Taking A Chance

New Altea

The next morning at 9:30am Keith and Lance came downstairs with their armour on. Molly and Jaya were fed and changed. Molly was in the playpen, and Jaya was on a playmat on the floor.
‘Hopefully we won't be long,’ Lance said.
‘Let me know if you won't be home for dinner at 8pm,’ Maria said.
‘Sure, Mama,’ Lance said.
Keith followed Lance out the door and felt his stomach drop. He'd promised himself he would try not to feel disappointed about going back to the Castle, but he couldn't help it.
Red rumbled her sorrow for him as he entered. ‘Not your fault Red,’ he mumbled.
You and your mate have given enough to this fight.
'I don't think anything will ever be enough,’ Keith said.
Keith sat and pulled his helmet on. ’You ready, baby?’ asked Lance.
‘As ready as I'll ever be,’ Keith said.
They were the last ones to arrive at the Castle and they made their way down to the dining room to find everyone else waiting for them, including the Admiral and Iverson.
Keith and Lance took their regular seats.
Shiro cleared his throat. ‘We've decided to stay on as paladins,’ he said.
‘That's wonderful news,’ Allura said. She sounded relieved as she beamed at them from the end of the table.
Keith couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes, afraid his disappointment would show on his face. Next to him, Lance stared at the table for the same reason.
‘There has been discussions about your involvement with the Blade, Keith,' said Admiral Sandra, ‘and it’s something we want you to continue doing. Any intel we can get on Galran movemets will be helpful.’
Keith's eyes flicked to Kolivan. He knew Keith wanted to leave the Blade and had gone behind his back to make sure that didn't happen. Keith had expected this, but it still hurt and angered him. The Admiral continued talking about how he would be expected to go to New Altea and strengthen the bond between them and Earth. Allura sounded excited about the prospect. Around the table the faces of the other paladins fall, and he was sure Pidge wiped away a tear.
They all stood when the Admiral and Iverson left, and the room was silent.
‘Keith, we need to talk about what happened,' Shiro finally said.
‘No we don't,’ said Keith, ‘majority rules remember.’
‘We assummed you and Lance would vote to stay,' Pidge said.
‘Why would you think that?’ asked Keith. ‘We already decided to leave. You knew we didn't want to go back out there. Kolivan knew I wanted to leave the Blade, and Allura knew I didn't want to go to New Altea.’ Keith took a moment to control his anger. ‘I don't want to fight about this, negative emotions will affect the teams ability to form Voltron. The decisions been made and now we make the best of it. And right now, Lance and I are going to sort out the mess that’s our room.‘
They went to their room and brought in the boxes they'd already placed in the corridor.
‘First things first,' said Lance, ‘let's get out of this armour.’
He found the box with their clothes, and changed.
Just then Kosmo appeared.
‘Hey boy, where did you disappear to?’ asked Keith, who scratched him behind the ear.
Kosmo gave a little yip, then jumped on the bed and made himself comfortable.
‘He needs his own bed,’ Lance said. Kosmo huffed and turned his back to them. ‘And you're woIf has attitude.‘
Keith shrugged. ‘What did you expect.’
Lance moved over to Keith and put his arm over his shoulders and kissed Keith's temple.
‘For your wolf to have the same bad attitude as it's master,' Lance said.
'Mhm, and you wouldn't have if any other way,’ Keith said.
‘Nope,' Lance said. He leant down and kissed Keith.
There was a knock at the door, and before they could say anything, Shiro came in.
Keith sighed as Lance moved away from him. ‘What do you want, Shiro?’ asked Keith.
‘We need to talk,’ Shiro said.
‘No we don't,’ said Keith, 'the vote was taken and we stay as paladins.’ He continued to go through the box on the bed in front of him.
'Paladins to the control room,' Allura said over the loud speaker.
'What is it?’ asked Shiro, when they arrived.
‘We've received a distress signal from New Altea,’ said Allura, ‘A Galran battle cruiser is attacking.’
Lance pulled out his phone and sent a message to his mother they probably wouldn't be back tonight as the Castle lifted into the air. Then went with Keith to put his armour back on before returning to the control room, with Kosmo following.
Once clear of Earth's atmosphere, Allura opened a wormhole and they came out near New Altea.
‘Kosmo, stay here,' Keith said.
Fighters spewed from the battle cruiser and the paladins went to their lions and shot from the Castle.
Allura: Another battle cruiser has just appeared.
Shiro: Keith, Lance, you two take care of the fighters attacking the surface of the planet. We'll take care of the battle cruisers.
'Copy that,’ Keith said. Pushing the controls forward, Keith shot down towards the surface with Lance following.
They shot down fighter after fighter and there seemed to be no end to them.
Lance: Keith look out.
A fighter flew directly into Red's side and exploded, causing Keith to spin out of control and crash into the forest.
Lance: KEITH!
Shiro: What happened?
‘I'm fine,’ said Keith, ‘a fighter crashed into me.' His body hurt form being thrown from his seat and tumbling around inside the cockpit of red lion. He was sure he was bruised all over.
On the view screen they could see blood running from Keith's nose.
Shiro: We've taken one of the battle cruisers out.
Pidge: Make that two.
Hunk: Does anyone else think that was too easy?
Allura: They may have been testing to see if Voltron was still active. According to data, that was not of full compliment of fighters on the both cruisers.
With the battle cruisers gone, they all concentrated their attack on the remaining fighters.
Once they were all destroyed, they made their way back to the Castle as it made its decent to the planets surface.