"How should we complete this mission?" asked Shiro, staring at the holographic display in the center of the bridge. "It looks like they've pretty well surrounded the planet."

"That they have," Coran acknowledged. "And if you attack outright, the hostages will be killed. Also, Lycaa received a new ultimatum. If they haven't surrendered within the next eight vargas, their planet will be bombarded. They don't have the technology for proper shielding yet, so allowing the Galra ships to get within firing range is absolutely out of the question."

"So . . ." said Lance, looking concerned. "Is our only option to choose between rescuing the hostages and rescuing everyone else on the planet?"

"No!" exclaimed Pidge. "We can't do that."

Allura spoke up. "Apart from anything else, if we rescue Lycaa at the cost of the hostages' lives, the planet will be thrown into chaos – everyone disagreeing on the old leaders' successors . . . It could turn into civil war. I've seen it happen more than once." She shook her head and added, "The Galra made a clever move."

"And we have to outwit them," said Shiro firmly. "There's always a way."

"The prisoners are being held on the main cruiser, right?" asked Keith. "If we could sneak a couple of people in, we could rescue them and –"

Hunk interrupted. "Won't their sensors pick you up?"

"Not if we're in Green," Pidge grinned, looking suddenly more alive.

"You can't fit all the hostages in one lion," said Coran. "There are quite a few of them – twenty-six, to be exact."

"If they stand, we can fit that many in Green and Black," said Shiro. "How long until you have to meet the others, Allura?"

"Two and a half vargas."

"Good. Stay just outside of sensor range, and we'll fly the prisoners to the ship." He pointed at the hologram. "Then we can attack the main fleet and destroy them before they get in range of the planet."

"Hmm," said Coran, stroking his chin critically. "I don't know about that, Number One – it's an awfully risky plan."

"It'll work," said Lance confidently, rocking back on his heels. "Besides, there's only –" He leaned over the display and counted rapidly to himself – "twelve cruisers there. We've dealt with more."

Allura gave a decisive nod. "It does seem to be our only option. Does everyone agree?"

"Sounds good," said Keith, and Pidge nodded.

"Yeah, I mean, what can go wrong?" asked Hunk in a cheerful voice. "Let's go save some hostages!"

As soon as the five lions flew from their hangars, Coran spoke over the comms. "Paladins, might I suggest that you practice forming Voltron while we're still at a safe distance? It's been awhile."

"Good idea," said Shiro.

Despite the fact that the black paladin was not the 'real' Shiro, Lance felt a faint thrill of familiarity as they formed Voltron – he was back in Blue, who was so much easier to fly than Red . . .! Red gave a faint grumble in the back of his mind, and he thought a quick apology towards her, but they were both aware that neither of them really meant it.

After all, Red was harder to fly than Blue; and Red seemed to have formed the opinion – somehow – that Lance was a worse pilot than Keith. Blue purred, pleased to have her own paladin back; Pidge and Hunk seemed mildly amused at the quick argument; Shiro smiled faintly; Keith was mentally agreeing with both Red and Lance, which the blue paladin found highly annoying.

"Hey!" he protested aloud. "I'm a great pilot!"

"Yeah," said Keith. "You can fly well when you're in Blue, but only because she's easy to fly."

Lance fumbled for a response, but Shiro interrupted. "All right, concentrate on the mission, guys!"

Coran spoke again. "We'll wait here for you. Lance, Hunk, Keith – stay back until you're needed."

Voltron disbanded, and the five lions hovered a far distance away from the fleet of Galran ships that blockaded Lycaa. The planet looked to be the size of a quarter from this distance – an iridescent, purple quarter. Lance wondered briefly if the Galra were trying to conquer it because of its glowing violet color; they certainly seemed addicted to purple lights.

Especially the druids. Weirdos.

"We're heading out," said Shiro.

"Good luck, you guys," said Lance. "Pidge, don't get distracted by any computer stuff."

She sniffed, but did not deign to answer. The two lions flew off, and the others returned to studying the planet.

"Wow," said Hunk, his voice appreciative. "Wonder what it looks like on the planet itself. Bet it's neat."

"Actually," Coran replied, cheerful as ever, "the purple color comes from the poisonous atmosphere. It's fatal to humans, so you'd die within thirty ticks of landing there!"

"Thanks, Coran," Hunk said. "Hey, if it's poisonous to us, isn't regular air poisonous to the Lycaan guys?"

"Hmm . . . Umm . . ." He was, apparently, running a computer search; the beeping and clicking sounded clearly through their comms. At last he said, "It looks like they have two 'sets' of lungs. Their planet is only noxious for half an orbit around its sun. When its on the far side, it's almost like Altea! Falling rocks and everything!"

He sounded much too gleeful for Lance's comfort. The blue paladin made a mental note to not let Coran talk him into visiting Lycaa, ever.

"That's – great," said Hunk, his enthusiasm for the planet taking a nosedive.

"Guys, keep the chatter down," ordered Keith.

Lance rolled his eyes once, just to alleviate his feelings, but realized that Keith had a point. After another five minutes of silence, broken only by static and the occasional whispered command from Shiro – so soft that the words couldn't be made out – he began to amuse himself by staring at Blue's ceiling.

That grew old really fast.

He was relieved when Pidge's voice crackled in his helmet. "Guys, we found the prisoners. They were all in one cell – can you believe it?"

"Yes," said Keith. "Are you getting them out?"

"They're boarding the lions as we speak."

"Any trouble?" asked Hunk.

"Nope. Only a few droids. Guess they weren't expecting a rescue attempt."

"Guess not," agreed Keith. "Let us know when you're ready."

"They're sending fighters out," Allura broke in. "Shiro?"

"All set," he replied. "We're leaving the hangar now. Hunk, cover us. Keith, Lance, engage those fighters."

"Got it!"

They burst into action. The red and blue lions swooped through the oncoming fighters, leaving miniature explosions in their wake. Lance destroyed two with one shot and let out a yell of triumph.

"Beat that, Keith!"

So, of course, Keith took out three with one shot. Lance wasted a fair amount of time trying to line up four droids for a perfect shot; as a result, Pidge, Hunk and Shiro delivered the prisoners to the castle, waited while Allura created a wormhole and left, and returned to the others before all the fighters were destroyed.

"What are you guys doing?" asked Pidge. "There were only twenty of them!"

"Yeah, well," muttered Keith, putting the red lion into a hard turn that brought it behind another fighter.

"We were – busy," said Lance. "With other stuff."

Pidge snorted. "Yeah, like arguing."

"Hey!" Lance said defensively. "It's been a while since we got to argue over who was better at fighting."

He paused, considering his statement. "I mean, over who was a better warrior. We're both good at fighting. With each other." He jerked at the levers suddenly, and Blue's jaw clamped over the last fighter.

"Yeah," said Hunk. "Because you just finished arguing over who was a better pilot, like, ten minutes ago."

"Whatever," said Lance.

"Why is that so important, anyway?" grumbled Keith. "You act like everything is a contest."

"Well, it kind of is. Anyway . . ."

Shiro may not have been Shiro, but his long-suffering sigh sounded exactly the same. "Maybe if you weren't arguing you'd have noticed that the cruisers just set a course for Lycaa."

There was a brief moment of sheepish silence.

"Right," said Keith. "Form Voltron?"

"Yeah!" cheered everyone, more from habit than anything else.

Haggar lifted her head sharply, smirking so that the red tattoos on her face lifted slightly. "My lord," she said. "Voltron has entered the trap. The paladins are attacking."

Zarkon rose from his throne and stalked towards the platform, which was already surrounded by druids. "Prepare the ship for battle," he said, his deep voice soft but filled with a barely contained excitement. "Reinforce the fleet at Lycaa."

He tilted his head to glance at Haggar, who moved silently beside him. "Are you certain this will work?"

"The clone has no idea who he is," she replied, her tone smug and as smooth as a cat's. "His mind belongs to me. Our plan cannot fail."

The emperor smirked, ever so faintly, his huge fists clenching. "Then we will retake Voltron, once and for all!"

Only four cruisers were left now, still heading at full speed towards Lycaa's atmosphere. Voltron, sword formed and ready, streaked straight at them and attacked.

"Uh – why are they just letting us attack?" demanded Pidge, staring in disbelief as the cruisers just stood there and took it. The other ships had at least put up some form of resistance, but these ships weren't even firing their small cannons.

Voltron hovered in mid-air, hesitating, as Shiro pulled Black to a halt. "Maybe they want to surrender . . .?"

"Uh, 'victory or death' is kind of their motto," said Lance.

Hunk tilted his head. "Maybe they're cowardly Galra. . .?"

"But four ships, all at once?" asked Pidge.

Keith's suspicion could be clearly felt through their bond. "More likely, they're trying to trick us into thinking they'll surrender."
"You're probably right," Shiro agreed. "But I still don't like attacking when they're not defending."

"They're almost within range of Lycaa," warned Pidge.

Shiro made up his mind, and the others reacted as one, feeling his decision in their minds. Voltron streaked past the advancing ships and took up a position between them and the planet. Hunk formed the shoulder cannon, aiming it at them.

Still the ships advanced, inexorable and silent.

Hunk fired. Explosions flared all along one side of the leftmost cruiser, and it listed heavily, drifting apart from the others.

"I opened a frequency to their ships," Pidge called. "I'm patching it through to you, Shiro."

There was a brief moment of silence, and then Shiro spoke. "This is your last warning, Galra. Surrender or be destroyed."

A harsh laugh sounded through the paladins' helmets. "Victory or death, Voltron. . . And this time, we have the victory!"

As he spoke a Galran super-cruiser burst into sight, and the remaining three cruisers veered off and fired with everything they had.
Pidge formed the shield without a second's hesitation, but Voltron was still sent reeling backwards.

"They were waiting for a super-cruiser?" yelped Lance. "We've taken down tons of those! Literally!"

"Form sword," ordered Shiro. "Take out the cruisers first."

"Shiro –" said Keith, then stopped.

An odd feeling swept through the four youngest members of Voltron. They knew, without saying a word, that they were thinking the same thing – something was wrong, and it had to do with the 'Shiro' in Black . . . And they knew that he had felt their uncertainty.
"Guys, what –?" he began, sounding alarmed.

Lance acted on impulse, firing his Lion's thrusters and moving Voltron forward. "Destroy Galra first, talk later," he suggested.
"Good idea," Hunk agreed, firing his own thrusters.

The others were forced to move in order to maintain their balance, and they moved halfway to the super-cruiser before Shiro spoke again.

"Is something . . . wrong?"

"We'll tell you after, promise," said Pidge, voice tense.

Red flickered a warning into Keith's mind, sent from Black, and he gasped, pulling back from the super-cruiser. "Guys, Zarkon's on that –"

"Something's wrong!" shouted Shiro. "I can't . . ."

His voice faded into silence, almost as though he had simply been distracted by a thought, and then Voltron burst apart, flinging four of the lions in various directions. They recovered quickly and converged on Black, shouting questions at Shiro – clone-Shiro – whoever it was.

"What's wrong?" yelled Pidge. "Shiro, can you hear me?"

"He's not responding," Keith said, the sinking, empty feeling back in his stomach. "Everyone, grab onto Black and –"

"Wait – I'm here," said Shiro, sounding drained and exhausted for some reason. "Zarkon took over for a second, but –" He hesitated. "Let's form Voltron. I'll be able to resist him more easily with your help."

Keith felt that something was off, although he couldn't place it. He hesitated, but finally decided it must be the whole Shiro-not-Shiro situation that was bothering him, and he moved to join the others.

Again he formed the sword. For a moment, he was so focused on what he was doing that the sudden alarm from the other paladins only half-registered. Then he was brought back to himself by the jarring feeling of near-panic from Pidge.

"Shiro! What are you doing?" she shrieked. "That's a tractor beam!"

Keith could only stare as Voltron was forcibly pulled to a halt. It was a tractor beam, all right, and it was larger than any he'd ever seen before. He and Lance fired their lions' engines at the same time, throwing Voltron to one side, but before they had made it more than a few feet, the bond between the Paladins suddenly surged and tore apart for the second time in as many minutes.

"Guys, Shiro just separated us!" Hunk cried, frantically pulling on his controls in an effort to escape the beam.

"I – can't – move!" yelped Pidge. "Whaddo we do?"

"Shiro! Shiro, what's going on?" Lance yelled.

The black paladin's face appeared on their screen, his eyes dull and unresponsive. "I – I . . ."

The screen flickered off. "Shiro, come on!" Hunk said pleadingly.

"We have to form Voltron!" yelled Keith. "Shiro! We're gonna get pulled into the Galra ship!"

Lance yelped. "We're getting pulled into the Galra ship!"

The paladins could only watch helplessly as the hangar doors opened before them and the lions moved into the vast room, landing gently despite the fact that their engines were straining in the opposite huge doors slid shut, and the tractor beam shut off.