~~~~Saoirse~~~~
I stood inside of one of examination rooms slash operations rooms, the others were waiting outside and waiting for it all to end.
I was asked that morning to help attach a new arm to Shiro. Apparently late last night, Allura had created a brand new prosthetic arm for Shiro using Earth and Altean tech.
I stood next to Commander Holt, ready to help in any way I could. All I was really in charge of was keeping Shiro's energy stable throughout the procedure of attaching the shoulder piece and making sure no energy went wild during the activation sequence.
Nothing went wrong so far, and the procedure went well. All we had to do was wait for Shiro to regain consciousness and then we could continue on with the activation trial.
A few minutes later, Shiro groaned and his eyes began to slowly flutter open as he regaijed consciousness.
"How are you feeling, Shiro?" Commander Holt asked as he groggily looked over at us.
"Good. I'm good." Shiro replied softly.
"I'm happy to tell you that we've successfully attached your new prosthetic arm. We just need to power it on and make any final adjustments." Commander Holt turned to me, "Soairse, keep an eye on his energy levels for me, okay?"
I nodded and closed my eyes, taking deep breaths to calm myself. When I opened my eyes again, I only saw the outlines of everyone, and lights within the outlines.
It was just like when we were captured by Zethrid and Ezor. I was seeing the same thing and yet I didn't try to understand what it was. I simply let myself concentrate on the light where Shiro's heart was located.
I would have to ask mom about this type of vision later.
One of the doctors walked up to the table with the new arm for Shiro sitting on a tray. He brought over to Shiro so that he could see it better. I was amazed by the design. Allura did a great job.
"We've outfitted it with the most powerful energy source Earth has to offer." Commander Holt explained, "It's the closest we could get to mimicking a Balmera crystal's energy. It should generate enough power to operate most of it. The remaining power will be drawn from your body's own electromagnetic field."
Shiro's bed-table shifted so he could sit up straight and the arm was placed beside him. I heard the whir of the arm and saw energy flow through it, and faint lines of energy flow from Shiro to the arm.
Almost immediately, the arm activated, spinning around and clenching its fingers. Shiro gasped at the amazing technology he had now.
I was happy to see him with two arms again, however, that happiness quickly turned to worry. The energy powerijg the arm suddenly spiked and turned dangerous.
Shiro screamed in pain, the monitors connected to him beeping rapidly. I tried to grab him, but he accidently pushed me back in his pain.
"He's crashing! We have to shut it down!" Commander Holt shouted, "Soairse, you need stabalize his energy as much as you can!"
I stood back up and pressed my hands against Shiro's chest over his heart. I concentrated and slowly felt his energy calm down. But the energy from the arm was still going haywire.
Suddenly, Allura ran into the room, grabbed the arm and held it down to the ground.
"Sam, we need to remove the power source." She said to Commander Holt.
Commander Holt quickly rushed to Allura and opened the power panel to the arm, grabbing the chip and letting Allura put something in its place.
Instantly the arm stabalized and Shiro's condition stabilized as well. I opened my eyes and looked down at Shiro, relieved that he was no longer in pain.
I looked down at Allura and Commander Holt and noticed that instead of a chip, there was a small blue gem. I recognized the gem as the same one Allura had in her crown.
The arm flew back to Shiro's side as he slowly woke up again. Everyone outside rushed in to see if everything was all right.
"What-- What happened?" Shiro asked, "I feel strange." He looked down at his new arm and clenched its fingers into a fist.
"I feel great." He smiled.
We gave Shiro few days to get used to his new arm. When that time passed, Admiral Sanda called all of us to a meeting to discuss what Pidge and Allura discovered from Sendak's memories.
"We've learned so much from Sendak's memories." Pidge said beginning her report, "We discovered his methods for taking over planets like Earth."
"Sendak constructs armaments at key strategic points around planets." Allura continued, "This gives him the ability to control enormous swaths of territory. He uses the armaments as deterrents to prevent any uprisings and to control the conquered population."
"Based on data from Commander Holt's micro-satellites, cross-referenced with resistance intel, we've ascertained that Sendak built six massive structures on Earth." Veronica pulled up on the screen a picture of the structures, along with their locations.
"We never knew what they were being used for until now."
"They're the weapons?" Hunk asked, "So, what's stopping us from blowing them up?"
"We simply don't have enough firepower to do the job." Admiral Sanda answered, "And even if we did, there's a good chance those facilities contain civilians. We can't just go in blind."
I looked over at Admiral Sanda and got a bad feeling from her. My scar didn't burn, but I couldn't ignore this kind of feeling. Even her rigid movements were giving off bad signs for me. Sure, she was always serious, but I felt something behind that serious nature of hers.
"Admiral Sanda's right." Shiro agreed, "That's why we should infiltrate a base and gather intelligence first."
"The nearest base is 52 klicks south of our position." Veronica said.
"What's the terrain like?" I asked.
She pulled up a map of the base's terrain, "The region around what we'll call "Base One" is a complex urban environment. Our route will take us through highly patrolled areas. It'll be hard to keep proper surveillance of our surroundings due to all the structural damage."
I thought for a moment about how all of this would go down. There was too much of a risk if we sent in too many people, but there was a chance the plan could fail if we sent in too few. After a few more seconds of thinking, I got a plan all figured out.
"Then I suggest we form two teams: a ground unit that will infiltrate Base One and get eyes on whatever's inside, and a sniper team that observes from a higher position, covering the ground unit and providing some visibility." I said.
"Who will be in each team, Saoirse?" Admiral Sanda asked.
"Pidge, Keith, Allura, Griffin, and I will be the ground unit. Hunk, Kinkade, Lance, and Veronica will be sniper support." I listed off,, "Be sure to use communcatuoms sparingly and keep track of the drones patterns."
Everyone agreed on the mission and we all left to prepare for it.
I went back to my room and was immediately tackled by Nalira. She laughed as I caught her in my arms and hugged her.
"Welcome back, Saoirse!" She exclaimed. The rest of my family, hearing my sister shout my name, came out to greet me.
"Hey, Saoirse, how was the meeting?" Lellal asked.
I sighed and put Nalira down so I could change into my armor.
"The Paladins and a few of the Garrison members are going on a mission later on today." I said, grabbing my armor from the closet, "We need intelligence on the Galra, so we'll be infiltrating one of the bases."
"What?!" My father exclaimed, "That's almost a death mission. Will you be all right?"
I sighed and turned to my worried family, giving them a reassuring smile as I headed to a smaller separate room to change.
"I'll be all right. The Paladins are coming with me, so I'll have plenty of people to help keep me safe." I said.
I went into the room, and began to change. I was about to take off my Teshirian stone, but I had a feeling I should keep it on. I took off my uniform and put on my armor before leaving with my family so they could see me off.
~~~~Keith~~~~
We got the cruisers, loading up all the supplies we would need for the mission. I looked around and saw Saoirse saying goodbye to her family.
I smiled as she hugged her little sister and her family wished her luck. It was nice to see her so happy.
A few more minues and and drove off to our positions. It was dark at night so we were able to sneak through fairly easily. The sniper unit went off to another location and positioned themselves in a building close by.
When we got close to the base, I reported to the sniper unit.
"Approaching target location." I said as we drove towards one of the tunnels leading to the large facility.
"Copy that, ground unit. We've got eyes on you." Veronica replied.
We drove through the tunnels, far enough in to keep the cruiser hidden from Galra sensors. We stopped near another tunnel in the wall.
"Saoirse, sense any Galra?" Pidge asked. Saoirse shook her head.
"No. We're clear." She said, taking the lead down the tunnels. Since she could sense energy, she was important to the infiltration, but I was worried about her being a target in this war.
The Galra wanted her as much as they wanted the Lions. But what would they do once they got her?
We walked down stairs and followed the running water that came from the facility.
"Drone patrol, dead ahead." Lance informed us.
We stopped for a moment until the drones passed by us, then ran across the bridge as fast as we could.
We climbed higher and higher until we reached the surface. Saoirse, Pidge, Kosmo and I hid beuind a destroyed car while Allura and Griffin hide behind one of the pieces of rubble.
I took a peak from our hiding spot and saw the entrance crawling with drones and Galra guards.
"This is as close as we're gonna get." I said, "Pidge, Saoirse and I are going in."
"Negative." Griffin said, "Route's obstructed. It's too well guarded."
"Lance, you ready to cover us when we get inside?" I asked.
"Ready to go." Lance replied.
In an instant, Kosmo teleported us inside the facility. We ran quickly and quietly down the halls, stopping near on to the hall entryways.
"We need to find a port where I can hack in. A control panel or a substation." Pidge said.
"Got it." I said.
We ran down the halls again, Saoirse making sure there weren't any other drones we had to worry about.
"Got you, Keith. Scanning for hostiles." Lance said. "Sentries on the other side of the east wall."
Kosmo teleported us around the sentries and we continued running. We made it to a door and Pidge quickly opened it.
"Lance?" I asked.
"You're clear." We ran through an open door and down the hall.
"You guys are gonna have to take the right tunnel."
We were about to go down the right tunnel, when I sensed sentries approaching us from both side.
"Hold up a second." Saoirse said. We stopped and hid in between the two tunnels.
"There are sentries approaching from both tunnels. Kosmo, be ready to teleport us on my signal." Kosmo whined softly and then, Saoirse lightly tapped him on the head.
Kosmo teleported us out of sight, then reappearing in the right hall after the sentries were far enough away from the tunnels. We continued running down the right hall until we reached a door guarded by two sentries.
We crouched down and hid from their sight. Pidge was typing something on her holo-pad, but Saoirse made her stop.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. We saw her Teshirian marks slowly fade in and then we heard something creak from where the guards stood.
Pidge, Kosmo and I looked back to see what was happening and we saw the power lights on the guards dim. They then fell to the floor, powerless.
Kosmo teleported me to the other side of the door, where I opened it from the inside.
When the door opened, I calmly walked out and simply sliced their heads off.
Pidge and Saoirse laughed as we ran into the guarded room and what we saw was strange.
~~~~Saoirse~~~~
When we ran inside the room, all we could see was a large power core, but there was something about this room that set off signals in my mind. We teleported up to the main computer.
Pidge quickly linked her portable computer and began her download. "I'm in." She said, "Downloading intel."
While Pidge downloaded the intel we needed, Keith and I looked around, staring at the large machine in front of us.
"What is this?" Keith asked.
I looked up at the machine and felt so much dark energy from it that I began to feel sick. Then, for some reason, I began to feel dizzy, as if I was spun around far too much.
I grabbed the side of my head to calm down my spinning sight, when I felt a hand hold my shoulder.
"Saoirse, are you okay?" Keith asked.
I stood up straight and sighed, "I'm fine. I think the energy from this thing is making me a little dizzy." I said, "We should hurry and get the intel."
After a few more seconds, Pidge had downloaded what we needed and gasped at what the end results of these facilities would be.
"It's a Zaiforge cannon." Pidge informed us.
"What?" Keith and I asked.
"Each base must be building one." Pidge said.
"Keith, Pidge, Saoirse, it's time to roll!" Lance said.
"Copy that." Keith replied. We ran back to the cruisers as Veronica set off a chaff to blind the sentries.
"Rendezvous at your cruisers. We only have a couple minutes until the sentries gain vision again." Veronica said.
We ran back towards the entrance, and once we were close enough to the exit, we teleported back outside.
"Let's move out." Keith said. We went back to our cruisers and headed back to the garrison. Strangely, the further away we got from the base, the more my dizziness began to fade away.
The next day, we woke up early and gathered up the intel Pidge dowloaded, then huddled together in the debriefing room to show what we had.
"Sendak has built Zaiforge cannons." Pidge informed the room, "Our intel indicates the cannons were just completed. They could launch at any time."
"What exactly is a Zaiforge cannon?" Iverson asked.
"Planet killers." I said.
"If these cannons launch and are fully charged, Sendak will be able to destroy Earth in seconds." Keith finished for me.
"So what do we do?" Veronica asked.
"Ideally, we attack all six bases at once, allowing them no time to stage a counterattack." Keith said.
"That's not possible." Admiral Sanda said.
"If we had our Lions, it could be. We'll have to find another way to retrieve them since the ship we rode in on crashed." Keith answered.
"Your Lions are orbiting another planet." Sanda shouted, "There's no way to get you to them."
"And to make sure we have enough fire power, I suggest that the MFEs come in and provide extra backup for this attack on each of the bases." I suggested.
"Good thinking, Saoirse. They should be able to provide an extra set of eyes for us." Shiro said.
"We'd love to, but they don't have that kind of range." Griffin said.
"There should be enough faunatonium to boost the MFEs to the bases and back." Coran said.
"That's great and all, but Admiral Sanda has a point. We can't get to our Lions." Pidge said. Everyone groaned, but I smiled, remembering something about how my lion got to me when I was captured by the Galra with Allura.
"You don't need to go to them. They'll come to you." I said. Everyone looked at me as if I was crazy.
"Saoirse, what are you talking about?" Lance asked.
"Think about it. The Red Lion came to save Keith when he was stuck out in space. The Silver Lion came to save me when Allura and I were captured by the Galra. And the Black Lion saved Shiro by retaining his essence. We are all connected to our lions far beyond our imaginations for that to happen." I explained.
Shiro stood up beside me, "Saoirse is right. As Paladins of Voltron, you can connect with your Lions. They will come."
"From Saturn?" Hunk asked.
"From anywhere." Shiro answered, "You've been training for this since the very beginning. Each of you has forged a bond with your Lion. Tap into it."
"Yes, it's possible." Allura said and smiled, "So we'll call the Lions to meet us here."
"We'll need the element of surprise." Pidge said, "The Lions will have to rendezvous with us at the bases."
"Yeah, that will really catch the Galra off guard." Hunk added, "I mean, assuming our Lions respond to our calls. What if they don't come?"
I chuckled at the question, "There's no doubt in my mind that they will come. They're our lions. They won't hesitate to help protect us and our planet when we call them."
"And when they do, we will strike and destroy all six cannons simultaneously before they can be launched. And when the job's done, you can form Voltron and finish off Sendak and the rest of his forces." Shiro said.
"My pilots can transport four of you to the Galra bases." Griffin said.
"I'll bring Lance to Base One." Veronica said, "It's the closest, so I can do it by ground."
"It's settled then. While Veronica drops Lance at Base One, the MFEs will watch fly a Paladin out to a base. The Paladins should reach the drop zones at exactly the same time the Lions arrive. Then the MFEs will stand by at the bases. We'll launch a coordinated attack on all six locations at once."
"Hold on, there are only four ships to transport the others, and they only seat two each. What about the extra Paladin?" Rizavi asked.
I smiled and stood up, "You won't have to worry about me. Since I'm part Teshirian, I have my own pair of wings that are strong enough for me to make it to the sixth base." I explained.
When everyone undersrood the plan, we all nodded and went out to prepare.
After I was changed into my paladin armor, I stood in front of my family outside the Garrison and smiled.
"Be careful out there, okay, Saoirse?" My mom said, hugging me tightly. I returned the hug and pulled back a minute later before hugging my younger siblings.
"I promise I'll be back safe and sound. Don't worry about me, okay?" I said.
"We're your family, of course we're gonna worry about you." Reilo said. I gently patted his head and have Nalira one last hug before passing her to my father.
"Just make sure you come back in one piece." He said. I promised my family once again that I would come back safe and sound.
I was about to release my wings to fly, when I felt something grab my hand from behind. I turned around and saw Keith holding my hand.
"Keith? Is something wrong?" I asked. He sighed and pulled me closer to him, his arms wrapping around my waist.
He's done this before, but I could feel my cheeks heat up quickly as I heard my heart beating faster.
"Be safe out there, all right? Make sure you don't get hurt. And if you do, be sure to tell someone." He said, his hold on me becoming tighter by the second.
I sighed for the hundredth time that day and wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him back.
"I promise." I said, "And the same goes for you. Stay safe out there."
"I will." He said. We pulled away from each other and he smiled at me, surprising me when gave me a quick kiss and then ran off.
My entire face was bright red, I could tell, but I would have deal with that later after this. I let my human disguise fade away. My hair turned blue, silver and white while all of my markings showed themselves underneath my armor and my cheeks. I felt my wings materialize as I looked up into the sky.
This was it, our first step to freeing Earth from the Galra.