Catch the Stars ||Keith Kogane||

67

Trip could hear the roaring of the lion from across the castle. It was deep and authoritative, the roar of the black lion that hadn't been heard since the day Shiro went missing and she nearly died.

The scouts looked up, as did she, their conversation slipping away from her. Trip knew, without a doubt, that only one person in this castle could have woken it up. And it was the person Shiro trusted to be a leader when it mattered.

Keith. He had stepped into the lion and was accepted as its paladin.

"Heda," (Commander) says Cal, the lead of Squad 298, "Necust sian Voltron?" (was that Voltron?)

Trip looks back down at her clipboard as if unphased, "O'uat," (of course) she says in an indifferent tone, "plajou cou ment je fenline 84 jen 85, manuv fenline 48 jen 49 je kane." (you move to sections 84 and 85, leave 48 and 49 to me).

The men in front of her give nods, moving their attention away from the roar of the lion that still had the walls shaking around them. She would assign the other two squads to those sectors, but she was going to go stir-crazy in this castle before that. Maybe she would join them out there on the search. It might be nerve-wracking for them, but she needed movement.

She puts blue X's through the sections that had been searched today. No sign of Shiro. Not even a whisper of his location from their moles nearest to Zarkon's ship. Not even The Blade had come up with anything. Still, Trip would keep pushing for Keith's sake.

"Neo, Heda," (yes, commander) says Cal, giving a salute as she circled the section they would be looking through the next day.

Trip nods at him before tucking away the clipboard that was filled with Olympian script and information. There was still so much she could be doing, like contacting Haron and asking if Braut had made any signs of waking up or running over the numbers of rations to ensure that the families of the fallen would be compensated for their loss for as long as Trip could ensure.

But none of it was urgent. And there was a pit in her stomach that screamed to walk back into the castle and find the one person she wanted to talk to.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to congratulate Keith on his new position. Especially under the circumstances he acquired it. That didn't feel right. Was she allowed to speak to him at all? Her feet carried her from the scout's hangar anyway. Maybe she wouldn't talk to him. Maybe she just needed to see him.

Her meeting with the scouts had been short and not unnecessary. But it had given her an excuse to step away from the paladins' plans to try and wake the black lion. Pidge had Hunk had seemed sure that she would be capable of taking over as the leader of Voltron. But she was the leader of Olympia, and she would always choose her people if it came to leading Voltron and leading them.

Trip wasn't sure where to even find the paladins on the castle. But it couldn't have been long enough for them to all have left the lion hangar, so she decided to try there first. The twisting halls of the castle were, finally, starting to look vaguely familiar. She used chips in the walls and certain altean markings on the doors to find her way.

She didn't understand them, but the order of markings she used as map signs.

Soon, she was in the hall where she had parted from the paladins in. The lounge would be just ahead, so she knew she was on the right track.

At least the burning in her lungs had subsided over her two weeks of healing time. She could walk the castle again without collapsing against a wall. However, she felt a rattle in her chest if she tried to ignore that her stamina was lacking.

While passing the door to the lounge, the sound of voices caught her attention. There weren't many other people in the castle that it could be. So she comes to a stop and turns to the door, but her hand freezes.