In the Name of Duty
Part One
By Cheezey
Assembled in the throne room of Castle Doom awaiting the return of King Zarkon from his vacation were the witch Haggar, Commander Cossack, and several robot guards. The king had been away on business for several days, and in that time much had happened at Castle Doom. A day before—not all that long although to the two waiting in the throne room, it felt much longer—Prince Lotor had led an attack on planet Arus with a new prototype robeast. It had performed well, exceedingly well, and during the course of the battle they had managed to destroy one of Voltron's lions. By Haggar's most optimistic guess, Voltron would never form again, which meant that it was only a matter of time before Arus was theirs for the taking.
Unfortunately the lion destroyed had been the blue lion, the one piloted by Arus' Princess Allura. To most of Doom's command crew, that was a trivial matter, even an advantageous one if viewed in a practical manner. Eliminating the planet's only surviving royalty and Voltron in one shot would have meant certain victory over the troublesome world. Even the robeast with its advanced artificial intelligence knew that, and that was why it had disregarded Prince Lotor's orders to stop harming the blue lion. Unfortunately, Lotor was not as emotionlessly logical or ruthlessly brutal as the machine when it came to any matter that involved Allura. Just when they had thought they would be victorious, Lotor panicked when he realized their beast was going to kill the one thing on Arus that he wanted most, the one the prince believed was fated to be his lover and eventual queen—and to save her, he had thrown the battle away.
The ensuing chaos turned out badly for those from Doom. Lotor left the battleship in his own fighter craft to save the princess. Following the prince's orders, Cossack and Haggar had turned their own fire onto the out of control robeast, but the Castle of Lions had maintained fire on their battleship, and once its shields fell they had been forced to retreat back to Doom on the losing end of battle and without the prince. As of many hours after the fact, Lotor had not yet returned, either.
Fearing the worst for Doom's prince, the following morning Haggar called forth a vision to find out his fate. She and Cossack—who was with the witch when she invoked the power of her scrying crystal—were unsettled to learn that Lotor had indeed survived, as had his pet princess, but the royal guard of the Castle of Lions had also taken him prisoner. The prince, in otherwise fine shape, was languishing in a cell in the castle's underground levels in conversation with the Arusian princess still foolishly, at least in their opinion, declaring his love for her.
The two of them had not had the opportunity to see anything further before a robot from the command center came into the lab to alert Haggar and Cossack that King Zarkon's ship was arriving and that he wished to have his son and the two of them present in the throne room for his return. The sentry went on to explain that he had already informed the king that Lotor was absent, but that the two of them would explain why that was. Upon hearing that news, the witch and the commander had exchanged uneasy looks and immediately went to the throne room as bidden.
"So do you have a plan for how we're going to break Lotor out of there?" Cossack whispered to the witch, standing beside him while they waited for Zarkon to arrive.
The hooded figure subtly turned her head toward the door. "I will need some time to build a robeast best suited for the purpose of distracting the remaining lions as opposed to Voltron, but I should be able to come up with something. If you can assemble a battleship and a ground crew to infiltrate the castle, we might have some luck," she replied. "But since Zarkon is on his way to us now, we might as well get his recommendation on how to proceed. Hopefully he won't hold us responsible for Lotor's foolishness."
Cossack frowned and folded his arms across his chest. "Well he shouldn't. We were just following orders. Stupid orders, but still."
"Hmph," the witch scoffed, "You know, it frightens me when you of all people can legitimately make a call about someone else being stupid."
"Ha ha," Cossack muttered back sarcastically, unable to say more because the doors swung open and several guardsmen entered. The head of the line announced the arrival of Zarkon and a dignified guest, and the fleet commander and witch both straightened and then bowed in respect as the entourage began to walk by, followed by the king himself and a figure they both immediately recognized—and were quite surprised, and not entirely pleasantly at that, to see.
"Merla!" Haggar hissed in a hoarse whisper. "What is she doing back here?"
"And with King Zarkon?" Cossack murmured back, loud enough only for the witch beside him to hear. "Last I saw, she buddied up to the Voltron force and then took off on her own. What's the king doing with a traitor like her?"
Although neither the commander nor the king and his guest could see it, the old witch's eyes flashed with contempt and suspicion. "I have a feeling we're about to find out," she hissed back, a clear undertone of disgust in her voice.
The two bowing court members heard Zarkon issue a dismissal to all but the two of them and the robot guards that were normally posted by the door, and then called for the witch and commander to come to the foot of his throne, where he stood with a silent and smiling—quite smugly at that—Queen Merla.
"Welcome back, your highness," Haggar greeted the king cordially.
From beside her, Cossack nodded to him as well. "Good to see you back again, sire."
"Yes, well, it's good to be back," Zarkon said with a surprisingly serene smile that lasted only a moment before it changed to neutral curiosity. "So where is my son that he couldn't be here to welcome me back?"
Cossack shifted somewhat uncomfortably. "I'm afraid that's some bad news, King Zarkon. He ordered an attack on Arus in your absence, and it went really well at first, but," his voice trailed off for a second, "well it kinda went downhill after the blue lion got roasted, and he took off after it. We had to retreat without him."
The king's serpentine features darkened. "Blue lion was destroyed?"
"Completely, your highness, although the princess still lives," Haggar explained. "That's where Lotor is now. We were forced to leave without him or be destroyed ourselves. When we got back to Doom I used my magic to try to determine his fate so we could regroup and help him if need be. Unfortunately for the prince, Allura's people took him prisoner and they're holding him in the Castle of Lions."
"But the blue lion was destroyed?" Zarkon pressed.
Cossack nodded an assured yes. "Oh yeah, it got fried to a crisp and was nearly torn in half. Unless they've got some impressive techies over there on Arus, that thing's not gonna fly again for a long time."
"I see," Zarkon said slowly, his impassive features melting into a smile. "Then that means Voltron can't be formed. Well, that is good news to return home to, isn't it my dear?" the king said with a sideways glance to Merla, who nodded back.
"Indeed," was the pink-haired queen's response.
Haggar frowned suspiciously at her. "I thought you were friendly with the Voltron Force. You did lead an attack with them on what you believed to be planet Doom."
"That's all water under the bridge now, Haggar," Zarkon said crisply, cutting the witch off. "Merla and I have ironed out all those little misunderstandings for the greater good of our empire. That's where I've been the last few days."
"With Merla?" Haggar's voice rose a notch, a hint of emotion creeping into it.
Cossack frowned dubiously as he looked from Merla's sly features to the satisfied face of his king. "King Zarkon, not to speak out of place sire, but are you sure you should trust her? When Lotor and I were—"
"Are you questioning my judgment, Cossack?" Zarkon said, his golden eyes staring harshly at the fleet commander.
"No, sire," Cossack amended quickly. "I was just concerned that—"
The king frowned. "Well, your concern has been noted and given all due consideration," he informed him gruffly. "Frankly, with the mess you two and my son apparently made of things in my absence, I'm glad that two of us with sense are back on the planet to put this place in order."
Haggar glanced at Merla, but spoke only to Zarkon. "She's staying?"
A coy smirk spread across the Seventh Kingdom queen's features. "What's the matter, Haggar? Didn't you miss me?" When the witch only glared at her icily in response, Merla continued. "As for the issue of the Voltron force and my dealings with them, I had reasons to do what I did, and I don't expect to be questioned again on them by either of you," she said with stern superiority. "Like Zarkon said, we worked that out. That's all you need to know. Am I understood?"
"I will look out for the welfare of King Zarkon, Merla, and if that includes questioning someone who has proven less than loyal to him in the past, so be it," the witch snapped in a rare display of obstinacy. "He is my king, and if he feels I should stay out of it, then I will respect his wishes."
From beside her, Cossack struggled to keep a smirk off his face, enjoying watching the witch tell off Merla, while Merla narrowed her eyes contemptuously at Haggar. Before the catty exchange could develop into an actual catfight, however, Zarkon stepped forward and addressed the old witch firmly. "Haggar, that's enough. I expect you to respect Merla's word as you would mine. She is Queen, after all."
"Yeah, of the Seventh Kingdom, we know that," Cossack said, mildly puzzled as to why Zarkon would point out the obvious like that.
"And of this one, Cossack," Merla corrected the fleet commander with a smug grin. "So you and the witch had best show me all due respect."
Both Cossack and Haggar's eyes widened in complete and utter shock as the implication of Merla's words sank in. Additionally, Cossack's jaw dropped visibly, while Haggar gasped in what could only be described as horrified outrage. "What?" the old witch hissed, her voice taking on an exceptionally shrill tone.
Amused by the reaction, Zarkon chuckled and turned to Merla. "You just couldn't wait to break the news, could you, my dear?"
Cossack blinked dubiously at the king, still stunned. "You two got hitched, sire?"
"Wow, Cossack, you are a master of the obvious, aren't you?" Zarkon quipped. "Yes, among other things. Merla and I took the step of merging our empires together. Now the Seventh and Ninth kingdoms are one and we have far more power and influence within the Drule Empire at our disposal than we had individually. It's truly something to celebrate."
"Truly something at any rate," Haggar muttered, clearly nowhere near as pleased as her favored monarch with the turn of events.
Ignoring the witch, Zarkon continued. "As my wife and now the queen of Doom as well, Merla naturally will be staying here with us. I'm sure I don't have to ask you to treat her with all due courtesy and respect that such a position demands."
"Of course not," Cossack grumbled, although his enthusiasm was noticeably lacking as he grudgingly gave the obligatory bow and greeting Merla's way out of respect to Zarkon. "Welcome back to Doom, your highness." His tone was polite, but obviously forced.
"Good boy, Cossack," Merla purred condescendingly at the commander, who bristled considerably at her snide tone. "Perhaps with enough work you can be trained after all."
Haggar on the other hand was not quite as ready to accept the situation. As attached to Zarkon as she was, the notion of him being married to anyone rubbed her the wrong way, but for it to be to someone like Merla that she actively disliked made it far more unacceptable to the old witch. "I thought you planned to merge your kingdoms through a marriage to Lotor," she said to Zarkon keeping her eyes on him while she awaited his answer.
"And we saw how well that worked out, didn't we?" the king replied. "That disaster just reinforced why I should never have sent a foolhardy boy to do a man's job." He glanced at the empty space where Lotor often stood in meetings like the one they were having and frowned. "This recent nonsense about him being captured is a perfect example of why."
The old witch was not convinced, and reined in her emotions long enough to eye Merla with a façade of impassiveness. "I thought you cared for Lotor. Wasn't that the reason you tried to save his life?"
"That is why Lotor had me take him to your planet," Cossack added in support of the witch's inquiry.
"Please," Merla said haughtily, "Lotor had you bring him to Eshai—against the planet's law for two men, I might add—only to sucker me in to his scheme to kill the Voltron force. He used me, much like he uses everyone else around him." The bitterness that she still harbored crept audibly into her tone for a moment before she continued. "Besides, what does marriage have to do with love? It's all politics. Only fools and commoners marry for love."
Upon hearing Merla's admission that she did not love Zarkon, Haggar thought that it should have pleased her on some level, as it meant that his heart was still potentially still up for grabs. Even though all rational thought told the witch that ship had sailed a long time ago, a naïve part of her still held a measure of faith that someday Zarkon would understand and see her unwavering loyalty for what it was. Instead Merla's statement instead felt only like a hollow and quite minor victory, however, for whether she loved Zarkon or not, the fact of it was that Merla still had the position at his side that she coveted. "I wouldn't know," Haggar stated after a moment of pause. "I never married."
"Me neither, and I consider myself lucky for it," Cossack agreed from beside the witch.
"Then I guess neither of you are qualified to speak on the matter, are you?" Smiling triumphantly, Merla then sidled up to Zarkon, her perfectly manicured hands upon his broad shoulder, before she added with a sneer, "Or perhaps you two should just marry one another since you work so well together."
At that, Zarkon laughed heartily. "Now there's a match made in the Pit of Skulls if I ever heard one."
Neither Haggar nor Cossack found that remark the least bit amusing however. The latter actively growled under his breath at the mingled laughter of the king and queen, while Haggar's gaunt hand gripped her staff so tight it looked as though her old and frail bones were going to snap right through the skin. The scowl on her face was so deep that her shadowy features looked even more hideous. "Your joking aside," she seethed in barely concealed fury, "that does bring up another matter that we need to speak with you about. What do you want us to do about Prince Lotor?"
Lapsing into a more serious frame of mind as Haggar reminded him about his son's situation, Zarkon tapped his golden staff against his palm as he considered for a moment, and then regarded his witch and commander impassively. "Exactly what you're doing now."
"But we aren't doing anything yet," Cossack said, clearly confused by the statement.
Zarkon regarded the commander as if he was speaking to a silly child that had babbled at him. "Yes, I'm aware of that."
Unfazed by the condescending look from his ruler, Cossack blinked in shock as he tried to think of the reasoning behind his strange order. "You're saying you don't want us to go and bust him out?" he asked, not so much questioning the king's orders as he was making sure he'd heard him correctly. Surely Zarkon could not want Lotor, his only acknowledged son and heir and the crowned prince of Doom, to be left behind on Arus as a prisoner in enemy hands?
"How much clearer do you need me to spell it out for you, Cossack?" Zarkon replied. "From what you two told me, Lotor's stupidity got him into that mess, let his brilliance get himself out of it. With Voltron out of the picture and my son not there to be distracted by that silly princess, now is the perfect opportunity to lay the iron fist of our rule down in this galaxy once and for all. Dealing with the four lions alone is nothing compared to Voltron."
Frowning, Haggar listened to Zarkon's reasons and silently contemplated a means of getting him to change his mind. The old witch had her own issues with Lotor, but she had no real wish to see him out of the picture entirely—especially in light of the addition of Merla to the royal household. She knew that given the history Lotor and Merla had, Lotor's presence might be enough to drive the new queen out or at least put a wedge between her and Zarkon, and that was reason enough to be in favor of the headstrong fool of a prince's return. "Perhaps we should start with Arus itself," Haggar suggested. "We could make taking over the planet the first priority of course, but if luck is on our side, we might be able to secure Lotor's safe return in one move. And think of how sweet it would be to announce victory over Arus along with the merging of your empires to the Drule high council," she finished, hoping the king would follow along with her sweetly phrased logic.
"Arus is weakened, and it has been a thorn in our sides," Zarkon conceded thoughtfully. He glanced over at Merla. "What do you think?"
"Taking Arus would be a nice feather in our cap," the queen agreed, although she felt a distinct twinge of unwelcome guilt as she said so. As far as the Voltron force knew, Merla was still on friendly terms with them. They had helped her and Lotor out of the goodness of their hearts once, even though neither she nor Lotor had done anything to merit such kindness. Although Merla was practical enough to know that the Voltron force only had themselves to blame for trusting in the good nature of ruthless conquerors like her and Lotor, it still stirred unpleasantly in her. It was not enough to stop her, however, and Merla did her best to banish the flash of conscience away. No, that was one thing Lotor had been right about. People like she and Lotor were who they were, and they did not change. One could not change one's nature, and anyone who believed otherwise was fooling him or herself, Merla asserted, and then added to her previous statement, "Striking when they're weak makes sense."
Zarkon nodded to his new bride proudly, pleased to see that whatever spark of amiability she might have had toward the Voltron Force at one point was seemingly extinguished, or at least dying out. "That's what I hoped you'd say," he said, and then turned back to Haggar and Cossack. "Make preparations then, and keep me informed."
"Yes sire," Cossack agreed with a bow.
"As you wish," Haggar echoed, and turned immediately toward the door. Distressed beyond measure at the latest turn of events, the old witch could not get out of the room fast enough. Cossack followed close at her heels, and the heavy throne room doors closed shut behind them, leaving Zarkon and Merla alone in their new throne room.
Over on planet Arus, Prince Lotor was having an even worse day than his associates back on Doom. Since the news had been broken that he was to be turned over to the Galaxy Alliance as a political prisoner that would be tried for war crimes, he grew increasingly worried and restless. And still, despite his dire circumstance, the captive prince could not help but think of his love, his desire, and his obsession… Princess Allura.
The sad and regretful look on her lovely face when he'd last seen her, disappearing up the stairs after agreeing to let Galaxy Garrison take him away when they came, was a vision he could not clear from his head. Hardened as he was, Lotor needed badly to know that the princess knew the depth of his feeling for her, and in spite of how things had played out, the fact that Allura had admitted to believing he truly did care for her—even shrouded in her cautiously worded caveat—gave him hope that one day she would be his.
That was, if he could get out of confinement before Galaxy Garrison got their hands on him. Frowning in frustration at the bars confining him, Lotor wondered how much time had passed. Would his father send anyone to get him out of there? He had told Allura that Zarkon would not bother, and in all truth he did not expect any rescue, but that did not stop him from holding out hope. He was his father's only heir, after all, and if Zarkon had really wanted him out of the picture, wouldn't he have taken more care to ensure that he did eliminate him in any of the number of scuffles they'd had?
There was also the possibility of the old witch doing something, Lotor supposed. Not that he counted on batty old Haggar for much—especially since she could easily be blamed for being the cause of the mess he was in given that it was her robeast that had gone out of control—but she was unpredictable and had surprised him and his father enough times that he had a slim hope that she might try something. Then again, he had threatened her life last he had seen her, so perhaps not. The old witch was moody and did hold her grudges.
With a sigh Lotor closed his eyes and leaned against the wall, realizing that truly the best chance he had at escaping his fate lay with the very one that had left him to it—Allura. If only she would come and talk to him again…
Do you really think she'll change her mind and let you go, knowing full well you'll turn around and attack her planet again? A harsh inner voice chided him as if it was ridiculous to indulge such a thought.
"She might," Lotor murmured to himself, barely audible. "She has warmth and compassion…"
Nice girls don't go for your type, Merla's voice sneered back at him in his mind, a ghost of a memory from a scheme now long past.
"You're wrong," the prince whispered insistently, moving away from the wall to peer through the bars once more. "She does care for me. She can't let herself act on it—she won't let herself—but she does."
He looked down the empty hall and saw through the closed door at the far end an Arusian royal guardsman posted on duty. "Guard!" Lotor barked out, his voice loud and authoritative.
The guardsman stood, opened the door, and took a few steps into the hall, eyeing the prisoner suspiciously. "What?"
Lotor straightened and faced the man with all the demand and confidence befitting a crowned prince, even if he was one currently in a cage. "I want to see Princess Allura."
Mildly intimidated and insulted by the prisoner's arrogant demeanor, the guardsman stared him down. "The orders from Coran are clear—you are not to upset the princess."
"And do the diplomat's orders supercede that of royalty?" Lotor challenged.
"You may be royalty on Doom, but here on Arus you're a war criminal," the guardsman retorted heatedly. "I certainly do not take orders from you."
A cold sneer crossed Lotor's features as he regarded what he considered the worm of a man smarting off to him. "Consider yourself fortunate my attack didn't turn out the way it should have if you refuse to accept royal superiority. Insolent fools like you wind up on the sharp end of a blade on my planet." He circled his blue fingers around the bars. "The royalty I meant was not myself but the princess. Does this Coran have the authority to keep messages from being delivered to her? Is she as the ruler of this planet not permitted to make her own judgment as to whether or not to speak with me if I ask?"
"Of course Princess Allura is trusted to make her own decisions," the guard argued.
"Then kindly let her know that I wish to speak with her," Lotor snapped impatiently. "If I'm to be shipped off of this planet to Galaxy Garrison, I would at least like to have a word with her before I'm handed over. The courtesy of one royal to another if nothing else."
The guardsman eyed Lotor for several moments to determine whether or not the prince was up to some sort of a trick, but then decided that it would not do any harm to simply send a message to the princess. Technically that was not against his orders. He would of course recommend against the princess visiting the prisoner, but if she chose to do it on her own, then that was a decision neither he nor Coran could really question. Nanny, perhaps, but much like most of the staff in the Castle of Lions, he was wary of dealing with Allura's childhood guardian and the scenes she often caused. "Very well, Prince Lotor. I will have a message sent."
"Good," Lotor huffed. The prince then turned away from the bars and strode over to his cot and sat down to wait.
Princess Allura was alone in her bedroom and lost in thought, reflecting on everything that had happened the previous day and fighting an anxious and unpleasant feeling in anticipation of the arrival of the officials from Galaxy Garrison, when she heard a knock at the door. "Yes?" she called out, walking over to the door, which slid open to reveal one of the castle's guardsmen, who immediately bowed to her.
"Good afternoon, your highness. I apologize for disturbing you, but the guard posted downstairs radioed a message to be delivered to you. The prisoner Prince Lotor wishes to speak with you."
Allura felt her heart skip a beat at the guard's statement. Why does he want to talk to me? Her anxiety immediately tripled, but at the same time she also felt a touch of something else—was it excitement? Flattery? Whatever it was, it made her feel both a compulsion to see and avoid the prince simultaneously, and she stood there silent a moment as she tried to sort it out and decide what to do. After she had left Lotor's confinement area the day before, everyone—Coran, Nanny, and the male Voltron force members—had all told her it was in her best interests to stay away from Lotor. They had reminded her of his lies and his manipulative nature, and warned her that he might try something sneaky in an attempt at escape. Naturally Allura knew that they were right, for she'd had more than ample opportunity to witness Lotor's duplicitous nature in action before, yet still she had trouble simply brushing him off when the prince asked specifically to see her. She supposed that was because regardless of the fact that Lotor had started that awful attack that had led to the destruction of the blue lion the day before, he was still in their custody because of her, because he had cared enough about her to intervene and save her life. In light of that, did she not owe him the courtesy of speaking with him in the short time he was still there? The others would have called her too kind for her own good, but regardless she felt that she did.
"Your highness?" the guardsman repeated.
The princess looked up and smiled faintly at him. "Yes, thank you," she replied. "I'll go and speak with him."
The guardsman nodded, but spoke up again. "Princess Allura, please be careful. Coran has advised that you—"
"I understand," Allura cut him off, nicely but quite firmly, "I appreciate the concern. I'll be on my guard."
Obediently the guardsman bowed to her. "Yes my lady."
With a nod the princess then went out into the hall past him, shut her door securely, and made her way through the castle corridors to the holding area. She chose a more winding and out of the way route, cutting through some of the service hallways, rather than the most direct way that would have brought her near the control room and one of the other common areas where she would be more likely to run into any of the guys, Coran, or Nanny. Allura knew they would try and convince her to change her mind, but she could not in good conscience do that, and she also knew that there was little chance of truly making them understand that, so she figured the best way to handle it would be quietly and without involving them at all.
A few minutes later she reached the door that led to the stairwell to the lower levels. As it closed behind her and she descended the steps, her anxiousness intensified, and she found herself nearly trembling as she reached the foot. Why did the situation affect her in such a way? Why was it so complicated to deal with Lotor?
She continued down the hall until she reached the corridor that held the cell where Lotor was being confined. The princess nodded to the guard posted on duty outside in acknowledgment and then entered the hallway. Lotor must have heard the sound of her footfalls for he was at the barred door when she arrived, and his features brightened considerably as she met his gaze. "I got your message," she greeted him cautiously, keeping a fair distance between herself and the bars.
Lotor's smile broadened as she spoke to him. "Allura, you came. I knew you would."
"Yes," the Arusian princess stated, watching him carefully and trying to gauge his motivations for calling her there. "I was surprised. After yesterday I thought that you wouldn't want—"
"I always want to see you, Allura," Lotor assured her, leaning forward against the bars to get as close to her as he possibly could in his confinement. She could feel his eyes on her, tracing every detail of her from the manner in which she wore her hair that day to the faint scuff on the right side of one of her white boots. The princess felt mildly uncomfortable under the weight of his gaze, not so much because it was an untoward gesture or a crude leer of any sort, but more because of the unspoken feeling behind it. While she had her doubts as to how deeply a cruel man like Lotor could love anyone, she did genuinely believe that he loved her in some twisted way—and that was an awkward thing to be aware of knowing that she was turning him over to a life behind bars.
The princess shifted slightly and took another two steps closer to him. "Even though I decided what I did yesterday?" she asked softly. "I haven't changed my mind, Lotor. You understand that I have to do this."
Lotor's smile faded somewhat, but the light in his eyes as he beheld her remained. The prince could not honestly say her decision surprised him even if it did disappoint him. Somehow the fact that she had come anyway still was enough to keep his mood from giving away into hopelessness entirely. "Duty compels us to do things we might otherwise not, and I understand that," he said, turning away for a moment to brush off the sting of the truth that while she might care, she did not care enough to save him from a fate that would very likely mean his death or at least a very unpleasant remainder of his life. "I just have to know two things before they take me away."
"What two things?" Allura asked.
"If they hadn't agreed to turn me over to Galaxy Garrison without you there, would you have pursued that course yourself?"
The question, asked directly from him to her with no audience made her feel somewhat uncomfortable. It was a fair solution but it still was not one that sat well with her, at least not completely. Her friends and loved ones had all assured her it was the best thing, but… Allura met his gaze with a heavy moment of silence. "I—I don't know," she admitted. "It happened so fast I don't know what I would have done if I'd had a chance to think it over."
Lotor nodded slowly, dismayed that it was not an emphatic no but relieved that it was not an evasive yes. "Fair enough."
Still locked in his gaze, Allura found herself still pondering Lotor's question and finding herself leaning toward—rationalizing perhaps even—an answer of no, but she had no chance to say or even give the notion much conscious acknowledgement before the Doom prince caught her completely off guard with his next question.
"I have one other question for you, Allura," Lotor said, silently willing her closer to him so that he might be able to reach out and touch her, even if it was just a brief caress of her hand or a gentle trace of her lovely face. "You know that I love you. Do you love me? Do you feel anything for me?"
The princess' eyes went wide as the enemy prince put her on the spot with a loaded question which she did not even know how to answer. Did she love him? That was easy enough to answer. Of course she was not in love with him. How could she ever love someone like Lotor? His vicious nature and history of cruelty aside, she hardly knew him on a personal level aside from what she'd been witness to in their tense encounters. But the clarification to that question, did she feel anything—that was anything but simple to answer. The truth was that she felt something for Lotor, but she had no idea how to even define it, except that it was not the sort of love he sought so feverishly. Instead she tried to look away. "Don't do this, Lotor. Please."
"I need to know," Lotor insisted in a quiet tone. "Tell me what you feel when you look at me… when you're close to me," the prince reached out with his hand and found himself just barely in reach to touch her arm. His fingertips brushed the slightest bit against the fabric of her sleeve. "When I say your name and tell you how much I care for you, Allura."
She reached with the intent of brushing away his fingers but instead found her own caught in his when they touched. Whether the prince had snatched them up at the chance or she had simply allowed them to be caught subconsciously she had no idea, but in reality it could have been either. "What I feel—anything I might feel," she amended nervously, "doesn't change what you've done or what I have to do. So you shouldn't—"
The prince caressed her small fingers in his grasp, savoring their delicate warmth. "You do care for me, don't you?" Lotor challenged. "You feel something. Tell me, please," he urged, his tone taking on an almost pleading note.
"Lotor, it doesn't matter." Allura's voice was gentle, almost a whisper, and trembled as slightly as her hand did in his.
Lotor read her evasiveness as unspoken confirmation that she did indeed harbor affection for him that she would not acknowledge, and it both elated and crushed him at the same time—thrilling him to know it was there and cutting him deeply that she found it to be something dangerous or detestable enough to pretend did not exist. "It matters to me," Lotor asserted, staring intently into her beautiful eyes, ones that had captivated him from the first time he had laid his on her. "You mattered enough to me that I let myself wind up here. If you're too bound by your duty to do anything else for me then at least tell me the truth, tell me what you feel… tell me that I matter, that I mean something… to you."
Allura's heart began to pound as Lotor's words brought to light the very crux of the issue that refused to sit lightly in her about the whole situation, that she was letting Lotor be punished essentially for saving her life. Yes, logically she knew he was being punished for the horrible things he had done before that, but still—he would not be there if he had not cared for her in the first place, and if he had not cared—she would be in a far worse state than he was then.
Knowing on some level that it was both the right thing to do but also unwise to encourage his infatuation with her, Allura found herself squeezing his strong blue fingers and searching his wide and hopeful yellow eyes earnestly. "You matter to me, Lotor. I do care," she admitted, feeling a surprising rush of relief as the words came out, and a sense of fulfillment in seeing the Doom prince's normally harsh and calculating drule features light up in genuine delight. That moment lasted only briefly, however, before the reality of the situation reared its sensible head once more, and the princess turned away, suddenly feeling rather like a cruel tease for telling him such a thing when she was going to turn him over to an organization that would interrogate and try him for war crimes in a short while. Abruptly Allura yanked her hand away, and turned away from Lotor, stepping out of his reach. "And that's why we should never have had this conversation. I'm sorry, Lotor," she finished, and then ran from the hallway.
"Allura, wait! Don't leave!" Lotor shouted desperately after her departing form, but the Arusian princess was gone before his plea was finished. With a sigh the captive prince lowered his head, resting his forehead against one of the bars to his cell, and closed his eyes with one thought on his mind. It was not of his inevitable fate or a realization that nothing had changed. It was simply one thought, one that even in his grim circumstance danced victoriously over the doubts that had nagged him earlier. She loves me after all, Lotor thought victoriously, the slightest hint of a smile tugging at his otherwise forlorn features as his lips parted to vocalize the thought in a soft whisper that reinforced it all the more. "She does love me."
Back on Doom, several hours had passed while Haggar and Cossack carried out Zarkon's orders to prepare for another invasion. Haggar devoted her attentions to creating another robeast. That one was regrettably not as advanced or sophisticated as the one deployed during that last fateful battle due to time and resource restraints, but she was confident that she could come up with something that would work. Damage and distraction were functions carried out easily enough by any robeast, and since there was little chance of Voltron's blazing sword—or "BS" as she had come to think of it after hearing Cossack refer to it as such a number of times—showing up to do it damage, she could focus more on its offensive capabilities as opposed to defensive ones. The old witch figured if she made it fast to match the quick reflexes of the robot lions, and able to withstand heat and electrical attacks while dishing out damage, that would work sufficiently.
Cossack meanwhile oversaw the outfitting of one of the fleet's primary battleships, the Axtur-Ves, for the recovery mission to Arus. That specific vessel was not among their largest crafts, but it was stealthy and fast, and when it came to firepower it could pack a serious punch. It was suited to quick strikes and he figured that it would serve their needs well enough, even if it was not his favorite of Zarkon's ships. Unfortunately Cossack's favored ship, the Drikelm-Skor, was the one they had taken to Arus on the most recent mission. Even with a full repair crew working on it, that ship would be out of commission for at least two more days.
The Axtur-Ves meanwhile had just finished being fueled up for the mission when Haggar came into the hangar. As she passed by Merla's star-cutter, docked in the same place it had been parked before her defection, her lips twisted into a snarl of disgust. What in the name of the galaxy was Zarkon thinking marrying that pink-haired harlot? Haggar wondered bitterly, and shook her head. She felt that surely Zarkon had to know that Merla was only using him as a means to gain power, and that she could not be trusted, and while she logically knew that Zarkon was using Merla for the same purpose—and perhaps for the physical pleasure an attractive woman like Merla had to offer—she still thought it impulsive and foolish, and it was not, she assured herself vehemently, jealousy. It was concern—concern from a loyal advisor who had served the king for countless years and who was wise enough to know better.
As she approached the Axtur-Ves, Haggar saw Cossack leaning in the doorway, arms folded across his chest. "The crew just finished reporting that they loaded up your robeast coffin, so as soon as the royal honchos give us the word, we're good to go," the commander informed the witch when he noticed her arrival.
"Did either of them say if they were coming along?" Haggar asked as she joined Cossack on the ship.
He shook his head a no and walked with her to the bridge. Coba trailed behind his mistress, weaving carefully past the foot traffic of the soldier and robot crewmembers that they passed. "It didn't seem like either of them wanted to bother last I heard," Cossack said as they went over to the main console. He punched in a sequence to bring their course up on the screen. "Doesn't surprise me that Zarkon isn't going, he usually doesn't, but Merla usually likes to butt in where she isn't wanted."
Haggar's features darkened. "Oh yes, she's quite adept at that."
Catching the sharp edge to her voice, Cossack glanced over at Haggar with a curious expression on his face. Like most of the high advisors and military officers of Zarkon's court, he was well aware of the witch's unrequited fondness for Doom's king. "Queen Merla as Zarkon's queen, yeah, I know how that's gotta chafe your warts."
"Keep your dimwitted observations to yourself, horn-head," Haggar snapped in retort, and swatted her heavy oaken staff against his battle helmet, making the commander wince for a moment at the unexpected clang.
"Fine, fine," he grumbled back. A robot came by to report that they were ready for takeoff as soon as he gave the order, and without delay he sent a message to Zarkon to let him know that they were ready to deploy. As Zarkon's face appeared on the screen, Cossack asked, "Any last minute requests before we head out, sire?"
"Yes—don't screw it up!" Zarkon barked back. "And let me reiterate, do not do anything foolish to get my idiot son back. All I want is Arus under my control. Level the Castle of Lions if you have to regardless of who's inside. Without Voltron we may never have a better chance."
Both Cossack and Haggar nodded back in understanding. "We will, your highness," the witch assured him. Cossack echoed her sentiment with a nod, and within minutes the battleship blasted off into space bound for the war-torn planet of Arus.
Unbeknownst to the Doomites that were on their way to re-invade the weakened world, an impressive envoy of a heavily armored prison ship and two small but well-armed escort crafts sent directly from Galaxy Garrison headquarters entered Arus' airspace. The prison ship was the only one to land while the former two hovered in the space above the planet. The officials of the Galaxy Alliance were taking no chances with the acquisition of a high profile prisoner such as King Zarkon's son.
Space Marshall Graham flew in personally to supervise the transfer of Lotor into their custody, and Coran ushered him into the Castle of Lions with the utmost respect. "We're holding him securely on the lowest level," the keeper of the castle assured the alliance officer as they made their way through the halls.
When they reached the castle control center they found the Voltron force already gathered there. The four space explorers saluted the officer honorably while Princess Allura gave a polite bow of courtesy. Her features were largely impassive but a somber look filled her eyes. The closer the reality of having to transfer Lotor into Galaxy Alliance hands came, the more it nagged at her as a wrong decision, especially in light of the exchange that had taken place between her and Lotor earlier. The princess had not imparted the details of what transpired to any of the others, and when they asked her about it, Allura had said that he had simply asked if she would reconsider. When she assured them that she had told him she would not, the matter was dropped.
That did not mean that Allura was able to stop thinking about it, however. Although she did not love Lotor, at least not the way he wanted her to, she did care about his fate and what happened to him, and the knowledge that she was leaving his fate in the Galaxy Alliance's hands after he had made a sacrifice for her sat less well with her each moment that passed. Allura had faith that the alliance would try him fairly and give him a just prison sentence, and that logically it was the best choice. So why, then, did she feel so cold going through with it?
"The Galaxy Alliance appreciates your willingness to turn this criminal over to us, your highness," Graham said as he regarded the young princess. "In capturing him the Voltron Force has spared countless lives and brought to justice a man responsible for the loss of countless others. Furthermore, removing him from King Zarkon's empire will deal it and its tyranny quite a weakening blow."
"Not to mention how relieved the people of this planet will be knowing that he can't attack," Keith added, giving the princess a reassuring smile. The head of the Voltron force had noticed Allura's preoccupied mood and he was worried about her. He suspected that Lotor had said more to her than she let on in that visit, and that he had tried some sort of emotional manipulation that played on Allura's generous and kindhearted nature, but when she had seemed unwilling to talk about it he did not pressure her.
Allura smiled thinly at them. "I wouldn't go that far. Not having Lotor never stopped Zarkon before. He has plenty of others that will do his dirty work."
"Well it's not like we'd let our guard down," Pidge chipped in.
Hunk nodded in agreement. "Especially with the blue lion down. You can bet that whoever was on that ship that left Lotor behind is going to squeal to Zarkon that it'll be a good time to regroup and attack."
The space marshal's brow furrowed as he listened to the exchange. "Has there been any indication of attacks? It's likely that Zarkon will send in a force to reclaim his son."
"Not yet," Lance told him with a shrug. "Lotor told the princess that he doesn't think Zarkon would bother coming for him. Maybe that's true, considering he recently had him chained up in the Pit of Skulls over on Doom, but then again he might've just been feeding her a line for sympathy."
"My money's on that, personally," Hunk added.
Coran frowned thoughtfully. "Still, it would be unwise of us to rule out the possibility or to underestimate Zarkon. We should be prepared." The diplomat then sighed. "Unfortunately with the blue lion destroyed, we don't have Voltron available to readily defend us."
"In that case, I would recommend that the remaining lions stay on Arus no matter what other distress calls come through from neighboring planets," Graham advised them. "Send any alerts along to us, and you know of course that you can contact Garrison headquarters for backup. If need be we could have the vehicle Voltron force sent to your quadrant, but they are on the opposite end of the galaxy and it would be a day or two before they could feasibly get here."
Keith shook his head. "That shouldn't be necessary. I know they've got their hands full, and we do have four lions. They're a force to be reckoned with in their own right. I'm more worried about the state this castle is in after that last battle. The defenses held, but they won't hold up nearly as long if they bring a new battleship and attack it directly like that again. Our shields have only been reconstructed to…" He glanced at Pidge, who had been working personally with the technicians on that project.
"Seventy three percent," the youngest member of the Voltron force finished. "We're spread pretty thin. Half of our team is just working on the blue lion alone. We were able to speed things up a little when Marianne and her robots from Caspia showed up this morning, but still there's only so much that they can do so fast."
Nodding understandingly, Graham looked to Coran. "Was the scientist able to do anything for the damaged lion?"
Both Coran and Allura frowned, and the princess shook her head a negative. "Not yet, Space Marshal," she said with a sigh. "The lion's shell is mostly repaired but she said the original circuitry is very badly damaged, and most of it was on a technological level well advanced past anything she's familiar with. She's trying, but…"
"But we shouldn't count on the blue lion being operational for some time," Graham finished. When the Voltron force and Coran nodded an affirmative, he sighed. "That's a real shame. Voltron did so much for the alliance in this part of the galaxy, it'll be hard to getting used to not having him to count on. But we'll manage." He looked to Coran and the princess again. "One way we can help is to get your prisoner out of here and to our secure lockup back at Garrison headquarters. Without him here, hopefully that will direct Zarkon's attention to us rather than Arus since we'll be the ones holding his son."
"Hey, whatever you can do, you know we appreciate it," Lance agreed.
Coran nodded and led the marshal toward the hall. "He's in our holding area. We can take your transport crew there now."
Allura felt a flash of unpleasant guilt once more as the reality of Lotor's transfer drew nearer. Although she certainly did not want one of the primary individuals responsible for the war-wrought state of her planet under her own roof and she could think of no better solution, she still was not convinced that what she was doing was altogether right. She took a few steps forward to join Coran and the marshal, but the castle keeper held out his arm and pushed her back firmly.
"No, princess, I don't advise that you go along for this. You've seen enough ugliness from Lotor as it is and we all know that he has considerable skill at hand-to-hand combat. If he resists I don't want to risk you being caught in the crossfire."
"I've fought in far riskier battles as the blue lion's pilot, Coran," Allura argued with a frown.
Keith put an arm on her shoulder. "Yeah, but those are more necessary risks—for your planet and people who need our help. I'm sure these guys can handle Lotor on their own."
"We can wait outside by the ship to see it off," Pidge suggested.
Coran nodded. "Excellent idea. The five of you go ahead and do that. I'll escort the alliance officers."
Allura frowned slightly, but she did not argue since it seemed to be a reasonable enough compromise. "All right. We'll meet you out there." She smiled at Keith as he put his arm around her shoulders and they started for the door. Lance, Hunk, and Pidge followed behind them and shortly they were assembled at the side of the prison ship. Two armed officers were posted at the entrance, and they saluted respectfully to the Voltron force as they approached. The explorers returned the gesture in kind while Allura gave a proper Arusian gesture of courtesy, and they stood by to wait for Lotor to be brought out.
Meanwhile Hunk knocked on the side of the prison ship. "Now this is some nice security. Nobody's gonna bust out of here."
"Not easily, no," one of the guards agreed. "This class of ship has some of the hardiest defenses in the alliance's fleet, and the two escort crafts we have with us in orbit are surveillance and targeting units. The orders from the general were clear—no one gets near us. If we so much as get a whiff of one of Zarkon's battleships in the area, we have orders to call in reinforcements out the ass." His companion nudged him and pointed to the princess, and the guard then flushed somewhat and added sheepishly. "Er, sorry for the language, your highness."
Despite herself Allura giggled. "It's all right. I've heard worse."
"Yeah," Hunk laughed good-naturedly. "Probably from me more than once."
"That's Hunk, good for a colorful remark in the middle of battle," Lance chimed in.
"Right, like you're innocent of that yourself," Pidge teased.
Lance laughed. "Hey, as long as Nanny doesn't hear us, I don't worry about it!"
"I'll second that," Keith agreed with a smile. It was then that he saw grand doors of the Castle of Lions open with Coran leading an entourage out. "Hey guys, I think they've got him now," he said, lapsing into a more serious tone as he looked back over at his friends to get their attention.
When turned toward Allura he noticed a subtle but distressed look flash though her eyes. This is really getting to her, the Voltron force captain thought sadly, and he took her hand in a show of reassurance and support. Although he and Allura were only friends and he would never have presumed to think that they were more unless she clearly stated a desire to be such, Keith still felt protective of her more in the way a lover would than a friend. As her fingers wrapped around his, Keith cast a purposeful and protective gaze in the direction of the prisoner escort party. How Lotor could be so brazenly manipulative and hurtful to Allura while claiming to love her was beyond Keith. While he did not doubt that Lotor genuinely desired the princess, he was convinced that his interest was more rooted in lust, obsession, and a desire to control and possess her than anything else. He was certain that a man like Lotor would bring a woman like Allura nothing but pain, and that was highly evident in the guilt he so shamelessly heaped on her and that sadly, Keith lamented, her kind heart unwittingly fell for.
Allura meanwhile watched as the armed Galaxy Alliance officers, headed by Space Marshal Graham, marched Lotor toward the ship. Coran walked alongside the marshal while guards pointed their weapons warningly at the captive prince in the middle. As Coran had predicted, Lotor had indeed given them a struggle when they tried to remove him from the cell. It had been more of an act of defiance than any actual expectation of escape, although had the guards proven inept enough Lotor would gladly have taken the chance to flee. As it turned out his reflexes were slowed from his bruises and injuries from the crash and without weapons and against so many armed, all his resistance had gotten him was additional bruises to both his body and his ego. Heading toward the ship Lotor walked stiffly, but with arrogant pride, despite the fact that his wrists and ankles were bound in heavy cuffs and chains and that he was stripped of all his armor and wore only his basic clothing. An alliance officer behind the group carried the prince's helmet and weapons in a box that would be used to store his things while he was in custody and on trial.
When they reached the prison ship, Graham stopped in front of Allura and saluted her once more while Lotor watched silently, his gazed fixed upon the princess from where he stood. The sight of her hand intertwined with the human captain's tore at Lotor's raw emotions like a jagged blade, and he wished to see Keith on the end of a physical one for it. Lotor refused to believe that Allura could possibly love the common-born captain and instead clung tenaciously to the notion that Allura loved him as her words to him earlier in private had hinted. One day, some way, she would be his, Lotor vowed to whatever gods could hear his thoughts. He would find a way.
"Again, we want to thank you for your willingness to help the Galaxy Alliance, Princess Allura," Graham said while Lotor stared at the object of his affections. "You've done well by your people. Your father would be proud of you."
"Thank you, Space Marshal Graham," Allura replied with a polite smile, and released Keith's hand to shake his. She forced herself to not look at Lotor, but found it increasingly difficult as she felt his eyes intensely upon her.
"Yes," Coran added, shaking the officer's hand when the princess was done, "As always, you know your people at Galaxy Garrison have our full support in exchange for yours on our world."
"You'll need it," Lotor spoke up coldly from where he stood in his shackles, his intense and hateful glare fixed on the castle keeper. "Regardless of whether my father will bargain for my release, I promise you that he will not let this insult slide regardless. Planet Arus will be razed to dirt and rubble for this decision, old man. You can count on it." He turned toward Allura and his expression softened somewhat, but it was still obviously bitter and hurt, which she noted with more than a touch of shame-laced regret. "I regret the pain that will cause you, Allura, but it's out of my hands now."
"Oh, you're sorry all right, pal," Lance spoke up disgustedly, stepping between Allura and Lotor, furious at the prince's shameless attempt to play on her feelings.
"And that was Allura'sdecision for your information, Lotor," Keith asserted coldly. "Coran and the rest of us might give her advice, but Allura is the ruler of Arus and she always will be. She makes the final call on what happens."
His face twisted into a sneer of unbridled contempt as he glared at the male Voltron force members, but it lasted only a moment before he turned back to the beautiful face of the princess he adored. His luminous yellow eyes stared for a long and silent moment into her wide blue ones. "Promise me you will not forget me, Allura, or what I did for you."
Lance rolled his eyes, while Hunk muttered under his breath, "How about what he did to her?" Pidge elbowed him sharply even though he agreed with the yellow lion pilot's sentiment, and Hunk obligingly went silent.
Allura meanwhile felt her heart begin to pound with compounding anxiety. He saved my life… and I'm punishing him for it…
No, Allura, you're doing the right thing, the reasonable voice within her argued. He deserves a life behind bars for what he's done, for the lives he's taken and ruined.
But he loves you, the voice of emotion squeaked in protest. You know he does…
Unable to think any more with his eyes so intensely fixed on her and the others all watching, Allura swallowed and answered him. "I won't forget that you saved my life, Lotor… I promise." It was honest, and her voice was laced with emotion, but also somewhat halted and subdued in an attempt to mask that fact.
Her softly spoken words were not what Lotor most wanted to hear, but they sufficed enough in that he could tell they were genuine. He was about to voice a reply when he felt a sharp blow of the butt of a rifle to his back. "Enough out of you, 'Prince Charming'," the officer sneered. "You can save your sweet talk for whatever cell mate you wind up with."
Allura winced visibly when the guard was rough with Lotor, and Keith took her hand to squeeze it reassuringly but also hold her back. Before she could say anything however, Space Marshal Graham intervened with a stern nod. "Get him inside and get him secured. The sooner we get him back to HQ the better." The soldiers obediently followed the orders of their superior and aggressively shoved him up the landing ramp into the craft. Lotor kept his gaze on Allura as he was taken up, and she in turn watched them take him away. The escorts' rough handling of him did not sit well with her and only heightened the doubt that she had about her decision. Criminal or not, Lotor had been in a crash the day before and she did not like seeing him manhandled even if he had done worse to others. Just because he was cruel did not give them the right to sink to that low level in retaliation.
Graham remained behind for a moment and pulled some paperwork out of a folder. "We need you to sign this release agreement, Princess," he said, handing it to her. "Sorry to bog you down with paperwork, but you know how red tape can be if we don't dot our i's and cross our t's. Basically it's just a signed statement saying that you agree to turn your prisoner over to our custody and try him under Galaxy Alliance laws as opposed to your local planetary ones."
"It's a customary procedure," Coran assured the princess.
Allura nodded. "I understand." After briefly looking over the papers to verify that they were what she was told, she signed her name and title to the designated spot and handed it back to the space marshal.
"Do you know when the trial will be yet?" Keith asked Graham.
The space marshal tucked the release form back into his folder and smoothed back his gray hair. "It's scheduled to start at 0900 two standard days from now in the main complex at Galaxy Garrison. If you Voltron force members can attend, I urge you to do so. We may require statements or testimony from you."
"We'll be there," Allura assured him. She did not relish the idea of sitting through Lotor's trial or going over the atrocities he had committed against Arus and other worlds, but she could not in good conscience not be there given the circumstances, either. She felt that if she was going to send Lotor to trial at Galaxy Garrison as a prisoner that was captured solely because he had chosen to save her life, then he was owed the courtesy of her attendance at said trial. Once it's over and he's given a just sentence I can relax and know I made the right decision both for him and my planet.
Space Marshal Graham then bowed again before the princess and saluted the Voltron force members. "Thank you again, and see you at the trial. Good luck with that blue lion and please, if you need any backup out here, just let us know."
"Thank you, Space Marshal," Keith replied. "Good luck!"
"Safe travels," Allura added as the marshal climbed onto the ship. A few moments later the prison ship took off into Arus' blue sky and before long it was out of sight completely. The princess kept her eyes fixed on the sky for some time after it had gone.
Promise me you will not forget me, Allura, Lotor's voice echoed in her head once more.With a wistful sigh Allura then turned her gaze back toward Arus. Smiling back at the warm and concerned expression on her closest friend and trusted captain's face, she took Keith's offered hand and walked in stride with him back into the Castle of Lions.
Continued…