Chasing Voltron AU: In which no on waits around for their missing family members to return to Earth.
Veronica and Adam know that Shiro crashed to Earth in an alien ship. They know Hunk, Lance, and Pidge snuck out that night and helped Keith kidnap Shiro from the Garrison, the group escaping into the desert where Adam suspects they found refuge at the old shack his ex-fiance and his adopted brother used to hang out in for some godforsaken reason.
The footage of a giant mechanical blue lion darting across the desert and beyond the atmosphere circulates despite the Garrison's efforts to hide it. The base is put in lockdown, but not before Adam and Veronica can sneak out to investigate the shack where they find Keith's conspiracy board and five distinct sets of footprints leading out toward the surrounding canyons. It's easy enough to connect the dots between the pictures pinned on the board and the video of the blue lion and figure their missing people found the ship and are far out of their reach.
It takes some time and a few trips to find where the blue lion was hidden. Amongst the wreckage, there are ships similar in style to what Shiro crashed to Earth in. They seem to be in good enough condition to use, which means the two just need do some minor repairs and gather supplies for a potentially long journey.
Colleen Holt and Lennie Garret, Hunk's uncle, visit the Garrison to demand answers. Students and faculty can hear the yelling from down the hall as they argue with Admiral Sanda and General Iverson and curious eyes watch as the two are escorted from the building. Veronica and Adam catch up with them, easily offering to drive the two away from the base and back to the nearest town.
What the Garrison doesn't know is that the four talk during that time. They find a place where they won't be overheard and Veronica and Adam explain their findings, tell them about the footage and the ships and their suspicion that their missing family members are not only alive, but out in space. All they need to do is get out there to rescue them, to bring them home.
While Veronica and Adam venture into space, Colleen and Lennie will wait on Earth. A dozen reasons are listed off to enforce the plan, but in a couple days when the two are setting up their ships for takeoff, everyone shows up. Everyone including Iverson who's been watching his lieutenants sneak about and conspire and who figured the sudden disappearance of supplies from storage meant the two were about to make a move so he followed in order to stop them. The Garrison can't have more of its people vanishing from Earth.
There's arguing. Colleen and Lennie brought their own supplies and want to come on the journey. Iverson wants to keep everyone on Earth. Veronica and Adam don't want the extra weight and inexperienced tagalongs slowing them down.
In the end, they all end up in the ships. Veronica and Adam pilot, the others cramming into the small cargo holds.
They estimate a couple months is the most they'll have to be away. If these alien ships move anything like that lion, then they can catch up easily enough. Hopefully, there's somewhere close enough to stop, somewhere the previous owners of their current ships must have gone to stock supplies and somewhere their missing friends and family may have ended up at, are maybe even stranded at.
They don't suspect that a wormhole shot the lion to the other side of the universe until they see a battleship disapppear in one and suddenly their mission is that much harder. Their ships allow them to hitch a ride amongst the terrifying fleets that travel in a blink when called upon, so that becomes their main form of travel when it comes to long distances. Keeping close to those fleets also brings them close to swap moons and ports where they can grab supplies.
It's at these ports they hear about other lion ships, ones that are a part of a bigger weapon that's saving the universe one planet at a time. Every so often, they hitch a ride with a fleet that's about to do battle with Voltron. Those occasions are the closest they get to crossing paths with their targets, but they have no way to connect to the lion ships and it's too risky to get near the massive ship that seems to be Voltron's own battle cruiser, so they're forced to focus more on survival than trying to chit chat with Voltron.
Far longer than they ever thought they'd be in space, they get their first view of the people they've been looking for. In the streets of some city, projected across the kinds of massive screens Veronica has only seen pictures of in New York, there they are. Lance, Hunk, Katie, and Shiro on a stage with a pointy eared alien, decked out in matching, color coordinated armor and putting on a frankly pathetic performance in front of a stadium of people. The Voltron Show.
It's happening far beyond where they can reach in so short notice, but there's a schedule of their appearances with locations and if Veronica can just get a connection to a Galran battle cruiser, she might be able to hack it so it will make a jump to one of those locations.
*****
Other notes:
Veronica and Adam take the lead of their little team. They're piloting the ships, which means they make the calls for which direction they'll head, when to hitch a ride with a cruiser, when to find a place to camp out. In the beginning, they handle most of the talking when they're planet-side, though Iverson tries to butt in and take charge whenever possible.
Safe to say, no one really trusts Iverson to make any decisions. He helped hide what really happened on the Kerberos mission and was ready to hide what happened the night Shiro crashed to Earth. His usefulness to the team comes during times when they're thrust into battle and his military experience proves beneficial to them all.
Colleen can never compare to the tech knowledge of the rest of her family, but she knows plants and how to maintain a functional garden on the ships. She also takes it upon herself to go full mom mode on the team. Her voice is the grounding one of the group, forcing them to be logical when emotions run high, quelling arguments that inevitably break out from their different ideas for handling the mission or from being crammed into two small ships.
Lennie doesn't really know about space ships, but he taught Hunk as much as he could about engines and how to put back together anything he takes apart. When they need ship maintenance done, he does his best to find a solution even if it would be considered unconventional. He also knows a bit about cooking. As long as they have edible ingredients, he can throw together something that tastes at least okay if not pretty good.
Reuniting:
They make the connection with Voltron before Pidge goes on her mission to find Matt. Or maybe they make it there while Pidge is gone? So Colleen has to wait even longer to see her daughter and for the first time during the whole trip, she becomes the flight risk. Every instinct tells her to grab a ship and follow instead of waiting around wondering if the last known living member of her family will make it back alive.
Having Veronica around unlocks a new insecurity in Lance because his one signature skill was taught to him by his older sister and Veronica has always been amazing at everything she does, so what if the lions warm up to her and replace Lance as a paladin? The reality is that Veronica is going to take up a position shadowing Coran, helping the Altean on the command deck so she can always have eyes on her brother.
When Shiro starts confessing to Lance that he's feeling off, Lance confides in Adam, tells him that he's also noticed how different Shiro is, wants to know if his cousin gets the same vibe. A lot has changed since Adam last saw his ex-fiance, but even he can see what Lance means. The two keep their eyes on Shiro, Adam opening back up to the man in an effort to get closer and maybe figure out what's wrong.
Hunk becomes overprotective of his uncle. Lennie is the only one of the group that has literally no experience or knowledge of space before being shot into it. He constantly worries that his uncle is going to get into something that will get him hurt and it doesn't help that Lennie has shown an interest in joining the team on planet-side missions. The man wants to know what his nephew is up to in space, wants to understand so he can help, not just on the Castle but on the inevitable trip home or if he finds himself out in space chasing after his nephew again.
Iverson finds himself back in a place of respect at Shiro's side, the not-yet-revealed-clone liking the military style of the general. He enjoys getting to have a say in matters, again, and feeling like he has some sort of control over what's happening. And if he notices how Shiro picks on Lance, targeting the red paladin over everyone else, he doesn't bring attention to it. Cadet McClain was always a problem at the Garrison, so of course he'd be a problem on the Voltron team (even though Iverson can admit Lance is more serious here and some of the ideas/concerns he brings up aren't exactly wrong).
Keith makes another visit of two to the Castle before the mission where he disappears. The extra people on board make him consider staying - he can see how Lance is stuck in his head, how Hunk is more anxious than before, how Adam constantly looks at him and Shiro in concern - but eventually settles on going full time with the Blade when he sees how buddy-buddy Shiro and Iverson have become. His relationship with Shiro has already been strained, he doesn't need a Garrison general making everything worse.