A/N: May Allura have blessed you all with a happy and safe new year!
"Schedule has been finalized," Shiro announced, using his robotic arm as a console to the large screen in the Coeus's bridge. To his right and in Liz and Cake's chairs were the former Paladins. To his left, the current Paladins were either sitting in their chair or on the step next to them. Kova was leaning on the banister around her console, looking bored.
"Yay," Caleb said unenthusiastically, earning him a punch to the knee from Liz.
"Starting today, the adults will take over breakfast and dinner shifts every other day. The teens will have a lunch shift today, then switch off tomorrow." The incredibly detailed schedule was, well, incredibly detailed. The adults, marked as solidly blue, were boxed in until lunchtime, where the teens, marked as red, were boxed in. Small spaces of purple showed the shift change between the two groups. Kova scoffed as she looked it over, a small smile on her face.
"Colonel, I mean no disrespect," Liz began. "But—"
"Why shifts?" Pidge asked, earning her a glare from the Green Paladin. "Why not full days?"
"Shiro, I'm gonna be honest," Hunk said. "This is stupid." Shiro stared at the teens, who were either smiling or laughing softly. "They're doing a great job already."
"Hunk!" Keith and Pidge stared at him.
"Chef Garrett, the concern is," Kova said, meeting Keith's eyes. "We're just kids." Her smile rivaled Keith's glare.
"Permission to continue?" Liz asked, looking at the Shirogane teens. Both nodded before she looked back to their dad.
"Granted. What's on your mind?"
"Colonel, what if they have the whole day today, and we can have the whole day tomorrow?" Shiro pouted for only a second but changed the schedule accordingly. The schedule had one day solidly blue, the other solidly red, with purple outlining sleep schedules. Kenny, marked by an ugly brown, had a separate schedule with varying shades of green and khaki in various time slots.
"Uh, Colonel, I'm gonna need a color code chart for that." Speak of the devil. Kenny had arrived. He was cleaning his glasses with the hem of his shirt, so he was squinting to look at the screen. Even half-blind, he could see the random colors on the screen.
"You're late." Shiro was annoyed.
"You're brown." Kova was bored again.
"Sorry, I had to give Vatos a bath," Kenny said, putting his glasses back on. "And why?"
"Yellow looks white and orange looks red, probably." Kova shrugged, lolling her head to stare at Shiro. He was muttering something about the teen being a know-it-all, but took down the screen and sent it to the consoles.
"Jax, I need you to take Blue and Yellow on another recon," Shiro said, approaching the podium. Kova stood straight at the nickname, looking straight ahead. "Ken will take over from there."
"Yes, sir." Kova nodded her head and turned to Allie and Cake. "Let's go." The two stood from their seats, gone before the former Paladins could ask why.
"Griffin, Sec, you're on babysitting duty."
"Going!" As Caleb lazily left the bridge, Shiro turned to the other adults.
"Keith, you can take Caleb's chair," Shiro said, smiling. "Let me show you how to run the ship."
"Y'know, I never expected to be out here again," Cake said, looking at the stars from the stray meteorite he found himself on. The stars were either too bright or too dim, but there was no denying they were there.
"What?" Kova replied. "Cutting and harvesting scrap metal?" She was about two levels above Cake's head, using her bayard to bat a small piece out of her way. Many of the pieces were unusable, too small to have a purpose.
"No." Cake jumped from the meteorite to a large sheet of twisted metal. "I was raised on my Balmera until I was, like, ten."
"The stars certainly look different." Allie's voice was almost wistful. She was leaning on a tall post, splintered in half so it could rest under Allie's elbow.
"C'mon, Cap." Cake found a steep decline in the twisted metal. "You can't say you don't miss Earth."
"I'm also a trained soldier, Cake." Kova watched Cake slide down the piece from above, smiling. "I put others over myself."
"You weren't always," Kenny said, breaking through the silence. "You were a little kid with hopes and dreams."
"If you weren't a soldier, what would you be?" Allie had managed to find Cake nearly falling into space, only to jump onto a nearby rock. "I never asked my question." Silence followed. Cake managed to climb onto the small rock, giving Allie a thumbs up. She shook her head in response.
"I don't know," Kova said, her voice almost a whisper. "An astrologist, maybe? Maybe a farmer."
"I'm serious!" Kova continued to absentmindedly bat away space junk. "I don't know how I did, but I lived in spite, and I don't plan on stopping."
"Ouch." Kenny teased, smiling. "That hurt my feelings."
"Why do you live in spite?" Pidge asked. Kova jumped at the voice, but she opened up her arm piece to show where her voice had echoed. Only the bridge on the Coeus showed any connection between the trio and the crew onboard.
"Nice to see you figured out the connections," Kova said, deactivating her bayard and jumping to a level below. "Now if you can figure out suit tracking."
"What?" Kova smiled proudly at Pidge's confusion, landing on a twisted piece of scrap metal harmlessly. "The suits don't have tracking."
"How's the recon going?" Hunk asked, interrupting the fight that was sure to break out between Kova and Pidge.
"Wonderfully." Kova looked around the trash nebula the trio was in. "We have found absolutely nothing."
"Nothing. Everything is either too small or too big." Kova had jumped off another ledge, landing next to Allie with Cake just within eyesight. "Clear to return?"
"Y—" Hunk began to say when Shiro cut him off with a headshake.
"You're cleared. Return to your Lions." Kenny gave the order, returning to adjusting something in the engine room. It hadn't been fifteen minutes when Kova came back online.
"Uh, sending a transmission to the Coeus." The four adults watched as the massive screen came on, showing a video feed from the Black Lion. Three figures were approaching the Lions, and fast. Silver in color, they were about twelve feet tall with handguns, literal handguns, brandished. "Oh, no."
"Activating particle barrier!" Kenny said, slamming a button. "Five minutes to activation and counting."
"Do you need the other Lions' assistance?"
"Negative. We got this." Kova closed the transmission channel and stared at the three bots. "On me, split. Ready?" The other two Paladins nodded, readying themselves as a united front. The bots were feet away when Kova's signal came. "Split!" The Black Lion ducked down, letting the centermost bot fly overhead. The Blue Lion darted up and to the left, nicking the bot's flat head. Yellow took a unique approach, ramming its head into the bot at full-force.
"Not what I meant!" The girls shouted at the same time, preparing themselves to take another attack from their attackers.
"Well, now we have two to deal with." Allie's bot had made a quick turn, following Blue. Allie, in a panic, had ordered her Lion to attack. Blue did that. Blue raised its tail until it was over its head and fired a shot, causing the bot to explode.
"I have a laser tail?!" Allie exclaimed, looking over her systems.
Amateurs, Keith thought but said nothing.
"On me!" The other two Lions converged, with Black activating its dual-sided jaw blade. As the last bot sped towards the three Lions, the Lions once again split, with the blade cutting through the bot in a clean cut. It exploded as the Black Lion deactivated its jaw blade.
"What were those?" Pidge asked.
"Warning shots," Kova answered, turning on transmissions from the Lion to the Coeus. "Coeus, review for trackers."
"I got it," Shiro said when Pidge turned to him for help. From her screen, she took note of what Shiro opened to scan the Lions with. The Black Lion had a tracker on its right hind leg. The Yellow Lion had one on its forehead. The Blue Lion had one on its tail, but unlike the others that glowed green, the tracker on Blue showed red. The laser must have rendered it inactive. "Two green on Yellow and Black. One red on Blue."
"Quiznack." Kova motioned the Lion to rest away from the Coeus. "We'll wait for the barrier to deactivate. Until then, we'll remove the trackers."
Eventually, the particle barrier deactivated itself, the teens got rid of the trackers, and they were able to continue sailing through space.
"I'm very upset." It was all Curtis said. The teens looked on with matching looks of 'What are you doing to do about it?' while the adults looked at Curtis like he was a savior of some sort. It was the first weekly meeting all of the Paladins, former and current, were able to attend.
"Kids, I don't think I need to remind you what happened the last time you were responsible for a toddler."
"We gave him a bath! He was fine!"
"You didn't do the laundry." Curtis rolled his eyes, meeting Shiro's. "Takashi."
"It was the best idea at the time," Shiro said, stepping between Kova and Curtis. "And besides, we're working on a plan."
"It better be a good one." He muttered, shaking his head. "Keith, Pidge, and Hunk. It's good to see you all alive."
"I read your reports over the past few weeks. May I say, Kova, you're getting better at notes." A silent fist pump came from Kova as Curtis continued. "Wish you would've told me about the prisoners sooner, but at least we know now."
"What's going on at the Garrison?" Kova asked. Curtis's face fell, glancing over the faces looking at him. The five teens were the first front of the defense. They had to know.
"Well, besides every student at the Garrison making speculations as to who has which Lion, the LDP preparing for war, the council demanding to know why we're repairing an abandoned sub-floor, and Cyrus on school break," Curtis shrugged. "There isn't much to tell."
"The LDP is what?" Kova demanded. Caleb stood from his chair. The other teens either straightened their backs or widened their eyes. Kenny had walked in after laying Vatos down for a nap.
"But only Captain Holt has that authority!" Kenny said, descending the staircase to be in full view of the small drone that served as a camera.
"And both Commander and Captain Holt had given the order, based on the declaration."
"What declaration?" Kova said again, eyes hard. Curtis sighed, pulling out his phone. He pulled up a video and showed it to the teens.
Yorak, in all his evil glory, stood in the middle of the frame. His dark hair was slicked back, showing off the long scars on his cheeks. His eyes flickered dangerously as a smirk grew across his face. His dark armor was on full display, showing off the violet Y in the middle of his chest plate. Soldiers stood behind him, guns in hand. Then he spoke.
"My name is Yorak, and I am Emperor of the Fire of Purification. You may remember my sabotaged transmission from before with my pesky younger sister deciding to rebel. No matter. This is an official declaration of war. My sister chose her side. So will I. I will take and claim every planet in the galaxy until every planet is purged from the hate and distrust my fellow hybrids have had to suffer and endure over the past thirty years. If the only way to purify it is to burn every village, city, and planet to the ground, I will not hesitate to do so. You've seen what I've done to the Unilu space mall. I can and will do worse. Your move, Voltron." He said the last word with a mocking tone. Every word sent Kova's blood boiling and chills down her spine.
"Woah, that's your bad guy?"
"Sister?" Pidge asked. “Who’s his sister?” She had turned around to stare at Kova, who had stood straight like a pin.
“He’s delusional,” Keith said, noticing Kova’s change in demeanor. He placed his hands on Pidge’s shoulders. “It’s okay.”
"Alright, before someone kills someone," Curtis said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "The Holts gave the order. The LDP is preparing for war, but they've been given orders to shut their mouths or immediate expulsion."
"You sure know how to threaten teenagers, Commander," Liz said, slouching on the step.
"I had a lot of practice." Curtis stretched his arms, yawning. He shook his head and returned to the crew of the Coeus. "I can't order the LDP to stop without telling the Holts about you guys. As far as they know, Kenny is in space with you guys lightyears away and trying to return to Earth."
"Commander, what about access to files?"
"Only those who know what files were opened when are allowed to look in those files," Curtis said sternly. "The original crew of the Coeus was given authorization and only the current Paladins and Kenny are authorized to look in the files. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Commander." The teens sat straight if they weren’t before as they spoke.
"Wait, so we're going to be told who the enemy is and that's it?" Hunk looked up at Curtis, hoping for more.
"Yes," Curtis nodded his head. "I'm sorry, Hunk, but until you return to Earth, I can't reinstate your clearance. Besides, the Paladins can give you everything you need without disclosing classified information."
"Is that all?" Shiro asked. Curtis nodded his head, said his goodbyes and the transmission ended. "Kova, go blow off some steam. Caleb, supervise."
"Can I kidnap Liz and Cake for the engine room?" Kenny asked Shiro. He nodded, and Kenny led the way with Liz and Cake on his heels.
"Allie, grab your first-aid kit. Kova might need it." Allie nodded her head, head bowed as she left the bridge.
“What happened before we got here?” Pidge asked. Shiro took a heavy breath. With his robotic arm, Shiro opened the last transmission.
Yorak stood behind a railing, wearing an armoured suit similar to the one in his latest transmission, with a billowing cape magically attached to his shoulders. His voice bordered on jovial, proud of what he had done. Over his shoulder, Kova looked shocked and angry. Her light brown eyes flicked across the room she was in before zeroing in on Yorak talking. Behind her, likely holding her hands together, was a light purple alien. He’d could’ve been mistaken for Galra if it wasn’t for the fluffy dark turquoise hair coming from his head. His ears were pointed, lined with matching fur and pink inner ears. Aquamarine irises followed something off-screen, and when his turn came, he stepped forward to reveal his outfit. It matched Yorak’s, with the exception of the cape. Kova took the opportunity to shove the two aside, make her own statement, and cut the feed.
Before anyone could speak their thoughts into words, Shiro switched the video to a live camera feed from the training room below.
Kova had removed her lavender sweater, throwing it in a far alcove. Only her dark head of hair was visible, but from the way her arms were moving and the way her braid moved, she was angry. Yelling something. She pointedly glared at the balcony where Caleb was setting up a bot. A bot, maybe as tall as her, fell to the floor, activating itself. Before it fully turned on, it took an angry spinning kick to the head. It fell on its back, slowly standing up. In an onslaught of beatings, the training bot took hit after hit from Kova, until there was nowhere else it could go. Another bot appeared on the floor, brandishing a sword. It approached Kova from behind, sword raised. With one last punch to the first bot's face, Kova spun around with a blade in her hand. A long curved sword came from Kova's bayard. With both hands on the hilt, Kova pushed the bot back until it was far enough to let her swing. With one swing, Kova freed the bot from its movement mechanism. It didn't have legs, but rather a large wheel that righted itself when the bot fell over.
"Fast, ruthless, smart," Hunk counted on his fingers. "No wonder he thinks she’s his sister.”
“He called her out,” Pidge said. Shiro turned to face his friends. “I’d be mad, too.”
“It doesn’t help that she’s half-Galra,” Keith said, watching Shiro nod his head as he deactivated the screen. “Yorak’s threat made the division real.”
“Follow the other hybrids,” Keith said. “Or follow your destiny.”
"Poor kid." Hunk shook his head. As the weight of the mission ahead of the teens finally sank in, Shiro hoped, prayed to Allura, that Keith and Pidge would get it. Their little girl wasn't so little anymore. No. She was currently showing her temper against poor bots who hadn't done a thing to her.
It took almost an hour, but Kova ran out of steam. Her knuckles were bruised and bloody, hands still curled into fists. Her hands shook as Allie tried to apply disinfectant. She had never seen Kova so angry. The other Paladins were having dinner while Allie tended to Kova's wounds. Kova took deep breaths as she tried not to flinch, wince, and open her fists. [:D]
"Do you," Allie said softly. "Do you want to talk about it?" Her bright blue eyes briefly met Kova's amber ones. As Kova's eyes darted back to her lap, she nodded her head.
“He called me out,” Kova said. “You know what it’s like for hybrids right now. Follow the hybrid leader of Voltron or follow the hybrid of the Fire. It’s a choice no one wants to make.” Allie waited, letting the words come to Kova. No words came.
"That doesn't explain why you were angry." Her voice was soft. Kova's hands had unfurled themselves, letting Allie better treat them. Kova looked up at Allie again, sorting through her thoughts.
Why was she angry? There was no time to answer as the Coeus shook.
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