Red growled under Keith's hands as he ran his gaze over the massive Empire cargo ship, echoing his unease. The red paladin couldn't find anything obviously out of place, but the sense of doubt coiling in his gut lingered.

The cargo transport was their fourth target since they'd launched the plan to cripple the Empire by wiping out as many Druids as possible, and the first decoy target that didn't actually have one aboard. Strategically speaking, it was an easy target. Disable the engines and weapons, board the ship, capture the soldiers, and take the ship's entire load of supplies: these ships carried everything from food rations for outposts to prisoners bound for the labour camps and all of it was useful to the resistance. This far from the Empire's edge the cargo transport's armaments were relatively minimal, and it travelled alone rather than in a convoy with other cargos and combat craft. So why did Keith keep feeling like they'd chosen their target poorly?

Maybe it was just because the previous day's run against another border patrol group had gone unexpectedly off the rails when a second patrol had dropped out of a wormhole right into the middle of the fight despite the first not having got a message off. The second group was obviously caught off-guard by the situation, but the suddenly increased numbers on the Empire side of the fight had made things much more difficult. They'd been forced to destroy most of both patrols, rather than taking the additional time to disable them, including one of the battlecruisers. Two Druids killed instead of one didn't make up for the prisoners they'd failed to save, and there'd been a moment of respect at dinner that night.

Cargo transports carried a lot more vulnerable prisoners than a battlecruiser, a lot more helpless lives to be lost if things fucked up again. Maybe that was what was worrying him.

"Is everyone ready?" Shiro's voice over the coms was calm and relaxed, oblivious to Keith's nervous tension.

"You know it!"

"Ready to kick Empire butt."

"Ready when you are, Shiro."

"All squadrons awaiting your command."

Keith swallowed the sense of danger that seemed to prickle uncomfortable over his skin. "Ready to go."

"Alright, here we go!" Black surged forward from behind the camouflaging bulk of the Long Wind, and the rest of them followed with the traditional battlecry, opening fire on the transport's weapon mounts and engines the moment they had a clear line of sight. Explosions blossomed across the hull of the ship and when the enemy managed to rally and return fire, over half the guns remained silent. Keith could hear whoops of excitement from his teammates and the other pilots as they made a second pass to clear the guns on the other side of the ship. It took only minutes before the last of the weapons had fallen silent and the transport was drifting in space, her engines blackened and torn.

"Everyone ready to commence phase two?"

It was Pidge who noticed first, sudden anxiety colouring her tone. "Hold up, Shiro, something's happening."

The moment he looked at the ship, Keith spotted the same thing Pidge had, one of the massive cargo bays slowly swinging open on the belly of the ship. Even as he watched, something long and sinuous was ejected out into open space, a dark line against the stars beyond. As the thing uncoiled, the red paladin realized with mounting horror that it was nearly as long as the cargo vessel, although much sleeker, almost snake-like, with many short fins along its length.

Glowing red eyes snapped open as the thing turned to look at them..

"Robeast." Hunk whispered softly, voice trembling.

As though it had heard him, violet boosters kicked to life and the robeast launched itself towards them with terrifying speed. The Lions and fighters scattered, taking evasive action as Shiro yelled frantic orders into the coms. "All Icebringers back to base, that thing will tear you to pieces. Keith, try to bait it away from the fighters while they're pulling back. Everyone else, go after the robeast while it's chasing him."

"On it, Shiro!" Keith threw Red into motion, cutting across the monster's path in a bid to attract its attention. The gambit worked as the beast veered after him, but he found himself having to throw the Lion into high gear in order to maintain his lead on it, ion boosters flaring to life. "Guys, this thing is really fast, be careful!"

Not only was it fast, it was agile. The long, lithe body twisted easily around the attacks of the other Lions with barely a drop in speed. Even Lance, who Keith had never known to miss when he put his mind to it, was hard-pressed to get in more than a glancing blow as it danced around his shots. The Blue Lion pursued valiantly despite their opponent's superior speed, before Lance had to abruptly break off and dive out of the way as the robeast suddenly abandoned its pursuit of Red in favour of easier prey. Keith found himself with his heart in his mouth as his teammate just barely evaded a head-on collision, but the Blue Lion didn't escape unscathed as a line of sparks flared across one leg.

"De madre! Those fins are sharp!"

"You okay, Lance?" Shiro called as Black and Green spun through the area, drawing the creature away from the Blue Lion. It went chasing after first one, then the other as the two Lions closed and parted, taking turns drawing it off each other.

"Yeah, just surface damage, I think." After a moment Blue rejoined the chase, but the thruster on the damaged leg seemed to be sputtering a bit. Although the blue paladin was clearly putting his all into the attack, his shots were still failing to do more than irritate the creature. "Sorry guys, this jerk's just too quiznacking fast!"

Black came diving toward Red again and Keith took over leading the robeast as she passed. "Keith, lead it a ways away from us and the Long Wind, then come back at top speed. We need to form Voltron and we can't do that while it's hounding us." With a grunt of acknowledgement the red paladin went streaking out toward the stars with the monster in hot pursuit. Once he judged he was sufficiently far away he flipped Red into a 180 and kicked on the ion booster, shooting back the way he'd come toward the other Lions as he felt the familiar tug of Voltron trying to form.

The last connections were just clicking into place as the robeast came plunging out of the darkness toward them once more, red eyes glowing malevolently amongst the stars. With a yelp of alarm Hunk just barely managed to push the left leg out of the way in time as it streaked through the space he'd occupied a moment before, sharp-edged fins flaring angrily.

"Lance, form rifle!"

"On it!" Even as he spoke, Lance's weapon was forming in Voltron's hands, a longer, sleeker version of his bayard's normal form. As good as he was with his handheld rifle, Keith knew from the handful of times it had been used that the blue paladin was even better with the one fielded by Voltron, Blue's screens providing a superior targeting system to bolster her pilot's natural abilities. The robeast veered back towards them again, fins flaring, as Voltron brought the rifle to bear and opened fire.

The first shot caught it by surprise, tearing away one of the sharp-edge metal fins along its back before it could move out of the way, and the second took a chunk out on another as the beast swerved desperately. Then it was too close and they had to throw Voltron sideways out of its path, not quite succeeding as the fins tore gashes along the giant machine's left side.

"Voltron's too slow, we can't even dodge it!"

"Look out, here it comes again!"

The robeast was too close, coming directly at Red, they weren't moving quickly enough, it was going to hit them-

Without thinking, he slammed the control for the ion boosters and Voltron lurched sideways as the robeast hurtled past the Red Lion with inches to spare.

"Holy quiznack! What just happened?!"

"Where'd that speed boost come from?"

"Me, I think." Keith answered, staring down at the control panel in surprise. "Red's ion boosters. Apparently Voltron can use them?"

"That's great, Keith, we're definitely gonna need them." The Red paladin could hear the relief in Shiro's tone and couldn't help but agree. This robeast was incredibly fast, and the ion boosters would save them quite a bit of damage. "Hunk, are Yellow's gravity anchors also available?"

"I think...yeah, yeah they are."

"Good, then let's go!"

Voltron surged into motion again, raising the rifle to meet another charge and squeezing off a few shots before blasting out of the way. It wasn't an ideal strategy, and the robeast's serpent-like design seemed to be designed for speed and evasion. Lance was struggling to do any real damage to it as it twisted around the blasts, occasionally knocking off chunks of fin but not seeming to hit anything critical. The blue paladin made a frustrated noise over the coms as the beast shot past them once more. "Sorry, guys, he's just too fast! I don't think the rifle's gonna cut it!"

"Not your fault, Lance." Keith reassured the other paladin quickly, not liking the hint of guilt in his teammate's tone. "We'll have to think of something else."

Shiro grunted in agreement as they pushed Voltron into a spin, rifle fire chasing the monster across the sky. "Close combat is out with those fins, so the sword and grapple don't do us any good. Hunk?"

"Rate of fire's too low, we'd only get one shot per pass if that, and it would dodge too easy." Hunk responded grimly, shutting down the suggestion. "The rifle's all we've got."

There was the sound of Lance's aggravated snarl as he blasted away unsuccessfully at the robeast, then it cut off abruptly into a noise of surprise. "Wait, what?"

"Lance? What's going on?"

"One sec, guys, Blue's talking...you want Hunk to what?" The blue paladin sounded utterly baffled by whatever his Lion was telling him. "I don't understand, what would that even do?"

"Care to share, Lance?" Shiro called, frustration colouring his tone as Voltron evaded another pass, the ion boosters roaring at full blast to push the massive machine out of the way.

There was a long moment of hesitation before Lance spoke. "She wants Hunk to put his bayard in too. With mine. But I don't know what that'll do."

Sparks flew from Red's side as they cut their next dodge a little too fine. "Well, try it and let's find out already!" Keith snarled, gritting his teeth against his Lion's pain. "It's gotta be better than this!"

"Do it, Hunk." Shiro ordered quickly.

"Alright, here we go!"

There was a moment's pause, then power surged through the machine, more strongly than it normally did when they called for one of the weapons. Through Red's screens, Keith saw the blue rifle vanish, dispersing back into quintessence before a new shape began to form, mounted on the shoulder like Hunk's cannon would normally be. This was not the yellow paladin's familiar shoulder cannon, however. It was lighter and sleeker, blue with yellow accents, and had multiple barrels across the front.

"Dude," Pidge breathed, sounding awestruck. "What the fuck is that?"

"Our new best friend." In the blink of an eye, Lance's tone had gone from anxious and hesitant to gleeful anticipation at whatever his screens were telling him about his new weapon. "Hold onto your seats, guys, this is about to get loud!" As the robeast twisted around to charge them yet again, Lance let out a loud war cry that was nearly drowned out by the blast from the gun. Dozens of plasma shots streaked through the air, fanning out from their point of origin like a starburst firework before curving in toward their target

Their opponent never stood a chance. While it could easily evade the rapid single shots of the basic rifle or the wide blast of the heavy cannon, this new multi-gun filled the air with a spray of shots that tore chunks out of its metal body in dozens of places. The monster writhed, breaking off its attack, and Lance opened fire once more. This time the malevolent red lights of its eyes went dark and the robeast was drifting in space, a mangled wreck of its former self.

The blue paladin let out a triumphant yodel amidst the cheers of the others. The threat eliminated, Voltron split apart once more as Shiro called for the Icebringers to complete their capture of the disabled cargo transport. "Good work, team. Head on back, the Icebringers can handle it from here." The black paladin ordered once they were reasonably sure that there were no more threats forthcoming from the damaged vessel. Activating the robeast they were transporting had obviously been a last resort to repel the attackers.

Still feeling Red's discomfort from the damage the robeast had inflicted, Keith opted for the Castle of Lions rather than the Long Wind, intent on examining and repairing the damage as soon as possible. The others had obviously had the same idea, Yellow flanking Blue on the side of the damaged leg and Green pulling alongside Red, Pidge probably getting a preliminary look at whatever she and Hunk would be dealing with. Only Black split away from the group toward the Long Wind, Shiro most likely wanting to debrief immediately and keep Matt company while he helped with the rescued prisoners.

By the time the red paladin jogged down the ramp into the hangar Hunk and Pidge were already gathering the tools they would need for the repairs, the green paladin yelling questions across the open space toward Lance, who was standing awkwardly by his Lion's nose.

"-weapons from merging our bayards? How fucking cool is that? That gun was insane, you got the rifle's precision and the cannon's power, I know we were just trying to hit one fast-moving target this time, but you could take out a couple dozen fighters in one shot easy." Scooping up an armload of tools, she trotted back across the hangar to the Blue Lion. "How did we do that, though? Was it an aspect?"

"Blue says it was." Lance said simply, staring up at his Lion with a slight frown. The look on his face troubled Keith as he approached, all his excitement from earlier wiped away by whatever he was thinking about. "She also said earlier that we've done it before, against Zarkon."

Hunk's eyes widened in realization and he nearly fumbled the welding kit he was carrying. "...Wait, no, she's right. We did. Remember when we fought Zarkon in his exo-armor?" Setting down the kit, he gestured for Blue to crouch so he could get at the damage more easily, the Lion dropping obediently. "Keith and Shiro made that burning sword, and the four of us together made that giant one."

"Shit, you're right." Pidge's eyes widened in realization as the yellow paladin scaled the Blue Lion's paw and peered into the gash. "How's that possible-" She paused to pass the engineer a couple of tools "-when we didn't even know about the aspects then?"

"We didn't know about them when we unlocked the natural elements, either." Keith pointed out, moving to stand beside the oddly-silent blue paladin. "Obviously knowing about the aspects isn't required to unlock them, it just makes it easier. Did she say which aspect it was?" Up close, he could see the other teen chewing on his lip, one hand resting lightly on Blue's muzzle. Something was definitely bothering him.

Lance was quiet for a long moment, as though debating whether to answer the question at all. "...The physical analogue." He said finally, folding his legs under him and sitting, his back pressed against his Lion's nose. "Heart. I just don't...it doesn't make sense."

"What do you mean?" Keith dropped into a sitting position as well, brushing his hair back out of his eyes as he gazed at the other paladin in concern. "What doesn't make sense about that?"

"Because I haven't done anything that should have unlocked it!" Lance's tone was heavy with confusion and frustration as he banged one clenched fist off his knee. "You remember how Malrento described the heart aspect, right? Holds the group together and gives them life? Since when do I do any of that?" He took a deep breath, holding it for several seconds before letting it out slowly. "I mean, yeah, we're friends, but I'm pretty sure I just annoy you guys a lot of the time and I sure as quiznack don't bring the group together or 'give it life', whatever that means."

Keith frowned, and to one side he could hear the clatter of tools being set down before Hunk and Pidge joined them in a small circle. The yellow paladin put a soothing hand on his best friend's shoulder, and Pidge was peering at Lance with obvious concern in her eyes.

"Lance, you're not annoying." The tiny girl said firmly, staring up at him. "Well, okay, you can be sometimes, but never in a bad way, and when you do it's like it is with Matt. Like an older brother bugging a little sister." Looking down, she fiddled with a small wrench. "To be honest, it helped a lot. With missing my family, I mean. So thanks for that."

"I've told you this before, Lance, but being around you makes me feel less homesick too." Hunk put in, smiling gently. "It's like having a little bit of home here with me out in space. I would definitely be a nervous wreck without you, buddy."

Pidge leaned back on her hands, a cheerful grin starting to spread across her face as Lance regarded them both in surprise. "You're always the one who makes us be less serious and just relax, y'know? You encouraged me to buy that game system at the mall, and you helped me raid the fountain for the money for it-"

"Is that what you were doing while Vrepit Sal was holding me prisoner in his terrible restaurant?"

"Yup. But at least we weren't getting into fights with mister Space Slap Chop like Keith over here." The green paladin shot Keith a smirk and he felt his cheeks redden as he tucked his knees to his chest. What the hell was a slap chop? "And you always bug me to play when you think I've been working too hard." Lance blushed and nodded in agreement as she called him out. "I've seen you pester Shiro into playing too. What was the excuse you used? Fine motor control practice for his arm?"

"Yeah, well, he's almost as bad for excessive training as Keith is! Worse, sometimes!"

The yellow paladin shrugged, nodding in agreement. "I mean, you're not wrong. But that's exactly what we're saying. You're always dragging the rest of us out of our own heads and lightening the mood. Helping me with my anxiety, stopping Pidge from overworking," Pidge nodded in agreement as Hunk ticked off points on his fingers, "distracting Shiro and Keith from overtraining…"

"You give Coran someone to talk to." Keith said quietly, speaking up for the first time and drawing surprised looks from the other three. "He doesn't really open up much, but he talks to you more than anyone else, especially stories about Altea and when he was younger. Happier." Maybe it hadn't been so obvious to the others, but Coran's stories were always things from happier times in his life. "And you distract Allura when she gets to thinking about Altea too much." He continued, tugging self-consciously at his gloves as he spoke and trying to ignore the pang of jealousy at the memory of Lance's flirty comments toward the Altean princess. Thankfully it had been happening less since they'd joined up with the Long Wind, the presence of other Alteans doing wonders for the young woman's emotions.

Thinking for a moment, he gave a small smile as he remembered something. "That sleepover a few nights ago, after Kurogane and Alejandro finally told us everything that happened to them? You were the one who made them join in finally. You made them part of the group."

"You made them feel like they had a family again, Lance." Pidge agreed softly. "I was talking to them the next day, and the look on Alejandro's face...what you did meant so much to them."

"You're always doing that. Helping people with the things that matter to them." Keith agreed, thinking back over the last year and a bit. "Back when Shiro's ship crashed at the Garrison, you and I had barely talked. You didn't even like me all that much." Lance's cheeks went very red-embarrassment?-and Hunk snorted and smirked at his friend. "But you knew how much Shiro meant to me, and even though you said you were gonna rescue Shiro, instead you helped me get him out of there."

"Well yeah." The blue paladin mumbled, refusing to meet his gaze. "They knocked him out with a sedative. Dude's a brick wall, no way either of us would have gotten far with him alone."

Keith snorted, not denying it. Looking back, he honestly wasn't sure how he'd have gotten Shiro out of there without the help of the other three. There's no way he could have out-driven the Garrison's ATVs while trying to hold onto the unconscious man, and Lance made a very good point about how heavy Shiro was.

"And don't think I haven't noticed you trying to make me feel like part of the group, too." He pointed out with a small smile, and chuckled as Lance's cheeks instantly darkened to a deep crimson. "I'm not good with people. I don't understand them, and they usually think I'm weird." His gaze dropped again as he tugged at a loose thread on his glove and frowned, his own cheeks reddening with the admission. He could feel three pairs of eyes on him, their gaze crawling across his skin, but he pushed forward. "But you treat me the same even when you have to explain things for me that everyone else understands, like that weird cheer. I still don't get it, but you never got mad at me for that. You never made me feel like an outsider, for anything. Even when I found out I was part Galra, you just kinda shrugged and asked me what I wanted for dinner. You didn't treat me any different."

Hunk shot him a proud smile that had some of the tension leaking out of him before the yellow paladin turned back to his best friend. "I know you, Lance, and you probably don't think any of that stuff is a big deal. Right?" The blue paladin nodded, looking flustered. "Well it is to us. And all that stuff, you didn't even have to think about it, knowing you."

"It just...seemed like the thing to do?" Lance offered weakly. He shot a glance over his shoulder at Blue, who was purring softly and giving off a definite aura of approval and agreement with what the other paladins had been saying. "What else was I gonna do? Let you guys stress yourselves out? And I've been the odd man out, no one should have to feel like they don't belong."

"That's what I mean, though. Doing that kind of stuff comes naturally to you. You're always making sure everyone feels like they belong, that they have someone to turn to. You look out for your friends and family like it's as easy as breathing."

Pidge smiled, ticking off points on her fingers. "Inclusion, acceptance, de-stressing, fun...sounds like holding the group together and giving it life to me." She fixed the blue paladin with a cheeky grin as his eyes widened.

Keith nodded in agreement of Pidge's assessment, as did Hunk. "And you've always done that, as long as I've known you." the Yellow Paladin said proudly. "Honestly, it's no wonder you got the Heart aspect first, and early. In fact," he tapped his chin thoughtfully, shooting Pidge a look of excitement and curiosity, "I wouldn't be surprised if you had it unlocked right from when you formed your bond with Blue."

Lance flushed, burying his face in his hands. "Come on, Hunk, that's ridiculous…"

"I could see that." Pidge commented, propping her chin on one hand. "I mean, the ability to use the aspects comes from the Lions, right? If you're already totally in touch with one of the traits, who says you couldn't unlock them the moment you become a paladin. You just didn't realize because we didn't need that ability before the fight with Zarkon." Giving Lance a considering look, she hummed thoughtfully. "In fact, given what Malrento told us about them, if I had to pick any person and any aspect besides the natural elements to get unlocked even before we knew about them, you and heart would definitely be on my list of likely candidates. Also Keith and instinct and myself and curiosity-courage, and maaaaaybe Shiro and leading, but definitely you and heart."

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Lance exclaimed loudly, his cheeks blazing crimson. Keith was relieved to see there was a small smile on his face now, the confusion and self-doubt from earlier washed away now in favour of being flustered and overwhelmed by their praise and support. "You guys really see it that way, huh?"

"Absolutely." Hunk confirmed, putting an arm around his friend's shoulders. "You definitely deserve to have that aspect unlocked."

"And what an aspect! Merging the bayards? That give us so many more options in a fight!" Pidge bounced in place excitedly as she considered the possibilities. "Ten combinations of two, ten of three, five of four, and one of five, for a total of twenty-five weapons beyond the five basic bayards. We'll have to keep a list of the different forms, maybe there'll be some kind of pattern so we can predict what combinations would be best based on what we need. Maybe we can spend some time trying different combinations outside battle, see what comes out-"

Hunk laughed, reaching across to put a restraining hand on the green paladin's knee. "Slow down there, tiger. One thing at a time. We're not doing any testing of anything until we fix Blue and Red from today's battle, so we should probably get back to work." Pidge huffed, but nodded, pushing herself back to her feet and climbing Blue's paw where she reached down for Hunk to pass up the tool kits.

As the other two paladins resumed their repairs to the deep slice across Blue's leg, engaging in a spirited debate about possible weapon combinations while they worked, Keith moved to sit next to Lance. "You really do deserve that aspect, you know." He said quietly, glancing sideways to where the blue paladin was tracing the join between two of the Lion's armor plates with his fingertips. The lanky teen looked up in surprise. "I've never met anyone as good as you at making people feel like they belong." The red paladin shot the other a grateful smile, thinking back to their conversation in the Long Wind's nursery some time before, when Lance had reassured him firmly that he was part of the makeshift family here on the Castle, that he had more people than just Shiro who cared about him.

Lance's cheeks reddened once again, and he gave an awkward, nervous smile back. "Well, you do belong. You're part of the team, part of the family. And I really-"

"Keith!" Whatever the blue paladin had been about to say was interrupted by Pidge's loud shout, edged with frustration as she leaned over the edge of Blue's paw to get closer to them.

Keith jumped, twisting to look up at the younger paladin. "Yeah? What's up?"

"Keith, you train with Shiro more than anyone else does. What form does his bayard take?"

Blinking in surprise, Keith had to take a moment to process the question. "I don't actually know, I've never seen him use it. I don't think he even carries it on him half the time." He said after a moment. "He always just uses his arm when he's fighting."

The tiny girl made a frustrated noise, throwing up her hands. "How am I supposed to predict how his bayard will combine with the others if that flaming sword is literally the only time he's ever used it? And he's getting the arm taken off tomorrow, isn't he? He's gonna have to start using it or he's not going to have a weapon at all!"

"We'll talk to him about it when he and the others get back." Keith promised. Pidge had a very good point, though, once the arm had been removed Shiro would be rendered defenseless unless he was willing to use the bayard. He wasn't even sure why the older man was so hesitant to use it, given that he'd finally stopped referring to it as 'Zarkon's bayard.' It was definitely something that would need to be brought up at the next opportunity.

Pidge sighed, straightening up again to turn her attention to the repairs. "We'd better. I'm not letting that man risk his self-sabotaging neck unnecessarily now that he and my brother are finally an item. Do you have any idea how long those two were mooning over each other? The second-most-oblivious mutually-pining couple I've ever had the misfortune of meeting." Beside her, Hunk seemed to take a sudden choking fit that had Lance worriedly offering his friend a water pack, although that only seemed to make things worse.

Baffled by the strange behaviour of his friends, Keith turned to look out of the main hangar's doors and caught sight of a small dark shape approaching the Castle from the direction of the Long Wind. "Looks like now's our chance, Pidge, they're headed back right now."