Keith and the fellow Blades of Marmora crept out of the vent and into the control room of the Galra ship. Haggar's fleet had split off after the fall of the Galra empire, but her numbers were great and her power was daunting. The room was empty, much to Keith's relief, and the only thing that took up space was the data console in the center of the room.
"Gather the information," Kolivan murmured to Keith. He nodded in response and headed to the console. Keith pressed his hand to the center screen and the room lit up bright purple. He began to download information bit by bit while Kolivan and Illun guarded the door. Keith nibbled lightly on his lip as he worked. He stole quick glances at the door, only to turn back around at Kolivan's returned stare. As he neared the end of the data, a word began to frequently pop up on the screen: Kuron. Unlike the rest of the data, the word was clearly in English. Keith stored that bit of information to research once they were back at headquarters. The final file was saved just as the sounds of footsteps neared the door. Keith and the other Blades leapt into the vent. Keith lingered slightly, watching the Galra stroll towards the console. Kolivan broke Keith out of his trance by practically dragging the boy away from the vent opening. Keith found his mind wandering back to the "Kuron" files as he slunk through the shaft. Just as frequently, he had to shake the thoughts of said data in order to pay attention to what he was doing. Patience yields focus, he reminded himself.
The Blades reached their ship undetected, much to Keith's relief. They escaped out of the range of the Galra with no resistance, and Keith finally allowed himself to sink back into his chair.
"Well done, little one." Kolivan praised. "You did well not to let your emotions get the best of you."
Keith's gaze shifted uncomfortably. He knew why he hadn't been distracted: his mother hadn't been there. After Krolia had joined back up with the Blades of Marmora, Keith had been making the most basic of errors on missions. From losing focus in the midst of a firefight to stumbling into the Galra soldier that he was supposed to ambush. Keith found his eyes darting to his mother at every chance that they had. His emotions would swell up inside of him when she stood beside him. Of course, he never dared to address Krolia about it, let alone tell Kolivan, but luckily enough for Keith, Krolia was left to maintain the base and decode a message that the Blades had received.
"Can I retire for the day?" Keith asked, anxious to get away from anymore empty praise that Kolivan would throw at him.
"Permission granted. Please hand over the data chip first." Kolivan held out his hand expectantly. Keith felt his grip on the drive tighten.
"Could I maybe research something that I found?" Keith toyed with the information awkwardly. He was internally begging Kolivan to give him this freedom.
Kolivan seemed to be considering it for a period of time. "Alright, since you did well on this mission, you have gained back my trust in your abilities. You are to report your findings back to me immediately along with the unaltered data chip."
Keith sighed with relief and nodded. He pushed down the hurt that he felt at Kolivan's words as he fled to his corner of the ship. He rustled through his bag and pulled out his decked out screen, courtesy of Pidge. Keith smiled sadly at the thought of the Paladins. He shook it off promptly and jammed the chip into his port and pulled up all of the information. He fished around for the word "Kuron" for a while before finding a massive file labeled under said title. Opening it up, he realized that the file was encrypted beyond anything that he had seen from the Galra. Whatever Project Kuron was, it was extremely classified.
Keith shot up and raced back to Kolivan and explained what he had discovered.
"This is both good and bad news. Do you know of anyone who could decrypt something of this complexity?" Kolivan asked as he stared at the data file.
A smile broke across Keith's face when he realized that, in fact, he did.
Two quintents later, Keith was staring out the window of his pod at the Castle of Lions. He was struggling to maintain his cool, jaded demeanor as they neared the docking bay. As much as Keith hated to admit it, he was elated to see everyone again. He had been anticipating his reunion with the Paladins from the moment that he had convinced Kolivan to allow Pidge to take a look at the information. A large, calloused hand on his shoulder shook Keith from his daze, and he turned up to face Kolivan.
"We shall pick you up as soon as the Green Paladin has decrypted the data. Please continue to report your findings to us," He ordered. Keith nodded absentmindedly. He frankly couldn't care less about 'reporting his findings.' He wanted to see his family.
"Okay." Keith replied as he slung his bag over his shoulder. "I'll send a report everyday." Both Kolivan and Keith knew he wouldn't. Keith stepped off of the ship, fighting the urge to run through the hangar and into his friend's arms. Keith didn't have to get very far, because the far door slid open and the Paladins and Coran burst in. Keith battled the smile off of his face, but his lips did turn up at the edges as he was smothered in a group hug.
"Hi, guys," Keith gasped as the embrace effectively knocked the wind from his lungs
"What've you and your Galra buddies been up to?" Lance asked after the team had withdrawn, only slightly, from their hug.
"Yeah, and have you been eating? You're like a space twig!" Hunk added, poking and prodding at Keith's midsection suspiciously. Keith squirmed away with his signature eye-roll.
"Yes I've been eating, albeit it's mostly space goo," The team withdrew at such horrific news. "And me and my 'Galra buddies' have been trying to dismantle Haggar and her goons' empire."
"And you got stuck on an itty bitty encryption?" Lance jeered in a childlike voice.
"Like you'd be able to do any better!" Keith responded, getting into Lance's face.
"Oh yeah? Try me!" Lance matched Keith's stance and vigor, but the two didn't last long as Pidge thrust her bony elbow into their sides. They both yelped, leaping back away from the grinning Green Paladin.
"Both of you morons won't get anywhere with this." She deadpanned. She turned to Keith and cocked her eyebrow up, "So what kind of encryptions we're working with."
"Well, it appeared to be a bunch of jibberish. It didn't look like it had a particular pattern. It was just… random."
"Well, I'll be the judge of that. Come with me to the lab and show me what you mean. We'll go from there." Pidge took Keith by the elbow and began to lead him out of the hangar.
"We'll be on the Bridge!" Hunk called out, "And Keith, I'm making you the best dinner you've ever had!"
Keith couldn't hold back a smile at that, "Can't wait!"
Keith followed Pidge down the grand halls of the Castle, describing the strange files that he had found under the name 'Kuron.' "And so, when I talked to Kolivan about it, he asked me if I knew anyone who could solve it, and I told him to contact you."
Pidge's face lit up at what Keith said. "Thanks, Keith. It's good to have you back around; We all missed you."
Keith's smile faltered slightly. "I miss you guys too." He was quick to recover as Pidge flashed him an encouraging grin. They rounded the corner into the lab and plopped down at her desk.
"Let me see that drive of yours." Pidge snatched up the chip and plugged it in. Immediately, files flooded the holographic screen. The word "Kuron" flashed out numerous times. "I see what you meant when you said that there were a lot of files under one name. Which of the files did you try?"
"The large one at the top corner. It's so scrambled that I couldn't get anything out of it."
Pidge opened the file and was immediately taken aback by the complexity of the code. "Okay- this may take a while just to figure out the code itself, let alone the message. Could you go grab Hunk for me? He might be able to help. In the meantime, go get something to eat; Hunk was right."
Keith nodded and made his way out of the room and back into the hallways of the castle. He had to admit to himself that it was great to be back in the familiar, safe environment. It felt like home. If Keith was honest with himself, it was home. The Blades of Marmora were jaded and focused solely on their mission. His mother may have been his blood, but it was like having a stranger being thrust into his life. The Paladins were his family.
He moved onto the bridge and was met with the smiling faces of the Paladins. Keith was sure to take note that Lotor was lingering by the console with Allura.
"Hey man, what's up?" Lance asked from his chair.
"Pidge wants Hunk to go down and help her with the data. She says it could take a while with just her."
"Cn I brng mph spce goo?" Hunk sputtered out small pieces of the green substance as he spoke.
"You'll have to take that up with her."
Hunk shrugged and left in the direction that Keith had come, food goo in hand.
"So how's it going?" Lance asked as he sauntered up.
"How's what going?" Keith responded.
Lance rolled his eyes as though the answer was the most obvious thing in the universe. "The Blades! What are you and your Galra buddies up to?"
"You've already asked me that, and the answer is still the same. Training and going on missions are about all we do."
"Boring!" Lance exclaimed.
"At least I do something that's productive." Keith deadpanned. Lance recoiled in mock hurt.
"Hey! I do stuff that's productive!"
"Like what?"
"Okay, you two," Shiro intervened. "Keith, I'm sure you didn't come to argue. Is there anything that the rest of us can do while you're here?"
Keith shrugged. "Not really. I mean, have you guys gotten anything from the Galra? You have all of Lotor's information available."
"Unfortunately, Haggar has isolated what she knows from the Galra empire. We have no way of accessing her intelligence." Lotor intervened.
"Have any of your missions gathered anything?"
"About that…" Lance began.
"After the Kral Zera, we've been primarily focused on creating a maintainable peace between the Paladins and the Galra Empire." Shiro finished. Keith's shoulders sagged lightly, a small "oh," leaving his lips.
"But!" Allura stepped in, "I was able to unlock some of Haggar's alchemical intel. We are not sure if any of it is going to be of service to you and the Blades of Marmora, but I can go over what we have found so far."
A smile ghosted across Keith's face, "that sounds great."
"Then follow me. There's quite a bit to show." Keith nodded as he followed Allura and Lotor off the bridge.