Chapter Six
Allura stared at
the family portrait that she had commissioned only two years before. It sat next to the one they had done when
Alana was just born and the differences were striking. Keith stood next to her, his eyes fixed on the
memento of the past that she also could not help being drawn to.
“Time flies,
doesn’t it?” he murmured, putting an arm around her.
“Too fast,” she
agreed.
Raising a slender
hand, she put a fingertip on the gilded frame of the old portrait, giving the
scanner a chance to read her fingerprint.
There was a quiet click and one side of the portrait detached from the
wall. Keith grasped it and pulled it
open, allowing them their first look at the five Lion keys for twenty-two
years. They gleamed as they sat in their
stands and Keith reached out to take the key to the Black Lion.
“I never thought
I’d say this, but I never wanted to see this again,” he said gravely.
“I know,” Allura
said, taking the key to the Blue. “Let’s
go see if they feel the same way.”
Bethie and Alana
were hovering outside the door when they stepped out of their private
rooms. They were startled to see their
parents dressed in their old uniforms, but their eyes quickly sought out the
Lion keys. Allura smiled ruefully at them
and held up the oval key that both girls had been curious about since the day
they learned the legend of Voltron. Bethie started to reach for it but she pulled
back as if she was afraid it would bite her.
“It’s alright,”
Allura said, handing it to her.
Bethie could only
gape at it and Alana peered at it over her shoulders. Keith chuckled despite himself.
“Girls, it’s not
going to do any tricks,” he said as he started walking down the corridor.
“You don’t
understand. We’ve been wanting to see this
for so long,” Bethie said vaguely, unable to take her eyes away from it and not
allowing Alana to take it from her grasp.
They managed to
make it to Castle Control without coming to blows about it but Alana glared at
her sister as Bethie reluctantly returned the key to Allura.
“Stay here and keep
scanning the area to make sure no one sneaks up on us,” Allura instructed
Bethie.
“We’ll see you out
there…or back here if this doesn’t work,” Keith said. “Push that button, Bethie, and hold on to
something.”
Bethie glanced at
Alana and shrugged. The small blue
button had not called her attention before but she guessed she should have been
more curious about it for when she pressed it, the ground shuddered at her
feet.
“What’s happening?”
Alana asked nervously as the platform the control panel was on rose.
Allura grinned up
at her, feelings the first stirrings of excitement that she would be flying the
Blue Lion again.
“You’ll see,” she
said.
When the platform
rose to its maximum height, Allura and Keith glanced at each other.
“Good luck,” he
said.
“Right back at
you.”
Years seemed to
fade away when they started for the doorways that marked their Lions. Bethie and Alana watched, aghast, as their
parents disappeared underneath the platform.
“They know where
they’re going, don’t they?” Alana asked.
“I hope so…”
Automatically, two
smaller screens rose from the control panel and they found themselves staring
at their parents’ helmeted heads.
“Black Lion to
Castle Control,” Keith said, his eyes downcast as his hands flew over the
controls.
“Acknowledged Black
Lion,” Bethie said, sitting in Skech’s regular
place. “The skies are clear and you’re
ready for launch.”
Keith grinned and
with child-like glee, powered up the Black Lion. Allura let out a delighted laugh when the
Blue’s engines roared to life.
“We’re back,” she
exclaimed.
Bethie and Alana
watched on the larger viewscreen as the two Lions
danced across the sky. Their parents’
excited chatter filled Castle Control and Bethie and Alana had to grin at the
sound.
“They’re like two
little kids,” Bethie laughed.
“Let them,” Alana
said quietly. “I have a feeling we’re
not going to hear that sound for a long time after this.”
Bethie looked up at
her younger sister, saw the sad twist of her mouth. She put a hand on her arm.
“It’ll be alright,
Lana,” she said soothingly. “We’ll come
out of this okay.”
Alana tried to
smile for her sister, but it came out stiff and forced. Bethie could not blame her. Seeing the Lions in the sky was something she
had been wishing for since she’d been a little girl but knowing the
ramifications of their coming back to life dimmed the excitement to practically
nothing. She listened as her parents seemed
to settle back into reality. They landed
the Lions back in their lairs and were back in Castle Control, their helmets
tucked under their arms. Alana and
Bethie waited for them to say anything, not sure where to even start.
“I was hoping they
wouldn’t work,” Allura sighed finally.
“Me, too,” Keith
said. “But it looks like we’re about to
be in the middle of a lot of trouble.
Those pods aren’t intergalactic decoration after all.”
“Could you open a
channel to Galaxy Garrison?” Allura asked Bethie. “I need to speak to Romelle.”
“Are you going to
fly again, Dad?” Alana asked fearfully.
Keith put an arm
around his youngest daughter, saw the fear in her eyes and could not deny that
he felt the same. “I think so, Lana.”
Bethie looked as if
she wanted to say something but she clamped her mouth shut and focused her
attention on the task in front of her.
Allura did not miss it and thought about not asking her what was on her
mind, but she valued Bethie’s ideas, even if they
went against her own.
“What is it,
Elisabeth?” she questioned.
“You shouldn’t be
flying the Lions,” she said as she worked, her voice so low that Keith and
Alana could not hear her. “You and Dad
are too important to Arus for the two of you to be
out in the middle of a firefight.”
“Should I even ask
what you propose instead.”
“Uncle Hunk and
Uncle Pidge probably haven’t flown since they left
here. Uncle Lance can probably still
hold his own, but it’s still time to pass it on to a new generation.” Bethie’s blue eyes
were hard as ice as she pinned a gaze on Allura. “You know I’m right.”
Having heard the
tale end of Bethie’s speech, Keith stiffened next to
Allura. “You can’t possibly think we’re
going to send you up there. You’re the
Heir to the Throne and…”
“She’s right,”
Allura said, shocking them all.
“What?” Keith
exclaimed, whirling on her. “Have you
lost your mind? We have experience with
these Lions and if this threat is as serious as I think it is, we’re going to
need all the experience we can get.”
“Bethie’s been flying since she was seven,” she argued. “We’re not going to get novices and you
shouldn’t hold their ages against them.
We may have been the Voltron Force once, but
she’s right. Our time has passed. The Lions told us that when they shut down
the first time.”
“They started for us
again,” he said stubbornly.
“We’re not the
Princess and the Commander anymore, Keith.
I think I would rather have experienced leaders in Castle Control than
in the middle of a battle. Our place is
here.”
Keith’s eyes blazed
as he looked from his wife to his daughter.
Bethie’s expression was carefully neutral but
he could see the hope in her eyes.
Alana was silent,
her gaze going from one to the other as she waited for the final decision. It seemed inevitable to her that her father
would lose this argument. When Allura
and Bethie joined forces, there was no stopping them. And she had to admit, her older sister’s idea
had merit. She knew what was happening
outside Arus, thanks to Jordan and her skillful
questioning of her own mother, and Alana was fully aware that the lack of
capable leaders could easily break the Alliance. Her parents were needed to lead, not
fight.
“I’ve got Aunt Romelle,” Bethie said when the control panel beeped.
“I was just about
to contact you,” Romelle said. “Jordan informed me that you were thinking of
unearthing Voltron.”
“How did she know?”
Allura said, frowning.
“She and Alana
exchange notes once a while. Little do
you know, but your daughter has her own back channels, Cousin.”
“Well, she did want
more information concerning the current situation,” Allura conceded, but she
gave Alana an appraising look that warned her they would be discussing those
backchannels.
“Jordan wants to go
to Arus to pilot a Lion.”
“Jordan?” Keith
said, scowling. “We still haven’t
decided who’s flying the Lions, Romelle.”
Allura and Keith
glared at each other. Bethie
sighed.
“Aunt Romelle, can we get back to you on that?” she asked.
Amusement flitted
across Romelle’s face. “Of course, Elisabeth. Tell Alana that I hope Jordan’s latest report
tells her all that she needs to know.”
Alana had the grace
to look ashamed as Bethie grinned.
“Will do. Talk to you soon.”
As their parents
argued, loudly, Bethie turned to her sister.
“Pretty sneaky,”
she commented. “I never would have
expected it from you.”
“I’m not just here
for decoration,” Alana said haughtily.
“And Jordan’s last letter was very helpful.”
She told Bethie all
that Romelle had said concerning the stealth
capabilities of their enemy and her monologue was enough to get her parents’
attention. They stopped arguing long
enough to be completely debriefed by their sixteen year old daughter.
“Romelle hasn’t lost her touch,” Allura said.
“You see why it’s
necessary for you two to stay in here?
This is bigger than Voltron can handle and
your expertise and wisdom is needed at the helm instead of in the pilot’s
seat. When those pods hatch, we’re going
to be in more trouble than we can even imagine,” Alana said. “Dad…you have to let them go.”
Keith looked as if
he wanted to say something more but he sighed, defeated.
“When did you get
so smart,” he said to Alana.
“In the last couple
days,” she answered cheekily, hugging him.
He held out his key
to Bethie.
“It’s only right
that you get this one,” he said.
Bethie grinned and
she leapt from the chair to throw her arms around him.
“You won’t regret
it,” she promised.
He held her tighter
than he had to as the gravity of the situation hit him hard. Voltron meant war
and he just agreed to send his oldest daughter to meet it head on. He thought it had been hard to lead soldiers
into a battle in which many would lose their lives, but that did not compare to
handing Bethie the key to the Black Lion.
“Always watch your
six,” he said.
“That was lesson
one, Dad.”
“First thing’s
first,” Allura said, looking down at her own key and fighting her own doubts
and fears. “Who are we going to recruit
to fly the Lions?”
“I have a couple
ideas,” Bethie said, tossing the Black’s key in the air and catching it
smartly. “You still have some pull with
the IAF right?”
“Of course,” Keith
said, almost insulted that she even had to ask.
She smiled cockily
at them as she took her father’s helmet and tucked it under her arm.
