**I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender (duh)
With the launching of the MFEs, the mission to free Earth began. In the central control room of the Garrison, Shiro, Sam, Iverson, Coran, Romelle, Scarlett, Mari, and Kosmo watched on screen as the ships and the vehicle carrying Lance and Veronica split up, carefully tracking their progress as they ventured towards the enemy bases.
"Paladins, our window of opportunity is razor thin. With the element of surprise, we'll have the advantage," Shiro reminded them over the comms. "Good luck."
Time trickled by as the paladins drew ever nearer to their respective destinations, calling out to their lions all the while. The Garrison crew waited with bated breath, their eyes never once leaving the displays. Finally, four of the bases lit up on the map, signifying a successful transferral of a paladin to their lion.
"Four of the five paladins have reached their drop zones. The MFEs are en route to Base Six," Iverson reported. "We're just waiting on Lance."
"Lance, where are you?" Shiro asked. "Can you hear me?"
At first, there was no response. Then Lance's mic peaked as he let out a choked scream, only to be abruptly cut off. The map chirped, highlighting his location, unmoving and gradually being swarmed by Galra forces.
Panic flooded Shiro's features as he stared at the image on screen. "Oh, no…"
The room went deadly silent, the atmosphere thickening with unease as they helplessly watched the Galra close in on the Red Paladin. The Red Lion had either run into trouble on its way to Earth, or it had simply decided not to answer Lance's call. Mari grit her teeth and shook the thoughts of budding dread from her head. It was too early to fall into despair. They hadn't failed just yet.
Suddenly, one by one, the Galra fighters disappeared from the screens, put out of commission. Lance's comms crackled with static before he exclaimed, "Red Lion, checking in!"
"We have all the lions. It worked!" Iverson grinned, and a collective sigh of relief washed over the room, followed by triumphant cheers and claps. "Sending out a team to retrieve Veronica."
The Voltron lions and the four MFE ships started to attack Sendak's six bases, but their assault didn't last long as hordes of Galra cruisers descended into the atmosphere. Fighters spilled from their hangars and ion cannons charged as they attacked the lions and the Garrison pilots.
"I'm taking heavy fire!" Hunk relayed over their comms.
"Something's wrong!" Allura agreed, explosions ringing out behind her.
"These aren't normal base defenses!" Lance grunted.
"I'm pinned down!" Pidge shouted.
"Keith, what do we do?" James asked.
"Do what you have to!" was their leader's only advice as he struggled to fend off his own fleet of attackers. "We can't let those cannons launch!"
The comms filled with yells and curses and the high whines of laser blasts. The paladins and the MFE team were struggling beneath the merciless brute force of Sendak's army. They needed backup, but there just wasn't any the Garrison could provide. They were powerless as they listened to their calls for assistance, the six Zaiforge cannons rising from their bases and preparing for launch.
The massive Galra weapons sparked and rose into the sky, climbing higher and higher until they broke through Earth's upper atmosphere. There was no use trying to fight the fleets individually anymore. The only way they could stop the cannons from blowing up Earth would be to take out Sendak and his main command ship. Abandoning the original plan, the MFEs were forced to return back to the Garrison while the five lions regrouped and soared after the cannons. Voltron was formed, and it wasted no time streaming towards the army's main cruiser.
But before the legendary hero could even touch Sendak, the six Zaiforge cannons fired in unison. Their deadly purple beams bounced off a series of reflective plates, angling to converge on one spot: Voltron. The blasts slammed into it, enveloping the hero in a scorching ball of energy. The paladins shrieked over the comms as the relentless pressure and heat fried their systems, and Voltron cracked and glowed as the lions were being forced apart. In one final burst of light, the five lions separated, drained of power and floating listlessly before the oppressive strength that was the Fire of Purification.
A tense silence settled over the room as a tractor beam began to gather the lions into Sendak's cruiser. Jaws dropped and horrified gasps filled the room as Earth's last hope was captured in an instant. Mari's heart raced as she stared at the screens, her mouth suddenly dry. Their systems showed the paladins' biorhythms to be even and steady, but they were unresponsive as static filled their comms.
Shiro's face had paled and his eyes widened as the cogs turned in his head. "They were ready for us," he quietly realized. "Sendak was ready for the attack the entire time."
"What? But how?" Sam asked, his own brow furrowing as he tried to remain calm in the face of this dilemma. "This mission was kept under wraps. Only the senior officers knew the details."
Mari swallowed thickly. She frowned, taking in the other humans working at their respective stations. All of the senior officers who had been sitting in the conference room with them were present. Except for the admiral.
"We had a traitor," she said, quiet but sure. "The admiral's not here."
Iverson turned to her, his brow raised in uncertainty. "That's a big accusation to make."
"It makes sense, though. She never had faith in the paladins. She was so insistent on sacrificing the lions this entire time," Scarlett piped up, her antenna glowing brighter in the dim lighting of the room as she came to Mari's defense. "And now she's suddenly gone while we're staging this critical attack. How else could Sendak have figured out the exact details of this plan?"
A gnawing sense of unease filled the air as everyone let this new revelation sink in. Their own leader had betrayed them, too stubborn or perhaps too naive to give up her desire to save Earth in exchange for the lions.
Sam took a deep breath, steadying himself. "Where is Admiral Sanda?" he asked, addressing their communications crew.
The head of the team, a senior officer named Curtis, turned to him, his expression grim as he replied, "Sir, she's been gone since our mission briefing. No one knows where she is right now."
Shiro's jaw clenched, his gaze swirling with a mixture of anger and disbelief as he glared at the five unresponsive lion signals on screen. "Paladins, are you there?" His question was met with the crackling of more static. "Paladins, do you copy? Keith? Anyone?" There was still no answer. He looked to Sam, desperation beginning to creep into his tone as he searched for a way to help his incapacitated team. "Commander Holt, what weapons do we have available?"
"Fusion cannons, but that fleet is out of range," Sam replied.
"What about the MFEs?"
"The mission depleted their power. They're charging now."
"Shiro, even with the MFEs, Sendak has an entire fleet," Coran reminded him, almost incredulous that he would even consider sending out just four pilots to take on an entire army.
"We need to get them back! We have to do something!" Shiro insisted, his frustration rising. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to calm his anger before continuing, "What about the Atlas?"
"We still have had zero success launching it," Sam admitted.
At that moment, Veronica entered the control room in full uniform, having finally returned from Base One. As she took her seat at her station, her colleagues quickly brought her up to speed on the status of the paladins and their situation.
Shiro addressed the analysis and communications teams as he instructed, "Veronica, Curtis, monitor the fleet. Let us know of any changes."
Both commanders nodded in affirmation. "Yes, sir!"
Leaving the command room to them and Iverson, Shiro marched towards the door, Sam, Mari, and the others following after him. "Come on, let's get that ship off the ground."
Hurrying down to the hangar level of the Garrison, their group boarded the immobile Atlas. When they arrived on the bridge, Coran and Sam sat at the controls, flicking on the computer systems as they furiously began to brainstorm possible ways to lift the massive aircraft off the ground. Precious minutes dragged by without any surefire results.
"What if we shut down all non-essential systems and use an external source to fire one engine?" Coran suggested.
"We tried that," Sam instantly shot him down. "It wasn't enough power."
"What about crystals from the MFEs? You think that will work?" he wondered next.
"One, those crystals are way too small. And two, those crystals are still just from Earth," Scarlett dutifully reminded them. "They don't have enough energy to power the MFEs to their full potential, let alone support an entire battle-class ship."
"Hmm…" Coran frowned, pinching his mustache in thought. He glanced at Sam as he inquired, "You don't happen to have any nunville, do you?"
Sam raised a brow, unfamiliar with the word. "Nunville?"
"Altean booze," Mari provided.
"It's highly combustible," Coran elaborated.
"Would regular alcohol work?" Shiro wondered.
"We don't have enough on base," Sam shook his head, and there went that line of thinking.
"I'm detecting movement from the Zaiforge cannons," Veronica's voice piped up over their comms.
"Where are they headed?" Iverson asked.
"Based on our projections…The cannons are converging above our location!" she exclaimed.
Shiro's eyes widened. "Even with all the power we've allocated to it, the particle barrier will never hold against a Zaiforge cannon."
A shiver ran down Mari's spine as images of Vurelle's destruction threatened to flash across her memory. Scarlett's grimace deepened as she murmured, "He's gonna blow us up in one shot."
Coran scowled in deep thought. "Wait, that's it!" he suddenly gasped as an idea struck. "We can divert power from the shield generator to the Atlas."
"The base would be unprotected, but it's possible," Sam said slowly. "And it just might work."
Shiro frowned, but a spark of renewed hope shone in his eyes. "How much time do we have before the Zaiforge cannons arrive?"
"By our calculations, less than two hours," Veronica answered.
"We have to hurry."
"Veronica, transfer all data from mission control to the Atlas," Sam ordered, wasting not even a moment as they jumped into their new plan.
"Yes, sir!"
"Commander Iverson, get all personnel aboard this ship immediately."
"Yes, sir!"
Seconds later, an alarm blared base-wide, alerting officers, cadets, and refugees alike of the emergency situation. "All personnel, report to Atlas bay immediately," Iverson's voice barked out over the loudspeakers, stirring people into action. "This is not a drill."
"We'll go help with the evacuation," Mari said, and Romelle and Scarlett nodded while Kosmo flicked his tail in agreement. "We'll get it done in an hour!"
With a time-sensitive objective pushing them forward, their group departed from the bridge and rode up the elevator to the main campus. The halls were already bustling with people, frantic and scared and hurrying as fast as they could move to grab their things and go. Romelle and Kosmo split from Mari and Scarlett, preparing to assist the officers in transferring crates of supplies to the hangar, leaving the two of them to begin guiding the Garrison's civilians to the lower levels. It wasn't long before they found Magdalena and Jia and they joined in on the evacuation efforts.
Gently but firmly urging everyone to remain calm and move quickly, the Garrison rapidly began to empty. Nervous party after party were brought down to the Atlas, climbing up its massive ramp before being escorted to an empty bunking compartment. Colleen and Lance's family, their arms full with all their belongings, tentatively asked Mari what was going on. What had happened to their children? She didn't want to scare them, but she couldn't lie to them either. She replied that the Voltron lions had been captured, but Lance and Pidge were still alive. They had to leave the base in order for the Atlas to rescue them.
Her ring continued to glow as time ticked away. By the time Mari was escorting her parents into the ship, holding onto her father's arm for support as he gradually climbed up the ramp while her mother carried Kage and their things, the Garrison was almost fully evacuated. Like with many of the other frightened civilians, she calmly and briefly explained their situation. They were going to help the paladins. Shiro was handling things. They were all going to be okay, but they had to do this.
"You're all grown up now," her father murmured. He sounded sad as he sat heavily on the bed in their tiny room on the Atlas, but his eyes shone with pride as he looked at her.
Mari granted him a tiny smile as she hovered by the doorway. She nodded, breathless from rushing around for almost an hour, and turned to leave to bring down the last group of civilians.
"Mari!" her mother abruptly called out, stopping her in her tracks.
"Yeah?"
"I…" She paused, hugging a dozing Kage closer as she softly said, "Please, be safe."
Mari hesitated, a mess of confusing emotions bubbling within her. She silently shoved them down, refusing to be thrown off-task by any of them. "I will," she promised her, before whisking out of sight.
In no time, the last of the Garrison supplies and personnel boarded the Atlas. Mari, Scarlett, Romelle, and Kosmo returned to the bridge, now filled with the team from the central command room.
"The base has been completely evacuated. We're ready to go," Mari reported, and the entrance ramp was promptly closed, sealing the ship shut.
"We're all set here," Sam noted over the comms from where he and his team worked in the ship's engine rooms. "I'm ready to divert power from the barrier generator."
"Copy that," Coran said, sitting in front of the main control panel. "We're ready to receive."
His screens glowed as the power was transferred to the Atlas. Outside, the particle barrier fell and the four MFE fighters took to the skies, ready to defend the unprotected base. Not a minute later, a Galra cruiser descended, firing upon them. The entire ship shook and alarms rang as blasts from the ion cannon rocked the facility above, sending debris raining down.
"Comms tower is down!" Veronica exclaimed, and the bridge rumbled as another blow made impact. The MFEs began to attack the assaulting cruiser, trying to draw its fire.
"We got it!" Sam exclaimed and Coran's screen chirped in confirmation. "It's charged!"
"Prepare for launch," Shiro ordered, and the bridge team scrambled to do as they were told.
The bay door cracked open, exposing the Atlas to the blue skies above. The ship whirred with energy beneath their feet as the engines powered up. Then slowly but surely, it began to rise from the floor…Only to come crashing back down as the power failed. Everyone lurched forward as the ship scraped along the hangar floor, grunting and cursing as they tried to regain their composure.
"No!" Shiro hissed, the Atlas once again lifeless around them.
Another Galra cruiser joined the aerial battle up above. Fighters streamed from them, keeping the MFE pilots on their toes as they faced the increased number of enemies. More blasts from the ion cannons pounded the earth, gradually demolishing the Garrison campus.
"I've built a ship that's useless!" Sam guilty berated himself, his hope diminishing. "It would take the power of several supermassive black holes to get this hunk of metal off the ground."
Coran wheezed. "That's it!" he shrilled, drawing everyone's attention to him. "Why didn't I think of this before? Of course! Black holes! Infinite mass! It was always right here!"
He leapt from his seat and yanked the Castle of Lion's diamond out from underneath his shirt. The crystal glowed and sparkled in the light, and Shiro stared at it, processing what Coran was implying.
"Commander Holt, you're going to want to see this," he said.
"I'm on my way!"
The bay doors slid shut again, protecting the ship from becoming an obvious target. In the air, more enemy cruisers appeared to raze the Garrison stronghold. The hangar quivered and quaked and more rubble fell, knocking violently into the Atlas. Mari took a shaky breath, struggling to remain steady in the chaos of it all, and Scarlett took her hand, grounding her and offering what little comfort she could.
When Sam arrived on the bridge, he scanned Coran's diamond. "The energy coming off this is incredible," he gasped.
"The crystal was created after the destruction of the Castle of Lions," Coran explained, cupping it gingerly in his hands. "It's an amalgamation of the Quintessence Field collapsing from infinite mass and Altean magic into this tiny thing."
"We need to get it hooked up to the Atlas immediately," Sam prompted. He typed in several commands on his tablet and a cylindrical machine rose from the floor of the command platform. An empty glass container sat on top of it. "This is where I had originally planned to place a Balmeran crystal. It serves as the brains of the Atlas. We're going to have to figure out some way to accommodate for the difference in size. It will take a feat of engineering to – "
Before he could finish his thought, the crystal glowed and zipped into the glass tube. The bridge was illuminated in a blue light and the Atlas whirred as power was restored. The engines rumbled as they ignited and their screens flickered back on.
"I can't believe it," Sam breathed, watching in awe as the dead ship was brought back to life in an instant. "It's amazing!"
"Subsystems fully powered," Veronica reported, pleasantly shocked.
"Megathrusters are go!" Curtis grinned.
"Veronica, monitor the radars, let us know what you see," Shiro instructed, jumping into action. "Commander Iverson, I need you on weapons. Coran, get the helm."
"Yes, Captain!" Coran affirmed, beating a fist proudly against his chest.
Shiro's eyes widened and he scanned the bridge, as if unsure Coran was truly addressing him. He hesitantly turned to Sam, looking to his senior officer for guidance.
"The bridge is yours, Shiro," Sam said, more than willing to grant him such an honorable role.
Shiro's expression softened, appreciative as he looked at his mentor. "We could use an engineer."
Sam beamed. "Yes, sir," he said, granting him a salute.
"And I could use a first mate," Shiro added, turning to Mari next with a small smile.
Her dark thoughts seemed to fade in the face of their returning hope. A fire sparked within her, burning away the encroaching dread. "Yes, sir," she grinned, accepting the position.
With the Atlas powered, their hopes reignited and the worries of defeat began to dwindle. Their crystal power source lowered back into the floor and Sam returned to the engine room as they prepared for liftoff.
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