Author's Note: Back in early December 2013, I stumbled upon a Twitter feed that was quote-unquote discussing this story. It was between two authors here on FFN who, for lack of a better term, could not fathom why Sven would have a seizure, fall, and "ask for the girl he was with 15 years ago" and not his wife. Good question, and one which I've left unanswered until now. So, to everyone who was wondering, here you go.
As always, I own nothing except my characters and planets - no more, no less.
To Emie Mac - I got this chapter out as quickly as I could. I had to...we've got to find out what happens to Aidan! In the meanwhile, I think you're right; they'll all still be calling Ginger "Lemon Drop" until she's 100.
To WarzonePrez - Thanks for the info! You'll have to send me those links, I can't find a whole lot of Albegas clips (of any use) on YouTube. As for the Captain/Commander thing, I've kept Keith at Captain b/c I feel like he and Jeff are of equal status. They're both Captains. (So why is Newley still a Captain? The mind reels at the amount of discrepancies.)
To selena devargo - I have to say, the 30th anniversary of Voltron came around, and suddenly, Hunk is the ladies' man. Don't worry, I've got good stuff cooked up for him. Vodka may or may not be included. ;)
To Cubbie - I love hard-core battle scenes (even though I'm not the best at writing them...I'm better at sappy moments). And I love having three Voltrons to play with!
To Wade Wells - Hey, we can't lose Crankypants now, not after he finally married Allura! As for Len & Jon, keep reading...
Title Song: "Man Down" by Rihanna
Majors Brown and Stebbins sat around the Space Marshal's office, preparing to call it a night. After Justine's earlier visit, they had prepared the documentation to begin an alliance with Elnor. As they worked, they discussed how the prime ministers would feel about being on the council with Romelle. They weren't sure if these representatives would be pleased that the princess had gotten on with her life, or if her mere presence would bring a solemnity and sadness.
"Okay, well, I'm done." Stebbins stood up and checked his watch. "I've got to get home. The wife's probably wondering where the heck I am."
"Yeah, you're right," Brown agreed. He himself had no wife or children to get home to; much like Colonel Cross, he had dedicated his life to Galaxy Garrison, essentially wedded to his career. "I suppose I'll head out, too."
"Are you going to the pub to get dinner?"
"Yeah. Probably."
"Then I'll go with you," a new voice offered.
The Majors looked over and saluted. "Space Marshal," Brown stuttered, "when did you get in? We heard nothing about your ship landing - we would have been there to greet you in the hangar if we'd known!"
"That wasn't necessary." Lenora couldn't look at either one of them at the moment; she was mentally taxed, physically exhausted and, worst of all, emotionally spent. She didn't have the heart to tell them about her marital problems. "I'd like to contact Moran first thing tomorrow morning. We have visitors coming, and one of them is in dire need of his help."
Stebbins and Brown looked over to each other and nodded. "I'm on it," Brown promised. "I'll head down to his offices immediately and leave the message with his staff. They're usually operating that lab around the clock."
"Thank you." She was genuinely grateful for the help as Brown left the office.
Once the door had closed, Stebbins raised an eyebrow, then walked over to the Space Marshal. "Permission to speak freely?"
"You never have to ask me that."
"You look like...what's your friend David's catchprase? You look like all seven hells jumbled together right now, Len." He held out his arms. "Seems like you could use a hug."
"I could use a lot more than that, Jason, but I'll start with a hug." She allowed herself to be wrapped up in his arms, closing her eyes against the pain. "Really, you should get going. You've got a family to get home to."
"I know, but still…" His voice trailing off, he looked back at her worriedly. It didn't matter that she held the highest-ranked position in the Galaxy Alliance. They'd known each other and worked together too long for him to not feel protective of her. "You go get dinner with Don, and then you go home. You hear me?"
She swallowed. "Yeah. Something like that."
Red Lion, Red Mecha, and Blue Mecha leapt into action immediately against the robeast. Black Mecha was out of commission, sprawled out on the ground, its pilot knocked unconscious...and, they hoped, not anything worse.
"Is he okay?" Lance asked no one in particular, the jaws of his lion wrapping around the robeast's shoulder. "Has anybody gotten a response from Aidan?"
"No, not at all." Morgan's voice sounded frantic over the general comm. "Aidan! Aidan! Answer me, will you? Get up!"
"Dude, we're in front of him!" Taye shouted. "Rackens, you hold off the robeast from a distance. Chris and I will stay close to Dalloway and make sure he's covered just in case that thing tries to get near him again."
"What about me?" Lance cried out in frustration. He felt guilty about Black Mecha's offline status, considering that Aidan had come to his aid in order to give Red Lion a window to escape. "What do you want me to do?"
"Get to the Explorer, McClain," David grunted as Blue Mecha narrowly avoided a swipe from the angry robeast. "We need back-up. This thing is too strong, and it's angry, too."
"But -"
"Just go, Lance!" Morgan shouted. "We'll take care of Aidan."
The Red Lion pilot nodded once in understanding. "Got it." He darted off to find the Explorer and the rest of his teammates as quickly as he could. That robeast was powerful, and Albegas was no match for it, especially not without its captain.
The Explorer, now flanked by the Aqua Fighter, the Turbo Terrain Fighter, the Strato Fighter and four lions, fired weapons in all directions at the four robeasts. "This is madness!" Sparks shouted as he ran a quick systems check. "Those robeasts are everywhere!"
"There's four of them, Sir," the blond tech sargeant added, looking up at the commander. "What do you want us to do?"
Hawkins narrowed his eyes, looking at the split screen carefully before making his decision. "Keep firing. Give our crew enough coverage so they can form Voltron." His fingernails bit into the palm of his hands as he clenched them into fists. "And keep your fingers crossed that the fifth lion can get here in time."
"On it," Sparks replied. He flipped another switch, and a laser shot out from the top off the Explorer, aimed at the winged robeast. As he prepared to flick another switch, a swiftly-moving red blur caught his eyes. "The fifth lion! The fifth lion is here, Sir!"
"No, wait!" Lance's voice filled the general comm. Everyone on the Explorer, everyone in a lion or a mecha could hear his terrified voice. "Man down! We've got a man down!"
"Who, Lance?" Keith's voice filled the general comm for everyone to hear. "Who's down?"
"Black Mecha - Dalloway's down. Rackens and Benton ordered me to come straight here. They're holding off that fifth robeast until we can come back with Voltron...uh, Voltrons."
Jeff's eyes widened with terror. In an instant, he was transported back to the year prior, when Wade and Lotor had kidnapped Christiane. As they attempted to rescue her, he remembered being in meltdown mode, and how Lisa had privately reached out to him. Before he realized what he was doing, he'd turned on a private comm to the Space Prober. "Lis?"
The only response was a heartbreaking sob.
As the Polluxian cruiser meandered its way through space, Kelly went off in search of her old friend. Romelle had left some time ago, citing that she wanted to check in on Erik, and she was sure that the princess had chatted with her husband. The First Officer was intrigued by the thought of what words might have been exchanged, and she was eager to learn all of it. Not only that, she had some questions of her own to ask.
So Romelle was engaged, too. Kelly found it terribly sad that these two broken souls had found each other. Not only had they both lost the person they were engaged to - the person they each truly loved more than life itself - but they had tried to forge forward and make the best of it. With minimal success.
She thought she would find him, but apparently, he found her first.
"Kelly."
"Oh." She jumped back, a little bit startled that he had crept up on her without a noise. "Viking, how did you know I was looking for you?"
A grin curled up at the corner of his lips. "I'm good like that."
"Obviously." She wrapped her arm around his elbow, and he shot her a crooked, almost devilish-looking grin. "So, are you ready to meet with Moran?"
He lifted an eyebrow. "Don't you think I want to get rid of this Haggarium infection?" Placing his fingers on the back of his head, he gently touched his injury. "This isn't exactly a good look for me, you know."
"Yeah, I'm not used to seeing you without hair." She clucked her tongue, then motioned for him to follow her. Once they were tucked into a private corner on the ship, she sat down, and he sat down next to her. "I wanted to talk about what happened. What did the doctors say? And why did Lenora spend the night in your hospital room instead of your wife?"
"Å, herregud. The short version is that I'd had a Haggarium-induced seizure, and for a while, I was only speaking in Norwegian. Dr. Gorma needed her there to translate what I was saying."
"Uh-huh." Kelly didn't look convinced. "So then, please explain to me why you called for your ex - instead of your wife - when you went down at the wedding. Romelle was right there, and Len was on the dance floor."
Sven's hands clenched into fists so tight that his knuckles blanched. "You don't understand, Asimov...er, Benton." He shrugged uncomfortably. "It wasn't that I didn't want Romelle there. It was Erimar."
"Who?"
"Prince Erimar. The man who was dancing with Lenora when I went down."
"Okay." Kelly looked like she was on the verge of understanding, but wasn't quite there yet. "What does he have to do with anything?"
"Long story short, he hates me." He drew a long breath. Was he really about to air their dirty laundry? Yes, it was better that she knew; he wanted to get everything off his chest. "Romelle and I went through a very bad period, and my wife cheated on me with Erimar. Then, as I learned during our counseling sessions, the prince attempted to break up our marriage, and she told him no, she wanted to work things out with me."
"So he hates you." She nodded. "I can see that."
"But he also knows about Lenora and me. He...he was at the ball that night...the night when I saw her again, and…"
"I know." Kelly placed her hand on Sven's shoulder. "She told me a while ago."
The Norwegian's slate-blue eyes darkened in fury. "He knows," he continued, "and he used that information against me - to get back at me for Romelle choosing me over him. He purposely chose to dance with Lenora, and I watched as he felt her up and kissed her. If her own blasted husband had been paying closer attention, he would have knocked the prince senseless. But I couldn't do that, so my helplessness and anger and frustration manifested in one big seizure."
There was a moment of silence. Then, slowly, the First Officer bobbed her head. "I get it," she breathed finally. "You were so annoyed at that S.O.B. that you cried out for Len. Not because you wanted her there with you over Romelle. You just wanted her - and your wife - away from the prince."
"Ja. You get it."
"Of course. I didn't get to this position on my good looks, you know." Kelly wrapped an arm around Sven's shoulder, then planted a kiss on the side of his shaved head. "Listen, Viking, this might sound contrite, but I only want you to be happy. I want the whole lot of you to be happy."
"Which is why we're going back to the Garrison to find a cure." He took her hand in his and squeezed it. "Whatever it takes to make us all happy, we're going to do it."
She squeezed his hand back. "Whatever it takes."
"Lisa...Lisa, pull yourself together."
Heartbroken, the Sea Team member wiped the tears out of her eyes. As she responded to Jeff over the comm, her eyes drifted towards her engagement ring. "I can't lose him, Jeff. I can't."
"You won't," he promised. "I'll tell Crik. The Aqua Fighter will head over to the volcano, and you guys can cover your man long enough for Keith and his team to get there. And by then, maybe Aidan will be responsive."
"I hope so." Lisa cut off the transmission to contact Crik herself.
As he listened to the dead silence over the private comm, Jeff swallowed. If the Sea Team goes out to the volcano, we can't form Voltron. With Aidan out of commission, they can't form Albegas. I sure hope one Voltron's enough to take down whatever robeast this is.
The hotel room was lovely, if small; Lenora could live without the city views and extra space for now. Truthfully, she was grateful for the interior views, clean lines and soothing off-white colors - those small details all helped her reflect inward and shelter her from the outside world.
The world where my husband doesn't want me anymore.
Dinner with Don Brown had been excruciatingly painful. She didn't want to tell anyone about her impending divorce until she told Kelly, so she'd kept her mouth shut during the meal. Oh, they'd made small talk about what had happened at the Garrison during her absence, and she'd filled him in on the descriptive details of Keith's and Allura's wedding, but other than that, she stayed silent.
Worse, she hadn't been hungry. The last meal she'd eaten, essentially, was the dinner at the royal wedding. She remembered how she'd dropped a forkful of her meal onto the napkin on her lap, and Jon had leaned into her lovingly and whisked it away, kissing her shoulder in the process. How could one event change everything? How could he go from that to not wanting to so much as look at me?
If she didn't eat, she wouldn't have enough energy to run the Garrison or the Alliance. And how bad is it that I would give my right arm for a bottle of Cîroc right now?
Since she didn't have any clothes to change into - or out of, as the case would be - she draped herself in the plush white hotel robe. Gods, she was so cold. She slipped under the covers and laid her head back on the pillow, closing her eyes. All she wanted was for sleep to find her and claim her. Maybe she would never wake up.
The phone rang.
Son of a… Struggling, she opened her eyes to find the offensive electronic device. "Stensson."
"Oh, good. You're awake."
"Barely." As much as she wanted to go through the phone and punch him, she smiled half-heartedly. "Moran, I wasn't expecting you to call until tomorrow morning."
"Well, you know me. I can never stay away from my lab." The brilliant biomedical systems analyst cleared his throat. "When I showed up, my secretary indicated that you'd left me a message. What is this you're talking about? Visitors?"
"Yes," she responded meekly. "I need you to help an old friend of mine. He has an infection. A Haggarium infection."
"And what in blazes is a Haggarium infection?"
"I don't know how to explain it. I was hoping you would figure it out for yourself."
He snorted, which reminded her of Sven. "You're killing me."
"You're brilliant." She blew him a kiss over the phone. "Surely the man who brought Albegas back to life - the man who helped Dr. Loring himself piece together Vehicle Voltron - can conquer one tiny little infection."
"You owe me for this, Space Marshal."
"I'll be forever in your debt." Suddenly, she inhaled, her voice turning deadly serious. "I have one request, though. It may seem odd, but hear me out."
"Okay." Moran sounded dubious.
"You'll meet my friend tomorrow, you'll do your scans and initial tests, and I'm sure you'll come up with a plan of action. But I have to ask this of you, and if you disobey me, the consequences will be severe: you cannot, under any circumstances, give your patient access to prescription pain medication."
She could hear his frown over the phone. "No painkillers?"
"None. Don't make me explain further." She yawned. "Good night, Moran. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Until then, Lenora."
She ended the call and returned to her position on the mattress. Well, one of the big worries she had running through her head was taken care of. As for the other, well, she prayed for a way to rush through this painful time in her life as quickly as possible. The sooner she was divorced, the sooner she could move on.