Voltron: Next Generation: The Beginning

Part 16: The First Battle: Alert

-Romelle-

"Um... GUYS???" Panic rose in my chest faster than an angry klanmüirl. A figure arose just outside the castle. It looked like Voltron, except... not.

"What is it?" Adrian's worried voice accented by another round of shots fired from the nearby cruiser.

"Bo, the particle barrier! It looks like the enemy is back online again! But are you seeing this? It's another Voltron!" I cry. Three lions had formed their way into a massive figure, looking like a cross between Lotor's Sincline and Voltron.

Bo was typing furiously at his post, trying to run basic codes already installed on the castle to disable the Galra pods, easing at least some of the tension.

"Romelle, the Black Lion is in its hangar. I'll have to head back out, but the Skrewts are all headed toward the med bay. Coran should be able to handle the situation. You copy?" Roxanne asks me.

"Copy! Bo, the particle barrier!!" I turn to see a flustered Bo, jabbing at his screen violently.

"It's not working! Do you think they could have hacked the Castle??" We both cry out as the ship shakes, a torrent of blasts hitting the mast.

"Damage report?" I pull up what I can on my own screen.

"Well, the damage looks to be minimal, but we can't take another hit like that! We need to get out of here," Bo shouts. I divert the power from the lasers to the shields. Defense has to take priority.

"I've diverted all the power from defenses to the particle barrier. If we hurry, we can make a quick jump, but after that, we'll have to let the teledouv cool down. We've got one shot." I open a comm to the Paladins, their sounds of effort filling the control room.

"Paladins, we need to retreat! How fast can you think you ca-----" A flash of light, followed by a series of not-good-sounding explosions cancels our link, the main screen now flashing with warnings and reports.

A small voice enters the room from behind me.

"Bo, what's going on?" I'm startled by the sound and whip around, the adrenaline making me on edge. There stands a somewhat weak looking human girl.

"Hallie! You're awake! How fast do you think you can adjust to the castle defense controls?"

-Hunter Skrewt-

We arrive quickly in the medbay, Ally groaning in my arms and Pidge supporting Coran.

"I can have a healing pod ready for her in just a tick. Hang on, I have an idea... Romelle?" He's typing furiously at the little control pad in the center. Over his shoulder, I see him adding physical attributes and wound details.

"Yes, Coran?" Romelle's voice booms through the castle. The room shakes, making sure everybody knows we're in the middle of a battle.

"In order to put the castle's full power into the shields, you can disable pretty much everything. The extra healing pods, the escape pod charging bay. Well, unless you think we'll need those... But most specifically, the lights, everywhere except the control room. Um, Pidge, I'm gonna need you to get Ally out of her suit. The pod works faster without it," Coran says. I set Ally down and start helping my wife take off the damaged Paladin armor, though Pidge was quick to reassign me to keeping our son out of trouble. Toddlers are a handful, and this one is no exception.

"Okay. Redirecting power now. Keeping one healing pod active, though, right?"

"Correct! Now, we just need to carefully put... her... in..." I hear the two of them grunt with effort. Ally is rather light, but she's unconscious, so she's dead weighting them. Once Ally is safely tucked away in the healing pod, Pidge takes off, grabbing an extra flashlight from the cabinet.

"I'm gonna go see if I can help them up there. Hunter, don't let Jamie out of your sight! Stay here." Aaannd she's off. I sigh, picking up Jamie to keep him from running after her.

"I want to go with Mommy! I can help!" I grab the small toddler and fish my screen from my pocket.

"No, you need to stay with Daddy. He needs some help solving this puzzle, can you help me?" The little boy peers over at the screen, one of his favorite problem-solving games displayed. He squeaks from excitement, grabbing the device and getting to work. It's a coding game Pidge engineered to teach the kids basics. I'm proud to say I designed the artwork of the app. We've found they get bored without the cute klanmüirl helping them along.

The only sound in the medbay is the soft wir of the pod and Jamie's game (I made sure the volume was low, though). I look over at Coran, who's staring off into space.

"Hey, you okay? How's your wound?" He looks over at me, startled. His hand shot to his calf.

"Oh. Yeah. But that's nothing to the great Coran!" He struck a silly pose, making me laugh a little. Jamie looks up, the animated animal congratulating his quick thinking, but returns to his game quickly. Coran winces slightly after, and I get up and examine the blast wound.

"It looks fine, we just need to bandage it up with some ointment. I'm assuming you have that handy?" He looks at me, fondness in his eyes. He looks kinda sad. Like he misses someone.

"Yes. In here," he replies. I grab the supplies and get to work.

When we're done with that, Ally's pod lights start to flicker. Coran gasps and mutters under his breath, scrambling over to the control panel and pressing buttons. I rush forward and the ship shakes again.

"What's wrong?" I look over at Ally's pod, the lights now completely off.

"I think the enemy managed to hack the castle! I'm trying to fight for it, but it's better to have her out of the pod if they take over. But if the castle is hacked... This would mean there's an intruder." He looks to me, then back to the screen. A moment later, Ally's pod door releases. She starts to fall, but I catch her. The ship's shaking intensifies, then goes back to the steady vibrations.

Jamie starts crying. I look over, kind of annoyed, but what I see is terrifying, something no parent wants to see.

Across the room, my little boy is squirming in the hands of a Galra soldier. A blaster was pointed to his head.

"Call off the castle's defenses." A simple order, but one that we cannot fulfill from here.

"Let me gooo!" Jamie squeals.

"Stop it!" The soldier barks, and Jamie stops squirming, but cries louder. The Galran clearly doesn't care. I feel our bag of stuff press into my back while I set Ally down, looking to Coran.

"Call off the castle's defenses!" He yells. I narrow my eyes and slowly reach in the bag, where I know is a small blaster.

"Jaimie!! LET MY SON GO!" A scream comes from behind the man. He turns around, and I take the chance to shoot. I hit him in the shoulder, causing him to cry out and drop Jamie. He starts to move his gun, but another shot meets the back of his head, now turned towards me.

The soldier falls, and Pidge runs in the room, picking up Jamie and rushing to the control panel.

"I leave you alone for five minutes, and you let our son get captured by an intruder!!" Her words contain venom. She shoves the little boy, no longer crying, into my arms and gets to work on the keyboard, fingers flying.

"He snuck up on us!" I shoot back. She shakes her head.

"It doesn't matter now. He's safe. The castle started shutting down, so I ran a few counter codes, some easy ones I remember from my time on board. I figured I'd need to go around the Castle to make sure everything else was coming back on, and I heard Jamie crying. It sounded wrong. I'm glad you're all safe." She stops typing and looks up, love in her eyes. Her hack finalizes and loads, her cute little insignia showing the progress.

"That should do it. You can put Ally back, should be safe now," she says.

"No, no, don't do that. I know she's injured, but we sorely need her help," Romelle states, her face now on the screen on front of us.

"The situation is too dire!" The ship shakes again. "We need Voltron."