Our hope

Part One

Space expeditions—though more frequent and more technologically advanced than in past decades-were still expensive, time consuming, and delicate procedures. Hence most distanced missions were manned by the smallest crew possible to complete their task.

So the five man crew at an established base on Ganymede was a larger than average find.

~\/~

"I can't believe they haven't scored a single goal!"

Two men outfitted in garrison space gear sat side by side on a bench avidly staring at a screen. Their suits bore labels identifying them as Torres and Malone.

The dark haired Torres gave a mirthful reply; "Then you're not gonna like what happens next."

"Hey! We made a pact!" The red head adjacent gave an undignified screech. "We were supposed to skip watching sports for a whole season! You got spoilers!"

Torres raised his hands in defeat, "Hold up man, I did my best but this one ended up on the news."

"You have broken the sacred pact!" Malone whined.

"Hah, yeah the sacred pact of waiting to enjoy sports until we've got months to spend in space" his friend responded with a winning smile.

"Sacred" Malone grumbled.

"Right, sorry Rorie, I really didn't mean to. Besides hearing about it can't be as good as seeing it happen on screen."

There was a sigh of defeat. The red head relented in his attack and they both resumed their enthusiastic viewing of the prerecorded sports game.

"Oh! Oh, it's gonna!"

The rowdy noise of two sports fans echoed around the base. It pinged off the tinny walls and delicate instruments.

Outside, harsh winds beat around the Earthlings' haven. Small amounts of light afforded to Ganymede revealed their base to be large and circular in shape. The landscape was frosted and jagged crafting an unforgiving landscape. The earthlings' construction was erected near their original landing site, and would be left upon departure. Atop the domed exterior of its circumference was a large dish and corresponding antennae. It was there that a third inhabitant of the base could be seen, fiddling with the communication gear.

His space suit read Braunstein on the front and bore the insignia of the dedicated Galaxy Garrison Science Sector. If one got close enough they would perhaps hear the music emanating from his person. It echoed across the frozen wasteland from its source—which would be a portable music device attached to the astronauts hip. Said person attended his task with a purpose, occasionally tapping his foot to the tune.

Parts were removed, wires checked, and settings altered. It was a long while before he straightened his back and stretched skyward. Seemingly satisfied, the astronaut packed up his tools and descended from the base's roof.

Safely within the air lock said astronaut removed his helmet revealing a surprisingly young face with a head of overgrown unruly locks. Bushy half formed curls bounced around his features as he padded his way into the construct. Braunstein slipped behind his red and black haired compatriots in the front room before making his way back to the communications center.

He pulled up his personal communications file labeled 'AARON BRAUNSTEIN'. A few moments later the aforementioned gave a resigned moan. Both the low-gain and high-gain antenna had failed to connect with earth, so Aaron would have to leave a message. Again.

~\/~

Blip Blip Blip went the new castle equipment.

Beep Beep Beep went Pidge's laptop.

"Yes! A reading!" Alone the green paladin rejoiced.

In a few moments streams of audio files and mission logs had deposited themselves onto the hard drive. Keys click-clacked in quick succession and at the press of a button, the main star chart was projected in the center of the room. A blinking red dot confirmed the signal's source. Superfluous, the files were left untouched as Pidge scrambled up, ready to fetch the rest of the crew. It hardly mattered what kind of communication they were intercepting, location was all they needed.

Moments later the room would be filled with all seven members, loud and boisterous; their hope and the joy overwhelming.

Brimming with anticipation all crowded around the star chart while Coran crafted a course. Mesmerized, the paladins were gazing in awe at the little crimson speck, presumably marking life.

Allura couldn't help but smile fondly. She breathed in the peace and hope. This made everything worthwhile.

"Oh that's Ganymede." Shiro let out a small sigh of relief. "We did have plans for a base there last I remember."

~\/~

"Aaron Bruanstein from Ganymede base Troy recording a personal message for Helena Abdel."

Aaron was situated in front of the camera, recording icon lit up bright red. "Hey there Helena! Just leaving you another message... It's been seventeen days since the last time we were successfully able to communicate with Earth."

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "At risk of sounding like a broken record… I'm worried. And, well it's that worry which has me stuck at base camp instead of out in the field today."

"Commanders Cooper and Sergeyev felt it would be best if I took a break."

"When they get back later, we will have an actual mission report for you along with more data."

"I checked over the communications equipment again, just in case. I know you'll be disappointed in me- that I've been so anxious."

He glanced down at his hands guiltily before changing the subject.

"But I've got to say I'm feeling a lot better now that I've opened the most recent of your care packages." He waved a small memory chip in front of the screen. "I'm really glad I didn't decide to open them all at once. Getting new music in the middle of a mission is a nice surprise."

His smile was bright and shone with genuine affection.

"We are all wishing you were here with us."

He reached for the comm button.

"—until next time."

~\/~

"Then I'll go with you on retrieval." Keith stated, almost a little too eager.

"No. No, no, no, no." Lance interjected "I wanted to go with Shiro for retrieval."

Keith shrugged raising an eyebrow in challenge.

"You can't just call dibs like that!" Lance protested.

"I believe I just did." The offender deadpanned.

It took a moment for Shiro to step in, almost with disbelief. "Both of you will come with me." He emphasized, then continued under his breath "Need to teach you both some diplomacy anyhow."

The two bickering individuals seemed to have missed his later statement. They were far too busy shooting glares at each other. Shiro sighed then "Pidge, will you please come as communications and support?"

Perhaps a bit more emphasis was put on the word 'support' than necessary, but Pidge understood. "You got it."

"Hunk, I'm sorry but that leaves you on backup."

"I'll keep my distance and watch your backs." He saluted.

"Thank you." Their leader gave a heavy sigh. "Let's suit up."

Alone in the Castle of the lions the lingering Alteans freely exchanged their bewilderment.

"It's been a while since they've had a row. Are we to take it as a good sign? "

"I do hope so."

~\/~

"Sending messages to the beautiful earthly angel Helena?"

His crewmates had apparently finished their sports reverie and sought to sneak up on the grad student. Torres and Malone blocked the younger's path—disgruntled Aaron attempted to ignore them.

"Hey we're not trying to tease you." Roger amended.

Rorie grinned. "Speak for yourself."

Would they leave him alone if he didn't respond?

A beat of silence then…

"Oi! Kid! You still moping?" One loud commented, followed by another. "You gotta pull it together!" In Aaron's humble opinion Rorie Malone had the propensity to be absolutely obnoxious. Roger Torres, though less belligerent still felt the need to give his two cents. "I know you're anxious, but chill out dude."

Of this, Aaron was already quite aware. A frantic conversation with the commander this morning was the reason he was stuck at base camp instead of out in the research field. He had been scolded like a child and told he would need to calm down before being allowed to handle the delicate research equipment again.

"We aren't meant to always be in contact with earth—there's always gaps." Rorie casually asserted while draping himself across the side of the console. "—besides it's not like there aren't hiccups in communication sometimes. What with solar flares and the like."

As far as he was concerned they were completely missing the point. "It's been more than two weeks!" Aaron protested shoving Rorie's stupid face away from the monitor. That span of time to his knowledge was entirely too long.

The infuriating redhead chuckled good-naturedly. "Eh, it's abnormal but see; it doesn't matter. Our mission is running smoothly." Ever confident the redhead continued his placation. "Besides, we're on the ground and shouldn't have to worry about complications until the return trip. If there ever was a time to loose radio contact this is it. We've been blessed." He kissed his crucifix for emphasis.

Aaron sighed in defeat. He pushed his last anxiety ridden thought into the open space. "I just can't help thinking, what if."

"What if what?" Rorie smirked.

"You can't keep second guessing things. If you get hung up on all the possibilities you'll just worry yourself to death."

"I-I don't want to get hung up on the possibilities, but there's just this nagging thought. What if this is what happened to the Kerberos mission?" Aaron blurted out.

"What?"

"I mean, what if they lost contact and that's the real reason they didn't come back. That whole 'pilot error' explanation was so vague."

"Look, we all know the summary they gave everybody is bullshit. Shirogane Takashi was one of the best damn pilots out there." Malone raked his hands through his hair. "But there's a reason they tell it the way they do- because it's a cautionary tale y'know. The garrison needs an Icarus."

"Yup." The other pilot agreed "There's always an Icarus to warn the trainees against flying too high."

"When we were cadets it was good ol' Michael Burgundy." Rorie chuckled, "now that tale was a sight more gory."

"Trust us when we say that whatever happened on the Kerberos mission, it's not happening here."

The young scientist nodded slowly head bent low.

The trio stood inert, their shadows cast across the room by the glow of the monitors.

"An Icarus." Aaron murmured. "Right."

~\/~

Yes a five man crew would be a significant increase in the known human population. It would in fact double it.

Too bad said crew just couldn't seem to bring themselves to trust the alien ship which came a-calling.

These men weren't stupid. They were human of course, prone to flaws and mistakes. But nonetheless they were not stupid. One did not fly long distance missions for the galaxy garrison if one did not possess basic logic capabilities. And the connotations of the situation were not lost on these humans.

So it didn't help when the Voltron team botched first contact.

Pidge knew the correct verbiage. It had been used before in garrison flight simulators. She recalled with dejection the last practiced dialogue. It wasn't a perfect fit; their craft had no garrison ID. So it was time to improvise.

Her thumb pressed down opening the communications channel. "Attention Lunar vessel, rescue craft is coming in for landing and extraction. Please stand by."

In some ways it felt as though things had come full circle.

~\/~

"Rescue craft?"

The message had prompted a rapid fire discourse between the two Garrison pilots.

"We haven't been without contact long enough to even start a rescue."

"Never mind the time it would take for one to arrive."

"That wasn't correct procedural dialogue."

"They didn't give a Garrison ID."

"And that doesn't look like one of ours."

"Wha-?" Aaron was beyond bewildered.

"That's not a Garrison ship."

"How can that be?"

"that's definitely not a friendly."

"we're positive?"

"yes."

"Oh- oh." This didn't fit the protocol of anything he had been taught. "Does that mean…?"

"It means we are under attack" Roger clarified.

'Under attack by what?' his traitorous mind supplied, though his more immediate concern was voiced first. "What do we do?"

"Guerilla strategy kid, that's what. Now stop asking stupid questions and start following orders."

~\/~

"Huh."

Familiar yet unfamiliar garrison gear surrounded three of the paladins.

The motley crew paced the length of the curved base before stopping at a bank of computers. Shiro accessed the log entries and gave a small huff. "They're scheduled to be away on assignment; collecting samples probably. They must not know anything is wrong".

"Stupid garrison." Lance grumbled while Keith ever attentive wondered about the options. "So do we go find them? Do we wait here?"

"We do both." He intoned firmly. "You two stay here; try not to cause too much trouble. I'll go search for their operations site."

And with that Shiro made for the air lock. "Pidge, base was empty. Heading out to the field of operation; stand by." He reported and set off from the compound.

The two trouble makers stood around idly, refusing to make eye contact.

"Well, I dunno about you but I'm not gonna sit around by the door"

"Suit yourself." Keith responded as Lance began to roam around the building. The blue clad pilot certainly fancied himself a cool customer.

In his peripheral vison Keith could see Lance's lanky form, but it wasn't the only movement he caught.

"Lance!" Keith bolted for his teammate too late as the assailant connected a metal frame with the back of the blue paladin's head. Not a moment later the red paladin was forced to activate his riot shield and block another attacker from behind.