1Pidge holds the scene in this one.
This is my last typed chapter. The couple next fried with my late computer. I have to re-write those, then I have to write a few new ones. The story picks up in already written chapters, but those are all hand written. Is it worth the effort? You tell me.
Teasers for what would come :
Lance will end up in a dire situation when he has to defend Arus practically by himself.
Lotor will have his engineering skills tried to the limit.
He'll make his decisions at the end of his trial year... not telling!
Keith will find out that if he is ever to find romance, he'll have to move his ***... and he will! ;-)
Allura will finally be able to revoke all those obsolete laws, but not until they almost cause irretrievable damage.
Keith and Hunk will be trapped out of Arus at some point.
We'll get to see Lotor mother's world.
Want it? Ask. Clic the review button. I know the design changed, but its not that hard to find, gents! :-)
119- Revelations and SecretsIt had been a couple of weeks since the cerillian incident. Pidge was seated with his laptop on Lotor's chair. The prince was back in his own room. He went to his Khiara lessons in the morning, and afterwards he would walk in the woods with his "classmate" Rose. One of the boys would be with them. They were surprised to find how those two played a wicked game of spotting spies. Now that Marnott was in charge, it was a better challenge.
The new spyleader had told them to enjoy it while they could, for they were training dogs now. Robots and people were relatively easy to hide from, but dogs? Lotor said he had lost a good occasion to shut up when he'd told Marnott that dogs would have hindered him on his visits.
Pidge had observed all this with wonder. Rose was an accomplished stealth spy. He wasn't outdoors very often, being the computer wizard that he was, but he found he enjoyed those morning strolls. Of course, he was also relieved when he grabbed hold of his laptop to peer into his virtual universe.
He had sunburns. Lance had teased him that he was such a mushroom that his body wouldn't know what to do with all this vitamin D. Pidge winced as he adjusted his position in the chair. He decided Lance had been right. Ouch.
Now Rose was gone and he was guarding the ex-prince in his quarters, and it made Pidge uneasy. Not that he was scared of Lotor. He was just embarrassed to be in close quarter with their enemy like this. So he clicked away, waiting for this shift to be over. Lotor wasn't much of a conversationalist. So Pidge jumped a little when he looked up from his drawings to ask:
"Did you ever hack into the files father has on you guys?"
"Not really."
"Ahh. That's what I thought. Soo..." drawled Lotor with a sly grin, "that means you might not know yourself..."
Pidge frowned.
"I figured that maybe you people didn't know by the noble's attitude toward you," Lotor continued. "They make a great deal of ignoring whoever is not of their ilk..."
"What do you mean?"
"Ever wonder where the name "Pidge" came from?"
"Why, of course... it's in the orphanage books. The only entry for me was PdGE."
"Ever notice that you didn't have the habitual s. nob beside it?"
"I... er no not really. That means Sine nobilitate*, doesn't it?"
"Yes, without nobility. When father noticed he wanted to know why and then forgot about it. But I didn't. I had a couple of info mongers look into it."
"You sure had time to waste... My biological parents never tried to contact me, I assumed they are either dead or not interested," said Pidge, a little irritated that someone had pried into his past like that.
"Know thine enemy, isn't that a human saying? So you have no idea who they are..."
It was a statement. Pidge wished he'd stopped toying around and told him so. Lotor smirked, such intensity!
"Your real name is Philippe de Grand-Eloi. You, my diminutive antagonist, are a Baron."
"WHAT?"
"You may tell the next cretin looking at you from above to address you as My Lord..."
Lotor was jubilating. This was such fun! Even though it was basically good news. Wait. That made it even better. To see the little hacker look at him with obvious skepticism made him smirk. Pidge went right to his keyboard and started typing furiously.
"I can double-check that, Prince, so you better not be toying with me."
"I conclude dear father's databases are not Pidge proof..."
"Mnmh."
The ex-prince observed with an expectant look. It took some time, but his grin widened when he saw Pidge pale visibly.
"And why would I lie on such a thing, My Lord?" Teased Lotor.
"W... Why didn't you tell me before?"
"We're enemies, remember? There was nothing to be gained from this little bit of useless information. Green Lion pilot is descended of a great human line, French, if I remember correctly. What could be done with that? I left it in the database, but didn't bother to tell anybody."
Pidge was speechless. Man, what the hell was he going to tell the others? Wait. Maybe he shouldn't tell at all! Still, having those snotty nobles not ignore him anymore... but, he didn't want anything to do with them. I'm running in a loophole here, he thought.
"I wish you wouldn't go around telling on me."
Lotor raised his eyebrow.
"I need to gather more info. Be a nice villain and keep not saying."
"In exchange of?"
"Nothing. I don't play at that kind of game."
"A wise noble," said Lotor, caught between disappointment and admiration. "Now I've seen it all."
"Stay silent, say, out of the kindness of your heart, if you have any."
"I don't understand," Lotor flatly stated.
Pidge looked embarrassed.
"I think I like it the way it is now. I'd hate to have Keith being shy with me. Hunk or Lance wouldn't change their attitude, rank doesn't impress them much, but Keith would make a big deal of it. And besides, I'd have to attend those awful dinners. In a costume!" He added with horror.
Lotor smirked.
"Rose and Allura would be delighted to have someone at those dinners who has more then two neurons connected... It bores them."
"Well," retorted Pidge, "you can go."
"I've been stripped of rank, even though everybody here seems intent on ignoring it..."
"You're still Zarcon's son. They couldn't refuse you without changing their own rules, and its an ironclad law here that such titles cannot be revoked. Allura tried to change it for years. She would have retrograded a few, that's for sure."
"So that's why they insist on calling me Prince."
"Sure. To deny it would create a dangerous precedent. So you can eat at their table. Think of all the great fun you could have eating and listening to their fascinating conversations! The scandals real and/or imagined across the galaxy! Who are the most interesting bachelors, and who sleeps with who..." Pidge smiled in fake beatitude, rolling his eyes.
"Mph. I see what you mean."
"Did you have those on Doom?"
"Oh yes," said Lotor disgustedly. "Eating squeezed between Father and his witch. Listening to the guests grovelling to win favours. Charming, really."
He looked bitter all of a sudden.
"I didn't mean to bring back bad memories."
Lotor looked at him curiously. He thought he had those five humans all figured out. Pidge the disconsolate orphan. Lance the angry one. Allura, his love. Keith, the most disgustingly noble heart and Hunk, well, the eater. And he had them right, he figured, but had seen just the surface.
"I won't tell if you wish it that way, but I think if I were you, I'd tell at least Allura."
"Whatever for?"
"So you can claim your fortune and your lands... It's sleeping in an account, and as for the lands, you know Balto was destroyed, but its less known that it was a two planets consortium. You own a fortified city that is abandoned, but there is a manor and it's rather huge."
Lotor's eyes got a faraway look.
"I have a nice fleet of ships hidden there. I had forgotten about that..."
"What?" Exclaimed Pidge, aghast. "Do you have many of those stashed away?"
"Oh yes," Lotor smiled darkly.
"Your father must have seized them."
"He would have if he were aware of it..."
"So you have an army."
"More or less. When father automated his fleet, the old ships were sent to recuperation. I 'recuperated' them all right... But it's just a bunch of spaceships. So much scrap metal without pilots."
"And do you have any more of that 'useless' information?"
"You have access now."
"I'm talking about stuff that wouldn't be in a computer. You don't seem the type to keep files on such stuff."
"I'm not an idiot. If I had you'd have hacked in it. I'm about as good at computers as I am in embroidery."
Pidge smiled. He asked about the 'useless' information again.
"Telling you all would finish this game. And I happen to like it..."
"Keith would have you spill it out."
"I doubt it. He's too nice."
"We're all too nice, but the five of us together..."
"I'm bored, my Lord Baron, and keeping you on charcoals like this is something to do in those long afternoons..."
"Take up embroidery."
"I'm not pregnant," retorted Lotor.
"A pity," said Pidge slyly. "It'd keep you entertained..."
Lotor growled, but in good humor. That is to say only one of his fangs showed up.
"Well, there is one thing I might tell, and it concerns Lance." He conceded. "But it's something he may not want people to know, just as you..."
"Mph. His shift is next. Now don't play with him, Lotor. He'd reconfigure your face."
"Aw. You're no fun, my Lord."
He had said that in a manner remarkably similar to Lance. Pidge thought that if Lotor ever really reformed, a conversation between those two would certainly make Nanny have a heart attack. And the pranks! Dear heaven, the pranks...
***** ***** *****
Keith was worried when Pidge told him Lotor had enough hidden info to start living off the Voltron Force by blackmailing them. But Lance was downright alarmed. What did the snake unearth on him? When he took his turn he confronted the drule right off.
"I said I would tell, but do take a seat."
Lance was inches away from the ex-prince, looking murderous. Lotor just waited.
"Well?"
"The Ikari connection. I know about it."
"To which extent?" Lance asked, reluctantly taking a seat.
"Rather large. I know you're part of a loose network of informants that took shape during the our invasions. They don't seem to have any central headquarters, and it made them quite impossible to swat. I didn't know they still existed after my capture, but your meeting with Ikari confirmed it. I suspect that Rose and some castle spies are secretly part of it as well, at least Marble, for they use a sign language, and I saw her use it on a few occasions to tell him something."
"You clever devil. How long?"
"Years."
"Why didn't you tell?"
"Father would have sent me in a wild goose chase after them. I didn't feel like it. You did know that Ikari was my slave for some years."
"And she escaped."
"You may ask her about that "escape" some day..."
"She did tell me she was part of your rather infamous and large harem."
"It was large, yes," said Lotor, smiling dreamily.
"She said you were very open to experimentation."
"Why not? I had it all then. And it all didn't mean much. We had fun."
"She has an odd kind of respect for you..."
"...And she thinks you're fabulous."
"She does?" Asked Lance with an expression that made Lotor smile wickedly.
"Why ask me? Ask her..."
***** ***** *****
Later, Lance was pacing the lab in which Pidge and Hunk worked.
"So," asked Pidge, "did he frighten the hell out of you with secrets?"
"No. But his knowing this makes me feel embarrassed. I wonder if I should tell you guys."
"I wonder the same thing. Two heads are better then one... I'll tell you mine if you promise not to laugh."
"Ok."
"Look."
Pidge hacked the database again, but this time Lance was following the maneuver. Seeing the title and the name, he whistled, and Hunk turned around, but he saw how intent they were, and he was a tactful person. He returned to his adjusting.
"You're laughing," accused Pidge.
"Mfphtbt... no I'm not. It's hard though. Ff, Ph..? How do you pronounce that?"
"I have no idea. Lotor said it something like fill-eep."
"Mind if I keep calling you Pidge?"
"Please do. So what do you think, should I tell?"
"Well, maybe just the five of us. I feel somewhat guilty. Your revelation will cover mine..."
"What is it?"
"I'll tell the whole team."
"If you do then so will I."
They decided to set a meeting, and as their charge Lotor was there as well. They were in the garden that evening, and it reminded Keith of the time they had read the prince's letter. Lotor didn't know what it was about, but he had a good idea.
"Well," said Lance, a subdued look lowering his eyelashes on his rather pink cheeks, "the prince here as condescended to give us a few of the facts he gathered about me and Pidge during his reign."
"And you have something infamous to confess," teased Allura.
"Not infamous. Mmm, Lotor, since you know so much, tell them."
"I'd rather take up embroidery, thank you."
"Aw, come on Lance," said Hunk reassuringly. "We're all a family here, except for the adopted campanule there, but he knows already. What is it, you're a father and didn't tell us?"
"Pfah, he must have several disseminated all over the quadrant," quipped Keith.
"Har har. Well, here goes: I'm part of a team."
"We know that already..."
"That is not Voltron related."
"Oh."
"It's kind of, as Lotor put it, a network of informants. We supplied the resistance with intelligence from all over."
"Is it the Lost Net?" Asked Allura.
"Y... you know us?"
"I lead this planet, Lance... I also helped the resistance and had business with them. I didn't know you were part of it, though."
"I'm known in there as..."
"Stray!" Completed Keith triumphantly.
"Yes," said Lance sheepishly.
"I suspected it, and that reptile on Vh'tai, he's in it as well. And... Ikari! No wonder you teased me out of my wits!"
"Ikari?" Asked Allura.
"Well, the prince probably knows about her as well," accused Keith with disgust.
"Of course," smirked Lotor.
"Mph."
"Is that all, Lance?" Asked Allura.
"Yep. Well, Rose is in, so is Marble. There is no list, just a jumble of recognition signs. I don't think any would object if I showed you guys, but you understand such a thing works better when nobody knows about it," Lance said, looking askance at Lotor.
He just smiled his dark smile.
"I'm sorry, guys," Lance continued. "I just didn't want to compromise friends. Some are not exactly on the bright side of the law. On the other hand, It didn't seem fair that he should know and not you."
"That's it? It's no big deal in my book," said Hunk.
"I'm actually glad," said Allura. "I was wondering how to keep contact with them."
"It explains a lot, and as commander, I always wondered if I should make you spill about that Stray thing. That's one less problem..."
"You mean it?"
"Lance," said Hunk, "we all knew you were an overactive scoundrel. It just puts meat on the bone..."
"There he goes again," teased Pidge, "always food."
"And it's accurate too," retorted Hunk in good humor.
"Why?" Suddenly asked Keith. He was asking Lotor.
"Why I didn't tell then or why I'm telling now?"
"Both."
"I had connections in the Lost Net. I didn't want father to find out. I didn't even want him to know they exist. Now, well, since I'm here and I have to play by your rules... I'm not inclined to spout grateful drivel. I'd rather act, and there isn't much I can do. Take these informations as your thank you for keeping the spirits away from me."
Allura smiled at that.
"Pidge," she said, "now it's your turn."
"Well, you have to swear you won't change. Especially you, Keith."
"Change what?"
"Your attitude. I don't want any other to know either."
"Dear me, that sounds ominous, Pidge," said the princess.
"Mister the prince here found out who I am."
"What? But that's wonderful, Pidge," she exclaimed.
"In a way. How do you pronounce my name, again?"
"Philippe de Grand-Eloi."
"Grand-Eloi?" Asked Allura, her eyes widening. "Are you sure?"
"Alas."
"But Pidge, that makes you at least a count!" Said Allura, delighted.
"A Baron, actually."
"He has lands and a decrepit manor," cut in Lotor impishly.
"That you hid a fleet in!"
"Well, yes."
Allura gave him a peck on the cheek! She thought this was grand, not to be the only one here being handicapped by noble bloodlines. He flushed bright pink. They all congratulated him.
Lotor asked if the Barons got a kiss on the cheek, what do Princes get? Nice try, she retorted. They all got into the castle, chatting happily, but Keith wondered if they had seen the last of these revelations...
***** ***** *****
* Ok, about the Sine Nobilitate thing, snob or snab is a word you can look up in Wikipedia, it doesn't actually originate as sine nobilitate, but the thing is widely believed. Humor me, let's just say that in the Voltron Universe, it's used in lists to signify humble origins in schools and such. That is a fact even if it's not mentioned in my research that it was actually used in orphanages.
I did research also on Pidge himself. It's said he comes from earth, but later on that Balto is his planet. Also he has a brother (in Vehicle Voltron). Let's us say, for the sake of the story, that both ended up in a earth orphanage at a very young age (that will be explained later in the story). They were adopted separately. Their biological parents are from Balto, and Balto was part of a 2 planet consortium. How did the second planet escape from the Doom fleet? By treachery! But that's later in the story folks...For Keith fans : no, he won't end up with Ikari. With whom you say? Not telling! It would be a huge spoiler.
Remember... review! Pleeeeaaase... *throws cookies* Help me find motivation to rewrite the next part. I already said that, but again : I detest rewriting, grrrr!