The New Paladin

88: Battle

"I'm ready to go."

"No you're not." Shiro frowned.

"I'm fine." Keith argued.

"No, you stopped breathing and you basically died." Pidge reminded her eyes narrowing at him. "You are not coming with."

"Yes I am."

"You're so stubborn." Pidge huffed walking away.

Keith turned his gaze on Shiro. "Why can't I come? You're going to need me, you know you will."

"Keith-"

"Besides," Keith growled, "Sendak needs to pay."

"I get that you're angry and I know what you're like. But you're staying here."

Keith deflated his eyes narrowing at Shiro.

"Don't glare at me, I'm doing this for your own good." Shiro called back as he headed to where the others were gathered.

"I don't like it." Lance protested shaking his head.

"Lance we can destroy them." Allura encouraged.

"Then what? Huh? We've still got the Galra to deal with in general." Lance reminded. "We can't do this."

"We managed when dealing with the Balmera." Hunk chipped in. "We were able to do so much then."

"And what's up with you?" Pidge asked tilting her head. "You're usually the beacon of hope."

Lance groaned. "Maybe I'm too tired to do this right now."

"If it helps at all, we're ready to fight too." James added strongly. "We've got MFE ships ready to launch."

"MFE?" Hunk whispered to Lance.

Lance just shrugged.

"We can protect the base too." Iverson reminded. "Our base has shielding that has lasted this long."

"It won't work against those cannons." Lance protested. "Besides, you only need one to hit the planet for it to be destroyed."

"What about the Atlas?" Ryan asked glancing to Iverson.

Iverson shook his head. "It's never launched."

"Atlas?" Coran asked lifting his gaze from the tablet he was examining. "Is that a ship?"

"Yeah, it's big enough to evacuate most of the planet." Veronica nodded. "But we've never been able to get it off the ground."

"Where is it?" Hunk, Pidge and Coran all asked.

"You're standing in it." Sanders stated as she walked over. "Have the paladins any clue as to what they are doing?"

"Wait!" Lance gasped eyes locked onto the floor. "We've got five lions, right? They've got ships too, we've also got the castle and now the atlas."

"And your point?" Allura encouraged looking hopeful.

Lance lifted his gaze. "We split up, all of us call our lions and get them here, we take down these cannons individually and then come for Sendak."

"And attack like that would have to happen at the same time."

"All six cannons would have to be hit in one go."

"We can do it sir."

"I think we've got ourselves a plan." Shiro smiled patting Lance's shoulder. "You sure you don't want to be black paladin."

"No way, I'm not ready for that." Lance shot back with a smile. "Are you gonna pilot or is Keith?"

Shiro groaned. "Keith's going to do it. I'll help the MFE pilots from here."

"Okay, we should get moving and fast." Pidge reminded.

~~~

With a heavy sigh Lance closed his eyes. None of them were a hundred percent sure that this could all work out.

They weren't sure if the lions would come. They weren't sure if the Atlas would take off, and they had no idea if earth would survive.

So here Lance was, sat at his sister at his side as she drove him, waiting for the signal to begin.

"It'll all be okay." Veronica whispered. "I can feel it."

Lance frowned to himself but stated quiet. He needed to focus.

Red purred in the back of his mind. A curious growl as he informed her what was happening.

"Okay guys. Let's do this." Keith's voice came through calm and assuring. Like they were more prepared for this.

"Go team Voltron." Allura cheered.

Lance opened his eyes to watch the view. Desert surrounded them. Arid and bare. A byproduct of the Galran's attack.

Lance wondered momentarily how much of the planet had actually been damaged.

"Begin your attack team Voltron." Shiro instructed.

The growling presence of Red momentarily gave Lance chills. Then he was summoning his Bayard.

"The moment the red lion arrives you get back in that base, okay?" Lance asked turning to Veronica.

"Okay." She nodded. "You'll be careful though right?"

Lance shot her a smile. "I'll see you at the end of this."

With that he turned back to the horizon where he could see the tall structure of the cannon. It gave him goosebumps and not the good type.

Now was not the time to get scared.

Red roared in his mind then appeared. A dark shadow looming over him.

"I got Red." Lance smirked as he opened the car door. Red leaded down enough to scoop him up before blasting them back into the sky.

"I got Green."

"I got Yellow."

"Good. I got Black. What about you Allura?"

"I've got Blue!" Allura cheered.

"Alright team." Keith chuckled. "Go."

Lance knew they had been spotted. Of course the moment the lions showed up they had been seen but he had underestimated the Galran's response time.

Fighters were already in the air and some strange shielding was forming around the cannons.

"Pidge-"

"Working on it." She snapped instantly.

"Clear the skies." Keith instructed. "Watch your backs."

Lance pulled Red up into the atmosphere then pushed her back toward the surface. With gravity on his side he cam back down at a serious speed.

He blasted the shields but they held. Nothing jumped out to him about where the shielding might be housed.

"Lance? Could they fire when on the surface?"

Lance frowned. "I doubt it, they would need solar energy as well as the quintessence in order to make the blast strong enough. But they might have changed the design, I don't know."

"Okay, that means they have to launch." Hunk said calmly. "The shielding should break then."

"I don't know if it will." Pidge answered. "I cant locate the shielding. I think we're just going to have to hit it."

"Did you call for reinforcements?" Lance asked as he struck the shields with Red's fire.

"I tried." Allura admitted. "The Galra are blocking signals but I hope Lotor received the call."

"Lotor? Isn't he busy becoming emperor or something?"

"Focus guys." Shiro reminded.

"But even if he becomes emperor I doubt that Sendak and Haggar are going to do as he says." Pidge grumbled.

"Guys."

"Sorry Shiro."