Okay, so unless this gets more attention here on this chapter it won't get updated on this sight any more. I will update the AO3 version still, but not this one. It's a bit of work uploading it twice, especially since a lot of times I forget to upload the edited version to both sites... so... yeah, unless I have a good reason (namely, people actually read this here and show me they read it here by commenting) I probably won't update it on FF any more.
It was three days of nearly constant solitary confinement for Keith. They left him alone, more or less, except to bring him food goo, which tasted oddly better than the food goo on Galra ships. They also sent some clothing for him on the second day, a huge relief since the armour was uncomfortable to sleep in. He managed to bite a hole in the pants for his tail too, and right now he sat on the bed, staring at the ceiling silently as he waited for... anything. They wouldn't answer his questions usually when they did come, but it was always the orange-haired one. He had a very cold expression when he saw Keith. A knock on the door caused his right ear to lift up in curiosity. It wasn't time to eat after all...
"Attention Galra warrior! We're coming in. Please stand with your feet and hands apart, your hands on the wall!" It was the youthful voice, the green paladin who spoke and Keith scowled a little bit before standing up and doing as the aliens told him. He wanted to make a snide comment but he didn't dare. Keith's ears both flicked backwards when he heard the door slide open and several people walked in.
"No sudden movements. Actually, make a sudden movement, that gives me an excuse..." The pretty voice... the blue paladin really hated him huh? That felt like a bit of a slap, but he ignored it for now as Shiro placed something on one his left wrist. Shiro pulled Keith's arm gently behind his back though, and then took hold of Keith's right wrist and moved it back before clicking it in too. A restraint? It didn't seem all that tough a restraint, but Keith wouldn't test it.
"Is... all of this really necessary?" Keith asked as Shiro led him out of the room and the blue paladin pressed the gun he was holding into Keith's back. He could feel the fur on his tail standing on end, the dark purple tuft on the end fluffing out especially as they walked. This whole thing was very unsettling to Keith, but then he didn't really know the full extend either of how bad the empire was yet. All he knew was there was a lot wrong with it really, even if he had trouble understanding a lot of it.
"You're a Galra warrior, so, yes. It is unfortunately necessary, at least until we can determine that you're telling the truth..." Shiro said. His voice was gentler than the others though, which relieved Keith a little bit. It made him feel safer at any rate, knowing Shiro found this whole scenario to be unfortunate.
"I'm not a warrior actually," Keith said, supposing they should know. He wasn't a warrior though. Technically speaking he wasn't even a prison guard, he was supposed to be property. That part though he might leave out. If they didn't know just from his tail what he was, then maybe they didn't know a lot about the Galra. And maybe they wouldn't know he was useless.
"You're... not? Then what are you?" Pidge asked, "Ah, you'll have to re-answer all of this when we hook you up though, so if you don't want to repeat yourself..." The young alien looked curious anyways.
"I'm... a guard. Sort of. I also tried to keep prisoners in the arena alive after their fights. It wasn't exactly easy but I like to think I did a good job keeping them alive..." He'd only had five prisoners die in his care, and he really had tried for them. He even remembered the names and faces of those five, to try to honour them. The aliens did exchange looks with one another, but they didn't say anything more to him either until he was seated in a chair. The pretty one with silver hair and her orange-haired companion were waiting in the room for them, and the one that was really handsome and matched them went to stand with them instead of the ones who looked like Shiro.
"This goes around your head... uh... oh. I forgot your ears were so big..." The smaller alien frowned in thought before trying to squish it on as gently as possible. It had an x cross over the top of his head, and a band that went around his forehead and the back of his head, but there was enough space to pop his ears out too between the metal bars that went over top of the purplish fluff on top of his head. Not the most comfortable, but he could manage like that for a while. His tail swished back and forth in curiosity, the wider alien watching in fascination.
"Do all the Galra have tails?" He asked, the question whispered to the tiny alien who shrugged and made a noise of uncertainty in response. Shiro rolled his eyes, but he looked like he was smiling too at the question.
"No, most don't," Keith said, as the tiny alien put a small clamp on his finger. He'd half expected it to pinch, but it didn't and he was relieved too. It was a little tight around his claw, but he'd manage. The tiny alien looked at the monitor and nodded to what he'd answered.
"Looks like he's telling the truth there. Most Galra do not have tails. Okay! We're ready I think... what's your name, and rank inside of Zarkon's army?" The tiny one asked now, her expression went from calm to stern surprisingly quickly. It wasn't exactly intimidating though, considering the tiny alien being so... tiny. Kind of cute in a child-like way, that made Keith want to protect it. Odd...
"Keith, and I didn't have a rank," He said. The aliens all crowded around the screen and looked at it, all of them looking to the Tiny one first who nodded once. Then they all nodded too and looked back at Keith. "Can... I have your names? I need something to call you all other than... you know... tiny alien, tall alien, skinny alien... I already know Shiro though..."
"You do?" Shiro looked surprised by that, which surprised Keith a little bit. Had he really forgotten? Keith did suppose that Shiro was in pretty poor condition though, the times they had interacted though. Maybe that was why he didn't remember much?
"You were a famous gladiator... anyways, you can call me Pidge, that's Hunk, Lance, Coran, Princess Allura, and... you already know Shiro I guess..." Pidge pointed to each person being referred to as she listed them all. Keith nodded to show he understood.
"Did anyone on board the Galra ship tamper with the red lion?" Allura asked now, looking very sternly at him. She seemed angry with him somehow. Like he'd done something terrible, committed some heinous crime, only Keith didn't know what he'd done. Unless she knew he was running from his fate? Surely they knew he was useless too, though he wasn't entirely sure they were aware. Did the know qylar by sight? The others hadn't, but it didn't mean she didn't.
"I... I wouldn't know. I always saw it with a particle barrier up, I don't think anyone had figured out how to get inside it. I would sneak into the cargo bay sometimes to look at it, since... it called me a lot. Sendak was down there too a lot of the time, trying to get the barrier down sometimes. He got very angry with it several times actually, it was kind of funny..." Keith said, smiling a little to himself at the memory of Sendak angrily kicking the barrier, only to be shocked by it in response and needing to go to the medical bay as a result. They all looked at Pidge again who nodded once.
"Okay, so Keith, just to make sure this is working properly, could you tell us a lie?" Pidge asked, looking quite serious. Keith wasn't sure what to lie about really, so he thought of the most ridiculous thing he could.
"I am a green and orange Kepplan sand worm," Keith said, still a bit confused by needing to lie on purpose. Pidge, however, grinned at that, apparently satisfied with the results she got on her screen.
"That was a lie, see the spiky pattern that shows up now here? That shows when he's lying... okay, what else... I know! Why do you want to fight Zarkon and the Galra Empire?" Pidge asked. Keith frowned and looked down a little, needing to think for a moment on how to answer.
"Because... the Empire is... wrong. And Zarkon is too. There is something terribly wrong about it all, and... even though I don't really understand it all, I know it is wrong. I can't... I couldn't do nothing. Not when the Empire has enslaved so many. If fighting the Empire makes things better then that's what I'm going to do." Keith said, determined to do that, even if these people didn't want him. He knew it wasn't the best explanation, and it wasn't the whole truth either. Fighting back meant escaping, and surely no one in the empire would want a qylar that was a traitor? Not even the one who chose him. Pretty or not, Keith hoped he'd be executed for this instead of being sent back to his fate. Perhaps it was a selfish reason, but it was as good in his mind as anything else. Besides, away like this... he might be able to help his mother too.
"I don't see a reason not to trust him..." Pidge shrugged, apparently accepting the results of her test. Keith was telling the truth though, and he saw no reason as to why it would tell them otherwise. Lance scowled though, apparently disappointed with it. Allura and Coran still looked cautious too. Shiro and Hunk relaxed too, though Hunk still seemed a touch nervous. It was possible his nervousness stemmed now from how on-edge the other three were though, rather than Keith being a Galra.
"Where is Zarkon's high command? Have you ever been there?" Allura asked, looking like she wasn't ready to stop questioning him just yet. He probably didn't need the uncomfortable helmet now, but he kept it anyways just in case. Removing it meant there was a chance they would see it as an attempt to lie without them knowing after all, and he'd rather not risk that.
"I don't know the coordinates, and there's no way you could beat him there anyways. Not with one ship and one Voltron. I've been there before, once. I was only ten though, I didn't really see a lot of the base either. All I really remember was that it was largest thing I've ever seen, before or since. It's extremely heavily guarded... I'm sorry but you just... can't. It would be suicide..." Especially with five people who had no idea how to pilot those lions properly. Maybe if they trained enough and learned to fight together, and maybe if they had a fleet of allied ships to help them out, but even then, Keith didn't see how they could win a fight like that without huge casualties.
"Would you tell us what you do know then? About everything that's happened over the past ten thousand years?" Allura asked, looking a bit frustrated that Keith couldn't help her as much as she might have hoped. Keith felt a little dismayed that he couldn't either. Good information might have made him useful after all...
"I'll try, anyways. I'm not that old though, I'm only nineteen... and like I said I wasn't doing much. I just kept the fighters alive after a fight and fed the prisoners. I've never even been on a planet before the other day. And anyways, we only learn what we need to in order to help serve our purpose to the empire. It would probably be higher ups who know what you want," Keith hoped that wasn't too strange to them that he'd never actually set foot on a planet until now. He had lived on the nursery ship until he was fifteen when he escaped for other things.
Qylar normally spent their whole lives on the same ship, with only a few exceptions. The prettiest ones were usually chosen by high-ranking officers to keep for personal use, chosen before their heat cycles began to ensure they weren't 'tainted' by being used by too many others. You were lucky if you were pretty enough to be chosen, presumably. Keith hadn't understood how, but his mother told him he would understand when he was older. Keith was older now. He still didn't get it.
"So... is that how you know me?" Shiro asked, looking a bit concerned. He really didn't remember, did he? Keith was a bit concerned by that, but he wouldn't mind filling Shiro in on a lot of it... if he wanted it. And anyways, it looked like Shiro wasn't angry with him for it either, unlike the ones with pointy ears.
"Yes. You weren't easy to keep alive, I might add. You seemed to have a death wish sometimes, with the way you fought. It really was something to watch though. Are all of your species that brave?" He asked, tail swishing excitedly.
"I... I was? I... then, I guess I should thank you... for keeping me alive," Shiro smiled, almost kindly and Keith felt warm. Like he had a friend. Keith had never really been thanked for anything before either. He was called a trouble-maker more than anything, the druids on his ship told him he was lucky he was so pretty, considering his temper, tenacity, and fiery nature. He was terrible at following orders until after he went on the run, but then he supposed that was an act of rebellion too. After he was chosen though they couldn't do much to him. Nothing that leaves a permanent mark, except to brand his collarbone with the mark of the one who chose him. All the high-ranking officers had their own mark to leave on the young qylar, to make sure there was no mistaking who that one belonged to.
"I was happy to help..." Keith admitted, though now Pidge stood and took the helmet off of Keith's head with a soft sigh. Then she took the piece on his finger off. His claw did feel a bit pinched now, come to think of it, but he doubted that was intentional on Pidge's part.
"I don't suppose you know the humans that arrived with Shiro? Sam and Matt Holt?" She asked as she removed the items from Keith's body. Pidge apparently trusted him not to lie even without the truth-showing devices on him, and he did intend to. Her expression was one of concern, a small flicker of hope in her eyes too, as she asked, and Keith wished he could offer more than what he did.
"Shiro was on that ship two months before I was... I'm afraid I didn't see anyone who came on board with him, or where the might have sent them. But... I know where you might find out. There's a chance some of the systems on Sendak's ship are still working, so you might be able to find their records if you can get the panels working again." Her face fell when he'd started, but she looked more determined than ever when he told her the logs might still be there. Keith was beginning to suspect all of Shiro's species really was as stubborn and determined as Shiro was.
"Then... will you help me try to find what I need?" She asked him. Her eyes were so hard for someone so tiny... Keith got the sense that if he said know she would find some way around that and get what she wanted anyways. He nodded his head yes, and she seemed appeased, smiling a little and relaxing. Keith had a feeling that it might take longer than this though for them to trust him, especially Lance, Allura, and Coran, all of whom looked at him with suspicion still, despite the results.
"So... are you all from the same planet? Or different... genders on the same one?" Keith asked now, too curious to avoid asking that any longer. They looked between themselves a bit surprised by it, though the three who didn't like him still seemed almost offended that he didn't know.
"Different planets. Pidge, Hunk, and I are from a planet called Earth. It's... very far away from here. On the outer edge of the Milky-Way Galaxy. Lance, Coran and Allura are from a planet called Altea..." Shiro explained, smiling at him almost gently. Shiro was really good at being comforting, just through simple little things. It wasn't something Keith was used to, but he already liked it. He felt like Shiro at least would accept him, even if no one else did.