Book 6:Dangerous Deception:Interlude One
Lance: The Second Son
It was funny how flying Red Lion seemed to calm him and the quiet void of space seemed to lull him. His arguement with Keith now seemed foolish and Lance regreted his hot temper.
Sometimes he wondered just where he got that from. Both his parents had never displayed his kind of hotheadedness.
Lance didn't know how he had arrived there - it had been so long. Three years to be exact. His mother's funeral had been held there and Lance had attended. It had been sad but it had also been the end of his mother's prolonged illness. She had suffered in the end and Lance had remembered her looking at him sadly as if she wanted to tell him something but could not bring herself to.
Ah, the colony of Alanis Six..his once upon a time home..
It had been and still was the source of his nightmares for years. Zarkon's troops invading and attacking at will. He had been a young boy then, in and out of the hospital quite a bit, but he remembered even after all this time. Every time he saw Zarkon, he wanted to throttle him and snap his neck in his hands.This thought was almost - tangible - at times and sometimes Lance couldn't believe that he was capable of such bloodlust.
"Well, Kittykat, as long as I'm here I guess I could check on the old homestead.."
Lance gained clearance easily and landed the lion in a private bay. Soon he was headed for his mother's home on the outskirts of the colony. When he arrived, he was amazed at how small the house seemed. He guessed it was just his adult eyes looking upon what once seemed to be huge.
A huge man lifted him up by his arm and Lance dangled from his grip, kicking and screaming in rage. The alien man that held him grinned wickedly his fanged teeth showing, and his yellow cat's eyes glinting with some sort of knowledge. The hideous man looked him over and stared into Lance's eyes and smirked.
"Well now, aren't you a surprise - a little bastard slave.."
Lance shook it off. That voice had been in his dreams since that raid, and although it had been thwarted by Galaxy Garrison and the invading forces routed, it had still left his mark upon him and his mother.
He walked into the house after using his card key. It was quiet exept for the hum of the air purifiers. The house was sealed against any contaminants and everything in the house was as it had been before his mother died. Lance knew that he had to at least try to empty it out, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
He walked through the house refecting on his arguement with Keith and just reflecting upon - well, just everything.
He sighed as he went upstairs. He needed to get back to the Castle. It was rude of him to just take off and leave and Allura would be concerned and upset that he and Keith were arguing.It just seemed that as of late, that Keith irritated the hell out of him. Lance wanted to fly and he wanted to do new things, not the things that were always done. It just seemed that every time Lance had an idea Keith would shoot it down and it made Lance resentful.
He sighed again as he went into his mother's bedroom. Maybe that was the reason that Keith was the leader and he his second in command..
Lance ran his hand across the oak armoire that his mother had bought some years before her death. It was considered an antique but his mother had not bought it for the value but because she liked it. His mother was that way about things.
She never had been one for money or the value of things. It was a beautiful scarred up monstrousity and Lance, when he had been younger, used to try to hide from his parents in it when he was in trouble.
He ran his fingers against one of the grooves of the door and to his surprise, a small hidden drawer popped open on the side of the armoire. Lance had always heard these old things had secret drawers, places where one could hide jewelry or what not but he never thought that this particular piece had that sort of thing.
He looked in and saw a small book - no it looked like one of those 'blank books' one could still buy in the stores. Despite the 'paperless society' that had been touted for centuries, paper still had it's uses.
Picking it up, Lance looked at it. It didn't look very old, evidently it wasn't as old as the armoire itself. He turned it over and then he opened it..
It began..
"I named my baby 'Lancelot' like the knight of old who had defended King Arthur's kingdom.."
Lance, fascinated, sat down to read the rest..
..It had been my hope that my son would look more like me and not his father. I prayed throughout my pregnacy that it would be so. Many times it had been so tempting to rid myself of him because it would have been easier than being one of the many victims of that raid. They had either died or if they had lived they rid themselves of their half-Drule bastards..
Lance gasped and he felt something in him grow heavy like a stone.
No, he would read on. He was being to quick to judge as usual.
My memories of his conception are vivid in my mind, though I tried to shove them away and pretend that such a thing never happened to me.
But it did.
The first raid came quite unexpectedly. Peace treaties were being negotiated as they always were, but we were considered an out of the way colony and so wasn't concerned when the rumors of such a raid came. There would be no raids - not in this godforsaken place. The only thing the colony really had were people.
Little did we know..
It had been like lightning. One moment the skies were clear and the next, filled with ships firing upon the populace. I was a young woman then and betrothed to my future husband, who happened to be off-planet at the time. We fought but soon we were overrun by occupation troops, attired in the gray-black unifrom of Doom.
Lance's mouth compressed into a thin straight line. Doom,always Doom. He had known that there had been an earlier raid upon his homeworld, but he did not know his mother had been in the middle of it.
He kept on reading even though by now he had the feeling that he would regret it.
We were rounded up - the survivors - and were placed in what passed for our colony's town hall.Rumors flew among us that Garrison was sure to send out reinforcements soon and that soon the Drule bastards would be routed out
They eventually were but too late for many people - including myself.
We were separated into groups - women, children and males. Then methodically, we were further separated. Young women, old women, babies, children, and so on. The guards went down our ranks, inserting the slave tattoos of Doom in either the wrist, forearm or ankle. We learned that this depended on what type of slave you would be. Suddenly, the guards stopped what they were doing, for it seemed that a person of great importance was there.
It was none other than King Zarkon of Doom..
Lance swallowed hard, feeling his bile rise. It was like falling off a cliff - you knew that you were going to fall, but you could not stop it.Something perverse drove him to read on.
He was in solid black armor and it had been evident that he had been fighting because of the blood upon his armor and the huge broadsword he carried. He was majestic in his cruelty and was an imposing figure. He inspired fear in everyone - including myself. All the women shrank at the sight of him, sensing his intents.
He walked almost casually along the lines, sometimes taking a fatal swipe at someone he found to be lacking in some area - or perhaps it was just on a whim. He looked over the young women intently, taking their chins in his hand and looking into faces, assessing them. When he reached my line, he slowed and scowled at one of the women nearest to me. This was Stef, one of the young ladies who I worked with. She held her baby in her arms. I remember she had only given birth a month ago. We had given her a baby shower. Her husband, Del, was dead and she was still in shock over that. Perhaps it was this that angered him, or perhaps it was because her baby started to whimper.
He said something short to her and she only looked at him frightened and scared. She wouldn't let that baby go. He drew his sword and I, without thinking, ran in front of her. It was a miracle he didn't run me through. Later I would wish he had.
At any rate, he held his sword and his attention was on me. I did not notice the look of appraisal he gave me. I was only concerned for Stef and her baby.
"So, out of all these whimpering sheep, there is someone with spirit.."
"Leave her alone. She's just lost her husband.." I said.
"Then perhaps she and the brat should join him.." He chuckled at me as if he thought this was funny.
I remember saying something and then he took hold of my arm. Only then did I realize the danger I was in. I figured that I would be killed, but he had other plans.
"You'll do very nicely."
I remember how his eyes had looked at me and I remembered how dirty it made me feel - naked and vulnerable.
I put up a struggle, hoping that he would anger and that he would kill me, but he did not.
I can't go into detail into what he did, but I
remember it all too well. I will only say that later the raiders of Doom were run off by the rumored Garrison and I was left pregnant with
King Zarkon's child.
My only son, Lance."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Lance screamed.
So that was what the secrecy had been about. The whispers, the pitying looks. Mother taking him to their doctor every six months or so. The abandonment by the man Lance had thought his father. He and mom alone...
Now he knew the terrible truth: Zarkon was his father.
It was then that Lance lost it, he cursed Zarkon in the most vile language he knew. But Lance knew mere curses wouldn't hurt the pompous pretending bastard. Only feeling Zarkon's death rattle as Lance choked him to death would satisify him.
Taking the small book, he stood up and looked around one more time.
Mom, I'm gonna revenge you, I swear. Lance thought, his pain mixed with rage.
Once he reached Red Lion, Lance programmed the coordinates to Arus when suddenly something, a whisper, a thought?
Red Lion itself?
Arus has fallen...the Princess defiled...your friends scattered...The beast rules. I, Red Lion, shall take you - here.
'Here', as Lance checked out the coordinates, was Zanthar, one of the moons that orbited Planet Doom.
"What the f-" Lance exclaimed.
Bide your anger, Chosen. Voltron will be needed once more...
With a roar, Red Lion took off with it's pilot.
Book Six:Interlude 2: Hunk and Pidge's Story
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