Hello all, it's time for the new chapter! This is usually around the time when I mention that I'll be taking a brief hiatus from fic writing when season eight comes out, at least until I've watched it all. But hopefully I'll get the next chapter of desert raised out before that, at the very least! But anyways, here's this chapter! Shit is going down, and I personally, find it to be glorious.

cosmic dust

chapter twenty eight

fall of the castle of lions

Keith kept his gaze rooted to the floor as they advanced through the Castle. He trailed behind the group, only periodically looking up to study the two Galra that had arrived. They claimed to be part of some group called the Blade of Marmora, and ever since he'd heard that, he'd been burning with questions.

He had a blade. One that had been left for him by his mother. It was his only link to her, and now he was faced with the very real prospect that she was a Galran rebel. After so long wondering about his mother's identity, dreading the answers, it was like a light at the end of the tunnel.

But part of him felt like it was too good to be true. This just wasn't how life worked out for him. Whenever something looked good, it usually wasn't, and even when it was, it still didn't work out.

He bit his lip. Maybe that was changing. Pidge knew what he was now, and she had still accepted him- and while they hadn't exactly had any time to discuss it, nobody was making an effort to cast him out of the Castle, or try to take Red away from him. Maybe for once, it was perfectly fine to hope.

But then, he'd thought that too, back when Shiro had come into his life. Life had proved otherwise.

He wanted to ask about his mom, but there were other, more pressing things to deal with at the moment. He could probably ask Thace and Ulaz later, see if they knew anything.

He didn't know what he would do with the information even if they had it. He didn't even know if he wanted to see his mother. Not after she'd left his father. Not after she'd left him.

"Ah, princess!" Coran greeted them as they arrived on the bridge, only looking mildly surprise at the presence of the two Galra. "I see you've brought our guests."

Allura gave the advisor a smile. "Yes. These are Thace and Ulaz."

"Always a pleasure to meet rebels." Coran remarked, sticking out his hand. "The name's Coran. Ship's engineer and mechanic."

After a brief moment of contemplation, Thace grasped it by the forearm, a gesture which Coran didn't hesitate to return. "It is our pleasure."

Pleasantries exchanged, Thace released Coran's forearm, turning back to the princess, whose gaze had never truly left the Galra. Keith could sense that she was still somewhat wary- which he couldn't exactly blame her for. If Thace hadn't rescued him, he'd be pretty skeptical too.

It wasn't like he'd never met any Galra who weren't with the Empire. He had. But most of them were only interested in looking out for themselves- pirates and outlaws. Not any actual rebels- not that he had any room to talk. Before Voltron, he'd fallen into that same category. Maybe he'd stole stuff from the Galra Empire, but in the end, he was only looking for two things- a payday and revenge.

Guess when nobody in the universe trusted you, the most you could do was get by.

"I suppose you have questions." Thace stated.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Allura told him. "Quite a few, in fact."

"I will try and answer whatever I can." Thace told her. "Though I am afraid that there are some things we cannot disclose to you. Our visit here was not exactly authorized by our leader."

"He will come around." Ulaz said.

Frowning, Keith took a seat in the red paladin's chair. Even with two Galra on the bridge, he felt more out of place than ever. Sure, maybe no one was in a hurry to chase him out of here, but having his confession interrupted like that just made him feel like everything was still up in the air- that anything could happen.

It wasn't an easy feeling.

But he was trying to think positive. Trying being the key word.

Allura caught his gaze, her lips briefly curling into a frown. He tensed without meaning to- what she had said before was still bothering him. He hadn't exactly forgotten the bombshell that Ulaz had dropped either- how could Haggar be Altean?

It didn't make any sense. Zarkon had destroyed Altea. Why would one be working for him?

Thankfully, Allura's gaze didn't remain on him for long. He let out a faint sigh of relief as she looked away, only to tense again, realizing that she wasn't the only one who was watching him. Glancing in their direction, he frowned. Lance had been glaring at him back in the hangar too, so maybe not everyone was as welcoming of him as Pidge.

He tried to ignore it. Focus on the Blades.

"Keith tells me that you helped him escape from Central Command." Allura remarked. "Is that true?"

"Yes." Thace told her. "We knew that Haggar had to be stopped. Her research was too dangerous."

He couldn't agree more.

Allura's eyes narrowed at that. "Keith told us she was trying to create something called the komar. Do you know if she succeeded?"

"It is still being tested." Ulaz replied. "We do not know if she has been successful yet. Now that Thace and I have compromised our covers, we have no one on the inside with access to Central Command, or to Haggar."

"Compromised?" Pidge asked. "So if Thace blew his cover by freeing Keith, how did you blow yours?"

Something clicked in Keith's mind. "Shiro's arm."

He hadn't meant to say that out loud, but he must have, because everyone turned to look at him. "Shiro's arm." He repeated, sensing he had no choice but to explain. "It suddenly shut down during our fight."

"I had an inkling that your red paladin was unlikely to turn himself over to Haggar without a fight." Ulaz explained. "So under the cover of doing routine maintenance, I rigged the Champion's arm to automatically power down after a fixed amount of time."

Keith grit his teeth at that. The Champion. Ulaz had called him that before, and he hated it.

The worst part was, he couldn't even deny it. Shiro right now wasn't Shiro- he was this Champion, loyal servant sworn to the Galra Empire. But that was only because he had been manipulated into thinking he was. He didn't know what Haggar had done to him, but it was clear that he didn't even remember being Shiro, but that didn't mean the Shiro he'd known was gone.

There had to be a way to get him back. That was the whole reason that Ulaz was here.

"In that case, I suppose we owe you our thanks." Allura stated.

"Yeah, Keith was in pretty rough shape when he came back." Hunk remarked, and there was a genuine concern to his voice that touched him- and took him by surprise. "So... thanks."

He knew what Hunk was implying. That he might not have made it back if Shiro's arm hadn't powered down. He couldn't even deny it- it was obvious he had been losing that fight. A few more minutes, and he might have not made it back.

He shuddered at the thought. Sure, being together with Shiro again sounded great, just not like that. Maybe she'd erased or suppressed their bond in order to make Shiro comply, but he didn't doubt that Haggar would reverse that decision if it suited her own purposes.

It made him sick to just think about it.

"We couldn't let Haggar get her hands on your red paladin, not again." Ulaz observed. "And while he remains under her command, the Champion would continue to remain a prominent threat. Getting him away from her and returning him to normal was a priority."

"Can we, though?" Hunk asked, sounding hesitant. And honestly? Keith didn't blame him. He'd seen what he had. "I mean... he seemed pretty out of it when I saw him."

"He didn't even recognize me." Matt added.

"That is why we are here." Ulaz stated. "I believe that it is possible."

"Yeah, you said that." Keith spoke up. "You also said that you needed Allura for it."

"I... will admit, the revelation that Haggar is Altean is shocking," Allura began, and he sensed that was an understatement, because he knew it was for him, "-but I am afraid that I am not the alchemist my father was, nor even as Honerva once was."

Ulaz's brow crinkled. "Have you received no training?"

"Only the most basic of teachings." Allura admitted. "But perhaps if you could tell us exactly what it is Haggar has done to him, I may be able to work something out."

"I mean... you did come up with a way to track down the green lion without the Castle." Pidge pointed out. "Maybe you could improvise something with Shiro."

"Yes, you're right." Allura said, though she didn't sound convinced. "Though I cannot help but worry that I might accidentally make the situation worse."

"I don't see how you could, princess." Keith said. "He's already been brainwashed into thinking he's loyal to the Zarkon. What could be worse than that?"

Even if Shiro were to completely lose his memories, it would still be better than letting him be Haggar's brainwashed puppet. He could take Shiro forgetting about him. He didn't think he could handle having to fight against him again. He'd barely managed it this time.

Allura frowned, but relented. "Yes, I suppose you're right."

"In any case, we should take a look at this information." Coran chimed in. "See if there's anything we can do to help in the meantime."

Ulaz nodded, retrieving a data chip from underneath one of his claws. He couldn't help looking at them- they made his own look like finely trimmed nails in comparison. Suddenly he felt a little less self-conscious about them- guess they could be worse.

"This is everything I was able to retrieve." Ulaz stated, passing the data chip to the princess, who accepted it with no small degree of caution, as if some part of her still feared it might be a tiny explosive.

"You got anything about mullet on there?" Lance asked.

He bristled at the question, fighting the urge to growl. He couldn't tell if he had just imagined the suspicion in the blue paladin's tone or not, but maybe he had. Even with the affirmation he'd gotten from Pidge, he still couldn't shake the foreboding feeling of paranoia that insistently clung to him.

"Mullet?" Ulaz asked with a frown.

"He means Keith." Pidge cut in, narrowing her eyes. "And why would we need data on him anyways? Keith's not the problem."

Lance just sulked, but said nothing in response. Oh. Maybe he hadn't imagined that suspicion, then. Which was... fair, he guessed. He couldn't blame him for not trusting him. If anything, that reaction actually made more sense to him.

"Oh," Ulaz merely blinked, "-then no, I do not."

"Pity," Allura frowned, and for a second, he almost felt his heart stop, "-perhaps I could have used it to help."

And at that, Keith felt the tension leave his shoulders, staring at the princess dumbfounded. Help? Had she actually been thinking about how to help him?

He shook his head. Of course she had. As long as he was the red paladin, his ability would prove to be a liability to the team. Of course she would want to try and fix him as quickly as possible- it wasn't for his sake, but for Voltron's. That was fine. He was okay with that. Whatever the reason, if there was a way to actually fix him, then he wanted to take it.

"Look," Matt spoke, catching his gaze and giving him what he swore was a sympathetic smile, "-let's just focus on Shiro for now. Princess, what does the data say?"

"Let me check." Allura stated. "Hunk, do you mind if I use your console?"

"Help yourself." Hunk told her.

She gave the yellow paladin a grateful smile, taking a seat in his chair. Inserting the data chip, she brought up a monitor, her brow furrowing as she gave its contents a cursory scan. He shifted a bit in his chair, tempted to go over and look- if it was about Shiro, he wanted to know.

Except for the part of him that didn't. He knew all too well what Haggar was capable of, and he didn't want to think about the methods she might have used to twist Shiro's mind.

"There seems to be some form of Altean alchemy involved, but I have never-" Allura began, only to stop short, as the monitor suddenly flickered, before disappearing completely.

"What on-"

The proximity alarm gave made one burst of sound, before it, and everything else on the bridge, shut down at once, plunging the room into near darkness. There wasn't even the faint light of the Balmeran crystal to-

Crystal. The crystal was down.

Keith paled.

The sound of the Castle powering down without explanation sent a chill down her spine. Frantically looking towards Coran, he looked just as ashen as she.

She forced herself to breathe. Don't panic, Allura.

"What has happened?" Allura inquired, rising to her feet.

"I don't know, princess." Coran admitted. "It's like something shut down the crystal matrix. Nothing is responding."

"How do we know it's not their fault?" Lance asked, jerking his head over towards the Blades, and she could have sworn that he was itching to draw his bayard. "The whole thing only shut down after you put that weird chip thingy of theirs into the system."

"I assure you, this was not because of us." Thace stated.

Allura frowned. Part of her wanted to jump at that explanation, but she doubted they were lying to her. Whatever had caused the Castle to shut down, it had nothing to do with the Blades. It had to be something else.

"Did anyone else hear the proximity alarm go off just before the Castle died?" Matt asked.

Right, of course. Now that she thought about it, she had heard it. She'd just filed it away in the back of her mind. "I did. Do you think something external could be causing this?"

"Uh... you don't think that creepy witch lady could have tracked us?" Hunk ventured. "Do you?"

Allura furrowed her brow, looking towards Ulaz. "You worked for her."

Ulaz considered the question. "It is not impossible. Haggar is adept at tracking."

Tracking. Allura narrowed her eyes. "The wormhole. Of course. She must have tracked it."

If she were truly Altean, she could not put it past her. Especially if this Haggar was actually Honerva, whose skills as an alchemist were second only to those of her father's.

"Now that I think about it, she did say something kind of weird in her message." Pidge chimed in. "When she gave us the deadline for the exchange, she told us we had until sundown. I didn't think about it at the time, but doesn't that mean she at least knew we were on a planet?"

"Yeah, and that she knew when sundown was?" Hunk added.

"She must." Allura agreed, cursing herself for not realizing sooner. "But how did she-?"

Before she could finish asking that, a loud noise caught her ears. It sounded like something falling over.

Or someone.

"Wha- Keith!" Pidge called out, hurrying to the red paladin's side. He had fallen out of his chair, one hand clutched over his heart, clawing at his armor in a vain attempt to get it off. "Keith, what's wrong?"

She might have missed it before, but now she realized that the air had seemingly changed around him. It was not the same wrongness that had nearly overcome her when the red lion had landed, but rather, the exact opposite- the distorted feeling that Keith gave off had ebbed.

She could only assume that was actually not a good thing.

"Move aside." Allura demanded, crouching down beside Keith. He made a faint grunt, as if he were attempting to say something, but Allura ignored it in favor of hauling him into a sitting position, bracing him against the red paladin's chair. Pidge hovered by his side, one hand on his shoulder, as if to prevent him from falling over in the other direction.

"I am going to remove your armor." Allura stated.

Keith grunted, and she took that as acknowledgment. Tearing off his chest plate, she yanked down his undersuit, biting the inside of her lip at what she saw.

The runes no longer glowed. They shouldn't have in the first place, but the fact that they were not doing so now could not be good.

"Crystal," Keith grunted, struggling with his words, "-fused."

That seemed to be all he could manage, but suddenly, she understood. With a cold chill, it dawned on her that in order to give him the ability to drain quintessence, that Haggar would have had to install some kind of filter, so that his body could process foreign quintessence, and convert it into his own.

And what would be better for that than a Balmeran crystal? One fused to the heart, not less.

She wanted to gag.

Fortunately, horrible as the circumstances were, Keith's words seemed to spark something in Ulaz. She didn't even notice that he was by her side until he was already there, and in spite of her desire to try and trust them, she felt herself tense, breath hitching in her throat. Keith was defenseless like this, and she was not about to allow any of her paladins get hurt.

But she released her tension, moving aside so that Ulaz could get a closer look. He traced the runes with a light finger, painstakingly careful not to tear into him with his claws.

"Haggar was working on something," Ulaz began, "-a weapon that could send out a wavelength that could disrupt Balmeran crystals. She must have completed it."

"So what, like an EMP?" Pidge asked.

"Close enough." Ulaz observed. "It must be what she used to shut down the Castle."

Allura felt herself pale. If this weapon disrupted the energy of Balmeran crystals, and there was one fused to the heart of her red paladin, what would it do to him?

"Okay, we need to think." Matt said, but it was clear from the sound of his voice that he was considerably anxious. "There has to be a ship or something close by that's the cause of this. That's what set off the proximity alarm. If we can take that out, we can restore power back to the ship."

"I agree, but there might be a small problem with that." Coran said. "All of our pods use crystals too."

"What about our ship?" Pidge suggested. "Wouldn't that work?"

"No." Keith hissed, his breaths sounding awfully labored.

Right. Of course. Both the one on their stolen Galran transport ship, and the one in... well, Keith's chest, had to be Galra crystals. If this... EMP was effecting Keith, it was liable to effect his ship's crystal as well.

"What about the lions?" Lance asked. "Could we use-?"

He didn't get to finish, because the ship was suddenly rocked by something. Maybe the Castle was offline, but there were still windows on the bridge, so Allura instead used those- and sure enough, it was just as they feared. They were already surrounded by a wave of Galra fighters.

Even worse, they might not have anything to defend themselves with.

"We cannot use the lions." Allura stated. "They should all be locked in their bays."

"So what can we do?" Pidge asked. "We can't just sit here and do nothing while they attack us."

"We can use my ship." Thace stated. "It is not powered by a crystal, so it should still be usable. Once onboard, I will be able to locate and deactivate the source of the disruption."

Allura looked up at him, making a quick assessment of his offer. She was still not one hundred percent certain that these Blades could be trusted, but at the moment, they were also her best option. She had to take the chance.

"Take Keith with you." Allura finally said. Perhaps if they got him out of range, he might recover. "As long as he stays here, I fear he will remain in danger."

Keith grunted, like he wanted to say something, but she didn't think it was a protest.

"Wait, hold up," Lance piped up, "-so we're just going to let the Galra leave with Keith? You know, the person the freaky witch wanted? That doesn't sound like a great plan."

Fair enough. Perhaps some prudence was called for. "Very well. You shall go with them, Lance."

"Wha- me?!" Lance sputtered. "No, I-"

"If you do not think you can..." Allura trailed off.

Lance snapped his mouth shut. That did it. "I'll go."

"Good." Allura nodded her head, grunting as another shot shook the Castle. She got the awful feeling that whoever was attacking was toying with them, and she didn't like it. "Pidge? Do you think you can install the cloaking device you used on the pod onto Thace's ship?"

"I," Pidge began, sounding hesitant, before glancing down at Keith, determination washing over her features, "-I should."

"Then come with me, green paladin." Thace stated. "We have no time to waste."

Pidge made haste to leave with Thace, who scooped Keith up with such ease that it practically made the red paladin seem almost boneless, Lance trailing behind them. Now that they had some form of plan, she felt a little more at ease, but she couldn't relax just yet.

"We still need to do something about those fighters." Coran said. "Without the particle barrier, we're defenseless."

"How can we?" Allura asked. "Without the lions, we are defenseless."

As if to illustrate, one of the fighters helpfully fired another shot. She grunted, gritting her teeth as she stood tall, refusing to waver even as the ship buckled underneath her very feet.

"Wait, I can," Matt began, frantically digging into one of his pouches, producing his transmitter, "-I can contact the rebels. Maybe they can get someone back here."

"Do it." Allura instructed. She did not know if they would make it in time, but it was better than the alternative.

"Princess, I hate to say it, but there's one other problem we haven't yet addressed." Coran said- to which she could only frown. "The Castle has lost all power."

Well... yes. She knew that. It was what they had been discussing for the past few doboshes. That was the reason they couldn't-

...oh. Oh dear.

How could she not have realized? Of course, Coran was right- there was one major problem they had all overlooked. Without power, there would be nothing keeping the cryopods functioning.

"Shiro's pod," Allura said out loud, "-it will have lost power."

Matt froze. "Wait... his pod? Are you sure? Because you were-"

"I'm afraid it's not that simple, Number One." Coran cut him off. "The princess' pod was set to power itself, that's why it could last as long as it did. But the pods on the Castle are dependent on the Castle's own power- they don't have that function, I'm afraid, at least, not without setting them manually, they don't."

"Oh man, this is bad." Hunk said, looking over his shoulder like he expected Shiro to arrive any second. "Please tell me you set the pod manually."

"I'm afraid not." Coran admitted.

"So... what?" Matt asked. "Shiro's lose in the Castle?"

"Even worse," Ulaz said, "-the Champion."

Matt merely grimaced, no doubt recalling his own encounter with this Champion. "Okay, yeah. That's bad."

"His arm should still be powered down." Ulaz supplied.

"Okay, so, no laser beams. Got it." Hunk said. "That's helpful. But uh... I'm pretty sure we can't just let him run around the Castle, can we?"

"No." Allura agreed. "Nor can we let him escape."

Keith had been willing to sacrifice so much for a chance to bring him back. They could not fail him, nor could they put all his efforts to waste.

"I'll go." Matt said. "I don't know if it'll help, since he didn't recognize me the last time, but we did use to know each other. Maybe that'll spark something."

"I will come with you." Allura said.

"Wha- you, princess?" Coran asked.

"Yes." Allura stated, resolute. "I cannot just stand by and do nothing. Matt, I do not suppose you have a spare staff?"

They had some on the training deck, but with the Castle's power offline, she wouldn't be able to get one.

"Sure do." Matt told her, reaching into his pouch and pulling one out, tossing it to her.

She wasted no time in extending it, tapping the butt against the ground. Good. She could more than work with this. "Coran, stay here and guard the bridge with Hunk. Ulaz-"

She opened her mouth, and then quickly closed it. If she were to err in her judgement, the cost could be tremendous. But she couldn't afford to hesitate, not with the stakes so high. Drawing in a long breath, she squared her shoulders, finding her resolve.

"There is something I need you to protect."

"Okay," Pidge began, taking a step back, "-that should do it."

At least, she hoped it would. She'd expected the tech on Thace's ship to be like the Galra tech she had worked with in the past, but it had been nothing like it. It was leaps beyond- but thankfully, while it had been a sharp learning curve, she'd been determined to overcome it. In the end, she had made quick work of it- faster even than when she had installed it in the Altean pod, prompted by a sense of urgency.

Thace checked the controls for himself, confirming that the cloaking device was safely in place. "This is quite clever, green paladin."

"Yeah, well," in spite of herself, Pidge glowed a bit at the praise, "-I'm pretty good at this sort of thing."

A soft laugh caught her ears- and she nearly felt relieved to hear it. Keith was slumped over in one corner of the ship, paladin armor fixed back into place, but he was looking at her. He caught her gaze, giving her a weak smile- one that dropped off his face almost immediately.

God, she hoped Allura was right.

The princess had likely realized something she hadn't. All she knew was that whatever this EMP device was, its signal was causing Keith pain, and that was enough for her.

"So we're ready to fly this baby?" Lance asked.

Narrowing her eyes, Pidge glared at him. She hadn't forgotten how suspicious Lance had sounded back on the bridge- not just of the Blades, but of Keith as well. She wasn't sure if she was comfortable letting him go with Keith- or Thace, who she had already decided she could put her trust in.

Anyone who had risked as much as he had to save Keith couldn't be a bad person. And she'd be a massive hypocrite for doubting him just because he was Galra.

Thace, for his part, merely arched a brow at the figure of speech. "She should be ready to fly, yes."

"Good," Lance said, nodding at the screen Thace had brought up, "-and at least we know what we're dealing with now."

A single Galra cruiser. Pidge frowned. It could be the witch's ship, but she wasn't sure. It looked different- though granted, she hadn't exactly been paying much attention to the ship's structure, other than to locate the infiltration point.

Still, the fact that there was only a single cruiser bothered her. Something about this whole situation stunk, but with Keith in the condition he was in, she didn't have the time to think about it. She just had to do.

If something stunk, she could deal with it later.

"I should tell Allura." Pidge said. "Good luck."

Keith grunted in reply. Lance probably said something, but she was still mad at him, so she kind of tuned him out. She wanted to go with them, but she knew she might be needed here- besides, if getting Keith away from the Castle of Lions helped alleviate his symptoms, then they would have three people in fighting condition, and not just two.

And she was going to take a wild guess that Thace was probably a lot better at infiltrating Galra ships than either of them were. Maybe she should ask him for some tips, you know, in case this whole paladin thing didn't work out.

"Take care of yourself, green paladin." Thace told her.

She blinked- then smiled, giving the Galra a nod. See? She knew she was right. Definitely not a bad dude.

"You too."

His head was pounding when he woke, and for a dobosh, he could not understand why.

Then it came back.

Clenching his fist- his left, as his right would not move, in spite of his persistent prompting- the Champion grit his teeth, taking note of his surroundings. He must have been brought back to the Castle of Lions- though the Castle appeared darkened, and he could not make out the steady hum of power being supplied.

Standing tall, he quickly came to a conclusion- that Haggar must be attempting to extract him. It had been his own carelessness that had allowed him to lose to the red paladin- not to mention Ulaz's treachery.

Staring down at his now useless arm, he narrowed his eyes. It would seem Haggar had not rid herself of all the rats.

He didn't doubt Ulaz had since fled. He was clever- but also a fool, if he thought it wise to go against the Galra Empire. He did not understand why he would- he could have had all the power he desired, had he stayed loyal, but instead he had chosen to betray them.

He would not. He was loyal.

Closing his eyes, he drew in a long breath, trying to determine his next course of action. There was a faint pull at the back of his mind, but he opted to ignore it for the time being. Should he attempt to capture the red paladin? The princess?

The rest of the paladins were likely disposable, though perhaps with time, Haggar could teach them the glory of the Galra Empire. Perhaps he should spare them.

No, he decided. Being a paladin was an honor that only the Galra deserved. He would slaughter these paladins, and present the lions to the Empire. He did not care about Haggar's promised reward of giving him one to fly- wiping out this rebellion before it could take root was imperative.

Only when Emperor Zarkon's reign was absolute, could there be peace.

Snapping his eyes open, he resolved himself to a course of action. The red paladin and the Altean princess- he would abduct them both, and bring them before Haggar. As for the paladins, he would strike them down where they stood.

That would surely more than make up for his failure.

"Sir, how shall we proceed?"

Gaze fixed on the Altean Castle that rose out of the scenery, Sendak narrowed his eyes. "Have you determined a point of infiltration yet?"

"I have, sir." Haxus confirmed.

"Good." Sendak stated. "We shall wait another few doboshs before we strike."

"Far be it from me to doubt your orders, sir," Haxus began, "-but would it not be prudent to strike swiftly?"

"Normally." Sendak replied. "But the witch's Champion is in the Castle. Perhaps the human can be of some use."

To say that he was not fond of the witch's puppet was an understatement, but he would admit that he could prove useful at times. Had he been born Galra, he would be a proud soldier of the Empire- it was a tragedy that he had been born a member of such an inferior race.

It was that same inferior blood that tainted the halfbreed pirate- that caused him to be such a nuisance. Like a fly that had yet to be swatted.

Luckily, that could be arranged.