*insert a bad joke here*
This chapter is here to break apart the canon chapters a bit.
Harsh Language warning!
You've been warned...
--------------------------------------------------------
Mathias held his rifle with an intense grip as he stood next to Pidge in the Green Lion. His EX-GEAR suit ready for combat, and his helmet displaying multiple huds. An anomalous reading on a nearby planet sparked interest and concern into everyone. All of the Paladins hopped into their Lions and went to investigate. Mathias joined as well, but had to stay with Pidge as his fighter was still under extensive repair from the last mission. The Paladins arrived on the planet, covered in a dense cloud. It was like the planet was trying to shield something from them, but what is up to them to find out. The Castle of Lions orbited the planet's atmosphere, not daring to enter the intense storms. As the Lions entered the cloud formation, visibility became impossible.
"I can't see shit through this fog!" Pidge screamed as a lightning bolt erupted nearby.
"PIDGE! LANGUAGE!" Everyone but Mathias yelled through the comms, hurting her ears. As soon as they pierced the clouds, they could see the ground below them. It was all devastated with weapon crater shells, but what really worried everyone were three, much larger craters, they didn't look like ordinary explosives, but as if someone just ate a very small portion of the planet. Mathias swore it looked familiar to him, or at least, the eaten craters, anyway. The team touched down on the planet's surface.
"Okay, looks like the signal is coming from a station up ahead. Might be better to go on foot, we don't want to attract attention if we haven't already," Allura said as she stood up.
"Don't take off your helmets, the atmosphere isn't full of oxygen like Earth, so be extra cautious," Pidge said as she and Mathias walked out of the Green Lion. Mathias, upon exiting the Lion, scanned the air with a sensor. A hud began to show information and his eyes widened. The two walked over to the others who had landed nearby. A large breeze began to push the group slightly. It would've been okay if it was warmer.
"This breeze is going to knock us over like dominoes!" Lance shouted, holding his arms up as a sort of shield. Everyone heard a small click and looked over to Mathias adjusting his helmet, but it also looks like he was loosening its hold on his suit.
"Mathias! What are you doing?!" Allura shouted in disbelief as he gripped his helmet. Everyone widened their eyes as they rushed forward at him, trying to stop whatever he was doing, but it was too late. A sickening sizzle erupted from his suit as he pulled off his helmet, his hair whipping behind him beautifully. Everyone froze, waiting for any sort of reaction to occur, but nothing happened.
Mathias looked over to them and looked at them with an eyebrow raised, "is something wrong?"
"How are you breathing in this environment!?!" Lance yelled at him.
"Simple. There is a compound in the air which my Zentraedi blood can neutralize. My Zentraedi ancestors have been fighting for nearly a million years, surely, they developed a lot of resistance to airborne toxins and harsher atmosphere conditions!" He smirked, before his helmet vanished in his hands. Everyone just looked at him like he was the most idiotic person alive. He sniffed the air, then looked down slightly, "the air tastes a bit salty, but it's okay."
"Riiiiiiiight," Hunk said as they pressed onward to the installation. The group walked for about 15 minutes before the installation came up. That's when a sound was heard. It was like a... whale of some kind?
"D-Did everyone else hear that?" Hunk asked, gripping his Bayard tighter.
"Hear what?" Pidge and Allura asked simultaneously.
"That sound! That long shriek or something!" Hunk jittered slightly.
"I heard it, too..." Lance said, arming his own Bayard.
"So did I," Keith said silently, Mathias nodding.
"I don't like this... proceed with caution," Mathias said as he gripped his rifle and continued onward, the rest of the group following. The Paladins entered the complex, which was littered with the remains of drones and old Galran soldiers. The only thing that remained of them was their clothes, skeletal remains and weapons. Hunk covered his helmeted head, as if he was going to throw up, everyone else shivered and pushed forward. The power level of the complex was low, forcing the Paladins to use their flashlights to see in the dark. The place looks deserted.
Pidge pulled up a map of the complex, "the source of the signal is just a little further ahead."
The sound roared again, this time much louder than before. All of the guys gripped their heads in pain, panicking remaining three.
Mathias gripped the side of his head slightly, "it's stronger than before!"
"What's going on here?!" Pidge shouted as she helped Keith up, and the two assisted Hunk up.
"I don't know... but we have to stop it before it gets worse!" Keith said as sweat poured on his face.
"We don't even know what you guys are talking about! Allura and I don't hear anything!" Pidge shouted.
"It appears that this sound is only affecting us males," Mathais said as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Okay... Let's figure out what's causing this before it kills us..." Keith said as he gripped his Bayard.
"It sounded like a song..." Mathias suddenly said. Everyone looked at him with a confused look, "that sound... it sounds like... music..."
"Yeah... now that I think about it... it did sound like music..." Lance said as he stretched.
"We need to know what we're dealing with. Mathias, you're the fastest one here, can you find a control port and download any information you can?" Keith asked, Mathias nodded and readied the thrusters on his back, before launching down the halls of the Galran complex. He looked at the rest of the Paladins, "alright, let's move!"
Pidge didn't understand what was going on, why were the guys being affected by... whatever is going on here? This was a Galran installation... Perhaps this was the result of something that managed to get loose from their custody and now could be a threat to both them and the Empire.
The Paladins then approached a giant hangar, one with a cruiser that was stationed within it. It was slightly smaller than the usual battlecruisers they were used to fighting, but the shape was recognizable.
"Are they experimenting with their ships?" Allura asked.
"It looks like it... but, where's the Galra?" Keith asked, staring at the ship in the hangar.
Pidge raised her arm and activated a holoscreen, doing several movements with her hands before saying, "I'm still not detecting anything. No Galran life signatures, no Drone energy signatures, nothing! It's like they disappeared!"
"...or died off..." Lance muttered to himself as they continued to walk onward down a hallway.
"Guys? You read?" Mathias' voice echoed through the comms.
"We hear you, go ahead," Keith said as he peaked around a corner, but no one was down the hall.
"I made it to an information console, beginning to download any information I can," Mathias said.
"Good, have anything for us so far?" Keith asked as everyone rounded the corner.
"Only that this facility is used for the utmost experimental weapons prototypes, to analyse other races' weapons and decrypt alien technology to add to their own," Mathias returned, "that's all I got."
"Keep me informed when you find anything interesting," Keith spoke out.
"Roger," Mathias said before the comms went dead.
"A research station, huh?" Hunk spoke out as he looked behind him, "well, it doesn't look like anyone's been here for a long time."
The Paladins made it to a large circular room, one with a pedestal in the middle of the room. There was some kind of device in the middle of it that was hooked up with many wires to it.
"What even is that?" Lance asked, pointing to it. Everyone slowly approached the device, but stayed relatively away from it.
Pidge pulled up her scanners and ran a scan of it, "I'm not sure... it seems to be an artificial intelligence of some kind..." An icon on her scan caught her eye, "and from the looks of it, it's active!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
MEANWHILE.
Mathias watched several files from the pulled database. A Galran Commander would be seen performing tests on alien weaponry or doing examinations on other random things. Nothing of which sparked his interests.
What he really was there for was to find out what the hell happened. He had already fast forwarded through a large portion of the installation's filebase, but he was hunting for whatever was causing the signals, and whatever was trying to kill his brain with sound.
"Let's see... files from about 2 years ago... if I remember my forensic lessons, skeletal bodies are the results of about 2 year decay, assuming the death and decaying conditions are like that to humans on Earth..." Mathias said as he tapped away on the holographic keyboard.
A log entry came up, nope, not what he was looking for. He scoured the database until something caught his eye. There was a massive file in the weapons database.
This file was longer than the others.
Mathias, not hesitating, clicked on the file. A hud appeared on his helmet, which he quickly put it back on. He could see a Galran commander officer inspecting a warhead. Something about that warhead set off an alarm in him.
"Data log, 16240.81. Our fleet had come across some... interesting adversaries the other say. Their main fighters had the- -forms and overwhelmed our own. Their ships were also different, but were on equal- our own. We- and in the end, destroyed all of their ships. In the debris field, we discovered these unusual warheads. We were only able to salvage 4 of them, the rest were too far destroyed to put into use. We're going to analyse them and test fire them."
Obviously, the file degraded over time, given the extensive static and audio errors. There was a massive jump cut to a range of sorts on the planet's surface, where the camera could see both the Commander looking out of a window and the range itself.
"Activate base defensive protocols!" The Galran Commander shouted
"Yes sir!" A Galran soldier shouted in reply. A hexagonal shield appeared over the base, then disappeared.
"Is the warhead ready?"
"Yes, commander!"
"FIRE!" He shouted. There was a momentary silence before an awful flash kicked in. It was a horrendous yellow flash, but what followed was a massive, ever increasing purple sphere that devoured everything in sight. Two more suddenly appeared, as alarms in the base. The ground shook beneath their feet as the screen filled with static for a moment before the spheres died away and the static ceased. "What the hell... are these things?"
(Author's note: This image is from Macross Delta, but it helps to give you a visualization of what it looks like!)
"Unknown sir!, but whatever these things are, they pack more of a punch than any of our missiles ever could!" A galran soldier shouted. Several more were seen running across the screen.
"Break apart the last one, find out how it works and a way to mass produce it! If we show these to the Emperor, he will be most pleased!"
The datalog ended, and Mathias' eyes were shaking, falling onto his knees. He felt bile enter this throat. The room started spinning, as his vision blurred. This was a nightmare!
"This can't be happening! There's no fucking way that they got a hold of those weapons!" He shouted to himself in a hurry before shakily standing up again. "There's no way... there's no way..."
"Keith to Mathias!" Keith's voice made the boy jump two feet in the air in fright, "have you found anything to tell us what happened here?"
Mathias, still trying to recover from the shock, gasped out a reply, "uh n-n-n-no! Nope! I haven't found anything that could tell you what's been going on here, sorry!" He said that in a rush, sweat trickling down his face.
"You seemed panicked, are you alright?" Allura asked.
"I-I'm fine! Keith just startled me, that's all!" Mathias lied. He didn't want to alarm the Paladins of his frightful discovery.
"Sorry. Keep us posted," Keith stated
"R-Roger!" Mathias hurried before the comms went silent.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Returning to the Paladins
"What was that about?" Lance asked, while still examining the strange device.
"Not sure... he's not the one to freak out like that. Something's up..." Pidge replied while finishing a scan, "I'm detecting a signal coming from within this device."
"Can you determine what it is?" Keith asked, looking down at the Green Paladin.
"I think so... it appears to be a-" Pidge was interrupted when the device suddenly blared with light. Everyone recoiled back and away from it, looking much more frightful than before.
Song: Information High by Sharon Apple (from Macross Plus) plays
Everyone seems to be looking around as the music began to play.
"Does everyone else hear that?" Hunk asked, his armor suddenly jittering from shaking.
"Yes, I hear it..." Allura readied her Bayard, and everyone else did the same. Pidge could hear it, too. It felt more lovely than anything.
All of the sudden, a pain stuck her in the head. She groaned as she fell to her knees, her world slightly disoriented. All of the male Paladins fell onto the ground, clutching their heads in agony. Keith grunting in pain while Lance and Hunk were screaming. The song seemed a little louder than when it first played.
"Pidge!" Allura ran up to her and helped her up.
"T-Thanks," she muttered then looked at the guys before her eyes widened as they stared at the guys. They had stopped screaming and slowly recovered from their moment. All of them standing up and facing the device. Pidge slowly reached out for the Yellow Paladin, "H-Hunk..?" They slowly turned around, their faces devoid of their once shimmering personalities.
There were dastardly veins that were sprouted from them, their eyes were blackened and full of a malice that once never existed. Pidge and Allura backed off slowly, their Bayards not active.
"G-Guys..?" Pidge called out to the slowly approaching Paladins, their dark smiles growing wider. Some Saliva escaped Lance's mouth, they seemed more monster than human. "GUYS! IT'S US! PIDGE AND ALLURA!!" She practically screamed at them, but nothing happened. The guys laughed in a manner that sent shivers in both of their spines.
"They can't hear you anymore..." a female voice called out around them.
Allura's expression changed to anger immediately, "who are you?!" Her voice had some venom Pidge had never seen before in her voice.
"I am the embodiment of a long lost artificial intelligence," 'Lance' Spoke, his voice was so horrendous compared to what it once was. It sounded like a demon had infested him.
"I am the ultimate overlord of the Galaxy," 'Hunk' chimed in. He seemed much more intimidating than before.
"I am the Siren," 'Keith spoke last. With that, Keith activated his Bayard and charged at Allura. Allura didn't move, like her feet were glued to the ground. She watched as the Paladin charged her, ready to cut her down.
"Allura, move!" A voice called out. The two girls looked back to see the butt of a rifle strike the visor of Keith, knocking him back to the others. They looked to see Mathias, huffing for breath and sweat rolling down his face, helmet off and ponytail in a mess.
"Mathias?!" They both shouted in astonishment.
"We have to leave, now! Come on!" he grabbed both of their hands and rushed them out of the room. The corrupted Paladins didn't follow.
"Mathias?! What's going on!? How are you not affected!?" Pidge shouted, her breathing rapidly growing more hoarse.
"There are no answers to that question, but what I can say is this. That AI over there is controlling their minds. It was part of a culture defeated by the Galra 3 years ago. They used songs to subdue their enemies!" He said as he rounded a corner than stopped, bending over slightly to catch his breath, the others doing the same. He looked around the corner to see if they were being followed, but no one had followed. He then glanced down at Pidge, "as for how I'm not affected, I have a theory. A few years ago in my time, you remember how I spoke about the Var Syndyrome? I think that event has given me a sort of resistance to those types of songs that mind control people, but it's only a theory."
"But we heard the song as well! And I could feel it giving me a pain in my head!" Pidge huffed out, her legs were shaking slightly from the lack of energy.
"So, she was trying to take you both over as well? I could see how Alteans weren't affected, but with you... another question with no answer, I suppose," Mathias said, looking down at Pidge, "one thing is for sure, we got to get to the Lions." The two females nodded, and the trio ran out of the complex, the harsh winds not helping their moods.
"What are we going to do about the others?!" Pidge shouted in the winds.
"We have to get to the Castle of Lions! We can better understand what we're dealing with and how we can help them!" Mathias shouted, rushing through the winds.
Theme fades away
The three made it to their Lions, Pidge and Mathias boarding the Green Lion and Allura in the Blue Lion. The two escaped the planet's surface and pierced the cloudline, greeting the Castle of Lions.
Shiro's voice came through, "Pidge, Mathias, Allura? What's going on down there? We lost your signal.
"Shiro! The complex is a Galran Weapons Institution! They captured a device that has brainwashed the others. It's calling itself a Siren!" Mathias shouted from behind Pidge.
Theme restarts and resumes
"Behind us!" Allura shouted through the comms. The two looked back, and to their horror, the Galran Ship rose from the clouds. Three other objects popped out of the clouds, it was the other Lions, who began to chase down and engage the Blue and Green Lion. Pidge screamed and Mathias gripped the pilot's chair as an explosion rocked the hull of the Green Lion. A battle soon ensued between the Siren's corrupted and the remaining Paladins of Voltron.
"Allura! Shiro's gripping his head in pain!" Coran's voice shouted from the comms.
"I-I'm okay!" Shiro shouted behind him. Sweat was trickling from his head.
"Shiro, just be careful!" Mathias screeched.
"Where's the AI?! I don't see it in the base scans anymore!" Pidge shouted.
Mathias pulled up a hud and typed away at some numbers, "it's on the Galra Ship! I think if we destroy the AI, we can free the others from the Siren!"
"I agree, but how do we destroy the ship?" Allura asked, dodging a blast from the Black Lion, "we can't form Voltron!"
Mathias stared into space in thought for a few moments, then tapped Pidge's shoulder. "We need to see if that ship's modifications are more extensive than just its size! Approach the ship and fire on it!" Pidge nodded and charged the Cruiser. The ship suddenly fired lasers, but these were much different. They seemed more like bullets than lasers. Nevertheless, they fired a shot from the Green Lion's mouth. The blast hit a shield that deflected it entirely. This shielding was much more powerful.
"We can't get past its shields!" Pidge screamed as they broke away. The laser fire intensified from both the Corrupted Paladins and the Cruiser.
Mathias held a hand to his chin in deep thought, then a realization came up, "Pidge, bring me back down to the base, there might be something we can use to fight for us!"
"I'm not going to be able to land, you're going to have to jump!" Pidge shouted as an explosion shook the Lion slightly, "what did you find down there?!"
"I think there might be a weapon that is powerful enough to kill two birds with one stone, just trust me!" Mathias shouted as he gripped his rifle and approached the door, his helmet appeared on his head.
Pidge looked back at him for a moment before nodding. The Green Lion's mouth opened, allowing Mathias to jump out of the safety of the Lion and into the harsh combat. Lasers flew all around him as explosions rang out, hurting his ears. Just as the ground was slowly approaching, Mathias flipped and activated the thrusters on his back, slowing his descent and landing on the dusty ground. He ran back into the base, jumping over the numerous corpses and drones. He ran into multiple storage rooms, scanned the area with his eyes, but found nothing. He approached one that seemed much more protected than the others. He broke down the door and looked inside. Inside, sitting on a small bench within a hangar, was a warhead. Mathias felt a lump in his throat as he approached it. The sounds of the battle outside were drowned out by the reinforced walls, but the shaking of the place was still apparent. He stopped next to the bomb and rubbed some dust off of it. There were some plates removed to disassemble it. A logo and an acronym appeared from the parted dust, one he immediately recognized. N.U.N.S.
Mathias looked down in sorrow. He didn't want this here. This shouldn't be in the Galra's hands. Fortunately, it looked like it was barely disassembled before all of the personnel were... killed. Mathias pressed some buttons, switches and pressed a few keys on a holopad. The device suddenly came to life. A part of him was relieved, and part of his stomach dropped.
"It still works... the last of these warheads..." He said to himself. His gaze fell upon the floor, "I wish you never existed. Your destructive power scares me... but I need you now for one final mission." He picked up a bulkhead off of a table and resealed it to the warhead. He knew he couldn't weld or bolt it shut, so he did his best to seal it up. He looked around the small hangar for a way to transport it, then saw something that caught his eye. He didn't like this, especially if it went wrong, but this was the only option.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back with Pidge and Allura.
Explosions rattled the small girl as she swung around a cloud formation. The Black Lion chasing her around, she could practically hear Keith's maniacal laughter from the comms.
"KEITH, SNAP OUT OF IT DAMMIT!" She screamed as she swerved out of the way to blindsight him. She fired a laser that struck the Black Lion's side, knocking it out of the sky.
She was tired. Sweat was dripping down her face like if she was a waterfall.
Allura wasn't fairing well, either. As the Yellow and Red Lions kept bullying her and knocking her down.
Pidge gripped her controls hard, ready to charge when a signature from the base. She looked down to see a Galran Fighter with something under one of its wings charging the Cruiser. Her eyes widened, "Mathias?!"
"Don't mind me!" he joked as he pressed on towards the cruiser, which had begun to open fire on him. His captured fighter did its best to avoid the onslaught of lasers, but one did skim a wing, shaking the fighter. Pidge could hear a grunt coming from Mathias, "listen. The moment I fire this thing, break off immediately!"
"What?" Pidge asked, raising her eyebrow.
"TRUST ME!" He screamed out as he got closer to the ship, the laser fire intensified. He pressed a trigger, screaming, "FIRE!!" As soon as he fired the missile, one of his wings suddenly exploded, sending him down in a fireball towards the surface. Pidge darted away from the battle and scooped up Mathias, who had bailed out of the fireballing fighter and slowly falling to the ground. Mathias rushed to the Lion's cockpit and watched as the missile penetrated the shields of the ship and collided into the superstructure of the ship.
Theme ends
All of a sudden, a bright purple ball enveloped the ship, crushing the ship into a ball that sank into the enveloping aura or purple. The weapon slowly increased in size, forcing Pidge to move away from the oncoming blast. The blast kept increasing in size for a few more moments before it suddenly caved in on itself and disappeared. The weapon broke away the clouds, revealing a small yellow sun in the sky for a brief moment before it was filled by other clouds.
"It... it worked!" Pidge shouted in joy as the Corrupted Paladins suddenly stopped in their tracks. Unanimous groans came from the three.
"W-What.. What Happened?" Hunk asked.
"I dunno... all I remember is seeing a beautiful lady before everything went black," lance made a purr when he threw in the adjective, making everyone cringe.
"Mathias, what was that weapon?" Allura asked, seemingly a little concerned.
Mathias rubbed the back of his head, "j-just something that another race developed some years ago!" Allura looked skeptical, but she nodded.
"Let's go home, it's been a long day..." Pidge yawned, which everyone murmured and agreed to, slowly making their way back home.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Much later...
Pidge sat on her bed, peering at her laptop as she tapped away on the keyboard. The comms suddenly went off, but a voice she didn't expect on it came through.
"I need everyone on the Bridge, immediately. There is something I must discuss with you all..." That was Mathias' voice. She closed her laptop and jumped off her bed, before exiting her room and walking down the halls towards the bridge.
Upon entering the Bridge, it was no surprise that she was the last one in. Mathias held a very seldom look on his face while he faced everyone.
"Alright, what's so important you had to interrupt me while I was about to go to bed?" Lance groaned in annoyance.
"It's regarding today's mission and incident. I have something to tell you all," Mathias said as he readied up a datapad.
"I have a feeling none of us are going to like what you are about to say..." Allura spoke out.
"No, no you won't. Frankly, I don't want to discuss it either, but now I have no choice after verifying my theories," Mathias said.
"Is this about the AI that possessed us?" Hunk asked, raising a hand.
"No, but I must admit, I did see something like that before. A-Anyway, it's in regards to the weapon that was used to destroy the AI that I brought you all here," Mathias paused as he replayed the purplish explosion on the ship. Everyone's faces were high in anticipation, but many held worry in their expressions. "The Galra had several more of these that they took from a fleet several days prior to their first tests, which are here." He played a log of the three explosions that erupted on the planet's surface.
"So that's what caused those explosions..." Pidge said as she placed a hand on their chins.
"Yes... but I must confess something to you all..." Mathias held his head low, "I... I know what those weapons are... they came from my universe..." Everyone gasped.
"WHAT?!" They all shouted at the same time, making the pilot flinch.
"WHY DID YOU HIDE THIS?!" Lance shouted at him, pointing at him directly.
"I... wasn't sure if what I saw was really true, but now, I know what I saw was the real deal," Mathias quietly said.
"Well... what are they, exactly..?" Allura gulped slightly.
Mathias took a very deep breath in, "Dimensional Weaponry." Everyone was beyond speechless as he continued, "the bending of time and space to rupture that given area. In essence, capable of incinerating planets and fleets in one shot... These were the most destructive missiles ever devised... they were created to destroy the Vajra when they became immune to Reactionary Weapons As it no doubt sounds, these weapons are far more deadly and powerful than Reaction Missiles."
"So... how did they get here..." Coran asked.
"A fleet of Galra ships engaged a fleet of ships, which I can only assume to be NUNS ships, erm- sorry, New United Nations Government or the UN Spacy. R-Regardless, they destroyed that fleet and salvaged the missiles. They only managed to capture four, it seems, and they couldn't recover anything else."
"If the Galra had managed to replicate those warheads..." Allura trailed off.
"The war would've already been over..." Hunk finished her sentence.
"One thing that concerns me is the fact they know of the dimensional weapons, and they tried to dissect them and make more... but the most concerning thing to me is that there were more of my people out there... but they were mercilessly slaughtered, and their technology taken..." Mathias said as gripped the pad harder. "I'm..." he wiped a tear from his eyes, "I-I'm sorry..."
Pidge walked up to Mathias and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face into his chest. Everyone else joined in on him. He smiled as he returned the gesture, but frowned at the possibility that entered his mind.
'If the Galra had managed to learn about us and our technology... what else have they assimilated... could they have more of our weapons..? Are my people kept as slaves..? What else has the Galran Empire scavenged from my universe..?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry if this one wasn't as great as the others! I had to slightly rush it in order to move on with stuff IRL!
Hope you enjoyed it!
Peace!