SH
SH
SH
Pidge turned over the circular device with a frown.
In the months lost in space she'd seen this device in the Blue Lion next to where Allura slept. That's how she knew...There was a blue projection of the King and Queen of Altea inside.
"You sure you want to use this? It could corrupt the image forever."
Allura stared at the device, picturing the hologram of her parents. It was one of the few pieces of the old Altea she managed to bring with her. Everything else had been abandoned in the Castle of Lions. Her eyes closed. It is only a sentimental object. She carried her parents with her in her heart.
For the good of Earth...
There was no time to manually decipher Sendak's memories. They needed information immediately or else risk trying the admiral's patience. From what Allura understood, the woman wasn't a monarch but during times of war her authority was the equivalent.
In war, sacrifices must be made.
And yet...it felt like another piece of herself was being torn away.
"I'm certain Pidge." Allura cleared her throat and started walking off. "Please start without me. I need to check on something."
"Yeah. Sure."
"For the record," Rizavi muttered as she quickly typed away on her compact laptop, "I don't agree with this."
James kept his focus through the small crack in the door. The hallways were still empty but he wasn't certain how long that would last. According to Rizavi the control room security was laughable.
"Just copy the feeds and we'll be on our way."
"Why do you want the Paladins' training feeds anyways?"
"You can get a lot of information based on how people fight."
Rizavi pushed her glasses up. "Or we could just talk to them."
"I will eventually." James looked back her. "But they're not going to open up while we braid each other's hairs."
She sighed long at his deadpanned voice.
"Girls' sleepovers aren't always like that." She let loose a little grin. "Some of us like to hit the town instead of gossiping. There's nothing like racing a hover cycle out on the freeways."
"Racing with Garrison property is against the rules."
"Only if you get caught," she sing songed.
"If you're such a rebel," he gave her a flat look, "why are you making a fuss about getting some important feeds?"
"Because there are other options like approaching them. They won't bite."
"...The wolf might."
She tilted her head in acquiescence. "You got me there."
Shiro had been on the IGF Atlas already but he still felt awed by it.
The sheer size of it alone could make anyone speechless. Coran and Sam were over by the helm, discussing the controls. He walked out onto the bridge without thinking about it. His left hand ran over the smooth, dark gray metal. To think, they built half of this with scraps.
Humans were more capable than they were given credit for.
"As I feared." Coran sighed loudly. "The numerous micro solar panels are too slow to charge up the ship. It would take at least three movements to get eight vargas of solid flight time."
Three weeks of charging for eight hours, Shiro easily translated.
"Only four hours if you calculate the use of the cannons," Sam grimly added.
"Even less if you add in the shield."
All three of them sighed. Shiro bent his head down in frustration.
"There's got to be something we're missing," he murmured. "Some source of energy that could possibly fuel this ship."
"Ideally, I was hoping Matt could bring a Balmeran crystal," Sam said with a blank look. "But that was before he went into hiding."
Shiro lifted his head up to look at Coran. Then they both looked away. That fight with Lotor stole so much time - vital, essential time. If we hadn't engaged him... Would the Voltron Coalition be safe? Would they have been able to save at least the majority of the Blades? Would Earth not have been attacked?
...Would Adam...?
He closed his eyes tightly. Dangerous thoughts. He couldn't keep circling back like this. It wasn't healthy for his sanity and it most certainly wasn't helping him focus. He opened his eyes with a soft chuckle. Keith and Allura are right to worry. His focus was far from clear.
"I'm sorry Sam."
The older scientist turned to Shiro. "It's not your fault."
"...There's a couple of things we haven't told you yet."
Sam stared at the serious expressions on both Coran and Shiro's faces.
"This is related to Voltron's disappearance...Isn't it?"
Before anyone could answer, a beeping sound came from Shiro's pocket. He pulled it out and held it up as voices sounded out.
"Sound off. Keith here."
"Allura here."
"Pidge here."
"...Hunk here."
"Lancey Lance here" there was a slight shuffling sound.
"As is Romelle."
The former Black Paladin lifted his phone up. "Shiro here."
The royal advisor leaned over to speak. "Coran, the gorgeous man here."
"Hey," Lance piped up, "where's Kosmo?"
There was a sharp bark on the line.
"All accounted for," Keith spoke up before hanging up the line.
Shiro put his phone back in his pocket. Sam was looking at them with a small smile.
"We were lost in space for a while," Shiro murmured with a shrug of his shoulder. "Old habits."
"Some nights, I wake up thinking I'm still in that work camp," Sam casually said. "Time can only heal so much."
"...Yes."
Sam looked back down at the control screen. "I'd like the MFEs to hear what you have to say." His eyes looked up at Shiro from above his glasses. "They deserve to know too."
"Of course." Pause. "But not Admiral Sanda."
Sam smiled bitterly. "Of course."
Some things were better kept between themselves.
Leifsdottir's pale green eyes stared unblinkingly at the screen.
Her mind followed each paladin for a couple of seconds at a time, storing information, measuring strengths and assessing good/poor judgment calls. After a minute she had a short list of stats for each paladin.
She didn't have anything for Officer Shirogane.
Most of the time he was doing routine stretches on the side, taking a moment to assess the paladins or sit down cross legged with his eyes closed. Behind her Kinkade, Rizavi, and Griffin were standing over Leifs' seated form so they could watch on the laptop.
"They're slower than I thought they'd be," Kinkade grunted.
"This is from the first day they arrived," Leifsdottir said without inflection, aka her normal tone of voice.
"Bo-ring," Rizavi fake yawned. "Let's skip ahead."
The video feed zoomed by.
"They don't use the simulators?" James frowned.
Rizavi shrugged but kept speeding through the video. "Maybe their lion ships are too different?"
"The lions are Altean tech," Kinkade murmured. "The MFE simulation drills should be similar."
"I don't know," James sighed. "Our planes aren't animal shaped."
Leifsdottir was quiet as she watched the fast forwarding until she spotted something new.
"Stop."
Rizavi immediately halted the feed.
"Go back."
The others leaned in.
"Why are they sitting in a circle?" Rizavi frowned. "Is it some kind of Paladin Kumbaya time?"
"Hey zoom in some," James murmured.
Leifsdottir spotted what their leader saw. Her lean fingers double tapped the screen until they could see the center of the circle. There were metal headbands around each paladin's head but right in the middle -
"Are those projections of the lions?" Rizavi tilted her head.
James watched as each lion moved fluidly against attackers.
"Image training," Kinkade crossed his arms. "That's why they don't use the simulators."
"That's cool," Rizavi straightened up. "But how effective can that be?"
Kinkade rolled his neck a little. "It isn't too different from a simulator."
"Yeah but we actually move around. Ever heard of fine tuning your muscle memory?"
"Commander Holt once said that Altean tech was only part science while the other was unexplainable." Leifsdottir slowly blinked. "He said this in reference to his plans of the IGF Atlas."
"What's the other half?" Rizavi gave Leifs a half grin. "Pixie dust?"
Leifsdottir neatly shrugged. "You'd have to ask an Altean."
James sighed to himself. This was only adding distance between the two teams as the oddities of the paladins, Shiro, and their Altean guests were further emphasized.
A direct approach it is, then.
"Pidge told me what you gave her."
Allura didn't look away from the window though there was nothing to see except dirt and the orange particle barrier. The ledge was just thick enough to allow seating but not long enough for her legs to be flat down. From the corner of her eye she saw Shiro move to sit on the opposite end. She bent her legs to her chest to give him more room.
"We can make a crude AI based on Sendak's memories. It'll save us time if we can get it to work."
Shiro hummed. "Thank you for that sacrifice."
Her head rotated a little to look back to the center of the room where the others slept. The gap Shiro had left was quickly filled with Lance and Romelle's legs and arms. Those two just loved to stretch out in their sleep but in the most strangest poses she'd ever seen. She smiled fondly at her team.
"It's the least I could do."
He looked at her with a knowing solemnness.
"...The start of the war isn't any one person's fault. Not your father's and most certainly not yours."
She turned to him. Sometimes the soul sharing was comforting. Other times it made her feel too vulnerable, not really knowing what exactly Shiro had seen. Her past, her fears, her disappointments, and her dreams for the future...
His fingers moved over something. The low light from outside revealed a chain wrapped around his hand.
She looked at his hand for a couple more ticks and then up to his face in a silent question. The light sound of the chain moving around his fingers suddenly stopped. His eyes stared unblinkingly at her for a moment before he lifted his hand up. Two metal rectangular plates dropped down for her to see.
"...May I?"
He didn't move. She almost thought he wouldn't let her hold them. Slowly, carefully, he released the necklace into her waiting hands. She cupped them in her lap, seeing Adam's name engraved in the metal.
"Sam had it," came Shiro's quiet voice.
"How did he get it?"
"The MFEs risked themselves to search the wreckages."
She let loose a small smile. "That was noble of them."
"Yes."
She suddenly looked down at her hands. He saw her frown followed by the starting glossiness of her eyes. Her hands were faintly glowing. He felt his breath stuck in his throat, realizing what was happening.
"Allura."
She looked hesitant. He gripped his pant leg as he felt the fear of her rejecting his request. She sighed and leaned forward. He put his forehead against hers, watched as her eyes closed before he closed his as well. He felt her power thrum to life and then -
His heart was racing.
He tried calming his breath so he didn't give in to panic. But it was so much harder to do with his fellow pilots dying all around him.
Wildcat was gone. Titan was no longer responding.
He knew then, what was going to happen. No amount of skill or knowledge was going to get him out of this bind. The enemy was too powerful. They had underestimated what they were stacked against. Another pilot was obliterated right in front of him. He was the last one.
'I'm sorry, Takashi.'
His mind suddenly went blank as the beam shot out for him.
Shiro's forehead slid off hers to rest on her shoulder. He knew he was dampening her sleep shirt but he was too tired to be embarrassed. His hand squeezed hers with the dog tags. She didn't say anything, not even when the metal plates started digging into her palm. Her face went against the side of his head. He could feel the wetness of her cheek against his ear.
After a moment of silence, he spoke.
"I didn't know you could do that."
"Neither did I."
She put her free hand on his, lightly loosening his grip around her other hand. He let her. She brought the chain up over his head to rest around his neck. They leaned their backs along the edge of the window seats, staring out into the night.
Allura's eyelids started to droop closed until Shiro's leg bumped against hers.
"Something's happening."
Her eyes fluttered open. "Where?"
"There, on the left."
Outside on the other side of the particle barrier there were the unmistakable flashes of the Galra lasers. She got up to snag some binoculars. Thankfully their room was the closest to the barrier or else she might not have been able to see the movements.
"Shiro, there's people out there."
She handed the binoculars over to him.
"The sentries are hunting refugees," he breathed.
They instantly stood up to wake the team.
SFH
SFH
SFH
AN: A little action to come (finally lol).
The second time I watched these episodes the projection device that Sendak's image was coming out of really looked like the device that Allura grabbed with her parents' picture. There's so many little details in this season that just zoom by with no explanations! :0
Again, played with Allura's powers. And I will continue to do so. :P 'Cause Space Dad needs some sort of closure.