6. Fall of the Yalmor

"Thank the ancients, you're back!" Allura cried as Hunk and Lance entered the bridge. "Slav was driving me insane. Did you find it?"

"Yep," said Hunk, "but the Alteans will be looking for us now. Any news on Team A?"

"Um, excuse me," said Lance, "we're Team A. Any news on Red? I'm picking up a strong vibe he could be on that mermaid planet."

"Sure you are," said Keith, walking in with Pidge and Lotor.

"Where's Haggar?" asked Lotor.

Lance looked at Hunk.

"She sacrificed herself so we could make it out," Hunk said quietly.

"I see," said Lotor. "Then I truly am the last."

"Lotor, I am so sorry…" said Allura, holding his shoulder.

"I'm a little shaken myself," said Lance. "We really bonded over scaring the living quiznak out of me."

"Dude," said Hunk.

"Her sacrifice will not be in vain," said Keith.

"Perhaps reforming Voltron is a mistake," said Lotor.

"It's not," said Hunk, linking to the main screen. "I found a recording in Yellow."

"...are watching this, then Yellow has chosen you," said a bear-like alien with thick black braids. "Alfor was right, we should have hidden Voltron when we had the chance. We thought we were defending the universe from Zarkon, but then Alric destroyed Feyiv..."

"If this was meant to dissuade me…" said Lotor.

"There's more," said Hunk.

"...murder of billions. Allura took our bayards, but we vowed she would never take our wolves. Voltron is only as good as its pilots, and my generation failed you. Do not make the same mistake."

"Voltron wasn't admiring the planet's destruction," said Hunk. "The team was tearing itself apart over what Alric had just done. Don't trust the machine, trust the pilots."

Lotor looked like he didn't trust either at the moment.

"Why is one of the stasis pods occupied?" asked Allura, checking the console.

"Oh," Hunk said sheepishly, "that's alternate Shay. Can she crash with us?"

"Oh, you mean let-me-sic-a-giant-Altean-on-you Shay, that Shay?" said Lance.

"She was hokked!" said Hunk.

"Hunk, buddy," said Lance, "you can't go around kidnapping your alternate crushes. This isn't a love boat. But we could make…" He started to wink at Allura, stopped half way. "Nope, new Lance is gonna let that perfect setup slide."

"The hero we need," said Keith.

"Ryner said hoktrils can be disabled with an electric current," said Pidge, holding up the damaged override.

"Great, let's zap'er!" said Hunk.

"I'd like to run some tests with Slav before frying anyone's brain," said Pidge.

"Right," said Hunk, "that's probably sensible."

Alarms blared across the bridge.

"Battlestations!" cried Hunk.

"It's not the Fleet," said Allura, checking the console. "There's someone at the main hatch."

"The bridge is full as it is," whined Lance. "This isn't the Castle."

The main screen showed two female Alteans.

"Well, maybe we can fit the pink one," said Lance.

#

"I don't know we can trust Alteans," said Keith, reaching the hatch.

Allura looked at him.

"You know what I mean," said Keith. "The alternate Alteans."

"So altereans?" quipped Lance. "They don't look too dangerous."

"You're saying that because they're cute," said Keith.

"Aha," said Lance, "so you agree! Besides, isn't it our duty as paladins to help those in need?"

"Have you learned nothing from Nyma?" said Keith. "Ten GACs says their flaxum assembly's shot."

"Try to look professional," said Allura, opening the hatch. "Greetings!"

"You guys Imperials?" asked the pink-skinned Altean. "You look like fine enough to be royalty."

"Who, me?" Allura squeaked. "Not at all. I'm just All… ow," she finished as Keith elbowed her.

"Thank the ancients, All-ow," said the Altean. "We're not exactly up to date on our tax returns. Altean bureaucracy, amiright?"

Allura blinked.

"Anyway," said the Altean, "I'm Ezor, and my brooding companion's Acxa."

The blue-skinned Altean nodded.

"Thankfully," said Ezor, "I speak more than enough for both of us."

"Nice to meet you," said Lance. "I'm Lance, and our brooding companion's Keith."

Keith frowned.

"Pleasure," said Ezor. "We crash-landed a few quintants ago, thought for sure we were gonna share the fate of that weird relic - and without decent conversation! Our whole flaxum assembly's shot."

"How unfortunate," said Keith, looking significantly at Lance.

Happens all the time, Lance mouthed back.

"We must have missed your distress signal," said Allura.

"Coms are shot too," said Ezor. "Look, I know things are tough for everyone out here, but we could really use your help."

Keith started shaking his head.

"Of course!" said Lance. "Please come in."

#

"Hunk?" Allura said over coms. "Could you give our guests a hand with their ship?"

"Sure," said Hunk. "As soon as I finish helping Pidge and Slav with this override thingy… ow!"

"I said clear!" Pidge cried in the background.

"And I said I'm on coms!" Hunk shouted back.

"Why are you even working with electricity barefoot?"

"I like the feel of the cool plating," said Hunk.

"I'll ask them to wait a bit," said Allura. "Have you seen Lotor?"

"I think he's in his room," said Hunk. "He's not doing too good."

"I'll talk to him," said Allura.

"Maybe he needs some alone time," Lance said quickly.

Allura thought about it. "I'll knock. Can you two entertain our guests?"

"Sure," said Lance. "I'll take them on a tour."

"That would be wonderful," said Ezor.

"You've only known the ship for quintants," said Allura.

"I know the Castle," said Lance. "Seen one Altean relic, seen'em all."

"Think I'll skip the grand tour," said Keith, stretching. "Need to catch up on my workout."

"Mind if I join?" said Acxa, surprising everyone.

"Um, sure," said Keith.

"I do my workouts in the morning," Lance told Ezor, flexing.

"Really?" said Keith. "I've never seen you there."

"Yep, minimum seven quintants a movement," said Lance. "Wait, how many quintants is a movement?"

#

Keith led Acxa to a makeshift training room, a lone sentry in the middle. She immediately charged.

"It's okay," said Keith, "it's an ancient model. All… I mean, Allow helped us repurpose it for training."

Acxa relaxed.

"It's currently set to level two," said Keith, handing her a bo staff. "But we can lower it if you'd…"

Acxa parried the sentry's strike, swept it off its feet, pressed the staff against its neck. "Like that?"

"Yeah," said Keith, smiling. "That'll do."

#

"So this is a hallway," said Lance. "We got a bunch of these around here."
"Fascinating," said Ezor. "And that?"

"Oh, that's one of the rooms," said Lance. "We got a bunch of those too."

The hatch opened onto the bridge.

"The bridge-room, I mean," he added. "That's what we call it. Bit of techno-jargon for ya. This is where we hang out, make decisions about the universe. Keith's technically the leader, but it's more of a horizontal, collaborative leadership, really. I'm his right hand. Or at least I used to be, now I'm more of a right foot, know what I mean?"

Ezor nodded, duly impressed.

#

Keith wiped sweat from his brow, exhilarated. He'd never made it to level four before, and he'd never fought this much in sync - not even with Shiro. They danced a three-way waltz around the gladiator. Acxa knocked the sword from its hand, giving him an opening.

Keith jumped, dodged the now predictable backswing, struck the sentry squarely in the back. It collapsed, defeated.

"We did it!" he cried, slamming his staff on the ground.

The room was empty.

"Acxa?"

#

"That's a huge crystal," said Ezor, gazing at the ceiling.

"Oh, it's average," Lance said modestly. "Probably taken from a Balmera kilophoebs ago. I don't wanna bore you with the technical details, but it provides all the juice around here."

"Lance," said Keith, out of breath, "have you seen Acxa?"

"Didn't come through here," said Lance.

"Don't let this one out of your sight," said Keith, running off.

"Not a problem," said Lance, smiling.

#

Acxa stared up at the Black Wolf in the Galra wreck.

"That's not yours," said Keith, walking up behind her.

"Who's is it then?" said Acxa, not turning. "If you were able to, I think you would've taken it by now." She reached out to the particle barrier. "Perhaps it is waiting for a better pilot."

"No!"

Acxa chuckled. "Don't worry, I've already tried, I'm not the one. Your girlfriend's safe. She'll be Hira's problem soon."

"Are you hokked?" said Keith. "How can you support what they're doing?"

"A noncog could be instructed to lie," said Acxa, "but no, I'm not hokked. Sapping the will tends to dull proactivity and creative thinking, qualities Alteans value in a commander, even a hybrid one. Believe it or not, some people don't need to be hokked into supporting the Empire."

"Brainwashing people is wrong," said Keith.

"Yes," said Acxa, "so is famine, war, disease. You must have lived a very sheltered life if you can picture no worse arrangement than what the Empire offers."

"You must have lived a very hopeless one if you can picture none better," said Keith.

Acxa was silent.

"You failed," said Keith, manifesting his sword. "Your diversion at the ship didn't work, you didn't capture the wolf, I won't let you alert the Fleet."

A distant explosion rocked the wreck.

"The ship wasn't the diversion," said Acxa. "This was. The Fleet's already on its way."

"Keith, where are you?" Allura said over coms. "There was an explosion at the bridge, the ship's lost power, wormholes are opening up everywhere."

"I'm at the wreck," said Keith. "I'm on my way."

Acxa blocked his way with the gladiator sword. "Another dance?"

#

"Lance!" cried Allura, spraying extinguishing foam over the bridge.

"Why, Allura," coughed Lance, "one would almost think you cared."

"Of course I do," she said, annoyed. "You have a tendency to injure yourself in this kind of thing. Where's Ezor?"

"She disappeared," said Lance.

"People don't just disappear.

"Well she did," said Lance, "I swear!"

"Oh no," said Allura. "The crystal's ruined."

"Any chance there's a Balmera nearby?"

"There's no time," said Allura. "The Fleet will be here any dobosh."

Lotor entered the bridge. "I may have a solution."

#

Acxa slammed Keith against the barrier, her face inches from his.

"I've seen you do better," she said. "Worried about your friends? Attachment will only make you weak."

The hull trembled as the giant mech howled, eyes aglow.

"My friends make me stronger," said Keith, sliding through the barrier.

Acxa saluted with her sword. "The wolf has chosen. I wonder if you'll be luckier than your predecessor." She ran off.

"Sorry for the delay," Keith said over coms. "Black's online."

"Great," Lance said from Blue. "If this reality's anything like ours, Red could be waiting inside one of those ships."

"That looks like a lot of ships," Pidge said from Green. "I don't like our odds."

"Can't we form Voltron without Red?" Hunk said from Yellow. "That's still like 80% Voltron."

"Hey," said Lance, "Red is at least 30%!"

"We're not forming partial Voltron," said Keith. "I'm flying up to meet you, we need to buy enough time for Allura to get the ship back online."

"Wait," said Lotor.

"Who gave him a communicator?" grumbled Lance.

"You must extract the Galra crystal and bring it to the ship," said Lotor. "It's the only way."

"Just putting it out there," said Hunk, "last time we did that we got attacked by food goo."

"Exactly," Allura said from the bridge. "You are not connecting a Galra crystal to my ship."

"Our chances of surviving with the crystal are many times greater than without it," said Slav. "Mainly because they're so small to begin with."

"Everyone gets a communicator, apparently," said Lance.

"Please, Allura," said Lotor.

Everyone waited.

Allura sighed. "Do it."

#

Keith and Slav burst into the bridge, purple crystal in tow.

"Help me connect the power conduits," said Lotor. "Anything?"

"It feels wrong," Allura said from the control platform.

"Let me try," said Lotor, touching the pylon.

The Yalmor lit up in purple and started rising from the ground.

"Alright!" Lance cried over the coms. "Wolves are back in the cargo hold. Let's get outta here."

"Incoming transmission," said Pidge.

"Attention rebels," said Acxa. "Surrender or be destroyed."

"Good luck catching us," said Keith. "Hit it!"

Nothing happened.

"Perhaps I will," smirked Acxa, signing off.

"Guys?" said Lance.

"The wormhole's not opening," said Allura, holding a pylon. "Tell me how to operate the crystal!"

"That would take years of study at war college," said Lotor, holding the other. "Tell me how to operate the teludav!"

"That would take even more years at the royal academy!" cried Allura.

"They're powering up ion cannons," said Pidge.

"Guys," said Lance, "I hate to be the voice of reason here."

"But?" said Keith.

"No buts," said Lance, "just expressing the sentiment."

"You need to work together!" cried Hunk.

Allura and Lotor looked at each other. Allura held out her hand, Lotor took it.

A purple wormhole burst open.