This chapter took longer than anticipated. There was a lot of stuff to make heads or tails of. So, I hope you enjoy! Please let me know what you think. I always take critiques and suggestions to heart. They make me a better writer. Thanks!

"Who the hell is flying those lions?!" Lotor bellowed as he stared at the view screen from Castle Control.

The young lieutenant sitting at the main controls in front of him shook visibly as his hands flew across the board. "I don't know," he finally answered. "I can't get any readings on them. They are not responding to any hails."

Lotor ground his teeth together. He was sure that the Voltron Force had been dismantled. There was no way that the Commander could have made it off the Inferno alive. Was there? There were too many variables. The Commander, the Princess, and the Red Lion pilot had all been on board. Surely there hadn't been enough time for all of them to get off before the Drule ship exploded. It had to be someone else.

"Sire," the timid lieutenant turned to him. "Is it possible that the lions are flying themselves?"

Lotor thought for a moment. The Blue Lion had inexplicably taken off unmanned from the custody of his soldiers. He turned to Hagar who floated nearby.

"What do you think, witch? Is it possible that the lions are flying themselves?"

The witch moved to him. "There is an energy that comes from the core of Arus that gives Voltron his power. A certain type of magic, if you will. That is how I was able to take control of the castle in the first place. I used my magic to block the energy flowing to the castle and the lions. That blockage has been remedied and now the lions are back at full power."

"I know all of that!" Lotor was losing his patience. "Answer the question!"

Hagar bristled at his tone. "It is possible that the energy provides the lions with a defense mechanism that would allow them to escape should the Castle of Lions be taken."

"Can you stop the flow of energy again and take control of the lions?"

"I don't know." Hagar admitted. "The first time I did it, the lions were at rest, except for the Blue Lion. They were taken by surprise. Even in that case, it took a considerable amount of time and energy to create such a powerful interruption of their energy."

Lotor narrowed his eyes at her, clearly not pleased with her response."Well, you better get started then."

"The lions could return any moment in an attempt to take the castle back. There simply isn't enough time. Perhaps if I sent one of my robeasts to..."

"NO!" Lotor screamed at her. "No robeasts! I want the lions in tact and ready to form Voltron under my command."

"But Lotor..."

"I have made my commands known, witch!"

Hagar was about to make another argument when the communications link bleeped at him.

"King Lotor," a faceless voice called to him. It was a Drule soldier.

"WHAT?" Lotor yelled.

"Sire, we came across something interesting while canvassing the castle interior."

Lotor took a breath and rubbed his temples. Did he have to micro-manage all of the goings on of his incompetent soldiers? "What did you find? More of those damned space mice?"

"No, Sire...Princess Allura."

Lotor's heart nearly stopped as he processed the news. Allura is alive? She had made it off the ship and was now at the castle. "The Princess?" He had to make sure that he had heard correctly.

"Yes, Sire."

A giddy chuckle escaped his lips that turned into a maniacal laugh that echoed through the control room. She was his again! It was almost too much for him to bear. He had the Castle of Lions! And now he had the Princess! It was a joyous occasion to be sure! After taking a moment to revel in this new information, he quieted, lost in thought. "Take her to the Great Hall," he said the soldier. "I will meet you there." He turned on his heel to leave.

"Lotor, what about the lions?" Hagar said, irritated. The news that the Princess lived could not have come at worse moment. Now Lotor's attention would be on her, and her alone.

Lotor glared at her. "I told you what to do, Hagar. Find a way to get those lions back under my control. I want to meet my future bride in the Great Hall. The first thing that I want her to see is me sitting on her father's throne." He smirked at her, turned again, and walked out of the control room.

Hagar stared at the door even after Lotor was well on his way. We are so close, now. Lotor, that woman will be the death of you. She breathed heavily and made a decision. She would have be the one to take out Voltron. Just as she had done for Lotor many times, and his father before him, she would have to be the one to fix the mess that Lotor had created.

The lieutenant at the controls turned to her. "The external scanners are picking up another ship moving into the atmosphere."

"Drule?" Hagar assumed that Zeppo was finally making his grand entrance.

"No," he answered. "It's an Alliance vessel."

Hagar ground her teeth. Things were careening out of control very quickly. Very well, it's time to do things my way, for a change. She turned to the lieutenant. "Prepare to release the robeast," she told him.

He stared back her, wide-eyed. "But King Lotor said..."

"Do as I say now!" she ordered. "Or you will not live to see another Arusian sunset."

Black Lion took point as the Voltron Force maneuvered into position waiting for their orders to take another crack at the Explorer. Keith was positive that Wade was behind the unprovoked attack. He wondered idly what the Sky Marshal's motivation could be. What was Wade's end game? Did he really think that he could take Arus and control Voltron? Keith scowled at the thought. Wade had already proven to the Commander that he was a megalomaniac. He was responsible for General Graham's death and the Voltron team's subsequent traitor status on Earth. While Keith had no definitive proof, he was certain that Wade was in league with Lotor which meant that he would feel every bit of Keith's wrath that the King of Doom had coming to him.

"What's the hold up, Keith?" Lance's tone echoed Keith's own edgy feelings. "Those warning shots aren't going to hold them off forever."

Keith gritted his teeth. "Hold on, Lance. I know that you want nothing more than to blow Wade to Hell. But remember that there are innocent Garrison officers and soldiers on that ship. No matter how we feel about Wade, they are still our brothers and sisters at arms."

"Yes," Sven agreed. "They are just following orders."

Hunk chimed in. "We have to get in contact with someone from that ship. Find out what's really going on."

"I think," Lance grinned at them, "we may just get our chance, boys."

Their attention turned back to The Explorer as five ships left the hanger bay and maneuvered themselves between the lions and The Explorer.

"YES!" Pidge squealed. "It's the Vehicle Voltron Air Team! They'll tell us what's going on!"

Keith nodded. Perhaps Jeff could shed a little light on things. He had let Hunk take the key his ship. Maybe he thought they weren't such a lost cause. Before he could try to hail him Air Ship 1, a photon missile was fired at them without warning.

The missile slammed into Red's chest knocking the huge cat backwards and taking it into free fall. Lance felt his neck strain uncomfortably as his head bobbed back and forth violently striking the back of his seat. He blinked rapidly as the cockpit spun before his eyes like his brain was being scrambled in his skull.

"Lance!" He tried to focus on the voice calling to him. He could hear Keith, but the Commander seemed worlds away. "Lance! Pull up!"

Lance's brain struggled to form a coherent thought. He shook his head, trying desperately to ward off the darkness that was creeping into his field of vision. Pull up! Come on, Lance! Pull up, damn it! He forced himself to repeat over and over. The mantra worked as his vision cleared and the full weight of situation shot through his system. He was falling – or more accurately, spiraling – out of control towards Arus. His piloting skills slid into autopilot. Without thinking, he yanked on the controls, then twisted hard, pulling Red from its decline and concurrently straightening the flight path.

"Lance, are you alright?"

This time, Lance could hear Keith loud and clear. Any fog left in his brain was pushed aside by the adrenaline still pumping angrily through his veins. His eyes zeroed in on the ship that was responsible for his near demise.

"Lance!"

"What!?" he finally growled.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Now I'm going to give that asshole what he has coming to him!"

"That's a negative, Lance." Keith ordered.

Lance felt his face burning. "Are you serious? He just tried to kill me!" He was nearly screaming now.

Keith heard the anger in Lance's voice and knew that he had to diffuse the situation before Lance and Jeff declared all out war on each other. "I told you, they're under orders. And I'm sure that Wade conveniently left out some important information."

"Yeah," Pidge chimed in. "Like the fact that we're still alive."

"Yes," Keith agreed. "Pidge, can we communicate with them at all?"

Pidge's hands flew across the controls. "That's a negative, Commander. There's a dampening field that appears to be coming from The Explorer. It's blocking all of our communications."

Keith let out a slow breath. He needed to think. Unfortunately, there wasn't time. "Okay, Pidge, if we can lure the Air Team away from the dampening field, can you get our communications back up?"

"Possibly. It's certainly worth a try."

"Right. Okay, Team, here's how this is going down. Pidge, you take point. Head West – away from the castle. The rest of us will draw their fire while your working on the Comm. Hunk flank him starboard – Lance take port. Sven and I will bring up the rear. Everyone got that."

A series of affirmatives echoed through his cockpit. "Let's go."

Jeff frowned. Why were the lions not attacking? Or, at the very least, why were they defending themselves? He had nearly destroyed Red Lion, and yet there had been no retaliation. What the hell was going on? He punched the communication button. Nothing. "Chip, what's going on? I can't hail the lions."

"The Explorer has put a dampening field in place. No communications in or out."

Jeff contemplated their next move. Something in his gut didn't feel right about firing on the lions. Before his thoughts came to conclusion, the lions turned, and with Green Lion in the lead, flew off toward the Arusian forest.

"Follow them!" He barked at his team. Taking point, he sped off after the lions towards the Arusian Forest.

Jeff kept his attention focused on Black Lion. They were only traveling at about three-quarters of their actual speed capacity which led Jeff to believe that they were not actually trying to escape. That meant there was something else going on.

"Stay back, everyone," he ordered his team. "They've got something planned. Keep an eye out for any surprises."

"Commander!" Wade's voice boomed throughout the cockpit. "What's going on? Why are you not firing on them!"

"They're on the run, Marshal." Jeff informed him.

"I don't care, Commander. They are a threat to the Galaxy Alliance! Get those lions out of the sky! NOW!"

Jeff furrowed his brow. Something still felt weird, but if his gut was wrong, and the Drules did have control of the lions, then the galaxy was in big trouble. "Alright, everyone," he addressed his team. "Ready photons at sixty percent power."

"WHAT?" Chip screeched over the phone.

"Jeff," Ginger said, "you don't really mean to blow them out of the sky!"

"All I want to do is take them down without destroying them." Jeff answered. "Ready your weapons, and prepare to fire."

In Blue Lion, Sven glanced down at his scanners as they chirped loudly at him. "Keith, they're powering up their weapons."

"Okay," Keith said, "just hold position. Pidge, how's our progress?"

"We're getting closer to the perimeter of the field. Then we should be able to hail them."

"Good, then we'll," Keith was cut off as Black took a hit, slamming him forward hard against his harness. He gritted his teeth as a searing pain shot through his shoulder. It was a sobering reminder of the stab wound that was still on the mend – even with Dr. Gorma's excellent treatments. The presence of the wound also allowed the anger that Keith had been conscientiously locking away to bubble to the surface.

"Keith," Lance called to him as he dodged a blast aimed at Red. "You alright back there?"

Keith took a deep breath and forced the pain and the anger to the back of his mind. Now was not the time to deal with the unbidden feelings. Keith knew as well as any good leader that going into a battle with that level of rage would certainly lead to detrimental mistakes. He would have to deal with them later. Although, he had to admit to himself, if he contemplated on the pure hatred that he felt towards Lotor and Wade at that moment, it might very well lead to total madness. "Yeah, I'm good."

"How much longer are we going to have to put up with Jeff's shit?" Hunk complained.

Keith was thoughtful. "Those blasts were not a full power," he observed. "I don't think they're trying to destroy the lions. Only cripple them."

"Yeah, well," Hunk said, "it's gonna happen if we take many more of them."

"Alright, then," Keith said. "Lance and Hunk, you two stay with Pidge. Sven, follow me."

Keith pulled Black into a steep arc with Blue following. After completing the turn, they moved themselves into position to intercept the Air Team head on.

"What's the order, Commander?" Sven asked.

Keith narrowed his eyes at the incoming ships. "Keep your weapons at lower levels. We don't want to destroy them, either. But we have to buy Pidge some time."

"Got it." Sven affirmed.

Blue lifted its tail and flung an ice shard at Air ship 4, clipping the wing while Black the wing while Black materialized his dagger in his mouth, reared his head back, and flung it at Air Ship 2.

Rocky yanked on the controls of the ship, barely avoiding a hit by Black Lion's dagger. "What the hell?"

"I think they've gone on the offensive, Jeff," commented Ginger.

Chip chewed his lip as he shook off the last of the ice. "Nothing we're doing is even getting close to taking them down."

"Fine!" Jeff said, finally. "Take weapons up to full power!" he ordered. He finally pushed the remaining doubts about the lions out of his head. Regardless of his uncertainties, now they were attacking his team. That was unacceptable.

Wade sat in the captain's chair on the bridge of The Explorer – his fists clenched in frustration. He could no longer see the lions or his own Vehicle Force on the view screen. What the hell were they doing? The beep from The Explorer's scanner drew his attention back to the bridge.

"Marshal Wade," the young Lieutenant at the helm called to him. "There is a fleet of ships entering the atmosphere, Sir. Looks like they are Drule ships."

Zeppo! Wade thought. Lotor must have called him to Arus. Wade was not surprised at the apparent double-cross of the Drule leader, but he had hoped that he would have more time to prepare for his own assault on them. "Deploy the remaining Voltron teams. Once the Air Team has destroyed the lions, they will take out that fleet."

"Yes, Sir."

"Pidge," Keith said through clenched teeth. The last thing he needed right now was for the Air Team to force their hand. "I need an open channel! Now!"

"Keith," Sven called to the commander. "They're powering up their weapons again. This time it looks like they mean to take us out by any means."

"Pidge!" The seconds that ticked by may as well have been days as Keith and Jeff faced each other.

"Okay! Got it, Keith! You have a link!"

"JEFF!" Keith bellowed. "IT'S KEITH! HOLD YOUR FIRE!"

Wade watched as the Vehicle Voltron team engaged the Drule air fighters. Of course, the Drule pilots were no match for the finely honed combat skills of Garrison team. But there was the fact that they were severely outnumbered. The Drule fighters kept coming in droves from the massive flag ship. Wade likened it to a wasp nest that he had banged soundly with a stick when he was just a boy. The wasps – like the Drules – had come after him relentlessly. The Voltron pilots seemed to be holding their own, but even the most seasoned soldier could get rattled when faced with such numbers. They needed Voltron!

Then something happened that even Wade had to admit he did not anticipate.

"Uh, Marshal Wade?"

He turned his attention back to the lieutenant once again. "WHAT?"

"Look."

The view screen that had previously been showing the ongoing battle changed abruptly to show the massive lake just outside of the castle walls. The choppy waves began to work in tandem churning into a very large, and very deep, whirlpool. He saw the horns first, rising out of the water like too samurai blades being lifted toward the sun. The head was next. Half-human, half-dragon with green lizard shaped eyes. As the monster continued its ascent from the water, revealing its rock hard skin, it let out an ear splitting roar, demonstrating some very razor sharp teeth. Two wings emerged from its back which – when spread wide – easily dwarfed two Explorer's set end to end. As it took to the sky, the long tail shook off the remainder of the water that rolled effortlessly off of its scaly skin.

A robeast! God damn you, Lotor! You let that crazy witch of yours unleash a robeast on me? Wade fumed with almost uncontrollable rage. He would destroy Lotor for this.

"CALL BACK THE AIR TEAM!" He yelled at the befuddled crew. "WE NEED VOLTRON NOW!"

"Hold your fire!" Jeff ordered his team, although he knew that they had heard the same message he had, and were not doubt in just as much shock as he was. "Keith? Is that really you?"

"KEITH!" Ginger's shrill voice came through.

Inside Black Lion, Keith let out a relieved breath that he hadn't even been aware that he's been holding. "Yes, it's us!"

"Hot damn!" Rocky shouted. "Wade told us you were dead."

"Still alive and kicking." Lance rang in as the red, yellow, and green lions joined them.

Keith shook his head. "Can't say that I'm really surprised that he told you that. Wade has been up to some pretty heinous activities, Jeff."

Lance huffed. "That's putting it likely. The guy's a total dick!"

"I'm listening." Jeff said.

"EXPLORER TO AIR TEAM!" another voice cut in. "WE NEED YOU BACK IMMEDIATELY. WE'RE UNDER ATTACK BY A ROBEAST!"

So, the battle for Arus has officially begun. Lot's of stuff going on right now! For those of you wondering about the fate of our fair princess, don't worry, she'll be back in the next chapter.

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to tell me what you think. :)