This is for Charigul. I couldn't let you down tonight girlie! Hope you enjoy it!
Once again, a great big kiss and hug to my editors!
If love is so important to have that one doesn't want to lose it, why is it when we find true love we often don't notice it?—Anonymous
Chapter 9-Explanations
Inside the Control Room, Keith looked over a report he had to turn into Admiral Graham. Never having a hard time concentrating on anything that dealt with the Garrison, he sighed heavily as he thought back to his encounter with the princess, instead of the words in front of him.
"Damn it! This is all Lance's fault!" he shook his head with frustration. "No…it's my own. I should've known better. She's the Princess of Arus for God's sake, Keith!" He told himself. "What were you thinking?" He raised his voice as he slammed the data pad he held in his hand onto the console.
He decided that instead of working from his office, he'd work at control. When he walked in, he dismissed the crew and told them to join in on the last few hours of the festivities. Their excitement, brought on by their commander's act of consideration toward them, overshadowed any questions they could have had as to why the commander would take the shift alone.
What an idiot I am! He inwardly thought. Why did I fall for a princess? As if my life wasn't complicated enough.
About to continue the mental torture, he saw the vidscreen suddenly light up; informing him of an incoming transmission. Keith pressed the button. His eyes furrowed, surprised by the person looking back at him on screen. "General Hawkins? Good evening sir. Is everything all right?"
"Keith..." Hawkins began, his tone showed marks of agitation. "It's Erin..."
VVVVVVVVVV
Keith listened to General Hawkins as he related the latest news to him.
"Zarkon?" Keith asked wondrously. "I don't understand why Zarkon would take Erin. I just don't see a connection." He shook his head trying to pinpoint any link between Erin and the King of Doom.
"At first I thought the bastard discovered a secret project the Garrison is working on. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense that, maybe, the connection was you." Hawkins answered in a most spiteful tone.
Keith inwardly shuddered. He knew a small part of the general blamed him for the kidnapping. He also knew it wasn't on purpose. His daughter, his baby, had fallen in the hands of raging lunatics.
"Our relationship ended two years ago, General. I don't understand why he would do something like this. It doesn't make sense."
"Keith, I don't know what's going on either. It could be another of Zarkon's plans to destroy Voltron. But all I know is that you have to help her. You have to help me, she's my only daughter."
The commander's heart sank. Keith saw a look in the general's eyes and prayed that he'd never go through something like that when it came to his children. "You have my word, General. I'll bring Erin home."
Hawkins nodded, "Thank you." he replied in a barely audible voice.
"I'll contact you tomorrow with a plan of action, sir."
"I look forward to it." The general answered, "I'm in transit to Arus. I should be there tomorrow morning. See you then." He finished as he cut transmission.
Keith slammed his head on the back of the seat. This night kept getting longer and longer by the second.
VVVVVVVVVV
Lance and Sven walked through the hallways of the castle; their destination, Keith's office. Hoping to have a clearer picture of the events that happened earlier, Lance suddenly fell quiet when he finished telling Sven his plan of putting the commander and the Princess of Arus together. He concentrated on how he would begin the conversation with his best friend, his pal, and the man who, no doubt, would murder him tonight.
"Look, maybe we should leave him alone. You know how he hates when we meddle in his business." Sven tried to reason with Lance. "He must have been pissed when all of the Control personnel appeared at the party and he stayed at Control alone. Not to mention he asked Pidge to cover his shift for tonight! Honestly, I don't want to stand in that man's path right now."
Both Lance and Sven remained at the party for about an hour after Keith's exit. During that time, Lance saw the six guards, who were posted earlier at Control, walk in and take posts around the ballroom, clearly happy to be able to at least enjoy the festivities while working. Then, about fifteen minutes before exiting, Pidge came up to Lance and Sven to tell them that Keith asked him to take over his shift for the night. He explained to them that the commander needed to work on an emergency project in his office.
Lance, unable to hold his nerves, laughed, "You'll be fine." He began, "I'm the one who practically convinced him to tell her. If there's anyone he's pissed at, it's definitely me!"
"Perfect! If he's pissed, he'll go for your blood immediately!" Sven laughed.
"You're an idiot!"
"Maybe. But I'll still be alive when I walk out of his office."
Lance shook his head. Inwardly, he knew Sven was right. If Keith's anger grew worse with the passing of time, he didn't stand a chance against his friend's wrath.
He rang the door and it swooshed open seconds later. They found Keith at his desk typing on his data pad.
"Listen..." Keith began, but quickly Lance cut him off.
"Now Keith, don't take it so personally. I'm pretty sure the princess was overwhelmed by everything that happened tonight. You know…the party…Coran's speech. Maybe we just chose the wrong time man."
Sven rolled his eyes as Lance continued his defense plea.
"But this can be remedied." Lance continued throwing a wickedly charming smile, "Just give me some time and I promise I can come up with the perfect plan to get Allura in your arms."
"Lance!" Keith ordered with a sigh, "Sit down!"
Lance swallowed hard, "You're going to beat the crap out of me aren't you?"
Sven could have broken up with laughter, but looking at Keith's features, he saw something more.
"Keith, what's wrong?" He suddenly asked.
"It's Erin Hawkins," The commander answered, motioning to Sven to sit down as well. "Zarkon's taken her."
"Oh no," Lance eyes widened. "When?"
"Two nights ago. Zarkon contacted the general as well."
"How's the general?" Sven asked.
"How do you think? He's flying in to Arus tomorrow morning. We're meeting to discuss a rescue plan."
"We're going to Doom?"
Keith looked up at Lance in surprise, "Did you think we wouldn't?"
VVVVVVVVVV
The next morning, Keith walked to the landing bay, accompanied by Sven and Lance, to welcome the general. When the ship landed, it didn't take long for Hawkins to walk out. The older man had dark sandy blonde hair but his usually handsome features looked haggard. Keith could tell that the longer Erin was gone, the worse Hawkins would get.
"General," Keith offered his hand to him, which Hawkins shook.
"Keith. Thanks for helping me out on this."
"No thanks needed sir," Keith answered seriously. "I'm here to help in anyway I can."
The general turned to the other two men behind Keith, "Lance, Sven. Glad to see you both. Unfortunately, I wish it were under better circumstances."
"We know sir," Sven answered, shaking the older man's hand. Lance simply nodded in agreement.
"So what's the plan?" Hawkins asked as he looked at Keith.
"Let's go to the conference room, the rest of the team is waiting there for us."
VVVVVVVVVV
In the conference room, Coran, Hunk and Pidge sat around the metallic table. Allura and Romelle sat between each man, waiting for the rest of the participants to walk in. After waiting a few minutes, the doors suddenly opened to reveal General Hawkins along with the other three men.
"General Hawkins, this is Her Royal Highness, Princess Allura of Arus," Keith began as pointed to Allura, "Her Royal Highness, Princess Romelle of Pollux, and the House of Arus' Royal Advisor Coran." The ladies bowed their heads in respect as Coran stood and bowed.
"It's very nice to meet you all. Princess Allura, thank you for helping me," Hawkins bowed as well.
"We're glad to help General. We are very sorry for what you've been through and please be assured that we will do everything we can to bring your daughter home."
"Thank you," Hawkins answered uneasily.
Nodding in agreement, Keith directed the general to a seat, "You remember Pidge and Hunk, sir."
"Of course. It's good to see you well gentlemen."
"Thank you sir," Both Hunk and Pidge replied.
Taking his seat, the commander directed his gaze around the room, "Well, let's begin." Keith turned on the vidscreen, showing a blue print of Castle Doom. "This is a blue print of Zarkon's castle. Sven and Romelle put this map together for us after they came back from Doom." He then clicked a button showing two particular areas in the map.
"There are two areas I'd like us to consider first." Keith clicked on one area. "This is the dungeon. Shaped like a W, it is divided into three subsections." Keying in some codes, he enlarged the section he clicked on earlier.
"Section one, can be penetrated if we go into the northern end of the dungeon through the air vents. This section, per Sven, houses all Drules who have committed acts of treason against the planet. Section two, this middle subsection," Keith then enlarged again the second section as he spoke, "keeps possible Doom slaves from other planets. The third section is set aside for 'special guests'."
"That's where Erin might be at?" The general asked.
"Not necessarily," Keith answered, "I think we should hit all three sections. Lotor may not have immediately put her there. He might be smart enough to place her somewhere else to buy them time for whatever their plan is."
"So what are you suggesting, Keith?" Allura asked.
"We go in through the vents that I mentioned earlier. I think we can enter the vents through the lower levels of the castle. Sven, Lance and I will each take a section and look for her. But, it may take us sometime. Each section has about fifty cells. It's dark and most likely full of guards, not to mention we don't want the inmates to signal us out."
"Sven, you're going?" Romelle asked surprised as she turned to her fiancée, "Why?"
Sighing, Sven tried to appease her, "I have to Romelle. I'm the only one here who knows the area."
"So do I!" she countered.
"You are not going," Sven's eyes challenged her. "Romelle, we won't be captured."
She nervously nodded, "I know, I'm sorry."
"It's okay, my love," He gave her a small smile.
Turning back to the group, Keith looked over to Allura, who also met his eyes, but he quickly averted them to the vidscreen, "This is the first location I'd like to hit. I have a feeling this is where she is."
"What's the second area?" Coran now asked.
"The second area is the concubine chambers. That's where Lotor keeps all his...women."
The general's face paled, "You think..."
"I don't think so General," Keith tried to appease him. "As a matter of fact, I'm convinced that Lotor has nothing to do with this."
"Why would you say that?" Hunk looked interested.
Trying to answer Hunk's question, Keith turned to his friend, "The general told me that Zarkon contacted him. If it would have been Lotor, believe me, he would have let General Hawkins and every one of us know that he had Erin, especially me." He finished, turning to the older military man. "That's his style. Zarkon has more...tact."
Shaking his head, Hawkins breathed hard, "This is insane. What does he want?"
"I'm not sure, but we'll find out soon," Keith offered. "The rest of you will be on stand-by here on Arus, in case this is an attempt to leave the planet unguarded." He looked at Allura, "Princess, you're in command until we are back. Sven, Lance and I leave at dawn."
"How about me?" the general asked, "I can provide you with my ship, fighters—"
Keith interrupted, "Thank you General. I'm sure Arus will need them if in fact this is an attempt on this planet. But I will need one of your fighters. I don't want to use the lions. They'll find us out for sure."
"You want me to stay here?"
"Yes, sir." The commander nodded, "You are too close to the situation, I need..."
"A clear mind. Yes, Keith, I understand. You can use one of my rescue ships."
"Good," Keith sighed, "Pidge, rig the general's ship with everything we might need."
"Will do Commander," The youngest member of the team replied.
"Good. Let's do this."
VVVVVVVVVV
Looking out the windows in the rec room, Keith jumped when he felt tap on his shoulder.
"You're tired," A gentle voice whispered in his ear.
"No, I'm fine."
"Liar," she answered him softly, "You know very well that you would have felt me coming in the minute I walked in the room. Go to sleep, it's a quarter past one, you'll be up in a couple of hours."
Sighing, Keith halfway smiled, "I had to go over the additions Pidge put in on our ship. Besides, I'm not very sleepy."
This worried her. Another sleepless night, she thought. Allura didn't bother telling him to take something for his stress. She knew he wouldn't take anything at this point. "Are you done with that?" She asked him.
"Yes." He answered, turning around to face her.
"Then go to bed. Even if you can't sleep, you still need rest. Why are you still up anyway?"
Keith shrugged, "I'm just running over every last minute detail in my head before I go to sleep." He chuckled. "You know me."
She smiled at him, "Everything is done Keith. You can't do anything else other than take care of yourself and make sure you return to us safely."
"All right then, I guess I'll go to bed. Have a good night Princess."
He was almost out the door when Allura called out to him, "Keith?"
The commander turned to face her, "Yes?"
"About last night…"
He interrupted her, "Princess, please don't worry about it. I was… out of line last night. I'm sorry."
"No you weren't." Allura immediately began, "Let me explain. It's just that...we're in the middle of a war. I can't begin to think about a relationship with anyone. It's not you, I think..." Her voice dropped as he looked at her incredulously. Then, silence. She could only hear her heart thump.
"Princess...like I said before, I was out of line. It won't happen again." Keith met her stare, "Have a good night." He turned and walked away.
The silence after his exit was deafening. The princess let out an exasperating sigh and slowly walked out the room.
