Voltron Legendary Defender A Dragon's Heart

The Black Paladin

As soon as the Green Lion lands in the Castle, the Paladins and I waste no time hurrying to the bridge.

"Pidge, scan the download from the ship. Find out where Zarkon's Central Command is." Shiro says, taking off his helmet.

"On it." Pidge says, already typing through the information in her seat.

Coran walks over to us worriedly, "What happened? Where's Allura?"

"They captured her." Shiro says, "She sacrificed herself to save me and the information. I didn't have a choice."

"How is that possible?" Coran asks, his tone of voice showing he's upset.

"Coran, I'm sorry things didn't go as planned, but we can't focus on what went wrong. We've got to figure out how to make it right. Pidge, anything?"

"Guys, look at this." Pidge says, putting up the plans of Zarkon's Central Command ship on the big screen.

"Look at the size of it!" Coran gasps.

He's right. The ship is massive! Perhaps it's even bigger than I remember.

"I think we should go in right away." Pidge suggests, "Every minute we waste gives Zarkon time to prepare for us."

"I agree. We form Voltron, fly in, fly out, dust off our hands, and walk away." Lance says nonchalantly.

"It's not that simple." I say, "This base is like a fortress, every ship on it is heavily armed, including Zarkon's main ship. We should at least make a plan before we go in guns blazing."

"Kayleigha's right." Hunk agrees, "Do you guys not remember the Balmera? We could barely take out one fleet. But this... a base this size could hold a thousand fleets!"

"Or maybe we shouldn't go on this mission at all." Keith says, "Think about it. We'll be delivering the universe's only hope to the universe's biggest enemy."

Everyone stares at him in shock. Just one year ago, I would have agreed with him in a heartbeat. But now, I know that thinking about something like that is just selfish. And I'm not the only one who thinks that.

"Keith, that's cold, even for you." Hunk says, "What if it was one of us? What if it was me? You wouldn't leave me, would you? Would you?"

"I'm not saying I like the idea. I'm just thinking like a paladin."

"No, you're thinking of yourself because you're too scared to do what's right." Lance accuses.

"Okay, we're all upset because we lost Allura." Pidge says.

"No, Shiro lost Allura!" Coran yells.

I growl at his accusation, "Hey! He didn't want to leave her! It's not his fault!"

"Okay, okay! This isn't helping." Hunk says, "We can't just sit here and bicker like this."

Shiro sighs, "Let's focus. How are we going to get Allura?"

We spend the next few minutes trying to formulate a plan. The Paladins, except for Shiro, are in their seats looking over the plans of the command ship for an access point. At the same time, I pace back and forth in the right corner at the front of the room, trying to think of something that might help us.

So far, nothing seems to come to mind. All I can think about is the high levels of security the ship has, and how it makes it impossible to get in or out. I'm not just thinking this because I'm scared, even though the thought of returning to the center of the Galra Empire terrifies me. It's because that's all I've ever known about the place since I've been taken to Central Command to see Zarkon in person many times when I was his prisoner.