Hearts of Courage

Arus

Relative disclaimers apply.

Chapter 14

Coran slowly mulled over the next thing he was about relate. Trying to carefully choose his words so that it would be relevant to the point he was trying to make with the young commander. How do you humanize a man, for which he was close to, to someone who has only spoken to a spiritual version of?

"Alfor was knocked out for several days following the accident," Coran started. "We were all afraid that whatever he experienced, had affected him negatively.

"He awoke on the fifth day after the accident, and even though bandaged up from his injuries, the first thing he asked was if anyone was injured or killed in the accident," Coran then looked up at the commander. "Sounds a bit familiar?"

Coran watched as the commander flushed a little then lean back into the couch he was sitting on. Smiling to himself, Coran continued. "For the first time in his young life, Alfor was afraid. He was afraid that by testing Voltron without being completely informed on what he could do, he had jeopardized the entire project. He was afraid to confront his father, to admit to his mistake, that he was completely wrong. And because of his decision, he nearly, in his opinion, killed some scientists.

"It started to make him second guess everything that he did. I never saw someone so shook up that it nearly crippled him mentally," Coran continued, slowly bringing his hand to rub as his greying beard. "And the one man that he feared the most, the one that would be most critical of him, was the person who instead, supported him, and provided him the comfort.

"King Aidan, saw the hurt that his son was going through, and decided to continue the Voltron revitalization project, keeping Alfor on. This confused Alfor, and he made every argument that he could think of to see that he wouldn't be apart of it. The King wanted to hear nothing of it. Do you know what the King said to his son?"

"I believe in you..." Keith nearly said in a whisper.

Coran smiled. "As many fathers have said to their sons in difficult times. It was no different for King Aidan and Alfor. His father trusted him, despite his mistake. And he knew that Alfor wouldn't make the mistake again."

"And what happened?"

"What we all know today," he said. "Alfor was responsible for discovering the ancient secrets behind Voltron; became the resident expert if you want to call it that. Nothing could have stopped him from delving deeper in the mighty defender's make up. He spent hours each day, just taking apart and putting back together different parts, just to see how they would work. And he had a great team that helped him.

"I think that if we hadn't loss so much in the Zarkonian wars, much of what he had learned wouldn't have been lost," Coran added. "His notes. All of Alfor's notes, destroyed. And he was so close to figuring out so much of Voltron's secrets that I'm sure Hunk and Pidge would love to discover themselves."

Keith slowly nodded as he met the advisor's gaze. "I'm not a king, Coran," he started to say. "I don't have the support Alfor had."

"Oh, but you're wrong Keith," Coran stated as he leaned forward. "Look at what your friends are doing for you now. They haven't stopped just because you have been injured."

"Only because they've been ordered to."

"No, not because of that, son," he said. "Because they know that the last thing you need to worry about is their health and safety. They believe in you that you will make the best recovery and come back better than before. They are making it easier for you to do that."

"We've never had to face someone like this General Taris, before," Keith stated, shaking his head. "He's been one step ahead of us, and we are suffering for it."

"Then maybe its time, you take this recovery period to re-evaluate what we should be doing," Coran said as he slowly stood. He offered his hand to the young man and helped him to his feet. "I trust your experience as well as your instincts, Keith. Always have. You need to trust yourself."

Keith slowly nodded as the advisor helped him walk out of the study and walked with him back to the wing in which his room was in.

"I know that Benson and the Alliance rather you work on getting better," Coran started as they walked down the hallway. "But if I know you, its probably just killing you to be out of the loop. I've requested from Benson to let me share with you some of the daily reports on the team progress, as well as news from the Alliance. Hopefully, this will help alleviate any nagging issues that may be making you nervous."

Keith nodded. "Thank you, Coran,"

The advisor nodded as they came to stand before the room that Keith occupied.

"I know that all of you are far away from family, so don't hesitate to ever come to me if you need any guidance," Coran offered. "Or just an ear to listen to what you have to say."

"Again, thanks," Keith said. "Goodnight, Coran."

"Goodnight, commander."

Coran smiled as the door slid closed and he turned to walk down the hall toward Castle Control.

"Again!"

Dylan let out a groan as he grabbed the controls in the simulator and ran through the training program for the 10th time that day. Repeating one mission after another, until he found the perfect rhythm that made him feel 100% confident in what the machine could offer him.

"Dylan, you've been in there for nearly 4 hours," Lance's voice came over the intercom. "Time to take a break."

"Just one more Lance," Dylan requested. "But..."

"But, what?"

"Can you make a scenario based on our last battle?"

Lance looked at the viewscreen before him. "Dylan, I don't think..."

"Please, Lieutenant," Dylan requested. "There was something...I noticed something when we were on the battlefield, and I just want to see if I can recognize it again."

"What is it?"

"I don't know yet," Dylan stated. "Just see if you can re-create the battle."

Lance shook his head as he punched a few keys on the keyboard before him. "I'm having the computer reconstruct the scenario right now," he stated. "It's going to take a few minutes."

"Thank you, Lance," Dylan stated. "I just want to see if what I saw was similar to an attack I studied back in the Academy."

Lance slowly nodded. "Most of the Drule attack patterns are closely monitored and then calculated."

"Not like this one," Dylan stated. "And what I believe we saw, isn't that of a Drule attack pattern."

"What do you mean?"

"When I run through the scenario, keep tabs on the positions of the enemy fighters," Dylan stated. "Even though we were focused on the two robeasts, we forgot to watch the fighters."

"I'll have the computer keep tabs on their positions," Lance stated. "Scenario is locked. Are you ready?"

"Go ahead and start the simulation," Dylan instructed.

Nodding, Lance started the simulation and watched as Dylan ran through the motions of the last battle.

As Coran finished his nightly rounds, he was a bit surprised to see Dr. Gorma standing at the entrance to Castle Control, seemingly waiting for him to return.

"Alan, what has you up at this late hour?" Coran addressed the long time Castle doctor.

"Just a few anomalies that I picked up, when I was running tests for our young Green Lion pilot," The doctor said as he followed Coran into the Control room.

"Oh?" Coran asked. "What kind of tests?"

"You read my initial report to Benson?"

"Concerning the test you did on the sample that Pidge provided?"

"Yes."

Coran nodded. "If you are here to ask, whether or not I told the young commander..."

"No, its not that, Coran," he said, then walked up to the advisor to show him the datapad he held in his hand. "I decided to run some further tests, because I noticed another...detail that I didn't pick up initially, and wanted to get your...opinion."

"What is it?"

"Take a look."

Coran took the datapad from Gorma and looked over the graph and the report that were displayed on it. It took him a bit, but one piece of information just made him do a double take before looking up at the doctor.

"Are you sure?" Coran asked. "Commander Takashi is part Arusian?"

"I ran the test four times, Coran, on the sample Pidge provided as well as a blood sample I took from the commander," he stated. "I can't deny the results. Even the computer came up with several."

"Results? What kind of results?"

"Descendants. Possible relatives."

Coran looked over the data, and quickly walked over the computer. He transferred the data over to the bigger screen, and let Dr. Gorma pull up the results from the computer within his lab.

"I traced the lineage back starting with the most recent samples we had on record," Dr. Gorma stated. "But, they all came to end here."

Coran watched as the computer shuffled through various images of some past high ranking citizens and court attendants, then finally came to rest on an image, that Coran could not believe. The resemblance was remarkable.

"Keryn Ta'æhi," Coran read out loud. "Military advisor to King Altaire?"

"The possible relatives here on Arus, all string off of his sister, Morlen Detras," Dr. Gorma continued. "As for Keryn, his line ends with him...that is his line on Arus."

"Which could mean that Keryn was off Arus," Coran stated. "But Keith always said that his family is from Earth."

"He could be partly right," Dr. Gorma said. "That maybe Keryn Ta'æhi had traveled to Earth, and for some reason stayed and had a family."

"But that would have been over a century ago," Coran stated. "We barely possed faster than light travel at the time, and the furthest anyone traveled was to the edge of our system."

"Anything could have happened, Coran," Dr. Gorma stated. "All of the history I could find, this Keryn Ta'æhi had simply disappeared. That King Altaire appointed a new advisor in his place. He wasn't heard or seen from again."

"And over a century later, we have his great grandson standing here, and not even knowing..."

"Whose great grandson?"

Coran and the doctor quickly turned to watch as Lance groggily enter the Control room, nursing a cup of coffee in one hand as he approached them. He looked up at the viewscreen before him while taking a sip from the cup.

"Working on a side project, Coran?" Lance asked as he placed a cup down. "I know you like to know our history, but I don't know if you have to dig that deep."

"What do you mean, Lance?" Coran asked as he looked at the young pilot. "You know who this man is?"

Lance chuckled. "Hells yeah," he said. "That's Keith's great-grandfather. His portrait was in their house when he was young. That is, of course, before ... well you know."

"What was his name, Lieutenant, if you don't mind my asking?" Dr. Gorma inquired.

"It was an odd name," Lance said as he scratched his head. "Kieran, Kary, Karen...no wait, not the girls' spelling. Keryn! That's it Keryn! Keith's dad always spoke about him. Something about teaching him everything he knew about being in the military, and how he encouraged him to go into the Space exploration program at the Galaxy Alliance."

Coran and Gorma looked at each other as the young Lieutenant took another sip from his cup.

"So, you were talking about Keith, when you were referring to great grandson?" Lance asked. "Keith didn't know him, so I don't think it was..."

"Keryn Takashi was his name, correct?" Coran asked.

"Yeah," Lance said. Looking at the advisor, Lance's expression changed a little. "Why? What did I do now?"

Coran cleared his throat and averted his eyes toward the view screen. Lance then looked up at the picture and his eyes came to rest on the small description below the profile.

"Keryn Ta'æhi, Military Advisor to King Alta..."

Lance's eyes widened and nearly lost his grip on his cup, before setting it down on the console before him. "You mean..."

Coran could only nod.

"And no one knew this?"

Dr. Gorma shook his head. "Not until this very moment."

"Does he even know?"

"Has he ever indicated to you that his Great Grandfather ever stated where he was born, or came from?"

Lance slowly shook his head. "I think Keith's dad often said that his grandfather never talked much, unless it was about the military or space travel," Lance said. "Ta'æhi , is that how it would have been spelled here?"

"It follows Arusian naming conventions," Coran nodded.

"And on Earth, it would have been changed...or he changed it to something easier," Lance concluded. "All this time, we never knew. How is that for irony?"

"How's that, Lieutenant?"

"The great grandfather ends up on Earth, probably on accident," Lance stated. "Then his great grandson crash lands on Arus, on a mission to help the people of Arus.

"Lance..."

"Don't have to state it, Coran, not my place to say anything, despite how tempting that this information is," Lance stated. "I'm not into cruel jokes when it comes to family. And Keith, well, he hasn't had much luck with family in his life."

"Thank you, Lance," Coran stated. "I will speak to Benson, and see if we can give this news at the appropriate time."

Breathing. It was even difficult now. She felt as if her lungs were on fire. Even though the cloth mask helped to cover her mouth and nose, the smoke was still thick enough to affect her breathing. She kept her profile low to the ground, eyeing out shadows within the thick smoke to seek out her prey. She knew that they were close. She could feel them.

Footsteps. Even the roar of cheers beyond the smoke could not hide the footsteps near her. She just needed to wait for the perfect opportunity. She had already dealt with four of these smaller proto-robeasts, as Haggar had called them. This one however, was the largest of the five, and she already received a nasty gash across her back from one of its talons.

The heavy footfalls landed near her. She just needed it to walk a few more feet...

She took her chance. The monster had passed her, so she quickly got up, pulling out the two daggers she concealed away at her waist. She jumped onto the back of the monster, getting a stab in to balance her, then with the other, slid the dagger across the monster's neck. The monster roared in pain, clawing at its back to get her off. It got a hold of her top and pulled her off, throwing her to the ground before it. She groaned in pain as the wind got knocked out of her, but she was quick to move before the monster brought down its large foot on top of her. Using the moment as it was off balance, she rounded the hulking beast to grab at the dagger still stuck in its shoulder.

Once she had it, she rounded the beast again, and with as much force as she could, she drove the dagger straight into its skull. The beast let out a bloodcurdling scream, before collapsing. Alania extricated herself from the monster, retrieving her dagger, breathing heavily as the bluish-black blood drained from its body.

"Well done."

She didn't realize how much time had passed, but the smoke had already cleared from the arena, and King Zarkon was slowly approaching her with Tarris at his side. She immediately fell to her knee and bowed her head.

"I'm must apologize, sire, but it wasn't my best performance," she admonished herself. "The beast shouldn't have been able to fling me off, when I was so close to killing it."

"Nonsense, woman," the King roared with laughter.

Alania looked up as the King turned toward Tarris. She watched as the General came forward.

"I honestly did not think you could do it, General," the King stated. "You've turned her into a soldier one could be proud of. I once could not believe the stories of your men that trained under you, but with her, you've put all of that to rest!"

General Tarris smiled and bowed a little toward Zarkon. "Just showing, sire, that my reputation is well earned."

"Only if we had you 12 years ago, then we wouldn't be in our little predicament."

Tarris nodded. "No time like the present, to make those corrections, sire," he said. "A clean slate as they say. Past indiscretions and mistakes, forgotten. I hope to change all of that for you."

"Yes, yes," Zarkon stated. "We will discuss your plans soon. Till then, you have a protege to keep after."

With a bow, Tarris watched as King Zarkon left the arena followed by an entourage of guards and scantily clad slave women. He then turned to Alania, who was still kneeled on the ground.

"You can stand now," he said.

Alania stared at him as he approached, her hand gripping the dagger she held tightly. She slowly got to her feet as he came to stand before her.

"Four weeks, and look where you are now," he said with a smile. "You could barely fight and now you are a warrior."

Alania just stared at him, seeing the pride in his eyes.

"And what do you think you will gain from all of this?" she asked. "Don't forget, I'm here against my will."

He only smiled as he stepped closer to her. "You have had every opportunity to escape, even with the skills you have now," he said. "The doors have been open to you from the beginning. You took out a proto-robeast on your own today; you could have made mincemeat out of the guards here. No my dear, you are not here against your will."

She met his gaze as he stared down at her, knowing that there were some truth in his words.

"You have a dagger right now. Strike me down if you must. Gain your freedom." He grabbed her hand that was holding the dagger, and held the weapon against his own neck. "Nothing is stopping you now. The guards are just pathetic robots. They stand no chance against you."

Alania could only stare as he held her hand, and the weapon against his neck. The arena lights shining off the blue blood stained blade. She could see that the blade had slightly cut him under his chin in his demonstration, and found herself just staring at the stark contrast of red blood against the blue.

She then breathed in deeply as she pulled her hand away. Tarris only smiled as he grabbed her hand again, and placed the stained dagger into it.

"Come, we have much to prepare for."

Alania watched as he turned to leave, and as she sheathed to dagger into a small scabbard at her waist, she quickly joined him as they left the arena.

Illandra fisted her hands as she stared out of the window that overlooked the arena. She pursed her lips together as she watched as Zarkon and Tarris spoke with the maid. For weeks she had to endure watching Tarris train the woman he kidnapped from Arus. For weeks, she spent fuming as to why he would spend each day with her, then reside himself with her at night.

"Losing your control, witch?"

Illandra gasped as she stepped back from the window, seeing Haggar standing in the room she was in, with Prince Lotor at her side.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Lotor smiled as he approached her. Illandra breathed in deeply as she slowly backed away from him forcing her to the center of the room.

"So tell me, witch, how did you do it?" he asked.

"Do what, my prince?" she asked as she backed away from him.

He quickly reached out to her, grabbing her by her arm, pulling her toward him. "Tarris." he said. "How did you do it?"

Illandra squirmed her way out of his hold as she backed away from him. "I don't know what you are talking about," she said as he came toward her.

"Ah, Haggar, it seems she won't be forthcoming after all," Lotor stated with a smile.

"Then we must do it the hard way." The old witch stated. "Go on, Lotor, I've nullified all magic in this room. She won't be able harm you."

Illandra turned to the old witch and stared at her. "Marlesa, what are you doing?"

"Punishing you for the dark magic you have dabbled in, all in the name to save your husband, Illandra," Haggar stated.

Illandra's eyes widened. "How….how did…"

"I can smell the stench of our old master, Illandra," Haggar stated. "His magic, quite old..quite dark. What exactly did you give up to save him?"

"You will never have him, Haggar," Illandra stated as she felt Lotor behind her. "The control I have over him can never be broken."

"But you can be." Lotor stated.

Benson read over the report as the young commander stood before him. He quickly looked over to Lance, who was leaning against the door, with his arms crossed before meeting the gaze of the young man before him.

"How did you come to this conclusion?"

"I had Lance run me through a simulation of the last battle," Dylan started. "I noticed something in the formations of the enemy robot ships had taken during the last attack. Admiral, its the same tactics that were used by Admiral Takashi when he helped thwart the invasion of Ebb 18 years ago."

Benson quickly stood from his chair, startling the young man. "And how do you know this?" the Admiral asked. "That incident was classified."

"I apologize, Admiral," Dylan stated. "But, one of my academy teachers was part of that force that Admiral Takashi commanded. He saw that I was getting...as he stated, bored in the class, and gave me a bunch of battle tactics and formations to analyze. This was one of the battles that I studied."

Benson exchanged a quick look with Lance. "Hey, don't look at me. The kid figured it out all on his own." the Lieutenant said in his defense.

Dylan looked to both the Admiral and Lieutenant. "Is there something that I should know?" he asked. "If this General Tarris is using Admiral Takashi's tactics, then we need to develop a countermeasure against them. Question is how, did Tarris learn of these tactics in the first place."

"Its more than that, commander." Benson stated as he breathed in deeply and took a seat back in his chair. "We've been coming to the realization that General Tarris maybe in fact, Admiral Takashi."

A look of surprise passed over the young man's face. "But...h..how?" he stammered. "The ship, the entire crew, perished."

Benson looked up to him. "We don't know," he stated. "We do know that he is a mutation between that of Admiral Takashi and another Drule. The DNA can't lie about that."

"Haggar?"

"No, as strong as Haggar is in her witchcraft, this kind of...thing...we've never seen her capable of doing." Benson stated. "The only similar mutation we have seen is from Lotor, and he was born to a human mother and Zarkon."

Dylan slowly nodded and gulped hard before he asked "Does the captain know?"

"We haven't told him," Lance said as he stepped forward. "For reasons that you may not understand, commander. We don't know what kind of effect this will have on him, seeing as we all believed that no one survived from that crash."

Dylan nodded. "Lieutenant, I understand fully," he stated. He then turned to Benson. "Even if our suspicions are correct, we still have to come up with countermeasures. If we aren't able to counteract these attacks, they are just going to weaken our defenses till he is able to overwhelm us. That is what he does."

Benson nodded. "Then see to it that we have some scenarios to look over," he stated.

"Admiral…" Lance stated as he stepped forward.

Benson held up his hand to the Lieutenant as he stared up at Dylan. "You said you've studied Takashi's tactics in class at the academy, correct?"

"Yes, but, those were just more as a way to pass the time," Dylan said. "I don't even know where to begin."

Benson slowly shook his head. "Commander, you were able to recognize the tactic just from one battle." he said. "I have faith that you will be able to come up with something that we can use. You have the Voltron Force as well as the Galaxy Garrison archives at your disposal...but, as far as where to start."

Benson then stood as he met Dylan's gaze. "Speak with those who knew the Admiral."

Alania breathed in deeply as she stood in the darkness of the room she was in. Save for the light from the outside creeping in past some of the windows, she could only make out tiny shadows at the edge of her sight.

"Why are you still testing me?" she called out.

"This is your final test, one that will prove that you are ready."

She turned in the direction of the voice, listening for any little noise that would indicate where Tarris was in the room in relation to where she was.

"Ready?" she asked.

"As I told you before, my dear, you will serve a higher purpose now."

The voice was right behind her, and she quickly turned only to reach out to feel nothing.

"Come on, anticipate. Listen."

Alania could feel her blood rushing to her ears, warmed by her concentration of trying listen for any small noise. A rustle there of fabric. The wind howling against the windows. A scrape on the stone floor. A light breath.

She let out a grunt as she struck out toward her left side, and caught what she felt was a sash. She quickly tugged on it, relieving the wearer of the makeshift belt he wore.

"Good," the voice came again. "Listen."

Alania wound the cloth in her hands, as she listened carefully. Quickly stretching the sash, she heard a noise to her right and with a quick breath, she pushed herself against the ground to lunge at the moving object.

She heard a slight grunt as she contacted the warm body, then using her strength pushed him toward one of the walls. With the sash between her hands, it gave her the leverage to pin his arms around him, and hold him up against the wall. Heavy breathing filled the air as he let out a small chuckle.

"Lights."

The room illuminated slowly as Alania then stared at Tarris as he stared down at her, still pinned against the wall.

"Very good, but you forget one thing."

With a gasp, Tarris extricated his arms and used the sash to turn them around as he pinned her against the wall. She let out a grunt as he pushed her arms toward her back, pinning them.

"Don't use all of your strength, for it can be used against you."

Alania breathed in deeply as she looked at him. "Did I pass your test?"

He smiled. "Swimmingly," he stated. "Zarkon will be proud."

"All of this just to make Zarkon proud? To prove to him that you are the greatest leader that the Drule army has ever seen?" she asked.

"Of course not," as he relaxed his hold on her. "To prove to me as well, that what I saw the first day I met you, is as true as it is today."

"My hatred of you?"

"Oh, you do not hate, me dear Alania," he said.

With that, Alania let out a gasp as he pulled her into his embrace and fully kissed her. She fought against his hold at first, but as he pushed her against the wall and her arms were freed, she found herself melting into the embrace, and holding him against her. The kiss deepened as she closed her eyes, breathing deeply when they broke apart before he kissed her again. The sash she was holding slipped from her hold as he lifted her into his arms, before exiting the room together.

[TBC]