Speed Demons

Part 7

Percy

I found Pidge sitting on the steps of the Medical Bay, tapping her foot impatiently, Rover hovering next to her. "You waiting for them to wake up, still?"

"Yeah," She replied as I sat down beside her. "There's still another 5 minutes."

Shiro walked in at that moment, and walked over to us, "You two look as anxious as me. I came down when I heard they were waking up soon. One of them seemed to recognize me when I walked in. He called me 'Champion', I don't have a clue what it means though."

"Is there anything you did when you were a prisoner that could have given it away?" Pidge asked him, "Champion isn't the type of title you gain for nothing."

"I can't be sure," He replied, "I know I was a gladiator for a while, maybe that has something to do with it. "

Just then, the glass faded away on one of the pods, revealing the alien who I had spoken to before. Then another alien was revealed, then another, and then another. we spent a few minutes getting them all blankets and hot drinks before Pidge Started questioning one of them.

"How long were you held prisoner?" That was the first question.

"I can't be sure, years? Decades maybe. Time becomes a blur when every day is the same."

"Then were you there when my dad and brother arrived?" Pidge asked the alien.

"Matt and Sam Holt," I added.

"I never knew their names, but I do remember the two other earthlings who arrived with Champion." The alien responded.

"Why do you keep calling me that?" Shiro asked.

"You don't remember," the man marvelled, "you were a legendary gladiator, undefeated in the arena. You vanquished an infamous Galra gladiator known as Myzax. That is how you earned the name Champion. I was there, as was the young earthling. We were all prisoners, forced to fight to Zarkon's amusement. That day, we were meant to fight Myzax, a vile beast we thought could never lose. The young earthling was meant to be the first to go, I remember how terrified he had looked. When the guard came to collect him, I saw him freeze. They were about to grab him, but Champion, you took the guard's weapon and wounded your friend, begging for blood." Pidge's eyes snapped in Shiro's direction, looking at him accusingly. The alleged Champion looked completely stunned.

"You attacked my brother? Why?" Pidge demanded angrily, I placed my hand on her shoulder, but she didn't seem to notice.

"I don't know! It can't be true! The's got to be more to the story! I wouldn't have hurt my friend."

"Wait! The Galra ship where you were held prisoner, crash-landed. The computer would have logs of the Prisoners." I said, to which Pidge grabbed my wrist and pulled me off with her toward the docking bay. We didn't leave Shiro any time to argue.

Line Break

I felt bad. Before the battle with the Robeast, Pidge had been downloading the data, but with the ship about to crash right into us, I had to get the two of us out of there. Luckily, neither of us was injured in any way, but the download from the Galra database didn't finish in time. It got about 60% done. Now, Altean technology included a neat little trick that could split downloads into little chunks so that you still kept what you had if a download was interrupted. But, in saving our lives, I might have killed our only chance of saving her Family.

I was pacing outside the doors to her quarters, all of this information. Eventually, Keith walked by, "Hey Perce! Wait, what are you doing outside Pidge's room?" I explained what had happed at the Galra crash site. "Hm. That would worry me, too."