Chapter Six

Keith met Allura in the living room the next day, half an hour before they were scheduled to appear at the Conference Hall. She was dressed in a floor-length dark blue gown and a gray cloak similar to the one she wore the day before was over the dress. She fastened it closed, her blue-sleeved arms the only part of her dress that could be seen aside from an inch of the hem. A slim silver chain rested around her neck and another encircled her head, dropping a small diamond in the middle of her forehead. Her hair was braided and wound about her head. She looked uncomfortable in the outfit, preferring her flightsuits and pants to dresses, but as Princess of Arus, she had to keep up appearances. The appreciative gleam in Keith's eyes as he looked at her was almost enough to convince her it was worth it...almost...

Keith offered her his arm. He had his dress uniform on, all spit and polish. The escort Graham sent to take them to the Conference Hall led them through a confusing maze of corridors until they finally entered a cavernous room filled with light and strange faces. Some recognized Keith and nodded in his direction, but no one said anything. The whole room had a solemn feel, no one smiled or laughed, instead whispering in low voices, casting suspicious glances at others. It was obvious how much the trust between these officers had eroded and Allura felt all the more righteous in her belief that change was needed.

More than fifty officers had come to watch and they began to take their seats as the ten heads of Galaxy Garrison entered the hall. They sat at the head table, facing the audience. Space Marshall Graham sat in the center of the table. Allura and Keith took their seats before the heads, on a table set lower than theirs and automatically getting the minor position. They exchanged knowing looks. Around them, monitors began turning on as the leaders of each of the Alliance planets linked up to the hall. They would be part of this meeting whether they were physically there or not. Allura was the chosen spokesperson for the rebelling faction for as inexperienced as she was, that inexperience only fueled her resolve.

As the room quieted down, Marshall Graham turned on the vocal amplifier in front of him and began to speak.

"This emergency meeting of The Council of Galaxy Garrison is now in session," he said. "Before us, we have Princess Allura of Arus and Commander Keith Patrick Porterfield of Galaxy Garrison, pilot and captain of the Voltron Force of Arus. We open our talks today with goodwill towards them, despite any past and future actions towards us."

"Thank you, Space Marshall Graham," Allura said, leaning forward slightly. "We come before you today as a voice for the Alliance planets that support us and our cause. I believe you have a list of those planets?"

An officer on Graham's left nodded. "Yes we do," he said.

"Then I shall begin," Allura said. "We believe that you, the council of Galaxy Garrison, has done wrong by the people of the Alliance because of your actions, or should I say non-action concerning the massive attack from the present king of Doom, Zarkon. Because of your decision to keep silent about what you learned, millions of Alliance citizens were murdered on their own planets; civilians and officers alike. Because of this, we have decided to take action."

"You are aware, Princess, that your speaking out like this puts your planet and those behind you to be subject to dismissal from the Alliance," Graham said.

"We are aware and we are ready to face the consequences."

The woman next to Graham looked to Keith. "You are aware, Commander Porterfield, that by standing with the Princess, you are subject to dishonorable discharge from the Alliance forces."

"I am, Admiral Selea," he replied. "As are the other members of the Voltron Force."

"So they stand behind you as well," the admiral said.

"Yes they do."

Keith noticed that the Admiral, an old teacher and was once good friend of his mother's, looked at them with admiration. She nodded at Keith, a fraction of a smile on her face, then it disappeared when Graham began to speak again. She knew what was in store for them and she hoped that this Princess knew what she was doing.

"Princess Allura, though we sympathize with those that have suffered during the battle, we stand by our decision. Its consequences were vast and what was lost can never be replaced, but it was done with the good of the Alliance in mind. We have defended and protected the planets of the Alliance for more than a century. We have been trusted with that task and we know how to do our job."

"Not according to what happened," Allura pointed out, spreading out her hands. "Your arguments are feeble, Marshall Graham. You know as well as we do that what happened could have easily been prevented had you told us."

Graham exchanged looks with the officers around him. Admiral Selea leaned towards him and whispered something in his ear. He suddenly looked very tired.

"Do you know how many ships Zarkon had deployed, Princess? Before the White Fleet was...was stopped, it had destroyed half of Zarkon's vessels. Half. That was the half that had ran rampant throughout the galaxy. Do you know why Luna was destroyed? Because someone had leaked valuable information about the base's schematics to Zarkon and they hit it hard and fast."

Allura froze. "We weren't informed of this."

"The truth is," Admiral Selea said, clasping her hands earnestly on the table top, "we have a serious breach of security here. We don't know how our information is leaking out which is why we decided not to inform anyone of what we learned about Planet Doom's plans. We did not want a bigger mess than what we were sure was to happen."

Space Marshall Graham threw the admiral a sharp look, but it was quick. Keith didn't miss it. He knew then that the admiral wasn't supposed to say that as it was another secret GG did not want to let out. As much as he hated to admit it, Galaxy Garrison was more a political machine now than a military one.

"Please tell me you were expecting better results than what you got," Allura scoffed.

"We did, Your Highness," another officer spoke. "But we underestimated Doom offenses..."

"Which brings me back to my original point," Allura said. "Had you brought this up with the rest of us, we would have been able to come up with a better solution."

"May I speak frankly?" Keith said suddenly, standing up.

"Of course, Commander," Selea said.

"As an officer, I tend to not see the people as living beings, but as dots on my scanner. After living on Arus for two years, after helping them rebuild their lives, I have finally seen them for what they really are," he said. "I believe that after years of watching tactical overviews and reading body counts, you have forgotten about the people. They are moving now because they want to be heard. They want to be part of a governing body so that they can further control their lives. For too long, they have depended on you..on us...to take care of them. I think this is a way for them to say that it is time for that to change. I believe that we are watching Democracy rearing its far-from-ugly head, Ladies and Gentlemen, and I believe that it would do the Alliance a grave wrong if we ignored it."

He sat back down, his eyes downcast. It began in the back, a single clap that rose to applause. Keith raised his head in surprise and found Allura clapping with them, a grateful smile on her face. He looked at the council and found half looking at him with wonderment and the other half with animosity. He locked eyes with Space Marshall Graham who nodded his head at him, respect in his weathered gray eyes, but he still looked resolute.

"Thank you, Commander Porterfield," he said. "Though your speech was obviously from the heart, we have to go through this with our minds. Yes, we do look at people sometimes as statistics, but it is all for their protection. We were put in charge of the Alliance because of this war. This is not the time to redesign the Alliance hierarchy, to change who and what is in charge. The new council may not work out and where does that leave us? Pardon the metaphor, but the Alliance without a solid leader is like a chicken running around with its head cut off."

"Exactly," Allura said. "And from what we've seen, sir, we do not have a solid leader."

The room erupted into arguments as half the officers on the council began to shout at Allura who in turn shouted back. The audience members stood and began condemning either the Princess or the council. Keith and Graham exchanged looks that plainly said that this was getting out of hand. The Space Marshall tapped his gavel on the table.

"Order," he said in a booming voice. "Order please or these proceedings will be closed."

The room quieted down. Admiral Dalora looked at Allura with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Your Highness," she said, "though this one episode has obviously been burned into your brain, you must consider other circumstances in which GG has prevented larger dangers from occurring. The Battle of Shiara could have been the end of the Alliance had we not intervened in the Shiarians' time of need and defeated Zarkon with the minimum amount of deaths by infiltrating his moon base. The Alliance planets did not know of our spies there and in the end it helped them. A whole planet full of people were saved from slavery."

"I do not doubt that Galaxy Garrison has done its part for us throughout the years, but I'm talking about the here and now," Allura said. "This tragedy was enormous, Admiral. Nothing in the history of the Alliance can even compare to this. And I think the defeats of the last few years have finally culminated with this one event. Look back and tell me how many victories you can count for Galaxy Garrison. I'll give you my planet, Arus, as an example. You abandoned us to our underground bases and mediocre military because you thought we were hopeless. Isn't the point of the Alliance for us to help each other? But we didn't get that. Not until we got Voltron and we were useful again did we improve our way of life."

Allura shook her head and continued. "Had we a senate in which we could speak our minds and lay our problems out in the open for all to hear, we would not have had to live like that."

Space Marshall Graham looked to the monitors, to the other Alliance leaders. Each of them looked back at him with a challenge in their eyes. He stifled a sigh. They knew what they wanted and they wanted it now. He looked to the rest of the council. They looked back at him, their expression unreadable.

Perhaps they were right in saying that we do not think about the life of the beings, but the dots they represent instead, he thought.

"Adjourn for today," said Admiral Spaar in his ear. "We need to regroup."

Graham pounded his gavel on the table. "We will adjourn for today and reconvene tomorrow morning at ten hundred hours."

The council stood and filed out the same way they came in. Keith and Allura looked at each other, but said nothing. Allura looked to the monitors and found the one that had Coran's image. He smiled proudly at her.

"Let's get some rest," Keith said. "Busy day tomorrow."

"Yes," she said distractedly, her eyes flicking to each and every face on the monitors.

She then took his arm and he led her out of the room.