So. Y'all wanted Shiro, didn't you? Well, wait no longer, because he is here. Boy howdy. Is he ever here. Also Te-Osh is back! Isn't that swell. Yup. Nothing bad at all happens in this chapter, that much is for sure. No sir, not this one, not by a long shot.
cosmic dust
chapter twenty one
yellow lion
Never in all her years did she think she would gaze upon the Castle of Lions.
But then again, never in all her years did she think she would behold a lion of Voltron. And now she had seen three.
It was enough to give her a spark of hope, that things were finally changing. That destiny, at long last, was starting to move. It could not be soon enough- for if the resistance fell, then there would be nothing left standing in Zarkon's way.
But now there was Voltron.
"Te-Osh!"
Matt all but sprinted across the hangar, heedless of any decorum. While it was true she had come here to discuss a critical matter- the reclamation of the yellow lion- it did not mean that she wasn't happy to see the young rebel. He had done well- the results he had helped produce were more than worth taking a bit of heat from Flos.
Three active lions, four paladins, and the means with which to obtain another of the former. Hope indeed.
"Matt," she beamed, "-it is good to see you again. I trust you have been keeping well."
"I got to see mom, so yeah, I guess you could say that." Matt told her, grasping her arm. "So who'd you bring?"
"Two ships." Te-Osh reported. "Olia and Ozar's crews."
The best of the best. It was a risk, throwing them both into an operation like this- but if they were able to obtain the yellow lion, then they finally had the chance to turn the tide of this war, once and for all. And for that, she would do anything.
"I must thank you for your quick response," the Altean princess spoke, dressed not in the ornate gown that she had been found in, but rather, a spacesuit, Altean in design, "-if we are to claim the yellow lion, then your help will be sorely needed."
"We will always stand ready to help Voltron." Te-Osh told her. "Matt tells me that you have found both the green and blue lions."
"That we have." Allura beamed, stepping aside to reveal those waiting behind her. More humans, she noted, one of whom she already knew. Matt's sister, Katie. The other two, however, she did not recognize. "Allow me to introduce you. You already know Pidge, but this is-"
"Lance McClain," the gangly one cut in, and she could have sworn that he'd winked at her, "-paladin of the blue lion, at your service."
Clearly displeased at being cut off, Allura merely frowned. "Yes. Lance. With him is Hunk Garrett, the paladin of the yellow lion."
The bigger of the pair gave her a nervous smile, offering a hand. "Like she said, I'm Hunk."
"Hunk," taking his hand, she gave it a firm shake, like how Matt had taught her, "-a pleasure to meet the both of you. You can trust us to ensure the success of your mission."
All three, she noted, were clad in paladin armor. The sight of it caused something to surge in her chest, and she did not deny it, nor would she even wish to.
She did, however, note that someone was missing.
"Is Keith not...?"
"Oh, that guy?" Lance cut in. "He's all body shy."
"What Lance means is, he's still changing." Pidge interjected. "But he'll be here soon."
"In the meantime, we have much to discuss." Allura said. "I have the exact coordinates for the yellow lion, however based off the reconnaissance information that you have sent us, extracting it from its current location may be a challenge, even with its paladin present."
"We've prepared a landing party, as requested." Te-Osh reported. "I will lead it myself."
"I'm coming too." Matt said. "Can't just let my sister rush off into danger by herself."
"Aw, Matt!" Pidge beamed, before she took on a far more stern expression. "But seriously, if you get yourself killed, I'll bring you back to life myself just so I can kill you again."
"Duly noted."
"She probably means it too."
Glancing up, she felt a faint smile grace her lips as she spotted Keith. He caught her eye for a moment, before his gaze darted away, as if he felt awkward.
Paladin armor suited him well.
"I want to state, just for the record," Hunk spoke up, "-that I have like, zero battle experience. Just so you all know what you're getting into here."
"Fear not, paladin. We have fared countless battles against the Galra. We will protect you." Te-Osh assured him. She would see to it herself. "The planet on which the yellow lion is located is not as a heavily fortified as some of their other mining colonies. So long as we strike quickly, we will have the element of surprise on our side."
Unless the Galra were already aware the yellow lion was there, in which case, they would likely expect them to show up at some point. But she knew she didn't need to say that- it was likely something which had already been on the princess' mind.
But what they didn't know was that they were in possession of the blue lion, and that gave them an edge. They were not aware of the Castle of Lions either, in so far as she knew, but that would remain behind, as it was where the black lion was sealed.
While it had an impressive amount of firepower, showing all one's cards at once was unwise. The princess seemed to know this just as well as she did.
What they could not expect was that they had the yellow lion's paladin. That too, gave them an advantage.
"Your strike ships will not be alone." Allura assured her. "The green and blue lions will lead the initial assault. The red lion will be our drop ship, as it is the fastest. The yellow lion's heavy armor should allow it to break through any defensive line, once we obtain it."
"Yeah, and we'll be able to like, wormhole straight there!" Matt chimed in.
Wormhole. She had heard that ancient Alteans were capable of creating such things, but for the longest time, she had thought it merely legend. It would appear, however, that it was quite true.
"We will strike hard and fast." Allura stated. "Once we have retrieved the yellow lion, I can create a wormhole to enable a clean escape. Do we know if there are any prisoners in the mines?"
"I do not believe so." Te-Osh stated. "Based on our intelligence, the planet is being mined largely by drones. No slaves of any kind."
Allura merely gave her a curt nod of her head, looking relieved. She suspected that the princess would not be able to live with herself if she left anyone behind, so the knowledge that it wouldn't be a factor was doubtlessly reassuring to hear.
Were there any, given time, they would be able to formulate a plan to break them out- they had done such raids before. However time was not their ally here- even if the Galra were unaware of the presence of the yellow lion, it would likely not remain that way for long.
"Do we know if there will be any cruisers in the area?" Pidge asked.
"None." Te-Osh stated. "But it is possible that they might be able to call for backup."
"I don't think that'll be a problem." Keith said. "Pidge?"
"Definitely not a problem." Pidge agreed, adjusting her glasses with an impish grin. "First rule of being a space pirate- don't let them call for backup."
"I thought the first rule of being a space pirate was shoot first, ask questions later." Matt said.
"Only if you're Keith." Pidge noted. "Except in his case it's more like never."
"Hey," narrowing his eyes, Keith glowered at Pidge, "-I ask questions sometimes."
"Yeah, aggressively." Pidge shot back.
"Hey, it works." Keith protested.
"With a face like Keith's," Lance chimed in, "-I bet everything comes across as aggressive."
Gritting his teeth, Keith turned on his heel, almost seeming to growl at the blue paladin. "You want to say that again?"
Clearing her throat, Allura stepped between the pair, a certain grace to her movements. "If we could refrain from petty quarreling, I believe we have a mission to finish planning. Pidge," looking her way, heedless of the pair of glares she was standing between, "-do you mean to say you have a way to block communications?"
"Sure." Pidge told her. "Back when Keith and I first started raiding Galra ships, I developed a program to jam all outbound Galra transmissions. I'm pretty sure I can program the green lion to do the same."
Beaming, Matt ruffled Pidge's hair, heedless of the squeak of protest she let out. "That's my sister!"
"So we fly in, jam their transmissions," Lance began, seemingly having moved on from his staring contest with Keith, "-get the yellow lion, and fly out? Sounds like a piece of cake."
Hunk, she noted, looked doubtful. "I'm not sure it's going to be that easy. I mean... what if we get there, and the yellow lion doesn't respond to me?"
"I am certain that it will." Allura stated. "Have faith in yourself, Hunk. You are the yellow paladin."
Frowning, Hunk merely gave her a rather uncertain nod of his head. "So like... when are we doing this? Today? Tomorrow? Tomorrow's good."
"Pidge?" Allura asked. "How long do you think it will take for you to make a copy of your program?"
"Give me half a varga." Pidge told her.
"Right." Nodding her head, Allura turned towards Te-Osh. "Let your fellow rebels know that we will begin in half a varga. The faster we obtain the yellow lion, the better."
Giving the Altean princess a curt nod of her head, she couldn't agree more. "Understood. I'll pass word to the rest of our forces."
"Keith," looking his way, Allura briefly frowned, "-I trust that you can make the drop safely."
"I think I can manage." Keith said.
"Hey, just for the record," Hunk interjected, "-when you say drop, you don't mean like... a literal drop, do you?"
At the ensuing pause, the yellow paladin grew visibly more nervous.
"...do you?"
They did.
They one hundred percent did.
He knew it. Called it, even. This was exactly the kind of reason why he didn't want to get involved in this mess in the first place. Too much action, not enough thinking about the guy actually having to do the action.
Listen, he wasn't one to fault Keith's piloting, but flying in the red lion? Not easy on his stomach. Nor was getting literally dropped out of it.
And he thought dropping out of an air vent was bad.
Granted, the paladin armor helped. He didn't know what it was made out of, but it was tough. Form fitting too. He kind of hadn't expected that, even though really, he should have, since Pidge's armor fit her, and she was like, a good head or two smaller than the rest of them.
But yeah. Getting dropped out of the red lion, while it was still in motion? Not a fan. He had no idea how the other two had managed to land so flawlessly- heck, even Matt had done it, so it wasn't like could just chalk it up to alien genetics.
There was also the fact that they were, you know, being shot at.
Keith had taken out a fair number of the guards- sentries, the big, scary robot dudes were called sentries- but he hadn't been able to take out all of them. Which meant the ones that he hadn't taken out were now shooting at them, all while he tried to not think about the fact that he was being shot at, so that he could focus on hotwiring the controls for the mine shaft elevator so they could get to the yellow lion.
Yep. Yep, this was a lot worse than when they had stolen the blue lion.
Why couldn't his be that easy? Lance had gotten to basically waltz off with his, but no, he had to raid a Galra occupied planet to get his lion.
Great. So much fun.
"Hunk!" Matt called out. "Any time now!"
"I know, I know!" Hunk yelled. "Just about- okay, there we go!"
Breathing a bit easier as the shaft elevator slowly began to descend, he couldn't relax for long. Who knew if there were even more sentries down there?
More sentries meant more shooting. Which yeah, not a big fan of.
Thankfully, turned out there weren't any. He really wished that put him more at ease, but it just felt... strange. He didn't know why, it just did.
"This is supposed to be an active mining planet, right?" Hunk asked, stepping out of the shaft elevator with no small amount of apprehension. "So where are all the workers?"
"They could be in another section of the mine." Te-Osh noted. "Our intelligence indicates that there are several on this planet."
Hm. That sounded reasonable enough. Still, there was just something about this whole situation that put him on edge. Granted, that was probably due to again, the whole being shot at thing, but still.
"Well this is definitely where the yellow lion is." Matt remarked. "Check out all the carvings."
Huh. He was right.
Now that he actually took the time to look, they were everywhere. It kind of reminded him of the cave that he and Lance had found the blue lion in- not that they had a lot of time to marvel at them. The moment Lance had touched one of them, they had all lit up blue and sent them hurtling down an underground waterfall.
Yeah, that hadn't been fun either.
Experimentally, Hunk reached out a hand, lightly brushing it against one of the carvings. With all of these things around, how had the Galra not realized what they were sitting on top of?
Or maybe they had.
Maybe they had, and this was all some kind of a trap.
Burying that negative thought, Hunk didn't have try hard for once. Underneath his touch, the lion carving seemed to glow, illuminating the dark cave with a vivid shade of yellow. Unlike the blue lion's cave, only a few of the carvings lit up here- heck, if he didn't know any better, he'd say they were lighting up a path.
Hold on.
They were.
"So," Matt spoke up, seeming to have realized the same thing he had, "-we have to go through there?"
"So it would seem." Te-Osh observed, looking at the bright circle on the wall, glowing a vivid yellow. "Any ideas?"
Eyes scanning the cave, Hunk frowned. There was no way they could get through solid rock on their own, not unless Te-Osh was hiding some freaky alien powers or something. Eyes falling on a piece of mining equipment, Hunk looked towards it, then back towards the cave wall.
Yeah. That'd work.
You know, honestly, he thought hotwiring alien tech would be like, harder. Turned out it was pretty similar to hotwiring a car- not that he'd ever done that, no sir, not him. Just because he had a skill, didn't mean he necessarily had to put it to use, okay?
(Okay, so maybe Lance had talked him into hotwiring a few Garrison hoverbikes. But they always put them back!)
Catching on, Matt grinned. "Good call. Nice of them to just leave this stuff lying around for us."
"Yeah, I still find this all kind of fishy." Hunk frowned. "Like, why is no one following us?"
"Maybe they can't get the shaft elevator back up?" Matt suggested.
Frowning, Hunk wasn't sure if he bought that or not. But maybe Matt was right, and he was just being paranoid. Wouldn't be the first time. After all, the Galra couldn't possibly have a reason to just let them steal the yellow lion, could they?
It wasn't like they could plant a tracker on it or anything, not with the whole particle barrier force field thing they had going on.
"Perhaps he has a point." Te-Osh admitted- and oh man, he really wished she hadn't. Honestly, he didn't even want to be right! He wanted to be wrong! So very, very wrong!
"You think this could be a trap?" Matt asked.
"I am unsure." Te-Osh admitted- and again, really wished she hadn't. "But the yellow paladin is correct. Something about this feels... strange."
"I mean, it may just be paranoia." Hunk chimed in, trying not to distract himself too much from his work. If this was some kind of weird trap, that was only more reason to get this thing up and running so that they could get out of here already. "I am- I tend to kind of get that way. You know, overthinking things. It's a- it's a problem."
"Perhaps not." Te-Osh told him. "Matt, can you do a scan for life signs?"
Blinking, Matt frowned. "Yeah, no problem."
Well now he was just wishing he had never even brought it up. Trying instead to focus his attention on hotwiring the drill, he let out a slight sigh of relief when he got it to work. Right. Now maybe they could just get the yellow lion and get out of here.
"Uh, Te-Osh?" Oh no. He did not like the sound of that. "I think maybe Hunk was right. We've got company."
Oh no.
Oh. No.
"Where is-?"
She didn't even get a chance to finish her sentence, because the next thing they knew, the entire cave was rocked by some kind of powerful energy blast. Grunting, Hunk ducked his head, only peeking up once the shaking had stopped.
That so had not been one of the sentries' laser guns.
When he looked up, the first thing he saw was Matt's pale face, his eyes saucer wide.
"...shiro?"
"-iro?"
That was all it took.
That faint, half whispered name was all it took to throw him out of his battle frenzy, turning the blood that had been hot in his veins ice cold. It wasn't the name itself, though that would have been more than enough to shake his resolve, but no- it was the way it had been spoken.
"Matt?" He hissed his name, without meaning to. "Matt, what's going on? Did you say Shiro? Is Shiro there?"
Silence.
No, not silence. Static.
Feeling his heart pound in his chest, Keith gripped the controls of the red lion tight. He could barely even hear the sound of her low rumble, trying to reassure him, so fixed on that single name, and the disbelief with which it had been spoken.
Disbelief, and fear.
"Pidge," he began, "-Pidge, I think something's wrong. I can't get through to Matt."
"I know, I know!" Pidge hissed. "Something is jamming our communications with the planet. I don't know what it is."
"You don't think it could be that program of yours, do you?" Lance asked.
"No, it's not that." Pidge said, her tone curt. She had to have heard the same thing he did, right before their coms went dead. "It's designed only to block Galran transmissions, and we're all using Altean tech right now. It shouldn't-"
"I'm going back down there." Keith cut her off. "I have to- I have to check this out."
If Shiro was really there, then he had to.
"Keith, no, you cannot-"
Whatever Allura was going to say didn't make it through, a blast of static sending feedback pounding through his head. Hissing, he pulled off his helmet on reflex, tossing it aside with a clatter, but it was too late- all he could hear was ringing in his ears. Groaning, he slumped over in the red lion's seat, trying to drown out the sound of it-
-and felt something cold creep up his spine.
Eyes snapping open, they went wide. Before them, cruiser after cruiser manifested, coming out of hyperspace right in front of them. He counted at least ten, maybe more- but that wasn't- that wasn't the source of that feeling, the one that made him feel like he was going to vomit.
She was there.
Haggar was there.
For an instant, her presence was all that he could focus on. Convulsing in his seat, the static was now in his head, scattering everything else, growing louder and louder-
-and then it was silent.
No, he realized, slowly drawing in a shaky breath. Not silent.
Red.
Breathing out, he slowly curled his fingers back around the red lion's controls. Right. As long as Red was here, he would be fine. Sucking in another breath, he let it fill his chest, before slowly letting it out.
"-don't understand," Pidge's voice slowly entered his awareness, and he dimly realized that Red had hooked the coms back up, since he'd yanked off his helmet, "-shouldn't be-"
Static. Real this time. Jamming.
It cleared a moment later. Pidge.
"-this was a trap."
Yeah, he was starting to gather that now.
"What do we do?" Lance's voice, panicked, came over the coms next. "We can't just leave Hunk down there!"
"You think I don't know that?" Pidge hissed. "That's my brother down there with him!"
"Guys," cutting in, Keith grit his teeth, finally shaking off the last of his haze, "-we don't have time for this. We have to take down these cruisers and get out of here. Pidge, can you reestablish communications with Hunk and Allura?"
"I can, but not while dodging laser fire." Pidge reported.
Right. Of course not.
Another voice broke in through the coms- right, the rebel ships. They were here too. Captain... Captain Olia, he thought this one was, maybe. He wasn't great with names, but he was pretty sure that was right.
"We'll cover you."
"Yeah, me too." Lance agreed. "I've got your back."
"I've got about three shots with the railgun," Keith told her- and god, he wished he knew which cruiser the witch was on so he could just blow it to kingdom come, but he couldn't tell that much, "-that'll distract them for awhile. In the meantime, Pidge, reestablish communications with Allura so we can get out of here. We're just going to have to trust Hunk to get the yellow lion."
He could do it.
He had to believe that. After all, Hunk hadn't even wanted to be a paladin, he'd said so himself, but he'd still found his resolve to be a part of this. That had to mean something.
Except...
...had Matt really said Shiro's name?
No. No, he couldn't focus on that right now. He had to concentrate.
Feeling Red's determined purr almost in his bones, Keith steadied himself. He could do this. They could do this. Now was as good a time as any to put that whole positive thinking thing to the test, right?
Right?
"Okay girl," turning the red lion around, he grit his teeth, "-let's show them what we've got."
Shiro.
It was Shiro.
It took him a second to realize that the static wasn't just in his head, but it was actually coming from their coms. It took him even longer to actually process what it was he was looking at here.
Because that was Shiro.
But something was wrong. Very, very wrong.
It wasn't the white forelock, or the scar across the bridge of his nose. It wasn't even the twisted metal, glowing a menacing pink-purple, that took the place of his right arm, unwieldy and wrong.
No.
It was the look in his eyes.
Cold, cold enough to send a chill up his spine. Like he didn't even recognize him.
He lifted a hand- the massive, clawed, metal hand-
-and then he found himself picked up and thrown into the drill car with Hunk, letting out a surprised yelp that didn't at all fit the situation they were in.
"Go!" Te-Osh yelled. "I will hold him off!"
"But that's-!"
Shiro. It was Shiro. It had to be Shiro.
But why was he...?
No, this was wrong, this was all wrong. This wasn't how their reunion was supposed to go. Because he was pretty sure that right now, Shiro was here to kill them.
"Go!"
He wanted to open his mouth to protest, but Hunk had already started the drill. It felt like everything was playing out in a distant haze, like he wasn't really here, watching Te-Osh exchange blows with someone he had come to consider like family.
"-att! Matt!"
Snapping back to his senses, Matt sucked in a breath. Hunk's hand was on his shoulder, and judging by the frantic look in his eyes, he was freaking out just as much as he was right now.
"Hunk," he croaked, "-you saw him, right?"
"Please tell me that wasn't Takashi Shirogane." Hunk pleaded. "Actually no, don't. Don't say anything at all. Because I don't think I could handle it if you said yes. Also, can you connect with anyone outside, because I sure as heck can't."
"I- you were right." Matt said, even as he realized that wasn't an answer to any of Hunk's questions. "You were right. This was a trap. Te-Osh, we have to-"
"I know, I know, but we have to get the yellow lion first." Hunk told him, flinching as the cave walls shook, presumably from another one of those laser blasts, which he now realized must have come from that wicked looking arm that Shiro was sporting.
"C'mon, c'mon," Hunk muttered, growing more anxious the longer it took to bore through the cave wall, before finally, "-we're clear! Let's go!"
He didn't even object to the rough way Hunk grabbed his arm, instead letting him haul him to his feet from the position he'd rather unceremoniously landed in. The yellow lion lay in front of them, but they had no time to marvel in awe at it- they could do that later, once they got Te-Osh, and figured out what the hell was going on with Shiro.
Thankfully, all of Hunk's worries about being the yellow paladin proved for naught. The barrier fell away before he even touched it, as if the yellow lion sensed the urgency of the situation. The pair of them scrambled up the ramp, scurrying into the cockpit as quick as they could manage, Hunk all but slamming into the pilot's seat.
"I just remembered I don't know how to fly."
This was bad. This was super bad.
First of all, turned out this whole thing was, in fact, one big trap. He knew it. He hated that he knew it, but he knew it.
Second of all, seriously, had that been Takashi Shirogane? You know, the pilot of the Kerberos mission? The one that had been captured by the Galra? That one?
Third of all, yeah, he had no idea how to fly this thing. Or anything, for that matter. But definitely not an ancient alien warship. Which, by the way? This was. Oh man. Oh man, they were so screwed.
He was damn near on the cusp of flat out panicking when he heard it- a low, deep rumble that sounded a lot like purring. In fact, if he didn't know any better, he'd say it was purring.
No wait- it was. It was definitely purring.
He hadn't gotten what Lance had meant, back when he had told him that the blue lion had spoken to him, just not in words. But now? Now he kind of felt like he got it.
He knew what to do.
Squaring his shoulders, he gripped at the yellow lion's controls. Suddenly, he didn't feel half as afraid anymore- there was something about being in the yellow lion that made him feel safer- maybe it was the armor. Some part of him, probably the part the lion was talking to, already knew that this thing had some seriously thick armor.
"Alright," he began, "-we're getting out of here."
"We can't leave Te-Osh." Matt reminded him, like he could somehow even forget that.
"No, yeah, not planning on leaving her." Hunk said.
At his command, the yellow lion rose to its feet- and then bashed through the cave wall, like it was nothing.
Unfortunately, that was also what they found.
Nothing.
No Te-Osh. No Shiro.
Just signs of a battle. Te-Osh's staff, snapped in half.
Blood. Oh man, that was blood.
"No," Matt began, "-no, she can't have- they have to be somewhere deeper in the cave, he can't have- Hunk, we have to go after them, we've got to-"
"-unk!"
He guessed his attention being thrown every which way was just how things were going to go today. A second after that crackle of static burst through, one that sounded an awful lot like his name, and even more like Lance's voice, came a proper transmission.
"Hunk, oh thank god, you got the yellow lion." Lance's image popped up on screen. "We gotta get out of here buddy, like, pronto."
"Not without Te-Osh." Matt stated.
"We might have to!" Pidge's voice chimed in, grunting as if something had thrown her. "We've got like, ten cruisers out here, and they just keep coming! At this rate we're not going to last!"
"Can't we just shoot them down?" Matt asked. "Like Keith did with Sendak's ship?"
"Not gonna happen." Keith's voice this time. "Already took down three of them- that's all the shots she's got. Red's already starting to list. We have to go."
Opening his mouth to protest, Matt quickly shut it, gritting his teeth. "...fine. Let's go."
Looking up at him, Hunk frowned. He didn't like the idea of leaving Te-Osh behind either, but she was gone, alongside what definitely had to be Shiro, and they didn't even know where to start looking for her, or even if they could.
They had to go.
"Okay," Hunk began, "-I'm coming out to you guys."
Gripping the yellow lion's controls tight, he tried very hard not to think about what he was about to fly into. Tried to very hard not to think about the fact that they were leaving someone behind.
Trying very hard to think about how this had been a trap.
And very, very hard not to think about how he got the feeling that this wasn't over yet.