Collecting the shards

Strength in numbers

Of getting home

"We're receiving a weird transmission"

It's the first thing everyone hears as soon as they pass Jupiter, which had prompted an exchange wherein Allura thought it was 'quite beautiful', and Akira had instantly reacted with a 'let's not stroke his ego' that had caused a surprised snort from Lance, and Hunk to excitedly say 'see I told you he was funnier now!'.

Akira's hold on the steering tightens just so.

"Can it be traced?"

Pidge makes a humming noise and they all hear clicking from their lion before she lets out an exclamation.

"This is so weird; the location seems to be Earth but it's not a satellite"

Then there's a pause and Pidge makes a gasp.

"The source name's on morse code!"

Takashi watches Akira relax in his chair, smile threatening to split his face.

"Connect them to us"

Hunk's line pops up.

"Are we sure about this?"

And a second later Lance's.

"Is it him?"

Akira groans.

"Just connect us"

Pidge makes a clicking sound with their mouth, a moment later there's a sound of static before a voice fills the lion.

"This is communication officer Weatherly of the Demi division requesting a line to the paladins"

It feels like electricity's filled the air, as Akira sits a bit straighter on his chair.

"This is black paladin Kogane, we hear you"

There's a sound from the other side of the connection before the voice pops up again.

"Captain we're connected!"

There's a silent pause before a new voice comes from the speakers.

"Hello paladins of Voltron, I'm Captain Leo Valdez of the Demi division, we have some information for you"

Takashi sees Akira change, like the mere name shakes him to his core, eyes glistening, he's too seconds away from saying something when Lance beats him to it.

"How do we know you are who you say?"

It's a little more aggressive than Takashi would've worded it as, but this doesn't seem to bother the person at the other end.

"We could stablish a video link if needed, but would need help from your side"

Akira seems to get his voice back, though it's a tremulous thing.

"Pidge?"

It's a testament to this fact that the response is followed by furious clicking.

"Can do!"

There's shuffling on the other side.

"Schmidt get video going"

And then a prompt.

"Yes sir!"

It takes a lot of furious keyboard sounds echoing around before an image appears int the front of the Black lion, and probably every other lion knowing pidge. The picture shows a man Takashi recognizes only slightly, older and dressed in what looks to be battle armor only golden in color; dark skin, curly hair, and incredibly dark eyes, on a face that softens into a smile after a single beat.

"Hola chico"

Akira makes a chocked-out noise.

"Leo"

Directly at his side are two people, one is a tall man dressed in a silver version of the armor, on the other is a woman wearing similar gold, who reminds Takashi of Lance but not really. Leo's face changes into a more serious expression, the man melting into the title with an ease that takes away any doubt Takashi had about him being the same person he met all that time ago.

"We have reason to believe the Galra are planning an attack on our division, and think Voltron could use this opportunity"

Allura is the one to respond then, clearly intrigued.

"What do you propose?"

The man smiles, not the soft happiness of reunion from a moment earlier, but the sharp grin of the cat that caught the mouse.

"How fast can you get here?"

It happens like this.

They form Voltron, Lance and Akira, or maybe it's Leandro and Keith, but Black and Red, form the wings, and then they're crossing light years in seconds, until they're on familiar ground, landing on a singular satellite to wait; hiding behind the moon, Earth's moon, and waiting for the right moment.

First there's the Galra ship, familiar in a way that sets them reeling, nerves alight, instincts fighting for control, they stay put.

Then they see it.

Slowly passing by the moon, cutting the blackness with a milliard of crimson lights, a shape none of them could've imagined.

It's a space ship, in the sense that it has all the necessary parts for a vessel, crowned by a crimson-eyed dragon as a header; in the sense that it's very much a fucking naval ship, but in space.

There isn't much time to wonder over the incredible thing that is that particular sight, because the battle starts shortly after.

It takes minutes to turn the tides.

Voltron pulls apart, strikes like shadows, the pulls back together to deal the final blow.

There's more to it than that, an extract mission gets tangled at some point bc they sense a different life-form on board of the Galran battle cruiser. But even that feels like a blink in the bigger picture.

It also happens like this.

The ship opens a hatch for them once they separate once more, Akira is the first one to go in, quickly followed by Lance, and then everyone else. The hatch closes behind them and a moment later a different door opens, and out comes the man who spoke to them.

They get out of their lions, to meet the man and the woman that'd been with him, and for a moment it feels like a standoff, before the man, Captain Leo Valdez, makes a theatrical sort of motion with both his hands.

"Voltron, welcome to the Argo 2.0"

What follows seems almost part of the course, the crew is eager to fill them in on the situation with the Galra, how Earth has yet to fall thanks to the efforts put by the 'demi division', proud of their prowess and willing to keep fighting.

Pidge and Hunk get into a very long-winded discussion with the group in charge of the systems that keep this ship functional, because apparently normal technology doesn't work for demigods, which explains Lance's history with cellphones but he can't really follow it beyond that.

Shiro and Allura are talking to the people in charge of strategies, Coran seems to have been surrounded by people eager to learn everything they can about space if the look on all of their faces is anything to go by.

Akira is missing, and so is the captain of this vessel, but before Lance can decide to go looking for them, he's approached by the beautiful woman in gold-tones. She reminds Lance of his mother, not the one back on Varadero, but the one that gifted him with his most important connection; the stranger smiles kindly at him.

"Hello little brother"

And Lance knows she is, she is his sister, one of many siblings he has that he doesn't share surname with, no less his siblings that the ones who do. So he smiles back at her.

"Hi, I'm Lance McLain"

He offers a hand, and she takes it avidly, grin widening just so.

"Piper McLean"