Just a head's up that there's going to be a graphic description of mutilated dead bodies this chapter. I'm really earning the M rating this time. You have been warned.

Chapter 14: Best Laid Plans:

Corinth

Mars

March 16th, 2841

"Glad to see you made it through," Tactus said when they finally came up for air. Shiro blushed as he caught sight of Keith's teasing smirk.

"Likewise," he replied, shaking his head to focus back on the task at hand. "What's the situation here in Corinth?"

"Drawing out," Tactus sighed, gesturing for the two Paladins to follow him. "We've taken most of the city, but Lune's forces still control the spaceport. We've set up camp a few districts over from here, so this was where some of the fighting was has been fiercest. I daresay your arrival tipped the balance and distracted the pixies long enough for us to drive them out of this sector."

"Good thing we got here in time, then," Shiro commented as he threaded his fingers through Tactus'.

"My thoughts exactly," the Golden man replied as he led them through the bombed-out warzone of Corinth's streets toward the Sons of Ares' command center. Explosions detonated off in the distance as they treaded carefully through the city's streets and alleyways. The smoking husks of abandoned aircars burned along the central boulevard, while bodies lined their path, people on both sides mutilated in every way imaginable by the high-tech warfare of 29th Century humanity. The city sewers were backed up and overflowing with a nauseating blend of blood, body parts, and human waste. As Tactus explained while they walked, the loyalists had attempted to seize control of the city's municipal buildings, only to kill the engineers and sanitation works responsible for maintaining control of critical functions like power, plumbing and sanitation in their fanatic zeal to hold the city.

"We're making progress, though," Tactus continued as the group crossed to the other side of the narrow alley to avoid stepping on the body of a young Green. As they walked past, Shiro couldn't help but take in the sight of the girl slumped against the wall behind her, her face almost completely melted from the extreme heat of a pulseFist blast. Her right arm, shoulder, and a sizeable chunk of her ribcage were gone, leaving nothing behind but a meaty cavity overflowing with blood. In the corner of his eye he saw a dead Gold lying a few feet further down the alley with a clean bullet wound between the man's eyes. But what horrified the Black Paladin the most was the realization of just how young this poor girl was.

She looks almost the same age as Pidge, he thought to himself, fighting the urge to dry heave onto the pavement. Maybe younger. He stopped when he was in front of her and knelt. Hodling back tears, he reached forward and closed her eyes, offering a silent prayer that the girl's spirit would find peace.

Shiro didn't know if he really believed in any higher power. His grandfather had tried to instill a sense of faith and spirituality in him when he was younger, but Shiro had never really taken to it. He'd clung to a few prayers when he and the Holts were first taken from Kerberos, finding comfort in the familiar to keep himself going. But the longer the living hell of his captivity had dragged on, the less faith he had in anything. Even after being rescued by Ulaz and everything that had come after, he still doubted. But now, he clung to his grandfather's beliefs like a drowning man. It was the only thing keeping him sane amid the chaos and bloodshed around him. He had thought he'd seen the worst of Aureate warfare three weeks ago during the Siege of Mars. Even Whitehold and his escape from the Triumph hadn't been as bad as the landmine spikes Darrow had used on Europa. But arriving in Corinth made him realize that all the violence he'd seen had only been the tip of the iceberg.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he felt hands on his forearm and shoulders. He looked up to see Keith and Tactus each with a hand on one of his shoulders, while the Red Paladin's other hand was on Shiro's datapad, having just turned off the pulseShield embedded in his armor. Shiro took a deep breath as he got back to his feet. Tactus had seen plenty of horror at the Institute. Shiro could only imagine the kind of horrors Keith had seen that let him keep a stoic expression on his face at the sight of something like this. But considering he'd found his friend wearing a Blade of Marmora uniform, he could probably guess.

Pushing those thoughts aside for now, he nodded to let them know he'd be alright before reactivating his armor's shields. The armored column resumed its march toward the rebel command post through the war-torn city streets. They passed dozens more bodies on their way, and Shiro did his best to avert his gaze. He needed to stay focused on the goal.

Finally, they arrived at the rebel command center inside an abandoned warehouse in the middle of one of the city's midColor districts. Even during this lull in the fighting, the makeshift base was a beehive of activity divided into four main sections.

"What's our status?" Tactus asked as they reached the makeshift war room.

"Quiet for now, dom- sir." The Violet answered, hastily correcting herself from using the honorific used by other Colors to address their Gold masters. Tactus had told Shiro on the way how most of the new volunteers were still getting used to not having to use the term. "We're at a stalemate right now. Terranova's arrival gave us the momentum to take the rest of the districts, but now the loyalists have barricaded themselves inside the spaceport. We've repelled their attempts to claim the other districts, and they've shot down any who try to get inside the spaceport. Now that we control most of the city, volunteers are being dispatched to repair municipal services and recover the bodies of the fallen."

"Good," Shiro commented before he glanced at Tactus. "Do you have a plan for getting inside the spaceport?"

"I was hoping you'd have one," Tactus commented. "You know me, love. You and Reaper are the ones who write the music, I just play it." He smirked at that, and the Black Paladin couldn't help but chuckle at the reference. Since his family had cut him off, Tactus was almost completely unrecognizable from the sardonic hedonist Shiro had met six months ago on Luna. He still teased his friends, but there was a warmth and affection that hadn't been there before, and the others were noticing it as well. None of them had completely forgiven Tactus for his betrayal on Luna, but they were slowly starting to come around.

"Well," Shiro replied, bringing himself back to the task at hand. "First I need to know how heavily defended the spaceport is. Are there any entrances that they don't have guarded?"

"Just the air vents," the Violet in charge of the base answered. "The slavers learned their lesson from their attack on the sewage plant. They're not going to jeopardize critical systems unless absolutely necessary."

"How small are the vents?" Shiro asked, memories of old movies and tv shows giving him ideas for how to get inside. "Could a person fit in one of them?" The woman frowned for a moment before checking her datapad.

"Obsidians and the commander here are too big. Reds and Pinks might fit. Maybe some of the Browns if we're lucky." She paused and gestured to Keith. "Your friend there would fit. If we can get someone, maybe even a small team, in through the vents, they could plant a few landmine spikes as a diversion to draw their attention away from the main entrance and open the doors, then our troops can storm the spaceport." Shiro paled as he turned to look at Keith, images of all the things that could go wrong flashing through his mind. What she was asking him to do….

"I'll do it," Keith interjected, snapping Shiro out of his thoughts. "I'll get inside and open up the entrance." The Black Paladin immediately remembered the last time Keith had volunteered for a similar infiltration six months ago (from his perspective at least. Keith still hadn't gone into detail on how much time had passed for Voltron after his disappearance).

"Keith…" Shiro began, but his friend cut him off.

"Shiro," Keith said. "I've done this before. You know I can do this." Shiro bit his lip and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to steady himself. He wanted so badly to tell Keith no, to tell him to stay back at the base where he'd be safe. But he knew that there was no good option here. The base was just as likely to be attacked by loyalist reinforcements. Keith was no safer here than he'd be at the spaceport. And Keith was right, this was almost exactly like the time he'd infiltrated Zarkon's central command months ago. And Shiro had agreed then because he knew that it was Keith's choice, and he trusted his friend's judgement.

But being thrown into the future had left Shiro unbalanced. He'd spent months in a pit of self-loathing over his inability to do anything significant about the oppression he saw happening around him daily. He'd hated himself for putting his cover over doing what was right, never mind that exposing himself would have gotten Mustang killed and himself dissected, leaving Darrow and the rebellion worse off than they were now. He'd gotten over most of it when he found out Darrow's secret and started helping Tactus with his own issues, but the guilt still lingered. Not to mention the fact that the last four months had been nothing but war and politics, and the long voyages between planets had been wearing down on him, a constant reminder of all that he'd lost when he'd been thrown forward to this era.

And then he found out that Keith was here too, and suddenly he felt stable again, having an anchor to ground him. All Shiro had left of his past was his Paladin armor, and now Keith. But seeing the mutilated corpses in back alleys all over Corinth made Shiro realize just how easy it was to lose his best friend again. At least when they were fighting Zarkon's empire they had a general idea of what they were facing. But Aureate warfare was brutal and unpredictable. There was no telling if Keith would even survive long enough to complete the mission.

"I know you can," Shiro finally said. "But I'm still coming with you. We're Paladins of Voltron, Keith. We either win together or die together." Keith looked conflicted for a moment. Shiro imagined his friend was torn between frustration at seemingly not being trusted, and relief that he'd at least have someone familiar watching his back. It only lasted for a few seconds before Keith nodded his head.

"Fair enough," Keith replied. Shiro almost jumped when a loud clap interrupted them.

"Glad that's settled then," Tactus interjected. "I'll bring you two some scarabSkin and ghostCloaks, then we'll go over the route before you go." Shiro nodded and gave his boyfriend a hug before he and Keith turned and headed over to the side of the warehouse where all the weapons were being stored. As they walked, he leaned in towards Keith.

"It's not that I don't trust you," he whispered. "It's just that I don't want to risk losing you like this. Gold warfare is a whole different playing field compared to fighting Zarkon's empire, and other than Tactus, you're all I have left."

"I get it," Keith commented. "I just still feel weird about you stepping in like that." Shiro frowned. His brow furrowed in confusion. Stepping in… he thought to himself. What is he talking about?

"What do you mean?" the Black Paladin asked. Keith looked nervous, like he wasn't sure whether he should tell Shiro or not.

"It's a long story," Keith finally answered. Shiro raised an eyebrow.

"We've got a few minutes," Shiro noted as he removed the pulseFist from his left arm and started removing his pulseArmor piece by piece. For a few minutes, the warehouse was silent but for the sounds of wounded rebels being tended to in the makeshift triage tent in the middle of the warehouse. After a few minutes of swapping out their weapons for gear better suited for a stealth mission, the younger Paladin broke the silence.

"A few weeks after our battle with Zarkon," Keith began, taking a deep breath. "We found an abandoned Galra fighter drifting through space… with you inside."

Yes, the chapter title is a reference to the penultimate episode of Voltron Season 2. I was originally going to call this chapter "Lull", but when I decided to include that bit at the end and realized the parallels to the episode in question, I decided to go with a more meaningful chapter title.