All the blood in Lance's body felt as though it had turned into solid ice. He was frozen to the spot, eyes locked on Haggar's smirking yellow gaze. The witch's face was twisted with a cruel smile as she stared him down, utterly unconcerned by the blasters being levelled in her direction by the blue paladin and the Galra spy, the latter of whom was bristling and baring her teeth. He couldn't shoot, every muscle in his body locked up with shock and fear.
Her words kept ringing in his head. She was controlling Shiro with an aspect? His aspect?
Haggar took a few steps forward, reaching up to run a hand over Shiro's cheek in a possessive caress. that made him feel sick. "I should be thanking you, Blue Paladin," She purred, something in her tone making a mockery of the title, "for bringing my Champion back to me." Her fingers trailed lower, down onto the black paladin's upper right arm where the new prosthetic was secured to the scarred flesh left behind when they removed the one she had given him in an attempt to prevent this exact situation. "Pity you had to go and undo all my hard work, but that can be remedied easily enough."
"L-Let him go, Haggar!" Lance finally managed to find his voice, his fingers tightening convulsively on his bayard. "He...He's not your Champion! He's Shiro, the Black Paladin of Voltron!" His gaze flicked to the older man's face, hoping desperately for some sign of recognition or acknowledgement of the words, but there was none. "Let him go right now!"
A deep scowl crossed the witch's features and she scoffed derisively. "He is no more the rightful Black Paladin than that weakling Loh'raakkar was. Or any more than you are the rightful Blue Paladin, child." Her tone was sharp as she stared him down, sending fresh waves of fear running through his body. He could feel Blue snarling in the back of his head, angrier than he'd ever heard her sound. "It's high time you learned your place."
In response to some unspoken command, Shiro's shield vanished, the black bayard returning to its dormant form before being dropped to the floor with a clatter that echoed in the near-silence of the room. Still wearing that twisted, wrong-looking smirk, the black paladin stepped on it, pressing his weight forward until the casing cracked and sparks of quintessence flared from the device. Kicking the damaged bayard aside and sending it skittering into the darkness, Shiro hefted the blaster he'd taken from the dead soldier, grinning at them along the barrel.
"Champion." Haggar ordered smoothly, her voice ringing in the still air. "Kill."
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He found himself turning without making the decision to do so. Lance was staring at him. He looked scared. No, not scared. Terrified.
He couldn't remember anyone looking at him like that since the arena, and it made him feel sick. He tried to open his mouth, to say something to reassure the blue paladin, but his body wouldn't seem to respond to him.
Someone was speaking, but the words were a buzz of noise in his ears that he couldn't understand. Lance's mouth was moving. Why couldn't he hear what the other paladin was saying?
His body was moving. He hadn't told it to move, why was he moving? As though he were watching a movie play out on screen, he saw himself drop the black bayard and step on it. Saw himself lifting the blaster and taking aim at the wide-eyed boy in front of him. Realizing what was about to happen, he fought desperately for control that had somehow been taken from him against his will, beating at the wall of blue energy that seemed to separate him from his own body.
"Champion." That one word cut clearly through the noise that filled his ears, spoken by a terrifyingly familiar voice, as did the one after it that made the bottom drop out of his stomach in despair. "Kill."
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Lance threw himself sideways, the blaster's pulse leaving a scorch mark on the side of his helmet in passing. A year of training and hard-won experience kicked in, automatic reactions taking over from a mind that was still reeling with shock and fear as he ducked and weaved around the rapid fire coming his direction. Without stopping to think he sighted along his rifle, snapped off three shots and moved again.
His shots went wide. How had he never realized how fast Shiro was? No wonder the man had dominated the gladiator arenas even before his arm had been modified. He evaded Lance's fire like it was nothing, closing the gap between them even as the younger male backpedalled desperately. At the moment the only thing saving the blue paladin was the larger man's inexperience with blasters, his shots inaccurate even under Haggar's influence. But if he managed to get into close quarters, Lance knew he wasn't going to stand a chance.
A snarl and a flash of motion off to the side caught his attention for a moment, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Kovirak lunging not at Shiro, but at Haggar. That was smart, if they could distract her, make her lose focus, then maybe the black paladin would be able to break free of her control. He'd done it once before, after all, in the other timeline.
Lance tried not to think about what the critical moment had been then.
Shiro's fist flew past his face as he lunged to the side again, sprinting across the deck to try to put some distance between them. Another spray of blaster fire chased him, close enough for him to feel the heat on his neck and shoulder. With Shiro focused on him he couldn't afford to get distracted. He would just have to hope that Kovirak could somehow divert the witch long enough for the black paladin to break free. And, he swallowed hard, noting how much brighter the bars of the almathium lattice around them were now, hope she could do it fast.
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Kovirak bared her teeth with a growl as she lunged at the witch who had taunted her for so long by dangling her cub's life over her head, firing the blaster steadily as she ran. Haggar blocked the attack easily with a sweep of her hand, quintessence crackling in her palm to deflect the shots, before firing back with a bolt of lightning that the Galra evaded easily, twisting to the side and countering with another volley of gunfire. She dodged back and forth, searching for an opening and harassing the Druid with her weapon to keep her attention on her instead of...whatever it was she had done to the Black Paladin.
Judging by the things Haggar and Lance had been saying, the witch was controlling Shiro somehow. She could hear the other two behind her, rapid footsteps clanging against the metal floor as the Black Paladin pursued his teammate. Frequent blaster shots punctuated the sound of heavy breathing and occasional muttered pleas from the Blue Paladin for his leader to come to his senses. The older didn't seem to hear his words though, if the younger's occasional stumble or hiss of pain was any indication. Kovirak wasn't sure exactly how Haggar was doing it, but it was reasonable to assume that if she could take the witch down, her control would probably be broken.
Yet another reason to destroy her here and now. Kovirak hissed and sprang forward, claws extended and teeth bared.
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He screamed inside his head, a desperate cry of frustration that never reached his lips. Instead he felt his chest continue to heave steadily with the heavier breaths of exertion as he ran easily across the catwalk in pursuit of his teammate.
Ahead of him, Lance stumbled, his breathing ragged. The blue paladin had good stamina, born from years of swimming and running, he knew, but endurance had been one of the things that had kept Shiro alive during his year in the arena and the lanky teenager simply couldn't match it. It showed in the familiar burn of his muscles, in the differences in their breathing, in the way Lance's expression grew increasingly desperate whenever he looked up at him and clutched his bayard in shaking hands.
His own hands lifted the Galra-made blaster again and he struggled, trying to resist the movement, change it, do anything to stop what was happening. But it was as though he was a passenger in his own body, unable to do anything but watch himself hunting down one of the children who had become his family the way he had once pursued enemies in the arena to save his own life, a blue-tinted wall separating him from himself no matter how he clawed at it. He couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't hear. Could only see, powerless to intervene.
He sighted along the rifle, taking aim at Lance's retreating back. A shouted warning went unvoiced as he squeezed the trigger, slow and precise and steady.
A burst of purple plasma streaked from the barrel of the gun, the blue paladin jerking to the side just a moment too late as fatigue dulled his reactions. Crimson sprayed across the floor, dark under the fiery orange glow of the walls.
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Blue's shriek in his head was so loud that Alejandro let go of the drone controls and clapped his hands over his ears with a cry of pain. It didn't do anything to block out the connection, or quiet the Blue Lion's roar of anger and distress echoing in his skull, and he felt a fresh wave of panic rush through him as her fear washed over him. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. And since it wasn't him that was in trouble...
He reached for the Lion mentally, trying to find the source of the problem, but she was snarling and yowling too much at whatever had happened to give him a clear response. Desperately, he threw himself out of his chair and sprinted across to the communications terminal, ignoring the startled exclamations of the others on the Castle's main deck and all but shoving Matt out of the way with a mumbled apology. "Hunk! Where is Lance?"
The yellow paladin's tone was startled at the interruption. "Uh, still on the Weblum's Breath with Shiro, I think. They're outside my range. Why?" Alejandro could almost hear his brow furrowing anxiously.
"Something's wrong. Blue's freaking out." He took a deep breath, trying to slow his racing heart. "I haven't heard her sound like this since we lost Red."
"Shit. Gimme a second." There was a tense pause, during which the former paladin's head was filled with the frustrated growls of a Lion unable to reach their paladin when they needed to. "No, I can't reach that far. Sorry. Pidge? Could he use the link to check?"
There were muttered curse words from the green paladin's coms, followed by the grunt of someone being thrown around in their cockpit by maneuvers. The enemy's fighters were really making her work to defend the habitat domes. "Maybe? I don't know if the link goes-shit-goes both ways."
Alejandro blinked. "Link? What link?"
Pidge let out an annoyed huff. "I'll spare you the details right now, there isn't time, but you and Lance seem to have-ha, take that, motherfucker-developed some kind of weird mental link, probably through Blue. He was able to use it to check your memory of...this...from your time to see how long we had until the Weblum's Breath fired, but I don't know if it goes both ways, it doesn't seem to affect you the same way it-"
"Pidge!" He cut off her rambling before she could get too out of breath, trying to wrap his head around her words. A mental link between himself and Lance through the Blue Lion? The thought was a worrying one, but he didn't have time to consider the implications right now. Something was dangerously wrong, and they were running out of time. "I'll try it." Without waiting for a response, he closed his eyes and dove into his connection with Blue, her energy cool and familiar as it wrapped around his mind. As he pushed deeper, he could feel her anger, feel her fear, feel her...pain? No, not her pain. Lance's.
For a brief moment he was seeing through his younger self's eyes into a scene lit by a terrifying orange glow from the walls. He was on the ground, scooting desperately backwards, his right hand cradled to his chest and radiating burning agony and his left leg trailing uselessly, although that pain was comparatively minor. He knew that the blue bayard was somewhere far out of reach, knocked flying by the force of the shot that had torn a path across the outside of his upper right arm, cracking the armor and scorching the skin, before ripping a hole in the back of his right hand and knocking him off-balance hard enough to twist his left ankle badly. And standing over him, tossing aside the still-smoking blaster in favour of cracking his human knuckles and wearing a cruel smirk only made colder by the deep blue glow that concealed his eyes, was Shiro.
Alejandro lost control of the tenuous connection with a horrified cry, clinging to the edge of the console and panting as he fought not to be sick from the feel of the pain and terror and the horrifying realization of what was happening. It couldn't be. It shouldn't be possible. They'd gotten rid of the arm, dammit, this wasn't supposed to be able to happen! Distantly he was aware of voices buzzing around him.
"Okay, that sounded really bad."
"Alejandro, what's going on, what's wrong with Lance?!"
"Fucking hell, Alejandro, answer us! Matt, what happened?"
"I don't know, he was concentrating and then he screamed and started hyperventilating! Come on, deep breath, Alejandro, we need to know what's going on." Gentle hands touched his cheeks and he tried to concentrate on the touch to ground himself. "You can do it. In, hold, and out."
He forced himself to suck in one harsh breath, then another. He needed to get himself back under control, needed to tell them what was happening, so they could try to find a solution. There had to be one. They couldn't lose everything all over again. "Shiro." He gasped out raggedly, grabbing at his head and tangling his fingers in his hair. "Haggar's got Shiro, he's attacking Lance, I saw his eyes, I don't-this wasn't supposed to happen, we got rid of it, how the hell is she doing this-"
His panicked tirade was cut off by soft lips on his own, pressing hard against him for a brief moment, and he was left panting when they pulled back a moment later. Kurogane was staring at him with grim eyes, gripping his shoulders tightly. "We'll figure it out, Alejandro. We're not losing them again." Once the former blue paladin managed a shaky nod, he turned his attention to the comlink. "Matt, figure out if we can pull our forces together enough to make another run on the blockade to get to the Weblum's Breath again. We still have to destroy the damn thing. Alejandro," He turned back again, pain written across his features. "I'm sorry to ask this, but we need a better idea of what's going on. Can you reach through the link again?"
Alejandro took a ragged breath and gave a slow nod. They needed to know, if they were going to have any hope of saving this timeline's Lance and Shiro and preventing the destruction of Earth. Closing his eyes and taking Kurogane's hand, he plunged back into the Lion bond.
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Despite Kovirak's best efforts, Haggar's control hadn't wavered in the slightest. Shiro heard the crackle of quintessence-lightning behind him, a cry of pain and the sound of a body hitting the ground. He couldn't turn to see, however, his body still locked under the witch's control no matter how hard he struggled against the intruding energy that manipulated him against his will. All he could do was stare through his eyes at Lance, terrified and in pain on the ground in front of him.
Footsteps signalled Haggar's approach, and he could just glimpse her beside him staring down at the wounded Paladin. "Pathetic. And to think the Blue Lion had the temerity to consider you a worthy successor to me. Champion." His heart stopped for a moment at the name, dread coiling in his gut. Please, he didn't want to do this. "Finish him."
He saw, as if in slow motion, his prosthetic fingers curling into a fist, his arm coming back for a punch that he knew could easily break bones or rupture organs if landed in the right place. He clawed desperately at the wall of blue energy once more. He couldn't let this happen.
Lance was still trying to back away, his left leg trailing and his right hand leaving bloody streaks on his chestplate. His left hand scrabbled behind him for purchase. Metal clinked against metal.
Shiro felt himself step forward, muscles coiling to put all of his weight behind the blow, one capable of killing in a single strike. He'd done it before, in the arena, although he'd hated it every time. Hated being forced to take lives, innocent or otherwise. And now he was going to be made to do the same to Lance.
The blue paladin grabbed something-Shiro glimpsed the familiar shape of a dormant bayard-off the ground behind him, his arm snapping forward.
His body shifted into motion, lunging at the teenager helpless on the ground before him. He gave a silent cry of agonized fury. Dammit, no! He was supposed to protect his team!
Metal struck metal with resounding crash.
Shiro felt a wave of shock ripple through him as he stared along his outstretched arm at where his knuckles grated against the Voltron 'V', starkly black in a white circle and surrounded by glowing pink that flickered uncertainly but still managed to cast a vibrant glow over the surrounding area.
His shield.
Lance stared up at him through the translucent energy barrier, wide-eyed with surprise. It shouldn't have been possible. Coran had told them the bayards were linked to their paladin's quintessence the same way the Lions were. The Blue Paladin shouldn't have been able to activate the black bayard, much less into the form it took for the Black Paladin. Which meant…
Which meant he had somehow activated it, in Lance's hands instead of his own and despite Haggar's control. Her dominance over him wasn't total. He could still fight her.
Shiro mentally closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Patience yields focus. He gathered himself, concentrating, remembering. You are a shield, not a sword. A protector, not a monster. Matt and Coran's voices seemed to echo in his head in time with the flicker of the shield's energy disk in front of him. Haggar bent you, but she never broke you. You are not Champion. Determination surged through him, and he growled, long and low, deep inside himself.
You are Takashi Shirogane. Black Paladin of Voltron. A defender of the universe.
The Black Lion roared defiance in his head, drowning out the buzzing in his ears.
The shield flickered again and finally went out, reverting to its damaged dormant form as quintessence sparked along the cracks.
The brilliant glow remained.
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Alejandro's eyes snapped open and he grabbed for Kurogane's arm. The red paladin quickly turned away from the rapid-fire discussion over the comlink, meeting his frantic gaze.
"It was never the arm." He choked out helplessly, unable to believe what he'd seen through Lance's eyes. How could they all have gotten it so wrong, all these years? "It was never the fucking arm at all."
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Haggar stumbled back as her quintessence was repulsed violently from the Black Paladin, her eyes going wide with a sudden jolt of fear. It couldn't be. She couldn't possibly have erred that badly.
The older Human was straightening now from the crouch his attack against his teammate had left him in, turning to face her fully. The cruel smirk she had made him wear was gone, wiped from his face in favour of an utterly calm expression. His eyes had returned to their normal dark shade, gazing at her steadily as they reflected the blinding ultraviolet glow of the black quintessence that coated his right arm.
The first time she had seem his arm alight like this, she had thought it was simply an ability of this newfound species. Alteans hardly had a monopoly on quintessence manipulation, after all, although it was hardly so dramatic or versatile for most species. His usage had seemed to be limited to weaponizing the prosthetic recently grafted to his flesh. When none of the other paladins had ever been observed using the technique, her conclusion was that it was either a rare ability among their kind, unlocked due to the stresses he had suffered in the arena, or related to the fusion of metal to his body. Either way, it was nothing to be concerned about. A curiosity, nothing more.
Now, though, it seemed she'd been mistaken. Only one person had ever been able to throw off her control like that. There was only one way it could be done. The personality aspect of black quintessence had granted Zarkon the ability to manipulate quintessence in ways even an amvel nayeta could only dream about, from reshaping his bayard to dominating the Black Lion to turning her mind control back on her as though it were nothing. He had even been able to do the same to Ilexam's healing, warping it so flesh tore further instead of knitting under his hands. It was a powerful, dangerous ability, fitting for the leader of the mighty Galra Empire.
And the new black paladin had had that same potential all along and she had failed to recognize it for what it was.
He raised his glowing arm, shifting into the same loose combat stance she'd seen him take a thousand times in the arenas before he inevitably killed his opponent. Only this time, it was her on the other side of the ring as the Black Paladin Champion stared her down.
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Lance gasped for breath, his eyes wild as he watched Shiro lunge at Haggar, his arm blazing more brilliantly than it ever had before. The damaged black bayard fell from his shaking hand to clatter to the floor. He wasn't sure what had happened, first the shield forming, then Shiro throwing off Haggar's control-completely, not partially like in Alejandro's memories-and now this, with quintessence lighting up the surface of the black paladin's arm from fingertips to shoulder. But he could barely breathe from relief, his whole body sagging as he fought not to cry.
A groan had his head snapping up at the reminder that he couldn't relax yet. They were far from safe. Some distance away Kovirak was struggling to her feet, blood matting singed fur on her shoulder and cheek where Haggar's attacks had blasted away part of her armor. She bared her teeth as she pushed herself upright, swaying slightly but not falling.
She looked as though she was going to join Shiro in going after Haggar-the head Druid was backing away in front of the black paladin's advance in a manner that Lance would have almost described as fearful if he hadn't known just how dangerous she was-when her ears swivelled back in response to some sound drowned out by the crack of metal on metal as Shiro pursued the witch across the catwalk relentlessly, ducking and weaving around her attacks. A moment later Lance heard it too. Energy crackling, all around him.
Looking around, his eyes widened in horror. The bars of the almathium lattice were glowing fire-bright now, energy crackling along them in visible arcs and bolts. They were almost out of time.
Kovirak snarled something that didn't translate and groped in her belt, coming up with a small weapon, a one-handed blaster that she tossed toward him. "Hurry!" She ordered, turning and sprinting toward her own weapon some distance away. Lance didn't need to be told twice. Shifting to kneel on his injured leg, he sighted along his left arm, squinting against the brightness of the lattice and holding the unfamiliar weapon tightly in anticipation of recoil. He breathed deeply, then pulled the trigger.
The first node burst apart in a shower of orange-white sparks, but he was already finding his next target. In a quick, steady rhythm he blasted apart the nodes one after another. The sound of another gun behind him, slower but no less steady, was most likely Kovirak, takìng out the nodes on the other side.
He lost count of how many he shot out before an alarm began to wail. At the same time, the energy stopped arcing and the bars began to dim as automatic failsafes cut in. A cry of outrage turned into a cry of pain and Lance's head snapped around just in time to catch a glimpse of Haggar, yellow eyes radiating fury above a bloody gash that ran from right collarbone to left armpit, just before she disappeared in a flare of quintessence.
Shiro looked around wildly for a moment, anticipating a reappearance, but when none seemed forthcoming he uncoiled slightly and jogged back toward them, the pink glow fading from his arm.
"Good shooting, Lance." The praise was warm, but Lance was too exhausted to do more than nod weakly and lean on the black paladin as his good arm was pulled over the older man's shoulder. "Come on, we need to get out of here. Kovirak, grab the bayards, please."
The Galra scooped up the black bayard from where it had fallen at the blue paladin's feet. She had to search for a moment in the rapidly-dimming light before she found the other bayard near the far edge of the catwalk. Clipping both to her belt, she hefted her blaster in both hands. "We should hurry. With the weapon disabled and the injury you inflicted she will likely call for a retreat."
"Right. Let's go." Lance gritted his teeth as they moved quickly out of the room, hobbling as quickly as he could. His ankle throbbed, although the stiff boot of his armor seemed to offer some measure of support, but he forced himself to ignore it. He could give in to the pain and shock and break down crying once he was back in the Castle. His hand was thankfully more numb than painful now.
Blue's relieved purr almost deafened him as they reached the spot where the two Lions had punched a hole through the wall, and he managed a shaky smile and patted her muzzle before Shiro guided him inside. He slumped wearily in the pilot's chair once he was dropped carefully into it, and glanced down at the bloody mess of his right hand before shuddering and looking away. "Um...Kovirak should probably ride with me. I might need an extra set of hands if we have to fight our way out." He pretended not to notice the pained look on the black paladin's face as he looked at the injury. This whole mess had opened up a bunch of cans of worms that they were going to have to talk about, but now wasn't the time.
"Right. Good thinking." A brief touch on his shoulder and then Shiro was gone. Several seconds later the communications panel blinked as the connection between Black and Blue reopened. "We better hurry. I see wormholes forming."
"Sounds good to me. C'mon, Blue, let's go home."
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Allura stared in shock as purple portals began flaring open, first one, then several, then many. For a moment she feared the arrival of more reinforcements, then, unbelievably, the first of the warships they'd been fighting dove slowly into the closest wormhole. Even as she watched, the others began to follow in ones and twos, their weapons falling silent. In the silence that had fallen on the command deck, she could hear the chatter of the others both here and over the comlink.
"What's going on? Are they retreating?"
"Sure looks that way."
"The Weblum's Breath hasn't fired, did they do it?"
"I think so. The last I looked Lance was shooting the lattice nodes."
"So where the hell are they, then?"
She was certain that all of them turned in unison to gaze at the massive weapon in the distance. A gigantic wormhole had burst open in front of it and the ship moved ponderously towards it. A flash of yellow out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she realized it was the Yellow Lion, blasting at top speed toward the far-off ship.
"Hunk! Be careful!"
"Lance! Shiro! Come on guys, please tell me you got out okay!" The Yellow Lion was quickly flanked by Red and Green, dodging around enemy fighters who let them pass unchallenged as they streaked across open space. The Weblum's Breath was disappearing rapidly now, its bulk being swallowed by the violet portal. Allura held her breath, offering a desperate prayer to the rulers of old for the safety of the two paladins. Then, Hunk let out a wild laugh of relief: "I sense them! They're okay!"
A wild cheer went up over the link, and a moment later two new voices joined the conversation. "Hey guys. Sorry we took so long. Had a bit of trouble." Shiro sounded tired but relieved, although she didn't doubt he was hiding a storm of emotions underneath the surface after the events Alejandro had reported taking place on the enemy ship. "Everyone okay?"
"Bit battered and bruised, but nothing major." Pidge responded. "The Lions will need some repairs, though."
Stepping down from the control columns, Allura arrived at the communications console just in time to hear Matt give a distinctly worried-sounding growl of confirmation over the link to the pack ships. "How bad is it?" She asked softly. They'd been horrifically outmatched in this battle, and she knew without being told that there had been a great many losses in the desperate defense of this one planet.
Matt glanced up at her and sighed. "The Sliding Snow is completely unresponsive. Roaring Mountain and Falling Tree are sending ships over to see if there's any survivors. Five other ships have major damage compromising their life support and will need to set down planetside for repairs immediately." He grimaced, glancing up at the main viewscreen, where Earth hung unobstructed now. "It's going to have to be here, Princess. They wouldn't survive a wormhole with the shape they're in. The question is, where is safe? The pack leaders have already indicated that they're all sticking together until repairs are complete."
Allura nodded unhappily. She knew that Shiro's first return to Earth had been far from pleasant. But then again, the circumstances were far different. "I couldn't begin to tell you. You know this planet far better than I do, Matthew."
"Mister Holt?" Another voice cut in from the comlink.
Matt started. "Major Coleman?"
The leader of the Human fighter contingent hesitated apologetically for a moment. "I couldn't help but overhear, sir, and I passed on your concerns to the acting commander of this crisis groundside. I've been instructed to offer for you and your allies to set down in the area belonging to the Arizona Garrison, with assurances that they'll have soldiers patrolling the fenceline to keep civilians out, and that the soldiers themselves will stay at the fenceline. No intrusion without permission."
Allura exchanged an uncertain look with Matt. The young Human seemed to be thinking hard, turning the offer over in his head and weighing the pros and cons. Finally, with a deep sigh, he looked up at her and gave a slow nod.
"On behalf of the Voltron Alliance, Major Coleman, please pass on our thanks to your leader for their generous offer of hospitality." She stated formally. "Please tell your superiors that the first ships will begin landing shortly." Turning away from the microphone, she glanced at Matt. "Please pass on the landing coordinates to the other ships, and keep me updated on the status of the landing." The Human nodded, already starting to confer again with the pack leaders.
Stepping back up to her control columns, Allura took a deep breath. The Lions were returning, bright spots of colour on the viewscreens. It wouldn't be long before they were safely back in their hangars. With a nod to Coran, she began preparations for descent to the surface of Earth.