And we're back with the latest chapter! Lance makes some very questionable life choices, but when does he ever not? He's trying. We think. That said, thanks for reading! I'll see all of you again next update~!

anomalous point

chapter twenty six

the bait

"I want to state, just for the record, that this is a bad idea."

"Yeah Hunk, you've kind of said that already." Lance rolled his eyes. "Look, if you didn't want to get involved, you could have just stayed in the Castle."

"And let my best friend face danger alone?" Hunk asked. "No way."

He had to admit, he was a little touched. Hunk had made no attempts to disguise how much he didn't like this plan, and... yeah, he kind of had a point. It was dangerous. Anything that involved basically setting oneself up to be kidnapped generally was.

Which was basically the whole gist of Romelle's plan. He and Hunk would serve as bait for the spy, who by now had definitely heard about the human in the Galaxy Garrison uniform who had been brought to the Castle of Lions. There was a chance that they might have already contacted Lotor, but Romelle was willing to bet that they were waiting to get more information before they reported in- information which they didn't have.

Information which he did have.

Or at least, that's what they wanted them to think. Truth was, he didn't have the full picture of what it was that Allura and the Blades were planning with Commander Iverson. Didn't matter- the important thing was that the spy might think he did.

Well, not just him. Him and Hunk. But for some reason, Romelle seemed convinced that whoever it was, was more likely to go after him. Maybe it was just because it was obvious he and Veronica were related. Or maybe, if he was going to be frank about it, because Hunk was just a lot bigger of a guy and that made him a lot less of an ideal target.

Not that he didn't have muscle. Pssh, of course he had muscle. Just... it was pretty hard to compete with Hunk, alright? That's all it was.

"Glad to have you, buddy." Lance told him, and he meant every word of it. "But you do remember this plan involves splitting up, right?"

"Oh," Hunk frowned, "-right, yeah. See, that's the part of this I don't like."

"You heard Romelle. We can cover more ground this way." Lance told him. "Besides, if anything happens, both Romelle and Commander Kogane have our location. We'll be fine."

"Yeah, sure, that's true, but I just want to point out that's what you said when I told you that following Keith was a bad idea." Hunk pointed out. "So the reassurance is kind of limited. No offense."

Lance opened his mouth to say something, only to snap it shut. Yeah, okay- he did kind of have a point there.

But they had to do something. One way or another, the spy was going to report back to Lotor, and when he did, Veronica might end up in danger. He couldn't let that happen.

"Look, I know I've made some bad decisions before, but-"

"Nope," Hunk cut him off, physically shoving a finger against his lips to shush him, "-not why I was pointing that out. You're worried about your sister, right?"

Lance frowned, then nodded, lightly moving Hunk's finger away. "She might be headed back to the Garrison just to get captured, and she doesn't even know it. We have a chance to stop the spy, hopefully before they report in about Veronica."

Hunk smiled. "Then I guess we've got no choice, huh? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm still not wild about this whole plan, but it's still probably our best shot at finding them. So I'm in."

Lance gave him a grateful smile. "Always knew I could count on you."

"In everything but haunted houses." Hunk told him. "Which, by the way, I am never doing that again."

Recounting the incident in question, Lance laughed. "Yeah, okay. That's fair. But you're sure?"

"Wouldn't be here if I wasn't." Hunk said with a shrug. "Just promise me that you'll be careful."

"So long as you do the same." Lance told him.

"Mm, fair enough." Hunk said. "I promise."

"Me too, buddy." Lance grinned, lifting a fist. "Now bring it here."

Returning his grin, Hunk gave him a fist bump. "See you at the base of the Castle in like, one hour? Unless one of us gets kidnapped, in which case... yeah. That tends to complicate things."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Lance rolled his eyes. What was it even called if you got kidnapped while you were already in the process of being kidnapped? "I hope there's like, a clause in the Garrison's attendance policies for getting kidnapped. I would hate to have to make up all the classes I missed."

Hunk paled. "Oh man, I hadn't even thought of that. Do you think they'll like, give us a free pass if we help save Earth from evil aliens?"

Lance scoffed. "I mean, they'd better, since apparently all they've been doing is making deals with shady alien princes."

Save Earth, huh? He really hadn't thought about it in such grandiose terms, but yeah- he guessed what he was doing right now really was helping to save the Earth. Granted, it kind of made him wish he was doing something cooler than setting himself up as bait, but given that the alternative was just sitting on his hands the entire time, he'd take it.

Besides, he... kind of had faith in Romelle and Commander Kogane, honestly. More in Romelle, since he knew her better, but his few short interactions with the former commander had made him seem like just a very reliable guy. Honestly, it was hard to believe that he and Keith were even related- guessed he took more after his mother. He even had her same terrible mullet.

God, he still couldn't believe his rival had been half-alien. Talk about your unexpected plot twists.

"That is a solid point, my friend." Hunk told him. "So... how should we do this? You take north, I take south?"

"South, huh?" Lance asked, arching a brow. "You mean where Shay is, right? I get it."

Hunk just groaned, but didn't say anything back. See? He knew it. He was totally into her.

"North is fine with me." Lance said. "Maybe I'll run into Nyma."

"Maybe Nyma's the spy." Hunk pointed out.

"Oh come on, Nyma can't be the spy. She's way too nice for that." Lance rolled his eyes. "If anyone's the spy here, it has to be Rolo."

"Just saying," Hunk said, "-we should keep our options open."

"Where's Lance and Hunk?"

Looking up from her half-eaten microwave burrito- a sure sign that Hunk hadn't been anywhere near the kitchen this evening, Katie just shrugged. "I heard they were doing something with Romelle and Commander Kogane."

"Something." Shiro repeated. "Any chance you know what that something is?"

He had noticed Romelle leave the bridge at some point, only to return later. She had briefly spoken with Keith's father, and in turn, he had spoken with Krolia- after which, both he and Romelle had left. He assumed that they had other business to deal with- not surprising when their plan had so many moving parts.

But with Lance and Hunk?

Katie just shrugged. "Don't know, but they left the Castle. Maybe it has something to do with the spy?"

Shiro frowned. "You're sure?"

"Like I said," Katie swallowed a bite of her food, "-I don't know."

He turned it over in his head for a few moments longer. He knew Lance had bemoaned not being useful more than once, but trying to track down Lotor's spy? He didn't know if he liked it.

Still, Romelle and Commander Kogane were both with them, and he doubted they would let either of them do anything reckless. At least... he hoped.

Then again... Shiro just heaved a short sigh, running a hand through his white forelock. He could go check it out himself, but there was a chance he might just complicate whatever plan they had thought up. And besides, they didn't exactly have time- once the base raid plan was ready to go, they would be moving out.

By the time the sun rose, they would be making their move.

Right now, they were working on the plan in shifts- from the sound of it, Katie, Matt, Adam, and Commander Kogane would all be staying here. They would stay behind and work to clear the Galaxy Garrison of any Galra influence. If things went south for him on the lunar base, he wouldn't put past Lotor to take the place hostage.

What was less clear was who was going to the lunar base. They would need at least two teams- one to search for and rescue Colleen Holt, and another to track down Lotor and either take him into custody, or kill him. It was a given that Regris and Ulaz would go, but Allura had been insistent about going with them, and there was some doubt if Krolia should really go when there was a chance that they might just end up fighting her son.

He narrowed his eyes at that thought. Keith.

There was no team to rescue Keith. They just didn't have the manpower. There were the refugees, but they hadn't come here to fight- they had come here to get away from the war. And... circumstances what they were, even if they didn't try to find him, it didn't matter.

He'd probably find them.

As for himself... if Lotor was hunting paladin candidates, then as someone who had already been chosen by the black lion, him going to the lunar base would put him at risk, just as much, if not more so than the princess. And if Lotor had gotten his hands on Keith... then there was no reason to believe he didn't know that he was the new black paladin.

But he still wanted to go. Even if it was just to pilot the ship that had taken him there.

Keith had never asked anyone to protect him. He'd never even asked anyone to cover his back. From what he understand, that was just the way the Blade worked. But he was still just a kid- a kid that he owed his freedom to.

A kid who didn't deserve to be used. If he could do something to help him... he didn't want to run away just because he was scared the same thing could happen to him.

Allura wasn't.

Polishing off her food, Katie stood up, the creaking sound her chair made snapping him out of his thoughts. "Princess calling me back?"

Shiro nodded. "If we're going to take the Garrison back from the Galra, we'll need you. Where's Matt?"

"Probably still holed up in the communications room." Katie said with a shrug. "I can go get him if you've got something else to do."

He blinked, wondering if it was that obvious- then smiled. "Thanks. That would be a help."

"Hey, us humans have got to stick together." Katie told him.

He chuckled, watching as she ducked out of sight. He lingered in the kitchen long enough to grab a granola bar- the other reason Allura had sent him away was so that he could get something to eat. He wasn't exactly in the mood, but he knew better than to let himself give into that line of thought. If he was going to do this, then he need to be in top condition.

Because come hell or high water, he would be.

So.

Hunk was right. Nyma was, regretfully, the spy. But hey, at least there was still some good news- he was right too. Rolo was also the spy. Turned out they were a pair! Who knew?

Actually in hindsight, it should have been pretty obvious that if one of them was the spy, then they were probably in it together. But maybe Veronica had a point about him and pretty girls. Maybe.

(Would he admit it? No.)

The good news was, Hunk hadn't been captured- at least, not yet. The bad news? Yeah, turned out Romelle was right too. All Nyma had done was bat her- admittedly very, very pretty eyes at him and told him that she wanted to show him something, and he had followed after her like a lost puppy. That... still didn't explain how he'd ended up suspended from a cave by his ankle, but listen- alien courting rituals were weird, and he thought she'd just wanted to go somewhere private.

(He did not actually have any proof of that- the weird courting rituals part. But listen- that's just how aliens worked, right? At least, it was in all the cheap dime novel romances he had read.)

Well... at least the plan worked, he guessed. He just hoped the cave didn't block the signal from the transponder that Romelle had given him.

It had been almost painfully simple, given how hard it had been to root anyone suspicious out before. But before they had been trying to keep the fact that there was a suspected spy among the refugees a secret- now? Now they had purposefully spread that rumor, in an effort to see who it drew in. Information was a good incentive, but if the spy thought that they might be on to them, they might just be prompted to take rash action.

At least, that was what Romelle had said. And seeing as she was some kind of elite body double slash maid, who was he to doubt her?

Sure, there was the unintended effect that everyone might panic, but from the sound of it, one way or another, the Galra were coming to Earth. Best to just have everyone on their toes?

Look, he didn't know. The blood was all starting to rush to his head. Ugh, this sucked. He definitely knew that.

"So uh, any chance you could maybe let me down?"

"Not until you tell us what you know." Nyma said.

Right. This was the part of the plan that he hadn't so much planned on. In hindsight, he should have known any plan that used the promise of information as bait would end with a potential interrogation, but... yeah. He'd been so caught up in the idea of being useful and protecting Veronica, that he kind of hadn't stopped to think about it.

Okay, now he was understanding why Hunk had thought this was such a bad idea.

"So... what?" Lance asked. "You're just going to dangle me from the ceiling until I talk? That doesn't sound so bad."

"I've heard being inverted for too long can lead to the death of your kind." Nyma cooly observed, and he felt a chill run down the length of his very inverted back. "But I'm sure you'll talk before then."

Okay. Now he was starting to worry.

Hunk was slowly starting to panic.

It had been one full hour, plus five minutes on top of that, and Lance still wasn't back yet. That couldn't be a good sign.

Except it also sort of was, because if Lance wasn't coming back to their agreed meeting place on time, didn't that mean he'd found the spy? On the other, it was also still bad because it meant the spy had found Lance. Which, yeah, that was the plan, but still- he'd rather have a version of this that didn't involve either of them being potentially kidnapped.

"Oh, this is bad." Hunk muttered to himself. "This is really bad."

Right. Romelle. He had to get Romelle. She'd told him that she would be waiting just inside the Castle if anything happened. Which, yeah, he was starting to suspect it had.

But what if Lance was fine? What if he had just gotten held up somewhere? It had only been five minutes past the deadline. Maybe he'd just lost track of time? It happened. What if he left, and Lance showed up, and thought he was in danger?

But what if Lance actually was in danger, and he was just wasting precious time? Hesitating for a moment longer, Hunk nervously glanced over his shoulder. There still wasn't any sign of Lance, and he was pretty sure at least two more minutes had passed while he worried over that.

Seven minutes. Lance was seven minutes late.

That was too late, he decided. Sucking it up, he boarded the shuttle pod that would take him back up to the Castle. Romelle had given them both transponders for exactly this reason. It would be fine.

Unless Lance had been snatched up within the first minutes, in which case...

No. He wasn't going to think like that. Still, the ride up to the Castle felt like it took forever, when he knew it barely even took a minute. It just felt like a really, really long minute.

Eight minutes past the deadline, he arrived inside the Castle. To his relief, Romelle was indeed waiting just outside where the shuttle pod docked, and with her was Commander Kogane. She did say she was going to go talk to him and brief him on her plans, but he guessed she had.

"Hunk?" Romelle frowned. "Where's Lance?"

"I don't know." Hunk admitted. "He wasn't at our meeting place."

Romelle's frown just deepened, before she exchanged a look with Heath. "He must have been abducted."

"Guess Lotor's spy took the bait." Heath stated.

"So it would seem." Romelle said. "I gave him a transponder. We should be able to track him using that."

"Got it. Give me the code." Heath told her. Romelle complied, even as he fished out a matching device from one of his belt pouches. In a less dire situation, Hunk probably would have noted the similarity between father and son, but right now all he could think about was Lance.

"Based on his location," Heath observed, studying the image projected from the small transponder in his hand, "-it looks like he's still pretty close. There's a system of caves that are pretty near the town. Odds are, he's probably there."

Unless they found his transponder and were sending out a dummy signal, Hunk wanted to say, but he bit it back. Chances were, they had both probably already realized that was a possibility and voicing it out loud just felt like he'd be jinxing Lance.

Heath glanced over at him, giving his shoulder a squeeze. "Don't worry. We'll find him."

Hunk just swallowed, nodding his head. If Heath's grip on his shoulder was a little too tight, he didn't say anything. He was pretty sure that wasn't about Lance anyways. "Okay. Okay, good. I'll just- should I come with you? Lance is my friend, I don't want to-"

"Stay here." Romelle instructed- but there was a certain edge of softness to her words. "This was my idea, so I'll be sure to bring Lance back safe and sound."

Strangely enough given how nervous he was, he felt like he believed that.

"Okay," Hunk said, "-okay."

Romelle smiled at him, even as Heath released his grip from his shoulder. Without another word, the two boarded the shuttle pod, and disappeared from view. Hunk watched them go, taking in a long, deep breath, trying to convince himself that things would be fine, just like Lance had said they would be.

Next time Lance came to him with an idea like this? Next time, he was going to say no.

"So," Romelle had the audacity to chirp, dusting off her hands so casually like she hadn't just thrown Rolo over her shoulder and into the nearest wall, "-I would say my plan worked quite well!"

Lance just groaned. "Yeah, sure. Now can you let me down before my eyeballs like, burst out of my head our something?"

"That's just a myth." Heath observed, even as he pulled a knife out from one of his boots. Ugh. Figures Keith's dad would have hidden boot knives.

"It doesn't feel like a myth." Lance grumbled as Heath cut the rope that held him up, carefully lowering him back down to the cave floor. "I'm never hanging upside-down from anything ever again."

Heath just chuckled, tucking his knife back away. "Think you can stand? Your friend's pretty worried about you."

"Yeah, just... just give me a few seconds." Lance told him. Heath indulged him, waiting until he was ready to help him sit up, only hauling him back to his feet once he was sure all the blood that had pooled in his head wouldn't come bursting out of it all at once.

Okay, so he was pretty sure that didn't happen either. But it felt like it.

"So... Hunk's fine?" Lance asked, watching out of the corner of his eye as Romelle produced an extra length of rope and proceeded to tie both Nyma and Rolo up.

"I did say he made a less desirable target for kidnapping than you." Romelle observed, hefting Rolo, who was unsurprisingly unconscious, over her shoulder. "But thanks to you, we were able to secure the spies. Well done, Lance! You were excellent bait!"

"...thank you?" Lance said, uncertain if that were meant as a compliment.

"We should probably get back to the Castle." Heath said, taking a little more care with holding Nyma- who was also pretty much out cold. "Ideally, we would be asking them both some questions, but..."

Romelle looked sheepish. "Oops. Just... got a bit carried away, that's all."

Heath sighed, like this wasn't the first time he'd had to deal with something like this. With a kid like Keith, somehow he doubted it. "Don't suppose you managed to learn anything from them."

"Only that they hadn't contacted Lotor yet." Lance said. "I think I heard Rolo say something about a bounty."

"Probably teamed up with Lotor in hopes of getting their bounty taken off their heads." Romelle observed. "Though I suppose we won't know for sure until they regain consciousness."

Heath just gave her a pointed look, silently chastising her in a way that only a man who had raised a part-alien child could. Recalling how angry he had been when he had first asked them to help him find the spy, he was surprised at how calm he was being right now. Maybe it had just been long enough that his anger had cooled somewhat.

Or maybe he was just better at holding it in than his son was.

"Hey, at least we know they haven't contacted Lotor yet, right?" Lance asked. "That's good."

It meant Veronica wasn't in danger. At least, he hoped it meant Veronica wasn't in danger. He still wished he could have gone with her- not just because he'd be able to see his family again, although... yeah, that was part of it- but because the more he heard about this Prince Lotor character, the less he liked him.

There was also the imminent threat of an alien invasion looming over their heads. That too. The princess had sounded pretty confident that they could fend them off, but he didn't know about that- anything that involved an invasion just sounded bad to him.

But he guessed he'd done his part. It just sucked that what he was able to do basically boiled down to serving as live bait. He wished he could do something more- but maybe Veronica had a point. Maybe sometimes, people just found themselves in situations where they just weren't very useful.

Didn't make it any less frustrating.

"So... I guess we're done here?" Lance asked.

"All that's left is to take these two back to the Castle!" Romelle said. "Allura should have everything in order by the time we get back. The fact that his spies haven't yet contacted him in regards to your sister's presence here will be of great help to everyone."

He brightened a little at that. Oh. Guess that was a good thing, huh? He'd only been thinking about Veronica, but now that he thought about it... if Rolo and Nyma had contacted him, wouldn't he have some idea they would be coming? Or at least that they were planning something.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Lance asked. "Let's get back to the Castle!"

"Lance!"

Lance barely even had a chance to get out of the shuttle pod before Hunk threw his arms around him, embracing him in a crushing hug. "Oh man, buddy, am I ever glad to see you! They didn't hurt you, right?"

"Mostly they just dangled me upside-down from the ceiling, so no." Lance assured him. "But I do kind of need to breathe."

"Oh, right." Hunk said, giving him a bit more wiggle room, but not releasing him quite yet. He did peek over his shoulder, watching as Romelle and Heath transported Rolo and Nyma into the Castle proper. "Guess we were both right, huh?"

"Guess we were." Lance admitted. "Sorry I worried you."

"Yeah, we're not doing that again." Hunk told him, actually pulling away this time.

"You know what?" Lance said. "I agree. That was terrible."

"I hate to say I told you so, but," Hunk shrugged, "-I told you so."

"That you did, buddy." Lance said, before looking up at Romelle. "So what's the plan now?"

"Oh, right, speaking of plans," Hunk began, "-Regris came by looking for the two of you. I think the princess wants you both to gather on the bridge when you're done with uh," he paused, glancing at both Rolo and Nyma's unconscious forms, "-that."

"Noted." Heath said. "What about you boys?"

"I heard Matt mention something about attempting to patch into the Garrison's radio feed." Romelle suggested, before he could even say anything. "He should be finished by now. I think the plan was for him to monitor it, but..."

"Radio feed, huh?" Lance asked, glancing down at Hunk. "What do you say?"

"Sounds safer than being bait." Hunk said. "I think we can do that."

Romelle nodded. "Good. Last I recall, he was setting it all up in the communications room. I'll be sure to let Allura know. I'm certain she'll be quite grateful for all your assistance."

Again, Lance felt himself brighten. Earning a princess' favor didn't exactly sound bad. The exact opposite, actually.

"Tell her old Lancey-Lance is ready to help any time!" Lance beamed, puffing out his chest.

Romelle merely looked vaguely bemused. "I will be sure to tell her that as well, Lancey-Lance."

He couldn't be sure but something in Romelle's tone made him think she was poking fun at him. Hunk's snickering definitely didn't help.

They didn't longer long after that- from the moment that Hunk had told them that the princess wanted them, there had been an undercurrent of urgency in the air. Once they were gone, he felt himself let out a long sigh of relief, before glancing back towards Hunk. "So... the communications room?"

"Yup," Hunk nodded, "-just you and me, staying up all night. Reminds me of the Garrison."

"Hunk, we were still at the Garrison a month ago." Lance pointed out. "That's a little too soon to be waxing nostalgic."

"Mm, yeah. You've got a point." Hunk said, before glancing down at him. "I'm glad you're alright. You scared me."

Looking up at him, Lance gave Hunk an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that."

"Just don't do it again." Hunk warned him. "So... how'd you end up hanging upside-down anyways?"

All Lance could do was groan.

Romelle and Commander Kogane were the last to arrive.

From the sound of it, their efforts to track down the spy- or spies, as it turned out- had been successful. With it brought some much needed good news- namely, they had yet to contact Lotor about them establishing a possible point of contact with the Galaxy Garrison. That would make taking back the Garrison from the Galra a lot easier.

To that end, Matt and Katie would remain behind. Veronica would remotely link them into the Garrison's system, which Matt would use to take control of their security network. Hopefully they wouldn't have to use it, but just in case things went south, having a handle on the Garrison's lockdown procedures would be a massive help.

Katie would be tasked with taking down the sentries remotely. That shouldn't be a problem. Ulaz had shown her how to do it. The problem lay in the fact that they couldn't say for sure that there weren't any actual Galra down there- if Lotor had sent any of his underlings to the Garrison, they could be in real trouble.

That was where Adam and Commander Kogane came in. They would infiltrate the Garrison and intervene if needed. There had been some debate about sending Krolia with them, but they had all decided that if it came down to it, it was probably best to send humans, since they were technically invading the Garrison.

It was a gamble- if Lotor sent any of his generals to standby at the Garrison, they would be a lot harder to deal with than any member of the rank and file. But Commander Kogane had experience in dealing with the Galra- he'd lived with them for just under twenty years now. If anyone could take one, it was him.

If things really went south, Romelle would be waiting just outside the perimeter on standby. Glancing over towards Adam, Shiro hoped it wouldn't come to that.

That just left the lunar base raid.

"I'm going."

This time, nobody disputed Allura. No one could.

"I'm coming too." Shiro stated.

"Shiro-" Allura began, only to cut herself off as she met his eyes. He knew what she saw there- it was the same expression that he saw in hers.

Determination. Regret. Resolve.

This might not be Earth's conflict. But if he was going to become the black paladin of Voltron, then he couldn't just think about Earth. He had to start thinking about the bigger picture- and the big picture was that if they failed to deal with Lotor here, then the Galra might just have a chance to regroup, to double their forces. They had a chance to defeat them here and now- and they couldn't pass that up.

But he'd be lying if said his main reason wasn't a lot more selfish. Somewhere on that base, two people were being held captive against their will- a woman whose husband he had failed to save, and someone that had wormed his way into becoming an irreplaceable aspect of his life.

He didn't want to lose either one of them.

Allura merely sighed. "Very well then."

No one protested. Across the room, Krolia briefly met his eyes, before tearing her gaze away. She would remain behind on the Castle alongside Coran. They couldn't afford to leave the Castle unguarded. Right now, they didn't have any reason to believe that Lotor was aware they knew where he was hiding, but they had to be prepared for anything.

"Once we arrive on the lunar base, we will split into two teams." Allura spoke, her tone commanding the attention of everyone in the room. "Regris, you will take Shiro and attempt to track down Colleen Holt. Ulaz and I will find Lotor and put an end to this."

"And if we fail?" Shiro asked.

"We won't." Allura stated. "The fate of the entire universe is resting on us. We cannot afford to fail."

She made it sound so simple, but everyone here knew it wasn't.

Nobody brought up Keith. Nobody dared to.

But just like how everyone knew that there was nothing simple about this mission, everyone knew what had to be done if they met him. If he was himself, fine- but if he wasn't...

...they'd have to fight.

He got the awful feeling it'd be the latter.

"Is everything in order?"

In response, Narti saluted, bowing her head. There was a bundle of clothing held in her tail, that he recognized as being what Keith had been brought onboard wearing- human clothing, he supposed. The garishly bright colors of the jacket alone were appalling.

"Good." Lotor stated. "Leave us."

Once again, Narti bowed her head, before complying with his command. He paused for only a brief moment, before he entered the admittedly hastily arranged medical ward, really nothing more than a single healing pod. When he had first arrived on this planet, he had seen no need for such a thing- these humans were so primitive, that he hardly needed to worry about them even should they decide to fight back.

But when they had contacted to inform him that they had captured a member of the Blade of Marmora... well, that he had taken an interest in. He knew from experience just how reckless the half-Galra Blade could be when pushed into a corner, so he'd had Zethrid and Acxa install one of the healing pods from his ship just in case he tried something rash.

Still, he had to admit, biting off his own tongue was a bit extreme, even for Keith.

But in the end, while the action had bought him time, it had also left him vulnerable. He was loathe to resort to this, truth be told- but he would do what he must.

Lotor quickly picked him out, standing across the room. From here, there was a window from which one could view the Earth. He did admit, it was a rather pretty sight.

The sight of one once so stubborn clad in armor of his colors was also quite nice, he decided. He doubted it would be enough to convince Princess Allura to join him, but he had ways of dealing with her... hesitation.

"I trust the healing process was successful."

Keith stirred, turning to look back at him. His pupils were thin enough that it was rather difficult to tell from this distance, but they appeared blank. The yellow of his sclera seemed a bit brighter, possibly due to exposure to quintessence from the healing pod. It had been necessary if they hoped to salvage his tongue.

One mute general could be difficult enough at times. He hardly needed two.

Looking at his face, he could understand why Kolivan had felt the need to hide him. Were it not for the rounded ears, he might have passed for Altean- but without them, it was clear that what he was mixed with was a race yet unbeknownst to the Galra. Truthfully, he was surprised to discover just how primitive his father's people were, but as someone who was of mixed blood himself, he would not use that as a basis to judge him.

In his Galra Empire, there would be no such prejudices.

"There have been no lasting effects." Keith spoke. He was used to hearing his voice through the filter of his Blade mask, so it was quite to treat to hear his actual voice for a change. Still compared to the fire he'd had in it before, it was almost... depressingly monotone, now.

Ah, well. Some things simply could not be helped. Perhaps in time, it would change. If he remained under Narti's control long enough, her influence would take a more permanent hold.

"I am glad to hear it." Lotor stated. "I believe you were telling me something about the new black paladin...?"

For a tick, Keith merely blinked. His brain was likely attempting to translate the question into terms that he was able to understand. What Narti fed it was merely a powerful suggestion- even he could not say for sure just how it would interpret said suggestion. All he knew was that he now believed himself to be one of his generals- one whose loyalty to him was unquestionable.

Finally, Keith lifted a hand over his chest, saluting him with a bowed head. "He is the same pilot the Galaxy Garrison would have sent us had the Blade of Marmora not interfered. Takashi Shirogane."

Ah. Now he understood why he had been willing to go so far to protect the new black paladin's identity.

"Excellent." Lotor stated. "Soon we will return the black lion to where it belongs."

"And the new paladin it has chosen?" Keith inquired.

"Perhaps we can convince him to join us." Lotor said. "Him and the Altean princess."

If the lions would not choose him as one of their paladins, then all he needed to do was to control their paladins. Then Voltron would be as good as his.

"Now then," turning on his heel, Lotor did not even glance behind him, knowing without question that his new general would follow, "-I believe we have much to discuss if we are to turn the tide of this war back in our favor."

"What would you have me do?" Keith asked. "Do you wish me to invade the Castle? I will do whatever you command, my prince."

Loyal, he had instructed Narti. Loyal he had been given.

"Now, now, there is no rush." Lotor told him, undeniably pleased by the outcome, loathe though he had been to resort to it. "They will come to us."