Chapter 43: Omega Shield(Part 2)(Lance's POV)
Lotor comes rushing in.
"Forgive me for interrupting your meeting. But a Rogue Galra fleet has issued an attack at a Radiation Station that protects Valis if they don't side with them. We need Voltron, or the four parts that we have anyway. I'll assist with my Syncline Ship."
"Isn't that ship being modified?"
"We just need to modify it to where it'll take Quintessence in and store it until we can get it to a purifying facility which will make the fuel," then Lotor shakes his head, "Though that's not what we should be focusing on. I need you Lance to get in your lion and head to the planet Valis!"
"Will do."
Lance starts to run, but Shiro grabs his arm. "Wait, I'm going with you."
"Why?"
Shiro doesn't answer and instead runs ahead of him.
He sighs, but runs toward his lion anyway.
In the Red Lion:
"So why did you want to come? It can't have been just to be moral support."
"I came because my instinct told me too, somehow, that I was going to be needed in some way."
"Okay."
"It also told me that I should support Lotor's plan to be Emperor."
Lance raises an eyebrow, "That's very specific."
Shiro shrugs, "Not really."
"I guess."
Awkward silence commences.
What to say? There really isn't much going on. And he can't comment on the scenery as it's just an endless sea of stars. There is Shiro's imposter syndrome going on, but he doesn't want to bring up that topic again as he doesn't know how to handle it. Maybe some jokes to pass the time?
But would that be inappropriate?
Since they are going on a serious mission.
Perhaps riddles would be better? No, they have to focus on the mission.
"So, what do you think Marinette is doing?"
Lance shrugs, "Probably still on that mission Kovlian sent her on."
Though he was grateful Shiro brought something up, he honestly isn't sure what Marinette is up to. Other than investigating some sort of superweapon two Galra Generals have their eye on.
"Yes. But shouldn't it have been over by now? And we need all the help we can get with reforming the Galra Empire. There's years of damage that needs to be undone. And I have a feeling that it won't be easy."
"Of course it won't, but we have to try. We might not have come up with a concrete plan with the Coalition about how to move forward…."
"But we have to press forward to try. I get it," Shiro sighs, "It's just, along with not feeling like myself, I want to go home. To see everyone I left on Earth, and see if it's real if the memories I have before Marinette found me are real. I know we dropped the subject hours ago, but it's still plaguing my mind."
"Shiro…. Look," Lance sighs, not knowing where he is going with this, "I don't know what to say. I could say we'll get back to Earth someday and then your fears and worries will be put to rest. Or that just embracing these feelings and having fun might help. But I have never felt this way, the way that you're feeling now. I…I..I don't know how to help."
And it's the truth. He doesn't. Sure he has had insecurities, but never like this where he keeps questioning if his memories are fake and aren't real, like he's an imposter.
"I know." Shiro says as he sighs.
"Then why bring it up again?"
"Because I'm just….so confused. And all of you seem to not be, you have everything under control. Whereas I don't."
"That's not true…"
"But it is. I snapped at you for refusing my proposal and then went behind your backs to make all of this possible and even though you all forgave me, I still can't help but feel that maybe all of you would have rathered to continue fighting before making negotiations with the Galra Empire…"
"Hold on, we never said that. We just felt it was too short of notice to get in Contact with the Blades. You know their communication isn't the best, because of all the stuff they are doing to help us which includes Kovilan himself."
Shiro sighs and rubs his left arm with his robotic hand.
"Yeah. But some irrational urge to get Lotor on the throne of the Galra Empire overtook me. I assume it was instinct like I said earlier…"
"Sorry to cut this short, but it looks as if we have arrived at our destination."
Truthfully he didn't want the conversation to end, as pushing aside Shiro's emotions on this weird subject probably won't help. It also seemed like they were going in circles, but Shiro was trying to be honest with him….
"Yeah there it is. Valis." Shiro says, a little bit of anger in his voice.
In front of them is a planet(very good description I know) above it there's a purple ship with big plates. A shot of yellow radiation fires on the planet but the purple ship with the plates protects the planet from the radiation until it dissipates.
Suddenly they see a battle as well, ships firing on ships while a big Galra Cruiser also fires into the battle.
"Hang on Shiro," Lance says, as he dives straight into the fray.
He fires on enemy ships, hoping that none of them are the ships from the Radiation Station. All the Galra Ships look too much alike from the era of when they were all enemies, but then again it's only been a few days, maybe a week since the Kral Zera happened.
But it goes the same as pretty much any other battle they've been in.
Shiro's POV
He hangs on tight to Lance's chair as Lance makes the Red Lion twirl and spin to fire at enemy ships.
He wishes their conversation would have been longer, it felt nice to talk about what was plaguing his mind and not keeping it all bottled up inside. Because again his memories were confusing, they made him seem like a totally different person, someone who was calm, a leader who would listen to everyone's side and then take a stand and not go behind their back when a decision was made and he didn't like it.
But sadly his personal problems have to be put on hold again for a Voltron Mission. For once can't they have time to just talk and let things sink in, instead of rushing off to the nearest battle every single day.
They hadn't even processed Oriande fully before going off to do Voltron and Coalition things. And that isn't a bad thing, it just, it feels like everything is moving too quickly for him to comprehend along with processing his imposter feelings.
And his love for Allura,intelligent, beautiful, short-tempered, willing to stand up for her beliefs, and princess, Allura.
Though he does know those feelings are real, it just doesn't match with what his memories think of Allura before he disappeared and ended up on that Galra escape pod.
"We managed to drive them off."
Shiro broke out of his thoughts, "Really that's good."
"Yeah considering we don't have the Black Lion available it is pretty good."
"I'm sure she'll be back soon."
Lance smiles, "Yeah."
Later at the Radiation Station above Valis:
"Thank you so much Paladins and Emperor Lotor. If it weren't for you Valis's only protection from the Radiation would have been destroyed."
"It was nothing, Commander Bogh."
"It was not. The Fire of Purification led by Sendak threatened us to join his side or risk the consequences. Lieutenant Lahn thought you wouldn't come and that you wouldn't care for us…"
"But I do. I am trying to establish peace with the conquered planets and figure everything out. And I found a way to get what Zarkon made us look for for eons. Quintessence."
"Can it really be done? Only Haggar, your father's left hand, was ever able to transform Quintessence into a usable source."
Lotor nods, "Yes it can be done. With Voltron's help we will have peace."
"Peace?" Lahn echoes confused.
Shiro answers, "You know, not fighting with every planet and conquering them. Not mining their Quintessence out of them….."
"You mean no more fighting, no more Victory or Death?" Lahn states, visibly terrified at the possibility.
"Yes. It will take some getting used to, but it will work. Fighting isn't everything we Galra are," Lotor boldly proclaims.
Shiro nods, even though the only example he has ever seen where a Galra isn't all about fighting is Lotor himself.
"True that. We protect Valis from Space Radiation that could easily harm it and all its inhabitants that were colonised here." Bogh states.
Guess he never thought of it that way.
Hunk also nods, "Yeah their history is rich and deep, filled with so many complex stories about heroes and villains of the past. Their culture is just as much so."
"Wait, you took time to learn our history?" Lahn voices, completely surprised.
"Of course, we're allies now and if we're going to work together we need to learn a lot more about you. The history of these last ten thousand years and any before that. And I always found the phrase Vrepit Sa fascinating, I thought it meant loyalty to the Empire but in truth it means killing thrust, meaning that you won't go down without a fight." Hunk happily tells everyone.
"Yes it does mean that." Lahn says, flabbergasted.
"Another term we use is Victory or Death, meaning we are very committed to the roles assigned to us and fiercely determined to win when in combat." Bogh explains.
"Yeah, so I assume then this Fire of Purification group is going to last until we either destroy them or they win."
"Right, but they have little followers, as everyone knows you are the true heir due to the flame still burning on Feyiv and the Archivist's words and from Sendak's own words himself."
Lance smiles, "Then whatever trouble they do stir, we'll clean up. Right?"
"Right."
Shiro smiles, but his heart isn't in it.
Can't we just have a break for once before another problem rears its ugly head?
Author's Note: It's been a while huh. Sorry to keep ya'll waiting. So the reason I've been gone so long is because I had my dad block this site because it was distracting me from writing and ever since then I've been publishing my stories on Quotev. However I've heard rumors of it shutting down so I want to get all my finished stories uploaded here. So expect a lot of fics to go up completed today.
~Leafbranch