Chapter 4
A/N: hello everyone! Welcome back! Hope y'all're enjoying the rewrite so far. I think it's going smoother than the original, and I hope to be able to better mix the two genres than I did in the previous version. Anyways, I just own my story and OCs involved, anything else isn't mine.
"Turn them over to me, or I will destroy your planet."
"The transmission ended abruptly, leaving the threat hanging in the air in its wake. The room was quiet, each one of them seeming to take their time to register what just happened. Unsurprisingly, it was Shiro who recovered first, "Ok, let's not panic."
Those words broke the floodgates.
"What?!" Hunk exclaimed. "That scary purple alien thing is driving a warship right towards us! We only have four lions—"
"Three working ones technically," Pidge corrected.
"Exactly!" Hunk nodded pointing to her. "Three working lions, one lion we don't even have access to, another on an enemy warship, and a castle that's ten-thousand years old!"
"Actually it's ten-thousand six-hundred years old," Coran interjected. "You see it was built by my grandfather—"
"Thanks Coran," Hunk said waving him off. "So see! Now is the perfect time to panic!"
"Wait," Allura spoke up, her eyes going wide, "this Castle has a particle barrier we can activate."
"Girl, you already activated my—"
"Lance!" Shiro scolded as Jaz smacked him upside the head.
Turning away from the teen, the Awoken woman put her hands on her hips, "The question is: Does it still work? It's been ten-thousand years since any of these systems have been utilized. There's going to be bugs, degradation of hardware and software. We don't have the time to fix it."
"Plus the tech of the enemy has no doubt advanced," Keith added. "Even if we do get that barrier up, it won't last forever."
"So can we panic?"
"No," Shiro said patting Hunk's shoulder. "We just need to figure out Zarkon's plan."
"Easier said than done, Shiro," Jaz said.
"Well," Lance started, "I say we pop through a wormhole and live to fight another day!"
"Yes!" Hunk quickly agreed. "I second that! We tried to find all the lions, right? Gave it the good ol' college try and couldn't do it. We only have three and we can't form Voltron—I mean, we could form a snake or a worm—but I vote for leaving!"
"Then it's settled," Lance said. "Allura, you can ride with me. Can one of you guys take the old guy?"
"Nothing is settled here Lance!" Jaz snarled causing the boy to jump as her eyes flashed brighter.
Pidge nodded in agreement, "Jaz is right, we can't abandon Arus. The Galra will keep destroying planets until they get what they want. They won't stop taking planets and prisoners till we stop them."
"But if we run then maybe Sendak will follow us and leave the planet alone?" Hunk countered.
"Or he could destroy it anyways just to spite us, leaving the blood of whatever potential natives are here on our hands," Keith replied. "I don't know about you, but I don't really feel like having the blood of millions on my hands by doing something so cowardly."
"Here's an option: shut your quiznak!" Lance snapped.
"Don't use a word you don't understand."
"And how do you know I don't know what it means?!"
"So what does it mean dumbass?"
Lance scowled, "Well, what do you know Mullet?!"
"More than you, you quiznaking idiot! We're staying!"
"Leaving!"
"Staying!"
"ENOUGH!" Shiro shouted stepping between them. Sending the pair hard looks, he watched as the pair slowly backed off from each other. Now that the situation was diffused, Shiro took a calming breath before looking to their hostess, "Princess Allura, these are your lions, you've dealt with the empire before, you know what we're facing better than any of us. What do you think is the best course of action?"
Her brows shot up at his question and she seemed to sputter for a moment, "I'm…I'm not sure."
Coran stepped up to her, putting a hand on her shoulder, "Come with me, I think I know something that can help."
The pair left the room, leaving the others in tense silence as they waited for the two Alteans to return. Keith and Jaz moved to the far side of the room, mostly to avoid dealing with the others who wanted to leave. "I can't believe them," Jaz muttered.
Keith shook his head, "Neither can I, they're putting themselves before the rest of the galaxy. And even after knowing what happened to you and Shiro they still don't want to do anything about it. Are we sure we have the right guys for this mission? I can easily think of a dozen others more qualified."
"Tell me about it," she grumbled. "You really think these lions would choose someone more qualified if the fate of the universe was at stake."
"So you think they're lying about the whole choosing thing?" he asked quietly.
"They've gotta be. Like you said, it's too convenient that one lion just so happens to show up with all the pilots they need?" she shook her head. "No, I think they're just using us so they don't have to get their hands dirty themselves."
"That's another thing too," Keith remarked. "If it weren't for you and Shiro, I don't know if I'd believe these Galra were the bad guys. There'd be nothing to go on besides their word for it. The only reason I'm even considering this is because of you two. I believe you more than them."
"I don't blame you, if I hadn't been through it myself I don't think I'd believe it either. There's just too many races trying to eradicate each other. I mean, if they're as bad as these guys say they are, I'm sure we would've heard of them by now," Jaz agreed.
"Well," Keith murmured, "the guy, Sendak, he looked familiar. I don't know from where though."
Jaz nodded, "Krein is a major trade system despite all the conflict. So maybe we have seen some before and just never paid attention. Besides, how do we know this Voltron thing is as good as they say it is?"
Keith frowned, glancing down at the ground, "I know Dad told me a few stories about Voltron. None of them sounded bad, just the Paladins going around and freeing the oppressed and heroic stuff like that. But those could just be embellished legends too."
"Well, legends have a base in truth," Jaz commented. "So at least we know this isn't supposed to be some WMD."
"Rasputin wasn't supposed to be a WMD. And we both know how that went."
"Touché."
The doors hissed open and they watched as Allura stepped back into the room, her long white hair pulled up into a messy bun and she was in some white and pink suit rather than her gown. "You six were brought here for a reason. The Voltron Lions are meant to be flown by you and you alone. We must fight and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon. It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe's only hope. We are the universe's only hope."
"We're with you Princess," Shiro agreed. Though, he didn't notice his two closest friends share skeptical glances.
The Princess nodded curtly, and motioned with her hand to follow. She led them down the hall to another room. Upon their entrance, the lights flickered to life, revealing five suits of armor with different colors. "Your suits of armor."
Keith stepped up to the red armor, figuring they were going with the color corresponding to their lion. Raising a brow, Keith looked over the armor skeptically. The helmet looked round and bulky, plus it didn't appear to cover the entire face, which didn't seem very helpful if they were supposed to be fighting in space. The breastplate covered to just below the ribs, but everything else in the abdomen was exposed, meaning one hit there would probably be fatal. So far, the only things that seemed like they had standard protection were the legs and arms.
"Princess are you sure about this?" he heard Coran whisper. "They aren't exactly the best and brightest of the universe."
"And here I thought you believed we were brought here for a reason," Jaz remarked, causing the ginger Altean to jump.
"Alright," Shiro said putting his hands on his hips, "time to suit up guys!"
As he suspected, this armor was nowhere near to the stuff Keith was used to. It was lighter, he'd give it that, but he wasn't sure how to test its durability—well, without leaping headfirst into a firefight. But, if it turned out to be shoddy, he could just switch into more reliable armor.
Of course, that would also lead to the issue of figuring out how to switch everyone else's armor too. So he honestly hoped it didn't come down to that, cause he wasn't sure he had enough gear, let alone stuff that could fit the others.
"That looks comfy."
Keith frowned, tossing Jaz a deadpan look. "You're more than welcome to wear it."
The woman smirked, "Nah, red isn't my color."
Well, at least one of them was having fun right now.
Allura beckoned them over, waving her hand over a blue table. In response to the motion, the blue pane flashed brightly, dissolving much like Keith's own gear did when he was done with it, revealing four curved objects with handles, each one baring a color corresponding to their armor. "The bayard is the traditional weapon of the Paladins of Voltron," Allura said as the four objects hovered just above the table. "It takes a distinct shape for each Paladin."
Furrowing his brows, Keith looked at it skeptically. From what he could tell, it looked like the handle of something that hadn't been attached yet. There didn't even look like there was any slots for ammo or a blade to come out of. So…how exactly did this form a weapon?
His answer came as Hunk, surprisingly, was the first to grab his. And in a flash of light the other teen almost fell to the ground as a massive cannon appeared in his hands.
Keith's brows shot up as he glanced at the little red thing that was his, then back at the massive cannon that had replaced Hunk's. How in the name of light did that tiny object turn into a cannon big enough to be a turret on a ship? He glanced to the others, watching as they too started taking their little bayard-thingies.
To his surprise, or horror, Lance got a gun. The most irresponsible member of this group had a gun. And he was aiming it randomly around the room, like it was a toy. Did he even know how to use a gun properly? Looking over the weapon, Keith grimaced, he didn't know this weapon. It resembled a semi-automatic, but it seemed a bit bulkier. Plus it didn't look like there was any chamber to load bullets, which meant, that this was likely a plasma or energy-based weapon. Both of which could deal serious damage. He did not want to think of what could go wrong with a weapon like that in the hands of a novice.
To his relief, Lance lowered the blaster, looking at Pidge with a smirk. "Aw you got a cute little bay—AHH!" Lance yelped as the small girl hit him with her weapon, electrocuting him.
As he fell to the ground, Keith could see Pidge grinning holding her new spade up, "Yeah, guess it is pretty cute."
Well now at least he didn't need to worry about someone getting shot. Stepping forwards, Keith grabbed his bayard, watching as it shifted with a dim glow of light into a familiar-looking sword. Smirking to himself, Keith twirled the bade with practiced ease. It was a littler heavier than what he'd been expecting, and it was well-balanced too; better than what he'd been expecting overall.
"Wait," Jaz spoke up, "There's four bayards, but five paladins." Turning to Allura, she crossed her arms, "Where's Shiro's?"
Allura grimaced, "Well, I'm afraid that it was lost with its original paladin."
Jaz looked like she wanted to ask more questions, when Shiro stepped up, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's fine Jaz, I can make do."
"You shouldn't have to," she grumbled.
Shiro sighed, rubbing his temples, "Look, I have my arm—"
"And what? You're going to hurl it at people asking if they need a hand?"
"No!" he muttered. "But, I think it is more than just a fake arm. Just trust me."
Jaz gave a sigh, blowing her bangs out of the way, "Fine." Shaking her head, Jaz turned to look as Allura, putting her hands on her hips, "So, what's the plan?"
"Well, you'll need to retrieve the Red Lion from Sendak's ship for starters," she began briskly leading the way back to the main room and pulling up a hologram of the Galra cruiser in orbit above.
Keith crossed his arms, looking over the ship, it was big—not as big as a hive dreadnaught or Cabal cruiser, but still substantial enough to warrant concern. Even with a full-fledged Fireteam, it would take time to search.
It seemed like Hunk had similar thoughts, "That's a big ship. How will we know where the lion is? It could be anywhere?"
"Well," Pidge said pushing her glasses up, "it's not a matter of 'we', it's a matter of Keith."
Allura nodded in assent, "Indeed, once you get on the ship you'll be able to feel its presence and be able to determine its location."
So, basically, he was supposed to rely on an unknown magic, of course. Looking back at the ship, his brows furrowed, the lions were fairly large ships, larger than most fighters. Which meant, there were only so many places on a warship that size it could be stored in. "Any idea where the largest hangars are on this thing? It'll be the most likely place to find the lion."
"Well…" Coran grimaced, "it's been some time since we've seen Galra ships, they could've moved stuff around, but, the largest hangars used to be here," a red blip popped up before it was followed by a second dot, "and here."
"Well that at least narrows down the search grid," Jaz remarked.
"Yes, but Keith," Allura spoke up, "the Red Lion is extremely temperamental; you'll have to earn its respect."
"Sounds fun," Keith deadpanned.
Beside him, Jaz playfully elbowed his ribs, "Shouldn't be too hard for you, Sparky."
Keith was about to retort when he stopped himself as Shiro stepped forwards. "Alright, here's our plan of attack," he began looking over all of them, "the Galra know we have the Yellow and Blue Lions, but they're still unaware we have the Green. Hunk, Lance, you two will act as decoys, pretend to give yourselves up. That'll give the rest of us time to sneak onboard using the Green Lion."
"Once we're onboard, Pidge and I will signal you guys to drop your cover," Jaz continued. "From there you two will need to handle the ion cannon and take it out. The rest of us will be inside the warship, Shiro and Keith will look for the Red Lion while Pidge and I attempt to extract any information we can at the nearest terminal."
-.-
Keith peered around a corner of a dark, dimly lit violet hall, listening for footsteps as the others sealed their entrance behind them. So far the coast seemed clear, if everything was going according to plan, the Galra would be more focused on the two lions outside. However there was no telling how long that would last.
It was only a matter of time before their cover was blown and things went sideways.
Glancing back at the others he frowned as he saw Shiro and Jaz. His brother looked paler than usual, and Jaz looked on high alert. Muttering a curse under his breath, Keith refrained from facepalming. He just brought two of his traumatized friends onto one of the very ships they'd no doubt been captured by, of course they were on edge. "You guys can go back to the Lion if it's too much, I can handle it myself."
Unsurprisingly, Shiro shook his head, "No, I'm fine—we're fine. It's just…I think we've been here before. After we were captured, we were brought here."
"Sure it wasn't a different ship?"
Shiro pressed his lips into a thin line, looking conflicted, "I'm not sure."
"But still, that means that these ships hold prisoners, right?!" Pidge questioned. "The rest of your crew could be here, we have to rescue them!"
As her voice began to rise, Jaz slapped her palm onto the younger girl's mouth. "First: keep your voice down. Second: there's no guarantees that the rest of our crew's here, we were separated pretty quickly. And third: we don't have time. Right now we have a clock against us, and the more time we waste the more likely it is that Arus will be obliterated."
"We can't just leave the prisoners here!" Pidge continued to protest.
"Look," Shiro whispered, "no one understands more than me, but sometimes tough choices have to be made and—"
"No!" she snarled shoving him away. "Commander Holt is my father! He and my brother were on the Kerberos mission with you! I've been looking for them everywhere and I'm not going to give up when I'm this close!"
Well, at least that confirmed his suspicions that Pidge was Matt's little sister Katie. But as fascinating as it was, they did not have time for this debacle. "You guys go find the brig and rescue who you can," Keith said. "I'll go after the Red Lion."
"What? Alone?" Shiro sputtered.
"I'll go with him," Jaz volunteered, "you two go find the prisoners and get them outta here. You remember where to go?"
Shiro nodded, "I think so." His gaze traveled to Keith and a hint of a smile crossed his face. "I'll be alright Keith, just remember patience yields focus so—" a sound down the hall made them all freeze. And now that they were silent, they could hear footsteps getting closer.
"We'll see you later," Jaz whispered as she and Keith took off down the closest quiet hall. Their quick footsteps echoed lightly on the metal, and they both came to a stop as they stood in a junction. "Don't suppose Yorak was able to download a map?"
"Nope."
"Awesome," she muttered. "We could do eeny meeny miny moe?"
Keith shrugged, their odds looked equally bleak either way.
Fortunately, they didn't have to wait for an answer as they heard the familiar sound of an approaching patrol down one of the halls. Without a word, the duo raced down the opposite path, away from the footsteps.
-.-
"You've gotta be kidding me," Jaz muttered as they came to a stop. Resting her hands on her keeps, she looked around, staring at each hall that seemed more imposing as the last. "Weren't we just here?"
Like her, Keith looked around, his eyes flaring with light for a moment as frustration crossed his face. "Damn, they must've designed all the junctions to look the same. We could be running in circles!"
"Well, Allura said you could sense the lion; are you sensing anything?"
"No," he almost spat out in anger. Taking a breath, Keith pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to calm himself down. As frustrating as all this was, he couldn't afford to get angry, "Patience yields focus." With another calming breath, Keith closed his eyes and tried to see if he could sense anything nearby. To his right, there was the familiar pulse of both darkness and light present in the Awoken people; pushing past that he stopped as a presence brush against his own. It did and yet didn't feel like the Blue Lion. Where the Blue Lion had always felt cold and calming if somewhat distant, this one, it felt temperamental, wild and it was nearby, just several halls down. "Got it!" Whirling on his heel, he started to sprint down the hall, Jaz's footfalls echoing behind him.
"You found it?" she called.
"Took long enough," Keith huffed. "Any way you can teleport us to it?"
"Can't do that if I don't know where I'm going," she answered as they raced around a corner and into a large hangar. Unlike the rest of the ship, this room was illuminated with red light, undoubtedly coming from the shield encircling the Red Lion suspended from the ceiling.
"Well, looks like we didn't need to teleport anyways," Keith shrugged. Jogging up to the lion, he rapped his knuckles against the barrier. "Ok, we're here, open up!"
The lion didn't respond, causing the pair to share a glance. "Didn't knocking work for Lance?"
"Yeah," Keith grumbled, knocking on the barrier harder. "Hey! Open up!"
When it still didn't react, Jaz frowned, "Maybe it's broken?"
"It better not be, or I'm going to dismantle it for spare parts!" Keith threatened glaring up at the dark eyes of the ship.
Despite the threat, the lion did not respond.
Keith grit his teeth, "For the Light of the Traveler, we don't have time for this." Stepping up to the shield he tapped it curiously, there had to be a way to force his way through. Everything had a weakness, he just needed to figure out what this infernal barrier's was so he could exploit it and get in the damn lion.
"Keith," Jaz said, "are you planning to do what I think you're planning to do?"
"Probably," he replied stepping back.
At that que, Jaz backed away and dove behind a console, carefully peering out. She could already see light sparking off Keith's fists as he ran forwards and jumped into the air. Ducking back behind her cover, she grimaced as she heard the explosion and felt the energy rush by her. Hopefully his plan worked because that certainly would've gotten attention. Slowly, she peered out from her hiding spot and her eyes widened as she saw the particle barrier was still intact. Keith, on the other hand, was getting up from where he'd been clearly blasted across the room by the shockwave. "So…that went well."
"Shut up Jaz," he muttered.
Rolling her eyes, Jaz stepped back up to his side, looking over the lion. She would admit, it was impressive that this thing was able to withstand a light-charged blow from a Guardian. Even without their powers, every Guardian Jaz had met had been freakishly strong. Heck, most magic shields only lasted a few blows against them. So for something this old to still be working after that, it was surprising.
However, before they could determine their next course of action, the pair froze as they heard a rush of footsteps heading their way. Turning around, they could see several sentries run un, blasters up and ready to fire.
Both were quick to duck behind the console as they opened fired. "This sucks."
"No kidding," Keith agreed peering out for a moment before ducking down, "Your helmet still has it's space settings right?"
Jaz nodded, furrowing her brows. "You have a plan I take it?"
"Not one that you'll like," he answered.
Before she could ask why, Keith stood up and slammed his hand on the console. And then they both gripped for dear life as alarms started and air began rushing from the hangar, sending pieces of equipment flying past and out into the void of space. Both friends could feel the pressure trying to force them out from their chosen spot as they pressed their backs to it, hoping to ride out the depressurization until it stabilized.
Those plans were knocked off course by a hunk of metal flying towards them. Grabbing onto each other, the pair leapt over the console as the debris hit it, tearing the station from its spot, leaving a hole of sparking metal in its place as they flew out into the void.
Spinning in space, Jaz tightened her grip on Keith's arm, grimacing as he activated his jetpack to try to bring them to a stop and stabilize them. They needed to get their bearings in order to signal the others for a pick-up.
Spotting something from the corner of her eye, she looked to see a lion flying towards them quickly. Before she could identify the color, they were engulfed in its maw and the pair fell into something as gravity kicked in.
"Seriously?! That was your plan?!" Jaz exclaimed ripping off her helmet.
"There weren't many other options," he argued.
"What about blowing them up?!"
"It was a split-second decision!"
Jaz opened her mouth to argue when whatever they landed on began moving. And, after a moment, the duo found themselves in a red illuminated cockpit. "Oh…we got the lion," she said pushing herself out of the chair.
"What was that you were saying about my decision again?"
"Shut up Keith."
-.-
"You guys alright?" Shiro questioned as Jaz and Keith strode down the Red Lion's ramp. "We heard an explosion."
The pair shared a glance, before Jaz pointed at Keith, "This idiot decided to tear a hole in the hull to get the lion out, while—I might add—we were still working on getting in the lion."
"Hey! My plan worked didn't it?" Keith reminded.
"You almost killed us."
Keith turned to her, raising a brow, "Jaz, we both would've been fine."
Shiro shook his head at their bickering, it reminded him a lot of old times back on Earth. Back when things were still good and everything hadn't gone to shit yet. The ground quaked under his feet and he looked up to see the four gathered lions moving, each rising to their feet and giving a low growl. Almost as if hearing a password, a symbol on the door they gathered before flashed. Metal groaned and dust fell as the massive doors slowly slid back, and inside Shiro could see his own lion being revealed. It looked like the other lions for the most part, however it had gold accents the others didn't have as well as what appeared to be a pair of wings on its back. Its large eyes flashed gold and the massive ship rose to its feet as if it were actually alive, releasing a powerful roar that shook the castle around them.
However, whatever excitement they all had was short lived as alarms began flashing and Coran popped up on a holographic screen, "Paladins, Sendak's entering the Arusian atmosphere! We need Voltron now!"
Jaz nodded, putting a hand on Shiro's shoulder, "You guys go kick some ass. I'll be helping Allura and Coran on the bridge."
Shiro nodded, "All right everyone! Let's move!"
