Chapter Nine

The docking bay flew into action as soon as the battle klaxon sounded. Red lights mounted on the wall began flashing and pilots scrambled to their fighters. Niloc's flagship was lowering into the atmosphere, the other ships in his fleet not too far behind. In the midst of it, Lance walked calmly, Sven at his side. They were both in uniform, Lance in the red Voltron uniform and Sven in a gray Arusian Force jumpsuit, helmets tucked underneath their arms. Hunk intercepted them on the way to the shuttle the Explorer sent down and handed them a small data disk.

"Here's the signal that's coming from Keith's detonator. It's faint, but it's there," he said. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Lance replied.

He and Sven boarded the shuttle and sat quietly as they made their way past Arus' atmosphere to where the Explorer orbited the planet. They reached the ship just as the Vehicle Voltron team was disembarking.

"Good luck," Jeff said after Lance received his link.

"You too," Lance replied.

The fifteen vehicles sped towards Niloc's ship. Lance's gaze followed them, tracing their progress. The ships were nothing but specks in the distance by the time Sven manuevered into the Explorer's docking bay. Hawkins was waiting for them as they got off the shuttle.

"Coran just told us that the Lions were dropped into the lake," he told them.

"The lake?" Lance repeated. "Good ol' Keith...always gets the job done."

"Speaking of Keit...where is de fighter so ve can save heem?" Sven asked.

"Be careful with her," Hawkins warned, leading them to the stealth fighter. "She's highly sensitive, not to mention a bit unstable because she's only in the testing stages."

"No problem," Sven said, his eyes drinking in the smooth lines of the flat-looking fighter. The name Rainstorm was emblazoned on its side and underneath each wing were two discreet torpedo launchers and underneath the fuselage were three small laser cannons.

"What a beauty," Lance murmured. "Keith will want to see this."

"And he vill," Sven assured him. "Let's get going."

Lance slipped his helmet on and stepped closer to the fighter. He frowned as he realized that he could not see where the door was.

"Raise your hand," Hawkins instructed. "It has an external sensor to check for your fingerprints. We entered in yours and Sven's just a few minutes ago."

Lance did as he said and a top section of the hull came out with a hiss of air. Sven and Lance climbed up and entered the fighter. They took their seats at the cockpit and to their relief, the controls were the same as any other fighter. Without a word, Sven took the pilot controls and Lance the co-pilot. They had agreed that Sven was better qualified to fly the test stealth fighter and Lance tucked his ego away for Keith's sake. When they were cleared for takeoff, they headed towards Arus at full throttle.

The enemy fighters came out of the Doom ships like a swarm of bees. They came out from the top, the bottom, and the sides so that it would be hard to pinpoint exactly where they were coming from. Jeff watched them, his brow furrowed. The Arusian sky was littered with squadrons of fighters and his was only one of many. Behind the Vehicle Voltron air and land teams, squadrons of Arusian fighters waited for his signal. Below them, the sea team bobbed in the lake surrounding the Castle of Lions, their weapons trained at the Doom fleet as they protected the castle.

"Let's go," Chip badgered. "They are just waiting for us to pick them off one by one. If they get too far from the ship, Lance and Sven will have a hard time getting in undetected, stealth or no stealth."

Jeff didn't answer. He watched his viewscreen, waiting for the right moment. Suddenly, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

"GO!" he yelled.

In unison, all the fighters surrounding him took off. The Voltron teams below fired long-range missiles at the Doom ships and fighters. For now, they would fly individually, keeping the Doom fighters from wandering too far from the ship. Once Lance and Sven were in, each team would unite and be able to fight more effectively. And if worse came to worst, there was always Voltron. Smiling grimly, Jeff gunned his thrusters and flew into the heart of the battle.

Sven's fingers flew over Rainstorm's controls. The tiny dots that he knew were fighters were becoming more recognizable with each passing second. They were in stealth mode, and he prayed that they wouldn't be detected. Like Hawkins had said, the fighter was still in its testing stages.

In the co-pilot's seat, Lance kept himself busy by watching the progression of the battle. He was relieved to see that the squadrons did not pick the Doom fighters off too quickly so that all attention would be diverted from the approaching Rainstorm.

The black hull of Niloc's flagship loomed ahead of them and Sven clenched his jaw. The plan was to attach the fighter to the belly of the ship, where they knew the sensors were weaker. Not much weaker, but every little bit helped. Besides that, they suspected that the belly was nothing but storage space. Not a good move on Doom's part, but no one was complaining.

"Engage docking clamps," he told Lance when they were in range.

"Engaging docking clamps," Lance repeated, his own fingers flying over the controls.

Slowly, two metal struts detached themselves from the nose and tail of the fighter. On the ends were powerful magnets and they attached to the ship with a loud clang. Then, the struts began to reel them in closer until the top of the fighter nearly touched the bottom of the ship.

When they stopped moving, Lance opened the top hatch. Standing on his seat, he could reach the belly of Niloc's ship. He held out his hand and Sven put a small anti-gravity unit in it. Then, he returned to watching the scanners to make sure no one snuck up on them. Although Lance was too small to be seen by fighter sensors, someone might come close enough to see a man come out of thin air. And if he knew Doom fighter pilots, they shot first and asked questions later.

"Is there anybody up there?" he asked Sven.

Sven ran a quick scan and replied with a negative. Lance then attached the activated AG unit to the hull and began cutting out a good sized square with a power cutting tool. When he finished, the AG unit held the square in place. He gave it a small push and it flew up into the ship. He jumped slightly, his arms out and managed to grasp the edges of his square. They were still hot, but he had gloves on. He lifted himself up easily and quickly rolled to one side, his blaster in hand. After making sure that no one was nearby, he pushed the square of hull back into place and then turned on his helmet radio.

"You hear me, Lance?" Sven asked.

"Loud and clear," Lance replied in a whisper.

"Ok. I vill lead you to Keit. I just hope dat Hunk found de right signal from de detonator."

"Me, too. Are you sure you've got the air ducts right?"

"I've got vat de scans told me."

With one eye on the scanner and another on the 3-D map of the ship he had just created with a quick scan, Sven directed Lance to the nearest duct. Moving quickly, Lance took off the duct's screen and tied a piece of string onto one of the metal bars. He climbed into the hole, string in hand, and pulled the screen back in place.

"Go left….now right….keep on going straight…" Sven was saying in his ear.

Lance's breathing grew erratic with each passing minute, but he forced his mind to stay focused. Keith needed him. As he kept on crawling, he noticed that the air was getting colder and colder.

Finally, Sven told that Keith was directly below him. At that point, Lance was shivering. His flightsuit was supposed to be weather friendly in that it protected him from heat and cold, but it did have its limits.

Jesus...Keith is in there!

The thought made him move faster. Reaching the duct, he shoved the screen off, ready to plunge headlong into wherever Keith was, and realized at the last moment that the drop was a lot longer than he expected. His gloves caught on the edge of the duct, and he breathed a sigh of relief, silently thanking whoever had the forethought to make the underside of the gloves slip-proof; he probably would have fallen to his death. But that relief was short-lived when Lance saw the crumpled forms of Keith and another on the floor far below.

"Sven, I can't make it down there," Lance said with dismay. "It's too far."

"Ve don't haf a lot of time," Sven said. "Do you haf anoder AG unit?"

Lance held his breath as he checked his pockets. "YES!" he yelled before he could stop himself when his hand closed around a familiar disc-shaped piece of technology.

"It's going to take some balance to stay on this thing, but I'll do it," he said more to himself than to Sven.

"Hurry. De battle iz beginning to taper off."

Equations flew in Lance's head as he punched in the right amount needed to lower himself down to the ground safely. Holding the AG unit in his hand, he slid out of the duct, shutting his eyes until his feet touched the ground. The color drained from his face when he opened his eyes.

"Oh Jesus..." he breathed, seeing the pool of blood around Keith's hand. "Keith is unconscious. I can't get him back through the duct."

"Den ve go to plan B," Sven said.

"What's that?"

Sven didn't answer. Lance tested the door and swore when he saw that it was locked. He looked down at the other person next to Keith, lifting the head up by the hair and he let out a huff of air when he saw that it was Niloc. Pushing his more immediate instincts to a corner of his mind, he searched Keith's father for a key to the door. He prayed that Niloc was stupid enough to carry the key.

"Figures," he snorted when he came up empty. "Too much luck in one day. Sven, your plan better not involve me running around the ship because I can't get the door open."

"It doesn't," Sven replied, sounding distracted.

Lance got down on his knees and tended to Keith. His friend's skin was a frightening white and lips and fingertips were a deep blue. Lance took the Keith's discarded sock lying nearby and tied it tightly around his wrist to stop the bleeding. He felt tears smarting in his eyes when he saw that Keith had lost too much blood. He didn't even want to check his pulse. He didn't want to know.

Allura will die with him.

Lance came out of his reverie when he heard laser shots outside. He dragged Keith as far away from the door as possible and crouched down in front of him, blaster in hand.

"Get as far avay from de door as possible, Lance," Sven said. "Don't even be across from eet."

"We're clear…Sven are you in the ship?"

In response to his question, a thin laser beam began outlining the door, cutting it free. When it fell to the floor with a loud bang, Lance found himself nose to nose with the fighter. He grinned behind his helmet.

"Son of a bitch," he said, shaking his head in disbelief. "Hey, Sven, what happened to stealth mode?"

"Do you tink that guards vill stand around if dey see a ship coming tovards dem? Tink for God's sake. I'm not trying to make my job harder than it already iz. I don't need dozens of Doom soldiers plastered on the nose auf dis beauty."

Lance let out a small laugh. Then, he got down and hefted Keith across his shoulders in an old-fashioned fireman's carry. Sven was keeping the Doom guards busy by firing the rear lasers at them. He dropped the shield long enough for Lance to be within range so he could be inside it. He managed to make his way to the top hatch and he dropped Keith in before going in after him. Sven placed Keith gently behind the two pilot seats as Lance took the controls. He went out backwards, impressed with the absolute destruction Sven caused. When they were clear of the ship, which was firing blindly, not knowing where they were, Lance opened a channel to the castle.

"Alert Gorma, Keith is in bad shape," he said.

Sven was still in the back with Keith. His eyes were suspiciously moist.

"He's dead," he whispered.