Pidge sat cross-legged at her station, monitoring scans of the magnetically charged atmosphere of the planet below the castle. 'The planet' – what was its name again? She frowned, peered more closely at the screen, and saw the word 'Tolsia' in bright red.

Tolsia. Was that 'Tol-see-a' or 'Tol-zee-a' or 'Tolja' or what? Pidge brought up a translation program that she had designed. "Okay," she muttered, pushing her glasses up her nose. "Cross-reference the castle's knowledge of Altean phonetics with whatever radio chatter I can pull up from the planet surface . . ."

Her headphones remained silent, and she pulled them off. Of course, how could she be so stupid? "Doggone magnetic storm," she said, more loudly than she had intended.

The other four paladins, casually dressed and standing more or less at attention, turned as one to look at her. She glanced to one side. "Um. Just talking to myself. . ."

Coran peered at her over his own computer. "Storm's getting worse, is it?" He looked out the bridge window. "Can't tell from here, I'm afraid!"

Hunk took a deep breath, obviously preparing to give a lecture on exactly how visible a magnetic storm would be in the first place, but Lance reached up and clapped a hand over his mouth.

Pidge ignored that, and Lance realized that she was still talking, presumably to Coran, as she faced in his general direction. " . . . and it looks like all radio signals are being blocked by the storm, so I've got no way of referencing the population's accent or anything. Maybe you could pick up some recordings while you're down there?"

Allura looked up. "It's possible, but whatever do you need them for?"

"So I can figure out how to pronounce the name . . . of . . ." She paused, looking around as though just realizing that the others were all staring meaningfully at her, and finished in a very small voice, ". . . the planet?"

Lance straightened up, courageously resisting the urge to snicker. "I forgot you weren't at the briefing."

"Ah! That would explain it." Coran tweaked the ends of his mustache into position and said, in very exaggerated tones, "TOL-zee-ah."

Pidge wrapped her hands around her crossed ankles and said, "Thanks."

"No trouble at all! Allura?"

"One moment . . . there." The princess tucked a wisp of hair behind one pointed ear and said, "I think we're ready. The defense systems have been fully charged and activated."

Coran tucked his thumbs into the lapels of his coat and rocked back on his heels. "Good! And I've got the shuttle ready."

Pidge, recovering from her former embarrassment, piped up. "The magnetic field just reached its weakest point. Now's your best chance to land on Tolsia."

Allura moved to the door, then glanced back. "Assuming all goes according to plan, we should be back in four vargas. But if anything should occur in the meantime –" She hesitated. "Coran, perhaps it would be best if you stayed. Someone has to be able to pilot the castle in case of attack."

Shiro stepped forward, smiling reassuringly. "We'll be fine. Remember, we're the ones who have Voltron." His eyebrows creased in a small frown. "I'm more concerned about your going to this 'diplomatic meeting' without us."

"Yeah!" said Lance, folding his arms. "I've been wondering about that. How come we can't join you again?"

Coran held up a lecturing hand. "The Tolsians aren't exactly welcoming to newcomers. They'll allow the princess to visit, and I did a bit of arm-twisting to get them to let me come along, but I'm afraid you're stuck waiting this one out."

"We need to see where they stand in this war," Allura cut in. "They don't communicate much with other civilizations, but they have the resources to supply a Galra presence in this system indefinitely."

"What if they already are?" interrupted Hunk. "How do we know they aren't the enemy?"

"We don't!" said Coran cheerfully. "That's why we're going down."

"I still think you should take us," said Keith.

"There's no sense in making them feel threatened," Allura explained. "The Tolsians are a bit . . . timid."

"Timid?" said Lance. "Sounds more like paranoid."

Keith shifted his weight. "Sounds like a trap."

"Guys, enough," said Shiro. "The princess is right. If anything happens we'll go down, but not until then."

"The magnetic storm isn't going to let us communicate," frowned Pidge.

Allura made a gallant (and obvious) attempt to maintain her patient demeanor. "Paladins, please! Coran and I are going down to the surface. You have taken many necessary risks in this war, and this is no different."

Lance opened his mouth to say something about how a shuttle wasn't at all the same as a big metal lion, but Shiro put a hand on his shoulder. "It'll be fine."

The Alteans left the bridge, and a few doboshes later a red indicator blinked, showing that the shuttle had launched. Pidge opened a general frequency, attempting to get some sort of signal, but gave up shortly after.

"No luck. Hunk, any ideas?"

He leaned on the back of her chair, peering over one shoulder. "Umm, maybe? . . . No. Oh man, that storm is bad."

"Think they'll be able to land?" added Keith, joining them.

Hunk nodded vehemently. "Trust me, Coran can do anything with one of those shuttles. He flew through the shafts in the Balmera like – it was amazing! I mean, I was screaming the whole time, but . . ."

"I thought you said he crashed," said Lance, flitting from station to station and checking various readouts.

"Well, yeah, but that was after."

Shiro came over. "I know none of you like this, but hanging around the bridge isn't going to do anyone any good. Let's get to work."

Pidge lifted her hand, casting one last, uncertain look at the flatlining receiver and deliberately clicked another button. "Bridge to engine room."

Matt's voice came back, chipper as usual. "Don't you mean 'Pidge to engine room?"

She ignored this remark with the ease of long practice. "You got that download ready to analyze yet?"

"Just about. If you come down and help me it would be faster, but – ya'know."

Pidge got up with an affected huff. "Fine. Fine. Your brilliant younger sister is coming to help you."

She clicked the button again, cutting off his protest, and stretched. "Hunk?"

He shrugged an apology. "Actually, I've gotta fix Yellow's speeder. It got a little banged up on our last mission."

"Okay, well, soon as I'm done helping Matt, I'll haul him over to Yellow's hangar, and we'll give you a hand."

"Thanks, Pidge!"

Hunk headed down the zipline and Pidge trotted off the bridge, her eyes alerady glazed over as she planned out her next project. Shiro moved to the main control center to check the scans. Keith fiddled with a control. Lance yawned.

"Nothing in range," Shiro reported, rubbing the back of his head. "I don't like this."

Lance snapped his mouth shut mid-yawn. "Uh, you don't like that we're currently in an enemy-free zone?"

"I can't be sure it is enemy-free. This storm. . ." He made a few adjustments to the scanners and stared moodily at the display.

Keith watched him, face expressionless. "Shiro. How much sleep didn't you get last night?"

"Yeah!" said Lance. "You're not usually this downbeat."

When he didn't answer, Lance exchanged looks with Keith and stepped forward. "Look, Shiro, if there was any danger, our lions would let us know, right?"

"I just . . ." Shiro shrugged. "Never mind. Guess I'm just feeling a little jumpy."

He left, adding over his shoulder, "I'm going to check on the others."

Lance twisted his mouth, his gaze sliding to meet Keith's. "He's not what I'd call the nervous type. What was that all about?"

Keith poked aimlessly at his display. "I dunno. Maybe something really is wrong."

"Maybe we're just being jumpy," Lance replied, but he didn't look away from the radar.

"Y'know, Pidge boosted the signal, but I'm not getting anything. Not even from right near the castle."

"Maybe it's just not showing up." Keith activated the comms. "Coran? Allura?"

Static fizzed in reply, and Lance stuffed his hands in his pockets. ". . . Guess I'll go check in with Hunk."

"I'll stay. The signal might work once they've landed."

Lance gave him a half-hearted wave and slouched off. "Have fun."

First chapter up! I'm hoping to post Wednesdays and Sundays, as before, but I'll at least update weekly. All bets are off. . . :) Anyway, what do y'all think?