Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron, Star Trek, or anything else that belongs to WEP or Paramount. What I do own are the crew of the Berlin, (except for Mordock and Scotty), the fighter, Thunderwing, and the story itself.
RL2, MaraJade, Michaelangelo, thanks for sticking with me. I know this has been my longest (chronologically) to date, and I appreciate your continued readership and support. One more chapter after this, and then on to the next one, which I'll post probably by or before the end of the month. And thanks to the others who have R&R'ed.
Star Tron: Hidden Dangers
Chapter 15
Lotor's fleet raced past Arus, ignoring the hails of the ships that had been left crippled during the assault, and were now begging for rescue. The Doom ships were in headlong retreat, and had no time for their comrades. The desperate pleas were soon left far behind as the remains of the once-mighty armada fled the Diamond system.
But they were not alone. Close behind the escaping fleet were Voltron, the U.S.S. Berlin, and…
"Berlin to Voltron, the rest of the fleet is falling back," said Commander Jacobs.
"What?" Driscoll demanded from his position aboard Voltron. "We've got them on the run! Why are they stopping?"
"Orders from Command. All ships are to break off and return to the Sol System."
"Timberwolf?" Driscoll asked.
"They are holding formation with us," said Gredar.
"Continue pursuit," Driscoll ordered angrily. "This isn't over." He cut the channel and glared at his instruments. They had the opportunity to end this all now, and the fleet was falling back? What the hell were they thinking? Cowards!
At that point, a dark determination began to take hold of Driscoll. It went beyond his usual pursuit of victory, or his righteous anger at Lotor's deeds. He wanted Lotor's head on a platter.
He was so fixated on Lotor's retreat that he barely heard Keith ask Pidge where Lotor was headed. Only his subconscious registered Pidge's reply that Lotor's course was straight for Doom. He ignored Allura's comment about Citrine II now being unguarded, and how she thought Voltron should help the slaves there.
It wasn't until Voltron began to change course that Adam snapped out of it. Even Voltron was giving up the pursuit? What the hell? Well, Keith could do what he wanted, but the captain had other plans.
"Good luck at Citrine, Keith," Driscoll said. "I'll see you back at Arus." Before Keith could protest, Adam ejected his fighter from Voltron's back and returned to the Berlin. As soon as he landed and his engine was shut down, he leapt to the deck of the shuttlebay and ran for the bridge.
Jogging off the turbolift, he skirted the tactical console as he said, "Resume pursuit course, all ahead full." He came around to stand between the helm and ops stations, slightly behind them, his eyes narrowed menacingly as he stared at the viewer.
"Pursuit course, warp nine, aye," Curtis replied.
Behind him, Mordock looked to Jacobs, "We're not going with Voltron?"
Jacobs shrugged. Her attention was drawn back to her station as an alert flashed, telling her of an incoming transmission. She read it quickly and called out, "Captain, Voltron is hailing."
"Ignore it. I know what Keith's going to say," Driscoll replied quickly. He had no interest now in freeing the enslaved people at Citrine II. His target was dead ahead, and he was drawing nearer. Here and now, he thought. Your ass is mine, Low-blow.
Minutes passed as the Berlin closed in on Lotor's fleet. "Entering Doom space," said Lt. Singh, beside him at the ops console.
Driscoll nodded. "Continue course and speed."
The young captain continued to watch the viewer as his ship pursued its quarry. The blur of stars whipping by at warp speed made it impossible to see Lotor's ships, but he knew they were there.
For now.
"Doom flagship in visual range," said Mordock.
"Onscreen," Driscoll snarled, his lip curling into a sneer. There he was, the low-down, son-of-all-unholy bastard. Only a few more moments. "Prepare to cut across his bow. We'll force him to drop out of warp, then shred him with the phasers," he told Curtis.
Curtis mumbled, "Aye, sir." What was going on? He'd never seen Driscoll this intense before, or this intent on his target. It was more than a little disturbing. He cast an uneasy glance at Singh, who returned it, but said nothing. At least he wasn't the only one getting a bad feeling.
Suddenly, a chime sounded, and Scotty's voice said, "Scott ta bridge."
"Bridge, go ahead," Jacobs replied.
"We've go' a fluctuation in the warp intermix chamber. All those missile strikes knocked it out of alignment. We've go' ta slow down so we can make repairs."
"How slow, Scotty?" Driscoll asked.
"Below warp four, Captain."
Driscoll mentally scoffed. Lotor's ships were peaking at warp five. If they slowed below warp four, the chase was over. "Negative, Scotty. We'll make due for now."
At that, everyone on the bridge looked at Driscoll as though he'd just grown two new heads. Even the greenest Academy cadet knew you never ignored a problem with the warp core. Yet the Captain had just decided to do just that.
"Captain, if we dinna reduce speed, the warp core will destabilize. We'll have to dump the whole bloody thing!"
"You have your orders, Engineer." Driscoll said. He looked down at Curtis, who was looking at him apprehensively. He was creeped out before, but now he was alarmed. Had Driscoll gone suicidal? "Maintain course and speed," Driscoll told him.
Gredar came up behind Driscoll. "Captain, we must decelerate."
Driscoll whipped around, his eyes flashing at his first officer. "I've made my decision, Commander. Live with it."
Gredar's voice became hushed. Where his hisses, growls, and snarls were usually sharp and grating, they became muted. Actually, it was the first time Driscoll could recall hearing the Gorn speak like this. "You are endangering the ship and this crew. You will be removed from command, if necessary."
"Is that a threat, Godzilla?" Driscoll demanded, his own voice subdued, but fierce. "That son of a bitch made a liar out of me, attacked my home system, did God-knows-what to Arus and Neptune Base and a dozen of our ships, and he's gonna friggin' pay!" As he spoke, his face quivered with the anger he felt at Lotor.
Suddenly, the ship started to shake like an airplane in turbulent weather as the warp field began to dissipate with the inconstant core output. "Captain, the warp core is destabilizing," Curtis warned.
Gredar and Driscoll continued to stare at each other, Driscoll's steel-blue eyes challenging the Gorn, and Gredar's unreadable silver orbs reflecting Driscoll's rage right back. "Captain," the Gorn said. In that word was threat, plea, and prompt, all in one, toneless statement. All the while, the buffeting grew more pronounced. It was getting hard to stay standing.
Suddenly, Driscoll whirled around. An edge of frustration entered his voice as he ordered, "Helm, reduce to one-third, break off pursuit and lay in a course for Citrine II. Commander Jacobs," he added, spinning to his tactical officer, "have the shuttlebay remove all of Thunderwing's torpedoes from their launchers and transfer them to the forward bays. Lock and load." Even before he finished giving his orders, he felt the ship's flight smooth out as the reduced power brought the warp core back within its limits.
He glanced back once over his shoulder, his face briefly contorting in anger, before he headed for his seat. Though he didn't look at anyone, he could feel every eye on the bridge following him.
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"Okay, team, there's Citrine II," said Keith as Voltron approached the planet. "They probably know we're coming, so we're not going to waste time." He quickly reviewed the locations of the base's defenses and weapons, and the Voltron headed down.
Within seconds of entering the planet's atmosphere, the great defender was bracketed by laser fire as the massive anti-ship cannons opened up. Voltron made his way down through the intense fire, dodging, weaving, rolling and tumbling as he went to avoid the worst of the fire, but still taking plenty of hits from the smaller weapons.
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Far below, one man among the crowds looked up in awe as Voltron drew near. A smile slowly spread across Neal's face as he realized that Michael had succeeded. Voltron had come to free them.
Quickly, he turned to everyone around him. "Friends! Our salvation is at hand! Voltron comes to free us! Rise now and fight!"
The simple statement electrified the crowd. Chants of "Freedom!" broke out among them, and the frenzied mass began to grow and spread as slaves everywhere took up the call, and news of Voltron's arrival spread like wildfire. All over the base, slaves began openly revolting against their Drule slavemasters. Emboldened by what was happening, and empowered by their reawakened sense of independence and free will, the relatively few guards stood little chance. Great tides of humanity poured through the streets, weapons emerged from long-hidden caches, or were taken forcibly from confused and frightened guards.
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Above the doom base, Voltron continued to wheel about the sky. Looking down, Pidge said, "I guess Adam was right. They sent everything after us. There isn't so much as a fighter left."
"And no robeasts, either," Hunk said with noticeable relief.
"We've still got work to do, team," Keith replied. "Fire stingray missiles!" he ordered, as the projectiles shot from Voltron's feet and each one took out a heavy laser emplacement The robot dodged to the side and attacked another cannon emplacement, silencing it with a blast from the lion torch.
"Keith! Incoming!" Pidge warned.
Keith was about to take evasive action when another voice said, "Sorry for the delay, Keith. Did I miss anything?"
Keith looked around as Thunderwing came in below Voltron, strafing a gun emplacement on the south wall of the command center.
"It's about time," said Keith. "It looks like most of the troops are retreating toward the main compound."
"No problem." Driscoll replied. "Berlin, concentrate fire on the main building," he ordered. "Fire in the hole!"
Voltron pulled back and Thunderwing docked again as a barrage of torpedoes streaked by, slamming into the headquarters building, penetrating and exploding deep inside it.
And just like that, the battle was over. The lasers stopped, all was quiet for several minutes. Finally, Pidge said, "Keith, listen to this." He patched the signal he was getting into the general channel for all to hear.
"Doom base calling Voltron."
"This is Voltron," Keith replied. As he opened the channel, a man's face appeared on his screen. He had blonde hair and hazel eyes. His face was weather-beaten, evidence of the hard life he'd lived under the Drules.
"Voltron, I am Neal Hokra the leader of the slave resistance movement. We have captured the main base, and others are taking control of the factories and landing fields now. You have saved us, and on behalf of all the people of Citrine II, I thank you"
"Seems to me like you and your people did most of the work yourselves," Keith replied. "That's a lot to be proud of, Neal."
Neal nodded. "We still owe you thanks. Your appearance made it much easier," he said. "With no officers to command them, once the Doom soldiers saw you, they lost their will to fight. But please, tell me, did our people get through to you?"
"Michael and Kala are safe at the Castle of Lions, on Arus," Allura replied, her face coming on the screen. "They took a great risk coming to our planet the way they did, but they saved many lives."
Neal's face visibly relaxed for a moment. The fate of Michael and Kala had weighed heavily on him these last few days, and he was truly relieved and grateful that they were both safe. "And Lotor's fleet?" he asked.
"Defeated," Keith replied resolutely. "Thanks to the work you did to weaken their ships, and Michael's efforts to tell us about it."
Neal nodded.
"Neal, we must return to Arus now, but we will return. Your people have a new beginning, and we'll do whatever we can to help you make it a good one," said Allura.
"Thank you," Neal said again, and the channel closed.
"Aw, man, I gave up Thunder's torps for nothing? One lousy salvo?" Driscoll griped half-heartedly. He was a little miffed, but the result was acceptable, nonetheless.
"Didn't you get Lotor?" Keith asked. The way Adam had left, he'd expected that Lotor would be done for.
"No. We had a problem with the warp core. Had to break off."
Keith nodded, and said nothing.
Lance heard the exchange over the open comm, and he didn't buy it. His intuition told him there was more to it than that, but that was an issue for another time.
Finally, Allura said, "Keith, we need to get back."
"Right. Okay, team, we'll be back here later. But right now, let's head back to Arus."
Voltron leapt higher, jumping from thin air, and rocketing away from Citrine II, with the two Federation ships close behind.
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When Voltron returned to Arus, he was greeted with a scene that was much calmer than when he'd left. There was very little laser fire to be seen now, and that was concentrated between the airfield and Olessa, where most of the Doom cruisers had crashed. The countryside was littered with the wrecks of those ships, and countless fighters. There were still a few buzzing around when Voltron returned, but they bugged out as soon as the great defender arrived.
"Looks like we've got some mopping-up to do down there, team," said Keith. "Deactivate interlocks and disengage. We'll handle them with the Lions."
The five robot Lions split off from Voltron and landed, quickly surrounding the Doom troops, while Thunderwing circled overhead and the Berlin and Timberwolf beamed additional troops into the area. Seeing the arrival of the Lions and the additional allied forces, the Doom troops recognized the futility of their fight and began to surrender. Within minutes, all fighting had stopped. The battle for Arus was over.
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Returning to the Castle of Lions, the Voltron Force was ecstatic. They were all very tired, but they were still flying high on the rush of combat and the thrill of their victory.
Driscoll arrived just moments after the Voltron Force, and joined in their celebration. Even the normally-strait-laced Coran was smiling broadly and offering congratulations to the team.
As the team exchanged handshakes and backslaps, Adam and Allura suddenly found themselves together. They clenched each others' hand, their eyes locking, and suddenly Allura leapt at Adam, throwing her arms around his neck. Surprised, Adam instinctively caught her around her waist and held her tight. Both of them were grinning as Allura cheered, "We did it!"
"Sierra hotel, baby!" Adam joined in.
Suddenly realizing the position they were in, they released each other quickly, Allura blushing bright red and Adam scratching his jaw awkwardly.
The others were staring at the two when Coran cleared his throat, calling all their attention to him. He was grateful that Nanny hadn't been there to witness their exuberance, and he would speak to the Princess and the Captain about propriety later, but now, there was more pressing business.
"Yes, well done to you all," he said, his "Counselor" voice being used to full effect. "But we still have much to do. We must find the officers of the invasion force and interrogate them. And there is still the matter of the underwater base…"
"Coran's right, guys. We're not done yet," said Lance.
"Aw, come on, can't we take a lunch break?" Hunk asked, putting on his best begging face. "Saving the galaxy is hungry work."
"Getting out of bed is hungry work for you, Hunk," Pidge quipped, earning a depressed look from Hunk.
"I think we should deal with the base first," said Keith. "It'll take a while for our troops to secure prisoners and find the officers."
"But what do we do, Keith?" Allura asked. "It can't be easy to just capture a base like that."
"No, it won't be. Not if we want it intact."
"Yeah, we do," Adam said immediately. Everyone immediately looked at him. "Come on, guys, think of the intelligence and all the classified goodies they must have in that place. Maybe even a couple of those cloaks? Think of the advantage we could turn against Lotor."
"Us or Starfleet?" Keith asked. The fact that Adam had bailed on them as they were heading to Citrine II still nagged at him. He didn't like the way it had happened, and meant to find out why it did.
Adam rolled his eyes. "Does it really matter, as long as we get him? Who cares who pulls the trigger?"
"Captain Driscoll is right," said Coran, nodding at Adam. "Securing that base and its contents could prove vital to our war effort."
"Look at it as payback for Tango Seven," Driscoll added knowingly. After all Keith had endured from Galaxy Garrison over the loss of that base, he knew that not even "Colonel Cool" Keith would dispute the value of doling out a little comeuppance.
"All right, so we take the base," said Hunk. "But how?"
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Commander Torka sat in the makeshift holding cell, his hands bound behind him, all his weapons taken. The Starfleet sensing devices had detected everything. He was now truly helpless.
Around him were all the other command officers of the failed invasion. On the other side of the cell was someone he hadn't seen in years. Torka rose slowly and non-threateningly, but even so, he saw the guards' grip on their rifles tense.
He walked over to the other man and sat down. "Hello, brother."
Kozal did not look at his younger brother. "It's been a long time, Torka."
"It has." Torka replied. The two were silent for a few minutes, before Kozal spoke. "It seems Lotor got his wish."
"How's that?" Torka asked.
"He put me in charge of the Arus invasion, hoping I'd be killed…" he looked around him. "Or captured."
"You fought well, Kozal. Your failure is my fault. They somehow penetrated our masks, found our base. They must have learned of your plans at the same time." Torka had always looked up to his brother. Kozal was always strong and determined, without fear. Torka had always aspired to this, and now to see Kozal so humbled was startling.
"No. The Starfleet fighter found our strike base on Citrine II. He saw our fleets. It would have been no stretch of the imagination to determine its purpose," Kozal said.
Torka nodded. "Perhaps." He looked around again. "At least our men are being treated well."
Only now did Kozal actually make eye contact with Torka. "Yes, they are. Very well. Our intelligence said that the Alliance did not take prisoners."
"Then be glad that we are under Starfleet guard," said Torka.
Kozal nodded, and the two fell silent. Some hours passed before they heard the door to their cell being opened. They looked over, and saw Princess Allura walk in, flanked by two men. Both tall, one with long, black hair, dressed in a red jumpsuit, the other with close-cropped dirty-blond hair, wearing a Starfleet uniform and a leather jacket.
"Commander Torka?" Allura asked.
"Princess," Torka acknowledged. Allura stepped forward and took Torka's hands, removing his bonds. "You think a little humanity will make me betray my people?" he asked dryly, parroting Allura's statement to him in the brig on the base.
"No, I want you to help them," Allura said, the irony of Torka's statement not lost on her. "Lotor won't be back for you, nor will he try to resupply your base. Your men will die, unless you order them to surrender."
"We are Drule, Torka," Kozal said hotly. "They are still the enemy."
"Maybe," said Keith, "but even a Drule can see that being taken prisoner by us is better than a long, slow death by starvation."
"What will happen to them?" Torka asked.
"The same thing that's happened to you," said Driscoll. "They'll be taken into custody, fed, provided medical care, questioned, and then they'll end up in the same place as you. A POW camp in the Federation."
"And when the war's over," Allura added. "You go home."
"They'll execute us, Torka. Can't you see that? They'll torture us for information, and when they're done, we die." Kozal growled.
"No, that's what you'd do to us," Keith said angrily. "We believe all life has value, even yours."
"Think of your men," Allura said. "They served you well. Your defeat was not their fault. Don't force them to die needlessly." She looked Torka in the eye and told him what he'd told her in her cell. "Too many commanders forget those that fought and died at their command. Don't be one of them."
Torka's decision was swift. Of course, he would agree. His men had served him well, and deserved their lives. They fought unquestioningly at his every order, and gave their best, as was befitting of any member of the Konogg Brigade.
He turned to Allura and nodded. "It is the best commanders who remember their men, respect them, and do not take them for granted. I learned that from my brother." He glanced momentarily at Kozal, who did not look back, but merely nodded. "I will order them to stand down," Torka said.
As Adam and Keith led him out, both men felt something they'd never expected to feel: respect for a Drule.