Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In the small cockpit that she was in Krolia found that the high pitched blaring of the alarm was near deafening. She groaned as she groggily regained her consciousness, sitting up. She cried out when a shot of pain flashed through her torso. She flopped back into the chair and looked down at the dagger still sticking out of her side.

“So much for getting out of there unharmed.” She muttered thickly as she gripped the hilt. She didn’t dare take it out, she knew if she did she would bleed out. Keeping a hand around the wound she weakly tapped the screen in front of her. Red lights flashed as she tuned on the sensors, “Need to find somewhere to land.”

Trying to keep her vision straight she regarded the small solar system she’d found herself in. There were eight planets in the vicinity, not including the dwarf one at the edge of it.

“But only one with oxygen,” she slurred and one handily typed in its coordinates into the autopilot. There was a whirl as the system engaged and Krolia flopped back into the chair with a hiss of pain. She watched dimly as the stars blurred past and a green and blue planet zoomed into focus.

As the small fighter ship started into to descend into the atmosphere she cried out as it rattled and bucked at the friction. She gritted her teeth and tried to stay awake but before she knew it her vision went dark. It cleared a bit later and she gasped in panic as the ground rushed towards her. Snapping forwards she grabbed the controls and pulled them back, causing the ship to even out and slow.

It didn’t work that well. The ship plummeted into the rock and she was thrown back as she crashed. It rattled and shook as they slid, the screen flickering out. “Quiznak,” she muttered when the ship finally came to a halt. Continuing to curse she lurched forwards and tried to activate the ship again, it remained dark.

Groaning she flopped back and dimly looked down at the dagger in her side. It was still bleeding, turning her Blade of Marmora suit red.

“I have to do something about that,” she realized out loud. She wanted to get up and find the health kit but her limbs were heavy and it took a moment for her to push herself onto her feet.
Supporting herself on the chair she stumbled over to the panel that was supposed to keep the first aid but when she got to it she noticed that it was empty. Slamming it shut she braced herself on the wall, “Just my luck.”

Groaning darkly Krolia rested her head on the metal and breathed deeply. It hurt but she had to calm down and think this through. Put your emotions aside for the sake of the mission. Well it was successful, she thought darkly, but I probably won’t live to go on another one.

“No,” she strained and pushed off the wall, “There is intelligent life here. Get aid.”

With that in mind she made her way to the doors, keeping a hand around her wound. Reaching it she leaned heavily on the frame and put her blood covered hand on the access panel. The door hissed open and a stinging wind pushed her hair out of her face. It was dry and hot with grains of sand digging into her skin.

She dragged herself down the ramp and looked out at the terrain around her. It was dry and barren, with nothing in sight for miles. “Wonderful. If this doesn’t kill me the goddamn planet will.”

She was just contemplating which direction to go in when there was a movement behind her. She listened silently to footsteps from behind her and stayed still as they came closer. They were just getting within a few feet when she whipped around, her dagger snapping downwards. There was a cry of shock and she saw a odd creature dodging away from her blade, red droplets entering the air.

The stench of copper and iron filled the air as the creature put up his hands, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. I’m not going to hurt you!”

Eyes dubbing Krolia squinted at the creature in front of her. It kinda looked like a galra male but his skin was a brownish peach, not dark violet like most of her kind. His eyes were white, with dark brown irises and a mop of the same colour for hair; and he was short compared to her people’s tall stature. She’d never seen a creature like him.

She was still staring at him when the creature gasped, “There’s a dagger in your stomach!”

Krolia stared at him than scoffed, “No quiznak.” Her vision doubled for a moment but snarled when she noticed that the creature was coming closer to her. “Stay back!”

“Your hurt,” he told her bluntly, “I have no idea who or what you are but your going to die if you don’t fix that.”

She growled at him but before she could decide what to do blackness flashed in front of her eyes and she was on her knees with the creature supporting her. She growled at him but there wasn’t much of a real threat behind it. Her claws reached up to grip his smaller shoulders but then went slack when her vision truly went dark. She was just thinking that this creature could easily kill her as she lost consciousness.

_______________

The first thing Krolia noticed as she fought to open her eyes that there was no more wind. The air was still but continued to have that dry musk to it. She sighed, wishing she was back on the Marmora base, where the cold air would gently calm her breathing. But she wasn’t and she had to make do with what she had.

Dully she place her hand on her injury and noticed that the dagger was gone and a bandage had been wrapped around her torso. Sighing in relief she filed that info away and surveyed her surrounding. It was small, and not in the best condition. It looked like an rebellion outpost; she’d snuck into enough of them to know what they looked like. She was lying on a small cot in the corner of the shack, her feet hanging off because of her size. Beside her was a small table, the surface covered in bloody wraps and a cloth half in a basin of water.

“So he saved me,” she muttered and sat up with a groan.

Apparently he heard her because the creature came through a doorway, pushing a cloth flap aside. He blinked at her then looked exasperated, “You shouldn’t be sitting. You lost a lot of blood.”

She stared back at the creature flatly, “I’ve been through worse.”

He chuckled and sat on the table, pushing the linen aside. “That’s hard to believe but hey you’re an alien so I have no idea.”

“Alien?” she muttered, “Not Galra?”

He blinked at her, “Is that what you are?”

It was her turn to stare at him in shock, “You don’t know what a Galra is?”

He frowned at her, “No. If that’s you race then of course I don’t know. Your the first alien on our planet.” A tiny smile tugged at his lips.

Blinking at him dread started to drip into her stomach, “I’m the first? So you don’t have space travel?”

Picking up on her unease he rubbed his hands together, “Yes we do, but not in the way I’m sure you’re thinking. We can barely get to the edge of our own solar system. The ship you landed in looks way more advanced than anything I’ve ever seen.”

As he talked Krolia started to feel real fear gripping her heart, squeezing it. She started to realize something. The fighter that she’d stolen had died after she’d landed (crashed). She wasn’t very tech-savvy so the chance of her fixing it on her own was slim. If what he says is true and they don’t have anything space worthy, that means…

“I’m stuck here.” She realized out loud.

He stared back at her with his lips pressed into a grim line then nodded solemnly.

Chapter Text

Krolia paced back and forth inside the small building, the creature watching her with a worried frown plastered on his face. He’d objected to her getting up but she’d snarled at him and he’d fallen silent. He wasn’t wrong, her side was still hurting but she’d long since learned to ignore pain.

Running her claws through her hair she finally looked over at him. “Where am I? What do you call your plant?”

“We call it Earth, I’m not sure if you have a different name for it,” the creature told her, his frown not leaving his face.

She nodded absently, “So are you an Earthling then?”

He barked a laugh, “Ha, no. We call ourselves humans; and my name is Steven Kogane.”

Krolia narrowed her eyes and regarded him for a moment. Lifting her chin slightly she offered, “Krolia of the Galra.” Although it wasn’t necessarily a lie she disliked naming herself as such; it left a foul taste on her tongue but she didn’t trust this… human enough to get him involved in the war. A war that (if he was lucky) might never come to his doorstep.

Unaware of her turmoil the man - Steven - smiled, “Nice to meet you Krolia.”

She did her best to share the smile of greeting but it quickly fell and worry started to ebb back in.

She didn’t know if Steven noticed this but he jumped up, “So, you’ve been out for a long time; are you hungry?”

Krolia’s eyes widened, how long was long? Was it a couple of Vargas? A Quintent? Regardless of the exact time It made sense, despite of her bravado when it came to her injury it would need a fair amount of time to heal. Also the ache in her stomach told her she hadn’t eaten in a while.

When she nodded he grinned and walked to the doorway; pushing aside the flap as he went, “Alright, good. I don’t have too much in the way of food but we can deal ‘till I can go and buy more. That is, if you eat the same amount as a human.”

Following him she lifted the flap and took in the small room around her, there was a small kitchen on one side and a table next to it. On the far side of the room was a heavy door that she assumed led outside. “I wouldn’t know,” she offered then followed him to the kitchen.

“Right,” he chuckled then started to rummage in the cupboards on the wall. “Well how about eggs and bacon for now?”

“I have no idea what that is.” She told him flatly drawing a nervous laugh from him. That made them fall into silence until he was placing a dish in front of her. She poked at it then followed his example when he used the same type of utensil he’d given her to lift the food into his mouth. It was only after he’d swallowed that she actually ate any.

She was chewing and swallowed when he asked, “Is it good?” his eyes shown with a kind of nervous worry and she realized that she was intimidating the shorter creature. Well she couldn’t blame him too much, he’d never seen a galra before. However knowing this she took a closer look at him. He had a rugged square jaw and and a mess of floppy brown hair reaching down to his shoulders. However what grabbed her attention was a scarring scab cutting through his eyebrow.

Pausing she pointed her fork at him, “Did I do that?”

Startled he blinked at her then nodded sheepishly, “I probably shouldn’t’ve snuck up on you.”

“No you should not have.” She agreed then forked some ‘egg’ into her mouth. She wasn’t sure if she like it, the odd food was getting stuck in her pointed teeth.

She was just cleaning her fangs with her tongue when she paused, “What did you do with my ship?”

Looking up at her he grinned, “Ya don’t have to worry about it. I placed some tarps over it, no one will find it.”

She regarded him for a moment then nodded, “How far away from it are we?”

He tilted his head at her then his lips parted in shock, “You’re not going out to it right now. You had a six inch blade in your stomach!”

“Side.” She specified.

“Same diff,” he snapped and continued, “I have no idea what your physiology is like but for a human your lucky to be alive; it took me a couple of hours after taking it out to get you stable. If you push yourself now…” he trailed off and glared at her.

She didn’t need him to continue, she had her own fears regarding that outcome. She didn’t answer him and forked more food into her mouth. Once she swallowed she continued, “I just want to know where it is. I know that my wound will keep me from it for the time being.”

Slowly she lifted her eyes back up to him and hit her smile when she saw him soften. Although his eyes were still hard with warning as he informed her, “It's about a three hours drive from here. You literally landed in the middle of nowhere.”

Krolia was glad that she’d gotten her answer but something new was bothering her. “Whats a hour?”

Steven paused and looked up at her. Confusion spun around in his eyes, “An hour is 60 minutes.”

That did nothing more to ease her confusion. Seeing this on her face he launched into an explanation of time on his world. The sun was starting to set by the time that she rubbed her temples and clarified, “So a Quintaint is a Day?”

“Roughly. A day is one revolution of the planet. Which is 24 hours. Roughly. It’s actually 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4 seconds.”

“That’s oddly specific,” she informed him dryly.

She was granted a rueful smirk, “Had to learn it for a school project.”

Krolia snorted and looked out at the sky, “So it will take three... hours to get back to my ship.”

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yes but you’re in no shape to go out and look at it. I promise no one will find it. The only other people in the area are the Galaxy Garrison. It's a fairly new program so they won’t be able to find anything.”

Worry suddenly grabbing her she narrowed her eyes at her rescuer, “Galaxy Garrison?”

He waved dismissively, “The military recently decided that they wanted to explore space more than we already have. The garrison is to train young people on piloting and how to survive in space.”

“They want to enter the universe?” she asked, her face palling.

Steven looked up at her and regarded her more closely. “You think that’s a bad idea.”

She disregarded his question and inquired, “How far are they along in their efforts?” She ignored how her not answering him was about the same as giving him one.

Obviously he thought so too and raised a brow at him. Putting down his fork he leaned back in his chair. “What's out there?”

Krolia bristled and pressed her lips into a line. They regarded each other for a moment, his eyes steady. She saw as his gaze traveled down her muscular frame and to the sharp ends of her claws. She knew that he was assessing her and now wondering if she was as threat to his planet. If he thought that way he wasn’t wrong; the Galra could destroy everything humanity knew. However with her being a Blade member she was far from it. She just needed to convince him.

Krolia stared back at him, her eyes not leaving him; giving him the chance to decide for himself. Being a spy she knew patience, it was instrumental. That and lying through your teeth although she hoped that she didn’t need to use that particular skill too often when in this creatures company.

Thankfully Steven soon broke it by answering her question. “We have a couple of shuttles that have gone to Mars; the closest planet to Earth,” he added when she raised a brow.

“But it’s barren,” she muttered, “Do you posses terraforming technology?”

“Uh, no.” He blinked then he asked distractedly, “How do you know that?”

She shrugged, “I scanned every planet in your solar system to find which one would support me.”

“You got that it was barren from just a short scan?” He looked at her in awe, “Just how advanced is your race?”

Krolia stiffened and looked away, “There are many races out there but yes, the Galra are quite advanced.” By stealing off of others, she added silently.

A playful grin crossed the man’s face, “What else is it like?”

Clearly Steven wouldn’t stop till she’d given him something of the space outside of his world. She chewed on her lip for a moment then offered, “Its vast. There are thousand of planets out there with almost as many races and cultures.”

His grin spread and he leaned forwards but cut off when she covered a yawn. He blinked then smiled gently. “You should get your rest; your body needs to heal.”

She nodded in agreement and didn’t object when he led her back to the cot she’d been sleeping on. Once there he helped her sit down, keeping his face blank when she hissed involuntarily. She grimaced at the pain shooting up her torso then leaned back against the shack walls.

After a moment he sat beside her and grabbed a gauze roll from the table. Glancing at her he looked apologetic, “I need to re-apply your bandages.”

She stiffened then after a moment she shifted so he could access her side. He hesitated for a moment then started to unravel what he’d done earlier. He took away the blood soaked cloth and regarded the stitched wound. He was quickly and practiced with his movements as he cleaned the angry red gash. His only reaction to her injury was to hiss in sympathy then begin to smear a healing cream on it.

Steven was careful though to watch her, his eyes flicking up constantly to make sure that he wasn’t hurting her. Which he was, but she refused to let him know this. She just stared back at him with disinterest, so he kept working in silence.

Finally he applied the last bit of tape to the linen. He sighed and sat back, “There, now you can rest.”

She grumbled her understanding and carefully laid down as he got up. He glanced back at her as he reached the doorway, “Holler if you need anything.”

Done with talking and starting to feel the weariness of healing Krolia just grunted and watched him leave. It was only after he’d left that she allowed her eyes to close. It took moments for her to fall asleep.

Chapter Text

The next couple of quintents…days… she mostly slept, her body practically shutting down as it healed the deep wound. Actually according to him she slept for a whole day after falling back asleep. Steven for his part didn’t question her too much after their initial talk. He however filled her in on stuff about Earth, like if she didn’t want to be quarantined and or put into the public eye she had to say there. Since she was the first (that they knew of) alien on his planet he assured her that if she was seen there would be a big uproar. With her tall stature and purple skin she would stick out like a sore thumb.

It was on the third day while he replied the bandage that she commented, “You know what you’re doing.”

He paused and looked up at her. Smirking he pressed the gauze to her skin and she offered him the medical tape. “Yeah, I’ve had to do this a couple of times.”

She raised a brow at him and he got her silent question. “My buddy was a combat medic. I watched over him and help many times when he had to patch people up.”

“You’re a warrior?” she asked quietly.

He shook his head. “Was; and we called them Soldiers. I finished my tour and got out of there. Too many rules that I didn’t agree with.” He paused as he pressed the tape down. He sat there quietly, his eyes locked on the bandage but looking at him he knew that he wasn’t seeing her. She’d seen it before. It was rare but she’d observed it on her fellow blades, it was the look of war. When the over abundance of death got to you.

She didn’t dare disturb him, not out of worry of how he would react but out of respect. So she sat still as he gazed into the past. Finally she shook himself out of it and smiled sheepishly up at her. He finished taping the other edges down and began cleaning up.

Krolia smiled back at him then smoothed the torn edges of her suit over the bandage. He’d cut it to get at her injury so now she had a hole in the material.

Steven glanced over at her, “I have some clothes if you want to get out of that.”

She blinked up at him, surprised and a red flush filled his cheeks. “I mean. That can’t be comfortable. It’s a spacesuit. It has to be restrictive and with your injury it would be even more so.”

Krolia glanced down at her Blade uniform then up at the clothes that he was wearing. He was dressed in a white t-shirt (as he called it) and a pair of dark jeans. He’d thrown his brown jacket onto the couch earlier that morning, complaining about the heat. Looking back down she rubbed the torn fabric between her fingers, feeling the stiffness of dried blood.

Finally she nodded, “Actually this is quite comfortable normally, but if you have any that would fit me that would be appreciated.”

He snapped his mouth shut and nodded and went over to the dresser shoved into a corner. He came back with a cloth bag. Offering it to her he explained, “The last time that I went to get food I got these for you. I guessed on your size.” He added as an apology if they didn’t fit.

Nodding she took it and stood up, while he quickly vacated the area. Once he was gone she glanced down at the contents of the bag. It was very similar to the outfit that he wore. Well, he seemed to be able to move fairly well when in his clothes she though, so she shouldn’t have a problem.

Carefully she peeled off her suit, wincing when she had to twist in a way that pulled at her injury. However once she was out of it she tugged on the clothes he’d given her. Surprisingly they fit fairly well, although the pants didn’t quite reach her ankles and the t-shirt was a bit tight in the chest. She wasn’t too bothered though because it was more comfortable in the heat of the desert. Although she kept her Marmora boots.

Once she was dressed she followed him outside where she found him looking out at the dawn sky. Hearing her arrival Steven glanced back at her and blinked, like he was seeing her for the first time. He looked her over, his eyes trailing her form before resting on her hands. “So you do have claws.”

Startled she glanced down at her hands, curling them so her sharp nails glinted in the morning light. “Yes, you didn’t see them before?”

He shrugged, “I thought they may be part of your gloves.”

She shrugged and placed her hands on her hips. “Which direction is it in?”

Immediately knowing what she was talking about he sighed in annoyance. “No. This blade,” he pulled out the Galra blade that had been embedded in her side and twirled it on his palm, “Was buried deep into your muscles. It will take at least two weeks to heal completely. ‘Till then you aren’t going anywhere near your ship.”

She groaned and hissed at him through her teeth but didn’t argue. In reality there wasn’t a reason to rush. She’d been successful in her mission. Zarcons ship hadn’t sensed her when she’d boarded with her fellow blades. She’d found the information that they’d needed and handed it over to Ulaz. They had just about to leave when the alarm blared. She’d stayed behind to guarantee that that information reached central command.

Dully she remembered the the attack and placed her palm on her wound. It had felt like fire when the Galra Officer had in-bedded the dagger into her flesh, all the way to the hilt. If she’d been any slower in twisting out of the way it would had gone into her stomach; and she knew that those could be fatal .

She squeezed her eyes shut and imaged flashed in her mind’s eye. Pain flared where she’d been stabbed as she remembered as she stumbled over to a fighter. How she slammed against the back of the seat and maneuvered to the control panel. After escaping the ship she had sped off into a random direction as fast as the thrusters could go. Honestly she didn’t know how she got away.

“Stop that.” A voice growled and she snapped her eyes open to see the creature right in front of her, his hand gripping her wrist. “You’ll just make it worse.”

She blinked down at him, his eyes a few inches below hers. Steven glared at her and she became aware that she was clutching her side to the point where her claws were digging into her shirt and into the bandage.

That’s why she’d been in pain she realized dully and released her grip.

“Good,” he told her and stepped away. “Don’t do it again. I’d like for you not to poke holes through your shirt.”

Krolia nodded, stunned. She looked down at her top and smoothed out the fabric. She was relieved that she hadn’t actually damaged it. Then she scolded herself for losing control so easily. She thought she’d banished such weaknesses years ago, during her training. It was fatal to make such a mistake; after all the code was Knowledge or Death. No mistakes were allowed.

Scowling she bodily shook such thoughts away then followed Steven; if he truly was content with keeping her there for weeks then she would annoy him as much as she could.

*

It was just one week later that she wore him down, in an odd way.

It was still dark out when she awoke, shifting on the cot. Grumbling tiredly she rolled over and stared hazily across the room. Her eyes immediately adjusted to the dark and she could see Steven clearly from where he laid curled up on the couch. He had a worn throw pillow under his head, his hand tucked beneath it. The cut she’d given him had scared and it was a defined line through his eyebrow.

However what she truly noticed was that his dark hair framed his face in a weird way that she hadn’t seen before. It changed his whole demeanor to be more… actually she didn’t know what he looked like then. She settled on peaceful, that’s it; he seemed more at ease while he slept. Which she chidded herself was a given.

Krolia groaned and rubbed her face, aware that she’d completely woken herself as her mind had drifted. Grumbling she flung the covers aside and made a beeline for the exit. Once she got outside the cool air seeped into her blood and her thoughts returned to their more linear track.

But she was still awake, long before the sun would rise. She rolled her options around in her head for a moment before stepping further from the cabin. From there she did a series of stretches and bends to warm up her muscles.

It was time to see how much her body could deal with.

She practiced her fighting skills well into the dawn, testing out her reflexes and movements. She was glad to note that it was mostly still there, just a little stiffness from the long lack of use. She was glad that she could still kick high above her head even though it strained her side a bit. She pushed herself but she never went beyond her limits.

It wasn’t like her normal training sessions, if she was back on the base she would be fighting a fellow Blade or a robot if no one was available. But she wasn’t and she made do with throwing her punches at open air.

She was still practicing when the ground crunched behind her and she whipped around, her arm snapping back; to freeze seconds later. Breathing heavily Krolia stared down at the man as he went cross eyed looking at her elbow inches from his nose.

Stepping back she raised a brow at him, “What did we agree on about you not sneaking up on me?”

Steven snorted but shot a question back at her, “Are you sure you should be stressing your injury?”

Rolling her eyes she pulled up her sweaty shirt to show him her stomach. Cutting through her violet skin was a pink scar that was still new but it wasn’t torn or even stressed. He glanced at it quickly then back up at her face, “Alright, I get it.”

She smirked at him and dropped the fabric. She’d gone over and grabbed her water bottle when he remarked, “You’re a soldier too aren’t you?”

She paused mid sip then lowered it, her violet eyes sliding over to gaze at him. Krolia regarded him for a moment before giving him a curt nod. “Yes.”

He frowned with annoyance at her answer, clearly hoping that she’d elaborate. She didn’t.

“You have to be with how well you can fight.” He promoted.

She took another drink and looked out at the dusty landscape around them. It had been a couple of days since he’d last tried to get her to talk. She was tempted to stay silent like she’d had been but Steven had been very patient with her lack of speaking.

Capping the bottle Krolia placed it back on the bench beside the door. “My people… they tend to get into a lot of fights.”

Steven blinked at the tidbit that she’d given him and smiled slightly. Looking away he ran a hand through his hair, “Well it goes without saying that you’re nearly healed.”

Perking up she glanced at him but held her tongue as he let that sink it. Watching her he sighed and continued, “If your up to it we can see if we can fix your ship.”

Krolia was grinning before he even finished talking, “More then up to it.”

Chapter Text

The drive was long and dusty, the vehicle kicking up sand as it went. Krolia sat in the co-pilot seat, her arm resting on the window as she looked at the landscape around them. It was a bit cramped for her, even though she's pushed the seat back as far as it could go. She didn’t mind; she was finally making progress on maybe getting back into space.

Earth isn’t that bad, Krolia mussed to herself then grimaced; it is annoying that I can’t go anywhere though. She remembered what Steven had said about how his people would react.

She glanced sideways at Steven as he steered the vehicle. At first she’d found it amusing that they had a circular steering device; none of the ships she’d been in had one. It was always a kind of stick control. Krolia’s lips twitched at the thought again. She didn’t know why she found it so but she did. It really fit the other odd things that Steven had told her about his world.

As they went something occurred to her and Krolia looked over at Steven. “What were you doing there?”

He jumped slightly in his seat and looked over at her, one hand gently steering. “What?”

Readjusting the dark glasses he'd given her to dim the light from the sun she elaborated. “If I crashed so far away from everything, what were you doing out there?”

Steven chuckled. “I was wondering when you would ask me that,” he admitted then sobered. “When I was a kid I loved ancient people and their buildings. Also their culture. Well, what's left of it. After finishing my military tours I got an Archaeology degree, since tuition is free. I traveled around to a lot of the normal ancient places; Greek, Egypt, Mayan, etcetera. But these had already been looked at for centuries, so I went somewhere that no one was looking - here.”

He paused and looked out at the dry, pink rocks. “Normal people think that’s there’s nothing out here but I read a long time ago about unusual carvings. Old ones. It was a small paper, no one else could find it for some reason; and the original discoverer was kind of ridiculed because how he was spouting about giant robotic lions or something.”

Krolia froze and snapped her head around to stare at the human. Steven didn’t noticed her reaction and continued, “Not that I think they were out of their mind. I read another completely different book on it, and that one was written a couple hundred years ago. It has to be out there if an ancient text spoke of it.”

Clearing his throat he shrugged, “So basically I was out there chasing old legends. Hey, you ok?”

Krolia’s eyes snapped to where his would be behind the tinted glasses and realized that she’d been staring at him with her mouth open. Closing it with a snap she managed, “Yeah. I’m fine. How many ancient people are there on your planet?”

Steven didn’t seem to noticed the abrupt subject change and brightened before starting to tell her about the millennia old people that one lived on his planet. Krolia only listened to about half of it. The majority of her attention was replaying what he’d said in her head. Giant Robotic Lion. That could only mean one thing; Voltron. If one of the Lions was truly hidden on this planet she had to…

She had no idea what she had to do.

Just one of the lions meant nothing if the rest of them couldn’t be found. Also it was said that the Black one was lost with the ancient Altea Castle and without that one there was nothing to be done with the others. Besides, they would have to find worthy pilots if they were ever going to use them and that’s only if they were going to use them. The Blades might want to keep Voltron forever lost, so that the Galra would never get their hands on them.

She was still musing about what she should do when at about about mid morning he parked the ‘car’ and climbed out. She followed suit and noticed that he’d pulled up beside a scar in the earth. Because she’d been so preoccupied she hadn’t noticed it but now she followed the destruction to a pile of tarps stretched over a sharp looking black structure. Walking over to the back of it she noticed that the sharp bottom had dug deep into the ground, its wing like protrusions laying on the top of the pinkish rock.

He came up beside her and explained, “After you collapsed I tried to enter the ship to see if there was any medicine but the door didn’t open for me; and I couldn’t find any way to convince it to. I had to get everything from my jeep.”

Krolia nodded and began the descent into the scar and slid to the bottom. “That makes sense. All Galra teck is DNA based, only someone with Galra blood or tech can use our machines.”

He hummed thoughtfully and followed her to the fighter’s doors. He was quiet as she placed her purple palm on a panel where the Galra Imperial symbol started to glow the closer she got to it. There was a small hiss of air as the locks disengaged and it swung downwards to allow her entrance.

They’d only gone a couple of steps in when Steven commented, “it's cooler in here. It's the middle of the desert, our vehicles turn into ovens.”

“That’s good,” Krolia told him as she made her way over to the pilot chair, “It means that the life support system is still working.”

“Right.” His tone was curt and she turned around to look at him. As he made his way to her he was spinning as he tried to take everything in. He looked a little starstruck, his face slack with awe.

She snorted at his amazement at something so normal to her and turned back around, about to sit down when something caught her eye. Pooled at the left side of the chair was a dark stain, near black. Her jaw clenched and she looked at her blood staining the seat. Normally seeing her own blood wouldn’t affect her - it was not the first time she’d been gravely injured - but something about seeing it made her uneasy, giving her a feeling of dread.

Shaking it of Krolia flopped down into the chair and started to test how responsive the controls were. Since the screen didn’t immediately activate once she’d approached she pressed her palm onto the panel where the computer should be. She’d done it before and occasionally worked but since nothing happened after a moment she knew that this would not be one of those times.

Growling in frustration she stood up, pushing the chair back as she went. She flopped onto her back she hissed in pain at the garring of her torso but ignored it and focused on the panel above her. Grimacing she ran her nails over the edges, looking for the way to open it. Finally she her claws found the small latched and she popped it off to reveal dull crystals lined up perpendicularly in the center. Looking them over she quickly realized that the crystals themselves where fine but the wires connecting them to the ship were frayed and burnt.

Krolia stared at the damage for a moment then closed her eyes. “Quiznaking klanmüirl quiznaker Duflax!” she snarled and banged her fist against the side of the panel.

“Not going well?” Glaring Krolia snapped her eyes to the humans as he leaned on the seat, looking at her with the calmest dame look she’d seen out of him.

Curing her lip and showing her fangs at him she growled, “NO. I know shit about how to fix this. It was not taught to us soldiers.”

His lips twitched into a smile and she really hated him just then. She snarled again and hauled herself into a sitting position. “From what I can tell,” she growled and ran her fingers through her hair, unwittingly fluffing it up, “The wires that connect the Power Crystals to the engine are damaged; other then that I’m clueless to what’s wrong.”

Steven lifted his scarred brow at her and repeated, “Power Crystals?”

“Energy crystals, which ever. They connect the…” Krolia paused then scowled and snarled at the panel, “Things that allows the quiznaking thing to fly.”

Steven hummed then asked, “Can I give it a look?”

“Sure,” she huffed and heaved herself to her feat, “Why not? Maybe the person that’s never seen this kind of thing before might know how to fix it.” She was still huffing in anger as she got out of his way. She knew that he’d heard her grumbling but she was thankful that he didn’t seem to take offense.

Getting up and standing with her back to him Krolia closed her eyes and tried to center herself. She really shouldn’t be getting this worked up but actually seeing the damage she started to really consider that she might be stuck on this backwater planet. In the past weeks she’d be clutching the possibility that she could fix the ship but after seeing it that hope started to dwindled into nothing.

Opening her eyes a sliver she looked out at the bright pink desert past the ship’s door. If I really am stuck here… how can I lived on a planet where I can’t even show my face? She paused and wondered if she could even live there knowing that the rest of the galaxy were dying under the tyranny of a power hungry monster.

She sighed despairingly then looked back when Steven address her, “Well, I’m with you - I have no idea how to fix this either.” She resisted the urge to give him a smug smirk then blinked when he continued. “But then again I’m not an engineer either. However I know someone who is.”

Now with Krolia flat out staring at him Steven grimaced, “I didn’t mention it before because I wasn’t sure it was the best idea for you to meet her. But we don’t have a lot of choice now.” He hesitated then sighed, “Would you be willing to meet my sister?”