AN: Part Two of the Refugee Rescue Mission

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When Lance was five Veronica caught him tee peeing the neighbor's house.

The kid stole his blue crayon when they had their playdate the other day.

Quite frankly she didn't care why her brother felt the need to exact vengeance. He was understandably put in time out but only for half the time she had planned. Her kid brother kept looking back at her from his stool in the corner with his puppy dog eyes and a cute little sigh that she still didn't know where he got from. The third time was enough to make her cave in. She had pulled him away from the corner and they proceeded to watch his favorite cartoons.

'Don't do it again Lance or I'll tell mom.'

He had agreed with the world's biggest smile. She knew she'd risk getting in trouble to see that smile again. Now though...Her eyes were wide as she watched her brother and his friends sneak outside the Garrison. On another screen she saw some Garrison guards coming up with their laser rifles and then the MFEs minutes behind them.

Lance was older now, messing with the country's last standing astro-military base in the middle of a war. She couldn't defend him by saying he didn't know any better especially when he was carrying a red sniper rifle as naturally as any veteran soldier.

Is this my brother?

Was this the same kid that loved wasting his afternoons on the beach, who taught her which facial mask was the best right in the middle of her tenth grade sleepover, who cried during reruns of Titanic and any movie with a dog in it?

The feeds suddenly blurred before turning to static. She could hear the Admiral yelling out orders for someone to do something. She stayed seated in her chair, feeling like her body was made of stone with her beating heart trapped inside.

Lance.

Puppy dog eyes weren't going to cut it this time.

"Could I ask for a favor Veronica?"

She came to with a sharp inhale before turning her chair. Commander Holt was next to her station with a calm expression but his eyes as alert as ever.

"Yes sir."

"I need you to let my wife know I'm here." He let out a soft breath. "She was still asleep when I left but I forgot to bring my Garrison phone."

"Of course Commander Holt."

He put his hand on her desk to lean in a little. "Thank you Veronica."

He moved away to go back up to the commanding platform. She stood up, making sure to grab the device he left on her desk and casually slipped it in her uniform pocket. Once out of the control room it took a lot of willpower not to run down the hallways.

Though she was severely testing the limits of fast walking.


Hunk and Shiro stayed behind to guard the hole.

Keith led the way with Kosmo. Allura was on his right and Pidge on his left. Lance was behind them, making sure no drones or sentries would catch them by surprise. Kosmo's ears perked and his head turned to the left. Keith silently followed, not needing to look to know that his team was too.

It was dark.

The moon was completely gone but their visors provided them with sight. Not that Keith needed it. With Kosmo and his Galra blood he had no difficulties seeing. He stepped up behind some large rocks. The earth was softer here. Harder to maneuver. He made a mental note before ducking down. Beyond he could hear the sentries' lasers.

They needed to move fast.

"Lance."

The Red Paladin moved to the front. Allura shifted to cover the rear as Lance used his sniper's scope to look ahead.

"There's people at the mouth of a narrow canyon," he moved his rifle to the side, "The sentries are coming up to the opening. "

"Pidge."

"There's four on the right, three drones overhead." She narrowed the map on her holo-screen to see more of the area. "Two more are coming up on the left side of the canyon."

Allura brought out her bayard, materializing the whip. "How long do we have?"

Pidge shifted her screen to a countdown. "We have less than twenty doboshes before any surrounding feeds go back online." She pressed her screen. "I'm sending the countdown to you guys."

The forearms of their armors glowed with numbers.

"That's not a lot of time," Lance murmured.

"It's what we got," Keith brought out his black sword. "Allura, Lance, take care of the drones and four sentries. Pidge, get to the refugees and lead them back here. Let Hunk and Shiro know if you need an assist. I'll take out the two remaining sentries on the left."

"Ah guys, we have another problem," Hunk sounded out in the comms. "There's a bunch of Garrison guards coming up to the barrier."

Allura shared a look with her fellow paladins. "Are they here to assist?"

"Kind of hard to tell but I don't think so."

"We'll check it out and get back to you." Shiro's voice came on. "Worse case, we'll have to bring the refugees in another way."

"Why wouldn't the Garrison help?" Lance frowned.

Keith darkly glowered. "Because they've got sticks up their a-"

A loud boom shook the earth. They braced themselves before looking around.

"The refugees!"

Keith looked at Kosmo and then sharply gestured with his head. Lance and Allura put their hands on the wolf. They disappeared. Kosmo reappeared for Keith and Pidge. Keith gripped some fur as he readied himself for battle.

They disappeared with a scattering of light.


James' heart was pounding.

He hadn't felt like this since he crashed a first gen MFE prototype. There's nothing like falling hundreds of feet in the air with the knowledge that there was absolutely no course of action but to hold on tight and pray he landed somewhere soft.

He had a long nasty scar along his side to tell the tale.

Coming up behind the Garrison guards with the intent of ambushing them was giving him a similar feeling. It went against every lesson and training he'd ever done. They were supposed to be working as one cohesive unit not attacking each other. Only traitors did that.

"Griffin."

He looked to his left. Leifs slowly shook her head.

He took a quiet breath in, lowering his rifle to a more neutral position. She must have come up with a better idea. Leifsdottir wasn't a normal teen but he most certainly trusted her ability to analyze any given situation. Rizavi was more of a loose cannon once she caught the barest whiff of their plans. It took him the longest time to understand that he couldn't direct her like he did the others. Kinkade was a mix of Leifs' calmness but with the inner fire of Riz when properly motivated.

James looked behind to see Rizavi's rifle still up. He lightly tapped the tip with an impatient brush. She got the hint and lowered it with a frown. He looked to his right to check on Kinkade. His rifle was already down but beyond his visor James could see flickering emotion in his eyes.

Looks like I'm not the only one with nerves.

There was movement near the hole. The guards simultaneously lifted their rifles, the MFEs following them. Leifs moved further down. James got the hint. He turned towards his two other teammates, jerking his head to the right and then followed Leifsdottir to the left.

Spread out.

Leifs mixed with the guards, stepping just slightly more in front. He did the same. From the corner of his eye he saw Kinkade follow. It was a safe bet to assume Riz was doing the same.

"Whoa, hey it's just us."

The Yellow Paladin was in their sights with his empty hands up to chest high. Shiro was coming up behind with a blank expression. But they both stayed on the other side of the barrier. James noted that the rifles stayed up.

"I'm going to assume those guns are pointed at the enemy," Shiro calmly stated though there was a frown that was starting to appear on his face, "and not at the women and children about to come in."

A couple of rifles lowered.

"There's kids?" James asked before he could control himself.

"Various ages from what we can tell. Then again," Shiro lightly smiled as he removed his helmet to show his silver hair, "at my age a lot of you guys are just kids."

If Hunk had made a joke James doubted it would have done anything. But this was Takashi Shirogane, renown Garrison pilot and survivor of the Kerberos mission. Slowly, the joke started to ease the tension around them. As the guns lowered, James was starting to wonder if Iverson had been worrying over nothing.

A roaring mechanical screech sounded into the night followed by a massive shadow in the sky. Guns quickly raised up. James tapped the side of his helmet to enhance his vision. There was a blue glowing cord around the thing's neck with what looked like a person on its back.

The shadow crashed near the barrier. The two things immediately started wrestling.

James' eyes widened as he recognized both, the large shadow being a combination of sentry parts aka the Frankenstein mode, while the other being the Altean Princess.

"Allura!" Hunk yelled out.

The tension returned along with the reminder of why they were here at the hole, whose fault it was for ripping their protective particle barrier and exposing the whole Garrison to danger...

Rifles went up to shoot.

James acted without looking at Leifs. Impulsively, Kinkade would have said with a sigh while Riz would have hooted in excitement. He twisted around to stand in front of the guards, holding his rifle up.

His team followed without pause though Kinkade had the sense to switch to his shotgun for the scattered shot. Leifsdottir and Rizavi had their duo guns out for double the shots. Their clips and magazines had been switched to stunning projectiles rather than lethal but they didn't need to tell the Garrison guards that.

The MFEs and the guards stared off in silence.

"Let's keep our heads together," Shiro sounded out. "We're all on the same side."

No one moved but no one fired either.

Then something shot off into the air from the Garrison. James recognized the sound. Commander Holt's prototype. He quickly jumped back before closing his eyes. There was screaming around them, letting him know that the flash had succeeded in blinding the guards. He switched his visor to its protected view and opened his eyes.

"Now!" James yelled out.

Riz and Leifs shot at the ground near the guards' feet to the small square devices they had left behind. Electricity thrummed out and branched, catching the majority of the guards. Several yelled out and then fell to the ground, knocked out.

Kinkade used the end of his rifle to knock out a guard. James followed suit but he had trouble getting behind him. The guard was older, most likely the leader of the group. James grunted as the man got him in the stomach though he knew he didn't have his full sight yet.

Experience counted against James.

"Grif!"

James looked up from his bent over form to see the guard lifting up his rifle. His sight was no longer an issue. Kinkade shot the man down but not before the guard fired a couple of times. He heard the unmistakable sound of a female voice crying out in shocked pain, instantly filling him with icy dread.

"No!"

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AN: I'll cover the paladins' fighting in the next chapter, don't worry. There's just a lot going on so it didn't all fit in one chapter.