A/N: Greetings Dear Ones! I know that it has been a minute since Band on the Run wrapped. I have been working on this for some time, and finally the last couple of weeks have inspired me to get my ass in gear - can't imagine what that could be ;) - and write the damn thing. This is an unusual format for me as I don't typically write 1st person, but I wanted to give it a go as sort of an experiment, so I could really use your input.

As always, I don't do disclaimers, blah, blah, blah...

Allura

I was sleeping soundly when the buzz from my communicator entered into my dream. The images faded too quickly for me to get a proper grasp on them, and they promptly disappeared from my consciousness. The feeling was still there, however. Those internal imprints that dreams can leave behind, but of which I have no explanation. I was left with the impression that this had been a good one. A welcome relief from the dreams that left me with a hammering heart and a sweaty nightgown. The dreams that had haunted me for longer than I can remember.

The comm gave another irritating buzz. I peaked out from under the blanket and could see that it was still dark outside. It was either late at night or early morning. I couldn't tell which.

Two years ago, I would have been out of bed and dressed the moment that the first alert sounded. Of course, back then, my planet had been in the middle of a war, and a full night's rest was a luxury. Jumping out of bed without second thought, slipping into my flight suit which may or may not have been cleaned from its last wearing, depending on how soon our enemies had been able to regroup and attack again. I had taken to wearing my hair up when I slept. It just saved time. Many an early morning saw me in the control room of the castle, still slipping into my boots, my ridiculously thick hair frazzled from where the strands had made an escape from the clip. What a sight I must have been. Of course, none of that mattered when Arus was under attack and every second could mean life or death for the people who looked to me for protection.

Things had changed considerably since then. The war was over, and though it had taken some time, things on the planet, and in the castle, had gradually fallen into a peaceful routine.

So, when the comm roused me from my sleep, I felt no real sense of urgency. It could be any number of things that needed immediate attention, but nothing that would be life threatening. It was a mere annoyance. I finally tossed the bed sheets aside and stumbled, with my eyes still half closed to the desk in front of the window. A quick touch on the base of the lamp activated a soft glow that was just enough to keep from hurting my sleep laden eyes.

I sat down and pressed the comm button on the computer. The screen lit up, and I sat back and waited while the signal was decrypted. It was taking way too long for the transmission to come through. Then a thought occurred to me. There was only one person whose transmission would take so long to buffer. The only person who would not have the decency to check the time before making the call.

"Lance," I breathed when his face finally popped up on the screen.

He smiled brilliantly at me. "Greetings, most beautiful Queen of Arus! How are you this fine day?" His over the top greeting was something that I had come to expect. I never thought it was cute, but I played along. Most times his smile would be contagious and I would be forced to smile back. Not today. He seemed to be able to tell that I was in no mood for his cheekiness at that moment because his smile faltered. "I did it again, didn't I?"

I scowled. "How could you tell?"

"That crazy hair of yours kinda gave it away. That, and the pissed off look..." He trailed off. "That was rhetorical, wasn't it?"

I nodded. "The sun's not even up, yet."

"Hey, it's not my fault, girlie, I'm in a different galaxy! How am I suppose to keep up with time change?"

"Lance! Just get to the point. I know that you didn't risk calling me for a chat."

His bravado smile returned. "Alright, alright. Geez, take it easy. Like it's not enough putting up with Keith's cranky ass..."

My heart jolted at the name. It was a purely involuntary reaction that I hated more than anything in the galaxy. But it happened every time Lance uttered Keith's name, and there were times that I was sure that he did it on purpose. Damn him.

I leaned forward in my chair and narrowed my eyes at him, as though sitting closer to the screen would somehow make me more intimidating. Lance got the point.

"Okay, so I ran into this guy in Leonis system who knows this other guy, who..."

"Lance!"

"I've heard tales of this planet that there is a planet that actually gives off this strange magical aura that actually stabilizes the particles of the stars and planets around it." He paused to sip his coffee. "This aura is amplified by some Queen that lives there on the planet. And it's that aura that keeps most of the living galaxies in the universe from imploding and destroying it from the inside out.

Here's where it gets interesting. From what I understand, there are several other planets in the same orbit, and their close proximity to that planet has given some of the residents magical properties. It is rumored that one of those planets has a species living on it that have mind altering properties.

I started to feel a tingle of excitement. "Do you think it could be connected to that creature that Hagar implanted in Deirdre?"

It had been two years since Hagar had attached the unknown creature to the base of Deirdre's skull. The affect had been total mind control with Lotor pulling the strings. He had sent her to kill us all and take Voltron for the Drule empire. Through a series of unfortunate, but not unnecessary events, the creature was destroyed. But the aftermath resulted in Deirdre's DNA being altered giving her magical powers that she had yet to learn to control. And somehow, as we had discovered, the magic was directly linked to Voltron. We had been actively searching for any information we could find about the creatures. Lance had been covertly keeping his ears open as he and the others had been traveling the galaxy for any intel. We were beginning to think is was hopeless.

"I think it's worth checking out. I still don't have bead on exactly where this planet is, but I'm sure if you put Pidge on it, he can find it."

"I'll do that. This is great, Lance. We may be another step closer to finding out how Deirdre got her powers, and how they connect to Voltron!"

Lance nodded. "How is she anyway?"

"She's doing well. She seems to have moved from just being pissed off all the time to accepting that this is part of who she is now. She's given up on trying to control her powers and has focused on merely suppressing them. I think it's a good idea for now. At least until we can find out where they came from."

"And Hunk and Pidge?"

"Hunk and Rebekah seem to be happy. Settling into married life. Pidge is still Pidge."

There was a pause, and I got the feeling that he wanted me to continue. I knew that Lance loved being in the action, and being in the field was where he belonged. I also knew that he, while he wouldn't admit it, he missed Arus and his friends. "Sorry, there's not anything more interesting to report, but life is kind of hum drum around here." I tried to give him a reassuring smile.

The moment was broken when another voice interrupted. "Lance!" The single word in the tone from the familiar voice made my stomach flip, and suddenly my mouth became unbearably dry. Get a grip, Allura. Fortunately, the feeling passed quickly. I hadn't spoken to Keith since he and Lance had left Arus two years earlier. And while the unexpectedness of his voice still brought uncontrollable reactions, I had taught myself to cope with them. Though I did hope that Lance hadn't caught it.

It was too late, of course. Lance knew me too well. He knew what to look for, and I didn't disappoint. He always said that my tell was a slight flicker of a my eyelids and tick in my left cheek. To anyone who didn't know me, the tells would go unnoticed. To the man who taught me to play poker, however, they may as well have been neon signs shouting my discomfort.

He gave me an annoying smirk before turning away from the comm. "What's up, boss?"

"I need you in mess. Now."

"You got it, Keith." He turned back to the comm. "I gotta go."

"I guess you should," I said, trying to sound casual, but I couldn't hide the bite in my tone. "Thanks for the information, Lance."

He grinned at me again. "Anything for my favorite Queen." This time I let his smile infect me, and I returned one of my own. "Just remember, you didn't get it from me. Keith would pull my tonsils out with pliers if he knew I was giving you intel."

Something along the lines of "Keith can kiss my ass," wormed it's way to the tip of my tongue, but I managed to suppress it and keep the smile on my face. "Of course."

"Good night, Allura."

"Good night, Lance."

I shut down the comm and stared at the dark screen. I debated going back to bed. It was still dark outside and I felt like a couple of more hours of sleep would do me good. The information that Lance had provided, however, swirled in my brain, and, in the end, I decided that lying in bed trying to sort it all out would not allow for sleep any way.

I pushed back from the table, shrugged into my robe and stepped into my slippers. While I got myself together, I mapped out my route in my head. To the kitchen first. I needed coffee. A quick jolt to get me going. Then the library. Father had an extensive collection of books. History, science, alchemy, art, literature a planets and galaxies far and wide. He believed that the more he could learn about other cultures, the more we could become closer to our universal brethren. His ultimate passion was Voltron.

When I was a child, Father would often tell me stories about the legend of Voltron. He said that he believed the Voltron would return one day as the savior of our people, and I remember seeing him on many times in the library, buried in books about the history of Arus and how it related to Voltron. He never told me what his research had uncovered. Zarkon and his damnable Drule army made sure that any knowledge that my father had died with him.

When Keith and the others had arrived from Earth, only then was the secret to resurrecting Voltron revealed to me. But even as long as we flew the mighty savior and protected Arus, there was always something in the back of my mind that told me there was more. More power to unlock.

When Hagar infected Deirdre with that strange creature (a bizarre twist of fate, some might call it), a new mystery was presented. Deirdre was infected with some strange power that was somehow connected to the Lions and Voltron. Did my father know about this? Would it give us some insight about the true origin of Voltron? Perhaps he left a clue behind. I hoped against hope as I walked through the still darkened corridors of the castle that my father had found some answers to the questions that I was seeking.

Lance

I shut down the comm, sat back and pondered whether or not to erase the transmission logs. I wasn't exaggerating when I told Allura that Keith would be pissed if he found out I was feeding her information. Even more so if he found out I'd been doing it over the course of the last year. What can I say? I am sucker for hot princesses in need of my assistance. And as long as it didn't conflict with our own mission, I felt justified in relaying information that I had managed to procure during our trips through the galaxy. Better to ask forgiveness than ask permission, I say.

Just the same, I deleted the log. I wouldn't lie to him outright if I was confronted with the question of contacting Arus but better if he didn't ask the questions in the first place. It irritated me to no end that our radio silence stemmed from Keith's own lies to Allura when he and I had left Arus. He told her that we were going back to Earth to weed out some traitorous entities that had infiltrated Galaxy Garrison. The reality was that we were sent to black ops and thrown out on some crazy mission to hunt down and eliminate any remaining Drule threats in the Danubian Galaxy. His reasoning was sound at the time. Allura was Queen of Arus, and she had her work cut out for her to revive her planet from the devastation that the war had caused. Keith decided that keeping her out of the loop would allow her to focus on bringing peace back to her planet. I had argued against it, but, of course was overruled by the powers that be. Namely Keith. I knew that Keith had an ulterior motive for keeping Allura at arms length. I would never broach the subject to him, of course. He would most certainly kick my ass if I even hinted at it.

I pushed back from my tiny console that also served as a bedside table and banged my knee on the steel frame that supported my lumpy cot. Shit, I hated this ship.

It was an old transport freighter that we had been saddled with when we agreed to go on this god forsaken mission for the Alliance. The damned thing had been retired from use by the military to make room for the new and improved ships. Out-of-date but flyable, she was suited for a smaller crew of two, maybe three, which meant a whole barrage of modifications had to made to accommodate ours of five. That included converting an old storage unit into a room for yours truly since I refused to share quarters with Captain Angst. I suppose I should feel lucky that I was able to get my own space. The two cadets that we had on board had to share one of the docking bays that used to house a small glider. We were down to one now, and that served double duty as storage and medical bay and meeting room.

I found Keith at the tiny booth in what might be considered the mess hall. It was more like the efficiency apartment that I lived in my senior year at the Academy. The booth, which could really sit no more that four comfortably, was at the end of the galley kitchen (barely big enough for two people).

I slid onto the bench next to Keith who was staring into his portable comm.

"Where are the children?" I asked.

Keith, without looking up, said, "Daniel is trying to get us into position for a clear transmission. Vince is running the monthly system diagnostics."

"You waiting on word from Kami?"

He nodded.

Speak of the devil. The comm screen lit up and our agent abroad appeared. Her slim, oval face fill up the screen. The room was dark behind her, and the glow from her screen lit up her blue skin like Earth's sky on a clear, sunny afternoon. Kami was a Drule defector whom Keith had brought aboard nearly six months earlier. She had been obtaining information about Drule movements around the galaxy and feeding it back to us. For two weeks, she had been undercover on Tarquin, a planet with known sympathizers of the Drule Empire. The small colony of Drules that had made their home there were not considered an immediate threat, but there were times when Drules, still anxious to revive the once powerful Empire in that galaxy, would seek safe haven there.

As far as Drule women were concerned, the only one I had ever known was the psychotic mind controller, Queen Merla. She was hot, if not crazy as a loon. When I met Kami, I began to question whether or not Drules actually had unattractive women.

"Hey, Kami," I said, granting her what I considered to be my finest smile. "Lovely to see your smiling face, as usual." She blinked her large, yellow cat-eyes at me, clearly not sharing the sentiment as she was not smiling at that moment.

From the moment she came aboard, she had made clear that she was not a fan of my penchant for casual flirting. At least not from me. I had come suspect over time, that she had a thing for the ever stoic captain. Yeah, good luck with that. I never could reconcile how women fawned over Keith without him even having to do anything. He was way too serious and analytical. What fun is that? Maybe I just totally missed something.

Keith cleared his throat and gave me his patented shut-the-hell-up-Lance look. I simply rolled my eyes at him and complied. "Whatcha got, Kami?" Keith asked.

"Planet 28564," she said. "It used to be a mining installation, but has been abandoned for years. A small group of Drule militants have reopened the facility."

Keith frowned. "What are they mining for?"

"I don't know," she said, "but it is rumored that a former Drule operative from Doom named Belik is overseeing the efforts. But I don't have any confirmation of that."

"You think he still has any pull with the Empire?" Keith asked. "Do you think he has information we can use?"

"Belik was a bruiser," she said, "He was sent to planets where Doom has problems getting a foothold. He specialized in torture and mass genocide. He was very good at what he did."

"How come we've never heard of him?" I asked, turning to Keith. "Why wouldn't Zarkon send him to Arus? We definitely made things difficult for Doom."

She shrugged. "That, I do not know."

Keith let out a long breath. "Okay. We'll look into it."

Kami raised an eyebrow. "And you'll get me out of this hellhole. This place has a decidedly rotten smell to it."

Keith nodded. "We'll be there in 48 hours. Just lay low til then."

"Okay. Kami out."

Her face disappeared from the screen. "Get Vince," Keith said. "Tell him I want everything he can find on Planet 28564. And this Belik guy."

"Sure thing, Boss."

Allura

The early hours since Lance had contacted me quickly turned into morning. I had spent most of the time in the library trying to find any mention of the planet that he had told me about in my father's records. What was left of them, anyway. No such luck. If my father had any information of such planet at the center of Earth's galaxy, he had either not kept any records of it, or it had been destroyed during the war. Once I had exhausted the library's resources, and the pot coffee that was my only companion had gone cold, I realized that I had an important decision to make.

I called my royal counsel together to tell them what I had discovered.

Coran, Larmina, Pidge, Hunk, and Deirdre sat around the circular table in the meeting room. I quickly detailed the conversation that Lance and I had and my findings (or lack there of) about the planet. They sat in quiet anticipation as I wrapped up my address.

Coran took a sip of his tea and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You believe that this planet may be the origin of the powers that Deirdre acquired from Hagar?"

I hated that I couldn't give him a definitive answer, so I shrugged. "I believe that it might be a lead worth looking into."

Pidge was absorbed with something on his portable computer. "I can't find anything about this planet in any of our data bases."

Deirdre sat forward. "Lance wouldn't have contacted you if he didn't think it was a good lead."

Pidge nodded. "So, what are you going to do?"

"We're going to find that planet," Deirdre said. "If this planet is the source, maybe whoever this queen is can fix me."

"Now wait just a minute," Coran said. I had been expecting his interjection but knew that was nothing I could do to stop it. Coran was always had my best interest at heart, and though he may go overboard at times trying to protect me, he usually had sage advice to offer. He had been loyal to my father and to me when I took the throne. I owed it to him to, at the very least, hear him out. "Allura you can't seriously be contemplating going in search of this planet that may or may not exist. You are the ruler of Arus. If something were to happen to you..."

Deirdre shot him a glance. "I'll go alone."

Coran sniffed. "I don't think..."

"That's enough," I said. "Coran, I understand your concerns, but Deirdre and I will be going. I would like for Pidge and Hunk to go as well." I looked at my cousin who up until that point had taken little interest in the conversation. "Larmina, you will take my place while I am gone."

Now I had everyone's attention. Larmina and Coran spoke at the same time. "What?"

"Allura," Coran said, "you can't possibly..."

"I can't run an entire planet," Larmina broke in.

"She's only a child, Allura."

Larmina narrowed her eyes at him. "Watch it, old man."

I took a deep breath to keep myself from losing my temper. "Coran, she is no younger than I was when I was forced to the throne by Zarkon."

"And we're not in the middle of a war with Doom," Pidge added. I gave him a grateful smile for his interjection.

"Right," I said. "We are at peace right now. It is a good a time as any for her to take some responsibility. Even if it is for a little while."

"But," Coran said, "you don't even know how long that will be."

He was not listening. Or perhaps he was but wasn't saying what I wanted to hear. I stood up and measured my words carefully. "I am the Queen of Arus, and it is my decision. I have made it." Coran fell silent and nodded. I hated having to pull rank, but if there was one thing that I had learned in the past years, it was that it was left on me to have the final say, and I would have to live with the consequences.

I turned to Pidge and Hunk. "This is going to be a long journey. And it may be for nothing, so I'm not going to order the two of you to go with us. But we could use your help if you are willing to give it." I held my breath. Since the team had split up, Hunk and Pidge had been more than just my Heads of Security and System Controls, respectively, they had been my confidants and my rocks that I had come to depend on.

Pidge didn't need a moment to think about it. "I'm in."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know. Can I have some time to talk it over with Rebekah?"

Allura nodded. "Of course. But don't take too long. I want to be in space by the end of the week."

After the others had been dismissed, Coran hung back.

"I know what you are going to say, Coran. I told you, I have made my decision."

Coran nodded. "Yes, i know, Your Majesty. But that does not mean that I have to like it."

"Coran, do you know what this discovery could mean? We might finally be able to learn Voltron's origins."

In spite of his uncontrollable urges to protect me, I had expected him to share her enthusiasm. After all, learning how Voltron had been created would certainly be the discovery of the century. Maybe even the Millennium. But he looked sad, which made his already aging face even older. "What is it, Coran?"

Coran watched her for a moment before letting out a long, slow breath. "I have lived a very long time, Allura. I have learned many lessons in my many years. One of those lessons is that the truth is not always as enlightening as we would like it to be."

I crossed my arms. "Well, that's not cryptic or anything. What do you mean?"

"I mean that you may discover that the origin of Voltron is not as glorious as you would like to believe."

What the hell was he talking about? "Do you know something? Is there something that I should know?"

Coran had been the closest thing I had to a father since my own would have been had he not died at the hands of Zarkon. But he was more than that. He was my mentor, my adviser, and, until the five space pilots from Earth had crash landed on my planet, he had been one of my only friends. Through the years, I had seen many emotions play across his lined face. Joy, fear, disappointment, disapproval, anger...but something in the way was looking at me at that moment was different. Not like any expression I had ever seen on him.

"Coran?" I asked when he didn't immediately answer.

Then it was gone. He shook his head as if waking from a dream. "It's nothing, Your Majesty. Just an old man's ramblings. I will see to it that everything is prepared for your departure."

"Thank you." The words were clipped more than I had intended, but the lack of sleep was beginning to catch up to me. I felt plain tired. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have some preparations to make."

The look on his face for the abrupt dismissal set me bristling with a pang of guilt, but I had no time for sentiments at that moment. All I could do was offer an exhausted smile. "I will need to meet with you later. Larmina is going to need the very best adviser while I'm gone. That would be you."

That seemed to perk him up a bit. "Yes, of course. She will do a fine job."

I lifted onto my toes and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Thank you, Coran."

Keith

There were times when I appreciated the fact that my team was not immediately beholden to the brass at Galaxy Garrison. Truth be told, only a small handful of individuals even knew about our mission in the Danubian Galaxy, and I only had to report back to them on the most urgent matters. Other than that, we were pretty much on our own, and all decisions landed square on my shoulders, and mine alone.

Then there were the other instances, such as having to convert half of the docking hanger (that also served as a storage bay, by the way) of the ship into a meeting room to accommodate our skeleton crew.. As the five of us sat uncomfortably among the various boxes and crates, it was a painful reminder that we were not part of Galaxy Garrison proper, and that we were not to be afforded creature comforts that a regular crew would. Such amenities as chairs, for instance. Or, maybe an actual table.

So, there we sat on crates in an impromptu circle. Except for Daniel, of course, who had perched on the nose of the space cruiser that was housed in the bay. I sat nearest to the door with Lance, Vince, and Kami sitting around me.

"Okay, Vince," I said, "what have you got?"

"A lot, actually," Vince said proudly. He pushed a button on his remote, and a three dimensional image of a gray planet jumped from the projector in to the air. "This is Planet 28564."

"Doesn't look very impressive," Lance said. "What's so special about it?"

"It's been abandoned for the better part of Earth's last century." Vince continued. "At one time, it had been a penal colony used by the United Planets of the Danubian Galaxy. None of the planets in the coalition had a death penalty, so they sent the worst of the worst to the small planet that held orbit on the very outskirts of the galaxy. The planet was rich in black ore which was mined by the prisoners and dispersed equally among the partnered planets. In turn, each planet took responsibility for the upkeep and security of the planet. It was considered one of the most secured prisons in the Danubian Galaxy. That was until the Drules discovered its value."

Kami nodded. "I remember hearing this story when I was younger. It was Zarkon who took the planet."

"Zarkon was a low ranking officer in the Drule army at that time," Vince continued, "I guess he was what you would call a go-getter, because he spearheaded the raid on Planet 28564. He had a small army, but they were powerful. They destroyed most of the security measures put into place by the United Planets. Most of the prisoners, the ones who were not executed by Zarkon, became slaves in the new Drule mining installation.

During the first Danubian War, the United Planets Federation had banned together to take back the planet from the Drules. They were unsuccessful until Queen Atille, the reigning monarch of Arus sent her planet's army, led by Voltron, to remove the Drules. They were successful but the Drules had completely stripped the planet of the black ore, rendering it useless. So, it was abandoned."

When Vince mentioned Arus, I couldn't help but have a gut reaction, although I didn't make it known to the others. Something about the story seemed off, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

Daniel shifted on nose of the transport. "So, if there's no more black ore, what do the Drules want with the planet after all this time?"

"That's a good question," I said. "Why don't we go and ask them?"

"Whoo hoo! I'm ready for some action!" Daniel crooned, hopping down from his perch with such bravado that I couldn't help but be reminded of Lance who also had a tendency to show off.

"Daniel, go to the bridge, and set a course for Planet 28564."

Daniel nodded eagerly and was almost skipping as he left the cargo bay.

Lance shook his head. "I remember when I could still that excited about a mission."

"So, what is your plan, Captain?" Kami asked. "You can't think that we'll just be able to walk in there and get answers."

I bristled under her intense gaze. In the time we had been working together, I had come to trust her as a member of my crew. She was a good fighter, not to mention a strategist and pragmatist. She would easily point out holes in my plans even before Lance had a chance to spot them. It would be a lie to say that it didn't irk me just a little bit.

"Don't worry, Kami," Lance jumped in, "Our Fearless Leader will have everything planned to the letter by the time we get there."

Kami nodded. "May I make a suggestion?"

"Go ahead," I said.

"If I were you, I would plan to take Belik alive. If someone has put him in charge of such a project, it's a good bet that he will have some useful information."

"You could be right." I said. "I will keep it under advisement. Alright, everyone, dismissed."

As they filed out of the cargo bay, I stopped Vince. "Hey, that was good work, Vince."

A slight blush tinged Vince's dark skin. "Thank you, Captain."

"I have another assignment for you."

"Yes, Sir,"

"I want you to find out everything you can on this Belik guy. I need a full report before we reach the planet."

Vince smiled, always eager for special assignments. "Yes, Sir."