Without Me

Galra Moon Base (Ch.9)

"Set a course for the moon base." Keith told the AI of the spacecraft.
"Setting a course for Galra moon base." It responded fluidly.
"They have your blue lion locked under maximum security, so prepare to attack." He told me.
I nodded my head.
"Hey Keith,"
"Yes blue paladin?"
"The names Lance. Anyways, I was wondering if you ever got to know the Blade of Marmora."
"The Blade of Marmora was disbanded when Zarkon busted a mission they had to take down the empire. Why are you asking?"
"Because in my reality you're a Blade of Marmora."
"A Blade of Mimosa?" Hunk walked into our conversation.
Me and Keith both laughed in unison, and didn't even bother to explain to Hunk about what we were talking about.
"Anyways I'm done uh... cleaning up your mess back there..." Hunk shivered at the thought. "There's a bunch of useful weapons over there too, so when we enter the moon base we at least have a fighting chance."
"Thank you Hunk." Keith said sincerely before Hunk returned a slight smile and walked out of the cockpit.
Keith then sighed, thinking about his actions. "I used to love the rush of killing. And I still get carried away. But I hate what it's done to me." He then turned to me, with a daze that looked so lonely and so sad. "In your reality I'm still human. I have friends."
"Me and Hunk are your friends in this reality too." I told him.
He smiled, and gave a look of gratitude.

"Now approaching moon base." The AI said. We looked out to see the moon growing closer, and a base that was the size of the Garrison.
"That's odd..." Keith looked around.
"What is?" Hunk, who rejoined us in the cockpit asked.
"There should be tons of Galra spacecraft around here, but there's none!"
Confused, we still decided to go forward with our plan, preparing ourselves to attack.

When we landed on the moon we made sure our guns were loaded. Hunk and I equipped spare Galra armor we found aboard the spacecraft. The armor doubled as a space suit, and gave us oxygen. As we approached the base we noticed that it wasn't guarded by Galra soldiers, it was guarded by rebels.

"GALRA SOLDIERS! PREPARE FOR ATTACK!!!" A rebel yelled before assembling a squadron of other armed rebels. Keith dropped his weapon and raised his arms in the air for surrender, as surely enough Hunk and I did the same.
"We're not here to attack the base!" Keith said.
The rebel's squadron came close to us, their weapons still steadily aimed. "State your purpose here." The main rebel said.
"I've come with the blue paladin." Keith said, pointing to me.
"Hold your fire." The main rebel told the others.
"But sir, how can we know if they're telling the truth!?!" One asked.
"If we really wanted to attack, it wouldn't be just the three of us." Hunk tried to reason.
"But how do we know it's not a trap?" The same rebel questioned. The rest of the rebels raised their weapons defensively again.
"Wait! I took the blue paladin here for a reason," Keith said, frustration starting to appear in his voice, "Because I know the blue lion is here. He is our only chance at winning this war. And I want this war to be over just as badly as you guys."
The rebel soldiers looked at eachother, conflicted.
"If you want to shoot us, then shoot us." Keith said through gritted teeth. Hunk and I glanced at eachother in utter fear.
"GO AHEAD, SHOOT!" He shouted, "SHOOT YOUR ONLY HOPE OF WINNING THIS WAR!" Keith grew louder.
There was a silent moment filled with tension before the main rebel spoke up. "Lower your weapons soldiers. We'll take them to Matt." He replied. He then stepped up to Keith, almost in a challenging way. "If you pull ANY funny business you're all dead."
I could see Keith's fists balled up and trembling with anger, but he managed to resist the urge of throwing a punch at that moment.

We walked into the base, which was safe to take our masks off. When the rebels saw that under our Galra masks Hunk and I were human they stopped escorting us. As for Keith, since he still kept his mask on, they cuffed him in handcuffs and kept their guns pointed at him as if he were still a threat. "So what happened here? I thought this was a Galra base?" Hunk asked one of the rebels.
"It was, but we took it over. Everyday we prepare for any attack since we know the Galra wants this base back, especially because we have the blue lion now."

The main rebel led us to the heart of the base, and there I saw her, sitting at a computer running intel and data.
"PIDGE!" Hunk shouted in jubilation.
"Hunk!?" Pidge looked up from her computer and ran towards Hunk ready to embrace him.
They both hugged, Hunk squeezing Pidge so hard she turned blue from the lack of oxygen. "Hunk you can let go now." She said, struggling for air.
"Woops sorry." He said as he released her from his grizzly hug. His hugs were the best.
"What are you doing here?!" She said delightfully while adjusting her glasses, "and who are these people?" Pidge looked to me and Keith.
"This is Lance! I know this is gonna sound crazy, but he's from an alternate reality!" Hunk introduced me. I smiled and waved at her, happy to see her again.
"Whaaaa...." Pidge's eyebrows were raised in amazement.
"Ya! That alternate reality theory you had! It's totally true! Lance came here from his reality and told me that he's the blue paladin!"
Pidge's eyes lit up with excitement. "YOU'RE THE BLUE PALADIN! OH MY GOSH!!!" Pidge jumped up and down excitedly. "HOW'D YOU GET HERE? WHERE'S YOUR BAYARD? IS IT TRUE THAT THERES MORE THAN ONE LION OUT THERE!?!"
"I got here by accidentally entering a wormhole, and no I don't have my bayard, and YES THERE ARE MORE LIONS OUT THERE!" I replied.
Pidge squealed with joy. "I KNEW IT!"
"In my reality, you're the green lion, and Hunk is the yellow lion, and Keith is the red lion."
Pidge stopped jumping with joy when the name Keith was brought up. "Keith? Whose Keith?"
"Keith Kogane, from the Garrison. Remember?" Hunk asked.
Pidge starred at Keith trying to remember why the name sounded so familiar to her. Soon her face lit up with recognition, then became overwhelmed with worry.
"Oh no. You're not suppose to be here." She said in concern. "If my brother found out you were here, he'd-"
"I found out what?" Matt came out of nowhere, a bunch of rebels following behind him.
"Uh... it's nothing Matt!" Pidge laughed nervously.

Matt came up to Hunk first. "Is this the Hunk you always kept talking about, Pidge? The funny one back at the Garrison?"
Pidge nodded.
"Hi Hunk! Nice to meet you! Welcome to our moon base! I heard from my soldiers here that you brought the blue paladin here?"
"Yah he's right here." Hunk pointed to me.
Matt then approached me next, his hand outreached for a handshake. "Hello blue paladin! It's an honor having you here! Thank you for coming at such a desperate time!" He shook my hand.
"It's an honor being here." I responded.
Matt then looked to Keith, who was still surrounded with rebels and still in handcuffs.
"And whose this Pidge?"
Pidge started to sweat with nervousness, and swallowed her spit uncomfortably. "Um... that's no one... just a rogue Galra who brought them here in retaliation of the Galra empire." She explained.
Matt came up to Keith, inspecting him from head to toe. When he took off Keith's mask to reveal his face, Matt's look of curiosity soured into a look of bitter hate.