looked like they could be from Arus or Earth. Horton watched as a look of horror came across the commander's face. "That's right, Commander Kogane. I think you've figure it out."

The couple was herded over to a corner of the room and with the snap of his fingers, the droid fired the enveloping beam and the man and woman were reduced to ashes. Keith realized it would probably take weeks before an analysis of the remains could be conducted to determine that they didn't belong to them. He could be dead or maimed by that time, and Allura, well, he didn't want to think about that. Moving his gaze from the pile of ash to the princess, he saw that she had stood. Their eyes locked and he knew she was ready to act. He gave a barely perceptible nod of his head.

Allura pushed Lar so that he tripped and fell and then she moved to stand in front of Horton screaming about what he had done and waving her arms about. Every eye turned to her and a guard with a baton moved closer to her.

It was all Keith needed. Pulling the laser pistol from his back waistband he shot the two guards with blasters and then rolled to his back to take out the two guards with batons, leaving only Horton, Lar, and Karn standing in the room. Karn and Lar stood with mouths agape as they watched the commander rise from the floor with his pistol still trained on them. Keith called out to Allura, "Go get the blaster off of that guard, we don't have much time." At the sound of Horton's laughter, Keith focused an angry gaze on him.

"Well done, Commander! My staff underestimated you. They had thought your military talents had been inflated, but it is obvious that they don't do you justice. Unfortunately, I have already pressed an alert button and my soldiers will be here soon." An evil grin appeared on Horton's face.

Keith didn't hesitate as he fired the laser pistol and downed each of them and then changed the setting on the pistol and blasted the door lock. Turning quickly, he gathered his blaster from where it had been thrown and holstered it and then ran over to a display casing looking in it frantically. Finding what he wanted, he broke into the cabinet and pulled out a bracelet. "Damn it, there's only one of them."

Allura turned to him and said, "One what?" Her gaze returned to the fallen premier and his staff. "Are they dead?" It came out as a whisper.

Not bothering to glance at the downed Taralonans, he replied kurtly, "No." Immediately realizing his tone had sounded harsh, he softened it as he worked to put the bracelet on her wrist. "The pistol had been set to stun, but I have to say, I wouldn't have regretted a higher setting." Finally, the matte black metal bracelet snapped on Allura's wrist and a light began blinking. For just a brief moment, like a flash, a light enveloped Allura and then was gone.

"What?" The question was hardly formed when Keith took her by the arm and the flash covered him and was gone.

"We've got to hurry, there's no time to explain right now. They could send a pulse through this room at any moment." He saw understanding in Allura's eyes and so he continued, glad that he wouldn't have an argument. Their lives could depend on the next fifteen minutes. "The terrain is uneven out there. I'm going to carry you to the tree line. No arguing." He didn't wait for her acknowledgement but turned and bent down so that she could jump on his back. He was pleased that she didn't hesitate. As soon as her arms and legs were locked around him he began his part jog, part run across the range carrying them from the danger behind them and into the unknown in front of them.