AN: Another long chapter. :D
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Walking with two guards on either side was bringing back unpleasant memories for Commander Sam Holt.
What made it worse were the low lights in the hallway. He felt his pulse start to quicken. He forced himself to focus around him rather than get sucked into his memories. The lights were a white-yellow color, not purple. There were no metal footsteps of sentries or clanking of Galran armor. The doors up ahead were not cells. Slowly his pulse calmed down somewhat.
But he still had a pit in his stomach.
They were now in the makeshift civilian sector. While the control room was awake and active this sector was quiet. They were purposefully stationed on the other side of the Garrison since civilians were not given clearance to know the inner workings of the base.
What use are secrets when the universe is in jeopardy?
He softly snorted at the thought.
When they arrived the guards barely gave him enough space to pull out his keycard. He felt his eyes narrow. I've merely traded one prison for another. But at least this prison had Colleen and Katie.
The lights were on.
He was not surprised to see Veronica and Colleen sitting on the couch. He had sent the MFE handler and analysis out of the control room in the pretense of delivering his wife a message. What he didn't expect were the Altean guests on the other couch. If it weren't for the hour he wouldn't have thought twice about it.
"Coran, Romelle. Why are you -"
His words halted abruptly as he fully entered the living room. There were two other guards standing directly behind the Alteans. He felt his brows furrow as the two guards that came with him flanked him on either side to complete the square formation.
"...What's the meaning of this?"
"We were ordered to guard -"
"Cut the crap soldier," Sam stepped closer to put a hand along the top of the couch. "I know intimidation tactics when I see it," his eyes narrowed fiercely, "however weak this is."
"Commander Holt," Veronica calmly murmured in an attempt to curb his anger.
It was his wife's hand on his that made him pause.
It wasn't the first time Colleen's seen him get in an argument with the Garrison and it wouldn't be the last, unfortunately. She herself had yelled at a fair share of people including the Admiral. However, there were times when he referenced his time as a prisoner and slave for the Galra without batting an eye with Colleen in the room...
'Sometimes it troubles me how calm you are about it,' Colleen had murmured one evening. 'Don't get me wrong Sam. I'm proud of your strength and fortitude.' She lifted her head off of his shoulder with a somber expression. 'But a scientist shouldn't know how to talk like that.'
"Sit down Sam," Coran half smiled. "We were just swapping stories."
He gave Colleen's hand a light squeeze before walking around the couch. If enslavement taught him anything it was to bide his time. No harm was done to anyone in the room. Veronica didn't look stressed about being discovered for launching his prototype.
I'll play along. For now.
The Garrison feeds on the west side washed out as a blinding light cut through the night.
"What is that?" the Admiral sharply voiced out.
Iverson's eyes moved to the tech's screen measuring the energy level. He felt his jaw slack just slightly. These levels...The Admiral walked closer to what had Iverson's attention.
"A sentry has never let out a beam of that magnitude," Admiral Sanda gravely intoned.
"Judging from the trajectory," the tech adjusted the screen to show what he was seeing, "it did not come from the sentry."
Commander Iverson and the Admiral shared a glance, the former filled with tentative hope while the other only narrowed her eyes even more.
"Commander, contact the MFEs."
He already knew what was going through her paranoid mind.
"Admiral -"
"They're a part of the Galaxy Garrison," the Admiral intoned thinly with her chin tilted upwards. "Unless the MFEs are also following in Sam Holt's footsteps..."
Iverson was very conscious of the eyes. But he was past caring about that in regards to his own reputation. However, the Galaxy Garrison maintained order by the chain of commands. In the midst of such high stakes, order was what was needed. He was required to pick his battles for the sake of the Garrison's future.
"...Open a line to the MFEs' comms," Iverson commanded to the tech.
"Yes sir."
Leifsdottir quietly stared at the light, her mind quickly calculating its strength.
Judging by the intensity and damage to the Frankenstein sentry the closest equivalent was their fusion cannon. It was the Garrison's ground weapon that managed to take down a battle cruiser. But for Keith Kogane's arm cannon to have the same power...
It defies logic and science.
Yet she knew her calculation was correct.
'Let go of what you think you know,' Commander Holt's words floated into her mind, 'or else lose the possibilities in front of you.'
"Keith! Allura, Shiro!"
She turned to see Lance McClain bringing up a red blade to slide at the barrier. His weapon can shift too, she idly noted as she lifted her visor up.
"Stop," she calmly called out.
Lance didn't hear her. Griffin did. He gripped Lance's shoulder to stop him just before his blade could hit the barrier. Kinkade followed Grif's lead when the paladin made to break away.
"Let go," Lance half hissed out, "We need to get to them before -"
"There's a new current running through the barrier," Leifs looked upwards as a lighter orange shimmered. "The added electrical shock will only injure you."
"So what? You want me to leave them stranded?"
"Just temporarily," Griffin reassured him.
Lance fixed him with a fierce glare. "If I told you to ditch members of your team," he half growled, "knowing full well that the Galra are on the other side..."
Leifsdottir was not surprised to see the regret resurface in Griffin's eyes. It was as fresh as the day they were forced to leave Veronica behind. But when she looked over at Kinkade...
His eyes closed for the briefest of moments before they reopened. His face was neutral again. She had seen enough. Her memory catalogued and stored it under 'Ryan Kinkade's stats' as her brain was used to doing without even thinking about it.
"I wouldn't," James grimly murmured, "if I had control over the situation."
There was a crunching of dirt. Leifs could see Keith step up to the barrier with Officer Shirogane and Princess Allura behind him.
"Which you don't," Keith evenly voiced out, "Lance."
Romelle picked up the unused clean cup from the table to fill.
Coran was trying to lighten the mood with his tale of their run in with the yalmors. But she couldn't seem to calm down her nerves. It was no secret that she wasn't one for adventuring or high stake situations. Even so. The Garrison guards had her thinking about Lotor's guards on the colony. They were never forceful but the way they always kept their faces covered had unnerved her every time they came.
She eyed a Garrison guard as she poured the water.
Their eyes were blocked with a black visor. Her pouring hand shook a little. Coran put a hand on her shoulder without stopping with his tale. She took in an inaudible breath then readjusted her grip on the pitcher to finish.
I am not alone anymore.
"For you," Romelle held the cup up.
Despite the situation Sam gave her a genuine smile. "Thank you Romelle."
He reached out for it. A thrumming, electrical sound vibrated the walls. The cup clattered onto the table in the middle of the transition into his hands. He stared wide eyed as a bright flash lit up one of the windows.
"What was that?"
Coran immediately got to his feet, not noticing a guard move with him as he went to the window. Coran had seen Zarkon use it numerous times during his journeys with Alfor and the other rulers. He hadn't thought he'd see it again so soon. Sam and the others followed Coran's lead.
"It's the Black Bayard's arm cannon."
Sam felt his jaw slack. "That was a paladin?"
"Keith has only been using the blade." Coran turned to him with a serious expression. "For him to suddenly gain another ability..."
"Something went wrong," Sam filled in. "We need to go."
The leader of the four guards spoke up behind them.
"Admiral Sanda would like you to stay in the suite."
"And I would like to make sure we still have a chance against the Galra."
"Commander Holt, please understand -"
A Garrison phone went off. Romelle quickly lifted up her long white sleep shirt to get to her pants' pocket. Coran nor Romelle had access to the paladin's comms. Lance had given her his cell in case of an emergency while they were helping the refugees. She quickly swiped the screen, seeing that it was Hunk.
"Romelle! Is Coran with you?"
"Well yes. But what is the matter? We saw-"
Veronica pulled the phone out of her hand to put it on speaker. Romelle took the phone back with a pout but held it up for the group.
"-bring Mr. Holt to the med bay!"
"I didn't catch that."
Hunk's breath was heavy like he had been running.
"Pidge was shot! She's not waking up and I don't see anyone around to-"
"Katie," Colleen breathed out.
"We're coming Hunk," Sam immediately responded back.
Romelle took the phone off speaker to try to calm Hunk down. She fast walked with the others as she quietly spoke. The two guards stepped in front of the door. Colleen stepped forward with her hand tightly fisting over her heart.
"Ma'am, I'm afraid -"
"You better be afraid," she snapped with plenty of venom. "If my only daughter dies because of your yapping I'm taking your head and sticking it on a pike as a warning, you fuc-"
"Colleen," Veronica quickly interrupted.
"Surely you cannot deny a family to help their child," Coran reasoned.
"We have strict orders to -"
"Quiznak your orders," Sam harshly bit out.
"Sam," Veronica sighed. Her brother told her what the alien word was. It was time to argue like a soldier. "Look, Katie Holt is one of five paladins of Voltron. If she dies so does our only hope of fighting off the Galra. And if you're thinking, 'we'll just stick someone else in there' you're dead wrong. It took the MFEs a whole year to learn to pilot their new planes and that was only partially Altean." She put a hand on her hip as she gave them a flat look. "You wanna see how our pilot does with an entirely Altean ship shaped like a lion?"
The guards shared a glance before turning to their leader.
"We'll escort two people to the med bay."
It was as good as they were going to get. "Fine," Sam thinly agreed. "Coran, I'll need your experience."
"Anything for Number Five."
Sam gave Colleen's hand a firm squeeze. "I'll update you as soon as I can."
"Go save our baby girl."
Two guards split off to escort them to the med bay.
The three MFEs and Lance looked through the barrier.
Griffin tried to get a look at Keith's eyes again but the orange barrier made it hard to tell their color. He had absolutely no difficulty seeing the smeared dried blood under his nose with the shattered visor. The arm canon had transformed into a black and white device in Keith's hand.
"The beam will draw scouts over," the young leader of Voltron murmured. "We'll have to hide."
"Don't go far," Lance gestured to the Garrison, "I just need to get Kosmo -"
"I told him to stay with Pidge." Pause. "You know how he is."
Protect the youngest.
It was no shocker that their wolf would pick up their protectiveness for Pidge. Lance looked over at the other two. Shiro was checking the wound along Allura's head. Even from his side of the barrier he could tell that it was still sluggishly bleeding. Shiro felt eyes on him and looked up. The former Black Paladin's face was calm but the lines around his eyes made it clear that the fight drained him.
Lance felt his lungs constrict as he stared at his second family.
"Pidge will send him as soon as she wakes up," he voiced out with a slight rasp. "So you better hide real good mullet."
"We will." Keith lifted his untransformed bayard up. "Shiro and I know this area better than anyone else."
Leifsdottir saw the purple lights first. "Drones are approaching in fifteen seconds."
For a moment Lance had forgotten about the MFEs. He looked up to the dark sky. There was no way to mistaken those lights for anything else.
"Lance." The teen looked at the tired, reassuring smile on Shiro's face. "Look after the others."
Allura mustered a small smile. "We'll be reunited soon."
"Let's go," Keith murmured.
With that, Keith led them into the desert. Lance followed them with his eyes until Griffin put a hand on his shoulder.
"If the drones get this close -"
"They'll see me," the Red Paladin blankly finished.
Griffin dropped his hand once he started moving again. The distance from the barrier to the buildings was a good walk but right now they needed speed. It was a good thing they had thought to bring a vehicle over. Griffin slipped into the driver's seat. Leifsdottir took the passenger seat while Lance and Kinkade went into the back. The back doors were closing when Commander Iverson's voice sounded out in the comms.
"MFEs, you are to detain the paladins."
Griffin revved on accident before he switched out of the parked position. Leifs looked at him from the corner of her eye as Iverson completed his order.
"Only engage as a last resort..."
"You ok there?" Lance voiced out.
Griffin looked up to see Lance through the rearview mirror. He could just make out Kinkade's frown. He took a breath before switching the gears correctly.
"It's been a long night."
He glanced at Leifs. She tapped the side of her helmet and waited for Grif to drive. The wheels of their vehicle sounded out against the dirt as Grif purposefully revved louder than he had too.
"Copy, Commander," she murmured quietly.
Lance kept his gaze out the window.
Hunk felt his heart thudding hard as he stripped off Pidge's armor.
Shiro and Coran had given them some first aid tips but like the piloting tips only half of it stuck. He was an engineer and cook. Anything outside of those categories were harder to remember. But he figured he should lay out Pidge face down as to not further aggravate her back injury. Kosmo stood by the medical cot as Hunk worked.
"Coran and Sam Holt are on their way," Romelle's voice sounded out from his phone.
He had it on speaker so his hands could be free.
"Good," he breathed out. "Her upper armor's off." He eyed the wolf sniffing her hair. "Kosmo's not freaking out so I guess she's not in immediate danger. I did feel her pulse but it's not steady."
"And a pulse is..."
"A heartbeat. Sign of life." He checked her forehead. "She's a little cold. Her body could be in shock." He quickly went to the cabinets for a blanket. "Where the quiznak are the Garrison doctors?"
"A heartbeat is a good sign."
He hastily pulled out a white sheet, not caring that he dropped a couple. With a snap of his wrists the blanket unfolded. Carefully he laid it on her. He made sure to not touch the injured part of her back. He couldn't think of what else to do. Finally, he plopped down on a chair. He dropped his helmet on the floor before using a corner of the blanket to wipe his sweaty face.
Without anything else to do, his mind ran.
"Why would they try shooting Allura? She just wants to help. It's not even her planet or people. I mean, I wanted you guys to see Earth as your home but then the Galra attacked - And then Allura never tried to change the plans to come to Earth despite what Kolivan said about the missing Altean colony," he winced as that spilled out. "Sorry. I'm sure you and Coran are worried too." He ran a slow hand through his sweaty hair. "It's frustrating. We're the good guys. All we do is help and protect. Other planets know that so why is that so hard to believe on our own darn planet?"
Hunk hung his head for a moment. It took Romelle time to speak again.
"Sometimes strangers are kinder than the people you know."
He lifted his head up when Kosmo nosed his hand. He rubbed the wolf's ears. It was more relaxing than he thought it would be. Therapy dog huh? With all they've gone through he was sure everyone needed Kosmo's services. Even Iverson had relaxed once he petted their space wolf.
"You're pretty calm right now." He grinned a little. "You're usually as bad as I am with this sort of thing."
"I'm not there."
"That's true." His grin widened. "You're actually squirmier than me and that's saying a lot."
"This is all fairly new to me," she softly huffed. "What is your excuse?"
"Ouch. But I deserved that." There was sound down the hall. Hunk immediately stood up. "I think Sam and Coran are coming."
"I'll go then." Pause. "Hunk?"
"Yeah?"
"We do not need a planet to call home. It's the people that make a family, not a place."
Hunk's smile carried a weight she couldn't see.
"...Yeah."
There were so many questions running through Sam's mind.
He wanted nothing more than to ask them but he knew they had to wait. His daughter needed him to be focused. He pulled out smocks and gloves for him and Coran. Hunk was ushered out of the room with no complaints. Kosmo stubbornly stayed by her cot but out of their way. One guard was by the door. The other had the sense to look for a doctor.
For now though...
"We'll need to peel back the under armor and then most likely sanitize the wound," Commander Holt slipped on a surgical mask. "Coran, I'll need you to be ready with gauze in case of blood."
"Ready when you are."
He carefully worked open the under armor. It was more difficult the closer he got to the wound. The armor plates took most of the force judging by the cracks and blackness but there was a patch of burnt under armor that had him concerned.
His daughter twitched but she stayed knocked out. Sweat was forming along his forehead. As he feared, the under armor caught some skin.
"I'm sorry Katie."
He went slow but by the increasing murmurings he knew he was causing her discomfort. Once he exposed her back Coran quickly started sanitizing. Sam stared hard at the deep bruise color of her wound on her small frame. This was his youngest. His Katie.
This was a lethal shot.
If the paladin armor hadn't been so strong...
"Sam?"
Commander Holt focused back. "We'll need to scan for internal injuries."
The curtains were drawn for Pidge's room once the doctor came.
Griffin had sent Leifsdottir to help Rizavi. Kinkade and himself were on either side of Lance and Hunk. The wolf was standing by the closed door. They had to drag Kosmo out when the doctor declared the animal as unsanitary. Hunk was sitting on the floor. Lance and the MFEs were leaning against the wall. No one spoke for the last twenty minutes.
"Did the Admiral really want Allura taken out?" Lance quietly asked.
Griffin sighed to himself. He was honestly surprised he hadn't been asked sooner.
"You broke a part of the barrier. How did you think she'd react?"
"We're not traitors." Hunk grumbled. "We did it to save people. Besides, you guys said it was fixed already." Pause. "You MFEs are in deep water too. You attacked the Garrison guards."
Kinkade grunted. Griffin kept his eyes forward.
"I'd worry about your team. We can handle ourselves."
Lance crossed his arms and tsked. "If anything happens to our team -"
"Threats against the Admiral only hurt your defense," Kinkade dryly responded.
"She threatened us first." Hunk's usually kind eyes slowly chilled. "We did nothing to -"
"Hunk," Lance cut off. "They make a good point."
To Griffin's surprise the Yellow Paladin did not argue any further. Isn't Keith the leader? Why would Hunk listen to Lance? Unless he was in charge in the event Voltron's main leader was absent. But Lance? The guy was only good enough to be a cargo pilot and almost as hot headed as Keith.
Lance glanced at Griffin when he felt eyes on him.
Then Lance looked over at Kinkade standing near Hunk before he shifted back to Griffin. The MFE leader was taken back by the assessing expression especially as Lance's eyes narrowed. He could practically see Lance connecting the dots. Was this really the same goofy cadet he knew years ago?
"Why are you two still here?"
Griffin saw no need to lie. "We have orders to bring you to the Admiral."
"Not until Pidge wakes up."
"That's not for you to dictate," Griffin murmured.
"But it is your call to make."
The MFE leader and Right Hand of Voltron stared off for a moment. Griffin then crossed his arms and went back to leaning against the wall.
"The Admiral can wait another half an hour."
"If Pidge wakes up then."
"Half an hour," Griffin reiterated.
Lance shrugged. "We'll cross that bridge when it comes."
Griffin gave him a stern look but said nothing. Kinkade shared a look with his leader. James half rolled his eyes. Kinkade let out a snort.
They still didn't understand the situation.
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AN: Not very actiony but I needed to cover what happened with those inside the Garrison. I also wanted to get Romelle in the story since she's pretty much in the background for the second half of the season. XD
Then of course get Colleen Holt in here. She's so awesome. I had no complaints with Colleen in the season. Veronica too.
Next chapter I plan to cover Keith, Shiro, and Allura's dilemma.
