Chapter Text
It took less time than Allura expected to collect her scattered paladins. Once the Castle of Lions had escaped the corrupted wormhole, she and Coran made quick work of the repairs which, thankfully, had been minimal. One day later they had located three of their missing pilots. Their navigation showed Pidge only two galaxies away, and Shiro only one further. Keith’s lion had been badly damaged, and had crashed on a planet with an atmosphere so thick they could barely catch his distress beacon, but, after a few days they had found the Red Lion and Keith was resting in a healing pod. Somehow, Hunk and Lance had found each other in a distant galaxy, and the blue lion, slightly damaged, was laying atop the yellow lion as the pair floated through space. Luckily, despite the damage to his lion, Lance was unharmed. Hunk had a few minor injuries, but was out of a healing pod within an hour.
“We were very lucky,” Allura said to her paladins, once they were gathered in the common room on the main floor. It was dark. The castle had started its night-time cycle, but they had all stayed awake late into the night. Keith had just come out of the healing pod and the paladins had all piled onto one sofa, relieved to be near one another. “While I wish I could lecture you about how terribly reckless it was for you to head straight for Zarkon in order to rescue me, I can’t help but be grateful that you did.” She gave them all a small smile.
“There was no hesitation, princess,” Shiro said from the couch. “You would have done the same for us.”
Allura dipped her head at him. “Yes, I would.”
Coran wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “It’s time we get you to bed, princess. You’ll need plenty of rest.”
“I think that applies to all of us, Coran,” said Shiro. He looked over at where Pidge had dozed off against Keith’s shoulder and further down the curved couch where Hunk was yawning into a barely awake Lance’s hair. “It’s time for all of us to get some sleep. We’ll see each other in the morning.” Keith nudged a sleeping Pidge in Shiro’s direction and Shiro scooped her into his arms as he stood. Allura called good night as Coran led her towards her wing of the castle. Keith trudged out after Shiro and Pidge.
“Hey, Lance,” Hunk whispered, shaking the other boy lightly. Lance groaned and snuggled deeper into Hunk’s side. Hunk laughed and shook him again. “I’ll leave you here, you know,” he said with a smile. Lance cracked an eye at him.
“No you wouldn’t,” he yawned. “You won’t leave me. You love me.” Hunk smiled and patted Lance on the head.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He said with a sigh. The two of them lay there for a few more minutes. Hunk was soon lost in his thoughts about how terrified the two of them had been, floating through space together. Seeing Blue’s distress beacon on Yellow’s control panel had given Hunk the scare of his life. He’d prayed to everything he knew on his way towards Lance, and had practically cried when Lance’s voice had come through the comms to him. Blue had been down for some unknown reason, running just on reserve power. Lance had refused to leave her, and, hearing that Hunk was injured, wouldn’t let the mechanic come take a look, so the two of them kept a constant stream of chatter going as they floated together in deep space.
“We should really get up,” Lance grumbled.
“Yeah.”
“But I’ll see you in the morning,” The sentence was almost a question, an underlying insecurity or fear of being alone catching between the syllables.
“Of course.”
“Okay.” Lance rolled off the couch and onto his feet, wobbling slightly. He turned and offered Hunk a hand, which the other boy took. They walked quietly to Hunk’s room, only a few doors down from Lance’s.
“Good night, buddy.” Hunk whispered.
“G’night bro.” Lance walked alone to his room. Despite his fatigue, he did his usual series of skincare rituals before he let himself slip under the covers. The lights in his room cut off automatically, like they always did, and he slid his sleep mask down over his eyes. He said a small prayer for his family on Earth. He wasn’t religious, but his mother had been, and the small ritual helped steady his mind when he couldn’t help but worry. When he found himself so far from his family, it had soon become a nightly tradition.
When Lance walked into the kitchen the next morning, Hunk and Coran greeted him enthusiastically. The pair was already preparing a breakfast that would, again, be far too much food. It seemed that they could only cope with the recent stress by trying too hard to care for the others; and, for each paladin who stumbled to the table, they prepped a plate heaped high with the exotic foods they’d found similar to bread and ham and eggs.
Breakfast was pleasant. Allura, surprisingly, was the last to join them. While it was unlike her to be late for anything, she explained that Alteans sleep a lot when recovering from stress and the others understood. Coran passed her a plate stacked high with food and she gifted him a smile, picking up her spork and digging in. At the end of breakfast, Pidge hesitantly cleared her throat, drawing the room’s focus to her.
“I know we’re tired, and a lot of us are still recovering,” she looked to Keith and Allura, “but I want to go ahead and start looking at the data we stole from the Galra. I think… I think it can help me find my family. If there’s even a chance that I, or someone else whose family has been taken away by the Galra, could get back the people we love, then I at least have to try.” After a long moment, Shiro spoke up.
“I agree, Pidge. We worked hard for this information and it could definitely help us out,” he looked to Allura at the head of the table. The princess sighed without looking up from her food.
“I understand that we are all eager to get back out there, but we must consider the risks that come with what's being implied. This could become a search throughout galaxies, many of which will be Galra-controlled. There are Galra facilities that we’ve barely escaped intact. If a hunt through the Galra empire is something we are to pursue, we cannot hesitate in our actions. Pidge, what you are suggesting, though noble and entirely reasonable a course, is not a mission we can undertake lightly.”
“I am aware princess.”
Allura measured Pidge with her eyes, before looking around the table.
“If we are to do this, I want the decision to be unanimous,” The princess said to the other paladins. A wave of determination seemed to sweep through them and they all nodded. Allura smiled. “Very well. Pidge, upload your data to the castle main frame. It can translate it and we can begin with analysis. While the castle works on translating the data, I suggest you all spend some time on the training deck.”
“Thank you, Allura,” Pidge said before running out of the room.
“You heard the princess,” Shiro said as he stood. “Training deck in ten minutes.”
* * *
“Lance, focus!” Keith shouted as he blocked another blow from a battle droid. Team Voltron had fought its way up to the eighth battle level, the farthest they’d made it with all five of them still in play.
“Hunk, on your left.” Shiro shouted, diving to the side to avoid a blast from a droid. He had lost count of how many they had fought so far. While he was proud of his team for lasting as long as they had, but he didn’t know how much longer they could go without someone taking some real damage. Before he could think too hard on it, a voice from overhead called for an end to the training sequence.
Lance flopped dramatically onto the floor, joined moments later by Pidge and Hunk. Keith wiped down the pommel of his bayard.
“How long did we go for?” Lance panted.
“Two and a half of your earth hours!” Coran said proudly, circling through them with pouches of water. “It was most impressive, but the princess told me to stop you all. The data translation will be done and transferred onto tablets for you in ten minutes. She assumed you would want to be ready to analyze it as soon as possible.”
“Wait, it took this long just to translate it all?” Pidge said as she sat up. Coran gave her a smile.
“You recovered an amazing wealth of data, Pidge. You should be very proud of yourself. Now, all of you need to scuffle off to either your rooms or the communal showers to wash up. You stink like a herd of Griphnath. Come to the bridge when you’re ready.”
Within minutes they were gathered in the control room. Pidge was a ball of restless energy. She paced back and forth as the program seemed to slow down while it finalized the translations. Keith looked around the room to find everyone similarly nervous. Lance was curled up in the pilot’s chair, humming to himself. Hunk was still and silent. Keith even found himself shifting his weight unconsciously. Shiro stepped forward and took Pidge by the shoulders, stopping her nervous trek. He pulled her to him and she buried her face in his stomach. He patted her hair as they all waited.
Only a minute later, the console beeped, letting them know the information was ready to be transferred. All heads looked to Allura and Coran, who bustled around as they went about downloading the translated information onto each of their tablets, an Altean learning technology that Allura had gifted them to the paladins to help them learn Altean. But the devices were also useful for research. Pidge preferred her computer, but it wasn’t always able to work with heavy data loads in a timely manner.
“Now, the bulk of the information seems to be coordinates. Locations of work camps, shipping facilities, other databases, etc.” Allura said as she walked around distributing the tablets. “Basically, anything that was or could have been transported through the facility we invaded has a route somewhere in the data we stole. That includes prisoners.” Allura came to Pidge, who tugged herself out of Shiro’s arms and gripped the tablet as it was offered to her. Pidge looked up at Allura. “This could very well be exactly what you needed, Pidge.” The princess said with a smile.
“Alright Paladins.” Shiro said in his authoritative voice. “Let’s get to work.”
* * *
It took four days to catalogue the data. There were prison locations, shipyards, weapon suppliers, work camps; more information than they could have hoped to get from the Galra. Lance had never seen Pidge so focused, not even at the Garrison. Had it not been for Hunk and Coran reminding all of them to eat and sleep regularly, she almost certainly would have stayed glued to her tablet for days straight. Lance didn’t even believe that she slept when she was supposed to, because the afternoon of the third day, she dozed off into her food and Shiro carried her to her bedroom. She reappeared in the common room a few hours later, hair dripping and a towel around her neck. She touched Shiro gently on the shoulder before she sat back down to work. It was almost as if she’d never left.
When the work was finished, Allura projected the data onto the star map on the control room. Coran got up and began to manipulate the screen.
“The Orange dots are work camps. You’ll notice that these are often more isolated. Whenever possible, they are set up in distant corners of galaxies. That’s because they’re usually the final stop for a Galra prisoner.” A dozen or so orange locations, lit up on the screen. As he continued to explain, he pulled layers of dots onto the map. “Purple dots are the few weapons suppliers we found. That would be blasters, battle droids, armor, etc. Green is shipyards and repair stations, and Yellow dots are research facilities.” Coran grew quiet, hesitant, as he prepared for the next screen. “Blue dots are prison ships and holding facilities.” The screen lit up with an overwhelming amount of blue. Keith swore under his breath. Lance echoed his curse loudly. Hunk was silent. All eyes turned to Pidge, whose knuckles had gone white where they were tangled in her hoodie. Shiro placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Allura.. D-do we know if... I mean. Is this all of them? It has to be, right?” In all the time he’d known her, Lance had never heard Pidge sound as young as she did then.
“I don’t know, Pidge. Galra prison facilities are usually rather small, holding only a few dozen prisoners per location to limit the threat of rioting or broad escape plans. I… I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more locations we didn’t get data for or that are currently being built.” Pidge nodded to herself.
Surprisingly, it was Lance who spoke next.
“Where do we start?” He looked around the room. “I mean, there’s no way we can just start breaking into places. Even though some of these places are clustered together, I don’t know if we can carry the prisoners from more than one place at a time in the lions. And, even then, then how do we return them home? If their planets have been taken over, aren't we just putting them back in jeopardy?”
“So what, you think they’re better off without us?” Keith said his voice incredulous.
“No, that’s not it. Of course I want to get anyone I can out of the hands of the Galra. But I don’t know how we help beyond that.”
“Lance makes a very good point, Keith.” Allura said. “It won’t be enough just to break them out. There are refugee camps set up in hidden corners of the galaxy. Planets that have been rebuilt as safe havens that rebels use for this very purpose. There, escapees can find ships for venturing home, or safe communities ready to accept them. We will get them to safety. It will be up to them to decide their own fate.”
“What do we do if the facilities are protected? And does this map count places that are Galra controlled like Shay’s Balmera? What do we do about people imprisoned where they live?” Hunk asked.
“Some of the work camps could be situations like the Balmera,” Coran said, “but it would be hard to know without checking each one.” He tapped the controls, shifting them so the map showed only the orange and blue dots.
“That’s hundreds of dots,” Keith said. “There’s no way they won’t catch on to what we’re doing if we suddenly start raiding dozens of prisons at a time.”
“So we won’t raid dozens at a time.” Hunk moved to the map. “Some of these clusters are close enough that we could hit two or three at a time, but I think, for the most part, we should make them look random. Maybe we don’t even plan it. We pick a coordinate and be there within the hour. The Galra can’t expect something we haven’t even planned.”
“And what do we do about Galra defenses?” Keith said. “We can’t be defending the castle, and running the halls of a prison at the same time. Even if the castle can defend itself, we can’t just park our lions outside and expect the Galra to leave them alone. And the pods are too small for getting people out.”
“The castle defenses are enough to hold for shorter raids,” Coran said thoughtfully, “but even so, we would need at least two lions on defense at a time while others do recon and rescue.”
“The more we do this, the better we’ll get at it.” Allura stated. She looked at her paladins, “You have all grown since our last mission. Just the way you’re approaching this shows that you are all starting to think like Paladins of Voltron, and that is why I know we can do this. We may be no stronger than we were, but we’re smarter and more determined.”
“But is that enough, Princess?” Shiro said from where he’d been silently standing.
“I believe it will be, Shiro. And so should you.” She looked around the room. “We’ll pick our first location in two days time. I suggest you all rest up. Train in what you think you need to. Double check that your lions are fighting fit. We have people to save.”
They nodded and filed out of the bridge. Shiro brought up the rear, guiding Pidge, who seemed reluctant to leave the map, with a hand on her shoulder.
“We’ll find them. I know we will.” Shiro said. Pidge nodded at his side.
“I know,” she said.
They all split off, Hunk and Pidge heading to the lab, Keith to the training deck, and Lance and Shiro to their respective lions. Even though Lance knew that Blue was completely repaired from the crash while exiting the corrupted wormhole, he wanted to check in with her. He double checked all of Blue’s basic systems and wandered to her lower level. It was the storage hangar for the travel pod and where most of her emergency resources were stored. He hadn’t used that much of her stock while he and Hunk were stranded, but he had made a mess of things while searching for food and water. He figured, if he would be carting people down there, he would want some more room. By the time Hunk called him for dinner, he had everything pushed against the walls with new, translated labels facing outwards.
Dinner was quiet, as it usually was the night before a mission. They decided they would have a late evening training session, but other than that, chatter was kept to a minimum. Allura and Coran were leaned over a tablet and speaking quickly about wormholes. Lance couldn’t follow it, but every once in a while Pidge or Hunk would pipe in. Lance picked at his food, spending more time moving it around the plate than actually eating.
“You should eat something. You’ll want the energy for training,” Keith said as he got up for seconds.
“I can kick your ass no matter what, Kogane.” Lance said with a smirk. Nevertheless, he made sure to eat a bit more before pushing himself away from the table.
An hour later, Team Voltron was pounding away at the training bots. Coran stopped them after two hours and they all trudged off to their own quarters to clean up and sleep.
The following day passed in much the same way as the day before. They all ate breakfast together before training, after which they showered and reconvened for strategizing and lunch. In the afternoon, they split up to prepare in different ways, before reconvening for dinner, after which they all hit the training deck. Once training was finished, they split up for the night.
If you asked Allura, she would tell you that her paladins were both more withdrawn and more social before a big mission: they were all more personally subdued, but insisted on being near one another. The night before their first rescue mission was no different.
After training, the paladins trickled into the common room, wet hair and tired eyes unable to keep them from one another. They sat in companionable silence until she and Coran herded them off to bed.
The following breakfast was a nearly silent affair. They all said their good mornings and made the usual small talk about how they’d slept. Lance hummed nervously to himself throughout the meal, but, for the most part, it was quiet. After the meal, they all walked quietly to the control room. Allura pulled up the map and layered the blue dots representing prison ships over the bevy of stars. Pidge stepped forward.
“Hunk and I created a new program. It’ll help the castle mainframe randomly select our raid locations. The program tells the system to search for a single coordinate from the set we have. It can distinguish between prison ships that are singled out, away from other locations, and the ones that are in clusters.” She and Hunk walked back to the other paladins as Allura stepped forward.
“It wouldn’t do for us to take on too much for this first mission. I’ve had Pidge to set the program for just one prison. One ship will be plenty for right now. After we have the coordinates, I will find the best location for the castle and wormhole us there. As we discussed, Lance, Hunk, and I will accompany Shiro in his lion. Because the black lion is the largest, we will force its head through the hull of the ship like Hunk did during my rescue, and people will board through the mouth. Shiro, Lance, Hunk and myself will break people out of the cells and get them back to the lion. Keith and Pidge, you will protect the black lion while it is docked. The Blue and Yellow lions will stay in the castle.” Coran stepped up beside Allura.
“There’s no reason for these locations to be too heavily protected, so we should be able to get in and out in less than thirty minutes. It’s highly likely that the team inside the ship will take heavier fire than the team outside. Luckily, Lance and Hunk’s ranged weapons should help hold off guards and droids alike.”
“Are we ready?” Allura asked as she pulled up the navigation system and Pidge’s new program.
“Yes Princess,” they all answered.
No one spoke as Allura and Coran ran the program, selecting a location a few galaxies away. When the coordinates flashed onscreen, Allura turned to the paladins.
“Suited up and in your lions in fifteen minutes.”