AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Two line breaks with / / / / in between denote a POV change.

- KarsKars

A NOT SO WARM WELCOME

With the Castle of Lions stationed on Altea, Voltron and the fleet from Emperor Thace had to take two wormholes instead of one. The Castle could only open and close wormholes that directed to it, meaning they needed to wormhole to Altea before they could wormhole to Earth. It was a nuisance, a nuisance that wasted several valuable vargas.

Pidge was vibrating in their seat with anxiety, desperate to get back to Earth and save their father. Matt absolutely refused to stay behind, even swearing at one of the Empire Generals who dared to suggest that not all of the Humans return. Lance and Hunk were equally excited and nervous, but mostly they were concerned about the wellbeing of their home and families. And Shiro was being particularly hard to read which was frustrating Keith to no end.

The worst part of the whole thing was that they had absolutely no idea what they were heading into. After that initial contact with his dad had ended, they hadn't been able to establish another connection. There was no way to know if the attacks had resumed or if the false surrender had been accepted. They were essentially flying in blind.

As the wormhole closed behind the last cruiser, Keith watched a small Altean transport pod drop from the Black Lion and fly towards the Castle. Allura intended to join them on their journey, but she needed to ensure enough of her essence was left behind so that someone named Bandor could facilitate their return. Keith didn't understand why the Castle of Lions couldn't just accompany them to Earth. Why not use the immense power of the Altean ship to transport them and protect the Garrison with its particle barrier? But nooooooo the Princess insisted that it remain on Altea as a symbol of stability for the Coalition; something about having a 'Central Command' of their own.

Pidge's voice came over the coms pulling him from his tangent and reminding them all of their delicate time frame. The antsy Green Paladin was demanding to leave and it was only a matter of time before their Blue and Yellow teammates jumped on the anxiety train as well. Shiro called over the lines in a calming tone, urging the younger Paladins to breathe and be patient as Allura prepared for departure. At his command, they went over the plan of attack once again. Keith noticed that it immediately took the other's minds off their stress, redirecting the nervous energy into something more productive. Shiro really was a natural leader; it was inspiring.

After the call from his father, they had spent almost 2 vargas going over their strategies and, in the end, Keith was proud to say it was entirely brilliant! Shiro and Allura wanted to take Sendak by surprise but they all knew their arrival would be expected. The solution was to hide Voltron from view, however the Lions were larger than any of the ships Thace could supply, meaning they couldn't hide them inside a cruiser. It had been Lance who suggested using the cloaking capability Pidge added to the Green Lion and replicating it for use on the others. The entire table had gawked at him and the Blue Paladin beamed with confidence at his moment of brilliance.

Matt and Regris spent the rest of the quintant helping Pidge upgrade and adjust their cloaking device, modifying it to integrate seamlessly with the slightly varying quintessence of the four remaining Lions. The final result was a cloaking capability so advanced that not even their com signals could be picked up while in stealth mode. It was truly impressive work.

Lance and Hunk had spent the quintant doing … something. Honestly he hadn't been listening when they announced their plans. All he knew was that it involved food goo and Kaltenecker, which – yeah his curiosity was peaked the moment the doors closed and Keith realized he should have joined them. Instead he'd been left behind, ending up stuck in the war room with Shiro, Krolia, Thace, Allura, and the various Commanders present. They discussed their agreed upon plans, as well as what would happen in regards to Earth after Sendak's defeat. Allura wanted to welcome the Human's home planet into her coalition, but ultimately that decision wasn't up to the few Earthlings present. With Sendak attacking Earth, Keith didn't know how welcome the citizens of the Galra Empire would be. Not very, he assumed.

Suddenly the possibility of being rejected by the Humans flew to the forefront of his mind. What would they think of a half Human, half Galra hybrid? He let out a heavy breath and decided to just deal with everything as it came up, there was no sense in stressing out about something he had no control over. Ultimately he didn't plan to stay on Earth long anyways.

The return of the Altean transport pod was their signal to activate the new cloaking device and Keith watched as Black swallowed up the pod before the Lion promptly vanished from sight. The others followed, first Blue, then Yellow, and finally Green as their upgrades hid them from all methods of detection. Red offered a slight shimmering glow on the screen in the colour of each of her sibling and the others did the same, allowing the Paladins to locate one another.

Phase One was simple: the Empire ships would rush through the wormhole with the cloaked Voltron Lions hiding amongst them. Commander Throk had failed to report back to Central after the Kral Zera and it was now assumed that his fleet had moved to join Sendak's. Emperor Thace theorized that the former would be setup as a distraction, most likely waiting at the edge of Earth's system to 'welcome' the Paladins home. He was proven right the moment the first ships passed through the wormhole and were immediately attacked by the Commander's waiting fleet.

Keith whipped Red sharply to the side, narrowly avoiding a blast aimed at one of their cruisers behind him. The Paladins had been given strict orders not to engage lest they blow their element of surprise. He followed the shimmery outline of Black on his screen, watching the others fall in line as they pushed their way through the quickly growing debris field. Keith sent a silent plea to his ancestors, asking them to watch over those who had volunteered for this mission, and felt the shock-wave rock his Lion as one of the ships exploded. A firm hand squeezed his shoulder and he looked up into his mother's determined but loving eyes.

Voltron glided their way past the vaguely familiar planets of Earth's system. First a blue one, then another, followed by the one with all those pretty rings he had admired the last time he'd approached. This time he knew their names: Neptune, Uranus, and Saturn.

"If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it. If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it. Don't be mad once you see that he want it. If you like it then you shoulda -"

"LANCE!" Shiro yelled over their coms, his exasperated tone making Keith snicker. "Must you?"

"Sorry, Shiro. Just trying to lighten the mood." The Cuban responded. Hunk muttered something about appreciating the effort but Pidge threatened to kill his com if Lance sang on a mission one more time. Keith merely sat back in his pilot seat with a grin on his face; he was going to miss this.

If he was being honest, the knowledge of how desperate the other Paladins were to go home had been weighing heavily on him since their defeat of Zarkon and his witch. Keith didn't want the team to disband, but it was inevitable and he knew it would leave a Voltron shaped hole in his heart. Despite his best efforts, he'd gotten incredibly attached to these particular Humans and the impending farewells were only going to hurt.

"Keith?" A private line opened up between himself and Shiro, the older man's voice laced heavily with concern. "Is everything alright? Black says you're hurting. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No." He replied matter-of-factly and chastised Red for being a tattletale, she merely purred in response. "I'm fine, really. We can talk after we kick Sendak's ass."

The hearty laugh from the other side of the coms did wonders in restoring Keith's mood. "Alright, but don't think for one second that I'm letting this go." The line switched to open up between all five Lions and Shiro gave the next set of orders.

Phase Two was slightly more complicated. It involved entering the Galaxy Garrison without being granted access and hiding their Lions somewhere that Sendak's fleet wouldn't be able to find them very easily.

Hunk had remembered learning about a series of abandoned tunnels that led to a system of warehouses, and ran directly under the Garrison. They had apparently learned about this in history class, but Earth history had never been one of Keith's best subjects and he couldn't recall a single detail about these tunnels. Not that it mattered, Matt was quick to back Hunk up, confirming their existence and that they would be able to easily access the Garrison from them. Apparently, some Cadets liked to party in the tunnels and there were several entrances into the Garrison's grounds that the Paladins would probably need to seal once inside.

With the plan in mind, they adjusted course and headed for the sole above-ground train station. It was the farthest stop away from the Garrison, but it was their only point of access without breaking into the warehouses, something that would definitely attract unwanted attention from both the Garrison and Sendak.

Jupiter flew past and the collective gasp stopped his heart. It appeared as though more than just Throk had pledged their loyalty to the Commander. Nearly 50 ships loomed on the far side of the asteroid belt, waiting for the order to approach. The cloaked Voltron Lions slipped past them undetected and continued solemnly towards Earth.

But the bad news didn't stop there; 10 more cruisers surrounded the Paladin's home planet. They had attacked each of the 26 Galaxy Garrison bases across Earth, destroying the smaller locations completely and leaving only the larger, better-equipped bases standing. Sendak's Command ship was stationed within range of the Texas compound and Keith new instantly that it was their primary target.

"How did they know to target our base?" Lance asked quietly and was met with a palpable silence. It was Krolia who answered; explaining how they must have intercepted the signal sent by Keith's dad and used it to narrow in on the Texas base, making it Earth's default Central Command. It was also where the majority of the damage was found. The scattered remains of destroyed fighter jets littered the desert, helmet visors glistened in the midday sun, and a small engine fire that was just starting to run out of fuel lay at the edge of the Garrison's shields.

"Holy shit, you guys." Pidge commented and they'd taken the words right out of everyone's mouth.

/ / / / / / / / / / /

"We need to send out the MFE's. They're Earth's most advanced weapons and the only shot we've got against Sendak."

"I will not send a fleet of Cadets into battle."

"But you'll send our best pilots to their death? With no due respect Admiral -"

"I urge you not to finish that sentence FORMER Officer."

James listened to the bickering going back and forth in the briefing room. Admiral Sanda and Former Officer Kolton Kogane had been at each other's throats for nearly 20 minutes already and they weren't making any headway what so ever. Earth was under attack by aliens, ALIENS! Big mean purple aliens who wanted nothing more than to destroy them. It was the most terrifying thing he'd ever experienced but he sat firmly in his seat, back straight, and chin held high.

James came from a military family with along line of highly ranked members, and there was no way he'd be the weak link in the family tree. His grandfather was a Commander, his three uncles were Commanders, and his father was well on his way to earning that very same title. The Griffins were proud, noble, and capable military men; he would uphold that tradition if it was the last thing he did.

Beside him, Risavi fiddled mindlessly with a pocket flap on her uniform while Kinkade stared heavily down at the table. Leifsdottir was watching the argument with a detached gaze that matched most of the Officers in the room and he took note of the tension that seemed to be hanging around them all; it was electric. The only reason they were even allowed to be there was because their little foursome was the only trained MFE squad.

Officer Warren was sitting across from him, vehemently backing up Mr. Kogane to the obvious detriment of his career. The fire fighter had stopped him from joining his crew and being slaughtered alongside them, and the young Officer now seemed to feel some sort of debt to the man. He was arguing something about Officer Shirogane and how the Admiral had covered up his return to Earth.

James was still trying to process the fact that aliens were actually real, let alone that they had captured the crew of the Kerberos mission. It was in the middle of this line of thought that the large screen covering the far wall flickered. The sudden interruption halted the increasing hostility of the on-going argument, pulling the attention of every single person present. James watched in well-masked horror as the now familiar purple furred face appeared on screen.

"Earthlings. This is Commander Sendak of The Fire Of Purification, surrender yourselves or I will destroy your Planet. You are no match for the might of the Galra. I will grant one final quintant for you to reply before your pitiful race is obliterated."

The alien spoke in a booming harsh voice; the language was strangely too soft to come from a creature like him. Professor Harrison had created a translator that ran English subtitles along the bottom of the screen for them all to follow along but it did nothing to hide the frankly 'alien' nature of this Commander Sendak's voice. He had no idea how she'd managed to do it. The man with the floating arm and robotic eye was a literal alien and deciphering his language should have taken months or years, not days. It just didn't make sense.

"We need to do what Krolia says." Mr. Kogane shouted at the Admiral the second the screen shut off.

"I will not follow orders given by a Galra. These monsters are the ones attacking our planet and you want to feed right into their hand?"

"Krolia ain't with Sendak! We just need to buy some time before Voltron gets here."

"Enough with this 'Voltron' nonsense. We will not have a group of aliens landing on Earth to protect us. What will they demand as retribution once Commander Sendak and the Galra have been defeated? Earth will not be indebted to an alien race. We will handle the situation ourselves."

"You were right here when I made the call! You heard it! Officer Shirogane and Keith will come with Voltron to save us."

"Hmpf – your GALRA son is not welcome here. He only further proves that the entire race is not to be trusted. He attacked Commander Iverson, abducted three Cadets, and broke into a secure facility to kidnap Officer Shirogane."

"Yea, Keith can be a lil' shit but he's a good kid and -"

James tuned out the rest of the argument. Keith, Keith Kogane, the best damn pilot the Garrison has ever seen and the biggest pain-in-the-ass James has ever met, was actually an alien this entire time? What. The. Fuck.

"Woah, woah, woah. I'm sorry – but did the Admiral just say Keith is a Galra?" Risavi whispered in his ear.

James nodded in response then paused as realization hit him. "Half, I guess." He concluded, staring at the former Cadet's very Human father.

"Damn. I knew the kid was odd but holy shit!" she looked almost reverent while pondering the revelation. Her sudden and abrupt gasp pulled everyone's attention. "I'll bet he doesn't really speak Danish!"

"That's your take away from this, Risavi?" Kinkade shot back in disbelief and she shrugged her shoulders, but ultimately shut her mouth under a seething glare from Admiral Sanda.

The meeting continued in much the same way, Kolton Kogane arguing that they needed to listen to his Galra wife, while Admiral Sanda gave orders for the rest of the pilots to scramble their jets. Officer Warren, being one of the only ones trained to fly them, was ordered to take one of the MFEs instead of a fighter jet. If he managed to survive, then the Admiral would consider sending their MFE squad out.

James was both nervous and excited about that. Kogane was right, the jets didn't stand a chance but the MFEs might actually be able to cause some damage. Yet, he didn't particularly want to get vaporized. Still, duty was duty and James would follow the orders he was given like the good soldier he was.

As for now, since the only trained MFE squad were still only Cadets, they had been ordered to head off into the tunnels for a supply run. They armoured up and James rushed to their transport, wasting no time in scrambling up the side. "Okay, I'll drive." He called out only be silenced by an unexpected voice.

"I'm coming with you." A tall, thin girl with glasses was standing behind their group, one hand on her hip and a tool case held firmly in the other. She had tanned skin and stunning blue eyes with a very soft looking brown bob. Under any other circumstances his heart would be racing for reasons other than the mission. "Name's Veronica McClain. I'm an analyst and your handler."

James scowled as he jumped down from the transport vehicle, landing firmly in front of her with his arms crossed. "We don't need a handler." He shot back in an admittedly petty tone.

"Do you know how to get to the depot?" she deadpanned.

He chuckled condescendingly in reply. "Well, no, but you know, I'll just use the guidance system."

The stern girl, Veronica, rolled her eyes. "That uses the world communication network. Which – oh yeah, these tunnels were designed to block. And Cadet Rizavi should drive; she has the highest marks with the AW-Cruiser Transport."

"I like her!" Rizavi beamed.

"Oh, and shot gun." She smirked victoriously and James narrowed his eyes.

"I really like her."

Leifsdottir blinked awkwardly as she stared at him from the seat beside his in the back. Kinkade was manning the gun on top of the vehicle and James was stuck inside listening to Veronica robotically call out directions. 'Right, left, right, middle, stay straight, left then left again' and so on. Risavi handled the cruiser well but dammit, anyone could have driven this. The tunnels were abandoned, aside from the odd rat that scurried by, and remarkably clear of debris. A monkey could have taken the wheel and he was growing increasingly more irradiated.

They came to a stop and filed out of the vehicle, Veronica instantly taking charge. "Griffin, Kinkade, pull open those warehouse doors. Risavi, get to work on repairing the train's engine. Leifsdottir, help me open these compartments so we can fill them with the supplies." She commanded and everyone set to work.

"They left her in pretty good shape! I think I'll have her running in under an hour." Risavi announced and not a minute later he and Kinkade had managed to break the locks on the heavy doors. The four of them set to work moving supplies into the train compartments, while Risavi fixed the engines and he was impressed at how efficiently they were moving; like a well-oiled machine. After an hour she finished with the repairs and joined them in hauling crates and canisters but it didn't take long before a loud clanking sound echoed through the tunnels and set James' teeth on edge.

"The hell was that?" Kinkade asked from behind a large crate at the back of the storage unit. Veronica gave the order for James to investigate and he rushed out of the unit, slinging his gun back over his shoulder in the process. The Cadet gripped his weapon firmly as he charged off down the dark tunnel.

He instantly took back everything he had previously said; THIS was the most terrifying thing. Running after a strange noise into a pitch black abandoned tunnel in the middle of a hostile alien invasion. This is the kind of shit that people try to hide from at the bottom of a whiskey bottle. He was definitely going to need a good stiff drink when they made it back. When – not if.

James repeated that to himself as he made his way through the tunnels as quietly as humanly possible, sneaking along at a snail's pace to avoid loud boot falls echoing off the walls and giving away his position. The stale, stagnate air made it impossible to tell where any sounds were coming from and more than once he'd taken aim at a particularly threatening rat. It wasn't until a strange guttural sounding alien language resonated off the walls that he realized it wasn't just rats down here.

This wasn't the same language that Sendak had used to communicate with them. Instead of the soft, rounded sounds this one was harsh and guttural, full of hisses and growls. He listened carefully, setting the camera on his suit to record and transmit directly back to the Garrison command.

"Cadet Griffin, we are receiving your signal. The suit's camera is equipped with night vision so stay low, stay quiet, and try to get a visual. Do you copy?" It was one of the communication technicians that answered but he knew Admiral Sanda was watching and had given the order. Not wanting to speak, he held his thumb up in front of his suit in a silent confirmation and pressed off the wall, slowly inching his way closer to strange noises.

The voices got louder and, though he couldn't see a damn thing, he knew the camera would pickup his surroundings. James felt the wall vanish behind him and realized he was at a corner. Pressing himself tightly against the edges, he found the wall again and rounded the corner to find at least a dozen pairs of glowing yellow eyes in the darkness. He held his breath and heard a collective gasp over his earpiece as his audience got a full shot of the aliens gathered before him. One of them made a sniffing sound, followed by what he new was their language, and a few of the eerie yellow eyes swept over the area of the tunnel he was crouched in.

James had never more terrified in his life but he stayed calm in his little corner and watched, waiting for them to notice his presence. When nothing happened, he let out the tightly held breath and listened to them speak. They were steadily making their way closer, clearly in no rush as they smashed empty crates and kicked open doors that lead into empty hallways. When their group reached the fork in the tunnels, they split up, sending a pair of two soldiers down the smaller tunnel while the rest continued on their current trajectory. It was smart; they were ensuring that each route was mapped out. Eventually they'd reach the other cadets and it was only a matter of time before they found the sub-level access to the Garrison base.

A shot rang out and blasted the wall above his head, briefly illuminating the tunnel and clearly showcasing his location. Everything changed in an instant. Admiral Sanda yelled in his earpiece for him to retreat and a slew of shots littered the concrete walls surrounding him.

He ducked behind one of the platform barricades, taking aim with his blaster and returning fire. The two Galra that had headed down the other tunnel came running back, blasters in hand, and even more reinforcements emerged the darkness behind them. What had started as maybe twelve Galra was now nearly 30 and James' weapon seemed to have no effect on their armour. This was it; this was how he was going to die. He took aim and continued to shoot; if he was going down he was going to put up as much of a fight as he possibly could.

Several things happened all at once. The purple blasts were interrupted by a bright blue one, some of the Galra turned around and started shooting behind them into the darkness, and a red & white blur whizzed past James to take down one of the Galra that had been sneaking up on him. Out of the darkness came a crew of aliens wearing white armour, each accented with a different colour.

The blue alien had a matching blaster that looked like a sniper rifle. It dropped to one knee and held up the weapon to shoot down the Galra with precision. The yellow alien had a massive blaster that looked incredibly heavy and carried quite the punch. One shot would send a Galra soldier flying into a wall, never to get up. The green alien was tiny and had a small glowing green weapon that acted like a cross between a taser and a grappling hook. While the black alien had what appeared to be a standard issue Garrison pistol, aside from the fact that it was white & black to match his armour.

The red & white blur whipped past him again and sliced down one of the soldiers before he even registered it was there. "HEY! What the hell man, I had that guy!" the blue alien wined in English. English! The red alien, laughed as he took down three more soldiers with his sword, bouncing between them faster than James had ever seen.

"Who the hell are they?" Admiral Sanda shouted in the briefing room and James flinched at the sudden loud voice in his ear. It didn't take much longer, maybe 15 more minutes before the soldiers were dealt with and the red alien practically skipped over to his hiding place.

"Hey, Damsel." He grinned and holy fucking shit!

"KOGANE?" James screeched, watching as the clearly not Human boy double over laughing. "What the actual FUCK!" His yellow eyes were glowing eerily in the dark and, as he threw his head back laughing, inhumanly sharp teeth caught the light.

"Oh GOD, your face!" Kogane managed to wheeze out, taking a gasping breath as he tried to control the fit of laughter still racking his body. A blue light hovered in the air above their heads, casting a soft glow around the tunnel and illuminating the others present. He was now able to see that, along with the four other colourfully armoured soldiers, there were also several others in their group; all of which were obviously not Human.

A cluster of the aliens were clearly Galra and one of their number stepped forward to smack a firm hand across the back of Kogane's head. She growled at him and he flinched. A flurry of hissing, guttural, growly sounds echoed between them as they conversed in the same alien language as the Galra, before the woman turned back to face James, speaking in perfect English. "I am Krolia and I assume you are familiar with my kit?" Keith rolled his eyes beside her. "Take us to your leader so we may discuss the defeat of Commander Sendak."

"Dude!" the blue one laughed. "Your mom legit just said 'take me to your leader'." Keith hissed violently at the boy and James was embarrassed to admit that it made him jump. "Yeesh take a chill pill. Griffin, we come in peace!" he laughed and James scowled in reply.

The alien with the black & white armour stepped forward, accompanied by a slim alien wearing a thin white and black flight suit accented in pink and blue. "Keith, stand down. Lance, leave Cadet Griffin alone." The black one chastised and James' eyes widened as the all too familiar face of Officer Shirogane stepped closer. He extended his hand and smiled broadly, the edges crinkling up to crease around his eyes. "My name is Officer Takeshi Shirogane, it is a pleasure to see you again Cadet. We need to get to the Garrison and seal off these tunnels, any chance you can lead the way?" His smile was radiant and there was no way James could turn him down, he found himself leading the group (Galra included) towards the others before he even knew what he was doing.

They rounded the final corner and the pretty tanned girl named Veronica leapt past him to crush the blue armoured boy in her grasp. "LANCE! OH MY GOD, LANCE!" She was peppering his cheeks and forehead in kisses as he struggled to breathe.

"Ronnie?" he gasped and his arms wrapped tightly around her. James watched the group of aliens step into the light of the train that Risavi managed to get running. He could now clearly see that there were three species in their group: Humans, Galra, and something else that looked Human enough to be confusing. Without another word the Galra with a tail rushed over to help load the last of the crates onto the train and Kinkade gaped at it in shock. The Galra's tail wrapped around a canister and flung it up and over its head. Keith jumped off the top of the train (how the hell did he get up there?) and caught it, screeching in joy as he landed far too gracefully, laughing with the tailed Galra in their strange guttural language.

When the last of the supplies had been loaded in, everyone filed into the train except Veronica. The four MFE pilots stood in the control room, while the others sat in one of the carriages. Veronica took the Cruiser with who he now knew to be her little brother; the missing Cadet: Lance McClain.

They rode in silence, an unspoken agreement to look anywhere but at each other as the confined space seemed to get heavier and heavier. James could feel his thoughts spiraling, what if Kogane hadn't shown up? What if he'd been left to fight off 30 Galra with nothing but an absolutely useless weapon? What if the soldiers managed to find the others? Their weapons would have been just as useless as his so would the soldiers have made short work of them before continuing on towards the Garrison? Did they know where they were headed or were they just investigating the tunnels? So many questions flooded his head that it was becoming increasingly hard to breathe.

"Hey, Damsel – take a breath with me, okay?" Risavi mocked, though her voice was laced with genuine concern as she leaned down in front of him, taking his hands in hers. "Breathe in – breathe out – breathe in – breathe out. Focus on my voice and nothing else, okay. In – and out – in – and out. Just like that, you're doing great. In – and out." She kept her voice quiet and steady; slowly he started to calm down. After his breathing leveled out she pulled him into a tight hug. "Is that the first panic attack you've ever had?" He nodded in response, finally understanding what that horribly feeling had been. "You're wound so damn tight Jamie, you need to take better care of yourself."

"Hmpf, easier said than done." He managed and returned the embrace, thankful for the distraction.

/ / / / / / / / / / /

Keith leaned up against one of the pallets of what he assumed was food. Regris was sitting beside him, as were Krolia and Plak. The other Paladins (minus Lance) were huddled in a corner discussing something Keith wasn't able to hear. Allura and Coran were sitting with the Paladins but the weird Altean girl Allura had brought along was sitting with Matt in a different corner all together. He watched them, noted how closely they were sitting, and warred with himself about whether or not to just ask. Finally, he caved as his curiosity got the better of hm.

"Matt, is the Altean girl your mate?" He asked very matter-of-factly and watched the Human boy sputter in surprise. Allura choked on a laugh while the strange blonde Altean blushed vibrantly and Krolia smacked him across the back of the head – again. "What? It's an honest question." Keith huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Everyone was thinking it." He muttered.

The train lurched rather ungracefully as it came to a stop, the old brakes screeching painfully and all four Galra winced, their hands coming up to shield their ears. "Ugh, broadcast THAT across your planet and Sendak will hightail it out of here." Regris spat. "Is all Human tech this archaic?" Keith laughed as he nodded. Even the most highly advanced technology on Earth was – adorable, to say the least.

He heard the door to the control room open, but their carriage had to be opened from the outside so they waited patiently while muffled voices spoke on the other side. Vaguely he heard the Admiral say something about restraints and Keith was instantly on edge. Krolia, Regris, and Plak heard it too, bodies tensing with the anticipation of hostility. Finally the door opened, revealing a swarm of soldiers aiming their guns directly at them. He rolled his eyes, so much for a warm welcome.