**I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender (duh)

CHAPTER 21: KROLIA

Keith had been on suspension since he'd botched the Kral Zera operation. Forced to stay on the base, he had nothing to do except train and wait while his fellow Blades went out on their own respective missions. But finally, one day, as he was lingering outside the hangar, Immea came to him with good news.

"You're off suspension, newbie," she announced. "Kolivan wants to see you now."

Keith sighed, relieved. "Finally," he muttered. Then, as she brushed past him to get to one of their ships, he asked, "Where are you headed?"

She paused, casting a glance at him over her shoulder. "I'm preparing to go to a stupid party."

"A party?" Keith frowned. That was unusual, for any Blade of Marmora agent.

"Lotor's holding an alliance ball in a few days. Kolivan's sending me as our rep," she huffed with a roll of her eyes. "He would've sent you if you hadn't messed up so royally last time."

Keith scowled at her. "Or if you hadn't let Sendak go."

He'd heard about how she'd found Zarkon's long-lost commander on Hutt. And how she'd almost killed him before letting Lotor's ex-generals take him. Almost was the key word there. She had let him go to save Scarlett and Mitsubishi, and it had cost them the return of one of their toughest enemies. Now, healed by Haggar, Sendak was back out there, defying Lotor's rule and causing all sorts of havoc amongst their allies. Suffice it to say, Kolivan was not happy with Immea about it, even if she had rescued their genius inventor.

Her antenna glowed brighter in her anger and her eyes narrowed dangerously at Keith. She grit her teeth in a barely suppressed irritation before she put on a haughty smirk. "All of your paladin friends and your human girlfriend will be there," she gloated. "Too bad you won't get to see any of them."

"She's not my girlfriend," he snapped, his own vexation rising.

"Hm. Could've fooled me."

"Just get out of here already."

She tsked. "Whatever," she hummed, turning away from him and throwing him a careless wave. "Good luck with Kolivan. You're in for a wild ride of a mission."

Immea hadn't been kidding. But then again, when did a Blade ever joke?

Keith would be going in solo for this mission. He was to infiltrate Commander Ranveig's base, find the mysterious superweapon he'd been working on before he'd disappeared at the Kral Zera, and destroy it. Additionally, he had to find their undercover spy and safely extract her from the base now that two rogue Galra factions were fighting over control for the abandoned territory.

For a split second, Keith wondered where Kolivan's renewed trust in him had come from: he'd never been assigned to a job without another Blade or two accompanying him before. On such an important mission, no less. But then Kolivan had hit home the protocol points he constantly seemed to be reminding Keith of.

"You cannot allow your feelings to cloud your judgment."

"The mission is the only thing that matters. Emotions are a luxury we cannot afford."

Even if he'd tried to deny it, Keith was still too emotionally-driven for a Blade. But no matter how hard Kolivan had tried to drill the lessons into his brain, he couldn't just ignore how he felt. He was bad at expressing his feelings, yes. But that didn't mean he could easily stuff down all his emotions until he was as stoic as Kolivan. It just wasn't that simple. He couldn't always swallow past his anger, or his fear, or his drive to help someone when they needed it. It was the human side of him coming out, the part of him that had been taught and raised on Earth by the kindest father in the universe. It was the part of him that had been trained as a paladin, encouraged to bond on a deeper, emotional level with his lion and his teammates.

But even with his silly human heart so full of silly feelings, Keith knew he could do this. He was a Blade now. He could do what needed to be done, emotional or not. Besides, this mission wouldn't be like the Kral Zera. Shiro, nor any paladin or other allies for that matter, would be there. No one important to him would be endangered and he wouldn't have to mess up the mission worrying about protecting them. It would just be him, the spy, and the two enemy fleets vying for victory.

That being said, he still had to keep his own life in mind. He had several promises to not die to keep, after all.

Safely passing through Commander Trugg's and Commander Ladnok's warring fleets in the skies above the base had been surprisingly easy…until a piece of debris smashed into the wing of his Galra fighter. He'd just barely avoided crashing to his death, expertly adjusting his controls until the ship tumbled and skidded to a halt just outside of the base. His head was pounding from having his brain rattled around inside his skull. And, he realized, he no longer had an escape ship for them to use. But he supposed they could figure out a workaround later – there were bound to be some extra fighter ships in the base, right? At least step one of the plan had been completed.

Step two was a bit trickier. It was painfully slow sneaking past the layers of security, including sentries, drones, and door locking mechanisms. Alarms blared overhead as the facility scrambled fighters and prepared to defend itself from the attacking forces in the sky. Keith crept around corner after corner, waiting for patrols and scurrying guards to pass, until finally, he stumbled upon his target: the Blade of Marmora agent named Krolia.

Peeking around the wall, Keith watched as she and a group of sentries headed for the central control room of the base. He paused, wondering how he should approach her. It probably wasn't a good idea to pop out now, lest the sentries were programmed to start shooting at every intruder. He should continue to follow her until she was alone.

Suddenly, Krolia stopped. As if sensing his stare, she looked over her shoulder his way, and out of habit, Keith ducked out of sight. He internally smacked himself. Why was he hiding? She was their ally, a fellow Blade. He technically didn't need to hide from her.

Still, he waited several long ticks before he chanced a glance around the corner. Her group was moving again. Before he could lose sight of her, he hurried to follow after, careful to keep his distance from the marching sentries, only to stop short. She'd disappeared. Where the hell had she gone so quickly? Maybe she had already gone ahead. Keith frowned and pulled his dagger out, more than ready to take out the sentries that were in his way.

Then, his skin prickled, his warning bells going off as a presence seemed to manifest out of thin air right next to him. His dagger shifted into a full-length sword and he raised it to slice into whoever had discovered him just as the whine of a blaster charging sounded right next to his head. When he looked up, he almost let out a sigh of relief as he realized it was just…

"Krolia."

She was impressively stealthy, Keith noted. Or maybe he just still had a lot to learn as a Blade. He hadn't even sensed her until the very last second. If she had been a real enemy, he would definitely be dead by now. Krolia's glare was unwavering as she took in the sight of him. He imagined she wasn't very moved by the apparently not-so-stealthy junior Blade that stood before her. It unnerved Keith that she was still pointing her gun in his face.

Her eyes flicked to the blade he was holding up to her neck. Something like recognition flashed behind them – perhaps it was confirmation that he was indeed one of her own teammates – before she lowered her blaster. Keith promptly brought down his blade, transforming it back into a knife before sheathing it.

"You're late," she stated flatly. "We don't have much time."

A hint of unmistakable annoyance crept around the edges of her tone. Keith tried not to let it bother him. If he were in her position, he'd be irritated too if Kolivan had sent a newbie to help her on such a crucial mission. But he was here now and there was nothing she could do about it except scowl at him.

Still, Keith wisely said nothing as she led the way deeper into the base. He followed her into the central control room, where not a sentry was in sight. As the doors slid shut behind them, he removed his hood and mask and waited on watch while she moved to the control panel. An awkward beat of silence passed, followed by a faint explosion from the fight aboveground, before Krolia finally spoke again.

"Why did Kolivan risk sending you here now?" she demanded, never once looking at him as she worked away at the computers.

"Because he's heard about Ranveig's superweapon," Keith said. "We can't let it fall into the wrong hands."

Another explosion shook the room, but Krolia remained unfazed. "I guess Ranveig's dead since Commander Trugg is attacking my base," she concluded.

Keith didn't understand how she could be so calm and patient. There was a destructive battle going on right over their heads, and it was only drawing nearer. They didn't have time to waste talking.

"Trugg is on the verge of crushing your forces," he reminded her, struggling not to sound rushed. "We have to destroy the superweapon now. What is the weapon exactly?"

"Warlord Ranveig intercepted an undocumented shipment of quintessence traveling through his territory. He took it for his own and began experimenting with it," Krolia explained, and when she turned to face him, her brow was pinched with concern. "It's more powerful than any quintessence we've received from the Empire, and it has some very unexpected effects."

Unexpected effects? Like what? But before Keith could ask, the room lurched violently with another explosion, nearly knocking him off his feet. The lights flickered and turned blood red as the base's alarms blared louder.

"First level breached!" a voice over the overhead comms alerted them. "Activating second level of defense!"

Krolia whirled back to her screens, pulling up the live security footage of several Galra cruisers as they landed.

"Trugg's fleet has touched down. We're running out of time!" Krolia growled. She sprinted for the door, gesturing for Keith to follow. "Come on!"

He didn't hesitate to do what he was told. Boarding the elevator, they rode down to the basement level of the base. They emerged in another control room where a heavily-fortified door sat in the wall farthest from them.

"Get to that console!" Krolia ordered, splitting from him to take the one on their right.

Keith ran to take the left, his hands hovering unsurely over the buttons and symbols. "What now?"

"We need to simultaneously enter this code," Krolia began, but before she could start reciting it, the door blew open. Trugg's sentries marched through the settling smoke, blasters charged and prepared to fire.

Keith didn't give them any time to react as he dove into fight mode. Sword flashing through the air, he took down the closest sentry. Then he took out another one. He stabbed his third opponent in the chest, but it hadn't been enough to send the robot out of commission. It grabbed him and flung him off with ease, sending him skidding across the floor while his blade was left stuck in its chestplate.

Thankfully, Krolia had his back. She unleashed a round of shots at the sentry he'd stabbed, taking it out for good. Then she'd blasted the heads off of two more. One fired at her and she nimbly dodged and ducked, snatching Keith's sword out of the fallen robot before slicing her attacker cleanly in two. Another one nearly hit her in the head. She turned and hurled his blade at it, impaling its head, and used her gun to take out two more. She grabbed his sword again, promptly cutting down yet another one.

Keith groaned and coughed, struggling to push himself off the ground. She was kicking their asses, all by herself. He felt a little stupid for having barely taken down three. But he wouldn't let that stop him from getting up and helping her. There were still more sentries coming. If he could just get his blade back from her, then –

Those thoughts were instantly snuffed as a clawed hand roughly seized the back of his neck and forced him onto his knees. Trugg, her second in command, and the rest of their sentries were looming over him. She grinned at his look of shock and easily pulled his arms behind his back, snapping a pair of heavy cuffs around his wrists. The rest of her crew aimed their charged blasters at Krolia, stopping her dance of sentry destruction.

"Surrender or die," Trugg snarled.

Krolia's scowl was absolutely murderous as she regarded the enemy commander. But, to Keith's surprise, she didn't argue. She didn't even put up a fight against her. Instead, she straightened, and his sword began to glow in her hand, reverting back to a knife. She lifted her arms next to her head in defeat, yet she never dropped either of her weapons.

Keith stared at her, uncomprehending. That was his blade. It was his sacred weapon. It was supposed to be connected to him and only him. No one else was meant to use it. Or at least, they weren't supposed to. She shouldn't have been able to transform it like that.

"We can make a deal," Krolia said finally, and the suggestion alone was enough to shake him out of his stupor.

What was she thinking? He'd been captured because of his own ineptitude. Saving comrade hostages wasn't in the protocol. It wasn't their mission. They were supposed to be destroying this place, not negotiating with the enemy. They had to keep that superweapon out of Galra hands, no matter what.

"What are you doing?" he exclaimed, incredulous.

Krolia looked at him, her expression softening just a tad. "I left you once. I'll never leave you again," she said quietly, almost sadly, cherishing those words as if they were some sort of long-held promise between them.

But Keith had no idea what she was talking about. He had hardly known her for more than a few hours, after all. And she'd been rather indifferent and bossy towards him for the few minutes they had actually been able to interact. Why was she suddenly acting nice? Why did she want to save his life so badly?

She didn't seem to pick up on his growing confusion, or perhaps she was just ignoring it. Her attention turned to Trugg again as she continued, "Give us a ship, and I'll give you the codes to the weapon."

Trugg scoffed. "Why should I trust you?"

"You don't have a choice. I'm the only one who knows the access code. If you try to break in, the room will self-destruct," Krolia countered. "Once we're airborne, I'll give you the code."

Trugg gnashed her teeth together, clearly conflicted. A tense moment of silence passed as she mulled over Krolia's proposition. Then she abruptly hauled Keith off the floor, tearing off his restraints and shoving him towards Krolia.

"Get them to a ship," she barked at the nearest sentry. "Now!"

Keith's mind was reeling as they were swiftly brought to the base's hangar. He was going to fail his mission. Again. Right after his suspension had ended too. Kolivan would never entrust such an important operation to him ever again.

He almost envied Immea with her alliance ball mission. He hated the thought of socializing at some party, but at least that would've been a million times easier to succeed at. But no. He'd been placed on this job with a Blade who also apparently had a problem controlling her emotions. And now he would have to endure the humiliation of another failed assignment.

"I still can't believe you'd give them the weapon just to save me," he snapped, not even bothering to hide the accusing anger in his voice. "You compromised the mission."

Krolia paused from where she was activating the comms in their new fighter ship to shoot him a nasty glower. "Keith, shut up and trust me," she ordered, clearly irritated with his near insubordination.

Keith pressed his lips into a thin line, glaring daggers at her. He wanted to argue with her, but it was too late to change their situation. There was no way he could fix this.

Wait. Had he…Had he told her his name?

…He was pretty sure he hadn't. She hadn't even asked.

Krolia turned back to her panel, ignoring his displeasure as she opened a line with the base. "Commander Trugg, we are prepared for liftoff. Are you at the weapon's console?"

"Affirmative."

"The code is Beta-five-two-seven-four," she carefully relayed. "Omega-five-four-five."

Keith grit his teeth, his irritation flaring in full. He couldn't believe her. How had she been a Blade for so long if she was like…this? If Kolivan was going to berate him for their failure, then he'd better yell at her too.

He huffed, fuming as he retreated to the cockpit and plopped onto the pilot's chair. He gripped the controls and started up their systems, frowning out the window as he waited for the moment he could take to the skies.

There was a long pause on Trugg's end before she finally responded. "Confirmed."

Krolia didn't waste a moment as she snapped back to him. "Get us out of here, now!"

Starting up their engines, Keith shot out of the hangar and soared into the air, peeling away from the surface and the enemy they were leaving behind to claim the superweapon. Not a minute later, the base's ion cannons came online, angling up and locking onto their fighter. Of course Trugg wasn't going to let them get away that easily.

"They're locking onto us!" Keith warned Krolia as he prepared for evasive maneuvers. "Hold on!"

The cannons fired, sending deadly beam after beam their way. Keith grunted, physically struggling to push their ship to its absolute limits in order to make the tight and nimble dodges. He laid on the thrusters and they climbed higher into the atmosphere, reentering the war zone. He spun through the air, dodging not only the ground fire, but the mess of debris that was littered everywhere. With their crummy little fighter, it was such a challenge anticipating the ground attacks whilst keeping up with avoiding the rubble ahead of them.

A scorching beam soared dangerously close to them and nearly clipped the wing. Keith's anger flared, his heart racing with fear.

"This is why you shouldn't have made that trade for me," he ground out, throwing what little shred of respect he had for authority to the wind as he lashed out at Krolia. "We could die and you just handed that weapon over to Trugg."

Krolia held on to her control board for dear life as his wild flying threatened to throw her off her feet. But despite his fury and their perilous situation, she retained her cool. "No, Keith. I handed them over to it," she said, sounding more certain of this than anything else.

"What?"

"The superweapon is a creature from the Quantum Abyss. Ranveig experimented on it with the quintessence the Blade has been tracking," she explained. "It is a monster capable of destroying even the strongest of Galra soldiers. Trugg included."

Keith was quiet for a long moment as he mulled this over. The cannons on the ground had suddenly stopped their assault and they were free to zip away from the battlefield, leaving the scene of destruction far behind them as both Trugg and Ladnok's forces fell. Krolia had known exactly what she'd been doing this entire time, he realized. …And he'd ignorantly yelled at her for it. Now he felt even more foolish than before. Stranger or not, she was still a Blade. A senior member, at that. She was way more experienced than him, and much smarter too. He should've trusted her.

When the planet was no more than a speck in the distance, Keith slowed their trek and set the fighter on autopilot. "We're far enough away," he decided. "They stopped firing at us."

Krolia said nothing as she watched him pull the pilot's seat back. He stood and faced her, suddenly feeling awkward. Should he apologize for snapping at her so much? She didn't seem offended, but it was hard to tell with how much she frowned at him. Maybe she was just used to dealing with arrogant rookies.

"I should give this back to you," she said, breaking their silence and producing his luxite dagger. She held it out to him and the anxious knot in his stomach loosened as he took it. He'd felt so naked without it. He was glad to have it back in his possession.

"How were you able to use it?" he asked, sheathing it.

Thinking about it now, Krolia had only used his sword and a blaster when she'd fought those sentries. Every Blade carried their own sword, even on undercover operations – she should've had her blade on her person. So why had she used his?

Krolia's hardened expression cracked. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to steel herself before she looked at him. "Because it used to be mine," she finally admitted, soft but sure. "Before I gave it to your father."

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