To Build A Home

Chapter 23- A Tragic Accident

   "Sorry I'm late..." Steven hung his head low, ashamed for arriving home a whole hour after he should have.
   Krolia shook her head, smiling as she took a break from trying to make her son giggle. "It's alright," she promised, "Keith and I had some fun, didn't we?"
   Keith only pouted and stretched his arms out towards his father, whining quietly.
   Steven quickly, yet carefully scooped the child up into his arms, kissing the boy's forehead before taking a seat next to Krolia.
   After providing the boy with enough cuddles to satisfy his needs, Steven looked to Krolia and asked, "do you want me to feed him? Or can you handle it?"
   "I can handle it." She slowly took the child from his father, laying him down in her lap, supporting him with her right arm. "He likes it better when I do it than when you do it." She teased, picking up the small, plastic bottle from the bedside table.
   "Aaah...!" Keith knew what this was, and it made him quite happy. "Ah...!"
   "Okay, okay. Give Mama a second." Krolia kissed her son's forehead, earning an adorable smile before handing him his drink. She didn't let go of the bottle, but she did let him hold onto it.
   "I wonder when he'll learn to properly communicate. You know. More words than just 'Mama'." Steven wondered out loud. It was clear that he wanted the boy to call him by name, but he wouldn't complete admit to that. It seems a bot too selfish for him to say out loud.
   "When he's ready, he'll learn, but for now, it's just 'Mama' and his strange way of saying Little Blue..."
   A few moments passed in a peaceful silence. A moment like this was amazing and magical. It was just the three of them. All three were together and happy.
Keith was contently drinking from his bottle, his small hands gripping the sides as though he was the one holding it and not his mother.
   Krolia and Steven both watched there son, nothing but love and compassion on their eyes.
It was true bliss.
   This moment was the paragon of a happy, loving family.
   But then that moment ended.
   The room was pitch black except for the light of the moon and stars when a light purple glow appeared to their left.
   There was a quiet, yet high pitched ringing coming from the table beside Krolia.
   Both of them immediately turned to see what was making that noise.
   Her blade.
   Her Marmora knife was glowing.
   This was not a good sign.
   "What's goin' on...?"
"I don't quite know..." her eyes drifted to her son, feelings of regret and worry filled every ounce of her soul.
Steven slowly took the child into his arms and placed the boy in his crib. He watched in silence as Krolia moved to the window, hearing a gasp escape her lips. "Are ya' gonna tell me what's wrong or—"
Without making a sound she motioned for him to stand next to her. "Those three ships. They're scouts. They must have picked up on the Blue Lion's signal."
"You don't think they're here to..." he paused for only a second, "to wage war on our planet, do you?"
"It doesn't matter why they're here. They're here, they're Galra and they must be stopped." From the window, she went to the dresser, pulling out supplies and her Galra uniform. Both of which she hasn't touched since she crash landed here nearly three years ago.
"So what's the plan?"
"I have explosives." Krolia handed the bag to Steven as she hurried to put her armor on. "They're not powerful enough to destroy a fighter, but if we detonate them in the intake valves, they could stop them from taking off." She slid her blade into its sheath and handed Steven a detonator. "Once they're set, use this to detonate the charges and take out the ships."
Slinging the bag over his shoulder, he looked to her, "what will you be doin'?"
"I'm going to find out what the scouts know and get rid of them."
"What about Keith...?"
Krolia felt her muscles tense up. "Keith..." She looked to her son, then back to Steven. "He's asleep. This give us roughly an hour and a half before we need to meet back at your hover bike."
"Are you sure this is a good idea? Leavin' him all alone."
"No... But if we don't leave now, we risk losing the Blue Lion to the Galra, and that cannot happen."

***

   "It looks like they know where the lion is..." Steven kept his voice low as he hopped off his hover bike. "Are we too late...?"
   As he had pointed out, the scouts knew exactly where the lion was hiding. Their ships were just outside the cave entrance.
   "No." Krolia replied harshly. "We cannot just give up. Plant the explosives, detonate them and get back here as soon as possible. If I don't meet you here in an hour, go home to Keith. Tell the Garrison everything." Krolia was ready to sprint off towards the cave when someone grabbed her arm.
   "Wait... What do you mean if ya' don't get back...?"
   "I don't know how many of them there are. I'm a good fighter, but there might be too many for me to take out."
   "Then I'll go with you."
   She shook her head, pulling her arm from his gentle, yet firm grasp. "One of us has to get back. You're the only one who can properly provide for Keith. There will be no further discussion."
   He only nodded. This was a risk they had to take. For the safety of their son, and their planet.
   "Set the bombs, detonate them, and return here. Promise me you won't wait for me."
   "You have my word."
   With a slight nod, she darted off towards the cave, using the shadows of the night to conceal her location.
   Taking a deep breath, Steven hurried to the ships. He would much rather the two of them had stuck together, but he also knew that was not an option.
   The first explosive was easy to set, he understood the controls and interface enough to calibrate it to the detonator he was given. Placing the second one on the second engine of the first fighter ship, he hurried to the next one.
   The area was dead silent. Not one living creature was around.
   Repeating what he had done for the first ship, he placed one explosive in each of the intake valves, set them, and calibrated them to go off at the click of the button on the detonator.
   This seemed easy enough. No Galra soldiers, no guns pointed at his head. That was a positive sign.
   He checked his surroundings one last time before heading to the final spacecraft.
   Just one more.
   Nothing complicated.
   Everything should have worked out the way it was planned.
   Everything would have, except for one problem.
   One of the scouts had stayed behind, guarding the ships and cave entrance. This scouter was unknown to both Steven and Krolia.
   Just before Steven reached the final ship, he felt a searing pain in his right arm.
   From behind, he had been hit by the scout's blaster.
   The pain was like nothing he had felt before.
   Steven was a firefighter. He had been through rigorous training, felt countless flames and burning debris fall on his back and arms. Not to mention, Krolia had almost blinded him when they had first met, and she had nearly broken his hand by holding it so tightly while giving birth to their son.
   He knew pain.
   But this. This was something different.
   The force alone was enough to knock him down.
   Falling forward, he hit the ground hard, the detonator had slipped from his grasp. If he wanted to use it, he would have to get up and grab it.
   He would have.
   He would have undoubtedly moved to grab it.
   But something stopped him.
   The sound of footsteps in the distance prompted him to stay down.
   The scout had slipped past him, ignoring the fact that he could still be breathing, and made their way into the cave.
   That's it.
   They're doomed.
   Steven had failed.
   He began blaming himself, he wanted to get up an run after the scout. Maybe he could reach them before they made it to the lion.
   He forced his upper body off the ground, but stopped before getting to his feet.
   Krolia words echoed in his mind.
"You're the only one who can properly provide for Keith."
   Steven couldn't go after the scout.
   That's why he was tasked to take out the ships.
   That was his job.
   And he knew that somehow, no matter how difficult, he had to finish his job.