The balcony had closed itself off when they'd prepared to launch from Oriande, allowing the bedroom to be safe while in space. Matt had his shoeless legs stretched out across the bed, his back against the headboard. Lance was next to him, leaning a little into his side.
After the little confrontation in the Hangar, Lotor was escorted to the Brig and locked up there. They'd contacted Sayr and informed him about the situation but he seemed busy with the main fleet for the moment. One of his advisors had answered the call instead, promising that they would be in touch in due time. They needed to decide what to do with the ship.
The ownership wasn't decided yet but they knew it would remain within the rebellion.
Matt sighed next to him, the arm around his shoulder pulling Lance a bit closer, "I was worried about you."
"Lotor was handcuffed." Lance deadpanned, "I don't think he could have done much to me."
Matt's head plopped onto Lance's shoulder, "I doubt the handcuffs would have made much difference. But still," Lance's hand rose up to intertwine with Matt's hand on his shoulder, "I was just worried. It's not like I could go help you in Oriande."
Lance squeezed his hand, "But now we're back together."
Matt gave himself a moment to breathe, "...Yeah, we are."
Lance relaxed further into his side, letting his eyes slip shut for a moment as he listened to the rise and fall of Matt's chest, "That's not the same Lotor." He said after a moment.
They both already knew about the existence of clones and Lance had rushed to show him the melted corpse through the cameras, "He's still a Lotor. I don't trust him."
"I guess you don't have to."
"You really think he could know something useful?"
Lance hummed, "Hopefully. He seemed to know a lot before and he's read tons of books on alchemy apparently." He stretched out one of his legs, playfully wrapping it around one of Matt's, "If not.. I could still try to teach myself."
The communicator on the bedside buzzed in a notable pattern. Matt picked it up, glancing at it before he slid off the bed in one smooth movement. Lance looked up, hastily catching himself as Matt's support left him, "Is it time?"
Matt nodded, looking back at Lance with an odd expression when he was slow to join him, "When was the last time you slept?"
"Um.. I think I was unconscious for a bit before I got in touch with you."
Matt learned forward, cupping his cheek and threading a lock of hair behind Lance's ear, "You can sit this one out if you want. I'm sure I can bring him up to date enough on my own."
Lance took his hand instead, holding it as he stood up, "I'm fine," He brushed his thumb over Matt's knuckles, speaking softer, "Thanks. I can sleep later," He paused, adding playfully, "Even if it is for the weak."
"You're sure?"
"I'll sleep later. Promise."
Sayr was waiting for them, idly chatting with a couple other rebels. Lance and Matt both waved quickly, joining the call at the centre of the room with Lance at the centre of the pedestal.
"Sir." Matt nodded.
Sayr straightened up a little, "Haer Lance, begin your debriefing." Lance was always glad that Sayr never called him a Paladin anymore. He hated how attached everyone was to his Paladin status.
Lance filled them in on everything he had seen and experienced in Oriande, skipping over the odd details of the trials. He explained what he had gathered about Haggar and his new found ability to use alchemy.
Sayr nodded slowly, "And this ship, it has the same capabilities as the Castle of Lions?"
"It has a very similar layout and design. I don't know about it's capabilities yet."
The rebel on the screen smiled, "Thank you for your findings. I will arrange for a crew to be dispatched to your position to prepare the ship to join the fleet." He then addressed the whole of the group, "The four of you will remain here as a part of this crew. Lance." The former Paladin looked up, "I have a new objective for you. I will send a set of scientists to assist you with researching alchemy." He smiled at him a little, "You will oversee all matters relating to alchemy in the rebellion as our first Chief Alchemist."
Lance beamed at him, bowing with one hand on his chest, "Yes, sir. Thank you."
Sayr looked off to the side, checking something and then returning to their call, "The crew has departed, they'll arrive within about thirteen vargas. You have your assignments," He nodded to the others, "You're dismissed."
The call ended and Matt waited a moment to huff, "One more rank."
Vierna laughed, "You'll get there one day."
Lance raised his eyebrows questioningly. It was Matt that answered, "You need a Iesh rank to command any ship. I'm one too low."
Lance breathed a laugh, rolling his eyes a little, "Vierna's right, you'll get there." He took Matt's hand, swinging it between them.
"We're gonna head in." Matt waved to the other two rebels, biting off a yawn. Lance followed him quietly, "So.. Nice promotion."
Lance's grin found its way back onto his face, "Yeah, that was.. I'm still buzzing."
They found their way back to Lance room. Matt chose the room next to Lance's but they lingered outside Lance's door.
Lance caved first, "Wanna.. stay with me for the night?"
Matt nodded, following him inside. They sunk into their normal routine easily. Lance preferred to shower in the morning while Matt preferred to do it in the night so Matt slipped into a shower as Lance began the skin routine he had already started to reassemble. He rinsed his face off just as Matt began pulling on his clothes. Lance had changed already which left him free to clamber into bed with him.
Lance wound his way through the bustling crowds, trying to worm his way other to the lab that had been assigned to him. When he said lab, he meant a basic science lab, a whole hangar, the lab with the sincline ship and the off limits section with the rift creature. It was honestly more space than he knew what to do with.
He and Matt had been split up for their duties. Matt was supposed to be overseeing the recon teams in the crew and organising the security. His rank was high enough to put him in charge of all recon operations being conducted on the ships. He had parted from Lance as soon as they'd arrived to help them with setting up all their equipment, rooms and even begin writing up their shifts.
Lance had to overlook everything relating to alchemy which on at first sounded like a lot but, in reality, he only had a handful of people working under him and all assignments would be set by him at his own pace.
He met the two scientists working for him in the base. They both looked up instantly to greet him, silencing their conversation.
"Hi, I'm Lance-"
The shorter one with long fluffy ears that flopped about with each movement bowed suddenly, his hat falling off a bit as he did, "Hello! I am Cerow! From Aesenfall! You saved my planet!" He looked up at Lance with one hand reaching out to hold onto his hat.
Lance smiled warmly, holding out a hand to shake. It was treated more as hand-holding but Lance didn't mind, "It's great to meet you!" He looked to the other one, still holding Cerow's hand, "And what about you?"
This one spoke more calmly, "My name is Aerin. I'm a cerinfold, we never had the pleasure of meeting Voltron but I've heard high things about you." She had a set of ivory horns that curled into her hair. She seemed far more relaxed.
"Do either of you know anything about Alchemy?"
They both shook their heads. Aerin readjusted the low ponytail her hair was held in, "I've heard stories. Little nursery rhymes told to children but nothing practical or concrete." She shrugged, "I was curious."
Cerow nodded more vigorously, "Wasn't Voltron made with Alchemy?"
Lance hummed, "Allura said so." He brought up a picture of the sincline ship, "This ship is made from the same material as Voltron."
"Then it likely has the same qualities?" Aerin leaned forward scrolling through the photos Lance had collected for them earlier.
Lance nodded, "Maybe. The biggest difference I could think of was that Voltron was sentient."
The scientists froze, lighting up momentarily. Cerow was practically vibrating with excitement, "It was sentient?! Was that just when it was combined or-"
"Each lion was sentient and each was still an individual even when they combined as Voltron."
Cerow squeezed two hand over his face, "This is insane."
"But I don't know if they sincline ship was." Lance added, "In fact," They both straightened up eagerly, "Could you two begin investigating that while I check up on some other things?"
"Of course!" Cerow grabbed his bag and bounded out of the room.
Aerin sighed, trailing behind a second later, "Have fun, sir."
"I will. And don't forget to pick out your rooms before all the good ones are taken!"
After he left them, he headed out to the brig. He entered into a comfortable level of relaxed chattering from the security officers arranging themselves in the foyer. A couple of them waved to Lance as he came in but they quickly went back to their work, setting up their stuff. It looked like they were setting up a mini-armoury outside of the cells.
"Hey," Lance grabbed one of the officers, "There are proper armouries a little further away from the cells."
"We know." She nodded, "They're already full so we thought we might as well secure the areas around the cells."
"Alright then. Can I see him?"
She looked back at the door to the cells with a grimace, "Come back later."
He went down to the kitchens, grabbing a bite to eat from the kitchen staff (a couple of them had worked on the last ship and they always gave him extra servings). Next stop was the Bridge.
There was a separate category within the crew for the Bridge crew, there were only so many of them with their backups but it would still take some organising. Lance swallowed his sandwich as he approached the pilots, it had already been decided that Lance would help out the pilots when he could just as a back up. However, as far as he knew he was the only capable of opening wormholes although he thought he could store some of his energy in the ship which could be used for wormholes like Coran had done when Allura got captured.
"It's a strange interface." One of the pilots was gushing to him, "I can practically feel the ship breathing as I move it! It's exhilarating!"
Lance nodded, chewing quietly. One of the engineers was pottering about with the crystals in the pedestals, "I keep finding an odd repeating line of code in all of the Castle's systems." She beamed at the machinery like Pidge used to. Lance remembered telling her it wasn't a sunset, "It seems to be interacting with our investigations."
"Like an AI?" Matt joined the conversation. He had a duffel bag slung over his shoulder.
"Correct." They jumped backwards as an altean woman with short black hair and red markings appeared in the middle of them, "I do not mean to alarm you, my apologies." She bowed.
"Holy shit." Matt breathed, edging closer, "You're an AI? An actual-" He cut himself off with a giddy giggle.
She looked at him for a moment, "You are human. Alteans observed your species ten thousand years ago. You must have made great advancements since."
"We have!" Matt grinned, "Who made you?"
"Every ship of Altea comes equipped an AI built in to oversee the Ship's maintenance. I specifically was programmed by Rivera Anek by order of Lady Honerva."
The engineer closest to him backed away gingerly. A pilot stepped forward, "Are you working for Haggar?"
"I am aligned only to this ship. I work in the ship's best interest, no matter who is inhabiting the ship at the time."
Lance relaxed minutely. At least it would make keeping the ship in order easier. Had the Castle not had one? Or was it meant to be Alfor and he was just corrupted?
"What's your name then?"
She faltered for a moment, looking around, "I am..." She stared at the ship's interior, "I am this ship."
Lance looked at their new commanding officer, Iesh Molv, who was watching them curiously, "Does the ship have a name yet?"
"..The Vanguard."
A couple of the crew paused what they were doing to look up.
"We're going straight to the frontlines?"
Molv shook her head, "Not yet. It's the goal." She shrugged, unfazed, "If not, we'll be focusing on research as a support ship."
Lance turned back to the AI, "How does Van sound for a name?"
"You can't call someone Van." Matt protested, "What about V?"
"I'll answer to whatever you deem fit."
"Nice." Matt nodded, "Lance, can I talk to you for a sec?" He readjusted his bag nervously.
"Sure. What's up?"
"I've got permission to go back to Earth."
He smiled and Lance tried to mirror him, "I can't join you."
Matt dimmed a little, "I know. I'm going to make sure they all know the truth. Is there," He searched Lance's eyes, "Anything you want me to pass onto your family?"
"Just that I'm alive. I'll visit them once I get the chance." He added quietly.
"Of course." Matt smiled, pulling him into a tight hug. His fingers squeezed Lance's waist and the space in between his shoulders.
"Good luck." Lance murmured into his shoulder.
Matt pulled away to press a bracelet into Lance's palm, "You take care of yourself."
"I will."
Matt squeezed his shoulders one last time before letting him go completely, "See you around?"
"See you."