You were sitting in your chair in the control room. You and Keith had retrieved some new parts for the castle, and now you were on your way to that Universal Station Pidge had discovered from Sendak's data. And maybe because you were yet again heading for something unknown, you kept thinking of Earth.

You had been visiting new planets and places, fighting the Galra along the way. But what about your home planet? Zarkon must already know that you Paladins were from Earth. So what if he would decide to take advantage of that? And why were you thinking those things now? You weren't even feeling homesick anymore, but maybe you just longed for something familiar amongst all those unfamiliar places.

Suddenly someone knocked on your head, making you flinch. And as you looked up, you saw Pidge smirking at you. And you immediately smiled. "Hey Pidge." You said to her. "So, what's got you thinking?" She asked while taking a seat on the armrest of your chair. "Nothing much." You just said, shrugging your shoulder. But Pidge looked at you, raising an eyebrow. She knew you better that that.

"You remember when we met?" You then asked her. And Pidge first looked at you puzzled, then she smiled. "Of course. You tried to insist that there's not many things that compare to the joy of seeing tiny seedlings growing from earth." Pidge smirked, raising her glasses. "How can you remember that?" You turned to look at her puzzled.

"Well, it was a pretty weird statement." She just laughed. "Well, that might have changed a bit." You said, laughing. And that made Pidge look at you curiously. But before she could ask anything, you continued. "But I'm being serious here." You said, stopping your laughter.

"Why are you asking?" Pidge frowned at you. "What if we had never met? What if I would have never made it to the Garrison?" You then asked, partly lost in your thoughts. And that's when you glanced at Keith, who was talking to Shiro. And you slightly smiled.

Then suddenly Pidge again knocked on your head. "Who cares of those 'what ifs'. We are here now, and I'm really glad that you are too." She said, smiling. And you smiled too. "I know, I was just thinking, that maybe all this happens for a reason." You tried to explain yourself. But Pidge just chuckled."You're so funny." She said, squeezing your cheek. And that made you frown. It was something you would usually do to her, not the other way around.

"Paladins. We are arriving to our destination." Coran suddenly interrupted you. And Pidge immediately jumped down from the armrest as you started to gather together. "We should be close enough to get a good scan, but far enough away to avoid being noticed." Allura explained.

And then everyone waited silently. There was tension in the air since nobody knew where you were actually heading. Then slowly the Universal Station came into your view. And there it was. Like a huge aircraft carrier, trying to stay hidden. And you looked at it amazed. There were huge Galra ships coming and going, and it looked like it was built on a small planet or an asteroid. "There it is." Shiro stated, tension in his voice.

"It appears the gravitation between the two planets warps the electron emission spectrum enough to keep the planet off the deep space scanners." Coran then wondered aloud. And you rolled your eyes. They already knew you didn't understand all their scientific talks. And when Pidge saw that, she laughed and decided to explain it to you more simply. "So, you can only see it if you really know where to look." She said, smirking. And you rolled your eyes again as you turned to look at the screen, trying to ignore Pidge.

"This place must handle shipments from all over the Galra Empire." Shiro thought aloud. "I wonder what those shipments are." You wondered too, looking at the station. "If this is some big airport where shipments come and go, why is it hidden?" Pidge then looked at you questioningly. "Well, we'd better go down to take a look." Allura then stated. And that's when you turned to look at her.

"I'm sorry Princess, did you say 'we'?" Keith asked surprised, looking at Allura too. And she just looked at you all back determined. "I'm going with you. I've traveled through the Galra transportation hubs many times with my father before the war began. I know more about them than any of you." She spoke very convincingly, even though you knew Coran would try to stop her.

And you were right. "Princess, I'd rather you stay here." Coran said, trying to be as calm as he could, even though you saw that he was annoyed. But Allura had decided already, despite what he would say. "I'm a part of this fight against Zarkon as much as anyone. I'm going. Does anyone have a problem with that?" She looked at you all strictly. And since you didn't have anything against it, you just shrugged your shoulders and shook your head. And you got a smile from Allura and a murdering glare from Coran.

And for a moment it was dead silent in the control room as Allura was waiting for objections. Lance made it even more awkward by whistling. But then Shiro finally shrugged his shoulders. "Fine. Suit up." He said, making the others more or less dumbfounded for his choice. Except Allura, who smiled widely. And when Coran knew he couldn't stand against her, he gave up and just wished you all good luck.

Then you changed into your armours and went into the Green Lion. With the cloaking ability that Pidge had installed into it, you could get to the Universal Station without anyone noticing.

You leaned against Pidge's chair as you all tried to fit into the Green Lion's head. It was getting pretty crowded. And as the Lion soared out of the castle, you realised that Keith had inched behind you, trying to act nonchalant while taking a hold of the chair, his hand next to yours. And you couldn't help but smile. You loved the little secret you shared.

With the cloaking ability activated, soon the Green Lion landed on top of the Universal Station. And you all got out. You sneaked in to the station unnoticed and headed to the place that seemed to be the control room. And as you found it, you only saw three Galra sentries guarding it. And you were surprised that you could get in so easily. Why weren't there more guards? Was this not an important place after all?

Shiro quietly sneaked behind one of the sentries. And before it even realised what was happening, Shiro had hit it with his prosthetic hand. And before the other two could even react, Lance and Hunk had shot them down with their precise shots. And then you were in the control room. It seemed too easy.

Pidge and Hunk immediately started to work on their computer magic, beginning to download data files from the Station. And you others just kind of waited, since there was really nothing for you to do now.

You walked next to Keith, who was on the look out by a huge window. And you saw that the control room overlooked the docks of the station. "We'll have all the information we need in a few minutes." Pidge said calmly while tapping on the computer. "Hunk and I have made some improvements since the last time I tried to download Galra info. We should get a nice, clean translation immediately." She then explained. But you weren't really paying attention.

You looked outside curiously, and saw that some Galra sentries were walking in and out of a supply ship that was on the deck. But nothing more seemed to happen there. Was that place really important? Why did it have to keep hidden?

Then Keith's voice cut you out of your thoughts. "Hey, guys, I think we got company." He said with a tense voice. And as you looked up, you saw that something was truly coming. A large shadow covered the control room, making it dark for a moment. And soon a huge Galra ship started to land.

"We just need a few more seconds." Pidge said, continuing to tap on the computer. She just concentrated on her work. But you just looked at the ship, which was starting to open its hatch. And as you looked at it, you suddenly had this strange feeling in your gut. Like something was going to go wrong.

Just then suddenly the control room screen was turned on. "Get down." Keith immediately whispered. And before you could even react, Keith had taken a hold of you, pulling you down with him. You startled since it was so sudden, but then you saw the others crouching down too. And then you saw a Galra soldier appearing on the large screen. "Huh?" The soldier wondered, looking around, seeing only an empty room on the other side.

That's when you realised that Keith was still keeping a hold of you while staying low. And you glanced at him. And as Keith saw you looking at him, he immediately let you go. He averted his gaze and seemed to get slightly flustered of his own behavior. And you couldn't help but smile, even though you shouldn't have at the moment.

"He's still looking. I think he's waiting for a signal or something." Lance whispered when the Galra soldier still stayed there, dumbfounded. And from that, Hunk had an idea. "I got it." He said, taking a hold of one of the fallen down sentries and crawling to the control panel. And he easily fooled the soldier by lifting the sentry to the screen and signaling something. The soldier really seemed to fell for it. Not the sharpest tool in the shed.

"Good thinking Hunk." You said to him, still smiling. "Thanks." Hunk smiled back at you, clearly proud of his solution. And he truly was full of surprised, usually coming up with the most quirky solutions that nobody else could think of.

Then Pidge was finally ready. "Okay, download complete." She said proudly. "What's it say?" Keith asked as everyone started to gather behind her, looking at the computer. "Nothing. This place doesn't have any useful information. Just schedules of the ships coming in and out." Pidge said, looking at the information on the screen puzzled.

"Well, I guess this mission was a bust." Lance said disappointed. "But why would this place be so well hidden if there was nothing of importance?" You asked what you had been thinking of. It seemed really strange.

"Well, we'd better get back to the castle then." Shiro said, a bit disappointed too. But when he was starting to head out, Allura stopped him. "Hold on. Pidge, do you know where that ship is headed?" She said, pointing at the large ship that had just landed.

Pidge started to tap on the computer, browsing through the information. "Um, it's scheduled to be here for about a half an hour, then head off to Central Command." She then stated. And that's when Allura seemed to cheer up. "That's where they have the information we need, and I'm going to sneak aboard that ship and get it for us." She said seriously.

That's when everyone turned to look at Allura, some frowning, some puzzled. "How are you going to do that?" You asked her, sincerely curious. "I'm going to walk right through the front." She said, smiling proudly. And you chuckled. "They aren't just going to let you walk in, are they?" You said a bit sarcastically. "Of course they are." Allura just said back, still smiling like she knew something that you didn't.

Then Allura took off her helmet and closed her eyes. And suddenly she started to grow in height. And her skin tone started to change to a purple one, just like the Galra. And you gasped. What was going on!?

Suddenly Allura was in a Galra form, and even taller than Shiro. And everyone looked at her with wide eyes, trying to digest what had just happened. Hunk was the first one to be able to speak. "How the heck did you do that?" He asked stunned. But Allura just looked at you and smiled. She clearly liked seeing you all quiet for a change.

"The Alteans are a chameleon-like people who can blend in with the local populations. It's the ability that made us great explorers and diplomats throughout our history." Allura then explained. "What...why didn't you tell us this before!?" You then asked, almost yelling as you were so surprised of this new piece of information. "It just didn't come up." She just bluntly stated, shrugging her large Galra shoulders.

Then everyone started to flood Allura with questions. "So, can you turn into, like, a balloon?" Lance asked. And you rolled your eyes at him. Why would he want to know something like that? "How many different colours can you be at once?" Pidge then asked, looking like she was about to poke Allura to see if she was real. "Does that hurt when you change?" You then asked. "Aren't you afraid you'll rip your pants?" Hunk asked too.

Allura took a deep breath and then answered to all those questions patiently. "No. Just one at a time. It only feels a bit strange. And I'll need a change of costume." She said, turning to one of the Galra sentries lying on the ground. And that's when you really understood how she was going to get into that ship. And suddenly the same bad feeling in your gut came back. It was like this empty and nauseating feeling, like something bad was about to happen.

"I can't let you go in there alone." Shiro said to Allura, speaking firmly. But she just looked back at him offended. "Excuse me? I do not need your permission." She stated bluntly, frowning. And you knew she probably could do it herself. She was definitely not helpless.

"It's too dangerous. I'm going with you." Shiro still insisted. And before Allura could resist more, Pidge interfered. "You'll need Shiro, Princess. His hand is made from Galra tech. It's the only thing we have that will allow us to interface with their systems and gather intel. I can monitor the download from here." Pidge reasoned with her. "Fine, you can come." Allura then said, letting out a resigned sigh.

But while they were talking, you kept thinking about the feeling you had. And you pondered if you should say anything about it. Maybe you were just overcautious because Allura was there with you for the first time?

But since the feeling was just so strong, you knew you had to say something. "Maybe neither of you should go..." You said a bit hesitantly. And Allura immediately turned to look at you annoyed. "Not you too. We're going and that's it." She said bluntly, already having enough of the resistance. "I have a bad feeling about this." You tried to say, but she just turned her back on you. How rude.

And that's when you started to get anxious. You had to do something. So you crossed your arms and looked at her defiantly. "Well, then I'm coming too, and you can't stop me." You said. And immediately the others sighed.

Allura looked at you surprised while you just glared at her. And then she glared back. And for a moment you had a little showdown with your stares. Until she smiled. "Fine." She said. And you started to feel a bit better. At least you wouldn't feel helpless while doing nothing.

But that's when you heard Keith's voice from behind you. "Why do you have to be so stubborn?" He said, his voice tense. "You're the one to talk." You turned around, glaring at him too. "The more there is of you, the more easily you get caught." He tried to reason with you. But you just sighed. "I just can't discard this feeling. If something would happen and I didn't follow my instinct, I would never forgive myself." You tried to reason with him back. "And they might need help." You still added.

For a moment Keith looked at you with that sharp stare. But when you didn't budge, he sighed. "Well, how are you going to get Shiro and (Y/N) in?" He then asked Allura. And you smiled. You knew he believed in you and it made you feel strong.

Then Allura changed into a Galra armour from one of the sentries and fetched a large crate. "Be careful." Hunk said as Shiro first climbed into the crate. "We will." You said. And that's when you glanced at Keith, who was looking back at you, still slightly frowning. "Come back safe." He then said, averting his gaze like he didn't care. But you knew he meant that. And that he cared.

Shiro took your hand as he helped you get in the crate. And as you crouched down next to him, you were surprised of how roomy it was. "Alright. If there are any problems, I'll tap the top a couple of times, so you know to be ready." Allura then explained to you. And you both nodded as she closed the crate.

Then it was pitch black. You could only hear Shiro's breathing next to you. "You alright? Comfortable?" You asked him quietly. And you just heard him chuckling. "I was about to ask you the same thing. Good thing that I'm not claustrophobic." He said. And you smiled, even though he couldn't see it.

Then you felt as Allura started to push the crate forwards. Now you had to be quiet and on your guard just in case. You just had to rely on Allura to get through the guards. She did look like the part, but you hoped she could also act like it, to not get any unwanted attention.

The ride took awhile and you had no idea what was happening outside. You couldn't even stretch your legs since you couldn't risk the crate starting to move. So you just had to endure it.

Then suddenly the crate stopped. "Halt!" A man's muffled voice was heard from outside. And it made you really tense and alert. You also realised that Shiro's breathing had changed too. It really was nerve wrecking not to know what was happening outside.

"Move along." The same voice then said, and the crate started to move again. And you let out a silent sigh. You had probably gotten through the guards and into the ship.

The crate still kept on moving for a moment until it finally stopped again. Then Allura opened it and looked at you. "Alright, we are in." She stated quietly as you straightened out your back. And as you peeked outside, you saw that you really were inside the ship, in a storage room full of other similar crates. "Good work Princess." Shiro said, also getting up. "Alright, so, where to?" You asked then, looking around. "Let's see." Shiro said, starting to leave the room.

You all moved quietly and on your guard as you got out from the storage room and into the hallway. You had your bayard ready just in case. And soon you saw Galra sentries patrolling the hallway. A lot of them.

"Get back." Shiro said with a whisper as he suddenly pushed you behind him, seeing one of the sentries coming towards you. And you did what you were told, crouching down behind the corner. But just as the sentry walked past you, you heard Shiro gasping. And you saw him closing his eyes, like he was in pain.

"Shiro, are you alright?" You asked him worried. And as he opened his eyes, you saw that they were hazy, like he was lost in thought. "I just remembered how I escaped from the Galra prison ship." He explained a bit hesitantly. "Listen, most of the ship's personnel are sentries. When I was a prisoner, I timed their pattern." He continued, more stable this time. "Do you remember it?" Allura asked. And Shiro thought for a moment before nodding. "Let's find out. Follow me."

Shiro waited for a moment. Then he started to run down the hallway. And you immediately followed him. You trusted Shiro unconditionally, but you were still holding your bayard, just in case. But as you turned around the corner, and another, you saw no sentries on your route. Did he really remember the pattern?

You were moving forwards fast, quite easily, even though the hallways were like a maze. But it still was quite nerve wrecking. You had to be quick and silent.