Chapter 14: Trial By Fire(Allura's POV)
"Where did that attack come from?" Commander Holt asks.
" The Zaiforge cannons. Sendak was ready for our attack the entire time. But how?" Coran questions
"Even if he was, the Red Lion successfully managed to destroy one of the cannons, before it could launch. The other Paladins however did not fare that well." She comments.
"Where is Admiral Sanda?" questions Commander Holt.
A person answers, "She hasn't been seen since our debriefing."
Fear enters her heart and desperately she asks, "Paladins are you there?"
But no response comes from them. Her heart beats rapidly, "Shiro, Pidge, Marinette, anyone!? Can you hear us?!"
Kuro puts a hand on her shoulder which reassures her just a bit. "Commander Holt, are there any more weapons available to us?" She asks.
"There are Fusion cannons but Sendak's forces are out of range."
"What about the MFEs?"
"They're charging, but even if they fought they'd be against a fleet they wouldn't be able to…."
"And from what Griffin reported only four MFE's are available, Keith didn't join them on the base attack or was in his plane when it landed back here," Coran adds interrupting Commander Holt.
"What about the Altas?"
"We have had zero success launching that ship."
Allura sighs but remains calm. "Veronica monitor the fleet. Notify us if there are any changes. Kuro, Coran, Adrien and your team you're going to try helping me and Commander Holt launch the Altas."
She walks out of the room. Adrien runs up beside her, "How can we help?"
"We'll need a team to manage the Altas once it's launched and though you have no experience with Altean tech your teamwork skills will come in handy."
"Okay. It will be nice for not once not to have to lead the charge in a fight." Adrien comments.
"I'm sure I can manage," Kagami replies, "My mother was the head of the Tsurugi Corp company that dealt with technology and she was teaching me on how to run it one day. I can adapt."
"Good we'll need all the help we can get in getting this ship launched and attacking with it."
Marinette's POV
She groans, but pushes herself. Looking at her surroundings she's in a cell with the other Paladins including Keith who's leaning against the wall. He's still in his tiger space suit that mirrors the Voltron armor. Something she still can't wrap around, but whatever.
Getting up she notices the others stirring too, and they all stand up as well.
"Where are we?" Lance asks.
"We're in some sort of cell. Admiral Sanda sold us out. She thought Sendak would keep her bargain but she was mistaken." Keith says, though the others all jump at his voice.
"Who are you? And why are you here with us?" Shiro asks.
"Do you really not recognize me Shiro?"
"And how the hell do you know my name!" Shiro shouts, his Galran arm lighting up to a purple glow.
"Wait, wait a minute. Keith is that you, in your Marmora costume? But it looks so different…"
"That's because this is my astro form. Or space form if you'd prefer. Roaar ate a brownie that allowed her to gain this powerup and let me use it when I transform. It functions like the Voltron suits…"
"Which is why it looks like one." Hunk says realizing the similarities of Keith's outfit to theirs.
"But why did you come here? Marinette could have handled herself." Lance comments.
"No she wouldn't have. If I wasn't her pilot she could have been killed…."
"That's impossible. Her and Red have a strong connection."
"Are you serious Lance!?" Keith shouts.
"Yea I am."
Keith groans, letting his head hit against the wall. But then his head lowers and he looks right at them with anger and hurt burning in his eyes. "Marinette said she felt no connection to Red and asked me to try! If I did not do that me and her would've been killed! Marinette would have been killed. Besides there was no way I was letting my big sister get hurt or worse killed! So you're all idiots for assuming she would've been fine when clearly it would not have been fine since Sendak was prepared for us from the beginning!" He screams.
"I'm your big sister?" Marinette barely says. Shock overcoming her.
"What do you mean by big sis Keith?" Shiro asks, confused.
"I don't have to tell inconsiderate idiots who think they know best what that means! Especially since that's all you noticed from my rant earlier!"
Her heart aches and she says, "It's my fault for not telling them and only telling you that I had no connection to Red at all."
Keith sighs, "True."
Speaking what she asks again, "And what do you mean by I'm your elder sister? I think I'd remember my parents having another baby besides me."
She then notices something odd happen. Keith starts to shiver but then he takes a deep breath making the shivers stop and smiles, "That's a long story something we don't have time for if we want to make it off this ship and get to the Lions."
"But how?" asks Hunk.
At the question Keith grins. "The power of the Miraculous of Exaltation is a powerful punch that can break anything, which somehow relays into how Exaltation means lifting people up and cheering them up…."
"Master Fu gave you the Miraculous of Exaltation? But that doesn't match the personality you have from what the Paladins have told me about you." Marinette explains.
"Well I am the reason Chloe had a change of heart."
"What?!" all of them gasp.
"But again, that is a story for another time. Escaping is our first priority."
"And your powerful punch can do it?" Lance asks doubtful.
"Oh you'd be surprised at what the Miraculous can do." Keith grins.
Allura's POV
"I've built a ship that's useless. It would take the energy of supermassive black holes to get this piece of junk metal off the ground." Commander Holt says in defeat.
Coran perks up, "Black holes! That's it! I can't believe I didn't think of this before!"
Allura sees what he pulls out and she smiles. Of course! Coran, you are a genius. She contacts Commander Holt, "Commander you are going to want to see this!"
Once Commander Holt comes to the bridge he takes out a device and scans the Crystal.
"The energy coming off of this is fantastic!" Commander Holt exclaims.
"It was created when the Castle of Lions was destroyed," she explains, "It's an amalgamation of the Quintessence field, rifts in reality, black holes and of course the Castle itself. Do you think this could work?"
"We need to get it hooked up to the Altas immediately!"
A slot in the ground in front of Commander Holt and her opens up from the ground. Revealing a place to put a crystal in.
Holt explains, "This is where I was originally going to put a Balmeran Crystal. It will take a feat of engineering to accommodate for the size difference…."
The crystal floats out of Coran's hands floating to the place a crystal is supposed to glow. A bright light blinds them for an instant cutting off the Commander.
Adrien shouts, "Subsystems are fully charged and ready to go!"
Kagami states, "Megathrusters are go."
Allura stands at the bridge. "Prefect. Adrien monitor the radars. Let us know what you see. Kuro I want you on weapons, Zoe I want you monitoring the ships functionality, and Coran you take the helm. Kagami, I want you to pilot Keith's MFE fighter ship, it might be strange getting used to it, especially in a battle but I believe in you."
"Yes Princess!"
She then looks around and looks at Commander Holt for confirmation. "The Bridge is yours Princess."
"Well then we could use an engineer and take Chloe with you."
"Roger that Princess."
She turns her attention back to base. Adrien says, "The Galra are directly above the launch pad."
"MFE squadron we need you to clear a path for us and you have a replacement pilot for Keith joining you. The Atlas is powered and ready to launch."
Shiro's POV
An explosion rocks Sendak's ship. "What was that?" Hunk asks.
Shiro smiles, "The Garrison is launching a counterattack!"
"My dad launched the Altas, I knew he could do it!"
"Now's our time to escape." Lance says.
"Wait, the Garrison could use some backup. What if we, like we did before bring the lions to us, but instead of bringing them to us literally we use them to fend off the Garla while we're in here," He explains to the Paladins.
Keith murmurs hand underneath his chin, "That could work and when we've helped the Altas clear the rest of Senak's fleet attacking the base we can escape and make a hole in the hull of the ship so they can access us."
"Are you sure we can do that?" Hunk asks.
"Voltron is capable of more than we know. The old Paladins unlocked its secrets like Zarkon using Black's wings when he was still good. I think it's high time we did too." Shiro answers.
Keith sits back back and closes his eyes in concentration, his tiger tail landing beside his knees. He follows Keith's leads and sits back down. Closing his eyes he concentrates at looking through the lions eyes. He does it easily and soon enough he's in a different part of the ship. He blasts his way out of there and sees vast sky and a battle raging on.
The Atlas is still on that high in the sky and looks like the MFEs are spread thin trying to take out Galran ships. Through the lion he blasts a ray of blue light making small Galran ships explode.
"Paladins welcome back to the fight!" Allura says, relief filling her voice. "Now let's go take out Sendak's cruiser!"
"Wait! We are still on that ship!" Pidge shouted and panicked. "Well.. Our bodies are still on that ship."
"Fantastic! The Paladins have given us some breathing room. Let's make it count." Allura says.
Then Shiro senses through the Black Lions senses that someone is in danger on Sendak's ship. He flies through the hull of the ship where he pinpoints where the person is in danger. He opens his eyes and severs the connection. "Keith can break down the door now?"
"Collision!" Keith cries and his fist glows purple. On impact the hull door shatters off it's hinges and into the wall breaking into pieces.
"Wow," Lance comments.
Noticing someone lying on the ground where the Black Lion ripped a hole in the hull he runs over to them. "Admiral Sanda." Shiro says recognizing her. Her injuries look serious, blood streaks across her face and the clothes by her abdomen is stained with blood.
Admiral Sanda opens her eyes and struggles to say, "D..do wh..what I cou….couldn't. Sa…save…Ear…Earth."