The crowd disperses and soon just us few remain. Lance, Coran, Keith, Romelle, Sven and myself with a few of the Garrison officers. The oldest officer, at least in looks comes up his body tense with anger or perhaps frustration. He stops not far from us, but close enough that Lance and Keith step between us.
"What is the meaning of this?!" he asks in a tone that is barely civil as three others come up behind him, far less threatening.
"Of what, Admiral?" I ask. I want him to say it, I will not make assumptions.
"How long has Commander Shirogone been alive?!"
"They didn't know I lived until they had defeated Lotor, Admiral. And by then, I was with Romelle and we were building a life for ourselves as we helped rebuild Pollux."
"You should be brought up on charges for abandoning your unit!"
"You try that and you'll likely lose allies, Admiral," I say in a tone I hope sounds forceful. "Something you cannot afford now. You need us. It's true we need you as well, but you need us."
"Far more than we need you," Keith adds.
The admiral bristles, but gives a slight nod of resignation. "But why change your name?" he asks, looking to Sven.
"Because I am not the same person. I was enslaved and tortured by the Drules. Romelle had it even worse. Things we have seen, have lived through. We wanted a fresh start, so I chose a new Surname for us to use together. Apart from the monotony of military life."
The man to the admiral's left nods as if he understands. The admiral shakes his head in disbelief. "I suppose what's done is done. I should see about your pension."
"No need. We can get by without it. You may need it more than us," Sven replies with a ghost of a smirk on his face.
"We need to finalize plans to send help over. Are any of you going on the next ship over?" Sven asks the Garrison men.
The Admiral nods. "Yes, I was planning to go first, Newsome on the second run, and Wallace on the third. We think you have things here well in hand."
"That's a good plan, Almiral," Coran says. "Why don't you three come with me and I'll go over our system we're using for supplies, people database and mission assignments? That way we're all using the same terminology and avoid confusion."
"That sounds like a good idea, Prime Minister. Lead the way," the admiral says. The men turn and give us a small bow before following Coran out the door behind us.
"Well, that went better than I hoped," Romelle says and we all start laughing.
"Indeed," Sven replies.
"So you all know, Romelle and Sven are being moved into your old apartment, Allura," Lance says matter-of-factly. "Coran had the staff moving your and Keith's things to the Royal Suite. He said it's better this way. You don't have time to argue. And, this way all of you are in more secure locations."
The rest of the day is busy with comings and goings of people to and from Pollux. Each arriving ship has more survivors. Which means more mods to be set up and used as dormitories. Keith and Sven make a return to Pollux, and the people there see Sven and cheer, knowing Romelle lives and that he is by her side. A symbol of hope and renewal to a war-weary people. Several moons pass and more people have returned to Pollux. Most determined to rebuild. After much discussion, it is decided to move the capital to the edge of the central mountains. The range being renamed after Bandor, ever to be known as the Mountains of Bandor. The capital is named New Heracles. The castle will be better fortified on the mountain, with parts of it built into the mountain itself. Pidge and his team have created shields that hide them from space. Even our scans are fooled. The planet appears decimated. Hopefully, this will be enough to keep Pollux from being attacked again.
Summer has come and we are all taking a much-needed break. Romelle has returned to Pollux a few times now to give input on the new castle and visit survivors. She and Sven led several memorials all over Pollux to honour the victims who were killed. Different buildings have been named after people who saved others. Today we're having a picnic at a cottage by the lake. I look out to where Keith, Sven, Lance, Pidge and Hunk are all playing some game and their laughter floats into my hearing and I can't help but smile.
"I'm glad they're finally resting," Romelle says, pulling me from my reverie.
"Yes, as I am. They certainly have earned it."
"The Garrison has been a huge help, once they stopped wanting to court-martial Sven," Romelle says laughing. "We let them establish a base and an academy and young ones are signing up to be new recruits straight out of school."
"They have done the same here. We pointedly have them away from the castle, so that we are separate. I don't want them feeling they have more influence than necessary. Keith seemed to worry about that. He said that the Garrison likes to wedge itself into the reigning politics of any place they have a base."
"Sven said much the same," Romelle replies. "He insisted the Garrison be set up the far side of the mountain, so tha-"
A shadow appears and we all look up to find the source. "What the-"
Trees start leaning as the hull of a ship appears and goes to land where we're sitting alongside the lake. Romelle and I dash into the water, diving to Blue Lion, we close the hatch and immediately, water is forced out of the lion and we're dried.
"What was that?!" Romelle asks.
"I don't know," I reply as I get into the pilot's seat of Blue."Keith?" I call over the com. I see his light activate, followed by red, then green. "Where's Hunk? And Sven?" I say.
"Hunk's with me," Pidge replies.
"Are you two alright?" Keith asks over the com.
"We're fine," I reply.
"Take Blue down and use the underwater tunnel so that you come up by the castle. We'll reconvene there. Sven's with Lance and they're diving through lava presently. Pidge is trying to get readings while using his cloaking shield to get a read on the ship. Then he'll try and get Hunk to yellow."
"Okay, we're in the tunnel. Meet in the den?"
"Copy that. Be safe," I reply as I watch us enter the tunnel below the bottom of the lake.
"What did he mean by the den?" Romelle asks as the water clears and we start forward.
"A safe place for the lions. In case of an attack, we can hide them, make repairs, whatever we need to."
"What was that ship?"
"I don't know," I reply as I say a silent prayer that no one has been hurt. "If it's from whoever attacked Pollux, they didn't fire at us, so I'm not sure." We come to the end of the tunnel and I park on my assigned pad. Immediately, Blue is connected to scan for damage as Romelle and I exit and find Keith talking to Pidge and all of them looking grim.
"What is it?" I ask, certain I don't want the answer.
Pidge turns the tablet and I feel my blood freeze. "It can't be… He's dead. We saw him die!"