Chapter 3

Lance darted through the hallways, a piece of toast sticking out of his mouth as he rushed to meet Hunk and Pidge in what they had deemed the 'debriefing room.'

The debriefing room stood near the center of the complex. They figured it was probably used for meetings that weren't much unlike the ones they were having. Only now there was only three of them instead of the twenty some people to fill all the chairs.

"About time!" Pidge scowled down at her computer screen as soon as he entered the room. "You and Kinkade have a quickie or what?"

Lance squeaked, heat flooding his cheeks. "No!" The toast he had in his mouth fell and he scrambled to catch it before it hit the floor. "I grabbed breakfast first!" He waved the toast around to prove his point.

"Uh-huh."

He chose to ignore her. "So whaddya got?" He peered over her shoulder to the only working laptop in the base.

It was Pidge's very first project. To get it up and running. Something about the Galra's synchronized attacks managed to shortage a good chunk of mankind's technological advances. Like laptops and vehicles. How, no one really knew. But Pidge and Hunk were doing what they could to get things back on track. They had electricity in the building, even if it was a bit limited, it was more than most of the places they visited could boast about.

Pidge and Hunk's dives into the inner workings of what made the Garrison run, gave Pidge the means to develop a bug or some magical do hickey that alerted them to locations whenever someone signed into the shared network the Galra were using. The only problem was they could only see the locations when someone was logged into the system. Meaning unless they were logged in 24/7 -which they weren't- the dot would disappear as soon as they logged off.

Lance had no idea how it worked but he trusted her judgement on it and it's served them well so far.

Mostly the locations they were able to find through the network were small supply bases. Not all and all bad, but Galra supplies and human supplies were vastly different. But it was thanks to those supplies that Hunk and Pidge were able to get the RV working. They used an alien power source and somehow that got it up and running.

Yet another thing Lance didn't claim to understand.

He did appreciate the Galra gadgets they came across though. Along with the power sources and nameless other things they weren't sure on, there was a few things they did recognize. Like the weapons. For an advanced alien species they had a surprising number of melee weapons.

The guns were what caught Lance's eye though. They had a lot of options in the Garrison but the alien tech version just seemed to fit so much better in his hands. Not to mention the simple cool factor of it.

Needless to say, the power sources alone were enough to raid the bases. The weapons were just a nice extra bonus.

"A new location popped up on our radar." Hunk pointed at the blinking dot on the screen.

It was a familiar scenario. Pidge's program displayed a dot on the screen for a new location. They'd head out and search the place and bring back what they could on their lions.

But something was off.

"Huh." Lance scrunched his face together in thought. "That's not as far as I thought it was going to be…" It appeared to be a few hundred miles away. Well within the distance they could travel with their lions. "How'd we miss it before?"

"When we passed it last year, there was nothing there." Pidge began typing, numerous other windows popping up in front of the map. "It looks like they're still in the process of building."

"What are they building?" Hunk asked anxiously.

"Not a clue." She shrugged. "I haven't learned how to read Galra yet."

The two's voices faded into the background as Lance got lost in his own thoughts. What could they possibly be building out in the middle of the desert? Why after a year? Has it been there for longer and we just haven't noticed it?

"We should check it out." Lance spoke out loud, cutting into their conversation.

"Well duh." Pidge rolled her eyes at his suggestion. "Of course we're going to."

"Taking the new RV?" Hunk asked hopefully.

Lance placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry buddy. I think we'll need the stealth this time around and I'm not sure that thing can manage it as well as our lions."

Hunk deflated.

"I agree." Pidge nodded, eyes scanning the information in front of her. For all Lance knew she probably was starting to learn Glara for how often she'd stare at the strange symbols. "We don't know what they're doing there, but it seems like more than a simple supply base. I mean," she pushed her glasses up her nose, "they've used existing buildings for that. This has to be something bigger."

"Any cameras up yet?" Hunk regained his composure quickly. "Maybe we can get a better idea if we can tap into their surveillance to see what they're doing?"

"Let me check."

They waited a few moments in silence before a video feed popped up on the screen.

Lance's eyes widened in disbelief. "No… no way." He stared at the image. He then lurched forward to get a better look, hands wrapping around both sides of the screen as he stared. "Pidge… is that…"

He glanced over his shoulder to find the young woman's face a mixture of shock and… hope.

"Yeah…" She whispered, a smile tugging at her lips. "That's them."

Pidge's missing family; the Holts.

This couldn't be right.

"Shiro," Keith whispered, hoping his brother would tell him differently then what he suspected. "Please tell me this isn't what I think it is…"

"It's a labor camp." Shiro answered. His lips set in a tight line. "Guess this is why we haven't run into more survivors. Galra must have been rounding them up since the attack."

Keith inhaled deeply. His stomach churned at the thought. "You mean… all those patrols we avoided… those big van things… they were… they were…"

"Transporters." Shiro finished for him.

He squeezed his eyes shut. His mind replayed each time they'd came across those damn patrols. How many vans they'd came across. Came across and just ignored.

A calming hand settled on his shoulder and forced his eyes open. Shrio.

A warm heat then pressed against his side. Red.

Shiro smiled sadly at him. "We didn't know." He squeezed, his smile morphing into a determined line. "But now we do. We can try to help."

"How?" Keith couldn't help but argue. He carded his fingers through Red's fur in an attempt to calm down. He picked at a knot in his lion's mane. "There's only the four of us."

"We'll have to scout the place out for a bit. See if we can't find another way in." Shiro's eyes scanned the area, as if he could actually see the building being shielded from their view. "Maybe we can get a better handle on their numbers."

'Send me in.'

"What?" Keith struggled to keep from shouting. The last thing they needed was to be discovered. "How can you even suggest that?"

"What he say?" Shiro asked.

"Red wants us to send him in. For scouting." Keith kept his glare on his lion. "Which is stupid."

'Then come with.'

A slow smile spread across his lips. "Now that sounds like an idea."

"No." Shiro shook his head, worry etched in his features.

"You don't even know what he said!" Keith protested with a scowl.

"I don't need to. Your expression is plenty." His brother frowned. "It's too risky to send either of you in." His gaze flickered to Black. "Both of you is even worse."

"But Shiro-"

"No, Keith." He used his 'I'm your commanding officer and basically your brother, shut up and listen' tone that Keith hated. "We watch. At least for a few days to figure out their routine."

"But what if the building moves." Keith fought stubbornly. "What if they won't be here in the morning and we waste time just sitting here waiting?"

Shiro stared at him flatley. "Buildings don't move."

"It's an alien race, Shiro." Keith rolled his eyes at his closed mindedness. "We didn't even know they existed until a year ago. Who's to say they don't have moving buildings? Or maybe it's a ship? We can't exactly tell with the cloaking they have on."

The older man opened and closed his mouth. "That's… a fair point."

Keith smirked smugly. It wasn't often he could find a vantage point Shiro hadn't thought of. So when he did, Keith made sure to bask in it.

"But that doesn't mean either of you is going to go in there."

His smirk fell as quickly as it came.

"I can do this, Shiro." Red nudged his side, not willing to be left out of the equation. "We can do this." Keith corrected.

"I don't want you going in there alone." Shiro reiterated and Keith could tell he was pressing his luck. Soon his brother wouldn't be so composed and may actually take physical measures.

Like tying him up to a rock if Keith kept pushing a point Shiro put to rest.

Yeah… that's happened more times then Keith would like to admit...

"Fine." Keith clipped, crossing his arms under his chest.

Shiro sighed in relief. "Good. Now let's find a good place to make camp for the night."

"I'll take first watch."

The other man quirked a brow but nodded. "Alright."

Keith kept the victory to himself along with his plan. He'd be damned if he was going to let those people stay prisoners for a second longer than they needed to. He'd wait.

Patience yields focus, as Shiro liked to say.

-.-.-.-.-

Shiro was going to kill him.

"Alright, Red." Keith barely whispered, knowing his lion could feel what he wanted even if he couldn't hear him. "Lead the way."

The two managed to sneak away from camp without so much as a sound. Waking Shiro or Black would have surely been a death sentence. Keith thought it was odd that they hadn't woken Black. He figured for sure that the other lion would at least catch them. But he pushed it aside and focused on the task at hand.

At this point, Shiro was going to kill him either way. May as well just follow through with it.

He double checked that he had his dagger, a galra sword and a galra gun strapped to his back as Red lead him to where Keith assumed the invisible door was. The lion sat down. He clearly expected Keith to figure out how to open it.

Keith frowned, tentatively reaching a hand out to touch the shielded structure. He paused before making contact. "We sure this won't set off some kind of alarm?"

His lion blinked. 'No. But if it does, they'd at least open the door then so we could check it out.'

Keith had to hold back a laugh at the horrible answer. It was very much something he himself probably would have responded with. Him and his lion were a bit too much alike it seemed.

The dark haired youth nodded his head with a smile. He continued extending his hand and quickly met a wall. He felt around for something that might open the door. His hand came in contact with something he guessed was a panel.

The door slid open much to both of their surprise.

Keith furrowed his brow, looking to Red for an answer. His lion too seemed a bit off put, but had no words for him. He chose not to dwell on it. He took a deep breath and readied himself for what would be inside.

They were just about to sneak in when Red sent him a warning.

'Shiro incoming.'

Shit. Keith mentally swore as he whirled around.

Sure enough Shiro and Black were very swiftly walking up to them. If Keith could do such a thing as read auras or some other mystical shit, he was pretty sure Shiro's would be the color of blood red. Murder intentions very clearly ran across his face.

"What do you think you're doing?" The older man hissed. "I told you to stay put!" He jabbed a sharp finger into Keith's chest as soon as he was close enough.

The dark haired man slapped his hand away with a scowl of his own. "We don't have time to argue." Keith ignored him and started into the building. "Either come with or stay."

He could practically feel the waves of irritation rolling off Shiro as he followed quietly behind. "We are going in completely blind here, Keith!" He softly continued berating him.

"Not completely." Keith stubbornly pointed out with a smug grin. "We do have our lions. They're just as good as a heat scanner."

Red puffed up in pride by his side. He guided Keith down a clear corridor.

"Well I'm not exactly thrilled with the lions right now." Shiro grumbled.

Keith raised a quizzical brow at him. "Why?"

"Between Black and Red conspiring against me-" he paused, gaze snapping down to Black, "That's exactly what you did! You let them leave and then left me barely enough time to catch them before they went through with their stupid plan! You're all against me!"

Black tilted his head, eyes staring at Shiro in a very clear manner of 'really'?

"Yes, really!"

As funny as it was that Black apparently pulled one over on Shiro, this really wasn't the time. "Would you shut up?! We're trying to sneak through enemy territory here."

"Fine. But this conversation isn't over."

Keith allowed a small smirk on his face. "Talking to Black or me?"

"Both. You're both on my shit list."

They remained silent after Shiro's statement. Red guiding them down another corridor. Then another. Keith felt tense. They hadn't come across any guards yet. The feeling left him extremely uneasy.

He stayed alert, waiting anxiously for something to happen.

They stopped in front of a door a few tense minutes later. From what Keith could tell, there was nothing particularly special about it. It appeared the same as all the other doors in the area.

'In here.' Red laid a paw on the panel. It flashed an error at him. He gave Keith a pointed look.

He hesitated for only a moment and then placed his hand on the panel. It seemed to be the same as the one he'd found outside. The door opened a split second later.

Shrio whispered a, "what the…" and Keith shot him a troubled look over his shoulder. "How'd you do that?"

"I… don't know? It just opened for me." He confessed truthfully.

Anything else Shiro wanted to stay was silenced by a tentative, "hello?" A woman.

"Who's there?" A deeper voice demanded.

"Uh…" Keith smartly replied.

Thankfully Shiro stepped in. "My name's Shrio, this is Keith. Can I assume you are the prisoners we saw?"

A body stepped into the light cast into the room from the hall. Sure enough a human survivor. He was an older gentleman with dark skin, hair and eyes. A beard covered most of his face, rugged from probably a year of neglect.

Keith's eyes adjusted to the light and he could see there were many people in the room. The same twenty they saw a few hours ago if he had to guess. The man that addressed them stood pointedly in front of a few of them. His family maybe.

"Why are you here?" His deep voice rumbled out the question cautiously. His dark eyes flitted behind Shiro. Expecting a trap probably.

"We came to get you out." Shiro responded calmly.

Murmurs filled the room at his declaration.

The man shushed them quickly.

"Get us out?" He eyed them both skeptically. "You would be the first."

Keith furrowed his brows. "What's that mean?"

"We're here because of someone who claimed to want to help us."

The statement hung heavy in the air.

"We have to get you out of here now." Keith hurried. "We didn't run into any droids or soldiers and I doubt that's going to last for long."

"That's… a bad sign." A younger woman stepped up next to the man. She wore glasses over her sharp grey eyes. Features much the same as the mans. "It's likely they know you're here."

"Even more reason we should move." Shiro glanced down the halls. "Sense anything?" He kept his gaze searching, but the question was obviously to Black. A pause. "Nothing yet. Let's go. Now."

"Who are you…" the young woman trailed off, eyes growing wide as she caught sight of their companions.

"You've got to be shitting me." A man maybe a few years older jumped up and shouted, "Are those lions?!"

The older man cuffed the other upside the head. "Keep your voice down."

"Ah," the man rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, Dad."

"Yes they are lions. But won't hurt you." Shiro assured them rapidly and pat his lion's mane with a smile.

"Come on!" Keith impatiently tried to persuade them. "The longer we're here, the more chances we have at getting caught!"

"Esh." The young man attempted to grumble to the woman. "Someone's got there panties in a twist. You'd think the world was ending or something."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're an idiot."

"We should go." A new woman joined the other three. Dark curly hair and dark blue eyes. "If there's even a chance…" She placed her hand on the older man's arm.

Keith guessed they were probably married. The other two likely their children.

"Let's go." The older gentleman nodded at his family. He turned to the others. "This may be our only opportunity, but it's up to you if you want to stay or take the risk of punishment for a chance at freedom."

More murmuring and then everyone was standing.

"Perfect." Keith tried not to sound too irritated that it was taking so long. "Come on."

They made it down two corridors before they were surrounded.

Keith mentally cursed as Shiro pointed to a nearby door. "Quick, everyone in there!" He instructed as Keith and Red lurched towards the enemies in front of them.

His trusty dagger sliced through the first droid that attacked him.

Red took out the second, jumping on top of it and clawing it apart until it stopped moving.

Four droids down in a matter of moments. Still about ten in front of them.

Keith twisted out of the way as one shot at him. He narrowly avoided the blast from the alien gun. His purple grey eyes widened as he remembered the people behind him. To his relief, Black had his barrier up around the shrinking group as they tried to hide in the room Shiro commanded earlier.

"Just get me a gun!" The same young woman who spoke before demanded from the doorway. She refused to go in the room. "I can help!"

Shiro and Keith exchanged uneasy glances but nodded. Keith tossed her the gun strapped at his back, knowing the chances of him using it were unlikely.

"Don't shoot us." He told her flatly.

"Please." The girl rolled her eyes behind her glasses. "I trained at the Garrison. You're in the best hands you can be."

"Wait, you're from the-"

"Not now, Keith!" Shiro shouted as more enemies came around the corner.

Black let out a deafening roar towards the droids behind them. The girl shot two down in the time it took them to recover from the blast. Keith turned his back to the forces in front of them, figuring between Shiro, gun girl and Black they had it covered.

Red had taken down two more while he'd been distracted.

His tail swiped at the feet of the nearest one, bringing it to the ground. He swat away it's head as soon as it was down. Red glanced up at Keith with unimpressed eyes.

'Going to make me do all the work?'

Keith held off a chuckle. He put his dagger away and pulled out the galra sword. Running towards Red, he launched himself over his back. His sword dived right into the chest of droid. Together the two began tearing apart the enemy.

"We need to get out of here." Shiro called to him when him and the woman had cleared the path behind them. "The longer we stay the more chance we have of being pinned down."

"And how do you suppose," Keith ducked under a blow. He thrust his sword into the droid's stomach. The last one. For now. "We do that?" He continued, breathing getting heavy.

"Black should be able to cover most of them. All of them will be with Red's help."

Keith glanced at Red and the lion nodded. He leaped back to stand in front of the door with the Black. A few of them were already stepping out. The older man and woman lead the way with their son behind. They quietly talked to their daughter.

"Just us to take down what's in front then?" Keith turned his attention to Shiro with a small smile. "Should be fun."

"Don't count me out!" The woman with glasses interrupted with a grin. She flipped her short brown curls out of the way. "It's always good to have some backup."

"Honey-"

"I'll be fine, Mom." She patted her mother's shoulder. "The more reliable help they have, the faster we can all get out of here."

"Well then give me a-"

"I said reliable." The young woman cut off the man Keith assumed was her brother.

"We need to get moving." Shiro said before anyone else could speak up. "Black, Red, you know what to do if we run into anyone else."

Red sent Keith mental messages on the path they needed to take to get out. Only a handful of bots barricaded their way every other corridor and they easily were able to take down. Everything was mostly fine until they reached the exit.

Keith took a step outside only to immediately jump back in as shots fired at him. "Shit!" He swore as he ducked behind the door frame.

Among the fifty some droids, were at least five actual Galra. They were obviously going to be more of a handful then the mindless droids they'd just taken down.

"This isn't good, Shiro." Keith glanced to his brother. The older man's face already pulled into a thoughtful scowl. "What do we do?"

"Give me a second."

The markswoman shot out of the doorway. Two droids fell to the ground. "If we can make it to your vehicle, we can just outrun them!" She fired three more shots, each hitting its mark.

"We don't have a vehicle!" Keith informered her.

"How don't you have a vehicle?!" The young woman neared hysteria. "How have you been getting around?"

"The lions!"

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" The young man chimed in.

"Look, the Galra have to have vans around here somewhere!" Keith irritably replied. "As soon as we take them out, we can look for one, alright?"

"Fine!" The two snapped back.

"That's it!" Shiro grinned at the two siblings. "Most of the Galra vehicles we've come across have some type of artillery on them. If we can get one then we can-"

"Use it against them." Keith smiled as he finished his brother's statement. "Good thinking."

"It was basically my idea." The woman huffed.

"Keith, take Red and find one of those vans. Quick."

"But what about you guys?"

"We'll be able to hold out for awhile." He glanced at the woman. "Right?"

"Right." She nodded, determination taking over her features.

"I'll go with you." The young man grabbed Keith's shirt as he walked past. "I can't shoot a gun but I'm a damn good driver."

Keith stared at him, assessing the possibilities. One more person did make sense. One could drive while the other manned the weapons.

"Let's go." Keith nodded down the corridor.

The man scrambled after him.

"You have an idea of where we need to go?" Keith directed his question to Red.

The Lion took a sharp left.

"Wait. You talk to it?" The man's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Him and yes." Keith responded flippantly.

"Huh. Weird. But cool." The guy's long strides easily kept up with Keith and Red's quick pace. "Seems like something my little brother would totally be nuts about."

"A talking lion?" Keith raised an eyebrow, following Red down another path.

"A talking anything, really. He's such a nerd. Went to the Garrison like my sister." The older man hummed.

Keith didn't bother responding as they sprinted into a large hanger. A variety of ships and land vehicles for the picking.

"Whoa." The man blinked his dark eyes at the vast amount of vehicles.

"Way to go, Red." Keith pat the lion's head. He turned to his temporary teammate. "Let's fire one of these puppies up."

The other man grinned. "Hell yeah!"