Shiro followed the directions Thace gave, although he had to admit he wasn't certain what he would find. He wasn't surprised to discover there were children here, he caught glimpses of some of them spying on him, Hunk and Lance when they first arrived. However, he was concerned on why the children were here.

Were they trained and raised to fight? The concept of child soldiers wasn't a new one.

Shiro didn't have all of his memories from the year he was held captive, but he was certain he had never seen Galran children the whole time he was there.

That's probably a good thing, he thought.

Echoes of high pitched giggling broked Shiro's thought as he wandered down the tunnel.

"And then," Lance's voice echoed, "the bad witch Zarkon tried to get Dorothy to hand over her magic shoes!"

"Why did he want the shoes?" a girl's voice asked.

"I told you, they were magic," Lance explained, "and he wanted them by right of inheritance since they belonged to his evil sister."

"Zarkon doesn't have a sister!" a boy's voice said.

"Well, in this story he does. So, can I please finish?" Lance argued as Shiro grew closer to the entrance and peeked inside.

Lance was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed and surround by a horde of alien children, with most of them being Galra. He noticed one little Galran girl was sitting in Lance's lap as she fiddled with a paper crane.

Shiro then saw that several of the children had paper cranes, frogs and even a few rabbits in their hands.

"As I was saying," Lance continued and didn't seem aware Shiro was watching, "Dorothy then took the big pot of water and dumped it all over the witch Zarkon."

He made gasping noises and waved his arms around madly. "And he screamed 'I'm melting! I'm melting' as he turned into a big puddle on the floor."

One of the Galran boys gave a pout. "Why would water melt him?"

"Because Zarkon is water-soluble," Lance replied and Shiro had to put cover his mouth to keep from laughing.

"That makes no sense," the boy argued with a huff.

"It makes sense to me," the girl in Lance's lap quipped.

Lance patted the top of the girl's head with pride. "And that is why you are a smart girl, Xenia."

The girl beamed at the praise.

The boy who had argued rolled his eyes. "Can we get a different story now?"

Lance gave a huff. "Okay, fine, how about I tell you the tell of the Great Hero Lance and how he saved his whole team from a five headed monster?"

Shiro shook his head amused, but paused as he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw Leah behind him, but she held a finger to her lips as she approached.

"I don't wish to disturb the storyteller there," she whispered as she peered inside. "I don't think I have ever seen all the children be able to sit still this long."

Shiro gave a half smile. "Lance is a natural with kids."

Leah gave a small nod. "My daughter especially seems captivated by him."

Shiro paused and glanced into the crowd. "Your daughter?"

"The small one in his lap," Leah said as she pointed, "and the boy that is trying to climb him is my son."

Shiro stared at her silently. He hadn't expected the leader of the rebellion had children herself. He gave a thoughtful frown as he looked over the children. "You have a lot more kids here than I expected."

"Many are the children of rebels," Leah explained, "but some of them are orphans we rescued from the empire's clutches."

Her eyes hardened. "A Galran orphan is considered the property of Zarkon and are sent to be trained in institutions to join his military."

Shiro froze. It wasn't a complete shock, but it boiled him to pictured small children like the ones before him being raised to fight.

"Do you...train these kids too?" Shiro asked, not sure he wanted an answer.

Leah's frowned tightened, but shook her head. "No, but I will admit I've never seen a child we've raised here that didn't decide to join the fight when they were older. Truthfully, I rather they stay out of it, but that's the mother in me."

Shiro thought of his young paladins in his care. He was so proud of him and yet there were days it killed him that they had to fight in a war at such a young age.

"I know the feeling," he admitted.

Leah leaned against the wall. "You may find this difficult to believe, but before Zarkon, children were considered precious to the Galra."

Shiro's eyes widened at that. After witnessing the Galra beat, humiliate and abuse slaves until they reached the point they felt like they were worth nothing, it was a hard concept to wrap his mind around.

"Compared to other species," Leah continued, "we take a much longer time to 'reproduce' and as a result we have a lower birth rate."

Shiro's mind suddenly raced back to the dozen robot sentries the Galra had to the lower number of the flesh and blood Galra soldiers that was always on their warships.

"Is that why they have so many robot sentries?" Shiro asked.

"Partly," Leah said and gave a bitter growl. "It's also why you rarely see female soldiers in the army."

She gave a forced laugh. "The empire expects the females to focus on 'creating and raising the next generation of warriors to serve Zarkon'. Many of the rebels here were originally run away brides that didn't agree with that statement."

That piece of information clicked in Shiro's brain as he recalled the high number of women he's seen in the rebellion. He looked to Leah in a new light. "Is that the same case for you?"

She shook her head. "No, I was born in the rebellion. My father was the previous leader." She grimaced. "But others weren't so lucky."

Shiro had a hand through his hair as he shut his eyes. "I'll admit," he said slowly. "I knew the empire was terrible, but I...didn't realize how bad it was for the Galra themselves."

"The only people who do well under Zarkon are those in the military and himself," Leah said darkly. "For the rest of us, we're merely nothing, but pawns to him."

I can agree with that, Shiro thought. It was then he recalled what Keith had told him back after they got reunited and he straightened his posture.

"That reminds me," Shiro said as he folded his arms and mentally prepare himself. "I've heard that...you guys gave me a hand in escaping?"

Leah blinked momentarily and then gave a click of tongue. "Ah, yes," she said. "We did."

"How did you do it?" Shiro asked. "And..why?"

Leah looked hesitant as she drummed her fingers against her elbow. "I'm afraid I wasn't directly involved in that plan."

Shiro frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"That was Oberon's doing, who is also my husband," Leah explained and cleared her throat. "And, it greatly pains me to say this, but it was a spur of the moment."

Shiro staggered slightly. "Spur of the moment?" he asked. "I was the Champion."

"I am aware," Leah said dryly.

"I..I was heavily guarded," Shiro added, at least that what he recalled from his memories.

"I know," Leah said in an exasperated tone.

"And he just decided to help me escape because he felt like it?" Shiro said in disbelief.

"You don't know my husband," Leah admitted as she rubbed her eyes. "In his defense, we had discussed it before, but..this is normal for him. He thought it would be a challenge."

Shiro's jaw dropped and he struggled to clamp it shut as he absorbed this information.

"That..just raises more questions," he said.

"I'm afraid he's not here to answer them," Leah said. "He's away on mission, but when he returns I could-"

"Mama!" Xenia's voice echoed as she scampered out of the cave and latched onto her leg.

"Look!" she exclaimed proudly as she held up the paper crane. "Paladin Lance made it!"

Leah's expression became more tender as she kneeled. "I see that, and did you 'thank you'."

"Yup, and he made something called a 'rabbit' too," Xenia giggled. "It looks like Uncle Stig." Her giggling stop as she spotted Shiro and dove behind Leah's leg.

"Who's that?" Xenia said as she pointed.

"This is Paladin Shiro," Leah said as she patted her daughter's head. "Can you say 'hello' to him?"

Xenia blinked as she gradually came out. "Hi," she said, quietly.

"Hi," Shiro said as he kneeled to be at her level and look less intimidating. "So, Lance made you a crane? That's lucky."

Xenia nodded and frowned as she studied Shiro's face. "Can you make paper cranes?"

Shiro laughed. "No, sorry."

"Oh," Xenia said in a disappointed tone. "You should learn how to do it."

"Xenia," Leah scolded, but it only made Shiro laugh.

"You're right, I should," Shiro retorted. "I'll put it on my list of things to do."

Xenia gave a thoughtful pout as she looked at Shiro, then at the paper crane in her hand and back at Shiro.

"Here," she said as she held it up. "You can have this."

Shiro's smile faltered as he tilted his head. "You sure?"

"Yes, Lance made me three other ones," Xenia said as she handed it to him. "You look like you need one."

Shiro gave a small smile as he took Xenia's small gift and held it carefully in his human hand. It suddenly struck him, no matter the culture or the species, children still acted like children.

"Thank you," he said with a small bow of his head, "that's very kind."

Xenia grinned with pride and then gasped as she looked back into the chamber. "Maggie! No! That's my spot!" She zoomed back inside to battle over the right to sit in Lance's lap.

Lance gave a yelp as Xenia pounced on him. "Girls, Girls," he said with a laugh as he wrapped his arm around both kids to cease the fighting. "There's plenty of me to go around!"

He raised his head and finally noticed Shiro and Leah. He coughed and cleared his throat. "Oh, hey! Um...how long have you guys been standing here?"

"Enough to hear about how you defeated a five headed monster," Shiro said with a smirk. "I must not have been present for that little adventure."

Lance blushed slightly and coughed. "So...uh, if you're looking for Hunk he said he was going to work on those ships while I'm on babysitting duty."

"I'll go check in on him and Pidge then," Shiro said as and looked to the kids. "If you guys want a real fun story, have Lance tell you about the time how Blue Lion almost got stolen after a girl tied him up."

"REALLY?!" the children cried in unison.

Lance's eye twitched. "Geez, thanks, Shiro."

Shiro laughed not hearing Lance as he looked over the small gleeful and innocent faces surrounding him. No matter how the alliance with the resistance played out, if anything else, Shiro vowed he would protect these children.

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Keith spent the rest of the morning in the hangar pounding anything Ford and Hunk needed to be straightened. He noticed Hunk gave him a concerned look as he pounded in the bolts, but said nothing.

Keith was grateful for that since he was in no mood to talk and desperately needed to hit something. Why wouldn't Thace just answer his questions? Was it that big of a secret?! He probably knew exactly what he wanted to ask!

Some questions are best left unanswered, Thace's voice echoed in his brain as he hammered. Why did he get to decide what Keith should and shouldn't know?

But do I want the answers?

Keith paused and his hand with slack at the thought that rolled through his head.

Do I want to confirm that I'm part Galra? If I don't know, that means I don't have to tell the others? I can just believe that I'm just a regular human.

Keith panted as he lowered the hammer and frowned. He couldn't deny that some part of him was content with that plan. To on pretending he didn't know anything. He could be forever in the dark on who his father was, and just continue with the stories he made up in his head about him when he was a kid. There was comfort in that. There was no worry or fear of the others rejecting him. No fear of Shiro to suddenly hate him for being part of the enemy that had hurt him so.

I could do that, Keith thought as he twirled the hammer, but could I be satisfied with that?

"Keith," Hunk spoke as he removed his welding mask, "you okay?"

Keith shut his eyes as he turned around. "Yeah..just got some stuff on my mind."

Hunk frowned as he wiped the grease off his glove. "Do you..want to talk?"

Keith sighed. Pidge knew all about it, but he wasn't ready to tell any of the others yet. He wasn't even certain what he knew.

Still, he could feel Hunk's eyes staring at him with the determine frown he held sometimes.

"Can I ask you something?" Keith said as he folded his arms.

"Uh, sure," Hunk replied, uncertain.

Keith chewed his bottom lip. "Do you..ever want to know something, but at the same time you don't either?"

Hunk blinked and gave a small smile.

"Like, all the time, Dude," he said as he picked up a scrap piece. "Will admit, before we left Earth, I probably would have leaned into the 'don't want to know' category."

Keith frowned thoughtfully as he leaned against the wall. "What about now though?"

Hunk paused and tapped his foot. "Now? I definitely prefer to know."

He turned to Keith with a serious frown. "If I had continue to not want to learn anything, Shay and her people would still be slaves to the Galra and she still wouldn't know what freedom is. She might even be dead."

Hunk shook his head. "When I think of that, there's no way I could just go back to not wanting to learn anything, you know?"

Keith gave a small smile. He thought Hunk was a nervous wreck when they first met. He was always wishing to bury his head in the sand, except now, Keith would argue Hunk was probably one of the bravest and most stable of their team.

"Yeah, I get you," Keith said, softly.

"Don't mean to eavesdrop," Ford voiced as he rolled out from under a ship, "but at my age you assume anything you don't know will kill you eventually. So, you might as well face it head on."

"That's..one way to look at it I suppose," Hunk said. He glanced back to Keith. "Any particular reason you're wondering that?"

Keith faltered and chewed his bottom lip. "It's-"

"Something between him and Thace," Ford interjected and gave a stern look. "Son, just leave it be for now."

Hunk raised an eyebrow and glanced between Keith and Ford. "Okay, is there something going on that I'm missing?"

"Yes, immensely, that's my point," Ford retorted and looked to Keith. "Thace can be stupid sometimes, but he does learn. Give him time, he'll come around."

Keith gave a small nod as Hunk still looked confused and slumped. "Okay, if there's one thing I do know is that I'm hungry and I need something to eat."

Ford pointed to the door. "Go ahead and take a break then," he grunted as he rolled out. "I got things covered here." He glanced to Keith. "Same goes for you, go. I'll have more stuff for you to hit later if need be."

Keith sighed as he massaged the tenderness in his hands. "Thanks, but I'm fine."

Hunk wrapped an arm around Keith's shoulders. "Then let's go eat something," he said. "I'm a bit curious to see what other Galra dishes are like after this morning."

Keith gave a small smile as he let Hunk lead him out of the hangar. At least, when it came to Hunk, he could always count on the guy to lend an ear when needed even if he didn't fully know the details.

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After grabbing something to eat, and Hunk demanding to have the recipe for a dish that reminded Keith a bit like chile, they wandered into where the computers were to find Pidge. She was rapidly typing with Daien hovering over her shoulder as two other Galran women were typing on some large tablets and connected wires to different devices.

"How is it going?" Hunk asked.

"Almost done transferring the files," Pidge said as she continued to type and glanced over her shoulder. "Also, Daien and I might have found out an easier way to search for my brother."

"Oh?" Keith said as he folded his arms. "How so?"

"When I was a guard, one of the jobs I had to do was keep track of new slaves that arrived at the camp," Daien replied. "And while the empire doesn't keep track of slaves names and just put numbers on them, I did notice people of the same race had similar patterns of numbers."

"So, they sort them by species?" Keith concluded.

"Exactly," Pidge said, "and since we know Shiro's number, and Daien just told me what my dad's was, I got a rough good idea what kind Matt had."

Hunk winced. "That's great, but hate to point this out, that's still one number in a list of millions."

Pidge sighed, but continued her typing. "I know, but at least it's something I can use."

Keith patted her shoulder as Hunk gave her arm a gentle squeeze. Hunk then looked to Daien. "By the way, I realize this is a random question, but do you guys have a recipe for that lunch we just had?"

Daien blinked as he rubbed his neck. "Uh, sure, but it's fairly basic though. Do you really need it?"

Hunk grabbed Daien by his shoulders causing him to jump with a serious glint in his eyes.

"Dude, trust me, when you're choices are to try to find basic recipes or eat more space goo, you snag any recipes you can find!" Hunk held a fist in the air. "If anything, it gives me something to work with."

Daien blinked and scratched his head. "Uh, alright," he said as he reached for his tablet, "I can write it out and transfer it to Pidge later if you want."

"That would be awesome," Hunk declared as he watched him write.

Keith silently watched, only to be drawn back to Pidge as she tugged him on his arm.

"So," she whispered so the others wouldn't hear, "did you get an answer from Thace?"

Keith said nothing as he scowled, which gave Pidge a clear enough answer for her to do the same. "I take that as a 'no'," she said.

"He keeps ignoring me," Keith replied, "and I don't know what else to do unless I...don't know hold a sword against his throat or something."

Pidge tilted her head in thought like she was pondering something. "Well, if you want, I could get Lance and together we could jump him and-"

"No," Keith said with a shake of his head, "maybe I just have to give up."

Pidge leaned back in her chair as if she was trying to look around Keith and then folded her arms as she leaned back forward. "Or, maybe not," she whispered as she pointed.

Keith turned and felt his anger slightly raise to see Thace enter, and approached them.

"What do you want?" Keith said in a tense tone.

"Keith, I wish to speak to you," Thace stated.

"About what?" Keith snapped as he turned his head away. "Ford said we could take a break, and I'm not in the mood-"

"About your questions," Thace cut in thickly.

Keith paused and bit by bit he turned back around to face him. "You serious?"

Thace didn't answer as he turned back around. "We'll go to my quarters where we can speak in private."

Keith flinched, suddenly feeling trapped and this was a terrible idea. A touch to his shoulder broke his momentary fear as he glanced back to see Pidge giving a comforting smile.

"Go already," she whispered. "Got to find out at some point."

Keith sighed, and said nothing else as he trailed after Thace out of the room with the largest knot he ever felt in his stomach.

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Thace's quarters weren't exactly what Keith expected. It was simple and barely anything in it besides a cot, a table and chair and some weapons that hang on the wall.

"Pretty bare in here," Keith commented.

"I've only been here for an Earth equivalent of a month," Thace stated as he pulled out his chair and indicated for Ketih to sit. "I was undercover before that."

"Right," Keith replied sheepishly as he sat and glanced up. "What made you change your mind?"

Thace's rubbed his neck. "Various thing, friends telling me that I should...and admitting that you do have a right to know."

He sat on the cot and tapped his fingers nervously. Keith held his breath as he waited for him to speak.

"I..have been to Earth," Thace began. "When the resistance was first attacked, the survivors fled in different directions. I got separated from the others and managed to steal one of the transport ships from the Galra army. However, I accidentally got caught in a wormhole when a warship attempted to give chase after a fleeing ship."

Keith frowned as flashbacks to how he and the others had escaped from Zarkon in a similar manner. "And you landed on Earth?" he asked.

"Yes," Thace explained. "I had no clue where I was and headed straight towards the planet my scanners indicated was a safe environment."

He rubbed his neck. "I..did not make the best landing and my ship was badly damaged as result. I ended up stranded on Earth until I was able to make repairs."

Keith took a deep breath to calm himself. Here's the big question, Keith thought as he brought out his dagger. "Ford says this is a Galran dagger."

"It is," Thace replied.

"Do you know how or why my dad had it?" Keith asked.

Thace tensed and his fingers fidgeted. "That's..because-"

"Thace!" Stig cried out as he rushed in and gasped for air. "You got to come to the meeting room! We got a problem!"

Keith growled with an annoyed pout and felt close to stabbing the alien with his dagger. Not now!

Thace pinched the bridge of his nose with a similar murderous expression. "Can it wait, I'm in the middle of something."

No kidding! Keih thought, darkly.

Stig shook his head. "We just got word from Oberon and his squad," he said in an urgent tone. "There are some warships heading straight towards us."

All of Keith's anger vanished as his eyes widened and he looked to Thace who held the same look of horror. Without exchanging any words, both of them ran out of the room after Stig with Keith still clutching the dagger in his hands.