Lance slowly opened his eyes. Darcy was lying beside him, sound asleep. He reached over and turned off the alarm before it went off and woke her. There were still a few minutes before they needed to get up and he planned on enjoying them.
She was lying on her side, facing him. Her right hand was fisted under her cheek and her left arm had fallen across her abdomen. He just watched her sleep, enjoying the fact that she was totally relaxed and peaceful.
Reaching out, he gently pushed the stray strands of hair off her face and stroked her cheek. She sighed in her sleep and snuggled deeper into her pillow.
Lance smiled as she fought to stay asleep.
He leaned over and kissed her temple.
"Mm mm." She disagreed in her sleep.
"Wake up." He whispered into her ear.
"Don't wanna." She mumbled.
"You have to. We're due at practice in an hour."
Darcy's eyes flew open, "Why didn't you wake me sooner?"
"There was
no need to. You needed your sleep and we
have enough time to shower, dress, and get to practice."
She sat up and stretched,
"What if someone sees me sneaking out of your room? What will they think?"
He smirked
at her, "They'll think we had a night of wild, passionate sex."
Her face paled. "Oh God."
Lance
reached over and ran a hand up her arm. "Don't worry. Hunk has the room next to mine and he doesn't
get up for another half an hour. You
only need to go down the hall. No one
will know."
"But what about Col. Webster?"
"They're all staying in the
guest rooms one floor up, I don't think he'll be up wandering the halls at five
in the morning. Besides the guys will
just have to get used to seeing us in each others rooms."
"No, Lance, we are not making a habit out of this."
"Wanna bet?"
She stood, "We'll discuss that later."
He got out
of bed and walked around to her, "Do you want me to walk you to your room?"
"No, I think I can find it."
"We could
save some time and you could shower here with me."
She smiled and shook her head,
"I'll see you at practice."
They walked to the door, before
she could open it he had her back against it and was pressed against her. "We could call off sick."
"I don't think Keith would
believe us." She murmured as he pressed
his lips to her throat.
"I don't know, I think I have a fever, I'm feeling kind of hot."
Darcy laughed, "I think you need a cold shower."
He kissed her hard and pulled back to look in her eyes, "I love you."
"I know." She said.
"See you at practice." He reached over and opened the door.
*************************************
Practice was routine and uneventful. Col. Webster and the other Garrison officials wanted to see the lions in action. Darcy, Caleb, and Allura stayed in Castle Control and answered any questions the officers had.
Darcy couldn't help but notice the black eye Jesse sported. She felt a bit of satisfaction when she saw it and a little annoyance that Lance had hit him.
"So you have flown the lions?" Col. Webster asked her as they watched the lions fall into formation.
"Yes, sir. I have flown Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow."
"How have
you found them?"
"They are powerful machines,
sir."
"But you can handle it?"
"Absolutely,
sir."
"Have you been a part of
Voltron yet?"
"We have formed him twice in practice, once I was in Green and the other time I was in Blue."
"No
problems?"
Darcy shook her head, "No
sir."
"And Captain Whitaker is the only one who flies the Black lion?"
"Yes sir,
although Lt. Collier and Queen Allura are both trained on him."
The colonel looked at her,
"You talk as though they are live creatures."
She smiled,
"There are times when you forget they are machines."
He nodded, "It helps when you
develop a connection with your equipment, it makes them easier to fly and fight
with."
"I'm glad
to see you understand sir."
He laughed and clapped a hand
on her shoulder, "It wasn't that long ago that I was flying. There are times I really miss it. If it wasn't for the bum knee I would be up
there with you."
The door to Castle Control slid open and Rankin and Paget ran in.
"Where is Captain Whitaker?" Rankin asked.
Allura turned to him, "He's in the middle of practice, is there anything I can do?"
"We have an emergency, can you call him in?"
She nodded, "Koran, could you please call them down?"
"What's up?" Keith answered.
"There seems to be a problem, Captain, please return to Castle Control." Koran informed him.
Five minutes later, the five lions were back in their respective hiding places and the pilots gathered in Castle Control.
"What's going on?" Keith asked.
"I received a communication from Lotor." Rankin held a rather primitive looking communicator in his hand. "It is rather old, it only has an audio channel, but I can record up to ten minutes of sound." He pushed a button and the conversation between Lotor and Rankin played back.
"You think you're so smart, Rankin? You will be defeated and I will show no mercy to the slaves." Lotor said.
"We are no longer slaves, Lotor."
"Oh, you
will always be slaves. I know you're on
Arus, this will make things easier for me.
I can take over Arus and dispose of the slaves, all in one fell swoop."
"That's not going to
happen. We will defeat you."
Lotor laughed bitterly, "You are such a fool. Much like your brother."
"Where is he?"
"He's dead."
There was silence for a moment before Lotor spoke again. "Rankin, I will give you one last chance. If you help me take over Arus I will spare your life and that of your girlfriend and what is left of your family."
"No Lotor."
"You fool. I will make sure your death is a slow and
painful one."
The connection closed.
Rankin cleared his throat, "My brother, Risin was our inside man. He was sort of a valet to Lotor. I assume Lotor found the communicator on Risin and killed him."
"I am so sorry, Rankin." Keith said.
"We knew the chances when Risin agreed not to leave Doom." Rankin lowered his head. Paget reached over and took his hand.
"So Lotor knows everything." Col. Webster said.
"The risk of attack has reached its highest level." Keith said.
"What does that mean?" Paget asked.
"I've had my team on high alert for a few days now. None of them are allowed to leave castle grounds and are to be prepared for battle at any moment. Have you guys begun training?" Keith asked Rankin.
"We have every able bodied man and woman training as we speak. They are working with your military."
"Good. We are going to battle. Be ready for it." Keith turned to his team. "Hunk and Dante I want you to give the lions all a good go-over, make sure everything is as it should be. Pidge, I want you and Caleb to go over the shields and make sure everything is at full power. Darcy, I want you with Koran, watching the monitors. In a situation like this two sets of eyes are always better than one. Lance, you and I are going to see the progress they're making in training."
Everyone nodded and went in separate directions.
It was a beautiful day, the skies were clear and the breeze was warm. But the meadow and woods surrounding the castle were empty. No one was to leave. Allura retired to her study to make some phone calls and reschedule the appointments she had made for the next few days. Nanny went through her pantries to make sure she had enough food.
Darcy kept her eyes on the monitors before her. Everything was clear. She listened as Pidge and Caleb went through various tests on the castle shields.
She didn't know how long she had been sitting there, when Lance appeared at her side.
"Hi there."
She looked up, "Hi, how are things going with the training."
He shook his head, disbelievingly, "It really goes to show you can't judge a book by its cover. They have some incredible soldiers."
"What are you up to now?"
"Keith and I are going to have a lunch meeting with Col. Webster and his men."
Darcy put a
hand on her stomach, "Oh, lunch."
"I'm sure you'll be relieved
soon. I just wanted to stop by and say
hi."
"I'm glad you did." She smiled up at him.
"Things are going to be hectic and we're not going to have a lot of time together."
"I understand."
"But once things settle down, I want to see if we can get away."
"Get away?"
"Yeah. I want to take you
away, a little vacation." Lance told
her.
"I don't know, we'll have to see about that."
"I know a great little town about two hours away. It's beautiful."
She smiled, "I said we'll see about that."
Lance leaned down so no one else could hear, "I love you."
She blushed slightly.
He smiled at her embarrassment, "Get used to hearing that."
"Don't worry, I will."
"Lance." Keith entered Castle Control. "Come on, we've got a meeting to get to."
"Coming Keith," he turned back to Darcy. "I'll try and find you when I can."
"Alright. Have fun at your meeting."
He rolled his eyes and left with Keith.
A castle guard came to relieve Darcy about an hour later. Pidge, Caleb, Dante, and Hunk were also dismissed and they all retired to the small dining room to have lunch.
"How's everything going, buddy?" Hunk asked Pidge.
"Great. All shields are up to 100% and all the turret guns are loaded and prepped for battle." Pidge told him.
"Good to hear, the lions are in tip-top shape. Bring Lotor on." Hunk said around a mouthful of sandwich.
As if on cue the castle alarms sounded.
"I didn't mean that literally." Hunk said as he jumped from his seat.
"What's going on?" Keith asked Koran as they all reached Castle Control.
"It is an emergency transmission from Pollux, Keith." Koran indicated the monitor in front of him.
"Sven? What is it?" Keith asked as they all gathered around.
"Keit? Ve're under attack. It's Doom. Ve need help." Sven shouted, explosions could be heard in the background.
"You're sure it's Doom?"
"Ja, I know de ships. There are just too many of dem."
"Is there a robeast?" Keith asked.
"No, just fighter ships."
Col Webster studied a map on the wall, "There is a Garrison post on Planet Zettle, they can have help there in twenty minutes, I'll call them."
"Tank you, Colonel." Sven said. "Keit, I'm vorried about Romelle. She vent into premature labor and our hospital vas hit."
Allura gasped and stepped closer.
"Dey vere able to stop de labor, but I vant her out of here."
"She can come here. It's safe in the Castle of Lions and Dr. Gorma can care for." Allura said.
"Can you send someone to get her?"
Keith nodded, "Hang tight Sven, help is on the way."
"I'll go." Paget stepped forward before anyone could speak.
"I don't think that would be a good idea, Paget, we can't send an untrained soldier into a planet under attack." Keith said.
"I have to
go, for Romelle. And I have some
training, I can fly."
Keith ran a hand through his
hair, "Here's the plan. Darcy, Caleb I
want you two to each take a K-93 fighter and ten men. Paget, you along with our pilot, Cpl. Collins,
will fly with two medics in the M-14, it's specifically used as a medic evac
ship. You are to go in, get Romelle out
of there and come right back. "
"You're not sending the lions?" Captain Epperly asked.
"No, it's a trap. There is no robeast, only fighters which means Lotor is hoping we will use the lions to go help Pollux and leave Arus unmanned. We can't take that chance." Keith turned to Col. Webster who had just finished speaking to the Garrison post on Zettle. "How many can they send in, Colonel?"
"They're going to send a half dozen fighters in with ten men on each."
"Great,
that will really help Sven. By the time
you guys get there, things should be clear."
Keith turned to call Cpl. Collins to Castle Control. "Darcy, Caleb, you are dismissed to prepare. I want you in the air in ten minutes."
Lance winked at her as Darcy
walked past, she smiled in response.