Dragunz, Shiranai Atsune, thank you for the comments!

Dragunz, Yeah, the creators/writers had a lot of issues with ignoring characters. It really was such a pity.
Well, this whole summary thing started out as me just briefly writing my original theory on how season 7 & 8 were going to go, and turned into a total rewrite of both seasons. So yeah, there will be a lot of my own stuff in the rewriting of Season 8, while taking elements of the canon parts that I liked.

Lions' Pride, Part 1

The two Paladin teams successfully deactivate the weapons systems on the Zaiforge cannons that they infiltrated. However, in the time it took to complete that task, the cannons were launched and already made it into space.

The four cannons that the MFE and Lion's attacked were damaged, but are still operational. The Paladins contact the Garrison and let them know they are going after the other cannons in their Lions.

Krolia takes her ship back to the Garrison as the Paladins pull Keith's signature move -launching themselves into space as their Lions come to collect them.

Once in, the Paladins begin attacking the remaining cannons, however they soon find themselves under fire, as the cannon's launch bases double as defences for the cannons. The MFE's see this, and thanks to the Faunatonium upgrade Coran made to their ships, they have the power to attack the bases for the Paladins.

Seeing his weapons attacked on all sides, Sendak tries to divert the Paladin's and MFE's attentions by ordering his main fleet to attack the Garrison.

As Krolia returns from the canon, she sees his fleet on course to the Garrison.

Arriving back to the Garrison, Krolia warns them about the ships heading their way.

Realizing they can't hold out on the ground anymore, Shiro, Coran, and Sam quickly try to figure out a way to get the Atlas flying. Their only option is to use the power from the shield generator, which would leave them vulnerable. Sanda orders them to do it, and prays it will work.

The Garrison's shields go down, and Sendak's ship takes this chance to attack, however, the MFE's return from taking down the last of the bases, and begin to engage his forces.

Even using all the power the Garrison has to offer still isn't enough to get The Atlas flying. Sam offhandedly says that at this rate it would take the power of a black hole to get it working. His statement causes Coran to remember the crystal that was formed from the Castle of Lions, and with pride, places the last piece of the ship his grandfather built into The Atlas' crystal chamber.

With that The Atlas bursts to life; as the systems all come online, Shiro orders the surrounding officers to their stations and tasks, but quickly realizes Sanda is there and apologizes for overstepping his authority and hands the bridge over to her.

Sanda smirks and tells the officers to do exactly what Shiro said, as his commands were made with good judgment. She and Shiro share a nod of respect, then she gives the command for the Atlas to take off.

The Paladins, seeing The Atlas launch, victioursly cheer. The triumph of The Atlas gives them all a second wind as Keith encourages the others to quickly finish bringing the cannons down so they can help their friends.

The Atlas and MFEs engage Sendak's forces together. Sendak's forces sends out their fighters that the MFEs target, as The Atlas attacks the larger ships.

As the battle rages on, Shiro asks Krolia if there is any way they could infiltrate Sendak's ship and take the canons down from there. Krolia says she believes it would be possible, and Shiro asks her to take him over.

Sanda, listening to their conversation, cuts in and tells him that she will go with Krolia instead. Shiro argues that she is needed to command The Atlas, but Sanda says The Atlas needs it's real commander, and that is clearly meant to be Shiro. He is dumbfounded, but she tells him how she's been observing him since their return, and has seen that as he is respected and accepted by both the Paladins and Earth's forces. He's the only one capable to command The Atlas and bring both sides of the coalition together.

To the delight of those on the Bridge, Sanda promotes Shiro to Captain of the Atlas, and to a high position in the Garrison. Shiro is taken back, but realizes this the purpose he's been looking for since he left the Black Lion. He thanks her and accepts the role.

Shiro steps up to the command console as Sanda steps down. Iverson asks for his orders, and with a smile Shiro starts giving commands as Sanda and Krolia head out.

Flying over in Krolia's fighter, she and Sanda are able to get into Sendak's ship without a problem, however, as they land, sentries approach. Not wasting time, Krolia leaps from the ship and takes them all down in several quick moves. Shocked by her abilities, Sanda gets out and tells Krolia that she's glad she's on their side. Krolia smiles, and leads her through the ship.

Avoiding the sentries, the two find the crystal and place charges on it. Not wanting to wait around, they start heading back to their ship, the explosives going off as they run.

The bombs do the trick and the crystal is destroyed, shutting the ship, and even more importantly, the cannons down.

However, the explosion draws the attention of Sendak's soldiers, who spot Krolia and Sanda escaping. The sentries and soldiers begin firing on them as they flee. The two women don't waste time in staying to fight, instead, shooting what they can as they go.

Their luck runs out as one of the Galran soldier's shots hits Sanda. Krolia stops and runs back, taking the soldier out, before going and grabbing the wounded Sanda.

Krolia gets them both back to their fighter, and flies them out of Sendak's ship. Placing her ship on auto pilot, Krolia goes to Sanda and looks the wound over. Sanda can see on Krolia's face that she's not going to make it. Krolia tries to tell her to hold on, but Sanda says it's alright, she accepted this was a possibility when she decided to go.

Krolia offers her hand to hold for comfort, and Sanda accepts it with a smile. She says she doesn't think anyone has thanked Krolia for all she sacrificed in order to protect Earth. She says she recognizes the weight of the choice Krolia made and thanks her for protecting their home. She asks her to continue protecting it, and Krolia promises that she will.

Sanda passes away as the ship docks in The Atlas.

With Sendak's ship and cannon's powered down, the Paladins form Voltron and destroy the cannons first, before quickly taking down the rest of Sendak's fleet.

With Sendak's lone battle cruiser remaining, Voltron and The Atlas face it head on. After all the pain, suffering, and terror Sendak inflicted upon the Paladins, their people, their home, and the rest of the universe, the time for justice has come.

Shiro gives the order to fire.

From his bridge, Sendak shouts in rage and defeat as Voltron and The Atlas unleash all they have on his cruiser, annihilating it, and him from the universe.

Joyous over their victory, and Earth's freedom, Lions disengage from each other as they return to the planet's surface to land.

Exhausted, but euphoric, the Paladins call to The Atlas for an update on how they are doing. However, an object bursts through the atmosphere and crashes into the ground before them.

Shocked and confused, The Atlas comms the Paladins and asks what that was, as their scanners are going haywire, unable to make out what it is.

As the dust clears the Paladins stare in horror as the Robeast that destroyed Olkarion slowly stands.

Notes:

So, while I wasn't trying to completely change people's minds on the canon Sanda, hopefully my version was more tolerable for you all.

I wanted her to be more like a real character, and not just a clichéd antagonistic force to fill a roll. Here she is an active hero, who died a heroic death while doing all she can for the good of her people and universe, and embracing others who have done the same.

I really think this character could have had some great potential to have been heroic, and gone out in a way that would have made viewers feel an impact. But as it is in the show, I sure didn't feel anything towards her, 'Eh, guess she redeemed herself' death.

.

Now, as for Shiro and The Atlas.

Like I said in my notes for S7E1&2, I do know a lot of people wanted Shiro back as Black Paladin, and saw his role with The Atlas as a demotion. While I completely understand how the story, as it is in canon, gives that feeling, it shouldn't have. I think the problem with it and why it gives that feeling is because of the way his promotion was handled, and then how his relationship to the others diminished and became unnatural in the last two seasons.

See, pre-Kerberos Shiro had been devalued by Sanda and the Garrison due to his illness. They didn't believe in his abilities, instead only saw his disability. They wanted to hold him back from his desires, and then when things went wrong, they used him as their scapegoat.

Having the Garrison -and in my version- Sanda herself, see all the worth they had been blind to before, and promote him to both Captain of The Atlas and a leader in the Garrison should not be a demotion, but actually an exclamation point on his story.

The people who once tried to hold him back and use him, saw the error of their ways, and then choose him to be the one they would listen to and follow. That's a big deal!

I think the thing season 7 and, especially 8 failed to do with Shiro was show how VITAL he is to both the Paladins and the Garrison. That he is the bridge that could bring both sides together in order to become a working unit.

You see people joke about Shiro being "Space Dad" to the Paladins, and it's really kind of true. While he literally did raise one of them, he was a mentor to them all. He laid the foundation for them to become the team they are now.

The Paladins are now out from under his wings and on their own, their path set right due to his guidance. Having him go back to being the Black Paladin would be saying that he didn't lead and guide them well enough the first time.

Instead of having that kind of regression, we get to see that he continues that mentor role that he loves, but on an even bigger level. He, Takashi Shirogane, is the one who will guide Humanity as it takes its first steps into the bigger universe.

That's pretty freaking awesome.

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Aside from that; rather then a huge, completely impossible, and absolutely ridiculous fight on the outside of a ship that's burning its way through the atmosphere, The Paladins and Atlas just blow Sendak out of existence.

Yeah, it's not as 'cool' as a one on one fight between Shiro and Sendak, but it's not like Shiro got to take him out anyhow. Besides, while Sendak was certainly an adversary for Shiro, I don't agree with the whole "Sendak was Shiro's archnemesis and Shiro should have taken him out!" mindset.

The guy terrorized all the Paladins. Yes, he tortured and tormented Shiro, but his attack on the castle also nearly killed Lance, he invaded and corrupted Allura and Coran's home, leading to the death/destruction of the last remnants of Alfor, he used innocent people and the Paladins themselves against each other, and that's just some of the things he did in S1E6 & 7. We're not even getting into what he did while leading 'The Fire of Purification' in a spree of terror and subjugation across the Earth and the Galaxy at large.

To me, everyone had a right to take a piece out of him. So, both Voltron and The Atlas get to take part in taking him out.

Thanks for reading, have a great day!