Chapter Eight

It seemed like an eternity for everyone. While waiting for word on both Keith and Larmina, everyone else had gathered in a conference room next to Medical to hold an emergency meeting. Pidge had ordered food drinks to be brought in and had managed to get Allura to eat some food and drink water for the sake of the baby. Allura was in shock having gotten a brief glimpse of Keith as he was brought into Medical. They were waiting to be connected to Coran who was at Galaxy Alliance Headquarters on a secure line. Right now, no one outside of Arus, the Arusian Diplomatic corps off world and Bandor of Pollux was to know what had transpired on Arus until they knew both Keith's and Larmina's condition. The GA they knew would notice and would be trying to contact them to find out what was going on but for now, they were keeping things close to home.

Coran's face came on the holo in the middle of the room. When he saw the group gathered there, he realized it was worse than he had been informed. Seeing the queen barely holding it together told him something was very wrong if the King and Lady Larmina wasn't there with them. "Your Majesty, Lance, I got your urgent message what has happened?"

Lance hated this but he had no choice. He was in charge of the Voltron Force since Keith was out of commission. "Coran, are you secure on your end?"

Coran nodded. Arus had a notorious reputation for having the most secure data transmissions and communications network out there and no one had been able to break it yet. Also, at their embassies they had created secure rooms for communications and top secret matters that no one else was to know about period and the universe as a whole knew it. So Lance proceeded, informing Coran about the discovery that Daniel was infected with Haggarium and had been infected for some time. Vince watched and he knew that by now Allura knew and that he would eventually get the riot act read to him by the queen herself but right now it was a matter of when but he knew this was going to happen and he decided to take full responsibility for his part in helping Daniel and Larmina keep the secret. When he had told Lance and Hunk earlier that day, he'd also mentioned that Larmina had absolutely refused to come forward with the fact that Daniel was infected and that she was protecting him . But Vince had been relieved to have gotten it off his chest but he'd wished he'd had done it sooner and avoided the disaster that they were all now faced with.

"So as of right now we are two pilots down and the maintenance bay is a crime scene. We need to decide how we're going to handle this if Voltron is needed now."

Coran nodded. They all knew Allura couldn't' come back now that she was Queen and was pregnant. "Pidge, can you resume flying one of the lions for now, its only temporary."

Pidge nodded, he was thinking about this earlier as he and Allura waited for news. He could easily step in but they needed someone to be in castle control. With Coran at the GA now someone else had to take his place. As he had thought about it there was one person that came to mind. Chip, his twin brother. He already knew the team and he wouldn't be back on the Explorer for months anyway since it was undergoing major maintenance and refit. Chip was on Balto working on the programing for the computer systems that would be installed on the Explorer and he knew that work was almost complete. Also Chip had knowledge of the Lion team as well so he put it out there. "I was thinking about this earlier. Chip can come in and handle things from castle control and if needed take a lion. But with Daniel now AWOL we need to begin searching for a new pilot."

The other veteran members agreed, "But Pidge, your brother's on the vehicle force," Vince asked.

"He is but right now the Explorer is undergoing major maintenance and refit. So that's why he's on Balto. He's working on the new programming for the Explorer. If he has to, he can bring his work here and finish on Arus. He's almost finished with it."

"That could work," said Hunk. "It would be temporary anyway until we know for sure about Keith and Larmina."

"Yes and give us time to find another pilot. I can come back and handle things from castle control for now that way we would at least have all five lions filled." Coran spoke. Everyone respected his wisdom.

Allura took a deep breath realizing what this would mean for the team for now. Turning to Lance she spoke. "That means, you will need to take black. I know you don't want it preferring Red but we need a leader and you are the logical choice."

"But …," he stammered.

"Lance, I know you like Red and the two of you get along nicely but for now, I think Black would be okay if you took over for Keith until we know more," Everyone knew Keith had been training Lance in Black for sometime now. Pidge spoke with wisdom beyond his years. "I would like to take Green back, but it now has Vince, so if either Blue or Red wants me then that's where I'll go."

"Yeah, even if I have to move around lions right now, I'd be willing to do it until we know more." Spoke Hunk letting the realization of what was happening set in.

"Any other thoughts," Lance asked.

"Yeah, how are we going to find another pilot to train," Vince asked.

"I think I might have the answer to that," said Allura quietly. Everyone was keeping a close eye on the Queen. After this meeting was over, Pidge and Lance were going to make sure she got some rest. Even if they had to drag Nanny into this.

"When we were on Ariel, I noticed Daigo has a connection to the Lions somehow. I think he might be our next pilot, but to be sure, we need to have him come before the lions to see if he has a connection to any of them. And his knowledge of the Lions and Ariel's connection to how the Lions were formed is within him." Allura looked at the gathered group and Coran on the holo.

"You know what, she could be right," said Vince. "Since I too have a connection to Ariel and my powers are connected to both the Lions and Ariel I'm getting the same feeling too."

"You sure Vince," asked Lance.

Vince nodded.

"We can also get the Lion Guard to help us with security for the funeral. Since we've already had several ships with journalists try and enter our airspace without permission," spoke Allura. Since the funeral would be private and only for the people of Arus, there were those still trying to get on the planet and that included both journalist and paparazzi for which no one in the room had any desire to deal with right now. Thus everyone agreed to the extra help from the Lion Guard if they could help.

"Okay then, to the last matter. You are all aware that Arus is under a communications blackout right now."

"Let's keep it until we know more," said Allura not wanting to deal with the GA and non-GA worlds right now. "Only the Arusian Diplomatic Corps and Pollux are to kept apprised for now and no one else."

Coran nodded. "Understood, your Majesty."

"Okay, then, Pidge call your brother using secure communications. "I'll contact Ariel when we do open up communications and see if we can get Daigo here. Also, we'll contact Pollux to give Bandor an update."

With that the meeting ended and everyone piled out of the room. Pidge and Lance went to Allura and suggested she get some rest, but she didn't want to leave Medical incase there was news. A staffer had anticipated this and informed them that they had set up a nearby room for the Queen to rest and for the others to wait on word.

Once Allura was settled, Lance pulled Pidge aside, "When you talk to Chip, tell him to head to Pollux, we'll pick him up there. It's best right now that the GA or Garrison not know what's going on."

Pidge nodded, "I'll tell him. He already suspects somethings up."

"The twin thing huh," he quipped.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Come on we've got some calls to make."

TBC ...