Chapter Two

General Niloc sat placidly in his chair overlooking the bridge of his warship, The Queen of the Skies. He watched as the five robot Lions appeared from seemingly out of nowhere to face off with the enemy fighters surrounding the warship. He watched, his black eyes observant, as they moved with precision, cutting through the fighters as if they were nothing but paper. The fluidity with which the team moved was effortless and came with hours of practice as well as firm leadership.

Niloc knew of Porterfield. Zarkon had made sure he was fully informed of the situation, and he looked forward to facing off with the young Commander. Porterfield would prove to be a worthy adversary, unlike the weaklings Niloc had encountered during their victorious battle a few weeks earlier. They had capitulated the second Niloc had destroyed most of their fleets, choosing their pathetic lives over a more honorable death with their comrades. He had a feeling that Porterfield would not choose life over death when his friends were dead and he was the only one left.

"Nepeen," he called to a Doom soldier. "What is our status?"

"Half of our figthers are either down or crippled, General," Nepeen replied. "What are your orders?"

"Concentrate the fighters around the Blue Lion," he said. "As far as I can tell, its pilot is the least skilled. A budding fighter, to be sure, but new at this nevertheless."

Outside, the five pilots were fighting hard to protect the people on the ground as well as the other pilots in the sky who did not have the same protection as they did. So they were surprised when most of the fighters stopped what they were doing only to turn about and head towards Blue Lion. The other four pilots watched with horror as the Doom fighters surrounded Allura. For her part, the Princess kept her head, but she threw panicked glances at the monitors at her elbow to see if the others were coming.

Keith was nearby, as he always was, and he immediately engaged three fighters at the same time. The others jumped in only moments later, but the Blue still received massive hits, its outer hull beginning to show signs of damage. All the fighters nearby stopped firing at whoever they were firing at to turn to the Blue and threw all their power at it. Allura flew erratically, trying to dodge the laser blasts, and it wasn't making it easier for the others to protect her as they could not keep up.

"Keep calm, Allura," Keith said, his voice deceptively soothing. Inside, he was just as panicked as she was; he just knew how to handle it better in a battle situation. "We're right here with you, but you have to stay steady."

"My warning lights are flashing," she said mechanically, almost thoughtlessly, a sign that she was too close to falling off the edge. "I have to try to reduce the damage somehow."

"Turn on your ventilation system and turn off your life support, rerouting that power to the main shields," Pidge instructed.

Keith saw the Princess open her mouth to argue, but he cut her off. "Just listen to him, Allura. He knows what he's talking about."

"Quit the yakking! We've got those bastards surrounding us!" Lance yelled.

"Form Voltron," Allura said.

"Not yet," Keith said. "There are too many of them and if we come together, we'll be too easy a target. We have to reduce their numbers first."

The Blue shuddered as another blast detonated on its rear hull. Allura gritted her teeth and in one smooth motion threw off her helmet. Keith stayed close to her right as Hunk took her left. Lance took the lead and Pidge the rear. They surrounded her tightly, forming an even more powerful shield than the one she had. She took a deep breath and refocused her mind on the task at hand. She aimed her lasers at a passing fighter and blew it to smithereens.

"Good," Keith said. "Just remain steady so we can stay with you." He had to keep talking to her for fear that she would have a breakdown right there and now.

"How did Blue Lion hold up?" Hunk asked worriedly.

Allura checked her maintenance readings and frowned. "Not too good. There's damage to the aft thrusters as well as the starboard laser cannons from what I can tell. I'll run a diagnostic."

"It doesn't look good, Keith," Hunk said. "I can tell by just looking at it. The right back leg is hanging by a thread."

"We need to get it to a maintenance bay," Pidge said.

"Lance, Pidge," Keith said, "Escort the Princess back to the castle. Hunk and I will cover you."

"Aye-aye," Lance said.

"Copy, Allura?" Keith asked.

"Acknowledged."

"Change positions," Keith ordered.

Quickly, the Red and Green moved into place next to the Blue. The enemy fighters moved in on them just as quickly, but the Black and Yellow held them off. General Niloc watched their fancy flying with a sneer. Though they were far from losing, Niloc had not come to Arus to fight. He came to observe and his observation was over.

"Retreat," he said.

"But, we're holding our own, Sir," a soldier nearby argued.

Niloc regarded him steadily, black eyes boring into the soldier's eyes. "Retreat," he repeated, but a threat in his tone.

"Y-yes, sir," the soldier said, turning and relaying the order. He hadn't expected the humanoid to be so formidable. He had thought this would be one of the more easier assignments he'd been assigned to. He was wrong.

Keith watched with bewilderment as the enemy pulled back and surrounded the larger ship to leave.

"Should we chase them?" an Arusian pilot asked him.

"No," he replied. "Let them go. We have other things to do than pick a fight."

The various ships began heading towards the Castle, a few staying to make sure that the Doom ships didn't turn back. Hunk stayed with them as Keith led the others home.

The Voltron captain had a feeling something was going on. His gut told him Niloc was on that ship. It was strange for a Doom commander to pick up and leave during a fight when it wasn't clear who was winning or losing.

"Commander Porterfield," a voice came through his comm line.

"Yes?"

"We have an urgent message in for you from an Elbuort Peed," the young Arusian soldier said.

"I'll take it when I get there, Soldier," Keith said.

"Yes, sir."

Keith landed the Black on top of the monument and slid back to Castle Control through the tunnels in the pod that was waiting for him. He emerged from a door off to the left of the viewscreen and found the others already there waiting for him.

Allura raised her blue eyes from the control panel and he could see the turbulent emotions that she was trying to hide. She was ashamed of how she reacted during the battle, ashamed that she had shown such weakness. He looked at Lance who shrugged and Pidge who put a hand on the Princess' shoulder. Keith offered her a smile, but she didn't return it. She scowled and looked back down, shrugging Pidge's hand off.

"What happened?" Coran asked, puzzled. "Why did they just leave? There was no indication that they would lose..."

"I think whoever was in the warship just wanted to see how we fought," Lance said before Keith could.

"I believe Lance is right," Keith said, nodding at his friend. "And I think that it was Niloc in there. That was definitely a strategy that Zarkon's regular lackeys wouldn't even think about doing; not when it means leaving before a battle is won or lost. They'd perceive it as pointless to leave in the middle of a fight."

"What did he want to gain by ganging up on the Blue?" Pidge wondered aloud.

"Probably just how we would react," Allura replied. "He probably wanted to see how well we worked as a team and just how far we would go to protect one another."

Keith crossed his arms over his chest. "Good call, Allura. Coran, did you get a good look at the warship?"

"Of course."

"Good. I want to take a look at it later."

He moved to go.

"Where are you going?" Allura asked.

"I have a message," he replied. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

He went to his quarters and found his message icon blinking. He opened it and was shocked to find himself looking at Space Marshall Graham. The older man looked like he hadn't gotten much sleep either, but he sat straight in his chair, piercing green eyes unblinking.

"Commander Porterfield, we have learned of your siding with Arus during this situation and we are not pleased. Though we understand what you were thinking, it was brash of you to make such an important decision without all the information. I am personally inviting you and Her Highness, the Princess Allura, to Galaxy Garrison for a closed meeting. This movement must be stopped before something on a much larger scale occurs that will destroy the Alliance forever. This is not a request, Commander. It is an order."

Keith sat back on his bed, chin resting on his clasped hands as his elbows rested on his knees. He had to talk to Allura about this. He didn't know if she was ready to face the heads of Galaxy Garrison yet, but from Graham's words she was going to have to whether or not she was.

"Princess," he said into his comm link. "Meet me in your study in five minutes. We have something important to discuss."