"Two vargas and ten doboshes before reinforcement arrives and Voltron will be needed, if I try to push it. But that's all we have." Pidge said and gripped her armguard tightly, as if to ground herself at how absolutely seemingly impossible their plan sounded.

Two vargas wasn't a lot of time to round up a bunch of people, get below ground, rescue even more people and get them out before the fighting starts again. They were set to fail, and Keith suddenly wished he ate a little more for breakfast to at least prepare him for the mission's extension.

How could he have missed that one small detail. Just the one fact that Taroussenes could do a lot more than just Altean alchemy, something almost powerful as the druid's magic. How could he miss the druids that were on the facility as well?

"I'm going down there with them." His hands remained firm on the controls that linked himself to the castleship. And on the holoscreen, the paladins stared at him with a mix of surprise, disbelief and disapproval.

"No." Allura stared at him with an unwavering statement.

"I know the tunnels. I studied them at debriefs. The rebels and Blades aren't going to be able to guide all those people when most of them don't know the terrain."

"We called Saebth's people for a reason, Keith." Shiro's brow furrowed in a deep concern. "You can't just risk yourself like this. It's suicidal."

Keith gritted his teeth. "It's not. I know what I'm doing. And more importantly, we don't even know how many Taroussenes capable for this mission, and it's better for Blades and Coalition rebels alike to see a familiar face."

"No offence, Keith. I know that you learnt this crazy new skill, but how sure are you that it will save you when the time comes?" Pidge gave him a sympathetic eye. "Like what are you trying to achieve from this? Do you want to jump into one of their own ships and start firing like a maniac?"

"If it comes down to that to finish the mission, then yes."

"But Galra tech doesn't exactly have the same design as an Altean castleship. Their controls are only slightly similar after ten thousand years, and I don't believe they're made to respond to someone's life force. You might not be able to interface with the fighter jets at all." Allura reminded him.

"The mechanics are there, I know it's do-able. It's just that no one has ever done it. And this is only a hypothetical worst case scenario that we're talking about here, Allura. I'm not about to jump on any fighters." He pointed out. "But I know these caverns, and I know I can do a hell of a lot more down there than up here. Coran is more than capable of handling things, and you're all indisposed and stuck in your lions right now. I can get down there and secure the hostages. You can go after that ship that's about to go off planet."

Shiro sighed. "And the risk you will be putting on yourself is higher than anything we'd like. I know you want to help but this isn't the way to do it."

"No, I think it is." Lance chewed on the inside of his cheek, his chin in his hand as he seemed into the depths of Keith's soul. And Keith's head snapped up in surprise.

Allura gasped in a shocking horror. "Lance, you can't possibly-"

"I agree with Keith. He's the best man for the job right now guys. And if anything, I trust him more than anyone to get the job done." Lance continued with a genuinely confident smile that Keith wondered where he found it from. "Let's take a vote, then. There's seven of us, including Keith. And that's already 2 votes for Keith to go."

"Three." Coran nodded reassuringly and turned to him. "I know you're capable, my boy. I want you to show those quiznacking Galras what you're made of."

"It's a no from me," Allura said, and Shiro somberly agreed.

"Sorry, Keith. Me neither." Pidge said, turning her gaze away and back to her holopad as she distracted herself once more with the job. And Keith understood them, Allura, Shiro and Pidge. They were logical to think so because none of them knew exactly how he ticked - not even Shiro at this point. But he knew exactly how to get out of their predicament, and he needed to try to get these people out. It was the least he could do after all that they have taught him.

"Hunk, you've been rather quiet." Lance prompted, and Keith could tell Hunk's soft heart was causing his indecisiveness. It wasn't fair to make them pick sides like this. Things could be easier if it had gone according to plan, but they never seem to work in Keith's experience. And he almost thought that Hunk would have said no, agreed with the safer logic of the other three. He wouldn't blame him if he did.

Keith waited for judgement.

But it was a good ten ticks later before Hunk sighed and painfully smiled. "Please be safe out there."

Pulling together a team of people and debriefing them took a varga too long, though perhaps Keith should count it as luck that they managed to get 28 people who are eligible for the mission on such short notice. That and he should also thank Allura's foresight for calling in Coalition forces for a spare shuttles that they could use.

The shuttle dropped them off at Pidge's previous hiding place, which was further distance than Keith liked, but they couldn't risk another alarm blaring if they were spotted. The military base at Ronan were one of the planet's largest, too, and there were too many risks of casualties for them to consider bringing the vessel anywhere closer.

Keith let his senses roam, and the feedback from his surroundings almost gave him a mental whiplash. Despite the desert like surroundings, the place was brimming with energy and life. He could feel the caverns almost echoing and vibrating as if it were alive, and the luscious trees around them - despite being underground - shaking gently.

"We've landed. Heading to the site now," he reported and pulled on his Marmoran mask, leading the group through the forest.

"Good luck, Mullet. And please succeed so Shiro won't kill me and Hunk." Lance laughed nervously.

"You say that as if he won't kill us regardless of whether or not the mission turns out okay." Hunk's tone was dry, and despite the serious silence of forest, Keith found himself smiling behind his mask.

"Friendly reminder that this is an open channel and there are 27 other people besides Keith who will be distracted when you two start spreading rumours about me." Shiro said, and Keith could practically choke on the mental image of Shiro's unimpressed and teasing glare.

Lance coughed slightly, and Keith ducked under a branch before finding himself behind one of the hangars. "It's not a rumour if it's true, Shiro." Keith grinned. "And thanks, Lance. Checking in one last time, the warehouse with the hostages are numbers 26 and 30?"

"If Blue's scans are correct."

The group moved quickly, edging on the shadows of the hangars and warehouses as sentries made patrols on the path in front. Far ahead was a tall building with a rod on top, which Keith assumed was the communications hub, and he could vaguely see the green glow of Pidge's lion peeking behind the structure.

There was something soothing about the lion's aura that he could only attribute to the Paladins' bond with them. But then again, it might be because the two lions sitting there were currently in a sort of sleep mode that neither Pidge nor Lance could wake them from. And when he looked closely enough, he could see Pidge's tensed and firey self inside her cockpit, and Lance's somewhat bored but alert presence in Blue.

"40 doboshes left until communications is back online." Pidge reminded them.

"Copy."

They spread out to cover more grounds, checking the numbering on each warehouse as they go. The group was coordinated, but less so than Keith was used to with the Blades - though that was only natural when the Blades were an organisation that practically raised soldiers from infancy. This group consisted of Coalition rebels mostly, a smattering of Blade members that Keith had never met, and three Taroussenes that were feeling the pressure more than they should.

Keith found himself catching them just at the right moment before they would expose themselves to sentries. And perhaps under usual circumstances he might have been less understanding. But there was something particular about sentries that made them quite difficult to make out and sense - Pidge suggested that it was due to the little amounts of actual quintessence that they hold. It made his search for any quintessential signatures more difficult

They split up into two smaller units as they closed in on the large building housing the hostages. It loomed like an omen - the paint job only made it look even more hostile in that Galran purple aesthetic that Keith was sick of seeing. He was ready to storm in when he heard a sudden choked gasp on his right that made him turn around the corner, only to find a sentry pointing its weapon at one of the Taroussenes.

"Your identification," the sentry ordered at the frightened young girl. Keith held his breath as his hands gripped tightly on the Marmoran blade.

"Your identification," the robotic voice sounded again alongside the sound of guns powering up, and Keith took the chance. He reached to pull the girl back into the shadows, then threw the blade right at the gun, lodging it into the barrel and consequently blowing it up, throwing the sentry back and blasting his blade into the air. But the sentry looked no worse for wear as it regained its footing and prepared to charge.

From the pouch on his hip, Keith pulled out a small roundish device and chucked it at the sentry as if it were a baseball. The disk stuck to its head where electricity fizzled, rocking the head comically around before the sentry dropped on its knees and went silent.

"What's your name?" Keith turned to the Taroussene and helped her up from her crouch on the ground. Around them, the rebels were working on the double authentication locks on the warehouses.

"Olea." She accepted his hand gratefully and dusted herself off.

"First mission?" He asked and received an embarrassed nod. Her aura turned a sad shade of yellow and Keith felt himself sighing slightly.

His first few mission with the Blades was so much simpler than this, much to his displeasure. It was after Shiro's disappearance, and he kept himself busy to not think about how much it hurted. Now he was grateful that Kolivan hadn't thrown him into the deep end as Olea was, but that wasn't something they could help.

"You can't let those things catch you." He scanned the area to look for his blade - it had gone quite a distance away. "Communications won't leave this place, but they can still send signals within the area. Robotic sentries will set off alarms the moment they suspect that you're an outsider."

"What did you do?" Olea asked as he picked up his blade and sheathed it behind himself once more. She peered at the fallen sentry with a mild curiosity and fear, pointing to the disk on its head.

"The Yellow Paladin's design - it's to neutralize their signals." He explained and mentally thanked Hunk for his brilliant little knick knacks. The particular disk was actually Hunk's quest to avoid fighting the gladiators in the training deck, but of course Coran quickly banned it soon after and they were deemed 'strictly for missions only,' even if most of the paladins rarely ever used them and the design ended up as a weapon used by Blades and Coalition rebels instead.

The girl hummed with a mild fascination at his story before the mechanical whir of Galra cruisers reached their ears, and Keith turned his head up towards the two parked Lion's direction. Indeed, behind them, a cruiser was taking off.

"Allura- guys," Lance called. "I hope you're ready because the cruiser with the rebels are taking off!"

"We'll take care of it." Shiro answered diplomatically before Keith felt the three lion's presence leaving slowly, most strongly Black's, with a small amount of apprehension that he couldn't quite place. But now wasn't the time to dwell upon it.

The doors of the warehouse opened to a mass of people staring at them from the dimly purple-lit room. One would expect the people to immediately leave with their rescuers, but they only shuffled inwards even more with a skeptical look upon their face.

"Please, we have to leave now before it's too late," a Coalition rebel tried but despite reassurances even by the Taroussene rebels, they would not budge from their place.

"How do we know that you won't lead us to another doom?" Someone called out, not angrily in hostile, but with a repressed hopefulness.

Keith remembered then that they have only just been in this exact situation a few vargas ago. He scanned the crowd - some were bruised, there were scrapes and bleeding wounds, and there were others lying tiredly with an arm draped over their eyes to block out the world. And their auras were dim, flickering like a candle about to go out.

He wondered then if this was what he looked like only a few quintants ago before he found this new ability, and if Muer saw the sadness in his essence that couldn't be masked by his stoic expression.

The people before him have just been given hope a few hours ago by a band of Taroussene rebels that failed, and ended up paying a painful, steep price that made Keith grind his teeth in disgust at. They didn't want a repeat of what had only happened so recent that it was difficult to dwell upon.

"I'm sorry our plan wasn't thought out better to have prevented the repercussions landing on you all..." Keith said, regretfully reminding himself that Shiro or Allura could say this so much better than he ever will. Of all the things he thought he would grow up to do, giving an alien species a motivational pep talk to get them out of a hostage situation has never occurred.

"23 doboshes left." Pidge's voice rang in his comms, and his heart pounded heavier in his chest.

"If you don't leave now then there will never be a chance to leave again." He glanced at them, every single one of their auras lighting up slowly and their emotions pouring outwards. And in the same sense, he poured his heart into his words and projected aura. "I know the Galra hurted you and has done terrible things to put you under their thumb, but there are better ways to live than to be a slave of the Galra empire."

Their heads perked up in surprise, even the Taroussene rebels that came with him gave a wide-eyed turn to him as he put his confidence and reassurances up for display. "We're part of the Voltron Coalition. And Voltron is right out there to help you right now. Come with us and we'll get you refuge. But don't stay here so they can take away your culture and enslave you and abuse your abilities. Please..."

Slowly, something in the air shifted. Some sort of calling in a language Keith has yet to master, towards something else. Reaching out, he saw bursts glowing light slowly floating away in every direction, and followed by a sense of relief that all poured outwards like a giant tidal wave. As if-

Two mighty roars echoed and Lance and Pidge's cries and whoops filled Keith's ears as their lions came back to them.

Keith nodded. "Let's get out of here."

"The communication tower is back online. They're sending distress signals out!" Hunk said twenty three doboshes later in between his drawled groans and yelling. "And they're sending fighters from the ground up!"

Above their heads, Galra fighters zipped across the dark caves with an echoing noise. Pidge and Lance had returned to the fight and all qualified-pilots within the rescue team had been dispatched to take over any grounded fighters. Keith, however, remained with the Taroussenes as they waited for their escape.

"Transport vessels are en route towards rendezvous point. ETA three doboshes."

The situation was chaotic when you're leading about a hundred people into the woods towards a destination you haven't ever been to or seen, but they were managing. Soon enough they were reaching their destination where the big vessels began to fill up with people that looked more relieved than anything.

Keith stood back as they boarded and was thanked as the Taroussenes walked up the ramp. And he almost thought his mission was done until a man came to him with a desperate grip on Keith's shoulders and arms, asking for his help.

"Olea," the man said between breaths, and Keith realised that he was one of the Taroussene rebels. "I can't find her since we left the warehouse and I'm worried that she got herself lost."

Keith glanced over to the trail of people that were still emerging from the forest. Around them, Coalition members were still helping with the boarding, but they could handle themselves.

"You go. I'll find her." He took off without a glance.

The hangars were on fire when he arrived, and the few fighters that were on the ground had Galra pilots littered around them unconscious. He retraced the path to the warehouse, slashing across sentries that came across his way in hurried steps and calling out the missing Tarrousene's name.

A strangled cry caught him as he stabbed a critical blow into a nearby sentry, and a flickering aura full of unadulterated fear called to him. Keith retrieved his blade quickly and peeked around a fighter jet to find Olea stuck in the tight grip of a Galra soldier, struggling and battling for her freedom in any ways she can.

She was fierce in her kicks and punches, but the soldier was twice her size despite having two less limbs, and they held on tight to her arm, twisting it into an angle that no one could find comfortable.

Keith snarled and stared at the soldier - his senses reaching outwards to clarify the image in front of him, using his own quintessence to interact with the ones in front of him, floating like the ones that the Taroussenes have done just before. And then-

The Galra cried out in pain and released Olea with a flick of his wrist. They keeled and fell face first into the ground as Olea looked between the soldier and Keith with unease.

"Did you just use warped their quintessence?" She furrowed her brows at him - or at least what he believed was a look of dissatisfaction.

"Is that what it's called?" Keith asked and tugged Olea away from the buildings. Pidge was beginning her assault on the base, and it wasn't wise to be near to them when those come crashing down from the lions' blasters.

"That's foul." She told him. "I wouldn't do that to even my worst enemy."

It was a technique that he questioned Muer about, and the Taroussene had considered it as Keith's innocent fascination without knowing of his research about druid magic. The move was crippling on its victim, and in ways it was dangerous and deadly, something that Muer had told him to stay away from.

He knew that it was foul.

But Keith had half a mind to tell Olea about how the Galra was never fair, because victory or death meant fight without inhibitions and rules . And Keith was - afterall - half Galra and blinded by Galra, no less. There was enough history there to excuse his actions.

However, he didn't say a word and instead called into his comms for the transport vessel instead. A reply came in with slight static. "The ship's airborne, Keith."

"Wait, are you not on the ship?" Allura's distress was clear. Voltron had moved the fight aboveground by now to guard the Coalition ship.

"No." Keith glanced around the various fighters that were still on the ground and thoughts flew through his head. "But I'll be back at the castle in a bit," he said as he dragged them along to a nearby fighter.

"What does that mean?"

"You know how we said that flying fighter jets was a hypothetical situation for me?" Keith sat down in the cockpit of the plane and motioned for Olea to strap herself into a seat at the back. In front of him, the outline of the various equipment and screens were clear, but the only issue was whether he could sense anything outside the cockpit.

"You're not serious are you?" Shiro choked. "Pidge will come and get you."

"No I can't!" Pidge yelled, followed by an explosion. "We're a bit occupied by the three cruisers coming our way and I can't shake these stupid fighters!"

Keith began the startup protocol: his palm placed flat on the scans as it read his Galran blood, approving his presence and the ship turned to life. "I know you're worried, Shiro, but Voltron needs to stay up there. And I'm sorry for jinxing this beforehand!"

"You're about to fly a Galra fighter - blind - Keith! Worry about flying, not making jokes!" Lance said, and it was peculiar that he would say such unless the battle was so intense that he couldn't find ways to be any less tense. And Keith winced sympathetically.

"Roger that." He answered before closing his eyes, reaching out to feel the energy of the ship and interfacing with it the same way he had done with the castleship. But this time, he needed to see through the ship's cockpit, as if he was trying to see through the lions' eyes. It was doable, in theory.

There was the major difference that the Voltron Lions were sentient and the Galra fighter wasn't. The effort placed into piloting a lion was a combined effort between the pilot and the lion, where Keith reached out and the Lion would come for him. But here, he could only hope he was enough as he channeled his energy outwards.

Things were dark for a moment. Then a soft violet entered his vision, expanding from a centre before it completely filled his senses. He blinked his eyes open, and saw the fighter jet opposite to him only for a second before his vision went dark again. The jet quieted down and remained immobile.

"Keith, what's going on?" Shiro asked.

Keith gritted his teeth, trying again with similar results that was beginning to drain his hopes more than anything. The coldness of the cockpit washed over him every time it failed, and the shouting of team Voltron was still ringing in his ears, urging him to get out of there.

Perhaps he was too cocky in thinking he could manage to do everything like this by himself, a vaulting ambition which overleaps itself and falls on the other side, he thought with dry humour. Though perhaps this wasn't the time to be recalling English texts he knew from high school. He needed to try again, with more determination, with more focus, and patience, perhaps.

Patience yields focus. Keith closed his eyes and gripped tightly on the throttles. The ship was lit once more, perhaps for a bit longer but then succumbed to darkness again. Keith slammed his hand on the control panels in front of him.

He needed to do this. He had to. But how was the bigger question.

"Push yourself."

"What?" Keith whipped his head around, sensing Olea's presence in the co-pilot seat.

"You're trying to connect with crude technology. The only way you'll be able to pilot is if you put more effort than you think is needed. You're not supposed to pilot it and work from just the console. You're supposed to be the ship. You're supposed to feel every nook and cranny of the system. And then, you'll be able to see." She pressed her lips firmly and laid a palm over the console in front of her.

"I will help you."

He felt something tug at him then: a similar energy to that of the Lion, but it was coming from Galra fighter instead. It was confusing to say the least, but he could sense a foreign quintessence source through the big mechanical vessel, and he only nodded at Olea, unquestioning. He reached out, accepting the help greatly and then-

The system powered to life, and the distinct purple neon Galran words filled the edges of his vision. The screen bordered by measurement markings, and the vision of the various ships outside came into view. Keith could feel the rush of electricity coursing through him, and his senses picking up even the slightest air resistance as he lifted the mechanical thing off the ground. There was the sound of the engine whirring, the rapid change in the view and he felt even the wind on the tips of the fighter, invigorating and all consuming.

"Paladins, I'm heading up. Please try to keep the path clear." Keith reported with a grin as he set a course for the castleship. He let the thrill of being able to fly again wash over him, as if it were the first time he sat in a pilot's cockpit back at the Garrison and took a jet to the sky on one blaringly sunny day, and the sky was all that mattered.

"We'll try!" Shiro shouted. "Paladins, herd the cruisers away from the tunnels."

A resounding "Copy" was echoed by the other four paladins before Keith was outside where the sky was still so bright from the combined light of the incredibly intense sunlight and explosions at every direction as Galra fighters and cruisers were attacked by Voltron and the Coalition forces. Keith groaned slightly as his eyes adjusted to the bright surroundings, blinking back a few times before suddenly jerking at the controls. Thinking back on this, he found it odd that his eyes would have needed adjustments at all, given that he wasn't even using his eyes - he was interfacing with a machine.

The fighter swiveled and rocked heavily, shaking Keith to his bones before diving away from another fighter that had just caught flame by one of the lion's attacks. Debris and flame was all that he could see in the air, as if the sky had been with coloured with the same palette that painted the sunsets that settled near his home. But this was violent, ripping fire and ashes, and a disturbing dark purple of the Galran machines falling from the sky as their alarms rang a distressing tone. And in the distance, five lions that has yet to merge into Voltron, streaking the sky with colours.

"Look out!" Olea called right as bright hot ray shot right across the screen. Keith's grip on the throttles tightened, and he pulled back with an unexpected force, his feet digging into the floor to give himself leverage. The fighter pulled upwards, and the ray fell below his vision as they narrowly avoided it.

He almost let out a breath until the ship suddenly shook with a distressing beeping that indicated damage. The displays pulled up, showing the tail of the fighter on fire and smoking - and they barely were half way to the castleship. Keith cursed under his breath, but pushed the throttle forward. He only needed to get them back intact, the ship didn't necessarily needed to be.

An alarm blared again in the cockpit as missiles came at him exploding in random bursts, followed by fumes of thick smoke that polluted the air. But finally, through the plumes of smoke, Keith finally saw the castleship in view with its particle barriers up, firing at any cruisers that had the bright idea to engage with it. Surrounding the giant ship was Coalition warships that was unloading its own fighters that were heading into battle.

It was until now that Keith forgot that he was in a Galra vessel, when the many rebel ships started to fire at him. And it was perhaps only his reflexes that saved them when he spun away from the line of fire. He hailed the shared frequency of the Coalition ships.

"This is Keith! I'm in the fighter that's heading towards the Castle of Lions. Do not attack. I repeat, I am in the Galra fighter heading towards the castleship. Do not attack!"

A moment later, the ships behind him retreated and headed back towards Taroussene. Whilst in front of him, only the tinted white and blue of the castleship was seen, not quite as pristine from the space dusts that has settled on its walls, but beautiful regardless. Behind it the vast empty darkness of space and the stars twinkling, as if welcoming Keith back to the sky.

Even amidst the chaos that was happening below, he beamed at the sight as a reply to the stars.