Voltron

Chapter One

 Katie

  I sat down on the sofa next to my mother. The news was on, and the reported looked concerned.

   "The Kerberos mission was a failure. The Galaxy Garrison says that there was a mishap with the ship, and all members are all presumed dead. There will be a memorial service for the lost lives, strictly for family and close friends. More at seven." The reporter said.

   "Wh-what? That means..." I looked to my mother, and I could see the tears welling in her eyes. 

   "Katie. I need you to call Keith." Her voice was shaking.

   "On it." A distraction would be great right now. I only knew Keith because Shiro had brought him over tour house a few times when he, Dad, and Matt had to talk about the mission. The kid had next to no friends, and so Shiro dragged him almost everywhere. Keith and I got along relatively well.

   I dialed his number on the old home phone Momma kept upstairs. It rang twice, then he picked up.

   "Hello?" Keith sounded annoyed.

   "Keith, this is Katie. Have you seen the news?" I asked, struggling to keep my voice steady.

   "Not today, why? Did something happen?" He replied coolly.

   "The ship with our families crashed. They're presumed dead."

   "What?!" His voice cracked. "Are you serious? The Garrison said that too, but I didn't think..."

   "Yeah. Momma and I found out through the news. Do you need to come over?"

  "Maybe. I'll see if I can. I need to go, there's someone here." Keith hung up the phone. 

Keith

   As I hung up with Katie, I walked over to the door and opened it. There were two people outside. They were obviously Garrison cadets, but they looked remorseful.

   Both of them were taller than me, and had dark skin, although the broader one was darker than his companion. The other was long and lanky, with blue eyes.

   "Hey, you're Keith Kogane, right? Captain Shirogane's brother?" The skinny one asked, a serious look on his face.

   "Yeah. What of it?" I scowled.

   "I'm Lance, this is Hunk. We came to say that we're sorry for your loss. If there's anything you need that we can get you, we'd be glad to help." The blue eyed boy explained.

   "Thanks. I'll tell you if you can help." I replied. I don't know why I didn't snap at them, but I just... Felt like I could trust them. "Now, I need to sleek to Iverson." 

    "Good luck." Lance said dryly. "He's pretty mad about this whole thing." 

Lance

   I gazed after Kogane. He had it rough. Poor guy.

  "Hey, Lance?" Hunk whispered. "We should be getting to our room."

   "Alright, big guy." I sighed. 

Six months later

Katie

   "Katherine Holt? Who's that?" A tall boyasked.

   "That'd be me." I approached the two boys. "We're on the same simulation team?"

   "Yup! I'm Lance McClain, and this big guy is Hunk Garrett." He grinned, although I saw recognition flash in his eyes when he saw me. "Nice to me you, Katherine!" 

   "You can call me Katie." I groaned. This team was a joke! I only got in early because there was a shortage of communications officers applying. That and my spotless record and flawless grades.

   "Nice to meet you, Katie." Hunk smiled.

Six months later (Again)

Hunk

   "Awesome! We passed the sim!" Lance whooped as we left simulation room. "Nice job not puking, Hunk!"

   "Nice job not showing off for once, Lance." Katie muttered.

   "Hey, I've gotta live up to Keith's standards somehow." Lance winked.

   Katie froze. "You knew Keith? Keith Kogane?"

   "Yeah, he was a friend of ours before stuff happened and he had to go. I haven't heard from him in nine months. Hope he's okay." Lance replied, trailing off at the end.

   "Did you know him?  I saw you two talking at the memorial service." I prodded.

   "Yeah. Keith was a friend of mine. Both of our brothers were on the Kerbrose mission together." She paused. "Wait, why were you two at the memorial? You didn't know either of them."

   "Keith invited us. We were friends of his." I explained.

   "Are. We are friends of his." Lance corrected.

   "Hmm... Meet me on the roof past curfew. Tell no one. Be sneaky." Katie whispered, then disappeared.

Past curfew

Lance

   "Hey Katie. Where'd you get all this tech?" I asked, frowning slightly. "It's not Garrison approved, is it?"

   "No. I made it." A hint of pride glowed on the younger girl's face.

   "What's this stuff for? Picking up signals?" Hunk guessed, reaching for something.

   "Hands off! And yes, but alien signals!" Katie's face lit up. "They're all spelling out 'Voltron,' whatever that is. But tonight, they've been going off the charts crazy."

   "Hey, is that a comet? Or a meteor?" Hunk asked, pointing out something in the sky.

   All three of us looked up. There was something falling from space.

   "Come on, we have to get closer!" Katie hissed, grabbing her strapped  The intercom came on, but we ignored it in our hurry to get closer.

   "Shoot! They got there first, there's no way we can get in now!" Katie growled.

   "Can we see what's going on in there?" I asked.

   "Yeah, let me hack it." She groaned.

   We watched as a man with black hair and a scar across his nose was strapped down to a stretcher and pleaded for help. The Garrison ignored his pleas and injected some kind of tranquilizer into him.

   "That's Shiro!" Katie gasped. "We have to rescue him!"

   "Uh, what happened to 'there's no way we can get in?'" Hunk interjected.

   "That was before we knew it's Shiro." Katie looked like she was going to say more, but the there was an explosion, and all of the people down at the camp thing were running to check it out.

   "A distraction!" She hissed. "For him."

   A boy was sneaking into the structure where Commander Shirogane was taken.

   "Keith!" I exclaimed. "I'd recognize that mullet anywhere. Let's go."

   Keith

   "Shiro?" I gasped, pulling down my mask. I cut him loose and slung one of his arms over my shoulder.

   "Hey there, pal." A familiar voice said. "I'm helping, this guy's twice your size."

   "Lance? What are you doing here?" I asked as my old friend slung Shiro's other arm over his shoulder. 

   "Helping, duh. Come on, we need to go."