Cause or Effect.

(Kolivan's quarters)

«Commander.» Kolivan's communicator went off as he was working on his datapad. He clicked the communicator in response.

"I am here, Sekt. What news do you have on the crystal?" Kolivan asked, recognising the artificial voice.

«Nothing new. However, Moondancer has made a suggestion that could be beneficial.» Sekt replied.

"Continue." Kolivan said.

«She believes we can use the immense energy stored within the crystal to help power Diego.» Sekt said. Kolivan thought about it for a moment.

"How would we go about transferring the energy?" Kolivan asked. "The crystal overloads all our machines."

«Moondancer suggested that we couple the crystal directly to Diego. That way, the energy goes straight to him and doesn't get the chance to overload.» Sekt replied.

"I see. It could work." Kolivan said before a thought came to him. "Have you figured out how to connect Diego to the crystal?" Kolivan asked.

«No but we are thinking of using a Direct Transfer Conduit with the capacitors disconnected.» Sekt said. Kolivan typed at his datapad, looking at the schematics for the machine.

"Yes. That could work. Remove one of the DTCs from storage and begin work on disconnecting the capacitors. I shall meet you in the research lab."

«Shall I have someone bring Diego?» Sekt asked.

"No need. I shall retrieve him and the princesses myself. Begin work on the DTC." Kolivan ordered as he stood from his desk.

«Of course.»

A few doboshes later, Kolivan stepped into one of the smaller engineering rooms, looking down at the still form of his friend.

"Commander Kolivan." An engineer said as they saw him enter.

"Status?" Kolivan asked.

"He appears to be at 9.3% power, sir. A 0.4% increase from yesterday. He's recharging faster now." The engineer said.

"Good to know. Prep him for transport, Sekt and Moondancer have come up with a plan to recharge him." Kolivan told everyone in the room. They began moving around quickly, disconnecting scanning equipment and readying a mobile platform.
Let us hope this works. Kolivan thought as he left the room, heading for the hangar.

"Sekt, come in." Kolivan said into his communicator as he walked towards a shuttle.

«Responding, commander.»

"Progress on the capacitors?" Kolivan asked.

«50%. We've disconnected one and rerouted the wiring. Now, we just need to do the other capacitor.»

"Good. Diego is on his way to the research lab. Be ready for him. I shall be there tursely with the princesses." Kolivan responded as he boarded the shuttle, turning off his communicator. Taking off a tick later, he flew to the Fantasia hangar.

Looking at the city from above, he saw the many nobles and citizens of the city going about their day to day lives, making use of many new advanced technologies gifted to them from the Blades of Marmora. One of these technologies was a new hangar for space and aircrafts, capable of refueling and even repairing arriving ships.

Kolivan sent a message to the hangar, notifying them of his arrival. Receiving his landing coordinates, Kolivan landed his shuttle inside. Kolivan disembarked and immediately began moving toward the castle entrance.

"Commander, what a sur-" A bubbly pale skinned Flier walked up to Kolivan.

"No time for pleasantries, I'm afraid. Do you know where the princesses are?" Kolivan interrupted.

"Oh! Uh, they're in the garden. They said to let you know if you arrived. Why? Do you need something? Huh?" The Flier asked rapidly, moving closer to Kolivan.

"There is a plan to wake up Diego. I believe they should be there to witness it." Kolivan answered, entering the castle proper.

"Really?!" The Flier gasped. "Well, why didn't you say so! Come on, I'll take you to the gardens!" The Flier began dragging Kolivan away, further into the castle.

"I can walk by myself." Kolivan said as he was dragged.

"Nonsense! I said I'll take you there, so I'll take you there!" The Flier argued, continuing to drag Kolivan.

(The gardens)

"Such a nice day. Don't you think so, Luna?" Celestia asked her sister. Luna looked up from her uneaten sandwiches, looking up at the clear sky and bright sunshine.

"Yes sister. A beautiful day." She answered quietly, looking back down at her plate of sandwiches. Celestia looked at Luna sadly.

"Luna." Celestia said, placing one of her hands on Luna's. Luna didn't move. "Luna!" Celestia suddenly shouted, shocking Luna.

"Gah!" She exclaimed, flinching back.

"Now that I have your attention." Celestia straightened up. "Sister, you need to stop worrying. I can't stand seeing you this morose." Celestia said, placing her hand on Luna's cheek. Luna pushed into the contact, closing her eyes.

"I'm sorry, sister, but… I just can't stop. Every second, I just think that something is going to go wrong or…" Luna trailed off, hugging herself. A cloak of darkness spread over her body from under her clothes, covering her torso.

"I understand. He was my friend too. Just because I wasn't as close to him as you were, doesn't mean that I'm not worried too. But you can't let your fear and worry get the better of you. It isn't healthy." Celestia said, looking into Luna's eyes. The sisters suddenly heard a shout.

"Princess!" Looking to the entrance to the gardens, they saw Surprise pulling Kolivan behind her, towards their table.

"Surprise? Kolivan? What are you doing here?" Celestia asked.

"Tell them!" Surprise yelled, pulling Kolivan in front of her. He straightened up and cleared his throat.

"Moondancer may have found a way to awaken Diego. I am not exactly sure if it will work but I believe it could." Kolivan said. Both princesses immediately brightened up, standing from their chairs.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Luna said excitedly, grabbing Celestia's hand and moving to the entrance. She turned to look at her sister. "You were right, Tia. Today is a beautiful day." She said, Celestia smiling at her.

Arriving back at the Dagger by Kolivan's shuttle, the princesses and commander hastily made their way to the research labs.

"Commander." Sekt said as they arrived.

"Princesses." Moondancer said as she turned to look at the arriving party. "This is really exciting!" Moondancer exclaimed as she stood before them.

"What's going on? Commander Kolivan said that you may have a way to awaken Diego. Is this true?" Luna asked hopefully.

"Well, it's more of a theory but yes!" Moondancer said as she turned back to the large crystal in the room. Looking at it, Luna spotted Diego on a large gurney, lying next to it, engineers working around him with large machinery.

"Diego." Luna said as she stepped forward. The engineers moved for her, letting her stand next to her friend.

"See, this crystal has a lot of energy trapped inside it. So much that none of the Galra tech have been able to syphon it but I had an idea. The reason Diego is still asleep is because he needs to recharge so I thought that if we could connect him to the crystal in some way, it could recharge him." Moondancer explained before taking in a large gulp of air.

"However." Sekt continued. "Since none of our tech can support the massive quantity of quintessence from the crystal, Moondancer has the idea to directly connect him to the crystal with a DTC, a Direct Transfer Conduit, which is usually used to harvest quintessence from Balmeran crystals. With the DTC, which we have modified to not hold any of the quintessence it's going to syphon, we hope to at least partially recharge Diego." Sekt finished.

"Partially?" Celestia asked.

"Well, even with the modifications, this thing will only be able to hold for a few seconds, maybe a minute before the energy overloads its circuits and fries it." Moondancer explained, resting a hand on a large tube-like machine next to Diego.

"Princess, if you would please stand back? We're ready to begin." One of the engineers said to Luna.

"Oh, of course." She replied, backing away and standing next to Celestia and Kolivan. The mechanics hoisted up the modified DTC, attaching it to the port on Diego's chest. Hoisting up the other end of the tube, they attached it to the crystal.

"Beginning transference in three… two… one." An engineer said, activating the machine. Immediately, it glowed blindingly white, Diego's body twitching as the quintessence was pumped into it.
Please work, please work, please- Luna thought before a tingling sensation stole over her skin.
What was that? She thought as the DTC began glowing brighter.

"It's beginning to overload!" An engineer shouted.

"Shut it down!" Kolivan ordered. An engineer hitted the machine with a large wrench, causing it to fall off the crystal and land on the ground, smoking. Luna immediately came to Diego's side as the engineers removed the DTC from his chest.

"Diego? Can you hear me?" She asked as Kolivan joined her.

"Quin…tes…sen…ce… re…quir…ed…" Voltron spoke slowly.

"Voltron. How can we help?" Kolivan asked immediately.

"Crys…tal…" Voltron slurred, reaching an arm out to the crystal. Kolivan moved to one side of the gurney, pushing it closer to the crystal. As he got closer, Voltron's finger brushed the surface of the crystal. The crystal exploded in a flash of light, blanketing the room in white.

As everyone shielded their eyes, the crystal transformed, shrinking and compacting. A few seconds later, the flash subsided, revealing the resting form of Diego. In his hand, his Bayard glowed dimly. Luna immediately rushed forward, tripping on her way as her foot caught on something on the floor. Standing up, she leaned over Diego, Kolivan joining at his other side a moment later.

"Diego? Are you awake?" Luna asked trepidly. His eyes flickered for a moment before turning on, now glowing dimly.

"Hello princess. Hey Kolivan. What I miss?"

Author's Note

The long awaited event.

But why did Luna trip over?