Survival of the Innocent (A Voltron fanfic) (Book 1 of Fates Entwined)

Echo Part 1

Pidge's computer shows lots of information, as she searches, the Paladins hovering.

"Somewhere inside Sendak's memories we should be able to find the inside information that gives us the key to take down Zarkon," Allura informs the Paladins.

"I don't think your father would approve of searching through an enemy's memories," Coran tells her.

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

"Once we learn all his weaknesses, we can drive up to his front door and challenge him to a fight. Winner gets the universe," Lance jokes, half serious.

"Anything good yet, Pidge?" Shiro asks.

"We were only able to salvage bits and pieces," Pidge groans.

"We need something to work with. Right now, we don't even have a decent map of the empire," Keith sighs, aware of how big the universe is and how little they know.

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

"If we could just find troop locations or supply routes, small targets we could hit-and-run, then we could start to free planets one by one," Shiro shuts Lance's idea down.

"Boring. I want the big kaboom."

"Zarkon's been building his empire for 10,000 years. We're not going to tear it down overnight with five inexperienced pilots and one support ship. Hitting him where he lives would be a huge mistake," Shiro deadpans.

"Okay, I've cross-referenced Sendak's memories with the info I got from the downed ship back on Arus. Most of it was a garbled mess, but one thing kept repeating, something called a 'Universal Station,'" Pidge informs them, causing Keith's eyes to widen slightly.

"Universal Station? Like, the kind of station that controls the entire universe?" Hunk asks.

"Well, we are translating it from Galra, so it could also be 'Galactic Hub,'" Pidge adds.

"Or 'Space Base'!" Lance suggests, causing everyone to stare at him, "What?"

"I'm pulling up the location of your Universal Hub Station Base on our screens now," Coran informs, pulling up a screen with three round objects that resemble planets.

"So, where is it?"

"I don't know. Our long-range sensors are unable to find anything at those coordinates."

"Maybe he remembered it wrong," Keith suggests, thinking maybe the Galra could have some sort of device that affects memories.

"Or maybe we just stumbled across a top-secret base in Sendak's memories," Pidge also suggests.

"Only one way to find out. Let's go take a look," Allura decides.

By the time they arrive, Hunk is asleep and snoring.

"We should be close enough to get a good scan, but far enough away to avoid being noticed," Allura explains, waking Hunk up.

"There it is," Shiro says.

"It appears the gravitation between the two planets warps the electron emission spectrum enough to keep the planet off the deep space scanners," Coran explains.

"So, you can only see it if you really know where to look," Pidge explains.

"This place must handle shipments from all over the Galra Empire," Shiro realises.

"If this is some big airport where shipments come and go, why is it hidden?"

"There must be more to this than we're seeing."