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A Change in the Winds
Arus
arus-dot-geo-at-yahoo-dot-com

Voltron and its characters are owned by World Event's Productions.
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Chapter 10
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Neive let out a sigh as he looked over the last journal for the tenth time that evening. No matter how he looked at it, he just could not identify any pattern in the writings. Queen Marlena definitely did not use the same coding she had in her previous journals. And the clue that Allura had given him, care of Princess Zeya was not helping him at all.

He leaned back in the chair he was sitting in the small office he was in. After having Princess Zeya arrive and the sudden appearance of a Triasian soldier who nearly killed Pidge, the control room was now overrun with security and of course, the many cross communications that Coran and Princess Allura had to field with questions from every ambassador and leader of the Galaxy Alliance. Not to mention, the multi-reports that needed to be filed, since Princess Zeya had asked for asylum.

Asylum.

He was sure that the Galaxy Alliance would be wary about granting the daughter of one of the Drule Empires notorious leaders any leniency, but she would be a key to obtaining Prince Lotor. Which he figured would be their motive behind any granting of such request. Or maybe a direct tie to capturing King Zarkon himself.

"What part of 'you should reverse your thinking', did you not understand?"

The voice caught him off guard as he quickly stood and turned to the small door that was now open. Zeya was leaning against the side of the door frame as she stood in the open door. He saw two of the casle's guards standing behind her. With a wave from him, they saluted and stayed just outside the door as she walked into the small room; the door sliding close behind her.

"And didn't anyone teach you to knock?" Neive asked, a little irritated. "Why are you here?"

Zeya crossed her arms as she entered the small office. She looked around noting the disarray of books and papers, and the two computer screens that sat on the desk he had been sitting at.

"So, while the others are out having fun, you're pushing the books?" she asked.

"I'm busy looking for clues that were left behind by Allura's mother," Neive stated. He then took his seat again as he tried to get back to what he was doing. "And if you don't mind, I have to try and figure this out."

She only smiled as she walked toward him, taking note of the open journal sitting on the desk before him. She came to stand next to him as she stared at the two screens with translated phrases displayed.

"Some of these look familiar," she stated.

Neive only breathed in deeply. Ever since their encounter nearly 4 days ago, the young princess had left an impression on him that he couldn't shake. He moved slightly in his chair as she leaned over to look at the journal before him. Her hair cascaded down, lightly brushing his hand.

"This is Arusian?" she asked.

Neive slowly nodded as he pushed himself in his chair away from her. "Yes," he stated. "Its hardly spoken now, but it was the language used here not too long ago."

She turned to him reading his expression as he looked at her. "And do any of your people still understand this language?"

"My mother's kingdom still practice its use," Neive stated as he turned away from her.

"I see," she stated. "Do you think my mother was fluent in this language?"

Neive could only shrug. "All royalty were pretty much schooled in the language," he stated.

Zeya studied him for a moment, seeing that her presence was somehow affecting him. She smiled to herself as she walked away from his side, to stand behind him, leaning her head down over his shoulder.

"Do I bother you?" she nearly whispered to him.

Neive could only breathe. "You're interrupting my concentration."

"Interrupting?" she asked as she looked down at the journal before him. "It looks as if you haven't done much with this tattered old thing."

"Look, if you are just here to cause trouble, please leave," Neive stated. "I have work to do."

Zeya smiled as she gently placed her hand on his shoulder. At her sudden touch, she felt him stiffen. This only caused her to smile even more as she played this out for her amusement. She moved to his side, as she let her hand rub along his back, to then rest on his shoulder opposite her as she leaned to look at the open journal. She could feel him tense up at her touch.

"This belonged to Allura's mother?" she asked. She didn't wait to hear his answer. "She wrote beautifully. Judging by her writing, she was definitely an educated individual, although, these seem to have been written in haste, judging by the other writings you have displayed here.

"How long ago did she write this?" she asked.

"Just before she died," Neive managed to say as he tried to move himself away from her.

Zeya smiled to herself, feeling him struggle between keeping his resolve and being close to her. "Did you take my suggestion into consideration?"

She then turned her head to him, as his blue eyes met hers. "I had no idea what your suggestion meant," he stated.

She smiled as she turned her back to the desk and leaned against it, removing her hand from his shoulder and placing it on the journal. "Reverse your thinking," she stated. "I trust that you ran an algorithm to decipher her earlier Journals," she said. "But this one, it was written well after the first right?"

Neive looked at her. "How did you know?"

"The writing style is much more defined, in this journal, than those you have here," she said point at the two screens before him.

"They don't teach you much on reading people do they at that Galaxy Alliance academy, do they?"

"Its not something they push on the recruits," he stated.

She smiled. "You can learn about person by their actions and behaviours, but they can easily hide what they are truly feeling or who they really are," she said. "That is, until you see what they write, or how they write."

She quickly turned around to the journal before her and pointed out several phrases, and had the two screens pick out similar ones from passages from the earlier journals.

"Here, she has written the same words, almost the same, indicative that she wrote these around the same time," she stated. "But in this journal, notice how the the same word is much stronger, and less decorative. Means that she has dropped the nicessities, and opted to write in a more dedicated and fastidious fashion."

"Which means?"

"Which means she or something was bothering her in this time of her life," she stated. "She used a simple coding algorithm to hide clues within the earlier journals, but in this, she needed to hide her clues a different way. Protecting a secret she knew that would be harmful if fallen into the wrong hands."

"Block lettering," he stated. "Indicative of someone who is in power, or has something to hide."

"Or to make it clear to someone who would know her coding, on what words to make sure to catch to find her clues," she stated. "And from remembering some of the Arusian I learned..."

She quickly scanned the journal before her, and picked up on a few words and phrases that caught her attention.

"Senerd," she said. "What does this mean?"

"Duty," he translated.

She nodded. "But what does Drenes mean?"

Neive could only meet her gaze as he suddenly realized what her previous clue had meant. Certain words used in her last journal was anagrams of other words when spelt backwards. He grabbed the journal before him and looked over the written passages, and he began seeing the words that he had missed over and over again.

"Why didn't I see this?" he asked himself.

"You lacked the insight into hu..." Zeya caught herself before finishing the rest of her sentence as she slowly moved away from him.

"Im sure you now will be able to finish your translations?"

"With that revelation, Im sure that I can get through this," Neive stated as he looked to her.

"Good," she stated as she started to walk away, heading toward the door. "As soon as you find out what you need and we get your sixth lion, the faster I can get off this planet."

Neive quickly stood just as she reached the door and it slid open.

"Zeya?"

She stopped where she was and turned to him.

"You probably dont hear this much, but thank you."

"Just take it as payment for you saving my life," she stated. "Get to work, commander. You have much to do."

Zeya turned as she left the room, the two guards who had been there, joined her as they walked down the hall together. The door slid close as Neive could only stare at it. He let out his breath as he seated himself back in his chair and he stared at the journal before him. All he could see was words. His mind was just not concentrating on the passages, even though he knew what to do to finish translating them.

He let out a groan before standing and leaving the small office. He needed to take a breather.

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Pidge looked at the young woman who was sitting silently in the small cell they had put her in.

"Siaras?"

The woman looked up as he approached the door of the small room she was in.

"Princess Allura wishes to speak with you, if you are willing to share with us why you initiated an attack on this castle."

The young woman smiled as she stood. "I will speak with her if she is willing to share some information with me."

Pidge looked at her. "And what kind of information are you looking for?"

Siaras smiled. "Marlena."

Pidge slowly nodded. "The queen?" he asked. "What did you want to know about her?"

"How involved was she in the creation of your protector," she stated. "Your Voltron."

"And what makes you think she had any involvement at all?"

Siaras smiled. "The power supply that runs your lions, they are based on the technology we developed years ago," she stated. "Marlena studied our sciences while she was on Triasus when she was a young woman. Rolsin knows this, and because of this, he knows the weakness that Voltron has. Do you think your mighty defender will have any chance of winning against the forces of an enemy that knows your weakness?"

Pidge could only stare at her, but he then pressed a button on the side of the cell she was in. The energy bars that covered the door disappeared. "I will escort you to see the princess," Pidge stated.

"You are trusting me?" she asked.

"Judging by your fighting techniques from last night, you would have killed me easily, but you didn't," he stated. "So, there must have been another reason as to why you came here, alone."

Siaras smiled. "They train you well," she stated.

Pidge stepped to the side as she exited from the cell she was in. Pidge then came to stand before her. "So, Rolsin is your commanding officer?"

"Rolsin is one of the 17 rulers on Planet Triasus," she stated. "A brilliant statician and an excellent fighter."

"Was he the one that sent you here?"

"Yes and no," she stated as he escorted her out of the detention area of the castle. "I was sent here as an order by Rolsin, to watch over you; I am acting on behalf of another to deliver a message to your princess."

"Another?" Pidge asked. "Rebels?"

She nodded. "Not all of us agree with the way things are being run on Triasus, and Rolsin and his brothers have the controlling interest in the government."

"It seems that you do have a lot to share, Siaras," Pidge stated. "Hopefully, we can work together."

"You really do not have a choice," she stated.

Pidge could only lead her the rest of the way as he escorted her to the Castle's Control Room. There the guards saluted as they entered. Siaras looked around, marveling at the size of the main control room, along with the technology needed to create such a place.

All hidden within the confines of the Castle.

As she was escorted toward the middle, she noted the three people standing in the center.

"Princess, I've brought our guest," Pidge stated.

The three individuals then turned to her. Princess Allura slowly walked toward Siaras as the woman stared at her.

"We can dispense with pleasantries," Allura stated. "Since I want to know why you came here and you attacked one my men."

Siaras smiled as she bowed to the young princess. "Princess Allura of Arus, it is my pleasure to finally meet you," she stated as she stood straight again. "You do your mother justice."

"My mother?" Allura asked. "How do you know about my mother?"

"I was very young when she came to visit," Siaras stated. "She studied under my father while she was on Triasus, and Im sure she learned much when she was there."

"Who are you?" Allura asked.

"My name is Siaras Rolle of the planet Triasus," she stated. "I have come here to warn you that Rolsin, the head chancellor of the Triasian Council is on a mission to destroy what is left of the Drule Supremacy; with the destruction of Planet Doom, he is now on the search for Princess Zeya and Prince Lotor and once he has them in his custody, his next sites will be the destruction of the Galaxy Alliance."

"Destruction?" Allura asked. "Why?"

"The mission of the Triasian Council is to see that our supremacy grows," she explained. "And anything that gets in the way, will suffer at our mercy.

"I came her to offer you warning," she continued. "That your Voltron will be no match against the forces that have concquered nearly a thousand planets. As Rolsin, knows his weakness."

"Weakness?" Lance asked.

Siaras then turned to Princess Allura. "Your mother studied our sciences when she came on a diplomatic mission to Triasus, before you were born," she stated. "She took with her the knowledge she had gained from our technology, and on that knowledge, she helped your father build your great defender. From that, I do not know how she used it, but examining footage of your fights with the Drule Empire, we were able to determine just exactly how the technology was used.

"You are at a great disadvantage, and you must be prepared to defend yourself againt Rolsin's forces," she warned. "There are a few of us that do not agree with his agressive nature, but our numbers cannot over throw his imperialistic rule."

Allura could only stare at her. "And what do you know of the sixth lion we are searching for?"

Siaras met her gaze. "What sixth lion?"

"My mother was working on a prototype lion that the five lions were based on," Allura stated. "If she based the Voltron Lions on this prototype, your raw techonolgoy she brought back with her must exist with this lion right?"

"Princess, this sixth lion you speak of, is in none of our records," she stated. "Your mother had your father construct the five lions first. Any other lion ship built after, was based on them."

"She's right."

The group then turned to the door as Neive entered. He quickly brought a small electronic tablet to Allura to have her read over. "We only assumed that she built this sixth lion first," he explained. "When in fact, she built the lion totally seperate of the original five."

"What are you saying?" Allura asked.

"That she anticipated the Triasians would be a force we would encounter in the future, and the knowledge she learned from them could be used against us," she said. "She had the sixth lion built to protect us should they decide to ever attack us."

"Protect?" Allura asked. "How?"

"When we find that lion, we will learn soon enough."

Siaras turned to the young man and noticed the metal armband he wore. Her gaze then shifted to the princess and noticed the similar armlet. She immediately reached out toward the young man, taking his arm into hers and looked at it.

"Where's the third?" was all she asked.

"The third is worn by the heir of Mythrias," Neive stated. "Princess Zeya."

"Your mother followed our lore very closely," Siaras stated. "The three who act as one."

"Three?" Allura asked. "We assumed that the armlets were made because of the three kingdoms here on Arus."

"We Triasians are born of three," Siaras stated. "By your terminology, triplets. Every Triasian born will be one of three children, always. Identical in each way; but different in many. Our technology is based on working the three together. Our fighting, our machinery, our weapons. All in three's.

"To find your lion, you must bring all three armlets together," Siaras explained. "If your mother used what she had learned, she would have hidden the Lion somehwere where three points converge. The armlets are your key to locating it."

"If what you're saying is true, then would it mean that it would take all three of us to activate it?"

"Princess Allura, if you trust me enough, I will have to work with your engineers to determine how it works," Siaras stated. "But, I must keep up the facade that I have in place."

"That is?"

"Chancellor Rolsin is expecting me to signal in a day's time," she stated. "Whether or not I have found Princess Zeya, as that is my mission. He must come to Arus, beliveing that I've captured her. Either way, he plans on initiating a small attack to test your forces.

He will want to test you and your Voltron Force on the effectiveness of your defender; testing to see if those weaknesses are there. I suggest that we find that sixth lion soon, or you will have to go up against his force of fighters without it."

Allura turned to Lance. "I will have you work with my Court Advisor," Allura stated. "Neive, please locate Princess Zeya and bring her here. The sooner we find this lion, we can anticipate the Triasian's visit."

"Princess, there is more that I must share with you about your mother's journals," Neive stated. "But it must be done in private."

Allura nodded. "I will meet with you on that soon," she stated. With that, Neive nodded before leaving the control room. "Siaras, you have been more than forthcoming with your reasons for being here, so I shall overlook your attempted attack on this castle. You will however be in contact with one of the Voltron Force members while you are here, and with an assigned guard when you are about the Castle. I'll have my help set a room for you so you can have a place to rest."

Siaras bowed. "I thank you, Princess Allura," she stated. "But at this time, I wish to work with your engineers so that I can become familiar with your existing lion ships."

"I'll have Hunk come to the Control Room," Keith stated.

Siaras turned to him, noting that he had been quiet during the whole conversation. Was this the young man that Rolsin had taken an interest in?

"Siaras, I will let you examine one of the lions, so that you can determine what we would need to prepare for any attack by your fellow Triasians," he stated. "If Princess Allura has extended her trust to you, I have no question in the sincerity of your request."

"I know that are a lot of reasons why you shouldn't trust me," she stated. "But unlike Rolsin, I was brought up to know where my trust should lie. You have shown that even your enemy can become a friend."

Keith nodded. "You will find a lot of unconventional things that happen with us, Siaras," he stated. "But we do not tolerate any one going back on the trust we have given them."

"I have no intention to do so," she stated.

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Rolsin smiled to himself as he finished watching the footage collected by Taisia. He turned to his brothers before taking his seat at his desk.

"It seems that they put much faith into that giant robot," Relins stated. "What else were we able to gather from Planet Doom's archives?"

"We do have the location of all the Galaxy Alliance weaker planets," Risen stated. "But, you should find this interesting."

Risen then handed his older brother a small disc. "Seems that one of their newly joined planets had a union with Planet Doom, recently."

"Union?" Rolsin asked. He looked at the small disc, then inserted into the image viewer before him. Rolsin could only smile to himself.

"How ironic."

"Queen Anala just gave birth to their son, as reports would have it," Relins stated.

Rolsin nodded. "This little situation just gets better, the more we inquire to their ongoings," he stated. "We will go on as planned, however. Once we receive Siaras' signal, we head full toward Planet Arus."

"Small attack force?" Risen asked.

"Yes," Rolsin stated. "I want to test their security as well as their individual lions. Prevent them from forming their robot defender, even if you have to go so far as damaging one of them. If their commander is the one brought down, I want to face him personally."

"And what of Siaras?"

Rolsin leaned back in his chair. "Her worth to us has diminished," he stated. "If she has capture Princess Zeya, take both of them into custody. If she has failed, execute her."

"Gorin will have your head if you kill his last daughter," Relins stated.

"I will take care of Gorin," Rolsin stated. "Until then, we make our way toward Arus, at our current speed."

"I will inform you once we receive word from Siaras."

Rolsin nodded. "If Gorin gives you trouble before our attack, lock him up in our cells below."

Relins nodded. "As you wish."

Rolsin nodded as he excused his two brothers. He then turned to the view screen before him as he pressed a button on the computer before him, watching the footage again.

"So Marlena, is this the best you could have come up with?" he asked himself. "And why couldn't the Drule Empire defeat your creation."

He continued to study the footage, familiarizing himself with the techiniques and strategy used by the Voltron Force. He knew that he wanted to be prepared should he have his forces confront the mighty robot defender.