For The Stars

Chapter 14: Space Taco 2.0

"Arrangements have been made on our end. See to it that the Altean Princess cooperates. We are counting on you." Without any time for a response, or confirmation, Kolivan cut the line.

Keith stared at his Blade communicator, gazing into the black screen where his Leader's face had just been. The man's parting words 'We are counting on you' echoed through his mind. Great, no pressure! He thought to himself, slumping lower in the pilot's seat of Red's cockpit. Now that the Emperor couldn't track them, their every waking minute was no longer filled with fighting and evading. Suddenly, they found themselves with an abundance of free time and it didn't take long before Allura had them running drills in their lions once again. Her goal was to continue building and strengthening their team bonds, but instead they were all pretty exhausted.

Today was a rest day, which meant they finally got to relax for the first time in over a movement. Hunk was doing the will of the Ancients by baking them some incredible treats. Lance was losing terribly to Pidge at Killbot Phantasm. Shiro was last seen being shooed out of the kitchen by Hunk, his mouth suspiciously full of what ever had just finished cooling. Coran was cleaning the healing pods and re calibrating the somoflange. Allura was taking a nap after pouring over star charts all quintant. And Keith had been on the training deck until Coran locked him out once again. Apparently he needed to socialize and spend some quality time with his team – which was ridiculous because Keith had plenty of social skills ... just not ones that translated very well with Altean's and Humans.

Instead, he sat with Red gushing about how incredible she was and how he was so lucky to have been chosen as the Paladin of the very best Lion. Vaguely Keith thought he felt Black scoff at that, but Red's thunderous purring drowned out any objections. Not that Keith cared, he was pretty sure each of the other Paladins believed their Lion was the best – they were wrong of course, but they were welcome to their delusions. He felt multiple objections to that thought and Red cooed about how sweet he was. The whole 'semi-sentient' thing was still a little weird.

With a heavy sigh, the young Blade pocketed his communicator and rose to his feet. Sooner was better than later if he were to try and convince the Princess they needed to visit headquarters. Ughhhh he groaned as he stood, "Why am I always stuck with the grunt work?" Naturally, no one answered his question.

The halls were empty and quiet, but it wasn't strange like it used to be when they had first arrived. Keith had become accustomed to the solitude of the Castle ship and, though he missed having more people around, it was nice to not be forced into uncomfortable interactions every waking minute like he had been back at the Galaxy Garrison. He'd had a little heart to heart with Coran a few quintants ago; the Altean was incredibly insightful and gave sound advice. It had been his deduction that Keith missed being around other Galra and that perhaps he was starting to feel isolated.

It made sense; the other Paladins were all Human and, even though the two Alteans were the last of their species, Coran and Allura had each other. Meaning Keith was the sole Galra on the Castle of Lions and it was starting to get lonely. Stopping at the Thaldycon and Kassatae bases had helped, but he wanted nothing more than to go home. And that thought made him feel weak. All the other Blades were risking their lives for the cause; either on the front lines raiding ships, or assigned to deep cover missions biding their time and covering their tracks. And Keith? He was sitting comfortably in the safety of a Voltron Lion while missing his mommy and friends. Pathetic.

Coran had told him not to think like that. He'd said the other Humans were all home sick as well and that it appeared to be a deeply Human trait. He'd also pointed out how dependent Galra are on their family units. So, essentially Keith had a double helping of genetic predisposition to isolation induced depression – or whatever the quiznak that was supposed to mean.