Team voltron had been on root to Olkarion to consult with Ryner on Coalition matters when they came across a strangely inactive galra vessel.
They debated just blowing it up or leaving it. But then Pidge mention that they might be able to get intel out of it. Maybe there's info on her father and brother's whereabouts.
After some long consideration, shiro decided it might be worth checking out, but cautiously.
Not wanting to take any chances, they all piled into the green lion and approached the galra vessel. With the cloaking field up of course.
Once on the ship they traversed through with caution.
however, as they passed though the many halls, they found that something wasn't right.
"Um, guys? Is it just me or does it seem a little too quiet here?" Lance asked feeling a bit unsettled as he looked around for possible enemies.
"I'd hate to agree with Lance but he's right, it is a bit odd how we haven't run into any galra soldier yet." Keith piped in.
Shiro had to admit it did seem too easy. "Keep your guards up everyone. It's possible this might be a trap."
They continued down a few corridors until they found one of the control rooms. There Pidge got to work at hacking the computer to download information.
"Ok I know you said there's a possibility that this is a trap but seriously, shouldn't something have happened by now? We haven't even run into a single drone! Why haven't we run into anything?!" Hunk rambled. The eerie quiet of this base was really starting to get to him.
Shiro put a comforting hand on hunk's shoulder. "Easy there. Stay focused. There has to be an explanation as to what's going on. And we'll find it."
"Actually already found it! Check this out!" Pidge piped up. Everyone gathered around Pidge and looked at the terminal screens.
"Take a look at all these security vids. This is footage that's happening now. Does anyone notice anything strange?"
After a moment of looking at the camera footage everyone began to see what she was talking about.
"There isn't any galra… neither is there any drones or sentries." Shiro stated.
"Exactly! There isn't a single guard or drone or even a prisoner. Not a single living being on this ship! It's like a ghost ship!" She shouted in astonishment.
"Ghost ship?!" Hunk paled.
"Then where did everyone go?!" Lance threw his arms up in annoyance.
None of this added up, it left shiro feeling unsettled. Something was defiantly wrong here. "Pidge, see if you can get into the ships logs and find out what happened, Where everyone went. It doesn't make sense for the galra to just abandon a ship. There has to be a reason."
"on it"
"In the meantime, lance, Keith, I want you two to search through the left side of the ship. Hunk and I will take the right. We're gonna see if we can find any other clues as to what happened, maybe with luck we might find someone hiding somewhere who can tell us something."
This made hunk go into a panic "Wait, we're splitting up?! Isn't that like the WORST idea to make in these types of situations?! Haven't you watched any horror movies?! Bad things ALWAYS happen when people split up!"
"I'm with hunk. This whole thing is screaming bad horror movie plot." Lance crossed his arm. An air of worry in his voice.
Shiro sighed. "This isn't a horror movie you two. This is real life. We're paladins of voltron. Therefore We can't let silly things like this keep us from doing our duty. Something happened on this ship and we need to find out what." Shiro explained calmly, hoping to ease the other paladins concerns.
Lance only shifted on his feet, still uneasy. "I still don't like this shiro… something is off… What if something scared the galra off and is still here? What if we split up and it turns out to be some kind of monster or crazy galra experiment gone mad and wants to rip us to shreds?!"
Keith scoffed, rolling his eyes. " your afraid of a stupid galra experiment? we've faced all kinds of crazy stuff out here in space. Robeasts, glitched castleship, cube weapons and even creepy alien witches, yet a galra experiment scares you?!"
This made lance defensive. "There is a fine line between being scared and being cautious Keith! If you knew anything about horror movies, you'd know that splitting up is how the monster gets you! It's easier to pick the victims off one by one when they are alone and don't have backup! Monsters won't go after you if your in a group. We're safer together then alone!"
"YES! EXACTLY! THANK YOU LANCE! On that note, I think it would be safer if we all just stay here and not set ourselves up to be the next victims in a horror movie." Hunk jumped up happily, glad that he wasn't the only one who saw this whole thing as a bad idea.
Shiro however took a steady breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Your not alone, that is why I said to go together. we're going in pairs. That way if something happens, one of you will be able to call for backup and the rest of us will come to help."
Lance and hunk still looked unsure.
"It will be fine! Look at these video feeds. There isn't any sign of a fight, or a trace of blood anywhere in these corridors. There aren't even any bodies! On our way here, we didn't see any evidence that something had happened." Then mutters. "Though I admit, that's a little strange and alarming…" then returns to his previous train of thought. "anyway! So it's very unlikely that there is something out there that can hurt us. And even if there is something, Lance, you and Keith will have each other's backs if something happens. And hunk, you know your safe with me. Have you ever not felt safe when your around me?"
Hunk looked down, twiddling his fingers a bit. He was still unsure but he knew shiro was right. He did feel a lot safer with shiro. After a few seconds, hunk looked up at shiro and gave a weak nod.
Satisfied with that, shiro turned to everyone. "alright then, let get going everyone! The sooner we check the ship, the sooner we con get back, got it?"
Everyone nodded. But then lance tensed as a thought came to mind.
"Wait! What about Pidge?! She gonna be here alone!"
Lance wasn't happy about splitting up but he was even less thrilled about the idea of leaving Pidge alone by herself. He never admitted it out loud but he saw Pidge as like a little sister. And one of the big brother rules was that you look out for younger sibling, and never leave them alone. He's sure Matt would agree on that.
"I'll be fine lance. I'm a big girl and know how to fight off scary monster. After all, I took on a bunch of galra all by myself while you were taking a dirt nap back when sendek took over the castleship." Pidge wore a cheeky grin at the retelling of the sendek's invasion of the castle of lions.
Lance gave her an unamused look. "Oh I have no doubts about your ability to defend yourself. But I'm still not to crazy about leaving a teammate by themselves. Even if they are a little smartass pikachu." Lance gives pidge a pointed glare while making the pikachu comment. Remembering the time she shocked him with her bayard for saying "aww you got a cute little bayard!"
Pidge just gave him a Cheshire Cat grin and said "pika pika bitch."
"Ok that's enough you two! Pidge will be staying here BUT she will close and lock the door when we leave just to be safe. Don't open this door for anyone but us. You got it?" Shiro turns to Pidge with his instructions.
Who in turn rolls her eyes and says "yes dad!"
"And don't open it unless we give you the code word!" Lance piped in.
Everyone just stared at him blankly.
"What?!"
"Really lance?" Keith said flatly.
"Hay! It's a standard home alone rule! Don't open the door for anyone unless they give you a code word to let you know it's them!" Lance responded defensively.
"She knows it's us! She can tell who we are by our voices!" Keith argued.
"But what if there's an alien who can mimic voices and tries to trick Pidge into thinking it's us?!"
"Lance does have a point. we've seen some crazy stuff out here in space, aliens who can mimic a person's voice isn't too farfetched. my grandma had a parrot who sounded exactly like her. and it liked to mess with us by shouting "Can somebody bring me my glasses?" Then cackle like a evil villain when we come to it with the glasses." Hunk interjected.
Lance crosses his arms over his chest and grins at Keith. "I rest my case."
Shiro gives a exasperated sighs. "Ok then, we'll use a code word to let Pidge know it's us. Any suggestions?"
"pomegranate!"
Everyone looks at hunk.
"What?… I like pomegranates. And technically shouldn't we pick a word that only we'd know? Aliens don't have pomegranates in space."
"Alright then, the code word is pomegranate. Are we all good?" Shiro inquired.
Everyone nodded, completely satisfied.
"Alright, let move team!" With that, they all departed in two different directions. Pidge closed the door and continued with her hacking of the ship's systems.
Lance and Keith treaded carefully down the corridor. Checking inside every room they passed. Keith would enter and scout the room while Lance covered the door and kept a lookout for trouble.
Their search yielded no results thus far. However, it didn't settle the uneasy feeling going through lance.
"Keith? As cheesy as this is gonna sounds. Are you getting the feeling we're being watched?"
"Your just being paranoid lance. All those scary movies you and hunk watched are making you imagine things" Keith said dismissively. He continued his scan through the room not sparing lance a glance.
"I'm serious Keith! Ever since we walked onto this ship, I've been getting this weird feeling, like something is here, watching us."
Keith gave a frustrated groan. "Ugh! Like shiro said, this isn't a horror movie lance! Just keep watch and stop freaking out over nothing!"
Letting out a huff, lance turned away, crossing his arms with his bayard in hand and leaned against the door frame.
Fine! Don't listen to me mullet!
The next few minutes continued on in silence. Neither paladin acknowledging each other. They left the room and continued on.
they searched the next room not finding anything either.
Nor the room after that.
Or the room after that.
Lance was beginning to think that this was all a bust. That they're whole search would be for nothing. And maybe even… that maybe he really was being too paranoid…
lance stood in the doorway watching the hall when Keith piped up "lance! Could you give me a hand here!" Apparently Keith had found a door that was stuck and couldn't pry it open himself. Lance huffed "alright I'm coming"
But As lance made his way towards Keith-
"Lance"
Lance froze, hearing a familiar voice from behind him. He turned around to see a short figure stand just outside the door peeking in.
Lance's eyes widened in surprise and shock. Only able to mumble one word.
"Sylvio?"
He couldn't believe his eyes. Standing there in the doorway Was his nephew Sylvio. His older brother's son was standing a few feet away looking at him with that same big smile he'd always give lance when lance came over for a visit.
Said boy still beamed at lance, then made a waving motion, beckoning lance to follow.
"Come on uncle lance! " then ran off into the hall.
Lance stood there blinking for a sec. then followed after.
" wait!…" once he was in the hall, he looked left and right. Then found Sylvio standing a few doors down, about to turn a corner. The boy looked back at lance, smiled and started beckoning him to follow again.
"Come on uncle lance! We are gonna be late!"
Lance couldn't understand what was happening. How was his nephew here?
But that thought left his mind as he continued following them. The scenery starting to change. He wasn't on a galra ship anymore. He was in his house, walking down the halls.
"Where are we going?" Lance asked. The boy didn't answer, just smiled and giggled as they ran up ahead.
Meanwhile…
Keith was getting frustrated with the door he was trying to open, to no avail. He thought he heard Lance mumble something. But didn't pay it any mind.
Probably just more complaining.
But when Lance didn't come to help him, Keith started wondering what was taking lance and looked behind him.
Lance wasn't anywhere to be found.
"Lance?" Keith looked around. Then walked over to the door Lance was leaning on and look up and down the hall.
Just as he looked right, he saw a glimpse of white and blue turn the corner.
"Lance?!" Keith ran down the hall to where he saw lance disappear. When he got there, he found lance still walking away.
"Lance! Where are you going?!" He shouted, but lance didn't respond. It was like he didn't even hear him.
Keith ran up to lance and grab his shoulder.
"Lance! I'm talking to you!" He shouted angrily. But despite his actions. Lance still didn't respond.
Keith turned Lance around, holding him by his shoulders. He was ready to yell at him again but froze when he saw lances face.
It was vacant, emotionless. His eyes were half lidded with a haze in them. He wasn't even looking at Keith. It was like he was staring into nothing. Like he wasn't even there.
Like he was in a trance…
Keith stiffened and began shaking lance.
"Hay! Lance! Come on! Snap out of it!"
After a moment, lance blinked. His eyes focusing and looking down at Keith. Confusion clear on his face.
"Huh?… wha?…"
"Lance where were you going just now?"
Lance blinked in confusion "going?… what are you talking about?" Then he took in his surroundings. "Wait, weren't we in a room?… how'd we get out here?" He inquired.
Keith started to get an unpleasant feeling in his gut.
"you don't remember?… you walked out here on your own!"
The blue paladin look back at him in puzzlement. "I did? But… I… I don't remember ever leaving…" lance rubbed his forehead as if it would clear the sudden amnesia he was feeling.
Why would I walk out here by myself? … and… why can't I remember?
What was I even doing?
These thoughts ran through his head as he tried to make sense of the whole thing. Keith meanwhile was growing concerned at this strange behavior from the blue paladin. But do to the current mission at hand, decided to let it go. They had a job to do.
"Let's just get back to work. We still have several rooms to check." He half turned to walk back but stopped and pointed a finger at lance. "And no more wondering off!"
Lance rolled his eyes and leveled Keith with an unamused look which turned smug. "Don't remember, didn't happen!" Then cheekily walk passed Keith with his hand behind his head.
The red paladin huffed at that and crossed his arms over his chest. "do you even know where the room we were in is?"
At that, lance paused. "…um…no…no I don't… ok fine lead the way mullet!"
Keith then took up the lead and they returned to the room.
As they left the hall, something watched their departure, something dark and ominous…