Keith
Since we had that little conversation in the pod, I had felt a stronger connection with Lillian, something I couldn't explain. It was the one conversation we'd had that didn't include sarcasm, and for whatever reason, we'd been honest with each other. Even if it had been only a few serious words.
Usually I didn't like working with another person or a team. It only made me worry about them or feel the need to protect them. But with the Captain, I felt more comfortable. She knew where she was going and what she was doing, and, strangely, I trusted her.
It must have been all those hours we spent training.
We made it into the bay of Zarkon's ship and had to hide from two more sentires. After they passed, Lillian and I ran to the door that would lead us out of the room. I put my hand on the hand-print to let us through, and we began to sprint down the hallways. As we ran, Lillian pulled up a screen on her wrist device and scanned it quickly.
"Okay, we've made it to the lower communication deck. We need to go left down this corridor," she said, "And there should be a large door up ahead that's the central hub for the Galra fleet."
I nodded, and we continued to run towards the door that came into our vision as soon as we turned left.
The rest of Team Voltron and the other Marmorans were talking over the communications link, but I blocked them out as I scanned the path to our destination. I didn't want to be caught in a fire fight or get captured and killed.
Lillian and I walked through the doors and into an essentially empty room with a high ceiling and a deep pit. There was a catwalk out to a control panel.
I radioed to Kolivan. "We're in."
"Quickly resent the system," he said, and I saw that Lillian was already on it. She had her screens up as she furiously typed away at the computer.
"It's not working," she said, frustrated.
"Try it again," Kolivan instructed, and Lillian began to try again, but the door opened. When she didn't move, I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her behind a barrier.
"That's Thace," she whispered with a little too much excitement. I covered her mouth with my hand.
"Keith? Lillian, are you there?" Kolivan continued to ask through the link.
We were about to get up when the door opened again and two druids entered.
"And now, we know you were attempting to shut down the system," the first one said. They flew toward Thace as he tried to finish the sequence.
"You're too late," Thace said and turned towards them. I winced.
"No, Thace," the second druid said, "You're too late. We already changed the code."
All the screens popped up again and nothing changed. I took this as my cue to leap from my hiding place. I took one of the druids by surprise and impaled it, while Lillian took care of the other. Hers wasn't caught by surprise, but instead of impaling it, she was hit by an electrical orb. I kicked the druid, waiting for Lillian to jetpack to the other side and catch him, which she did faithfully. She flung the druid into the walls of electric current were he met his death after a blood-curdling scream.
"Thace," Lillian said.
"Lillian?" He asked.
She nodded and deactivated her mask.
"I wondered if I would see you again," Thace grinned and they hugged. I wondered what their relationship was, but I didn't have time to ask.
"Well, you see me now. Oh, and this is Keith, a Paladin of Voltron." Lillian introduced me.
"And a fellow Blade, I see. I guess we haven't failed," Thace said, looking at my weapon.
"Not yet," I agreed. "What do we need to do to get the virus uploaded?"
"I think I know a way we can manage." Thace walked back to the control panel.
"Can I try to hack into it some more?" Lillian asked.
Thace shook his head. "No, if they changed the codes, there's no way even you could get around it. Try if you like, but I have a plan. Keith, I need you to lock us in here."
I nodded and walked back down the catwalk to the door.
"How you doing, Keith?" Lance asked through our communications link.
"The Galra switched the codes. We're trying a work-around." I sliced the acess panel to the room and walked back to Lillian and Thace.
"Is there another person with you?" Lance asked.
"We found Thace, but I'll explain later," I said.
"Copy that," Shiro noted and returned to his fight.
"What exactly are you doing?" I asked Lillian.
"Well, hacking isn't working, like Thace said. I didn't have much hope for it anyway," she looked down sadly. "We've only got one option."
"I'm using the main power to overload the system." Thace was connecting power tubes to the control panel.
My eyes widened. "You're turning the room into a bomb?"
"It's the only way," he said.
I turned around at the sound of the door creaking. It seemed like someone was trying to burn their way in. When the door was blasted away, a few sentires entered, and Lillian and I began to shoot at them with the guns we had taken from the sentries in the bay. I noticed an electrical stalactite jutting down from the ceiling, and shot a clean line across it, causing it to fall across the catwalk to barricade the door.
"That solves one problem, but now we're trapped in here," I said.
"No, we're not." Lillian looked back at her map. "There's an exit through the main power conduit. It leads to the second deck."
I looked over the edge. It looked like an empty drop-off to me.
Thace looked at Lillian approvingly. "You did study those schematics. I knew they'd come in handy, but right now, you two need to go."
"What?" Lillian and I shouted at the same time.
"No, I'm not gonna leave you!" Lillian said, her voice rising.
"You must. I will shut down the system. Lillian, this is where my journey ends, but you have a unit to captain and an organisation that values your assistance. Keith, as a member of Voltron, you have a bigger mission. Both of you must understand that any mission is bigger than just one person," Thace explained.
Lillian hugged him once more. "I think I've learned that better than anyone." She stepped away and activated her mask.
"It was an honor to meet you," I said.
The barricade exploded, and Thace looked at us for the last time. "Go! Now!"
Lillian and I jumped over the side of the catwalk and used our jetpacks to make our way through the conduits. We tried to make as much ground as possible becasue when that room exploded, we would definitely feel it. My breath was ragged as we tried to escape, but Lillian's stayed steady through our communications link, and I wondered how she was able to keep herself so calm after leaving a member of her organisation to die.
Has she encountered this before?
Suddenly, I knew the room exploded when the conduits shook and Lillian and I were slammed into the wall. The explosion began to make it's way down the tunnels, but I saw that the passage ended up ahead. We'd need the fire from the explosion to get out of the conduits. I summoned my sheild and shoved Lillian behind me out of my protective instincts. The explosion engulfed us, and a split second before we were shoved out into space, Lillian gripped my hand. I held on tight, because when we entered the atmosphere, the explosion forced us far away from the ship. We floated in space for a while before we got our bearings and activated our jetpacks. I had been afraid we were going to fly too far, but Lillian had taken the initiative to make sure we didn't get out of Voltron's reach. We visibly watched the power go out from Zarkon's fleet, and I knew Thace did it.
I smiled, and Red appeared behind me. I pulled Lillian into the cockpit, and she stood behind me as I piloted us toward the wormhole that was now open.
Coran's face popped up on a screen inside Red. "Hurry, Paladins! We must make it in before the wormhole closes!"
We all made quick work of flying through the wormhole as it also took Zarkon's fleet with it.
"Coran, how's Allura?" Shiro asked once we were through.
"She's weak, but okay," Coran answered.
"You take care of her. We got it from here," Shiro said, and I knew that we did.
"We did it! I can't believe we did it!" Pidge exclaimed.
"See, I told you we could do it," Slav appeared on the screen.
"Oh, Slav," Lillian muttered.
"It's not over yet. Everyone, form Voltron!" Shiro shouted.