#pigdance

   “...your mother took the teleduv to a secondary location for some preliminary tests. You will go to her.”

   “...for what purpose?”

   “To be out of the way.”

   Lotor flinches. “...and...my punishment?”

   Zarkon finally turns around to face Lotor.

   “There is nothing I think I can do, that is worse than the dishonor you have laid upon yourself. You know what a failure you are. Do I have to hammer in what is already clear to see?”

   Lotor’s eyes bore into the floor, tightening his fists so hard the knuckles go white.

“Leave me. Do not return until you have something of value to offer.”

With a jaw clenched so tight the words can barely be heard, Lotor says:

“...yes father.”

With that, he leaves.

***

    Pidge gazes intently at a display showing frequency readings. She sits inside a laboratory in the Garrison base, at a computer terminal. She types a few keys on the board and more frequencies appear, overlaying on top of the existing ones. Her expression grows harder.

   The door slides open, and Keith walks in.

   “Hey, Pidge. You wanted to show me something?”

   “Take a look.” She nods to the screen.

   Keith walks over, and looks down at the display.

   “So uh...you wanna tell me what I’m looking at right now?”

   She sighs. “When we first got back to Earth, I had them tune the astro spectrometers to look for quintessence, and other unique energy signatures.”

   “And lemme guess: You picked up some?”

   “You could say that. I’m getting some crazy readings all over the place. Been using my spare time trying to locate the epicenter, which I finally did. Check it out.”

   A map of celestial bodies appears on the display.

   “This,” she says, pointing to a highlighted spot, “is the source of these energy readouts. And this,” she points to another spot, “is the Quantum Abyss. Just a couple of lightyears away. I’m betting that’s not a coincidence.”

   “Me either.” Keith says, eyes narrowing. “It's got to be Zarkon.”

   “So...what do we do?”

   “For now, just keep an eye on things. Let me know if anything changes. I’m going to ask the Blades and the Warlords if they know, or can find anything about this.”

   “Roger that.” Pidge says, returning the display to the readouts. “Oh and Keith?”

   “Yeah?”

   “Whatever this is...it's big. These readings...I can’t even begin to describe how scary they are. Whatever Zarkon and the other Dark Paladins are planning...we have to do everything possible to stop it.”

   “We will.” Keith says confidently.

   “How can you be so sure? We sure got beaten last time.”

   “Because we’re the Paladins of Voltron. That’s why.”

   Pidge nods, seeming to accept this answer. With that Keith leaves her to her work.

***

   Lance walks inside an open hanger, towards Hunk, who’s back is to him. The big man is talking to a group of cadets that surround him. Lance smiles as he approaches, hearing his friend’s words.

   “-rookie mistake. I used to make it all the time. Those gyroscopic stabilizers can get a little wonky once you get past three G’s. Talk to your engineer about it, they should be able to adjust the compensators, to make that a little-”

   “There he is!” Lance calls out, for the whole hangar to hear. “The man, the myth, the legend: Hunk Garrett!”

   Hunk cringes, but the cadets seem all the more excited.

   “Don’t you think you’re exaggerating a little bit…?” Hunk says, as Lance walks up to throw an arm over his friend’s shoulders.

   “Not even a little! Ya know this guy always talks about how scared he is? Turns out he’s a real heroic one. Totally called it.”

   “Come on, I was the last one to even get in the fight.”

   “Yep. Real thematic entrance, too. I’m proud of you buddy.”

   The Cadets start to clamor, asking questions and swarming them. Hunk, however, cuts them off with a wave of his hand.

   “Alright, alright. Cool down guys. We aren’t going anywhere. You all on the other hand, are due for flight drills if I’m not mistaken? I’d get to your fighters before your drill sergeant starts to wonder what’s taking so long.”

   The cadets get a wave of panicked looks, and quickly disperse, calling out farewells as they run.

   “Amazing.” Lance says shaking his head. “Just hold one of your eyes shut and you really would just be the spitting image of Iverson.”

   “Oh stop it.” Hunk says shrugging off Lance. “I was just running their tests on the Yellow Lion, and after seeing Voltron firsthand they wanted to ask me stuff.”

   “Uh huh. So in other words, you’ve become their beloved hero-pilot.” Lance sighs exaggeratedly. “Man, how come no one ever notices how heroic I am?”

   “Well I’m sure before long they’ll all be singing the praises of ‘Lance the Sharpshooter.”

   “Guess we’ll just have to see…” Lance grumbles. A slight quirk of his lips indicates that he is not as downcast as he pretends.

   Hunk chuckles.

   “What’s so funny?”

   “Nothing. Just glad I’m right where I’m supposed to be.”

   Suddenly a wide grin grows on Lance’s face. “Not yet ya aren’t.”

   “What do you mean?”

   “Well buddy, I think it's time we both got some well deserved R&R. Whatcha say we sneak out of this place before another alien invasion or something happens, and go hit the town? Yaknow, for old time’s sake.”

   “That does sound like it could be fun.” Hunk admits.

   “Great! Now let’s just make sure Keith doesn’t-”

   Both of their communicators squak to life, with the sound of Keith’s voice.

   “All Paladins, gather in the usual meeting room. Follow up on the attack, and discussing where to move from here on. Attendance is non-negotiable.”

   They both sigh.

   “Well he’s sure got ordering people around down.” Lance says.

***

   The five Paladins of Voltron, Shiro, Coran, Matt and Sam Holt, Admiral Sanda, and all the other various leaders of both Coalition and Garrison sides sit in the large meeting room.

   Admiral Sand sighs long and hard, before standing up to speak.

   “The council has agreed to support the Coalition in their efforts to stop Zarkon and the Galra forces he controls-”

   Before she can continue the room erupts into a cheer. She gives an annoyed look, though a slight tug at the corner of her mouth seems to tell a different story.

   “-this means that we will supply the Coalition with all our resources.” She goes on once the cheers die down.“Most important of these, is our own military forces which, when necessary, will join the Coalition in deep space, and assist in the fighting.This includes the Atlas mecha, and all the currently battle-worth starfighters we possess. That is all.” Sanda sits back down.

   “Oh come on Sanda, it's okay to get excited!” Matt says with a smirk. “This means we can finally officially work together again! I know you’ve missed my sense of humor.”

   “With how much time you spent hanging around base, one could be convinced you never left.” Sanda sniffs. The comment however, is lacking it's usual bite. Though reserved, she does seem pleased.

   “Thank you, Sanda. Really.” Shiro says. “Delays aside, I know you fought hard for this. We all owe you for this.”

   “Pay me back by finishing this war quick. Oh and try not to bang up the Atlas any more than you already have. Speaking of, how are the repairs coming along?”

   “Just about finished, actually.” Sam Holt replies. “While the arm came off, the actual damage was relatively minimal. Plus Coran showed us how to implement some Altean technology that expedite the repair work. Should even make upgrades easier, too.”

   “Ah yes, modular construction.” Coran says, massaging his mustache.“Very helpful in building the Castle. Interestingly enough a version of the same tech was instrumental in Voltron’s-”

   “I’ll leave the details to the engineers.” Sanda cuts in. “As long as it's back to being battle ready. I don’t want us to be caught with our pants down, again.”

   Keith clears his throat. All eyes turn on him.

   “On the subject of battles...I think we should probably discuss what we’re doing next. Moving forward with the war, I mean.”

   “I’m all ears. You’re in command here now.” Sanda says simply.

   Keith looks taken aback by that, but recovers quickly.

   “Right. So, I’ve been thinking lately that we’ve been fighting a little too defensively. So far we’ve just waited for our opponents to show up first, then deal with the aftermath. But we’ll never win like that. I think it's time we attacked, and put them on the defensive.”

   “A good decision.” Sanda nods approvingly. “But my question would be, where? As far as I understood it, you were not aware of your...our, enemy’s precise whereabouts.”

   “That’s not...exactly true.” Keith says carefully. “We know that at the very least they’ve taken over the Altean Colony in the Quantum Abyss. The Blades have confirmed as much. They also verified that a lot of enemy galra activity is centering around there, so it's a safe bet that they’re using the colony, or a place very nearby as their headquarters.”

   “So we attack this ‘Quantum Abyss,’ then? Cut the head off the snake, as it were?” Sanda asks.

   “Tempting as that is, we don’t really have enough info to make that kind of attack, yet. We have no idea what kind of defenses they have, how they have their forces situated, or any of that. The Blades, unfortunately, haven’t been able to get close enough to get a read on the place.”

   “Do you have an alternative suggestion then?”

   Keith nods. “Over the past few days, Pidge has been monitoring some suspicious energy readings coming from an area not far from the Abyss. Just recently I was informed by the Blades that there is, in fact, a large compound there, with a significant amount of security guarding it. We think they might be testing some kind of new weapon.”

   “Whatever this thing is, it’s a big deal. I can tell that from the readings alone. We’ve got to figure out what they’re doing there, and stop it if we can.” Pidge explains.

   “I assume you have a plan?” Sanda asks.

   “So far, the idea is we launch a good portion of our forces to attack this thing. We’ll have a ton of ships, Atlas, and a few Lions, but not Voltron. The reason for this, is because the attack is just a distraction. While our forces are attacking outside, one of the Paladins is going to sneak in, hack their computer and take every scrap of data on what’s going on in there, then evac. Then we’ll pull out, before reinforcements can arrive.”

   “Wait a minute.” Lance cuts in. “Hack in? That means the one going in will be…”

   “Me.” Pidge says, as if it were obvious. “I’ve got the computer skills, plus Green already has cloaking abilities, so getting in should be easy. I’m going to be the one sneaking in.”

   “...alone?” Lance asks, looking confused.

   “Well yeah, that’s the idea. We don’t exactly want them to find out the real reason we’re there.”

   “Why don’t we send in some of those Marmoran Blade guys, too? They’re all space ninja-ey.”

   Pidge sighs. “The more people we send in the more likely it is we’ll get noticed. As good as the Blades are, adding more people will just make sneaking harder. Besides, they”

   “If...you say so.” Lance says, uncertainly.

   We can discuss the finer details later.”  Keith cuts in. “But, right now this seems to be the right move. We’ll deal a blow to our enemy, and gain some much needed intel, in one move. Any more questions?”

   There are none.

   “Alright, then. Let’s get ready for battle everyone.”

***

   Prince Lotor, inside the Dark Red Lion, flies towards a massive space station. It is built in a gigantic, flat, ring shape. At the center of the ring, is the teleduv, with six robeasts hovering over it.

   Lotor pulls into the station’s hangar bay, and lands his Lion. He steps outside, and is met by Raimon, standing there, in his usual maroon armor.

   “Raimon.” Lotor nods.

   The other man nods back, ever so slightly.

   “I suppose this is where Zarkon is sending all those he wishes to punish. Though, I should hope I never do something to earn as much ire from him as you.”

   Raimon does not reply.

   Lotor sighs. “Ever the quiet one, my friend. Very well, take me to my mother.”

   “Yes sir.”

***

   Lotor and Raimon step inside a room, where the far wall is one long viewport. The viewport is built into the inside of the station’s ring, giving it a clear view of the teleduv and the robeasts hovering over it. Honvera stands in front of the port, looking out, unmoving.

   “Mother.” Lotor greets.

   “Son.” She replies. “How did it go with your father?”

   “He didn’t throw anything at me, so I suppose that’s something. Just told me to get out of his way, and stay like that. Almost makes me more worried, that he didn’t do something worse.”

    Honvera pauses before replying. “...I see. Well that aside, your timing is impeccable. Come, we are about to start the next test.”

   Lotor walks over to stand next to his mother. “How goes your mad plan to open the quintessence field with the teleduv?”

   “So far the readings have been promising. By using the robeasts, and by extension, the altean pilots, we can more easily control the rate of quintessence draw.”

Violet lighting begins to crackle along the teleduv’s surface, then begins to arc out to connect with the robeasts.

   “...does it hurt the pilots?” Lotor asks after a moment.

   “Yes. I suppose it does.” Honvera says unconcerned. “I believe it only takes a few hours to recover, however. No one’s died yet, so it shouldn’t be a resource concern.”

   Lotor winces, but his mother doesn’t seem to notice. The crackling grows more intense. A glyph appears at the center of the teleduv.

   “...what is the purpose of today’s test?” He eventually asks.

   “I’m trying to solve a rather interesting conundrum.”

   “Interesting how?”

   “After the first few tests, the outputs suddenly changed. It appears as though there is some kind of block in the quintessence field. Like a large stone obstructing a stream. Quintessence still pours out, but not nearly as much as we should be getting.”

   “What could be causing that?”

   “My best hypothesis, is that there is something physical stuck in the quintessence field, and due to the nature of reality, it is trying to slip out every time we open the teleduv.”

   “Something physical…” Lotor muses. “...could they have tried to make another-”

   “Mistress! Something is coming through!” A voice crackles over comms.

   Honvera narrows her eyes. “Expand the portal, and run stabilization. I don’t want it-”

   There is an explosion of violet light, sending several of the robeasts flying. The violet lightning grows more erratic, striking out at the station itself, causing the whole facility to shudder.

“Shut it down!” Lotor calls out.

“It does not appear to be responding.” Honvera replies, fingers flying across a holographic keypad.

The crackling grows more intense. Lotor grabs his mother’s arm and makes as if to run for it.

Then, all at once, the energy crackles to nothing, an all is dark. Honvera tests the comms.

“Report.” She says.

   “Damage was minimal, mistress. Just a power surge from all the quintessence. We’ll have things back up and running soon.”

   “The pilots?” Lotor asks.

   “Two dead. Rest are in critical condition. Reeling them in now.” The operator replies.

   Lotor’s eye twitches at that.

   “Prioritize getting me a visual.” Honvera says. “I want to see what we just dragged into the physical universe.”

   After a few moments, lights from the station come on, illuminating the thing in the center of the teleduv.

   A mecha of dark armor, with a long segmented tail, hangs limply in space.

   “What…” Lotor says carefully. “...is that?”

***

   Lance runs through a crowd of Coalition and Garrison personnel. They are standing in a crowd around Keith and the other Paladins.

   “...the Atlas is going to be flanked by Garrison fighters. Now remember, as good as you guys think you are, you’re still at a technological disadvantage, so don’t take unnecessary risks…”

   “Sure cutting it close huh?” Hunk whispers.

   “Just psyching myself up, before the battle, as usual.”

   Hunk gives him an odd look.

   “What? Do you not do that?”

   “I usually just pretend we aren’t actually fighting until the last minute. That way I don’t have time to think about how terrifying it really is.” Hunk shrugs.

“...Meanwhile our Galran allies will attack from another angle. Finally us Paladins in the Lions will attack from a third angle. This should convince them we really mean business. Meanwhile Pidge will be commencing her operation. ONce this begins, Lance and Hunk will board the ship as well, but in less covert fashion...”

“He means awesomely.” Lance whispers.

“I think he means make a bunch of noise.” Hunk corrects.

“This, hopefully, will keep them for looking for other intruders, by giving them a false lead. After that, it's just a matter of waiting for Pidge to get the data…”

Lance shoots a look over at Pidge, but she doesn’t seem to notice.

“...destroy as much as you can on the way out. And, I’ll say this again, but no unnecessary risks. The more people we lose today, the fewer we have to fight Zarkon tomorrow. That’s all. To your posts.”

The group disperses, to head for their respective ships. Lance however, instead of heading to his own Lion, walks over to Pidge.

“So, going in there all commando style, gonna steal the glory from the rest of us, eh?

“Glory’s got nothing to do with it. It's just the logical move.” Pidge shrugs.

“Riiight.” He smirks. “I think you just decided video games aren’t enough you gotta beat me at being a hero, right?”

“Oh sure, we’re all just trying to beat you Lance, but you’re just too hard to one up. Really we all feel inadequate with you around.” She rolls her eyes exaggeratedly.

Lance chuckles. “Glad someone recognizes me…” his expression suddenly get serious. “But uh...be careful.”

“Where’s this coming from?”

“It's just...these guys are dangerous. Really dangerous.” He glances down at his hand, as if expecting it to star shaking. “ I wouldn’t want…” He shakes his head, and his smile reappears “...I wouldn’t want to have to come rescue you. It’d be really embarrassing for you.”

Pidge snorts. “Yeah, sure.” She moves to enter her Lion, then hesitates. “I’ll...try to look out.”

Lance nods. “Good luck, then.”

Then, he turns around, and heads over to his own Lion. Pidge watches him go. After a moment she shakes her head, and steps inside the Green Lion.

***

   Prince Lotor watches, as the strange mecha is laid down inside a hanger on the station. Workers using laser-torches make vain attempts at opening the hull.

   “Where do you think it came from?” Lotor asks.

   “I do not know.” Raimon replies.

   “Best guess then.”

   “I have no guesses.”

   Lotor narrows his eyes at the other Paladin. “My father really did a number on you didn’t he?”

   Raimon remains silent. Lotor sighs.

   “Wherever it came from, hopefully what's left of the pilot or onboard computer will tell us more.”

   “What is that?” A voice suddenly says.

   Lotor and Raimon turn to see Sendak approaching.

   “Sendak.” Lotor smiles. “What brings you around here?”

   “Routine inspection of the contingent I left here. I heard something of note had been found but…” He gazes up at the mecha. “...this is something.”

   “It is, isn’t it.” Lotor muses. “I must say I like the color choice…”

   “Hold a tick.” Sendak says, as his communicator beings pinging. “This is Sendak, report.”

   “Sir! Enemy activity detected!”

   Lotor perks up, with interest.

“Numerous enemy ships on a course towards our location.” The office goes on.“It seems they are approaching the compound in force.  Lions have been spotted but no Voltron as of yet.

   Sednak furrows his brow. “ETA?”

   “Just under a varga.”

   “Understood. Launch defenses, and prepare for assault.”

   “I will be in my Lion. I suggest you do the same. Perhaps a good performance here could...improve your situation.” Sendak says carefully.

   Lotor hesitates. “...no. Don’t get in your Lion.

   Sendak quirks his head looking confused. “...forgive me, Prince Lotor, but you are not currently in command here.”

   “Fine. Take it as a suggestion, then. I don’t think we should go out. At least not yet. If we wait to show ourselves, we’ll get a better hand on what their goal here is. More than that, we’ll be able to upset their rhythm. They launched a surprise attack on this station. Seems only fitting we should return the favor.”

   Sendak stares at Lotor for several long moments, before finally nodding. “Your words are wise, Prince. Let us try this plan…”

***

   The forces of the Voltron Coalition open fire on the ring-shaped space station. Defense turrets and galra cruisers return fire. Swarms of fighters on both sides pour over the battlefield. Four of the Lions of Voltron tear through the battle. Energy-fire from all sides turns the whole scene into a lightshow.

Pidge ignores all this, engaging her Lion’s cloaking ability and disappearing from sight. She guides Green in a careful trajectory, weaving around and out of the way of all the other ships, friendly or enemy.

She makes it all the way to the station’s surface without incident, touching down on the dark metal.

“On the surface, gonna see about getting inside, now.” She reports.

“Roger that. Lance, Hunk, time to move.” Keith orders

“You got it!” Lance yells over the comms. “Gonna hit these guys so hard they crawl back to Zarkon and tell ‘em stories of ‘Lance, the Greatest Paladin that ever lived!’”

Pidge smiles and shakes her head.

The Red and Yellow Lions tear their way through the battlefield, aiming for a hangar bay that fighters are streaming out of.

Pidge picks her way long the surface of the station, still unnoticed. She comes upon a hatch built into the top of the station.

“Found the maintenance hatch.” She reports, inserting a wire from her wrist into a side-panel. “Just making sure they don’t notice me entering…” The hatch pops open. Pidge slips inside, and the hatch closes after, shrouding her in darkness. There is a hiss as the compartment fills with air. “...I’m in.”

***

   Lance and Hunk glide their Lions inside the hangar bay, mouth beams blasting all the way. Dozens of enemy fighters are destroyed, and galra sentries go flying.

   After a few more rounds of shooting, they both land.

   Lance dashes out of his Lion, rifle at the ready. “We just made our entrance. And with a lot of style, too.”

   “Good work, now go make some noise.” Keith says.

   Lance and Hunk share a look and nod. Hunk hefts his bayard cannon, and opens fire on a door at the end of the room. After a few shots, it crumples, and falls to the floor. They dash through, to find a squad of sentries running up to meet them.

   “Well buddy guess it’s just you and me against the world.” Lance says, taking aim.

   “More like against the universe.” Hunk corrects.

   “I guess so. Thinking about running away, yet?”

   Hunk blasts apart a pair of sentries before they can get shots off. “Not a chance.”

   “I thought so.” Lance smiles.

***

   Pidge sneaks down a long corridor. She stops just before an intersection of hallways. Across the gap, on the next wall over there is an access panel. She starts to move across, glancing around the corner, before jumping back into cover.

   A pair of sentries walk down a parallel hallway. She waits several moments before peeking around the corner again. Nothing. She runs across and plugs into the panel. She types on a holographic pad for several moments before a light turns green, and her wrist projects a virtual image of the station’s inner layout. She zooms in on one location.

   “Central servers. Got ya.” Pidge smirks, unplugging from the panel.

   She resumes her creeping down the hallway.

***

   Lotor watches the battle being waged outside. The Black and Blue Lions still tear their way through fighters and cruisers. On the other side, Atlas is wreaking havok on the station’s defenses. Yet another feed shows Hunk and Lance shooting their way through the inside of the station.

   “Tell my mother and Raimon to fly out and engage the Lions outside.” Lotor says. “I assume you should be able to handle those two making a mess inside?”

   “Do not insult me Lotor.” Sendak scoffs. “But even still, where will you be?”

   “I’m going to go confirm a hunch.” Lotor says, walking out of the command room. “If I’m wrong it's galran ale on me for you and all the men.”

   “Very well, sir.” Sendak says a slight smile touching his lips. “Happy hunting.”

   “And you.”

***

   Keith and Allura fly in a tight pair, keeping the fighters off each other, and blasting lines through the enemy fighters.

   “Two more on your six!” Keith warns.

   Allura fires the Blue Lion’s tail laser, taking out one. Keith finishes off the other.

   “Thanks!”

   “Don’t thank me just yet. We got trouble.”

   Sure enough, the Dark Blue and Green Lions fly out from the station, opening fire. Keith and Allura dive into evasive maneuvers, narrowly dodging the blasts.

   “Let me take the Blue one. We have unfinished business.” Allura says narrowing her eyes.

   “Careful.” He warns, letting out a blast that is aimed at the Green Lion, but is evaded. “These guys are no joke.”

   “I’m well aware.” Allura says, dodging a blast. She fires her sonic cannon, to stun the other Lion. She follows up with a mouth beam, but despite the previous blast, her opponent is still able to move enough to make the shot only grazing.

   The other Lion then replies, by firing with his own mouth blast, forcing Allura to dodge into his second shot from his tail.

   Allura shakes off the hit, and punches her Lion back into motion, facing off against the Dark Blue Lion.

***

   Pidge creeps up to a corner, around which is a short hallway, ending in a door guarded by two sentries. She notes these on her map. Biting her lip, she dismisses the map, and pulls out her bayard. She takes a deep breath, then dashes around the corner.

   The sentries notice immediately, raising their weapons to fire. Pidge is faster. She fires her bayard, it's blade taking the first in the chest. She reels in the line at the same time, dragging herself and the sentry towards each other. An energy shot from the other one flies over her head, narrowly missing. Pidge kicks off the first sentry, leaving it a broken mess on the floor, and freeing her bayard to stab at the second. It's weapon cleaves in two. The sentinel tries for a punch at Pidge’s head, but she slips under it and drives her bayard’s blade upwards. The sentinel’s head shears off, and it collapses.

   Pidge admires her handywork, giving a self satisfied smile. Hacking through the door takes only a moment, and she steps into the room beyond.

   Long columns, from floor to ceiling, with blinking lights fill the room. The central and thickest columb is the one Pidge moves for. She immediately sets to work on the terminal built into the side of it.

   “Guys, I’m in the server room now. Should only be a few minutes now.” She says, fingers typing quickly.

   “G-” there is the sound of an explosion over the comms. “Good work!” Keith manages to get out. “Just make it quick, these guys are putting up a fight!”

   “Will do.” Pidge pulls a drive out from inside her armor, and inserts it into the server. “Gonna copy everything I can down. Until then…” She opens one of the files on the terminal display. “...let’s see if we can’t take a peek as what you guys have been up to…”

   Pidge opens another file, scanning it before closing it and opening another. She does this for several minutes, before finding one file that is different. When she opens this one, her eyes immediately widen with shock. She nearly falls as she stumbles back from surprise.

   Sincline. Lying in a hanger, held in the very same station she stands inside.

   “I take it that you recognize that machine.” A voice says from behind.

   Pidge whirls around, throwing up her bayard.

   Standing barely two dozen feet away, is Prince Lotor.

   “When did you…?” Pidge says with confusion.

   “Oh, I was here from the start. Just, waiting for you to show up.” Lotor explains causally. “To be honest, my first thought was that you’d go after the power. But, that’d be too well guarded, with too man redundancies. After I thought about it for a moment, I knew that you’d have to actually be here for information.”

   Pidge’s eyes flicker to the drive, still slotted into the server.

   “Tell me little one. That mecha there, do you know where it’s from? I’m betting you do. If you tell me outright I promise to make sure my mother doesn’t torture you too badly. I might even let you live after that, though perhaps that would not be much of a mercy. My mother does do nasty work when it suits her-”

   Pidge dives, snatching the drive free and rolling across the floor. Lotor summons his bayard, cracking against the spot she just vacated. The energy whip slashes a glowing tear in the column, having missed Pidge by inches. Lotor cracks the whip again, and Pidge only barely dives behind another column in time.

   “Prepare to disengage!”She yells over the comms. “I was discovered, evacing with as much data as I could get!” Then, as an afterthought, she adds. “Keith, Allura, blow a hole in the hangar on the third quadrant, and see what’s inside. You’ll understand when you see.”

   “Roger that.” Keith replies.

   “Wait, discovered?” Lance asks. “You need help evacing?”

   “Negative! Evac with Hunk as planned!” Pidge is forced to dive again, as Lotor’s whip slices the column she was hiding behind in half.

She makes for the door, sprinting as fast as she can. Lotor’s whip slashes across the floor in front of her, cutting off her exit. She spins, bringing her bayard up and firing at Lotor. He smiles, shifting his bayard into it’s curved sword form, and knocks the green blade aside. Then he launches himself at Pidge, blade swinging. She tries to dodge, but the blade connects.

Pidge cries out as her helmet is knocked from her head, and she tumbles across the floor.  

   “What was that? Pidge? Pidge!” A suppressed voice says from her helmet lying several feet away.

Pidge looks up, fear in her eyes, as the towering Lotor approaches.

   “...you realize, of course, that I cannot let you leave with that data.” He explains, twirling his sword experimentally. “Not that I was ever going to let you leave anyway…”

***

   “Pidge? Pidge!” Lance repeats over the comms. “Pick up, quiznak it!”

No response. He shoots Hunk a worried look. He opens his mouth as if to speak, but is cut off when a door ahead of them is blown out of the wall. Sendak steps through, staring them down. Hunk and Lance raise their weapons, but no one yet fires yet.

    “At last,” Sendak says. “I get to test myself against the Paladins of this realm. It is one things to fight in Lions, or Voltron itself. But there’s nothing quite like beating a man with your hands.” Sendak clenches his large robot hand into a fist, as if for emphasis.

   “We should evac.” Hunk says.

   Lance nods slowly. His gaze shifts away from Sendak, past him, deeper into the station’s bowles. Hunk notices this. He takes a breath, and turns back to Sendak.

   “Go.”

   “What?” Lance asks with confusion.

   “I’ll keep this guy busy. Go find Pidge. Make sure she’s all right. And if she’s not, get her out of here in once piece.”

   Lance hesitates only a moment before nodding. “...okay.”

   Sendak laughs. “That assumes I will let you do such a thing.”

   “Go!” Hunk repeats,

   Lance does, dashing down the hall, towards the doorway Sendak blocks. Sendak throws out his fist, hurling the metal hand right for Lance. It is blasted off course by a shot from Hunk’s cannon. Hunk fires the next shot at Sendak himself. Sendak activates his bayard in shield mode, blocking Hunk’s blasts. Lance dashes past Sendak, not even giving the galra a second glance.

    Sendak turns to throw his arm at Lance’s back. His shot his thrown off balance when something slams into his shield, pushing him back. Sendak looks up to see Hunk, standing there with a large hammer having replaced his cannon.

   “I’m not going to let you stop my friend.” Hunk says, hefting the hammer.

   “Interesting…” Sendak says, pacing back and forth. “...and do you really think you’re strong enough? Can you can defeat me with what pitiful power you have? You’d be better off running. At least you’d live a little longer.”

   Hunk sighes. “You know, not so long ago, I might’ve taken you up on that. But here’s the thing: I realized that bad guys like you don’t just go away. Someone’s gotta step in your way. Someone’s got to stop you. And today, that’s me. No one else is gonna do it, so I’ll have to. To answer your question, I don’t know if I’m strong enough. Let’s find out.” Hunk raises the hammer to his shoulder.

   Sendak grins hungrily. “Yes...show me your strength…” He turns his bayard into an axe. The two Paladins of the Yellow Lions charge each other.

***

  Lance dashes for a group of galra guards. He shoots the first two sentinels down before they can even react. His third shot misses, but the following one lands, taking another sentinel in the head. The fourth and final guard’s shot glances off Lance’s energy shield, as he crashes into the guard. They tumble and Lance comes up on top. He shifts his bayard into a sword, and holds it to the guard’s neck.

  “Oh, a living one, not just a bot. Good.” Lance says, noticing the flesh of the guard’s mouth and chin from the gap in the helmet’s chin. He presses his sword against its throat, making the guard swallow in fear.

In a very cold voice Lance says: “Tell me where the server room is, and you’ll get to keep your head where it is.”

***    

   Keith and Allura spins their Lions around, avoiding fire from the enemy Lions, while letting out blasts of their own. They try disengaging from the fight, but the Dark Lions give them no opportunity to escape.

   “Dangit, we can’t shake these guys!” Keith calls out.

   “What about that part of the station Pidge told us to find?” Allura asks.

   Keith looks out at the enemy Lions, as if deciding what to do. He moves to intercept the Dark Blue Lion, which is gunning for Allura. The Dark Green Lion fires a crackling Violet shot from its mouth to stop Keith. He evades easily, but oddly the bolt of energy, once past him, loops back around to strike Keith’s Lion in the back.

  Meanwhile, Allura fires three quick shots in succession, all of which are deftly avoided by her enemy. The Dark Blue LIon blasts Allura, sending her flying back.

   The two Dark Lions are moving in, about to strike on their weakened foes. Before they get a chance, the Atlas flies in blasting both sending them tumbling backwards.

“Need a hand?” Shiro’s voice asks.

“Sure can!” Keith replies. “Just hold them as long as you can.”

“Roger that.” Shiro says raising both of the Atlas’ fists.

He flies up to meet the now charging Dark Lions, while Keith and Allura slip away, to further down the station.

***

   Pidge dodges out of the way of Prince Lotor’s latest attack. He chases after her, wicked sword in hand, an even wicked her smile on his face. It is all Pidge can do to avoid getting her head taken off. Her armor already features many scores, where the blade has grazed her. Panic is in her eyes.

   She keeps glancing back at the doorway, searching for a path to escape. She makes as if to duck around to the side of Lotor, then jumps back to dash around the other side.

   Lotor sees through this, and puts a kick into Pidge’s gut that throws her halfway across the room. He back slams into the side of a server column. Pidge seethes with pain. Despite this, she manages to push herself up, and takes aim with her bayard. She fires at the open doorway, the green tethered blade sailing for freedom.

   Lotor knocks the blade off course with his sword, then with his free hand grabs hold of the tether, and yanks hard. Pidge is dragged across the floor, sliding to a stop just in front of Lotor. He smiles down at her.    

   Pidge tries to scramble back up to her feet. Lotor slams a foot down into her chest, holding her there. The blow makes her cough and gasp for air.

   “Finally.” Lotor sighs. “You Paladins of this reality are so slippery. Just when we think we’ve got a hold on you, you manage to worm yourselves away. Pathetic.”

   While he is talking Pidge tries to drive the tip of her bayard into Lotor’s leg. Before she can he slams his other foot down onto her arm, pinning it.

   “Do you know how much trouble you lot have cause me?” He sneers. “How many of my atleans I sacrificed, by sending them on futile attacks? How much of my father’s ire I earned with the failure at your hands? It's worse that you aren’t even very competent. You;re just children, playing at an adult’s game. We should have finished you off when we had the chance.”

   “These...these children are gonna kick your ass!” Pidge glares up with defiance.

   “I don’t think so.” Lotor says, lifting his sword.

   He drives the blade down into Pidge’s shoulder. She screams. Blood starts to pool where the blade enters her suit. Pidge tries to squirm, but Lotor presses his foot down harder on her chest, making her gag. He leans down, so their faces are only about a foot away.

  “You shouldn’t have come here alone. Maybe then you’d have stood a chance. Probably not, though. But to your credit, at least the only screams you’ll hear, when my mother questions you, will be your own.”

   Pidge, with tears in her eyes, looks up with absolute terror at Lotor.

   Suddenly, there is the sound of an energy rifle being fired.

Lotor leaps back, pulling his sword free as he does. A bolt of blue energy blasts into the column, where Lotor’s head had been just a moment prior.

   “Don’t. You. Touch. HER!”

   Lance stands in the doorway, rifle held in his grip, fury in his eyes.

   “...Lance.” Pidge says with shock. She winces throwing a hand over the bloody wound on her shoulder. “L-Lance get out of here! He’ll kill you!”

Lotor smiles. “Your friend knows what she’s talking about. Go on then. Abandon her. Leave her to-”

Lance fires again, aiming for the Prince’s skull. Lotor blocks the shot with the edge of his sword. “...I was really hoping you’d do that.”

Lotor charges. Lance fires two more shots, both blocked by Lotor’s blade. Cursing, Lance lowers his rifle, and shifts it into a sword. Then, letting out a battle-cry, he meets Lotor’s charge.

Blades clash, throwing up sparks in their wake. Lance pushes the offense, throwing rage-fueled blow after rage-fueled blow. Lotor blocks, deflects and dodges each of the strikes. Lance continues to hammer down on Lotor, but the Prince moves like water, with none of the blows coming close to hitting.

“You really don’t know how to use that thing do you?” Lotor asks, amusement written on his face.

“Shut up!” Lance barks, swinging to take Lotor’s head off, but meeting only air.

Lotor deflect’s Lance’s next strike, an overextended thrust, and slams a fist into the boy’s ribs in reply. Lotor then steps forward, and lands a slice on Lance’s wrist. Lance retreats back, clutching his arm. He looks down to see his bracelet, the one Pidge made, in two broken pieces on the floor. He looks back up at Lotor, not masking the utter rage in his gaze, and raises his sword again,  

   “Lance stop!” Pidge cries out, struggling to sit up. “You can’t beat him! He’s been fighting with that sword longer than we’ve been alive!”

   “You think I don’t know that!?” He retorts. “But like hell I’m going to use that as an excuse to leave you!”

   Pidge can only stare, unable to muster a reply.

   Growling, Lance charges at Lotor again. This time, the Prince does no playing around. Every strike Lance throws Lotor counters with one of his own. Lance thrust forward. Lotor parries, and lands a hit on his Lance’s arm. Lance swings overhead. Lotor blocks, and slams a foot into Lance’s chest. Lance tries a wild trio of blows, Lotor deflects each of them, before slicing into Lance’s side. Lance steps back, wincing from the shallow, but painful wounds.

   Lotor pounces, unleashing an onslaught of sword strikes at Lance’s guard. Lance is barely able to defend, only partially blocking most of the strikes, and earning multiple scores along his armor, and some biting into the skin below. Lance is forced to retreat backwards, as Lotor’s flurry does not let up.

“Is this really all you can do!?” Lotor demands, sharp teeth revealed in a grin. “Is this all that this reality’s Paladins can offer!?”

   Lotor smashes Lance’s sword to the side, and drives his own blade into Lance’s leg. Lance cries out, stumbling back into a column. He brings his sword back up, in a weak guard. Lotor chuckles and shakes his head. The Prince raises his sword and motions for Lance to come forward.

   “Come on. Face your end like a man. I only need one of you.”

Narrowing his eyes Lance moves forward. He nearly stumbles, from the leg wound, as he strikes out.

“Pathetic.” Lotor knocks the blow aside.

Gritting his teeth, Lance strikes again.

“Weak.” Lotor uses a lazy backhand to fling Lance’s strike off course.

Yelling, Lance launches himself forward, for one more swing.

Lotor moves to sidestep the blow. “Honestly, you really are-”

Pidge fires her bayard along the floor, tether blocking Lotor’s feet.

Lotor stumbles, and for a moment his guard opens. Lance’s sword swings forward, slicing across one of Lotor’s eyes.

The Prince howls with back, stumbling back. He falls to his back, clutching his wounded eye, fury filling the other.

“Let’s go!” Pidge yells, running over to Lance. He stumbles, but she supports him as they dash for the exit.

Lotor lashes out, shifting his sword to a whip, but he just misses them, as they slip out the door.

“We’ve...gotta get out of here…” Lance says, wincing as he forced to run on his bad leg.

“This way!” Pidge say guiding them down a side hallway. She leads them to a large panel on the lower half of the wall. “Blast it.”

Lance complies, raising his bayard, shifting it to a rifle and firing. It blows apart the panel, showing a small vent beyond.

“Service tunnel. Short cut.” She explains in a tired voice. Lance nods weakly.

Clutching to each other, they leap down.

***

   Keith and Allura blow apart the blast door holding the hanger close. They guide their Lions inside.

   “Now what could be so important that...oh.” Keith says, seeing what lies in the hangar.

   “It...it can’t be…” Allura gasps.

   Sincline sits in the hangar. Galra workers scatter at the presence of the Lions, leaving the mecha behind.

   “Lotor. Our Lotor. They...they freed him. Why? How?” Allura asks.

   “Dunno, and at the moment, don’t care. Come on.” Keith flies his Lion up to Sincline.

   “What are you doing?"

   “Taking him with us. Friend or foe, we can’t let Zarkon use Lotor for whatever he’s got planned. Get the other arm.” Keith says, locking his Lion’s mouth around one of the mecha’s arms.

    Allura hesitates for a long moment, staring at the Dark metal of Lotor’s mecha. “...you’re right.” She finally says. “We can’t leave him.”

   She moves her Lion over to grab onto Sincline’s other arm, and together they haul the mecha out of the hangar.

***

   Lance and Pidge move down the hallway, each keeping the other from stumbling and falling.

   “...sorry about that bracelet you made for my hand. I broke it.” Lance laughs hollowly.

   “I don’t care about that idiot!” Pidge scolds. “You almost just got yourself killed! What’d you do that for!?”

   “You’re one to talk.” He scoffs. “And here I thought you said you’d be perfectly fine by yourself.”

   “I’m serious!” She elbows him in the ribs. Both of them wince. “Sorry.” She apologizes.

   “It's fine. What’s a little more pain, on top of the rest?”

   Pidge gets a sick look. “...I mean it, though. Why did do that. Come rescue me?”

   “Why wouldn’t I?”

   “That’s not an answer. We had the mission. I told you guys you should all get out.  But then, not only did you come after me, but you tried to fight Lotor! With a sword! How insane do you have to be to do that!?”

   “Oh come on, Pidge. As if I’d leave another Paladin behind.”

   “And that’s just it?” Pidge scoffs. “You’d be and idiot and try to save any one of us in that situation? It’d be the exact same, and you’d do the same dumb thing?”

   Lance seems to think about it. Pidge studies him as he ponders.

   “...no.” He says finally. “I mean, yeah I’d still try to save them if it were Hunk or Allura or Keith. That’s just the kind of guy I am. But, no, it wouldn’t be the same.”

   “Wh...what do you mean?”

   “I mean, that when I saw you sitting there, blood on your armor, Lotor standing over you, I lost it. I just...I couldn’t stand the idea that I’d lose you.”

   Pidge looks up, eyes widening.

He goes on:“In that moment, no one, not Lotor, not an army of galra soldiers, not even Zarkon himself wouldn’t have stopped me from trying to save you. You are the one person I can’t lose no matter what.”  He looks down at her, as if having realized something for the first time.

For a moment, they just stand there staring at each other.  Then, they both blush and avert their gazes. Pidge gaze flickers back to Lance, studying him one more time. She sighs.

“...dang you Matt.”

“Huh?” Lance asks.

“Nothing.” Pidge shakes her head. “I just...know something, now.”

***

   Several minutes later, Lance and Pidge shamble past the scene of Hunk and Sendak’s fight. The two combatants slam powerful blows against each other, both looking beaten and weary. Despite this, Sendak is smiling.

   “So you do have power! And here I thought there were no worth adversaries in this reality!”

   “Well...sorry to cut things short then…” Hunk backs away to his retreating friends.

   “It's not over yet!” Sendak sneers. He pulls back his fist to strike, and throws it towards Hunk, and the other retreating Paladins.

   Hunk stands directly in front of it, and shifts his bayard into a shield. The fist bounces off. Sendak doesn’t even look mad, as Hunk slams the door shut and destroys the panel

   “What happened to you guys!?” Hunk asks as the run.

   “Lotor.” Pidge winces. “He was waiting.”

   “I…” Lance cringes as he steps too hard with his bad leg. “...had to come in and save the say, as usual.”

   Hunk eyes them warily but doesn’t question them further. He runs inside Yellow, while Lance and Pidge stumble into Red.

   “Drop me off at Green.” Pidge says.

   “Can you fly like you are?” He asks, nodding to her shoulder.

   “I’ll...be fine.” She says, covering the wound.

   Reluctantly, Lance nods, and pulls the Blue Lion out of the hangar bay. He dodges the odd fighter as he brings Lion around the station, to where Pidge directs.

   Pidge hits a button on her wrist and the Green Lion appears. She moves to leave the Blue Lion, then stops. Then, she spins around and hugs Lance from the back of his chair.

“...thank you, Lance. For saving me.” She whispers.

   Lance blushes and lets out a strangled cough. “You uh...you saved me too. So, really I think we’re even.”

   “I...guess so.”

   Then, before either of the can say anything more, Pidge pulls back, and turns to leave.  She jumps out of one Lion, and into the other.

   Back inside her own Lion, Pidge immediately winces as she tries to move the throttle with her bad arm. “Gonna be a fun ride home…” She opens her other hand, and allows a slight smile. She still holds the drive.

   “Keith...I got it. Mission was a success.”

   Then, gritting her teeth, she pushes the Lion into motion.

   She rejoins the rest of the now retreating Coalition forces. There is still some exchanging of fire, but the Coalition breaks away, and one by one, jump out of sight.

***

    Prince Lotor watches them go. His right eye now shut, with a deep cut running through it. Sendak, Raimon and Honvera are also in the room, watching the display.

   “Zarkon will not be pleased.” Sendak notes.

   Honerva’s eye twitches ever so slightly at this comment.

   “No...he wont.” Lotor turns around, facing the others. “Which is why I won’t be here when he arrives.”

   “Running, Prince?” Sendak asks. “That is...unlike you.”

   “Not running.” Lotor shakes is head. “But I’m not going back to him empty handed, either.”

   “What then?” Honvera asks.

   “I think...I’ll have to go after them myself.” Lotor says, as if coming to a decision. “We know where they are now, and I think I’ve begun to understand how they think. It’ll take a subtler touch. I don’t think I’ll manage it alone. They seem to work well together...” He rubs his new scar, absently. “...Raimon?”

   “...yes?” The armored man replies.

   “Will you come with me?”

   The man does not reply.

   “Sendak is occupied with the armies. My mother is occupied elsewhere. It's just you and me. The two ones Zarkon hasn’t deemed fit more much else.”

   Still, Raimon remains silent.

“Oh come on. I know you’ve got your dedication to Zarkon, but he hasn’t give you orders yet. If he hasn’t given you orders you can’t defy him, right?”

   Raimon gives the barest of nods.

   “Then come with me. The two of us, we can show Zarkon why he needs us, what we bring to the table. We might even deliver the critical blow to our enemy in the process. What do you say, old friend?”

   Raimon seems to hesitate, as if torn. After a long pause he finally says in a quiet voice: “...I will join you.”

    Pidge elbows him in the arm.

    “Hey!”

    “Read the room.” She scolds.

    Lance’s only reply is a sour expression.

    “Did they say anything that might tell us how Zarkon and Lotor were both able to come back?” Shiro asks.

    “Allura said she heard Lotor say some strange things...but I think maybe it’d be a good idea to discuss this later. Right now we really should get headed back to Earth. Not exactly a short journey back. Especially since we had to leave the teleduv behind.” Keith cringes at that. “Really hope that doesn’t come back to bite us.” He shakes his head. “Anyway, we’re sending you the footage of the fight. Maybe you guys will be able to notice a weakness or...something.”

    “Understood, we’ll look it over. Get back here safely Paladins.”

    “We’ll try.” Keith says weakly.

    The image of Keith disappears. Shiro moves to turn off the screen but accidentally reaches with the arm that is missing a limb. He sighs and clicks off the scree with his remaining arm. He sits back in his seat staring at the blank display.

    “Another Voltron...that’s just what we need right now.” He rubs his eyes.   

    “I concur, that is highly concerning.” A voice says from behind.

    Shiro stiffens as he turns to see Admiral Sanda standing in the doorway to the room, just behind.

    “Funny, I thought I locked that door…” Shiro ponders.

    “This is my base Shiro. None of these doors are locked to me.”

    Shiro sighs. “I take it you heard everything?”

    “That enemies you thought were dead are back and now they have their own Voltron? Unless I missed more, then yes, I caught it all.”

    “Does that...help or hurt our case for Earth joining the Coalition?” Shiro asks.

    “I honestly have no idea. An even bigger threat could push the council to seek protection in numbers. On the other hand it could strengthen their resolve not to get even remotely involved. But from what it sounded like, your Voltron lost…”

    “All the more reason to bring in the Atlas into the fight as soon as it's ready. Might make the difference next time.”

    “Hm.” Is Sanda’s reply to that.

    “Sanda.” Shiro says pointedly. “Can you at least try to spin this for us? Whatever you’ve said in the meetings I know that you think Earth should be in this fight.”

    “What I think doesn’t matter.” She says solidly

    Shiro gives her a skeptical look.

    She seems to chew on the inside of her mouth. “...fine. I’ll do what i can. But that isn’t a promise Shiro, so don’t expect anything.”

    “Thank you. Really.”

    Sanda scoffs. “Honestly. You know I was supposed to be retiring soon? Like hell that’s going to happen before we finish dealing with this fiasco. This is a thousand times worse than when we lost the kerberos mission.” She narrows her eyes at Shiro. “Funny how you always seem to be around whenever all this goes wrong.”

    “Sorry. Guess I’m just bad luck.” Shiro shrugs apologetically. “Remind me to get you a bottle of scotch when this is all over.”

    “Make sure it's the good stuff.” Sanda replies, turning away. “None of that bottom shelf garbage you got me for my promotion to Admiral.”

    “Understood.” Shiro allows the slightest smile grow on his face.

    Sanda stops just before walking away. “This battle...there were casualties?”

“Unfortunately.” Shiro nods.

“...did the Holt boy make it through?”

“Matt’s alive, yeah.” Shiro says.

“Figures. Not even a giant evil robot from space can get that nuisance out of my hair.” She shakes her head.

“Careful.” Shiro says. “If I didn’t know better I’d think you cared.”

Sanda only grunts at that, and walks away.

***

Lance sits in the cockpit of the Red Lion, floating in space. In his mind, the scene of him missing the shot on Raimon’s lion plays again and again. He grips his throttles tighter, as if he could take the shot again, and and hit it this time. But of course, he could not.

“Lance? You there?” Keith asked over the comm. The Black Lion flies up next to Red.

“Huh?” Lance replied, blinking. “You say something?”

“I must’ve said your name five times.”   

    “Sorry I was...distracted.”

    “Well get undistracted. Everyone else is ready.  It’s time to go.”

    “Right. Home.” The word sounds hollow in Lance’s current tone.

    Keith flies off in The Black Lion, and Lance follows in his own. They meet the rest of the Lions, along with the remains of the Coalition fleet. Lance notes that even the Blue Lion is there.

    “Allura is back to flying already? Is that...a good idea?” Lance says.

    “I’m fine, Lance.” Allura replies curtly.

    His expression falls.

    “Alright guys.”  Keith says, addressing the group. “We’ve got a long way back so let’s get started. Everyone ready?”

    The remaining Paladins give a chorus of unenthusiastic replies.

“Yeah that seems about right…” Keith says more to himself than them.

The Five Lions start flying at speed, and the Coalition ships follow. The Lions fly for some time in silence. Inside Red, Lance is visibly uncomfortable. After several minutes of uncomfortable shifting in his seat, he finally gives up.

    “...are we just not going to talk about what happened?” He says, breaking the silence.

    “What’s there to talk about Lance?” Keith replies. “We got beat. End of story.”

    “That is definitely not the end of the story! First of all how the heck did all our old bad guys come back with their own Voltron!?”

    “I don’t know Lance. Your guess is as good as mine.”

    “Well...even forgetting that, what about our Voltron?”

    “What about it?”

    “Don’t give me that Keith! Our bayard abilities! A bunch of them didn’t work!”

    Keith doesn’t reply to that at first. Hunk and Pidge both look glum.

    ...my sonar cannon failed also.” Allura finally admits.

Keith sighs. “My Lion’s wings...didn’t come out either, when I needed them to.”

    “So, how could something like that just happen?” Lance asks. “Did they do it? Did the other Voltron interfere somehow?”

    “I don’t...think so.” Pidge says. “I didn’t get any readings of interference or anything like that. I did diagnostic on my lion after the fact and there wasn’t anything wrong there either.”

    “...what if it's us?” Allura says suddenly.

    “What do you mean?” Keith asks.

    Allura chews on her lip, reluctant to continue. She does anyway. “Our lions, and Voltron itself are all based on connections. If we are divided or out of sync, it could be affecting Voltron as a whole.”

    “We aren’t...divided.” Keith says. “...are we?”

    No one replies.

    “Guys?”

    Lance hesitates. “...Allura?”

    She sighs.

    “What?” Keith asks.

    “Lance and I had an exchange that ended...rather poorly, just before leaving. Maybe a little worse than poorly.” She admits.

    “Hang on, what happened here?” Pidge interjects.

    “Nothing.” Lance says quickly. “I’ll tell you about it later…”

    “Wait was that about….the uh advice I gave you? Was that my fault?” Hunk asks. “Lance did I give you bad advice?”

    “No it...look let’s just talk about this later?”

    “Seems like it might be pretty important.” Pidge says testily.

    Keith sighs. “Well whatever it was I don’t really think one conversation alone would completely throw off Voltron...unless…”

    “What?” Allura asks.

    “It's probably nothing.” Keith shakes his head.

    “Well it's not like we’ve got anywhere to be…” Hunk says.

    Keith sighs again, more exhaustedly. “I’ve...also been dealing with some stuff. So...what if it's not just Lance and Allura? What if it's all of us? What if we’re all dealing with things that are making it harder for us to pilot our lions, and command Voltron?”

Everyone seems to think on that.

“Anyone else want to volunteer something that’s been going on with them?” Keith asks.

No one says anything at first.

“Pidge has been in a mood lately.” Lance offers.

“Lance!”

“What? It's true…”

“I have not been in a mood!” She practically yells.

“I rest my case.” Lance says.

She folds her arms. “Fine! You know what, yeah! I’ve been really mad at some idiot for a while now! Maybe that’s what my problem is!”

“Really? Who?” Lance asks.

“Take a guess!”

Lance looks hurt. Pidge also looks like she regrets the words, but doesn’t say anything further.   

    “Well that answers that question…” Keith says. “So next would be…”

    Hunk swallows. “Uh...can we skip me?”

    The silence that follows is it's own answer.

    “...alright fine.” Hunk says reluctantly. “...but you guys really aren’t gonna like this.”

    “Oh come on, how bad could it be?” Lance asks.

    “I’ve...been thinking about leaving Voltron.”

    “WHAT!?” The other Paladins reply with shock.

    Hunk sighs. “Okay I really should have worded that better. I just meant...well yeah I did mean that. But I didn’t mean immediately!” He adds the last quickly, before anyone can speak up. “I meant that this war...it's been going on for a really long time. Every time we think we’re done a new bad guy suddenly appears. Battle after battle, bad guy after bad guy, It never seems to end. I just...don’t know if I can do that forever.”

    Everyone is quiet. Lance and Pidge seem to think on his words. Allura only looks sad.

    “...being a part of Voltron is a great honor…” Allura says halfheartedly.

    “I know.”” Hunk nods. “And it’s been an honor to do all of this with you guys. But...I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life. Do any of us really? Do you guys honestly want to fight in a space war until we’re all dead?”

Keith had his eyes clamped shut, and appears to be processing. When he does open his eyes, they are hard as stone.

“...there are people that need us. That need Voltron, now more than ever. ” Keith’s word start out quiet, but gradually grow in heat as he continues. “People that are dying. Are you just going to abandon them!?”

Hunk waits before responding. “...No. I’m not planning on abandoning anyone. Before we returned home...I had this fantasy. We’d come back to earth, after the war, and we could all go back to our families and the people we cared about. And then, eventually, It’d be the next generation’s turn. I’d pass the Yellow Lion off to a new Paladin, and they could be the one to be the hero. I still don’t think thats such a bad idea. Maybe let somebody new do what I couldn’t anymore.”

“Wishing someone else was doing all the fighting instead. That just sounds like cowardice to me.” Keith says coldly.

“Hey!” Lance breaks in. “That's not fair! Weren’t you the one that left not so long ago, Keith!? What does that make you then?”

“I…” The fight seems to go out of Keith. “...think I’m going to go scout ahead.”

    Without any further warning, the Black Lion boosts forward, leaving the other Lions behind.

    “Should...someone go after him?” Pidge asks.

    After a moment, Allura throws her throttles forward and tails after Keith.

    “Well that...could have gone better.” Lance says. The other two mumble in agreement.

    ***

“Keith wait up!” Allura says over a direct comm.

The Black Lion slows only a hair. Enough for the Blue Lion to catch up, but still an accelerated pace.

“...are you...alright?” She asks, pulling up next to him.

“Did I sound alright?” Keith replies. “I’m...I’m such a bad leader. Shiro never would have gone off on Hunk like that.”

“We’re all a little high strung at the moment, so I think you can be forgiven.” Allura points out.

“Maybe.” Keith says unconvinced. “You know what the worst part is? Lance is right. I did leave. I did exactly what Hunk was talking about. I stepped aside, and let Shiro do what I couldn’t. Because...I’d rather be with the Blades, than defending the universe. I’m worse than a coward, I’m just...just a selfish jerk.”

“....Is that really how you see yourself?” Allura says after a moment.

Keith blinks.

“Because from where I was sitting, leaving Voltron was one of the hardest decisions you ever had to make.” She goes on.

“And it was the wrong decision.” Keith retorts.

“Part of leadership is making bad calls.” Allura shoots back. “You spread yourself too thin, and tried to do everything yourself. My father used to say that was the first mistake every leader makes.”

“Well I sure fell into that one…”

“-He also used to say that that the second mistake was not forgiving yourself for past missteps.”

Keith doesn’t reply, so Allura goes on.

“Like it or not Keith, you are our leader now. And for what it’s worth, I don’t think that’s such a bad thing. You’re going to make mistakes. We all are. It's part of being in a team.”

    Keith smiles. “...thank you Allura.”

    “Thank me by being the leader I know you can be.”

He lets out a chuckle. “After everything you’ve been through lately, I’d figure you’d be the needing to be cheered up, not the other way around.”

    Allura shrugs. “Learning that Lotor was back...it was hard. I…I really did care for him so that betrayal… well finding out he was back, it was like I was reliving it all over. I think I ended up hurting Lance’s feelings for that reason. One of my own mistakes, I suppose.” She considers that for a moment, then continues. “The strange thing was,  Lotor didn’t even seem to recognize me during that battle. But however it happened, he is back. And as terrifying as that is, at least now I have something to fight. He’s not just some hollow myth for my people to idolize. He’s a man, and we can beat him. Maybe we can even show them what he really is in the process. So in a way I’m a little bit relieved. As impossible as it seems now, I have a clear goal. An obstacle to overcome.”

    “Guess...I didn’t think about it like that.”

    “I’m making it sound easier than it is. Really I’m terrified.”

    “Aren’t we all?”

    “I guess so…”

    They sit in silence for a moment. After a moment, Keith quirks an eyebrow. “So...just out of curiosity what did happen between you and Lance?”

“Well…”

***

“...I kinda told her I was in love with her.” Lance admits.

“You WHAT!?” Pidge exclaims with shock.

“In love!?” Hunk says, equally surprised.

“Well I got cutoff, but I’m pretty sure she got the gist…”

“I thought this was just about a date?” Hunk says, confused.

“I got caught up in the moment alright…” Lance says defensively. “Anyway she kind of freaked out and left immediately. Guess I can take that as her answer...

“How do you get caught up in the moment and just tell someone you’re in love with them!?” Pidge asks.

“I’m a passionate guy, alright!?”

“Well now I’m really mad!” Pidge says crossing her arms.

    “At what? Me telling Allura my feelings!?”

    Pidge sighs longsufferingly. “No Lance, I’m mad because you aren’t really in love with Allura!”

    “Excuse me?”

    “You heard me.” She says, putting her chin up.

    “Uh maybe we shouldn’t-” Hunk cuts in.

    “And how would you know if I’m in love with Allura or not!?”

    “Lance, what do you actually know about Allura? Without using the words pretty brave or princess?”

    “She...she really cares about her people! And...and Voltron! She loves being a Paladin of Voltron!”

    “...is that really it?” Pidge asks after a moment of silence.

    “Well I mean, if you gave me a minute-”

    “What’s her favorite color?”

    “What?”

    “Her favorite color. What is it?”

    “I...uh...her armor is pink so...although she’s always wearing that blue dress-”

    “What does she like to do for fun? When she’s not piloting Voltron?”   

    “I don’t...that’s just weird trivia stuff! I don’t need to know that to-”

    “What are her fears? Her desires? What is she really like underneath that lion, and those prim dresses? Can you honestly answer any of those questions? Can you seriously tell me a single thing about her deeper than the most basic stuff!?”

    Lance is speechless.

    Pidge lets out a long sigh. “...my problem, Lance, is that everything you seem to like about her is surface level. It's all stuff anyone could tell you even without really knowing her. If you really loved her, you’d be able to answer those questions.”

    Lance doesn’t say anything for a while.

    “...I think Keith had a good idea. I’m gonna go check out the fleet’s rear.” He says finally. He turns his Lion to go.

    “Lance…”  Hunk says, as if he could salvage the situation.

    He flies off.

    “Was that really necessary?” Hunk asks.

    “He needed to hear it.” Pidge says, not managing to sound very convincing.

    “Still, think you could have put it a little nicer.”

    “Hm.” Pidge says in what might be agreement. She sits back and bangs her head against the back of her lion’s seat.

    The two sit in silence for a while.

    “So...you really might leave Voltron?” Pidge asks after a time.

    “Maybe...probably.” He admits after a moment. “Are you mad?”

    “Nah. If you’ll recall, I was the one talking about leaving Voltron before it was cool.”

    “Oh yeah you did do that.” Hunk gives a light chuckled. “Still that was a long time ago. We hadn’t been through half as much stuff back then. I kind of get why Keith is so angry. It almost feels like I’d be turning my back on you guys. On our friendship.”

    “Well if you do decide to leave, I’ll support your decision...but I will be sad to see you go.”

“I’ll be sad to go...but nothing’s official at the moment. I wouldn’t count me out just yet.”

“Still, it’d be too bad.”

“Hm?”

“No one on the team is half as good as cooking as you.”

“Oh, I’m glad that’s the reason I’m so indispensable from this team.”

They both laugh. After a few moments the laughter dies down to silence.

“...you should really go apologize to Lance.” Hunk says.

Pidge cringes. “...I know. It's just that...he can be such and idiot sometimes!”

“I think he’d say it’s part of his charm.”

“Yeah he would wouldn’t he…hold that thought.” Pidge says noticing something on her display. She  grows more concerned as she he studies it. She opens the comms.

    “Hey Matt are you getting this same sensor reading?”

    “Sure am.” Her brother replies. “Was just about to ask you about it.”

    “Wait, what’s happening? What am I missing here?” Hunk interjects.

    “There’s a cloud of...something is approaching.” Pidge explains.

    “Might be nothing.” Matt points out.

    “After what just happened? I’m not about to take a chance on that. Everybody come in, do you read me?”

    ***

    At the far back of the Coalition fleet, Lance flies in the Red Lion, firing off shots from the mouth beam at asteroids.

    “Dang Pidge.” He mutters under his breath. “Doesn’t know what she’s talking about…”  He fires again, completely missing an asteroid. “Dang it!”

    He lines up on the asteroid again, but fires at the wrong moment and misses again. His eye twitches and he fires another few times, to no avail. Eventually he sighs and gives up.

    “...maybe she’s right.”     “Everyone  come in do you read me?” Pidge voice suddenly comes over the comm.  Lance blinks with surprise.

“We got a dark cloud out in space heading for our location now.”

    “This is Keith, I read you. Is it possible that its just be debris or something?”

    “...Don’t think so. It seems to be changing its trajectory to follow our course. Whatever it is, it's coming for us, and fast.

“Whatever it is, it sure has fantastic timing.” Allura says with a sigh.

    “Understood Pidge.” Keith says. He takes a deep breath. “Paladins...regroup. This might be something Zarkon sent after us, or some Galra weapon. Either way it looks like we gotta deal with it.”

    Lance hesitates only a moment before pushing his lion into gear.

        ***

The Black and Blue Lions Fly up to meet Green and Yellow. Red is the final arrival.

    “So what’s this  bout a space cloud?” Lance asks.

    “Unidentified object moving fast. Probably some kind of mass inside it, but I can’t get any reading through the thing.” Pidge says quickly, as her fingers fly across a virtual keyboard.

    “I understood some of those words.” Lance replies.

        “Take a look outside your viewport…”

    Sure enough a large cloud of what looks to be dust is approaching the fleet. The dust gets thinner and a shadowy outline can be seen inside the cloud.

    “Hang on the cloud’  dissipating. The dust must have just been some kind of camouflage...guys, there’s something alive in there. ”

    The smoke continues to disperse and the outline grows more clear. The creature has a long body, that thickens in the middle, with six total limbs down it's length. On its head what appears to be a mouth opens, and the creature seems to breath, despite the vacuum of space. The remaining dust blows away, revealing the creature entirely. It is dark grey, with scales covering its body, claws at the end of each limb and a massive toothed mouth, that hangs partially open. It gazes at the fleet with six eyes on it's head.

    “What the heck is that!?” Lance exclaimes.

    “It's a Drigmaw!” Ryder cries with shock.

    “A what!?”

    “A Drigmaw.” She repeats. “It's a space-dwelling creature that preys on Balmeras.”

    “It preys on Balmeras!?” Hunks says with shock. “As in eats them!?”

    “In a manner of speaking. It burrows into the Balmera itself and feeds on it's crystals. Eventually this kills the Balmera, and the Drigmaw produces offspring in its husk. It's probably after us for the crystals powering our own ships.”

    “How horrible…” Allura says.

    “For us.” Pidge puts in.

    “Alright guys, let’s stay calm.” Keith says. “We need to-”

    Without warning, the Drigmaw lunges for the nearest Collation ship. The creature’s massive claws clamp down, and it wraps its body around the length of the cruiser. It opens its mouth to bite down on the ship. Lance quickly lines up to fire down the creature’s throat, but hesitates the instant before. Before he can act Keith flies past, and blasts the creature in the side of it's head. The Drigmaw seems to shrug off the hit and completes its motion of biting down on the ship. The metal warps where it's teeth dig in.

    “It's penetrating the hull!’ Ryner cries.

    “We’ll get it off. Paladins open fire on that thing!” Keith orders.

    All the lions begin to blast the creature’s head limbs and back, but to little effect. The most the Drigmaw does is shift its position slightly, then digs it's teeth and claws in even deeper.

    “This isn’t working!” Pidge says.

    “No it's not…” Keith admits. He seems to be thinking of an alternative solution.

    Allura takes a breath and closes her eyes. “Please Blue...let this work…” When she opens them, her eyes are set with determination. Allura moves to activate her Lion’s weapon and it works. The Blue Lion’s sonar cannon appears on it's back and fires at the Drigmaw. Waves of energy beat against the back of the Drigmaw, and it finally reacts. It shudders with what looks like pain under the sonar blast, and unclamps itself from the cruisers. Then it turns around and tries to eat the Blue Lion. Keith fires quickly, hitting the creature in one of its eyes, and diverting it's jaws to close on empty space. Allura uses the opportunity to get well away from the Drigmaw. The Lions draw together.

    “All ships stay away from this thing. We’ll try to handle it, so don’t provoke the thing.” Keith orders.

    “Fine by us. I don’t wanna be anywhere near that thing…” Matt replies.

The Drigmaw however, apparently no longer interested in the cruiser, starts moving towards the Lion.

    “Well we got it's attention...now what?” Lance asks.

    “Good question…” Keith replies.

    The Drigmaw lunges at them with its front two claws. The Paladins scatter, each lion flying in a different direction. Lance and Pidge pull around to one side, to blast it in the side. They get sent flying from a slash of its claws for their efforts. Allura uses her sonic cannon again, but this only seems to make the Drigmaw angrier and she nearly gets eaten for a second time. Keith flies up and down the creature, blasting it with mouth beam and tail laser relentlessly, while dodging it's clawed limbs. Despite his efforts however, the Drigmaw seems uninjured, and he is forced to pull back when the creature tries to constrict him.

    “Our normal weapons don’t seem to be working!” Pidge points out.

“I can tell…” Keith replies, thinking. “Lance, the cannon on red working?”   

    “...no.” Lance admits after trying to use the weapon.

    “Of course not.

    “Pidge? Anything?”

    “Nothing.” She says helplessly unable to use her lion’s ability.

Hunk...claw armor?”   

    “No.” Hunk replies quietly. “Not working.”

    “Great…” Keith sighs. “Guys I think we gotta form Voltron.”

    There is a series of uncertain agreements.

    “Let’s do it then…”   

    The Lion all form up, and begin to fly upwards. Despite their formation and the flight, nothing seems to happen.

    “Come one...come on!” Keith urges. But the lions do not join. The Drigmaw tilts its head curiously, then flies up to cut off their path.

    “Evasive maneuvers!” Keith yells.

    But none of the Paladins have time to avoid the massive swing from the Drigmaw’s tail. All Lions are struck and go flying.

    The Drigmaw lunges for the nearest Lion. Red. Lance eyes widen as the creature’s mouth nearly closes on him.

    “Lance!” Pidge cries, as her lion slams into his. The mouth closes on empty space. Both fly out of it's reach as it tries to strike again.

Hunk watches the creature move towards the Red and Green Lions. Hunk narrows his eyes and moves his lion into gear. He blasts the Drigmaw along it's back, and when that doesn’t work he slams the body of his lion into its side. That finally makes the Drigmaw whip around to grasp at the Yellow Lion. Hunk tries to pull back, but he isn’t fast enough, and gets caught. The Drigmaw, now with Hunk’s Lion in hand, rockets forward. It slams Hunk’s Lion down into the face of an asteroid. Hunk groans in pain. Then the Drigmaw, opens its mouth and moves to place the Yellow Lion inside.

    “Hunk get out of there!” Allura yells, firing her sonar blast. The creature ignores the blast, focusing on trying to pull Hunk’s Lion down it's gullet. Hunk struggles, firing in full reverse, but he cannot break from it's grip. Lance and Pidge fly up and unleash their own blasts, but this does nothing.

    “I….can’t get free!” Hunk says finally.

    “N, you aren't’ giving up that easy!” Keith snarls, suddenly swooping in. Before the Drigmaw’s mouth can close over the Yellow Lion, Keith slams the Black Lion into the creature’s throat. The Drigmaw is thrown off balance, and Keith continues to fire full thrusters to keep the creature’s head away from Hunk.

    “Keith you can’t keep that up for long!” Hunk says. “Just get out of here before it gets you too!”

    “No!” Keith barks. “ I don’t care if you want to leave, or if you’re done with all of this! You’re my friend, and I’m not leaving you behind! None of you, not again!”

    Hunk looks on with stunned silence, as Keith continues his struggle against the gargantuan creature. The Drigmaw starts to overpower Keith’s burst, and it's head gradually lower.

    “AAAH!” Keith bellows, throwing all his force into the Lion’s throttles. Suddenly the Lion’s wings appear.  The Drigmaw’s head snaps back as it is thrown from the force of Keith’s incredible burst of speed. Even Keith is shocked, and tumbles out of control for a second, free of the Drigmaw’s pressure. The Drigmaw sees this and lunges towards Keith with an open mouth.

    Hunk grips his controls, and telling, he thrusts his Lion upward. The armored claw blades form on The Yellow lion, and dig into the Drigmaw’s tail. Seizing the creature, Hunk drags it back doward to slam it into the asteroid.

    “Thanks.” Keith says, pulling up next to Hunk.

    “Just paying back the favor.” Hunk shrugs. “Besides, for the moment...I am still a member of this team.”

    Keith smiles. “In that case, you guys want to try forming Voltron again?”

    “Yeah!” Lance agrees.

    “Might as well.” Pidge shrugs.

    “On option it seems we have.” Allura puts in.

    “Let’s do it!” Hunk says with a grin.

    “Everyone...from Voltron!”

    The lions fly in formation, and this time, begin to glow. The five lion join together, becoming Voltron.

    The Drigmaw, for it's part, rises from the cracked asteroid, and flies at its new enemy. Voltron tears out it's sword, and meets the Drigmaw’s charge. The creature makes as if it’s going to try to bite Voltron, but instead, pulls back and swings its tail.

    “Shield!” Keith orders.

    The Shield is thrown up, and the Drigmaw’s attack is easily blocked. Voltron then swings it's sword, slashing the Drigmaw’s side. The creature recoils, pulling back to hide it's gashed side, that glows with the energy from Voltron’s blade. Voltron pushes forward, hammering the Drigmaw with sword strikes. For a while the creature seems to only be able to duck and dodge Voltron’s attacks. But as it's narrowly dives below another swing, the creature puffs up it's chest, and vomits out a new cloud of the dust cloud around Voltron. The Paladins are instantly blinded.

    “Where is it?” Keith asks.

    “I don’t know!” Pidge replies. “This stuff blocks my sensors!”

    Voltron is slashed by a sudden claw strike. It is slashed again, when another claw hits from the other side. Voltron swings around the sword in random arcs, but doesn’t hit anything. Suddenly Voltron is struck again, from behind, but this time the Drigmaw uses the opportunity to writhe its body around Voltron. It holds down Voltron’s limbs with its claws, and squeezes it's serpentine body around the robot, constricting it.

    “Lance...sword?” Keith utters, struggling to get Voltron to even move.

    “Can’t..move.” Lance replies.

    The dust starts to disperse, not that the helps the Paladins. They are only able to better see the Drigmaw open its mouth, ready to bite down on Voltron’s head. The Paladins are helpless.

Then, the bayard port in Hunk’s lion begins to glow. His eyes widen with surprise, but he grins.

    “Chew on this!” Hunk yells.

    The cannon forms at the same time as the Drigmaw lunges. Rather than bite down on Voltron’s head, it gets a mouth full of cannon. The cannon fires.

    There is a blinding flash of light. When the Paladins can see again. The Drigmaw has no head. The limp body slides off Voltron, to drift off into space.

    “Good...good job team.” Keith pants. He smiles. “Especially you Hunk.”

    Hunk only shrugs. “All in a day’s work.”

***

    The Lions of Voltron pull into one of the Coalition ship’s hangar bays to rest. They all get out of their lions.

    “That was awesome Hunk!” Pidge exclaimes.

    “Yeah the way you blew that thing’s head off!? Never saw it coming…” Lance adds.

    “Well I just…did what I had to.” He shrugs.

    Keith clears his throat. All eyes turn to him. He takes a breath, mumbles something to himself, then looks them each in the eye.

    “Paladins...guys.” He sighs. “I know...I know I’m not the best at this. Leading the team, I mean. To be honest I think I’m really bad at it. But It's the job I’ve got. And I’m not going to run away from it. Not…” He looks down. “...not again.”

    Lance’s eyes also fall at that comment. Allura, meanwhile, nods with approval, and urges him to continue. Keith looks back up, with more resolve on his face now. His gaze falls on Hunk.

    “Hunk...I’m sorry man. I...I’m just trying to keep this all together. But I shouldn’t have attacked you like that. I’m gonna screw up. A lot, probably. And If you want to leave Voltron...well that’s your decision. I can’t, and won’t try, to stop you. You’ve fought this fight with us for a long time, and no one has any right to call you a coward, especially not me. I just hope...I just hope that even if you leave, we keep being friends...I don’t have many of those.” He adds the last reluctantly.

    Hunk looks at Keith with watery eyes. “Oh come here you edgy lone wolf!” Then he grabs Keith up in a bear hug. “We all know it’s just an act and you’re just a big softie deep down!”

    “Oh! Alright we’re hugging now…” Keith says clearly caught off guard.

    “If I ever leave I’m making you all a giant cake!” Hunk says, sniffing. “However big your imaging, make it five times bigger!”

    “Looking forward to it big guy…” Keith smiles, hugging him back.

    “Looks like it all worked out in the end.” Lance says.

    “Hm.” Pidge agrees in a reserved voice.

    Lance glances over to see Allura. She smiles at Keith before heading back to her own lion. Pidge takes note of his gaze. After a moment he turns away and glances down to see Pidge looking up at him.

    “Hey.” He smiles weakly. “You kinda saved me yourself back there. Thanks.”

    “Don’t mention it.” She looks down. They’re silent for a moment.

    “...sorry. For what I said before. You...you didn’t deserve that. I was being a jerk. I know I’ve been...kind of high strung lately, so I’m sorry I ended up taking that out on you.”

    She waits patiently for his reply.

    “...forget about it.” He finally says with a shrug.  “You were just being honest. Maybe you were right too...guess however I feel about Allura doesn’t matter considering how she reacted. Don’t think she really wants anything to do with me after that.”

    “Lance.” Pidge says seriously. “...what I meant to say back there -what I should have said back there- was just that you didn’t understand what Allura was going through when you told her that. It wasn’t just you, it was what it reminded her of.”

    “What do you mean?” He asks, with a quirked eyebrow.

    “Well she had just found out Lotor had returned.”

    “And?”

    “And then you told you were in love with her.”

    “I’m failing to see the connection here.”

    Pidge rolls her eyes. “Lance, how did Allura feel about Lotor?”

    “Well I guess she kind of...well they sorta...oh...OH!”

    “Yeah…”

    “And I just...just made her think about the last guy she was with, who turned out to be super evil jerk who killed her people...quiznak. I really am an idiot.” His shoulders slump.

    “I...think you just caught her off guard, and she ended up reacting strongly. It doesn’t mean that she hates you or wants nothing to do with you now. She just needs time.”

    Lance chuckles and shakes his head. “When did you become an expert of love Pidge?”

    “I”m not-I don’t...listen this is just common sense stuff!”

    “Well be that as if may, thanks for telling this idiot what he did wrong.”

    “S-sure. Anytime…” PIdge stammers, cheeks growing hot.

    “You alright there Pidge?”

    “Fine.”     she says quickly. “Just fine.”

***

    Haggar stands on the bridge of a Galra cruiser, overlooking dozens of other Galra ships. Commander Sendak walks up to stand next to her.

    “Is there any word of my son?”

    “None.” Sendak replies. “No one has seen anything since…”

    “Since?”

    “...since he fought Voltron.”

    “Just what are you implying Commander?”

    “Nothing.” He says quickly. “...but it may be time to consider that he is not coming back.”   

    Haggar whirls around to look the Commander in the eyes. She crackles with violet energy. “Emperor Lotor is not dead!”

    “I...of course.” Sendak says, lowering his head.

    “Continue the search. I want every planet, every asteroid, every rock searched until he is found.”

    “Understood.” he nods, carefully.

    “Commander! We have unidentified craft approaching! Definitely not one of ours.” An officer shouts from his station.

    “Who would dare attack us?” Sendak muses. “Is it Skriel? Maybe Maroffa? Or did that pathetic Coalition finally grow the spine to attack us?”

    “These readings...they look like Voltron, sir!”

    Haggar looks over sharply. “What?”

    Before the officer can even reply, Dark Voltron suddenly bursts into view. It deactivates it's booster wings, and for a moment, only hangs there in the rough center of the cluster of Galra ships. Then an image appears on all the ship’s screens: Emperor Zarkon, sitting in the cockpit of the Black Lion.

    “Zarkon.” Haggar gasps.

    “To what remains of the Galra Empire: Your eyes have not deceived you.  Your emperor has returned. And as you can see...”

    Dark Voltron tears out it's sword, as if to emphasis.

    “...I have my own Voltron. And I assure you it is stronger than the one those pitiful children of this ‘Voltron Coalition’ are piloting.”

Beside Zarkon’s image, a new image pops up, and begins to play a video. It is an abbreviated version of Dark Voltron’s fight with the other Voltron.

“...I trust you will all understand what this means. This empire is now mine, as is rightfully so. You are now mine. There will be no discussion. I am in charge once more, and forever.”

    Sendak swallows hard.

    “...ma’am?” He asks gingerly.

    Haggar does not reply.

    “Haggar.” Sendak says, firmly.

    She finally nods slowly.

    “Only one thing to do: Bend the knee.”

    Sendak lets out a sigh of what might been relief. He nods to an officer.

    “This Commander Sendak, the leader of this small fleet.” Sendak says over the comm. “We are yours to command Emperor Zarkon. Vrepit Sa!”

    Zarkon goes silent for a moment. “...I accept your allegiance, Sendak. Prepare to be boarded…”

    The image of Zarkon disappears. A moment later Dark Voltron splits up into Lions.

    “How could he be alive ma’am? He...he died at Lotor’s hands did he not?” Sendak asks.

    “I don’t…” Haggar doesn’t finish the sentence.

    A flash of violet light appears on the bridge. Haggar’s eyes widen and she throws up a barrier of energy. A fraction of a second after she does this there is an exposition of violet lightning that tears the bridge apart. In an instant, everyone on the bridge is dead save for Haggar and Sendak. Dust and debris rains down. Haggar lets her shield drop. Two new figures now stand on what remains of the bridge, shadowed by the dust.

    “I told you Sendak.” A voice says. “I wouldn’t die from such a simple attack. I’m smarter than that…”

    Honvera steps forward, along with another Sendak at her side. Haggar gasps, and takes an involuntary step back.

    “What witchery is this!?” Sendak exclaims at seeing his twin.

    Honvera only smiles. “Now let’s see how long it takes me to figure it out…”

Haggar is only silent for another few moments.

    “...alternate reality.” She finally says. “They are us from an alternate reality. It's the only explanation for them, Zarkon, and that Voltron being here. Voltron itself was made from a trans-dimensional comet...no it is not such a stretch at all.”

    Honvera claps lightly. “Excellent. I was worried I’d have to lead you to that solution, but well...you are me after all.”

    “So they are...us?” Sendak asks.   

    “Indeed.” The other Sendak replies.

    “And they intend to…”

    “Kill us and take our places, most likely.” Haggar says simply.

    Honvera shrugs. “It's necessary, I’m afraid. We’ll fill in for you two. It seems the rest of the Paladins no longer have alternates, so that won't be a problem for them. The story will be that Zarkon’s death was meer Coalition propaganda. We’ll say he’s been away constructing his own Voltron this whole time. That way we don’t have to try to explain all the intricacies of interdimensional travel. It's just cleaner like that.”

    “I understand. I’d probably do the same.” Haggar says, her hands begin to crackle with violet energy. “Sendak...try not to die. It seems we have a fight on our hands, and I’d prefer to live through this day.”

    “Fighting myself…” Sendak muses.

    “It should be interesting to see who is stronger, if nothing else.” The other Sendak replies.

    With no other warning the fight begins. Haggar throws a bolt of crackling energy at her alter. Hovera passively knocks the bolt away with a swing of her hand. Her own hand crackles, as if to fire a bolt, but at the last second she teleports inches away from Haggar. Haggar only barely manages to teleport out of the way in time, the bolt flying through where her body had been moments before.

    Meanwhile, the two Sendak’s charge. Commander and Paladin each throw out their artificial arms, the two clashing in mid air. Both reel their arms back in to strike out again. The Commander Sendak ducks below the other’s rocketing fist, to fire off his own. Paladin Sendak however, activates his bayard, forming it into a shield, blocking his opponent’s attack. The Paladin Sendak then charges forward, bashing his shield into the other Sendak’s chest, sending him stumbling. The Paladin follows his blow up with a punch from his artificial arm. The Commander Sendak stumbles, almost falling. He pulls his arm back in, this time in a guarding position.

    “I can see one major difference between us now.” The Paladin Sendak says.

    “And what is that?” The Commander replies.

    “I was the one that was strong enough to become a Paladin of Voltron.”

    The Paladin Sendak charges.

    Haggar and Honvera fire off twin blasts of crackling energy at each other. The two women struggle, neither seeming to gain the upper hand. But then, Honvera drops a hand, and Haggar’s blast takes the lead. But Honvera dropped the hand, not from weakness, but to fire a second bolt of energy at the ceiling above Haggar. Haggar quickly teleports away, but is met with a bolt of energy flying right for her new location. She throws up a shield just in time to block the blast. Haggar then teleports behind her alter, and throws a blast that forces Honvera to throw up her own shield.

    “This fight could go on for days. We are too evenly matched.” Haggar says plainly.

    “Oh I don’t know about that…” Honvera says. She starts peppering Haggar with short quick bursts of energy. Haggar teleports away, but is forced to teleport again as the energy blasts strike at her new location. She is forced to do this several more times.

     “Who will outlast whom, I wonder?” Honvera asks. “All that jumping around has to be taking its toll.”

    “Perhaps you are right…” Haggar says, teleporting again. She keeps one arm behind her back, where violet glyphs begin to swirl around her hand.

    Hoverva smiles. “I always am.” She pulls out her own hand covered in the same glyphs. A blinging blast of energy tears across the bridge right for Haggar. At the last moment, Haggar teleports out of the way, to stand right beside Honverva.     “-You weren’t this time.” She throws out her own hand.

    Honvera’s smile never wavers. A thick beam of violet energy slams into Haggar’s side sending the woman crashing into the far wall.

    “I wasn’t aiming for you.” Honvera chuckles. Across the room, Paladin Sendak stands, holding out his shield, crackling from where he used it to reflect Honvera’s earlier blast back towards Haggar.

    Commander Sendak tries to use the opportunity to attack Paladin’s exposed back. Moving fluidly, Paladin Sendak spins back around, leg sweeping the Commander, sending him to the floor. Paladin Sendak then swings his massive arm down once, twice, three times. The Commander Sendak does not rise.

    Honerva waves her hands and a series of glyphs appear. She throws them and they surround Haggar, and disperse into crackling energy. Haggar, ragged from the blast, tries to teleport away, but the crackling around her prevents her from going anywhere.

    “Warded. You can’t escape I’m afraid…” Honvera explains.

    Haggar gives up struggling. Honerva turns away, back towards the two Sendaks. She walks over and kneels down, touching the beaten Sendak on the forehead. Energy crackles from his forehead to her fingertips. She then touches the hand to the Paladin Sendak’s forehead.

    “There. I took just the basic memories. Enough for you to get by as him. Passphrases, names of subordinates and the like. The rest should be easy enough to figure out.”

    “Thank you mistress.” He gives a slight bow.

    “Now finish it.” Honerva nods to the other Sendak.

    Paladin Sendak steps over his fallen alter.

    “W...wait!” The beaten Sendak pleads. “I’m you! You don’t want to do this!”

    “I’ll admit it's...philosophically troubling. But orders are orders. And besides…” The Paladin Sendak shifts his bayard into an axe. “...this is what you deserve for being weak.”

    Sendak swings the axe.

Honerva turns away from the grisly scene. She looks back at Haggar slumped on the ground, but still looking in her direction.

    “What about her?” Sendak asks, turning away from the corpse.

   The begin to mutter amongst themselves with confusion, and what looks to be fear.    “I understand you have heard stories of me.” Zarkon says. “Stories from your ancestors no doubt, of the man who destroyed altea. But these are lies that were spread ages ago, deceiving even your own forefathers. I am not here to destroy but to rebuild. I am going to crush this pathetic imitator Voltron. If you serve me faithfully, as you have my son, then once I am done, I will grant you a new world. One where you will not have to hide from outside forces, or fear from invading enemies. If you fight in my name, I will grant you something no other being in the universe can: a new altea.”        The alteans fall into a stunned silence. Lotor gives his father a questioning look. Zarkon nods slightly.    “I understand this may confuse many of you.” Lotor says. “That it may conflict with what some of the stories you were told by your parents, or grandparents, or great grandparents.” Lotor says. “But you must understand that this is the final test. Where does your faith lay? With old stories told second or third hand, whittled and distorted by thousands of years? Or do you trust in me? In us? The ones who rescued you, and have given you everything?”    The alteans seem to hesitate for a moment. Then, at the head of the group, Luca speaks up. “Hail Lotor, and his father Zarkon!”    This seems to break the alteans from their moment of pause. Slowly they all begin to repeat the chant, until the whole of the alteans are repeating it. Lotor smiles, satisfied. Zarkon turns away.    “You see boy? I am capable of a subtler hand. When it suits me.” Zarkon says the words in a low enough voice that it is only heard by the two of them.    “Thank you. For playing along.”    “Just do not forget who’s shoulder this falls upon if it fails. You may have your toys, boy. Just make sure I am not forced to step on them.”    With that Zarkon walks back out of the hangar, leaving an uneasy looking Lotor, with a crowd of chanting alteans behind him.

***    Keith lands the Black Lion on the field just in front of the Galaxy Garrison base. He lets out a sigh of relief before getting up to exit his lion. The other Paladins do likewise and they are met with a small crowd of family members.    Hunk is practically tackled by his very worried looking mother, with his father follows suit. Pidge is lifted into the air by her mother, who clutches her tight enough that is seems she might break the diminutive girl. Lance virtually disappears under a small mob of extended family.    “Princess are you hurt!? Are you well rested? Is there something I can get you?”    Coran sputters out, upon rushing out to meet Allura with Romelle in tow.    “I’m fine Coran. Just...drained.”    “Well have no fear, I’ve got just the thing for that! An old family recipe…”    Keith shakes his head at the display, and turned to Shiro approaching, with Commander Iverson trailing shortly behind.    “Hope everyone wasn’t too anxious while we were gone.” Keith says, nodding to the cluster of families.    “I think everyone’s just glad you’re back.” Shiro says with a smile.    “Finding out about that other robot that beat you guys up sure isn’t helping me sleep any, though.” Iverson puts in.    Shiro gives the man a stern look. Iverson only shrugs.    “Everyone knows about that already huh…” Keith says, rubbing the back of his neck.        “Tried to keep it under wraps, but news travels fast, I’m afraid.” Shiro sighs.    Keith nods distractedly, while his eyes scan the crowd. “Looking for Krolia?” Shiro asks.    “Yeah.” Keith admits. “She...busy?”        “Unfortunately.  Just about all the Blades left the moment they heard about Zarkon and this new Voltron. She really wanted to stay here for you but…”    “...duty calls.” Keith nods. Despite this, he sighs. “It's probably anyone’s bet when they’ll be back...”        “You sound tired. Some rest might do you some good.” “As great as that sounds right now, I think the Garrison is gonna want to talk about what happened.” “Well I can talk to Sanda, maybe she won't mind giving you guys a few hours to-” “Lieutenant Shirogane!” Sanda’s voice squawks over Shiro’s communicator. “I see your space lions are back. Well tell those kids and all your other Coalition friends that we need to talk. Now.”        Shiro sighs. The other Paladins, all close enough to hear, look up with dismay.  Keith closes his eyes for a few moments, then nods.     “Tell her we’re on our way.”

***    “...empire is now mine, as is rightfully so. You are now mine. There will be no discussion. I am in charge once more, and forever.”    The video of Zarkon’s message to the Galra plays across a screen in the briefing room. Sanda pauses the video after that last line and turns to face the Voltron Coalition side of the table. “When was this broadcasted?” Keith asks. “Yesterday, so the Coalition communication team you left here tell me.” Sanda explains.    Keith nods. After no one seems to want to speak up, Sandra goes on. “The way this war was described to me is that the enemy, The Galra, were fractured. Broken up into separate factions that were dangerous, but lacking focus that central leadership would provide. You also claimed to have one other major advantage, that being the Voltron weapon. Now, if I understand it correctly, both of those factors have now changed. The Galra have gained both a leader, and their own Voltron.” “That is...all technically true.” Keith says reluctantly. “Does someone want to explain this to me? How an enemy you were supposed to have beaten just came back even stronger?” Sanda asks. There is an exchange of looks on the Coalition end of the table. “We...don’t really know.” Keith admits. Sanda sighs. “You realize how this puts me in a difficult position don't you?” “I don’t. All I see is more reason than ever to fight the Galra Empire.” Keith says stubbornly. Sanda raises and eyebrow. Allura takes the opportunity to speak up “It's true that that Galra have a leader again, but they are also in a transition of power. Until Zarkon has solidified his hold on the empire, it will be vulnerable. This is a potentially bad situation, but it also could be the prime opportunity to end this fight.” Keith gives her a thankful look. “Well that’s all well and good, in theory, but let me lay it out for you kiddos...” Sands says. “You want us to join a fight where you are now undeniably the underdogs. Where we would be thrust into a battle that would leave us hopelessly outnumbered, against an enemy that has a battle machine even stronger than yours.”    “You’ll have to fight them sooner or later.” Keith replies, without much strength.    “So you say.” Sanda says dismissively. “Our stance of not getting involved will remain until you show us something to change our minds. As it stands, you haven’t even gotten us the Balmeran crystal we were promised yet.”    Keith’s eyes fall. Allura also is lacking a reply. Shiro looks as though he is going to say something, when Keith speaks up again.    “We’ll get the crystal.” He says looking up with surprising calmness. “We just need time. This war is taking all the resources the Coalition has, so we’ve hardly gotten the chance to get it for you. But that being said. I have to wonder...if you really want your Atlas up and running so much, how confident are your really that the Galra aren’t going to find you?”    Sanda’s eyes narrow. “You know that there are some who want to kick you off our planet? They think the danger of having you here is too great. You may lead the Galra back here sooner or later…”    “What!?” Hunk cuts in suddenly. “Most of us Paladins were born right here on earth! You can’t just send us away from our home!    “I really hope I don’t have to.” Sanda says deadpan.    Hunk sits back looking disturbed. The other Paladins also look worried. Keith only stares at Sanda. He does this for several more moments, before finally standing up. “You want to leave us to fight this war alone? Fine. We’ll make do. Earth is just one planet. But if you ever want that crystal don’t you dare threaten to keep my friends from their familie.”    Sanda meets his gaze. Eventually she gives a short, curt nod.    “Our arrangement will remain unchanged....I’m not the bad guy here Keith. But this situation is volatile. It's my job to keep it from exploding in our face.”    “Let’s see if you still feel that way when the Zarkon comes knocking.” Keith says turning away.    “Is that it? Are we done?” Hunk asks.    “Yeah. We’re done.”    With that Keith leads the Paladins and most of the Coalition members out of the room. Matt and Shiro linger in the room a bit longer.    “That was cold, Sanda. Stone cold.” Matt says, shaking his head.    “I’m doing my job Holt. Something I doubt you know much about.” She replies sharply.     “Annnnd with that I’m out of here.” Matt says standing up. “I’d say I missed your frosty personality Sanda, but I haven’t.” And with that he left.    “Think I’ll take me leave also. Duties to uh...take care of.” Gunderson shuffles awkwardly out of the room.    Shiro and Sanda are the only two remaining in the room.    “...I thought you said you’d try to spin this.” Shiro eventually says.    “I tried Shiro.” She sighs. “I really did. But the council saw this for what it was: A complete and utter disaster.”    “Is there any way we can convince them otherwise?”    “You want my advice? Cut the head off the snake. Fast. That girl knew what she was talking about. If you don’t put this Zarkon in the ground before he gains momentum...well I don’t think any involvement from Earth is going to change anything at that point.”    “That’s easier said, than done.” with that Shiro gets up to leave himself.

***

   Keith waits outside along with the other Paladins, as Shiro exits the briefing room.        “Well that didn’t go well.” Keith says.    “Not really.” Shiro admits.    “Did I make everything worse? With what I said?”    “No.” Shiro shakes his head. “You held your own in there admirably. It was a bit of a no-win scenario. Sanda’s playing tough, but she really doesn’t have as much say in this as you’d think.”    “Well neither do we…” Keith shakes his head, and glances at the other Paladins, who are to his surprise, all looking at him expectantly.    “Go on guys.” He nods.    The Paladins give quick goodbyes and head off to different parts of the Garrison base.    “Look at that.” Shiro smirks.    “What?” Keith asks.    “They were looking for your permission. They’re staring to see you as their leader.”    “Glad something good came out of two of our greatest enemies coming back and kicking our butts halfway across the universe.” Keith says sarcastically.    “You sure you don’t want to get some rest yourself?” Shiro asks.    “I think I’m all right…”    Shiro tilts his head, as if having an idea.    “Hey Iverson,” Shiro calls over to the man who is starting to make his way down the hall. “They still got my old hoverbike laying around here somewhere?”    “Somewhere in storage, I think. Why?” Iverson replies.    Shiro gives Keith a look. “Think you’re up to a race in the canyon for old time’s sake?”    Keith smiles widely. “You’re on, old man.”    Shiro groans. “Is it the white hair? It's the white hair isn’t it…” he reaches up as if to touch his scalp, but falls short, as a result of his missing arm.    “...you sure you can ride like that?” Keith asks.    “Afraid to loose to a guy with one arm?” Shiro replies.    “Not a chance.”    “Let’s stop wasting time asking questions then…”

***    “Hey guys I’m-” Hunk starts to say.    “Oh honey!” Hunk’s mother grabs him and ushers him inside the family apartment. Hunk’s father sits at the dinner table while his aunt and uncle are working on something in the kitchen.     “There he is!” Hunk’s uncle says.    “Oh dearie, is he alright?” Hunk’s aunt asks.    “I’m fine act-” Hunk is plopped down at the table, and a bowl of steaming stew is soon placed in front of him. “You had us terrified!” Hunk’s mother says. “When we heard about all that nasty fighting out in space, well…” “Quite the scare kiddo.” His father puts in. “Guys I’m really fine.” The others stare.     “I mean...some rough stuff happened...but we came out alright.” The adults share a collective look. “Hunk…” His mother says, with tired eyes. “This thing...a war in space? It's all too dangerous. I don’t...we don’t want to hear one day that you just won’t be coming home. Please tell me you won’t go out there any more.”    Hunk looks down into his food, but doesn’t seem very hungry.    “I did tell them that I was thinking about leaving…”    His mother looks hopeful.    “...but I can’t just abandon them right now. Without me they can’t form Voltron. They…”        His mother goes back to looking crestfallen. Hunk sighes.    “I can’t leave yet...but I guess I could see about finding someone else....someone to pilot the Yellow Lion.” Hunk looks like the words came with great difficulty.    “Thank you Hunk.” She smiles.  The rest of the adults visibly relax a bit. Hunk only sits back, looking uncertain.

***    Allura walks inside the warehouse, flanked by Coran and Romelle.    “Really Princess, after everything you r-”    “I’m fine Coran.” Allura replies firmly.    Coran sighs. “Very well. I suppose I just wish that I was still out there with you and the Paladins. All this waiting around is bad for my heart.”    “Well hopefully that will be possible once the new castle is completed. How is that coming along.”    “Ah yes…” Coran says rubbing his mustache. “Well I have to say these humans aren’t half bad at construction work.” he notes a half-constructed engine that is bigger than any of them are tall. “It's still many weeks if not months from completion, but still, impressive. Although I really must thank Miss Romelle here. She took more even more late nights than I did helping get those plans in working order. Without her, I’d probably still be translating those plans by myself.”    “Really? Romelle that’s commendable.” Allura notes.    “I’m only doing my altean duty.” The girl replies, look at her shoes.    “I truly appreciate it…” Allura says, smiling. After a moment her smile falls and she looks distant.    “Princess?” Romelle says uncertainty.    “I’m fine.” Allura puts her back up. “But there’s something we should do.”    Coran and Romelle look at her confused.    “There were two more alteans that we captured before fighting the other Voltron. I intend to find out if they are willing to listen to reason where their comrade was not.”    Coran and Romelle both nod with determination. Allura activates her communicator. “Ryder? Let me know the moment those prisoners are awake. I’m going to want to speak to them…”

***

   Lance kicks a soccer ball around with his niece and nephew, just outside the Garrison base. His family sit at lawn chairs and benches they have set up, and there is food cooking on a grill. Lance tries to execute a fancy kick of the ball, but accidentally slips and ends up face planting. Lance only laughs it off and continues kicking the ball around. Eventually he waddles over to a chair and plops down between his Grandma and sister Veronica.    “Man where do they get all that energy?” Lance says panting.    “Just wait until you get my age.” Lance’s Grandma chuckles. She is knitting something.    “What are you talking about grandma? You’re the liveliest person I know.”    “True.” His Grandma shrugs. “But I’m special.”    “Guess you got me there…”    “From what I hear, Lance turned out pretty special himself.” Veronica says nudgin Lance in the arm. “I mean sure, no one expected much, even after he followed in my footsteps and joined the Garrison. But hey, he went and became a space, hero, defender, whatchamacallit.”    “Paladin.” Lance corrected. “I’m a Paladin of Voltron.”    “And we’re all very proud…” Veronica reaches over, pulling Lance into a hug that is more headlock than embrace.    “Hey, quit it!” He says wriggling out of her grip.    Their Grandma only chuckles. “Maybe now that you’re some big shot spaceman you can finally bring home a girlfriend eh?” Lance blushes. “I dunno if I’d count on that…”    “Whaaat?” Veronica says exaggeratedly. “No bragging about all the girls fawning over you? No bold claims of being a ‘lady killer?’ Not even one your classic pick up lines? Is that really you Lance? Or did you get replaced by an alien out in space?”    “I don’t-” Lance hesitates. “Okay maybe I do do that…look, just don’t worry about it. Maybe I’m…” He winces. “Maybe I’m not the ladies man I pretend to be.”    “Ouch.” Veronica says with surprise. “That must have been hard to admit. Who hurt you little brother?”    “Shut up.” He says sitting back in his seat.    “So there really isn’t any special someone?” Lance’s grandmother asks, with a raised eyebrow.    Lance sighs. “...I guess I really thought Allura was the one for me. But...well that didn’t go over so well. A friend pointed something out to me. Basically she said I was only falling in love with the idea of Allura, without really knowing her. I’m starting to think she was right. But...where does that leave me? Did I ever really know Allura at all? Have I just been going about this the wrong way the whole time? ”    Veronica chuckles. Lance shoots her a dirty look. “Hey I’m kind of baring my soul over here.”        “Sorry.” She says still smirking. “It's just that...you’ve kinda been doing this since we were kids.”        “What do you mean?”        Veronica clicks her tongue, and shakes her head. “Do you remember that girl from back when you were in...fourth grade, I think...anyway, her name was Sandy or Sammy or something like that.”        “Sandra.” Lance corrects her. “I remember.”    “Ah good. Then you’ll remember that you thought Sandra was the most beautiful girl in the whole world. You said that.  Multiple times.”    “I know.” Lance says with a grimace.    “Man you really just followed her around everywhere. She had you completely wrapped around her finger. It was annoying to be honest-”    “Is this going to have a point?” Lance cuts in.    “I’m getting there little brother. Anyway, so you thought she was the best thing since sliced bread, and would do just about anything for her…that is up until you found out she’d been bullying your other friend.”    “Lydia.” Lance recalls.    “That’s the one. Lydia. As soon as you found out what was happening, you walked right up to Sandra and let her have it. You told her she was the ugliest hag to walk the earth and that you’d rather spend a million years with a real friend like Lydia than another second with a jerk like her. Of course you went on to chase after a bunch of other girls that you would say were ‘the most beautiful in the world.’ Most weren’t as bad as Sandra. Most.”    “And the moral is…what? I’ve got bad taste in women? Allura isn’t like Sandra. She isn’t a bully. If anything she’d too nice for me to be worth her time.”    Veronic smile coyly.  “Well Lance, the thing about that story, is that there was one detail you never quite figured out.  And that’s that Lydia was totally in love with you.”    “What!? No we were just friends.”    Veronica sighs and shakes her head. “That poor girl…Lance did it ever occur to you that she followed you around just as much as you followed Sandra around?”    “She didn’t…” he hesitates. “...really?”     “Yup.”    “Why didn’t she ever say anything?” Lance asks with shock.    “Probably because the girls you always chased were nothing like her. That’s also probably the reason she eventually gave up on you and drifted away.”    Lance blinks. “...huh. What ever happened to her anyway?”        “Think she was engaged last I heard. Lucky her.”    “Yeah.” Lance sighs. “So the moral is that I only cared about whoever was the prettiest girl around, and ignored the one person that actually gave a dang about me. Thanks sis. Good talk.”    “Oh I don’t know about that…” His grandmother finally chimes in.    “Huh?”    His grandmother smiles. “Who did you side with in the end?”    “Well Lydia of course. Sandra was a bully.”    “So which one did you really care about? The pretty one you were chasing around? Or the one that was your real friend?”    “I...guess maybe...I didn’t notice which one was really important to me.” He seems to consider then shakes his head. “Dang this is really starting to mess with my head.”    “So I guess the question you need you ask yourself is...” Veronica says.”...do you have a Lydia today?”    “Nah.” he dismisses immediately. “I’m not a kid anymore. I think I’d know if someone secretly had feelings for me...”

***

Pidge sits on the couch of the Holt apartment. She flicks her finger across a handheld table looking frustrated. The dog Bae-Bae sits in her lap and gets the occasional scratch from Pidge, but otherwise she remains focused on the tablet. Her father, Sam sits at the kitchen table looking over a report, while her mother, Colleen is cooking something. The door pops open and Matt walks in, along with N-7. “Nice of you to join us Matt.” Colleen says, without looking up. “Sorry I was late. Can N-Seven stay for dinner?” N-7 waves over to Colleen. The woman smiles and nods. “Of course. Does she…” “She’s fine actually. But it's more about the company anyway right?” “Of course…” Colleen says, pretending to understand. Matt’s eyes fall on Pidge. He smiles and walks over to plop down on the couch next to her. N-7 takes the seat on the other side of him. “What’s my baby sister up to now?” Matt asks, looking over Pidge’s shoulder. “Just...trying to figure this out.” Pidge replies, not looking up from the tablet. “What is it? Computer code? Secret communications relay? Multilayered cypher?” He squints at the screen of the device. “...just regular notes?” “I’m...trying to figure out this situation with Zarkon. How he’s alive, I mean. Figured writing out all the possibilities might help.” “Did it?” “No.” Pidge admits. “We saw him die. You can’t just...come back from that. Lotor should be gone too. But they’re both back. With their own Voltron. It doesn’t make sense.” “Maybe he faked his death.” “And let his empire fall into the hands of his son? Doesn’t sound like Zarkon. And what’s the motive?”     “Lotor could have been in on it. Maybe it was all part of a larger plot.” “To do what? It's not like Lotor suddenly turned on us. If anything he seemed content to keep working with us right up until we found out what a real dirtbag he was.” “Maybe...it was to buy time? For Zarkon to make his own Voltron?” “That...seems to be what they want they want us to believe. But that’s got issues too. For one, as far we know there were only ever two trans-dimensional comets. But even if there were another one, it still doesn’t make sense why Zarkon would let his empire fall to ashes while he used it to make his own Voltron. He loves control and domination, and making sure everyone knows it. Hiding in the shadows has never been his M.O.”    Matt thinks for a long moment. “Could they...be imposters?”    Pidge thinks about it for a moment. “I...guess. But Probably not. Their Voltron is definitely real, and who else would have the power and skill to both make and fly a new one?”    “Hm.” Matt says sitting back thoughtfully.    “Yeah. Pidge says tossing the tablet aside. “It's going to bug me until I figure it out. I hate not understanding things.”    “That’s what makes a good scientist.” Sam pipes in.    “It's also really annoying sometimes.” Pidge sighs.    “I’m sure we’ll figure it out sooner or later.” Matt says. “In the meantime, I’m good with relaxing for a bit. Fighting a war is exhausting.” He reaches and arm over N-7’s shoulder, and she leans into him.    “Speaking of things I don’t understand.” Pidge mutters. Bae-Bae barks in apparent agreement.    “Ah Pidge, the ways of romance were once a mystery to me too. You’ll get there one day.”    N-7 nods in agreement and gives her a thumbs up. Pidge only turns away and wrinkles her nose. “I don’t have the slightest interest in getting all lovey-dovey with anyone.”    Matt only shrugs. N-7 rests her head against his. Pidge makes as if she is avoiding looking at the two, but her eyes occasionally flicker over to the pair.    “...how did ‘this’ happen anyway?” She asks eventually.    “I’m interested in that too.” Colleen chimes in.    “Yeah let’s hear it.” Sam also joins in putting aside his reports.    “Well N-Seven tells it better…”    N-7 shakes her head and pokes Matt in the chest. He sighs. “Alright alright. We first met on an asteroid in the Terunthium Belt. Our rebel cells were meeting to do some joint operations. We hit it off pretty quick, both of us have an interest in computers and whatnot. We were mostly just comrades in arms at first. But fighting the same battle for so long you get close. It wasn’t long before she totally had a thing for me.”     N-7 pokes him. “Alright, alright. It was a mutual thing. But we didn’t talk about it. It was one of those things that just hung there, unspoken.” “So what changed?” Pidge asked, still feigning disinterest. “Well, it all started when were raiding this Galra facility on Ruvfa-Four. Me and N-Seven were hacking their servers, when a bunch of soldiers busted in. They weren’t supposed to be there, so we were caught off guard. I took down the first two, but I couldn’t stop the third from getting a shot off with his gun. He would have nailed me in the chest. But N-Seven threw herself in the way of the shot. After I finished beating that guy senseless, I made sure she was alright. A little to the left and she wouldn’t have been. I asked her why.  Why she would take that shot for me...” “What’d she say?” Pidge asks, leaning in, clearly gripped. Matt smiles wistfully. N-7 nods for him to continue. “...she said that she did the math, and that risking her life was worth it to make sure that I kept living. That's when I knew. With her sitting there, looking up at me, a hole busted in her, I just knew I wasn’t going to be able to live without her. And that’s exactly what I told her.” N-7 squeezes his hand. Matt smiles at her. “Awww.” Colleen says. She leans over and whispers to Sam, “What exactly is…” “I don’t know, and at this point I’m too afraid to ask.” Sam whispers back.    “So you just...knew?” Pidge asks, with disbelief.    “Yeah.” Matt says simply.    “But...that doesn’t make any sense. How can you just know something like that. There’s so many variable, so many things to consider you can’t just-”    “-Pidge.” Matt cuts her off. “Coming from someone who thinks a lot like you, sooner or later you have to stop thinking. Just take the leap. You’ll just get in your own way otherwise.”    Pidge sits back folding her arms. “I still don’t get it.”    “You will.” Her mother says with a wry grin. Pidge avoided her gaze.    “...but thanks N-Seven.”Pidge says eventually. “For making sure my dumb-genius of a brother didn’t get himself killed.”    N-7 nods enthusiastically, and shooks Pidge a pair of thumbs up.    “Being in love changes a person.” Sam ponders. “You get to see things from a different person’s perspective. Learn to think outside your own box. You might scoff about it now but-”    “Think outside the box.” Pidge repeats, blinking.    Sam pauses. “...uh oh. I know that look.”    Pidge picks back up her tablet and scrolls through it. She smacks herself on the forehead. “...I’m an idiot.”    “What?” Matt asks.     “I was thinking too inside the box. If Zarkon really died, and Lotor really is still trapped in the quintessence field...then there is one thing that explains all of that.” She bolts up out of her seat so fast Bae-Bae has to scramble not to get thrown by the action. “Quick, dad! Where’s Slav!?”    “Slav? He locked himself in one of the boardrooms the moment he heard about Zarkon and the new Voltron. Something about working out the numbers.”    “I need to see him asap!”    “Well I guess we could see if- “Hold on now!” Colleen cuts in. Everyone in the room turns to her. “Dinner is almost ready.” She says in a steel voice. “But Mom, the fate of the galaxy could be at stake!” Pidge objects. Colleen stares down her daughter. For several moments no one speaks. Finally Colleen gives in, with a sigh. “Dinner will be here when you get back-” “Thanks mom! Come on dad!” “Duty calls.” Sam shrugs, getting up. “You just better be back here before my casserole gets cold.” “Wouldn’t dream of anything else, dear.” With that, Pidge and her father vanish out the front door.

***

   Keith turns on the engine of his hoverbike and it hums to life. Shiro does the same to his own, which is situated right next to Keith’s. The pair of them sit on a ridge leading into a canyon.    “Same route as always? With the knife-shaped rock as the finish line?” Keith asks.    “Course.” Shiro replies, twisting his throttle experimentally. The engine purrs and Shiro grins. He makes as if to reach for the other handle, but his missing arm makes that impossible. He hesitates for a moment, but shakes his head.    “You...sure you’re good for this?” Keith asks.    “Course.” Shiro says nonchalantly.    Keith nods after a moment and turns to face forward. “Ready when you are.”    Shiro closes his eyes and takes a breath. He opens his eyes.     “Now.”    Both hoverbikes take off, kicking up a cloud of dust in their rocketing forward. Shiro takes the lead quickly, and Keith pushes his hoverbike to keep up as they race down the ridge.    “Try to keep up!” Shiro calls back, gunning his engine.    Keith smiles and pushes his hoverbike even harder. They shoot along the ridge, with Shiro maintaining the lead. They come to the spot where the canyon grows narrow, and Shiro goes for the spot where they cross over. Shiro goes full speed, leaping across the narrow gap. Keith, however does not follow. Instead he zooms past, further down the ledge where the gap grows wider again. There a sharp rock grows out of the of the ledge. Keith guns his engine and goes full speed towards the rock. His bike shoots up the rock, using it as a makeshift ramp, and he sails across the wide gap in the canyon. His hoverbike comes down on the other side, in front of Shiro’s bike.    “Try to keep up, old timer!” Keith says, speeding ahead.    Shiro laughs, gunning his own engine. The ridge opened back up onto the top of the canyon. Shiro uses the wider space to pull up next to Keith. Both race forward, neck and neck. The cliff is up ahead. A few dozen feet from the bottom is a sharp vaugly knife-shaped rock, marking the finish line.    The both push their hoverbikes to the max, rocketing over the cliff. For a moment they fly over empty air. Then, gravity takes hold and both hurtle toward the ground. Keith and Shiro both keep their hands on the hoverbikes’ handles. The ground gets gut wrenchingly close. Both pull up at roughly the same time. Keith smoothly handles the landing, his hoverbike jetting back up just in time to avoid a crash. Shiro however, with only one arm has trouble fully pulling back on the throttle fully.    As Keith shoots past the Knife-rock, Shiro’s bike dips a little too low and scraps against the ground. The hoverbike shakes but Shiro manages to regain control. Barely. He races past the knife-rock a moment later. Both pull their bikes to a stop a couple dozen feet farther.    “You alright?” Keith asks.    “I’m fine.” Shiro laughs half heartedly. “Just one more thing I’m not so good at anymore…” He looks distant for a moment, but then looks up and smiles. “Guess this means you can finally say you’re a better pilot than me, eh?”        “Don’t say that.” Keith shakes his head. “If you had another arm you’d be riding circles around me.”    “Maybe.” Shiro says uncertainty.    For a moment they both only stare out at the rocky plains. Dust devils spin along the stony surface as a gust of wind picks up.    “...you know we miss you out there, right?” Keith says eventually.    “I know but...it's better if I stay here. I can do more on Earth than I can up there. Especially now that you’re in charge of Voltron again.” Shiro smiles reassuringly.    Keith looks down. “...I don’t know what I’m doing up there, man. I’m trying it's just...hard. I’m no good at leading. I don’t have your talent as a leader Shiro. Even if you aren’t a part of Voltron anymore we could really use you up there. Focusing us. Helping...helping me figure out everything I’m doing wrong.”    Shiro studies him. “Keith...you wanna hear a little secret?”    “Huh? Uh...sure?”    Shiro looks both ways as if someone might be listening, then leans in for good measure. “...I never had a talent for being a leader.”    “What!?” Keith exclaims. “What are you talking about? You did an amazing job leading us in Voltron for an entire year. Basically everything fell apart when you disappeared. Even before Voltron, you were known to be a great team leader at the Garrison.”        “Oh sure I got good. Eventually.” Shiro admits. “But you know I had my first command taken away from me? Kept expecting all my teammates to ‘keep up.’ By the end of my first week leading a fighter squadron, none of them could stand me. Sound familiar?”    “....really?” Keith says with disbelief.    “Really.” Shiro nods. “You can ask Sanda sometime. She was the Commander that had to deal with the delinquent kid that didn’t know how to follow orders.”    “You? A delinquent?”    “Didn’t you ever wonder what I saw in you when I first asked you to join the Garrison? Besides your natural flying skills, I mean. I saw a bit of my younger self in you. I knew that if a stubborn rule-breaker like me could become a model pilot, you could too.”    “...huh.” is all Keith can say. He sits back on his bike, shaking his head.    Shiro chuckles. “You know the only difference between you and me when it comes to being a leader Keith? Experience. It took me years to figure out the difference between leading others and just trying to order them around. And that’s something I think you’re already figuring out.”    “More or less...maybe on the less side.” Keith shrugs.    “Maybe. But you’re learning. And you’re going to keep learning. Because that's the only way you’ll get good at it. You don’t need me to tell you how to be the best leader you can be, because only you can figure that out. Everyone does it differently. It's up to you to figure out how you’re going to bring out the most in your team.”    Keith doesn’t say anything, but after a moment he does give the slightest of nods.    “...this doesn’t mean I’ve given up on you coming out there with us. When we figure out a way to end this, I expect you to be fighting right by our side, finishing off Zarkon and all his other cronies. ”    Shiro only shrugs. “Dunno how much good I can do without another arm…”    Keith frowns at the stump that once supported Shiro robot arm. He opens his mouth as if to say something, when his communicator squawks to life.    “Guys we need to meet! Right now! I’ve got some good news finally!” Pidge’s voice says over the communicator.    Keith pulls it off his belt and holds it up to his face. “Hang on Pidge, what's going on?”    “Zarkon, Lotor, and this new Voltron! I think i figured out where they all came from!”    Keith and Shiro share a look.    “We’ll be right there.”

***

   The Paladins, Shiro, and the other leaders of the Coalition all gather in a boardroom where Pidge and Slav stand in front of a chalkboard covered in mathematical equations and other writings.    “Alright guys here’s what we got: Zarkon should be dead. We all saw him get killed by Lotor. It doesn't make any sense that they somehow faked his death.    “Yes, I calculate a ninety nine, point-eight percent chance Zarkon really died that day!” Slav puts in. “And then there’s Lotor himself, who should be lost inside the Quintessence field, yet now is inexplicably free. On top of that there's this….other Voltron. Dark Voltron I guess.” Pidge continues.    “Nah that seems like a mouthful.” Lance cuts in. “What about...Darktron? Yeah I like how that...sorry.”        Pidge cuts off glaring at him to continue. “So this...Darktron-”    Lance snickers.    “-also came out of nowhere. As far as we know there was no other trans-dimensional comet with which another Voltron could be built besides the one Lotor used to make his Sincline mecha. None of these things add up. It can’t be an illusion, at least not Darktron. So what’s the explanation?”    No one replies, so Pidge goes on.    “The only explanation is that Zarkon really did die, Lotor really is still stuck in the quintessence field, and they never made a new Voltron.”    “I...thought we ruled out an illusion.” Keith says confused.    “We did.” Pidge smiles. “That because we really did fight Zarkon, Lotor and those other Dark Paladins in their own Voltron.”    Everyone else in the room looks confused. Pidge smiles even wider.    “...how is this possible, you might ask? Well-”    “They’re from another reality!” Slav blurts out.    “What!?” everyone exclaims.    Pidge cringes. “I was building up to that.”    “You were taking too long.” Slav replies.    “Fair enough. But yeah, these guys must be from another reality remember the one we slipped into when we found that other comet.”    “Oh yeah, you mean the one where Alteas went all evil and took over the universe?” Hunk recalls.    “Yep. It's like that, but instead of alteans taking over, it's a reality where Zarkon never lost Voltron.”     “I calculate an eighty-four point-five percent chance that this is the case.” Slav adds. “That must be why Lotor didn’t seem to recognize me…” Allura realizes. “That would explain that much, yeah.” Pidge agrees. “Wait, if they’re from another reality, then how’d they get here?” Lance asks. “Voltron is made of that same comet that brought us to the other reality. They must have figured out a way to use their Voltron to pass over to ours.” Pidge replies. Keith sits back, seeming to take this new information in. “This...certainly clears some things up...but does this really help us? Are we any closer to beating them, just because we know where they came from?” PIdge smiles at this. “I actually think so.” “Go on.” “Well as far as we can tell they came here alone. Think about it. First they were putting alteans from the colony in robests, and now they’re taking over whats left of the galra empire.” “So?” “So, if that Zarkon had the full force of Darktron at his command, shouldn't he have been able to take his entire universe? You’d figure he was coming here because he decided to take over another universe. But he didn’t bring an army through with him. It's just him his paladins, and Darktron.”    “If that’s true then…” Keith consideres. “...then they probably didn’t come here by choice. They...probably had to. They might have been running from something in their old reality. Which means…” his eye widen. “...they were beaten. They aren’t invincible.”    “My thoughts exactly.” Pidge smirks.    Keith laughs. “You’re right Pidge. This is good news.”

***