Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron, Star Trek, or anything else that belongs to Paramount or WEP. What I do own are the crew of the Berlin (except Mordock and Scotty) the fighter, Thunderwing, and the story itself.
Star Tron: EscalationsChapter 17: No Fat Lady Yet
"Way to go, guys," Allura said as the five pilots walked into the control room. They headed over to the main console, where Coran nodded his agreement. "Very well done, indeed."
"Got a little hairy there for a second," Hunk said.
Allura smiled. "You did great," she said, and kissed him and Pidge on the cheek, leaving both men blushing.
The Princess turned to the Captain. Seeing the darkening bruise on his face, she asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay. Low-Blow suckered me. Speaking of which…" he turned to Keith, "Can I get my gun back, dude?" Keith returned the weapon, and Driscoll shoved it back into his holster as Lance said, "Too bad we couldn't save any of that topaz."
There were muttered agreements from the assembly, and after a moment, Coran cleared his throat. "Well, it seems we've all had quite the eventful day. Perhaps some rest would be in order."
"Yes, you have all earned some time off," said Nanny. She turned to Allura. "And you, young lady, should go back to the infirmary. Dr. Gorma wasn't finished with you."
"Yes, Nanny," Allura said with a sigh, deciding that this one wasn't worth fighting.
"If you don't mind, Nanny," said Driscoll, "I'll walk her down. I wanted to have the doctor see what he can do about this while I'm at it." He touched the black bruise on his chin.
Nanny was about to issue one of her usual retorts, but then decided against it. The boy was finally acting somewhat respectful, for once. And she did need to see to dinner. Reluctantly, she nodded. "Very well. But no funny business!"
"No, ma'am," Driscoll replied. Allura took her leave of the others, and the two left the Control Room.
As they walked through the corridors toward the infirmary, neither said a word. As the silence threatened to become awkward, Adam asked, "Allura, can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Yes, of course." Allura said, looking at him as they walked.
Adam scanned the corridor, and noticed a seemingly unoccupied maintenance corridor off to one side. He led her into it, and stood there a moment, looking at her, his stomach doing loops.
Okay, fly or die… "Um, well…" he paused, took a deep breath, then started again. "Okay, I'm just gonna say it. I like you. A lot. And I'd like to see more of you, you know, outside of flying. Really get to know you. I mean, I know I'm no prince, but…" he trailed off, feeling simultaneously hopeful and incredibly stupid. What the hell was he doing?
Allura was silent a moment, unsure how to answer. He likes me? Why wouldn't he? We're friends… Then as she suddenly realized what Adam was trying to say, she smiled at the pilot. But it wasn't the mocking sort of smile Adam had been expecting. "Well, it took you long enough to say so."
Driscoll was dumbfounded. He stammered a moment, finally able to get out a pathetic, "Huh?"
"You don't do a very good job of hiding it," she said. "I've seen the way you look at me, and the way you talk to me and seem to find any excuse to hang around here. I'm not stupid, you know."
"No, of course not, I never…"
Allura held up her hand to silence his rambling. "I like you too. I've been thinking a lot, about a lot of things." She sighed. "You probably know that Nanny's been trying to marry me off almost since she returned to the castle."
"Yeah. She's bound, set, and determined to see the royal line reestablished."
Allura nodded, her gaze getting momentarily distant. "It's hard. I'm not ready to get married, and when I do, I don't want it to be for politics. I want to marry a man I love. But suitor after suitor just keeps showing up. Most of them just want to own Voltron. The rest look at me as a trophy or a charity case.
"I, my planet, and my people are not charity cases, nor are we trophies," Allura continued, her eyes burning for a moment. Then her gaze softened as she looked at Adam again. "You're a good person, Adam, and a good friend. I trust you, and I like being around you. That matters more than your title."
"So you'll go out with me?" he prodded.
Allura looked at him, smiling coyly. "Well, that depends on what you had in mind."
"Well, uh, you like movies?"
"Yes, I do."
"Great, so, if you're not too busy Thursday night, we're doing a movie night on the ship. I don't know what's showing, but I was thinking…" he shrugged and twirled his hand in the air.
Allura smiled. "It sounds like fun. I'd love to."
"Great," Adam said, also smiling. "Awesome. So I'll come to get you around five-ish then?"
Allura nodded. "Sure. And you'd better not be late, Captain."
"Of course not, My Lady," Adam replied with a bow. They walked out of the maintenance corridor, and continued on to the infirmary. "Well, here we are."
"Aren't you going in?"
"Nah. After the hard time we gave him today, I figure I owe the Sheik an opportunity for some payback. I'll see you tomorrow at practice."
"Sure," Allura replied. She smiled her goodbye, and walked into the infirmary.
And she wasn't the only one smiling. Captain Driscoll, with a big, dumb grin on his face, whistled his way down to the main gate, where he beamed back to his ship.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Captain's Log, stardate 51380.2: The first part of the starbase, the core module, arrived early this morning. Too bad it's only going to be one of those office-type bases for now. Oh well. We do get a bonus, though. Until the station's weapons are installed and put online, the base will be guarded by the U.S.S. Timberwolf, a new Defiant-class ship, which means we're still free to go after bad guys.
Meanwhile, the Berlin is under repair, again. One of these days, we'll get through a fight without needing a refit afterward. Pidge and Hunk have suggested replacing our defunct aft phasers with ion dart launchers, which would make a hell of a point-defense system against those missiles. They're working on adapting power connections and installation procedures now. It's worth mentioning that even Scotty's impressed with their work. Those guys are damn good.
Dr. Andrews has begun working on reproducing some of the ionized topaz. Without his notes, it's going to be slow work, but I've given him access to the Berlin's science labs, and with the scans of the topaz from the transporter log when we beamed that bomb out of the Castle of Lions, he should be able to do it. At least, I hope so. I'd hate to think the Blue Boys could keep that kind of advantage over us.
Driscoll deactivated the log recording and sat back in his chair, looking out his ready room window at the starbase. The past couple of weeks had been really crazy. New weapons, incursions, capturing Lotor, Lotor escaping… he still couldn't believe that only two weeks had passed. It felt more like two months.
But still, one thing was certain: The war had definitely changed, and things were going to get a whole lot tougher before they'd get any easier.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Pidge took a bite of his sandwich and lazily scanned the sensor boards, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Not that he was complaining. The past week had been plenty eventful enough, and he sincerely hoped they'd seen the last of Lotor for a while.
He looked at the sensors again. The Berlin, the starbase, the Timberwolf… nothing else. As he looked around, his eyes fell on the small holoprojector on the side of the console, and he smiled, remembering how effective his Sandwich Security System was in defending his munchies.
Suddenly, there was a commotion on the other side of the room. Pidge's head snapped around to the source of the disturbance, to see an access panel had fallen away from an electronics maintenance port. He got up from the console and headed over to the panel to put it back. As he walked, he didn't see four small creatures scurry out from the back wall toward the console.
It took only a second to put the panel back in place, but when Pidge turned around, he nearly had a heart attack.
There, beside the console, stood Prince Lotor.
"Whaaaaaaa!" Pidge exclaimed, diving for the alarm button. A second later, the sirens blared and red lights flashed across the control room. He smiled. "Gotcha now, Lotor!"
But the Doom Prince didn't move. Pidge walked slowly forward, blaster trained on the Prince's head. "Surrender!" he ordered.
Lotor didn't so much as twitch.
The other members of the Voltron Force burst into the room, and when he saw Lotor, Lance fired. The beam struck the Prince in the shoulder…
And passed right through, striking the wall on the far side of the chamber.
Lance looked at his blaster in confusion as Keith yelled, "Hands on your head, Lotor!"
Pidge crept around the console toward the others. As he passed, he saw a small light blinking on his holoprojector. He looked toward the mouse hole in the wall just in time to see his sandwich disappear into it. "WHY YOU LITTLE…"
The boy dove toward the hole, shoving his arm in up to the elbow, thrashing around. "Gimme my sandwich, you little varmints!"
Coran deactivated the alarm as the others realized what was going on. Keith walked over to the projector and shut it off, watching the fake Lotor vanish in an electronic shimmer.
Allura and the others watched Pidge flail about for a few more seconds before finally giving up. Seeing the dejected look on the poor boy's face, they couldn't help but snicker at his predicament. "Looks like they got you again, little buddy," Hunk chuckled.
Lance walked up beside him and helped him up. "Hey, don't sweat it. It's not everyone who can say they've been outsmarted by mice," he said, with barely-restrained mirth.
Pidge shot him an angry glance, then looked back at the mouse hole, where Cheddar stood making faces at him and dancing in triumph.
Enraged, Pidge shook his fist at them and shouted, "Just wait! You'll get yours, you sandwich-napping mice!"
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Planet Doom, Haggar and Lotor stood before Zarkon, who had just received word that the Castle of Lions was, contrary to his son's report, still whole.
"I gave you enough lazon and ionized topaz to turn the Castle of Lions into a smoking cinder!" the King raged. "All you had to do was put it in the magazine, and you failed even this simple task. You bumbling idiots! The only one who did his job right was Cossack."
That was a blow to Lotor's ego, who knew that Cossack's notable successes were attributable more to dumb luck than to real aptitude. Ever mindful of his own failures, Lotor protested, "What could you have expected of me? You sent Haggar to help me escape, and I did! She planted the bomb."
"You're right. What should I have expected of you, with your record against the Voltron Force?" Zarkon retorted sharply. Stung again, Lotor fell silent, glowering at his father. "And with the losses our fleets suffered in your failed attack on Arus, we had nothing ready to repel the latest Starfleet incursion. Now they've got a base at Arus! And reinforcements!"
Haggar would have mentioned the fact that the base was only a small piece of the whole, and that the reinforcement was one ship. She would also have mentioned that the Berlin was out of commission and under repair. But she thought better of it.
The King was displeased, but there were hidden benefits in his displeasure. He had been disappointed by the performance of the ionized topaz weapons, and though she knew he'd continue to use them, she also knew that they were no longer a threat to her standing. His continued reliance on her robeasts was assured. Also, her demonstration of infiltrating the Castle of Lions without the Voltron Force's knowledge would surely pay off in the future.
"But do not forget, Father," Lotor said, finally finding his voice, "that we have a base on Arus, too."
Zarkon paused a moment. He had almost forgotten, so long had his garrisons there been in hiding. Nodding slowly, he said, "So we do."
"Perhaps, then, it is time to use it."
Zarkon smiled, just slightly, his fangs becoming slightly more obvious. "Perhaps it is, my son. For once, you may be right." He rose from his chair, sweeping his scepter toward his son. "Contact the Konogg Brigade. They are to prepare for action and await further orders."
Lotor nodded. "At once, Father," he said. Turning on his heel, he quickly left the room, his cape billowing behind him.
Alone, the King looked at Haggar. "Even the Konogg Brigade cannot stand up to Voltron. They will need reinforcement."
Haggar smiled, stroking her blue cat. "Of course, Sire. I know just what they need."
"Good. Then see to your robeasts."
"Yes, sire," Haggar replied, shrinking into the shadows.
"And this time, see that you don't skimp on the lazon."
Haggar, dumbfounded, stared at him a moment, then left.
Zarkon sat back into his chair. He'd known right along that Haggar had cut down the charge he'd ordered for the turtle robeast. The witch should've known better. Her robeasts had always been key to his strategies, and so would they remain. Terror was often a more effective weapon than missiles, and nothing could terrify like Haggar's magical constructs.
Still, he'd have to watch her closely now. What else might she do if she felt threatened?
He pondered this and many other questions as he reached for the goblet of blood-red drink at his elbow. He had much to ponder now, and there would, he knew, be more questions before there were answers.
A/N: Well, that's it for this story. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed, especially to RL2 and Crash. You guys are great. To everyone else, your support is greatly appreciated. It'll probably be a while before I post the next story. I have to get some things in order so that I don't go months between posts.
Ina side note, I learned today that James Doohan, known to generations of Trekkies as Montgomery Scott, cheif engineer of the original Starship Enterprise, died yesterday of Alzheimers and pneumonia. He will be missed.
Again, thanks for all the great reviews, and I hope to see everyone again for the next installation of Star Tron. Until then, this is MustangAce wishing you fair weather and check 6.