A/N: So I'm back to school, and I won't be keeping the same update rate I had for the last story, though I might be dropping a class (Just for you). Thanks for tuning in, though. Part two is going to follow the first few episodes of canon with my own twist. Part three is going to be a major divergence. I really hope you like it.

Fake It Till You Make It

Lance couldn't believe it. They'd won? The ship had tried to follow them instead of continuing its course for Earth. If they were just looking for this Voltron thing, then that meant they'd leave Earth alone. Which meant that Lance had just saved the Earth. His family was safe! Compared to that, being the first human to pilot a ship out of the solar system was small potatoes, but he had that feather in his cap as well, and now he was walking on an alien planet that no human had ever explored before. Lance was a freaking movie star. He was an action hero. This was his life now. He had an awesome spaceship. He had a crew. He was out in the far reaches of space and who knew what was going to happen next. All Lance knew was that whatever it was, it was going to be awesome.

The Castle was huge, and Lance could just imagine all the cool stuff that was going to be inside. He supposed there would be aliens. He eagerly sprung forward towards the castle, just barely mindful of Shiro's admonishment to stick close. The doors opened for them and they stepped inside. There was a grand hall and the lights turned on to greet them.

"That area over there's lit up," Pidge said.

There were a few hallways that exited the hall they were in, but only one of them was lit, so Lance charged on. So far there hadn't been any aliens, but eventually they found themselves in another large room, though this one wasn't quite as big as the hall they'd previously been in. The lights here turned on and Lance noticed a series of circles in the floor arranged in an arc. Two of them lit up and suddenly there were pods coming out of them.

"Oh snap," Lance said.

"Uh, guys, I think this is the part where we all get killed by facehuggers," Hunk supplied.

The pods were about seven feet tall and about big enough around for them to be able to fit a person. Sure enough-

"Guys, there's people in there," Lance said.

Suddenly the one on the left opened with a hiss of escaping mist and suddenly someone was falling out. Lance darted forward and caught the most gorgeous woman he'd ever seen in his arms. She looked human, besides the colorful markings below her eyes. That was when Lance realized that if he was in an action movie, then this was his love interest.

"What?" the woman asked. "Where am I? Who are you?"

The first thing he said to her had to be smooth.

"The name's Lance, and you're right here in my arms." Nailed it. That was when he saw the crown. He was holding an alien princess in his arms!

"What's wrong with your ears?" she asked.

"My ears?" he asked.

"They're hideous," she exclaimed.

Lance brought a hand up to the side of his head to feel his ear at the same time he noticed the pointed elflike ears of the woman in his arms. That was when the princess twisted around and grabbed a hold of his other ear and wrenched it as if she were trying to rip it off of his head. He let out a horrendous yelp that did not belong in an action movie staring Lance Sanchez and suddenly he was on his toes with his arm wrenched behind his back.

"Who are you people? What are you doing in the castle of lions? Where is King Alfor?" she asked.

"We mean you no harm," Shiro said. "We were brought here by a blue lion. We think it's called Voltron. We don't really know anything else."

"The Blue Lion brought you? Where is her Paladin? And how were you allowed to get this far without an escort?"

"There's no one else here," Shiro said. "None that we saw. We don't know who King Alfor is. Can you tell us who you are?"

Suddenly the princess let go of Lance's ear and shoved him forward away from her.

"I am Princess Allura of the planet Altea. How can you not know who King Alfor is, and this castle can't possibly be empty," Allura said. She walked over to some sort of control console and a holographic screen lit up over it.

Suddenly the other pod thing opened up and a man stumbled out.

"Intruder," he shouted, looking right at Lance. The man darted forward but Lance was not about to put up with another ear wrenching and dodged to the side, like a pro.

"Whoah there," Lance said as the man stumbled past him.

"Keep an eye on them, Coran," Princess Allura said.

"This one's just lucky I've got a case of the old deep sleep knees," Coran said.

"Oh yeah?' Lance rejoined. "Well-"

"This can't be," Princess Allura said, distress replacing the cold authority that had previously been in her voice.

"What's wrong?" Coran asked, and for the first time Lance realized that the whole time these aliens had been speaking their lips didn't match what Lance was hearing.

"We've been asleep for ten thousand pheebs," Allura said. "There's no one else in the castle besides us here."

"No," Coran said, sounding shocked. "That's not possible." He stepped up besides the princess and looked at the screen. "We should have been woken up long ago, as soon as a new Paladin was chosen."

The two aliens looked over at the five humans.

"Which one of you piloted the Blue Lion?" Princess Allura asked.

Lance raised his hand. "That would be me," he said.

The two aliens looked at him as though they were weighing his soul. Did anyone say 'chosen one?'

Inside the castle, Keith was haunted by a sense of familiarity and wrongness. He knew he had walked these halls before, but he also knew that they shouldn't be empty. The castle seemed to be waking up as they walked through; dark hallways lit up and where there had previously been empty silence there was now a quiet hum of activity in the background. When they entered a large chamber, he had a sense of anticipation, but this room too was empty. Like everything else, though, the room soon came alive.

Two pods rose out of the floor, and even with all of the deja vu Keith had been dealing with since he'd first seen the Blue Lion, he was still surprised when one of them opened and a mostly human looking woman tumbled out and into Lance's arms. He was able to ignore Lance's shameless and ill timed flirting only because he felt shaken to his core, because he knew her. He couldn't remember her name, or anything about her, really, but the sense of familiarity, that he had seen her before was a certainty. He thought there was a semblance of a memory of a giggling little girl running through the halls of the castle, but it was so distant it must have been millennia ago which didn't make sense. For him to have such a weak memory of her she would have to be far far older than she had any business being.

He didn't miss when she asked about King Alfor. So the name that had come to him when he'd seen the castle was definitely significant.

The other pod opened and another vaguely familiar alien stepped out and Lance continued to act the fool. The revelation that the two aliens had been in stasis for ten thousand of some unit of time made things make a lot more sense, and the knowledge that he was standing before people who had likely known him in his previous life had him feeling oddly scared. He'd hoped hearing their names would jog his memory, but neither Allura nor Coran were anything more than just a vague feeling.

The two aliens quickly got over their own shock for realizing that they had been in stasis for so long, and quickly got to business.

"What were you doing in there?" Pidge asked.

"The Galra attacked our home," Allura said. Alarm bells started ringing in Keith's brain at the mention of the aliens that had killed Lance in their past life.

"We were able to escape," Coran said. "But there was too much uncertainty. Voltron would rise again, we knew that much, but we didn't know when. King Alfor was able to link the princess to Voltron, so it was necessary that, well, that she would be around when the time came. We just didn't realize that it would be this long. Voltron's never gone so long without choosing new Paladins."

"Altea's gone, Coran," Allura said. "Where did everyone else go?"

"The others were sent to make sure the lions would be where they needed to be to be safe from Zarkon and to be ready for when their Paladins were ready."

"Zarkon?" Shiro asked. "I remember now. I was his prisoner."

"Impossible," Allura said. "How could he still be alive?"

"I don't know," Shiro said. "But he was looking for Voltron. The Galra were in our solar system looking for it when I was captured."

"Maybe it's a name that gets passed down?" Lance suggested.

"Who is Zarkon?" Hunk asked.

"Zarkon is the emperor of the Galra," Allura said. "He is an enemy of all free people. He's looking for Voltron because it is the only thing that could stand in his way. It is far more powerful than anything created by mere technology. The Blue Lion is but one of five that combine to form Voltron."

"You make it sound as if it is something non-technological," Pidge said sounding put out. "Which, first of all, no, and second of all, that lion looked very mechanical to me."

Allura shook her head. "The lions were created by ancient Altean Alchemists," she said. "A fusion of magic and science that has protected the galaxy for millennia."

"Well I don't know how long a pheeb is, but I'm pretty sure Voltron hasn't been doing that for a long long while," Keith said testily. "Because we just had to lead a Galra cruiser away from Earth." And because Keith and Lance have had to fight them again and again in past lives.

"Something must have gone wrong," Coran said.

Allura shook her head. "This is fate," she said. "Whatever has happened, this was the ordained time. These are the five Paladins of Voltron before us."

"Are you sure?" Coran asked.

"We're not Paladins," Pidge said.

"I'm just a cadet," Hunk added.

"They arrived together, the five of them and one of them the new blue Paladin. I can feel it," Allura said. "It would be easy to test their quintessence."

"Quintessence?" Pidge asked.

"The force of life," Allura said. "It runs in all of us. It's what powers Voltron. Alteans are sensitive to it. I, myself in particular, am very in tune with my quintessence and I can sense it in others."

"So how are you going to test this quintessence?" Hunk asked. "This doesn't involve probes does it?"

"No, it's non-invasive," Allura said. "If you'll allow me?" She gestured towards Pidge.

Pidge stepped forward hesitantly. Allura brought her hands up to the sides of Pidge's head.

"Yes," she said, smiling. "So much like Trigel, the last Paladin of the green lion. You have a curious personality, and an analytical way of approaching problems, but when you act you act boldly."

"Uh, sure?" Pidge said.

She moved on to Hunk. "Yes," she said, looking fond and sad at the same time. "So much like him. I can not wait to see the Paladin you become. You will be the Paladin of the yellow lion. Caring and selfless, you will be the heart of Voltron."

"Me?" Hunk asked, sounding incredulous.

She moved on to Shiro. "Similar, but different," she said, almost sounding relieved. "Strong and decisive, you will be the leader of Voltron, you will pilot the black lion." She frowned. "Your arm."

"Something they did to me when I was their prisoner," Shiro said.

The princess nodded and then she moved on to Keith and he tensed up remembering that she had known the previous Paladins, his previous self. She froze when she placed her hands on Keith's head. "Exactly like him," she said softly, staring Keith in his eyes before her own darted towards Lance. "You will be the Paladin of the Red Lion, you rely on instinct, often the first to act," she said, before walking back to stand besides Coran.

"What about me?" Lance asked. "Don't you want to feel my quintessence?"

"We already know you were chosen by the Blue Lion," Allura said.

"So that's it?" Hunk asked. "We're all supposed to just be Paladins now?"

"I can't tell you all that you are Paladins," Allura said. "Except for Lance here, who has already been chosen. The lions choose their Paladins. Lance was chosen by the Blue Lion. No one can choose for them, but each one of you feels distinctly like the Paladins of old. I sense that you each have the qualities that each lion searches for. This is fate. Why else would you all show up at the same time, brought by the Blue Lion. The galaxy has been waiting for ten thousand pheebs. Zarkon's time is over. Voltron will see to it, though I shudder to think of the destruction he's wrought while we've slept."

"Shiro said they destroy worlds," Pidge said.

Shiro was right.

"Where are the rest of the lions?" Keith asked before they could go down that path.

The galaxy needed saving, it seemed, and they were to be the five new Paladins of Voltron. A holographic image of five lion's lit up and Keith's eye caught on the red one. He glanced over at Lance. They would be Paladins together. They would fight together. Yet in the brief time they'd been together, they'd already argued at least five times, and Keith knew that Lance hated him as much as he always had. They would work together, but they wouldn't be together.

The quest was on then to find the remaining lions. Allura was linked to Voltron and she was able to locate all of them except for the Red Lion. Which tracked with Keith's life so far. Shiro's lion was already in the castle in a chamber that wouldn't open until the other four lions were present, so he was going off with Pidge to get his lion (her lion?), while Lance took Hunk to get his. Keith wanted to go with them, but his lion was unaccounted for, and he was supposed to be ready at a moment's notice to go find it.

"Easy peasy," Lance said. "We'll be back before you know it, Princess."

"Well do try to be quick," Allura said. "I'll only be able to hold open the wormhole for so long."

"Princess," Coran said urgently. "A Galra ship in our sector's just changed course. It's heading straight for Arus."

"Where's Arus?" Pidge asked.

"This is Arus," Allura said. "How long do we have?"

"They're about a hundred light pheebs away, so I'd say about two quintents."

"Hold up, hold up," Pidge said. "Your units of time aren't translating. We actually need to know how long that is."

Pidge and Coran consulted for a bit (talking about Cesium atoms for some reason) while Shiro asked the Princess about the castle's defenses.

"Okay," Pidge said. "We've got about fifty three hours until they get here," Pidge said.

"Plenty of time to get the yellow and green lions," Allura said.

"Alright," Shiro said. "You all know what you're supposed to do, so let's go."

Keith didn't have anything to do, and they probably weren't going to find the Red Lion while the others were gone. Keith should have been going with Lance. The whole thing had him set on edge. How they had been found so quickly, Keith didn't know, but he was going to be ready when they got there. Not that he really had to do much. Keith did not do well being left to his own devices. The two Alteans set about getting the ten thousand year old castle ready for an attack so Keith was basically left to stew away while he waited. At least the planets everyone else were going to were supposed to be peaceful, so hopefully Lance would be fine.

Hunk had signed up for the Galaxy Garrison hoping for a slot on the moon for a year or two before he could take a job back on Earth. Getting stuck in the flight engineering program had been a big setback that had done nothing good for his nerves or his stomach, but at least the Galaxy Garrison wasn't at war. Hunk had signed up to be an engineer. Now he was supposed to be a Paladin in a space war he'd never even heard of.

"Oh my god, Hunk, this is so freaking cool," Lance announced as he settled into the pilots chair of his lion thing.

"We just got drafted into a war," Hunk said, finding that there was a fold down chair in the aft of the cabin. He strapped himself in and no sooner than he had than Lance was taking off.

"Dude! We're going to save the Galaxy," Lance announced excitedly. "Weren't you listening back there? We've been chosen, out of everyone in the galaxy, to be these Paladins and use the most powerful weapon ever and we get to fight the evil empire."

"Wow, you drank the Kool-Aid really quickly," Hunk said.

"What's cool-aid?" Lance asked. "Does that mean I'm really cool?"

"It means you bought into this really fast," Hunk said. "Don't you have any questions? What are we signing up for? Why us? Why me? We're supposed to be on Earth, finishing the program at the Garrison."

"We just saved Earth," Lance said. "You heard the princess, it's fate, that's why we're here."

"I don't believe in fate," Hunk said. "If I had any fate it would be to play with cool tech in a Galaxy Garrison facility."

"Well now you get to take cool alien stuff apart," Lance said.

That was actually an interesting proposition and Hunk for the first time really started looking around the cockpit.

"And you'd better not think about taking apart my lion," Lance said.

"I'm not going to take apart the ancient alien spaceship that's currently separating me from the cold vacuum of space," Hunk said.

"You do want to save the galaxy, don't you?" Lance asked.

"You know, that's never actually been on my to-do list," Hunk said. "Funnily enough, I never thought to myself, 'hey, let's go fight in a space war.'"

"Okay, but you want the galaxy to be safe, right?"

"Well, yeah," Hunk said. "In the abstract sense. Not in the, I must fight for the honor of Greyskull, sense. Which just goes to show that this whole chosen/fate stuff is bonkers. The cabin light's gone out and you need your engine taken apart, cleaned and put back together in the dark? I'm your chosen one. You want fifty-one ideas on how to improve the hyperflex inductor? I'm your chosen one. You want someone to save the galaxy from an evil empire? I'm definitely not your guy. I'm the last guy, after you've exhausted all other options, and then you say, 'well I guess you're all we've got,' and then I go out and get blown up in my first battle… Now, you want someone to take Voltron apart piece by piece and figure out how this 'Alchemy,' works? Yeah, I'll be your guy. First though let's just take Voltron to Earth. Allura and Coran get a nice new planet to call home, we figure out how Voltron works, make a bajillion of them, and they can be piloted by someone other than me as they go out and save the galaxy."

"Well that would make a terrible movie," Lance said.

"Lance, this isn't a movie," Hunk said.

"I know that," Lance said. "Hey though, did you see me with the princess?"

"Yeah?" Hunk asked.

"I was super smooth," Lance said.

"She almost ripped your arm off," Hunk said.

"She surprised me," Lance said. "Besides, this is like the classical opening of an action/romance. We're not supposed to get along at first."

"Uh huh," Hunk said. "You realize she's an alien right? Completely different norms and customs. Even if that was 'smooth' on Earth, there's no telling what it is in Altean."

"Hey," Lance protested. "I think I know what I'm doing here. Speaking of here, we're here. Get ready to get your lion."

"We're here?" Hunk asked. "What about the wormhole?"

"We went through it while you were looking around my cockpit like you wanted to do terrible things to my lion," Lance said.

You'd think there'd be some way to tell that they'd gone through a wormhole if you weren't looking out the front screen. Sure enough, when Hunk looked out, there was a planet that was getting bigger and bigger very rapidly. Next thing he knew, they were ripping through the atmosphere.

"Two alien planets in one day," Lance said. "Guess you'll be the first human to walk on this one though. We're coming up on your lion."

Hunk was still hoping that it most definitely wasn't his lion.

"Merde," Lance said. "Do the Galra have a theme, because that looks like their tech down there."

Sure enough, there were structures on the surface that definitely looked reminiscent of the Galra ship they'd seen that morning. Purple and grey hues with curves that ended in a point. Suddenly, Lance jerked on the controls and the lion made an unholy motion.

"Shots fired," Lance said. "Not sure if they're Galra, but they're definitely not friendly."

"Well we tried," Hunk said, a hand over his now roiling stomach. "Guess we have to go back empty handed."

"We need that lion," Lance said. He pulled back on the controls and the lion shot up into the sky. He then turned his head to one of the panels. "It looks like your lion's underground, there's a tunnel system like the one Blue was in, aaaaaaaand, it looks like there's no life signs down there. Okay, I'm going to drop you off and keep the guys on the surface there busy. You get your lion and we'll hightail it out of here. Okay, buddy?"

"Not okay," Hunk said. "You want me to do what?"

"I want you to go back to the entrance and be ready for a rapid exit," Lance said, suddenly serious. "Once you're out, I'll stay stationary for a moment to give you cover as you go into the tunnel, and then I'll make sure nothing follows you in. Find your lion, get in, then get it to the surface. If it's anything like Blue, it won't have any trouble getting through the rubble."

"Lance," Hunk said. "I can't do this."

Lance was already piloting them back down towards the surface, the shifting image outside giving him vertigo.

"Yes, you can," Lance said. "I know you can. Just like I knew you could make it through zero-g training, and just like I've always known you had my back in the simulator. Now I can't tell you anything about fate, but I do know that I'm not going to let the Galra ever get anywhere near Earth, so if we need the yellow lion, then we need the yellow lion, and if you're the only one who can pilot it then we need you to pilot it. It might not be fate and it might not be fair, but it is what we need if you're ever going to be able to sit at a desk on Earth and take cool stuff apart someday without worrying about an alien invasion."

"Ugh," Hunk said, unbuckling his harness. "Do you have any Kool-Aid?"

"Dude, if you see anything drinkable in this lion, I will remind you that it's older than the pyramids. I think. I still don't know how long a pheeb is."

Hunk made his way down to the entry/mouth thing.

"Alright buddy, hang on tight!" Lance said.

A wine involuntarily made its way out of Hunk's throat as the jaws of the Blue Lion opened up and the wind started ripping all around him as the ground got closer and closer. Just before impact, Lance pulled up and skimmed the surface, and rapidly decelerated. Hunk held on, right up until the end when the lion screamed to a stop on the rocky surface and Hunk lost his grip and flew right out and somehow managed to land in a tumbling roll that didn't break anything. There was the sound of what could only be some sort of energy weapon, if the bright flashes of light splashing around the Blue Lion was any indication. Hunk got up and decided to get as far away from them as possible and ran into the tunnel entrance. A few moments later, he heard Lance take off.

The entrance was very steep, and Hunk wound up falling a couple of times on the way down leaving him bruised all over. Another checkmark in the 'definitely not the chosen one,' column. Eventually he came into what looked like the main chamber. Every now and then something would blow up outside. Hunk hoped it wasn't Lance. Inside, it looked like there was something that the Galra had been trying to blow up. There were scorch marks on one of the walls that looked like they'd been trying to blast through an impenetrable rock face.

Suddenly the ground shook and a concussive shock wave shook Hunk to his bones and the light dimmed as part of the tunnel behind him collapsed.

"Crap, crap, crap," Hunk muttered. There weren't any other markings on the wall, but like Lance had back on Earth, Hunk went over and put his hand on the rock. Suddenly fissures that he hadn't seen before opened up and started glowing and before he knew it the wall crumbled down.

"Huh," Hunk said. That was an unfortunate check in the whole chosen one column. "Okay, so that happened," he said, reluctantly stepping into the chamber that had just been revealed. "Yep, and there's a giant yellow lion." The ground shook again. "Alright, alright, I'm on it."

He made his way forward. There was another particle barrier, just like there had been in Arizona, and Hunk hesitantly put out his hand and touched it, sure for a moment that he was going to get zapped back. He wasn't of course, which was just his luck, because now he actually had to climb into the thing and be it's Paladin.

"Could have gone to Auldridge Preparatory," Hunk said. "The Galaxy Garrison's the best place for me, I said."

The giant metal jaws closed behind him. Hunk sighed. No more excuses. Lance was fighting a battle on the surface making sure no one followed Hunk into the tunnel. Hunk rushed up the stairs to the cockpit on his very sore limbs and gingerly sat in the pilots seat. Everything lit up.

"Alright, great big lion spaceship thing," Hunk said. "I've never even driven a car, but I guess I'm supposed to pilot you, so um…" He reached out and grabbed the controls. He could almost hear a satisfied purr in the hum of systems coming on line.

"Nothing for it, I guess." Hunk pulled back on the controls and closed his eyes as his lion shot up and though the rocky cavern.

"Hahah!" Lance's voice came on over the comm. "I told you you were a Paladin!" he said. "Come give me a hand here."

Somehow, Hunk figured out the telemetry and followed it to the Blue Lion, where Lance was trying to shake some sort of fighter style ships that were on his tail. Hunk wasn't sure how to activate weapons, but he figured the ships couldn't be much tougher than the meters of rock he'd just busted through and he shot forward and plowed into two of the fighters.

"Hah!" Lance crowed. "Good one."

As they spiraled away and blew up in a fiery explosion, the Blue Lion in front of him suddenly did a barrel roll and flipped around and some sort of particle beam came out of its mouth and took out the other two fighters. Hunk had not realized that when he had been climbing into the lion's mouth that he had also been climbing into a powerful particle weapon.

"Okay, let's get out of here," Lance said. The Blue Lion shot up. "Oh my god, Hunk, you will not believe some of the moves I just pulled."

The area where the sensors indicated the lion was was covered in thick vegetation, so they'd had to park the small Altean pod ship a bit of a ways away and walk on foot. Now that they were alone, Pidge kept expecting for Shiro to call her out for being Katie, but so far he hadn't said anything. They'd met a bunch in the lead up to launch, it wasn't even like her disguise was that good. He just didn't seem to remember her.

"You said you were Zarkon's prisoner," Pidge said.

"In a sense," Shiro said. "I don't think I ever met him. It's all sort of a haze. They moved me around for a while, eventually I got sent back to the ship that had originally captured me."

"Moved you around? What did they want with you?" Pidge asked.

"You hear that?" Shiro asked, pausing.

Katie stopped and listened. "A river."

They moved towards the sound and a wide slow moving river came into view.

Pidge looked at the device Coran had given her before they had left. It was a lot like the Voltron finder she and Hunk had whipped up in Gyeong's shack, only it also showed other sensor readings about their surroundings, including life signs.

"Two things," Pidge said. "The river seems to be flowing in the same direction we need to go, and we've got some sort of largish creature walking towards us." She pointed into the foliage.

"Stand behind me," Shiro said.

"Like behind you, behind you?" Pidge asked. "Or like behind you and off to the side?"

Shiro stepped in-between her and the now rustling foliage. Pidge was not expecting a human sized bipedal sloth like creature to come out. She got a little closer to Shiro.

"Hello," Shiro said, waving with his mechanical arm.

The sloth person made a few odd clicking noises and peered at Pidge. One of it's long claw like fingers pointed at the device in her hand. She held it up, reaching around Shiro and the creature reached out and touched the Voltron symbol on the side. They turned around and made what Pidge guessed was the universal 'follow me' gesture. She looked to Shiro who shrugged. They were leading them in the direction they were going anyway.

Eventually they got to a dugout canoe, tied up at the side of the river which they all got into.

"So," Pidge said, once they were under way. "Did the rest of your crew get moved around with you?"

Shiro seemed to think about it. "I don't really remember seeing them after we were captured."

Pidge sighed. "Did the Galra do something to you to make you forget?" she asked.

"Well if they did…"

"Right," Pidge said. She looked down at the handheld scanner. They were almost there.

"I'm not really sure about this whole, pilot a giant mechanical-but-also-"magic" lion thing," she said.

"What was your track at the Garrison?" Shiro asked. "I'm guessing science officer."

"Yeah," Pidge said. "What gave it away?" She turned a bit to showcase her backpack, at this point overflowing with all the tech she'd brought with her.

"So you've never piloted anything," Shiro said. "But after watching Lance with his lion? Those controls were completely alien to him, but he didn't have any trouble."

"It was like it was instinctual," Pidge said, nodding. "The princess talked like we were linked to these lions somehow."

"Lance acted like he was," Shiro said. "If we all really are chosen to be these Paladins, I don't think you need to worry about it too much."

"Yeah, well it's not just piloting I'm worried about," Pidge said.

"Why did you join the Garrison?" Shiro asked.

"Oh, you know," Pidge said. "Space, I just, love it so much."

"You didn't sign up for a war," Shiro said. "I get that."

"I signed up for whatever I needed to do," Pidge muttered.

"Needed to do?" Shiro asked.

"For space?" Pidge said.

"You hacked the Garrison's mainframe for space?" Shiro asked.

"I knew they were hiding something," Pidge said. "Then I figured out it was aliens"

"You seem plenty motivated," Shiro said.

"I am," Pidge said.

"So what are you worried about?" Shiro asked.

"It took everything I had to get this far," Pidge said. "Hack the Garrison, track the signals, decode the transmissions, that's my wheelhouse. I'm not a fighter. I'll do whatever's needed, but I don't think the universe needs me to be a Paladin."

"What was your combat class at the garrison?" Shiro asked.

Pidge blushed. "I didn't take one."

"They're mandatory," Shiro said.

"Well my record says I took Combat Marksmanship and Close Quarters Combat," Pidge said.

"Yes, those would have been good classes for you to take," Shiro said nodding his head. "I'm going to have to keep an eye on you, aren't I."

"You'll be happier if you don't," Pidge said.

Shiro shook his head. "Look, I don't know what's going to happen from here on out. My job right now is to protect Earth. That's the Oath we all took when we joined. I didn't really believe I'd ever see aliens when I took it, but here we are. The point is, we're facing an enemy that's basically a galactic empire. If this Voltron is the best chance of defeating them then we need Voltron. And if for whatever reason, it's been waiting ten thousand pheebs, or whatever, for the five of us, well… I need you. The galaxy needs you. And maybe it needs a Paladin who can hack anything and put together a Voltron detector with some spare parts."

"You're asking me to believe in some weird mysticism, and that's a tall order," Pidge said. "What if I'm the wrong person for this thing and I lose the chance to do what I need to do."

Shiro shrugged. "You know someone once told me something back when I was a cadet that's stuck with me. 'If you get too worried about what could go wrong, you might miss a chance to do something great.'"

Pidge almost choked.

"You've heard that before?" Shiro asked.

"That was… Commander Holt said that," Pidge said. Her Dad had said that so many times when she was growing up.

"That's right," Shiro said. "You can't do anything if you don't first try."

Pidge didn't believe in fate, or magic, or anything like that, but just then she let herself believe that it was a message from her father that she was on the right path. She hadn't really joined the Garrison, she'd never taken any oath. She wasn't out here to protect Earth or the Galaxy. She was saving her family. If she saved the galaxy and that meant they had a home to go to in the end, well that was serendipity.

Keith went ahead and wandered around a bit hoping something would jog his memory more than it already had. He found himself resisting the urge to really think of everything that had happened. He just needed to focus on what was going to happen next. Lance would come back, Keith would find his lion, and they would form Voltron and they'd fight the Galra, and Keith would make sure that he wouldn't know what it felt like to lose his soulmate in this lifetime.

He stumbled across Allura as he entered a large room with some complicated looking thing that Hunk or Pidge would probably like to see. Allura was doing something to it that was probably important, and he would have probably left her to her own devices, except…

"You know there's a mouse on your shoulder?" he asked.

"Oh, yes," she said. "Keith, right?"

Keith nodded.

"This little guy managed to smuggle aboard my cryopod with a few of his little friends. Somewhere along the way our quintessence harmonized and we became telepathically linked. The rest of them are inside of this teludav inductor taking a look inside for me so I don't have to take it apart."

"Huh," Keith said. With everything else that was his life, he was willing to accept telepathic mice.

"Do humans ever remember their past lives?" Allura asked.

"What?" Keith asked.

"Are there any humans on Earth who have ever reported being able to remember past lives?" Allura asked. "It would be rare, they would come in pairs, and I know such people aren't trusted in some societies, so I didn't want to say anything in front of the others, but if you do remember anything it could be valuable."

"You could tell?" Keith asked before remembering that he was supposed to be playing dumb.

"You aren't just like Gyrgan, your quintessence is Gyrgan's," Allura said. "It's been so long. Do you even remember Voltron?"

"I don't even remember the name Gyrgan," Keith said with a shake of his head. "I don't remember being a Paladin, but I remember looking for Voltron. I spent lifetimes looking for Voltron. But you and Coran… It's just a feeling."

"And the Blue Paladin is your other half?" Allura asked, and here she seemed perturbed.

"He doesn't remember," Keith said. "We don't get along."

This seemed to shock Allura.

"We haven't actually spent that much time with each other yet," Keith defended.

"Is there that much differences in humans, that some are sensitive to quintessence and some are not?" Allura asked.

"As far as I know, no human is sensitive to quintessence like that," Keith said.

"And yet you are?" Allura asked.

"Rigel seven was destroyed by the Galra in my last lifetime," said Kieth, deliberately not answering her question "No idea what that would be in Altean, but wherever we were I'm pretty sure it's somewhere in Earth's quadrant of the galaxy. They'd just started taking an interest in that area. Didn't know anything about the Galra in the life before that. Before that my lives are too jumbled to give you any proper timeline, and I'd have trouble telling you any strategic details. The Galra have a massive presence all over the galaxy, though I guess they started on the opposite end to Earth. If this is fate, princess, then we're fated to fight an impossible battle."

"So we should give up?" Allura asked.

Keith shook his head. "I'm not good at that," he said. "But you should know that we're facing an empire that's conquered the vast majority of the galaxy. Thousands of worlds. I've fought the Galra before and I'll fight them again. You have to know, though, that Lance comes first."

"I wouldn't expect anything less," Allura said. "Not from one of the Wanderers. But you have to realize that he will never be safe so long as the Empire is allowed to do as it pleases."

"I said I'd fight," Keith said. "I'll pilot this lion, if you can find it, but don't expect me to join your pep rallies. We fight for whatever good we can do. If you think you're going to save the galaxy, you clearly don't know what state the galaxy is in."

"You clearly don't remember Voltron, or who you can be," Allura said.

"I remember enough," Keith said, noticing three mice exiting the device Allura had been working on. "Don't tell the others," he said, walking away.

Keith didn't know what time the other's had left, and he hadn't really been paying attention to his watch since, so he had no idea how long it took them to get back, other than that it took too long. He resisted the urge to go greet Lance when he got back. What mattered was that he got back. He listened to Lance and Hunk recounting their adventure getting the Yellow Lion from the planet that had in fact been swarming with Galra. Keith decided that Lance wouldn't be going on anymore missions without him in the future.

Shiro and Pidge got back not much later with the Green Lion. Now all they needed was the Red Lion and they'd be set to see if a millennia old robot was a match for a galactic empire. The two Alteans huddled together with Hunk and Pidge to discuss possible ways to track down Keith's lion until a blip on the main control panel caught Coran's attention.

"Small problem," Coran said.

"What's wrong?" Allura asked.

"Galra ships may have gotten a bit faster than they were when we went to sleep," Coran said.

"So when is it going to get here?" Shiro asked.

"I'd give us another varga," Coran said. Everyone looked at Pidge.

"Forty-two minutes."

"Okay," Hunk said. "Well we tried. Couldn't find all the lions, so why don't we just hop in the ones we've got and get out of here."

"We can't abandon the Black Lion to the Galra," Keith said.

"Three lions are more than enough to take on a single Galra cruiser," Allura said.

"It's been ten thousand years since you've seen a Galra cruiser," Pidge said.

"Yeah," Hunk said. "You also thought they'd be a lot slower."

"Look," Lance said. "No problem. Blue and me'll take care of it."

"You're not fighting the Galra alone," Keith said.

"Oh yeah, and what are you going to do?" Lance asked. "You don't even have a lion, and I don't need a backseat pilot."

"They are newly bonded," Coran said. "They haven't unlocked their lions' potential."

"Are you suggesting our lions aren't as strong as they'll be when we 'bond' with them more?" Pidge asked.

"Of course," Coran said.

"Right," Hunk said. "That. So we could attack the Galra with our ten thousand years out of date lions, or we could all go through a wormhole and just not be here when the Galra show up," he said. "Because, yeah, alien weapons have probably advanced a bit in the last ten thousand years."

"They're looking for Voltron for a reason," Coran said. "It is as the princess told you, Voltron is not merely technological. The Galra want Voltron because they know it's a threat to their empire. You may not be ready, but the galaxy cannot survive Voltron falling into their hands. We cannot simply give up."

"Can the castle survive if they decide to fire on the planet?" Shiro asked.

"I've got the fabricators generating a couple of new control chips for the castle's defenses," Coran said. "Besides that, everything should be good to go, though we won't really know until we can turn everything on."

"Will it be ready in time?" Hunk asked. "Should I help you take a look at the systems?"

"It'll be a close thing," Coran said, bringing up a progress bar on the control panel. "Probably best if the lions keep the ship distracted."

"This isn't a purely binary decision," Shiro said. "Princess, if we need a quick escape, how long would it take to create a wormhole?"

"Relatively quick," Allura said.

"We probe their defenses, see how powerful they are, and if we need to leave, then we leave," Shiro said.

"Princess I can take you in Blue if you need a quick getaway," Lance said, his voice suddenly dropping an octave.

The princess gave Coran a look and he shook his head.

"Only if we absolutely must," Allura said. "I will not leave the Black Lion for Zarkon."

"Okay," Shiro said. "Lance, I want you in your lion. You've got forty minutes to become as familiar with it's controls as you can." He turned to Coran. "Is this planet's moon populated?"

Coran checked the sensor panel. "It is completely lifeless."

"Practice some strafing runs," Shiro said. "Pidge, Hunk, find that lion, if we can get all five, we'll be set, but you need to be in your lions by the time that ship gets here. Keith, you and me are going to be by the pods. We're leaving as soon as we get word on your lion.

"Coran," Allura said. "Get these three into their armor. I'll work with Hunk and Pidge."

"Of course Princess," Coran said. "Right this way, you lot, time to get you into your Paladin armor."

They followed Coran to an armory where five suits of color coded armor were on display.

"Alright, usually helps to get the leg pieces first," Coran said. "Then chest, arms, and helmet. You should be able to get your own armor on by yourself, but it's faster if you help each other out."

There was a body suit that seemed to resize itself to fit Keith. The armor pieces also seemed to resize in a way that didn't look right for something that was very solid. Keith and Shiro worked together to get into their armor while Coran helped Lance.

"Oh my gosh, I look so cool," Lance said. Though Keith was pretty sure he'd said it in Spanish, since like with the Alteans, his lips and words didn't seem to match up. Lance flexed and posed a bit and Keith had to admit, to himself, that he did look very good.

"A lot of your suit is thought activated," Coran said. "Focus on your visor covering your entire face."

With a thought the helmets visor that had been just in front of his eyes extended down.

"Like this, your armor is completely sealed and you'll be able to survive the vacuum of space. Another thought will activate your shield. It's projected from your gauntlets. You've got a jet pack on your back. I'd teach you about the computers inside, but we don't really have the time. Come here and get your bayards."

A panel next to Coran opened up and revealed four devices, identical but for their color coding.

"Unfortunately we lost the black bayard with it's Paladin," Coran said. "But you two can go ahead and grab yours. The bayard is the weapon of the Paladin and it activates also with a thought. It will become the weapon that best suits you."

Keith picked up the red one as Lance picked up the blue. A moment later, and solid armor that resized itself to fit you didn't seem as strange as the small Sci-fi blaster like weapon transformed itself. Lance was holding some sort of large particle beam rifle and Keith watched as he examined the features and looked through the sight on top.

"Alright Gyeong, let's see what you've got," Lance said.

Keith activated his bayard with a thought and wasn't terribly surprised to find it transform into a sword with a bracer that wrapped around his forearm.

"A sword?" Lance crowed. "Were you raised in a ren-fair or something?"

Keith's face flamed red. "You want to go, cargo pilot?"

"That's enough," Shiro said. "Lance, get to your lion. If the Galra get here before Hunk and Pidge get into the air, keep them distracted but keep your distance."

"Roger that," Lance said, deactivating his bayard.

"Hold it over your thigh and think about storing it," Coran said.

Lance paused and did as he was told and the bayard seemed to disappear.

"Video game logic!" Lance exclaimed with a grin and walked out of the room.

"Are you comfortable with that?" Shiro asked, gesturing to the sword.

Keith stepped back a few steps and moved through a few forms to test the balance and feel of the weapon. It almost felt insubstantial, like it was made out of styrofoam, but Keith had little doubt that it would do the job. Deactivating it, he stowed it in his armor and walked out with Shiro towards the pod bay.

"You two keep fighting," Shiro said.

"He keeps picking fights," Keith said.

"You keep giving them to him," Shiro said.

"He really gets on my nerves," Keith said.

"Does he?" Shiro said. "Because I sort of got the idea you'd brush his comments off if they were coming from anyone else."

Keith blushed and turned his head a bit so his helmet would block his face from Shiro's view.

"Are you doing alright?" Keith asked instead.

"I'm doing just fine," Shiro said.

"Yesterday you were a prisoner to an evil alien empire."

Shiro nodded. "Bit of a changeup," he said. "But I'm focused on the mission."

Suddenly Pidge's voice came in over their comms.

"Good news bad news Keith."

"What's happening?" Keith asked.

"Well, we found your lion," Pidge said. "That's the good news. The bad news is that it's on the ship that's on its way right now."

That figured. Though the Princess did keep on about fate.

"Alright," Shiro said. "Pidge, Hunk, get into your armor. Lance, are you hearing this? We've got a new plan."

"Are you sending me in for an extraction?" Lance asked, sounding far too eager.

"You and Hunk are going to be the distraction," Shiro said.

Shiro took charge of planning the extraction while the princess and Coran went back to getting the castle ready for combat.

The plan was rather complex. The Yellow and Blue Lion would pretend to surrender (Keith supposed that international laws of war didn't apply outside of the solar system) while the Green Lion snuck up on the cruiser and Keith, Shiro, and Pidge snuck aboard and found the Red Lion. Keith didn't like the plan, since it directly went against his resolution to not let Lance go off on missions without him.

Soon enough the others were suited up and the mission was under way. Everything was happening so fast. Just that morning he'd been on Earth and the next thing he'd known he was in another solar system and he was about to infiltrate an alien spaceship. It was everything he'd ever wanted growing up and all of a sudden he had it. He could hear Lance and Hunk over the comms as they pretended to negotiate with the alien commander. Pidge opened up the hatch on the Green Lion and suddenly Keith was doing his first space walk. Queue memories proving that he'd done it all a hundred times before.

"Why are we doing this?" Hunk asked. He and Lance were in their lions and were waiting for the Galra ship to arrive.

"With great power comes great responsibility," Lance's voice came in over the comm.

"Did you just?" Pidge's indignant voice came in as well.

"Switching to two-way," Lance said. "Can you still hear me over there?" He asked.

"Yeah," Hunk said. "This is crazy, right? Tell me you know that this is crazy."

"Hunk, I'm sitting in an ancient giant magical space lion," Lance said. "We're past crazy."

"Yeah, but there's accepting technology that doesn't make sense, and then there's doing something crazy, like acting as bait."

"We're not bait," Lance said. "We're a distraction."

"Looks like bait, smells like bait," Hunk said.

"Yeah, well you're bait in a giant heavily armored spaceship," Lance said.

"Which the Galra want to scoop me out of like its a tin of sardines," Hunk said.

"Then focus on not getting caught," Lance said.

Then the Galra ship dropped into space right in front of them.

"They're hailing us," Hunk noted.

"Let it ring a bit," Lance said. "Draw this out a bit longer." Hunk noticed Lance switching between channels. "How're you doing Pidge?"

"Getting into position now," Pidge said.

One of his control panels started blinking at him. "Something's charging on the Galran ship, you guys," Hunk said.

"Opening a channel," Lance said.

The screen in front of Hunk brought up Lance's image, as well as what he was guessing was a Galra.

"I am Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire. I will speak to Princess Allura."

"Sendak! How's it going buddy, the princess is a bit busy right now, figured we'd just park out here in orbit as a bit of a welcoming committee."

"Prepare to surrender the lions of Voltron," Sendak said gruffly.

"Woah, woah, woah," Lance said. "Shouldn't we negotiate the terms of our surrender?"

"The terms are that you surrender in the hopes that I do not take the time to kill you very slowly."

"Okay, see now that's why we need to negotiate," Lance said. "How about we put no killing at all on the table?"

"Engage tractor beam," Sendak said.

"Break, break, break!" Lance barked, and Hunk shot away from the bright light that was now coming out from the front of the cruiser.

"They've launched fighters," Coran came in over the intercom. "And they're charging their particle cannon. It's aimed for the castle."

"How are those defenses?" Shiro asked.

"Not quite there yet," Coran said.

"Hunk," Lance said. "Take care of the big blaster thing, I'll keep the fighters off your back."

"Uhhh, right" Hunk said. His telemetry showed him a large spike of energy coming from some massive contraption on top of the ship. Hunk flew towards it, ready to tear it apart with his lion, only to bounce off of a particle barrier.

"This thing's shielded guys," Hunk said.

"Work the problem," Lance called out.

Hunk fired on the particle barrier, but there didn't seem to be much of an affect.

"It looks like their capacitors are almost full," Coran said.

"Uhhh," Hunk said, feeling dread and doubt rise up.

"Hunk," Lance said.

"I'm not sure," Hunk said.

"You don't need to be sure," Lance said. "Whatever you're thinking just do it."

Hunk sent his lion barreling forward, but this time it wasn't toward the cannon, but towards the nose of the ship. He touched up against the particle barrier and gunned the accelerator.

"They're firing," Coran said, and a purple light washed out the view screen momentarily. "And they missed."

Hunk breathed a sigh of relief. Then he felt as the cruiser started to correct for his own maneuvering.

Pidge had just latched her lions claws into the underside of the Galra ship when her instrument panel let her know that the ship had raised its particle barrier.

"Might have to disable that before we leave," Pidge said.

"Ready?" Shiro asked as she got out of the pilots chair.

"No, but let's do this," Pidge said.

"Go easy on thrusters," Shiro said.

"Understood," Keith said.

The chamber was depressurized and then the hatch opened up and Pidge gently launched herself out the opening. Or she thought she'd been gentle. "Woah," she said as she started out into the vacuum a lot faster than she'd planned. Then she 'gently' engaged her thrusters and wound up slamming into the side of the ship. She focused on holding on and something in her armor engaged and her hands and feet were drawn to the hull. She looked up in time to see Shiro touch down feet first like it was nothing, followed by Keith who gently landed on his hands and knees before standing up.

"Are you all right?" Shiro asked.

"Perfect," Pidge said, shakily standing up in an environment where there was no up. She didn't look into the void, instead she pulled out her Bayard and activated it. Crouching down she knelt down and cut a hole out of the hull only to have Shiro roughly pull her back before the section of hull she'd cut out was explosively shot off the ship with a rush of atmosphere.

"Right," Pidge said. It didn't take long for the compartment to vent and then they were in.

"Give me the device," Shiro said.

Keith handed him the thing that Coran had given them before they'd left. Shiro placed it centered in the hole in the hull and activated it. A particle barrier sprung up covering the hole and the device started spewing out air to fill the chamber that they were in. Pidge gave a few experimental taps to her wrist computer and determined that they had an appropriate amount of air. She pulled up the visor on her helmet with a thought.

"Do you feel anything Keith?" Shiro asked.

Keith pointed. "That way."

Shiro nodded. "Bayards out."

Keith's sword materialized in his hand and Pidge went and opened the door leading out of the chamber they were in. Shiro went out first, leading the way. Suddenly Keith's hand was on her shoulder, halting her, and that was when she heard footsteps coming from around the corner. Shiro charged forward, his mechanical hand now glowing a violent purple. He screamed wordlessly and then there were two metallic clunks. Keith moved forward, keeping Pidge behind him as they rounded the corner. Shiro was there standing over what looked like two humanoid robots that had been torn asunder. He looked at the two of them for a moment as if he didn't know who they were, but the moment passed.

"Did you know your arm did that?" Keith asked.

Shiro shook his head before his eyes zeroed in on an emblem on the side of one of the robots' shoulders.

"This is the Previx," Shiro said.

"The ship?" Keith asked.

"I was here for a while," Shiro said.

"Then the Holts could be here," Pidge said, looking up from where she had already hunkered down to look at the insides of the robot. Her suits scanner was already giving her interesting feedback on some of the parts and she yanked a chip out and stowed it before she turned towards Shiro. "Do you know where they kept prisoners?"

"We have a mission," Shiro said, a grim but firm look on his face. "This is bigger than that."

"We can't abandon them," Pidge said.

"I don't remember them being here," Shiro said. "And we're not abandoning them. We're going to war with the Empire that's holding them prisoner. I'm not giving up on finding them some day, but I can't turn every mission into a search and rescue."

"They're my family," Pidge said. "Commander Holt's my dad, Matt's my brother. If there's even a chance that they're here then I'm not leaving till we've checked."

There was a bit of a standoff after that as Shiro and Keith stared at her.

"Keith," Shiro said. "Follow your gut. Get to your lion."

"Shiro," Keith said, the word a protest.

"There's holding cells," Shiro said. "I can get us there, but you need to focus on getting your lion."

Keith nodded and took off.

"Do you remember me?" Pidge asked.

Shiro shook his head. "Not really," he said. It sort of hurt, but she wasn't eagerly waiting to see how he'd react when he realized she was a fourteen year old girl.

"Well which way do we go?" Pidge asked.

Shiro looked around. "This way," he said.

Flying against the fighters when they'd gone to get Hunk's lion had been exhilarating. Out in the vacuum of space, away from the pull of gravity, it was something else. The simulator at the Garrison hadn't prepared him for how awesome it was. The lion could make moves that would tear apart the Garrison fighters, and there had to be some sort of inertial dampeners, like in Star Trek, because otherwise Lance would have been turned to jelly already from the g-forces he'd otherwise be pulling.

His lion trembled as he took another hit and he used his lion's tail to shoot back.

"That's another one for Lance," he called out.

"You're not competing against anyone," Hunk said. "You're the only one fighting the fighters."

"How are you doing?" Lance asked.

"They're getting better at correcting for me knocking them off target," Hunk said.

Lance flipped his lion around and fired at the two fighters that had come up behind him.

"Princess?" Lance asked.

"We almost have it," the princess said.

"Pidge," Lance said. "You figured out their transmissions earlier. Any chance you can get into their computers?"

"I already captured one of their drones and reconfigured it," Pidge said. "His name's Rover and he's my new best friend."

"Yeah, cool," Lance said. "Can you do anything about their shields?"

"Give me a bit," Pidge said.

Lance took a hit and realized he'd gotten distracted worrying about the cannon. Sinking back into his awareness of the controls and console he flipped his lion around and shot forward at the fighter that had snuck up behind him. There was another one for Lance Sanchez.

Keith listened to Lance on the comms as he made his way through the cruiser feeling the tug of the Red Lion as he made his way through. Two robot sentries rounded the corner and Keith activated his shield and charged with his sword raised high.

The problem was that his sense for where the lion was was just a direction, rather than a route through the ship. It was a while and a few dead ends before he found himself in front of some large bay doors. He activated the control panel next to the door and stepped through, greeted by the sight of his lion. He heard an echoing roar in his head, a distant memory, but one that spread warmth throughout him. He ran up to the particle barrier surrounding the lion and put his hand up against it in greeting. Nothing happened.

"It's me, open up," Keith said, looking for some sign from the silent lion. "Come on, I'm your Paladin. I'm… I'm Gyrgan. Don't you remember me?"

The lion just stood there stoically. "I've been looking for you. I spent lifetimes looking for you. You can't have just forgotten me. I'm your Paladin. I think maybe I've always been your Paladin."

The doors behind him opened up and sentries piled in. Keith activated his shield and his Bayard with a roar and charged forward.

"What?" he asked. "Are you upset that I left? Newsflash. People don't always stick around. Even if you belong together. Even if you aren't meant to be apart. That's life Red."

He brought his sword around in an arc, shifting his hips with the movement as he cut a sentry in half as blaster fire splashed across his shield.

"So what are you going to do?" Keith asked as he kicked the husk of a sentry helmet off his sword. "You going to sit out this fight? Because I'm still going. I don't get a choice in this all." He could hear Lance crowing about another fighter taken out over the comms.

Then a blaster hit him in the back and sent him sprawling, his shield disappearing as he braced for the fall. He flipped himself over onto his back to find himself surrounded. Not how he'd been expecting to go out this lifetime, but close enough. He could still hear Lance.

Red's roar seemed to even shake the robotic sentries and a with a great crash she landed next to him, a mighty swipe of her paw sent sentries flying.

"Good kitty," Keith said, standing up. He activated his jets to get up to the waiting jaws of his lion, not sure how to feel about the reversal.

"I've got Red," Keith said, activating the comm.

"Are you inside the ship or outside?" Pidge asked.

"About to be outside," Keith said, activating his weapons array.

"Great," Pidge said. "I got their schematics. I'm sending you the locations of their particle barrier emitters. Get the ones around the cannon."

"Please hurry," Coran came on.

"Send him our extraction point also," Shiro said. "Lance, we've got a number of prisoners we freed from their brig in an escape pod that's about to exit the aft of the ship. Keep the fighters away from it.

"On it," Keith and Lance said at the same time.

Keith blasted his way out of the hangar and skimmed the insides of the particle barrier as he made his way towards the emitters, his own weapons punching a furrow into the ship as he went.

"It's about to fire again," Coran said.

"Shields are down around the cannon," Keith said.

Hunk's yell came over the comm and Keith watched as the Yellow Lion rammed into the cannon which writhed with purple energy and seemed to crumple where Hunk had hit it.

"Yes!" Lance called out. "Good work Hunk."

"Keith?" Shiro asked.

"On my way," Keith said, moving towards the aft of the ship where he picked up Shiro and Pidge and took Pidge to the Green Lion. Shiro came up to stand besides him in the cockpit, and Keith didn't think they'd seen anymore combat after they'd parted, but he looked haggard.

"Where's that pod, Lance?" Shiro asked.

"Almost to the atmosphere," Lance said. "But they really want to get it back; the fighters are going after it."

"Keith," Shiro commanded. "Go give Lance a hand. Pidge, start taking out shield emitters. Hunk, I want you to rip that cannon off the ship."

"Yeah, I can do that," Hunk said.

Keith ducked out from under the particle barrier and shot off after Lance. He heard Red growl as she identified the Galra targets in front of them. With the other ship to protect, Lance was less in a dogfight with the other ships and more using himself as a shield for the much smaller craft, focusing on targeting the ships that tried to get around him. Keith growled with his lion as he saw the Blue Lion shudder under the onslaught. He pounced on the closest fighter, ripping off one of its wings before he fired on the two right in front of him.

"Lance! Are you alright?" Keith asked.

"Why don't you worry about your own lion?" Lance shot back.

Shiro put a hand on Keith's shoulder before he could get out an angry retort. Keith focused on taking out the rest of the fighters.

"Emitters are down," Pidge said.

"Princess?" Shiro asked.

"I'm hailing our intruder now," Allura said. "Commander Sendak, was it? Perhaps you would like to negotiate the terms of your surrender."

"Victory or death," the Galra's voice came in over the comms.

"They've engaged thrusters," Pidge said.

"Disable their drive," Allura said. "We don't want them escaping."

"They're not escaping. They're accelerating towards the planet," Pidge said. "They're aiming for the castle."

"Good news!" Coran said. "Shields are up. Bad news, I don't think they're up for a hit like that just yet."

"Pidge," Shiro said. "Take out their thrusters."

"Sure," Pidge said. "But they're already on course."

"Destroy it," Keith said.

"That'll leave a ton of debris that's still on course for the castle," Shiro said.

"Yeah, I got this," Hunk said.

"What've you got?" Lance asked.

"Leave it to a pro," Hunk said.

The Yellow Lion flew up once more to the tip of the cruiser and started pushing it off course.

"I mean, if they really want to crash that badly," Lance said.

"Pidge, can you give us a better place for Hunk to direct the ship besides away from the castle?"

"On it," Pidge said. "Hunk, there's what looks like a rather lifeless looking desert beyond the mountain range that surrounds the castle. Adjust your vector thirty six degrees towards the planets northern poles."

"Yeah," Hunk said. "Engineers don't get nav courses."

"Oh," Pidge said. "Um, I think… Yeah, I dropped a pin and sent it to you. Just aim for the ex."

"Yeah, that works," Hunk said.

"That's the last of the fighters," Lance called out.

"Lance, Keith, I want you to flank the cruiser," Shiro said. "Just in case it manages to break away. All three of you peel off one kilometer from the surface."

"On it," Lance said. Keith redirected Red towards the ship, keeping an eye on Lance's lion on his screen as he did.

"I took out everything resembling a thruster on that thing," Pidge said. "They're not breaking away. But also, without it's shields it's probably going to start breaking up sooner than that."

"Good point," Shiro said. "All three of you, keep with it but keep your distance."

"So we're just going to watch them crash?" Pidge asked.

"A bit anti climactic," Lance said. As if he was disappointed. As if this was some grand adventure for him that wasn't ending the way it was supposed to. As if they should have only won by the grace of a hail marry. Lance wasn't ready to be out of the Garrison, much less fighting in a war.

"There's always next time," Pidge said.

Because there would be a next time. If they were lucky, there'd be a next time after that, and on and on. The war wasn't going to end anytime soon. They had the lions, but the Galra weren't just going to give up, even if Voltron did turn out to be some game changer.

Another planet saved from the Galra in the same day, the four lions landed inside of the ship in a massive hangar that held the four lions. Then the four lions decided to roar in unison and it turned out that the chamber was even bigger than he'd thought it was because a big wall opened up revealing Shiro's lion. And that was that. They had the five lions of Voltron, and Lance knew that this was the culmination of every moment of hard work he'd put in since he was twelve and he'd decided he was going to go to space.

Then they got assignments. Shiro and Allura went to deal with the prisoners that had been freed from the ship. Coran was still fixing up the castle. Lance got tasked with flying out to the wreckage of the Galra ship to scan for survivors. Meanwhile Gyeong got tasked with taking Hunk and Pidge out in their lions and getting them more familiar with piloting. Even though Lance was their team leader, and Gyeong was the washout.

So Lance went out and ran scans. The castle's scanners could have probably picked up anything there, but if there was any shielding they'd want to scan from multiple vectors. So, instead of doing something useful, like training the others, Lance got to fly around in circles scanning from this way and that before landing and letting the Blue Lion run around on the surface to get up real close to the wreckage that was strewn about all over the place. The great big ship didn't have the biggest terminal velocity after being slowed down by the thick Arusian atmosphere, but the angle it had hit had had it skimming along the surface leaving big chunks of the ship behind and a big scar in the landscape before it had collided with a big mountain cliff face.

"Lance, right?" Coran's voice came in over the comms.

"That's me," Lance said. "I'm not finding anything out here. Short of heading inside the main wreckage I don't think I'm going to get any better readings."

"Not without backup or knowing what the structural integrity of the ship is," Coran said. "Why don't you come back and help me with some things on my end."

"Copy that," Lance said. "You know, there's some sort of village about five kilometers from the castle?"

"Units of measure don't typically translate well," Coran said. "But yes, they do show up on the ships scanners. They must have had a bit of a light show today."

"Hah, yeah, they didn't look very advanced, so this is probably blowing their minds," Lance said, not mentioning that it would have blown minds back on Earth.

Helping Coran basically meant cleaning, which he was used to, both from his time at the Garrison and at the hotel, but it didn't really fit with the action hero space adventurer he had now become. There were only seven of them now, though, so he guessed that there wasn't going to be a cleaning crew anytime soon. Still, Gyeong got to fly around in space while Lance cleaned old grease off of some sort of parts that did something he didn't understand for the ship so Coran could reinstall them with new grease.

"No, not like that," Keith said, for the hundredth time. "Just do it like I did it."

"That's not a description of how to do it," Pidge complained.

"I think I'm going to hurl," Hunk said.

Keith groaned. Why'd he have to get saddled with this job?

The prisoners that they'd freed had been put up in a large ballroom and while Allura used a medical scanner to check over their guests, Shiro took the first two to get through to the kitchens to bring back food for everyone.

"What do they do with prisoners who aren't large and physically powerful?" Shiro asked. That was what all of the prisoners seemed to have in common. He didn't think either of the Holts would have fit into that group.

"If they're lucky, they get sent to a labor camp," a five armed alien with a good foot on Shiro said.

"And if they aren't lucky?" Shiro asked.

"Then they face us in the arena as a warm up."

"Arena?" Shiro asked. They already knew that he didn't remember what had happened to him. He and Pidge had opened up the door to their mass cell and they'd looked at him in shock, calling him 'the Champion.' They had seemed to know him, or at least they'd seemed to know of him.

"Every large Galra ship has one. They pit us against each other in the arena, and Galra from all over the empire get a feed of the fight. They trade you around from ship to ship if you're popular."

An image of a large alien towering over him entered his mind, it yelled at him and charged.

"And the Champion?" Shiro asked.

"You were undefeated under Sendak, so he sent you to Zarkon's personal arena as a gift. That was where you were named Champion."

All he had to fight with was a club. His opponent had a sword. He took a step back to avoid a swing and came back forward, bringing his own weapon down on his opponents head. A thick green fluid went everywhere.

"Did I fight either of you?" Shiro asked, feeling his heart pound rapidly in his chest.

The fellow he was talking to raised the stump of his missing sixth arm in answer, making Shiro's stomach clench for a moment. He didn't remember that, but he could imagine it happening in his mind.

"Bryak here came in after you left," he said for the other one who hadn't talked at all.

Alteans had very advanced stasis technology, and the food that had been sitting in the castle for ten thousand years was still good to eat, apparently. Once in the kitchens, they started piling up a cart with as much food as it would carry, and then grabbed a bit more besides.

"So the fights in the arena isn't to the death?" Shiro asked, hoping that he'd have some sort of good news on the Holts, and for himself.

"The Galra reward victors, and they prefer bloodshed. They reward bloodshed. Of course, if the commander doesn't particularly care for the defeated, then he might send his pet drhakar in to finish things if the victor decides on mercy. I'm alive because you decided not to kill me, and because Sendak decided to see how many arms I could lose and still win in the arena. You showed mercy when you could. I think they found it amusing."

Shiro looked down at the arm that the Galra had given him. The arm that had burned through metal sentries like they were paper mache. What would it do to flesh?

"Princess Allura is asking the others, but is there anywhere you know of we can send you where you'll be safe?" Shiro asked, deciding he didn't want to know anything else about the arena. He hoped he never remembered anything else about the arena.

"My home is gone. We didn't know that there were worlds besides our own before the Galra came."

"I'm sorry," Shiro said. "We'll try to find a place for you."

They arrived back to the ballroom and started passing out food and then they went off again to find linens and when their guests were finally settled, Shiro and the Princess went off for a talk.

"Most of their injuries were old and healed over," Princess Allura said. "We'll have them sorted out by tomorrow. Apparently there's a major trading post a few sectors over. Athren seems to have taken charge of the group, and she thinks they should be able to sell off the Galran pod ship there and purchase passage to wherever they need to go."

"Good," Shiro said. That was one less thing to worry about. "We need to decide how this is all going to work."

"It won't be an issue," Princess Allura said. "Their pod is in perfect working order. I can open up a wormhole and send them through as soon as they're ready."

"I meant Voltron, and you, and this castle, and us. How does this work? You said, I lead Voltron. Do you expect me to manage your war?"

"You lead Voltron, but I will be managing the war, with Coran as my adviser," Allura said. "Voltron is not yours to do with as you please."

"I understand that," Shiro said. "Now, with all due respect, Princess, what experience do you have managing a war?"

"As the heir apparent of Altea, I was raised from a young age to garner peace throughout the galaxy, with Voltron at my side," Princess Allura said. "I've learned strategy from the cradle. In the five pheebs before Altea's destruction I sat on the Council of Conflicts. What are your own experiences?"

"I was taught field level strategy at the Garrison, and I studied historical conflicts," Shiro said. "To be honest, the most recent war on Earth ended when I was a small child. None of us have any actual experience. The Galra ship that abducted me was the first contact we'd had with aliens. None of us are exactly prepared for an interstellar war."

"Then you will recognize me as you regent and commander?" Princess Allura asked.

"Our people forewent monarchy for democracy a long time ago, Princess," Shiro said. "We won't be swearing fealty to you. I will follow your judgement though, when it comes to managing this war. Though I'm going to expect a plan a bit more involved than throw Voltron at the Galra."

"We'll work on that," Princess Allura said. "I'll expect you to advise me alongside Coran."

Shiro nodded his head.

"What can you tell me about the rest of the Paladins?"

"I only really know Keith," Shiro said. "He's my foster brother. He's very skilled as a pilot, and he's good with hand to hand combat, but he chafes under tight control."

Princess Allura held up a hand. "I'm sorry, I want to make sure I understand you," she said. "He will develop a skin rash?"

Shiro huffs a small laugh. It was easy to forget that idioms wouldn't translate well. "He gets upset if he can't do things his own way."

"As to be expected from the pilot of the Red Lion. You will be expected to guide him, even if he 'chafes,'" Princess Allura said. "What of the others?"

"I don't really know them at all," Shiro said. "They were all cadets. Lance was being trained as a pilot at the Garrison, Pidge as a science officer, and Hunk as an engineer."

"They are none of them warriors of Earth?" Princess Allura asked.

"Not in any sense of the word," Shiro said.

"They were chosen for a reason," Princess Allura said. "But still, we will have to get to know their abilities and train them in any deficiencies."

"Agreed," Shiro said. "I'm pretty confident I understand Keith's abilities. I'll talk with the other three tonight and get a sense of where they are and what their skill sets are. I'll tell you now, Pidge has little combat training. Lance and Hunk will have some, but it will be varied. I won't know what classes they took until I talk to them."

"It may be a while until Voltron is going to be ready to bring the fight to the Galra," Princess Allura said. "But we must move them as fast as we can."

Shiro nodded. "They're used to a high training tempo," he said.

"I'll take that to mean that they can keep up," Princess Allura said.

They were either going to have to stop using idioms or there was going to have to be a class.

"You should also know that there were two others who were captured with me by the Galra, and they're both Pidge's family," Shiro said. "I think it's safe to say that finding them is his primary objective."

"The prisoners called you 'the Champion,'" Princess Allura said. "I took that to mean that the Galra used you for blood sport."

Shiro nodded. "Prisoners who are 'lucky,' get sent to labor camps," he said. "Neither of them would have survived long otherwise, so that's my hope for now."

"My home is gone," Princess Allura said. "It's possible that Coran and I are the last of our people. I have little of my own left to protect. My priority now is stopping the Galra. Stopping Zarkon. What are your priorities, leader of Voltron?"

"I'm sworn to defend Earth," Shiro said. "It seems to me that the best way to do that is to defeat the Galra Empire."

"Then in this we are in accordance," Princess Allura said. She tapped one of the bracelets on her wrist and a holo display popped up. "Your Paladins should be back from their training by now, and I still need to make sure the teludav is properly calibrated."

"How was training?" Shiro asked Pidge when she walked into the office that Coran had set him up in.

"Horribly painful," Pidge said.

"Literally?" Shiro asked.

"Just for my pride and my patience," Pidge said.

"Well, there's going to be a lot of training in the future," Shiro said.

"How are we going to find my family?" Pidge asked.

"We fight the Galra, gain intelligence, free worlds that are being occupied," Shiro said. "If they're out there, Pidge, they'll be in a labor camp. That's the best I could get from our guests. We get your family back by waging war against the Galra."

"I can't wait until we just stumble upon them," Pidge said defiantly, and Shiro was torn on what track to take.

"Data gathering is going to be a priority," Shiro said. "When we find out where they are, we'll start planning an extraction."

"That's not good enough," Pidge said. "Did you forget them too, or did you just never care about them?"

That set Shiro on edge.

"There are a lot of people out there who want their family back," Shiro said. "There are a lot of families being ripped apart right now. Earth's going to be in their path sooner or later. This is the way it has to be. Freeing people is going to be a priority. Finding your family is going to be a priority, but not to the exclusion of everything else."

Pidge pushed his glasses back up his nose and was silent for a while. "The Garrison knew that there were aliens coming," he said. "They kept it quiet, to- to stop a panic, or, I don't know why, but they had everything they needed to figure out that there were going to be aliens in our solar system when you got to Kerberos. They didn't warn you. They sacrificed you for the greater good or some bullshit."

"We're not sacrificing your family," Shiro said.

"I get to look for them while we fight the Galra," Pidge said.

"Within the parameters of the mission," Shiro said.

"And we go get them when I find them," Pidge said.

"When we have a plan," Shiro said.

"Alright then," Pidge said, holding out his hand. Shiro took it, knowing that it was a bargain.

"Alright," Shiro said. "So, what do you bring to the table?"

Pidge pointed to the Galran droid hovering next to him. "Hacker," he said.

"I'd gathered as much when you told me you'd modified your school records so you wouldn't have to take a combat elective," Shiro said. As well as when he'd watched Pidge pick up an alien droid he'd never seen before and make it his own.

"I pick up physics and computer languages exceedingly fast, I'm a good liar, and I'm actually pretty good at crawling through air ducts."

"Any combat training whatsoever?" Shiro asked.

"None," Pidge said.

"Weaknesses?" Shiro asked.

Pidge held up his arms, which were not very well toned at all. "No kryptonites," Pidge said. "But I will forget to eat if I'm working on a problem, and sleep, and just, you know, everything."

"I know how to manage that," Shiro said. "Anything else I should know?"

Pidge shook his head, and he might have thought he was good at lying, but Shiro knew instantly that there was something he was hiding. "Alright," he said. "Princess Allura gave me a stack of tablets and communicator earpieces. Tap and say a name to open a channel. These ones are yours. Now, when you open up your tablet you're going to find a questionnaire. I've got a bunch of questions in there about flight skills and health, and anything else I could think of."

Pidge took the tablet, a glint in his eyes as he examined the alien tech.

"Maybe ask one of our hosts before you take it apart," Shiro said. "Send in Hunk on your way out."

Hunk felt like he was waiting outside the Commander's office. Lance seemed fine, for all that he'd just had a blowout with Keith, and was talking animatedly about the mission he'd gone on while they'd been training earlier. Training had not been fun. Besides pointing his lion at something and telling his lion to go forward, Hunk had no sense of direction, and even less of a desire to pull any maneuvers that would upset his stomach. Keith had just kept yelling at them and Hunk still wasn't sure what they had been supposed to have learned.

"So then I landed, and me and Blue ran around, poking at the wreckage, turning things over incase there was something hiding inside," Lance said. "It's not as cool as flying, but running around in Blue is great."

The door next to them opened up and Pidge walked out. "You're next," he said, looking at Hunk.

"Good luck buddy," Lance said.

Good luck would be for Shiro to decide to send him back to Earth. Though he had a suspicion he'd be arrested back on Earth.

"Hunk," Shiro said. "Have a seat. Is Hunk a nickname?"

"It is," Hunk said, not elaborating. "How long is this going to take?"

"Only a few minutes," Shiro said. "Same as with Pidge. I know it's been a long day but Coran's making sure the Paladin's quarters are set up for us."

"I meant this war thing," Hunk said.

Shiro sighed. "I honestly can't say. A long time. Look-"

"I already got the pep talk," Hunk said. "No point of going to Earth if the Galra are just going to destroy it. I get it but…"

"But this isn't what you signed up for," Shiro said.

"It's really not," Hunk said. "After I graduated, I was going to be counting down the days until I could get a desk job. I'm an engineer, and not a 'flight engineer,' a glorified mechanic. I designed hypothetical HRDs for fun. There's admittedly, a lot of stuff onboard I really want to take apart and figure out, but none of that translates to Paladin."

It wasn't that he didn't understand the need to stop the Galra. He'd basically already resigned himself to the stupid fatalistic mumbo jumbo that seemed to say that he was supposed to be a part of it. But that still didn't mean he liked it or thought it made any sense at all.

"We value the skills you bring to the table," Shiro said. "And we're going to work on developing your other skills. I've got a tablet computer for you with a questionnaire on it about your various skills and needs. Besides that I wanted to ask you about your experience. What was your combat class at the Garrison?" He handed over the tablet and a communicator with a brief explanation.

Hunk told him about being on the wrestling team, and he really hoped he wasn't going to be expected to wrestle any Galra. Then they talked about weaknesses.

"The Garrison wouldn't let me take anti-emetics when I was in the simulator," Hunk said.

"We'll work on that," Shiro said. "The Garrison was hoping to train you out of needing them, since you might not have access on long term missions. We don't really have the time for that and realistically, you're always a wormhole away. We'll see what we can do. By the way, what shape did your Bayard take?"

Hunk frowned. "Really big gatling gun like thing," he said. It wasn't really heavy, but he wasn't sure why he'd gotten it at all.

"Have you ever fired anything like it?" Shiro asked.

"Not ever," Hunk said.

Shiro nodded and Hunk wondered if the man also realized how ridiculous it was for Hunk to be a Paladin.

"Anything else you want to share?" Shiro asked.

"The food here is terrible," Hunk said.

"We'll work on that too," Shiro said. "Send in Lance on your way out."

It was sort of obvious that Keith still had some sort of feelings for Lance, which Shiro did not really understand since they didn't seem to like each other at all. Of course he wasn't going to judge his foster brother for his abysmal love life, and he'd try not to go big bad brother on Lance.

"Have a seat Cadet?" Shiro said.

"Am I still?" Lance asked, sitting down opposite him. Shiro wasn't sure why he'd called him 'cadet' in the first place.

"No, you're not," Shiro said. "You're a Paladin now. Any reservations."

"Well, dinner was in the form of goo, but I'm ready to kick some Galra butt, Sir," Lance said enthusiastically. He at least didn't seem to need a pep talk.

"I don't think we'll be doing 'Sirs'" Shiro said. "Call me Shiro." Hunk and Pidge seemed to have divested themselves of the word early on and the team dynamic he was thinking about didn't really mesh with the rigid protocols from the Garrison. "I wanted to get to know you all a bit better," he said. "Understand your strengths and what we might need to work on. You were in the support pilot track, right? I'll ask Keith to help get you up to speed." They'd need to learn to work together at least.

"Woah, woah, woah," Lance said. "I took Keith's spot in the fighter program when he got expelled the start of second year, when we actually start learning tricky maneuvers. That was about nine months ago. I was ranked sixth. He's behind me in terms of training."

That gave Shiro pause. He still didn't have a good handle on what had happened to Keith while he was gone.

"All right then," Shiro said. "We'll need to do an assessment of all of your flight skills anyway. Tell me about your combat track."

"Combat marksmanship, first and second year," Lance said. "I got sent to represent the Garrison at the IMSC World Marksmanship Championship. I took home silver in the Close Quarters Movement event on rifle. I received high ranks as team lead during group exercises, and I've also got sniper training."

"Good," Shiro said. He was glad to have a diverse range of skills on the team, but they were lacking in any meaningful combat skills. "I think you're the only one of us with more than basic training on the rifle."

"Oh, Pidge doesn't have any training," Lance said. "He hacked his way into the Garrison as a transfer student. Started in second year. I found that out last night. He's like a conspiracy nut who was right about his conspiracy."

Shiro found himself brought up short for the second time during the interview. He was going to have to get the full story on that. He found himself feeling tense, as if these basic unknowns were more monumental than they were. He took a few deep breaths.

"Alright," Shiro said. "Pidge has a largely short range weapon, that's… also a grappling hook. I'll have him work with Keith. I'll have you work with Hunk, though I'm sure his crew serve weapon is a bit different from the rifle."

"Is that what he got?" Lance asked. "That's great. I mean hands down, he's the strongest guy on the team, so I bet he can handle that just fine. I'll definitely help him with that."

"Any weaknesses or things you need to work on?" Shiro asked.

Lance frowned, and Shiro found himself tamping down a spike of irritation at his nonresponse.

"I just need to know where we're starting from," Shiro said, calmly. "We may have been chosen by ancient magic lions, but I don't think any of us are exactly ready to be Paladins.

"Well I mean, you are," Lance said.

Shiro quirked an eyebrow.

"Oh, well, um, I've got ADD," Lance said quietly. "And I don't have my meds." Then he got animated. "But it doesn't matter. I wasn't allowed them anyways in the simulator, and look where I am now. It's actually a good thing, I can get hyper focused when I'm flying."

"You needed medication for the classroom though?" Shiro asked.

"I could have gotten by without," Lance said.

"That's good to hear," Shiro said. "There's a lot we're going to have to catch up on. I need to know if you're having trouble keeping up."

"I won't," Lance said. "Have trouble that is."

"But if you do you'll tell me, so that I can make sure you get the information you need," Shiro said.

"Oh, yeah," Lance said. "But it won't be necessary. Because I've got this."

"Good," Shiro said. He picked up another tablet and communicator earpiece. "These are yours. I've got a questionnaire on there. It's a self assessment. Navigation and flight skills and health and stuff like that. Same as everything else, I just need to know where you're starting from. Tap the communicator to open the channel, say a name to open a direct line."

"Roger that, Sir," Lance said. "Um, Shiro."

"Go ahead and head to the bridge," Shiro said. "Coran's going to show us to our quarters later and we can all get a bit of rest." Or at least the rest of them could. Shiro had more stuff he needed to work out with the princess.

"Actually there was another thing," Lance said as he got up. Shiro stood as well.

"What's that?" Shiro asked.

"I'm Hunk and Pidge's team lead," Lance said. "And I was in small unit leadership at the Garrison. If you need…"

"It's a small team Lance. I think I have it covered. Besides, you've got enough on your plate. I'll see you tomorrow morning for training." The team lead who didn't notice one of his crew had completely missed first years foundational courses probably shouldn't be bragging about the position.

Stupid stupid stupid. Why did he have to tell him about the ADD? 'You've got enough on your plate.' Stupid.

"How'd it go?" Hunk asked. He and Pidge were crouched next to an open access panel and Pidge was talking into his new communicator, probably with the Princess who wasn't in the command room.

"It went great," Lance said. "Hey, congrats on your Bayard. Action stars always look their most badass when they're lugging around a crew serve weapon. Yours truly is going to be helping you get settled with it."

"Great," Hunk said, very unenthusiastically. He shoved his arm into the access panel up to his shoulder and twisted something and the whole thing started to glow.

"How's that look on your end princess?" Pidge asked.

Whatever her response, Pidge motioned to the section of wall that had covered the access panel and Hunk lifted it back into place.

Coran looked up from the main control panel. "You four ready to get settled for the night?"

"Please tell me we get our own rooms," Pidge said.

"You do indeed," Coran said. "Come on, I'll show you the way to the Paladin's quarters."

"Shouldn't we say goodnight to the Princess?" Lance asked, eager to see her once more.

Pidge groaned.

"Ignore him," Keith said.

"Hey," Lance said. "People should be ignoring you."

Keith rolled his eyes at him dismissively and Lance opened his mouth to tell him where he could stick his eye roll when Coran cleared his throat and said, "Right this way, Paladins."

The Paladins quarters were close to the bridge, and each of the five doors in the hallway were marked with a slash of color that correspond to each of the lions. Walking into the room with the blue slash, Lance found a bed tucked into an alcove in the wall with pull out storage overhead. There was a desk and a small attached bathroom. He was a bit disappointed to find that there was only a shower stall and no tub. There were a few products left out on the counter and Lance hoped at least one of them was a moisturizer.

He set the tablet on the desk and it propped itself up and started projecting a holographic keyboard that had the qwerty alphabet on it and Lance figured that Pidge had somehow been involved. Using the tablet was somewhat intuitive and Lance pulled up the questionnaire before he could forget to do it. He had no idea how Shiro had found the time to type it up. There was a very long list of onboard tasks, combat proficiencies, health questions, and other random space based questions like 'Understanding of habitable atmospheric conditions,' or 'Zero-g personal movement proficiency.' Lance spent over an hour filling it out. There was a lot of stuff he was pretty sure Shiro knew wasn't second year material, so he didn't feel too bad for selecting 'No Proficiency,' for a lot of them.

The last question though wasn't about any sort of proficiency or medical condition. 'Due to the nature of our departure and our current endeavor, it is unlikely that we will return to Earth, or have communication with Earth, in the near future. Do you anticipate any personal, or family related issues that will be arise from this absence that will significantly impact your psychological wellbeing?' Lance wrote in 'No,' before he could really think about it and sent it off as he felt his mood plummet.

The idea that he'd never be a Garrison pilot didn't bother him. He was doing something far more awesome, but he honestly had no idea how long it would be before he ever saw his family again. A more morbid thought occurred to him. He didn't know if he'd ever see them again. They weren't just a call away. He wouldn't see them in a few months for Winter break. How old were the twins going to be the next time he saw them. How long until Uncle Lance was just a distant memory. How many weddings was he going to miss? What were they all thinking? Veronica had to already know that he was missing. They'd have no idea what happened.

The Garrison had probably watched the Blue Lion take off. Might have even seen it go through the wormhole. But they had no idea that Lance was onboard, and even if they did, they weren't about to tell his family that. He was just AWOL. He'd snuck out in the middle of the night and was never seen again. What would that do to them? What would they think of him? They just wouldn't know. They might not ever know.

Lance could feel himself spiraling. He pushed himself away from the desk and paced around for a bit. He wasn't going to start his space adventure by letting his anxiety back in and without his therapist to help get him right in the head. He reminded himself that there wasn't anything he could do about his family. He reminded himself that there wasn't any use in worrying about it. He focused on the amazing things he was going to do. Lance Sanchez saved the Earth and fought aliens. Lance Sanchez traveled the stars. Lance was going to be strong for his family, so that they'd never even need to know about the Galra.

Hunk and Pidge were his team, and they'd probably read the same question that Lance had. He was their team lead. Heroes didn't get bogged down, they kept positive. They always had a good one-liner to lighten the mood. They took care of the people around them. He took a deep breath and walked out the door and into the hallway. He knocked on the door with the yellow stripe.

"Come in," Hunks voice called out as if there wasn't a big metal door in-between them. Said metal door opened of its own volition. Hunk was at his desk with his tablet.

"How's it going?" Lance asked. "If you've figured out quintessence yet, I'm going to have to ask you to avoid blowing up anything with it, at least for tonight."

"Are we going to need to be able to do all of these things?" Hunk said, looking up from his tablet. "Because there's stuff on here I hope I never have to do, much less get proficient at."

"Space walk?" Lance asked

"Among other things," Hunk said.

"I think some things they just want to know who knows what so that they know who to assign to what. I don't think we all have to be proficient at everything. But hey, that last question, when you get to it, don't worry too much about things you can't change, and if you need to talk to someone about anything, I've got you buddy."

"Well that's ominous," Hunk said scrolling to the bottom of the questionnaire and reading the question. "Oh," he said.

"Yeah," Lance said.

"I mean my initial plan was to get in the development program which would have meant spending a couple of years on the moon," Hunk said.

"But you would have had contact at least," Lance said.

"Yeah," Hunk said.

"Look," Lance said, but Hunk interrupted him.

"You already said it," Hunk said. "We've got to make sure Earth's safe. But if someone else comes along who's a better Paladin, I'm giving this up in a heartbeat."

Lance didn't think fate worked like that.

"Sure buddy," Lance said. "We'd be hard pressed to find a better engineer though."

"We'll see how long it takes me to get caught up with all of this alien tech," Hunk said, and here he did at least sound a bit eager.

"No time at all," Lance said. "Just not tonight, okay? I don't think there's going to be a lot of sleep in our future, so get it while you can."

"Oh, I'm exhausted," Hunk said. "No argument tonight."

"Yeah, well, goodnight," Lance said. "Take your communicator if you go anywhere."

"Night Lance."

Next he knocked on Pidge's door. No response. He knocked a bit louder, because he sincerely doubted that the little gremlin had gone to sleep at a decent hour. There was some sort of a grunt from inside that seemed to tell the door to open. Pidge was at his desk with his over ear headphones around his neck and his laptop and Altean tablet open side by side.

"You going to be able to charge that?" Lance asked, referring to the laptop, but eyeing the headphones longingly. He didn't have his own. Pidge was the only one who really had any personal belongings when they left earth.

"Hunk's going to work on it," Pidge said. "It should last me another day though."

"I was worried about my phone," Lance said.

"We'll take care of it," Pidge said. "Might just do a data transfer onto some Altean tech though."

"You finish the questionnaire?" Lance asked.

"Yep," Pidge said.

"If that last one becomes relevant, you can talk to me if you need to," Lance said. "I know a lot about dealing with stress and worries about your families."

Pidge shook his head. "I'm out here because of my family," Pidge said. He huffed a breath. "Shiro already knows this. My last name's Holt."

"That's what this was all about?" Lance asked. "They're your family?"

"My dad and my brother," Pidge said.

"Oh my god," Lance said. The whole hacking his way into the Garrison suddenly seemed a lot less crazy. "Look, if you need anything-"

"I'm where I need to be," Pidge said. "I just need to find them."

"So much stuff makes sense now," Lance said. "Wait, so you took on an assumed name. What else was fake? Because you sort of look twelve."

"I'm fourteen," Pidge said indignantly.

"Oh my god you're a baby," Lance said, literally horrified.

"I'm fourteen!" Pidge said again.

"Yeah," Lance said. "You're fourteen."

"Look, we're both kids, so you can get off your high horse," Pidge said.

"Yeah, I'm seventeen," Lance said, pointing at himself. "You. Are. A. Baby," he said while making a rocking motion with his arms.

"That doesn't matter," Pidge said. "Look, what are you going to do? Send me back to Earth? I went AWOL. They've started an investigation. Don't forget everything I've done, at age fourteen. I covered my tracks but there's only so much scrutiny I can survive. They know what I did and they've probably figured out what I got into. If I go back, they're going to make me disappear."

"You're a child in a war zone," Lance said.

"Everywhere's a warzone," Pidge said.

"Yeah, well there's a matter of degree," Lance said. "You could stay in the castle."

"The castle's ground zero," Pidge said. "What, you want to just drop me off at a random planet at the edge of the solar system and hope the Galra never show up? Hope there's another green Paladin waiting for you there? I'm not going home until I get my family back, and I'm not going to let you or anyone else stop me."

Lance dropped his head into his hands and gripped at his hair a bit. He took a deep breath in and let it out in a woosh. "Okay," he said. "I mean it's not okay, but okay." He looked at his watch. "It is super late, and we've been up since about sunrise," he said.

"I've got too much to do," Pidge said.

"You've got too much you need to do or too much you want to do?" Lance said.

"Our next mission could hinge on me being able to hack Galra tech," Pidge said.

"Our next mission could hinge on you staying awake," Lance said. "I haven't seen any caffeine products here."

Pidge frowned. "That's a problem," he agreed.

"Good night?" Lance asked.

"Good night," Pidge sighed, actually sounding tired. Then he turned and pointed a finger in his face. "You're not the boss of me," he said indignantly.

"Uh huh," Lane said. "Get some sleep."

The gremlin grumbled as he walked out. "And keep your communicator on you if you go anywhere," he said as the door closed.

He walked a bit down the corridor and eyed Gyeong's door. He tapped the communicator on his ear. "Shiro?"

There wasn't any indication that it had worked until Shiro's voice came on in his ear.

"Lance? Everything alright, Cadet?… Or Paladin, rather."

"Yeah," Lance said. "Or, no, um." Hecking eloquent Sanchez. "Pidge mentioned he told you he's Commander Holt's son?"

"It came up," Shiro said.

"Did he tell you he's fourteen?" Lance asked.

There was a pause on the other end.

"That did not come up," Shiro said. He sighed. "Thanks for the heads up. I'll take it from here."

"Roger that," Lance said. "Do I just tap this again, or…"

"One way to find out," Shiro said.

"Right," Lance said, tapping the earpiece, and then belatedly, "Goodnight," he said as if Shiro could still hear him. Stupid. Lance Sanchez didn't have trouble talking to anyone. Looking at Gyeong's door again he steeled himself and knocked. The door opened a moment later to reveal a sweaty Keith. He'd ditched the jacket for what looked like an impromptu workout and Lance noticed something he hadn't when they'd changed into their Paladin armor.

"You lost weight," Lance said.

"What?" Gyeong asked.

"Why are you working out?" Lance asked.

"I was bored?"

"Well stop it?"

"What?"

"You really were eating nothing but ramen and canned soup," Lance accuse. "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, that's not healthy."

"What?"

"I can see your ribs through your shirt," Lance said. "You know what? Yeah. You're on double rations."

"What are you talking about?" Gyeong asked. "We don't have rations, we just take as much food goo as we want from the dispenser."

"Yeah, well you're eating more of it," Lance said. "And take it easy until you're not… this," he said, waving his hands around.

Gyeong's face darkened. "Are you making fun of me?" He asked.

"No, you're actually-"

"You need to take this seriously," Gyeong said icily.

"What are you talking about?" Lance asked. "I am taking this seriously."

"No," Gyeong said. "You're acting like everything's some grand adventure. This is real life, Lance, you're going to get yourself killed if you don't get that."

"Hah," Lance said pointing at him. "Hah, hah, that's rich coming from the washout. I'm taking this very seriously. I'm even…" He was about to tell Gyeong all about how he'd been checking in on the others, like a good team lead, but then he remembered Shiro's earlier dismissal. "Did you tell Shiro that I don't take things seriously?"

"What?" Gyeong asked. "No, I-"

"Can it mullet," Lance said. "I don't need you undermining me."

"That's not my name," Gyeong said, as if he were confused by it.

"I know what your name is," Lance said. "I'm just calling you by your defining personality trait."

"My hair isn't a personality trait," Gyeong said.

"For you it is," Lance said.

"I don't need to listen to this!"

"Yeah, well stay out of my business," Lance said, turning to storm off. "Finish your questionnaire, keep your communicator on you, and fucking eat something so you don't pass out in training tomorrow."

He didn't know how he was going to work with the guy.

A/N: Thanks for sticking with me so far. Let me know what you think. An alternative title for next chapter is: Some Caffeine Required.