Winter on the Planet Merion showed mercy to no one.
Hidden under the thick curtain of snow, four Doom Cruisers silently landed on the surface of the planet, the noise of their powerful engines drowned by the fierce howling wind of a Merion blizzard.
The hatch of the Command Ship opened and two figures alighted, shielded from the snow by an eerie glow coming from a staff of the smaller of the two, parting the curtain of snow where they walked.
"Why have you brought us here, Haggar?" Prince Lotor snapped, looking around and seeing nothing but snow and a sheer face of rock before him. "This reeks of another of your foolish ideas, witch. I’m of a mind to leave you here to freeze." He pinned the witch with a fierce gaze. "You better not be wasting my time."
"I wouldn’t think of it, sire," cackled Haggar. "I did not bring you here to admire the beauty of winter. That sheer rock face you see before you will bring us the victory we’ve been craving for so long." She gestured at the rock, touching her staff to it. The snow melted away and the exposed patch of rock glowed an angry crimson.
"What is it?" Lotor asked impatiently, evidently not impressed.
"The Fire Rocks of Merion," she replied, touching the rock almost reverently. "A rock chipped off this face the size of a fist will explode with the force of a 500 pound Lazon bomb upon impact. Enough to destroy Voltron."
"Hmmm... I may reconsider my threat about freezing you, Haggar. But why must we mine this rock in the middle of winter?" Lotor asked, touching the rock himself and recoiling at the heat emanating from it. "The people of this forsaken planet are not even around to mine this rock for us."
"The Merion winter freezes the rock and stabilizes its chemical and physical structure long enough for us to mine it," Haggar explained, lifting away her staff. "Afterwards, we can freeze the rocks immediately so that they don’t explode until we need them to." The patch of red was white-encrusted in less than a few seconds, finally disappearing under a layer of ice. "Besides, the weather is cold here all year. The primitive people of this planet do not know about the power they have right under their noses – even as they are now getting their warmth by living within the caves within this very rock face." She cackled again.
"This just might be a good idea," Lotor said reluctantly, staring at the formidable wall of rock before him. "Very well. We mine tomorrow."
The two figures walked back into the Command Ship and the hatch slowly closed.
From behind a large boulder near where Haggar
had melted the snow, a tall figure cloaked in white moved from the rock.
Wind whipped the thick white garment as the figure ran, hidden by the snow,
into a crevice leading deep into the heart of the mountain.
"They’ve landed."
"I know." A petite, beautiful young woman with thick chestnut hair and stormy gray eyes turned from a small monitor and slowly faced the cloaked figure in white. "They know all about the rock, don’t they, Jael." It was not a question.
The cloaked figure in white put the hood down to expose a thatch of red hair and the strong-jawed face of a handsome young man. "Yes, dammit. And they plan to mine the rock and use it to destroy Voltron. They don’t realize that doing so could destroy my planet and kill my people." His blazing green eyes held the woman’s troubled gray ones. "Samantha, they must be stopped."
The woman turned back to the small monitor and sighed. "I know, Jael. Unfortunately, I cannot transmit anything from within the mountain, and even if I could – the Doom cruisers will pick it up..." She sat down on a rock, laid her head in her hands and closed her eyes. "I was afraid of this. I thought I’d never have to..."
"Samantha. You don’t have to be the one to fly
the Falcon Fighter. You’ve taught me enough... I can..."
The woman’s head snapped up and she pinned him
with her glare. "No, Jael. Your place is here, with your baby, and with
Ella. I’ll fly the Falcon tonight. I’ll bring Voltron here. I won’t let
them destroy Merion."
A Second Chance -- Longings and Memories