The Stars Between -- (VLD)

[36] You're too late

Lance had forgotten the way that being around water seemed to have a peculiar effect on his bladder.

He sighed, rolling off of Blue's pilot seat (reclined to form a comfortable bed), reaching under her dash for his slippers. Left with only open air, Lance groaned. He would have to deal with the cold floor of the base.

He shuffled his way to the bathroom, blowing into his hands to warm them as he hurried through the hallways. The floor was freezing, and Lance stood on his toes to try and avoid it. He moved faster, trying to hide his shivers in the blanket over his shoulders and the quickening of his pace.

Lance almost sprinted past the training room if it weren't for the dim light coming from within. He skidded to a stop, wondering who could possibly be up this late and leaning back to peek around the door.

Muxis sat with his back against a wall, one hand fiddling with the military dog tags around his neck. His other hovered in front of a holoscreen, replaying some form of muted footage over and over. the light from the screen illuminated Muxis' face, revealing a still slightly swollen lip and a tired expression, corners of his mouth turned down.

Lance frowned, hesitantly taking a step into the room.

He might have been angry with Muxis, but as one of the team medics it was his duty to make sure everyone was getting enough sleep.

And Muxis most definitely wasn't.

If the Galra noticed Lance coming in, he didn't show it, eyes still trained on the screen in front of his face. The footage ended just as Lance made it to his side, sighing and opening his mouth to speak.

"Watch." Muxis said, not moving his eyes from the screen in front of him.

Lance raised his eyebrow, but moved closer in order to better see the screen as Muxis hit replay.

A slightly younger looking Muxis ran into view, followed by a lizard-looking alien. Both held a gun and both wore the resistance colours. Past Muxis yelled something, though the words were lost in the silence of the footage. They ran backwards, fighting off enemies obviously following on their heels.

He fired his gun at something out of view, just as another figure appeared, running from the opposite way that Muxis and Lizard Man had entered from.

Lizard Man turned to look, aiming his gun as the other figure spoke quickly into a device. The first shot missed, and Muxis yelled something again, before charging at the group that was following them. Lizard Man fired again, this time hitting his mark and doing a quick once over of his kill before he turned back to the group tailing them.

Lance watched Muxis jump to the side in order to dodge a strike, turning to yell a warning to his teammate.

Lance watched as said teammate turned to yell back.

Lance watched as Lizard Man fell to the floor, blood streaming from the hole in the side of his head.

Muxis hit replay again, and they watched as the scene played out, the ending just as jarring as it had been the first time.

"Every time I watch, I find something I could have done better." Muxis said, hitting replay once more. He breathed deeply through his nose, running a claw through the engraved symbols of his tags. "I see more mistakes than what seems possible."

It was silent in the room for another replay and a half, before Muxis grunted.

"I should have taken him out instead of leaving it for Njij to handle. If we took him out sooner, he wouldn't have contacted the commander."