One Good Turn

Part Four

Up on the cloaked Doom battleship, Cossack was jolted out of a light snooze, complete with feet up on the console, by the sound of a buzzer. “Three unidentified bodies on deck two, Commander Cossack,” one of the robots reported.

“Three?” He scrambled to his feet. “What the—?” Deck two was right behind the bridge, and he had only expected Haggar to bring back Lotor, not guests. He raced through the sliding door and saw Haggar slumped over on the floor gasping for breath, a chained and handcuffed Prince Lotor in a Galaxy Alliance prison uniform, and to his shock, Princess Allura. “Whoa,” he said, looking at the trio and awaiting an explanation.

“Get us out of orbit and back to Doom now,” Haggar rasped weakly. “They saw me leave, and they’ll pursue.”

Immediately Cossack whirled around and shouted back through the door. “You heard her, rust-buckets! Turn on all thrusters and get us out of here, pronto!”

“Yes, Commander Cossack.” A moment later, the ship blasted off into the stars bound for Doom.

“Welcome back, sire! We’ve missed you.” Cossack bowed to Lotor. He did not know what had happened in the base, but if Princess Allura was with them and not struggling or fighting, then he figured it had to be good. He leaned over to help the fallen Haggar up, and the four of them made their way back onto the bridge proper. “You okay, Haggar? You look like a robeast’s leftovers. Well, you kind of look that way a lot of the time, but you look worse than usual.”

She groaned and leaned on his strong bulk. “I told you that teleportation takes a lot out of me, and I didn’t expect to transport three bodies.”

“Oh, yeah, you did say that blipping was a pain.” He glanced at Allura, who only stood there in silence, watching him with a wary eye. “So, uh, is this a social call, or should we have some of the tin-heads in there chain her up or something?”

Allura’s eyes widened anxiously and she stepped backward, but Lotor stepped in front of her. “No. You will do nothing of the sort to Allura. She’s here of her own free will.”

“Commander Cossack, we’re being trailed and fired upon by two alliance ships.”

Cossack sighed. Just when he was starting to get a handle on what was going on, it figured that they would get attacked. “Then shoot back or something! Drop one of those robeasts Haggar stashed on board on ‘em if you need to. Our first priority is getting home. They won’t follow us deep into Drule Empire territory.” He paused. “Not unless they’re really dumb, anyway.”

“Yes, Commander.”

His prediction was right; with some return fire and the deployment of a robeast Haggar had brought along for just such an emergency, the two ships were soon far more concerned with fighting that off than the escaping Doom ship. As it turned out, they had made it out of range of Galaxy Garrison’s headquarters by the time the news of Lotor’s escape, marriage, and subsequent abduction of Princess Allura by the old witch got through the communication channels of the fortress, and by then it made more sense for them to try to track the ship than pursue it. Instead they dispatched ships stationed nearest the Doom battleship’s path, but luck was on the Doomites’ side. There were only two of them, and they were no match for the class of battleship that the rescue party had brought. It was fortunate for the pursuers that the battleship was more concerned with flight than a fight; they stood a better chance against the robeast than the firepower of that ship.

After realizing that she could barely walk, Cossack took pity on the exhausted Haggar. He picked her up like a sack of potatoes and carried her over to the command chair. “So what happened?” he asked as he flopped her like so much dead weight onto the chair to rest.

I can’t decide if I should thank that buffoon or smack him, Haggar thought irritably as she shifted to a more comfortable position in the cushy chair, her backside sore from the rough way Cossack had set her down.

He then pulled a blanket from under the console and draped it over her. Touched by the nice gesture, she felt herself leaning more toward the former than the latter, especially when Coba, who had stayed behind with Cossack while she was incognito in the complex, jumped into her lap purring.

“Take my chair and get you some beauty sleep, Haggar. You sure need it!” Cossack then quipped jovially, and patted her on the head.

She took it back. She was definitely going to smack him when she had the energy for it.

Cossack looked to Lotor for further explanation, and he held out his still-bound hands. “Free me of these binds and I’ll explain everything.”

Using his blaster, Cossack carefully fired at point blank range to break the chains, and then sent a robot to get him an energy blade to cut the wrist and ankle cuffs with, as well as something better to wear than an alliance prison uniform. “Finally!” Lotor stretched his freed limbs. The first thing he did was turn to Allura, who narrowed her eyes at him.

“This isn’t what I agreed to, Lotor.” It was clear that she was angry.

“I had no idea about any of this, myself.”

Allura frowned, but she believed him. Lotor had seemed just as surprised as she was that one of his prison guards turned out to be Haggar in disguise.

“He’s telling the truth, Princess,” she spoke up from the command chair. “As far as Lotor knew, you were his only chance at escaping his fate. Zarkon forbade us to attack the alliance directly or to act aggressively to secure his release.”

“He what?” Lotor growled. That explained why there had been no action until then, no news of any attacks or even retaliations in his honor, until that point.

“Yeah, he has to pay lip service to Commander Hazar and the others kissing his ass over in the First Kingdom. They’re doing some peace talks with the Galaxy Alliance, so the word was spread to the rulers of the kingdoms to not start any incidents, or some bullshit like that,” Cossack added.

“How convenient for Father to follow the rules now.” Lotor was not sure how he felt hearing it confirmed that his father planned to let him die without so much as an avenging retaliation strike. Perhaps he only planned to do that much if they actually killed me…

“Well, what you just pulled is certainly an incident,” Allura pointed out, her voice breaking into Lotor’s thoughts when she glared at him. “I said you were to leave with me under a legal release to have sanctuary on Arus. This isn’t what I agreed to when I married you!” She looked over at the monitor that showed them heading farther and farther away from Galaxy Garrison and Arus, and frowned.

Cossack’s jaw dropped. “Married? You two got married, sire?”

“Yes,” Haggar confirmed. “There’s a lot of that going around lately.”

“You’re telling me,” Cossack said with a snort.

From her seat, Haggar held up the certificate printed by the LAD. “Well, I’m sorry to disrupt your plans for a happy life on Arus, Princess, but you had to know that Prince Lotor could never live such a life when you agreed to it. Besides, I’m sure the two of you will still spend plenty of time there now that you’re married and it’s a done deal.”

“We had a contract, Lotor,” Allura protested, trying to ignore Haggar’s condescending tone. “You said you’d honor your word! I trusted you!”

Lotor finished cutting the shackle off of his left arm with the energy blade that the robot had given him, and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder reassuringly. “And I won’t dishonor it. I’ll still insist that your people are treated as you said, and go along with what you specified as far as Voltron and the lions go when we return to Doom. Arus will be annexed into the empire in accordance with your wishes.”

“But I don’t want to be on Doom; I want to be on Arus! That’s my home!”

“And you’ll be allowed to be there whenever you wish once the details are ironed out,” Lotor assured her. “But now that I’m a free man, you can hardly expect me to honor the alliance’s meaningless laws. I’m not their prisoner anymore, my dear. My promises to you on what transpires between our planets are the only ones I’m bound to keep.” The arrogant tone in his voice softened, and he spoke to her affectionately. “With you at my side there’s nothing we can’t have together. Think of the opportunities before us!”

“Wow,” Cossack remarked as took in the magnitude of what had just happened. He then smiled at the two of them, especially Lotor. He knew how badly Lotor had wanted Allura, and he was glad to see him finally get her, especially considering that he had nearly gotten himself killed for her. With Allura and Arus secured as their conversation implied and Voltron out of the picture once and for all, it occurred to him that most likely, the long Arus war was finally over, and that was cause for celebration. “Congratulations, sire!”

Cossack turned to Allura. “And you too, Princess!” He bowed to her with a flourish. “Let me be the first to welcome the crown prince’s new bride to planet Doom. Fleet Commander Cossack the Terrible at your service!” He straightened again. “Hope there’s no hard feelings over all those attacks and invasions and that chaining you up thing I mentioned before. It was nothing personal. Now that we’re all on the same side, I’m sure we can all be friends. I’m really a pretty nice guy when you get to know me.” While Cossack was not exactly thrilled at the concept of buddying up to any alliance type, it was true that he held no personal grudge against the princess any more so than he did any other enemy that had crossed him only in battle. As long as she did not continue her habit of preaching goody-goody ideals at him, he figured he could get used to her. If nothing else, he could warm up to her as a queen more easily than Merla, simply because Allura had never stuffed him in a cosmotron and laughed about it.

It was when Cossack bowed to Allura that Lotor noticed the titanium bracer engraved with a Doom nobility family crest upon his arm—a family crest that did not belong to the one he had been born into, Aldar’ach, but another of Doom’s noble houses. “Cossack,” Lotor said with a surprised look of his own, “what’s that? Did you get married?” His voice was incredulous.

“Uh, yeah,” Cossack said sheepishly. “A lot happened while you were away…”

A wry smile formed on Lotor’s face. “But you once told me you’d never get married. That you’d run headlong into the arena to take on robeasts hand-to-hand first.”

“If you’d been set up with some of those nobility chicks my folks tried to push on me, tell me you wouldn’t do the same thing, sire. Besides, you’ve never tried arguing with my mother. Like ramming into a stone wall without your helmet, I tell you.”

“That’s Tonorm’oith’s crest,” Lotor noted and raised a brow, “but you’re a first son, so if you married into another house that means you had to marry above your station…”

“Yeah,” Cossack said with a nod. “Lady Kuryaki.” He struck a dramatic pose. “Not only happily hitched, but I’m also a high seat now!”

“The Ancient Ones save Doom’s nobility,” Haggar muttered with a shake of her head, while Lotor burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Allura asked.

“Lady Kuryaki, that’s hilarious,” Lotor gasped between peals of laughter.

Cossack did not find it nearly as amusing. “Why is that everyone’s reaction? She’s not that much older than me!”

“Allura, I’m sure you remember Commander Yurak?” Lotor queried the puzzled princess.

“How could I forget?” The aforementioned commander had led countless attacks against her Arus before he eventually met his end as a robeast under Voltron’s blazing sword.

“Lady Kuryaki is,” Lotor snickered again, “his mother.”

“Cossack is the sort of man that needs a mommy to care for him, you see,” Haggar cackled snidely from her seat.

“Blow it out your crystal ball, wart-face,” Cossack snapped back her. “At least unlike some women older than me here that I can mention, my wife is attractive.”

Allura took in the exchange between her new husband’s rescuers with odd curiosity, unsure of what was appropriate to say or do. The propriety lessons of her youth certainly never covered her current situation. Lotor noticed her shell-shocked look and pulled her close to him. “With all that’s happened, you must be overwhelmed. We’ll sort everything out when we get back to Doom.” He smoothed his hand over the hair at the top of her forehead. “After we break the news to my father, we’ll retire to my chambers and rest, spend time together,” his smile broadened, “make our plans.”

Cossack looked over at Lotor. “Speaking of breaking news, sire, there are some other things going on back home you might want to know.”

“Such as?”

“You know how Haggar said that there’s a lot of the marriage thing going around lately?”

Lotor nodded.

“She wasn’t talking about me.”

Lotor looked from Cossack to Haggar, and a stab of dread pierced his otherwise pleasant mood. “Who?” Then he remembered Merla’s smug declaration that she could not marry him because she had already found her “Prince Charming.” But Merla couldn’t have married anyone on Doom that would be of any importance to me unless…

“Your father also got hitched,” Cossack informed him. “To Merla.”

“What?” Lotor’s voice came out in almost a roar. He was not sure if it was outrage, insult, anger, dread, or a mixture of all four upon hearing the news that his father had taken a new bride, a young one at that, and one with history with him. Whatever it was, he most certainly did not like it for a number of reasons, and he balled his hand into a fist.

Cossack gave him a sympathetic look. “Yeah, it took us by surprise, too. She was bad enough as queen of the Seventh Kingdom and just visiting ours.”

“But she couldn’t!” Allura spoke out suddenly. “She wouldn’t! She turned good! She was there when we were on the asteroid, with you… she was angry at you for betraying us and not changing like she thought you had!” Her voice rose as she looked at Lotor. “She wouldn’t go back to Zarkon, not when she’s been in talks with the Galaxy Alliance. She…”

“She lied,” Cossack pointed out bluntly. “It’s not like it’s the first time.”

“She wouldn’t,” Allura protested, desperate to believe that she had not been fooled by both parties that day.

“Maybe she did believe that goodness and light nonsense she went on about at the time, but regardless, she’s changed her mind,” said Haggar.

“Who knows what the hell she was thinking? All I know is she’s Zarkon’s queen, and we’ve all got to bow to her.” Cossack was more than a little bitter.

“Bow to Merla,” Lotor said in a low tone, “we’ll see about that.” He put an arm around Allura, and felt smug despite the news about Merla. Nice girls don’t go for my type indeed, he thought snidely to the remark that she had once made to him. He checked their course on the screen and smiled. “Well, it seems that we’re in for a very memorable homecoming, aren’t we?”

From his side, Allura eyed the monitor in pensive silence. Her thoughts overwhelmed her as she pondered what awaited her not only on Doom, but also far beyond. By Arus, what have I done?

* * *

The green, red, and yellow lions had nearly arrived at the Galaxy Garrison complex when an urgent message from the Castle of Lions came in. “Voltron Force, come in! This is the Castle of Lions with an emergency! Over.”

“What is it Coran?” Keith asked with alarm.

“Is Zarkon attacking?” Hunk guessed.

“Princess Allura has been abducted,” Coran informed them gravely.

“Abducted?” Keith fought back a terrible feeling.

“But I thought she was at the Galaxy Garrison complex,” Lance said.

“She was. From what I was told by our contact at headquarters, she was visiting Prince Lotor and—”

Hunk slammed his hand on the panel. “Lotor!”

Pidge’s brow furrowed. “But Lotor’s a prisoner. Did he escape?”

“How’d he manage that? Security there’s tighter than Nanny squished into Pidge’s uniform,” Lance remarked.

“Haggar the witch,” Coran told them. “She disguised herself and somehow slipped past their security and teleported him and Princess Allura out with their magic. They did a scan for the ship they escaped on, but it was far out of range by the time they detected it. They already deployed two crafts stationed in the area, but it evaded them.”

Keith’s eyes narrowed as he straightened in his seat. “So Zarkon wasn’t going to leave Lotor to hang after all. And they took the chance to take Allura, too.”

“So much for Galaxy Garrison being a safe haven,” Lance grumbled. “Makes you feel real good about security.”

“I say we go straight to Doom right now, and get her back before they hurt her!” Hunk was already preparing to adjust his coordinates before Keith gave the official word.

“Me too, but wait a sec,” Lance said suddenly. “What about the black lion? Did they take that too?”

“No. It’s still at Galaxy Garrison,” Coran answered.

“Maybe we ought to stop and get it so we have all the lions,” Pidge suggested. “Doom’s a rough place.”

Keith shook his head. “Sorry, Pidge, I know it’s cramped in here with the two of us, and I’d prefer to be in the black lion myself, but there’s no time. Hunk’s right, Lotor is dangerous. Besides,” he frowned, “I don’t have the key to it. Allura took it with her when she took the black lion.”

“Then it looks like we’re on our own,” said Hunk. “You want us to gun it, Keith?”

“Fast as we can. To Doom,” he ordered.

Coran nodded on the other side of the view screen. “Good luck, Voltron Force, and please bring her back safely. All of Arus is counting on you.”

* * *

After passing through the dangerous energy fields that surrounded Doom and penetrating the ominous thunderclouds that always seemed to fill its atmosphere, the battleship that carried the escaped Lotor, his new bride, and the two that had taken it out to rescue him made its landing in the bay. Allura tried to stay strong as Lotor took her arm and led her out of the ship, and she shivered as she took her first steps as Lotor’s bride through Castle Doom. It was a chill that came from its aura rather than its temperature, which was rather comfortable.

Some robots were gathered around the ship, and Cossack waved to them unceremoniously. “Check it in and refuel it, tin-heads.” He fell in step beside Haggar, who was on the left side of Lotor.

A royal guardsman, a member of a small squadron of soldiers separate from the royal fleet that reported directly to Zarkon, approached them. “Prince Lotor!” he gasped upon recognizing the prince of Doom, and bowed, with a curious eye on the Arusian princess at his side. “You’ve returned! And brought a prisoner?”

“I’ve brought you your future queen,” Lotor informed him arrogantly before demanding, “Where’s my father?”

“He is in the throne room, Sire. Actually that’s why I’m here. I was told to send Commander Cossack and Haggar to him when they returned.”

Allura felt another stab of anxiety when she realized that the meeting with Zarkon, the man who killed her father, who enslaved her people and ravaged Arus, and who was now her father-in-law, was imminent. Haggar, Cossack, and Lotor all exchanged looks. “Well then,” Lotor said as his blue lips parted into a sly smile and he linked his arm through Allura’s, “Let’s not keep him waiting… now that we’re home.”

The End