Chapter 16 – Who or What Is Zarkon Tracking

I don't own Voltron Legendary Defender. I'm taking the characters out for a spin.


Adam woke and reached out, finding Shiro's side of the bed empty. Not only empty but cold, so Takashi had been gone for a while.

He appreciated the rest, but Takashi needed to understand that he was regaining his strength. But he still admitted to himself that he was still weak. The flu combined with pneumonia had taken a lot out of him.

Adam rose and dressed. He needed to seek out the others to find out what was going on. He strode through the ship, looking for any sign of the others. But the thought struck him that they might be on the bridge. He followed his hunch and stepped through the doors but wasn't prepared for what met his eyes.

Allura sat on the edge of her station and shook her head. "There's no point in debating this further. Zarkon is tracking us through me."

The others refused to believe her, and each one voiced their objections.

Allura frowned. "Why would that be so hard to believe? Zarkon's forces showed up on Arus only after I woke."

Lance crossed his arms over his chest as he gazed over at Shiro. "She's got a point." He bent over toward her as flirted outrageously. "I would travel across the galaxy to find you."

Keith cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention to him. "It's not you, Princess Allura. It's me."

Hunk blinked and stared at Keith as if he'd lost his marbles. "Because?"

Keith shifted his eyes away from the others. I think Zarkon must've imprinted on me during our fight or something."

Pidge sighed and rubbed at her forehead. It was time to stop all this and focus on the bigger picture. "Look, the fact is, we don't know how Zarkon is tracking us. It could be through the Black Lion. Every time Zarkon gets near it, Shiro has to fight him for control."

Coran, who'd been beside Allura, stood up. "That's only when Zarkon is nearby. No Paladin has ever been able to connect with a lion over a vast distance."

Hunk glanced around. "So what are we going to do? Allura and Adam both are still recovering, and we can't wormhole until we fix the wormholer."

Shiro turned to Hunk. "I know. Right now, it doesn't matter how he's tracking us because we're gonna take the fight to the Galra soon enough. They've been chasing us from galaxy to galaxy. The last thing they will expect is for us to come after them."

Lance smirked. "The hunter becomes the hunted, hmmm? Awesome. That's the tagline from like six of my favorite movies." He jabbed Keith in the side with his elbow. "Get it?"

Keith rolled his eyes.

Pidge took her seat at her station. "As it happens, I took our list of recent Galra attacks and analyzed it for both commonalities and anomalies among the attack sites. I was hoping to create an algorithm that would, in a statistically acceptable margin of error, provide a list of target-rich Galra environments, color-coded, of course, because what are we animals?"

She pressed a button on her holographic screen, and the star map appeared surrounding everyone on the bridge.

Lance turned around stat the stars that surrounded him. "Cool. What is it again?"

Hunk turned to face the youngest Paladin. "It's a Galra finder?"

Pidge shook her head as she pushed her glasses up her nose. "Well, finder suggests that it locates the Galra, whereas it would be more accurate to say that my model predicts their likeliest –" She blinked as she looked up at the others catching their blank stares back at her. She sighed. "Fine! It's a Galra finder."

Lance asked the burning question. "So, where are the Galra?"

Pidge brought up a planet. "The nearest ones are right here. A planet called Taujeer."

Shiro turned to face the others. "Then that's where we're headed. Everyone should get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll find that Galra fleet and take it out."

Everyone else left the bridge, which left Adam, Shiro, and Keith still there. Adam approached Shiro but stopped when the man strode over to Keith. "Is everything okay?"

Keith ducked his head down. "Yeah, why?"

"You seem a bit anxious."

Adam gazed at Keith. He seemed more than anxious to him. He appeared to be sadder than anything.

Keith frowned. "I'm fine. Just tired. As you said, I should get some sleep." He walked away without a backward glance.

Shiro watched him walk away. He could tell something was bothering him, but he wanted Keith to come to him instead of trying to pry it out of the teen.

Adam walked up to Shiro and slid his arm around the Black Paladin's waist. "Something's bothering him."

Shiro nodded. "I know." He turned to face Adam. "You should still be asleep."

Adam sighed. "Amor, I don't want to fight. I was sick, not injured."

"I know, but I worry about you."

Adam smiled at Shiro. "I worry about you too, but I can't stop you from piloting the Black Lion."

Shiro made a poor attempt at stifling the yawn that came. "It's been a long day. I need some sleep."

"Well, what I walked in on was intense. Allura still believes that Zarkon is tracking us through her?"

Shiro nodded as the pair headed for the doors. "Yeah, she does."

"Well, my vote is the Black Lion."

Shiro's hand reached up and rubbed at his chin as the pair walked through the doorway. "I agree, and until the Teludav is fixed, I don't want to get into another cat and mouse chase with Zarkon. The Teludav is important."

"I know."


Adam and the others stepped onto the bridge. At the sound of the doors opening Coran turned from his station. "We should be entering Taujeer's orbit soon."

Shiro stood beside his station. "Raise the particle barrier. Scan for Galra." He glanced around. "Where are Keith and Allura?"

Coran ran a quick scan of the Castle. "It appears that one of the pods launched in the middle of the night."

Lance sat up straight in his chair as his muscles tensed. "Wait a minute, Keith and Allura? In the middle of the night?" he leaned forward as he grit his teeth together for a quick minute. "You don't think they're sitting in a tree?"

Adam shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Dork," he mumbled under his breath.

Shiro ignored Lance's moment of jealousy. "Contact the pod."

Lance stuck his hand up with his index finger extended. "Yes! Contact that pod!"

Coran opened up a channel to the pod. "Princess, Keith, where are you?"

Allura's voice came over the speaker. "Exactly where we should be, far away from the Castle."

Shiro ran his human hand through his hair as he tilted his head to the side. "What? Why?"

Allura's voice floated out of the speaker. "We must know if we are the ones Zarkon is tracking."

Pidge leaned forward. "They're isolating the variable. Well, isolating two variables."

Lance gaped at the youngest Paladin. "In English, please?"

Pidge frowned as she tried to explain in simpler terms. "To test a hypothesis—"

"I said English!"

Pidge cringed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Never mind!"

Adam glanced over at Pidge. "Don't worry about it, Pidge. Lance wasn't that great with math or the scientific method."

Lance jumped up out of his chair as he glared at Adam. "Hey! That's private."

Adam twisted his body in the other direction to gaze at Lance. "It's not when you keep letting your personal feelings get the better of you."

Allura's voice brought an end to their bickering. "Pidge is right. If Zarkon finds you despite my absence, we will know that we are not the ones he is tracking."

Shiro frowned. "Splitting up the group makes us far more vulnerable. Come back to the Castle immediately."

"I'm sorry, Shiro, I cannot do that," Allura replied.

Keith joined the conversation. "If Zarkon does find us, I can pilot us to safety. We're in wide-open space with plenty of room to maneuver. Plus, we'd be able to outrun him. Pidge added that booster rocket."

Adam could swear that Coran sounded stunned. "That things still on there?"

Shiro wasn't happy with the way they were ignoring him. "We need you both back here now!"

The Castle hit something which caused them all to jump. The klaxons went off as red warnings flashed over the bridge. Shiro gazed at the older Altean. "What's going on?"

Hunk checked his scanner. "We're in some debris field."

Coran's eyes ran over his console as he searched for an answer. "I believe it's coming from Taujeer." He brought up the holographic display on the main screen. "Correction. I think it is Taujeer!"

Allura's voice came over the speaker. "Coran, what's going on—"

Static cut into their conversation. The Altean studied his console's readings. He turned to face Shiro. "Some radiation from Taujeer is interfering with communications!"

Shiro frowned. He needed to know that Keith and Allura were safe even if what they did was ill-advised. "Move the Castle away from the planet and reestablish communications. Everyone else, get to your lions." He stood and took several steps that led him to Adam's station. "No matter what happens, I don't want you overworking yourself."

Adam sighed, but he smirked at the other man. "You know, you'll make a great dad someday with the way you worry. Unless you give yourself a heart attack first."

Lance, who was moving a little slower than usual, snorted at the comment. Wisely, for once, he kept his thoughts to himself.

Shiro's cheeks flushed pink. He bent down, giving Adam a quick kiss before he raced away to get his armor on.

Adam wished he was going with them, but he knew this time he'd be a hindrance instead of a help.

The lions shot out of their hangars and raced away for the planet's surface.


Coran moved the Castle away from the planet. "Adam, I think I've reestablished the link."

"Thanks. Princess, Keith, do you copy?"

Allura's voice came from the speaker again. "Adam, what's going on? Where's Shiro?"

Adam rubbed at his forehead. What was he going to tell her? The truth and one of those truths were they were out of radio contact until someone like Pidge or Hunk could boost their radio signals over the planet's radiation. Or even figure a way to filter it out of their communications to the Castle.

"From the readings I'm getting from my scans, Taujeer is shedding its outer layer, but the radiation coming from the planet is causing interference in our communications. Shiro and the others went down to Taujeer to see what they can do." Adam sighed. "I'm not the Black Paladin, so I can't give you two a direct order, but I'm going to repeat it. You two need to return."

Adam could practically hear the frown in Allura's voice. "I'm sorry, but we have to know."

Adam sighed. "You know, Allura, right now, you're stubborn just like Keith."

Keith growled. "I am not stubborn!"

Adam rolled his eyes. "Says the guy who decided to live in the desert like a hermit and conspiracy theorist." He sat up, straighter in his seat. "Coran, I'm picking up something coming toward Taujeer fast."

Keith's voice came over the speakers. "Adam, what's going on?"

"I can't talk right now."

Shiro's voice came over the speakers of the Castle. "Coran, we need you here now. Attack the Galra cruiser!"

Coran brought the Castle in closer to Taujeer. "I'm on my way!" He quickly switched back to the pod. "Keith, Allura, are you still there?"

Allura's voice came over the speaker. "We're here, Coran. What is it?"

"Zarkon's not tracking us through either of you."

Keith's voice sounded almost shocked. "He's not?"

Adam thought that the Red Paladin sounded stricken by that news.

Allura asked, "How do you know?"

"Because you're out there, and a Galra fleet has shown up here! We need you now!"

Allura replied, "We'll be there in two dobashes."

Adam stared at the battle raging below the Castle of Lions. "They're trying to project that ship on the surface from the Galra." He ran a scan of the greenish liquid that bubbled below what little bit of ground that surrounded the ship. "That's acid, and Hunk and the Yellow Lion are trying to keep that ship from falling in it, but they're close to falling in themselves."

Coran brought up the particle barrier. "We are not going to allow that to happen. We're in range of the Galra ship now." He activated all defense weapons firing into the top side of the Galra cruiser. Explosions blossomed across the top of the ship from stem to stern.

Shiro's voice came over the speaker. "Way to go! Keep it up!"

The Galra cruiser turned part of its weapons fire on the Castle.

Coran let out a small growl. "Oh, if only there were another who could pilot the Red Lion." He turned to Adam. "Take my place here."

Adam's jaw fell open as he gaped at Coran. "Me?"

"Yes, I know your learning Altean. I believe by now, you're quite proficient."

Adam swallowed hard, trying to get the lump that appeared out of it. His voice cracked. "What are you going to do?"

"We need someone to pilot the Red Lion. So I shall see if it will accept me."

Adam stood and strode over to Coran's console. "This is more complicated than my station."

Coran pointed out the weapons and particle barrier to the younger man. "Keep your eyes on these controls. If the levels begin to drop, reroute the power." The Altean ran off the bridge.

Adam shook his head. "Reroute the power he says. From where?" he asked the empty bridge.


Coran's voice came from the Red Lion's hangar. "Uh, guys. The Red Lion ran away."

Adam shook his head as he tried to wrap his brain around what the Altean had said. "Ran away? What are you talking about?"

"The Red Lion stood up, roared, and launched itself out of the hangar."

Adam pursed his lips. "That's probably because it knew Keith was in trouble."

The doors to the bridge opened, and Coran returned to the bridge. "I'll take over again."

Adam's legs trembled. "Thanks, Coran."

"No, thank you for covering for me."

Adam reached his station and let himself collapse down into his seat. A fast-approaching blip on his screen caught his attention. He noticed it was red, meaning it was the Red Lion returning.

Adam sighed, grateful for Keith's return as the lion joined the others, trying to keep the ship below from falling into the acid.

Shiro's voice came over the speaker. "Coran pull the Castle back. We're going to take down that cruiser once and for all."

The Castle moved away as the lions formed Voltron. Adam gasped, as the giant mech warrior created the largest sword he'd ever seen. It attacked the Galra cruiser and easily split the ship in two. It exploded.

Voltron picked up the Taujeerian ship and transported the people to their new colony on a nearby planet.


Keith and Allura stood on the bridge facing the others.

Allura held her hands together in front of her body. "I'm so sorry for leaving."

"Keith gazed at Shiro and Adam. "Me too. We thought we were doing the right thing."

Allura glanced down at the floor but brought her eyes back up and focused entirely on the Black Paladin. "You were correct, Shiro. We are always stronger together."

Lance gazed at Allura. "At least we learned that Zarkon isn't tracking us through you two."

Hunk grinned. "I learned that my lion can grow armor and extend its claws. Which would come in handy if we ever needed to, say, I don't know, slice up a giant steak while getting beat up. Or fight evil and save innocent people. That too. That would work."

Shiro frowned, but he gazed at the others. "The fact that the Red Lion came to help Keith from so far away is a vital piece of information. We now have proof that a lion and a Paladin can connect over a greater distance than we realized. Which means we finally know how Zarkon is tracking us. It's through the Black Lion."

Adam's shoulders sagged, but Lance caught the movement out of his peripheral vision. "Are you okay." He took a good look at his cousin's face. "You're looking a bit worn out there."

Coran cleared his throat. "I'm afraid that's my fault. I had him take over for me because I hoped the Red Lion would accept me to pilot it while Keith and Allura were away."

"Here lean on me," Shiro said as he wrapped an arm around Adam's waist. "I'll take you to our room so you can get some rest."

Lance gazed at the pair as Shiro helped Adam off the bridge. His face lit up in a big grin. "I can't wait for them to get married, then Shiro will be part of my family. It's gonna be, so fun having my idol as part of my family."

Keith crossed his arms over his chest and snorted. "Things happen. Who knows what's going to happen before that time comes."

Pidge gazed at the Red Paladin. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that in case you haven't noticed it, we are in a war."

Lance sighed. "Stop being such a downer Keith and look on the bright side."

Keith shook his head. "Grow up."

"Oh, is somebody jealous?" Lance teased as he leaned toward Keith.

"No, I'm not jealous. I'm happy for Shiro and Adam. After everything he's been through, Shiro finally has a chance for happiness. But we have to be realistic here."

Allura stepped in between the two teens. "I do understand how both of you feel. I am also happy for them. But we need to get the Teladuv fixed. Who knows when Zarkon will find us again."

Hunk nodded. "Yeah, and I think it's time to make something to eat. So who wants to help me in the kitchen?"

Everyone suddenly had something else to do.

Hunk grinned. "Stops a fight every time." He chuckled as he headed for the kitchen.