Chapter 30
A/N: Hey guys, got another chapter here for y'all. Remember I love hearing reviews. Once again, I just own the story.
/comms/
"Bold is intercoms/video chats"
Dreams/telepathy/flashbacks
/Alright everyone, your sharpshooter's in place. I'll cover you from up—Hey! I had that one!/ Lance protested as Keith leapt out swinging his sword through the nearest sentry.
Using his shield to deflect the incoming fire, Keith vaulted off the wall, and dove for his two oppoents. Stabbing through one then the other.
Looking around, he watched a Lance quickly sniped one off the upper levels, defending Hunk and Darvah as they fired at the open door. "They're still coming!"
"These things are like blasted Thralls!" Darvah hissed, the blasts bouncing off his shield. Another shot rang out and the door closed, crushing one of the sentries under it. "Thanks Lance!"
/No problem Darvah!/
Racing to the main controls, Allura and Keith put up their shields as Hunk stood in between them, firing at the remaining sentries with his cannon, Lance covering from above, and Darvah randomly teleporting around to catch their opponents by surprise.
"You almost got it?!" Hunk called over his shoulder.
"Almost…there!" she said and the light powered down and with it the sentries.
"Nice going short-stack," Darvah said tapping the top of the Green Paladin's helment. Pidge growled and leapt at him in response, but ended up crashing on the cold hard ground as he teleported away with a laugh.
"That's the last base in this quadrant," Hunk sighed.
"Call the Blade of Marmora, let them know this base is clear," Keith ordered.
-.-
"I don't know. The last thing I remember was Zarkon trying to overtake the Black Lion. It told me to use my bayard," Shiro said as he sat on his bed in front of three of his closest friends. "Then, nothing. I woke up on a Galra cruiser."
"Then escaped and nearly crashed into my base," Darvah added dryly before yelping as Jaz elbowed him.
Keith ignored their antics as he contemplated Shiro's words. "Well, you did just unlock the Black Lion's ability to teleport. Maybe that's what it did, in an attempt to save you."
"By teleporting me into the hands of the Galra?"
Jaz stepped forwards. "Zarkon could've forced it in his last moments. He still had a connection to the Black Lion at the time."
"Makes sense to me, I wouldn't put anything past that guy," Darvah agreed.
"Maybe…"
The three glanced between each other. "Well, if you're feeling up to it, the rest of the team would be thrilled to see you up and around again," Keith tried. "They need you."
"Yeah. I'll try."
"Alright man," Darvah nodded patting his shoulder, "we'll be on the bridge." Leaving the room, Jaz and Keith looked at Darvah with raised brows. "What?"
"You told us he was doing fine."
"He was! Well, at least I thought he was," he corrected. "He wasn't like that at my base. But then again, sometimes it just takes time for things to sink in," the Eliksni reached up, tapping his cybernetic eye.
Jaz sighed, putting her hands on her hips. "Look, we can't force him. We'll just need to take this slow. One step at a time."
-.-
They all stood up on the bridge tinkering with various things at their stations. Pidge was running some program, Hunk and Darvah were talking what everyone assumed was mechanics in the Fallen's native language, Lance was playing a game, Allura and Jaz were silently debating something with Coran, and Keith leaned over his controls adjusting a comple of gliches Yorak told him about.
The sound of the door opening caught everyone's attention and all heads turned to see Shiro, dressed in his regular clothes again and cut hair. "Great job everyone. You've really turned the tide of this war. I'm glad you never lost sight of the mission while I was gone."
"You're looking better," Lance greeted. "How're ya feeling?"
"Good, just trying to get rid of this weird headache," he confessed before tossing an accusing glance at Darvah. "And I will not be using one of your people's methods ever again."
"Ugygmhp'h [wimp]!"
"Guys! I think I have something here!" Pidge called and they all gathered around to another of Pidge's TED Talks. "So I downloaded intel from the Galra base we just defeated. I untied the quantum-folded encryption and found something on Lotor."
Keith tensed. "Do you know where he is?"
"Um, not exactly, no. But, the last three sightings of his command ship have been in the Va'Kar quadrant."
"Nice work Pidge," Shiro congratulated. "Although, those quadrants are massive. How will we pinpoint his location?"
"Ok, so according to what you told me, that comet's made from the same material as Voltron and the Vex right?" Darvah questioned from where he lied on the floor.
Hunk was thinking along the same lines. "I already made a way to detect the emission spectrum for Fraunhofer lines!"
The Captain popped up, "And if I input the known Vex locations, we could locate it!"
"But what about the free induction decay those emissions are subject to?" Pidge voiced. "Those are exponential drop offs."
"True, but if you could find a way to amplify the sensors—no, there'd be way too much interference."
"What about the SA magnitude?" Darvah offered.
"The Castle spires!" both the teens exclaimed and the three sprinted off to run their experiment.
"Does anyone know what they just said?" Lance asked pointing after them.
"Let's set a course for the Va'Kar quadrant while they get started on that detector," Shiro said. "We need to work fast. Who knows what Lotor has planned for that comet?"
-.-
"You ok?" Yorak questioned as he hovered over the bed as Keith hung up his jacket. "You seem anxious. Is it Lotor?"
"Well…" Keith began before a knock rapped on his door. "Yeah?"
The door opened and Keith glanced to his bed, watching Yorak dive behind his pillow as Lance walked in. "Hey man. I just wanted to talk with you because…Well, because I've been wondering about something," the current Red Paladin said getting straight to the point.
Raising his brows in surprise, Keith crossed his arms, standing across from his teammate. "Must really be botherin' you if you're coming to talk to me."
"Well, I mean, you're the leader now, right?"
"I guess," he nodded uncertainly.
"I've been doing some math. With Shiro back we have six paladins, but there's only five lions. And if I'm right, that's one paladin too many."
"Solid math."
"Look, when Shiro takes over Black, you're going to want Red back. if I get a lion, then I'd have to take Blue from Allura, and she's progressed a lot faster than any of us did," Lance continued stating the same worries that Keith himself had been harboring. "She might be able to unlock powers we don't even know of."
"True."
Lance looked down for a moment, refusing to meet his eyes. "So, maybe the best thing I can do for the team is step aside."
"What?"
"This isn't a participation game. This is war. And you want your best soldiers on the front lines."
Keith sighed, "Look, stop worrying about who flies what and just focus on your missions. I know things will work themselves out."
Lance pressed his lips like he wanted to argue some more, but instead he just gave a nod. "Ok. Thanks."
As he turned to leave, Keith called out to him. "And Lance, leave the math to Pidge." The Blue Paladin smiled as the doors closed, and thus hadn't seen the frown that settled on Keith's face.
"So that's what you're worried about," Yorak said flying up. "What're you planning on doing?"
Keith glanced at the ground. "Lance has a point: Allura has progressed much faster than any of us did when we first started."
"So Allura stay's in Blue."
"Hunk and Pidge are the only matches we have for Yellow and Green."
"So they can't go either. That leaves either: Shiro, Lance, or you."
Keith nodded as he started to pace. "Shiro is the leader of this team, Black is his lion. I knew taking this position would be a temporary gig. And Lance…" Keith sighed, "he and Red are getting along far better than I could've hoped. And while he may not see it, he holds a little more value to the team. We don't have many distance attackers, Lance and Hunk are the only ones who don't participate in close combat. They need that cover."
The small ghost's shell spinned, "You've already thought about this, haven't you?"
"Guardians are always meant to be expendable," he spoke quietly crossing his arms. "It's time I stepped down from Voltron."
-.-
"Thanks for hooking us into the system," Hunk said as he watched the mice connect wires, "we never would've been able to reach back there."
"These mice are quite handy," Darvah remarked before blinking as they made several squeaks as they came out.
"Sorry," Hunk apologized, "I know you got all dirty. I owe you guys a little mouse shower ok? I get to work on that right after we find Lotor."
"Hey! Can we fire this up and see if it works?!"
"Will it explode?" Jaz questioned from where she leaned against the wall supervising.
"I certainly hope not," Darvah said pressing the button.
Nothing happened.
The two engineers shared as look before they both began rapidly pressing the button. "Maybe we didn't adjust the polarity correctly?"
"No way, we calculated it three times," Darvah growled. "Work!" Skamming his robotic fist into the console, the system powered up. "Huh? So, it's one of those you have to hit. Noted."
"Guys! We found the comet! But it's booking away from us," Hunk called.
Jaz strode forwards, "Allura, I'll take command of the helm until you arrive."
"Understood. We're on our way."
-.-
"We're gaining on it," Hunk said.
"Make sure we stay far enough back so we aren't detected," Shiro ordered.
"I'm working on a cloaking program that should help," Darvah said from his spot beside Jaz and Coran, "Jaz, can you scramble our signal through various frequencies?"
"Thought you'd never ask."
"It looks like the signal stopped in the Ulippa system," Pidge said. "Activating long-range scanners."
Zooming in on a Galra base, the found a warship, but no Lotor. "Where is he?" Keith growled, getting to his feet.
"But the comet's in there."
"Ok team, we need to—/Here's the plan—," Shiro and Keith started before stopping and looking at each other.
Keith was the one to step down. "Sorry Shiro, go ahead."
The elder nodded in gratitude, "We need to get that comet. They must be transporting it into that base. It'll be most vulnerable during the transfer. That'll be the best time to strike."
Those plans had to be revised as they watched the Galra warship open fire on the base.
"Who the heck are these guys?"
"I don't think they're moving the comet to that base."
"Really?" Jaz grumbled. "What gave it away?"
Shiro tossed an annoyed glance at the Awoken woman, "We need more information."
Keith nodded in agreement. "You're right. You take the Black Lion, I'll stay with the others here in the Castle. If you guys need back-up, Jaz, Darvah and I will come down."
Shiro looked surprised, but Keith couldn't help but notice the glimmer of hope in his eyes. "Keith, are you sure?"
"Positive."
As they went down, Jaz stepped up beside her friend. "What are you doing?"
"What's necessary," Keith replied watching the lions launch. Where was Black?
As if reading his mind, Darvah sounded off, sounding rather confused, "The Black Lion is still in it's hangar."
/Shiro where are you?/ Lance called. /We need you out here/
"Something's wrong."
/Keith/ Shiro called, /I'm going to need you to lead this mission/
"What? What is it? What's wrong?"
/The Black Lion isn't responding to me. It looks you're its true paladin now/ Shiro replied. And no one missed the strain in his voice.
"I'm coming down," Keith said rushing out the doors.
-.-
The lions landed on the ground, deposting the paladins as the soared out in their speeders.
/The most important thing in this mission is to get eyes on that comet/ Shiro informed. /Second is figuring out who we're dealing with/
/It's most likely Lotor and his men/ Jaz added, /as far as we know, they're the only ones aware of the comet, so keep an eye out. Pidge, make sure to send a distress signal if you need back-up/
/Roger that!/ Pidge replied. /Is Darvah planning to bring those new weapons he was developing/
/Hopefully, I can't guarantee they'll work right yet/
"Everyone, focus," Keith interrupted. "We're coming up to the base. We'll ditch the bikes behind that outcropping there."
The next step of the plan was the hard part.
"Shiro, we just boarded the ship," Keith informed as they crouched down, peeking around the corner for any patrols, "There's no crew in sight. We're moving forwards with the search."
Lance blasted the controls to the door, and they ran inside as it opened. Each paladin raising they're bayard in preparation for an attack as Hunk calmly walked forwards, scanner in hand as he loocted at the junction. After a moment, he started leading the way down the right path. "It's this way."
Walking down the hall, Keith realized something was missing. Where was the fire? "Sounds like the fight's over, we need to hurry," he ordered and they began moving faster.
-.-
"What the…?" Darvah trailed off as they watched the roof open revealing a large object. He began typing and Coran's eyes widened.
"The teludav?!"
"You mean the one from our battle with Zarkon? I thought we blew it up?" Jaz exclaimed.
"So did I," Coran agreed. "What, in the name of King Groggery the Infirm, is going on?!"
"Nothing good," Shiro growled. "Darvah, any of your weapons have the range to reach that?"
"Not currently. And if we use the Castle's weapons, we risk blowing up the paladins."
"My magic would have the same effect," Jaz answered as Shiro looked to her.
"Then we better come up with a plan."
-.-
The beeping of Hunk's scanner grew louder as they walked into the hangar. "The comet should be here," Hunk said standing in front of a ship, "as in right here."
"Where is it then? In the ship?"
Hunk glanced at his scanner again. "No. I think it is the ship."
"It can't be," Allura gasped, "he's already made a ship from the comet's ore?"
"This is bad."
"More like horrible."
/Guys/ Shiro called. /There's a piece of the teludav inside the Galra base/
"The one we used to wormhole Zarkon's ship?" Lance questioned.
"But they'd never be able to operate it without and Altean," Allura frowned.
/Haggar/ Jaz hissed as Allura's eyes widened.
"I remember that witch! She had Altean markings!"
"Is anyone else freaking out?" Hunk asked.
Lance raised his hand. "Yep. Mark me down for one freak-out."
Keith looked at the ship. "Lotor wouldn't let this ship out of his sight; he has to be nearby. We need to find him and take him out for good."
/You cannot let Lotor get that ship. Go back to your lions. You need Voltron/ Shiro ordered.
"Why should we take out one ship when we can end all of this by getting rid of Lotor?
Keith countered. "This will just happen again if we let him go. We can't let him keep outsmarting us."
/That's exactly why we can't let him have that ship. This is too important!/
"Keith," Allura spoke up, "I want to stop Lotor just as badly as you do, but Shiro has a point."
Keith sighed, "Fine. You guys go back to the lions. I'll search the ship for Lotor."
/Keith. You need to stick together/
"I'm with Shiro on this one," Lance said.
"As am I."
"Me too."
"Yeah, man."
Gritting his teeth, Keith debated on going anyways. It would be more efficient to eliminate Lotor then and there while the others handled the ship. If he went alone, he could switch armors and Lotor wouldn't even know what hit him.
The only thing that stopped him was the thought of seeing the disappointed look on his brother's face. it was clear Shiro wasn't sure how to handle being sidelined suddenly after Black's harsh rejection. He didn't need Keith galavanting off and disregarding orders. Shiro was trying to do what was best for the team. Keith was just being selfish as usual.
"Fine. Let's go."
Turning around, they raced through the halls. Coming upon the door leading to the exit. They slowed to a stop as it opened, revealing four female Galra, Lotor's generals.
The biggest one moved first, launching herself into the air. As she came falling down, Allura was forced to jump out of the way, otherwise be crushed as her fist impacted the ground causing a layer of dust tp rise. Emerging from the dark cloud, the one with the tail knocked Pidge off her feet, before jumping at Hunk.
Lance was currently in a firefight with one. She leapt out of the way of one of his shots. As she rolled to her feet, Keith charged, his sword vibrating as it met the steel of her gun. Looking over her Keith felt a flash of familiarity, it was her, the Galra from the weblum.
Something hit his blade and an explosion knocked him back as a red general with a long ponytail-looking thing jumped in. She hurled something else at him and it was knocked out of the air by a blaster shot.
"I've got ya buddy!" Lance called and Keith smirked. Seems like those little competitions they had going with Jaz were finally paying off.
The weblum general raced around him, and Keith barely saw a flash of red out of the corner of his eye before raising his fist and deflecting a punch from her. She grabbed his arm, practically wrapping herslf around it and twisting, sending him flying to the ground with her on top holding his sword arm in a compromising position. If he moved it, the limb would break. And from previous experiences, it was an experience he'd rather avoid.
Good thing he was ambidextrous.
His bayard teleported to his free hand, and Keith got the personal pleasure of knocking that smirk off her face.
"We don't have time for this," he growled, grabbing her braid-thing and swinging her over his head into the big one that just hurled Allura, "we have to get to the lions!"
"Agreed," Lance yelped as he landed from where the weblum general tossed him.
Turning around, they left the battle for another day. The group sprinted to their speeders, leaping in to drive back to the lions.
/Seriously, what's going on? Who were they?/ Lance questioned.
"I met one of them before, in the weblum," Keith confessed and Hunk made a sound of recognition.
/The one who stole the scaultrite?!/
"Same one."
/But wait, here's where I'm worried/ Hunk started, /Allura said they had an Altean. Do you think that's why they have the teludav? So they can make wormholes?/
/If Lotor's turned that comet into a ship we have much bigger concerns/
/I thought Lotor took over for Zarkon? Why is he attacking a Galra base?/
"I don't know. But that's precisely why we need to stop him here and now."
-.-
"We need to stop that ship," Shiro said as they watched the warship start pulling the teludav in with a tractor beam.
"The team's out of range," Darvah said.
"On it," Jaz nodded stepping forwards. Holding her hands out, she began to form an attack when something whipped by, breaking her concentration. "What was that?"
Coran zoomed it in a small fighter. "That must be the ship made from the comet."
"Then we need to be careful," Shiro said. "Coran, raise the particle barrier. Darvah, fire the Castle defenses. Jaz, be prepared to launch that attack, we can't let them get that teludav."
The weapons began firing, and the Elkisni growled as it kept weaving out of the way. "Quick little bugger isn't it," Coran remarked turning to help Darvah.
"I've never seen something that size move that fast," Shiro commented.
"Hah! Then you've clearly not seen the most brutal space battles," Darvah huffed before the ship rocked as it was hit.
"That blast cut through the particle barrier!"
"Jaz! Forget the teludav! Raise secondary shield!"
Groaning, the energy in front of the Castle began moving, going from a weapon to preading out evenly over the ship. "Tell me where it is so I can redirect most of the energy!"
"Front bow! Down thirty-degrees!"
The shield began glowing brighter and the next blast bounced off. "Team! Hurry your ryems up here!"
-.-
/Target locked!/ Pidge said.
"Fire!" Keith ordered as the ship prepared to fire again. It jerked to the side, dodging a blast as Voltron flew in. "Form sword!" Keith summoned his bayard, slamming it into its hold as Lance did the same. Swinging down at the ship, it zipped to the side, flying away as they gave chase, narrowly avoiding their attacks. "It's too quick!"
/Guys! The cargo ship's escaping with the teludav!/ Shiro reminded.
"I thought taking down the ship made from the comet was the most important priority at the present moment!" Keith snapped.
/We still can't let Lotor get away with the teludav!/
"Shiro's right! We need to destroy it!/ Allura confirmed.
Keith growled, "But the comet's right here! We need to take it down!" he ordered as they continued flying after the smaller ship.
/Keith! The cargo ship is getting away!/
/Keith!/ Jaz called. /You handle space-legs there! I'll get the cargo!/
/We need you to defend the ship!/
/I think it's a little obvious they're preoccupied!/ Jaz snapped. Hearing a blast, Voltron saw a large blast form as the shield melted away firing at the teludav, obliterating it right there. /DUCK!/
/Where?/ Lance questioned before the blast from the small fighter hit Voltron head on and left. There was a grunt, /So…Lotor was attacking the Galra base trying to steal the teludav? None of this makes sense/
/We can talk about this later! They're getting away!/
Keith agreed, "We need to go after them."
/No. Get back to the Castle/ Shiro ordered. /Something strange is going on here and we need to figure it out/
-.-
Keith stood on the observation deck lost in his own thoughts about the mission. How did things go so wrong? When exactly did they go wrong? Was it when he started arguing? The others were all ready to go back to listening to Shiro, he was too, but why say lead a mission when you aren't allowed to really lead it at all? Not if your own team doesn't listen to you.
This was the reason he wanted to step aside. The leadership role wasn't meant for him. It never was.
"Hey," Shiro said quietly stepping into the room, "I'm sorry I had to step in back there."
"I thought I had it under control."
A hand came to rest on his shoulder. "You need to learn to pick your battles. Sometimes you have to make hard choices."
"I'm no good at this."
"Yes, you are." Keith raised an eyebrow and he peered at his brother out of the corner of his eye. "It was your quick thinking that let Jaz have the time needed to destroy the teludav. You're gonna get there. The Black Lion has chosen you, Keith. I'm proud."
For some reason, Keith felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise up in alarm.
