Everyone had been gathered in the base's large briefing room. On the Castle of Lions the main bridge played the role of command centre, briefing room, and cockpit in addition to its many smaller uses. In contrast, the Blade's main briefing room was used for the sole purpose of preparing operatives for missions and doling out assignments, as well as the occasional meeting for strategy planning amongst the highest-ranking members of their order.
The large room was made of mostly the same dark metal utilized throughout the base, while also taking advantage of the natural rock formations, given that the base was carved deep into the heart of the asteroid. Each wall had thick metal beams as support structures holding up the metal ceiling, with the majority of the wall itself having been dug directly into the rock. Bands of purple light weaved their way across the metal floor making the main briefing room quite dim compared to the rest of the base, which itself was considerably dimmer than the Castle ship had been. Keith knew his eyes would be giving off a faint yellow glow in this room, allowing him to see clearly in the darker lighting. However, he could tell that Allura and all 4 of the Human Paladins were struggling. They were slowly migrating closer and closer to the screens in an attempt to see each other more clearly. Kolivan quirked a brow at him and Keith shrugged off their strange behaviour, joining his Leader as they approached the primary console.
In the centre of the large room was a low platform that held the large diamond shaped console with a flat interactive surface. The three walls not made of rock were actually screens on which intel needed for this, and any other mission, would be displayed. Two of these screens were only half the height of the room, while the centremost screen filled its wall fully. Underneath the side screens were large panels that opened up filing cabinets containing hard copies of all the Blade operative ID's, their missions, their codes, and more. After he'd passed his trials, Antok had taken him on a tour of all the places that had been restricted to non Blades, one of which was this briefing room. The Blade of Marmora's second in command explained the purpose of the files as well as their emergency protocols.
In the event of a security breach, the cabinets were to be opened and the room set ablaze, allowing all of the top-secret information to burn and protecting the identities of their undercover operatives. On the other hand, if their systems were to go down due to an outside force gaining remote technical access, then the documents in this room were the only connection they had to their operatives and hard earned intel. In that situation, all of their servers were to be destroyed, blocking the attacker from gaining any more information. These were the contingency plans that Kolivan had come up with, and they were just the tip of the asteroid – or 'iceberg' as the Human Paladins would say.
"This base was, until recently, run by an Empire Commander named Ranveig." Kolivan pulled up some information on the screens as he spoke, drawing the attention of their guests in the process. Without their helmets on, none of the Paladins would be able to understand a thing that Kolivan was explaining had it not been for Regris. The Blade's resident tech expert had developed, and implemented, a general translator for this room, similar to the ones the Castle-ship utilized, and it facilitated open communication between all present. Unfortunately, even he wasn't capable of creating a translator that allowed for instant visual translations of the text, charts, and graphs on the screen before them. This left the four Humans unable to follow along with any non-verbal information. Keith noticed Allura struggling to read modern Galran as well, and made a mental note to update the Castle's language archive. If anything, it would help Pidge with their experiments and programing.
After waking up this quintant, the entire team had chosen to switch into their casual clothing instead of their armour. All except Keith, who was now happily wearing his Blade suit for the first time in phoebs. Kolivan continued the debriefing by explaining the information displayed on the screens regarding Commander Ranveig's assignment. "He was developing a super weapon of some sort. We're not sure of the weapon's specs, but we do know that it is both incredibly powerful and dangerous."
"How did you learn all of this?" Allura piped up. "Are you sure you can trust the accuracy of your information?"
"We have a spy in Ranveig's camp who's managed to acquire high-level security clearance. She would never submit information that wasn't 100% accurate." Kolivan calmly addressed her concern and Allura gave a nod in reply, though her lips were still pressed tightly together. Keith rolled his eyes but Kolivan continued undeterred. "There are two Empire Commanders who have learned of the super weapon and are making plans to utilize it for their own glory. Commanders Trugg and Ladnok have blocked all incoming and outgoing communications rendering the base, and our operative, unreachable. The Commanders are ruthless and power hungry; a dangerous combination"
Keith stared at the official military identification images displayed on their screen, one for each of the two Commanders. Trugg was a tall and thin Galra with a shaven head, save for the long front locks that hung over her right eye covering half of her face. Ladnok was a broad woman who appeared to be of mixed heritage, though for her to reach the rank of Commander within the Empire, her 'imperfection' would have to be several generations back, deeming her mostly pure in their eyes. He felt himself scowling at the thought and looked up to find Lance watching him. Though Keith quickly cleared his expression, he had always struggled to maintain the perfectly stoic mask that Kolivan wore so well.
"In order to complete all three extractions as quickly as possible, we will need to divide you into two teams. The first task force is to infiltrate the base, extract our spy, and destroy Ranveig's weapon. This mission is of the utmost importance. If either Commander acquires this weapon, it could tip the balance of power in their favour. Keith -" Kolivan turned to him, a stern look on his face. "- you will be leading this mission. Be sure you do not allow your feelings to cloud your judgement."
"I wouldn't -" he tried to protest but was immediately cut off.
"You have in the past. Remember, the mission is the ONLY thing that matters."
Keith nodded at his words. "Emotions are a luxury we cannot afford." He replied out of habit, the mantra flowing almost robotically from his subconscious. The corner of Kolivan's eyes crinkled ever so slightly and Keith knew that was as close to a smile of pride that the reserved man would give him. While he'd become increasingly more accustomed to the Human's exaggerated displays of emotion, it was comforting to be back home, surrounded by his own people, and his own culture. He gave a curt nod in acknowledgment and turned his attention to the screens once again.
"This is the operative your team will be extracting. Her name is Krolia."
"HOLY KALTENECKER!! You guys seeing what I'm seeing? It's like a hot purple lady version of KEITH!" Lance squawked as his eyes bulged out of his annoying head.
Pidge snickered and Keith rolled his eyes. Arms folded across his chest with a huff, he leveled his gaze to glare at the Blue Paladin. "No shit moron, she's my mom." A round of gasps filled the room; the image of his pure Galra mother reminding them all that, while Keith may appear mostly Human, he's not.
Like Commanders Trugg and Ladnok, Kolivan had chosen to display Krolia's Empire Military Identification Image. She looked fierce, strong, and capable; Keith smiled at seeing her again, even if it was only a picture.
"The resemblance really is striking." Allura noted and her voice, though quiet, resonated in the calm room.
"Yeah" Lance cut in, quickly moving to her side and well out of striking distance from Keith, which the young Blade immediately found suspicious. He narrowed his eyes as the exuberant youth continued. "Guess bad hair styles run in the family, hey Keith?" he chuckled and the now irritated Red Paladin let out a sharp hiss of annoyance. Lance shrieked and jumped back, using the Princess as a shield.
A strong hand gripped his shoulder firmly and Keith felt the tips of Kolivan's claws as they dug into the muscle. The ensuing growl was enough to make him back down. Not that it mattered; he'd make Lance regret that comment later on the training deck. A devilish smirk crossed his face and he watched the Blue Paladin's throat bob as he swallowed nervously. Clearly, he was well aware of his impending doom.
"Kit, you will be taking the Yellow Paladin and two rebel fighters with you for this assignment. As I mentioned during your report, you are going as a Paladin of Voltron not as a member of the Blade of Marmora, is this clear?" Keith gave a nod to his leader and met Hunk's nervous expression with a soft smile.
"Hunk and I make a great team." The relief that washed over the larger boy was instantaneous, his face melting into a more relaxed and comfortable state. While incredibly capable when pushed, Hunk was perpetually reluctant to take up arms and rush into a dangerous mission. He needed the confidence boost.
"Yeah, yeah we got this! It'll be like training in the sims at the Garrison all over again!"
"Damn right!" He agreed, meeting Hunk's fist-bump in the space between them. Kolivan arched a brow at the odd, distinctly Human, exchange and Keith merely shrugged in return. "Leader, have you already called for the rebels?"
"I have. Captain Olia is sending two of her crew to assist. You will pick them up on a transit base located in the Uwary system." Kolivan answered without taking his eyes off the screen and Allura frowned in obvious frustration.
"Would it not be simpler to have them arrive here? We could include the rebels in our debriefings."
Kolivan, gaze still firmly fixed ahead, immediately shot down the Princess' suggestion, stressing the Blade of Marmora's dedication to secrecy and security. He pointed out that no one, no one, was permitted the coordinates of their main base under any circumstances, not even fellow Blades. One of the base's operatives would always be sent out to retrieve and escort any visitors, keeping them in the cargo hold of their pod until arrival to prevent anyone from finding their way back. Voltron was the exception, and even for them it was mostly Keith's presence that had persuaded Kolivan to grant them access.
"And what about the other two missions?" Shiro added, drawing the attention of the room back to the task at hand.
"Slav and Vaig are the others." Kolivan pulled their images up on the screen and Keith shuddered at the mere sight of the eccentric engineer. If there was anyone in the Universe who could claim to be more irritating than Lance, it was Slav. "One is locked away inside a deep security Empire prison, and the other will need to be extracted from a cruiser in Commander Trugg's fleet."
"Well that's convenient!" Hunk jabbed sarcastically. "I take it Keith and I are extracting both his Galra mom and this other guy?" Keith rolled his eyes and Kolivan gave a curt nod. "Cool, cool, cool. Yeah - no problem. That's only like, twice the amount of work, but we got this. Yeah, we totally got this." He'd roll his eyes again but honestly, it was just a continuation of the same roll.
Kolivan stared at the Yellow Paladin a moment, assessing whether or not he really 'got this' and was up for the task, before moving on to the final assignment. "The other three Paladins will be infiltrating the highest security prison in the Empire." A joint groan from Lance and Pidge met the announcement, but all Keith could do was try his damnedest not to laugh.
"Beta Traz?" He clarified with a barely concealed chuckle. "They've got Slav in quiznaking Beta Traz? That basket case couldn't find his way out of a jacket, let alone a prison complex."
"Slav is located in a solitary cell somewhere in the heart of the prison." Kolivan continued, completely ignoring the interruption. "He is a brilliant engineer and his recovery from the Empire is vital to ensure his genius is not used to further their advancements."
"Wait." Pidge interjected, adjust their glasses and squinting up at the screen. "Is this the same Slav that designed the gravity generator used at the Thaldycon base?" Kolivan hadn't even finished nodding before the tiny Green Paladin was 'whooping' in excitement. "Oh this is sweet! I can't wait to talk to him about his designs! Maybe even pick his brain about - "
"Paladin. Remain present." Kolivan scolded. "We must complete these missions as quickly as possible. If we are to have any hope of defeating Emperor Zarkon, we will need all the help we can get. You will be infiltrating the prison, retrieving Slav, and returning to base as quickly as possible. The longer you take, the greater the chances of failure. Keith: take the Yellow Paladin down to the weapons vault and meet with Yessek. He will provide explosives for your assignment."
Lance whined about also wanting explosives, and how it was unfair that only Keith got to use them. That is, until Kolivan death glared him and the boy disappeared into his jacket with a whimper. "I want explosives too, Lance. But anything we get from the Blades isn't going to work. Glara tech is genetically encoded remember? Without Keith, Shiro's arm is the only thing we've got that will interface with their systems." Pidge lamented and Lance shot back that Shiro was going with them; therefore they would be able to use the bombs. Keith rolled his eyes.
"You can't use what we don't quiznaking give you." He replied, his condescending tone just dripping with sass. A quick smack the back of the head paired with a low growl signaled Kolivan's disapproval.
"You are not being provided with explosives, as only Keith has received the proper training to use them. Since we are no longer being productive, this meeting is adjourned. Blue, Green, and Black Paladins: return to your quarters, Fayz will be along shortly to give you a basic tour of the places you are permitted while on base. Blade: you are dismissed with the Yellow Paladin to the weapons vault as discussed. Princess: please remain here for further negotiations." Kolivan's word was final, even Allura could sense that, and she gave a nod in agreement though Keith could see she was not pleased with being ordered around.
"What do you think is going to be on the tour?" Hunk asked, feeling the need to fill the silence with mindless chatter. Keith groaned.
"I don't know."
"He said 'basic' so like, what does that mean?"
"I don't know."
"Is it going to be like, the bathrooms? Or like, more training decks?"
"I. Don't. Know."
"You Galra really love your training and weapons so I bet there will be like – at least 3 more of them in the tour. Hey wait – how many training decks do you actually have on this base?"
"One on each level, and three on the main." Hunk stared back in silence and Keith groaned. "26, Hunk." The larger boy's jaw dropped to the floor as he gasped, clearly he did not expect the number to be so high.
They walked in silence for a few dobashes while Hunk processed this new information. 26 training decks and there was still usually a wait to use one. Keith mentally grumbled to himself. Having a decent sparring partner was one the things he had been looking forward to the most and the second best part about being back on base. The actual best part? His old room! Galran sleeping accommodations had been whispering his name through the halls; begging him to wander his way back to his old room, back to his old bed, back to the comforts of home the moment they arrived. Stars he'd missed sleeping on anything other than the hard slab the Alteans thought counted as a mattress. He couldn't wait to snuggle back into his pile of soft blankets again this night cycle; maybe he'd sneak a few onto the Castle ship with him. He'd tried to take some from Communications Base Thaldycon but they had a limited supply that Keith couldn't bring himself to empty. But the main base? They had storage rooms full of blankets. No one would notice if he took one – or two – or maybe three back to the Castle of Lions.
"Keith?" Hunk asked, poking him in the side and wearing a concerned look on his face.
"What?" he replied, his flat tone completely void of any emotion.
"I asked if you'd give me a tour since I'm missing the group tour."
"Oh – uh, yeah I guess."
"Can we start with the cafeteria?"
"How about we start with the weapons vaults? Since that's where we're supposed to be headed." Keith deadpanned. He increased their pace and heard the groans of protest from behind him.
Once they entered into the main area of the base, Keith activated the mask on his suit, blending in. He led the Human boy through the many corridors and passageways, passing by a seemingly never-ending supply of other Blades. Most stared quite obviously at Hunk, the first Human they had ever seen, but thought nothing of Keith's presence. It made him feel warm in his chest. He'd missed belonging. Every Blade wore their suits when traveling around the base and Keith was no exception. But since he hadn't lived on the main base in deca-phoebs, the majority of the residents didn't know what he looked like. Humans and actual Alteans were unlike anything they had ever seen.
At the Garrison he was the weird foreign kid who happened to be a hell of a lot more foreign than they knew. An actual alien trying desperately to adjust to the culture shock of life on Earth. On the Castle of Lions he was the Galra Paladin, the odd man out. The other Paladins were all Human and had their shared jokes, culture, and history, the Alteans had their own shared culture, and Keith had ... Red. But she was more than enough. Things had gotten better though. The others had started including him in more of their 'hangouts' and he'd even introduced them to Monsters and Mana. Coran had jumped at the opportunity to play the role of Lore Master and they'd all had a really great time – Pidge and Lance the most it seemed. Pidge said the role-playing game reminded them of a 'Dungeons and Dragons' from Earth, while Lance just liked pretending he was a ninja assassin. A term Keith had previously heard him use in reference to the Blades. The Cuban had stalked his way down the halls during the Castle's night cycle for an entire movement afterwards, insisting that the others call him Pike while he did so. It was weird, but also kinda funny and Keith had laughed at the Blue Paladins expense a few times.
Keith and Hunk continued down the halls until they came to a small, but important, freight elevator. Opening the gates he ushered the other inside and selected the 3rd level. Silence surrounded them during their decent until Hunk started humming the awful music that played in the Castle's elevators. "WHY?" he practically shouted, causing the Yellow Paladin to flinch and choke on his tune. "Why do you Humans insist on constant noise? Just enjoy the silence every once in a while. Damn!"
The rest of the elevator ride was very awkward.
He'd never really gotten along with Yessek, the older Blade being somewhat of a tight wad. Keith and Regris' constant pranks didn't help their dynamic much either, but he was happy to see the other in a position he clearly enjoyed.
Yessek looked right at home as the new weapons guard. He had a long list of important duties including:
Cataloguing all of the items in the Blade's arsenalAssigning weapons, ammunition, and explosives for missionsAnd most importantly; training Operatives on the proper use of their explosives
It was a position he obviously took very seriously and had insisted that Keith demonstrate his knowledge of the device before he would be permitted to take any. Naturally, the mischievous Paladin took the opportunity to detonate one of the smaller charges right then and there.
"Tell me that's a flash grenade!" Yessek panicked as Keith placed the device on the table.
"Okay ............. it's not though." He grinned wickedly and hit the timer giving them 5 tics to duck for cover before the explosion.
"STARS!! What the quiznak, Keith!" Yessek yelled; his claws jammed into his ears to stop the ringing. Keith was belly laughing under the table where he'd taken cover, the muffled sounds of the room coming into focus as he removed the impromptu protection of his palms from his own ears. Hunk had been told to wait outside since the vaults were a strictly Blade only area, but at the sound of the blast he had come bursting through the heavy doors, bayard in hand.
Since their mission was longer, Hunk and Keith had only been allowed to stay on base for one more night cycle before being ushered off bright and early the next quintant by Kolivan. Lance, Pidge, and Shiro were deemed 'unfit for missions' by Antok and found themselves on the training deck squaring off against a sparring partner each. Hunk would have been forced to join them if it weren't for the fact that they were leaving and needed to get some sleep. The Yellow Paladin has praised every deity he'd ever heard of for his good fortune in avoiding the 'training' their fellow teammates were now enduring.
Keith had only been able to catch the tail end of the 3rd round after returning from the vaults. But he was just in time to witness Shiro passing the authorization test. The man promptly joined him on the side-lines to watch the others.
Due to their role with the team, Pidge managed to take on only 1 opponent before being paired with Regris for a 'Hack-off' as they were calling it. Essentially, the first one to take over the other's tech was the winner. The catch was, they had to build their tech, program it, and defend it all while trying to take over and 'crash' the other's. Pidge had stars in their eyes and had eagerly accepted the task. It didn't take long before Regris' device was beeping in time with his cursing. Reg was the best damn tech the Blades had ever had – but NO ONE could have beaten Pidge. They had found the tiniest weakness in his defenses and exploited it until they were in and it was all over for Reg at that point. Pidge gloated as they bombarded his screen with their annoying dancing head animation, further frustrating him. After a few vargas the two had become more amicable, sharing tips and joking about lame techno stuff that Keith didn't understand. Though, he suspected Reg might still be slightly bitter for losing. Galra didn't handle defeat very well after all.
Lance was still on the training deck when Keith decided called it a night. The poor Human boy, dripping with sweat, had sparred his way through 9 opponents. But it wasn't enough for him to pass; he was still making sloppy mistakes and getting his ass handed to him. His sparring partners had praised his flexibility and reaction times, but ultimately it boiled down to the fact that the young Human just didn't have the combat training necessary to hold his own. Zavin had marveled at Lance's stamina, making some rather lewd observations that had even Keith blushing while Shiro had choked on his hydration pouch. He'd gone to bed as the older Galra praised the Blue Paladin for still having energy to spare after vargas of continuous training. No Galra could do that, not even Keith could last as long as Lance had.
The path in and out of the base only opened for 2 vargas every other quintant. The others would continue training until the path re-opened, at which time they'd be heading to Beta Traz to collect Slav. Since Coran and the Castle ship were not able to make it through the narrow path to the base, the other lions were still in their hangars and the Paladins would need to be flown to the Castle by one of the Blade pods. The path would then close and the Blade Operative would be trapped with Coran for two quintants until the path opened back up again. Allura had not been pleased about this, but Keith felt bad for which ever Blade was chosen to go – Coran would talk their ear off.
"Grab Yellow, I'll wait here and you can follow me to the base." Keith commanded as he deposited Hunk in the Yellow Lion's hangar, the treacherous path sealing behind them. "Coran, can you open up that wormhole with the extra 'essence of Allura' the Princess left in the system?" He called over the coms, receiving a rather visceral reaction from Hunk as the squeamish Paladin objected to his wording.
"You bet Number 4!" The eccentric Altean responded. "Wormholing in 3 ... 2 ... 1!"
Transit Base Uwary was tiny. One of the smallest outposts the Blade of Marmora had and located right on fringes of the Empire. Keith smoothly docked Red in one of the cargo bays, and watched as Hunk struggled to land the larger Yellow Lion beside him. A crowd had formed, having received word that two of the Voltron Lions would be arriving, and desperately wanting to see them and their Paladins.
He stepped out of his lion and approached the group, removing his helmet once the bay door sealed. His yellow eyes gave him away as half Galra and he gripped the outstretched forearm.
"I am Commander Senrok. Welcome, Red Paladin." Keith gave a curt nod in greeting. "We do not have translators on this base so your friend's helmet will need to remain on. I have been given strict orders from Kolivan himself that you are not to be delayed here longer than 2 vargas." Keith nodded his assent; he really wanted to get to his mom as quickly as possible anyways.
"Where are the rebels we are picking up?" he asked, scanning the hangar to see only Blades present.
"They arrived earlier this quintant and are in the kitchens having -"
"Kitchens? Keith, buddy! Did he just say kitchens? I think we should go there right now! Introduce ourselves to the rebels – maybe have a little snack - it's only polite!!" Hunk interrupted, eagerly starting off in the direction of the hangar's exit.
"Dude, we have rations in the lions."
Hunk paled and spun around to face the Red Paladin. "Rations are not food, Keith!" he argued, receiving an eye roll in response. One of the Blades present offered to escort Hunk to the kitchens while Keith spoke with Senrok. It took almost the entire 2 vargas allotted before Hunk returned, the rebels following behind.
Keith didn't recognize either of them, especially with their masks on. The one directly behind Hunk was hearing loose fitting dark blue pants, an orange and grey long sleeved top, and a mishmash of armour. Their chest plate was a lightweight metal strapped to their chest while another, larger plate, was hanging off their hip. They were bipedal and stood only a fraction shorter than Hunk, probably around the same height as Lance, with a slim frame.
The other was much taller, and built more like a stick than any living organism. They had long arms and legs, a narrow torso, and slim shoulders as well as a long, colourful tendril protruding from the top of their head. He'd met other members of this species before, but they were all half Galra and thus had a slightly curvier build. Mizor had lived on the main base where he'd seen him a few times, and one of Prince Lotor's Generals was a mix with this species as well.
"-ITH! KEITH! KEITH!" Hunk was chanting as he rushed across the hangar. The larger boy paused to catch his breath, nearly buckling over as his lungs burned with each intake. "OMG, Keith! Guess what I found! Another Hu-"
"Hey Loser." The first rebel said, cutting Hunk off and immediately pulling the agitated young Galra into a very tight hug. Keith hissed violently at him, trying to scratch and squirm his way free before the realization hit him. This rebel had spoken English. No one spoke English. He took a deep breath and confirmed theory – their scent was certainly familiar. "Damn you're a lot feistier than I remember."
"Matt?" He asked, his voice coming out all breathy from how tightly he was being squeezed. The rebel laughed heartily and released him.
"Duh!" He said, still laughing, and removed his helmet. The boy, the HUMAN boy, standing before him looked mostly the same as the last time they had talked. Except – something was different ...
"Cool scar. Come with a good story?"
"THANKS!!! And uh – not really. I got scratched by a tree branch while hiking through a dense forest. But give me a minute and I'll think of something all badass." Keith laughed at his friend, stars he'd missed Matt.
"You might have a few more on your arms now to match it." Hunk winced as Keith picked pieces of shredded fabric from his claws.
"Sweet! I can say I wrestled a highly trained Galra." Matt winked at Keith and he rolled his eyes. "OH, this is Pozzi. She's one of our best spies."
The rebel stepped forward and grasped Keith's forearm. "Pleasure." She spoke with a permanent smile on her face and a high-pitched bubbly voice that he was 100% certain was going to get real annoying, real fast. She reminded him a lot of the Prince's annoying General, though probably less sadistic.
Keith took command of the situation and delegated Pozzi to go with Hunk in Yellow, while Matt rode with him in Red. He bid farewell to Commander Senrok and they were back on their way. Without the ability to wormhole, it was going to take several vargas to fly out to Ranveig's base; plenty of time for old friends to catch up.
The scene that awaited them when they finally arrived was not what he had been expecting. Debris was scattered as far as the eye could see. The two fleets were locked in a brutal battle, Ladnok's forces on the brink of defeat. Suddenly Keith worried that getting to Vaig was going to be a lot more of a risk than getting to Krolia.
Keith reached over and pulled up his communicator to scan for the Blade frequency of Vaig's device, locating it near the engine room of a cruiser right in the centre of the chaos. He let out a heavy breath and opened up the line, giving the command to convene in a small cargo hangar in 5 dobashes, with Keith departing in a maximum of 20 dobashes. Vaig didn't respond, but Keith's communicator gave an alert that he had received the message. The only thing left to do was hope their operative made it to the rendezvous point within the window he had given.
"Hunk, take Yellow and land behind the large outcropping on the planet, keep out of range of the cruiser's ion cannons. Red and I will meet up with you in 20 dobashes."
"Or whenever you have Vaig?" Hunk clarified, misguidedly thinking the time was an estimated guess.
"No. With or without him." He replied to twin gasps on the other end. "20 dobashes, Hunk. Be ready." Keith ended the communication and brought Red into the hangar, activating her particle barrier as a precaution.
"That was cold." Matt commented. "We aren't really going to leave him behind, are we?" Keith stared blankly back at the young man, blinking and furrowing his brow.
"Why wouldn't we? The instructions have been given. He knows the protocols."
"Keith, if we leave him behind he'll be killed."
"I know it's hard for you to understand, the other Humans have a hard time with it too, but this is how the Blade of Marmora operates. You make it to the extraction point on time or you stay behind. End of story." He could see the conflicting emotions on the other's face and let out a long breath. "Matt, I've lost a lot people I considered friends because they got left behind. It sucks, but this is the reality of war."
"It's not how the rebels do it."
"Yeah well, we don't have the same luxuries you do. You're rebels, we're traitors. We are treated very differently and it's why the rules are so strict, why we stick so rigidly to our protocols. Believe it or not – they save lives. If we waited vargas for every late operative, then we risk the rescue team being captured or loosing our narrow window of escape." That seemed to end the conversation for the time being.
It didn't matter because Vaig made the extraction on time, with 5 dobashes to spare in fact. Keith shot Red out of the hangar at a break-neck speed and suddenly both fleets abandoned their battle to start attacking the Voltron Lion. He smirked, a grin of excitement spreading across his face. This is what he lived for; he was going to show these Commanders exactly what he could do, show them why the Red Lion had earned a reputation of being impossible to hit. Red purred at him in his mind and his grin spread wider.
Shot after shot rang out around him and Keith easily slipped by them all. Ducking and weaving his way around debris, pods, cruisers, and a mind boggling amount of unfriendly fire. But it didn't matter, they could chase him all they wanted, they were no match.
Calling Red's jaw blade, Keith rammed the side of a particularly aggressive cruiser, cutting open the entire haul and watching it explode behind him as he flew away from the carnage. Did he feel bad for essentially killing all of the soldiers, cooks, medics, techs, and Commanders on board? Of course he did, he wasn't a soulless monster. But he had no choice. He needed to clear out as many of the enemy ships as possible to ensure an easier exit after they got Krolia. He would offer a plea to the ancestors on their behalf when they returned to base, maybe spend a few vargas in the reflection pool for them. But right now – his mother's safety was more important.
"KEITH! Watch your six!" Matt yelled – right beside his ear. Keith scowled at him. The communications expert, turned rebel fighter, was ducking and wincing as debris sailed past their screens. "So many close calls!" He breathed out with a shaky voice. Keith rolled his eyes.
They entered the planet's atmosphere at a speed only Red was capable of and headed for the outcropping where the Yellow Lion was hiding in a cave. Red landed in her brother's shadow, and the three occupants ran out to rendezvous with the other two members of their team. Keith explained the mission, who they were looking for, what their roles were, and how much time they had. As expected, Vaig followed orders silently and swiftly. Moving into position as directed and hiding in the shadows to back up Matt as soon as they made it inside the base. His presence was not to be known, this mission was to appear as a Voltron attack, not the Blades. Since Vaig was still wearing Empire armour, he was the clear choice to serve as Matt's protection and lookout.
Matt defaulted to tech support, breaking into a control room with Vaig's help and setting up shop as their 'man in the chair'. Keith had given him a questioning look for his self-assigned title; he was clearly sitting on the floor. The Human rebel hacked into the systems, using Vaig's handprints for access when needed, or outright directing the Blade as to which buttons he needed to press. The rebel had gained full access to the entire base, their defenses, weapons, and internal systems in just under 6 dobashes. He grinned from ear to ear with pride while Pozzi praised his skills. Keith smirked, he could already hear Pidge claiming to be capable of the same in half the time.
Matt unlocked a security door for the three remaining team members and they rushed deeper into the base. Keith directed Pozzi to run ahead, using her invisibility to check if it was safe. Hunk squealed with excitement when she vanished from sight, tugging on Keith's armour and pointing at the spot where she had just been standing. Keith snickered, remembering the first time he'd seen Mizor do the same.
Alarms were blaring throughout the base now that the attacks had resumed and their time was running out. They rounded a few more corners, passed through a few more overridden security doors, and eventually found themselves inside a large empty room. There was a heavy security door that Matt insisted wasn't connected to any of the main systems; in fact he claimed the entire room was entirely separate from the rest of the base's controls. The mystery door, and the twin consoles on either side of the room, ran on a closed circuit that could only be accessed manually with the correct codes.
Or, as Matt so eloquently put it "This bitch is locked tight. It's hella secure dude. Like, Fort Knox has wet dreams about this level of security." Hunk had erupted into a fit of laughter and Keith was mostly just glad he'd learned about Fort Knox at the Garrison.
"Heh, I understood that reference!" He chuckled.
"Good for you, Cap." Matt snickered back over the coms and Hunk was having trouble containing himself.
Keith scowled this time. "I'm not a Captain." He muttered, checking his wrist gauntlet for Krolia's signal and threatening to cut off Matt's video feed of the room if he didn't stop laughing. The two Humans were now joking amongst themselves about someone named Steve, or Roger, or something – Keith was getting annoyed. They were on a mission – a mission more important any mission they had ever been on! More important than storming Central Command to retrieve a pissy Allura, more important than breaking into Beta Traz to steal back Slav, and certainly more important than whatever stupid Earth joke he wasn't being included in. He wasn't bitter – he being responsible.
"GUYS! Focus! This is a serious mission." He scolded and directed Pozzi to lead the charge to the location his mother's signal was coming from.
They found her pretty easily. Matt unlocked the doors along the way, and even deactivated any sentries that they encountered. The problem was, she wasn't alone. Surrounding her were several sentries on a different level of clearance. Meaning Matt wasn't able to deactivate these ones on the fly. He needed time to hack into them. Pulling his bayard, Keith ordered the rebel and his fellow Paladin to attack the sentries. They were faster than Matt, taking down all 6 sentries before he cracked the security codes on them.
"I almost had it!" he'd objected. "Just a few more seconds and they would've been working for us."
Hunk's sympathetic voice replied saying, "Oh I don't doubt it, buddy. You'll get the next ones."
"You're late." Krolia cut in, her voice clipped, clearly annoyed at the delay. "We don't have much time. Follow me – and try to keep up." She tore off down the hall, Keith hot on her heels with Pozzi and Hunk trailing behind. It didn't take long for the rebel to catch up, her long limbs allowing her to run at a faster pace. Hunk on the other hand, was falling further and further behind.
"What is taking you so long?" She scolded him. "I thought Humans were faster than this. You're slowing down the mission." Hunk was wheezing, desperate for air and water as his energy levels plummeted quickly.
"We're almost there." Keith called over his shoulder and received a puzzled and annoyed look from his mother. "Human – not Galra. They respond better to praise and need an incentive." She rolled her eyes and Keith smirked. Finally, someone understood his plight.
The group ran down the same halls as before, coming back upon the same high security room. Except this time, one of them actually knew what to do. Krolia immediately made a dash for the primary console, feverishly typing away.
"I'm guessing Ranveig's dead, since Commander Trugg is attacking my base." She deadpanned and Keith smiled, not much got past her.
"Yeah." He replied, seamlessly switching back to his native Galran. "And she's on the verge of crushing your forces. We have to destroy the super weapon now, before it falls into the wrong hands."
"Wait wait wait! I thought the scary Blade guy said there were two scary Commander Ladies attacking?" Hunk sputtered, his Paladin armour allowing him to follow the private conversation.
"Ladnok is dead." Keith dismissed. "Her fleet was annihilated by Trugg's forces while I was flying through the debris field."
"Uhhh guys? Might want to hurry up in there. Trouble incoming!" Matt called over the coms and almost immediately another set of alarms started blaring. Both Keith and Krolia groaned, their hands flying to cover their sensitive ears as the sound grew louder and louder with each added alarm.
"THIS IS RIDICULOUS!" he shouted over the noise. "CAN'T YOU TURN THEM OFF?" before an answer could be given, the door to the room whooshed open and more sentries rushed in.
Hunk yelped, Pozzi disappeared, and Keith drew his bayard. He charged at the robot soldiers, dropping to his knees at the last second to cut the first one off at the leg, springing back up to sever its torso as it fell. He quickly spun around and swiped at the chest plate of the next, deactivating it instantaneously and driving his red and white sword into another. Krolia continued typing, but spun around when Keith was flung to the ground, landing with a heavy grunt and painful crack of his ribs. She grabbed her blaster and shot at the sentries, picking them off one by one with perfect head-shots.
Keith rolled to his side, reaching his hand out and willing his bayard to come to him. It appeared in his grip, instantly transforming into a sword as he slammed it straight through the chest of his would be assassin. He used the momentum of the sentry's fall to propel himself into the air, flipping around to adjust his position, and landing on the back of yet another sentry; cutting its head clean off. Keith dismounted, landed gracefully on his feet, only to immediately take off at a run. He jumped and spun to avoid a blaster shot then dropped to his knees again as another rang over his head. A bright blue blast took out the final sentry and Keith turned to see that Hunk had his back. In total, 11 had come to attack and all 11 now lay scattered across the floor.
"OMG am I ever glad we were recording!" Matt cheered over the coms. "That was sick!"
"Where's the rebel?" Krolia called and her question was met with a menacing laugh. They all turned in time to see Trugg standing in the doorway, a soldier and 5 more sentries surrounding her, with Pozzi at her feet.
"Surrender or die!" She commanded and to his utter shock and disbelief, Krolia backed down. She dropped her blaster on the floor in front of her and raised her hands above her head, garnering a satisfied grin from Trugg.
"What are you doing?" Keith seethed under his breath. "Mom, we can take her!"
"We can make a deal." She responded, holding eye contact with the Commander.
"MOM?" Trugg laughed. She turned to the soldier on her right and jerked her head in Keith's direction. "Kill the wretched half-breed." She spat at him for good measure before meeting Krolia's stare. "Then we will see about the terms of your surrender, Officer." Keith growled at her and she only laughed harder. He was seething, pure anger and hatred for this awful woman was radiating out of his very being. A deafening roar sounded in the distance, shaking the ground the base was built on, and it was now his turn to laugh. "What was that?"
"That -" he smirked, "is the cavalry."
"Trugg – we can still make a deal before my son destroys your remaining forces." Keith's heart swelled with pride at his mother's words and he watched the look of concern, no matter how fleeting, as it crossed over the Commander's face.
"And why should I trust you?"
"You don't have a choice. I'm the only one who knows the access codes for the super weapon." Krolia reasoned. "If you try to break in, the room will self-destruct. Once we're clear of the base, I'll give you the codes."
She thought it over for a tic before agreeing all too quickly. Keith suspected she was going to order her fleet to shoot them once they handed over the codes, but he knew his mother would never lead them into further danger. She had a plan; he just had to trust her.
Pozzi had been ordered to stay behind since the Altean Paladin armour didn't interface well with the communication systems built into the Empire's armour. It didn't really make much sense to him – they'd communicated just fine before, but apparently that had always been through a lion and not their armour coms. Either way, Matt's overly technical explanation only served to give Keith a headache. In the end, they would have to radio the cheery rebel to relay the message. Essentially, Krolia would message Matt through the Blade communicators, and Matt would use his rebel communicator to give the codes to Trugg through Pozzi. Hunk and Matt had vehemently protested the plan, but Krolia tuned them out and ordered the group to their positions. Once they were safely inside the lions (Matt in Yellow with Hunk, Vaig and Krolia in Red with Keith) she sent the codes and ordered Pozzi to disappear and run.
"I can't believe you'd give them the weapon!" He scolded after the link was severed. "You compromised the mission." The fleet's ion canons were charging as they prepared to fire on the two lions. "This is why you shouldn't have made that deal! We don't have Pozzi, we're about to be fired on, and you just handed that weapon over to Trugg."
"No, Keith. I handed them over to it." No sooner did the words leave her mouth, than a blood curdling shriek rang over the coms.
"What was that?" Keith asked. "Is everything alright over there?"
Hunk answered immediately. "The scream wasn't us. It came from Matt's communicator."
"POZZI?" he heard Matt yell, followed by growling, more screaming, a wet ripping sound, the crunch and groan of metal, and finally footfalls. "Pozzi – come in! Are you alright? POZZI? What's going on? Answer me!"
"I made it out. That – that, thing just skipped right past me. I'm almost at the exit!"
"Keith, get us out of here." Krolia commanded. "Yellow Paladin – retrieve the rebel and fly to safety. Do not let the creature on-board."
"I'm sorry, WHAT???? What creature?? Are you serious right now?" Hunk whimpered about crazy space monsters under his breath, but he pulled himself together and Yellow set out back towards the base.
"Keith – under no circumstances are you to go anywhere near that base. This Lion cannot go back, I organized our group as such so all of us Galra were together. I'll explain everything when we have returned to Kolivan." He nodded and waited for Hunk to confirm his retrieval of Pozzi before messaging Coran for a wormhole.
They had made it back faster than anticipated and were now stuck on the Castle of Lions while waiting for the path to re open. Pozzi questioned why they didn't just wormhole from Transit Base Uwary to Commander Ranveig's base, and Hunk explained how it all worked. The wormholes extended from the Castle of Lions, meaning they could only transport you FROM the Castle, or TO the Castle.
Keith was sitting in his Red Paladin chair; watching Matt as he worked on the Green console. He was creating some program that would process the data he'd extracted from Ranveig's base. The complex algorithm was designed to sort through experiment logs, communications, prisoner records, and more.
Krolia and Vaig were standing by the main controls, talking with Coran about the specs of the Castle ship and preparing their report for Kolivan.
Zavin, who'd been the one to drop off the Beta Traz team, had sequestered himself away in the Castle's archives in a last ditch attempt to preserve his sanity. Keith used the Red Paladin console to check the Castle's systems and found that the language files for Galran and Common had been updated. Scanning through other updates, he found Zavin had been keeping himself very busy. The Castle's star charts had also been updated, adding in the new planets discovered over the past 10,000 deca-phoebs since the war had started. He'd also removed others that had been destroyed, including Altea. Though a marker had been left to denote where the planet had once been, the removal of the Altean home world was not going to go over well with the Princess.
Alteans, like Humans, were incredibly sentimental. The Empire and Blades had updated their charts thousands of deca-phoebs ago, leaving only a marker in its place, as Zavin had just done. Daibazaal remained on their maps however, as the husk of the Galra's former home still remained. The gravity of the now long dead planet would still need to be accounted for when flying through that region of space. Altea, on the other hand, was no more. The inclusion of an entire planet that no longer existed would throw off calculations and send a precisely mapped out route wildly off course. Its removal was only logical – but he doubted Allura would see it that way. Unfortunately, Keith didn't know enough about Altean programing to add the planet back in while canceling out any effects it could have. So he just left it. Hopefully the Princess didn't consult her star charts for a while.
Later that quintant, approximately 6 vargas after they had arrived back, the Beta Traz team returned to the Castle and a very frazzled looking Shiro stepped onto the main bridge. It took Keith one look at the pulsing vein in the middle of his forehead, the tightly clenched jaw, and the heavy bags under his eyes to know they had let Slav in the cockpit. Rule number one of traveling with Slav – ALWAYS LOCK HIM FAR, FAR AWAY FROM YOU.
"You know, Shiro-" Keith began, a painfully fake layer of concern to his voice. "- you're looking a little stressed. How'd the mission go?" The resulting glare caused him to fall into a snicker-fit as he watched his Earth brother suffer.
The other Paladins filed in with Slav shuffling behind them. The neurotic little bastard took one look at the room and started muttering about the probability of one of the 3 Galra attacking him. It was very high.
"Oh stars!" Krolia groaned. "Kolivan did not inform me that you were retrieving Slav from Olkarion." She had the same dark energy hanging over as Shiro and it made him snort. His mother shot him a glare.
"They didn't." He replied with a lack of enthusiasm. "The moron got himself captured and they had to break into Beta Traz to get him back."
"Should have cut our losses." She muttered and Keith was back to snickering, receiving a wink from his mother in the process.
Their comments had alerted the others to the presence of the Blades and rebels. Shiro and Pidge finally noticed Matt who was still hunched over the Green Paladin's console, typing away at his program and completely oblivious to the new arrivals.
"Matt?" Pidge's hesitant voice asked. They spoke in a near whisper, as if raising the volume would risk him disappearing. When the rebel didn't respond Shiro spoke up, calling his name louder and in a much more commanding way. The next tic, Pidge had launched them self across the room and was now clinging to their brother like baby brakken.
"Pidgey, de koala-fy yourself and let a guy breathe." Matt grumbled, but there was no heat to it. His face was split wide in a loving smile and his eyes were twinkling as they held back the explosion of emotions that he was struggling to keep a lid on. Keith rolled his eyes at the distinctly Human display. He'd just reunited with his mother for the first time in deca-phoebs and all he'd gotten was a scolding for being late. He smiled to himself; he'd missed her a lot.
A sudden hiss echoed in the room and all eyes turned to Zavin who had Slav lifting up his pant leg. "What are you doing??" The Galra seethed through clenched teeth, kicking his foot to shake off the 8-armed pain in the ass.
"I need to see your ankle! It is very important that you do not have a scar on your left ankle or we could all be in danger!" Zavin hissed violently at him again, increasing the power of his kick and sending the eccentric genius flying into a wall. He half hissed, half yelled a 'get off me' as he did so. All eyes were focused on the exchange, Pozza and Hunk were clearly terrified, Matt and Coran were in shock, but everyone else had had the pleasure of meeting Slav already and were somewhat expecting this.
It took several dobashes before the room calmed down and Slav conceded that they were not going to be sucked into one of the black holes. Keith had chuckled to himself the entire time, muttering 'classic Slav' under his breath.
That night was spent on the Castle ship and all three of their Galran guests lamented the sleeping conditions. Krolia had asked why they were being kept in the prisoner holding cells and Keith had burst out laughing, which only served to remind him that he'd been thrown around during the extraction mission. Krolia's immediate and obsessive attention to him was embarrassing.
The thing about Galra is, while not publicly affectionate or overly generous with praise and adoration, they are incredibly protective of their family units; especially kits. Even though Keith was now an adult, Krolia insisted she would forever see him as her tiny and fragile kit. He hated it. He hated ever tic of it.
She meticulously checked him over for injury and demanded that Lance, the resident of the Castle standing closest to them, direct her to their med bay. When he hesitated, saying Keith seemed perfectly fine, she growled so fiercely that Zavin and Vaig stepped in to prevent the Blue Paladin from being eviscerated. Shiro ended up leading them all to the medbay, despite Keith's insistence that he was, in fact, completely fine.
Coran performed a scan and it turned out he was not fine. Three cracked ribs, a torn muscle or two, and a small amount of internal bleeding. Krolia freaked out. She wrapped herself around him, purring up a storm to soothe him. But he wasn't worried; he'd had worse. Being the most capable hand-to-hand combatant on team Voltron meant he'd spent countless vargas in the med bay. The worst injury being a shot from a blaster that had nearly taken off his entire left arm. This was nothing in comparison, a varga or two in the healing pod and he'd be good as new.
Keith put on the special pod suit and climbed in, all three Galra watching with nervous expressions. Nothing like this existed, Altean tech was so far beyond anything they had ever seen it may as well be magic. He smiled at Krolia and let her know that he'd be fine.
"You said that earlier." She scoffed at him and Keith rolled his eyes. She wasn't exactly wrong. Coran typed a few commands into the control pad and Krolia leaned inside the pod to lick the side of his cheek. "I love you. I'll be right here when you wake up." A purr built its way up his chest but Keith was painfully aware of the other Paladins and stuffed it back down. Instead, he smiled at his mother, a face he hadn't seen in person since he was 15 deca-phoebs old, and the last thing he saw as the healing pod sealed around him.