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

Rating/Setting: Rating is T for kissing and groping. I know, who knew that I would write a story with some mild groping? Flavor is DotU, but is part of the "Just a Kiss" story arc. 1. Just a Kiss, 2. Shirts vs Skins, 3. More, and , Answers, and Intrigue. You really need to read them all to make sense of the story. Stories 1-3 are all pretty short and should be a quick read if you are interested.

Chapter Ten

As Keith regained consciousness, his first thought was that he was nauseated and his second thought was that he had a pounding headache. A hand went automatically to his head and then stilled immediately when he heard an unfamiliar voice.

"I think we gave you too much of the sedative. Side-effects are vomiting, stomach cramps, and headaches." Seeing the green look on his captive's face, he added, "There's a trashcan right beside your bed."

No sooner were the words out than Keith leaned over and vomited into the bin. Keith spit a couple times to clear his mouth. The foul fumes rose to him from the can and he laid back on the bed to keep from throwing up again. He had only opened his eyes long enough to find the trashcan and then had shut them again as the light seemed blinding to him.

"Where am I?" he asked as he felt the sheet beneath him. The bed he was laying on felt very comfortable but he didn't think he was in a hospital.

"You're a guest of the Circle," Morgan Cane said. He was in the leadership of the Circle and had been the one that carried Keith into the forest to the speeder. Morgan was 48 and had been with Valeria in the resistance after the invasion. He was an imposing figure standing six feet tall with a muscular build and a shaved head. Construction was his current occupation and one that he enjoyed.

Keith carefully opened one eye before closing it. "Is there any way you can dim the lights or is that asking too much?"

Morgan moved to a panel and flipped a switch. Half the lights in the room went out. "Better?"

Keith opened one eye and then another. "Yes." Carefully he sat up and moved his legs off the bed. Leaning his head over, he caught his breath as another wave of nausea hit him. His eye cut over to the trash bin that he had already used and saw that it had a liner. Carefully, he pulled it over and tied it up, cutting off the smell that wasn't helping anything.

"If you bring that over to the door, I'll get rid of that for you. If you think you're finished with it."

Looking around his cell, Keith saw a toilet and a sink in the corner. "I think I can make it to the toilet if I need to." With unsteady steps, he made his way to the barred door. Setting the bin down next to it, he backed up and sat back down on the bed.

"Lie down on it if you don't mind," Morgan said.

Even as he complied with the request, Keith said, "Don't worry, I don't think I could do you any harm right now."

Morgan opened the door and removed the bin. "Even so, I'm not taking any chances. You didn't get where you are in Garrison without having some skills."

The sounds of the man moving across the room to a waste disposal reached Keith's ears. He continued to lie down as it helped both his head and stomach. But his eyes roamed the 12x12 cell he was in. Two of the walls seemed to be solid rock which also made up the ceiling and floor. The other two walls were reinforced bars with only one locked door. As he had already noted, there was a sink, toilet and a bed. Nothing else.

Keith saw the man come back to the door. He was tall, about his height but with more weight and wore a hooded shirt and a mask over the upper part of his face. "So what is the plan?" Keith asked.

"We'll be contacting Princess Allura and ask for some changes. She complies and you'll be returned safely."

"Who is 'we?'" Keith asked.

"The Circle. We just want Arusians to have more say in the government and in Voltron."

Keith heard a door open and several voices coming in their direction. "The Princess would have listened to you without kidnapping me. She values the opinion and input of her people."

A feminine snort could be heard from behind the large man. Keith slowly sat up to see that the man was now flanked by two shorter women. "The Princess has made no effort to train any Arusians to fly the Voltron Lions. She is totally going by what the Alliance tells her to do."

"Do you really believe that?" Keith asked. "If that were true, the Alliance would have taken the Lions from Arus months ago. The Princess has told them that the Lions belong on Arus and they have accepted her terms for Voltron's use when off-planet."

"What about Arusian's flying the Lions? You only have five trained pilots available. What happens if one of you is-"

"Kidnapped?" Keith asked with a touch of sarcasm. He could see the anger in the woman's eyes so he continued quickly. "We have done some training but the pilots are not at the point of being able to fly the mechas yet. Perhaps you heard about the nightmare job that Coran and Nanny did that one time they flew the ships?"

"But the Princess flies and she didn't have any training before."

"You're right and I can't explain it. She has managed to become an excellent pilot with little previous training."

The woman's eyes narrowed. "Then perhaps you're not trying very hard."

Keith just shook his head. "Nothing I can say will appease you."

"You're right," the woman (who was Loretta) snapped. "We need to talk to the Princess."

The three went to leave when Keith said, "She won't negotiate with you. Let me go and I will take your concerns to her. She'll meet with the Council-"

The other woman (Valeria) cut him off. "The Council bends too much to the Princess. They should insist on more assistance in materials and aid from the Alliance and they should be making sure that Arusians are flying Voltron."

"She won't negotiate."

Valeria walked back to the bars and held up a holo-projector. With a click, an image of Keith and Allura in a passionate embrace was floating in the air just outside the bars. "I think she would do a lot to get you back… Commander."

Keith remained silent as she turned off the image and walked from the room with the others.

Staring at the bars, one word flashed in his mind: SPY!

XXXXXXXXXX

Lance walked into Castle Control and braced himself for the mad rush that was Princess Allura. She hadn't changed from earlier in the day and she hadn't left Control since she arrived.

"What are we going to do, Lance?" she whispered.

He held her tight. There was no feeling of passion, only friendship. "We're going to find him. That's what we're going to do." Lance looked up and caught Coran's eye. "Hunk's on his way back. When he gets here, we need to have a meeting."

"Indeed, Lieutenant," Coran agreed. He sensed that Lance had come to the same conclusion that he had. "In the meantime, Allura and I will gather what we have learned." The advisor turned to Pidge. "Do you need me to get anything for you, Pidge?"

"No, sir. I'll be able to transfer my findings to the conference room."

"When you leave that station, be sure to lock it," Coran said meaningfully.

Pidge didn't bat an eye. "Of course."

It wasn't long before Hunk arrived, but it had seemed an eternity as everyone wanted to share their news. When he arrived they moved quickly into the conference room off the main control room.

Hunk said, "I think I should go first because I have the least to share. I found nothing on my scans of the area. I saw nothing on my fly-overs and I heard nothing on any of the audio channels I scanned. It's like they arrived and left by a magic wand."

"That matches what the Castle sensors found. Nothing." Pidge said. "I went over the data from Yellow that was taken right before the cloak was enabled and can't find anything once that first power signature was registered." He looked at the group through the glasses that were a trifle large on his face. "If they turn it off and then turn it back on and we have a scanner in the area, I'll be able to pinpoint it. But that's the only way once it's on."

"Well, the troops are deploying several mobile scanners around the outskirts of Mynos. They should have over-lapping range; but if they took him to another region, we won't be able to track the signal that far," Lance said as he drummed his fingers absently on the table. "The troops are continuing to question residents, but we haven't learned much. The hovercraft they left were wiped clean of prints and DNA and no one saw anything suspicious in the areas near where the craft were found. The only clue I got was the one that I already passed along: the Circle."

Pidge pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose and typed on his data pad. In a flicker, a list of names appeared on the wall screen. "These are the names that coordinate between information we've collected in the past on the Circle and known dissidents. And of these, there is only one that Coran is familiar with."

"Valeria Com," Coran said as all head turned to him. "She led several daring raids during the Drule occupation and was very outspoken after the Force arrived. She felt that the Alliance should have done more during the invasion. It was her feeling that the Alliance would just take what it wanted and leave Arus at Doom's mercy again." Coran held up a forestalling hand when he saw that Hunk was going to object. "These are her known opinions, not mine."

"All of the names on the list will be checked out to see if they were in the Mynos area today," Allura said with more calmness than she felt. "We've already begun the process and ruled out the following," she paused as lines appeared through some names. "We're not saying that they aren't involved, but we can rule out them being participants in today's events."

A discussion then began about doing sweeps of the former underground bunkers outside of Mynos in the foothills and Raytac Mountains. It was during this discussion that Pidge broke into the conversation.

"Hey, guys! I've got a transmission from the kidnappers!" And then under his breath, he muttered, "Finally, something I can work with."

"What does it say?" Allura asked as she stood and leaned forward. "Is it audio?"

In a moment the electronic transmission was put on the screen for all to see. It was addressed to the Castle of Lions and Princess Allura. It was a list of demands:

- Immediate and formal training of Arusians to pilot the Voltron Lions.
- When a committee of Arusians feel that the pilots' training is adequate, the Arusian pilots will begin piloting the Lions.
- Funding from the Alliance to begin building factories to build star cruisers. Until the factories are operational and can produce ships of our own, the Alliance will provide a fleet in the Denubian to help protect the factories.

Lance broke into Coran's reading of the list to ask, "Are they serious? They think they can just make demands of the Alliance like that?"

"Let me finish, Lieutenant," Coran said as he scanned down the list and kept reading.

- An expansion of the Arusian High Council, from seven to fifteen.
- A request-

Lance broke in again, "How nice. They're making requests now."

Coran continued, "A request that Princess Allura consider making a formal alliance by marriage with a planetary leader that can assist Arus in its rebuilding."

Allura sat down and stared at the list on the wall.

Looking around the room, Hunk asked, "Who do they think they are to demand anything?"

"I think I know the answer to that," Coran said steadily. He waited until they were all looking at him and then he looked at Allura. "They know they are holding the man that Allura would have as Prince Consort. With such knowledge they feel they can ask anything."

The silence in the room was deafening. Allura stared into Coran's eyes; she would not disseminate. "How long have you known?"

"About a month. I didn't say anything because I wanted the two of you to come to me on your own when you felt comfortable." Coran leaned back in his seat. "You both tried to hide it but if anyone truly looked at you, they would know."

Allura looked down at the table and laughed ruefully. "And here we thought it was Nanny that was our biggest threat." Her eyes rose to meet Coran's. "He wanted to tell you but I refused." Her eyes went to Lance, "He was concerned after that first power reading but I refused to listen." She looked at each one in the room with a hint of fear. "Did I… Did I cause this? Am I the reason Keith was abducted?"

Lance sat forward suddenly and leaned across the table. "No way, Allura. No way."

"Of course not," Hunk and Pidge echoed.

Allura looked to Coran.

"Keith is your protector. Even if it was known, he would have done nothing different in regards to your safety. I think we all know that if Keith truly thought there was a threat, he would have brought you kicking and screaming back."

The rueful smile was back. "Yes, he would have."

"Well, now that we have that out of the way, let's move to our most pressing issue at the moment. Finding the spy," Lance said.

"Spy?" Hunk asked.

"I agree with the Lieutenant," Coran said. "This was well-planned and executed. The event was only known to those of us in this room and Keith. It was only announced this morning. An attack of this precision could not have been done on the spur of the moment."

Allura nodded. "It makes sense, but who would it be?"

Pidge immediately began typing. "I had already checked to see if there were any hackers and there weren't any. Let me see if there is anything unusual…." He shook his head. "Nope." He looked around the room. "Has anyone left their data pad unattended?"

Everyone looked sheepish.

"Yeah, well, even I have done it," Pidge said. "That is why I had the lock screen set up with the code and bio-lock. So the question is, have you left it unlocked for even a few minutes with someone else." Pidge saw that everyone was thinking. "I know it's a lot to think over guys, but try to go through it in your minds tonight. We'll talk about it tomorrow."

Allura's eyes went back to the list of demands. "I'm not supposed to negotiate."

"You can't, Princess," Coran said softly. He reached across the table to put his weathered hand over hers. "Keith knows it. Once you give in one time, it will be open season on everyone you care about."

"It sounds much easier when no one is in danger," Allura replied with her eyes still on the list. "There are things on there that I would be willing to discuss. Demanding a fleet from the Alliance isn't one of them nor is having the Force stop flying just because Arusians have been trained. We're a team and we do need more back-up than Sven, but that's what they'd be – back-ups." Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the so-called request. "As for considering someone else to marry, that isn't open for debate."

"What about the number on the Council?" Hunk asked.

Allura shook her head. "I'd be open for an increase if the Council wanted it; but I wouldn't want an increase that dramatic. Maybe increasing it to nine would be an option. The meetings already go on for hours even over small things. I'd be more likely to give more rein to the regional councils to make decisions about their region. Right now we meet over way too many small items that should be handled at the regional level."

"It sounds like you have a good handle on these demands, Princess. Has no one ever mentioned them before?" Lance asked.

"The High Council has discussed some of these issues, but they bicker so much and the proceedings are kept secret. It is up to the Council to go back and share with their citizens," she responded.

Lance looked around the room and then to Allura before saying, "Well, it sounds like the Council isn't doing a good job of taking information back to their constituents. I think that's a big part of the problem."

Allura let out a deep breath and then buried her fingers in her hair. "I can tell them that I will discuss the changes I just mentioned with the Council but I would not guarantee them and I won't do it at all until they release Keith." She dropped her hands to her lap. "God help them if they hurt him."

The men around the table were silent before the princess. It was moments like these that she seemed to already be a seasoned monarch with years under her belt. Finally, Lance said, "Don't worry, Princess, we'll make sure they're brought to justice."

Allura laid her head on the table. Her long golden locks a stark contrast to the matte black of the table. Her response was somewhat muffled, but understandable. "The question is, what is justice when they just want to be heard?"

Putting a hand on her back, Coran said, "Go to bed, Allura. We'll wake you if we hear anything else. We need to start tomorrow with a fresh mind."

Standing, Allura said, "You promise to wake me."

"The very minute we learn anything," Pidge said.

With a softly whispered, "Okay," Allura left the room. She knew they would talk after she left and while she wanted to know what it was about, she was physically and emotionally exhausted. Nanny was waiting outside of Control to help her to her rooms. And for once, Allura allowed the grumpy governess to fuss over her.

As the doors closed behind Allura, Coran turned to the Force and said, "They endangered innocent lives with this kidnapping. We all know there were better ways to bring their concerns to the royal table. I'm afraid that some members of this group want more than just being heard; I think some of them are seeking retribution against the Alliance."

"And they'll use Keith as a way to get it," Hunk said.

The room was quiet and Lance said, "We've got to find that spy. It's our best hope of getting Keith back in one piece."

The discussion then went into the people that were most likely to come into contact with an unlocked data pad.

Lance knew that he rarely took his data pad anywhere unlike several of the group. His mind swirled with the thought of Isis. When each person made up a list of people that might have had access, Lance's was the shortest. One. Isis. As he left for his room, he prayed it wasn't her.