Hello everybody. A new chapter for you is ready. I don't know, if I have created a fitting reaction from Pidge at Ronan's action, but I hope so.
!WARNING! Description of a heavy scar in this chapter and reference of torture.
Ronan tells Acxa and the team more about his past. I wish all of you a lot of fun with this new chapter.
Scars
It was an awful quiet way to the meeting room. Like promised, Veronica had fetched up Ronan at his quarter, but her former idea was to ask him one or two questions about his past. But Acxa was now at her side as well and so this thick silence was hanging between them, as they walked through the corridors of the ship. Acxa was at her right side, Ronan at her left and both seemed to do everything to avoid the look of the other. Veronica remembered Jessy's warning look, as the door had opened. The kids must have returned from their trip through the Atlas with Hunk and Lance only minutes before they had come to the quarter to fetch up Ronan. The man was obviously in a somber mood. With this dark clouds above their heads they reached the meeting room. She gave Acxa a kiss.
"Give me an update, when you're finished."
She turned to Ronan, took a deep breath and offered him her hand. He looked at her with a little surprise.
"I don't know, what Acxa's rescue has meant for you, but for me it means everything."
Acxa noticed, that she was struggling heavy with her feelings but she also new, that nothing would stop her from this next step. Veronica were trembling, but her hand stayed offered between them and her eyes tried to burn holes in his skull. She added on aspect.
"Ask her, what war has taken from her."
Seconds passed and Ronan kept focused on Veronicas look. But then he took her hand and shook it. Veronica release a deep breath of relief.
"I will."
He lifted his head and faced Acxa's look. It seemed, that this conversation has only put more weight on his shoulders. But also Acxa felt visibly uncomfortable. Veronica didn't cared about that. She nodded at Ronan and left both at the door.
"She doesn't have told anyone, that we might have a duel, yet. But she will do so, if necessary."
Ronans voice was stoic. Acxa chewed on her cheek. He was right. But Acxa wasn't sure, when her red line would be reached.
"She protects what she loves."
She recognized the tortured flicker in his eye, but to her surprise he simply nodded.
"I won't blame her for that. Neither should you." He hesitated a moment but then he sighed and faced Acxa's look. "You'll learn more about me within this meeting. Let's see, how you'll handle it."
Acxa nodded back. She opened the door and both entered the meeting room.
It was a long meeting. All Paladins were present and Ronan was giving a detailed report. How the Galras had started their attack on the colony. How he and Freyda had managed to use an old crystal mine and gathered equipment from Hades to transform this mine into a proper hide. How they had found the children and how they had cared for them. How they had stolen supplies from the Galras and how he had hacked the com-system to create the hidden signal and to track down enemy forces. The team listened to his report with shock and astonishment. Sometimes Shiro asked some further questions about some details, but most of the time they only listened. Acxa was slipping around on her seat. She had a lot of burning questions, but she wouldn't want to ask them here. But Shiro dared.
"Thank you, for this report. It has lightened up some dark places about the Galran presence on this planet. But I still have some questions."
Ronan nodded at him. Acxa noticed, that he seemed to be nervous but also satisfied, that the Commander had some further questions.
"I didn't expected anything less. Go ahead."
Shiro smiled thankful.
"The bombs, you have mentioned. Freyda said, that this is a new kind of weapon system. Due to your report I have to agree. They seemed to be much more powerful."
Ronan's face darkened but he nodded in approval.
"Not really new, but improved. More stabilized. Fueled by raw quintessence."
He turned his head to Acxa and all the other members did the same. She had to focus not to start shaking. This wouldn't be pleasant.
"He's right. Haggar had used this kind of bombs about six years ago, first. But she discarded there further development. They weren't stable enough for a save use. We have lost a lot of troops and equipment due to these instable weapons."
She felt Ronan's burning look but she tried to focus on the table. The visions of the blazing attack flashed through her mind.
"But why haven't we heard from these weapons before? I mean, we must have some reports of this first use somewhere."
Pidge's voice was full of worries, but her face felt at Acxa's response.
"Because there were no survivors left, who could tell you the story."
A collective shocked gasp was released by the team. Only Ronan was facing her with a burning look. The Galra had crossed her arms before her chest, still facing the plate of the table, but her knuckles turned white by squeezing her arms. She had never felt so lonely before.
"It was on Tantalus, Lotor was ordered to break the resistance, but the colony was big and fought well. Haggar lost her patiences and ordered him to use her newest technology to crush them. It worked, but with horrible result. The bombs made the colony burn for five days. The uncontrollable power didn't spared friend or foe in this moment. We lost many troops in the firestorm, we had caused, because it spread out, like it was almost alive. It burned with such a rage and hate. More than half of our bombers exploded long before they reached their targets, because the bombs weren't stable. Nearly all our big ships got damaged and we lost a whole cruiser to our own new weapons."
She had closed her eyes during her report, but she still felt the looks on her. The shock and the sadness. And in Ronan's case the loathing. She could feel it crawling up her spine. He was there.
"Lotor was shocked and mad about it. He had a big quarrel with his mother about it and after that he had left the planet with me and the rest of his Generals. Other Commanders have taken his place and have finished the harvest. I was sure, that no one would have survived this storm,..."
She looked up and faced Ronan. His face was hard as stone.
"...but your scars tell me, that you have stood strong in the eye of the storm and that you have survived Tantalus."
The heads turned to Ronan. Shock and surprise was on every single one of them, while they observed the staring contest, the man and the Galra had started. Finally Ronan turned his head down with a bitter smile and a sarcastic snort.
"Scars. War has taught me different, General. They doesn't show your courage. They only tell you, what war has taken from you."
He looked up again, sharing a look with every member of the team and finally turned back to Acxa. She got nervous, but kept controlled.
"You're right. I was on Tantalus. I was there, as purple fire consumed the colony and every poor man, woman or child, who was trapped in the city. I hear the screams every night. I have seen a flaming death walking through this inferno, demanding lives, no matter if it was human or Galra. I have seen, what you have brought to me, General, my scars can tell you the story of the pain, I have to feel every single moment from this day on."
He placed a hand on his bionic eye and twisted it, so that the implant unlocked. Terror and disgust came to Acxa's face. She barely recognized the tortured shouts and screams from the others. As soon as the implant was out of power by the twist, a former unnoticed holo-field collapsed. It uncovered the shocking truth of the left side of Ronans face. He put out the bionic eye to give all of them a full view on the face. Almost the whole left face was a dimpled and wrinkled burning mark. The skin had an unhealthy flaming red color. His ear was gone. At some places parts of the jawbone were to been seen and his cheek had some holes in it. His nose was almost missing and so many parts of his former lips. It was to been seen, that what was left of nose and lips was rebuild by a lot of surgeries. Tears were in his remaining eye as he stood up to come as close as possible to Acxa to give her a detailed view on his face.
"So tell me, General. What did my scars tells you what war has taken from me?"
Acxa turned away in shame and disgust. She noticed, that Pidge was standing up and leaving the room with haste, her hands pressed before her mouth. The dead silence in the room was almost choking. For the first time no one was sure, what to say. Ronan walked back to his chair and put his implant back at his place. The holo-field got back to work, covering the heavy scars, leaving the illusion of some nearly vanished burning marks. Ronan's voice turned back to the controlled level, he had used during his report, but Acxa noticed that his left thumb was heavily rubbing the fingertips of the other four fingers.
"The fact, that the fire was out of control helped me to escape the inferno. The Galran forces had to retreat from their own firestorm. I collapsed outside of the city and AMRASU found me and saved my life. He did best he could with my face and thanks to him I was able to use this Galran implant for my own purpose. Due to obvious reasons I have customized it to maintain this little holo-field. I managed to leave the planet with AMRASU as Lotor retreated with his forces. So I ended on Hades, where I helped to fight of the Galran troops."
"Only to see, that the humans there weren't better."
Ronan's eye widened in surprise. Lance was still breathing heavily but has turned to Ronan with a shocked face. But grief and bitterness was in it as well. Ronan nodded at him.
"Correct. I had started to handle things… different after I left Tantalus."
"You mean, that you have started to bury Galran soldiers, if possible."
Ronan nodded at Allura's quote and continued his explanation.
"This had caused troubles, but I was a great help, so it was tolerated until I found out about Freyda and what they had done to her. I ordered them to stop immediately, they only laughed at me and tried to shut my mouth. None of them is laughing anymore."
He wiped away a tear and sighed.
"I am sick of it. So sick of it all. I'm..."
He struggled with his words. He had reached his limit for today. He slammed his fist on the meeting table and observed his trembling hand. But Acxa wanted to know one last thing for today.
"You've showed the highest respect for your enemy. Why?"
Her shaky voice sounded weak and empty. He focused on her again and a flicker of grief rushed over his face. But his eye was burning with determination.
"They have also someone, who's crying for them. Who's missing them. I have seen it on Tantalus. War is taking from all of us. How should this all stops, when there is no sign of respect for each other?"
He stood up and closed the distance between himself and Acxa. An hateful glitter was in his eye.
"I don't blame them. I don't blame Galras in general. I blame the Generals and their leaders. The minds behind this madness. That's the difference."
Acxa was breathing hard. She felt the weight of his pain pushing her down. Now she understood and he noticed this fact. He nodded and walked to the door. The shocked team was watching him getting closer to the panel. No one said a word. He was about to open the door, when a still pale Pidge opened it from outside. She did a scared gasp and winced in surprise. Ronan gave her a tired look and took a step aside to let her in. The young Paladin rushed inside the room.
"If you're planning to strike down the facility ship, then you'll need more information. I have added all the files, I could get from the systems down on the planet at my report. But there is still a great lack of detail. I couldn't risk to draw too much attention, when we were on our own. But now things are different. If you want my help down on the planet, then I'll do my best to assist you. Haggar must be stopped. These weapons must be destroyed."
He turned back and faced the team. Keith was the first, who got his breath back.
"Thank you, Ronan. We accept your help."
The man nodded at him and left the room.
All of the team stared still in shock and sadness at each other. Pidge was the first, who dared to speak again.
"This is horrible."
Her voice was teary. She shared questioning looks with the others, but within time all eyes remained on Acxa. The Galran had closed her eyes. Her lip was quivering. She was about to cry and this worried the team. They had expected, that she would leave the room, before showing such emotions in front of them, but the woman seemed to be frozen on her chair.
She was trembling and it seemed, that the whole weight of this mess started to crush down on her. She remembered Tantalus. She had nearly escaped the flames as well this day. She had seen, what this bombs had done. But she had once discarded it as a necessary evil. So much guilt, so much pain. She now understood his demand of revenge. And due to Freyda's hint, she knew now, how much deeper this cut had to be. And she didn't knew, how to fix this. Suddenly she felt arms wrapped around her. She opened her eyes in surprise and she looked in the teary eyes of Allura. The Altean gave her a comforting nod and hugged her tight again. Acxa hesitated a moment, but then she returned her hug. She felt her tears coming to her eyes and suddenly Pidge hugged both and then Lance and Hunk, followed by Keith and Shiro.
"We know, that your past has a lot of dark sides. But we have accepted you as one of the team. You're not alone with this. We're all here to help you through this."
Allura's voice was warm and comforting. They stayed in this group hug for a while until all of them took seat again. Everyone was wiping away one tear or another. Keith was the first, who got back to a serious look. He faced Acxa.
"He has a problem with you. Now we understand, why. This will mean trouble. Correct me, if I'm wrong, Acxa."
The Galra took a deep breath. It was still her business, but she trusted them.
"Maybe. But not for now." She hesitated a moment to search for the right words. "We're working on a solution."
Keith raised an eyebrow. Lance and Hunk shared looks between Keith and Acxa, but Allura's face got an alarmed expression.
"Freyda. Is this solution linked with her message from the treatment room?"
Acxa sighed again. She was sure, that it was better to tell them a bit more, but not all.
"Yes. It was a demand to clean air."
"Freyda had phrased it quite different. She had called it a warning."
Pidge sounded worried. She had noticed, that the Galra was holding back something. Acxa felt uncomfortable. It was something highly personal, for Ronan and for her and she wouldn't pull the other into this situation. But staying quite wasn't an option as well.
"Correct. It was a warning, that I have to face consequences, if I had ignored his demand, but I haven't. I'll meet him within the next days. Until we have found a final solution, both sides have accepted to cause no problems for each other. It's about honor and after all I have heard and seen from him, I'm absolute sure, that he would respect the terms. And so do I"
She shared a burning look with everyone.
"But this is my business, not yours."
She stood up and started to leave the room, as Hunk made her stop. He had placed a hand on her shoulder and turned her around. He looked deeply worried.
"You said, maybe. What if you two couldn't find a solution?"
He kept facing her look until she closed her eyes and turned her head aside.
"Trust me. There will be a solution."
She wanted to walk away, but Hunk tightened his grip around her shoulders. She watched at him in surprise and slight anger. But her anger faded as she recognized the grief in his face.
"That's the problem, Acxa. I totally trust you in this case. We all do."
He hugged her for a goodbye.
"We won't push you for now, but please, let us help to find a way, before you choose a path on your own, we couldn't accept."
He squeezed her a bit.
"We're worried about you, Acxa."
Her eyes got a thankful glitter, when Hunk released her out of his hug. She shared a shy smile with the members of the team. The others were smiling back and Keith and Allura nodded in approval. Acxa sighed and finally left the room.
Shiro turned to Keith with a serious look.
"Could you ask your mother about this demand?"
Keith closed his eyes and nodded.
"I will. But if we're right about what we all seem to fear, then I'm not sure, if she would support our intention to interfere. Honor is a touchy subject for Galras."
Shiro nodded, but his face showed determination.
"Nevertheless we have to try. I understand both, but I won't let the situation escalate. And I will do all I must to protect both from doing doing something stupid."
Keith nodded and also the others got a determinant look. They wouldn't let them hurt each other more.