Back in the pod, Pidge let out a 'whooph' of exhalation as she peeled herself off the wall, falling back down onto the floor. Green had just barely managed to knock the pod out of the line of fire before that plasma cannon blast would have incinerated them. They'd tumbled around some - a lot like they had when Lance first flew Blue - but no one had been seriously injured.
Green had managed to knock off a hefty chunk of the plasma cannon at the same time, and that wreckage had - probably - looked enough like the remains of the escape pod once it had fallen through the atmosphere to fool the aliens that had tried to shoot them down in the first place.
'Th-th-thanks - Green,' she said, projecting her thoughts to her Lion mentally, and she felt her Lion purr in response. She hadn't heard it use words yet - not really, anyway - but she got the distinct impression that Green was telling her 'You're welcome' and 'I told you you'd need me on this trip,' in the same sentence.
For an ancient and wondrous being that melded both machine and mystery, the Lions could really get under their Pilot's skin from time to time.
"I knew we should have come in our Lions," Hunk was saying. "From now on, whenever we land on an alien planet, we are all going to be in our Lions and nobody is going to pull this on us ever again!"
Coran clenched his hands into fists, the pain of his injured arm forgotten for the moment."Hunk, that's not fair - how were any of us supposed to know this planet had hidden subterranean inhabitants that harbor a pathological hatred of anything related to the Galra?"
Lance threw his hands into the air, more out of frustration and panic than anything else. "Hello?! Galran Empire, ten thousand years - come on, Coran!"
Allura spoke up then, her usually gentle voice harsh with stress and thinly veiled panic. "You don't have tell us that, Lance. Remember, you still have your planet."
Coran winced at Allura's harshness, even as Lance's face went white in shame and embarrassment and Allura bit her lip in regret. Lance and Allura both said "I'm sorry," at the same time to each other, and then Shiro was pushing himself into a standing position.
"Look," he said, "let's just focus on getting Keith back - we don't have much time -"
His bad leg buckled, and he fell against the wall, wincing. Hunk placed a hand on his shoulder and said, "We will - we absolutely will - but first, let's try and think of a way to get Red through this - this environmental barrier thingy that kept us from flying down in our Lions in the first place. Because when we go back for Keith, I think we should take Red - this pod is barely making it back to the castle as it is, and I don't think it could last a third time through all those defenses they have up-"
"I agree," Coran said. "By coming into this planet's unique atmosphere to save us just now, Green took a risk of undergoing severe damage. But once this pod gets back to the castle, we should be able to get back down to the surface in one of the Lions. We'll have to improvise a shield for Red - even a temporary one - but we'll have to do it quickly - "
"Can't we just take all of our Lions down there?" Lance asked. "I know we wanted to try and just scout out this planet initially - but they've got Keith now - we've got to -"
Shiro shook his head. "The Lions are too big to get into the tunnels," he said. "And we can't take the time to create a shield for each Lion - we've got to prioritize. Red is Keith's Lion - we'll armor him. He can take us down to the surface, I'm sure - and then we'll get Keith."
He felt his teeth bare into a fierce snarl as he grated out the next sentence. "And if any of those bastards come above ground once we have Keith, or try to stop us, Red can shoot them dead."
It was a testament to the severity of the situation that neither Coran nor Allura, diplomats of peace though they were, made any real protest.