bluelionlogs

[bluelionlogs]

Author’s Note

So that’s the end of arc 2! Like before, there’s going to be a month-long hiatus as I put together the logs for the next arc. Thank you all for sticking with this and reading it! I really appreciate it <3

[bluelionlogs]

Castle Log: Communications

…… Receiving transmission…… …… Encryption detected…… …… Matching encryption…… …… Match found in Green Paladin Files…… …… Decoding complete……

To Princess Allura and the Paladins of Voltron:

We have been hearing rumors of the paladins’ escape and the return of Voltron. If these rumors are true, we would like to meet with you once more.

Come to the old headquarters on Olkarion. You will find us there.

We truly hope to see you soon.

-Ryner

[bluelionlogs]

Blue Lion Log: Entry 28

So the mission was successful. We got the lions back. All of us got away with only a few bruises and scrapes. At least physically.

Hunk and Pidge apparently found their lions pretty easily. The Galrans were keeping them together in the cargo hold, which was a dumb idea if you ask me, but I won’t complain since it made our job a lot easier. A good thing too since my distraction did like… absolutely nothing. I blew up an engine, but that’s about it. And then Keith…

You know what, no. I can’t do this.  

I thought I could handle talking about it. I thought I was prepared. But I’m not. I’m definitely not.

I just…

I can’t do this right now.

I need some time.

[bluelionlogs]

Blue Lion Log: Communications

……Receiving transmission from yellow lion…… ……Transmission rejected…… ……Message log opened with yellow lion……

<Yellow lion> Lance, are you ok? <Yellow lion> Please don’t ignore me <Yellow lion> Lance, I know you’re in there. I’m not asking you to come out. Just, please, let me know you’re still alive <Yellow lion> If it helps at all, Yellow wants to thank you for helping save her. And so do I.

<Blue lion> You’re welcome

<Yellow lion> Lance! <Yellow lion> Are you ok???

<Blue lion> Yes

<Yellow lion> Do you want to talk about it?

<Blue lion> No

<Yellow lion> Are you sure? <Yellow lion> It’s not healthy to keep things bottled up, you know. And I’m pretty good at listening <Yellow lion> But no pressure! I’m right here for you if you need anything. Even just a hug

<Blue lion> I’m fine, Hunk <Blue lion> I just need some time

<Yellow lion> Ok Lance. Whatever you need

[bluelionlogs]

Blue Paladin: Audio Log 3

“Oh my god, how difficult is it to cause a goddamn distraction around this place?! I’ve been shooting things for nearly half an hour! You’d think they’d be alarmed by someone randomly shooting things in the empty hangar that no one was guarding-- dumb, by the way, who just leaves a hangar full of jets unguarded -- but no! Not one bit of worry! Hey, Blue. Blast something, will ya? Just enough to create lots of noise and maybe, I don’t know, knock out an engine or two.

“Oh, now they raise the alarm. Couldn’t have done that before, when I was shooting everything. Thanks by the way, Blue. That was a good shot. At least they won’t be able to follow us when we escape now.

“God, I hate being on distraction duty. Especially since Pidge always smirks and says something about my noise finally being useful or whatever. Why couldn’t they just hack into their computers and knock out the surveillance system? That would have been so much easier. I really hope they find their lions soon, because I swear to god-- Finally! Footsteps!

“Blue, get ready! We’re getting a visitor! Alright you, whoever you are, come here and face me like a man! I will shoot your ass to hell and back, don’t think I won’t! I’ll have you know I am Voltron’s blue…”

“Lance?!”

“...Keith...”

“Lance! I thought you were dead! What are you doing here? You need to leave right now, before they find—”

“Stay away from me!”

“Lance?”

“I mean it! Don’t think I won’t shoot you!”

“Calm down. I’m not going to hurt you. You know I wouldn’t.”

“Do I?”

“Lance…”

“You told me you’d never join them. That Zarkon would never get to you.”

“I didn’t join—”

“You’re wearing their armor, Keith! You’re commanding their troops! What else could this be?”

“It’s… hard to explain.”

“Well try! Because I think I deserve a goddamn explanation for why the love of my life broke every promise he made to me and betrayed everything we fought for!”

“There isn’t time! I want to explain, but there are Galra soldiers headed this way and you need to get out of here before they see you!”

“No.”

“Lance, please! I don’t want to fight you, but I’ll have to if you’re found. Please, trust me.”

“Why should I?”

"Please. Lance. Please just go.”

“I won’t.”

“Get out of here! Go!”

<distant yelling>

“Fine. But this isn’t over, Keith.”

“I know.”

[bluelionlogs]

Castle Log: Blue Paladin: Entry 21

So the plan is this:

Once we’re within reach, (which will be very soon, according to Allura; perhaps within the hour), Pidge, Hunk, and I will all get into the Blue lion and head straight for the cargo ship, using the cloaking device Pidge created to keep undetected. As far as we know, the ship hasn’t yet gotten all of the reinforcements Zarkon sent. One of the smaller battleships has arrived, but that’s about all the castle’s radar is picking up right now.

Good news for us, because it means just a little less fighting than we were expecting. And because, typically, the smaller battleships don’t come into contact with Voltron on a regular basis. They aren’t familiar with all of Blue’s modifications, so they won’t know to look for anything other than the giant, white spectacle that is the Castle of Lions.

So the three of us will fly out there, and then, depending on if the Galrans see us or not, I’ll either drop Pidge and Hunk off and act as a distraction until they find their lions, or I’ll sneak Blue into the cargo ship itself and act as a distraction for the ship’s sentries while Pidge and Hunk go searching. The extra Galra fighter jets Zarkon sent won’t fire on their cargo ship, after all. Not with all the precious cargo inside it.

I’ll need to be careful either way. No point in doing all of this if Blue and I are just going to get captured by the Galrans in the end. Allura wants me to keep Blue’s comms on the entire time if I do end up sneaking onto the cargo ship. Probably because I’ll be too preoccuppied with keeping the sentries off my back to actually talk to her, and it’s important for her to keep up with the situation. She needs to know if I’m getting too overwhelmed and need to be pulled out.

But of course I won’t let them get that close. I’m not the team’s sharpshooter for nothing.

[bluelionlogs]

Castle Log: Blue Paladin: Entry 20

Pidge is amazing. Seriously. Remind me to never ever doubt them ever again.

So after I found Pidge and got them out of their cell, they dragged me all across the ship, searching for a computer they could hack into. They didn’t have any of their own equipment, of course, but as it turns out, Pidge installed all their hacking software or whatever it is into all of our suits, just in case of a situation like this. They plugged the computer system of my arm gauntlet into the Galra ship, and that was that.

So now we have the information needed to find the other two lions. We know they’re on a ship heading for central command, and that said ship is currently in a star system not very far from where we are now. We should be able to intercept it before gets too far. After all, Zarkon wouldn’t want to draw any undue attention to it if at all possible. The ship will keep at a normal pace, which means it’ll be plodding along slowly through the galaxy like all the other cargo ships Zarkon uses.

The bad news, however, is that we won’t be able to just sneak on and take the lions like we did with Pidge.

Unfortunately, as we were escaping, the guards found Pidge’s empty cell and sent out the alarm. Sentries found us in the corridor we had infiltrated. We escaped easily, of course. I mean, what chance did the sentries have when we were all so close to the entry point? Hunk and I blasted at them while Pidge escaped, and then we all got out of there, safely flying away. That part’s not the issue.

No, the problem is that the Galrans now know we’re regrouping and trying to form Voltron again, so the security around the lions is going to be doubled. Maybe tripled. It’s quite possible that Zarkon will be sending additional fighter squadrons to guard the ship, and Blue alone won’t be able to handle all of that.

Basically, our best course of action is to attack as soon as possible, before all those backup fleets have the time to reach the cargo ship. Gotta strike while the iron’s hot, and all that good nonsense.

At least Pidge is back with us now. With them here, we’ll be able to figure out a foolproof plan for getting the lions back. And then we’ll be unstoppable.

Watch out, Zarkon. Voltron’s back in action!

[bluelionlogs]

Castle Log: Downloads

…… Uploading files…… …… Upload complete……

Ship: Sa Martok Classification: Cargo Ship Model G-3481 Captain: Commander Sadak Departure Port: Javeeno Base X Destination: Central Command Current Location: Etax Prime Cargo: Classified

…… Clearance code required…… …… Decoding clearance specifications…… …… Decoding complete. Access granted……

Cargo:

Scaultrite: 4,200 tons

Luxite: 234 tons

Pfredium: 1,200 tons

Merictite: 1,540 tons

Delzium: 3,400 tons

Model Z-282 Sentries: 12 companies

Refined Quintessence: 360 containers

Voltron Yellow Lion

Voltron Green Lion

[bluelionlogs]

Blue Paladin: Audio Log 2

“We’re in!”

“Lance. Be quiet.”

“No one’s even in this hallway right now, Hunk, remember? We scanned it. There’s nothing here.”

“Still. We should be more cautious and-- wait, are you recording this? Why are you recording this?”

“Posterity, Hunk. Someone should be documenting this heroic rescue.”

“Lance, this is serious.”

“I know. You don’t need to remind me. Let me just do another scan real quick, and then-- Uhhhh, Hunk, buddy? We have a problem.”

“Problem?! What sort of problem? A guard problem? A sentry problem?”

“No, no. We’re still good. It’s just… there are two high-security cells here. And they’re on opposite sides of the ship.”

“Oh no.”

“You don’t happen to remember which cell you were being kept in, do you?”

“No. It all looks the same to me.”

“Alright then, we’ll have to split up. You take the left hall, and I’ll take the right. One of us should manage to find Pidge. We’ll meet back here afterwards.”

“No! No, no, no! I do not like this plan! We always get in trouble when we split it!”

“We don’t have a lot of other options here, buddy.”

“Ughhhhhhhh. Fine. But be careful, Lance. Don’t get caught.”

“Right back at you, bud. See you in a bit.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Ok. Right hall, right hall. And all the way down. God, this is Beta Traz all over again. I really hope I don’t get stuck with another Yupper. Ok, left here, and then right again up ahead-- oh shit!”

<Heavy breathing. Footsteps pass by.>

“... Are they gone? God, that was close. I hate those Galra sentries. Alright, I’m just leaving my scanner up so I don’t get anymore surprises. Ok. Left, then right. Left, then right. Left… and now right. Pidge! Pidge, are you here?!”

“Lance?!”

“Pidge!”

“What are you doing here!?”

“Rescuing you. Duh. Think the Beta Traz Warden’s face scan will work on this? I still have it saved here somewhere.”

“Maybe. Plug it into your suit’s facial decoder.”

“I can do that?”

“Home screen. Top right icon. Then all the way down--”

“Oh, I see it! Hang on a tick, I got this.”

“Thanks, Lance. It’s good to see you again.”

“It’s good to see you too. But let’s do all this mushy stuff later. Hunk’s meeting us back at our entry point. We gotta go.”

“Wait. Not yet.”

“Pidge? Where are you going? Pidge!”

“I just need a computer to plug into. It’ll be quick, I swear.”

“Pidge, we don’t have time for this!”

“If we don’t get this information, we’ll never get back the lions. This ship is the only place with that information. Well, and the Galra headquarters. But I don’t think you want to go back there, do you?”

“...No.”

“Didn’t think so.”

“Alright, fine! Do your hacking thing! Just be quick, ok?”

“Duh.”

[bluelionlogs]

Castle Log: Blue Paladin: Entry 19

Allura says we’re coming up on the prison ship. We’ll be within range to act out our plans by tomorrow, at the latest.

I’m a little bit nervous. I’m ready to get Pidge back and have them on the team again, but this is a high security prison ship. I’m a little scared that something’s going to go wrong and we’re all going to be captured here. That we won’t be able to escape and get our lions back and save the universe. That all of this would have been for nothing.

I mean, at least the upside to all of that is that I wouldn’t need to face Keith myself. Someone else could deal with him and all of his betrayals. Which isn’t really that much of an upside, to be honest. I’d still rather be alive and safe and not a Galran prisoner. But who wouldn’t, right?

I just really hope this plan of ours works out in the end. It’s not the worst plan, after all. Not the best either, but definitely better than some of the things our team has done. At least we have a plan at all. Like honestly, we’re kind of known for just charging head on into things without thinking it through. With the Balmera, and that time we went to Zarkon’s headquarters, and the situation on Olkari… I could go on. The point is, we make up things on the fly a lot. And while we usually made it out of those situations ok, having a plan always helped. Made things just a bit easier and smoother.

So we have a plan for this, which means I really shouldn’t be worrying as much about it as I am. We have a plan, and we have backup plans, and it’s all very logical and well thought out, and I was really hoping that talking about this with you would help me get past my nerves about it, but apparently that isn’t working because I’m still scared.

More than scared, actually. I’m terrified.

There’s just so much that can go wrong. And, with as close as we are to actually putting our plans into action, I just can’t stop thinking about it. Worrying it just won’t be enough, even though I logically know that we’ve done everything we can and have given ourselves our best shot at succeeding.

We’ve done everything we can, so if this does end up failing tomorrow, it won’t be because we weren’t prepared. It’ll just be because the enemy was more prepared. Or maybe because the universe decided we were never meant to succeed in the first place.

That’s a depressing thought. Especially considering we paladins are the “Defenders of the Universe” and all that shit.

Yeah, no. I’m gonna ignore that and believe everything will go the way we want tomorrow. We’ll make it through this. And when I come back, we’ll have Pidge back with us.

[bluelionlogs]

Castle Log: Blue Paladin: Entry 18

So... we have a plan… of sorts… I guess… Ok, it’s not exactly the best plan, I’ll admit, but we’ve just spent the last couple of days trying to think up something better, and nothing’s come to mind. It’s really hard to plan rescue missions with only half the voltron team, honestly. I’m so used to Pidge chiming in with some techno babble about something I’ve never heard of but that will make our mission harder if we don’t find some way to counteract it. Or even Keith’s suggestions about charging in head on, screw the consequences. Granted, Pidge’s suggestions were often more helpful to us than Keith’s, but both of them usually brought up good points about what to fix to make our missions more successful. We all had a hand in crafting our foolproof plans. It’s only when we didn’t work together that things fell apart, and now I’m so afraid that not having them here with us will have the same effect. Or at least not having Pidge. I just need to get used to not having Keith and planning things without him. I suppose now we’re actively planning against him, which is… weird. Really weird. Like, makes-my-stomach-churn type weird. I’m not a big fan of it. But well, so far our plan consists of catching up to the prisoner ship, (which we’re close to doing thanks to Coran’s repairs and the castle’s thankfully functioning teludav), but also staying far enough away to remain hidden from its scanners. Allura says the prisoner ship is in an area with a lot of interstellar clouds, which should help hide us due to interference problems with the ship’s radars. That interference will also help me and Hunk fly unseen, (with a little assistance from Pidge’s cloaking devices), to the Galra ship, where we can sneak in, find Pidge, and break them out. That’s what we’re hoping for anyway. In practice it’ll probably be a lot messier and more difficult than we’re making it out to be, but we just have to take it as it comes. We’ll adjust the plan on the fly if we need to. I at least know I can do that.

[bluelionlogs]

Castle Log: Blue Paladin: Entry 17

So, I learned today that humanoids are an extremely rare commodity on swap moons.

Long story short: Hunk and I very nearly became part of a species trafficking thing. It was only thanks to quick thinking and Hunk’s impressive arm strength that we managed to get away without being caught or recognized.

I’m not sure if you’ve ever been to a swap moon. They’re not really common across the universe, and their locations tend to be kept secret due to the whole black market aspect that pops up among the vendors. (Though Coran tells me they aren’t nearly as secretive as they used to be because Zarkon doesn’t crack down as hard on the black market as Altea’s Intergalactic Alliance used to.)

Not all of the vendors are part of the black market, of course. A lot of them are normal shopkeepers just trying to avoid Zarkon’s commerce taxes, because those taxes are complete bullshit. Particularly for alien species that aren’t Galra, or like… close allies of Galra. So all those that can’t afford the taxes congregate in the vast marketplace that makes up these swap moons, setting up booths that are vibrant and colorful (and easily vacated for those days when Zarkon does give a shit and decides to order a raid) all across the moon!

But then the further you venture into the market, the shadier it gets. The whole core of the black market is in the very center of the market, where it’s hidden from the wayward traveler’s unsuspecting view. Makes it easy for them to conduct their business and, you know, sometimes kidnap people for their slave trade or something.

We’ve never really ventured into that area. Usually, whatever we need can be found on the edges of the market, so we’re able to avoid the shadier booths and keep out of trouble. I was hoping for the same this time, but no luck.

I guess most of the vendors decided to close up shop while the winter weather lasts. Probably took their stuff to other swap moons, thinking-- correctly, most likely-- that they’d get more business on warmer moons than here. I don’t know what the other moons are like right now, if they have larger crowds or not, but this moon was like a ghost town. The outside booths were completely empty, and the market streets only had a few people wandering about. Only the black market booths still seemed to be in business, so that’s where Hunk and I went.

Now before you say anything, in our defense, we probably would have had to go to the black market booths anyways to get the information we were seeking. Normal shopkeepers don’t keep track of military ships. Not the way black market vendors do.

So with no other logical choice, Hunk and I took our chances.

Did you know humans are considered an exotic species by other aliens?

If you’re not a human, then yeah, you probably do. It’s pretty common knowledge, I’ve learned, to everyone except actual humans. But if you, like me, are human, then just know that the fact we’ve never traveled beyond our own solar system as a species makes us individuals who have really desirable to species traffickers.

Apparently, there are a lot beings that would pay a lot of money to have a human as a house servant, or field worker, or, in my and Hunk’s cases, as a sex slave and future gladiator respectively. At least, that’s what I heard the guys muttering when they saw us wandering around asking about this ship and started planning our abduction, before they realized how good human hearing actually is sometimes.

But hey, all’s well that ends well. As touched as I am by their assessment of my physical appeal, I wasn’t about to let myself be captured and sold in such a way. And I definitely wasn’t going to let Hunk get sold to Zarkon’s arena. Shiro told us all about those horrors before he was killed, and there’s no way I was letting Hunk suffer through that.

But so these guys were shadowing us for a good while after we ventured into the black market area of the planet, just keeping an eye on us, so to speak. I don’t think they realized what we were asking about or they might have thought twice. The name of the ship Hunk and Pidge were being kept on certainly inspired a good bit of fear in almost everyone we talked to.They would almost always flinch away and look really shifty whenever we brought it up, and several of them seemed to very seriously consider chasing us off and shooting us in the back. (Not that they could have. I would’ve shot them first.)

What I’m gathering from all those reactions is that this specific ship is some sort of high-security prisoner ship, where only the most dangerous threats to the Galra Empire are contained. Bad luck for us, because it means the whole ship is going to be alert at all hours, but also a little bit flattering that Zarkon takes us so seriously.

Not many people actively search the ship out, though, so the fact we were asking about it made a lot of the shadier vendors more cautious. I think they might have seen us as Galra spies or something. Maybe that we were scoping out vendors for the Galra army to raid later.

As we were talking to these vendors, (or well, Hunk was talking, I was looking pretty and subtly watching our backs), the slavers kept inching closer and closer. They weren’t staring out us outright or anything, but you could just tell they were focused on us. They’d throw glances our way every now and then, and walk behind/beside us, forcing us to turn down certain alleys to avoid them, as if trying to hem us into a trap.

Which is exactly what they were doing. I mean, I’m not stupid. I knew they were walking us into a trap, but I also knew they’d get more aggressive if we didn’t stroll right along with their plans, and we really needed the ship information. We couldn’t afford to leave until we got that. So Hunk and I ambled along as slowly as we dared and talked to everyone we could while the slavers kept their eyes on us.

Finally, we found a vendor willing to talk for a small price. I had to give up the luxite shard necklace Keith once gave me, but in return we got all the information we needed about where the ship was and where it was going-- all the things that shady black market vendors kept track of in order to avoid the ship.

Of course, it took us until we were nearly caught in the slaver’s trap to get that information, but we got it. And as soon as we did, we began making plans in order to escape.

The marketplace, especially the area with the black market booths, is riddled by small alleyways filled with crates and baskets of goods. It helped that the slavers were already trying to direct us into these alleyways. Probably trying to trap us in a deadend, where escape would be rather difficult, if not impossible. They didn’t realize who they were dealing with though. Hunk and I have escaped from worse scenarios hundreds of times.

We continued down the alleyways like they wanted, but finally found one where following us would be too conspicuous. I don’t think us going down that way was too alarming for the slavers. They probably didn’t deal with many victims with enough experience to realize what was happening and actually plan an escape. As tit was though, Hunk and I stopped in that alley, and took a moment to gather our bearings.

“We could just fight our way out,” Hunk suggested. Which was true. We had enough strength and fire power to overwhelm any attacker. However, our weapons were also pretty distinctive and would tip off everyone there that the Voltron paladins were back in action. And I know from past experience just how quickly shady merchants will sell us out in order to get a reward and clemency from the Galra Empire.

What we needed was another pathway. Something to through the slavers off our track just enough to run back to the castle pod and leave the Swap Moon.

Thankfully, the inner booths of the Swap Moon are set up inside some old, square buildings that have probably been around for centuries. They were made of piled rocks and clay, and were sturdy enough to hold our weights if we were to climb on top. At least, that’s what I hoped.

“Lift me up there,” I told Hunk, pointing at the top of the building. “I’ll help pull you up, and we can use those to escape. They’ll never think to look up.”

Hunk was worried (for good reason, to be honest, since I was just planning based on guess work) but we didn’t have a lot of other options, so he went along with it. He easily hoisted me up high enough to let me scramble onto the roof, and then I used what minimal strength I have to help pull him up alongside me. The old buildings were all lined up, one alongside another, in close succession, so it was an easy task from there to just sprint away from the center of the market and back to where it was safe.

I did hear a shout of alarm as we ran, though I can’t tell you if it was just from a surprised merchant or from the slavers themselves. Either way, we got enough of a head start to stay in front of the slavers, even when we had to jump down off the buildings and continue running through the abandoned areas of the market to the pod.

We got there just in time. And once the pod doors had closed and we lifted off, on a course to the castle, Hunk and I both collapsed onto the floor and started laughing.

I forgot how much of a rush it is to get stuck in a situation like that and have to find and escape. I was always good at that. Keith is all instincts with little to no plans, and Pidge and Hunk often get too caught up in fixing the mechanical and technical things keeping us trapped to think of much else, so I was usually what was left. I would be the one analyzing and planning and directing, and I was actually rather good at it. I forgot all about that.

How did I forget that?

Well remembering now will come in handy in the next few weeks, because we’re going to need the best possible plans in order to pull off what we’re about to do. Now that we have the info about the ship, it’s time to take advantage

It’s time to go save Pidge.

[bluelionlogs]

Castle Log: Blue Paladin: Entry 16

I wonder what season it is back home right now.

I think it’s spring. Or maybe summer. I lost track of the days a long time ago, so it’s really hard to tell. But I hope it’s one of the warmer seasons so my family at least can enjoy the sun and the sea, even if I can’t.

Though, that’s assuming there’s even a home to return to. That there’s even an Earth at all.

I’m not really sure there is…

[bluelionlogs]

Castle Log: Blue Paladin: Entry 15

Small correction to my log from a few days ago: the swap moon isn’t cool, it’s cold as fuck.

It appears we’ve arrived in time for what they consider their winter season. The whole moon is covered in snow, and it’s getting deeper by the second with all the snow storms swirling around the atmosphere. (Speaking of which, why do all the planets I’ve been landing on recently have this thing with storms and/or snow? Have I become some sort of bad weather magnet?) But well, while the colder weather gives me more of an excuse to bundle up and hide myself, it’s making me wonder whether we’ll get any sort of information at all here.

Rare illegal market or not, I wouldn’t want to be visiting this moon while this sort of weather is happening. And I don’t think many other creatures would visit it either. We were counting on the crowd to hide and inform us. Now I’m not so sure.

Allura wants us to check it out anyways. “We can’t just assume and pass up the possibility of getting what we need,” she said. “We should at least scope out the situation before making any decisions.”

I see her point. And I’m eager to get Pidge and the lions back as well, so I’m not going to complain. We’ll just have to be a little more cautious than usual, is all. A little more careful in who we approach.

I hope Hunk is the one to come with me for this, to be honest. As much as I appreciate Coran and all his knowledge on alien life, he can sometimes get a little mixed up with his information, landing us all in trouble. And trouble is the very last thing we need right now if we’re going to stay undetected by the Galra and keep our element of surprise. Which we have to. Pidge’s rescue depends on it.

So that’s essentially the plan. Get in, get the information, get out. All while staying off Galra’s radar.

Simple, right?

[bluelionlogs]

Castle Log: Blue Paladin: Entry 14

So, I know it’s been a while since I last updated you. I mean, I know you’re not reading this in real time or anything because that’d just be weird and/or a major cause for concern over our security systems, but I still feel kind of bad for not letting you know what’s been going on here over this past week, if only because it helps keep me sane and on top of things.

It’s just been a busy week here. Which, in a way, is a good thing because it means a lot is getting done and I’ve been too distracted by all of that to think on anything sad. But at the same time, I am so exhausted. I just want to sleep.

Of course, even if I had the time to sleep, I’m not sure I could. At least not in my own room. Or well… I guess it’s technically Keith’s room. I’m just so used to us sharing it, so I kind of consider it my room too. And all of my things are still in there. Though… so are Keith’s. At least they were the last time I checked, before I flew off with Blue.

I suppose the Castle’s crash has messed it all up, but I’m honestly afraid to look. I haven’t been back into that room since finding the castle. Hunk and I made camp in the common room while we were fixing things, simply because it was easier. And I guess also because neither of us wanted to be alone. So I really haven’t had to deal with the whole bedroom thing until now, which is making all of this worse. I can still picture Keith’s red jacket hanging on the wall by the closet, and my collection of skin care products sitting on the desk like they belong there, and the old, purple blanket we’d bought together from one of the swap moons we once visited, still on the bed.

Coincidentally, it was the same swap moon we’re now heading for to get information. It’s the closest one to where we’re at. I’m a little afraid some of the vendors might recognize me, but… well, it’s been a year. Vendors change, and they forget, and I’ll be going in disguise anyways so they might not recognize me at all. And it’s not like we have any other choice. We need that information to find Pidge. We can’t do anything without it.

The one good thing I can say about this swap moon is that its distance from its star keeps the climate cool year round, so I’ll be able to bundle up at least a little. Between that and a disguise, I think we should be ok.

But just in case, I think I’ll ask Allura to lock Blue in the hangars as well. I don’t want her falling into the wrong hands.

[bluelionlogs]

Castle Log: Blue Paladin: Entry 13

Back in space! Finally!

It’s good to be flying around in the castle again, knowing we’ll soon be defending the universe again! Just as soon as we get the rest of repairs completed and get Pidge and our lions back, of course.

But hey, we’re getting there, and that’s the important thing. We’re simply a work in progress right now.

[bluelionlogs]

Castle Log: Blue Paladin: Entry 12

Well, everything is prepared.

The castle’s space-ready. All systems working normally. Blue is safe in her hangar. All our supplies are neatly packed away. We’re ready. We’ve done all we can for now, and it’s time for us to get back into space, where we belong.

Coran and Allura are getting things ready for launch even as I type this out. There isn’t much I can do to help, since it all apparently involves Allura’s Altean magic, so I’ve mostly been keeping out of the way. Right now, I’m sitting by the windows of the observation deck and looking out on the hazy redness of Knock-off Jupiter.

The storm hasn’t let up at all in this entire time Hunk and I have been here. I think I was right in assuming that it operates a lot like Jupiter’s red spot, or even Mars’s months-long dust storms. It’s no wonder that life hasn’t really evolved here, what with the wind constantly kicking up dust and tossing it around. No time to let anything settle long enough for life to start.

I suppose sometimes things are like that. When life gets crazy and out-of-control, it’s hard for anything of value to actually take root, let alone grow and flourish. Sometimes things just get blown away by the wind before you even realize it. Sometimes something you thought was permanent just gets worn away bit by bit in the storm, and then disappears forever. Never to return.

Take it from me, whoever you are. Value the things and people you have while you have them. You never know when a storm might come along and destroy it all. And you don’t want to left with regrets after the chaos. That’s just not fun.