Back at the Castle, Hawkins was asleep in the chair in front of the communication system when it beeped loudly jolting Hawkins awake.
"Please let the news be good." Hawkins prayed as he pushed a button to activate the link. The link crackled to reveal Admiral Benson in the frame.
"What news have you got for us Admiral?" Hawkins asked.
"It's not good." Benson started. "It seems that Dr. Loran has been dead for a good 4 years or more."
"What about the codes?" Hawkins said sitting on the edge of his chair.
Benson paused, looked down and shook his head. "No where to be found… There are no records of any such codes being used to activate the robot at all. If there were, he died with them."
"Then we may not survive." Hawkins muttered back.
"I know, and I am sorry. The nearest fleet is too far away from Arus and even they may not be able to help without Vehicle Voltron." Benson replied.
"I wish I knew what to do…" Hawkins said.
"I wish I did too. All we can do here is pray for your lives." Benson said solemnly. "Godspeed, Commander…" and the link was closed.
Commander Hawkins sat there for a moment rubbing his temples as the onset of a headache began. "We are so close, but still far away." Hawkins muttered quietly.
The door beeped.
"Enter." Hawkins commanded and the door opened as Coran walked in.
"What is the news about the codes?" Coran asked patiently. Hawkins looked at him funny.
"Oh, I'm sorry commander…" Coran began. "But I am the caretaker of this castle and I do have access to knowing when transmissions occur within these walls."
"Yes, Understood." Hawkins concurred with the fact and then continued. "Well Galaxy Garrison just informed me that there are no codes."
"There aren't?" Coran asked.
"No, Dr. Loran died 4 years ago." Hawkins restated the bad news. "The codes went with him."
"But that's impossible." Coran protested.
"I agree." Hawkins replied, "I don't think that Dr. Loran would let the codes die with him."
"Could there be something in the programming that could help us?" Coran asked.
"I don't know, that is a lot of system data to sift through." Hawkins replied. "Every time we get something working, something else is missing. First the master cylinder, than the boot block, now this!" Hawkins nearly shouted in frustration. "And the Garrison was concerned about enemies learning the secrets… We can't even learn them!"
Both of them were silent for a moment.
"Do you think we are looking in the wrong place for the codes?" Coran asked.
"What do you mean?" Hawkins responded.
"Well, I do remember one of Allura's space mice stolen one of the lions keys to activate Lion Voltron." Coran remembered.
"Keys? I wish our Voltron used… a key…" Hawkins suddenly fell silent for a moment.
"What is it Commander?" Coran asked.
"Coran… You may have just saved us." Hawkins replied with a hopeful smile as he got up.
"Commander?" Coran asked getting up with him. "Where are you going?"
"I need to talk to Newley." Hawkins replied. "Coran, I need you to get in touch with your Voltron and see if he knows anything about a pass key from his exploration in the EESD."
"Commander, are you thinking that the Vehicle Voltron has a key?" Coran asked.
"I really don't know, but I remember that the password login had "key" in parentheses." Hawkins assumed. " Call it a hunch, but I think I may know what to look for."
Out in space the Doom fleet was approaching Arus. On it were the 24 robeasts ready to strike and destroy the planet in target. Zelia was in her quarters seducing Zarkon with her charm. However, Zelia had more in store for Zarkon. Zarkon sat on Zelia's bed talking about how much of the universe they would be able to conquer. Zelia on the other hand was at a desk poisoning Zarkon's drink.
"It will be amazing." Zarkon continued on his daydream. "You and I will have the entire universe at our knees, begging for our mercy, when we defeat Voltron."
"That is the plan…" Zelia continued. "Defeat Voltron." Zelia talked as if she knew nothing about Voltron and could really care less about the lion robot or Zarkon's expanding dreams of an empire. Zelia knew that the Vehicle Robot's essential being was a rogue from her system. All Zelia wanted was the being destroyed and the robot returned for reassignment. The Raccenscarri high council would reward her greatly for the death of an enemy of the state.
"Zarkon?" Zelia turned with two drinks in each hand. "Let's make a toast."
"A toast." He asked, "To what do we owe this toast?"
"To the future of the Drule empire." Zelia said fakely playing up the majestic notion. She handed Zarkon one of the drinks.
"Yes…" Zarkon agreed, "To the Drule Empire…" Zarkon paused, smiled a sly smile to Zelia and poured the drink on the floor.
"For evil's sake Zelia, I'm not that stupid!" Zarkon growled as his sly smile darkened to a fowl scowl. "What is your real purpose here?"
"Zarkon?" Zelia giggled a light and insecurely nervous giggle.
"I have constantly failed in trying to destroy at least one robot and you are able to get the Vehicle Voltron out of my hair." Zarkon began darkly. "I am no fool Zelia, I know that I don't get help like this out of the blue."
"Congratulations Zarkon." Zelia smiled evilly. "I had no idea you would be able to see through my charm."
"I have known another witch way to long." Zarkon explained plainly. "I have learned to expect anything and see through it."
"Well, since I can no longer fool you, I no longer need you." Zelia said as she grabbed a laser and pointed it to Zarkon's head. Zarkon immediately slaps the laser away. Zarkon then got behind Zelia and held her wrists tightly behind her back. Zelia then stopped struggling and closed her eyes. Zarkon slapped her in the head.
"Oh no you don't!" Zarkon shouted as he hit her head. "No telepathy!"
"It's too late!" Zelia spat. "He is already coming."
"Who?" Zarkon asked.
A dark figure emerged from behind Zarkon and knocked him out from behind.
"Me!" The figure said as he moved into the light. The dark figure was Yurak.
"Thank you Yurak." Zelia said freeing herself from the unconscious Zarkon's grasp. "You have done well." Zelia then used her magic to return Zarkon to his old state.
"I aim to please, mistress." Yurak bowed to her.
"Good, then I would like you to dispose of this nuisance immediately." Zelia spat disgustedly pointing to Zarkon.
"It would be my pleasure." Yurak replied. "It will be nice to finally get my revenge on the former king of the Drule Empire."
"Then get to work." Zelia commanded. "I want him off the ship before we get to Arus. It is really too bad that poor Zarkon has to miss the big party we have in store for them!"
"Should I just shuck him out the airlock or do I have time to torture him first?" Yurak asked almost comically.
Zelia looked at Yurak with a saucy smirk. "Shuck him out the airlock immediately. Seeing him explode should be enough."
"Yes, Zelia." Yurak confirmed.
"Good." Zelia replied softly as she moved closer to Yurak. "I like someone who follows my rules." Zelia turned and walked out of the room leaving Yurak melting in infatuation.
The Castle Control Room was near empty as the others had to exit for a administrative meeting. This usually included Jeff, Krik, and Cliff but Jeff still remained in the infirmary. Coran had the meeting logged for Jeff's reviewing at a later time. Capt. Newley, Comdr. Hawkins and the remaining two commanders of the Vehicle Voltron Force were there as Hawkins presented his theory regarding the codes. They seemed to be going no where fast.
"Does anyone recall anything regarding an activation key of some kind in your academy studies?" Hawkins asked with a hint of frustration. The whole group just stared at him and shrugged their shoulders.
"There's got to be something!" Hawkins mumbled.
The control panel beeped to life as it sensed and incoming transmission. Coran went to answer it.
"This is Castle Control, come in?" Coran said.
"Coran, I think you and the others should see this." Keith replied.
"What is it?" Coran asked.
A little box appeared in the corner of the view screen as Keith's image appeared. Lion Voltron appeared in that little box.
"I was just going over what VV was showing me with the Voltron Force and we think we may have discovered something." LV said as he showed the people in the Control Room the still image of the card like object.
"Do you recognize this object?" Coran said turning to the Commanders and Captain.
Krik, Cliff and Hawkins shook their heads, but Newley looked at it for a while and then it came to him. Capt. Newley remembered the moment that the Explorer was about to embark on their mission. Dr. Loran had given him a card just like that before they left.
"Wait a minute…" Newley said as he struggled to remember what Dr. Loran said about it and where the card might be.
"I was given that card by Dr. Loran before we left." Newley recalled.
"And that card was a key to get into the Voltron system?" Hawkins asked.
"I'm not sure, All the doctor ever told me was to keep it in a safe place." Newley recalled. "I was to give it to Ensign Sparks." He was supposed to hold the key until I needed it."
"Of course!" Hawkins shouted. "The 'Captain's Key' is usually used to unlock access to high yield weaponry."
"Right…" Newley replied enlightened. "I remember that Dr. Loran gave us that long winded explanation about the key. He never said what is was to be used for."
"But he said it was to safeguard all the secrets about the Vehicle Voltron project." Hawkins added. "He must have meant the artificial intelligence."
"And from what I remember in the academy, Voltron was considered in such a classification because of the robots technology and high yield weaponry." Cliff added as he remembered the training courses regarding use of extreme caution when piloting the robot.
"That is true." Prof. Page said as he entered the control room. "It is my guess that the reason for the key was to initialize the Artificial Intelligence programs locked inside the robot when we found compatible technology for it. Until then, the robot would function in manual modes."
"You mean to tell me that the robot, if the technology had been compatible would not have required us to fly it?" Cliff complained.
"Not exactly, the Artifical Intelligence programs and hardware were meant to be active only when the robot is fully combined." Page said. "In other words, you still keep your jobs."
"Alright! Alright!" Hawkins interrupted. "We think we may have found the key to all our problems, we will figure out the details later."
Everyone was soon looking at Newley. "So? Where is it?" Hawkins asked Newley.
"Dr. Loran told me to keep it in a very secure place…" Newley said quietly.
"Okay. So where is it?" Cliff asked impatiently.
"We will have to ask Ensign Sparks about that issue." Newley replied and went to the control board to summon the ensign.
"And to think we had the key the whole time." Cliff said, "Now we can get to business."
"There is only one thing we can do now." Hawkins interrupted
"What is that?" Krik asked turning to the Commander.
"Pray that it works."
Ten miles from the castle, Haggar sat quietly. Some of the Vehicle Voltron force were with her but stayed a good distance away seeing that she seemed to be meditating.
"What is she doing?" Ginger asked only to be met by a bag full of "SHUSHHH!" from Cinda, Modok, Zandee, Wolo, Tangor, Rocky, and Shannon.
"Okay! I'm sorry!" She whispered.
Modok started to quietly explain the event to her. "Haggar is gathering strength from the universe in order to cast her spell."
"Oh? What spell is that?" Ginger whispered.
"We will soon see." Modok whispered back with a smirk.
They all stood there watching Haggar meditate. After a few minutes, Haggar stood up and suddenly stabbed the ground with her knotted wooden staff. Haggar then spoke aloud:
'I call upon the positive spirits of the universe,
Hear my plea,
I ask you for your help in bringing back a soul who fell in battle unfairly.
I call upon the casters of light and wisdom,
Of hope and of strength,
Give us back the one who can save our lives,
And uphold your wills and beliefs.'
Haggar stood there for a while, and nothing happened.
She then slouched a bit and put her arms akimbo and shouted, "What do you want, Shakespeare? I need help here!"
Ginger couldn't help but giggle a little. But soon Cinda shouted "Look!" Cinda was pointing to a mass of light that was collecting off in the distance. The light was approaching their area. As the light got closer they could hear faint whispering that seemed to emanate from the magnificent light that soon started encircling Haggar. Haggar was soon being lifted from the ground as the light began to swirl around her like a gleaming tornado. Seconds later, swirls of light shot out in all directions collected together and made their way to the mass of twisted and destroyed metal and circuitry that once was Vehicle Voltron. The heap lifted itself off the ground and hovered there. Another smaller heap was soon appearing from a long distance. The remaining two ships that had been lost were now gently placed in the hovering mass of dented and destroyed robot parts. The heap was surrounded by the swirls of light that were now becoming brighter. They all watched as the light seemed to be bending the metal back into shape separating the 15 components. The whole show lasted for a good 15 to 20 minutes as the robot looked just like new and it was set back down on the ground. The light slowly faded away. Haggar fell to the ground weak but still conscious. They all ran to assist Haggar back to the castle but Rocky went to look at the ships.
"Nice job!" Rocky said rubbing the side of his ship with his sleeve.
The all looked at Rocky and then noticed that the color of the robot ships had changed. They were now an extremely dark blue except for the shining metallic sliver in some ships and Ginger's Red Falcon VT Fighter was now a deeper red.
"Well it seems we have an approval." Modok said to Haggar who seemed too weak to care less.
"Come we must return to the castle." Haggar said getting up with the help of the others.
Several miles away, the Voltron Lion Force managed to get to the Explorer crash site. As the Voltron Force exited their lions, Voltron was scanning the lake and the partially sunken space ship with its bow pointing upward at a 35 degree angle to the horizon.
"Keith?" Voltron asked with an odd interrogative tone.
"What's up Voltron?" Keith said looking to the Black Lion. Keith jumped back a bit in surprise as the lion bent its head down to look at him.
"There is a slight discrepancy in the data I am receiving in regard to the approaching attack fleet." Voltron warned.
"So what does that mean?" Lance asked assuming bad news.
"The original ETA is off by over 2 hours." Voltron reported. "They will be here VERY soon."
"How can that happen?" Keith asked.
"It's simple." Pidge replied starting into a lecture about space and time distortion.
"When any object is moving at a fast enough speed, time slows down including the object except for its forward velocity." Pidge explained. "The result is the people inside the
ship are shipped off from point A to point B in a matter of less than a fraction of a millisecond if you are going fast enough."
"Do any of you understand what he's saying?" Lance interrupted.
"No, but I think what he means to say is, sensors can't determine when they will be here." Hunk replied.
"Well, I can give you a rough estimate." Voltron interrupted.
"And what is that?" Keith asked awaiting a smart remark.
A loud thunderous boom was heard near the lion ships.
"Now." Voltron replied simply.
"So much for advance warning." Allura added.
"Okay team let's go into action." Keith shouted and the lions took off to battle a group of scout ships heading for the castle.
Back at the castle, Ensign Sparks heard the summons and quickly rushed into the control room to see what was going on.
The doors to the control room swished open with a slight hydraulic hissing as Sparks entered the room. "You called for me, sir?" Sparks said looking to Hawkins or Newley for
an answer.
"Do you remember a red card that I gave to you before we left on our mission?" Newley asked cutting to the chase.
"The Captain's Key? Yes, sir." Sparks replied simply.
"Do you know where this card is now?" Newley asked.
"I have it with me sir." Sparks replied.
Sighs of relief filled the room as Sparks produced the cardkey from his pocket. "I never leave home without it." Sparks quipped.
"Good!" Newley replied. "Sparks, the card you hold in your hands is the activation key to Vehicle Voltron's Artificial Intelligence Operating System."
Sparks looked at the card in his hands and suddenly became nervous as if he were holding fragile glass. "It is?"
"Yes, it is." Newley confirmed.
"Um… okay." Sparks replied. "What do I do with it?"
"Give it to the commander." Newley said.
"Oh, right!" Sparks replied nervously and almost ceremoniously handed the key to the Commander.
Coran quickly accessed the EESD in which was still idle.
----
VV - Vehicle Voltron version 1.0... Activation sequence paused; awaiting Garrison Command Clearance...
LOGIN: PCKI#114
PASSWORD (Key):
----
Hawkins quickly put the card in the scanner and watched as the laser flashed quickly over it. Then the computer readouts began a series of numbers.
----
- READING ENTRY CODE -
-38475623867-234856735-267546790834534205724-560934256435602345634560234956340563498562340542956742309563
42052349652340563450342650423564039586342509432563402563084572360594365425642305623405346534025432504365742
05123465084564032956421305942385642305943865439820562301714563204732746307514081623746327467676432947623946
74023439829283998120111000000324124234423243294638745239184532043240123463742217351347890231542314078314512
30487234561230437265047563290748342345231531967835493124392423164231402346231402317423164230483/7-16-24
-- LORAN01 transfer HAWKINS02
PASS CODE DELETED NEW PASS CODE NEEDED FOR REACTIVATION.
PLEASE ENTER BASE RAND (6 digits)#:
----
Hawkins entered a six digit number which was covered by pound signs.
----
PLEASE SLIDE COMMANDER'S KEY INTO ACCESS PORT. LINE UP THE TWO LINES AND HOLD UNTIL PROMPTED…
----
Commander Hawkins did as the computer told. Reinserting the red card into the slot and holding it with the lines matching.
----
NEW PASS CODE WRITTEN TO COMMANDER'S KEY.
TRANSFER COMPLETE, PLEASE REMOVE COMANDER'S KEY AND PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE…
----
Hawkins removed the card and pressed a key.
----
STARTING AI SYSTEMS
RECONFIGURING MULTILINGUAL BINARY SYSTEM FOR BASE 8 BINARY.
ACCESSING BOOT BLOCK
AI IDENTIFICATION… NOT FOUND…
ENTER VOLUME ID FOR :
----
Hawkins paused for a moment. He had to give the drive a name. He gave it the only name he knew.
----
AUGMENTING DRIVE SYSTEMS FOR CONCURRENT LOAD
ACCESSING START KEY FROM SWORD
ACCESSING START KEY FROM BOOT BLOCK
ENTER VOLUME ID FOR : VEHICLEVOLTRON
VEHICLEVOLTRON PERFORMING QUICK DIAGNOSTIC
ROBOT VOLUME (MASTER CYLINDER) NOT FOUND… SEARCHING…
SYSFAIL -- ROBOT VOLUME NOT FOUND… SEARCHING FOR ALTERNATE…
ALTERNATE EESD2/ARUS/CASTLEMAIN
RE-AUGMENTING DRIVES FOR AI ACCESS
RE-AUGMENTING DRIVES FOR ADAPTOR ACCESS
LOADING DATA FROM SWORD CONCURRENT WITH BOOT BLOCK
COMPRESSING ALL TRANS-PARTITION FILES FOR STORAGE
!ROBOT VOLUME NEEDED!
STARTSYS - VEHICLEVOLTRONCASTLEMAIN
STARTSYS - MAIN PLATFORM FUNCTIONS
STARTSYS - SUB-PLATFORM FUNCTIONS AND DIAGNOSTICS
ALL ROBOTIC FUNCTIONS ARE TEMPORARILY IGNORED
CHECKING FOR DATA REDUNDANCY
SYSTEM ONLINE
----
With the final command set, a robotic form appeared to the left of the control panel. Vehicle Voltron was using a holographic version of himself.
Everyone was looking at the hologram of VV waiting for the robot to say something.
"What?" Was all VV could say as everyone was staring at him.
Yurak was in the main cargo bay of the flagship. The 24 robeasts looking down upon him menacingly.
"I'll be glad to see you die Zarkon." Yurak growled. Zarkon lay on the floor unconscious. "You made me a robeast… like one of these. You got rid of me for your sad excuse
for a son. I don't see Voltron dead yet." Yurak spat on Zarkon's face and then kicked him in the side.
"Get up you old bastard!" Yurak grumbled.
Zarkon awoke suddenly to a sharp pain in his side. As Zarkon groaned, Yurak grabbed his head tightly and looked him dead in the eye.
"It's good to see you awake!" Now I can see you squirm as you explode outside this ship.
"Yurak, I've known you most of my reign and I'll be surprised to see the day you can operate a simple switch." Zarkon groaned.
"I wouldn't fool around with what you don't know." Yurak replied with a maniacal grin.
"I know more than you ever would." Zarkon spat.
"Oh, Yeah? And what have you accomplished with that so called knowledge of yours?" Yurak grumbled. "I still see Voltron is kicking your butt three ways throughout the cosmos."
Zarkon just looked at Yurak as if nothing was new.
"You will be surprised to note that I destroyed the Vehicle Robot." Yurak boasted.
"Yurak you dumbfound me with your ignorance." Zarkon replied quietly. "Those robots can't be destroyed."
"I just destroyed one of them." Yurak contradicted.
"Yeah, well don't come crying to me when you find the Vehicle Voltron staring at you and about to slice you in two." Zarkon said simply.
"You have become weak." Yurak gloated at Zarkon.
"And you have become a nit wit, Yurak." Zarkon started. "Do you really think that Zelia is in love with you?"
"She is." Yurak answered slyly thinking about innuendo with Zelia.
"She is not." Zarkon said flatly. "She is using you to get access to something, one of the Voltrons. I don't know what she is planning but she has an ulterior motive. She will
discard you when she is finished."
"In your mind maybe." Yurak answered with an angry tone.
"You are nothing but kitty litter to her." Zarkon shouted. "She is going to throw you to the lion bot like I did isn't she? Think about it!"
"You lie!" Yurak shouted almost enraged.
"You think you have got it all planned out. But you will be abandoned with not one but two Voltrons that you thought you could or did destroy!" Zarkon said grinning as Yurak
got angrier.
"I am going to see that you die for that." Yurak shouted.
"Go ahead… I welcome death. Then I can haunt you until you die, or did Zelia make you immortal?" Zarkon replied quietly and then started to laugh. "It seems I have more of
an advantage than you." Zarkon laughed with a more maniacal intensity.
In a rage Yurak opened the cargo bay doors and Zarkon was immediately sucked out into space with all of the air inside the room and the sound of his laughing. Yurak remained
inside the cargo bay. His skin had darkened to his partial cloud form because of the magic he was using. Yurak was able to survive in outer space conditions. Yurak grinned when
he saw Zarkon's body suddenly disappear as a result of decompression.
TO BE CONTINUED…
VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE and the title GALAXY GARRISON are the property of World Events Productions (copyright 1984,1997-2000 All rights reserved.) and Toei Animation. If any information is wrong or missing please let me know and I will correct the problem as soon as I can. More details in Acknoledgements section.