Second to last chapter :) Enjoy
Doom's Fall
True to Keith's promise, Nanny had far too much work to bother Allura much. She would sometimes comment on some behaviour, but as she had to set up schedules for the service staff that had been hired, next to having to help with the work itself, simply because the manpower was still greatly lacking, she didn't have much time for that. At most she would be around during mealtimes, where she would sniff disdainfully that the whole Voltron Force would eat with the king and queen. But after a clear order from Keith to leave it be, as it was his wish to have his teammates around during meals, she couldn't do anything.
She would boss the other pilots around about proper attire, which Keith didn't think was worth fighting her over. Simply looking out for looking proper wasn't too much to ask. At least she knew too well that they didn't have the means to put all staff into uniforms. Nearly all of the guards wore their normal clothes, with a few exceptions for the higher-trained ones getting old uniforms that had been found in storage rooms. Currently there were much more important issues than the dress-code of the personnel working at the castle.
One thing she was tasked with was finding people that were willing to be trained as nurses and paramedics. While Sven had already started the training of a few people, the Voltron Force didn't have the time to look for more people. Nanny meanwhile was constantly in contact with all kinds of people while taking care of organising supplies for the castle and could take over that part. She would also be included in training the basics of first aid and herbal remedies that she knew of. Sven was far too busy to handle all of that on top of his normal duties. Thankfully, Nanny fully approved of that order and was eager to find more people that could be taught in medical techniques and natural remedies for all kinds of illnesses.
Arus needed more medically trained people. Even if the people from the caves had already sent some candidates as well. Though there were also other projects that were set up whenever possible. From courses on how to set up secure fields for farming food to production of simple tools that would last a long while. Breeding and domesticating wild animals were also taught to the people. After all, humans had used strong animals to help with their work for millennia and as there weren't many machines left on Arus, animals were their best chance. And it didn't matter if the Arusians managed to capture young deer and raised them to pull ploughs or used horses.
And deer were more numerous. Lance coincidentally knew how to raise and train deer from his grand uncle's business on Earth and took charge of that project.
Keith and Allura were also incredibly busy. They got up at half past five each morning to train with the other members of the Voltron Force for one and a half hours before they would get a simple breakfast. At eight, both monarchs would deal with the numerous tasks that needed to be dealt with, from distribution of harvested food to building projects for storage facilities. They would spend the rest of the morning with those things and after lunch Keith and the other guys trained in their lions and did patrols all over the planet. Two days a week the lions took food runs to the caves to supply the people there with the food they had.
One larger project that Keith and Allura were leading was the reestablishment of a fisher village at the coast of the Kingdom of Helena, which was the neighbouring kingdom to Altair, where the Castle of Lions was located. After scouting the area with the lions, it was decided that one bay that was hard to see from the air, would work great for it. There were houses that had been built into the cliffs centuries ago and these houses only needed some renovations and repairs to be useable again. There was also a cave where the boats would be hidden from sight, making the bay the perfect location to hide that the Arusians were rebuilding a spot from where they could easily get fresh fish for the people.
Hunk was tasked with finding and creating building plans for boats that could be used by up to six fishermen. That wasn't large enough to be noticed by Doom ships during future attacks. Next to fishing out on the sea for food, the fishermen would also be tasked to keep some specimen alive to relocate them to several breeding locations to make it easier to have fish available at all times. Keith had found a lake that was connected to the sea via an underground tunnel. It was unsuited to establish a fishermen village but perfect to use the lake that was supplied with salt water from the sea to breed fishes. With a simple mesh fence the fishes wouldn't be able to escape back into the sea and large predators wouldn't get through the tunnel either.
The lake was about three kilometres in diameter, meaning there was plenty of space to breed fishes. One of the women in a cave they had visited had been born into a family that had led a fish farm before the attacks of Doom and would be put in charge of the project. She had told them how to go about it and that she knew how her father had run the business before his capture by Doom. Keith and Allura were happy to entrust her with finding workers for the farm and setting up what the project needed.
Others that had experience with certain useful trades and skills from the past got assigned similar projects to bring Arus back into a position where life for the people was much easier. At the beginning it would start small, but if they could only keep things secret from the regular Doom visitors, it would grow.
It was six thirty in the morning and Keith and Allura were at the gym working on some knife fighting training. Allura needed a weapon that she could easily conceal on her person and knives were well-suited for it. But like with every weapon, it was only a good idea if she knew what she did. As Keith had been trained in the use of several weapons by both his family and the Space Academy, he could show her how to hold the blades, how to retrieve them quickly from her clothes and where to best hide them to not be bothered or hindered by them.
"Okay, you have got the grip and the basic slash movement down well, Ally. But we will have to consult your tailoress to work proper hiding spots into your normal dresses and clothes," commented Keith, "After all, you only wear boots with your pink suit and they aren't the type where you can slip a knife in at the sides."
"Like yours?" asked Allura, as she had seen Keith take out a knife from one of his boots during a battle with some Doom robots when the group had been ambushed while visiting a village.
"Yes. There is a hidden sheath at the outside of each boot for a small knife each. Good to have a hidden weapon to either escape ropes or to deal a surprise attack against an opponent," nodded Keith.
"Okay, that makes sense," accepted Allura, "but how would we manage to build something like that into any of my more elaborate dresses? And how do we convince Nanny of it being a good idea or sneak it past her?"
Keith stepped towards her and held out the knife from his right boot after he had drawn it.
"This type of knife doesn't need much space to be hidden decently. And I know that you have some dresses in your wardrobe that have corsets as part of them. Those corsets are perfect to add sheaths for knives to them. If we had more supplies, I would also task your tailoress to weave something like steal threads into the bodices to give your upper body more protection. Due to our positions, we will be targets for the enemy and you are an easier target for them, as you don't have full military training. I can teach you self-defence to not be helpless and how to use some weapons, but you simply lack the time to train yourself up to a level that you would have achieved after going through and institution like the Space Academy," pointed Keith out.
"True. With some creativity we might be able to disguise the knives as decoration of the dress," pondered Allura after inspecting the knife and its form.
Keith nodded. That could be possible.
"I could also start wearing elaborate hair accessories that hide sharp pins that I can use as replacements for knives in a pinch," continued Allura, "I read a story about this once when I was a child."
"That could also work. Or having a fan with a sharp edge. Or where the outer parts of it hide knives," added Keith.
"Yes, and fans are common to be carried by noble women. They are traditional enough to be approved at any setting," mentioned Allura.
"Then I will see if Hunk can build one like that," nodded Keith.
"I would over time need several, as it is unfashionable to always use the same fan. A bit variety will be expected. Just for the motives though," Allura told Keith.
"Okay, you are better informed about that part than me," accepted Keith, "We will see what way works best for you. The bladed fan or one with hidden knives."
Allura nodded, then they switched to hand-to-hand fighting, with Keith teaching Allura more about the types of martial arts that he had learned.
King Zarkon watched on the screen how the newest attack on Arus was going. Too many plans had been thwarted by the Voltron Force. Right now, his son Lotor had gone to Arus for the first time, wanting to use trickery and an intelligent robeast, aka Yurak, who had been transformed into one by Haggar, to bring victory to Doom. Honestly, Zarkon was sick of all the defeats at the hands of the Voltron Force. He was secretly mocked by other Doomian nobles that thought that he was being bested by children, as none of the members of the Voltron Force was an experienced fighter, like he was.
Right now, Lotor was facing the commander of the Voltron Force. Thanks to the technology of Lotor's ship, Zarkon could see and hear everything that was going on. He frowned when he saw how the young man could keep up with Lotor.
"Witch, why is Lotor not dominating the fight?" Zarkon demanded to know.
"I don't know, my King, but you know that your son won't simply keep it to a fair fight if he is losing. A true fighter knows when to take any advantage he has and Lotor has always won duels he initiated," assured Haggar, "That young Earthling will die under the hands of Lotor for sure."
"I hope you are right," grumbled Zarkon, "Too much went wrong when it involved the Voltron Force and Planet Arus."
They continued watching and like Haggar had said, Lotor, when Keith disarmed him, attempted a dirty trick, but to their shock, Keith seemed prepared and avoided the cheap attack with a stone that Lotor attempted, while pretending to be defeated. To their horror, Keith used his sword to defend himself against the attack, which thanks to unlucky positioning, resulted in Lotor's chest being sliced open through his uniform.
They could see that he could survive that injury, but he wouldn't be able to fight properly.
"You will pay for that," rasped Lotor, "Once you are dead, I will take your beautiful princess as part of my harem!"
Haggar and Zarkon noticed a drastic change in the face of the commander.
"No, you won't. I will never tolerate any threat to my wife," replied the young man.
"Your, your wife?" asked Lotor shocked and angry.
"Didn't I tell you who I am? Oh, wait, you weren't interested in more than my name and interrupted my introduction. I am Keith, King of Arus. I'm also the commander of the Voltron Force. And as you clearly pose a threat to my family and my planet, I hereby convict you to execution. As King of Arus, it is my right to perform the execution post haste," declared Keith and swung his sword in an arc that not only separated Lotor's hand from his arm, as he tried to protect himself from the attack but also ended with the sword piercing Lotor's chest at the position of his heart.
"NO!" shouted Zarkon, seeing the death of his only son, "How could that happen?"
Haggar looked at the screen in disbelief herself. She hadn't expected that. That was a terrible loss. Doom didn't have any other heirs. It was already a miracle that she had kept Lotor's mother alive long enough to give birth to him. None of the women Zarkon had taken as his lovers had managed to conceive a child for him before Lotor's mother. And she had died not long after Lotor was born.
She looked at Zarkon and knew that she wouldn't manage to calm him down. She decided that a stealthy retreat was the better decision. While Zarkon hadn't loved Lotor, he had been able to show him off to other high-ranking members of Doom's nobility and until today, Lotor had been a good conqueror and had added several planets to the Empire. Now he didn't have an heir anymore and he was old. It was doubtful he could sire another child and see it grow to adulthood. And without Zarkon protecting his child, should a miracle happen and one be conceived, the child would be murdered by a warlord to allow that person to take the throne for himself. That was how Doom's society worked. She would have to make contingency plans.
Zarkon raged for three more days and numerous unlucky soldiers died in his fury over the King of Arus, and why hadn't he known that Arus had a new king, killing his only son and heir.
Keith, when he returned to the castle with the rest of the Voltron Force after they had killed the Yurak robeast, placed the whole place under red alert. He knew that Zarkon wouldn't let the death of his son stand and they needed to be ready for everything. He didn't regret it though. He knew that people like Lotor wouldn't have cared for the fact that Allura was married to Keith already. He would have tried to kidnap her until he succeeded and made her his slave. He would have become the worst type of stalker. Keith would never allow his beloved wife to be threatened like that.
True to his worries, Zarkon continuously sent robeasts to attack Arus. It exhausted the Voltron Force, but they persevered until one day Haggar tried another trick. That was her doom. She had tried to hypnotise Allura, but the bond she had with Keith, thanks to God's Blessing uniting them, warned him about it in time. He didn't allow his wife out of the castle and thanks to the high security precautions, Allura was intercepted before she could leave the castle to go to the place where supposedly her father was waiting in reborn form to tell her secrets how they could win against Zarkon.
Keith, not hindered by a hostage, didn't wait for anything when he spotted Haggar and a white lion at the foot of a waterfall. He fired his lion's missiles at the two of them, followed swiftly by the other four lions' weapons. Even Haggar with her dark magical power couldn't survive that onslaught. Inspecting the place after they were sure that it wasn't a trick, let them find her dead body.
This event led to another onslaught of robeasts, but one day it stopped. The most probable reason they could find was that Zarkon didn't have any more left. He had used up the ones he had and with Haggar dead, no new ones could be created. The Voltron Force was extremely relieved about this, as Keith and Allura had only a few days before found out that they would become parents. They were overjoyed but it also worried Keith that with the constant attacks Allura might be in danger of losing the baby. With the attacks now mostly stopping, in fact only a few ships occasionally tried to infiltrate Arusian airspace, probably to spy, but Keith sent the lions up to shoot them down, the Voltron Force had time to do other things but training, fighting, sleeping and eating again.
While Keith was basically fighting non-stop, Allura had fully taken over ruling the planet. She had told the new governors of the different areas that her husband was too busy keeping their planet safe to deal with meetings. As every Arusian knew how many attacks Zarkon had started, they acknowledged that their King truly couldn't manage fitting those meetings into his schedule. He needed some time to rest between two battles after all. It had a nice side effect. The governors were used to Allura being the one ruling the planet while her husband defended it. It certainly changed perception of some men that a woman could do as well as a man at the head of their government.
The break in fighting was used for any kind of project that could be realised, without the Voltron Force lessening their training. But the lack of constant battles allowed them to invest time into these projects as well, which made them progress a lot faster. After all, the men were among the best educated people on Arus right now. And having the time to lead and teach the Arusians was invaluable.
Space Marshal Graham read the newest report from Commander Keith on Arus. He of course knew that the young man had married Princess Allura for several reasons, among them a special bond that occasionally appeared with couples on Arus, one blessed by God himself. He had already weathered the indignation from several Alliance officers that disliked that Keith had again gained a rise in his status. Graham didn't mind it at all. After all, having somebody he knew well as the new king of Arus, was only beneficial for the Alliance. And it would only bind Arus closer to the Alliance.
Sure, it wasn't desired that Alliance officers married nobles or even royals while they were away on missions, but it was known to happen. Love wasn't controllable after all and if both partners agreed, well, then it was their decision. From what he knew about Keith's past, the young man was probably happy to not have to return to Earth while open for more exploitation attempts from his family. Graham had followed the events of how Keith was sent away by his family to the space academy when he was still a child. Normally far too young to be trained as a soldier. In fact, he himself had arranged things to prevent that Keith was sent into battles before he was old enough to understand all the consequences and dangers.
The Koganes would hate the fact that they didn't have any positive connection to the second son of their family head anymore. But it was their own fault. They had sent Keith away as they didn't believe he was still valuable for their family when his sister-in-law was about to have children that would rank before Keith in the line of succession. Children that said sister-in-law didn't want overshadowed by their young uncle. He knew that she had greased some wheels to allow Keith to join when he was still just ten years old. The development and quick passing of all exams that Keith encountered was alone his success. Keith simply was highly intelligent and physically capable.
It also wasn't too hard to believe that he would appeal to a young woman around his age. He had good look on top of his abilities. The reports that Keith had sent also let him see how it had been allowed unopposed. Coran, the royal advisor and guardian of Princess Allura had been victim of a tragic accident during a battle. It was nobody's fault but of the attacking Doom commander. And the team had managed to at least keep him alive, even if he was still in a coma. With the limited medical options on Arus, it was a miracle that the team had managed to save his life.
With Coran out of the picture, and Princess Allura leaning on Keith to manage going on, it was logical that the two would decide to marry if feelings developed and trust was built. Now the newest report informed him that intercepted messages from Doom's forces spoke of the death of Zarkon. Supposedly he had fallen ill and without the witch Haggar to create a remedy to his sickness, he hadn't survived. He was also old, which probably didn't help him recover. It was a great development for all of Zarkon's enemies.
Keith reported that he expected that Doom would cease to be a threat for the near future, as the nobles on Doom would fight for the throne for at least two years. From what they could find out, none of them had been powerful enough on his own to control the empire that Zarkon had built with his conquests. It was also likely that other Drule warlords would try to claim parts of it, now that there wasn't a supreme ruler anymore. Doom would fall into civil war until a new king could gain power. During that time, the planets of the Diamond Galaxy had a chance to recover somewhat from the years of oppression from Zarkon. Arus wasn't the only planet that had fallen against his forces.
As Keith had killed Prince Lotor in a duel months ago, the successor of the throne had already been taken out. Zarkon didn't have any other children and Lotor hadn't got a child from one of his slave girls either. That bloodline was ended for good. A relief for the peaceful people. Still, they couldn't rest. There were still too many that wanted to wage war to increase their influence and power.
Arus would work to rebuild what was lost. Keith had written in his report that he would become father in four months' time and that due to the financial situation of Arus, they couldn't afford sending Voltron out to help in other parts of the galaxy yet. They would work on helping other planets in the Diamond Galaxy, as they could manage to reach them with just the lions, but nothing more. Graham knew that many officers wouldn't want to accept that, but he could see what Keith was telling them that way.
The Alliance had refused more help for Arus, arguing that it was too dangerous to send the ships through Zarkon's territory. The team had asked for backup and supplies countless times. Never successful. Now it couldn't be expected of them to leave Arus defenceless while fighting on other fronts. It was high time that he used his influence to at least get them some desperately needed support teams and materials that they could use in the rebuilding efforts. Arus was part of the Alliance and with the death of Zarkon a main argument why they couldn't risk sending ships to Arus was invalid. It was already a disgrace how they had basically abandoned the Voltron Force. Normally, the team should have failed and died by now with all the battles they had been forced to lead. It only spoke of Keith's leadership abilities and the last measures initiated by King Alfor that this didn't happen.
He was curious how Keith's family would react to his rise in status. After all, it was part of the Alliance's standard procedures to inform the families of their soldiers about important changed in the lives of said soldiers. How he would like to be a fly on the wall when those arrogant idiots found out that the child they had abandoned and then futilely tried to exploit when he was old enough to be married off had risen beyond any position they could have achieved.
Akako Kogane sat next to her husband, the heir to the family, while her father-in-law looked at them. She knew that she had done her duty to the family. She had given her husband several strong and talented sons. Sons that were raised to do the family proud and increase their influence in the future.
"I have called you here to tell you about the contents of a letter I was sent by the Alliance office that deals with the affairs of their soldiers," started Kenjiro Kogane, the family head.
"I take it this has something to do with my younger brother," stated Kojiro, her husband, "Except for him, there aren't any family members serving as soldiers for the Alliance."
"Indeed. Ten years ago, when Keith had just graduated junior high school, you, Akako, convinced the family council, especially my father, the previous head of the family, that it would be beneficial for us to send Keith to be taught at the Space Academy. His results certainly confirm that he was well suited for the career of an Alliance officer, but my fears about us losing control over him, which would lead to him refusing to perform his duty to our family, also proved valid when he rejected the marriage candidate we had chosen for him to further the influence of our family.
"It was a great shame for the family to not be able to fulfil the agreement that was made with the family of the girl that was meant to marry Keith," Kenjiro looked displeased with that fact, as it cost the family some standing. It shouldn't have happened and the main reason was that Keith had been allowed out of the constant supervision of the family when he was sent to the Alliance.
This was mainly blamed on Akako, who had argued in favour of the decision. Kenjiro knew that she had ulterior motives, most likely that she didn't want her own children to look worse than Keith in their achievements. To his own shame, he hadn't argued harder to go against this proposal. For the line of succession, Keith wasn't important anymore. That much was true. Kojiro was the heir and with a son born during Akako's first pregnancy, Keith was pushed down in the line of succession. He was the spare heir from the beginning, but with more sons being born to Kojiro and Akako, there wasn't a chance for him to take the position at any time.
Still, sending him away when he was just ten years old hadn't been right, neither had it been right to basically abandon him in a foreign country with a basic allowance to cover his needs outside of the classes at the academy. It would have been different if Keith had been a teenager at the time. But he was ten years old. Nobody outside of the family would support such a decision. They would rather have child services look into the matter. It was good fortune that the Koganes were politically powerful enough to prevent that development.
"That issue happened four years ago and until Keith leaves the ranks of the Alliance we won't be able to force him into anything, as he has their protection," commented Kojiro, still annoyed that his brother had embarrassed the family like that.
"It won't be possible anymore anyway. I received a letter that stated that during his recent mission Keith has married a woman from the planet on which he is stationed," revealed Kenjiro.
"What?" exclaimed Akako shocked, "He knows that he needs permission from the family for that!"
"And why would he care?" asked Kenjiro pointedly, "Thanks to your plot to get him out of the way of your own sons, we lost any kind of control over him. Keith was ten when he left us. Young enough to be moulded by others in ways that don't agree with the family politics. To have him follow orders from the family, he would have needed to stay and be influenced by our way of thinking until it was ingrained into his very being."
Akako looked shocked to be put on the spot like that.
"Who did he marry that you care? You have known that Akako intended to not have Keith overshadow our sons since she presented the plan to grandfather," asked Kojiro, who hadn't been ignorant to his wife's motivations either. He had supported it, as it looked better for him as heir to the family if his children were in the focus of attention and impressed others.
"His wife is Queen Allura of Planet Arus, and thanks to Arusian laws, this marriage made Keith King of Arus. He rules a whole planet and the family doesn't have any hold over him anymore," revealed Kenjiro, making the reason for his displeasure with the situation clear as well, "On top of that, the letter informed me that he and his wife are expecting their first child. I don't know if it will be a boy or a girl, but that actually doesn't matter. We could have gained immeasurable influence and power, had we not basically exiled a son of our family."
That was a harsh blow to both Kojiro and Akako. It wasn't that the family actually cared about Keith as a person. They cared that they had lost a golden opportunity to attain unparallel influence and power through his marriage. But everybody was realistic enough to know that Keith wouldn't share any power with them or let them profit from his new station. And this was a toad to swallow that they would have to deal with for a long time.
Keith held his new-born daughter while watching how Allura was breastfeeding their son. Neither of them had expected twins and they didn't have access to an ultrasound device, as that hadn't been among the medical machines that were installed at the medical bay of the new castle. But it explained why Allura had grown so big the further she got into the pregnancy. He was relieved that everything had gone well during the birth. Having Nanny, who was a fully trained midwife, around had been a blessing since the pregnancy had been confirmed.
Even if he wouldn't let Nanny have too much say in how his children were raised. While he and Allura would be busy ruling Arus, they would make time to be there for their children, unlike their families had been for them, for different reasons admittedly. And he would make sure that his daughter wouldn't be treated differently than her twin brother. Perhaps this was even the perfect solution to the matter of Arusian laws preferring boys over girls. Aseon was born first, meaning he was the first in line for the throne, but they would teach and raise Alisia as his equal.
It didn't make sense after all to not treat twins the same.
And he had already changed the law that treated boys and girls differently in the line of succession. And that had been before the twins were born. He wanted that Arus changed and that the gender bias died out. He didn't care if a person was born male or female. Both were worth the same. Both genders could achieve great things. And to bring Arus back to the top, they needed to qualify every Arusian that was willing to learn. It was already noticeable, as most new teachers in the schools for children were women. The children would grow up respecting their female teachers and be used to females being in positions of authority.
It would take time to change the opinions of the older generation, but it would happen. Since Zarkon's death, there hadn't been any attacks on Arus. Most likely the nobles on Doom were still fighting for the throne. He hoped it would take decades until a new ruler was established. He knew that Zarkon had eliminated any kind of rival for his throne with prejudice. He had also claimed any kind of resources that could be used to conquer other planets. Doom, from what the team had seen there during their captivity, had used up its own natural resources. There wasn't plant life, there wasn't clean air, there was only devastation.
It depended on resources from the outside. And those resources would only be delivered to a planetary king, not some lesser nobles. Before one of them hadn't defeated all others of the same rank, things would be on hold. The robots that existed weren't programmed for anything outside of fighting. But they were also created to be loyal to Zarkon. It was doubtful that there was a way to reprogram them easily to follow any of the nobles of Doom. He hoped that Arus would gain time to properly rebuild and set up defensive structures against future attacks.
The question was if outside warlords would strike and take Doom for themselves. That was still a possibility and one that might endanger Arus earlier than a Doomian noble raising as victor over the others. He was busy working on means that would increase their forces outside of Voltron. Because Voltron couldn't be everywhere at once. But thankfully, creating robeasts wasn't easy. And robots of the same power also didn't happen quickly. He prayed that his children would grow up without constant fear of attacks on their home. He prayed that they could be happy, play like any child should and learn how to go about their lives.
When Allura took Aseon from her breast when he was finished, he could only smile at her lovingly. He had never imagined that being a father would make him feel this wonderful. But holding his tiny daughter in his arms, seeing his equally tiny son with closed eyes after he had just been nursed, this was the epitome of happiness for him.
"I think we can put them down to sleep for a while," said Allura, still tired from giving birth.
"Yes. Thank you so much for these two treasures, Ally. I can't put in words how happy I am," stated Keith moved.
"Thank you for being here with me, Keith. I am incredibly happy to have you as my husband. A partner by my side, who treats me like his equal, no matter what," smiled Allura, "Who gave me these two treasures. We created them together and we will raise them into good persons."
"That we will," agreed Keith.
Allura took care of burping Aseon and then they carried the twins into the nursery that was next to their bedroom in their suite. Each twin had a bed of his or her own, even if they were close together, as neither Keith nor Allura felt it was right to keep the babies apart. And it was easier to have all the baby things in one room. They would set up individual rooms for each child when they were older.
One short chapter for the epilogue is left over. Until next time :)