𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚃𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚜 𝚃𝚒𝚖𝚎 - 𝙺𝚎𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝙺𝚘𝚐𝚊𝚗𝚎 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

Chapter Twenty-Nine - Resurfacing

"Entire Galra fleets have been mobilised. Zarkon seems to be out looking for Lotor,", Kolivan informed over call, Keith close by his side. Everyone had gathered in light of the current situation, so you were all gathered in the control room, though spread out in pairs, with you being the odd one out, standing behind Pidge.

"It's only a matter of time before he gets the empire back in order,", Shiro realised. "We need to take advantage of this moment,", furrowing your brows, you looked over at the male, wondering what was happening in his head. He had been more intense since returning, though it wasn't much. To you, at least, he seemed different, but you put that down to the trauma of being alone in space for so long, stranded.

"What are you getting at, Shiro?", Allura questioned, making him turn to face her.

"Now is the time to assemble the coalition that Voltron has been building. With the intelligence gathered by The Blades and coalition observers, combined with Pidge's Galra tracking software, we now have a detailed map of the Galra Empire,", he explained, pulling up the hologram. "I've identified an intermittent line of coalition planets that runs through the territory. If you look closely, there's only one Galra-occupied planet left on that line,"

"Naxzela,", the Altean woman identified.

"Exactly,", he replied. "If we capture and solidify that line, we can cut off all the Galra troops behind it from central command and use our position to defeat them,", everyones' eyes lit up at the possibilities, smiling as they thought it through.

"Wow!", Pidge gasped. "We could take back a third of the Galra Empire in one fell swoop,", you hummed in agreement, shifting your baby to your other hip.

"Do we have a plan?", Hunk queried from Pidge's side.

"We attack several locations across the region, at once,", he began. "First, we'll have to cut off communications between the region and Galra Central Command by striking the satellite relay station orbiting Vantax Five,"

"Pidge and I can handle that,", the tall male grinned, wrapping an arm around the shorter girl and pulling her into his side, his face mushed against hers as he held a thumb up.

"I can join and help take out anyone on board?", you suggested, wanting to take some of the load off of their shoulders. Smiling, they both nodded, and Pidge ruffled your hair, bringing you closer and smushing your face against the other side of hers as you both giggled.

"The Blades have informed us of two Galra defence systems coming online called Zaforge cannons. Now, these cannons can strike any target within our combat theatre. The first, in high orbit around the planet Teq, will be attacked by coalition air forces led by Matt and Captain Olia. Kolivan will lead a Marmora strike team against the second cannon, located on the surface of Senfama, which is vulnerable to a covert ground attack. We intend to take control of these cannons and use Zarkon's own firepower against him. Once the coalition forces and the Blades neutralise these targets, Galra defences will be weakened, allowing us to take down the remaining Galra-occupied planets in this area. While our forces are taking control of the planets, Naxzela will already be under attack,", Shiro elaborated, staring up at the diagram as he talked.

"By whom?", Allura queried, turning to look at him.

"Voltron,", he replied simply, gaze unwavering.

"Aw, yeah!", Lance cheered, wrapping his arms around Hunk and Pidge's necks as they both yelped in surprise. "Voltron's gonna drop in Naxzela, form Hunk's giant laser cannon and be all like 'Pow! Pow! Pow!',", he made finger guns, switching them to point left and right. "Easy peasy!", he smirked.

"Unfortunately, not that easy,", Shiro pointed out. "Naxzela will be tough. It's heavily fortified with Galra. Our attack must be swift enough to neutralise the Galra forces before they have time to contact Galra Headquarters. Cause if they call for reinforcements, we'll be caught in a fight on two fronts,"