The Gold Paladin

Escape The Storm

"And, now, I'm actually going to leave because I've got to fix the main turbine!"

As he walked, more sweat accumulated beneath his feet, making it hard for him to walk forward. Coran whimpered and screamed as he slipped and fell onto his back, sliding down the halls.

"Quiznak!" He screamed as he slid down the halls.

"All right." Shiro said changing the subject, "Since Zarkon has no idea where we are, this is the perfect time to focus on our next step. Maybe we can find that secret group, the Blade of Marmora. Pidge, where are those coordinates?"

Pidge groaned and fixed her glasses, staring at her screen tiredly.

"Wait, hang on. I'm so tired my brain's not working." She said reaching for her screens.

Just then, the main screen on the bridge activated, showing Coran in the engine room.

"Hello, all. I've checked the engines." Coran said on screen, slipping and sliding across the floor.

"That was fast." Pidge said.

"Well, I slipped right down--" he groaned as he fell, "I mean, hurried down. Anyway, the good news is, the Galra fighter did minimal damage. I flushed the turbine and it's fine. The bad news is, the teludav, or wormholer, as you Earthlings call it, is in bad shape."

"Can the engine be repaired quickly?" Novae asked.

"I'm afraid not. Several scaultrite lens-stones of the magnifying beam generator are cracked. As you know, the magnifying beam generator uses a crystal to convert Altean energy into usable fuel. That supplies the power needed to wormhole."

"So what can we do?" Shiro asked.

"Well, I need to remove the cracked lenses and readjust the trajectory temporarily until we can replace them. I'll also need to divert power to make up for the lost energy. Anyway, it's going to take at least a quintant."

Everyone groaned except for Novae, Allura and Shiro.

"All right. We'll hide the ship and get some rest while Coran comes up with a work-around. Tomorrow we'll be sharper and refocused." Shiro said.

The team went their separate ways, wanting to rest and relax as much as they could before Zarkon possibly came back to attack the Castle.

Novae decided that sleep would be the best thing to do, so she went straight to her room to rest for a short while. But then, as soon as she stepped into her room, both her head and her left arm began to burn painfully. It was as if her head and arm were placed into a white hot flame.

She looked down at her left arm and saw it glowing a bright purple color, instead of gold. Her breathing became rapid and uneven. This has only happened once or twice since she got the arm.

"No, it can't be. I got rid of the problem, didn't I?" She questioned herself as the pain continued to grow worse by the second.

"I know you are there, little Star...." A familiar voice echoed in her mind, "You cannot hide from me forever. There are more experiments to be conducted. You will return to me."

The pain faded in both her head and arm as soon as the voice disappeared, but the pain was replaced by intense fear.

"Zarkon...." she muttered, rushing to her closet and pulling out a small bag of tools. She had to dig deeper. And this time, she would get rid of him.

🦁🦁🦁~~~~🦁🦁🦁

Some time passed since the Paladins left the Bridge to rest, when the alarms blared again and the lights flashed bright red. Everyone within the ship came running back to the Bridge on high alert, taking their places on the ship to engage the potential enemy.