Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Honestly at this point, James was just tired at this point. Somehow, only god knows how, Nadia had managed to convince him and Ina to go venturing into the desert for one of Ryan’s documentaries. So now, at heaven knows how late, he’s trekking through the desert and all that he can think of is the quiz he should be studying for tomorrow.

His parents would kill him, bring him back to life, and then kill him again if they knew that he was out of Garrison grounds on a school night.

But hey, school was honestly killing him. Last school year was an honest to god mess. After, of course, the whole Kerberos mission failure. It was… normal for maybe two weeks, then it got out that Katie Holt was sneaking into the Garrison and stealing confidential information. Honestly, James was impressed, not that he would ever admit that out loud.

Then, next semester, they had gotten Pidge Gunderson as a transfer into the fighter pilot course; and then again, she got outed as Katie Holt. When James thinks about it in retrospect, he’s kind of surprised it had taken them as long as it did to figure that out. When he looked back at the news articles of the Kerberos mission, Katie’s disguise looked exactly like her brother.

Again, this was another embarrassment for the Garrison, but the Garrison had always been too proud to admit when they were wrong so they covered it up pretty quickly.

When Katie had been banished again, they ended up moving Lance McClain to the fighter pilot class. He wasn’t even in the pilot track to begin with. He was in the communications class, but apparently, when they opened up a fighter pilot slot, his scores were good enough to be moved up. And James honestly found Lance to be one of the most, if not the most, annoying classmates that he ever had. He was always trying to goad James into a fight or boasting about scores, or whatever. James tried to ignore him, but he did notice how Lance was slowly climbing his way up in the sim scores.

At the very least, whatever… mess the last year was, this year was less dramatic. And it did bring James closer to Nadia, Ryan, and Ina. But then again, this was why he was out way too late in the middle of the desert.

Nadia was criticizing whatever it was that Ryan was filming and Ryan was trying to ignore her want of something flasher or something… whatever; but at least he had a kindred soul in Ina. Ina looked similarly tired as the four of them continued to trek through the desert.

When they came across a cave, James mourned whatever hours of sleep he was hoping to catch whenever they got back. He was about to speak up when they entered the cave when James heard some footsteps from behind him.

“Isn’t it a bit late for cadets to be out so late? And to be so far from the Garrison?” a female voice said from behind the group.

Turning around, James saw Veronica McClain, an officer, and Lance's older sister. Well while not ideal, it could have been one of their teachers, or worse Iverson.

“Officer McClain!” James shouted, “We- we were just… uh-”

“Taking a walk! It was just such a lovely night, you know!” Nadia interrupted him.

“Yeah! A ha ha ha! It’s just too nice to waste a night like this one!” James continued.

“…Oh! Yeah, what they said.” Ina muttered.

“It really is nice, you can uh-see the stars really well.” Ryan added.

“Yep, the stars! The stars are really nice!” Nadia said.

“...alrighty then.” Veronica sighed, “Listen, I don’t want to get you in trouble, but rules are-”

Veronica paused, her eyes no longer focused on the cadets. James turned back around, and now that the jeeps lights were pointed towards the cave, the walls were fully illuminated.

The walls were covered in very old, very elaborate cave paintings. There were many different symbols and motifs, but the most recurring one was one of what looked like a mechanical lion; it was very notably blue for whatever reason.

“Woah,” Ina said, breaking the silence.

James could only agree with her. The four cadets seemed to wait with baited breath as they waited to hear what Veronica would say.

Veronica walked into the cave to examine the painting on the walls, not touching them, but getting close to them. Silently, she seemed to resign herself before speaking again. “Alright, I figure if I bring you back now you’ll just come back some other night? We can take a quick look around, but then you can’t come back here, alright?”

“Right!” Nadia said, before turning to Ryan, “Make sure you record all of this!” She whisper yelled.

The five of them continued down the cave as they continued to stare at the paintings. The paintings only seemed to get more and more intricate. They seemed to reach a dead end when-

“Shit!” Nadia yelled as the five of them fell through the floor.

When James regained his bearings, the first thing he saw was a giant, blue, mechanical lion surrounded by some sort of light barrier.

“Holy shit!” Nadia said, as she ran up to the lion.

“Wait! It could be… dangerous,” The words fell from James’ mouth when the barrier fell for Nadia. And the lion, it seemed to respond to Nadia too, kneeling down for her.

“What is this?” Ryan asked.

“I don’t know, but it’s on Garrison grounds,” Veronica said, “and for something like this to be hidden for so long…”

Nadia however, was not listening to any of this. She was instead climbing into the goddamn mechanical lion.

“Nadia, wait!” Veronica shouted.

“What?” Nadia said, clearly nonplussed.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Veronica asked, slowly.

“Checking out the giant robot…” Nadia responded, “Oh come on. This is way too cool to not check out.”

“We’re not going into the giant robot lion.” Veronica said, “Now come on, it’s a school night for you four. And, we need to find a way out of here.”

At least Veronica agreed with James on this, and y’know if she doesn’t tell the garrison that the four of them decided to sneak out into the desert. At night. On a school night. In the desert.

“So what? We’re just going to leave the robot lion here? Alone?” Nadia asked.

“No, I’ll get the Garrison to check this out.” Veronica said, already turning around to try and find a way out of the cave.

But that was the giant, robot lion moved, and in fell swoop, scooped them all up into the cockpit of the lion.

“What the-” Ina began.

The interior looked almost like a ship. It probably was a ship. If a ship looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. James couldn’t make heads or tails of what this was supposed to be, but Nadia seemed to have no issue with making herself very comfortable in the pilot seat.

“Nadia! You can’t seriously be thinking-”

James was not able to finish his sentence before Nadia seized the controls of the… ship? Ship. And the giant, robot lion took off. Flying out of the cave and into the sky.

“Hunk, are you seeing this?” Lance McClain asked his roommate as he looked out into the desert and a giant, robotic, blue lion flew through the desert.

“Why are you even up right now?” Said roommate mumbled from his bunk.

“Dunno, felt something… calling to me.” Lance said, as he snapped a picture.

“...right.” Hunk said, already drifting back to sleep.

“AHHHHHHHHH! LAND! LAND! FOR ALL THAT IS HOLY PLEASE LAND!” Veronica shouted.

“IT’S FINE! JUST-RELAX!” Nadia yelled out.

“I’LL RELAX WHEN WE LAND!” Veronica retaliated.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe my eyes.” Ina said in a monotone voice.

“NOT the time for this Ina!” James yelled over all the yelling, but as he reassessed where they even were… “NADIA! We’re in space!”

“I know, but it’s not-it’s not listening to me!” Nadia said, panic finally seeping into her voice.

“What is that!” Veronica yelled, eyes staring straight out into space. James whipped his head over to what Veronica was looking at, seeing a large alien spacecraft. Before any of them had a chance to respond, a screen popped up in the HUD of the lion. An alien, an honest to god actual alien, was in frame.

Though it looked less like what humans theorized an alien would look like and more humanoid; though admittedly catlike. With large purple ears and purple fur, and pupiless yellow eyes and wore a skintight dark suit that had glowing purple lines.

Before any of them could speak, the alien spoke first, “You have found an item of great interest to the Galra Empire. If you hand it over without resistance I can assure you that no harm will come to your person.”

It seemed like the most reasonable thing to do, but the alien was seriously giving James evil empire vibes, like from that old movie trilogy, Star Wars.

“I-Is the alien speaking Arabic?” Nadia asked. Arabic? James heard English.

“I hear English, it’s probably an alien translator thing.” Ryan said, quietly as possible to try to not let the alien hear their conversation. “Veronica, what should we do?”

Veronica had a look of panic on her face, before she schooled it. Veronica squeezed Nadia’s shoulder, making brief eye contact. “Something tells me that you’re not telling us the full story. Nadia, floor it!”

No sooner than Veronica said that, did Nadia put the lion back into gear, with the call to the alien cutting out as well.

“We have to get that alien ship away from Earth!” Veronica yelled.

“On it!” Nadia said, concentrating fully on piloting the giant mechanical lion that they found in a random cave in Arizona. Some part of James thinks that he passed out when they fell in that desert, maybe he’s just dreaming and he’ll wake up in that cave in the morning.

But as James looks behind him, and the fleeting image of Earth, it settles in his stomach. This is all real.

A woman fell out of the pod, though… no she was younger than he thought, but still older than them, around Veronica’s age if he had to guess. She looked much more humanoid than any other alien he had seen so far (which admittedly was one), but still undeniably alien. She had dark skin, with white and curly hair, cut right above her shoulders. She had elongated ears and pink markings on her cheeks, right under her blue eyes. Moreover, she was dressed for war, in white armour with gold embellishments, a pink cloak, and a sword at her hip.

The other alien to fall out of the pod, also alien, likely the same species if the ears and markings were anything to go by. He was dressed more simply, in a set of blue robes.

Veronica was the first to rid herself of any shock, hurrying over to the woman’s side.

“Where is Zarkon!” A strangely British accented voice yelled, “I need his head on a spike!” Well maybe they aren’t pacifists. Then her gaze looked up at Veronica, and her eyes softened, if only for a moment before hardening again, “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“Well, we were hoping you could help us with that.” Veronica started slowly, as she helped the woman up. Meanwhile Ryan and Ina helped the man up. “We -where to even start?-We come from a planet called Earth. We found a large mechanical lion and it brought us here. All I do know is that we’re a long way from home.”

“A lion?” The woman’s brow furrowed in thought.

“Your majesty?” The alien man said. Majesty? At that, Jame notices the small circlet on forehead, with a large blue gem in the center.

“Coran!” The woman yelled, running over to him, but she tripped before she could reach him. Though Veronica was quick to catch her.

“Your majesty, please, take it easy.” The man said, as he walked over to her before enveloping her in a hug. “It’s been a long time.”

“What do you mean?” The woman asked, eye focusing on the screen that the man pulled up. With Veronica’s help the princess leaned on the desk to look at it.

“It’s been ten thousand years.” The man said again, a solemn look on his face. “The pod kept us in a state of stasis…for more than ten thousand years.”

“What?” There was a look of pure disbelief on her face. Coran didn’t speak further, only moving aside to give the woman better access to the console. “It can’t be. Then… is everything? What of my mother?”

“I’m sorry, your majesty. It was the only way.” Coran said, and James felt that he should not be here for this conversation. In fact, he’d rather be anywhere else but here.

At that there was a look of anger on the woman’s face. “Did you-did my father plan this!”

“Your majesty-Allura, it was the only way to preserve what we could of Altea. We couldn’t have had you die with Altea, you needed to live for Altea.” Coran’s voice broke at that, tears slipping down his face.

“I’d rather that I died for my planet! For my family!” The woman-Allura-yelled, “Died for them, died with them! You didn’t have the right to take that away from me. It’s-it’s not fair! They’re all-” Allura’s voice broke at that. And Coran once again enveloped her in an embrace and despite her apparent anger at him, Allura didn’t push him away. She only collapsed further into him.

James wasn’t quite sure what to do. They had hoped to find answers here, but if anything they were left with only more questions.

But ever their leader, Veronica, walked over to them, “We should let them take some time, it-it’s a shocking situation after all.”

After a small while, Allura collected herself. She straightened up before turning back to the five of them, “My apologies at my…moment earlier. My name is Allura, pri-Queen of Altea and this is Coran, my advisor. And I believe introductions are in order?” Allura smiled, but it had to be one of the most forced smiles James had ever seen.

“My name is Veronica McClain, pleased to meet you, your majesty.” Veronica said, with a slight bow.

At that, Allura looked a bit flustered, “Please there is no need for formalities, Allura is fine.” She looked to James and the others for them to continue.

“Nadia Rizavi, nice to meet you.” Nadia said with a slight wave.

“I’m Ryan Kinkade.”

“Ina Leifsdottir.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m James Griffin.”

“We all come from Earth,” Veronica continued, “A…distant planet that hasn’t made contact with any interplanetary before now.”

“I see, well regardless, it’s pleasure, I only wished that we met under better circumstances.” Allura said, “Now, what you found was one of the lions of voltron. Which one of you piloted it? And which color?”

Nadia looked…nervous, surprisingly, “Uh, I did. I flew the blue lion.”

Allura flashed a small, genuine smile at Nadia, “What you are now, is a paladin of voltron. In total there are five lions, and these are the key to fighting back against the Galra Empire.”

“The Galra Empire?” Veronica repeated, Allura looked over to her, “When we arrived here, we were fleeing from an alien spaceship, they said that they were a part of the Galra Empire.”

“I see.” Her gaze hardened as her gaze filtered between the five of them, “That means we don’t have much time. Follow me.”

“Wait.” James said, “We still have no idea what’s going on. We’ll go with you but we need answers.”

Allura seems to consider this before sighing, “Very well, what questions do you have?”

“First off, where are we? Who are the Galra? What is voltron, and what is our piece in all of this?” James questioned, ignoring the looks of shock on the other’s faces.

“I can answer the first one, this is the castle of lions, as for the planet we’re on…it says we’re on a planet called Arus, but it’s not a planet I’ve heard of.” Coran says.

“Now the Galra,” The princess spits out, there is no love lost between them, “Are an empire of conquerors, they have destroyed my home and taken over a vast amount of the universe. They’re led by Zarkon, a vile creature and enemy to all free people.

“From what I’ve seen so far, none have been able to make a stand against them, but with voltron we have a chance. And voltron is a… weapon, made up of five different lions. Together they form a larger robot, one strong and capable enough to defeat the Galra.” Allura’s gaze keeps on fliting over them all before she speaks again, “I believe that you are the pilots of voltron. It was no mere coincidence that you found one of the lions and that it brought you here.”

“Thank you for your answers, Allura,” Veronica starts, “But we can’t possibly be the ones you're looking for. It really was a coincidence that we found the lion. We-we have to get back to Earth.”

Allura’s gaze, which was once warm towards Veronica, turns icey, “And what’s on Earth that’s more important than fighting against the tyranny of the Galra Empire? Do you know how big an honor it is to be a paladin of voltron?”

“It’s not that! But we don’t know anything! About what’s going on! What-”

“I explained it quite clearly didn’t I?” Allura cuts in.

“I mean-Yes, but we don’t know anything about being ‘paladins’, about outer space, so please excuse me if I sound ungrateful.” Veronica glances back over to them, “But they are teenagers, you can’t truly expect me to be okay with you putting the responsibility of the universe into the hands of teenagers. Moreover, this seems beyond us.”

“I’m not quite sure you understand,” Allura says, “Piloting a lion isn’t something that anyone can do. A lion chooses its pilot, there are five of you and five lions, and one of you has already proved themselves a worthy pilot.”

“They are teenagers.” Veronica says again.

“And they are the only hope the universe has.” Allura says again.

“How about you let the teenagers speak for themselves,” Ina says, drawing both Veronica and Allura’s attention, “Listen, we are teenagers, but we’re also eighteen. Technically we’re adults by our…species standards.”

“And before all of this we were-are- training to be pilots.” James found himself speaking up as well. Despite the glare he received from Veronica, there was a smug look on Allura’s face.

“Ina and James’s are right. We should have a say in this as well.” Ryan added, “And how about this. We’ll help you find the lions, see if we really are the paladins that you’re looking for. And if we’re not we return home. Is that alright with you?”

Allura’s glaring match with Veronica ended and she looked back over to the paladins, “Very well. Now, if you would, please follow me.”

James followed Allura as they entered what must be the central command room. The tech was like nothing that he had ever seen before, made of an almost ceramic-like material as well as a blush glass.

“King Alfor, Queen Allura’s father, connected the lions to Allura’s life force. She alone is the key to the other lion’s whereabouts.” Coran said, as Allura stepped up onto a dais. She closed her eyes and put her palms on the pillars. And after a bated moment, a hologram map filled the room.

“Ow wow” Ina said, as her eyes flitted over every different constellation that now filled the room.

“It’s beautiful.” Veronica added, and James couldn’t disagree.

“Now the bond between lion and paladin is a mystical thing, something that can’t quite be explained, but each paladin has their own role to fill.” Allura started, showing the different lions to the group.

“The black lion is the leader, and as such the paladin is someone who leads effortlessly, and anyone that follows, follows without hesitation.” Allura continued, “The green lion has an inquisitive personality and needs a pilot of intellect and daring. The yellow lion is the rock, supporting and uplifting the team. The red lion is…tricky, temperamental, it's faster and more agile than the others, but it's unstable. The paladin must rely more on instinct than skill alone.” Allura turned to Nadia specifically, “Nadia, you pilot the blue lion, it-”

Before Allura could continue, the castle lights flashed red, an alarm blaring, making James’ ears ring.

“Coran! What’s going on?” Allura shouted over the alarm.

“We’re getting an alert. Nothing too serious, but-oh wait! Nevermind, there seems to be a Galra ship approaching! And it’s approaching fast! It’ll be here in less than a quintaint.” Coran shouted over the alarms. “Just give me a moment!”

After a terse moment, the alarm stopped.

“Okay, well, I was hoping that we'd have a bit more time, but we need to locate the lions and bring them here as soon as possible.” Allura had schooled her panicked expression, but James could tell her voice was shaky. “Now as for who will pilot which lion…I’m unsure.”

“How about we first get to the lions-” Veronica started.

“Impossible. The lions will only activate for their chosen paladin. I guess I’ll just have to go off of instinct.” Allura said, before pausing, looking over the five of them, “Veronica you’ll pilot the black lion, as you are the eldest, the others look to you for guidance. Ryan, you’ll pilot the yellow lion. Ina, the green lion, and James…the red lion.”

Veronica’s face pinched, “I-piloting one of the lions was already a stretch, but I’m not a pilot. I’m an analyst. Leading a team-”

“You will pilot a lion, whether it is the black lion or a different one, it is your destiny.” Allura said, in a perfectly rehearsed way. “I can sense the location of two of the lions, the yellow and the green ones. Both should be in peaceful areas, but be on your guard. Ryan, you go with Veronica in one of the pods. Ina and James, you’ll go with Nadia in the blue lion to get the green lion.”

“But what if the lions don’t open for us?” Ina asked.

“Well, then you’ll have to swap. If I’m wrong, you’ll have to regroup here and go back through the wormholes. I am hoping to maximize the possibilities here, so if the yellow lion doesn’t accept Ryan, it may accept Veronica. Same with the green lion.” Allura said. “Now you must make haste! We have too little time before the Galra arrives. Coran will lead you to one of the pods.”

“Right-o!. Now this way paladins!” Coran said, leaving Ina, Nadia, and James to follow him.

“WE ARE SO FUCKED!” Nadia yelled, as she narrowly avoided the platoon of Galra ships chasing after her.

Yeah, peaceful his ass. The jungle planet had looked idyllic enough, but the location of the green lion was swarming with Galra. They had built some sort of dig site centered around a temple. The temple that they had managed to get Ina and James into, but neither of them was a match for the green lion. While Nadia had been evading the Galra well enough, they were all praying that either James or Ina would be a good fit for the green lion so they could provide Nadia support.

Of course, that didn’t happen. James and Ina quite literally jumped out of the moving lion plummeting through the thick vines to find the chamber where the green lion laid. Like the cave in Arizona the walls of the chamber were covered in different carvings, and the lion itself had a shield around it.

But it didn’t open for James or Ina, they tried for three solid minutes before they decided that they had to find a way out and reconvene with Nadia and try their luck with the yellow lion. Though again, easier said than done as they shimmied their way up the vines, quickly as they possibly could without falling to their deaths.

Nadia had let out an honestly impressive string of curses when neither of them ended up being the green lion’s pilot and swooped down to grab them. And by swoop down, James and Ina had to jump into the blue lion's (again Nadia had barely stopped for them) mouth that apparently opened a hatch into the lion. Ina and James scrambled back into the cockpit of the blue lion while Nadia let out another string of curses while dodging the platoon.

Nadia fired shots when she could, but that required her to stay in one place which also left her open for attack.

“We need to contact Allura and the others!” James yelled through the chaos.

“Oh I’d love to!” Nadia yelled back, “but in case you haven’t noticed, I’m busy!”

"Just-lemme see the controls!” James yelled, trying to get closer to the panel.

“Not a chance in hell!” Nadia yelled,”I need to focus on dodging, we’ll call when we lose them! Ina hold him back!”

And Ina didn’t hesitate before wrapping her arms around James’ chest to hold him back.

“Ina!” James yelled.

“Captain’s orders.” Ina yelled back.

It was a terse moment of silence as the three of them just held onto dear life as Nadia did her best to evade. “I’m clear!” Nadia yelled, "Hold on tight!”

That was all the warning they got before Nadia shot into the stratosphere. Nadia didn’t stop until she saw the wormhole again, and when they had officially crossed, Nadia opened a call back to the castle of lions. Thank god, Coran had the foresight to briefly go over the controls with Nadia.

They only needed to wait a second before Allura answered the call, a holoscreen popping up with Allura. She had a small frown etched into her features, but she looked relieved to see them.

“Paladins, I’m assuming that neither of you were a match for the green lion?” Allura said, and continued on without waiting for an answer, “It’s no matter, you must go to Veronica and Ryan’s location. We lost contact with them several dobashes ago.”

“Allu-” James started.

“We have no time to talk, your teammates could be in trouble and I can only keep the wormhole open for so long. Go. NOW!” Allura interrupted, and promptly cut the call.

Wordlessly, Nadia geared back up to dive into the other wormhole. A look of determination on her face. She didn’t give them much time to relax before she dove for the planet. This planet was opposite of the green lion, looking mostly to be of rock. And oh goody, the Galra were here too.

“Ina. James. You guys get to the yellow lion, I’ll find Ryan and Veronica and when I have them I’m going back to the green lion. Hopefully, one of you will be a match, and Ryan or Veronica will be able to pilot the yellow lion.” Nadia said, more seriously than James had known her to be. “We’re coming in hot! It’s in the mine!”

Again, Nadia had little time to stop, before opening a hatch.

“We’ll see you on the other side!” Ina yelled before jumping out, and James followed suit, and Nadia provided them enough cover to make it into the mines, before she shot back up into the sky. A stray shot fired at them as Ina pulled James into some sort of elevator, and slammed her palm into buttons. And like that the sounds of the conflict on the planet’s surface faded until only James and Ina’s heavy breathing remained.

They reached what must have been the bottom, as the inside of the cave seemed to be some sort of mining operation as it was covered in alien tech, but also…”The same carvings as before.” Ina muttered.

Though at least finding the lion was easy, and they made it just in time. As the yellow lion was on some sort of pulley device. It was awkward given the shield around it, but the Galra were definitely trying to move it.

“Come on, we need to get up there and provide Nadia some support.” Ina said, as she ran towards the lion.

Though at least there wasn’t really a question of who would pilot the yellow lion, because as soon as Ina reached the lion, the shield fell. Ina paused, ever so briefly, but shook it off and ran to the entrance of the lion. James followed just as fast as he could, and Ina was already in the pilot seat. It had the same layout as the blue lion, the sole difference being the yellow glow instead of the blue.

Ina didn’t waste any time before she grabbed the controls and burst out of the cave. Though it wasn’t as if help was needed, the blue lion was gone, presumably with Veronica and Ryan on their way to the green lion. All that was left were a few stray ships not able to fly, but most looked shot down.

“Well, whenever it came to weapons training, Nadia was one of the most proficient.” Ina said. “I’ll pilot us back to the castle.”

“Yeah, you got this,” James said in a bit of a weak voice. They lapsed into a small silence as Ina left the planet.

“Well, that leaves you with either the red or the black lion.” Ina said, almost in an attempt to fill the silence.

“Probably the red lion then. Veronica has kinda become our leader right now.” James said.

“Sure, but between the four of us cadets, you were usually the one to keep us mostly in check.” Ina said, “But I suppose that Veronica does have superiority ‘cause she’s our senior. But then again, she could be flying the yellow lion.”

After that they fell back into silence, though James found it a bit uncomfortable. It wasn’t that James wasn’t close with Ina, but he would say that he wasn’t as comfortable with her. Ina was fine to sit in silence for hours on end, in fact she and Ryan would often sit in silence as they both worked on their different hobbies. But James found the excessive silence to be stifling at times.

Luckily though, it wasn’t a long journey, and James and Ina touched back down on Arus. And as soon as they had touched down, they saw blue and green lions coming in hot. They were just barely able to avoid crashing down.

The doors of the castle opened and Allura and Coran came running out. Together the four of them ran towards the most recently landed lions. Nadia all but came tumbling out of the blue lion, while Ryan and Veronica were a bit slower to get out of the lion.

“Well, mission success?” Nadia said, “We got two more of the lions. That’s just two more to go right?”

“Not exactly,” Allura said, with the smallest upward quirk of her mouth, “The black lion is already here. But we need all four of the other lions to open its hangar, they act as a key of sorts.”

“Okay, alright. So only one more to go then." Ryan said.

Allura nodded, expression serious as she looked to Veronica - who looked rather conflicted. "Do you see now the threat that the Galra pose to not just us, but the whole universe? How selective the lions are in choosing their pilots? We have little time, and as it stands, you five are the universe's only hope." She said, "Will you fight for the Universe?"

Veronica's expression was unreadable at first, shifting between a frown and something more neutral. "I do-I will, fight for the universe." was her clipped, short reply. Allura's expression turned less grim, not a smile but it no longer seemed so overbearing. Yet the tension was still rather dense in the air.

"Were you able to track the red lion’s position?” James asked, trying to break the tension.

“Ahh right, well some good news and bad news with that,” Coran jumped in, “We were able to track the red lion, the bad news being that it’s on the Galra cruiser heading straight for us.”

“Oh, that’s uh… that's not good.” Ina said.

“But,” Coran said, “What we can focus on right now, is that we have two more lions, and their pilots!... Now uh who’s piloting which lion?”

“Right, I’m the pilot of the yellow lion.” Ina said.

“I’m piloting the green lion.” Ryan said.

“I see.” Allura said, and James could see the look of insecurity in her face, before she shook it into a smile, “Excellent. Well, getting the red lion will be a challenge, but they’re already bringing it to us, so we must prepare.”

Getting their bayards was a fun experience, well kinda. James could only watch as Nadia, Ryan, and Ina were given their armor and their bayards; he and Veronica sat on the sidelines though.

Nadia’s bayard turned into a spear, Ryan’s turned into a large broadsword almost like something out of a fantasy game, and Ina’s bayard turned into a handheld railgun.

Allura said that James and Veronica were welcome to try out the red and black bayards, but because they hadn’t been chosen by a lion yet, it was unlikely that the bayard would activate for them. And lo and behold, when James and Veronica tried them, there was no reaction, not even a flicker.

“Now the strategy.” Allura said when they had gathered once again on the bridge. “The Galra know that we have at least the blue and the yellow lion correct?”

“I’m not sure. I shot down a lot of the Galra fighter jets, but potentially a feed or some sort of signal got out.” Nadia said, with a small frown on her face.

“Maybe. The Galra occupied both planets, but it can’t be said for certain whether or not they had found the green lion.” Ina said, “They for sure knew about the yellow lion, but it looked like they didn’t know the exact place to search for the green lion.”

“Hmm. Well let us pray that they are unaware of the green lion.” Allura said, “Timing is the most important part of this plan. Ina, Nadia, you will pretend to give yourselves up to Galra but what you’re doing in actuality is being a distraction. Ryan, you will take James and Veronica as close as you can to the red lion and after that, you will pull back to Arus. James, Veronica, the red lion will choose one of you and then you must get back as quickly as you can to Arus. Nadia, Ina, you will also pull back to Arus and that way we can get to the black lion. After it chooses it’s paladin, you will form voltron and takedown that cruiser.”

“But won’t they attack us?” Veronica asked.

“They will, but I trust that you will be able to evade them well enough to make it back to Arus. Additionally, I will be manning the castle’s weapon systems, as well as a shield that I will put up to provide additional cover.”

Veronica still looked unsure, and James himself wasn’t sold on the plan, but it wasn't like there was a guaranteed plan. The group settled into a tense silence, but it was interrupted by an alarm blaring.

“We don’t have any more time! The plan will work, now the Galra are upon us and you must get to your lions!” Allura yelled.

Well, that was great.

But James digressed, and he ran to follow Ryan into the green lion.

Well. Okay. Wow.

James sat in the cockpit of the red lion, in the red lion's hangar, after he and the other formed a giant robot mecha made out of five semi-smaller lion robots. The giant robot (that was somehow controlled by five different minds) then proceeded to takedown a Galra cruiser like it was nothing. Sure Sendak had evaded capture, but he was unlikely to return soon.

Well his…day has been…eventful and long.

Dammit. He’s in here for the long run now. The Galaxy Garrison… probably expelled him at this point. So there’s likely not a place for him back there.

Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.

Top of the class and all that work just flushed down. To be some savior of the universe that he wasn’t even aware of yesterday. The instructors had said he was their next Takeshi Shirogane, destined to explore the galaxy and chart the stars. And now he was who knows how many miles away from Earth and just…fighting for the freedom of the galaxy.

God what was his life.

At least he was still a pilot. Even if it was the pilot of a ten thousand year old lion mecha.

Chapter Text

Coran must admit, when he awoke from the cryopod, he had prepared himself for the worst: the Galra Empire to have completely taken over, the remaining Alteans scattered (if not completely wiped out), and in the worst case scenario, for Allura to have not survived the cryopod. And when he did awake he was relieved that Allura had survived.

No matter how unfortunate it was that the first two of his fears had come to pass, he would not allow himself to dwell on those thoughts.

Which was why he was surprised to have received an Altean distress signal when he was monitoring the bridge. Coran quickly made an announcement over the speakers and hailed Allura and the paladins.

“What’s going on?” Allura asked as she ran onto the bridge. “What do you mean-” She must have heard the beeping, as she quieted herself to listen to it. “Put them through.”

“Allura, wait.” Veronica said. Though she wasn’t the queen, Coran found himself pausing - as Veronica was the leader of the paladins. “We should think this through, it could be a trap - the Galra could be using that hoping we reveal our location. Or it could be another Rolo and Nyma situation.”

Allura’s brow pinched before it settled back into place, “No… this is a specific one, and there’s an added code simply requesting a call. Coran, put them through.”

Coran saw that Veronica still had a look of doubt on her face, but didn’t make another protest - and so, Coran put them through. The holoscreen projected the call to the screen, but the caller wasn’t sharing their video.

“Hello, my name is Lotor, am I speaking to Queen Allura of the Castle of Lions?” A confident, male voice asked.

Allura’s face twisted, but she replied, “I am. How-why are you using this signal?”

The voice simply breathed a sigh of relief before continuing, “I’m with the resistance against the Galra empire. My group had been trying to initiate a conversation with the paladins of voltron for quite some time now.”

“I see.” Allura nodded.

“Resistance? There’s a faction like that out there?” James questioned. Coran wasn’t surprised to hear that, the universe was quite vast - and it wasn’t statistically likely that everyone would be happy with the Galra empire.

“Indeed, regardless of how scattered we may be.” The voice replied. “But before we continue about that, Your majesty, Allura. You are not the last of the Alteans.”

Coran couldn’t stop himself from the sharp intake of breath he took. Altea had long been destroyed, and though some Alteans chose to flee, there weren't exactly too many signs of there being anymore Alteans. This was the first confirmation that there were more Alteans out there. Coran looked to Allura, whose eyes only steeled at the claim.

“What do you mean?” Allura asked.

“When the remaining Alteans fled, they were able to regroup. They remained hidden for some time, but they are out there.” The voice explained - which… made sense, but it was a tad boggling that they haven’t heard anything about them.

“Are they still in hiding?” Allura questioned. “Wouldn’t they be facing persecution from the Galra?”

“No, not exactly.” And Coran could nearly imagine the wince of the other person’s expression. “Eventually, they revealed themselves as they were sick of hiding. It was a gamble on their part, but they swore fealty to the empire.”

“What?” Allura said in a manner that was all too cold. Not angry, not sad, just cold.

The caller sighed before continuing, “It had been centuries since Altea was destroyed and many of them were tired of hiding. I am not trying to excuse their actions, but they survived, reintegrated where they could. However that fealty has been turning into resentment, and with your return, you have given them a new hope, and they want to fight.”

“I see.” Allura said, in that same cold tone, “What do you wish to gain by telling me this?”

“I want to let you know that you are not alone in this fight, you are not the last Altean either.” The voice said.

“Alright, then. I’d be willing to see more of this faction, if you are able.” Allura said, and Coran didn’t miss the small smile on her lips.

Allura ducked under the blade’s dagger, and used their overreach to retaliate, spinning her cutlass into the blade’s head, unfortunately she only hit him with the blunt side. The force made the blade stagger backwards, but when he looked up his mask flickered before disappearing, revealing his face. But this one, though, looked different from the other Galra they’ve seen. To the point where Allura wondered if they even were a Galra, in fact their features were more like… an Alteans.

Like an Altean, the alien had long pointed ears and markings, but rather beneath their eyes, the lavender markings started on his cheeks, going down his neck and disappearing under his suit. His eyes too, were more like an Altean’s than a Galran’s, with a white sclera and purple irises.

But the telltale of his Galra heritage was his skin, which looked almost like an Altean skin tone, or a human’s skin tone, but was slightly too purple, too purple to be an altean’s but purple enough to be Galra. His black, magenta streaked hair had been pulled into a braid that fell over his shoulder. Though what gave most of his heritage away was the snarl, revealing sharp fangs.

Seeing the blade’s face, Allura’s eyes widened. She knew she wasn’t the last Altean, but to see one fighting for the Galra, even if they were of mixed heritage. The blade growled, breaking Allura from her reverie, and she met his strike with her cutlass.

The form got closer, only the glowing of an arm giving away his position. James readied his shield and his pistol, waiting for the form to charge. And before James could blink, the form was upon him, seemingly using his arm as his primary weapon. James ducked and rolled, jumping to get back up. And through the fog, James could make out a face. A face too recognizable to forget.

“Wait-is that” But James couldn’t continue his question before he was forced to duck down. A stray shot hit the man in the back of his head, and ever the opportunist James took that as his cue to find cover behind a pillar. James braced himself before peeking back out. The man, which James had identified as Takeshi Shirogane, was staggering to get up, though the shot didn’t penetrate his helmet, it was enough to knock him down.

It appeared that the two years and several months had not gone well for him. His hair had grown out until it was just under his ears, and beyond that there was a streak of white in the front. There was also a thick and gnarled scar that went across his face, looking like it cut it in half. And then of course, it looked like he had lost an arm, only for it to be replaced by some sort of super weapon. He was dressed in a standard Galra prisoner outfit, and there was something off about his eyes.

“Guys!” James shouted over their comm system, “the guy I’m fighting is Shirogane. I think the Galra did something to him, try not to hit him too hard!”

“What” Rizavi was the first to respond, “You mean-”

“Yeah, he is. Alive.” James shouted, he didn’t have much time before Shirogane got back up. James cursed as he aimed his pistol again. He was trying to aim low, for a leg, a calf, whatever worked to ensure that it wouldn’t be lethal.

“So… Shirogane?” Nadia started. After that fight, the Cadet quartet as Veronica had referred to them as, retreated back to the common room. The loss of Veronica was hard. On everyone. And so far none of their recon missions have gone successfully.

“I mean it was definitely him.” Ryan said, whatever happened to Shiro though? Ryan wasn’t sure. He had a metal arm and was practically a one-man army.

“And I guess it answers the question of where the Kerberos crew went.” Nadia added.

“Taken.” James said, suddenly, snapping himself out of whatever reverie he was in. “I doubt that Shirogane had much of a choice in the matter.”

“So he was definitely taken by the Galra.” Ina said, “But what we don’t know is why is fighting for the Galra.”

“Well, maybe he was coerced.” Nadia supplied.

“But I think that Shirogane would have recognized that we’re human. It was like he-he wasn’t…aware even of what he was doing.” Ryan said. It was weird that Shirogane had no reaction to them. Though… “Maybe he was brainwashed?”

“I mean…I guess?” Ina replied, though it was more of a question.

“I think that makes the most sense.” James said, practically jumping on the idea, “There’s no way that Shirogane would willingly fight for the Galra!”

“Ahh, I almost forgot that you practically worshipped the guy.” Nadia said, with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

“I do not.” James said a bit too quickly. Ryan huffed at that, everyone at the Garrison had called James the next Shirogane and James himself preened under that praise.

“You should see this,” Allura says as she enters the common room, where Veronica and the rest of her team are relaxing having finished their daily training regime. Veronica looked over as Allura made her way to the front of the room,in her hands was a tablet.

“What is it?” Nadia asked, leaning forward trying to get a closer look at the tablet.

“You said that you are humans, correct? From planet Earth.” Allura asked.

“We are.” Ina said, looking up from her own tablet that had some alien romantasy ebook loaded onto it. Allura sighed at the confirmation, before flipping the tablet back out to face them. On the screen was a human girl, her face moving too fast to see clearly.

Allura sighed, before speaking, “I believe that either the Galra have made it to Earth, or humans have come to Space. This video has been popping up on the coalition interweb board. It appears to be of a human working with the Galra. As such, some have called the Paladin’s loyalty into question. ‘If humans are fighting for the empire, then why should they trust the paladins.’ The fact that we have yet to undo whatever damage was done to Shirogane has not helped matters.”

What? That shouldn’t be possible, Veronica thought, when they left the Milky Way, the alien ship followed them. But then again, perhaps they had marked the location. Though- “Allura, could I get a closer look at the video?”

Allura nodded, before handing the tablet over and Veronica restarted the video again, the other paladins crowding around her. In the video, it seemed to be in some sort of lab, with a few other Galran scientists and a druid working on some sort of weapon. Then six seconds in, the doors open and a human girl-

“That’s Katie!” Nadia shouted. “I thought she looked familiar!”

“I think you’re right.” Ryan said, eyes widening as he stared at the video.

“Wait, what?” Veronica questioned, “Who’s Katie?”

“Katie Holt?” James responded with a question.

“I think I’m still los-wait Holt? As in Sam and Matt Holt?” Veronica hadn’t been employed at the garrison when the Kerberos mission happened, but she recalled the tragedy of it all when it had been announced on the television.

“Katie Holt, belonging to that Holt family, we know of her because she had sneaked into the Garrison. Her ruse lasted for several months, but she was eventually caught and expelled from the Garrison.” Ina said, easily the most calm of them all. That also must have happened before she had been hired by the garrison, in fact it must have been two months before she was hired, if her mathwas right.

“Then what is she doing in space?” Veronica asked, brow furrowing. The other paladins looked to one another, but none looked too certain.

“Well,” Ryan started, “She had been looking for answers about her family when she had snuck into the Garrison. Perhaps she found a way into space to look for them herself?”

“That seems like a long shot.” James said, “She’s younger than us by like two years. And moreover, none of our Earth ships are suited for deep space travel.”

Nadia hmmed, “Then maybe the Galra took her? They have Sam and Matt Holt’s information so maybe they abducted her?”

“If that were the case, then why wouldn’t the Galra just take over Earth?” Ina questioned, “Besides, she doesn't exactly look like a captive.” Veronica looked back at the video, the girl-Katie, was practically waltzing around the lab as she checked the different equipment before she stopped to work on her own equations.

She didn’t look unhealthy or worn like other Galran prisoners, in fact she seemed in her element as she worked around the Galran lab. She had choppy hair that fell just above her shoulders, and most notably was still wearing Earth clothes: albeit a green hoodie and some cargo shorts, but that was leagues better than the Galran prison uniforms. Veronica would know.

“This is troubling,” Veronica said, as she turned her attention back to Allura who had silently watched their conversation, “But, we can’t confirm whether or not the Galra have found Earth until we have more proof. This does seem to be a more individual case, but let’s monitor this until we can confirm this.”