Taking A Chance

Unexpected Find

Keith found the ship at the coordinates given and went in under cloak. He landed on the ship opened the hatch and cut his way in.
With his mask in place, he dropped into the ship. He ran quietly down the corridor towards the bridge. His nerves were on edge because the ship appeared to be empty. No guards or soldiers patrolled the corridors, and there was no sound except for the hum of the ship.
At the doors of the bridge, he stopped and looked around. Still nothing.
Placing his hand on the control pad, the doors hissed open and he came face to face with five soldiers and they all rushed at him.
Pulling his blade from its sheath, it extended into a sword and the met them head on, dodging and wearing with terrifying speed. In second the fight was over and Keith was the only one standing, around him bodies littered the floor.
Moving to the control panel, he plugged in the memory chip Pidge gave him and the data stared to download automatically.
Keith's nerves were on edge, this was too easy.
When the memory chip beeped, he pulled it out and placed it back in the pouch on his belt. Then he did a scan of the ship and saw a handful of life signs scattered about. All but one of them were moving. The one not moving appeared to be in a cell.
Checking his watch, he saw the would have time to go and see who it was. A ship this big with one prisoner on it, they must be someone important.
Keith hurried down the corridor and found it Iined with cells. This ship wasn't a battle cruiser, but a slave ship. He couldn't even begin to estimate how many prisoners it could hold when full.
He knew the prisoner was on this level, he just needed to find them. He ran past the next cell then skidded to a stop and ran to the bars, gripping them tightly.
'Adam?' he said.
The man inside frowned at him. 'Who are you, how do you know me?' Keith's mask disappeared. 'Oh my god, Keith.' Adam ran to the bars and cupped Keith's face in his hands. 'How is this possible?'
'It's a long story,' said Keirth, 'but we don't have time for that now.'
Keith placed his hand on the scanner pad to the cell and the door swung open.
'How did you do that?' asked Adam.
'Another long story,' said Keith, 'come on.'
Alarms went off around the ship as they ran down the corridor. Keith pulled out his blade and it extended into a sword.
'Get them,' a guard yelled as they rounded a corner in the corridor.
Adam's heart leapt into his throat as Keith launched himself at them swinging his sword and fighting his way through them.
'Keith, behind us,' Adam said.
Keith was on them in a second, swinging his sword and cutting them down as he went. One of them caught Keith above the eye with the butt of their blaster making him see stars for a moment, before Keith retaliated, cutting him down. Keith stumbled to the wall and shook the fuzziness from his head. Keith checked how much time he had before he needed to be at the rendezvous, he would be cutting it close.

'You're hurt,' Adam said.
'I'm fine, but we have to get to my ship,' said Keith. 'We have to rendezvous with the other Voltron paladins.'
'You know the paladins of Voltron?' Adam gasped.
'I'm the red paladin,' said Keith. 'And Shiro is the Black paladin.'
'Shiro's alive,' Adam said.
Keith nodded, and immediately regretted it. Adam steadied him.
'Come on,' Keith said, pushing himself away from the wall and down the corridor.
Thankfully, the ship was undermanned, and they had a free run to his ship, it was then everything started going sideways.
They scrambled into Keith's ship and pulled away from the prison ship as two Galra cruised turned up spewing forth fighters. Keith managed to dodge them until one of them clipped his ship and disrupting the cloaking device.
'Damn it,' muttered Keith. 'Castle of Lions, this is Keith, can you hear me?'
'Yeah, buddy, reading you loud and clear,' Hunk said.
'I've got two cruises on my taiI, I could use some help.'
'On our way,' Hunk said.
A few minutes later a wormhole appeared, and the Lions shot out followed by the Castle.
'Head for the Castle, Keith,' Shiro said.
The small ship was taking hits. 'I'm not going to make it.' Keith wiped the blood from his eye and fought the wave of dizziness that came over him as blackness pushes in around the edges of his vision.
'Lance, you there?' asked Keith.
'I'm here.'
'I need your sharpshooter skills,' said Keith. 'I'm going to launch the escape pod. When I do, fire on the ship, destroy it, and grab the pod without the Galra seeing. I need to make them believe I'm dead, and you're not getting any information.'
Keith jumped up from the seat and opened the pod. Grabbing Adam's arm, he pushed him in then ran back to the com.
'Are you in position?'
'Ready,' Lance said.
Keith ran to the pod which was only designed to take one person and squashed himself in and closed the pod. Seconds later it launched.
The pod was thrown by the explosion then came to an abrupt halt and that was the last thing Keith remembered as blackness took him.
'Did you get him?' asked Shiro.
'Yes,' Lance said.
'Okay team, let's get out of here,' Shiro ordered.
As they swung around, they saw a wormhole appear and went through behind the Castle.
Lance landed Blue in the main hanger and was soon joined by the other paladins as he was opening the pod. The door swung up and he saw a man inside hugging Keith to him.
'What the hell,' Lance said.
'Adam?' Shiro froze in shock.
'Shiro,' Adam grinned.
'Adam,' said Lance, 'as in your husband Adam?'
Shiro nodded as Lance took Keith in his arms and lifted him from the pod. Once he moved him, he saw Keith's head wound.
'We need to get Keith in the healing pod,' Lance said, and left the hanger with Pidge and Hunk. They met Coran in the corridor and he followed them to the medical bay.
Shiro's mind came to a stand still, he heard what Lance said but he only had eye's for the man he helped from the pod. The man he thought was safe back on Earth. Shiro pulled him into his arms.
'How?' asked Shiro.
'I joined the rescue mission after you went missing on Kerberos,' Adam said. 'How did Keith end up out here?'
'That's a long story.'
'That's what he said.'
'Let's check on him, then I can fill you in on everything,' Shiro said.
They found Lance in the medical bay alone, waiting near the healing pod.
'How is he?' asked Shiro.
'He'll be fine,' said Lance. 'A couple of hours and he will be out.'
'Adam, this is Keith's partner, Lance.' They shook hands as Adam looked him over. 'Go and put Blue in his hanger and change,' Shiro said.
Lance nodded then held out his left hand. In his palm was a memory chip. 'He came round before he went into the pod. He got the information.'
Shiro took it from him. 'We're on our way to meet Krolia at the rendezvous.'
They watched Lance leave. Suddenly, Lance seemed more mature to Shino, not as many silly jokes. He'd had his doubts about Lance and Keith, but maybe it was a good thing, maybe it settled him down.
Adam moved over to the pod and placed his hand on the front and studied the young man.
'I don't understand how he's out here,' Adam muttered. He turned to Shiro looking for answers.
Shiro sighed. He started the story from the beginning and told Adam everything that had happened. Adam hung on his every word, staying quiet, not asking questions until Shiro finish.
'Half Galia?' asked Adam, 'how is that even possible.'
'Krolia never went into detail that I know of, and I'm not sure Keith has asked her to be honest. I didn't ask him because the whole thing seems to upset him.'
'Shiro.'
He turned and saw Allura in the doorway. 'Did he get the information?'
'Yes, Princess.' Shiro held out the memory stick to her.
She moved over and took it from him as she eyed Adam.
'Princess Allura, this is Adam,' Shiro said.
Allura smiled at Adam. 'Pleased to meet you, and welcome to the Castle of Lions.'
'Thank you, Princess,' Adam said.
'I will have Coran go over the data to see if there is anything useful,' Allura said, as
Adam watched her leave, finding it hard to believe she was responsible for shooting Keith in the stomach.
'Come on,' said Shiro. 'I'm sure you would love to have a hot shower and a meal.'
'Yes please,' Adam groaned.