"Sendak's forces remain at bay but without meaningful supply line were slowly being suffocated," Sam lead a meeting as everyone was in uniform including the alteans and Paladins, with commanders, officers and generals listening to the scientist.

"No one else is putting up a fight against Sendak?" Shiro asked.

"Small under ground pockets of resistance have attempted to do so so with varying degrees of success," Veronica stood with sam.

"Eventually all were discovered and systematically wiped out, earths offensive capabilities simply don't stand a change against the galra," she explained as the Paladins felt guilty for being gone for so long, it was partly their fault.

"Why don't we bring more people into this base?" Hunk asked.

"We had to put a halt on our extraction ops as they were proving to be too risky," Sam told him calmly.

"But there are good people out there, they could be protected," he responded wide eyes, he meant his family and it was obviously getting him emotional.

"We know, I'm sorry," Sam nodded gently understanding the pain.

"But if we have an opportunity-" "do Paladins not user stand the chain of command?" A cadet snarled at hunk from the other side.

"Your CO said it was to dangerous," James Griffin told him sharply.

"Officer Griffin that is enough," Sam defended.

Lance put a hand on his friends shoulder sadly.

"It's going to be okay, we'll find them," lance said quietly.

"We all have family out there but we have to weigh our options, we can't lose ten people to save twelve," Sam nodded.

"Then let's find out what we can do," Allura raised her hand softly.

"You said you've integrated altean tech with earths weaponry?" She asked curiously. They've had years to have a system that works, they had to start with something by now.

-

The Paladins were lead down an elevator as Sam explained the MFE ships and their power source, Coran and him spoke of solutions of the concerns they ran into. They stepped out of the elevator and saw a ship that was probably bigger than the castle of lions, much larger.

"This ship is large enough to house all the lions and an entire command unit," Sam motioned to the ship as they stood by.

"It's built but it can't fly," sanda made her way over with her own colleagues.

"And there's a subject we can't avoid any longer, Sendak attacked earth because of the lions, and now they're here," she took charge as everyone looked at the admiral.

"We at least need to discuss our options,"

"Are you suggesting we willing hand over the lions to the galra?" Shiro narrowed his eyes.

"Our supplies are gone, we spent all our resources on a ship that doesn't fly, the weapons we do have are not enough to mount an attack," Sandra glared back at him.

"All we can do is protect a small pocket of earth, but for how much longer?" She hissed.

"The universe needs the lions," Sam defended.

"So does earth, theyre our only bargaining chip," she snapped back.

"We have Lotor," Allura mumbled but lance nudged her glaring since no one else heard her.

"I agree with the admiral," a man stepped in.

"Earth has nearly been destroyed, countless citizens have been lost, but it could be all over if we give up the lions," he nodded.

"That's not happening," Lance glared.

"We didn't cross the universe to get to earth and try to help just to give up our greatest weapon against the galra," he looked at them disgusted.

"We have a fighting chance now that the lions have returned," iverson agreed. "We need to take it,"

"I'll settle this argument right now, we're not giving up the lions under any circumstances," Allura spat harshly at them. "No negotiations with Sendak,"

"Maybe you should leave the matters of earth to the people who live here," sanda didn't back down.

"And maybe voltron be left to the people who made it, I know damn well that's not you," lance shot back as his team agreed.

"Admiral, I respect you'll do anything for earths protection, but trust us, we've been through more than you could ever imagine," Shiro stood for his team with the eyes of a soldier. The eyes of a champion.

"We have fought the galra onto the fringes of the universe and in their very home, we defeated Zarkon, i know we can defeat Sendak," he said sternly.

"How? We barely know what we're up against," she didn't believe them.

"We need intelligences and we just don't have it!" Sanda barked.

"Maybe we do, that information Sam downloaded from the castle of lions contains Sendak's memories," Allura cut in as she was side by side with Shiro.

"How does that help?" Sam asked.

"It might give us an insight into Sendak's plan," Pidge peaked over.

"Aw your not going to peep in Lotors memories again? That was embarrassing," Lance groaned from the back.

"We just need some time," Sam ignored lances comment.

Sanda glared at them at the battle she lost to the Paladins but the commander next to her nodded. Taking Allura and Pidge away to where they could work on Sendak's memories, Colleen joining them in the room to help the girls.

"Everything from the castle is stored here," the commander brought the three women to a room with computer panels and insights all around. All the information they needed.

"Processing the massive amount of complex altean data takes nearly every node we have," he explained guiding them through. "Sifting through that much information is like trying to find a needle in a haystack,"

"Then let's get started," Pidge smiled.

—

"How does that look?" Hunk brought up a screen of the blueprints that Pidge sent him for Lotors leg to start with.

"Anything better than this, no offense," Lotor sat on a bench yanking the prosthetic before off his leg and grunted in pain. Hunk glanced over seeing there was discoloring on the bandages.

"Is it infected again?" Hunk asked.

"No, just sore from the journey," Lotor rubbed his knee to soothe the pain.

"So you and lance spoke finally?" He raised a brow.

"I wouldn't call it a conversation," Lotor kept his eyes down on his leg.

"You both have a passion still though, most passion I've seen in either of you since the battle," hunk smiled back at him.

"I don't want to weird you out but Lance use to argue and fight with Keith all the time, obviously before you two were together but he had a fat crush on Keith, I think lance shows he cares through arguing, fighting, making sure the other cares to fight back," hunk turned back to the computer and his smile slowly started to fade.

"When you love someone you'll do anything for them," he said quietly.

"Your family," Lotor nodded slowly.

"My dad taught me how to be a mechanic, we use to fix cars together," hunk smiled back sadly.

"It's something I love doing, and it was what kept me happy in space, being a mechanic reminds me of home," he gulped a little. If he lost his family he didn't know what he would do.

"This situation fucking sucks," hunk scoffed after a moment of silence.

"I can't believe we finally get back to earth and it's taken over by galra," he sneered looking back at Lotor.

"I guess there's something on your mind," Lotor put his hand in his lap and listened.

"I-I know it's stupid but I use to daydream about coming home to a peaceful earth and that would've been great, but I realize that nothing.. nothing would've been greater than seeing my family," the Paladins voice cracked a little as his throat hurt from trying to keep it all together.

"But I can't, and all I keep thinking about is what I wasn't there for them, I don't even know if they're okay, and I see Pidge with her family and even lance has his sister and Shiro and Keith have each other,  I-I am happy for them, I'm so happy and relieved that they're okay, but it just.. it makes me miss my family more," a tear ran down hunks cheek as he kept his back to Lotor and kept his eyes on the screen.

"I-I-I just.. I just never felt so alone and scared," he whispered.

"For being how afraid you are, you're very impressive Paladin," Lotor tilted his head to the side.

"Your very brave, never backing down from a fight, being the one that helped me, your a better man than many, to fight in spite of being in fear, that's what a real warrior is, and that is who you are," he smiled a little at him.

"It's okay to be afraid, but your family needs you to be strong now," he told him softly as hunk turned around with a smile.

"Thank you Lotor, you really are a good man, I can see why Lance fell for you," hunk chuckled softly and started to walk out.

"Oi, Paladin? Where are you going?" Lotors eyes widen being left alone with one leg only.

"I'm going to go get my family," hunk said confidently.