KathDMD - Yeah, these episodes are centered in action around the Air Team, so they will be getting a lot of lines and action. Once they get back to Yolon, I'm hoping to have more stand-alone episodes that focus on each member of the crew to further the storyline and background of the new and existing pilots. And yes, we have different origin opinions when it comes to Voltron, mainly due to your loyalty to Golion. I do my best to try and distance myself from Golion and Dairugger, thought I have giving nods here and there. I just think Voltron is Voltron. It may have been created using Golion footage, but the story isn't Golion. The story is Voltron...something WEP created out of what it had.
Author's Note - Without my muse, I am nothing.
Theme Music : None
Disclaimer - Voltron and all associated characters are the property of WEP. Space Marshall Lenora Hawkins and associated characters are the property of KathDMD. Admiral Lysette Fabrere and associated characters are the property of selena devargo.
Episode 119 : "The Blacksmith's Heart – Part 1"
"Stay close," Jenny ordered as the five members of the Air Team carefully made their way down the next corridor.
"Not to sound creepy or anything," Ken asked, "but does it seem to anyone else that these rooms' puzzles have a strange connection to Voltron?"
"Let it go, Hunter," Dixie snapped back. "Just keep walking."
"I'm serious though," he said. "The switchboard in the first room reminded me of some of the schematics I'd seen Lieutenant Commander Stoker working on when the ships were being repaired back on Earth, and the power signatures from that last room had the exact same frequency and modulation as Voltron's reactors."
"Point taken," Jenny replied, not turning her head, but remaining alert as they ventured forward.
"What about the middle room with the booby traps?" Dixie asked. "The weaponry didn't remind me of Voltron."
"Maybe not," Ken replied. "There has to be some sort of connection."
"Any luck getting through to the commander, Rocky?" Jenny asked.
"Not a beep," Rocky replied. "Chip told me the signal from these here voltcoms can penetrate layers of solid corrite. Either there's something blocking the signal, or this whole cave is made of the stuff."
"Hopefully we're getting closer to the exit," Jenny said.
"Seems more like we're headed in deeper," Wolo said. They wandered into another room, and the door behind them slammed shut.
"What was that?" Jenny shouted.
"Here we go again," Dixie said, taking up a defensive stance and scanning the room with her eyes.
"Anyone see anything?" Ken asked.
"Look over there!" Wolo said, pointing across the room. They saw glowing eyes light up, and the lights became brighter. It was then they saw several humanoid robots approaching them slowly.
"What are they?" Rocky asked.
"I dunno," Dixie replied, "but I ain't waitin' to find out." She held up her Voltcom, and a small arc of electricity emerged, followed by several sparks. "What the…"
"Stand back," Jenny said. She held up her voltcom, but it too seemed to short out. "Something's wrong." Ken looked at his Voltcom intently, then looked back up at Jenny.
"Something in this room is jamming the signal," he said. "We can't use our weapons."
"Not the news I wanted to hear, Hunter," Dixie said as they backed up. After a few tense moments, she spoke up again. "Think of something!" Ken looked around and gulped.
"I got nothin'," he said, the robots getting closer and closer.
Christiane stared impatiently at her husband as they waited for the information to come up. Jeff stared at the output, and his eyes widened.
"Chief Callan was right," he said.
"What does it say, Jeff?" Christiane asked.
"Keith and the others went into the cave in an attempt to locate the Forge, to fix Black Lion," he replied. "Along the way, they encountered five rooms with traps based on technology from the five planets that were involved in Lion Voltron's creation."
"But Vehicle Voltron was constructed on Earth….wasn't it?" Christiane asked. The Krelshi let out a roar.
"Not sure what that was about," Cliff said.
"I hope the Air Team is alright," Krik said.
"Vehicle Voltron was constructed on Earth, alright," Jeff said. "But if the late King Alfor had a hand in its creation, then maybe, somehow, it's creation is tied to the Lions."
"But how?" Cliff asked. Christiane gasped.
"The Nexus," she said. They turned and looked at the Module, a sudden jolt sparking from one of the panels. The Krelshi let out another roar. She turned her head and gave it a dirty look.
"You seem to know what that one said," Jeff said. She nodded.
"It claims the ones that ventured in will meet their fate," she said, "and that this false defender will perish." She looked back at the Module, and it seemed to slump as the power continued to siphon away from the nexus deep within. She ran towards it.
"Chris?" Jeff shouted. "What are you doing?" She blocked his shouts out for the moment, and once again placed her hands on the cold steel. Her mind raced as thoughts filled her head that were not her own.
Christiane's eyes opened, and she found herself still standing in front of the Module, but in a different place. She turned to see Dr. Loring at a console, presumably running tests on the systems. She turned back towards the Module, feeling the energy within it pulsing with life. But the life she felt was not that of a machine….it was that of a living being.
"The amount of power contained in the Nexus is incredible," he said. "The power of life itself…is overwhelming. Some might call it a scientific breakthrough, but life itself is so much more complex than any theory man can put forth." He keyed in more commands into the datapad. "I don't know how you did it….but you have turned a pipe dream of the Alliance into hope for billions of people on countless worlds across the universe."
"He barely scratches the surface of thought," a voice behind her spoke. Christiane turned quickly to see the woman she had seen in her last vision…the middle-aged Drule woman, light grey hear brushed back behind her, wearing a blood red cape that seemed all too familiar to her. The woman grinned, a single scar seemingly crossing her left eye socket arallel to her nose.
"It's you," Christiane said, looking at her, then to Dr. Loring, then back to her. "Why are you showing me this? What is the Lion's connection to Voltron?" The woman laughed.
"You already answered that question, young one," she replied. "You saw the Nexus crystals being cultivated by that scientist. And you also know of the sacrifice that brought life to them…" Chistiane looked at her again, her eyes widening.
"Kovinx," she said with a gasp, "if you want to show me anything….tell me anything….please, tell me how to rescue my friends and fix Voltron's Nexus." Kovinx looked back at Dr. Loring.
"This man was a great scientist," she said. "He wasn't blinded by facts the way most humans are. It wasn't his achievements in cybernetics, or his many award-winning papers on systems analysis. He accomplished many things in his lifetime, but above all the tangible, he was able to craft the unbelievable….and yet still believe." She turned back to Christiane. "Young one, Voltron exists as a machine, but Voltron exists as an entity. Humans blink at the thought that a spirit could even exist. They mock the very deities they worship, and they laugh at the very mention of the magic and mystic power." She looked deep into her eyes. "It was this man's belief in Voltron….his belief that he was worthy of his role….that made this miracle happen. He is the reason my sacrifice was never and will never be in vain." Christiane stared back, trying to process everything Kovinx had just said to her.
"The Krelshi said I am not worthy," she said softly. "They referred to Voltron as an 'imposter'." Kovinx walked away from her, but turned one last time.
"The question is not what the Krelshi believe," she said softly, "it is what you believe." She turned again, walking away.
"Kovinx, wait!" she shouted, but light enveloped her….
"Here they come!" Jenny shouted. She grabbed one of them, but it pulled her in and pushed backwards, sending her backwards to the ground. Wolo ran at another and tried to flip it, but it picked him up and tossed him like a rag doll across the room and into the wall, falling to the floor.
"We gotta do somethin'," Rock shouted.
"But what?" Dixie asked. One got close to her, and she grabbed its hands, fighting it in a test of strength.
"There has to be something about these things that connects it to Voltron!" Ken shouted.
"Will you stop!" Dixie shouted, struggling with the robot. "Nothing in this cave is remotely related to…" She turned her head to look the robot in the face….and saw her own reflection.