Lance hissed as hid behind a consul. Shots were firing behind his as he thought about what he should do.

He had found the Witch on that planet Keith had talked about before and it had taken WAY too long to get there! Now he was being shot at by people that Allura would've been so happy to see and meet.

So much for potential friends.

He had tried to blend in and tell them he was there for safety reasons. And for a while it had worked. Then the witch had picked up on his quintessence and all hell broke loose.

"I miss the days when all I had to shoot were stupid sentries that couldn't aim," Lance groaned as he reached behind him and fired his own weapon. He also missed his bayard. Instead he had to rely on what ever weapons he came across. An altean staff, a simple hand gun, and a rifle that had broken some time ago.

"Surender!"

"Bite me!"

He shot a hole in the back of the consul and pulled out the crystal inside, the building shook and alarms rang.

Pocketing the crystal he ran, shooting at he went. As he made his way to his ship, Lance skidded to a halt.

Honerva stood erect in his way.

"Join your kind," she replied.

"You killed your kind," Lance said, thinking about Allura, "not sure I want to trust you."

He slowly moved to the side as she watched him like a hawk. He was waiting for an opening, anything.

"You have my Altean genes in your body," she replied, "Live in peace, with us. As my child. You will want for nothing."

"But you're actual son you're willing to just toss aside," Lance said as a handful of alteans came up to block his back.

"He was not my child," she said, sadly, "he let his fathers side take over. He is now galra in mind and body."

"Yeah, and I still have human in me, and I'd like it to stay there, thank you very much."

"We are going to live here in peace, do you not want that?" Honerva said, "We no longer have to worry about the outside! Lotor will never bother us here! We have a chance to live with happiness!"

"You KILLED me happiness!" Lance shouted, "You killed them ALL! You sent Sendak to Earth and KILLED EVERYONE! How am I to live with you if all I can see is a murderer?!"

"You want them back," Honerva replied.

"Yes, I do."

"I can make that happen, if you stay and live with us."

"Absolutely not."

Her eyes narrowed as she considered him, "that was a fast answer."

"Because I had already made the choice before hand to move on," Lance said, "I find hard life choices are a lot easier to handle if you already make the decision before you're faced with it."

"Pointless, either way."

"That was rude," Lance said, "are mothers supposed to be rude?"

She shot black lightning at him and he dodged, bringing up a shield in case it branched off. Using the action, he ran toward her, brining up his own attack magic. Though it was weak against hers, it was still enough of a distraction.

He got to the other side, but had to back up slowly, keeping an eye on his opponent. She disappeared and he shielded himself from behind, just in time as she shot at his back. They moved back and forth, ever closer to his pod. All he had to do what get close enough…

()

Paxix stood, memorized by the sight of the market.

So many different races just mingled and hawked their goods. No one was giving dirty glares and it didn't even looked like they cared who they were dealing with.

"I think we reached a haven!" Paxix said, grabbing his friends arm in his excitement, "I think this is where we need to be!"

"Mm," the chameleon replied.

It had been over a month of travel since they had crossed the border. It had taken weeks for the human to completely convince the former slave of his intentions. Now all Paxix got was occasional noises of agreement. But it was something and he was grateful for it.

"Now, we need some more previsions," Paxix said pulling out another small poutch, "you grab some more water and food and I'll meet you back at the ship."

"Mm."

Paxix ran off and let the adrenalin run its course. He'd reached the other side of the market before he felt himself calm down enough to get to work. Looking around he spotted the tail end shop keepers. They looked bored and didn't seem too interested in him. Apparently he didn't look like the kind of person who would want their wares. Which of course, just made him curious.

Walking up to the nearest one he noticed line upon line of small black cubes.

"What are those?" he asked. The man sitting behind the counter shrugged.

"I just found them," he reached down and dumped a bag of other odds and ends, "I pick stuff up, and I sell them."

"Efficient," Paxix said and the man rolled his eyes. He poked around the pile of junk for a while and noticed a familiar device, grinning behind his mask he decided this was a good place to start.

"You been to that galra empire?"

The salesman immediately bristled.

"No worries," Paxix said and chuckled a little, "I just noticed you have some human objects here. Those creatures that got wiped out a few hundred years ago."

He lifted the device he'd found.

"I just find things, and then sell them," he repeated, but Paxix noticed the sweat.

"Sure, sure," he nodded and he lowered his voice, "I understand. How much are they asking you to pay them every time you pass the border?"

The man hissed and snatched the object from his hands, "GO AWAY!"

Raising his hands, Paxix backed away slowly. Then he turned and strode away. He and his new friend had traveled a long way from the empire and yet it STILL had an influence here. Trade still had to happen and whose to say that the emperor wasn't using merchants as spys and handholds?

This was going to be harder than he'd thought…

()

Lance huffed as he stared at the prison walls.

He'd been so close! Now they were in a ship going who knows where!

Every once in a while an altean would come in and hand him food, but then they would leave without a word. He tried to convince them every time that Honerva was NOT sane and NOT their friend, but they ignored him.

After a long enough time, Lance realized that the witch was waiting till they reached their destination before she did anything to him. It wasn't the best thought and it didn't give him the best feeling, but it allowed him to sleep.

()

Months later Paxix had put together enough information to realize his dreams were screwed.

The only empire in the known universe was the Galra. They were the only organized force. They were the only force that could put their threats into action. The Galra were the only ones who were capable of influenceing many planets at once.

The Chameleon watched his new short friend as he lay, face down, on the floor of the small ship.

"UmM?" he asked.

"I don't know what to doooo…" Paxix groaned in answer, "I wanted to start a resistance! But no one is going to fight the only super power in the universe just because! We don't have any power! We've got nothing to fight them with that will make any difference…I am now realizing I just risked everything for a daydream…"

The Chameleon sat next to the human, hesitated, then reached out and patted him on the back. Paxix looked up and grinned.

"Thanks."

"…ummm…ah?"

Paxix frowned, trying to puzzle out what was being said. He could normally figure out what he wanted, but sometimes it was difficult.

"Sorry, try again."

"…." The chameleon muttered and mumbled and suddenly looked like he was going to cry.

"Sorrysorrysoryy," Paxix said sitting up quickly, "take your time. We got time. I'm not upset, see? I'm smiling!"

Paxix grinned wide and slowly, the former slave began to calm down. The human leaned in and reassured his friend with a pat on the shoulder.

"…go…mm?" the chameleon muttered quietly, "…sssmmlll…."

He then pointed one way and then the other. Finally understanding what he meant, Paxix sighed.

"I don't know," he replied, "do you want to go back? Or do you want to keep exploring?"

A small smile appeared on the chameleons face and Paxix had his answer.

"Off to the unknown we go!"

()

"Welcome, to Orionde!" Honvera said her soft rough voice echoing through the stone halls.

"Yeah, I am so not worthy," Lance muttered. He felt the pressure around him, trying to get him to leave, and if he wasn't tied up and being escorted by two bad tempered Alteans, he'd happily do just that.

"That is a non issue," she replied and nodded to her followers, "Until we can accomplish our goals, you will remain out of our way."

"Woulda done that anyway if you woulda just let me leave," Lance rolled his eyes.

Honerva didn't answer and Lance was dragged away. Back on the ship he was thrown into a stasis pod.

"Why does my life suck so much?"

The Alteans didn't answer.