A/N: I do not own Voltron, its characters, nor settings. Anything new is mine.
I finally got a new computer, and can resume writing!!! Thank you to Yamoto and RedLion for your reviews! You keep me writing when I might otherwise forget or put it off…
From a safe distance, Prince Lotor watched the foreign ship depart from the Castle of Lions and debated what to do. On board that vessel were two of the most powerful beings he had ever seen, Voltron non withstanding. He had watched the girl destroy Hagar's Roe Beast without even touching it, commanding the very air itself to tear the monster to pieces. And then her companion, a great reptile that Lotor knew must be a dragon, had laid waste to his entire fleet in a matter of moments. For some reason, the beast had spared a handful of his ships, perhaps so they could live to spread word of its presence, but Lotor had no intention of staying away from Arus. The Princess Allura was his obsession, his ultimate prize. No woman had ever resisted him before, not for days, let alone years. Yet Allura had turned him away time and again. His interest in her had gone from a passing fancy to a full infatuation, and he would have her no matter the cost.
This woman, with her strange powers and her magnificent pet, would be most useful in obtaining his prize. Lotor had little doubt that the woman's dragon could go toe to toe with Voltron, for it was no simple minded creature like the Roe Beasts and, coupled with its mistress and her unusual talents, it was most likely unstoppable. But it was not without weakness, it had an attachment to the woman that was apparent even from a distance, she was its vulnerability. And though the woman herself seemed to possess great power, she too was not invincible. Lotor had seen her collapse after her battle with the Roe Beast. Though her gifts were most impressive, they also appeared to be quite draining for her. He could use that to his advantage.
"Captain, set an intercept course for that ship," Lotor commanded, abruptly coming to a decision.
The officer piloting the ship turned to stare at him, a look of horror on his face. He, too, had seen the dragon destroy the rest of the fleet, and he thought his Prince must surely have gone mad if he planned on attacking the ship that beast was on. "Sir, are you sure that's wise?"
Lotor turned dark eyes down on the other man, his expression threatening. "I'm sorry, I must be hearing things. Certainly you aren't questioning my orders, are you, Captain?"
The pilot swallowed nervously, thinking of the great pit on Planet Doom. He knew very well how cruel Lotor was capable of being. The Prince, though far more handsome then Zarkon, was every bit his father's son. He was capable of acts of brutality rivaled only by psychopaths, and many whispered the Prince was one. But the Captain also knew that attacking the strange ship was suicide, whereas defying Lotor might only mean torture. The question was, would he rather live in pain or die quickly?
A simple enough thing to decide. The Captain bowed his head. "I would never presume to question you, Prince."
He turned around and set the coordinates for an intercept course, certain he was flying straight to his death. But at least being incinerated would be fast and relatively painless.
Lotor turned his attention back to the ship. "When we get within hailing range, I want you to launch the second Roe Beast that Hagar supplied us with."
"Sir, won't the girl simply destroy it?" another soldier asked in confusion.
Lotor whirled to face him, a furious scowl on his face. "Enough! I will not be questioned on my own ship. The next man who speaks against my decisions will die."
The men cringed at his snarling tone and turned their eyes from him, while the soldier that had questioned him hurriedly returned to his duties. Satisfied that they had been subdued, Lotor again focused on the ship that was rapidly drawing nearer. He could make out the strange insignias on the ship that declared it to be of foreign construct. It was very sleek and lightly armed, built more for speed then offense, and the only reason Lotor's ship was overtaking it was because the pilot of the foreign ship did not seem to fear being attacked. It was a foolish miscalculation that Lotor intended to capitalize on.
"Launch the Roe Beast!" he ordered. "I'm going out as well."
The Captain blinked at him but held his tongue. A small coffin shot out of the command ship's helm and hurtled down to the earth. In moments, the Roe Beast emerged and Hagar's dark magic had increased its size. This monster was more feline, and walked on four legs rather then two, but it was still dangerous despite its more elegant lines. Lotor made his way down to his personal ship and made to intercept the foreign ship.
The giant cat leaped at the foreign ship, and as Lotor had expected, the foreign ship's hold opened to reveal the girl from earlier. She appeared to be holding a small white rope, but her dragon was nowhere in sight. Lotor watched as she tossed the belt out of the ship and then pointed at the Roe Beast.
A gust of force slammed into the leaping cat, throwing it down to the ground, but it almost immediately regained its balance and hurtled back at the ship. During this time, Lotor's ship had drawn within shouting distance of the foreign ship. Just as the Roe Beast was about to reach the foreign ship, an enormous white shape slammed into it, knocking the monster back to the ground. This time the Roe Beast struck the earth with incredible force, its body sinking into the dirt from the strength of the impact.
Lotor turned wide eyes to the massive form of the white dragon, wondering how something so large had seemed to appear out of nowhere. He watched as the Roe Beast sprung at the dragon, and the leviathan met the monster with a delighted roar, its head snaking in low to deliver a vicious bite to the Roe Beast's back. The giant cat screamed in fury and raked its claws down the dragon's neck, but they failed to pierce the drake's heavily armored hide. The dragon brought its own talons up to gut the Roe Beast, and Lotor knew he had little time left to carry out his plan, since there were no other Roe Beasts on his command ship.
He turned his attention back to the foreign ship. The woman was watching her dragon battle the Roe Beast, but she seemed tired, for she had dropped to her knees and seemed to be leaning on the side of the ship's boarding walk for support. Heartened by her weariness, Lotor charged the foreign ship with his own smaller vessel and managed to catch the woman by surprise. She looked up just as his laser pistol rested against her forehead. Behind him, Lotor could hear the Roe Beast give a scream of agony as it was presumably destroyed, but he never took his eyes away from the woman's face.
She was actually quite stunning upon close inspection, and if Lotor wasn't already obsessed with Allura, he knew he would have taken this woman as his own. As it was, women were too much of a handful to juggle more then one, and the Princess already had the honor of being his current interest.
"I suggest you call your beast off, or things won't go very well for you," Lotor said to her in an even voice, his tone deceptively bland.
Lissa blinked up at him for a moment, debating if she had enough energy to knock him back with a psychic blast. Lotor read some of her thoughts in her enormous gray eyes and snapped, "If you try anything rash, I will have my command ship open fire on this ship and your friends will most certainly be killed."
Lissa narrowed her eyes at him. "You would die as well."
Lotor shook his head and grinned. "I will be safely away from here before that happens. My vessel is far swifter then your ship."
Lissa could sense that he was telling the truth, and knew she had no choice but to agree to his demands. She would not be responsible for the death of the innocent people on the Prince's ship. If she had rested more, she would have had enough energy to form a shield around the ship and protect it from harm, but at the moment she was too drained to perform such a feat. She sighed and said, "Fire Storm, stay back. This man is not to be harmed."
Lotor sensed the dragon looming behind him but refused to take his eyes off the woman. "Are you certain he'll obey you?"
Lissa gave a nonchalant shrug. "Most likely, but I can't guarantee that. He's not a dog, after all, but a dragon. They can be rather willful."
Fire Storm chose that moment to support her observation, bellowing, "If you do not unhand my lady, I will destroy your ships."
"Go ahead," Lotor called out. "They mean nothing to me."
Fire Storm growled in helpless fury, sensing the truth in his words. His instinct was to lash out and try to catch the man off guard, but he didn't want to risk hurting Lissa. He had no choice but to remain back as the man had demanded. "I will stay back," he reluctantly snarled.
Lotor nodded once and said, "Now, lady, I will have your word that you will accompany me as my prisoner, in exchange for the lives of your companions."
Lissa stiffened, wondering why this man would wish to take her prisoner. She did not know who he was, but she sensed he was not a good man. Still, she had no choice at the moment, so she said, "I give you my word to accompany you as your prisoner in exchange for the lives on board this ship."
"Excellent," Lotor replied with a smile, holstering his laser gun. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her onto his ship.
"Where are you taking me?" she demanded as he made his way back to the command ship.
"Why, to Planet Doom, of course."