Chapter 9: A Gut Feeling

A/N: I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender.

I just own Ziera, Colran, Sephiras, Janze and any other OCs mentioned in this fic that isn't canon.

WARNING: Contains violence, death, racism, implications of sexual acts, Lance's flirting, and other things that may cause some readers discomfort.

This chapter was a little harder to write than I expected. There were SO MANY characters to write, so I had to come up with detailed ways of describing them that didn't involve "Allura said" "Keith Said" Shiro Said" again and again and again, lol.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

In the vast emptiness of space, there were no sounds. It was a vacuum that sucked the air out of any room if exposed for more than a few seconds, sound did not survive outside of the ship's walls, much like everything else that is introduced to the vast abyss. Of course, it seemed Hunk's snoring ignored that rule, as it echoed through the Castle of Lions, disrupting the calm atmosphere in the bridge.

The perpetrator of the sound was hunched over in his designated chair, arms crossed as a little sliver of drool trickled down his chin. He was slowly leaning further and further to the left, inch by inch until he almost fell onto his face. Only then, did the young Yellow Paladin wake up from his nap. "What?!" He called out abruptly, looking around at everyone in the room, who were all staring directly at him, thanks to his outburst. "What did I miss?!"

"Oh, nothing important!" Lance chimed in, smirking as he stood beside his large friend, arms crossed with an air of confidence exuding off of him. "We just figured out how to defeat Zarkon!"

"Really?" Hunk arched a brow. "I doze for ten minutes and you guys figured out how to defeat the forces of evil?"

Pidge's eyelids lowered as she let out a sigh, already exhausted by Hunk's antics, and he'd only been awake for five seconds. "You've been asleep for three hours." She corrected, matter-of-factly, though there was a hint of irritation in her tone as well as her narrowed hazel eyes.

The Yellow Paladin grinned sheepishly as sweat slid down his temple, however his attention was soon taken by the group at the center of the bridge, most of which were standing around a large diagram of Zarkon's main ship. "I...Think we've got something here!" Shiro finally spoke, standing between Kolivan and Allura, while Keith and a member of the Blade of Marmora stood opposite one another, at their respective leaders' sides. In front of the Hunk, just ten feet from his chair, sat Ziera, watching and listening with crossed legs and lifted ears as she helped them come up with their plan while the aspiring chef slept.

"It's dangerous, and there are a lot of moving parts." The Black Paladin turned his attention to the leader of the Blade of Marmora. "But, If we co-ordinate everything just right, then..."

"Zarkon's reign will be at an end." Kolivan continued, clenching his fist. "And the savagery that's poisoned our universe can finally be cleansed!" He too turned to face the leading pilot of Voltron. "You've done it, Shiro."

The pepper-haired soldier smiled and held out his hand for a friendly, alliance-forming shake. "We done it, together."

The rebellious Galra looked at his hand, then adjusted his posture to clasp onto it with his own.

"As long as we all stick to the plan, it should work." Allura quipped, glaring at Kolivan as she eyed their friendly shake, hating that she had to ally herself with the Galra to defeat Zarkon.

"It will work." Kolivan said. "And perhaps then you'll learn that not all Galra are as bad as Zarkon."

The princess bit her tongue, not wanting to jeopardize their alliance with a sharp response, even if she herself did not trust Kolivan by his word alone. Instead, she glanced over at Keith, who looked down at the ground, not meeting anyone's gaze. He had not spoken much since returning from the Blade of Marmora base, but that was to be expected after the news he had dropped onto him. "I hope not..." She muttered, her heart aching at the idea that one of her close friends was part-Galra this entire time.

Ziera glanced between the two as her ears drooped and her tail stopped moving. It hurt to see their friendship so strained over something as simple as Keith's heritage. He could not help who his parents were, she wished she could just shout some sense into Allura so she did not alienate her allies because of her own traumatic past with the Galra. She hoped, just like Kolivan, that Allura would come to her senses soon so they could finally move forward with their desire for peace throughout the universe. The engineer could see by the Blade of Marmora's determination, the story about Ulaz, and her strange sixth-sense on the matter, that the Galra were not all monsters hell-bent on universal domination, and it was only a matter of time before Allura saw it too.

The man who arrived with Kolivan spoke for the first time, his voice warped by his ever-present helmet. "Ulaz was right to trust you all." He said. Though his tone did not change, it was apparent that he was praising them.

"He sacrificed everything to bring us together..." Shiro proclaimed, his proud smile falling into a mournful frown as he looked back at the diagram. "Let's honour him by taking down Zarkon."

Hunk stood up from his chair, and Ziera followed, the two, along with Pidge walked towards the central point of the bridge while Lance rushed past them. "So what's the plan?" The sleepy teenager asked.

Ziera's ears lifted once again and she opened her mouth to tell him what they had come up with, when Lance interrupted her, his volume overwhelming and his actions that of an excited child in a candy store. "The plan is amazing!" He rushed over to the diagram. "First, we infect Zarkon's ship with a virus-!"

"-Which I will be providing." Ziera chimed in, not happy that he had taken the explanation from her. She thought it was an incredible plan and was to excited to share it.

Lance glowered at her, which she met by sticking her black tongue out at him. "Like I was saying." The moody teen continued as he touched the image of Zarkon's ship and a glow of red surrounded it. Then he darted to the other side of the image. "Then we make an extra-large wormhole and lure Zarkon inside!" He typed on the monitor and Zarkon's holographic ship sank into a wormhole. "Zapping him a bagillion light-years away!"

Everyone watched with arched brows as Lance snatched one of the monitors and ran to the other side of the room just as the tiny ship re-appeared above the stolen screen. "Then when he pops out on the other side like-" He make an expression similar to Zarkon's typical scowl. "Oh, why doesn't my ship work?" He then pretended to be Voltron and kicked at the air. "Voltron kicks his butt!" He made some exhaustively terrible combat sound-effects before placing a finger over his nose to imitate Shiro's scar. "I'll form the head!" He mimicked, glancing at the leader of their rag-tag group of fighters. "That what you'll say, Shiro!"

And finally, he ended his terrible display by going between all of them with his arms raised, his hands clasped together in victory. "Yeah? Yeah! We won for all time!"

Hunk looked particularly surprised, but not by Lance's cringe-worthy display, no, it was the fact that they were actually nearing their goal. "Wow...So this is it?" He asked, looking at the group in the centre. A moment of silence passed as the weight of the situation, their plan, settled on each and every one of their shoulders.

Ziera finally piped up after a minute, clutching at her necklace tightly. "I'm so happy I get to witness this new chapter in history." She started, smiling as she looked from Kolivan, to Shiro, to Allura, tears welling in her eyes. "And I'm sure if my people were still alive, they would be cheering us on...I think they'd be happy we were trying to make a change for the good of the universe."

Shiro nodded and smiled back at her. "And we'll make sure they're honored alongside Ulaz...Your people won't be forgotten, Era."

The Tylyrio engineer nodded and wiped at her eyes with the pad of her thumb. "I know, thank you. All of you."

"Are you sure you'll have your ship ready before the final battle, Era?" Allura asked, a wave of concern shining in her eyes. "You haven't had the chance to test its capabilities yet, right?"

Ziera hummed and stroked her chin. "Not yet, but I have managed to sort out the upgraded controls and thrusters to match what a fighter needs to survive an assault. I'll have Pidge's help when I made the necessary weapon modifications and defense protocols, and I know with both of us working on it, it'll be ready to fly by the time the final threads of the plan are woven together."

Pidge nodded, crossing her arms before resting her elbow on her other hand, adjusting her glasses. "Era's ship is a feat of ingenuity, how she could turn a pod into a reliable fighter jet is really something to be marveled, I'm sure the logistics won't take long to sort out!"

The proud engineer patted the young paladin's back. "While I struggle to turn my theoretical equations into water-tight physical changes, Pidge thrives in that field, so there's no concerns over anything going dangerously wrong."

Allura nodded, her concern swapping into a small smile. "That's good, I'm glad we'll have your help in our fight against Zarkon. One more fighter means another point in our favour."

Ziera nodded before Pidge put her hand on the feline's shoulder, the two locking eyes for a moment before the Green Paladin addressed the room. "I guess the only question is...When do we strike?"

Coran's raised brows knitted together as he made a monitor appear in front of him, typing rapidly on the screen. "As soon as we build a Teladuv big enough to wormhole Zarkon's ship!" He stated as the image of the Teladuv in the engine room appeared where the virus-infected base had once been.

"Oh man, the Teladuv again?" Hunk whined, though he did like the idea of going back to the mall. "Does that mean we need more Scaultrite?"

"That's just one of the many things we'll need." The Princess corrected, still looking a little skeptical of the alliance, but otherwise just as determined as the others.

"Am I, uh...Am I sensing a trip back to the space mall here?" The aspiring chef's smirked, his brow arching upwards as his tone lifted with his lips.

"I'm afraid not." Coran said, shaking his head as Hunk deflated. "This is going to take a lot more Scaultrite than we can find in any Unilu shop." He looked from one member of Voltron to the other. "For this plan to succeed, we're gonna need to split up. We all have a task to do." He locked eyes with the Red and Yellow Paladins, then with Ziera herself. "Keith, Hunk, Ziera? You'll be in charge of getting the Scaultrite."

The three unique individuals blinked in surprise, looking between each of their group for a moment before they all nodded, accepting their role in the plan. Ziera was a little nervous however, after all, she had no clue what needed to be done to collect this Scaultrite, but she imagined the others were in the same boat, and that brought her a little bit of comfort. She was not alone in figuring out this mess. "When do we leave?" She asked.

Coran stroked his chin. "Well, I'll have to send the information about how to extract Scaultrite to the Yellow Lion, but once that's finished, you can leave immediately." He used the monitor to bring up the old video, then sent it over to the Yellow Lion, giving them more instructions as the little bar at the bottom filled up. "You're looking for a creature called a Weblum, it's a devourer of dead planets and it's the only creature in the universe that can create Scaultrite."

Ziera nodded. "Okay, so we just need to find this Weblum and collect the Scaultrite?"

"In a nutshell, yes." The bar pinged as the video finally transferred to the Yellow Lion's database. "Be careful out there, the Weblum might be a slow creature, but it has an ability that makes it dangerous to space travellers of any skill level. Keep your eyes sharp."

"Oh great..." Hunk groaned. "Why can't the Scaultrite be somewhere fun and relaxing, like a carnival, or the space mall." His shoulders slumped. "Fine, we should get going...I guess we're taking my lion 'cause it can take heavy hits, right?"

"Yes, plus it's claws will make clamping onto the Weblum far easier than using any of the other lions."

Ziera's tail flicked nervously. "So...We're really going to do this, huh?" She swallowed the fear in her voice. "I'll do my best to make sure we bring back the Scaultrite you need."

Coran nodded. "I know you will. Good luck."

After that, the three went to the hangar with the others and bid their farewells, all except Keith and Allura. Whenever the Red Paladin met her gaze, she looked away uncomfortably and refused to speak to him. It was painful to watch. Hunk and Pidge shook hands with tears in their eyes, while Keith shared a hug with Shiro. After that, the two male pilots walked up the ramp leading into the Yellow Lion's mouth, and Ziera was left to say her goodbyes.

"Hey, when you get back, we should play some games." Lance said, walking up to her, taking her hand in a shake.

Ziera giggled and nodded, squeezing his hand in return. "Yeah, I'd like that a lot."

"Then maybe I can take you out for ice cream~?" He said smoothly, giving her a 'charming' wink.

Of course Ziera's giggle turned into an uncomfortable laugh as they two let go of the other's hand and she stepped away. "I don't think we can get ice cream in space, Lance."

She quickly walked away as the downtrodden Blue Paladin dropped his head in defeat. The feline went over to Shiro, who gave her a warm smile and opened his arms, knowing her nerves would be shot with fear. With a grateful huff of laughter, the Tylyrion female opened her own arms and accepted his embrace, giving him as tight a hug as she could, given the circumstances.

"Show that Weblum who's boss." Shiro told her, and she laughed, pulling away.

"I will, I'll bring back so much Scaultrite, you'll never need to harvest it again!"

"I'm looking forward to that."

Ziera turned and looked at Pidge, who was chatting with Lance. "Hey Pidge." She called out, watching as the young girl paused in her conversation and looked over at the engineer she had bonded with. The older woman's smile widened and she gestured for her junior to come over. The Green Paladin was a little confused, but bid Lance farewell and ran over to see what Ziera wanted.

However, just as Pidge got close enough to slow down, the alien feline surprised her by planting her hand on top of the shorter girl's head in a fashion similar to that of two siblings. "When I get back, I want to hear all about your mission, okay?" She asked, ruffling the young teen's locks before she let go, placing both hands behind her back. "I know you're a strong pilot, and I can't wait to hear about your adventure!"

Pidge stared at Ziera in surprise, then her expression twisted into a sad frown, concerned for her friend's safety, since she had researched the Weblum just a little before saying their farewells. "Promise me you'll come back...I don't want to lose anyone else."

The engineer's smile faltered and she sighed, pulling Pidge into a short, tight hug. "Don't worry, I'll keep myself safe as long as you do the same, okay?" She pulled away and ruffled her friend's hair one last time. "You're the closest thing I have to a little sister in this group, and I'd hate to see you hurt."

"I'll be careful." Pidge promised, and Ziera nodded, stepping away. She looked at her friends, nodding respectfully to Allura while giving Coran, Kolivan and his guard a small, sheepish wave before she went towards the ramp leading to the Yellow Lion's jaws. As she neared the beast, she scooped up a spare helmet she had borrowed for the mission, and was ready to board and aid her allies towards their goal of a better universe.

However, just as she was about to step onto the incline, Allura caught her wrist, causing the feline to yelp in surprise and stumble a little, before snapping her attention to the Altean noble. "P-Princess, is something the matter?" She asked, holding the helmet under her arm as she adjusted her position, nearly losing her balance when she was grabbed suddenly.

Allura smiled and let go of Ziera's chunky wristband, holding up a familiar pair of pink, black and white, goggles. The same goggles the engineer had arrived with. "I thought you'd feel safer using your goggles rather than our spare helmet." She admitted, shrugging a shoulder. "Pidge ran her diagnostics last night, and it came back clear. So I'm returning these to you and offering you my full trust going forward." She lowered her gaze as a frown turned her lips. "I also want to give you my sincerest apology...I should never have treated you so poorly, even if I believed you weren't telling the truth...You've done more than enough to ease my suspicions and now I'm left feeling guilty for my actions...I hope you can forgive me."

Ziera, who had been in shock as Allura spoke, carefully took her goggles from Allura's hand, then clasped it inside of her own, surprising the princess into meeting her bright, ombre orbs. "Don't apologize, Princess." She said, her cat-like smile widening to show her small, barely-visible fangs protruding from her top lip. "I understand your suspicions, and I don't blame you for how you acted. I didn't trust myself for the longest time back on Olkarion, but eventually I came to realize I was not my own enemy, and I'm just glad you were able to come to that conclusion about me as well." She gave the woman's hand a squeeze and let go, holding out the spare helmet, which the princess took. "Once this is all over, I'd love to hear stories about Altea and your people. In return, I'll tell you all of the memories I've recalled about my own home and family, deal?"

Allura laughed softly. "I'd like that." She placed her hand against her chest, clenching her fist. "Be careful, it would be a shame to lose such a valuable ally so soon after joining our cause."

"I'll make sure to come back safe, and I'll make sure these guys do the same." She said, glancing up at the jaws of the beast, where Hunk and Keith were waiting while Pidge flailed her arm in an enthusiastic wave. "Make sure those guys take care of themselves too, okay?" She nodded at Shiro, Lance, Coran and Pidge.

The Altean royal nodded as Ziera slipped on her goggles and lifted them onto her forehead, for a second she seemed to hesitate, before she quickly pulled the other woman into a tight hug. This stunned Allura into silence for a moment, her eyes wide in surprise, before she finally relaxed and returned the embrace with a hard squeeze. "Don't get hurt out there, I can't share my stories if you don't come back..."

"I'll do my best."

Ziera then let go of Allura and turned to walk up the ramp, giving them all one last wave before she entered the ship and the mouth of the lion closed behind her. She stood there, staring at the metal jaws that blocked her off from her allies as she prepared for her first real mission since joining the coalition. She swallowed hard and slipped her goggles over her eyes, before she pressed a button on the side. With a hiss, a wave of energy scanned over her features before a metallic mask with a glass mouth appeared, protecting her head from the vacuum of space. Now that she had her goggles, and evidently her helmet, back; she knew she would feel far safer in their future journeys. She turned to her crew mates, who both nodded before the three of them headed to the bridge.

The lion waited patiently as it was separated from the remaining occupants by a large, air-tight door, then the oxygen was slowly drained from their small compartment before finally the doors to the abyss of space opened, allowing the large ship to take off in flight. It glided around the beautiful structure of the Castle of Lions and into a wormhole that Allura opened once she reached the bridge. It was time to put their plans into action, and the first step was collecting the Scaultrite.

Though Ziera was buzzing with fear and adrenaline, she was ready to prove herself and help her friends build a bright, hopeful future for the universe.

~FbnL~

Silence filled the bridge within the yellow ship as Hunk piloted them towards the most likely places a Weblum would appear, according to a really old tracker that came attached to the video file Coran had sent them. Keith and Ziera sat behind him, both on opposite sides of the small space, resting on some nearby containers that lined the end of the vast motherboard. The heavy atmosphere that surrounded them was a struggle for all on board, but The female feline knew it was a tense situation, therefore she said nothing.

Of course, that did not mean Hunk would keep his mouth shut. "Why does Allura get to take a leisurely visit to the Balmera while we have to fly into the belly of a giant space worm to get Scaultrite?"

"You heard Coran." Keith said, looking over at his ally with his arms crossed, ever the serious individual. "Building a huge Teladuv isn't easy. Everyone has a job to do, and this is ours."

"Yeah, but I always get the worst jobs!" Hunk continued to complain, sighing as he closed his eyes and dropped his head in defeat. "Go to a Galra occupied planet to get my lion, go to a Galra occupied Balmera to get a crystal, go into the belly of a beast with the only Galra alien team member." As he said the last line, he opened his eyes and slowly glanced behind him at the resident 'alien.'

Keith's expression twisted into a scowl. "I'm not an alien."

"Well..." Hunk turned to look behind him with a deadpan stare plastered across his face. "You're kind of an alien. You're way more alien than me! You're at least some alien, I'm none alien."

Ziera raised her hand a little and sheepishly spoke up. "Um, technically, in my eyes, you are an alien." She admitted, and Hunk pouted in response.

"Yeah, but to me, you're both aliens!"

The Red Paladin sighed, looking down at the ground as Ziera's frown deepened. She could see that the aspiring chef's words bothered the hot-headed teen, and after he supported her when she thought she was being tracked, she hated that he felt like an outsider all because he had Galra blood in his veins. "Hey guys, can we focus on the mission?" Ziera asked, standing up and walking over to Hunk, situated to his right as she placed her hand on the back of his chair. "We'll be coming up to the Weblum in a few doboshes, and I want to make sure we're prepared."

Keith shot her a appreciative smile and she mimicked it back, watching as he stood up and walked over to his friends, standing on their pilot's left. "Era's right, let's just concentrate on the job here."

Silence stretched between them again as Ziera's ombre eyes scanned the monitors, memorizing how certain things worked if she ever needed to help in some kind of situation. Of course, she doubted she would be of any use; after all, she was not permitted by the Yellow Lion to pilot if the mission soured, so hopefully nothing overly terrible would happen.

Just as the two standing occupants began to relax in the quiet little space they occupied, Hunk happened to speak up again. "Was your mom alien? You're grandpa?" Keith arched a brow as the curious paladin continued. "How Galra are you?"

"I don't know." Keith said abruptly, wanting to stop the conversation before it escalated.

"Did the Blade of Marmora teach y'the secret handshake, or something?"

"No. No one said anything."

"The Blade of Marmora..." Hunk's expression went from curious to soft and sympathetic. "They're real tight lipped, aren't they? I get that your society is a secret, but is everything a secret?"

And that was Keith's tipping point. He glared down at his nosy friend with a slight snarl curling his lips. "Okay look!" He snapped, glancing away, his scowl falling as the awkwardness and emotional conversation intensified. "It's bad enough that Allura hates me now, can you just lay off?"

"Allura doesn't hate you." Hunk added. "You just need to give her time to accept the fact that you're Galra." His comforting smile faltered. "A race that destroyed her entire planet and all of her people..." He looked away for a second, then looked back, now glum, just like Keith. "Yeah, she might hate you a little bit."

Ziera sighed audibly, getting their attention as she straightened up and walked around Hunk's chair, standing directly in front of the Red Paladin. "Look, Keith." She started, her serious frown twisting into a sympathetic smile of her own, which was far more effective than Hunk's had been. "Allura has a lot of thinking to do, but that doesn't mean she hates you." She held her pendant in her hands as she looked down at the perfectly cut crystal. "Just like her, the Galra destroyed my planet and my race..." She glanced at him again, her multi-colored orbs filled with trust and honesty. "But I don't hate you at all for that. Because you had nothing to do with it! You're more than your heritage, you're your own person, and I will continue to trust you with my life, whether you're part-Galra or not. If Allura is as much of a friend to you as I am, she'll come around, so just give her a bit of time, okay?"

The tense hybrid relaxed and nodded, his lips twitching upwards gratefully. "Thanks, Era." He could not put into words how much her affirming statements helped ease his anxiety. But it was not the time for that, so he then turned to the monitors. "C'mon let's take a look at that video Coran sent us. We need to find out how to collect this stuff."

Hunk nodded and pressed a few buttons on one of the smaller holographic screens, within a second after making contact with his finger a crackling sound was heard, before the image cleared and a far younger looking Coran appeared. "Hello, brave Altean!"

Ziera quickly covered her mouth, which twitched upwards into an amused smile as she tried to suppress the giggles that bubbled in her chest. Coran looked far different in that video than she had ever seen him. He had spiky hair and strong, uncovered arms; as if he was some kind of body builder before he was a mechanic. "No way." Hunk forced out around a snort of laughter, unable to take the video seriously. "Is that Coran?"

"I think it is." The feline engineer confirmed, clearing her throat as she managed to smooth her expression back into a serious look of concentration.

"So you're about to go into the belly of a Weblum to harvest Scaultrite?" Video Coran's brows knitted together. "Good for you!" He gleefully pointed off to his right where a large screen within the video appeared, showing the image of a Scaultrite crystal. "Scaultrite is an important substance with thousands of commercial and industrial uses!" The image next to the younger Altean began to flicker and change to different items that used Scaultrite throughout the universe. "Including Fabrication Foam, Insect Night-Vision Goggles, Teladuv-"

Suddenly the video froze and crackled as the screen distorted. "Oh dear..." Ziera mumbled, pursing her lips, it was just their luck that the video would have issues.

As quickly as the video cut out, it kicked back in again. "-Anti-Fungal Clamural Lotion, and other such lubricants!" Before video Coran could continue, the image distorted once more, and this time Keith turned to the two tech-heads in their ragtag team.

"What's wrong with the video?"

"It's ten-thousand years-old." Hunk said, glancing over his shoulder. "It's probably corroded." He tried pressing a few buttons, and beamed when the it cleared up a little.

"I could go on for days!" The young Coran said, waving his hand dismissively. "But you've got a Weblum to enter and some Scaultrite to collect!" He flashed the camera a charming smile and looked over towards an area outside the POV of the watching party. "Oh look, there's a Weblum now!" He raised his hand in an enthusiastic wave. "Hello, big fella!"

Suddenly a large blue worm, or more likely, an Altean actor in a Weblum suit, shuffled into view. "Hey Coran!" It greeted back, its mouth opening in three parts, which was quite surprising, but also very interesting to the knowledge loving Tylyrion. "I'm off to eat some planets!" It turned around to look off camera again. "There's one now! Nom, nom, nom, nom!" Without another thought, it started to shuffle back in the same direction it came from.

Coran laughed and called out to it. "We'll see you soon!" He then directed his attention back to the camera. "As you probably remember from school, the Weblum is an enormous creature and an integral part of keeping our universe functioning!" He placed his hands behind his back and straightened up. "It survives off the-" Suddenly the video scrambled and skipped forward a little, now showing a diagram of a Weblum's internal anatomy. "-From dead planets! It then re-converts the Quintessence remnants-" And again, it snapped forward to another small section. This time, Coran was stood in front of a diagram of a nearby solar system, pointing towards the sun in the center. "-Becoming the building blocks of new solar systems! Incredible, isn't it?"

At this point, the three occupants of the Yellow Lion looked at one another with an expression that screamed 'uh-oh,' plastered across their faces. Ziera cleared her throat after a moment. "Hunk, can you give me access to the coding for the video?" She asked, watching as the Yellow Paladin agreed and started typing away on a monitor. "I'm going to see if I can find the corrupted codes and replace them with identical values, maybe that'll fix the corroded footage. If not, then..." She huffed. "We'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it." Altean video files were not her strong suit, the codes were in a different language, and even when they were translated, the coding used was far different than the Olkarion and Tylyrion codes she could remember.

After a second, the monitor showed an entire screen's worth of numerical information pertaining the video and Hunk gestured to it. "There y'go, let me know if y'need me to change the display. It's strange how you can't change it yourself, but I guess that's part of the whole 'bond' thing, huh?"

Ziera giggled and began typing away, eyes scanning the finer numbers within the equations. "Yes, I believe so. It wouldn't make sense if anyone could access your ship, would it?" Both paladins laughed and nodded, agreeing with her wholeheartedly. They got to pilot some incredible ships, after all, so they were blessed to have access to every single byte of the data inside their machines.

After a few seconds, Ziera managed to at least jump to the next available part of the footage, where Coran stood facing the camera again, no longer standing in front of any diagrams or screens. "Of course, these are no gentle giants...They're actually giants that are quite deadly!"

"Great, just the part I wanted to see..." The feline complained sarcastically, the tone uncommon for her. She pouted as she saw the footage scramble again. "In the name of the Divine Beings, give me strength!" She started typing again.

After a second, the video cleared up. Coran lifted his hand, pointing a single finger at the viewer of the old film. "Rule number one: -It's an important one, so listen closely! -Stay away from its-"

And once again, it stopped, leading to the rather passive engineer letting out a sharp hiss which sounded a lot like a pissed-off cat. It actually amused her teammates, they had never seen her annoyed before. Apparently the only thing that got under her skin was terrible video quality.

In actual fact, if she knew what they were thinking, she would have clarified that it was not video quality that bothered her, but the fact that her coding, or any coding for that matter, could eventually disintegrate due to age. She wished there was a way to maintain the lifespan of her machines outside of their allotted time frames, much like Voltron and its endless supply of power and energy.

Eventually her machines would be lost to time, never to be remembered, while Voltron would remain, untouched and just as magnificent.

Just like clockwork, the video cleared up again. "Got that?" Coran asked the viewer.

"No!" Hunk whined, not liking that he could not hear the potential dangers the Weblum harbored. "No I didn't!"

Of course, Coran could not hear them and just continued. "It's like a rhyme, say it with me!" He raised a finger once again. "Stay away from its-" Crackled video and distorted audio followed.

"Oh come on!" Hunk snapped as Ziera kept working away on her little monitor, even her excellent coding skills were useless, as the extent of the damage proved to be irreparable.

"Other things to remember include...Avoiding the poisonous-" Static. "-Eye sockets!-" More static. "-lead to certain death!"

Hunk sighed and turned his attention away from the video, only to pause when he saw something outside the airtight window of the ship. "Whoa..." He exclaimed softly, getting Keith's attention in the process, as the two looked out to see fragments of rocks floating by, almost like stationary asteroids. "What're those?"

"They look like..." Keith started, his expression falling into a disturbed frown as he realized what the large asteroids reminded him of. They resembled the remains of Tylyrio. "Dead planets."

Ziera immediately snapped her attention to what the two male pilots were looking at, and her eyes widened in horror. The image of Tylyrio's crumbling husk, charred and fragmented came to mind as she stared at the less-charred, yet equally broken planets that resided outside of their view point. "H-Hunk..." She managed to force out, her voice nothing more than a shocked whisper. "Can you get me the star maps?"

Hunk did as she asked, changing the monitor from her coding work to the charts the lion had saved into its built-in hard drive. She quickly scanned through the data and her thick brows knitted together in confusion. "That doesn't make any sense." She said, though it seemed she was talking to herself. "They're supposed to be thriving." She glanced up at the corpses of other worlds, and swallowed the lump forming in her throat. The image of her own home kept coming back to her, and her heart ached while she relived the terrible, disjointed memories of its destruction. "Why're they dead? There's no documented cause listed anywhere, it doesn't make sense! Every dead planet has a cause of extinction underneath its name, like Altea, and Tylyrio, their deaths are documented clearly with a timestamp, yet these planets are still considered living."

"Wow, what do you think happened to them?" Hunk asked, glancing back at Keith with an arched brow, he wanted to get to the bottom of this too. "Asteroid strike?"

Keith frowned and looked over at Ziera, who was staring at the planets as she grasped her pendant tightly, her frown curling into a sickened grimace as she stared at the celestial remains. "Something tells me they died an unnatural death..."

The Tylyrion female took heavy breaths as she directed her attention at each of the different planets. Unlike her own, these planets lacked magma veins or signs of explosive damage. There was no way of knowing what had actually happened to them, but it was almost as if all the life had been sucked out of them, and their shells were left to rot. It was a horrible, and traumatic sight, and she wondered if there were other things in the universe that threatened the peace they sought after.

Of course, without any evidence to claim a life-form or cause of death, she could not investigate the situation further. At least, not at this very moment. She would find time to do some extensive research after Zarkon's malicious empire came to an end.

Suddenly, her attention was taken when Hunk piped up. "Look!" He quickly leaned forward and pointed out into the depths of space to their right, where a massive worm glided past them, towards one of the larger planetary husks.

"I guess that ancient Altean Welbum tracker put us right on the money!" Keith said as he put a hand on the aspiring chef's chair, completely in awe at the size of the dangerous, yet magnificent beast.

"We've gotta get outta here!" Hunk cried out, panic rising in his voice. "We haven't watched the entire video yet, we don't know what to do!"

Keith clicked his tongue and let go of the chair, leaning down in front of the video. "We're not leaving!" The Red Paladin started pressing buttons on the monitor the video was frozen on, his hasty movements only intensifying as the situation dawned on them. They were in danger without that information. "You fly, keep our distance, I'll skim through the video!"

And just like that the video, as if on cue, started to work. "So you've made it into the Weblum's first stomach!"

Hunk yelped. "Rewind!"

"I know!"

Keith did just that, and after a second, the picture had changed. "So you've identified your first Welbum? Great!" Coran's image cheered with an overly enthusiastic smile and a terrible display of acting. "Now remember rule number one...stay away from its face!"

Of course, it was at that exact moment when those words left the hologram's mouth that Hunk had flown the lion right into worm's line of sight, smack-bang in front of its face. "Wait, that's rule number one?!" Hunk asked, only for his eyes to widen in fear. "We broke rule number one!"

Ziera sucked in a sharp breath, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end as she turned to the pilot next to her. "Hunk, move!"

The Weblum's eyes shined as it noticed them and slowly its three-part mouth opened, a glowing light coming from deep within its throat. "Oh no!" Hunk continued. "What's it doing?!"

"Get us out of the way!" Keith commanded. "NOW!"

Hunk nodded and quickly performed evasive maneuvers just as a large and powerful beam shot out of the monster's massive mouth, missing them by mere inches. In the sudden and swift commotion, Ziera, who had not been holding onto Hunk's chair, slipped due to the lack of friction her boots had, and yelped as she landed on her ass hard.

'That's it!' She thought venomously as she hissed, shaking from the pain that shot through her nerves. 'When I get back to the castle, I'm adding some kind of anti-slip enhancement to my Skate-Overs!'

Another beam was sent their way, and Hunk spun around the bright energy current to avoid being hit, all while the video continued in the background of their misery. ''A Weblum's natural defense-" Static. "-Venomous laser-" Again, static. "Deadly acid!" And again. "-Total annihilation-" And again. "-Death monster!-" One last time. "-Find the blind spot on the back of its neck. Just below the gills!"

The Welbum-suited actor had re-emerged at this point, and finally spoke up. "That's your way inside. If I can't see ya, I can't kill ya!"

Hunk's fearful expression smoothed into a determined glower as he realized what he had to do. "Era, Keith, hold onto something!" He warned them, which made Ziera opt to remain on the floor, should she lose her balance again.

With a grunt Hunk put the thrusters on full and did a flip in deep space, now flying straight for the worm, though he had to quickly avoid another deadly laser first. With swift reflexes and a keen sense of survival, he managed to avoid the Welbum's six eyes and glided into the worm's blind spot. However, his control was slipping. "This isn't good, this isn't good!" The pilot repeated as his lion hopped from horn to horn on the beast's back, trying to regain his trajectory.

Sadly he missed the mark and his lion crashed into one of the horns, now hurtling through the vacuum abyss in a roll until he was able to straighten the machine out and landed on the crusty hide of their target, skidding to a halt when he pulled back the steering controls and the large lion's claws transformed into a thicker, stronger mechanism, digging deep into the scaly flesh, finally ending their deep-space acrobatics.

A second passed as the three stared out into space, waiting for the Weblum to fire another laser. After a moment, the three relaxed and Ziera sighed with relief. It no longer knew where they were, therefore no more lasers would follow. "We're attached to it's back, in it's blind spot." Hunk certified, eyes tired as he finally sagged back into his chair, glad to have survived the ordeal in one piece.

"Good." Keith said, squeezing the larger teen's chair gratefully, before he straightened up and turned to leave the bridge. "We're going in!"

"Hold on!" Ziera said, scrambling to her feet so she could talk to them properly. "What'll we do when we get inside? We haven't watched enough of the video to-"

And just like that, the video kicked back in and Ziera snapped her mouth shut. All three of them directing their attention to Coran's younger projection. "-A quick recap of what you should do when you're inside the beast!" The younger Altean pointed to a screen that appeared beside him, where jellyfish-like creatures were displayed. "One: Avoid things that want to kill you!" He raised two fingers as the screen vanished and a diagram of the Weblum slid down until it was right above the man's head. "Two: get to the third stomach and find the Scaultrite gland!" Then he raised a third finger as the diagram lit up. "Three: activate the weblum's defense mechanism and collect the excess material from the gland, now that's the Scaultrite!"

Keith hummed. "Seems simple enough."

Hunk pouted and looked back at his hot-headed friend. "Seems under-explained!"

"Come on." The Red Paladin continued, not paying attention to the pilot's complaints. The two men stood up and looked at Ziera, who stared back at them with nervous anticipation shaking through her nerves. "You ready?" He asked.

The terrified feline took a deep breath and pressed a button on her goggles, watching as the statistics of her suit appeared within the lenses of her reliable headgear. Her oxygen was fine, her goggles were tightly secured and she had her gun safely discorporated and woven into the quintessence of her suit.

Carefully, she removed her hand from the button and nodded, which they mimicked before they walked out of the bridge, leaving her to falter behind them for a moment. She finally had a mission that would bring them one step closer to peace, and for the first time since she arrived, she felt like she was actually useful for more than just tech-support.

She swallowed her fear and steeled herself for the dangers that would follow, before she walked out of the small cockpit to join her fellow coalition members in the field. She refused to let fear stop her now, after she had worked so hard to get this far.

Now, with her goals affirmed in her own mind, she was ready for anything.

A/N: Thank you for reading! Please review/comment, any and all advice/criticisms help me improve as a writer!

Voltron Time

Dobosh = Minute