AN- Pidge is referred to as "she/her" in this fic simply because that's what they called Pidge after the reveal that she was a girl. I know a lot of fanfic refer to Pidge as "they/them" but I decided to go by what the show says. This story can be put into any of the seasons as it was not written with a certain season in mind, although some events from the show are referenced. I don't have a beta, so any mistakes are my own, feel free to point it out if you notice it. No flames in the comments please.

Disclaimer- I do not own, or claim to own, any of these characters, they all belong to their respected owners, I simply create fanfiction with them. Any similarities to real people or real events is purely coincidental.

It was supposed to be an easy mission. The lions weren't supposed to be shot down leaving their paladins stranded on a deserted alien planet. The castle wasn't supposed to be forced out of the planet's atmosphere or risk being destroyed.

"…ith! Can you hear… Kei…wake up! Keith!"

Keith snapped awake as Shiro yelled his named through the coms.

"Shiro?" he groaned, head still foggy as the memories of the battle swirled around in his mind.

"Keith are you okay?" Shiro asked concern and pain laced in his voice.

"Yeah I-I think so. How are you? The others?"

"I don't know. I think my coms were damaged I can only reach you."

Keith could hear the pain in Shiro's voice and noticed he didn't answer his question, but before he could press the issues Shiro was speaking again.

"Can you get out of your lion? We have to find the others and find a way to contact Corran and Allura."

"Yeah, alright. Pidge can probably find a way, but Shiro are you okay?"

"I'll live. Now get out of Red, my scanners aren't picking up any Galra and we need to find the others before they come back. The short-range scanners in our suits will pick up their locations and pinpoint them when we get close."

Keith still wasn't pleased with the answer he received but he knew Shiro was right. They had to find the others. Now. He carefully started to move out of his pilot's chair and collapsed instantly with a groan; barely catching himself before he face planted.

"What happened?" Shiro called out, but Keith could hardly hear him as he grasped at his left leg while pain tore through his body, his hands came away sticky and red, he knew he was bleeding, but he couldn't tell from where. He grabbed a long strip of bandages and wrapped his whole thigh as best as he could in the limited lighting of his out-of-commission lion.

"Keith, what happened?" A concerned black paladin tried again.

"My leg. I'm fine. It just shocked me." He lied, Shiro had enough on his plate he didn't need this.

"Can you walk?" Keith knew he didn't believe him for a second, but Shiro also accepted the fact that he was in no position to help.

"Yeah I'm fine." Keith said, stealing himself before he stood up and made his way out of Red, his scanners started clearing slightly as he looked around. As far as he could tell the planet was a deserted desert. Great. He kept spinning until a blip on his screen made him screech to a halt; without a doubt, it was a lion's signature.

"Shiro I found someone! It's…Lance! I found Lance, he's not far!"

"Great, you go for him. I found- it looks like Pidge."

"Okay we'll get them then meet up."

"Sounds good. Let's move."


Allura and Coran could barely hear their own thoughts, much less each other, over the various blaring alarms roaring throughout the Castle. Garla ships raced after the damaged craft, there was no way to outrun them and with the Castle already being pushed to its limits fighting them off was out.

"We have to do something!" Allura yelled over the alarms searching desperately through the screens in front of her, racking her brain for an answer that had to be there. She knew would be there. A flash of light to her left caught her attention- a nebula, but not just any nebula, Allura remembered her father warning her about this particular type.

"Coran look!"

"What are you suggesting Princess?" Coran eyed the nebula wearily, nervous of her answer.

The nebula in question was unique in the way that it threw off electrical radiation. Electrical radiation that can short out ships, and if you were close enough, had the power to tear them apart. It was an insane idea, but it was their only hope.

"Take us closer."

That was the answer Coran feared but he knew the Princess's thinking. It was their only chance and the look in Allura's eyes made him fear for anyone who tried to say it wouldn't work.

"The nebula will affect us as well!" Coran called out but slowly started angling the Castle towards the dangerous nebula.

"The Castle's defenses should protect us."

"Aye, Princess. If they were full and undamaged they would. In their current state there's no way of knowing if they can handle that type of stress."

"We have no choice Corran. We must do this! The shields will hold. They have to!" Allura's famous stubbornness broke through her nervous exterior and with that look in her eye and the tone of her voice she could make anyone believe that it would work, even a multi-armed small alien who refused to go over cracks but had a love for teludavs.


His breath coming in short pants, Keith relied heavily on his jetpack as he slowly navigated toward Lance's lion.

"Lance, Lance can you hear me? It's Keith." The red paladin tried again, and again he heard no response.

"Shiro, how are you doing?" he asked concerned, the green lion was further away from Shiro than Lance was from Keith and Shiro didn't sound good.

His breath sounding almost identical to Keith's he replied, "I'm okay, still some ways out though. How's your leg?"

Typical Shiro Keith thought, he was probably hurt worse than Keith was, but his only concern was for his team and not himself.

"I'll live." He said, copying the older man's answer from earlier, as he continued to run as fast as his leg could handle. His eyes focused on the small blip on his visor, steadily growing closer.

"Lance!" he called again refusing to give up on the blue paladin. Keith heard a small groan that nearly made him face plant for the second time that day, that definitely wasn't Shiro it had to have been Lance.

"Lance! Come on, wake up!" Keith yelled, picking up his pace even as his leg screamed at him. It sounded as if Lance tried to say his name but was then cut off by a ragged cough.

"Lance are you okay?" Keith only received a groan in response. "Hang on I'm almost there!"

"What's going on?" Shiro asked, making Keith remember that his coms didn't work properly.

"I heard from Lance, well kind of. He doesn't sound good, but he's alive. I'm almost to him."

"Okay tell me what you see when you get there. I'm about half way to Pidge."

Keith didn't respond, he just continued to sprint as best as he could to the lion now coming into view. The blue lion had a hard landing judging by the impact zone around it that Keith had to use his jetpack to clear. The hatch on Blue's stomach opened to his touch quickly and Keith shot inside, his progress was halted by the protective door separating the rest of the lion from the pilot. He pulled on the door, but it didn't budge, and without Pidge to hack it open, opening the door wasn't going to be possible, so instead he put his hand flat on a spot next to the door and closed his eyes.

Please, he called out with his mind, I know you're just trying to protect him. I'm trying to help him, but I can't do that unless you let me in. Keith let his stubbornness, the fear for his friend, and his determination to help him flow through his body and to his hand, Please, I have to help him. The door slowly creaked open as the lion accepted him, and his words to be true. Rushing through the door the second it was open enough to fit him he took in the sight before him, his heart dropped immediately as he rushed to the pilot's chair, ripping off his own helmet as he went.

"Lance, stay with me!"


Racing toward the nebula, Coran and Allura were trying to figure out just how to do this. The Galra ships needed to be destroyed, but they couldn't risk getting caught in the blast.

"Princess, look!" Coran yelled over the alarms, staring intently at a flashing screen not even looking back as he sent a copy to Allura. She too stared intently at the new screen seeing his idea, it was crazy, but there seemed to be no other way. The nebula was throwing off a small gravitational force in one area, and in this area, there were no electrical flares.

"If we focus our shields on one side, we can use the gravitational pull of the nebula to shoot us out of the flares range, while the Galra attempting to follow us will be hit!" Allura voiced Coran's idea aloud. Coran glanced back then and Allura nodded at him, as he adjusted the Castles heading, if it was even slightly off the ship could be destroyed, the Galra following them were much less careful seeming to not even notice as some ships started to spark.

"We're almost there! Most of the Galra ships are still intact!" Coran noted, as sparks flew all around them, but as long as they stayed on their current course to the gravity area they would be safe.

"Focusing particle barrier shields now." As Allura closed her eyes, she called out to her father, Please, Father, help us! The Paladins need us! Explosions surrounded the ship now, none of the Galra were on the singular safe course, causing the electrical currents to hit them dead on.

"We're going to make it!"

Coran regretted speaking those words before the last syllable made it past his mustache, for at that exact moment; a damaged Galra fighter, one of the few remaining, crashed into the back of their unprotected engines violently throwing them off course.

"Raise full particle barrier!" Allura shouted as the Castle spiraled out of control-and directly into an electrical flare. Electricity ripped through the ship sending currents in every direction, simultaneously destroying the remaining Galra while wreaking havoc on the Castle of Lions. Coran's control console basically turned into a mini firework show as he jumped back from it, while Allura was thrown from her unsecure position getting the wind knocked out of her. The blaring alarms seemed to reach a new height before slowly dying off all together, the lights pulsed then abruptly shut off; the Altean Princess braced for an explosion, shocked when the next sound she heard was Coran's frantic voice.

"Princess, Princess are you alright? Allura?"

"Yes, I'm fine," she answered as she sat up dazed, "what happened? We didn't explode?" she meant that last part as a fact, but it came out as a question instead.

"No we didn't!" Coran laughed, "A Galra crashed into us sending us off course, but the gravitational force had pushed us far enough out that even with the particle barrier only partially raised the blasts weren't deadly! We did lose power though."

Allura smiled despite the terrible circumstances, they were alive, as for losing power? That happened all the time, she was sure that Coran could get the Castle running in no time, his grandfather built it after all.

AN- I haven't forgotten about Hunk don't worry! He just comes in a little later. Well I really hope you enjoyed that! This is my first multi-chapter fic, my longest, and my first Voltron fic! Lots of firsts in this one. Please like and comment what you thought so I can improve. Chapter 2 is already in the works. See you next time

~Kiera540