Chapter Text
“Pidge, there's a lot more coming.”
Lance's voice was tense, devoid of any of the usual confidence and lighthearted humor it held. Pidge couldn't blame him, though. Who would've expected things to go downhill so quickly?
“Can you hold them off for a bit longer?” She yelled, straining to be heard over the constant blasting from Lance's bayard. “The data's almost downloaded. I'll find us a way out right after.” His eyes flicked over to her briefly before he gave a quick nod.
Pidge turned her focus back onto her computer, staring at the progress bar and desperately willing for it to go faster. She couldn't believe she'd missed such a large number of Galra when calculating the numbers before this all happened. Her scanner hadn't picked up this many back at the Castle. If she'd known, she never would've been on board with this data extraction mission.
Her screen lit up, shaking her out of her thoughts. “It's done!” She called out, working to pull up an internal layout of the ship. She needed to find the quickest route out from here.
It was only then she realized that Lance's bayard had stopped firing. Pidge jerked her head up, immediately fearing the worst. Did a stray Galra make it past and get to him? Had he exhausted himself and collapsed? But when she looked up, Lance was still standing, his back to her and his bayard at his side. His shoulders were heaving, breathing as if he had run a marathon. Most likely the result from the intense concentration he'd been utilizing to keep the Galra at bay. But why had he stopped?
She got her answer once she glanced past his figure, at the crowd of Galra that were gathered at the entrance to the control room. A weird transparent barrier had been erected between them and Lance, glowing an eerie purple. Lance's bayard must have no effect on it.
“Paladins of Voltron?” The one at the head of the crowd—and the one holding the weird orb that was emitting the barrier—finally spoke. He looked evidently different from the rest of the soldiers droids, who were clearly just constructed out of machinery. His outfit almost reminded her of a military uniform, aside from the fact that it was an unsettling shade of purple. Most likely their commander. “What a pleasant day this is turning out to be for the Galra Empire.”
“Glad we can skip the introductions,” Lance quipped, pointing his bayard back up towards the group. “I'd ask who you are, but quite frankly, I don't care.”
The Galra laughed, loud and ugly. “What you care about matters not to us. You are the soon-to-be prisoners of the Galra empire, after all. I am Commander Xaglar, leader of this ship.” His glowing eyes flicked over from Lance to Pidge. She stiffened, her fingers freezing over her laptop. “I suggest both of you step away from your weapons before your lives are considered forfeit.”
For a long moment, no one moved. Pidge thought furiously, trying to weigh their chances. There were 20—maybe 25—droids in sight, assuming there weren't more ready to crowd in at the given opportunity. Their only shot was if she could somehow make it across the room and disarm that weird barrier so that Lance could--
Xaglar suddenly reached behind him with his free hand, bringing it back around to show a gun. It was bulky and oddly-shaped, but it was a gun. And it was trained directly at her.
“I will not ask a second time. Surrender before the Green Paladin loses their life.”
Lance moved then, lowering his bayard once more. This time it fully reverted out of sight before his raised both hands. “You do realize that there are other Paladins, right? They have the Lions and plenty of firepower on their own, so if you don't want this ship blown to smithereens I'd--”
“The Lions will not make it past the barrier erected around this ship.” Xaglar cut in, voice smug. “Do not underestimate Galra technology. No one, friend or foe, can bypass it without my affirmation. Now surrender.”
Pidge knew she had no other choice. She slowly stepped back, getting to her feet as she raised her hands the same way Lance had. If they were going to break out, now wasn't the time.
The droids moved quickly after that, scuttling around the barrier and surrounding them within seconds. Pidge bit back a protest when she saw one of them grab at her laptop almost a bit too recklessly. She was sure they wouldn't be able to hack into her system that easily, at least. Xaglar barked out a few orders before Pidge felt one of the robots roughly shove at her back. She stumbled forward, catching herself before she could fall smack on her face.
“Keep your hands raised and walk.” Was all Xaglar said before he exited the room and the robots resumed their annoying shove-fest. Pidge and Lance were walking side-by-side now, arms still raised in surrender. It was eerily silent, save for the constant footsteps and scuttling from the droids. She sneaked a glance to her side, careful not to be too obvious in her intentions. Lance was still staring forward, although she could catch his eyes discreetly darting back and forth down the corridor they were headed. Memorizing the layout. Of course, Pidge thought. She should be doing the same. She looked back ahead, opting to check for anything they could use to their advantage later. Any blind spots, secret passageways, air vents... This was the closest thing they were gonna get to a tour of the ship, so she needed to capitalize on it.
After too much walking, they finally rounded a corner into a more dimly lit hall. Pidge spotted Xaglar coming to a stop up ahead, stepping inside of a room by himself. Before she could even wonder what he was doing, he was already back out, bags and some sort of clothing in hand. The robots parted instantly as he walked back towards where she and Lance stood.
“Remove your suits. You will wear more appropriate clothing as Galra prisoners.” He smirked, tossing the black fabric in his hands at their feet.
Pidge pursed her lips, but started removing the first bits of her armor. She could hear Lance doing the same, although he was talking as he did so.
“You don't happen to have this in another color, by any chance, do you? Preferably blue.”
“Or green.” Pidge added.
Lance hummed in appreciation. “An excellent contribution, Pidge. I can rock green.”
“Silence!” Xaglar snarled, reaching for his belt. Pidge's eyes darted to him at the movement, expecting him to pull out the gun again, only to widen when he pulled out some kind of whip instead. Seriously, how many weapons did he have on him? He cracked it on the ground warningly. “You will wear this and only this. And you will hurry. I will not waste any more time on this matter.”
At her side, she felt Lance jump at the noise, having been too busy removing his knee armor to notice Xaglar pulling out the whip. She decided not to test her limits yet, setting the last of her armor onto the ground. It felt noticeably colder after the protective layer was removed, even with the skin suit left underneath, and she suppressed a shiver. The prisoner garb didn't make much of a difference, so tattered and thin it might as well have not been there at all. She didn't appreciate the lack of shoes either. Being barefooted on Galra territory made her feet feel way too vulnerable and gross.
Lance finished shortly after, and the robots moved swiftly to collect their disposed armor into the bags Xaglar had carried out. He ordered two of them to take the bags back to the control room, something Pidge noted and tucked away. Looked like their main destination after they managed an escape plan would be the control room. They were herded forward a few more feet down the hall before coming up in front of a cell. The door opened with a creak and one of the robots gave a particularly powerful shove, one that actually sent her stumbling into the cell and onto the ground this time.
“Hey! Watch it!” Lance snapped. He grunted as another robot threw him into the cell in the same manner.
“We'll back for interrogations later.” Xaglar grinned, sliding the gate shut. Once it did, the metal of the bars suddenly began to glow a faint pink, the room filling with the constant hum of electricity. “I'd advise you not to touch the bars. They can be quite painful.” He chuckled and walked off, his horde of soldiers following in his wake.
Pidge got to her feet, dusting her knees off as Lance made his way be her side. “Are you okay?” He asked, bending down and eyeing her as if to check for injuries.
“I'm fine.” She grumbled, taking a quick scan of the room. At least it wasn't cramped. And they weren't handcuffed, either. Xaglar clearly didn't view them as a threat while they were weaponless and apart from their Lions. “Aside from the fact that we're stuck in a cell on a Galra ship with no ways of current escape, I'm absolutely swell.”
Lance grinned, the obnoxious smile back on his face. “Glad you still have your sense of humor.” His voice dropped, more serious. “Don't worry. We'll get outta here... Once we find a chance.”
Pidge hoped that was soon, because honestly, she didn't want to stick around long enough for Xaglar to go through his itinerary of interrogation tactics on either of them. “Were your comms working when we still had our helmets?”
Lance shook his head, crossing his arms. “Nah, I'd been getting static since the alarms went off.”
“I think it could be that barrier Xaglar mentioned. It must have activated once they realized there were intruders. I'm guessing it's scrambling the feeds or something.”
There a bit of silence as Lance pondered the thought. “So our only bet to get out of here is to disable that barrier from the inside, huh?”
Pidge sighed. “That's assuming we ever get an opportunity to make it to the control room.” She stalked over to opposite side of the gates, sitting down and leaning against the wall. “Give me a moment.”
Lance didn't move from where he stood, but she felt his eyes following her as she pushed back a sleeve on her wrist and felt for the thin transparent band she was wearing. It was still there, instantly lighting up a pale green once her finger made contact with it.
“What's that?” Lance piped up, and Pidge glanced up to see him now standing front of her and leaning over, squinting to get a better look. “You made a glowing bracelet?”
She grinned, almost triumphantly. “Watch this.”
A few taps did the trick. It was something she constructed to use in emergencies, when she somehow landed in a situation where normal forms of communication were compromised. She had been going for a minimalist design, something so discreet no one would realize it was actually there. But it still needed to be able to serve its purpose. To put it simply, a few taps of a certain sequence was the only way to activate the function. Almost like Morse Code, except there were only three variations: turn on, turn off, and call.
The bracelet blinked in confirmation once it registered her pattern, projecting a small screen that was running a long stream of code. That had been the hard part. She needed an alternate pathway to contact the Castle system without using the typical frequencies. In a scenario where those normal signals were being blocked or hacked, it was vital for there to be a guarantee that no one would be able to intercept it.
Another blink, and the screen disappeared.
There was a bit of static, and Pidge waited for it to die down before speaking. “Hello? Anyone there?”
Lance—who had crouched down once the code started running—glanced up at her voice, eyebrow raised.
“Pidge? Is that you?”
Lance's eyes went so comically wide Pidge had to stifle a laugh. “Coran?!” His voice went up an octave, and he instinctively snuck a glance over his shoulder to make sure he hadn't spoken too loud to alert anyone.
“Oh what a relief it is to finally hear your voices! I must contact the Princess!” Coran's voice was growing distant, but still audible. She could hear a clamor of noise in the background, filled with shouting and footsteps.
“Pidge?” It was Shiro's voice this time, thick with worry and panic.
“Yeah, it's me. We don't have access to our comms right now, so I'm using a different system. I don't know how long it'll last.” Lance was still gawking at her, and she felt amused enough to shoot him a self-satisfied smile.
“What happened? Are you both okay?”
A slight frown touched Pidge's face. “We're okay. Uhh..” She exchanged a look with Lance, who now wore a sheepish grin. “Actually, we kind of got captured by the Galra.”
“You what?!” Hunk's voice rang out, as if he was shouting from somewhere further back. “We gotta get you out! Like right now!”
“Pidge,” Shiro cut in, almost urgently. “The Lions have been trying to breach the barrier the ship put up, but we're making no progress. Coran and the Princess have been working on finding a different method for now.”
“We're gonna try and take it down from the inside.” Lance piped up. “Sneak into the control room or something.”
“How are you going to make it to the control room if you're captured?” Keith's voice crackled in. He was probably genuinely asking, but Lance still scowled at the question.
“We're working on that.” Pidge quickly cut in before Lance could make one of his typical snarky remarks. They didn't have time for bickering.
Somewhere in the background, she heard Coran's voice. Shiro was speaking again, but it was distant and muffled. There was a thump, as if someone else had taken the spot in front of the mic.
“Pidge? Lance?” Allura's voice this time. “Are you two alright?” She sounded breathless, as if she'd been running.
“We're okay for now.” Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Lance getting back to his feet and inching closer towards the cell bars. She was about to warn him not to get too close, but he'd already stopped, standing a mere few inches from the glow.
Allura was speaking again, repeating the same thing Shiro had said about some alternate method to take down the barrier. So far there was no luck, but they were still trying. Pidge listened, but kept watching Lance while he glanced side to side in front of the bars, as if trying to peer down as much of the corridor as he could.
She blinked with surprise when the realization finally hit her. He was making sure no one was approaching the cell and caught them making the call. Not that she would admit it out loud, but Lance was actually pretty capable when he wanted to be.
“--idge, are you still there?” Allura's voice was rising in volume, worry evident at the lack of response. “Can you hear us?”
“Sorry, I'm here.” Pidge supplied quickly, tearing her eyes back to her wrist. She'd trust Lance to be their lookout. “There are a lot more Galra than we expected, but we'll think of a way to slip past them.”
“Alright.” Allura sounded grim, but steadfast. “But above all, be careful.”
They only spoke for a few more seconds, with Pidge reporting how many Galra they'd encountered and a bit about the layout of the ship. She said anything that came to mind, unsure of what would actually be useful to the team at the moment. But halfway through her recollection of their eventual capture, she heard Lance.
“Pidge.” The name was spoken so quietly, it was barely a whisper. But Pidge jerked her head up instantly, the words dying on her lips. Lance had gone still, staring hard to his left down the hall. He glanced over his shoulder to look at her, and she knew. Someone was coming.
She brought her wrist closer to her mouth, whispering rapidly now. “Guys, I gotta go, someone's coming. I don't know when I can contact you again, but please keep a watch out.” She didn't wait for a response, already bringing her arm down and tapping out the code to deactivate the bracelet. The green light faded away just as she heard the footsteps come past the cell.
It was just a pair of droids. For a second, she expected them to simply pass by, but they came to a halt right at the center of the cell. One of their scanners activated, gleaming past the pink bars and reaching inwards. It was a brief swipe of the area, probably just to make sure they were still inside.
“Thanks for stopping by.” Lance drawled loudly. “Bring some snacks next time.”
The Galra gave no response, automatically resuming their trek down the hall after they'd done their job. Pidge held still until she could no longer hear their mechanical steps echoing off the walls, blowing out a long breath before leaning heavily back against the wall. She needed to use this time and think of a way out of here.
Lance moved away from the bars and situated himself next to Pidge against the wall. Pidge didn't move away when the side of his arm pressed against hers, secretly appreciating the bit of warmth it gave. She was tempted to use her bracelet again, just to hear everyone's voices a second time. But she didn't want to risk overusing it, especially since each usage would use up a lot of the limited energy it had. She needed to utilize it wisely. She'd call after she figured something out with Lance.
“You should get some sleep.” Lance said, his arm leaning just a bit more against hers. “Gotta have enough energy for when we bust out of here.”
It was a valid point, but Pidge shook her head. “Not tired.”
Lance sighed. “Yeah, me neither.” He sounded worn-out, any trace of sarcasm from before gone.
They sat in silence for a long time, the constant humming of the cell bars being their only other companion.