Chapter Three
Allura tasted blood in her mouth and she spit it out as Merla passed in front of her. The action elicited another slap to the face, but she rolled with it to reduce its impact.
"Where is Voltron?" Merla demanded.
"Which part of 'I don't know' do you not understand?" Allura retorted, irritated.
For her answer, she got a weapon pointed at her face. Again. Merla used the same tactics without fail and it was clear to Allura that she had no intention of killing Allura or Keith. However, she took intense pleasure in killing their people in front of them. Since Skech's death, a soldier had been killed every two days, as she asked either Keith or Allura the same question over and over. Allura saw young men and women who had worked with her in Castle Control lose their lives because of this woman. A part of her died every single time, but she kept her mouth shut and so did Keith. She had to keep reminding herself that the end would justify the means...
"You know where they are. Those pilots would not do anything without your word," Merla said. "They grew up in comfort and safety and I doubt very much if they can think for themselves."
Allura said nothing. With a sound of disgust, Merla brought in an older woman, a maid that Allura recognized. The woman looked to the Queen, her expression stoic.
"Be brave," she said, her voice trembling.
Merla kept her eyes on Allura's face as she held her gun at the woman's temple.
"One more time, Your Highness, " Merla said, her finger already starting to press the trigger.
"I'm sorry," Allura said to the woman.
She refused to let herself look away because she owed it to the maid to remember the way she died. She paled as Merla's soldiers dragged the woman away by her feet, her blood leaving a trail on the metal floor.
"Acts like this will always come back to haunt you," Allura said. "Whether I cause your demise or someone else...it will come, Merla."
Merla's lips curved slowly into a wicked smile that chilled Allura's blood.
"Well, I am a lot of things, but I am not immortal," she said. "However, I can guarantee that you will not live to see the day I leave this life."
"That's just one more thing that we cannot agree on," Allura said with a smile just as cold.
Merla put her hands on Allura's armrests, forcing the Queen to look directly into her narrowed yellow eyes. Allura felt something inside her clench, something she hadn't felt since the day Nanny had shown her that she had magic inside her. The magic that she'd ignored, afraid of not being able to control it after Nanny's death. The magic that now hibernated inside her three children...it exploded inside her like a supernova and she gasped.
"You..." she started as Merla smiled.
A Drule soldier ran into the room and whispered something in Merla's ear. Her eyes narrowed dangerously and she grabbed Allura's arm, yanking her to her feet.
"As interesting as that was, it looks like our time together is going to come to an end, Your Highness," she said. "Voltron's decided to find us."
Jack gunned the thrusters and fired his lasers wildly, hitting everything in front of the Black. And there was plenty.
They had surprised the first fighters that had been in the air but those fighters had quickly called in backup and they were now in the middle of a serious dogfight. The Blue and Yellow Lions had done what they had to do, bellies filled with crates of ammo. They now fought fiercely alongside their teammates, flush with victory. Jack's expression turning feral, he chased down a fighter and let out a whoop when it exploded with only one press of the button.
"We've got a ro-beast coming up," Matt said. "Make that two."
"I think they noticed we were here," Jack said. "How long will it take the second ro-beast to get here?"
"Five minutes."
"You heard him. We've got five minutes..."
"Black Lion."
Jack was stunned to hear an unfamiliar voice coming in through the Black's private frequency.
"Who is this?" he demanded.
"I am Merla. I have control of the Castle of Lions. Who is this?"
"Lieutenant Jack Branegan," Jack said, letting his voice drip with disdain. "I can't say it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise. I have someone here who would like to say hello."
The sounds of a scuffle could be heard and Jack braced himself for what he would hear next.
"Jack," Allura said. "Do not negotiate, do you understand me? Do not..."
The sound of laserfire had Jack's leaping up against his restraints, the blood draining from his face.
"NO!" he yelled.
"She's fine. It's just a flesh wound," Merla said silkily. "But now you know how it would feel if you didn't negotiate... or should I say, capitulate?"
"DON'T DO IT," Allura screamed in the background.
Jack's eyes blazed with fury. "We will never give in. Aunt Allura, don't give up."
With a flick of his finger, he closed communications, suddenly becoming aware that Bethie's voice was calling to him from another channel.
"Jack, what the hell are you doing?" she demanded. "This ro-beast is coming up fast."
"Let's go," he said, firing a torpedo at an approaching fighter. "We're done here. Form up behind me."
In the center of the formation, Black Lion swooped upward back into space, leaving the fighters and ro-beasts far behind. That was one thing the Lions had over the Lotorians...speed.
"What happened back there?" Bethie asked.
"I had a little conversation with the Lotorian leader," he answered, consciously keeping the fact that her mother had been hurt from her.
"Lotor?" Ethan all but spat.
"No...Merla."
"Who's that?" Matt questioned.
"Beats me, but I bet we can find someone who knows. Oh, and look...we have a communication signal."
Jack opened a channel to Galaxy Garrison and to the head office.
"Jack!" Ian exclaimed. "You're alive! You're..."
"I gotta talk to you dad, Ian," Jack interrupted.
Sven's voice was more moderate than his son's but his relief was just as evident.
"Thank God you got in contact," he said.
"I don't have long to talk. The leader in the Castle of Lions is named Merla. She's got Uncle Keith and Aunt Allura."
"Merla...it doesn't sound familiar but I'll put it on the horn. Is everyone alright?"
"So far. You'll hear from us again. I can't hold this transmission for much longer. We're going out of range."
"Take care, Jack. Tell Jordan..." he couldn't seem to get the words out.
"I will, Uncle Sven."
Jack severed the link.
"No one on our tail, Matty?" he asked.
"Nope. They can't catch us."
"Good. We better get used to our little solar trips. They're going to become routine. Did you get any new information today, Matt?"
In the Yellow Lion, Matt was already looking back on his records as well as tapping into the other Lions' sensors. He had made sure to do full scans on the fighters while the others fought and he was satisfied to see that he had several clear ones. There was also a strange looking scan that he suspected was a fighter just about to disappear.
"Our energy levels didn't dip like they did when we formed Voltron," Matt said.
"That's interesting," Jordan said. "Why do you think they stayed up this time?"
"Maybe Voltron is getting old," Ethan suggested.
"Yeah, but the Lions are Voltron's parts so they should be reacting the same way," Matt said. "It's weird."
"Aside from that, did you get any new information on the fighters," Jack asked.
"We've got some good scans, Jack. I'll have to go over them with my dad, but what Uncle Pidge was theorizing was about right."
"What do you mean?"
"They don't have much in the way of bulky hulls, which is a surprise considering the kind of power they're packing."
"Send those scans to my Dad and Uncle Pidge," Jack said. "Before we lose communiations."
"Did you get any good scans of the engines?" Bethie asked Matt. "Power sources?"
Matt finished sending his records and he turned his attention back to studying what was on his screen. It was an interesting design and he was not sure if he was looking at it right. He got a sinking feeling when he saw that the ships were running on smaller engines and energy sources than their power let on. His fingers twitched with the desire to get his hands on one of them so that he could see how they really ticked.
"I do have some clear scans of the engines, but I gotta sit down with these."
"Good thing we're in for a long trip," Jack said, taking his helmet off. "Send them over to me and talk me through it."
"All of us," Ethan said. "There's no way I'm gonna go to sleep now."
"And don't forget to dumb it down, Matty," Bethie said.
"How many times do I have to tell you that you can't dumb this down," Matt said, sighing. "Alright, just listen..."
The plans that Matt sent were immediately called up to the screen in the med bay. They reflected on Pidge's glasses as he stared at them, entranced at what he was seeing. All Lance saw were lines of varying colors crisscrossing each other--it looked like something Jason had drawn once.
"Wow," Pidge breathed.
"What?" Lance asked.
"I hate to admit it, but those Drules are technological geniuses. Look at this!"
"Looking and understanding are two different things," Lance said matter-of-factly.
Pidge traced a single line with his finger. "This is the connection from the energy source to the engine. Unlike most Alliance designs, it's actually separate from the engine."
"So?"
"So that means it must be an unstable power source. It could be that the shield is not only to keep us out, but also to keep it in."
Lance didn't look too convinced and he shrugged. "Doesn't sound too smart to me, Pidge. Aren't the Lions the same way? What's so genius about that?"
"I mean besides the Lions, you really don't see this being used much because it's so dangerous. The fact that they could keep it stable while flying through battle and doing that blinky disappearing thing they like to do so much."
"Any hint on how they do that, by the way?"
"Can't really tell with this one...but Matty picked up a fighter in flux. It was just about to zip away."
Pidge pulled up the scan for Lance to see. There were less lines to trace, but Lance still could not see how the scan was from a ship.
"There's a little burst of energy from the source, which isn't a surprise," Pidge said. "But you can see that the engines seem to...well...they die down."
"Why?"
"I don't know..."
Lance wanted to shake him. Pidge seemed to sense that and he looked up at his frustrated friend.
"I'll let you know if I find anything new, Lance. I gotta study these," he said.
"Alright. Oh, you'll be happy to know that Keith and Allura are alright."
"I didn't doubt it. You should probably start briefing the soldiers about the hulls. Any chance this old base has ammo?"
"The answer is in your words, Pidge. Old. Gwen was complaining about how the crates were taking up precious room but bless Allura's cheap heart, she threw nothing out."
"We'll be ready to take Arus back," Pidge said. "I can feel it."
Lance clapped him on the shoulder. "Just figure out what makes those fighters so damn magical, alright? I'll take care of the messy parts. And believe me, it's messy."
"Aye, Colonel."
