Chapter Text
Simulation failed.
I groaned and glared at the pilot sitting next to me. Lance failed the simulator all the time, and if he wasn’t my friend, I’d ask to be someone else’s co-pilot. Someone who didn’t crash as much. That would be lovely. Then maybe I could learn something, actually graduate, and finally get off this planet that I’d been marooned on since I was fifteen.
“Nice work, Tailor,” Pidge grumbled.
The door to the simulator opened and Iverson, our teacher and the only adult here that didn’t grate on my nerves, scowled at us. “Roll out, donkeys!”
The four of us walked out of the simulator and stood in a line. I pushed my long hair out of my face, the dull brown color making me cringe. I’d had to dye it, since my natural silver-blue hair would be a dead giveaway that I wasn’t human. And that would be bad. Aliens were only theorized about here. If they knew...well, I had no interest in being dissected.
“Well, let’s see if we can’t use this complete failure as a lesson for the rest of you students. Can anyone point out the mistakes these three so-called cadets made in the simulator?"
“The engineer puked in the main gearbox!”
“Yes, as everyone knows, vomit is not an approved lubricant for engine systems. What else?”
“The Comm Spec removed his safety harness.”
“The pilot crashed!”
“Correct. And worst of all, the whole jump, they're arguing with each other! Heck, if you're going to be this bad individually, you'd better at least be able to work as a team! The Galaxy Garrison exists to turn young cadets like you into the next generation of elite astroexplorers, but these kind of mental mistakes are exactly what cost the lives of the men on the Kerberos Mission.”
Pidge’s head snapped up. “That’s not true, sir!”
“What did you say?!” Iverson growled.
Lance clapped a hand over Pidge’s mouth. I could hear Pidge trying to continue, but her voice was muffled by Lance’s hand.
“Sorry, sir! I-I-I think he may have hit his head when he fell out of his chair. But point taken."
“I hope I don’t need to remind you that the only reason you’re here is that the best pilot in your class had a discipline issue and flunked out! Don’t follow in his footsteps. Next!”
“I hope you’re better at piloting than you are at covering things up,” I mumbled as I passed Iverson.
He grabbed my arm, rage and a hint of fear flashing across his face. “What did you say, Cadet?”
“Nothing,” I said smoothly. “You have things to be doing, don’t you?” I pointed at the pilots that had frozen at the entrance of the simulator to watch Iverson and I.
“Right,” Iverson said, letting go of me. “Cadets! Into the simulator!”
I ignored Lance and Hunk as I walked out of the room, but before I could go to my quarters to contact Kogas, the man who’d saved me in more ways than one, I was stopped by Pidge. I was probably the only person in this building who knew her secret and didn’t care. I’d figured it out when I’d caught her sneaking into my room for feminine products, and she’d told me everything when I’d threatened to go to Iverson–an empty threat, but she didn’t know that.
“What did you mean about Iverson covering something up?”
“The Kerberos Mission didn’t fail due to pilot error or anything else like that,” I said casually.
“That’s what I’ve been saying,” she hissed. “But how do you know that?”
“Three reasons,” I said. “One, your reaction. Two, Keith’s reaction. Three, I snuck into Iverson’s office and pulled up the mission records. No crash, but evidence of more than three people.”
Her eyes widened. “Layla, do you think aliens took them?”
“I’d bet my life on it,” I said, knowing very well that the Galra had finally found Earth.
She was silent for a while, then grabbed my hand and dragged me after her. “Come on.”
We set up equipment on the roof of the Garrison. Well, more like she set it up and glared at me if I tried to help, so I left her to it and pulled out my communicator.
“Layla?” Kogas asked. “You’re several dobashes later than normal.”
“Sorry,” I said quietly, trying not to draw Pidge’s attention. “I’m on the roof with Pidge. I think we’re trying to pick up alien radio chatter.”
He was silent. “Galra?”
“Who else would care about this little backwater planet? And didn’t you mention that one of your top secret club’s operatives mentioned something about a lion on Earth?”
“First of all, it’s not a club. It’s a group of rebel Galra who are risking their lives. Second of all, yes, and if the Galra know that–”
“You come up here to rock out?” Lance's voice cut through my conversation with Kogas.
“Agh! Oh, Lance, Hunk. No, um, just looking at the stars.”
“I have to go,” I hissed, putting away my communicator. “Hey, you two. Wanting to get in more trouble?”
“Hey, where'd you get this stuff? It doesn't look like Garrison tech."
“I built it,” Pidge said smugly.
“Pidge is really smart,” I said as I came to sit next to her. “Smarter than most of the people in this place.”
“You built all this?” Hunk asked, reaching out to touch it. Pidge smacked his hand away.
“Stop it! With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system."
“That right? All the way to Kerberos?” Lance asked.
Pidge looked away, saying nothing. I tugged on a lock of my hair and looked at the equipment again.
“You go ballistic every time the instructors bring it up. What's your deal?"
“Second warning, Hunk!” Pidge exclaimed as Hunk tried to touch her equipment again.
“Aw,” Hunk said.
I gave him a reassuring smile. “It’s okay, I wasn’t even allowed to help set this stuff up.”
"Look, Pidge, if we’re going to bond as a team, we can’t have any secrets.”
I felt a bit of guilt fill my stomach, but I quickly pushed it away. If they ever found out, they’d likely understand. It wasn’t like I could just tell them I’m an alien. It wasn’t like admitting that I was disobeying Iverson or something.
“Fine. The world as you know it is about to change. The Kerberos Mission wasn't lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake—”
Hunk tried to touch her equipment again.
“STOP TOUCHING MY EQUIPMENT!”
Hunk groaned and flopped down onto the ground.
“So I've been scanning the system and picking up alien radio chatter.”
I sighed. So the Galra were coming. A part of me had hoped that I’d finally be able to escape the war that had plagued me my whole life when Kogas and I had crash landed here over three years ago. But it seemed that the universe had other plans for me.
“Whoa, what? Aliens?!” Hunk asked.
“Okay, so you’re insane. Got it,” Lance said.
“I'm serious! They keep repeating one word: “Voltron”. And tonight, it's going crazier than I have ever heard it.”
Well, Quiznak. There went my weekend. If the Galra were here, looking for Voltron, that meant that there was a lion here. And I didn’t believe in coincidences, so if these three humans were here, at this moment, it meant that they were Paladins of Voltron. And if I was here, that meant that I was a Paladin as well. Which meant that the feeling I’d been avoiding for years was finally coming back to haunt me. The Lion my ancestor had piloted popped into my head. I shoved it away and turned back to Pidge.
“How crazy?” Lance asked.
The announcement system kicked in. “Attention, students. This is not a drill. We are on lockdown! Security situation Zulu Niner. Repeat: All students are to remain in barracks until further notice.”
Something appeared in the sky. I jumped to my feet, knowing it was a ship entering Earth’s atmosphere.
“What's going on? Is that a meteor?! A very, very big...meteor?”
“It’s a ship,” I said grimly. “They’re here.”
Pidge glanced at me, her eyes narrowing as she lowered the binoculars she hadn’t had a chance to look through. Lance grabbed them.
“Holy crow! I can't believe what I'm seeing! That's not one of ours!”
“No. It’s one of theirs,” Pidge said, but there was still suspicion in her gaze as she stared at me.
We watched as the ship crashed. I was itching to go check it out, but I knew I had to stick with these three. Garrison cars zoomed toward the crash sight.
“We’ve got to see that ship!” Pidge said.
I didn’t hesitate and started to run toward the crash sight, pulling my backpack up onto my back and pulling out my collapsed staff. It wasn’t as nice as the spear I’d been training with back on my home planet, but it was still a weapon from my home planet.
I slid to a stop on top of a cliff, looking down at the quarantine tent. I could see people moving about, but humans’ eyesight really sucked. I tapped a finger on the rocks as Pidge, Hunk, and Lance skidded in behind me.
“Whoa... What the heck is that thing?! ... And who the heck is she?” Lance asked as he trained the binoculars on some Garrison woman.
“Lance!” Pidge and I hissed at the same time. Pidge, however, also gave him a little smack.
“Ow! Ah, right, alien ship. Man, we'll never get past all those guards to get a look.”
I stared down at the tent. I needed to get in there. I needed to know if the Galra were here, because as much as I didn’t want to be a soldier in an endless war, I didn’t want any other planet to face the same fate millions of others had.
“Aw, man. Yeah, we—yeah I guess there's nothing to do but head back to the barracks, right?” Hunk asked.
“Wait. They set up a camera in there and I grabbed its feed. Look!”
I stared in shock as I saw Shiro strapped to a table. He’d been so kind to me when I’d joined the Garrison, and he’d been the one to tell me that being in the Garrison was more than just some mission to be completed. He’d been the one to tell me to make friends, seeing my callous and cold attitude toward my fellow pilots.
“Hey! What are you doing?” Shiro asked, thrashing on the table he was strapped onto. My grip tightened on my staff. I wanted to run down there, but I knew that wasn’t the right decision to make.
“Calm down, Shiro. We just need to keep you quarantined until we run some tests on you,” Iverson said.
My opinion of the man shot down drastically as I heard his voice on the computer Pidge had out.
“You have to listen to me! They destroyed worlds! Aliens are coming!”
So it had been the Galra. I needed to get to him and find out what he knew. I moved away from my friends and prepared myself for a fight as I tightened the straps on my backpack. I couldn't have it flying around.
“That's Shiro! The pilot of the Kerberos Mission. That guy's my hero!” Lance said.
“Guess he’s not dead in space after all,” Hunk said.
“Where’s the rest of the crew?” Pidge asked.
“Do you know how long you’ve been gone?” Iverson asked.
“I don't know. Months? Years? Look, there's no time. Aliens are coming here for a weapon. They're probably on their way. They'll destroy us! We have to find Voltron!”
So he must be another Paladin. Who was the last one?
“Voltron!” Pidge exclaimed.
“Sir, take a look at this. It appears his arm has been replaced with a cyborg prosthetic.”
I felt a cold fear fill me as I got a better look at that arm. The Druids. Their faces flashed in my mind, accompanied by an echo of the searing pain of the witch’s magic.
“Put him under until we know what that thing can do.”
I thanked every god I knew that Iverson’s words evoked enough rage in me to push aside the memories of my time on a Galra ship.
“Don't, don't be me under! No! No, there's no time! Let me go!”
“They didn’t ask about the rest of the crew,” Pidge said.
I wanted to tell her that they would be fine, but I knew the Galra. They’d kill anyone that stood in their way.
“What are they doing? The guy's a legend. They're not even gonna listen to him?”
“That’s human nature,” I said quietly. “They don’t seem to see the big picture.”
“We have to get him out.”
“Yes,” I said. “The sooner, the better. Like right now.”
“Ah, I hate to be the voice of reason here, always, but weren't we just watching on TV because there was no way to get past the guards?” Hunk asked.
“That was before we were properly motivated. We've just got to think. Could we tunnel in?”
“I could sneak in,” I said. With my powers, I knew it would be easy. Or at least not impossible. Hm. Maybe I underestimated humans. I'd have to fix that if five of them really were going to be fighting by my side.
“Maybe we could get some hazmat suits and sneak in like med techs,” Pidge suggested.
“Or we dress up like cooks, sneak into the commissary... little late-night snack,” Hunk suggested.
“No. What we need is a distraction.”
Just as the words left his mouth, an explosion lit up the horizon. I didn’t wait. I needed to know what was going on. I launched myself over the edge of the cliff, sliding down. When I hit the ground, I rolled and jumped onto my feet, running as fast as I could. As I did that, I extended my staff, ready to beat up anyone who I needed to.
I caught sight of someone running ahead of me, likely whoever had set the explosion. He burst into the room Shiro was being held in. I was in a moment later. I saw one of the men running at his back, so I swung my staff through the air, hitting him in the head just as the other person turned around, fists raised.
The man I’d hit fell to the ground with a loud thunk, and I winced. “Oops,” I said, nudging him with my foot. “Please don’t be dead.”
“Who are you?”
“Layla. And you’re Keith, which means…” I held up three fingers, counting down in my head.
“Nope. No you—No, no, no, no, no, no, no you don't. I'm saving Shiro,” Lance said as he pushed his way into the room and grabbed Shiro’s other arm. Keith had freed Shiro while I’d been waiting for Lance to burst into the room.
Pidge and Hunk weren’t far behind Lance, and I stepped back to join them.
“Who are you?” Keith asked.
“Who am I? Uh, the name’s Lance.”
Keith said nothing, and I had to smother my giggles at Lance’s face.
“We were at the same class at the Garrison?”
“Really? Are you an engineer?”
I couldn’t help my snort of laughter. “Goodness, not unless you want to die in a magnificent fireball. Lance, an engineer.”
“Shut up, Layla. No, I'm a pilot. We were, like, rivals. You know, Lance and Keith, neck-and-neck.”
“Oh wait, I remember you. You're a cargo pilot.”
“Well, not anymore. I'm fighter class now thanks to you washing out.”
“Well, congratulations,” Keith said, not sounding very happy.
“Whoa, Layla, where did you get that?” Hunk asked as we followed Keith and Lance out.
“I’ve always had it,” I said. “Never know when you might need to beat someone over the head with a staff.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Pidge said. “It looks…alien.”
I said nothing as I retracted it and put it into my backpack. Hunk was staring at me with the same suspicious expression Pidge had now, but I realized I didn’t care. If I was right, the six of us were Voltron’s Paladins, which meant that I couldn’t keep such a secret from them.
But if there was one thing they wouldn’t find out, it was that royal blood flowed through my veins. I didn’t want to be treated differently based on circumstances I couldn’t control and didn’t want.
“Oh, man, they're coming back and they do not look happy. We gotta go. Uh, do you mind if we catch a ride with you?” Hunk asked, jumping onto Keith’s vehicle without asking.
“Is this thing big enough for all of us?” Pidge asked.
“No,” Keith responded.
I groaned as I got up next to Pidge. “You three get me into the worst situations.”
“Why am I holding this guy?” Pidge asked, arms around Shiro.
“Hey, we did all fit!” Hunk said.
“Barely,” I said.
“Can’t this thing go any faster?” Lance asked.
“We could toss out some non essential weight,” Keith suggested.
“Oh, right!” Lance looked around before realization struck him. “Okay, so that was an insult. I get it.”
“Big man, lean left!”
Hunk leaned left, and some of the Garrison cars following us crashed.
“Aw man! Mr. Harris just wiped out Professor Montgomery! No, no, he's fine.”
“Big man, lean right!”
We jumped to another section of cliff, causing more Garrison vehicles to crash. Hunk let out a nervous sound. “Guys? Is th-th-th-tha-tha—Is that a cliff up ahead?”
“Ooooh no, no, no! No, no, no, no—!” Lance screamed.
“Yep,” Keith said. I could hear the smirk in his voice.
He increased speed and we went flying off the cliff. Everyone screamed as we began to plummet, but I let out a whoop as adrenaline filled me. I’d never had the chance to do anything like this when I was on my home planet. I relished the feeling of the wind in my hair and on my face.
“What are you doing?! You're going to kill us all!” Lance screamed.
“Shut up and trust me!”
We arrived safely at the bottom, and the cars stopped on the edge of the cliff, unable to follow us. I tipped my head back and sighed as the adrenaline left me. Keith drove us through the desert until we arrived at a shack. Keith slowed and jumped off, grabbing Shiro from Pidge.
Everyone else followed him inside, but I pulled out my communicator and pressed a button.
“They’re coming. I’m turning on the tracker. Come find me. I have information that’s too sensitive to be said over this.”
“I’m on my way.”
I turned the communicator off and put it away, glancing up at the stars that were still strange to me.
“Are you coming inside?”
I glanced over at Keith. “Yeah. I just needed to stretch.
“Were you talking to someone?”
“Myself,” I said, brushing past him. “I do that sometimes. Thanks for getting us out of there.”
“You’re welcome,” he said as he followed me into the shack.
I had no idea if he believed me or not, but I couldn't ask. I just had to hope that he didn't ask any questions until I was ready.