The K-93s were fast ships, but even going their fastest, it would still take them nearly four hours to reach Pollux. The M-14 wasn't as fast and wouldn't reach Pollux for six hours. Darcy and Caleb were to get there and clear a safe passage for the medics to pick up Romelle.
When they arrived, there was still a lot of fighting going on over Pollux. They could see downed Doom and Garrison ships on the countryside around the castle. The Pollux army had the castle surrounded and were able to keep the Doom soldiers from breaching it.
"Sven? Can you read me?" Darcy called in to her transmitter.
"Ja, Darcy, vhere are you?" His response was garbled with static.
"We should be there in fifteen minutes. The medic ship is on its way, it should be here in about two hours. How are things down there?"
"Not as bad as it vas earlier, vith the Garrison's help ve have been able to fight dem back, but dey von't leave."
"We'll be there soon." Darcy assured him.
It was a difficult descent onto Pollux. Darcy was able to take down one Doom fighter and Caleb took out two. They landed behind the castle and let their twenty soldiers out to help protect the castle.
"Sergeants Barlow and Marshall?" A short man in a military uniform ran out from the castle. "I'm Lieutenant Bolger, please follow me. Sven has a war room set up in the castle."
Darcy and Caleb followed Bolger toward the castle. Darcy fired on and hit a Doom solider who had some how gotten past the guards.
"There hasn't been an attack like this in years." Bolger said as they raced into the castle and up the hall. They stopped to gain their balance as the castle shook with an explosion.
"Sven, they're here."
Sven was standing in a room with monitors and radars around him. Men and women in uniforms were barking out orders over transmitters.
"I'm so glad you made it." Sven crossed to them. "Believe it or not, tings have let up some."
"How bad has it been?" Caleb asked.
"About 50 casualties, 12 of dem fatal. I don't know about de Doom side."
"Keith thinks this might be a diversionary tactic, Lotor is hoping he would leave Arus unprotected to come here." Caleb explained.
Sven nodded, "Dat's vhat I thought too."
"Where's Romelle?" Darcy asked.
"She's down in a safe room below de castle vith Bandor. They had to sedate her, she doesn't vant to go."
The castle shook again as another explosion rocked it on its foundation.
Sven swore under his breath, "I cannot believe dis is happening."
"What can we do to help?"
"Get Romelle to Arus."
"The med ship is on its way, but it won't be here for over an hour. What can we do?" Darcy asked again.
"Just keep Doom soldiers from her and get her out."
Darcy nodded, "We'll do what we can."
Bolger led Darcy and Caleb down to the safe rooms Bandor had had installed when the castle was rebuilt. Guards flanked the door, inside Bandor paced the floor and Romelle laid quietly on a cot. A woman sat in a chair beside Romelle and two more guards were seated by the door.
"Romelle?" Darcy crossed to her.
"We had to sedate her." The woman said.
"Who are you?" Darcy asked.
"Torea, I'm one of Dr. Indermac's nurses."
"How is she?"
"She's weak and stressed out. I'm afraid this might be too much for her and the baby."
"We're going to get her out of here."
Bandor approached Darcy and Caleb, "You're the new lion pilots?"
"Yes," Caleb said. "Sergeants Marshall and Barlow."
"I'm Bandor, King of Pollux. What is being done to save my planet?" The sounds of fighting were muffled this far down.
"There are
Garrison ships up there along with Arusian troops to help."
"Is it working?"
"Sven said things are better." Darcy assured him.
"Why is he doing this?" Bandor asked, miserably.
"He's an evil man."
"Are you going to be able to get Romelle out of here?"
"We have a med evac ship on its way."
"How are you going to get her through?"
Darcy smiled at him, "Don't worry, we'll get her out and to Arus. She'll be fine."
Her communicator beeped, "Barlow."
"Darcy,"
Paget's voice called out. "We're about
fifteen minutes away. Do you have a
place for us to land?"
"Our ships are behind the
castle, try to land there. We will meet
you there." Darcy called back.
"Fifteen mintues!" Paget called before ending the transmission.
She turned to Caleb, "Let's head up and clear a path to the door for them."
"Wait a second," Caleb held up his hand. "It's quiet."
Everyone listened, it was quiet. There were no explosions and no gun fire.
The door burst open and Sven came in, looking exhausted.
"How is she?" He asked Torea.
"She's
still sedated."
"What's going on up
there?" Bandor asked.
"Dey've backed off. Dey're leaving." Sven said as he knelt beside Romelle. "Romelle? Can you hear me?"
She moaned softly.
"Romelle, you're going to go to Arus. Dr. Gorma vill take care of you."
"Mm mm." She moaned.
"You and de baby vill be safe."
"No," she murmured. "I'm not leaving you."
"Don't argue. I vill be dere as soon as I can."
Darcy motioned for the others to leave, giving them a little privacy.
Romelle shook her head slightly and tears slid out of her eyes.
"I never should have made you leave Arus in de first place. You and de baby will be safer in de Castle of Lions." Sven smoothed the hair back from her forehead as she struggled to open her eyes.
"I want you with me."
"I vill be dere as soon as I can. Please, my love, go to Arus. Do not upset yourself any more, it is not good for you or de baby. Ve have been through vorse, ve vill get through dis."
Her eyes opened slowly, "I love you, Sven. Please come with me."
He leaned down and kissed her gently, "I love you too, dat is vhy I need you to go to Arus and be safe."
She nodded.
"Sven?" Darcy stuck her head in the door. "We have to head out, the med ship should be here any moment."
Sven nodded. He stood and looked down at Romelle, she struggled to sit up. "No, Romelle, don't get up, ve vill get you up dere." He silently cursed himself. This day had been hell on his back, he longed to pick her up, but didn't think he could make it up the stairs.
One of the larger guards came in and picked Romelle up. Two guards walked in front and Caleb and the other guard followed. Sven and Darcy brought up the rear.
Sven cleared his throat, "Darcy, I am going to get dere as soon as I can. I need to make sure things are secure here."
"I know Sven. Don't worry, we'll take good care of her and the baby."
Sven took Darcy's arm and turned her to him, "Darcy, if it comes to it," he stopped and cleared his throat again, his eyes watering. "If it comes to it, please have dem save Romelle. I, uh, I couldn't live vithout her."
Darcy felt a lump rise in her throat when she realized what he was saying. She hugged him tightly, "We will do everything we can for both of them."
******************************************
On Arus, the other members of the team waited anxiously for word from Pollux.
Caleb's transmission finally came in early evening, "Romelle is on the M-14 and headed to Arus. It seems all Doom activity has stopped here."
"Good job, Sergeant. Once you are sure everything is clear, head home." Keith told him.
"Yes sir." Caleb closed the transmission.
Keith turned to everyone gathered in Castle Control, "This is it. By now Lotor knows the lions are still on Arus."
"You think the attack will come now?" Captain Epperly asked.
"It could
come at any time." He turned to
Rankin. "Have all your people been moved
into the caves below the castle?"
"Yes. We finished settling them in an hour ago."
"Good, that is the safest place for them."
"This doesn't make sense," Jesse spoke up.
"What doesn't make sense, Lieutenant?" Keith asked.
"All of this. What does Lotor plan to get out of this? Why hasn't he contacted you with demands? He has been repeatedly defeated by Voltron, what makes him think he can win this time?"
"This is all about revenge." Keith explained. "Lotor wanted Allura and Arus, he couldn't get them. When we married he took it as a personal insult. His demands are that he get Allura and Arus, that's not going to happen, so what's the point in asking. He also has Haggar who is able to create robeasts, each one more deadly than the last. He is always convinced that this robeast will defeat Voltron."
"The eternal optimist," Lance muttered.
"Captain," Pidge called from the console. "You're going to want to see this."
Keith crossed over to him. "What is it?"
"We've got company."
The monitor blinked and showed one large and about a dozen smaller ships approaching.
"This is it," Keith announced. "To your lions, boys." He then turned back to the console and sent transmissions to the leaders of his military. They were all called to their battle stations. Turret guns were manned and all entrances were heavily guarded.
"Allura," Keith crossed to her before heading to Black. "Don't leave the castle. Promise me."
She smiled and nodded, "I won't, as long as you promise to return."
Keith shrugged, "It's just Lotor, I'll be back in five minutes."
"Don't get cocky." She stood on her toes and gave him a quick kiss. "I love you."
"Love you too." He said before heading to the entry tube of Black.
It was Doom. The large ship housed Lotor and Haggar, as well as his new robeast. As the Lions rose into the air, Keith opened a transmission with Lotor.
"I think it's time you gave it up Lotor, you aren't going to win."
Lotor appeared, his nose crooked, a souvenir courtesy of Lance. "This is the end, Commander, I will defeat you and Arus will be mine. If you're nice, maybe I'll let you watch when I take Allura."
Keith's hand tightened on the stick, but he kept his cool. He knew Lotor was saying that to get a reaction out of him.
The smaller Doom ships circled around and began firing on the lions and the castle. Lance and Pidge each took out a ship, Hunk caught two and Dante and Keith each shot down another. The remaining fighters took off towards the castle. They could hear the turret guns firing.
Keith took a hit from the main ship, but was able to stay in the air. Lance and Hunk both fired on Lotor's ship, but they didn't seem to make a dent.
A door on Lotor's ship opened and the coffin shaped robeast ship slid out.
"Get ready guys, its showtime!" Keith called to the others.
Dante's eyes widened when he saw the ugly creature awaken from the coffin.
Pidge, Lance, and Keith all fired on it at once. Nothing happened.
The huge, metallic creature rose to be almost as tall as the castle. It was a horrible brown with spikes down its back and huge hands. It swept its hand out and caught Blue, sending it into a spin.
"Dante!" Keith yelled. "Pull out of the spin! We need Voltron!"
Col. Webster and his men watched in awe as the five lions joined and made Voltron. They had all been watching the fight from Castle Control. All twelve fighter ships had been shot down and their pilots taken prisoner. Allura had explained that they weren't meant to do damage to the lions or Voltron, but to try and attack the castle. They were essentially worthless.
The robeast moved on Voltron. They locked hands, each tired to push the other away. Voltron landed on his back with the robeast standing over him. Lotor, watching from his ship, clapped his hands excitedly. Voltron kicked the beast's legs out from under it, the robeast landed hard on the ground. They felt the vibrations all the way up through the castle.
This went on for a while. Nothing seemed to dent the robeast, not lasers or even the Blazing Sword. Allura began to wring her hands. Lotor congratulated Haggar on her incredible beast.
"It has to have a weak spot." Keith said, blinking the sweat out of his eyes. "Look for its Achilles tendon."
"Captain!" Pidge called. "Look, a small spot below on its neck, to the right. It's a different color."
"I see
it." Lance said. "It's not covered by armor."
"Let's get him down and see if
we can strike it." Keith said.
Voltron once again knocked the beast onto its back, but it rolled its head to the side and blocked the spot on its neck.
"It seems to know what we want to do." Hunk muttered.
"No, it's
not that smart." Keith watched as it got
to its feet again. "We're just going to
strike."
Voltron swung around and
brought the Blazing Sword into the neck of the robeast. It roared with anger and began to glow. Taking advantage of this, Voltron brought the
sword down on its head. The vibrations
were felt all the way up Voltron's arms and through his body.
There was a blinding flash and the robeast was gone.
Lotor
turned to Haggar, furious. "What was
that witch? You said this creature was
indestructible."
"Nothing is indestructible
around Voltron. But you might want to
pull back." Haggar replied.
"Don't tell
me what to do." Lotor spat. He then looked up and saw Voltron approaching
his ship. "Pull back! Pull back!"
Ten minutes later, the Voltron
Force stumbled into Castle Control. Hunk
was limping, Lance was clutching his wrist, and Dante had a small trickle of
blood running down the side of his head.
They all had bruises and were a bit shaken up.
"Good work, men!" Col. Webster declared.
"Thank you, sir." Keith said.
"Any word from Pollux?" Lance asked.
"No, but Paget contacted us, the med ship is about two hours away and we're to have Dr. Gorma on alert." Allura told him.
"It looks like some of you guys need to see Dr. Gorma, go get cleaned up." Keith told his team.
There was a beeping coming from the console. Koran flipped a switch, "Castle Control, Arus. State your business please."
"Sir! Private Montgomery here!"
Keith
crossed to the console, "This is Captain Whitaker, what is it Private?"
"Sir, we have a man down on
Pollux! The hospital here was heavily
damaged, we have to get her back to Arus."
Lance felt his heart constrict and his knees weaken. Hunk grabbed his arm and kept him from lurching forward.
"What's going on?" Keith asked.
"We were ambushed by a small group of armed Doom soldiers, they've been detained."
"Who is it?" Lance asked.
"Sergeant Barlow took a shot to the chest. It doesn't look good, sir."
Hunk helped Lance to a chair and pushed his head between his knees. Allura stood beside him and rubbed his back, trying to calm him enough to even out his breathing.
"Can you get her back here?" Keith asked.
"The medics are trying to stablize her so she can travel."
"Keep me updated."
"Yes sir. Montgomery out."
The transmission ended and a heavy silence filled Castle Control.