Fulcrum ♣ Keith Kogane

3: Rise of Voltron, Pt 2

Everyone's eyes went to Hunk and Lance as they walked through the door, groaning in pain. Ahsoka raised an eyebrow-marking at the pair as Allura grinned. "You made it!"

Lance rolled his shoulder. "Yeah, just barely. That was a nightmare, I almost puked out there. I felt like Hunk!"

"How do you think I felt? I am Hunk!"

Pidge looked at Shiro with a secretive grin. "Yeah, we had a tough time too."

The older man smiled back before looking at Coran. "Did we find the Red Lion yet?"

"Allura just located it, and there's a bit of good news and bad news. The good news is that the Red Lion is nearby, bad news is it's onboard that Galra ship now orbiting Arus. But wait, good news again, we're Arus!"

Ahsoka grimaced. Read the room Coran...

Fear flooded through the new would-be Paladins. "They're here already?!"

This time it was Coran that grimaced. "Yes, guess my calculations were a bit off... Finger counting is more of an art than a science."

The hologram that hasn't been used in several millennia fizzled to life, revealing a hulking Galra with a singular eye. "Princess Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire. I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the known universe. I am here to confiscate the Lions, turn them over to me or I will destroy your planet."

The hologram fizzled out, leaving the room in fearful silence.

Shiro turned to his younger teammates. "Alright, let's not panic-"

Hunk gave the older man a scared look. "Not panic?! The scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship toward us, we only have four Lions-"

Pidge crossed her arms. "Technically only three working Lions."

He patted her shoulder. "That's right, thank you Pidge. THREE working Lions, and a castle that's like ten thousand years old!"

Coran held a finger up. "Actually it's ten thousand six hundred years old. You see it was built by my grandfather-"

Ahsoka put her hand on the older man's shoulder. "Not the time Coran."

"See, now is the perfect time to panic!"

The togruta looked at her best friend. "Allura, does the particle barrier still work?"

She grinned. "We can activate it while we figure out a plan to retrieve the Red Lion!"

Lance smirked. "Ladies you've already activated my-"

"Lance!"

Coran pulled up the schematics for the Galra ship. "The particle barrier won't hold against Zendak's ion cannon forever. Galra technology must have advanced since we fought them last."

"Panic now?!"

Shiro shook his head. "No, we just gotta figure out our plan of action... and figure it out quickly."

"I say we pop through a wormhole and live to fight another day."

Hunk stood next to his friend. "I second that! I mean we tried to find all the Lions, we gave it the old college try, couldn't do it. We only have three, we can't form Voltron... I mean I guess we could form a snake, or a worm to go through that hole you were talking about Lance!"

The tall and lanky boy grinned as he sidled up to Ahsoka and Allura. "Then it's settled. Allura and Ahsoka, you ride with me... One of you take the old guy."

Pidge frowned. "We can't just abandon Arus! The Galra will keep destroying planets and capturing prisoners until we stop them."

"If we run, maybe Sendak will follow us and leave this planet alone like when we left Earth! We form a snake-thing-a-majig and we slither out of here!"