𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚃𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚜 𝚃𝚒𝚖𝚎 - 𝙺𝚎𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝙺𝚘𝚐𝚊𝚗𝚎 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

Chapter Twenty-Six - Changes

"The op is compromised. Abort!", the leader instructed over their headset, alerting his companions, who paused and awaited instructions. "Extraction point in point two doboshes. This is a hard out,", they followed his instructions immediately, rushing to their destination.

The Blade member in the shipment holding room dodged the lasers, taking out any soldiers he came into contact with swiftly before scurrying off, their main goal being to get out quickly and safely. Eventually, he reached the meeting point, hunched over and panting as he tried to catch his breath.

"He's not back?", the husky-voiced male asked his leader, out of breath.

"He's got thirty ticks,", the leader clarified, turning to his companion, who once again ran off. "Begin preparations for take-off,", the ship powered up, and he looked over his shoulder, expecting the return of his two companions sooner rather than later. The doors began to shut, and there was still no sight of the two, but just as the two pieces of metal were about to touch, they leapt through the opening, one carrying the other over his shoulders before they fell to the ground, exhausted and grunting from the impact.

Mission fulfilled to the best of their abilities, the three took off in their small ship, leaving the underwater base behind them. Still panting heavily, the conscious of the two Blade members stood by his teammate, panting as he looked down at him, concerned.

"Will he be alright?", he questioned his leader.

"You broke protocol,", was all he replied with, glaring down at his companion as he secured a small, glowing violet machine onto the unconscious Blade member. Frustrated, the smaller of the two took off his mask and hood, unleashing his unruly raven mullet and piercing violet eyes.

"I had to,", Keith argued. His leader followed suit in revealing his mask, Kolivan looking down at the paladin in annoyance.

"You didn't consider that something could've happened to you,", the Galran chastised. "That would make two men down instead of one. Every member of the Blade of Marmora understands that the mission is more important than the individual. This isn't Voltron,"

"I understand that,", Keith fired back. "In Voltron, we would've gone back in to save Regris. I went back in to save the mission. Regris had the intel,", he pulled the small device Regris had used out from his back pocket, stepping closer to Kolivan as he held it up. "Getting him and it back on the ship was worth the risk,", with that, he walked past the tall Galran, shoving the device into his hand. Clenching his fist around the object, Kolivan glared at Keith's retreating figure.

---

"Keith. Good, you're back. The team's on a mission,", Shiro glanced at the boy as the doors to the control room opened and he stepped in, now redressed into his usual attire. He met Shiro in his area, where he stood in the middle of countless holograms that flew around him, depicting ships and planets. "You need to get to your lion and join them immediately,"

"I will, but I think we just discovered a new form of quintessence,", he informed his friend, who returned to moving the holograms accordingly to what he was doing. "The readings are off the charts. Kolivan says it could be linked to Lotor,"

"Okay. We'll discuss it when you return,", Shiro concluded, folding his arms and not so much as sparing a glance at the ravenette. "The team's escorting refugees out of the Fimm System,", his ignorance boiled Keith's blood and, after a long mission and not seeing his favourite people for a while, he was slightly frustrated.

"This is Lotor I'm talking about. He hasn't been seen in months. This might be our chance to track him down,", Keith reiterated, beginning angry, but the anger in his voice soon dissipated into hope.