It had a while since we left Eaeth, during all the battles we've encountered with the Galra, I couldn't stop thinking about Honerva and the Dark One.
How would I be able to save her?
"Zurine." I heard Keith said over the comms, "You okay, you've been silent for a while."
I turned towards the screen showing Keith with a worried expression on his face.
I smiled and shook off my previous thoughts.
"I'm fine, Keith. I just have a lot on my mind." I said.
"You can talk to us if you want."
"I know."
"Guys, we're approaching the target. Prepare to engage." Shiro said.
Keith nodded and opened a channel to the Galra base we were set to hit.
"This is the Voltron Coalition. Lay down your arms and--"
"Open fire!" The Galra in charge ordered.
The base began to fire at all of us.
"Well, that didn't take long!" Lance said.
We flew back towards the Atlas while the ship activated its particle barrier.
"Fighters launching! Six o'clock low!" Hunk shouted as we flew towards the attackers.
"Remember, shoot them down if needed, but but try to avoid collateral damage on the ground." Keith said.
Suddenly, the Atlas fired at the base, giving a direct hit on the base. I changed form to the moon and went to aid the rebels who had just come in to fight.
"Paladins, I'm going to aid the rebels. Will you be all right without me for a few minutes?" I asked.
"We'll be fine, Zurine. Do what you need to do." Allura said. I smiled and flew back towards the rebel ships.
I activated the jaw blade and sliced some of the fighters attacking as Matt and his crew hopped out of the rebel ship to detonate a part of the base.
"Matt, how's it going on your end?" I asked.
"We're on track, Zurine. It should go off in about three, two, one." As soon as Matt said one, the base began to pulse, emitting a powerful pulse shock wave that cute out all power to the base.
I smiled happily at the successful rebel mission, but something seemed off.
All of a sudden, a rain of lasers showered over the Atlas, but thanks to the particle barrier surrounding the ship, the Atlas was procted for the time being.
"Does anyone have eyes on where these lasers are coming from?" Shiro asked.
"I'm not seeing anything on my scanners. Trying to locate point of origin now." Pidge informed.
"Allura, use the Blue Lion to help." I said.
"I'm on it." She replied.
The Blue Lion shone brightly for a moment before a large sonar cannon appeared on its back.
Large sonic waves erupted from the cannon, taking in any all things clokaed or not in the area.
"I've got visual on two cloaked cannon satellites." Allura said.
"Great job, Allura." I praised.
"How did we miss those?" Hunk asked.
"It looks like we wormholed right past them." Pidge answered.
"Paladins, on me! Form Voltron!" Keith shouted.
My body relaxed at the familiar feeling of all six lions fomring the great warrior and standing proudly to defend the universe.
I changed into my sun form and added extra power to Voltron as we towards the cloaked satellites.
Keith and Lance inserted their bayards, creating the larger wings and shootingus closer to the satellites.
Everything was a blur as our swords cut through the satellites so easily.
"Great job making quick work of those satellites, Paladins. We've successfully gained control of the base." Shiro praised.
With the base secured, we quiclly rushed the holding cells where all the prisoners were being restrained.
I helped heal a few, but there only so much I could do after using my powers before in battle.
I was just about finished healing a young man, when I felt a strong hand touch my shoulder. I turned around and saw Keith smiling down at me.
"Zurine, Shiro says that we should go. There's someone we need to meet about the base." He said. I nodded, stood up and walked with him and rest of our friends into the base.
When we got to the main control room, several Garrison members who had joined us for the mission were standing inside, looking at the control panels and consoles.
Two of the members, Griffin and Kinkade, were standing with their guns in hand, pointing them at who appears to be the leader of this base.
"This one says he's the leader." Griffin said as the Galra turned around. Hunk suddenly smiled and gasped at thw dight of the Galra's face.
"Oh! Hey! Holy Kaltenecker! What are you doing here?" He asked, "It's me, Hunk. Remeber? Paladin of the Yellow Lion? We worked together."
"I remember." The Galra said blandly.
"Wait, you know this guy?" Keith asked.
"Yeah, from the Omega Shield. Oh, that's right, you were on a space road trip with your mom. Keith, this is our friend, Lieutenant Lahn." Hunk explained and introduced.
"It's Warlord Lahn now, and you and I are not friends." Lahn stated.
Hunk looked down in disappointment.
"Oh. Okay, uh... I guess I just thought we bonded by working together as a team to fix the Omega Shield and save your planet, you know? A Galra-occupied planet, no less. We saved it. It's cool. No big deal."
I looked from Hunk and up to Lahn, walking closer to him and staring straight into his eyes.
"There is no need to be so hostile and rude to my comrades, Warlord Lahn." I said.
"Sendak only attacked the Omega Shield after we pledged loyalty to Voltron. Then you disappeared and left us vulnerable to more attacks. I vowed to never let that happen again."
"It was not our intention to be gone for so long." Allura said, "But we're here now."
"To claim victory over us?"
"No!"
"We didn't come here to argue." Shiro said, "Warlord Lahn, we're asking you to join the Voltron Coalition to help provide stability to the universe."
"What's the alternative?" Warlord Lahn asked.
"If you want peace, if you want to end this war, there can be no alternative."
"You've attained victory, and I accept defeat."
"It doesn't have to be victory of death." Keith said, "I know It's the Galra way, but---"
"And what do you know of the Galra?"
Keith narrowed his eyes. I walked over to his side and grasped his hand tightly.
"My mother is Galra. She's a member of the Blade of Marmora. So am I." Keith said.
"The muntious Blades have all but perished. Are they so diminished in numbers that they're forced to enlist a half-breed and his mommy?" Lahn taunted.
I sighed and stared at Lahn, "A long time ago when I was young, your once great Emperor Zarkon aided in a treatment to save me from death. He didn't care about victory at the time, he cared about helping the daughter of a friend. You should not follow the way of the current Galra. Join the Coalition to bring peace."
Lahn was silent for a moment, until Pidge cut the silence after her communicator beeped.
"Guys, incoming communication." She said.
"Patch it through." Shiro said.
A red screen appeared in front of us with a voice communication link on it.
"Yordam bering exus." A distorted male voice said, repeating the three words over and over again.
"It's an emergency protocol built into the sentries when they're under distress." Lahn clarified before turning towards Kinkade, "Has your Voltron Coalition attacked them as well?"
"No, we didn't." Keith said.
"Pidge, see if you can reopen the hailing frequency." Shiro said.
"I'm trying, but no response." Pidge said.
"Wait, let me help you, Pidge." I said, rushing towards the console.
I pressed a number of keys and buttons, but even with my expertise on this type of technology, but the communication network was disabled in lost places.
"I've found the origin, but due to the EMPs we set off, the communcation systems are not functioning properly." I explained.
Suddenly, a rapid beeping reached our ears and the screen changed showing us a set of coordinates.
"We got a comm signature." Pidge said, enlarging the origin of the coordinates and turning backwards towards Lahn.
"Do you recognize this ship?" She asked.
"Yes, it's Klytax V-Three." Lahn answered, "It's one of the fifteen ships I sent on an assignment six phoebs ago. They all disappeared. We assumed them dead."
"It looks like they're not dead after all." Keith said, "We need to get out there. Shiro, how ling before the Atlas is ready to launch again?"
"Hours." Shiro said, "We still need to process all the Galra and prepare the planet to continue operating on its own. This is our mission. We need to see this through."
"The Voltron will go." Keith stated.
"Voltron is going to save the Galra?" Lahn scoffed, "My fleet would never believe Voltron was there to help. They'd fight you until their last breath."
"That's why you're coming with us." I said, surprising everyone in the room, "If your fleet were to see you the Paladins of Voltron, you can convince them to not attack."
With my logic, we had a plan to follow. We quickly loaded ourselves and Lahn into the lion's and combined once again to form Voltron.
Lahn was to sit and ride with Keith and Kosmo, something the wolf did not like in the slightest.
As we flew through space, I could hear Kosmo growling at Lahn.
"What was this fleet's mission when they left?" Keith asked.
"They were out gathering munitions." Lahn answered.
"Weapons? Were you buying or stealing them?" Allura asked.
"The Galra Empire is at war with itself. We have to do what we can to survive. But if you must know, they were salvaging weapons from an abandoned Galra base."
"I have visual." Pidge said.
I finally looked up and saw a glowing light in front us surrounded by broken pieces of debris.
Right in front of this light was the ship we had been searching for.
"Everyone, stay alert." Keith said.
"What happened here?" Lance asked.
"Uh, Warlord Lahn, didn't yoy say there were fifteen cruisers?" Humk asked to confirm, "Where are the rest of them?"
"I'm not detecting any signs of life or biorhythms on the closest two ships, but there are some signals coming from the ship at the end." Pidge informed us.
"That's Klytax V-Three, where the call came from." Lahn said.
Keith opened a communication channel to the ship and tried to get an answer, but there was nothing. Only static hissing until Lahn asked for confirmation
But the answer we got in return were the three words from our previous communication call.
"Whoever's in there, we need to find them and get them out." Keith said.
"If I can access the ship's security network, we should be able to find out what happened here." Pidge said.
"Paladins, Lahn and I are gonna head in first to make sure the entry point is safe. Yoy guys jetpack in behind us." Keith said.
"Copy!" Everyone replied.
"Wait, Keith, let me go with you." I said already out of my seat.
"Are you sure, Zurine?" He asked..
"You'll need to extra power." I said.
I teleported myself to the entry point, wuickly followed by Keith, Lahn and Kosmos who had also teleported.
We looked around and saw multiple crates of supplies floating around us. But there was no one around.
"We're all clear. Lahn, open the airlock doors." Keith said.
Lahn did as told and opened the doors to let the rest of our team inside. Even though we were inside and eveything was clear, something about this place made me feel uneasy, as if someone was watching us.
"Pidge, are you picking up any signals?" Keith asked.
"There are multiple biorhythms, but they're intermittent, almost random. It doesn't make any sense." Pidge said.
"Pidge is right, something about this place is making me feel uneasy." I agreed.
"Okay, we'll need to split up to find any survivors." Keith said, "Hunk and Lance, clear the aft of the ship. I'll take the be and work my way toward you with Zurine. Pidge and Allura, take Lahn to go through the security logs. Find out what happened here."
"I don't like taking orders on my own ship." Lahn stated annoyed by Keith taking charge.
"Duly noted." Keith said.
We parted in different directions to find any survivors. As Keith, Kosmo and I went down the bow, we saw no one.
"Nobody's here." Keith said, "You still feeling uneasy?"
I nodded, hovering over to Keith and taking his hand, "Yes. What Pidge said about the random signals is putting me more on edge."
"You know, you could be stayed in the White Lion."
I smirked and leaned into his warmth, "What kind of Queen would I be if I had let my future husband go into a possibly dangerous battle without me?"
"But-"
"There are no excuses you could give me. I'm a part of this war, too. I will not stand by and watch as my friends and loved ones fight for the universe's freedom."
Keith smiled at me softly and pulled me along with him to continue searching.
As we went down the halls, we saw something completely unordinary and suspicious.
A large hole was drilled into the walls, smashing through each room and wall beyond it.
"What could have done this?" Keith wondered.
"Something large and very dangerous." I said. Suddenly, my bidy tensed when a banging sound eruoted in the distance.
We turned towards the banging and quickly but quietly went to check to out.
When we turned the corner, we saw the remaims of Galra sentries and one sentry still active but stuck in the forcibly closed doors.
We came closer to the sentry and saw multiple claws marks on the door.
While Keith worked on getting the sentry out of the door, I gently brushed my fingers over the claw marks.
Just as I touched the marks, a vision came to me. A large dealy creature with armored shoulders and powerful limbs attacked the ship.
"Guys, be on the lookout for a giant, deadly monster." Pidge said over the speakers, breaking me from my vision.
"We believe it's what attacked the crew. Avoid at all costs." Allura added.
"Lance, Hunk, do you copy?"
The two paladins didn't respond with a 'copy' but instrad with a loud scream. However after a moment, they responded with an okay.
"Keith, Zurine, we just contacted Lance and Hunk. They saw something. Be advised..." Pidge said before the comms crackled and the signal was lost.
"Keith this is bad." I said.
"I know. Let's just focus on getting out of here." He said, leading us down the halls.
Suddenly, we heard something down the hall.
"Hello?" Keith called out.
"What are you?" A male voice asked. We looked further down the hall and saw a sentry repeating the question.
"My name is Keith, leader of Voltron. Amd this Zurine. We're Paladins of the Black and White Lions." Keith said, but got no response.
"Wait. Yordam bering exus." I said, "Is that you?"
"Where are the rest of the Galra?" The sentry asked.
"They're still on planet Ryker. Why?" Keith asked, pushing me behind him slightly as we etched closer towards the sentry.
"Planet Ryker." My eyes widened at the slight change of voice. My instincts told me to move. And so, I followed them.
"Keith move!" I shouted. I pushed Keith out of the way as the sentry was pulled away, revealing a large beast behind it.
The beast threw the sentry at me, I quickly summonded my bayard, turning it into a sword and slicing through the sentry.
We sped off down the halls go escpae the beast, but there was more to it than meets the eye.
A bright light shone from the beast as it shot out a powerful laser from its mouth.
Kosmo quickly teleported to dodge it, while Keith and I used our shields block the attack.
However, the blast was too strong. We screamed as our shields broke and we were slammed into the farther wall.
I opened my eyes first and saw another attack heading our way. I pushed Keith away again, separating us as the laser shot straight through the walls.
Keith powered through towards the beast, but the beast dodged his attack and was ready to take Keith from behind. Luckily, Kosmo appeared and teleported Keith away, leaving me behind with the beast.
The beast turned around and headed straight towards me. In an instant, I felt pain in my lower leg, a sharp stinging pain.
I didn't want to look down when I smelled copper, because i had to get out of there. I focused my powers and teleported to the main control deck where the others were.
As I reappeared, I was surrounded by friends.
"Oh, Zurine that goodness you're here!" Allura exclaimed before looking down at my bleeding leg.
"Zurine, your leg-"
"Nevermind my leg, I can heal it. We have more important matters. The ship is moving and that beast seems to be hunting something." I said, bending down to begin healing my injured leg.
"Right, Warlord Lahn, the base you sent this flert to plunder, was it Warlord Ranveig's?" Keith asked Lahn.
"Yes, it was." Lahn confirmed.
"Unbelievable." Keith muttered.
"Keith, what's going on?" Allura asked.
"The creature on this ship is a superweapon designed to destroy the Galra, and only Galra."
"Warlord Ranveig would never create such a thing." Lahn tried to defend.
"Ranveig found the creature in the Quantum Abyss and experimented on it with Lotor's Quintessense. He trained it to take out his Galran enemies, but... he could never control it. The beast cpuldnt differentiate between adversaries and allies."
"Wait, how do you know so much about this super-monster-weapon-thingy?" Lance asked.
"Because Krolia and I let it loose so we could escape Ranveig's base. This is all my fault. I'm sorry."
I frowned at the words Keith had said, but I do understnad. It was a mistake that I could tell Keith regretted.
Unfortunately, not all of us could see that.
"It's what you've wanted from the beginning." Lahn growled, "Something to get rid of the Galra for you."
"I don't know what it's gonna take to get it through your thick skull, but we're not your enemy." Lance said.
"Pidge, can you initiate the self-destruct protocol?" Keith asked, "We need to destriy this ship and the monster with it. And we need to to do it immediately."
"Okay, I'm on it." Pidge said beginning the protocol, "Once I initiate, well have two doboshes to exit the ship."
"Two hours?! Isn't thst too long?" Lance asked.
"Minutes!" We all corrected, but that only made Lance panic more.
Just then, we heard heavy breathing from behind us. We turned around and saw the beast above the door.
"Let's move!" Pidge shouted, but how couod we leave with this beast blocking our way?
In the beast's hand, was a broken head piece of a Galra sentry.
"All Galra must perish." The sentry said.
The beast roared and charged towards Lahn, who, thanks to Allura, was able to escape the beast's mighty jaws.
We made a break for the door, but just before Lahn, Keith and I could reach the door, it closed.
"We're locked inside." I said, pushing against the door.
"Keith! Zurine!" Allura shouted.
"We're coming for you!" Lance said.
"Stand away from the door!" Hunk said.
We did as told amd stood away from the door but turned around to face the now attacking beast.
The beast set its sights on Lahn, and went for the attack, but I was quick and shoved Lahn out of the way, then summinded my shield and my powers of the moon to defend myself.
The laser shot at me pushed and slammed me against the wall hard. I groaned at the pain in my leg and back. Everything was fuzzy and distorted for a moment, but I was able to see Keith defending Lahn with his bayard. Which had surprisingly had transformed into a blaster.
The beast was shot into the console and disabled for a moment. I saw Keith rush towards me and hold me in his free arm.
"Paladins, clear the hall. We're comimg through." Keith said, aiming his blaster at the door.
He shot straight through and we all raced to escape the detonating ship.
"Ten ticks!" Pidge counted down.
"The cargo bay where we entered is the nearest exit point." Allura said.
Just then, we coudl hear explosions and roars coming from behind us.
We looked behind us and saw the beast rushing towards us as we made to the cargo bay.
"Five ticks, we'll never make it!" Pidge shouted.
"Keith, your bayard!" I said. Keith nodded, aimed his weapon at the bay door and fired, making a vacuum hole that sucked us out of the ship and trapped the beats inside.
I screamed and yelled as I was sucked into space and separated from Keith, but my lion grabbed me just the others did for their paladins.
I sighed in relief as we headed back to the base. When we got back, Lahn gathered the entire base and made a speech.
"The Galra Empire may be decimated, but its warriors are still needed to maimtain stability." He said, "Twice the Paladins of Voltron have risked their lives for me, and yet I questioned their intent. I was wrong. I pledge loyalty to a United front with the Voltron Coalition. And I encourage you all to do the same."
I smiled happily as the crowd cheered at tge proclamation.
Later on, we gathered on the Atlas to go over what we had from the cruiser we had just destroyed.
"I downloaded some intel from,that cruiser." Pidge said, "There might be another one of Honvera's beasts out there."
"Another one?" Lance asked.
"This is just what I feared." Allura said, "Shiro, we need to adjust our mission's objective and track down where these things are coming from."
Shiro, conflicted by the decision, turned towards Pidge for an answer.
"How certain are you that it's a Robeast?" He asked.
"I'm not positive, but according to the message logs, some Galra have spotted a giant robotic mech that fits the description. The logs even refer to a smimiar weapon."
"If that's the case, then another Altean may be piloting the mech." I said.
"And that is why we must investigate." Allura said.
"Thousands of innocent souls are waiting to be liberated from what remains of the Galra Empire." Shiro reasoned, "We can't just change course."
"Maybe you don't have to." Keith said.
"Keith, what are you saying?"
"We'll split up. The Atlas will continue working with the Galra, while Voltron searches for Honvera and her beasts."
"You'll be out there on your own, without backup." Shiro said.
I smiled and grabbed Keith's hand as the rest of out team smiled reassuringly.
"We'll be okay." I said, "Voltron is stornger now more than ever."
It was amazing to feel out powers grow stronger, but something in the back of my mind was bugging me.
A strange wave of power washed over me, and a sudden sense of dread and malice followed.
The Dark One. I could tell that the feeling was coming from Honerva and the dark quintessence she held within her.
It gave me all the more reason to fight harder to end this war and save Honvera from this darkness.