The Stars Between -- (VLD)

[12] We'll follow your lead, then

Lance winced as the source of the distress beacon came into view. It was what he assumed was an escape pod – or, what used to be an escape pod, in any case. It was pretty beat up. Lance was afraid that one wrong move could make the whole thing fall apart, possibly killing anybody inside.

If they weren't already dead.

Lance pushed the thought from his mind. If even one person was alive, they needed to get them out.

"Roy, Olly, have either of you done a retrieval mission before?" Lance asked, hoping that one of the two would have some experience.

"I've been... the object of a retrieval mission?" Olly supplied after a moment, bringing her hand up to hold Roy's as the taller girl shuddered. He wondered what had happened between the two.

Probably none of his damn business.

"So not really." Lance said, and Olly shrugged. "I've done a few with Voltron..." he mused, casting his mind back to retrieving the Red Lion, and their botched (but ultimately still successful) adventure on the Balmera.

Not exactly the best possible preparation for this mission, he'd admit.

"We'll follow your lead, then." Olly said firmly.

Oh.

Great.

Lance gulped, but pushed his fear down.

They had a job to do.

"Right, either of you good with electronics?"

Olly nodded. "What do you need me to do?"

Lance motioned towards the pod that they could see out the window.

"Can you get me remote control of the pod? We can't open the doors up here so we need to get down to a planet."

It probably wasn't the plan most retrieval teams would go through with, but stuck in a simple shuttle, it was all they had.

Olly nodded, turning to the control panel and typing furiously, fingers flying across the keys. "Roy, can you patch us through to them?" she asked, not looking up from her screen.

Roy moved to her seat, trying to lock into the communications system.

"Attention escape vessel, this is ship three-Rahtil-four-nine coming in for rescue, do you read?"

They were met with static as they drew nearer to the ship. Roy raised an eyebrow, repeating the phrase.

Still nothing.

Not a good sign.

"I've got visuals inside the ship, bringing it up now." Olly said, brow furrowed in concentration as an image appeared before them.

Two bodies lay still on the floor of the ship, one – the smaller – was in the centre, directly in the view of the feed; the second tucked in a corner. Lance frowned. Surely, someone was alive? He didn't want to have come all this way only to find that they had failed. He squinted, leaning closer to the screen. Was it....?

There!

"The smaller one's breathing!" He exclaimed, moving forward to get a better view.

The bigger one was still, facing away and half-hidden. Lance felt his heart in his throat, and he swallowed thickly. He continued to watch, until her arm shifted to the side and--

Oh.

Oh no.

Oh quiznak.

"There's another one on board!" Lance cried out, pointing to the movement in the corner. "There's three of them."

"But I can only feel..." Olly trailed off, looking to Roy in a mild panic.

"Lance..." Roy hesitated, glancing between the two, as if she was contemplating telling him. "There's only two."

"What? No, I can see a third!"

"Lance." Roy said again, and he stared at her. "I'm sorry, but there's only two people in there."

Lance tried to hold back his heart, feeling as if they had already failed the mission.

"I-I've got controls." Olly said, voice on the brink of cracking.

"Keep..." Lance paused, building himself up again and shutting off the feed. "Keep it steady, get ready for atmosphere re-entry."

The team buckled themselves in their seats, Lance waiting for them to nod before moving.

"We're heading planet-side." Lance said, steering the ship into a slow descent. Hopefully the occupants of the pod would hear.

Flying the resistance craft was a little different than piloting Blue. Most ships didn't have their own legs, after all, so it was up to Lance entirely to land without a sentient robotic cat to do so instead.

He winced as they bumped along the ground, most certainly causing damage to the shuttle and scratching its paint job off. Lance pulled a face, knowing if this was how bad their landing was, the pod would be ten times worse. He just hoped the harsh jolts didn't injure them.

As soon as he had properly landed the ship, asking for Olly to quickly run the systems for a check (nothing in the dangerous range, they'd get home for repairs), Lance clicked off his seatbelt and turned to Roy.

"Still got the line open?"

"Of course."

"Attention escape vessel;" Lance called, leaning forwards in his seat as if that would do something for the situation. "Prepare for us to board."

With no reply but the usual static, all three occupants stood to make the walk to the pod.

"Air's thin, but breathable." Roy said, glancing at the display above their heads. Lance nodded, but let his visor slide down. After all, this was set to alien biology, it mightn't of been accurate for humans.

The door slid open, and Olly was out to door first, a yellow streak as she ducked past Lance. "Do you know first aid?" she yelled over her shoulder.

Lance groaned quietly. He knew he should have taken that course at the Garrison.

"Only the basics!" Roy huffed, her prosthetic slowing her down enough that she started to lag behind.

Olly glanced behind her for a moment, before turning on her heel and looping back around. With a swift movement, Roy was suddenly over Olly's shoulder fireman-style, the position seeming causal. Olly didn't show any sign of strain on her face, and Roy just looked bored over the whole ordeal.

Lance decided not to ask. They had more important things to worry about.

Olly grew paler as they got closer, strange look in her eyes returning. She blinked, and the moment was gone.

Upon boarding the ship, Roy removed herself from the other girl's shoulders, brushing herself off. "Forgot to charge before the mission..." She mumbled, flicking her prosthetic out and setting it down on the ground.

Together the two girls rushed to the alien in the centre of the floor, Lance rushing past towards the bigger one huddled in the corner. Female, Galra. Her eyes were closed, and she didn't respond to Lance brushing his hand against the back of hers.

He held a hand to her neck, praying to any god out there.