Published September 14, 2018
"Hero in Me"
Truth will exist even if the world perishes. ~ St. Augustine
Matt and Pidge exchanged messages every other day and had video chats every few quintents. This was half out of necessity as their respective associates coordinated their forces, and half out of the desire to see and hear each other again (even if not in person), to make sure they were okay and reassure themselves that this new stage in their relationship was real. Matt wondered if this was how adult siblings interacted after leaving their parents' home and going their separate ways. It was not a bad way to live.
After learning how and when to watch the Voltron shows, Matt got his rebel friends to watch the broadcasts with him. He stopped inviting them to join him after the show started to get weird, like a parody of the real paladins. During one of their video chats, Matt was going to make a point of correcting the science, but Pidge told him not to bring it up, so he let it go.
He had to stop watching the shows himself as the rebels became increasingly busy preparing for the Voltron Alliance's first and hopefully last major offensive against the Galra Empire.
Shiro devised the plan, using the Blade of Marmora's intelligence and Pidge's Galra-tracker. He tasked Matt and Captain Olia with leading an attack on a Zaiforge cannon over the planet Teq. Meanwhile the Blades (including Keith, who Shiro said had left Voltron to train with them) would attack the second cannon on the surface of Senfama, and Voltron would take control of Naxzela, the only Galra-occupied planet left in a swath of liberated planets.
Matt and Pidge met up and together used the rebels' transponder encryption to secure communications with the entire Voltron Coalition. It was hard to say what was more exciting, getting to work together on a project, or knowing that they were helping enable a massive victory.
Once Allura gave her inspiring speech, it was time to part ways.
"I'll see you when this is over," Pidge promised. She held out a fist, and Matt bumped it with his own.
"Good luck out there," he said. Part of him wondered if he should say more, but in the past few weeks they had already expressed how proud they were of each other, how happy they were to be working together, and how much they loved each other. Now was not the time to be emotional, and though the missions ahead of them were going to be difficult, they had enough advantages that they would probably both be alright.
It felt strange participating in the same battle, but not physically crossing paths. Matt had to take his mind off them and focus on his own mission. The Zaiforge cannon's turrets had shields that they could not penetrate. Olia shouted for the rebel crafts to pull back.
Then the cannon powered up and fired its purple energy beam. Matt, Olia, Rolo, Nyma, and their crews could only watch as a third of the rebel fleet destroyed instantaneously.
It may have been the most shocking and sobering thing Matt had ever personally witnessed. Before today he had only ever heard of the Galra's ability to destroy entire planets and peoples. Now he could see that kind of power right before him, and knew he and his allies would be its next targets.
While the rebel ships tried to avoid the cannon's fire, Olia shouted to the Blades through their comms, and then relayed to Matt that the cannon on Senfama should be used to take out the shield. While they waited, Olia ordered all the rebel ships to take cover behind a large asteroid, but Galra fighters followed and attacked them on that side while the Zaiforge cannon fired on the asteroid from the opposite side. The rebels knew they could not hold out for long.
The asteroid was just breaking up when the purple beam from the Blades' commandeered cannon appeared and struck the one attacking the rebels. The shield went down, and they moved in to take control of the cannon.
Matt felt wicked for thinking it, but it was satisfying to hold the commander at gunpoint, after she had just killed so many of their allies and tried to kill the rest of them. Keith reported that he was ready to provide the Taujeerians with cover, and Olia responded that she was ready to provide backup.
For a short while things went well; they hit their targets and got positive news from their allies. Coran informed them when the communications satellite became operational again, but Shiro said it did not matter at this point. He seemed to be right, until another Galra cruiser approached Naxzela.
Once Sector Zar Niomofor was clear, Matt tried to get a line on the battle cruiser; but then the cannon powered down. When he asked Keith if the Zaiforge cannon on Senfama was still operational, the answer was negative. Voltron and the Coalition no longer had artillery support.
Almost a varga passed with nothing to do but wait tensely for news. Neither the Blades nor the paladins spoke to the rebels for a long while. Coran delivered updates on how the Coalition was doing; things seemed to be going well on the various planets they were liberating.
Suddenly, Keith's voice came over the comms. "Matt, something's wrong. I can't reach Voltron."
"We can fly to Naxzela to check on them," Matt suggested.
"No. I need your help. I can't explain why, but I know we need to attack that fleet."
Matt was confused. "I thought the fleet had stopped."
"It has, but we're afraid it has something to do with Voltron."
Matt did not know Keith well, but he knew Keith was close to Shiro and just as determined to protect him as Matt was determined to help Pidge. "We're with you."
"Copy that. Good to have you along."
One of the rebels noted the irony of the mighty Voltron, defender of the universe, needing help rather than giving it. Matt chose to ignore the comment rather than argue with it. He boarded a transport with Olia and an Unilu rebel, and they took off along with a few other small rebel vessels. They soon caught up with Keith, who had stolen a Galra fighter to travel to the fleet.
Shortly after that, the paladins came back online. "Keith! Can you hear me?"
"Shiro! Where are you? Is everything okay?"
"Not for long if we don't stop Zarkon's witch. She must be aboard that battle cruiser."
"I'm way ahead of you, and I brought some backup."
By then the rebel ships were flying in formation with Keith's fighter. "Rebel Squad is en route," Olia reported.
"Good to have Voltron back in the fight," Matt cheered.
The rebels followed Keith, who led them toward the battle cruiser; but it seemed to have a different shape than all the others they had seen. "What the ruggle is that?" Olia exclaimed.
Matt tried to analyze it on his screen. "It looks like some sort of weapon attached to the cruiser."
Before they could get close enough to begin attacking, the cruiser fired on the rebel formation. "Evasive maneuvers!" Olia shouted.
Shiro's voice came back on. "Coran, you need to get as far away from Naxzela as you can immediately. Pick up any members of the coalition who are nearby, but go."
"W-what's happened?"
Allura answered, "Naxzela is a bomb and it's about to go off."
It took one dizzying moment for Matt to process this information, adding it up with the need to destroy the battle cruiser, or at least the weapon attached to it: if the witch was controlling the bomb-planet from there, destroying it would prevent the detonation.
Keith's stolen Galra fighter and the rebel vehicles fired on the cruiser with everything they had, but they could not break through. Matt reached out to Keith, who had stopped flying after one of the wings of his fighter was damaged. "We'll never penetrate those shields!" Matt was coming dangerously close to panic. Since they had come here instead of fleeing, not only Voltron but the entire rebel alliance might be lost in Naxzela's explosion. Both Holt siblings might die, without either of their parents seeing them or even finding out what had happened to them.
Keith's expression and tone darkened as he said, "Maybe not with our weapons."
Matt watched through the windows, first with confusion, then with incredulity, as Keith started to fly toward the battle cruiser. "Keith, what are you doing?" Matt realized the answer to his own question and shouted with desperate, almost outraged horror, "Keith, no!"
It was like Shiro's sacrifice all over again. This time Matt understood what was happening, but in both cases he was utterly unable to prevent it. Yes, speaking utilitarianly, it was better for one person to die than dozens, but Keith should not have done that without consulting the others, getting permission, saying goodbye.
Matt would have kept yelling if something else had not caught his attention. Another ship arrived on the scene, of a type Matt had only seen once before, the day Zarkon banished his son Lotor. The comet ship aimed and fired on the shield surrounding the cruiser and its strange weapon.
Keith seemed to realize what was happening and pulled out of his trajectory at the last tick. The blast penetrated the shield and destroyed the weapon. A doboshe or two later, the cruiser made the jump to lightspeed, disappearing from the scene and leaving nothing but debris.
Over the comms, the rebels could hear Coran cheering and Shiro congratulating Keith, but their celebratory mood died when Keith informed them who had saved them. Matt and the rebels just sat in bewilderment, relieved at being alive but suspicious of the newcomer who had unexpectedly saved them.
Then a voice Matt had never heard before spoke over the allies' comms. It was deep, kind of silky, with a cunning edge that made his skin crawl. "Attention paladins of Voltron and rebel fighters. I know we've had our differences in the past, but … I think it is time that we had a discussion."
After a moment, Shiro answered, "This is Shiro, paladin of the Black Lion. Please hold while we confer."
"Certainly."
It took a little while for the paladins to negotiate, first with each other, then with their allies, and finally with Lotor himself, whether to meet him. He had just saved their lives, so some felt it only fair to hear what he had to say; but given how he had conquered planets and fought Voltron in the past, they had good reason to be wary.
After much ambivalence and argument, Shiro instructed the rebels to lead Lotor to the Blades' location, where they would all regroup. He carefully avoided specifying the location, so Lotor could not relay it to his generals or the Galra.
The Blades were ready when Lotor, Keith, and the rebels arrived on Senfama. Everyone with a weapon had it trained on Lotor as he emerged from his ship, his hands raised in a gesture of surrender. A few masked Blades apprehended him, slapping on handcuffs and putting him in the Galra outpost's holding cell. Matt wanted to give Keith a talking-to after the stunt he had tried to pull, but Keith insisted on watching Lotor while they waited for Voltron to arrive, and Matt had to regroup with the rebels, who had to figure out what their next move would be. Should they return to the Zaiforge cannon and make sure it stayed under rebel control? Or try to neutralize Naxzela so it could never be used as a weapon?
Matt was glad when Voltron and the Castle of Lions arrived. He ran up to the Green Lion and caught Pidge in a hug as she came out. "I didn't think we were going to make it," he admitted.
"But we did," Pidge said, both reminding him and marveling at it herself.
"Yeah … thanks to Lotor," Matt said with a grimace. Pidge made a sound of discomfort. They let go of each other, and Matt glanced at the other paladins and, beyond them, the building where Lotor was being held. "So, what's the plan with him?"
"Shiro and Allura are going to talk to him. Then we'll decide what to do with him."
After some time, Shiro, Allura, Olia, Keith, and the Blades' leader Kolivan called everyone together to announce their decision: the paladins would take custody of Lotor, confining him to a cell in the Castle of Lions. They would continue to interrogate him and see if he could provide accurate information about the Galra that could help them in the war effort.
It was clear from the rebels' reactions that they were not all happy about this arrangement. It was the first time many of them had really operated on the principle of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." But Shiro insisted that only the paladins of Voltron would act on any information Lotor provided, so no one else in the Coalition would be at risk.
Before they adjourned to contact their other allies, Allura addressed the assembly. "Before we part ways, I want to thank you personally for the risks you took, the courage you showed, and the sacrifices you made today. Thanks to you, we have won back a third of the Galra Empire. But that means we have a great deal of work ahead of us. This victory is only the beginning."
When she was done, Matt folded his arms and turned to Pidge. "I don't like this. I don't like him staying in the same place as you and your team and your lions, and I don't like you guys planning and carrying out missions based entirely on his intel."
"There's no place more secure than the Castle, and no one else really wants to have custody of him," Pidge pointed out
That made sense. Lotor was a liability; keeping him around was too great a risk and responsibility for the rebels or the Blades to handle. "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer," Matt muttered. He was starting to dislike all the clichés that he found applied to himself and his friends.
"You be careful with him, alright?" Matt said.
"Of course," Pidge replied. "And I'll be seeing you soon. There's a lot to do now that we've liberated all these planets, and I've got a running list of projects you can help with."
Matt grinned. "Excellent." As sad and frightening as the day had been, they had a lot to be thankful for and many good things to look forward to.
Music: "Hero in Me" by Emily Osment
Author's Note: I'm planning on having a conversation between Matt and Keith after the battle in "Make Straight His Paths," which is why I didn't put one here.