Lance meandered down the hallway toward the observation deck.  The conversation he had had with Allura in the garden weighed heavily on his mind.  Keith was permanently stationed on Arus, for obvious reasons.  He had to fight for it, though.  When he finally told the Garrison that he would resign, even if it meant ruining his record, they relented.  Garrison Officials thought it would be better to assign him to Arus and have a soldier with Keith's abilities in that particular section of the universe rather than lose him.

            But there had been no attacks in months.  What if the other members were stationed to other planets?  Lance wasn't sure he wanted to leave.  He enjoyed life on Arus.  It was simpler.  He considered the Force his family and Arus his home.  But he also knew it was silly to think that things could stay this way forever.  His best friend was married.  So much for two bachelor space explorers flying to various planets and leaving broken hearts at every port.

            Lance entered the dimly lit observation deck and stopped short when he saw someone already there, seated in one of the overstuffed chairs Allura had placed in front of the large floor to ceiling windows.

            Darcy heard someone approaching and glanced over her shoulder.  Her Academy training had her on her feet when she saw a superior officer approaching.

            Lance dismissed her with a wave of his hand, "Please sit down.  You don't need to stand or salute when you see me."

            "I'm sorry, sir."

            "Lance, it's just Lance, Darcy."  He sat in the chair beside her.  "What brings you out here this evening?"

            She stared out the large windows that looked out over the vast Arusian landscape.  "It's a beautiful view."

            "It sure is."  Lance studied the young pilot.  She was tall, nearly as tall as he was, with exotic features.  Her hair was dark brown and skimmed her chin. Her eyes were large, almond shaped, hazel, and dominated her triangular face.  Her nose was straight and her chin came to a point, giving her face the look of a fox.   Lance usually liked more curves and softness to his women, but he couldn't help but feel a strong attraction to her.

            Darcy blushed slightly under his scrutiny.  She knew men like Lance and she couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable when she was alone with him.  He had never been anything but nice and a little flirty with her, but she wasn't looking for a relationship right now and certainly not with a cocky flyboy. 

            She suddenly realized he was speaking to her, "I'm sorry, sir, what did you say?"

            Lance rolled his eyes at her response.  "Please, don't call me sir.  It makes me feel like an old man.  I asked where you were from."

            "I grew up in Toronto, but didn't you read all that in my dossier?"

            Lance smiled, "I'm just trying to get to know you.  You are now part of the Voltron Force, we're like a family here and I'd like to get to know you better."

            Darcy let her guard slip a little, everyone had been so nice to her, maybe she was being a little too uptight.  "My father was a teacher and my mother runs a bookstore.  I have a younger sister, Rebecca; she's in college studying to be a doctor."

            "Wow, what made you want to go into space exploration?"

            "My grandfather was a space explorer and I grew up listening to his stories.  I thought it sounded wonderful and when I heard about the Doom Wars and all that Zarkon and Lotor had done, I couldn't sit back and watch, I wanted to help."

            "That's very admirable.  Things have been rather quiet around here, hopefully Lotor has backed off."
            "What about you, sir, uh, Lance?"

            He looked up at her, "What?"

            "What about you?  Where are you from?  Do you have any brothers or sisters?"
            He gave her a lopsided smile, "I'm originally from Chicago where my father is a high ranking official in the Midwest Garrison offices. My mother's a homemaker.  I have an older brother, Lawrence, he teaches military tactics at the Academy."

            "You're brother is Dr. Collier at the Academy?"  Darcy asked, impressed.

            "Yeah, you had him?"
            "Yes, I had him for four classes while I was there, he's an incredible teacher.  He's quite a bit older than you, isn't he?" Truth be told, Darcy had had a little crush on her professor.

            Lance smirked, "Yeah, he's ten years older than me.  I also have an older sister, Lorna is married and has a couple of kids, and a younger sister, Leslie is at the Academy."

            Darcy thought for a moment, "I think I met Leslie, she was a couple of years behind me in class.  You know, now that I think about it she did talk about her brothers a lot, I knew Dr. Collier was her brother, but I guess I never put two and two together with you.  She's a sweet girl."

            "Yeah she is."

            "What's with all the 'L's'?"

            "What? Oh, our names?"
            Darcy nodded, "Lance, Lawrence, Lorna, and Leslie?"
            "Well, my mother went and saw a psychic when she was pregnant with Lawrence and she told my mother that the letter L would be important in her life.  Mom had no idea what that meant, so she gave us all names that began with L.  Even the dog was named Lenny and the hamster was Lexie."

            Darcy laughed, a sweet laugh that was a direct punch to Lance's stomach.

            "So I guess joining the Academy was sort of in the cards for you."  She said.

            Lance shrugged, "Believe it or not, I was a bit of a wild child."

            "No!"  Darcy feigned surprise.

            He laughed, "Hard to imagine, isn't it?  My father thought it would help rein me in, so I joined up.  I met Keith and Sven there and we became inseparable."

            "Sven?  He was the pilot of the Blue Lion, right?"

            "Yeah, before he was injured."

            "I remember hearing about that.  How is he now?"

            "He's doing great.  He met and fell in love with Princess Romelle of Pollux.  They're married and expecting their first child in about two months or so."

            "Wow, that's great.  I guess he didn't want to return to flying."

            Lance shook his head, "Whether he wanted to or not is irrelevant, his injuries have caused permanent damage to his back and he was officially released by the Garrison on disability.  He is now in charge of building the military on Pollux , he is still an amazing soldier, mentally anyway."

            "That's great.  So, first Sven, then Captain Whitaker, are you all going to find and marry princesses?"

            "There does seem to be a pattern here, doesn't there?  Nah, I don't think I'm exactly prince material. You always have to behave yourself."

            The two of them sat before the large windows and talked for another hour.  Darcy found herself utterly charmed by Lance.  When he wasn't being so flirty and coming across so strongly, he really was a great guy.  He was down to earth, smart and funny.  For his part, Lance found himself incredibly attracted to the shy soldier beside him, and it frightened him.

            Be careful, he thought to himself.  She is a member of the Force, not someone you can mess with.

            Darcy stood and walked to the window.  "I never knew a place so open and beautiful could exist."

            Lance crossed to stand beside her.  "I know exactly what you mean. I thought I would miss the big city, I never thought I could be happy in the country.  I was wrong.  See that green dot right there?"

            She looked where he pointed, "Yeah, that's rather bright."

            "That's Pollux, where Sven and Romelle live."

            "It's that close?"
            "Yup, only about half a day away."

            "Is it like Arus?"
            "It once was.  They are still rebuilding, like Arus, but they were even more heavily damaged.  Someday it will be just as beautiful."  Lance stared at the green light.

            Darcy studied him out of the corner of her eye, "You miss him, don't you."

            He shrugged, "It's just a little strange.  I can't believe both Sven and Keith are married.  I mean, damn, Sven is going to be a father.  I can't help but miss the Academy days."

            "Change can be hard to adjust to."  Darcy said, sympathetically.

            "Yeah."

            "Are you jealous?"

            Lance thought for a minute.  He quickly pushed aside the flippant remark that came to mind and decided to be honest with her.  "I don't think I am.  I'm not ready to settle down.  I guess I had hoped for a few more carefree days before we all settled down."

            She smiled, "You're not getting any younger."

            "Yeah, well…" His voice trailed off as he noticed something in the sky.

            Darcy witnessed the quick change to soldier mode as his stance stiffened and his brow furrowed in concentration.

            "What is it?"

            "Do you see that light over there?"  He pointed to a small, blinking light to the west of Pollux.

            She squinted a bit, "Yeah, what is that?"

            "I don't know.  Come on."  Lance took off toward Castle Control.

            Hunk and Dante were standing over a console.

            "Hey Hunk, I noticed something in the northwest corridor."

            The big man turned to Lance, "Yeah, we're following its progress.  I was going to see if it sent any kind of signal before I sounded the alarm."

            "Did you contact Keith?"

            "Not yet."

            Lance pulled his communicator out of his pocket and buzzed Keith.

            A moment later a rather annoyed sounding Keith answered, "This better be good."

            Lance rolled his eyes at Hunk and smiled, "Put some pants on Captain, it looks like we may have a visitor."

            Keith's tone instantly changed, "Is it Doom?"

            They heard Allura in the background asking him what was going on.

            "We don't know yet."

            "Alright, I'll be right there."

            As the ship came closer they picked up a distress signal.

            "What's going on?"  Keith entered the room with Allura at his heels.

            Lance turned and took in the sight before him. Keith ran his hand through his hair, trying to smooth it down.  Both he and Allura had thrown on jeans, Keith wore a black sweater and Allura wore one of his old Academy sweatshirts.

            "Did we interrupt something?"  Lance asked.

            Keith sent him a scathing look and turned to Hunk.  "What's going on?"
            "It's a single ship, Captain.  It doesn't appear to be a Doom, I don't know what it is, actually, and it's sending a distress signal."  Hunk explained.          

            Keith studied the screen.  There were no other ships in the vicinity.  "All right, call Pidge and Caleb to the control room.  Hunk, Lance, you and I and Allura will go up and meet the ship."  He turned to Dante and Darcy while Hunk paged Pidge.  "I hope you understand, Dante.  We don't know who that is and you still aren't fully trained on Blue."

            Dante nodded, "No problem, Captain."

            Keith turned when the door slid open, "Pidge, I need you to stay here and keep an eye on things for us. It's just one ship, but if we need Green, we'll let you know."

            Pidge nodded and crossed to Hunk who quickly briefed him on what was happening.

            "All right team, to your lions." Keith announced.

            The distress signal became stronger as the ship came closer.

            "You're going to want to hurry, Captain, it's coming in fast."  Pidge called over the com link.

            "Are there any other ships?"  Keith asked.

            "Negative."  Pidge responded.  "The sky is totally clear beyond."

            "Lance!"  Keith called out.  "It's coming on your nine, see if you can grab it!"
            The three soldiers in Castle Control watched as the lions swooped in on the small ship.  Darcy watched with awe as Lance maneuvered Red with ease.  On the split screen that showed the inside of the cockpits, she saw the look of intense concentration in his eyes.

            "He's coming in fast, Keith."  Lance called out.

            "It's a small ship.  See if you can catch it.  Allura go below him and see if you can help.  Hunk, go around the other side, just in case it's blown off course.  It looks more like its falling rather than flying."

            The four Lions fell into formation.  Red reached the ship and caught it.  Lance pulled back hard to keep from hitting the ground.  All four ships landed beside the castle where Lance gently set the ship down.

            Darcy let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding.

            Pidge turned to her with a smile, "Amazing, aren't they?"

            She nodded.

            Lance and Keith were the first to reach the ship.  They drew their blasters as they approached.

            "Hunk, you and Allura wait here.  Be on alert.  If we need you we'll call."  Keith said as Lance pried open the hatch.

            Hunk and Allura flanked the entry as Keith and Lance entered.

            The pilot was lying, unconscious at the wheel.  With Keith covering him, Lance reached down and put a hand on the pilot's shoulder. No response.  He gently shook.  Still no response.  He carefully eased the pilot back.

            "It's a woman."  Lance whispered as her head lolled back against the seat.

            "Is she alive?"  Keith asked.

            Lance felt for a pulse and found one.  "Yeah, but her pulse is weak."

            "Let's get her out of here."

            Together they carefully lifted her out and set her on the ground beside her ship.  Lance removed her helmet and long, tangled, white blonde hair tumbled out.  There was a large, ugly bruise on her neck and dried blood on her hair line.

            Keith pulled out his communicator, "Pidge, put Dr. Gorma on alert.  We're bringing in someone for him to see."

            Lance looked down at her.  She was very pale and thin.  He could actually see her ribs sticking out through the thin, worn flightsuit she wore. 

            Allura knelt beside the woman and lightly tapped her cheek.  Her eyes flew open, they were a vibrant purple.  She looked around, confused and startled.  When Allura entered her line of vision, her eyes widened with surprise and she gasped. 

            "Romelle?"  She whispered hoarsely and then passed out again.