The New Paladin

38: Juxtaposition

Lance had never been to Olkarion.

He had heard a lot about it and how it's people were very clever, but he knew little of their culture thier work or even their planet.

"Okay paladins, please be careful." Allura said warningly. "You took a hard hit on your last mission."

"Don't worry," Pidge stated firmly. "The Galra won't see us coming."

"I'm assuming you have a plan." Shiro said crossing his arms.

"We'll all travel in my lion, I can cloak us and we can scope the place out. Then we won't be going in blind."

"Works for me." Shiro nodded.

"I have a question." Lance admitted pointing to the screen where a large black object sat near the city. "What are they building?"

"I do not know." Coran admitted. "But it's nearly finished."

"That's never a good thing." Lance sighed.

"Okay." Shiro nodded turning to the team. "We'll head down in the green lion and try to make contact with the people, get as much information about what's going on as we can so that we can help them."

"Try and figure out who's in charge." Allura added. "We need to know what strategy they might use under attack."

"You guys do know that things aren't like they used to be." Lance frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"Galran's don't really have a strategy," Lance explained with a shrug, "they just have a show of force and then destroy or enslave anyone who doesnt run for the hills."

"Great." Keith grumbled.

"Coran see if you can figure out what that thing is," Shiro decided, "let's go see if we can find anyone who isn't under the Galran's thumb."

~~~

Olkarion was quiet.

The forests around the city seemed too still for Lance's liking.

The others seemed confident in their search but Lance wasn't too sure about any of this.

He knew it was Pidge's home but that didn't mean that this wasn't risky.

Going back to a place you loved often clouded your vision and your emotions.

Lance was so glad he said none of this outloud.

Something snagged around his ankle and suddenly he was upsidedown the forest spinning around him.

"Ow." He huffed frowning up at the thick vine holding him up, beyond him watching from the upper branches of the tree like structures was an Olkarian. "Guys I found your rebel Olkarian's."

Pidge was suddenly next to him, a bright smile on her face as she looked up. "We're the paladins of Voltron." She explained. "We're here to help."

"Hunk! Can you cut me down?!" Lance asked as the area slowly filled with awed Olkarian's.

"I think we should leave you hanging." Pidge smirked.

Lance stuck his tongue out at her. "Shiro, Keith, give me a h-"

He suddey fell his back hitting the ground hard.

He groaned and decided to just lay there flatly.

"Better?" Keith smirked standing next to him.

"No." Lance huffed.

"The paladins of Voltron, can it really be you?"

Pidge pulled her helmet off offering a smile. "My name is Pidge, paladin of the green lion and-"

"Pidge, you are one of our ancestors." One Olkarian said as she stepped forwards. "I am Ryner and we are here to help you."

Pidge shot a smirk back to the team.

Lance rolled his eyes as he slowly got up. "Yeah be all smug, you weren't caught in a trap from the stone age."

"Stone age?"

"Forget it."

"Ryner, what are we dealing with here?"

"This commander has our leader Lubos caught. We cannot act against them without injuring our leader."

"Oh boy." Lance groaned quietly.

"Well, we're here now." Pidge promised. "And were going to help."

~~~

"You feeling okay?" Shiro asked as he stepped next to Lance. "You know with that orb hitting you and all."

"I don't really want to talk about it." Lance admitted. "I feel like Haggar's targeting me and that is not a nice feeling."

"Yeah." Shiro nodded. "Just let us know if you don't feel right okay? I don't want to put you in danger."

Lance shot him a smile. "I'm a paladin now, it comes with the job."

"Still." Shiro frowned.

"I'm all good." Lance promised. "Just keep doing what you're doing and I'm pretty confident we'll all be alright."

Shiro smiled. "I'm glad I have your confidence."

"I don't think I've ever met anyone more capable to do this then you guys." Lance admitted.

"You're part of this now Lance." Shiro reminded. "And we're only here because of you so thank you."

Lance shrugged looking at the drop zone. "Are you sure that our jetpacks can handle that drop?"

"Pretty sure." Shiro nodded.

"Pretty sure? No I need you to be-"

"Let's go."

The drop looked bigger then it was, and when Lance's jetpack activated it slowed his descent enough to land next to Shiro without dropping his Bayard.

"Nice." He nodded.

"Alright team, fan out, find Lubos."

Lance had never been in a Galran base like this before.

He could tell it was all mostly Olkarian but with Galran restrictions.

He had to admitt hat the Galran had a pretty good thing going here. Olkarian's were known to be some of the smartest people out there and they had their tech and gear.

But that was because they could think with their feelings as well as their minds, it was pretty impressive.

"Found Lubos." Keith reported.

"Everyone head to Keith's location."

Lance frwoend at the map that appeared on his screen. He knew he was bound to get lost.