After the whole Valentino attack and getting Lana's heart back, the Paladins and the two Alteans are all at the Main Bridge of the Castle of Lions, as Pidge was typing in her computer looking at the data of the Galra Empire, they manange to get from Sendak's memories, and hope they find a way to defeat Zarkon.
"Somewhere inside Sendak's memories we should be able to find the inside information that gives us the key to take down Zarkon." Said Allura with a confident smile.
"I don't think your father would approve of searching through an enemy's memories." Said Coran looking concerned after what happened with Alfor's A.I.
"I know, but we have to do everything we can to defeat Zarkon." Said Allura looking at her advisor.
"Once we learn all his weaknesses, we can drive up to his front door and challenge him to a fight. Winner gets the universe." Said Lana feeling confident about the situation.
'You got that right, Lana, with these informations from Sendak's memories, will be able to defeat Zarkon easy.' Said Blue feeling confident as well.
'Let's not get cocky, Blue, we need to stay focus if we want to defeat Zarkon.' Said Red looking serious.
"Anything good yet, Pidge?" Asked Shiro looking at Pidge.
"We were only able to salvage bits and pieces." Said Pidge checking over the data.
"We need something to work with. Right now, we don't even have a decent map of the empire." Said Keith frowning at the data information with no location of Zarkon's empire.
"Who needs a map, anyway. After 10,000 years of conquering, I could probably fire my bayard at like any random point in space and hit a Galra ship." Said Lana smiling confidently and pets Blue's head. "Or maybe I can destroy a Galra Base with Blue here."
"If we could just find troop locations or supply routes, small targets we could hit-and-run, then we could start to free planets one by one." Said Shiro looking serious.
"Sounds kinda boring, I want see some explosions." Said Lana smiling a bit. "They kinda remind me of fireworks back on Earth."
'What are fireworks?' Asked Blue looking at her Paladin in confusion.
"I'll explain later, Blue." Said Lana smiling at her Lion.
"Zarkon's been building his empire for 10,000 years. We're not going to tear it down overnight with five inexperienced pilots and one support ship. Hitting him where he lives would be a huge mistake." Said Shiro looking serious.
"Okay, I've cross-referenced Sendak's memories with the info I got from the downed ship back on Arus." Said Pidge putting the data on the screen. "Most of it was a garbled mess, but one thing kept repeating, something called a "Universal Station.""
"Universal Station? Like, the kind of station that controls the entire universe?" Asked Hunk looking closer to see the data better.
"Well, we are translating it from Galra, so it could also be "Galactic Hub."" Said Pidge shoving Hunk away from her console.
"Or "Space Base"!" Asked Lana with a smirk and everyone look at her. "What, I'm trying to lighten the mood here, especially after what happened with Valentino."
"I'm pulling up the location of your Universal Hub Station Base on our screens now." Said Coran going over the castle's monitor and it pull up an image of two planets and an astroid, but nothing else.
"So, where is it?" Asked Lana looking at the screen.
'Yeah, all I see are two planets and an astroid.' Said Blue looking at the screen.
"I don't know. Our long-range sensors are unable to find anything at those coordinates." Said Coran looking at the information.
"Maybe he remembered it wrong." Said Keith suggesting his thought.
'That can't be possible, there's no way Sendak will remember something wrong, he's been loyal to Zarkon for 10,000 years, and remembers everything clearly.' Said Red looking at the map.
"Or maybe we just stumbled across a top-secret base in Sendak's memories." Said Pidge adjusting her glasses.
'You may have a point there Pidge, it may seem there's nothing, meaning that Galra must have something there that they don't want anyone to know.' Said Green agreeing with Pidge.
"Only one way to find out. Let's go take a look." Said Allura and they fly to where the planets are.
It took a while to get to the destination they find from Sendak's memories, but they were able to finally make it, and Allura starts to drive the castle slowly.
"We should be close enough to get a good scan, but far enough away to avoid being noticed." Said Allura as she drives the castle.
When they arrived at the coordinates, Allura hid them behind one of the smaller planets, allowing them to properly scan the area, as well as being far enough away to be undetected. There, right in the middle of the three planets, was a very, very small moon with a base carved into it, a couple of battleships docked there.
"There it is." Said Shiro looking at the sight of the base.
"It appears the gravitation between the two planets warps the electron emission spectrum enough to keep the planet off the deep space scanners." Said Coran looking at the screen.
"So, you can only see it if you really know where to look." Said Pidge reiterated what Coran says.
"This place must handle shipments from all over the Galra Empire." Said Shiro seeing more Galra warships coming and going.
"If this is some big airport where shipments come and go, why is it hidden?" Asked Pidge looking suspicious.
"There must be more to this than we're seeing." Said Shiro feeling like there's more than meets the eye.
"Then, we'd better go down to take a look. We'll need to enter here: the central control building." Said Allura informing the Paladins and suddenly Keith's eyes widen in realization.
"I'm sorry, Princess, did you say "we"?" Asked Keith as he and the others look at Allura.
"I'm going with you." Said Allura and everyone's eyes widen. "I've traveled through the Galra transportation hubs many times with my father before the war began. I know more about them than any of you."
"Princess, I'd rather you stay here." Said Coran feeling a bit worried about Allura's idea.
"I'm a part of this fight against Zarkon as much as anyone. I'm going. Does anyone have a problem with that?" Asked Allura looking at everyone.
Everyone look really nervous about answering Allura's question as they all look at different directions, even the Lion's looked away from Allura, and Coran looks at Shiro, who seems calm about this.
"Fine. Suit up." Said Shiro as he shrugs.
The Altean Advisor look mortified at Shiro's answer while the others look skeptical at their leader, but Allura just smile at Shiro. Then as everyone gets ready, Shiro starts explaining the plan.
"We'll go in low, fast, and hopefully undetected. Coming around the dark side of the nearest planet should keep them from getting a visual on us. Thanks to Pidge's modifications to the Green Lion, we'll have 30 seconds of cloaking." Said Shiro explaining to the Paladins and Altean Princess.
"I can flood their short-range sensors with a radiation burst. That should buy you a minute or so, while they assume it's cosmic interference. But, after that, it's up to you to be out of sight." Said Coran explaining to the team.
After they arrived inside the Green Lion, they flew out of the Castle while Pidge cloaked the Green Lion. As they flew closer, Coran sent out a wave of radiation from the castle in order to cause some interference, allowing them to slip through their defenses and land on the satellite, touching down on the cliff overlooking the front of the hub.
Inside the control room, the Galra Lieutenant in charge watched with boredom as the computer began restarting the system. Sure enough, the screens flickered back to life and the lights became a little brighter.
"Psst! Hey!" Said Shiro to the Galra Soldier.
Then the Galra Lieutenant turn to see Shiro behind him, and before he could do anything, Shiro punched the Galra Soldier so hard, causing him to fall unconscious. Shiro quickly grabbed the downed soldier and began to haul him off while Hunk and Lana shot down the couple of sentries, that are still in the room, and the Green Lion taken down two sentries by herself.
"How's it look out there?" Asked Shiro to Keith, who is looking out of the window.
"All clear." Said Keith to Shiro after looking out the window.
Hunk and Pidge pulled out wires and Pidge's computer from her backpack, which she had with them in any case, and starts plugging them into the console and Rover as well, who hovered cheerfully around Pidge's head.
"This shouldn't take too long." Said Hunk to the other's.
"We'll have all the information we need in a few minutes." Said Pidge as the computer and Rover starts beeping. "Hunk and I have made some improvements since the last time I tried to download Galra info. We should get a nice, clean translation immediately. Hunk had a great idea about how to do it."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, do you guys remember when we studied algorithms at the Garrison, and Mr. York told us that joke about the ghost learning symbolic logic and innumerably infinite sets?" Said Hunk as he chuckles a bit.
"No offense, Honey-Bee, but that joke is kinda boring!" Said Lana looking at her best friend.
"Right, it was boring. Anyway, the joke goes. . ." Said Hunk as he was about to tell the joke.
"Hey, guys, sorry to interrupt, but I think we got company." Said Keith interrupting Hunk as he saw a Galra battleship approaching and they all ducked behind the control console as it began to dock.
"Think we should get out of here?" Asked Keith looking at the others.
"We just need a few more seconds." Said Pidge typing in her computer.
'Please hurry Pidge, I don't want to rush you, but you need to be quick, we don't want to be capture by the Galra.' Said Green to Pidge.
"Stay low. We need this intel." Said Shiro when suddenly the computer starts beeping.
"Get down!" Said Keith and everyone ducked as a video transmission started.
As the video transmission started, a Galra Soilder appeared in the screen, and however he was confused as he saw himself staring around at a seemingly empty room.
"He's still looking. I think he's waiting for a signal or something." Said Lana to the others.
"I got it." Said Hunk getting an idea as he look at the busted sentry.
Then Hunk hauled up the robot to stand at the console, ducking down to maneuver it like a puppet. Then as Hunk waved the sentry's arm to the Galra Sentry, making motions to the video transmission, the Galra Soldier was confused at first, but soon realized it's a permission to dock as tne transmission ended. The Paladins and Allura breathed a collective sigh of relief as Hunk brought the robot back down.
"Nice job, Honey-Bee." Said Lana smiling at her best friend.
"Thanks." Said Hunk as he high-fived Lana with the sentries arm.
"Okay, download complete." Said Pidge informing the others.
"What's it say? Asked Keith looking at the computer screen.
"Nothing. This place doesn't have any useful information. Just a schedule of the ships coming in and out." Said Pidge looking through the mission.
'I don't understand, there has to be more to this base, the Galra Empire wouldn't just hide it for nothing.' Said Green getting suspicious.
"Well, I guess this mission was a bust." Said Lana feeling like it was a waste of time.
"Let's get back to the Castle." Said Shiro as they were all about to head back.
"Hold on. Pidge, do you know where that ship is headed?" Asked Allura while looking at the ship.
"Um, it's scheduled to be here for about a half an hour, then head off to Central Command." Said Pidge looking at her computer.
"That's where they have the information we need, and I'm going to sneak aboard that ship and get it for us." Said Allura with determination.
"What? No way!" Said Lana disagreeing with Allura's plan.
"How are you going to get in?" Asked Keith look at Allura.
"I'm going to walk right through the front." Said Allura taking off her helmet.
Before anyone could ask what she meant by that, Allura closed her eyes and began concentrating. Then her skin became purple and she began to grow in height. The team watched in awe as she slowly began to tower over them, looking more Galra, when she opened her eyes, she still looked Altean but in Galra version, as she smiled at the team.
"How the heck did you do that?" Asked Hunk still shock how Allura did it.
"The Alteans are a chameleon-like people who can blend in with the local populations. It's the ability that's made us great explorers and diplomats throughout our history." Said Allura explaining about her heritage.
"So, can you turn into, like, a balloon?" Asked Lana eagerly to Allura.
"How many different colors can you be at once?" Asked Pidge wondering about the Altean culture.
"Aren't you afraid you'll rip your pants?" Asked Hunk looking curious and Allura looked a bit annoyed but answer the questions.
"No, just one at a time, and I will need a change of costume. I can use his uniform as a disguise." Said Allura looking at the unconscious Galra Soldier.
"I can't let you go in there alone." Said Shiro firmly to Allura.
"Excuse me? I do not need your permission." Said Allura frowning at Shiro.
Then the Paladins slowly turned their heads to look at Shiro expectantly, wondering how he would react to the Princess.
"It's too dangerous." Said Shiro walking to Allura. "I'm going in with you."
"You will stick out like a Shoferiak's nose." Said Allura arguing with Shiro.
"You're going to need that nose, Princess." Said Pidge stepping forward and holds up Shiro's prosthetic arm. "Shiro's hand is made from Galra tech. It's the only thing we have that will allow us to interface with their systems and gather intel. I can monitor the download remotely from here."
"Fine, you can come." Said Allura sighting as she agreed.
"Uh, you guys better hurry up if you want to get on and off before the ship leaves for Zarkon central." Said Hunk looking out from the window.
"How are you going to get Shiro on board?" Asked Keith looking at Allura and Shiro.
Allura is in Galra armor carrying a box. Shiro is curled up inside the box with a resigned expression. Allura approaches the ship, and as she was about to get on, one of the guards held out his hand.
"Halt." Said a Galra Soldier to Allura.
At first, Allura and Shiro were afraid their cover is blown, but the guard didn't seem interested in them, as a couple of sentries came out, pushing a couple of carts with large, cylindrical tubes filled with some kind of glowing, golden substance, passing down the ramp and into the depot.
Once the sentries have passed them, the guard leg Allura through, as she began going up the ramp, and Allura breathed a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile back up in the control room, Hunk, Keith, and Lana were watching from the window, while Pidge tries to hack into the robot, with her computer.
"They're in." Said Lana seeing how Allura and Shiro got inside the ship.
"What do you think they have in all those giant containers?" Asked Keith looking at the containers the sentries carried.
"Well, I suspect that it's sporks." Said Hunk causing Keith and Lana turned to Hunk with raised eyebrows. "What? This is an advanced race we're talking about here. Surely, they've learned that it's foolish to have forks and spoons when one tool will efficiently do the job."
Keith just rolled his eyes as he looks back out the window, while Lana chuckled and smile at her best friend. Hunk may have answers that don't make sense, but at least he was able to humor them in this situation.
"Maybe this guy will tell us." Said Pidge as she looks at the Galra Drone. "What is coming in and out of this station?"
"Interrogation detected. Initiating lockdown." Said the Galra Drone as it turns off.
"Not talking, eh?" Said Pidge smirking at the drone as she began typing away again in her computer.
"Okay, that is so strange." Said Lana looking at the drone.
'Lana is right, whatever the Galra has in this base, they don't want anyone to know what they're doing here.' Said Green looking at the drone.
"Whoa. Check out this guy." Said Keith getting Lance and Hunk's attention.
Lana and Hunk both looked outside to see the sentries with the canisters meet someone in a long purple cloak and a creepy, beaked mask with five yellow slots that were like eyes.
"Who do you think that is?" Asked Hunk looking a bit scared.
"Whatever's happening here that requires the base to be kept secret must have something to do with that scary dude. I'm going to go check it out." Said Keith as he turn to exit out of the control room.
"What. . . No way, we need to lay low and not blow our cover!" Said Lana frowning at Keith, but Keith began leaving the room. "Keith, get back here, don't you dare walk through that door!"
Of course, Keith pretended like he didn't hear Lana, and the door sliding shut automatically behind him. Lana groaned in frustration and glanced back at Hunk and Pidge.
"Seriously, does he ever listen?" Said Lana while the two shrugged.
Shiro and Allura both have managed to get onto the Galra ship with no issues, sneaking around. As the two of them paused at a corner to let some guards through, Shiro began to have some flashbacks of when he was a prisoner in the Galra Empire.
"Shiro, are you all right?" Asked Allura looking concerned for Shiro.
"I just remembered how I escaped from the Galra prison ship. Listen, most of the ship's personnel are sentries." Said Shiro remembering how he escaped.
"So?" Asked Allura looking confused.
"When I was a prisoner, I timed their pattern." Said Shiro remembering the timing of the guards.
"Do you remember it?" Asked Allura looking hopeful.
"Let's find out." Said Shiro as he began remembering the specific timing.
Allura had to admit that she was impressed with Shiro and his ability to maneuver around the sentries, how he could time them so perfectly.
Meanwhile outside of the hidden base, Keith was hiding out in a smaller ship bay, watching the Druid leading the sentries, who are holding the floating carts of glowing tubes, inside the base.
Keith watched as the Druid went through a large door, waiting until it was just about to shut to tuck and roll in silently.
Meanwhile back in the tower, Lana, Pidge, and Hunk were still waiting on the other. Lana was just sitting on the staircase while leaning back. Hunk had been helping Pidge hack into it, trying to approach it from a more manual standpoint. Hunk work with some wires when he realized he could control its motor functions, and was currently having the robot slap its face repeatedly.
"Why are you hitting yourself? Stop hitting yourself! Quit hitting yourself!" Said Hunk while laughing a bit.
"Stop torturing it, Hunk." Said Pidge frowning at Hunk.
"I'm sorry. I just... I need something to keep me busy, so I'm not worried about Keith getting caught, or Shiro and Allura getting blasted by robot things, or someone finding us here, like, right now. . ." Said Hunk while still messing with the wires.
"Stop it, Hunk! I think we can teach it to help us. Would you like to help us, Mr. Robot?" Asked Pidge looking at the robot.
Then the Galra drone lifted it's head and for a moment, it seemed like it worked. But then it's head began to spin around.
"Whoops." Said Pidge's realizing that she did the program wrong.
"Okay, seriously what is up with Keith, Why does he always have to do these things?" Asked Lana still looking upset.
"Well, you know Keith, he follows his instincts above all else and will take the initiative regardless of the danger and challenge." Said Hunk still messing with the robot. "And yet, back at the Garrison's, he's still the top pilot on the class."
"I don't understand how he's still the best pilot, I'm just as good as he is, I score way better than he does, he's only lucky cause I was one point behind him." Said Lana looking a bit frustrated.
"Really Lana, are you is not just because you also. . . You know. . . Have a major crush on Keith?" Asked Pidge with a sly smirk on her face.
"WHAT?!" Shouted Lana blushing in embarrassment. "I don't have a crush on Keith!"
"Oh please Lana, you can't say that the way his hair look so soft you want to touch it, or the way his eyes are so memorizing that you get lost in them." Said Pidge smirking at Lana. "Or better yet, the way he flexed his muscles that you really want to them and feel them."
"What the. . . How will would you even. . ." Asked Lana till suddenly she frowns at Hunk. "Hunk, have you been going through my journal, again?!"
Hunk look down on the floor ashamed as he continues to fidget with the wires that are controlling the robot.
"Okay, we really need to talk about you having personal boundaries, Honey-Bee!" Said Lana frowning at Hunk.
'Does Lana actually like Keith?' Asked Green looking at Pidge in confusion.
"Well, it's more like the other way around." Said Pidge softly at her Lion. "I'll explain later."
Meanwhile inside the base, Keith dispose a few sentries by the door, leaving them in a crumpled heap, as he approached through a short hallway, he stared in awe at the massive chamber in front of him. It was huge with massive tubes filled with the glowing golden stuff lining the walls.
As Keith watched, the Druid stood on a perch over the centre while one of the tubes slid into place, leaking the golden liquid into a giant sphere as the Druid shot purple lightning at it. As it did, the same stuff but a silvery purple leaked out the bottom into a smaller tube. Keith got curious and wonder what he had just found.
Back in the ship, Allura and Shiro made it to the Main Computer, and they saw two Galra Sentries guarding the computer, then Shiro activated his arm and take down the two sentries, while tossing them to the wall.
"We only have a few minutes before the next patrol comes by. Watch the door." Said Shiro looking Allura.
"Got it." Said Allura as she goes to the door and keep a watch, while Shiro uses his arm to access the computer system.
"Okay, Pidge, start the download." Said Shiro to Pidge.
"Generating access code." Said Pidge as she began to access the computer in her computer. "We're in."
But then suddenly, just as Pidge was about to download any information, it began beeping in red.
"Pidge, I think there's a problem." Said Shiro seeing the situation.
"Sit tight. I'm trying to work around this." Said Pidge as she tries to scan any information.
"Pidge?" Said Shiro getting worried they might get caught.
"I'm on it, I'm on it!" Said Pidge typing away in her computer to hurry as fast as she can.
"What's going on here?" Asked a male voice.
Allura yelped and turned around to see a Galra soldier standing in front of her, holding a gun. He didn't have it pointed at her, but he did look confused and concerned, based on his frown, and she quickly blocked a bit of the door, making sure he didn't see Shiro.
"Who are you?" Asked the Galra Soldier looking at Allura.
"It's about time you got here. Where is the rest of your squad?" Asked Allura frowning at the Galra Soldier and standing up straighter.
"Uh, what squad?" Asked the Galra Soilder.
"Hurry up, Pidge." Whispered Shiro so the Galra Soldier won't hear him.
"The squad that is to escort me and my associate to our ship." Said Allura while trying to block Shiro as possible.
"Who's back there? What's going on?" Asked the Galra Soldier frowning deeply and tried to look past Allura.
"We are part of Zarkon's high command. Our work must not be disturbed." Said Allura leaning an arm on the door to block his vision casually.
"Where's Chief Information Officer Plytox?" Asked the Galra Soldier getting suspicious.
"Uh, he's in there. Say hello, Plyrox." Said Allura looking at Shiro while the Black Paladin think clearly before clearing his throat.
"Uh...Uh.. It's "Plytox"!" Said Shiro in a deeper tone.
"Oh, sorry. See?" Said Allura looking back at the Galra Soldier.
"Oh. Vrepit sa, sir! I get his name wrong all the time, too." Said the Galra Soldier softly before he leaves.
As the Galra Soldier leaves them alone, Allura and Shiro both sight in relief, as they continue to get the information.
Meanwhile inside the hidden base, Keith turned the corner to survey the room, as the Druid continued working on whatever he was doing, before mentally switching on the link for everyone, including Coran in the castle.
"Coran, you need to see this." Said Keith activating his broadcasting function in his helmets visor to the castle and inside the bay central control station.
"I've never seen anything like it." Said Coran in shock seeing the image.
"What is that?" Asked Pidge when suddenly the robot starts beeping.
"The material is quintessence, the substance with the highest known energy per unit volume in the universe." Said the Galra Robot explaining what they are seeing.
"Hey, nice job, Pidge! You made him work for us." Said Lana smiling at Pidge.
"What? Impossible." Said Coran in shock realizing that the supplies here are quintessence.
'I don't understand, how can the Galra get a supply of quintessence?' Asked the Green Lion in shock.
"Raw quintessence material is transported here from throughout the galaxy and refined into standardized Galra fuel requirements." Said the Galra Robot giving them more information.
"Did you guys hear that?" Asked Pidge looking at the others in shock.
"I can't believe it! They've found a new way acquire quintessence!" Said Coran in shock and Lana realized something a bit horrifying.
"Guys, I just realized something. . . The hidden space base. . . The supply of quintessence, I don't think we are in a ordinary dock bay, I think we are at a harvesting facility!" Said Lana realizing the whole purpose of the hidden base.
"So you're say that instead of a simple dock bay, we have discovered a hidden supply facility for the Galra Empire!" Said Pidge reiterated what Lana says and Hunk whimper in horror.
'We have discovered the Galra Empire's secret supply of quintessence, but how are they getting it?' Asked Green in concerned.
"Guys, I'm going to steal some of this quint-whatever." Said Keith as he goes to get some.
"No, Keith, don't you. . ." Said Lana till Keith cut off their communication. "Ugh that hothead. . . Pidge, you and Hunk gather some information, I'll go get Keith back, before he blows his cover, even if I had to drag him by the hair!"
So Lana got up and goes to get Keith, before he does anything to alert the Galra that they are in the base.
"You really believe that Lana likes Keith, cause he sometimes do things that irritate's her." Said Hunk looking at Pidge.
"Hmm. . . I think it's more than just that, Hunk." Said Pidge with sly smirk and Hunk look at her in confusion. "You'll know soon enough."
Meanwhile back on the Galra ship, Allura was keeping a watchful eye while Shiro is still gathering information in his prosthetic arm, and she was about to shut the door when she saw the officer from before approach her.
"Um. . . Do you think I could get assigned to Zarkon's unit? Nothing happens on this ship." Asked the Galra Soldier to Allura.
"Oh, well, I don't know. What's your bloodthirstiness on a scale of one to five? One being "No, thanks, I'm full," and five being "Unquenchable."" Said Allura to the Galra Soldier.
"Hmm... If I'm being honest, about a three." Said the Galra Soldier answering Allura's question.
"We can work on that." Said Allura and suddenly the Almaden starts blaring, getting Allura and the Galra Soldier's attention.
"Fugitive prisoner 117-9875 detected. Remain where you are. Security alerted." Said the computer.
Suddenly the Galra Soldier raise his gun at Allura, who slowly backs away, and he see's Shiro by the computer.
"Uh, help! Intruders!" Shouted the Galra Soldier and Allura shuts the door.
"I think we're in trouble." Said Shiro as the Galra Soldier starts blasting the door from the outside.
"You think?" Said Allura realizing that there was only one way out.
Allura rams the Galra Soldier into the wall, creating a dent, embedding his helmet into a wall and knocking him unconscious. Allura yanks his weapon out of his hand. Shiro gapes.
"What?" Asked Allura and suddenly Galra Drones walk towards them.
"Let's go!" Said Shiro as he and Allura start running.
Keith saw a hovering cart loaded with quintessence approaching him. It held several small containers of pure, now violet quintessence. He waited until it was right in front of him before leaping over it, grabbing one of the tubes, and rolling to a kneel. He pressed his back to the opposite wall, taking a breath.
He glanced at the podium to see the Druid still doing magic and he breathed a small sigh of relief. He shivered a bit at the creepy-ass bird mask but he turned back to look at the quintessence.
Suddenly, he was blasted from behind and he went flying, losing his grip on the tube. It rolled on the floor and the Druid picked it up, casually placing it on another nearby cart.
"Okay, plan B!" Said Keith as he rushed to his feet, summoning his bayard to swipe at the Druid.
However, every time Keith tried to land a hit, the Druid just disappeared and reappeared a few feet away from him in a completely random direction. Then the Druid starts blasting him again with some purple lighting, causing Keith to be knocked off his feet and burning the floor. Keith rolled away and came up behind a wall to catch his breath, looking around frantically for the Druid.
Then Keith saw the Druid drifting by down below him, obviously looking for him. He took another breath before he starts leaping off with his sword raised, using his jetpack to fly up and was about to strike. However, the Druid was quick and he blocked it easily by the arm. Suddenly the Druid blasted Keith to the supply of quintessence and Keith fall to the ground.
Keith grabbed hold of his right hand, that was holding the sword and groaned in pain. Keith looked down at his hand, to see that the material of his glove had been burned through, and his skin was all burned and turned a deep purple color. It hurt so much that it almost burned through his skin, and Keith realized he was a bit out of his depth.
"Pidge, I need an extraction now! Hurry!" Said Keith through his helmet commission.
"Pidge, fire up the Green Lion! We're coming in hot!" Said Shiro through his helmet commission.
Meanwhile in the ship, Allura and Shiro came to the end of the hallway where it split off, facing about a half dozen sentries. Allura lifted her gun and blasted it. . . Only to realize she shot in the wrong direction, shooting back at the sentries chasing them, causing one to go down and create a bit of a dogpile.
Shiro wasted no time as he starts taking down the sentires in front of them with his prosthetic arm, then Allura grabbed the destroyed robot and throw it to the other group behind them, and Shiro snatched the gun from Allura's hands, turning it around, and thrusting it back at her.
"I thought you said you'd traveled around the galaxy. I mean, you fly a spaceship. How could you possibly not know how to hold this correctly?" Asked Shiro and Allura grabbed his arm as they both continued to make run.
"I'm tense! This is a tense situation." Said Allura feeling a bit tensed and embarrassed.
Meanwhile inside the base, Keith was just trying to stay alive until Pidge could get him, as he dodge the Druid's lightning blasts as he used his jetpack to hop from catwalk to catwalk. However, Keith ended up tumbling onto the ledge where the Druid had been standing earlier, with the tube of quintessence right behind him.
The Druid landed with it's arms outstretched, channeling magic to blow Keith away. . . Till suddenly, a gun blast hits the Druid at the back, and Keith turn to see Lana with her blaster aiming at the Druid, till the Blue Paladin turn to Keith and gave him a hard expression.
"You know Mullet Head, you're lucky I decided to come and get you to make you didn't get yourself in trouble." Said Lana glaring at Keith. "Seriously, when someone tells you to do something, you listen to them instead of ignoring them!"
However the Druid got up after being blasted by Lana's blaster, so Lance fly next to Keith as the two Paladins prepare their Bayards, and the Druid starts striking it's lighting blast to them, as they stand their guard.
But suddenly, the wall exploded and the Green Lion's head poked through it, sending rubble flying through the room. The explosion cause the Druid to lose balance and it's lighting blast missed Keith and Lana, and somehow hit the large container of quintessence behind them, absolutely covering Keith and Lana in raw quintessence.
"Guys get in, we need to get Allura and Shiro!" Shouted Pidge from the Green Lion.
Keith got up and was about to go into the Green Lion, till he realized that Lana wasn't moving, he saw that Lana's eyes are glowing blue and her amulet was somehow glowing as well, and it look like Lana was in some sort of trance.
"Lana. . . Lana, wake up!" Said Keith shaking Lana gently, but nothing.
Realizing that they have no time, Keith picks up Lana princess-style and goes inside the Green Lion's bay. Suddenly Keith noticed that his hand that had been burnt was completely healed, not a single scar was shown anymore. Keith was shock, but it didn't matter to him now, as he arrived at the cockpit, where Pidge and Hunk are.
"Keith. . . What's wrong with Lana?" Asked Hunk seeing Lana in her trance.
"I don't know, we were hit with the quint-stuff and suddenly he was like this." Said Keith worrying for Lana and Pidge set her lion into autopilot mode.
"Place her on the chair, let me check her." Said Pidge and Keith place Lana on the chair.
"Lana. . . Lana, please wake up!" Said Keith shaking Lana gently.
"What's wrong with her, it's like when Valentino took her heart, only she was asleep." Said Hunk worrying for his best friend.
"Yeah, now she's more like in a shock!" Said Pidge checking over Lana.
Hunk and Pidge are both scared right now for Lana, while Keith couldn't help but feel guilty that Lana is like this right now, if he hadn't gone inside the base and tried to get some quintessence, then Lana wouldn't be in this trance. Suddenly the glowing began to stop as Lana's eyes are back to normal, along with her amulet.
"Ugh. . . What just happened?" Asked Lana groaning a bit.
"LANA!" Shouted Pidge and Hunk as they hug Lana and Keith sight in relief.
"Uh. . . What happened?" Asked Lana looking a bit confused.
Meanwhile in the Galra Ship, Shiro and Allura both managed to make it to the bay and Shiro slammed the controls to the door, causing it to close. Then Shiro went to the control panel for one of the pods, getting it ready for ejection. However just as he was doing that, a couple of sentries began prying the doors open before they fully shut, slowly pushing their bodies.
So Allura dropped her gun and dug her hands into the metal door, doing her best to push it back together. Then as Shiro he set the pod to autopilot and slid down below her, using his hand to begin to weld the doors shut, then Allura looked back at the pod, and the back door slowly began closing.
"Shiro, it's taking off! Get in the pod!" Said Allura looking down at Shiro
"I'm not leaving you!" Said Shiro firmly to Allura and she knew that there was no other choice.
"You have to!" Said Allura looking at Shiro with a serious look.
Suddenly Allura grabbed Shiro from the back collar of his suit, lifted him off his feet, and threw him across the pod bay. Shiro crashed onto the floor of the ground, as the door slide shut.
"No!" Shouted Shiro as he scrambled up to his feet.
Shiro watch from pod as the door get thrown open, Allura smile at him as she was overrun by sentries. Suddenly the pod ejected out from the ship, and a moment later, the ship disappeared in a flash of light.
Suddenly the Green Lion came and quickly picked up the pod, and then Shiro entered the cockpit, where the others were waiting eagerly, till they saw that Allura is not with him.
"Shiro. . . Where's Allura?" Asked Keith looking at Shiro, who look guilty.
"She sacrificed herself to save me." Said Shiro looking at him team.
"What?!" Asked Lana in shock.
"So, she's still on that ship?" Asked Pidge in shock realizing Allura is being taken.
"The ship that's headed to Zarkon's Central Command?" Asked Hunk in complete horror.
"The place that's way too dangerous for us to attack?" Said Keith realizing the situation.
"It doesn't matter how dangerous it is. We can't let Zarkon get Allura." Said Shiro looking serious.
"But you said going there would be a huge mistake. You said for us to attack that place head-on would be the dumbest possible thing we could ever do." Said Hunk reminding what Shiro told them early.
"I know, but now we don't have a choice." Said Shiro looking determined, they all realized that going to Zarkon's Central Command might be dangerous, but they need to do everything to rescue Allura from the Galra.