Author's Note: So, this fic is considered part 2 to "What If The Storm Ends?" so if you haven't read that, I would recommend you do so to understand this fic.

This fic will feature original characters because they were needed for plot reasons and also attempt world building for the Galra. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this!

Chapter 1

The dagger had once belonged to his father, and as the tradition in his family went, it automatically went to Thace when he had died. He traced his fingers along the the hilt. Thace had often wondered if he would be able to pass the blade to his own child, or perhaps that tradition would die with him.

"Thace, are you with us?"

Thace glanced up, and quickly recomposed himself. "Sorry, lost in thought," he said with a nod. "Please proceed, Leah."

Across the table, Leah gave a nod as she picked up her tablet and glanced to the other members of the group.

"Now then, you were saying, Vector?" she asked.

The old Pavonani warrior cleared her throat as she ran her claws through the orange fur on her neck. "The weapons factory on Acradius has been destroyed, and with no innocent casualties."

Thace raised an eyebrow. That was already known information in the rebel cell. They had all read the report that morning. "That is good news, but I doubt you gathered us to discuss that."

Vector grimaced and gave a nod. "It was..too easy. There were low number of guards at the factory and there was only a single ship to guard the planet."

Thace narrowed his eyes. That was strange. The empire tried to appoint at least three ships for every weapons factory, especially since the return of Voltron in hope they could capture the paladins if they choose to strike it.

"So, what?" Zelda snapped as she tapped her finger against her table. "It was one of the older factories, and Zarkon has been spreading his troops everywhere he can. They probably reduced the number there to place them elsewhere."

Ford scoffed from where he was leaning against the wall and raised his cybernetic arm. "You weren't there," he said in a gruff tone. "Something wasn't right, it's like they were waiting for us."

"They were probably waiting for Voltron," Zelda spat.

"Maybe not," Leah said and all eyes turned to her. "Tina got a report from Oberon this morning and his sources say Zarkon has appointed ships in both the Kaldona and Imdali System."

Thace's eyes widened. "Didn't we destroy some slave transport ships in the Kaldona System recently?"

Vector nodded. "And we destroyed a factory in the Imdali System with little effort since Zarkon had ordered all of his ships back to his command centre to capture Voltron at the time."

"The empire is becoming suspicious," Leah said, grimly. "Or, we at least have to assume so."

Zelda huffed as she crossed her arms and glared in Thace's direction. "I can't imagine how THAT happened."

Thace sighed. He'd been waiting for this since he got back. "Is there something you wish to say to me, Zelda?"

She scoffed. "Only that's it's your foolishness that got us into this mess and take responsibility."

Thace saw Leah twitch slightly, but kept her calm expression. "Zelda, we've been through this," she said in a stern tone. "We're not arguing this again."

"I am not arguing," Zelda sneered. "I'm merely suggesting that the empire might not be suspicious if Thace hadn't exposed himself when assisting the paladins of Voltron," she sneered. "That was reckless and he should have-"

Ford silenced her by slamming his fist on the table. "Should have what?" he snapped. "Thace guessed that the paladins would come to rescue the Altean princess, but he only had a few ticks to make a plan for it!"

"Ford, it's fine," Thace stated. "I can defend myself."

"I'm not defending you," Ford replied. "I just can't stand stupid logic and Zelda is full of it."

"How is pointing out someone's mistakes stupid?!" Zelda snapped and might have started a fight if Vector hadn't grabbed her shoulders.

"Mistakes you say!" Ford shook his cybernetic arm in the air at her. "What would you rather he do then? Let Zarkon get his hands on the most powerful weapon in the universe!"

Zelda paused at the remark and frowned. "Of course not, but perhaps he could have-"

"That's enough!" Leah said as she sprung from her chair and slammed her hands on the table. "Given the circumstances, Thace did the best he could with the best options and it was the exact same choice I would have made!"

She glared at Zelda. "I have already stated as such and bickering what could have been won't change anything! All we can do now is focus on the future." Leah narrowed her eyes. "Is that understood, Zelda?"

The Galran woman looked tempted to argue, but shut her mouth with a tight frown. "Yes."

"Good," Leah said as she sat back down. "Right now, I want us to try to keep a low of a profile as possible and remain on high alert."

She glanced to Vector. "I want to increase surveillance around the planet and patrols inside the tunnels. Also, perhaps it would be best if we began preparations to locate to a new base."

Vector nodded as she started to type on her tablet. "I'll pass that on to Stig, and we may be able to provide more sensors in the tunnels."

"And I'll look up possible planets for us to relocate to," Thace stated.

"Do that then," Leah said. "Ford, those ships we acquired recently, how long will it take to fix them up to be flyable? I want us to be able evacuate the base the moment we suspect the empire it coming for us."

Ford sighed as he rubbed his neck. "They weren't in the best shape when we got them."

Thace agreed, but that was exactly why they had taken them. Damaged ships sitting waiting to be disposed were less likely to be noticed.

"With that said," Ford continued, "it's possible we could have them workable with a few days to at least transport, longer if you wanted me to include weapons."

Leah folded her hands. "Try to include at least one canon on each if you can, but I want them to be able to fly safely to transport people to come first."

Ford sighed. "I'll have an aching back from it, but I'll do it."

"Thank you," Leah said and turned her head. "Zelda, go and pass the message to the other rebel cells to be on high alert as well." She crossed her eyes. "And, if I hear you were expressing your opinion on how this happened, I'll be putting you on child care duty for the next cycle."

Thace tried not to snicker as Zelda gave a horrified look. It was no secret Zelda had no patience for the children and would probably rather have her leg cut off.

"Very well," Zelda said as she rose and gave a bow before exiting the room with Vector following.

Thace watched them go and felt Leah placed a hand on his shoulder. "You know that Zelda is the exception?" she said gently. "Everyone else agrees you did the right thing."

"Did I?" Thace said as he fingered the dagger. "Upon reflection, I can't help but wonder if there was a better solution."

"Oh, don't you dare go down that route," Ford said as he leaned against the table. "Even if a better solution existed, you didn't know about it then and made the best judgement. We can't change the past."

"He's right," Leah insisted and gave a small smile. "I won't lie it is good to have you back home."

Thace sighed and rubbed his neck. "Thank you, although I hate that we won't have such an easy access to information without me there."

"We'll deal with it," Leah said. "So, don't let Zelda trouble you, Thace." She shrug and a bitter smile. "You know she's always assumes she can do better. She's been like that even when when my father was leader."

"It amazes me he never shot her," Ford grumbled.

"Ford," Leah threatened as she shot him a look.

"It's fine," Thace said as he got out of the chair. "Truthfully, I could care less on what Zelda thinks."

"Then what's troubling you?" Leah asked with a concerned frown. "I know you, something is on your mind."

Thace paused as his grip tightened on his dagger. "It's trivial, don't worry yourself over it."

"That only makes me more suspicious," Leah commented.

Ford's face hardened as he drew closer. "You're thinking about the kid, aren't you?"

Thace flinched, but kept his face unreadable. However, he knew the damage was done.

"Yeah, knew it," Ford said with his arms folded. "You're worried about him. The paladins are mostly kids."

"Who have very capable warriors," Thace replied in a firm tone. "I've seen it myself. They are more able to take care of themselves."

"Even so," Leah said gently as she picked up the tablet. "It's reasonable for you to be concerned considering the boy is-"

"I'm sorry, Leah, but I need to go," Thace as he proceed to head out. "I promised Stig I'd help with the security checks and then I need to find that list."

"Alright," Leah replied in a comforting tone only those close to her would hear, "but Thace, if you need to talk, I'm here."

Thace gave a nod as he left the room, with his hand still gingerly touching his dagger.

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Shiro clapped as the robot gladiator was removed from the floor. "Good work out, team! You managed to beat your old record."

"Yay," Lance said wearily as he leaned against Hunk for support. "And I only got twice the amount of bruises to take that down. Fantastic."

Keith had his sword return to bayard form as he offered Pidge a hand to stand. "Then that means you've got to improve your speed so you don't get hit as often."

Lance rolled his eyes. "I move just fine, but you need to improve your aim."

"Says the guy who I shielded six times."

"No, it was only three and I shielded you five times."

"No, it was only four!"

Hunk sighed. "I guess you two arguing on protected the other more is a sign of improvement."

Keith became quiet and blushed slightly as he rubbed his neck. "Yeah..well..I just rather try to make improve our chances of not getting separated again," he muttered.

It had been over a month since team Voltron had been reunited with each other, and Keith never thought he'd been so grateful to have his 'family' back. That month of not knowing where everyone was and missing them caused Keith to have an ache he'd rather not repeat.

Lance blinked, looking a bit stunned and turned his head. "That's...one thing we can agree on."

Shiro offered a small smile as he patted both Keith and Lance's shoulder. "Hey, that's the kind of bond we're trying to build and what we're going to need on the next mission."

"You mean destroying that old weapons factory on Acradius?" Pidge said with her arms folded. "I still don't get why the empire keeps that place running. From the specs I saw, it's falling apart."

"Yeah, but it's also one of the largest factories," Hunk said. "At least that's what Coran told me, and it's been ruining the environment of that planet for decades."

"Exactly," Shiro said with a nod. "Not to mention the latest changes Zarkon has been making there have been making the inhabitants of that planet sick."

Keith nodded. The message they had received from the residents there was so desperate. The waste from the factory had been polluting their water sources and making everyone dangerously ill.

Of course, the Galrans haven't lifted a finger to help and if something wasn't done soon, the people there weren't going to last much longer.

"This might be a good time to go over our plan for taking it down," Shiro said.

"There's been a change in the plans, Lads," Coran spoke as he entered waving a tablet around. "You all aren't going to believe this, but we're cancelling the mission."

"What?" Hunk said as his eyes widened. "Why? Don't those people need our help?"

"Oh, they do," Coran stated as he folded his arms, "or I should say they did."

A feeling of dread washed over the group, and Keith paled. "Coran..don't tell us that we're too late?"

Coran blinked and his eyes widened in alarm. "Oh, no, no! You misunderstand! I meant as in someone beat us to the punch."

"What?" Shiro asked baffled.

"I just received word from the head chief that the weapons factory has already been destroyed," Coran said as he hit a button on the tablet and brought up a recorded image.

Keith blinked. They had seen pictures of the factory before, and it was clear it was the same location, except nothing remained now but a pile of burning rubble.

"I don't get it," Lance said scratching his head and PIdge frowned in thought. "What happened?"

"We're not certain," Coran explained. "Allura is speaking to the head chief as we speak. They had assumed it was our doing and were calling to thank us."

"Um, that's nice except it wasn't us," Hunk said as he folded his chin. "Unless we're starting to fight in our sleep. Is that a Voltron thing? Because sleep-fighting would allow for a whole lot more shut-eye."

"Unless you got infected with a Lambda parasite, that's not likely to happen," Coran replied as he grasped his chin. "One of them did find and sent us footage taken by the factory's cameras near the docking area, but there's no sign of anyone arriving or leaving the place."

Shiro frowned as his eyes narrowed. "Is it possible the factory just had an accident?"

Or it could be the Galra rebels, Keith thought, but kept his mouth shut.

"Could be," Coran replied thoughtfully as Pidge looked over his shoulder. "Accidents do happen, even to vast empires-"

"Or it could be the Galra rebels," Pidge voiced.

Keith winced slightly and sighed. Here we go, he thought as he caught Shiro's hard stare.

"Hey, yeah," Lance said as his eyes lit up slightly. "Mysterious explosion with no sign of who or what actually did it?" He looked to Keith. "Isn't that the kind of thing that Thace guy said they did?"

Keith rubbed his neck. "Yeah..he did."

"Blowing up a weapons factory that's hurting a whole planet would be right up their alley," Hunk muttered.

"Indeed," Coran said, "and, now that you mention it, there were no reports of innocent casualties besides a few Galran soldiers, but even they had no fatal wounds."

"It's gotta be them!" Pidge exclaimed as she turned to their leader. "Shiro, this could be our chance to track them down."

Shiro gave a deep sigh, and Keith couldn't blame him. Ever since Keith's reveal of Thace and the rebellion to the team, Pidge had been quite persistent in trying to find more about them, despite Shiro and Allura always replying 'No.' Keith was beginning to feel guilty for ever bringing it up.

"Pidge," he said as he rubbed his eyes, "we've been through this. Thace made it clear they don't want us to find them, and frankly we don't know much about them."

"And how are we going to learn more about them if we don't talk to them," Pidge argued with a determined glare in her eyes. "They could have vital information for us."

"Pidge-"

"Shiro, they could know what happened to my dad and brother!"

Shiro went quiet at that. Lance and Hunk both tensed slightly and Coran narrowed his eyes. Keith sucked in the air through his teeth. He had a feeling that was why Pidge had been insisting so much to find the rebellion.

He couldn't blame her. Keith himself spent a year trying to figure out what had happened to Shiro during the Kerberos mission. If he had known Shiro was alive and captured by the Galra, he probably would have hijacked the nearest ship to try to rescue him sooner.

"She's not wrong, Shiro," Keith said softly. "Thace did say they try to free prisoners when they can."

You included, Keith thought silently.

Shiro frowned, but his face softened as he looked to Pidge. "Okay, that is a good point to bring up." He folded his arms. "But Pidge, the chance of them having information on Sam and Matt aren't great. The empire has thousands of slaves to the point they don't even bother to track them by name. They all just get assigned random numbers."

Keith flinched at that. How humiliating was it to be captured, turned into a slave and then have your very name ripped away from you to be replaced with a number? It would make you feel less than human, like some worthless object.

Shiro being named 'The Champion' was probably some bizarre privilege in the empire's eyes.

"I know," Pidge said in a firm tone, "but no matter how small, isn't it worth taking a chance?"

Shiro looked hesitant as he shut his eyes and then sighed. "Alright, I'll think about it and discuss it with Allura so we can form a solid plan on how to go about this."

"We can't wait, Shiro! We need to try to track them down while the trail is fresh," Pidge said with a frustrated growl. "We might not get a better chance than this!"

"Um...to be fair, we don't really know for certain the rebels did this, Pidge," voiced Hunk as he raised a hand.

"He's right," Coran said, "and from what I've seen if it was them they made certain not to leave a trace to track. I'm not certain it's possible."

Pidge huffed. "Okay, fine, but maybe if we-"

"Pidge, that's enough," Shiro said in his clear commander tone and patted her shoulder. "I promise I will rethink about it with Allura, but you need to drop this for the time being. Alright?"

Pidge opened and shut her mouth, but she looked less than pleased. "Fine," she said in a huff as she turned. "If we're done training for today, can I go? I need to get some work done."

"Sure, Pidge," Shiro said, "I'll come check on you later, though. Okay?"

Pidge didn't give a reply as she stomped through the doors.

Lance coughed as he slowly approached Shiro. "Well, so much for our 'great teamwork' celebration."

Hunk glanced to the doors where Pidge had gone. "Do you think she's okay?"

"She'll be fine," Shiro replied, "but I just want her to cool off a little. Last thing we want is rushing into this without a clear head."

"Yeah...I guess," Keith muttered.

His thoughts drifted back to Thace, and then to the dagger that carried a carved symbol Keith had on his own in his bedroom.

"Keith, you alright?" Coran asked. "You look lost in thought."

Keith jumped slightly and shook his head. "No, it's nothing. I'm just tired."

"We could all use a break," Shiro said as he folded his arms. "You're off duty guys, consider today a day off in fact, while I go talk with Allura."

Lance's face lit up. "YES! Those are my favourite words to hear."

Hunk raised an eyebrow. "I thought they were 'You were right, Lance'."

"No, those are my second favourite words to hear," Lance commented and then paused. "Actually, now that I think about it, it's probably tied to hearing 'Oh, Lance, you are so brave and talented. I will definitely go on a date'."

"When have you heard anyone say that?" Hunk asked with a half grin.

"I haven't, that's why it's tied for second."

Keith ignored the talk as he exited the training room. He then proceeded to remove his helmet as he headed to his room. There was a lot he had to think about too.