When Twyla returned to Earth after years away, she hoped to be reunited with Ji-hun and Kuno or Keith as Ji-hun insisted to call their son by his Earth name. She arrived to their home in the desert to find the hover-sled she'd left missing along with her son and husband. She heard a noise and hid around the door frame. Humans weren't aware of aliens, so the Galra knew she had to hide.
"I thought I heard something. Dios mio this place is a mess." A small beautiful curvy woman in a pilot's jumpsuit entered first. Her curly hair pulled out of her face, her brown eyes scanning the room. A small ginger haired woman followed her, also wearing a jumpsuit of sorts.
"Are you sure they were here?" a third woman had entered. Taller than the other two by nearly a foot, she was also strongly muscled. Twyla noted a large knife strapped to her belt.
"I tracked Katie's IP address the way she showed me, they were here at one point," the ginger haired woman said.
"There's a heat signature in this shack!" A man who remained her of Ji-hun but different in a way she couldn't put a finger on burst in. Also in a matching jumpsuit. Wait. Quizznak! She'd been made. She leapt out, crouched to defend herself.
"Katie was right!" the ginger said.
"Mierda!"
"Kuso!"
"Sugar!" They stopped and stared at the knife wieider.
"Sugar?"
"My mother always taught me it wasn't polite to swear," she said.
"What are you doing here?" the curly-haired woman said.
"I could ask you the same question. This is my house," Twyla said.
"Your house? Have you see this child?" the knife wielding woman said showing her a picture of a strongly built boy with a bandana.
"I'm afraid not. I've been off world for years," Twyla said relaxing her pose. The others relaxed too.
"How long?" the man said.
"10 Galran Cycles, I'm unsure as to how many years that is," Twyla said, "My son and husband are missing."
"Are they like you or…"
"They are Earthlings like yourselves," Twyla said.
"Aiy! I've been rude. Martina De laRosa-Ramirez-McClain. Retired pilot and mother," Martina said offering a hand.
"Twyla, formerly of the Galra Empire, rebel." Twyla said taking the hand carefully.
"Kaili Garret. Chef," the knife wielding woman said.
"Colleen Holt, homemaker and part-time hacker," the ginger woman said.
"Tamaki Shirogane," the man said, "Engineer and full-time parent."
"Is this your son?" Martina said holding up a photograph of a young man in a pilot uniform with a mullet.
"Yes. I thought he'd outgrow that hair style, though," Twyla said.
"He's not…purple?" Kaili said.
"For now. I took him off world shortly after he was born to have his galra genes suppressed so he could live a normal life." She dug through the shack a bit and found something that made her gasp. It was an obituary for Ji-hun Kogane. The date meant her child was barely seven when he lost his appa. She'd been gone far too long.
"What's this?" Tamaki said. Twyla looked up and saw the map on the wall. It was a mess, like one of Ji-hun's conspiracy theory maps.
"One way to find out, I suppose."
Twyla collapsed onto her knees when she saw the symbols. Voltron. There had been a lion. Here. On this planet. She sniffed the air and she found her son's scent along with others who smells were similar to her new companions.
"They were here," she said, "But this scent is old."
"What happened?" Twyla turned to see Martina examining some damage to the cave walls.
"I don't know-there are people outside," Twyla's ears twitched. She drew her blades and peaked around the corner to see humans in uniform. She could fight her way out, no problem. The humans behind her….not so much.
"Surrender, alien lifeform!"
"Galra don't surrender!" Twyla snarled,
"Galra? Stand down!" The men were confused as an older woman in uniform strode forwards. They obeyed nonetheless
"Are you the same as the species that were responsible for the capture of the Kerberos Mission?"
"I don't know of any "Kerberos" but if they identified as Galra, then we're the same species," Twyla hissed.
"A survivor claimed the Galra were coming, and his last known location was traced here," the woman said.
"If he did, then your planet is doomed," Twyla said, "My kind had become a plague upon this universe."
"Who was the survivor?" Colleen demanded,
"Pilot Takashi Shirogane," The woman said. The Commandant arrived.
"What do you think you are-General!" the older woman nodded to him.
"The rest of you may come out should your alien friend sheath her swords," the General said.
"You lied to me!" Tamaki shouted, "You told me my son was dead!"
"Mr. Shirogane. My apologies but we thought the whole team dead," the General said.
"We Galra do not exterminate other aliens: it's a waste of potential entertainment value," Twyla snarled as she twirled her blades back into their sheaths.
"What do you mean by that?" Tamaki said.
"Gladiator fights among other things," Twyla said, "Or they're passed along to the druids for those sociopaths to play with or just plain enslaved."
"Our children went missing from the Garrison. Did you hide that they were taken by aliens as well?" Martina said.
"Captain De laRosa-Ramirez, it's been a while."
"It's De laRosa-Ramirez-McClain," Martina said.
"My Katie was there as Pidge Gunderson," Colleen said.
"My son is Akela Garret, also called "Hunk,"" Kaili said.
"Keith Kogane," Twyla said.
"Keith Kogane washed out of the garrison not long after Mr. Shirogane's son and Mrs. Holt's husband and son were captured by your people, Ms. Twyla."
"It's former Captain Twyla, rebel against the Galra Empire to you, Earthling," Twyla said.
"That kid was part alien?"
"Enough! Where are our children?" Martina said.
"All of the children mentioned were caught on cameras rescuing Pilot Shirogane from a quarantine center. They've not been seen since, but a strange robotic blue lion was seen leaving the atmosphere and the alien ship that had entered our system beyond Saturn went with it," the General said.
"Ma'am, why are you telling them all this?" the Commandant said.
"Because, they're already familiar with this alien, it would be pointless to keep them out now," the General said, "Also, we need her intel should her people come back. Willing allies tell us far more than people under torture."
"Let me get to my ship and I'll show you what I can. It's been a while since I was part of the empire," Twyla said offering a hand to the General. There were strange looks. "My human husband told me that this was a way of greeting." The General smiled and took her hand. The others sighed in relief.
Twyla lead the troops to where she'd hidden her space craft.
"What are these marks for?" Tamaki said pointing to strange looking ports.
"Before I left the Galra Empire, my ship was part of an experimental prototype class of weapon attempting to replicate the Voltron weapon of Altea. That blue lion your General described is said to be one of the pieces of Voltron. I fear that the children are in grave danger if the Galra are involved," Twyla said. The ship was a decent size, and was clearly meant for up to three operators and two extra seats.
She pulled up a holographic display and cursed in five alien languages.
"The Galra are coming. It doesn't matter that the Blue Lion is gone, they will strip this planet until it is destroyed. I need to get up there," Twyla said.
"You are not authorized to leave this planet." Twyla turned to see it was the male Commandant. One punch and he was sent flying out of her ship and she began to start it up.
"Get off unless you want to be in a space battle," Twyla said. She heard four seatbelt clicks.
"Sign me up," Martina said from the co-pilot's chair.
"They already went after my son and husband, I'm not letting them get my planet," Colleen said from what had been the auxiliary weapons station.
"I want my Hunk to come home to Earth, not a wrecked shell," Kaili said.
"I'm not letting them take anything else from me either," Tamaki said.
"This will be a boarding mission," Twyla said as the ship took off, "I'm going to blast a hole in the hull and we're going to enter and take down the droid controls. Galra ships fortunately operate with minimal Galran officers as crew. Can't take over the universe without severely stretching your numbers thin. There should be gear in those compartments. Pick your weapons and be ready for impact in ten minutes."
Martina quickly grabbed a knife and a pair of pistols she strapped to her waist.
"Get ready, vaqueros!" she said. The others shook their heads. Colleen had a sniper rifle and smaller side arm and Tamaki had a regular blaster and a knife. Kaili was still loading up on knives and she had one pistol. They were strapped in as Twyla's ship approached the Galra command ship. IT was huge compared to any Earthling crafts and dwarfed Twyla's craft, but their planet was on the line. Twyla punched in a few commands and pressed her hand on the panel before her. A powerful laser shot forth from the ship blasting a hole big enough for the ship to fit through, which she punched the craft forwards through the hole.
She turned on her helmet's vacuum feature,
"Wait here until I get the barrier engaged!" she said before she slipped out. What felt like an eternity later, Twyla opened the ramp to wave the others out.
"The commander will be sending robots here to capture us, and he and his other warriors will be throwing everything they have. We need to disable the engines and liberate any prisoners on this ship before I blow it sky high with BlackWing," Twyla said pointing to her craft.
"Black Wing?" Martina said.
"It was the central part of a mecha that the Empire tried to build to replicate Voltron. It took too many people to be practical and it was just not good. Fifteen people was not a good way to go," Twyla said, "It took me years to adapt that for single user combat."
They split up, as loath as Martina was to leave Colleen on her own.
Martina ran right into a group of robots. She quick drew her pistols and took them all down with a serious of rapid shots.
"Yipe-kai-yay." Ok so, maybe Martina had watched a few too many cowboy films with her husband and kids. Didn't stop her from being awesome.
Colleen slid around a corner, sidearm in hand and there was nothing. Until she turned around there was a galra looming over her. With a yell she shot him point blank and shot at the robots before all were on the ground. The Galra, though injured wasn't dead. He would need medical assistance. Colleen found a computer port and was able to get in. Her husband wasn't the only one her daughter had inherited brains from. She downloaded it onto a flash drive thing she'd found on Twyla's ship. She hoped. The lights flickered and the auxiliary power came on. Plus, the robots that had been approaching her halted in their steps. She sniped them down carefully.
Kaili had retrieved her knife from a robot whenever the auxiliary lights kicked on. She found the prison bay, and with help from a liberated set of cards from a Galra she'd knocked out, letting the prisoners loose.
"Get to the escape pods, move!" she said.
Tamaki was tearing parts of the panels off and messing with important looking parts whenever the power flickered. He stopped whenever he realized he'd walked right into a trap. He drew his blaster only to have someone start taking the robots apart from the other side. Twyla appeared in a shower of sparks and nodded to him before she took off down the hall.
Twyla ran into the remaining galra soldiers on the ship: the command crew.
"If it isn't Twyla the traitor," he said.
"Thorrox, a displeasure as always," Twyla said. A blast took down one of the men as Tamaki rounded the corner and a knife got the other from behind right through the throat. Kaili appeared, knives in hand. As if they'd been waiting for a cue, it was a fight: galra on galra. Thorrox was bigger but Twyla was meaner. She kicked him and threw a blade at him, pinning him to the wall.
"If you're here, where are the other wings?" she said.
"Go jump in a blackhole you faithless gulabirana!"
"Oh, they're aboard this ship? How marvelous!" Twyla said before she punched him out.
When all was said and done, the team had liberated 30 prisoners, taken four Galra alive, and the whole ship. Whenever Twyla piloted it back to Earth she was also looking over the databases it had access to before she cut the access. No need to broadcast to Zarkon where this ship had been lost.
"Do you think the government will keep letting us do this?" Kaili said.
"I don't answer to your government," Twyla said.
"You don't seen to answer to any government," Tamaki said.
"Zarkon is a corrupt dictator. Would you follow such a tyrant?" Twyla said.
Arriving back in Earth's orbit was fun. Twyla opened a landing bay to receive the envoys from the Galaxy Garrison.
"Above and beyond what we expected, Twyla," the General said.
"Your Commandant told me I wasn't cleared to leave the planet." Twyla said.
"We received word of the alien contact just as you forced the Commandant off your ship. In light of the circumstances, we've decided to let it slide," the General said, "This is an impressive vessel you've captured."
"I had originally planned to blow it up," Twyla said.
"I found those Wings you mentioned!" Martina said as she approached, "Can I have the blue one please?"
"There are different colors? I call the pink one if there is a pink one!" Kaili said before she ran off. She stopped, "Where are they?" Martina rolled her eyes before she dragged Tamaki and Colleen along with them
"Wings, Twyla?" the General said.
"An experimental Galra weapon. My ship is Black Wing. Combined with the others, it creates a sort of mecha as you'd call it. As a combat mecha, there were problems with its efficacy in needing fifteen operators," Twyla said, "If I can modify them, I can drop that down to five."
"We'll get five of our best," the General said.
"I already have four humans I'm willing to work with. I will, however turn over command of this vessel and the four galra prisoners we took to you," Twyla said.
"What makes you think you can order this?" the Commandant said.
"Simple, it was I not you who captured this ship, and I am the one with experience in space combat. Real space combat. The Galra will be back. They will keep coming. Should we fail to repulse them, Earth will be lost and you all will be dead or enslaved," Twyla said, "My help is contingent on me picking my own team. I have. Now the choice is yours." The General's face was unreadable.
"You have us over a barrel, Twyla," she said.
"The Galra have the universe over the barrel," Twyla said, "What's one more human?" The General nodded before she walked away.
"You have balls of steel!" Twyla turned to see it was Kaili who'd spoken.
"Find the pink one?" Twyla asked.
"There wasn't a pink one, but I got the yellow one," Kaili said.
"Blue is mine," Martina said.
"I chose the Red one," Tamaki said.
"I was left with Green," Colleen said.
"Colleen and Tamaki, I will need your help in reformatting these Wings to be single user fliers. You're my Team. I expect you to keep up," Twyla said.
"Wait, I have to fly one of these on my own?" Kaili said. Twyla smirked.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll do fine."
MP: I'd like to apologize for how rough this is. I'd also actually wrote this last August.
I decided to post this because of S2.
I may or may not continue this.
I definitely plan on doing a follow up where Voltron arrives and sees a Galra threat taken out by Team Mom (and Mr. Mom) eventually.
This is a direct AU of Lab Rat.
Team Mom (and Mr. Mom) Defenders of Earth
Twyla—Galra Rebel. Keith's mom. expert in hand-to-hand combat. prefers dual blades.
Martina De la Rosa-Ramierz-McClaine: Retired Pilot and mother of seven. Preferred weapons are la chancla and a pair of pistols. Do not piss her off.
Kaili Garret: Chef. Expert with knives. Has some on her person at all times. Trope of way-too-many-weapons
Colleen Holt: Tech Support. Prefers not to fight, but uses a sniper rifle when she has to.
Tamaki Shirogane: Engineer. Primary: blaster, secondary sword. Only uses the sword when disarmed. Doesn't have proficiency in it yet.
They don't meet up with Team Voltron for a long time. To the Universe at Large they're an urban legend: a group of back world misfits fighting off the Galra.
Most attribute their success to the fact Zarkon's main forces are focused on acquiring Voltron.
None-the-less their legend grows.