A/N: Here's the part where I remind you that this fic is NOT Season 2 compliant. The stuff about lions and how far away they can sense their paladins? Forget it. I was working from very different assumptions while I was writing this fic. If Season 2 lion bond rules were in effect, this story would have been over in about five minutes. So take this as an AU, and please enjoy anyway!


Shiro had had just about enough with this "diplomacy" thing. Allura would counsel patience, and he was supposed to be setting an example for Pidge, but... It was getting very difficult.

The main problem, of course, was the fact that he only had Pidge right now to set an example for. Because the rest of his team was gone. Those three kids, half children, half men, his soldiers to command, his younger brothers in arms. His to keep, his to protect, his to hold. His, all three of them. And they weren't here. They had been stolen out of their beds in the dead of night in the middle of a highly advanced, highly weaponized military base, and if that didn't throw the whole idea of allying with these people into question, Shiro didn't know what would.

Pidge wasn't exactly clingy. Pidge didn't really do clingy. But she was staying closer to Shiro than usual, almost at his elbow, probably because she could sense that he didn't want her getting any farther away. Every time she stepped to the other side of the room, his eyes flicked to her and then stayed there, making sure. Shiro couldn't help it. He was twitchy.

The Malkordan commander he was currently facing was doing nothing to make it better. They were sitting in what was supposed to be the breakfast room, cooling cups of local tea on the table between them, a tray of fruit and pastries untouched. There was far too much food. It should have been for all five of them. Now, the two who were left had no appetite.

Shiro was doing his best not to examine his feelings at this moment. It was more important to stay focused on the task, to work on getting his boys back, no time for anything else. But he knew that when he had a moment to slow down, the guilt and terror bubbling just under the surface was going to overwhelm him.

He had promised. Himself if no one else. He had promised that he would not let what happened to him happen to any of his teammates. They were too young. They never asked for this. They didn't deserve it. He wouldn't let it happen.

He had known, too, when he made that promise, that he was mostly likely going to fail. It hadn't stopped him. And now, yes, inevitably, failure had come. But Shiro was not the one suffering for it, and that was the worst failing of all.

"We need to wait for the assessment from our analysts," the Malkordan said, tapping his fingertips together, slow and measured. His face was much too calm for Shiro's liking. "I assure you, Paladin Shiro, we will discover where your fellows were taken and retrieve them before any harm is done."

Shiro tensed further, the muscles of his upper back rippling. "Look, Alarik..."

"It's Alkaric."

"Alkaric." Shiro honestly couldn't care less what this guy's proper name was. "I would prefer it if you would let Paladin Pidge have a look at the footage, too. She's a very talented and knowledgable analyst, and she might see something your people could miss. Especially since she's intimately familiar with the three paladins who were taken. If any of them tried to make a sign, no matter how subtle, she's certain to see it."

Alkaric hummed uncomfortably. "I appreciate that, Paladin Shiro, but I must insist. The security footage of the interior of our own base... I'm sure you can understand why we might prefer not to show that to outsiders."

Shiro grit his teeth, his right fist clenching on the table. When he and Pidge had woken and discovered that Hunk, Keith, and Lance were missing, both had immediately donned their armor. They wouldn't take it off until all five of them were safe in the Castle of Lions again. Now, the underarmor glove creaked against his grip, his fingers too tight, all but grinding together. If he got any more wound up, his Galra arm was going to activate on its own as a response to his inner aggression and sense of danger. He had to calm down, just a little.

He couldn't.

"I understand," Shiro said, his voice low and grating. "But I really must insist."

"Paladin Shiro, please consider our needs..."

"No." Shiro rose to his feet, pushing his chair back from the table, and stood there straight and tall with his fists clenched at his sides. He looked down at the man across the table from him, expression grim and eyes hard. Pidge, who had been fidgeting at his side, suddenly went still and watched with wide eyes.

"You need to consider my needs," Shiro said. He was done with patience, done with diplomacy. Allura could scold him later. Shiro had more pressing concerns. "My men are missing. They were kidnapped from their beds in the middle of your military base. You say that it was anti-government rebels, double agents who had been biding their time to make an effective attack, and chose this moment as their golden opportunity. You have repeatedly assured me that your security footage will give you all the clues you need to track them down and bring my people back to me. You tell me to be still and wait, to let you take care of it. But I cannot."

He pounded his fist down on the table, making the silverware rattle, the crockery jump. Alarik or whoever jumped, too. Just a little. Enough that Shiro saw it happen, though. "I cannot wait. It has been at least six hours since they were taken, by your own admission. If these anti-government rebels had any demands to make, they should have communicated with us by now. Since they have not, the only conclusion I can reach is that they captured my comrades for other purposes."

Pidge went very, very still. Shiro felt sick to his stomach. He didn't want to say this in front of her, but Pidge was smart. She would figure it out on her own, anyway, if she hadn't already.

"I can only conclude that they're being interrogated for information. About us, about Voltron, about the lions. Paladin Hunk is an amazing engineer, Paladin Keith is our best pilot, and Paladin Lance has the strongest bond with his lion. If a group of militaristic terrorists wanted to find out how the greatest weapon in the universe works, those would be the three to question. Do you disagree with my analysis?"

The Malkordan sat there, unmoving. Then he blinked. "I...cannot disagree with such well-considered deductions, no."

"I thought not. Now." Shiro placed both hands flat on the table and leaned over, pressing into Alkaric's personal space as far as he could. Shiro was tall and broad and very, very upset, so he could press pretty far.

"It's been six hours since my men were kidnapped. In that time, what do you think your anti-government terrorists have been doing? Do you imagine that they've been treating them well? Giving them personalized pajama sets and luxurious rooms and expensive food service? Because I doubt it."

Alkaric's eyelid twitched. "An astute observation."

Shiro ground his teeth together. "I have no doubt at all that my men are suffering, and have been for hours. And that is not acceptable, do you hear me? I will not accept excuses. I will not listen to your waffling and your nonsense and your polite lies, not for one second longer. You show us that footage. Show us that footage right now, or I swear I will tear this place apart until I find it. You do not want to refuse me on this, Alarik or Alkaric or whatever your name is. You do not. Do you disagree?"

Alkaric said nothing for a long moment, just looked up at Shiro with heavy-lidded eyes. Shiro felt his jaw bunch. He resisted the urge to repeat himself. He'd said his piece. Now he had to wait for the response, and if he didn't like it, well...

He hadn't been bluffing. He would tear this place down brick by brick if that was what it took to find his team. He hoped Alkaric could see the sincerity in his eyes.

Finally, the Malkordan let out a long, heartfelt sigh, as if Shiro had deeply disappointed him. Then he stood from the table and gave Shiro a shallow bow. "I will go and inform my superiors. Please wait here, and someone will come fetch you to view the footage."

Shiro narrowed his eyes. "I'll come with you. Pidge?"

She was already standing at his side, ready to go. Her restless fidgeting from earlier had passed, and she stood with him, just as grim and determined as he was. It was odd for Pidge to be silent for so long, but apparently she had decided to let Shiro have the intimidation duties. He could tell by the set of her mouth and the squareness of her shoulders, though, that she wanted to yell at Alkaric almost as badly as Shiro did.

Alkaric looked them up and down, something like disgusted resignation on his face, then turned and walked slowly to the door. Shiro and Pidge followed at his heels. Shiro's right hand was still clenched at his side, and Pidge carried her bayard, though it wasn't activated.

They walked through the uniformly built halls of the Malkordan military base, passing displays of commendations, busts, paintings, flags and banners, all patriotic decorations that reminded Shiro uncomfortably of home. Pidge stuck close to Shiro's side, and he stared ahead at Alkaric's back, unwilling to let his gaze waver for even second.

"Shiro..." Pidge's voice was low. Shiro spared her glance, saw the nervousness in her expression, the wariness in her bent eyebrows.

Something inside him released, though in guilt instead of relaxation. He hadn't meant for her to pick up quite so much of his tension. He needed to be strong and in control, project an aura of confidence for her sake if not for his own. She needed to believe that they were going to get the others back, and he needed to make sure she did.

"What is it?" he asked, voice falling softer, just for her. "Don't worry about Keith and Hunk and Lance too much, all right? We're going to get them back soon, I promise. We won't let anything bad happen to them."

Pidge shook her head and trotted to keep up with the pace Alkaric was setting. "Don't lie to make me feel better, Shiro. I know what you told that guy is right. They're probably being interrogated right now. They're probably scared and trapped and hurting bad. Right now. I knew that before you said anything."

Shiro sighed and looked ahead. "You're right," he said as gently as he could. "Sorry. I shouldn't try to spare you from the truth. I just..."

"Don't worry about it." Pidge shook her head again. "I get it. You're trying to protect me. But that wasn't what I was going to ask about."

Shiro gave her a longer look, saw the tense anxiety in her face and expression. It had not been the slightest bit alleviated by their conversation so far. "What was it then?"

Pidge turned her head for a moment and looked at him frankly. "You're expecting me to look at the security footage and pull some kind of miracle. Figure out where they are from the context clues, pull coordinates out of thin air. But what if I can't? What if I don't see anything? What if there's nothing to analyze, like that guy has been saying?"

Shiro bit his lip. He watched Alkaric walk in front, and he slowed down a bit to let him outpace them so he could talk to Pidge with a little more privacy. He placed a hand on the back of her shoulder, keeping her with him and offering what reassurance he could.

"Listen," he said softly. "If you can pull off some kind of tech wizardry, that would be great, yeah. And if anyone can do it, I know you can. But even if there's nothing to see, nothing to learn, it's still worth it to make the Malkordans show it to us. At least it will prove that they have something to show at all."

"Oh." Pidge's eyes widened. "You think it might be a ruse."

Shiro grimaced and nodded. "I don't trust these guys as far as... Well, I would say as far I can throw them, but I think my Galra arm could actually throw normal-sized humanoids pretty far. As far as Allura's mice could throw them, let's say."

Pidge snorted, half in laughter and half in agreement.

Shiro's mouth curled up in a small smile. It faded quickly. "Every Malkordan we've met so far has been...weirdly intense about Voltron and the lions. How many questions have all of us fielded since we first arrived on this planet? Sure, some of those over-interested people could have been rebel double agents who were just biding their time to grab information on the strongest weapon in the universe. But all of them? No, this is fishy. I don't like it. Any of it. And I definitely don't like this Alrik guy we're following."

"Alkaric," Pidge said absently. "No, I hear what you're saying. I thought it all seemed pretty suspicious, too. Why didn't either of us hear anything through the walls when the boys were grabbed? I'm a light sleeper, and I know you are too. If you even slept at all last night. Just how deep were these supposed double agents, and how many of them were there, and how could they pull off such a complicated mission so flawlessly? A lot of things don't add up."

Shiro nodded. A strange sense of relief flooded his chest, and he realized, again, how good it was to have someone on his side. Forget making allies with the Malkordans-Shiro had all the allies he needed already. Pidge was worth fifty alien soldiers, no matter how good their technology was. It itched at his chest not to have the others with them, too. Not having Keith and Lance and Hunk at his side was like missing limbs, and Shiro knew what missing a limb felt like. He was out of balance, incomplete, and desperately unhappy without them. But he had Pidge, and that was worth a lot. It was worth fortunes.

He hoped wherever the boys were, that they were at least together. No matter what their captors were doing to them, what they were suffering, how much pain they were in, he knew they could hold on as long as they had each other. Shiro wanted to find them and get them out pretty much six hours ago, but since he couldn't, the three of them being together was the best he could hope for.

Alkaric was about to turn a corner ahead of them, and Shiro quickened his pace to catch up before they lost him. Pidge was right at his side. They seemed to be leaving the residential part of the base behind and heading into the operations center, which was encouraging. Hopefully Alkaric would take them straight to a monitoring room where they could view the security footage without delay.

They caught up with Alkaric and turned a corner, into another hallway that looked like more of the same. Shiro frowned. He was beginning to suspect that this jerkwad might be leading them in circles. He shared a skeptical look with Pidge, then both quickened their pace to move up beside their Malkordan escort.

When Shiro got close enough, he could swear that he heard Alkaric muttering under his breath. Talking to someone over a hidden comm? Alkaric shut up when Shiro moved up beside him, head turned sideways to watch him fixedly as they continued to walk.

"Ah, Paladin Shiro," Alkaric said smoothly, no indication at that he'd been doing something underhanded. But then, there wouldn't be, would there? The Malkordans wouldn't send anyone but the best to try to manage the remaining Paladins, would they? "I know the walk is tedious, but I assure you that I am taking you to view the footage, as requested."

"No kidding?" Shiro looked across Alkaric's body to Pidge, who wrinkled her nose at him. "Could you show us where we're going on a map of the facility? Paladin Pidge and I are getting antsy."

Alkaric came to a sudden halt in the middle of the hall and turned to face Shiro, his face grim, shoulders straight. Shiro halted to face him, eyebrows raised. Pidge moved around to stand at his side, looking up Alkaric with challenge on her face and fire in her eyes.

"Paladin Shiro." And for once, that sounded like sincerity in Alkaric's voice. "If you distrust me this deeply, how can we continue on? How many times must I protest our embarrassment and grief that this terrible crime has been commited under our very noses? Would you like me to prostrate myself before you? Because I will, if that is what you require. This...this awful happening... The kidnapping of three young men who were, indeed, under our care and protection as honored guests and hoped-for allies... It is the worst thing that has happened to the Malkordan military in my memory. I have done my best to reassure you, as your liaison with my superiors in the force, that we will do everything we can to remedy this terrible wrong, this horrific injustice, that has been to you and your fellows. But still, you do not believe me."

Shiro stared at him, grim and unblinking. He would not allow himself to flinch. Alkaric certainly did seem sincere. He seemed shamed and frustrated and grieved, just as his words indicated. But that meant little.

"What can I do to prove our sincerity to you?" Alkaric spread his hands as if to ecompass the hallway, the base, the entire military. "If I could produce your men with a snap of my fingers, I would do so. But alas, that is beyond me. Should I excuse myself from your presence and find another to take my place? Someone that you might, perhaps, find more believable? Is that what you require? My complete and utter humiliation, my total failure to serve you as my role requires?"

Shiro's lip curled. Part of him wanted to say yes. Yes, remove this obsequious toad from his sight and replace him with a real person, someone who would be able to relate with Shiro's need to rescue his men and finally provide him with the assistance he required. But he was beginning to doubt that the Malkordan military contained any such person.

"No," Shiro said slowly, after a long moment to consider this offer. "You'll do. I would rather continue to deal with you, now that I feel that I've gotten a grasp on your character. I do not require a new liaison. No, what I require is that you do your job. That is to say, do what I asked for, and take me and Paladin Pidge to a monitor where we can review the security footage that you've been keeping from us for no reason at all."

Shiro firmed his jaw and took one step closer, deep into Alkaric's personal space. To Alkaric's credit, he did not flinch, did not waver. He stood there as Shiro leaned in, directly in front of his face, and stared into his eyes. "Then, after that, bring in your top analysts, your top commanders, everyone who knows even the slightest bit of information about these anti-government rebels and can help us figure out where to find them. Provide surveillance, real-time reports, everything we need to track them down. After that, supply us with the resources we need to attack the rebels and take them down, whether it's a squad, a platoon, a brigade, or your entire army."

Alkaric stood steady, watching him without a word. Shiro leaned back and put more distance between, if only because he did not want to share breath with this man for one second longer. "Then, and only then, will I trust that you mean what you say." He looked at Pidge. "Does that sound fair? I think it sounds fair."

Pidge looked up at him, then nodded firmly and stared back to Alkaric. She crossed her arms over her chest and spread her feet, every inch a Paladin of Voltron. "Sounds perfectly fair to me, Shiro. I agree with every word."

Shiro looked steadily at Alkaric. "Well?"

Alkaric stood there. But Shiro didn't miss the way his jaw clenched or the minute clench of his fist. When he responded, though, his voice was absolutely calm. "I understand. I will do everything I can to make sure that everything you asked for happens exactly as you requested."

Shiro doubted that, but he would take the win. He nodded, then drew a breath. "The footage?"

"There." Alkaric pointed at a door midway down the hall they were standing in. It looked like any of the other doors they had passed. "That is a security station. I had been trying to take you to the main command hub, where there would be room for the analysts and commanders you requested to meet and discuss what to do. But if you want to view the security footage immediately, I can access the computers there and pull it up for you."

Shiro's heart jumped in his chest. Finally, they were getting what the needed. He didn't let it show on his face. "That's acceptable," he said, voice clipped. "Let us get a first look at the footage right now. This second. We can go to the command hub afterward."

"Very well."

Alkaric led the way to the door he had pointed out. He touched a tag on his belt to the pad beside the door, and a lock disengaged with an audible thunk. Inside, as promised, was a setup that reminded Shiro heavily of any similar security station back on Earth. A couple of chairs, a bank of monitors, some controls and blinking lights from computers.

Pidge moved to the central chair immediately and sat down, and Alkaric stood at her side. He bent over the access board and entered some commands, and footage began to appear on the monitors. Pidge watched his finger movements avidly, and in seconds she had picked up exactly how to use the controls.

Shiro stood just off to the side from the door, his gaze fixed on the monitors. Three of them showed the feeds from outside of Hunk, Keith, and Lance's rooms. He recognized those right away. Other monitors showed hallways at various angles, an exterior door, some outside angles. He presumed that all of these cameras were necessary to view the path the kidnappers had taken when they moved his teammates out of the base. From the scattered words he picked up between Pidge and Alkaric, his assumption was confirmed.

There. Movement at one of the bedroom doors. Shiro stared, unable to look away. A small squad of Malkordans in dark clothes and masks emerged from the door, all moving swiftly and efficiently. In the middle of the group... Lance. He was wearing his turquoise blue pajamas. No slippers. They hadn't given him time. And...a bag over his head. Shiro's breath caught in his throat. How dare they.

As Shiro watched, Lance shook his head desperately as if trying to dislodge it, and one of the Malkordans struck him on the back of the head, snapping it forward on his neck. Lance's fists clenched, but he seemed stunned for the moment, and they hustled him down the hallway as he sagged with his bare feet dragging on the floor. His arms were being held by two Malkordans each side, gloved fingers digging in and creasing his flesh and bunching up the sleeves of his shirt. Another walked behind him as rear guard, while two or three ran ahead to open doors and provide cover with their guns.

It was very quick, only flashing on that screen for a handful of seconds. Then Shiro had to switch his gaze to another monitor to watch them drag him down a hall. Then another hall at a different angle, then another. Near the end, Lance apparently recovered from the earlier blow and fought back again, and they retaliated just as brutally as before. In the exterior shot, they dumped him into the back of a vehicle that reminded Shiro of an unmarked black van, except that this one didn't have wheels. It sped off, and the infiltrators went back into the building.

Hunk's room. Keith's. Different vehicles carried away each of them. The same squad had kidnapped all three boys consecutively? Yes, they were quick and efficient, but that was still three trips that the same group of interlopers had taken through a supposedly heavily guarded military base. How had they escaped detection for so long? Where were the guards? Shiro's head hurt, and he realized that he was grinding his teeth together and made himself stop. He had assumed that the kidnappers had grabbed all three of his teammates at the same time and taken them out together. This, though... This made much less sense than his hypothetical scenario.

The only reason he could imagine for the separate trips was because the rebel group, or whatever it was, was actually very small, so they couldn't spare the manpower to attack all three rooms at once. Yet they still had the confidence to take all three pilots instead of just one. So they hadn't worried about being in the base for so long. As if...as if they knew they had all the time in the world.

Because they knew the Malkordan military would let them do whatever they wanted.

Shiro felt sick. He looked at Alkaric, saw his face blank and neutral, apparently unbothered. But there was a twitch in the tips of his fingers as he stood at Pidge's side, watching her scroll through the footage. Shiro looked back at the screens.

The timestamps... Yeah. This had definitely been three consecutive trips made by the same squad of about eight enemy soldiers. Alkaric had been trying to keep Shiro and Pidge from looking at this footage for as long as possible. Maybe he had been waiting for someone to doctor the footage and make it look like all three attacks had happened simultaneously, to prevent the suspicions that Shiro was having now.

Or maybe it was all in his head. Shiro knew he could be paranoid sometimes. Hypervigilance, they had called it in his psych classes back at Galaxy Garrison. This was such a strange, subtle thing for him to be so worried about. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe he was reading into it. Maybe his PTSD was jacking things up for him again.

Maybe not, though. Pidge was suspicious too. She had said so, and now she was frowning at the monitors as her gaze flipped from one to the other. He needed to talk to her, get her thoughts. Preferrably with Alkaric not in the room, but Shiro kind of doubted that the guy would leave them alone. He called himself their escort, their liaison, but he acted more like a prissy, suffocating bodyguard.

This would be so much easier if Shiro could bypass this entire process. Forget the footage, forget talking to the analysts and commanders, forget making a plan. Just bring the green and black lions down here and smash things until they found their people. Sure, that would ruin their chances of ever being allies with the Malkordans, as well as cause tons of property damage and traumatize the citizenry, and those were definitely bad things. But Shiro would get his boys back, and that was all he really cared about at the moment.

The problem was that he didn't know where to start smashing. If he had a location, anything... Even just an idea. Somewhere to start. But the unmarked vehicles in the footage gave him nothing to work with. He was going to have to depend on the Malkordans to figure out where to go, and Shiro chafed at being dependent on people he did not trust.

His teeth were grinding together again. He made them stop.

Then the comm in his helmet crackled, and Coran's voice came on. "Shiro, are you there?" his voice was urgent and strained. "I have some news for you, though I'm not sure how useful it is..."

Shiro's heart jumped in his chest. "Yes, Coran? I'm here." He cast a wary glance at Alkaric, then stepped the door and moved partway into the hall. He kept his foot in the door to keep it open and trained a wary eye on Pidge, but focused the rest of his attention on Coran. Hopefully Alkaric wouldn't be able to hear him with his face toward the hall like this. "Did the scanners pick anything up?"

"Sorry, no." Coran's voice was heavy. He didn't like saying it anymore than Shiro liked hearing it. "The Malkordan bio-signatures are too close to human, and the population is too dense, for me to pick up any differences in this area. But something else happened. As I said, I don't know if it will be helpful, but I thought you should know."

"What is it?"

"Well, remember how I told you that the yellow, blue, and red lions were agitated when I checked on them this morning cycle? Their paladins are too far away for the lions to communicate with them at this distance from the planet, but the lions definitely know that something is wrong. And their urge to protect is affecting them, though they have no way to actually use it."

"Yeah, I remember." A surge of frustration moved through Shiro's chest. He knew how the lions felt.

"Well, something told me to go check on Blue again, though I can't say why. And she...she's not just agitated, not anymore. She's pacing her hangar constantly now. When I entered the door, she whipped around to look at me, lowered her head, and roared."

Shiro blinked. "That...that's unusual. It's unusual, right?"

"Highly. The lions are usually only capable of independent movement when their pilots are not only in imminent danger, but the lions are nearby and have some means of preventing it. The fact that Blue is pacing her hangar while the red lion and yellow lion are both still semi-dormant must mean that something has changed. It's as if... As if she was able to talk to Lance, somehow, even though the distance is too great. As if she knew where he is and wanted to go to him. There... There were claw marks on the inner doors of her hangar, Shiro. She was trying to scratch her way out."

Shiro caught his breath. This was both horrible and amazing to contemplate. The idea of a giant mechanical lion pacing her hangar like a flesh-and-blood lion in a too-small cage... It tugged at his heart and fired his veins.

"Is... Coran. Is it possible that she actually is able to communicate with Lance somehow? That she knows he's in danger and feels compelled to save him? I thought you said the distance is too great."

"It is." Coran sounded frustrated, too. "This defies everything we've ever known about the lions. And if she could truly communicate with Lance and knew where he was and what was wrong, trust me, no hangar door would stand in her way. She would have blasted it away and flown to find him. Lions of Voltron do not care about collateral damage when their paladins are in danger. It was as if she heard him for a moment, but then the communication was cut off, so now she doesn't know where to go. But she is aware that her pilot is in mortal jeopardy, and so she cannot be still."

Shiro was silent for a moment, thinking about this. "All right. Thank you for the information, Coran."

Coran blew out a sigh. "I just wish I could do more. The idea of those boys in enemy hands..."

"Yeah." Shiro was upset, Pidge was upset, Coran was upset. Allura, over at the parliament building treating with the Malkordan government, was upset too. And of course the lions were upset. Of course.

Pidge looked over her shoulder to meet his eye, her gaze worried and questioning. She wanted to know why he had stepped out, what was going on. Shiro bit his lip. He should get back in there, deal with Alkaric so she didn't have to. He didn't want to.

Then something lit in his mind, a spark. "Coran..."

Coran's voice changed, hearing the difference in Shiro. "Yes? I'm still here."

"Blue is still pacing in her hangar, right? She hasn't stopped moving?"

"Correct. It's restless and purposeless, though. She doesn't know where to go."

Shiro smiled. "I have an idea."

It might not work. But it would be a lot faster than waiting for Alkaric and the Malkordans. The frustrated energy in Shiro's chest began to settle. It would have to work. They would make it work.

Coran was silent for a moment. "You want to open the hangar doors and let Blue out, hoping that the communication will somehow happen again and she'll be able to find Lance."

"It's worth a shot, right? Or maybe Green and Black can guide her to the surface, until she gets within normal range of Lance and can track him from there."

"I don't think it's possible to guide a lion of Voltron without a pilot. Their independent movement is normally very limited."

"Yeah, you said. But these are unusual circumstances, right? We have to try unusual strategies. And maybe Blue will surprise us. Maybe if you open the hangar doors, she'll just fly directly to Lance on her own."

"Or she might start doing the equivalent of the restless pacing, except out in space. She could move aimlessly until she gets even further out of range, so even if Lance is able to reach through the bond somehow again, she won't be able to hear him."

Shiro grimaced. "Okay. Yeah, that's a possibility, too. But we gotta try, Coran. This is... The process to get to them on the surface is going to take too long, I can tell. The Malkordans just let me and Pidge finally look at the security footage five doboshes ago. And we have no idea how long it's going to take to track down the kidnappers. I can't... I can't let them stay in evil hands for one second longer than necessary, Coran. I can't. You know what they're probably going through right now. Especially if Blue is this agitated from a short, cut-off communication with Lance."

Coran groaned. "Yes, I know." His voice softened. "I know."

Shiro closed his eyes for a second. He opened his eyes and looked at Pidge, who was watching him steadily now and ignoring Alkaric and the monitors. "Coran. Please."

"All right," Coran said. His voice was brisk, decision made. "We'll try it your way. Would you like me to simply open the hangar doors now and see what happens? Or will you and Pidge come back to the castle in the pod ship to try to guide her? I warn you, this situation is a complete unknown. I have no idea how Blue might react to this. If you try to push her with Green or Black, she might lash out or try to escape, since all of her instincts are focused on saving her pilot, instead of working as a team. Your efforts might be better used remaining with the Malkordans and trying to work with the military to rescue our boys."

Shiro was tempted. Truly, deeply tempted. He wanted to leave this place, go back to the castle and get in his lion, where he could attack this problem head-on. But Coran was right. If the idea of letting Blue take the lead didn't work out, Pidge and Shiro would just be wasting time that would be better spent down here, trying to work through channels.

But could they afford to let Blue go without even attempting to guide her? What if it really was like letting a lion out of a cage? The Voltron lions were ancient, semi-sentient beings of power and magic, and none of them truly understood what they were, who they were. Blue could fly away and never come back, and then the most powerful weapon in the universe would be effectively disabled. Worst scenario, Zarkon could win, all because of a bad decision made right here and now.

Shiro's heart was beating too fast. He made himself pause, close his eyes and drag in a deep breath, let it out slowly. Then another one.

When it came down to it, this was Lance's lion. Shiro had to think like him. What would Lance do in this situation?

Looking at it like that, the answer became clear. Lance would trust Blue. No matter the odds, no how matter slim the chance of success, when it came to trusting his lion or his team, Lance would take the leap of faith without hesitation and never look back. It was who Lance was, and therefore, it was who Blue was, too.

Shiro opened his eyes. "Let her go," he said. "Pidge and I will stay down here and try to work with the Malkordans. We'll find them. Us or Blue or both. Nothing less is acceptable."

"Understood," Coran said. His voice was warm and rich. He knew how Shiro had come to his decision, and he agreed wholeheartedly. "Opening the hangar doors now. Good luck with the Malkordans."

"Thanks, Coran." They were going to need it.

Shiro stepped back into the room with Pidge and Alkaric.