'I'm going to message mum and ask her to meet us near the moon,' said Keith. 'Hopefully she still has the ability to get here.'
They then quickly dressed, grabbed their weapons, and hurried out the door.
It was a twenty-minute walk to Lance's parents' house. Keith waited on the footpath as Lance hurried to the door and knocked. He didn't want to go in and see Marco and hoped he wasn't the one who opened the door. Thankfully, it was Rachel.
'Lance, why did you knock?'
'Listen, I don't have time to explain.' He handed her a set of keys. 'Give these to mama or papa and ask them to look after Nero for us.'
He turned and hurried back to Keith, and they headed off into the darkness. When their datapads started ringing minutes later, they ignored them and turned them off.
At a nearby club, they found a taxi and were dropped off at the edge of town, and in sight of the Garrison lit up in the darkness.
There was not a lot of cover between them and the fence surrounding the Garrison.
'Our best bet would be to try the 'escape route', Lance said.
There was a way in and out of the Garrison through the stormwater drains the students named the 'escape route'. Guards patrolled it, but it didn't stop students getting out to go and party in town.
'We head to hanger B from there,' said Keith. 'The Admiral's ship is usually prepared and ready to go all the time.'
'Okay, we can do this,' Lance said.
They jumped when a car skidded to a halt behind them, and Luis and Marco jumped out.
'For fuck sake, Marco, get back in the fucking car,' snapped Luis. 'You shouldn't even be here.' He turned his attention to Lance. 'What the hell's going on?'
'Just go home, Luis,' said Lance. 'We'll be back as soon as we can. How the hell did you know where we were?'
'It wasn't hard. The only reason you'd give over keys to your house was if you were going off world.'
'Fine, yes we are. Now get out of here, we don't have time to piss about.'
He and Keith turned and headed towards the Garrison. They were both angry when they heard footsteps behind them.
'Go home,' hissed Lance. 'You can't come.'
'Where are you going?' asked Luis.
'To the Milky way. We need to check something out. And keep your voice down, sound travels out here.'
'Come on, Luis,' said Marco. 'Leave him to his delusions of being a hero.'
'Here, take the car and go home,' Luis said, shoving his keys into Marco's hand.
'Don't be stupid,' said Marco. 'You can't go with these two idiots; you'll get yourself killed.'
'Neither of you are coming,' snapped Lance. 'Get out of here before you're found.'
'Nope, I'm coming with you,' Luis said.
'Ugh, no, you're not. Please just go home,' Lance said.
Keith stopped and turned to them. 'Look, if we get caught, we're likely to end up in the brig. We don't want that to happen to either of you.'
'Who asked you, you little piece of shit,' Marco snapped.
'Don't you talk to him like that,' Lance growled. He started to advance on Marco until Keith pulled him back.
'This is no time for a pissing contest,' said Keith. 'I don't care what you think of me, so go ahead and call me whatever you want because I'm not going to react to you. I've had people tougher than you try to break me. Now, do you see the outline of those trees behind me? Once we get past those, there is no more cover between us and the Garrison. If you insist on following, that's your cut off point, there won't be any turning back from there.'
Keith and Lance turned and continued on.
Marco grabbed Luis' arm to stop him. 'Don't be stupid. You can't go with them.'
Luis yanked his arm free. 'You can't tell me what to do.'
'I'm the oldest here, and in papa's absence you listen to me.'
'There would've been a time I would've agreed with that, but not anymore. I don't know who the hell you are anymore. I always knew you were an arse and now you're taking that to a whole new level. Go back to your stupid girlfriend, or whatever she is, and don't come near me again until you pull your head out of your arse.'
Turning, Luis ran after the other two. He caught up with them as they surveyed the Garrison from the tree line. If they were annoyed, he was there, they didn't show it.
What they saw in the lights of the Garrison made their blood run cold; the Galran had taken over. The staff and students were in the compound under heavy guard, all sitting on the ground.
'Well shit,' muttered Lance. 'That was unexpected.'
They saw someone dragged out of the main building and thrown to the ground.
'Admiral Mitchell,' said Keith. He was the head of the Garrison. 'We've got no way of knowing how many Galran are here.'
'Whatever we're going to do, we better be quick, look.' Lance pointed to the dark sky at the lights of a descending ship.
'Probably a slave ship,' said Keith. He suddenly turned and brought his blade up. Marco stumbled to a halt inches from the end. Keith turned away from him. 'Let's get going.'
Not being familiar with the Garrison, the Galran had left the 'escape route' unguarded.
They made their way through the dark storm water tunnel with the help of the touches on their phones and datapads.
They came back up to the surface behind a supply shed not far from where the Galran had their prisoners.
Keith hurried to the corner and peaked round. There were not many who hadn't been beaten. There was a group of sixteen to eighteen year olds off to the side. Keith suspected they would be sent to the mines.
Lance came up close behind him. 'Now what?' he whispered.
'We need to free them before the ship lands,' whispered Keith. 'There looks to be twenty Galran guarding the prisoners, but there's no way of knowing if there are any more inside.'
'We need a distraction.'
They went back to where Luis and Marco waited.
'I'll cause the distraction...' began Keith.
'Nope,' said Lance. 'There's no way I'm letting you do that.'
Keith folded his arms across his chest and eyed Lance. 'You're not letting me?'
'Sweetheart, you're pregnant...'
'Don't even go there, Lance,' warned Keith, poking a finger into Lance's chest. 'Lotor wants me alive, so there's no way they'll do anything that'll get me killed. If you go out there, they'll just shoot you.'
Lance groaned in frustration. 'Damn it, Keith.'
'When I get them out of the way,' Keith went on, 'tell the others to run, and I will meet you at the hanger.'
Before Lance could say anything, Keith turned and went back to the corner of the building and was gone.
'Fuck,' Lance growled.
Lance ran to the corner of the building with Luis and Marco. Keith had his sword in his hand and cut down any Galran who came near him and lead them away from the prisoners.
Dashing from his hiding spot, Lance yelled for them to run. No-one needed to be told twice, and they scattered into the darkness.
Some of the Galran guards heard the commotion and began firing on them. Lance raised his blaster and took them out one by one.
'Fucking hell,' Luis said as each shot found its mark.
Marco's eyes widened in shock. 'You killed them.'
'Better them than us,' Lance said.
Admiral Mitchell appeared at his side. 'Who are you?'
'Lance McClain.'
'Blue paladin?'
'Yes, sir.' His gaze darted around keeping an eye out for danger. 'I'd love to stay and chat, but we need to get to the Castle of Lions.'
'Admiral.' Another man joined them. 'We need to get you out of here.'
'General Dobree, I will not be leaving until I know everyone is safe.'
Blaster fire from the descending ship peppered the ground around them.
'Come on,' Lance said and ran towards the hanger where the Admiral's ship was. He saw Keith fighting a Galran, skidded to a halt, and fired. The Galran fell to the ground dead.
They met up with the others in the hanger. They walked past the Admiral and onto the ship.
'What do you think you're doing?' demanded Dobree, following them. 'Get off the Admiral's ship.'
'We need it,' said Keith. He moved into the cockpit and slipped into the pilot's seat, while Lance dropped into another seat. 'We don't have time to argue with you.' He fired up the ship as the others joined them.
'Couple more minutes and the other ship will be here,' Lance said.
'Get ready on weapons,' said Keith. He closed the outer door. 'Strap in everyone, there's no getting off now.'
They scrambled for seats as the ship lifted into the air. 'Ready, Lance?'
'Yep.'
Lance blasted open the doors of the hanger and they were all pushed back into their seats as Keith pushed the controls forward and they shot out at speed. Once clear of the hanger, they ascended straight up, toward the descending Galran ship and Lance opened fire.
Keith took them in close under the hull of the ship as Lance continued to fire. The explosion knocked them forward as they kept climbing.
'There are no signs of any other ships in the vicinity,' Lance said.
'This would be a good time to explain what's going on,' Mitchell said.
'And it better be good,' Dobree growled.
Keith gave him a death glare and remained silent. Lance jumped in and told them everything that had been happening from the first non reality to now and what they suspected.
'Your plan was to come and steal a ship and go to the Castle of Lions to find out what's going on?' Mitchell said.
'Basically,' said Lance. 'As far as we knew, we'd been dumped by the Garrison. If that was the case, we wouldn't have been believed.'
'I can assure you right now, that is not the case,' said Mitchell. 'I will certainly be questioning why there was no follow up done with you. Earth is relatively new to space travel and aliens, and the two of you are a great resource of knowledge. Not to mention Mr Kogane's valuable insight being an alien himself.'
'How do you expect to get into the Castle?' asked Dobree.
'We're meeting mum near the moon,' said Keith. 'I asked her to bring Blade members and suits.'
'And who are these two?' asked Dobree.
'My brother's, Luis and Marco. They followed us.'
They came up on the moon and slowed to a stop. Moments later they were alerted to another ship in the vicinity. It came in above them and docked. The docking ring opened and Krolia dropped through.
'What is going on?' asked Krolia.
Keith told her what they suspected. 'Hmm, that would make sense,' she said. 'Word amongst the Galran is the Princess has been seen with Lotor a lot, and worlds are breaking treaties and withdrawing their support from her.'
Another Galran dropped down into their ship.
'This is Stret,' Krolia said. Stret was tall, muscular, and looked like he could rip a person apart with his bare hands. 'My son, Keith and his mate Lance.'
'I expected him to be bigger,' Stret said.
'Do not underestimate him,' said Krolia. 'He is capable of beating even you.'
'Hmm.' Stret studied him like he was some interesting lifeform never seen before.
Keith introduced everyone else and ignored Stret.
Krolia moved to one side with Keith and Lance. 'How did you know I could get here?'
'You came to Earth before somehow,' said Keith. 'We figured you had a ship with unusual capabilities.'
'Zarkon found an ore similar to that used in Voltron,' she said. 'The ship I stole when I left was the only one made from it. Instead of creating a wormhole, it folds space so you can travel from one location to another without being detected.'
'That would have given him a huge advantage in battle,' Keith said.
'Yes. It'd been used a couple of times with devastating consequences. I couldn't let it continue, so I stole the ship and headed as far away from Zarkon as possible.'
'We need to get into the Castle,' Lance said, as they moved back to the others.
'We could get in close then use the suits to get over there,' she said. 'There's still a risk we'd be detected.'
'Not if we hack their system and make it look like it glitches,' said Keith. 'If we get access to the security cameras, we can see who's involved.'
'And how do you expect to do that?' asked Dobree. 'From memory you were a fair pilot, but no tech wiz.'
'Fair pilot?' asked Lance. 'He's the best damn pilot the Garrison has seen.'
'Is that what he told you...'
'General, that's enough,' said Mitchell. 'I am well acquainted with Mr Kogane's excellent piloting abilities.' Dobree clamped his mouth shut. ' You're sure about hacking into the system?'
'Yes, sir,' said Keith. 'It's not the first time we've done something like this.'
Mitchell nodded. 'Let's get on with it.'