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Author's Note - I really need to stop calling them by the Albegas name. It bothers me as much as using the term "mecha". Ugh! The Gladiator Force on Terra take the lead this week as Kelly, Aidan, and the team of misfits take on the sinishter plans cooked up by Commander Twyla and General Dari! But even so... #WatchTheWatch
Theme Music : "Bombshell" by Powerman 5000
Disclaimer - Voltron and all associated characters are the property of WEP. Space Marshall Lenora Hawkins and associated characters are the property of KathDMD. Lieutenant Lysette Fabrere and associated characters are the property of selena devargo.
Episode 69 : Look Who's Back
"Microscopic garbage!" Dari shouted. "Nothing we have done has gotten us any closer to destroying Voltron and enslaving Terra!"
"Have you forgotten who holds all the cards here?" Twyla snapped. "Have you forgotten your link to the Supremacy?"
"I'm starting to think the Supremacy is trying to lead us to our own destruction instead of honor and glory," Dari said. "All I want is revenge! Revenge for what Voltron did to my world, my people, and my father!"
"And we will exact that revenge soon enough," Twyla replied. "While we were carrying out our little plan, one of my scouts reported back with a strangely unique find." Dari raised an eyebrow.
"Go on," she said.
"An enire settlement of Derinja," she replied. "Apparently your leadership went out of their way to colonize one of the worlds they enslaved. When Voltron destroyed Grand Deram, they had lost all hope that their people still existed. Imagine their surprise when I mentioned you."
"A colony of my people still alive?" Dari asked.
"Indeed," Twyla replied. "The planet they have colonized is in the Corona System. They have renamed it 'Grand Nova'."
"Aside from the existence of my people," Dari continued, "how will that help us defeat Voltron?"
"They want revenge as much as you do," Twyla replied. "People willing to follow you into battle for a cause. These are the legacy of the Derinja, General. You embrace them, and they will follow you to the end of the universe! And together, we will build the weapons needed to destroy Voltron, and wipe Terra out of existence!
Aidan opened the door to their apartment and came in. Lisa looked at him smiled.
"So," she asked, "how did your meeting with Kelly go? I heard Len sent some important documents all the way out here."
"Yeah," Aidan replied. "You're looking at the new Commander of the Gladiator Force."
"A promotion?" she asked. He nodded. She ran to him and leaped into his arms, wrapping hers around him. She kissed him deeply, then looked into his eyes. "That's some of the most wonderful news!"
"Kelly received a promotion of sorts as well," he replied. "She's officially an 'Admiral', going with the restructuring of the Garrison leadership structure. I hear Commander Hawkins is Len's new right hand man." Lisa giggled.
"So it's a celebration all around for the team," she said, grabbing a bottle from the cabinet and walking to the kitchen.
"I guess," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm just glad we're being put on the level with the other teams. I mean yeah, our mission here seems more laid back to the big wigs at the Garrison, but we have a tough job out here. And with the Drule threat still looming over the Middle Universe, we've been continuously stepping things up."
"I know," she replied. "I've seen the amount of research Kelly has been doing on the Derinja, and trying to determine where those microbes came from. It's been anything but slow at the lab."
"Hopefully the Drules keep things quiet at least for the next few days," he said. "I want to spend a couple days just you and me. It's been a while since we've had down time, and even longer since you and I were able to spend some time together."
"I know," She replied.
"And…" he continued, "…I've been thinking a lot about us….you know….starting a family." Her eyes lit up.
"You mean it?" she asked.
"Hey," he said, "don't get TOO excited. I just figured, big promotion, more money coming in, that there's no better time than the present. Besides, gotta have a son to pass these good looks on to." She punched him in the arm, but then gave him a passionate kiss.
"So," she said, "when do you want to get started?" she asked.
"No time better than the present," he said with a grin. She bit her lower lip, then ran to the bedroom. He laughed, removing the top of his uniform as he walked into the bedroom as well.
A young Drule soldier walked up to his captain and saluted him.
"What are your orders, sir?" he asked. The captain gave him a stern look.
"Commander Twyla has ordered us to create an extravagant diversion," he replied. Something that would wreak havoc and do as much damage to the Voltron Force as possible while she and the General pursue their mission. I need you to plant explosives in the locations I've indicated on the map screen." He pointed to the locations on the map, and the young soldier followed it with his eyes. "Once placed and set, we will announce it over an open channel. I want to give them an hour before the detonator explodes."
"But sir," the soldier asked, "won't the Voltron Force try to stop us?" The captain's scowl turned into a grin.
"That's the beauty of diversion," he replied. "Voltron will be too busy fighting our newest robeast! Even if they try to divide their forces, they will have virtually no time to disarm the bombs and stop the robeast. At the least, a good portion of the city's population will feel the sting of the Drule Supremacy, and begin to doubt the protection their Voltron can provide for them. So if weapons do not work against Voltron…." He handed the soldier one of the detonators. "….then fear will."
"I can only surmise that the Derinja have some sort of underwater facility right here on Terra," Mizuki said. "And I fear if they do have a foothold right here on Terra, it will make our jobs much tougher."
"We just need to be more prepared," Kelly replied with a nod. "I've already requested assistance from Galaxy Garrison to perform the necessary upgrades to Voltron. We have been patching it the best we can, but it's in dire need of an overhaul."
"I agree," Mizuki replied. "With enough manpower and funding, I could perform plenty of upgrades to it. I still haven't been able to crack the cells that power the mechas though. It's something Dr. Loring never shared with me when the prototype was developed."
"Well the sooner we figure that out," she said, "the sooner we'll be ready for the Derinja, or any other threat that appears on Terran soil." Not long after she said this, a report came on the monitor.
"What is that?" Mizuki asked, stopping his work and walking over to the monitor. Kelly walked over as well, and saw it filming a jumbo monitor in the center of the city. A Drule spoke to the crowd.
"Citizens of this city, and all of Terra!" he shouted. "As punishment for resisting the might of the Drule Supremacy, we have placed explosives in several locations throughout the city! I would advise you all…." He laughed. "…out of the kindness of my heart, to evacuate as soon as possible. As for the Voltron Force….I DARE them to try and stop it." The transmission ended.
"Any way we can locate those bombs?" Kelly asked.
"I'll do a scan of the city within a ten mile radius of the base," Mizuki replied. "Most of the Drule explosives contain some form of nitrate. If I see a large enough quantity of it, we can locate the bomb and disarm it."
"I better contact the team and get them back here as soon as possible," she replied, running out of the lab headed for the control room.
Morgan was straitening up the apartment when her attention was captured by the report on the TV. Her pupils dilated as the information sunk in…a blatant challenge to the Voltron Force.
"David!" she shouted. "We gotta get to the base!"
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Look!" she shouted. She pointed at the report on the TV.
"Seven hells," he muttered. "Let's go." They suited up and ran out the door, taking off in Jet Beta, headed for the base.
"Taye!" Kelly shouted over the com. "We need you at the base! We have another situation with the Drules!" Taye had been sitting outside working feverishly on an old motorcycle. He put down the wrench he was holding and hit the button on his com.
"I'll be right there," he replied. He wiped his hands and ran into the house to suit up, Jet Gamma sitting peacefully nearby.
The fab five ran into the control room where Professor Mizuki and Kelly stood.
"We need to hurry," Kelly said.
"I saw the report on the TV," Morgan said. "The Drules set up bombs in the city? How did we not notice this?"
"They must have some sort of access to the city from the underwater base they seem to have built," Kelly replied. "The Professor was able to pinpoint the general location of each of the explosives. We just need to find and disarm them."
"What are we waiting for?" Aidan shouted. Just as he turned to run, the base shook.
"What the bloody hell was that?" David asked.
"Let me check the scanners," Mizuki replied, turning on the viewscreen. Sure enough, there was a monstrous robeast with a flat, disk-like head with one eye smashing buildings and sending people into a panic.
"A robeast?" Morgan asked. "They're trying to distract us from the bombs, I know it."
"Then we need to split up," Aidan said. "I'm gonna take Alpha and stop that robeast. You guys will need to locate the bombs and stop them."
"Aidan!" Kelly shouted. "There's three bombs! If we all don't work together on it, we won't diffuse them in time!"
"You have a better idea, Benton?" Aidan replied. Kelly sighed.
"No sense in wasting time," Kelly said. "Launch all units. You will have to work fast if we are to get them all disarmed quickly." They all nodded and turned to run for the doors. Each of the jets flew into the backs of the respective mechas, locking into place. Aidan, David and Taye placed the keys into the slots, and the robots came to life. They blasted off through their respective chutes, Alpha from the launch bay of the base, Beta from the mountain, and Gamma from the lake.
Aidan spotted the robeast below and landed nearby. The robeast turned to him.
"Alright," Aidan said, cracking his knuckles, "let's see what you got!" Alpha charged at the beast. The beast ran at Alpha, but stopped to fire a barrage of missiles at him. Aidan forced the controls, and Alpha successfully dodged the missiles, leaped into the air, and came down on the beast. The beast caught Alpha, holding him in place. Aidan jerked the controls, but it was no use. The beast threw Alpha several hundred yards, sending him crashing into a building, which toppled into him. The beast, satisfied with its work, turned to walk away. Aidan shook it off and pulled the controls again.
"You think this is over?" he shouted. Alpha broke free of the rubble, which once again caught the attention of the beast. The beast fired some sort of laser beam from its eye. Alpha put up one arm to block it, but it began to punch through its armor.
"I hope the others are doing better than I am," he said through gritted teeth.
Beta landed in a congested area at the north end of the city. Morgan and David ran out of the left foot and headed inside one of the nearby buildings.
"The readings are coming from below," Morgan replied. "About seven or eight meters."
"Then we better get moving," he said. "I'll take the next floor down, you take the one below it." She nodded, and they both ran into the stairwell. Morgan continued down and ended up in an underground parking garage. She looked at the scanner, and wound up walking into a pillar. She looked at the pillar, rubbing her head, then again at the scanner.
"It's in the pillar," she said to herself. She opened the com. "David, I found the bomb. I'm going to start disarming it."
"Bloody hell, Morgan, be careful!" he shouted. But by the time he said it, she had pulled off an access panel and cut through several wires, powering off the device and rendering it harmless.
"Already done," she replied. "I'm surprised they didn't booby trap these things."
"Don't jinx yourself, love," he said. "Just get up here so we can look for the others."
"Right," she replied with a nod, then took off running for the stairwell.
Gamma landed on the west end of the city. Lisa ran out. Taye went to follow her, but she stopped him.
"You have to find the other bomb," she said.
"I can't let you run around here alone," he replied.
"I can handle myself," she replied. "We have to stop them before they set off the explosions." Taye sighed, then ran back into Gamma. As she followed the scanner's coordinates, Taye took off, heading for the other signal coming from the east end of the city.
"A tower," he said to himself. "Great." He flew around the tower, following the signal. He held steady near the roof of the building, then noticed something on the base of the radio tower. He set the automatic pilot and climbed out. He ran down the arm and leaped to the tower. He got to the bomb, and looked it over carefully. He got on the com.
"Morgan!" he shouted. "I found another one of the bombs! What do I need to do?"
"Are the wires easily accessable?" she asked.
"Yeah," he replied. "It's odd. The explosive is very primitive. There are three wires from the explosive to the timer, and a set of wired from a battery power source both to the timer and to the explosive. It's a mess, lemme tell ya."
"I need you to slice the green wire," she said.
"There's two green wires!" he shouted back.
"Then you got a 50-50 shot at getting it right," she replied. He frowned. "Cut the one from the timer to the negative terminal of the power source." He clipped it, and the timer moved faster.
"Flack!" he shouted.
"What?" Morgan asked.
"The timer's moving faster!" he shouted in a panic.
"Clip the blue and green wires going to the explosive!" she shouted back. "NOW!" He closed his eyes and clipped the wires. The timer stopped.
"I think I did it!" he shouted.
"Good!" Morgan replied. "Where's Lisa?"
"She's trying to find the other bomb on the west end of the city," he replied.
"And you let her go alone?" Morgan scolded.
"She didn't really give me a choice, Rackens!" he shouted back. She let out a sigh.
"Get back to Gamma and head back to her location," Morgan said. "David and I will head there as well."
"Got it," Taye replied, then ran back to Gamma.
Lisa carefully walked down an alleyway, and the device in her hand spiked near the side entrance to a warehouse building. She tried the door, but it seemed locked. She pulled her blaster and fired at the door several times. The lock melted, and the door swung open. She clasped the blaster tightly as she walked into the building. She looked around carefully, then back at the meter. She saw it going crazy.
"It's gotta be here," she said to herself. She kneeled closer to the floor, and the meter readings were off the chart. "It's gotta be underneath this floor." She then heard a blaster power up, and the tip of it touched the back of her head. She dropped the device and slowly raised her hands.
"Get up," a man's voice said. She slowly got up, then turned and kicked him, causing him to drop the blaster. She got a short glimpse of him in the shadows of the warehouse, and saw he was indeed a Drule soldier. He scrambled to retrieve his blaster, but she grabbed him, and the two struggled. She elbowed him in the face, and he in turn tried to knee her in the gut. After minutes of this, he finally was able to wrench the blaster from her hand and pushed her back. He pointed the blaster at her. She heard it power up, ready to fire, then all at once, a red fist crashed through the ceiling, crushing the Drule, and going through the floor below, grasping the concrete, then pulling upwards. Lisa regained her footing and looked up through the opening in the ceiling and floors above to see Gamma towering over the building.
"I got it!" Taye shouted. "What do you want me to do with it?"
"Seven hells, Benton!" David yelled. "Get rid of the bloody thing!" Gamma threw the handful of concrete far into the atmosphere, and moments later, it exploded. Gamma turned back to the building.
"Lisa," Taye shouted, "Are you ok?" She replaced her blaster and touched her com.
"I'm alright," she said. "Pick me up so we can find Aidan!" Gamma lowered its hand again, and Lisa climbed up the arm and climbed inside the robot again. She sat in her seat and belted up. "Cutting it a little close, aren't we, Benton?"
"Can it, Kaga," Taye replied jokingly. "We got a robeast to stop." Beta and gamma took off.
Alpha swung its arm to deflect the beam and leaped into the air. Alpha reached into the air, and in a flash of light, formed the Alpha Sword. Alpha came down on the beast, but it pulled a sword of its own, and the two locked up. They began to exchange sword swings, sparks flying every time they connected.
"Come on you son of a…." Aidan said. The beast caught him off guard and pushed him back. It took a swing, and Alpha leaned back to miss it. They locked up again. Then after a moment, a chain came out of nowhere and wrapped around the beast's sword, yanking it out of its hands.
"We'll take that," Morgan quipped. Gamma formed a bow and fired several arrows at the beast, causing it to stagger backwards, its armor plating beginning to wear.
"I take it the bombs are taken care of?" Aidan asked.
"Yep," Taye replied. "It was an explosive experience." Aidan groaned.
"Then let's finish this," Aidan shouted. "All units, prepare to form Voltron! Denjin Dimension!"
"Rah Frickin' Rah," Morgan commented. The three mechas took off into the air, and the energy field took hold. The units split apart, and began reconfiguring.
"Form feet and legs!" Aidan shouted. "Form arms and torso! And I'll form the head!" Voltron's eyes lit up, and arched back with power. "Form Blazing Sword!" The symbols for Alpha, Beta, and Gamma appeared in front of them, and the energy formed the Blazing Sword. The beast tried to retaliate by firing the eye laser at them again, but Voltron managed to dodge the beam as it descended from the sky. Voltron ran at the beast and in quick succession, sliced through it twice. Moments later, the beast exploded. A ship nearby took off and flew into the distance unnoticed.
"How am I going to explain this to Commander Twyla?" the general said quietly to himself as the ship retreated.
Aidan sat quietly at one of the terminals in the control room, entering his log for the mission. Lisa approached him. She leaned in and whispered something into his ear. His eyes dilated into a blank start, and all at once, he got up and followed her out of the control room.
"Where are they going?" Taye asked. David laughed.
"Judging by how fast Aidan left the terminal," he said, "I'd say the deal is all but closed!"
"And you?" Morgan asked.
"Well, if you're offering…." David said getting up. Morgan smacked him in the back of the head.
"I meant, what are you up to?" she asked.
"Still looking over the scans the professor did of the ocean," David replied. "If we can locate the underwater base, maybe we can force the Drules off the planet."
"How close are we to locating it?" Morgan asked.
"Not close enough," he replied.
Two photos. Two framed photos sat on her desk: one of an attractive couple, the other of the same man from that couple holding a toddler. It was two more photos than Morgan had on her desk.
"So," she asked her new roommate slowly, leaning against her desk, "are they your parents?" The chestnut-haired girl nodded in reply. "So I take it that's you as a toddler with your dad."
"Yeah," she squeaked. Morgan crossed the room and picked up the framed photo.
"You were super cute," she offered finally, warily eyeing her roommate. "But with your black lipstick, I'd never guess that this was you as a little girl."
"No kidding, huh." She finally cracked a smile. "I'm Lenora. Lenora Stensson."
"Pretty name," Morgan replied. "Do your friends call you Len?"
What friends? she thought. Her friends had all disappeared after her father's funeral. And nobody had ever called her Len before, but she liked it. Her parents had called her Nora out of affection, but nobody had ever, ever called her Len.
"Yeah," she said. "They do."
"Cool," Morgan said. "That's what I'm gonna call you." She smirked. "My name's Morgan. Last name's Feld. And watch out, 'cuz I can cause trouble six ways to Sunday." At that, she laughed.
"For some reason, Feld, I don't doubt it," Lenora replied. Amusement flashed in the girl's violet eyes, and Lenora thought that she might have finally, finally found a friend. It had been such a long time that she forgot what it was like. Maybe now things would start to improve, and she could stop wearing her black lipstick.
Or...maybe not.
Lenora looked at the pictures on her desk…those very same pictures she had with her back then. She knew Jon would find a way to get to the bottom of this chaos, but until then, her mind would run wild. The years of confusion….never quite understanding why….and it seemed like the answers she sought back then were finally almost within her grasp. As she finally began to search through files on her datapad, finalizing some of the requests sent to her from the various missions around the galaxy, her mind kept coming back to the past….and back to black.