A Paladin's Blade

Precious Cargo

Sirafina sat on her bed, keys clicking as she searched the Garrison's Archives for the dagger that laid inches from her computer. She had never seen anything like it, and neither had her best friend Pidge. The two shared their first conversations over it, nearly a year ago, and they had been searching for information on the purple and black blade ever since. Sirafina released a groan, before falling back onto her pillows, exasperated by her lack of success.

"Rough Researching?" Pidge. Sirafina was still getting used to the secret Pidge had confided in her, that she was truly a girl looking for her father and brother. She wasn't quite accustomed to seeing a 'boy' in the girl dormitories yet.

"Don't even get me started," Sirafina spoke, as she pushed herself up to see her friend.

Sirafina examined her for a second before asking the question that hitched up into her mind.

"Why do you have your backpack?" Pidge smirked, worrying Sirafina a little. Pidge was up to something.

"I have something to show you," Pidge responded. Sirafina shook her head slightly but started putting a couple things in her backpack, along with her dagger before tossing it onto her back.

The pair quietly made it to the roof and sat down on the edge. It was silent as Pidge set up her equipment, but it was nice. However, the silence didn't last long when Pidge broke it.

"You know I've been thinking," Pidge started, pulling Sira's attention, "If your father's dagger isn't on any earth archive, maybe it's simply, not from earth." Pidge had a valid point, but it took a moment to process.

"Are you proposing that he got it from an alien?" Sirafina clarified, trying to wrap her mind around the theory.

"Precisely. You see, I've been getting interception on the radio ever since I started searching for my brother and father, but it sounds nothing like anything I've ever heard before." The two went silent again as Pidge started up her equipment and handed a pair of headphones to Sirafina. They both sat in silence for a couple of seconds, listening to the static. Then she heard it. Unfortunately, she couldn't make out what it said in time because someone removed her headphones causing the sound to cut off.

"You come up here to rock out?" the voice spoke, a hint of teasing in their voice. Lance. Lance McClain. She hadn't really met him but he was in her class and was on Pidge's simulation team.

"AGH!" Pidge jumped, startled by the new presence. Beside Lance, crouched Hunk Garret, He seemed nice, and Sirafina's suspicions were proved correct when he gave her a sweet smile.

"Oh, Lance, Hunk, No, um, Just..." Pidge searched for an excuse, but came out dry. "Lookin' at the stars," She finally mustered out, a nervous smile twitching on her lips. Lance didn't seem to care about her excuse, for his attention was on the tech Sirafina and Pidge had been using seconds earlier.

"Where'd you get this stuff? It doesn't look like Garrison tech," Lance asked, a skeptical expression on his face. Another one of Pidge's signature smirks painted her face,

"I built it," She answered proudly as Hunk looked closer at the tech, examining it up close. He made a move to touch the keypad, but Pidge quickly swiped his hand away.

"Stop it," she shot him before explaining what she built, "With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system," Sirafina was surprised. She knew that Pidge was intelligent and capable of many things, but she wouldn't have expected her fifteen year old best friend to engineer something with potential to be better than the Garrison Tech. It wasn't that she doubted Pidge, she was just surprised. Even at seventeen, Sirafina continued to struggle with the grasp of STEM, ironic that she was at a piloting school to go to space.