Okay....round two...
Another one of my editors found some more errors and pointed them out for me, so I did the changes. And as part of this new update, I would like to express my sorrow for my dear friend and editor, Mertz as she has lost her father. For her to still do this edit just shows me how strong she truly is...
Here's to you, Mertz...love you, dear!
I don't own Voltron...but the blackmail tapes are on the way! ;)
I now present...
Chapter Twenty-One
Keith plows through the squadron of fighters sent to prevent him from getting to Blue Lion, but he acts like a man possessed. The quiet rage, fueled by fear is driving him past the point of all reason. All he knows is he has to get to Allura…he can't let this happen to her…
Oh God, what if Soren was right? What if I am the cause of all this? What if because I left, I killed her…?
"No…" he murmurs fiercely and feels her faint cry for help, **save me, my love…** He doesn't know if she meant to call him, or if it was a last thought, but it's enough to add speed to his mighty lion as he heads to her crash site. He lands Black on the other side of the dense forest…the trees thick enough not to let anything be seen from the air. Blue had landed in a deep crevice at the edge of a clearing, making it so he has to get there by foot. The Voltron commander jumps out the top of Black…blaster in hand, and heads to the gorge where Blue lays with serious damage to its starboard side.
Running, he calls his lieutenant, "Lance, take out as many ground troops as you can to cover me. Hunk, you and Pidge head for the flagship…get Lotor."
"Keith, you can't be down there by yourself…"
"I'm not, you have my back, idiot. Just keep them off me! Kogane out." Keith places the communicator back in its holster and runs as fast as he can to the edge of the gorge…his mind calling out to her, **Allura, please…I'm coming…hold on…please…oh God, please hold on…**
Still, no answer, but he moves just in time as a laser blast hits a tree right next to him. He pulls in behind one and returns fire, hitting at least four before more reinforcements come to help. Before long, he's pinned down away from the lion and he starts to get desperate. Grabbing his communicator again, Keith yells, "LANCE…WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU????!!!!!"
A loud explosion hits in the middle of the Doom soldiers and most are flung about in pieces in various directions. Keith sees his way clear and continues to the gorge.
Lotor observes Black Lion landing and foul curses escape from his mouth. He would have been much happier observing back in the cruiser, but he turns the ship around to make sure that he gets away with his treasure. He spies Green and Yellow Lions coming at him, but he doesn't divert.
"Hey Prince Asshole, we just came to say, Hi! Why are you in such a rush?" says Hunk and he launches a spike bomb. Lotor flies over it and continues toward the gorge. Pidge presses a few buttons and Green picks up speed. "You aren't getting away from me…" he says ominously and fires his lion torch. A great blast of green fire blazes out of Green's mouth and burns the afterburners on Lotor's fighter.
"Meddlesome boy!" Lotor screams and launches tail torpedoes that strike Green Lion in his nose. Slightly disoriented, Pidge slow down his pursuit and Lotor is able to shake him…but he has forgotten for the moment about Yellow Lion. Hunk comes in and tries to engage him in an old fashioned dogfight, but the prince wasn't going for it. His ship heads toward the gorge and Hunk follows…
Keith reaches the edge of the chasm and looks down…Blue is horribly damaged and pyres of smoke billow out from its hind section. "Allura!" he calls as he starts down the cliff. He pauses when he sees a group of soldiers landing in a small shuttle, heading towards the fallen lion. He speeds his dissent, hoping that he can beat them there.
Lotor lands closer to the gorge than Keith was able to and jumps out just as Hunk lands Yellow. He runs to the edge and jumps down the cliff face, not noticing the captain on the opposite side. Keith sees the prince and fires at him, barely missing his head. Lotor grimaces as a piece of rock hits him in the face, but he trudges on, desperately trying to reach his prize before his rival.
Keith jumps down the last few feet and breaks into a dead sprint to the ship, firing at the soldiers that are climbing on Blue's head. Deadly fire comes at them and they try to duck for cover, while others fall to the ground, clutching their open stomachs and chests from Keith's razor-sharp aim. "Get the Princess! Do not stop until you do!" hollers Lotor as he finally hits the ground and comes running. Now, there is a duel between Keith and Doom forces for the welfare of the Princess of Arus. Keith can't help but continue to worry about her…she hasn't answered his mental calls and nothing is moving in the cockpit.
Dammit, Allura….PLEASE!!!!! he worries and continues to fire. Blasts from overhead come to help him as Red shows up, along with Green. Hunk finally arrives at the edge of the gap and fires at everything he sees in dark uniforms. Sounds of fierce laser fire fills the air and Lotor hides down behind one of the legs while waiting for his soldiers to retrieve Allura. "Get in there and get her out!" he screams and three soldiers are able to dodge the fire long enough to get into the lion. Keith screams internally and pushes forward, trying to reach her but winds up being pinned down just beside the jaw. He pulls out his comm. unit once more and calls the lions, "Lance, Pidge…I need you to fire at that shuttle…ground it!"
"Read you, Cap!" says the Green Lion pilot and he fires directly at it, but the ship is protected by a shield that repels the blast like an annoying fly. "No good, Keith….the ship is protected…" Pidge reports back and Keith groans. Discharging more blasts, he leaps on Blue's left paw and tries to head toward the opening, but encounters more heavy fire, taking a shot in the arm.
"Damn!" he swears, dropping down to see how bad the wound is…and it is at this point he hears Lotor call out, "You're too late, Commander…I have the prize now and won't she be glad to know that you perished in the foolhardy attempt to save her!" His maniacal laughter fills the air as two of the soldiers lift out the unconscious Princess and hands her to Lotor. Keith's chest constricts as he watches as the Doomites jump down off of the lion and head to the shuttle. The prince can't help but to rub it in, "I wonder how well she can handle a real man?!" And with that, he enters the shuttle and it blasts off. Keith can see nothing but red and continues to fire at the shuttle even after it is far out of sight. The rest of the team finally reaches him and find that he's completely desolate. He leans down into the cockpit as if to make sure that she really isn't there and he drops down…in a deep denial. "She can't be gone…no…" he whispers and Lance comes over to him, "Snap out of it! We can get her back!"
Keith rises to his feet in a split second and grips Lance by the collar, "You don't understand…if we don't get her back before Haggar gets to her, the only way to stop the old witch is to kill Allura! Do you get it…WE WILL HAVE TO KILL HER!!!!!!"
Lance shakes his head, not sure he heard what he did. Hunk's jaw drops, but recovers enough to ask, "What do you mean? Kill her?"
Keith releases Lance and rubs his hand over his face, "Soren said that Haggar is after Allura's mental powers, and if she gets them, not even Zarkon will be able to control her. If she is able to start the process and begins to receive that power, the only way to stop the transfer is to kill Allura…"
Lance freezes, "Are you sure there is no other way? She has to die?" And by the look on Keith's stricken face he understands the truth. He smiles, "Well, what are we waiting for? We have a Princess to save…once again!" The last little bit was to try to liven things up bit, but his friend is too guilt-ridden to pull himself out of it. The Red Lion pilot takes Keith by the arm and leads him away from the empty cockpit. Once they have gotten away from the others, Lance punches him in the arm to get his attention. "Look, I don't know what is behind all of this, but I do know that you need to get your head together so that we can get her back. She didn't bring you back here for you to sulk around because you made a mistake…we need your help, she needs your help."
Keith looks at him as if waking from a fog, "I know, let's get back to the Castle to see if anyone has heard anything." Straightening himself out and turning on his comm. unit, he calls Coran, "Lotor got away with the Princess…we need to track where he's going and make it fast…we don't have time."
"Scanning…" he hears, then…"Nothing…it's as if the ship has disappeared. The only thing I'm picking up is the cruisers and they are heading out of Arusian airspace now." The Commander then tells Coran, "Find Soren…he can let us know what is going on and how much time we really have. I'm going to take Black to the cruiser with Hunk…Lance, you take Pidge and get back to the castle to get Soren…we're going to need him when we find Allura."
Lance salutes and runs off to Red. As he passes Pidge, he calls out, "Let's go, small fry…we gotta passenger to pick up before we can get back into the battle." Pidge looks around quickly, then he runs after Lance. Hunk walks over to his captain, "Well, that means that we have a trip to take…"
"Yeah, we're wasting time…time she doesn't have."
Both Keith and Hunk run to their respective lions and take off. Keith pushes Black into overdrive and shoots toward the flagship. Hunk stares after the streaking black machine and guns his turbo, my gut tells me that if Keith gets his hands on Lotor once more…it's not going to be pretty…
Lance lands right outside the castle and heads straight for Castle Control. As he's coming down the hall, he sees Keero sneaking into the records room. Silently, the Red Lion pilot moves over to the doorway and peers around the corner to observing the young man rifling through personnel files on the castle mainframe. Lance decides to wait a few minutes to see exactly what he's looking for, but can't get a good look at the screen…so he slides in and hides behind the nearby bookshelf, giving him a better view of the terminal. Keero does look around to make sure that he's alone…then he turns back to the screen, pulling up the advisor's personal journal entries. Thinking he has found his evidence, he scans through the entries until he comes upon one about Keith and the Princess. Lance sees him stop at one particular entry and figures that now is the best time to make himself known…and before Keero learns too much.
"Those files are private, Commander. What are you doing in them?" Lance asks dangerously and almost falls out laughing at the way Keero reacts to the sudden appearance of another person in this room. The young man starts to sputter and tries to turn of the terminal but Lance moves over in time enough to catch what he's reading. The entry was made shortly after the Summit meeting that they held here on Arus a year ago and described the happenings. He reads… Commander Keith has just been brought back on from the edge of the Dailerian forest where he encountered Lotor trying to kidnap Princess Allura…from the preliminary reports the wounds are critical, but what is intriguing to me is the reaction from the Princess. I have always had a feeling that she was experiencing some casual feelings for the Commander, but this incident has more than solidified my beliefs… Lance stops and skims ahead to the end of the entry, I have always known that the Captain held strong feelings for the Princess…even though he hasn't spoken them aloud. Something tells me that they are reciprocated…
He skims through the detailed parts onthe whole situation, on every nuance he could observe about the two of them. Lance smiles briefly, So, the old guy noticed too… . The lieutenant looks back at Keero, who doesn't bat an eye. "These are personal files that have a code to unlock to access…and you have somehow just broken it." He grips Keero up by the collar and whispers menacingly to him, "Since we have something more important to deal with, I'll send you to the brig for the time in being…until KEITH can decide what to do with you!"
Keero can see his career and freedom slowly disappearing, but he suddenly remembers the he has an ace in the hole, "I'll make you a deal…you let me go and I'll let you know where your new friend is…"
Lance's face hardens and the grip gets tighter, "What the hell do you mean?" Keero smiles dangerously, "I have Katia…nice girl, by the way. You let me off the planet and I tell you where she is…" he looks at his watch, "…and if you hurry, you'll have time to get to her before she gets hurt!"
The Red Lion pilot's face blanches and he immediately releases him, "What does she have to do with anything?"
"She was in the way…seen something that she shouldn't have and I couldn't afford for her to alert anyone. Now, if you let me go…I'll be out of your way and off Arus as soon as I can get a fighter ready. When I am safely away, I'll let you know where she is…your call…"
Lance snarls, but he lets Keero go and the commander smiles at him. "Thought so…you guys are a sucker for a pretty face, and in Keith's defense…I don't blame him." He slowly moves out the room, backwards so that he can keep an eye on Lance. "Now, no sudden moves…and no funny business…" then he turns and runs down the hall. The Red Lion pilot growls and runs out the door after him, but runs straight into Pidge.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" the young man says and sees the look of total anger and death in his friend's eyes. "Jeez, man…what happened?"
"That sorry son of a bitch, Keero was trying to find out stuff on Keith so he can get him booted off of Arus for good, but I caught him…"
Pidge looks back down the hall and sees that no one is there, "Why did you let him go, then?"
Lance turns to Pidge and bites out, "Because he has Katia somewhere in this castle and I don't know if she's okay. He won't tell me where she is until he's safe off of Arus."
"You just can't let him go…" whispers Pidge and Lance grips him by his collar, "I don't want to, but I have no choice…I can't sacrifice her for the chance to get him. We know where he'll be going and the fighters all have tracking systems that he can't disable…we'll get him." Looking down the hall where the fugitive ran, he decides to make it a little rough of him. He pulls out the communicator and commands, "Guards, Commander Takashi is heading for the fighter bays. Stall him for a while, until you hear from Commander Kogane."
"Any particular reason?"
"Just keep him busy…you'll hear something soon." Lance cuts the transmission and turns back to a confused Pidge. "You have to get Soren to save the Princess right now…she's the important thing right now for you, I don't want to be the one to have to calm down the Cap if we don't get to her in time."
"Aren't you coming?" Pidge asks and Lance shakes his head. "I have to find Katia…I have to find out what the hell he meant…but I'll help you get the seer."
With that said, they rush down the corridor to Soren's room.
Knocking urgently at the door, Lance calls out to the elderly man, "Soren, Soren! We need you…Lotor had taken…"
The door slides open and the wizened seer stands looking at them for a second before finishing Lance's sentence. "Yes, I know that the agents of Doom have taken Princess Allura and they are heading to the flagship as we speak. We have no time to waste…Haggar will be preparing the transfer ceremony in an hour."
"Transfer? What is going on, Soren?" asks the Green Lion pilot.
Lance sighs exasperatedly, "Haggar wants Allura's mental powers and the only way she can get them is through a mind transfer, jeez!" The youngest pilot's face turns white and his hands clench…he has always felt that since he saved her from Lotor's attempt to kidnap her by making it seem like she died, he has always held the sense that he was the Princess's personal protector. To know that she is in a situation that could kill her… "Well, what are we here waiting for…let's go!" Lance smiles and follows behind Pidge and Soren to Castle Control.
They enter the control room and walk right into the center of a minor, chaotic situation. Ever since the prince of Doom attacked, the guards and security teams have been at full alert, with Coran coordinating the show. They spot him at the main console, commanding troops to disperse throughout the forest rim for any stray Doom troops that may be in hiding. "Gamma Team, take coordinates 45-231 on the western edge of the forest while Delta Team take coordinates 27-417 on the eastern edge. Report anything that you find strange…"
"Copy," is the reply and he turns his attention to the main screen at the cleanup of the wreckage of Blue Lion. His face shows worry, but a determination to make sure that everything is in order when the Princess returns…and he's sure that she will.
"Coran, we're taking Soren to the flagship…but then I'm returning. Keero has finally lost it, he has taken Katia and hidden her somewhere in this castle…"
Coran gasps, "Now, why would he do that?"
"Your guess is as good as mine…all I know is that she is in danger, but not for the moment. Try to do an interior scan of every room in this place and relay what you find to me in Red. I'll return as soon as I leave Soren there…" Lance lies, not feeling too good about it, but there is no reason for Coran to know about Katia's life on Planet Doom.
Pidge speaks up, "Look, I think we can handle this for now…go try to find Katia. I'll take Soren and we'll radio you if we need you and Big Red." Lance smiles tremulously, "Thanks, buddy…you don't know what this means. You sure?"
"Get going!" calls Pidge as he waves him off. Lance wastes no time and heads back off down the hall, calling back. "Coran, I still need that scan…"
"Right…" Coran finally replies, a little shocked at the pilot's determined stride to find this woman. He looks at Pidge and Soren and the old man says, "Trust in it, old friend. That one needs to do this, as much as the new Lion Knight Protector has to do what he is doing."
"Lion what? I hate being in the dark about things…" grouches Pidge and the seer pats him on the shoulder. "All will be revealed in due time, young one…don't worry. Your place has yet to be determined."
Pidge's face lights up and he returns, "Let's go…Keith and Hunk are waiting for us."
Coran presses the button to pull the cameras over to where the lions are sitting. Pidge grabs onto the old man's sleeve and tells Soren, "We have to hurry…the Princess needs us now!" The old man grabs onto the young man's hand as they run out the doors towards Green Lion.