Chapter
Allura knew that they'd been walking through that dark passage for hours. The heaviness of her legs and the added dampness on her clothes wearied her out. She would have done anything for a scalding hot bath and her soft 'nanny pampered' blankets. What stopped her from complaining was the hand enveloping her own.
'It's warm.' She thought to herself. She could feel the hard callouses of his left hand as it firmly held her own, a complete difference from the soft hands of the noble men that nanny brought her way. She had always found it strange every time they took her hand for a kiss. Their hands were soft, unblemished, untainted. They told no story, they had no history. To her, they showed nothing that would fascinate her about the owners. No past, no future. If she'd told her thoughts to other girls her age, they would have laughed at her. What kind of woman liked rough, work-worn hands? A princess for that matter? They would have thought that her title was wasted on her, that she would have been better off born a commoner.
As those callouses rubbed her hand, she pondered how he had gotten them. Was it the gun he held frequently, or that standard army knife? Did he use any other weapon outside of those given to them as military? He was very fit, maybe they are from lifting weights? The inside of his fingers were also rough. He used his hands a lot. Her thumb gently ran along a slim raised area near where it was. She felt his hand tighten around hers. A scar. How did he get it? Where? His hand really did envelop her own, she thought.
She had come to the conclusion that he wasn't going to deliver her to drule. If he had had such intentions he would be missing his brains right now. He had given her the gun and walked in front of her, as if it were a toy. It wasn't easy trusting anyone in this war, let alone giving someone your weapon. It was staking your life against the word of a total stranger. Her father had taught her that life was a pendulum, and people swayed whichever direction for their own purposes. Finding strength to trust people did not come easy in war.
Allura's eyes widened as another realization hit her.
"You didn't let me have your gun because you trusted me. You used it to calm me down, like a child."
Keith paused at the bitterness of her words. He turned to look at where she was and even though he couldn't see her face, he could feel the anger rolling off her in waves.
"And why state that now? You've had that gun on you for days. Why would my reason for giving it to you matter now?" he asked sharply.
"It matters because I do not understand your thought processes. The more I think about the last few days, the more confused I get. You have too many secrets captain and on top of that you treat me like a child!" Allura replied, trying to keep her anger in check.
"You don't know me at all to reach any conclusion about what you are or are not privy to. I gave you that gun to pacify you. Because you act like a child. If I choose at any point to take it back, I will. This little adventure wasn't even supposed to happen. Accept it. We are here together because fate HAS THE WORST SENSE OF HUMOR! I needed to come here, and to get you to cooperate I had to use whatever means I could. Deal with it!" he snapped coldly.
They stood in that dark cavernous place for what felt like an eternity before Keith started walking, pulling her along with him. She didn't resist, allowing him to take her along with him. Her silence unnerved him, but he wasn't going to stop. The stress of the last few months had taken its toll on him, and etiquette was not on his mind at all, nor did he measure his words toward her.
'Whatever means I could.' Those words rang in Allura's ears as tears started forming in her eyes. But she wouldn't let them fall. She looked down at where their hands were connected, that fake connection.
'I'm a fool.' She thought.
She wouldn't cry. Not for him. She would cry for herself, for her own weakness. He would never see her tears, not as long as she lived. He was right though, Allura admitted to herself. How many men sought her hand for political leverage, for titles and a life away from the front lines. How many times has she had to guard her heart against friends, guards and suitors that only sought to use her? People like him.
'I'm a tool to him, am I?', she thought as she stared daggers at the back of his head, willing the tears back and swallowing back the bitterness that was flooding her heart.
"Yes Captain."
Keith froze mid step and turned back quickly to look at her. He didn't imagine the coldness that had enveloped him as he heard those words. But all he could see whilst looking back at where she should be, was darkness.
He had done something horribly wrong.
….
"Pidge, take down the warship left of you. " Lance shouted through his communicator.
"Got it…NO! NO! NO!" Pidge responded, before the warship took out a large number of their own ground troops with its beam weapon.
"There's too many of them, Lance. Tell the garrison to move back. They're just sitting ducks." Hunk yelled as he took out a few fighters of his own.
'We had the advantage, damn it. Who the hell ordered the garrison out. Instead of taking out Zarkon's ships, we're now playing defense. We had the element of surprise with three lions. But we're being pushed back.' Lance hit the console of his lion angrily. He had to make a decision. He hated making decisions.
"Admiral, pull back the garrison in three minutes. I'm going head first into those bastards' unit. Anyone who doesn't want to die had better fall back behind the first line. Three minutes!"
"Lance, what the hell…"
He didn't waste any time moving his lion through the enemy fighters, taking as many as he could with him. He dodged left away from the largest ship in the air, which was definitely Zarkon's.
"Let's give them a show, kitty cat." Lance shot straight up into the air, dozens of drule fighters tailing him as he went. He was taking a huge gamble. The sudden pressure of flying straight up into the air should affect the pilot of a regular fighter jet, causing them to lose bearing before passing out. He hoped that science applied to the drule.
"Come on, kitty cat. Faster. They're coming." Lance yelled, drawing more and more drule fighters behind him. Zarkon had obviously ordered his soldiers to take the lions down, so he was the perfect bait. His guidance system was warning that he was close to breaking the planet's atmosphere. And sure enough, what he'd hoped for was starting to happen. The fighters started to crash into each other, exploding and throwing debris into those close by and following beneath.
"Light 'em up!" Lance yelled as his lion let loose a barrage of missiles, destroying the fighters beneath him in a column of fire.
"That was awesome!" Hunk yelled as Lance continued his weaving movements through the enemy ships. He looked at his monitor and was shocked at what he drew his eyes.
"Why the hell hasn't the garrison withdrawn?!" he yelled, before a missile crashed into the left side of his lion, sending him reeling into a nearby mountain.
"Ouch." His head was spinning from the impact, and as he got his bearings back, he heard the urgency in Pidge's voice.
"Lance! Are you ok? Do you copy? Get up before they surround you!"
Lance pushed his lion forward, shooting the large machine away from laser fire that tore through the mountain he had crashed into.
"I'm fine. What's going on with command?" Lance asked hastily.
"We couldn't get through. Our comms have been jammed, and its coming from the ground." Pidge responded, trying to get through to their command center and not trying to lose his life.
"Wait! There's a code coming through. It's…" Pidge's voice paused, although they could hear his sharp intake.
"What is it, pipsqueak! Don't just freeze up on us?" Lance yelled at him.
"It should be flashing both of your screens too." Pidge said, his voice a quieter than it'd been throughout the battle.
Lance glanced at the screen, thinking that his eyes were playing tricks on him. The message CGTOX2H flashed two more times before he yelled:
"WHAT THE FUCK!"
The message read: Coup d'etat.
Lance's blood ran cold in his veins as he thought of what that meant.
Dad.
Lance watched as the garrison troops that had been sent out onto the field stop and cease firing. It was obvious what had halted them was the same message that was flashing on their screens. The sense of confusion, betrayal and shock resonating throughout the army was palatable as the communications that had been muted throughout the battle suddenly filled his cockpit.
"What's going on? Commander, I don't understand." One soldier's voice sounded, louder than the rest throughout the transmissions.
"The King. Can anyone get through to the King."
"My wife! I can't die out here when our command's running away…"
"You want to commit treason! Running from the military is treason. I'll gun down anyone who chooses to run…" an authoritative and somewhat shaky voice shouted.
"To hell with that! We have no command. We don't want to die…" a female voice screamed amongst the noise before it was silenced into static as the carrier that she'd been on exploded from drule gunfire.
"Damn it. This is Lietanant Mclain of the Red Lion. Garrison. Get it together and retreat. We'll cover you. Fall back asap. You're still on a battlefield, damn it. Fall back! All airships start covering the garrison. I repeat. Fall back." Lance ordered as another garrison ship exploded.
'This isn't the time to panic, damn it! Dad, you'd better be fine!' Lance prayed silently as he, Pidge and Hunk started covering for the withdrawing troops.
On board Zarkon's Inferno, they saw the human troops begin to fall back and they started celebrating.
"Our mission is to stop my stupid son from doing something very stupid at Altaire. But it's worked out quite nicely, hasn't it, human?" Zarkon asked Aidan who was watching from below in throne.
"You'll be greatly rewarded, my King. Victory is yours, unquestionably. And what of those lions? Should we pursue?"
"I thought they would put up more of a fight. Perhaps something has their attention…Proceed in exterminating those vermin. As much as I would like to destroy those lions with the troops I have, it's not possible. They are too agile and they can fly faster than our ships. Destroy the vermin on the ground instead. Give them a parting gift so that they never forget that my name is Zarkon, their conqueror."
"As you wish, Sire. Load the main cannon."
Lance watched the progress of the garrison from the corner of his eye as he and the other lions drew the attention of the fighters. The air force were doing a good job of shooting down any stray fighters that tried to make it close.
"We just might make it." Hunk exclaimed as he deflected a few missiles from the few fighters pursuing him.
"Yeah. Just keep their attention on you." Lance replied. "I have a very bad feeling."
"High particle charge detected from the drule command ship. It's off the charts!" Pidge yelled as he typed warning messages to the retreating soldiers.
"What the hell…" Lance didn't finish his sentence as Zarkon's inferno opened its front hatch and a large cannon barrel slowly drew out. The particle output indicator on Lance's terminal was screaming because of the rising numbers coming from that cannon. The inside of the barrel was furiously red and growing even brighter.
"Everyone. Scatter. NOW! Get out of that thing's line of fire." Lance yelled.
It all happened so quickly. The cannon shot only once at the center of the garrison. They felt the shockwave though the dense armor of the lions. The ships in the air were thrown far by the impact of the explosion, some losing control and crashing into the other, others into the ground. The lions were thrown a few miles away with some of the regular ships, whilst the melting heat threatened to liquidate them all.
All Lance could hear were the alarms blaring in his cockpit, warning of various damage to his machine. As he lifted his head, he knew that Pidge and Hunk hadn't fared any better.
"Hey. Anyone. Come in. Hunk, Pidge. Come in. Air force." Lance was beginning to panic before he finally heard Hunk reply him.
"Ouch. It's hot. Hell." Hunk groaned through the communicator.
"We nearly died." Pidge's voice soon joined Hunk's, complaining about well, the obvious.
"You guys okay?" Lance asked, fear that had gripped him loosening around his heart a bit.
"I'll live." Hunk replied before his face appeared on Lance's screen, and soon joined by Pidge's.
"Good. What the hell was that? Can anyone from the garrison respond. Confirm your status." Lance asked, changing channels to get at least another voice online after getting static on one channel."
"I don't think we still have a garrison." A new voice answered on the channel the lions were on. It sounded familiar.
"Finally. Who's this. What's the state of the garrison?" Lance asked.
"Sven Holgersson. Air force from Dispa." Sven's heavy accent answered solemnly before his face appeared on the screen.
"And like I said, there is no garrison."
Sven switched out his face for the image of a deep, flaming, meltingly red crater where Arus' garrison should have been.
…
A/N: Thanks for the patience and all your support, guys. I hopefully will reach my goal of adding a chapter a week. If I'm unable to, I'll upload for that week and the week I miss. Enjoy.
