Notes from the author: I normally don't publish multiple chapters at the same time, but some of you have been concerned about Keith and his mental state. Parts two and three a & b deal with this; it gets worse in part two, but redemption starts in part three. As a writer it is interesting to take a character and explore the 'darker side'. At the end of the day, it won't get too dark because as we all know Voltron is always the hero! Please read chapter 18, 19A, and 19B before posting feedback, which I always enjoy reading!
Return to Galena – Part Two
Allura had been bound and gagged and thrown into a corner of the ship. Lotor spent the flight arguing with someone over the com system. She didn't understand the language, but knew the person at the other end was not pleased with him. It wasn't a long flight, and they docked at a big battle class Drule ship. Allura had not thought there were any of these left, after the defeat five years ago.
Allura was roughly handled by the guards, while Lotor staggered off the ship. They went up to the bridge, a big open area, where Maahox was at an oversize control panel. The guards dropped Allura at his feet; he looked up calmly, and saw that Lotor was now emitting a fading lavender glow, instead of the bright purple one he had had before. Maahox signaled to the guards with a flick of his wrist "Pick His Majesty up, and put him in the tank." He then turned to Allura and said "Don't worry about him, he'll be fine in about half an hour or so. That is about how long it takes to recharge the hagerium."
The guards helped Allura up, and removed the gag from her mouth. "Really Maahox, was this necessary?" She said, looking at the lizard like creature with distaste. He gave a small chuckle and said "Oh, you weren't my idea! His Majesty decided he couldn't wait for you any longer. This was not in the plan, but I will adapt for a win-win situation." He told her in a bored voice, as if they were discussing the weather.
"What do you mean a win-win situation?" She said, not liking the calm tone of his voice. He shrugged his shoulders and said "That one" indicating Lotor with his head, "Will get you, while I will get Voltron and the Magic Cadet. Even now Commander Keith and the Lions are speeding toward this ship, to rescue you!" He stopped, cocked his head as if he was listening to something, and then looked at her quite interestingly.
"So it is not Commander Keith who you want to rescue you. My my, you have been a busy little Princess!" Maahox stopped for a moment, turned to look at the big monitor, and then turned back around to say "Poor Commander Keith; after lusting over you for eight years, you are going throw him over for Pidge! Mind you, I agree with your choice, as Pidge is the superior specimen, especially intellectually." He stopped as Allura was looking at him in total shock! "Did you know that the ancient Baltans contributed to the original programming of Voltron? Well them, and the Mejiks, where the Magic One gets his power from!"
"How do you know all this?" Allura gasped at him. He gave her a dry smile, "I read minds, which is rather tedious overall. I must say yours is a nice change from His Majesty's!" Maahox went on "It is too bad He wants you so badly! It would be interesting to send you back to Arus, and tell Commander Keith what you have been up! Oh the drama of it all!"
Allura felt like she was in her worst nightmare! Maahox said "Well, you won't have to worry about that now, as you will be busy with your new lover." He turned to the guards "Take her down to His Majesty's quarters, and have the slave girls put her into something suitable." He looked back over at her "He'll be all set to go in a while. You must be quite an interesting person, in addition to a beautiful woman. You manage to have His Majesty, Command Keith, and Pidge all lusting over you; mmm! Maybe if His Majesty doesn't use you up, we could have a good time together. I appreciate a woman who can carry on a conversation!" Allura felt his bright eye scan her with way too much interest!
Allura was led through a rabbit warren of passageways, to Lotor's quarters. The place looked like a fabric store had exploded, and smelled like a pigsty! Once there, several slave girls took Allura's uniform, and dressed her in a gaudy purple and gold outfit. It consisted of a bra top made of gold brocade, with a skirt made out of a sheer purple material, which sat low on her hips, belted with more gold brocade. She felt totally exposed in the get up. Once they left, Allura was alone, with her fear rapidly rising.
As they approached the big battle class ship Hunk said "Just like old times!" Lance chimed in "You know, this is getting rather old, don't you think?" Pidge trying to keep focused said "What are you talking about?" Lance laughed and said "Lotor and Allura! Really, how many times has he kidnapped her, and then we go rescue her?" Daniel chimed in over the open com "Obsession is never pretty!"
Lance could never resist a good tease, so he said now "Lotor wouldn't want to kidnap her if he could get a date right?" Hunk said "I think that it makes sense, it would give him something else to focus on." Keith spoke over the com "We are almost at the ship! Stop this nonsense now!" Lance however, always had to push it one step further, so he said "You know Keith, that advice is good for you too. You need something else to focus on too. Maybe you and Lotor could get a two for one deal at an internet dating service?" Keith said "When we get back to base I am so going to get you!" Everyone had a good laugh as Lance said "You love me too much to do that!"
The joking had helped Pidge a bit, and he knew the Lions had made it to the ship in record time. In spite of that, Pidge was sure it was the longest flight he had ever done. He was trying to keep his emotions in check, but kept on seeing Allie's face. He was scared he would never see it again. Once they landed the Lions, Keith had them try to figure out how to get into the ship. Pidge realized he would need to use every ounce of his ninja blood to get into the ship.
Pidge kept close to the walls of the ship, and then lucked into an open space chute. He wiggled into the opening, for the first time regretting his recent growth spurt. However, he made it into an auxiliary engine room. He managed to hack into the computer, to try to get a general plan of the ship. What he saw caused his heart to drop. The place was like a rabbit warren of rooms. Someone had taken the original ship and reconfigured it into a maze! Pidge suddenly thought of the maze back on Arus; it made him think of Allie and their time there.
He was sure that he could hear her; but how? Remembering what happened with their lions, he tried to reach out to her with his mind. Allura, for her part, was sitting in Lotor's room, waiting for her world to end. She thought of Pidge, and realized how much she loved him. She had never told him, and now he would never know. Allura suddenly sat up perfectly straight; it was like she could feel him next to her, just like when they were in the lions. 'Pidge, are you here?' she thought, and almost cried when she felt his thoughts, and knew they were all about her.
'Where are you Allie? Where on the ship?' Pidge thought, sending those thoughts out. Allura picked them up, and tried to explain the path, from the bridge down to the room. Pidge, looking at the schematic in front of him, realized he could get there. 'Hold on Allie, I'll be right there!' He thought, as he took off, making it a point to move as silently as possible. Thanks goodness they don't have the full complement of soldiers this ship should have had, he thought.
As he was doing a zigzag path alone the ship's interior, he managed to evade a small unit of soldiers, heading in the opposite direction of his. From the chatter of their coms, he picked up that there was disturbance on the bridge. He smiled, sure that the rest of the team was keeping Maahox and Lotor busy. After several sharp turns, which had him thinking 'who the hell was the contractor that put this together?' he arrived at what should be the correct room.
Allura was in Lotor's quarters, terrified beyond words! She knew that Pidge was close, but looking at the odd looking time piece over the bed, knew that Lotor was recharged and ready to go. She knew that he would be walking through the door, and she now understood what he would want from her! He had kidnapped her before, but never like this; 'god, if he touches me, I need to die! How can I do that?'
Pidge had arrived at the door, which had no security at all! Pidge almost rolled his eyes thinking 'Really?' He opened the panel and stepped into a bad movie! The quarters were decorated in a mix of red, gold, and black cloth, tossed around with no plan. The mattress was on the ground, and dirty bedding and too many pillows covered it. Overall was the stink of unchanged bedding and chamber pots! In the midst of this stood a blonde woman with her back to the door; her hair was totally loose, waving around her body like a gold veil.
He sensed her fear like an overwhelming tidal wave. He knew that she was expecting Lotor to walk through the door – 'why? Maahox?' – he didn't understand where the waves of fear were coming from. He looked at her, noticing the outlandish costume she was wearing – wow, did it show off her legs and hips! He had touched some parts of her body, but not everything. He took a deep breath, and walked in to the room.
"I say, for the fact that the guy is a king, could he not spring for a decorator and a housekeeper?" Pidge said, as he came up next to her. Allura almost screamed as she threw herself into Pidge's arms. "Shh." he said covering her mouth with his, just long enough for a taste of her, but for too short of a time.
After he raised his head, he said "We need to get out of here right away. Are you all right?" Pidge was leading her out of the room, and she managed to nod her head. She was still in shock that Pidge had found her in time. "I'll get you to Green Lion, I promise!" Pidge said, squeezing her hand.
While Allura and Pidge were making their way to Green Lion, the rest of the group were having their own adventures. Lance, with Hunk and the cadets, had made their way to the bridge, while Keith had dramatically announced that he was going to find Allura! Lance muttered under his breath 'fucking drama queen!' which Daniel heard. He stifled a laugh, but not in time for Lance, who looked at him and said in a low voice "You did not hear that!" Daniel got a 'who me?' look on his face. He would enjoy telling Larmina about it, later.
Once they got to the bridge, all hell broke loose. Maahox had been helping Lotor out of the chamber, when Hunk came up behind them, and started hitting them. Larmina jumped in, and managed to get Lotor pinned to the ground "That is for what you did to my Aunt, you creep!" She said, as she used her stick to knock him out. Lance, along with Vince and Daniel were busy with the company of soldiers Maahox had called in to help. Hunk and Larmina went over to help them, and missed Maahox pick up Lotor and leave the bridge.
Larmina turned around and said "They're gone!" As she said that, the soldiers all turned and fled, leaving Lance to remark "Nothing worse than when you throw a fight, and no one comes!" After they had a laugh about that, Hunk said "Let's find Keith, Pidge, and Allura."
Keith was down in the bowels of the ship, getting more frustrated by the minute. He had assumed the ship was the standard battle class cruiser, a ship he was familiar with. However, this one had been repurposed enough times, so there was no resemblance to the original vessel. He had been wandering around, looking in rooms, and trying not to get caught. He guessed that most of the soldiers were up on the bridge. His thought processes were not being helped with his concern about Allura.
'What if I don't find her? I've never talked to her!' he thought, as he continued searching. 'How did I get into this position?' he asked; deep in his heart he knew the answer. He was still beating himself up over the last eight years, when his voltcom beeped. It was Lance, telling him the bridge was clear, but that Maahox escaped the ship with Lotor. As Lance was telling him that, another signal came in, from Pidge "I found the Princess, and we are boarding Green Lion right now!"
When Keith heard Pidge's statement he saw red! He turned around, and with his laser blasted out a wall for no practical purpose! He had spent the last several weeks smarting over the study incident, as he called it. Every time he thought of Pidge sitting next to her, behind her desk, he had to grind his teeth. What made it worse, in his opinion, was that Lance was right there, going along with it all. And now, she was with him on Green Lion! Keith had to wonder, how the hell did he find her? What was his secret ability!
Keith decided that if he could get back to the Lions, he would assert his authority and take her onboard Black Lion! He was the Commander after all! Unfortunately, the layout of the ship worked against his plan. By the time he made it back to the Lions, everyone was on board their respective ships, and just waiting for him, so they could take off. The minute he got his ship going, he was on the open com link, trying to restrain his fury.
"I want reports right now! Pidge how is Allura? Lance, what the hell happened that you let Lotor get away?" Keith screamed into the microphone, and continued on like for several minutes. Vince, who was riding with Hunk, said "Oh, he doesn't sound happy!" Hunk nodded his head and replied "I think Yellow Lion is going to keep a low profile on the way back, if you get my meaning." Vince certainly did.