Voltron - The New Reality

Chapter Two: The human boy

Inside the lion was dark. Chezor walked over to Celk, who sat in the pilot’s chair. The control module was dark, the surface looked like some sort of glass, and it curved around the chair, (which was white and blue). Above the control module was a large, blacked-out window. Directly in front of the chair were two joysticks. Chezor guessed you used those to steer the lion.

“Why is it so dark?” she wondered out loud.

“I do not know,” Celk responded. “Maybe it is not on.”

“Its eyes flashed and it moved,” Chezor said, looking for a button to turn the lights on. “That’s a pretty large indicator that it’s on.”

Celk shrugged, “Maybe it is broken.” She moved her hand up to the two joysticks. “Are these the control sticks?”

“Yes, you use them to steer the ship. By the looks of them I would say they give you a fare about of mobility.” She responded, pausing her search. Celk eyed the joysticks for a moment then slowly reached up and grabbed them. As soon as she did the lion exploded into light, the window clearing, the control module flashed on, glowing with blue light.

“Wow,” Chezor breathed. “I think you figured it….” Suddenly the lion stood, Chezor gave a small scream and fell to the floor.

“Ow!,” she said, “A little warning next time!”

“That was not me!” Celk said, her voice panicked. “I didn’t do anything!” The lion tilted its head upward, its jaw fell open, Chezor didn’t even have time to scream before a ray of blue light blasted from its mouth and slamming into the cave wall. A cloud of dust filled the cave.

“Celk!” Chezor shouted. “We came down here so we won’t be seen by the humans! How are we going to explain a giant hole in the cannon wall!”

“I… I did not do anything!” Celk said, fear now showing on her face. “It was the lion!”

The lion roared, and leaped though the hole it had just blown, exploding into the night sky. Chezor screamed and fell, slamming into the floor. Celk was pushed back in the chair.
The lion rocketed forward, spinning, twisting, flying in figure eights. Chezor was slammed into the celling, wall, floor and any other possible surface, screaming.

“Celk! she shouted. “Please! Stop!” She frantically tried to grab anything, but the walls were smooth. She cried out as her head banged against the wall.

“I can not!” Celk shouted, frantically clicking buttons. “The lion is not responding to anything!” Suddenly, without warning, the lion shot upwards. Chezor crashed into the back of the ship, black spots flashing in front of her eyes. The edges of the window turned red with heat as the lion surged forward, faster than any human ship ever could.

Then, all at once it stopped. Chezor slumped forward, falling on her hand and knees.

“What happened?” she asked, her body pounding with pain.

“We cleared the planet,” Celk said in wonderment. “We are in space.” Chezor pulled herself to her feet and walked over to the window. The canyon had vanished; all she could see was stars, the moon, (which was getting increasing large very fast) and darkness. She could barely see Earth out of the window’s corner, but it was shrinking at an alarming rate.

Dad, she thought. I just left him. She slowly sat down and stared off into nothing.

Celk

“Chezor?” Celk asked, “are you alright?”

“We’re in space,” she said. “I’m in a giant blue cat - with a Balmara - in space.” Celk said nothing but continued staring out of the window.

Vargas passed and neither said anything, both thinking of how and why this was happening. Celk moved the lion’s joysticks around and pressed more buttons but the lion refused to go off its path.

After about the forth varga Celk heard a hiss of pain from Chezor.

“Chezor?” she said.

“My burns,” she said, her hands shaking.

Chezor second

Chezor’s hands felt like they were on fire, reddish-purple Galra blood fell from the worse parts of her burns, dripping onto the floor.

“Oh you’re burned? I thought that was how your skin looked normally,” Celk called back. Chezor was almost positive, she had been in shock for the last… varga , vargas? She wasn’t exactly sure. But that shock had faded, her pain returning. She groaned and laid her head back on the wall.

“So what was a Galra-Altayan half-breed doing on Earth?” Celk asked. That was a random question, Chezor thought, but she was glad for the distraction.

“I was raised there,” she said. ”I’ve lived on Earth for most of my life.”

“Most?” Celk asked. What, do you want my whole life story? Chezor thought, the pain making her bad tempered. Eh. I suppose we have nothing else to talk about…

“My father, General Mikish was always a part of the Guns, I don’t even know how or why he joined. Once he traveled to Earth and met a human woman,” Chezor began. “I have no idea what he was doing on Earth. But they fell in love, got married and had my half-sister, an Altayan-Human half breed. One of the first, probably the first. But she died in child birth.

“My father left Earth, and returned to the Guns, taking my sister with him. Around five months past and my father met my mother, a Gulra woman working for the Guns; I don’t know her name either. They married and had me ten months later. Twelve months passed, then the base he and my mother where stationed at was compromised and they had to flee. It took two Cursers to take every one there off, that’s how big the base was. I don’t know why they were in a different Cruiser but me and my father were on one and my mother and sister were in the other when we were attacked. The Altayans ambushed us, we were almost defenseless. My father and mother where talking to each other through their coms the entire time. My mother and sister fled into a pod, its call number was 2264/15R. My father said it so many times that now I can’t forget it. We don’t even know if it launched before her ship exploded.”

Afterwards my father searched the wreckage for days. He found pieces or tracked down the locations of all the pods. Except theirs. It was like it had disappeared.

He searched for three years, and never found anything.”

“He gave up,” Celk said. “He gave up and returned to Earth.”

“Yeah,” Chezor said standing back up. “Now he thinks I’m all he has.”

And now I’m gone, she thought. I just left him.

“Do you think they are gone?” Celk asked

“No. That’s why I wanted to go back into space. I need to find them.” She paused and looked down at Celk, putting a false smile on her face, a smile that didn’t reach her heart.

“So what about you? I mean what were you doing on Earth? Balmarans aren’t known for their love of travel.” Celk looked down

“My home Balmara was taken by the Altayans,” she said sadly. “Ours was the last known Balmara not under the Altayan’s reign. The Guns sent many soldiers to protect our home, but it was not enough. The Altayans came; they had huge battle cruisers and an army of sentries. They killed anyone who fought back, including my own people. There was so much death, our Balmara itself cried out in pain!” Celk removed her hand from the joysticks, pulled her knees close to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “Everyone was captured or killed. Besides me. A member of the Guns gave me the location of your outpost before he died. He… he said that there would be people who could help me.” Tears streamed out of her eyes, Chezor leaned down and hugged her, careful not to let her hands touch her.

“Hey,” she said. “We will help you. I will help you, I promise.” Celk smiled and hugged her back. Chezor stepped back

“I’m here for you. You can trust me,” she said. Slowly Celk straightened her legs and put her hands back on the controls.

Suddenly Celk froze, her eye’s becoming foggy.

“Celk?” Chezor said. “Celk are you OK? Celk! Celk!” Celk snapped back into focus.

“Did you see that?” she asked looking at Chezor, fear shining in her eyes.

“See what?”

“I… I saw five lions, like this one. They came together and made… no became…”

“Became what?” Chezor said

“Voltron,” Celk answered. “They became Voltron. I think… I think Voltron is real Chezor! I know it is crazy but I just saw it!” Chezor looked at her for a long moment.

“Are you sure?” she asked. “I didn’t see anything.”
            “Chezor, I saw it! It was incredible! A huge metal man! I saw him as clearly as I see you. I think we need to find all five lions.” Chezor blinked.

“That’s a very big assumption on what might be a hallucination,” she said.

“It was not!” Celk said. “Please trust me! Remember what the glowing cave said? The defender of the universe? That creepy rhyming thing? If you do not trust me, trust your mind! The universe breaking! We need something, even if it is a … what did you call it? A hillu-tin-a-shon? Voltron might be our last chance!” Chezor thought about this, she made a good point… they were out of options and almost out of time, as much as she hated the fact they were about to lose the war with the Altayans. And with the fall of Celk’s Balmara they were that much closer to their victory.

This might be my chance, she thought, my chance to finally help the rebellion! She nodded in resolution.

“All right,” she said. “Let’s go find Voltron.” As soon as she said that, Celk eyes widened in shock and she looked frantically all around her. Chezor blinked again.

“Uhmmm… You good there Celk?” she asked.

“Did you hear that?” Celk said still looking around.

“Uhhh… No?...”

“The lion, it was talking to me! I heard it!”

“Right,” Chezor said, this is the weirdest thing I have ever done. “And what did the lion say?”

“It wants you to put your hand on the control module,” Celk said, determination in both voice and face.

“Okay… then I will do that…” Chezor said. If she is insane I’m going to humor her and go along…. If not, then not doing it will be the biggest mistake of my life! She reached down and put her hand on the control module wincing at the pain in her hand. Instantly an energy seized her! It felt like something inside of her was being sucked out and into the lion! She gasped and tried to pull her hand away, but she couldn’t move! A bright blue light exploded in front of them! Chezor looked up just in time to see a wormhole open.

“What is that?” Celk asked. “It is beautiful!”

“That’s an Altayan worm hole!” Chezor shouted, finally managing to wrench her hand off the module. “Celk, pull the lion back. Now!”

“I can not!” Celk said pulling at the joysticks. “It is not responding!” Chezor looked around the ship for anything she could use as a weapon. But there was nothing! She looked back at the wormhole. There wasn’t time to think of a plan! She gripped Celk’s chair, ignoring the pain.

“Hang on!” she shouted. “We’re going in!” The lion shot inside, the universe transformed from black with stars to a swirling storm of blue, black, and white. Blue lightning flashed around them. Chezor gripped the chair. She could feel blood in-between her fingers.
She closed her eyes and waited for it to be over. As suddenly as it had begun, everything turned back to stars and darkness. Behind them the worm hole closed. The lion slowed to a stop. Chezor opened her eyes and looked around. Nothing looked the same;
she could no longer even see her solar system! In front of them was a lone, very small planet. She slowly looked around; there were no Battle Cruisers, no pods, nothing besides that very small planet.
She breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed.

Celk straightened up, her eyes becoming fixed on the planet in front of them.

“Did the lion speak again?” Chezor asked.

“Yes, it wants us to go there,” Celk said, pointing at the planet. “It said we would find another lion pilot there.” Chezor looked at the planet and nodded.

“Then let’s go down there.” Celk pushed on the joysticks. The lion eased forward.

Their view out the window was suddenly obstructed by a digital voice graph with different lines moving up and down representing the volume of speech coming through their speakers.

“State your business,” a male voice was heard through the speakers, the lines on the screen creating mimicking his words. “You have before the second moon reaches the first, I’m very busy.”

“Moons? There are no moons,” Celk said. “What do you think he means Chezor?”
But Chezor was silent.

Moon she thought. The second moon reaches the first. Where have I heard that before? Suddenly, like lightning hitting metal, she remembered! She began to frantically scan the control module.

“I can’t read any of these!” She said “What language is this!”

“Balmarin,” Celk said in wonderment. “The language. It is Balmarin!”

“Quickly!” Chezor said. “Which one allows us to talk to him?” Celk scanned the buttons then pressed one. Instantly the digital window screen turned from green to blue. Celk looked at Chezor and nodded.

“We are here to stop the first moon and restore the second,” Chezor said, keeping her voice as calm as possible. The second line was silent for a few ticks.

“Welcome,” the male voice announced. “I await your presence.” Celk turned to Chezor.

“What did that mean?” she asked. “The two moons?”

“Nothing,” Chezor responded. “Forget I ever said that.” Celk shrugged and slowly lowered the lion down onto the planet’s surface. When its claws touched down, a small information box appeared in the corner of the screen/window, its words in Balmarin.

“It says,” Celk read, “that this planet’s name is Kenok 3 and it is uninhabited. The air is breathable, but the planet’s gravity is very low. No plants can even grow on it.”
Chezor nodded, listening.

“Good,” she said. “If the air is breathable we can actually go out. I’ll go first and when I’m sure it’s safe, I’ll gesture for you to follow.” Celk nodded and lowered the lion’s head, its mouth opening to allow Chezor to exit. Konok 3’s surface was gray and dusty, stone pillars were everywhere, the smallest reaching her hip, the biggest stretching above the head of The Blue Lion. She had barely walked ten feet before a red light became trained on her chest.

“Don’t move or I will shoot!” the male voice shouted. Chezor looked around but she couldn’t see anyone.

“Remove your identification chip!” he called. An identification chip was a small device which members of the Guns wore at all times. I contained information about them; however the information was almost useless to anyone outside of the Guns. It gave such information as their age, first name, race, how long they had been working with the Guns, and their status (by using different colored stars).

“All right!” Chezor yelled back. “I’m going to reach into my pocket to grab it so don’t freak out!” Slowly she pulled out her phone, took off the back, and removed the battery.
Her father had modified the battery so that it’s back had a small hollow space where her identification chip sat. Slowly she dug it out then held it above her head. The red light moved off her chest and a figure stood up on one of the larger stone pillars. He leaped down. Chezor winced as he jumped, expecting his landing to be hard and painful, but he slowly floated to the ground.

Oh right! She thought. Less gravity! As he walked up to her she saw that he had four long arms. Probably a Unalue. He was wearing full Guns of Galmora armor, a simple black and gray suit with small green Vs on the shoulder blades. He wore a Gun helmet, black with a neon green V. He stood directly in front of her and extended a hand.

“Your chip,” he said. Chezor gently dropped the chip on his hand. He grasped it and plugged into his suit’s arm. A green Holo-screen popped up in the air in front of him, displaying the information from her chip. When he was satisfied he handed it back to her.

“Welcome, Chezor,” he said. Chezor nodded in thanks and pushed the chip back in her phone. She turned and waved at the lion. A few ticks later Celk descended the gangplank. The man swung his gun forward, a small red dot becoming visible on Celk’s chest.

“Identification chip,” he said. Chezor stepped in front of him.

“She doesn’t have one!” she said. “Her home was taken and I promised her refuge!
She’s with me.”

“What does she know of us?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Chezor lied. “All she knows is that I promised her refuge.”

“Do you trust her?” Chezor turned to look at Celk.

“Yes,” she said “I trust her.”

“Chezor,” the man said, his voice cold. “Our society is based on trust and secrecy. One spy could destroy everything and bring the universe’s doom. Do you truly trust her?”
Chezor turned and looked directly into his mask, her face hard.

“Yes,” she said. He nodded, satisfied.

“Come with me,” he said. Chezor and Celk followed him to one of the large stone pillars.
He raised his hand and pressed down on one of the stones that stuck out from its surface. Chezor heard the sound of grinding gears and a metallic hiss. The wall of the pillar facing them began to move outwards. They stepped back to avoid getting smushed. The hidden door hit the ground sending up a cloud of gray dust. revealing a long black stair case leading downwards.

Hah, Chezor thought. I would never have guessed that was there. The stairs led to a large, well-lit room with a long half-circular couch. A door was on the far wall. Celk sat down and Chezor moved to follow but the Unalue put one of his hands on her shoulder.

“A word,” he said, “alone.” Chezor nodded and followed him to a small side room.

“Why are you here?” he asked.

Ummmm… this lie had better be good! And I somehow need to find out if there is someone else here. This guy is clearly not who we’re looking for, Chezor thought.

“The outpost I just started working at is an abandoned research center,” she said. “The tech there is ancient and most of it won’t even turn on. I think they were researching something important, like a new weapon. I was told there was someone here I could take back with me to help with repairs.”

“And is this new outpost where you’re going to be giving that Balmarin sanctuary?”
He asked. Chezor couldn’t tell if he was buying her lie.

“No,” she said. “I was planning to bring her to one of our refugee centers. But this outpost was on the way and I figured I might as well stop here first.” The Unalue stared at her for a few more ticks.

“I do have an assistant here,” he said slowly. “He was helping me to mine the materials from the planets core. The harvest is now over and he has been sitting on his butt for weeks getting in my way. I have been asking for someone to come take him but I wasn’t sure if my communications were getting through…”

“No,” Chezor lied, “we got them. I was told to come pick him up as soon as I was able.”

“Perfect!” the Unalue said. “We may rejoin your friend now.”

Celk stood up as they returned.

“Everything all right?” she asked.

“Yes” Chezor said, “I explained everything.” Behind her the Unalue was talking through his com on his wrist.

“Alic, meet me in the main room,” he said. “Your next assignment is here to pick you up.” A few dobash s later the door opened and a boy stepped out. He was human and looked about 13. His hair was blonde and short, it hung down to his brown eyes in choppy bangs. He had fair skin and wore clothing clearly made by the Guns, not armor, but regular clothes. His pants were a dark gray with two full pouches. His shirt was black with a dark, V shaped yellow collar. The tops of his sleeves were gray with the Guns symbol in the center of them.

“Hi,” he said. “My name’s Alic,” Chezor smiled and shook his hand.

“And I’m Chezor,” she said.

Celk

Celk watched their greeting from her seat. She was slightly confused when Chezor stuck out her hand, but Alic smiled and grabbed it, shaking it gently.

Oh she thought it must be some sort of greeting... Celk stood and walked over.

“I’m Celk,” she said smiling, and awkwardly held out her hand. Alic took it, but as soon as their hands touched, an energy exploded in Celk’s arm. It shot up like bolts of lightning, but not unpleasant. In the distance, she heard a lion’s roar. No one else seemed to notice.

So it must have been just me that heard it, she thought. She looked at Chezor and nodded discretely. Chezor nodded back

“Could I see your identification chip,” she said holding out her hand.

“Sure,” Alic said, digging into one of his pouches, then handed her the small chip. Chezor took it, removed her watch, and pushed the chip into a small opening on the underside.
A green Holo-screen popped up in front of her.

“So,” Alic said turning to Celk. “What’s my new mission? Hang on, let me guess, you’re going on a secret mission to an Altayan base to extract info and you need a get-away guy? Or maybe you need my help to gather more materials to forge more armor?” Celk looked at him, blinking.   

“Ummmm…” she said.

“Or maybe,” Alic continued, “you need my help gathering brin fruit to make gas bombs that mess with sentry sensors. I heard they’re ripe.”

“Ummm…” Celk said again, not sure quite what to else to say. Chezor saved her by handing the chip back to Alic, distracting him.

“Everything seems to be in order,” she said. “Follow us, we’ll take you there.”

Chezor

Chezor thanked the Unalue as they left and walked briskly out onto the planet’s surface.

“Do you think the Unalue knows we are lying?” Celk whispered.

“It doesn’t matter,” Chezor whispered back. “We’ll be long gone before he finds out.”

“Wow!” Alic shouted behind them. “I’ve never seen that type of ship model before! Is it new?”

“No,” Chezor said slowly, her mind working at a fever pace. “We… I found it at the new outpost I started working on. It’s an old model that was abandoned years ago. But it’s actually not a bad design and with a few modifications it could be an excellent addition to our coalition.”

“Cool!” Alic said. “What’s it’s called?”

“Uh… Voltron?”

“Oh! That’s a good one! Most people name their ships something like an X1 52 or something like that. That sounds way better! I fly a Voltron!” At this point they had reached the lion. Celk put her hand on the particle barrier, and just like before it disappeared and the lion lowered its head, its jaw falling open. Together they walked inside. Celk sat in the chair and reached her hand up to grab the joysticks.

“Alic, you might what to hang on to something,” Chezor said, grabbing the back of Celk’s chair with both her hands.

“This lion had a bit of a kick.” Alic looked around.

“Grab what?” he asked.

The lion stood and launched itself into the sky, Alic screamed and fell back. In a few short ticks the lion had cleared the planet.

“You okay?” Chezor asked turning back to look and Alic, who lay on the floor.

“I’m good,” he moaned. Chezor covered her month and tried very hard not to laugh.

“Chezor!” Celk said excitedly, “look!” She looked back and saw that a new destination had been charted.

“Where’s this one to?” she asked.

“A lion,” Celk answered. Chezor nodded, she had been expecting that.

“Then let’s go” she said. Celk smiled and pushed the joysticks forward, increasing the lion’s speed.

Chapter One: Life from the stars

Chezor opened her eyes, the alarm on her phone was blaring at her, telling her to get out of bed. Not like she had anything to wake up for. Still, she pulled herself out of her bed, and carefully stepped over the mounds of clothing, papers, and random junk that cluttered her floor. She walked over to her window, pulled it open and stuck her head through, breathing the cool morning air. Or at least as cool as it could get out in a desert in the middle of nowhere. She sighed and stared across the seamlessly endless series of canyons that made up her view. She had explored and mapped much of the canyon near her house where she lived with her father. They lived miles away from any town or settlement. The closest Chezor got to actual civilization was the school less than a mile away from her house. The humans called it the Garrison; there they trained the ‘next generation of space explorer’ as they called it. Chezor smiled to herself, space explorer? Humans couldn’t even get past their own solar system, let alone far enough to call it ‘exploration.’ Still, it was the closest she would ever get to learn how to fly a space craft. If only her dad would let her learn! She didn’t belong here, no matter how much she tried to hide it; she was literally an alien amongst humans! There was a war going on and people were dying! And she was here, staring out her window. She should be out there fighting, not here where nothing ever happened! Her father worked for the Guns of Galmora and they had assigned Earth as his outpost. His job was to harbor any rebel fighter who came, and to keep the humans from finding out about the other alien races. Humans were an extremely war-like race, almost even more then the Galra. If they found out exactly how many different alien races there were, if they found out about the weapons they used - death would insure. Not as if any alien would come to Earth, it was a tiny planet in the middle of nowhere!

She sighed, pulled herself away from her window and walked over to her nightstand which sat next to her bed. She stared at herself in the mirror which hung above her nightstand. The face that stared back at her was a pale peach; she had gray blue eyes and a simple but pretty face. But the face was far from human; Chezor was half Galra half Altayan. She had pale purple Galra markings under her eyes and long pointed Altayan ears. Her hair ended mid-upper back and, although it started as Altayan white, right under her ears it suddenly changed to a harsh Galra purple. Her hands also ended in Galrain claws. She closed her eyes and shifted her skin, then opened her eyes, to see skin that was now a tan - her Galra markings and Altayan ears had vanished making her look human.

“You’re lucky” her father always said “you can change your skin, you can blend in with the other humans.”

Lucky? She was far from lucky. Yes she could hide her origins but they made up who she was. She wasn’t human and hated hiding that fact. Chezor changed her skin back and picked up a picture that sat on her night stand. In the picture there was a Galra woman holding a tiny baby. The woman had a slimmer, paler purple face than most Galra; her hair was dark purple and shaved on the left side, the other side hung down to her jaw line, a scar ran down the left cheek, starting just below her eye. The baby she held was mostly covered in a black cloth but green Altayan marking could be seen. The woman and child were Chezor’s mother and half-sister. Two people she had never met. She stepped away from the night stand and put her clothes on, a red shirt with an orange collar, denim capris that fell to her mid-lower leg, gray and red boots that were longer in the back than the front. Last she pulled on her jacket (it was mid-November and cold outside) the jacket looked like leather and its sleeves ended in black cuffs, the bottom (which lay a little ways above her hip) was also black and spiked up in the front, it also had a black collar and shoulders with inverted triangle armpit. She glanced at herself one last time in her mirror then headed down stairs to the kitchen.

Her father looked up from his breakfast as she came down. He was an elderly Altayan with the same gray-blue eyes as Chezor, light brown hair and red makings.

“Good morning Chezor,” he said cheerfully, “how’d you sleep?”

“Fine,” Chezor answered, pouring herself a bowl of Fruity Pebbles.

“So dad,” she said sitting down across the table from him and grabbing the milk that sat to her left. “I know we’ve talked about this before but...” This was a well-rehersed speech that she had practiced many times in front of her mirror. “The Garrison is enrolling new students this upcoming spring. They’re accepting applications from now until the beginning of January. I was thinking maybe I could put one in….?” Chezor stopped here, her father’s face had suddenly gone hard and cold.

“You’re right,” he said, “we have talked about this many times over and my answer will remain the same, you will not go to some human school and leave me here, when I’m gone I need you to look out for this outpost. The Guns need you here not out there.”

            Anger boiled in Chezor’s veins, she pulled her hands into fists to try to stop it. “Why?” she said. “It’s not like anyone knows about this place, a war is going on and we’re just sitting here doing nothing! That’s all we’ve ever done! Nothing!” Despite her attempts to suppress her anger, her voice rose to a shout. “People are dying and I’m just sitting here! I could help stop it! Please father! You can’t keep me here forever!”

            “My mind is made up Chezor,” her father said, his voice too cold. “The Guns need you here and I can’t lose you!” Not like I lost them - his words meant - I’ve already lost too much. I can’t lose you too. Then he stood, put his bowl in the sink, and walked away leaving Chezor still sitting at the table shaking with anger. She felt so helpless, so weak, trapped on Earth. Forever.

            Finally Chezor stormed outside, leaving her bowl. She wanted so scream with anger, walking over to the large shed her father had built in front of their house. Chezor slammed the door open, the lights, sensing her movement, flickered on.

The shed was a training room of sorts. The wall to her left was lined with weapon replicas that looked, felt, and had around the same weight as the real things. There were Altayan swords, (made from plastic or steel), guns (that shot water to help practice aim), staffs (pointed and non-pointed) and water-shooting drones (to help with defense drone piloting). The wall farthest from her was lined with targets of varying size; and in the center was a small training dummy, the kind that if you hit it, it would spin, hitting you with multiple different ‘arms,’ each holding different weapons. The look was completed with a head painted with the face of an Altayan sentry.

Chezor stormed over to the left wall and grabbed an Altayan long sword, the handle long enough for both her hands, and walked over to the dummy. Her hands tightened on her sword and swung, anger fueling her. The sword crashed into its center witch sent the dummy spinning.

            Jump, duck, stab, block. Her sword span dizzyingly fast.

I need you here Chezor - her father’s words echoed in her mind.

The Guns need you here - No. No they didn’t. They needed her out there fighting real sentries, saving real lives, stopping the real war, the war her father pretended didn’t exist.

Anger burned through her, fueled by her Galra blood, fueled by years of hiding and pretending everything was alright. She screamed a war cry and slammed her sword into the dummy’s head. There was the sound of snapping wood, a shearing jolt of pain in her arm and the dummy shattered, fragments of wood slamming against the floor and opposite wall.

She stared at the fragments, panting. Her hands, stinging, dropped the sword on the floor beside the ruined dummy. Chezor walked out.

The rest of the day passed in a blur. She read, wandered about, ate lunch, avoided her father, binged watched Stranger Things, and ate dinner. After dinner, she sprinted up her stairs, grabbed her headphones from the nightstand, and ran outside.

The moon shone high over the canyon, the sky twinkling with stars. But Chezor’s gaze was turned downward. There! A stone faintly shone, like street signs at night when a car light hits them, but less so. The glow was so faint that only her Galra enhanced eyes (which were likely glowing like a cat’s in the moon’s pail light) could catch it, and only if she was looking for it. Chezor followed the stone’s glow, there; she could just make out the light of the second farther on. She smiled and continued following the trail. She had placed the stones herself years ago, a trail that only she could see, and only in the moon’s light. She had made it for nights like this, when she wanted to get away from her father, from her life, and just be herself.

The stones led to a small cliff half way between her house and the Garrison. She reached the cliff top, from her vantage point she could almost see into the Garrison walls. She had walked to it once and had seen a small figure wearing headphones, sitting on its roof, light from a computer shining on its face. The figure had waved and Chezor had waved back. She had visited about 10 times after that and the person was always there and always waved to her. They had never met, but, she kind of considered this mystery person to be her Garrison friend.

Chezor pulled out her phone, plugged in her headphones and turned her music on. Instantly the song ‘Numb’ by Lincoln Park blared in her ears. Chezor closed her eyes and let the familiar numbness sink in.

Song after song blared in her ears. She looked at her watch; the face read 11:02. She sighed. Her father got worried if she stayed out too late. She started walking back to her house, thinking about the next ‘exciting’ day ahead of her. Suddenly a bright flash of light blared in the sky. Chezor gasped and span abound. The sky was dark, but Chezor didn’t move, she stood there, staring up at the night sky.

The sky exploded into light as the... thing broke through the skyline. Chezor’s eyes strained to get a better look at …a ship! An alien star ship! And coming straight towards her! Chezor was frozen in shock - a ship? Here? It fell to Earth - the light growing from bright to blinding. Chezor shook herself and scrambled back, falling on a stone and landing hard on her behind.

Raising an arm to block the light as the ship crashed, Chezor’s ears rang with the sound - she felt the whole canyon shake. Chezor pulled herself up and stumbled over to the edge. The ship lay in a burning heap at the base of the canyon, smoke pouring out from its back. Streak marks scared the ground, parts of the ship scattered around them.

A sound shook Chezor from her daze, the sound of blaring horns. Her head snapped towards the Garrison, red lights flashed from the roof and she could make out a voice that was far too calm.

“We are now on lock down,” it said. “Please remain in your rooms until further notice. This is not a drill.”

Chezor looked at the ship then back at the Garrison, her mind working at a fever pace. The Garrison would be sending out fleets of people to see what the crash was, fleets of people who would see the alien inside, the humans would poke and prod, using knifes, needles and anything else to understand what it was. What humans didn’t understand they destroyed.

Before she could think about it further she ran down the canyon side, taking the least steep path possible. Once on the ground, she ran with her full might to the burning ship. The heat was so intense, but without thinking about the consequences, she slammed her full body into the rear entrance, glad she had brought a thick jacket. The metal creaked and bent, weak from the heat and the crash, but didn’t cave in. Chezor glanced towards the Garrison - five sets of lights could be seen, barley pinpricks in the night, but rapidly getting closer.

“Quiznak!” Chezor swore and slammed into the door again, her whole body burning. Her shoulder felt broken but she slammed into it one last time. The door fell, bringing Chezor down with it. She stood and put her arm over her face. The air rippled with the heat, smoke and flame. Chezor could barely see, her face burned. She stumbled towards the cockpit. A small figure lay on the chair, a helmet obscuring the face, the body covered in flight armor.

Using her claws, she slashed through the thick straps holding the pilot captive, grabbing the shoulders and pulling backward. She gasped in shock at the weight of the small pilot.

Probably the armor she thought. She hauled backward through the flaming ship, the smell of burning flesh and hair entering the air. The smell didn’t come from the pilot. Chezor hauled the body out into the night air that now seemed cool to her burned skin.

The lights of the Garrison’s vehicles were now huge and bright, she was almost in their range. Desperately looking for anywhere to hide the pilot, her eyes fell on a cave, illuminated by the fire’s glow. She ran to it, pulling the body behind her, fuelled by pure panic. The cave’s dark embrace seemed to welcome her as she ran inside, but she didn’t dare stop. The cars outside had stopped and voices could be heard.

“Get the fire team on this!” a woman called.

“Sir, have you ever seen anything like this?” a man’s voice.

“No, never,” another man’s voice, this one gruffer, one that demanded attention.

Chezor continued to pull the body backward, trying to find the back of the cave where it would be safer.

“Sir, the ship is empty,” the woman said.

“What!!?” the gruff man’s voice again. “Can the dogs smell anything?!”

“No sir, the smoke is too thick.”

Suddenly the ground under Chezor’s feet cracked, she barley stifled her cry as the floor caved in.

Chezor fell, well, more like slid. The tunnel she slid through had an underground river that sucked her along. Unable to contain it any longer Chezor screamed.

The river ended as abruptly as it had begun. She screamed again and was flung into the air landing in a huge pool of water. Struggling to the surface, Chezor coughed and gasped for air.

The pilot! Chezor frantically looked around. There! She saw a glint of light from the armor as it disappeared under the surface. She dove down, frantically swimming, and felt something hard with her foot; she reached out and grabbed the collar. Using all the strength she had left, she pulled the body to the shore. She dropped the pilot and collapsed, panting, her breath coming out it in a thick fog.

Eventually she sat up and checked the burns on her hands and legs and used her phone camera (which remarkably still worked!) to check her face. The worse burns were on her hands which felt numb and cold, and in some places were bleeding. She lowered her hands and looked at the pilot, whose chest rose and fell. She hesitated to remove the helmet which was connected to the creature’s air support. Chezor had no idea if the creature breathed oxygen! But if smoke got into their air supply it wouldn’t matter anyway, and, most likely, it would run out soon. Chezor stood and placed her hands on either side of the helmet. She hesitated for a second then pulled it off, revealing the face of a Balmara.

Chezor gasped! She had never seen another alien other that her father and herself. The Balmara was female, her skin had a slight blue-ish tint to it. No wonder she had been so heavy! Chezor had assumed it was just the armor! Balmarans had thick, stone-like skin! Gently she removed the rest of the armor revealing a dark blue Balmaran robe.

Chezor gently pressed her fingers to the side of the Balmara’s neck trying to feel for a pulse. Her burnt fingers were painful to feel anything.

I guess I have to wait for her to wake up then - she thought. Chezor looked around the large cave, most of the floor was taken up by a large pool of water. The entrance where they had fallen from was higher than Chezor could reach.

“Well,” she said, “I guess we have to find another way out.” Chezor looked around the beach they were resting on and saw that it continued to the other side. A tunnel branched off the beach, its edges dark.

“That’s our way out Balmarin,” Chezor said, turning to look back at her, then froze. The Balmara’s hand twitched then closed into a weak fist. Chezor bent over her.

“Hey,” she said, “you alright?” The Balmara’s eyes slowly opened and focused on Chezor’s face. The eyes grew wide with panic and she tried to scoot away.

“It’s alright,” Chezor whispered in the most soothing voice she could. “It’s alright, I’m a friend. My name’s Chezor. I work with the Guns Of Galmora. Your ship crashed and I brought you in here.”

The Balmara’s face had relaxed slightly. “You work for the Guns?” Her voice was soft and sweet. Chezor smiled.

“Ya. I do. You’re on planet Earth. You can trust me.” The Balmara closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. Then she opened them.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Chezor said. “I was trying to hide you in a cave from the humans that were coming and the floor sorta caved in.”

The Balmara blinked.

“But I do know a way out!” Chezor said and pointed to the tunnel entrance. The Balmara turned to look at it then looked back at Chezor.

“If you have never been in here before how do you know that’s a way out?”

“Honestly I don’t, but it’s the best shot we have of leaving this cave, you with me?”

The Balmara thought about this and nodded. “I’m with you,” she said.

Chezor smiled, “All right! Then let’s do this!”

Together they walked into the tunnel, Chezor turned towards her companion.

“Hey I didn’t catch your name,” she said.

“Celk,” the Balmara responded, “my name is Celk.”

“Nice to meet you Celk.”

Suddenly the cave exploded with blue light, Celk and Chezor gasped as blue images appeared on the walls, images of blue lions. Altayan ruins covered the walls, glowing an electric blue.

“Wha…”Chezor breathed “Where... where are we?”

Celk turned to Chezor. “Can you read these?” she asked, pointing to the runes.

“Ya,” Chezor said. “It’s old but I think I can.”

Chezor read, “Four to find the one

One to find the four

When the universe is on its knees, he shall rise

The mighty defender

Two becomes one, one becomes five, five becomes all

When blood shall pour like rain he shall save us all

Ha. Creepy. Hey Celk what do you suppose that means? Celk?”

It was here that Chezor realized that Celk wasn’t next to her anymore. “Celk!” she called.

“Over here!” Celk’s voice echoed off the stone walls, “in the side cave! You need to see this!” Chezor pulled out her phone and took a picture of the strange poem then ran over.

“What is it Celk? Something…..” Chezor’s mouth fell open. The cave they were in was huge! And at the far side was the largest cave picture they had seen. A glowing giant man, his hands and feet the faces of lions, spikes jutting out from his shoulder blades, a huge sword in his hand. Chezor walked forward, Altayan rune stones where glowing next the man.

“Voltron,” Chezor read, “the defender of the universe.”

Celk put a hand on Chezor’s shoulder, “Come on,” she said. “I think the tunnel continues.”

Chezor nodded, “Right,” she said, “lead on!”

The tunnel did indeed continue but ended in a large metal door with a hand print on its center. Runes at the top of the door read Only the one chosen can open the door. Chezor turned to Celk then put her burned hand on the door. Nothing happened. Chezor found this annoying.

“You try,” she said, gesturing to the door. “It is our only way out.” Celk nodded and put her own hand on the print. The door flashed a blinding blue light then slowly opened.

“Ha. I guess you were the chosen one,” Chezor joked walking through the door, “What do you suppose that meant by…” Chezor froze.

“Chezor?” Celk called. “Everything alright?”

“Get. In. Here. Now!” Chezor called.

“I’m here,” she said running in, “is everything…..”

Then her mouth fell open. In the center of the cave was a giant blue lion starship surrounded by an Altayan partial barrier.

“What… what is that?” Celk asked.

Chezor shook her head, “I… I don’t know!”

Celk

Celk could feel something as she looked at the lion, a pull, a voice telling her to touch it. The lion was looking at her, even though its face never moved - its eyes followed her. She hesitantly walked forward and put her hand on the barrier. It disappeared like rippling water. The lion’s eyes flashed gold, it lifted its massive head and roared, its cry shaking the cave! It lowered its head, its jaw falling open, a smaller section in the center of the lower jaw fell, reveling a gangplank that led up into its month.

“I think it wants us to go in there” Celk said. The pull was stronger now, almost impossible to resist.

Chezor

Chezor nodded, her mouth still open, she could feel something, this certainty inside of her, like she was supposed to get in. Celk carefully stepped up the gang plank and disappeared into the lion’s mouth. Chezor shook herself and closed her own mouth; she looked up at in amazement at the lion. She stepped forward, her hand grabbing its jaw, then stopped. In all the books she had ever read this would be where something magic happened and the heroes would be gone on some epic quest they never imagined. She dialed her father’s number, after a few rings the phone went to voice mail. Chezor swallowed nervously.

“Hey Dad,” she said, “so long story short. I found a Balmara who crashed onto our planet and we found this cave, with this giant blue lion ship inside and it wants me to go inside of it. I know this sounds crazy! But I can feel something telling me to do it! Like it’s what I’m supposed to do! So… umm… Love you. See you soon! Bye” I hope she thought and walked inside the blue lion.