Chapter 26: The Coalition:
Shirogane Bridge
Kuiper Belt
March 24th, 2841
Keith couldn't keep the smile off his face as Shiro gave that big speech to the 11th Fleet. There were some things that Shiro wasn't going to make public, but he at least covered the bare bones of what the crew members of the Classis Plutus needed to know to understand how the Shirogane's namesake had arrived in the Society from 21st Century Earth. With how quickly the tide had turned in their favor here aboard the flagship, it looked like Shiro's faith wasn't so unrealistic after all. The other ships probably won't be as quick to join the rebellion, the more cycnical side of his mind whispered. But he pointedly ignored those whispers and let his brother enjoy the moment.
He blinked at the thought. He had long seen Shiro as a big brother, but he'd never really articulated it like that before, not even to himself. But when it came down to it they were brothers, in every way except biology. Shiro had been there for Keith for more than four years before Kerberos. After years of bouncing from Foster Home to Foster Home, getting into the garrison under Shiro's mentorship had been the first source of stability he'd had in his life since his dad died.
His train of thought was knocked off course when the ship rocked, and a rattling boom reverberated through the bridge. Keith stumbled as he struggled to regain his footing. Shouts echoed as the rest of the main body of rebels got their balance back.
"What was that!?" Keith exclaimed as the room stopped shaking, only for another blast to rock the bridge.
"Railgun fire from the dreadnaught Alexandria," one of the Blues called up from the command pit. "Forty percent of the fleet appears to remain in enemy hands."
"We'll have to take those command ships the old-fashioned way," Shiro commented. "What have we got in our hangars that can fly?" While the bridge officers listed out the numbers of ripWings, leechCraft, and torchShips on board, Keith analyzed the holographic maps floating on the bridge. So much for an instant conversion, Keith thought to himself. Now it looked as if they were going to have to fight tooth and nail to take control of the rest of the Classis Plutus. Keith had studied contemporary tactics. He knew that this was about to become a war of boarding parties. LeechCraft launched from the remaining enemy ships by the hundreds, headed to retake the vessels the rebellion had just captured.
The Sons of Ares' com channel was on fire with squad leaders requesting instructions. Shiro was quickly being pulled in too many directions at once, rebel commanders on the com in one ear, and the Shirogane's bridge crew in the other, each looking to the great Takashi Shirogane for direction. But Shiro couldn't coordinate the rebel forces on other ships and command this one at the same time. Keith didn't like being in the role of the leader, but for Shiro's sake, he could stomach it for a short time.
"Open up our mid-range guns," the Red Paladin ordered as he turned to the gunBlues. "Focus on defense. Captain Seido, I want every Obsidian on the ship with experience in Zero-G to suit up and report to the spitTubes in Hangar Bay Alpha." Shiro's recollections of how the Reaper of Mars captured the Pax drifted to the forefront of Keith's mind. If they could get enough people to repeat that trick, they might be able to capture one or two more warships for the rebellion before the enemy vessels adjusted their defenses.
"And why should we gorydamn trust you?" a Blue down in the control pits called out.
"Because he's my brother," Shiro snapped. "In every way but blood. He's as good a pilot as I am, if not better. I have fought beside him for months and I trust him with my life. I expect everyone here to treat him as you would me. Is that understood?"
"YES SIR!" the remaining Blues shouted. The lone complainer still looked skeptical, but grudgingly nodded. Keith felt nervous. Leading Voltron was one thing. They all knew each other, had fought alongside each other, and were intimately aware of their lion's capabilities. By contrast, he'd had a week of study in the tactics and specifications of Aureate fleet warfare, and the only people on this ship who really knew him were too busy with their own roles in the battle to provide support. Don't think about that, he told himself. Shiro is trusting you to command this ship so he can coordinate the battle. So let's do this.
Warships on both sides opened fire with their mid-range artillery, massive barrages of twenty-kilogram munitions careening through space at Mach eight. Flak shield' bloomed over the enemy formation as the ships still loyal to the Society drifted together to shore up each other's defenses. Amid both clusters of ships, PulseShields throbbed iridescent blue as munitions cracked into them and careened off into space. Metal shredded metal, as ships vented oxygen and men. But these ships were built to take a beating. Keith had studied as much of the military technology of the Society as he could before they left Mars. Each warship was a huge hulk of metal subdivided into thousands of interlocking honeycombed compartments designed to isolate breaches and prevent ships from venting after a single hit. After spending so much time in Altean castles and Galra warships capable of faster-than-light travel, standing on the bridge of the Shirogane was a sobering reminder for Keith of the sheer scale of space combat. The smallest corvettes were each four hundred meters long. TorchShips were half a kilometer. Three hundred kilometers separated the rebel ships from the enemy formation. That kind of distance would have barely noticeable in the Galra fighter they'd left behind on Kerberos. Wouldn't have even registered aboard the Castle of Lions. But here, on a warship that took months at top speed to travel distances that a Voltron lion could cover in seconds, Keith was reminded of how large these battles really were.
From there, the battle proceeded apace, with Shiro periodically calling out orders for Keith to change targets or adjust his field of fire as the 11th Fleet Flagship bore down on the enemy formation. After fifteen minutes of ship-to-ship combat, a new alarm pierced the cacophonic shell of klaxons and a message box flashed on the bridge's battle display. Unlike the collision alarms from the incoming missiles of enemy ships, the warnings for this alert were blinking far more urgently.
"Dom- I mean… Sir!" one of the comBlues shouted over the roar of the alarm. "Our probes have detected multiple unidentified objects entering our solar system."
"Meaning…?" Tactus interjected.
"It means we've got alien ships incoming!" Keith shouted to be heard over the blaring klaxons. It seemed that the rest of the other ships of the 11th Fleet were getting similar alerts, because the streams of enemy missiles and boarding craft stopped in their tracks, and impact alarms began to die off as both sides waited, holding their breaths to see what would happen. Sure enough, a moment later, large glowing circle opened in the middle of space at the edge of the fleet's perimeter. Everyone else on the bridge stood in confusion, but Keith and Shiro recognized a wormhole created by an Altean Teludav.
Right on cue, five ships of Altean design, the smallest of which was equal in size with the Shirogane, emerged from the wormhole and sailed up to the edge of the Kuiper Belt. Keith's com crackled in his ear as other squad leaders such as Evey, Fenix, and Wulfgar called requesting instructions for how to proceed.
"Orders, sir?" the ship's gunners asked from their stations in the command pit.
"Hold your fire," Shiro muttered. The Blues looked at him like they were suddenly unsure of his judgement but complied. Keith quickly relayed the order to the rebel forces on other ships. "I recognize that tech," Shiro went on. "They might be friendly. Open a hailing frequency."
"Attention unknown vessels," the Black Paladin began. "This is Takashi Shirogane of the 11th Fleet. Please identify yourselves."
In response, a holographic image appeared as the possibly-Altean fleet responded. As the signal connected, a familiar insignia appeared in the air over the communications terminal, one that Keith and Shiro both recognized. It was the same emblem that adorned the back of the Green Lion's shield. Hovering in a circle beside the insignia was text that Keith could clearly identify as Altean. He hadn't really tried learning the written language the way Pidge had, but he'd picked up enough of what Pidge had learned during his training with the Blade – before he'd left the team, he reminded himself - to recognize what those two words meant. Voltron Coalition. The sound of Shiro sucking in a deep gasp of breath clued him in that his fellow Paladin recognized the symbol too. Even if he couldn't read the text.
Finally, the transmission finished buffering, and a new hologram shimmered in the air to replace the insignia. A thousand questions raced through Keith's mind, just as he was sure they were racing through Shiro's. But in that instant, he could only focus on one. Why was the Coalition here? The question was soon answered when the holo solidified into the form of an armored woman with dark skin and pure white hair. She looked older, more whethered and battle hardened, but there was no way either Paladin of Voltron wouldn't recognize their princess and friend.
"Allura?" Keith gasped. "But… what… how…" New questions added themselves to the flood inside his head as he tried to process the fact that Allura was here. Intellectually, he knew that Alteans were a long-lived species. Hunk had told everyone about Coran's claims of being over six hundred years old. But somehow since ending up in this era, it had never occurred to him, nor to Shiro, that out of all their friends, Allura could conceivably still be alive in this time. Not that my coms or Shiro's Paladin armor would have had the range to reach the Castle of Lions anyway, he thought regretfully. Before his thoughts could go any farther down the rabbit hole, Allura's voice interrupted him.
"It is a long story," the Altean princess replied with a smile. "I'll fill you in later. Which ships still haven't been taken yet?" Keith's brain felt like a record that just had the needle scratch in the middle of playing it. She knew what we'd be doing? He thought to himself.
"I'm sorry, what?" he blurted out before he'd had a chance to think through his response. Shiro and Tactus glanced back at him incredulously, although they looked far less upset than the communications officer, who looked like he was ready to strangle Keith for bungling what the man saw as humanity's first contact with an alien civilization.
"When you returned from this era, you told me I'd arrive in time to help you take this 11th Fleet," she answered. "So here I am." Keith blinked, stunned at her admission, even as her words filled him with hope at the realization that he and Shiro were guaranteed to make it back to their own time.
"We're glad you're here, Princess," Shiro replied. As he spoke, he pulled up the tactical data for the battle that had been raging mere minutes agao. "I assume since you knew to come here that I left – or from our perspective, will leave – you with communications tech that's compatible with contemporary systems?"
"Precisely," Allura confirmed with a nod. "We've kept it in good shape over the last eight centuries. No need to send the information over. Just make sure you still have it when you go back to your original era."
"Okay," Shiro commented. "I'll keep that foreknowledge in mind. In the meantime, we need to hijack the enemy ships with minimal casualties, but we don't have the manpower for prolonged boarding parties."
"You're fortunate that I came prepared then," the princess replied, then turned to address someone on her own ship. "Romelle, launch all pods."
And the Cavalry has arrived. With how long Altean livespans are (Coran, by his own admission in "Tears of the Balmera" is over 600 years old), it's not inconceivable to believe that Allura would still be alive in this time period.