Chapter Text
It had been about half a deca-phoeb since Keith had been transferred from the main Galra cruiser to the prince’s ship. It was called a ‘transfer’ but Keith saw it more as a demotion for being such a pain to deal with. Being stuck as the bratty prince’s servant was well below his skill level. He was a trained Galra soldier, one of the best if measured by pure skill alone instead of blind obedience. But now here he was with many other half-blood Galra soldiers: Lotor’s favourite kind apparently considering his entire team was filled with them.
Keith knocked on the door to the prince’s personal office, waiting for Prince Lotor’s usual “Enter.” before pushing open the door with a tray of food in his other hand. He stared at the food for a moment too long before looking up at Lotor. The prince didn’t seem to notice being looked at, he seemed more bothered with whatever paperwork was in front of him.
Keith sucked in a deep breath, he had to air his grievances somehow, right? Or else they’d never get resolved, “Sire, I am a skilled soldier, there are much more useful things I can do than just serving you food.”
“We know nothing of your other half. You could be put in danger.”
Keith held back a growl, he couldn’t show annoyance at a decision made by the prince himself, “With all due respect, is the Galra way not victory or death?”
“Correct,” Lotor replied, the pen in his hand put down as he was finally given the prince’s full attention, “under my father, yes, that is the way. But you serve me not him and I intend to keep my people safe.”
Keith scoffed, he really couldn’t keep his emotions in check anymore, politeness had to go out the window this was injustice! “Safe? You send your generals to fight the paladins of Voltron all the time! That’s not safe!”
“They are well trained.”
“So am I!”
Lotor’s eyes narrowed at him, a warning sign for him to shut up. Keith would never verbally apologise, so instead he looked down at the ground, “You are,” the prince nodded with a quiet sigh, “but without knowing human biology, we cannot guarantee recovery if you obtain any injuries.”
“That’s not fair…” Keith muttered under his breath.
“Speak clearly.”
“I said that’s not fair,” Keith looked up from the ground to stare at Lotor, “I’m a trained fighter and qualified pilot, yet I’m not allowed to do either of those things outside a controlled environment. It’s not fair.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” the prince picked up his pen again, “you’re dismissed.”
“No.”
“Pardon?”
“I said no,” Keith furrowed his eyebrows, “I’m not leaving until you let me go on a mission!”
“I cannot, in good conscience, do that.”
“Then let the medical team experiment on me! Let them figure out how my body reacts to injuries or how it reacts to Galra medicine.”
“No.”
Keith couldn’t help it, he growled and slammed his hands onto the desk Lotor was sitting at, “You need to let me fight!”
“I do not need to let you do anything,” Lotor stood from his chair. He towered over Keith quite a bit, his height was always quite the advantage when talking to unruly underlings, “you are dismissed.” He repeated slowly.
Kieth had to crane his neck a little to fully look up at him, anger still prevalent on his face but his voice calm, “Yes, sir.” His eyes locked on the prince’s face a little longer before he sighed and walked out.
When the door shut behind him, Keith began muttering under his breath talking about how he was perfectly capable of fighting and keeping himself safe. He knew how his body worked. That was enough. Sure, he managed to burn a mark on his face but that was the only injury he ever had, it had to mean something!
He stomped his way to the training room. He never had much to do around the ship, so often decided to work on his skills. If he wasn’t using them in the battlefield, he’d become rusty eventually so he had to train with the free time he had.
“Begin training sequence one seven five.” He announced the second he entered that room, not even allowing himself time to grab one of the weapons in the back of the room. He might well train hand to hand combat while figuring out which weapon to use. This was the most excitement he got out of the day, it was honestly embarrassing for him that the training deck was the most fun he had on this ship. He was the only one not allowed to go out in the field. It was ridiculous!
It took Keith about a varga before he decided to take a break. Again, ridiculous. Back when he was on the main cruiser, he would fight for quintants without even breaking a sweat (a bit of an exaggeration but you get the point), but here he could barely keep up with a training dummy. He let out a frustrated yell before throwing the sword in his hand onto the ground.
“Keith-y! I knew I’d find you here!” A bright, cheery voice came from the door. This was one of Lotor’s top generals: Ezor. For some reason, she had taken a liking to Keith and clung onto him whenever she wasn’t out on a mission. He didn’t particularly like her touchy, loud personality but he could tolerate it. At least she saw him as a fellow soldier unlike the rest of the Galra here.
“When did you get ba- ah!” He yelped as he was tackled into a hug.
“We just got back! Zethrid and the others went to report to Lotor but I had to see you, it’s been so so long! What you been up to?”
Keith scoffed, “What do you think I’ve been up to?”
She pouted, “He still won’t let you in the field?”
“Won’t even let me fly a cargo jet.” He grumbled.
“Hm… has he told you why?”
“He said if I get hurt no one would know how to heal me,” he huffed, “which is ridiculous because I almost never get hurt! Besides, who would care? I’m an insignificant soldier in the empire, if I die, so be it.”
“Well that’s not a very optimistic look on life.” Ezor gasped.
Keith raised a brow at her, “Optimism has nothing to do with it. It is the Galra way.”
Ezor rolled her eyes at him, “Yeah, yeah, victory or death blah blah I get it. Still, your life is important.”
“How?”
“Well… you’re the only human-Galra hybrid as far as I’m aware,” she shrugged, “I think that’s special enough to make you important.”
Keith scoffed, finally pushing the girl off of him, “It makes me weak. Earthlings are weak creatures.”
Ezor simply hummed at him, “Well if even you think you’re weak, what makes you think Lotor wouldn’t?”
Keith growled at her, “Not helpful.”
She hummed, “I’ll see what I can do.”
“You will!?”
She nodded, “I know you’re capable.”
This wasn’t a guarantee, but one of Lotor’s top generals vouching for him would be a great start. He gave her a half smile and a nod, “Thank you.”
୨࿐⊹❀⊹࿐୧
“Absolutely not.” Lotor’s tone may have been steady, but his voice filled the entire room.
“Oh come on,” Ezor whined, “I’ll keep him safe! He won’t even actually fight anyone.”
“No.”
“He’ll just fly the ship. You can’t keep him here forever.”
“I said no.”
“Lotor!” She cried, “Come on, he’s so bored. He grew up on the main cruiser, he’s used to doing something at least.”
Lotor just hummed at her, “You are not changing my mind.”
“Then how about you take him with you next time?”
“Hm?”
“When you oversee a mission,” she shrugged, “just bring him along, he’d be by your side the whole time, no chance of getting hurt.”
“Why do you want this so badly?” He raised a brow at her.
“Because he’s like a sad kitty, I wanna make him happy.”
Lotor let out a long sigh before nodding at her, “Fine.”
“Yay!” She clapped her hands, “He’ll be so happy I can’t wait to tell him!”
“Hold on.”
She was already halfway to the door, she turned around with a tilt of her head.
“I’ll tell him.”
“Whaat? After I put in all that work?” She frowned.
“He’ll expect it to be the next one if you tell him now,” Lotor sighed, “I’ll have to assess the ones I’m going on and select one with zero chance of attack.”
“So protective,” she mumbled just loud enough for him to hear, “if I didn’t know any better I’d think you were soft on him~” she teased. He didn’t look impressed so she gave one last toothy grin before disappearing out the door.