"Track that ship! Track it now!" Shiro ran through the doors to the bridge. Seconds passed before a blip appeared on the screen before him. Just moments before everyone had been walking back to the campsite calm despite the fact that Kiera had almost died along with the red lion resurfacing. Then there was yelling and screaming and then Galra appearing. No one had a chance to react before Kiera, Keith, and the red lion were surrounded. Moments later they were loaded on the Galra ship and that's when Shiro's legs decided to respond to his brain
"We still have a chance to catch them before they have a chance to jump through a wormhole." A young pilot exclaimed excitedly.
A rapid beep drew their attention back to the screen. The white dot that represented Kiera and Keith's location was flickering. It flickered several more times before the entire screen glitched and the dot was gone.
"What the hell happened?" Lance asked, coming up behind the group. Hunk and Pidge were right behind their interns gathering right behind them.
"Prepare the atlas for take off we need to catch them now." Shiro turned toward the group behind him, "former paladins meet me in the conference room. Interns please return to your rooms, except for Peyton. Peyton please join us in the conference room."
"This is so unfair," Hannah groaned. She was currently draped across her bed on her back like a teenager having a dramatic breakdown.
"Unfair?" Samantha asked, lowering her book in her hands. The only thing she found herself able to do. The younger interns had been in her care and it had gone to hell in a matter of minutes. "How's this unfair?"
Hannah rolled over onto her stomach. Her hair falling around her shoulders as she began to fiddle with the blanket. "Kiera and Peyton are more involved than we are." Hannah sighed, "I just want to be useful."
"Kiera is more involved than she wants to be. She's been captured by the Galra. What about that is fair? And Peyton has created an algorithm to locate the lions, which we will need in order to rescue Keith and Kiera." Samantha snapped, closing the book and dropping it onto the table beside her, "So if you can enlighten me on how that's unfair it would be gratefully appreciated."
By this time Hannah was sat up fully, her hands gripping the blanket beneath her. "It's not. I'm just wanting to help and instead we're sent to our rooms as if we're just kids. I'm more than old enough to help."
"And you can," Hunk said from the doorway, "Come on. We need you both in the conference room. We've located both the yellow and blue lions."
Samantha and Hannah both lept from where they were seated and into a light jog down the hall and into the conference room. Lucas wasn't far behind, joining the group a few minutes later.
He took a seat next to his twin and Shiro continued his explanation. The plan was that they would go together and security was going to be tight. They couldn't afford to lose another former paladin or intern.
"Hannah," Lucas whispered, drawing his sister's attention. He was more than surprised when her voice came from the other side of him. He turned toward her, eyes narrowing. He was just able to make out her white shirt.
"Lucas, could you not see me?" Hannah whispered back her hand, found his and she gave it a gentle squeeze.
Lucas dropped his head into his free hand. "I laid down for a few minutes because my head was hurting and when I woke up I could barely see three inches in front of my face."
"We need to tell the paladins!" Hannah whispered yelled at her brother. This had gone on long enough.
"No! They can't know!"
"Why not?"
"I-I they just can't!" Lucas replied. His hand pulled away from hers and he turned to face the table. "It'll get better. This is just the worst of it."
"Lucas…"
"Everything okay over there you two?" Lance asked. He had been watching the two converse, and it was clear there was something going on. Shiro broke off his sentence to listen as to what would be said. Those who had been listening turned to look at the two as well.
"Just a little sibling argument," Hannah replied laughing lightly. She smiled, "Please continue. We can continue this after." she finished kicking Lucas in the leg. He groaned and offered her a glare in return.
Shiro gave them a final look before turning to Lance who shook his head. "As I was saying we're going to get the yellow lion first. It can withstand more attacks then the blue lion should we come across anymore Galra."
The four remaining paladins were fitted with atlas uniforms. It wasn't a lot, but it was something to keep them protected. The former paladins stood a distance away huddled close together.
"Whatever happens in the next few days we must keep those interns alive." Shiro said, "No matter what. You. Keep. Them. Alive."
The others nodded. "This has turned complicated way too fast, and we can't put them through that." Hunk said.
"We may not have a choice. The red lion already chose Kiera to pilot her. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the other lions will do the same. Our time with the lions has passed. It's the next generation's turn now." Pidge offered to the group. The thoughts have been circling her head for a while now, it was this moment they decided to be voiced.
The words had surprised Shiro, but he knew she was right. Their time was done. "Then we do whatever we can to get them home. Alive."
Easier said than done.
The yellow lion was located on a planet not too far from them. It was covered in the rich golden hued sands. Uninhabited that anyone knew for sure. By the time they touched down Hannah was staring wide eyed out the window at an outcropping about a hundred yards from them.
"You hear it don't you?" Peyton asked her. "What does it sound like?"
"I-I-It's indescribable." Hannah replied. She then turned and ran for the outcropping followed by the others.
Pidge approached Peyton with a smile gracing her face, When we find the other lions you may be able to get that feeling for yourself."
Peyton nodded. He already understood that the lions choose their pilots. The thought that he might get to pilot one was overwhelming but exciting at the same time.
The yellow lion was more than ready to be flown. Hannah was a natural as she sent the lion in laps around the atlas rising whoops and hollers throughout the growing crowd of atlas crew members and former paladins. After a few more laps Hannah brought the lion down next to the atlas.
"Wow! That was exhilarating!" Hannah shouted as she ran to the others. "I don't get how you guys could ever leave that!"
"The lions knew that they were no longer needed." Pidge said. She was observing the mechanical lion with her arms crossed. It was as if no time had passed. That she was still the fifteen year old trekking across space in order to find her family.
A guard approached them. "We must keep moving, staying in one place for too long will give the Galra time to find us."
"Agreed." Shiro said, "Everyone back to the Atlas. Hannah there will be room in the hanger for the yellow lion."
"The blue lion's where?" Lance asked again.
"That can't be right." Pidge said. She then turned to Peyton, "Are you absolutely sure?"
Peyton glanced down at his tablet. His fingers danced across the screen as he ran the algorithm again. "Yes I'm ninety-five percent sure that this is correct."
"What about the other five percent?" Hunk inquired.
"There could be a slight possibility that when the Galaxy Garrison was studying the lions they could have recorded their energy signatures wrong. But that's highly unlikely since we've already found two of the lions with this algorithm."
"But it's still a possibility." Shiro stated.
"Yes," Peyton confirmed, "The Garrison is a place where not many things are shared, maybe they changed what the blue lion's signature was. The files are so small on the lions it's quite logical, they probably just wanted to gather more information on what the lions were exactly."
"Yes but-"
"Shiro! We need your help! It's about Lucas!" A nurse stood in the doorway a hand placed on the door frame holding the doors open. The concern on her features and her shaking voice quieted the room. Shiro slowly lowered the paper he was holding.
"Where's he at?" Shiro asked, "What happened?"
"He's in the infirmary. I'm-I'm not quite sure. He was found in a corridor curled up and mumbling."
"Lance and Hannah come with me." Shiro said, rising from his chair. "Pidge get this figured out. I'm trying to keep this battle away from innocent planets. I don't want to go to Earth if I don't have to."
"I told him. I told him. I told him. I told him." Hannah growled, her hands pressed against her face.
"Told him what?" Shiro turned to face her, stopping them from entering the infirmary, "What did you tell him?"
Hannah looked over to Lance who gave her the same inquiring look. This was it. This is when the truth came forward. "I told him to tell someone before he went completely blind. He refused! There was nothing I could do!" Hannah shouted after Shiro as he stormed through the infirmary doors. She ran after the two older paladins, shortly they stopped in front of a bed.
Lucas was lying atop the sheets looking straight up at the ceiling, his face blank. Dried tear tracks ran from the corners of his eyes toward his ears. "I thought I had more time. I thought-"
"You thought!" Shiro snapped, "Do you not realize how important it is for us to know these things! Especially now! We've already lost one intern and a paladin and now with the interns being the pilots of the new lions, how do you expect to fly one?!" Shiro sighed, running his flesh hand through his hair. "You're not to leave here! Not until further notice!" He then stormed from the infirmary.
Hannah approached her brother's side, placing her hand in his. New tears sprang from his eyes as he continued to stare blankly up at the ceiling. He gripped his sister's hand, "You told them. Didn't you?"
"I had no choice," Hannah replied.
"You were right to do so. I should've told them earlier." Lucas continued. He swallowed the saliva building in his mouth.
"Lucas," Lance started moving to his other side, "I'm going to do everything I can to help you figure this out. There's a technique that might be able to help you pilot the lion, but that's going to be no use to you until we can get you moving around the Atlas on your own."
Keith watched as another guard passed by their cell. The tiny slit in the door provided little to no visual which meant he couldn't see anything until it was right in front of the door. It had been years since he had seen the inside of a Galra cell and from what he was seeing now nothing had changed. It helped calm his nerves somewhat, and the intern...He glanced back at her. Kiera seemed to be doing okay.
She was currently squatted against the wall, her hands in her hair as she stared at the floor. Well she was doing better than when they were first placed in their cell. She had been hyperventilating and Keith had barely gotten her calmed down. If he hadn't she would've passed out, and who knows what the Galra could've done.
"Kiera," Keith called kneeling down in front of the intern, "Kiera I need you to look up at me. This is very important for you to know."
The girl's head lifted her eyes wide. Hesitantly here hands lowered from her head and she slid all the way to the floor.
This conversation was the last thing he wanted to have with Kiera. Her first time in space and she had already been captured by the Galra. He'd been in the same situation before, but unlike her he knew what was to come. "At any moment the guards could come in and take one of us."
Kiera let out what sounded like a cross between a cry and a scream. She began to push herself farther back into the cell wall as if she would somehow phase through the wall itself. "No. No. No. I-I can't-I can't-'' she hiccuped forcing her to stop talking. Tears streamed down her face dripping onto her Atlas uniform. Something that would do no good if she were to get into a battle.
Keith gripped her shoulders, "you have to! You have no choice! If you want to make it out of here you'll do whatever I say, got it?" When she let out a sob instead of an answer he shook her, "got it?" He growled again.
"Yes-Yes I do." Kiera whimpered. She was more than ready to go home. But from the intense look in Keith's eyes as he made sure she understood what was probably going to happen it made her think she wasn't going to make it home.