Disclaimer: I don't own anything that belongs to WEP or CBS/Paramount, so don't sue me
Disclaimer: I don't own anything that belongs to WEP or CBS/Paramount, so don't sue me. I'm not making any money off this anyway. What I do own are the crew of the Berlin, except Mordock and Scotty, the fighter Thunderwing, and the story itself.
Well, what can I say? I'm back again, it's been hectic, but I'm still here. But enough about me. On to the good stuff…..
Star Tron: The Retreat
Chapter 7: The Direct Approach
Doom Forward Space Station
Cheng Nebula
Prince Lotor walked onto the bridge of the lead cruiser escorting the supply convoy. Looking around, he watched the quick, efficient work of the officers and robot soldiers as they prepared for departure. It would take most of the day to get to the shipyard where the new battleship was being constructed.
Lotor was anxious to be underway. He wanted to see this so-called "super battleship" for himself. He'd tried to find some information on it, but its development was so secret, not even the name was published or even acknowledged. Given the way the war had been going, it was probably a wise move. There weren't even any slaves working in the shipyard. The ship was being built entirely by Doom personnel, to minimize the risk of infiltration by spies. It was a tightly-run operation, to be sure.
Settling into the command chair, Lotor watched one of the robot soldiers as it turned away from the communications console and approached him. "My Lord, all ships report ready. We await your orders," he said, bowing before the Prince.
Lotor smiled. "Excellent. Let us be under way then. All ships, move out!" At his order, the activity on the command deck spiked, as robots coordinated with each other and between the other ships, issuing commands and hearing replies, and the Doom fleet set sail.
Planet Doom
Unbeknownst to Lotor, as his fleet left its staging base, another fleet was leaving Planet Doom. This one was much smaller, just a command ship and a few dozen fighters, but its purpose was far more sinister.
Haggar stood by the side of the thronelike command chair, watching the forward viewport and stroking her blue cat as Cossack beside her gave orders to the crew in his typical, pompous fashion. She had more on her mind now than Cossack's delusions of grandeur. In the forward pod bay of this ship sat her latest, and perhaps most important creation. If this robeast was successful, it would bring the end of Voltron, and certainly, Zarkon's favor. She could rise to a position of power in the kingdom, and more importantly, would be able to solve the secret of Voltron's magic, making her the most powerful sorceress in the universe.
But she was also a realist. She didn't design this robeast to defeat Voltron. She'd long ago concluded that such a thing was impossible. Not even her most powerful spells could prove a match for the spirits of Voltron and his pilots. No, she couldn't defeat Voltron. But she didn't have to. She only had to defeat a part of him.
And that is what this robeast was designed to do. To stand and fight just long enough to defeat one part of Voltron. After that, the robeast's fate was irrelevant.
For once, things would be done right.
USS Berlin
Orbiting Arus
Getting back from Lion practice, Princess Allura walked into her room and sat down on the small couch near the window. She looked out, staring at the stars for several long moments. Not for the first time in recent days, she found her thoughts drifting to her wingman. Adam was out there somewhere, tracking that convoy, trying to figure out where it was heading, and why. It was a dangerous assignment, even for the Berlin, but Adam was out there alone, with nothing but his fighter against a fleet of Doom ships. It was very brave.
And also foolish. Just because he didn't want her to be put at risk, he had placed himself into even greater danger. She just couldn't fathom his logic. Once again, she felt a pang of anger creep into her mind. Anger at being held back and sheltered, while others risked themselves on her behalf. She belonged out there, with Adam and the boys, fighting Lotor, and doing everything she could to beat him.
But her anger was short-lived. She knew the real reason she was on the ship, and she knew that it would be over soon. It didn't make it more acceptable, but it was at least understandable.
She glanced over at the computer terminal on her desk, and saw that she had a message waiting. Getting up, she walked over to the computer, accessing the message and bringing it up on the screen. It was a simple text message.
Wheels-
Read the section on power and propulsion systems in the manual. Quiz tomorrow.
-Dinoman
Allura huffed in disbelief. Here she was, worrying about him, and he wanted her to study the manual? Of all the… And giving me a test? Who does he think he is?
But even as she smoldered, wondering for a minute who could be the most heartless slavedriver between Adam and Keith, she picked up the PADD with Thunderwing's data in it and started to read.
Out her viewport, had she been looking, she would have seen one of the stars start to move, slowly growing from a point of light into something more solid, moving toward Arus. But she read on, oblivious to the approaching intruder.
Cheng Nebula
Captain Driscoll's eyes were fixed on his control panel. Not that there was anything to see outside the cockpit except for bluish-gray clouds of gas and dust. He was nearing the place where, he hoped, the convoy would pass close to the nebula, allowing him to approach undetected.
The Cheng Nebula was one of the largest in the Denubian Galaxy, and it was no secret that Zarkon used it to hide things that he'd rather not be seen by his enemies. When he looked at the information Keith had forwarded from Galaxy Garrison, he'd determined that the best place to catch the supply fleet would be just as they departed their base, skirting the edge of the nebula. He could take advantage of the nebula's sensor-obscuring effects and the confusion of departure to conceal his approach, while using his enhanced sensors to penetrate the nebula and scan the convoy. He could then break cover when the convoy had passed out of sensor range, and follow their warp trail, while remaining outside of their detection radius.
That was the plan anyway. The problem was, he wasn't completely sure where the base was located. Some of the data had been scrambled with a code that was newer than Coran's computers had access to, and some of the coordinate information was still undecoded, leaving some guesses to be made about the base's precise position in the nebula's boundary region.
The good news was that fuel would not be an issue. The nebula was so rich in hydrogen, it was no problem for his onboard systems to collect enough hydrogen to keep his deuterium tanks topped off, and for his matter converter to replenish his supply of antimatter.
He scanned his instruments again, checking his engines and power, shield status, and the sensor readings the pod was gathering. He had to be close.
Suddenly, there it was. He detected the base just ahead, and was not reading any return scans. He adjusted his course to run just outside the edge of the station's sensor field. As he came around to the far side, he detected something else: a group of ships, moving away from the base. The convoy was just leaving.
He came in as close as he dared to the convoy. With the sensor interference, he couldn't get detailed readings, but he was able to get a general sense of what the ships were carrying. There were large amounts of consumable supplies, some kind of weapons, and what appeared to be some kind of mineral. The sensors couldn't resolve exactly what it was.
Driscoll was intrigued. He knew it wasn't ionized topaz. The sensors were calibrated to go off like Mardi Gras if they caught the slightest whiff of the stuff. Whatever this was, it was new. Or at least, not a known threat.
And that made him cautious. The unknown was something to be very wary of. Especially in combat.
But for now, until he decided how to deal with this new development, he would follow his plan. So, after making one more long-range pass to confirm that this was the right convoy, he settled into a trailing position, with the rear echelon of the convoy just barely visible on his long range sensors. Now comes the boring part, he thought.
Planet Arus
The small Doom attack force settled into a low orbit above Arus. While Cossack was in command of the fleet, it was Haggar who was undisputedly in charge of the operation, and she had decided that it was not yet time to attack. She knew very well that the Voltron Force would just be getting off of their morning practice, and would still be ready to fly out and meet them. Success would be more likely if they could catch the Voltron Force unawares, and less prepared to meet them.
The only hard part would be avoiding detection. The Konogg Brigade had been given the only cloaks available in this half of the empire, so using new ones wasn't an option on this mission. Still, they'd managed to evade the sensors of the Berlin though a bit of trickery, magical and otherwise that were all part of Haggar's plan. Neither the starship nor the castle had seen their approach, otherwise they would have been engaged by now.
For the moment, time was on their side, so they would wait for the perfect moment to strike.
Castle of Lions
Planet Arus
Keith glanced up from his reports to the small clock on his desk. It was just past noon, and he still was only halfway through the usual weekly reports and supply requests to Galaxy Garrison. Sometimes he wondered why he even bothered. The supplies, if they were even sent, would take weeks, due to the circuitous routes the ships had to take to avoid the marauding fleets of Doom raiders. And the status reports were always met with the same acknowledgements upon receipt, but very little else. The message from Graham and company was always the same. Keep up the good work, and we'll send supplies and reinforcements at the earliest time.
So far, that time had been over a year in coming. Supplies occasionally came through, but for the most part, Arus was on its own, militarily and economically. That was one of the reasons that the arrival of the Federation had been such a windfall for them. They now had direct access to much of what they had been requesting and never getting from Galaxy Garrison. Keith was even starting to suspect that GG was having Starfleet deliver supplies from their side.
As was happening more often lately, he found his thoughts wandering from his task. Despite being intensely focused when it came to duty, he had little patience for the rather mundane aspects of paperwork. Especially when it was more procedural than productive. Sometimes, he even wondered why he bothered. The Garrison could just as easily find out what was going on through Coran, who submitted much the same sort of weekly status reports through diplomatic channels, as was required of all Alliance member worlds in time of war.
He pushed his chair back and stood up. He needed a break. Walking around his desk, he headed for the door. Perhaps a walk around the castle would let him get his mind back on track. Besides, he usually liked to check in with Lance and Coran to find out what was happening while he'd been holed up with his papers. Despite the redundancy of the paperwork, he liked to stay on top of things at the Castle.
Leaving his room, he headed down the corridor, passing a branch that led to the royal chambers. As he did, he thought about Allura, up on the starship. Perhaps he'd put in a call later to see how things were going up there.
Continuing on, he made his way toward Castle Control. He passed a few guards as he went, who acknowledged him with a nod and a "Sir." He nodded in return, and continued on.
Walking into the Control Room, he nodded to the guards at the door, and headed for the main control console, where Coran sat, running some system diagnostics.
"Anything going on up here?" Keith asked.
Coran shook his head. "All's quiet for now, Commander," he replied. Anticipating his next question, the old advisor said, "Nothing new on Captain Driscoll's scouting mission, and the starship reports no contacts."
Keith nodded, glancing down at the diagnostic readouts. "Something wrong with the sensors?" he asked.
"Nothing to be concerned about. Some of our sensors are having difficulties interfacing with the new weapon systems. It shouldn't take long to resolve."
"What kind of difficulties?" Keith asked.
"I've been getting ghost readings all morning. Faint contacts that appear and fade randomly in certain spots."
"Have you checked with the Berlin?" Ever since the incident with the Konogg Brigade, Keith had become, if possible, even more serious about their detection systems. In his meticulous opinion, even the faintest, fleeting echo was worth investigating. Such oversights had proved costly not long ago.
Coran nodded. "I have. They swept the area, and detected nothing."
Keith continued to study the diagnostic cycle. If the starship had scanned the area, it was probably clear, and Coran was probably right about it just being an interface issue. Still, he would feel better once the diagnostics were completed and the problem was resolved.
"Have you finished your reports? I can bundle them with mine and send them in one packet." Coran said.
Keith sighed. "No, not yet. Paperwork's not my strong point today."
Coran looked up at him and smiled slightly. "It is tedious, but necessary. Let me know when you finish."
"All right, Coran. Have you seen Lance lately?"
"I believe he said he was heading into Olessa today. Something about his Lion."
Keith rolled his eyes. He'd been noticing some odd items showing up on Red Lion's maintenance logs lately. The man had apparently decided that the cat was his own personal sports car, and had been acquiring some unorthodox add-on components. Some things he could understand, like upgraded ejector seat motors or more ergonomic yaw pedals, but some things, like the "multi-tonal signal processor with dedicated output modules", especially when combined with the classic hair-metal collection he found added to Red Lion's database, were just frivolous. He'd have to have a talk with Lance.
"All right," he said heavily. "If you see him, tell him I'm looking for him, all right?"
"Very well, Commander," Coran replied with a nod, turning back to his monitors.
Keith turned and walked toward the thick blast doors that led out of the control room, and had just reached them when a thunderous boom resounded through the Castle, the reverberations of which caused everyone to grab onto the nearest handhold to stay on their feet.
"We're under attack!" Coran announced. "Doom fighters incoming!"
As the alert klaxons blared, Coran was already raising the launch tubes. Knowing Hunk and Pidge would be following momentarily, Keith bolted for his. "Coran, find Lance and tell him to get back here!" he called as he leapt for the bar in the tube, grabbing hold of it as it lowered him down to the tram that would take him out to Black Lion.
USS Berlin
The Red Alert siren rang out, shattering the peace of her quarters as the light panel above her door flashed crimson. Reaching into her pocket, Allura pulled out the combadge Adam had given her. "Allura to bridge, what's going on?"
"The Castle of Lions is under attack," came the thick, raspy reply of Commander Gredar. "Stand by for transport."
"Roger," Allura replied, clipping the pin to her chest, the tiny hooks on the back gripping the material of her jumpsuit as she felt the electric tingle of the transporter start to take her.
Planet Arus
Leaping into the air, Black Lion vaporized two fighters with quick shots of it's eyebeams as they made an attack run on the front of the castle. Looking around, he saw some of the castle's close-range laser batteries opening up on the fighters. Since the new Starfleet-made weapons weren't operational yet, Keith knew it would be up to the Lions to defend against the brunt of the attack.
Circling around, Keith engaged another trio of fighters, knocking down two and forcing the third to break off its attack to evade him. Checking his sensors, he saw Yellow and Green Lions launching, and detected Blue powering up below him in the moat. Now if Lance would just get his ass back here…
Suddenly, Coran's voice came over the comm link. "Castle Control calling Voltron Force. Robeast spotted five kilometers east of Olessa."
"Copy, Coran. Have you reached Lance yet?"
"Yes, Commander. He's on his way. He should be able to join you in less than ten minutes."
Keith frowned. Not good enough. The fight would be over in that time, and not in a good way. They needed Lance now. "Princess, are you airborne?"
"Just now, Keith," Allura replied as her face appeared on the small round comm-viewer on Keith's right-hand console.
"Head for Olessa. Find Lance and take him back to the Castle. He should be somewhere along the road by now."
"On it, Keith," she replied. She'd heard Coran's alarm as well, and knew they couldn't wait for Lance to get back to the Castle on his own. She could fly him right to the volcano in less time than it would take him to get to the castle.
Keith watched Allura head off down the main road from the castle to Olessa. Hopefully, Lance could join them in a few minutes, and they'd be able to form Voltron and deal with the robeast. But until then, they'd have to keep the robeast busy and away from Olessa. "Okay, Pidge, Hunk, let's go deal with this thing," he said, hearing their acknowledgements as he led the way toward the robeast.
Doom Command Ship
Orbiting Planet Arus
"Look, there's the Blue Lion," said Cossack, pointing at the viewer, where Blue Lion had split off from the others, and was now heading directly toward the city below.
Haggar watched quietly. "Let her go for now. Three Lions can't stop my pet. She will come to us soon enough."
"I think we should send the robeast after her now. If they can't form Voltron to begin with, we could conquer the entire planet."
As if to refute his claim, a barrage of crimson fireballs rained down on the robeast, exploding against its shoulders and upper chest, staggering it back as the three Lions moved in with their first volley, toppling it over backwards.
"No, Cossack. We will follow the plan. We can come back for the planet later once we have dealt with Voltron," Haggar replied, stroking her cat. "It takes more than a single robeast to take a planet."
Cossack only nodded. "Perhaps," he said, and turned back to the viewer.
Near Olessa
Planet Arus
Lance had the little hovercar maxed out, racing down the road as fast as he could, three packages in the back bouncing heavily. He'd seen the robeast as he'd left the city, and been overflown by Keith, Pidge, and Hunk on their way to fight it.
Suddenly, he heard a roar behind him, and a hot wind buffeted the open-topped car. He looked back, expecting to see the fireball of an exploding missile. Instead, he saw a mountain of chrome and blue steel. "Lance, stop!" A familiar voice called.
Lance brought the vehicle to a halt as the Lion crouched down, laying its chin on the ground. "Hurry, we don't have much time. I'll take you to Red," said Allura.
Lance glanced at the boxes in the rear of the car, then, with a sigh of frustration, ran toward Blue Lion. Moments later, Lance stepped into the cockpit and sat down in the jumpseat as the Lion dashed toward the volcano.
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Keith watched as Blue Lion took off toward the volcano, knowing it was only a matter of moments now until Lance joined them.
Turning his attention back to the robeast, he subconsciously analyzed its aesthetics as he studied its movements and tried to keep it distracted from the city. It was humanoid in form, with two bull-like horns on its head, and a bright steel plate over its mouth, not unlike a surgical mask. Dark gray in color. It's hands and arms looked normal, though it had only two fingers and a thumb. It's body was covered in a Greek-like armor plate, and its feet were encased in heavy steel boots. It was armed with a pair of vicious-looking spiked warclubs.
Zooming around to the side of the robeast, Keith lined up with a pair of missiles and let fly, causing the robeast to turn toward him and lunge. Keith was able to evade the strike, but it had the effect of causing the robeast to take a step away from Olessa. Hunk came in, shooting the robeast in the back, causing it to stumble forward, further away from the town. Pidge came in and repeated Keith's maneuver, and this way, the three Lions were able to slowly lure the Doom monstrosity away from Olessa, buying time for Allura and Lance to join them.
They continued these luring attacks for several minutes, until a loud, boisterous voice called out, "Where does Lotor find these things?" Keith looked over, and saw Red and Blue Lions coming in low from the direction of the castle. They made a pass at the robeast's legs, hitting it behind the knees, and it fell to the ground. Pulling up, they entered formation with the other Lions as the interlock sequence began.
"Form feet and legs," Keith called out as Yellow and Blue Lions tucked in their legs and formed a pair of armored boots. "Form arms and body," he commanded, as Red and Green Lions became the hands and arms of the warrior. "And I'll form the head," he finished, as Black Lion's head changed into the face and helmet of Voltron.
Coming back down toward the ground, Voltron stood at the ready as the robeast got to its feet, and squared off against him.
USS Berlin
Aboard the Starship Berlin, high above the battle, the bridge crew watched the battle. After her initial volley, Gredar had ordered the ship to stand by to assist if Voltron became disadvantaged. With the Captain out of communication, and unable to assist the robot warrior, it was up to the starship to cover the Voltron Force.
His silver eyes reflected the image that everyone else on the command deck saw. Voltron and the robeast stood facing each other, the robeast wielding his maces, Voltron seemingly unarmed.
Then, the robeast lunged at Voltron, who sidestepped and leaped into the air, a pair of stingray missiles shooting from the moths of Yellow and Blue Lions. The robeast spun dodging one missile, but the other one caught it in the shoulder, knocking it off balance. It stumbled away, and dropped to one knee, but recovered, surging forward with another swing.
Voltron deflected this new attack, his left arm, Green Lion, parrying the blow while Lance used Red Lion's flamethrower to make the robeast hot under the collar, directing a torrent of fire into the construct's face. Bellowing in pain and rage, the robeast stepped back, and Keith saw his chance. "Form Blazing Sword!" He commanded.
Voltron leapt into the air, his fists coming together with a reverberating clang, and coming apart, a beam of light forming between them, and coalescing into Voltron's mighty blade. But as the robot descended, the robeast was recovering. In one deft move, he marked his target, spun away from Voltron's thrust, and swung his right-hand mace, connecting with the side of Blue Lion's head in a metal-crushing, spark spewing blow. Voltron was thrown to the side, crashing to the ground on his back.
Seeing this happen, Gredar was quick to action. "Fire torpedoes. Force it back," he commanded.
Jacobs didn't reply, her hands flying across her console in a blur, summoning the strike from the starship's torpedo tubes. With a final keystroke, she launched the volley, four torpedoes streaking toward Arus at a quarter the speed of light.
Seconds later, they hit the robeast, three in the chest, one in the left shoulder, pushing it back and spinning it to the ground as Voltron struggled back to his feet, Blue Lion following limply.
Planet Arus
The robeast tried to get up, but a second volley from the starship knocked him back to the ground. Voltron limped forward, Blue Lion dragging lifelessly on the ground, the Blazing Sword raised above his head. "Strike!" Keith commanded, and the blade came down, impaling the robeast. Pulling it free, Voltron was just barely able to jump clear as the robeast exploded in a cloud of flame, smoke and debris.
But the close call was quickly forgotten. "Princess, can you hear me?" Keith called. "Princess, respond!"
"Keith, I'm not getting any response from Blue Lion," Pidge replied. "All systems dead." He immediately regretted his choice of words, but knew there was nothing to be done about it.
"Get down there, Pidge!" Keith ordered. Calling up an image of Voltron's right leg on his viewer, he was dismayed by what he saw. The right side of Blue Lion's face was badly dented in, and sparks flew from several ruptured conduits.
A few moments later, Pidge's voice called over the intercom. "Keith, get us on the ground! We need medics, right now!"
Doom Command Ship
Cossack watched on the viewer as Voltron finished off the robeast. He looked at Haggar beside him, who was staring intently at the image before her, her face unreadable under her hooded cloak. Looking back at the screen, he watched Voltron fly toward the castle without the Lions separating, and land in front of the palace. A group of white-coated medics rushed out, and lifted a limp form from a hatch in the side of Blue Lion.
Cossack smiled. They had done it. He wanted to press the attack now, but Haggar was right. They'd need more ships to take Arus. Gleefully, he ordered the ship to turn back for Planet Doom at best speed.