Chapter Text
Laser fire burns around him, hot blasts of energy that singe and scorch. Shiro ducks around a corner, presses his back against the wall, catches his breath for just a moment. A drone steps into the hallway, and Shiro drops low, kicking to sweep its legs out from under it. It gets a glowing fist to the chest, metal screeching and wires sparking.
The mission had been going well, so of course it all had to go to shit. They were infiltrating a Galran warship, searching for any clues as to what the Empire’s next move might be. There had been whispers of a prince throughout the various planets they had visited; another unknown, another curveball thrown by the universe. Shiro hated it.
So they were gathering intel, which in all honesty should have been an easy job. Pidge had been in charge of finding the data, while Shiro, Hunk, and Ulaz had been keeping watch, with Keith and Lance on standby in their Lions. Until an alarm had sounded and drones had started swarming them, pouring out of the metaphorical woodwork. They had been split up in the resulting confusion. Shiro thinks he saw Pidge duck into an air vent, while he and the others fought their way through the halls, but he lost track of Hunk and Ulaz a couple of hallways ago.
“Hunk, give me your position,” Shiro calls through the comms.
“Uh,” Hunk says, breathing labored, “I’m in a hall?” There’s the sound of laser fire from down the hall, and Shiro hears it echoed in the comms. “There's - ah! - a lot of really angry robots around me!”
“I think you’re nearby. Stay put.” That gets him a humorless laugh.
“I’m a little pinned down, so if you could hurry, that’d be great.”
“Roger.” Shiro takes off down the corridor, rounds a corner and is faced with several more drones. He ducks under a fist, barely manages to avoid a blast from a rifle, slices through chest and arm and neck. He doesn’t stop to admire his handiwork, instead continuing on at breakneck speed.
“Pidge?” he asks as he runs.
“I’m good,” is the clipped response, and Shiro nods, even though no one can see.
Shiro runs through the hall, takes a left, another left, a right and suddenly he’s confronted with another swarm of drones. They fill the hall, and Shiro barely manages to get a glimpse of yellow from between their shoulders. Shiro leaps into action - he stabs an unsuspecting drone in the back and dodges its comrade’s rifle blast. It takes out the drone that had been reaching for Shiro, and Shiro wrenches the rifle out of the drone’s hands and slams it back into its face. There’s a burst of laser fire from ahead, and half the drones fall. Shiro fires off a few shots from the rifle, punches several more holes into drones, and then it’s just him and Hunk.
Who doesn’t look too good.
Hunk’s slipped from leaning heavily against the wall to being slumped over on the ground, and Shiro rushes over, kneeling by Hunk’s side. There are scorch marks on Hunk’s armor and a hole burned into his left thigh plate. The smell of burned flesh fills the air. Hunk gives Shiro a weak smile.
“Hi,” Hunk says, clearly aiming for lighthearted, but is betrayed by the tremble in his voice.
“Hey,” Shiro says, “How’s your leg?”
“It’s been better.” Hunk shifts and winces.
“Can you walk?” Hunk nods, then shrugs.
“Yes. No. Maybe?”
“There’s one way to find out.” Shiro offers him a hand. Hunk has to stop part way up, pale faced and breathing heavy, but they get him upright.
“Look, I’m great!” Hunk says, but his leg betrays him and buckles when he tries to take a step. Shiro grabs Hunk’s arm, hauls him back up and supports him with a shoulder. Shiro huffs a laugh.
“Yeah, you’re super.” There’s the sound of metal footsteps on metal floor, and Shiro drags Hunk into a little alcove as several drones charge passed. “We need to get out of here,” Shiro whispers and Hunk nods emphatically. “Keith? Lance?”
“I’ve got Pidge,” Keith says, “but I’ve also got the attention of most of the fleet.”
“Get Pidge back to her Lion and focus on staying in one piece.”
“On it,” Keith says.
“Lance? Hunk and I could use an extraction.”
“Okay, but we’ll need a rendezvous point. I think Blue and I can punch a hole through one of the hangars,” Lance says hesitantly. “It’ll cause a stir, but it’s the best I can do.”
“That’s fine. Keith, once you get Pidge back to the castle, keep the fleet distracted. Pidge, can you point us towards the closest hangar?”
“Yeah, gimme a-” Pidge squawks. “Keith can you try to keep this thing steady?” There’s a noncommittal grunt from Keith, then the sound of a smack, and Keith lets out a yelp.
“You twerp -”
“Hey, hey, focus! We need to get Hunk out of here.” There’s a beat of silence, and then everyone’s talking at once.
“Wait, wait, wait, what happened to Hunk?”
“Is he okay?”
“Why didn’t you say something ?”
“I’m fine guys,” Hunk volunteers, “I just, uh, got shot in the leg?”
“What?!”
“No, no, really I’m fine! It’s cauterized and everything!”
“What?! ” three voices screech back. Shiro winces.
“Hunk’ll be fine, guys, but we need that extraction. Pidge?”
“Okay, okay, there’s a hangar about - oh, oof - half a click away from your current position. Can you make it that far?”
Shiro bites back a curse. “There’s nothing closer?”
“No.”
Shiro looks at Hunk, tilts his head and raises his eyebrows. You good? Hunk visibly steels himself, jaw set and shoulders square. He nods.
“Alright. Pidge, send me and Lance the coordinates for the hangar. Lance, meet us there.”
“What about Ulaz?” Keith asks quietly. Shiro’s breath catches.
“We’ll find him on our way out.” Hunk shoots Shiro a look, and Shiro shakes his head. There’s no time to think about what might happen if they don’t find Ulaz. Getting Hunk out of here takes precedence. Shiro gives Hunk a tug and they set off down the hall at an unsteady pace.
They have to hide in the shadows of side halls and doorways to avoid several more squadrons of drones, and Shiro’s the tiniest bit grateful for the Empire’s dedication to its aesthetic. There are plenty of hallway supports and dark corners to duck into, and Shiro briefly recalls his haphazard escape all those months ago. Shiro wonders where Ulaz is; if he’s safe, if he’s hurt, and for a moment he can envision Ulaz bleeding out on the floor, his own blade turned against him. He’s fine , Shiro tells himself. Ulaz is resourceful, he knows his way around a Galran warship, he’s okay .
The current squadron they’re hiding from has just about clanged its way passed them, and Shiro grips Hunk more firmly, preparing to move. Before they can take a step, though, another squadron rounds the corner going the opposite way. Shiro and Hunk are in plain sight, and the lead drone pulls its rifle. Shiro jerks Hunk around the corner and rests him against the wall as the drones open fire.
“You gonna be able to give me cover fire?” Hunk’s pale and sweaty and his eyes don’t seem completely focused, but he nods anyways. Shiro claps him on the shoulder. “Atta boy.” Hunk grins and summons his bayard, listing a bit to the side, but he seems solid enough. Shiro takes a moment to collect himself, waits for a break in the laser fire, then steps fluidly around the corner. He breaks into a run, Galra hand lighting up vicious purple. Shiro hears Hunk follow suit, and then he’s firing on the drones, cutting them down in swathes.
Shiro runs for the wall, uses it to boost himself up and slam his feet into the back of a drone. It topples into another, and Shiro uses the drone to springboard behind another. He cuts it down at the knees, kicks the rifle away and twists out of reach of another drone. That one is sliced at the waist, and Shiro whirls to face his next opponent and-
“Enough!” A gruff voice rings out and all sounds of battle sputter to a stop. Shiro turns slowly, stance still low and defensive. At the end of the hall is a Galra commander, decked out in spiked, ostentatious armor. Beside her is-
Oh.
Oh no .
Beside her is Ulaz, mask torn off, arms shackled behind his back, his own blade held at his ribs by the commander. A drone stands behind him and to his left, rifle aimed at his head. He’s bleeding sluggishly from a cut high on his cheek, and his ears are tipped back in the way that Shiro’s come to learn means he’s mad. Extremely mad.
“Hello, Paladin,” the commander sneers, derision carrying clear in the ringing silence. Shiro stares impassively at her, not letting his eyes flick over to Ulaz, not letting his worry show. His hand still glows purple, a warning and a threat. “It seems we are at an impasse,” she says, “I have something of yours, you have something of mine.”
“We have nothing that belongs to you,” Shiro calls, voice cold. She snorts.
“The data the small one stole? That is the Empire’s, and therefore mine. I want it back.”
“What, we give you the data, you give us our teammate? Sounds unlikely.” Shiro’s mind is scrambling - he couldn’t give the commander the data if he wanted to; Pidge has it, safe in her Lion. The commander scowls, and the blade is pressed more firmly to Ulaz’s ribs. His ears twitch, and Shiro’s Galra hand tightens into a fist. The commander’s eyes flicker to his hand.
“Stand down, Paladin,” she growls, “or I will gut the traitor.” Shiro chews on the inside of his cheek. He forces himself out of his crouch, hand dimming.
“Shiro!” Hunk calls in alarm.
“Hunk.” Shiro doesn’t take his eyes off of the commander. “It’s fine.”
The commander smiles, teeth sharp. It’s meant to intimidate.
Shiro refuses to let it do so.
“Now, the data.”
“Of course,” he says easily. He’s bitten through his cheek, and his mouth tastes like blood. Ulaz’s nose flares. Shiro takes a step forward, and several rifles are immediately trained on him. He raises his hands slowly and quirks an eyebrow. “I have to give you the data somehow.”
The commander squints at him. Shiro hopes she can’t tell that he’s lying out of his ass. Finally, she nods.
“You,” she barks to one of the drones, “bring him to me.” A drone marches up to Shiro and grips him by the collar. Shiro has to resist the urge to jerk out of its grip. It escorts him up to the commander, and Shiro lets his eyes slide to Ulaz. He’s watching Shiro intently, head cocked barely to the side. They stop a few feet away from the commander. “Well?” she asks.
Shiro brings his right arm up in front of him, makes a big production out of pulling up his wrist computer. He flips through several settings, doing nothing other than buying time. The commander leans forward impatiently, and Shiro’s eyes flicker to Ulaz again.
Then he kicks the commander in the shin, hard as he can.
Ulaz’s blade clatters to the ground as she clutches her leg in reflex.
“You little-” the translator fizzles out as she raises a hand. Shiro tries to duck out of the way, but the drone still has a hold of his armor, and she backhands him. He feels something crack in his jaw and sees stars. Ulaz lets out a low growl and then he’s sidestepping the drone that has its rifle pointed at him and throwing himself at the commander.
Shiro can hear Ulaz snapping at her as he twists out of the grip of the drone, fist severing arm from torso. Shiro whirls to see the other robot aiming at Ulaz, and he lashes out. It fires off a shot and Ulaz grunts, and then Shiro’s there, smashing its head then plunging his hand into its chest.
Hunk has opened fire on the rest of the drones, giving Shiro and Ulaz cover. Ulaz is still biting at the commander, but she’s overcome her shock and is shoving at him, managing to flip them over. She claws at his eyes and Ulaz snaps at her fingers. Shiro grabs the drone’s rifle and fires. Her head jerks up and she stares at Shiro, wide-eyed.
He fires again.
Then Ulaz slams his head up, forehead connecting with chin, and she falls to the ground, still. Shiro drops the rifle, hands shaking. Ulaz struggles to push her off of himself and get to his feet, and Shiro darts forward, helping him stand. Shiro cuts through the shackles around Ulaz’s wrists, concentrating on keeping his hand still.
“She is merely unconscious,” Ulaz murmurs, and Shiro nods, shoulders slumping. With his hands free, Ulaz rests a careful hand on Shiro’s bicep. Shiro nods again.
“We should move,” Shiro says, voice hoarse. Ulaz’s eyes flicker over Shiro’s shoulder.
“Your paladin,” he says, and Shiro spins around. Hunk’s back on the ground, eyes closed and breathing shallow. They run back to Hunk’s side, and both kneel next to him. He’s cool and clammy, and Shiro bites his lip.
“He’s going into shock,” Shiro says, “We need to get to the hangar. Can you carry him?” Ulaz nods, and he carefully scoops Hunk into his arms, standing easily. Shiro pulls up the directions Pidge sent him. They’re close. “Follow me.”
They jog down the halls, Ulaz doing his best to not jostle Hunk. Thankfully, they don’t run into any more squadrons.
“Lance,” Shiro calls as they approach the hangar, “we’re almost there. You gonna be ready for us?”
“Yeah, I’ll be there,” he says, voice tight. “Hey, you shoulda seen Keith and Pidge - Keith was like, taking all these fighters on a wild goose chase, right? Trying to buy us time? Well, he was doing all these loops and stuff, right by the castle, showing off like he’s hot shit, and then Pidge flew out from behind the castle and just decimated a whole chunk of them! They never saw it coming!” Shiro smiles at the rant, peeking through the hangar doors.
“There’re only a few sentries,” Shiro whispers to Ulaz, while Lance continues to wax poetic about Keith and Pidge’s surprise attack. “You ready to go in?” Ulaz nods seriously. “Here we go.”
They duck into the hangar unnoticed and squat behind a stack of crates. Shiro glances around and catches sight of a panel that would open the airlock. He inclines his head towards it, eyebrows raised meaningfully. Ulaz follows his gaze and his eyes widen. He shakes his head, and Shiro flashes him a grin. He gives Ulaz a stay motion, then leaps out of cover before Ulaz can stop him.
Staying low, Shiro makes his way across the hangar to the panel, stopping to hide behind ships and crates when sentries get too close. The panel’s almost in reach when he’s spotted, and he dives the last few feet to get to it. He slaps his right palm on the panel, flicking through lines of Galran code to find the big red button that typically means open airlock . A laser blast comes uncomfortably close to him when he manages to find it, and Shiro pauses for a moment to jam his Galra hand into the wall. He presses the button and the hangar door opens with a whoosh , and Shiro’s lifted off of his feet.
Ships and crates and sentries go flying out of the airlock, and Shiro cranes his neck to see Ulaz grimly holding onto Hunk, arm looped around some piping to hold them in place.
Then, suddenly, the vacuum of space no longer has a hold on them, and Shiro drops painfully to the ground. The Blue Lion’s head is crammed in the open airlock doors, mouth open and inviting. Disentangling himself from the wall, Shiro starts to run for the Lion, stopping just outside its jaws to make sure Ulaz is following suit with Hunk. They all make it into the Lion’s mouth and its jaws seal with a hiss, and then there’s the sound of metal screeching on metal and they’re flying away.
Once Hunk is safely sequestered away in a pod and they’ve gone through the post-mission debriefing, Shiro finally lets the mission catch up to him. It hits him like a train, making him shake and his eyes burn with tears, and he locks himself in his room.
He almost lost two of his team.
He couldn’t keep track of them and they almost paid the price for it. They almost died because of his screw up. Hunk was in the pod because of him. Ulaz had been used as a bargaining chip because of him.
He almost killed that commander. Stared her dead in the eye as he shot her.
Fuck .
Shiro grips at his hair and tries to ignore the vice-grip his guilt has on his chest. They’re fine, and that’s all that matters, right? He can’t quite convince himself.
A soft knock at his door startles him out of his spiral, and Shiro rubs frantically at his eyes.
“Shiro?” It’s Ulaz, voice pitched low, “May I come in?”
“Sure,” his voice cracks and he winces. The door opens and Ulaz steps in carefully. Several butterfly bandages hold the cut on his cheek closed and there’s gauze taped to the laser burn on his shoulder. Shiro tries to not look at it and scoots over on his bed, giving Ulaz space to sit. Ulaz leaves a few inches between them and Shiro draws his legs up, hugging his knees to his chest. They sit there in silence for a few moments, before Ulaz speaks.
“What you did today was very dangerous,” he says. Shiro curls in on himself tighter. Of course it was - he almost killed three different people.
“I’m sorry,” is all Shiro can say. Ulaz sighs.
“You could have died,” Ulaz says, and wait, what? “When the commander hit you, I- I feared the worst.” Ulaz turns to face Shiro properly. “Shiro, I heard something crack .” He reaches out and runs a careful knuckle along the bruise beginning to form on Shiro’s jaw. “I wish you would not endanger yourself for me.”
“Endanger- Ulaz, you almost died because of me ! She was, was gonna gut you like a fish! You were shot because I couldn’t stop that robot in time!” Shiro hides his face in his hands. “Hunk went into shock because he was covering me . He got hurt in the first place because I couldn’t keep track of him.”
Ulaz shifts closer, draws a claw over Shiro’s shoulder before carefully placing his hand there. “Shiro, you lied to the face a Galra commander. You kicked her in the leg like a petulant kit. You were almost shot while trying to open an airlock. All of this to save Hunk and me.” Gently, Ulaz pries Shiro’s hands away from his face. His face is open and sincere, and Shiro has to look away. Ulaz squeezes Shiro’s hands lightly, the pads of his thumbs drawing soothing circles on Shiro’s palms. “We are grown. We can look after ourselves. We do not need you to constantly be by our sides, though I would not be opposed to it.” Shiro can feel a blush rise to his cheeks and Ulaz laughs.
“You were amazing today,” Ulaz whispers, “You fought for those you care about, you kept a level head while under stress, you kicked a high ranking commander in the leg .” Shiro laughs, the sound only slightly strangled.
“You really liked that part, huh?”
“Yes,” Ulaz says, leaning in close, “I liked it a lot.” He runs his nose along Shiro’s cheekbone, following it up to his temple. Shiro sighs into it, leaning against Ulaz. Ulaz wraps his arms around Shiro as he continues to snuffle along Shiro’s hairline. Shiro shuts his eyes, letting Ulaz’s soft words and touches ground him.
“You’re weird,” he murmurs, and he can feel Ulaz laugh against the crown of his head.
“But you enjoy it.”
“But I enjoy it.”