Chapter 39
A/N: alrighty, so was last chapter fun or what? Well anyways, I'm sure y'all wanna know how our favorite Awoken mage is doing after that event. So I won't waste your time here. As usual, I just own this story and my OCs.
/comms/
"Bold is video calls/intercoms"
Telepathy/dreams/flashbacks
Keith frowned staring down at the Galra soldiers passing under.
"How are we going to get there?"
"I'm working on it."
"Keith, the crates, like what Shiro and Allura did?" Yorak suggested.
"Guys, what if we hid in the crates?" he offered at his partners looked at him. He couldn't see their expressions due to the masks, but he knew there was confusion. "So they already know what everything inside is right? If we hide inside one then we could sneak on without raising any suspicion."
The leader of the small group nodded pulling up a monitor.
"That's our target, as soon as it docks, we go."
Keith nodded and watched the soldiers pass under them, once they were gone the group of three silently dropped down. Running into the storage room, they looked at the boxes.
"You sure this is going to work?"
Keith chuckled. "Trust me, it will," he said.
Using his knife, he pried the lip off and they removed the contents, hiding them in different containers to avoid suspicion, before squeezing in. It was a tight fit for three Blades, but since Keith was so much smaller compared to them at least it wasn't too tight in his box.
The boxes began to move and before long they stopped. Sitting quietly inside the small group waited till they heard the doors close before using their blades to slice through the sides and crawl out.
"Good tip Earthling."
A blaster activated and the group pulled out their swords to see an officer aiming a blaster at them. He lowered his weapon and stood straight. "Follow me," he said leading them down a hall, he peered around the corner waving the forwards into an empty room.
"This shaft will take you directly above the bridge," he informed.
"Thank you, brother."
"The Archivist is taking too long to start the ceremony," a voice echoed from down the hall.
"The Archivist?" Keith questioned. Was it like the Speaker back at the tower?
"Hurry," the spy said and the three quickly climbed up into the vents as the door began opening with the ranting commander at the lead.
"If it waits any longer, the empire will descend into chaos."
"We need to find out who this Archivist is," his ghost stated. "I'll hack and gather as much intel as I can find."
-.-
"I'm telling you, Branko's wanton attack was only the beginning," Lotor spoke as everyone gathered on the bridge. "Without an emperor, more and more high-ranking officials are going to start lashing out and consolidating their power at the Kral Zera."
"Just jumping in here," Hunk interrupted, "What exactly is the Kral Zera? Is there food there? It sounds awful fancy."
"It's the coronation ceremony of a new emperor or empress. It is held on on of the first planets we, the Galra, conquered: Planet Feyiv, a sacred land."
"Ok, so who all will be at this Kral Zera?" Shiro inquired.
"Allow me to show you," Lotor smiled before turning to Allura. "May I, Princess?"
"Go ahead."
Lotor stepped up to the monitor and started pulling up images. The first to appear was of a massive Galra about the size of Sendak, he had two horns on his chin, light violet fur with darker stripes, curved ears, and one of his eyes was a cybernetic.
"Warlord Ranveig, he's one of the most vicious Galra in the empire," Lotor began, It's why my father sent him to the fringes of the universe. There will already be several factions pledging their allegiance to him."
"Warlord huh?" Lance grumbled. "Guess that's not a title gotten by being nice."
Another image appeared, this of a female with light fur, strange crests on her head, and pointed ears.
"Commander Gnov, she was one of Zarkon's most trusted advisors. She will be the one unifying Zarkon's inner circle of commanders, they know what they'll be getting with her," Lotor stated. "She may not be as reckless as Ranveig, but she's just as cruel."
A short overweight Galra male appeared, appearing to have a cybernetic visor over his eyes.
"This is Quartermaster Janka," Lotor introduced, "he's responsible for overseeing supply routes throughout the empire. Don't let his stature fool you, his power is bureaucracy and he cannot be underestimated."
"He keeps popping up in my database," Katie commented, "his supply-chain management is incredible. He definitely color codes."
"So…organized evil."
"And finally, Zarkon's witch, Haggar," Lotor continued making all the Paladins glower as the image of the witch appeared.
"We've met," Shiro growled as the others made similar sounds of affirmation.
"She'll be the most dangerous of them all, because she's not Galra she won't be eligible to take the throne, however, she probably already has a puppet ready. Someone she can control and manipulate. If the Galra were smart, they'd be working together against her. If that puppet takes over than ending Zarkon's reign would've been all for naught."
"Then we can't risk any of them assuming control," Shiro stated turning to Allura. "We should help Lotor take over the empire."
"Shiro, we've already discussed this, it's far too risky," the Princess answered.
"Why don't we let them fight amongst themselves for a little while before we do anything?" Lance smiled going up next to Allura.
"You all know what we just went through on Olkarion, and that was just one rouge commander vying for the throne," Shiro reminded. "When the Galra lash out everyone in the universe suffers."
"How would we even get Lotor there without causing a fight?" Pidge questioned.
"I'll be bringing Voltron," Lotor replied casually.
"Yeah," Hunk said rolling his eyes, "because Voltron never gets in fights."
"Shiro, we can't," Allura replied.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Shiro said narrowing his eyes and striding from the room.
"What's with Shiro?" Hunk questioned.
"I wish I knew," Allura sighed. "If only Jaz was here."
"Speaking of her, how is she?" Lotor inquired.
"Recovering, but Coran says her vitals are still dangerously low. She'll be in the healing pod for at least a few more days," Allura answered crossing her arms as the others looked down.
-.-
Keith frowned as he processed the information his ghost gave him about the commanders attending, from what it sounded like they were all going to be difficult to handle if the plan went awry. No way the three blades would be able to fight them alone.
"The Archivist has light the summons," Ranveig practically purred. "Set a course for Feyiv. It is time for me to burn with the glory of Kral Zera and take my place on the Galra throne."
"Oh, you'll burn alright, may not be in glory, but you'll burn," Yorak chuckled maniacally.
"This is our time to strike," Ilun resolved, "we will bring down the empire in one fell swoop."
The ships descended towards the surface and Keith could see the burning violet flame and dozens of Galra gathered below.
"Alright, when we go down there, set one explosive on each load bearing beam."
Hopping off the ship, they rolled to their feet and sprinted into the building without being spotted.
The halls were deserted as they ran from pillar to pillar, setting the charges as they went before sprinting up the steps.
Getting towards their exit they set the last few charges on the beams.
/Activating the timers. Let's go!/ Ilun said as they sprinted out their exits and onto the dark gray rocks.
Hearing a familiar roar, Keith skid to a stop, to his horror, he turned to see the Black Lion landing. "Shiro…" he whispered. No, no, he shouldn't be here. Why was he here?! "Ilun! Vrek! We have to stop the Black Paladin is there!"
/It's too late! The bombs are armed and the timer is set! The operation is a go/ she replied.
"Quiznack!" he snarled sprinting back inside. "Yorak!"
"Yes?" he asked appearing over Keith's hand.
"Help me deactivate these bombs," he ordered.
"On it!" he replied floating over to one side as Keith sprinted over to the other and they began deactivating as fast as they could.
Going to another bomb, Keith and his ghost came to a halt as the other two blades rounded the corner.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! WE HAVE TO GO!" Ilun snapped before her gaze rested on the small thing floating next to their most reckless member.
"Is that...is that what I think it is?" Vrek began.
"Draaf," Keith cursed.
-.-
"Hunk, why are you single modulating the gendocam?" Pidge questioned as she glared at the other Paladin as they sat in the medbay.
"Relax Pidge, it's a gendocam not a vlexagane, single modulation is fine."
"You should double modulate everything."
Hunk scoffed, "Are you crazy? That's a waste of a button press."
"Sorry to interrupt," Sam greeted as he joined the pair.
"Hey Dad, real quick. How do you reconfigure a gendocam?" Pidge questioned.
"Well, you start by double modulating—" her father started, cut off by Pidge's cheer.
"HA! I TOLD YOU!"
Seeing the boy's glare, Sam couldn't help but smile. "Ah, madulating arguments. That's how your mother and I met," he mused and chuckled inwardsly at his daughter's embarrassed grimace. "Anyways, have either of you seen Shiro? I wanna go over my report for the Galaxy Garrison one last time before I leave."
"I haven't seen him since he stormed off the bridge."
"I've never seen him like that," Hunk commented before turning to the healing pod they sat by. "Jaz? Have you seen him recently?" The unconscious woman made no move to answer, not that they really expected her to right now. "Thought so, but you would have to say he's been acting weird, almost as weird as double modulating."
Opening a vid-screen, Pidge called up to the bridge.
"Hello Pidge," Allura greeted. "Is something wrong with Jaz?"
"What? Oh, no she's stable still," Pidge answered realizing Allura thought she was calling cause something was wrong. "But do you know where Shiro is?"
"Let me check…He isn't on the ship. His lion's gone too!" Allura exclaimed. "Where's Lotor? Have either of you seen him?"
"No."
-.-
"You're…you're a…" Vrek stumbled, seeming having trouble forming a sentence.
"We can't let you stay here," Ilun said stepping towards him, "Guardian."
"You can't stop me, Shiro and Lotor are up there, I'm not going to sit back and let them die!" he snarled turning to the other two blades he dropped his hood and glared at them. "Yorak, mask."
"Copy!" the ghost called and Keith shifted his shoulders to adjust to the weight of his armor.
"You two wait at the rendezvous point, I'll meet you guys there," he stated. "For now, its best they don't know the Marmora were involved."
"You do understand that we want answers," Ilun said.
"I'll give them to you when this is over," Keith replied putting on his helmet.
The two other blades nodded and took off.
"How much time do we have," Keith asked getting to work again.
"Not as much as I'd like," the ghost replied. "I don't think we're going to be able to get them all."
Keith looked away from the one he finished and frowned; Yorak was right. "Let's go!" he said and the small light vanished rejoining Keith as they sprinted down the hall towards the stairs leading towards the battle area. "How long till the bombs go off?"
"We have less than a minute."
"Great!" he said sprinting up the stairs. Hearing explosions behind him, he shot out the door, tackling Lotor on his way out. The duo painfully bounced down the stairs, and Keith was grateful he chose to wear his thicker armor, otherwise he'd be in a lot more pain.
"LOTOR HAS BETRAYED US TO VOLTRON! FIRE ON THE BLACK LION!" Sendak screamed bursting out of some of the rubble.
"He's still alive?" Keith muttered, didn't they eject him into space?
The Black Lion moved as ships began firing on it, flying up into the air.
Keith got to his feet, pulling out his Crown Splitter sword he gazed warily at the at the commanders who seemed stunned by his presence, all except Haggar.
"Tell me Guardian," the witch spoke, her voice echoing over them, "what possesses you to betray your kind? You have Galra blood in your veins, do you vie for the throne?" Several of the contenders shifted at the implications of her words, silently praying he wasn't there to compete for the throne, they'd all be killed if he was.
"No, I merely seek your death, Wizard," he snarled. Lunging at Haggar, Keith ducked a shot sent by one of Lotor's ex-generals, which quickly hit another soldier, causing more infighting to occur as everything broke into chaos. Slashing at Haggar, he growled as she vanished in shadows.
"This is exactly what I wanted to avoid, I knew they'd all turn on each other," Lotor hissed as he stood next to the Guardian.
"Fight now, complain later," Keith replied shoving Lotor out of the way as Sendak leapt at them. Skidding back, Keith caught movement in the corner of his eye, whipping around, his blade clashed against an axe of a Galra woman with strange crests on her head. He didn't remember her name, nor did he care, he just needed her dead.
Leaping back to avoid another of her swings, Keith found himself unarmed as he miscalculated the angle of her toss, the end of her axe hitting his sword as he moved to switch hands. Whatever, he didn't need a sword to kill her anyways. Getting to his feet, he sprinted at her. The woman swung her axe again, but now with both hands free, Keith caught it and flipped her over his shoulder, hurling her down the stairs. Leaping after her, he landed on the commander, and she coughed up blood at the impact.
The last thing she ever saw was a Titan's fist coming down towards her skull.
His impact made a crater in the ground, making several of the fighting groups look at him as he stood up, still covered in the blood of his enemy. His head turned towards the witch, and he reached down to his waist, grabbing the Marmora knife off and changing it to its sword form.
"What do we do?" Zethrid questioned.
"We're leaving," Haggar said, "the empire has fallen." The female generals nodded as she quickly teleported them all back to their ship, no one wanted to be on the brunt end of a Titan's wrath.
Keith stabbed through another soldier who dared to step in his path with his Marmora blade and growled, she escaped. Rushing up the steps, he yanked his primary sword out of her perch and looked up. Voltron was now in the sky, guess some of the others were waiting nearby.
"Sendak!" Lotor snarled and Keith turned raising his blades. The massive Galra lifted a hunk of earth out, throwing it into the air, he used his arm cannon to fire at it creating a massive cloud of dust. When it cleared, he was gone.
Lotor then turned to him raising his sword. "Are you here to challenge for the throne?"
Keith put his mother's knife away and put his sword on his back. "No. It's all yours."
Looking relieved, he strode over and took a torch. Lotor began walking up the steps his father had once walked in his quest for power. Setting the burning end of the torch in the oil, he watched the violet fire rise up to the perch of the eternal flame.
"The flame is lit," the Archivist declared, "bow to your emperor." The Galra that remained looked at each other for a moment before bowing as the Voltron lions landed, shaking the ground.
Keith sighed, at least this entire train wreck had some good come out of it, but now it was time to face the music.
"Good job Lotor!" Hunk cheered as he and the other Paladins ran up, only slowing to a stop as they saw the bloodstained Guardian walking past.
Keith silently prayed that they wouldn't glance at the knife on his belt, otherwise he'd be recognized for certain. He didn't stop to make eye contact, only walking right out of the area to head to the rendezvous point.
"Hey!"
Silently cursing, Keith stopped and looked back to see Shiro and the other Paladins jogging towards him. "What do you want?"
"We just wanted to talk," Shiro said. "What were you doing here?"
"Why do you care?"
"We'd like to offer an alliance, Guardian. I am Princess Allura, the Blue Paladin of Voltron," Allura said stepping forwards. "We are aware your people are more adept at other enemies that are of no doubt a threat to this universe. But we could really use your assistance in removing one of those threats. The Galra have been expanding for ten thousand years, destroying planets and countless lives in their conquest. We only wish to stop them, and free the peoples they have enslaved and the worlds they have conquered."
"You seem to be doing fine. Zarkon is dead is he not?"
"Well, yes," Allura confessed.
"Then I'll have to pass. You all seem to have things under control," Keith said.
"It is his witch and the Galra that will no doubt rebel against my rule who will still be a threat," Lotor interjected.
"We would offer you a place to stay," Allura added. "I'm sure travelling around in your ship uses a lot of energy and must be expensive."
"Yeah, when was the last time you had a decent meal?" Hunk inquired. "I can cook some pretty awesome food if I do say so myself."
"You could totally hang with us," Lance grinned, "we've got a ton of spare rooms, a training deck, a hanger you can store your ship in, library, food, and there's even a pool! And we could compete to see who the better sharpshooter is, I have to say I'm pretty awesome myself, it'll take a lot to beat me."
"No thanks."
"We'd all be happy to let you join us, fighting in a team is better than fighting alone," Shiro voiced, "we are fighting against the same foes. I'm sure whatever missions you have you could get at the Castle. It would probably save you a lot of trouble."
"Yeah, I bet we'd have tons of fun!" Lance grinned. "Think about it! You'd get to fight alongside Voltron!"
"FOR THE LAST TIME I SAID NO!" he snapped. "I have no interest in being used as anyone's weapon anymore, and if you were wise, you'd stay away from me!"
Whirling on his heel Keith stormed away from them, hoping they got the message. The further they stayed away from him the better, and the less they knew about his Guardian status, the easier it would be for him to simply disappear. The way he was supposed to.
Guardians weren't supposed to make bonds with non-Guardians, not many listened to the rule anyways, but they all suffered the consequences in the end. They lived on, the loved one did not. Keith was foolish to think that rule had changed just because the Tower was gone.
Breaking into a sprint, he navigated the dark, rocky landscape, making sure he wasn't being followed as they arrived at the small hidden hangar of ships for those who were stationed on this base.
"We were starting to worry," Ilun said as Keith came into view, dropping his helmet.
"The Paladins attempted to have a conversation," he replied curtly.
"Wait, they don't know?" Vrek questioned in obvious confusion.
"You're the first people to know, besides Zarkon's witch, she figured me out when I escaped," he stated before giving them a firm glare. "And Voltron is not going to find out, am I clear?"
"Why?"
"The less they know the better," he said walking over to a fighter and hopping in. "Are you guys coming?"
The two other blades nodded, climbing in, before they headed back to base, where they were going to get some answers.
-.-
Kolivan stood in the hangar waiting for the team sent to the Kral Zera to return, Ilun had called stating the mission had been completed, however, that there had been complications, as well as several pieces of news he needed to hear.
The doors opened as the ship flew in, considering it wasn't speeding in it was probably Ilun or Vrek piloting considering Keith tended to almost give several of the deck-hands heart attacks. The youngster had caused a few fires before during his landings.
The ship landed and the doors opened as Ilun and Vrek walked out of the ship. "Where's Keith?"
"Not dead if that's what you mean," Vrek stated crossing his arms. "Not like he can die anyways."
Kolivan's brows furrowed at the statement. Sure while the boy was incredibly reckless and by some miracle managed to frequently escape unscathed, no Blade would say someone was invincible.
"He's on the ship," Ilun stated.
"So what occurred at Kral Zera?"
"As suspected many were vying for the throne, Haggar chose to use Sendak as her chosen puppet."
"Sendak is still alive?"
"Apparently," Vrek grumbled.
"Lotor and the Black Paladin came as well."
"They weren't harmed in the explosion, were they?" Kolivan questioned, if Shiro ended up hurt then that could seriously damage the Blade's standings with Voltron.
"No, Keith saw to that, he deactivated a large portion of the bombs, resulting in less damage."
"Anything else?"
"Two more things sir, first off Lotor won and took the throne," Ilun continued, "he already has established his alliance with Voltron and the Coalition."
Kolivan nodded. "Factions of the empire will not be so willing to accept his rule."
"Several factions have already declared war sir," Vrek informed.
"And the second piece?"
"Keith!" Ilun called.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," he called from in the ship.
The sound of someone walking echoed from the ship, and Kolivan frowned, it was too loud to be from their Marmora gear, those were specifically designed to be as stealthy as possible…unless Keith stole a guard's uniform again.
"Did you at least…" Keith trailed off as he stepped out, wearing black and red armor with a grey and black sash hanging from his waist. The young Guardian looked at Kolivan's face for a few moments before giving a deadpan look to the other two Blades, not even caring other members around the room were stopping to stare. "You didn't warn him, did you?"
