Chapter 38: Begin the Blitz

At the Castle, Kolivan gave out the news of recent development as Keith, Lapis, and Sandra were beside him.

"Entire Galra fleets have been mobilized. Zarkon still seems to be looking for Lotor."

Shiro and Ayame knew with his force and renewed sanity that it meant one thing.

"It's only a matter of time before he gets the empire back in order."

"Hopefully, with the Galra Empire striving for peace this time."

"Right. But Kaecilius is also being backed into a corner. We need to take advantage of this moment."

"What are you getting at, Takashi?"

As Shiro explained to Ayame, he brought up the star maps with the green planets taking up almost a third of the cluster of Drule occupied planets.

"Now is the time to assemble the coalition that Voltron has been building. With intelligence gathered by Rogue Thrust, the Blades, and coalition observers, combined with Pidge's Galra tracking software, we now have a detailed map of the Galra Empire. I've identified an intermittent line of coalition planets that runs through the territory. If you look closely, there's only one Galra-occupied planet left on that line."

Alphus knew what he meant as she spoke.

"Naxzela, right?"

"Exactly. If we capture Naxzela and solidify that line, we can cut off all the Drule troops behind it from Kaecilius' cruiser and use our position to defeat them."

Jenny is impressed with the plan's results.

"That means we could take back a third of the Drule Empire faster than you can say 'Quiznak.'"

Hunk was concerned with how to pull it off.

"Do we have a plan?"

"We attack several locations across the region, at once. First, we'll have to cut off communications between the region and Kaecilius' Cruiser by striking the satellite relay station orbiting Vantax Five."

Hunk then spoke up about that part as it seemed easiest.

"Pidge and I can handle that."

"Rogue Thrust and the Blades have informed us of two Galra defense systems coming online called Zaiforge cannons. Now, from what Alphus told us, these cannons were used to primarily destroy planets of six of them got together. And they can strike any target within our combat theater. The first, in high-orbit around planet Teq, will be attacked by coalition air forces led by Matt and Captain Olia. Lapis and the Rogue Thrust will lead a Marmoran strike team against the second cannon, located on the surface of Senfama, which is vulnerable to a covert ground attack. We intend to take control of these cannons and use Kaecilius' own firepower against him. Once the coalition forces and Blades neutralize these targets, Galra defenses will be weakened, allowing us to take down the remaining Galra-occupied planets in this area. While our forces are taking control of the planets, Naxzela will already be under attack."

"By whom?"

"Voltron."

Then, Lance put his arms around Jenny and Pidge as he spoke.

"Aw, yeah! Team Voltron's gonna drop in Naxzela, form Hunk's giant laser cannon, and be all like, 'Pow! Pow! Pow!' Easy-peasy."

"Unfortunately, not that easy. Naxzela will be tough. It's heavily fortified with Drules. Our attack must be swift enough to neutralize the Drule forces before they have time to contact Galra Headquarters. 'Cause if they call for reinforcements, we'll be caught in a fight on two fronts."

Kolivan proved he was in favor of it as he spoke.

"If this works, the Voltron Coalition will possess a third of the Galra Empire's territory. It will be a massive victory."

"And inspire a whole new wave of rebellions."

"There's no time to waste. Meeting adjourned."

As everyone got ready to leave, Keith spoke to Ayame.

"Ayame, wait. There's... there's something I have to say to you."

"If you're gonna apologize, save it. I don't want to hear any excuses. I just want this to be over."

As she walked away, Jenny felt bad for her before she spoke to herself.

"Awkward..."

At space, Lotor spoke to his generals on the other ship.

"Ezor, Acxa, Kurziam, sry a course for the coordinates I'm sending you."

The former of the three was concerned about the location.

"Where are we going?"

"Just do as I say. I'll explain when the moment arrives."

As she set the coordinates, she also secured communications to Lotor, Syn, and Zethrid as Acxa spoke to her.

"Ezor, what are you doing?"

"Securing communications to make sure Lotor and Syn can't hear us. Zarkon called him a fugitive. Lotor's in the run. As his generals, that means we—"

"We must trust Lotor."

"What about Narti? She trusted him. You saw where that got her."

"Syn didn't kill her, Ezor. He just stripped her of that peeping spell."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot. Still, she ended up pretty close to being dead. Is what we're doing really worth that risk?"

"Enough. Lotor will protect us."

"And if he can't?"

Acxa didn't want to think about that as she snapped.

"I said that's enough."

With that, Acxa shut off communications as she took a deep breath before she began to consider that possibility before rejecting it.

"No. He can protect us. And he will."

Meanwhile, the Blue and Yellow lions went back to the newly evolved Balmera with Hunk and Allura saying hello to Shay and the others while Shiro, Ayame, and Jenny paid a visit to the Taujeerians, and Lance and Pidge went to the Olkarions and looked at the map before regrouping in the Castle.

"Alright, Paladins, its time to gather the coalition. Friends and allies from across the universe must come together to take on the Drule. With their help, we'll have a chance to turn the tides of this war. We all knew this moment would come, and we are more prepared now than we've ever been. Let's do this."

Meanwhile, in outer space, Lotor and his generals were near a dusty area with Zethrid speaking about the radar's coordinates.

"Sir, we're approaching the coordinates, but my scanners don't detect anything."

"They're not supposed to."

When they passed through the rocky fog, they saw why. The planet in front of them was destroyed with a portal generator in front of it as Ezor voiced her query.

"Lotor, what is this?"

"The ruins of planet Daibazaal."

As they got closer to the portal, Ezor grew more curious about the device at its crater.

"What is that?"

"Assuming my father's words are anything to go by, Omegus believed that Alfor's plan to blow up Daibazaal and destroy the rift between realities actually worked. No one comprehended that the experiments of my mother, Honerva, could never be undone. I had a secret team construct this inter-reality gate on the rift, where her work began. Just as Voltron was able to, I will pilot us through the rift, and we will harvest the unlimited Quintessence that exists in the layer between realities and being peace to this universe."

Acxa knew her faith wasn't in vain as she replied.

"I never doubted you, Lotor."

Ezor was concerned about how it'd work.

"So, we can just fly right through this thing to another reality?"

Lotor answered her as he turned the gate on.

"I've not yet had a chance to test the gate. My plans have been accelerated by our recent turn of events. But if my calculations are correct, by infusing our ships with concentrated Quintessence, we should be able to pierce the barrier between realities."

As the ship glowed from the Quintessence fuel, Zethrid grew all the more concerned as the fuel is depleting rapidly.

"Sir, this is all the concentrated Quintessence we have left."

"And I will use it to reap an untold amount more."

As the ship crossed through the gate, the blue light glowed brightly. However, they only just passed through the gate. Not to a new reality. Rather to the other side of the same crater as Zethrid spoke.

"Uh... did it work?"

As Lotor hung his head down, Syn glared at him with Acxa showing concern about Lotor for the first time.

At the Castle, Jenny went over to Honerva and tried to tell her the good news.

"Honerva, I have something awesome to tell you!"

"If it's about your plans for taking a third of the Drule Empire back, I already know."

"No, it's even better! I found two more Alteans!"

This gave Honerva cause for surprise and concern as she turned to her.

"What did you just say?"

"There's two more Alteans! Look!"

As Jenny grabbed Honerva by her hand, the two of them teleported in a blue haze before reappearing in Belle's room where Cilia and Sapphire were hanging out before Jenny introduced them.

"Ta-da! This is Cilia, and the little girl is Sapphire!"

As the Alteans looked at the stunted Honerva, the little girl waved to her.

"Hi."

"W-Where did you find them?"

"I found them in a hospital ward. Turns out, they lived there for most of their lives. I wanted to give them a better life, so... I took them in."

"You do realize this is a major responsibility."

"I know. That's what Ayame told me. But, if you ever saw someone in need of help, wouldn't you do the same?"

Honerva sighed at this before she spoke.

"I pray that you know what you're doing."

As she walked out, Jenny sighed back before Sapphire spoke.

"Jenny?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we really a bother for you?"

"No, you guys. I— it's not you. It's me. I thought I was ready for it, but apparently, I just went ahead without any idea about what I'm doing. That's why I introduced you to Belle the other day. I thought maybe she can look after you when I'm not around. And I mean that in a sort of deadly way."

"But why?"

Jenny began tearing up at the thought of what her actions would do to them if she brought them into the war as she tried to hold back her sobs.

"Because... no matter how much I might want to... I can't always be there to protect you. And I want you guys to be safe. I really do. But I can't make that happen if... if you..."

Then, Jenny's dam burst as she thrusted herself at Cilia and sobbed in her shirt while trying to speak.

"I don't want you to die, okay?! I don't want you to die because of me!"

As Jenny sobbed onwards, Sapphire walked over to her and hugged her, catching her by surprise as she was ambushed.

"Why would we die? You're not a bad person."

"Yeah, b-but..."

"Stop crying, please. It makes me so sad."

This made her gasp before she nodded and wiped her tears away.

"Okay. Thank you, Sapphire. I needed that."

At Olkarion, Hunk and Pidge spoke with Rolo, Beezer, and Nyma as the former spoke to Hunk.

"We heard about the Voltron Coalition against Kaecilius."

"Yeah, we heard about you, too. Matt told us you've been helping with the coalition forces and the Balmerans."

"You guys really inspired all of us."

Then, Pidge noticed Beezer buzzing at him, only to earn a glare from him before he buzzed again. Eventually, the walls Pidge built up broke down as she hugged the robot.

"Oh, Beezer, I can't stay mad at you!"

At the bridge, the Paladins and the rebel forces gathered to Allura as Babak spoke.

"Alright, Princess, it's time to begin the broadcast."

Then, Allura turned to Alphus.

"Are you sure you don't want to do this, Alphus?"

"After what I've done, they shouldn't look up to me. They should look up to someone they can depend on."

"I understand. Have we secured communications?"

Pidge took the liberty to answer.

"Yes. Matt and I used the rebel's transponder encryption."

Coran thought this useful.

"Always helps to have a pair of tech-genius siblings around."

With that, Allura turned on the Castle before the communications spread to every free planet there was so far as she spoke proudly.

"Fellow members of the Voltron Coalition, if you are hearing me now, it is because you have pledged to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us in our fight against Kaecilius' enslavement of the free peoples of the universe. Even Zarkon has been inspired to act in defiance against this injustice, as the former Black Paladin was once a victim of his own enslavement for 10,000 years, possessed by the same dark force that even now Kaecilius serves for his own ends. But that enslavement is about to be dealt a crushing blow. The time for a full-scale attack on the Drule Empire is now. Far in the future, when they speak of this day, they will speak of the sacrifice, but they will also remember this as the day that freedom began to overtake tyranny. You all have your missions. You know what to do. Good luck. We'll see you on the other side."

Later, Hunk and Pidge flew over the satellite array, cloaked in the Green Lion as Shiro spoke to them via communicator.

"When you finish knocking out the communications hub, meet us at the rendezvous point."

"Copy that, Shiro. According to its trajectory, it passes through the dark zone in five ticks."

"No pressure. Just the entire coalition rests on us disabling this Galra comm station."

"Four, three, two, one."

On that cue, Hunk and Pidge flew to the communications hub and entered in it as a dark shadow went over them.

Inside, the Galra Officer in charge of it heard a banging as he turned behind him to see the drones looking to that noise as well before the door exploded and Hunk and Pidge shot out the officer's bodyguards with their bayards as he tried to send an alarm. When Hunk came under attack by a drone, he activated his shield in place of his bayard as he shouted to Pidge.

"Pidge, we can't let them trip that alarm!"

With that, Pidge wrapped the officer with her bayard before she pulled him away. However, he stood his ground, forcing Pidge to be pulled into his direction as she used a jet pack in an attempt to fight him. As she tried to kick him, he swerved before Pidge tried to punch the officer, only for him to grab her arm and flip her to the wall. Using momentum, she used her jet pack to land on him and ride in his back before the officer slammed her to the floor. As Hunk noticed Pidge stopping him, he shouted to her.

"Pidge, duck!"

As she backed up, Hunk did an elbow drop on the officer, knocking him out before they got back to business. With that, Hunk removed the panel under the relay systems before Pidge jacked into it as the systems showed her doing a monkey face.

"Comm station hacked, ghost signal initiated. Fully automated, so Drule HQ thinks it's running. We have about eight hours before they figure it out."

"Until then, no call gets in or out."

"Coran and Babak will monitor it from the Castle so we know when its back online. Great work, guys."

On a Zaiforge Cannon base near Teq, Vantiv and Varek in charge there as their soldier reported to them.

"Commanders, we detect an enemy fleet of coalition ships entering the system."

Vantiv grew pleased with this as she spoke.

"Good. Arm defense cannon systems and prepare the main cannon."

As the coalition ships approached, they took aim on the ship before Olia spoke to her crew along with Rolo.

"You guys ready for this?"

"Ready as we'll ever be."

"Alright, then. All ships form up and begin attack."

Varek felt it should be no problem as he spoke.

"Hmm, if we're going to use our Zaiforge cannon, it'd be a show of our supremacy. Let's toy with them a bit first."

Vantiv smiled at his idea.

"Giving them false hope before breaking it, hmm? I like the way you think. Scramble the fighters."

With that, the Drule fighters began attacking the coalition ships as they hit a few of them before Olia saw an increase in numbers.

"Here they come!"

As they evaded the fighters, the opposing side got their ships blown out of the sky as they got ambushed by other rebel ships before Olia spoke again.

"We have to take out those defensive turrets!"

"Roger. Ribbit."

As they swerved toward them and shot, however, the shields protected the weaponry as Matt spoke.

"Captain, there's no way we can get through those shields!"

"All crafts, pull back!"

As they did, they happened to be in the path of the cannon as Varek spoke.

"Running away, are we? Sorry to say you won't have that chance. Fire when ready."

As luck would have it, the cannon was ready as it glowed a purple-black orb before firing at the ships retreating as they turned to dust to the horror of Rolo, Nyma, Beezer, Matt, Olia, and a white-masked figure as the soldier spoke to Varek.

"Commander, the attack was successful. A third of the rebel forces have been decimated."

"Good. Prepare for a second attack."

All the while, Vantiv can't help but get a suspicious feeling.

"This seems a bit too easy..."

"It is. I know they're bound to pull something sooner or later. But until they do, these mortals will be swatted like the gnats they are."

As the situation escalated, Olia called out to another group.

"Blades, we're in trouble! What's the status of your cannon? Blades!"

On Senfama, Keith and Lapis responded as he spoke while he and the Blades, including Rogue Thrust, ran to the cannon.

"Copy that, Olia. We're en route."

"Just hang in there as best as you can."

When they got there, Adea sliced a drone with her luxite scythe before tossing it at another and kicking it deeper in that drone before she pulled her weapon out from it. Next, Atchiam ducked as she came under fire before punching the drones with her arms plated in luxite before they went up to the base where a soldier gave the information of their condition to its captain.

"Commander, I detect a large mass entering Planet Naxzela's atmosphere. It's not one of ours."

"Contact Drule HQ."

"All communications seem to be down. Our alerts aren't getting through."

"Activate cannon. We must defend—"

Suddenly, a weapon sliced the soldier beside him before he fell as the commander met with Lapis' sword which tripped his legs while cutting them before Sandra leaped in ahead and sliced through the drones with her katana while she turned to Keith, who took the controls of the cannon.

"All clear, brother."

"Now, let's see how this thing works."

At the Castle, Sapphire noticed a cannon turning green.

"Look!"

Babak grew ecstatic as he shouted.

"About time! The Senfama Zaiforge cannon is ours. Naxzela attack is under way."

On Naxzela, three Drule commanders were lounging outside before they heard a banging thunder as a Drule cruiser split in half fell to the planet's surface before Voltron himself appeared alongside the White Voltron as the soldiers ran away with the one left behind literally hopping away like he's on a pogo stick. As they confronted the army on Naxzela, Shiro spoke to all of the Paladins present on the planet.

"Alright, Paladins, we've only got one chance to take Naxzela, so let's make it count."

Meanwhile, Olia's team isn't able to hide for long as the Drule fighters shot at them.

"We can't take this fire for long!"

The masked figure had an idea.

"See if the Blades can use their cannon to take down the shield."

"Copy that!"

In the meantime, Olia had a plan in mind.

"We need to find cover, now!"

As she looked up, Olia had an idea where to hide.

"All ships form up and get behind that large asteroid!"

As they hid, they fired at the fighters while getting cover from the Zaiforge cannon as it shifted in the direction of the asteroid while the soldier spoke.

"The remaining rebel forces are attempting to shield themselves behind that large asteroid."

Vantiv only smiled at this.

"That won't help them for long."

"Zaiforge cannon is in position. Awaiting your orders."

"You may fire when ready."

With that, the cannon fired at the asteroid, slowly breaking it down as the coalition felt the force of it.

On Naxzela, both Voltrons shot at the Drule cruisers as well as its base and towers. As they did, Lance noticed a shot coming on.

"Incoming cruiser, three o'clock!"

As Voltron dodged the fire from its ion cannon, it flew after it only to feel an explosion coming from behind as Allura spoke.

"What was that?"

"I didn't see any—"

Before Lance could finish, they came under attack from another explosion, forcing him to land on the ground. But even that wasn't safe as one random explosion after another got Voltron teeter-tottering, much to Jenny and Ayame's worry as they checked.

"Guys!"

"Are you alright?!"

Shiro grunted as he spoke.

"We're fine. What's hitting us?"

Jenny had an idea and didn't like it.

"Dunno. I think it might be some sorta invisible minefield."

Pidge confirmed her theory as she looked via Green Lion's specs.

"She's right. Somehow, the bombs were cloaked."

Then, Hunk saw another fire coming on.

"Shield. Shield!"

As Voltron blocked the ion cannon, Pidge spoke onward.

"My systems are able to detect the mines, but there's just too many to safely maneuver through them. And, with the cruisers covering all possible exits from this minefield, we have no way out!"

Allura thought differently as an idea cane to her head.

"Wait a tick. Perhaps I can freeze the mines."

Lance knew where she was going with this.

"Then we could fly out of here before they explode."

Jenny added another detail to that.

"And then we can blow them up to get those cruisers off our backs."

Shiro considered the plan as he spoke.

"Alright, that sounds like a plan. Freeze 'em, Allura!"

As Voltron disassembled momentarily, the Blue Lion began shouting a blue beam of light at all directions, freezing the cloaked bombs as ice appeared to have done from out of nowhere before Shiro spoke.

"Let's move! Form Voltron!"

As Voltron cane together again, the White Voltron took off with it before it fired a beam of light at the bombs, setting them off while taking the Drule cruisers along with them as Jenny spoke.

"See ya! Wouldn't want to be ya!"

"Great work, team. Let's secure Naxzela."

"Right!"

As Lotor and his generals were in front of the portal, the leader was pondering as to what went wrong while his generals spoke little of him, starting with Ezor.

"Told you so. All Lotor's plans failed."

"He's gonna turn on us as soon as it's in his best interest. We have to strike first."

Kurziam thought differently.

"And why would he do that? It's not as though Zarkon is going to kill us. He just said capture last time I checked."

Ezor saw a silver lining to this.

"Hey, you're right. Maybe it won't be so bad. If we turn him over to Galra Headquarters now, maybe they'll accept us."

"Good plan. But how are we supposed to break the news to him?"

"We don't. We gotta take him down. It's our only chance."

However, Syn had a different plan in mind as he walked toward Lotor. As he did, Narti sensed something in him that made her uneasy.

"Syn, what are you—"

Syn paid no mind to her as he drew his sword before he turned to his general as he spoke.

"It's my turn now."

With that, he stabbed Lotor through his side before pulling his luxite sword out as he fell, petrifying the other generals as Zethrid spoke.

"What the quiznak?! Did you just kill him?!"

"No. I studied his life vitals and pressure points. And trust me, I didn't get anywhere near them. I forced him to go unconscious."

Ezor grew curious what about what Syn intends to do.

"And what about us?"

"You guys can do what you want. I've got better things to do."

With that, Syn took off in the first ship, leaving Zethrid, Acxa, Kurziam, Ezor, and the unconscious Lotor stranded on the asteroid with one more ship.

On Senfama, Keith was having difficulty finding the Zaiforge cannon on Teq.

"Come on! Where is it?"

As Keith found his target, he spoke.

"Found you. Here goes nothin'."

He then pushed the levers forward as he grunted before the Zaiforge cannon shot in that direction while the Coalition cane under attack from the slowly emerging Zaiforge blast on the asteroid. Suddenly, the Zaiforge cannon from Senfama impacted the Zaiforge base, disrupting the weapon and the shields as Varek grew surprised while Matt spoke the good news.

"What the—?!"

"Shield's down, Captain!"

"Alright, let's get control of that cannon!"

The soldier then spoke the bad news.

"Commanders, the rebel fighters are overtaking this cannon."

Varek only smirked at this, as did Vantiv.

"Perfect. They can have it for all we care."

"That just means one more step in our plan."

With that, Varek and Vantiv took off in a black haze, leaving the soldier bewildered as Coran noticed another cannon turning green.

"Zaifirge Cannon Bass is ours!"

Keith and Olia replied to their allies as they spoke.

"Ready to provide the Taujeerians with cover."

"Cannon acquired. Ready to provide backup."

"Copy that. Coalition, you're clear to begin,"

With that, the rest of the Coalition engaged on other planets with the Taujeerians, Balmerans, and Puigians, along with other races, taking back a Drule-occupied planet, leaving only one left: Naxzela. Coran began to get hopeful as his eyes turned to stars while Sapphire and Babak cheered.

"We've almost taken the entire area!"

"Ha-ha! Yes!"

"Go, Voltron!"

Cilia smiled at their luck so far as she spoke.

"Keep it up, Jenny."

As they did so, they grew unaware that Honerva was watching from behind as she smiled at the work her pupil has done.

Meanwhile, Lotor woke up beside Acxa as they were forced to share some pods since Syn's abandonment. When he moved his hands, he found that he was cuffed as he spoke to Acxa.

"What are you doing? Where are you taking me?"

Zethrid spoke first to him before Lotor got suspicious and Ezor gave him the better part of the news.

"I'm sorry, sir. Nothing personal. This is our only way out."

"You plan to give me up."

"No. We're planning on returning you. It's better than what Syn had in mind, considering he just abandoned us. Besides, Zarkon only said capture, not kill. Maybe he just wants you to be safe. Did you ever think about that?"

"I understand, Ezor. You do what you just, and I'll do what I must."

With that, Lotor raised his arms from behind him before breaking his arms as he pulled the cuffs apart and pushed a button to eject Zethrid and himself out of the ship.

"What the—"

As they got ejected, Lotor took the ship's controls before Zethrid ended up beside Acxa as she spoke.

"Well, there goes our plan."

Acxa had an idea why as she secured communications from inside different pods of the ship.

"I'm guessing he's going after Syn first. He doesn't like being betrayed very much."

"What do we do now?"

"There's still one option left."

At the Castle, the satellite array went online much to Coran's horror.

"Quiznak! The communications satellite is back online. Drule distress calls are going through!"

"It doesn't matter, Coran. They're too late. We've just about secured Naxzela."

In Kaecilius' cruiser, he smiled as he witnessed the events of Voltron and the White Voltron on Naxzela defeating the Drule army just as Varek and Vantiv appeared with the former giving the news first.

"The cannons have been overrun, and the Coalition has succeeded in taking back their planets."

"Even more interesting is the news that Naxzela is under attack. Voltron and his coalition reclaimed an entire section of the empire."

"Perfect. They've secured their own trap. By the time they realize their folly, it would already be too late..."