(On the Hunt) Chapter 48

Pride: On the Hunt

Chapter 48

Duty

It was quiet on the Xaela's bridge. It felt like it was always quiet, even when it wasn't. But the silence seemed a little bit less oppressive as time went on. It didn't exactly feel like healing, but maybe something close.

Sven was at his console playing with the nav system, just because he could—he'd never had much practical experience with mirrorlock navigation before. It kept him occupied. And really he was just enjoying having a monitor in a language he could read. Lance had no such distractions available; piloting in mirrorlock wasn't nearly as interesting as hyperspace. All he really had to do was sit there and occasionally make tiny course corrections. His thoughts were wandering, and that was dangerous anymore… he tried to pull them back to somewhere safer.

Ebb. They would get to Ebb eventually. And then… what then? Would they go back to Earth? Be reinforced—fuck, he couldn't imagine that—and sent back on their mission?

Their mission. It felt like forever since he'd thought about that. And yet, as his thoughts drifted to it, he felt the echoes of heat in his fingertips. That sensation of warmth curling around him that had supposedly been magic, or something like it. All the libraries and ancient ruins and even the murder garden… with Jace. Fuck.

Shaking his head, he looked over at Sven, who was poking absently at his console. It felt like he needed to speak, as if to prove what he was thinking about had ever been real. "Just remembered something."

"Yes?" The navigator looked up a little reluctantly, but not too much so. He'd been running out of interesting mapping to do.

"Our mission was to find five robot cats." Lance couldn't help a laugh. It certainly didn't sound any less bizarre. "All that craziness… kind of missing it now."

Sven tilted his head and chuckled. "It hasn't even crossed my mind for awhile." How could it have, with all they'd been through? His smile became wistful as he thought about it. "I miss it too… it seems like so long ago."

"Yeah." Frown. "That crazy metal just popped into my head. It does that sometimes, I mean, it did that a lot before… it's fucking weird. Guess the whole thing is on hold now, though." He looked at his hands. "Not sure I like that."

"Hmmph…" It did sound kind of depressing, now that he mentioned it. But the thought of going back to normal so quickly still seemed impossible. "I'm not sure I like it either. But I'm also not sure I don't like it."

Probably fair. "I just… I wanted to find it. Hell, I still do. I don't want them to just send someone else out on the Voltron hunt and we'll never know—" A gasp from the open hatch cut him off, a little belatedly as it registered. Looking up he saw Romelle standing there, eyes wide. Shit. "Uh, hello."

Sven turned also, giving her a short nod. "Romelle." He still couldn't look at her for very long without flinching, but at least he wasn't bolting for the lower deck again. That had been less than diplomatic.

"Um… hello." She looked between them, pale golden skin seeming even paler than usual. All she'd meant to do was come and sit at the communications console, perhaps familiarize herself a bit better with its functions. The last thing she'd expected to hear was that word.

Noting her expression, Lance thought back to what he said and tried to figure out what had caused the gasp. And the very, very awkward silence that was now following. Only one thing was coming to mind; it seemed awfully unlikely, but what the hell? "So, you overheard that, huh? Don't suppose you know anything about a Voltron."

As Keith's second, Sven was pretty sure he should have cut that off, or at least given the pilot a disapproving look. He wasn't really feeling it. What was a little operational security lapse among escapees on a stolen ship, really?

Romelle swallowed hard, fighting down a shiver. What do I say? She hadn't even considered how little she knew about the Alliance. Or who the Alliance might be cooperating with. Finally, she took a deep breath. They'd brought her with them, and trusted her beyond what she'd had any reason to expect. Perhaps they would protect her yet… "Are you working with the Galra?" she whispered.

Sven's eyes widened, and Lance nearly shot out of his seat. "Fuck no!" Now the Viking did glare at him, as Romelle sprang back with her hand on her weapon; he paused, growling and trying to get hold of himself. "Sorry, um, I just really hate them."

"Oh…" She looked to Sven, who gave an exasperated sigh.

"Forgive him." The calm the fuck down look he'd turned on the pilot did not fade.

In fairness, Lance really was trying to calm the fuck down. Maybe switching back to the original topic would help. "So, um, was that a yes?"

Slowly, Romelle moved her hand away from her gaive'llar. If they aren't with the Galra, then why… how…? "I might have heard of it," she confirmed hesitantly, as if they might somehow have not picked that up already. "Why do you ask?" The Voltron hunt. That was what he'd said. "Why are you looking for it?"

"Personally, because I don't want the Galra to get it." Lance had not quite managed to get all the anger out of his tone, and Sven gave him a warning look that he found a bit too familiar. "…But officially it's more complicated than that. What can you tell us?"

She swallowed again, mind racing. "The Galra have been searching for Voltron for centuries. They have no mercy on anything in their path."

Isn't that the fucking truth. Clenching his fists, Lance decided to take a shot. He could tell she was skirting around the real question on purpose… "Do you know something about where it is?"

Nervousness flashed in her eyes, and she took a step back. Sven intervened immediately. "You don't have to tell us." Lance shot him a glare; he glared right back. This woman had been through too much. "We'd hate to make you feel like we were pressuring you to do anything."

But she knows something… Lance exhaled slowly, still trying for calm. Maybe he should just let the Viking negotiate. It didn't feel like he was making much progress, and maybe this was too personal for him to really pull it off…

"What do you want with it?!" Romelle cried out abruptly, then blushed and covered her mouth with her hands.

Lance looked at Sven; Sven looked at Lance. How did they even respond to that? But they were in this deep. Maybe if he tried to ease up on the pressure…

"…It's just, it's what we were looking for, before we got tossed into hell. Might be nice to have some answers, if you have any? Don't really expect you to, though. Nobody else has."

Romelle looked at him, and suddenly things seemed to fit together. Hunk had glossed over this Explorer Team's actual mission when he'd been explaining things to her. Searching for a weapon before some pirates could get to it, he'd said. That was all.

It was not a particularly accurate understanding of Voltron and the Galra, but she could see how aliens from hundreds of light years away might have seen it that way…

"Nothing good comes from that thing," she murmured, eyes narrowing as a shiver ran up her spine. "Nothing but trouble."

Sven's mind went to the temple, and to all the other close calls they'd had even before the Ninth Kingdom got involved. Lance's went to the warmth, the strange metal he couldn't get out of his mind. Both spoke at once.

"That seems fairly accurate."

"Are you sure about that?"

She looked between them and nodded. "More than you know. It's why my ancestors first fled into exile on Pollux."

Wait, what? Lance's eyes widened, and his full focus fell on her. "Exiled? Because of Voltron?"

"Essentially." She looked away. "A decision was made to hide it away. My people believed the decision was… unwise."

To hide it away. His jaw had slowly fallen open as she spoke. She knows. It was crystal clear now. "The fucking fuck…" He looked over at their nearly equally stunned navigator. "We need to get Keith."

"Yes we do," Sven agreed, hitting the comms at his own station. "Keith, could you come to the bridge for a moment? We have something we'd like to… inform you of." That was a way of putting it, at least.

It took a few moments for the drowsy response to come through. "On my way."

Shaking his head, Lance slumped back against his seat and started laughing. He couldn't help it. He doubled over, sounding more than a little hysterical, trying to get a grip and failing completely.

Romelle stared. He was mad as all the dark realms of hell a minute ago… of course, maybe he was still mad. The word had a useful double meaning in Common. It didn't help that Sven seemed less than concerned; pilot drama without the attendant gunner drama was a relatively rare thing, but it was certainly another kind of drama she'd need to get used to.

Finally their dramatic pilot recovered enough to notice the look she was giving him. "Sorry, I'm just…" He giggled, sounding a little manic yet. "We've been searching every nook and cranny, every little thread we could find through the galaxy, and practically nothing. And then you just… show up and you know stuff! Actual things!"

Still watching him warily, she was saved from needing to respond by Keith making his way onto the bridge. He'd obviously just woken up, smoothing his salvaged shirt with one hand and covering a yawn with the other. "Sorry," he said quietly, shaking his head to try to clear the fog. "What is it?"

"We found the fucking Voltron motherlode, boss."

The fog evaporated. "…What?"

Lance was laughing again, so Sven took over. "It seems Romelle is aware of Voltron's location, but is a bit reluctant to tell us."

There were so many questions Keith wanted to ask. Near the top of the list was how and why exactly the subject had been raised to her to begin with. But then… apparently it had gotten results? He slowly turned his gaze on Romelle, who was blushing furiously and, notably, not objecting to anything they'd said.

It should probably excite him more than it did, he decided. But even if she had that information… "I'm not sure it matters right now."

Lance abruptly stopped laughing. "What? Of course it fucking matters."

"Not right now. What matters is getting to Ebb. I lost—we lost three vital members of our crew, and Daniel's injury needs better attention than we can give it here." The gunner actually seemed to be healing up pretty well, but he'd have felt better getting him back to the professionals. "That has to be our focus."

All of that was true, but perhaps a little myopic. Sven shook his head slightly. "Us needing to get to Ebb doesn't change the fact that Voltron's location matters."

"It does, but not to us. She can tell the Alliance when—"

"—What? No!"

All three of them turned back to Romelle, startled. "No? Why not?"

"Why are you looking for it?" she countered, frustration dripping through her voice. It wasn't exactly the question she was trying to get at, but precise phrasing wasn't her friend right now.

Lance's eyes narrowed. "We almost died! Flynn…" No. "…I don't even give a fuck about telling the Alliance, I just want to know where it fucking is!"

"Why are you against telling the Alliance?" Sven asked, trying to calm things down. Yelling at her didn't seem helpful.

Keith nodded. "If you won't tell us, you'll need to tell them. It's important."

"I didn't say I won't tell you." She'd taken a step back, trying to gather her thoughts. "I could be convinced to tell you. I won't… I won't just hand it over to them."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Keith wondered if he could convince them all to let him go get whatever passed for coffee on this ship before they went any further. I'm too tired for this. They hadn't actually found anything coffee-adjacent in the galley yet, so there was no actual point in asking. "So you'd tell us, but not the Alliance? But you know we're Alliance soldiers."

It wasn't entirely logical. Romelle knew that. How to explain the unexplainable, the visceral rejection that churned in her guts at the thought? "But I've come to trust you," she finally murmured. "The Alliance is just another faceless, self-interested bureaucracy. Even if I told them where Voltron is, they wouldn't do anything about it. It's on a planet conquered by the Drules—we've all seen the Alliance won't actually fight them. They just make treaties to protect themselves and let the independent worlds suffer."

Silence fell over the bridge for a few moments. Keith was reflexively bristling against her characterization, and yet he couldn't find an argument. He'd seen the Alliance put bureaucracy over ideals—hell, that was how he'd ended up on an Explorer Team in the first place. He knew the terms of the treaties as well as anyone. The Alliance had to protect its own first. But…

As his commander struggled with the broader morality, Lance zeroed in on something much more concrete. "Wait. They don't have it, do they?"

"They have it. They just don't know they have it." She had no doubt she'd have heard about it if the Drules had found Voltron. It was the sort of thing that would draw attention. As her people had damn well pointed out centuries ago, never dreaming where the future would ultimately lead… "If you're the ones who'll go to get it, if you'll be able to have some say in what happens next… I will tell you. Otherwise it's best if that information stays hidden."

All three of them stared at her. The chance to complete their mission was standing right in front of them, but taking it would be downright insane. And yet, insane was what they did.

"This feels like a discussion the whole team should be a part of," Sven said finally.

Keith nodded. "I agree." Crossing over to the command console, he opened the comms. "All crew to the common room. We have a complication."

*****

A complication. That was always ominous, wasn't it?

Hunk was flopped out on a couch, trying not to feel as nervous as the summons probably merited. Vince was next to him, and he was most definitely nervous; Pidge was sitting on the arm of the couch beside him. Across from them, Lance was still chuckling a little, while Daniel sat next to him and bounced his leg impatiently. Romelle had taken up a seat by Sven, liking his calmness, though right now that calm had a definite sense of shock beneath it.

Looking around at his team, sipping a glass of water that he wished was something more caffeinated, Keith stopped pacing around the middle of the rec room and sighed. Here went nothing.

"Alright. Seems we have a possible change of plans, and we need to make a decision." He set the water aside. "We are en route to Ebb, currently. It's the nearest Alliance post. I know we need to get there as quickly as possible. Daniel needs medical attention," Daniel looked a little irked to be singled out but said nothing, "we're down several members of our crew, and this ship isn't what we had before—either in terms of capability or cargo space. However…" He exhaled slowly. "We now have someone among us who knows where Voltron is."

All four jaws that hadn't been on the bridge dropped in unison. "Komora sa kye?"

"I'm sorry, what?!"

Keith gestured to their fugitive princess. "Romelle knows, but she won't tell us unless we go after it ourselves. And it may be at risk. So the question is, do we continue to Ebb? Or do we attempt to carry out our mission?"

"Thought we knew where it is," Hunk mused. "It's on Altea, yeah? Just—"

Vince blurted the understanding just before Hunk could get to it. "—You know where Altea is?"

Altea? Romelle looked between them and frowned. She thought she might have heard that name before, though she couldn't quite place it. "No, I don't know about an Altea." The context was clear enough. "But I know that Voltron isn't… it doesn't belong where it is now."

That could actually explain a whole lot. "It was stolen?"

"Not exactly."

"See, I'd really like less vague and more detail." Lance crossed his arms. "Can we just agree to go get it, already?"

Next to him, Daniel shook his head and scowled. "Why the fuck would we go get it?" The hell's wrong with him?

Hunk was onboard with that question. "Why us? Just about anyone else in the Alliance is probably way better suited to track it down right now, yeah? I mean we…" He winced. "We're kinda a mess."

"We're more than a mess," Daniel snorted. "We're a fucking train wreck." He didn't understand how this was even a debate. He just wanted to go home. Not that the Academy housing was particularly homey, but it was sure as hell better than being stuck in a hostile corner of the vast expanse of space.

"Yeah, because three of us died for our mission, which is exactly why we should finish it and find out where the fucking thing is!" Lance didn't get how this was a debate either. He didn't like disagreeing with Daniel, and his heart was tugging at him for the kid's sake… but something else, the echo of warmth in his fingertips, was tugging even more.

Romelle decided to ignore Daniel and Lance; Hunk had asked an actual question that she could address. "Even if the Alliance were to go and get it, they'd do what with it, exactly? Not help planets that need it? They already do that."

"Uh, we work for the Alliance?" Hunk pointed out hesitantly. She just nodded in response. She still knew it wasn't wholly logical, but she also still couldn't fight down or deny the way she felt. The trust she'd built with this team had been hard-won, and they shared things nobody else in their Alliance could understand…

Pidge felt like everyone was ignoring a key component of Keith's initial presentation; he frowned. "What risk were you referring to, sir?"

The commander nodded for Romelle to answer, and she exhaled. "The Galra are also looking for it—"

"—We've met them."

"—And they shouldn't fucking have it!"

"—And it's on a world currently occupied by the Drules," she completed.

That sent a flicker of surprise through several of them. Not Lance, whose scowl deepened. "And fuck them getting their hands on it, too." Nobody was going to argue with that sentiment, even if they weren't convinced about the solution.

Pidge was staring at Romelle in disbelief. "Wait. So you want us—and it has to be us—to go to a Drule-occupied planet, understrength, on the premise that you know the location of a weapon we've found next to no information about in months of searching." It made no sense. It was the most obvious trap. Except it wasn't logical for it to be a trap, she'd had so many opportunities to get them captured, he didn't like her but he'd come to accept she meant them no harm, it didn't… wait… his eyes widened. "And even if we don't, even if we were to convince you to go back and give that information to the Alliance, that would give the Drules that much more time to find it unchallenged."

Hunk startled, looking over at the ninja. He'd really just wanted to go home, hell with it. But he hadn't thought of it that way. Suddenly he could hear, feel, a clock ticking in the back of his mind… and the decision got a whole lot harder.

"…Yes," Romelle acknowledged. She hadn't necessarily looked at it that way either, and she surely didn't think the Drules needed the damned thing. Though if the Galra wanted to take a few shots at Lotor, she wouldn't be against it. It wasn't enough to ease the knot in her chest. "The world was only recently pacified, so it seems they were putting up a bit of a fight." But not with Voltron. I'd have heard that. Exiled for it, and it couldn't even save them. "And I feel I can trust you all to recover it. Not the Alliance—some faceless bureaucracy that wouldn't risk a fight." She shrugged helplessly, then folded her hands in her lap and stared down at them. "You've already fought your way off of Korrinoth, and no doubt we all have prices on our heads by now."

That was a pretty grim point, but also a pretty fair one. They were already thoroughly engaged in hostilities. And nobody was really expecting the Alliance to go to war on their behalf…

"Voltron seems to be pretty important," Lance said slowly. "Why are you so protective of it when you seem to hate it, too?"

"Hate it?" She startled a little and shook her head, eyes still locked on her hands. "Voltron isn't my issue. It's the planet it's hidden on, and the Galra. Provoking them by hiding it away was always tempting fate."

That did make some amount of sense. Exchanging glances, the team fell silent for a few moments, everyone taking in the new information and gathering their thoughts.

"If the Drules have pacified the planet, how are we supposed to take a hidden weapon from right under their noses?" Sven asked finally. That seemed like a pretty key issue also. "Even if we were in peak condition," he glanced at Daniel and remembered his own recent panic attack with a grimace, "that would be exceptionally difficult. Let alone now."

Not the craziest thing they'd ever done, perhaps. But exceptionally difficult.

"Why are we even discussing going to get it?" Daniel demanded, losing his grip on the question that had been seething in his mind this whole time. "I don't care how important it is, it's not as fucking important as going home! I don't know if you guys noticed, but we couldn't even sneak by a Drule monitoring post without getting into shit! Haven't we lost enough people looking for this fucking thing?"

Damn it. Lance closed his eyes for a moment. He wanted to comfort the kid. He wanted to agree with him, not because he actually agreed, but just because arguing with Daniel didn't feel right. But that instinct was warring with everything else inside of him, and for once, it lost out. "Flynn shouldn't… they shouldn't have died for nothing," he said softly, drawing a startled look from Keith.

Pidge had come to a conclusion, and shot their gunner an icy look. "So you'd prefer to let the same enemies who killed three of us, and tried to kill the rest of us just for their amusement, get their hands on an ancient superweapon capable of who the hells knows what?"

"Ninja's got a point," Hunk agreed hesitantly. "If we can't let the Galra get their hands on this thing, we sure's hell can't let the Drules get it, yeah?"

Ignoring Hunk, Daniel returned Pidge's look with equal ice. "I'd prefer all of us not die trying to infiltrate a planet owned by Drules, just for a fucking robot." He couldn't really cross his arms, but shifted to hold his bad arm across his good before looking back at Lance. "Cause if we do that, then they all died for nothing!"

Lance flinched, but shook his head. "You won't die. He… they would want to find it…"

At the same time, though, Pidge had lost his patience. The last thing he gave a damn about anymore was dying, and it hardly honored the others to be afraid to give what they had given. "Then stay on the ship and let the rest of us do it, coward."

"Pidge!" Keith snapped, glaring; Lance glared too. That was not helpful. Hunk wasn't in range to elbow him—Vince was in the way—but dropped his voice into his best approximation of a command tone.

"Ninja, I'll carry you out of this room if I've gotta!"

Though he didn't have the grace to look guilty or even particularly chastised, their systems analyst did shut up. It wasn't going to stop Daniel from firing back, of course.

"Fuck you, dickwad!" He was shaking in fury. It wasn't even just Pidge—they were all acting like this wasn't insane, Pidge was just being the biggest prick about it, as usual. "Fuck all of you! I'm done. Drop me off on your way to your fucking death sentence!"

"Settle down." Keith's own command tone cut through the tension much more effectively than his unwilling chief engineer's. "Settle down. We're discussing our options right now, and that's all."

Lance took a long breath, wincing. He wanted to put a hand on Daniel's shoulder but was positive it would be unwelcome; instead he looked around the rest of the room. "What do the rest of you think?" Vince hadn't said a word for ages, though he'd been laser-focused on everything; Sven and Hunk had raised questions, but not exactly taken sides. Nor had Keith, though as the commander he probably wouldn't unless necessary.

"I'm…" Sven frowned. He really didn't know how he felt about this; both sides had good arguments, and he seemed to find himself agreeing with whichever case had been made most recently. "Undecided." He supposed being able to go either way was a good thing, under these circumstances.

"I've got a question." Hunk knew which way he was leaning, but he wanted more information before he could be sure… he turned to Romelle and steeled himself. "You were like, a big deal on Korrinoth, yeah?"

She blushed. "If by a big deal, you mean I was to be the prime consort of the crown prince, yes. Why?"

Big Dumb Hunk wouldn't think of this, y'know. But they didn't have time for masks. Big Dumb Hunk ain't here right now. "What kinda forces do they usually leave on 'pacified' planets? I remember hearin' the Fourth leaves 'em pretty sparse once they're done with the conquering part." His roommate had told him a fair bit of what she'd learned about Fourth Kingdom deployment patterns her last time out, but whether that had any bearing on the Ninth…

Romelle nodded slowly. "That's… typical of conquerors, I believe. The Ninth is no different in that respect." Closing her eyes, she strained to remember. The logistics of conquest certainly hadn't been something she was usually involved in—they hadn't even involved her in her own wedding plans—but she had heard things. "There would be a governor in charge. Perhaps a ship, though only if they believe there might be unknown space travel assets left on the planet, or allies elsewhere. A few battalions of soldiers."

Wincing, Lance flashed back to thoughts of Beau Terre once the Galra had finished with it. "So this place is gutted?"

"Possibly." She shrugged. "But there may yet be some infrastructure left. They conquer planets to make use of their land and resources, not just leave them in ruins."

Frowning at that, Lance fell silent and eyed Hunk. The big guy was getting at something there, but it could really go to either side of the debate…

"So," he spoke more tentatively than usual, "gettin' in and out of this pacified planet is probably way easier than, say, bustin' out of a slave dungeon on Korrinoth in this same sorry shape?"

That was the side Lance had been hoping for.

Romelle considered the question, as if she were some expert on tactics. It did seem reasonable. "It is possible, yes. It would depend how quickly you could find it after arriving."

"Don't you know where it is?" Pidge sounded a little less skeptical than usual, though that wasn't saying much.

"Not exactly where on the planet, no. My people disagreed with hiding it, we didn't stay to participate. But… given the name of the High King's castle, that would be a good place to start."

Everyone looked at her—except Daniel, who'd gone off to sulk in a corner and was pretending not to pay attention—which she supposed she'd invited. "The name of the castle?"

"Vel'dia Komaz…" She hesitated and shook her head, that didn't help them any. "The Castle of Lions."

"Lions?" Lance echoed as the others stared. Nobody had mentioned lions. Not to her. She really does know what this thing is, where it is… "Well fuck it, we found the evil murder garden temple. We can find this. We go to this Castle of Lions, that's my vote."

Keith sighed, running a hand through his hair. He wasn't happy about this. But if there was anything he'd learned from this mission, it was that he didn't need to be happy about something to be convinced of it. And the rationale was hard to fight. "Alright." He looked around at his team. "I know we're all tired. Hurt. But…"

"We have to go," Pidge said softly. "We don't have a choice."

"We do have a choice," Daniel snarled from the corner, "and my choice is no." He wasn't looking at them; he didn't want to see the pissy ninja and he definitely didn't want to see Lance's disappointed face. Though Lance actually looked more sad than anything—not that he'd have wanted to see that either.

Their commander looked to Hunk, who in turn looked over at Romelle. "Has to be us, huh?" As she nodded, he sighed and braced himself. He didn't like it much either, but the possible alternatives were worse. "I'm on board."

"I'm still unsure…" Sven looked around. "But I will go with the majority."

That, Keith supposed, was a fair enough position. But… "We can't just be forced into this by the majority. We need everyone to buy in, one way or another. Which means Daniel, and Vince…"

Vince raised his head. "Uh, wait, what do you mean me?"

Raising an eyebrow, Keith turned to focus on him fully. "You hadn't said anything, I just assumed…"

Suddenly all eyes were on him, and he grimaced. Maybe it was understandable. He'd been wrapped up in his own thoughts as he followed the debate, and it wasn't like he'd ever jumped at the thought of adventure before. And yet… he looked at his hands and took a steadying breath. It was something inside him… the symbol on the relic they'd found, the stars, the sparks of whatever bizarre energy he'd unleashed at full strength in the arena.

It was pushing him forward. And he couldn't refuse.

"We should go find Voltron." He kept his eyes on his hands, not wanting to see the stunned expressions he knew had to be there, half expecting sparks to start shooting out of his fingers. "Trust me, I'm shocked too." Oh good, lightning puns again. "But I just… I think I need to find it."

A round of slow nods went around the rec room. All except for Daniel, who was still standing in the corner with his most stubborn look, feeling just a little betrayed by Vince's agreement. How the hell was he the only sane one around here? That wasn't how this was supposed to work at all.

We need him. I need him. Lance stood and took a hesitant step forward. He wasn't sure what to say, but when was he ever sure what to say? Usually he made it work somehow—he'd barely even started trying to marshal his thoughts when he was cut off by Pidge stepping in front of him. …Uh oh.

Pidge knew he'd gone too far earlier. He knew he shouldn't have called their gunner a coward, he knew Flynn wouldn't approve. Maybe more to the point… he understood being afraid. And Flynn had known that, too. He'd tell you to apologize, if he were here. But he's not here, so just… do the best you can…

Being in a corner, Daniel couldn't exactly retreat from the approaching ninja no matter how much he wanted to. So he just watched him warily, wondering whether he was about to be spoken to or stabbed.

Maybe Pidge himself wasn't completely certain of that, until he got there. No. He'd known what he intended.

I never got to answer him…

"What are you afraid of?"

Daniel stared. "I…" He hadn't been ready for that. He hadn't been ready for calm, for a question, for that question. "I—I…" Pidge was staring back at him, green eyes unreadable. What the hell? Why was he so calm? Daniel had been prepared for a screaming match, not this. "I don't want you guys to die," he finally managed, somehow. His voice was a ragged whisper; even in the sudden dead silence of the common room, he wondered if anyone but Pidge could even hear him. "I don't want to be alone again."

He'd expected scorn. Maybe something about logic. But Pidge nodded as if he understood…

…And I'm already alone again. "Jace died for you." He kept his voice low also. "Flynn died for me. We get it, kir sa tye?"

"Yeah." Daniel gestured helplessly with his good hand. "They died for us." And Cam died for all of us, even if he said he owed me, like a fucking asshole… "If we die too, that makes it worthless! I don't get how them dying means we should all run into danger when we're not at our best. Don't you get that? Why do you—"

"—Because I don't want any more deaths on my hands!" Pidge's tone wasn't angry, exactly. Maybe pained. "If the Drules get this thing because we didn't—if they use it—if we fail the mission they died for—how many more people will die? You think that's what they'd want?" He lowered his eyes. "Call me a coward if you like. I'm godsdamned terrified of failing them like that."

Everyone had already been watching them, but at least a couple of jaws were on the floor again. Grumpy Ninja did not say things like that. Even Daniel had to shake it off a moment, but he wasn't ready to concede. "I don't care about that, okay? I'm probably a horrible, selfish person for saying that—"

"—No you're not," Lance objected before he could stop himself, though he wasn't sure if the kid had even heard him or not. He seemed pretty caught up in what he was doing.

"—but I don't care. I…" Fuck. He was going to have to say it. He was going to have to admit this out loud, not just to Lance but to the whole damn room of them, to this damn asshole ninja who was suddenly being so fucking reasonable. But maybe if he said it, he could finally talk some sense into them. "I care about you guys," he whispered.

Pidge looked up again. "No. I understand." The hell with all of that, if it would've saved him. It was too late for that to matter now. What mattered was… "But we want to go."

…That had not been how that was supposed to work out. Daniel stared at him, trying to find some logical ground to retreat to. Some way to keep fighting, to make them realize this was crazy. But… he groaned and tilted his head back, lightly banging it against the wall a few times and letting the ensuing hint of a headache break through his racing thoughts.

"…Fine." They wanted to go. They wanted him to believe in this absolute lunacy. They wanted him with them… maybe that would have to be good enough. "Let's go get Voltron."

Lance took another step closer, eyeing him doubtfully. "Only if you're sure."

Daniel gave him a halfhearted glare. "I'm not sure, but I'm tired. I don't want to argue anymore. But none of you better die. No pilots, engineers, navigators, ninjas, or runaway princesses are allowed to die. Got it?" He paused, then added as if an afterthought, "Or overbearing commanders."

Chuckling, Hunk gave him a thumbs-up. "It's a deal, little dude." He tried to catch Pidge's eye, still trying to make sense of what he'd just heard from that side of the conversation. The ninja answered with a look that very clearly said hold your tongue if you want to keep it, and he decided to look somewhere else. Anywhere else. Ain't sayin' a word!

"We won't die," Lance promised. "But that not-allowed-to-die list also includes smartass kids." Daniel answered that by fondly rolling his eyes, and the pilot finally breathed a little bit easier.

Keith was not entirely certain what had just happened, but he also felt pretty certain he shouldn't question it. So he nodded and turned to their runaway princess instead. "Alright, Romelle. Where is it?"

She took a deep breath. No backing out now… perhaps she should be questioning the wisdom of this from her own side of things. But she believed in this team of strange, crazy Earthlings. And it wasn't as if she had anywhere else to go. So she nodded and turned to Sven.

"Let me see the maps."

*****

With a bow in one hand and her staff in the other, Larmina watched as the last batch of supplies was moved into the tunnels. Everything of use had been scoured from the castle, along with plenty of things she'd question the usefulness of; those golden mirrors and crystal trinkets from the ruined ballroom would surely find a purpose somewhere, she supposed. More important were the caches the Drules had left behind as they occupied the place, food and medicine but also weaponry and even building supplies. They really had been intending to just move in and take over.

Sucks to be them.

As others among the militia moved to erase their presence from the castle, Larmina turned her attention to her aunt. She found her watching the surrounding terrain from one of the more stable castle towers.

"So you're not leaving with everyone else?"

Allura didn't startle; she'd heard and sensed her approaching, but her eyes remained on the sky. "No… not yet. There is still something I must do."

Her niece gave her a puzzled look. "We're taking everything that wasn't nailed down, not to mention a few things that were. What's left to be done here?"

True enough… the princess sighed. "That's part of the problem. I'm hoping with so many things cleared away, perhaps it will become easier to see things that may be hidden. Something that could help us." Turning her head to the Thunder Ridge, she whispered more hesitantly, "If it's even something that can be seen."

Oh. Vague still? Larmina made a face that she would have denied was a pout, though it was definitely a pout. Giving the area a quick once-over, she made a decision. "Well, I'm staying up here with you."

Now Allura did turn to her, grimacing. "Larmina, I need you below with—"

"—Nope! You need an extra set of eyes up here. Coran may be your number one trusty advisor, but he's just one guy. You need someone else who can keep an eye out for you both." Giving her aunt a defiant smirk, she came up and stood beside her, staring up at the glittering stars.

Allura was a little bit taken aback. Larmina couldn't risk herself like this—well, that was what Larmina did, but… no. This was too important. She was about to give a more official order when the counterpoint crossed her mind. The reasoning was sound. One more person in the castle could be helpful. Their numbers would still be low enough to not be noticed, she would have more protection, and Larmina still kept enough to herself that she certainly wouldn't get in the way of her search. In fact, perhaps she could even help with it…

"Very well. Make sure that you have someone in place in the tunnels to keep watch over everything." The elders would be overseeing, of course. But part of imparting more responsibility to her niece was making sure she considered these things as well.

Grinning at her win, Larmina flipped her hair back and nodded. "Not a problem, I already have a couple of people in mind."

Allura smiled as she took one of her father's books from her pocket, opening to a page that had a map of the castle and its surroundings. Larmina tried not to be too obvious about peeking over her aunt's shoulder, though really, her aunt should be expecting her to do just that… not that it told her much. There were some spots with strange markings scattered over the map, with tiny notes written in code around them.

"We have a bit more freedom now, and only so much time to use it. I want to double check some places. My father focused so much in one area…" She pointed to one of the spots on the map. "There might be more clues elsewhere. Perhaps I'll see something my father missed."

Larmina set her weapons aside and crossed her arms, trying to make sense of the code. She recognized some ancient Arusian glyphs, one that might have been lightning… "And then what? If you find what you're looking for… it's the same thing King Alfor was looking for?" Still can't tell me what it is? Maybe if they were going to hang out in the castle hunting it down, she'd finally get some answers. She hoped so.

Allura nodded. "He was close. But there's… something else to it, something more that has to be found. I don't think he realized that." Something she could only hope was actually on Arus. If it was, they would find it.

That drew a small sigh from her niece. "I'll admit, I'm not a big fan of this hunting down vague somethings to find another vague something that could help us save Arus. Why can't someone have just written it down somewhere? I mean the Drules just came falling down from the sky screaming "ta-dah!" like we ever asked for them to show up—why does this thing we actually want have to be so f…" She bit back the curse, earning a fond chuckle. "Impossible?!"

"A good question," Allura acknowledged, smiling sadly. She'd wondered it herself so many times. "Maybe someday we'll have an answer. But right now we just have to do the best we can. We search every corner and keep our eyes to the sky—we have some time, if we're lucky. But not much. The Drules have to have realized by now that something is wrong here…" Looking once more at the sky, she took a long breath. "Which means they're coming for us."

*****

Pulling out of a mirrorlock course early was a little bit of a process. Of course, you had to pull out early eventually—failure to do so would end with your ship exiting the photon corridor in the middle of a star, which was not a recommended environment for any known spacecraft. They were just beginning the exit sequence earlier than usual.

As the Xaela began to slip free of the corridor, Keith looked around the bridge. "Alright. System checks. Sven, how is the new course coming along?"

"Almost done." He'd calculated their stopping point and located the correct star; now it was just a matter of checking angles.

"Good."

"Deceleration is stable," Lance reported. The photon corridor around them was getting brighter as their speed dropped closer to the actual speed of light.

Daniel ran a quick check at his own console. "Well, my nonexistent missiles still don't exist. But my point lasers still point, so…" Shrugging, he gave a thumbs-up. Keith grinned.

"Mirrorlock drive is gonna need a few to cool down and reset," Hunk called up from the engine bay. "Oughta be ready by the time we are."

"Roger that, Hunk." There was a current of tension running through the ship, but it wasn't exactly a bad tension. Something that was closer to the excitement of the moments before launch, rather than where they really were—some empty spot in the Seventh Kingdom, preparing to fly back into the teeth of the enemy.

Maybe that was why. For the first time in a long time, it felt like they were moving towards something, rather than running away…

"Make sure the shields are ready. We'll want to bring them up when we exit, just in case—since we have no idea what we're going to be exiting into."

"Give us a heads-up before we exit," Pidge answered, exchanging nods with Vince. "Mirrorlock isn't like hyperspace, we can raise the shields while we're underway."

"Will do." He looked back to the helm. "Lance?"

"Almost there." As if on cue, the brilliance surrounding them faded, and the engines gave a rumbling howl that washed over the ship. "We're back to sublight speeds, thrust reversal is on."

"Alright." Keith took a deep breath, looking at the main screen and bringing up his most confident tone. "I know we've all gone through hell already, and what we're about to do is risky. But I have faith in us, all of us. I believe they would want us to do this, to finish what we started." He paused, giving the others a moment to think that through one more time. To think of the others, and promise not to let their work be wasted. "So let's do this. For them."

"For them," Vince echoed softly, swallowing back the fear. Pidge reached over and tapped his shoulder, offering a small nod.

Keith let a small grin cross his lips. "We're an Explorer Team…"

"A fucking Explorer Team."

"We're a fuckin' Explorer Team!"

Lance and Hunk had called it out at the same time—they could both hear Jace, they could see Flynn shaking his head, even see Cam's bewilderment echoed as Romelle looked around at them with concern. Sven and Daniel exchanged fond eyerolls.

We're back to what we are, and we're doing what has to be done. For them… for all of us.

An alert tone sounded; the Xaela had come to a full stop. A few moments later, something chimed from the engine bay. "Mirrorlock is ready, boss."

"Alright." Pacing across the bridge one more time, Keith took his seat and nodded. "Set course for Arus."