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Fires raged. Smoke rose up from the ruins of the city – another rebellious colony now destroyed. Of course, Lotor did not care. Why should he be concerned about the state of the empire or the welfare of a few colonies that were more trouble than they were worth? He was only here because he needed supplies, and the battle’s aftermath would leave plenty of scraps and useful objects lying around until the salvage crews arrived to clean up the mess.
As he carefully waded into the remnants of the chaos, now as still as a ghost town except for the fires, he watched his small crew out of the corner of his eye. Acxa, naturally, was unaffected by the flames and chaos. She had been through worse, and she, oddly enough, seemed to rather like fire. Of course, the sight of the burning town gave her no joy, but it did not seem to strike the same kind of instinctual fear in her that most Galra had around fire.
Zethrid displayed a snarl that was likely hiding a wince of pain as she examined the wreckage around her. Almost nothing fazed her in all of their fights and travels, but a sight like this, a colony in ruins, always brought back bitter memories for her. Lotor would likely have to give her some extra training time later to help her channel her rage so that it would not affect her performance.
Narti was, as always, reactionless. The only indication of how she may have been feeling came from Kova, who hissed at and crouched away from the flames surrounding them. Narti simply picked her way through the rubble, avoiding the fires as well as she could.
Their little band was complete, in Lotor’s opinion. He led them, Acxa backed him up and strategized, Zethrid was a pure force of power, and Narti was an excellent rogue and lookout. Why would Lotor need anyone else?
A small whimper of pain drew Lotor’s attention. He made his way over and found someone still alive among the wreckage. The person seemed to be female, possibly a young adult, though Lotor suspected from her gangly appearance that she was still an adolescent. She looked native; however, her purple markings were unusual, and, when she looked up at Lotor with wide, fear-filled eyes, her yellow sclera demonstrated her Galra heritage, even though her blue irises were a native feature. Half-breeds were not unheard of, but this planet’s people had taken a special disliking to the Galra, so Lotor was mildly surprised that any of the natives had cross-bred with Galra. Unless, of course, it had not been by choice… such a thing was unusual, but not unheard of. It disgusted Lotor that the perpetrators of such acts usually got away with it, and that the children of such unholy unions were usually abandoned to a fate of disgrace or torment if not death.
As Lotor looked at the girl more closely, he determined that she was most likely only one-quarter Galra, which was even more unusual. He wondered who her parents were and how their society had received them. Judging from the old scars mixed with the new wounds on this girl, the answer was most likely not one that Lotor would enjoy hearing. Additionally, her wounds were far from fatal, which suggested that she had been abandoned on purpose, not simply left for dead.
Lotor did not often feel pity, but this strange girl elicited that very reaction from him. Still, the prince would not act on pity alone. Perhaps he could get Zethrid to carry this girl out of the wreckage, but that would be where his assistance ended. Before he could give the order, however, the girl spoke first.
“Sir, please,” she began as she struggled to get up, “allow me to become a soldier. I can serve the empire. I can… I’m strong, I know how to fight, and I’m stealthy. Please, please…” She trailed off, beginning to lose her composure, though she’d managed to stand. In her eyes, Lotor could see desperation, but also determination and some confusion with a small glimmer of hope as she looked from him to his generals. After all, they were all clearly not fully Galra.
Lotor considered the situation. It was obvious that she thought that she would be better off as a soldier than as a captive, which was correct, however… “The empire rarely accepts any soldiers who are not of full Galra blood,” Lotor answered honestly enough, “and never anyone with less than half.”
“I’m half-Galra,” the girl answered firmly and without hesitation.
Lotor raised an eyebrow at her, and he was impressed that she managed to hold his gaze until he said, “I am certain that you are not. Even if you are, you do not look nearly Galra enough to join the ranks of soldiers. Your best chance is to hide and hope that the main fleet does not find you and throw you in the arena or a work camp.”
Her expression became more intense, her eyes shining with determination as she challenged him. She forced herself to straighten to her full height and to stand firm as she declared, “Sir, I can be a valuable asset to you. Let me prove myself. Give me a chance.”
Lotor gave her his best ‘really now?’ expression, and he watched as she backed down somewhat, though she did not look away. “Why do you want to join?”
“To serve the—”
“Why do you really want to join?”
The girl paused, considering. Finally, her façade of resolve visibly crumbled, and she admitted, “I know it’s my best chance. My mother was abused and eventually killed by the people here for being half-Galra. My father met the same fate for defending her and me. They’ve abused me ever since then. I’ve barely managed to survive here by acting cute and making myself useful, but when the rebellion failed, they left me, saying that I should join the invaders like the ‘Galra scum’ I am.”
“Were you part of the rebellion?” Lotor asked, keeping his expression neutral. “Do not lie.”
She had the nerve to scoff at him, further suggesting that she was still quite young. “Do you honestly think they would have accepted me?” she retorted.
“No.”
“There’s your answer.”
Well, she definitely had spunk. Lotor could appreciate that. This attitude suited her much better than the ones she had displayed earlier. He could see bits of his younger self in her, and he knew he could train her and help her reach her full potential. “Well then… I think I may indeed have a bit of an offer for you,” he drawled with forced casualness.
Her eyes widened with surprise and hope laced only with a bit of suspicion. “Yes?”
“You see, my crew and I operate on… the outskirts of the law.” Lotor paused, waiting for her reaction, and was pleased to see her expression shift to interest. He continued, “I am still, for the time being, technically a person of high rank in the empire, but I have rather fallen out of the emperor’s graces. I use this to my advantage, staying just on the periphery of the emperor’s view. One day, I may be completely exiled—”
“Again,” Zethrid cut in.
Lotor shot her a glare. “Yes, again, but the point is that my unique position offers my followers certain freedoms that are not afforded to regular soldiers. To a certain extent we… subvert expectations. I am sure that you noticed that none of us are fully Galra?”
“Yes,” the girl agreed, looking increasingly hopeful and even a bit excited.
“While we are all half-Galra, I personally see no need to discriminate. As long as you can operate Galra technology, it makes no difference to me.”
“I can!”
“Excellent. I should warn you, however, that our operations often put us in very difficult situations. We cannot have someone holding us back because of inability. Can you keep up?”
“I’m fast,” the girl insisted, “I’m great with hand-to-hand combat, and I can be really stealthy. I’m also a quick learner.”
Lotor nodded approvingly, though he was actually most impressed at how unfazed she was by everything he had said so far. “To join us, then, is to pledge your loyalty to me, not to the empire. If you make mistakes, or if you need to leave, know that I will strand you where you cannot tell the empire anything about me or my plans.”
She looked a little nervous, but she nodded all the same.
“If you betray me or any of my crew, you will die immediately.”
Again, she nodded, swallowing harshly but still maintaining eye contact.
“Excellent. Do you know who I am?”
She froze, looking incredibly nervous as she slowly shook her head.
“That is alright,” Lotor reassured her with a small smile. “I do keep a low profile on purpose. I am not surprised that you do not recognize me, though I imagine you have probably heard of me. I am Prince Lotor.”
She inhaled sharply before saluting and bowing. “Your majesty, vrepit sa.”
Lotor could not quite hold back a wince. “Please, don’t,” he said, dropping the formal language and tone for a moment. “The salute is fine, but the rest of it… that is how people address my father, not me. Refer to me as ‘Prince’ or ‘Sir’ if you must, but drop this ‘your majesty’ business, and do not say that pledge to me.”
The girl’s expression was the clearest visual representation of ‘I’ve quiznacked this up already’ Lotor had ever seen as she quickly stood up straight and nodded, maintaining the salute.
“It’s alright,” Lotor reassured her, “at ease.”
She dropped the salute.
“Now, do you still wish to join my crew?” He locked eyes with her, watching her expression carefully for any emotions it might betray that she would rather keep hidden.
The girl paused for a moment, considering, before she nodded and confidently declared, “Yes.”
Lotor looked back at his team, gauging their reactions. Acxa’s expression was unreadable, but she gave a slight nod. Zethrid gave a half-shrug that indicated ‘eh, why not?’. Narti, of course, had no reaction, but Kova did not show any aggression toward the girl, so that was answer enough in Lotor’s opinion. He turned back to the girl. “Then, on your life, swear your loyalty to me,” he commanded.
She put her arm across her chest in a standard salute and declared, “I, Ezor, swear on my life to be loyal to Prince Lotor and to follow his commands.” Her expression faltered as she realized that she had just talked about him like he wasn’t standing right in front of her. “I mean, loyal to you…?”
Lotor did not hold back his amusement at her fumble, instead allowing himself a small chuckle and warm smile to reassure her. “Thank you, Ezor. Welcome to the team,” he replied gently. Ezor. That was actually a Galra name. Lotor wondered why her parents had given her a name that emphasized the part of her most likely to be hated by the locals.
Ezor gave him a smile of her own in return, full of hope and gratitude. Lotor felt a pang in his chest – she was certainly a bit younger than his other three generals, and she seemed to trust him so easily. He hoped that he could protect her.
“Come along,” Lotor told her. He turned to lead the way out of the ruins, but he could, thankfully, still see Ezor out of his peripheral vision as she took one step and immediately stumbled. Lotor quickly caught her and tried to help her stand, but she winced in pain. “Is something broken?” he asked gently as he shifted to better support her weight.
Her face was scrunched up from the pain, and she barely managed to grunt out, “Doubt it, but probably sprained.”
“Zethrid,” Lotor called, “can you gently carry her?”
“Yeah, of course I can, sir,” Zethrid answered casually, strolling right over and easily lifting Ezor up into her arms, carrying the smaller girl bridal-style. “This good?” Zethrid asked her.
Ezor nodded. “Go easy on the ribs – I probably dislocated a few – but yeah, this is okay.”
Lotor sighed, glad to have resolved that minor crisis. He checked the time, then scanned the horizon for any signs of Galra ships. “Zethrid, take Ezor to the ship,” he commanded. “Acxa, Narti, let’s finish up quickly.”
Later on, after everyone was aboard the ship and flying away, the questions began. Ezor was curious about everything, but especially about how the team got together.
They answered her questions. They were hesitant at first, of course, to reveal any particularly sensitive information, but as the conversation flowed more easily, they all found themselves telling her nearly everything.
They told her about Acxa first. They started off with explaining the many interesting quirks she had gained from other side of her heritage, especially for dealing with danger, but that led to explaining where the other half of her genetics had come from and why. Acxa’s mother had been a criminal, a traitor to the empire, and had fled to an uncharted, primitive planet, thinking she could hide from the empire. There, she had procreated with one of the natives. Of course, no one can hide from the Galra empire forever. The empire had found both Acxa and her mother, and both had paid the price for her mother’s crimes. Lotor counted himself and Acxa alike lucky that he had found her – she had gained a chance to be something more than an experiment, and he had gained his most loyal soldier.
They then recounted Zethrid’s story, which was particularly interesting to Ezor. Zethrid’s home colony had participated in a similar rebellion, and her father had been one of the leaders of it. Zethrid herself had been arrested by the empire and forced to fight in the Arena. Lotor had wound up there – partly against his will, as punishment, but also partly by his own choice, to prove a point – and had noticed Zethrid’s fierce, unbreakable spirit. He had more or less befriended her by the time Acxa carried out the pre-arranged plan to break Lotor out of there, so he had invited Zethrid to come with. Since then, she had proved to be to loyal and trustworthy as well as brave and powerful.
Lotor had discovered Narti entirely by accident when looking into the druids’ experiments. She had been locked away in the deepest experimentation chambers the druids had – Lotor suspected that she had been Haggar’s personal project, at least at some point – for stars-know-how-long. Lotor told Ezor that he had noticed a spark of ability in Narti, decided to take chance on her, and had never regretted it since. This was mostly true, but something about Narti still kept Lotor on edge, though she had been unwaveringly loyal and incredibly useful so far, so Lotor kept her on the team. He wished it was a little easier to communicate with her, since she was entirely mute, but her actions spoke loud enough, and Lotor knew that she was a highly capable soldier.
And now, they had Ezor. Lotor was not entirely sure where she would fit into their little dynamic, but he had no doubt that she would find her place. All of his generals had been lost when he found them, and Ezor was no different. All of them owed him their lives, and Lotor knew that he could trust them with his. It would take the impossible to break them apart.
If anyone asked Lotor why he had taken in his generals, he would have answered that he was the type of person who could see potential, which was true. Perhaps a more honest answer, however, would instead be that Lotor had been lost and abandoned once, in the chaos of a war and the debris of a planet that had been the key to half of his heritage, in the fallout afterwards as the people he had once loved as his parents revealed themselves to be monsters, and now he was stronger for it. He could see potential where no one else could – the forgotten, the lost, the broken, the unwanted, the abandoned – and he knew how to make that spark of potential into a flame of ability. Lotor found broken scraps and fashioned them into deadly weapons. Lotor found abandoned people and made them into warriors.