We're back, and we're back with a flashback chapter! Time to fall back in the timeline, to when Keith left the Garrison, and left behind one hell of an impression of himself while doing so. Good job Keith, good job. Also hi Trugg, bye Trugg, I guess this is just sort of your fate in every universe you are in ever. As always, thanks for reading, and see you next time!
anomalous point
chapter ten
the mission
Lockdown drills at the Galaxy Garrison meant either one of two things- either it was an actual lockdown drill, or it was cover for something else. His father had told him as much when he'd first gotten his mission, and it had proven to be very true.
They were also the best times to gather intelligence.
Sheathing his knife, Keith tugged on his jacket, grabbing his com link and tucking it away in one of his belt pouches. During times like this, he wished he had his armor, but he hadn't been allowed to bring it with him to the Garrison. Too much of a risk, he'd been told.
His civilian clothes stood out, but they did so a little less than the garish orange of the cadet uniform. Besides, on the off chance he got caught, he would need to flee immediately, so better to have everything he needed with him- and he kind of liked this jacket.
Personalized clothing wasn't exactly something he had much experience with. Before coming to Earth, he hadn't worn it since he was small, before he started his training in earnest. After that, he'd worn the uniform of an acolyte, before passing his trials and getting armor of his own.
Even on Altea, he didn't have many chances to wear it. Hiding his face was a necessity, one that he had not fully understood until after he'd joined the order. All members of the Blade of Marmora concealed their faces in the public eye, but his instructions had been even more stringent. Even the princess hadn't known what he looked like until Kolivan had approached her father with the information that Zarkon was planning to betray the Alliance.
Earth had been their trump card, and Kolivan had taken every measure to keep its existence hidden from Zarkon. A planet far from his reach, one that even the Alteans had no knowledge of, before King Alfor had been expressly told. The perfect hiding spot.
The only downside was that when dealing with pre-warp species, their lot tended to make a huge stink when finding out they weren't alone in the universe. Better to hide and wait out the war, than to reveal their presence here to the Earthlings, and risk exposing themselves to more than just curious onlookers.
Once the war was over, Princess Allura fully intended to announce herself, to thank them for hosting her, however unwittingly. They were to be made part of the Alliance, with all that would entail.
Or that had been the plan, until he'd confirmed that the Galaxy Garrison had been in contact with the Galra Empire. Zarkon had wasted no time in searching the universe for his prize, reaching out to all possible pre-warp species that he came across in his path, on the chance that they might be where the Altean princesses had hidden herself.
He'd intercepted several long range transmissions, which only confirmed the fact that the Empire was in the process of courting the Earthlings. As far as he knew, they had no reason to suspect that what Zarkon sought was hidden on this planet, and as long as it stayed that way, they had no reason to worry.
They had taken every precaution to ensure that they remained hidden- which was why he was here. Kolivan had told him that this mission was vital, and that he was the only one equipped to carry it out. He'd have been proud, but he knew the only reason he had been chosen was because of the blood he shared with the Earthlings.
Humans, rather. They liked to be called humans.
He hadn't even known his father was one until he had passed his second trial. Before that, he'd been under the impression that his father was some kind of anomaly- perhaps a mutated Altean, who had passed such traits down to him. The peach color of his skin had never been an issue growing up, proudly bearing Galra markings from his mother's lineage, but he'd always been conscious of his round ears, and the lackluster hearing that came with them.
But no, his father had been human. A pre-warp species from the distant planet Earth, the only planet with life found in the Sol system. Humans were the dominant species on the planet, and had only just barely begun to make a dent into exploring their own system. They were so far out on the fringes, that with their current tech, just getting to another habitable planet would likely take an entire lifetime for them.
The Galaxy Garrison would likely court any offers the Galra Empire presented them. If they could claim to be the ones who made first contact with alien life, they would give up near anything. He had seen with his own eyes just how corrupt the Garrison could be, though he would admit, he didn't really have a head for Earth politics.
He didn't see why humans had to make everything so complicated. Couldn't they just settle things with a fight to the death?
(His father had told him no fights to the death while he was here. No fights at all, actually. He had been very stern on the matter.)
To reach out this far, Zarkon had to be growing desperate. As long as they kept him from discovering that what he sought was on Earth, it would be their victory. He doubted that he would expend much effort on Earth- they had no resources that would prove useful to the Galra Empire, not even the most base understanding of what quintessence was.
In this case, backwater was good.
Bypassing the lock on his window was simple. The mechanism it used was so rudimentary, he could do it in his sleep. He roomed alone- a privilege afforded to fighter class cadets, so there would be no worry about any roommate noticing he was missing. There were cameras out in the halls, but not in the rooms- privacy laws, or something like that.
Grabbing the ledge above his window, he hoisted himself up on top of it, flipping onto the roof. Reaching down, he shut the window behind him, leaving a thin string attached to it so that he could get back in later. He didn't need to worry about any cameras picking him up- there was a jammer installed in the heel of his boot.
Where he was going, there would be no cameras.
Tonight's lockdown drill was different, he knew. He had intercepted communications indicating that a member of Galra command would pay a visit tonight- and he intended to be there when they did.
This was his best chance to learn what the Galra Empire wanted on Earth, and he wasn't about to let it go.
Making his way across the rooftop, he darted from building to building, making his way to his destination. There was an old, disused hangar to the far west of the campus, separate from the rest of it. That was where the Garrison command took its less public guests, and it would be where they would greet the Empire's commander tonight.
Slipping in through one of the vents, Keith landed on one of the upper support beams. Making his way to a location from which he couldn't be seen, he was silent in his steps. There were three members of the Garrison command here- none of whom he recognized.
Whoever these three were, they must have come here from elsewhere- while not all members of the command interacted with the cadets, he'd been around the campus long enough to be familiar on some level with every member of it. This was the Galaxy Garrison's main campus, but they had four others scattered across the country. To draw members of the command from other locations- this was clearly a big deal to them.
If only they knew they were courting a monster.
Three monsters, he should say. Empress Honerva and her son, Prince Lotor, were just as vile. If they were going to win this war, than all three of them needed to be taken out. The bloodline that had ruled Daibazaal for so long was no longer fit for the throne. Wipe them all out, and start anew- that was the Galra way.
Concealing his presence, Keith fixed his gaze downwards. The three humans were talking in low tones, just barely loud enough for him to make out- he only got so much as every other word. He could practically smell their doubt from here, though.
Whatever deal they had made, they were clearly at least a little hesitant to go through with it. They would in the end, he knew. Humans were no less susceptible to greed and corruption as any other species, but those two traits were exactly what had started this war in the first place, so he wasn't about to dismiss all of humanity as bad because of the actions of a few.
He knew better than that.
Some of them, like Shiro and the Holts, like his father, couldn't have been more good.
The alarms in this section had long since been disabled, but he could still hear them blare from the way he'd come. The lockout drill had begun in earnest now, meaning all non-essential personnel should be off base, and all cadets should be secure in their rooms. Now would be when the ship would land, using the sound of the alarms as a cover.
It was a single Galra fighter that landed in the hangar. The sight of the alien ship alone sent the humans into a small frenzy, as if realizing that they hadn't been pulled into some kind of a hoax.
Little did they know, they'd had an alien on campus for some time now. His father had been right- so long as he kept his markings covered, and camouflaged his eyes with contacts, no one would suspect him of being anything other than human. He had doubted it when he'd told him that, but it was amazing what humans were willing to overlook when it came to one of their own.
In his own mind, he was clearly Galra, but to these humans, he was one of them.
He recognized the commander that disembarked- Commander Trugg. She was known for thinking herself clever, but her fleet, once so impressive, had taken several hits in recent battles. Zarkon must have gotten fed up with her results, and had ordered her out here to the wastes as punishment.
He had been introduced to her before, in the past. She didn't know his face, no Galra outside of the Blade of Marmora did, but she did know he was his mother's son. He'd never liked her, and she'd never liked him. Zarkon had been filling his command with her type- thirsty for power, and willing to do whatever she could to get it.
There were still those who were unhappy with the terms that brought them into the Alliance. That thought the Galra Empire should once more claim its right, to expand its might to galaxies beyond, as it once had, before Zarkon's grandfather had put an end to it with the treaty. It had been generations since they had been an empire proper, but sentiments like that didn't just die out overnight.
Honerva whispered them in Zarkon's ear, and to her, he listened.
Trugg was flanked on either side by a pair of sentries, but they seemed to carry no weapons. Not that they would need them- humans were fragile.
They exchanged pleasantries at first, names exchanged. Trugg wanted to dive straight into business, so whoever had briefed her on human behavior obviously hadn't told her about their compulsive need for small talk.
Now he could hear them quite clearly. Trugg's voice was especially loud, carrying in the empty space of the hangar.
As he thought, it would seem that the Galra Empire had approached the Galaxy Garrison under the pretense of making an alliance. They did not seem to understand that the Garrison was not a ruling power, likely having seen the research colonies that they had built on the moon of this planet, and on their neighboring planet, Mars, and drawn conclusions from there.
He suspected the Garrison wanted to keep it that way.
Which was really stupid of them. The Galra Empire would find out eventually, and Zarkon did not take kindly to being tricked, not for any reason. But no doubt the Empire had been painting itself as benevolent, which was a laugh.
Benevolent emperors did not nearly destroy their own planets for the sake of greed. Not only had Zarkon gone against the treaty that had been drawn up when the Galra Empire joined the Alliance, he'd nearly ruined their own home. If Alfor hadn't been able to create Voltron, then Daibazaal would have been destroyed before he was even born.
Even after the creature had been defeated, the rift had worsened, it's effects felt almost across the planet. The Daibazaal he had grown up on was a pale shadow of its former self, that he would only know from his mother's stories. Even if they toppled Zarkon's regime, it would never go back to the way it once was, not for thousands of years.
He had seen the ruins of the rift himself. The first trial they undertook was to descend down into them, to spend a week there, unaided. Once it had been to survive in the harsh climate of the Huxian mountains, but Kolivan had changed it. He wanted all of those who were to join them to see, with their own eyes, the destruction Zarkon had nearly wrought on them all.
When they finally got down to business, Keith gave them his full attention. Trugg started off exactly like she thought he would- expressing that there was an enemy commander who was rumored to have been spotted in this area- likely a lie, and asking them if they had seen anyone matching their description.
She was describing Allura.
Quirking a grin, he let out a silent laugh. Enemy commander she might not be, but there was no doubt that given the chance, she would raise hell to put a stop to Zarkon. The Altean princess was not to be underestimated, and if the task that had sent them out here wasn't so important, he would say that she was being wasted out here, on the fringes of the universe.
The next thing she described was the Castle of Lions. Again, the humans had no idea.
As for the third...
"The enemy has stolen something of great value to our emperor," Trugg told them, "-we have been scouring the known universe to find it."
The black lion.
Narrowing his eyes, Keith felt the hair on the back of his neck raise. If Zarkon ever managed to find it, the tide of this war could change in an instant. The black lion was the most powerful of all the Voltron lions, and should it find its way back into his hands, he could use it to destroy the other four.
Or even worse- take them for himself.
That they could not allow to happen. Which was why Kolivan had risked everything in order to steal it, right from under Zarkon's nose. With that action, the Blade of Marmora had gone into full revolt, and were now hunted throughout the Empire.
But Kolivan had also destroyed all files pertaining to the Blade, which meant protecting the identities of hundreds of agents. Those whose faces that Zarkon had not personally seen could still serve as spies within their ranks, waiting for the right time to strike.
Since the black lion had arrived here on Earth, it had gone silent, raising its particle barrier, allowing no one in. Nobody knew what it meant, not even King Alfor.
Keith thought it was waiting.
But of course, the Garrison command had never heard of the black lion either. Trugg accepted their words at face value, seeing as there was nothing for them to gain by lying.
The discussion then shifted to that of some bargain that they had struck- he had heard it mentioned once or twice in the communications he had managed to intercept, but he'd never heard the details of it.
"Our end of the deal is being delivered to you as we speak," one of the humans assured her, "-the best pilot we have to offer, and our brightest scientific mind. And his son, as a bonus."
That's when Keith's blood ran cold.
The Kerberos mission.
They were going to sacrifice the Kerberos mission.
The arrangements had to have been made under the table, without the knowledge of the crew- his father counted Sam Holt as an ally, and it was with his influence that Keith had even cleared the medical tests. He didn't exactly bleed red, among other things, so they had needed someone on the inside to conceal any abnormalities that should arise.
If he had known that such a deal was being brokered, he would have told one of them. There was no way Sam would have flipped on them. No way he willingly would have sold out both his son and Shiro to the Galra Empire, much less himself.
Pilots and scientists. Keys to winning a war. With Honerva at his side, mental manipulation wasn't out of the question.
"Good." Trugg had the nerve to sound pleased. "We'll arrange for a ship to meet them. The Galra Empire thanks you, and shall uphold our end of the bargain as soon as they are secure."
Kolivan had once told him that he couldn't let his emotions cloud his judgement. He had before, unable to fully detach himself from a situation, to make impassive, impartial judgements on how best to proceed.
It was a weakness.
His father had once told him that was a very human trait. That it was nothing to be ashamed of, and no weakness. That it meant he had a big heart, that he cared.
Keith's vision went red.
He was moving before he knew it. The drop was two stories, easy, but it was no problem for him- his joint structure was more human than Galra, save for his arms, but his bones were denser, able to handle both shock and force alike better than even the most fit humans. His knife was drawn, sunk into the chest of the first sentry before anyone on the ground even so much as knew what hit them.
Taking advantage of that moment of shock, he transformed his blade, yanking it out of the first sentry, and making quick work on the second one. Pivoting on his heel, he raised it towards Trugg, locking eyes with her.
"What ship?"
Trugg, to her credit, took one look at the blade, and connected the dots. She had never seen his face, but she had seen his blade. "Krolia's whelp."
"Trugg." Keith said, switching to his mother tongue, just as she had. "What ship?"
He kept the humans in his peripheral, but for the moment, the three of them seemed too shocked to do much. Since they came from another campus, there was a chance they might not recognize him, but it was only a matter of time before the dots were connected.
He wouldn't be able to stay here any longer. His cover was as good as blown.
"As if I would tell a traitorous halfbreed like you." Trugg sneered. "Kolivan was a fool to send you here."
"Zarkon was a fool to send you here." Keith shot back. "You'll die on some backwater planet where they still bury their dead in the dirt."
She didn't back down at his threat, but he didn't expect her to. Instead, she went for her weapons- the pair of twin axes that she was so proud of. The sentries had been unarmed, but she wasn't. "You're a fool to think you could kill me."
"Says the fool who is stuck dealing with primitives for being fooled." Keith retorted.
"Better to deal with them, than to have it in your blood." Trugg hissed, but he did not let her words rile him- he saw no shame in being tied by blood to his father, to the same people that Shiro and the Holts belonged to. "Now I see it. I'm sure Emperor Zarkon will be pleased to hear that I've found the planet you've been hiding the Altean princess on."
Narrowing his eyes at that, he stepped into her guard, low and fast. She barely had the chance to retaliate, deflecting his blow, a stalemate that he broke as quickly as he entered it, jumping away from her.
She wore armor, and he did not, which was to her advantage. But that same armor was bulky, meant to menace, and thus slowed her down. He, on the other hand, was fast, light on his feet, and had been expressly trained to kill opponents bigger than him.
And Trugg didn't expect anything from him.
The humans, to their credit, sensed that interfering with this would be a very bad idea, instead choosing to give them space. Smart call. Smarter to run away, alert the guards. But they couldn't risk that, not without exposing what they had been doing under the table.
The clash of blades continued, with Trugg losing one early on, knocked away from her, out of her reach. She made a move to go for it, but he blocked her path, slamming a kick into her side, sending her on the defensive.
She wouldn't be the first to underestimate his power because of his size, and he doubted that she would be the last.
Pinning Trugg down, Keith used his body weight to hold her, tip of his blade resting against her throat. "Last chance, Trugg. What ship?"
Sneering at him, Trugg spat in his face. "Victory or death."
"Death, then."
Luxite cut through metal and bone alike cleanly. It was why they used it, as hard as it was to come by, passing down blades from generation to generation. His own had come from his grandmother, whom he'd never had the chance to meet.
Withdrawing his blade from Trugg's neck, Keith flicked it outwards, ridding it of blood. Shifting it back into knife form, he sheathed it, turning towards the three humans and leveling a glare at them, baring teeth.
He'd do the same to them, for what they had done. But his father had told him that was something called murder on this planet, and that it was apparently a crime. So instead, he turned sharply on his heel, seizing Trugg's fighter for his own.
He needed to try and stop that ship.
He did not expect his return to go unnoticed.
Of course not. He'd only shown up in a stolen Galra fighter, his clothes still stained with Trugg's blood. He had tried to wipe off the cosmetics covering his markings on the way, but the stuff didn't come off that easily, so it just looked smeared on his face.
His mother was already waiting for him in the hangar bay.
"Keith," she kept her voice level, calm, but it was clear a storm was brewing in her eyes, "-what happened?"
"Trugg happened." He told her. "Blew my cover."
"Commander Trugg did?" Krolia asked.
"No, that part was me." Keith told her.
Before she got a chance to ask anything further, Allura swept into the hangar bay, Coran trailing behind her. Taking one look at him, she set her lips in a tight frown. "Please tell me that is not your blood."
"It's not." Keith told her, not missing the faint hint of concern that touched her voice. "But we've got a bigger problem on our hands."
"Bigger?" Allura asked. "Tell me that Zarkon has not located us."
"No." Keith told her, watching her shoulders slump in relief. "Not yet. The Galaxy Garrison struck some kind of deal with the Galra Empire, like we thought. Three of their best and brightest in exchange for," he paused, "-I don't actually know. I didn't get to that part. For something."
Krolia's brow furrowed, putting two and two together. "...the Kerberos mission?"
Nodding his head, Keith clenched his fists, trying to calm down. It had taken everything in him to not just fly straight off into space, but however impulsive he could be, even he wasn't stupid enough to try that without any kind of protective gear.
His mother sensed this, sympathy flashing in her eyes. They spoke when they could, and he would often tell her about the humans he had befriended. She'd fallen in love with one, so he knew she would listen to him without judgement, even if it hadn't been part of the mission.
Allura visibly recoiled at the statement. "You mean to tell me that they sold out three of their own? To Zarkon?"
"Yes," Keith told her, locking eyes with the princess, "-and I'm going to stop them."
"Keith, you can't." Krolia told him. "I know that the crew of that mission is important to you, but we can't risk our position here."
"Our position is already blown." Keith told her, squaring his shoulders. "I kind of killed Trugg. Somebody's going to wonder where she is when she doesn't check in, and I really doubt the Galaxy Garrison is going to want to bring the wrath of a bunch of aliens on them."
"He's right about that." Coran said. "In that case, better to stop the ship before it has the chance to take them, rather than rescue them after the fact. If they make the jump into hyperspace after abducting them, we might never find them."
"I'm not going to take no for an answer, mom." Keith told her. "Even if it's an order from Kolivan. I can't abandon Shiro, or the Holts. I'm going after them."
Frowning, Krolia weighed her options, before heaving a long sigh. "Alright. But I'm coming with you."
Cracking a smile, Keith glanced towards Allura, who merely heaved a sigh. "It would hardly serve us well in the future, were the people of this planet to learn that we had a chance to aid their own in a time of need, but refused to do so. We can talk about the consequences later."
"And believe me," she added, tone stern, "-we will talk."
Giving her a curt nod of his head, Keith wasted no further time. Dismissing himself, he made for his quarters, wiping the cosmetics from his cheeks and removing his contacts, before he donned his armor. Pulling up the hood, he activated the mask, pausing only to grab his knife before he returned to the hangar.
By the time he returned, his father was waiting for him.
The only surprise was that he hadn't come sooner. He must have come in from the far end of town, judging by the sweat that lined his brow. He'd been exchanging a few words with his mother, before taking notice of him, stopping short.
"Keith," he called out to him, meeting his eyes across the hangar, "-you're sure about this?"
He knew his father wasn't thrilled whenever he left on what might be a dangerous mission. To him, he was still a child- a novel concept, that the Galra did not truly posses. One ceased to be a child once they reached their fourth cycle of life, in which they began to move from play fights with their peers, to real training.
In the Blade of Marmora, it was even more so.
"I can't leave them." Keith told him. "I have to."
His father, who to Keith, was always the alien, could sometimes be hard to gauge. Here, he cracked a smile, resting his hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze that he recognized as affectionate. It wasn't a gesture common among the Galra, but it seemed to be a human thing, given how often his father and Shiro alike did it.
It wasn't a gesture he disliked.
"Do what you need to, son." His father told him. "Just come back safe. Try listening to your mother for once."
Behind them, Krolia snorted, the sound distorted by her mask. "He gets that independent streak from you."
"That's not what I've heard." His father merely noted, gaze flickering back towards his wife. "Ulaz tells me you were just as much trouble, back in the day."
It was easy to visualize his mother's frown behind her mask, the furrow of her brows. Instead of addressing it, she merely changed the topic. "Come, we've much to do. I don't suppose you got the location of this ship."
"Trugg wouldn't talk." Keith told her.
"Typical." Krolia muttered. "Well, thankfully something of that size shouldn't be too hard to find. Let's go."
Giving her a curt nod of his head, he drew in a long breath. Stopping an entire cruiser with just two agents and little intelligence was a risky operation, but not an impossible one. They could call on Ulaz, but that would leave the princess without a guard.
More concerning was the fact that the death of Trugg, and the disappearance of one of their cruisers combined would lead Zarkon to study this quadrant of space more closely. It put them in danger- but so long as they kept up the ruse that princess and lion had been separated, it should at least keep him from coming to Earth directly.
Lotor would be the bigger problem.
But that was a worry for the future- right now, he had one goal.
Save his friends.
He'd miscalculated.
In hindsight, it should have been so obvious. Why would the Galaxy Garrison waste money on a reentry system that they knew would never be used? There had been one, of course, anyone in their right mind would have been able to tell that something was off if there hadn't been. But they'd cut corners, used cheap parts.
It was a miracle it worked at all.
No, no miracle, he knew. That was all Shiro.
And now here he was, hooked up to life support and lying in a coma. From what he had managed to gather, he'd recover, but at what cost?
They'd taken his arm.
It had gotten so mangled, that even the healing pods that Alteans were so proud of would have had a tough time healing it cleanly. For humans, there was no choice but to amputate.
He should have known. He'd thought that once they entered into the range of the Mars research colony, that there wouldn't be any more attempts to abduct them. He'd been right about that- but had been careless to think that was the only threat.
Shiro's arm was gone, and Sam Holt was dead. If there was one small mercy, it was the fact that Matt was already back on his feet and out of the hospital, but his memories of the actual crash were shaky at best, from what he had been able to gather.
He'd thought about approaching him, to explain- but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Just visiting Shiro like this had been a risk- the Galaxy Garrison was keeping watch, waiting to see if he would approach any of them. He hadn't even been able to visit Katie once since he'd returned to Earth.
No, the best thing for him now was to keep them as far away from all this as possible. It would be the best way to keep them safe.
He knew this wasn't his fault- the Galaxy Garrison hadn't known about him back then, when they had made their selections. But he still couldn't help but blame himself, feeling that there was something more he could have done.
He should have taken them back to Earth himself, but then what? They would have to disappear. At least now they had a chance to get back to their normal lives.
Almost.
Nothing would ever be normal again, for them.
Staring down at Shiro, Keith grit his teeth, drawing in a long breath. Things were more complicated than ever- the Galra Empire now knew that Princess Allura was hidden somewhere on Earth, and while they still didn't know about the black lion, that was more than enough.
He needed to keep both of them safe.
Exhaling, Keith felt his shoulders slump. The best way to do that was to disappear. Shiro would probably start asking questions about him eventually, and the last thing he wanted to do was draw him into this.
He had been the first human, outside of his father, that he had ever taken an interest in. A friend- he was willing to admit that, at least privately. And he hadn't even been able to protect him.
Now he would.
"Guess this is goodbye for now, Shiro."