Princess Allura stood at her command station, fingers flying as she swiped back and forth between nine different screens, pulling out various bits and pieces of data and dragging them onto a large screen.

Lance sat at his own station a little ways behind her, watching in exaggerated, open-mouthed awe. The other paladins were clustered behind him, waiting for Allura to speak.

"There," she said, a moment later. Her purple earrings swung as she tilted her head apologetically, "Unfortunately, this is all the information Coran and I were able to gather on such short notice."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Shiro told her.

Pidge leaned over the back of Lance's seat, trying to see better. "What's going on again? I wasn't here when we got the message."

"No, you were in the cryopod," Lance said, folding his arms. "Because someone decided to take a shot in the leg. Dangerous, lot of blood loss . . ."

"Whatever, Lance," she replied, smacking the back of his head. "I'll pay more attention next time, okay? I mean, I didn't ask to get hit or anything."

Lance's face indicated that he was about to make a smart reply, but Shiro gave him a firm look, and he subsided with only a faint grumble.

Completely ignoring the exchange, Allura made a few more selections onscreen. "While you were in cryosleep, Pidge, we received a message from an allied planet. One of their supply ships picked up signals that indicate the presence of a hidden enemy outpost."

Hunk scrunched up his face in confusion. "Yeah, but don't the Galra have outposts everywhere? Why is this one important?"

"We have reason to believe that it is not a typical outpost. Coran, would you give the briefing?"

"Certainly, princess," the advisor replied, hands clasped behind his back as he rocked back on his heels. "It appears that this particular Galra, a general named Tolvik, is overseeing –"

"Wait," frowned Shiro. "I – I think I remember that name."

Coran nodded. "He was one of Zarkon's top men, so that makes sense. He also used to be Sendak's commander."

Lance leaned back, crossing his legs and shooting a glance in Shiro's direction. "In other words, he's probably a world-class jerk."

The advisor opened his mouth, but before he could ask what a 'jerk' was, Keith interrupted. "So – what is Tolvik doing on this outpost?"

Coran brought up a screen with the schematics of an outpost and pointed to a bright spot in the center. "From what we could gather, he's there to oversee the gathering and processing of quintessence."

"Okay, that's not good," said Pidge, folding her arms. "That means they have druids there."

Allura nodded. "I'm afraid so. It will be dangerous, but we simply cannot leave this base intact. The faster the Galra are able to process quintessence, the more they can gather. They could kidnap inhabitants from any of the planets in this sector and drain them of life."

Everyone remained silent for a moment, processing this information. The computer beeped, and Coran leaned over to view the screen. "We'll be in range of the base in less than one varga."

Shiro straightened. "All right, team, listen up. As Allura said, this will be a dangerous mission –" He gave a faint smirk. "Well, more dangerous than usual."

Lance stood up, grinning. "We're good at dangerous. What's the plan?"

The paladins gathered around the main computer hub, studying the schematic. Keith pointed at one side of the hologram. "Looks like the command bridge is more protected than usual."

Hunk peered at it. "Yeah . . . Does it matter, though? I mean, can't we just fly in and blow it up?"

"No!" exclaimed Allura. They turned to look at her, and she said, "They're harvesting quintessence. They'll have some sort of weapon or spell that allows them to do that. What if they use it on Voltron? Or one of the Lions?"

Keith shifted his weight as though he were already holding a sword. "Looks like we'll have to sneak in and blow things up from inside, then," he said, sounding almost pleased.

"We'll still need to fly in, though," said Shiro, one hand on his chin.

"We could take Green," said Pidge. "The cloaking ability should hold just long enough for us to land."

Lance shook his head. "What if something happens? What if she gets captured? We should have some kind of backup."

"If I may," said Coran, lifting a finger. He tapped Pidge's datapad. "It looks like their station is situated on a planet with natural satellites."

"Yes. . .?" said Shiro.

Hunk clenched his fists in excitement. "Oh! Oh, I get it! If we use one of them for cover and approach at the right angle –"

"Yes!" cried Pidge. "Hang on, I'll run the calculations."

"Ummm," said Lance, scratching his head. "Does anyone know what they're talking about?"

Hunk turned to the others. "Okay, so you know how a radar works, right?"

Shiro nodded. "Yes."

Pidge glanced up. "Hunk, we're all pilots – we all know how a radar works."

"Oh, right. Sorry. Anyway, we're gonna fly in, staying directly in line with the biggest moon, and use it, you know, sort of like a shield?" He brought up a model and showed them. "Once we're close enough, we can orbit the moon and then fly right in. At that point we'll be visible, of course, but Pidge can activate her cloak and it won't have to last as long."

"My thoughts exactly!" said Coran, giving his mustache an enthusiastic twist.

"Good idea," said Shiro. "But Lance is right about bringing backup. I don't want to risk getting cut off from our only escape."

"Red's the fastest," said Keith. "We could take her and Green."

Lance waved his arms around. "But you'll hurt Blue's feelings! She wants to fight the Galra."

"Keith's right, Lance," said Pidge. "Besides, I'm sure the other lions will know if we need them. Coran, I've got our approach vector calculated. Could you double-check it for me?"

"Certainly, Number Five. Hold on a tick."

"Pidge," said Shiro, "is there any chance that you could install a cloaking device in Red before we get there?"

"If Hunk helps me," said Pidge. "But – uh, Keith, you'll have to get Red's permission. She didn't like it when I tried to scan her last time."

"Sure," said Keith.

As they left the bridge, Shiro turned to Lance and clapped him on the shoulder. "Come on, let's figure out how to do this."

When Keith returned a few doboshes later, Lance and Shiro had put together a tentative strategy and were reviewing it with Coran.

"I'll take Pidge with me," Shiro said. "Lance and Hunk will go with Keith. We'll land on opposite sides of the base."

"We can't just stay in one group?" Keith asked, trying to keep the worried tone out of his voice.

Lance shook his head, looking, for once, as though he felt the same way as Keith. "The base can only be fully destroyed if we set charges in two different places." He pointed to the command center. "And Pidge has to get into the main consul to locate the other Galran quintessence bases."

"Right," said Shiro. "And she may need me to activate something." He held up his prosthetic arm.

"I could do that," argued Keith, before remembering that he couldn't – he had to pilot Red. "Or you could at least take Hunk or Lance with you."

Shiro seemed a little confused by his vehemence. "It'll be fine," he said. "Your team has the more dangerous mission already – you need three people."

"Please," said Lance, looking offended. "I'm worth two people as it is. And Keith isn't completely useless."
The red paladin opened his mouth to argue back, but realized in time that Lance was just trying to get Shiro to take Hunk along.

Coran hummed. "I wouldn't suggest that – your team has to break into the quintessence room, which will most likely be heavily guarded."

"So?" Keith replied. "I did it by myself last time, didn't I?"

In retrospect, that was the wrong thing to say. The black paladin stiffened, his forehead creasing, and Keith momentarily considered kicking himself. Shiro shook his head. "Yes, you got in by yourself. And almost died. Hunk's going with you."

He turned to the hologram with an air of finality. Lance frowned at Keith, who replied with a half-apologetic shrug.

As Shiro, Coran and Allura spoke about coordinating attacks, the two teenagers edged closer together, both eyeing the black paladin.

"I don't like it," said Lance.

Keith grunted. "You're not the only one."

Lance continued as though he hadn't heard him. "Seeing the Galra droids still makes Shiro freeze up, sometimes. Druids –" He frowned again.

Keith folded his arms, his dark eyes growing darker.

Lance let out his breath with a huff.

As one, they glanced at each other, then at the schematics.

"We're landing closer to the base than they are," muttered Lance. "We could get in, set our charges, and . . ." He leaned forward, peering at the various lines and colored shapes that made up the hologram, and gestured vaguely, " . . . you know, get back to them – just in case."

Keith pointed. "That hallway. It leads to a room directly above the command center. We can get to it if we leave the quintessence room by the west corridor and make two left-hand turns – uh, and head up one elevator at the end of this one."

Lance nodded, his demeanor cheerful again. "Then you cut through the floor, we jump in – and we be awesome and keep everyone safe."

"Yeah . . . until we have to separate and head back to the lions again," Keith replied dubiously, pulling at his gloves. "I'm gonna get suited up and download a copy of this map."

Lance gave him a thumbs-up and headed for the door. "I'll do the same – we might need a backup."

"Wow," said Keith.

There was a long moment of silence. Lance looked around the bridge to see what had impressed Keith, then turned back to him. "Wow, what?"

"You're actually planning ahead," said Keith. He left the bridge to the sound of Lance's indignant spluttering.