Well, here's chapter 4 of this thing.  Chapter 5 will come tomorrow... by
the way, anyone interested in my Patlabor fanfic, Patlabor: Personal Files,
I will be posting the next episode to the MPPatlaborML tomorrow afternoon.
To subscribe to that mailing list (which is in bad need of new members),
send a message to MPPatlaborML-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Anyway, in the meantime, here's the Voltron fic.

Chapter 4

Haggar entered the throne room of her two masters.  Zarkon, the King of Doom
(and a general nuissance, in her mind) was yelling at his son Lotor.  Lotor
was was a good soldier, but not really the great general his reputation had
claimed he would be, from what she'd seen- he lacked the tactical creativity
necessary to fight a war.

The topic of their argument appeared to have been forgotten, as Zarkon was
merely shouting insults in his son's direction.  She didn't really care- she
figured her news would be of more interest to the both of them than anything
they might be talking about.  She cackled slightly, drawing the two fueding
people's attention.

"What is it now, old witch?" Lotor snapped.  "You're interrupting a private
discussion between my father and myself."

"Hmm, yes," Haggar smirked.  "Well, I figure you might be interested in this
latest transmission we're recieving from Arus.  It may prove... useful.  But
if you think your 'discussion' is more important, well-"

"Quit babbling and show us!" Lotor cried.

"Very well.  But you may not be happy with this news, I warn you!" Haggar
crowed.

She waved her hands in the air, and an etherial picture of a news broadcast
appeared.  The picture was almost illegibly distorted, but the sound was
understandible.  "...coronation of our beloved monarch Queen Allura.  She
was married in a hastily arranged ceremony earlier today to Vice Admiral
Keith Lockhart of the Voltron Force, allowing this ceremony to take place."

"WHAT!" Lotor exclaimed, infuriated.

"Shut up, Lotor," Zarkon ordered.  "Let me hear this."

"...unsure, at this time, if Vice Admiral Lockhart will be crowned King as
well- that option is up to Her Highness upon her coronation."

"Is your power weakening, Haggar?  Your images are so poor I'm surprised we'
re able to hear what's going on," Zarkon complained.

"It is not my images, but their transmission, your majesty," Haggar said
with uncharacteristic chagrin.  "Some force is disrupting communication
throughout the whole Far Universe... I fear it is another magic user.  If it
is, they are almost as powerful as I am...."

"And here comes our Queen-to-be, about to make a speech," the news reporter
said.  "Let's listen in."

Allura's features were indistinguishible beyond a pink and blond blur, but
the cheers of an assembled crowd could be heard as the broadcast turned its
microphones on her.  "My people!  As is traditional, I will give you all one
last speech before I become your queen."  She paused, waiting for the
renewed cheering to die down.  "You may be wondering why this has all
happened so suddenly.  My marraige, my coronation, and, as we have said, an
election as early as tomorrow to restore the Planetary Council.  Well, I am
merely officially establishing our government under our former constitution,
in preparation for the arrival of something which may become a great burden
for us.  It is a burden we must carry, but it is a great burden
 nonetheless."

Lotor smiled.  "Hmm... I smell an opportunity brewing..."

"Perhaps, perhaps not," Zarkon said.  "Let us here what this 'burden' is,
first."

"A large fleet of Galaxy Alliance forces, escorting billions of refugees,
will be coming to Arus in a matter of days," Allura continued.  "I have been
in contact with our ally, Planet Pollux, and together we will accept as many
of these refugees as we can.  These Alliance fleets will then join with us
in finally ending the threat from Planet Doom."

"If they truly believe they can harm Doom, they are in for a surprise,"
Zarkon bragged.  "We will anhiliate any force they can throw at us."

"The Vehicle Voltron team and over thirty thousand battlecruisers from the
Alliance will join our Voltron and Pollux's fleet in this endeavor.  And
they will all be lead by my husband, who will become your new King, Keith."

Lotor gagged.  "I can't believe she married that idiot."

Haggar looked uncomfortable.  "Your majesty, if they really will have both
Voltrons at once, as well as thirty thousand Alliance battlecruisers, I don'
t believe our defenses will be enough.  We are in serious danger."

Zarkon grimmaced.  "Are you sure, old witch?"

"There are many things which are causing me worry.  That interference," she
gestured to the distorted picture, noting that the Arrusian reporter was now
speaking again, talking some nonsense about the tradition of the coronation
ceremony.  "Is perhaps just as dangerous.  But it is an unknown threat, and
we can do nothing about it.  We must deal with the known one, first."

Zarkon sighed.  For some reason, he suddenly felt as if anything he was
going to do would be futile.  Still, he had to look as though he were doing
something, however ineffective.  "Very well, Haggar.  Prepare a robeast...."

* * * * *

There was no reception after the coronation- it was decided that there wasn'
t enough time to arrange a proper one after all.  Allura and Nanny had
mutually decided that it would be better to hold the wedding reception
simultaneously, and (so as to avoid disruption from the arrival of the
expected refugees from Earth) that reception would be held in three days.
Romelle had already been told, and said that she and Sven would be there.

"Well, Chief," Lance said, winking at Keith, "I think our duties are done
for the day, but your's and the Princess- excuse me, Queen's- are not."

Keith shot an apologetic glance at Allura, an angry glare at Lance, and then
turned to the rest of the team.  "Not quite yet- we still need to have a
staff meeting tonight.  We need to discuss how we'll handle the other
Voltron if it shows up, and we need to do it now in case it arrives ahead of
schedule."

Lance backed down, and followed Keith and the Princess to a meeting room
with the others.  "Okay, chief- what's the plan?"

"Well, Allura, despite the reassuring words in your speech, I'm not
completely sure something won't happen when the other Voltron force gets
here."  Keith hesistated.  "We can't use our blazing sword if it comes to a
fight, guys.  We need to figure out some other way of beating them."

"We can't use the blazing sword?"  Hunk cried.  "But then what will we do to
finish them- it's almost impossible to handle an ordinary robeast of Haggar'
s without the sword, and they're another Voltron!  Nothing else we've got
will do it!"

"That's my point," Keith said.  "The blazing sword will finish them.  I don'
t want to do that."

Lance hesitated.  "Look, chief- I know Jeff's your friend and all, but their
blazing sword could finish US.  Their secondary weapons are even better than
ours- without the sword, they'll kill us in a fight.  Even if THEY don't use
their sword."

Keith shook his head.  "Their secondary weapons are NOT better than ours.
We just don't do as much damage."

"Huh?" Hunk said, confused.  "Aren't weapons supposed to be able to cause
damage?"

"Of course," Keith said.  "But sometimes they're only supposed to cause
specific kinds of damage.  Without the sword, our Voltron is less lethal
than theirs is, but it was designed that way intentionally."

"Keith," Allura said.  "Perhaps you could explain what you mean.  Why do you
say our Voltron was designed to be less lethal?"

Keith smiled at her.  "Allura, haven't you even read your father's own
writings about Voltron?"  He shook his head.  "Listen, gang- I've been
studying this all for some time, and I've discovered a few interesting
things.  Voltron, as you probably all know, wasn't designed to come apart
initially.  It was after his first full-scale battle that Alfor refitted
Voltron to divide into the five Lion ships, when he realized it was
difficult for one ship, no matter how powerful, to hold off hundreds on its
own.  The lions were never meant to battle robeasts- they were designed to
battle fleets of enemy warships."

"I thought Haggar was supposed to have knocked Voltron to pieces, and that's
how the lions were formed," Pidge commented.

"She probably thought she did, because it was the first time the new feature
was exposed," Keith explained.  "Apparently, when Voltron is formed, he only
REALLY needs one person to pilot him.  One person is a skeleton crew, but if
you aren't going to split up into the lion ships, that's all that's needed.
Voltron only had one trained pilot at the time, and he was badly injured in
the battle with Haggar.  The autopilots of each lion directed them to return
to their main base for refueling, but to a person who didn't know that's
what they were doing it would have looked like Voltron had been destroyed."

Coran hesitated.  "I should point out that the one pilot mode is only
possible from Black Lion."

Keith's eyes flashed, and with a wicked grin he said, "As the Voltron pilot
at the time, you would know."

Stunned gasps filled the room.  "I, well... didn't want anyone to know,"
Coran said.  "By the time you all arrived, I was too old to continue
piloting, and I couldn't really handle things after my injury, anyway-"

"You don't need to explain, Coran," Keith said, waving him off.  "But
please, let me know if I get anything I'm about to say wrong."

"I will."

"Good," Keith said, breathing a sigh of relief.  "Now, as I was saying,
Voltron was initially designed to be a one-piece robot.  He was NOT
exclusively designed to battle robeasts, but to protect Arus from all forms
of danger.  He could fight, yes, but he could also put out fires, irrigate
fields, engage in emergency construction projects, take fresh drinking water
to drought-ridden villages by freezing it, carrying it over to that village,
and then melting it again with fire blasts.

"Militarily, he also had multiple purposes.  The blazing sword could handle
any robeast out there.  Voltron had so many other functions that to design
other weapons which were useful against robeasts probably appeared
unnecessarily redundant.  Instead, the other weapons were designed for other
purposes.  Some were meant to fight against multiple weaker targets.  Others
were designed to stun rather than destroy.  I read in Alfor's books on his
plans that he included one weapon because it 'just looked dangerous,' even
though he knew in combat it would rarely be effective."

Allura chuckled.  "Hey, I remember him mentioning something about that- but
I don't remember what weapon it was!"

"The spinning razor blades," Coran said uncomfortably, still not happy with
having been exposed for his former job.  "I did actually later find they
worked well against heavily armored battlecruisers, but they weren't
supposed to be used in actual combat when they were put in."  He paused.
"They also were good enough to give me time to properly the blazing sword.
I had to adapt my robeast-fighting tactics when some of them were too fast
for me to use the sword alone."

"Well," Keith said.  "That's totally unlike the other Voltron.  The other
Voltron, while it did have some non-combatitive functions, practically could
not be used in robot-form except to fight robeasts.  Three minutes is not
long enough to put out forest fires or dig trenches for irrigation or
anything like that.  So, instead, the creators tried to make sure EVERY
weapon could damage something as powerful as a robeast.  That is why I say
the weapons on the other Voltron are not better, just more lethal."

Lance nodded.  "Okay, I can see that.  But none of this matters- how are we
supposed to deal with the other Voltron if we can't use the blazing sword?"

"We can't destroy them," Keith said.  "We all know those people- they aren't
blatantly evil, like Zarkon or Lotor.  They don't willingly commit
attrocities, like the Drule.  They're people who honestly believe they're
doing the right thing."  He sighed.  "We have to find some strategy to
immobilize them without killing them.  And THAT is what this meeting is all
about."

* * * * *

Jeff came back and sat down next to Lisa, carrying two cups of steaming hot
tea with him.  It wasn't very good tea, but in his limited experience hot
tea was the best thing to have after a good cry.

"Jeff, what are we going to do?" Lisa asked, sipping from her cup.

Jeff shook his head.  "Well, we can't just not launch our ships.  That was
what I thought we could do first- just stay in the Explorer, and not go out.
The problem with that is that SOME of our orders really do need to be
followed.  We need to clear a path for the refugee fleet, and I can
certainly understand the rationale for establishing a temporary Galaxy
Garrison facility."  He paused.  "It's just the interfering with Arussian
independence that bothers me."

"Again, what are we going to do?" Lisa repeated.

"I think... we need to get some other people with us," Jeff said.  "We need
to be in position to stop our own Voltron from fighting theirs.  I think you
should handle that.  I think Ginger, Chip, and... maybe Rocky would be good
candidates from my team.  I dunno who in your team, though I recommend NOT
talking to either Crik or Shannon.  Crik already knows what our orders are,
and if he's going to do something about it he'll work it out himself.  And
Shannon... eh, he's a bit too much of a hothead to trust with something like
this."  He paused.  "I don't know if you should talk to anyone from Ground
team.  Cliff, like Crik, already knows.  Cinda... I think Cinda would want
to talk about it with Crik, to be honest.  I don't know if the others would
be willing to join us...."

Lisa nodded.  "I can do that.  What about you?"

Jeff smiled tiredly.  "I'm going to violate our orders and break radio
silence.  Let Keith know what's going on- give him enough of a heads up that
he'll be able to plan to immobilize us instead of destroy us if it comes to
a fight."

"Okay."  Lisa felt her spirits coming back.  It felt good to have a plan-
any plan- even if their chances of success were debatable.  Standing up, she
said, "Let's get started."

Jeff nodded, then glanced up at Lisa.  "Say, Lisa..."

"Yeah, Jeff?"

"I like your new look."

Lisa looked at him in puzzlement for a moment before remembering that she'd
gotten dressed up a little 'sexier' than normal.  She'd forgotten all about
having done that.  She blushed.

"Well," she said, stammering slightly.  Considering the flirty smirk on Jeff
's face, it looked like he was slowly going back to his old self.  She wasn'
t really comfortable with what she was about to say in response, but he
deserved it.  Or maybe she did.  "I was willing to use any weapons in my
arsenal to get answers from you.  Thankfully, I didn't have to use this
 one," she said, gesturing to her outfit.

Jeff gaped at her as she stormed out of the room.  Was she implying what he
thought she was?

* * * * *

The strategy session was winding down.  Keith looked from person to person,
hoping to keep the meeting going.

"Does anyone have anything else to add?" he asked, hoping desperately the
answer would be yes.

No-one said anything for a moment.  "Nope.  Time for you and the queen to
perform your wedding night duties, your Majesty," Lance quipped.  "Go on,
get outta here.  Have fun."

Keith looked downright uncomfortable at that suggestion, but Allura merely
looked slightly embarrassed.  "Let's go, Keith," she pleaded, her face
flushing brightly.  "It's time."

Well, that was a request he couldn't turn down.  "Um, right. Lion practice
tomorrow is cancelled- we don't want to disrupt the elections by causing a
disturbance with a flyby."  He got up, but wasn't quite willing to leave
just yet.  Allura cleared her throat haughtily, causing the others to start
chuckling.  That spurred him to action.  "Meeting adjourned."

Allura stood up herself, offering him her arm.  He took it, and they started
out the door.  When they got out of the door and rounded the corner,
however, Keith started leading them.  Allura was somewhat surprised- they
had agreed to move into her stateroom together.  Had he forgotten?

"Keith?" she asked.

"We're going to the medical facilities, first, Allura."

That surprised her.  "Why?"

Keith smirked slightly.  "We're obliged to have kids one day- to provide the
throne with a royal heir.  I don't think now is the time to attempt that,
though, considering you still are needed as a pilot for Voltron.  If you got
pregnant, you'd have to leave that post.  I don't think that's what you
want, either."

"Oh!" Allura gasped, concern written on her face.  "But... what can you do
to stop it?"

Keith paused, looking at her oddly.  "You don't know anything at all about
birth control, do you?"

"Birth control?"

He sighed.  "Great.  Um... maybe we'd better talk to the doctor about that.
I guess it's not something you're supposed to need to know, considering that
as a member of royalty you aren't supposed to try and avoid getting
pregnant."

"Keith, when WILL we try and have kids?" Allura asked.

Keith didn't say anything for a while.  "When the war is over, I suppose."

"And if the war is never over?"

Keith laughed softly.  "Why does this remind me of another conversation we
had?  One where I promised you we'd try and work our feelings out when the
war was over?"  He sighed.  "As I said then, the war may never end, Allura.
We may never have peace.  But there is bound to be a time when there will be
long enough of a break in the action that we can relax, enjoy ourselves, and
allow our love to run to its natural conclusion."  He paused.  "And that
natural conclusion will be to have a baby.  Maybe a little princess.  One we
won't want to grow up.  One who will steal the blue lion and terrify the
Voltron force's commander a number of times...."

Allura was starting to smile.  "Could be a little boy.  One who will try to
be a slave driver, but will really be a big softy at heart.  One who will
bring hope to some young woman on a far off world simply by being there to
help."

"Whatever they become, Allura," Keith said, "They'll be ours.  And I want to
give our children a chance at peace before we make them... so let's go to
the doctor, so we can discuss options."  He paused.  "Unless you don't want
to... tonight.  It might be better if we don't- if we hold off until we
actually learn a little more about each other.  Like I suggested earlier."

Allura stiffened.  "No way, Keith.  I don't want there to be any chance of
someone declaring this marraige invalid."  She started storming off in the
direction of the medical bay.  "Come on, Keith- let's get this doctor's
visit over with."

For some odd reason, seeing the steely determination in her eyes, Keith felt
he was in for the night of his life.  He hoped he could survive it.

* * * * *

The doors to the bridge of the Atropos swept open, allowing Space Marshal
Graham to enter.  Captain Seiroku spied him a few moments later, and jumped
slightly when he saw him.

"Sir!  We weren't expecting you on the bridge... welcome, welcome!" he said,
using sweeping hand gestures to emphasize his invitation.  "What brings you
up here?"

Graham waved him off.  "Mostly just the instincts of an old captain who's
long since regretted the day he accepted promotion to desk duty.  You run a
tight ship, Mr. Seiroku."

"Thank you, sir."

Graham paced up to the command station, joining the captain.  "So, what's
our position."

Seiroku sighed, typing a few things into a keyboard to bring up a starmap.
A blinking light was identified as their position.  "We've had to detour
around an ion storm- I already contacted Galaxy Garrison to warn them about
it- and so we're still twenty-nine hours away from Arus.  Estimates show
that the Explorer will be at Arus in twenty hours."

"Damn... any chance we'll be in communication range by the time the Explorer
arrives?"

Seiroku shook his head.  "You'd need a much more powerful transmitter to
make ANY sort of transmission through the interference we're detecting."

Graham thought about that for a moment.  "How much more powerful?"

Seiroku looked startled.  "Um, I... I don't know.  Does it matter?  We're
not getting anything more powerful anytime soon."

Graham studied the starmap.  "Hmm..."  He typed a few keys.  "Well, that
might work out.  It's tight, but we might have enough time... Mr. Seiroku.
Let's change course."

"Sir?"

"Planet Pollux is twenty hours away at full speed.  We'll have to
immediately establish a connection with Arus using their communication
systems- which, if I'm not mistaken, are some of the most powerful in that
region of space."

"I don't recommend that, sir," Seiroku said, swallowing uncomfortably.  "We'
ll lose two hours if we are unable to establish communications from Pollux."

"If we don't get in touch with someone on Arus before the Explorer starts
trying to follow the counterfiet orders it was sent, it won't matter at all.
Set course for Pollux, and hurry- we don't have time to waste!"

Seiroku sighed, stepping away from the Space Marshal.  "I was hoping we
wouldn't have to do this.  Men!"  He snapped his fingers, and immediately
three other bridge officers had grabbed Graham by the arms.

"What is going on here!" he cried.

"Sorry, Mr. Graham," Seiroku said.  "I'm afraid I cannot follow your orders.
See, I happen to be under the command of the man who issued those
'counterfiet' orders."

Graham's eyes widened.  "Who are you working for?  The Drule?"

Seiroku sniffed disdainfully.  "Please.  Give me some credit- I know the
Drule would turn on me the moment I was of no further use to them.  We're
AGAINST the Drule."

Graham shook his head, not understanding.  "But then why would you want to
destroy Voltron?  Why are you doing the things we hate the Drule for, like
removing the independence of Alliance member planets?  Why-"

"Do you really want to know?" Seiroku said, smirking.  "We aren't trying to
DESTROY Voltron- we're just trying to see how they fare against each other.
We're studying them in combat situations against equal opponents... so we
can build more advanced Voltrons.  Arus?  We don't REALLY intend to take its
independence, we just wanted to ignite conflict."

"But-"

"We intend to do everything in our power to anhiliate both the Doom and
Drule Empires," Seiroku continued, overriding Graham's questions.  "If we
have to sacrifice Earth, Arus, and both current Voltrons to do it, well...
so be it.  But we WILL defeat them- even if it requires us to use their own
tactics against them.  And we will eradicate the Drule race from the
universe forever."

Graham stared at the man for a moment.  "There is no point in destroying the
Drule if we become them."

Seiroku sighed.  "It is a matter of survival, Mr. Graham, not of lofty
impossible-to-reach ideals.  Our survival versus theirs.  And the people I
work for believe that our survival is more important."

"I will fight you.  So will both Voltrons, once they find out what you're up
to," Graham said.  "Not all of the Drule are evil.  Genocide is not the
answer to their sins."

Seiroku didn't say anything.  Turning away, he walked to the viewscreen, and
waved to his men.  They started leading Graham off the bridge.

"That's where you're wrong, Mr. Graham," Seiroku said once the Space Martial
was taken away.  A lone tear ran down his cheek as painful memories of a
young red-headed woman assaulted him.  "The only way for them to atone for
their sins is for them to die."

-------------------------

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