Hello everyone, I'm back from vacation! I am happy to report that I had a very good time! I actually got back yesterday, but I was so wiped from being in the car for most of the day that I didn't want to do anything, lol. I wrote the first part of this chapter before I left, and I've been tinkering with it off and on while I was gone, but now I'm home so I can put a little more focus into my writing again!
See y'all next update!
anomalous point
chapter twenty eight
the generals
The human female proved more slippery than he had expected. He'd expected some form of resistance from her- just not an escape attempt, much less a successful one.
Narrowing his eyes, he stalked after her. Even with the intruders present on the base, she likely wouldn't get far, nor was she the most pressing concern, so he took his time. Whether she lived or died would change nothing about Lotor's plans, nor his odds of success.
It wasn't that he was in any way hesitant about killing her- these were Lotor's orders. Even if there was some squirming knot in the pit of his stomach that recoiled at the idea of doing it, it didn't amount to much. It had grown a bit when he'd actually seen her- and saw the visible shock in her eyes as she laid eyes on him- but it was nothing that he couldn't ignore.
Lotor's orders were absolute.
He picked up on the sound of voices long before he actually spotted the intruders. She must have caught up with them- though he didn't know how they had managed to find her so quickly. Narrowing his eyes, he paused mid-step, bringing up the security footage on his gauntlet's computer in order to determine just which of the intruders he would be dealing with. To his surprise, one of them was Takashi Shirogane- the new paladin of the black lion, while the other was one of the two Blades that had arrived with Shirogane and the princess.
For the span of a tick, he felt himself hesitate. He had the strangest feeling that he'd met the Blade before, but he couldn't recall...
Regris. He was a young Blade, close to his age, easily recognizable due to his tail. They had met a few times before the war begin. Before the Blade of Marmora had turned on the Galra Empire, lead by Kolivan- who likely sought to seize control of the Empire should the royal family be killed and the Kral Zera be called.
And of course, the human, Takashi Shirogane- they had met when Lotor sent him to spy on the Galaxy Garrison, to see if they could be used. He'd been in charge of mentoring him for a time, and while he was no less primitive than any other human, he could somewhat understand how it was that the black lion might have chosen him. He had talent- or what amounted to it, for a human.
Sharing half his blood with such a primitive species was something that gnawed at him constantly. It held him back- a weakness that he had tried to stamp out. Unlike Zethrid's strength, Ezor's invisibility, and Narti's ability to manipulate the mind, it provided him with no useful abilities- save for the fact that in a pinch, he could pass for something other than a Galra.
Banishing the security footage, he continued down the hall. Lotor's orders had been explicit- they could kill the Blades, but the princess and the paladin were to be brought to him alive. While he had not planned on running into any of the intruders, he would nevertheless not fail his prince.
His prince? He froze, a sharp pain spiking in his head. Raising a hand, he grit his teeth, forcing the headache back. Closing his eyes, he drew in a long breath, feeling the pain ebb away as if it had never been there.
His head had been... strangely fuzzy, ever since he'd left the healing pod. He struggled to recall why he had been in it in the first place- he must have gotten injured somewhere, but he couldn't recall where nor how. It felt almost as if there were gaps in his memory, gaps that he was still trying to piece together.
It... had to be some kind of malfunction, he decided. It wasn't like he didn't know who he was. He had the honor of being one of Prince Lotor's personal generals, and though he was of mixed blood, he was a proud servant of the Galra Empire. They had been fighting against the Alliance for several deca-phoebs now, though his prince sought an end to that violence through an alliance with the Altean princess- one which she stubbornly refused.
Too prideful to marry an Altean of mixed blood, something deep inside him informed him, and he took it as the truth. Why wouldn't he? The words were spoken in his voice, therefore they must be his own thoughts.
Whatever the case, he would worry about his spotty memory later. The problem seemed to be steadily resolving itself on its own anyways, so he'd likely be just fine if he gave it some time. It wasn't as if it would impede him from carrying out his duties.
The first of which would be to deal with the one known as Takashi Shirogane.
He wasn't what he expected. There was a tension in him as they leveled eyes, but his expression... something about it was off. He opened his mouth to say something, but he ignored it, cutting him off.
"Takashi Shirogane." The name felt familiar yet unfamiliar on his lips. "I have orders to bring you to Prince Lotor."
Shirogane just narrowed his eyes, clenching his right fist by his side. "And since when do you take orders from Lotor?"
He didn't- couldn't- understand the question, not at first. Then it occurred to him that this was the first time they had met in this capacity, though clearly, someone had since informed him of his true identity. Obviously he had taken it personally, which was strange, since though he had been tasked to mentor him, it wasn't as if they had ever been close.
(Like he would ever befriend a human. The idea was laughable.)
"As heir to the Galra throne, Prince Lotor's orders are absolute." He stated plainly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world- since it was.
Shirogane searched his face, looking for something, though he didn't know what. "Keith, you can't mean that."
The name caused him to twitch, as if he had only just now remembered it. That was absurd- of course he knew what his own name was. He just didn't like the sound of it being used so casually by a lower lifeform. He must have thought that since they shared blood, or perhaps because he was the older, that he could address him without formality.
Loathsome. Earth wasn't even worth being conquered by the Empire.
"Don't refer to me so casually, human." Keith warned him. "We may share blood, but I am nothing like you."
"So what are you then?" Shirogane asked.
"I," Keith began, drawing his sword, "-am a loyal servant of the Galra Empire. You, human, will refer to me as general."
He had fought to get this rank, the tiny voice inside of him informed him. He wasn't about to tolerate any disrespect. There were far too many in the Galra Empire who mistook being of mixed blood as a sign of weakness, of inferiority- but once Lotor ascended to the throne, that would change. Especially once he had the lions of Voltron- and their paladins- under his control.
Shirogane looked stubborn, but he was sure Narti would straighten him out. Him and the princess. Lotor's way was the correct way- that was why had sworn his undying allegiance to the Galran prince. Under his leadership, the universe would see peace and prosperity the likes of which it never had under the Alliance.
And he would be right there with him, as he always had been.
"I guess there's no way that we can avoid this." Shirogane said- and he almost sounded sad about it. He could have laughed- and he did, internally.
"Surrender," Keith stated plainly, "-and Prince Lotor will take mercy on you."
"Mercy." Shirogane repeated, narrowing his eyes. "Somehow I get the feeling I don't care for Prince Lotor's mercy."
Keith tensed, the hair on the back of neck bristling. His grip on the hilt of his sword grew tight, for a tick not liking the idea of having to fight this man, before the tiny voice in the back of his head quashed it. What did he care if this human chose to fight him? If anything, he should be commending him for his courage- foolish though it was- for daring to fight one of Galra lineage.
"Then I will have to take you to him by force." He declared- all the warning he gave Shirogane before he angled his sword towards him and lunged.
Though Shirogane appeared unarmed, he managed to block the blow. Upon closer examination, not only was his right arm artificial, but it appeared to be partially encased in some strange form of armor, beyond the paladin armor that he wore. His sword slid off of it, allowing Shirogane to duck back, clenching his fists in a boxing stance.
He didn't stop to question what boxing was, instead opting to sheathe his sword. If it was hand to hand combat the human wished, then that's what he would get. Shirogane merely arched a brow at it, but didn't drop his guard.
He made the first move, ducking into Shirogane's guard with a powerful blow to the chin. For all that his speed was arguably superior, he seemed to see it coming, avoiding it by jerking his head to the side, already moving to counterattack. His punch just barely avoided connecting, his body relying almost on muscle memory to avoid the blow.
Weird. It almost felt like this wasn't the first time he had fought him.
Shirogane did seem surprised that he had managed to avoid his attack, so he shook off the thought, not hesitating to take advantage of the momentary gap in his defenses. His paladin armor took the brunt of the blow, absorbing most of the shock from his knee strike to the stomach- but not all of it. He staggered back, creating another gap for him to take advantage of- but he managed to avoid this one, jumping back out of range.
Keith narrowed his eyes. The human was better than he'd expected.
"Keith," Shiro began, "-you know this isn't you."
Keith narrowed his eyes, unsure of what to make of the bizarre statement. What wasn't him? The human was making no sense.
He didn't respond, instead moving to strike. Shirogane blocked his punch with his right arm, trying to take advantage of it by grabbing it. Somehow, he instinctively knew that if he got a solid hold of it, he'd use it to throw him, so he moved without thinking, grabbing Shirogane's arm instead, jerking him forward before slamming his head into his chin.
Shirogane groaned, staggering backwards. For a tick, he thought he'd broken his jaw from the way he was holding it, but then the human dropped his hand, almost seeming to laugh. "That's a little more like the Keith I know."
"Know?" Keith asked. "Just because you mentored me for awhile doesn't mean you know me, Shirogane."
Shirogane blinked, like he hadn't been expecting him to say that. "You... you remember that?"
"Why wouldn't I remember that?" Keith asked. "Prince Lotor sent me to the Galaxy Garrison so that I could assess if they might be of use to that. I thought you'd already been briefed, judging from the fact that you didn't seem surprised to see me."
Shirogane narrowed his eyes. "No. That's not how it happened."
Keith scoffed, amused. "Then how did it happen?"
This human seemed to think he knew him better than he knew himself. It was laughable- even if for a tick, it caused something deep inside him to twinge. It didn't last long, the tiny voice quashing it, seeming to almost become stronger- but in a tick, that thought slipped from him too.
"Lotor didn't send you." Shirogane told him. "The Blade of Marmora did."
"Don't lump me in with those mutinous traitors. I would never fight alongside them." Keith glared, blood boiling at the mere implication that he would be anything but loyal to the Galra Empire- to Prince Lotor. His memories might be a bit fuzzy, but the depth of his loyalty to the prince was one thing he was crystal clear on.
Shirogane frowned. "You really believe that, don't you?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Keith asked. "It's the truth."
He didn't even understand what the human was trying to accomplish here. Was he trying to make him doubt himself? Why? That wouldn't-
"Wait," Keith narrowed his eyes, not missing the way Shirogane almost seemed to perk up, "-it's you. You're the reason why my memories seem so hazy. You did this."
Suddenly everything made sense, like it had all just snapped into place. Why his memories seemed so patchy in places, why he'd been in the healing pod in the first place- this was because of the Alteans, wasn't it? Princess Allura had to be behind it all- she had always possessed strange powers, beyond those of any normal Altean alchemist, so she had to be the cause of this. She must have known that he had the potential to become the next paladin of the red lion, so she wanted him on her side, whether he wanted to be or not.
She- and by extension everyone who fought alongside her- were trying to turn him against Lotor.
"What?" Shirogane frowned. "Keith, no, we-"
Baring his teeth, Keith growled. "You what? Were trying to manipulate my mind?"
"No." Shirogane said firmly. "We're your friends, Keith. Lotor is the one who-"
Not only were they trying to turn him against Lotor, they were trying to turn his own mind against him, make him believe he was someone he wasn't. He wouldn't let them.
"I swore an oath of loyalty to Prince Lotor." Keith hissed. "I know who I serve. It's going to take more than your Altean tricks to turn me against him."
For a long moment, all Shirogane did was stare at him. Then he heaved a sigh, a look of resignation on his face as he raised his guard again. "Okay. I didn't want to have to do this, but you're not giving me much of a choice."
In spite of himself, Keith smirked. Guess with his ruse done away with, Shirogane was finally deciding to fight seriously. Good.
"Say that after you manage to beat me." He told him, readying himself for any attack the paladin might throw at him. "Not that you will."
Shirogane leveled his gaze with his- and he felt his blood boil at the pity he found in it. There was nothing about him that was to be pitied. "We'll just see about that."
"Princess Allura, how good it is to see you again."
Allura narrowed her eyes. She didn't know what trick Lotor was playing at, but she was quite certain he had one, otherwise he never would have left himself unguarded like this. Though she had scanned the area, she couldn't find a single one of his generals in sight- nor even a single sentry, for that matter.
Aside from Ulaz, she was alone with the Galran prince.
"I wish I could say the same of you, Lotor." Allura said cooly. "Sadly, I cannot."
"Now there's no need for that." Lotor said simply, leaning back in his chair, motioning to the one closest to him. "Please, sit."
"I am perfectly content to remain standing, thank you." Allura replied, exchanging a brief glance with Ulaz. She sensed he was just as uneasy as she was. "I am quite certain you know why we are here, Lotor."
Lotor simply frowned. "The war, I take it."
He said it as if it had nothing to do with him, which she couldn't help but bristle at. Even if that was likely exactly what Lotor wanted.
"You know full well it is more than just that." Allura said. "Where are they?"
"Ah," Lotor hummed, arching his brows, "-you wish to know where Keith and the human are. Well, I suppose there's no harm in telling you- though I'm afraid it is rather too late for the latter, seeing as you've made it implicitly obvious that you have no desire to uphold your end of the bargain."
Allura didn't miss the true meaning of his words, not even for a tick. She forced herself to remain composed, even though in truth, all she wanted to do was to cross the room and beat Lotor senseless until he spilled every single one of his loathsome plans. "I do not recall ever striking a bargain with you."
"Ah, well," Lotor said simply, "-at least you've come now. Though I can't say I remember saying that you could bring company."
Allura frowned. This was getting her nowhere, and the more they talked, the more obvious it was that Lotor was simply trying to buy time. Exchanging a glance with Ulaz, she drew her weapon, linking the two ends of her staff together and pointing it towards Lotor.
"Enough." Allura snapped. "If you will not tell me what I want to know, then I will extract it from you by force."
In spite of her obvious threat, Lotor remained unfazed. "I see your time spent with the Blades has begun to influence you, Princess. But very well- if it is a fight you want, then that is exactly what you will get."
With a snap of his fingers, something- or rather, someone- dropped down from the ceiling. Allura gripped her staff tighter, watching out of the corner of her eye as Ulaz drew his blade, angling it at the general who had appeared from one of the dark crooks of the ceiling, having hidden herself where it was too difficult for even Galra eyes to make her out.
Narti.
"This way," Regris urged, "-we must make haste."
He tried not to look back. It should have been easy- the mission before the individual was the creed of the Blade of Marmora, a creed that had long since been bred into him- into them all. And yet... no Blade had ever quite dealt with a situation like this one before. One of their own, turned against them- against himself- by some kind of foul magic?
Nothing in his training had prepared him for this. And for it to be Keith...
Part of him was almost grateful that the human had taken the burden of fighting him off of him. The rest of him... the rest of him wished that he could be the one handling this. He had known Keith since they were both younglings- they had played together, trained together, even fought together. For it to come to this... it didn't feel right, leaving it to someone else.
But he had been given a mission, and he intended to see it through, on his honor as a Blade. He was to escort the female human, given name Colleen Holt, back to the shuttle pod, and was to protect her until it came time to depart. The last part had not been explicitly stated, but was nevertheless understood.
Which was exactly why they needed to make haste.
"Are you really just going to leave him?" Colleen prompted. He had only known them briefly, but he could already see the resemblance she shared with her two younglings- the daughter more so than the son. "That was- that was Keith back there! Shiro can't fight him, he's-!"
"My mission," Regris hissed, cutting her off, "-is to see you safely back to your family. Your young- your children are anxious to see you safe."
Colleen snapped her mouth shut at that, narrowing her eyes. "You know Matt and Katie?"
"Yes." Regris told her. "And I can get you back to them, but only if you follow me."
Colleen seemed to consider it, before glancing back in the direction they had come. "And Shiro?"
"We wait." Regris said firmly. "Until it becomes unsafe to do so."
Colleen's eyes narrowed further, clearly not caring for the provision he'd tacked on. Humans, it seemed, were far more sentimental than the Galra- something which he could not decide if it was a weakness or not. In Colleen's hesitation to leave, to get to the relative safety of their ship, it seemed a weakness, but he owed his life to that same so-called weakness.
If Keith had not taken that poisoned blade, he would have. Rescuing him went against Blade protocol, something that was deeply bred into every Blade. It was a part, he suspected, of what made Keith so human, in spite of being raised so far away from his father's people. Perhaps looking out for each other in this fashion was exactly how their race had survived for so long, in spite of possessing no obvious features that would have allowed them to take the place of the dominant race of their planet.
"Fine," Colleen conceded, "-but I don't like this."
"Noted." Regris said simply.
Retracing their steps left him with the same uneasy feeling he'd come here with. Lotor had obviously brought sentries with him- he couldn't have given them all to this Galaxy Garrison. And what about his generals? Aside from Ezor, he had three others- even if he assumed they were all with Lotor, the whole thing still left him with an anxious feeling that something was wrong.
It was not long before he was proven right. Zethrid was waiting for them in the hangar, blocking their access to their ship. Narrowing his eyes, he tried to duck out of sight, but it was too late- she'd already caught whiff of his scent. His, and Colleen's.
"Well, well," Zethrid began, a fierce grin on her lips, "-I had a feeling the new kid would screw up something as simple as killing a hostage. Looks like I was right."
Sensing that he wasn't getting out of this without a fight, Regris drew his blade, his grip tight on its hilt. He had been trained more for stealth assassinations than he had been for hand to hand combat- but the same definitely couldn't be said of Zethrid. It was undeniably a bad match.
He also hadn't been trained for protecting people, he thought, his masked gaze briefly flickering back towards Colleen. That was more of Keith's speciality.
"And look!" Zethrid exclaimed, clearly pleased. "There's even a Blade here for me to kill! This day just keeps on getting better and better!"
And here he'd just been thinking that this day was getting worse and worse.
Adam was understandably nervous.
He wasn't sure what the Garrison would say about his absence, however brief, if anything at all. It was easy to cover up a flight instructor who had just decided not to show up for work one day. Sudden transfers were a thing at the Galaxy Garrison- although his investigation had showed that almost all of them were tied on some level to the corruption that had taken hold of the organization since it's founding a hundred years before.
It was just... most people didn't know that. They didn't see past the glitz and the glamour- if one could call it that- of the world's foremost space exploration program. And to be fair, there really wasn't another organization out there that could compete with the Garrison in terms of achievements- which would mean more, if part of that wasn't due to under the table negotiations and the occasional outright sabotage.
To his surprise, however, nobody reacted to his sudden reappearance at all. Both he and Commander Kogane agreed that he should be the one in charge of handling the cadets- since, as a teacher, he had the closest relationship with a good number of them. Veronica would handle the lower rank and file, while Commander Kogane would join forces with Commander Iverson to deal with the higher ranking members of the Garrison- in other words, anyone who might be involved with Prince Lotor or the Galra.
The ex-commander's job was arguably the most important. Even though Katie's virus had disabled the sentries, they would be screwed if the upper command was able to send out any kind of distress signal. If it was just to another Garrison base, they might be able to survive, but if they tried sending one to the Galra...
...everything he'd learned about them indicated that they would wipe the entire base, and everyone in it, off the map just to get rid of a few of their enemies.
Thankfully, rounding up the students and putting them on lockdown in one of the more protected hangars wasn't hard. He'd left one of his more responsible students in charge- he was confident that Cadet Kinkade would keep things well in hand, even if he didn't have any idea what was going on. His job was to rendezvous with the former commander, and with Iverson.
They were effectively pulling a coup against the current command. They needed all the people they could get.
"This is Adam, checking in." Adam said over the radio. "I've secured all the students."
"Copy that, I've got their location." Katie responded, her voice crackling a bit. "Matt, see if you can get into the camera feed. I want eyes on that room."
"Roger that, little sister of mine." Matt said- and even though he couldn't see him, Adam was pretty sure that he'd just saluted. It brought a smile, however faint, to his lips. "Pulling up the video feed now."
"We're all clear here." Heath's voice came in over the coms.
He was pretty sure he could make out the sound of Admiral Sanda's voice just at the edge of his hearing. He couldn't tell what she was saying, but she sounded positively indignant. That brought a smile to his face too, just a different type of one.
"No sign of any unusual movement outside of the base." Romelle reported. "At least, not from this angle."
"We're not picking up anything unusual on the radio either." Lance supplied. "Hunk?"
"Nope, nothing on this end either." Hunk said. "I think we're... wait, hold on."
Adam frowned, freezing mid-step. "What's wrong?"
"It might be nothing, it's just- I thought I saw something. In the easternmost corridor." Hunk said, sounding uncertain of himself. "But I thought you guys cleared that corridor already."
"We did." Heath said. "There shouldn't be anyone there."
"I'll check it out." Adam said.
He didn't like the sound of that. At best, it would be a straggler they had missed. At worst... he shook his head, trying not to think about how that general of Prince Lotor's had been able to lift a steel beam clear over her head, much less throw it at them. He'd been armed with a blaster by the princess, but he was pretty sure that wouldn't be enough if he had to fight an actual Galra.
He'd seen how Keith could move during their mandatory self-defense classes- and he was only half-Galra. And holding back. He shuddered to think what fighting one would be like. And if one of Lotor's generals was here... that probably wouldn't be a good sign.
"Any word from our base raid team yet?" Adam asked, fighting to keep his nerves out of his tone, reminding himself that aside from Matt, it was just a bunch of cadets manning the radios. He didn't want to cause them any unnecessary panic, even if he was worried about Takashi.
"Not yet." Katie reported. "But it hasn't been that long since their ship landed."
Right. Maybe he was overthinking things. There was no way Lotor could get one of his generals here that fast, could he?
...actually, probably, yeah. He didn't know much about aliens, but he did know that their tech was lightyears ahead of anything that they had developed on Earth. Keith had been able to use a standard shuttle to get all the way to the edge of the solar system in a matter of minutes when he'd intercepted that Galra cruiser, so fast was clearly the name of the game.
"Need me to join you?" Heath asked.
"No." Adam said firmly. Someone need to stay with the upper command- there was Iverson, but he was just one man. They needed to be debriefed anyways, and nobody knew more about the situation than the ex-commander.
"I can-"
Romelle's voice faded away with a burst of static, so loud that Adam had to rip the com link from his ear, wincing in pain. Either he'd run into a point of natural interference, or...
He felt something cold pressed up against his temple. Right. Definitely not natural interference.
"Put your hands up," a woman's voice instructed- and he was almost relieved that it wasn't the same one who had thrown the steel beam at him, "-and slowly turn around."
Raising his hands, Adam complied. His blaster was still in his belt, but he wasn't confident that he could get to it before she shot his head off. And he'd rather get out of this situation alive, thanks. He was not going to die before he had a chance to work things out with Takashi.
Based on the woman's armor, she was definitely with Lotor. She had blue skin, her equally blue hair neatly coiffed, her sclera tinted with that increasingly familiar shade of Galra yellow. He racked his brain, trying to recall which general this was- he'd been shown images of them prior to this, but all of a sudden he was drawing a complete blank.
Probably had something to do with the gun pointed at his head.
"Is there anyone else here with you?" The woman- and suddenly, he recalled that her name was Acxa- half-asked, half-demanded.
"Just me." Adam lied.
She merely arched a brow. "I doubt that. Take me to them."
Adam narrowed his eyes. "And if I say no?"
"I think you know what happens then." Acxa stated.
Yeah, pretty much he did. Eying her blaster, Adam weighed his options. He could try to lie about Romelle- there was a good chance that she might lose interest if she learned that their infiltration team was only made up of humans.
Except one of those humans was Commander Kogane, and something told him that Lotor might want him dead- if only to further Keith's hopefully only hypothetical brainwashing. That was, again, not something he knew much about, but he was willing to bet that his parents were probably the two biggest threats to whatever it was that he wanted Keith for. And if that was the case... he didn't want to lead Acxa right to him.
Acxa waited for his response with a surprising amount of patience, which he took as a good sign. The other one would have probably shot him by now.
Coming to a decision, Adam resolved to keep lying. But before he could even open his mouth to respond, Acxa let out a cry, staggering back. Her gun had been shot out of her hands, and she was nursing them, glaring fury just behind him. He turned, expecting to find Romelle there- but to his surprise, his rescuer was actually Veronica. Dimly, he recalled that she'd had the highest marks in all of her shooting classes when she'd been a cadet- even her younger brother, although talented, hadn't been able to break her records.
"I think I'll be the one asking the questions around here." Veronica said firmly, her pistol still leveled on Acxa. "If you don't mind."
"Uh, guys, not to cause a panic or anything, but I'm pretty sure I just lost contact with Professor Warner."
Katie narrowed her eyes, trying Adam's line herself. Sure enough, it was dead. Even worse, his line wasn't the only one. No communications were getting in or out of the Galaxy Garrison.
"Our communications have been jammed." Katie grunted, making a noise of frustration. Mostly she was just annoyed that she hadn't seen this coming. It was so obvious in hindsight.
"Okay, this is bad, right?" Lance asked.
"This is bad." Katie agreed. "Matt, can you try-?"
"A workaround?" Matt finished. "Already on it."
Katie nodded, satisfied with that. "What about Romelle? Is she still on the line?"
"I'm here." Romelle replied. "What happened? I was trying to speak to Adam, then all of a sudden the line went dead."
"That's what we're trying to figure out." Katie said. "But they may need you in there."
"Got it." Romelle said. "I'll start by heading to Adam's last known location."
"Sending that to you now." Katie told her, bringing it up on her computer, before sending it off to Romelle. "Be advised that we'll probably lose contact with you when you enter the Garrison. Matt's trying a workaround, but..."
"It might take awhile." Matt reported.
"Understood." Romelle said, then added, "-I don't like this."
She couldn't argue with that. They still hadn't had any contact with the raid team since their ship had landed, and now she was wondering if that was because they couldn't. But before she had a chance to ask, something caught her eye on one of the camera feeds- not from the Garrison, but the feeds from within the ship.
"Uh, guys?" Katie piped up, feeling cold sweat prickle on the back of her neck. "Does anyone remember where they were keeping that general of Lotor's?"
"You mean Ezor?" Matt asked, craning his head for a better look at the video monitors. "She was- oh."
The way her brother paled, unable to finish his sentence, was all the answer she needed. She'd hoped that she was wrong, that the cell with the open door wasn't the one that Ezor was being held in, but apparently she wasn't.
And that definitely wasn't good.
"Coran," Katie began, paging the bridge, "-I think we might have a problem."
