Chapter Thirty-Two:
Pidge groaned at the sound of sirens, feeling Shiro shift behind them as he sat up with a yawn.
"No rest for the weary Paladins." He said as Pidge grabbed their glasses and got out of bed. He stretched some and slid out of the bed, gently patting their shoulder as he went. "Meet you on deck."
"Yeah." Pidge said, grabbing their armor pieces.
Five minutes later, Pidge and Shiro were the last to arrive on the bridge.
"What's going on?" Shiro asked. "Distress signal?"
"Yes." Allura said, frowning as she studied something on the screen.
"Great, so where we headed?" Lance asked through a yawn.
"That seems to be the problem," Coran said. "We're not sure."
"How can you not be sure? It's a distress signal, it's coming from somewhere, right?" Tali asked.
"Yes, but that is usually easier when that somewhere is not moving." Allura said.
"The signal is moving?" Hunk said, brows furrowed. "So, what? It's on a ship? Or is it the Illevians?"
"It's moving too fast to be Illeva," Coran explained. "So it has to be a ship."
"That could make answering the signal difficult." Shiro said. "Especially without a lot of necessary information. There's nothing we can do about that except get closer to where the signal's coming from."
"Even if that puts us immediately into battle with a Galra warship?" Shinji asked.
"Even if that is to happen." Allura confirmed.
"Maybe especially if," Pidge said. "For all we know, this could be some ship trying to flee a Galra cruiser."
"We're not learning any more by standing around here," Shiro said. "Paladins, to your Lions."
Four nods and the Paladins darted in different directions.
"Should we form Voltron?" Keith asked on the way to the hangers.
"It could be overkill," Pidge said.
"Or a tactical disadvantage." Shiro said. "We'll form Voltron if necessary."
The Lions left the hangers, waiting for the ship to arrive. To their surprise, what appeared was a lone Galra cruiser.
"What the quiznak?" Hunk said. "Allura, is that where the signal's coming from?"
"Yes, actually," Allura said, surprised as she activated the particle barrier as the cruiser began to shoot at the Castle and the Lions. "Judging by their delay, they were not expecting us."
"Could prisoners be on board and activating the signal?" Pidge asked as they pulled up the Green Lion. "Without the Galra knowing about it?"
"It's possible. I think we need to find out." Allura said. "Pidge, can you activate the Green Lion's invisibility and get on board?"
"Yeah, but back-up would be much appreciated." Pidge said.
"I don't want too many Lions to disappear, that looks suspicious." Shiro said.
"I'll go on board if you can find a way to get back to the Castle," Tali said.
"I'll go, too." Shinji said a bit reluctantly.
"As will I," Caelum said.
"I'm going to take a hit and then take Green back, so they think they damaged the Lion or me." Pidge said, bracing for impact as a bolt came towards them. The Lion spun out of control for a moment, then 'limped' back to the hanger, where the three others were waiting to go. Activating Green's invisibility, Pidge flew them back out of the hanger and towards the ship, latching Green on to the underside of the ship.
Pidge cut a hole in the ship's hull, and once everyone was inside the ship, sealed it up.
"Okay, we're in." Pidge said.
"Number Five, I'm sending you a way to track the signal and the prisoners." Coran said.
"Much appreciated, Coran." Pidge said as they activated the display on their gauntlet. "Alright, team, we go straight then turn right at the next intersection."
"Pidge," Tali said in a low voice as they walked. "Do you think it's possible that it's Matt?"
"I'm hopeful," Pidge admitted. "Activating a distress signal on a Galra ship would be something he could probably figure out."
"Paladin Pidge, I have a suggestion," Caelum said. "If we split up, we can find the source of the distress signal as well as aid the other Paladins and the Princess by sabotaging the ship. That will end the battle faster as well as provide a safer way to transport the prisoners."
"I like that idea," Pidge said. "Shinji, will you go with Caelum?"
Shinji nodded.
"Be careful," Pidge said. "And watch out for sentries."
The two groups parted. Pidge bit their lip as they got closer and closer to the distress signal. However, two hallways away, the entire ship jolted, sending Tali and Pidge crashing into the wall. And, worse, the gravity stopped working.
"Caelum! Shinji! What's going on?" Pidge called through the communicators.
"The good news is, we found the weapons generator," Caelum said.
"The bad news, it also powers the gravity." Shinji added with a grunt.
"Any chance you can get that back?" Tali asked as she clung to a metal beam, trying to get right-side up.
"Working on it," Shinji said. "Could use an engineer, though."
"With weapons down, I'm sending the other Paladins to board as soon as these fighters are taken care of." Allura said. "Have you found the prisoners?"
"Almost, we're trying to get to them now," Pidge said. They stuck out their hand for Tali. "Hang on to me."
Tali grabbed Pidge's hand and wrapped her arms around Pidge's neck as the younger one activated their jet-pack, propelling them forward towards their destination.
"Boarding now," Hunk said. "Shinji, Caelum, send me some directions and I'll bring tools to get the gravity up again."
"Sending." Shinji said.
Pidge cut off their jetpack as they and Tali reached the door. A moment's tinkering and the door was open, revealing a dozen very confused floating prisoners.
"Greetings!" Pidge said, raising their hand as they clung to the doorway. "My name is Pidge, and I'm a Paladin of Voltron, and this is my friend, Tali. We got your distress signal. Sorry about the gravity, but it should come back on soon.
One—a tall, shaggy blue furred creature—got excited.
"You got the distress signal!" She exclaimed. "I was so worried that it would not work!"
"It did, we don't think the Galra even figured it out." Pidge said. They looked around the room, hopeful. "Do you know if this is the only cell with prisoners?"
"Yes, this is everyone." The furry being said with a nod.
Pidge tried to keep their smile, but it was hard to do with their heart sinking.
"Okay," They said. "Um, can you show me how you all got a distress signal out?"
Just then, the gravity came back on and everyone floated to the floor again. The furry creature beckoned Pidge to come inside the cell as Tali began to file the others out.
"We were told that this ancient symbol would guide us and bring us aide." She explained, showing her a panel in the wall. "All we had to do was remove the panel and adjust a few wires."
Pidge's eyes widened as they saw the 'ancient symbol'.
No.
No way.
It couldn't be.
"Lance," Pidge said into their helmet. "I'm going to need you and your expertise to confirm what I'm seeing."
"Wait, what?" Lance said. "What are you talking about?"
"Sending visual." Pidge said, raising their gauntlet to scan the 'symbol'.
There was a moment's silence, then Lance sucked in a breath before he yelled,
"HERE COME DAT BOI!"
"Oh, feces," Coran said in response. "How are you?"
Pidge grinned and began to laugh.
"Pidge, what the quiznak?" Hunk said.
"Lance, why did you teach Coran about the 'Dat Boi' meme?" Shiro asked exasperatedly.
"Shiro, you're just upset that he beat you to it." Tali pointed out as she came over to look at the same 'symbol': a carved image of a frog riding a unicycle.
"Wait, Shiro, you know 'Dat Boi'?" Hunk said.
"What is a 'Dat Boi'?" Caelum asked.
"Takashi, you've been holding out on them." Shinji commented wryly.
"What does that mean?" Keith asked.
Neither brother responded, so Tali did:
"It means that Shiro here has been hiding the fact that he's—by my last official count—the current reigning Meme Lord Supreme. Though if this is any indicator, Matt's currently trying to reclaim the title…"
"Wait, you found a meme on a Galra space cruiser?" Lani said.
"Yep." Pidge said, grin splitting their face. "And that means one thing: Matt was here."
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
"So what I'm hearing is that Matt completely corrupted you regarding memes." Keith said as they gathered the Galra crewmembers together, the surrender of the ship coming with minimal difficulty as the robotic sentries were easily shut down and there were only five live Galra crew members aboard: the commander, two other officers, an engineer and a communication specialist, all currently seated in front of the Paladins and handcuffed.
"Can we have this discussion later?" Shiro asked with an irritated sigh.
"No," Hunk answered, struggling to open a container of cargo for investigation. "We feel betrayed, Shiro. You've kept this from us for so long… We thought you trusted us…"
"It's memes!" Shiro exclaimed with exasperation.
"Yes, but think of all the fun we could have been having. Meetings would have gone a lot faster if we used the right memes." Lance said. "Now tell me more about this Meme Lord Supreme title. How do you earn it?"
"There's a point system," Shiro answered reluctantly. "Matt's idea."
"Of course it was." Pidge said. "Sounds like something he would do, and drag other people into…"
"How the heck did I not notice this competition thing back at the Garrison?" Keith asked.
"Keith, babe, you know you're not the most observant of people, right?" Lance said.
"Actually, Shiro made Matt promise not to do memes in front of you, Keith." Tali said.
"Were you afraid of corrupting an impressionable youth?" Hunk asked with a grunt, finally prying open the container, only to groan at seeing a whole bunch of smaller containers inside. "Aw, great… But, anyways, memes might have actually helped in that case…"
Shiro's face turned red and he mumbled something.
"What was that?" Lance said, cupping a hand to the side of his helmet where his ear would be.
"I said I wanted Keith to think I was cool!" Shiro said with exasperation.
"Takashi, you own Settlers of Catan, the Star Trek edition." Shinji pointed out. "You were never going to pass as cool."
"Your biggest act of teen rebellion was not wearing uniform regulation socks under your boots." Tali added. "Well. Not including the short lived emo phase and hiding a dog in your dorm for nearly two months…"
"I have so many questions…" Lance said.
"What is this? Roast Shiro Day?" Shiro demanded.
"It's still night by the Castle's clocks," Lani pointed out as she entered the hanger. "Allura sent me to tell you guys that Coran's got the pods configured."
"What are you going to do to us?" The Galra Engineer asked.
"Quiet, Torok," The commander hissed. "A Galra faces death with dignity and honor, even at the hands of the enemy."
"We're not going to kill you," Shiro said quickly. "We don't execute our prisoners of war. We do, however, put them in stasis. You're basically just going to sleep and be frozen in time."
"How do we know you will release us?" Torok asked.
"Quiet!" His commander yelled.
"I have a mate and a child, Commander! Forgive me for spending a moment to be concerned about their welfare and not that of the Empire's!" Torok yelled back.
"How dare you speak to your commanding officer that way, soldier?" The commander yelled.
"Okay, enough!" Shiro said, stepping between them. He turned to Torokk. "I cannot give you a definite time period, but I promise, we will release you from the pods as soon as we can. But no more than one year."
Torok considered this, glaring at Shiro some, then he turned away with a small nod. Behind them, the commander muttered something about blood traitors.
"Oh, for the love of quiznak." Hunk groaned as he got open one of the smaller containers, only to find something bound up with a lot of cloth and string. "It's going to take forever to get these knots undone… Keith, can I borrow your knife for a minute?"
"Yeah, sure." Keith said, withdrawing the blade and passing it to Hunk.
Shiro had just taken a step back when Torok sucked in a gasp and roared: "LIARS!"
Things happened very fast. Torok launched himself to his feet and towards Keith with an enraged yell. Pidge yelled and shot out their bayard, which wrapped around Torok, shocking him slightly as he fell to the ground and Lance had his bayard pointed at Torok's head.
"You are liars, Paladins of Voltron! Let us go immediately!" Torok yelled, struggling in the combined bonds of the handcuffs and Pidge's bayard.
"What are you talking about?" Pidge demanded. "Lance, I got this, watch the other prisoners."
Lance's bayard shifted to the four remaining Galra, who were also surprised by the engineer's sudden outburst, fortunately keeping still.
"You say you don't kill," Torok said, snarling. "But yet you carry a trophy that can only have been taken from the corpse of a Galra."
"The knife belongs to the Red Paladin," Pidge said. "He didn't take it as a trophy!"
"No! You killed him!" Torok said, still fighting.
"Wait," Keith said, reclaiming his knife from Hunk. "I know you won't believe me, but I've had this knife my whole life. I can't explain it, but I'm telling the truth. But you know who this knife really belongs to? I know his name is Thace"
Torok stopped struggling to glare at Keith.
"Yes, I knew the man you killed," He spat out. "I last heard from him eight months ago, when he was on leave from his post. The ship he was stationed on was heavily damaged in a battle against Voltron, and most of the crew are still unaccounted for. But at least now I know the fate of one."
The weight of Torok's words settled heavily on the room. Keith said nothing, but simply turned and walked away.
He walked straight past the training deck and instead entered the locker room, heading straight for the showers.
For the first time, the thought occurred to him that—in this intergalactic war—there was a chance he had already encountered his father. And that his father could have been dead, with Keith having a hand in it.
Keith stripped out of his armor, then turned the water on as hot as possible, standing underneath it, letting the water pound down on him. He couldn't process. Not this information, not the fact that he was probably scalding his skin. Nothing.
He had told Lance before that he was satisfied with what he knew about his father.
And now he knew he had been lying to himself. He had so many questions. And now he might never have the answers.
He may have unknowingly killed his own father…
Keith didn't realize when the water was turned off, or even really the huge, fluffy towel that was wrapped around him.
"Come on," Lance said, gently leading him out of the shower and towards the bench. "Let's get you dried off."
Lance made him sit down while taking a towel to Keith's hair.
"You okay?" Lance asked, pausing in the toweling of Keith's hair.
"No. Not really." Keith said after a moment. "My mind's kind of a blur… I just… I hadn't even given that a second's thought. That he could be dead. That I could have killed him. Or that he's alive and we're fighting on opposite sides of a war…"
Lance sat down on the bench beside him, carefully putting an arm around Keith's shoulder.
"I don't know what to tell you," He admitted. "And I'm sorry for that."
"Not your fault." Keith mumbled, resting his head on Lance's shoulder. "But, Lance, you realize the implications, right? That, if there's a chance that we brought down a ship with my father on it, then there's also a chance we destroyed a ship with Commander Holt and Matt."
Lance was quiet.
"Yeah." He whispered. "Yeah, I think Pidge realized that. Shiro and Tali, too. This is all a mess. Because it's war. And maybe we're too young for all this, but we're all the universe has. But, you know what?"
"What?" Keith asked.
"The Lions chose us for a reason. Blue led you to her for a reason." Lance said. "We may be all the universe has to offer as defenders of the universe, and yeah maybe we're just a bunch of teenagers. But the most powerful sentient weapon in the universe thinks we can do it. Anyone else can have their doubts, even us, but the Lions—Voltron—think we've got this. Let's face it, Allura wouldn't have faith in us if the Lions didn't—I mean we were kind of a huge mess when we first started this. The Lions are the ones who believed in us from the get-go. We've got to trust them, and trust that everything's going to turn out okay."
Keith nodded some, still slumped against Lance.
"This is why you're the Blue Paladin, Lance. Not any of the rest of us," He said softly. "You make trusting something—anything, anyone—sound easy."
Lance wrapped his other arm around Keith, silently holding him in a hug, letting silence envelope them as the weight of the universe fully settled on their shoulders.