In terms of basic cleverness, this plan was the worst idea Pidge had had in a long time.

Lance and Joanna had just left the planet's atmosphere in Joanna's unreasonably noisy shuttle, and she was alone on Mul'Boorja, a planet that was probably occupied by the Galra. Oh, joy and happiness.

She checked in various supply boxes for any useful tools, and found most of the essentials. Food, water, a rope, a transponder, and a rifle. She figured the rifle was needed because the two soldiers outside were stirring.

Pidge had barely made it a couple of yards away from the tent, she heard a cough. One of the tied-up soldiers had awoken.

She wrapped her scarf around her face, as to hide her identity, then loaded the rifle. She turned around and found the woken soldier with his hands in the air.

"Please! Don't shoot!"

She hesitated, but didn't lower her weapon at all. It was one of the things that came with being a convict since she was fifteen, no biggie. "Why?" She replied with an unmoving expression. Or at least stern enough that the soldier didn't realise she was sweating places that people should never sweat in from the stress.

"I'm not with the empire! I'm one of the blades! Please!" The soldier's voice was rather high-pitched for a Galra.

"Pidge stifled a gasp, the Blade of Maromora was still going? "Prove it," she said, "show me your blade."

The soldier carefully reached to his back, and pulled out a blade from under his hood. It had a similar curvature to Keith's, but was shorter and wider with more of a triangular blade than Keith's. Pidge sighed, "And the other guy?"

The soldier hesitated for a minute, as if he were listening to something. "No more heartbeat. He's dead."

Pidge stumbled forward, then caught herself, after trudging to where the galra were tied up, and worked her dagger into the rope. It came off with a struggle, Joanna clearly knew which ropes to use.

After Pidge had finally cut him loose, the blade stood up, and it soon was revealed that he was not much taller than Pidge. Unusual for a Galra.

"Must be hard." She said, smirking.

"What?" He replied, crossing his arms, as if he knew what was coming.

Pidge pocketed her dagger, "Working for the blades with a good two feet missing from your height."

"Bit rich coming from you, short stack." He started smiling.

"Hey, I don't even know your name yet!"

The blade dusted off his uniform. "It's Lazkanar, but since you've rescued me from a rather sticky situation, you're allowed to call me Laz. You must be Pidge, the Green Paladin" He offered his hand out.

Pidge took his hand and shook it. "Yeah, it's kinda hard to hide that." She hesitated, then said, "You haven't seen a... um.. a green lion anywhere have you?" She immediately regretted saying it, but was relieved when Laz answered.

"Yeah, the New Empire found it here and they've been trying to get into it for years. I'm guessing it did a kind of... mind... communication... thing with you." He slapped his hand to his forehead; "Sorry, I can't speak right today."

Pidge shrugged, "I can't speak right any day, it's okay. Could you tell me where exactly there keeping Green?"

Laz nodded; "Better, I can take you there. Pretend you're my prisoner-"

"-who you're taking to a ship to get to a prison, and you need a rover to get to the craft site." Pidge finished.

"Then, when I lean you against the hood of the vehicle to open the door, you can make a run to the decoding room."

"Big enough to fit a lion in." Pidge guessed.

Laz smiled, " And with its orange walls, really hard to miss."

Pidge sighed, "Sounds like a pretty good plan, except, I can't walk without using my cane at the moment."

Laz considered this, then said, "Act like you're unconscious, and I can carry you over my shoulder."

Pidge looked the scrawny Galran up and down, then nearly doubled over laughing; "You couldn't carry a sack of grapes if your life depended on it! Let alone a forty-six year old woman with a broken ankle!"

Laz looked offended for a moment, before grabbing Pidge by the shoulders and lifting her up a good two feet in the air. She stopped laughing, and blinked a couple of times to make sure what she saw was real. "Holy Quiznak." She said, after a good ten seconds gawping. "Um, can you go ahead with the plan now, please? I kind of want to hurry on this..."

Laz winked, then hooked Pidge over his shoulder, where she promptly fell limp. "This is you pretending, right?" He asked, just to make sure."

"Yep. To the Green Lion we go!" She raised a fist in pre-victorious fashion.