A/N: I'm using Venusian orbit periods (years) as the Altean equivalent of orbit periods(years). So Lance's age is in Venusian years. In case anyone's interested, I'm using the calculator on this website to get that data: http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/age/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Allura saw the ion cannon fire mere instants before it struck the Castle's particle barrier directly. Flames and smoke filled all the view screens but thankfully the barrier held, for now.
"The particle barrier is down to 60%, your highness," Coran called from his position by the weapons panel.
"Only 60%?" Allura gasped. "That shouldn't be. The particle barrier should hold against a blast like that for much longer."
Coran shook his head and looked over his shoulder at her with distress visible on his face. "Maybe 10,000 decaphoebs ago that was true," he said. "The paladins are right. We're working with outdated information." He turned back to the large main view screen and swallowed nervously. "I fear the Galra's technology has not only advanced but given a power upgrade as well." The smoke and flames vanished, revealing the damaged Galra battlecruiser hovering a couple klicks away from the Castle close to the surface of Arus. "We can only hope it still takes a while for that cannon to recharge or we're goners," he said.
Allura clenched her jaw and glared at the battlecruiser hatefully. "Not yet, we're not," she hissed. She opened a channel to the Lions and spoke. "Paladins," she said, "I'm going to lower the particle barrier. On my mark, I want all of you to fly to the Galra battlecruiser and form Voltron. I'll raise the barrier as soon as you're all clear of the Castle."
"Princess!" Coran cried in dismay.
"Coran and I will give you cover fire with the Castle's defenses," Allura continued, ignoring his advisor's voice. "But you'll have to act fast. We aren't back to full power yet." She bit her lip. "As it is, the particle barrier can only withstand two more direct hits from the Galra's ion cannon. You'll have to form Voltron before the Castle's barrier is fully depleted. If you don't," she gripped the control towers by her side, "then we've lost before we've even begun."
"Allura," Lance's voice said through the communicator. He sounded nervous. "You can trust us," he said loudly, determination filling his voice.
Allura felt a lump form in her throat. Knowing Lance, he was probably afraid but fighting past it with the same proud bluster he showed in every aspect of his life. For Lance's sake, Allura hoped they could win this battle. She refused to lose her brother when he'd only just returned. She hadn't even seen him yet. Lance hadn't seen their father's memory core.
That thought filled the princess with resolve and cold, calm fury. The Galra had taken practically everything from her. They had defeated her people, murdered her father, indirectly forced her to sleep for 10,000 decaphoebs, and were now on the verge of possibly murdering her brother and her new paladins. They were her responsibility. She would protect them with everything she had. The Galra would not win this.
She smiled grimly. "I do trust you Lance," she said. "Now fly out there and make me proud. On my mark."
"We're ready, princess," Shiro's voice declared boldly.
Allura's grin grew. "Mark!" she shouted just as she lowered the particle barrier.
She saw the five Lions flew out of the main hanger into the airspace visible on her view screen. The moment they were clear, she raised the barrier again. Just in time too. Another blast from the Galra's ion cannon impacted the particle barrier a split-tick after it had reformed. Alarms began blaring as the entire Castle shuddered.
"The barrier is down to 30%," Coran declared. "Ready to fire on your command, princess."
Allura removed her hand from the control towers and spread them out over the holographic map hovering directly in front of her. It gave her a three-dimensional view of the battlefield. She was the Castle, and the Galra battlecruiser hovered on the other side of the map new a raised hill by the sea shore. The topography of the holographic map raised in jagged edges indicating differences in altitude and surface type.
She pointed at the battlecruiser, indicating several points on the ship she wanted to be struck by the Castle's weapons. The Castle didn't have enough power currently to give a directed blast from its primary weapon without wasting precious ticks charging. They would have to rely on the secondary weapons: blasters of equal power and magnitude to the Lions' mouth guns. Unfortunately, with the Castle's systems still not fully functioning after it 10,000 decaphoeb long slumber, the accuracy of the targeting system was likely compromised. Be that as it may, that didn't mean Allura wouldn't give it her best shot.
She may not have her brother's ability as a sharpshooter, but she was a decent shot. She may miss her intended target, but she would make sure to cause as much collateral damage as possible. The Galra would lose this fight if it killed her.
She glared at her chosen targets glowing blue on the holographic Galra battlecruiser and squared her shoulders. "Fire," she commanded.
Coran obediently unleashed the Castle's fury. Most of the targets were missed, but not by much. The damage to the battlecruiser was still notable and with the Lions attacking it as well, it was only a matter of time until the ship was no longer airworthy. Her brow furrowed at the image. She watched as her paladins darted around the Galra battlecruiser on her holographic targeting map in bewilderment.
Why hadn't they formed Voltron yet? Why were they all attacking as separate entities?
She moved to open a channel when a voice interrupted her.
"Coran."
It was Lance.
"I'm here, Lance," Coran replied, making sure the Castle guns maintained as much accuracy as they could manage while avoiding the ever moving targets that were the Lions. "A bit busy, but I'm here."
"I know I'm not Allura," Lance began.
Allura blinked in confusion.
"But I need you to follow my commands as if I were her, alright?"
"Lance wha-"
"Not now, Hunk," Lance cut off the yellow paladin quickly.
"Please Coran, I need you to trust me right now."
Coran turned to Allura who looked just as flabbergasted as her advisor. She opened her mouth to speak when Lance chimed in again.
"I'm sorry Allura's dead," Lance said and Allura gasped in shock. "And I know I'm not the ideal, but right now I'm all we've got."
What the quiznak was going on here? Allura thought wildly.
"Please," Lance continued. "I'll explain everything when we defeat these fraking bastards."
Allura flushed furiously at her brother's language but remained quiet. She was beginning to suspect Lance was saying more than he was letting on.
"I need you to trust me right now," Lance said. "Can you do that?"
Coran looked at Allura for permission. Still confused but willing to wait and see how this turned out, Allura nodded. She hoped she wouldn't live to regret this decision. She could always punish her brother later either way.
"I shall endeavor to do my best," Coran said.
"That's all I need," Lance said sounding relieved.
"I sure hope that boy knows what he's doing," Coran muttered after closing the open channel.
Allura bit her lip, silently agreeing with her adviser. But she couldn't afford to dwell on this little wrinkle though. Right now, she had a Castle to protect and a burgeoning rebellion to spark. She dropped her gaze back to the holographic targeting map and began picking out more targets, taking care to trajectory choose paths that would hopefully have the least impact on her paladins' movements.
~~XxX~~
Lance swerved, executing a perfect roll as one of the Castle's blue bursts of energy skirted past him. He shook his head. Cutting it a bit close there, sis, he thought. Blue grumbled in agreement but continued the fire enthusiastic blasts at the battlecruiser.
He'd taken a risk talking to Coran over the open channel, but he hoped it would pay off. If the Galra had somehow hacked their communications, which was a legitimate possibility since the channel they were currently using to talk to the Castle wasn't secured or encrypted, then they heard Lance confirm Allura's death. Coran sounded confused and Lance could only imagine how bewildered his sister was right now, but thankfully Coran hadn't questioned him. Neither had the other paladins; that had been his biggest worry. However, his fellow paladins seemed to focus on another, more pressing issue at the moment.
Lance listened to his fellow paladins talk to each other over the open channel and bit his lip. He'd refused to drop the video feed from Keith's Red Lion preventing anyone else from cutting in. He wasn't sure if revealing the red paladin's heritage in the middle of a fight against the Galra was a good idea. What they needed to do was form Voltron, defeat these bad guys, and get back to the Castle in one piece. Thing was, no one actually knew how to form Voltron. Worse, they all were operating under the misguided belief that Lance knew how to operate Voltron. How laughable was that?
"Look guys," Lance said in growing frustration. "For the last time, I do not know how to form Voltron. I wasn't a paladin until now. I talked to the previous paladins, sure. I was even friends with a few, flirted with all of them. Three even reciprocated." He grinned when he heard Keith's audible growl through their video feed. "But they never told me how to form Voltron. I got the feeling it wasn't something that could be learned so much as just... done."
"Well that's helpful. Not. How are we supposed to do this then?" Pidge demanded, firing a blast at the Galra that seemed more out of frustration than accuracy since it did little damage.
"No idea about that, but I do think you should be aware of those fighters over there," Keith said, turning his Lion around to bat away a small fighter that had somehow snuck passed his guard.
"Fighters?" Shiro gasped.
"I'll try taking out that ion cannon thing," Hunk declared, flying his Yellow Lion straight at the giant gun. "You guys cover me."
"We're on it," Pidge said, flying his Lion around the Yellow Lion and biting down on a fighter that had been encroaching on his friend. "We'll cover your butt, Hunk," he said with a snicker.
"Why do I detect sarcasm in that statement?" Hunk said despairingly.
This was followed by a grunt of surprise. Lance glanced at the map on his right view screen and saw the Yellow Lion flying wildly out into space.
"Hunk," he called. "Hunk, are you alright?"
The yellow paladin made a few sounds that indicated quite clearly that he was not alright. Lance winced in sympathy. "I guess that thing has a shield," he said.
"Great, just great," the green paladin whined. "Not what we needed right now. Hunk, you had better not be hurling in that Lion. I am not cleaning up your vomit."
"Guys," Shiro said. "Calm down. Let's try working together. Maybe if we sync up or something, Voltron will just form, and we can take care of the ion cannon then."
"Right," Hunk said doubtfully, obviously still trying to keep from throwing up. "And you know this, how?"
Shiro sighed heavily. "I don't know," he admitted. "But it's the best idea I've got. Unless anyone else has any suggestions."
"Not suggestions," Keith said, speaking up for the first time. "But the fighters are definitely getting more aggressive." Lance saw Keith grin and lean over his controls eagerly. "They're getting desperate. That's a good thing, I guess."
Lance turned his Lion to face the oncoming fighters and groaned. "And how is that a good thing?" he grumbled. "I'm not exactly fit for accurate target practice at the moment, in case you forgot."
"I thought you of all people would jump at the chance to shoot some Galra outta the sky," Pidge said.
Lance glanced at Keith in his side view screen with a grimace. "Let's just say I'm down an eye right now and leave it at that," he said.
"Down an- What?" Shiro gasped.
"Lance?! What the hell are you talking about?" Hunk demanded urgently.
"Nice going, idiot," Keith said. "That's the perfect way to freak anyone out."
Lance glared at Keith's image.
"He's got a black eye," Keith explained to the others. "It's swollen shut right now. Calm your smegs and focus on the fight."
"Smeg?" Shiro said in surprise.
"Smeg?" Hunk parroted in confusion. "What is that?"
"Ooh! Is that another alien curse word? Nice," the green paladin cheer, darting around a couple Galra fighters so the Yellow Lion could literally smash them flat against the battlecruiser's damaged hull. "Consider it added to my lexicon."
"Pidge, please don't," Shiro said, sounding like a tired father.
"I do what I want," Pidge chirped. "You're acting like an old man. Spoil sport."
Lance blinked, then began cackling. "Old man," he gasped breathlessly. "Oh, oh frell. Shiro is an old man. That's hilarious. Alright, that's it. Shiro, you are now officially dubbed Space Dad."
"No!" Shiro cried. "Definitely not."
"I'm not against it," Keith said mildly on Lance's side.
"Space Dad," Pidge cheered.
"Face it, Shiro," Hunk said with an audible smile. "You're officially Space Dad now."
"Oh my god," Shiro groaned. "Lance, you're technically older than all of us put together."
"Semantics," Lance said, waving his hand with a charismatic smile. "I may be technically older but I'm actually only thirty-four Altean decaphoebs old, almost thirty-five. My birthday was in just a few quintants. Besides, I look younger than all of yo-"
"Guys?" Keith broke off Lance's boastful rambling with an expression of growing horror on his face. "LOOK OUT!"
The sky glowed a brilliant purple hue as the dreaded ion cannon fired at the Castle of Lions once again. No. They hadn't been able to form Voltron. They hadn't been able to stop it. They hadn't been able to do anything. They had five giant, powerful Lions, and all they could do was watch helplessly as their one stronghold was attacked. They were useless.
"NO!" Lance screamed in dismay, watching in horror as the Castle's particle barrier took the full force of the direct hit and absorbed it, distributing the power around the Castle. For a moment, Lance held out hope that the barrier would hold. But with a bright flash, the particle barrier vanished. The Castle was defenseless. Coran.
Allura.
Unacceptable!
"Hunk!" he yelled into the speaker, ignoring how Keith winced in the video feed next to him. "The Yellow Lion has the strongest armor out of all the Lions in the pride. This is an order from the Sentinel of the Castle and the Prince of Altea: hit that fraking shield protecting the ion cannon as hard as you can. We'll back you up. Shiro!"
"Got it," the Black Lion's paladin said, taking charge. "Hunk, do as he says. The rest of you, concentrate your fire on the shield. If we can take that out, then we can destroy that cannon before it has a chance to destroy the Castle."
"Don't have to tell me twice," Hunk said.
Without another word, the Yellow Lion sped up towards the ion cannon at top speed just as the other four Lions fired a synchronized blast of energy at the shield. The purple shield, made of interlocking scale-like patterns, fritzed and sputtered under the onslaught. But it exploded in purple sparks when the Yellow Lion smashed into it with its entire body. It was a welcoming sight that had all the paladins cheering.
Their joy didn't last long, however. An alarm began wailing in the Blue Lion's cockpit a tick before Blue began shaking and shuddering. Lance looked up and cursed. By focusing their attention and fire power on the ion cannon's shield, the Lions had inadvertently gathered in a group that was directly within range of the battlecruiser's tractor beam which activated that very moment.
"No," Lance breathed, feeling fear gnaw at his heart. His chest tightened and he felt his grip on the Blue Lion's controls slip as his hands became sweaty and his body began to shake. "No," he said louder. "No. I won't be taken again. Quiznak you! I won't get captured again!"
He pulled back on his controls and felt the Blue Lion fight against the tractor beam with all her might. But it was no use. They continued to move up towards the battlecruiser. Lance screamed and continued to struggled against the pull.
"Lance!"
He caught his breath, feeling slightly dizzy. He was hyperventilating, he realized distantly. He felt detached and yet completely present. He was having a panic attack.
"Lance, look at me!"
Reacting instinctively to the spoken command, Lance turned to the side view screen where Keith was staring at him. Lance could see the eerie purple glow in the Red Lion's cockpit through the video feed and knew the halfbreed had also been caught in the tractor beam.
"Lance, listen to me," Keith said, grunting as he held onto his Lion's controls with all his strength. "We won't get captured again, I promise. Remember what you said when we rescued those prisoners?"
Lance was still breathing hard and his thoughts were jumbled and racing too fast for him to think clearly. He shook his head in short, quick movements.
"You said you'd kill me before they caught us, if that's what I wanted," Keith said.
Lance swallowed over his dry throat and nodded. He vaguely remembered that.
"I said I would prefer that," Keith continued. "I'll kill you too if you want me to." The halfbreed flashed Lance a weary smile. "I mean, it's not like I could live long without you anyway."
A fluttery laugh escape the Blue paladin's mouth, the faintest hint of hysteria tinging its edges.
"No!" Shiro shouted angrily. "No one is dying today. We can't die today. Not now. We are the universe's only hope. If we lose this, the Galra will win and everyone we love will die. We won't lose. I refuse to lose. I refuse!"
"Then," Hunk said hesitantly, "what do you want us to do?"
"Fight it," Shiro commanded. "Don't let them win. We're stronger than this. We can do this. We won't lose. Not today. Not ever!"
A flood of blue tinted energy suddenly overwhelmed Lance's mind, drowning him and sustaining him. For that miraculous moment, he was the Blue Lion. And boy was she pissed. She looked up at the tractor beam's origin and gave a deafening roar of defiance echoed by her fellow Lions. The pride would not be captured today.
Purple energy began to fill the pipe leading to the battlecruiser's ion cannon as it began to power up. One more shot from that and the Castle of Lions, every Lance knew and loved, everything, would be blown away. He would be alone. Forever. He didn't want to be alone. Blue growled in his mind. She wouldn't let him be alone.
With a power Lance never knew the Lions had, the pride broke free of the tractor beam and began to fly in formation. The blue energy surrounded the Blue Lion, enveloping both him and his Lion until all he could see and hear was blue. The Blue Lion was flying, he realized in shock. Lance wasn't in control, Blue was. He released the controls and watched in wonder as his Lion changed its form. Blue darted down underneath the Black Lion and next to the Yellow Lion, jolting into place. His Lion rumbled in approval and the blue energy faded leaving Lance dazed and disoriented as if he was coming down from a high from eating too many juniberries at once.
He blinked and realized his screens had shifted slightly. Keith was still visible in his left side view screen and the coordinate map with its many flashing signals was still lit and demanding his attention on the right view screen. But the main view screen now showed a gigantic Altenoid robot in the lower left corner with glowing indicators surrounding it. One flashed the amount of damage they had taken: none so far. Another series of letters indicated the greatest possible power output they were currently capable of dishing out, and another few circle charts glowed, showing the synchronization rate between the paladins and their Lions, as well as the paladins and each other.
But what captured Lance's full attention was the Altean letters scrawled above the Altenoid robot's schematics in bright, vibrant blue: Voltron.
"We did it," he breathed. "We did it." He laughed. "We did it!"
"Holy shit!" Pidge cried.
"Incredible," Keith said, an ecstatic smile on his face.
"We formed Voltron!" Shiro exclaimed in surprised disbelief.
"I'm a leg!" Hunk cried joyfully.
"Stop that cannon!" Shiro shouted.
Lance snapped to attention and pushed his controls, powering Voltron up to the Altenoid robot hit the battlecruiser's hull and kept pushing. The sky turned purple again and Lance feared the worst. He quickly scanned his coordinate map view screen and laughed in relief when he saw the Castle's bold turquoise signal still pulsing with life. It was still there. Allura was still there. Coran was still there. His home was still there.
They'd done it. They'd saved the Castle and everything Lance loved. Blue grumbled in his mind and Lance chuckled. Well, if they'd lost the Castle, Lance honestly doubted they would've won this battle and the Galra would have separated him and Blue. The Lion snarled but grudgingly agreed with that logic.
They'd saved the Castle. Now it was time to end this. Apparently everyone else was of the same mind.
"Alright guys," Shiro's voice came over the speakers, eager and excited. "Let's do this!"
"Oh yeah!" Pidge shouted.
Together, the paladins flew Voltron up above the battlecruiser and fired a blast from the Red and Green Lions which currently served as Voltron's right and left arms respectively. Lance, as the right leg, helped keep the robot balanced with Hunk, the left leg. Voltron flew straight at the hateful ion cannon, grabbing it and ripping it right off the battlecruiser in the middle of its power up cycle. The resulting overload of energy that no longer had anywhere to go exploded. Voltron tossed the ion cannon, now a useless piece of space junk, into the ocean where it would sink and be crushed by the water pressure, never to be used again.
Next, Voltron pounced on the battlecruiser's thoroughly damaged hull and punched a hole right through the top with its right arm, the Red Lion, and fired a beam of energy from the Lion's mouth once it was inside the hull. The beam burst through the metal, piercing all the way through the hull and blowing it to smithereens. Voltron did the same maneuver with its left arm, the Green Lion, firing a similar blast from that Lion's mouth directly into the command tower of the battlecruiser.
The giant, intimidating Galra battlecruiser no longer resembled a spaceship capable of decimating its enemies. It was now an exploding, burning pile of crumbled metal. Or it was for all of three ticks. Then it was an enormous fireball that shone brighter than the planet's parent star for several ticks before the remaining bits and pieces of smoking debris fell like sad rain to the planet's surface and ocean.
"Woah," Keith's voice murmured in awestruck wonder through the open communications channel.
Lance nodded in agreement, currently speechless by the sight.
"Guys," Hunk said softly. "I-I think we won."
"I... Yeah I think we did," Pidge agreed, sounding just as stunned.
"We did it," Shiro said, a smile in his voice. "We won."