Katie didn't remember much before being taken in by the Galra.
Katie's life on earth was a bit blurry, but it always had been since her family went missing due to grief muddling her brain.
Entire mind dedicated to her family, an entire year of her life and many of the years before hand gone, every bit of her being dedicated to figuring out what the garrison was hiding.
However. She remembered going to space in the blue lion with the other humans, remembered meeting Allura and Coran, remembered meeting the green lion, remembered the basic training, remembered their first fight, remembered the party and how she'd decided to leave.
She remembered she wanted to find her family, not fight in some war that didn't concern her or her planet.
She remembered being angry, the others yelling at her and insisting she stay.
She remembered the infiltration by Sendak and Haxus.
She remembered the explosions, being the only capable person within the castle to fight.
She remembered beating Haxus,
She remembered telling him that she was a Paladin of Voltron. A fighter.
She remembered that before she could truly be done with the fight he'd grabbed her by the ankle and dragged her down with him.
She remembered nine sickening cracks, the feeling of her metal armor piercing her skin and stabbing into her when she hit the ground hundreds of feet below.
She remembered overwhelming pain, her body suit becoming sticky and wet with the blood leaking from her wounds.
She remembered her visor sending dozens and dozens of alerts about her vitals, about how she was dying.
She remembered the Altean drone that had come to get the one she'd made. Rover.
She remembered crying out for help, beginning for it to get her the others. That she was dying, that she couldn't breathe properly anymore. That she could feel her broken ribs stabbing into her lungs and her legs were completely numb.
She remembered the drone leaving once it had what it wanted, not even sparing her a glance as she sobbed for it to come back.
She remembered seeing Sendak, rushing in and yelling for help when he saw her. That she didn't have much longer.
And then black.
Only cut off by blinding light when she was woken by druids and gasping for air. Brought back to life after what she could only assume was a painful death.
The operation to revive her had been extensive, and Katie now had thirteen large pieces of metal in her spine, keeping it together properly. An incredibly painful process, one she thankfully slept through and didn't feel.
When she'd woken and they asked who she was, she explained. In return, the Galra told her that they'd found her. Nearly dead and abandoned by her so called teammates.
They explained the equipment in her back, how it operated and how it was keeping her alive and able to feel all of her limbs. But, without some intensive physical therapy she wouldn't be able to walk.
It made her furious and sad, breaking down crying in front of Haggar. She'd gotten comforted so quickly by the witch, the older woman holding onto her and assuring her that everything was alright.
Katie was safe.
She was home.
The Galra would take care of her.
She wouldn't be Pidge anymore, she wouldn't be a paladin. She'd be Katie, safe and secure with the Galra.
They didn't make her fight, didn't even put her in a cell or prisoners clothing. Katie was put in a room, fairly large with a comfortable bed, books, a mirror, and an attached bathroom for her to use.
After her first day there they'd given her new clothes, dresses, pants, shorts, shirts, skirts, anything she could've wanted. Shoes too, so many goddamn shoes.
They obviously wanted her to be comfortable, which Katie appreciated more than anything. She was given plenty of space to process everything and adjust before anyone really interacted with her that much.
Sendak was the first one to approach her, gently knocking on her door and sitting down once she allowed him inside. He explained in detail how he'd found her and felt the need to bring her back.
The Galra valued their comrades, and he couldn't handle her being abandoned by hers. He'd decided that she deserved more, and was happy to bring her back so that they could help her.
The two became surprisingly close, Sendak taking Katie out often to allow her to explore the Galra ships, taught her how to read, speak, and write galran. He helped her learn how to fight properly, be able to defend herself, survive on her own if needed. However, he assured her he wouldn't let that happen.
He would take care of her, dedicating himself to being her main caretaker and guardian.
Hell, Zarkon began to warm up to her, the two having a mutual respect for each other after a large of work and proving their worth to each other.
He taught her how to play Galran chess, a competition her and the emperor still had going despite the long amount of time the small human had been with them.
It had to have been years, her hair had grown to her shoulders and spent most of its time in a braid. She'd grown to the point that she needed a real bra and all of her clothes had been swapped out multiple times to fit her properly. Katie was still short, but she wasn't as skinny or bony. Her body was toned, covered in lean muscle and she could hold her own against Sendak in hand to hand combat.
Any weapon the galra has she could wield, and after years of training she was as agile as a cat. Able to go to and from without being so much as heard. She was proud of herself and what she'd accomplished, it was no easy feat. Especially for a human.
The improvements to her augmented spine certainly helped too. Different models made specifically for her to make her faster and stronger and more capable were offered to her often.
If not for the recovery time and pain from each replacement, she'd try every single one made.
Katie had made herself into an asset for the galra, proving that during the few missions she was allowed to participate in. She showed that even from the main ship, unable to go on the missions, she was able to provide incredible feedback and instructions via communications and what she could see from feed broadcasted to her.
And those missions were few and far between, much to Katie's displeasure. She was ready! She wanted to fight! She could handle it! Sendak had taught her how to fight, and Zarkon had overseen so much of her training himself. Hell, he'd been the one to teach her how to properly use a sword.
She didn't want to be sitting in the bridge of some ship providing instruction, she wanted to be fighting.
Her growing skills in combat only made her more eager to go out and fight, something she voiced regularly.
"I want to go!" Katie argued as she walked down the halls with Sendak, the large Galra sighing with each point she made.
"I can fight! You know I can!"
"I know, Katie," he grumbled, carefully lifting her up so she could sit on his metal shoulder and not have to run to keep up with him.
"But Zarkon and Haggar want you to be safe, the Paladins will likely arrive and you're not ready for that."
"Yes, I am!" Katie growled, glaring at him.
"I'll wear my helmet the entire time and stick by you! They won't even know it was me!"
"No." Sendak said firmly, "the emperor might let you go to the new base on Drule, they have lots of tech there that you would enjoy, and we need to gather samples."
"Do you think he will?" Katie grinned, mood changing within moments at the prospect of going to a new planet and seeing new things.
She loved her home with the Galra, really, she did. But it could get boring from time to time. They didn't want her to get hurt, obviously concerned due to her lack of size and strength.
"If you don't misbehave." Sendak snorted, reaching up and ruffling her hair gently. He was careful of his claws, not wanting to hurt what he called his 'tiny warrior.'
They were going to see their emperor, Zarkon had called Sendak to a briefing so that they could discuss what he'd be doing on this new mission. Katie was coming along to see if she could wiggle her way in. She'd be happy if she was just intelligence or something.
"Oh come on, I haven't broken anything lately, I've won almost all of my sparring sessions, I could pilot a fighter with my eyes closed, I'm excelling in my studies, and you heard Haggar the other day, I'm in excellent health!" Katie smiled, "I'm the best behaved human on this ship!
"You're the only human on this ship," Sendak chuckled, opening up the door to the throne room.
Zarkon sat on his throne, sword in hand and Haggar at his side as per usual. He looked the two, smiling just a bit as Sendak set Katie down and allowed her to walk up to the throne on her own.
The two soldiers kneeled for their emperor, Zarkon waving them off after a moment and gesturing for Katie to come to him.
The girl grinned, rushing up to the emperor and letting him set her down on the arm rest of his throne.
"It's good to see you, Katie." He rumbled, smiling softly at her, "how did your studies go today?"
He listened to her ramble for a bit, adding in a comment or two as she told him about how she'd been continuing on with learning how to properly write in galran and a good portion of their history.
Everyone had been surprised when they'd seen how soft Zarkon was with her, never once did the emperor shout or raise his voice at her. He'd never threatened her or hurt her. His worst punishment he'd given her was probably when he scolded her or told her she couldn't go on a mission
He gave her almost everything she could ever want to, she requested a book? It was there within an hour. A new weapon? There was one made specially for her by the end of the week. To go see a new piece of tech? He found her a specialist who could explain the ins and outs of it to her.
People said it was because she was supposed to be a paladin, Zarkon was using her to their advantage so that she could be used as their personal weapon. They couldn't effectively form Voltron without her after all.
Zarkon insisted that it was because he saw that she was a fighting spirit who had so much potential, and that after her mistreatment and seeing how broken she was, he wanted to help her get stronger.
"Will I be able to go to Drule? Please?" Katie asked when she was done with her rambling, "I'd really like to see the new base!"
"Are you sure you don't just want to go on the mission being conducted there?" Zarkon smiled, "the one that I'm sending Sendak on?"
"Okay, maybe that's part of it." She admitted with a hum, Zarkon chuckling with a soft smile. She was so childlike, it made him happy to see something so untouched by the war.
"You'll get to go to Drule with Sendak. I'm sending you both there to oversee the new base operations. Katie, you'll be helping Sendak with the technical aspects of getting the population under control and seeing where labor will be most needed. Sendak, you'll be in charge of the troops, understood?" Zarkon asked, voice going a bit cold and stiff when he turned to the large galra.
"Yes, my emperor." Sendak nodded, "I'll retrieve Katie and my things, we'll be ready to leave whenever you see fit."
"As soon as possible, get set up on Drule and make sure communications are working. I want this to be quick and easy," Zarkon said firmly.
"And when we get back, I'll beat you at chess again." Katie said smugly, causing Zarkon to smile at her and chuckle.
"I do recall I won last time," he purred, nudging her gently as she got to her feet.
"You remember wrong!" Katie scoffed, "and either way, I'm still winning seventeen to ten!"
"You're forgetting the many draws, kit." Zarkon chuckled, leaning back in his throne.
"Still winning!" Katie chirped snugly.
"Then I guess I'll have to make it so that you're winning seventeen to eleven when you return," Zarkon smiled, waving the two off to go on their mission.
"Be safe, I'll see you when you come home."