Burning Bright Eyes

Nine

        Off with the Green Lion and Sage Serpent, Pidge casually exited her Lion after the two crafts were safely in the cargo ship. The Serpent got itself situated around the Lion quite nicely, curled up next to its front paws. When Acxa came out of Sage, she noticed the Green Paladin carrying an odd-looking case. She watched as Pidge opened the case to reveal a computer, sitting on the Lion's paw like she did it every day with her helmet beside her.

        While Acxa was tempted to go see what the Paladin was doing, she attempted to resist the urge. However, curiosity won her over, along with recalling what Ayiko said about the small human's intellect and talent with technology. She cautiously walked over to Pidge, cradling her helmet under her arm. Upon getting a closer look at the human's technology, she noticed it seemed like a cross between two different types of technology.

        "Did you create that yourself?" Acxa asked, the usual hostility in her voice traded for curiosity.

        Pidge looked up at the general that was eyeing her computer. "Sort of. Back on our home-planet, it was just a normal laptop computer. Ever since we became Paladins, I've made a few tweaks so it can be used with Galra and Altean technology. Managed to give Green a few upgrades during our adventures, too."

        "Impressive," she mused, going up to sit on Sage's tail near the Green Paladin. "I've always been more of a tactician in the field myself. I never had many physical skills that could help me in battle besides my handheld blaster, so I adapted to using it for various types of combat. Even had to hack a few systems to make sure that our missions were successful."

        Pidge's eyes widened with a new light. "Really? I guess that makes two of us on... quite a few levels."

        "What do you mean?"

        "Well, neither of us are exactly strong in the physical department, so we have to use special tactics to get things done. We're both best with technology and use agility and speed in a fight instead of brute force. And I've hacked into a few Galra systems myself to help out the other Paladins."

        On that note, it didn't take long for Acxa to see she stumbled upon quite a bit of common ground. "Ayiko told me that we were quite similar. Back on Olkarion while we were waiting for you to arrive."

        Pidge hummed, typing away at the computer when an error message appeared on the screen. "Oh, come on! I've been trying to sync our Galra tracker with Lotor's map for a week at this point and the same error message keeps popping up every time I try to run the program. It's driving me crazy!"

        Acxa peered over the smaller pilot's shoulder, looking over the program. "Ah, there's your problem. You made a small mistake with your calculations."

        "What... Oh, there it is," Pidge tapped her own head with the heel of her palm. "Can't believe I didn't see that before. Let's try that one more time." She did her math over until everything was correct before running the program. Sure enough, the program went through successfully, and the maps were successfully synchronized. "Yes! Finally!" Pidge cheered. "Thanks... You're Acxa, right?"

        "Yes," the blue-skinned general nodded. "And Keith's half-sister as well, apparently."

        Pidge grinned up at her. "Never thought Keith would have a sister like you. We should do stuff like this more often." She held out her hand to the taller general. "What do you say?"

        A small, genuine smile grew on Acxa's face as she shook the Paladin's hand. "Definitely."

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