The Gold Paladin

Ark of Taujeer

Tensions and anxiety rose within the hearts of the Paladins, wondering about only one thing: How Zarkon was tracking them. Novae seemed to feel much more than anxiety. She was terrified, constantly clutching her left arm, the pain and nausea from battle still there, but not as bad as before.

"There's no point in debating this further." Allura said, "Zarkon is clearly tracking us through me."

Everyone voiced their disagreements.

"Why would that be so hard to believe?" Allura asked angrily, "Zarkon's forces showed up on Arus only after I awoke."

"She's got a point." Lance said, then looked at Allura flirtatiously, "I would absolutely travel across the galaxy to find you."

"This is no time for flirtatious remarks, Lance." Novae said.

"It's not you, Princess Allura. It's me." Keith said taking the blame, but in return, confusing everyone.

"Because?" Hunk asked.

"I just think Zarkon must've imprinted on me during our fight or something." Keith excused.

"I wouldn't put it past that monster." Novae spat with venom, clutching her arm harder, "Zarkon is a man who will even control the minds of innocents to get what he wants."

Allura looked over at Novae with narrowed brows, "You speak as if you've had experience."

Novae nodded and sighed, "The druids took many of my friends hostage, using them against me like mindless puppets before destroying them when they broke from Zarkon's control."

Everyone stayed silent, Novae's pain and sadness wafting throughout the entire room like a cold chill that ran up their spines. Who knows how much she had to go through during the war. Or how many friends she's lost to the fights she had to face.

"Look, the fact is, we don't know how Zarkon is tracking us. It could be through the Black Lion." Pidge suggested, changing the subject to the problem at hand, "Every time Zarkon gets close to it, Shiro has to fight him for control."

"That's only when Zarkon is nearby." Coran said, "No Paladin has ever been able to connect with a lion over a vast distance."

"Don't be so sure about that, Coran." Novae said, "The Lions have many secrets. The Red Lion with its fire. The Blue Lion with its ice. The Green Lion with its vines. And the Gold Lion with her many secrets that not even I have been able to unlock. There is no telling what kind of hold Zarkon has on the Black Lion from being its first Paladin."

"So what are we going to do?" Hunk asked.

"Look, it doesn't matter how he's tracking us, because we're gonna take the fight to the Galra soon enough." Shiro said, "They've been chasing us from galaxy to galaxy. The last thing they expect is for us to come after them."

"The hunter becomes the hunted, hmm? Awesome! That's the tag line from like six if my favorite movies." Lance said with a sly grin.

"As it happens, I took a list of recent Galra attacks and analyzed it for both commonalities and anomalies among the attack sites." Pidge said suddenly appearing in her seat and typing at her holo-keys.

"I was hoping to create an algorithm that would, within a statistically acceptable margin of error, provide a mist of target-rich Galra environments-- color-coded of course, because what are we, animals?"

Pidge pressed a button and a large map appeared around the group, highlighting the most probable Galra targeted planets.

"Cool!" Lance exclaimed, "What is it again?"