A/N Hi there. It's been a while hasn't it. I just want to let you know that I haven't abandoned this story and will be trying to get chapters up more regularly from now on. Thanks for reading the last two chapters and now back to the story.
"I have great news" Coran announced. "All our hard work these past few months has paid off and we are one step away from securing a new supply route for the resistance." The paladins cheered as the Princess brought the star charts up on the monitor. "The final hurdle is to free this last planet in the quadrant. There is a small Galra outpost here near the equator of the planet. We believe it is simply a sentry post and not heavily fortified but we have no way of knowing for sure. Its atmospheric conditions make it hard for us to scan it from a safe distance using the Castle of Lions and dropping into a lower orbit might attract their attention. If they spot us and call for help we will have a full scale battle on our hands." Coran agreed and continued "Our best strategy would be to send a recognisance team first to scout the area and check if there are any sub-surface weapon systems we should be aware of." Shiro volunteered "I'll head up the team, I think the lions might be to conspicuous so a small shuttle craft is a safer option. The intel says that there is a trading city near the outpost which gets a lot of off-world traffic. We can slip in there disguised as travellers looking for supplies. We need to keep as low keys as possible, so a two man team is all we need. Hey Pidge are you feeling up for a little undercover mission?"
The remaining Paladins as well as the Alteans were surprised by Shiro's choice. Keith spoke up "Are you sure Pidge is a good choice? No offense but it might be best to take a combat specialist like me or Hunk, heck even Lance along in case things go bad." Pidge was excited at being chosen by Shiro but Keith's reaction took the wind out of her sails. He was right she was the weakest combat wise but that still didn't mean she couldn't do missions too. Shiro responded before she could. "This is just a recon mission. I need a tech expert on the ground to calibrate the scanners if need be. If things get rough, I'll handle it. Pidge is a paladin of Voltron she can handle this just fine." "Yeah Keith, you're not the only one with a Bayard." Pidge responded sarcastically rolling her eyes followed by playful prodding by Lance "Yeah Keith, you can't under estimate Pidge just cause she's a girl". Keith retorted "Shut up Lance, you didn't even know she was a girl until you got here. Didn't you live together at the Garrison?". The blue and red paladin went off bickering with each other as usual and Hunk and Pidge went off to get the shuttle ready. Shiro stayed to plot a course with Coran and the Princess. It was settled they would leave in 2 days.
That wasn't much time to prepare but Pidge and Hunk had been working on this little side project for a while. It was a portable version of the cloaking device found in the Green Lion. Hunk had reverse-engineered it using parts he "found" around the castle and Pidge had hot-wired it into the shuttles shield system. If everything worked like it was supposed to they would be able to engage the cloaking system whenever the shield went up. Theoretically it should work but they hadn't actually got around to testing it in space conditions yet.
Coran provided their disguises mainly ponchos, googles and scarves to protect them from the dust storms on the planet's surface. Pidge thought they looked like cowboys in a Western, Lance agreed and Hunk thought they looked more like space pirates while Keith grumbled in the corner. He was still uneasy about Shiro's choice of partner. Lately Shiro had been acting differently. He was still the same performing all his duties as leader but in his down time he always seemed busy. Too busy for a late night sparring session or just to talk. He spent all his spare time with Pidge. Understandably she was the youngest, her family was captured by the Galra and she needed his support. But so did he, for the longest time he was alone trying to find out what his place was in the world. Now he had a team, he had a mission and he had rival (whatever that meant) but Shiro still seemed distant from him. Hunk called Shiro our space Dad and Keith thought the moniker fit him well. Maybe he was just a little jealous that Shiro seemed to favour Pidge over him. "A leader shouldn't play favourites" he thought to himself.
Pidge was over the moon when the portable cloaking device worked. Well, it sort of worked. The ship was cloaked but the diffraction was off so instead of being totally invisible they were still faintly visible with a strange distortion of the surrounding environment. Lucky for them they landed during a sandstorm which covered them completely. The shuttle set down behind a large building that must have been used as a warehouse of some kind. The two paladins set off into the market area to scout for the presence of Galra soldiers patrolling amongst the general populace. It had been an hour or so and Shiro hadn't spotted anything suspicious yet. Pidge had given up looking after 20 minutes and was more focused on the sights, sounds and smells of the market. She wondered just a few paces ahead of Shiro peaking at the stands laden with strange looking orbs that some of the patrons were tasting, maybe it was a fruit or vegetable of some kind. "Hunk would love to have some of those, I'll be sure to get some before we go back" she thought. Shiro was beginning to relax as well. They would do one more sweep of the central area before heading to the outskirts. Pidge tugged on his cloak and gestured to an alley that was lined with junk stores. Old, dusty looking components sat on the tables under the eagle eye of the shop keepers. Pidge couldn't contain her excitement as she dashed from table to table. Her curiosity and infectious smile warmed Shiro's heart. Matt would have loved this place too, there were dozens of different alien races, so many languages and things to look at. This was the kind of exploration they thought they would be doing if they made first contact on the Kerberos mission.
He had to be strong for Katie but he would be lying if he said he hadn't considered the likelihood of Matt and Sam still being alive after all this time in a prison colony; if they made it that far. Galra tempers were short and Matt would attempt to resist no matter how futile it would be. That was just the type of person he was; kind, brave and foolish. Shiro bumped into Pidge who had stopped walking to look at a poster in the dark corner of the alley. He scanned it with the translator in his googles. It was a notice of a slave auction. Shiro placed his hand on Pidges shoulder, it was an unfortunate reality that something like this was still common on planets ruled by the Galra empire. They held little value on other species and treated them like commodities. When the war was over Voltron would change things, they would bring freedom and peace for all with their alliance. He expected to see sadness or disappointment in Pidges face but instead he saw her smile brightly. "Shiro, look!" she pointed to the last few lines on the poster. "High Quality Merchandise. Strong and Fit. Galra Prison Colony Excess."
The auction was set to take place after dark in a shady looking bar not far from the market. "We have to go. My family could be there or at least someone who might know them" Pidge implored. Shiro couldn't argue with her logic, they were supposed to return to the Castle of Lions by nightfall but they couldn't miss this opportunity. "Fine but if we don't see anything we're heading right back to the shuttle, I'll send a message to Coran and the Princess that we'll be staying overnight and returning tomorrow." They entered the bar and found seating in the back, away from the impromptu stage that was setup for the auction. As the auction started the slaves were lead out on stage wearing the familiar purple Galra prison garb and manacles on their wrists. "They're not here." Pidge said dejectedly. Shiro scrutinized each prisoner, searching his memory. One slave did look familiar, was he the same alien that was with their group when they were brought to the arena? It was possible that they were just from the same planet, he couldn't be sure. "I think I've seen that guy before" Shiro whispered to Pidge. "Really? We need the talk to him then but how can we get close without blowing our cover" Pidge was right, talking to the captive wasn't possible and they needed a better plan. "If only we could get a closer look at the slave traders ship it might have clues about which prison colony it came from." Shiro was only thinking out loud but Pidge's facial expression was brightening up. "We could follow them back to the ship and sneak aboard. How hard could it be, it not like they're soldiers or anything. The two of us can handle this."
The auction was over and the slaves that weren't sold were escorted back to the ship by two of the crew while the rest of them stayed behind to spend some of their earnings at the bar. Pidge dragged Shiro out of the bar by the hand and after the slave traders that just left. "Katie, this could be dangerous. We're only supposed to be observing not engaging." Through her binoculars Pidge could see only the two crew member loading the slaves and stowing them in a cell in the hold with the rest of the cargo when suddenly they both just hopped into their cruiser and left; probably to join the rest of their crew celebrating at the bar. "Shiro, now is our chance we can get on board and hack into the ship's computer and download its manifest and star maps. We'll be in and out before they get back and we can free those slaves too. Please Shiro we can't just leave them there." This was a terrible idea but how could he say no to Katie as they were both desperate to find Matt and her father. Pidge checked if the coast was clear and rushed towards the ship. She knew Shiro would follow her. He would probably chew her out again when they got back to the Castle but she didn't have time to debate this, right now they needed to act.
Pidge ran up to the ancillary door of the ship and placed a small device on its surface where it expanded in size. It made a strange whooshing sound and then fell off revealing a neat hole right through the door just big enough for them both to squeeze through. "Were did you get that Katie?" Shiro asked worryingly. Pidge responded gingerly ignoring the disapproval in Shiro's tone "I picked it up…from the market earlier, it's a laser cutting charge. They use it for mining or something. But never mind where it came from, it worked didn't it." Shiro just shook his head, they would have a good long talk about stealing things when they got back to the Castle. He charged his Galra tech arm as they both climbed inside the ship and search for the right corridor that would lead them to the bridge. On the bridge Pidge quickly opened the display panel and started attaching the device that would unlock the ships computer logs and allow her the download files from it when suddenly the display went red. In fact, all the displays went red and outside the bridge closed by itself. A timer had started and the display was asking for a password. "Shit, shit, shit" Pidge muttered under her breath, the were trapped and the timer was counting down. Shiro tried to use his hand to cut through the door but it was reinforced and wouldn't budge at all, while Pidge tried to crack the security system before the counter stopped. As the last few seconds ticked by the paladins turn to each other unsure what would happen next. When the counter reached zero the floor charged with high voltage electrical energy rendering both of them unconscious on the floor of the bridge.
Shiro awoke first to find himself locked up in a cell and bound by the same manacles he had seen on the slaves at the auction earlier. He struggled against them, trying to charge his Galra tech arm but it was unresponsive and hung like dead weight at his side. His eyes scanned the immediate surroundings. Where was Katie? His eyes darted around the room until he found her bound and crumpled in a heap in the corner of the cell. She didn't appear to be injured but she was still unconscious. What happened on the bridge? He felt the persistence thrum of engines and concluded that they were currently in transit though without a window for reference he wasn't sure if they were still on the planet. Their disguises had been removed by their captors and well as their communications devices. They were captured by slave traders. This was bad, this was very bad. He needed to find a way to escape before either of them were sold off.
"It's him, I tell you…the Champion. I'd recognise him anywhere. I've been to the arena myself and seen him live. Don't let his appearance fool you he's a cold-blooded killer. We'd better make sure those energy disrupting restraints stay on tight or we're as good as dead" The captain told his first mate. The first mate rolled his eyes "Are you sure captain, what would the Champion be doing stealing our crummy ship, no offense but it's not exactly an elite class ship." The irked the captain "Shut up, it doesn't matter what he was doing here all that matters is that he's worth twice his weight in GAC. I'll sell him back to the Arena and make sure they throw some premium seats in the deal too." Shiro sat quietly in his cell overhearing the entire conversation. This was terrible, they knew who he was and they wanted to sell him back to the arena. He'd rather die than go back. "Ooh you're awake Champion, it's an honour to meet you. I'm the Captain of this fine vessel." Shiro struggled against his restraints. "Let. Me. Go!" he roared, the panic was getting to him. "No can do Champion. I'm going to take you back where you belong and you're going to make me a very wealthy man." The captain chuckled. "Hey captain, what are we going to do with the child." The first mate asked as he pointed to Pidge. "I'm not sure, it's too small to work and too scrawny to fight. Maybe I can convince someone to buy it as a pet at the next auction. If it's too much of an effort, we can just throw it out the air lock. I'm not feeding anyone that's not going to make me money." The captain's nonchalance about Pidge's life was too much for Shiro to hear. "I'm begging you, please don't hurt her" Shiro pleaded. "Why do you care, Champion. Is this youngling yours?" the first mate queried. "She's my partner, she's important to me and I won't fight without her with me." Shiro hope this would convince them to keep them together. A champion that won't fight wouldn't be worth much he reckoned. The Captain and the first mate looked at each other puzzled until the Captain exclaimed, "Its female, so it must be your mate right, which is why you don't want to be apart! I understand now. But why would you choose this one, its rather frail looking?" Pidge was starting to regain consciousness and was looking around the cell at Shiro and the two men on the other side of the cell. The first mate turned to the captain and added "I've only ever seen male Earthians until now, so maybe there aren't very many of them or they are hard to distinguish from the males." "Either way, we'll keep the two of you together Champion, if you promise not to give us any trouble until we arrive at our destination. You should save that fighting spirit for the arena." And with those final words the captain and first mate left the holding are leave Shiro and a bewildered Pidge alone in the dimly lit cell to contemplate their fate.