Author's Notes : Due to a lack of interest in this story, I have decided to slow down releasing episodes. There will no longer be weekly updates. I will try to at least get out one a month.
Theme Music :"Drowning" by Backstreet Boys
Episode 56 : Drowning
"I gave you one simple task," Twyla scolded, "and you blew it!"
"Our intelligence didn't mention the buildings would be fortified with defense weaponry," General Dari responded.
"I gave you one of our most powerful robeasts," Twyla said, "and yet you still returned in defeat!
"There were two Voltrons," she replied. "Did you honestly expect things to go differently? Myself and my men have been following your orders without question, for the good of the Drule Supremacy, and yet your plans have always ended in defeat!"
"Not true!" Twyla hissed. "I commissioned the robeast that single handedly destroyed the Voltron aboard their precious exploration ship! I seized an opportunity and brought our enemies to their knees! You call that failure?" She stood up and glared at her. "To prove my own loyalty to your cause….we will set a course for Terra."
"Terra?" Dari asked.
"Yes," Twyla replied. "I am going to take the designs of that robeast Voltron just destroyed, and have a few modifications done to it. The force on Terra that wiped out Grand Deram will be no match for our new robeast, and once Voltron has been destroyed, all of Terra will cower as we annex it as part of the Drule Supremacy, and take its people as slaves!"
"All I want is to see them all pay for the destruction of my homeworld and my people," Dari said through her teeth. "They will pay through the genocide of the human race on that planet. I will not fail you."
"You best not," Twyla replied. "But with a plan as fool proof as this, even the Voltron Force won't be able to stop us, and we will achieve the next step in the utter destruction of the Galaxy Alliance!"
"We need to find a replacement quickly," Keith said. "Once Truvall and her team leave, we will need a fully active team in case of trouble."
"And just drop Red into the hands of a newbie?" Lance protested. "No way, out of the question. Red needs to be given to a pilot with experience. Someone that's gonna care for her the way I do."
"Aren't you taking this a little bit too far?" Keith asked.
"You're one to talk!" Lance argued back. Hunk stepped between them.
"Whoa, guys, hold up," Hunk said. "I already gave Lance here the suggestion of taking some requests from his students, and trying to find a protégé to mold into the next Red Lion pilot. We take some requests, put them through the paces, and when we find someone, BOOM! We got ourselves a new cadet! I mean, it worked so well for them." He pointed at Daniel, Larmina and Vince. Daniel scrunched up his face, and Larmina looked disgusted by the comment.
"That's all good," Keith replied, "but how long will it take? We can't afford to be a lion down."
"Keith," Allura said, stepping in, "we will get it figured out. I am more than aware of what happened to my father when Voltron was no longer able to function. I won't let the events that led to my parents' capture and death at the hands of Zarkon repeat themselves. We will find someone. One way or another."
"I know," Keith said, placing a hand on her shoulder and looking lovingly into her eyes.
"Then let's get started," Lance said. "Let's get the word out and start trying to find a cadet worthy of it." He marched out of the room. Hunk and Keith exchanged glances, and the Cadets rocked on their heels from the boredom of not participating in the discussion.
"So, I guess this is goodbye," Aidan said with a half smile. Christiane looked back with a smith of her own, and gave Aidan a big hug.
"I'm going to miss all of you," she said.
"At least I know you'll be in good hands," Aidan replied. "Close to your husband, where he can keep an eye on you." Morgan punched Aidan in the shoulder. "Ow!"
"Serves you right," Morgan said. She gave Christiane a hug as well. "We're gonna miss you too." Everyone took their turn giving her a hug and wishing her farewell.
"I'll make sure to write when I can," Chistiane said. "And I'll say hi to everyone there for you."
"Christiane," Kelly said, "please take this and give it to Len when you see her, ok?" Kelly handed a sealed manila envelope to her. "It's the official paperwork for my permanent transfer to Terra, as well as my plans for the Albegas Project."
"I'll make sure she gets it," she replied. They heard the shuttle landing outside. The whole team rushed to the hangar doors. Once they opened, they saw their new pilot walk out of the shuttle. She looked around smiling, and when she saw Aidan, she immediately rushed to him and hugged him.
"I'm home," Lisa said softly. He smiled.
"I know," he replied. "Welcome home, babe." Christiane gave a little wave, and she boarded the ship. They all waved as the doors closed, and the ship took off, returning to Earth with Christiane as a passenger.
"I guess we should start you off with a grand tour of Gladiator Gamma," Taye said. "May as well get familiar with the controls. We're gonna be fighting Drules again before you know it."
"We haven't confirmed that the Derinja even survived the final battle," Kelly said.
"But we are investigating, right?" Aidan asked.
"Yes," Kelly replied. "We sent some unmanned probes to the ruins of Grand Deram to see if there has been any activity. Once we have the data back from the probes, we'll hopefully know more about what we're dealing with."
"And if the Derinja are still active," David said, "we'll take them out."
"Sounds good to me," Aidan said.
"I feel a lot of love in this room," Taye said, laughing. Kelly smirked at him.
"In the meantime," she said, "get to the hangar and run a physical and systems checks on all three mechas. I expect a full report by 1700 hours. Dismissed." She walked out of the shuttle hangar, and the others looked at one another.
"You heard her," Lisa said with a smile, "Let's get to work!" They all headed towards the main hangar where the mechas are stored.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Roxy said, being pulled along by Tails.
"Of course it is!" she replied. "All you need to do is sign up, wow the crowd, and get him thinking you might take the position. He'll practically BEG you to come back. You'll know once and for all that he loves you. It's fool proof!"
"If you say so," Roxy replied, unsure. "I already know Red will accept me as a pilot. I just get so very competitive….or at least, that's what my therapist tells me."
"Phht!" Tails said, dragging her to the sign up board. She tapped the board in several places, making some selections, and then allowed Roxy to fill in her information. Once done, she hesitated over the submit button.
"Are you sure I should do this?" she asked. "I mean, it'd be one thing if McClain was in on this, but he's not."
"It'll be ok!" Tails said slyly. "Even if you win the competition, you can still back down and allow the runner up to take it, right?" Another girl approached the board, and took notice of Roxy.
"Truvall?" the girl said. "What are YOU doing signing up for this?"
"Derrick," Roxy replied through her teeth, "as a matter of fact, I'm signing up for this because I know I can win it."
"Maybe in your dreams," she laughed. "You never changed, Truvall. Always stealing everyone else's thunder, and trying to make everyone else look bad. Not this time." Roxy slammed her hand on the submit button, officially submitting her entry.
"I'm not here to steal anyone's thunder, Derrick," Roxy replied. "But it's gonna be so satisfying to have a front row seat for when Red spits you out like a rancid piece of Arusian tencillia!" She turned her nose up and walked away, Tails close behind.
"Who the flack is that?" Tails asked.
"Samantha Derrick," Roxy whispered. "Before I came to the Academy, she and I attended classes together here on Arus. Not so much a 'rival' as a relentless blit."
"Well, don't let it bother you," Tails said.
"I won't," Roxy replied. "Because I'm gonna beat the crap out of her in this competition!" She walked off, and Tails sighed.
"What have I done?" she softly asked herself, then followed her.
Chip turned just in time to see the Command Jet Explorer's engines fire up, and take off from the hangar. He ran fruitlessly after it, frantically waving his arms. Stormclaw and the cadets looked on with concern as Commander Hawkins entered the hangar.
"What's all the commotion?" Hawkins asked.
"Did you authorize someone to launch the CJE?" Chip asked.
"Yes," Hawkins replied. "The pilot I spoke with you about earlier is going on a test run. Since you said the repairs on that ship were completed for the most part, I figured I would allow her to test fly it, and test out her skills as a pilot."
"Commander," Chip said in a panic, "a computer virus and the remnants of a detonator were found in the Command Module. It's possible the vehicles were tampered with, and Tangor and Zandee didn't get a chance to run a more thorough scan on the CJE's systems yet! The ship could be a ticking time bomb!"
"What?" Hawkins replied. He turned, and everyone ran for the control room.
"So," Lisa said to Taye as they both looked over the systems from within Gamma, "what is the Derinja?"
"A small kingdom in alliance with the Drule Supremacy," Taye replied. "Since we defeated their leader, and their planet exploded, things had been quiet around here. Then months ago, robeasts began attacking Terra again, and no one seems to know where they are coming from."
"You suspect the Supremacy might be aiding the Derinja?" Lisa asked.
"That's what Aidan suspects," he replied. "I just happen to agree with him." He grinned. "We've been bugging Kelly to look into the situation, but until recently, she's been keeping our hands tied. Hopefully now we can get some answers to our suspicions." Suddenly, the alarm went off.
"Code One Alert!" Kelly shouted over the loudspeaker. "Voltron Force, board your ships and launch immediately!" Taye looked over at Lisa, and she nodded back to him.
"I think we may have found what we are looking for," he said as he strapped himself in. Lisa did the same, and within moments, all three mechas took off into the air, meeting once before launching through their individual chutes.
Roxy stared out the window at the night sky. Deep in thought, it took her a moment to notice something streaking across the sky. It came closer and closer….suddenly followed by dozens of them. Tiny lights.
"Meteor shower?" she asked herself. "That doesn't seem right." Within moments, the objects pounded into the bed of Lake Arus. The water began to violently rock. Within moments, the alarms went off, and she turned her head to look. Dariana and tails jumped up.
"What the flack?" Tails asked.
"Suit up," Roxy said, running for her jumpsuit. "Something just crashed into the lake, and I don't think it's good." They suited up and ran from the room.
"Cadet Owens!" Hawkins' voice boomed over the com. "Please return to the hangar immediately! We have found something possibly wrong with the Command Jet Explorer! Do you hear me?" She looked around, then hit the button to reply.
"I hear you, Commander," she replied. "Changing course to…" Suddenly, the ship lost control. It turned slightly, and headed into a nosedive. "Snart! The controls are unresponsive." She gripped the controls. "If something has control of this ship, I'm not going down without a fight." She braced herself for the impact, but the ship cut through the surface of the water flawlessly, and continued to descend deeper and deeper into the ocean. As she tried her best to jerk the controls, and try to regain control, she saw something amazing…an underwater fortress the likes of which she's never seen. "That is definitely not human." She looked around at the controls. "Alright, systems analysis…there has to be something transmitting or receiving the signal working the controls." It was then it hit her. "The Com! I gotta disable the com. I may not know much about programming, but if I can cut off transmission…." She removed her straps and went to the back of the cockpit and looked around. "That one." She ripped off an access panel and stared intently at the wiring. "If I sever this one here, and this here….flack, no knife." She shrugged, pulled her blaster and shot the panel. It exploded in sparks. Suddenly, the ship went into a spin. She tried to get back to the console, and strapped herself in. She throttled up and pulled the controls, and started to rocket back towards the surface.
"Now to get back to the hangar," she said. Then she saw something up ahead. "Are those….Drule?" She looked at her panel. "Weapons systems are offline. Well, Jenny, I guess it's time to put all that flight training to good use." She pulled the controls, and the ship weaved and dodged the laser fire and torpedo missiles as she tried desperately to surface. "Come on…come on….." The CJE burst through the surface and took off into the air. The Drule ships didn't follow, choosing to keep their cover, they returned to the fortress below.
"I better get back to the hangar," she said to herself. "Hopefully Commander Hawkins and his team can make heads or tails of what happened. And they definitely need to hear about what I found."
"What's the situation?" Keith asked.
"Multiple objects came crashing through Arus' atmosphere," Pidge replied. "Most of them crashed into Lake Arus!"
"Daniel," Keith said, "you and the others get to the lions and check it out."
"You got it!" Daniel replied, turning to run for the chutes. The others followed suit. Roxy ran up to Keith, JC and Seth just getting to the control room now.
"Kogane," Roxy said, "do you want us to take the jets and assist?"
"Negative," he replied. "I want you all to stay on alert. If it is something, we will need to be ready."
"Understood," she replied, disappointed.
"Hmph," Seth said. "Woke us up just to sit here."
"It's ok," JC replied. "I'd rather be on alert."
The pilots landed in the shuttles, and they took off through the tubes towards the lions. But as Larmina's shuttle emerged from the castle going through Lake Arus, one of the objects crashed through the tunnel, severing it from the rest of the path. Larmina braced herself as the shuttle struck the edges and cut into it, spinning as it fell out of the tube and to the lakebed. She tapped her voltcom.
"Castle control!" she shouted. "The path to Blue was severed! I'm trapped in the shuttle at the bottom of the lake!"
"Can you get out?" Pidge asked. Larmina pressed buttons, then began kicking the shuttle opening hard fruitlessly.
"I can't!" she shouted. "It won't budge! The pressure outside the cabin is too high!"
"Hang on, Larmina," Daniel shouted through the com. "We're on our way!" Larmina looked out the windshield again and tried to make out what crashed through the tunnel. As it focused, her eyes widened as the object pulled itself out of the dirt, turned, opened its mouth full of teeth and swam full force right at her.
"There!" Aidan shouted. They watched as the object they were looking for splashed down into the water, travelling deep into the bay. "We have to follow it."
"Mind if I take point on this one?" Taye asked. "Gamma's better equipped for this, and Lisa is our marine expert." Lisa nodded to him.
"Alright, Benton," Aidan replied. "Let's see what's down there." The team dived into the bay and swam towards the object, which hit the bottom of the bay. As they got closer, it turned and fired a laser cannon at them, Gamma taking a direct hit.
"Look out!" Aidan shouted, and he and David split left and right to avoid the blast. Beta reached behind him and pulled out a short spear and threw it at the beast. Alpha followed it, forming the Alpha Sword, and the spear bounced off the armored exterior of the beast. It reared up on its hind legs and let out a roar-like noise.
"Benton!" Aidan shouted. "Benton! Kaga! Can you hear me?" Both of them were knocked unconscious by the blast, and Gamma was drifting.
"It bounced right off!" Davin shouted. "What do we do now?"
"I'm not able to get any readings from Gamma," Morgan shouted. "Taye and Lisa are down."
"Dammit," Aidan said in frustration. He gritted his teeth as he went to strike the robeast in anger, the beast powering up the cannon again, ready to fire at point blank range.