We get back to the castle and see, once we enter the hangar, that Shiro and Pidge came back and were successful.

"Hello everyone!" I call as we walk in.

"How was it?" Shiro asks.

"Easy," I say. "We found a village, asked for directions, and only got attacked by two Galra and falling rocks. I call that a success."

Pidge nudges me. "Nice necklace," she says.

"Thanks," I smile sadly. "We saved an old lady, there," I tell them, but mostly Allura and Alien Weasley. "Apparently, the Galra took over their village and forced all the men and women except the old and the young, to work in the Sâelite mines. We need to save them. I told her Voltron was back."

Allura smiles softly at me. "We are going to save them," she tells me. "We're going to save all of them."

"Yeah, I know," I say. "So, anyways, how was your mission, guys?"

Pidge smiled. "Oh, peace of cake! There were no Galra and no one attacked us!"

"Pfft, lucky."

"Somebody's jealous."

I stick my tongue out.

Just then, Hunk and Lance walk it, groaning and rubbing their sore muscles.

"You made it," Allura says, relieved.

"Yeah, just barely," Lance says. "That was a nightmare. I almost puked out there. I felt like Hunk!"

"Think how I felt. I am Hunk."

Keith and I exchange smirks.

"Yeah. we had a tough time, too," Pidge says, giving Shiro a sideways glance.

"Did we find the Red Lion, yet?" Shiro asks.

Keith and I both glanced at the two Alteans, wondering the same thing.

"Allura just located it," Alien Weasley tells us, playing with his moustache. "There's a bit of good news and bad news. The good news is, the Red Lion is nearby. The bad news is, it's on board that Galra ship now orbiting Arus. but wait, good news again, we're Arus."

"That's two bad news," I accuse. "And the fact that we're Arus is neither good, nor exciting."

"They're here already?" Shiro asks in disbelief.

"Yes. guess my calculations were a bit off." A bit? "Finger counting— it's more of an art than a science."

Also, the ship structure could have evolved in ten thousand years, but sure, blame it on the finger counting. The screen in front of us started getting static until a face appeared.

"Ahh," I exclaim in disgust.

It's human-ish, with purple fur and huge, and I mean huge, cat ears. One of his eyes is a cyborg prosthetic and the other is just golden, no iris or pupil.

"Princess, Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire," the weird cat thing says.

"Well, I hope he's got a good personality, 'cause what's on the outside, yikes."

Keith elbows me in the ribs and Sendak glares at me, but continues. "I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the Known Universe. I am here to confiscate the lions. Turn them over to me, or I will destroy your planet."

I frown. "Why?"
He glares at me, the others look horrified. My eyes go wide.

I let out a string of curses in English among other languages. "I said that out loud didn't I?" I mumble.

They all nod except Sendak and Allura.

"You would be wise not to ignore my demands," Sendak says.

I open my mouth and step forward, wanting to say a few choice words to him, but Keith puts one arm around my waist to restrain me and puts his other hand over my mouth as the screen goes back to static before turning back into a view of the sky. Keith lets me go and I see that he's glaring at where the cat man used to be.

"Alright, let's not panic," Shiro speaks into the silence.

"Not panic?" Hunk asks, looking very close to doing just that. "The scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship toward us. We only have five lions—"

"Technically, only four working lions," Pidge jumps in.

"That's right. Thank you, Pidge. Four working lions and a castle that's, like, ten thousand years old—"

"Actually, it's ten thousand and six hundred years old," Alien Weasley adds. "You see, it was built by my grandfather—"

Hunk holds a finger to Alien Weasley's lips, shushing him. "Thanks, Coran. Thank you for that. See? Now is the perfect time to panic!"

"Wait! This castle has a particle barrier we can activate," Allura says.

"Girl, you've already activated my par—" Lance starts.

"Shut up, Lance!" I growl inhumanly.

"Lance!" Shiro says in a warning tone at the same time.

Keith puts a hand on my shoulder. "I'm calm, I'm calm," I say, pushing it off.

He raises an eyebrow. "You look like you want to rip someone's head off," he tells me.

"When I find Sendak, I can't guarantee an accident of the sort won't happen."

"Well, calm down for now, okay?"

I take a breath. "Yeah, alright."

"The particle barrier won't hold Sendak's ion cannon forever," Alien Weasley announces. "The Galra technology must have advanced since we fought them last."

"That's it!" I push up my sleeves and try to stalk out of the room only to be stopped by Shiro.

"Where are you going?" he asks.

"I'm gonna go find Sendak and give him a piece of my mind," I reply, trying to push past him, but it doesn't work. "I make no guarantee that it won't be bloody."

"Panic now?" Hunk asks.

"No," Shiro says, giving me a look. I sigh and walk back to stand between Pidge and Keith, rolling my sleeves back down. "We've just got to figure out our plan of action, and figure it out quickly."

"I say we pop through a wormhole and live to fight another day," Lance says.

"I second that. Yes. we tried to find all the lions, right?" Hunk asks. "We gave it the old college try. Couldn't do it. We only have four. Can't form Voltron. I guess we could form a snake. Or a worm! To go through that hole, Lance, that you were talking about."

"Then it's settled," Lance says, walking over to Allura. "Allura, you ride with me. One of you take the old guy."

"We can't just abandon Arus," Pidge says.

"No, we can't," I add. "They'll destroy the whole planet! There's probably a civilization here, guys. Do you really want to be responsible for millions of deaths?"

I'm thinking about the Doctor and the day he had to destroy his planet to save the universe from the Daleks. I shake my head. I can't think of that right now.

"Nova's right. The Galra will keep destroying planets and taking prisoners until we stop them."

"Okay, if we run, then maybe Sendak will follow us and leave this planet alone, like when we left Earth. We for the snake-worm thingamajig and we sssssss out of here."

"I am not leaving here on the off chance that the planet won't be destroyed." I glare at Hunk.

"Sendak could destroy the planet then come after us anyways," Keith speaks up. "Staying is our only option."

"Here's an option: shut your quiznak," Lance says.

Considering the horrified expressions Allura and Alien Weasley are wearing, I don't think that quiznak should be used that way.

"I don't think you're using that word correctly," Keith tells him.

"What do you know, Mullet?"

"We're staying!"

"Leaving!"

"Staying!" Pidge and I yell at the same time.

"Snake!" Hunk yells.

Me, Pidge and Keith are glaring at Lance and Hunk.

"Guys, stop!" Shiro yells. "Princess Allura, these are your lions. You've dealt with the Galra Empire before. You know what we're facing better than any of us. What do you think is the best course of action?"

"I... I don't know," she admits.

I bite back a snarky remark. I'm angry, but that is no excuse to diss someone because they don't know something.

"Perhaps your father can help," Alien Weasley says.

"Um..." isn't he dead? I say the rest in my head.

"My father?" Allura asks.

Alien Weasley leads Allura out of the room.

"Stay here, guys, we'll be back in a tick!" he calls.