The lions docked in the unified bay and when Shiro jumped out of his cockpit he found Lance waiting for him.
"What happened out there?" He rose an eyebrow inquisitively, and he had a tinge of irritation in his expression, though he seemed to manage to hide it from his tone. "We formed Voltron and then you just…blanked out."
"I…I don't know." Shiro looked down at his Galra arm. The foreign prosthetic was already a threat. How would they react to knowing it was suddenly causing him spontaneous excruciating pain now? "My arm started to hurt and I couldn't focus…"
"Your arm?" Pidge ogled the Galra tech. "Is this the first time it's happened?"
"I think it happened last night, but never before that." He couldn't hide the concern in his voice as he flexed his fingers. "I'm sorry."
"It doesn't matter what went wrong." Allura pulled off her helmet and was headed for the door as soon as she was out of her lion. "We have to focus on helping the people of Yianus now."
"Yes, and a good start would be to actually implement your 'defender of the universe' title, now wouldn't it?" Lotor followed behind her with a sneer and earned himself five glares in return.
Shiro frowned and followed suit with Pidge close beside him as she occasionally prodded his arm.
Lance lingered behind and Hunk hung back with him, clearly reading the agitation on his face. "You okay, man?"
"I dunno, dude. I just…can't figure out why Shiro doesn't want to listen to me." Lance crossed his arms as he peered up at his Red lion. "If we hadn't formed Voltron and had stayed separate, we could have overwhelmed those ships and broken through that shield. We could have saved that planet, but Shiro didn't want to listen."
"You're probably right, but it was true that Voltron had the most firepower, and we didn't know they would gang up on us like that." Hunk plucked off his helmet and tucked it under his arm.
"Yeah, but it's not just this time. Back at Naxela he did the same thing. I'm not saying that all my ideas are great, I'm just saying that he's been making some bad judgement calls lately." Lance frowned, jutting out his lip a little. "He always listened to Keith. Is it just me?"
Of course he still had that knot in his chest that told him he wasn't the right pilot for Red. That he needed to step down and relinquish the role to Keith. But he didn't want to admit that to Hunk.
"I dunno. He and Keith had something different. They knew each other before." Hunk pondered the question for a minute. "I don't think it's you. When Keith was in Black you guys did fine together, once he got used to piloting Black anyway. We were all really getting the hang of it before Keith left. So if you were good in Red then, that wouldn't change now. If you want my opinion, I think you're doing great as Red's pilot. You really helped Keith out and what you said to Allura back on Naxela was really inspiring, dude. I mean think about it. Compared to how we were when we started, we're amazing now! And you've already changed lions once, so that's an even bigger deal. If it's a matter of respect, I think Shiro would respect you more for that. "
He had a point. Lance's piloting skills were improving every day and he'd really gotten the grasp on Red's speed. It could have been a matter of Shiro just not seeing him as an equal worth listening to, but even if that was true, Shiro wasn't the type to blatantly ignore the right choice just because it was Lance saying it. "If it's not me, then something has to be going on with Shiro."
"You think so? I mean, yeah today was weird, but we all kind of expected his Galra arm to act up eventually." Hunk rubbed at the back of his neck. "But I guess now that you mention it, he has been a lot more assertive than he was before. But I mean, being in Galra captivity twice probably changes people. He had trouble with PTSD before, so maybe its gotten bad again."
"Maybe, but it's not like Shiro to make bad calls, and they seem to becoming more frequent." Lance crossed his arms and cast a side glance at Hunk. "We should at least keep an eye on him. I mean I am his right hand man. I should be doing at least that."
"You always do, dude." Hunk chuckled softly and clapped a hand on Lance's shoulder. "Allura, Keith, me, Pidge, you're always taking care of us. So I'm sure Shiro will appreciate it. Come on, let's get upstairs and join the others."
Lance blinked and allowed Hunk to lead him out of the hangar. A smile touched his lips. Maybe his role in Red wasn't completely out of place. He could watch out for everyone including Shiro and help them as best he could. It wasn't much, but at least he could do a little as the Red paladin.
"This planet is dying." Allura stood at the center of the castle's bridge. She had a hand to her chin in contemplation while her other fingers drummed at the pedestal by her side. "There must be something we can do to help."
"But what can we do? This planet is much bigger than the Balmera. I don't think healing it is an option." Shiro stood to her right with his hands on his hips as he watched the screens that Coran had spread out in front of them. They had landed the castle on the only remaining living chunk of the planet to do what they could to help the people, but the information before him didn't hold much good news.
"Almost 90% of the planet's quintessence has been sucked out." Coran stated with sadness in his tone. "The 10% remaining energy will struggle to provide for every living thing there. It's likely that the rest of the planet will never be habitable again, and the remaining energy likely won't be able to sustain life for very long."
"We can't leave it like this. We must do something to help them." Allura's grip tightened on her controls in frustration. Is destroying homes the only thing the Galra know how to do? An entire planet of people, plants and animals had their home almost torn away from them simply for power. She couldn't bear to see another planet end up the same as her home had. There had to be something they could do. Perhaps she could try to heal it over a few days span. She had to try something. She couldn't stand by and watch a planet die without doing her all to save it.
"The fact that the planet still exists should be considered lucky." Lotor spoke up calmly from where he stood off to her left, and his voice alone made her blood pressure rise with irritation. "Had the ritual been completed it, and everything on it, would have been completely decimated."
"Lucky?" She cast him a narrow eyed glare. Did he expect some sort of award for being the one to fire the blast that stopped the ritual? "You consider a planet attempting to survive off of 10% of its life force lucky? Their death is inevitable thanks to your greedy, power hungry Empire who have no consideration to the planets that reside in their domain. No Empire should rule that way. One planet worth of quintessence far exceeds the power needed to fuel an entire armada of battleships. Surely one will be strong enough to power any weapon Haggar hopes to build. What is the gain of attacking all of these planets? They are hurting their own Empire by diminishing the planets under their own reign. What do they expect to do once they've sucked dry every planet they rule over? Zarkon certainly can't be King over nothing."
"It doesn't seem to have stopped you, Princess." He matched her glare, but maintained his calm demeanor. "You speak as if your Altaen race is guiltless. Need I remind you that you began this war with the destruction of our planet Daibazaal."
"Yes, as it was necessary due to the planet's debilitating structure. We also ensured the safety and evacuation of all your people." Allura responded through gritted teeth. Anger flushed her face, though she worked to maintain composure. Shiro feared for a moment that her tightening grip on her pedestals would shatter them. "My father did what he had to in order to protect your people in place of your father's absence and poor decision making. If not for us Altaens your entire race would have perished thanks to Zarkon. If anyone should be considered lucky, it should be you Galra."
"Well, I suppose we are lucky to have your experience as it appears you may have to execute that same method now." He gestured to the planet before them as he turned to her with a look of annoyance. He stepped towards her as he spoke, his voice biting and accusatory. "You will help them and promise protection as you coax them into joining your growing coalition. You will use Voltron as a poster child of peace while you use it to fight a war. Where would those promises be without Voltron? Could you protect anyone without your super weapon? But what does Voltron provide you? Power. The very same thing that the Galra seek. You speak as if you're so high above us, when you are not so different. I agree that my father's methods are weak and outdated. I agree that having the cooperation of the people we reign over would make us stronger as an Empire. While my father is solely interested in gaining as much power as possible to rule over each planet, I believe more with your method, Princess. You use power to quickly gain your own army. You use promises of protection and freedom to gain the people's trust and build us an army loyal to you and Voltron. I agree that an army like that is much stronger than one based on force. But when you get down to the core of the matter, Princess, our goals are the same. You believe your goal is more righteous than ours and that makes your means virtuous, but in the end, both parties seek nothing more than power."
He stood beside her now, refusing to avert his glare. She returned it with a scowl and a fiery glint of rage in her eyes. Shiro set a hand on her shoulder as a warning to calm down, but she quickly shrugged it off and stepped even closer to Lotor. She stood hardly an inch from him and stared him straight in the face. "How dare you compare us to you murderous Galra! Voltron promises each planet we liberate the guarantee of freedom to reign as they wish. Unlike you, we have no desire to rule over them and oppress them. We wish to restore to them the freedom your race took from them. Our goal is not for our own benefit but for the benefit of each planet we liberate so that they may have the power to decide how they are ruled and how they will live. That is a basic right that you stole from them! Our goal is to return to them that basic right. If you came here thinking you would gain some kind of power to rule over these people at the end of this war, then I suggest you leave right now because you will not gain it. The only advantage you will receive here is the allowance to live and not be killed by your father, which is an advantage I am quickly coming to disagree with. I would highly suggest you keep your opinions to yourself if you hope to stay here another day."
They both stared at each other unblinking and tense enough that Shiro and Coran chose to stay out of it completely. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Lotor was the first to break the gaze as a smirk spread across his face. He let out a curt laugh, much to Allura's growing agitation. He leaned down to match her height. "You, Princess, are a-"
As he leaned over he set his hand on Allura's pedestal, but when he did the beacon on top immediately lit up upon activation. As it did, his purple skin changed to a dark brown and his claw-like nails vanished. His eyes turned from yellow to white and purple Altaen markings adorned his cheek bones. For a moment, he was frozen in shock at the change in his appearance, taken completely off guard.
"You…you're Altaen?" Allura had to take a step back due to pure surprise. How…? This was Zarkon's son. It was obvious he didn't look all Galra, but the only way he could be Altaen is if he were born 10,000 years ago. It was impossible. How? There was no way he could have survived for so long unless he had been consumed by quintessence as his parents, which couldn't be the case. Unless this had to do with the witch.
Lotor quickly pulled his hand away and his skin returned to its normal tone of purple when he did. For just a moment he had looked like his mother, though he wasn't sure why or how it had happened. It was obvious that that pedestal only responded to Altaens as it is a part of an Altaen castle, but he hadn't expected it to react to him so strongly. He was only half, after all. Why had his appearance changed?
"Are you Honerva's child?" Allura no longer looked surprised, but rather held an expression of steely resolution at getting some answers. "Or is that Altaen witch your mother?"
Lotor sneered at the very thought of that, and his disgust was clearly visible on his face. "Honerva is my mother, not that I recall agreeing to answer personal questions."
Allura narrowed her eyes at him with a frown before she folded her arms across her chest and swiftly turned to Shiro. "Our deal is off. I want him gone. Now."
"Allura, I know he's a pain, but he's willing to help us. We need allies." Shiro spoke with caution, wary of her temper. She hadn't been super fond of teaming up with Lotor in the first place, and he wasn't exactly earning her trust, but wasn't it smarter to have him on their side rather than the enemy's?
Her frown deepened and now it was Shiro earning her glare. "He's Altaen. I will not allow him to be on my castle any longer. He is too much of a threat here."
She cast a backwards glance at Lotor, who Coran was now thoroughly observing. It was true that a half Altaen was strange to see even long ago, but for Lotor to be one here was too much of a risk. If he had access to the controls, that gave him too much power. She could not allow him the chance to take control of the castle.
"I understand what you're saying, but we can't just throw him out. He's held up his end of the deal. We need to uphold ours." Shiro was trying to be the peacekeeper here. It would be dirty for them to back out of a deal after the other party had done his part.
She knew that what Shiro was saying was true. If they were to back out of a promise it would only prove what Lotor had said earlier, and that idea made her grit her teeth in irritation. If only she could just lock him in an isolated room for the next 10,000 years, they would still uphold their end of the deal that way. Maybe she could just station him on some planet to work with the coalition members, but they were all too busy to keep an eye on him. Maybe she could send him off on an impossible mission in deep space until he ran out of fuel, but that could be considered abandonment which would void the deal. Hmm…
Her face suddenly lit up with an idea. "What about the Blades? He should fit in there."
"Well…it's possible." Shiro pinched his chin as he thought about Kolivan working alongside the Prince of the Galra. He could imagine the scowl now. "We can ask Kolivan. He and Keith should be together right now mapping out a plan of attack for the next planet."
Soon enough, Keith and Kolivan were contacted and their visuals displayed on the largest screen.
"Lotor? You want Lotor to join the Blades of Marmora?" Keith raised an inquiring eyebrow at the unusual request.
"He will not be very warmly welcomed here, I can warn you of that." Kolivan held a deep frown at the idea, just as Shiro had predicted. "Nor can I guarantee his safety."
"This is a war. We can't guarantee anyone's safety." Allura stood almost guarding her position at her controls. Although her caution didn't seem to be much needed, as Lotor was slouching in the Black Paladin's seat, sitting quietly as he watched the conversation go on. He often seemed to stand back and observe, which only made her wonder about his intentions more.
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Shiro?" Keith looked unsure. "We're stretched pretty thin here, so we can't necessarily watch him constantly."
"I understand that, but neither can we here, and since he's Altaen he has a degree of…access…to the castle. We can't risk that." Shiro shared Keith's look of uncertainty. "I think this is our best option. There's nowhere we can send him where he won't be a concern, so I think this option has the least amount of risks. You guys usually work in pairs, so the majority of the time, there will be someone around."
A silence fell that reflected everyone's understanding that what he said made sense, although it was worrisome. They had known going into this that working with Lotor would be a huge concern, and it was proving to be a little more work than they had hoped. The idea of just locking him in a holding chamber forever was starting to sound kind of nice.
Kolivan's stern voice broke the silence. "He will have to endure the Trials of Marmora before we can accept him as a member. If he fails to awaken a blade, then he cannot join. I will be able to gather enough members to have the Trial held tomorrow morning. I will sent Keith to retrieve him then."
"Understood. We'll see you then." Shiro smiled, which Keith reflected before they signed off. He turned back to look at Lotor. It seemed that things were becoming a little more…complicated.