Chapter One

Keith stared into the starscape, but his thoughts were a million miles away from the cockpit of Black Lion. Allura stood behind him, leaning against the bulkhead. She regarded him thoughtfully, her head tilted to one side as she thought. He had been silent most of the trip back from Earth. She had asked him what was bothering him, but he replied with a terse, "Nothing". And she couldn't even get him to talk about what was happening on Arus. She frowned as something occurred to her.

"Graham didn't take away your commission, did he?" she asked, none too sensitively.

"No," he replied. "Just let it be, Allura."

"Can you command the Polluxian attack?" she asked. "Because if you can't..."

"I can," he answered. "Don't even doubt my abilities."

She glared at the back of his head, feeling her own temper spike. They had gone from close friends to exchanging barely civil conversation in less than a day. Whatever Graham had told him was serious, but she wasn't the one who was going to get it out of him. She only hoped someone could. Lance had said that when Keith wanted to keep something in, he was obstinate about it.

She turned her back to go to the cot, but something niggled inside her to stay. So instead, she went to sit behind him and opened a book that they had picked up while on Earth. She began to read aloud, and to her satisfaction, he began to listen.

They arrived on Arus a little ahead of schedule due to Keith's speed flying. Allura was greeted by Romelle and Coran, both speaking rapidly. She was quickly ushered out of the docking bay. Lance jumped into the Black before Keith could close the doors.

"Nice to see you, Buddy. I think I'll just ride with you and your big kitty back to its lair. Haven't had a nice relaxing fly in a long time," Lance said jovially, taking the seat the Princess had vacated. "Did you have a nice vacation?"

That brought a small smile on Keith's face. "Almost."

Black Lion took to the skies smoothly. Lance whistled appreciatively of his friend's skills.

"You always were the best pilot in our class," he said.

"I worked hard."

"And I didn't?"

Keith only looked at him.

"So what's up, mon capitaine?" Lance asked.

"We seem to have a crisis on our hands."

Lance sobered. "That's only half of it. I'll brief you on the way to Castle Control. I mean what's up with you? You looked a little peeved last time we talked."

"I've been better," was the cryptic reply.

"Give me a hint."

"I don't want to talk about it, Lance and if you don't stop asking me, I'm going to order you to shut up."

"I was never good at following orders."

Keith turned and looked him in the eye. "Please," he said. "Not now."

Lance studied his commander and saw the new lines on his face and the tightness around his eyes. It probably wasn't a pleasant trip back for Allura. When Keith was upset, he was as charming as a rock. An ugly rock. And the last time Lance had seen him this upset was when the issue of family came up.

Allura breathed in the familiar metallic smell of Castle Control and realized that she had missed it. As usual, it was bustling with activity and for once, she welcomed it. Romelle and Coran were still tailing her, but they were now talking amongst themselves. The soldiers she passed greeted her politely and she greeted them back, accepting data pads that were being passed to her. She dreaded to see what her desk looked like. Coran had been taking care of things while she had been away, but she was sure there was still a good deal left for her to do.

A Princess' work is never done, she reflected.

She sighed as she realized she would have more work to do now that the senate was active. She had opted not to be part of the committee putting it together after hearing Arus' plan to attack Pollux. But she still had to act as senator when the senate was up. Frowning, she pushed the thought out of her head. She would take care of that later. She looked down at the main control panel before her and studied the readings. Her frown deepened. The shield power was too low for her comfort.

"Can we get help from the Alliance Forces?" Coran asked as he and Romelle took positions on either side of Allura.

"I requested it, but with all that's going on over there, I don't know if that will be possible," she replied.

"Speak to Space Marshall Graham," Coran advised. "He may be able to get things moving."

Allura nodded. "Good idea."

Keith and Lance entered the room then. Keith went to stand next to Allura and studied the readings she had just gone through. She only threw him a quick glance and turned to the others.

"What are we going to do about the fighter shortage?" she asked. "Suggestions?"

"We could use the Polluxian fighters," Lance said. "Sven and I took a look at them. Their controls are more or less identical to what our pilots are used to."

Allura looked at Keith. He had turned around and was listening to the discussion. He felt her eyes on him and looked at her. She raised an eyebrow in question.

"Use them," he said. "Have your second best engineer work with a team to make sure that the fighters don't have any weird gadgets on them that may jeopardize the mission in case Bandor is against us."

Romelle bristled but a sharp look from her cousin stopped her words. As much as she hated it, they were right in not completely trusting Bandor. She, of all people, knew of Polluxian treachery. She just didn't want to believe it of the brother that she had held as an innocent, beautiful baby.

"Sounds good," Allura said. "Lance, could you go down and inform Hunk of the situation. He'll know who could get it done."

"Aye-aye," Lance said and he left the room.

"How are the pilots doing?" Allura asked. "Was our casualty rate high?"

"Yes," Coran said, with a sad shake of his head. "Too many lost, Princess."

Allura closed her eyes and briefly covered them with her hand. She heard Keith's heavy sigh next to her.

"Do we have enough to fly with?" he asked.

"Barely," Coran said. "But they are young. Most are inexperienced and if we lose them..."

"...there won't be anyone left," Keith finished for him. "We need some pilots from the Alliance Forces."

"I'll contact Graham now," Allura said, moving to go.

Keith stopped her with a hand on her arm. "No. I'll go. I think he's had enough of you for years to come."

She let out a snort and he smiled tightly, pushing past her. She watched his retreating back, seeing the hunched shoulders that told of his stress.

"Is something the matter with him?" Romelle asked in an undertone.

"Yes."