General Pain

"Lance, can you hear me?" Lotor's voice sounded through the coms. Lance blinked his eyes opened and looked around in confusion. He remembered that he was on a mission with Lotor before he and Red were shot down by retreating Galra soldiers. At least it seemed like they wouldn't have to go right into battle. He groaned and straightened up, he could tell that Red was sprawled on the ground.

"Lotor?" he groaned.

"Oh, thank the stars," he sighed in relief. Lance looked out of Red's eyes but he couldn't see Lotor's ship anywhere.

"Are your coms to the Castle working?" Lotor asked. Lance startled and first tried Red's controls but it was clear that he wasn't going to be moving for a while. He pressed his finger to his helmet, immediately he ripped away when loud static vibrated through the radio.

"It's no use,"

"As I thought, I will travel back to the Castle for help, the hyperdrive should get me there in plenty of time," he said.

"Sounds good, I'll scout around for a possible landing spot for the Castle," he said as he slid from Red's mouth.

"Understood, and Lance?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't do anything stupid,"

"Aw come on Lotor, I thought we were buddies now," he playfully whined brushing vines out of the way.

"We may be but that doesn't mean I'm not going to tease you at any moment," he laughed. "But seriously, don't endanger yourself unnecessarily,"

"I won't Lotor, I promise," he said fondly.

"Alright, I'll be back with help soon," he said before entering hyperdrive. Lance huffed and turned off the out of range com and glanced around.

Time to find some landing ground

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He circled around as best as he could, but he wasn't able to find anything remotely stable enough to hold something as heavy as the Castle, and decided to head back for the day. As he walked through the murky woods on the way back to Red, he held his gun up prepared to fire. He didn't know anything about this planet, and he didn't know whether or not Galra forces were still on the surface. He spun around when he heard a snap and a small thump. He grimly took aim and looked down the sight but quickly took it off when he caught what was in the crosshairs.

A little kid was sprawled across the ground, the dust settling from where they fell. He blinked and suddenly there were two more, tugging them up from the dirt and looking warily up at Lance. He could tell that they were Galra, with big ears and big yellow eyes. He slowly crouched down and deactivated his bayard before hooking it to his belt.

"Are you okay?" He asked gently. The kids looked at him in surprise before the one that fell hesitantly nodded his head.

"What are you doing out here?" He looked at them with concern. Even if they had just met them, they were just kids.

"Looking for our mom and aunts," the tallest one said stepping forward to block his view of the other two. He smiled at the bravery that the kid was trying to show even though he could see their little hands shaking by their sides.

"Well, maybe I can help, my name is Lance," he introduced putting his hand on his chest.

"I'm Alu," the tallest one declared, pointing a thumb at their chest.

"I'm Piciar!" the second on said excitedly peeking out from behind Alu's back.

"I'm Icha," the one that fell on the ground said quietly. He could see a faint blush appearing on their cheeks. He let out a quiet laugh at them and gave them a comforting smile. They looked at him with wonder on their faces and crept forward.