"Members of the Crimson Retribution, this is Princess Allura of the Voltron Coalition. If you are hearing this, please respond."

The princess's shoulders slumped as static echoed throughout the main deck. Her disappointment made no logical sense given that the Crimson Retribution had ceased all communications with the Coalition following Lotor's trial, but she supposed somewhere deep inside her, she still held out hope that they could peacefully resolve their differences.

"Members of the Crimson Retribution, this is Princess Allura of the Voltron Coalition. If you are hearing this, please respond."

Again, only static answered her, so with disheartened resignation, Allura closed the radio channel and rose from her seat. Coran, who had up until that point been lingering hesitantly in the shadows near the set of double doors at the back of the room, chose then to quietly approach her, his melancholy eyes clashing with the smile stretched beneath his bushy mustache.

"I can handle the rest of this matter, Princess. You needn't trouble yourself any further-"

"No, it's alright, Coran. I'm more than capable of dealing with this." Placing a hand on his shoulder, Allura offered her advisor a weary but warm smile to avoid any misconception of her being cross with him before brushing past and heading out the door. Once she was out of his sight, however, her hands began wringing themselves of their own accord while her mind obsessed over exactly how she was going to break the news, predictable as it was. The halls and stairs leading from the bridge to the reconstructed lounge, a bittersweet herald to yet another victim of Lotor's destruction, could've stretched on as far as the distance from one end of the universe to the other and it still wouldn't have been a long enough time for Allura. Unfortunately, her destination was actually a mere three floors down behind the first door to her right, and she had hardly blinked before she found herself standing at the threshold.

Inside the room, Zethrid was already on her feet, pacing back and forth across the floor with balled fists and clenched teeth. Acxa, meanwhile, sat hunched forward on one of the sofas, eyes closed and brows pinched together while her chin rested atop her folded hands as though she were engrossed in a desperate prayer. At the swish of the door, their attention snapped to Allura, who wanted nothing more than to shrink back beneath their gazes. Her lungs burned, filling with suffocating tension rather than sweet air, and without their support, she couldn't utter a sound. She didn't need to speak, however; as though reading her mind, Acxa's head sank once more, weighed down by the disappointment and fear swirling around inside.

"They didn't answer."

Allura visibly flinched; the sting of the words was even worse coming from the lips of another. "They did not. I'm sorry-"

Snarling, Zethrid drove her fist into the nearest wall, a portion of which gave way beneath her strength with a dry crunch.

"Zethrid-"

"Don't start, Acxa! Ezor is missing, and after four quintents, we still have absolutely nothing! She could be anywhere by now, assuming she's even still…"

She couldn't bring herself to say it. They had already lost Narti; the thought of losing Ezor as well was just too much.

"We are still waiting to hear back from a few of the scouts we dispatched as well as from several Coalition representatives." Allura chirped with a somewhat weary smile, eager to lighten the stifling atmosphere of the room. "Surely one of them will know something-"

"Stop! Stop pretending like you care!" Suddenly, Allura found herself ensnared in Zethrid's scorching glare as the latter stalked towards her as a predator cornering its prey. "You could be hunting those Crimson Bastards down, but you're more concerned about stepping on people's toes than finding Ezor alive!"

"Zethrid, I understand you're worried, but without proof, we can't-"

"Proof?! We three stood up against Klara at the trial, and in the end, she didn't get her way. Next thing we know, Ezor is gone and the Crimson Retribution has disappeared into thin air! How is that not enough proof for you?!"

"That isn't hard evidence-"

Zethrid's fist made contact with the wall for the second time, creating yet another indent, before she made for the door. "Asking for your help was a mistake. I'm going to look for Ezor myself like I should've done in the first place."

Allura's feet were already carrying her after Zethrid's fleeting form when she was jerked to a halt by Acxa clasping her shoulder.

"Let her go. She needs to clear her head before she can realize that working with the Coalition is our best chance at finding Ezor." Slipping past the Altean, the general paused in the doorway momentarily before departing as well. "She isn't wrong though, princess. I understand that you are apprehensive of another war breaking out so soon, but you need to consider that the choice may have already been made by someone else."

Left alone in the lounge, Allura drew her arms around herself, her head bowed as her mind played Zethrid's accusations and Acxa's cold rebuke on loop. The war against the Galra Empire had cost so many so much. Entire planets had been destroyed, and thousands had been forced to don the roles of displaced refugees or vanquished subjects. Was it truly so wrong of her to waver at the prospect of more fighting and bloodshed when so many were still recovering from the Galra's treachery, assuming they ever truly could?

Nonetheless, there was one point upon which Allura could agree with Acxa, although the idea robbed the air from her lungs and the warmth from her body. It was very likely indeed that, for all her worrying, the choice had already been made for her by another, and she was helpless to stop what was to come.


Time was a most curious thing . Instead of ticks, dobashes, and vargas, Lotor now found himself measuring its passing by the rhythms of his body and the routine delivery of meals that were surprisingly palatable given his circumstances; he supposed he had Hank to thank for that. Even with these new increments, however, his world had begun to lose its shape and certainty, his body, mind, and soul slowly succumbing to limbo's sweet siren song as he sat in his cell of fortified glass, tethered to reality only by the steady thumping of his heart in his chest. His thoughts were his only company as all the other prisoners had been swept away to some other prison wing before they could be swayed by his charms, and though once a blessing in which he took great pride, his mind proved a baneful curse left unchecked. That was the whole point of his sentence though, was it not: to remove all distractions and isolate him in this dark dungeon where he would spend his days replaying his sins over and over again in his head without relief? Perhaps Klara's demands for his death hadn't been so cruel after all.

The acoustics were perhaps the only aspect of his new home which Lotor could truly appreciate as they gave him some insight into his surroundings. An Altean mouse could sneeze in the farthest corner of the room and he would still hear it as clearly as if the little creature were perched on his shoulder, and likewise, visitors' footsteps always heralded their arrival as Allura's did now, ensuring that no one would be able to get the jump on him from the start of his sentence until whenever his miserable life came to its end.

Inclining his head ever so slightly, he studied Allura's face as she drew as near as she dared, and his natural curiosity was roused from dormancy when he noticed a fierce frigidity had replaced the usual calmness of her sapphire eyes.

"Something has happened." Pleasantries were superfluous at this point; better to get straight to the point and not waste his air.

"You admit that you know something then?"

"All I know is what's written all over your face, Princess."

While the existence of spiteful undertones in his words was debatable, Allura could already feel her blood starting to boil. "Ezor hasn't been seen or heard from since your trial. Coincidentally enough, Klara and her confederates have also disappeared without a trace."

If she hadn't known what to look for, Allura would've entirely missed the little changes in his otherwise impassive expression which hinted at his true state of mind: the slight puckering of his lips, the faint wrinkling of his brow. Was Lotor actually perplexed? So focused was she on studying him that she did not notice him studying her in return, scrutinizing over her own involuntary mannerisms in hopes of deciphering what she was thinking.

"You are more than capable of piecing together such an obvious conclusion yourself, Allura. What do you need that only I can give you? We both know all too well that you wouldn't be down here if you could obtain what you desire from another source."

Even locked away behind a barrier of the strongest and thickest glass, he was still an unnerving foe, but Allura dug her heels into the floor beneath her, refusing to yield even an inch of her ground. "I need information. You are going to help me fix this by telling me everything you have on Klara."

A dry, sorry excuse of a chuckle puffed from Lotor's lips and the faintest traces of a smirk flickered along the corners of his lips before he thought wiser and suppressed his mild amusement; however, his reaction did not go unnoticed by the princess, her face darkening while the air around her rippled from the sizzling heat radiating from her skin.

"You're humored by this, are you? Tell me, what is so hilarious about your former friend losing her freedom because she stood up for you?"

The laugh had truthfully been a self-deprecating one, but Allura's already bountiful scorn for him rendered any defense on his part utterly ineffective and pointless. "I'm sorry, Princess, but I can be of no help to you. I knew Klara as she once was, not as she is now. If any remnant of her former self still lives, it is buried away deep within her where you have no hope of reaching it."

"You cannot know that for sure. If you have anything with even the smallest potential of being helpful to us, you need to tell it to me now!'

Another laugh puffed from Lotor's lips, this one more defined, curt, and actually aimed at Allura this time. "If you were truly willing to do anything, Princess, you wouldn't be down here talking to me; you would be out hunting Klara down until she has nowhere left to run. Do not toss around such an absolute so carelessly lest you find yourself someplace you really don't want to be."

"I didn't come here for a lecture, Lotor; I came to you for answers! If you have even an ounce of remorse for the things you've done, you will tell me whatever you know this instant instead of continuing to waste precious time!"

It may have been decaphoebs, but to Lotor, it still felt like little more than a movement ago that he had been quietly admiring Allura for her many queenly properties, including her determination. Even now as he found himself in the role of an obstruction marring her path, he could not bring himself to belittle her as obstinate or difficult but rather found he was still in awe of her tenacity. It didn't require much effort on his part to imagine how poorly Allura would react once she had the information she sought, but seeing as she would hold him in this deadlock until she got her way, his best option was to relent and cease pushing off the inevitable. What did it matter if Allura had one more reason to despise him?

"As you have likely observed yourself, Klara possesses a will of magnificent strength and resilience; she is not unlike you in that way, Princess. During our time together, I came to understand that direct attacks against her were a waste of effort as she found the strength to endure every trial thrust upon her. What brought her to her knees before me was not her own suffering but rather the persecution of those for whom she held herself responsible, those whose suffering was rooted in their ties to her. If you wish to subdue her, my humble experience suggests that striking the body instead of the head offers you the best chance of success."

Just as he expected, Allura's face was a bloom of abhorrence as she abruptly recoiled from him. It was as if she believed that she could flee beyond the reach of him and his heinous nature, thus preserving the perfect purity of her heart and head. However, his words had slithered beneath her defenses and made themselves at home in some dark corner of her being the moment they took flight from his lips, and whether or not she chose to heed their whisperings, there was no way for her to ever completely eradicate the idea from her mind now.

"I tried to warn you."

To say Allura was regretting her dismissal of Coran's offer was an understatement. It was all so much: Acxa's and Zethrid's poignant rebukes, Lotor's callous proposition, the looming threat of an enemy she still knew so little about. Perhaps she had gone somewhat soft since the end of the war for the escalating pressure was threatening to overwhelm her. She needed time and space to think, to sort through and make sense of everything that had been thrown at her within just the last few vargas without being scrutinized and nagged for answers she did not yet have.

"...Thank you for your honesty." Turning her back to him, she urged her feet to move but they remained planted where they were, tethered down by a force not entirely under her control. She had one last question, and though her heart begged her not to ask it, her curiosity promised to hold her there until it had been appeased. The last thing her already frayed wits needed was more information to process, but she had to know.

"I may not know everything that happened between you and Klara, but I would have to be a fool not to detect the traces of a scorned woman's wrath woven in with the other motives of her vendetta. Did you care for her as well or did you merely play along to make her more compliant?"

Lotor was completely silent, and when Allura glanced back at him, she noticed rueful sadness had dampened his eyes.

"Correct me if I am wrong, but based on all that I have heard, your relations with Klara went sour not long before you were declared a traitor by Zarkon and joined our ranks shortly thereafter, yes?"

"...Yes."

She didn't want to look at him, but she had to see his eyes to know if he was being truthful with her. "What was I to you then? Did you actually care for me or was I just an immediate source of relief and distraction for your battered heart?"

The long, retrospective pause that followed was eventually broken by the crackling of intercom static and the boom of Shiro's baritone bark.

"Paladins of Voltron, report to the bridge immediately. I repeat, Paladins of Voltron, report to the bridge immediately."

Allura did not move; she needed an answer.

"What was I to you?"

"...I do not know." It wasn't much of an answer, but it was the truth and all Lotor could give. "Perhaps that is for the better."

"How could that possibly be for the better?"

"If I don't know the answer, I can't hurt you with it."

"Just when I thought you could sink no lower." Through with wasting her time, Allura shook her head and stalked back the way from which she had come, leaving Lotor alone with his thoughts once more.


There was supposed to be a planet somewhere in front of them. However, as the IGF-Atlas emerged from its wormhole, it was greeted by expanses of inky darkness broken only by spatterings of stars. As far as they could tell, they were the only source of life for miles.

"This isn't Kythra."

"Gee, you don't say? And here we all were thinking the planet had turned itself invisible! You're a genius, Keith!"

"Lance, don't start." A quick survey of the many faces scattered across the bridge multiplied the sinking feeling in Shiro's gut by at least tenfold; no matter where he looked, he saw unsettling expressions of collective confusion worn by some of the most brilliant minds he had ever met. "Somebody figure out what just happened here! We've got pirates rampaging on Kythra without a care for who might get hurt and not a moment to lose!"

The air erupted with frantic chatter and digital chirping as technicians scurried about and clustered together around various stations of the ship's dashboard, each group silently pleading for their area of expertise not to be the source of the issue while also booting up their problem solving skills in the backs of their minds in case it was.

It was Iverson's voice that finally rang out above the rest of the noise. "All the ship's diagnostics are coming back normal. The coordinates system is being rebooted and the location will be reentered as an extra precaution."

"How long is that going to take?"

"Not long."

"Make it quicker."

"Um, I'm all for the whole turning-it-off-and-back-on-again method, but this seems like a pretty big malfunction for just some overloaded software." Hunk piped up, a few beads of sweat glinting on his brow. "Maybe you should run those diagnostics again just to be sure-"

"We don't have time. We can look into it further once the tribes of Kythra are safe again." Allura cut in sharply, her nerves still somewhat frayed from her visit with Lotor. "Make the jump as soon as you can, Commander."

"Readying the teladuv now."

In the blink of an eye, another portal had opened before them, the light and the darkness swirling together into a whirlpool of stardust. A resonant purr rumbled throughout the Atlas as it chugged forward, and a few of the less coordinated crew members locked their knees or grabbed onto the nearest anchored object for support when the ship gave a sharp lurch as it was sucked into the wormhole's maw.

"Paladins, get to your Lions and be ready to take off on my signal! Iverson, round up the MFE pilots; I want them on standby in case these pirates pack a particularly nasty punch!"

Lance, Keith, Allura, Pidge, and Hunk had hardly made it to the door before the wormhole spat the Atlas back out again, and an ominous hush fell once again as more empty space stretched out before them.

"Sir, the coordinates system malfunctioned again! The numbers are completely scrambled!"

Shiro's attention shifted over to the paladins who had all ceased in their tracks and were now staring at him expectantly, his gaze eventually settling on Allura in particular. The princess's abnormal agitation had not escaped his notice, and just a brief survey at her rigid face, clenched muscles, and hard eyes warned clear enough that she was on the verge of bursting if something was not done to alleviate the pressure swelling up inside her.

"Take the MFE pilots and go on ahead of us. Fixing whatever is wrong with the coordinates system is going to take some time, but the citizens of Kythra need help now. We'll call ahead if we're able to make the repairs in time to provide additional backup."

Without missing a beat, the paladins were off with Allura sprinting just a little faster than the rest as they made for the hangars. As they ventured beyond his line of sight, worried whispers nipped at Shiro's ears, but in an instance, he brushed them aside and returned his attention to the matter at hand, the matter that was his immediate responsibility to address.


Damaged buildings. Flashes from firing blasters. Clouds of disturbed sand. Angry shouts. Frightened screams. These were the sights and sounds the paladins and the MFE pilots were expecting to greet them as they descended upon Kythra's vast but still fairly humble capital, so when cheering rose to greet their ears from a large crowd gathered near the center of the city, they were confused to say the least.

"Um, I don't see any pirates. Do you guys see any pirates? Because I don't see any pirates." Hunk rambled nervously, having obviously convinced himself yet again that the threat would spring upon them from some unseen place and scare him half to death.

"MFE pilots, give us some aerial cover and keep your eyes peeled for any trouble. We're heading down." Keith felt stupid even as he gave the command; from what he could observe, the only ships in the area were their own. Still, there was no harm in being cautious, for just because the fight seemed to be over didn't mean the danger had truly passed.

Guiding their ships into a gradual dive, the paladins set down at the edge of the crowd, which they soon noticed had ceased in its revelry in order to stare back at them with less than pleased expressions.

"So they weren't cheering for us?" Lance frowned as he and the others descended from their ships, his voice sporting more notes of hurt and disappointment than confusion. "What's all the excitement about then?"

"We are rejoicing over our deliverance from our attackers by another when you, our protectors, left us to fend for ourselves." Some of the natives gracefully glided apart so their leader, a being towards the latter end of middle age with some of if not the largest fans of ear feathers out of the whole group. The aura of indignation radiating from the others seemed to conjoin within him, multiplying its potency more than tenfold so that even Allura in her state of heightened passion struggled with an innate urge to cower.

"We did no such thing," she retorted with a dash of heat while holding the Kythran's gaze. Her fury quelled somewhat, however, as Lance slipped closer to her and placed his hand on her shoulder, an understanding passing between them without a need for words. "Our main ship is experiencing some technical difficulties with its teladuv, so we had to fly all the way here ourselves."

"My people were under an attack which we could not withstand on our own, and we were relying on you to help us. Had the Crimson Retribution not intervened when they did, many of our most vulnerable surely would've-"

"The Crimson Retribution saved you?!" Allura cut in, pulling loose from Lance's grip as her ferocity reignited. "Are they still here?!"

"No, they took the pirates prisoner and left a short while ago."

"Did they say anything about where they were headed?!"

"No, they did not. Even if they had, I'm not sure that I would tell you. We owe them a great debt." Having apparently had his fill of Allura, the leader turned to Keith and stooped in a very shallow bow. "We thank you for coming all this way despite your technical difficulties, but the citizens of Kythra are no longer in need of your services for the time being."

"Fine then. We won't keep you from your festivities any longer." Spinning on her heel, Allura stormed in the direction of her lion without so much as a glance behind her to make sure her teammates were following. "We've already wasted more than enough time here. If we hurry, maybe we can pick up on the Retribution's trail before they vanish again. Let's move!"

Lance was the first to trail after her and was soon followed by the others, their shoulders sagging and their heads held low as their dragging feet kicked up sand around them.

"Why does it feel like we just got majorly played?" the usually spirited paladin mumbled with surprising melancholy.

Pidge was the one to answer him. "Because we did, Lance. I don't know how, but they played us and they played us good."