Chapter 9 - The Plan

                                    

                                          
Lillian 
                          
    I stood next to Kolivan and Antok as Allura and the Paladins said goodbye to the people of Olkari.  It had been a nice stay on the peaceful planet.  I enjoyed the bits of nature I had encountered, and I was going to miss it.  
                          
    It was about midday, and we were getting ready to embark on the most dangerous mission ever thought of in the history of the universe.  I was nervous. 
                          
    "Thank you, Ryner, for all you and the Olkari have done to assist us," Allura said to Ryner, then she turned to the crowd of Olkari people standing before us, the teludav, and the castle.  "Once we defeat Zarkon, it is my hope that we can continue to unite our forces and rebuild the once great coalition that my father, King Alfor, began." 
                          
    The Olkari people cheered and we began to board the ship.  The Paladins were already in their Lions, but Shiro's voice came through the communications link into the bridge. 
                          
    "Everyone lock into position.  We're taking this thing up," he said. 
                          
    On another screen in the castle, a live feed showed the Lions taking up positions on the sides of the Teludav. 
                          
    "Princess, we are go for launch," Shiro said once everyone was in place. 
                          
    "Charging main turbine," Allura said, and suddenly Olkarion was below us.  
                          
    Once the Teludav and the Castle were flown into space and far away from any civilizations, the Paladins entered the bridge again.  Shiro stood on the platform with the rest of us surrounding him as he went over the plan one more time. 
                          
    "All right, guys, listen up.  I'll use the Black Lion to lure Zarkon's fleet to our current location and make sure he's within the teludav's area of effect." Shiro swiped a holographic Black Lion in between the hologram of the teludav and Zarkon's ship.  The Castle of Lions was positioned in the center of the teludav.  "Keeping the teludav hidden behind the space-fold until the last possible second is essential.  We can count on you, right, Slav?"
                          
    "Absolutely.  I'll be fine," he said, and then in a whisper, "I'm not sure about the gravity generator, though."
                          
    Hunk caught him. "What?  What was that last thing?
                          
    "Hiding a ship is one thing, but I've never had to build a gravity generator for something this large before.  I know it'll work, but I'm not really sure for how long," Slav explained.  
                          
    "Well, that's a risk we'll have to take," Shiro said, and I marked in my notes how often Team Voltron took risks.  That was never something we did in the Blades.  We always made calculated strikes with little to no risk of anything going wrong.  
                          
    Shiro continued. "Once Zarkon's ship is in position, Kolivan, Antok, and Lillian will coordinate with Thace.  Together, they'll take down Zarkon's security system and upload the virus." Shiro flicked something and Zarkon's ship turned red, signalling the download of the virus that I had created.  
                          
    "And then, he'll be a sitting du-flax," Pidge said.  
                          
    We all stared at her as if she were insane. 
                          
    "What?" She looked around the room. "A du-flax is an Altean creature with a beak and webbed feet."
                          
    Coran grabbed one of the screens and shoved the hologram of Zarkon's ship into it like the screen was a wormhole. "We'll wormhole Zarkon five-hundred million light years away, and he'll be in the Yggiz Galaxy before he knows what's hit him!" Coran threw the screen and it made a crashing sound that induced flinches and scowls from the rest of us in the room.