The fourth (not that most people knew that's what it was) landing of an alien ship on the surface of Earth took place slowly. The most heavily-damaged Icebringer ships were lowered carefully through the atmosphere with tractor beams from other vessels helping to control their descent and minimize stress on their fractured hulls, while a few pack ships that had sustained only minor damage remained in orbit a while longer to ensure that all survivors had been retrieved from the disabled fighters strewn across the space above the planet and from the ruined hulk of the Sliding Snow. The Castle of Lions ended up being one of the last ships down, the four uninjured paladins insisting on helping however they could. Several times Hunk's keen BLIP-sense guided them to a badly-injured survivor that the sensors themselves had missed, and Keith and Pidge made a versatile team at getting through the damaged passages of the Sliding Snow to reach pockets of trapped individuals.
When they did finally make their descent, Coran watched from Allura's side on the bridge as the air around them turned from the starry black of space to a soft blue, streaked with puffy white clouds. He had seen similar sights many times, on the screens of this ship and others, and yet somehow this one in particular seemed unique.
Maybe it was the way he felt he knew this planet better than any other besides the Altea of his past despite never having set foot on it or seen it except in the handfuls of pictures the younger paladins had brought to space with them on their phones and Pidge's laptop. Those pictures only covered a small fraction of this world, but the Humans had eagerly filled in the gaps with descriptions and stories and history lessons, telling him stories both personal and those that had touched the world. It was a fascinatingly diverse place, and he knew that a thousand cycles would barely scratch the surface of all there was to learn about it.
Perhaps it had something to do with the battle they had just fought. That desperate struggle against insane odds, that they had so very nearly lost. So much had happened in the last few hours he could hardly take it all in. And yet they had succeeded, driving off their enemy and saving this precious world.
Or more likely, he thought, tearing his eyes away from the screens to look around the room, it had less to do with either of those things and more to do with the other people watching the descent with them.
The eight Human occupants of the Castle of Lions had formed a loose semicircle in front of Allura's platform, their gazes locked on the view in front of them. At one end, Shiro, Matt, and Pidge formed a tight knot of laced fingers and small smiles. Coran knew that for the older pair, this took the place of the homecoming they should have had after Kerberos. Well, they were finally home now, even if it had been a longer, more difficult road than expected. Pidge's smile was laced with both pride and sadness; unsurprising since her journey had begun with the effort to find her missing family and bring them home. It was unfortunate that her father had not survived to be part of this moment too.
Keith stood next to Shiro with folded arms and an oddly pensive expression. As far as the Altean knew, Earth had never held much attachment for the red paladin. Shiro was family and home to the orphaned teen. And now that he had finally accepted the rest of the Voltron team as family, perhaps he was worried about what would happen to that family once each of the others was able to contact their own. However, the battle against the Galra Empire was far from over. No doubt the paladins were all aware that they could not return to stay just yet.
Beside Keith, Lance and Hunk were a stark contrast to the withdrawn red paladin, both exchanging excited glances and beaming from ear to ear. Lance would have been bouncing in place if he hadn't been leaning on his friend for support, left ankle wrapped in a supportive bandage and his right arm in a sling with bandages concealing the injuries on his hand and upper arm courtesy of Matt's careful handiwork. Despite that, he still managed to do a full-body wriggle of sheer joy, wobbling slightly until the yellow paladin wrapped his arm tighter around his waist. No doubt both were looking forward to seeing the families they'd left behind.
Alejandro and Kurogane completed the line, both of them oddly solemn as they gazed out at the morning sky. They stood straight and stiff-backed, every inch the soldiers they'd had to learn to be, with only the tightly-linked hands between them and the shine in their eyes betraying just how intensely this scene must be affecting them. Seven cycles of grief and pain stood between them and the last time they had seen this sky, and Coran suspected they were thinking of the teammates who had lived those cycles with them right now but had not survived to see this, whose ghosts stood in the empty spaces beside them, watching clouds drift over the Arizona desert.
A movement out of the corner of his eye drew his attention back to Lance. The blue paladin had turned and was poking firmly at Keith's shoulder, trying to get his attention. When the red paladin did finally look over with an annoyed stare, the other teen made a grabbing motion at him, looking at him imploringly until finally, heaving an exasperated sigh, Keith unfolded one arm to hold out his own hand. Lance latched onto it and laced their fingers, a broad, blushing smile spreading across his face. Keith turned his head away slightly, but Coran could see that a small, no-less-flustered smile had appeared on him as well.
Hunk looked over and grinned. Without loosening his supportive hold on his best friend, he leaned over and slung one massive arm over the shoulders of Alejandro and Kurogane, dragging them closer in a loose half-hug and drawing startled exclamations from the pair before they realized what was happening and settled into the embrace with an amused, knowing glance at each other. The noise attracted Shiro's attention, and the black paladin was quick to wrap an arm around his little brother, closing the last gap in the chain. Slow smiles settled across eight Human faces as they all turned their attention back to the wide expanse of blue outside the ship.
They stayed like that, all linked, as the Castle of Lions settled into the desert sand of Earth.
00000000000
Mitch stood silently at the edge of the hastily-erected barricade along the edge of the Garrison campus that verged onto the open expanse of desert to the south, watching as the clouds of dust and sand kicked up by massive thrusters slowly settled or were dispersed by the morning breeze. The area behind the temporary fencing was packed with cadets, scientists, anyone who hadn't been sent up to fight, all hoping to catch a glimpse of the alien spacecrafts that were now parked on the sand.
Not that they were hard to spot. Even the smallest of the ships, a complicated white-and-aqua thing that seemed to be the home base for the lion-ships, was the size of a skyscraper. And the others, the ones with the star-flecked paint jobs, were large enough to make the white one look tiny by comparison.
And yet, for all their incredible size, they had clearly taken quite a beating. Even from this distance he could see buckled hull plates and torn metal on some of the ships, places where entire sections had been ripped away by the sheer power of the enemy's weapons. An enemy that, if the parts of the intercepted comlink discussions he'd been able to understand were to be believed, hadn't even been taking them that seriously. And hell if that wasn't goddamn terrifying to think about.
He'd known, ever since Kerberos, that the K-vessels represented a serious threat. He'd been trying since then to get his superiors, from the Garrison's Generals all the way up to the Pentagon and the President, to take this threat seriously. To try to prepare some sort of adequate defense for when the ship, or ships, inevitably returned and didn't content themselves with simply abducting a scientific expedition at the far reaches of the system. But he was called an alarmist, told to sit down and shut up, that his proposed preparations would cause international instability at best and mass panic at worst. Bullshit. They just didn't want to risk their political careers. Eventually, though, he'd been forced to toe the line and go along with their cover-ups and training policies when they threatened him with demotion and discharge. At least as Commander of one of the Garrison bases, he had some small measure of influence that might help them in the end, authority that could be used for some subtle preparations, and he didn't dare throw that away.
It wasn't enough. If it hadn't been for the arrival of the ships that were now sitting in the sand in front of him, they would all be dead now. That massive fleet upstairs would have swatted the Garrison's spaceforce like so many bugs before tearing the whole planet apart. Especially that big mother their allies had been so worried about. One look at that gigantic cannon barrel pointed their way had been enough to tell him exactly what that thing was intended to do. If it had fired…
It hadn't, thank god, but judging by the com conversations, it had come awfully close. From what had been said it sounded as though something had gone wrong with the two who had breached the ship to sabotage it, although how they knew and exactly what had happened hadn't been clear. Hell, a lot of what had been said hadn't been clear, English or not.
Damn if that wasn't the biggest shock of the whole thing, though, hearing plain English mixed in with alien languages. Luna's report about the reinforcements had been followed up by another with the frequency their new best friends were using to communicate, and they'd got a connection set up in the briefing room just in time for him to hear, plain as day, in-again-out-again-gone-again-finnegan Shirogane himself rattling off orders to none other than Kogane, Garrett, McClain, and Gunderson. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, knowing those kids were safe. Reckless interference with prescribed procedures or not, they were still his cadets, and not knowing for certain what had happened to them had weighed on him just as much as the Kerberos crew's abduction.
Then there'd been Matthew Holt, directing strategy with a quickness that he wished most of his specialists could emulate. It was good to hear another of that mission's crew again, alive and safe. But there'd been no sound of the final crew member. Was Sam simply still missing? Or worse? God, he hoped the answer wasn't what he feared. He wasn't sure he'd forgive himself if it was.
Near the end, oddly, there'd been two other English speakers that he couldn't identify, and no one else had either. Probably because they were aliens, given that only one Human was unaccounted for and neither of those voices belonged to Samuel Holt. Their names were oddly Human-sounding, though. Kurogane and Alejandro. Well, he'd find out when he got the chance to talk to their visitors.
The crowd had grown while he was lost in thought, although he was amused to note there was easily two feet of clear space on every side of him. Many of the cadets had their phones out, snapping pictures of the ships. He considered reprimanding them, since they weren't supposed to take photos on base unless they were in their rooms, but what would have been the point? By now the whole world had seen those same spacecraft locked in battle, thanks to the cameras and telescopes that had pointed skyward as soon as people realized those weren't just bright stars in the sky. He'd seen them himself, a handful of techs tracking the media response to the situation. The news was already worldwide.
He let out a pleased snort. So much for the precious cover-ups that had been initiated within the first hour after the Kerberos incident. Those had been blown to pieces now, along with the smaller one regarding Shirogane's return and then re-disappearance along with three current and one former cadet. The phrases 'pilot error' and 'training accident' should be blowing up on the news and internet any minute, if they hadn't already. He looked forward to testifying against the bastards who'd coined those excuses.
The squeal of tires on pavement drew his attention away from the spaceships and towards the security gate blocking the main access road onto the Garrison campus. Speaking of blowing cover-ups to pieces. Colleen Holt was leaning out of the driver side window of the car that had just pulled up and snarling at the security guard manning the station, demanding to be allowed in. Mitch had to hand it to the man, even with explicit orders not to allow anyone through without permission from Iverson himself, saying "no" to Colleen in a temper took balls.
Before the situation could escalate-he wouldn't put it past her to deck anyone who got in her way right now-he headed over to the gate to intervene. "Holt. I was wondering when you'd get here." He greeted conversationally. "Let her through, Private Singh."
The young man looked visibly relieved, snapping off a salute and raising the barrier to allow the car through. As it pulled up, Mitch was surprised to see Shirogane's cousin in the passenger seat, his vice grip on the ohmygod bar a testament to the older woman's agitated driving. The slam of a door drew his attention back to Colleen as she stepped out, directing a furious glare his way that he politely ignored. Ryou followed more slowly with a deep frown on his face, the open door releasing the sounds of a radio broadcast replaying parts of the transmissions from the battle.
"Mitch, you lying son of bitch, if you think for one second you're going to stop me from going out there to those ships, you are sadly mistaken." She growled, stepping towards him with the air of a pissed-off lioness. "I will not hesitate to lay you out here and now, you fucking bastard."
"There's an ATV prepped and waiting for you in hangar five." He said mildly, and was amused to watch her floundering at his calm acquiescence. She hadn't expected him to be willing to cooperate with her. But then again, he'd had to be careful to at least make it look like he was going along with the policies set out for the cover-ups before. Now that the higher-ups were going to be busy scrambling to cover their own asses, he could finally act freely. "I will insist on contacting the ships for permission, given that I promised them no intrusion, but I doubt they're going to say no to the two of you coming out to see your son, daughter, and cousin. And I'd like to thank them personally for what they've done."
Colleen's mouth opened and closed a few times, no words coming out, and Mitch suppressed a laugh. He never thought he'd see the day Colleen Holt was rendered speechless. Even Ryou's grim stare had turned into wide-eyed surprise. "I...good. Good. Let's get moving then." She gestured for him to lead the way, then scowled and added almost as an afterthought, to remind him that he was still on her list of enemies, "asshole."
He simply nodded, unable to keep an amused smirk off his face. "Right this way, Mrs. Holt, Mr. Shirogane."
0000000000
Kovirak felt the tension seeping out of her as she stared out at the wide expanse of desert. The buildings and airstrips were new, but otherwise it hadn't changed in the slightest. She even recognized some of the rock formations from her explorations cycles earlier.
Her mate's home was somewhere to the south of here. Was Keith still living with him, or had he started to make his own way by now? He'd be old enough, if she remembered her time conversions correctly. Nineteen local years. She'd have to sneak away and see. Shouldn't be too hard with so many people moving around doing repairs.
She almost couldn't believe she was here, that she'd managed to save this place. When the Weblum's Breath had come out of the wormhole and she'd seen the once-familiar continents on the planet ahead of her, she'd been so afraid, so angry. But her warning had gotten to where it needed to be, and the monstrous weapon disabled for the time being. And now she was on a world she'd never expected to return to. A dream come true, as Thomas would have said. Her heart clenched at the thought of her mate, previously pushed to the back of her mind by her fear for her cub's safety, and she trilled sadly to herself. She couldn't wait to see him again, as well as Keith.
A beep from a nearby console startled her, making her bristle involuntarily and wincing as the scorched skin on her shoulder twitched under the bandages the ship's doctor-Matt, she thought his name was-had applied after he'd finished with Lance. Leaning over, she peered at the screen. Incoming comlink. Quickly crossing the deck, she tapped on the shoulder of the red-headed Altean-she really needed to find out all their names, there hadn't been time yet for proper introductions-and gestured to the communications console. "You've got an incoming connection."
The older being blinked, then smiled tiredly. "Ah, thank you. Best not leave that station unmanned right now, I suppose." With a slight sigh he stepped past her, tapping the controls to accept the connection.
Kovirak glanced around. The rest of those present on the bridge were clustered together and talking in pairs or groups in tones that ranged from loud excitement to quiet disbelief. She heard the word family mentioned, and amused reassurances from the white-haired Altean woman. No one was paying attention to the Galra in the room.
Now was as good a time as any. She slipped out of the room and went in search of an exit that would lead out onto the desert sands.
00000000000
Colleen paced impatiently in the base's main communications room while they waited for the transmission to be accepted. Iverson was standing calmly in front of the radio, and she paused to give him the stink eye. He was being far too agreeable, and she didn't trust it one bit.
Before she could figure out exactly what he was up to, though, the radio burped out a crackle of static, followed by a voice she didn't recognize speaking clear English with what sounded oddly similar to a New Zealand accent. "Hello there, this is the Castle of Lions, Coran speaking. Who am I speaking to?"
"Commander Mitch Iverson of the Arizona Garrison." Mitch didn't even bat an eye, damn him.
There was just a split-second's hesitation in the reply. "Ah, Commander Iverson. I've heard quite a bit about you." Although the tone was mild, Colleen noticed that Coran carefully did not mention exactly what he'd heard, and couldn't quite keep a grin off her face at the man's chagrined expression. "What can I do for you?"
Iverson gave a slight cough to clear his throat. "With your permission, I'd like to send an ATV out to your ship, with three people aboard. One will be myself, so I can tender my thanks to you and your crew in person. The other two have business with some of your crew. A Colleen Holt and a Ryou Shirogane."
There was a burst of unintelligible noise on the other end of the line, followed by silence for a few minutes. Colleen exchanged a concerned glance with Ryou. Were they going to be turned away? When Coran returned, there was laughter in his tone. "Permission granted. Head for the white castle-ship at the front. Be seeing you shortly." The connection broke with another crackle of static.
Iverson heaved a sigh of relief, and Colleen was certain he knew it was his name that would have got them turned away. "Right. Hangar five. This way."
The ATV was a low, boxy thing with huge wheels, its design an offshoot of the rovers used on Luna and Mars. Colleen strapped herself into the front seat, Ryou taking the back while Iverson drove. The harness wasn't really necessary with the relatively smooth terrain between them and the cluster of alien ships, but there was no sense taking chances. As they set off, she peered out the front window at the spacecraft up ahead.
The video feeds and pictures really hadn't done anything to convey the sheer size of the things, she realized. Far beyond anything Earth was capable of constructing with current technology. Even the small white one that Coran had identified as a castle-ship (and it did look like a castle, she had to admit) towered over them as they approached. As they entered the shadow it cast across the sands, she was able to make out a lone figure standing by the front door. She studied the man as they pulled up in front of him, and was surprised to see he could have passed for Human if not for his pointed, elf-like ears and the pale blue markings below the corners of his eyes. He stepped forward and gave a slight bow. "Welcome. I am Coran, advisor to Princess Allura of Altea. Welcome aboard the Castle of Lions." He awarded her and Ryou a friendly smile, and Iverson a stiff nod. "Everyone's waiting to see you on the main deck."
"Nice to meet you." After a round of handshakes, they followed him through the massive doors, so elegant you almost couldn't tell they were designed to seal against space travel, and into the maze of blue-lit hallways. Iverson, the only one of the three of them who had been inside an alien craft before, was looking around with interest. No doubt mentally comparing the design to that of the small pod that had brought Takashi back to Earth a year earlier.
As they approached a large set of double doors, Colleen heard voices from the other side, slightly muffled. Most of them were ones she recognized from the security footage she'd stolen from the Garrison's computers or from the battle transmissions they'd listened to on the radio during the drive here.
"So how long are the repairs going to take?"
"Several rotations, I believe, before the worst damage is repaired sufficiently to survive a wormhole journey."
"That's good, it gives us some time to spend with our families before we have to leave again."
"And just enough time to completely screw up our sleep schedules again." Her heart skipped a beat as she heard that particular voice, so painfully familiar to her even after over a year. "The ship's day isn't matched up with where we are right now, and I wouldn't be surprised if they're different lengths, too."
She couldn't wait any longer. Lengthening her stride, Colleen brushed past Coran to get the the large doors, which slid smoothly open in front of her. Her entrance interrupted the discussion between several people clad in white armor with coloured accents, and a few others in odd-looking tunics, one of whom had the same pointed ears and colourful facial markings as Coran, all of whom turned to look at her. Then one of them, a small ginger-haired figure in green-accented armor, broke away from the group and sprinted towards her. "Mom!"
"Katie!" She just managed to get her arms up in time to catch Katie as her daughter barrelled into her hard enough to knock the wind out of her. Her arms wrapped tightly around the teenager even as smaller ones wound themselves around her middle. "Oh my god, Katiebug!" Colleen managed to draw in a shaky breath and buried her face in the mop of messy hair, not caring one bit that it was sweaty and tangled or that she was dampening it further with long-withheld tears. She had her daughter back, safe and sound. She could feel the energy and life in her, subtly different from when she'd last held her nearly two years ago before her madcap scheme to infiltrate the Garrison but still familiar nonetheless, and she nearly sobbed in relief.
Katie was laughing through tears as she clutched at her. "Holy shit, Mom, I can't believe you're here! I missed you so much!" Bright amber eyes shone as the younger looked up at her, beaming fit to split her face in two. She looked different as well, more mature and confident than Colleen remembered. She'd grown in more ways than one.
"That makes two of us sweetheart." Colleen whispered through tears of her own as she placed a firm kiss to her daughter's forehead. She couldn't have let go of her if she tried, right now. Despite the storm of emotions running wild through them both, Colleen could see the confidence and feel Katie's independence even more strongly than before, and it sent a pang of regret through her that her daughter had grown up, and she hadn't been able to witness it. Holding her again was as happy as it was bittersweet. As she glanced up, she caught sight of another messy ginger head among the variously teary or grinning faces watching their reunion. Matt was tucked against Takashi's side, watching them with a fond smile on his face and tears on his cheeks, and Colleen's eyes widened.
If the changes in Katie were subtle, the ones in her son were pronounced. Most obvious was the set of parallel scars-claw marks?-slicing diagonally across the left side of his face, and the fogged-over eye on that side. But there were other changes too. Stress lines around his eyes, making him look older than he should. An uprightness in his bearing, all youthful awkwardness left behind. And when Takashi put a hand on his back to give him a gentle push toward her, he limped-limped!-in a way that suggested the limitation was something he was well used to and that sent waves of pain through her heart and left her fighting against the urge to run forward and simply scoop him into her arms. Somehow, despite studying the images of Takashi with his metal prosthetic, the scar across his face, and the shock of scar-whitened hair, it had never occurred to her that any of her family might be similarly changed, and the reality left her momentarily reeling. Whatever had happened up there, neither of her children were the same as they'd been when they left. They weren't children anymore.
There was a hesitance in his gait as he approached that had nothing to do with the limp, and as soon as he was within reach she freed an arm from Katie's shoulders and stepped forward to pull him tightly into her arms as well. He immediately buried his face in her shoulder and she pressed a soft kiss to the side of his head as she felt him trembling against her, hands fisting in the back of her shirt. Katie had obviously felt the same thing, letting go of Colleen with one arm to wrap around his waist in silent comfort.
"Sh, I've got you, baby. You're okay." Her voice shook with relief at having her son back in her arms, and she stroked his hair gently, drawing comfort from the familiar sensation and trying to give comfort in return. The passing of time had barely put a scratch on the grief of losing her oldest child, and then when Katie also went missing… Colleen contained the sobs that threatened to break free. Even after the discovery that Takashi had survived, she'd been left to wonder helplessly about the fate of the other two crew members. But now, thank god, she had her answer, at least for one of them.
As if sensing her thoughts, Matt pulled back slightly, his one remaining amber eye bright with unshed tears. Colleen tried not to look at the other too much yet. "I'm sorry, Mom." He whispered hoarsely. He wouldn't meet her eyes, keeping his head stiffly forward and a sharp stab of pain went through her heart. She couldn't help feeling that she knew what was coming. "Dad is...Dad's gone. I tried, Mom. I swear I tried to protect him." The raw guilt in his voice was agonizing to listen to. How long had he been carrying it inside him? "I'm so sorry."
Lifting her other arm from Katie's shoulders, she pulled her son tightly back against her, hugging him with all the strength and love she could give her battered child. "I know, Matt. It's okay. You did your best." Fresh tears ran down her cheeks, the wetness of her voice surprising her, and Colleen could feel him shuddering as he finally gave in to his emotions and cried, his voice rising and falling erratically as he hid his face against her the way he used to when he was younger. "What matters right now is that you and Katie are safe. You're safe, and you're here, and I've got both of you back." Reaching out for a moment, she tugged her daughter closer again, where she could hold them both tightly and reassure both herself and them that they were back where they belonged.
Deep down, she thought she'd always known that Sam would not be coming home, although she couldn't have known then why her heart had ached the last time she kissed him goodbye at the launchpad before he disappeared into the Persephone's open hatch. The absence of his voice among those being broadcast from the battle above had only confirmed that lingering feeling deep in her gut. But she could live with that, as much as it broke heart heart that their family could never be the same again. She had her children back, and while she knew they had taken a long and painful journey to come back to her, right now the fact they were safe in her arms was all that mattered.