Chapter 4

"This is Katie Holt, Paladin of the Green Lion, broadcasting to earth." There is a pause. "Does anyone copy? Over." Another pause. "I repeat, this is the Paladin of the Green Lion and part of the Voltron Coalition. If you hear me, please respond. Over. Dad, are you there?" Nothing. Pidge pulled her knees to her chest and sat like that for a while.

Hunk was looking at his lion. "What are you looking at?" Romelle inquired. "Oh. Hey. Haha. Didn't see you there... right there. I'm just checking out the lion. A good pilot can tell you everything you need to know by a solid visual inspection. It is time consuming, and it take impeccable attention to detail, but it is worth it."

"Amazing." Pidge walked up behind them. "Hunk, I just ran a multi-lion system diagnostic test. The report back showed that the faunatonium partially replenished the power cores, but they're still not at 100 percent, so we'll need to take it slow." Hunk sunk but then popped back up. "Yep, partially replenished power core, nailed it. That's pretty much what I got too." He told Romelle. She did not look convinced. "Were you able to contact Earth." Shiro asked Pidge. "No luck. The low power levels are probably affecting out broadcasting distance. I'll keep trying as we head for Earth."

"I can't believe we're finally going home." Lance told everyone. "I'm gonna hug my parents and never let go." Hunk promised. "I can't wait to see how Dad integrated Altean and Earth technologies together. I bet he came up with something amazing. And my mom... oh. She's gonna be so mad at me. I'm definitely grounded." Keith turned to Coran after Pidge finished her rant. "How long do you think it'll take us to get to Earth?" He was using his fingers and moving them up and down. "I was just calculating that now. Without the luxury of a wormhole and with diminished power cores, let me see," He started mumbling about numbers and moving his fingers. "Ah yes, it's gonna take us approximately 150,000 Earth years." All of the paladins felt their souls leave their bodies. "Coran, I think your finger counting is a little off. It's going to be 1.5 years." Everyone sighed in relief when Pidge said that. "Oh right, I didn't carry the three."

"IT's going to be a very long a difficult voyage, but it's our only change to replace the Castle of Lions." Allura told everyone. "There are times when I thought I'd never see Earth again. To be able to go back..." Shiro was interrupted by Lance. "Well, what are we waiting for! Let's hit the space road."

"I suppose we need to figure out who's flying with whom." Krolia pointed out. "And what about the animals." Coran stated. "What about them?" Pidge asked. "Well," Coran began, "The wolf can't go with Kaltenecker, wolves eat cows. And the Cow can't be in the same area as the mic because aren't cows afraid of mice?"

"A, no, elephants are afraid of mice." Lance told them. "Elephants?"

"Yeah, they're giant, gray animals with long noses that grab things." The picture that the Alteans came up with, was not an elephant. "Earth sounds so strange." Allura stated. "The wolf is riding with me, but that means Hunk will have to take the cow." Keith ordered. "Me, with the cow? Not a good idea."

"Hunk's right. Keith, you're keeping the cow. Someone else is going to have to take the wolf." Lance said. Everyone looked at Pidge. "Not me. I am allergic. "I'll take the mice." Allura said. " How come you get the smallest passengers." Keith was not happy. "I say we go old school and draw straws." Hunk suggests. "But I'm terrible at drawing." Allura sighed. "She really is." Coran told everyone. "Guys, your all overthinking this. I know exactly where everyone should go." So, Hunk got the mice. Allura got the wolf. Keith got Coran, Krolia, and Shiro. "How did I get stuck with the wolf?"

"I'd gladly trade you the wolf for..."

"I have a question." Coran interrupted Keith. "Why did we let Lance decide all this?"

"Enough whining. Romelle and I are going to Earth, who's coming with us?" So, everyone got ready for takeoff. The mice were feeding Hunk. "This is so great. You guys are like the ultimate road trip companions."

Coran leaned over the top of Keith. "Oh, and I get to finally play some of your Earth Road trip games. I'll go first. I spy with my little eye, something that starts with 'plexis'"

"Coran, we don't know the Altean alphabet." Shiro explained. "Well, then this is perfect. I can teach you." Coran started singing. Everyone else the black lion was not happy. Romelle kept asking Lance questions. "Romelle, come on. This is a dangerous war machine."

"But what if something happens to you and I have to save the day." Lance just looked at her. "Only the paladin can fly the lion." Hunk came on Lance's screen and showed him a picture. "They're mice-selfies."

"Not now Hunk, I got my hands full."

"Anyway, I was wondering why this was the arrangement you came up with?" Lance frowned. Hunk laughed. "I see, revenge. I like it."

"Revenge for what?" Romelle asked. "Well, Keith and Allura got stuck with the passengers they like the least. He's mad at Allura for ignoring him and Keith for leaving." Hunk laughed and so did Romelle. Lance's frown grew bigger. Hunk ended the call.

Allura was yelling at the wolf. "No! Bad! Stop biting that. Put the Belexiam assembly down right now or so help me..." Allura called Keith. "Keith, your world is tearing up the cargo hold."

"Because he's lonely. Just let him in the cockpit."

"I will absolutely not let that beast in the cockpit." Hunk came on and showed another picture of the mice. "Guys, check out this picture. The mice look so cute." Allura just blinked. Romelle kept pressing buttons. And Coran was still singing the Altean alphabet. "Guys, I think I did a bad job choosing the passengers."

"Who wants to see the mice stacked on my head."

"You've got to be kidding me." Lance shouted. "Wonderful, how everything is covered in wolf drool."

"Oh, yeah, he's super drooly."

"Say cheese."

"Romelle."

"Just let him up front."

"No."

After more singing Keith finally cracked. "That's it, we're switching passengers."

"I second that." Allura stated. "Agreed." Lance told them. "Hey, why haven't we heard from Pidge?"

"Yeah. Wait, who's in her lion again?"

"I don't know, you're the one that came up with this grouping." Keith told him.

"Well," Hunk started, "she must have... no, they're with Keith. And the Wolf is with Allura. I have the mice." Allura just figured it out. "Is she all alone?" Everyone's eyes widened. "Oh, come on guys, this is so not fair." Romelle, Coran, The Wolf, and the mice were now with Pidge. "I call dibs on playing the video game first." Coran said. "But I have the controller."

"Pidge, tell Romelle to give me the controller. I called it first."

"No. Nope. Nuh-uh. No way. Can't do this." Pidge was saying. After a while, they came across a new system. "This is the Klii-Nyn system. There's a Blade of Marmora rally point located on the moon there." Krolia told Keith. "We should check in with them and get an update on their operations." Krolia suggested. "Team, we're going to make a quick stop. Everyone follow me."

They eventually they got close enough to try and get a signal through. "Hailing the Zailox Station. Please respond." Krolia said. "Repeat. Zailox Station. Please respond." They only got static. They landed anyway to see what was going on. The Paladins and Krolia went inside only to find it abandoned. "It doesn't look like anyone's been here for years." Keith stated. Pidge tried to turn some stuff on with no luck. "The system won't boot. Looks like the backup power has been out for a while."

"If the Blade of Marmora abandoned this place, that means something really bad must have happened." Hunk was very concerned. "That's impossible. This base was still fully operational during my last check in with the Blades." Krolia told everyone. There was a thud outside and Coran came on their coms. "Enemy ship! Incoming."

"Everyone, back to the Lions." Keith led his team. They got in their lions and started to fly. "Looks like a small fleet. Mostly Galra fighters." Keith analyzed. "That's good. We should be able to take them out pretty easily." Lance told him. Coran fell. "Yeah, but remember, we're not flying at full power."

"Pidge is right. Everyone stay sharp." Keith commanded. The space wolf transported Coran to the Black Lion. "Keep an eye out. Where there are fighters there's usually a cruiser nearby." Lance warned. They were getting shot at and trying to avoid the blasts. The space wolf transported Romelle to the Blue Lion. "Some of these ships look like they belong to Lotor's fleet." Allura looked over surprised. "How the quiznak did you get in here." There was an explosion and Allura began piloting again. "Sorry, it's gonna be a rough ride." Pidge told her remaining passengers. At this point they were mostly just trying to evade. "We need to get out of here." Keith told his team. Three of the ships latched grappling hook like things onto the yellow lion. "Guys, they've got me. I can't move."

"Hang on Hunk. I'm gonna get you out of there." Keith told him. Keith sliced them using his jawblade, but each of his passengers was sent flying to the back wall of the cockpit. "Thanks Keith."

"We're getting our quiznaks handed to us. We need to do something. We need to form Voltron" Lance said. "Okay. Everyone in formation." They flew in formation, but nothing was happening. "It's not working." Lance said. "We can see that." Allura told him. "Hold." Keith said. "The Lions can't take much more of this." Allura told him. "Abort."

"What the heck just happened?" Lance asked. "I'm guessing the Lions didn't have enough power to form Voltron." Pidge suggested. "So now what?" Hunk asked. "We run." Keith told them. And they did so, right into a cloaked exploding object. They keep hitting them. "Is everyone okay?" Lance asked. "I'm okay." Pidge told him. "Me too." Allura replied. "What did we hit?" Hunk questioned. Coran played with some buttons in the Black Lion. "Xanthorium crystals. They've been cloaked." He told the paladins. Then the Black Lion hit one and Coran fell on his back.

The Paladins were struggling. "I've never seen the Galra use weapons like this before." Hunk told everyone. "And they're not using standard Galra battle formations." Allura voiced. "How are we going to get away." Hunk asked. "They're trying to trap us by chasing us through this tunnel of crystals." Keith told them. "He's right. Look, there are more crystals up ahead." Pidge shared her discovery. "They're corralling us like we're space cattle." Hunk assessed. "They backed us into a corner." Lance told them. We got xanthorium crystals all around us, pirates behind us, and a cyclone blocking out exit."

"We have no choice. Everyone into the cyclone." Keith told them. "Hunk, that means you and I are gonna have to punch a hole through the storm and create a path for the team. You ready?"

"As I'll ever be." And so Keith and Hunk led the group into the cyclone and created a path. "We can't take much more of this." Allura told them. "Everyone scan the area for anything we can use for cover. We need to go somewhere where we have the advantage." Keith commanded. "There's a volcanic ice planet nearby. It has geysers, steam vents, ice tunnels, extreme changes in temperature and an unstable core. It's super dangerous, and perfect." Pidge told Keith. "Okay team, let's do this."

They entered the atmosphere of the planet with the ships still in pursuit. The continued to dodge the beams. "Alright everybody, stay in formation and follow me."

"Geyser. Geyser!" Hunk screamed. The lions dodged them. A few ships were hit, but not enough. "Ha. You missed." Lance taunted. The beams hit a overpass of ice. "Watch out of the falling ice." Shiro warned. "A cave." Keith pointed out. "That gives me an idea. Lance, bring up the rear. When everyone's through the tunnel, fire above the cave opening. Red should be fast enough to get in before the avalanche completely blocks the way."

"Roger that, team leader."

"We'll see each other on the other side." Lance moved to the back on the formation. "Here goes nothing." As soon as the last lion entered the cave Lance took the shot and flew as fast as he could. He made it in and so did some of the ships. "Some of them still made it through." Lance told the team. "Split up. We need to thin our attackers." And they did just that. The ships did split to go after the two different groups. Once latched onto black and a Galra soldier landed on the lion. "He's trying to break in. I'll take care of him." Shiro said. "No, you're still recovering. I'll do it." Krolia told him. Shiro nodded. Krolia turned. "Wait. Take this." Keith handed her the knife. She accepted it and ran. "I'll help too." Coran said. But on the way out, he got stuck in one of the rooms of the cargo hold. Krolia went up and fought the solider. She made kick work of it, even with the lion spinning, she held her ground. He was taken down my a ice stalactite." Hunk got out of yellow and started firing with his bayard. Two cannon things shot out and stuck to the wall and helped him shoot. Allura chomped on a ship, but the Galra survived. Allura tried to fire but the mouth was closed stuck. Romelle went down to the mouth. Before he could get in, she punched him. She removed the piece that was keeping the mouth stuck. She grabbed on and had Allura open the mouth. The Galra flew out and Allura closed the mouth. "I'm clear." Keith told them. "Me too." Hunk said. "And I as well, thanks to Romelle."

"Well Pidge and I need help."

"Yeah, we can't shake these guys and we don't have any room to maneuver."

"I see your location. We're coming to help." Keith told them. Lance and Pidge kept trying to dodge. "What should we do, you usually have ideas."

"I don't know. My cannon isn't operational." She looked over at the wolf. "Know what? Let me know if you have any thoughts. We could really use some help right now." She continued to fly and dodge. The space wolf went into the one Galra ship and made him crash. He crashed into all of the other ships. "What just happened?"

"I think the wolf just saved us." The wolf zapped back into the green lion. Pidge began to pet him, but the moment she touched him, the wolf began to whimper. "Oh, no. Are you okay, wolfie?" There was more whimpering.

The lions came across and opening at the end of the cave. Each lion went though, only to be hit with a beam that pushed them against the planet. It was Zephrid and Ezor.