Voltron's Fire: The Phoenix in the Stars

Collection and Extraction

The next day after King Alfor's artificial intelligence was removed from the Castle, Allura and Coran wiped the Castle clean of all traces of the Galra crystal.

As they proceeded to wipe the Castle, I could see Allura's sad expression. I stood next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder, silently telling her that it was okay.

She smiled and thanked me for the gesture, since she now knew she wasn't alone in her pain.

The others don't know about what I told Allura, and unless push comes to shove for information about me, I plan to keep it that way.

We were gathered on the bridge, where Pidge was decoding Sendak's memories.

"Somewhere inside Sendak's memories we should be able to find the inside information that gives us the key to take down Zarkon." Allura said with a confident smile.

Coran turned towards the princess, "I don't think your father would approve of searching through an enemy's memories." He said warily.

"I know, but we have to do everything we can to defeat Zarkon."

"Once we know all his weaknesses, we can drive up to his front door and challenge him to a fight. Winner gets the universe." Lance said with a sly smirk.

I sighed and looked over at the blue paladin, "We can't just challenge him right away, Lance." I said, "We have to think this through. Zarkom is a petsom who cares about no one but himself and his Empire standing above all races. He doesn't even care about his men fighting and dying. He won't hesitate to kill us on the spot."

Everyone loolked at me in shock, even Pidge broke from her concentrated state and stared at me.

"How do you know all that, Phoenix?" Keith asked.

I crossed my arms and huffed, "That's where I was first brought when I was kidnapped from Earth. I was brought straight to Zarkon's feet."

"You've met Zarkon?!" Hunk exclaimed.

"It's not exactly a pleasure to meet the dark overlord of the universe, but, yes, I was given a private meeting with the man terrorizing the universe."

"Why did he want to meet you?" Keith asked.

I smirked at him, "Maybe because I was just that privileged."

He blushed and turned away. I shot him a confused look. What's with the red cheeks?

I shook off my questions as we focused on the task at hand.

"Anything good yet, Pidge?" Shiro asked.

"We were only able to salvage bits and pieces." She informed us. Keith sighed.

"We need something to work with." He said.

"He's right." I agreed, "We don't even have a decent map of the empire."

"Who needs a map?" Lance questioned, "After 10,000 years of conquering, I could probably fire my bayard at any random point in space and hit a Galra ship."

"If we could find some troop locations or supply routes, small targets we could hit-and-run, then we could start to free planets one by one." Shiro said.

"Boring. I want the big kaboom." Lance groaned.

"Give it up, Lance." I sighed, "Zarkon's been building his Empire for 10,000 years, don't expect to tear it down overnight."

"Phoenix is right. All we have are five inexperienced pilots and one support ship." Shiro added, "Hitting him where he lives would be a huge mistake."