"So, Coran." Allurs spoke to the old alteran inside the old castle ship hangar "What am I looking at now?"
After the 'incident' where Bismuth tried to kill Steven and Connie, the atmosphere was in the mud for half a week. His cousin Lance volunteered to keep an eye on the gem who was on the tightrope with them, Matthew was working on a random project and the rest of the paladins (except for the two boys who were still shocked by what happened) were training hard. during the week.
And that left Allura with Coran.
The expert engineer and advisor to the princes had all the time to himself, and decided to invest all that free time in a personal project.
Make Alteans flight ships functional again.
"Ohohoho! I assure you, you will love to see this, Princess!" Coran commented gleefully as he pointed behind him at a huge object covered by a huge sheet. "I've been working hard to bring our ships back to their former glory."
"I see, and how are you doing with it?" Allura asked the engineer with a small smile at Coran's dedication.
"Ohhh, I have prayed a lot to the machine god so that this beauty could start again." Coran jumped to the side and grabbed the sheet by one end. "Princess Allura, witness the Altean Aerospace Renaissance!"
Coran stirred the sheet and Allura couldn't help but let out a gasp of surprise.
The jet was beautiful, not as beautiful as a lion but it had its own special touch. It had a shape similar to that of an Earth warship only it had one. more innocent and docile appearance, the only colors that were seen in the ship were a pearly white, a matte gray for the fins and a light blue for the polarized glass.
"This is incredible, Coran." The princess congratulated him very well and walked him around the ship, inspecting it carefully. "Did you do this by yourself?"
"It was like the humans say: 'a piece of cake' the ships themselves weren't in bad shape when I found them, it just required a few interface updates and waxing of the glide systems and a little maintenance on the engine. " Coran proudly listed all the improvements and fixes he gave the ship to the sovereign of Altea.
"And can it fly?" The princess asked to which Coran gave an indignant snort.
"What if it can fly?" Coran said as if it was an insult. "Let's try it!"
"There you are, Allura." Shiro greeted the princess in the piloting center with her seeing a holo-screen in the control center.
"Oh Shiro." Allura greeted politely and turned his gaze to the screen.
The black paladin arches an eyebrow hoping to have a conversation, not having it decided that it would be logical to see what he was doing.
"Something happens?"
"It's nothing. I'm just supervising the demonstration of the Altean jet that Coran has arranged." The princess pointed to the screen and, indeed, Coran was in the cockpit maneuvering out of the castle. "Can you see me, Coran?"
"Loud and Clear, Your Majesty!" The ecstatic redhead Altean greeted the camera.
"I suppose this is a practice exercise, so to speak." Shiro crossed her arms watching the demonstration of the flight. "It brings back memories of the land, back in my days at Galaxy Jackson."
"How are things with Steven and Connie? I haven't been able to see them for Vargas." Allura concerned asks about the mental state of the young people.
"They are fine, just now I have seen them come down to join the training. They are putting their mind in the game, personal things come later." Shiro commented smiling in an attempt to dispel the princess's concerns. "No need to worry."
"hmm ... well, I'm counting on it." Allura nodded at the paladin leader's argument.
Then unexpectedly it happened.
A sudden sound of alarms alerted not only the two of them, but everyone in the castle.
"What is this!?" Shiro was startled at the sudden warning the ship gave and looked at the princess.
"Are we under attack, Allura!?"
Terror.
That was the first thing the black paladin saw on the brave and beautiful princess Altean's face. The terror emanating from his face was pure, raw, and thick.
"What's going on, Allura?" Confused Shiro looked outside.
What he saw puzzled him.
The outer space between them and the castle was slowly beginning to change unexpectedly. The starry void black began to twist when a hazy patch appeared out of nowhere and was growing exponentially. right in front of them.
"ALLURA WHAT IS HAPPENING!?"
Allura only saw a message on the screen and a threat written in Altean.
...
Warp storm.
"Coran, return to the castle right Now!" The princess scream at the communicator, surprising the paladin.
"What's wrong-" Coran asked worried but his words died when he looked to the left and his eyes widened. "IS THAT A WARP STORM!?"
"Warp Storm? Tell me what's up Allura!" Shiro impatiently took the princess by the shoulders. "We are in danger!?"
"Shiro, I need you to gather everyone and lead them to the cryo pods!" Allura took the man's arms with fear written in her eyes. "I'll explain everything later, but you must hurry or our lives are in danger!"
Shiro hesitated for a moment but seeing the princess's panicked look was all he needed to obey and run out of the station.
Coran, you have to get back to the castle quickly!" Allura returned to the holo-screen and looked at Coran with fear written on his face. "I already ordered Shiro to collect everyone and take them to the pods to protect us from the warp"
"How can such a Warp Storm happen all of a sudden !? They have lost spawn frequency since the fall of the Eldar"
"It doesn't matter how! I want you to come back now!"
"I'm getting there as fast as I can, I need you to get to safety first" Coran said trying to keep calm from the unexpected situation.
"I will be when you are on board." Allura tapped the computer showing a secondary screen where Shiro and the rest of the group headed to their assigned spot "You know what happens when someone gets caught in a Warp Storm."
"And I know that, Allura! But I need you to get to safety first!" the desperation in Coran's voice could be felt.
Allura took another look outside, the Warp storm was increasing in intensity and showed no signs of stopping. His heart beat erratically and he looked at his friend whose face was stoic, but inside he was more scared than she was.
"Please, please come back safely Coran. You have to come back, you must come back."
I'll do that ... go to the paladins and be safe." Coran did his best to keep the tone of his voice calm, for him... for the princes...
Allura stood there with a mortified face when his friend stayed he disconnected to the network manually. He had to trust Coran, he will be fine, he must be, she needs him as much as the others.
The princess returned to her senses and left the place running as fast as she could to get to safety.
Coran never expected him to be so unlucky.
"This is bad, this is bad, this is very bad." The Altean engineer muttered in barely contained fear as he looked out of the cockpit, the bloody nebula that was the Warp Storm getting closer and closer. "of all days, this had to happen to me?"
Oh… he knew well what this kind of spatial phenomenon was capable of. He heard stories from his grandfather about how people, when they were engulfed in a storm of this caliber, would never be seen again and would go through a fate worse than death.
His desire to survive was what prompted him to want to survive and return to the castle, he pulled the triggers on the handlebar and thus managed to accelerate, but the Altean was far from the castle.
"Come on, Coran! You've come this far comp to get swallowed up by a storm!" Coran muttered with a sea of sweat running down his forehead, he could feel the slight tremor of the warp storm inside the ship. "Just a few more ticks, I'm close to the castle."
Coran could already see the hole in the docking bay, that is, he was more than a hundred meters from salvation, nothing bad could happen at this time.
But I was wrong...
Coran did not know why this had happened to him, he has always been an upright person and faithful to his ideals and customs that he carried in his soul even if his homeland was annihilated. He still had things to fight for and his pulse would not tremble in sacrificing himself to save them.
Never understanding why fate led him to hit a lost asteroid.
The Altean screamed in shock as it spun through the void, the asteroid's volume was thick and the impact was so hard that it sent it sideways away from the castle of lions, toward its doom.
"No no no no no no!" He clicked on the ship's computer in a desperate attempt to restart the engine, but the impact of the asteroid caused extensive damage to the hydraulics that completely fused the engine.
It was at this moment that only a thought took control of his mind.
...Is this all? ...would this be his end? ...would this be the end of his story? ...
The storm began and when a large warp rift opened right in front of him, Coran closed his eyes and with all his faith I hope that everyone has managed to take refuge from the storm.
The last thing Coran could do before being swallowed by the rift and losing consciousness was remembering all the beautiful things that happened in his life.
Altea... Alfor... Lance... Voltron
...
...
...
... Allura.
It was total darkness ... I just couldn't feel it. It was an overwhelming silence ... that he did not listen to. All was calm in the mind of the red-haired Altean who wandered in what would be one of the countless areas of the Immaterium, the worst place in the galaxy itself.
It is not that there was nothing, nothing in itself can be everything, Silence can be noise. Everything that is not possible, in the Immaterium if it is, that is not why they call it the realm of the possible.
Deep in his consciousness, Coran waited for the nameless abominations to come after him. There would be no doubt that they would welcome him and plan the worst torture that would only come from his worst nightmares.
But what he didn't know was that there were other internal forces protecting him... Taking care of him...
Guiding him…
A buzz sounded slowly in the mind of the unconscious Altean that as the seconds passed the intensity was increasing, his ship was shaking again and the alarm beeps in the cockpit were sounding like crazy.
Without even knowing it, another rift opened in which whose fate was mysterious to the pilot.
And so ... Coran let go of the warp but not before a couple of voiceless words were planted deep in his brain.
…
…
…
G
O
B
A
C
K
…
…
…
Coran let out a long moan, the faint smell of ozone and the unstoppable beeps from inside the cockpit were able to wake him up.
"Ughhh..."
He widened his eyes in his state of shock and looked around the cockpit, then looked up at the control panel where he was reporting dozens of problems.
"What happened?" Coran thought and looked outside with difficulty as the glass on the outside was fogged up by smoke coming from the engine.
With the push of a button, the cockpit shot out of the ship and Coran was finally able to remove his helmet and breathe fresh air at last.
And the first thing he saw was: an extensive and expedo forest.
"What the Quiznack where I am?" Coran asked aloud as he removed his seat belt and stepped out of the now ruined ship.
He looked at his surroundings and observed that the outside was a dense forest with tall trees whose wood had an ashen color and its leaves were a turquoise color, it had some small grass roots and some bushes but besides that there was nothing else.
How was what-?" Coran's eyes widened in horror at the memory of what happened. "The castle! I must contact the others!"
But he stopped when he thought about what he was doing, as he had just remembered: he had entered a warp rift, fell into unconsciousness and then awakened in this unknown place on an unknown planet. In the old days when there were no teladuv portals; the warp was a way to perform a jump in space, but its uses deteriorated due to how dangerous it was to travel there.
Many were never found, others took years or even centuries to find them because time was meaningless in the Immaterium.
There were other times when they ended up in an unfamiliar place.
Coran felt a turn in his heart before the situation in which he was, MAYBE years passed and I just arrived on this planet. There is a high probability that Allura and the others have died and the Galra have conquered the universe.
He sat back in the booth and clicked on the computer to find out what date it was. His answer came showing the same date he woke up after cryogenization.
"But that's not enough, maybe the computer crashed in the crash." Coran scratched his mustache, decided and for another approach. "I will send a distress signal."
Damaged communication systems.
"QUIZNACK!" Coran slammed the handlebars of the ship and pressed his forehead into it. His voice trailed off at the gravity of the skating. "Now what am I going to do?"
I was trapped ... without any kind of salvation.
Or so he thought
The super developed ears of the Altean managed to catch a sound coming from the forest to his right. He immediately left the ship and the sound seemed to get closer.
"H-hello?" Coran hesitated a bit but found the courage to continue. "Anyone there?"
He could hear someone moving closer to his direction, Coran could identify that the slaps were soft and brief for what must be the locals of the forest or perhaps a small herd of Yalmors.
The sound of a branch breaking gave him chills, something was wrong ... he didn't know what but he could feel it.
There was a deathly silence around the forest, the sound of the wind was non-existent and there was no life around the forest. Now he could hear the footsteps approaching him, there was no caution and he could almost hear grunts.
Faster footsteps were heard now and Coran jumped out of his cockpit just in time to see his 'Saviors' emerge.
They were horrible anthropomorphic rats the size of an adult with blood red eyes, claws and sharp and hungry teeth, there were almost five of them and they all wore clothes in poor condition with a few pieces of armor around here and there are almost no room in their squalids arms.
Coran widened his eyes wide and immediately screamed before running for his life.
The rat in the center let out a high-pitched roar and she along with her companions began to chase the lost Altean.
Coran ran as fast as his old feet could, dodged trees, jumped in streams, climbed small hills without stopping. Their rodent pursuers were following them, showing more and more savagery.
"Please! Help! Help! Horrible rats are chasing me!" The Altean yelled at no one as there was no one around to help him.
Coran glanced back for a moment to see how much of an advantage he had over his pursuers. This proved to be a serious mistake as he tripped over an overhanging branch of a tree and fell headlong into the ground.
"Argh, my leg!" Coran felt a sharp stab of pain on his foot, the pain was intense and numbing.
He would make a sarcastic comment on this but the terror of the situation forced him to try to get to his feet and continue his flight.
He couldn't take a single step more when the big rat jumped on top of him and pinned him down with its thin but strong arms, the rest of his group came in with ecstatic screams and crazed laughter.
"Please don't eat me! I don't bring good taste after all! I'm just an old engineer who has never been able to fall in love!" Coran tried everything to try to negotiate with his now captors but it was useless as his words only made the ratmen laugh more.
The lead rat drew a wicked-looking knife from his belt and swung it over his shoulder in an attempt to drive it into the Altean.
Coran squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the inevitable pain.
But something totally unexpected happened.
A red beam shot through the bushes and smashed through the Ratmen's head to the side and exploded in a haze of dark blood that drenched the Altean's entire face.
The other rats jumped in shock and something emerged from the bushes, no, someone!
He was the height of Matthew, he was wearing a thick dark blue coat that reached to the middle of his heels with a silk rope tied on his shoulder, he was wearing black boots that matched his gloves who were holding what appears to be a blaster, His mouth and nose were covered by a black cloth leaving only his brown eyes that showed great hostility and above his head was a brown arctic cap where the emblem of a two-headed eagle was displayed on the forehead.
The Ratmen roared at the newcomer with animal rage. In response, the individual mounted the rifle on his shoulder and from his back took out a medium-sized sawblade and squeezed the handle producing a soft but lethal starting sound.
"Come on Xeno scum!" a young voice escaped the individual's mouth and charged towards the Ratmen with a battle cry.
One of the Ratmen charged first and attempted a paw with his left hand. Serious mistake since the dressed individual swung the sawblade towards the moving arm and found the blades of the sword ending up amputating his arm, the humanoid rodent screeched in pain but ended abruptly when the sword was stuck in his arm. Chest, red blood splashed onto the ground and the Ratmen fell dead instantly.
Two other Ratmen jumped on the attack but the gunman moved nimbly to the side and made a roaring swing towards the creature but narrowly avoided it, another of the Ratmen launched a frontal attack but was kicked in the chest and made a vertical cut. Over the head completely slicing off its face and muzzle. The subject then deftly swung his chainsword towards the other Ratmen who was taking great strides back and threw a rock at him that he was able to dodge and gave him a wing that sliced his head off his shoulders.
The other two remaining ratmen recoiled in fear as they saw their companions' blood spill onto the ground. The rat on the left who had a small horn on its head looked at its frightened companion and treacherously pushed him towards the armed individual. The sacrificed Ratmen ended up with his face split by the chainsword and fell like a sack while the last invited rat fled swiftly from the scene.
The cowardly rat did not manage to escape between the trees as another red beam pierced his back and the last Ratmen fell to the ground.
"I told you that the use of the Chainsword was not approved against such filth." another young voice, this time female appeared. He had the same arctic dress with the double-headed eagle on the forehead of his cap, his eyes were sky blue and part of his blond hair could be seen. He had the same weapon as the other only that unlike this one it was wrapped in a brown cloth. " Literally you'll just make it get stuck with all the hair."
"I know, but there were only 6 of them. I couldn't waste ammunition, the others will understand." said the other individual taking off his mask revealing a girl who seemed to have reached her eighteen years with freckles adorning her cheeks.
The blonde just let out an irritated grunt. "Good" then he shifted his attention to the being that was lying on the ground totally unconscious. "Who is that, Lynn?"
"I think it's another Xeno ..." The girl now known as Lynn took a few steps closer to the knocked out Coran to give him a look. "Ha, it's Eldar."
"What would an Eldar do around here?" The blonde asked approaching her partner and looking at the Altean lying on the ground.
"Perhaps it is another poor soul who was lost in this world abandoned by the Emperor." Lynn commented with a funny snort. "Luan is going to have a field day with this."
"hmm ..." the blonde slightly closed her eyes towards him with an analytical look.
"Are we going to kill him here?" Lynn casually asked her blonde companion, receiving no immediate response, she tilted her head a little. "Lori?"
"... Let the Commissar decide."
Elsewhere far from Coran's location. A Ratmen ran on all fours towards a common location. This rat only had a green armor on its face where its chest was crossed out with the emblem of the two-headed eagle and next to it was drawn another different emblem.
This was the emblem of the Skaven.
The Skaven are a race of interplanetary raiders whose origin is a mystery, (Although there are rumors that they came from an ancient world that was swallowed by the eye of terror) they go from planet to planet looting the remains of cities destroyed by raids or Acedios in key points of planets, they take what they can find and flee as soon as possible with their loot.
Despite being a very little known race in the universe, they have made a name for themselves thanks to their fierce hand-to-hand combat skills and malicious wit.
The ratmen ran past her fellow raiders, another group of Skaven who were armed with laser rifles and other long-range weapons while others were carrying heavy materials towards a Ratmen who wore gas masks commensurate with the size of their heads.
The hurried Ratmen roughly pushed aside two others who threw insults and grunts at him in their native inside the temporary base, he passed with others towards a large hole where there were two big and fat Ratmen with body modifications on their bodies and carrying in his thick arms Ripper guns.
The brute on the left gestured for him to stop and did so.
"Purpose."
"I bring useful information for Commander Rat."
Words were exchanged in their language. The brute frowned his one good eye and nodded for her to follow him into the cave.
The interior of the cave was spacious and you could hear the unmistakable sound of machinery and welding. The ratmen looked to her left and saw a group with tools instead of arms welding with a torch as a hand to a long-range weapon and putting pieces together to create more weapons.
To his right he saw a group of hunched rats with a variety of horns on their backs making dark chants for their god.
Finally they arrived, the place was protected by two other Ratmen who carried metal backpacks with laser guns attached to them.
"What do you want from Commander Rat?"
"There is a scout who wishes to speak to the Commander"
The two Ratmen looked at the other Rat who had his eyes lowered in a gesture of good faith, one frowned and after a few seconds opened the door where their leader was.
The two entered the makeshift room and saw was a war room where a group of high command Ratmens were gathered around a table arguing angrily with each other about future looting plans and other things.
The commander could be seen at the front of the board. He was the tallest of the group and had a body like that of the brutes but thinner, he wore an ornate clothing that consisted of a brown leather open with a belt of bullets slung on his left shoulder, he wore a belt with the motto of his clan and a stolen Bolter on his hip, his face had a cybernetic enhancement on the upper side of his head with one eye glowing yellow and orange and finally two ram's horns on his head.
Sul'damar
Commander Rat of the Black worms
The brute took a step forward and drew the attention of all who gave him a look of hatred for interrupting them while the Commander gave him a distant look.
"What do you want?" the horned rat Sul'damar spoke in a deep tone.
"An explorer came to bring you important information." The brute pointed at the fearful Ratmen.
The commander's eyes narrowed, his cybernetic eye turning an orange hue as the fearful rat walked carefully and gave a salute and dropped to one knee.
"Speak."
The scout hesitaed for a second but nothing was saved. "My rat lord, I come to tell you that in our morning patrol we have seen a ship fall from the planet's orbit, I and my group came to investigate and we saw that the ship was piloted by an Eldar. The leader of my group to see that He did not represent a threat to us, I tried to capture him and we began to chase him, we already had the Eldar in our hands when suddenly the humans appeared, we only had our hunting knives and they had better weapons, I looked helplessly as the rest of my squad next to me leader were mercilessly slaughtered by these humans. "
The grunts of the others could be heard after finishing his report but the commander silenced them with a gesture and walked slowly towards the scout who lowered his gaze so as not to make eye contact with his leader.
"That's all?"
"Yes, my rat lord."
The Commande raised his gaze to the brute who averted his gaze a little in fear. After a few indignant seconds in his mind, the commander gave his answer.
"Well, you are not going to be punished. You have done well to come back here and inform me." Commander Skaven turned his gaze to his men. "Now that we know its location we can return with a greater force."
The rest of the high command nodded in agreement at the hypothesis given by their leader who gave a penetrating look towards the scout.
"And you will guide us there."
Hello! comp are there? I hope you enjoyed the episode.
I want to clarify that there are Skaven figurines set in WH40K. If you don't believe me, look it up by google.
