I make no claims to Voltron or any WEP characters.
"Sylvan, why haven't we heard back from you?" Lotor growled, his finger smashing down on the communications button.
Sylvan's breathless voice growled over the speakers. "Sorry. It wasn't who you expected to be down here, Your Majesty."
Lotor blinked in puzzlement. "Not Allura?"
"No, Sire. In fact, she somehow survived the explosion and crash landing on that planet," Sylvan puffed.
"The Black Devil lives?" Lotor snarled. "Who is the Force member with her?"
"Commander Keith," Sylvan answered.
Lotor snarled and glared at Maahox. "They survived and brought him back, Maahox!"
"Do not look at me, My Lord. You were the one who believed you had killed Princess Duvessa and Commander Lance that day. Perhaps if you had investigated properly you could have discovered that they had survived," Maahox stated casually.
Lotor snarled and faced the main view screen. "Take us in closer through the opening Maahox made for us, Lieutenant. It's time to make someone pay for this insult."
Maahox sighed. "It's a good thing I brought a robeast along," he muttered and began to prepare it.
Keith and Duvessa ran for the landing area and their Fractal. They both knew they needed to get back to the Castle as soon as they possibly could. They boarded and Keith slammed the ramp shut.
Sylvan pounded on the door. "You can't escape me, Devil!" he screamed.
Duvessa stood there a moment as his pounding rocked the ship. A dent formed. "Holy Gods," she whispered. Then she threw herself into the copilot's seat and her fingers raced through the preflight sequence. "All green," she stated.
Keith dropped into the pilot's seat and started the engines as the ship continued to shake under Sylvan's attack. "There is no way he can be that strong," he muttered.
"I don't know about that. There isn't much we know about Haggarium honestly," she stated as the ship was hit again.
Keith launched, but it was slow. "I think he damaged a stabilizer," Keith growled softly.
Duvessa's fingers flew over her controls. "It appears so, yes. It still has power, but it isn't at full capacity." She turned on an outside viewer and saw Sylvan raging at them from the ground briefly before he ran off towards his ship. "We probably only have minutes before he's in a ship, Keith."
"I know," he stated. "I can only do what I can do with the broken stabilizer."
Alarms started blaring on the console before them and she gasped. She turned a dial and the radar lit up with several Drule ships. "Oh no. We've got incoming," she stated. She looked to the ground outside and paled. She hit a switch. "Altuna, Drule ships inbound. Take cover!"
Keith looked over at her then up to the skies. Hovering before the looming storm were several ships streaking through the sky. He cursed.
Duvessa's eyes were on the storm behind the incoming attackers. "Keith, I can do something, but if I do this, there is no stopping it. I can strengthen the incoming storm, but it will have to dissipate on its own." She turned her worried blue eyes to him. "It – it would make their incoming attack impossible, but we would have to land as well."
"Means we'd have to keep moving on foot through a raging storm," Keith muttered. He sat in silence for a few minutes, mulling over their options, which were limited. He looked at her. "Do it."
Duvessa nodded and looked to the storm outside. "May the Gods and my people forgive me," she whispered. She closed her eyes for a moment, lifting her right hand towards the viewscreen. "Storm, I call to you. Aid us in this fight. Come, strengthen, hide us, hide my people, bring down those ships," she whispered.
Keith could feel the power she was using. Static electricity tickled across his skin. His eyes moved to the incoming storm, watching it darken and grow. Lightning intensified within the clouds and the winds began to pick up. He looked back to Duvessa, who slowly opened her eyes.
"It will be here within minutes," she whispered. She looked at him, tears slowly trailing down her cheeks. "We'll need to land somewhere and hide. Make our way back to the castle on foot."
"That will take days," he stated.
She nodded. "I know. But, that storm will take days to pass now."
Laser fire began to erupt around them. Sylvan had found his ship and was coming after them and there was no more time for regrets.
Keith put the damaged Fractal through some intricate moves avoiding Sylvan's strikes and the incoming Drule fighters. He quickly figured out what he could and couldn't do and used every bit of his training to his advantage as the storm intensified around them.
Lightning and lasers struck the Fractal several times.
"We're going down. I can't keep it in the air any longer," Keith stated.
Duvessa nodded. "All right," she answered.
It was a rough landing, but they put down in one piece.
Duvessa quickly checked the radar. "It looks like the Drules either left our airspace or landed as well," she stated, looking over at him.
Keith nodded. "Well, let's not take any chances. We can't stay here. If they're crazy enough to land and come look for us on foot, then we can't be anywhere near this ship when they find it."
Duvessa frowned, but nodded her acknowledgement. She stood and moved towards the back of the Fractal. She pulled open the emergency stores locker and pulled out what was there.
Keith watched her. "I – I'm sorry that this celebration was ruined," he whispered.
She looked at him, a stunned look in her eyes. "Keith, this isn't your fault."
"I know that, but you look so sad, I felt like I needed to say something."
She set down the emergency supplies she had in her hands and moved to him. "Keith, don't. You've done an amazing amount of piloting today to get us where we are relatively safely. Don't apologize for the Drules ruining this celebration."
Keith gently moved a lock of her hair that had shifted on her. "I feel like I need to say you're welcome for some reason."
She smiled. "Yes, thank you, now as you said, we need to get moving."
He chuckled. "Yes, ma'am."
Duvessa made a face at him before they collected the emergency supplies and slid on a pair of cloaks. Then they slipped out into the storm, closing up the Fractal.
Keith held his hand out to her. "Ready?"
Duvessa nodded, slid her hand into his and they disappeared into the forest.
Pidge hovered Green Lion in a high Arus orbit as Green Lion ran sensor sweeps on the satellites nearby. "Hmm. These ones are clear," he stated and moved Green to the next grid of satellites. He whistled as he looked down at the planet below. "Man, that storm sure seems to be intensifying." He radioed back to the castle. "Green Lion to Castle Control. Lance, you there?"
"I'm here, Pidge. What's up?"
"I'm hovering in orbit getting ready to check this next batch of satellites, but that storm they had cautioned about becoming a typhoon, I think it's happening," Pidge stated.
"Oh, great. That's right near where Keith and Vessa are and they're not due to come back until tomorrow after all the festivities are over," Lance stated.
"Yeah, you might want to give them a heads up. I think it's heading right for them if it isn't there already. Even from up here it looks like it's picking up speed," Pidge stated.
"Roger that. Anything else?"
"Not right now. I'll report in when I find anything," Pidge stated.
"When, not if. You really think something is up, don't you?" Lance asked.
"Yes," Pidge answered. "Green Lion out."
Lance sighed and sat back in the holochair before the computer. "Brat," he muttered. He raised his Voltcom. "Keith? Vessa? You read me?" He waited, but got no response. He frowned and pulled up a satellite image of the area over Altuna and frowned. "Damn, the storm is there already." He zoomed in on the area and checked for their Voltcom signals, but didn't pick up anything. He sat back and shook his head. "Damn it. That storm must be packing a punch if the satellites can't pick up their Voltcom signals. Hope you two are all right," he muttered softly.
"Castle Control, this is Coran, come in please," Coran's voice crackled over the communications set.
"Coran, this is Castle Control. Go ahead," Lance stated.
"Ah, Commander Lance, good to hear your voice. We are about to enter Arus atmosphere. Permission to land?" Coran asked.
"Of course. Straight into the hangar with it, Coran. Welcome home," Lance stated, toggling a switch to open the hangar door.
"See you shortly, Lance," Coran answered.
"Roger that," Lance answered. He nodded, impressed. "They made good time." He stood and moved to the hangar bay to await Coran and Allura's arrival.
Lance smiled as the Fractal landed and powered down. He stood there silently waiting. Soon the ramp lowered and Allura and Coran exited the ship.
Allura ran over to Lance, who caught her and kissed her soundly. "Welcome home, love," he whispered, holding her close.
"Mmm. I must admit, I do like this homecoming," she stated. She pushed back from him some. "How are Keith and Vessa?" she asked.
Lance made a face. "The reenactment was today. I'm not sure if they got to do it before the typhoon intensified and moved in or not."
Allura's jaw dropped. "Are they all right?"
Lance shook his head. "I don't know. Haven't heard from them. But, I mean, it's Keith and Vessa. They'll be all right. They're smart, they won't be out in the storm."
Keith pulled Duvessa close, pushing her against the tree, his eyes straining to see through the heavy rain.
"What is it?" she whispered, looking up into his face.
He shook his head. "Thought I heard something," he answered. "Come on. We need to find somewhere where we can get out of this rain."
"We have the shelter," she whispered.
He shook his head and looked down at her. "No. The wind is picking up along with the rain. These trees can fall and crush us. No, I want us somewhere a little safer than just in the shelter."
"Oh. I understand," she whispered and nodded.
He smiled. "Good. Let's keep moving," he whispered and pulled her from the tree and further into the dense forest.
Duvessa watched the woods around them as they moved. The ground under their feet was quickly turning to a thick mud and she grimaced as some slid into her dress shoes. They had to attack when I'm not in my boots, she thought darkly.
Keith quickly checked his direction on his Voltcom, then gently pulled her along with him.
Duvessa followed as silently as she could, doing her best to keep up, but stumbling occasionally.
Keith paused and looked at her after she stumbled for the third time in as many minutes.
She looked up at him, an apologetic look on her face as she caught up.
"What is it?" he asked.
She shook her head. "I will keep up. I'm sorry I'm slowing us down."
Keith looked down at her feet. "Shit, we did just come from…I'm sorry, Duvessa, I forgot what shoes you were in."
"Not much we can do about it now," she whispered. "We need to keep moving. I'll do what I can to keep up, I promise."
Keith frowned, but nodded. "If you need me to slow down, say so."
She nodded.
Sylvan landed his ship and slammed his hands down on the controls. "Damn this storm! I had them in my sights!" He glared out the viewscreen before him.
"Sylvan, did you find them?" Maahox asked over the radio.
Sylvan growled then flipped on his transponder. "No. I was in pursuit, as were a couple of your fighters, but lost them as the storm intensified. Myself and your fighters are on the ground. We were getting too many warnings and couldn't maintain flight."
"Pity. I doubt that they will have gotten far. King Lotor is ordering his troops to begin a ground search," Maahox stated.
"They won't find much. It is raining heavily and the winds are insane. Wherever they landed, they are still in their ship. As soon as this storm lets up, we will capture them," Sylvan assured him.
"I hope so. To capture the commander and that particular princess, I'm sure Lotor would enjoy torturing them both," Maahox purred. "See that you succeed, Sylvan."
Sylvan slapped his communications off and glared out into the storm. "Damn it," he snarled, grabbed his weapons and inclement weather gear and headed out into the storm.
