They were closer to his destination, but it would still take a day or two until they could land. Thace stretched and put the ship on autopilot again so he could do something else. He was hungry, so he went to the ration storage and pulled out two gray tins from a cabinet. He knocked quietly on the door to the bunk before opening it. The human stared at him from where he had wedged himself in a corner, and Thace could see the circles under his eyes from where he was standing.

"You didn't sleep?" he assumed.

"No."

He nodded, offering one of the tins. "You should eat."

"Not hungry."

"That doesn't matter," he stated, holding out the tin until Matt eventually relented and took it from him. Then he sat down with his own in the other corner, feeling along for a small latch in the wall as the human watched. When he found it he flicked it open with a claw, revealing a small button, which he pressed. A mechanical hum came from the bunk above them as it moved further up. Then the middle panel of wall lowered between them until it was low enough to function as a table. The human pressed himself further into the corner, watching with wide eyes and an otherwise blank expression. It occurred to Thace that he probably should have warned him first.

"What the fuck…" he heard him mutter as the process finished. Thace went into a kneeling position and straightened up, no longer having to hunch over because of the top bunk.

"It's a table," he explained, putting his ration on it and moving closer.

"Yeah. Yeah, I noticed."

Thace folded up a tab on the tin and pulled it out, the sound of bubbling and some steam coming from the hole left behind. Then he pulled out a thin compartment from the bottom (which he should have done first since it was burning hot now) and pulled out a spork. He quickly put it on the table for it to cool and slid shut the compartment. Then he looked back up at the human.

"What?"

"You need to eat." There was a moment of stubborn silence before he scooted over, sliding out the spork and pulling the tab.

"What's in it?"

"Probably food."

He looked up at Thace, unimpressed with his answer. Thace just smiled innocently, not baring his teeth. He pulled the lid off of the tin to reveal a steaming brown substance Matt could only relate to stew. It smelled like spices and meat.

"So," Thace began as the human pried the lid off, "what's your name? Mine is Thace."

"People have been naming me a few things lately."

"Oh?"

"Well Champion, for one," he said bitterly. Thace grimaced.

"What's your… human name?"

"Matthew," he answered, poking around the tin with the spork to see what was floating around in it.

"Do you want me to call you that?"

Matt paused. "Sure."

They ate in silence, but Thace still watched him, curious to see if he would like what was in the ration or not. It wasn't too long before he saw a look very much like distress flash across the human's face.

"Is something wrong?"

Matthew hummed a weird upset noise before finally swallowing. Then he looked up at Thace.

"It's mushy."

Thace had no clue how to respond to that.

"And that's… bad?"

"It's horrible. It was like cooked celery it was gross," Matt elaborated, picking the offending turquoise cuts of stalk out of the stew and banishing them to the abandoned lid. "Raw celery is crunchy and great but once you cook it it's just disgusting it's mushy and just falls apart people who cook celery shouldn't be trusted."

"You seem to have very strong opinions on this human vegetable."

"I have very strong opinions on all vegetables. Generally, they're all better raw. Unless it's brussel sprouts or like… squash."

Thace nodded.

"I don't think we even can eat squash raw."

"Have you tried?"

"I don't like squash."

"Oh. What… what do you like?"

"Garlic."

Thace nodded again, trying to remember what garlic was.

"So what was that that was going on back there?" Matt asked, done picking out the icky stew bits.
"At Central Command?"

"Yeah."

"The weapon Zarkon's been looking for, Voltron, has gotten pilots and is being led by two Alteans. Their planet was the first he conquered but somehow they must have been kept somewhere and came out triggered by the lions getting together." Matt stared at him.

"I'm going to need you to back up a bit."

"Voltron is a weapon meant to protect the universe. It was created by a race of people called Alteans during a war with the Galra home planet. Voltron is made up of five robotic lions powered by quintessence, who choose their pilots, or paladins, based on the compatibility they have in the similarity of quintessence. When the war was over part of the peace treaty was that other species also had to be pilots. Zarkon is the former black paladin, the leader of the five. When war broke out again because of… different moral standings, Alfor, the King of the Alteans split up and hid all of the lions so only one of them with strong connections to the lions could find them. Then they lost the war and Zarkon has spent the last 10,000 years taking over the known universe and looking for them."

"Yikes."

"And now they're all back. Princess Allura, Alfor's daughter, was captured. That's why they all went to rescue her. I had to take down the particle barrier locking the Castle of Lions in so they could escape. Then I had to get away. Now here we are."

"Are you part of some kind of shadow rebellion?"

"Yes actually. We shouldn't interact with Voltron's crew directly since bringing attention to ourselves would endanger others who are undercover like I had been, but them being around is useful and overall beneficial. Besides, Zarkon would have had all the lions at his disposal if I hadn't done what I did. It was a sacrifice that needed to be made."

"So you're going to get together with the rest of your people then?"

"Yes, after laying low where no one can track a signal."

"And you're just going to let me tag along?"

"Unless you have something better to do."

Matt pursed his lips. He did have something better to do. Unfinished business. But him going there was predictable, and with Athridir as his confidante, it was possible everything planned had taken place without him. He hoped that was the case, and stayed silent.

"Do you?" Thace prompted.

"No."

"Okay then. I'm sure you'll fit right in with the others once they get used to you." Matt nodded.

"So where is it you're planning on hiding?"

"The forest moon of Norn. It became a base when I was a child, but because of an element we don't have that the trees have absorbed from the ground signals always got interrupted trying to get through the canopy, and the wildlife is especially dangerous. Everything natural there being toxic, there weren't enough resources on the moon to warrant the difficulty of communication and people getting hurt so often, so Zarkon just got fed up and shut it down. He could have dealt with it easily but he was at war with another powerful planet at the time so his attention was a bit more… divided."

"And he never went back?"

"No."

"And he won't check it as a place you could have gone to?"

"There are other planets where it would be hard to track me, that are less dangerous. He would check them first. By the time he got around to this one we'll be gone."

"I'm pretty sure he has enough people to just send them all everywhere at once though."

"Yes, he does, but since I was in the higher ranks, and I was just a spy, he doesn't know who else there could be as well. He's going to be suspicious of everyone, and keep most of them close to make sure they don't do anything. That means he's going to limit who he sends out."

"And you're sure of that?"

"Sure enough."

Matt didn't like that answer, and Thace could tell by the look on his face, but not being able to suggest any alternatives Matt stayed quiet. Since the conversation had died down, Thace just observed him. There hadn't been many times where he was close enough to do so at Central Command, and Haggar had always had control of the scene then. He tried to avoid those moments. The human's hair was all a rusty brown except for a lock of white behind his left ear, an odd shape. His eyes were a darker shade of brown. Three thin scars marred his cheek on that side of the face as well, clearly claw marks. Thace recalled the deeper ones he had seen while bandaging the laser wound in his side. He wondered how old Matthew was by human standards, knowing exactly what had been done to cause such long dragging lines. The thought made him lose his appetite, but he finished what was left in his tin regardless, also taking Matthew's discarded vegetables.

"How long til we get there?" Matt asked, still eating.

"About a day or two."

"And no one's going to spot us heading towards that planet and tip off Zarkon?"

"No," Thace sighed, "There are no other bases in the area, and the route I'm taking doesn't intersect with the routes of any other ships right now."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Thace droned, exasperated.

"Okay," Matt said, mimicking Thace's tone. Thace again sighed and put his head in his hands, elbows on the table. Matt smirked, eyes glinting with mischief. When he finished his ration Thace took it and pressed the button to turn the bunk back to its bed formation. "Wait," he said completely serious before Thace could stand up. "Wouldn't they have tickets for each of their ships?"

"I disabled it after patching you up."

"Would they be able to override that?"

"Tirique coded a virus to destroy any empire tracking device, back when we were able to be a bit more upfront about disrupting trade and shipments. They won't find us."

"Who's Tirique?"

"My sister."

"Older or younger?"

"Younger." Matt nodded. "Do you have siblings?" Thace asked eventually.

"Younger sister."

"What's her name?"

"Katherine, Katie for short." Thace thought for a moment, looking at the sad look on Matt's face.

"I could take you back to Earth if you'd like." Matt looked up at him surprised before falling back into a colder, neutral expression that made Thace uncomfortable.

"No. Thanks, but no." Now it was Thace's turn to look surprised.

"Why not? Don't you want to go home?"

"Of course I want to go home," his tone was bitter, "But they probably all think I'm dead, and the people who put me in space will want to cover things up by making sure it stays that way, so it'd never be the same. Besides, Zarkon's going to go after earth eventually, I can't just stay there waiting for that to happen! Keeping him away from my planet, even when everyone there that I care about thinks I'm dead, is worth it. I'm not going back." The sureness and determination on Matt's face upset the man. He looked too young to have to make such drastic decisions, but he also had an air of stubbornness about him. Thace didn't argue.

So this fic is actually already complete, so it really depends on you readers how quickly it updates. Characters will be added to the list as they appear :).