Author's Note: A continued thanks to everyone who's reading. I know this chapter's a little shorter than the previous ones, but don't worry, I'm about to make up for it. And I still own nothing except my characters.

Title Song: "Closer to the Edge" by 30 Seconds To Mars

"Incoming message for Pidge!" Hunk bellowed through Castle Control's intercom. "Get yer butt over here and pick up, like, now!"

In his lab, Pidge looked over at Vince and sighed. He really didn't want to stop what he was doing, which was more research on the Haggarium sample that the cadets had pilfered off Maahox during their joyride to Doom. But when one received a personal message at Castle Control, one couldn't just ignore it.

"Vince, if you'll excuse me."

"Sure, go ahead." Vince didn't even look up from his microscope.

Pidge exited the lab and made his way down the corridor to Castle Control. He passed Lance, already on the morning's third cup of coffee. "Hey Shorty, where you goin' in such a hurry?" Lance half-yawned at him between sips.

"Castle Control. Hunk says I've got an incoming message."

"Cool. I'll go with you."

"Um, hello? You ever hear of a personal call?"

Lance shrugged. "Eh, it's just you. How personal could it be?"

Pidge scowled. "I hate you. You know that, right?"

"Wouldn't have it any other way."

Lance followed him into Castle Control, where Hunk was still standing around. "You too, Tsuyoshi?" he sighed with amusement and aggravation creeping into his voice, more of the former than the latter. "Can I not get one moment of peace when I have a personal message? Or is it that big of a deal that that everybody's got to stand around eavesdropping?"

"Hey, if we had something better to do, we'd be doing it right now," Lance replied smugly.

"Ditto," Hunk added.

Ignoring them, Pidge pulled the visual up onto the screen. There was his brother, smiling and proud like he'd never seen before. "Chip! It's good to see you!" he greeted him.

"Pidge, it's good to see you too. I just wanted to let you know that I'm leaving Balto, so if you're looking for me, I'll be back on Earth." He smiled. "Sometimes."

Pidge looked over at Hunk, then at Lance. "Yeah? Then you're going back to the HQ, I'm assuming."

"Yup. Didn't you hear the news? It's been all over the satellites! Being in the Alliance, Arus must have heard the announcement yesterday!"

"Nope." He shook his head. "We've been kinda busy here, with Lotor and Voltron and all." He conveniently neglected to inform his twin of his feverish search for a cure for Sven's Haggarium infection. He didn't see the point.

"Well, Space Marshal Stensson's reinstated Vehicle Voltron! I'm going back on the Explorer!"

The silence in Castle Control was shattered - quite literally - by Lance's coffee mug clanging to the ground. "The other Voltron is back online?" Hunk asked, his jaw hanging slack. "Cool!"

"I thought so too," Chip responded, his grin growing larger as he spoke. "Granted, it's not gonna be the same as it was before, we're kinda limited to the Near Universe. Of course, maybe the fact that the Space Marshal's gettin' hitched to Commander Hawkins has something to do with that."

Lance wrinkled his nose. "Blech. Don't remind me of that." His comment was rewarded with an icy glare from Pidge and Hunk.

"What was that?" Chip asked with a confused expression on his face.

"Nothing. It was nothing." Pidge discreetly elbowed Lance in the ribs. Lance winced and rubbed the sore spot, but had the good sense to keep his mouth shut. "So anyway, that's great news! I bet you're thrilled to jump back on the Explorer and get together with the gang!"

"Yeah. Say hi to Ginger for me," Lance added. "Tell her I'll still make a Lemon Drop for her anytime."

Chip's confused expression turned amused. "Yeah. I'll get right on that, Moody."

Pidge sighed. "Chip, it was great seeing you. I wish you the best of luck with your new mission. Say hello to the team for us."

"Thanks. Stoker out."

"Stoker out."

Once the transmission was safely closed, Pidge exhaled, then whipped around to beat the heck out of Lance. "Dude, what is wrong with you?" he screeched, flailing his arms around. Luckily for the Red Lion pilot, Hunk grasped Pidge's wrists and kept him from causing any bodily harm. "First the crack about Hawkins, then the thing about the Lemon Drop? Are you somehow mentally deficient?"

Before Lance could retort with a wisecrack, a new voice in the background shot out, "Please, it's Lance. Did you really need to ask that question?"

Lance scrunched his face. "I should've known you'd say something like that, Chief," he grumbled at Keith.

Keith raised an eyebrow. "Did I just hear you reference the Lemon Drop Incident?"

"Yeah, you did," Hunk replied.

Keith sighed. "Just proves my point about Lance being mentally deficient. Okay, moving on. That was Chip, I take it. I heard him mention Vehicle Voltron?"

"Yeah, Len reinstated it yesterday," Pidge answered.

"That's good," he stated carefully. "That way, we won't have to worry so much about Earth and the rest of the Near Universe coming under a Drule attack. Voltron can't be everywhere, you know."

"Well, now he can," Hunk joked. "Now there's two of him."

Keith placed his hand on the back of his head. "Well, um...you know what I mean."

Wherever the edge of sanity was - that fine line before he descended into madness - Sven was sure he was toeing it.

Since the night he discovered Lenora's old note and subsequently contacted Allura, he hadn't been able to sleep. Anxiety and excitement had built up in him in equal amounts and didn't allow him a moment's peace. Every time he closed his eyes or even laid down his head to sleep, three people danced in his brain. His son, his princess, and his elskede.

He had told Allura the entire story, minus the part about Lenora, over the communicator. He and Romelle did love each other. He was her chosen consort, and they had been living on Pollux very happily as Bandor took control of the kingdom. The smaller problem was that he was a pilot, not a prince. The larger problem was his Haggarium infection that made him rage and lash out at the people of Pollux. Any little thing could - and did - set him off. He did many things that he was ashamed of, things that were completely uncharacteristic of him and his soft-spoken nature. He'd hurt people. He'd lost his temper. He developed blinding headaches, joint weakness, body aches.

He'd hurt Romelle.

He had never actually harmed her, of course; he would happily allow Bandor and the rest of Pollux to put him to death if he had ever laid a hand on his wife. No, he hurt her by turning into such a disappointment. An embarrassment. What kind of royal consort had fallen through the ranks the way he had? None. And so, for a variegated assortment of reasons, he chose to take their son and relocate to Crydor.

He was deeply ashamed of the next part. Desperate, he had struck a deal with Maahox to cure him and his son of their Haggarium infections. That deal included exchanging the cure for Blue Lion.

They'd all seen how well that deal turned out.

Now he was stuck in the middle. His wife was on one planet, his son was on another, and still his elskede was on another. He was no closer to a cure and could very well be stuck on this frozen planet forever.

Closer to the edge of madness, indeed.

David Rackens yawned as he brewed his coffee. 7:10 a.m. What in seven hells was he doing up this early on a Saturday morning? Morgan and Jeff were both still asleep in their respective rooms, and there he was in the kitchen, not showered, unshaven, and definitely not fully awake.

The knock at the door reminded him of why he was up. Filling a mug quickly, he opened the door and let Aidan in. "You want coffee? I just brewed a pot."

"No thanks, I stopped by Tea Shoppe and picked some up on my way over."

Neither one of them spoke again until all of the coffee was gone. Satisfied, David placed his empty mug in the dishwasher, then took Aidan's paper cup and threw it in the garbage.

"Dalloway, are you sure we can do this?" he asked finally, staring at his blond companion. "Do you really think we'll be able to pull this off?"

"Why in your seven hells do you think we're up training at this ungodly hour?" Aidan grumbled. "It's definitely not for our health."

"No, definitely not."

"We're putting our training into overtime. C'mon, man. Lenora practically gifted us with that announcement yesterday! The two of us are meant to be Albegas pilots!"

"Shh, not so loud. You'll wake everybody else."

"Sorry. Anyway, where's that wife of yours? She should be training too. I mean, she is the top navigator in the Garrison. She's got this job in the frickin' bag."

"I don't know if Morgan even wants the job. Besides, she may be an exceptional navigator, but she's sort of mediocre in the flying department."

Aidan sighed. "Fine. Morgan can make her own decision. Now, how about we go head off to the hangar and see if we can find out what aircrafts are being used for the applicants?"

David nodded. "Then we pilot until we can't pilot anymore."

"That's the plan."

"Let's get moving."

David locked the front door to the Victorian home, then they headed off. They both had the feeling that they had this competition wrapped up. There was no way they would let any other pilot outmaneuver them. They would get the highest scores on the test and become part of the Albegas team. Period.