Hello all, back with the second chapter! Moving things right along here with a bit of a time skip, about seven months after the end of the first chapter. Pidge gets her first bounty... I'm so proud of her, she's doing so well. I didn't rewrite this chapter half as many times as I did the first chapter, always a good thing. As always, thanks for reading, and see you next update!

cosmic dust

chapter two

pirates and rebels

Keith's default, she soon learned, seemed to be stealing from the Galra.

She realized this when his first instinct upon realizing that they needed a ship that didn't stand out as much, one with actual living spaces, was to steal one from the Galra. When they were running low on credits, what better and faster way of earning money was there than to raid a Galra ship, then turn around and sell what they'd stolen on the black market? Galra tech was always in hot demand.

At this point, she was almost one hundred percent certain that he was doing it out of pure spite. It earned him both an enormous bounty- and a reputation. There was no shortage of people eager to make contact with them, hoping to do business with them one way or another- everything from freedom fighters to black market dealers. Apparently there weren't that many people out there crazy enough to steal from a ten thousand year old intergalactic empire.

Go figure.

The other thing she quickly learned was that stick around someone who has a bounty on their head long enough, and eventually, you'll pick up one of your own.

"Wow, you're cheap."

"Not all of us can start off with seven figure bounties, Keith." Glancing up at him, Pidge frowned. She'd been out in space with him for nearly seven months, and she still hadn't gotten used to the ease with which he could sneak up on her.

"Guess you're a full fledged space pirate now." Keith observed, ruffling her hair against her squawk of protest. "I've never felt more proud in my life."

"And you're a terrible influence on mine." She joked, leaning back in her chair. "So, ready for the meeting we've got set up with the freedom fighters?"

"Not we, you." Keith told her. "You know they don't want to deal with me."

She crinkled her nose at that- she did know. If there was one thing that she had become acutely, painfully aware of during her time in space, it was that no one trusted the Galra. She couldn't deny that they had good reason for it- they'd destroyed worlds, crushed entire civilizations. But she would have thought that wouldn't have applied to ones like Keith, who were very clearly acting against the interests of the empire.

He didn't even look all that Galra.

They were tall, purple, and by and large, fuzzy- and Keith... well, he was sort of purple, in places- his ears, fingers, and no small amount of his legs. But mostly he just looked like her, the same pale tone of skin as she had. And sure, there were the yellow eyes, with their lack of pupil, but the Balmerans had eyes like that too, and nobody thought twice about them.

It all seemed so unfair, but Keith always brushed it aside without so much as blinking. She couldn't tell if he was just used to it, or if he had just resigned himself to the idea that there was nothing he could do about it.

Or worse, if he agreed with them.

"No, they actually asked for you to come this time." Pidge told him. "Said it was important."

"Must be, if they want to actually deal with me in person." He said, trying and failing to mask his own surprise. They'd hire him, sure, but not because they trusted him. "And not my liaison. So?" Draping his arms over the back of her chair, he arched a brow. "What do they want?"

"They didn't go into too many specifics, but it sounds like they want us to steal something from a Galra ship." Glancing up, her lips twisted into a frown. "Whatever it is, it's bound to be risky."

"Since when is anything we do not?" He pointed out, shrugging his shoulders. "What are they offering in exchange?"

"Sizable amount of credits." Pidge observed, bringing up the transmission. "They already sent us a down payment."

She was hoping they'd be willing to part with some information while they were at it- namely, prisoner information. The only thing she'd managed to learn about her family was that her father was apparently in some kind of a work camp, though she had no idea where he might be beyond that.

She knew nothing about what had happened to Matt- or the mission's pilot, Takashi Shirogane, for that matter. Just that wherever they were, they'd all been separated from each other.

Letting out a low whistle at the amount, Keith pulled away from her chair. With the down payment alone, they wouldn't have to worry about money for awhile. "Wow, they must be desperate for whatever this thing they want us to steal is."

"They want to meet us in person to discuss it." She told him. "I already plotted a course to the coordinates that they sent us. Looks like it's some kind of old, abandoned way station just off the moon of Hegrim. We should be there in a few hours. We can hide the ship in the shadow of the moon, and head down in Red."

"You should probably get some sleep, then." Keith observed. "I'll take over."

"You sure?" Glancing at him from around her chair, she couldn't help but frown. "Might be a trap."

Letting out a faint snort, Keith fought the urge to roll his eyes. "If it's a trap, all the better that I'm the one in the pilot seat."

Musing over this for a moment, Pidge had to admit, he was right. He'd been teaching her to be a pilot, and though she could handle their ship well enough on a day to day basis, when it came to crunch time, there was no better pilot than Keith. He seemed to fly almost by pure instinct alone, as if he'd been born to do it.

"Eh, you've got a point." Getting up from her chair, she took the chance to stretch, letting the tension wash out of her shoulders. "Wake me when we're near."

She paused then, shooting him a dirty look.

"And I don't mean with the alarm system this time, asshole."

He didn't use the alarm system this time, thank god.

Rolling half out of bed, Pidge let out a loud yawn. However much sleep she had gotten, it didn't quite feel like enough- but she'd always been slow to wake up, and apparently being in space didn't change that.

Sliding all the way out of bed, she stretched herself out. She got the feeling that today would be one of those days where time just blurred together- it was always like that when a big job rolled in. There was no time for sleep once things swung into high gear, so it was best to just get her rest whenever she could.

She didn't know what Keith did. She'd never seen him sleep on Earth, nor had she seen him sleep while they were in space. He had his own quarters on the ship, but they felt more like a storage room than an actual place to sleep.

If the bags under his eyes were any indication, he didn't get nearly enough.

She'd worry more, but it never seemed to actually impair his ability to function, so she just decided to leave well enough alone. She got the feeling it was one of those things he just didn't want to talk about.

"Right. Okay." Shaking off the last vestiges of sleep, Pidge busied herself with getting ready. Running a few fingers through her hair- it was shorter now, she'd cut it the last time someone had nearly grabbed it while she was trying to make a quick escape- deciding that it was mostly presentable, she moved on, gathering up her supplies.

She'd built herself what would pass for a stun gun on Earth- except this one was more powerful than anything you could buy there. It needed to be, considering what she found herself fighting. Low level shocks weren't enough.

She'd a blaster too- a small, pocket size one. She'd built that one too, out of pure necessity. The standard size ones ran so large! Sure, maybe it packed less of a punch than them, but at least she could carry this one, which was really all that mattered.

Besides, at least she wasn't charging into Galra ships armed with nothing but a knife, like some people she knew.

(Keith. It was Keith.)

The faint sound of a beep drew her attention to the small drone, hovering just above the little table she'd placed next to her bed. Matt's glasses were there- he'd given them to her before he'd left, and she'd kept them with her ever since. She'd been wearing them as a good luck charm, exchanging the lenses for simple glass.

"Sorry Rover," giving a rueful glance to her drone companion- she'd found it while searching the ship right after Keith had... well, liberated it from it's previous owners, and had reprogrammed it to her purposes, "...I think you're going to have to sit this meeting out."

The drone almost seemed to let out a mournful chirp, one that nearly broke her heart.

Giving the drone a quick pat, she made her way towards the bridge. Keith was right where she'd left him, barely sparing her a glance as she took her place in the seat next to him.

"Trap?" Pidge asked.

"Doesn't look like it." Keith told her. "Course, we won't know for sure until we get there."

"What's the plan if it is?" She asked.

"Same as always." Keith said, a hint of a grin on his face as he busied himself with the controls.

"So, blow the hell out of them with Red. Got it." Pidge noted. "What do you think it is they want us to steal anyways? This is way more elaborate than the usual run of the mill job."

"No idea." Keith told her. "Whatever it is, it must be something important to Zarkon."

"Maybe we're going to steal his dog." She joked.

"I think Zarkon's more of a cat person." Glancing over towards her, Keith's eyes gleamed in the low light of the cockpit. "Just look how pissed he got when I stole one from him."

"Maybe there's hope for me having a seven figure bounty yet." Pidge said.

"Trust me, it's not all it's cracked up to be." Keith told her. "You can't even go outside without some bounty hunter trying to take you down."

"Eh." Shrugging her shoulders, she couldn't help but tease him a little. "Least I don't stand out half as much as you."

"You're human." Keith pointed out. "Out here, that's rare."

That was a fair point, she was willing to admit. There were plenty of humanoid races around- but aside from Keith, she'd never really seen any aliens that looked enough like one to pass. There apparently used to be at least one race- Alteans- but those were all long gone by now, wiped out ages ago by Zarkon.

In any case, she was pretty sure that Keith was at least some percentage human. So he kind of didn't count either.

"Besides, your mom would kill me if I let your bounty get to seven figures." Keith told her, before squinting. "Or like. Nine. Is my bounty up to nine figures now?"

"Try ten." Pidge told him, arching her brows. He seemed to fluctuate between feeling proud of his own bounty and regretting everything he had ever done to lead up to it- and right now, he seemed to be in the latter camp. "I'm pretty sure you're like... Zarkon's Most Wanted."

"Fantastic." Keith grumbled. "My life's goal, realized."

"And to think, all you did was steal a giant robotic cat." Pidge chirped. "And this ship. And a fighter. And-"

"Yeah, thanks Pidge, I get it." Shooting her a look, Keith got to his feet. "C'mon. We shouldn't keep our gracious hosts waiting."

"Aw yeah, giant flying cat time." Springing out of her seat, she trailed after Keith. "You think there's like, more of them? Because I so want one."

"No idea." Keith said with a shrug. "Red hasn't said anything like that."

"Oh, so she'll tell you she has an ion cannon, but she won't tell you where she comes from." Arching her brows, Pidge grabbed a pair of com links, tossing one Keith's way, and keeping one for herself.

"Look, I don't control what she decides to share with me, okay?" Keith told her, tucking the com link away in one of his belt pouches. "She does what she does. Besides, it's more like a railgun."

"Like any cat would." Pidge said, following him into the ship's hangar.

It had taken her by surprise the first time she'd seen it- but man, did she ever love this thing now. The red lion- or Red, as Keith called her- was a thing of true beauty. What she would give for a chance to take it apart, to see how it ticked- but alas, it was not meant to be.

The idea that it was sentient was one that she found hard to swallow at first- she'd thought Keith had been joking the first time he'd told her it spoke to him. But no, he'd been completely serious- and the more time she spent around it, the more she realized that they were both dealing with something that was completely beyond their realm of understanding.

Strangely, it wasn't the least bit scary.

She just wished Red would warm up to her a little. Oh sure, she let her in and all, but she didn't let anyone other than Keith touch her controls, hiding them away if she made so much as a move for them. When she asked him about it, he'd just shrug, saying something along the lines of she chose me.

(There was always a certain element of wonder in that statement, as if he still couldn't believe it.)

"So, think we'll get a warm welcome?" Pidge asked, draping herself over the back of Keith's chair, as he prepared for launch.

"Nope."

"Weapons."

She needn't even look to know that the question- it wasn't even a question, just a demand- wasn't directed towards her. There had been a guard placed at the hangar they had been directed to land in, one of whom was now barring Keith's path with one of his hands.

"Weapons, Galra."

Mouthing what Pidge knew to be warm welcome underneath his breath, Keith let out a long sigh, moving for his knife, detaching it's sheath from his belt. "You'd better give it back when this is over." He told him, passing it to the guard. "Because I'll come get it if you don't."

The guard remained impassive, merely giving him a grunt of confirmation in reply. Passing the knife and it's sheath to one of his counterparts, he held out an expectant hand. "The rest."

Muttering underneath his breath, Keith made a face as he reached into his boot, pulling out another, smaller knife. The guard remained there, with his hand outstretched, only a slight crinkle to it's brow as Keith swore in a language it had no cause to understand. Out came another knife, from his other boot, followed by two more that he had apparently tucked into each of his sleeves.

"There." Spreading out his hands, Keith looked the very picture of exasperation. "Or do you want me to just strip?"

"That will not be necessary." The guard said, passing the gathered assortment to his counterpart. "You may collect them once the meeting is over."

"I'd better." Narrowing his eyes, Keith grumbled to himself as he caught up to Pidge, who had been watching the entire thing with a mixture of bemusement- she'd never had a chance to see that trope play out in real life before meeting Keith- and disgust, because it shouldn't even be needed in the first place.

"So," dropping her voice to a whisper, Pidge cast a glance up at him, "...should we tell him that Red would absolutely lay waste to this base if she thought you were in danger?"

A faint twitch of a grin surfaced at that. "Nah. Gotta save some surprises."

"Well, at least they let you in this time." Pidge observed. "Remember last time, when you had to wait for me in that seedy bar?"

"Yeah, I remember." Folding his arms in front of him, Keith arched his brows. "Still can't believe they made me pay for the windows. Those guys are the ones who picked a fight with me, shouldn't they pay for it?"

"Or that one time in the space mall." Pidge recounted, sighing dreamily. "We should really go back one day to bug Varkon again. I mean, he was so happy to finally have some actual space pirates in his mall for a change. Do you think Zarkon assigns the mall cops himself, or does he like, delegate that to someone else?"

"Imagine you get into Zarkon's army, but your only job is to train mall cops." Keith said.

Now that they had entered the complex proper, they both became keenly aware that this was clearly more than just a simple briefing on a job. The halls were lined with what they'd come to recognize as freedom fighters- judging from their attire, all from a variety of groups. All attention, it seemed, was turned on them- chiefly on Keith, but no small amount of them spared her a few glances.

She felt pity in them, enough to make her grit her teeth.

In the gazes that were directed towards Keith, there was everything ranging from uncertainty to downright spite- it was clear as day that regardless of how they felt, nobody actually wanted him here. His presence was being tolerated at best, presumably because they felt they had no other choice but to call on him.

Which raised questions again, as to what exactly this job entailed.

The gathering point was a meeting room- what looked to be some kind of communal dining hall back when this place was still operational. Neither of them missed the way things stilled as they entered, but for the large part, they put it out of mind. There was only one seat available, which Pidge took, leaving Keith to lounge behind it, watching the occupants with mild curiosity.

The lights were dim enough for his eyes to glow, making those gathered ill at ease. He seemed to ignore it.

"This is definitely not a small job." He muttered, causing Pidge to snort in spite of herself.

It most definitely was not a small job.

"So, let me just get this straight," lifting one hand, Keith's voice cut through the din of the meeting room, his lazy Common drawing just as much ire as the fact that he had chosen to say anything at all, "...you want us to steal something, but you don't even know what it is that you want stolen?"

The alien that they had both determined was the more or less leader of this gathering bristled at his words, their feathers raising. "Yes."

"But it's important?" Keith asked.

"Very." The alien said, straightening their already very long back. "Our intelligence indicates that whatever is on that ship, it's something that Zarkon believes can end the opposition to his reign forever."

"But the ship it's on is basically part of one of the most heavily fortified fleets in Zarkon's arsenal." Keith continued, arching a brow. "For something that's so important, you're sure not willing to risk much for it."

"There is a ship that has been tracking the fleet that will be ready to assist you, Galra. A small team will draw less attention than a full scale invasion." The alien told him simply. "And I believe that the payment we have offered you is more than worth the risk."

"Not if we die." Pidge chimed in. "Sounds a lot like you're sending us," and she did not miss the way the alien flinched at that word, as if she hadn't even considered the possibility that the Galra would not be the only one at risk here, "...out on a suicide mission."

"Sure does." Keith observed. "There's tons of other pirates out there, larger and less objectionable than me, so I gotta ask- why us?"

For a long moment, the alien held her silence, before she seemed to resign herself. "The beast in your possession. We believe it's... related to whatever's on that ship."

She wasn't telling them everything, they both sensed it right away. There was almost an undertone of you don't deserve to know this to their voice, and deeper down than that, one of you don't deserve to have this, that neither of them missed.

"What, Red?" Keith asked, blinking a little, exchanging a glance with Pidge. "You sure?"

The alien's nose- what it had of a nose, at least- seemed to crinkle at the implications of what had just been said. "Yes, I am most certain. We wish for you to fetch whatever it might be, and bring it back to us."

It had caught Keith's interest, Pidge knew. Glancing up at him, she dropped her voice, switching away from Common and back to plain English. "What do you think, Keith?"

Tilting his head in thought, Keith ignored the tension in that spread through the room as they slipped into a language that none of them understood. Even if they had the same translator nanobots as she did, they still wouldn't be able to understand- she'd had to program English into hers.

Without it, she wouldn't be able to understand a damn thing anyone said, much less communicate on her own. Keith, on the other hand, had learned both Common and Galran the old fashioned way- he'd been taught.

"If it has to do with Red, we should go for it." Keith said finally. "Who knows? Maybe we'll find you your own magical flying cat."

"Oh man, I'd love a magical flying cat." Pidge whispered. "Still, not sure it's worth the risk."

"Ship like that might have some top notch prisoner information." Keith pointed out.

"...that's-" Pidge opened and closed her mouth, mulling it over for a moment. "...that's a good point, actually."

"So, we doing this?" Keith asked.

"What the hell." Leaning back in her chair, Pidge shrugged her shoulders. If it meant getting a clue to her family's whereabouts, any risk was worth it. "Might as well."

Looking back up at the alien, Keith switched back to Common. "Guess we're in."

Turned out, getting on the ship was the easy part.

The rebels had agreed to launch brief attack on the fleet- a hit and run, designed to sow confusion, if not any real damage. If there was one more Galra fighter returning to the hangar once the brief battle was done with, nobody paid it any mind.

They weren't the only ones who had snuck aboard the ship during the firefight, they knew. The ship was just too massive to search with only two people- two rebel fighters from the ship that had been tailing the fleet had also slipped on board using the fight as a cover. They were to send out a coded signal if either group found the target, at which point, explosives would be set up to cover their exit.

Keith had just wanted to bust right in using the red lion, but that plan had been quickly rejected. The goal was to try and slip in without being noticed, and get out with whatever was being transported without notice.

To which, the rebels had been right- a small boarding party was easier to hide than a large one. The last thing they wanted was for the ship to make a jump to Central Command while they were all still on board.

If worst came to worst, Red would come for them- or well, she'd come for Keith. She'd do damn near anything for Keith.

"You ready, Pidge?"

Dimly glowing eyes flicked back in her direction- a crease of what she knew to be worry on Keith's face. He'd wanted her to stay behind, but she had fought against it. They were a team, and she couldn't just send him into the line of danger if she wasn't willing to go in there just the same.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Pidge told him, flashing him a grin. She had armor, he wouldn't let her go anywhere without it, even if he forewent most of it himself. "If we can get into their systems, we have a better chance of finding out where they're keeping... whatever it is that they've got on this ship."

"So I need to get you to a computer hub, is what you're saying." Keith said, before nodding his head. "Yeah, I think I can manage that."

"Good, because I'll need you to cover me while I hack into their systems." She told him, her gaze flickering towards the drone hovering just in front of her. "We can use Rover as an advance scout. Hopefully we'll be able to avoid the sentries."

Giving her a curt nod, Keith's eyes narrowed, and she knew that he was focusing himself on the task at hand. He could draw out a singular focus that she sometimes found herself envying, devoting the whole of himself to a mission.

"Okay." One hand resting on the hilt of his knife, Keith exhaled. "Let's go."

The layout of the ship wasn't unlike others that they had been on, only larger. Evading the sentries was made easier with Rover's help, none of them pausing to think about why the drone glowed green instead of red. It took a bit of doing, but they were able to locate the room they were looking for.

Dispatching the two sentries guarding the door couldn't be avoided, but thankfully, they managed to do it without raising any alarms. Keith dragged them both inside with them, closing the door. It wouldn't buy them much time if someone found them, but enough.

"C' mere." Grabbing his hand, Pidge hauled Keith over to the computer console, pressing it up against it. The DNA coded tech that the Galra used was fascinating to her- she'd had a chance to examine it in depth when she had reprogrammed their stolen Galra ship to only allow the two of them to access it, but was also a system that was clearly designed with the idea of absolute loyalty in mind.

It did not factor in Galra like Keith, who, if given the chance, would stab Zarkon right in his face, consequences be damned.

(That wasn't an exaggeration. She was pretty sure he would.)

"Geez, Pidge, all you have to do is ask." His tone was in good humor, but it did nothing to disguise the layer of discomfort underneath it. It was enough to make her remember that he wasn't exactly fond of being touched.

"Sorry." Her apology was quick- time didn't afford them anything more.

"Alright, I'm in. I should be able to find out where they're keeping this thing." Switching gears back to the mission, Pidge hummed to herself. "And with any luck, maybe what the hell it's supposed to be."

"Counting on you." Keith told her, keeping his gaze trained on the door.

After the span of a few moments, his fingers twitched, muscles tensing. Free hand reaching for his knife, he narrowed his eyes. "Someone's coming."

"Sentries?" She asked, her gaze flitting in his direction.

"No. Footsteps are wrong." Keith muttered, dropping his voice. Now even she could hear the slight commotion outside of the door- and just a few scant seconds later, it slid open.

Drawing his knife, Keith braced himself for whoever it was that was coming inside- before freezing, the tension seeming to wash out of his shoulders. Turning her head to face the intruders- and she didn't miss the irony of calling them that, when they were just as much intruders as them- she felt her own shoulders slump.

Not sentries, or Galra. Rebels.

The other pair, she guessed. Based on the masks they wore, they were probably a group from the borderlands. One held an arm from one of the sentries, they'd probably been using it to access the entry scanners. From the look of it, they'd had the same idea she did- what were the odds?

"If you'll just give me a tick, I'm close to extracting the information we need." Pidge told them, watching out of the corner of her eye as Keith sheathed his knife. The two rebels seemed to relax somewhat, but she didn't miss the way one of them perked at the sound of her voice.

"...Katie?"

She froze.

Fingers halting, Pidge slowly turned her head. She hadn't expected to hear that name in space. It was muffled by the mask, but she knew that voice- she'd know it anywhere. Heart pounding in her chest, she slowly turned herself all the way around, wondering if it could be possible, if it could really be true.

One of the two figures reached up, pulling of their mask- revealing a face that she'd know anywhere, even if his hair had gotten shaggier, even if he didn't have that scar on his cheek before.

No wonder they'd had the same idea.

"...Matt?"