Author's Note: Okay, confession time. I did NOT make up these robeasts myself. Ask other authors - making up robeasts is hard work! So these robeasts are borrowed from the Devil's Due Press comic series, in case anyone recognizes them.
Otherwise, as always, I own only my characters.
To Cha - Got your message! I'm glad you're feeling better about Crankypants, I think we all are!
To Emie Mac - HOORAY! I aim to please. Hope your day was just a little bit better after reading a chapter with our man Jeff. (Well, come on, whose day WOULDN'T be better after a little Jeff in it?)
To bknbu - I hope Allura shows up with her crossbow in Crankypants' face, just to scare him a little! As for Hawkins, well, gosh, I love the guy (so does Wade Wells), so I can't hurt him TOO much. And make sure you keep that AC on standby...
To Sally On - I agree with you, Crankypants should definitely have to work very hard before Allura takes him back. Don't worry, Allura's got an idea of how she can make him pay.
Title Song: "Come Undone" by Duran Duran
Tech Sargeant Sparks received the coordinates from Jeff, but had no idea what they were for. "Sir?" he called out to the commander. "I've received a set of coordinates from Jeff. It seems to be their rendezvous point, though I can't be sure."
Hawkins brought the coordinates up on the screen. He'd picked up on a little bit of navigation from spending time with Morgan during Albegas practice, but he knew wouldn't be able to place these coordinates on a map. "Have you contacted Jeff about where this came from?"
"No, I just received them."
The commander tilted his head as he looked at the screen. "See if you can contact Captain Aki and get the specifics. If we're going to be heading out to this part of Crydor, I'd like to know why."
"As you wish, Sir." Sparks opened a communication channel and attempted to hail the Command Jet Explorer. Nothing. It returned static.
"Keep trying," Hawkins encouraged. "Maybe we'll have better luck once we get closer to Crydor."
Sparks hoped that the commander was right, and continued with trying to hail the Voltron Force.
"Oh. My. God." Hunk pronounced each word carefully, which, if one knew him, was the first sign that he was wholly and undeniably disturbed. "What. Are. Those. Freaking. Things?"
"Way to put things in perspective, Hunk," Rocky sighed. "Yo Jeff, what are we gonna do about these things, huh?"
"Come on, Rock, you really need to ask?" Jeff replied sarcastically. "I think we need the big guy. Um, the big guys! Let's go, Voltron Force!"
As the fifteen mecha began to assemble to form Vehicle Voltron, Keith decided that his team wouldn't be outdone. "You heard the man, Team! Let's go, Voltron Force!"
The five lions assembled with Black Center. Pidge piped up from his cockpit, "Hey Chief, I was just thinking...we're on Crydor, and Allura's lion will probably do the best with this climate, seeing as how its element is water."
"I was just thinking the same thing, Pidge. Form Blue center!"
The Albegas crew watched as Vehicle Voltron and Blue-Center Lion Voltron stood magnificent before them, ready to tackle the three robeasts that Lotor's command ship had sprung on them. "Um, Dalloway? Are we gonna form Albegas now, or what?" Taye asked.
"Duh. Except we don't have a stupid cheer, and we're not gonna have one. Get into Alpha Formation!"
"Rah frickin' rah," Morgan deadpanned.
"Shut up, Feld." He paused. "Though, thinking about it again, that does have a nice ring to it."
The three mecha shifted and reshaped themselves to unite to form Albegas. Aidan was glad he'd hounded his team with so many drills - the formation was tight. He was just sorry that Christiane wasn't there with them to experience it.
"Hey, look at this," Jeff commented teasingly. "We've got a third Voltron on our hands."
"Which is good, 'cuz we got three robeasts," Aidan retorted. "Let's go crack some skulls, Aki."
"You know it, Dalloway."
Maahox's Haggarium-infused robeasts were as powerful as they were ugly. The first, a muddy-brown-colored creature with claws, a tail, and what looked like prehistoric armor, held a sword that could rival Lion Voltron's. The second looked like a gigantic pink squid, all brains and tentacles, with a distinctly female face on it. The third, though, was the obvious leader of the pack.
With its ivory coloring and dark brown speckling, it was outfitted in blue armor with what looked like a flame-thrower pack on its back, which was either brilliant or insane, given the surroundings. It had a mouthful of humanoid teeth, and creepier, its "hands" were outfitted with two other sets of the same teeth.
"That's sick," David observed, scrunching his face.
"Is this where the phrase seven hells comes in?" Keith asked.
"Definitely."
A devilish look crossed over Keith's face. "Let's take these things down."
They couldn't see anything through the crackling of the monitors, Sven and Christiane could hear the noises and the urgent tones coming from the three Voltrons - well, two Voltrons and one Albegas - over the monitor. From what they could gather, Lotor was there, and he had dropped a robeast on them. Actually, it sounded like more than one robeast.
"Have you ever felt more helpless before in your entire life?" Christiane asked him.
Sven closed his eyes. Once, he answered her question in his head. When I woke up on Ebb and knew I would no longer pilot Blue Lion.
She shook her head as though she had read his thoughts without touching him. "That's dark."
He looked surprised. "Do you know what I was thinking?"
"No." She exhaled. "But I don't need to know. The look on your face tells me how dark your thoughts go, Sven." She looked back up at the screen. They still couldn't make out any visuals. "You think maybe you can come back from the darkness and tell me what I can do to help them?"
"There's not much you can do at this point." He stood slowly, drawing in a deep breath. "You stay here. I'm going to fight." Activating his makeshift VoltCom, he drew out his Black Ice tech armor and glanced back at her. "Cannons. There are cannons at the top of the camp that you can activate from here. You're a systems analyst, I'm sure you can figure out how to use them."
She nearly hit him. "Over my dead body you're going out there!" Her face crumpled, and she looked as though she might come undone at the seams. "You will get crushed!"
"I know."
"So I won't let you go out there." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Help me with the cannons instead. Please."
"Why do you care so much?"
She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. The Norwegian was shocked at how much force the girl had in her. "One, you came and got me out of my downed jet. Two, you listened while I ranted about what Lotor did to me on his ship." She scrunched up her face, looking as though she was trying to drum up a reason he would deem sufficient. "And three, I do not want to have to tell Lenora that you're dead."
Min elskede.
"Slutten." He threw up his arms, exasperated. "You win, Christiane Kogane. But you fight dirty."
She shrugged, a satisfied smirk on her face. "Hey, I grew up as a ward of the state. I did what I had to do to survive. So tell me something I don't know."
Lotor watched the scene with the robeasts unfold before him. Well, he was watching it as best he could - much to his dismay, it was tough to see any of the action on the monitors due to the blizzard. His sentiment was shared by Wade and Cossack.
"I really wanted to see Maahox's inventions in action," Wade grumbled, fingers fumbling with the control panel. "He told me he had three spectacular robeasts in the works. I am so disappointed we can't see them."
"And worse," Lotor shot out, "we won't be able to see them destroy Voltron."
Cossack was surprised by the king's remark, but said nothing. Lotor had been hell-bent on being the one to destroy Voltron, so much so that he recalled Maahox's Predator Robeast as it was on the verge of destroying the quote-unquote mighty robot. How could he allow these three monstrosities - none of which was as powerful as any of the Predator Robeast's components - to destroy the three Voltrons?
Then a thought passed through his simpleton's mind: what if the purpose of these robeasts was not to defeat Voltron? That occult scientist had a brilliantly twisted mind, and the general would not put it past him to purposely sabotage a victory against Voltron today if it meant that the Predator Robeast would claim the victory at a later date.
Looking up at Wade, Cossack smirked, wondering if the Sky Marshal had enough insight to know what was going through his head.
"Well?"
Romelle felt as though time had stopped. She couldn't breathe. At this very moment, her entire world consisted of Erimar's olive-green gaze, intent on seeking the truth about her marriage from her. She felt as though his eyes would find what they sought, and everything would be over, her marriage included.
"Yes," she finally answered, struggling to get the word out.
"'Yes' what?" He brought her hand to his mouth and grazed his lips lightly over her knuckles. "Finish your statement, Romy."
"Yes, I am married." She swallowed. "Happily."
His lips thinned into a tight smile, but the gleam of amusement never left his eyes. "I asked you to be honest with me, Princess. You're not being honest. I can tell."
She inhaled. "And how can you tell?"
"You're trembling."
"Perhaps that's because you make me nervous, Prince Erimar. My husband would not like the fact that you attempting to seduce his wife in his absence."
Erimar tilted his head thoughtfully for a moment. "Fair enough, Romy. I don't think he would like that at all." Then he shot her a wicked grin, one that sent panic and lust through her in equal amounts. "I also don't think he would like the fact that his wife asked me to stay with her in his absence. But do you know what he does like?"
"He likes a lot of things."
"Yes, he does. One of them, in particular, is the Space Marshal of the Galaxy Alliance." His olive eyes met her stunned aquamarine gaze. "Now you're wondering how I know that."
"Amongst other things." She already knew that the Space Marshal was the whore in the backless dress.
"Well, my dear," he breathed to her, "I'm afraid that I cannot share that answer with you. If you want to know why your husband is so taken with the Space Marshal, I'm afraid you'll need to ask him that question yourself."
She closed her eyes and felt herself nodding her head in his direction. The ache in her soul was prominent, forcing its way into a physical manifestation in her body. "I plan on it. When he returns to Pollux, we're going to have a...discussion...about what's happening to our marriage."
The quiet that followed worried her.
Since her eyes were still closed, she could not see the way Erimar's eyes looked her over with compassion, or the way his face softened as he perceived her sadness as his own. Yet she could still feel, and she was painfully, acutely aware of the way he wrapped his arms around her, drawing her tightly into his chest. She could feel the pace of his heartbeat quicken, and hers sped up to match. Without opening her eyes, she felt herself melt into his embrace.
"You are going to be my undoing, Princess Romelle," he whispered to her.
"And you will be mine, Prince Erimar."
"Oh?" he teased her. "I will be your undoing, or I will simply be yours?"
She couldn't stop the word from coming out of her mouth. "Both."
"Hmm. I like that answer." He paused momentarily, allowing himself to enjoy the feel of the princess in his arms, imagining what it would be like to bring her and her son back to Tyvel to rule alongside him. Why did he feel this way about this woman? Clarissa would have him without question, he knew that much, even if she had originally been promised to his older brother. Any number of available women, princesses and queens included, would have thrown themselves at his feet. Why did he want the one woman who was married, and therefore unavailable to him?
And why did she have to be the cousin of his childhood friend?
Erimar had no way of knowing why he was feeling the way he was. But for a few precious moments, with Romelle in his arms, he simply stopped and allowed himself to enjoy.
"Come," she breathed to him in a husky tone. "Before someone sees."
He nodded. "Yes."
Taking his hand, she dragged him to the balcony. She could not take him take to her bed chambers - the nursery was there, and it would be utterly disrespectful to bed someone besides her husband in her marital bed. They would plan for their rendezvous on the balcony and prolong the sweet agony a little while longer.