The news about Voltron's arrival came like a wrecking ball to Thace's greenhouse of happiness. During those blissful last quintants, the lieutenant had almost forgotten what it meant to be a Blade, or a battle officer, for that matter. What he did was a job of an accountant, not a soldier, and his thoughts could not have been further from war. The emperor informed Prorok about the new threat while Thace was out gathering reports on the fighter jets, so he learned about it from his lover personally.
"Thace, this is our chance!" Prorok exclaimed, his eyes shining. "We have to be the ones who will bring the Emperor this robot!"
"Why do you care about Voltron so much? What is in it for you?" Thace asked in amazement. Prorok rolled his eyes.
"Are you alright, honey?" he asked sarcastically. "Didn't you hit your head on the mission? This is the Emperor's lifelong ambition! Sendak brought his Majesty only the red beast and sacrificed his whole fleet in the process, but look how the Emperor values him! The one who brings Voltron to him will be his right hand for life."
For Thace, this was a shock. The lieutenant knew that now he had to truly fulfill his duty as a Blade and to start active sabotage in his fleet, but he just could not bring himself to harming Prorok's interests. Right next morning, Thace found a new communicator in his room that seemingly materialized out from nowhere and understood that this was the secure way Kolivan has been speaking of. Now, the leader sent him demands and tasks and urged him to work more actively. Prorok also has changed: his loving cuddly bear was no more. All the laziness has vanished, now the commander burnt with grim energy. He rallied the fleet and declared operational readiness of the highest degree, urging everyone to work at full capacity. No one was allowed to take leaves, the shifts have been prolonged, all fighters were constantly in battle mode. Without any hesitation, Prorok ordered to publicly execute a soldier who was found drunk and sleeping during his shift. Not that Thace sympathized with the ignorant fool, but this battle-ready Prorok terrified the lieutenant, and his heart broke at the very thought of acting behind his back.
Other officers reacted differently to the news about Voltron. Hakor beamed with open joy and anticipation.
"Finally!" she exclaimed upon hearing the news. "I am so damn tired of flying to and fro with some stupid cargo for Yilvik and never even shooting at some bastards! Me and my boys are going to get to 'em before they even realize what hit'em!"
The assault teams were also overjoyed, the simulation decks burst with people wanting to train. Thace overheard Safk, who was born and raised on a jungle planet, brag that he would make paladin barbecue.
"I bet the emperor will want every piece of them to himself," Thace said to the soldier. "He'll make a wall exhibition from their dried heads or something, if he catches them, that is. But anyway - not that the likes of you will get any parts handed out for barbecue."
Thace's small speech was supposed to make Safk ask his loyalty, and "if" was the key word when it came to catching paladins, but the soldier was not clever enough to swallow the bait: he just rolled his eyes and went on polishing his knife.
"A man can dream..." he murmured under his nose, looking offended.
Yilvik and the engineers, as well as most of the service personnel, didn't show any emotions, but Thace could feel that they were preoccupied rather than happy. Ellik's face even grew visibly darker.
So many galra don't want to fight for Zarkon, Thace thought, sending a corresponding report to Kolivan. The vast majority, actually. But no one of them dares to speak up for fear of others. If only I could inspire them to raise up together! However, this remained wishful thinking, and all Thace could do in reality was help Prorok as long as he still could and try to balance everyone's interests.
Instead of cuddling, Prorok and Thace now spent evenings revising battle plans and arranging assault team lists. Kolivan ordered Thace to participate in all the operations as actively as possible to always stay informed, so he helped the commander with all his resourcefulness, happy to see Prorok's thankful glances. One of the first evenings, they have just started going through the escape maneuvers in case of attack by multiple smaller ships, when the communication panel registered an incoming call. Prorok sighed and got up, gesturing Thace to stay in place. The screen showed an unknown galra, round face and long pointy ears. He looked neither particularly smart nor fierce, but his insignia indicated that he was a commander, so Thace stood up to greet him.
"What do you want, Morvok?" Prorok asked irritably. "Thace, sit down, for Quiznak's sake, this is not his Majesty!"
"Well, actually," the stranger galra said in a snide high-pitched voice, "your minion knows the etiquette better than you. He is supposed to stand up and remain standing until I allow him to sit down."
"I wouldn't call him "minion" if I were you," Prorok answered, putting his hands in a lock behind his back. "Maybe soon you'll be the one to stand up in front of him. What do you want from me?"
Morvok inhaled with a smile.
"Voltron has reappeared!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "I already ordered to strengthen my defenses! And you are sitting there, not doing anything!"
"I've known for three quintants already," Prorok sighed. "Didn't the Emperor inform you?"
Morvok looked like Prorok slapped him in the face.
"You knew..." he said, his voice disappointed, all his pompousness gone. "No, he didn't..."
Prorok was watching Morvok silently with a cold expression on his face.
"Listen, Prorok, are you sure it is the Voltron? The one from before?" Morvok finally mewled. Prorok grinned unpleasantly.
"Yes, I am pretty sure it is the Voltron, never heard about counterfeits. Scared, dwarf?"
Prorok's mockery enraged the stranger galra.
"Aren't you?!" he screeched. "Even the Emperor considers it a threat!"
"Well, we are the Emperor's fist, who else will crush the enemy if not us?"
"I'll see how you are going to talk when it comes to a battle, glutton!"
"Look who's talking!" Prorok laughed out. Morvok went silent and watched him for some time, biting the tip of his huge ear that he stretched all the way towards his mouth.
"I don't even have a single proper modern cruiser," he said finally. "My main ship is old junk. If Voltron attacks, what am I supposed to do? Scare them with a war dance? Though we could work together, you know. If we..."
Prorok's eyes sparkled dangerously.
"I know a way for you to win," he said.
"Really? What is it?" Morvok gasped.
"Show yourself personally in front of them, they will collectively die of laughter."
Prorok disconnected before insulted Morvok could add another word and turned to Thace, giggling.
"Are you trying to get in trouble? He is a commander, too!" Thace asked reproachfully, but he also could not help but smile. "What a coward!"
"Yes, he is no Sendak," Prorok agreed, sitting down at the table again. "But you are right; don't underestimate the danger coming from him. This is what your Etor would have become, if he was pureblood."
"Etor has not been mine for a long time," Thace answered, amazed at how calm this name left him. "Why do you mock this Morvok so much? What did he do?"
"The bastard intrigued too well and took the first eon canon that was developed and that I should have received. You see, he has too much cunning, but not enough brain. He didn't think that the canon needs a lot of entourage to protect it and support in in battle: jets and cruisers, fuel infrastructure and finely calibrated sensors, and a good crew to operate it! He had none of that, so the canon didn't help him, he lost it in the very first conflict. It is not talked about much - a very shameful defeat for the empire… Since then, he fell out of favor of the Emperor and has to languish in the furthest sector on resource collecting duties. Serves him right, if you ask me, I wonder how he wasn't executed for his stupidity. But what audacity: coming to me for recommendations after such lowly betrayal! He must be really desperate..."
Prorok snorted angrily when he returned to the documents he was reviewing, but for Thace this was an important information. In case of possible conflict, Prorok was definitely not going to help Morvok; they would rather attack each other than work together. The same could be expected from other commanders, so this piece of information went to Kolivan the very same evening, together with others like it.
Guilt did not stop biting Thace, plus he started having vivid nightmares that Prorok might be injured or even killed in battle. Now the lieutenant regretted not having acted up on persuading Prorok to turn to the Blade more actively, while there was still possibility. Had he even mentioned it, maybe he could have been at the same side as his lover... Now that the war broke out, he reasonably feared that any talk of this sort would make Prorok feel betrayed. The lieutenant ran endless conversations over in his head, trying to find optimal words to inform Prorok of his true allegiance and persuade him to join, but none of them ended good.
More than once, he felt tempted to just confess everything to his lover and hope for his mercy and understanding. Each time he stopped himself, though, knowing full well that this way he would just be pushing the weight of the decision on innocent Prorok, adding more pressure on the one who had to carry the burden of responsibility for the fleet. Lying sleepless at night, Thace came up with what seemed the only possible plan in the situation: he decided not to tell anything to anyone, to hold Prorok back from actively engaging in battles with Voltron and to make him wait until everything is over. This way, he could still keep his partner safe and simultaneously help the Blade by completely eliminating one of the biggest fleets from the equation of force balance. However, this was easier said than done.
"Maybe rushing into the fight with Voltron is not the best idea," he told Prorok the evening after they received news about the first loss of Sendak's fleet. "Prorok, Sendak may be a terrible man, but he lacks neither bravery nor battle experience. If he lost…"
"If he lost, then this is our chance to learn from his failure and win!" Prorok interrupted him angrily. "I am not Morvok to sit back and shiver!"
"Well maybe for once Morvok's strategy is correct? Why do you, you personally, want to engage in this thing so much?"
Prorok frowned and stood up from the table they were sitting at.
"I don't know about you, but I don't intend to hide in my chambers for the rest of my life." He said slowly. "I want to call you mine openly and I will achieve that. Imagine what would happen if we were the ones to bring the Emperor his toy? Imagine the unbelievable honor that would be ours! We could ask anything in return, and I intend to sell this triumph as expensive as possible. I will not be just commander of one fleet, I will be commander-in-chief, and you will be at my side forever, lawfully, you hear? We can get married, Thace, this is not an extraordinary wish! We are no thieves who need to hide behind the closed doors; we will show our love openly, as we deserve it!"
Thace opened and closed his mouth like a fish taken out of water, blushing. Prorok didn't cease to amaze him: the last thing he could have thought of was that Prorok wanted to defeat Voltron to get married.
"Well, maybe you are fine with sneaking here in the evening like a beggar, then, of course, you do not need to worry!" Prorok added in a venomous voice and sat back down.
This last comment tore Thace out of his shock.
"Who do want to show our love to?" he asked sarcastically. "Zarkon? Do you really need his blessing to kiss me? And what will you show if one of us doesn't even survive? Prorok, this game is not worth it!"
"Well, maybe for you it isn't!" Prorok snapped, but Thace saw that he was hurt rather than angry.
"What if the empire loses?"
"The empire won't lose! The empire cannot lose as long as I have to say anything about it! What's wrong with you, Thace, you were never a coward?"
"I am not! I just choose my fights!"
Prorok straightened and looked at Thace coldly.
"This is open treason, lieutenant. By laws of war, I would have to execute you for spreading panic and ignoring your duties!"
Both men remained silent for some time, eyeing each other.
"We are getting Voltron no matter what, you hear me, Thace?" Prorok said finally.
"Yes, commander," Thace answered, feeling bitter resentment clutch his heart. There was no way to turn Prorok to the Blade's cause after all, he was faithful to the monster and to the Empire. A wall grew between them and now Thace could feel it very clearly…