Chapter twenty-seven: Taking A Turn

"Team.. Keith?.. anyone?!.." Keith finally shook himself out of it, a realization slapping him in the face.

"Oh- sorry,.. we're here." The Red Paladin answered.

"Yeah, we're here.." Hunk repeated, trailing off to practically beg another to add on.

"But where's Sam?" This statement given by Lance.

xxxx

The screen before Shiro zeroed in on multiple points, one finally flashing and bringing up a pic which he recognized as the commander's face.

"There! Three levels down from you on the opposite side." Shiro reported.

"Copy that, we're on our way." Keith replied. "Thanks."

"Hang on.." The Black Paladin began again. "I think there's a way to free all of the prisoners and fly them out using the cargo ships stored below." Tapping at his panel for a few moments longer, he then looked up from his screen to the larger one above him. "There's an access point to the underground hangers at the very base of the facility at your location."

"Wait, how are we possibly gonna be able to free this many prisoners, without the Galra catching on to it?" Pidge protested, gazing across the vast number of cells all around them. "As you said, this base houses a skin tight patrolling schedule and thanks to 'sharpshooter boy' over there, they're bound to get suspicious and find us out.."

xxxx

"..We need to just get my dad and get out." The Green Paladin's words felt familiar somehow and he could easily remember how, the thought weighing on his chest at the overall truth of it all.

"I know this one weighs hard on you.." Keith's calm voice spoke endearingly in his ears, vocalizing his thoughts completely. "But for once, Pidge is right. We don't have time to risk getting caught trying to free all these prisoners. We just need to get Sam and leave. We won't forget about this place.. we'll come back to liberate whoever else is trapped here someday. Just.. not today."

Only silence came back and for a moment Keith waited.

"Shiro?"

xxxx

Though no one on Keith's end could see it, the grey-eyed stare did nothing to sway from it's unknown focus; straight ahead where even those who stood near him could not understand.

"Shiro?" Matt addressed him, leaning forward slightly where he stood beside him.

A whispering wisp made him completely devoid of the world outside his level of thinking, which had severely decreased due to a distant calling that appeared to be seeking him out; yet he could not pinpoint or identify what it meant. All he could do was stare.. as if that would help in solving the internal mystery which even he couldn't think to solve in the frozen moment.

"Shiro! Wake up.. snap out of it! Come on!"

Blinking in a flurry of realization the void dropped and he could suddenly hear the panicked voices that shouted at him to come back to attention.

Matt's brown eyes stared into his, and he suddenly realized the young man's hands on his shoulders.

"Uh-.. what?.. What's going on?" Shiro managed to ask.

"That's what I'd like to know." The Holt boy replied, releasing Shiro to straighten up to his full height again. "What happened to you there just now?"

"I don't know, I.. *gasp* oh no!" Eyes flashing up to the screen mid-sentence a horrible realization gripped him with what he saw up on it.

xxxx

"Team, heads up!" Shiro's voice called on the com, putting the group mostly at ease. "A Galra patrol is headed your way. You need to get down to Sam's level immediately if we're going to get him out in time to escape without detection."

"Copy that, we're on our way." Keith called, taking off down the path to their right they dove into the alien capsule version of an elevator and rode down the three floors to their designated level. Bursting out of it as soon as the doors parted, they ran for about fifteen or so structured cells before finding a select one on their scanners.

"This is it." Pidge whispered, preparing her gauntlet. Then turning toward the team. "Shiro?"

xxxx

Shiro's hand powered up and it seemed to shock the world white in an instant, as his vision of the castle vanished.

xxxx

Shiro's handprint worked its way onto the screen, panning up at seemingly a slow motion pace, appearing even slower to the Paladin in green. But when that lock clicked off and the door slid away, her world stood still as the metal curtain was drawn...

A hunched over figure sitting in the far right corner bent away with their face away from the source of light. The old grizzled material of their prison uniform could not deter the detail of their physical stature, and even matched the toughness of the wispy, gray hue frosting the top of what appeared to be a narrow head. Hollow brown eyes and a trademark frame around them; the immediate recognition that came to her mind exploded into a rush of emotion she almost couldn't stand to bear. Nearly hitting the floor from the heaviness that crashed down onto her shoulders.

"Who are you.. what do you want?.." a shaky voice questioned from the one who stood alone in the back of the cell before them. "Wait.." Looking closer, he found a continuity in the smallest one's appearance, as she stood before him at the front of the group in similar attire to her own. "Katie?!" Gasped the old earthling man.

"Dad!" Pidge plunged forward into her father's arms squeezing him tight enough that even she could feel a restriction on her own breath.

"Ok.. ok.. easy now." Sam chuckled through her tight grasp. "I may have survived this long under Galra imprisonment, but I don't think I can survive that kind of loving death-grip for very long." Clear trails down his face mirrored hers as their eyes met. Their grasp on the forearms stabilized the space between them, the air filled with a singing harmony that only they seemed to hear.

"Come on.. we're getting out of here." Pidge told her father, shifting onto her feet in a composed crouch, holding his hands on hers.

"We'll need to get going if we're gonna have a chance to slip through the patrols again." The Red Paladin spoke up earning both their attention as he strode toward them a couple paces.

"Wha- eh-.. Keith?!" Sam stuttered, looking from one Paladin to another scanning their faces in astonishment.. "Lance?.. Hunk what are you all doing out here?! And who's this with you? What all has happened since I've been gone?"

"A lot of things." Keith responded simply. "We'll discuss it when we're safe."

"Pidge! Paladins.. have you found dad?! What's going on!" Matt's voice cracked over the com into their helmets.

"We did why?" Pidge answered thoughtfully, staring off blankly as she placed a finger to her helmet where the com would be, at her ear.

"Good, cause you need to get back here now." Her brother replied seriously.

"Why, what's going on? Are the Galra onto us?" Pidge asked more hurriedly.

"What? What is it? What's wrong?" Sam wondered, becoming increasingly concerned.

"No.. it's Shiro. Just hurry!" Matt replied. Pidge met Keith's eyes, his finding hers having heard everything like the rest of the team.

"Shiro's in trouble, we need to move." Keith decided finally.

"Wait.. Shiro's here too?! And he's.. alive?" Sam gasped, unbelieving of the mere thought.

"No time to explain." Pidge decided, taking him by the hand. "We need to go."

"Wait, someone's coming!" Keith hissed, and Pidge knocked a button closing the door on them. A patrol stomped by when the taller members of the team peered through the thin hole at the door to give the only bit of light other than the subtle glow of the purple lights scattered through the small room to give very little light at all.

"Ok great.. they're gone.. but now we've just locked ourselves in. Thanks a lot, Pidge." Hunk accused her bluntly, looking down on her with complete displeasure; who was already tapping away at the screen hovering over her gauntlet.

"But the Galra don't know we have this." The Green Paladin said. "Hunk, give me a boost." She finished, looking up at him.

xxxx

Sliding an arm through the hole in the door, she maneuvered her hand straight out from where it stuck out, curling her fisted hand under so that she could ease it over to her left, and find the lock which easily projected a handprint from the beam on the gauntlet. And Pidge scrambled to pull her arm free before the door slid open.

"Let's move." Keith decided, standing determined at the front of the group again.

"How exactly do you expect us to make out of here the same way we came in, when the one who was guiding us apparently can't?" Hunk wondered when they'd halted after exiting the open cell.

"I remember the way. We just have to run three floors up and then we-.."

"-We don't have time for that." Sam interjected urgently. "Listen, I may not know the situation, but.. if we wanna get out of here fast there's a hanger at the very base of this facility. Just below us." At this last statement he pointed a finger down.

"We know, but we have to retrieve the Green Lion of Voltron so we can head back to the Castle." Keith told him.

"We can steal a pod." Sam shot back easily. "Use it to get back to your lion. It's our best option."

"Ok.." Keith decided. "Then let's go."

XXXX

The Blue and Red Paladins peered around the corner from opposite sides of the hall, bayard drawn in hand in preparation for any contingency.

"All clear." Keith whispered. Stepping about as he entered the room, he led the sneak with Lance by his side down the line of Galra fighters silently waiting for anyone who'd happen to show up to retrieve them. Coming around to the right side of the first one, closest to them, Keith pulled himself up onto the fighter's wing while Lance remained on the ground; scanning the hanger carefully.

"Come on, we gotta hurry." The Red Paladin coaxed holding a hand down to them. Allura took it and helped him pull herself up. Lance turned front so the team was behind him, believing to have heard something. Sneaking closer to press his back to the side of the bay, he dared himself to peer out around it.

"Galra sentries dead ahead." Lance reported so they could hear him through his com link. "Let's make this quick, if we're gonna make it out of here without too much trouble." Climbing into the fighter, Keith dropped into the cockpit seat and began to power up the fighter.

"Pidge triangulate the Green Lion's location." He ordered tapping and sliding a few things on the panels before him. "Give the clearest path to it as you can."

"On it." The Green Paladin replied, already sitting crossed legged on the floor to pan through her gauntlet's scanners.

Easing the handles back slightly, the fighter hovered up and forward at Keith's command. Showering the sentries with blaster fire that demolished their own, the hanger door lay just on the wall they now faced, to the right of where the bays lined down to it.

"Hang on!" Keith warned jerking a handle forward.

xxxx

An eruption of flaming clouds shot the stray fighter from its inferno, and immediately upon exiting a host of cruisers hovered overhead.

"We're spotted! Now what?" Lance cried, seeing the rising purple glows on the ships in their field of view.

"We move!" Keith called, lunging his handles forward to begin weaving through the ion cannons and blaster fire.

"Need to know where I'm going, Pidge." Keith implied slightly impatiently, while skillfully working the controls around in the difficult and complex maneuvers needed to escape the enemy attacks.

"Hang on… there, found the Green Lion!" The Green Paladin shouted, finding it on her scanners. "Uh oh.. the Galra seemed to have found it.. we need to get there before they have a chance to take it. Let's go."

"Copy that." Keith nodded when taking a brief look at the screen on his left, viewing the imagery for him to see. "Hang on!" Plunging the handles forward again, the thrusters burst, propelling them forward faster as he continued to weave on through the purplish beams; which only attempted to sway him from his objective.

"They're preparing their tractor beam!" Pidge gasped, practically screaming over her com. "If they fully activate it, we won't be able to get through it's beam to get to it in time."

Giving a low groan to himself, Keith wrenched his wrist to bring his left handle up, barrel rolling over the wreckage of a destroyed ship, which the cruiser fire had accidentally demolished instead of rogue fighter diving around it. Laser blasts from Keith's fighter successfully caused the disruption they needed to enter the Green Lion through its chest and soon the mechanical feline stepped up and took to the sky.

"We have the Green Lion." Pidge reported, hoping it would reach the castle. "We're coming back immediately."

"Oh, thank the ancients." Coran sighed, his face looking relieved. "That was indeed what you earthlings would call 'a close one'."

"It's not over yet." Keith mentioned. "We still have to get out of the planet's cosmic ocean/nebula."

"Speaking of.. it's just up ahead." Pidge threw her weight forward to plunge them faster toward and into the fluctuating ocean of nebulanic beauty.

Hey guys, how's it going! As you may notice, these last couple of chapters have had quite a few breaks. Most of them are mainly just perspective changes as you would see in the show. And I tried to define them as best I could, so I hope it's not too confusing to read. Also this had been another fun chapter and I can't wait to hear your thoughts! Enjoy! Thx!