Happy Valentines Day!
Chapter Twenty-Four:
"So. Ever dealt with weapons before?" Lance asked as the five Paladins, two Alteans and three trainees entered the armory.
"No." Tali said.
"Nope." Lani said.
"Yes." Shinji said, examining a huge sword that could probably only be wielded by someone three times Shinji's size.
"Then the first step is determining your fighting style." Shiro said. "Shinji, I'm assuming yours is close-combat?"
Shinji nodded.
"Swords and martial arts." He said.
"I honestly don't know what mine is." Tali said as she walked along rows of weapons. "I still like the idea of those lightsabers… I used to kick my cousins' butts every Christmas with the toy ones back home."
"I can teach you how to use a sword," Keith offered. "Then you can decide if that's what you want."
"Sounds good to me." Tali said.
"Lani? What about you?" Allura asked.
"Uh, I don't think I'd be good at close range…" Lani said, biting her lip. Then her eyes widened as she saw something. "How about long-range?"
"Ah, I see what you have set your 'sights' on." Coran said, smirking a bit at the pun. He went over and examined the small laser gun Lani was looking at. "It'd be a good fit for you. Small and easy to hide. This particular model was favored by Altean diplomats."
"I thought Alteans believed in peace first." Keith said, looking over his shoulder.
"We do, but our diplomats carried weapons just in case. Plus, in many cultures a weapon is considered part of a formal wear ensemble." Allura said. She stepped over and put a hand on Lani's shoulder, giving her a smile. "Coran is right, this is a perfect weapon for you, Lani."
"Shinji?" Shiro asked.
"Still undecided." Shinji admitted, frowning some as he couldn't find anything that really called out to him.
Pidge suddenly had an idea. An idea that was either potentially dangerous or a stroke of genius. Or both.
"Shinji." They said. "Give me a week or so, and practice hand-to-hand sparring with me during that time."
Shinji looked at them and arched an eyebrow.
"I feel like I should I ask why before agreeing." Shinji said.
"With Pidge, and with that look they have on their face, it's always a good idea to ask why." Lance said.
"It's because I want you to teach me how to spar left-handed." Pidge said.
Shinji frowned.
"Left-handed?" He repeated.
"Yeah," Pidge said with a nod. "You're left-handed, aren't you?"
"I am." Shinji said. "But, really, that doesn't make much of a difference. Karate uses both hands equally."
"Right, but it makes a difference to you." Pidge said. "That day when you sparred with Shiro? You used your left side more than your right. Shiro, who has right-hand dominance, had to adjust and that was a bit of a challenge at first because he kept expecting strikes from the right, not the left."
"Lance told me to avoid the metal arm. The metal arm is on the right." Shinji said with a shrug. "Why exactly do you want to learn to spar this way?"
"Because I use my bayard in my right hand." Pidge said. "It's a close range weapon. Incredibly close range. What I want to know is a better way to hit someone or something with my left hand."
Hunk looked across the room at Pidge with eyes full of both concern and suspicion.
"Aw, Pidge," He said. "Please tell me you're not thinking what I think you're thinking."
"I am thinking a lot of things right now, Hunk." Pidge said.
"Yeah, and one of those things you're thinking about is punching stuff made out of Galra steel." Hunk said. "This is why we have Lance and Keith, you know. They do crazy, stupid stuff so the rest of us don't have to in order to know why it doesn't work."
"Hey!" Lance and Keith said together.
"Oh, there's a story there, I can feel it." Tali said.
"Yes, the grand epic tale of why-we-don't-punch-things-made-of-Galra-steel," Hunk said. "One day after training, Lance got a little too excited and playfully punched Shiro's arm a little harder than intended. And he realized that was not a good idea a little too late."
"It hurt!" Lance said with a bit of a whine.
"And whose fault was that?" Pidge asked teasingly.
"Anyway, then Keith laughed at Lance for jumping around in pain, and because Lance is Lance, he challenged Keith to punch Shiro's arm and see if it hurt to hit Galra steel." Hunk said. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "Long story short, Keith spent the rest of the afternoon in the healing pod having his broken fingers mended."
"All the while, Shiro—who really had no part in this whatsoever except to serve as an incredibly unaffected punching bag—is apologizing to the both of them. Still not sure for what, considering he was the victim." Pidge said. They shook their head. "But that's not going to stop me, Hunk. I've got an idea. It'll be awesome, you'll see."
With that, they ran out of the armory.
"Inquisitive and daring." Allura said, shaking her head.
"Perhaps a little more so than their predecessor…" Coran said musingly.
"Should we be concerned?" Shinji asked.
"Probably the safest bet." Lance said with a shrug.
Over all, the next week-and-a-half of training went fairly well. Lani and Lance spent hours shooting at targets, and Lance had talked Lani into running a very simple drill with him against training drones, predominately as a way to teach her how to shoot and defend herself with the built-in shield that came in the suits of Altean armor that Allura frequently donned.
Tali divided her time evenly between Keith and Hunk; learning how to handle a sword from the former, and building lightsabers with Hunk in the workroom. The blades using the enhanced quintessence turned out wonderfully, and Tali was very proud of her new weapon. Hunk had even designed some smaller prototypes of the blade that worked like daggers, and then made more of those types for every member of the Castle to have.
Shiro, Allura and Coran also designed and ran a few new drills to incorporate Shinji, Tali and Lani into the already established team dynamic.
Shinji spent some time with Pidge every day, sparring as one of Pidge's droids recorded the spar, then Pidge would dash off. No one was quite entirely sure what they were doing, just knew that it involved the enhanced quintessence and a lot of caffeine consumption.
"Hey, Shinji." Pidge said at random one morning as they took a water break.
"Yeah?" Shinji asked, poking a straw into water pouch.
"What kind of cake do you like?" Pidge asked. Shinji arched a brow at her.
"Random question." He commented.
"Not really," Pidge said. "Your birthday's in a couple of days, so I thought I'd ask so that Hunk could make a cake. May fifth, right?"
Shinji frowned.
"That's right," He admitted. "But don't bother. I don't want to celebrate."
"Why not?" Pidge asked, brow furrowing. Shinji sighed and mopped his brow with the hem of his t-shirt.
"Look… My birthday was kind of hard to celebrate last year. I'd rather just ignore it this year." He said.
Pidge looked confused, then their shoulders relaxed with realization.
"The mission to Kerberos launched May the sixth." They whispered. Shinji nodded. "Shinji, I'm so sorry."
Shinji shrugged.
"You're not the one who picked the launch day." He said. "I mean, I don't really care. I just… I don't want to really think about… well, I don't want to think about it."
Shinji saw that Pidge quickly understood what 'it' was. That the last time Shinji's entire family had been together and happy before the Kerberos incident was May 5th of two years previously.
They were both quiet for a moment, then Pidge said,
"My parents' wedding anniversary… It's in September."
"Okay?" Shinji said, brow furrowing, not understanding why they were bringing that up.
"And, on the way to Kerberos, Matt and I worked together to get a video chat up and running for my parents, so they could see each other and talk on their anniversary." Pidge continued. "It was the last time my Mom and I talked to Dad and Matt before the Galra captured them. So, it was really hard, to decide to become Pidge and infiltrate the Garrison. Because that meant leaving Mom on her anniversary, and then later anniversary of the day they announced the Kerberos incident. Basically what I'm trying to say is, I get what you're going through. And I am sorry."
"Thanks." Shinji mumbled. Somehow, it did make him feel a bit better. He was quiet, then said, "Was it rough? Going to the Garrison? Since you only went to visit Matt and your Dad from time to time?"
"Oh, yeah, it was, a bit." Pidge admitted, sitting down on the edge of that mats, Shinji joining them. "I avoided this one particular table in the cafeteria, because it was always the table Matt sat at with Shiro and Tali. I went with Dad to work a couple of times when there were teacher work days at my school, so I'd go eat lunch with them. And being in the communications department was especially hard, knowing Matt spent so much time there. And, oh man, I got so pissed because I needed to meet with an instructor for a mandatory feedback session and they were new and got Dad's office and I hated how he decorated it and I just sat there the entire time trying hard not to show how angry I was." They gave a frustrated sigh. "What about you? Is that why you switched to communications? Didn't want to be around the simulators because Shiro spent so much time there when he was at the Garrison?"
"That's one of the reasons." Shinji said, closing his eyes.
He remembered the disappointment in his advisor's eyes as he turned in the transfer papers. How his advisor had begged him to reconsider, to stay in the piloting program.
Shinji knew what his advisor and the Garrison really wanted. They wanted him to be some sort of showpiece, just as they had done with Takashi. They wanted him to represent the spirit of the Kerberos mission, to encourage other pilots to go beyond the limits, just as Takashi had.
But the words "pilot error" were still too fresh, were ringing in his ears.
"I considered leaving the Garrison altogether." Shinji said. "But I didn't want to go home. Didn't want to transfer in to the local high school, didn't want to go back to living in a room shared by two but only one occupant, didn't want to get up every morning and walk past my brother's shrine just to get breakfast... I thought about going to live with my grandparents in Japan, but there were too many memories there… I didn't want to transfer to a new school, where everyone was going to easily figure out that the new kid had the same family name as the Kerberos pilot… Staying at the Garrison, the one place I didn't know Takashi even though pretty much everyone there did know him, seemed like the best decision."
To his surprise, Pidge suddenly let out a sound that was half scoff, half laugh.
"Quite the frustrating emotional roller coaster we've been on the last year and a half, huh?" They said, grinning humorlessly. "Who do you want to punch more for it, the top brass of the Garrison or Zarkon?"
"Do I have to pick just one? Because I'd very much like to punch them all." Shinji said with a small smile. "Speaking of punching, are you going to fill me in on exactly what you have planned with all this we've been doing?"
Pidge frowned.
"I'd like to, but honestly I'm a little stuck right now. I'm worried that it's not going to come out the way I hoped."
"That's not exactly answering the question." Shinji pointed out. "What are you—?"
Just then, the intercom crackled to life above their heads.
"'Ello!" Coran's voice said. "If you'd all be so kind as to come on up to the bridge, the Princess and I have some news about a recent development and new destination to share."
Pidge and Shinji exchanged a glance, then hurried towards the bridge.
The pair arrived with Lance and Lani following in right after.
"What's up?" Lance asked, bayard still in hand.
"We have discovered that a planet that was an ally of Altea all those years ago, and they're still free of Galra control." Coran explained, gesturing to Allura, who stood off to the side a bit with her arms folded over her chest. Coran reached out and pressed a button, bringing up a hologram of a planet. "This is Illeva. They wish to ally with us and happen to have some information that may be beneficial for us."
"Coran, is this really a good idea?" Shiro asked, frowning. "We just found out that someone's put a price on Allura's head. We've been spending the last week and a half wormholing from one side of the galaxy to the other. How do we know that this isn't a trap?"
"Exactly what I said." Allura said.
"Well, if they've been out of Galra control for ten thousand years, that must mean they're really great warriors, right? So good that not even Zarkon will cross them." Hunk said.
"Actually, the Illevians are actually very peaceful." Coran said.
"Sorry, Coran, I'm with Shiro, that's pretty suspicious." Keith said with a scowl. "If they've managed to avoid Galra control for so long, and with being an easy target, something's going on."
"Ah, but they haven't been a target because their planet is very unique. Unlike most planets, Illeva doesn't have a solar system or a star to orbit. See, the Ilevians make everything on their planet, including their planet!" Coran said, grinning.
"Wait, so what you're saying is that this planet is also a ship or something?" Tali said, eyes widening.
"That is precisely what I am saying." Coran said with a nod.
"That's really cool! A whole planet, run like a ship! The amount of craftsmanship that would have to go into that…" Tali said, a bit of a wistful look in her eye.
"So that's why they haven't been conquered? Because they keep moving around?" Lani asked.
"You've hit it spot on." Coran said.
"You said they make everything on their planet, but how does that work?" Shinji asked. "Don't they need raw materials like plants and metals and stuff?"
"Actually, Illeva is heavily reliant on plants. See, there are two types of Illevians." Coran said, holding up two fingers for emphasis. "There are Growers, and then there are Weavers. Growers are born with gifts to nurture plants despite the lack of traditional resources for growing plants. Weavers take the plants and turn it into anything and everything. You name it. Food, clothing, technology, furniture."
"Whoa." Hunk said. "That's pretty cool…"
"It's quite a thing to watch." Coran said.
"So, when do we meet them?" Pidge asked.
"Two diurnal cycles from now." Coran answered.
"I've still got a bad feeling about this." Shiro said.
"As much as I agree with you, Shiro, we need to ally with Illeva." Allura said with a frown. "Many of the Castle's parts are uniquely Altean, several of which have been getting harder and harder to repair over the last few months. The Illevians are the only ones in the entire universe that could possibly make replacement parts."
Allura unfolded her arms and said,
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to review the notes from the last time Altea allied with Illeva."
With that, she left the bridge.
"Wow, she really doesn't want to go to this place, huh?" Lance said in a low voice once Allura was gone.
"I'm afraid this trip, this particular planet and people, may be difficult for the Princess." Coran said, eyes still on where the doors had shut behind Allura.
"Are they difficult to negotiate with?" Lani asked.
"Stars, no. However, the last Altean who negotiated a treaty with the Illevians was Allura's mother. It was… It was also the last treaty she negotiated. The diplomatic visit to Illeva was the last Allura took with both her parents."
"And now she's returning without either of them." Keith said.