**I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender (duh)
With the Galra officers rounded up, Atlas crew members disembarked. Cargo ships brought down crates of provisions and they were administered amongst the surrendered soldiers. The injured were given medical attention. And plans were made to restore power. When Shiro, Matt, and the rest of the paladins made it to the base's central control room, almost an hour had passed since they'd arrived on Ryker.
"This one's the leader," Mari explained, jerking her head to the commander who was being watched by James and Kinkade. "He refuses to talk to any of us."
The commander turned to face the new group of arrivals and Shiro and the paladins frowned at the contempt in his look. Pidge and Matt warily regarded him for a moment before joining Scarlett at the controls. Hunk, however, cracked a grin, his eyes lighting up in recognition.
"Whoa! Holy Kaltenecker! What are you doing here?" he laughed, hurrying forward to meet him. "It's me, Hunk. Remember? Paladin of the Yellow Lion?...We worked together."
The Galra commander was unmoved by his chipper and friendly attitude. Nevertheless, he begrudgingly muttered, "I remember."
"Wait, you know this guy?" Keith asked as he and the others joined Hunk.
"Yeah, from the Omega Shield," he nodded. When Keith raised a quizzical brow at him, he continued, "Oh, that's right, you were on a space road trip with your mom. Keith, this is our friend Lieutenant Lahn."
"It's Warlord Lahn now, and you and I are not friends," the commander, Lahn, snapped.
Hunk's smile fell, his initial relief dwindling. "Oh. …Okay, uh, I just thought we bonded by working together as a team to fix the Omega Shield and save your planet, you know? A Galra-occupied planet, no less. We saved it. It's cool. No big deal."
Lahn's scowl didn't even waver. "Sendak only attacked the Omega Shield after we pledged loyalty to Voltron," he growled, an unshakable bitterness in his tone. "Then you disappeared and left us vulnerable to more attacks. I vowed to never let that happen again."
"It was not our intention to be gone for so long," Allura piped up. "But we're here now."
He tsked and pulled his gaze away from them. "To claim victory over us?"
"No!" she insisted.
"We didn't come here to argue," Shiro said, the firm authority in his voice drawing the commander's attention back to them. "Warlord Lahn, we're asking you to join the Voltron Coalition to help provide stability to the universe."
Lahn was silent for several ticks. "What's the alternative?"
"If you want peace, if you want to end this war, there can be no alternative," Shiro replied.
He wasn't pleased with that answer. "You've attained victory, and I accept defeat," he said, refusing to give in to the enemy.
"It doesn't have to be victory or death," Keith said with a hint of exasperation. "I know it's the Galra way, but – "
"And what do you know of the Galra?" Lahn snarled, abruptly cutting him off.
Keith's eyes narrowed. "My mother is Galra," he said, cool and even. "She's a member of the Blade of Marmora. So am I."
"The mutinous Blades have all but perished. Are they so diminished in numbers that they're forced to enlist a half-breed and his mommy?" Lahn scoffed.
Keith's glare was hard as he stared down the warlord, a barely contained storm brewing beneath the surface. But before he could say anything more, an alert beeped on the room's main control panel.
"Guys, incoming communication," Pidge reported, drawing everyone's attention to the front.
"Patch it through," Shiro prompted, and she brought it up on screen. A dull static filled the air before a distorted robotic voice began to speak.
"Yordam bering exus. Yordam bering exus. Yordam bering exus."
"It's an emergency protocol built into the sentries when they're under distress," Lahn realized, his anger shifting to mild surprise and concern. "Has your Voltron Coalition attacked them as well?"
"No," Keith answered, curt and sure. "We didn't."
"Pidge, see if you can reopen the hailing frequency," Shiro said.
"I'm trying, but no response," she admitted. "I'm locating the transmission's origin, but the EMPs we set off have done a number on the communications systems…Wait! We got a comm signature." An image of a Galra cruiser appeared on the displays. "Do you recognize this ship?"
"Yes, it's Klytax V-Three," Lahn nodded. "It's one of the fifteen ships I sent on an assignment six phoebs ago. They all disappeared. We assumed they were dead."
"Well, it looks like they're not dead after all. We need to get out there," Keith said, and he turned to their captain. "Shiro, how long before the Atlas is ready to launch again?"
"Hours," Shiro admitted. "We still need to process all the Galra and prepare the planet to continue operating on its own. This is our mission. We need to see this through."
"Then Voltron will go," he decided.
"Voltron is going to save the Galra?" Lahn asked in disbelief. "My fleet would never believe Voltron was there to help. They'd fight you until their last breath."
"That's why you're coming with us."
He turned towards the door and the other paladins hurried after their leader, not wasting a moment as they dove into their next task. Lahn stiffened, unused to and unwilling to be ordered around. When Keith realized the warlord refused to follow them, he stopped in the doorway and turned to face him.
"Kosmo."
The cosmic wolf peeled away from Mari's side and moved behind Lahn. A low snarl rumbled from his throat, and he revealed a wicked set of sharp teeth that threatened to snap at the warlord's ankles. Lahn grimaced and took an uneasy step away from the wolf. Then two. He glowered at Keith, absolutely furious as he begrudgingly joined him and the other paladins, Kosmo corralling him all the while.
Half a day dragged by without word on Voltron's progress with Lahn's fleet. Still, it granted the Atlas crew plenty of time to restore Planet Ryker to a proper working order. Standing outside the base, Curtis and Mari managed their projects and diligently tracked their progress. Where the Atlas' supplies were being unloaded and dispersed on the base's landing dock, the MFE pilots, Acxa, Immea, and several other rebels and crewmates kept the gathered Galra soldiers company. Now unrestrained, they sat in groups murmuring to each other, seldom looking at or engaging in conversation with their guards. The anger and fear that had burned in their eyes hours ago upon their subdual had faded, replaced with a tired nervousness and confusion as they glanced at the members of the Voltron Coalition.
Having returned from the bridge of the Atlas, Shiro approached the duo in charge of the ground efforts. "The paladins are on their way back," he shared, relief pulling up the corners of his lips. "How's the processing going?"
Curtis straightened in the presence of their captain, a smile of his own lighting up his features. "Pretty good, sir. I'd say we're almost done." His gaze returned to the tablet in his hands, inputting this new information from their leader. "Matt estimates the power to be back up and running in less than an hour. And the recovery teams we sent to check on the other planets in the system are due to return soon."
"Scarlett and Mitsubishi and the rest of the engineering team are almost done repairing the cannons to restore the planet's defense systems, as well," Mari chimed in, skimming through the data on her own device.
"That's great." Shiro paused, taking in the quiet group of soldiers sitting nearby. "How are the Galra officers?"
Curtis followed his gaze. "I think they're warming up to us," he decided, albeit unsurely. "No one's tried to start a rebellion, at least."
"Immea's sent a report to Krolia and Kolivan. She's thinking about doing some recruiting for the Blades," Mari provided. "Not sure how many of those guys are willing to listen to her, though."
"They could use the members. It won't hurt to try," Shiro noted. "If not, maybe they'll listen to Warlord Lahn."
She frowned at him, doubtful. "You think he's had a change of heart that quickly?"
Shiro nodded. "Keith said their trip was an eye-opener for him. I think he'll cooperate with us now."
Mari raised an eyebrow, but didn't question him, instead diverting her attention back to the Galra and their team. Hovering at the edge of the camp, leaning against a cargo crate all on her lonesome, Acxa stood with her arms folded over her chest. The other rebels and Atlas crewmates were careful to avoid making eye contact with her. And the nearest Galra officers squirmed beneath her narrowed gaze, refusing to look at her at all. Stepping away from Shiro and Curtis, Mari made her way towards her.
"Hey. You okay?" she asked as she drew nearer.
Acxa's eyes flicked to the approaching human, their cold edge diminishing just a bit. "I'm fine," she said, but there was no missing the forced air of nonchalance in her response. Her frown and rigid stance remained as she added, "Why do you ask?"
"You seem…tense," Mari admitted, leaning against the crate next to her. "More so than usual."
Acxa was quiet for a long moment. They watched as Colleen and Beezer handed out pouches of food and water to the officers while Olia and Romelle provided blankets as the night grew chilly. The soldiers accepted the supplies with mixed reactions, nodding and hesitantly taking the provisions.
"The Vurelleans really are different from the other rebels," she stated finally, breaking their bout of silence. "Ellosh and Korlis are kind to everyone, Vurellean-born or not. I would call it naivety, but now I think it is because they never truly experienced the full extent of Galra oppression."
She paused, regarding Olia as she warmly draped a blanket over a smaller officer's trembling shoulders. He granted her a small and grateful smile in return and she grinned, patting him on the back and chatting away as if he were one of her own pups. Acxa sighed, a twinge of pain flashing in her gaze. She waited another moment before continuing.
"Traveling with you for so long and receiving their kindness almost made me forget how much of an outcast I really am," she said, quiet and detached. "I didn't expect this trip to be easy – I would've been a fool to think so. I want to help the coalition in any way that I can. But I still can't help but feel that no matter what I do here, it never seems to be enough. Not for the Galra. And not for the rest of the Atlas crew, either."
When Acxa's eyes met Mari's, they were tired and troubled, brimming with a helpless frustration that she was all too familiar with. Mari tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a light squeeze.
"We're all still on the same side. No one objects to you being here. And if they do, they'll have to answer to me," she reminded her, trying her best for a smile. "We each have a role to play on this mission. There are some things that only you can do."
Acxa didn't respond, an unshakable uncertainty lingering. She turned to face the rest of the camp again, her brow furrowing as she caught James and the other MFE pilots watching them like hawks.
"Give the others some more time to adjust," Mari gently pressed, taking note of her renewed scowl and the staring pilots. "They just have to get to know you. You're more than what's in your blood, remember?"
She nudged her playfully, knowingly, in the ribs. Acxa hummed, neither agreeing or disagreeing with her, but she cracked a small smirk nonetheless.
When the paladins and Warlord Lahn finally returned, the Ryker base was up and running again. Unfortunately, his fleet of fifteen ships had all been destroyed by a quintessence-enhanced creature designed to eliminate the Galra. According to Keith, one of the Galra warlords, Ranveig, found it in the Quantum Abyss years ago and experimented on it with Lotor's Altean quintessence. He and Krolia had initially set it free in order to escape Ranveig's base. Fortunately, the paladins killed the dangerous weapon, and the ordeal of encountering it and being rescued from it by Voltron really did convince Lahn to join the coalition.
"The Galra Empire may be decimated, but its warriors are still needed to maintain stability. Twice, the Paladins of Voltron have risked their lives for me, and yet I questioned their intent. I was wrong," he announced, his speech broadcasted system-wide for all his soldiers to hear. "I pledge loyalty to a united front with the Voltron Coalition. And I encourage you all to do the same."
The Galra officers, now standing side-by-side with the Atlas crew and coalition rebels, grinned in approval. They clapped and cheered, signifying their loyalty and agreement with their trusted leader. With more allies added to their forces and the planet restored and capable of defending itself, the Atlas prepared to depart from Ryker. Ships and lions returned to their respective hangars, and leftover supplies were returned to storage. Crewmates returned to their stations and the paladins gathered on the bridge to discuss their next course of action.
"Another one in the bag," Scarlett yawned. She laced her fingers together and stretched her arms above her head before letting them fall to her sides. "Where to next?"
"About that…I downloaded some intel from the cruiser we investigated," Pidge said, her expression grim as she tapped away at her gauntlet screen. "There might be another one of Honerva's beasts out there."
A wave of unease washed over the room as they were forced to recall their deadly battle on Earth against Luka.
"Another one?" Lance huffed in disbelief.
"This is just what I feared," Allura murmured, her brow knitting together. "Shiro, we need to adjust our mission's objective and track down where these things are coming from."
Shiro frowned at the idea. "How certain are you that it's a robeast?" he asked Pidge.
"I'm not positive, but according to the message logs, some Galra have spotted a giant robotic mech that fits the description," she said, giving the info another once-over. "The logs even refer to a similar weapon."
"There may be another Altean piloting it. We must investigate," Allura urged, her sparkling eyes pleading with their captain.
Shiro hesitated, caught between a major decision. "Thousands of innocent souls are waiting to be liberated from what remains of the Galra Empire," he said slowly. "We can't just change course."
"Maybe you don't have to," Keith piped up, drawing everyone's attention to him.
"What are you saying?" Shiro asked, and the Black Paladin uncrossed his arms, confident in the suggestion he was about to make.
"We'll split up. The Atlas will continue working with the Galra while Voltron searches for Honerva and her beasts."
"You'll be out there on your own, without backup," Shiro reminded him, the worry evident in his voice.
Keith gave him a reassuring smile. "We'll be okay. Voltron is stronger now more than ever."
The other paladins turned to their captain, granting him encouraging grins. Shiro considered them for a minute, but didn't argue.
"Okay," he decided. "I trust you."
Mari shifted her weight from foot to foot and crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't try to blow yourselves up again if you run into one of those robeasts," she urged, unable to ignore her growing restlessness. "Be careful."
"We will," Keith promised. His features softened as he added, "The same goes for you, too."
"And if you do find Honerva out there, kick her ass for me."
"Definitely."
Pidge made a gagging noise, abruptly interrupting them. Her face was scrunched up in dismay, and Sam threw them an apologetic look from where he stood behind her. Mari rolled her eyes, but indulged the Green Paladin's need to avoid a potentially sappy farewell as she let them leave the bridge. Hearts ablaze with determination in the face of their new goal, the paladins departed from the Atlas once again, more than ready to begin their next adventure.
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