Kurogane snarled angrily, sending his defense drone spinning through space after a pair of Empire fighters that were getting too close to the Castle of Lions for comfort. A few quick blasts from the drone's weapons tore them into a cloud of debris, and he refocused, looking instinctively for the next threat. For just a moment, though, the area around the Castle was clear, affording him an uninterrupted view through the holographic screens of the battle that raged all around them.

Warships traded heavy weapons fire back and forth, blinding streaks of condensed energy and plasma that tore burning holes in shields and hulls where they struck and disintegrated any smaller craft unfortunate enough to fail to get out of the way. Even as he watched another blast lanced through the clouds of embattled fighters from the nearest Icebringer vessel, ripping open an Empire assault ship and leaving it a drifting hulk amidst the chaos before the dogfighting singleships hid it from view once more.

Although much of the battlefield was similarly obscured, Kurogane could still follow the flow of the fight. While Allura and Coran operated the ship's main particle beam and he and Alejandro used the defense drones to protect the Castle, Matt was at the communications console, maintaining a strategic conference with the pack leaders of the Icebringer ships and the paladins in their Lions. With so many ships in play visibility on the field was severely limited, and the entire resistance found itself relying heavily on Hunk and his BLIP-sense to coordinate their attacks effectively and protect their fighters. Even as he listened, Kurogane could hear the yellow paladin calling for concentrated fire toward one of the dreadnoughts blocking their path, rattling off the relative targeting angles for each ship easily using the hastily-assigned grid system that marked off the part of the battlefield that was within his range.

Searing white streaked across his vision again, and Kurogane hastily closed his eyes against the brilliance as the Icebringer pack ships responded to the request. He was still blinking spots away as a burst of colourful language from Pidge told him that the attack had failed to properly breach the defensive line of the Empire's main ships.

There were just too many. Every time the resistance fighters, led by the Voltron Lions, tried to break through to go after the Weblum's Breath, they found themselves easily rebuffed. The heavy particle cannons could only take out so many ships at a time, especially the larger dreadnoughts and cruisers, and every time they cleared a gap it was filled again before they could take advantage, their advance cut off by the weapons of neighbouring vessels. There were enough Empire warships here to wipe out the Icebringers without a second thought, which only made the situation worse because they were doing nothing of the sort.

It had been just like this last time, too, with the Empire easily keeping them at bay and only making a token effort to hurt them until it was too late.

Trying to ignore the ominously ticking clock hanging over them all, the former red paladin sent his drone spinning outward again to intercept another cluster of enemy fighters, Alejandro's taking its place beside it.

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Shiro grimaced at Pidge's outburst as he used Black's jaw blade to rip apart a fighter in his path, privately agreeing with the sentiment. The enemy machines swarmed around them, harassing them and distracting them from concentrating their efforts on taking out the main ships. "This isn't working. We need a new strategy. Pidge, you and Hunk were working on some predictions for the merged bayards, weren't you?"

"Yeah, but we-fucking quiznack!" The Green Lion spun out of the way of a cluster of small attackers, following up with a mouth cannon blast, then another towards a group that was bothering the Yellow Lion. "We don't have enough data to make very good guesses yet."

"Better than nothing. What do you suggest?" Keith put in as Red blazed past, leading a group of Icebringer fighters on a strafing run down a battlecruiser's side that sprayed smoke and debris into space.

There was a momentary hesitation from the youngest paladin. "Well...leaving out the yellow bayard options so Hunk can focus on his BLIP-sense...there's a few combos I think we should try but I don't know what we'll get. They may turn out to be too risky with our allies all over the place."

The concern was a valid one, friendly fire a distinct possibility in these crowded combat conditions, but taking out the warships needed to be their first consideration. "Cross that bridge when we come to it, Pidge." Every minute longer it took to breach the line, the Weblum's Breath was another minute closer to firing, and more of their allies were killed. They were already hugely outnumbered, and it was only getting worse. "Shiiar'keh, have the fighters give us cover! Form Voltron!"

The Icebringer fighters surged forward ahead of the lions, their weapons blazing to keep their Empire counterparts away from them long enough for them to form the legendary defender. The pull was immediate and familiar in Shiro's mind, Black growling welcome to her sisters and brothers, both Lion and Paladin, as the machines came together with practiced ease. After so many times, they formed Voltron as easily as they breathed, and it was thankfully only moments before they were bursting free of the protective ring with the sword already forming for the first strike. Tearing at the shield of the closest cruiser, it took far longer than Shiro liked to do enough damage to disable it. They definitely needed something stronger if they were going to have any chance at all.

"Pidge, first suggestion, please!" He ordered as Voltron twisted out of the way of an ion cannon blast, trying to ignore the flare of light as it skimmed the edge of Earth's atmosphere in the distance. The battle had drifted, closer to the planet than her moon now. It was just lucky most of the heavy fire was being directed at an angle, rather than directly toward the surface.

"U-Um...blue and black! Since black modified basic red before, made it more powerful, I'm hoping that we'll get something similar if we combine-"

"Breathe, Pidge." Lance cut her off gently, tone affectionate even if it was slightly strained. " We trust you. Blue and black combo coming up!"

Without needing to be told twice, Shiro plunged his bayard into the slot in Black's control panel. He felt the familiar tug at his quintessence and watched as it solidified in Voltron's hands into something that looked like a slightly boxier version of the rifle usually formed by the blue bayard. Nothing new on his control panel, the weapon controls must be in Lance's cockpit for this one. "How's it looking, Lance? What'd we get?"

Instead of answering out loud, the weapon lifted into firing position, sighting on the closest warship for just a moment before three blasts of blue energy spat from the barrel one after another. They stitched a line across the ship's hull, and when the smoke cleared Shiro could see massive ice crystals protruding from large rents in the purple hull. Any other time the blue paladin would have been whooping with delight at the result, instead of staying silent like he was now, but right now, the black paladin knew that Lance was thinking what they all were. Still not strong enough.

"Keep trying." He ordered. "Pidge, next combination."

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Lance let out a frustrated whine, hands tightening to a white-knuckled grip on Blue's controls. Nothing was working.

They'd tried a handful of different bayard combinations, each less successful than the last. After the ice gun was red and green's flexible sword; black, red, and blue's bow and burning arrows; and black, blue, and green's electrified harpoon. They'd even pulled Hunk away from tracking the battle with his BLIP-sense in the hopes that the yellow bayard, with its massive cannon as its base form, would add the extra power they needed when combined with the others. They'd been right-adding the yellow bayard turned the blue and black ice gun into something Shiro called a strakkaker that sprayed thousands of glinting shards and lacerated the side of a cruiser along half its length, shattering the shield, destroying weaponry and venting atmosphere into space-but the controls for that one ended up in the yellow lion's cockpit and Hunk's distraction cost them more than they gained as he missed a firing line being cleared by Empire fighters before another ship's ion cannon ripped through a group of their own allies to do heavy damage to one of the pack ships. They deactivated that weapon and let Hunk return his attention to the flow of the battle, but they could all feel each other's frustration through the bond.

"This is bad." Pidge's voice sounded as strained as he felt as Voltron made another pass with red and black's burning sword, Icebringer fighters dumping weapon's fire into the gash they left behind while concentrated particle beam fire ripped apart the next warship over. An ion cannon blast cut in front of them from a ship further over, blocking the gap. "Lance, how much longer do we have before the damn thing fires?"

He blinked at the unexpected question. "What? How the quiznack should I know?" He demanded, pushing at his controls to guide the robot through another sharp turn. A fighter streaked past him and he made Voltron kick it to ease some of his frustration, shattering it into shards of metal debris.

"That dream you told Hunk about! How long did it take?!"

Why was she going on about that as a time like this? "It was just a dream, Pidge!" Lance gritted his teeth. One that he really, really did not want to think about right now. It had been hovering in the back of his mind ever since the warning from Kolivan, and it was taking everything he had not to break down screaming at how close they were to it coming true.

There was a moment's pause broken only by the chatter of the strategists in the background. "...I don't think it was. Lance, you seem to have some sort of mental link to Alejandro. Those nightmares you've been having aren't nightmares, they're memories. His memories."

Lance spluttered, and Voltron stumbled for a moment before recovering as he managed to get back in step with a distracted Hunk. "A mental link? Memories? Pidge, what the hell?" He'd seen the green paladin come up with some out-there theories to explain things before, but this?

"There isn't time to explain, but I'm almost certain that's what's been going on. Lance, how long did the Weblum's Breath take to fire?"

"...I...I don't know." He drew in a shaky breath. If Pidge was right (and she usually was)...the dream had begun after the fight had already started. "I didn't...the dream didn't show the whole thing."

She let out an exasperated noise, spinning the left arm out to block an attack from a group of Empire fighters with the shield. "Then check!"

Before he could snap back demanding to know exactly how he was supposed to do that, Blue touched his mind and he calmed at her familiar energy, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. "Help me out here, girl." He murmured softly. They needed to know, right away. The clock was ticking and they had no idea when it would run out. A little more loudly, he grumbled "Pidge, you better be right about this." And if she was, well...they'd deal with the implications later.

Blue rumbled gently, nudging at his mind a little more insistently. He allowed her to guide him. It felt oddly similar to when he meditated to deepen their bond, reaching deeper towards her core, but not quite the same. Almost like he was doubling back on himself and going into his own head, but again, a little different.

Images flashed through his head, nudged toward him by the Lion. Memories that weren't his, differing in the details from what they'd seen and done only a couple hours before. Dots on the Castle's scanners, the bright flare of a single wormhole. Ships, hanging in space between himself and Earth. Fighting, desperately fighting. Blinding purple light.

With a gasp, he surfaced from the memory before the remembered agony and grief could overwhelm him. "Two vargas. It fired two vargas after we-they arrived." The knowledge was there, tied together in his head with the other parts of the memory, the fear and the blinding light and his (Alejandro's?) own scream in his ears.

"...Fuck."

Lance couldn't help but agree, his gut twisting painfully as he stared past the Empire warships at the distant Weblum's Breath. More than half of that two vargas was already gone.

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"-group in F-12 need support, they're getting boxed in, losing people in A-3 fast, too-"

Matt's hands gripped the edge of the console tightly and he gritted his teeth in helpless frustration as he listened to the pack leaders redirecting this or that group of fighters in response to Hunk's assessments of the situation. Despite the yellow paladin's efforts, they were steadily losing fighters and not making any headway. Lance's revelation at the time limit they were up against had ratcheted the already incredible tension still higher, and it was starting to look as though they weren't going to be able to beat the clock. Even as he watched an ion cannon blast pierced the hull of the Sliding Snow, tearing metal and venting air, and pack leader Kolska'aa dropped without warning from the comlink. He hoped desperately it was only a communications failure.

"Crap! Just lost a group of Empire fighters off the edge of G-1! Matt, where'd they go?"

Instantly, his hands flew over the keyboard, bringing up the scanners and searching the system for the group that had left the range of Hunk's ability to sense them. He found them, moving fast away from the battle, plotted their course-

"Vrekt!" He grabbed for the coms again. "Takashi, we've got a group of fighters headed for Mars, the Icebringer fighters aren't fast enough to intercept before they get there, we need the Red Lion!" A series of loud beeps from the scanners diverted Matt's attention from the black paladin's reply. Turning back to the display, he saw the indicator lights of a huge group of fighters, almost double their own forces, approaching the battle from the direction of Earth. "Son of a fuck, what now?" If that was more Empire craft, then every hope they had had just gone down the drain.

"Matt, what's going on?" He could hear the concern in Shiro's voice even over the racket of various combat alarms in the Castle's main deck.

"We've got incoming. Several thousand fighters, I can't see what their affiliation is from here. Hunk, they'll be on the edge of L-40 in a minute, how fucked are we?"

There was a moment's tense silence, the comlink filled with the chatter of pack leaders passing orders to their squadrons of Hunters. Then, startled: "Oh my god, they're Human!" A wild laugh. "Matt, it's all Human pilots in those ships!"

"Shiro, I can see them from here. It's the Galaxy Garrison!" The shock and disbelief in the Red Paladin's tone was palpable, like he didn't know whether to be outraged or relieved.

Matt let out a slightly hysterical laugh, leaning heavily on the edge of the console for support and watching as the cloud of desperately-needed reinforcements swept into view on his screens. "Holy shit. I never thought I'd be this glad to see that stupid logo in my life."

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"Takashi, we've got a group of fighters headed for Mars, the Icebringers aren't fast enough to intercept before they get there, we need the Red Lion!"

For a split second, Shiro hesitated. Sending Keith after those fighters meant breaking Voltron apart, weakening their strength in their efforts to break through to get at the Weblum's Breath. But even disregarding their duty to protect, if the worst happened and they didn't succeed in breaking through in time, the people living in the scientific bases on Mars and Luna would be the difference between losing their home and losing their species as well. It was a chance they couldn't afford to take.

Voltron spun apart into the five Lions once more. "Go get 'em, Keith." He ordered.

The Red Lion was gone from view in an instant, blazing across the battlefield under the full power of her ion boosters. Shiro turned his attention back to the fight around him just in time to hear Matt's alarmed cursing over the coms, fresh fear twisting in his gut. "Matt, what's going on?"

A moment later Hunk's revelation that the pilots were Human and Keith's stunned identification of them as Garrison fighter craft left him reeling. After the way he'd been treated during his mercifully-brief stint in Garrison custody on his return to Earth over a year earlier, he would never have expected such a quick response to the warships overhead. They must have started scrambling almost as soon as the Empire ships arrived. But thank god they had, right now those ships might make all the difference in the world. Literally. He barely had time to pull himself together enough to fake composure before he found himself being hailed and accepted the new connection into the comlink.

"This is Major Coleman of the Ohio branch of Galaxy Garrison, speaking on behalf of all the pilots of Earth." The pilot's voice was remarkably steady under the circumstances. They all must have spent their entire orbital insertion flight wrapping their heads around the fact that they were going up to do battle with alien warships in orbit around their home planet, especially considering there was no way they could have known before the whole thing started. "Looks to me like you guys could use some help. What are your orders, Pilot Shirogane?"

He took a deep breath, letting out a shaky little laugh. "On behalf of the Voltron Alliance, are we ever glad to see you guys. Think you can help us run the blockade so we can go after big mama over there?" He knew relief was making him sound a bit silly, but dammit, maybe, just maybe they had a chance after all.

"If that's what you need, sir, we'll be happy to oblige." There was a trace of laughter in Coleman's voice, but he was all business. "You have a specific strategy in mind?"

"Matt Holt is acting as our primary strategist. Matt?"

"Coleman, are your wings fully loaded?" Matt's voice was a lot steadier now than it had been moments earlier, and Shiro had no doubt he already had a plan in mind for their newly-bolstered forces.

"Loaded and armed. Nuclear-tipped missile rounds."

"Good. We're on a time limit, and we don't have time to dick around with subtlety. Our strategy is 'blast enough of the fuckers out of the sky to let us get through the defensive line.'"

There was the briefest of pauses as Coleman digested this. "Understood. At your discretion, sir."

Shiro took a deep breath, turning Black to face the blockade lines again. "Hunk, stay here. They need your BLIP-sense and we need speed. Pidge, Lance, you're with me. Get ready."

"Can do, Shiro." Hunk was nervous but calm. He couldn't help but be proud of how far the anxious teen had come.

"Gotcha, boss." Still strained, but he could hear the ghost of a grin in Lance's voice nonetheless with their newfound hope.

"Ready to kick some Weblum's Breath ass, Shiro." Katie's voice was almost a snarl, nothing but determination in her tone.

He breathed deeply and pushed his controls forward, Black roaring in response. "Alright, then. Let's go!"

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Fresh determination surged through the resistance fighters, their courage bolstered by the arrival of several thousand reinforcements. The hunt-call snarled across the coms as they gathered their forces, concentrating them for just a moment on a single section of the shield of Empire warships separating them from the huge, deadly weapon.

Particle beams ripped across the battlefield, tearing through Empire fighters before pounding into two cruisers directly beside each other. Earth fighters widened the gap as their missiles punched holes in three assault ships and another cruiser. And the Voltron Lions and the remaining Icebringer fighters laid waste to a dreadnought with cannons and claws. Fire and metal scattered across space, and when the dust cleared, all seven ships hung dead in space, weapons silent and lights dark.

For just a moment, the line was broken. They were through.

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Green growled under Pidge's hands as she streaked toward to Weblum's Breath, Blue and Black visible beside her. Most of the fighters had been left in their wake, protecting them from attack from behind by the rest of the warships defending the weapon. The giant ship looked deceptively tranquil, hanging silently in space with the bright marble of Earth behind it.

"That thing is enormous." Lance whispered as they drew closer. "How are we supposed to destroy it in time?"

Pidge studied the massive machine apprehensively, chewing on her lip. Lance's concern was well-warranted. It was easily as large as the core of Command Central, and the weapon itself was well-protected with the way it ran through the ship's centre instead of being mounted on top or on the front. "...I don't think we could destroy that thing if we tried. It's too big. Not without Voltron, anyway, and it would still take too long."

There was a soft sigh on the coms. "Unfortunately, Pidge is right, Lance. We're going to have to get inside and sabotage it somehow."

"Sabotage a weapon the size of Manhattan? We don't even know how it works!"

The main console beeped at her, and she blinked. "Green? What's up, girl?"

A new holoscreen opened up, overlaid with her main one, a glowing green box around the Weblum's Breath ahead. A moment later a detailed diagram of the ship scrawled across the screen, some sections highlighted and detailed with text. Her eyes widened as the image shifted to an exploded view. A rough blueprint, and a description of the functionality of the weapon. "Holy shit...Green, since when can you do that?" She gave a delighted laugh, running a finger over part of the diagram.

"Do what, Pidge?" Shiro called in surprise. "Another aspect?"

"I think so, yeah." Pidge grinned from ear to ear. Her Lion was nudging memories forward again, informing her that all her hard work piecing together the strange mental link between the blue paladins had had an unexpected benefit above and beyond a way to find out their time limit in this fight. She was thoroughly pleased with her clever little paladin, getting another aspect so soon after the first. Pidge blushed at the warm approval she could feel in the bond, and patted the armrest affectionately. "Combative characteristic, apparently. Green just gave me a scan of the Weblum's Breath that shows how it works." She studied the diagram again. "Looks like our best bet is something called an almathium lattice. Smashing the nodes will disable the machine completely. Judging by the size, that's gonna have to be Lance's job with his blaster."

"Shoot out the nodes of the almathium lattice. Can do."

"Well done, Pidge. Where is the lattice?"

"Um...pretty much dead centre of the ship." She grimaced. "If we enter...here…" She pinpointed a spot on the diagram, having Green transmit it to the other two Lions, "there's a main corridor that should get us there fairly quickly."

Shiro hummed thoughtfully. "Looks good to me. Although with just three of us-"

The black paladin's voice was abruptly drowned out by a frantic discussion over the open link between Major Coleman, Matt, and two of the pack leaders. Something about spreading their forces too thin versus duty? After another moment's listening, Pidge realized what was going on. Another group of enemy fighters had diverted away from the main fighting and was headed for Luna with her network of vulnerable habitat domes scattered across the lunar surface, in a bid to stretch the resistance's forces too thin to maintain their strike on the Weblum's Breath. She could practically hear the wheels turning in Shiro's head all the way from here as he considered the problem. They had to stop the weapon, but they couldn't just sacrifice the people on Luna to do it.

"Matt, I'm sending Pidge back to help protect the Luna domes. Lance and I can manage the Weblum's Breath. Keith, how are things at Mars?"

"All cleaned up, Shiro. On my way back now. I'll be there in a few minutes to help with Luna." Keith responded immediately, anticipating their leader's order.

Pidge frowned, reluctant to leave the other two to deal with the deadly weapon alone. "Shiro…"

"Pidge." There was a soft sigh from the older man. "We can handle this. Luna needs to be protected too. And…" He hesitated. "It's going to be very dangerous. Remember, I don't have the weaponized prosthetic anymore. I can protect one of you more easily than two, and we need Lance on this mission."

She opened her mouth to protest that she was perfectly capable of protecting herself against soldiers of the Galra Empire. Abruptly a flash of memory-darkness/pain/terror/despair-flashed through the back of her mind and cut off her words before they could fully form. Pidge swallowed hard, forcing down the memory roughly as Green gave a soothing purr. What had Malrento said, about too much courage getting you killed? "A-Alright. Luna it is. Be careful, okay?"

Shiro's voice was heavy with gratitude that made her wonder if he hadn't been thinking of the exact same thing. "We will, Pidge. See you soon."

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Potravok's gaze flickered between the viewscreens that ringed the control room and the Lady Haggar, lounging in her chair at the back of the room. Her cold yellow eyes remained fixed on the two Lions that were now approaching the ship, the green one having turned back in response to the attack on the tiny facilities based on the planet's barren moon. She seemed utterly unconcerned by the threat closing in on the defenseless Weblum's Breath.

"My Lady…?" He asked uncertainly. His training told him to defend the ship, but his orders were to obey the head Druid's every instruction-or lack thereof.

"Champion and the one who would call himself a Blue Paladin." She murmured to herself, watching the approach of the Blue and Black Lions. "How perfect." Her tone was laced with cruel amusement that made Potravok shudder. He startled when she stood abruptly. "Potravok, remain here and monitor the readiness of the Weblum's Breath. I have something to take care of."

She vanished in a swirl of quintessence before he could even begin to formulate a reply.

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Kovirak growled under her breath as she peered around the corner. It had taken her far too long to identify and reach the level of the ship where she could access the weapon's critical components. She wasn't sure how much time was left before it was ready to fire, but she knew it wasn't nearly long enough.

Sighting around the corner once more, she adjusted the angle of her blaster slightly before squeezing the trigger. The guard down the hall dropped-with her shot through the chest and another shot through his head from another direction. Her ears flared in surprise. Someone else was taking out guards here?

A moment later her unexpected ally was revealed as two figures moved cautiously around the corner, dressed in white armor with coloured accents. The Paladins. She'd only seen them in pictures before. The one whose armor was accented with black, a glowing pink shield braced on his right arm, stooped to pick up the dead guard's gun, while the smaller one wearing blue accents studied the body with a frown.

"Someone else shot this guard too, Shiro." She heard the blue paladin whisper to his companion, who immediately tensed and scanned the corridor for the culprit. That was her cue, she supposed. Kovirak slung her own blaster over her shoulder out of the way and stepped out from behind the corner, careful to keep her hands raised and open to show that she wasn't carrying a weapon. Two other blasters were levelled instantly in her direction.

"Easy there, I'm on your side." She didn't step closer, but knelt, a Blade's salute instead of an Imperial soldier's. Hopefully they would recognize it as allies of the Blades. "Knowledge or death, Paladins."

"You're a Blade." The Black Paladin's eyes widened, and he lowered his weapon slightly, the smaller Human following his lead a moment later. "Are you the one who sent the warning about the Weblum's Breath?"

She nodded as she straightened, unslinging her weapon once more. "Yes. My name is Kovirak."

"I'm Shiro, and this is Lance." Shiro's attitude was calm as he introduced them, but Lance was frowning at her with uncertainty in his eyes. Did he know, or suspect, what she had done? If he did, she hoped he would be willing to leave it be until they disabled the weapon. Her cub's life depended on it. Shiro checked a timepiece on his wrist and grimaced. "Let's get moving. We're running out of time."

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Lance frowned at Kovirak's back as they moved along the corridor, creeping from alcove to alcove and checking around corridors. Kovirak. Why did he feel like he'd heard that name before? It was frustratingly familiar, but he couldn't place it for the life of him. It was like a nagging itch that wouldn't go away. He'd have to ask the others when they got back, maybe one of them would know. It was going to drive him crazy until he did, though.

He scanned the corridor behind them, but there was still no sign of pursuit. They couldn't possibly have got in completely unnoticed, could they? Something felt wrong, but he wasn't sure what, and he tightened his grip on his bayard defensively.

"Where are all the guards?" Apparently Shiro was thinking the same thing he was. It was too darn quiet, especially considering how close they were to the access door for the lattice. If there were guards anywhere on the ship, this is where they should've been. But they weren't.

"...I don't know." Kovirak admitted softly, her ears laid back tensely. Seriously, why was that name so familiar? "The ship only has a skeleton crew, but I refuse to believe Haggar is not aware of your presence."

Shiro stopped, staring at the Galra in alarm, as did Lance. "Haggar is here?" The black paladin didn't quite manage to hide the shake in his voice, or the reflexive glance toward where the prosthetic she'd made had once been grafted onto his flesh. Not that Lance could blame him. Even with the relative little the older man had admitted to the rest of them about his time in captivity, the blue paladin knew he'd suffered a lot at her hands. He was fairly certain the arm was just scratching the surface.

The Blade nodded grimly, glancing sideways at Shiro. "I believe she intended to monitor the first test of the Empire's new weapon herself. I also suspect she's one of very few Druids with enough strength to power a wormhole large enough to transport it."

Dragging a deep breath into his lungs, Shiro nodded. "Right. Makes sense." He glanced over his shoulder at Lance, who pretended not to notice the fear in those dark eyes. "Come on. Let's get in, destroy the lattice, and get out. Quickly."

Lance didn't need to be told twice, following the other two as they jogged the remaining distance down the hall to the large double-doors with their bright green warning labels. Kovirak's hand on the scanner unlocked the doors (although she seemed oddly surprised by that?), and they slid apart soundlessly to admit the group.

The room they stepped into was dark, the only illumination besides their suits and Shiro's shield a dim orange glow from a series of criss-crossing bars that lined the walls around the wide catwalk on which they stood. In the poor lighting, it was hard to judge how large the room was, but it seemed enormous. As the doors slid shut behind them, they moved further into the room, and Lance continued to look around, studying the terrain like he'd been trained and figuring out what he could use it for. Unfortunately, it all seemed to be flat and wide open, no cover or vantage points anywhere.

He was so focused on examining their surroundings that when Shiro stopped abruptly, Lance ran right into his back with a startled exclamation. Backing up, he quickly looked around, trying to figure out why the black paladin had stopped. "Shiro? What's wrong?"

Shiro didn't answer, standing silent and unmoving, his back to Lance and Kovirak.

The hair on the back of Lance's neck stood up. Something was very wrong here. Instincts were much more Keith's specialty, what with being the red paladin and all, but right now everything inside the blue paladin was screaming danger warnings at him. Urging him to run. He took another step back.

"Sh...Shiro…?" He tried again, more softly. Unconsciously, he adjusted his grip on his bayard. He watch the older man carefully, looking for any sign of a reaction.

Shiro turned. Lance's breath caught in his throat.

No. His mind screamed denial at him as he stared, transfixed, at Shiro's face. No. It can't be. At the cold, cruel smirk that looked so wrong on the kind-hearted leader's face. We got rid of the arm. This shouldn't be possible. At the glowing indigo eyes that he'd seen once before in a dream (memory?) where a glowing pink hand grasped pale skin and turned it burnt and bloody. No, please, God, no. He couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.

The frozen tableau was broken by harsh, cold laughter from somewhere beyond the black paladin's back. Lance swivelled automatically to locate the source, his bayard snapping up. Movement in the shadows drew his attention and he focused on it, sighting along the weapon. Then the figure stepped forward, close enough to be seen properly in the slowly-brightening glow of the almathium lattice around them, and he felt the blood drain from his face as his heart seemed to stop.

Haggar's glowing eyes were fixed on him, her face twisted in a cold smile that mirrored the one that warped Shiro's features. When she spoke, her voice echoed in the silence of the chamber, a mocking lilt to her tone that was one step shy of outright laughter as she stared him down. "Why, whatever is the matter, Blue Paladin? Don't you know your own aspect when you see it?"