The Council went along with Rayzor's recommendation in the end, although Keith strongly suspected that it was mostly due to his position as leader of the guards that the Council decided to consider and eventually 'grant his request' instead of flat out denying it from the word go.

Pretentious assholes, the lot of them.

Not that Keith ever really saw the Council. They seemed anxious to avoid any personal contact with him or any member of Team Voltron, and Keith could have sworn that he once saw a far-off Council member turn and practically sprint in the other direction as Allura walked down the corridor.

He told Shiro as much, and the Black Paladin threw back his head and laughed. "I wouldn't be surprised," he said. "She really laid into them after we got you into the healing pod. I heard most of it." He grinned at his friend, and Keith knew Shiro had throughly enjoyed listening to that conversation.

Keith grinned back. "So-when do we leave?" he asked. "Any word back from Rayzor yet?"

Shiro nodded. "I was just coming to tell you - we're all set to go. Once you four take your Lions into the caves, I'll fly us onto their ship in Black - and - well, we go on a space scavenger hunt."

Keith looked around, saw that it was only him and Shiro in the corridor, and lowered his voice. "Council approval or not, I'm going to keep Red's particle barrier active while he's on the ground." Shiro nodded at him, his face turning serious.

"Good. I'm telling the others to do the same. Short of the planet splitting apart, nothing should be able to move the Lions from the tunnels once you do that." Shiro smiled then, and it was a confident smile. "Unless their pilots come and fly them out again, that is."

Keith bared his teeth in a wide smile. "Oh yes," he said, "That's the idea."

The trip started off well. The crew were all loyal members of the guard that Rayzor could - and did - personally vouch for. Coran and Allura were satisfied that the search for the crystals would take up very little time, especially with the Black Lion's ability to travel very far in a very short amount of time if need be.

"And anyway," Coran told Shiro once they were underway (and out of the Council's earshot), "the Castle should only need a few days for the recharge cycle to be complete. Once that happens, we'll be much more mobile and able to travel with our Lions all together again. Also, we are already nearing a system that Allura says looks promising. She wanted me to ask you to bring Lance to Black so you two can be ready to go when we arrive."

Shiro nodded, looking around. "Where did everyone go?" he asked. Coran shrugged. "I think Rayzor offered to take them to the secondary control bridge - something about being able to see the stars without being in the crew's way? Or maybe it was his way." Coran shrugged again, smiling. "I think the other Paladins just wanted to see as much as the ship as they could."

Shiro nodded, asked Coran which direction the secondary bridge was in, and headed in that direction. As he neared the door, he thought he heard the other Paladins' voices raised in some sort of heated discussion.