#hahaha..ha

Honestly?  If the Galra had been delayed, Shiro would still have gotten out with the rest of the would-be paladins.  The difference would be that they’d get caught.  That without the Galra to light a fire under Lance that he might not agree to fly off in the giant metal lion and leave his whole life behind.

So instead they land, and they’re instantly taken back under GG custody.  Except now Shiro’s made off with a bunch of cadets who then discovered a giant weapon while he’s babbling about aliens, that’s not fucking suspicious or anything.

Then they’re all locked away, interrogated and grilled and accused.  Where did you get that machine, why won’t it work for us, why won’t you deactivate your force field if you’re REALLY on our side?

And then the Galra arrive.

And there’s a scramble while the GG try to get anyone but this cadet cargo pilot to fly the lion, but there’s no way.  It won’t budge, and finally the choice is between letting this alien ship continue to fire upon them, demanding the return of The Champion (at this point, the Galra still have no reason to know about the blue lion, after all), and, well.

Lance can’t exactly leave everyone else like that, when the GG wants nothing more than answers wrung from blood.  So he says he can only fly if everyone is there.

So they let him.

And he fights.

And Lance loses.

Because the blue lion is powerful, but this is an inexperienced pilot in the cockpit for the second time, without any kind of back-up.

So the blue lion does the only thing it can do, and it overrides the controls and saves them all.  It takes them home.

And that changes things.  It’s no longer about reluctant, frightened awe and discovery.  It’s about getting those lions and getting back to Earth as fast as possible. And how can Allura and Coran refuse, knowing a planet hangs in the balance, just like theirs did?

So they collect them, same as in canon.  And they get back.

And there’s no more Earth.

Because the Galra still need to test their new method of mining energy.  And why not use it on a planet so full of life?  Why not get everything they can out of it?  Why not get back at the planet that held the blue lion for so long, all these years?

They fight the ship remaining.  The form Voltron based on sheer, shared guilt and grief.

They got Shiro back.  They even got the same Shiro back.

It's usually music from the 70s or something like that

gee I