DIplomacy was never one of her strong points.
As much as Pidge loved her brother, they fought just as much as normal siblings did. Usually it ended because of their parents insistence, and then continued to simmer below their radar for weeks with quiet pranks and barbs. Although they rarely fought, when they did, it took forever to be over. She sucked at figuring out how to end their spats with both of them satisfied. She supposed it didn't really matter, since she wasn't doing the talking here, but still.
Lance fidgeted in his seat, as the Crysidians brought up another clause of the treaty that they wished signed, if Voltron were to become allies with them. It had been like that for the past three hours; going over each individual clause, then waiting for Allura or Shiro to agree to it, before having to agree themselves. If they didn't require all of the Paladins to accept the treaty before it went into effect, Pidge would've been hanging out in their labs; they had passed them on the way in, and Pidge had to be dragged away from the showcase of transforming nanobots and organic computers. Not that the computers would've been compatible with humans. The Crysidians were more reptilian than she'd expected. They required constant heat, which meant that they had to wear these cool temperature suits that moderated air temperature close to their skin, as well as air with a certain amount of humidity to survive.
"Do you accept these clauses?" Their host, G'ner, asked. His voice was so monotone that Pidge barely recognized that he had spoken. She opened her mouth to utter another confirmation.
"No!" Shiro stood abruptly, his chair screeching as it slid across the floor.
Pidge snapped to attention. Beside her, Keith's hand grasped his weapon, and Lance straightened up.
G'ner stood, his suit hissing as he met Shiro's angry gaze. "You do not wish to comply with facet four, section five of the treaty?"
"No." Shiro repeated, his voice quieter but no less tense. "We are not going to surrender one of the lions. You delete that clause, or there will be no alliance."
G'ner frowned. From the ornate double doors behind him, five more of the Crysidians walked in. They were bulkier than G'ner was, and where he was covered in small, dusty green scales, their scales looked almost crystalline in nature. It made sense, the thicker scales for the warriors. Of course, that would also make them harder to defeat if this became a fight.
"Facet Four Section Five of the treaty shall be put into effect. Whether or not you agree to it is irrelevant." He stepped back as the five warriors stepped forward, a gun aimed at each Paladin's head. "Do you agree-"
G'ner didn't have a chance to respond, as Lance fired, knocking him to the ground. There was a loud crack as his ventilator cracked, and then the ensuing gasping and wheezing was hidden by the sounds of gunfire. Lance laid cover fire, as Hunk shot at their weapons. They managed to break two before they put up some kind of shield around their weapons, similar to the ones that they castle had, allowing them to shoot, but not take damage. Hunk fired a few more times, then stopped, when he realised that it didn't have any effect.
Lance maintained his fire, which didn't seem to do much, as Shiro and Keith took the gunless Crysidians hand to hand, leaving Pidge, Lance and Hunk with the remaining three. While Lance and Hunk focused on their opponents from afar, Pidge took on her's in hand to hand combat.
Close quarters combat was never one of her strong points.
Pidge charged at the Crysidian soldier, her Bayard crackling with electricity. She ran at him, veering to the left just before she crashed into him. Her bayard hit his skin instead of the ventilation suit with a quiet turned, and grabbed her leg as she tried to change direction. He raised her in the air for one breathless moment before smashing her onto the ground. Her breath left her forcefully, and she laid there gasping. For a moment, she couldn't even think. Her head spun, and then she was lifted up again by the same leg.
She could hear someone shouting her name.
And then Pidge remembered that it was her Bayard that she was clutching with a death grip, and wasn't she passing by the main voltage box as he lifted her above him. Her arm felt as heavy as a concrete block as she swung it towards the ventilator on his back, just as he swung her back down. As she fell, two things happened at once: She heard a loud crack, almost simultaneous with her fall. The crack could've come from two things: One being the soldier's ventilation suit as it splintered and fell apart and the other being her leg. And then she felt the worst pain that she had ever felt in her entire life. It was worse than when she broke her arm in the third grade, or that time she electrocuted herself when she was working on upgrading her computer.
Her head spun even worse than before. She couldn't tell who the person standing over her was at l, and then they placed a cold hand on her arm.
"Shit." Keith muttered, moving closer to her leg. "Her leg's broken." He called, turning to Shiro.
Shiro's face blurred with his armor. A mix of monochromatic colors, she thought, kinda like smoke. She laughed. "We need to get her back to the Castle. Now." He said, his voice heavy with worry.
"Uh, guys?" Hunk sounded nervous. What was there to be nervous about? They got the bad guys, right? "Nope. Not all of them. There's at least four more headed this way, and- Oh, god. We need to get her back to the castle."
Shiro stands, the action making her vision swim again. She closes her eyes. "Hunk, you take her back, the rest of us will…" His words slowly fade out, like a song ending too soon.
Accepting her weaknesses was never one of her strong points.
Keith watches her warily as the training droid is replaced with a larger one. It stands at least two feet taller than her (it's only a foot feet taller than Shiro, so her estimate is probably off.) She lowers herself into a defensive stance, like Keith had shown her. The alarm chimes, and the match begins.
Pidgedoesn't charge it head on, like her instincts tell her to. Instead, she waits for the droid to come to her. By waiting, she realizes how easy it is to tell it's intent. She easily avoids its first punch, dashing past him and out of his reach. She manages to hit it once in the back before it turns, swinging it's arm into her stomach. She falls to the ground, rolling back to her feet.
Pidge waits for the droid to attack again, then uses her grappling hook to jump onto it's blind spot: its head. It only takes her a moment to electrocute it, and then its falling, broken and out of commission. She jumps off of it before it hits the ground. "How was that?"
Keith looks up from his stopwatch. "Three seconds less than last time."
Pidge sighs and slides into a defensive stance once more. "Send out another one. I can beat it."
Keith shakes his head. "No way. You've already gone through six, and you've lowered your time down by three minutes. You need to eat, and come back to this tomorrow."
Pidge knows that even her best score isn't half as good as Shiro's or more realisticly, Lance's. If she doesn't get better at stuff like this, then how is she ever gonna be able to hold her own in battle? "I can do another one. I just want to shave off ten more seconds. I know I can do it." She pleads.
The door opens behind them, and out of reflex, they both turn. Shiro walks past Keith to Pidge and rests his hand on her shoulder. Oh no. He's in Spacedad mode now. Keith probably could tell too, because he leaves almost as soon as Shiro walks in.
"You did really good, Pidge. Your melee skills are getting much better." He compliments.
Sure, Pidge thinks, they're better, but no where close to what they should be. While the others focused on physical training, she had focused on learning how to use the alien tech of both the Galra and Altean systems. Now she regrets it; if she had've known how to defend herself better, she wouldn't have been hurt so badly during the last mission.
It seems as if Shiro can tell what she's thinking, she realizes as he speaks again. "I mean it, Pidge. You've progressed through four levels in less than a week. That's amazing."
"But it's not good enough," Pidge cries, knocking his hand off of her shoulder. "I'm way behind the rest of you. I don't want to be dead weight on missions because I'm only good at computer stuff, so I have to try harder than this."
Shiro is quiet for a moment, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Matt wasn't dead weight."
Whatever Pidge was expecting, it wasn't this. "What?"
"He was only good with computers, and geology. He couldn't help with the heavy lifting. He was never a good fighter, but he was never dead weight." Shiro gauges her expression, checking that mentioning her brother didn't bother her. "He was the one who figured out how to hack the feeding module in our holding cell to get us extra provisions. He even helped me figure out how to activate my arm. Katie, I promise, you'll never be dead weight, never to us."
Pidge's arm suddenly feels sore, and her grip on her Bayard is suddenly too tight. It's as if the past six hours of training are catching up with her all at once. Her legs waver beneath her. And Shirp moves to catch her in case she falls. "I guess I just… I knew that physical strength was one of my weaknesses. I wanted to fix it."
"And you can." Shiro replies, scooping her up like a tired puppy. "After you get some sleep,"
Pidge is too tired to argue, and so she doesn't. She doesn't even bother to say anything else to Shiro, like thank you, or love you too. There's no point; he already knows.