Chapter Two

The Human boy

Inside the lion was dark. Chezor walked over to Celk, who sat in the pilot's chair. The control module was dark, the surface looked like some sort of glass, and it curved around the chair, (which was white and blue). Above the control module was a large, blacked-out window. Directly in front of the chair were two joysticks. Chezor guessed you used those to steer the lion.

"Why is it so dark?" she wondered out loud.

"I do not know," Celk responded. "Maybe it is not on"

"Its eyes flashed and it moved," Chezor said, looking for a button to turn the lights on. "That's a pretty large indicator that it's on."

Celk shrugged, "Maybe it is broken." She moved her hand up to the two joysticks. "Are these the control sticks?"

"Yes, you use them to steer the ship. By the looks of them I would say they give you a fare about of mobility." She responded, pausing her search. Celk eyed the joysticks for a moment then slowly reached up and grabbed them. As soon as she did the lion exploded into light, the window clearing, the control module flashed on, glowing with blue light.

"Wow," Chezor breathed. "I think you figured it…." Suddenly the lion stood, Chezor gave a small scream and fell to the floor.

"Ow!," she said, "a little warning next time!"

"That was not me!" Celk said, her voice panicked. "I didn't do anything!" The lion tilted its head upward, its jaw fell open, Chezor didn't even have time to scream before a ray of blue light blasted from its mouth and slamming into the cave wall. A cloud of dust filled the cave.

"Celk!" Chezor shouted. "We came down here so we won't be seen by the humans! How are we going to explain a giant hole in the cannon wall!"

"I…I did not do anything!" Celk said, fear now showing on her face. "It was the lion!"

The lion roared, and leaped though the hole it had just blown, exploding into the night sky. Chezor screamed and fell, slamming into the floor. Celk was pushed back in the chair. The lion rocketed forward, spinning, twisting, flying in figure eights. Chezor was slammed into the celling, wall, floor and any other possible surface, screaming.

"Celk! she shouted. "Please! Stop!" She frantically tried to grab anything, but the walls were smooth. She cried out as her head banged against the wall.

"I can not!" Celk shouted, frantically clicking buttons. "The lion is not responding to anything!" Suddenly, without warning, the lion shot upwards. Chezor crashed into the back of the ship, black spots flashing in front of her eyes. The edges of the window turned red with heat as the lion surged forward, faster than any human ship ever could.

Then, all at once it stopped. Chezor slumped forward, falling on her hand and knees.

"What happened?" she asked, her body pounding with pain.

"We cleared the planet," Celk said in wonderment. "We are in space." Chezor pulled herself to her feet and walked over to the window. The canyon had vanished; all she could see was stars, the moon, (which was getting increasing large very fast) and darkness. She could barely see Earth out of the window's corner, but it was shrinking at an alarming rate.

Dad, she thought. I just left him. She slowly sat down and stared off into nothing.

Celk

"Chezor?" Celk asked, "are you alright?"

"We're in space," she said. "I'm in a giant blue cat - with a Balmara - in space." Celk said nothing but continued staring out of the window.

Vargas passed and neither said anything, both thinking of how and why this was happening. Celk moved the lion's joysticks around and pressed more buttons but the lion refused to go off its path.

After about the forth varga Celk heard a hiss of pain from Chezor.

"Chezor?" she said.

"My burns," she said, her hands shaking.

Chezor second

Chezor's hands felt like they were on fire, reddish-purple Galra blood fell from the worse parts of her burns, dripping onto the floor.

"Oh you're burned? I thought that was how your skin looked normally," Celk called back. Chezor was almost positive she had been in shock for the last…varga , vargas? She wasn't exactly sure. But that shock had faded, her pain returning. She groaned and laid her head back on the wall.

"So what was a Galra-Altayan half-breed doing on Earth?" Celk asked. That was a random question Chezor though, but she was glad for the distraction.

"I was raised there," she said. " I've lived on Earth for most of my life."

"Most?" Celk asked. What, do you want my whole life story? Chezor thought, the pain making her bad tempered. Eh. I suppose we have nothing else to talk about…

"My father, General Mikish was always a part of the Guns, I don't even know how or why he joined. Once he traveled to Earth and met a human woman," Chezor began. "I have no idea what he was doing on Earth. But they fell in love, got married and had my half-sister, an Altayan-Human half breed. One of the first, probably the first. But she died in child birth.

"My father left Earth, and returned to the Guns, taking my sister with him. Around five months past and my father met my mother, a Gulra woman working for the Guns; I don't know her name either. They married and had me ten months later. Twelve months passed, then the base he and my mother where stationed at was compromised and they had to flee. It took two Cursers to take every one there off, that's how big the base was. I don't know why they were in a different Cruiser but me and my father were on one and my mother and sister were in the other when we were attacked. The Altayans ambushed us, we were almost defenseless. My father and mother where talking to each other through their coms the entire time. My mother and sister fled into a pod, its call number was 2264/15R. My father said it so many times that now I can't forget it. We don't even know if it launched before her ship exploded."

Afterwards my father searched the wreckage for days. He found pieces or tracked down the locations of all the pods. Except theirs. It was like it had disappeared.

He searched for three years, and never found anything."

"He gave up," Celk said. "He gave up and returned to Earth."

"Yeah," Chezor said standing back up. "Now he thinks I'm all he has."

And now I'm gone she thought. I just left him.

"Do you think they are gone?" Celk asked

"No. That's why I wanted to go back into space. I need to find them." She paused and looked down at Celk, putting a false smile on her face, a smile that didn't reach her heart.

"So what about you? I mean what were you doing on Earth? Balmarans aren't known for their love of travel." Celk looked down

"My home Balmara was taken by the Altayans," she said sadly. "Ours was the last known Balmara not under the Altayan's reign. The Guns sent many soldiers to protect our home, but it was not enough. The Altayans came; they had huge battle cruisers and an army of sentries. They killed anyone who fought back, including my own people. There was so much death, our Balmara itself cried out in pain!" Celk removed her hand from the joysticks, pulled her knees close to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "Everyone was captured or killed. Besides me. A member of the Guns gave me the location of your outpost before he died. He…he said that there would be people who could help me." Tears streamed out of her eyes, Chezor leaned down and hugged her, careful not to let her hands touch her.

"Hey," she said. "We will help you. I will help you, I promise." Celk smiled and hugged her back. Chezor stepped back

"I'm here for you. You can trust me," she said. Slowly Celk straightened her legs and put her hands back on the controls.

Suddenly Celk froze, her eye's becoming foggy.

"Celk?" Chezor said. "Celk are you OK? Celk! Celk!" Celk snapped back into focus.

"Did you see that?" she asked looking at Chezor, fear shining in her eyes.

"See what?"

"I…I saw five lions, like this one. They came together and made…no became…"

"Became what?" Chezor said

"Voltron," Celk answered. "They became Voltron. I think…I think Voltron is real Chezor! I know it is crazy but I just saw it!" Chezor looked at her for a long moment.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "I didn't see anything."
"Chezor, I saw it! It was incredible! A huge metal man! I saw him as clearly as I see you. I think we need to find all five lions." Chezor blinked.

"That's a very big assumption on what might be a hallucination," she said.

"It was not!" Celk said. "Please trust me! Remember what the glowing cave said? The defender of the universe? That creepy rhyming thing? If you do not trust me, trust your mind! The universe breaking! We need something, even if it is a …what did you call it? A hillu-tin-a-shon? Voltron might be our last chance!" Chezor thought about this, she made a good point… they were out of options and almost out of time, as much as she hated the fact they were about to lose the war with the Altayans. And with the fall of Celk's Balmara they were that much closer to their victory.

This might be my chance she thought my chance to finally help the rebellion! She nodded in resolution.

"All right," she said. "Let's go find Voltron." As soon as she said that, Celk eyes widened in shock and she looked frantically all around her. Chezor blinked again.

"Uhmmm…You good there Celk?" she asked.

"Did you hear that?" Celk said still looking around.

"Uhhh…No?..."

"The lion, it was talking to me! I heard it!"

"Right," Chezor said, this is the weirdest thing I have ever done. "And what did the lion say?"

"It wants you to put your hand on the control module," Celk said, determination in both voice and face.

"Okay…then I will do that…" Chezor said If she is insane I'm going to humor her and go along….If not then not doing it will be the biggest mistake of my life! She reached down and put her hand on the control module wincing at the pain in her hand. Instantly an energy seized her! It felt like something inside of her was being sucked out and into the lion! She gasped and tried to pull her hand away, but she couldn't move! A bright blue light exploded in front of them! Chezor looked up just in time to see a wormhole open.

"What is that?" Celk asked. "It is beautiful!"

"That's an Altayan worm hole!" Chezor shouted, finally managing to wrench her hand off the module. "Celk, pull the lion back. Now!"

"I can not!" Celk said pulling at the joysticks. "It is not responding!" Chezor looked around the ship for anything she could use as a weapon. But there was nothing! She looked back at the wormhole. There wasn't time to think of a plan! She gripped Celk's chair, ignoring the pain.

"Hang on!" she shouted. "We're going in!" The lion shot inside, the universe transformed from black with stars to a swirling storm of blue, black, and white. Blue lightning flashed around them. Chezor gripped the chair. She could feel blood in-between her fingers. She closed her eyes and waited for it to be over. As suddenly as it had begun, everything turned back to stars and darkness. Behind them the worm hole closed. The lion slowed to a stop. Chezor opened her eyes and looked around. Nothing looked the same; she could no longer even see her solar system! In front of them was a lone, very small planet. She slowly looked around; there were no Battle Cruisers, no pods, nothing besides that very small planet. She breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed.

Celk straightened up, her eyes becoming fixed on the planet in front of them.

"Did the lion speak again?" Chezor asked.

"Yes, it wants us to go there," Celk said, pointing at the planet. "It said we would find another lion pilot there." Chezor looked at the planet and nodded.

"Then let's go down there." Celk pushed on the joysticks. The lion eased forward.

Their view out the window was suddenly obstructed by a digital voice graph with different lines moving up and down representing the volume of speech coming through their speakers.

"State your business," a male voice was heard through the speakers, the lines on the screen creating mimicking his words. "You have before the second moon reaches the first, I'm very busy."

"Moons? There are no moons," Celk said. "What do you think he means Chezor?" But Chezor was silent.

Moon she thought. The second moon reaches the first. Where have I heard that before? Suddenly, like lightning hitting metal, she remembered! She began to frantically scan the control module.

"I can't read any of these!" She said "What language is this!"

"Balmarin," Celk said in wonderment. "The language. It is Balmarin!"

"Quickly!" Chezor said. "Which one allows us to talk to him?" Celk scanned the buttons then pressed one. Instantly the digital window screen turned from green to blue. Celk looked at Chezor and nodded.

"We are here to stop the first moon and restore the second," Chezor said, keeping her voice as calm as possible. The second line was silent for a few ticks.

"Welcome," the male voice announced. "I await your presence." Celk turned to Chezor.

"What did that mean?" she asked. "The two moons?"

"Nothing," Chezor responded. "Forget I ever said that." Celk shrugged and slowly lowered the lion down onto the planet's surface. When its claws touched down, a small information box appeared in the corner of the screen/window, its words in Balmarin.

"It says," Celk read, "that this planet's name is Kenok 3 and it is uninhabited. The air is breathable but the planet's gravity is very low. No plants can even grow on it." Chezor nodded, listening.

"Good," she said. "If the air is breathable we can actually go out. I'll go first and when I'm sure it's safe, I'll gesture for you to follow." Celk nodded and lowered the lion's head, its mouth opening to allow Chezor to exit. Konok 3's surface was gray and dusty, stone pillars were everywhere, the smallest reaching her hip, the biggest stretching above the head of The Blue Lion. She had barely walked ten feet before a red light became trained on her chest.

"Don't move or I will shoot!" the male voice shouted. Chezor looked around but she couldn't see anyone.

"Remove your identification chip!" he called. An identification chip was a small device which members of the Guns wore at all times. I contained information about them; however the information was almost useless to anyone outside of the Guns. It gave such information as their age, first name, race, how long they had been working with the Guns, and their status (by using different colored stars).

"All right!" Chezor yelled back. "I'm going to reach into my pocket to grab it so don't freak out!" Slowly she pulled out her phone, took off the back, and removed the battery. Her father had modified the battery so that it's back had a small hollow space where her identification chip sat. Slowly she dug it out then held it above her head. The red light moved off her chest and a figure stood up on one of the larger stone pillars. He leaped down. Chezor winced as he jumped, expecting his landing to be hard and painful, but he slowly floated to the ground.

Oh right! She thought less gravity! As he walked up to her she saw that he had four long arms. Probably a Unalue. He was wearing full Guns of Galmora armor, a simple black and gray suit with small green Vs on the shoulder blades. He wore a Gun helmet, black with a neon green V. He stood directly in front of her and extended a hand.

"Your chip," he said. Chezor gently dropped the chip on his hand. He grasped it and plugged into his suit's arm. A green Holo-screen popped up in the air in front of him, displaying the information from her chip. When he was satisfied he handed it back to her.

"Welcome, Chezor," he said. Chezor nodded in thanks and pushed the chip back in her phone. She turned and waved at the lion. A few ticks later Celk descended the gangplank. The man swung his gun forward, a small red dot becoming visible on Celk's chest.

"Identification chip," he said. Chezor stepped in front of him.

" She doesn't have one!" she said. "Her home was taken and I promised her refuge! She's with me."

"What does she know of us?" he asked.

"Nothing," Chezor lied. "All she knows is that I promised her refuge."

"Do you trust her?" Chezor turned to look at Celk.

"Yes," she said "I trust her."

"Chezor," the man said, his voice cold. "Our society is based on trust and secrecy. One spy could destroy everything and bring the universe's doom. Do you truly trust her?" Chezor turned and looked directly into his mask, her face hard.

"Yes," she said. He nodded, satisfied.

"Come with me," he said. Chezor and Celk followed him to one of the large stone pillars. He raised his hand and pressed down on one of the stones that stuck out from its surface. Chezor heard the sound of grinding gears and a metallic hiss. The wall of the pillar facing them began to move outwards. They stepped back to avoid getting smushed. The hidden door hit the ground sending up a cloud of gray dust. revealing a long black stair case leading downwards.

Hah, Chezor thought. I would never have guessed that was there. The stairs led to a large, well-lit room with a long half-circular couch. A door was on the far wall. Celk sat down and Chezor moved to follow but the Unalue put one of his hands on her shoulder.

"A word," he said, "alone." Chezor nodded and followed him to a small side room.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

Ummmm… this lie had better be good! And I somehow need to find out if there is someone else here. This guy is clearly not who we're looking for, Chezor thought.

"The outpost I just started working at is an abandoned research center," she said. "The tech there is ancient and most of it won't even turn on. I think they were researching something important, like a new weapon. I was told there was someone here I could take back with me to help with repairs."

"And is this new outpost where you're going to be giving that Balmarin sanctuary?" He asked. Chezor couldn't tell if he was buying her lie.

"No," she said. "I was planning to bring her to one of our refugee centers. But this outpost was on the way and I figured I might as well stop here first." The Unalue stared at her for a few more ticks.

"I do have an assistant here," he said slowly. "He was helping me to mine the materials from the planets core. The harvest is now over and he has been sitting on his butt for weeks getting in my way. I have been asking for someone to come take him but I wasn't sure if my communications were getting through…"

"No," Chezor lied, "we got them. I was told to come pick him up as soon as I was able."

"Perfect!" the Unalue said. "We may rejoin your friend now."

Celk stood up as they returned.

"Everything all right?" she asked.

"Yes" Chezor said, "I explained everything." Behind her the Unalue was talking through his com on his wrist.

"Alic, meet me in the main room," he said. "Your next assignment is here to pick you up." A few dobash s later the door opened and a boy stepped out. He was human and looked about 13. His hair was blonde and short, it hung down to his brown eyes in choppy bangs. He had fair skin and wore clothing clearly made by the Guns, not armor, but regular clothes. His pants were a dark gray with two full pouches. His shirt was black with a dark, V shaped yellow collar. The tops of his sleeves were gray with the Guns symbol in the center of them.

"Hi," he said. "My name's Alic," Chezor smiled and shook his hand.

"And I'm Chezor," she said.

Celk

Celk watched their greeting from her seat. She was slightly confused when Chezor stuck out her hand, but Alic smiled and grabbed it, shaking it gently.

Oh she thought it must be some sort of greeting... Celk stood and walked over.

"I'm Celk," she said smiling, and awkwardly held out her hand. Alic took it, but as soon as their hands touched, an energy exploded in Celk's arm. It shot up like bolts of lightning, but not unpleasant. In the distance, she heard a lion's roar. No one else seemed to notice.

So it must have been just me that heard it, she thought. She looked at Chezor and nodded discretely. Chezor nodded back

"Could I see your identification chip," she said holding out her hand.

"Sure," Alic said, digging into one of his pouches, then handed her the small chip. Chezor took it, removed her watch, and pushed the chip into a small opening on the underside. A green Holo-screen popped up in front of her.

"So," Alic said turning to Celk. "What's my new mission? Hang on, let me guess, you're going on a secret mission to an Altayan base to extract info and you need a get-away guy? Or maybe you need my help to gather more materials to forge more armor?" Celk looked at him, blinking.

"Ummmm…" she said.

"Or maybe," Alic continued, "you need my help gathering brin fruit to make gas bombs that mess with sentry sensors. I heard they're ripe."

"Ummm…" Celk said again, not sure quite what to else to say. Chezor saved her by handing the chip back to Alic, distracting him.

"Everything seems to be in order," she said. "Follow us, we'll take you there."

Chezor

Chezor thanked the Unalue as they left and walked briskly out onto the planet's surface.

"Do you think the Unalue knows we are lying?" Celk whispered.

"It doesn't matter," Chezor whispered back. "We'll be long gone before he finds out."

"Wow!" Alic shouted behind them. "I've never seen that type of ship model before! Is it new?"

"No," Chezor said slowly, her mind working at a fever pace. "We…I found it at the new outpost I started working on. It's an old model that was abandoned years ago. But it's actually not a bad design and with a few modifications it could be an excellent addition to our coalition."

"Cool!" Alic said. "What's it's called?"

"Uh… Voltron?"

"Oh! That's a good one! Most people name their ships something like an X1 52 or something like that. That sounds way better! I fly a Voltron!" At this point they had reached the lion. Celk put her hand on the particle barrier, and just like before it disappeared and the lion lowered its head, its jaw falling open. Together they walked inside. Celk sat in the chair and reached her hand up to grab the joysticks.

"Alic, you might what to hang on to something," Chezor said, grabbing the back of Celk's chair with both her hands.

"This lion had a bit of a kick." Alic looked around.

"Grab what?" he asked.

The lion stood and launched itself into the sky, Alic screamed and fell back. In a few short ticks the lion had cleared the planet.

"You okay?" Chezor asked turning back to look and Alic, who lay on the floor.

"I'm good," he moaned. Chezor covered her month and tried very hard not to laugh.

"Chezor!" Celk said excitedly, "look!" She looked back and saw that a new destination had been charted.

"Where's this one to?" she asked.

"A lion," Celk answered. Chezor nodded, she had been expecting that.

"Then let's go" she said. Celk smiled and pushed the joysticks forward, increasing the lion's speed.