Author's Notes: Hey folks! Apologies for the delay; I was planning to have this out back in October, but a ""friend"" decided to be an ass to me about my writing and put me off in a bad way. However! Chapter's done, it's long, and we're in the home stretch with the fic.
It was just shy of two vargas after the Lions launched before the comms pinged, alerting for a call from the Black Paladin— the suit, specifically, not the Lion.
Not that Allura would have admitted to timing it so closely, if you'd asked her. Or to skulking around on the bridge, alone after Coran cleared out on some half-baked excuse, to wait for it. She bolted back to her feet from where she'd settled, cross-legged, on the floor of her command station, and tapped rapidly at the screen to accept the call.
"Are you all alright?" she asked without preamble.
Shiro, who she'd cut off to answer, chuckled, though he did look startled. Maybe she felt a little bad about that.
"We're fine, Allura," he said reassuringly. "We haven't even been in any fights yet."
"Except Sendak!" one of the other Paladins called from off-screen— by the voice she thought it might be Pidge. She was always the first to tattle.
"Of course he did," she muttered under her breath.
"C'mon, guys," Shiro said, turning away from the screen— which jostled as if he'd moved his arm— to reprimand the others. He turned back towards her with an apologetic look on his face and a wry little smile. "Sen hasn't been in any fights. We had a bit of a stand-off with the Olkari when we landed, but it's all been smoothed over. We're fine."
That nickname . Allura did her best not to scowl. "...Still," she said. "I hope he hasn't caused you too much trouble."
"It's alright, I promise," Shiro said. "He's been really helpful with planning our attack on the base here— which is why I called, actually."
"Yes?" Allura asked, bracing her hands on the podiums and leaning forward a little. Her heart had jumped in her chest.
Shiro gave a quick glance over his shoulder at something off-screen, then turned back towards her, flicking his white bangs out of his eyes. "The commander here has been using Olkari prisoners to build some kind of superweapon," he said quietly. "From the looks of it, it's based off the echo cubes, and it's almost finished. We need to get onto that base and stop him from bringing it online, and Voltron isn't going to be any help."
Allura did grimace at that one, taking a hand off the podium to pull it to her chest. "...Then what can we do?"
"We've got a plan to get into the base in person and deal with it," Shiro said, with another glance off-screen— his eyes flicked up, as if over her head, but from the angle of his shoulders she could tell he was seated and looking at something above him. She tried to control her face; there was no one he could be looking at but Sendak. The wretch. "...The thing is, though, this plan needs one more person than we have to pull it off, and Ryner— the leader of the Olkari here— can't spare anyone for this part. We need your help."
"I'll be right down," Allura said quickly, and relished the way Shiro's face lit up.
He opened his mouth to respond— and then glanced up at something off-screen again. A faint, muffled voice reached her over the Paladin suit's microphone, too low to be anyone but Sendak, and Allura scowled at the way Shiro's brow softened.
"Right, I'll ask," Shiro called back, then returned his attention to her. "Sendak wanted me to ask if you could bring something called a Daibazaali hookblade down for him? He says we have one in the armory."
"In the— why does he know what we have in our armory?" Allura yelped.
Shiro's face reddened. "...I took him in there last night, in case he wanted to spar with weapons," her Paladin confessed, and it took every ounce of willpower to keep from burying her face in her hands and groaning.
"...Ask me first, next time," she said.
"I will," Shiro said, though his blush was darkening. "...Sorry about that."
"Don't apologize, it's his fault for insisting," Allura said. "I'll see you in a few ticks."
She shut down the comms channel before Shiro could respond, then tilted her face back to the ceiling and groaned in exasperation. That damned Galra was going to be the death of her, prying into everything and roping poor Shiro into his mess.
Much as she wanted to fault Shiro for it, she couldn't, she thought, and turned to leave the bridge. Better a Black Paladin too compassionate, too lenient, than...well, what Zarkon had become. She would simply have to remind Shiro not to let Sendak cross so many lines in the future. After all, that was what had led them all to ruin last time— Zarkon had pressed, and her father—
She shook her head, clearing off the thoughts, and set off for the elevators practically at a run. She activated the comms on her wrist bracer as she did, calling Coran. It went to his inbox, as expected— he'd always been terrible about answering them— and she rolled her eyes and left a message.
"I'm heading down to Olkarion," she said. "The Paladins have asked for my assistance, and I'm going to help. Stay on the bridge, and please answer your comms if we need you." She hesitated for a moment, drawing a deep breath. "...I'll see you soon. I love you."
Allura shut off the comms as she reached the elevator, tapping at the control panel to key in the code for the training deck, and slouched against the wall as it lurched and began to descend. She shot a glare up at the ceiling— it was not supposed to move like that, she'd have to ask Coran to look into maintenance when she came back from Olkarion.
The stop, at least, was smooth, and she strode out onto the training deck's floor and made her way down past the main entrance to the door to the armory, letting herself in and prowling towards the back. She and Coran had shoved all the Galra weapons remaining on the Castle— and there were a number of them— into the far back, where they wouldn't have to look at them. No matter that the previous Paladins had all favored sparring with their bayards, they'd kept ordinary weapons shipside just in case.
In this instance, she supposed— with some reluctance— it might come in handy. She tapped the panel that would bring up the lights for the back section and folded her arms across her chest, glowering at the rack of weapons. Most of them were swords— alloyed steel, but still ordinary metal, rather than the hard-light weapons her people preferred— though one of Zarkon's great, cumbersome maces sat at the end of the rack, light glittering off one of the sharpened ridges on the head.
The hookblade sat next to it, and Allura turned her glare there instead. Nearly five feet of polished steel, the single edge honed and gleaming. The end of the blade, near the floor, turned up in a wicked spike at the tip— useful for punching through armor and fortifications alike. She'd watched Zarkon wield this blade with impunity, swinging it like it weighed nothing . Of course he'd trained Sendak in the use of such a brutal weapon, she thought, and reached out to take hold of the hilt.
Then she grimaced at the weight and flexed her forearms, shifting the muscles there— and up her arms, and into her back, drawing mass to reinforce and strengthen them— before she hefted the blade. It was far too long to be comfortable— the blade alone was most of her height, let alone the hilt— but she slung it over her shoulder regardless, resting the flat, heavy spine against her body. Then she reinforced her collarbone and spine as well, wincing.
"Stupid Galra and their stupid swords ," she muttered.
The trek down to the pod bay was, as a result, far longer than it would have been were she unencumbered. She slung the hookblade into the space behind the seat with a grunt and a clatter, then hoisted herself easily into the pilot's seat. A few quick taps at the control panel brought it online and opened the bay doors, a twist of her wrist had the pod lifting delicately from the floor and gliding out into open space. She turned the pod towards the wide, pale disc of Olkarion and began her descent.
The pod rattled as she breached the planet's atmosphere, tugging roughly at her controls, and Allura braced her arms to hold her course steady, teeth gritted. She'd forgotten how rocky a descent could be in a small craft, the way gravity roughly asserted itself over her again. The Castle was always much easier to bring down, she reflected, as the mountains rose beside her.
Within minutes she'd dropped low enough to skim just over the canopy, the mountains shielding her from view of the Galra base on the other side. The trees rolled beneath her, far off into the distance, and something like homesickness tugged at her chest. A moment later, there was a ripple in the branches up ahead— the Green Lion, emerging from the sea of leaves and hanging in the air. Her tail lashed, eye-lights focused on the pod.
The comms crackled, and Allura tapped the icon to open the channel. "Allura!" Pidge called, sounding delighted. "Hey! Glad you could make it!"
"I said I would, didn't I?" Allura asked, letting herself smile a little. "Now, where are we all meeting?"
"Just follow me down," Pidge said. "We're a bit outside the Olkari city here in the forest, but I don't think we'll be spending too long to brief or anything. Shiro's really itching to get going on the plan."
"It's that good, huh?" Allura muttered.
Pidge snorted. "It's got a lot of redundancies."
Allura chuckled at that herself as the canopy closed over their heads. Frankly, she hadn't been sure the Galra knew how to do that— they'd always been painfully straightforward, in her experience.
Within minutes they'd come to skim below the canopy, weaving through the trunks, until the broad back of the Black Lion came into view on the forest floor below. Green began a descent, and Allura dove after her, settling the pod down between the newly-landed Green and Yellow. There was a faint, comforting pressure at the back of her skull— one she'd begun to miss when Voltron had left the Castle. She opened the top of the pod, slinging herself out over the side, and remembered to grab the hookblade with some reluctance.
"I'm here!" she called.
"Allura!"
That was Shiro, waving to her from a seat atop Black's nose— the Lion sat with her chin resting on the ground, her Paladin perched atop— and Allura lit up before she caught sight of Sendak beside him and scowled again. An elderly Olkari stood beside him, clad in rust-and-cream robes and carrying a spear; this, she presumed, was the Ryner Shiro had spoken of. She trotted over despite her misgivings, sword slung over her shoulder.
"Hey, Allura!" Lance called. He'd been up on the Lion's brow beside Hunk and Keith, and all three scrambled down, nearly knocking Shiro off— the Black Paladin nudged them back, a grin on his face. Allura acknowledged him with a raised hand, and paused in front of Black's nose.
"Princess Allura," the Olkari said, inclining their head in greeting. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Your Paladins speak highly of you. I am Ryner, the matriarch of Cupressa."
"The pleasure is mine," Allura said, bowing her head in turn. "I am truly sorry for how long it has taken us to get here, how long your people suffered under Galra rule."
Sendak winced visibly at the dig, and smug satisfaction curled draconic behind her sternum. No more than he deserved.
"Not for much longer, thanks to you and to Voltron," Ryner said. "Come, join us."
Allura nodded, then paused and slung the hookblade off of her shoulder, dropping the curved head of the sword into the dirt. "Well?" she asked, eyeing Sendak challengingly. "You asked me for this, come take custody of your blade."
"And I appreciate it," Sendak said, and slipped down over the Lion's nose, boots landing almost soundlessly on the forest floor. Allura glowered at him. Stupid, feline thing. He padded over towards her, placing a hand on the pommel of the hookblade— far, far too close to her for comfort, but she couldn't back down now— and took the sword lightly in hand. "After all, it would be unnecessarily tedious to fight a horde of sentries unarmed."
Allura's jaw dropped before she could control herself, and she snapped it shut, trying to wipe the look off her face. " What are you talking about?"
Sendak smirked. "Come join us, and I'll tell you," he said smugly, and bounded back up onto the nose of the Lion.
Bastard.
With some reluctance, Allura scrambled up after him. She settled down, cross-legged, close to the nose as the Paladins settled down, and tried to ignore the twist in her guts as Shiro leaned his weight against one of Sendak's thighs.
"So what's the plan, then?" she asked.
Sendak nodded and lifted his left hand, the prosthetic, and flicked his wrist. A panel popped up on the inside of the wrist, projecting a hologram that was clearly the Galra base. He tapped something— an odd, blocky building— with his index finger, which lit up blue.
"If our intelligence is correct, General Branko has coerced or threatened Olkari prisoners into reconstructing their echo cubes as a weapon, and scaling them up to a potentially planet-shattering scope," Sendak said. "Our primary objective, therefore, is the sabotage or outright destruction of his superweapon. The Green Lion, utilizing the cloaking mechanism, will drop two strike teams into the base, evading their ground-based defenses entirely." The outer wall lit up as he said it, flashing on spires at the ends— turrets, she supposed.
"The first team, under Shiro, will enter through an aperture in the roof here." Sendak's finger tapped the top of the tallest spire, which lit blue. "Their target is Branko's command center—" a block on the side facing the cube lit, about halfway up the building— "where their goal is to either hack in long enough to allow Pidge to sabotage the controls for the cube, or failing that to render the control room inoperable. This buys additional time for the second team, under myself, to liberate the prison barracks and lead the captive Olkari to sabotage the cube directly."
Allura scowled. "And why are you on a liberation mission? Shouldn't you be leading the first strike team?"
"We've already thought about that," Shiro said. He also looked irritated, but his brows pinched in... concern as he glanced up at Sendak.
Sendak nodded. "As a known traitor, my biosignature will have been delisted from any secure systems at best , and will initiate a base-wide lockdown protocol and blow our entire operation at worst, if I try to access the command center. Shiro's prosthetic, on the other hand, likely has a druidic override protocol, and therefore can't be locked out— much as I can't be locked out of any system that only requires a Galra biosignature to operate."
He looked far too smug about that. Allura wanted to punch him.
"Which is why we need you," Shiro said, looking back up at her. "Look, I know you and Sendak don't get along, but you're our best shot at freeing the Olkari."
"Why can't the other Paladins go with him?" Allura asked, shooting them all a peevish look.
Only Lance had the decency to look shamefaced.
"I'm supposed to be hacking the control room and providing a getaway vehicle if anything goes wrong," Pidge said.
"Yeah, and because Yellow and I have the best armor, I'm working with Ryner and the Olkari to distract the troops and thin their defenses outside the wall," Hunk said.
"Lance and I are supposed to be going with Shiro to cover for him," Keith said.
"Please, Allura," Shiro said. "It's just for this one mission, and I'll never send you two out together again, I promise ."
Allura groaned in frustration and buried her face in her hands a moment. "... Fine ," she muttered. "But I'm not saving you if you get into trouble."
"As if I need your protection ," Sendak sneered back.
"Alright, you two," Shiro said, backhanding Sendak lightly in the shoulder. "Sen. Behave . No unnecessary fights, you hear me?"
"Yes, sir ," Sendak purred back, and Shiro swatted him again.
Ryner pushed herself back to her feet. "The Olkari are ready. We'll wait, and begin our attack at the Yellow Lion's signal."
"Thank you, Ryner," Shiro said, smiling up at her. "We couldn't do this without you."
"Nor we without you," Ryner answered. She inclined her head to Allura, then slipped down off the Lion's nose— surprisingly limber, for one of her age— and vanished into the forest without another word.
Shiro clapped his hands together, then pushed himself to his feet. "Alright, gang," he said. "Hunk, you and Yellow get ready. We'll let you know when we're in position and ready for you to draw their attention."
"On it!" Hunk said brightly, standing. "I won't let you down, Shiro."
"I know. You've got this," Shiro said, and clapped him on the shoulder.
"Remember to aim at the bases of the turrets," Sendak said. "They're top-heavy, and a well-placed strike will topple them and force them to send out the sentries."
"Gotcha," Hunk said. He scrambled down as well, hustling for his Lion.
Shiro reached down, offering Allura a hand; she took it, letting him pull her to her feet. The others were standing as well— Keith and Lance shoving lightly at each other's shoulders, Pidge just hopping down off the nose instead of getting up, Sendak rising in one sinuous move to tower over them all. The Galra flicked his wrist, deactivating the hologram, and hefted the hookblade again.
Allura cursed him internally for making it look so easy.
They made their way back over to the Green Lion, settling into the chest bay in their teams— Shiro, Keith, and Lance clustered on one side of the bay doors in the bottom, Allura carefully avoiding Sendak on the other. She checked the hip storage in her armor— her staff was stowed, as she thought— and sat down to wait. The Lion stirred around them, a rumble of her familiar consciousness, then shifted as she took flight.
"Alright, Pidge," Shiro said. "Remember, once we get over those mountains, the cloak goes up. You'll drop me, Keith, and Lance first, then get as close to the barracks for Sendak and Allura as possible."
"It doesn't matter if we aren't right on top of it," Sendak chimed in. "I remember the layout of the base, as long as we're within a five-dobosh walk I can get us there without issue."
"Got it," Pidge said. There was a pause, and then she added, "I'm activating the cloak now. Our ETA is three doboshes."
"...ETA?" Allura asked.
"Estimated time of arrival," Keith said flatly. "It's military slang back on Earth."
"...Right," Allura said.
Three doboshes took at once entirely too much time and hardly any at all. The bay doors opened beneath them, granting Allura a look down— and down, and down, into the pitch-dark depths of the hole in the roof of the tower below. The rest of the base spread out to either side, shining white-green and grey-magenta in near equal measures.
"We're in position," Pidge said.
"We're good to go," Shiro replied. "Dropping now."
"Right, Shiro," Sendak said, leaning forward. "If you see General Branko, tell him Commander Sendak sends his regards, and then hit him ."
"Got it," Shiro said, grinning back.
"Catch you on the other side, Allura," Lance said, winked, then jumped out of the bay doors. Shiro and Keith dropped after him, and the doors hissed shut.
Allura waited a full tick before pulling a disgusted face.
Sendak snorted. "I do pity you for his attentions," he said dryly.
Allura rolled her eyes at him as well. "If he knew when to quit I might find it flattering."
"If he doesn't know when to quit, it isn't flattery," Sendak retorted.
"Alright, guys," Pidge said. "We're about as low as I can get us, but it's still a bit of a drop. Are you ready?"
"Yes," Allura said, and stood. The bay doors were beginning to hiss, sliding open into the walls.
"We're ready," Sendak said.
They were skimming close to a rooftop— a broad, flat expanse of deep grey metal beneath them. Sendak launched himself through the bay doors without another word, and Allura yelped and hurled herself after him.
She slammed down hard on the roof, impact radiating up through her legs as the metal crumpled beneath her. Sendak was already back on his feet, hookblade slung over one shoulder. He skirted forward, peering over the edge, then waved her over.
"The prison barracks are just ahead," he said, pointing to a smaller, less well-maintained building further up— closer to the looming black bulk she now recognized as the weaponized echo cube. "In fifteen ticks a patrol of sentries will pass beneath us, head up to that avenue—" she followed his pointing finger— "and turn south, away from the barracks. We'll make our move then."
"What's the plan once we get there?" she asked.
"I'll open the barracks and clear a path up to the cube for us," Sendak said. "You're in charge of persuading the Olkari to come with, and to help break down the cube. I doubt either of us will be able to put a scratch in it as we are."
"And...what if they won't help?" Allura asked. "What's your great plan then ?"
"I suppose our options are to see if Pidge can bring in some of Ryner's people, or to hope Branko was fool enough not to have a backup for his controls on his cruiser, and that Shiro and the others are successful." Sendak's ears were twitching, and Allura couldn't help but smirk.
"What, you were just expecting them to bend over backwards for you, like everyone does for Galra?" she asked snidely.
Sendak huffed, ears flicking dismissively. "No, I was expecting them to bend over backwards for you . That is what your people's empire was founded on, isn't it?"
Allura's jaw dropped again, and she made an indignant sound in the back of her throat— but before she could say anything, the tramp of marching feet echoed off the walls below. Sendak put a finger to his lips, hushing her, and leaned out to peer over the edge again. Allura leaned out after him. A quintet of sentries moved through the street below, their mechanized steps ringing hollowly between the metal buildings, and as she watched they made their way up to the corner Sendak had indicated and turned.
The moment they were out of sight, Sendak slung himself casually off the roof and dropped to the ground— twenty feet below. Allura couldn't even hear the impact of his boots, though she imagined there must have been one. She hissed a curse under her breath and scrambled down after him.
" You !" she hissed, jabbing a finger at him even as she hurried to keep pace with his longer stride. "My people weren't— how could you know anything about Altea?! You're ten millennia too young!"
"I was Zarkon's apprentice, remember," Sendak said dryly. "Once you got him started, he had ten millennia worth of complaining to do."
"You know you can't trust anything he says," Allura muttered.
"His assessment seems accurate from where I'm standing," Sendak muttered back. He paused briefly at the avenue where the sentries had turned, putting a hand out to block her as he peered around the corner, then nodded and continued. "I'm just hopeful his assessment of Altean martial prowess is as accurate as the one on temperament."
Allura gaped at him, unsure if she should start yelling or just hit him. Sendak came to a stop before she could decide, however, standing outside the door to the prison barracks. The lock mechanism on the door was large, complex, and— external, very clearly linked exclusively to the red access panel beside it.
"Alright. I'll open the door, but after that, it's in both of our best interests that I keep as far from the Olkari as possible," Sendak said. "The less contact they have with me, and I with them, the better off all of us will be."
"Coward," Allura huffed.
"Think of it this way," Sendak said, offering her a fanged smile. "I'm making your job easier."
He put his right hand out and leaned sideways, palm landing precisely on the access panel. It flashed pink, and the lock on the door began to whir. Sendak smirked at her as first one bolt, then two, then three ratcheted back into place.
"When all of this is over, I'm going to hit you," Allura snapped as the door at last hissed open.
"Be my guest," Sendak said, and straightened. "You shouldn't see any patrols through here for the next fifteen doboshes, but after that you'll have another coming up from the east. Make sure you're headed towards the cube by then, and I'll make sure you have clear access to it. Comm me if anything goes wrong."
He took a step back from the door, then turned, darting up the street in the direction of the cube. Allura waited until he'd turned a corner and vanished from view, then straightened, squaring her shoulders and taking a deep breath. She'd done this before. Hopefully, this would be easier than the Balmera had been.
Then she stepped in through the darkened door, into the dim, green-lit space beyond. She blinked, let her pupils restructure themselves to take in more light, blinked again to a brighter space. She stood in the middle of a long hallway lined with doors, which hissed open one after another after another. An Olkari peered out of the first one, arms held close to their body fretfully, followed by a second head peeking out behind them. And then another, and another, all painfully thin and clad in ragged black bodysuits. Her heart clenched.
"Please, don't be frightened," she said gently, stepping forward and spreading her hands. "I am Princess Allura of Altea, leader of Voltron." The whispers started, hands clasping shoulders and luminous eyes darting about. "We've come to free your people from these Galra invaders, and take back your home."
"We thought Voltron was a legend," a voice called from the back of the crowd.
"But Altea ?" another voice asked. Several others rose, a hubbub rising towards a clamor.
Allura put her hands up. " Please , there's little time," she said. "Ryner will be leading your people from the forest soon, working in tandem with the Lions of Voltron— but in the meantime, we need your help. We know the commander here has forced you all to build him a superweapon—" She was cut off by a din of furious voices, every Olkari shouting at once, and raised her voice above them. "—And we ask you now to help us destroy it, so it may never be used to threaten your people!"
A cheer rose, starting from the back of the group and rolling forward like a wave, Olkari thrusting their hands towards the ceiling.
"Wait!" another voice called. An Olkari pushed their way towards the front— one of the older ones, if Allura had to guess. "Wait, Princess! The Galra have King Lubos, our leader— if we fight back, they'll kill him."
Allura balked a moment, jaw dropping, then took a deep breath and opened her comms channel.
Immediately she heard Pidge say, over the line, "—Security is way beefier here than at the hub."
"But can you get through it?" Shiro asked.
"Shiro," Allura said.
She heard her Paladin catch his breath. "Allura? Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm alright," she said. "We've gotten into the prison, but— the Olkari here are worried about their king, Lubos. Do you think you can get him out, while you're in the command center?"
"...I am detecting Olkari biorhythms a few floors down from you, Shiro," Pidge said.
"...We can try," Shiro said.
"It could be a trap," a new voice chimed in— that was Sendak, sounding slightly out of breath. "Proceed with caution, Shiro. Princess Allura, I have the gates to the cube cleared, but you have a patrol headed your way in seven doboshes. Hurry up."
"I am trying to win people's cooperation through kindness, not force," Allura retorted, then turned back to the Olkari. "The Black Paladin is inside their command center at this very moment. If anyone can rescue your king from the Galra, it is him. Now, will you stand with me?"
There was a pause, and Allura's stomach lurched.
Then the older Olkari punched the air. "For Lubos!" they cried.
The others echoed it back, fists raised, and the tide rolled towards her from both directions. Allura retreated for the door, leading the Olkari prisoners out into warm golden sunlight— and then further, sweeping down the street like a wave. Within ticks, the gate to the cube's courtyard rose ahead of them—
Well, one gate. The other half lay shattered on the ground, surrounded by ruined sentries. Allura spotted Sendak, a bright figure in his orange armor, perched atop the remaining gate— a bare tick before the Olkari behind her did. She heard the gasps, turned around as they began to retreat.
"It's alright," she said, raising her hands in a placating gesture. "He's not with them. He works for us now."
"Leave it be, Princess," Sendak called from behind her. "Your coast is clear, but I can see the next patrol." There was a resounding crunch, and the Olkari quailed.
Allura sighed and turned back towards Sendak, who had leapt from the gate— and, judging by the twitching and sparks, stomped directly on a sentry as he did— and had begun pacing towards her. The hookblade was slung over his left shoulder.
"Can you stop being an unholy terror for five ticks?" she demanded.
"No," Sendak said. "Get them inside the gates. The next patrol is coming , and if the sentries catch your charges in the open, they'll be slaughtered."
Another round of gasps from the Olkari. Allura sighed and strode towards Sendak, grabbing him by his arm and shoving him towards the other side of the street, away from them.
"Go deal with it. I'll handle this," she hissed.
"My pleasure," Sendak retorted, then darted past her— weaving around the crowd of Olkari and hurtling past them towards something — the patrol of sentries, halfway down the street. The Olkari edged away from him, then turned, flooding past her and through the gate.
Somewhere in the complex, an alarm began to blare.
"... Quiznak ," Allura muttered, and opened her comms again.
"—Signal, Hunk," Shiro was saying.
"On it," Hunk replied. "I'll let Ryner know."
"Good," Shiro said. "Pidge, how's that firewall looking?"
"I've almost got it. Working on a loophole now," Pidge answered.
"Shiro," Allura said.
"Allura," Shiro replied. "You guys alright down there?"
"We're alright," Allura said. "Sendak got the gate open, and the Olkari are inside. He's providing cover for us."
"Good, good," Shiro said. "Keep in touch, let us know if you need help. I can send Keith and Lance down if you start getting overwhelmed."
"I will," Allura said, trying not to let her disappointment bleed into her tone. She'd much rather have had Shiro, if things went wrong, but there was nothing to be done.
She shut her comms off as the last of the Olkari filtered through the gate, and spared only a glance down the street towards Sendak— long enough to watch a sentry go flying— before she turned and ducked through the gate herself.
Inside, the Olkari swarmed around the cube, hands pressed to the massive black face of the cube. Green light rippled across it like light on water. The air filled with a faint droning. She caught sight of the elder Olkari who had caught her earlier, directing some of the younger ones as they split off into groups, and hurried over to them.
"Do you think you can take it down?" she asked.
The Olkari turned to look up at her, waving a hand to dismiss the younger ones— who darted off around the far corner of the cube. "Yes, we can," they said. "But it will take us some time— there are failsafes worked into its design, and if we are not careful dismantling them, it will blow up— or, worse, activate the cube. Can your Galra —" their tone turned disdainful— "buy us the time we need?"
"He's not mine , the Black Paladin thinks he can control him," Allura said dryly. "But we'll hold the gate as long as you need us to."
The Olkari nodded. "See to it that he does," they said curtly, then turned from her, directing the others in their work.
Allura nodded and turned, making her way back to the open gate. The street had emptied again— the sentries were a heap of so much scrap in the middle of the broad avenue, though there were dark streaks on the pale metal walls of buildings from their blasters. Sendak was picking his way back towards her through the wreckage of the half of the gate he'd torn down, the hookblade slung over his shoulder. He glanced up at the sound of her footsteps, then nodded.
"Well?" she asked.
"They're down," he said. "Before the next wave gets here, though, we should discuss our strategy."
"So what are you thinking?" Allura asked, crossing her arms.
"What are you armed with?" Sendak shot back. "And don't say 'nothing', because I will kill you if you came down into an active combat zone without a weapon."
"I am armed!" Allura protested, and held her right hand out. Her staff materialized, and she spun it emphatically, glowering back at Sendak.
" Good ," Sendak said. "Anything else?"
"...No, just that," Allura said. Sendak arched a brow, his ears tilting skeptically, and she felt heat rush to her face. "What? I didn't expect street fighting !"
"Next wave, we're getting you a blaster," Sendak said. "Stay back here, and if anything gets past me, pummel it into the dirt."
"I can—" Allura started, then slammed the butt of her staff against the ground. "You don't need to act like you're protecting me!"
"Then start acting like you're prepared for this!" Sendak snapped back, and stalked towards her, glowering down. Allura glared back, stretching herself taller to keep from having to tilt her head back. "Have you ever been in a fight like this before, Princess?"
Allura sighed, her shoulders lowering slightly. "...No," she admitted, and lowered her eyes.
"...Then let me take the lead," Sendak said quietly. "I've been doing this for sixty cycles. Trust my experience, even if you won't trust me ."
"...I still don't like it," Allura muttered.
"Tough shit," Sendak said gently, and then— clapped her on the shoulder. Allura jumped and looked up at him again; his expression had softened, ears lowering and tilting towards her. "I have a feeling Coran would be angry with me if I let you get shot."
"...You...may be right," Allura admitted, then chuckled. "He's so overprotective sometimes."
"I might understand, given the circumstances," Sendak said, a smile flickering across his face. He sobered then, ears twitching, then shot another look down the road— Allura followed his gaze. Nothing. No sign of movement as far as she could see. "...Even without the alarm, the next patrol should be here by now."
"There's nothing there," Allura said, glancing up at Sendak.
"That's what—" he started.
The comms buzzed, and Allura jumped, reaching to activate them. Green's code. Allura's stomach flipped. Sendak had jolted as well, but she took her eyes off him, glancing skyward— Green should have been up there somewhere, cloaked.
"What is it, Pidge?" she asked.
"Trouble," the Paladin answered. She sounded out of breath. "We got through the firewall and took down the controls for the cube, but it seems like this Branko guy has a second control room elsewhere in the compound on a separate system, so I couldn't shut off the sentries—"
" Fuck ," Sendak muttered. Allura glanced back at him— his ears had gone flat.
Another crackle over the comms— Hunk cutting in. "Uh, Pidge, I might need backup— I tried to take down the turrets, but—"
Something rumbled, the ground beneath them trembling. Allura staggered, caught Sendak's breastplate before she could fall. A massive clawed hand clamped over her shoulder as something huge, dark, and diamond-shaped shot upwards into the eastern sky.
"Void take him," Sendak hissed above her. "Are those turrets—"
"Moving autonomously, yeah," Hunk said. Yellow rocketed into view, careening around the airborne shape as a second shot up to join it. The first flashed magenta around the central vertices— Yellow barely evaded a laser blast. "I'm gonna try and keep them away from Ryner and the Olkari, but there's no way I can—"
"Pidge, we need an extraction, now !" Allura shot a glance up at Sendak— that was Keith's voice cutting in over the comms. "We tried to get to that Lubos guy, but we're pinned down in one of the hallways—"
Inside of the gates, someone screamed . Sendak's grip on her shoulder tightened momentarily. Allura shut off the comms and bolted back through the ruined gates, Sendak's footsteps pounding a pace or two behind.
Another scream rang out as they passed the threshold, and Allura skidded to a halt. A door had opened in one of the walls— a small one, perhaps large enough for two to pass abreast— and sentries swarmed through it, firing indiscriminately into the crowd of Olkari around the cube. Some of them raised shields of the metal flooring, but she could already see the bolts melting through them.
Behind her, Sendak roared . Allura jumped, clutching her staff. The Galra raced past her, leaping clear over one of the shield-walls— the Olkari behind it cowered— and slammed full-tilt into the crowd of sentries, hookblade cutting a swathe through them.
"Oh, you bastard ," she muttered under her breath.
Then she shouted a war cry of her own, weaving into the fray. The first shock of staff on steel rang up her forearms, and Allura hissed and reinforced the bones before aiming another strike at the less-protected abdomen, knocking the first sentry flying. Hitting a real, metal drone was nothing like the gladiator, nothing like a flesh-and-blood opponent. A blaster bolt whizzed over her head. She ducked, slammed the butt of the staff through a faceplate with a sizzling crack. The second sentry went down. She darted around another shield-wall, knocking sentries every which way.
A flicker of movement on her right. She ducked— a hard-light bayonet passed through the place where her head had been. Spun the staff. Shock up her arm. Swatted the blaster out of its hands, then dropped. Her shin connected with the back of its leg, toppling the sentry. Something crunched. She scrambled back to her feet and parried another slash, and—
Sendak bellowed behind her, and she risked a glance over her shoulder. The Galra staggered back a pace towards her. His right pauldron smoked— he'd caught a bolt with it. A flash of light— a glowing violet shield sprang up from his prosthetic forearm, blocking two more shots. Allura turned away, toppling a sentry that had lunged for her while she'd been distracted. Her next strike sent it flying, toppling the three behind it. She whirled, dodging around another shield-wall.
Three more strikes brought her shoulder-to-shoulder with Sendak. The Galra flashed her a toothy grin and opened his left hand again, then snapped the fist closed. The kite-shaped shield rippled, expanded— Allura had seen the rectangular tower shield in action twice before, but the metal ones the Galra had used in her youth, not a hard-light construct. The sentries on the other side seemed to waver through the violet glow.
"We push back towards the door," Sendak growled. "Fucking service entrance. Wasn't on the map."
"We'll worry about it later," Allura said.
She lunged around the edge of the shield, striking a blow that staved in a faceplate. Three shots slammed into the shield and dispersed with a ripple. Sendak snarled and drove a step forward, shield moving to cover her better. His hookblade scythed through a trio of sentries. More blaster bolts from the back of the crowd, most flying off overhead. The shield held.
They pushed back further, alternating lunges around the shield, until at last the final sentry dropped. The service entrance sat open, but no more sentries passed through it. Allura heaved a relieved sigh and lowered her staff, resting the butt on the ground. Sendak shook his left arm, the shield dispersing in a whirl of sparks, and stalked forward, slamming his hand against the access panel with a growl. The door slid closed.
Allura turned at that, looking back towards the crowd of Olkari— already a number of the younger ones swarmed the cube again, the elders emerging from behind the shield-walls. Many of them had taken up blasters from the fallen sentries.
"Are you all alright?" she called.
"We are alright," the leader said, emerging from behind one of the shields. "We didn't expect them to use the side entrance."
"My apologies," Sendak called. "If I'd known this was here, we would have set guard on it."
The Olkari scowled at him, but turned back to Allura. "Are you alright, Your Highness?"
"We're fine, thank you," Allura said. She hesitated, casting a worried look at the broken gates, then looked back at Sendak—
—Whose eye had gone wide, as he gazed off at nothing, one ear tilted as if listening to something. Allura opened the comms.
"—Going to have to hold them off until we can get to the Lions," Shiro was saying over the comms. "Do you think you can do that, Pidge?"
"Looks like I'm gonna have to," Pidge answered.
"What's happening?" Allura asked.
"Hunk gave us an extraction," Shiro said. "He's flying us back to the other Lions now, I think we'll need all five to handle these mobile turrets. Pidge is going to engage them until we get back."
"We have another problem in the meantime, though," Pidge cut in. "I managed to track Branko's secondary control room— he's in a bunker under the base, directing the sentries from there, and he has a ton of them. Someone needs to get down there and bust it up before they manage to force Ryner's group back out of the city."
The words had begun to echo out of somewhere else— Sendak's right bracer had lit up— halfway through her speech. The Olkari murmured from behind her— overlapping voices asking after Ryner, clarifying if she was coming— and Sendak caught Allura's gaze.
"...I can handle Branko," Sendak said. "Princess, if you wouldn't mind staying here to—"
"You really think I'm going to let you meet up with another Galra commander without anyone watching you?" Allura snapped. Sendak's ears flattened.
"Your Highness," the lead Olkari said from behind her. Allura turned back towards them. A group, far on the other side, had moved back towards the ruined gates; the broken pieces were beginning to lift and mold back into shape. "If the two of you take the service entrance, we can close it off behind you. We have their blasters now. We can hold out long enough to deconstruct the cube."
"Are you certain?" Allura asked.
"It may be our best option," Shiro said over the comms. "Ryner and her group should reach your location in about twenty doboshes, if they don't get overrun."
"I'm sending you two an updated map of the base now," Pidge said. "Branko's control room is marked in red, and I've got the fastest route mapped out for you."
Allura's own bracer pinged, alerting her to an upload from one of the Paladins. She glanced back at Sendak, who eyed her in turn.
"Well?" he asked quietly.
Allura hesitated, then turned back to the Olkari. "Do you think you can hold them off long enough?"
"If we fail, they bring the cube online," the lead Olkari said. "And if the Galra aren't stopped—"
"Then we'll inevitably be overrun regardless," Sendak said. "Branko has thousands of sentries, and you and I are mere mortals."
There was, Allura thought, a note of irony in his tone.
She sighed quietly, then squared her shoulders and turned back to Sendak, to the service entrance. "We'll go, and put an end to this," she said firmly.
Sendak smiled at her, baring shining white fangs. "Excellent."
Then he turned, placing his palm against the access panel again. It flashed, red light bleeding out around his palm. The door hissed open, and Allura swallowed, an anxious gulf in her stomach yawning in answer to the dark hallway beyond. She could see the dim violet lighting Galra favored shedding faint illumination on the dark walls and floors. She glanced up at Sendak, who nodded, then hiked his hookblade more comfortably onto his shoulder and strode into the darkness.
Allura followed him to the doorway, then paused, looking back at the Olkari. The gate was upright, the cube humming as green ripples spread across its surface, light shining along lines and cracks. She met the gaze of the elder and bowed her head.
"Thank you, for everything," she said.
"Be safe, Your Highness," the Olkari answered. "Do not let that Galra catch you off-guard."
"I won't," Allura said, nodding again.
Then she spun on her heel and hurried after Sendak into the hallway, letting the service door hiss shut behind her.
The inside was darker than it had appeared from the outside, sloping downwards into deeper darkness, and Allura paused just a moment, adjusting her eyes again— pupils blown wider, a reflective layer across the retina— and blinked, readjusting to the space. Sendak was waiting for her just up the hall, watching her, and his ears flicked more upright as she moved to catch up with him.
"So what's our plan?" Allura asked.
Sendak flicked his prosthetic wrist, popping up the map again. This was the new one— several underground bays and hangars had been added, and a bright green path leading from the courtyard with the cube to one directly beneath the command tower. Allura snorted.
"Not very good at removing his secondary control room from his main center of command, is he?" she asked.
"Well, this is the general who failed to fully conquer a planet in the sixty cycles he's been stationed here," Sendak said dryly. "Anyhow. I'll take point— until we reach this intersection here —" a tap at a crossroads further up the hall— "we won't have to worry about anyone catching us from the rear, though once we're past there we'll be a little more open to attack. Once we get to the control room, though…"
He trailed off, ears lowering slightly.
"...What is it?" Allura asked.
"...He'll have sentries, but they won't be an issue," Sendak said, and shook his head gently. "However, our main goal isn't actually Branko or the sentries— it's shutting down his control room. I can provide cover for you to get it offline." He paused, ears flattening, and flashed teeth. "...And I'll admit, I'm eager to get my hands on Branko."
"Oh?" she asked, glancing up at him.
Sendak shot her a look. "...Suffice to say that when a commander makes your life a hell for five cycles, it often leaves you with a desire to throttle him."
He set off down the hall at that, and Allura had to trot to keep up with him— ancients curse him and his long legs. Not that he seemed especially inclined to actually slow down for her either. She shot him a dirty look out of the corner of her eye.
Was this how her father had felt in his youth, keeping pace with Zarkon's even longer stride?
The thought rose a lump in her throat she struggled to swallow around. Her father had promised her, when she was young, that someday all he had worked for— the peace, the alliance he and the other Paladins had fought so hard to attain— would all be given over to her, that she would bear their legacy into the future. The one time he'd said it in Zarkon's presence, he'd slapped the Emperor on the shoulder and asked when he intended to produce an heir himself to assist her, and Zarkon had thrown his head back and laughed.
As if they hadn't fought on and off for half her adolescence. As if there had never been any rift at all. Her father had joined in, and Blaytz— Blue's old pilot, who insisted he was her favorite uncle— had made a raunchy comment from the far end of the room, and Zarkon had thrown something at him and the Paladins had descended into good-spirited arguing while her father shepherded both of them backwards to remove her from the fray.
She glanced up at Sendak again, at his scarred, serious profile. Her heart felt bruised under her ribs. There was no way to ask her father, now, what he might have thought of the chain of events that led her to this.
Sendak put his arm out, and Allura balked— they'd come to the crossroads marked on the map. He poked his head out, glancing back and forth, and Allura strained her ears to listen for the tramp of sentry feet.
Nothing.
"...Aren't there supposed to be patrols?" she asked.
"They must all be on the surface," Sendak replied, his voice low. "Still, we should—"
Something overhead roared , and the entire hallway shuddered. Allura staggered sideways, slamming into Sendak's ribcage as the floor beneath them heaved and juddered, then settled again.
"What was that ?" she gasped. Another quake knocked them staggering again. Sendak's hand clamped onto her shoulder.
"Felt like an impact," Sendak hissed back.
Allura felt the blood drain from her face to puddle somewhere near her feet. She fumbled instantly for her bracelet, opening the comms to silence.
"Paladins, are you there?" she called. "Can you hear me?"
The faint, tinny echo of her own voice over Sendak's comms, audible only because she was close, and nothing more.
"Paladins, are you there ?" she called. "...Pidge? Hunk? Lance? Keith?" She bit her lip. "...Shiro? Please, answer me."
Silence. Dead air.
"...I don't hear anything either," Sendak said quietly. "Our best hope is that the tunnel is jamming our signal."
"...I suppose," Allura said. "Still…"
"Still," Sendak agreed, and Allura yelped as his grip on her shoulder shifted, hauling her upright. "We should hurry."
They moved as one, darting through the crossroads and down the hallway on the other side. The floor rocked and shuddered intermittently, nearly costing her her footing— again she cursed Sendak, at least once audibly, for being steadier on his feet. Not that he seemed to notice. They rounded one corner, and then another, and—
—Skidded to a halt in front of a sleek grey double door. The access panel beside it shed the only light in this stretch of hall, a sickly red illumination that seemed inclined to cling to the wall and the floor at its foot. Allura's stomach flipped.
Sendak strode forward without a word, slamming his left hand down against the access panel.
There was a pause as something in the walls gave a faint, pneumatic hiss, and the doors slid open.
And the first blaster bolt flew directly between Sendak's ears. Allura gave a startled shriek. Sendak staggered backwards, then roared a challenge. He surged through the doorway, and Allura scrambled after him, bursting out into the bunker.
No. Into the hangar .
Pidge's map wasn't quite accurate either— hadn't grasped the sheer scale of the space. A bank of screens and computers, all glowing red, occupied the nearest wall, but the rest of the room was dedicated to a cruiser, deep grey metal shining in the violet light. A small cluster of sentries stood between them and the ship, peppering them with blaster fire— Sendak had his shield out, blocking the pair of them from the assault, but coming up beside him Allura could see he'd taken fire, breastplate singed and the visible abdomen of his bodysuit smoking faintly.
" Branko !" he roared, his voice echoing off the walls.
The sentries stopped firing, and a figure in dark armor emerged from the crowd. Allura swallowed, hard. He must have stood nearly Sendak's height, but stockier. A curved plate of metal covered the upper right side of his face, flared decoratively as if to replace an ear, red prosthetic glaring from beneath a permanently furrowed brow ridge. The rest of his face looked unpleasantly smug, tusks jutting up over the edge of a smirk.
"It took you an awfully long time to get here, Sendak," the Galra— Branko, she supposed— called back. "And it only took my turrets bringing down half of your Lions to do it."
"You what ?" Allura shouted. Her stomach felt as if it had turned inside out, her hands numbing.
Branko laughed. "And to think, those were only the prototypes . When we have the slaves back under our control and my cube operational again, Zarkon will see my worth and welcome us back to the main fleet." A pause, and Branko sneered. "Especially if I bring the prodigal son home in chains."
"Sendak," Allura whispered. "If the Lions are down, what can we—"
"Destroy his control center," Sendak hissed back. Then he turned, placing himself fully between her and Branko, and bellowed, "Then try , if you think you're capable of it!"
The sentries opened fire again. Sendak roared a challenge in response and surged forward, feet thundering on the metal underfoot as he charged. The fine hairs at the nape of Allura's neck stood on end.
She whirled on her heel, bolting for the controls. She slammed against them, hands planted on the main panel, which flashed and threw up a warning sign. Allura scowled up at it— she read just enough Galra to know it protested the rough treatment. She tapped frantically at the controls, trying to bring up something, anything —
The console flashed another warning, and the screen went red and closed down. Allura shouted in frustration and smashed her quarterstaff through it. The main panel buckled, screen splintering under the blow, and she screamed again and went after it, slamming the staff again and again and again into the controls. Shards of metal and glass flew.
Something nicked her cheek. Hot blood beaded, and she vented another shout and smashed another console. Someone behind her shouted orders. She ignored it to smash another bank. Sendak bellowed again behind her—
The next console fairly screamed when she struck it, discharging a blast of electricity that hurled her backwards onto the floor. She forced herself back upright, shaking her head— her ears rang, disorienting— and looked at the console. Smoking, twisted metal. She turned and looked behind her.
The sentries were in heaps— half thrown aside, half sprawled like puppets with cut strings. Sendak stalked through the carnage, advancing on Branko, who had gone ashen. He raised his hands defensively.
"Sendak—" he began.
"Count yourself fortunate that I need you alive to give Zarkon my message," Sendak said, his voice low but carrying. "Tell him I send my regards, and wish to remind him...precisely what he shaped me into."
He dropped the hookblade with a clatter. Branko took another step back.
Quick as lightning, Sendak lunged forward and struck him a blow across the jaw that sent him tumbling. Branko went down in a heap, and lay there unmoving for a moment. Allura hurried forward to stand beside Sendak, hands tight on the quarterstaff. She saw Branko's eyelid flutter, and he forced himself back into a sitting position. His mouth opened.
"Well?" Sendak said icily. " Run ."
Branko's eye went wide with fear, and he bolted to his feet and scrambled for the cruiser. Overhead, the great bay doors began to hiss, to rumble, easing their way open. The gangplank went up as Branko vanished into the ship, and a moment later its thrusters began to rumble, magenta lights starting up all along its massive length.
"...Are we going to do something about him?" Allura asked.
Sendak shook his head. "Let him go. He'll take word back to the Empire of what we've done here today."
The cruiser lifted. A blast of hot air rolled out from it, knocking Allura staggering. Sendak dropped to his knees as the ship rose, out of the bay doors and into the darkening sky above. Allura crouched beside him. Sendak's breathing was labored, and his ears— held alert and hostile all through the confrontation— had lowered, his face creased with pain.
"...Are you...alright?" Allura said carefully.
Sendak grimaced at her. "Took a couple rounds to the chest when the door opened," he said. "One in the thigh. And two in the shoulder in the courtyard. Better me than you, though," he added, and reached out, plucking lightly at her flightsuit.
Allura opened her mouth to retort, but before she could say anything, her comms buzzed. Black's tone, from the Lion. Her eyes locked with Sendak's and she scrambled to open the call— to video, this time.
Shiro looked back at her through the blued screen— not just him, either. All four of the others, variously bruised and roughed up, but Pidge was laughing, five voices overlapped in excitement, hands gesturing as they all talked at once.
"You're okay!" Allura cried out, and sank against Sendak's side in relief. The Galra chuckled, settling in next to her so they could see his face.
"It was a bit of a close call, but we made it," Shiro said.
"Yeah, I'll say," Hunk said. "Those turret things, man— I thought they were just regular laser blasters, but then I knocked 'em off the wall like Sendak suggested and they started flying —"
"Branko admitted they were a prototype for the cube," Sendak said.
"No fuckin' kidding!" Lance yelped, ignoring Shiro's look of protest. "I hit one with Blue's freeze ray, and it turned it around and iced our head with it!"
"How did you all make it out? Branko claimed he'd downed half the Lions—" Allura began.
"They knocked me and Green out of the sky, and we crash-landed in the forest," Pidge said. "Ryner and the Olkari helped me fix her, but while we were doing it we—" she gestured vaguely, undulating her arms before locking her hands together, the fingers laced. "I can't explain it, but we're tighter now. And when we got back up, she told me how to activate this gun, and we shot the turrets and made them reprogram themselves to grow vines— I'm not even sure how that works , I mean they're solid metal and they shouldn't have been able to grow anything—"
"Pidge saved all of us out there," Shiro cut back in. "We would have been done for without her."
"Excellent work, Pidge," Sendak said.
"Are you guys alright down there?" Keith asked. His brows furrowed with concern.
"We're fine," Sendak said.
Allura slugged him lightly in the shoulder, earning a high-pitched yelp and a flinch. " You are going in a pod when we get back to the Castle," she said. "He got himself shot protecting me and the Olkari."
"Oh, good going, Sendak," Hunk heckled.
" Hey ," Shiro said. "Where are you two? Ryner wanted to talk before we head back to the Castle, so we'll come pick you up and take you to her meeting place."
"It would be appreciated," Allura said.
"Just south of the command tower," Sendak said. "You'll see the hangar doors open. Branko left in such a hurry, he didn't even bother to close them behind him."
He shot Allura a sidelong glance, ears twitching, and she couldn't help but laugh.
"Right," Shiro drawled, and by the grin on his face Allura had a feeling he knew what they meant. "We'll be right down. I'll see you in a tick."
The comms window closed. Allura waited all of a tick to look at Sendak again, and then burst out laughing. Sendak chuckled as well, dropping his head to rest against her shoulder as he did.
"I can't believe we did that!" she crowed, grabbing at his arm. "Did you see—"
"You were very impressive with the console—" Sendak cut in.
"Oh, as if you weren't wasting sentries at every turn!" Allura pushed herself upright, pulling lightly at Sendak's hand. "Come on. It'll be easier for them to pick us up if we're out in view of the bay doors."
Sendak pushed himself to his feet. His knee wobbled, and Allura ducked under his arm, shoring him up, stretched herself taller to fit better under his shoulder. Sendak huffed, but let her take a little of his weight, limping them out into the middle of the hangar. He was heavy , but Allura had lifted heavier before, and they didn't have far to go before they sank back to the floor again, this time under the open roof of the hangar.
Allura tilted her head back, gazing up. The sky overhead was reddening; dusk must have been coming on. A flight of dim shapes, five in formation, soared and circled around the distant top of the command tower, before one— the largest— split off and sank towards them. Shiro was coming alone, then. He'd be there in less than a dobosh.
She sighed, settling back against Sendak to watch him come in.