Pidge stretched her hands over her head and curled her toes. She rolled her shoulders and pulled her headphones down to rest around her neck. The chatter from the wire bug they'd slipped onto Tretok faded to mumbling babble. Not like she was missing much. All the galra ever talked about was how much they hated being stuck on a 'primitive colony' or how angry their emperor was about some weapon that seemed to be hidden from him.

Ryan shifted his head from one shoulder to the other with a bored exhale. He had his eyes shut and his arms folded over his chest. He'd crossed one leg over his knee, his foot tapping the air to keep himself awake. Pidge smirked and leaned back in her chair. "Your admirer is something of a gossip."

"Hmm," Ryan moaned without changing anything about how he sat.

Pidge pressed, "Seems he's worried about something back home."

"Mmm hmm."

Pidge rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Why don't you ever rise when I bait you?"

"Because it's so obvious," Ryan admitted. He groaned and rolled his neck. Leaning forward, he rubbed his face with a hand and inhaled through his nose. He stifled a yawn and asked, "Is our watch over? Tretok should be heading to bed soon, so we aren't going to get anything else tonight."

"Ah," Pidge cooed, "you do care."

Ryan shrugged. "As far as galra go, he's actually pretty nice. And he keeps a tight schedule. Makes spying for new intel very convenient."

Pidge shamelessly yawned and stretched again. "I suppose. If you want to head to bed, I can handle records for the day."

Ryan didn't try to hide a second yawn. "You sure?"

"It's nothing. Communications is much more my thing than your's. I know how hard it is for you not to drift off."

"Mmm hmm," Ryan said again. Standing, he started toward the door. "Don't stay up too late. See you in the music room."

"You'll probably be asleep before I get back, so good night."

"I'm serious," Ryan insisted.

"I know," Pidge replied while sliding her headphones back on. For the last six hours, she'd listed timestamps for any conversation that seemed relevant to their operation. She wound back the audio to listen to the chatter again and wrote down what she deemed interesting. Halfway through the task, hands touched her shoulders. She jumped, yanking her headphones down, and exclaimed, "I thought you left!"

Someone giggled, but it wasn't Ryan's voice. Large hands rubbed her arms and Hunk's face appeared over her shoulder. He pressed his cheek to her's and said, "Ryan been in the music room for over an hour. I came to see what was keeping you. Big day on the radio?"

"More of the same, really," Pidge said. She looked at the clock on the wall and saw it was close to one AM. "Damn. Time flies."

Hunk chuckled again and sat on the edge of the desk. Picking up the notebook with one hand, he flipped through the latest entries. "Man, whatever this voltron thing is, it's got the galra chatty."

"It's weird. When we first started eavesdropping, they spoke so casually, but now..."

"You think they're afraid of the voltron wha-cha-call-it?" Hunk turned the page and held up the notebook. Pidge had drawn a figure of what she imagined the weapon looked like based on how the galra had described it. Humanoid arms held a sword and shield and guns hovered all around.

She reached for the notebook and held it to her chest. Pulling her legs up on the chair, she hugged her knees and shrugged. "I'm glad if they are, but it makes me nervous. We hardly know anything about who the galra are or why they came here. And it's such a big universe. We can't be the only ones who hate the empire. What if there's something we could do to help?"

Hunk leaned forward. "What do you mean?"

Pidge made herself as small as she could and whispered conspiratorially, "I think someone's targeting the galra hierarchy."

"Like... conflicting political parties or some other aliens entirely?"

Pidge bit her lip in excitement and tried to keep calm. "Ok, I know this will be a bit off the wall, but hear me out."

Hunk grinned and scooted closer. "Oh, this is one of those theories."

Pidge scoffed and rolled her eyes, but didn't deny it. "I haven't actually told anyone yet, but I have a working theory." She paused for dramatic affect and held up her hands. "Assassins."

Hunk used his foot to pull the other chair closer and shifted from the desk to it. Rolling his shoulders and shaking out his hands, he took a deep breath and said, "Okay, I'm ready. Fill me in."

Pidge scooted her own chair closer and flipped to a different page. "Apparently, the galra have a cafeteria of their own and people gossip and talk about a lot of things. I've been hearing all these little bits and snippets of conversation happening in the background whenever Tretok goes to lunch." She reached for a second notebook and placed it on an open page of the first one and paged again. "Most of it has nothing to do with us. Over time though, I've noticed slight shifts in tone."

She located the entry she wanted and passed the second notebook to Hunk to read. "They talk about something called 'mar-mora' the way we talk about urban legends and superstitions."

Hunk scanned the page and flipped to the next. "There's a lot of entries here... and more people are speaking in every conversation. Any idea how this marjoram stuff plays into the assassins?"

Pidge lifted the first notebook and pointed to a diagram. "It's practically exponential how many new galra talk about this mystery thing every day. Ships go dark only to show up months later way off course with no signs of the crew. Galra officers miss appointments with their superiors only to be found dead." Pidge rubbed her arm nervously. "At first, I thought it was only ghost stories to pass the time. Then I heard this conversation."

She turned to the computer and pulled up the folder titled 'secrets'. A couple dozen files were all labeled with a word or two about what they contained. She scanned until she found the file named 'black box' and clicked it. The audio clip started playing at low volume and she paused it.

"Here. You'll need these." Hunk took the headset she offered as she lifted one ear piece of her own to listen. She watched for his signal and let it play. He furrowed his brow in concentration as the quiet dialogue faded in and out.

"Are you sure?"

"Shh! Do you want everyone to hear you!"

The first person lowered their voice and said, "I know... but are you sure? Are they really behind what happened to Sendak's cruiser?"

A third person whispered, "Forget that bastard, did you hear about Ranveig's base?"

The second person replied, "It can't be a coincidence. First Sendak and Prorok, then Ranveig? Three of the emperor's favorite commanders died due to mysterious circumstances and officer error within pheobs of finding the blue lion. If you ask me, those lions are cursed."

"And no evidence. Both cruisers exploded and no one's reported the black box... assuming anyone found it. Unless the emperor's inquisitors are keeping it quiet because it's them. Both boxes malfunctioning on top of everything else is too much." Chairs scraped on the floor and the speaker finished, "I don't know if it's those fanatics or not... but watch your backs. They're cold hearted. Just because we're low ranking doesn't mean they won't slit your throat."

The audio clip ended and Pidge rubbed her arm with a full body shiver. No matter how many times she listened to it, she still got chills. She took the headset off and draped it over the monitor. That was enough for tonight. Turning to Hunk, she asked, "What do you think?"

Hunk stared at nothing while rubbing his chin. "We've heard those names before."

"That's what I thought, but I can't place where," Pidge said. "I've poured over so many hours of footage trying to-"

"Katie," Hunk interrupted. She focused on his face and saw a shimmer in his eyes. He wiped his hand over his mouth and leaned forward, taking one of her hands in both of his. "Katie," he said again, "those galra were the ones who took your mom. I... I think they were on that ship."

Pidge gasped and tried to pull away. He didn't release her hand, forcing her to face the facts. She shook her head. "No... that..."

Hunk closed his eyes, face and body contorting in on himself with pain. "Katie, I... I'm sorry. God, I- oh god, Lance..." His hands shook around her's.

Pidge realized she had started crying when she couldn't breathe. She forced herself to inhale, gasping between sobs. She stood. To move away from the computer or Hunk's revelation, she didn't know. Then she saw his shoulders shaking. He'd curled inward, silent in response. "Hunk?"

He only lifted her hand to his chest. In a small voice, he fearfully asked, "Katie, what do we tell the others?"

She froze. Her entire body felt cold and the blood drained from her face. "We... we can't tell them."

Hunk lifted his head and looked at her, confusion and grief mixing unequally. "They were their friends too, Pidge. They deserve to know the truth."

Pidge closed the distance between them and rested her other hand on his shoulder. "I know," she sobbed, "but what do we tell them? We don't even know what happened."

Hunk used one hand to keep her's on his chest, but wrapped his other arm around her back, pulling her closer. He rested his forehead against her sternum, shaking with silent tears. Pidge folded herself over him and ran her hand through his hair. "Ohana, Hunk. We won't forget them. Remember?"

Hunk whined low in his throat and whispered back, "Ohana."

Pidge curled up where she lay. A hard gym mat made a semi-comfortable mattress on the bottom of the shelf they'd put up. Since it was colder below ground, the cadets kept extra blankets for the later watches. They were all piled on top of her and she was warm, but she could have been warmer.

She sat up and stretched, running a hand through her long hair. She still felt terrible. Dehydration left her with a bad taste in her mouth and her eyes were dry and scratchy. By the time they'd both stopped crying, dawn was closer than midnight and they'd decided to stay in the bunker than return to the music room. Sleeping together, she noticed she had woken up alone, but she wasn't alone in the room.

Tapping on a keyboard and a flashing blue screen alerted her to Hunk's undivided attention on the monitor. She crawled out from the bottom shelf and wrapped the thickest blanket around her shoulders. A glance at the clock showed eight in the morning. Pidge wrapped her arms around Hunk's neck from behind, sheltering him with her blanket, and asked, "How long have you been awake?"

Hunk shifted out from under her with a pained grunt. "Uh... four hours, maybe?"

Pidge raised an eyebrow. "Did you sleep at all?"

"A bit. Then my back started seizing up. I don't know if I moved wrong or what, but I couldn't lie down any longer without a dull pain." He finally stopped what he was doing to sit back. He rubbed her hands on his chest and said, "I know it's probably a dead end to keep looking through these files, but there's something bothering me." He pulled her around and she sat across his lap. With one arm wrapped behind her back, he held out the notebook and said, "Do you remember right before we were taken from the garrison? How many galra were there?"

Pidge looked at the notebook and read the notes Hunk had made. "I'm not sure. There were, um, five?"

"I thought there were six. That medic and the lieutenant were first. Then the woman with Keith. Then that dead commander and two others. A man and woman."

"The medic was named Ulaz," Pidge said in sudden confidence. "His friend, I can't remember his name, said he was under one of those dead commanders. I remember how weird they were about Keith. And the first woman, Krolia. Sendak had been so creepy toward her. I think she said she was a transfer from Ranveig?"

Hunk nodded in firm agreement. "Right. That's another connection."

"Another?" Pidge turned to look at the computer and saw a strange timeline that started from the moment the invasion began to the audio files she'd saved last night. "What have you been working on?"

Hunk put down the notebook and reached around Pidge to type. "You said the assassins are taking down hierarchy. Which that clip you first showed me confirmed. So, I've been trying to figure out how it all correlates. I organized the audio in order with everything that's happened to us. Thanks, by the way. I didn't know if I was reaching for shadows about that woman, Krolia." Hunk pulled up the audio folder beside the timeline. "The ghost stories say that time passes between when someone went quiet and when they were found dead. What if... what if Krolia is the one who killed Renveig?"

Pidge hugged the blanket around herself and shrugged. "The other lieutenants did seem to listen to her even though she was lower on the totem pole." There was more logic behind the theory he'd built on her own, but after last night, she wasn't ready to believe they had a reason to hope. "Hunk, even if she did, why would she or any of the assassins care about my mom or our teammates? Why take them at all if they were only going to kill everyone on board?"

"Why did they have such an interest in Keith?" Hunk countered, "Why did they bother vaccinating us when there isn't a single other person we've met who went through the same process?" He hugged Pidge and said, "You said it yourself, we don't know what happened. I know how much it hurts, but I don't want to give up yet."

Pidge closed her eyes. "I... I get it. How can I help?"

Hunk kissed her cheek. "Just keep being you. We'll figure this out together."

Pidge smiled wearily and leaned into his chest. Then the door opened and Rizavi called, "There you are! We've been looking for you guys everywhere. If you wanted privacy, all you had to do was ask."

Hunk groaned and Pidge sighed. Their eyes met. If only the others knew the truth.

A few days later, Pidge took supper onto the roof for the night patrol. Canned beans and corned beef sandwiches. It might not be much, but it was hot and at least the bread was home made. She found the other patrols first, leaving Hunk for last. He sat on the west wall soaking up the last rays of sunlight.

"Hey."

Hunk smiled over his shoulder. "Oh hey, Pidge. That for me?"

Pidge held up the lunch tray. "Yeah. Made it myself."

"Really?" Hunk raised an eyebrow with a disbelieving smirk.

Pidge shook her head and admitted, "No. I wouldn't know what to do with half the stuff the parents scavenge from town." Hunk took the tray and settled it on the brickwork beside him. Pidge sat on his other side and swung her legs off the roof. "Sanda approved my request and put me back on com watch. I start in the morning."

Hunk lifted the top piece of bread and started scooping spoonfuls of baked beans onto the sandwich. "I asked James if I can go with the expedition tomorrow."

Pidge scowled into her lap. "They're going to Eastbirch, right?"

"Yeah," Hunk said and took a bite to avoid talking for a few seconds.

Pidge's stomach twisted in painful knots. Eastbirch was almost sixty miles away. Twenty miles beyond the furthest they'd gone. Further because they'd avoided traveling above ground at all costs. "The old war tunnels only go as far as Riverside."

"I know."

She let him finish eating, though she was too nauseous to even think of food. The sun vanished over the horizon, lighting up the distant hills and the edge of the desert with a golden hue. It was beautiful. She couldn't appreciate the scenery.

Hunk's hand slid into her's and squeezed. "We're going to be careful, okay?" Pidge nodded, not trusting her voice. Hunk said, "I know neither of us joined the garrison to be soldiers, but... I can't ignore this opportunity because of that." He chuckled nervously and repeated in self amazement, "I'm an engineer that happens to know how to fly a fighter jet."

Pidge smiled grudgingly, but the tightness in her chest didn't fade. "You're right. They'll need your skill set."

"We'll only be gone for three days."

"As long as nothing goes wrong," Pidge whispered. She instantly hated herself. She squeezed her eyes shut. How could she say that when everyone was already so anxious? Hunk's hand left her's before wrapping around her waist. He pulled her to his side. She leaned her head on his shoulder and asked, "Will you wake me up before you leave?"

"Of course," Hunk reassured as though to do otherwise never crossed his mind. "I'm coming home to you, Katie. Three days. Three days and we'll be right back here eating whatever canned food the cafeteria can scramble together."

Katie's lip quivered and she mustered the courage to meet his eyes. "Promise?"

"Promise," Hunk whispered and leaned forward, angling toward her lips. His eyes drifted closed.

She wasn't surprised this time and reached up to rest a hand on his shoulder. Her eyes shut as his lips touched her's. Home. He didn't mean the physical place. They'd lived here at the school for almost two years, but that didn't make it home. While Hunk and the others were gone, the school would feel hollow. She wouldn't be home without them.

Pidge settled back, separating their chests by inches. Taking a deep breath, she slowly opened her eyes and met Hunk's mellow honey brown gaze. "I'm going to miss you."

Hunk's lips twitched in a nervous smile and he reached up to brush her hair behind her ear. "The feeling's mutual." Then he pulled her to his chest again and she wrapped her arm around his neck. He held her tight and muttered close to her ear, "This is going to suck ass."

Pidge snorted even as tears stung her eyes. "I know. God, I almost hate James for this."

Hunk gently rubbed the small of her back for another minute and squeezed her a final time. "I should get back to patrol."

Pidge nodded against his shoulder. "Yeah. I have some stuff to take care of too." She didn't want to go... but she did. She stood and collected Hunk's lunch tray and the trays from the other watchmen and returned inside.

The room was lit by the blue screen of the monitor. Her eyes had adjusted to the low lighting and she sat in her little space in the bunker. The team had left for Eastbirch three hours ago leaving her drained for so early in the morning. They should have reached the tram by now, but Sanda kept the response team here close. Closer than Katie had access to at the moment. She pulled the blankets tighter around her shoulders and crossed her legs.

The baby mice explored the cardboard house she and Hunk had made for them. She smiled and tucked her chin to her chest. "I knew you two would love it." One, the smaller girl, came toward her voice and hopped onto her leg. Pidge reached out. The mouse flinched, but didn't move away. "You guys are really starting to trust people, huh."

The door opened, throwing bright light into the room. Katie winced and covered her eyes while the mouse squeaked in alarm and bolted for cover. The cardboard house shifted with the mices' movement and Pidge complained, "We were having a bonding moment, Veronica."

"Sure," Veronica answered as she strode to her chair. She took one of the burritos on her plate and bit into it. She muttered around her mouthful, "Breakfast."

Pidge grudgingly crawled out from the bottom shelf and put the mice in the reptile tank she'd scavenged from the biology room. "Behave," she instructed sternly. She joined Veronica and started eating.

Veronica scolded, "You should wash your hands after handling them." Pidge shot her a look and Veronica waved her free hand. "Whatever, just a suggestion. Anything happen before I arrived?"

Pidge chewed and swallowed a painfully large bite. Reaching for her water bottle, she gulped to clear her throat and said, "No. I scanned through records from the last week, too." She slid the notebook to Veronica and continued, "The antenna's been picking up some weird interference for a couple days. We were able to trace it off planet. Rick thinks it's coming from a galra ship and said to ignore it. As frequent as it happens, it's probably the alien equivalent of an automatic door."

Veronica 'hmmphed' humorlessly and finished her food. Pidge glanced at the clock. 7:30. Right on cue, there was a dull creak followed by the sound of fabric brushing over the tiny microphone. Pidge hit record and put her headphones on. A few seconds later, Veronica followed suit. They sat in focused silence. Every now and then, they'd share a look. She or Veronica might pencil out a word or two on a piece of paper and Pidge would make a note of the time. Hours passed.

The first time the interference happened, Pidge didn't even notice. Veronica had slapped her arm just to point it out. Pidge made a note. The second and third time, she felt a slight curiosity toward the low pulse. By the tenth and eleventh repetition, she'd become annoyed. Nearly too low for the human ear, it seemed to grind against her eardrum more with every new occurrence.

Even Veronica grew bothered as her pencil eraser tapped increasingly more frequently. An hour before their shift was done, she ripped off her headset and screamed, "That's it! I can't take it anymore!" and stormed out of the bunker.

Pidge glared, but she knew one of them had to finish the night. When she'd finally shut down the com room and pocketed the sleeping mice, she went to find Veronica. The music room was empty apart from the junior class. Pidge looked out the window overlooking the playground and sighed. A few minutes later, she crunched her way across the pea gravel toward the swing-set. The full moon cast its light on them where Pidge leaned against the pole and Veronica gently swayed where she sat.

"Sorry to bail like that."

Pidge pushed off the pole and sat on the swing beside her. Pushing with her feet, she slowly swung back and forth. "Want to talk about it?" Veronica shot her a patronizing look and Pidge defended, "Hey, I know how to handle brothers, not sisters. I'm totally guessing here."

Veronica rolled her eyes and sighed. Facing forward, she kicked harder and started to swing properly. "You're not doing that badly."

Pidge smiled and dug a toe into the pea gravel. "It's really pretty out tonight. Do you think Iverson will let them appreciate the stars?"

"I'd hope not," Veronica replied. "They're safer if they sleep in the tunnels."

Pidge frowned and squeezed the chains of the swing in her fists. "I'm worried about them too, you know." Veronica ignored her and kicked harder making the entire swing set vibrate. Pidge let her swing in silence for a few minutes before she pointed out, "Your pendant is gone."

That finally got through. Veronica stopped kicking and let herself slow down before dragging her feet to stop. She was breathing harder than necessary and admitted, "I gave it to Nadia. She needs it more than I do."

"Lance had the same one, right?" Katie broached hesitantly. Veronica glared at her, tears in her eyes. Then she stood and stomped toward the school. Pidge bit her lip feeling ashamed and embarrassed. She gently began to swing and chastised, "Good one, Cadet Holt. Another fly in the fruit punch."

The next morning, Pidge walked into the com room to find Veronica already set up and waiting. She winced and silently walked to her own chair. Veronica wordlessly pushed the tray with Pidge's breakfast toward her and stared intently at the notebook. Pidge didn't make eye contact and started eating without tasting any of it. Halfway through, she sighed and pushed it away. "Can we talk?"

Veronica glared over the edge of the notebook and looked away. Pidge leaned back and said, "Look, I'm sorry, but I don't want to have this awkward silence between us for the next four days. Can we just... pretend last night never happened or whatever?"

Veronica raised an eyebrow and considered. A minute later, she put the book down and said, "Yeah. That's probably best. The team will return tomorrow night and we'll both be back to normal."

Pidge bit her lip. Probabilities were a big if. But if Veronica was willing to move on then she'd accept it. So she finished eating and got ready for the day's recording.

Like clockwork, the interference returned. Around eleven, Veronica complained, "That's really getting on my nerves. Can you figure out what's causing it and block it or something?"

Pidge pulled up the sound graph and lifted one headphone off to hear. "Um... maybe." The interference chose that moment to stop and they both sighed in relief. "No wonder Rick was so eager to swap with me. That's really just the worst. Hand me the notebook. If I can predict the next time it happens, I'll see what I can do."

Veronica gladly passed her the notebook and she made a chart of every time the interference had happened over the last three days. It took only a few minutes to notice the pattern and she whispered, "It really is like clockwork. Almost every hour at the same interval all day for five days now. I wonder if it did that while we slept, too."

Veronica groaned, "I don't care as long as you can make it stop."

Pidge smirked and said to help kindle their truce, "I'll do what I can."

She calculated the next repetition to nearly the second. Feeling proud of herself, she opened a second audio save and took a recording. Thirty seconds. A pause. And then another fifteen seconds. Done. She waited an extra minute to make sure, then said, "Keep watching the normal feed. I'm going to work on this. We should have about 72 minutes before the next round."

"Roger."

Katie put her headphones back on and set to the task of isolating the low frequency and trying to pin the source. Like Rick had said, the origin pointed to space. She did some quick math and calculated the exact position somewhere near Pluto's ice moon, Kerberos. She cleaned up the interference, altering it so that it wasn't so painful to listen to, and let it play while she finished locating it. She'd just started trying to find a way to block it when she noticed something new.

Slowly, she reached up and pressed the headphones tighter to her head. Confusion made her sit back and tilt her head. Veronica's attention flitted from her screen to Pidge a couple times before she pushed her headphones up and asked, "What is it?"

Pidge licked her lips and swallowed nervously. "Um... listen to this and tell me what you think?"

Veronica raised an eyebrow, but slid her chair over and took the headphones. Pidge replayed the audio once, watching her reaction. On the repeat, Veronica tapped the desk and Pidge knew she'd heard it too. She asked to be sure, "Does that sound like Morse code to you?"

Veronica held up a finger and kept tapping. Then she made a circular motion which Pidge interpreted to mean make it repeat. She put it on infinite loop as Veronica reached for the pen and resumed tapping. On the third repeat, she wrote down letters. It took a final time to double check it before she dropped the pen from her shaking hand and passed the headphones back to Pidge. Veronica took a couple deep breaths to stop herself from hyperventilating and said, "I'm going to get the admiral."

Veronica sprinted from the room, leaving Pidge with a cryptic message. She put the headphones back on and played it, reading the message to confirm with her own ears. 'Hello, friend.'

She hadn't moved when Veronica returned with Sanda. The admiral shut the door and locked it. Pidge wrung her clammy hands and glanced over her shoulder. "Did you tell her?"

Veronica nodded rapidly and stood with her hands on the back of Pidge's chair. Sanda pulled the second chair over and reached for the headset. "May I?"

Pidge gratefully handed it over, glad someone had taken charge. The audio still looped as Sanda held one earpiece to listen and picked up the piece of paper. Frowning, she set both on the desk and asked, "Are we sure this isn't bait? The galra could be trying to lure out any survivors."

Pidge looked over her shoulder to Veronica and said, "We located the source." Veronica gave her a pointed look and Pidge corrected, "I located the source and it's coming from Kerberos. If it were the galra, why would it be so far away?"

Sanda put a gloved hand to her chin and furrowed her brow in silent consideration. She stayed cool and collected. Calm despite the two girls in the room. Pidge silently thanked her experience to keep her head in intense situations. At last, Sanda said, "This signal, it's been repeating for days. Can we tap into it and listen in without letting them know we've heard them?"

Pidge and Veronica met gazes and she shrugged. "Probably? If I can invert the signal, sure. But," she checked the timer, "We've only got about ten minutes to figure it out before the next sending."

Sanda said without hesitation. "Do it." She relinquished her chair and Veronica sat and rolled to her own computer.

Pidge and Veronica typed fast knowing time was of the essence. The programming was easy. Letting the computers process that programming took precious minutes. The signal had started when Pidge said triumphantly, "I have it!"

She hit enter and a man's voice said, "... ain of the vessel designated Charlie Oscar Tango Lima hailing unknown frequency located at approximately 31 degrees North, 100 degrees West. We hear your mayday and are ready to respond. Again, this is Lance McClain of the vessel designated Charlie Oscar Tango Lima hailing unknown base." Then the pause. His voice grew palpably weary as he ended, "We will continue hailing your channel every varga for the next five quintants before assuming the base has been abandoned. Lance McClain-"

"Shit! Shit! Respond! Quickly!" Veronica said as she rolled her chair over.

Pidge's fingers stuttered into motion and she struck enter as she stammered into the microphone, "This is Rebel Base One, we read you loud and clear Charlie Oscar Tango Lima. Over." Her hands were shaking when she looked at Sanda to see if she'd made the right choice. Sanda's eyes were wide and she covered her mouth with a hand.

There was silence on the other end before a slight gasp and they heard Lance say at a distance, "Allura! Allura, I have them! They heard us!" He let out a whoop in excitement and then said on mic, "Greetings and salutations, Rebel Base One. And can I say it is wonderful to hear your voice. To whom am I speaking? Over."

Pidge licked her dry lips and looked to Sanda who nodded. Her voice quivered as she responded, "This is Katie Holt of the Galaxy Garrison. Lance? Is it really you?"

"Pidge! Oh my god, Pidgey!" Lance shouted off mic, "Get the fuck in here, Matt! It's your sister!"

Pidge covered her mouth, surprised tears tracking down her cheeks. Sanda's hand gently squeezed her shoulder and she looked back to see Sanda write on the notebook. 'Confirm it's him' with two lines beneath it. Katie wiped at her face and said slightly stronger, "Pidge to operator of Charlie Oscar Tango Lima, can you confirm your identity? Over."

"Oh," Lance said in realization. "Uh, roger that Rebel Base. How should I do so... over?" His question dragged out with his growing confusion.

Veronica reached up to her headset and said, "This is Communications Officer Veronica McClain. If this really is Lance... tell me what we did on the way to the airport when your acceptance letter from the garrison arrived. Over."

"Veronica?" Lance's voice trembled. "I... um..." He whined nervously and said, "That day, uh, mama asked me to check on the hen-house. I guess I'd forgotten we were flying out that day. The letter had included credit for the flight to Fort Worth. When I came back to the house, everyone was waiting. We hugged and... and said our goodbyes. Then you took my luggage to the car and mama held my hand. She walked me to the end of the sidewalk and gave me my pendant, the same one you wear. I couldn't hold it together anymore. I cried.

"Mama gave me a final kiss on the forehead and then you and I got in the car. You drove and drove and then we stopped at the beach. We stood there for a while before we sat on the trunk of the car. You told me," Lance's voice wavered and he sniffled, "you said that you were proud of your little duckling and that I followed in your footsteps to join the Galaxy Garrison."

Lance took a deep breath and went on, "That was my nickname growing up because I'd be right behind you wherever you went. You said you used to hate when I did that. Then you said that I could go to you for anything. When I had a bad day in class or my roomates got on my nerves... when the homesickness became too bad, I could crash in your room and you wouldn't judge. I didn't take you up on that offer then," Lance's voice broke and he said through a sob, "but I want to now, Veronica. I've had enough of space. I want to come home."

"Lance, do you need me to take over?" A woman's voice spoke in a strangely off British accent. Concern filled every breath of her words.

"No, no, I've got this," Lance reassured her again off mic. He blew his nose and cleared his throat in the distance.

A man with an Australian-ish accent said somewhere in the room, "Princess, shall I contact Command?"

Pidge took the break to look to Veronica. She was crying too. Sanda reached out and pulled Veronica into a hug. Pidge wiped at her eyes again. Hunk had been right. Lance was alive and her brother was with him. Her voice cracked as she asked, "Lance, is Keith with you? My mom and dad?"

Lance cleared his throat again and said, "Not presently, but they're safe. We're a little out of range at the moment ourselves, however, I can have Command at your location within vargas."

"Please clarify, McClain. How long?" Sanda asked off mic.

"Oh shit!"

Sanda raised an eyebrow. "Watch your language, cadet."

"Yes, ma'am. Uh," Lance said off mic, "Coran, where is Command at the moment?"

"Command is at the ruins of the coliseum. Red team has currently infiltrated the galra base there to tap local intel. They've gone dark, but Command will extract them if need be."

"Negative, Coran. They can finish what they're doing first." Lance said back on mic, "Command is a bit tied up in Houston. They are scheduled to rendezvous with Red Team within the hour and then it's about twenty minutes to your location. I can give you a head's up when they get closer."

Sanda took the mic off the table and said, "Negative, McClain. We are under heavy observation. There is no way to infiltrate the base without a guide."

"All respect, Admiral, we'll be coming through the front doors with or without approval. We've been away long enough."

Pidge raised an eyebrow at Lance's confidence. What happened to the boy she knew to bring about that change? She asked hopefully, "Can you put my brother on?"

The only answer was a strange shuffling and then a familiar voice said, "Hi, Katie."

"Matt... I missed you."

Matt chuckled under his breath and replied, "I missed you too, sis. Has Aunt Ellen been taking care of you and the other cadets?"

"The general, too." Pidge cradled her face between her thumbs and index fingers and said, "I wish they were here to hear this."

"Did something happen? Is everyone alright?"

The alarm in Matt's voice made Pidge say, "No, yeah, they're alright. General Iverson is leading a mission a short ways away. They should be back tomorrow evening, but until then, we're keeping contact to a minimum."

There was a noise behind her and Pidge looked over her shoulder. The corner of the admiral's lips quirked down for a moment and she looked away to Veronica's screen. Pidge stared at her aunt waiting. Then Sanda played with the cuff of her right glove, a nervous habit she shared with her sister when she worried.

"...idge? Katie, you there?"

Pidge answered, "I'm still listening. Please hold." Matt sputtered in her ear as she pushed one headphone up to ask, "The team is still in radio contact... right, Admiral?"

Veronica glanced sideways at Pidge and looked at Sanda. "Ma'am?"

Sanda's expression tightened and she said, "We haven't been able to raise them on radio since last night."

Pidge stopped breathing and the room fell deathly silent. Then Matt said in take charge form, "Katie, put the Admiral on. Lance, Allura, to your stations." Pidge hooked up a third headset and passed it to Sanda. Five seconds later, Matt said, "We're all set on our end. Fill us in, Admiral."

Sanda's eyebrow lifted in surprise at her nephew's authoritative tone. "At approximately 0500 hours yesterday, General Iverson led Cadet Griffin's squad on an exploratory mission to Eastbirch. Their route was clear and they informed us where and when they made camp. That was yesterday at 2138 hours and the last contact we had."

"What were their coordinates?" Matt asked.

Sanda recited the numbers and Pidge pulled them up on her own monitor. Matt said, "Lance, can you-"

"Already on it," Lance cut him off. "Blue, I need a time lapse of that quadrant from the last 40 vargas. Princess, let Command know we will likely be performing a rescue op."

"Princess?" Veronica slurred, "Really, Lance? There are so many better nicknames."

"Quiet, V," Sanda rebuked. "Cadet Holt."

"Yes, ma'am," Pidge and Matt both answered.

Sanda groaned and put her fingers to her temples. "Matthew, I'll have Pidge patch you through to Griffin's squad."

"That won't be necessary, Admiral," Matt denied. "I've isolated the wavelength you're using and have already begun scanning for a similar pattern. Our people on the ground will be able to contact them directly. Is there any other intel you can give us?"

Sanda went on to describe the terrain and answer Matt's questions as they arose. Pidge heard Lance say in the background, "Redtail for Red Leader. Over. Copy. We managed to contact the base, but they're between a rock and a hard place. Blue's picked up a drastic increase in galra patrols in..." He faded out and then came back in with, "Affirmative. You're close. Matt's trying to locate them now. We'll know in dobosches. No, you're right, Blue and I should stay here."

"Pidge!"

Pidge jumped at Veronica's voice and looked over to see her staring intently at her screen. Pidge focused and saw the sound graph bouncing harder than it had all week. She flipped the audio back to Tretok's wire and heard the low mechanical hum of a vehicle.

Veronica interrupted Matt's interrogation to say, "Holt, if your people can reach our people, the sooner the better. We just had confirmation from enemy live-feed that they are pursuing a disturbance in the general direction of our team."

"Quiznack."

"Princess!"

Pidge felt a mix of confusion and anxiety settle in her gut and asked, "Is there anything I can do from here, Matt?"

"Stay on the line, Pidge. We'll get our friends out of danger together."

I'm so happy with this chapter. Review? Please?