Keith was stunned. What in the hell was Chip doing here on Doom? Last he heard, he was with the Vehicle Voltron Force on Ben's Planet in the S2 sector.
Chip answered his question with a grin. "I bet you're wondering what I'm doing here six feet under,eh, Keith?"
Keith shook his head, "Uh, yeah, the thought did cross my mind, Chip."
Chip walked around him and introduced himself to Kate. "Sorry, Keith's a rude one, isn't he? Didn't even introduce us! I'm Chip, Pidge is my younger brother...see the resemblance? Of course, I'm the more handsome of the two..." Chip said as he pushed up his glasses.
Kate laughed and said, "I'll tell Pidge you said that, when I see him next! I'm Kate Ale'der, pleased to meet you....well, not here- but you know...."
> Chip smiled and said, "Yeah, I know.Hey, you're Gen Cameron's daughter, aren't you?"
Kate looked shocked. "Wait! How did you - ?" C
hip blushed. "Aw, heck, everyone knows, Kate! It's not a secret!"
Kate grimaced. "Well, shoot! Another illusion shot to hell!" Chip laughed.
Keith interrupted and said, "I hate to interrupt your party, you two, but you were going to tell us how you got here, Chip?"
Chip looked at Keith and said, "You're a party pooper, Keith...oh well, I'll tell ya. When Pidge got hurt, I got some leave. At the same time. The Garrison said that I shouldn't go to Arus to see Pidge because everyone was bugging out, the explosion and your disappearance and all....well, I went anyway, told them I was going to Floating Island, you know, the asteroid? I went and took a civ ship out and then connected with a rental fleet and leased one of their ships to go to Arus. On my way there, I was waylaid by a Doom slave vessel, purely by chance, mind you! I tried to manuver my way from it, but then the directional thrusters went out and I was stuck! And of course, you know, rentals do not have the firepower the Doom ships have. I was captured. Fortunately, I was carrying false ID and papers with me, and they never got a chance to scan me.
Believe me, Keith, I would have been med bot operating material if they knew who I was!"
Keith nodded in agreement.
Chip continued, "Well, they brought us to Doom to be processed, you know, get the mark and all, when, all the bots went offline! No guards to guard us! All hell broke loose! The slaves on the planet were running to every ship they could, trying to get offplanet. The officers were blasting at people everywhere, but there were too many slaves rioting. We got our ship filled to the gills with people, but there was a lady who was crying for her child - they got separated, well, you know me, Keith, I'm so soft hearted!" He winked at Kate. "I got out of the ship and spotted her child 'cause the mother had described her to me. It wasn't easy, either. Nearly got us killed! Anyway, I got the child back to the mother, when suddenly, I was hit in the shoulder, nothing life threatening, but it stunned me for a moment. The next time I knew, the ship was gone, and everything was still crazy. Then we saw that Zarkon had sent renforcements and knew we had to get out of there. Stanny here...", pointing to the slave who had escorted them in, "...had picked me up,'cause he recognized me from the holos..and took me to these caves. They're all over the planet, Keith! Bet you didn't know that! Anyway, there's quite a few of us here, considering that bastard, S'aaul's been killing off everyone he could get his hands on! He's worse than Cossack 'cause he keeps a cool head....very analytical.....good thing you two got away from him, but he'll probably be hot on your tail."
Kate shuddered and thought that she should have killed him.
Chip continued, "Anyway, we have been getting a network going while Zarkon's been away....uh, I'm sorry about Lance and Princess Allura, Keith, I hope he doesn't...."
Keith nodded, "Me too, Chip...."
Chip went on, "Everyone is ready to revolt, especially with S'aaul in command. While Zarkon has been gone, we have been smuggling weapons from the revolt down here to the slaves. The weapons came off the bots during the riots, fortunately, when they collected the useless bots, they didn't check the weapons. I've also heard from the slaves topside that Arus may be attacked by a garrison of Zarkon's troops."
Keith nodded, he knew that was coming.
"It may have already happened.I don't know yet.I've got some people working in the command center that will let me know...they'll also let me know when Zarkon gets back.." Chip replied.
Keith was suprised, "You got spies in the command center?" Chip nodded, "Oh yeah, there are disatisfied Drule officers, too, Keith. Believe it or not, there are some good honest officers in Zarkon's employ."
Kate nodded in agreement, and said, "There have been a lot of good people destroyed by Zarkon's evil."
Chip nodded, "Yeah, that's true....listen, you two want to help overthrow Zarkon? It'll be tough, but perhaps if we can get it all together."
Kate said, "Hell, yes! Count me in!" Everyone in the dugout laughed and heartily agreed with Kate.