Return Of The Stars

Chapter 2: A Not So Warm Welcome

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Two line breaks with ~~~~ in between denote a POV change.

- KarsKars

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With the Castle of Lions stationed on Altea, Voltron and the fleet from Emperor Thace had to take two wormholes instead of one. The Castle could only open and close wormholes that directed to it, meaning they needed to wormhole to Altea before they could wormhole to Earth. It was a nuisance, a nuisance that wasted several valuable vargas.

Pidge was vibrating in their seat with anxiety, desperate to get back to Earth and save their father. Matt absolutely refused to stay behind, even swearing at one of the Empire Generals who dared to suggest that not all of the Humans return. Lance and Hunk were equally excited and nervous, but mostly they were concerned about the wellbeing of their home and families. And Shiro was being particularly hard to read which was frustrating Keith to no end.

The worst part of the whole thing was that they had absolutely no idea what they were heading into. After that initial contact with his dad had ended, they hadn't been able to establish another connection. There was no way to know if the attacks had resumed or if the false surrender had been accepted. They were essentially flying in blind.

As the wormhole closed behind the last cruiser, Keith watched a small Altean transport pod drop from the Black Lion and fly towards the Castle. Allura intended to join them on their journey, but she needed to ensure enough of her essence was left behind so that someone named Bandor could facilitate their return. Keith didn't understand why the Castle of Lions couldn't just accompany them to Earth. Why not use the immense power of the Altean ship to transport them and protect the Garrison with its particle barrier? But nooooooo the Princess insisted that it remain on Altea as a symbol of stability for the Coalition; something about having a 'Central Command' of their own.

Pidge's voice came over the coms pulling him from his tangent and reminding them all of their delicate time frame. The antsy Green Paladin was demanding to leave and it was only a matter of time before their Blue and Yellow teammates jumped on the anxiety train as well. Shiro called over the lines in a calming tone, urging the younger Paladins to breathe and be patient as Allura prepared for departure. At his command, they went over the plan of attack once again. Keith noticed that it immediately took the other's minds off their stress, redirecting the nervous energy into something more productive. Shiro really was a natural leader; it was inspiring.

After the call from his father, they had spent almost 2 vargas going over their strategies and, in the end, Keith was proud to say it was entirely brilliant! Shiro and Allura wanted to take Sendak by surprise but they all knew their arrival would be expected. The solution was to hide Voltron from view, however the Lions were larger than any of the ships Thace could supply, meaning they couldn't hide them inside a cruiser. It had been Lance who suggested using the cloaking capability Pidge added to the Green Lion and replicating it for use on the others. The entire table had gawked at him and the Blue Paladin beamed with confidence at his moment of brilliance.

Matt and Regris spent the rest of the quintant helping Pidge upgrade and adjust their cloaking device, modifying it to integrate seamlessly with the slightly varying quintessence of the four remaining Lions. The final result was a cloaking capability so advanced that not even their com signals could be picked up while in stealth mode. It was truly impressive work.

Lance and Hunk had spent the quintant doing ... something. Honestly he hadn't been listening when they announced their plans. All he knew was that it involved food goo and Kaltenecker, which – yeah his curiosity was peaked the moment the doors closed and Keith realized he should have joined them. Instead he'd been left behind, ending up stuck in the war room with Shiro, Krolia, Thace, Allura, and the various Commanders present. They discussed their agreed upon plans, as well as what would happen in regards to Earth after Sendak's defeat. Allura wanted to welcome the Human's home planet into her coalition, but ultimately that decision wasn't up to the few Earthlings present. With Sendak attacking Earth, Keith didn't know how welcome the citizens of the Galra Empire would be. Not very, he assumed.