"I can't hold it much longer!"

Red lights flashed, bathing the control room of the Castle with their ominous glare. Warnings in Altean flashed across the screen, so many overlapping that they were becoming increasingly illegible. An annoying sound belted out loudly and constantly over the sound system of the ship. The shrill 'whee-ooo whee-ooo' sound effect only added to her anguish. If we live through this I'm going to have to have a word with Coran about following Lance's ideas. A bead of sweat trickled down Princess Allura's brow as she struggled to maintain her footing, her hands clutched tightly to the control pedestals beside her. The Castle lurched violently as the ship dropped out of the wormhole. The princess gritted her teeth as the motion threw her clear of the command deck. She landed hard, feeling an instant shot of hot pain through her elbow, but her thoughts were not filled with concern for herself. "Is everyone alright?" Allura called out strongly, the purple communication earrings dangling from her dark pointed ears began to glow as responses came in.

"I'm okay!" A bright, tentative voice responded. In its hangar the smallest cat of the group, small by Voltron's standards anyways, took a seat as the ship began to level out after the drop from hyperspace. The green lion dropped to its stomach to make it easier for its pilot, also the smallest of the group, to exit. Pidge affectionately gave Green a little pat on the nose as they climbed out through the robot's mouth. "Thanks Green!" Pidge was always surprised by how considerate the robot was. Though intellectually gifted Pidge was still a long ways from discovering the secrets of the Lions' artificial (if indeed it was manufactured) intelligence.

"Uhh….let's not do that again. Ever." Hunk, Paladin of the yellow lion, was getting better at his motion sickness, but a ride like they just had was enough to have him tasting goo a second time. A light rumble came from Yellow as it protested Hunk's impending sickness, as if to say 'don't you dare throw up in me again.' Yellow quickly opened it's mouth and all but spit Hunk out. The young man protested as he skid a few feet on his ample buttocks. "Hey, what was that for?" The yellow Paladin raised an arm in protest, but quickly retracted the limb to cover his mouth as he felt the familiar gurgle rising from inside. No no no! He cried to himself as he scrambled to his feet and made his way to the nearest receptacle in the hangar. Hunk wasn't quite sure where the chute led, but he sure hoped it was for trash. Yellow shook its head up and down with a muffled roar that could only be taken as laughter. "Yeah yeah, laugh it up Leg." Hunk glared at his compatriot before bending double over the receptacle again. Goo always looked the same, going in or out, a feature of the Altean food that was most unsettling.

"All good here." Shiro cringed as he heard the tell tale sound of Hunk's retching over the intercom. With the grace and dignity befitting the leader of an intergalactic war hero the Black Lion strode to its resting place in the hangar. Shiro found that in times like these if he left the control up to Black that it was always obedient, as though it knew where Shiro wanted it to be without telling it. Shiro easily climbed down from Black's open mouth, sliding down a well placed foreleg to the floor. The leader of the Paladins removed his helmet, his broad shoulders heaving with a sigh of relief. Shiro had not been born a fighter, he was a pilot foremost, an explorer to be sure, and a scientist if it called for it; he was slightly disturbed how well the mantle of leader fit him. This was never a role that he had dreamed he would fill. Shiro gazed up at his partner Black, the hangar lights glistening off of its metallic body imbuing it with a certain majesty.

"I bid mai ton. I bid mai ton!" The Paladin of the blue lion shrieked with overly dramatic agony. Lance stuck out his tongue and looked at the red marks that dotted its surface, a little bit of blood trickling to its tip.

"You wouldn't have bit your tongue if you kept your mouth shut." A curt response cut through Lance's mellow dramatics.

"Ethuse me. Eth you don teep jour moth thut then ima thum thut it thor you." Lance made a jab in the air, miming the punch he would deliver to his insulter if they were face to face. Blue shook its head slowly, a small sigh of a roar filling the hangar. Opening its mouth Blue deposited its foolish Paladin safely on the ground and went to its corner to sit.

"Bite me." Came the quick response.

"Ohhh, dith you wait Teith, wait unthil you thay that to mai thace."

"Paladins, please." Allura pleaded as she pulled herself up, rubbing her smarting elbow as she did so. Her graceful white eyebrows were tightly knotted on her forehead as she made her way to the command console. Though she managed to shut off the annoying Lance siren that had somehow made its way into the Castle's emergency program many of the display screens were still flashing red. They were not out of the woods yet. "Status reports. Please." She said firmly.

"I'm fine." A tired voice reported from the red hanger. Keith had already exited Red, which sat with its back to its Paladin. Its long metal tail was clicking on the floor as it flipped the tip of it back and forth. Keith removed his helmet and closed his eyes as he flicked his head back, his mop of black hair, damp from helmet sweat, swished away from his face. The feeling of freedom was momentary as Keith turned off the intercom on his helmet.

"And just what was that about?" Keith stared angrily up at his Lion companion. Red turned its massive head away from the boy and stared aimlessly into an empty corner. "Trying to get me killed, damn cat." Keith muttered under his breath, he let the helmet fall from his fingers and clatter uselessly to the floor. Rage flushing his face Keith exited the hangar, ripping off bits of his armor as he went. At that moment it felt too constricting. He wanted to breathe, take a long walk, get some fresh air, but this is space, there is no such thing as room to breathe. Keith took some frustration out on the hallway, his fist not even denting the metallic wall plating as he released a furious punch. Closing his eyes the Red pilot attempted to slow his breathing and calm his rage.

"Paladins, when you are able to, I need you in the control room." Allura urged haste as she filtered through the warning screens. A loud moan across the room distracted her for a moment. "Coran, now is no time to be laying down on the job." She chided, her calm voice iced with displeasure.

"Of course, Princess." Coran nodded despite the ache in his neck, he rubbed the back of his head as he stood up, blinking back the sparks that danced in his eyes. "Pardon me Princess, I seem to have hit my head. May have blacked out for the teeniest tiniest of ticks..." Coran gestured with his white gloved hand, index and thumb just a finger's width apart as he indicated the small amount of consciousness he may or may not have lost. "...but what happened just now?" Coran's eyes grew wide as he noticed all the alarm signals.

Allura's body stiffened with agitation, her eyebrows remained furrowed as she glared at her advisor. Her lips tightened as she prepared her words, when suddenly four brightly colored mice climbed up her arm and scampered to her shoulder. The mice rubbed their faces against her cheek and squeaked soothingly. The Altean mice, having spent thousands of years in deep sleep with the Princess had become telepathically linked. Sensing her distress the mice had rushed to her side. Allura let out a deep breath, releasing some of the tension she didn't realize she had been holding. Thank you for reminding me, friends. Allura gently patted the mice on their soft heads. The mice smiled and nodded. The path of kindness is the Altean way.

Princess Allura looked back at her long time friend, advisor, and fellow surviving Altean. Her expression was greatly softened. "We were outnumbered, remember? The Galrans are growing more bold in their traps. We barely just escaped, but the Castle was too bad of shape to make the entire jump, I had to fall out of the wormhole early."

Coran made his way to his Princess's side, immensely glad that she had calmed down somewhat. Though he cherished the Princess dearly her wrath was not always her most charming feature. Coran began to type onto a control console, bringing up a star chart on the main viewing screen. "Which begs the question then...where are we?" Coran went unanswered as the door to the control room swooshed open and five pairs of feet entered.

"Thor tho mean Teith." The Blue Paladin was still wearing his armor. He stuck his tongue out of his mouth to emphasize his minor injury. He was leaning on the Red Paladin Keith, who had stripped off his upper armor and only wore a loose grey t-shirt that had been on underneath.

"Shut it, moron." Keith pushed Lance off of him. Lance stumbled sideways into the original Engineer of his crew. Lance's eyes watered as he looked to Hunk for sympathy. Pidge craned on their toes to get a glimpse of Lance's tongue. Lance looked sideways at Keith to see if the Red Paladin would notice the attention he was receiving. Lance snorted with annoyance as Keith was clearly ignoring him and leaned casually against the wall.

"You'll be fine. Just keep your tongue in your mouth." Pidge diagnosed and adjusted their glasses. "If you put something cold on it might help the pain."

Shiro half smiled down at the kid in the green armor as he passed by. He was resisting the urge to ruffle the Paladin's brown hair, a habit which Pidge had recently admonished him for. 'No one will respect me as a Paladin if you keep treating me like your kid brother!' Shiro held back a chuckle as he remembered the conversation. Shiro cleared his throat as he set his black helmet down on a nearby control panel, onto more serious conversations. "Everyone needs to cool it. That battle was a disaster." Keith fidgeted uncomfortably as he felt Shiro's eyes bore into him as he spoke. "We're never going to defeat Zarkon's forces if we can't keep Voltron's form when we need it most." Again, his eyes drifted towards the boy with the messy black hair and sweaty black t-shirt.

Keith kicked a foot back against the wall as he leaned, crossing his arms defensively across his chest. Two could play at the glare game, and he matched his leader's fiery gaze. "It wasn't my fault. Red has a mind of his own sometimes…" He said in measured speech, trying to keep his anger in control.

Princess Allura walked through the Paladins to Keith's side. Recognizing the fire of the Red Lion resonating in the young man she put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "The Red Lion is temperamental, but I have faith that you are a good partner for him. Keith, the Red Lion chose you." She smiled in attempt to diffuse the tension in the air.

Keith was slightly taken aback. He wasn't used to such kindness, especially from a beautiful woman. Keith had always been a loner, he still wasn't used to living with this many people, let alone a girl. The emotions and complex relationships of living and working beside the same people day after day were beginning to wear down his nerves. "Maybe you should have a little less faith." He reached up and brushed the Princess's delicate hand from his shoulder. Allura's face was crestfallen, she wasn't sure what to say.

"Ah-hah!" The loud exclamation startled everyone. Allura quickly turned to face Coran, the advisor was excitedly waving his hands through star charts when he stopped and pointed. "I know exactly where we are." Coran beamed, the corners of his mustache curling up as he smiled with pleasure.

"Where?" Allura's voice was almost a whisper, her heart too hopeful as she clutched a hand to her chest. She approached Coran, Shiro and Pidge following close behind.

Coran planted his finger exuberantly on the screen. "We are in the exact middle of nowhere." Allura blinked with surprise, surely not the answer she was expecting.

"Meaning….?" She prodded Coran to continue whatever train of thought was rapidly derailing in his injured mind.

"Meaning it's perfect. I was looking at the damage logs Princess. We took quite a beating this last round, if we were to meet another Galran ship in this shape we wouldn't stand a chance. We need extensive repairs, and a place to do those repairs that is well out of site of the Empire." Coran continued to grin excitedly.

Pidge examined the star map that Coran had up. They had begun to learn some Altean and some of the strange symbols were beginning to make sense. "It doesn't look like there's a civilized planet for parsecs." If Pidge agreed with Coran's opinion more people were inclined to believe it.

"There's a nice one right here...green planet, the atmosphere reads good to breathe for both humans and Alteans. We can set her down and really get some of the dents out." Coran displayed a planet that statistically looked habitable.

Allura shook her head. "Coran, we have bigger concerns than dents." She felt her blood pressure rising again, a fact that did not go unnoticed by her mice friends as they again sniffed at her cheeks.

"My dear Princess, that is what you call a figure of speech." Coran made a gesture at Lance, something the Blue Paladin had recently taught him, a closed fist with the thumb digit straight up. Lance returned the gesture, a wicked smile on his face. For an old man the Altean was learning well the ways of the smooth talking human.

"I think we could all use a little land under our feet." Shiro agreed as he surveyed his team. They all looked exhausted. A frown crossed Shiro's face as he saw Keith leave the control room. Team Voltron lacked experience and discipline, but those could come later. For now a little breathing room would do them all good.