Chapter Four:
The camera shook a little as Tali adjusted it on the stand, unseen from view. She nodded, then sat back down, Lani right beside her. The room they were in was completely dark, and there was only a few lit candles providing light.
"So." Lani said with a small smile. "This totally was not how we planned to do our first video in the same time-zone together."
"Earth is under attack." Tali said without further preamble, face serious. "Aliens proclaiming to be from the Galra Empire have created a blockade around Earth at approximately Three Hundred Hours Pacific Time this morning. All military establishments all around the world are under lockdown, with Galra soldiers taking over and taking everyone within those establishments as hostages. We… There have been no human casualty reports yet. But without access to any weapons or other military technology, there's no chance of anyone getting into those facilities or taking down these fighters."
"So far, the Galra have largely left the civilian population alone, and have promised to not attack provided the human race does not rebel." Lani added. "But we don't know how long that's going to last."
"We know we say this with every single video Lani and I have made over the last… I can't believe it's been nearly half a year…" Tali said. "But, Shiro, Katie, Lance, Keith, Hunk? If you've got this Voltron, whatever it is, and it can get these guys off our planet, please come home. Sooner, rather than later, would be really nice right now."
Both girls turned behind them as there was noise in the background. Tali quickly reached out for the camera while Lani blew out the candles. There was a bit of static, then darkness and silence.
In the bright lights of the castle's dining room, there was silence there as well.
"Okay, do not panic…" Shiro said, holding out his hands in front of him as if to stop a stampede.
"Too late for that!" Hunk exclaimed. "I am in full panic mode!"
"Shiro's right, though. We can't panic." Keith said with a frown. "Look, we should have seen this coming for some time now. I mean, all five Paladins of Voltron born and raised on the same planet? There's no way that Zarkon wouldn't have made Earth top of his priority list."
"Honestly, I'm just surprised he's only doing so now." Pidge added with a frown. "I mean, we did injure one of his ships in our solar system. If we prevented it from making a jump, it could have easily turned right back around and taken over Earth."
"I think that, like back on Arus, Zarkon kept his troops lying in wait." Allura said with a frown. "But why he chose now, I do not know or understand."
"Or how he knew that we would know," Lance added, drumming his fingertips against the tabletop.
"I don't think Zarkon knows that we know yet." Pidge said. "If he just had his troops start the invasion, which we only know about because of this video, then he may not have all of his troops in position, waiting to spring a trap on us."
"I, for one, would not like a repeat of what happened the last time we walked into one of Zarkon's traps." Keith said, folding his arms over his chest. "You know, the one that ended with all of us ending up in all corners of the universe thanks to that witch messing with our wormhole?"
"Yeah, well, as much as I'd like to avoid that too, we again have no choice but to walk into this trap." Lance said with a frown. "Earth is totally defenseless… Our families and friends are there, and I can only imagine that's it's only a matter of time until the Galra gather all of them to use as hostages, further baiting us out there."
"If we're lucky, and we assume the Galra are trying to deliberately draw us out, we'd get some sort of notification from them. Maybe asking for our surrender or something." Shiro said. "But if we can get there before that, we may still have the element of surprise on our hands."
"So, same plan of attack, then? Wormhole in, Voltron formed, and take out as much as we can?" Pidge asked.
"That may not be wise." Coran said. "After all, they seemed to anticipate that plan. To do so again would be perhaps exactly what they predict to happen this time."
"But if we go in, our Lions separated, they could anticipate that, too." Lance said with a frown. "If they anticipate that we know that they anticipated our plan from before, therefore anticipating that we know they're anticipating us to do the same thing again and—"
"We get it, Lance." Shiro said, blessedly intervening. "Look, whatever we do, we're still going to have this element of surprise on our side. If we go in with Voltron formed, we go in with Voltron formed. If we go in with just our lions, we will still have time to form Voltron."
"Which is better?" Hunk asked.
"We can probably assume that there won't be as many command ships as there were at Zarkon's headquarters." Shiro said. "But if they have ground reinforcements, they can just as easily be recalled to space. So if we go in with our individual lions, we could probably take out more at one time while still able to tag-team them, and also more easily intercept those ground troops."
"And, again, form Voltron as needed." Keith added with a nod. "I like this plan."
"Same." Pidge said with a nod.
"Let's do it." Lance said with a grin.
Shiro, Allura and Coran nodded.
"Alright then," Allura said. "Everyone into positions: We are headed for Earth."
"We'll be dropping out of the wormhole and within range of Earth in three minutes." Allura declared from the controls. "Paladins, to your lions."
They did not need to be told twice.
Pidge had never felt this uneasy prior to a fight as they grabbed the zip-line handles. Even the ones that were so sudden, the ambushes and the rush and the desperate need to protect themselves and the others. Oh, and the whole rest of the universe, too. But it wasn't until Pidge was in the pilot seat of Green, hands on the controls, that they started to feel relaxed.
"Alright, Green." Pidge whispered, relaxing into the seat, knowing this was the last moment they had to be relaxed until the end of the battle, whether won or lost. "You ready?"
Green purred, the sound surrounding Pidge and warming them.
"Then let's go." Pidge said, pushing the thrusters forward at Shiro's command.
They dropped out of the wormhole the second Green left the hanger, perfectly synchronized with Red, Blue, Yellow and Black.
"Time to find out what we're up against." Keith said.
"Ah, we can handle a small fleet." Lance said, and Pidge smiled at the mental image of Lance's huge grin, which they knew had to be on his face. Lance's confidence was contagious and it surged through Pidge as the wormhole opened.
And then they all saw the 'small fleet' they were up against.
"Oh, quiznak." Hunk groaned.
'Quiznak' did not cover the situation. They could barely see Earth through the command ships and all the smaller fighters.
"Take out as many of those small fighters as you can!" Shiro ordered. "Those are harder to take on when Voltron is formed!"
"On it, boss!" Keith said as the Red Lion jumped into action, quite literally blazing through.
"Hey, try to draw them away from the international space station!" Pidge said, making Green circle around a cluster that were close to the station. "It's totally defenseless!"
"Um, guys, we have a problem!" Hunk said. "Those command ships do not like our strategy!"
"That hasn't exactly been a problem in the past!" Keith pointed out. "For us, at least."
"Yeah, except—"
Hunk was cut off as Lance yelled out in surprise, Blue being struck by an ion cannon, spiraling some and barely missing hitting Black and Shiro.
"Yeah, I'd say that's a problem!" Lance said once he recovered from the jolt, steadying Blue.
"We've got a bigger problem!" Shiro said as he watched the ships begin to turn, focusing on where Green was fending off fighters around the space station. "Hunk, Keith, help Pidge protect the station! Lance, get as many of the other fighters as you can! Black and I are going to use the jaw blade to take down some of these command ships!"
"Coran and I can help Lance with the fighters." Allura added.
The strategy was working, and working well. Pidge, Keith and Hunk took a lot of fire from the canons, but also destroyed many of the fighters. Shiro managed to take out the canons on three ships, apparently forcing them to retreat.
"They're worm-holing out!" Coran exclaimed in surprise.
"It's not just the ones' Shiro's hit, too," Keith said, watching out of the corner of his eye as intact command ships also took the wormholes out.
"That doesn't make sense!" Allura said as she focused a shot on a fighter on Black's tail. "Those ships have barely taken any shots this whole battle!"
"I have such a bad feeling about this…" Hunk said.
"Uh, Hunk? I'm sorry to inform you that you're right to have a bad feeling this…" Lance said, eyes going wide.
Because something was worm-holing in.
Something much larger than the fleeing command ships.
Something that those command ships were making room for.
"That ship is huge!" Pidge said in dismay. "Bigger than any we've ever faced before, including Zarkon's command!"
"And it's got more than one canon." Shiro said with a frown. "Alright, Voltron, now."
"Right!" The other four Paladins said together.
But, as the Paladins move their lions into position, the Galra struck.
Pidge screamed as Green got struck by one of the blasts, but didn't even have time to recover before taking another hit.
They heard six voices cry out in panic "PIDGE!" but couldn't respond. Lights were flashing, alarms were sounding… Green roared in a mixture of pain and panic, Pidge knew there was definitely something broken, could feel it through their bond with their Lion…
And Green was going down.
Falling through Earth's atmosphere.
The control panel shorted out, and though Pidge tried everything, nothing was working, nothing was stabilizing Green. They heard Shiro shout their name one more time before only static was heard through the helmet.
And the Green Lion and her Paladin crashed on Earth.
Pidge sat very still, panting, in the seconds following the crash, trying to get their heart rate down again. They took some deep breaths, mentally assessing any physical damage but other than dizziness and a few bumps, they were fine. Pidge then got out of the pilot's chair, struggling to get out of the cockpit to assess the damage to Green and figure out where they were.
Pidge stumbled down out of Green, feet hitting sand and dirt. Looking around, they saw that they were in a desert. Pidge ran past Green, looking around for a landmark or anything.
What they saw made them tilt their head.
"Well. That's convenient. I guess." They said.
Because the only landmark they saw was a small cabin, with a red, dust-covered hover-bike parked beside it. Of all the places to land, they had landed right in front of Keith's weird hermit hut in the middle of the Nevada desert.
It was also a blessing. Pidge knew Keith had tools in that cabin. Provided no one had raided it in Keith's absence. And since all their tools were currently in Green's hanger, Pidge hoped Keith wouldn't mind them using his tools.
Pidge ran back to assess Green, knowing that they had very little time to spare. They had to get Green back up and running and into orbit as fast as possible. Their team needed them. The entire planet needed them.
Pidge tore off the static-spewing helmet and walked around Green. The problem, they saw, wasn't bad. It could be fixed. The only problem was that Pidge wasn't sure how fast it could be fixed on their own. With a second person, it wouldn't take too long. Pidge knew from the static that they couldn't get anyone down to help them with this, nor would they want to. Everyone up there was needed. Which was why they needed to get a move on, fast.
"Just what the hell is that thing? And who the hell are you?"
Pidge froze and looked over the sand dune.
Pidge growled, fists curling.
The universe seemed to love playing cruel jokes on them.
Because standing on the sand dune was none other than the last person in the entire universe Pidge wanted to see.
Shinji Shirogane.