As Allura entered her room, she stormed over to her bed. Fueled by anger and adrenaline, she grabbed the huge mattress and flipped it entirely off the bed.
"HOW COULD HE?!"
Tears streaming down her cheeks, she looked about for something else to take her aggression out on. The chair? The desk? No, they were given by her parents. Then her Voltron force uniform caught her eye. She'd changed out of it here from the last practice. She put it on, grabbed her lionkey and helmet and headed for Castle Control.

Driven by fury and desire, nobody was able to prevent her from entering tower #4 to her lion. Not the castle guards, Nanny,the rest of the team, or Coran. Blue lion lunged into the air, faster and more aggressively than it ever had before.

At the same time, the two lead Aurora pilots, Alexis and Keith's sister, Kaitlin were running a few maneuvers of their own, assessing strategic positions and just plainly enjoying the exhilirating flight in the sunny Arusian atmosphere.

"Cheetah, bank left, into the canyon below."

"Roger. Up for a game of hide n seek eh, Stingray?"

"You're as bad as your brother sometimes!"

"Absolutely worse, Stingray!" Kaitlin yelled as she knifed her fighter into the canyon.

Laughing, Alexis followed suit.

As Allura flew onward toward nowhereness, she felt her anger wane while she flew through the air. A little 'blip' on her screen, however, changed all that.
"Hmmm...two fighters giving off an intermittent signal...they MUST be the stealths!"

Blue lion banked hard on an intercept course. The two Aurora pilots picked up the lone lionship instantly.

"Stingray, lionship at your 5 o'clock!"

"Roger that. Can you get a visual from where you are?"

"Yes. It's uh, the Blue lion!"

"Blue lion?!"

"Yes. Isn't that the Princess' lion?"

"It is. Hmmmm...wonder what she's up to? If Keith was holding lion practice, we'd have picked up the other lions on our scanners. Cheetah, RTB (return to base)."

"But, Alexi-"

"That's an order! I have a feeling this is between her and me."

"Roger, wilco out.("wilco"=will comply) was Kaitlin's somber reply.

"Yes, Alexis, this IS personal!" Allura said, having tapped in to the stealths comm frequencies.

"Keith has taught you well. Not many can hack into this aircraft's frequency."

"Hmpf!"

"I see, princess. Should I presume this hostility towards me is because of Keith?"

Silence. Instead of speaking, several proton missles were fired from Blue lion. Destination: Aurora 1.

"Oh, okay, princess. We'll do this your way then. A fight it will be, though I'd really rather not...for your benefit." Alexis commented as her aircraft's agility allowed no missle to meet its intended mark. She then banked sharply left to face Blue lion head on.

Allura,was slightly rocked by this extremely aggressive and fast maneuver,but she held firm, determined to stand her ground.
"Water...Blast!"

Half expecting this maneuver, Alexis pulled a corkscrew roll over and under the column of water. She then rolled back over and behind the stunned princess.
Allura still didn't flinch though. Keith had trained her and she believed she could use this against Alexis.

Unfortunately, Alexis was battle seasoned and also knew many of Keith's moves, having seen them performed at the Academy back on Earth. Despite this, the princess' guts and determination showed the depth of feeling in her heart for the Voltron commander. She decided it was time to end this.

The Aurora fighter swiftly and easily forced Blue lion carefully into the ground, having never fired a shot in the whole skirmish. Alexis then landed her craft and ran to Blue lion to ensure that the princess was unharmed.

Allura, fuming from before, and now suffering a combat loss, charged out of the lion's port side entranceway and lunged at the black uniformed stealth pilot. Alexis, slightly off-guard, fell with Allura on top, pinning her to the ground.

"Your, umph, Highness, please stop! I want no quarrel with you! Just, ooofff...listen a minute will ya!"

"Why should I?! You know how much I care for Keith! Yet, you and him--!" she trailed, crying.

Alexis could say nothing in defense. She'd seduced him in the shower and knew it. Nothing she could say would make it sound any better. She slid out from under the weeping princess, got in her plane, and left.

Meanwhile, Cheetah had returned to the Castle and quickly sought out her brother. She found him in his quarters, moping.

"Keith! Alexis and Allura are mixing it up in the air!"

"Huh?!" Keith said, snapping out of his stupor.

"The princess, she seems awfully upset about something!"

"How long ago?"

"'bout three minutes ago. I flew here on full afterburner once I knew what was developing!"

"Thanks!" was Keith's only response as he bolted out and headed for his lion.

He never even reached the control room doorway though as Lance intercepted him in the hallway just before Castle Control.

"I told you Keith, if you EVER hurt Allura...!"

"Lance, you don't understand and I DON'T have time for this right now! Outta my way!"

Lance stepped closer between Keith and the Control room doors.
"No, Keith. This is going to be dealt with NOW!"

"Allura and Alexis are out there in a furball! If I don't stop it they'll hurt not only the ships, but each other! We can't afford any of that with the mission so close!"

Lance, temper flaring, landed a hard, solid jab on Keith's jaw. Keith reeled backwards, slamming into the opposite wall, and sliding down to the floor. From there, he felt his jaw and spit a bit of blood.
"Lance, I'm NOT going to fight you!"

"Good! That means I can whoop your butt without any resistance!"

"Lance,cut it out! This is infantile! You of all people should understand the circumstances of the situation!"

"But I'm not the one playing around with the heart of a royal princess who's a very close friend at that!"

"I DON'T have time for this! The princess is in more danger now than what this is all about! If she jumps Alexis in the air..."

Lance thought for a minute. He knew of Alexis' skill and the power of a Stealth Elite fighter as well as Allura's lack of. With a big "hmpf" he stepped away and let Keith get up. But before Keith could leave, he grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him forward to him.
"We're NOT through! Remember that!"

Keith just looked past him, yanked his shirt back, and left while Lance, "hmpfed" once more, stuck his hands in his pockets, and watched.

tbc...