Voltron Legendary Defender - Shining Like the Stars [76] [Shklance]

[scriveyner]

Title: shining like the stars [76]
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender
AU: slts
Characters/Pairing: Shiro/Keith/Lance, Team Voltron
Rating: M
Length: 1440
Summary: Lance almost turned around and walked right back out of the galley when he saw the shortest of the Alteans in the room, holding one of the goo nozzles delicately and peering into it like he was unsure of what it was used for.



Lance almost turned around and walked right back out of the galley when he saw the shortest of the Alteans in the room, holding one of the goo nozzles delicately and peering into it like he was unsure of what it was used for. He hesitated before crossing the threshold, but Rian didn't seem to notice or care about his presence. "You hold down the trigger to dispense goo," Lance said helpfully.

"I am aware," Rian said, and turned his imperious gaze on Lance. "I know how nozzles wo-" He was cut off when he squeezed the trigger unconsciously, dispensing a solid stream a green goo directly to the side of his face. Lance couldn't contain his guffaw if he was paid to do so, and he leaned against the door frame and tried hard not to choke as Rian scrubbed one hand furiously over his face.

"You don't point the nozzle at your face," Lance managed, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes as Rian threw down the nozzle in disgust. The hose wound itself back to its dispensing position and Rian whirled and pointed his finger at Lance.

"That was your fault," he said. "You distracted me!"

"Yeah, whatever," Lance wiped his eyes with his fingers and, still chuckling, crossed the room to where the drinks were stocked. He rifled around until he found one of the silver packets and stuck a straw in it, then kicked the door to the refrigerator shut, drink in hand. He realized Rian was staring at him still, and Lance stuck the straw in his mouth and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"How can you knowingly bed with a Galra?" Rian straight-up asked, and Lance inhaled liquid. "He is the enemy."

Lance held up his drink, one finger out as he cleared his windpipe. "That's none of your fucking business, thanks," he said, and coughed again. Once he was certain he was breathing air and not the ambiguously flavored drink he continued, "I'm getting real tired of your hate-on for Keith. I'm the only person on this ship who gets to hate on Keith." Lance straightened and glared down at the Altean, who was noticeably shorter than he was.

"He is a spy," Rian said, and there was anger and hatred in his words again, so thick Lance could almost feel it in the air. "He is a spy and he will betray you and when your friends and family are dead you'll only have yourself to blame." Rian was half-turned away, arms folded and not looking at Lance, which was his first mistake, as Lance crossed the galley in a few strides, drink thrown on the island and he hauled Rian into the air by the front of his shirt.

"Listen here you little shit," Lance snarled. "Keith is my mate and anything you say about him applies to me, too. I want you to think on that very carefully."

Rian glared up at Lance, dragged to his tiptoes by Lance's hands in his uniform shirt. "He will betray you," he said. "They always do." His hands went around Lance's wrists, squeezing, them and trying to get him to let go.

"Lance," Coran said from the doorway. "Put Rian down at once!"

Lance glared at Rian for a long second then twisted his head to look over at Coran. "I'm gonna put this little shit out the airlock, Coran."

"You most certainly are not, paladin. Put him down." Coran's voice was firm, and Lance sighed and released Rian, who took a step back and straight into the island in the center of the room. Coran gave Lance a disapproving look, arms folded, then sighed. "Please excuse us, Master Rian," he said, and Rian gave Lance a derisive look and stormed from the galley. Lance watched him go, then swung around and looked at Coran.

"'Master' Rian?" he repeated.

"He is of the noble houses," Coran said quietly. "A lesser noble house, far distant cousins many times removed from our Princess, but still carries the blood of our royal line." Coran had a distant look on his face, and Lance recognized it right away and felt the same pang of homesickness ... but he was homesick for a place that still existed, outside of his memory.

"I'm not calling him prince anything," Lance said finally, and Coran shook his head.

"He's not a prince, just minor nobility." That said, he frowned at Lance. "Your behavior is unacceptable, though. They are guests in this castle."

"My behavior?" Lance gestured with one arm toward the door. "He's a dick, Coran! Especially to Keith!" He glared at the empty door as if that would produce another copy of Rian especially for him to punch.

"Not everyone is comfortable with having the enemy on board," Coran said, and Lance's gaze swung from the door to Coran. "Not everyone has to be."

Lance stared at Coran, a little dumbstruck. "Coran," he said, and then he got angry again. Angrier, even. "He's Keith, he hasn't changed at all from who he was a week ago or even a month ago! How can you say it like that, he's not the enemy!"

"Things aren't always as black and white as we want them to be," Coran said. He was looking at Lance evenly, almost a sadly.

The anger bubbled in his chest and tangled into a hard knot. Lance didn't say anything else, just grabbed his overturned drink from the island where it had laid on its side, leaking greenish juice atop the counter. Then he stormed from the galley, leaving Coran standing there, alone.


#

Shiro stood on the bridge, his arms folded as he looked at the map displayed over the forward viewscreen. "It's been almost a full day," he said, standing beside Allura, who was studying it as well. "They must not be looking for us, we aren't that well hidden."

There was a violet ring around Eaphus, showing the orbit of the Galra frigate. It had completed only two orbits of the massive gas giant in the time that the Castle's computer systems had been tracking it. "I agree," Allura said. Because of the length of time the computer had to capture information, they had a decent image of the frigate, if a little blurry from being captured against the bright colors behind it. "But that begs that question as to why it's in orbit around Eaphus, and what it's doing here, if it's goal is not to capture Voltron."

Shiro gestured with his left hand, moving the three-dimensional map and stepping away from Allura slightly. He had brought up the moon, and more specifically the waystation locked in tidal orbit around it. The space station was large enough that it could almost be a moon to the moon, although it was more a flattened disc than an orb. The prisoner transport was docked along one side. "Gladiator matches must be going on," Shiro said, and while he felt he kept his voice neutral he felt Allura's eyes on him.

"We must do something," Allura said. "That many prisoners within our reach? We can't leave them in bondage." Shiro nodded his head absently, staring at the waystation. "You said you've been here before, Shiro — do you think you could guide through the waystation?"

Shiro wasn't so much looking at the map as he was staring through it, but Allura's question snapped him back to reality. He looked over at her, but now Allura was staring at the waystation again. "Perhaps this would be as good a place as any to see if Keith would be able to infiltrate-"

"No," Shiro said, with a vehemence that surprised him.

Allura looked over at Shiro neutrally. "His ability to blend in with the rest of the Galra is a benefit we cannot ignore," she said.

"He won't," the memory of the memory core, the way the two Galra had looked down at Keith, instantly recognizing him as a half-breed, it chilled Shiro to the bone. "If we send him over there alone, he'll die," he said. "They'll kill him, Allura."

"I didn't say that we'd send him alone," Allura said, and Shiro flinched before he could mask his response. He ran his left hand down his face, and then rested his elbow in the palm of his right hand, left hand cover his the lower part of his face.

Now composed, Shiro nodded toward the map. "What do you have in mind, Princess?"

Allura was watching Shiro closely. Her arms folded, she turned toward the map as well, and began to outline her idea.