From The Stars

Chapter 3: Scouts

Keith was happily drinking from his bottle in her arms and struggling to keep his little eyes open as drifted off to sleep, safe and warm in his mother's arms. Kolt was sitting behind her on the bed gently rubbing her back, a loving smile plastered on his face as he stared down at his son. Nothing could ruin this moment, at least she that was her thought before the sigil on her blade began to glow.

"What was that?" Kolt was pulling away, moving across the bed to look out the window as three bright magenta streaks appeared in the sky.

"Trouble." She moved, deliberate actions taking the place of loving touches, and placed a sleeping Keith into his crib. Her kit was now 2 years old and she was not going to let the Empire get their claws into Earth, not this planet, not if she could help it.

She moved to join Kolt by the window, getting a better look at their visitor's arrival. "They're scouts. They must have picked up on the Blue Lion's signal. We need to stop them before they report back to their command."

"What's the plan?" He was all business. She had done her due diligence and told him what the Empire was capable of; he knew the danger these scouts posed.

Fetching her bag from under the bed, Krolia dumped out the small explosives. "I have explosives. They aren't powerful enough to stop a fighter but if we detonate them in the intake valves, they can stop them from taking off." He nodded his agreement and they changed; Kolt putting on dark clothes to blend in with the night while she donned her Empire armour.

With her Blade of Marmora knife securely in place at her hip, she passed him the satchel. "You'll need to be the one to place the bombs. You don't have the technical skill to take on a fully trained Galra Soldier, but I do. Place the bombs and once they're set, -" she passed him the detonator switch, "- use this to detonate the bombs and take out the ships."

"What will you be doin'?"

"I'm going to find out what the scouts know, and get rid of them." She said her words with finality. It didn't matter what they knew, they couldn't be allowed to live, not when her son was in danger. She had made a new oath; one to protect the Blue Lion at all costs, and now she was a mother. These scouts were not welcome.

The ensuing fight took all of her strength, testing her resolve in all aspects but she was a fully trained Blade, an agent of the Blade of Marmora and not one to be blinded by her emotions. It was with a cool head that she took the news of her mate's death and filed it away to be dealt with at a later time. She would mourn him, but she could not afford to be distracted, not if she wanted to protect the Blue Lion and her son.

With great prejudice she target the third scout, the one who had delivered the killing shot to Kolt and referred to him as a 'primitive'. She sliced at him with the level of ferocity only a Galra can manage and turned her ire on the other, slamming his body to the ground. She rose to find Kolt's killer running for his life like a coward, fleeing the cave instead of standing to fight.

A deep rage boiled in her blood and Krolia turned heel, chasing after him into the night. Faintly she heard the groan of the not-quite dead scout on the ground of the cave but her feet were already carrying her after Kolt's assassin.

Exiting the cave her heart plummeted as she watched the fighter pod take off. She had failed. She had sworn to protect the Blue Lion, Earth, and her family but she had failed. The sudden explosion caught her off guard and it was all she could do to stare in shock at the debris as it fell back to Earth. Her eyes flickered down and watched as Kolt passed out, ignition switch in hand. Her heart leapt into her throat, he was alive. But there was no time to rejoice, the sound of heavy boot falls was echoing in the cave and she knew the surviving scout had managed to get back on his feet.