Sorry about the wait! Here's the next chapter, I hope everyone likes it!! Please review, I'm already working on the next chapter and hope to have it up in the next couple of days. Now, on with the story!!
The two large cargo doors of the carriers opened allowing the first few rows of ships to deploy. The team waited patiently as the ships took off waiting for the turns to gain altitude.
L-Houston, we have a problem.
K- What's wrong Lance, you haven't even taken flight yet?
L-Hey Keith, are you sure that Merla has us cloaked under radar right now?
K-Yeah, why?
L-Check your radar, there's at least a hundred Drule ships already in the air headed straight for us.
K-I don't have visual, Lance are you sure?
L-Look man, I'm telling you my radar has about one hundred blinking lights on it.
A-He's right Keith, they know we're coming.
L-Keith your radar's fried, grab another ship.
K-I'm already in the air and there are no more ships. There were only two cruisers left and they were damaged.
A-Keith, head back, you can't be out here like this, you're flying blind.
K-I'll be ok, I've flown without radar before. Is everyone else's up?
L-Yeah, we're fine. Team Three and Four are now airborne. Hunk, Pidge, ETA departure is fifteen seconds.
H-We got you Lance, preparing take off.
L-Team Five is now airborne, Pidge pull up the rear and keep formation the next two teams are coming out.
P-All set Lance.
Keith patched a call through to the Alliance soldiers that were hanging back by planet Ebb and let them know to start heading back to Arus, in hyper-speed the trip would only take about fifteen minutes.
K-Alright team, get your guns ready, they are headed this way but they can't tell our exact location. Allura stay on my left wing, I want you in visual since I don't have radar.
A-I'm in position.
K-Lock on targets in five seconds and fire your first round, after that it's free for all.
L-Nice battle plan Commander.
K-Don't have much choice right now, we're out numbered for about ten minutes. Ok guys, steady...Fire!!
They stood back to watch about fifty missiles be deployed at the same time. The enemy ships had detected the fire and also began to take fire. Huge explosions filled the sky as balls of fire fell towards the ground. Ship after ship fell towards the ground beside the castle as it was hit by enemy fire. Thunderous explosions could be heard from miles away and the castle shook violently as it took hits from misfire. Keith flew out away from the rest of the group and fired shots at two Drule ships in front of him taking them out.
Allura continued to dodge the ships as they kept trying to lock in on her. As she flew through the sky she tried to outmaneuver the ship that was currently on her tail. She dropped low to the ground and sped up around the side of the castle. She checked her radar again and saw that he was still there. Shots rang past her nose, somehow not hitting her. She pulled up to the front of the castle.
A-Keith! I can't get this guy off my tail!
K-Drop your speed and break east when he comes in to my view.
A-All right, here goes!
K-I've got a lock..
Keith locked in on the cruiser's position and fired. Allura let out a deep breath as the ship exploded into huge blast of fire.
A-Thanks.
K-Anytime sweetheart. Two more bogeys coming up on your left.
A-I've got them.
She fired two rockets and hit one of the ships. One of the engines went out and she saw it start to fall towards the ground. She gave chase after the second one but one of Merla's soldiers nabbed it first. As she continued to fight off more ships, she saw Sven come up her right and take out two ships with one missile. She quickly came up behind him and shot down the ship that was locking in on him. Just as she did that a rocket slammed into her ship from behind. The force of the blow knocked her forward, slamming her head into the council.
S-Allura, are you ok?
A-I'll be fine, he just nicked me.
She had to steady her eyesight and try to focus, the blast from the ship had knocked her senseless for a moment but she wouldn't let them know that.
P-Hey I need someone to get this jerk off my tail, I can't break him!
H-I've got you little buddy!
A moment later there was another huge explosion right behind Pidge, the force of the blow made him loose control for a second but he quickly recovered.
K-Lance, what's our current status on radar?
L-They have about seventy five ships remaining.
K-What are we at?
L-We're going down to fast.
K-Damn it Lance, what's our numbers?
L-We're down to about thirty five, the Alliance ships haven't arrived yet. Their eta is five minutes.
K-Shit! We can't keep this up. How many ships of Merla's are left?
L-I don't know exactly, but her totals are included in that thirty five.
K-You're joking right?
L-I wish buddy, I wish. You've got one on you're tail. I can't lock him!
Keith dropped altitude and swerved to the right letting the ship pass him by. As it flew in front of him, he fired his rockets and watched it explode into a pile of rubble.
K-I'm going to patch that call through to Lotor now.
He pulled up the connection and Lotor's voice greeted him back.
L-We're never going to stand a chance! Why are our ships falling so quickly?
K-I don't know Lotor but the Alliance reinforcements should be here within two minutes. I need you to land the carrier outside the castle and storm the gates.
L-All right Commander, we are preparing to land right now. Can you give us ground cover?
K-We'll do our best.
As he continued to fire more rockets at the enemy ships, he watched the carrier land next to the castle.
K-All right guys, Lotor is storming the castle, he needs ground cover!
L-Who's gonna cover us?
Bright blue tazers filled the sky as the Alliance soldiers came to the rescue dropping more of the Drule ships.
H-All right! It's about damn time! I thought these guys took the retreat serious for a minute.
As they turned in closer to the castle to provide Lotor and his men with cover, the castle guns took aim and began to fire upon them as well. Lotor fires several shots from his blaster at men who were guarding the castle gates. The soldiers dropped to the ground as he signaled his men to continue on.
K-Lotor's covered, I'm going to take out the castle guns.
As Keith turned towards the castle, Allura and Lance both spotted two ships preparing to lock their target on him. Allura sped up to try to catch up with them and flew up right on the side of one of the ships. She fired a missile at the one in front of her and it exploded right in front of her eyes.
K-Thanks guys, not having radar right now is killing me.
L-Allura keep your altitude, I'm going to take out the bogey that's on you're right.
Lance tried to lock his target on the ship that was right beside her to take it out, but just as he pulled the trigger another ship knocked into him from behind throwing off his target. He watched helplessly as the rocket he fired plowed right into Allura's right engine taking it out.
L-Shit!!
A-I'm hit, engine number two is out!
K-No! Allura!
L-Allura!!
She tried frantically to get control of the ship but it was helpless. Keith felt his heart drop as her ship started to lose altitude very quickly.
K-Allura hit the eject button!! You're going down too fast!
She tried to reach for the eject button just as her second engine blew out from it working to hard to compensate the other being destroyed.
K-Allura!! Get out of there now!
A-Keith!
She slammed the bright red button hard and the hatch blew open. Just as her seat ejected from it's hold and thrust her up in the air, another rocket was deployed from any enemy ship blowing up her craft.
K-No!
His heart was pounding against his chest. He wasn't sure if she had been able to eject before her ship blew up in front of his eyes.
H-Was that the princess?
L-Oh my god...
Keith searched the sky frantically looking to see if he saw a shoot gliding down towards the ground. He knew it would be impossible to reach her, they had no communicators on them, only comm link connected to the ships. Time seemed to stand still as he searched the sky and found nothing.
L-Keith, I'm sure she made it...
K-I don't see her anywhere! I have to find her!
L-Keith, you can't just leave! We need you up here!
K-That's my wife down there! How can I just leave her?
L-Look, Allura made you promise to fight if anything happened to her.
K-I just have to know that she's ok.
L-If you go down there right now you'll get both of yourselves killed!
He slammed his fists on the council in frustration remembering the promise he made to Allura. He tried to regain his composure but not knowing if she was alive or dead was driving him crazy. If she was gone than every bit of this was for nothing. He didn't want to even think what life without her would be like.
L-Keith, are you listening to me? You have two bogeys on your tail!
Keith dropped his altitude fast and let the two ships zip right past him. He locked target with one and destroyed it with a rocket. Anger flooded through him as he locked on target with the second ship, knowing that it never stood a chance. The battle took on a new meaning for him as he flew effortlessly through the sky taking out target after target. He would get his revenge on Zarkon for trying to hurt his family.
K-Look Lance, the Alliance soldiers are here now, I'm going down there.
L-Keith, don't do anything stupid.
K-I'm not going to do anything stupid, I'm going to do what I should have done a long time ago. I'm going to kill that rotten son of a bitch!
Lance watched as Keith turned his ship around and quickly flew towards the castle. He shook his head as his long time friend swerved between the enemy fire and landed just outside the castle gates. He knew that he should stay in the air and fight with the others but he wasn't about to let his best friend possibly get himself killed. In all the years that he had known Keith, he had never seen him act this way before.
L-Guys, I'm pulling out. I'm going down to the castle to help Keith out.
S-Lance, you can't just leave right now. We need you.
L-Look, Keith's on a suicide mission right now and I'm not going to loose another friend tonight. With back up being here now, we outnumber Zarkon's troops. Just keep fighting, over and out.
Lance turned his ship around taking the same path his friend had just moments before. He quickly landed his ship and grabbed his blaster expecting there to be a dozen troops as soon as he exited his ship. He closed his eyes and brought his blaster to his lips for a good luck kiss than yanked back the hatch. After seeing it all clear for a minute, he climbed down the ladder and saw a group of about ten drule soldiers laying on the ground. Keith had definitely come in through this entrance. He walked over to the side door on the castle expecting to hear some type of commotion, but it was perfectly quiet. He knew Keith was good, heck probably one of the best when it came to weapons and self defense, but he couldn't believe that Keith had left a trail of soldiers laying face down to the ground headed all the way into the castle.
He continued walking through the castle corridors, sticking close to the walls, so as not to be discovered. He laughed to himself knowing that he had to have been discovered by now because the castle had the best video surveillance of any place that he had ever seen. He quickly turned down a few more halls and could see the entrance way to the control room. As he stared around the empty halls he wondered where Lotor and his men had gone. He wasn't sure which entrance way they had come through and was wondering if he had been caught, or worst yet he had betrayed them.
Just as we was about to take a step forward, he saw Keith crouched down by the wall just opposite of him and watching what was going on in the control room. He had his blaster poised and aimed at someone in the room. Lance quickly tapped on the floor to get his attention before he fired. Keith heard the sound and automatically assuming it to be a soldier sneaking up beside him, he swung around fast with his blaster pointed right at Lance. A sigh of relief flooded over him as he saw Lance and nodded his head to him. He signaled to Lance that it was clear and for him come over to where he was. Lance looked behind himself one last time and quietly ran over to where Keith was waiting for him.
K-What are you doing here?
L-I'm trying to keep you from getting killed. Any sign of Zarkon?
K-He's behind the counsel to the lion chutes. Coran and Graham are still in there.
L-I don't see Lotor. I bet that bastard ratted us out to Daddy.
K-If that was the case, he would be in there with Zarkon, besides he would know that Lotor used his own ships against him.
L-There doesn't look to be too many guards in there. I'm ready to make my move when you are.
Just as Keith nodded his head and stood up, he saw a soldier walking towards Zarkon with Allura cradled in his arms unconscious.
To Be Continued!!! Please review!!! I live for them!!