Chapter Text
It was happening tonight. Keithak (Keith, for short, he hated it when people called him by his full name) had known for a long time that he’d have to leave, but it was tonight. Some Alteans had been discovered as spies the day before, making everyone suspicious of anyone who might have even a drop of Altean blood. Keith’s mother had been a pure-blooded Altean (such a rare thing these days), so he had to leave.
He looked like a Galra, but that didn't mean much. There was a common saying among Galrans that anyone with galran blood, even if it was just a drop, was Galra. To Keith, that had been a blessing, despite the little Alteans marks under his eyes. Though now, the altean blood in his veins would be his downfall.
He had no one to say goodbye to except for his father, who was the one encouraging him to leave. He had supplied his son with a month’s worth of rations and a suit of armour that doubled as a space suit, just in case. He’d also given him family portraits, but Keith knew that it was more to protect himself than to protect his son. Anyone discovered with ties to Alteans would immediately be executed, after all.
Keith left under the cover of darkness, knowing he would likely never see the place he’d called home ever again. Though this place was more of a home away from home.
He headed to a nearby supply station. He was a good pilot and knew how to pilot every ship the empire could throw at him, but he knew he’d be shot down before he made it out of the atmosphere. His best bet was to stow away on a ship and hope he wasn’t found.
The ship that was being supplied when he arrived at the station was a cargo ship. It was more guarded that it should be. He briefly considered waiting for the next one to come by, but something was screaming at him that he had to get on that ship. He snuck onto the ship and hid.
He was found about an hour after the ship had left the station. He fought and ran. He knew the layout of the ship: all cargo ships were the same. He headed for the hangar, hoping he could get a fighter jet and be able to evade fire long enough to… well, he wasn’t sure what he’d do after that.
At the hangar, he saw that there were no fighter jets, but that there was some sort of red cat ship surrounded by a red barrier. That ship was only chance to get out of here alive. There was no way to shut down the forcefield, and the ship seemed to be staring at him. He didn’t have much time to think about it since the soldiers were here and they had no intention to let him leave this place alive. He had no choice but to fight.
All he had to defend himself himself was his knife, but he was good with it. He was small by Galra standards, but he knew how to take down people that were much bigger than him. His father had made sure of that. There were too many for him to handle, however. In the corner of his eye, he saw the control panel for the airlock. He’d always been known for being impulsive, so he did what was probably the most impulsive and stupid thing he’d ever done. He pressed the airlock button.
The airlock opened and Keith hung on to the panel to stop himself from being sucked away. He tried to close it, but it was stuck in the open position. Keith stared at the cat ship and it stared back. Keith lost his grip and was flung out into space.
Before he could even realise that he was probably going to die, the cat ship (a lion, he somehow knew, it was a lion) came flying straight for him. It opened its jaw and closed it around Keith.
The next thing he knew, he was on a chair and was being pushed toward the control panel of the lion. It was similar enough to Galra tech that he knew what he was doing, but there were enough differences for him to know this wasn’t galra. Something inside him told him that this was an Altean ship.
He was pulled back from his reverie by incoming lasers. He dodged them, the lion responding perfectly. He attacked the ship, using his own lasers and claws. When he deemed it damaged enough, he retreated. The lion opened a wormhole and, with nowhere else to go, he went through it.
Keith drifted. His only goal was to survive, so all he had to do was to stay away from areas with galra influence, which, unfortunately, was almost everywhere. All he wanted was to find a place where he was safe and no one would take his freedom. He knew a place like that, but he had no idea where it was.
After a few days of drifting, there was a ping on his radar. It wasn’t a distress signal. He’d never seen a signal quite like it. It had appeared suddenly, so if it was a ship, it had just gone through a wormhole. That alone made him wary. As far as he knew, Galra ships were the only ships who were able to open wormholes.
It also made him wary because he’d stolen this ship from the Empire. There were very likely people that were looking for him. He sped away from it, hoping he hadn’t been close enough to appear on their radar.