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Chapter 1- Blackout

Lance leaned over and hit the alarm on his nightstand, before flopping back down onto his pillow.

Monday. The dreaded first day of the week. Unlike back on earth, the days didn't really bare as much significance in space. There were no classes to go to, no last minute homework to finish up, no eager anticipation for the weekend. But, Monday was Monday. Lance didn't need to have a reason to hate it… but, whether he needed one or not, even millions of light years away from Earth, he still had one.

"All right, everyone! Let's move! Up and at 'em! Get dressed and head to the bridge A.S.A.P!" Shiro's voice rang through the intercoms, rousing Lance from his dozing state. He moaned, ripping the sleeping mask from his face. Yup, on Earth or not, he still hated Mondays.

Lance was, as usual, the last person to reach the bridge. Keith was leaning against a far wall, arms folded, Hunk was rubbing a grumbling stomach, and Pidge was fiddling with something on a screen in front of her. It was all a familiar sight. Shiro was talking to Coran and Allura, but stopped when he spotted Lance.

"Oh, good, you're up! All right, listen up everyone! During the past week, we've managed to put a serious dent in Zarkon's defenses. We've liberated several planets, and are in the process of freeing more. With that in mind," he looked around at the paladins. "We want to be prepared. And that means being at the top of our game." Lance groaned. He knew what was coming. "Let's head to the training deck!"

"But… we haven't… without breakfast?!" Hunk looked at Shiro, horrified.

"Yeah, can't we, I dunno, grab a bit to eat?" Lance folded his arms, pouting. He realized his posture mimicked that of Keith's and he quickly shoved his hands in his pockets. Shiro glanced over at Pidge, who was gazing at him with puppy eyes. He caved.

"All right, go get some breakfast." There was a loud whoop from Lance and Pidge, and Hunk ran out of the room at an alarming speed. Once the door had shut behind the four teenagers, Shiro shook his head, the smile he had fought to hide now spreading across his face. Kids…

Lance was officially stuffed. Hunk had whipped up a wonderful breakfast, complete with omelets, toast, hash browns, sausage, and some kind of Altean juice. Everyone had practically licked their plates clean, including Keith, and they were all sitting sleepily in their chairs. Lance stretched, standing up.

"Well, I guess we better head to the training deck. Shiro'll be waiting for us, if he hasn't started training already." Pidge bounced up from her spot, and Hunk went around the table, whisking the plates away.

"I'll be there in a little bit. Just need to finish these dishes."

"Oh, I'll give you a hand with that, Hunk." The paladins turned to see the tall, red-headed figure of Coran walk through the door.

"Number Five, Allura wanted to know if you could help her with that new program you were planning on uploading for the castle's defenses. I'm not entirely sure how to do it, and she could use a hand." Pidge nodded, grinning.

"Sure, no problem. Hey, Keith, I'll need you. The base I used for the programming was derived from Galra tech, and I'll need your DNA to activate it." Keith rose from his chair and followed her out the door. Lance headed down to the training room, stopping by his quarters to grab his armor along the way.

As he had suspected, Shiro had started training already. The training robot, known as the Gladiator, was swinging his blade around quickly, while the Black Paladin darted back and forth, avoiding the blows. Shiro's prosthetic hand glowed a bright purple, and he dashed towards the Gladiator, striking left and right, hitting his mark each time. The robot went flying across the room before disappearing with a flash of blue light, and Shiro wiped a gloved hand across his brow. Lance donned his helmet, walking over to the team leader, who grinned when he saw him.

"Lance. Good! Are the others coming?"

"Yeah, in a bit. Hunk and Coran are finishing up in the kitchen, and Pidge and Keith are helping Allura set up some new castle defenses." He shrugged. "So, it looks like you're stuck with just me." Shiro grinned.

"Looks like I am. One on one?" Lance grinned.

"You're on!"

Back on the bridge, Allura, Pidge and Keith were making progress on the defenses. Or at least, Allura and Pidge were. Keith simply stood on the sidelines, waiting for instructions. Pidge slid out from under a control panel, giving the Red Paladin a thumbs up.

"Okay, so we're ready to go! Keith, just put your hand on that panel over there. Once you've activated it, I can re-route the power to a non-Galra source, and purge the system of any Galra tech. That way, Allura can have full control over it, and there'll be no interference." Keith placed his right hand on the panel Pidge indicated, and a blue light appeared, scanning it. There was a small ding and a screen popped up in front of him.

"Uh… Pidge…"

"It's all set! I just have to compensate for the power surge…" The screen in front of Keith began to blink red.

"Pidge… is it supposed to be doing that?"

"Just a sec… I'm almost done…" The screen continued to flash, several alarms going off.

"Pidge!"

"I'm done!" She appeared from beneath the control panel, and looked at Keith, who was staring at the still blinking screen.

"It's not stopping! Allura, what's going on?" Allura pulled up a small screen and hit several buttons, her eyes darting back and forth.

"I don't know! I—"Several more screens appeared, blinking red, alarms going off left and right.

"Pidge! What could be causing this?!" Allura cried, panic written in every line on her face. "I thought you said it would be safe to upload those defenses into the system!"

"It is safe! I don't think this is the program I uploaded! It can't be! I hadn't even begun downloading it into the mainframe when the first notification went off!"

"Well, whatever it is, you better fix it!" Keith shouted, as yet another alarm went off. "And you better do it fast!"

Lance did an elaborate back flip, narrowly escaping a blow Shiro aimed at his legs. He landed on three points, a grin on his face.

"You're gonna have to do better than that if you wanna—" He was cut off as a sudden blaring sound erupted through the intercom, and Lance looked around in confusion. "What the cheese?" Shiro frowned. He activated his comlink.

"Princess! What's going on? Are we under attack?" There was a gargled noise, and Allura's voice came through his earpiece.

"No, it's the castle. We were in the process of preparing new defenses, when something went wrong! We're assessing the situation now, but we can't seem to pinpoint the problem!"

"I'm on my way over!" Shiro headed towards the door, followed by Lance, when suddenly the two were thrown off their feet.

"What's going on?!" Lance cried, struggling to stand upright as the floor shook violently beneath him.

"I don't know! Lance! Look out!" Lance spun around in time to see a wave of blinding white light come rushing towards him. Shiro lunged forward, knocking him backwards, and let out an agonizing cry as the light struck him right in the chest.

"Shiro!" Lance made to help him, but was sent crashing into a wall by some unseen force. His head spun, and his vision blurred. The last thing he saw was the silhouette of a tall figure standing before Shiro, a long blade raised above the head of the Black Paladin.

"Pidge! Hurry!" Keith clutched at a chair as the floor beneath him shook, threatening to send him soaring through the air.

"I'm trying! Nothing's working! I even tried restarting it and shutting the whole thing downd! The system is frozen!" Pidge banged the control panel in frustration. "I don't understand how this could happen!"

"We need Coran!" Allura cried. "He knows the systems better than anyone! We need to—Ah!" There was a flash of light as two arcs of electricity shot forward from the control panel, shocking Allura. She let out a scream, falling to the ground, sparks still flying from her body.

"Allura!" Keith dashed over to her side and grabbed her arm, instantly regretting it as a jolt went through his body. He yelped, pulling his hand back, pain shooting up his arm.

"Keith! I've got it! I couldn't detect it before cause I kept looking for the wrong thing! It's not a virus, it's—" Pidge went sailing across the room, crashing into a chair. She lay there, motionless, and Keith's eyes widened.

He turned to where the young girl had been standing moments ago, and stared in disbelief at the sight before him.

"You!" A long, thin hand stretched out, a large glowing orb forming in front of it. Keith tried dodging it, but he was too late. A burning pain shot through his torso and throughout his body, making him scream in agony. He gasped for air, but his body refused to work. He fell to the ground and lay there, writhing in pain. He looked up and watched as a pair of feet moved towards him, slowly, quietly, shoes clicking lightly against the floor. Then, with a painful, shuddering breath, Keith blacked out.

Hi everyone! Thank you so much for reading my story! 😊 I'm hoping to upload at least a chapter a weak, but please DO NOT EXPECT REGULAR UPDATES! I'll do my best, but there are no promises! Meanwhile thank you, and if you have time to leave a review, I'd really appreciate feedback! Thanks! 😄