Work Text:
Shiro wiped his brow before closing the panel. “Alright, try it now!”
Pidge input the sequence from the other side of the hanger while Hunk monitored the readings. Coran carefully adjusted the settings for the power crystals for the room. The quiet hum of energy filled the air before the screens flickered back to life.
“This is so cool!”
Shiro grinned as the Green and Yellow Paladins cheered. It had taken weeks of painstaking work, but they had gotten the Archives of the Castle of Lions online. He turned to see Coran smiling, sadness and joy both clear in his expression.
“Much better to see it like this.”
The doors slid open, revealing the remaining paladins.
“Nice, you guys got this place going!” Lance called, easily balancing the tray he was carrying before the food spilled to the floor. Keith looked around with interest, taking in the glowing patterns.
“With the Archives running, we can start gather more recent information about the universe. Should make our diplomatic visits much smoother!” Coran added, twirling his mustache with a hint of amusement. Shiro ducked his head to hide a grin. At least Coran could poke a little fun at his information being 10,000 years out of date.
Something started beeping, and a new screen popped up. Allura was on the bridge, excitement and caution mixing in her eyes. “Coran, Paladins, there is a non-Galra fleet approaching!”
“What?!”
“Who has a fleet other than the Galra?”
“I don't know, although it appears that the Archives will be useful sooner than anticipated.”
~
“Whoa…”
Shiro did smile a bit at at Lance’s wide-eyed look of wonder, but he had to admit that the sight in front of them was impressive. The ships weren't uniform in size or shape, but lights glittered from tiny windows along the dark metal their exteriors. Strange protrusions stuck out of each of the ships, and many seemed to be connected by strange-looking cables. Smaller ships flew to and from the bigger ships, like fish around whales.
Whoever these people were, they definitely weren't Galra.
“I feel like I'm looking at the cover of an old science fiction novel,” Hunk whispered excitedly, practically bouncing on his toes.
“They might still be enemies. We can't let our guard down,” Keith reminded them, his arms crossed and a scowl firmly on his face.
Lance sighed and threw an arm over Keith’s shoulders. “Why you gotta be like this, querido? We can be careful and still squeal over the blinky lights.”
Keith kept scowling, but his blush and the way he leaned into Lance’s side revealed his true feelings. Pidge stuck her tongue out at them before Coran’s station started blinking.
“Ah, we have a probable match!” He turned with a grin. “Princess, I believe we have found an entire Geodosi fleet!”
Allura looked stunned. “They've expanded this much?”
“Apparently so, this is quite a sight!”
“Who are the Geodosi?” Shiro asked, now very curious.
Coran grinned. “They're really a fascinating people! They're descendants of a race called the Zarylywe who died out millennia ago. They were gone before we even left our solar system.”
Shiro’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “So they've been around for a long time.”
“Yes,” Allura replied, her gaze distant as she maneuvered the ship. “They are organic, but contain cybernetic enhancements of their Directive. They were given the duty of keeping records of different cultures and promoting trade of goods and ideas between different civilizations.”
“Who gave an entire species that job?” Lance asked curiously, scratching his head.
“Their predecessor race!” Coran explained enthusiastically, twirling his mustache. “The Zarylywe are old space explorers, and predate even Altea. When they realized they were dying out, they created the Geodosi to continue their mission for the good of the universe.”
Keith looked stunned. “That’s...a lot.”
“It is, but they have always viewed their mission with a great deal of enthusiasm,” Allura explained. She glanced at the Paladins. “They will not require us to come unarmed, but they are particular about weapons being used on their ships. The Geodosi Directive contains thousands of pieces of code that only allow for violence in times of absolutely necessary self-defense.”
“Good to know.”
Something began blinking on the view screen and Allura opened the channel before an unfamiliar logo appeared. “Unidentified spacecraft, please state your origin and purpose,” a cool yet pleasant female voice said.
“I am Princess Allura of Altea, and our ship is the Castle of Lions. I am with the Paladins of Voltron and we are interested in an alliance with the Geodosi.”
There was a pause. Then the voice spoke again, a path projection opening in the screen. “Please dock at airlock 439-delta. You will be met by crewmembers upon arrival.”
“Thank you,” Allura replied.
“Is this a good idea? We don't know anything about these people.” Shiro crossed his arms uncomfortably. They had already had a few incidences where these first contacts had gone wrong.
“We will take precautions,” Allura assured him. She glanced at the other paladins, who began walking towards the doors.
“I'll grab my virus software,” Pidge called.
“I'll grab the mapping software so we can find our way out,” Hunk added.
“I'll get my other knife,” Keith called, Lance trailing after him with a “how many knives do you have now, dude?”
Shiro blinked and looked up at Allura, who smiled sweetly. “Lance suggested creating a landing party protocol. All lions will be moved to one hanger for easier access as well.”
“I see.” What else could Shiro say to that?
~
The dock clicked onto the Castle of Lions. When it opened, pressurized air hissed out from the edges of the door, ruffling hair and clothes.
Shiro took a deep breath. This was fine. It was all fine.
Three tall, slender aliens stood in the corridor. They had grey-green skin with silvery markings around their eyes, and their clothes had decorations that looked like markings of rank.
“Welcome to Fletista Station,” one of the aliens greeted with gesture of their hand to their forehead. “I am Prazi. May our meeting bear fruit on all branches.”
Allura mimicked the gesture precisely. “I am Allura, and it is wonderful to meet the Geodosi. I have great faith in the results of this meeting.”
The markings around Prazi’s eyes grew brighter. Shiro wondered if that was the Geodosi version of smiling since their faces seemed pretty static. They turned to look over at the Paladins.
“Are you all Altaen? We are unfamiliar with your culture.”
Allura smiled, only a hint of pain in her eyes. “No, only Coran and I are Altaen. The paladins are from a planet called Earth.”
Shiro did not expect all three Geodosi to light up, opalescent colors rippling around their eyes. Prazi stepped forward and grabbed Shiro’s hand in an awkward yet earnest handshake. “You are humans! It is wonderful to see that you have made it to interstellar space, welcome!”
The black paladin blinked in surprise before his manners kicked in. “It's very nice to meet you,” he managed to reply. Then he realized that Prazi had actually spoken English. Accented, true, but non-translated English nonetheless.
“How do you know what we are?” Keith asked, prickly caution emerging. Lance had slid behind him, body language careful, and both Pidge and Hunk were staring in curiosity.
One of the other aliens practically bounced forward, their markings glowing pink and orange. “We found the message from Earth! For the technology you had available your methodology was ingenious!”
The Paladins exchanged glances. Pidge finally spoke up. “Um, what message are you talking about?”
“The one on the spacecraft, the disc!” They explained excitedly, waving their hands. “I'm sorry, I do not have the words to explain this. We can show you!”
“We can have a meal together,” Prazi added, visibly calming themself. “In any case, we are honored to meet the Paladins of Voltron.”
~
Fletista Station was almost unbelievable. Whatever metal the station was made from gleamed iridescent under the bright lights, with even more light patterns firing down what looked like fiber optic cables. Windows appeared regularly, revealing rooms ranging from recreation centers to shops to libraries to rooms that Shiro couldn't name. They walked through multiple atriums, each filled with dozens of species of aliens, a variety that the Paladins had only seen at the space mall.
“This place is awesome!” Lance squealed, practically bouncing on his toes as he grabbed Keith’s arm. Pidge was pointing out different objects to figure out what everything was, and Hunk was alternating between talking and scoping out different places that had food. Allura and Coran walked a little ahead, talking with the other Geodosi representatives.
Shiro looked up at Prazi, who was looking at the younger Paladins with unmistakable fondness. They met his eyes, and the enthusiastic pinks and oranges faded to a soft yellow. “I don't mean to stare, but I have been a crew member for many solar cycles and first contacts have always been my favorite part of this job.”
“Is that something that happens often?”
Prazi made a gesture with their hand like they were knocking something off a shelf. “Not as often as it once did. The Galra have no respect for pre-Interstellar flight civilizations and allowing them to develop naturally,” they stated in an irritable tone.
Shiro decided not to comment on that being the last of the galaxy’s concerns. “And the Galra don’t bother the Geodosi at all?”
Prazi’s face gleamed yellow and violet. “On occasion. However, we are very good at hiding, and the Galra Empire tends to overlook us in any case.” Deep blue bloomed, and Shiro wondered how long it was going to take to assign colors to emotions. “They believe that because we follow the Directive we are a useless addition to their empire, and we prefer to keep it that way.”
“What exactly is the Directive?” Shiro asked, puzzled.
Prazi straightened up even further, the lines on their face turning a bright blue-white. “The Geodosi Directive is our legacy to the universe. We do not act in galactic conflict, but work to spread ideas, trade, and values between civilizations as they enter the stars.” They finished the recitation, the colors on their face dimming to a more normal level. “It continues on and has thousands of specific scenarios that we are all born knowing, but that is the main point of it. We are the mission of the Zarylywe,” they added proudly.
Shiro nodded, unsure of how to respond. After spending so long dealing with the Galra and Galra-conquered worlds, the Geodosi seemed even more alien and yet...somehow more human as well.
Pink and orange bloomed across Prazi’s face, a little darker this time. “However, simply because we cannot engage in battle does not mean we do not resist the Galra however we can. We cannot all be Voltron in any case.”
“Well, any help you can provide would be a relief,” Shiro admitted, rubbing the back of his head.
“We have arrived!” One of the other Geodosi called, Shiro was pretty sure their name was Revita, gesturing towards a doorway. “Our research hall! We can now show you the message!”
“What do you think they’re talking about?” Pidge hissed as they walked forward.
Hunk shrugged and scratched his head. “Not sure, but we’re about to find out.”
“If it’s space junk I’m going to be really disappointed,” Lance muttered, strolling in a way that might have once been completely casual but now just looked purposeful.
The windows in this wing looked into rooms that contained pieces of alien technology. Shiro thought he recognized something from the Olkari, and something that resembled tech from the Taujeer, but he didn’t recognize most of them.
“And here we are!” Revita announced proudly, tapping on one of the windows.
Shiro’s breath caught at the satellite. A familiar satellite. They had talked about it in history lessons at the Garrison, and there were murals of photographs it had taken in the cafeteria, and he was seeing it in person!
Hunk actually squealed, grabbing Lance’s arm and pulling as though Lance wasn’t staring in shock as well. “Oh my god, that’s Voyager 1, we’re actually looked at Voyager 1!”
“I know! I can see it too!”
Coran looked at it with a furrowed brow. “I’m afraid I don’t quite see what the fuss is, could you please explain?”
All of the paladins spun to grin at the Altaens, who still looked confused. Pidge gestured grandly at the satellite. “That is the first piece of human technology to ever enter interstellar space. It was launched nearly 100 years ago.”
“We lost contact with it 30 years ago, there was a weird blip and then it was gone,” Keith added. He blushed a bit when the others looked at him, and then Lance grinned.
“It’s cute when he puts on his conspiracy theory hat,” he stage-whispered, then grunted when Keith jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow. “What? I was calling you cute!”
“We discovered it 14 Margellian units ago,” Prazi explained, the bright colors flickering across their face.
The paladins all screwed up their faces as they tried to translate that into a more familiar time unit. “So that would be…”
“About 18 years, give or take,” Lance blurted. Then he blushed when Keith kissed his cheek.
Shiro hid a grin. Ever since the team had discovered that Lance was extremely good at mathematical calculations, he had slowly gained more confidence speaking up. Shiro wondered if it was in direct correlation to the kisses Keith had started giving him when he did speak up. Either way, it made him very proud of his brother, and it was adorable.
“The recording was ingenious, to make sure that any who found it could understand how to play it and listen,” Prazi added, tapping something on the wall. “We left the original message with the satellite, Voyager 1 you said, and copied the recording.” They pressed some sort of play button, and classical music began to play. “I admit, this was my favorite section, I do love music.”
Hunk squeaked again. “We’re listening to the actual music from the actual golden record from Voyager 1!”
Pidge laughed, but for once didn’t make a sarcastic comment.
Allura tilted her head to the side, glancing at Voyager 1 with a curious expression. “Why send something out into the universe if you were unable to receive information from it?”
Shiro smiled softly, feeling just a touch of pain when he thought of a friend who would have been in heaven on this ship.
“To say hello,” he stated quietly, placing a hand on the glass to look down on the most optimistic of Earth’s dreams.
~
Shiro leaned on the railing overlooking the atrium. The Geodosi had insisted on putting on ‘a little party, to welcome you properly!’ Pidge had allowed the Geodosi to copy her music and update their collection of Earth music, and Hunk was thrilled to have an audience to demonstrate cooking techniques for. Lance was obviously at home, bouncing around and chatting with virtually everyone, and even Keith had relaxed enough to make conversation with a large, hulking-looking alien that looked vaguely like a hippopotamus.
He sighed and looked down into his drink, some kind of green juice. It tasted like mangoes.
“Something on your mind, Number One?” Coran asked, coming up to lean on the bannister next to him. “These Geodosi do know how to throw a party, you should enjoy yourself!”
“I am, I’m just…” Shiro’s mouth quirked down as he ran a hand through his hair. “When I was on Kerberos with Matt and Commander Holt. Matt made a joke about finding proof of intelligent life. It was kind of a dream of his to find aliens.” He smirked humorlessly. “The Galra showed up less than five minutes later.”
Coran’s smile had faded to worry, compassion in his eyes. He remained silent, allowing Shiro to finish his thoughts. “The Geodosi are really interested in this whole greeting thing, I guess I’m just thinking what things would be like if we had run into them instead of the Galra. Matt would love these people, preserving information is right up his alley.” Instead of having to fight for his life in the arena . Shiro threw back his drink at that thought and briefly wished it was stronger.
Coran set a hand on his shoulder. It grounded him back from the dark thoughts. “I wish things had been different as well. You’re all very young for this responsibility, and I wish we could’ve brought you to a universe at peace instead of this mess of a war.” He hesitated, then continued. “But I am grateful for the peace you have brought, and for everything the five of you have been capable of. You may not have wanted or needed this universe, but it did need you rather desperately. We are all in your debt.”
Shiro nodded, the dark mood lifting a little. “We have done some good work.” He looked over the floor again. This time he saw Allura, speaking to several dignitaries. She looked utterly confident as she spoke, convincing more people to join the Voltron Alliance.
As though sensing his gaze, she looked up at met his eyes. She smiled and waved, and he waved back.
“Plus if we had met the Geodosi, we wouldn’t have met you or Allura,” Shiro added, looking back at Coran. “That’s definitely a minus in that book.”
Coran beamed, before nudging Shiro to stand up straight. “Things might be grim, but tonight is not about that. I’m relieving you of duty and ordering you to go have fun, is that clear?”
Shiro laughed as he held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “Yes sir, I understand.”
Their work might be difficult and heartbreaking, but it was also worth events like this, where he could see his team smiling with joy as they said hello to the universe.
~