The Gold Paladin

The Fifth Death: The Strength. The Shield. The Sacrifice.

The group stared at the Fifth Death, her outfit consisting an old and battered Galran uniform. Her hair was tied in a low ponytail that lay over her left shoulder and fall to her elbows. Though she was glaring at them in annoyance for having to do her part of the explanation, there was a sense of relief hidden behind her annoyance. As if she was ready to talk about the part of Novae's past that she had to live through.

"Well, I guess I should introduce myself." She said, "I'm Novae's Fifth True Death. Call me Fifth. I am the strength that no one was able to use. The shield that protects those who are unable to protect themselves. The lamb left to be sacrificed so that the others may live longer. The one who held the blade to Zarkon's neck and nearly succeeded in destroying him. Are you ready to see or not."

Everyone's eyes widened at what Fifth said. She held a knife to Zarkon? She almost killed him?

"What do you mean Novae almost killed Zarkon?" Lance asked what everyone was thinking.

Fifth nodded sadly, "Just as I said. In this body, I am no more than eighteen years of age. However, Novae up until I was created has seen thousands of years of war and sacrificed herself even more than the years she has been alive. And many times before I was created, Novae has made several attempts on the Emperor's life."

The white space around them faded into the interior of a Galran ship. The group looked around and saw several Galran soldiers marching down the hall. Just then, one of the them moved away and ducked into another room. The door closed and the soldier slowly took off their helmet.

Lilac colored skin with Galran marks on her cheeks, her hair being a dark shade of purple and the whites of her eyes being dyed yellow. Suddenly, she let out a breath and her appearance changed. Her hair turned gold and her skin became brown again, the yellow in her eyes turning white once again.

It was Novae.

"Wait a tick, she transformed to look like a Galran?" Allura asked.

Fifth nodded, "Yes. Novae did in fact have Altean blood within her, so it was only natural that she would inherit the chameleon-like abilities of her maternal family's blood." Fifth explained, "Novae would frequently use this ability in order to sneak into the Galra's forces and find information. Because she was part Galra, she was able to access rooms within the ships, and with her intelligence she was quickly able to hack into the computers and find whatever information she needed for the Rebellion."

Novae looked down at a bracelet she was wearing disguised as a gauntlet of her Galran uniform. She pressed a button and suddenly a hologram appeared, showing off all sorts of data she had collected.

She looked at it critically, "Seems like Zarkon will be coming to sector five-nine-Delta-Beta within the next few months. And from the past readings, he should be low on energy by that time."

Novae reached into her pocket and pulled out a face mask. As soon as she strapped it on, it covered her entire face and even kept her golden hair hidden. She pressed another button and opened up a call to a Rebellion faction leader. It was a man wearing a mask to hide his face, but when he saw that it was Novae, he took off his mask and revealed his face covered in scars, but he smiled at her nonetheless.

"Blue Star, how wonderful it is to see you. Have you been well?" He asked.

Novae nodded, "I have indeed." Novae's voice was changed to be more masculine, something that the Paladins remembered hearing from their first meeting with Novae after first finding the Lions and assembling Voltron with her.

"What is the sudden call for?" The man asked.

"I have recently stumbled upon information that would be helpful for your faction." Novae explained.